Spiritual Methods

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ARTICLES ON SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

By Dr. Mohammad Ali Shomali (2010)

# CONTENTS:

Outcomes of the Spiritual Journey
Key Spiritual Concepts: Love, Thankfulness and Humbleness,
A Glance at the Process of Self-development
Practical Instruction for Spiritual Journey
The Significance of Self-control and Self-purification
Different Methodological Approaches to Spirituality
Different Treatments of Spirituality

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# Outcomes of the Spiritual Journey


It is clear that the ultimate aim of the spiritual journey is to get as
close to God as much as possible. However, the notion
of closeness (qurb) to God may appear to some as abstract,
especially for those who are not trained in philosophy. This paper
attempts to shed light on the notion of closeness to God
by describing what happens to those who are undergoing the
spiritual journey towards Him. All the ideas mentioned
henceforth are derived from the Quran and Sunnah and therefore
are hoped to be welcomed by all Muslims from different schools
of Islam. Reflection on these outcomes can encourage everyone
to embark on this journey and, if they have already done so, to
continue following this luminous path. It can also serve as a test
for the wayfarers to assess how much progress they have made.

Outcomes of the spiritual journey

1. Complete support:

One of the outcomes of living a life of
piety and having a pure and pious heart is that we will be given
complete support by Allah. He will listen to us, will give
us what we want, and will be our ears, eyes and hands.

In the well-known divine saying, we read:

None of My servants can seek proximity to Me by
that which is dearer to Me than things that I have
made obligatory on him. Then, with the performance
of voluntary devotion, he continuously
attains proximity to Me, so that I love him. When I
love him, I will be the ear with which he hears, the
eyes with which he sees, and the hand with which he
strikes. If he calls Me, I will answer his call, and if
he makes a request, I will grant it.

2. Perfect knowledge:

There are many holy sayings [words of Prophet and sacred imams]
which indicate that one of the results of having attained
spiritual nearness to God is to be endowed with
great knowledge of the realities of the
world, including many mysteries that can never be known
through ordinary methods of learning and teaching. On the topic
of the servant who has attained proximity to God, Prophet
Muhammad reports Allah as saying:

I will love him when he loves Me and I will make
him loved by My creation, and I will open up his
inward eyes to My glory and grandeur, and I will not
hide from him [the knowledge of] the select of My
creation. So in the darkness of night and in the light
of day, I will tell him secrets, so that his
conversations with creatures and with his
companions will be cut off. I will make him hear My
words and the words of My angels and I will reveal
to him the secret I have hidden from My creation.

3. Exclusive devotion to God:

To be cut off from everything
other than God (tabattul or inqita‘) means to be free from
reliance on anything other than God, and to see everything
as His sign and as a manifestation of His power and grace. The true
servants of God live within society while remaining totally
mindful of God, and they remember Him continuously. The
Quran praises a group of people “whom neither business nor
trading distract from remembering God, keeping up prayer, and
giving alms” (24:37).

In the well-known ‘Whisper of Shaban’, Imam Ali and other members of
the household of the Prophet called upon God, saying:

My God! Make me completely cut off from all else but
You, and enlighten the vision of our hearts with the
radiance of looking at You, until the vision of our hearts
penetrates the veils of light and reaches the Source of
Grandeur and set our spirit to be suspended at the glory
of Your sanctity.

In this supplication, the Imam is asking Allah to
enable him to be related only to Him and to be detached from
anything that stops us from being in His presence.
Unfortunately there are many actions that can hinder our
devotion, which could be apparently good or bad. Of course, bad
actions and sins can keep us away from Allah’s remembrance,
but good actions can also become corrupted, for example, by
arrogance and pride. Therefore, we should not let anything
become a barrier or a veil between us and Allah, the
Source of Light and Grandeur, whether it be our sins and
attachment to the material life or our good actions and
characteristics. If we are not careful, even good actions and
qualities can preoccupy our mind and heart, therefore diverting
our attention away from God. It is interesting that Imam Ali
asks to “penetrate the veils of light.” According to Ayatollah
Khomeini, “the veils of light” refers to those veils which are in
and of themselves light, but prevent us from beholding the main light, which is God.
This is why knowledge, which is so highly
regarded in Islam and everyone is required to seek it, can become
“the greatest veil” (al-hijab al-akbar). It is like someone who has
a pair of glasses to help him read, but instead of using it to read,
he simply holds it in his hand, enjoys looking at it, or plays with
it. Of course, the knowledge which comes after the purification of
one’s soul is different. According to holy sayings, this type of
knowledge is a light that God projects into the heart of the one
with whom He is pleased (a-‘ilm-u nur-un yaqdhif-uhu’llah fi
qalb-i man yasha).

The following story, narrated in the biography of Allamah Sayyid
Mohammad Husayn Tabataba’i, relates to this point. Once
Allamah was given an instruction for a specific practice by his
spiritual teacher, Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Qadi Tabataba’i, and was
advised that “when you are doing this special practice you may
start seeing angels, but you should continue with your practice
and should not be distracted.” Once Allamah was conducting his
worship and he saw an angel coming towards him. He
immediately remembered what his teacher had told him and
continued worshipping. Then the angel went around him as if he
wanted to start a conversation with Allamah, but he did not pay
any attention, so the angel sadly left him. Allamah remarked that
he would never forget the sadness of that angel, but this is the
way a true servant devotes himself to His Lord. We should not let
anything get in the way of our focused devotion.

4. Entrance into the realm of light.

The above holy sayings and many others refer to the fact that one of
the results of progress on the spiritual journey is the elimination
of darkness and entrance into the realm of light. The realm of
light is a reality mentioned in the Quran and holy saying:

Allah is the guardian of those who believe. He brings
them out of the darkness into the light (2:257)

With it Allah guides him who will follow His pleasure
into the ways of safety and brings them out of utter
darkness into light by His will and guides them to the
right path. (5:16)

Light is also requested in many supplications, such as in the
prayer which should be recited after the Ziyarah of Aal-i Yasin:

O Allah, surely I ask You to send blessings upon
Muhammad, the prophet of Your mercy and the
word of Your light.
And fill my heart with the light of certainty
And my chest with light of faith.
And my thinking with the light of intentions.
And my determination with the light of knowledge.
And my power with the light of action.
And my tongue with the light of truthfulness.
And my religion with the light of understanding from
You.
And my vision with brightness.
And my hearing with the light of wisdom.
And my love with the light of friendship for
Muhammad and his progeny. Peace be upon (all of)
them!
Until I meet You, while certainly I discharged Your
promise and Your covenant. So You cover me with
Your mercy, O Master! O Praiseworthy.


In the realm of light, everything is clear and the true reality of
everything is known. One of the main challenges we face is to
understand everything the way it really is, and to treat each thing
appropriately.

5. Immense love for God:

One of the strongest ways to
strengthen our relationship with Allah is through love for
Him. Once one has tasted this love, there is no other substitute.
The Imams were consumed with love for Allah. Imam
Ali b. Husayn says:

Nothing will cool my burning thirst but reaching You,
quench my ardour but meeting You, damp my yearning
but gazing upon Your face, settle my settling place
without closeness to you.

The mystic is not the one who just loves God; rather he is the one
who loves God alone, because his love or dislike for anything
else is only for the sake of God. He wills and desires only what
his Beloved wills and desires. He has no will or desire other than
His. The mystic’s love for God permeates his love for anything
else. Imam Sadiq says:

The pure heart is the one that meets the Lord while it is
free from anyone else.

6. Witnessing God in everything:

The real mystic is the one
who witnesses God in everything. Allah constantly shows
Himself to us in different ways, and if our hearts are pure, we can
witness Allah through all things. In Dua of ‘Arafah, Imam
Husayn says:

O my God! Through the variety of Your signs (in the
world of being) and the changes in states and
conditions, I realised that the purpose is to make
Yourself known to me in everything, so that I would
not ignore You in anything.

Imam Ali says:

I saw nothing except that I saw God before it, with it,
and after it.

It is obvious that the vision in question, for God, the Almighty, is
infinitely exalted beyond the range of the physical eye. God
cannot be seen by the physical eye, neither in this world nor in
the hereafter.
Being busy usually means that we forget Allah and
become consumed with our dealings. However, for Imam Ali,
it meant that he remembered Allah all the time: before,
during and after each thing; as Allah is the Creator,
Preserver, and the one who will remain after all things.
One who has reached a high stage in the spiritual journey will
find God in everything. For example, even if someone tells us
something bad or our enemy tells us something, we can still
manage to find a good message inside that which only we are
able to de-code and understand. Other people may listen to the
same thing but they do not get any message from it. However, we
will understand the message from Allah even in the words
of our enemy.

7. Internal peace:

Whenever a man gets close to Allah,
all other things appear light and small to him. He feels that he is
under Allah’s protection, and nothing can harm him. He
understands that he does not suffer any pain or difficulty except
that they are to his own benefit, and that he will be rewarded by
God “without measure” (39:10).

There are many people in the world who have comfortable lives,
but they suffer from a lack of peace and tranquillity, to the extent
that some of them resort to alcoholic drinks or narcotic drugs to
decrease their spiritual pain and self consciousness. However,
nothing short of reaching God can satisfy human beings. The
Quran says:

Surely! With the remembrance of God hearts come to
rest. (13:28)

One reason why nothing can disturb people who are mindful of
God is that they are not afraid of losing anything. Everything
becomes easy for them, since they have appreciated Allah’s
greatness, nothing else is important in their view. For
example, if you are on a beach next to the ocean, you would not
pay any attention to a small glass of water. Describing the pious
(al-muttaqin), Imam Ali says:

The greatness of the Creator is seated in their hearts
and so everything else appears small in their eyes.

Conclusion

The outcomes of the spiritual journey are too many to describe in
this short paper. The journey rewards those who travel on its path
with exclusive devotion, entrance into the realm of light,
immense love for Allah, being able to witness Allah
in everything, and internal peace. Once we take a step
towards Allah, He will reward us with these invaluable
blessings, which will make it easier for us to travel farther.

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Love, Thankfulness and Humbleness
The Key Concepts in Islamic Spirituality

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Love, thankfulness and humbleness are three very important or
perhaps even the most important concepts in Islamic spirituality.
In this paper, they will be discussed briefly. These three concepts
are chosen not only because they are theoretically important, but
also because they are practically rewarding. If we want to grow
spiritually, we can easily do this by developing these qualities in
our lives.

Love

According to Islamic holy sayings supported by rational arguments,
the entire reason for having faith or lacking faith is based on love
for Allah, and for whatever is related to Him. For
example, we read in holy sayings that once the Prophet asked his
companions: “What is the strongest handhold in Islam?” The
companions gave different answers: some said prayers, others
said fasting and others hajj. After they gave their answers, they
said: “The Prophet and Allah know best”. So the Prophet
answered: “To love for the sake of Allah and to dislike for the
sake of Allah.”

