When asked about the different religions and their respective virtues or faults, the Sage answered in this way.
"At different times in the history of humankind, God has sent different prophets to bring the Truth for that age. He did not send prophets such as Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammed to create religions. Man has done this work. The prophets came only to bring the Truth."
Arguably, the main purpose of our lives is to find the Truth, the Light; to understand it and to put it into practice. It has been said in every spiritual tradition that all are one and one is all. That which unifies, forgives, understands and unites brings us to a higher state. That which separates, judges and finds fault brings us to a lower state. We need only look at the newspapers today to get a true glimpse of this struggle. The Ground Zero issue is only one example of this struggle and it is a symbol of that which is good and that which is evil. The spokespeople for dissension and divisiveness are in stark contrast with the unitive and wise thread espoused by the opposing view.
A friend of mine had an interesting take on the whole issue of religions. He spoke of each religion -- metaphorically -- as a vehicle to get us to our destination just as each of us might get into his/her own particular make of car to get to work. There are Fords, Chevvies, Plymouths, Bentleys and Yugos -- they will all get you there. But to fight or even kill while arguing which vehicle is better, is senseless and destructive. Just let each person pick his own model and drive it to work. This way no one gets hurt; each person gets what he/she wants and the work gets done.
In an earlier blog I wrote about an incident that was enlightening for me. A car was driving recklessly on the highway, cutting in and out of traffic and nearly sideswiping me. In my minds' eye I saw the driver as a reckless, irresponsible, criminal -- endangering all of mankind -- until a minute later when I happened to pull up alongside this same car at a stoplight. I looked across at the driver to discover that this "villain" was an old and good friend of mine (unbeknownst to me at that time) racing to the Philadelphia Airport to make an important flight.
The value of this incident to me was that if we judge too quickly without truly knowing and understanding what we discard as evil, then we will not get to the heart of the issue. The fact is that most people, in most religions, in this world are good and decent folk doing the best they can. If we draw conclusions out of a single act --in this case 9/11 -- we tend to castigate and condemn a whole religion and not the few radicals who perpetrated it. For, in the eyes of good practicing Muslims, these radicals acted outside of and contrary to true Islam.
"Do not shout "Allah Akbar" -- God is most great, and then kill someone. Instead, lead this person to the good path, the straight path. True holy war means to kill the inner enemy, the enemy to Truth. But, instead, people shout 'Jihad' go to kill an external enemy. That is not holy war. Islam is not spread through the sword; it is spread through the kalimah** through Truth, Faith, and Love"***
"Once we understand what the true weapons of Islam are, we will never take a life, we will never even see anyone as separate from ourselves. We will not be able to conceive of any enmity. We will realize that each and every one of us must act in accordance with Allah's actions and with the same inner patience,contentment, trust in god, and praise of God shown by the Prophet, Muhammad. Even if there are millions of faults in this world,
Please be patient
Take what is good
Have inner patience
And correct the faults within yourself".****
*M.R.Bawa Muhaiyaddeen
**Kalimah - inner prayer
***Islam and World Peace
****Islam and World Peace