Practical spirituality The other day I was at a restaurant with a friend when he asked me a simple question – what does spirituality mean for you? His question triggered in my mind a whole series of thoughts. I gave him my spontaneous answer but I realized that I needed to take a deeper look at the topic and crystalize my own ideas around the subject. If my entire existence is about creating equilibrium between spirituality and material I should know the answer to this question definitively. Spirituality means different things to different people. One person’s spirituality may appear as irrationality to some while another person’s rationality may appear anti-spirituality to others. Spirituality may be extremely appealing for some and they may embrace it happily while others may find it extremely daunting and reject it readily. I believe many people misunderstand spirituality and assign subjective experiences and supernatural phenomenon to true spirituality. I disagree with this approach as it leaves us all second-guessing and waiting for a miracle. I have always approached spirituality from a practical perspective. For me it is the reality of living that inspires me most to pursue a deeply spiritual path and when I am deeply immersed in the daily chores of my life I find immense amount of spirituality. In my life I have met all sorts of people and continue to meet a wide range of people. The more I interact with people, listen to what they have to say and observe the way they do things the more I realize how little I know and that there is no end to knowing. In my search for spirituality I have sat and studied with Deobandi, Berlvi, Salafi, Sufi, Ikhawani, Jamati and many other teachers but I have not yet found any one making an exclusive claim to spirituality. They all teach their followers spiritual lifestyle and in my view some get it right and some get it wrong. For us, the ordinary people we must realize that no saints, teachers, Imams, scholars or Sufi masters could help us attain true spirituality. We have to attain it ourselves. We have to transform our thinking and attitude through exploring real knowledge, gaining deeper understanding of the true meaning and purpose of life and putting into practice the newly acquired insight. I believe as a Muslim the only person who I should follow as my true spiritual guide is the blessed Prophet of God Muhammad. He is the real measure of spirituality; no body can be closer to God than the Prophet of God. When I look at the life of the Prophet I find spirituality in everything he did and said. Every moment of his life was in perfect harmony with spiritual and material needs of a human. He did not neglect his physical needs in the name of superior spiritual needs. He did not compartmentalize spirituality into separate boxes like many Muslims around us have become habitual in doing. For the Prophet spirituality encompassed everything from picking up rubbish from the streets to standing up for the weak and vulnerable in society, from setting up alliance of virtue and signing peace treaties to waging wars against aggressors and tyrants, from serving the poor and the needy to attending to his family and from leading prayers to running the state. He devoted all his life in pursuit of excellence through spirituality. He sought the success of this world and the success of the Hereafter. There is a very famous prayer of the Prophet that indicates this balanced supplication – “O my Lord, grant me success of this world and the success of the hereafter and save me from the torment of hell.” He taught his companions that this world was essentially a steppingstone for the eternal bliss and pleasures of the life to come. Therefore he forbade his companions from abandoning this world or living like hermits. He, at the same time, cautioned them from becoming addicted to the pleasures of worldly materials. He lived as a prophet with a life of simplicity but he held extremely high standards in everything. He lived a life of happiness without the need for pomposity or ostentatiousness. In the life of the Prophet this balanced attitude provided the perfect environment for his followers to flourish spiritually, physically and emotionally. He epitomized the true manifestation of spirituality in every facet of life. There is an obvious anomaly in the understanding and the practices of many Muslims today when it comes to spirituality. I am attempting to answer the most basic question in this essay - what is the definition of spirituality? I cannot guarantee a comprehensive definition but I can assure you my diligence in attempting to explain and share my personal thoughts on this subject. While I fully understand that there is not a universal definition of spirituality I have always found waiting for the light bulb moment or supernatural phenomenon to dictate the definition of spirituality a very unenlightened position. I have never defined spirituality in only formal rituals rather I take every aspect of my life as a spiritual journey. It is my intention behind my actions that determines how spiritually rewarding my experience would be. Ultimately I define spirituality by the contentment in the heart. If the heart feels empty after having completed a task the truth is there must be something missing. When the heart feels disconnected from your action, your action had no life in it. It was barren and even dead. Let me share with you an analogy of food. I would like to compare the feeling of satisfaction, for example after a great meal – having been hungry for long and when you have finally get to eat, you feel really satisfied, happy and no longer hungry. Overeating leaves you feeling heavy and sluggish, eating too fast without chewing your food properly could lead to indigestion and other digestive troubles. Eating too spicy food could cause your stomach to feel irritable, ulcerous and other internal problems. There is no contentment in irresponsible eating. Under eating leaves you feeling hungry and craving for more. A good and satisfying meal requires equilibrium between your inner and outer hunger. In other words a balanced meal provides you true satisfaction. The inner hunger is the true hunger and outer hunger is when your eyes are hungry and you feel like eating everything. The spirituality in eating is found in the saying of the blessed Prophet – “the worst vessel children of Adam can fill is his stomach. It is enough for you to live on one morsel of food but if you eat more, fill one third of your stomach with food, one third with drinks and leave one third empty for air.” The truth is true spirituality is when you eat but not over indulge, when you eat and you appreciate your food, when you know where the food has come from and you show gratitude for every grain of food you get. In my experience the true contentment in food is when I have eaten the right food, cooked in the right way, at the right time and in the right quantity. If I eat the right food, for the right reason and show gratitude at the beginning and the end of my meal, the spiritual contentment would fill my heart. In this way I am able to attain spirituality even in my food. People who lack spirituality fill their stomach to the full. I call it filling the void syndrome - the spiritual vacuum but with materials alone. Let me share with you another example of spirituality in practice. In Islam prayer is considered the most sacred spiritual act a human being could perform to become closest to