Purity of Heart – By Wasequzzaman Mubashshir
“HAST THOU ever considered [the kind of man] who gives the lie to all moral law? Behold, it is this [kind of man] that thrusts the orphan away, and feels no urge to feed the needy. Woe, then, unto those praying ones whose hearts from their prayer are remote – those who want only to be seen and praised, and, withal, deny all assistance [to their fellow-men]!” – Sura Al-Ma’un : 1-7(Muhammad Asad’s translation)
How much a person is obedient to his Creator it depends upon how much he is pure in his heart. The purer a person is in his heart the nearer he is to God. The term ‘purity of heart’ includes both a person’s cleanliness in his words, thinking and conduct. Whether a person is clean in his thinking and attitude it can be well understood if the essence of spiritualism is inherent in his heart.
It is expected from the person who says his prayer regularly that he will be honest enough in every possible way and softness will be inherent in his attitude. But when he says his prayer only for showing off and acquiring praise from others then whatever good deed he performs it does not carry any value in the eyes of the All Powerful.
Religion is there to ensure such purity of heart and same thing is true in case of each and every religion. But the proper implementation of religious principles in personal life is a must. Only hankering after material benefit cannot make a person wise. It’s not something wrong to have desire for material gain but there must be a limit as religion suggests. If practice of spirituality and working hard for earning livelihood move concurrently then surely a person is going to be enlightened.
A quality education has a significant role for ensuring purity of words and deeds of the learners. How can a nation be enlightened if the condition of the educational system is poor? Without a better educational system no nation can proceed smoothly and reach the highest point of success. According to the prominent Turkish Islamic Scholar Fethullah Gulen, an education system is one that raises generations with both good ethics and all kinds of modern skills and capabilities. His idea of education focuses on combining good morality with science in education. Moreover, he also believes that education is for seeking knowledge and developing good, moral character with competence in modern sciences in an effort to raise good human beings irrespective of race, religion and ethnicity.
The Most Compassionate has ordered His servants to beautify the worldly life in accordance with the guidance provided in His Divine Revelation. What the reward will be of a single person in the Hereafter it completely depends upon how a person has led his worldly life and how much honest he was in his mundane affairs. So, the first importance lies upon the mundane affairs and it will be a great mistake if concentration is only given upon the Afterlife excluding the worldly one. Therefore, if a person leads his worldly life honestly and with sincerity and keeping spirituality in his heart and also has firm faith upon the Next Life he will be deemed to have performed his duties property in accordance with the Will of God. The Almighty also expects that His servants treat both the worldly life and the Afterlife with equal importance.
The entire world has become highly concerned with human rights but often they miss to highlight the point of spiritualism. Without spiritualism and purity of heart it can never be possible to act as a protector of human rights even if there is a well-entrenched law and a powerful administration. It is very easy to advise others but it is very difficult to implement a principle. In order for accurate implementation of a principle there must be existence of a number of principled men. Without such existence no mission can be fruitful.
The best human being in the world, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has emphasized upon maintaining the purity of heart in a beautiful manner- “Verily God does not look at your appearance or wealth rather He looks at your heart and deeds” (Sahih Muslim). This single sentence is sufficient to realize what carries the real value in the eye of God, our appearance or what is going on in the heart.
“[And give] unto [such of] the needy who, being wholly wrapped up in God’s cause, are unable to go about the earth [in search of livelihood].He who is unaware [of their condition] might think that they are wealthy, because they abstain [from begging]; [but] thou canst recognize them by their special mark: they do not beg of men with importunity. And whatever good you may spend [on them], verily, God knows it all. (Al Quran, 2:273)”- What a beautiful saying by the Most Merciful! But without being concerned of the altruistic dimension of the Quran most of the Muslims firstly become divided into several groups having separate ideologies like Arabism, Wahabism, Talibanism or Khomeneism and then start quarrelling based on very silly affairs.
A person with a pure heart abides by the principles of social justice and altruism and he dedicates himself as a friend of humanity. When a person is pure in his words and deeds automatically he will become optimistic and start to think to work for the betterment of the Rohingyas in Arakan, the Uyghur Muslims who often fall victim of violence and the underprivileged and war afflicted Muslims in Syria and Palestine. In other words when there is purity of heart there will be altruism and optimistic outlook and surely there will be service to humanity. But unfortunately such kind person with noble personality is hardly found in the world even in the Muslim communities. How could the Muslims be able to concentrate on lending helping hands to the deprived where they themselves have got divided into several groups, lost unity and continuously argue on any simple ruling of Islam or regarding any Hadith?
Every human being deserves to stay in a society free from all kinds of violence and where everyone is treated with equality and justice. But to build up such kind of society where justice always prevails is not an easy task. Every person should keep dreams in his mind as it has been said by A P J Abdul Kalam in his book ‘Ignited Minds’ that “every person should have dreams. Because if there are no dreams there will be no revolutionary thoughts and if there are no thoughts, no actions will emanate.” But the dreamer must try hard and soul for the implementation of his long cherished desires. Obviously success will come if he tries his best upholding the purity of his heart.
The writer is studying Law at Eastern University.