The most desirable thing in Islam is the purification of the individual. In other words, the intellectual or spiritual development of the individual is in accordance with God’s creation plan. Understanding and following the Quran and Hadith are the means for such intellectual or spiritual development. The more one contemplates these sources, the stronger one’s intellectual foundations for inner spiritual purification become. We must remember a ‘psychological aspect’ of purification or intellectual development. The Prophet said that every child is born according to nature. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 1292) Then he gets conditioned in the environment he lives in. There are different kinds of pressures in the environment which influence his personality. In modern terms, this influence is called conditioning. In time, this conditioning can be so intense as to suppress a man’s true personality. He then deviates from the original nature that he is born with. However, man possesses willpower. His independent willpower is a part of his personality even after superficial conditioning. That is why it is always possible for a man to de-condition and return to the original nature he was born with. The Quran uses the word Tazkiyah, purification of the self, to refer to this process of intellectual and spiritual development. One removes the superficial conditioning to reveal man’s true nature through tazkiyah, purification. The Quran gives the good news that “Paradise is for those who purify themselves”. (20:76)