Chapter 6

Spiritual Experience

Muslim Perspective

Every religion, including Islam, has a spiritual dimension. The religious way of life (deen) in Islam influences every aspect of the human condition and experience. Islam pays a great deal of attention to the spiritual development of its adherents. The ultimate aim for an individual is to attain spiritual contentment in this world through spiritual development and reflect this state of being in one's outward behaviour and deportment. The spiritual journey in Islam covers three key areas:

  1. A strong faith in God that is based on an understanding of the purpose behind existence and the relationships humans have with God and the universe.
  2. Entering into a simple but continuous regiment of practice known as the five pillars of Islam.
  3. Progressively reaching higher levels of being through an inner spiritual struggle, or jihad.

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Relationship Between God, Humanity and the Universe

"Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, there are indeed Signs for men1 of understanding. Men who celebrate the praises of God, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (and say): 'Our Lord! You did not create this in vain...'"
(Qur'an, 3:190-191)

Contrary to common perceptions of religions, Islam is at once a rational and spiritual religion. Above all, it addresses the key questions, which have profound significance for humanity, such as "Who am I?" "Where do I come from?" and "Where will I be going when I die?" Islam demands that its followers reach a rational and spiritual conviction based on thinking, reasoning, searching and verification. While the verses of the Qur'an that relate to legal issues do not exceed more than 300, there are more than 700 verses (about 15% of the whole Qur'an) urging people to study "natural" phenomena, to think, reflect, observe, take lessons, read the signs, reflect and verify the immutable truths of existence.

Judging by the beauty and perfection of God's works in the universe, we can easily proclaim that God, as the Creator of the universe, possesses infinite beauty and perfection. It is natural that whosoever has beauty and perfection tends towards making those qualities manifest to others. You cannot imagine Leonardo da Vinci not producing the Mona Lisa or Thomas Edison not inventing the light bulb while they have those innate creative capacities. They produce their works naturally, because, beauty and perfection want to be seen and appreciated by the beholder and by other adoring eyes.

The last sentence is extremely significant. As a consequence of this reality, All-Powerful God built this universe like a majestic palace to manifest (meaning to display or show a quality by one's acts) His beautiful and perfect attributes. He has done this firstly for His own Divine view and pleasure (which is free from human imperfections) and secondly for the view of other conscious beings. Within this grand palace called the universe, He has created the earth on the model of an impressive exhibition hall. He has decorated and embellished the exhibition hall with His exceptional works of art. He subsequently invited human beings to view, adore, appreciate and applaud both the art and the Artist in exaltation, praise and glorification. He also sent prophets as special envoys or guides to show people around the exhibition hall and explain who the Creator is and the purpose of the works of art, the exhibition hall, the palace and our role within it.

Thus, Islam presents natural phenomena as evidence of God's reality confirming Islam's fundamental belief system. Islam calls people to study and reflect on natural phenomena and thereby collect the nectar of belief. The artistry of God is the most visible divine manifestation. Having originated from God's attributes of Will and Power, nature is the created counterpart of the Qur'an, which originated from the Divine attribute of Speech. So, nature is a book like the Qur'an with the Qur'an being a sacred text explaining its meaning and how to dwell in and benefit from it. Man is the third counterpart of these two books equipped with consciousness and the will power to be able to connect all the essential parts of existence. This is indicated in the verses: "The Most Compassionate (God) has thought the Qur'an. He created the human. He taught him the ability to communicate." (Qur'an, 55:1-4).

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The Ability to Learn and Worship are the Distinguishing Characteristics of Humanity

"Read! In the name of your Lord, Who has created (all that exists); has created man from a clot. Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous, Who has thought (the writing) by the pen; has taught man that which he knew not."
(Qur'an, 96:1-5)

When we examine nature and living beings in another perspective, we realise that every living being adds value to its ecological system. Consider the vine plant for example. It sucks muddy water from soil and turns it into sweet, nutritious grapes. Sheep consume plain grass in the meadows and produce milk, wool and meat. Trees absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, thus cleansing the atmosphere for animals and humans. Every animal and plant species adds value to its natural environment, either by the end products that they produce or by the functions that they perform.

Human beings, on the other hand, consume the best of what the kitchen of nature has to offer and produce nothing but waste. Humanity, in a physical sense, adds no value to the ecological environment. This observation has two consequences:

  1. Humanity is not a product of the ecological system. We are designed to live in the ecological system, but have come from outside the system.
  2. For a purpose of human existence, we have to look beyond our mere physical existence.

