Life and Teachings of the Prophet Muhammad
11. The Concept of Spirituality in Islam
~ 139 ~
nor of the west, whose oil would well-nigh glow forth
even though fire did not touch it. Light upon light!
Allah guides to His light whom He wills. And Allah sets
forth parables to men, and Allah has knowledge of all
things. (24:35)
This is a compound simile. ‘Light’ here means the guidance of
Almighty, ‘niche’ means the human heart and ‘lamp’ denotes the
capability to receive divine inspiration. Glass and oil elaborate
upon this receptivity.
‘Glass’ shows that this receptivity has been lodged in the
human heart, protected from outside influences, and clear oil
indicates that this receptivity is very strong and is eagerly waiting to
receive inspiration.
This verse makes it clear that, on the one hand, is God, the
source of inspiration, and on the other, is the consciousness of
spirituality (God-consciousness) with which man is born. In this
way when these two things come together, Islamic spirituality
comes into existence. This is indeed another name for the
awakening of God-consciousness. When it reaches its highest stage
the believer’s realisation of God comes to that point where he
begins to feel consciously in his worship that he is seeing God and
that if he is not seeing God, God is seeing him. If the first type of
experience is called direct spiritual experience, the second-type
may be termed indirect spiritual experience.
