Fruit of Paradise - Tathir and Tazkiyah Part 1

Tathir and Tazkiyah Part 1

Tags: Taharat, Tathir, Tazkiyah, Zakat, Sadaqah, Salat, Salawat, Taskin

Tathir and tazkiyah mean the physical and spiritual cleansing and purification of mu'mins by the Holy Prophet in accordance with God's command mentioned in verse (9:103): "Take (khudh) sadaqah (zakat or religious tax) from their wealth so that you may cleanse and purify them and give them salat. Verily, your salat is peace (of heart) for them." There are seven fundamental wisdoms in this verse, which are:

Khudh (take) is the imperative form of the infinitive "akhdh" and is linked to "hand". This command from God to the Holy Prophet asks him to take zakat physically (wealth) and spiritually (knowledge) from mu'mins. Sadaqah and zakat from mu'mins is a right of God and therefore the Holy Prophet's hand has the status of the hand of God (48:10). This holy status continues in the rightful successors of the Holy Prophet (the Holy Imams from his progeny) so that the mercy and blessings that mu'mins receive from God's hand both physically and spiritually may continue. In this connection, in addition to zakat, taking the oath of allegiance (bay`at) from mu'mins is also very important. Bay`at means to buy and sell and it is a practical affirmation of the fact that God, through His present and living representative buys from mu'mins their souls and their wealth, in return for which the mu'mins receive Paradise (9:111). But God is free from and above all physical form, so the embodied light whom He has considered to be His hand has been given great power so that he can perform all kinds of work physically and spiritually.
There are two kinds of wealth, material and spiritual. Material or external wealth is known to everybody but by spiritual wealth is meant knowledge. Thus sadaqah and zakat is to be taken from both kinds of wealth, for both are forms of riches and sustenance and need to be cleansed and purified so that they become pure and many kinds of blessings are created in them.
Exoterically by sadaqah is meant material zakat and esoterically the knowledge of ta'wil. For the word sadaqah is derived from sidq which means to speak the truth and therefore it means to believe that the custodian of the ta'wil is truthful and that he verifies the spiritual miracles of the Holy Prophet by means of his ta'wil. The Holy Prophet said to Mawla `Ali: "Anta's-siddīqu'l-akbar (You are the greatest of the truthful)" i.e. you are the greatest speaker of truth and in the light of ta'wil verify what I have said. Thus there are many ranks of spiritual sadaqah or zakat (i.e. ta'wil).
Tathir or cleansing in the phrase "tutahhirahum" (you may cleanse them) relates to physical wealth and to the body and the soul, because by giving physical zakat not only is material wealth cleansed, but also the body and the soul. This wealth, in the sense that by acting upon the command and giving zakat, becomes lawful and by eating that which is lawful the body is cleansed and by cleansing the body the soul becomes cleansed.
In the word "tazkiyah" in the phrase "tuzakkihim" (you may purify them) there is an allusion to the intellectual purification of mu'mins because in several of the blessed verses of the Qur'an it is said that the Holy Prophet used to purify mu'mins by teaching them the Book and Wisdom (i.e. tanzil and ta'wil) (2:129, 2:150-151; 3:164; 62:2). It is obvious that what is purified by knowledge and wisdom is the intellect of the mu'min and therefore wherever the purification of the body and soul is mentioned in the Qur'an its purpose is to bring about the intellectual purification of man because the final destination is in this intellect. Thus it is the greatest favour of God that He has appointed a means of tathir and tazkiyah (cleansing and purification) for people of every age so that the wealth, body, soul and intellect of mu'mins can be purified thereby, for after the light of Prophethood the light of Imamat is mentioned in verses (2:150-151): "So that I may complete My favour on you, and so that you may walk on the right path; as also We have sent among you, of yourselves, a Messenger, to recite Our signs to you and to purify you, and to teach you the Book and Wisdom and to teach you that which you knew not." It is a Qur'anic fact that there is no Prophet after the Holy Prophet (33:40). This means that there will be no new revelation (i.e. the Holy Qur'an and the religion of Islam will remain forever), but the rest of the things such as knowledge, wisdom, rectitude, and guidance have to be with the successor of the Holy Prophet, the true Imam. God removes all the physical and spiritual veils of time and space from the Imam so that the light of Imamat can see the light of Prophethood at the places where the revelation reveals and so be aware of all the states, so that the Imam can testify to his Prophethood and Messengership for without this kind of complete awareness, it is not possible to truly verify the work of Prophethood.
In the word "salli" (give salat) the Holy Prophet is commanded to give salat to mu'mins. But it is necessary to know what salat means because salat has many meanings. In the light of the Noble Qur'an it is clear that here it means blessings as from verse (2:157) it is evident that blessings (salawat), mercy and guidance are for all mu'mins. It is said in verse (33:43): "He it is Who sends His blessings (yusalli) on you and His angels (bless you), that He may bring you forth from darkness unto light. And He is merciful to the believers." Now every wise person should consider whether it is possible for the blessings of God and His angels to come down to mu'mins without the Holy Prophet, the mercy for the worlds, when God says to him: "Give them salat"? It is clear that the salat from God and His angels, the purpose of which is the light of knowledge, reaches mu'mins through the mediation of the Holy Prophet, for he is the mercy for every personal world (21:107).
The law of wisdom says that when mu'mins recite salat on Muhammad (s.a.s.) and his progeny, then like a pure word it ascends and reaches the presence of God (35:10), and He gives it a luminous form and sends it back to mu'mins through the Holy Prophet and the Imam of the time. Because everything is cyclical and therefore it eventually returns in one form or another to the place from where it started. It is a different matter however that some things return quickly and others only after long ages (21:33; 36:40).
When God touches the words and deeds of obedient mu'mins with the colour of spiritual light (2:138), think what the splendour of the salat of the Holy Prophet must be like for he gives it to mu'mins by the command of God and it includes the salat of God and His angels also! Without doubt, it is in the radiant form of the rays of light. Thus the ta'wil of "And give them salat" is "O Prophet! Radiate upon them the rays of the light of knowledge and wisdom." Because the purpose of this heavenly salat is that God does not like to keep mu'mins in the darkness of ignorance and wants to illumine their hearts with the light of certitude mentioned in verse (33:43).
Taskin (peace, satisfaction) is the last of the wisdoms of this verse and therefore it is a great thing and is a light. That is, it is the appearance of light as a result of the radiation of rays and from which the mu'mins attain peace and satisfaction in many senses:
1. They will thereby be sure that God and the Prophet are true, and that the Qur'an, Islam and the Imam of the time are true, because they have light upon light.
2. By seeing light they will be sure that, praise be to God, that their wealth, body and soul are being purified properly and the signs of the purification of intellect start to appear.
3. Dhikr, `ibadat and every good deed are being accepted in the presence of God.
4. Indeed, this is the wisdom-filled guidance of the Wise Qur'an and the light of Imamat and that this is progress on the right path.
5. In this state, the perplexity of Satanic insinuations and false thoughts will vanish.
6. In this state the hope of eternal salvation necessarily becomes certain.

