How much do rituals play part in one’s spiritual growth? Every religion in the world has rituals that they emphasize and so they must enhance our spirituality in some way. Or can one be spiritual without any rituals at all?
Re: Spirituality and Rituals
Rituals ground the spirituality…give it form and substance.
Re: Spirituality and Rituals
elaborate this point if you please, maybe give an example or two.
Re: Spirituality and Rituals
All the physical gestures and positions while offering prayers (namaz) are significant in ones spiritual growth, provided one is mindful of the state he/she is in.
For example, “Qayam” (Standing upright in Prayer with arms are folded) to me, signifies being attentive and respectful while standing in front of the Lord and awareness of His presence.
“Ruku” (Bending forward with hands on knees) to bow ones head in submission and humbleness, and to let go of any arrogance/false pride. Then Qayam again with arms free falling to me triggers a sense that there is nothing that can be concealed from Him, i am small human being and nothing I do or think is hidden from my Lord, i am like an open book in front of Him.
Then “Sajdah” is the ultimate state of submission, submission to His Will, recognizing that He is Mighty, Supreme, All Knowing, and I meek, small, powerless and a mere beggar to Him. To Him i submit, without His Will, i can vanish into a state of nothingness, as if I never even existed.
“Qa’dah” (It is the sitting posture during Prayer) for me is the time for reflection when reciting “Tashahhud” reminding me of the Supreme, “Durud” reminding me of the best example that has ever been set by His Prophet (SA) and that it is his(SA) example that i have to follow.
Hence every physical gesture during namaz is very significant in ones spiritual growth or revival. For the ones who are offering these rituals without delving into their real significance are unfortunate (I am no angel, I catch myself doing it a lot of times).
Re: Spirituality and Rituals
What good is worship without some form of prayer? Spirituality is just a concept…prayer is an action. Conversely, worship without spirituality is just empty form.
Consider the Hajj…the journey and the idea behind the place is what is spiritual…the actual act of performing Hajj allows us to expereicen the journey and realize the idea.
I can’t be more specific unless you give me an exact distinction between spirituality and ritual.
Re: Spirituality and Rituals
assalamu 'alaikum
I want to add to the above excellent explainations:
If by rituals you mean the five daily farD prayers and other furooDs of Islam, then I think it would be best not to call them rituals.
In Islam, we have physical acts (Which Allah created), which we choose, that fall in a number of categories. The 4 schools of Sunni Islam (Hanafi for Pakistani Sunnis) classify them with slight variations eg FarD, Sunnah mu'akkada, sunnah ghair mu'akkadah, mubah, mandub, makruh, Haraam etc
Eid Milad un-Nabi is an act that has great benefit for spiritual growth. Overwhelming majority of Hanafi Scholars have practiced it and spread it throughout the Islamic Sunni world because it has great Spritual benefits.
This is a big subject to elaborate on
your bro
Thaqib
Re: Spirituality and Rituals
I also wanted to add, that Islamic Spiritualism is termed as IHsan (Sufism, or Tasawwuf, or Tazkiyatu Nafs). It is what RasulAllah salalaho 'alaihi wa salam has taught through the Hadith of Jibrai'il 'alaihissalam. It is practising what you learn. Islam is not a faith of rituals as some Sikhs for example might allege on us.
It is a faith of the cleansing of the heart (tazkiyatu Nafs) in the following order
Islam---------->Iman--------->IHsan