Khutba: External and Internal Purification Go Hand in Hand (text and audio – 11/08/18)

The beginning and end of Islam is purification.
External purification and internal purification, since both go hand in hand.
The goal of everything we do is the purification of the heart, and the sign of a pure heart is right action. Allah says in the Qur’an: The day when neither wealth nor children will be of any use.
Only the one who comes to Allah with a clean heart.
(26:88-89) In Arabic “salím”, which means without corruption or disease, safe.
From this we understand that the goal of our life is the purification of our heart, to keep it safe from corruption and disease, so that when Allah calls us back to Him, since as He says, “We are Allah’s and to Him we shall return” (2:156) we will come before Him with a pure heart. Allah says in the Qur’an: That he who purifies it will have triumphed and he will have lost who leads it astray.
(91:9-10). That is, one who takes care of his heart, purifies it and keeps it healthy will achieve success.
And success in the language of the Qur’an refers to success in the next life.
But success in the next life is also success in this one.
This was the mission that Allah entrusted to the Prophet Musa, peace be upon him, when He sent him to Pharaoh: Go to Firaun who has gone beyond the limits!
And say to him, ‘I call you to purify yourself, and to let yourself be led to your Lord and to fear Him.’
(79:17-19) Purity of heart was also one of the characteristics of Prophet Ibrahim. Allah says in the Qur’an: And by the way, Ibrahim was one of his own.
When he stood before his Lord with a pure heart.
(37:83-84) Ibrahim was Hanif, which means one who has a natural inclination towards the recognition of Allah, and he was the first of the Muslims, and one of his characteristics is that he had a pure heart.
Purification was also one of the reasons and duties of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, and one of the reasons why he was sent. Allah says in the Qur’an: Likewise We have sent you a Messenger who comes from yourselves and who recites Our Signs to you, purifies you, teaches you the Book and Wisdom and teaches you what you did not know.
(2:151) Every act of worship and every action in our lives should be aimed at protecting our hearts from corruption and disease.
The Prophet, peace be upon him, did not teach how to do this by his example.
This is one of the meanings of Sharia, that the one who follows it is following that which purifies him and keeps his heart pure.
As the Messenger said, peace be upon him, in the famous hadith: There is a piece of flesh in the heart that if it is right, heals, corrects and heals the whole body.
And if it is corrupt, it corrupts the whole body, and this is the heart.
(Bukhari and Muslim) One of the goals and results of purification of the heart is sincerity in our actions, that we do them for and for Allah, seeking His approval and acceptance. Allah says in the Qur’an: Say: My Lord has led me to a straight path, a practice of authentic worship, the religion of Ibrahim, hanif, who was not of those who associate.
Say: Verily, my prayer, the sacrifice that I may offer, my life and my death are to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.
He has no partner.
That is what I have been ordered.
I am the first of the Muslims.
(The Flocks, 6:161:163) But purification is not something abstract.
It is concrete externally and concrete internally.
Since both go hand in hand.
There is no internal purification if there is no external purification.
The first step in purifying our hearts is Salat.
The Messenger (peace be upon him) said in the famous Hadith: My servant does not approach me with anything dearer to me than what I have made obligatory upon him.
(Bukhari) And the first thing that Allah has made obligatory on us is prayer.
It is the first thing for which we will have to give an account on the Day of Judgment.
And prayer is not valid unless there is a prior purification, if we do not do Wudu.
The Messenger of Allah said: Allah does not accept Salat from one who does not purify himself.
(Dawood, Ibn Majah, Nasai) And for our Wudu to be valid and our prayer to be valid, we must first be free from impurities.
Conscientiousness when we go to service in cleansing ourselves correctly is the basis of Wudu, and Wudu is the basis of Salat, and Salat is the basis of purification of the Heart.
And we must not underestimate this important detail.
For when we go to the service it is a time when we are alone, when no one sees us, and when being scrupulous benefits no one but ourselves and of which no one else is aware.
This is the principle of conscientiousness, and conscientiousness, having Wara, is one of the qualities that brings the servant to the Garden.
The relationship between internal and external purification is also found in the following Hadith: When a Muslim or a believer washes his face in ablution, then every fault he committed with his eyes will be erased with the last drop of water.
When he washes his hands, every fault he committed with his hands is washed with the last drop of water.
