From “The Religion of the
Hindus,”[1]
“Faith in the existence of
one spiritual reality,
generally conceived as a
personal god, belief in the
laws of karma and the
transmigration of souls are
the most important elements
in the Hindu religious
thought. An intelligent
Hindu thinks of god, as
residing within himself,
controlling all his actions
as the ‘Inner Controller,’
and at the same time god is
outside him, manifest in
innumerable ways, known and
unknown.
Though the Vedic hymns are
addressed to various gods,
the Vedic seekers in their
search, very soon discover
that there is one Supreme
Spirit of which the various
gods worshiped by men are
only partial manifestations.
There is a Vedic passage
which is often quoted in
support of this statement,
‘Reality is one; sages speak
of it in different ways.’
This idea that every god
whom men worship is the
embodiment of a limited
ideal and that he is the
symbol of one aspect of the
Absolute, has persisted down
the ages and, in fact, is
one of the most fundamental
characteristics of Hinduism.
It is this idea, which makes
Hinduism the most tolerant
of religions.”[2]
Comments:
Whenever the idea of a
‘Single Existence’ or Wahdat
al-Wajood is presented, an
explanation will inevitably
be sought about the
existence of things other
than God, for example, human
beings, animals, trees,
mountains, etc. The Hindus
say, “god is outside him
and manifest in innumerable
ways”, and this is
similar to what Haji
Imdadullah Makki says, “A
question may be raised…
that, since there is none
other than Allah, what are
these Hawatith[3]?
The answer is thus.
‘Lahul Asma al-Husna’ -
meaning that all are the
‘Madhahar’ (points of
manifestation) of Him.[4]
Thus, both the Sufis and the
Hindus give the same
explanation.
[1] A well
researched work on
Hinduism by Kenneth W.
Morgan. This work, aided
by seven leading and
orthodox Hindu scholars
was basically aimed at
explaining Hinduism to
those who are unfamiliar
to India, its religions
and its cultures.
[2] This
is also what makes the
Soofis as tolerant as
the Hindus, as Ibn Arabi
says, “A Soofi; the
person with complete
understanding is he who
sees every object of
worship to be a
manifestation of Truth
(Allah) contained
therein, for which it is
worshiped. Therefore,
they all call it a god,
along with its
particular name, whether
it is a rock, or a tree,
or an animal, or a
person, or a star, or an
angel.” [Al-Fusoos
(1/195)]
[3]
Hawatith : Things that
do not exist originally,
but come into existence
later.
[4]
Madhahar : The point of
manifestation. Here it
means that the creatures
are nothing but the
visible manifestations
of Allaah. Just like
Allaah’s Asmaa al-Husnaa
(names) are not other
than Him, similarly
these Hawadith are not
other than Him.
