In The Name of Allah The Beneficent The Merciful

TASAWWAF

The meaning of the word Tasawwuf is derived from Tasfya: the cleansing of the heart from undesirable qualities such as the love of this world (hub-e-dunya), arrogance (takabur), affectation (rya), hypocrisy (nifaq), jealousy (hasad), malice (bughz) etc.; and the acquisition of desirable qualities such as faith (iman), piety (taqwa), sincerity in actions (ikhlaas), trust in Allah (tawakkul), contentment (qana'at), perseverance (sabr), thankfulness (shukr), humility (tawaz'o), fear of Allah (khashiat) etc. in the heart. In the words of the Holy Quran, this state of the heart is called Tazkiya.

Allah has endowed man with two hidden forces. One of them persuades him towards the obedience of Allah, and the other continues to encourage him to disobey Allah AlMighty. The purpose of Tazkiya or Tasfya is make the force of righteousness dominant, and weaken the force of wickedness so as to undermine it. The force of righteousness has been called ruh, and the force of wickedness is called nafs. These two forces contend till the very moment of death, which is why the effort for Tazkiya is also needed up till the time of death. The Rank of Quests (Shajra-tul-Murad) attempts to summarize Tasawwuf. May Allah endow with its understanding me, the associated brethren, and all Muslims brothers.