We must ask: what is the difference between one who is a
believer and one who is not? It is not enough to know certain
truths: Satan knows all those truths but he is still considered to be
disobedient. Allah says in the Quran that there are people
who know everything and yet disbelieve:

They impugned them —though they were
convinced in their hearts— wrongfully and
defiantly… (27:14)

Similarly, to declare the truth is not sufficient to be a believer, as
hypocrites declare the truth frequently. Describing such people,
the Quran says:

And there are some people who say: “We believe
in Allah and the last day; and they are not at all
believers.” (2:8)

Love for the truth is the main distinction between a believer and a
non-believer. Love requires knowledge and readiness to declare.
This readiness to declare the truth does not include circumstances
where a person must exercise taqiyyah, or the hiding of one’s
faith in order to safeguard his own life or the life of other believers.
One might wonder why Islam focuses both on love for the sake of
Allah and dislike for the sake of Allah. One might
question the need for disliking and say that we should only have
love in our hearts. However, Islam is a rational religion, and it is
rationally understandable that when we love something we must
necessarily dislike its opposite. How can we love the honest
without disliking the dishonest? Or love truth without disliking
falsehood? If you love a virtue, you cannot help but dislike the
vice. Similarly, if you love Allah, you automatically
dislike His enemies. Of course, a believer should not have any
personal dislike for anyone. If we dislike someone, it is because
of their bad qualities. We might love someone as the servant of
Allah, but we cannot love the bad qualities in him. This is
the rational implication of loving good things.
Even if these two concepts are considered separately, they imply
each other like two sides of the same coin. If we want to improve
ourselves, we should try to increase our love for Allah and
those who are close to Him, and increase our love for the acts
which are loved by Allah. This can be achieved by
gaining more knowledge and then reflecting on it.
One interesting and practical way of improving ourselves is by
reading biographies of people who have loved Allah
immensely and developed a close relationship with Him.
Their life-stories reveal many hidden secrets about their lives,
which can help and inspire us to be more inclined to their way of
living. This is a naturally inspiring process.
Any knowledge that one gains must be coupled with reflection in
order for that knowledge to come into practice. Reflection brings
about a harmony in one’s self, as one’s emotions begin to support
their knowledge. For example: if I know that telling lies is wrong,
I might still tell lies. I need to take a few minutes every day and
think about why telling lies is wrong, and realize, for example,
that it brings about no benefit.
If we reflect on the people we love we may ask: why do we love
these people? If someone gives you a job, you would not forget
them for as long as you live; if someone teaches you something,
you would be grateful and remember them; if someone helps you,
or gives you money, or if your neighbour smiles at you or is kind
to you, then you would love them. We do not need great reasons
to love people: just a little caring and affection is enough. So how
can we not love Allah when everything we have is from
Him and nothing bad is from Him? We know these things, but we
just need to reflect on them. If our love for Allah
increases and intensifies, then we cannot disobey Him. How can
you disobey the one that you love and make Him unhappy?
Love for Allah is therefore a very important concept
which can help us practically to develop spiritually, and become
closer to Him.

Thankfulness

The virtue of thankfulness is very much related to love for Allah
. If you are thankful you will certainly love Allah because
of all His favours and if you love Allah you will believe in Him
and obey him. Thus, thankfulness is the core of iman (faith). It
may not be accidental that in Arabic the terms used to signify
ungratefulness and disbelief are identical, that is, kufr. Here are
some verses of the Quran where a contrast is made between
thankfulness and unthankfulness:

If you are ungrateful (takfur-u), indeed Allah has
no need of you, though He does not approve
ingratitude (al-kufr) for His servants; and if you
give thanks He approves that for you. No bearer
shall bear another’s burden; then to your Lord will
be your return, whereat He will inform you
concerning what you used to do. Indeed He knows
best what is in the breasts. (39:7)

So when he saw it set near him, he said, ‘This is by
the grace of my Lord, to test me if I will give
thanks or be ungrateful (akfur). And whoever
gives thanks, gives thanks only for his own sake.
And whoever is ungrateful (kafar) [should know
that] my Lord is indeed all-sufficient, allgenerous.’
(27:40)

Certainly We gave Luqman wisdom, saying, ‘Give
thanks to Allah; and whoever gives thanks, gives
thanks only for his own sake. And whoever is
ungrateful (kafar), [let him know that] Allah is
indeed all-sufficient, all-laudable.’ (31:12)

A very striking verse is to be found in the Chapter Man (76:3),
where thankfulness (to Allah for His guidance) is considered to
be identical with faith and to be unthankful is the opposite:

Indeed We created man from the drop of a mixed
fluid so that We may test him. So We made him
endowed with hearing and sight. Indeed We have
guided him to the way, be he grateful or
ungrateful. (76:2)

Therefore, shukr (thankfulness) is a very significant concept. It is
a primary issue related to the core of iman. It is also practical and
uncomplicated. Moreover, if we are thankful, we can achieve
many things as Allah says in the Quran:

When Moses said to his people, ‘Remember
Allah’s blessing upon you when He delivered you
from Pharaoh’s clan who inflicted a terrible
torment on you, and slaughtered your sons and
spared your women, and in that there was a great
test from your Lord.’ And when your Lord
proclaimed, ‘If you are grateful, I will surely
enhance you [in blessing], but if you are
ungrateful, My punishment is indeed severe.’ (14:7)

Imagine a teacher who has a thankful student. That student
appreciates the teacher and knows the teacher is doing a good job
of helping him. Furthermore, the student declares that he is
thankful, and then puts into practice what the teacher has taught
him. The teacher would love to teach this student whatever he
knows, as the teacher would not feel that his knowledge is being
wasted. This is the example of a thankful servant who in his heart
appreciates, with his tongue declares, and with his body,
practices. Allah will give such a person more and more
and He has no limits. The more He gives, the more you receive.
In the Dua of Iftitah we recite:

O the one that abundance of giving does not
increase Him save generosity and bounteousness!

One might wonder how it is possible that Allah’s
generosity increases by giving. When Allah gives you
something and you are thankful and can maintain that state, your
capacity to receive increases. There is no limit for divine
generosity except our limited capacity. The more Allah
gives, the more capacity we have to receive, and so His
Generosity accelerates into this infinite Mercy.

The concept of thankfulness has been explored by many Muslim
scholars who have made various useful distinctions between the
various types of thankfulness. According to Khajeh Abdullah
Ansari in his book Manazil al-Sa’irin (The Stations of the
Wayfarers), there are three main types of thankfulness:

• Thankfulness from the heart: knowing that something is a
gift from Allah;
• Thankfulness with words: declaring that you are thankful
for divine bounties;
• Thankfulness in practice: doing something with your
hands, feet, eyes, etc., as acts of worship. This is practical
thankfulness.

The first type of thankfulness is the most important, as it brings
about the other two types. He also mentions that thankfulness
consists of three main things:

• To know something is a gift: for example, one might
know everything about health, but to know that health is a
gift from Allah is to know something additional.
• To acknowledge that this is a gift from Allah: this means
to admit that what one has been given is a gift, and that
he/she is the recipient. Sometimes one might know
something is a gift, but refuses to acknowledge it out of
arrogance. One might think that he has earned it, or that
he could live without it.
• To praise Allah for it.

Lastly, Khajeh Abdullah Ansari studies the notion of
thankfulness and asserts that being thankful has different levels:

• Some levels are shared by ordinary people: they
understand that there are some gifts from Allah that we
are thankful for, and try to be pleased and praise Him.
• On higher levels, people are not only thankful for what
they consider to be gifts that Allah has given them, but for
whatever happens to them. Even a bad thing that occurs to
a believer is not caused by a lack of love from Allah,
and so a believer is thankful for that.
• Some people are very concerned with Allah’s presence:
they feel no ease or pain as they do not have any time to
think about whether they are in the state of ease or pain.

This is the power of love. Similarly, if you are watching
an interesting film, you might forget that you are hungry.
Or if we are in the company of someone we love, we may
forget the time and do not want the meeting to end. People
who love Allah to this extent are completely
distracted and absorbed by His Essence. Khajeh Abdullah
Ansari calls it the thankfulness of the elite.

Love and thankfulness are two intertwined concepts which can
help us practically on our journey to self-improvement. Imam
Khomeini in his book Forty Holy sayings points out that the
appearance of the effects of love and thankfulness become
apparent in the heart, on the tongue and in the bodily acts and
movements. As for the heart, one becomes filled with humility,
awe and love. As for the tongue, the effects are among praise and
glorification for Allah alone. As for the body, the effects consist
of obedience and the use of the body for the sake of Allah. May
Allah increase our love for Him by increasing our understanding
of Him, and may He inspire us to be thankful in all situations.

Humbleness

Another key concept in Islamic spirituality is ultimate
humbleness or spiritual poverty. This means to strengthen our
understanding of the need for Allah and achieve a sense of
complete reliance on Him. This means that even saying, “Allah
has been very kind to me” or that “Allah has been very generous
to me” is not enough. Who are we without Allah’s favour and
grace? We are nothing! It is not that Allah has been generous to
something independent of Himself. We are nothing else than
what He has created. All good things come from Him; in the best
scenario we are just recipients, contingent creations of Allah, not
independent from Him in any way.
One might compare this to humbleness: but it is more important,
more intense, and at a higher level. Sometimes people try hard to
be humble. For example, if they feel very important because they
have been successful they try to control themselves so that they
do not become arrogant; this is a struggle. But if one achieves
spiritual poverty there is no need to struggle, as one would feel
they had nothing of their own to be proud of except the gifts of
Allah. Reflection on our limits and absolute need for and
reliance on Allah leaves no place for any kind of arrogance or
self-admiration. Whatever we have, or is at our disposal, belongs
to Allah. We are given things as trust for a short period of time
and will be questioned on the Day of Judgement about the way
we have dealt with them. Indeed, we ourselves belong to Allah in
our very existence. Rene Guenon (1973) writes:
The contingent being may be defined as one that is
not self-sufficient, not containing in himself the
point of his existence; it follows that such a being
is nothing by himself and he owns nothing of what
goes to make him up. Such is the case of the
human being in so far as he is individual, just as it
is the case of all manifested beings, in whatever
state they may be for, however great the difference
may be between the degrees of Universal
Existence, it is always as nothing in relation to the
Principle. These beings, human or others, are
therefore, in all that they are, in a state of complete
dependence with regard to the Principle "apart
from which there is nothing, absolutely nothing
that exists"; it is the consciousness of this
dependence which makes what several traditions
call "spiritual poverty".
At the same time, for the being who has acquired
this consciousness, it has, as its immediate
consequence, detachment with regard to all
manifested things, for the being knows from then
on that these things, like himself, are nothing, and
that they have no importance whatsoever compared
with the absolute Reality.

