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July 15, 2026
Ghusl in Islam: How to Perform Major Ritual Purification According to the Qur’an and Sunnah
July 25, 2026
In brief
The 2026 World Cup can be read not only as a major sporting event, but also as a spiritual reflection on the human journey. Through the language of football, this article considers Ḥaqīqah and Maʿrifah: outward reality, inner knowledge, and the limits that accompany both victory and defeat.
Introduction to the 2026 World Cup and Its Spiritual Reading
The 2026 FIFA World Cup, with its unexpected eliminations, last-minute victories and emotionally charged images, can be interpreted not merely as a sporting event, but also as a symbolic representation of the human condition.
For the Sālik, the traveller on the spiritual path, the football pitch becomes a mirror of both the world and the inner self. What occurs outwardly belongs to the realm of the Sharīʿah, the visible dimension of existence. Yet behind events lies the manifestation of Ḥaqīqah, the Divine Reality that governs all things, while Maʿrifah leads towards an inner knowledge of that Reality.
La dimensione visibile della fede non è estranea a questo percorso: anche gli atti essenziali della preghiera educano il credente a un rapporto consapevole con il limite, il tempo e l’affidamento.
The pitch is not simply a rectangle of grass. It is a place in which human aspirations, illusions and limitations confront one another. The ball becomes a metaphor for the Qalb, the spiritual heart, constantly suspended between states of expansion (Bast) and contraction (Qabd), between success and failure, hope and disillusionment.
When observed through the ʿAyn al-Qalb, the “eye of the heart”, the tournament reveals something deeper than a mere sporting narrative. Each episode evokes the unfolding of al-Mashīʾah, the Divine Will, before which every human claim to self-sufficiency is inevitably reduced to its true proportions.
1. Mondiali 2026: l’illusione del privilegio, dalla Sharīʿah alla Ḥaqīqah
At the level of the Sharīʿah, that is, outward reality, the host countries of the 2026 World Cup appeared to enjoy favourable conditions.
Playing at home meant familiar stadiums, the support of local crowds, known environmental conditions and, above all, automatic qualification for the tournament. According to ordinary human reasoning, or ʿAql al-Maʿāsh, all these factors seemed to offer strong guarantees of success.
The competition, however, revealed just how fragile such assurances could be.
The early elimination of the United States, together with the difficulties encountered by the other host nations, served as a reminder that no outward advantage possesses absolute value unless it is accompanied by Tawfīq, the assistance granted by Allah.
| Outward form / Sharīʿah | Inner reality / Ḥaqīqah |
| Automatic qualification | Radical dependence upon God (faqr) |
| Home support | The fragility of worldly guarantees |
| Logistical and environmental advantages Privileged status | The necessity of tawfīq |
| Privileged status | The collapse of the illusion of self-sufficiency |
From the perspective of Maʿrifah, this dynamic acquires an even deeper meaning.
Human beings tend to rely on the Asbāb,, the secondary causes: wealth, prestige, power, social position or material advantage. They convince themselves that, by arranging favourable conditions, they can direct the course of events according to their own will.
Yet the tournament reminded us that every human construction remains subordinate to the Divine Decree.
When the United States’ journey came to an end, it was not merely a sporting defeat. Symbolically, it revealed one of the Divine Names: al-Qahhār, the One who dominates and reduces every human claim to autonomy.
The gaze of the ʿĀrif, the one who has attained spiritual knowledge, does not stop at the results on the scoreboard. Beyond the now-silent stadiums, the ʿĀrif contemplates the confirmation of the Qur’anic words:
QURʾĀN · Ghāfir 40:16
لِّمَنِ الْمُلْكُ الْيَوْمَ ۖ لِلَّهِ الْوَاحِدِ الْقَهَّارِ
“To whom belongs sovereignty today? To Allah, the One, the All-Dominating.”
Reflection
True refuge does not lie in favourable circumstances or in the privileges we may enjoy.
Human structures can offer security only in appearance. Their stability always depends upon the Divine Will.
For this reason, the Islamic spiritual tradition teaches that true richness is born of Faqr: the awareness of one’s radical poverty before al-Ḥaqq, the Ultimate Reality.
