Why are you a Muslim? Why is it Islam for you and not something else?
08.06.2025 09:22
Source: Ibn al-`Arabi, Tarjuman al-Ashwaq, in The Mystics of Islam, translated by Reynold A Nicholson
A few pages into the prologue, which I can’t find anywhere on the E-book copies implying that I got my hands on a great translation, and I was bored. The poetry was decent, despite no longer being in its original phrasing or language, a true testament to the translator’s skills, but it did not fry my brain or override my senses. Those days were pelted with sandy storms, leaving my mind and heart devoid of a mystical experience, as if an empty desolate land stretched into the infinite expanses of my being.
I grew up forming my private ishtadevata you know. Whenever I thought of God — and these are piecemeals of the scant memories I retain of those early six years I spent ogling almost everything I saw — a weird image of a plus-sized chalk-white man with jet-black hair, wearing a green top with orange-brown sweatpants (or pants in general) and white Mickey Mouse gloves with eyes that would make Mortimer, the predecessor to Mickey, jealous. I didn’t know where he came from or who he was, a part of me assumed that he was a cartoon character I had seen (can’t know for sure), but he always came to my mind when I thought of God, though I didn’t worship him.
Why does Islam give a bad vibe?
I am He whom I love,
I passed away into nothingness, I vanished,
And lo, I was the All-living--only God I saw.
Were you ever in love with your teacher?
it is a pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks,
We are all in the employ of the Lord, O Bahu;
Let sorrowful longing dwell in your heart,
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Myself with mine own eyes I saw most clearly,
Source: Sufi Dance, by Lamona42
Say “Oh He and You who is He”.
I follow the religion of Love: whatever way Love's camels take,
In the market, in the cloister--only God I saw.
Say “Oh He and You who is He”.
Source: Osman Hamdi Bey's “Young Woman Reading”, oil on canvas, circa 1880
Sweeping you along the way to the Friend
Him I have seen beside me oft in tribulation;
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dwelling in one body.
Qualities nor causes--only God I saw.
That the Beloved may appear before you
How do I get a white man for a serious relationship?
Say “Oh He and You who is He”.
Crush your heart, be broken.
that is my religion and my faith.
Remove your you from you
My heart has become capable of every form:
Observing His existence, reach annihilation!
Why do some people have loving parents and some do not?
in which lovers swim as they please, free of care.
thou seest Him,
In the religion of the Prophet--only God I saw.
Why is Taylor Swift re-recording her albums?
If you desire union with the Beloved
If you desire the Beloved, my heart,
Among the pearls is a gem --
What's it like to have an IQ of 140 to 170? Do people notice you're different?
Take yourself up to the heavens
Say “Oh He and You who is He”.
Amidst the flames outflashing--only God I saw.
Did you ever accidentally have sex with your brother/sister in India?
If thou seest me,
And if thou seest Him,
and the tables of the Torah and the book of the Quran.
and a temple for idols and the pilgrim's Kaa'ba,
Sometimes I wondered if Islam truly was mystical, whether I could even find such a thing here. “Don’t ask, don’t question, and don’t you even dare try to presume you can contact the Divine.” Here I was lamenting a lack of craziness, a jolt of lightning to shake my sophisticated soul, yet there were others who retained a far more concise record of their episodes — Belgrave, Melinda, Nyx, and Dimitris all made me red with envy. I could’ve gone for something else, I would’ve gone for anything, but deep down, I simply couldn’t.
never give up, never losing hope.
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I opened my eyes and by the light of His face around me
Source: Folios from a Qur’an manuscript, ca. 383 AH/993 CE
But when I looked with God's eyes--only God I saw.
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Your distresses are a torrent
Source: Shaikh Abu Saeed Abil Kheir, "Nobody, Son of Nobody", Vraje Abramian
I have friends here, acquaintances; mentors, who I deeply admire. Not for how well they write, how they spend their lives, there was something I always felt that I lacked and they had: a connection, an otherworldly supra-rational connection to whatever they were worshipping, irrespective of what I thought of the deities or entities that they submitted to, talked to, or understood in words I could hardly ever think of. I could make comments, either questioning or suggesting, and perhaps even hold a conversation by using what I thought of as my theoretical understanding of the topic at hand; all I did was splice it in some STEM language I barely understood, to sound smart.
