"O, the one in complete rest and satisfaction, come back to your Lord, well-pleased and well-pleasing to Him. Enter you, then, among my honoured servants and enter you in My Paradise." (Qur'an, 90:27-30)

In Islam, true spiritual development can only be achieved through believing in and worshipping God, "And serve your Lord until there comes to you that which is certain." (Qur'an 15:99). Worshipping for the sake of God is a three-dimensional exercise according to the Prophet Muhammad, "Stay away from sins, because the most acceptable migration (hijrah^[15]) is staying away from sins. Continue the commandments, because the most superior endeavour (jihad) is to perform the commandments. Remember and glorify God often for there is no other form of worship more lovable at the court of God than His remembrance."^[16]

The first dimension is the quantity and variability of practising active worship. For example, prayer, fasting, alms-giving in various forms are different types of worship. While Islam prescribes minimum quantities of such acts, it leaves it to the individual if they would like to do more. The second dimension is passive worship involving actions that a Muslim has to stay away from in order to preserve the already gained state of spirituality and to protect the spiritual faculties from damage and destruction. Some of these include gambling, murder, fornication, consumption of intoxicants, slander, gossip and lying. The third dimension is establishing a direct and close relationship with God. How much we remember God in daily life and our willingness to communicate with Him at a personal level at spaced intervals throughout the day measure the degree of our connection and closeness to God. This dimension is important as it provides depth and quality to the other two dimensions of worship.

In addition to these three dimensions, patience in respect of hardships and thanksgiving for endowments and blessings are the right responses for a Muslim to give for life's experiences. In this way, she stays on the straight path (siratal mustakim) of reaching higher levels of being and hence getting closer to God. Through spiritual struggle and development, a person goes through three levels of being.

1. The Commanding Self – This is the animal in all of us that needs to be tamed. The human animal self is quite different to those of real animals. While a cow would be content after a good round meal in the meadows and a lion satisfied with the killing of a single zebra, the human animal self knows no limit in desires and destruction. This inherent nature of the 'self' might seem to be against us but in fact it has positive consequences. While the Creator has created the human self so that we can survive in this world, He did not set any boundaries to its emotions so that the door to human progress and development is never closed. Otherwise, there would be no difference between humans and animals, which have a fixed level of being. The goal is not to totally blunt our desires, which is impossible, but to balance and channel them according to their original purpose. A person who is in this level of being is a slave of his or her insatiable desires guided by the immediate drawing pleasures and avoiding pain and burden. He thinks he has ultimate freedom, but he is a slave to many masters (desires, fear, fame, wealth, people in higher power etc). His attitude is "life is too short to waste, I must enjoy it while I can." According to Islam, a person in this state will never find contentment just like a person will never quench his thirst by drinking salty seawater.

2. The Accusing Self – The Qur'an describes people who are at the level of commanding-self as oblivious to God, and provides a number of reminders to nudge him or her out of their oblivion through emphasising normal events that we all encounter in life. A car accident, a dying relative or a word said by a friend can trigger certain questions in his mind. "I am made up of flesh and atoms, yet, I can feel and learn. Who am I then? Why am I here? Where do I come from and where am I going?" are some of the questions that come to mind. After an awareness of God and seeing the need to enter into a path of spirituality, a person commits to a way of life (or religion) and tries to control his or her actions for the better. Since he has not mastered his own realm as yet, he stumbles along the way. Blaming himself for not being true to his commitment, he learns from the experience and resolves to a renewed commitment. The struggle (jihad) towards the ultimate goal continues this way until the person finds rest.

3. The Restful Self – Through resilience and persistence, there comes a time when he succeeds in finding peace and tranquillity in the heart. He now knows for certain that God exists and understands who God is. The truths of belief become startlingly apparent in his consciousness and heart. He also understands that one day unavoidably he will return to God at the time of death. He realises that by being a servant of God, he gains real freedom from the multiplicity of masters fighting to control him. His attitude becomes "life is too short to waste, I must collect as much yield from the fertile soil of life (in good deeds) and leave a lasting legacy." This enlightenment leads to a willing and complete surrender to God , while looking forward to meeting God. In this state of being, Rumi described his own death as the 'wedding night', which is traditionally the time to meet with the beloved God. At this point in time, the restful soul gets a divine invitation, "O, the one in complete rest and satisfaction, come back to your Lord, well-pleased and well-pleasing to Him. Enter you, then, among my honoured servants and enter you in My Paradise." (Qur'an, 90:27-30). The statement "(one is) well-pleased (with God) and well-pleasing to God" describes an intimate relationship between God and the person at this restful self.^[17]

[15] Hijrah or migration, at the time, meant leaving everything behind in Mecca and migrating to Medinah for the sake of God and faith. Hence, it was a great sacrifice.

[16] Sermon 1, Monthly Diyanet Journal, August 1996.

[17] Tasawwuf (Sufi) literature increases the level of 'self' to seven levels. In addition to the three mentioned, inspired-self, pleased-self, pleasing-self and perfect-self are also described.