Religious experience in Islam

All of the world’s major religious traditions are marked by considerable diversity of belief and practice. Even though Islam achieves a remarkable degree of unity and coherence through the five pillars and six core beliefs,1 there still remains considerable diversity created by such factors as the degree of commitment to practice, interpretation of belief and the nature of experience participated in by the believer. There are many whose allegiance to the faith is a question of birth or identity and these are often labelled "nominal Muslims" by the devout. In a world where population movements, globalisation processes and conflicts of various kinds impact upon individuals and communities, many Muslims take the issue of identity much further and see in Islam a way of proclaiming selfhood through belonging to a community of God that takes precedence over all other loyalties. Their experience of their faith enters the psychological, sociological and political realms. There are also those who maintain their commitment to the faith as the final and best revelation in which a relationship with the divine can be achieved. To some of these the dominant motivation is obedience to the divine will but to others the emphasis of their practice is closeness or intimacy