Understanding Islam by Frithjof Schuon

A short piece from a classic book that introduces the Sufi understanding of Islam, with thanks to the friend who sent it to me.
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Surah al-Fatihah (The Opening Chapter of the Qur’an)

“That which opens” (the Qur’an) has a capital importance, for it constitutes the unanimous prayer of Islam. It is composed of several propositions or verses:

[In the Name of God, the Infinitely Good, the Ever Merciful]

1. Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds;

2. The Infinitely Good, the Ever Merciful;

3. King of the Last Judgement;

4. It is Thee we worship, and it is in Thee we seek refuge;

5. Lead us on the straight path;

6. The path of those on whom is Thy Grace;

7. Not of those on whom is Thy Wrath, nor of those who go astray.

The Shahadah (Bearing Witness, or Testimony of Faith)

The doctrine of Islam consists of two statements: first, “There is no divinity (or reality, or absolute) save the sole Divinity (or Reality, or Absolute)”, and “Muhammad (the Glorified, the Perfect) is the Messenger (the spokesman, the intermediary, the manifestation, the symbol) of the Divinity”; these are the first and the second Testimonies of the faith.

For Sufism, which is Islam’s kernel, the metaphysical doctrine is that “there is no reality save the One Reality” and that, insofar as as we are obliged to take account of the existence of the world and of ourselves, “the cosmos is the manifestation of Reality.”

Source: UNITY

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