In their own turn, they appear in the world
Say “Oh He and You who is He”.
It did give me some good ideas, however, be as it may, I sought giddiness, a mind-frying event that would lead me puzzled; I coveted the mystic madness or episodes that I’ve seen others talk about. That madness, an all-consuming insanity, something physical, something tangible, that I could remember. Irrespective of the result, that was my purpose, and the fear of societal pressure or ostracization, the endless accusations of heresy didn’t scare me. With that thought in mind, I attempted to read Fariduddin Attar’s Mantiqu’t-Tair (= “Conference/Speech of the Birds”), a literary masterpiece and arguably the most entrancing piece of Sufi poetry, comparable to Rumi’s Mathnawi-e-Manaawi.
Unbeknownst to little ol’ me, Nyx wrote about mysticism and I don’t know when or how, but I came across her answers on gods. Fascinating, mind you, just beyond my understanding. What are egregores? What’s mysticism? What is this henosis? All of these concepts were beyond me, much less something I would’ve liked to discuss. By chance I managed to make one post that introduced me to Ibn ‘Arabi’s wahdat-al-wujud (= “Unity of Being”), which introduced me to the whole debacle; coupled with the next posts I made, it was clear that I didn’t have a proper comprehension of whatever I was talking about.
Source: “Oh He and You who is He”, Mehmed Muhyiddin Uftade
Say “Oh He and You who is He”.
Source: al-Hallaj, Kitab al-Tawasin, in The Mystics of Islam, by Reynold A Nicholson
In prayer and fasting, in praise and contemplation,
to dive deep into that ocean, to gather pearls.
That you may drink the pure waters
Neither soul nor body, accident nor substance,
I went to fights with anyone who denied me the right to say mian with Allâh’s Name. How dare these people, these so-called “big kids” call me wrong, claiming that it isn’t His Name? He’s… my friend.
O Marvel! a garden amidst the flames.
that shines like the moon.
May they emerge hot from the furnace
That the bringers of good tidings may greet you
During my initial pursuits, I came up with another anthropomorphization of the Penultimate Nature: the word Allâh would appear in between thoughts and prayers, however, I interpreted it to be an expression of the Ultimate, not Allâh, simply an approximate appropriation of Him, who helped me connect to Islam, acting as a counter mechanism to my environment, society and culture that enforced fearing God. In retrospect, I probably never feared God; I loved Him. And perhaps that’s what I wanted to feel, for those around me to feel.
Say not that he is one of you or one of us
Leave behind body and soul
Source: Sultan Bahu, translated by J.R. Puri and K.S. Khak
Truth be told, had you asked me this very thing a few months ago, I would’ve been unable to articulate a proper answer. I never had something that felt reasonable as a stance, in any form, through which I could argue in favor of my personal faith. Was I attached to Islam? Undoubtedly. Did I like it? Indubitably; there was no other religion or belief system that I enjoyed learning about as much as I did with Islam. However, there wasn’t anything in it that I couldn’t find elsewhere: Islam would still exist within me, persisting through my culture and traditions, the daily rites and habits I’ve developed over time, but it never manifested as something that so strongly affected me passively, concomitantly; persistently.
In all the eye discovered--only God I saw.
Say “Oh He and You who is He”.
To answer your question, it’s because Islam, or at least the version I follow [i.e. my personalized construct], completes me. I can be downright bad for God, with no worry about what others think. Yes, there are other religions out there, but I doubt I could have this much fun, this much selfishness, and this much love elsewhere, even if I were to change myself. Newsflash: I didn’t. I’m the same as I’ve ever been, it’s just like how Dionysus came to Nyx, Aleister to Melinda, Christ to Belgrave: Allâh accepted me, cherished me, and before I ever considered Him a Beloved of mine, He taught me that He treated me as I was, loved me. I won’t leave that for anything.
That’s what I had, a state of fulfillment lost completely in my adolescence. As I’ve discussed before, I alienated myself from Islam, enough that I found punishment to not be a worthy motivator, and lying as an effective counter and excuse. Then I came to Quora, where I spent the golden days of the pandemic-induced lockdown reading mangas and writing answers I thought were worthy of recognition; I sought attention, validation, and a part of me still does. And then perchance I came upon Nyx. I was still fond of mythology, I loved the concept of there being supernatural gods as they appeared in Percy Jackson. Ever the opportunity grabber, I incorporated the concept of these powerful yet flawed beings (extremely flawed given Riordan’s retelling) into my stories.
