The contemplation and the purification (tazkiyyah) of heart

1. The contemplation and the purification (tazkiyyah) of heart By ZULKIFLI KHAIR

2. “No wonder, then, that the age came to a disastrous end characterized by a spate of suicides after all that chaos and corruption of souls and the sharp rise in the rate of physical and psychological diseases. In recent years, however, medical scientists have come around to admitting the necessity of recognizing certain clear psychological factors that deeply affect the human body such as exhaustion, nervous tension and violent crises.

3. Modern medicine recognizes various trends including the materialistic unilateral view which accepts the body only, and the dichotomous view which does not deny the existence of two factors: the body and the soul as an integrated unit which is the human being or, more accurately, the ‘person’. In every day life, body and soul are closely related. Physical stimuli become psychological responses and vice versa.

4. All mental faculties including consciousness, attention, telepathy, perception, reasoning, judgment, consideration, understanding, memory, resolutions, decision-making, behaviour, concepts, emotions, desires, passion, feelings, etc., are physically based at least in terms of the good condition of the brain and glands and the effects on the mind of the environment, circumstances, nutrition, narcotics and liquors, which cause changes in mental behaviour. By the same token, psychological factors clearly affect the body especially with relation to heartbeats, blood pressure, metabolism, shivering, hair standing on end, secretions, fainting, shyness, paleness, etc.” (Dr. Mehdi Ben Abboud)

5. The supremacy of heart (1) • Hadith: “Surely there is in the body a small piece of flesh; if it is good, the whole body is good, and if it is corrupted, the whole body is corrupted, and that is surely the heart.” (Prophet Muhammad as recorded by al-Bukhari) Here, the word heart is not referred to the physiopsychological aspect of heart. • Heart has ‘the power of choice’ to choose either good or bad acts, however man need to seek help of God for the right and truth choice in his life.

6. The supremacy of heart (2) • Quran: “Then inspired it with its [instincts of] evil and piety.” (asy-Syams,91: 8) The word ilham denotes ‘to cast into the heart’. • Whenever the Prophet Muhammad recited the verses (91: 7-8) under comment would stop and recite the following supplication aloud: “O Allah! Give my soul its good. You are its Guardian and Master, and the best to purify it.” (Look at http://www.classicalislamgroup.co.uk/library/index.php?view=tafseer/s91-v1to15-6)

7. “Truly he succeeds who purifies it, and he fails who corrupts it!” (Asy-Syams, 91: 9-10) “O my Lord, grant my inner-soul piety and purify it, for You are the best Purifier, You are its Guardian and its Master.” (Prophet Muhammad as recorded by Ahmad)

8. Purifying heart from…. • Syirk - assigning partners to Allah in whatever form it may take; e.g. polytheism, atheism, worshipping grave, believe that human matches the quality of God etc. • Kufr - doing evil acts and behaviours (against the Islamic law). • Nifaq – doing hypocrisy acts and behaviours. • Any poisons of heart – eating too much, bad companions etc (refer al-Ghazali).

9. Depth of Contemplation (1) Malik proposed his psychospiritual through his approach of contemplation (muraqabah), a method to purify the heart. Depth of Contemplation = F (C+K+Q+…) “F represents faith measurable by identical units that increase or decrease according to the circumstances of the contemplator. C represents the ability to concentrate, K is knowledge of the object under contemplation, and the symbol Q represents the quality of the object.

10. Depth of Contemplation (2) The equation tries to show that as the faith increases the depth of contemplation will also increase. If, however, factors besides faith increase, they will have a limited additive effect on contemplation resulting from the difference between adding figures versus multiplying them. When F is zero (total disbelief), the other factors will be worthless no matter how large, as multiplying them by a zero would result in a zero.” (Reviewed by Amber Haque)

11. Islamic counseling – methods of treatment (1) • Note: According to Muhammad ‘Abd al-Fatah al-Muhdi, adapted by Siti Zalikha Mohd. Nor (2002). • Repentant (taubat). • Correct the perception and understanding. • Faith (iman). • Pray. • Pay zakat. • Fast. • Performing hajj.

12. Islamic counseling – methods of treatment (2) • Reciting the Quran. • Practicing zikrullah (remembrance Allah) • Making du’a. • Patience. • Doing good deeds. • Practicing special zikrullah (jampi). • Staying in the masjid (i’tikaf).

13. It begins with heart! (1) • Performing pray is only happened after existing of faith in the heart. • Performing pray does not solving the sadness problem since there is a misinterpretation about God and life (corrupted mind and heart). • Ibn Qayyim’s 15 solutions on sadness, grief, and depression; 10/15 are dealt with the internal or spiritual side of man (including the correct knowledge and perception). • The purification of heart needs useful knowledge, discipline, and faith.

14. “On the other hand I also found many of my colleagues unable to help clients with marital problems because of their ignorance about Islamic family law and the Islamic teachings concerning sex, inheritance, divorce, and the custody and guardianship of children. This Islamic knowledge is vital particularly to women who greatly outnumber men in seeking the help of therapists. In our modern Islamic countries, women are generally deprived from their rights because of their ignorance about these rights. They may seek the help of a psychotherapist because they developed unwarranted guilt and anxiety as a result of their failure to cope with the unjust demands that men level against them. For example, many women develop serious anxiety and guilt because after their fulltime overwork in their offices they find themselves compelled to meet the uncompromising demands of their husbands. These good Muslim women are unaware that cooking, washing and other domestic chores are not required from them according to Islamic jurisprudence. They can volunteer to do them if they wish, but it is not Islamically mandatory.” (Malik Badri)

15. It begins with heart! (2) • The different between Western modern psychology and Islamic psychology is on different belief in heart, the foundation of psychology itself. • The Western modern psychology opposes the revealed knowledge, the spiritual aspect of man etc. thus produce 2 major metaphors in social sciences: • Man as God. • Man as machine.

17. Major field of psychology: behaviourism, humanism, psychoanalysis, cognitive, biopsychology/neuroscience etc. • Their foundations are against Islamic philosophy and tauhid. • “Much of our psychology is based on studies of American college students, rats, pigeons, and mentally abnormal groups.. It must be clear that this is not sufficient as a basis for a science claiming universal status.” (Eysenck) • Question: Analyse their philosophy, strength, and weakness according to the Islamic perspective.

18. The Atheism of Psychoanalysis • Freud: Religion as illusion, a universal neurosis (religious rituals = obsessive compulsive system of patients); limit the free exercise of intelligence; God as false delusion. • “Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires.” (Freud, 1932)