Routines for Cleanliness

Today was one of those days when I even washed my dish drying rack. Such days are rare (at least for me) but they still occur from time to time. It’s even better if we have a set routine of doing such tasks. Basically, those cleaning tasks that don’t make it to our daily chore list have to be done at regular intervals of time, like weekly or monthly. If we don’t even make a weekly or monthly routine of such tasks, the dirt keeps piling up until it becomes unbearable to our eyes. The ugly sight then serves as a reminder to clean up that mess.

Similarly, our spiritual cleanup also needs routines. Allah SWT, out of His infinite Rahm (Loving care and mercy) has instilled some of those routines for us Himself, like the daily salah and the yearly Ramadan. And there are other recommended acts of dhikr (remembrance of Allah) that help in this spiritual cleanup as well, like the morning and evening adhkar (words of remembrance), meditation (focusing our heart on Allah), recitation of the Quran, and others. If we don’t make a regular routine of these “cleaning tasks”, unfortunately, our physical eyes do not give us a reminder either. It is only the people of Allah, who see through His Light, who can identify that “mess”. But we know through the hadith of the Prophet SallAllahu ‘alayhi waSallam that every sin causes a black dot on our heart, and unless cleansed through sincere taubah (repentance/turning towards Allah) and salih (righteous/reformative) actions, the whole heart is blackened when the “dots” pile up.

Therefore, it is essential to prioritize our spiritual cleansing, alongside physical cleanup, which we also do in the Name of Allah Al-Quddus (The One free from any impurity). Because the only ones who will succeed on the day we meet our Lord are the ones who will come to Him with a pure heart. May Allah SWT make us from amongst them. Ameen.