At birth, a human being is born with many faculties in potential form waiting to be developed. Unlike other creatures, he or she enters the world like a seed waiting to sprout. The state of being of a human baby at birth is evidence of this fact. A human baby knows nothing else but to suckle the breast of its mother. It takes decades for a human to gain self-sufficiency whereas animals are born with the skills they need to survive in this world or it takes a relatively short period of time to rear an animal. As stated in the Qur'an, the ability to learn and acquire knowledge is the distinguishing feature of man from other creation (Qur'an 2:31-33). It is this characteristic that gives rise to world civilisations.

A human cannot compete with many other animals in his ability to survive on his own, but has great mental and spiritual depth and capacities. He is but a tender child fostered and protected in a cradle called the earth that spins around the sun faster than a speeding bullet. This unusual situation shows that he is designed to appreciate and acknowledge the Creator's art and gain knowledge of God's attributes through reading the book of universe (Qur'an, 96:1-5). This knowledge will, in turn, lead to love of God and love of God's creation and later to a need to communicate and please God through worship and submission. We are the only beings who can, to some extent, know, and hence, worship God. Hence, knowing God and worshipping Him is the primary purpose for humanity's creation in Islam.

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Five Pillars of Islamic Practice

In the words of the Prophet Muhammad, the practice of Islam is summarised in "five pillars", that are listed as follows.

  1. Creed (Shahadah): The verbal commitment and pledge that "there is no deity but (the One and Only) God and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God", which is considered to be the Creed of Islam. A person becomes a Muslim when, having felt the truth of Islam in the heart, he or she openly professes this creed in front of witnesses.
  2. Prayers (Salat): The performance of the five short daily prayers required of Muslims.
  3. Fasting (Saum): Fasting is a month-long abstinence from food, liquids and intimate intercourse (between married couples) every day from dawn to sunset during the month of Ramadan.
  4. Purifying Alms (Zakat): This is an annual payment of a small percentage (usually 2.5%) of a Muslim's excess wealth, which is distributed among the poor, needy and other rightful beneficiaries.
  5. Pilgrimage (Hajj): The performance of pilgrimage to Mecca is required once in a lifetime if physical and financial means are available. Hajj is in part in memory of the trials and tribulations of Prophet Abraham, his wife Hagar and his eldest son, the Prophet Ishmael.

Uttering the creed of Islam is the fundamental Islamic sign of faith and commits a person to be accountable before God on the Day of Judgment. Meditation and remembrance of God during the five daily prayers remind the person that God is Ever-Present and All-Seeing, greatly reducing the chance that he or she will commit misconduct and wrong-doing. Fasting not only strengthens the will power of the individual, but also makes the practitioner more humble and more compassionate towards the poor and needy. Paying the purifying alms to the poor and needy forms a bridge between the rich and the poor, while at the same time reduces one's attachment to material possessions. Finally, pilgrimage moves people to higher levels of human appreciation, with an unmatched experience of universalism, leading them to value humanity much more than any other act possibly can.

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Worship—Three Types and Three Dimensions

In Islam, worship is a three dimensional phenomenon offered to God with the primary aim of pleasing Him and the resultant aim of achieving spiritual development.

  1. The first dimension is the quantity and variability of practising active worship. Fasting, alms giving (zakat) and prescribed prayers (salat) are different types of worship that require some form of action by the practitioners, "who believe in the Unseen, and perform As-salat (prayers) and spend out of what We have provided for them." (Qur'an, 2:3).
  2. The second dimension is passive worship, which involves abstaining from acts that are damaging to one's mind, spirituality, assets, family or life, such as gambling, consuming intoxicants, sexual promiscuity or slandering people.
  3. The third dimension is the development of a direct personal relationship between God and a Muslim. This is measured by the degree of closeness to God and how much a person remembers and communicates with God at a personal level. This dimension is important as it provides depth and quality to the other two dimensions, "...Verily, in the remembrance of God do hearts find rest." (Qur'an, 13:28).

In addition to these three dimensions of worship, we could also talk about three different forms of worship and prayer. All three forms of worship are essential in one's spiritual development.

