Cleanliness is part of faith Saturday, 13 August 2011 03:04

By Ramzi Al Saeed

Human being always strives for perfection and seeks physical and psychological improvement. His future with Allah is connected with the level he reaches in his progress. If he meets death while he is at the top, he would be considered among the owners of paradise. But if he meets his death while he is at the bottom, he would be dealt with likewise. If anyone lives a dirty life, he will be resurrected likewise. Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) said that the person who is keen on the purity of his body, face and other parts of the body, will be resurrected in such a condition that his face, eyes, body and other parts of body will be clean.

So what about a person, who is fasting, goes to the mosque maintaining hygiene so as to appear in front of the people? The prophetic tradition teaches us that cleanliness is part of faith (iman). Hence, the health of body and its cleanliness have deeper effects on the purity of soul, and makes human being bear the life’s burden. The righteous Muslim, even though he is mostly clean and healthy due to abstaining from prohibited and harmful things, and avoiding bad and stressful habits, so he could work hard in order to gain more power for his body. As a result, he maintains the cleanliness of his body and the beauty of its structure. Hence, he is like as Islam has instructed by maintaining hygiene during frequent intervals, and that is in compliance with the prophetic tradition, which has urged complete bath and perfumes.

The concern of Islam regarding the cleanliness of mouth is that it makes Prophet (pbuh) to say that if it was not difficult for my Ummah, then “I would have ordered them to brush at the time of every prayer.” Once Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) was questioned about what Mohammad (pbuh) did start with, when he entered the home, she said, brushing teeth.

But it is sad to see our Muslim fellows ignoring these aspects, despite this being the heart of Islam. These Muslims don’t care about what is said about cleaning their mouth, bodies and dress. But you will rather see them filling mosques and other gatherings of dikr and lessons and their bad smell disturbs their fellow Muslims and alienates angels who surround these blessed places. It is interesting that they listen and repeat the tradition of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) about a person who ate garlic or onion should not come near our mosque, so others don’t get disturbed by the smell of his mouth like angels and people.

So, a righteous person always takes care of his dress. That is the reason that you will see him in a good and beautiful shape, and he does not exaggerate in these things. But rather, he always checks himself before coming to the people, so looks beautiful to them, as Muhammad (pbuh) did for his companions apart from his family members.

Islam has always wanted its followers to be clean and hygienic, and never likes disturbing scenes. If a person ignores keeping clean by claiming that it is part of asceticism and humility, then it is not part of Islam. Because, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), who is the leader of all ascetics and the humble, used to wear beautiful dresses, and beautify himself for his family and companions. He saw in this beautification and good grooming, demonstration of Allah`s grace upon him. Because, Allah wantd to see the impact of his grace on his servant.

Islam recommends human being to be good-looking, in good shape. This characteristic has been attached with the ethics of prayers, while going to mosque, meeting family members and friends, which in return spreads love and acceptance among the people. Because, this type of elegance is not an exaggeration. Beautifying the body after beautifying the inner part of body is one of the Islamic teachings, sought by the sons of high status and beautiful structure.

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