CREDIT IMAGE: UNKNOWNKnow that self-knowledge is not related to the physical senses, rather it deals with another aspect of our being, that is, the spiritual dimension of our lives.
At the heart of Islam we have Knowledge of Spiritual Development, i.e Tassawuf, and it is the process of one’s inner transformation through: self-knowledge, understanding of ‘patience’, remembrance of The Divine Creator, fueling the Higher Self whilst taming the Lower Self, knowledge of humility, purification from cynicism, as well as knowledge of purity. Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) life was the propagation of Tassawuf in Islamic Sciences as well as he was a model of spirituality for all mankind. The purpose of this science is the study of purification of the heart and the development of God consciousness to ultimately achieve what we call Ihsan or Spiritual Excellence, and it is the highest station of worship one can achieve.
Ihsan is Islam’s 3rd dimension where one achieves transcendence from the sensorial realm.
Preceding it is Islam, 1st dimension: Surrender, to testify that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is God’s Messenger, to perform the prayer, bestow the alms, fast Ramadan and make if though canst, the pilgrimage to the Holy House. And Iman, 2nd dimension: Faith, To believe in God and His Angels and His books and His Messengers and the Last Day, and to believe that no good or evil cometh but by his Providence.
We are created in such a way that we are in the spiritual world and the earthly world at one and the same time, we have an outer nature and an inner nature. To be in awareness of our nothingness does not mean to deny our Self, but it means to see beyond all that holds us down. It is to increase our intellect as opposed to our beastial nature, Islam separates the faculties as such:
– Higher self: intellect and heart
– Lower self: stomach and sexual organs
When the Higher Self takes over the Lower Self we call this AKL, or the reasoning to control the lower urges.
Looking at the human being’s design we have the Higher Self located in the higher organs and the Lower Self located in the lower organs. This idea is how the human should be, his intellect is over his beastial nature.
This is the education of the Muslim. Beautiful, in it?
