What is spirituality? Being spiritual means living 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. Spirituality is such a great virtue that the seeker after divine bliss need not quest any further.

How does one attain spirituality? There are two significant schools of spirituality—one based on meditation and the other on contemplation. The former relates to feelings ascribed to the ‘heart’, and the latter relates to the mind.

We are intellectual beings. We have been given the ability to think and reason, our most outstanding faculty. The possession of this faculty and our independent thinking distinguishes us from all other creatures. Authentic spirituality is that which is achieved by our minds. This is called contemplative spirituality. Any form of spirituality attained at a lesser level is not true spirituality.

Filters

FAQs

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.

Source: The Ideology of Spirituality Leaflet

Mind-based spirituality is produced when one gives serious thought to such questions pertaining to the ideology of life such as, ‘Who am I?’ What is the purpose of my life? What is this world around me? What is the creation plan of the Creator? Is my life governed by destiny or free will? What is my purpose in life? etc. By finding rational answers to such questions, one receives spirituality at the mind or thinking level. Indeed, the journey of spirituality begins with the urge to search for the truth. When a seeker discovers the truth and learns the creation plan of the Creator, his life enters a new phase, i.e. that of building the human personality according to spiritual principles. This journey is entirely intellectual in nature. Its quest is two-fold, one is to solve the riddle of why, all men and women undergo negative experiences in this world and the other is to offer positive solutions. It addresses the paradox of human beings having been given the freedom to make their own moral choices, and their frequent misuse of this freedom—a course of action which causes them to repeatedly face situations in which people do each other harm; losses are incurred because of others’ injustice; severe provocations are suffered because of untoward experiences. At such times spirituality teaches us to convert negative experiences into positive lessons. This is the ideology of spirituality as presented in Islam.

Source: The Ideology of Spirituality Leaflet

When we understand the Creation Plan of God, we can understand that God Himself has given all human beings freedom of choice, and often people misuse this freedom. As a result of the misuse of freedom, we repeatedly face negative experiences from others. We must take these as intellectual challenges, and derive positive lessons from them through high thinking. Another name for this is the art of conversion, the Quranic term for which is tawassum (15:75). The art of conversion is to elicit spiritual lessons from both positive and negative experiences. This is the ideology of spirituality as presented in Islam.

Just as a cow converts grass into milk, we have to turn negative experiences into positive thinking: by being patient in the face of a provocative situation and controlling our anger. When we refrain from reacting to a violent situation, we train our minds to remain peaceful or normal in all situations. If we maintain a balance when facing challenging situations, we build up our self-control and effectively train ourselves to manage crises. This helps us to conserve our energies and devote ourselves to positive planning and constructive work based on it. Then, not only are we able to manage the challenging situations of life effectively; we are also able to develop our personality on positive lines in the hope of being found eligible for Paradise in the Hereafter.

Source: The Spirit of Islam Magazine

Spirituality is a process of converting our everyday material events into spiritual experiences. While living his social life, man is affected by events, which trigger negative thoughts such as malice, lust, anger, arrogance, greed, etc. But when man raises himself above his immediate surroundings, i.e. from the material level to a higher level of thinking, he experiences real spirituality. At this elevated level, man is able to eradicate his negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones. In this state, he learns to convert non-spiritual matters into spiritual learning.

Mind-based spirituality through the principle of conversion makes man spiritual. It enables a person to extract positive intellectual nourishment from every negative situation. True spirituality, an intellectual activity, is a science of inner development and material things indirectly contribute towards that development. Material life is made more meaningful by the proactive role played by mind-based spirituality in intellectual refinement and the consequent progress of humanity. Spirituality does not, as some may imagine, arrest the thinking process, but rather enhances intellectual activity in the complete sense of the word.

Source: The Seeker’s Guide

Subscribe

CPS shares spiritual wisdom to connect people to their Creator to learn the art of life management and rationally find answers to questions pertaining to life and its purpose. Subscribe to our newsletters.

Stay informed - subscribe to our newsletter.
The subscriber's email address.

leafDaily Dose of Wisdom

Chatbot Icon