Remember! When a child comes to this world, he is covered in blood, and cleanliness becomes attached to him straight after his birth. Then, until the child does not reach the age of understanding, the responsibility for his cleanliness and purity is undertaken by his parents or guardians. After reaching the age of puberty (Baaligh), various Islamic rulings (e.g., Salah, etc.) become binding upon him due to which, it becomes necessary for him to keep his body and clothes pure.

Similarly, the Shari’ah commands that after one’s death, the deceased should be bathed and then buried. Despite the great importance given to cleanliness in Islam, there are a number of people in our society who display laziness in the matter of cleanliness. Their clothes, bedding, shoes, socks, handkerchiefs, Imamahs, shawls, comb, conveyance, and in short, every such thing which they utilise, call out to be cleaned.

However, if a person is clean himself and his surrounding environment is also clean, then this can prove to be very beneficial for him to be physically and mentally healthy. When the body and mind are healthy and sound, a person can fulfil many religious and worldly tasks in an excellent manner. When he worships, he will sense delight in it, and he will attain humility and submissiveness in it. Similarly, when a person is clean outwardly, it has an impact on his inner-self also, for they both have a connection with one another.

Moreover, one should ponder over how much he likes a clean person, how much he enjoys staying with such a person and remaining in his company. Furthermore, like-minded individuals incline to each other; a clean person sits in the company of clean people, just as it is said, ‘اَلْجِنْسُ یَمِیْلُ اِلٰی جِنْسِہٖ’, meaning, ‘everything inclines towards its own kind’.

Friendship of a crow and a pigeon

Once, a crow and a pigeon became friends; when a person observed this, he began to think to himself that what match is there between a crow and a pigeon; both of them are distinct, so, how did they both become friends? After pondering, he came to realise that the pigeon was lame and so too was the crow; thus, their common attribute had made them friends.