Islam, Sufism, Christianity and Buddhism

 In my life I have variously tried to be a Believer in all the major religions, save Judaism. (Although I was in a LTR/marriage with a Jewish woman for almost 20 years). 

The 'Three Founders' Sufi Dancing on Mykonos!

Islam would probably have been my least favorite.  Here are some of the reasons why:

1. Islam is based EXCLUSIVELY on ONE MAN'S religious experience/revelation.  Take the Prophet Muhammad out of the equation, and there IS no Islam. PERIOD.

The Qur'an is based on a series of purported revelations by the Angel Gabriel to Muhammad, an illiterate trader and raider on the Arabian Peninsula.

His literate followers wrote down his revealed Suras or Verses on whatever writing materials were available at the moment.

I'm personally uncomfortable dedicating my ENTIRE SPIRITUAL LIFE to the assumption that ONE HUMAN BEING received the One Eternal Truth for all Mankind! 

Like FOREVER, y'all!  At least in the rather intemperate form we're familiar with today.  Although there are wonderful historical exceptions to Islam being way tolerant when it was the dominant Western Civilization and more confident of itself, unlike today.

Let alone the fact that that man couldn't read or write, and had no personal experience with life outside of the small urban centers in Arabia.

I mean, what, then, is the distinction between Islam and, for example, Mormonism--which is also based exclusively on the interaction between God and one human being? And a Book that was delivered to that man thru the supposed agency of a Divine Being?

2. The Qur'an contains MANY assertions about Judaism and Christianity that are DEMONSTRABLY INCORRECT.  

It attempts to resolve any conflicts with the 2 earlier religions by saying they, while originally valid and based on books that were also revealed by God, were tampered with by Man.  

The Qur'an was the corrected and final revelation given by the Abrahamic Deity.

Unfortunately, modern scholarship/ and archaeology havenot confirmed any of these presumptions. Rather, the scriptures of both prior religions survived history relatively unscathed. There does not appear to be a point where they were 'changed' from an earlier, friendlier-to-Islam context.

3. Islam contains an inseparable political component.  It sets up the ideal of an Earthly Government of Muslim males, who periodically elect a Caliph through the acclimation of the Believers.

In Muhammad's day, the world was much thought to be much smaller than it is today.  Today, the idea of a World Leader, even an 'elected' one, does not align with the vast scope, not to mention different time zones, of human civilization.

How would one mount an electoral scheme for such a leader? And how would he govern?  

4. 'Revivalist' Early Islam is inherently intolerant, even violently so, against minority religions.

In Islamic theology, the world is divided up into two realms, The House of Islam, and The House of Harb (Struggle/War).

Muslims generally have a duty to expand the domain of Islam, which is, in fact, the only Complete Religion, to other regions of the World.  The only exceptions are when it meets other "People of the Book", such as Jews and Christians.  Other religions, even those that might also have a 'book,' such as Hinduism or Buddhism, have sometimes been tolerated and sometimes attacked.

Though a peaceful transition in those regions to a bona fide and superior Islamic government is to be preferred, the failure of other nations to surrender to Islamic rule justifies armed conflict.

5. A 'Reformation' of Islam, similar to that of Protestantism towards earlier Cathoicism, is virtually impossible.

Unlike Judaism and Christianity, Islam was delivered to man in the full light of history. The accumulated verses of the Qur'an were documented at the time Muhammad received it.

Hence, to declare any portion of the Koran as being corrupted or having a different meaning than the historically accepted one would be tantamount to blasphemy.

However, Sufism does offer individuals the opportunity to experience unity with God in an individualistic, private, mystical sense.  As such, it might offer much in terms of shifting Islam as a whole towards individual 'Enlightenment.' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=691uOEHlVWA

6. A secondary written collection of stories about Muhammad's behaviors and personal habits provides an important source of individual Islamic behavior and conduct today.

This 'Sunna' of the Prophet, sometimes also called 'The Hadith' has come to have at least equal importance to many Muslims as the Qur'an itself.

It consists of hundreds of anecdotes, validated by 'chains of guarantors', as in "I heard it from Rashid, the son of Ali, who was the Uncle of Ayesha, that the Holy Prophet mentioned...." 

Taken as a collection, these offer guidance on subjects not explicitly covered by the Qur'an.

Determining the various strengths of these sayings in terms of their historical validity has led to the creation of the Four Schools of Islamic Jurisprudence.

Over time, conflicts between these schools and their various representatives sometimes led to internecine conflict within Islam itself.

I'm sorry, but IMHO, because of the Hadith, it seemed to me that especially pious Muslims ended up worshipping the habits of the Prophet as the 'Perfect Man', rather than seeking 'oblivion in God' as offered by Sufism.

I didn't particularly CARE if my beard approximated the same kind of beard the Prophet.  Yet, I learned 'the hard way' Aisha did!

