That is why the Prophet once asked his companions...

That is why the Prophet once asked his companions, “If there is a stream outside your house and you wash yourself in it five time every day, then would any dirt remain on your body?” When the answer was negative, the Prophet said, “Indeed the example of salat is like that flowing stream — whenever one performs a salat, the sins between the two prayers are washed away.”6 In this lesson, we will look at just three aspects of salat which can help us in spiritual training.

(i) Wuzu: Reminder of Spiritual Purity Every Muslim is required to do ritual ablution (wuzu) before salat. Even this simple ablution is a way of reminding us about spiritual purification. When we study the two verses of the Qur’an about ablutions, we see that there are two planes of purification: physical and spiritual.

Although wuzu and ghusl (the major ablution) are related to physical purification, there is a more sublime reason underlying these two ablutions — they serve as a reminder to and gateway of spiritual purification.

In the chapter al-Baqarah, after talking about one of the major ablutions, the Qur’an says: “Surely Allah loves those who oftenly turn to Him, and He also loves those who cleanse themselves.” (2:222) In another verse, after talking about wuzu, the Qur’an says: “Allah does not desire to make any impediment for you; but He desires to cleanse you, & that He may complete His blessings upon you; haply you may be grateful” (5:6) We find two different themes in these verses: First: Allah loves those who cleanse themselves, and that He desires to cleanse us.

Second: He wants to complete His blessings upon us, and that He loves those who oftenly turn towards Him. The first theme is 6 Wasa’ilu ‘sh-Shi’a, vol. 3, p. 7. related to the physical cleanliness, while the second theme is related to the spiritual purity. The words of the first theme are very clear; they refer to cleanliness. But what do the words of the second theme mean? What is the meaning of “oftenly turning to Allah?” Turning to Allah implies that the person had turned away from Allah.

What does this mean? These are the questions which I will discuss below. In the Islamic value system, the human soul is like a light bulb. If the bulb is protected from dust and dirt, it will enlighten the area around it; but if dust and dirt is allowed to accumulate on the bulb, then it will not be able to illuminate the area as much as before.