Rabbaniyat: Islamic Spirituality

that the Creator and the creature are completely separate from one another. God, according to this concept, has a real and eternal existence based on tawheed or monotheism. According to the Islamic concept of spirituality or Rabbaniyat, the target of the spiritual quest of man is that the creature – man – has to discover and realize God – his Creator, to whom he is accountable, and make contact with Him through the process of contemplation or tafakkur or tadabbur or tawassum as mentioned in the Quran. That is to say that God is the treasure house of all virtues. And when man’s contact with God is established, through contemplation, in the world of his feelings, at the psychological level, an unseen, inner revolution is brought about which is called rabbaniyat or spirituality. In this matter the relationship between God and man can be likened to an electric wire and the powerhouse. When the wire is connected to the powerhouse, electricity is produced, and the place is lit up. In this way, light is the result of the wire’s connection to the powerhouse of God. What is spirituality? God has demonstrated it eternally in the form of the rose bush. The rose bush has thorns as well as flowers. Amidst sharp thorns God grows flowers on its branches which have beautifully shaped petals and which spread their fragrance all around.