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Type Your Article Here ...This purpose of this article is not only to show that Islam is not only the religion of the Wahabbists and often raging fundamentalist but also one of great teachers who used Islam to lift the human spirit and who used methods that make us not only think but, sometimes, even to chuckle.
I am not a Muslim, so I can only introduce the subject in the hope that others will add other examples of such teachers not only from the ranks of Muslims but from all faiths. From Christianity, I might select Kahil Gibran, the author of The Prophet, whose writings have encouraged and enlightened many.
This is not an article about holy books or religious dogma. It is about those who use(d) their faith as a basis for teaching us to think and to make better lives for ourselves.
This article contains quotes or stories about three men, one may be legendary.
From the writings of Mawlana Jalal-al Din Rumi, 8/9 Century, founder of the Mevlevi Sufi, I have selected the following, but there are many, many more.
"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."
"If you are irritated by every rub, how will you be polished?"
"Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open?"
The there is Omar Khayyam, D 1131, the scientist and author of "The Rubaiyat". The translations are from Fitzgerald.
"The moving Finger writes; and, having writ, /Moves on: nor all they Piety nor Wit/Shall lure it back to cancel half a line./Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.
"Another {pot} said..." Why, ne'er a Pevish Boy,/ "Would break the Bowel from which he drank in Joy:/"Shall He that made the vessel in pure Love/"And Fancy, in an after Rage destroy?"
" None answered this, but after Silence spoke/A Vessel of more ungainly Make:/"They sneer at me for larning all awry/ "What did the Hand of the Potter Shake?"
The final example may be legendary. He is the Mulla Nashurdin, often assigned to the 13th Century.
There was a young prince who was tired on all the lying in his city. He called his palace guards and told them to build a gallows next to the city's main gate. That being done, he gave the order that everyone entering the city should be asked a question. If the answer was true, the traveler was to be allowed to go in peace, but if he lied, he was to be hung immediately.
Early the following morning the Mulla Nashurdin came along riding his donkey. The guard stopped him and asked, "Why do you come here?' - "To be hung," answered the Mulla. - "That is a lie!", shouted the guard. - "Then you must hang me," answered the mulla. - The Turth? Whose Truth?
A certain conqueror said to Nashurdin, "Mulla, all the great laeders of the past had honorific titles with the name of God in them. For examples, I give "God-Accepted" and "God-Gifted". How about such a name for me?" - The mulla aswered, "God Forbid."
The mulla lost his donkey. He was very upset. So upset that some of his neighbors thought it was a little unseemly. "Mulla, we understand you grieve the loss of your donkey. It is a terrible thing, but you make more of a fuss over this than you did over the loss of your wife." - The mulla replied, " When my wife died, you all came to me and assured me I would find another someday. No one has offered to replace my donkey.
I am searching for more examples of such teachers from all faiths. I have mentioned Gibran. There is Gandhi, and I am sure there are many others. Native American? Your contributions will be welcome.
There is a pre-Islamic saying ascribed to the Tariq,"The God you love you cannot fear. The God you fear you cannot love." I am looking for those who use their concept of God to help make us better and happier.
