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Islam and World Peace - Explanations of a Sufi
by M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen

Peace Can Only Be Found in God

I seek refuge in Allah from the evils of the accursed satan.
In the name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate.

May all the peace, the beneficence, and the blessings of God be upon you. 1

For those of us who have faith in God alone, there is only one teaching. Whatever religion we belong to, whether it be Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Judaism, or Islam, and whatever prayers we say, what is it that we are really searching for? Only one thing-that treasure which is God. But those who have no faith need many things in this world. They find satisfaction in unjust actions, political disturbances, jealousy, deceit, selfishness, and pride. Those who search for these things will never find peace or equality. They lead a life without unity, justice, or peace. That is their hell, and they make this endless hell their life.

However, any society that recognizes the one God and holds nothing equal to Him, any society that holds onto that one Truth, worshiping one Master, praying to Him, and surrendering to Him-any society that has reached that state of understanding needs only God. The people of such a society need only God's qualities, His actions, His conduct, His grace, His patience, and His compassion. What else is there that matters?

All who have faith in God are striving and searching for the same thing. Therefore, we must have no divisions of race, religion, or caste, for wherever there are separations we can never see God. Only in the place where no divisions exist can one see God. These divisions keep us apart from His qualities, from His grace, from His treasure, from His justice, from His knowledge, and from His truth and peace. They separate us from God. Those who have such differences within will never find peace.

We must realize that the human society is one. We are all the children of Adam, and there is only one God and one prayer. The Bible, the Hindu Puranas, the Zend-Avesta, the Torah, and the Qur'an - all these scriptures contain the words of grace given by God to the prophets. That grace is light. If you look at these scriptures on the outside you will see only a book, nothing more. If you look inside the cover, you will find pages, letters, words, sentences, and stories. But if you look deep within, you will find Allah, the words of Allah, the duties of the prophets, the commandments, the power, and the light.

Allah placed all these explanations inside man and told him to look at them with understanding. This vast treasure contains His three thousand gracious qualities, His ninety-nine actions, 2 His justice and peacefulness, heaven, hell, and the entire world. Allah made all this into the innermost heart 3 of man and within that heart He placed a light. Then, to explain the light inside, He gave the scriptures on the outside. God told man, "Your body is a book and your heart is a heaven. Your wisdom is a resplendent light, and I am the power within that wisdom. The innermost heart of man is My kingdom, the kingdom which I rule. This is My history and your history. When you understand this, you will live in unity. You will be My slave 4 and I will be your Master. Then I can give you whatever you need and make you peaceful."

Therefore, when you study the Qur'an and other scriptures, you must take the inner meaning, place it deep inside, and look at it with understanding. Then speak the words of God with God, who is your wisdom. Speak God's truth with God, who is truth itself. Demonstrate the qualities of God, who is those qualities. Practice God's actions every day of your life. Be within the justice of God and do what is just. Be within the compassionate eyes of God and then look at the world. Be in the state of God's peacefulness and try to give peace to the world. Be in the state of God's unity and then try to establish unity in the world.

When you exist in the state of God's actions and conduct and then speak with Him, that power will speak with you. If you do not reach that state, then the words you speak will not be the truth. If you just keep the Bible or other scriptures on the outside, those scriptures will be only books full of words. And that is all you will understand. But if you become a representative of God and speak with that power, then that power will speak with you. If you become a true man 5 and a representative of God, then God will become your Master and you will understand the words which are His divine knowledge. 6

Until the day you find this state within yourself, you will only be studying the separations and differences that exist between races and religions. None of the lessons you learn in this world from books or scriptures, from poetry or other writings, will ever bring you peace. You will never understand the meaning within them; you will only see the cover, the pages, and the letters. God's words are alive, shining as the resplendence within. If you cannot see that, you will never understand.

