There are two major schools of spiritual discipline: one based on meditation and the other on contemplation. The former relates to the heart and the latter relates to the mind. Islamic spirituality relates to the mind, while spirituality of the heart is generally taken to mean the opposite of worldliness. It advocates only one way to preserve one’s spirituality, and that is to retire to a desolate place, leaving behind one’s home and material life, where there is nothing to provoke oneself and undertake meditation. It is this viewpoint, which is presented in the well-known book titled, “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari.” I believe that ‘heart-based spirituality’ takes man to a level, which is, in fact, one of ecstasy, which is a reduced form of spirituality.
Islamic spirituality is contemplative spirituality. Man is an intellectual being. He is endowed with a mind, which is his greatest faculty. Real spirituality is mind-based spirituality or contemplative spirituality which has the power to address our minds. Any kind of spirituality attained at a level lesser than that of our minds is not true spirituality. True spirituality is based on contemplation or reflection or pondering, which has all to do with intellectual activity.
