The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-05-05

does, and this crude and violent peo-
pie practised what he taught.
| Women Mohammed held in great re-
| spect. Polygamy is not forbidden, but
it is taught as weakness that was not
for the stronger or higher disciple.
! MOnogamy by word and example was
his ideal of life. Wine he most strict
| ly enJoined as being a barrier to the
| understanding Of the scriptures. Wine
| first Injuries the subtle part of mans
| brain and shuts out mans sense OF
| responsibility and judgment between
| false and true.
Islams only creed is: There is but
one God. Islam forbids Quarrels over
religion, makes it an act of piety to
acquire knowledge, and an act of devo-
| ton to impart knowledge. Ink it is
said is of more value than martyrs
| blood, as it will prevent the misunder-
standing that causes martyrdon.
From the eighth TO the fourteenth
| century, Islam was the bulwark of
science in the west. The universities
| of Bagdad, Cairo, and Cordova grew
| up and attracted students from all
over Europe. Astronomy, chemistry,
mathematics, were pushed forward.
| They took mathematics from the
Greeks and went on, discovering
equasions of the second degree, quad
rates, the binomial theorem the sine
and cosine in trigonometry. They orig
mated spherical trigonometry and
measured the circumference of the
earth, correct within two degrees, in
the fourteenth century, on the shores
of the Red sea.
In Philosophy they de1ved to the ex-
tent of discovering the One Absolute,
and the filial relation of man to God,
the divinity in man.
Ali, Mohamned's contemporary, be-
gan the mystic life that has made
sufism. Beauty is evidence of God, no
thing being beautiful unless there is
divine expression in it. Though the
ordinary Mohammedan sees God as
apart from himself the sufi emphasizes
the nonduality. He teaches the road
to realize this union with the divine
The sufi teaches the evolution of life
and form from mineral to plant, up
ward to animal, to man, to angel and
to oneness with God, a condition that
entereth not the imagination of man."
Surely high IDEAL
Loyalty to truth is the sufi way, and
the three stages-the law, the life of
the aspirant; the way, the life of the
self-controlled man; the trurn, the
life of the passionless man; he who
Is peace, without desire. The Shaikh
is the teacher who helps the devotee
in the first two stages of the way.
The final meditation leads to ecstasy
in which the vision of Gods will in
the world gives balance and the de-
voice lives on in a life of helpfulness
to his fellowmen. Their salutation is
am God-thou art God, my brother
They are the essence of liberality and
tolerance, claiming separate path
for each man to follow for himself
Omar Khayyam is the sufi of whom |
we hear most in the west. He is mis-
because of his use of the |
vine as a symbol of divinity. st am |
the true vine, We are the branches is |
our key to the Rubaiyat. Oriental i'm
agery is always sensuous, as may be |
noticed in the Songs of Solomon.
Then it must be remembered that |
irrelevant verses are interpolated for
the purpose of leading the unwary off
the track, in order that only to him
who hath the inner development will
the meaning become plain. But the
ernest student, endeavoring to see the
|
ed. For truly, as Pythagoras says,
wondering is the beginning of wisdom.
In verse 81 where ''the Thee in me- is
old by the something outside: 1.-THE
ne within Thee blindr' he shows the
knowledge of the lower and the higher
Ego.
In az, the reference to today" Eyes
erday," tomorrow" thou shalt not
De less, and his reference to the mas
er in verses SO and 81 and verses SO
md co. proclaim him a mystic under
stood by all others who have had a
glimpse of the higher consciousness.
To claim him a drunkard is prepos-
erous for not even the day-laborer in
slam gets drunk if he is a true Mo-
lammedan much less the sufi; the man
Who by his tolerance, simplicity, and
insight into the hearts of men proves
MS dawning divinity.