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Islamic Spirituality - An Introduction
Mohammad A Rahman Human beings are spiritual probably because Allah has breathed His spirit in us:
The Qur'an directs its verses to the layman, the intellectuals and the spiritual ones, each group drinks from its own fountain and quenches its thirst. In other words, the layman only approaches the Qur'an in order to learn the obligations and prohibitions of Islam and tries to follow it, however, men with intellectual insights are not just satisfied with this, they want to understand most of the things through intellectual point of view, and finally the elite ones approach the Qur'an from a spiritual standpoint and tries to understand the inner aspect of Islam along with its external forms and follow the laws with true sincerity (ikhlas).
Even though most men are occupied with
this material world and show no concern for spiritual matters, there
lies within the nature of man an innate urge to seek the ultimately
Real. Every man believes in a permanent Reality. Occasionally when
man views with a clear mind and a pure soul the permanent Reality
pervading the universe and the created order, and at the same time
sees the impermanence and transient character of the diverse parts
and elements of the world, he is able to contemplate the world and
its phenomena as mirrors which reflect the beauty of a permanent
reality. The joy of comprehending this Reality obliterates every
other joy in the eye of the viewer and makes everything else appear
as insignificant.
This vision draws the attention of the spiritual man toward the world beyond and awakens the love of God in his heart. Through this attraction he forgets all else. All his manifold desires and wishes are obliterated from his mind. This attraction guides man to the worship and praise of the Invisible Deity who is in reality more evident and manifest than all that is visible and audible. When the spiritual man reaches this level, he worships Allah because He alone is worthy of worship, not for fear of punishment of Hell or to receive rewards of Paradise as mentioned by some traditions: Imam as-Sadiq said about the meaning of worship: "Worship is of three kinds: some people worship Allah, because they fear Him - so it is the worship of slaves; and a group worships Allah, Blessed and High is He, to seek reward - so it is the worship of hirelings; and a group worships Allah, Mighty and Great is He, because of (His) love - and this is the worship of noble persons, and it is the most excellent worship." (al-Kāfi ) Imam Ali said: "Verily, some people worshipped Allah being desirous (of His reward) - so this is the worship of traders; and some people worshipped Allah fearing (His punishment) - so it is the worship of slaves, and a group worshipped Allah in gratitude (to Him) - so this is the worship of noble men." (Nahju1-baldghah) We pray to Allah that He may raise us at the Day of Judgment from among those who worshipped Him for His love alone. May the peace and blessings be upon His beloved Muhammad (SAW), his family and his chosen companions. |
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