Dear Friends
I thought it might be of your interest. The
English translation of an
excerpt
from "Sarmad Shaheed" by
Abul Kalam Azad published in the Nizam
al-Masha'ikh, edited by Khwaja Hasan
Nizami, in 1910.
"In his search for the
goal, he (Sarmad) discarded the distinction
between temple and mosque. Just as he bowed his
head in humble respect before Muslim dervishes,
so he showed faith in Hindu ascetics. Which
person of genuine mystical experience would
quarrel with this priciple? If in this realm
too, we insist on maintaining the disticntion
between unbelief and Islam, what difference will
remain between the blind and clear-sighted?
After all, it is the candle(as such) which the
moth has to find. If the moth is in love only
with the candle of the sacred precincts of
Mecca, then its 'seeking to be burned up' is
imperfect.
(Persian couplet)
The lover is ruined
both by Islam and unbelief (kufr)
The moth does not
discriminate between the lamp of the mosque and
the temple"
Commenting on the ulama who ruled that
Sarmad was guilty of kufr and deserved capital
punishment, Azad writes:
"Those deciding on kufr,
standing on the floor of their madrasa and
mosque, may consider their 'throne' as standing
on a considerable height; yet Sarmad stood on
the minaret of love from which the walls of
Ka'aba and temple were of equal height, and
where the flags of belief and unblief waved
togather."
Regards
Anis Zuberi
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