Purification of the Soul

The Muslims are not like anyone else. When they adhere to their religion, they are at the forefront in worldly affairs too, but when they forsake their religion and neglect it, they end up tailing behind others. The Muslims’ religion motivates them to advance, and they fall behind when they fall away from their religion.

Allah loves to be asked, and He encourages that in all things. He is angry with the one who does not ask of Him and He encourages His slaves to ask of Him.

Allah has named Himself Ar-Rahmaan and Ar-Raheem, so he is the Most Merciful of this world and the Hereafter (i.e. Ar-Rahmaan) and the bestower and giver of mercy (i.e. Raheem). This is why He has commanded it in every place and in every situation. So every action that is void of mercy, then there is no blessing in it, nor any good. And the servants of Allah showing mercy towards one another is a cause for Allah sending His mercy down on them.

This article is a commentry on the hadeeth regrading the levels of changing evil.

Generosity is a characteristic of the Muslim, and kindness is his disposition. The Muslim should not be miserly and stingy, for these are two reprehensible traits whose presence spoils the soul and darkens the heart. The Muslim's faith and righteous deeds purify and radiate his heart, so being stingy and miserly negates the purity of the soul, and the light of the heart. So a Muslim is not miserly or stingy.

The Muslim is merciful, for mercy is one of the traits of a Muslim, since it is the source of a pure soul and spirit. By being kind, doing righteous deeds, staying away from evil, and shunning corruption, the Muslim's soul abides in purity and his spirit remains in goodness. Since this is the case, then mercy would never separate from his heart at all. It is for this reason that the Muslim loves mercy, he spreads and encourages it and calls others to it.

The Muslim considers justice in its general context to be one of the most obligatory and necessary obligations, since Allah commanded it in His saying...

"Verily, Allah enjoins justice, and doing good, and giving (help) to kith and kin." (16:90).

The Muslim does not consider Ihsan - meaning to do things in the best possible manner - to be merely a virtuous trait that beautifies character. Rather he considers Ihsan to be part of his creed and a major part of his Islam, since the religion of Islam is founded upon three matters: faith, Islam and Ihsan.

A Muslim does not see reliance upon Allah in his deeds as merely a necessity, rather he sees it as a religious obligation, being among the elements of the Islamic creed, since Allah the Almighty has ordered it.