Response to Nasir Khan

Submitted by Shazia Khanum (Canada), Sep 21, 2005 at 14:13

Nasir,

Do you agree with the following?

A person has the right to believe and practice his/her religious or non-religious path so long as he/she does not harm anyone, does not make any demands, does so within the boundaries of the laws of the land and with the utmost courtesy towards his/her fellow human beings.

In addition, do you accept the right of a person to DEFINE his/her faith and a path so long as they do not harm anyone, do not make any demands, do so within the boundaries of the laws of the land and with the utmost courtesy towards their fellow human beings?

If so, then just like you have the right to define your faith and a path, so do we.

We define what is islam for us. Not you. You have the right to believe what you believe and we have the right to believe what we believe. We do not judge you nor should you judge the peaceful adherents of other faiths. You came to a conclusion for yourself. I am happy for you. God alone is the judge.

To us, islam (a harmoneous submission to the Reality) is a path towards enlightenment and self-actualization through shedding of desires, attachments and all other aspects of the lower self. The outer forms are meaningless when a person reaches that level of devotion to God, albeit for a moment. All religious paths, regardless of their outer labels and forms, have the ability to lead a person to that level, whether it be "Islam", Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism, Hinduism, or whatever. The light that directs us to that path is already within us.

But when a heart is full of hatred, prejudice, anger, arrogance, self-worship, judgment, etc., it has a barrier that prevents that inner light to shine upon the entity called the self, thereby slowing it down to reflect its higher patterns.

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