Imam Husayn prays to Allah:

What can I bring when I want to come to
you?…Can I come with my ears, my eyes, my
tongue, my hands, my feet? Is not this the case
that all of these are your blessings that you have
given me?

Elsewhere Imam Husayn says:

O My Lord! I am poor in my richness so how
can I not be poor in my poverty?

Whatever I have is a sign of my need, a sign of my dependence.
What about that which I do not have? Suppose that there is a
person who has taken a loan, say, of one million dollars from a
bank and another person who has taken one hundred thousand
dollars. Which one is richer, and which one is not? It seems
obvious that the one who has taken more money is more indebted
and more responsible and must have more concerns and worries.
Whatever Allah gives us puts us more in debt. There are many
many things that we do not have and even those things that we
have do not belong to us so how can we feel proud and free from
needs.

Imam Husayn says:

With respect to my knowledge, I am ignorant.
How can I not be very ignorant in respect to what I do not know?

What we know is very limited and surrounded with lots of
questions. The more we know, the more questions we will have.
This is why those who are more knowledgeable are more careful
and cautious in their claims and farther from arrogance. Also,
over time, we can easily lose what we know. There are people
who cannot even remember their own names or the names of
their closest relatives.

Imam Husayn also says:

O Allah! Verily the alteration of your affairs and
the speed of progress of your decrees prevent
those servants of You who know You to be
confident when faced with your favour or to feel
despaired when challenged with calamities.

Everything changes quickly in this world. Sometimes we are
happy and sometimes sad. Sometimes people respect us and
sometimes no one respects us. Sometimes our children are good
to us and sometimes not. There are lots of ups and downs. What
is the reason for this? We need to learn that we cannot trust
anything except Allah. No one knows what will happen and,
therefore, we should not trust anything. As the sayings of Imam
Husayn shown above teach us, we should not trust anything
or anyone other than Allah and at the same time we should not
despair. We should not be hopeless or feel helpless when bad
things happen. The key is in the hands of Allah and He can
change our situation to betterment in any moment. Having said
all this, Imam Husayn says:

I appeal to You with my poverty and need for
You. And how can I appeal to You with
something which is impossible to reach You? Or
how should I mention my complaint to You
while it is not hidden to You? O my Allah! How
can I not be poor when You have put me
amongst the poor? And how can I be poor when
you have made me rich with your generosity?

This shows that the means (wasilah) that the Imam uses to get
closer to Allah is his dependence on Allah and his deep
understanding that he is poor and nothing before Allah. Thus, the
valuable means that Imam Husayn finds and wants to use is
‘poverty’. According to the Quran, we are all needy. The Quran
says:

O mankind! You are the ones who stand in need
of Allah, and Allah—He is the All-sufficient, the
All-laudable. (35:15)

We are all needy and it is only Allah who is rich and free of need.
Many people do not understand this. Imam Husayn declares
that he understands and admits this and wants to use it as a means
to get nearer to Allah. Then the Imam describes that when he
wants to come with his poverty there is a problem, in that poverty
does not reach Allah. This is to emphasise that poverty is only
from one side; poverty cannot reach Allah. This may also mean
that the one who goes with poverty will meet Allah whilst he is
rich. To become rich you must take poverty with you, but the
people who feel that they are the poorest people are the richest
people in the eyes of Allah. Whoever is the most humble, Allah
will raise him more than anyone else. As we find in a holy saying,

‘whoever tries to be humble for Allah’s sake, Allah will elevate
him.’

In a divine saying we find that Allah told
Moses the reason why He made him a Prophet is that He
looked into the hearts of all people and saw that Moses was the
most humble one.

According to a well-known holy saying, the person who avoids
arrogance and chooses to be humble before Allah and serves Him
sincerely is no longer a slave of others or of his own whims. He
will achieve some kind of lordship: The servitude to Allah is a
substance whose essence (core) is the lordship.

In another holy saying, we read:

My servant, obey Me. [If you do so] I will make
you an example of Myself. I am alive and never
die so I make you alive and never die. I am rich
and never become poor so I make you become rich
and never poor. Whatever I want it will be, so I
make you in the way that whatever you want it
will be there.

Reflecting on his life, one can see in the Prophet Muhammad
the perfect example of humbleness. Indeed, the reason why the
Prophet Muhammad was chosen to be the ‘Seal of the Prophets'
and was given the final message of Allah lies mostly in the fact
that he was a true servant of Allah and the most humble person
before Allah and His people. At least nine times a day in their
prayers Muslims bear witness that the Prophet Muhammad was a
servant of Allah and His Apostle. This means that among all his
qualities there are two that are exceptional: first, he managed to
be a servant of Allah and second, he was rewarded by being
appointed as the Apostle of Allah.
The Prophet was so humble that he never admired himself; he
never felt superior to others. He never separated himself from the
masses and always lived a very simple life. He maintained the
same conduct while he was both alone and powerless as well as
when he ruled the Arabian Peninsula and Muslims were wholeheartedly
following him. He lived very simply and was always
with the people, especially the poor. He had neither a palace nor
guards. When he was sitting with his companions, no one could
distinguish him from others by considering his seat or clothes. It
was only his words and spirituality that distinguished him from
others.
Just before his demise, the Prophet announced in the Mosque:
“Whoever among you feels that I have done injustice to him,
come forward and do justice. Surely, enacting justice in this
world is better in my view than being taken account of in the
Hereafter in front of the angels and the Prophets.” Those present
in the Mosque wept, for they were reminded of all the sacrifices
that the Prophet had made for them and the troubles that he had
undergone in order to guide them. They knew that he never gave
any priority to his own needs and never preferred his comfort and
convenience to others. They therefore responded with statements
of deep gratitude and profound respect. But one among them,
Sawadah b. Qays, stood up and said: “May my father and mother
be your ransom! O Messenger of Allah! On your return from
Ta’if, I came to welcome you while you were riding your camel.
You raised your stick to direct your camel, but the stick struck
my stomach. I do not know whether this strike was intentional or
unintentional.” The Prophet replied: “I seek refuge from Allah
from having done so intentionally.”
The Prophet then asked Bilal to go to the house of Fatimah and
bring the same stick. After the stick was brought, the Prophet told
Sawadah to retaliate by hitting him back. Sawadah said that the
stick had struck the skin of his stomach. The Prophet therefore
lifted his shirt so that Sawadah could in return strike his skin. At
that moment, Sawadah asked: “O Messenger of Allah! Do you
allow me to touch my mouth to your stomach?” The Prophet gave
him permission. Sawadah then kissed the stomach of the Prophet
and prayed that because of this act of his, Allah would protect
him from fire on the Day of Resurrection. The Prophet said: “O
Sawadah! Will you pardon me or do you still wish to retaliate?”
He replied: “I pardon you.” The Prophet then prayed: “O Allah!
Pardon Sawadah b. Qays as he pardoned Your Prophet,
Muhammad!”

Thus, in Islamic spirituality it is very important to feel humble
and that we are nothing in front of Allah. Not just as a claim that
we may utter without firm belief, but as a deep sense of
nothingness. Once a person saw Imam Sajjadin Masjid al-
Haram, next to Ka‘bah at Hijr of Isma‘il. He said: ‘I went to Hijr
Isma‘il and saw Ali b. Husayn there saying his prayer. Then
he went for Sajdah (prostration). I told myself: this is a pious man
from a pious family, so let me listen to him while praying in his
Sajdah.’ Then he quoted the Imam praying:
My Lord, your small and little servant has come to
your door, your captive has come to your door, the
one who is poor has come to your door, the one
who begs you has come to your door.

In the Quran, Allah warns the believers that if they turn away
from His religion, Allah will soon bring forward a people that
among their characteristics is their humbleness before the
believers:

O you who have faith! Should any of you desert
his religion, Allah will soon bring a people whom
He loves and who love Him, [who will be]
humble towards the faithful, stern towards the
faithless, striving hard in the way of Allah, not
fearing the blame of any blamer. That is Allah’s
grace which He grants to whomever He wishes,
and Allah is All-bounteous, All-knowing. (5:54)

In Islamic literature, especially that by Persian poets, great
emphasis has been put on spiritual poverty. For example, in a
long poem in his Mathnawi, Rumi illustrates the significance of
this feeling of nothingness and humility and the fatal danger of
pride and arrogance. Rumi argues that whomsoever people flatter
and prostrate before indeed poison him. If he is not spiritually
strong, he may be deceived and feel proud of himself. In this
way, he may become arrogant and damage himself and lose his
humility. When people flatter someone who is clever he will
realize that this can be detrimental. Rumi goes on praising those
who are humble in contrast to those who are arrogant. The
example of someone who has not established humbleness in
himself is like the one who drinks a poisonous wine. In the
beginning he may feel happy and joyful, but after a few minutes
he will collapse.

Another example that Rumi provides is the fight between two
kings. When one king wins the battle and becomes victorious he
will either imprison the defeated king or kill him, but he will
never punish the beggars or the poor subjects of the defeated
country. Indeed, he may help and promote them. Rumi says that
the reason is that these types of people are humble and have no
ambition of becoming a king and therefore they do not pose a
threat to the new king. Another example is a caravan which is
going from one place to another. When the thieves come to rob
the caravan, those who have no money will be safe. Or when
wolves attack they may attack anything that comes before them.
They may even attack each other and this is why when they want
to sleep they sit in a circle so that they can carefully watch each
other. But Rumi says if there is a dead wolf they will not attack
him. We know that the Prophet Khir made a hole in the bottom
of a boat because there was an unjust ruler in that area who used
to confiscate every boat or ship passing by. Thus, the only way
for that boat to be saved was to make it unusable. If a mountain
or hill has lots of valuable minerals inside, people will excavate
the area to bring out all the soils, sand and minerals out of it. But
an ordinary hill or mount which has nothing special inside will
remain intact. Someone who is walking is standing on his feet
and his neck is straight. Therefore, the enemies may cut off his
neck with their sword, but no one would cut off the head of a
shadow person, since the shadow is so “humble” that no one
thinks that it may pose any threat. When a ladder is going to
collapse the one who climbs higher is very stupid. When the
ladder collapses his bones will be damaged more severely.
After mentioning these examples, Rumi finally asserts that
whatever he said were like the branches whose root or principle is
much deeper. The underlying principle is that to feel arrogant is
to associate one’s self with Allah. This is polytheism (shirk).
Rumi goes on saying that since you have not yet died and again
gained life through Allah, you are not enjoying a spiritual life.
Without such a death, whatever position you take is shirk. But if
you die and become selfless, that is, if you are revived through
Allah you may go higher and higher. In such condition, whatever
you possess is for the sake of Allah and will be spent for the sake
of Allah. This is pure tawhid or monotheism.

