Islamic Spirituality

 What Is Islamic Spirituality?

 

 

Tassawuf is the third part of Islamic pillars. There is a hadith where the prophet being asked by the angel :

 

ما هو الأحسان؟

 

Translation : What is Ihsan?

 

 

The prophet replied :

 

الأحسان أن تعبد الله كأنك تراه فأن لم تكن تراه فأنه يراك

 

Translation : Ihsan is you worship Allah as if you were seeing him, if you cant, do know that He is seeing you.

 

Indeed, if we try to find this terminology  during the early days, we will not find it. This is because it was put into names later on to explained to the people. This also happened in other sciences such as Arabic,Jurisprudence, Interpretation of Al-Quran and others.

‘Unlike the creed or jurisprudence which were another two pillars of Islam, it does not talk about the outer part of a Muslim (جسمنية) but the inner part of it (روحنية). Thus, the tool to measure it must be the right one rather than using the wrong tools. This will effects on the misunderstanding of a person and might deemed Tassawuf as knowledge of astray.

The History Of Tassawuf

 

It is important to note that the religious knowledge that we cann see today existed differently from the time of the prophet. During his time, the religious knowledge existed more into the form of practice rather than a lot of theoratical one. This is why Imam Abu Hanifah made the saying of the companion as a proof for the jurisprudence (قول الصحابي) while Imam Malik made the practice of people in Madinah as a proof in jurisprudence (عمل أهل المدينة).

The same thing goes to tassawuf. They were learnt by making the teacher as a role model rather than exist in a lot of terminologies. The figure like Hassan Al-Basri, Rabiah Al-Adawiyah, Bisyru Al-Hafi, Malik bin Dinar were more keen to wisdomic sayings rather than terminologies. However, the scholar later on sort that kind of syllybus in order to protect the understanding the Muslim since the prophet was very far from us.

How Can One`s Learn And Practice It In Present Days?

 

 

Since we are all so far away from the prophet in terms of time and place, the scholars are the replacement of the prophet in any fields. If suppose there is a new practice arise, the department of religious affair or the mufti will be accountable on the matter.

The above matter usually related to the jurisprudence rather than spirituality. As for the public, they need to find someone who is able to teach the spiritual parts of Islam. The teacher must also be competant on other knowledge as well such as Arabic, Interpretation of Quran, Jurisprudence and others.

The sufi`s gathering will usually be accompanied with some utterance of God (أذكار). This is because sometimes knowledge alone might bring disruption to the heart. However, without a adequate knowledge, an action might not be completed competently. Same goes to wealth.

Conclusion

 

To sum up, the only group that fight for the soul`s cleanliness (تزكية النفس) is only the thariqah. Other groups will come up with what they have. This is important because it is the third pillars of Islam. Without it, every action will not be accepted by God. It is mentioned in the Al-Quran just like the discussion in the above paragraph.

The Muslim ummah can only be strong with the combination of these three pillars which are the jurisprudence,creed and ihsan. Lacking in one of these will affects on the character intended by the religion. Islam is the only religion that provides solution to all the socialistic problem.