Places

You know,

there's something very strange about the Empire of Islam.

It is different to other empires,

and doesn't seem to follow the same logic.

Look at the Roman Empire,

starting in a small part of the boot of Italy,

then over the centuries expanding its military dominance,

until after a thousand years, its political rule spanned Europe,

the Mediterranean and North Africa.

Then suddenly, within a couple of centuries,

it all fell apart.

Events happened.

Other cultures took over.

But Islam didn't spread slowly.

In the time that it took for Rome to gain power over the whole of Italy,

Islam had spread from the Atlantic to the borders of China.

It spread in a different way.

Those whose rule was being overthrown didn’t like it,

but the powerless quickly, willingly accepted Islam and integrated it into their lives

as a daily lived experience that was preferable to what they had before.

It was an idea that could spread like wildfire.

Rome reached its limit and imploded,

whereas Islam spread further than any muslim armies,

and beyond the control of any earthly rulers.

Laws need to be followed to limit behaviour, and earthly power is enforceable,

but faith cannot be compulsory.

It is the opening of the heart to God that makes Islam joyous

and makes the deen so personal.

It is the inner experience of surrender to the One God,

the Fount-of-All-Mercy,

and how that experience impacts a life.

And that experience cannot be un-experienced,

and unlike intellectual arguments,

it cannot be changed or erased.

To believe that there is life after death,

and to expect just recompense for pre-death behaviour,

changes life into what is essentially a moral event.

And once having seen creation as the result of the Will of the Creator,

it is easier to understand its nature and purpose

in more all-embracing ways than were possible prior to belief.

The key is to look inside and search within the human heart.

From the time of the Messenger,

there were always the two aspects of Islam,

the outer and the inner.

The outer form,

the wudhu and sala, ramadhan and hajj, to which muslims surrender,

give occasion for the inner formless,

the inner effect of all that praying,

what can be discovered during that quiet time,

that time of inner focus.

A focus on ones personal union with God,

a union in which God is closer to us than our jugular vein.

An experience of mysteries

for which words are inadequate.

And the message was passed from person to person,

and those who knew the way showed others.

And the way is through the heart,

loving God and yearning for greater union,

And the ways to approach those inner states were passed on

through traditions leading back to the Messenger.

And love of the Messenger also exercised the heart,

in its struggle to follow his example in the world,

and live a deen of tolerance,

generosity, trustworthiness, mercy,

and love for all.

That is how Islam managed to spread over so much land so fast,

It was a win/win decision.

And people would gather between times of sala,

to share the experience of remembrance in different ways,

following those who acted as their inner guides,

leading them through the states within.

Holy men and women, some call saints,

travelled the lands,

many following the Messenger's example of poverty,

opting out of the race for wealth

or worldly indulgence,

living a life simply devoted to God's service.

The Messenger's poverty

showed that material wealth

was not a determinant for happiness,

while at the same time he passed on ways

to facilitate and guide people through the states that would be encountered

on the way of achieving peace through inner union.

So with the growth of empire came great wealth,

and the results of its glory in the world can still be seen,

but at the same time, from one end of the empire to the other,

spiritual teachers continued to guide people

on a less tangible inner journey.

But this journey still left its trace,

as these teachings were often expressed by weaving them into fables,

or in the form of poetry.

And over the centuries

these teachings and other non-verbal practices,

like music and movement,

were preserved in the hearts and minds of followers,

in schools with lineages traced back to certain teachers

whose names were associated with those different traditions,

all of whom would later be known to the western world as 'sufis',

These schools still co-exist around the world,

the Qadiri, Shadhili, Chisti and Rifa'i,

the Tijani, Darqawi, Bektashi and Ni'matullahi,

the Suhrawardi, Naqshibandi, and of course the Mevlevi,

being just a few of the major orders.

They have survived on occasions

when the power of the empire was overthrown,

whether by the Mongol armies of Genghis Khan,

or the industrial armies of European colonisers.

But recently they are more likely to suffer from persecution

at the hands of people who call themselves muslim,

secular or orthodox,

with physical attacks on sufi gatherings by frustrated and ignorant extremists

But such attacks cannot change the experience of the inner world

following the guidance of the Messenger.

When we think of the muslim world,

the places are simply a background to the muslim peoples that lived there,

with monuments of their times showing their interactions with their place

and recording their passing.

The inner journey leaves less trace,

but lives on in the hearts of those who travel it,

immune to the vagaries of political power.

Physical force cannot erase an inner experience.