Fancies of fools are similar follies and equally non-existent, be they of any ism.
The worship without adding attributes or qualities etc. to the Almighty Truth - or God if one so prefers to name the Absolute - maybe called ‘nirguna bhakti’. Ascribing a form - even formlessness - to the Ultimate Reality, would yet be considered a lower form of worship. For, it is more or less assuming and allotting a definitive ‘guna’/attribute and quality, in this case formlessness, to be the formal nature of the entity and physicality of God.
In any case, some ‘hadis’ - the authenticated records written down verbatim from the uttering of companions and compatriots of the self-proclaimed prophet of Islam - these texts reveal that the so-called god of Islam, Allah, was actually seen by Mohammed. This brief is given according to the prophet’s child-bride, Aisha. Another believable Islamic writings of earlier times propound their grand god to be a 30 meter tall human-like figure.
Interestingly, in an obvious attempt to be one up over the gods of other religions, now days many a Muslim hypothesize that the Islamic god is a mysterious and a faceless-form or something akin it, that cannot be seen by anybody. Saying so, one seemingly assumes that it adds an extra bit to the aura of their fancied deity. Sort of making it a tiny bit more than the infidel’s god.
Yet it is nobody’s case that some earlier writings of Islam do insist that Mohammed had indeed seen their god, Mr. Allah.
It is said that their all-seeing and all-knowing self-anointed prophet had once witnessed Mr. Allah in the form of a bearded youth. Alternatively, it is also told that this god of the Muslims was thought of by their prophet to be as a huge super-humanoid. However, all this is now being denied by a few amongst the faithful in Islam.
It does not change the truth of the matter though.
The truth is that the Islamic heaven or hell is thought of and taught so by the Muslims themselves to be very much a material, a solid and a virtual physical place of sorts. Hence, the ruling entity over these material but otherworldly regions is or ought to be logically and similarly a physical and an empirical reality.
It is therefore the obvious inference that Allah, the fancied god of the Muslims, too is a physicality, a human-like entity. Anyway, denying or not, he, Mr. Allah, is believed to be an empirical entity by all and sundry in the Islamic world.
Under this gentleman, the Islamic god Allah falls the physical command and care of the bountiful heaven to accommodate the faithful - be they even the vilest of people, or the most murderous, mad, malevolent lot. Oh, and as we all know so very well, sure hell-fire is physically guaranteed for the doubters and the non-believing infidels like us. Again, under the same majestic and merciful caretaker, the Islamic god, in person: ah! our very own, dear Mr. Allah.
In short, the Muslims believe, as did their prophet, that the next world - that is, a heaven or a hell - is not some sort of an abstract form of non-physical existence but a definite material realm and region. It is as real to them as is this existence on this earth, and as the ground felt under one’s feet right now. Similarly, their god, Allah, too is a physicality. Akin their own bodily self.
Thus, the Islamists have no concept of the Divine except with a form.
As to what form, well, that may be disputed. A spirit-like entity? A humanoid, albeit a gigantic one? Or some other this-that thing, but very much a touchable, a physical thing!
And though the part whether he, this Mr. Allah, can be seen or not by the faithful may be taken under advice and the opinion reserved, yet there is no denying nor may be doubted that the common lot of the Muslims imagine their almighty god is virtually and physically existing as a this or that something or the other, as do they find them earthly and bodily self.
And it is taught by the holy book of the Muslims that when the time comes, ‘he’, one Mr. Allah, shall physically rouse the dead and the buried coreligionists up from their rotting graves. Thereafter, after taking account of their life on earth, their god-entity shall physically put them in a material but a perpetual heaven with 72 virgins, and with nubile young boys serving the men (not the women, mind you! Just the ‘superior’ gender of men only) amongst the faithful.
To reach this fancied folly of a physical heaven, Jihadis kill imaginary infidels.
Many common lot of Hindus too think of their god possessing a form.
On the other hand, the more evolved among the Hindus and the Sufis of the higher sort, both worship the Divine in the Way as self-realized by their enlightened sages and gurus - as the Primordial Essence of the Whole.
The Abrahamic faiths - Christianity, Judaism and Islam - all faithfully follow a physical god, who is personal to them. And it is believed, and hence so propagated, that these ‘chosen’ people are able to talk to ‘him’ as we do to another human being.
So, more of less, this Abrahamic god is thought to be a humanoid akin us the human beings, only differing from us in some supposedly surreal way.
Thus, the believed in Islamic god is thought of by the fundamentalist followers of Mohammed to be a verifiable physicality, and as a virtual entity like us humans.
For the simple lot of Hindus too, their god - and they have 33,0000000 gods amongst them! - is very much in the image of an empirical but an ethereal material entity. Supposedly, the same is made-up of a life-stuff akin their own self. Or something thereabouts. In their own make and likeness, at the very least.
