Islamic spirituality has a colourful and dynamic history. “Spirituality” in Islam covers various topics from ethics to mysticism. The weightiest of things on the believer’s scales (of deeds), said the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), is good character (Jamia al-Tirmidhi). This good character must be inculcated in the soul before it can be said to have become a character (khuluq). One’s character proceeds from the inner being or consciousness (nafs), and cannot be actively forced. However it can be harnessed through exercise and struggle (mujahada). The human soul (nafs) is a composite reality with elements that incite evil (Quran 12:53) which can be equated with the lower self or hawa (literally, a fall or wind), but it is also endowed with the capacity to challenge that ego in an active ethical will which the Quran describes as the (self)-blaming soul (Quran 75:2), which when perfected may become a soul in serenity Quran 89:27).

The Quran describes Paradise as the abode of the man who fears the standing before his Lord and prevents his soul (nafs) from the ego (hawa) (Quran 79:40). This effort to channel the soul’s potential to good as opposed to bad, includes both practical and inward activities; by means of certain practical and thought experiments one may be able to inculcate praiseworthy qualities like hope, love, generosity and courage and eliminate blameworthy qualities like enmity, envy, hatred and arrogance.