Ranoji's Pir
2008 October 31
Anjali gave me the link to the lovely story of Ranoji and his pir.
He let me pray in whatever way I wanted to. He used to say that the Sufis believe that though different people use different names for God, it’s all the same thing. In my zikr I generally recite the kalima, ‘lailaha ilallaha, muhammadur rasul allah’ (‘There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His Prophet’).You know, that is the same as Ram nam satya hai (‘Ram’s name is the Truth’) or Om namah Shivaye.
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link’s broken!
http://www.sabrang.com/cc/comold/july99/ethos.htm
Thanks for letting me know, have fixed it.
I thought you would like it
This is so true. Love is God.
Such a wonderful link.
Seen some of your posts about religions especially in the context of Islam.Even I am quite liberal in my views(got your blog link through Ghalib tag on wordpress) but the one thing that constantly bothers me is the manner in which it is practiced.There is more of religion and less of spirituality and that makes it not inclusive and tolerant but exclusive and hateful.An Indian muslim’s blog is my favorite too but if you compare it to the number of blogs/comments with hate content for other religions across the blogosphere,it is nothing more than an examplary exception.
I agree, there is a lot of hate on the internet, but it’s not just Muslims and on the point that people are more interested in literal interpretations of doctrine.
Talking specifically about this post while it may be inferred that all religions talk about one God ,Islam preaches the concept of Kafirs or non believers in the absolute authority of Allah who must either be converted or wiped out.
Sufism is widely criticized in Muslim faith for their love for Music,poetry and Dance.If you ever visit Khwaja Nizammudin’s dargah in Delhi you will note that the ‘Tabligis’ next door have a strong resistance their Sufi neighbors.
Any faith is as good as the people who practice it,not so much in letter but in spirit.It’s here that I feel that Muslim’s need to have a more liberal and understanding approach to others.If you want universal brotherhood you will have to stop differentiating between brothers whom you meet at the mosque and those you meet outside as long as they are good human beings.
Suifism is under threat these days, in India, in Pakistan. Hopefully the more tolerant will one day prevail, there are still those who are resisting extremism. I have just started reading this book which may be of interest to you. It is very simply and well written: http://www.amazon.com/No-god-but-God-Evolution/dp/1400062136