Life and Teachings of the Prophet Muhammad
11. The Concept of Spirituality in Islam
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attention on non-material things. Those who succeed in this are
the spiritual or godly servants of God. As the Quran says:
“Be godly servants of God.” (3:79).
The truly spiritual person does not enjoy material comforts and
luxuries. He feels no desire to acquire them. They have no
attraction for him. For he is engrossed in the higher realities of
spiritual life. This spiritual experience that comes to him from
reflecting upon the signs of God is far superior to what one
experiences in leading a worldly life. The greatest source of
pleasure for him is the remembrance of God. It is this reality, which
finds expression in this verse of the Quran:
“It is only in the remembrance of God that hearts are
comforted.” (13:28)
Here comfort means peace of mind that stems from God
Almighty. For, true and lasting comfort can be achieved only
through the Perfect Being. One who discovers the secret of living
on an elevated plane of spirituality, has discovered a life of
limitlessness. Thus if materialism is to live a life of limitations,
spirituality is to live in limitlessness.
We learn from the Quran that the universe has been fashioned by
God in a way that it may become a source of spiritual inspiration for
man. According to the Qur’an, it is the quality of
Tawassum
(15:75)
that enables one to find inspiration in the universe.
Tawassum
is the
ability to understand the signs of nature. That is, to observe the
phenomena of the universe in order to draw lessons from them and
receive spiritual nourishment from the physical events.
