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There is no Tazkiya without Shariah

Allah سبحانه وتعالى says in the Holy Qur’an:


إِلَّا مَنْ أَتَى اللَّهَ بِقَلْبٍ سَلِيمٍ
Except one who comes to Allah with a sound heart
[Surah al Shuaraa 26:89]

The goal of tazkiya is to return to one’s beginning i.e. as a new-born child, pure and innocent, free from malice, self-conceit and pride. The dunya, however, makes a person’s heart hard and ‘rusty’ and the purpose of tazkiya is to polish the heart and return it to its original state.

The first stage of tazkiya, however, is complete obedience to the laws of the shariah. One can never attain the lofty stages of a clean heart and ihsan without knowledge of the apparent laws. It is imperative therefore for one who treads the path of tazkiya, to learn the masaa’il (rulings) of fiqh (Islamic law) in order to perform his deeds properly and thus progress. One cannot dispense with the shariah when it comes to tazkiya – both go hand-in-hand.


Humbling Ourselves Before Allah

We pray to Allah mornings and evenings, days and nights. After making our own prayers we request each other to remember us in their du’as (supplications). We yearn for the acceptance of our du’as. We have the obvious hope in Allah سبحانه وتعالى that our innermost desires, concerns and fears will be addressed and answered.

We plead with Allah and weep, we bow and prostrate to Allah, we spend so much time praying to Allah. We travel all the way to Makkah and Madinah, to the holy sites, with the intention of making du’a, so that our du’a is accepted by Allah. When people travel and they bring back gifts for us from the holy lands, we plead with them and say we do not wish for anything; the only thing we were hopeful of is that when they were in front of the Ka’ba, in the haram of Makkah, in the haram of Madinah, at these holy sites, that they remembered us in their pious prayers.

In many ahadeeth, Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم has informed us of those things which ensure the acceptance of our prayers. One such thing is humbleness. We learn from the ahadeeth that simplicity, humbleness, humility before Allah سبحانه وتعالى ensure the acceptance of du’a. An example is Hajj; when we travel for Hajj or for Umrah, we are in the state of ihraam. How do we dress before Allah? We humble ourselves; we lower ourselves; we shun and abandon all embellishment, beauty, ornamentation, and beautification. We humble ourselves before Allah سبحانه وتعالى, showing our need of Allah and showing our simplicity before Him. So we put on two simple cloths of ihraam. We are forbidden from clipping our hair, from cleaning ourselves in such a way that we remove our dirt, dust and hair from our bodies. We cannot trim our nails, we cannot clip our hair, we cannot apply fragrance. We forcibly place ourselves in an unkempt state. All of this is designed to humble ourselves before Allah so that our dua’s are accepted in the state of ihraam.

The Power of Du’a

Allah سبحانه وتعالى out of love and compassion and in order to cleanse and purify a person and bring him closer to Him embroils him in tests, trials and tribulations. At such times one must not underestimate the power of du’a (supplication) since it brings out all of the qualities Allah سبحانه وتعالى loves in a person. These include admitting to one’s weakness and helplessness, humbleness, submission and throwing oneself before Him. Also du’a need not be at the time of a major calamity, but even at times of ghum (worry about the past) or hum (worry about the present or future) or after having sinned where one feels the need to repent. When praying salah, a person may not show true humbleness or submission, whereas in du’a even the most sinful of people will sincerely and utterly throw themselves before Allah سبحانه وتعالى.Furthermore, whilst making du’a, one should try to weep and also lavish praise upon Allah سبحانه وتعالى as Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم said,” Nobody loves to be praised more than Allah سبحانه وتعالى and that is why He has praised himself” [Reported by Bukhari].

Thus, when you make du’a praise Him as much as possible.