Do not cease to pour out lamentations.
let us pay homage to him through our prayers.
What I figured out was that I probably do experience a connection with God, just not in the manner I wanted. I talk to myself, quite randomly, and as I do, there are instances where I slip up and focus on the smallest of things — that’s when I feel it. There’s something articulating its words through me, almost like auto-writing, but in verbal form, fully aware of who I am. It allows me to see the minutia of everything, acting as my inspiration and a method for me to learn more about it. Ironically, I’ve felt it the strongest when I comment underneath answers, especially when I take to describing my views on the world, the nature of the Monad, and mysticism.
The answer to the first one is that I shouldn’t, and for the second: I can. It’s a matter of me realizing that a bit too late; first having visualized that fact this Summer. Signs would pop up, as if in response to whatever I asked. I’d phase out, occasionally feeling, observing, and comprehending myself in ways I’ve never done before — there have been times when I’ve seen my body in a third-person perspective, as if looking down on it from afar, yet so close. More than anything, I now stare at the skies again. I see the world around me, sensing it, living in it. And I retain my sanity, with a tint of madness.
Like a candle, I was melting in His fire:
Without your heart pouring forth to another
Beyond the pedestal and beyond the throne
The Lord is an ocean of oneness
unique in value, unmatched in lustre --
and He whom I love is I:
Oh Uftade! Find your soul
Let tears of blood pour from your eyes
Pass on, without looking aside
The Beloved says, "The broken ones are My darlings."
In the valley and on the mountain--only God I saw.
Say “Oh He and You who is He”.
And fulfill your desires
That theophanies may appear
In favor and in fortune--only God I saw.
Reflecting back on why, it’s the insufficient amount of practicality in my life, coupled with how well I can cram topics and paraphrase them to presumably act as I can and do comprehend stuff. That’s how we’re taught, that’s how most of my teachers, peers, and professors expect us to live. Take what you read, tweak it a little, and form something of your own idea, that only superficially passes off as unique, while being inherently a copy-pasted variant of the original. Melinda tells me that it’s imposter syndrome, that I have felt things, irrespective of whatever trail of thought said otherwise. Maybe she’s right, maybe I really have, and maybe… I haven’t.
We are two spirits
Source: Baba Kuhi, in The Mystics of Islam, translated by Reynold A Nicholson
Pass beyond the universe, this [unfurled] carpet
Meet the angels
To tackle that problem I picked up Ibn’s Arabi’s Fusus-ul-Hikam (= “Bezels of Wisdom”), hoping that it would introduce me to a new, interesting, and unique field… and it did, just not like I thought it would. Going in, I expected to receive an extraordinary revelation, a reality-shattering experience. Much to my dismay, I got neither: all the book offered me was a hundred and sixty pages on Islamic cosmology, theology, nabuwat (= “Messengership), and risalat (= “Prophethood”) — in a tone that exuded quaintness with the demeanor of an aged man recounting his favorite books, not too distinct from the “I expect you to understand and yet I still don’t” attitude you sometimes find in Friday sermons.
Let love come that you may have a friend
thou seest us both.
It’s possible that it was my childhood rendition of a deity — he did pop up whenever I looked at the sky or clouds — based on how I never understood what God was; an anthropomorphization of Divinity that took form after the concoctions of a young boy’s mind. He didn't talk, though he did move his hands around, despite the fact that he retained the same pose all those years. Over time, I began to associate him with mian, an old Mughal-era word meaning prince or lord, which I used to associate with Allâh, using colloquially mannerisms (it was also cute, I don’t know why), by calling Him Allâh Mian. I wasn’t the only one, all kids did so, and some are still taught to say it this way.
Worshipping out of fear, out of obligation, is no fun. Life at that point decays to a compressed state wherein you’re held at gunpoint, continually, unable to live out as you would want to. Loving God, truly loving Him, without an ounce of fear or a shred of shame is a gift, a never-ending blessing. Contrast that with the mindless pursuit of my peers, the ephemeral fear they talked about was an illusion they themselves had grown tired of. Why was I to bow down when I didn’t enjoy doing so? Why couldn’t I love God?