TAZKIYAH - MEANING

Tazkiyah - Purification

Its is one of the primary objectives of Islamic teachings and one of the most important aspects of the holy Prophet's (peace be upon him) mission. Tazkiyah is to purify self for the sake of personality development.

It means to remove unwanted habit or desire or devil acts from self. submitting self to Allah (S.W.T) to experiencing of Allah (S.W.T)

There are two type of Human personality - lower self and the higher self, the lower self function on the basic Instincts - such as Hunger, Sex, Procreation, Desire of wealth. The higher self yearn the value of truth, Holiness, Beauty, Harmony which leads to communion with Allah (S.W.T).

These two characteristic of Man are mentioned in the Holy Quran;
“Verily I have created man in the best form – given him the best constitution (Al Quran Chapter 95: 4 – 5)”
“But I endowed him (that if he so desire) he can sink to the lowest of the low (Al Quran Chapter 91:7-9)

In other Chapters Allah (S.W.T) has correlated the lower self and higher self as “Dark” and “Light”.

"He who purifies it and keeps it pure, he who cultivates (develops) it, and constantly prunes it, he has achieved success (Al Quran Chapter 91: 7-9)” and He who permits his personality to become stinted or falls prey to evil, is a hopeless failure (Al Quran Chapter 91:10)

Source - Knowledge & the Self - Maulana Fazlur Rahman Ansari