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Only those who recognise this dependence can pass through both victory and defeat without losing the balance of the heart.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Tears: When Human Will Encounters Its Limit
Among the images likely to remain in the collective memory of the 2026 World Cup, one in particular acquired symbolic significance: Cristiano Ronaldo, aged forty-one, in tears following Portugal’s elimination.
For more than twenty years, the Portuguese champion embodied, in the collective imagination, the power of discipline, determination and the human ability to surpass personal limitations through relentless effort. His career became the paradigm of an extraordinary will, capable of transforming talent into excellence through sacrifice, rigour and perseverance.
From the perspective of Islamic spirituality, however, it is precisely this moment of vulnerability that assumes a deeper meaning.
His tears represent more than the pain of a sporting defeat. Symbolically, they evoke the human encounter with the insurmountable limits of personal will.
Every spiritual journey eventually reaches a point at which individual desire must confront al-Qadar, the Divine Decree.
It is in this encounter that personal will discovers that it is not absolute.
Further reflection
In the Sufi tradition, Fanāʾ refers to the extinction of the ego, not to the disappearance of the person. It is the gradual dissolution of the ego’s claim to be the centre and master of reality, so that a complete openness to the Divine Will may emerge.
From Personal Will to Acceptance
Ronaldo’s entire sporting journey may be read as an existential parable.
For years, his commitment demonstrated the extent to which human beings are called to cultivate their abilities with responsibility and dedication. Yet life teaches that there is a threshold beyond which no one can go.
It is not enough to train harder.
It is not enough to desire something intensely.
It is not enough to deserve a particular result.
The final moments of a match, or an unexpected goal that changes the course of a competition, remind us that reality is never entirely in human hands.
The Path of Transformation
| Sporting experience | Spiritual meaning |
|---|---|
| Training, discipline and sacrifice | Education of the Nafs and inner struggle (Mujāhadah) |
| The limit imposed by events | Recognition of Qadar |
| Tears | The collapse of the illusion of control |
| Acceptance of the result | Riḍā,, contentment with the Divine Decree |
| Inner peace | Nafs al-Muṭmaʾinnah, the soul at peace |
In the language of Maʿrifah, the value of this episode does not lie in the defeat itself, but in the inner transformation that defeat may generate.
Human beings tend to identify themselves with their successes.
When those successes disappear, an opportunity arises to recognise that personal worth does not coincide with accumulated victories or acquired prestige.
From this awareness, a new freedom is born.
The Meaning of Riḍā
After the match, Ronaldo stated that he had given everything and was leaving the pitch with a clear conscience.
These words evoke one of the deepest concepts in Islamic spirituality: Riḍā, the trusting acceptance of the Divine Decree.
Riḍā is not passive resignation.
It does not mean abandoning effort or ceasing to pursue excellence.
Rather, it means understanding that human beings are responsible for their effort, but not for the final outcome.
Islamic tradition distinguishes between what belongs to human action and what remains the exclusive prerogative of Allah.
Once this distinction has been internalised, defeat loses its power to destroy a person’s identity.
Reflection
Serenity does not arise from always obtaining what we desire, but from knowing that we have acted with sincerity (Ikhlāṣ) and steadfastness (Istiqāmah), entrusting the final outcome to Divine wisdom.
Beyond the Trophy
Authentic success does not necessarily coincide with winning a title.
A trophy belongs to time.
Inner maturity, by contrast, accompanies a person beyond every season of life.
For this reason, the end of a career may become a new beginning: one no longer founded upon the affirmation of the ego, but upon the ability to experience every event as an opportunity for self-knowledge and greater closeness to Allah.
From this perspective, the champion’s tears do not represent the end of a glorious story. Rather, they symbolise the fragility shared by every human being, each of whom is eventually called to confront limitation, time and the need to entrust oneself to that which transcends the self.
3. The Language of the Game: From Sharīʿah to Maʿrifah
Football, like every human activity, possesses a visible structure made up of rules, discipline, technique and strategy. Yet when observed through a spiritual lens, it can also become a metaphor for the inner journey described by the Islamic tradition.
The four great stages of the spiritual path — Sharīʿah, Ṭarīqah, Ḥaqīqah and Maʿrifah — find an illuminating correspondence in the very dynamics of a football match.
