Rumi's Islam

Submitted by Angela Class (United States), Jun 12, 2007 at 19:51

I agree with this, "a secondary root of Islam may be Al-salam"

Yes! A secondary root that offers a secondary meaning that is used by Muslim mystics such as Sufis to explain that the submission to God brings peace, not on earth, but to the soul.

This submission allows the faithful to transcend their earthly experience and participate in "the peace that passeth all understanding", the union with God, that is achieved only thru total submission to God's will in all things.

So it MUST mean both to make this sense and this is where that interpretation is derived from.

This is Islamic mysticism.

One word, two meanings. One obvious, the other subtle. Both long accepted, believed and taught for centuries. This is the meaning that a Sufi Muslim, like Rumi, would have ascribed to the name of the faith he professed.

Islam, i.e.= the path of surrender to God that brings peace. Therefore, Islam can and does mean peace, not peace on earth, but peace for the soul.

Islam is not limited to what the fundamentalists make of it.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".