Cleanliness is Godliness – My personal journey

An old proverb is my introspective element of today - Cleanliness is Godliness. This was considered of utmost importance in my growing years - such as not washing hands and legs from a tap directly and using a jug because water splashes when you run the tap and all that you wash falls from a height on the floor and droplets come back onto your clothes.

And so during the wazoo (ablution before contact prayers) one needed to take extra care to keep clothes clean. Other rules applied that we do not ever go to washroom without water to clean ourselves and where there is no water one needs to use at least a small piece of brick (highly absorbent material) to soak up.

As a growing child I always thought of physical cleanliness and keeping home clean as something of the foremost importance. The proverb comes back to me in many ways and I begin to realize the layers it holds as an act of cleanliness and why is it so close to purity.

a) Cleaning of body keeps my physical self clean.

b) Cleaning of my home and work place keeps my environment clean, making it clutter free and allows me optimal function of life in daily activities.

c) Cleaning when outside in roads and public places by not littering around, allows me to honor my fellow citizens with whom I share this earth space.

d) Cleaning of my wants and desires and not littering them in my life, allows me to be conscious, not be a wasteful consumer and be mindful of leaving less carbon footprints.

e) Cleaning of my emotions of anger, frustration and rigidity allows me compassion for self and others.

f) Cleaning of my harmful habits such as no exercise, non-nutritious food and mindless consumption.
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g) Cleaning my earnings by paying my Zakaat (a word that is derived from the word zaka (زکا/زکی ) means to purify or clean it. It is the third pillar of Islam. You pay 2.5 % of your earnings to the needy (The amount of zakat = the value of goods in hand + cash assets + recoverable debts – debts x 2.5 percent.) beyond what your nisaab is. (Nisaab is the minimum earnings for a living)