Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | The Sunday Guardian | Jan 14, 2018

What is spirituality? Being spiritual means to live a God-oriented life.

The spiritually inclined elevate themselves in their thinking, and begin to live on a higher divine plane-they remain undisturbed in the face of provocation, their mental balance is not upset by unpleasant experiences, and the trying behaviour of someone else does not arouse any feelings of anger in them. Living strictly by their principles, the mental level of spiritual people becomes so high that stones cast by others cannot reach them. In spirituality, they find such sublimity that all else pales into insignificance.

True spirituality is based on contemplation and reflection. The Monk, in the well-known book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, discovers what he believes to be the key to spirituality only after abandoning his material life entirely.

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We have been given the ability to think and to reason, which is our greatest faculty. It is the possession of this faculty and our independent thinking, which distinguishes us from all other creatures. Real spirituality is that which is achieved by our minds. This is called contemplative spirituality.

True spirituality is the result of giving serious thought to such questions as, "who am I?", "what is the purpose of my life?" and "what happens when I die?" There are many questions, but all the answers lie in a rational understanding of the creation plan of God. By looking for rational answers to such questions, we can achieve spirituality at the intellectual level.

When people discover the truth and learn of the plan of the Creator, their lives enter a new phase, that of building their personalities according to spiritual principles. It is such a personality that will be held deserving of being settled in the noble society of heaven in the Hereafter.