It has been asked that as Islam stresses a lot on cleanliness, that it is a part of faith, ‘how can cleanliness help you develop purity of mind?
The best example to help us understand this, is to look at the life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. It is related about the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, that his speech was always pure and that he was (unlike most of his contemporaries) not given to the use of oaths (Hadith book – Tirmidhi). This was something exceptional for an Arab. It is not being implied that the Arabs at the time of the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, habitually indulged in foul language, but there is no doubt that they were in the habit of punctuating their speech with a generous measure of oaths, i.e. ‘O Allah…’ a habit that persists among them even to this day. The Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, however, held the name of God in such reverence that he never uttered it without full justification.
He was very particular, with regard to physical cleanliness. He used to brush his teeth several times a day and was so keen on the practice that he used to say that were he not afraid that the ordinance might prove difficult, he would make it obligatory upon every Muslim to brush his teeth before every one of the five daily prayers. He always washed his hands before and after each meal and, after eating anything that had been cooked, he always rinsed his mouth and considered it desirable that every person who had eaten anything cooked should rinse his mouth before joining in any of the prayers (Hadith book – Bukhari).
In Islam, a mosque is the only place of gathering prescribed for the Muslims. The Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, therefore, laid particular stress upon the cleanliness of mosques, especially on occasions when people were expected to collect in them. He had directed that on such occasions incense should be burnt in the mosques to purify the air (Hadith book – Abu Dawud). He also gave directions that nobody should go to a mosque on the occasion of a congregation or gathering after eating anything that was likely to exhale an offensive odour (Hadith book – Bukhari).
He insisted upon streets being kept clean and clear of twigs, stones, and all articles or matter which was likely either to obstruct or to prove offensive. Whenever he himself found such a thing lying in a street he would remove it, and he used to say that a person who helps to keep streets and roads clean and clear, earns spiritual merit in the sight of God. He is also reported to have enjoined that public thoroughfares should not be so used as to cause obstruction nor should any unclean or undesirable matter or article be thrown on to a public street, nor should a street be defiled in any other way, as all such acts are displeasing to God.
He was very keen that all supply of water which was for human use should be kept clean and pure. For instance, he prohibited anything being thrown into standing water which might befoul it and any reservoir of water being used in a manner which would render it impure (Hadith books – Bukhari and Muslim).
The Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was extremely simple in the matter of food and drink. He never expressed displeasure with ill prepared or ill-cooked food. If he could eat such food he would do so to save the person who had prepared it from disappointment. If, however, a dish was uneatable, he merely refrained from partaking of it and never expressed his disapproval of it. When he sat down to a meal he paid attention to the food placed before him and used to say that he did not like an attitude of indifference towards food as if the person eating was above paying attention to mere matters of food and drink.
When any food was presented to him he always shared it with those present. On one occasion somebody presented him with some dates. He looked round and after making an estimate of the number of people present divided the dates equally among them, each of them receiving seven. Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him, relates that the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, never ate his fill even of barley bread (Hadith book – Bukhari).
On one occasion while he was passing along a road he noticed some people gathered round a roast kid ready to enjoy the feast. When they saw the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, they invited him to join them, but he declined. This was not due to his not having a liking for roast meat, but to the fact that he did not approve of people indulging in a feast in the open where they could be observed by poor people who had themselves not enough to eat. It is related of him that on other occasions he did partake of roast meat.
‘A’isha, may Allah be pleased with her, has related that the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, did not, till the day of his death, on any occasion, eat his fill on three consecutive days. He was very particular that a person should not go to a meal in another person’s house uninvited. On one occasion somebody invited him to a meal and requested that he might bring four other persons with him. When he arrived at the house of his host he found that a sixth person had also joined his party. The host came to the door to receive him and his party and the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, drew his attention to the fact that there were now six of them and that it was for the host to decide whether he would permit the sixth person to join them in the meal or whether the latter should depart. The host, of course, readily invited the sixth person also (Hadith book – Bukhari).
Whenever the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, sat down to a meal he always began to eat by invoking the name and blessings of Allah, and as soon as he concluded he rendered thanks in these words: “All praise is due to Allah, Who has given us to eat: Praise, abundant and sincere and ever-increasing: Praise, which does not leave an impression upon one’s mind that one has rendered enough praise but which creates in one’s mind the feeling that enough has not been said and the praise which ought never to be terminated and which makes one think that every divine act is worthy of praise and should be praised. Oh Allah! do Thou fill our hearts with these sentiments.” Sometimes he used these words: “All praise is due to God Who has satisfied our hunger and thirst. May our hearts ever yearn after His praise and never be ungrateful to Him.”
