Hazrat Thânwî rahimahullâh says: “At present, I am inferior and worse than all the Muslims of the world, and worse than the unbelievers and animals with regards to my end, because if my end result is – Allâh forbid – on disbelief, the animals, pigs, and dogs are all better than me. Yes, if I pass away with îmân, then I am certainly better than them. But I do not know in what state I am going to pass away, so how can I consider myself to be better at present?”

It is for this reason that Hazratrahimahullâh said that he is worse than all the Muslims at present. Even if a Muslim is an alcoholic or an adulterer, it is possible that a good deed of his is accepted, or Allah Ta’alaforgives all his sins solely because of his îmân. On the other hand, despite all our good deeds and religious achievements, it may well be that we may have done something which earned His displeasure and thereby wipes out all our good deeds. I therefore consider myself worse than all the Muslims at present, and consider myself worse than the unbelievers and animals with regards to my end results.

He also said: “If you see any fault in a person, consider it to be a cold, while considering your own faults to be leprosy. You will never find a leper laughing at a person suffering from a cold.” I rendered this statement of Hazratrahimahullâh in a poem:

“O you who have an immature heart! It is inappropriate for a person suffering from leprosy to laugh at a person having a cold.”

Consider your sin to be worthy of the death sentence, and consider the sins of others to be [small] municipal cases where the person can be freed by paying a small fine of 100-200 rupees.

This is the grand status of the pious servants of Allah Ta’alathat they cannot see the faults of others after bearing in mind their own faults.Rasulullah (sallellaho alaihe wasallam) advised Abû Dharr Ghifârî (radhiallaho anho) saying: “O Abû Dharr! Examine your own faults to such an extent that your eyes become shut from the faults of others.” This is what is known as purification of the soul – which is one of the important objectives of prophet-hood.