A great deal of people, especially Muslims, have been taught and/or led to believe that being “spiritual” is not the same as being “religious”. I hear this from all types of People, from all spheres & all Types of Religio-Backgrounds. My Sole/Whole-Intention & Point is to show a Direct-Correlation between a Person’s Spiritual-Dimension & their Religio-Behavior.
Let’s start off with a Simple-Message, via Qur’ān, that will give us a pretty good premise (comparing/contrasting “Spirituality” & “Religiosity”):
“By the Time. Verily, the Human being is lost (misguided). Except those who believe & do good.” (Chpt.103, V.1-3)
Now, let’s analyze critically what is mentioned in These-Verses, particularly when it comes to the Correlation between Belief & Action. When Allah mentions that People are lost, “Except those who believe & do good.”, we have to really examine what “Belief” is & what “Good-Doing” is. Now, it should be pretty obvious when comparing & contrasting 2-Paradigms like “Spirituality” & “Religiosity”, that “Belief” falls under “Spirituality” & “Good-Doing” falls under “Religiosity”.
However, what’s more important than knowing this is that Allah purposely chose to group both Belief & Positive-Actions together as a Paired/Inseperable-Unit. Allah does this, actually quite often, in the Qur’ān-Pairing things off always indicates that whatever 2-Things mentioned together have some sort of Perpetual/Unbreakable-Bond with one another. For example: Allah mentions the Night & Day in Pairs quite often, as well as the Heavens & the Earth…the Male & the Female…etc. Allah even mentions the Jinn (a creation of beings, created from Smokeless-Fire) & the Insān/Human-Being in Pairs. This displays their Dual-Purpose, “I have not created the Jinn nor the Human, except to worship me.” (Noble-Qur’ān: Chpt.51, V.56). Likewise, when Allah mentions “Belief” & “Good-Doing” in a Paired-Construct: it’s done deliberately, establishing a Symbiotic-Relationship between the two.
This is one of Many-Proofs (which confirms, beyond the shadow of a doubt) that “Spirituality” & “Religiosity” in practicality are the same. To put it very simply: Any/all Beliefs, Concepts, Thoughts, Statements, Actions, etc. have a Direct-Affect on an Individual’s Relationship with Allah, their Creator, and vice-versa…The relationship with one’s Creator has a Direct-Affect on an Individual’s Beliefs, Concepts, Thoughts, Statements, Actions, etc. There’s also Immense-Proofs from the Sunnah/Prophetic-Tradition of Muhammad (Peace be upon him) which also confirms the Symbiotic-Relationship between “Spirituality” & “Religiosity”.
Some-Examples from the Prophetic-Tradition concerning the relationship between “Spirituality” & “Religiosity”:
Muhammad (Peace be upon him) has said, “And there is a Piece-Of-Flesh via the Body that when it is correct, the Entire-Body is correct & if it is corrupt, then the Entire-Body is corrupt. It is most definitely the Heart.” (al-Bukhārī&an-Nawawī). He also, said that, “When a Slave commits a Sin, a Black-Spot appears on his Heart. But, if he stops it, seeks Forgiveness and repents, his Heart will be cleansed, but if he repeats it, they will accumulate until they overwhelm his Heart.” (at-Tirmidhi&an-Nawawī). Now, in a religious context, which is obviously being projected in these two respective Prophetic-Sayings, indicates that both “Spirituality” & “Religiosity” not only define one another & compliment one another, but they also directly affect one another.
Let’s analyze the True-Meaning of “Heart” in both of these Prophetic-Statements: It is very clear that Muhammad (Peace be upon him) was not referring at all to the Physical/Anatomical-Heart, when he mentioned that “if it is correct, then the Whole-Body is correct” & “When a Slave commits a Sin, a Black-Spot appears on his Beart.”-A Person can have a Healthy Physical-Heart, but still be an Unhealthy-Individual, and “Black-Spots” don’t appear on Physical-Hearts. Rather, in fact, the “Heart” that is being referred to is the Spiritual-Heart, the Soul/Spirit.
Let’s use one Last-Example:
Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said, “What separates the Man from Kufr (Disbelief) & Shirk (Association) is the Abandonment of the Salāh/Prayer.” (al-Kaba’ir/The Major-Sins, adh-Dhahabī). The Arabic word for Prayer is Salāh, which is derived from the Arabic verb “Sallā” which means “To praise”, which in turn is actually derived from the Arabic verb “Wasala”, which means “To connect”. And, this is why knowing the Arabic-Language is so important: By definition of the Arabic-Word “Salāh”, we learn as Muslims why the 5-Daily Prayers are the most important Acts-Of-`Ibādah/Worship. It’s because the 5-Daily Prayers represents our Direct-Connection to Allah, our Creator.
There are several Muslim sectarian groups, who use the diferences between Spirituality & Religiosity to justify separating them in practicality. There has been this centuries-long gimmick known as the “Spiritual-Path”, that many Muslims have adopted, while attempting to give the implication that Spirituality & Religiosity exist to function independently of one another, which is simply not true. Also, there are Muslims who take the position that not only does Religiosity & Spirituality function independently, but that they don’t affect one another at all. The following verses from the Qur’ān & Prophetic-Statements have already quelled those arguments. But, for the sake of argument, I’ll present an everyday organic, natural proof to what I’m saying.
Let’s take a look at the Creation:
Allah says in the Qur’ān, “Verily, for those who possess knowledge, there are signs within the creation of the Heavens & the Earth, as well as the separation of the Night & Day.” (Noble-Qur’ān: Chpt.3, V.190).
Let’s look to one of the most dominant creations of Allah that we know about, the Sun. When we analyze the Sun, let’s observe what it truly is, relative to its chemical-composition. The Sun is actually a Star, among billions of stars in our Universe, it’s just that the Sun of our Solar-System is the largest Star around. But, now, let’s observe the chemical-composition of a Star, what is a Star inherently? A Star is actually a gigantic cosmic version of a bonfire. So, let’s look at Fire. There are two components to Fire: the Flame & the Heat. Relative to our discussion, the Flame itself would be Spirituality & the Heat would be Religiosity. Now, merely using basic-intelligence, is it even realistically possible in this material-existence, to separate/isolate Flame from Heat or Heat from Flame? So, since we all know that one cannot separate Flame from Heat or Heat from Flame, then why is it so believable that one can separate their Religiosity from their Spirituality or their Spirituality from their Religiosity?
Gareth Bryant 1443, A.H./2022, C.E.
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