Muslim Spiritualists
Peace through Reform!
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Muslim Spiritualists
Blackburn
Lancashire
England
Telephone:
01254 265728
Knowledge
can be a Wall to Love and Light!
When knowledge satisfies, the heart closes!
can be a Wall to Love and Light!
When knowledge satisfies, the heart closes!
Spirituality
The distinction between Faith and Spirituality
Love ever gives – Forgives – Outlives
and ever stands, with open hands,
and while it lives, it gives!
"Faith" means believing, or trusting in what can’t be proved!
"Spirituality" means giving service and kindness to others!
When something is a provable fact, like what the weather was yesterday, it does not require any 'faith' to know this is true, but if we say the weather forecast for tomorrow is 'Dry and Sunny' and we believe it, than that is an act of faith! This simple distinction between 'provable fact' and 'faith' is of vital importance to religions, you cannot reason or prove your religion to a un-believer, no matter how knowledgeable or articulate you are, it takes ‘Faith’ on their part. The Qur’an does describe this so beautifully with the 'veils of light'. Also, faith is what gives us the strength to keep on going, when life gets tough.
'Spirituality', this is more involved to define: There are many 'Doors' to the Spiritual and Spiritual experience, these include being within certain building built for the praise of The Creator, like Mosques (Masjid), Churches and Temples. Wearing certain clothes or dress reserved for religious practise, or Meditation can be a door to the Spiritual, so can being in awe of the view from the top of a mountain, religious pilgrimage or certain sorts of music can also bring us to the door of the Spiritual, there are many doors but none of them are the Spiritual in themselves, these are only doorways.
When we come to a doorway to the Spirit, if we then listen, or feel with our heart to what the Spiritual dimension is saying, it is always the same: Compassion, Peace, Harmony, Fairness, Love for our Creator, Love for all of the Creation, doing good in this world, having patients over our difficulties – This is the beginning of Spiritual experience, but to go with it further and live this way, we start to want to live our lives by 'Giving service and kindness to others', which is the concise definition I used for "Spirituality" above. This is the way of all of the Prophets, may peace and blessings be upon them, and the way of all the Angels as well.
'Spirituality' therefore, is independent of any particular Religious Faith, and it is also independent of a person's; Gender, Ethnicity, Age, Wealth, Education, Abilities or Disabilities!
It is possible to have the frameworks of Islam, with a society following all the rules, rituals and practises, but the core empty of Spirituality – 'Spirituality' as I have defined above as 'Giving service and kindness to others'.
We can find people of very strong Faith but with very little Spirituality, which is where the trouble starts!
Spirituality is the opposite of Prejudice or Exclusion!
Your "level of Spirituality" is all you take with you to the Spirit World from this earth-life!
Everything comes from within
Spiritual growth does not come from Religion! As we experience the life of this world, and when we are ready; Then direct from Allah to our Spirit Soul comes what is needed for us to grow Spiritually. This is a natural process, and it is equal and fair to all the peoples of the world, regardless of what opportunities or teachings they have had access to. It is independent of 'Religion'.When we have grown spiritually from within up to a level, then we are able to understand the words of the Quran or words of teachers up to that same level, We learn from the inside first, not from the outside!
Then which of the favours of your Lord will you deny? Qur’an 55:13
How can anyone possibly understand the meaning of "favours of your Lord" without first understanding in our heart, something of the wonders of nature?
Forcing someone to study religion has the opposite to the intended effect: neither do pupils understand anything spiritually from their forced teachings, but this also blocks the spiritual food coming direct from Allah ever reaching their hearts.
Religious Knowledge is NOT the same as Spiritual Understanding: You can learn all there is to know about flowers, but you will never Become a flower!
Does a flower have to learn when to blossom, or does it just be itself, and blossom when it is ready?
Likewise, learning all ABOUT religion is NOT the same as being Spiritual.
The religion of Islam has a very valuable and necessary role to build the sort of Just Society that spiritual people want to live in, and raise their children in; 'Religion' supports Family life, which is so vitally important to a healthy society, but 'Religion' is not the same as spiritual understanding. Religious teachings can only VERIFY what we already understand in our heart: we cannot grow spiritually from religious teachings! It is the difference between knowing something and being it. Spiritual growth comes from within, fed directly to our heart by Allah, the Great Spirit.
