A Glimpse of the Divine

By Karen Armstrong, "The Hope of Sufism" - The Washington Post On Faith - Washington, DC, USA
Sunday, April 26, 2009

Pakistan's chief problems are political and need a political solution. But political malaise and conflict affects people emotionally, imaginatively, in their relationships, desires and aspirations, and often religion gets sucked into a bad situation and becomes part of the problem.

It is not surprising therefore that some Pakistanis have turned to a somewhat rigid form of Islam. Yet on my visits to the country I have found that people are so open, friendly, eager to hear a friendly voice from the West, and to explore new ways of living an Islamic life.

Sufism is a marvelous form of Islam and would do anybody good anywhere. I came across it very early in my career as a religious historian and was especially drawn to its pluralism.

Sufis have an outstanding tradition of appreciation of other faiths and have therefore an important contribution to make at the present moment in world history when, even though the peoples of the world are drawn more closely together than ever before ( electronically, economically and politically) they are so dangerously polarized.

It is quite common for a Sufi poet to cry aloud in ecstasy that he is neither a Jew, a Christian or a Muslim but is at home in a synagogue, mosque, temple or church because once one has had a glimpse of the divine one has left all these man-made distinctions behind.

I love this quotation from the thirteenth century Sufi philosopher Ibn Arabi:

"Do not praise your own faith exclusively, so that you disbelieve all the rest. If you do this, you will miss much good ~ nay, you will miss the whole truth of the matter.
God the omniscient and omnipresent cannot be confined to any one creed for he says 'Wheresoever ye turn, there is the face of Allah.'
Everybody praises what he knows. His god is his own creature and in praising it, he praises himself, which he would not do if he were just. His dislike is based on ignorance."

The Sufis reflect the profound and inspiring pluralism of the Qur'an and all faiths could do with an infusion of this acknowledgement of our common humanity.