It has been suggested that poverty means to not possess
something and at the same time to have the desire to possess it.
For example, he who feels in himself a certain lack of human
perfection and sincerely desires to remedy this lack is a 'faqir'.
Furthermore, it has been suggested that in Sufism “the longing of
love is born of faqr ('spiritual poverty')”.13 I think there are some
problems with this understanding of poverty. First, poverty is
much more than not to possess and then desire to possess. I think
poverty is an awareness of our absolute need and dependence on
Allah and as long as we are what we are this need cannot be
removed. Second, this sense of poverty is a spiritual gift and
virtue that should be maintained forever. Poverty is not a
transient station towards richness or affluence. Rather, poverty
itself is the greatest wealth and fortune that human beings can
ever have. The Prophet Muhammad is quoted as saying:
My honour is from spiritual poverty. I have been
honored over and above all prophets by being
graced with spiritual poverty.

Conclusion:

In this paper, we have discussed the concept of love
as the strongest foothold in Islam, and as a distinguishing factor
of a true believer. Knowledge, coupled with reflection and the
grace of Allah, can increase our love. Secondly, we
discussed the concept of thankfulness as equal to faith, as taught
in the Quran. Understanding the different levels of thankfulness
can help us to be aware and thankful in all situations.
In this paper, we also discussed humbleness and spiritual poverty,
through which one can attain piety, spirituality and alleviation
from worries and difficulties. This concept is not implying that
human beings have no value, and neither does it underestimate
the value of human beings; rather, it fully appreciates the value of
humans: by serving the Most Perfect and the Most Pure Allah, we
can get closer and closer to perfection.
May Allah help us understand how much we need Him,
how much He has given us, how to really ask from Him in the
best way, and how to make Allah pleased with us so we
can become enlightened and pure. This is the power and will of
Allah, and there is no limit to it. Allah has all the
power and all the reasons to be kind to us, and if there are any
obstacles, they are only due to us.

O Allah, grant me
the riches of poverty
for in such largesse lies
my power and glory.

(Hafez of Shiraz)

--

# A Glance at the Process of Self-development


The process of self-development has different stages. In what
follows, I will try to study briefly the whole process and refer to
its major stages.

Wakefulness or attention to one’s self:

The very first stage is wakefulness (yaqzah), that is,
to awaken from the preoccupation of worldly engagements
and to remove negligence.
To awaken is to remember to look after one’s piety, life and
spirituality. Many scholars such as Imam Khomeini in his book:
Jihad-e Akhbar (the Major Jihad), which is a compilation of
lectures given by him to Hawzah students, state that the first stage
of self-purification is wakefulness. Indeed some mystics believe
that this is only a preliminary stage and that the first stage comes
after wakefulness. However, there is no doubt that this is the
beginning. The departure point is to become awake. We may say
that we are all ‘awake’, but this is a different kind of wakefulness.

According to Prophet Muhammad:

"The people are asleep and only wake when they
die".

When they die, they wake and never go to sleep again. But then it
is too late. Then they are like someone who wakes up when the
train has gone, when the airplane has flown. At that time, there is
no use or benefit in going to the airport because, although you are
now awake, you have already missed the flight. All you can do is
to blame yourself and be regretful. You might say that you will
catch the next flight but unfortunately there are no more flights. It
is the end of the world, that was the last flight and we missed it
because we were asleep.
So, let us be awake. If we become conscious only when we die,
we cannot do anything, as there is no opportunity to come back.
Allah talks of the people who ask to be returned, so that
they can do something good. He replies “this is just some words
that this person says” (23:100). If he is given a chance, he will
not change, and even then, there is no opportunity; they just wait
for the day of resurrection. Unfortunately, death has become so
familiar or naturalised that we do not think we are going to die,
and it will always happen to someone else. According to an
Iranian poet,

“we are like a group of sheep, taken one by one
to the slaughter house; each is enjoying, not
thinking that they will be next”.

According to a holy saying, the Tawrah of Moses says:

“I am astonished that someone who is certain that he
is going to die, can ever be happy”.

So we need to become alert and wake up before we die.
Sometimes this happens through a significant event such as the
loss of a relative, severe illness, or in meeting a pious person.
However we should not wait for something to happen before
changing; we can just change, as there is no guarantee that
something will happen to us.
It is very easy to become awake: it just needs determination and
for us to think about how important and significant this life, this
journey to get closer to Allah, is to us. This is the only
chance that we have to obtain provisions for our eternal journey.
According to a holy saying, Imam Ali said:

“Day and night are constantly affecting you so you
should also try to affect them.”

This means that your life is passing by quickly. Every day and
every night is making you older. In other words every day and
every night is bringing you nearer to your end of life in this
world , so try to do something.
There is a beautiful analogy regarding our situation. Life in this
world is compared to a rope for a person who has gone into a
deep well and is only holding onto that rope. If he loses this rope
he will be finished. There are two mice, one white and one black,
at the top of the well, gnawing on the rope. The time will come
when the rope will definitely break. The mice are very
determined and will not go away. This is our situation. The rope
represents our life. The white mouse represents day and the black
mouse represents night. Day and night are constantly ‘gnawing’
away at our life and sooner or later we will ‘fall’ and die.
So we must be awake and be very careful with this life, with this
golden opportunity that has been given to us.

2. Knowing one’s self:

After becoming awake, we should try to
find out what resources, opportunities and options are available to
us. Now that we are awake, we want to do something. It is like
someone who has no work or business and so has no source of
income. Everyone tells him to be responsible and do something.
He agrees that he should do something but does not know what to
do. He cannot start from nothing. First of all he should discover
what kind of abilities and skills he has. He should know what
options are available. For example, he should try to learn about
the state of the business market. He should find out who has been
successful so that he can take them as role models. He should
also see who has become bankrupt so that he can learn lessons
from their situation and avoid becoming like them. This is what is
called ‘self-knowledge’ (ma'rifat al-nafs) and is considered to be
"the most beneficial knowledge". Why do we always tend to
forget about ourselves and know about other things instead? For
example, there are some people who may spend all their life
studying a rare species of insects but will not spend even one
hour sitting down, trying to find out what God has placed inside
them.
Muslim mystics say that there are two worlds: an external one
consisting of the beautiful natural world of humans, animals,
plants and non-living beings created by God and also an internal
world inside our very selves. And they say that this world inside
us is the greater world. What God has placed inside us is far
greater than the whole physical world outside ourselves. This is
why we read in a beautiful divine saying:

"Neither my heaven nor my earth could contain Me, it
is only the heart of a believing person that has
contained Me.”

From this holy saying, we can understand that our heart must be even
greater than all these stars and planets, than this whole creation
that we can see.
So, we need to know ourselves properly. We often underestimate
the potential that we have for perfection. There is an endless
possibility for perfection before us. Even the most holy people
can still advance. There is always further for them to go because
the distance between man and God is infinite and so there is
always a possibility to go still higher. This is why we pray after
tashahhud, "O God! Please accept the intercession of the Holy
Prophet for us and also elevate his level".
This means that the Prophet can go higher.

Many of us are too easily satisfied with our achievements. We
need to be more determined and have greater expectations. If we
are satisfied with small things, then we will lose out and maybe
we will not even achieve those small things. It is said that once
there was a religious scholar (‘âlim) whose son had become a
student of religion. The father asked his son what he wanted to
become in the future. The son answered that he wanted to become
like his father. The father replied that he felt very sorry for his
son because he himself had wanted to become as much as
possible like Imam Ja'far Sadiq, who was his role model, and yet
his present situation was all that he had achieved. He told his son
that if he only wanted to become like his father then he would not
achieve anything. So, we should always have great ambitions and
indeed God has created us with such a potentiality inside us.
So, we need to know ourselves, we should believe in our
potential and be aware of the different things that can benefit or
harm us.

3. Taking care of one’s self:

After wakefulness and self-knowledge,
we need self-care. It is not enough simply to know
things; knowledge should serve us by being put into practice. For
example, if you know that smoking kills but have no concern for
your health and so continue to smoke, there is no benefit in that
knowledge. In fact it just makes you more responsible and
accountable because you know. Of course, this does not mean
that we should avoid learning. To say we did not know is not a
good enough excuse; we must learn and then put what we learn
into practice. So we need to have self-care. The Quran states:

“O believers, look after yourselves, if you are on the
right path, you will not be harmed”. (5:105)

To look after oneself implies practicing one’s social
responsibilities as well, since Islam is a religion that asks us to be
actively engaged in social life: all with the spirit of wakefulness
and consciousness, and knowing what can benefit and harm us.
However, there is something that often happens to people in this
state. When they become conscious and sensitive to spiritual
issues, then unfortunately instead of being concerned with their
own piety, instead of being mostly busy with their own problems,
they become judgmental about other people. For example, they
start thinking that this person is useless, that one is careless and
another one is not really a believer. This is very dangerous. First
of all and most of all a true believer should be busy with his own
problems. We understand from holy sayings that it is much better for
us if we are busy sorting out our own problems and illnesses
rather than thinking about others and being judgmental. For
example, the Prophet Mohammad is quoted as saying:
Blessed is the one who is so busy thinking about
his own deficiencies that he has no time to think
about the deficiencies of others.
Thus, we must start with criticising and assessing ourselves
before looking at others. Sometimes we have an enormous
problem within ourselves but we are not aware of it and yet we
notice a tiny amount of that same problem when it is in someone
else. For example, we may have eaten something like garlic and
do not realise that our mouth smells and yet when we meet
someone who smells in some way, we are so quick to think or say
something about them.

There is a story in Mathnawi by Rumi that four people had an
appointment with a king immediately after midday prayers. They
were very concerned not to lose this opportunity to meet the king
and did not want to be late. So they decided to say their prayers
quickly and then go to meet the king. They started praying as
soon as they reached the mosque. However while they were
saying their prayers, the one who calls for prayer (mu’adhdhin)
came into the mosque to climb the minaret. They were now
unsure and began to wonder whether they had started their
prayers too early or whether that day the mu’adhdhin had arrived
late. So, whilst praying, one of them asked the mu’adhdhin
whether the time for prayers had already arrived or not. The
second person asked the first why he had spoken whilst praying
because whether the time had arrived or not he had now made his
prayers void by speaking. The third person pointed out that the
second person had now also spoken by asking the first one why
he had spoken. However the fourth person considered himself to
be "very clever". He said: ‘Thanks to God that I did not speak!’
So, in this story we see that four people shared the same problem
but each could only see it in the other people and not in
themselves. In fact they repeated the very same mistake for which
they were criticizing the others. Therefore it is so much better to
be very concerned about ourselves rather than about other people.
Sometimes people think that this means they should be
indifferent to what is happening around them, in their community
or in society. This is not the case. But if we want to be more
useful to our community and to society then we should first start
with ourselves and then we can help others. For example, we see
that when giving instructions on a plane regarding the use of
emergency oxygen masks, they always advise us to attend to
ourselves first and then help those next to us. Otherwise, whilst
we are trying to help the other person with their mask, we
ourselves may collapse.

