History of Islamic Spirituality

History of Islamic Spirituality

Let us go back to the verse of Sura Hajj, Allah, Most High, says to them [22^nd Surah, Verse 46]:

Will they not travel through the earth?

So that perhaps, perchance, (by traveling through the earth) their dead hearts might come alive

[Qur’an 22:46] 

So that when their hearts come alive they would be able to understand what the intellect, rationality and external observation could not understand. With a heart that comes alive, they will be able to hear what otherwise they could not hear.

Truly, its not these eyes which are blind

What is blind is the heart, which is inside the chest.

This is Islamic Spirituality.  It has unfortunately been given a new term, coined by someone, sometime, somewhere. The term which was coined was Tasawwuf.  I wish it had never been coined. My life and task would have been easier, because Tasawwuf and al-Ihsaan mean the same thing. Allah, Most High, delivered this word, al-Ihsaan to us, we should have stayed with this term.

He speaks of it in the Qur’an in the 29^th Surah, al-Ankabuut (The Spider): in Verse69:

And those who strive and struggle (fitna) to reach Me

We will guide them to the ways and paths through which they can reach Allah, Most High,

Surely Allah, Most High, is with those who pursue the struggle of al-Ihsaan

[Qur’an 29:69] 

And so the definition of al-Ihsaan:

That you should worship Allah, Most High, as though you are seeing Him with your internal eyes.

A warning is being delivered here, that unless and until you can see with the heart as well you will not be able to understand, what happens in the Last Age. You will not be able to understand and recognize the attack of Dajjal. What does Allah, Most High, say about a people who are internally blind? He has a nice beard, he performs salaah regularly, and he is faithful to his wife but internally blind. What does Allah, Most High, say about such a person?

He says in the Qur’an in the 7^th Surah, al-Araaf [The Heights], Verse 179:

Many are the Jinn’s and men We have made for Hell:

[Qur’an 7:179] 

Huge numbers are now condemned to the Hell-fire, for they will not survive the awesome challenges of the Last Age, they will fail.

Why are they condemned to the Hell-fire?

They have eyes but they cannot see. They have ears but they cannot hear. They have hearts but they cannot understand

They are a people who are internally blind and lacking spiritual mobilization. What does Allah, Most High, say of them? He says:

They are just like cattle

No! They are worse than that. They are more misguided than cattle

They are truly negligent of Allah, Most High.

For what purpose do we need this internal sight, capacity to hear and understand? In other words, why spirituality? Before we answer that question, I have another story to tell you.

Do you remember Musa (‘alaihi al-Salam)? They crossed the Red Sea and are now in Sinai. They couldn’t construct a Masjid so hey utilized a tent, called a tabernacle (a portable Jewish place of worship). Musa (‘alaihi al-Salam) delivers a sermon or Khutbah. It was a fine sermon. Someone came to him and said, ‘O Musa! What a fine sermon you delivered, you must be the most learned man in the world.’ What he should have said was, ‘Alhamdulillah !(Praise is due to Allah, Most High,!), What he should have said was it is from Allah, Most High, that knowledge come! What he should have said was: (12^th Surah, Yusuf, verse 76):

Above every learned man, is One who is more learned

[Qur’an 12:76] 

He should have recognized Allah, Most High, as the source of all knowledge.  But he didn’t do that. Harvard University, Princeton, Yale and your local university doesn’t do that. [To teach us] Musa (‘alaihi al-Salam) said, ‘Yes! I am the most learned man in the world.’  He said what the PhD From the university says, ‘Yes! I am the most learned man in the world.’

Whenever you do that and you secularize knowledge and education. You take Allah, Most High, out of the process of learning. When you do that and don’t recognize Allah, Most High, as the source of all knowledge, then He cuts off your internal sight. So Musa (‘alaihi al-Salam) temporarily is without internal sight. Allah, Most High, then says to him, ‘There is a servant of mine, Hazrath Khidr (‘alaihi al-Salam) more learned than you are, Musa (‘alaihi al-Salam)’ So Musa (‘alaihi al-Salam), says, ‘I would like to meet him.’