We must know our story, God's story. We must know His power, His vibration, His truth and peacefulness. Separations and differences are the faults within us that destroy our unity and peace. If we understand this, we will find peace in God's kingdom, in life, and in the family of mankind. Then we can truly understand the scriptures of Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. They all contain the truth. But desire and the monkey mind have no truth, and when we look through those eyes, with the thoughts of "our book" and "our sect," we see only differences. When we are under the influence of this chloroform, this alcohol, our wisdom is clouded and we see only differences. But when we free ourselves from such torpor and acquire God's qualities, wisdom, and actions, when we speak in that state as the representatives of God, then we will know the worth of the Qur'an, the Bible, and all the scriptures. Only then will we know the value of God and the value of man. How can we ever understand without achieving this state? Let us think about this.

When you dig a well, you must dig deep down until you reach a spring. Can the well ever be filled without reaching that deep source? If you depend upon the rain or some other outer source to fill the well, the water will simply evaporate or be absorbed by the earth. Then how can you wash yourself or quench your thirst? Only if you reach deep enough to find a spring will you come upon an undiminishing source of water. Similarly, if you merely read the words of the scriptures, without digging deeper for their meaning, it is like digging a well without ever reaching the spring or like trying to fill it with rainwater. Neither will be sufficient. Only when you open that spring within and divine knowledge flows from it will the water of God's qualities fill your heart. Only then can you receive His wealth. Only then will you find peace and tranquility. This wisdom and divine knowledge must arise from within you; the story of God and prayer must be understood from within. Then you will have all the water you need for yourself, and you will also have enough to share with others.

When a prospector searches for gold, he must sift the earth in order to extract this precious metal. He takes what is valuable and discards the rest. Similarly, wherever you search, whether it be in the east, west, north, or south, whether it be in Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Judaism, or Islam, you must search for and extract only that one valuable thing, the gold, the treasure of God, the truth. As you search through all the scriptures, you must discard everything else, just as the prospectors discard the dirt and stones. God's wealth 7 is all you need for your life and for the resplendence of your soul.

Until you understand this, you will know nothing but disturbances in your life. Even if you rule the world, obtain titles and status, and acquire great treasures and land, you will never find peace. The only peace you can find is in God, in His qualities, His actions, His justice, His compassion, His patience, and His unity. Remember this.

Once you thought that everything you studied and learned was the truth. But then you progressed to the next step, and found that all you had learned was not the truth. And in the future when you go still one step further and look back upon all that you presently hold to be true, you will see that it, too, is false. In this way, each time you advance to a new level, you will find that all you learned in the past was false. Finally, when you reach the state of God and the state of His wisdom, you will realize that all your thoughts were false. Everything was false. Only He is truth. His wisdom is the real truth, and His qualities are the real gold.

When you understand this, you will ask His forgiveness for all the faults that you committed in the past. You will see clearly and absolutely that there is only one family, one prayer, and one God. You must think about this. This is the valuable wisdom, the wisdom of truth.

Therefore, find unity within yourself. Find peace within yourself. Find equality within yourself. Only when that spring opens within you and flows forth can you feed others and give them peace.

Children of wisdom, you must have love for God alone and faith in God alone. If you strengthen your faith, certitude, and determination, 8 and open the spring of God's wisdom, then all the suffering of this birth, this mind, and this world will be washed away. All the opposition you face in this life, all the pain and suffering you may undergo at the time of death, and all the suffering you may have to face on judgment Day will be cleansed by that water of God's grace. It will bring you to a state of death before death and make you a pure, resplendent light form. That faith will wash away the karma of your birth and transform you into a pure resplendence which no dirt can touch. You will become the resplendence within the resplendence which is God. You will know the value and the beauty of God. You will shine as one who has destroyed the karma in all three worlds, and you will have freedom in all three worlds. You will realize that you came from Him, that you have grown within Him and become pure, and that He has accepted you. He will be a mystical resplendence, and you will be a light form.

You must become one. Only if you pray to God with faith will peace and unity come to your life. And only then can you give peace to the world. Think about this. Amen.



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Footnotes

1. As-salam 'alaykum wa rahmat Allah wa barakatuhu kulluh
2. wilayat
3. qalb
4. 'abd
5. insan
6. `ilm
7. dawlah
8. iman


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