Assalamu alaykum warahmatulahi wabarakatuhu
I have been asked to speak a little bit to you on spirituality in Islam. The first question that arises is: Does our spirituality, especially the lack of it, impact on some of the things that happen in our community? At present, when one examines the Muslim community, one finds that large sections of this community have major social problems and also all kinds of religious problems. And the question that we of course ask is: Do these problems flow from the fact that many of us are neglecting the essential spirituality of our religion? Of course it is something that I believe in. I accept that. I accept that one of the reasons for the fact that things have been going so badly with our community in so many respects is because we are forgetting the very essential spirituality of our religion or we are forgetting to practice those practices that flow from such spirituality.
I am going to deal with some of these matters and perhaps sometimes I am going to ask the question: If there is an improvement in our spirituality, will there be an improvement in our social condition or will there be an improvement in the way we live, or the things that we do as human beings or the things that we do as Muslims? The question that really arises with regard to all of us is, if we improve our spirituality with regard to our religion, would that help to make us better human beings and would that help to make us better Muslims? I think that if we take firm steps to delve deeply into the religion of Islam and draw from that religion those practices that will make us more pious human beings, I think that will have a major impact on the way we live and the things that we do as Muslims.
In any case, let me take you back, and I always like taking people back, to the time of creation. Allah Almighty was, as we accept, a hidden treasure and He wanted to be known and He decided to bring into existence the creation. The Qur'an says, A'udhu billahi minashayta nirrajim… Allah says: ."Kun faya kun". "kun" Be! "faya kun" and everything came into existence. There are those scholars who say that everything came into existence between the "kaf" and the "nun" of "kun". Whatever the case might be, the fact of the matter remains that we as Muslims and religionists accept that Allah Almighty had brought into existence all of creation. We accept it like that. After that Allah Almighty decided to bring into existence the first human being. He sent an angel down to the dunya to bring clay from the earth. It is very interesting that Allah Almighty sent the angel to the dunya not to any of the other planets because the future human beings were destined to live on this dunya. The angel brought the clay to the Divine Presence and Allah Almighty shaped Nabi Adam (a.s.). The Qur'an says, A'udhu billahi minashayta nirrajim., "Thumma sawwahu wa nafaha fihi min ruhihi" Allah Almighty shaped him and blew into him of His "ruh". Nabi Adam (a.s.) woke up at that stage and when he opened his eyes he saw throughout Paradise the words "La illaha illallah Muhammadur rasulullah".
Nabi Adam (a.s.) was the first human being. Allah Almighty then created a mate for him, Sayyidatuna.Hawa (r.a.). Allah Almighty gave them a special instruction not to eat of the fruit of a certain tree. They disobeyed. Shaytan whispered to them that they should eat of that fruit. It is very interesting that after Allah Almighty had created Nabi Adam a.s. He had called all the angels throughout the heavens to come to see this new creation of His and to give this new creation a prostration of respect. All the creations in the heavens bowed down, went down into prostration, in respect to this unbelievable creation of Allah Almighty, the first human being. Shaytan he refused to do that. Allah Almighty describes this in the Qur'an, saying: "Aba was takbar". He refused to bow down because of his pride, his arrogance. Allah Almighty then, because of this, ejected him from the heavens, from Paradise. What is interesting is that, Allah Almighty had given him some respite but what is even more interesting is when Allah Almighty asked him: "Why are you refusing to carry out this Divine Decree of Mine?" "Why are you not prostrating yourself to My new creation?" Shaytan said: "Ana hayrum min hu", I am better than him.
I would like to talk to you a little bit about this. I just want us to understand this.
The first words of defiance against a Divine Decree that took place in this creation were the words: " Ana hayrum min hu ", I am better than him. So the first word that was used to show defiance was the word "I", "Ana" and I think this is very important for us to understand. Allah Almighty shows us through the Qur'an how certain things come into operation and this gives us a certain kind of understanding of things. And here Allah Almighty demonstrates through the story of Shaytan, the story of Iblis, that the word "I", "Ana", is an unbelievable word of self-destruction. And so, because of that, Allah Almighty ejects him and refers to him as "rajim" the one that is cursed. We of course fall into the same trap. An important lesson in spirituality that comes out of this little story that I have related to you, is:
Obedience to the Divine Decree - when Allah Almighty instructs, we must obey whatever the nature of that instruction might be. This is an important aspect of our religion.
We must not bring our own personalities into play when it comes to the Divine Will. Our own personalities must be made subservient to the Divine Will. When Shaytan said: "Ana hayrum min hu", he was putting his own will against the Divine Will. And so Allah Almighty referred to him as the one that should be stoned, the one that is cursed and he was ejected him from the heavens. Outside Paradise, outside the heavens, he sent a whisper to Nabi Adam (a.s.) and SayyidatunaHawa and said: "Eat of the fruit". And so they ate of the fruit and they immediately became aware of their nakedness and ran away from each other and covered themselves with some of the leaves of paradise. They were then told to leave. Allah Almighty instructed them to leave Paradise and Allah Almighty said: "Ih bi tu": "Go out of Paradise." This was an overall instruction, not only to them but to all the other souls. That's why Allah Almighty uses the plural order here, not the dual or the singular. It was an instruction to all those souls that Allah Almighty had created that they must now start the migration to the dunya. So the first two individuals to start the migration to the dunya was Nabi Adam (a.s.) and his wife. All the other souls that came after them, came through the wombs of mothers, of course.
What do we learn from this little account that I have given you. I think I must repeat this. It is important for our understanding of our religion. The first lesson I think that we have all learnt is that when Allah Almighty sends an instruction or gives an instruction either through the Qur'an or any other way through His Messengers, it is our duty as the creation to say: "Sa mi'na wa a' ta'na": O my Lord, we listen and we obey.
Subhana rabika rabbil izzati amma yassifun wassalamun alal mursalin wal hamdu lillahi rabil 'alamin. Wallahu a'lam.
Shaykh Yusuf da Costa