Please inform me of the true implication of the term ‘spiritual aspect’ of a human being? How does it differ from the ‘moral aspect’?
Faith and religion guide man’s spiritual being. It has to do with his relationship with God, and the resultant attitude adopted by him in his dealings with fellow human beings. To be grateful to the Lord Almighty for His Providence and His Mercy, to observe the blessings that surround us, and thanking and acknowledging the Creator behind them contributes to the spirituality of a person. The direct implication of such a submissive attitude will help maintain a human being’s contact with his Lord through His prescribed forms of worship.
Seek the bounty of God, and worship Him. Give thanks to Him, for to Him you shall return. (29:17)
The best of all kinds of worship being the prayer.
The spiritual aspect of a human being, therefore, directly refers to his relationship with Allah, the resultant self-purification and dealings with others. For a Muslim, this will imply the greater Jihād, the one against the nafs. This is a constant, on-going battle against Satan, in order to protect oneself from the evil that lurks around us, and remain conscious of God Almighty at all times and under all circumstances.
The moral aspect is innate in man. His ability to decipher between good and bad, right and wrong, evil and pious, is God-given: man’s conscience. Morality is a universal concept by nature. However, in the secular world today, it has been distorted into a very relative concept. ‘Nurture’ is falsely being proclaimed as the winning end in the ‘nature’ versus ‘nurture’ debate. With every society defining its own morals, what may be considered a highly moral thing to do in one society, may be proclaimed something morally corrupt in another.
In Islam, man’s moral aspect refers to his obedience to Allah, his selflessness, kindness, consideration, chastity, piety, charity, etc. Thus, for a Muslim whose life is governed by belief in Allah, and the beliefs and laws enacted by Him, both these concepts of the spiritual being and the moral being, will inevitably overlap. One would promote the other.
For example, the offering of prayers – a spiritual act – will reprimand man on any immoral act he may have committed. It should follow then that he ought to repent for his mistakes, correct himself and continue to answer the call of his conscience – the moral aspect.