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We have read in the first Book that the love of Allah is
the highest aim of a true believer. It is for the achievement
of this single end that he affirms his faith in Him by
renouncing all other types of godhood.
The love of God is not something inert or lifeless; it is
dynamic in the sense that it calls for a complete change in
the life of man: change in his thoughts and ideas and change
in his conduct and behaviour. One who claims to be a believer
in Allah has to make a good deal of effort with a view to
pleasing his: lord. He has to purify his soul from all evil
thoughts and fancies so that the love of God should reside in
it. Unless the soul is purged of all impurities one cannot
achieve salvation. This is known as Tahdrah in Islam, and it
is the foundation-stone of Imin. This high objective of the
purification of the soul requires intentional and deliberate
efforts and a good deal of sacrifice on the part of man, and
the most elementary stage in this sacred path is the
cleanliness of body.
By enjoining cleanliness of body upon man Islam awakens him
to the realisation of the fact that when impurities on the
body of a man produce such unhealtby effects on his physical
being and corrode his mental health, how miserable his life
would be when his soul is polluted with impurities. The
process of the purification of the soul should, therefore,
start with the purification of the body.
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