O^Ccimic 1Re^e%mce Setced 丨-一 "'■l,l-'JI-1--111 '■"i■■.iimiimuw.M' mrnuAi iimMB Dl !遞i •：i : 丨 ：i Edited By: Mohammad Ali Shomali Spiritual Message of Islam edited by Mohammad Ali Shomali Islamic Reference Series: Vol.4 Spiritual Message of Islam Edited by Mohammad Ali Shomali First published in Great Britain in 2010 ISBN: 1-904934-16-1 978-1-904934-16-5 Published by Institute of Islamic Studies Islamic Centre of England 140 Maida Vale, London W9 1QB Tel: (44) 0207 604 5500; Fax: (44) 0207 604 4898 Email: [email protected] ^jli ,>11 III ^14 oaa a In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful Table of contents Preface 7 Spiritual Direction: An Islamic Perspective on Self-purification 15 by Mohammad Ali Shomali Invocation of God: The Only Way to Human Salvation and Prosperity ................................ 37 by Muhsin Araki The principle and Practice of the Remembrance of God: An Islamic Perspective ......................... 73 by Reza Shah Kazemi Contemplation in Islamic Spirituality 91 by Mahnaz Heydarpoor Reflection on Prayer: A Muslim Perspective . 103 by Mohammad Fanaei Eshkevari Religion and Mysticism .......... 1 13 by Abolfazl Sajedi 5 My God! Make me completely cut off from all else but You, and enlighten the vision of our hearts with the radiance of looking al You, until the vision of our hearts penetrates the veils of light and reaches the Source of Grandeur and set our spirit to be suspended at the glory of Your sanctity. (4iAl-Munajat al- Sha4baniyyah” in Mafatih al-Jinan) 6 Preface There are three main factors involved in any decision making: knowledge, motivation and power. Knowledge is important in order to make an informed decision. For example, in order to decide to buy a book, we must first know what a book is. We must also know what kind of book we want, what language it should be in, what genre and style we prefer and so on. Motivation is important as without it we clo not have any desire to make a decision or to perform any action. Lastly, we need the power or ability to make a decision or to act. For example, if we know what type of book is useful for us, and we also have the desire for reading it, but the book is not available, we cannot clo what we would like to do or what we are supposed to do. Therefore, we can only make a decision or perform an action when we have knowledge, motivation and power combined together. Let us now discuss the role of each of these components in self­ development. Power: We all have the power or ability to make decisions or to take action because we all have free will; no-one is forced to be good or bacl, or created wicked. Of course, individual people may have different life experiences or extent of their power or ability. Some people may be more prepared for the spiritual journey due to their upbringing or environment whereas it may be more difficult for other people. However nobody is deprived of the power to become good. Even people in the worst situations can become good. There are many such examples in the Qur’an，such as the wife of Pharaoh who, although she lived with Pharaoh in the same environment as him, yet she was a good believer，so much so that she became an example for believing men and women. The Qur'an says: God draws an [other] example for those who have faith: the wife of Pharaoh, when she said, ‘My Lord! Build me a home near You in paradise, and deliver me from Pharaoh and his conduct, and deliver me from the wrongdoing lot.’ (66:11) In contrast to this is the example of the son of Prophet Noah. He was under the care of a great Prophet and yet he still did not want to follow the path of his father. Therefore, people have different degrees of readiness, but nobody is forced lo be good or bacl. God also judges us according to what we clo with what we have been given: God does not task any soul beyond its capacity. Whatever [good] it earns is to its benefit, and whatever [evil] it incurs is to its harm. ... (2:286) ... God does not task any soul except [according to] what He has given it. God will bring about ease after hardship. (65:7) Thus, for people who live under circumstances in which they find the spiritual journey difficult, the little that they do may be considered equal to great things done by people who have everything available to them. According to a well-known hadith from Prophet Muhammad, “the most privileged acts are those that are done in greatest difficulty”. {Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 67, p. 191) So the power to decide or to act is present to a greater or lesser extent in each one of us, and we will be judged according to our individual capacities and abilities. Motivation: Like power, the desire for perfection is experienced by all. Human beings have an inherent desire to be goocland have a desire for perfection, for justice, benevolence, honesty, etc. Gocl 8