The Four Dimensions of the Game
| Spiritual path | Football experience | Inner meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Sharīʿah | Rules, referee and the lines of the pitch | The order that makes human action possible |
| Ṭarīqah | Training, discipline and tactics | Work upon the self and struggle against the Nafs |
| Ḥaqīqah | The unpredictable events of the match | The manifestation of the Divine Will beyond every prediction |
| Maʿrifah | Understanding that transcends the result | Contemplation of Divine unity beyond victory and defeat |
Sharīʿah: The Value of Limits
No match could take place without rules.
The lines marking the boundaries of the pitch, the allotted time, the role of the referee and the shared regulations establish the indispensable order through which the game becomes possible.
In the same way, within spiritual life, the Sharīʿah does not represent a collection of prescriptions that exist for their own sake. Rather, it is the framework within which human beings can freely orient their lives.
Rules do not restrict freedom. They make it possible.
Without order, everything would descend into chaos.
Yet following the rules does not automatically guarantee success.
A team may play an impeccable match from a disciplinary perspective and still be defeated.
The same is true of the spiritual path.
Outward observance provides the foundation, but it does not exhaust the depth of one’s relationship with Allah.
Further reflection
The Sharīʿah is often translated as “Islamic law”, but its original meaning is broader. It refers to “the path leading to the source”: the way that guides human beings towards a life lived in accordance with the will of Allah.
Ṭarīqah: The Education of the Heart
Behind every great sporting achievement lie years of unseen training.
Hours of practice.
Renunciation.
Discipline.
Falls.
New beginnings.
It is this hidden dimension that evokes the Ṭarīqah, the path of inner purification.
Spiritual progress does not arise from a passing enthusiasm, but from a slow and constant transformation.
Islamic tradition calls this effort Mujāhadah, the struggle against one’s own ego.
The true opponent is not the other person.
It is that which, within us, nourishes pride, vanity, impatience and the desire to dominate.
Just as a team learns to move in harmony by relinquishing individualism, so the believer is called to educate the heart, allowing the ego to give way to an increasingly complete openness towards Allah.
Ḥaqīqah: When Control Comes to an End
Every match contains an element that completely escapes planning.
An unexpected rebound.
A deflection.
A mistake.
A sudden gust of wind.
A moment of hesitation.
These events may appear accidental, yet they can be enough to alter the destiny of an entire competition.
At such a moment, the limits of every human prediction become manifest.
Human beings may prepare with the greatest possible care, but they do not possess absolute control over reality.
This marks the passage from Ṭarīqah to Ḥaqīqah.
The Qur’anic tradition reminds us that human action is never independent of Divine action:
QURʾĀN · al-Anfāl 8:17
وَمَا رَمَيْتَ إِذْ رَمَيْتَ وَلَٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ رَمَى
“It was not you who threw when you threw, but Allah who threw.”
(Qurʾān, Sūrat al-Anfāl, 8:17)
The verse does not deny human responsibility.
Rather, it reminds us that every action takes place within a wider reality that escapes full human comprehension.
It is here that the illusion of self-sufficiency collapses.
Maʿrifah: Beyond the Result
At the end of the match, the scoreboard preserves the result.
Maʿrifah, however, invites us to go beyond it.
Those who have acquired inner knowledge do not measure their existence solely through success and failure.
Both are transitory events.
Victory may nourish pride.
Defeat may generate despair.
Yet neither truly defines the person.
What matters is what the experience has transformed within the heart.
Every joy may become an opportunity for gratitude.
Every loss may become a school of humility.
In both cases, life continues to reveal the Names and Attributes of Allah.
For this reason, the true spiritual path does not consist in always winning, but in learning to recognise the Divine Presence in every circumstance.
Reflection
The match ends when the referee blows the final whistle.
The journey of the soul, however, continues far beyond the result.
Those who live from the perspective of Maʿrifah understand that every experience, whether joyful or painful, offers an opportunity for self-knowledge and greater closeness to Allah.
4. The Final Whistle: Time, Death and the Fragility of Glory
Every match is bounded by a precise period of time.
Ninety minutes, together with any added time, may seem long while the contest remains open, yet suddenly become brief when the referee brings the match to an end.
