Ṣafāʾ al-Qalb
Definition
Safa al-qalb — the purity and luminosity of the heart — is the condition that al-Ghazali is building toward throughout the entire Ihya. He describes it using the image of a mirror: the heart is like a mirror, and its natural state is to reflect divine light and receive divine knowledge. But sin, heedlessness, attachment to the world, and the unchecked passions of the nafs coat the mirror with rust and tarnish, preventing it from reflecting anything clearly. The disciplines of worship, dhikr, repentance, and the removal of spiritual diseases are, collectively, the polishing of the mirror — restoring the heart to the luminous clarity that allows it to receive what Allah wishes to communicate to it.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
Appears in
2 books in the library
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