ومهما فرغ من وضوئه وأقبل على الصلاة فينبغي أن يخطر بباله أنه طهر ظاهره، وهو موضع
نظر الخلق، أن يستحي من مناجاة الله تعالى من غير تطهير قلبه وهو موضع نظر الرب
سبحانه وليحقق طهارة القلب بالتوبة، والخلو عن الأخلاق المذمومة والتخلق بالأخلاق
الحميدة أولى. وأن من يقتصر على طهارة الظاهر كمن يدعو ملكا إلى بيته فتركه مشحونا
بالقاذورات واشتغل بتجصيص ظاهر الباب البراني من الدار.
As one finishes his ablution and goes to prayer, one would believe that his outer appearance is clean and pure, and that is what [the aspect that] other people see. But one should feel ashamed to have a discourse with Allah [Prayer is essentially and in its finest practice, a deep experience of having a kind of communication with God] without having cleaned and purified his Heart [one’s Essence], and that is what Allah SWT sees [probably pointing to the Hadith that “Allah does not look at your (physical) faces but at your hearts.”].
So, one should aspire to have a clean and pure heart by repentance [assuming that one might have behaved or said something that might have ‘stained the heart’, since the last prayer]. Although, not having bad/negative traits and having fine manners is better and should be one’s priority [in an attempt to reach a state of sustained purity of the heart].
Whoever is [going to prayer] content with having a clean outer appearance, is like someone inviting a king to his house, and he is busy with beautifying the outer part / the entrance to the house, while the house is full of garbage.
Notes :
(1)
Regarding the analogy of the king visiting a house, it might be thought that nobody would usually be so concerned with the outer appearance of the house while forgetting all about the inner part, especially when it is such a big occasion of an important personality visiting the house. However, if I understand what Imam Al-Ghazali was saying, it appears that that might be true if the talk was about the same plane of awareness, generally focused on the "outer"/physical/easily seen and sensed aspect.
Imam Al-Ghazali was talking about two different planes: One is the "outer"/usual plane everyone is familiar with, and the other is regarding a much deeper aspect of one's being, that many might not be appropriately aware of. It is the plane of awareness that religious teachings and guidelines, in essence, are provided to help one reach it.
Interesting questions then might be: What is really one's inside? What kind of "garbage" that can accumulate in such a way that would render one's inner aspect "unclean"? And how to purify one's inner aspect? Is it as clear/easy to notice/straightforward as taking care of cleaning one's "outer" aspect? If the inner aspect is of such importance, why the need to care about the outer aspect?
(2)
In religious texts, one's Heart means The Essence of One's Being.
Just like the inner of the house that's unseen for someone looking only at the outer form of the house, the inner of a person is the unseen part of a human being. However, the analogy stops there, since the 'inner of the house' points at the physically unseen aspect of a human being.
Does it get 'stained'? Yes. Is that noticeable physically? Maybe. Is it important to clean the inner aspect of man? Important, for a good normal social life, and very important for any advancement in the spiritual aspect of man.
According to Sufis, the essence of man can be at several levels of 'non-material' cleanness, directly corresponding to states of one's awareness of existence. The cleaner the inside, the higher the awareness. (More on the levels of awareness the essence goes through: Hekam #67)
Cleanness starts with the basics and the very obvious: Good manners and gentleness. The Prophet said "the closer of you to me in Paradise are those with the better manners/behavior". There are many levels of Paradise, and the Prophet is at the highest level. From the Hadith, it is clear that the higher levels of Paradise are linked somehow to one's manners on earth, which is also linked (not incidentally) to inner cleanness and better awareness.
[By the way, there are many levels of Paradise and many levels of Hell, and there is a position between them called Aaraf. People on Aaraf are not in Paradise or Hell, and able to see both. So, spiritually, maybe things like belief/disbelief or being 'good'/'bad' are not as simple as some might think.]
(3)
"The Face" in religious texts can mean the Essence. In the Quran (2:112): "Nay, whoever submits his whole self to God and is a doer of good, he will get his reward with his Lord; On such shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve."
Yusuf Ali's comment on the verse:
"The word translated 'self' is Wajh, a comprehensive Arabic word. It means (1) literally 'face': but it may imply (2) countenance or favour, as in xcii. 20; (3) honour, glory, Presence as applied to God, as in ii. 115, and perhaps also in iv. 27; (4) cause, sake ('for sake of') as in lxxvi. 8; (5) the first part, the beginning, as in iii. 71; (6) nature, inner being, essence, self, as in v. 111, xxviii. 88, and perhaps in lv. 27. Here I understand meaning 6; the face expresses the personality or the whole inner self of man."
It might be easier to see the link between 'Heart' and one's essence, and maybe a little harder to see the link between 'Face' and the essence. But they both are about the inner aspect of man.
Islam is submitting to God, and from the verse quoted above it appears that such submission, while having a formal aspect represented by a public statement that 'there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is His messenger', it is not just that. The deeper aspect of Islam is to be aware of one's deeper essence, and then to be aware of an intentional "direction" of that essence -with no physically visible parts- towards the Essence of God, Who is not bound by forms or coordinates or dimensions or -hence- any directions.
At the start of every single prayer (which means at least five times a day), it is recommended for a Muslim to recite what Prophet Ibrahim peace be upon him said : (Quran, 6: 79) "I have set my face, firmly and truly, towards Him Who created the heavens and the earth".
Regarding this particular phrase, Imam Al-Ghazali explains (Ehya P. 41) that it is not one's physical face but one's Heart that is directed to God. It appears that he was talking about one's essence and God's Essence. Hence, "directing" involves directing one's whole attention toward God, or simply concentrating on one's awareness of God. Yet, "directing" also involves facing Makkah in prayer. Both seem to be important in a "proper" prayer.
That level of awareness of one's essence and God's Essence might not be that easy for most to be familiar with. Being overwhelmed by forms, dimensions, and physical/material measures of everything around one can be an obstacle to realize the levels of subtleness beyond appearances.
Sufis talk about levels of thickness of the 'Veil' that stands between 'normal'/'common' awareness of man and that level of awareness of realizing what is beyond the 'veil'.
(4)
Now that the importance of one's essence in spiritual issues is more obvious, the next thing to wonder about is the meaning of words like 'garbage', 'dirt' and 'cleaning' when one's essence is considered.
It is all about what makes the 'veil' thinner or thicker. The thicker the veil, the more 'dirt' standing in one's awareness of one's essence. It is something to be ashamed of to have 'the inner of the house full of garbage' according to Imam Al-Ghazali. The veil is very thick in that case.
For details in this regard please refer to Hekam #67 mentioned above and Hekam #47 in this page, regarding improving oneself ethically and behaviorally and how important that is in the spiritual path.
(5)
Ok, since the inner aspect is of such importance, why the need to care about the outer aspect?
Imam Al-Ghazali said (Meshkat-ul-Anwar, P. 160) that to concentrate on inner aspects alone is as wrong as concentrating on outer aspects alone. The proper view is the one combining both, keeping both aspects in sight, and maintaining a balance between the two.
The answer to the above question is: seeking and maintaining the precious balanced view of existence.
If a balanced view is the goal, then why do Sufis concentrate so much on talking about the inner aspect?
It is probably the norm to be aware about the outer aspect. However, it seems to be the norm too to neglect the inner aspect or not to be fully aware of it. Hence, the need to stress the importance of that aspect.
It is often said that a baby is born instinctively aware of such a balance. However, a baby acquires and adopts the surrounding set of beliefs/thoughts. Theoretically speaking, maybe with due care a baby can grow up having that balanced view naturally.
