The discussion has certainly moved a little away from mysticism but I think question raised by Mr. Mughal could not have been more profound and Mr. Mutaal could not have been more gracious in asking for opening the topic for others to participate. Both of these gentlemen need to be appreciated for their genuineness. Here are my humble thoughts:

I think, the issue that Mr. Mughal has raised can be rephrased in terms of "Divisiveness", which is not necessarily limited to Islam. If history is any clue to human behaviors then not only Islam but all other religions are guilty.

Lets suppose, if there were no Islam; would humans have lived without violence? The answer is simply 'No' because other religions are equally divisive. Divisiveness is not limited to religion only. It is much more broad. Look at nationality, ethnicity, gender and other territorial based conflicts. All of them point to one direction, which is a divisive consciousness where religion has definitely played the same role that it is supposedly teaching contrary to.

Let me make another supposition: If whole world opts practice of mysticism; would divisiveness fade away? My best judgment is still a big 'No'. I am certain that humans would create new mystical reasons to fight against each other.

I have spoken on this issue before but it would be fine to say the same again even if it is redundant. The question on my mind is, where is the core of violence?

I think of two reasons at the heart of the matter. One is fear surrounding survival related issues and the other is a need for sense of identity, hard wired in our brain. This makes the whole issue very complicated and takes us to understanding nature of culture, means of production and its distribution etc. and a consciousness with which we deal with all of these problems. A detailed discussion of above issues is beyond the scope of this e-mail but I think, if all of these problems can be summed up in one word; it is "Divisive Consciousness".

Next is the pragmatics of this understanding. Can we change our consciousness? This is where I am somewhat optimistic. I think we need to go beyond pathetic and pathological religious, racial, ethnical, gender or nationality centered consciousness. If divinity, scripture or tradition turn out to be an impediment, lets cast them off with education, to embrace a sense of collective and mutually assured survival paradigm. If we, as a whole species, succeed in doing that it would be triumph of reason over irrationality. Lets hope to see light of such a day!

My best regards and heart felt appreciation for Mr. Mughal and Mr. Mutaal's insights.