Concept of Spirituality in Islam

Transcript of the Friday Sermon delivered by Dr. Munawar Haque on May 12, 2017

Brothers and sisters! The topic of today’s khutba is concerning spirituality; the concept of spirituality in Islam or the idea of the spiritual path in Islam. The very term ‘Islam’ in its generic meaning includes the concepts of peace and submission. From a spiritual perspective, Islam may be defined as attaining peace through submission to God. This concept of peace embraces peace with oneself, peace with God, peace with human beings, and peace with one’s surroundings. For Muslims, this “generic Islam” has been the core of all Prophetic teachings throughout human history.

What is the spiritual path in Islam and what is its place in the life as a whole? Spirituality is the nucleus of Islam’s integrated and unified concept of life.

The idea which has influenced most the climate of philosophical and religious thought is that body and soul are mutually opposed, and can develop only at each other’s expense. According to this thinking, the body is a prison for the soul, and the activities of daily life are the chains which keep it in bondage and arrest its growth. This thought has inevitably led to the universe being divided into the spiritual and the secular.

Those who chose the secular path were convinced that they could not meet the demands of spirituality, and thus they led highly material and pleasure-seeking lives. All spheres of worldly activity, whether social, political, economic or cultural, were deprived of the light of spirituality. On the other hand, those who wanted to take the path of spiritual excellence believed that it was impossible for spiritual growth to be compatible with a ‘normal’ life. In their view physical self-denial was necessary for the development and perfection of the spirit. They could not conceive of spiritual development except through withdrawal from the world.

This conflict of body and soul resulted in the evolution of two different ideals for the perfection of man. One was that man should be surrounded by all possible material comforts and regard himself as nothing more than a higher animal, implying that he is higher on the evolutionary tree than the animals. The other was that the senses should be subdued and mystical powers awakened.

The Islamic viewpoint differs radically from these approaches. According to Islam, Allah (SWT) has appointed the human soul as His vicegerent in this world. Vicegerent means a deputy to a sovereign, an agent, a successor, or an inheritor. The Arabic term khalifah encompasses all these meanings. 

وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً

“Remember, when your Lord said to the angels, I am putting a vicegerent on earth” (al-Baqarah, 2:30).

The soul has come from Allah (SWT). In our primitive spiritual forms before our earthly existence, Allah took a covenant from all potential human beings after which He put them in a state of pause. And what was the covenant? It was a question posed by Allah and a unanimous answer given by all human souls.

أَلَسْتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ قَالُوا بَلَىٰ شَهِدْنَا أَن تَقُولُوا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ إِنَّا كُنَّا عَنْ هَٰذَا غَافِلِينَ 

“Am I not your Lord? They replied, We bear witness that You are. This He did, lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection, We were not aware of this” (Al-A’raf 7:172).

Allah then created the entire universe; created man out of clay until we became humans, each spirit being united with every man while in the embryo. Allah has invested this human soul with certain authority, and given it certain responsibilities and obligations for the fulfillment of which He has endowed it with the best and most suitable physical frame. The body has been created with the sole object of allowing the soul to use it in the exercise of its authority and the fulfillment of its duties and responsibilities.

The body is not a prison for the soul, but its workshop; and if the soul is to grow and develop, it is only through this workshop. This world is not a place of punishment in which the human soul unfortunately finds itself, but a field in which Allah has sent it to work and do its duty towards Him.

Therefore, spiritual development should not take the form of a man turning away from this workshop and retreating into a corner. Rather, man should live and work in it, and give the best account of himself. It is in the nature of an examination for him; every aspect and sphere of life is, as it were, a question paper: the home, the family, the neighborhood, the society, the market-place, the office, the factory, the school—all represent question papers which man has been called upon to answer. If he leaves most of the answer-book blank, he is bound to fail the examination.

Islam is against the ascetic view of life, and proposes a set of methods and processes for the spiritual development of man, not outside this world but inside it. The real place for the growth of the spirit is in the midst of life and not in solitary places of spiritual hibernation. Yes, Islam does seek self-control, but not self-annihilation, which is often the goal of asceticism. The instinctive desires are like a horse and the spirit is like a rider.  All that is needed is that the rider or spirit should be controlling the horse, and not the other way round.

According to a prophetic tradition, the Prophet (SAW) said, “Your nafs has a right over you, (nafs is an Arabic word meaning self); your wife has a right over you, your guest has a right over you, your body has a right over you, your eyes have a right over you, so give each of the rightful ones their rights.” It is to be understood that the nafs has a right over us does not mean that we give it a free rein. We have to be careful not to get enslaved by our desires. Sometimes, man, in his foolishness gets addicted to the false belief or opinion that he is in control of his life and can do whatever he likes to gratify  his desires. Addiction is all about falling prey to desires. That is why the Qur’an points out,

أَرَأَيْتَ مَنِ اتَّخَذَ إِلَٰهَهُ هَوَاهُ  

"Have you seen the one who has taken his own desire as his god? (al-Furqan, 25:43).