God. Daily and regular prayers are certainly the most tangible and practical spiritual activity that helps sustain our faith in God, also known as “Imaan”. This can be better illustrated by an example. Take charging a mobile phone battery for an example. When the charge is finished I can no longer use my phone. If I leave my phone uncharged for too long the battery life or its charging properties may be adversely affected. For the optimum use of my phone I should charge the phone battery at the right time and in the right way. Similarly the charge of my faith diminishes when I neglect to recharge myself through regular prayers. This affects my connection with God and over a prolonged state of uncharged faith my belief in God could disappear. Remember prayer is my regular connection and communication with God. It is through my prayer that I realize my spiritual existence. In the prayers of the blessed Prophet he was never haste nor was he neglectful. He was never overbearing. When he was leading prayers in congregation he would hasten his prayer if he would hear the cries of children, lest it would distress the parents. He would invite his companions to attend the mosque for prayer in a state of physical cleanliness including clean clothes, perfumed body and brushed teeth, lest the unpleasant odour would disturb others in the congregation. He furnished spirituality through paying attention to practicality and its smaller details. Formally and at fixed times of the day I am required to prepare for that spiritual connection by performing the ritualized ablution before standing for prayer. I would use clean water in measured quantity to wipe away the grimes of external dirt and germs from my hands, face, head and feet – the four most exposed parts of my physical body. The ritual ablution clearly focuses on physical cleanliness, thus demonstrating practical spirituality in action. Please note ablution is the entry requirement before you stand for prayer. In my view five daily prayers are the vanguard of all practical spirituality. Once you have experienced the true taste of spirituality through prayer you would never want to miss it. l have often wondered why God has asked us to establish prayer as opposed to simply praying. The answer lies in the nature of practical spirituality found in prayer – it brings together people from all background regularly to stand together and share a common space for devotion to God; it enables people to interact with each other in a safe environment free from evil and shamelessness; it provides a metaphysical experience of heavenly ascension and an opportunity to have a direct conversation with God; it provides a perfect and regular interval to switch off from the daily and mundane chores of life and to connect with God with our body, mind and soul. This superior form of inner and communal spirituality lies at the heart of praying individually and collectively. If people pray together regularly they could work collectively to eliminate social disharmony, inequality, prejudice, poverty and other social ills. At a more personal level I find prayers a brilliant occasion for meeting new people, renewing friendship, remaining connected and not feeling lonely and isolated. Many elderly and young often use prayer as a means to socializing too. Many people who associate spirituality with out of this world experience, who are waiting for some kind of a magical moment when something extraordinary would happen to them and they would suddenly feel enlightened with the heavenly light in their lives, need to wake up and smell the coffee. I am afraid spirituality has nothing do with such experiences. It is finding contentment in your heart with everything that you do in life that will give you spiritual satisfaction. For me spirituality is demonstrated by the state of my heart and behaviour and more importantly here and now. It is the most mundane to the most profane social interactions that provide me the best form of practical spirituality. The more spiritually healthy I am the more reasonably and honourably I will deal with others. There are people who pray but they are rotten with others, there are people who perform pilgrimage often but they cheat, there are people who fast regularly but do not care for the poor and the needy. These people have not attained spirituality at all. True spirituality is defined by how do I deal with my family, friends, work colleagues, neighbours and fellow human beings. When I wake up in the morning I am reminded of my profound spiritual and physical existence. The fact that I have woken up after having temporarily died is the most overwhelming reminder that my existence is totally dependent on God’s Grace. My spirit or soul leaves my body every time I fall asleep. The fact that my entire physical body goes into a self imposed but naturally induced coma after a long days work and then in a matter split seconds it is able to wake is a reminder that I am a deeply spiritual person. I might as well be dead without spirituality. There are many who associate spirituality with groups, cults, saints and miracles. I am afraid I have never found spirituality in superstitious mambo-jumbos. I don’t associate spirituality with the whirling Dervishes or chants. I don’t find spirituality in puritanism or Aqeeda tests. I don’t find spirituality in childish Jehovah’s Witnesses style door-to-door proselytizing campaigns while camping in mosque floors in different parts of the world. I don’t find spirituality in over politicization of all aspects of Islam and the loud mouths calling for Khilafa as the panacea to all problems of the Muslim world. I don’t find spirituality in over zealous hunger for power and dependency on political thoughts of the past. I don’t find spirituality in saint worship and over the top veneration of the Prophet. I don’t find spirituality in the obsession of some with ostentatious display of Islam through clothing and beard and their narrow interpretation of jurisprudence. I don’t find spirituality in the foul-mouthed and angry rhetoric of the extremes. I do not divide spirituality and material in two opposing camps nor do I abandon one for the other. I find spirituality in material and I find material in spirituality. In my view spirituality and material have a symbiotic relationship. Islam provides that balance and encourages its followers to take an enlightened approach to life and path to God. A God conscious person is a deeply spiritual person and all his or her work to enhance life on this earth and the success of the hereafter is their raison d’être for existence and that is their spirituality. The truly spiritual people are those who: 1. Submit themselves to God 2. Demonstrate compassion to others 3. Have highest degree of Humility 4. Remain steadfast in the path to God 5. Stand upright for truth 6. Promote fairness and justice at all times 7. Exercise utmost patience internally and externally 8. Lead a balanced life in thoughts and practice 9. Have honesty and integrity in every aspect of their lives 10. Care for the poor and needy Spirituality in Islam is not an entitlement for a select few or a special badge of honour for special class of people. It is not an illusive golden goose that you could never attain. You could reach spiritual heights in your everyday life provided that you change your attitude. © Ajmal Masroor June 2, 2014
Posted on: Mon, 02 Jun 2014 08:29:48 +0000
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