When he washes his feet, every fault he committed with his feet is washed with the last drop of water, until he emerges purified from the faults.
(Muslim) What this Hadith does not teach is not only the tremendous benefit of Wudu, but that every external action has an internal consequence and vice versa.
Man is a reality with two aspects, the internal or hidden, his soul, his nafs, his Ruh, his intentions; and the apparent or external, his body, his actions.
When we purify the external we purify the internal, because by purifying ourselves we are doing what Allah has commanded us, we are following the Sunnah of the Messenger and we are following the tradition of the Hanif.
And when we purify the inner, we are purifying the outer, since we purify our intention, and intention is the principle of all action.
****** Do not feed on usury, which multiplies endlessly, and fear Allah so that you may succeed.
Beware of the Fire that has been prepared for the unbelievers.
And obey Allah and the Messenger so that mercy may be given to you.
Hurry to a pardon from your Lord and to a Garden prepared for the fearful, whose wide are the heavens and the earth.
Those who give in moments of relief and in those of narrowness, restrain anger and forgive men.
Allah loves those who do good. Those who when they commit an indecency or are unjust to themselves, remember Allah and ask forgiveness for their faults – for who forgives faults but Allah?
– and they do not repeat what they did after knowing it.
They are rewarded with a pardon from their Lord and gardens through which rivers flow.
In them they will be immortal.
What an excellent reward for those who act!
(3:131-136) In these verses Allah tells us what we have to do in order to have a pure heart, to obtain forgiveness and mercy and to enter the Garden: Abdandon usury, guard yourselves from the fire through Taqwa, obey Allah in what He has made obligatory and in what He has forbidden, and follow the Sunnah of the Messenger.
Give generously in moments of relief and in moments of hardship.
Beware of anger and anger and forgive others even if we are right.
And when we commit a bad deed or make a mistake, we will, turn to Allah, ask for forgiveness and follow it with a good deed.
As the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: To have taqwa from Allah, and to follow a bad deed with a good deed that erases it, and to behave well towards people.
(Tirmidhi) This is having a pure heart.
To have Taqwa from Allah, to be aware that He is the One who is with us at every moment and in every place, that He is the one who is watching us, and may this instill in us a reverential awe.
And when we forget this and commit a bad deed, which will happen to us, then we will return to the remembrance of Allah and do a good deed that will erase it.
Make an effort in this and behave well with people.
Man is in constant regression, in loss, this is what Allah tells us in the Qur’an, except, as He says, But not so those who believe, carry out good actions, entrust the truth to themselves and entrust patience to themselves.
(103:3) Therefore we should be aware that there will never come a time when we will have a heart free from the danger of falling into error and evil deed, but we should strive in good deeds, in entrusting to one another the Truth, which is nothing other than reminding each other of Allah and to have patience and perseverance in both favorable and adverse situations.
This is what saves and purifies us.
There is no purification without action.
The purification of the body is Wudu and Ghusl; the purification of the heart is the remembrance of Allah, beginning with Salat and continuing with what is recommended of Dhikr; the purification of our wealth is Zakat and Sadaqa; The purification of our actions is to follow a bad deed with a good deed.
And the purification of everything in our life is to obey Allah and follow His Messenger.
The purification of the heart is to remember Allah a lot, remembering the reality of existence: that He is the Creator of us and our actions, that He is the One, who has power over all things, and that everything that happens to us is by His will.
And the remembrance of Allah has to lead us to the right action.
The goal of remembrance is to purify our intention, and intention is the beginning of action.
This is the meaning of Ikhlas: sincerity in intention and in action.
Since Allah loves those who act righteously, they turn to Him and purify themselves.
Allah says in numerous places in the Qur’an: Allah loves those who do good. (5:93) And he says: It is true that Allah loves those who turn to Him and those who purify themselves.
(2:222) And those who purify themselves, remember the name of their Lord, and do Salat are the ones who will obtain success in this life and in the next. Allah says in the Qur’an: He who purifies himself will have triumphed, remember the name of his Lord, and pray.
(87:14-15) We ask Allah to make us of those whom He loves because we turn to Him, we do not purify and we behave well with people and this will lead us to success in this life and in the next.

Delivered on Friday, August 11, 2018 by Hafid Luqman Nieto, at the musal-la of the Seville Mosque Foundation, in the Plaza Ponce de León, Seville.