I was staying in my parents' house in Menlo Park,  impatiently anticipating her arrival, along with that Ibrahim and Teresa, for the first time in San Francisco since Ibrahim's birth.  I missed them ALL so much!  And I was excited for my parents to meet their new grandchild!

My Dad and I waited anxiously at the 'International Arrivals' gateway.  At LAST, they came through!  Aisha's face, however, was suddenly a massive frown.

"Why did you shave your BEARD? " she hissed, barely audibly.

I had no answer.  I had just innocently got tired of it one day and shaved it off. Thinking nothing of it.

Instead, I was embarrassed at the disconnect between the reality of my love for her and for all of them and how I got shot down in a moment for such a trifle as not having the Beard of Muhammad.

The interaction between Sufism and Islam is a vast subject, well beyond the scope of this author's limited scholarship or the intent of this blog.

Suffice it to say that Sufism offered a feminine or more interior Spiritual Path alongside the exterior and more masculine Outside Islam.

It offered up the opportunity to have a sort of 'union with God' as opposed to a only a master/servant relationship. And many times in history Sufism went 'too far' into the experiential realm, at least in the more provincial minds of the Muslim ulema or 'clerical class'.

In one famous episode, a Sufi Mystic realized with existential certainty, "I am the Truth,  I am the Truth!!"

 Yet in that assertion/realization  he brushed up against a fundamental 'external' tenet of Islam that none shall equate themselves or their realization with God or God's State.

That Mystic, whose name was al-Hallaj,  thereafter willingly went to his own execution for having realized and asserted his Essential Unity with the Eternal God.

In another case I am familiar with, there was once an order of Sufis in Morocco who were quite similar to the Hindu Sanyasi (renunciate, homeless, Holy Man) culture of today.

Those Moroccan mystics lived a renunciate life, dependent on donations for their survival.  

They were allowed only 3 possessions, 

1. A single, dirty robe, which was never to be washed, and 

2. A begging bowl, and 

3. A hashish pipe.

If they were robbed, it was recommended that the last item of personal belongings they should be obliged to give up was their hashish pipe.

This instance by way of indicating the incredible variety of Sufi orders that once existed within the larger and often very tolerant Islamic realm.  

And it is estimated that today, out of 1.2 Billion Muslims, 300 Million of the same are also Sufis.

Although today, the 'Establishment' Muslims, as represented by the 'Wahabbi' government of Saudi Arabia, the 'Guardians of the Holy Places' of Mecca and Medina,  is singularly focused upon wiping out all vestiges of Sufism on both the Arabian Peninsula, and elsewhere in the world.  

Such as in Pakistan where the tombs of Sufi saints, are still visited and venerated by tens of thousands of pious Pakistani Muslims annually as pilgrimage sites, yet are routinely also bombed by self-righteous Wahabi Muslims. https://www.dawn.com/news/1045796

Arabian Sufism vs. South-Asian Sufism

In the process of researching this blog, I discovered there is a vast difference between the Sufism currently practices within the Arabian sphere-of-Influence, stretching from Morocco to Afghanistan, and the Eastern Sufism which developed on the Indian Sub-Continent, consisting of today's Pakistan, Indian, and Bangladesh.

Though some features of the Eastern form, such as the veneration of tombs of Sufi Saints, still take place in hidden corners of North Africa, the puritanical formulation of Islam which arose in the last century, such as Wahabbism, vehemently rejected such sites as assigning the 'saints' powers equal to that of Almighty God, and insisted on the Remoteness of God.

Yet, in Pakistan today, the rich tradition of Sufi veneration of saints, and the musically-based, and danced invocations of God, His Prophet, and His Saints, still continues. Sometimes, it is even enhanced by the inhalation of cannibis. It represents a kind of 'folk Islam' that might shock Muslims from the Arabian sphere of Influence.  And it arose out of the Hindu milleau of renunciate holy men or 'pirs' who, without family or other connections to the 'real world', dedicated themselves to the worship of God and His Saints thru music, song, and prayer.

The fact that I never visited such 'alternative Sufi holy places' as are found today in Pakistan makes me feel my rejection of Islam/Sufism as I found it in Palestine, to have been, perhaps, premature.

Here are some videos of the vibrant world of South-Asian Sufism as it still exists today:

An overview of South Asian Sufism today and explanation of how it originated and spread, to the point where Sikhs and Hindus also venerate the tombs of well-known Sufi Saints.

A beautiful qawwali performance by a group of Western female Sufis in South Asia. The song reveres Ali, the fourth Caliph, a grandson of the Prophet, who came to rival the Prophet in the minds of the Shi'a Muslims, and to represent a more mystical, experiential approach to Islam.

The enthralling, devotional, and experiential happiness of the singers here. as in most qawwali contexts--often elaborate tombs of Sufi saints,  is a world removed from the sedate presentation of the more rigid, masculine, and to my mind, 'frozen' mosque-based Islam of the Arabian World. But Allah knows best!

