Hence, the wisdom behind worship is to purify the heart from...

Hence, the wisdom behind worship is to purify the heart from such deposits and protect it from hardness. Serenity and Sincerity Among the special aims of Itikaf is finding serenity and achieving purity for the remembrance of God and for hearing His calls. Beyond the inner calls of innate nature and reason that summon us from within, there are other continuous calls, the direct call of the Almighty, the call of angels, of divine saints, and even of the beings around us.

To hear these calls, one needs a receptive heart and attentive ears. The Goals of Itikaf Imam Ali (AS), considers the goal of God Almighty for the totality of religion and the mission of the prophets (AS) to be two things: Reforming human understanding and remembrance of God: The Imam (AS) said, “God sent His prophets successively and sent them to His servants to remind them of the covenant of their innate nature, to recall to them forgotten blessings, to complete the argument against them by delivering His commands and guidance, and to uncover for them the hidden treasures of their intellects” .

[3] Reforming intention and behavior: The Imam (AS) also said, “God sent the (S) with the truth … to deliver His servants from the worship of idols to the worship of God, and from the bondage of Satan to the servitude of the Almighty” . [4] The Almighty intends, through religion, to reform the practical aspects of reason, such as will, intention, sincerity, and worship. In reality, the goal of Itikaf is for humans to attain angelic qualities.

During the days of Itikaf, a person is a guest of a Host who declares: “If you wish to draw near to Me, you must become angel-like.” For this reason, fasting, one of the essential acts of Itikaf, is a divine practice. Great jurists such as the late Sahib al-Jawahir and later Sayyid Muhammad Kazim Yazdi stated in discussing recommended fasting: “It is enough to say of the virtue of fasting that it makes a person resemble the angels”.

[5] The Quran describes the angels as: “They are honored servants of God who do not precede Him in speech and act only according to His command” . [6] Likewise, Imam Ali al-Hadi (AS) in Ziyarat al-Jamia used similar words to describe the (AS). [7] Thus, both the angels and the (AS) serve as models for humanity, and all others are invited to adopt their moral qualities.