Q and A with Maulana on 'Purification of Soul'
Tazkiyah, purification of one’s personality, is a Quranic term. The Quran tells us that tazkiyah, or developing a Quranic personality, is the means for human salvation (91:9-10). Furthermore, according to the Quran (20:76), only those people will be admitted to the world of Paradise who has purified themselves in this world. Therefore, the literal meaning of tazkiyah is ‘purification’. Just as iron ore passes through various challenging stages and finally acquires the shape and form of a helpful machine, a human being’s personality passes through difficult stages and emerges as a purified personality.
Personality development in the Quran is called tazkiyah. What are the problematic stages one must pass to purify and develop one’s personality? A few examples of situations that serve to purify us are: remaining firmly on justice when our ego gets a beating, controlling our anger when provoked, remaining modest when given some position of honour, dousing the flames of revenge within ourselves, converting feelings of hatred into feelings of love and acknowledging others even though we are not compelled to. These are opportunities for developing a purified personality through tazkiyah. This is the process of developing a Quranic personality.