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Of old sat Freedom on the heights,
The thunders breaking at her feet:
Above her shook the starry lights:
She heard the torrents meet.
There in her place she did rejoice,
Self-gather’d in her prophet-mind,
But fragments of her mighty voice
Came rolling on the wind.
Then stept she down thro’ town and field
To mingle with the human race,
And part by part to men reveal’d
The fullness of her face –
Grave mother of majestic works,
From her isle-alter gazing down,
Who, God-like, grasps the triple forks,
And, King-like, wears the crown:
Her open eyes desire the truth.
The wisdom of a thousand years
Is in them. May perpetual youth
Keep dry their light from tears;
That her fair form may stand and shine
Make bright our days and light our dreams,
Turning to scorn with lips divine
The falsehood of extremes!
Sufi’s are lovers of truth.
The message of Sufis, the mystics who touch our mind and soul, is universal. Because of truth, richness, and its down to earth approach, Sufi philosophy finds a following amongst elite as well as the masses – irrespective of color, creed or religion.
Though Sufis’ message of love reached almost every nook and corner in the subcontinent, it was particularly so in Pakistan where it spread to find big success with the common folk, yet the universality of Sufis’ message found support and following equally amongst the nobility.
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Source: Wonders of Pakistan
The narrative of history always represents the specific political and cultural biases of those who have power, and who want the past to fit into their vision of the present. Hardly offering an objective view of the past, history is cobbled together from tales needed to fit the contemporary political situation, either ignoring or remaking the past to fit in with the expediencies of the present.
The narrative surrounding the contemporary situation between Muslims and Jews, Israelis and Palestinians is no different. As the current political and even geographic situation is certainly dire, only those past tales that fit in neatly with the negative energy surrounding these two peoples are expounded upon. Suicide bombings and strafing retaliations only fit in with one particular reading of history: The most negative stories afflicting this relationship are told and re-told as justification for the ongoing hostilities.
This reading backward of current enmities into the past relationship between Jews and Muslims, however, only illuminates a small segment of a rich and often positive interrelationship between these two peoples. While there has been, of course, many negative events and even periods between Muslims and Jews, there have been as many, and perhaps even more positive accounts between these two peoples.
The open-minded practice of Sufism is known as a mystical system that can easily attract believers from other religions. Today, as in the past, Jews, Christians and followers of other religions have flocked to this practice, studying under Sufi masters and learning the Sufi Way. The Sufi chronicler Idries Shah has outlined past Sufi influence on St. Francis of Assisi, the Troubadours, St. Augustine, the Rosicrucians, Maimonides, the Jewish Kabbalah and a host of other medieval and modern religious movements.
While much of this contact is incidental or indirect – Sufism reached St. Francis, for instance, through the writings of a Jewish intermediary translated into Latin – there was a time of profound Sufi influence on the direction and thought of the mystics of the Jewish religion. Though it is buried beneath centuries of historical disregard and even outright denial, the fact remains that more than 700 years ago, Jewish leaders not only had a wide-ranging dialogue with Islamic mystics, but also borrowed liberally from them to bring an Islamic brand of piousness into medieval synagogue rites. In the 13th century, Abraham Maimonides, son of the great Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides, not only wrapped Islamic mystical practice into his view of Judaism, but also considered himself a Jewish Sufi, a practitioner of both Jewish and Islamic mysticism!
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
Matthew (7:7-8) KJV
Some 1400 years ago in China, the Empress Wu became fascinated with the relationship between the essential Oneness and the apparent multiplicity of life. She asked the sage Fa Tsang if he could give a simple practical demonstration to help her understand. Fa Tsang arranged one of the palace rooms so that eight large mirrors stood at the eight points of the compass. He then placed a further mirror on the floor, and another on the ceiling.
A candle was suspended in the centre of the room, and the Empress was invited in. Fa Tsang then lit the candle and the room was filled with the splendour of reflected light. The Empress Wu was awed and overcome by the beauty of this vision. “You see, your majesty,” said Fa Tsang. “This is the one and the many. The candle is the One Consciousness of God, and the reflections are the many individual consciousnesses of his creation.” The soul is a reflection of One Consciousness. In a sense it is individual, yet it could not be said to exist independently. Indeed, the source and the reflection are the same light.
The Complete Guide to World Mysticism, Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy.
