Ma’rifat is contemplation of the creation of God. Supporting data is always required for contemplation. Before the developments of science, very limited data was available on this subject. Now science has provided a huge library of unlimited data for the seekers of Ma’rifat. It has become possible for such seekers to pursue their journey endlessly. At every moment they may receive the spiritual food of Ma’rifat. The process of spiritual development can go on within them continuously and never stop even for a single moment until the day they die.
Since past several hundred years people have been seeking spirituality through different ways, such as mysticism. But what happened?
People always found heart-based spirituality. They thought everything is located in the heart. They were taught to focus on the heart as the reservoir or source of everything. Heart-based spirituality has been famous in the world. But it has had no benefits. The heart does not have anything. In the age of science, heart was discovered as simply a pumping organ. It helps in circulation of blood and nothing else. The heart has no thinking or feeling, as the mind has. Heart-based spirituality gave nothing to the world except ecstasy, which is of no value.
The Quran speaks of tadabbur. The Quran has been revealed so that people do tadabbur. Tadabbur means contemplation, thinking, and reflection. The Quranic formula is: Copy Arabic text (38:29)
In other words, Quranic spirituality is mind-based. Think and gain spiritual food for yourself. Spiritual food comes through thinking, not focusing on the heart. We have a point of reference in the form of the Quran.The Quran saved us from great misfortune. Had we searched for spirituality in the heart, we would have got nothing. There are many words in the Quran: tawassum, tazakkur, tadabbur and tafakkur. (15:75; 7:57; 10:24) All of these means to think and reflect.
The Quran says that your mind has unlimited capacity. Your mind has an intellectual universe within it. You have to utilize and unfold it. Study and reflect on the Quran, human history, Prophet's sayings and the universe. Science made a partial utilization of this -- by reflecting on nature, they developed an entire discipline. If you increase your aim, your contemplation and reflection will give you spiritual food. The source of spiritual food is contemplation, not meditation. Islam does not believe in meditation-based spirituality. Islam believes in contemplation-based spirituality. This is scientific and natural.
