[Tariqas] Sufis and Other Religious

Thu, 07 Jun 2001 18:12:59 -0400

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As Salaam Akeikum

I am fortunate to spend my days living on a farm where I am able to
contemplate the wonders of Allah in so many ways. I try to fill my mind with
this and not analyze the whats and whys and wherefores of why I feel as I
do, because I believe that logic and so-called rationality (often called
such but actually rationalization for pre-existing biases) are the
irrelevant wanderings to which our inherently flawed human minds can so
easily fall prey, allowing us to be distracted from the Reality of His love,
presence and guidance. As Hazrat Inayat Khan so beautifully stated, "Since
to analyze God means to dethrone God, the less said on the subject, the
better. But at the same time, the seekers for truth who want to tread the
spiritual path with open eyes and whose intellect is hungering for
knowledge, should know something about it.

"There is a Hebrew story that once Moses was walking near the bank of a
river. And he saw a shepherd boy speaking to himself. Moses was interested
and halted there to listen to what he was saying. The shepherd boy was
saying, 'O God, I have heard so much of You. You are so beautiful. You are
so lovely. You are so kind that if You ever came to me, I would clothe You
with my mantle, and I would guard You night and day. I would protect you
from the cruel animals of the forest. and bathe You in this river, and bring
You all good things, milk and buttermilk. I would bring You a special bread.
I love You so much. I would never let anyone cast his glance upon You. I
would be all the time near you. If only I could see you once, God, I would
give all I have.' Moses said, 'What are you saying!' The boy looked at Moses
and trembled and was afraid. 'Did I say anything wrong?' he asked. Moses
said, 'God is the Protector of all beings, you think of protecting Him, of
giving Him bread? He gives bread to the whole universe. You say you would
bathe Him in the river. He is the purest of all pure things. And how can you
say you will guard Him against all beings?' And the boy trembled. He
thought, what a terrible thing I have done! He seemed to be lost. But as
Moses went a few steps further, there came a voice. 'Moses, what did you do!
We sent you to bring our friends to Us, and now you have separated one. No
matter how he thought of Us, he thought of Us just the same. You should have
let him think the way he was thinking about Us. You should not have
interfered with him!' Evenyone has his own imagination of God. It is best if
everyone is left to his own imagination."

I must agree with Ismail. I subscribe to 12 different sufi-related elists
and egroups, including this one. I have subscribed to this one for only 11
days. In that time, I have seen more contentiousness and closed-mindedness
here than in all of the others combined that I have subscribed to for far,
far longer (and none of them are immune to this problem as mere humans are
the subscribers). I had hoped to learn something. Instead, I hear little
more than shouting. Sorry, I just don't get it -- at least from people who
purport to be sufi in attitude if not in practice. Hair-splitting about who
is a real sufi is about as productive and enlightening as Medieval Christian
Cardinals debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. So please
forgive me for speaking my mind before I hit the unsubscribe button, about
10 seconds from now. I can only ask that some of you please stop looking
down at your feet and, instead, breathe, stop thinking so much, look up at
the sky, and orient your minds toward loving each other for the unique and
loved creations of God that all of You are.

With Love,
Farishtah

on 6/7/01 5:02 PM, majnoonullah@yahoo.com wrote:

As Salaam Aleikum 

as Muslim  mureed within a Universalist order i have defended myself more
than enough !!!. i Refuse to defend myself any longer for either being a
Muslim or an Inyati Chisty .i also do not wish to be defended by either
Universalists or Muslim . State your own views and let Allah be the Judge

ismail 

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<TITLE>Re: [Tariqas] Sufis and Other Religious</TITLE>
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As Salaam Akeikum 
 
I am fortunate to spend my days living on a farm where I am able to contemp=
late the wonders of Allah in so many ways. I try to fill my mind with this a=
nd not analyze the whats and whys and wherefores of why I feel as I do, beca=
use I believe that logic and so-called rationality (often called such but ac=
tually rationalization for pre-existing biases) are the irrelevant wandering=
s to which our inherently flawed human minds can so easily fall prey, allowi=
ng us to be distracted from the Reality of His love, presence and guidance. =
As Hazrat Inayat Khan so beautifully stated, &quot;Since to analyze God mean=
s to dethrone God, the less said on the subject, the better. But at the same=
 time, the seekers for truth who want to tread the spiritual path with open =
eyes and whose intellect is hungering for knowledge, should know something a=
bout it. 
 
&quot;There is a Hebrew story that once Moses was walking near the bank of =
a river. And he saw a shepherd boy speaking to himself. Moses was interested=
 and halted there to listen to what he was saying. The shepherd boy was sayi=
ng, 'O God, I have heard so much of You. You are so beautiful. You are so lo=
vely. You are so kind that if You ever came to me, I would clothe You with m=
y mantle, and I would guard You night and day. I would protect you from the =
cruel animals of the forest. and bathe You in this river, and bring You all =
good things, milk and buttermilk. I would bring You a special bread. I love =
You so much. I would never let anyone cast his glance upon You. I would be a=
ll the time near you. If only I could see you once, God, I would give all I =
have.' Moses said, 'What are you saying!' The boy looked at Moses and trembl=
ed and was afraid. 'Did I say anything wrong?' he asked. Moses said, 'God is=
 the Protector of all beings, you think of protecting Him, of giving Him bre=
ad? He gives bread to the whole universe. You say you would bathe Him in the=
 river. He is the purest of all pure things. And how can you say you will gu=
ard Him against all beings?' And the boy trembled. He thought, what a terrib=
le thing I have done! He seemed to be lost. But as Moses went a few steps fu=
rther, there came a voice. 'Moses, what did you do! We sent you to bring our=
 friends to Us, and now you have separated one. No matter how he thought of =
Us, he thought of Us just the same. You should have let him think the way he=
 was thinking about Us. You should not have interfered with him!' Evenyone h=
as his own imagination of God. It is best if everyone is left to his own ima=
gination.&quot; &nbsp;&nbsp; 
 
I must agree with Ismail. I subscribe to 12 different sufi-related elists a=
nd egroups, including this one. I have subscribed to this one for only 11 da=
ys. In that time, I have seen more contentiousness and closed-mindedness her=
e than in all of the others combined that I have subscribed to for far, far =
longer (and none of them are immune to this problem as mere humans are the s=
ubscribers). I had hoped to learn something. Instead, I hear little more tha=
n shouting. Sorry, I just don't get it -- at least from people who purport t=
o be sufi in attitude if not in practice. Hair-splitting about who is a real=
 sufi is about as productive and enlightening as Medieval Christian Cardinal=
s debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. So please forgive=
 me for speaking my mind before I hit the unsubscribe button, about 10 secon=
ds from now. I can only ask that some of you please stop looking down at you=
r feet and, instead, breathe, stop thinking so much, look up at the sky, and=
 orient your minds toward loving each other for the unique and loved creatio=
ns of God that all of You are. 
 
With Love, 
Farishtah 
 
 
on 6/7/01 5:02 PM, majnoonullah@yahoo.com wrote: 
 
<BLOCKQUOTE> 
 As Salaam Aleikum 
 
as Muslim &nbsp;mureed within a Universalist order i have defended myself m=
ore than enough !!!. i Refuse to defend myself any longer for either =
being a Muslim or an Inyati Chisty .i also do not wish to be defended by eit=
her Universalists or Muslim . State your own views and let Allah be the Judg=
e 
 
ismail 
 
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</BODY>
</HTML>

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