He always admonished his Companions to stop before they had eaten their fill and used to say that one man’s food should always suffice for two. Whenever any special food was prepared in his house he used to suggest that a portion of it should be sent as a present to his neighbours; and presents of food and other articles used constantly to be sent from his house to his neighbours’ houses (Hadith books – Muslim and Bukhari).
He always tried to ascertain from the faces of those who were in his company whether any of them was in need of sustenance. Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him, relates the following incident: On one occasion he had been without food for over three days. He stood at the entrance to the mosque and observed Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, passing near. He asked Abu Bakr, the meaning of a verse of the Qur’an which enjoins the feeding of the poor. Abu Bakr explained its meaning and passed on. Abu Huraira when relating this incident used to say with indignation that he too understood the Qur’an as well as Abu Bakr did. His object in asking the latter to explain the meaning of the verse had been that Abu Bakr might guess that he was hungry and might arrange to get food for him. Shortly after, ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, passed by and Abu Huraira asked him also to explain the meaning of the verse. ‘Umar also explained its meaning and passed on. Abu Huraira, like all Companions of the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was loath to make a direct request and when he perceived that his indirect attempts to draw attention to his condition had failed, he began to feel very faint. Thereupon he heard his name being called in a very soft and tender voice. Looking to the side from which the voice came he saw that the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was looking out from the window of his house and was smiling. He inquired of Abu Huraira: “Are you hungry?” to which Abu Huraira replied: “Verily, O Messenger of Allah! I am hungry.” The Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: “There is no food in our house either, but somebody has just sent us a cup of milk. Go to the mosque and see whether there are any other persons there who may be hungry like you.” Abu Huraira goes on to relate: “I thought to myself, I am hungry enough to consume the whole of the milk in the cup, yet the Prophet has asked me to invite any other persons that may be in a similar situation, which means that I shall get very little of the milk. But I had to carry out the Prophet’s orders, so I went into the mosque and found six persons sitting there whom I brought with me to the Prophet’s door. He gave the cup of milk into the hands of one of them and asked him to drink. When he had finished and put away the cup from his mouth the Prophet insisted upon his drinking a second time and a third time till he had had his fill. In the same way he insisted upon every one of the six drinking his fill of the milk. Each time he asked anyone to drink I was afraid that little would be left for me. After all the six had drunk of the milk the Prophet gave the cup to me and I saw that there was still plenty of milk in it. In my case also he insisted that I should drink my fill and made me drink a second and a third time and at the end he drank what was left in the cup himself and rendered thanks to God and shut the door” (Hadith book – Bukhari).
He always ate and drank with his right hand and always stopped three times to take breath in the middle of a drink. One reason for this may be that if a person who is thirsty drinks water at one stretch he is apt to drink too much and thus upset his digestion. In the matter of eating the rule that he followed was that he partook of all things that are pure and permissible but not in a manner which would savour of indulgence or would deprive other people of their due share. His normal food was always very simple but if anybody presented him with something specially prepared he did not decline it. He did not, however, hanker after good food, though he had a particular liking for honey and for dates. As regards dates, he used to say that there was a special relationship between a Muslim and the date tree whose leaves and bark and fruit, both ripe and unripe, and even the stones of whose fruit could all be put to some use or the other and no part of which was without its proper use. The same was the case with a true Muslim. No act of his was without its beneficence and all that he did promoted the welfare of mankind (Hadith books – Bukhari and Muslim).
The Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, preferred simplicity in dress. His own dress normally consisted of a shirt and an izar (A piece of cloth wrapped round the waist and hanging to the ankles) or a shirt and a pair of trousers. He always wore his izar or his trousers so that the garment covered his body up to a point above his ankles. He did not approve of the knee or any portion of the body above the knee being exposed without extreme necessity.
The Prophet’s bed was also very simple. He never used a bedstead or a couch but always slept on the ground, the bedding consisting of a piece of leather or of a piece of camelhair cloth. ‘A’isha, may Allah be pleased with her, relates: “Our bedding was so small that when the Holy Prophet used to get up at night for prayers I used to lie on one side of the bedding and stretched out my legs while he was in the standing posture and folded them back when he had to prostrate himself (Hadith books – Muslim, Tirmidhi and Bukhari). He adopted the same simplicity with regard to his residential arrangements. His house consisted normally of one room and a small courtyard. A rope used to be strung half way across the room so that when he had visitors a piece of cloth could be hung from the rope to convert a part of the room into an audience chamber separated from the portion occupied by his wife. His life was so simple that ‘A’isha, may Allah be pleased with her, related that during the lifetime of the Prophet they often had to sustain themselves on dates and water and that on the day of his death there was no food in the house except a few dates (Hadith book – Bukhari).
From looking at the simple life of the Holy Prophet we can see ways to attain purity of mind.