So, we should have self-care. But how should we care for
ourselves? Should we only pray and recite the Quran? Should we
just serve society by doing community work?

Acquiring appropriate beliefs and faith:

The very first thing that we need to do is to acquire proper beliefs and a proper
understanding of the world. If you want to be a good businessman
you must know the market and the people who are in the same
business. You need to know the present situation, future
possibilities and the factors that work in that particular business.
If we want to be successful in this world we must know Who is
the One who has control here. If we need to get permission to
start a business we should know where to go to get that
permission. In the same way, if we want to start a spiritual
‘business’ we should know from where to get permission. We
should know what laws and regulations apply and should be
observed. We should know what provisions are provided and
what kind of loans and grants might be given to us.
Sa‘di, a famous Iranian poet who wrote Golestan and Bustan,
tells a beautiful story. He says that once a person went to do some
business in another country. He realized that in that country the
bell which they used to hang in the public bath-houses was very
cheap to buy. For example, if the bell would have cost $100 in his
country then in that country it cost only $1. So he sold all his
goods and with whatever money he had, he purchased maybe a
thousand bells. Then he expected to return to his country and
generate $99 profit on each bell. So he transported all these bells
back to his home town. However the problem was that there were
only two or three bath-houses in his town and so no-one wanted
to buy the bells. No-one was interested, even when he offered
them at half price. So he lost all his capital and became bankrupt
because he did not know which were the right kind of goods that
would be purchased in his country.
Many people are like this and invest in things in this world which
will be of no value in the hereafter. We invest our life, which is
the most valuable ‘capital’ that we have been given, in things
which, when we arrive in the hereafter, we will be told were
pointless and thus we had wasted this ‘capital’. Hence we need
to have faith and to know the way in which our life in this world
can secure our happiness in the next world. We must have correct
beliefs and we should be especially careful to understand the
connection between our life in this world and our life in the
hereafter. About one third of the Glorious Quran talks about the
hereafter. There is so much emphasis on it to teach us that the
eternal life is the thing for which we must really prepare
ourselves.
Another useful parable can be found in holy sayings. There is an
example in the story of the person who worshipped day and
night: one day an angel passed by, thinking that with such
dedication, this person must have a very high status. When the
angel went close to him, he realised that the person did not have
proper understanding of God, as he said “I wish you had a
donkey so I could feed him in my field, as I have lots of grass
here”. This person saw God like a human being, who has a
donkey. This kind of faith is not rewarding, and so aqidah is the
first certainty that needs to be secured. We must make efforts to
gain proper understanding of God the Creator, His position in this
world, the belief in Unity, Prophethood, and Resurrection.
Therefore, first we should have correct beliefs, but not the kind of
beliefs that we normally learn and can only repeat in a parrot-like
fashion. It must be the kind of belief that we have completely
absorbed into our very being so that if we say that there is only
One God, then our whole body and soul would declare that we
are monotheist.

[Being a good, kind and caring person is necessary but not sufficient to attain
a place in heaven: we must also have faith. If people are good in their dealing
with others, and have no faith, there is no chance to go to heaven: maybe they
will not be sent to Hell, or their punishment will be reduced, but there is no
way of attaining heaven. To believe in God, as the One and only Creator is a
necessary and fundamental belief.]

Performing acts of piety and refraining from sins and evil
deeds:

We should try to perform our obligations and observe all
the requirements of our faith. Even if we have proper beliefs and
perform all our obligations but do not stop committing sins, we
will not succeed. If someone washes his hands ten times a day but
continues to touch things which are dirty and polluted, he will
become dirty again. It is no use saying that he washed his hands
ten times that day. Daily prayer is like a spiritual bath which
makes us clean but if we do the same things again afterwards then
we are just making ourselves dirty again.
There is a beautiful example of someone who has a carrier bag
into which he puts some purchases in order to take them home.
But there is a big hole in the bottom of the carrier bag and so
whatever he puts into the bag falls out through the hole. He is
surprised and wonders how it could be possible that he has filled
the bag with at least ten times its capacity but it still remains
empty. He wonders where everything is going. In a similar way,
depending on our age, we have worshipped God for 10, 20, 30 or
40 years. But where is the result of this worship? Why are we still
the same kind of people? Why are we the same after the month of
Ramadan as we were before it? It is because we do good things
but in addition to this we also do bad things.

There is another useful example related by Rumi. There was a
farmer who used to harvest his wheat and put it into his
storeroom, hoping to fill it for the winter. But, to his
astonishment, every time he went to the storeroom to fill it with
more wheat he discovered that the level of the wheat would be
lower than before and thus the storeroom was never filled. So he
was surprised, especially as the storeroom was always locked so
that no-one else had access to it to take anything out. He would
always carefully lock the door. So he decided that one night he
would have to stay awake inside his storeroom so that he could
find out what was happening. So one night he indeed remained
awake inside the storeroom, silently watching. After midnight he
realized that there were some huge rats coming and taking all the
wheat out of the storeroom. Thus he realized that they were the
real cause of the problem. So Rumi tells us that we are like this.
There are some rats in our hearts which take away the light of our
good deeds. If there are no rats, then where is the light of forty
years of praying, the light of forty years of fasting, of going for
Hajj, etc.? So we should be very careful not to do any sinful
actions. We should not commit even one single sin. Of course we
are human beings and we may make mistakes, but a real believer
is the one who, if he makes a mistake, firstly always feels sad and
bitter about it and secondly he quickly repents and sincerely
decides not to repeat the same mistake again. So, if we commit a
sin we must repent as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, amongst some people who are interested in
spirituality there are those who think that the religious law
(shari‘ah) is only needed at the beginning and that afterwards we
should be concerned with the requirements of the spiritual
journey (tariqah). Sometimes they say that this is like someone
who has reached the core and so no longer needs the peel. But
this is a wrong idea because we always need to observe the
shari‘ah. The Holy Prophet and Imams of the Household of the
Prophet (Peace be upon them all) always followed the shari‘ah
and there is no one who can claim to be more pious than them.
There is no incident where the Holy Prophet committed a sin and
then said that it was alright for him to do so. For example he
never said that we should not tell lies but that it was allowed for
him to do so. Or that we should not drink alcohol or gamble but
that for him it was acceptable. Unfortunately nowadays we find
that there are some so-called Muslims who follow people calling
themselves masters or imams who do not themselves follow the
requirements of piety and still their followers believe in them and
think that they will never be affected by their unlawful deeds.
However, according to the school of Ahlul Bayt this matter is
very clear. We should observe the shari‘ah but this is not enough.
There are two different ways of looking at shari‘ah. One is to
believe that the shari‘ah is only for the beginner and that after we
reach the higher levels we no longer need it. This is what some
Sufis do. The second way is to say that the shari'a is always
needed but that by only following shari‘ah we will always remain
at the lowest level. If we want to go to the higher levels, in
addition to the shari‘ah we should try to go beyond the
performance of mere rituals to discover the spirit contained
within them. An example which might help is that of a person
who is at primary school. If someone is at primary school and
they feel satisfied with that, then their education will always
remain incomplete. They need to go on to secondary school, to
high school and then to university. But we cannot say that we will
go to secondary school and once there we will forget about
everything learnt at primary school. Or that when we go to
university we will forget about everything learnt at high school.
This will not work.
It has to be noted that nothing can replace performance of the
obligations and refraining from the sins. In Nahj al-Balaghah,
Imam Ali says:

“Do not be one of the people who have hope for the
hereafter without having good practice and who
postpone repentance because he is too ambitious”.

If we maintain proper practice, little by little, the light of our
deeds will enlighten our hearts. Even if you do little good things,
it can be built upon, as long as you do not commit sins. The
Prophet Muhammad told Abu Dharr:

“O Abu Dharr, with piety, you need to supplicate just
the amount of salt you have on your food. O Abu
Dharr, the example of the one who supplicates
without practice is like the one who tries to shoot an
arrow without rubber.”

On the other hand, if someone commits sins the performance of
lots of good deeds will not help. We cannot compensate for sins
with good deeds. The Quran says:

“God only accepts from the pious people”. (5:27)

Acquiring good characteristics and removing bad ones:

In addition to having proper beliefs, performing our obligations and
refraining from sins, we need to look into the qualities of our
heart or spirit and find out what good qualities we lack so that we
achieve them and what bad qualities we have so that we can
remove them. This is what we normally learn in the science of
Akhlaq (morality) and is much more difficult than having proper
beliefs or proper practice. We often have bad habits which are
difficult to change or even to notice, because they have almost
become part of us. In this situation we need to struggle and we
need cure. For example a person may be fearful. As soon as it
gets dark, they become frightened. Sometimes the person may be
very determined to overcome this fear but it is still very difficult
and needs some kind of treatment. Somehow it is like a cancer
which needs difficult therapy. Firstly we must identify our bad
habits and then we should try to promise ourselves that we will
not do anything according to that habit because if we act
according to a bad habit it becomes stronger and stronger. For
example we may have a bad habit which we cannot remove
immediately, but if we do not actually act according to that habit
then gradually it becomes weaker and weaker. There are also
specific solutions for particular bad habits depending on what
kind of habits they are. So the general advice and solution is not
to act according to a bad habit but also to apply specific solutions
for the bad habits or qualities. For example if someone wants to
stop smoking there are certain techniques to help break this habit
which would not work for another habit.
Sometimes after decades you can become sure that you are good,
and then you realise that you are bad. An example is someone
who was always attending in the first row in the jamaat prayer,
and after many years he realised it was not for the sake of Allah,
since once when he came late and had to pray in the last row, he
felt ashamed that people would think that he was not in the first
row. He realised that it was for the praise of others that he was
always early and in the first row. On the contrary, one may refer
to an incident about Ayatollah Shaykh Mohammed Husayn
Isfahani Qarawi, the teacher of the late Ayatollah Khu’i. Once
some people on a street in Najaf, saw that he was smiling and
happy and someone asked him why he was happy. The Ayatollah
replied that his bag of vegetables had fallen down, and when he
started collecting them he was not concerned that people were
looking at him. This made him happy, because he remembered
another incident that had taken place in the early years of his
study at the hawza. At that time he had an expensive tasbih as he
was rich, and when it broke, he did not collect the beads since
didn’t want people to look at him. Now he felt content, that even
though he was a great scholar, he did not feel bad that people
were looking at him while he was picking up vegetables. At that
point, he felt that there was no sense of pride in him.
In works such as Mi'raj al-Sa‘adah and Jami' al-Sa‘adah we
learn different faculties of our soul and the corresponding virtues
and vices of each. We also learn the methods for obtaining the
virtues and removing the vices.

