Introspection is a major source of purification known as Tazkiya. Introspection awakens the human mind, it jolts the human personality, and gives the individual the incentive to reform. Introspection in this way leads one to intellectual and spiritual development.
Let us assume that you were provoked and reacted negatively to a hurting remark from someone. Later you became repentant and engaged in introspection about your reaction. Introspection led you to realize that your behaviour would result in making you a negative personality. Such a result would have a deleterious effect in the life after death. In fact it would render one incapable of entering Paradise.
Introspection leads one to intellectual and spiritual development.
You came to realize that the culture of the people of Paradise would be that of peace and positivity; only those would be accommodated there who had the capacity to live together in love and peace. This being so, one who develops a personality which is intolerant, easily provoked and downright unfriendly will be held ineligible to enter Paradise and will be deprived of happiness and success for all eternity. You will become extremely keen to reform yourself such thinking will prove to be revolutionary and you will become your own watchdog.
Thinking born of introspection is the greatest source of purification which can always be achieved by inner self-appraisal, rather than by some external activity.
What are the Means of Attaining Purification?
Traditionally, some things are considered to be the means of attaining tazkiya, such as, supererogatory prayers, recitation of the Quran, prophetic prayers, meditation, companionship, taking lessons from the lives of the ‘saints’, etc. According to this thinking, it is like a fixed course, or something to be learned from a manual. However, the truth is that there is no fixed course for attaining such purification. It can be attained only through a living act.
The real means of attaining the ends of tazkiya is for man to reflect on the signs of God, activate his thinking, and through continuous reflection or pondering, discover the deeper realities of things. This discovery is spiritual food for a person who is a seeker of it.
The culture of the people of Paradise would be that of peace and positivity; only those would be accommodated there who had the capacity to live together in love and peace.
For instance, suppose you see a bird. This reminds you of the saying of the Prophet that the hearts of the people of Paradise will be like the hearts of birds. You later begin to think about yourself—whether your heart is like that of the bird; whether your heart is free of all negative thinking like that of the bird; whether you are free from greed like the bird; whether you are as harmless as a bird; whether you follow the law of nature, just as the bird does. Such thinking is the essence of tazkiya. Without such introspection, no one can attain it.
In its reality, it is an act of spiritually developing one’s own self. In engaging in self-purification, one has to become one’s own teacher to purify oneself. Sitting in the company of another or listening to someone else’s preaching cannot in itself be effective for one who aspires to purification. Initial guidance can be provided by another person, but taking it to completion is a task one must achieve oneself. In the process of attaining purification, if the share of the other person is 1% then one’s own share is 99%.