  1. Daily prayers (salat). In Islam, the meaning of worship is this: the human being, as a servant of God, being aware of his own defects, weakness and poverty in the Divine presence, prostrates himself in love and wonder before the perfection of God's Lordship, Might and Compassion. Daily-prescribed prayers (salat) are central to personal practice of Islam and occur 5 times a day. For Muslims, salat is the most important act of worship and is a direct way to communicate with God. The one who is praying is supposed to rid his mind of worldly concerns and focus solely on "God". In fact, the word "salat" literally means "hot connection". So, prayer in Islam is an act of worship that enables the individual to get intimately close to God. The Prophet Muhammad said that a person is "closest to God at the moment of prostration". This act completes the relationship between the individual and God, as God is closer to one than one's own jugular vein (Qur'an, 50:16, see Qur'an, 2:186 for God answering prayers). Daily prayers are also an expression of our surrender to God. The physical movements in prayer show progressively increasing levels of submission to God. In the standing position with hands crossed in front of one's body, the worshipper is as if saying "my hands are tied, I submit to You and Your will". The bowing down position is a higher level of submission. Breaking the defence mechanisms of self, she is as if saying "I bow down only to You, I cannot see what's in front of me. My God, I stand defenceless in front of You". The prostration is the ultimate level of submission. She is as if saying, "My God, I am lowering my head to the same level as my feet. With respect to you I am negating myself. I am completely defenceless before Your will."
  2. Remembrance (Zhikir): This is the silent or voiced chanting of God's names and attributes or glorifying, praising and exalting God. "Say: Call upon God, or call upon Rahman: by whatever name you call upon Him, to Him belongs the Most Beautiful Names. Neither speak thy Prayer aloud, nor speak it in a low tone, but seek a middle course in between" declares the Qur'an 17:110). Muslims who follow a spiritual path to God (Sufism) focus more on this form of worship.
  3. Supplication (du'a). In addition to the daily prayers, a Muslim is encouraged to communicate with God in spoken language and ask for God's support in personal and spiritual life. The Qur'an says "And when My servants ask you (O Muhammad) concerning Me, then (answer them), I am indeed near. I respond to the invocations of the supplicant when he calls on Me. So let them obey Me and believe in Me, so that they may be led aright" (Qur'an, 2:186). There is a rich tradition of supplications reported from the Prophet of Islam. His wife Aisha reported that anyone who saw him would think that he was in a constant state of supplication. He implored God when mounting a horse, after a meal, when entering the house and so on. Consider this example: "O God, I ask You for steadfastness in my affairs. I ask You for resolution in guidance. I ask You for gratitude for Your bounties and acceptable service to You. I ask You for a truthful tongue and a sound heart; and I seek refuge in You from the evil of what You know, and I ask You for the good of what You know and I ask for Your forgiveness for what You already know. Surely you are Knower of the Unseen." (Tirmidhi)

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Spiritual Journey—Three States of Being

"O, the one in complete rest and satisfaction, come back to your Lord, well-pleased and well-pleasing to Him. Enter you, then, among my honoured servants and enter you in My Paradise."
(Qur'an, 90:27-30)

In Islam, true spiritual development can only be achieved through believing in and worshipping God, "And serve your Lord until there comes to you that which is certain." (Qur'an 15:99). Worshipping for the sake of God is a three-dimensional exercise according to the Prophet Muhammad, "Stay away from sins, because the most acceptable migration (hijrah2) is staying away from sins. Continue the commandments, because the most superior endeavour (jihad) is to perform the commandments. Remember and glorify God often for there is no other form of worship more lovable at the court of God than His remembrance3."

The first dimension is the quantity and variability of practising active worship. For example, prayer, fasting, alms-giving in various forms are different types of worship. While Islam prescribes minimum quantities of such acts, it leaves it to the individual if they would like to do more. The second dimension is passive worship involving actions that a Muslim has to stay away from in order to preserve the already gained state of spirituality and to protect the spiritual faculties from damage and destruction. Some of these include gambling, murder, fornication, consumption of intoxicants, slander, gossip and lying. The third dimension is establishing a direct and close relationship with God. How much we remember God in daily life and our willingness to communicate with Him at a personal level at spaced intervals throughout the day measure the degree of our connection and closeness to God. This dimension is important as it provides depth and quality to the other two dimensions of worship.

In addition to these three dimensions, patience in respect of hardships and thanksgiving for endowments and blessings are the right responses for a Muslim to give for life's experiences. In this way, she stays on the straight path (siratal mustakim) of reaching higher levels of being and hence achieving close relationship with God. Through spiritual struggle and development, a person goes through three levels of being.

