One’s Perfection Relies on Four Kinds of Cleanliness

Based on divine knowledge, the prominent Islamic scholars enumerate four kinds of cleanliness in order for man to achieve the position of God’s substitute on the earth: These kinds of cleanliness are:

1) The body cleanliness and neatness in clothing;

2) The cleanliness of each organ of human-being in staying away from getting involved in sins. For instance, your eyes would become nasty if you looked at those whom you are forbidden to have a look on. Your hands would become filthy if you hurt people, and your ears would become unclean if you listened to people’s backbiting; and your tongue would become unclean if you told lies, or cursed others or ridiculed others or accused other people of what they had not committed.

3) The Innate cleanliness against viscous traits. This is because each one of the improper traits inside us is a dirty thing by itself, which hinders man from approaching God.

4) The cleanliness of not disclosing God’s secrets to others:

قَلْبُ الْمُؤْمِنِ حَرَمُ اللهِ وَحَرامٌ عَلى حَرَمِ اللهِ أنْ يَلِجَ فِيهِ غَيْرُ اللهِ.

“The believer’s heart is the God’s sanctuary. It is forbidden for those who do not belong to God to walk in this sacred location.

يا داوُدُ بَشِّرِ الْمُذْنِبِينَ بِأنّي غَفُورٌ، وَأنْذِرِ الصِّدِّقِينَ بِأنّي غَيُورٌ.

All those graces that are attributed to man are not obtainable except in the light of the Prophets’ guidance.

A life, distant from the guidance of the Prophets, would be a hazardous one, indeed. The Holy Qur’an, narrations and supplications have all referred to this issue.

To mention all those hazards is a formidable job indeed. Therefore, this book will not deal with them. However, one example is presented here by Sheikh Bahaiddin Amuli, the great man of science, jurisprudence, philosophy and Gnostics: It is a translation of a text which is prepared to be used after the evening prayer:

O God! Protect me against a person who does not get convinced easily, against those eyes that will not weep, against those hearts that are not humble, against a prayer that is not acceptable to you, against an action that is futile, against a supplication that is not answered. Please, guard me against deplorable events, against calamities, against the enemies’ reproach, against intolerable disasters, and against improper actions. O God! Assist me against poverty, blasphemy, hypocrisy, impatience and mishaps and against a calamity for which I am not sober, against a pain with no remedy, against the domination of others, against my shortcomings vis-à-vis my family members, wealth, religion and my children at the time of death, when I come face to face with the Angel of Death. O God, please protect me against nasty persons, against bad neighbors, against bad companions, against evil events of all sorts.[1]

Man is a tree who potentially possesses all sorts of apparent and hidden fruits. However, man’s history has proved that this tree and its fruits would never develop except under the supervision of the education from the Prophets and Imams (a.s).