Spirituality has to do with the state of the heart. The human heart is like a boat in the ocean of the world. The boat keeps sailing and drowns only if it allows the ocean’s water to enter into it. Similarly the heart that allows this world to enter into it becomes owned by this life, by our jobs, our gadgets, our social networking services, and many other distractions, such as the fashion trends, the marketing tools, the money, the power, the status, and the list goes on.

Failure to control life leads man to take refuge in alcohol, drugs, gambling, intimate relations outside of wedlock, and so on. And in doing so, man brings harm to himself and to the society at large. He finds it difficult to control himself because he is not following the path which his Creator has laid out for him. How does Islam judge the development or decay of the soul? In his capacity as the vicegerent of God, man is answerable to Him for all his activities. A verse from the Qur’an tells us,

إِنَّ السَّمْعَ وَالْبَصَرَ وَالْفُؤَادَ كُلُّ أُولَئِكَ كَانَ عَنْهُ مَسْئُولا

“Indeed, the hearing, the sight and the heart will all be questioned” (al-Isra’, 17:36).

It is man’s duty to use all the powers which he has been given in accordance with the Divine Will. All his energies should be directed towards regulating the affairs of this world in the way in which Allah wants them to be regulated. The better a man does this, with a sense of justice, responsibility, and humility, and with the object of seeking the pleasure of the Lord, the nearer will he be to Allah.  

In Islam, the primary testimony of faith is the negation that there is no object or deity worthy of worship other than the One Unique God. Therefore, a Muslim should neither worship his ego nor his desires. There has to be a just balance in everything we do. The Arabic term for justice is ‘adl, meaning “to be balanced.” This balance is inherent in the cosmic order and ecology as much as it is inherent in spiritual and ethical values. May Allah (SWT) bless us with that balance in our lives.

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ المُسْلِمينَ وَالمُسْلِمَاتْ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهْ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيد المرسلين وعلى آله وأصحابه أجمعين

My dear brothers and sisters! Islam means submitting and surrendering to Allah in a way that one’s entire life is fashioned in obedience to Him. Doing so brings about taqwa or God-consciousness, which helps one to keep away from everything what Allah has forbidden and do everything what Allah has commanded. It also helps one to observe the distinctions between lawful and unlawful, right and wrong, and good and bad, within the guidelines and parameters of divine laws and teachings. A verse in the Qur’an says,

إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ

The noblest among you in Allah’s sight are those who are most conscious of Him.

Leading a God-conscious life makes one attain the highest excellence in words, deeds and thoughts, identifying and harmonizing one’s will with the Divine Will. A man who reaches this stage attains the peak of spirituality and is nearest to Allah. A God-conscious person will always try to obey Allah and seek His pleasure. He knows that by disobeying Allah, even if he escapes harm or punishment in this world, his intentions and actions will be taken into account in the hereafter, and the ultimate failure is to fail in the hereafter. Spiritual development in Islam is about being near to Allah, and distance from Allah signifies the spiritual fall and decay of man. And to be near to Allah, one has to love Allah. But we can’t love someone we don’t know. We need to know Him. We don’t know someone we never speak to. We have to speak to Him. We have to ask of Him.

وَقَالَ رَبُّكُمُ ادْعُونِي أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ

“Your Lord says, ´Call on Me and I will answer you” (Ghafir, 40:60).

We can’t love someone we don’t remember. We have to remember Him; remember Him often, as Allah says,

فَاذْكُرُونِي أَذْكُرْكُمْ

“So remember Me; I will remember you.” (al-Baqarah, 2:152).

We don’t love someone if we are ungrateful to him. Allah says,

وَاشْكُرُوا لِي وَلَا تَكْفُرُونِ

“Be grateful to Me and do not be ungrateful” (al-Baqarah, 2:152).

Spirituality also means linking actions to the purpose of life, which is to worship and obey Allah. As Allah says,

وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنْسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ

“I did not create the Jinn and the humans except to worship and obey Me” (al-Dhariyat, 51:56).

And this worshipping and obeying has to be continued till one’s last breath.

وَاعْبُدْ رَبَّكَ حَتَّىٰ يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِينُ

“Continue worshiping and obeying your Lord until what is certain comes to you” (al-Hijr, 15:99).And here “what is certain” refers to death, and there is nothing more certain in this life than death, which everyone has to encounter.  

A Muslim is one who does actions to seek the pleasure of Allah and to draw near to Him. By this definition, all actions undertaken for the pleasure of Allah are spiritual because they link the material action with the purpose of life. May Allah (SWT) give us the tawfiq to understand what spirituality is and may He direct our lives according to what pleases Him. Ameen; Ya Rabb al-‘Aalameen.

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