Recognize Your Soul & You will Recognize Your Lord

The scholars, however, said the last meaning is that which has been focused upon the most. Of this statement, 'Understand your nafs, you will understand your Lord,' And that was, understand your soul and purify it, for if you do Tazkia of your nafs, Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala will place his ma'rifah in your heart. This was the most famous interpretation of this hadith. 'Man arafah nafsah.' I understand and look at the vices and impurities that your nafs has. Look at the sins that you commit, look at the carnal desires that your nafs holds that it shouldn't. Gain ma'rifah, i.e. remove them from your heart, then you will be able to gain ma'rifah of Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala. For those that did Taskia tun nafs, those that purified their soul, Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala gave them that ma'rifah. And this was the greatest way to gain ma'rifah.

To understand what are my carnal desires. A person may say, how? How can I see whether my nafs rushes towards haram or not? How can I see whether I'm able to control my carnal desires or not? One way to do so, I'll mention two, one way to do so, is the scholars see, say, see if you are able to control your tongue. When I speak, for example, in conversation with someone and something pops into my mind, and I'm about to do gheebah of someone else, am I able to control my tongue or do I do the gheebah? When I'm angry and I shouldn't say something, but something comes out of my mouth which is inappropriate, am I able to hold it or not? If a person wishes to see whether they are able to control their carnal desires and their nafs, see whether you can to control your tongue.

Secondly, to ensure that you have done Tazkia or you start to do Tazkia of your own soul, always look at your niyyah and intention. That when you came to the Masjid, when you came to the Majlis of Husayn, 'alayhi as-salat wa as-salam, ask yourself the question, 'Why?' Before you enter in, 'Why am I coming here?' Before I pray salah, think about it, 'Why am I doing this?' Before I volunteer in the Husayniyah, think about 'Why I'm doing it.' If you think about your niyyah every time you perform an action, Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala will allow you to purify your niyyah and purify your nafs and let me give you one example.

Sheikh Abbas Qummi Rahmatu Allah 'alayhi, is one of those scholars who was known for his sincerity. Sheikh Abbas Qummi, you all know because you have read and seen Mafatih al-Jinnan, his most famous work on supplication. Sheikh Abbas Qummi at one point in time lived in Mashad and whilst he was living in Mashad, he was invited during Shahr Ramadhan to lead the prayers in the Masjid known as Masjid Gohar Shah, which is part of the shrine of Imam Ali Ibn Musa Al-Ridha, salawatu Allahi wa salaamuhu 'alayhi [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa ali Muhammad]. The Salat of Zohrayn, he was invited to lead Salat Al Zohrayn in the Masjid Gohar Shah, the well-known Masjid in the Shrine. He began leading the prayers of the Zohrayn in Shahr Ramadhan. And we are told that because people heard that Sheikh Abbas is the one that is leading the prayers, Sheikh Abbas Qummi, who is well known for his purity, that many people started attending that Salat Al Jama'ah. A number of people would pray behind him. A number of people would follow him in Salah.

Until after not even 10 days had passed of the 30 days of Shahr Ramadhan, that Sheikh Abbas Qummi says, 'I can't attend the prayers anymore. I can't lead the prayers. Please find someone else.' So no one questioned him and asked him why. They respected his decision, and they found someone else to lead the prayers until someone afterwards met Sheikh Abbas in someone's house, Sheikh Abbas Al Qummi, and they asked him, 'What is the reason that suddenly you stopped leading the prayers?' He says, 'Because on one occasion, I had entered to lead Al-Zorayn, and I was leading the Salat Al-Zohr. And I was in the fourth rak'ah. And as I was in the fourth rak'ah, I was in rukuh and a person had come and he was obviously delayed to the prayers, and what would he do normally when he comes late? He calls out Ya Allah, so that I delay lifting my head up from rukuh so that he can join in my rukuh. If he doesn't join in the rukuh, he has to wait until the next rak'ah, but this is the fourth. So he says, Ya Allah, so I could delay the rukuh so that he can join in the Jama'ah. However, when I heard his Ya Allah, I heard his voice to be very far away. What did this tell me? This told me that this person has just come, but there are so many people that have attended this Jama'ah that he's right at the back of this Masjid.

And so for a split second, something entered into my heart, that Ma'shaAllah, how many people are praying behind Sheikh Abbas Qummi? He said, 'This small amount of happiness entered into my heart that look how many people came to pray behind me. As soon as that small amount entered into my heart,' he said, 'I stopped. I finished Zohr.' If it was someone who was very religious, they would finish Salat Al Asr, then they would leave. Someone else who doesn't care, he would wait and he would love it and he would pray the Salat Al Jama'ah to the rest of his life. If it was someone religious, they pray Asr, then they leave.

Sheikh Abbas Qummi says, 'I didn't even pray Asr. As soon as this entered into my heart, I stopped it right there.' Why? Tazkiat unNafs. I want my Nafs to be pure. I want to do only for Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala. 'And so there and then I told someone behind me, I can't lead the Asr prayers, someone else should come. And straight away I left the Masjid, and from that day, I haven't returned to the Salah, for I realized I am not worthy of leading the Mu'minin and Muslimeen in prayer.'

Tazkiat un-Nafs is this, where I think about my intention. That which I do, I do solely for Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala. And I try to control my carnal desires. From this, I get ma'rifah of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. [Allahuma salli 'ala Muhammad wa ali Muhammad].