In effect, the god of simple folks is a physically existing entity, akin themselves.
However, unlike the Abrahamic faiths, the Hindus have always worshiped the Divine in both the ‘saguna’ and the ‘nirguna’ way. That is, as per their learning and leanings, the people think of their god to with a form, or being formless in form.
So, how different is the god of Hindus from that of the Abrahmic faiths?
Well, so long as the Divine is worshiped with the concept of it being a this-that form, in such a sense there is virtually no difference between the worshipconducted by the simple lot of Hindus and the complete lot of the Abrahamic faiths, especially by the Muslims.
This lot of worshipers of all isms have a similar mindset: they simply cannot conceive of the Divine without some form or the other. And even if they could, then too their god is thought to be a physicality of sorts, howsoever mysterious or majestic or magical in design!
At best, to get the better of those of another faith, the Almighty of Islam may be projected or put forward by the faithful of this ism to be a formless sort of being, that cannot be seen.
Alternatively, having evolved beyond the parochial mindset of their inherited religion of Islam, the Sufis worship God as the ‘It’ or ‘That’ in the whole of Creation. As do the Vedanta adherents and the more sophisticated amongst the gnostic Hindus.
Thus, it may be said that the worship of God without a form is yet a ‘saguna’ concept. That is, it is done so with a definitive thinking of the Almighty possessing a formless-form, be it a spirit-like one. At best this sort of worship may supposedly be indulged in by an unverified and an unheard minority amongst the Abrahamic religions. This could be termed as the ‘nirguna’ kind of worship in these isms - if indeed any among them do so think and pray to such a deity.
But in reality, and one may check out this fact oneself, nary a one among the really and truly faithful of the Abrahamic lot, especially from among the Muslims, thinks of the Ultimate Reality or God as being anything other than a plain-simple material physicality, albeit a spirit-like entity, if that!
On the other hand, the Sufis and the Hindus of the higher metaphysical knowing and understanding do not think of the Divine Reality as being a physical being of any sort. They worship the Truth in the like manner as their self-realized Masters.
The Allah of the Sufis is a name given to the Absolute Almighty Oneness that is the life and soul of everybody - even the infidel.
The above-told ‘nirguna’ or attribute-less and quality-less idea of the Absolute of Almighty Existence is not the theological concept of the Abrahamic faiths.
The Abrahamic god, and especially the Allah of the Muslims, is nothing like the one worshiped by the gnostic sages, yogis, Vedanta believers and the freemystics amongst the people of India. Or by the Sufis.
The ‘nirguna bhakti’ or the worship of the Divine without attributing to it any qualitative form of existence, is the Way of the better metaphysically learned and the more spiritually advanced amongst the Hindus.
This is so done owing to the fact that eventually the Almighty Truth is found not to be a god with a physicality.
That is, in the Revelation of Which Is, no god with a form or a formless ‘thing’ or something like it or a formless spirit-ness etc. is found standing, and lording over the absolute reality.
Such a supposition is not the self-realization of the enlightened beings.
Frankly, the Abrahamic faiths have not evolved to a higher metaphysical understanding of the Divine. That is, they cannot even bring themselves to conceive of the Almighty Absolute to being more than the physical being and form of their imagined god: Jehovah of the Christians and the Jews, and Allah of the Muslims.
Jehovah or Allah are thought of as physical entities. So are the millions of gods of the simple ones amongst the Hindus. These little-some gods are all the ‘saguna’ lot - with limitations prescribed to them, be it even of being formless in form.
To worship the Divine sans assumptions or attributes of any kind, is the Way of the Sufis, yogis, freemystics and of the sages of India since yore.
The non-qualitative and non-defining, ‘nirguna’ worship of the Divine is advocated by the enlightened spiritual gurus and masters of India because eventually at the End, in the Absolute of the Almighty Truth, in self-realization and in enlightenment, there is found to be no ‘saguna’ deity - a god with a this or that physical form.
No such imagined or similar physicality or entity of a god with a particular form - even of formlessness - as the Almighty Lord, is found breathing ‘up there’ as the Ultimate Reality.
Therefore, from the very onset, at the beginning of the spiritual quest itself, the self-realized sages advice the seekers to worship the Divine Reality sans any pre-conceived ideas of any kind.
This open-minded approach frees the mind, the psyche and the spirit of the spiritual aspirants. It exonerates the seeker from the psychological clutches of any imbibed misconceptions, of their inherited religion and regional culture. Or of any other such acquired education of another kind.
In turn, this kind of ‘nirguna bhakti’ or worship of the Divine sans the addition of a this-that qualitative attribute to the Ultimate Reality, makes the seeker wander and wonder at leisure. And worship in freedom.
It makes one a free spirit, a freethinker, and a freemystic.
By this is meant that one actually sees what one really-truly does - in one’s metaphysical search for the Absolute Reality.
