Page 15 - Beauties for Life in the Qur'an

GOOD CHARACTER TRAITS DESCRIBED IN THE QUR'AN 13

Spiritually pure people distance their minds from all forms of
evil. They never experience malice, jealousy, cruelty, and selfish-
ness, all of which are evil feelings adopted and displayed by those
who are far from the Qur'an's concept of morality. Believers pos-
sess noble spirits, because they yearn for moral excellence. This is
why, apart from their physical appearance, believers also pay at-
tention to the purity of their souls, by deflecting from it all of the
evil coming from ignorance, and encourage others to do like-
wise.

Physical Purity
In this world, believers seek to establish an environment simi-
lar to that of Paradise. They seek to experience in this world
anything that Allah promises to grant them in Paradise. As we
understand from the Qur'an, physical cleanliness is one of the
qualities possessed by the people of Paradise. The verse,
"youths like hidden pearls" (Surat at-Tur: 24) is self-explana-
tory. In addition to this, Allah informs us in many verses that in
Paradise there will be "spouses of perfect purity" (Surat al-
Baqara: 25).
Another verse in which Allah draws attention to physical
cleanliness is the one that refers to Prophet Yahya (as), "We gave
him ... purity from Us" (Surah Maryam: 13).

Clean Clothes
The Qur'an also refers to the importance of clean clothes, as in:
Purify your clothes. Shun all filth. (Surat al-Muddaththir: 4-5)
Furthermore, physical cleanliness is important because it
shows one's respect for other people. Indeed, respecting other
people requires taking care of one's physical appearance.
Believers do not only abstain from filth, but also display sub-