Islam Guidance

(i) Wudhu: Reminder of Spiritual Purity

(i) Wudhu: Reminder of Spiritual Purity

 Every Muslim is required to do ritual ablution (wuzÅ«) before salāt. Even this simple ablution is a way of reminding us about spiritual purification. When we study the two verses of the Qur'ān about ablutions, we see that there are two planes of purification: physical and spiritual. Although wudhu and ghusl (the major ablution) are related to physical purification, there is a more sublime reason underlying these two ablutions — they serve as a reminder to and gateway of spiritual purification.

 In the chapter al-Baqarah, after talking about one of the major ablutions, the Qur'an says:

 “Surely Allah loves those who oftenly turn to Him,

and He also loves those who cleanse themselves.” (2:222)

 In another verse, after talking about wudhu, the Qur'ān says:

 “Allah does not desire to make any impediment for you;

but He desires to cleanse you,

& that He may complete His blessings upon you;

haply you may be grateful.” (5:6)

 We find two different themes in these verses: First: Allāh loves those who cleanse themselves, and that He desires to cleanse us. Second: He wants to complete His blessings upon us, and that He loves those who oftenly turn towards Him. The first theme is related to the physical cleanliness, while the second theme is related to the spiritual purity.

 The words of the first theme are very clear; they refer to cleanliness. But what do the words of the second theme mean? What is the meaning of “oftenly turning to Allah?” Turning to Allah implies that the person had turned away from Allah. What does this mean? These are the questions which I will discuss below.

 In the Islamic value system, the human soul is like a light bulb. If the bulb is protected from dust and dirt, it will enlighten the area around it; but if dust and dirt is allowed to accumulate on the bulb, then it will not be able to illuminate the area as much as before. Similarly, the human soul has to be protected from spiritual `dirt' and uncleanliness, otherwise it will not be able to guide the person as rightly as before.

 After swearing by the most majestic signs of His creation, Allah says in chapter 91, verses 1-10 that the pure human soul has the ability to understand what is right and what is wrong provided it is purified and uncorrupted. He makes it clear that the soul, just like the body, is capable of becoming spiritually impure and unclean. Imam ‘Ali (a.s.) has said, “The human soul is a precious jewel; whoever protects it, enhances its (effectiveness), and whosoever degrades it, decreases its (effectiveness).”

 The impurities that can corrupt a human soul are collectively known as “sins”. Accumulation of sins can indeed render the human soul spiritually ineffective and, in Qur'anic expression, `seize the heart'. Allah says, “Whatever (sins) they have committed has seized their heart.” (83:14) By committing sins, not only is the soul of a Muslim seized but he also spiritually turns away from Allah. Sins create a distance between God and man.

 Can a person rescue his soul from the seizing of the sins? Can a sinner spiritually get closer to God? Yes, indeed, a sinful person can spiritually return to Allah. Returning to Allah means repenting and asking forgiveness for your sins. Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (a.s.) has explained this phenomenon as follows: “Each believer has a bright soul. When he commits a sin, a dark dot appears on his bright soul. If he repents, the dark dot will disappear. But if he persists in his sins, the darkness will increase until it covers the entire soul—then the person would never return towards goodness.”[25]

 Just as our bodies can become impure by the physical things, our souls can become impure by sins. To rid our bodies of the physical dirt, we use water; similarly, to rid our souls of the spiritual impurities, we use tawbah (repentance). In short, the human soul is corruptible; it is corrupted by sins; the corrupted soul can be purified by tawbah.

 After talking about ritual ablutions which are done by water, Allah says that “He loves those who do tawbah”. By this He is drawing our attention to the spiritual purification. So with this insight into the Qur'anic verses, whenever a Muslim does the ritual ablution, he also remembers the spiritual purification which is even more important than the physical purification.

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