AN-NADHAFA (CLEANLINESS) - Part 1

Islam highly emphasises on cleanliness.If we refer to the Holy Qur’an and prophetic narrations, we will find a lot of importance has been given to cleanliness.

“Verily Allah loves those who repent and loves those who purify themselves”

                                                                                              (2:222)

The holy prophet (saw) has said:

“Cleanliness is the sign of Imaan (faith)”

According to another riwayah,

“Cleanliness is half of Imaan (faith)”

Good health of a person depends upon his clean ways of living and this is one of the reasons why the Islamic law has guided us with detailed rules of Taharah (cleanliness).

CLEANLINESS OF BODY

14 centuries ago when ignorance prevailed over humanity and water was scarce paricularly in the deserts of Arabia – the birth place of Islam –It was Islam, under the guidance of the holy prophet (saw) and his Ahlul-bayt (as) which taught the use of water for cleaning different parts of the human body.It was because of the teachings of Islam that Muslims built and ran public hammam baths in every town and city.In 12^th century AD, baghdad in Iraq had some 500 baths and cairo in Egypt boasted 1170 baths.

Imam Ali (as) has said:

“Bath house is a good place.Its heat reminds man of the fire of the wrath of Allah and it also removes the dirt of the body”.

CLEANLINESS OF DRESS

Islam recommends Muslims to wear the best and cleanest clothes.The holy prophet (saw) has said,

“Whoever wears clothes should always keep it clean and pure.Among your dresses none are better than white.You should choose white clothes for wearing”.

Imam Ja’ffar as-Sadiq (as) has said,

“Clean and tidy dress humiliates ones enemies and the washing of clothes removes grief”.

With clean clothes, Islam also recommends wearing of perfume and more so, when going to the mosque.Imam Ali ar-Ridha (as) has said:

“It was the akhlaq (manner) of the prophets to wear perfume”.

He (as) also said that,

“The place of Ja’ffar as-Sadiq (as) was known in the mosque from the fragrance of his perfume….”

                                                                                    To be continued..

ALL PRAISE IS DUE TO ALLAH (SWT)

Prophet Suleiman (as) was the son of Prophet Dawood (as).He was the only prophet who was granted with a huge and vast kingdom on this earth.The Almighty Allah had given him control over the wind and deputed the jinns and men to serve him under his command and birds were made subservient to him so that they could shelter him under the shade of their wings.Allah (SWT) taught Prophet Suleiman (as) the language of the birds and granted him with extra ordinary power of perception and intellegence.With all these, he had assumed a unique position.

Once Prophet Suleiman (as) was on his carpet flying in the air, when he saw on the way a villager walking with his shovels on his back.As the villager heard the zooming sound of the carpet in the air, he looked up and said, “Subhanallah (praise be to Allah) what a great kingdom this is which Allah has bestowed to Suleiman!”.

When Prophet Suleiman (as) heard this, he ordered the air to descend him.He landed on the ground and asked the villager about what he had just said.The villager stood respectfully and repeated his words.Thereupon,Prophet Suleiman (as) said: “Whoever says with full conviction SUBHAANALLAH once only, it is better than the whole kingdom of the son of Dawood”.

What Prophet Suleiman (as) implied is that his entire kingdom is nothing but a special favour of Allah (SWT) to him.He alone can give and He therefore alone is worth praising.

Released by:
Mulla Mujaheedali Sheriff

mulla@almahdi.org.uk