Spiritual Journey

Spiritual Journey T he believer, according to the Quran, must be a traveler (alsaihoon) (9:112). This is not just in the sense of one who goes on journeys: it actually means one who learns spiritual lessons through tawassum (15:75), i.e. through reflection on material experiences. Guidance to this effect is set forth in the chapter AlAn‘am (The Cattle) of the Quran. The translation of the relevant verse is as follows: Say, ‘Travel about the land and see what was the end of the deniers. (6:11) A believer is one who is always in a state contemplation. When a believer is on his travels, his mind is always in the contemplative mode. Whatever a believer sees around him turns into a spiritual experience. A true believer’s mind is like a spiritual industry. He sees everything with a divine eye and learns spiritual lessons through tawassum His travelling thus becomes an ibadat, or worship, in that it serves to remind him of God. This process is integral to the workings of the mind of a true believer—a spiritually hungry person, who is constantly trying to derive spiritual lessons from everything. Naturally, this process continues during his travels. There is a formula for this which can be summarized thus: siahat plus tawassum is equal to marefat. Siahat means travelling, tawassum means to learn a lesson, and marefat means realization of God. A believer’s journeying is a kind of ibadat on the move, in the course of which his contemplation becomes more profound, and he is able to expand his spiritual experiences. When at home, he lives in a confined environment which permits him to develop his personality at the