FROM THE EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Dr. Farida Khanam has been a professor at the Department of Islamic Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi. A Study of World's Major Religions, A simple guide to Sufism are two of the books amongst many others, of which she is the author. She has also translated many books on Islam authored by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan.

Currently, the chairperson of Centre for Peace and Spirituality (CPS International), an organization founded by her father Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, she is a regular contributor of  articles  to journals, newspapers and magazines. Dr. Khanam has edited Maulana’s English translation of the Quran and has also translated his Urdu commentary of the Quran into English. Under Maulana Wahiduddin Khan Peace Foundation, along with the CPS team, she is designing a series of courses on peacebuilding, countering extremism and conflict resolution.


THE CULTURE OF SPIRITUALITY

WHAT is spirituality? Spirituality is an experiential state of being. It is non-material and intangible, yet it is the inner essence of everything, like the nectar is to the flower. Nectar can be found only in a flower, but spirituality is omnipresent. You can extract spirituality from all things, even from wood, thorns and stones. But this requires a creative mind. The honeybee can extract nectar only from flowers, but a prepared or creative mind can extract spirituality from everything—even from abstract ideas. Art is everywhere but it requires an artist to discern the artistry, and he can do so only if he has a truly prepared mind. Those who want to live in a state of spirituality must prepare their minds. It is futile to try to discover spirituality directly from the external or physical world.

For example, you observe a thorn, then you see a flower and the branch of a tree. Then your mind is aroused and you start thinking. An idea takes shape and your mind is further engaged. You think that, in reality, the flower and the thorn are the same. Both spring from the branch of a tree, but both reflect their own inner power which allows them—both deriving from the tree—to assume their own distinctive shapes by availing of their separate energy sources. The same is true of spirituality. Spirituality is a creative phenomenon. It is the mind that creates spirituality, as it is the mind that gives birth to an idea. Just as after a very delicate process, the bud—potential flower—is converted into a flower, so also is spirituality not a ready-made thing. It is a product of an intellectual process. It is the culmination of a process that occurs between the mind and external realities.

If you want to experience spirituality, you need not visit any spiritual expert. Nor should you try to purchase it from shopping malls. Rather you must develop your own mind and soul in order to initiate the kind of process to produce the state of spirituality. There is no other way to attain spirituality.

Every human being is like a spiritual factory but this factory must be looked at in terms of potential, for it is only you who can convert this potential into actuality.


Spirituality is a creative phenomenon. It is the mind that creates spirituality, as it is the mind that gives birth to an idea.

Spirituality is like milk. Any milking cow is a milk factory, but its milk does not as such exist in its body. The cow ingests food, then this food is processed in its body and after a complex mechanism, it is converted into milk. This is true also of spirituality. Spirituality is like a kind of non-physical milk. It is like aroma-milk and aroma are products of an inner process and are not extraneous entities.

You must prepare such a cogitative, analytical mind as is creative and capable of processing your outer experiences. Once you have done so, you will be able to develop spirituality. Spirituality is a self-engendered thing. It is not something manufactured. It is a product of your own factory. Develop your creativity and you will be able to derive spirituality from every observation and experience.

Dr. Farida Khanam
hub@the spiritofislam.org

Grow Wiser
One may be beset by most
grievous handicaps in life, but
it is always possible to rise
above one’s handicap