Spirituality
Spirituality is considered as an attachment experience to a geographic place or an “object,” for Muslims this concept can be explained by the sharia or Islamic law. However, in the highest level of experience as a Muslim, one may attach to God everywhere and at all times, without consideration of any place, time, or object. This experience can clearly be understood with the explanation of the three levels (spiritual path) for Muslims: (1) sharia or “conceptual knowledge,” (2) tariqa or “experiential knowledge,” and (3) ma’rifa or “divine spiritual experiences” or “spiritual consciousness”. At the first and second levels, one may have a Place Spirituality, while at the third level the understanding of and connection to God might be enhanced, and the experience to connect to God can be everywhere, all the time.
The PS concept also mentions that religious believers maintain an attachment with the divine due to their increased cognitive abilities. This statement may be in line with the three-path process in the Islamic perspective. When a Muslim follows the sharia process, for example, from childhood they learn to pray, fast, read the Quran, and so on. Parents teach their children how to do everyday prayer, how to follow Ramadhan fasting, and how to recite the Quran as a daily habituation. Finally, when they become adults, with their development of cognitive abilities, they may maintain a relationship with God at the next level: (2) tariqa and (3) ma’rifa. The idea that adults can have more and richer attachments than those experienced by infants is acceptable, but there is still a lack of research in explaining this process.
As an adult, Muslims learn to avoid associating God with any other phenomenon in the creation (Miner, Ghobary, Dowson, & Proctor, 2014). Most scholars use the name of Allah for this majestic mode of God: Nothing is like unto Him (Qur’an, 42:11). To paraphrase Ibn Arabi (1972), God’s majesty is too great either to exist in the shape of a human being or to lose anything by the existence of particular essences. This case explains why there are no pictures (of creatures, humans, or anything particular) in a Mosque. He is everywhere; nothing exists besides His face: To God belongs the east and the west; wherever you go there will be the presence of God. God is Omnipresent, Omniscient (Qur’an, 2:115), and hence Muslims understand God to be available and responsive.
Sharia
Sharia, or Islamic law, is a religious law forming a part of the Islamic tradition. Sharia is a kind of standard operating procedure (SOP) that teaches Muslims about “conceptual knowledge” and about the dos and don’ts of Islamic law. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam, particularly the Quran and the Hadith. In Islam, the Quran is considered to be the most sacred source of law, while the Hadith provides more detailed and practical legal guidance. The universality of the Quran is reflected in the fact that it contains only 500 verses that have absolute legal force; the rest of the verses need to be interpreted according to various details of situation and time. Since humans tend to interpret things differently, various interpretations exist and one might choose the certain interpretation that suits the occasion. Hence the interpretation of Islam can be applied and employed in any place and at any time. In other words, the basic Islamic teachings are completely universal, while their interpretations and implementations are subject to local values
The Tariqa level
After a Muslim obeys God’s rules and the sharia, usually motivated by fitrah (innate state of purity), there is a possibility to achieve a better quality of relationship with God. This level is known as tariqa or nubuwwah. Someone who may reach tariqa level is usually in possession of the sharia level. They already have the knowledge of Islamic law (sharia) and already practice Islamic rituals based on the Islamic law. As they are fitrah, they need to be closer to God, to purify the soul.
Islam holds that humans are born with a pure, innate nature (fitrah) that allows them to turn to God (Qur’an, 30:30). Awareness of God must be supplemented by purification of the heart, based on the belief that fitrah can shine through one’s heart to the domain of consciousness when a person removes dust (sins) from the mirror of spirit (i.e. heart). Thus fitrah makes every person able to recognize God and potentially have an attachment relation with Him. Specific religious rituals (called dhikr) can activate this potential capacity, removing spiritual imperfections that might hinder proximity to God.
At the tariqa level, the most obvious characteristic of this phase is the remembrance of God, called dhikr (remembrance or recollection). The Qur’an, 2:152 states: Remember Me and I will remember you. Give thanks to Me and do not be ungrateful. This constant dhikr of God involves the attempt to clear the mind completely of all thoughts that do not center on God through constant repetition of the 99 names of God (al-asma’al-husna). Remembering Allah in one’s heart and rehearsing His holy name verbally is a way of facilitating divine proximity and hence constitutes another attachment for Muslims
The Ma’rifa level
Ma’rifa is described as “the highest knowledge” by which the individual has access “to know everything” that is beyond comprehension (Kazemi, 2002). The very purpose of the creation of man thus comes to be equated with the knowledge of God, which constitutes the most profound form of dovetail with the Hadith so frequently cited by the Sufis: I was a hidden treasure and I loved to be known, so I created the world. The word for “known” here is u’raf: ma’rifa thus appears again here as the ultimate purpose of creation in general, a purpose that is realized—and mirrored—most perfectly through the sage who knows God through knowing himself (Kazemi, 2002). For according to another Hadith: Who so knoweth himself knows his Lord—again, the word for knowing is arafa.
The aim of ma’rifa is to bring oneself as near as possible to God, even to experience being with Him, because there is no distance between the “subject” and the “object.” A spiritual traveler sees God with his or her divine sight as an imminent and omnipresent God. That is, experiencing the intimacy and presence of God, that God is immanent and omnipresent. Ma’rifa overcomes the paradoxical attributes and knowledge “about” God.
Conclusion
In the Islamic perspective, PS can be explained through understanding of the sharia, or Islamic law. According to the sharia, a Muslim can have proximity to God if he or she maintains and sustains the relationship with God through religious involvements such as prayer, fasting, Quran reading, Hajj (pilgrimage), and so on. If PS is considered as an attachment experience to a geographic place or an “object,” for Muslims this concept can be explained by prayer activity, fasting, and so on, as explained in the sharia, or Islamic law. However, in the highest level of experience as a Muslim, one may attach to God everywhere and at all times, without consideration to any place, time, or object. This highest level can only be achieved if a Muslim goes to the next step after sharia, which is the tariqa or “experiential knowledge” level, and the ma’rifa or “divine spiritual experiences” level. The highest level of experience might explain that a person can attach to God everywhere and all the time. At this level, the existence of God might not be disrupted by natural disasters, war or conflict, protests, terror attacks, and/or socio-cultural inequities.