And here, Allah lives in the individual human heart, rather than the stuffy Ulema or Religious Authority.

This piece was composed by the incomparable Qawalli musician Nusrut Fatih Ali Khan, who was born into a centuries-old family of similar musicians. The breathtaking lyrics are here: https://underboss.wordpress.com/2008/07/10/haq-ali-ali-ali-maula-ali-ali/.

Islam vs. Christianity

So far as I am concerned, as a Westerner, there is no particular incentive to becoming Muslim, with so many perfectly acceptable iterations of 'Revealed' Christianity available.

Especially since, in order to REALLY understand Islam, one would find it necessary to learn Arabic, which just HAPPENS to be the language PREFERRED by Allah and His Angels.

Of course, many adventurous Westerners, myself included, sometimes find themselves surrounded by attractive, pious Islamic cultures that invite and reward participation and allegiance.

And the argument that Islam is the 'Final' version of Abrahamic Religion is persuasive to some.

More than likely, however, is the fact that most Muslims of today grew up within the confines of Islamic Civilization, and thus invest the religion with warm memories of childhood experiences, of the annual Ramadan Feasts/Fasts and other Islamic holidays, etc.

Experiences they naturally want their children, and their children's children to experience.  Much as many Westerners pass on the elaborate celebrations surrounding Christmas, whether or not they accept Jesus Christ as a meaningful spiritual friend or savior.

Moreover, it remains an unpleasant, and to many modern minds, an utterly repugnant fact that Apostacy or Renunciation of Islam is a crime punishable, even today, by death.*

As such, Islam seems to have an inherent evolutionary advantage over other faiths that are less worried about such reversions.

Islam vs. Buddhism

Buddhism fared poorly in its initial contact with Islamic armies on the Indian Sub-Continent.

Although, like Hinduism, Buddhism also was a 'Religion of the Book', it suffered from being a bit too sophisticated for the average Indian at the time.

It probably had also grown complacent in the centuries it presided as the dominate religion in India.

And the statues of Buddha to be found in Buddhist temples, reminded Muslims of the graven, and often cruel Idols of the earlier Polytheists of the Arabian Peninsula.

Muhammad, as a believer in the Formless Eternal God of All Creation, set himself apart from idol worship.  He was, in fact, a reformer cognizant of the rights of women and the poor.

Hence, the Muslim conquerors thought they were doing good by destroying Buddhist temples and whatever remaining monks who resisted Islam along with them.

Fortunately, by the time of the advent of the Muslim conquests, Buddhism was already on the move northward to Tibet and ultimately China.

In time, the earlier Hindu religion re-asserted itself as well and existed in sometimes uneasy, sometimes peaceful co-existence with Islam.

And the Winner Is....

Far be it for me to determine 'which' religion is 'correct'.

I rather chaff at the idea that God wants me to 'pick' one against the other, and then to promote my own beliefs over those of others.

It seems to me that too many Muslims, at least the male ones, are obsessed with comporting themselves EXACTLY as the Prophet did in the Seventh Century.

These days, I choose to assert that 'Kindness' is the over-arching 'religious ideal' I aspire to. With the Buddhas' Eightfold Path as the Best Suggestions I have come across as to how to live my life.

Buddhism and Mysticism seem to have in common the sense that one's own, personal interior experience is the ultimate arbiter of religious truth.

How could it be otherwise?

If Man is Ultimately 'Evil', as Christianity seems to suggest, then the most we can aspire to as individuals is to place ourselves in CHAINS of OBEDIANCE to God and His Appointed Representatives of Earth.

If Man is neither Good nor Evil, as Islam seems to suggest, then he depends on Exterior Laws to ultimately govern his behavior.

Yet, how then does God make His Desires for human beings KNOWN, except thru Intervention in the personage of the Prophets, who while Yet Human, are also Messengers of the Divine?

Uhhh...Hold on a minute!!

WHY does God need such Messengers?  Why doesn't HE simply EMBLAZON HIS COMMANDMENTS across the skies or the nearest Mountain so all can see it?

I'm sorry, but I can't agree to surrender my life to ANOTHER HUMAN BEING or set of laws claiming to represent the desires of an External All-Powerful God who yet seems POWERLESS to manifest a single verifiable proof of HIS existence other than the Certainty of one or more of His Followers that THEY are His representatives!

And until such time as I personally receive some kind of confirmation that Sidi, The Prophet Muhammad, Elvis Presley, or Whomever are the TRUE Representatives of God on Earth, I will have to go with my own inner sense of right and wrong, of Truth vs. Error, of Wisdom vs. Ignorance.

I mean, how could I do otherwise?

Thank you very much!!

*Here's a well-written article on this subject: https://yaqeeninstitute.org/read/paper/the-issue-of-apostasy-in-islam