The answer is in Surah Kahf. Allah, Most High, gives him instructions to travel in the direction where the two oceans meet- majmaul Bahrain and here he will find him. The commentator of the Qur’an, Imam Badawi has given a beautiful interpretation of this. He says the two oceans are the oceans of ‘knowledge which comes from external observation’ and the oceans of ‘knowledge which comes from internal intuitive, spiritual insight’. When these two oceans of knowledge come together and are integrated in a single individual as they were in my teacher, Maulana Fazlur Rahman Ansari (r.u), his teacher Maulana Abd al-Aleem Siddiqui (r.u), then you get the most learned of all men. That’s the only man, who would read the signs of Allah, Most High, in the Last Age. Harvard can’t do it. This then is the function and purpose of spirituality.

Question Four: When will the last hour come? The Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) replied and said, ‘The one who is questioned has no more knowledge than the one who is questioning.’ Meaning, this is not a subject that we should be addressing our attention to, because this knowledge resides only with Allah, Most High,. But the Qur’an has something interesting to say about it.  It says that those in whose heart there is no faith, respond differently from those in whose heart there is faith. The one who has faith always thinks that the last hour is close but the one who has no faith always thinks that the last hour is far away. So there is a psychology of religion located in the question and the answer, a profound psychology of religion.

Now we come to question five. What are the signs of the Last Day? Both the signs given in this answer relate to Dajjal. In consequence of which, this visit of Jibraeel (‘alaihi al-Salam), is giving an ominous message to us, that you will not be able to understand Dajjal, the False Messiah; the world in the age of  Dajjal, the False Messiah unless and until you are blessed with internal spiritual insight. Unless you have this thing called spirituality. 

He gave two answers; two signs of the last day. He said that you will find naked, barefooted shepherds [meaning people who have the intellectual acumen of ‘naked, barefooted shepherds’] competing with each other to build tall buildings -to build the best airport in the world - meaning people who have the intellectual acumen of ‘naked, barefooted shepherds’ will now measure progress with high rise buildings. One doesn’t have to have much common sense or knowledge to know that it is false to measure progress by the number of high rise buildings in the skyline.

(Qur’an 49^th Surah, al-Hujeraat, verse 13):

The best of you, the noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, Most High, is he or she who has

the greatest fear of Allah, Most High, in the heart

So a people may be living in bamboo houses, but in their hearts there is the fear of Allah, Most High,. You and your companions, in the tallest building in the world, considering yourself progressive and them backward, having no fear of Allah, Most High, in your heart, according to the yardstick that the Qur’an uses, they in their bamboo houses are superior to you.

A mismanagement of the economy is also involved here. It is a mismanagement of the resources of the society. At the same time that you are building these high rise buildings there are people working for a minimum wage and many at less than minimum wage. What is minimum wage? It is a fig leaf to cover the economic slavery which comes with Riba. The market in Islam is a free and a fair market. No prices are fixed in the market of the Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam).

A man came to the Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, Most High,! Prices are too high, fix the prices (institute price control).’ The Prophet (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam)   said, ‘No!’ The man came back a second time and again said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, Most High,! Prices are too high, fix the prices (institute price control).’ Again the Prophet (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam)   said, ‘No!’ He came back a third time with the same request and again the Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) refused.

He said we can pray to Allah, Most High, to bring the prices down for increase in supply would cause prices to go down. So the market in Islam is the market in which there are no fixed prices; not for merchandise, commodities or labour. Price control is imposed today for basic necessities and labour, so that the labourer can get a minimum wage. The minimum wage being paid is less than what the person ought to get; what Allah, Most High, is giving to him with which to maintain yourself and your family. The reply we get is, ‘we cannot afford to pay, for we don’t have the money.’ You have the money to build high rise buildings but you don’t have the money to pay a just wage by removing all price control and allowing a free market to operate. When a free market operates and the labourer goes down into slave wages then the labourer’s eyes will open. This is slavery and then he will revolt against the system. This is the first sign involving Riba.   

Source: Ihsaan-The Spiritual Essence of Islam

To Be Continued....