Life and Teachings of the Prophet Muhammad
11. The Concept of Spirituality in Islam
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intellectual activity. The Quran further tells us that this intellectual
process has two different directions—
al-anfus
and
al-afaq
.
Al-anfus
literally means soul, that is, inner world;
afaq
literally means
universe, that is, external world.
So when a believer sees the universe functioning in a perfect
manner and he finds that all the events in this vast universe always
proceed towards a meaningful result, he realises that man’s life too
must have a meaningful end. This makes him exclaim:
O our Lord! You have not created all this without
purpose. Glory be to you! Give us salvation in the life
to come. (3:191)
Thus the universe is a manifestation of God’s attributes.
Hence, it is a source of spiritual nourishment for those who want to
lead a divine life on earth. For them, the whole universe becomes
an important means of reaching spiritual perfection. This spiritual
development continues throughout their earthly life till a time
comes when they attain that degree of spirituality which the Quran
calls the ‘Rabbani soul.’ It is, souls such as these, who, in the life
Hereafter, will inhabit paradise. Our most compassionate Lord will
say:
“Dwell in Paradise; you shall have no fear, nor shall
you grieve.” (7:49)
There is nothing mysterious about spirituality in Islam. It is
rather the direct result of the kind of intellectual development that
takes place when a believer ponders over the Creator and His
