Fruit of Paradise - Tathir and Tazkiyah Part 2
Tathir and Tazkiyah Part 2
Tags: Taharat, Tathir, Tazkiyah, Shajaratin Tayyibah, Tahur
The purpose of writing about "Tathir and Tazkiyah" is to shed some light on the esoteric aspects of taharat and zakat. The importance of this subject lies in the fact that taharat and zakat are among the seven pillars of Islam. Thus, according to Qur'anic law, the spiritual and intellectual purification is so important that without it there is no success at all for, as God says: "Verily, he who purifies it succeeds and verily, he who buries it (in disobedience) fails." (91:9-10). The main subject matter of Surah 91 is the human soul. In the first seven verses of this wisdom-filled chapter, God swears by eleven exalted things to draw attention to this important subject and then mentions what capacities have been given to the soul. With great vehemence man is made to appreciate that he is responsible for it's purification and this responsibility is in the sense that he should have recourse to the means of tathir and tazkiyah (i.e. the Imam of the time).
In this Surah the way God has sworn by the exalted ranks in the ta'wili wisdom of the sun, the moon, etc. one of them is the soul also, and from this the true grandeur and exaltedness of the soul can be deduced. For in reality, God does not swear by ordinary things and this is therefore an allusion from God to the people to appreciate the real value and position of the soul and to keep it pure.
At night if the sky is not overcast by clouds, the light of the stars is received together by the earth from each of them in spite of the fact that the stars are very far away from each other. Similarly, even though the verses of the Qur'an related to each subject may be scattered throughout it, for the people of insight their wisdom is centred for, in reality, the Holy Qur'an is in accordance with the heavenly system.
According to Divine command, the fountainhead of light is pure not only personally but is also the source and the means of tathir and tazakiyah (cleansing and purification) for others. Thus for a mu'min there is no doubt that the Holy Prophet was light and was pure from birth and similarly, this is also true for his exalted and noble family, namely, Hazrat Mawla `Ali, Hazrat Fatimah-i Zahra, Hazrat Hasan-i Mujtaba, Hazrat Husayn Sayyidu'sh-Shuhada and every Imam of the chain of light. There are many proofs of how the chosen servants of God are pure from birth. It will however, suffice here to mention only two Qur'anic proofs. The first is that Hazrat Zakariyya prayed in the Divine court for a pure dhurriyyat (offspring).
The word dhurriyyat (offspring) is applicable to every link of the chain of the creation of man. Thus Hazrat Zakariyya's prayer implies that he asked God for an offspring that was pure, not only in the loins of the father or the womb of mother, but that he had been infallible and pure even before that. His prayer was: "He said: O Lord! Bestow me with a pure offspring from Your presence." (3:38). And God gave him an infallible and pure son whose lovely name was Yahya (a.s.). The second proof is that the Holy Spirit adopted the form of a Perfect Man and said to Hazrat Maryam: "He said: I am only a messenger (angel) from your Lord, that I may give you a pure son." (19:19). It is clear from this teaching that Hazrat `Isa was infallible and pure not only at the time of his birth but also before that because he had the status of the light of God (61:6-8). Thus these examples justify the claim that the Prophet and the Imam are born infallible and pure, for the light of Prophethood and Imamat is always pure.
Question: From the verse of "Tathir" (33:33), one gets the impression that the ahl-i bayt, namely, Hazrat Muhammad, Hazrat `Ali, Hazrat Fatimah, Hazrat Hasan and Hazrat Husayn were purified during some years of the time of Prophethood and not before that. How can one then accept that they were born pure by their very nature?
Answer: The most fundamental point is to accept that the other Prophets before the Holy Prophet were the mirrors of his attributes. Thus when we see that the Holy Prophet and his ahl-i bayt in the mirror of Hazrat `Isa, we find them infallible and pure from the very beginning. We believe this because according to the Qur'an (33:33) they are together in purity and the Holy Prophet's universal attributes are not only those where he is mentioned as a person in the Holy Qur'an but also in the exalted examples of the other Prophets. Now, according to this wisdom-filled law, let us look at the purification of the ahl-i bayt in the purification of Hazrat `Isa. In the first part of this subject you should have read about the ta'wili wisdom of the purification of Hazrat `Isa (3:55) which only means that all the particles of the souls of unbelievers which had entered his personal world were completely destroyed. This event takes place when the Perfect Man passes through the magnificent wonders of the station of `Izra'il. This shows that the purification of Hazrat `Isa and the ahl-i bayt was not due to any personal impurity of theirs but that it was necessary because of the particles of the souls of the unbelievers. Because the Prophets and the Imams have the status of the House of God, the polytheists have to be expelled from it for they are impure in belief (9:28). From this Qur'anic proof it is clear that the noble ahl-i bayt are pure from birth because they are the chosen servants of God.