In the Wise Qur'an it is apparent that the meanings of taharat (purity) are used in both the common and the special sense, for it is used for the purification of both physical and spiritual things, but the meanings of zakat are used only in the special sense, for it is used only for spiritual things. In the Holy Qur'an the different forms of the words taharat and tathir are mentioned in 31 places, whilst those of zakat and tazkiyah are mentioned in 59 places.

A special example of the purification of the Perfect Men is mentioned in verse (3:55): "When Allah said: O `Isa! Verily, I will take you away and raise you up to Me and purify you of those who disbelieve and set those who follow you above those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection." In this Divine teaching there are several ta'wili allusions. Thus the death of Hazrat `Isa which is mentioned here is his spiritual death that occurs to all the Perfect Men in their physical lifetimes and by which the personal Resurrection takes place. In that state the form or forms of the soul of the Perfect Man are raised up to God. The repeated miracle of the raising up of the soul which Hazrat `Izra'il shows is truly amazing and with this event the Perfect Man is purified. In a sense, this means that all the particles of the souls of disbelievers in his personal world die away.

The ta'wili meaning of verses (2:174; 3:77) is that on the Day of Resurrection some people because of their disobedience will be deprived of hearing the speech of God and the vision of His countenance and due to this will not be purified. On the other hand, some will be blessed with hearing His speech and seeing His countenance, by which they will be perfectly purified. This means that the Word of God (kalimah-i bari) is the supreme fountainhead of knowledge and wisdom, and in His vision is hidden the supreme treasure. And it is at this place where the intellect is purified to the ultimate end.

In this material world there are many means of physical cleansing and purification and water plays the most important part in achieving this state for it can be used for washing and it washes many things by its nature. In other words, many things both clean and unclean are dissolved in it. But eventually, as you see for its own purity the ocean has recourse to the light (sun) and it is the light which runs the universal wheel and provides pleasantness, renewal and purity to water. This is an excellent example of the light of knowledge and wisdom which is the final and supreme means of purification of the intellect and knowledge.

Nasir al-Din Nasir,
13th February, 1985.

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