Point 7: Measuring Spiritual Purification (1)
'Measurement' is not always easy, especially if what is measured is intangible. How can we measure the degree of our Tazkiyah in the path of God? It is easy to think that we are very good, or very bad in terms of Tazkiyah, however this is all very subjective and does not give us any real perspective on our strengths and weaknesses. In fact, we can use some measures in order to assess how "good" we really are in this. Two of these are as follows and Insha'Allah, the next Tazkiyah Point will cover two more:
1. How keen are we in doing our prayers? Do we find our prayers boring or are they enjoyable? What are the things that occupy our minds while we pray? Perhaps, a clue to improving our spirituality is in recognizing these things. The extent to which we enjoy our prayers and look forward to them can be an indication of how much we have managed to purify our soul in the path of God.
2. As Muslims, we know a lot about concepts like trusting in God, leaving things to Him, etc. One of the main points of all worship we do is to be good at these. How do we perform in practice when we come across an apparently worrying or stressful situation? Do our actions indicate that in reality, we do not really believe in someone up there who takes care of things for us, or do they indicate a true belief in a being looking after us? These situations are the best opportunities to look right inside our heart (our spirit), to get an idea of how far we have come in the path of Tazkiyah and to diagnose weaknesses in our beliefs and actions, aiming to do our best to rectify them.
(continued here)
(next Tazkiyah point)
(back to the Tazkiyah points)
'Measurement' is not always easy, especially if what is measured is intangible. How can we measure the degree of our Tazkiyah in the path of God? It is easy to think that we are very good, or very bad in terms of Tazkiyah, however this is all very subjective and does not give us any real perspective on our strengths and weaknesses. In fact, we can use some measures in order to assess how "good" we really are in this. Two of these are as follows and Insha'Allah, the next Tazkiyah Point will cover two more:
1. How keen are we in doing our prayers? Do we find our prayers boring or are they enjoyable? What are the things that occupy our minds while we pray? Perhaps, a clue to improving our spirituality is in recognizing these things. The extent to which we enjoy our prayers and look forward to them can be an indication of how much we have managed to purify our soul in the path of God.
2. As Muslims, we know a lot about concepts like trusting in God, leaving things to Him, etc. One of the main points of all worship we do is to be good at these. How do we perform in practice when we come across an apparently worrying or stressful situation? Do our actions indicate that in reality, we do not really believe in someone up there who takes care of things for us, or do they indicate a true belief in a being looking after us? These situations are the best opportunities to look right inside our heart (our spirit), to get an idea of how far we have come in the path of Tazkiyah and to diagnose weaknesses in our beliefs and actions, aiming to do our best to rectify them.
(continued here)
(next Tazkiyah point)
(back to the Tazkiyah points)