my faith
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ISLAM
100
Cleanliness
A believer is a clean person. First of all faith
cleanses his soul. Consequently his appearance
becomes pure as well. His religious thinking makes him
a person who loves cleanliness. A believer performs his
ablutions before praying five times a day by washing
his face, hands and feet. He takes a bath daily to puri-
fy his body. His clothes may be simple, but he always
likes to wear well laundered clothes. Along with this he
likes to keep his home clean. Therefore, he cleans his
home daily and keeps all his things in their proper
places. All these duties become part of his daily life.
A believer does not rest content until he has set all
things right, from his body to his home. This taste for
cleanliness is not limited only to his home and body. It
also extends outside his home to his neighbours. He
begins to want his whole environment to be clean,
wherever he stays. So he takes special care to see that
he and his family members do not defile their sur-
roundings. This training he gives to others as well. Thus
he is not satisfied until and unless he has succeeded in
bringing into existence a clean atmosphere all around.
For a common person cleanliness is only cleanliness.
But for a believer, cleanliness, besides being simply
cleanliness is also an act of worship, for he knows that
Allah likes clean and pure persons.
Furthermore, the faith of the believer is a guarantee
that when he has cleaned his body his soul is likewise
cleaned. That is why at the moment of washing himself
clean, he utters these words in prayer, “
Oh Allah, puri-
fy my inner self along with my outer body
.” In this way,
the earnest prayer makes his soul clean too, like his
body.
Salah
Side by side with looking after his bodily needs, man has
the need to keep his
Iman
(faith) alive and to strengthen it.
He must strive to preserve and develop his innate good-
ness. Quite clearly, it is not enough for you to say, "
I
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