In that instant, everything stops.
The protests cease.
Missed opportunities can no longer be recovered.
Strategies devised during the match lose all effectiveness.
What appeared decisive only moments earlier has already become part of the past.
This simple sporting dynamic evokes one of the deepest realities of the human condition: the time of life is limited.
Time as Responsibility
Modernity often encourages the illusion that time is an inexhaustible resource.
Important decisions are postponed.
Reconciliations are deferred.
Inner changes are delayed.
People live as though the future were guaranteed.
The Qur’anic revelation, however, repeatedly calls human beings to an awareness of their own finitude.
Every moment we receive is both a gift and a responsibility.
Just as a match cannot be replayed once it has ended, so life does not grant us the opportunity to return and correct everything that has been neglected.
Reflection
Time is not simply that which passes.
It is the space in which we are called to give form to our choices.
The Final Whistle as a Metaphor for the Meeting with Allah
Within the language of Islamic spirituality, the end of a match may be symbolically compared to the moment of meeting Allah.
This is not to identify the game with eschatological reality, but to recognise a pedagogical correspondence.
As long as the match continues, the players are immersed in the urgency of the moment.
Every challenge appears decisive.
Every error seems irreparable.
Every goal becomes a cause for celebration or despair.
When the final whistle arrives, however, the entire perspective changes.
What seemed absolute is suddenly placed within its proper limits.
Something similar occurs in life.
Many of the concerns that occupy our days are destined to lose their substance before the horizon of eternity.
For this reason, the Islamic tradition invites us not to confuse the Dunyā with ultimate reality.
The world is not without value.
Rather, it is a place of passage, in which preparation is made for what is to come.
Further reflection
The word Dunyā does not simply refer to the material world. It denotes the dimension of existence when it is treated as absolute and lived as though it were the only reality.
Glory Belongs to Time
The 2026 World Cup once again demonstrated how quickly the face of glory can change.
Teams regarded as favourites were eliminated.
Celebrated champions reached the end of their journey.
New protagonists took their place.
The world of sport makes visible what we often forget in everyday life.
Every success is provisional.
Every position is destined to change.
Every season has its sunset.
The Qur’an evokes this truth with great sobriety, reminding us that every created reality is destined to pass away, while Allah alone remains:
QURʾĀN · ar-Raḥmān 55:26–27
﴿ كُلُّ مَنْ عَلَيْهَا فَانٍ وَيَبْقَىٰ وَجْهُ رَبِّكَ ذُو الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ ﴾
“Everyone upon the earth will perish, and there will remain the Face of your Lord, full of Majesty and Honour.”
This awareness does not invite pessimism. On the contrary, it frees us from the anxiety of constructing an image of ourselves that is inevitably destined to dissolve.
Zuhd Is Not Renunciation, but Freedom
The spiritual tradition uses the term Zuhd, often translated as “detachment”.
A more accurate translation might be inner freedom in relation to possession.
Zuhd does not consist in rejecting the world.
It consists in refusing to be possessed by what we possess.
Victory may be received with gratitude.
Defeat may be endured with dignity.
In both cases, the heart remains oriented towards that which does not pass away.
This is the difference between making use of the world and allowing the world to define us.
Zuhd in Everyday Life
Zuhd does not mean abandoning work, family or responsibility.
It means living every earthly reality without turning it into an idol.
Professional success, social recognition and even fame may be legitimate goods, provided that they do not become the foundation of one’s identity.
The True Question
The final whistle of a match does not ask how much applause we received.
It simply declares that time has ended.
Sooner or later, life poses a similar question.
It does not ask how greatly we were admired.
It does not measure the number of successes we achieved.
Rather, it examines what time has built within our hearts.
For this reason, Islamic spirituality invites us to live every day as an opportunity for growth, remembering that the value of an existence does not depend upon the duration of its glory, but upon the sincerity with which it has been lived before Allah.
Reflection
A match ends with a whistle.
Life ends with a meeting.
Preparing for that meeting means learning to live time not as a possession, but as a gift to be administered with responsibility, gratitude and trust.
