Way To Allah (Guide)

[35] Purify The Soul

              {Dua for Purification}

Arabic:
اللَّهُمَّ آتِ نَفْسِي تَقْوَاهَا وَزَكِّهَا أَنْتَ خَيْرُ مَنْ زَكَّاهَا أَنْتَ
وَلِيُّهَا وَ مَوْلَاهَا

Roman English Script:
Allāhumma Āti Nafsī Taqwāhā wa Zakkihā Anta Khayru man Zakkāhā Anta Waliyyuhā wa Mawlāhā

English Translation:
O Allah, grant my soul its piety and purify it, You are the Best to purify it, You are its Guardian and Master.

{Note}

قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن زَكَّاهَا
وَقَدْ خَابَ مَن دَسَّاهَا

“Indeed he succeeds who purifies his ownself, And indeed he fails who corrupts his ownself.” (91:9-10)

POINTS OF BENEFIT

We will not enter Jannah unless we purify ourselves. If we do not purify ourselves with good deeds and obedience to Allah azza wa jal, we will be purified in the hereafter. There are some among mankind that are so filthy that the hell-fire cannot purify them and they will remain therein forever. May Allah protect us from such an end.
Jannah is the reward for purification. Allah ta’ala says, “Everlasting Gardens, under which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever: such is the reward of those who purify themselves.” (20:76) The dwellers of Jannah are told, “Tibtum“, “you have done good” (39:74), meaning you’ve become Tayyib, clean and pure.The scholars state that purification of the soul is by obedience to Allah ta’ala and good deeds by way of useful knowledge. Ibnul Jawzi rahimahullah defined it as, “cleaning it [the soul] from sinfulness and rectifying it by obedience.
Tazkiyah is one of the aims of the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam. Allah ta’ala says, “He it is Who sent among the unlettered ones a Messenger from among themselves, reciting to them His Verses, purifying them (yuzakeehim), and teaching them the Book and the Wisdom. And verily, they had been before in manifest error.” (62:2)Ibrahim alayhi salaam and Isma’eel alayhi salaam made duaa to Allah to send to their progeny a Messenger that will purify his followers. “Our Lord! Send amongst them a Messenger of their own, who shall recite unto them Your Verses and instruct them in the Book  and the Wisdom, and purify them. Verily! You are the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.” (2:129)In each of the ayaat that mention this description of the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam (reciting the verses, purifying them, teaching the Book and the Wisdom), the act of purifying comes before teaching, except in the duaa of Ibrahim and Isma’eel. We learn from this that good manners and purification of the soul come before seeking knowledge.
Tazkiyah was an aim of all of the Prophets. Allah azza wa jal commanded Musa alayhi salaam, “And say to him [Fir’awn], ‘Would you [be willing to] purify yourself.” (79:18)
Tazkiyah is an aim of da’wah. Allah ta’ala informs the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam in surah Abasa regarding the leaders of the Quraysh, “And not upon you [is any blame] if he will not be purified.” (80:7)
Tazkiyah is the cause of success. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala ties success and failure to purification of the soul in Surah ash-Shams. “Indeed he succeeds who purifies his own self, And indeed he fails who corrupts his ownself.” (91:9-10) The word for success here is falaah which gives the meaning of striving and enduring with hardship to reach success. Falaah is not by luck, rather it is by putting in the effort and struggling. We learn from this that purification of the soul is a struggle and needs continuous effort from the believer to reach success.
The one who does not purify his soul has ruined it. Allah ta’ala uses the word dassaahaa, “he corrupted it” to describe the one who does not purify his soul in surah ash-Shams. This word has two linguistic meanings. The first one is to bury something in the dirt or mud. The ultimate end of burying something that is alive is destruction, so dassaahaa means the one who hides it, the one who destroys it, the one who corrupts and dirties it. Also, we can derive from this meaning that the person who does this to his soul does not seek to purify it because when something is not cleaned, it will become dirty on its own. The second linguistic meaning is to corrupt, spoil and ruin something so dassaahaameans the one who ruined it, spoiled it, by committing acts of disobedience.
Tazkiyah is only through the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam. Allah ta’ala said that he is the one who purifies his followers (62:2). We will never reach purification without the guidance of the Prophet alayhi salaatu wa salaam and following his sunnah.
Tazkiyah is like hidaayah (guidance). It is a blessing that is from Allah alone. He guides and purifies whomsoever He wills. Allah ta’ala says, “And if not for the favor of Allah upon you and His mercy, not one of you would have been pure, ever, but Allah purifies whom He wills, and Allah is Hearing and Knowing.” (24:21)If tazkiyah comes from Allah ta’ala then we must pray to Allah, asking Him to grant us tazkiyah–by memorizing the duaa that the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam taught us, we are following a sunnah of the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam as well as seeking a means to tazkiyah by asking Allah to purify us.
No one can claim purification of their own souls. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala addresses mankind, “Have you not seen those who claim themselves to be pure? Rather, Allāh purifies whom He wills.”(4:49)Allah prohibits us from claiming ourselves to be purified. He says, “So ascribe not purity to yourselves. He knows best him who fears Allah and keeps his duty to Him.”(53:32) In this ayah, we see the connection of tazkiyah and taqwa like the duaa. We learn from this that if one had taqwa of Allah, they would not claim themselves to be pure, and that tazkiyah leads to taqwa of the soul.