Sufi Compassion

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Sufi Compassion - The Path of Infinite Grace

Origins, Sects, and Where Do I Go from Here? - Part One

An individual wrote in with various questions about (a) the origins of Islam, (b) various sects within Islam, and (c) with whom she or he should speak if the person wanted to become Muslim.

Whoever told you the roots of Islam are in Africa is giving you, at best, misleading information, and, at worst, incorrect information. In fact, this information, if it can be called that, is problematic from a number of perspectives.

As you may or may not know, one of the root meanings of the term "Islam" is peace. This is the peace which comes to an individual who, with God's guidance and support, brings to fruition one's essential and unique spiritual fitr or nature.

This capacity to know, love, serve and cherish Divinity is the root of Islam. History, geography, race, ethnicity, language and so on, are all secondary, derivative, and after-the-fact as far as understanding the origins of the Islamic spiritual tradition is concerned.

Islam refers to the primordial and eternal bond between humankind and Divinity. As such, it predates history.

God sent some 124,000 prophets into history in order to remind human beings across the ages of the fact that Islam is not a matter of concepts, ideology, theology, historical events, founding peoples or human invention. Islam is about one's relationship with one's Creator and what the purpose, meaning and significance of that act of creation entails.

Who are we? Why are we here? What are the possibilities? What are our responsibilities, and why are we obligated in these ways?

The answers to all of these questions were known to Divinity before the first human being walked on the face of the Earth. History - both personal and collective - is the process which we go through to determine whether or not we will ever come to gain deep, abiding and transcendent answers to these questions - answers which have been within our being from the very beginning of time - and even from before time, as indicated previously, in what is known as pre-eternity.

Spiritual knowledge is a matter of an unveiling of what already is. It is not a discovery or invention or creation of something yet to be.

Islam has not evolved. It is now what it always has been.

Unfortunately, different people feel that it is necessary to impose ideas, values, assumptions and biases upon what is primordially true in order to better understand the nature of that reality. Thus, do sects come into existence.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said that among Jews there were 71 different ways of approaching Judaism, but only one of these ways was correct. He further said that among Christians there were 72 different modalities of engaging Christianity, yet only one of these modalities was correct. Finally, he said that among Muslims there were 73 different paths to Islam, and only one of these was the right path.

The correct way of Jews, Christians and Muslims are not three. They are one.

When properly understood, these ways are seen to be different manifestations of one and the same underlying reality. This underlying reality is given expression through realization and fruition of one's essential spiritual identity and capacity.

The first Prophet was Adam (peace be upon him). The last Prophet is Muhammad (peace be upon him). In between these two were 123,998 other Prophets.

They all brought and taught one spiritual tradition. Although various components of the exoteric facet of this tradition may have varied, in certain respects, from one historical/social and geographical set of circumstances to the next, in the esoteric or inner dimensions of this spiritual tradition, the truth concerning our relationship with Divinity remained always what it was and is.

Were the emissaries and servants of God African, Arab, Israelites, Asian, European, Japanese, Chinese, North American, South American, or Australian? Yes, they were, although these particular identifying terms were, for the most part, not in existence at the time these people lived their lives.

Were they black, brown, red, yellow, or white? Yes, they were.

Were they male or female? Yes, they were.

From a spiritual perspective, does it matter which came first in any of the foregoing respects? No, it doesn't.

As soon as one starts throwing geography, language, ethnicity, gender, and/or race into the mix, one already has departed from the truth of things. For reasons best known to Divinity, various circumstances, individuals, peoples, tribes, races, languages and so on were selected to be the loci of manifestation of spiritual guidance at certain junctures in human existence on Earth, but this guidance was primarily about the relationship of each and every created entity with Divinity and only secondarily about this or that group, race, tribe, and so on. Indeed, the latter were to serve as exemplars - whether positive or negative - that were intended to focus our attention, efforts and commitments on the essential - our relationship with Divinity.

With respect to your concern about whether the same sectarian 'stuff' is going on in Islam as is going on, or has gone on, in Christianity, I would phrase things a little differently. Unfortunately, the kinds of 'stuff' to which you are alluding does go on, and has gone on, among Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and so on.

However, what goes on amongst the professed or alleged adherents of a spiritual tradition should not necessarily be confused with the spiritual tradition. Islam cannot be reduced down to what Muslims do or fail to do, anymore than one can reduce the teachings of Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, or Krishna (peace be upon them all) down to what, respectively, Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus do or fail to do.

It does not matter what someone believes or feels or thinks or hypothesizes or theologizes or conceptualizes about a given spiritual tradition. What matters is coming to experientially and essentially understand what God knows the tradition to be.

Coming to this latter sort of realization and understanding is a tricky and subtle business. There is much room for error, illusion, and delusion to creep into this quest, and this is one of the major reasons why having an authentic teacher is so important to the mystical path.

The kind of understanding to which I am making reference cannot be achieved by reason, although one cannot abandon reason while engaged in the struggle to become open to such knowledge. The secret is in balance, harmony and perspective - that is, in understanding when reason is appropriate and when it is inappropriate, as well in understanding not only how to reason about different issues, but also how to bring rational abilities and spiritual insight together into a relationship of positive synergy.

Furthermore, the understanding being alluded to is not just a matter of having various kinds of anomalous experiences and assuming that because such experiences are different from anything one has encountered previously, then, therefore, these experiences must be mystical and veridical. Nafs (the source of our inclination to rebel against, deny, distort, corrupt, and hide from spiritual truths), dunya (the world which is created by the conflicting, unending and, ultimately, destructive web of human desires and negative emotions), and Iblis (the prototype of all who would seek to deceive and dissuade would-be seekers of spiritual truth) are all, whether considered individually or in combination, capable of generating anomalous experiences which are not truly mystical in nature but can be used to mislead and confuse would-be seekers of spiritual truth.

Many different individuals from a variety of faith groups have gone on to develop their own approach to spirituality based on some rationalistic invention or pseudo-mystical set of experiences or some combination of the two. Others have done the same sort of thing after having, and, then, misunderstanding the actual or real character of some legitimate spiritual experiences which they have undergone.

The sects which one sees proliferating across history and in the context of various spiritual traditions are all expressions of this. These sects are the product of people who are not God's Prophets or messengers, trying to act as if they were.

There may be some good which accrues from these sects. For example, the lives of individuals may change, to a degree, in a spiritually positive sense, or the quality of life in a given community or region may improve in certain ways.

Generally speaking, however, these effects - whether in relation to an individual or a community - are only transitory, and, most decidedly, not capable of penetrating to the heart of life's purpose which is, indeed, a mystery. In any event, eventually, sects beget more sects as unresolvable misunderstandings arise or promises go unfulfilled or scandal of one sort or another is uncovered, and, as a result, people create other sects as they attempt to correct or compensate for the perceived errors of those who have gone before them.

Moreover, one could just as easily argue that similar sorts of "beneficial" transitions have occurred in relation to various philosophical, economic, political, cultural, or scientific movements. Yet, none of these movements necessarily brings one any closer to God or understanding one's true identity or essential spiritual capacity.

Islam is one thing. Muslims may be quite another matter, depending on who is being considered and the circumstances being examined.

Unfortunately, Islamic history is, to a very great extent, not the same things as Muslim history. Islamic history is restricted to the Prophets, their companions, and the lives of the saints or friends of God, whereas Muslim history is preoccupied with what those who call themselves Muslim do, irrespective of whether or not what these individuals do, alone or in conjunction with one another, is a proper reflection of Islam.

| Go To Part 2 of: Origns and Sects |

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