In the name of Allah, Who has freely bestowed upon us His best gifts, and given us the guidance. Peace and blessings be upon His most beloved prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

"Preface: Based on the truths contained in these Epistles, with which many will be intimately acquainted, Allah willing, the reader will succeed in improving (or correcting) his inward and outward faults. Indeed, through following the complete and simple methods represented here, he can attain good guidance which he may in turn use to benefit other individuals and through them to serve society as a whole. Indeed, in order to temper his natural, traditional, and social ill-naturedness. Man in general must identify the original motive for mischief and then to eliminate it altogether. He should then strengthen the original motive for goodness and seek to intensify it."

From the book: Knowing Oneself - Knowing God ›› by Mawlana Faizani.

In each book there is a hidden truth. In the books and Epistles of Madrassa -i- Towheed, the hidden truth is mainly about oneself (exploring, discovering, and finally improving and correcting one's inward and outward faults.)

These truths are not as difficult to understand as they have been in the earlier books of ancient scholars, provided you are a dedicated and serous reader. Man, unlike other creatures, has significant inward as well as outward faults. Some inward faults are as follows: Greed, anger, sensuality, envy, etc. The outward ones include: Manner of dress, speech, walk and so forth. For example, one may be outwardly good but inwardly very deceitful. In other words, he or she may be dressed very nicely, speak properly and behave politely, but he or she may be very envious or jealous inside. Or somebody may be a bit pious and spiritual inside but does not care about dressing properly and the common life. Our criteria then should not be based solely on outward appearance.

So, a proper Islamic example then, especially for spreading the religion, would be someone of behaving correctly both inwardly (bateen) and outwardly (zaheran). The inner faults in particular serve as veils between the person and the Most Beloved, Merciful, Generous, All-Knowing and Eternal Creator and Cherisher. Without a relationship with Him, Man is really as unworthy as dust or even lower than wild animals. There have been methods for this relationship in the past as well, unfortunately conducted through unbearable means, particularly for today's lazy and comfort-seeking generation. The methods represented here, on the other hand, are simple and accommodating to today's life style considerations. Of course, after the person has improved (or corrected) his own inward and outward faults, it is only then that he becomes able to pass on to other individuals, or even to society as a whole. We often fail to correct others, especially our beloved ones about whom we are most concerned. Sometimes, we even make things worse instead of improving them. Why? Because, primarily, we do not know how to properly improve and correct ourselves. Man has natural ill-naturedness, such as meanness, pride, greed, etc. He has inherited traditional faults from his ancestors, such as spending an excessive amount of money on a marriage or a funeral. etc. The following social faults differ from traditional ones by being contemporary rather than inherited: fashion, hair style, and other life styles. These faults, both inward and outward, which make up a person need to be tempered.

Things discussed so far have been discussed to some extent at some other highly religious and even social and economic conferences. The true diagnosis and treatment, however, have not been found. At most, society's lack of knowledge, a slow economy and lack of technology among other things, have been blamed. The diagnosis and remedy here, however, are :"...must identify the original motive for mischief and then eliminate it altogether. He should then strengthen the original motive for goodness and seek to intensify it."

In our world today, we see too much corruption but we also see good things. We see human beings cooperating with one other and living in harmony, but at the same time we witness mass murders, people living in hunger, and too much immoral behavior. If we trace all these motives to their origin, we discover that they have all originated from the "intelligent" creature called Man(Insan), whether good or evil. More disasters came from Man then from all so-called wild animals, natural disasters, and even natural death combined.

So far, we have correctly traced these motives up to this point (Man). Now, however, the biggest challenge remains, because all we see in Man is his physical body. What allows him to abuse the rights of his fellow human beings, to kill them and to bombard other poor and weak nations? Why is he not satisfied with one or two women or men, but looks for as many as possible? What makes him try to acquire as much property as possible while seeing that his brothers/sisters are living under tents or on the streets? Many other examples remain. On the other hand, what makes Man devote his sweet life to bringing relief and improvement to society and to do other beneficial and benevolent deeds? These motives must all be hidden inside his body, since the outward things such as skin, bones, etc., cannot be the original motive. In other words, we are striving to find the original motive for both evil and goodness. The next step would be to go inside the body and to find out from where these motives originate. Once we have found them, then, God willing, we will be able to eliminate the evil motive and intensify the good ones. This will be discussed in the next article, which is found on page 2 of the First Goblet for the Fortification of Faith.

May Allah guide all mankind!