Religion Has Mainly to Do with the Inside
The main goal of religion is actually esoteric, it is inside, the outer shell is the rituals but the inside is the cardinal of the truth, of the essence.
This is according to scholar and thinker Dr Mozaffar Eqbal, speaking at an educational course held by Al-Mostafa International University.
The following are excerpts from his speech:
Surah Waqe’ah is actually all that we are trying to do here, in the sense of the transcendent, in the sense of the kingdom in the hereafter, the human condition is such that what we do here in this world is a preparation for the hereafter and those who do not believe in the hereafter, as far as the religious traditions are concerned, they have a common attitude toward all of that rejection by saying simply that when you will find out, on the day you will find out, there will be no possibility of return and hence there is a certain degree of warning that exists in all religious traditions.
The aim and the end of religion is salvation, but this is only in an exoteric sense. In the Surah, we have three kinds of people, the Muqarrabun, those brought nearer, there are people of the right and people of the left. The exoteric person is mainly concerned with the laws, he or she needs to be told do this, don’t do that and the promise is of salvation is of paradise itself.
All religions have certain rights and certain practices and certain structures. However, these are the external structures which religions put on in order to enforce a certain way of life, a certain daily routine which otherwise it is in the human nature not to pay attention to. For example fasting or prayer, these should not be trivialized because these are the essential elements of the religious practice. They become easy and they become doable once the spiritual aspect is inside then the impetus is there, there is an inner energy that one gains by entering into that sacred tradition, whichever the tradition is, which makes it easy for the person to actually carry out those religious rights.
And from the external view, when somebody is standing outside, they look like impositions and look like a package and something that is not what one wants, but the main goal of our religion is actually esoteric, it is inside, the outer shell is these rituals but the inside is the cardinal of the truth, of the essence.
The quality of time that we live is mired by a proximity to the Divine. I have taken this text from one of the oldest Persian language books of Tasawwof, Kashf-ol-Mahjub. This is actually a parable, which comes within the passage that I want to quote. This particular passage is about Hal and Waqt, Waqt is time, it is a term with which Sufis are familiar in concerning which much has been said by the Sheikhs.
My object is to establish a truth not to give long explanations. “Waqt is that whereby one becomes independent of the past and the future as for example when an inference from God descends into his heart and produces such concentration that one has no memory of the past and no touch of the future. A possessor of Waqt says our knowledge cannot apprehend the future and the past and we are happy with God in the present. If we occupy ourselves with tomorrow or let any thought of it enter our minds we shall be veiled from God, and the veil is a great loss.”
Thus Abu Sa’eed Kharraz, another Sufi said: “do not occupy your precious time except with the most precious of things, and the most precious of human things is the state of being occupied with God, between the past and the future.
And the messenger of God (PBUH) said I have a time with God in which none of the angels and prophets has entry, that is to say, in which the 18 thousand worlds do not occur to my mind and have no worth in my eyes, therefore on the Night of the Ascension when the kingdom of the heaven and the earth was arrayed before him, in all splendor, he did not look neither to the left, nor to the right.
Time is two times, this quotation actually comes from Hallaj, “Al-yawmon Ethnayn”, one in the state of gain, the other in the state of loss. The one in the state of gain is in the place of union and the other in the place of separation. At both these times, the mystic is overpowered, because both his union and his separation are affected by God without any volition or acquisition on his part, as would make it possible to invest him with any attribute. When a man’s power of volition is cut off from him, whatever he does or experiences is the result of time.
The following are excerpts from his speech:
Surah Waqe’ah is actually all that we are trying to do here, in the sense of the transcendent, in the sense of the kingdom in the hereafter, the human condition is such that what we do here in this world is a preparation for the hereafter and those who do not believe in the hereafter, as far as the religious traditions are concerned, they have a common attitude toward all of that rejection by saying simply that when you will find out, on the day you will find out, there will be no possibility of return and hence there is a certain degree of warning that exists in all religious traditions.
The aim and the end of religion is salvation, but this is only in an exoteric sense. In the Surah, we have three kinds of people, the Muqarrabun, those brought nearer, there are people of the right and people of the left. The exoteric person is mainly concerned with the laws, he or she needs to be told do this, don’t do that and the promise is of salvation is of paradise itself.
All religions have certain rights and certain practices and certain structures. However, these are the external structures which religions put on in order to enforce a certain way of life, a certain daily routine which otherwise it is in the human nature not to pay attention to. For example fasting or prayer, these should not be trivialized because these are the essential elements of the religious practice. They become easy and they become doable once the spiritual aspect is inside then the impetus is there, there is an inner energy that one gains by entering into that sacred tradition, whichever the tradition is, which makes it easy for the person to actually carry out those religious rights.
And from the external view, when somebody is standing outside, they look like impositions and look like a package and something that is not what one wants, but the main goal of our religion is actually esoteric, it is inside, the outer shell is these rituals but the inside is the cardinal of the truth, of the essence.
The quality of time that we live is mired by a proximity to the Divine. I have taken this text from one of the oldest Persian language books of Tasawwof, Kashf-ol-Mahjub. This is actually a parable, which comes within the passage that I want to quote. This particular passage is about Hal and Waqt, Waqt is time, it is a term with which Sufis are familiar in concerning which much has been said by the Sheikhs.
My object is to establish a truth not to give long explanations. “Waqt is that whereby one becomes independent of the past and the future as for example when an inference from God descends into his heart and produces such concentration that one has no memory of the past and no touch of the future. A possessor of Waqt says our knowledge cannot apprehend the future and the past and we are happy with God in the present. If we occupy ourselves with tomorrow or let any thought of it enter our minds we shall be veiled from God, and the veil is a great loss.”
Thus Abu Sa’eed Kharraz, another Sufi said: “do not occupy your precious time except with the most precious of things, and the most precious of human things is the state of being occupied with God, between the past and the future.
And the messenger of God (PBUH) said I have a time with God in which none of the angels and prophets has entry, that is to say, in which the 18 thousand worlds do not occur to my mind and have no worth in my eyes, therefore on the Night of the Ascension when the kingdom of the heaven and the earth was arrayed before him, in all splendor, he did not look neither to the left, nor to the right.
Time is two times, this quotation actually comes from Hallaj, “Al-yawmon Ethnayn”, one in the state of gain, the other in the state of loss. The one in the state of gain is in the place of union and the other in the place of separation. At both these times, the mystic is overpowered, because both his union and his separation are affected by God without any volition or acquisition on his part, as would make it possible to invest him with any attribute. When a man’s power of volition is cut off from him, whatever he does or experiences is the result of time.
