Belief and disbelief have divided humankind into so many sects, blinding its eyes to the vision of the Oneness of all Life.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
For the Sufis there exists no one in this world, neither heathen nor pagan, who is to be despised, for they believe in that God who is not the God of one chosen sect but the God of the whole world. They do not believe in a God of one nation, but in the God of all nations. To them God is in all different houses where people worship. Even if they stand in the street and pray it makes no difference to the Sufis. The holy place is wherever God is worshiped. The Sufis leave sectarianism to the sects. They have respect for all; they are not prejudiced against any and they do not despise any; they feel sympathy for all.
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume X – The Unity of Religious Ideals: Part VI – The Sufi’s Aim in Life )
The religion of the mystics is a steady progress towards Unity. How do they make this progress? In two ways. In the first way, they see themselves in others, in the good, in the bad, in all; and thus, they expand the horizon of their vision. This study goes on throughout their lifetime; and as they progress they come closer to the Oneness of all things. The other way of developing is to become conscious of one’s own self in God and of God in one’s self, which means deepening the consciousness of our innermost being. This process takes place in two directions: outwardly, by being one with all we see; and inwardly, by being in touch with that One Life which is everlasting, by dissolving into it and by being conscious of that One Spirit being THE existence, the Only Existence.
‘There is One God, the Eternal, the Only Being; none exists save God.’ The God of the Sufis is the God of every creed, and the God of all. Names make no difference to them. Allah, God, Gott, Dieu, Khuda, Brahma, or Bhagwan, all these names and more are the names of their God; and yet to them God is beyond the limitation of name. They see their God in the sun, in the fire, in the idol which diverse sects worship; and they recognize God in all the forms of the universe, yet knowing God to be beyond all form; God in all, and all in God, being the Seen and the Unseen, the Only Being.
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
Belief and disbelief are products of the finite mind, born of the manasic akasha, or mental field of accommodation. Disbelief is only a variation of belief according to a limited view, but the essence of belief and disbelief is the same. Yet belief, if founded on love or felt with love, can bring about the awakening of heart; this will free one from belief and disbelief both, bringing one to the gates of knowledge.