The word · The heart
التَّزْكِيَة
Tazkiyah
The purification of the self: the work of clearing the heart of what spoils it.
Also written · Tazkiya · Tazkiah · Tazkiyat al-nafs · Tazkiyah al-nafs · Tazkiat · Tazkiyya · Purification of the soul · Spiritual purification · Self-purification · Inner work · Islamic spirituality · Tarbiyah
The meaning
What Tazkiyah means in Islam
The Qur'an says the one who purifies the soul has succeeded (Qur'an 91:9), and lists purifying people among the tasks the Prophet peace be upon him was sent with (Qur'an 62:2). The subject covers both halves of the job: removing what is blameworthy, such as envy and arrogance, and planting what is praiseworthy, such as sincerity and gratitude. It is a discipline with a syllabus, not a mood, and it belongs to every Muslim rather than to one group.
Evidence · Qur’an · Stated directly in the Qur’an
Read beside it
Rooms that name it
Words that sit beside it
- QalbThe heart: in the Qur'an the seat of understanding and intention, not the organ alone.القَلْب
- AkhlaqCharacter: the settled dispositions a person acts from before they have time to think.الأَخْلَاق
- TasawwufThe Islamic tradition of inner purification, called Sufism in English, and read very differently by different scholars.التَّصَوُّف
- MujahadahThe struggle against your own self: making yourself do the right thing when you do not want to.المُجَاهَدَة
More from The heart
- 'AfwPardon: dropping a wrong you are owed, without the other person having to earn it.العَفْو
- GhaflahHeedlessness: not the denial of the truth, but the habit of never getting round to it.الغَفْلَة
- IstiqamahStaying straight: keeping to the path steadily, over years, without dramatic swings.الاسْتِقَامَة
- MuraqabahLiving with the awareness that Allah sees you, at the moment you are acting.المُرَاقَبَة
- SabrHolding yourself steady under what is hard, without complaint to creation and without giving up.الصَّبْر
- TabarrukSeeking blessing through a person, place or object, which scholars permit narrowly and dispute widely.التَّبَرُّك