Continuing the process of self-development until one
becomes a true servant who meets his Lord:

We should continue this process. It is a lifelong challenge which cannot be
given a time limit of one month or one year or ten years after
which time we could feel that we have completed it and allow
ourselves to relax. On the contrary, as long as we remain in this
world, up to the very last moment of our life, we must be careful.
And we must not waste any opportunity. There is no age of
retirement or graduation, because however much we manage to
acquire, firstly it is not guaranteed that we will preserve them and
secondly, even if we mange to maintain them, they will not
constitute sufficient provision for our eternal journey. The Quran
states, “And worship your Lord till certainty comes to you”
(15:99). Before we meet Him, there is no sense of relaxation,
retirement, graduation or rest. Insha Allah when we meet Him,
then we can rest. So we must continue this process until we meet
Him and He is happy with us.
There is an interesting story illustrating our situation. There was a
group of people who were going to be sent to a dark tunnel. They
were told that when they entered the corridor it would be very
dark and they would not be able to see anything. They were told
that they must go from one end of this tunnel to the other end and
that on the floor there would be some stones which they could
pick up and bring out. They were told that if they took the stones
they would regret it, but that they would also regret it if they did
not take the stones! Then they were sent into the corridor. Some
people thought that it was not worth collecting the stones because
they would regret doing so. Some others thought, out of curiosity,
that they might as well take some stones to see what they were,
even if they might regret it later. Thus some collected stones
whilst others did not and then they all came out of the corridor.
When they were outside again, in daylight, those people who had
collected stones realised that they were actually very expensive
jewels. Those people who had not taken any stones saw this and
became very angry. They started to protest, asking why they had
been told that they would regret collecting the stones. Then they
were told that although those people who do not collect any
stones regretted this, even those who did take some regretted that
they had not taken more and wished that they had collected more
by filling their pockets as well.
So this is what we should do. We should make sure that our
hands and pockets are overflowing with good characteristics and
good deeds, get the benefit of them in this world and then take
them to the hereafter.

Summary

There are various stages one must go through on the path of self
building. We must first awaken from our slumber of negligence
and realise the reality of our existence: only then will we know
ourselves and take care of our actions. This must be coupled with
true beliefs and faith in the One God. Faith is not complete
without good actions and so we must also refrain from forbidden
acts. Lastly, we must rid our soul of bad qualities and habits.
Although the path is difficult to embark upon, Insha’Allah with
Allah’s grace we shall gain the tawfeeq to complete these
stages and achieve proximity to Him with ease.


--

# Practical Instruction for Spiritual Journey


Five important things we need to observe:
Five very easy things that do not cost anything.
Five powerful vitamins for our spiritual health and growth.
If one maintains them for several weeks he will certainly start feeling the difference and see the results.

1. Not to speak unless necessary
2. Not to eat more than necessary
3. Not to sleep too much
4. To have private time to contemplate
5. Constant remembrance of God

--

# The Significance of Self-control and Self-purification


It is a common idea amongst all religious and spiritual traditions that
human beings should have some kind of self-control. Although we
enjoy free will, we need to exercise our free will in a responsible way.
In the same way that we expect others to respect our dignity and
interests, we should respect dignity and interests of others. We should
also safeguard our own dignity and long term interests. Thus, we
cannot simply go after our whims and desires and do whatever we
want. We need to have self-control and self-discipline which leads to
self-purification. If we purify our hearts we will no longer need to
resist our temptations and control ourselves against lower desires and
lusts, since a purified person desires nothing except what is good and
moral for himself and others. In what follows, we will study the
necessity of self-control and self-purification.

Self-control

On the necessity of self-control, the Glorious Quran says:

And as for him who fears to stand in the presence of his
Lord and forbids his own soul from its whims and
caprices then surely Paradise is the abode. (79:40 & 41)

O David! …do not follow the whims of your own soul for
they will lead you astray from God’s path. (38:26)

O you who have faith! Be maintainers of justice and
witnesses for the sake of God, even if it should be against
yourselves or [your] parents and near relatives, and
whether it be [someone] rich or poor, for God has a
greater right over them. So do not follow [your] desires,
lest you should be unfair, and if you distort [the
testimony] or disregard [it], God is indeed well aware of
what you do. (4:135)

Here we find two pieces of advice. Firstly, to observe God's Will, to
fear Him and to try to obey Him. And secondly, to forbid our soul
from doing what is wrong and harmful to us. This becomes only
possible when we have some kind of self-control. In Nahj al-Balaghah,
there is a very beautiful and insightful description of an un-named
brother. Imam Ali. is quoted as saying:

“In the past I had a brother-in-faith, and he was
prestigious in my view because the world was
insignificant in his eyes… If two things confronted him
he would see which was more akin to his whims and he
would do the other.”

We see that one of the brother-in-faith’s qualities was that when faced
with two options, (for example whether to go to one place or another,
one meeting or another or to engage in one business or another), that
is, when he was at a ‘crossroads’ and wanted to choose which way to
turn, he would look at his own soul/heart, trying to discover which
course of action was dearer to his self, his own personal interest and
then he would do the other one. For example, one might have the
option to either watch TV or to help someone with his work. The
soul which is not trained may encourage us to go and watch TV,
saying that it is a waste of time to help the other person. But instead it
is better to spend the time helping the other person.
Of course, we may not always be able to find out what is the right
course of action by just following this instruction. But it is important
to at least try to find out what our selfish desire wants us to do. God
has given us the ability to distinguish between what our egoism or
greediness wants from us and those things which are in our ‘real’
interests. When we work for our ‘real’ interest we also secure the
interests of other people. God has created us in a way that when we
really serve ourselves, then we serve all human beings. But if we try to
be ‘clever’ and only serve ourselves, then we not only damage
ourselves but also others. There are lots of ways to damage ourselves
and others. But it is not possible to truly serve oneself and not serve
others.
There is also another method which we can use when we want to
make a decision and have two or three options to consider and do not
know what to do. In such cases, it is useful to try to imagine that a
person who is very pious, and whose actions you trust and accept, is
in your place. Then try to decide what that person would do if he
were in your place. Since you have information about the way that
person normally makes his decisions and about his intentions and
good will, by keeping that person in mind you may be able to
understand what to do. For example, you could imagine a pious
scholar or pious relative, not necessarily an infallible or saint. You
could then think about what they might do and this would give you
some kind of insight.
So, it is a basic fact that we must have self-control. If we believe that
we should just do what we want by satisfying and gratifying ourselves,
then there is no point in talking about spiritual direction. Of course,
Islam tells us that self-control is just a beginning; it is for those people
who are at the start of the journey. What we need to do is to
transform our soul from one which has an interest in lower desires
into a soul which instead has a yearning for good things. Then our
soul itself becomes a helper and an assistant to us. But this is a matter
of training and purifying the soul.

There is a beautiful story in the Mathnawi by Rumi which shows how
the heart can be transformed in either a good way or a bad way. Rumi
says that once there was a perfume market where every person who
wanted to sell perfumes had a shop. As a result, whoever entered this
bazaar would only sense the beautiful fragrance of perfumes.
Everyone enjoyed it, especially the perfume sellers who of course are
the best people to appreciate perfume due to their refined sense of
smell, whereas we become confused after smelling too many different
fragrances. But one day someone went to the bazaar with a horse and
the horse dirtied the passageway of the bazaar. The people became
very angry because they could not tolerate the bad smell but no-one
had the strength to take the dirt outside. It was like torture for them.
So someone suggested that they had better bring someone there
whose job was to clean horses’ stables. They went to ask a young man
to help them. He said that of course he would be able to do this as
this was his job and what he always did. But when he entered the
bazaar, before even reaching the dirty place, as soon as he smelt the
fragrance of perfume he became unconscious because he was used to
bad smells and so could not tolerate good fragrances.

In a similar way, on one hand, we find people who enjoy praying, who
enjoy having some private time with God. And, on the other hand,
we find people who become angry when they see you praying and it
causes them pain. And when they see you go to the mosque or the
church, they feel troubled by this. There is a holy saying which says that a
believer in the mosque is like a fish in water but when a hypocrite is in
the mosque he feels like he is in prison and always wants to escape.
So these are the different states of the soul that we can reach through
self-training and self-purification.

Self-purification

In the Glorious Quran, God emphasises the purification and purity
of the human soul as follows:

I swear by the sun and its brilliance and the moon when it
follows the sun and the day when it makes manifest the
sun (and her beauty) and the night when it covers the sun
and the heaven and Him who made it and the earth and
Him who extended it and the soul and Him who made it
perfect, then He inspired it to understand what is right
and wrong for it. He will indeed be successful who
purifies it and he will indeed fail whoever pollutes and
corrupts it. (91:1-10)

So, after swearing eleven times, after so much emphasis, God declares
that the person who purifies his soul will be successful and whoever
pollutes and corrupts his soul will fail. On the Day of Judgement
there will be two groups of people: those who are prosperous and
happy because they purified their soul and those who are in an
unfortunate position because they were careless and negligent of their
soul.
Purification of the soul is a prerequisite for closeness to God. Indeed,
the whole point of morality and spirituality is to purify one’s soul. It is
only then that the soul starts shining, receiving and reflecting utmost
radiation and light from God. If we want to meet God, Who is the
Most Pure, then we need to achieve purity. It is impossible to be
polluted and then try to go towards God. If we want to go
somewhere where the people are smart, well-dressed and beautiful,
then we too need to make ourselves clean and tidy, we should put on
good clothes and thus make ourselves somehow compatible with
them. Otherwise they will say that we will spoil their gathering and
damage their reputation.
One of the main tasks of all the Prophets and a major aim
behind all their endeavours in teaching the divine message was to help
people to purify their souls. Referring to the mission of the Prophet
Muhammad, the Glorious Quran says:

He is the one who has sent amongst illiterate people an
apostle from among themselves who recites to them His
verses and purifies them and teaches them the Book and
the wisdom. (62:2)

Certainly God conferred a great favour upon the
believers when He raised among them a Messenger from
among themselves, reciting to them His verses and
purifying them, and teaching them the Book and the
wisdom, although before that they were surely in manifest
error. (3:164)

As We sent to you an Apostle from among yourselves,
who recites to you Our signs, and purifies you, and
teaches you the Book and wisdom, and teaches you what
you did not know. (2:151)

Thus we see that one of the tasks of the Holy Prophet, in
addition to reciting the Quran and teaching the Quran and wisdom,
was to help us to purify our souls. Indeed, the appointment of
Prophet Muhammad for such tasks was an answer to the
prayer of Abraham and Ishmael after they raised the
foundations of the House (ka‘bah):

