All the disharmony of the world caused by religious differences is the result of humanity’s failure to understand that religion is One, Truth is One, God is One; how can there be two religions?
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
God is One, the Truth is One. How can there be two religions? There is One religion, the only religion. … Yes, we are living in different lands, but under one sky. So, we have many churches, but One God; many scriptures, but One Wisdom; many souls, but One Spirit, the Only Spirit of God.
( from the Religious Gathekas, #47: The Sufi Movement [ unpublished ] )
The One Spirit of Life is given different names, the sacred names. We more easily recognize the [Spirit of Life] by the particular name to which we are accustomed. So far we are right, but the mistake we make, and it is to our loss, is to ignore or deny the same Truth because it is given to us in another form and under another name. We limit it. We say the Truth existed only in that period when certain teachers came to the world, and that after that it stopped. But the Spirit of Illumination can never stop as long as Life goes on. Illumination has continued from the beginning, and will always continue until the manifestation ends; so long will the Spirit of Illumination continue to spread out its rays.
We accept some forms and ignore others. It is the natural tendency of humankind. It is this that accounts for so many religions. Even if people cannot see things in this light, they can at least be tolerant of other people’s religions. They can respect the religion because they see others respect it, even if they themselves have no respect for its teacher. After all, spirituality means respect, advancement. We show our evolution according to our respect, our consideration, our thoughtfulness. If we could only develop that faculty in our mind, it would not matter not believing or recognizing the Spirit of Guidance shown in different human forms. If we held our own teacher or master in the greatest esteem it would do a great deal of spiritual good. The disharmony of the world is usually caused by religious differences, as were the wars of ancient times. The differences are caused by people failing to understand that religion is One, Truth is One, God is One. How can there be two religions?
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume VII – In an Eastern Rose Garden: The Spiritual Hierarchy )
God is One, Truth is One, and the religion is One. There cannot be two religions; that is the confusion, the illusion of the human mind. When people cannot understand each other, then they say, ‘Your religion is different, my religion is different.’ But the difference does not belong to God, it belongs to the earth. … And in the realization of God, in the love of God, what are we expected to do? We are expected to unite with one another in the thought of God, in the love of God. … All wisdom is from God; from whatever scripture, whatever religion, whatever form, it all comes from One Source.
( from the Religious Gathekas, #39: Universal Worship [ unpublished ] )
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
As religion is the connection between the human being and God, and as that connection designates Unity, there is no room for two connections. Whatever be one’s relation toward God, it is a single relation and a singular relation. One can no more foist that relation on another than one can make one’s parents the parents of another. To each soul God may appear different, but it is the appearance which is unique, not the Reality. All we can understand is that appearance. As God appears to us so shall we understand God, but neither can we give to another our eyes, our mind, nor our heart. These things distinguish us one from another and cause the apparent differences in religion, which are nothing but these different points of view in their appearances as different religions.