What is spirituality in islam

Five times a day, Muslims leave what they are doing to reconnect with God in prayer. Once a year, for a month, Muslims leave food, drink, and intimacy with spouses during daylight to feed and quench the thirst of the soul, to redirect their focus to connecting with God. Twice a year, Muslims part with a portion of their wealth to those in need, to remind them that their love of God should be greater than their love of anything else.

At least once in their lifetime , Muslims leave their home and all they know and love to travel to the very first structure dedicated in the worship of God, to remind them that their ultimate attachment should be to their Source, The Everlasting. All of this is echoed in the testimony of faith- There is no god but God and Muhammad is His messenger. God is our Source, the source of guidance, love, peace, and contentment.

And every pursuit should be done in an effort to draw nearer to Him. There are many sects of Christianity and a multitude of views on what spirituality means in this faith tradition. But if we go back to the basic definition of what spirituality is—identifying that we are more than a material existence, that we have a spiritual reality—might be helpful. In many faiths this spiritual existence necessitates a higher spiritual power and therefore a connection with that power, God. How to Spend Your Night in Worship.

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Modern science has recently taken a keen interest in the wisdoms found in the ancient eastern traditions such as Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Hinduism. In the relatively new field of positive psychology, 1 many of these eastern traditions are utilized to enhance general well-being.

A browse through the literature will reveal a plethora of studies that have studied its neurobiological effects and therapeutic benefits. Historically, however, many Muslim scholars dedicated their lives to exploring spiritual and psychological questions of human well-being and flourishing. This paper attempts to uncover some of this lost heritage to demonstrate its relevance to modern discussions in mental health.

I have not found anything other than the vanquishing of anxiety [ hamm ]. The pursuit of emotional balance and the dissipation of anxiety is indeed universal and continues until today.

Despite the immense scientific progress and medical advancements that have been achieved in the last few centuries, there seems to be a decline in mental health. Rates of depression have dramatically increased between to in the United States. Perhaps surprisingly, suicide rates are much higher in wealthier nations than in poorer countries.

Abstracting meaning from the world is one of the core features of spirituality. People often believe that transient states of happiness obtained through entertainment, wealth, and possessions will enable them to escape their hamm anxiety. Seeking meaning is our way out of the abyss. It is a spiritual endeavor that centers around discovering what makes our lives worth living. Some people tend to think about mental illness and emotional states in purely biological terms.

While it is true that there are biological components to our emotions and our mind, they are not the only components. Modern psychology has recognized that a core aspect of the human mind involves spirituality. In fact, Dr. Robert Emmons, a leading researcher in the psychology of spirituality, proposed that spirituality should be thought of as a separate type of human intelligence. For example, when a person witnesses the change in trees during the season of fall, he sees it as an ayah from God.

Perhaps it reminds them of the temporal nature of this world, inspiring them to strive for loftier aims in life. Or perhaps the different colors inspire them to recognize the beauty of the diversity of humankind. When a person with high spiritual intelligence goes through life, his mind is constantly abstracting positive meaning and significance from the events that unfold around him.

This fuels positive spiritual states such as inspiration, optimism, gratitude, and perseverance. People with lower levels of spiritual intelligence will either abstract false meanings from the world around them or fail to recognize the ayaat of God altogether.

This will fuel states such as anger, jealousy, arrogance, and conceit. As the years in the garden passed, this man failed to recognize the ayaat of God manifested in the changing of seasons and the continuous cycle of death and rebirth.

This should have directed him to realize the temporal nature of his own life and the fragility of what he possessed. Furthermore, the cycle of death and rebirth should have been an ayah of the reality of the hereafter. The righteous companion of this man who had a high level of spiritual intelligence explains what should have been abstracted from these ayaat:. In the fields of clinical psychology and psychiatry, many practitioners are also starting to recognize the role of spirituality as an essential part of both prevention and treatment of mental illness.

Spiritual stations and strengths also have very strong protective and therapeutic properties. Ibn al-Qayyim d. There is a very large body of literature in the field of positive psychology that correlates self-regulation and gratitude with lower incidence of mental illness.

Self-regulation is the will power that enables people to act in accordance with their values and long term benefit despite costs to energy or short term pleasure. This concept of self-regulation is so significant that Dr.

God has revealed Himself in two books—the Quran and the Universe. The Quran is a literal version of God's word, while the Universe, or nature, is a practical demonstration of it. These two are the basic sources of spiritual inspiration for a man who seeks to live a life according to the divine scheme. So, the Quran is like a guidebook.

It prepares the mind so that one may properly understand the Universe and live in it as desired by God. Hence, a momin true believer has precisely that kind of prepared mind. Nevertheless, he finds that every part of the universe is highly predictable. With this discovery, he realizes that it is as if God was suggesting that he himself should have a predictable character.

When he observes that the various parts of the Universe function with absolute harmony, he realises that, in like manner, he should live in complete harmony with society; without hatred or malice towards anyone. You have not created all this without purpose.

Give us salvation from the torment of Hellfire! The signs of God lie hidden all around us in the very creation of the universe.

In brief, the universe is a manifestation of the Attributes of Almighty God. Hence, it is a source of spiritual nourishment for those who want to lead a divine life on earth. For them, the entire universe becomes a great means of their reaching spiritual perfection.

This spiritual development continues incessantly throughout their earthly life. There is nothing mysterious about spirituality in Islam. It is the direct result of the kind of intellectual development that takes place when a believer ponders over the Creator and His creation: he gains something in the process that may be termed spirituality. The source, therefore, of Islamic spirituality is perusal and reflection rather than any sort of mysterious exercise.

From the Quran we learn that, in the very creation of the universe, the signs of God lie hidden all around us. A person who is in a state of keen awareness when he reflects upon the things of the world comes to see the Creator in the creatures. The meaning of the creation of the Universe is laid bare before him. Ultimately, the universe becomes a permanent source of spiritual inspiration.

He is continuously nourished by it during his worldly experience, and his observation of the universe awakens in him latent divine qualities. The result of this observation and contemplation of the universe does not result in his shunning normal life.

Far from withdrawing from the world, he lives in it, participating in all its activities; yet despite his involvement, he remains aloof. That is to say, although he fulfils all his duties and responsibilities, his heart is not attached to worldly affairs. He appears to live in the world, but he stands apart from it.

Thanks to this state of his heart, he acquires tremendous spiritual gains. Prophet Muhammad, says of such individuals:.

Muhammad is not worshiped in any way by Muslims, and in fact they would be horrified by the idea: worship is reserved for God alone. However, it should be obvious that Muhammad continues to have deep and powerful significance long after his death. First, God is the creator of the universe, and, as such, is its sovereign ruler. Only God is worthy of obedience, respect, and worship. Third, the life that one experiences now is transitory, and is, in some ways, a proving ground for life after death.

Upon death, each individual will stand before God and be judged upon her actions and sentenced in the resurrection: right living and obedience to God will lead to eternal happiness with God in paradise; disobedience and unfaithfulness will lead to eternal punishment. The five pillars of Islam, then, are the five practices that Muslims perform to express their religious identity and signal their participation in the larger community.

First, the shahadah. The second pillar is salat , the specific prayers Muslims are required to perform five times a day: at daybreak, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and evening. These prayers have a specific set of rituals governing their performance, including a series of ablutions, which, in addition to cleansing the body, also signify the purity necessary to come before God. It should be stressed that zakat is not charity, which should be given throughout the year as the need arises.

The fourth pillar is sawm , fasting from eating, drinking, and sexual activity during the daylight hours of the month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar.