[ëàìèíàò]

I've often heard lecturers divide actions into two categories:

• Natural, worldly
• Ritual, spiritual

And the former can be turned into the latter by adding Taqwá or Iḥsān.

What are the Arabic Islamic terms for this categorization? Are there verses in the Qurʾān that prove these two categories?

[RlUbQU3R]

I've often heard lecturers divide actions into two categories:

• Natural, worldly
• Ritual, spiritual

And the former can be turned into the latter by adding Taqwá or Iḥsān.

What are the Arabic Islamic terms for this categorization? Are there verses in the Qurʾān that prove these two categories?

as-salamu 'alaykum wa rahmatu Llah,

Yes, the 'natural' vs. 'ritual' pardigm is utilised particularly within works of usul al-fiqh, or legal methodology. The respective Arabic terms are:

عادة
عبادة

In their legal contexts, these two words have very specific definitions, as opposed to 'wordly vs. spiritual'. Anything wordly, provided it is permissible and accompanied by a good intention, can be made spiritual - by that I mean, worthy of reward.

As for 'natural' (habitual would be a better translation) vs. 'ritual', that which is ritual is what has been explicitly established and confirmed from the source texts as worship, while the 'habitual' would be everything else. Hence we have the difference between the two types of sunnahs: sunan al-huda/sunan al-'ibadah etc which are confirmed sunnahs of the Beloved Messenger salla Llahu 'alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, known to be from the religion. (Within this, the hanafis have a the division between sunnah mu'akkadah [that which was performed regularly, and confirmed] and sunnah ghayr mu'akkadah). Then we have the sunan 'aadiyyah/sunan az-zawa'id etc, which are the sunnahs related to the life-style choices of the Messenger salla Llahu 'alayhi wa alihi wa sallam (such was the types of food he ate, salla Llahu 'alayhi wa alihi wa sallam). Both are to be followed, yet the former clearly takes precedence over the latter.

Get yourself a copy of the Book of Assistance - it is a book on suluk/tasawwuf, but very comprehensive. There is a section on following the sunnah, and this is discussed with a quote from al-Ghazali.

was-salam