- Be silent, let Allah reach your heart, feel the 'Love and Light' enter.
The true meaning of 'Dhikr' (Zikr) ??
Levels
Religion if applied strictly by those who don’t understand much Spiritually, can end up being very wrong: 'religious knowlege' is not the same as 'spiritual understanding', consider this parallel story:When we are outside on the street, we have the Highway Code, all the rules that we have evolved for traffic regulation so that we can use the roads in safety and with free flowing of traffic. All road users are included; Lorries, Busses, cars, bicycles, horses, and pedestrians. The rules state who has right of way and at what time they have right of way, like a red traffic light means 'Stop', an orange traffic light means 'about to change', and a green traffic light means 'Go'.
Now if we leave the street and come into the house, into the kitchen for example, then those rules of the street no longer apply and we have a different set of rules. In the kitchen we are now concerned about cleanliness, about storing food so that it doesn't go bad, about preparing food so that it is healthy and tasty. In the kitchen, probably the only red light is on the oven, but this does not mean 'stop'! Rather it means that the oven has not yet reached its full temperature, which is a very different meaning to the traffic light 'red'. In the kitchen, probably the only orange light is on the electric kettle, showing whether it is switched on or not, again a very different meaning to the traffic light orange! Probably the only 'green' light is on the freezer when it at the correct temperature, it does not mean 'go'!
The rules we have for the roads outside are different to the rules we have for the kitchen, the kitchen rules do not supersede the traffic rules, because if we go outside again, we then have to follow the traffic rules again. If from the kitchen, we were then to go upstairs to the bedroom, then an entirely different set of rules apply!!
A nice humorous story: but if the same thing was done using 'Shariah' law out of context, like the Highway Code in the kitchen, and if people were being punished or shamed because of something that was Spiritually in a different level, then it would no longer be a humorous story!
This does happen!
If this sounds insulting, or a ridiculous comparison, then read the translation from the Qur'an on the page Words of Solace about Hazrat Musa (Moses).
Interpretation of the Holy Qur’an
Please be aware, that most of the original Commentaries (tafsir) on the Qur'an were not written by free writers! They were living in the time of the Khalifat, but after the time of the first Four 'Rightly Guided Khalifs' - so inevitably they had to tow the State line!"Leaving things out is as much a distortion as putting things in!"
Also, it must be noted that many Muslim writings advocate very harsh treatment towards Women and non-Muslims, yet nowhere do we find reference to the Prophet himself behaving like this, He only had Love and Kindness!
Those who listen to the Word, and follow the best (meaning) in it: Those are the ones whom Allah has guided, and those are the ones endued with understanding.
QUR’AN 39 : 18
Mathematical miracles in the Qur'an : Unique amongst Holy Books; in counting letters, words, verses, and the reoccurrence of certain letters, the Arabic Qur’an shows a very complex mathematical matrix pattern based on the number 19. For example, the heading 'Bismillah hir-Rahman nir Raheem' in Arabic consists of 19 letters, the first portion of the Qur’an to be revealed (Sura 96 : 1 – 5 Iqra) consists of 19 words, the whole Qur’an contains 114 Suras = 19 x 6. There are many, many more instances; some of the more complex patterns have only become apparent by computer analysis! This is amazing evidence showing that the Arabic Qur'an is indeed complete, unaltered, and of Divine or Spirit origin. Therefore it is not the Qur'an itself that is the problem, but un-spiritual interpretations of its meaning; especially by taking one solitary verse out of context to the whole, and adding a man-made (or devious spirit) agenda to make decrees! (fatwa)
Also interestingly, in 'Numerology' the number 19 is special because it incorporates both the first digit (1) and the last digit (9) yet reduces down to 1 or Unity! (adding digits 1 + 9 = 10 then reducing again 1 + 0 = 1)
Over it are Nineteen QUR'AN 74 :30
* * * * *
Spirits tell us there are many levels in their world, and when we leave the earth life and enter their world, we go to the spiritual level appropriate for us, as like attracts like. Whereas here on the earth, people of all different levels of Spiritual enlightenment are mixed together, providing opportunities for experience, and opportunities to learn from each other!
However, Spiritualists will never tell you what you should believe; you must reach your own understanding, and only accept that which appeals to your reason!