Ayat ut Tatheer: To Whom Does the Purification Verse Refer To?

Importance of the Purification Verse

Hence, if we found out to whom the purification verse refers to, we will come to recognize that these individuals have been purified by Allah (SWT). And if we became certain that these individuals are purified from Allah (SWT), it would be very foolish, imprudent, and even insane of us to take our religious knowledge from other sources. After all, those individuals are the purified source!

For example, imagine that you have a pool of water in front of you and the government that you trust in assured to you that they cleansed and purified this water and that it is totally suitable for drinking. Wouldn’t it be very foolish and ridiculous of you to abandon this refined and cleansed water that has been guaranteed for its purity, and instead went to seek other sources of water which you do not know or are not sure of its degree of purity and sanitization?! Wouldn’t it be very unwise of you to actually drink from that water that is “in question” and expose yourself to the risk of danger, sickness, or poison which would cost you your life and bring you to your end?! No sane person would ever do that!

Knowing exactly the identity of these individuals is equivalent to knowing the purified and cleansed source (that has been purified by Allah), which we can drink confidently and take advantage for the best interest of our religion, the life of this world, and the Hereafter.

This way, we can live feeling assured and safe without needing to divide or deviate from our way nor to seek multiple sources. In such case, we would not accept any other source that is questionable in purity or reliability as a substitute for this purified and clean source. And if we actually did so and left this purified source and instead seek other doubtful, and un-guaranteed sources in purity, which would certainly lead to our misguidance, loss and failure; then we have no one to blame but ourselves.

At that point, we have no excuses to present o Allah (SWT) since we chose to go for the doubtful, misguided, and unpurified source although we found the cleansed and purified origin in which the Almighty Himself has purified. We had not even taken the effort to investigate the true source, for if we did, we would have certainly found the right source to drink and utilize while feeling complete satisfaction and security, along with gratitude towards our Lord.

From this logic, the importance of identifying and specifying these individuals who have been referred to in the purification verse becomes very clear and vivid to us, since these immaculate personalities will serve as our source of knowledge, religion, and school of thought. They will be our guardians whom we follow after the Holy Prophet (SA). They will be the leaders, governors, scholars, and guiders of our Ummah after the Book of Allah (SWT) and the Sunnah of His Messenger (SA).

Therefore, recognizing the purified personalities is not only important, but it is the most crucial task in the life of a person. This is because a person without faith (iman) and religion is not considered to be human. After all, there cannot exist faith and religion without an Imam, a leader, a guardian, a scholar, and a guider who would guide the people, teach them, lead them, and direct them in their journey of life until they reach the safe haven that could not be reached alone.

Otherwise, the Shaytan (devil) will kidnap them just like a sheep would get misguided and therefore “kidnapped” when it is without a caretaker who would lead and guide it. This argument is logical and cannot be argued against except by someone foolish, arrogant, stubborn, or an apostate, and all those are not considered to be believers.

Our discussion here is directed to believers who are smart, intelligent, wise, and those who are humble to Allah (SWT) and surrender themselves to Him. Those who are looking for the truth and are willing to follow it without fanaticism, personal desire, arrogance, or close-mindedness! Those are the people who have been guided by Allah (SWT) and they are the ultimate winners and victors!