Some Muslims have forgotten the heart and soul of Islam

By Saybhan Samat

(August 21, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Muslim world is in confusion and crisis world –wide and in Sri Lanka too. After a series of set-backs since the fall of the Ottoman caliphate in 1924 the worse is now happening viz. sectarian clashes. The incidents in the eastern province and in Beruwela recently have alarmed Muslims of our fair island who earlier lived in harmony and peace among themselves and with the other communities.

Muslim scholars claim that this unfortunate situation is on account of Muslims forgetting the heart and soul of their religion Islam and confining themselves to only rituals and trivializing the more important values of the religion.

According to early Islamic psychologists, the ruh (soul) is a non-material reality which pervades the entire human body, but it is centred in the heart, the qalb. It represents that part of man which is not of this world, and which connects him with his Creator, and which if he is fortunate, enables him to see/perceive God in the next world.

When we are born, this ruh(soul) is intact and pure. As we are initiated to the distractions of the world, however it is covered with rust (ran) of which the Quran speaks. The rust is made up of 2 things: sin and distraction.

When through the process of self discipline, these are banished, so that the worshipper is preserved from sin and is focusing entirely on the immediate presence and reality of God, the rust is dissolved and the ruh(soul) once again is free. The heart is sound & salvation and closeness to God are achieved.

This sounds simple enough. However the early Muslims thought that such precious things come only at an appropriate price. Cleaning up the Augean stables (rust, ran) of the heart is a most excruciating challenge. Outward conformity to the rules of religion is simple enough; but is only the first step. Much more demanding is the policy known as

‘ mujahada’ the daily (combat) against the lower self the nafs. As the Quran says; “As for him that fears the standing before his Lord, and forbids his nafs its desires, for him, Heaven shall be its place of resort.”

The blessed Prophet never tired of reminding us, there is little value in outward conformity to the rules unless this conformity is mirrored and engendered by an authentically righteous disposition of the heart—“No –one shall enter the Garden by his works.” The works may not be a reflection of a pure heart. The work may be to gain recognition, for pride and for other motives of the self.

We must begin by remembering what Islam is for. As we noted earlier, our dean is not, ultimately, a manual of rules which, when meticulously followed, becomes a passport to paradise. Instead it is a package of social, intellectual and spiritual technology whose purpose is to cleanse the human heart.

In the Holy Quran the Lord says that on the Day of Judgment, nothing will be of any use to us, except a sound heart- “ The Day on which neither wealth nor sons will be of any use, except for whoever brings to Allah a sound heart 26: 88-89. In a very famous hadith the Prophet(s) said that “verily in the body there is a piece of flesh. If it is sound, the body is also sound. If it is corrupt, the body is also corrupt- verily it is the heart.”

Mindful of this commandment under which all other commandments of Islam is subsumed and which alone gives them meaning, the Islamic scholars have worked out a science, an ilm (science) of analyzing the “ states” of the heart and the methods of bringing it into soundness. In the fullness of time, this science acquired the name tasawwuf or irfan which in today’s language is called Islamic psychology.

In conclusion, a very brief idea of what tasawwuf or Irfan is, is outlined “Tasawwuf” or Irfan is a regular science with its set laws and a full scheme in detail. It is based on palpable experiences which can be reproduced, like in any other science, under set circumstances. Every pilgrim has to pass through the same stages in his spiritual journey and these stages are readily recognizable by their detailed descriptions given unanimously by all masters. The landmarks and pitfalls are described in equally exhaustive particulars. Just as in any other course of study, there are methods in it to test the progress of the disciple and his merit. As in any other branch of knowledge there are geniuses in this branch of study who create a stir in the world, but even humblest Leaner can at least aspire to develop a living sense of the presence of God in the midst of our struggle for material existence. He also develops a taste for this culture and an interest in those who follows this path and thereby acquires an increasing control over his passions and desires for things worldly.

It is not a speculative philosophy or a dogmatic theology, but an experimental science with its attraction as such. To describe briefly the general framework of this science, human consciousness is divided into three conditions rising upward in the scale of evolution:

1. Nafs Ammara, i.e. unruly animal self.

2.. Nafs Lawwama, i.e. Struggling moral self

3. Nafs Muttamaina, i.e. composed Allah-realized self.

In the first stage man is a pure animal, restless self-animal urges, impatient of restrictions and stranger to any pricking of conscience. By a systematic course of religious training, of which obedience to commands and prohibitions is the chief feature, he develops a sense of propriety and impropriety and repents after every falling into error. This is the Lawwama state. This stage begins with a faint dawning of the moral sense and ends in a complete surrender of the animal ego in man, which marks the third and the highest stage, viz. Mutmainna. The struggle between the lower and the higher selves having now ended, the pilgrim enters a condition of perfect peace, of purity, of rectitude, and of knowledge. Only when a Muslim arrives at this state will he/she gain honour, dignity, recognition and acceptance from all mankind.

-Sri Lanka Guardian