  1. The Commanding Self—This is the animal in all of us that needs to be tamed. The human animal self is quite different to those of real animals. While a cow would be content after a good round meal in the meadows and a lion satisfied with the killing of a single zebra, the human animal self knows no limit in desires and destruction. This inherent nature of the 'self' might seem to be against us but in fact it has positive consequences. While the Creator has created the human self so that we can survive in this world, He did not set any boundaries to its emotions so that the door to human progress and development is never closed. Otherwise, there would be no difference between humans and animals, which have a fixed level of being. The goal is not to totally blunt our desires, which is impossible, but to balance and channel them according to their original purpose. A person who is in this level of being is a slave of his or her insatiable desires guided by the immediate drawing pleasures and avoiding pain and burden. He thinks he has ultimate freedom, but he is a slave to many masters (desires, fear, fame, wealth, people in higher power etc). His attitude is "life is too short to waste, I must enjoy it while I can." According to Islam, a person in this state will never find contentment just like a person will never quench his thirst by drinking salty seawater.
  2. The Accusing Self—The Qur'an describes people who are at the level of commanding-self as oblivious to God, and provides a number of reminders to nudge him or her out of their oblivion through emphasising normal events that we all encounter in life. A car accident, a dying relative or a word said by a friend can trigger certain questions in one's mind. "I am made up of flesh and atoms, yet, I can feel and learn. Who am I then? Why am I here? Where do I come from and where am I going?" are some of the questions that come to mind. After an awareness of God and seeing the need to enter into a path of spirituality, a person commits to a way of life (or religion) and tries to control his or her actions for the better. Since he has not mastered his own realm as yet, he stumbles along the way. Blaming himself for not being true to his commitment, he learns from the experience and resolves to improve with a renewed commitment. The struggle (jihad) towards the ultimate goal continues this way until the person finds rest.
  3. The Restful Self—Through resilience and persistence, there comes a time when he succeeds in finding peace and tranquillity in the heart. He now knows for certain that God exists and understands who God is. The truths of belief become startlingly apparent in his consciousness and heart. He also understands that one day unavoidably he will return to God at the time of death. He realises that by being a servant of God, he gains real freedom from the multiplicity of masters fighting to control him. His attitude becomes "life is too short to waste, I must collect as much yield from the fertile soil of life (in good deeds) and leave a lasting legacy." This enlightenment leads to a willing and complete surrender to God, while looking forward to meeting God. In this state of being, Rumi4, described his own death as the "wedding night", the time to meet with the beloved, God. At this point in time, the restful soul gets a divine invitation: "O, the one in complete rest and satisfaction, come back to your Lord, well-pleased and well-pleasing to Him. Enter you, then, among my honoured servants and enter you in My Paradise." (Qur'an, 90:27-30). The statement "(one is) well-pleased (with God) and well-pleasing to God" describes an intimate relationship between God and the person who has attained this restful self.

Islam therefore has a total system of spiritual development. It gives satisfactory and reasonable meaning to life and existence and our role in the scheme of creation. This removes all doubt and questions in one's mind giving Muslims a strong foundation for spiritual development. Through the daily prayers (salat), remembrance and supplication, a person gets closer and closer to God. Coupled with a successful inner struggle to resist the temptations of the self (flesh), the person reaches higher states of being. When he or she reaches the level of "restful self" everything makes sense, spiritual faculties are fully developed and there is an inner contentment and happiness.

Footnotes

  1. In the original Arabic version of the Qur'an, the word "insan" is used to mean the human being without the indication of sexual gender. However, in almost all English versions of the Qur'an, the word "insan" is translated as "man". Where appropriate, I will also be using the word "man" to indicate "human being". This should not be understood to indicate that the Qur'an or Islam only addresses males.
  2. Hijrah or migration, at the time, meant leaving everything behind in Mecca and migrating to Medinah for the sake of God and faith. Hence, it was a great sacrifice.
  3. Sermon 1, Monthly Diyanet Journal, August 1996.
  4. Rumi is a famous Persian Muslim Sufi master who lived in the thirteenth century Anatolia (present day Turkey). He has written Mathnawi which consists of thousands of couplets of poems. His spiritual emphasis of walking on the "ladder of love" to reach God has led to the establishment of Mawlawi Sufi order which is known as "whirling dervishes" in modern times. He is acclaimed as the greatest poet of all time.