Throughout history there have been lights that have come into the world whose purpose was to bring light to humanity. The enlightened ones, interestingly enough, come to give light and to help people understand the nature of their existence, and the reason for their existence, and why, in fact, they were created. And these enlightened beings that are sent by God, by Allah, into the world, stay here for a period of time, disappear, and then reappear somewhere else.
In Sufism they’re called Muhaiyaddeens. Muhaiyaddeen is a three part word: Mu is the one, haiy means life, and deen means the path, the way, the religion; so the ones who bring life back into the religion. And why do you have to bring life back into the religion? Because, when religion becomes established, it enters, and is faced with, many dangers which changes the nature of the religion.
In the Christian world, after the Roman Empire, when people were establishing kingdoms they did it under the authority of Christ, and under the authority of church. So after the Roman Empire we had the Holy Roman Empire. But what happens is once the state becomes overly involved in religion then the inclinations, and the purposes, and the ideas of the leaders of the state often become part of the religion.
The religion becomes more political than it is a relationship between God and man. Then, if you have to fall in line with the politically correct point of view of the religious state, all of a sudden things are controlled. So Muhaiyaddeens come who have no connection to politics, who have no connection to states, whose only loyalty is to God, and whose only purpose is to bring the understanding that God has given to them, to humanity.
If you are fortunate enough to be able to spend time with such a person, then you get the wisdom of the ages in a direct way. It comes to you from a mouth that is on a human, but a mouth who speaks divine words. And that’s an extraordinary thing.
You all, who are familiar with the Quran, know that God spoke through Muhammad’s mouth to create the Quran. In certain versions of the New Testament they have, in red, the words that Jesus spoke, Himself, as opposed to the words of commentary around what He spoke, so that you would understand what the direct message was.
I, in my lifetime when I was younger, was fortunate enough to meet a Muhaiyaddeen, and within about two weeks of meeting him he told me to stop reading books, even his books. He said what I would need would come directly from him, and directly from his mouth and his being. And in truth, you cannot compare the experience of being with a Muhaiyaddeen to reading about a Muhaiyaddeen, or reading the words after he has said them.
So what is it about being with the Muhaiyaddeen? What is it about being in that situation where you are with him? What do you learn? What do you see? What is it that you begin to understand?
Well when you’re young, you’re inquisitive and you have certain questions…
