Spiritual evolution in Islam, to each his own pace towards God

The Dead Heart of which the Prophet speaks is the spiritual Body trapped in the material Bodies. Such a person has faith only in his thoughts, emotions and possessions. This state of the Spiritual Body will jam the person at the level of pleasures. She lives to experience pleasures, emotions and sensations. Gourmet, bon vivant, happy fellow, aficionado or jet-setter… there are plenty of pretty words to describe this type of profile. Lives to do good, to enjoy, to crunch life to the fullest, to collect as many good times as possible before death occurs.

By evolving spiritually, whatever the way and the moment, such a dead Heart detaches itself from matter and its pleasures. It opens up to what the Koran calls the ghaybthe non-sensory world, “the unseen”. Begins the state of being that the Prophet describes as a sick heart. This mind is interested in the subject I am dealing with here. At this stage, “When the eye sees a pleasure, the heart ticks and the head makes tactics”said my master Fofana in my youth. The eye symbolizes the physical body, the heart is the emotional body and the head refers to the mental body.

For Oustaz Fofana, when the three physical bodies are trapped, the solution is to call on a “Upper body made of values”. This is why, he told us, “you need kicks in the butt to push you to Heaven”.

Above the pleasure stage, the diseased Heart is at the joy stage. Need to build, to share. He always fears lack and needs “to have in order to be”. This Heart says: ” Life is a fight. » He fights (in business, for a country or a nation) as much to win as to make his opponent lose.

Professor Muhammad Hamidullah places the vast majority of humanity at this stage of evolution. “Let’s be generoushe said, they are 60 to 70% of humanity”. In this state, the natural wishes of the Spiritual Body collide with the natural fears, desires and appetites of the three Material Bodies.

For Hamidullah, if we let humans decide alone, they could let themselves be led by their desires and intuitions to make choices against their interests. Therefore, he says, “God sent us prophets with laws”. For him, the solution is simple: follow the laws of God!

On the same subject, Muhammad Hamidullah points out humans who do not need God’s laws because they naturally respect them. He cites the case of Jesus, of Moses, of Muhammad, may the peace and blessing of God be upon them all. Prophets are special cases of living hearts. We can cite the “Friends of God” what are the wali (awliya in Arabic). Those whom the Quran names “sabiqqun” Where “muqarabun” are living Hearts under divine protection. The muminun, men of faith, are they necessarily living souls? That’s another question.

Islam is submission to divine law. A voluntary submission whose goal is to stay on the path of spiritual evolution, the sirat mustaqeem. Islam makes it possible to control the material bodies to promote the expression of the spiritual body and thus allow the spiritual evolution of the individual.

Heart dead, alive or sick, everyone is at a level of the spiritual ladder. Religion does not matter here. Because everyone is constantly changing. Everyone at their own pace. Religious practice avoids distraction and going off the road, but it also allows you to evolve in consciousness.

Regardless of where we are on the path, may God make our fasting a lever that pushes us forward. sirat mustaqeem !

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Amara Bamba, president of the Muhammad Hamidullah collective, is a teacher with a degree in anthropology (EHESS-Paris). He is the author of Muhammad Hamidullah, a Muslim intellectual from Franceforthcoming.

From the same author :
Night of Destiny – Laylat al-Qadr: when the Quran comes to us
Surah Al-Fatiha, the spiritual contract of Islam
The Contract of Salat in Islam
Faith in the teaching of the Prophet
The primary reason for the practice of Ramadan fasting explained

Spiritual evolution in Islam, to each his own pace towards God