5. 2026 World Cup: the balance of the heart beyond victory and defeat
Every competition reveals a dynamic that belongs not only to sport, but to the whole of human experience: the alternation of success and failure, enthusiasm and disappointment, expectation and disillusionment.
If the heart identifies completely with these changes, it inevitably begins to oscillate between two extremes.
On the one hand, there is the elation that accompanies success.
On the other, the discouragement that follows failure.
Both states risk distancing the human being from an awareness of their true condition.
The Two Illusions of the Ego
When everything unfolds according to our desires, it is easy to become convinced that we alone are responsible for the results we have achieved.
The Qur’an warns against this subtle form of self-sufficiency, which the spiritual tradition identifies as ʿUjb, self-admiration, and Kibr, arrogance.
Conversely, when expectations are disappointed, there is a risk of falling into despair and seeing one’s life as a succession of meaningless failures.
In both cases, the heart remains imprisoned by events.
Victory nourishes the illusion of control.
Defeat nourishes the illusion of abandonment.
Both are partial perspectives.
The Polarities of the Ego
| When the ego prevails | Effect upon the heart |
|---|---|
| Victory | Pride, self-sufficiency and the search for approval |
| Defeat | Bitterness, distrust and loss of hope |
| Spiritual balance | Gratitude in prosperity and patience in trial |
The Steadfast Heart: (Tamkīn)
The Sufi tradition uses the term Tamkīn to describe an inner stability that does not depend upon external circumstances.
This is not indifference.
It does not mean ceasing to feel joy or sorrow.
Rather, it means that no experience is capable of breaking one’s relationship of trust with Allah.
The believer continues to strive earnestly.
Continues to desire what is good.
Continues to suffer when something important is lost.
Yet the believer also knows that no event has the final word over their existence.
It is this awareness that makes it possible to move through change without being overwhelmed by it.
Learning to Read Events
Every experience may become an opportunity for growth.
Victory calls us to gratitude.
Trial teaches patience.
Success teaches responsibility.
Failure may reveal aspects of ourselves that would otherwise have remained hidden.
Islamic wisdom invites us not only to ask:
«Why has this happened to me?»
but also:
«What can I learn through this experience?»
This question transforms events into an educational path. The believer does not seek pain, but when pain arrives, it is not regarded as meaningless.
Reflection
Faith does not eliminate trials.
It changes the way we pass through them.
The Freedom of Those Who Trust
Reliance upon Allah, or Tawakkul, does not free a person from personal responsibility.
On the contrary, it makes it possible to act with greater serenity.
Those who live according to Tawakkul commit themselves fully without turning the result into an absolute.
They work.
They study.
They plan.
They compete.
They love.
They build.
Yet they know that the value of their effort does not depend exclusively upon the visible outcome.
It is this freedom that makes it possible to live every experience with greater balance.
Not because everything always unfolds as we desire, but because we learn to recognise that every situation may become a place of encounter with Allah.
Conclusion
A Spiritual Reading of the World Cup
Every major sporting event arouses powerful emotions, nourishes hope and disappointment, and creates memories destined to enter the collective consciousness.
The 2026 World Cup is no exception.
Yet once the floodlights are switched off and the stadiums have emptied, what remains is not the result of a single match, but the question it leaves within each of us.
Sport, like every human experience, can become a school of life.
It can remind us that talent requires discipline, that success is never guaranteed, that failure does not amount to ultimate defeat, and that time transforms every glory into memory.
Above all, it can teach us that the human heart is called to seek a foundation more stable than success or failure.
Islamic spirituality invites us to recognise that every experience, when lived with awareness, may become an opportunity for self-knowledge and greater closeness to Allah.
True victory does not consist in receiving applause, but in preserving a Qalb Salīm,, a sound and uncorrupted heart, capable of remaining steadfast both in moments of joy and in times of trial.
This is the goal that no added time can alter and no final whistle can erase.
QURʾĀN · Hūd 11:88
وَمَا تَوْفِيقِي إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ ۚ عَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلْتُ وَإِلَيْهِ أُنِيبُ
“My success comes only through Allah. In Him I place my trust, and to Him I turn.”
Yusuf Daud
Founder SophiaCitra Institute
PhiloSufi centre for Interfaith and Intercultural dialogue
Surabaya-Indonesia
