3 6 S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 6 - 2 Fa l l 2 0 2 0 We have concluded that religious experience of infertile Muslim spouses fighting their infertility successfully could be perceived through several optics dealing with types of religious experience and types of religiosity: a) through that Western of Glock and Stark as responsive religious experience (as one of four types including also confirming, ecstatic experience and revelation; Holm 1998, 39), where suffering person is not just the one who seeks God’s help and guidance, but also the one who existentially and in the concrete receives God’s responses to his/her prayers. Successful and de - sired outcome of fighting infertility could be seen as God’s miracle; not always the rule applies that the less - er understanding of science and physiology, the bigger the accent on miraculous healing. There are some case studies in those even the best medical experts in certain area cannot understand nor scientifically explain the secret of resolving seemingly unsolvable situation or curing a hopeless health condition; b) through that of Soroush that distinguishes pragmatic (utilitarian), gnostic and experiential Islamic religiosity (Soroush 2000). We see two possible scenarios regarding transformation of religiosity: • reaching the stage of personal, individualistic faith and morality based on certainty of trustfulness and grace of God who cares and though changes not just the inner approach of respective person to things, situations and people, but also changes the meaning of words and conceptions used before the existential experience of fighting infertility. In terms of Soroushs’ types of religiosity we can speak of switch from pragmatic to experiential religiosity; • the other outcome is being even more enrooted in pragmatic religiosity, which accentuates doctrines, rituals, practical rationality and emotions, when these elements are seen as instruments of reaching God’s guidance while God being the Supervisor of everything. Infertile Muslim couples with intrinsic religiosity (using Allport’s terminology) will always search for positive outcome of situation. Even if assisted reproductive technologies do not succeed in their case, they will search further on and try to establish that kind of life that will be in concordance with God’s guidance in Qur’an, Sunnah and current promulgations of religious authorities. Certain Arab countries have incorporated into their legal system also the Islamic fosterage system, which differs from the Western conception of adoption, and is known as kafalah (Zaviš, Orbanová, Vivoda, Horáčková and Al-Sbenaty 2019, 151–168). Extrinsic religiosity would lead to superficial and not theo - logically approved solution of marrying another wife, what is common praxis. Spirituality and religiosity of Muslim spouses fighting infer - tility will surely be in complex, hard and long chain of medical procedures going through many changes. This is usually understood and interpreted by them as God’s testing their faith. Further, it is important to mention psychically supportive role of healthcare staff that can influence how patients at reproductive clinics or gynecological wards feel, how they perceive their religious experience and their overall perspective. Healthcare staff should be helpful in addressing the patient’s spiritual and religious needs. Reputable Indian Islamic scholar and repeatedly rewarded contributor to world peace, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, claims, that the spiritual target of Islam is a soul at rest (Qur’an 89:27). The ultimate stage in person’s spiritual devel - opment is the state of peace in the soul whether having calm times or hard times of life. The integrity and inner peace are not disturbed under any circumstances; and this sublime character qualifies him/her to be ushered into Paradise (Khan 2015, 34–38). Fighting infertility may be seen as a unique path of up and downs, which reflects in deepening the rela - tionship between believer and God, or making it more superficial, or at least anxious. In line with Khans’ claims, staying peaceful in all that turmoil that infertile couples go through is a proof of religious excellence and of authentic spirituality and religious experience with lifelong consequences and impacts. Islamic reproductive bioethics is evolving in the way of deeper understanding of experiences of infertile couples and hopefully, will soon be dealing also with the dimension of spirituality of these people. As Tůma and Holonič assume: “ Science as free and critical thinking of reality cannot be shut in outright conclusions and has to be open and susceptible. In case when science would start to reckon some conclusions as finished, there is a real danger, that it will become an ideology or implicit religion ” (Tůma and Holonič 2019b, 17).
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