How Spirituality Leads to Self-improvement
Spirituality is not only about religion or culture. It’s all about faith. It’s the transcendence of self for inner peace. As true believers of God, if we seek Islam, then it is not only a religion, it’s a way of life that can spiritually and physically transform a believer. As God did not send Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) to begin a new religion, He sent Him to relight the relationship with God. However, the Quran does not tell us about our relationship to the Divine, it also guides and counsels us in our relationship with all that God created. Spirituality encourages us to treat ourselves with mercy, be kinder to others, and be more compassionate towards Allah’s creatures.
“Do what is good as God has done what is good to you”
Qur’an 28:77
In spirituality. Islam simply reminds us how to fly because we all are already born with wings. It’s not about gaining God’s love, it is a path that teaches us how to strive, preserve and unveil all things that have already been given to us. Spirituality unveils all the means that show you a reflection of God’s beauty and majesty.
On the path of gaining spirituality, we have three stations. The first one is Islam, then Iman, and the third and last one is Ihsan.
Islam means to surrender or to submit. Linguistically, it means to surrender in peace. Islam can be summarized in three sentences. Be with the Creator without creation. Be with creation without ego. Wish for others what you wish for yourself. Here, surrender does not mean giving up. Instead, it means being with what ALLAH has written for you with gratitude, peace and faith. Islam focuses on faith and cultivates Iman.
Iman is all about walking in Faith.
“Iman is to believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last day, and to believe in destiny both its good and its bad”
PROPHET MUHAMMAD (P.B.U.H)
Faith has to comprise two things. One is patience and the other is gratitude. Patience is a necessary element of cultivating the seeds of Faith because sometimes it consumes time to unveil the divine purpose behind God’s will. Patience and true belief in ALLAH lead to gratefulness, because when we understand that God always wants better for us than we could ever imagine for ourselves we are naturally alacrity towards being grateful. Our Iman often increases when we acknowledge all the good that God has already done for us.
Without Islam, Iman cannot be contained, and without Iman, Islam is just like a body without a soul.
Ihsan teaches us to see God everywhere. It is a state of goodness which is independent of creation and seeks no reciprocity or applause. In Ihsan, our attachment to separate self-dies, as we awaken in the reality of God’s singularity. In this way, these three stations help us to attain a level of spirituality. Indeed, these three steps are hard to clinch but give a person transcendent improvement.
Spirituality leads to self-improvement. Through spiritual spectacles, we can find our purpose on earth. It will not only help us to grow on earth but rather will save us hereafter on the Last day.
Spirituality improves our faith in the Divine. It helps us to love the Creator and His creation.
It teaches us to do mercy on ourselves and kindness to the creature of God.
In self-improvement, you will find a sweet soul and a divine heart. This divine heart will help you remain in peace and get all things which you have desired. If you embrace all things with gratitude that God has written for you, then definitely He will bless you with all those things you want. Perhaps you will also understand that God gives you what you need.
We are like photographs; our faith is developed in the darkroom of the trials we face.
THE END