In other words, the seeker does not falter unnecessarily in his or her search for the First Principle, owing to the ill-effects of some already existing funny or fancy ideas in the head about the Truth being a particular kitty in kind.
Thus, because of such mindfulness one does not pre-assume the supra normal to be as told by others, especially as enshrined dogmatically in one’s own mythical-cultural-religious lore.
Consequently, as a result of a better metaphysical re-learning and de-learning, one seeks and searches for the Almighty Truth in total freedom, in spirit and in truth.
In the Abrahamic religions, more specifically in Islam, it is not the Absolute Reality that is worshiped, but a physicality of a tribal god of a peculiar culture and a people, at a particular time in history.
Thus, it is not the Truth that is paid obeisance to by the people of these isms. It is but an obsolete i-me-mine god-dogmatism of dark ages that is worshiped per force by the people of these religions.
A lowly, lower knowledge of lost times has no place in these enlightened times.
Now days every kind of information is freely flowing. One can easily find out, know and understand for oneself that Creation is not just 6,000 years old, as propounded by the Abrahamic religions like Islam. And that neither is the earth flat. Nor does braying of a donkey mean it has seen the devil - as said by Mohammed. And as recorded in the correct and authenticated hadith of the Muslims.
Little knowledge makes people little, and that littler their gods.
Unlike in Islam where blind faith is a must, in Hinduism the emphasis is laid less on worshiping little gods and more on self-realizing the Divine Truth. By one’s own efforts. And by one’s own-self, as a first-hand self-experience.
Worship in higher forms of Hinduism is for attaining self-realization.
No concept of attaining the Absolute Truth by own-self exists in any Abrahamic faith, especially in Islam. It is the Way in Sufism. It is not the accepted truth in Islam.
The enforced tenet and truth of Islam is in that a physicality in the form of a god called Allah is the lord and master of the universe. And this fellow, Mr. Allah must necessarily be worshiped. Whosoever does not worship this ‘saguna’ deity or this particular believed in physicality of a god - with certain notable nefarious qualities - and does not believe in ‘his’ messenger Mohammed, the erring lot is an ‘animal’, is the infidel. And the infidel is going to hell. The follower to heaven. The kafir must be forcibly brought into the fold. Or killed. Sans mercy.
Islam does not accept the concept of Enlightenment.
In fact, to seek oneness with the Almighty, and therefore attain knowledge of the Universal Self - as the Sufis, yogis, freemystics et all do - is apostasy in Islam.
The above-said act - of seeking Unity with God - is called ‘shirk’. It is punishable by death in the Muslim religion, and in the regions ruled under the Islamic law of ‘Sharia’.
So, let it be clear. The Islamic god is a physicality separate from our own.
The Sufi and the Hindu concept of God being ‘That’ which is the limitless infinite oneness running in everybody’s veins, such a reality above definitions - ‘niraguna’ divinity - is not only unimaginable in the Islamic mind, but is considered the highest and unforgivable ‘kufr’ - an infidel lie - of a heinous kind. Punishable by sure death.
Alternatively, in better tuned-in spiritual schools of thought in India, the seeker is encouraged to seek the Absolute of Existence. And not the god of one’s own flawed inheritance or fancied insistence!
Islam claims its personal imagined physicality is the real entity, of God.
All of us, the unbelieving infidels are expected to pay obeisance to this illusory fellow as the only god-reality, as postulated by Islam. It’s followers, the Muslims insist that the others too must worship this non-reality as the only god. Failing to do as dictated by their prophet, is to lose one’s life - physically so. Beware, fellow infidels!
In a nutshell, as you must have gathered from the above long-winded analysis, the Islamic god Allah is a ‘saguna’ deity - a god with a form.
Islam is incapable of conceiving God to be an immanent, infinite eternity within all that is here or there.
The idea of a ‘nirguna’ deity, of the Divine to be the unbroken all-ness of oneness, which is unto the life and substance of everything - was then, in the lifetime of Mohammed - and is yet, beyond the limited intellectual and similar metaphysical confines of an unsophisticated people.
Hence, Islam is what it is. An ism for the unenlightened kind.
The worship of the Muslims and the Hindus, therefore, is remarkably different from each other - be it the ‘saguna’ or the ‘nirguna’ kind.
The twain do not meet.
With Sufism the higher teachings of Hinduism are in perfect agreement. But betwixt the two religions, of Islam and Hinduism, there is no meeting of the heart, the soul or the mind.
Sorry. That’s the truth.
Having stated this stark reality, have held back much. To be kind.
But then, one must by one’s very own-self read the Islamic literature as too the gnostic Vedanta texts of India, to make up one’s mind about the actual and the factual nature of the Absolute Principle of all that is. Call it the ‘god particle’, or God, or whatever. Even Allah!
May that which is ‘That’ unto all, in believers and infidels alike, help you to get ‘It’.
