The munajat or du’a, meanwhile, signifies believers’ spiritual poverty before God the prayers help the practitioners to undermine their arrogance as a result of worldly supremacy.Īs a basic element of al-faqr (a despicable feeling before God), fasting is highly favored by the Prophet who once said, “al-faqru fakhri” (spiritual poverty is my pride). Meanwhile, dhikr is a repetitive recitation of God’s names in order to experience His intimate presence in the heart and mind of the practitioners. Tahajud performed in the third half of the night, for example, can create a profound and sacred inner atmosphere, conducive to establishing an interpersonal dialogue with God. In fact, tahajud, dhikr (repeated short prayers), du’a (prayers) and ittikaf in the mosque are essentially contemplative-oriented rituals. This will have no effect in transforming their personal and moral condition. Not the contrary, in which many Muslims view Ramadhan as first and foremost a special period in the Islamic calendar to accumulate afterlife rewards through celebrated communal rituals, believed to be multiplied during this month. Therefore the many rituals of Ramadhan aim at orienting every Muslim to practice a contemplative life. “Every person who is uprooted far from his source,” as Jalaluddin Rumi wrote in his masterpiece the Mathnawi, “surely will someday yearn for the moment when he was once united with him.” In the Quran, God himself repeatedly refers to His nature as al-mashir, the last destination to which all creations will terminate. For in the human heart is planted a religious seed and a sense of divinity. Many even end up denying their acknowledgement of their creator.īut human memory and longing for the divine will never completely disappear. Having been too deeply plunged into the temporal-material world, humans tend to forget the source and purpose of their creation. Fasting is not only abstaining from eating, drinking and sex but also, according to al-Ghazali, speaking, seeing, hearing, touching, kissing and thinking about anything other than God.Īccording to the psychology of Sufism, only by paralysing the functions of one’s own physical organs is one able to utilize their spiritual faculty to experience the divine presence.įasting is the most powerful ritual of curbing or even crippling the wildness of these physical organs. The Prophet once said, “To meditate for one moment is better than to worship for 70 years.”Ĭontemplative life always requires fasting in varying durations.
The Quran, as in the Surah Al Imron (The Family of Imron) verse 191 and Ar Rum(The Romans) verse 8, defines contemplation, or tafakkur in Arabic, as an effort to deeply reflect on the existence of the universe and oneself, and even God.Īccording to Aristotle, because of this contemplative talent, human beings are likely to resemble angels and can communicate directly with God. In their lives, harmony between contemplation and action was fully manifested. Before receiving the apostolic mission, the Prophet Muhammad lived a contemplative life for several years in the Hira Cave near Mecca. Siddharta Gautama, for example, underwent many years of severe meditation before becoming enlightened. The history of great personalities shows a balance of action and contemplation in their lives. It is the most important stage for any traveler to take through their terrestrial journey. In all religions, contemplation is among the most important rites, though practiced in diverse ways and for different aims, such as to be in harmony with nature, to realize the temporality of worldly life and its potential as a source of suffering, to engage in an intimate dialogue with God to gain divine inspiration, or even to “unite” with God through a mystical union.Ĭontemplation is a spiritual discipline to get a clearer perspective and vision of one’s self, of the universe and of God. After 11 months pursuing material gains and worldly achievements, Ramadhan comes to offer itself as a spiritual break.
That is why Ramadhan is, in essence, a period of contemplation through which one engages in self-introspection and intense spiritual reflection. The prophet also ordered Muslims to fill the nights of Ramadhan with tahajud(night prayer) and tafakkur (contemplation). Ittikaf is to dwell exclusively in a mosque to get closer to God.
The Prophet Muhammad always encouraged Muslims to perform ittikaf during Ramadhan, especially on the last ten days.
0 kommentar(er)
