Self Making
The Man of Islam is constructive. He builds himself and his environment. His success in building his environment depends on his success in self‑making and vice versa. In other words his success in improving the environment of his life paves the way for his self‑improvement.
In view of this strong reciprocal relationship between man and the environment of his life he must pay his utmost attention to an all‑round improvement of himself on a wide scale commensurate to a Muslim's broad outlook on the world and man.
In this respect Islam has extensive teachings which are related to all the aspects of human life and cover all human needs, whether material or spiritual, individual or social, cultural or economic and so on. The sum total of these teachings constitutes the programme of Islamic training. It includes important provisions regarding cleanliness, sound nutrition, hygiene, physical and mental health, etc.
Islam has given so much importance to cleanliness that it has been considered to be an objective of the faith. The Qur'an recommending purity and cleanliness says:
"Allah does not intend to inconvenience you, but He intends to purify you and perfect His favor to you, so that you may give thanks". (Surah al‑Maidah, S: 6).
"Truly Allah loves those who ask for forgiveness and strive to keep themselves clean". (Surahal‑Baqarah, 2:222).
The holy Prophet of Islam is reported to have said that cleanliness is a part of faith.
Islam has in more than one ways exhorted the people to the cleanliness of utensils, clothing, body, hair, teeth, drinking water, water used for ablution and bathing, dwelling places, streets, public places, food and every other thing in human use. A number of the sayings of the Prophet and the imams ascribe to the devil everything which is loathsome or causes a disease (e.g. microbes), and describe all such things as a cause of poverty and misery. We reproduce below some such sayings from the book entitled Wasail al‑Shiah:
The holy Prophet has said:
"Everybody who chooses a dress, must keep it clean".
"Had it not been inconvenient I would have enjoined upon the Muslims to brush their teeth before every prayer".
"Keep the compound and the front part of your house well‑swept and clean".
"He who sweeps a masjid is rewarded by Allah as if he manumitted a slave".
"The dossier of the man who abstains from spitting and blowing his nose in the masjid, will be in his right hand on the Day of judgment".
"Either take proper care of the long hair of your head or clip them".
"Do not grow long moustaches, for the devil finds a shelter in them".
Imam Ali (P) has said:
"It was the practice of the Holy Prophet to rinse his mouth, throat and nose with water. It makes one's mouth and nose clean".
"Remove cobwebs from your house, for they cause poverty. "
"The removal of the hair of the arm‑pits is a part of cleanliness. Doing so destroys bad odour of that part of the body".
Imam al Baqir (P) has said: "Cleaning of the house banishes misery".
Imam al Sadiq (P) has said:
"Brushing the teeth is a tradition of the prophets". "To trim the finger‑nails was a practice of the holy Prophet".
Some one said to Imam al Sadiq (P) that his friends had told him that the moustaches and the finger‑nails should be trimmed on Friday. The Imam said: "Trim them whenever they grow". The holy Prophet has forbidden cutting the nails with the teeth.
"If possible, your bath‑water should be so clean that you may even drink it".
Imam al Kazim (P) has said:
"To take bath every second day makes a man healthy and strong".
Other traditions forbid urination and excretion on the banks of a river, in front of a masjid, on the streets and roads, where the travellers stay, in the graveyard, under the fruit trees, in a standing position, with face or back towards the qiblah (direction of Ka'bah), on hard ground, in the dens of animals, within public view, in front of a house or a thoroughfare etc. (The topic of cleanliness and purity has been discussed at length in the book ISLAM ‑ A Code of Social Life. ISP, 1980).
On the whole, there are many Islamic injuctions in connection with health, hygiene and nutrition and about the cleanliness of air and environment. We give below a few examples:
Wash fruit before eating it.
Do not eat food while it is too hot.
Observe regularity in regard to food.
Do not gulp water in one single draught. Drink it slowly.
Do not puff up water or hot food.
Take small morsels of food and chew them well.
Wash your hands and mouth before and after every meal.
Do not take food without having appetite and stop eating a little before the stomach is full.
Keep food and water covered.
Massage your body regularly.
Use perfume and rub oil over your body and the hair of your head.
Comb and dress the hair of your head.
Wash your head and face after a hair‑cut and wash your hands after clipping your finger nails.
Do not take injurious food or drink.
Take bath or perform ablution, as the case may be, for offering prayers and observe all the rules concerning them.
Offer prayers with clean body and pure clothes.
Go to bed early and rise early.
Keep your head out of the covering while sleeping.
Have a walk in the morning.
Choose an open environment and a vast compound for living.
Special religious instructions exist as to which things are legally clean and which are unclean. We reproduce below some of these instructions from the book entitled
The urine and the excrement of man and all the animals, the meat of which is legally inedible, and which have gushing blood (that is their blood gushes forth when they are slaughtered or a vein of theirs is opened). The semen, the dead body and the blood of man and every animal having gushing blood, irrespective of the fact whether its meat is or is not legally edible. (Only human corpse becomes clean after having been washed ceremonially).
The dog and the pig which live on land. Their hair and all the fluids secreted by them are also unclean.
Wine and all other intoxicants which flow automatically.