Our Lord! Accept from us; surely You are the Hearing,
the Knowing….Our Lord! And raise up in them a
Messenger from among them who shall recite to them
Your verses and teach them the Book and the wisdom,
and purify them; surely You are the Mighty, the Wise.
(2:127-129)

Just imagine how wise Abraham was! How lovely his supplication
was! In three places in the Quran, God says that He has sent the
Holy Prophet to do the same thing that Abraham and
Ishmael had wanted: to recite for the people the verses of the
divine Book, to teach them the divine Book and wisdom and to purify
their souls. Of course, it must be God Himself who inspired them to
pray in this way. God is so merciful that He first invites us to call
Him, then He inspires us what to ask and then he answers our call
and prayer.
Thus purification of the people was an important task for the Holy
Prophet and, indeed, all the Prophets. These verses
clearly show the great significance of the task of purification of the
soul. It is noteworthy that in the prayer of Abraham and Ishmael the
request of teaching the Book and wisdom is mentioned before the
purification, but in all the three places that God describes the mission
of the Prophet Muhammad, purification precedes teaching the
Book and wisdom. This indicates the priority and great importance of
purification. This also suggests that a prerequisite for learning the
Book and wisdom is to be pure.
There are a number of sources of impurity. A major or the major
source of impurity is the attachment to the materialistic life and
worldly affairs to the extent that the Prophet Muhammad is
quoted as saying:
The attachment to this world is the source for every
wrong. Beware how the one who is attached to this world
has loved what God dislikes. What wrong can be a
greater crime than this?
The materialistic world (dunya) is the least important and valuable
thing in the sight of God. To be attached to it and make it one’s
ultimate end in one’s life is a grave mistake and impurity. Therefore,
one of the major treatments of this problem and a crucial means of
purification of the soul is to ask people to give alms. In some twenty
verses of the Quran, giving alms (al-zakat) is mentioned right after
establishing prayer (iqamat a-salat). For example, Allah says in
the Quran:

And they were not commanded except to worship God,
dedicating their faith to Him as men of pure faith, and to
maintain the prayer, and pay the zakat. That is the upright
religion. (98:5)

Zakat is derived from the same root as tazkiyah (purification) i.e. zaka-
wa which means growth and purity. It has been suggested
that the reason for calling alms “zakat” lies in
the fact that paying zakat purifies one’s money and possessions. It is
also true that paying alms causes growth (nama) and blessing (barakah)
in one’s money and sustenance. It seems more reasonable to suggest
that the main reason for calling alms “zakat” is that it helps in
purifying the soul by getting rid of the love for this world. This is why
God says to the Prophet Muhammad:

Take charity from their possessions to cleanse them and
purify them thereby, and bless them. Indeed your
blessing is a comfort to them, and God is all-hearing, allknowing.
(9:103)

In this verse, instead of the term zakat, sadaqah (charity) is used.
However, the same point is there: Giving money for the sake of God
helps in purification of the giver.2 Elsewhere the Quran says:

he who gives his wealth to purify himself and does not
expect any reward from anyone, but seeks only the
pleasure of his Lord, the Most Exalted, and, surely, soon
he will be well-pleased. (92:18-21)

This in addition to the great emphasis that the Quran puts on giving alms shows
that it is not just a linguistic point or an accident that paying zakat as a religious
requirement and tazkiyah (purification of the people) as a major task of the Prophet
are so closely linked to each other.
Thus when someone spends some money for the sake of God on
things such as giving to the needy people or building places for
common good such as Mosques, seminaries, schools and hospitals
both giver and receiver benefit. However, the main beneficiary is the
giver who is giving some money which is the least valuable thing in
the sight of God and instead achieves purity and pleasure of God.

… You can only warn those who fear their Lord in
secret, and maintain the prayer. Whoever seeks
purification for himself, seeks purification only for his
own sake, and to God is the return. (35:18)

Conclusion

It is a basic fact that we must have self-control. There can be no
spirituality without self-discipline. We cannot develop ourselves by
simply doing what we wish and satisfying and gratifying our soul. Of
course, Islam tells us that self-control is just a beginning. What we
need to do is to transform our soul from one which has an interest in
lower desires into a soul which instead has a yearning for good things.
By training and purifying our souls, our soul itself becomes a helper
and an assistant to us. A major task of the Prophets and in particular
the Prophet Muhammad was to help people to purify
themselves. The reason for such a great emphasis on self-purification
is the fact that God is the Most Pure and the Most Perfect and it is
only by purification of the soul that we can achieve our ambition of
getting close to Him. One major way of purification is to get rid of
attachment to the materialistic life by giving out one’s own money for
the sake of God.

--

# Different Methodological Approaches to Spirituality


In the previous paper we discussed about the significance of self-control
and self-purification. In this paper we will review and briefly
discuss different methodologies among Muslim scholars in studying
spirituality in general and morality (akhlaq) in particular. In general, we
can classify the attitudes of scholars into three main approaches:

1. The Philosophical Approach
2. The Mystical Approach
3. The Scriptural or Text-Based Approach

The Philosophical Approach

Many Muslim scholars have found the outlook of some Greek
philosophers, especially Aristotle, to a large extent appealing as a way
in which to speak about the human soul. According to this view, the
human soul has three different faculties (quwwah) responsible for
action; they are:

1. The rational faculty (al-quwwah al-‘aqliyyah) is the faculty
responsible for knowledge. It helps us to understand matters and
enables us to engage in discussion. If this faculty functions
properly, one can attain true wisdom (hikmah). This does not
mean that one should strive for an excess of the rational faculty,
as this is one of the causes of scepticism; rather, it means that we
must be concerned with maintaining a balance. If a person is not
rational enough, he can be too accepting and believe whatever he
hears. This type of person can be easily deceived. Ibn Sinna, in a
profound statement says “Whoever is used to accepting an argument
without any reason is no longer a human being.” This is because a
fundamental part of humanity is rationality and human being is
often defined by philosophers as “rational animal”. Therefore one
needs to strike a balance, and not to be too rational and critical or
too receptive.

2. The faculty of anger (al-quwwah al-ghaabiyyah) is the faculty that
controls our temper. Without this faculty, we would not have the
motivation to protect ourselves from danger. However, if
someone allows this faculty to be extreme, they would be
aggressive and always ready to attack. On the other hand, if a
person lacks the faculty of anger they would be a coward. The
philosophers in this school of thought encourage us to attain a
balance between these two, so that we can attain the virtue of
bravery. A good person, therefore, is one who knows when to
become angry and to the right extent.

3. The appetitive faculty (al-quwwah al-shahwiyyah) is the faculty which
mostly consists of sexual appetite, but also includes our appetite
for food and other things. If the force of sexual desire did not
exist in man, the continued existence of the human species would
be endangered. This faculty must also be brought to a balance
where a person is chaste and modest.
Therefore, if one were to strike a balance in all these faculties he
would have wisdom, bravery and chastity; this is all one needs to
attain justice. This means that one who is just or ‘adil is one who has
attained perfection in every aspect of his soul. Being ‘adil is not merely
about abstinence from sins, but it is also about the perfection of
every faculty.
This school of spirituality sets out a very rational response to the
question of self-building. Although it is rational, some feel that it is
too abstract and lacks the inspirational and emotional qualities that
can really engage people and leave them motivated to change. We are
taught to strike a balance with our faculties but it can be difficult to
know where that balance is in different circumstances. This approach
is useful, but not sufficient; we must add practical and inspirational
elements to our view of self-building.

The Mystical Approach

The mystics consider the whole process of self-building as a journey
towards God or perfection and as a matter of gradual growth. The
difference between the previous approach and this approach is as
follows:
According to the first approach, the relationship of the soul and selfbuilding
can be considered in the following way. Imagine there is a
house which you wish to beautify; there are a number of things you
could do. You could take out the rubbish, then start decorating the
house, and furnishing the house in a wise way. If one manages to
remove the rubbish and all the ugly items from the house, and
furnishes it with beautiful items, then the house becomes attractive.
In the same way we can consider the house which we wish to beautify
as the soul we wish to cleanse and adorn with good character. We
must remove bad qualities from our hearts in order for Allah
to let the light in and furnish our hearts with a good character. For
example, we read in a holy saying, “angels do not enter a house in which dogs are
kept”. In a similar way we must consider the state of our hearts, and
if they are aggressive like a dog, ill tempered or diseased we cannot
hope for angels to enter. Therefore, this process involves three main
stages

1. Takhliyah – clean out
2. Tahliyah - adornment
3. Tajliyah – starts shining (starts to happen automatically after
you do first two).

Although this approach is inspiring to an extent, and can provide us
with a framework through which to self-build, it is not a dynamic
approach, as it does not fully explain where one should precisely start
and finish the spiritual journey. It does not say what we should clean
first or what to adorn ourselves with. Again, this approach is useful,
but not sufficient in itself as a complete plan of self-building.
According to the second approach, the relationship of the soul and
self-building can be considered in the following way. A person is like
a flower, and a flower can grow but not without care. A flower can
grow like any other that has grown in the past; it is not a unique thing.
A flower is gradually growing if everything is carefully looked after.
This is similar to how a child grows into an adult. One cannot be a
teenager before being a toddler. In the same way, one cannot give the
food of a toddler to a teenager or vice versa.
Therefore, the second approach i.e. the mystical approach looks at
spiritual growth in a dynamic way as a carefully planned procedure.
One needs the guidance of the people who have been to this process,
who can provide advice for what to do at each stage. With this
approach, every stage must be undertaken separately. This means that
the expectations in each stage should be different. What is good for
one person at one level may not be necessarily good for another
person at a higher level. For example, if a small child memorises Surah
Al-Fatihah (the Opening) and recites it people would commend the
child and would be impressed, but if the Imam of the prayer recited
the Surah in the same way, people would criticise him and not pray
behind him. Everything is therefore a matter of comparison as to
what we should expect from ourselves in different situations. It is a
constant journey from one level to the next.

The Scripture/Text Based Approach

According to this view, the best approach is to refer to the Quran
and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet and his family. Those
who advocate this approach therefore felt there was no need for a
philosophical framework, and instead they listed the desirable and
undesirable qualities of man based on the Quran. For example, for
the vice of greed they would extract verses from the Quran which
reveal that greed is an undesirable quality and provide evidence and
some solutions from holy sayins.

What should be our own attitude?

All these scholars have made great contributions to Islamic moral
thought. However, each of these approaches have their strengths and
weaknesses and if we wish to benefit the most we must create a
synthetic approach in which the advantages of each school of thought
can be incorporated.

Requirements for an Adequate Approach

1. Our moral outlook should be compatible with the Quran and
Sunnah, as there is no one better than Allah and the Holy
Prophet to guide, as to what is good or bad. All truth is
from Allah, no matter if it is relayed to us, by the mystics
or the philosophers.

