The wise of all ages have taught that it is knowledge of the divine Being that is life, and the only reality.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
If there is a kingdom of God to be found anywhere, it is within oneself. And it is, therefore, in the knowledge of self that there lies the fulfillment of life. The knowledge of self means the knowledge of one’s body, the knowledge of one’s mind, the knowledge of one’s spirit; the knowledge of the spirit’s relation to the body and the relation of the body to the spirit; the knowledge of one’s wants and needs, the knowledge of one’s virtues and faults; knowing what we desire and how to attain it, what to pursue and what to renounce. And when one dives deep into this, one finds before one a world of knowledge which never ends. And it is that knowledge which gives one insight into human nature and brings one to the knowledge of the whole of creation. And in the end one attains to the knowledge of the divine Being.
Religion is the school that has developed humanity, and the ideals that religion presents form a path that leads upward to perfection, that innate and yearning desire of every soul. … The wise of all ages have taught that it is the knowledge of the Divine Being that is life, and the only reality. Although a human activity may have a number of complicated motives, some of which are base and gross, it is the aspiration towards divinity, the desire towards beauty, which is its soul, its life, and its reality. And it is in proportion to the degree of strength or weakness of our aspiration towards beauty that our ideal is great or small, and our religion is great or small.
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
That is to say, Ilm is knowledge and knowledge is nothing but Ilm. Worldly knowledge is symbolical — the application of names to processes. But understanding of the processes requires a subtle union with them. Naming a thing does not bring knowledge of it. One can distinguish electricity from magnetism and light, but what is electricity? What is magnetism? What is light? We know only so far as our senses tell us or as far as our limited mind has opportunity to convey some idea.
Yet from a certain point of view, there is a great reality in electricity, in magnetism, and in light beyond their phenomenal appearance and even beyond nominal conception. There is a reality that can be experienced in Zikr, where the three are one. A person will then know, without always being able to explain, that electricity, magnetism, and light are certain aspects of life which appear more clearly when seen in the mineral (or chemical) world. They are present in vital processes, though more hidden. And when we come to humanity we observe other forms of magnetic behavior closely interwoven with the personality. This shows that true magnetism is connected with life.
Above and beyond the sphere of mind is Ishk, the Universal Subtle Energy which is what we call Love. Comprehension of Ishk is Ilm, but neither Ishk nor Ilm is possible without union with the Supreme Being, at least in the form included in Darood. That union is still possible in name and form, for Baqa, or awakening to the real self, is the goal of all. That is to say, the expression of the Divine Light and Love awakens in and through our personalities. This brings all knowledge and all gifts.