The eternal light (33:46) which has been commanded by God to cleanse and purify the people of faith (9:103), has already been made the cleanser (mutahhir) and purifier (muzakki) both externally and internally. In reality, this cleansing and purification is in the form of knowledge and wisdom. Thus God has appointed the light of Imamat as the successor of the light of Prophethood so that it may continue to wash and purify people in the water of light (true knowledge) and this chain of light will never cease. It is in such sublime meanings that it is said that the Divine light will continue to illuminate and that nobody can extinguish it (9:32; 61:8; 57:28).
You should note that the opposite of knowledge (`ilm) is ignorance (jahl). Thus, in the Wise Qur'an just as knowledge has been mentioned so often both directly and in many examples, so also in the same way ignorance has also been mentioned. Thus if knowledge is light, then ignorance is darkness whether this comparison is conceptual or literal; if knowledge is certainty, then ignorance is doubt; if knowledge is Paradise, then ignorance is Hell; if knowledge is guidance, then ignorance is deviation; if knowledge is healing, then ignorance is sickness, and if by hearing, speaking and seeing, knowledge is being alluded to then saying that "they are deaf, dumb and blind" is a condemnation of the ignorant. If the soul and the intellect are cleansed and purified by knowledge, then their impurity and filth lies in ignorance.
In verse (13:29) the word "Tuba" is mentioned and in verse (14:24) the expression "Shajaratin tayyibah" is used. Both mean the pure tree. This is one of the examples of the light of Imamat in that the Imam of the time is the pure tree of knowledge both in this world and the next and the mu'min becomes purified by eating the fruit of this tree. That is, by the teachings and guidance of the pure and holy Imam, the incorrect ideas and concepts of others are washed away from the hearts and minds of mu'mins. Nevertheless, the chain of cleansing and purification is as long as that of teaching and upbringing. For, like a child at school, the action of writing and the cleansing and rewriting on the tablet of the heart continues all the time in order to progress.
In verse (25:48) the water which comes down from heaven is called "tahur" which means "very pure". By this water is meant the knowledge of the Holy Prophet which appears from his Bab (gate), namely, the true Imam. For the rain of knowledge which poured down from the heaven of Prophethood has turned into reservoirs in the mountain of Imamat, just as the worldly mountain stores rain and snow on its exterior and in its interior and preserves them in their original state. Thus, to those who live close to this blessed mountain, this very pure water of religious knowledge is always available to purify the soul and intellect. In verse (76:21) it is said that God will give a pure drink (sharāban tahūrā) to the people of Paradise. As has already been mentioned, by this is meant true knowledge.
Tathir and tazkiyah has many purposes and the supreme one is to make the mu'mins attain the secrets of ma`rifat, which are hidden in the ta'wil of the Wise Qur'an and Qur'anic ta'wil is in the inner rank (light) of the Imam of the time and is called the "Hidden Book" which cannot be touched by the hand of intellect, except by those that have been purified intellectually and in knowledge (56:77-79). Thus the ultimate purpose of all worship and practices is that mu'mins should attain the hidden treasure as a result of the recognition of tawhid (ma`rifat-i tawhid).
In verse (35:10) it is mentioned: "Good words go up to Him and good deed exalts them." This wisdom-filled verse alludes that when the souls and the intellects of mu'mins and their words and deeds have been completely purified they will then reach the higher world and be delighted by seeing its everlasting treasures.
The wisdom-filled verse (16:32) has two aspects, the special and the ordinary. We will explain here the special aspect which is that the Perfect Men are pure and therefore their spiritual progress advances without obstacles and their personal Resurrection (in which a collective Resurrection is hidden) takes place. At this point the angels come and seize their souls whilst they are still alive and the angels converse with them and say: "Peace is upon you; enter the Paradise of spirituality due to your good deeds." (16:32).
Nasir al-Din Nasir Hunzai,
20th February, 1985.
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