2. The ethical system has to be comprehensive. No aspect of the
human being can be ignored. We do not want to have a person
who is only developed in one aspect. A human being must grow
in all different aspects.

3. The ethical system must be rational and supported by rational
arguments, but it also must be practical and engaging.
4. The framework must be consistent and no contradictions should
occur.

5. The ethical system must tell us what to do in different positions
and stations as self-building is a dynamic process and is not static.
In no field of study or practice can a person say they do not need
consultation or advice.

6. Islam is a religion which considers reason to be very important.
There is nothing irrational in Islam. There are many things taught
by revelation, but this is not because they are against reason; it is
because they are above reason. To illustrate the difference between
something being against reason and above reason let us consider
an example. If someone was asked how many people are in the
next room, using their reason alone, they could not tell you. This
answer does not come through reason. However, if someone
answered that there are one million people in the next room,
knowing the size of the room, we could say that this answer is
against reason.

Conclusion

We need a moral system based on the Quran and Sunnah, while at
the same time has rational and philosophical grounds. The system
must also have clear priorities, and if two things are in conflict, the
system must show which is more important. Lastly, we must be able
to find out what we can expect from each stage, usually by those who
have passed the stage we are now in, as their advice and help is
extremely important. Among our contemporary scholars, there have
been brilliant teachers of spirituality who have combined these
schools of thought, and whom we can learn from, such as: Imam
Khomeini, Allamah Tabatabai, Ayatollah Mutahhari and Ayatollah
Javadi Amuli.

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Different Treatments of Spirituality

Previously we studied different methodological attitudes
among Muslim scholars towards spirituality. Now we will
study the ways the Quran and holy sayings have treated the process of
self-development and described man’s effort and struggle to achieve
piety and spirituality.

1. Spirituality as combat with the self:

According to this approach, self-building is an internal battle
against the enemy within.

In a very well-known and inspiring holy saying, we read that
once, in Medina, the Prophet Muhammad saw a group of his
companions who had won a battle approaching. The Holy Prophet
said:
“Well done! Welcome to those people who have
completed the minor struggle and on whom the greater
struggle is still incumbent.” The Apostle of God was
asked: “What is the greater struggle?” He replied: “To
fight one’s own self.”

‘The best struggle is to fight one’s own self.’

The companions had defeated their enemies in a severe battle and
had been prepared to give up the dearest thing to them, their life, to
defend Islam. They were astonished and wondered what could be
greater than that. The Holy Prophet replied: ‘Jihad al-nafs.’ This
means to fight one’s own self, to struggle with your own self.
In a well-known holy saying Abu Dharr asked the Prophet Muhammad:
‘Which struggle is the best?’ The Holy Prophet replied:

“To struggle against one’s own self and lusts”.

The likening of self-development to an internal battle is indeed
rooted in the Quran itself. For example, the Quran says:

“And whoever strives, he strives only for his own soul;
most surely Allah is Self-sufficient, above (need of) the
worlds.” (29:6)

According to many exegetes of the Quran, this striving or struggle
(jihad) which has been mentioned here is a spiritual jihad. There are
two main pieces of evidence that they use to prove this. Firstly, the
use of the word “himself”: this is significant as in a war a soldier
fights for a cause; it may be for the oppressed, for the dignity of
Islam or for his country. However this verse mentions the cause as
“himself.” Secondly, previous to this verse Allah says:

“Whoever hopes to meet Allah, the term appointed by
Allah will then most surely come; and He is the
Hearing, the Knowing.”(29:5)

This concept of meeting Allah is also a spiritual concept and
so it is consistent with the following verse i.e. the verse 29:6 being
about jihad for the self, as this too is a spiritual concept. Of course,
this is not to suggest that this verse does not include the militant
jihad, but that it also includes the spiritual jihad.
The following verses also refer to the spiritual jihad, though they
may also include the militant jihad, since the militant jihad also
needs purification of the intention and the soul:

“And wage jihad for the sake of God, a jihad which is
worthy of Him…” (22:78)

“And (as for) those who strive hard for Us, We will
most certainly guide them in Our ways; and Allah is
most surely with the doers of good.” (29:69)

To fight an internal enemy is the greater struggle because it is more
difficult. When an enemy is found inside it is more dangerous and
more difficult to defeat. An internal civil war is more difficult to
face than war against an external foreign enemy on one’s borders. It
is much more difficult to expel someone who has occupied our
house than to repel someone who is only outside it. If our enemy is
inside us then he knows all our secrets. He knows our weak points
and our strong points and he knows exactly how to ‘play’ with us.
An internal enemy is always with us and allows us no rest. We might
be able to negotiate a cease-fire with an external enemy but with an
internal enemy the fight goes on day and night, unceasingly. And
unfortunately we love and admire this enemy because it is our own
soul. He has done so many bad things to us and yet we still love
him. So this is a very difficult and complex battle. We should be
really determined and fully alert. Indeed, God should have mercy
upon us if we are to win this battle.
We should know that, despite all the challenges to be faced in this
struggle, in the end it is not so difficult. God will guide and make it
easy for those who sincerely want it. It is very important that when
we know something we must put it into practice. If we put our
knowledge into practice, then God will give us knowledge of the
things that we do not know. If we put into practice the small things
that we know, it will enlighten the path before us.

2. Spirituality as a medicine.

Another approach is to consider spirituality as a kind of medicine
for our soul or spirit. Spiritual problems are described as illness and
so we need to treat ourselves with special medicines. We are
patients in need of a cure, in need of medicine. Just like our bodies,
our souls may also become ill. Unfortunately the most difficult sort
of illness is when we suffer deep inside. In twelve verses, the Quran
talks about a group of people who suffer from “disease in their
hearts”. This disease may be increased by God because they do not
want to be cured and insist on being ill. For example, we read:
‘In their hearts is a disease and God has increased their
disease.’ (2:10)

The Quran also talks about hearts which are healthy and pure:
‘Do not disgrace me on the day when people are
revived, the day on which neither money nor children
can help, except the one who comes to Allah with a
healthy (pure) heart.’ (26:87-89)

This is the prayer of the Prophet Abraham. In verses (37:83 &
84), God informs us that this request was granted: ‘Indeed,
Abraham was among his [i.e. Noah's] followers, when he came to
his Lord with a healthy (pure) heart.’

Thus, we can understand that having a pure and healthy heart is so
important that someone like Prophet Abraham, the father of all
monotheistic religions, asks God for it. Indeed, this is the only thing
which will be useful on the Day of Judgement when neither
children nor money will benefit us. In Nah al-Balaghah, sermon 388,
Imam Ali says:
‘One of the catastrophes that may happen to a person is
poverty, but more difficult than poverty is illness. And
more difficult than illness of the body is illness of the
heart.’

Therefore the worst poverty is to suffer from a lack of piety. The
concept of medicine is also a very important related topic. Imam Ali
says in his Sermon of the Pious:
“[Pious people are] those who stand up and recite the
Quran at night, and they try to make themselves sad.
They try to take from the Quran the treatment as
medicine for their illnesses.”

Imam Baqir told Jabir b. Yazid al-Ju‘fi:
“And know that there is no knowledge like seeking
health, and there is no health like the health of the
soul.”

In the case of spiritual medicine, the most important point is that
we must try to prevent illness from penetrating our souls, in the
same way as we might try to maintain a distance from people who
are ill, so that the disease does not affect us; by being close to them
we endanger our own health. However, there are cures to our
illnesses, as Allah is the Most Forgiving. Furthermore, we
need a guide who can show us what to do and how to prevent or
cure our illnesses. One of the beautiful things Imam Ali
mentions about the Holy Prophet is that he was a doctor,
but he did not wait for the sick people; instead he went to them
himself, taking the equipment with him.
The Prophet was like a roaming physician who has set
ready his ointments and heated his instruments. He
uses them wherever the need arises for curing blind
hearts, deaf ears, and dumb tongues. He followed with
his medicines the spots of negligence and places of
perplexity.
There were people who were deaf, blind, or those people who could
not speak the truth, and the Holy Prophet used the
appropriate medicine to cure them. Imam Mahdi who is the
Imam of our age has also a significant role; and if Allah
pleases we can receive guidance and healing from him.

3. Spirituality as a journey.

In Islamic literature, spirituality is also described as a journey. We
should think of ourselves as wayfarers. We have all embarked on a
journey away from God and then we are going back to Him. We
have all been created by God and this creation is a sort of
separation from our origin. Before we were created we were not
separate from God but now we are. However, God has given us the
chance to return to Him. The Qur'an says:

"Truly we belong to God and to Him we will return".
(2:156)

When we depart, our destination is clear. But in order to reach our
destination we must be very careful about our direction. If we are
on the right path, we will certainly reach our destination. However,
if we are on the wrong path, we will not reach our destination and
may even go farther and farther away from it. We are not in a static
or fixed position. Every day and every hour we are moving and
getting either further from or closer to our destination. The
Glorious Quran says:

“O man, you are trying hard to reach your Lord and
you will finally meet Him.” (84:6)

Having read this verse, some may think that there is nothing to
worry about because we have all come from a good place and there
is a good destination ahead. But our status when we meet God is of
utmost importance. There are two states of reaching God: to reach
Him while He is happy with us or to reach Him while He is angry
with us. Human beings are among the very few creatures whose
levels of perfection are not fixed, that is, they have been given the
capacity to upgrade or degrade themselves.
Thus, the spiritual journey consists of trying to increase our
closeness and proximity to God. It should be noted that God is
always close to us, but we are not necessarily close to Him. We can
reach a position in which we can get closer and closer to God
through self-purification, and, as suggested by the Glorious Quran,
“meet” Him. Mystics normally speak of the possibility of losing our
own selfhood, limits and boundaries and then becoming identified
with God. I am not commenting on this concept here, but in any
case it seems obvious that we can get closer and closer to God to
the extent that nothing will remain between us and Him and this is
what we mean by returning to God.
So this life is a journey and we cannot say that we do not want to go
on this journey. We are all on this journey and it is up to us to
gather enough provisions for ourselves. One of the main goals of
self-building is to try to reduce this distance by wayfaring towards
Allah. The path towards Him is infinite and full of
challenges. However, for the people who embark on this journey, all
the support and guidance are provided. In this regard, Imam Sajjad says:
“May you be glorified! What a narrow path it is for
whom You do not guide, and what a clear path it is for
whom you have guided!”

Conclusion:

In this part we have discussed spirituality or the
process of self-building as a kind of battle, medicine and as a
journey. Allah is encouraging and guiding us by
demonstrating many analogies. He is showing us that there is always
hope of reaching Him, and appeals to us in many different ways to
encourage us to come closer to Him. He is the Most Merciful.

[Source: The magazine: "Message of Thaqalayn - A Quarterly Journal of Islamic Studies"]

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