A Study of the Concept of Spirituality in the View of Western and Muslim Educationists

The main aim of this paper is to expound the concept of ‘’ spirituality’’ and compares the Western view( with emphasis on the views of Andrew Wright, Parker J Palmer, Jane Erricker, Ron Best, Graham Raster) with that of Islam. The literature of the research shows that there is not only one definition of spirituality. The most important factor behind the variation in these views is that there is a kind of the relationship between the concept of ‘’spirituality’’ and ‘’religion’’. The present research expounds the views of the mentioned thinkers on the basis of the relationship of spirituality with religion. These views come under three headings: religious worldview, apart from religion and not religious. Then, in order to offer a more accurate explanation of the concept of ‘’spirituality’’, the philosophical fundamentals of the mentioned thinkers’ views are investigated. Then, the concept of ‘’spirituality’’ in Islam is compared with that of the West. Among the findings of this paper is that the concept of spirituality in Islam has a recognizable external Equivalent. Therefore, the concept is merely not an inventible it is detectable. According to some Western views, the reference of spiritual affair is man-made and therefore the meaning is simply makeable. Some Western views believe in the existence of plurality in the reference of the spiritual affair. However the Islamic view believes in unity. From the viewpoint of Islam, spirituality is a holistic concept which includes all the aspects of child’s life and it has four kinds of one’s relationship: with one’s self, with people, with the environment, with the creation, and with God, but in some Western views this relationship is limited to one’s relationship with one’s self others (people) and environment. The method of this research is the quantitative content analysis.