FRITHJOF
SCHUON
and "Quintessential"
Sufism
Copyright©
2000 Frithjof Schuon
All rights reserved
"Multiply
remembrance of God until they say: 'Madman!'" (Muhammad, quoted
in Martin Lings, A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century, Cambridge: Allen
& Unwin, 1993, p.95)
"Remembrance is the mightiest rule of the religion...The law was
not enjoined upon us, neither were the rites of worship ordained but
for the sake of establishing the remembrance of God."
Shaikh Ahmad al-'Alawi
Copyright©
2000 Frithjof Schuon
All rights reserved
"--Some people are set at rest by very little;
others find their satisfaction in religion; some require more; it
is not only peace of mind that they must have, but the Great Peace,
which brings with it the plenitude of the Spirit.
--What about religion?
--For these last religion is only a starting point.
--Then is there anything above religion?
--Above the religion there is the doctrine. (...) The means of attaining
to God Himself.
--And what are these means?
--Why should I tell you, since you are not disposed to make use of
them. If you came to me as my disciple I could give you an answer.
But what would be the good of satisfying an idle curiosity?"
Shaikh al-'Alawi, dialogue with Dr. Carret in A Sufi Saint of the
Twentieth Century, pp.26-7.
"The
remembrance of God contains the whole Law and it is the reason for
the existence of the whole Law"
Frithjof Schuon
"(...)
In Islam, two 'religions' meet, combine, and sometimes confront one
another: the outward religion --that of Revelation and Law-- and the
religion of the Heart, of Intellection, of immanent Liberty; they
combine inasmuch as the outward religion proceeds from the inward
religion, but they are in opposition inasmuch as the inward and essential
religion is independent of the outward and formal religion."
Frithjof Schuon,
Esoterism as Principle and as Way, p.230.
See also: Sufism, Veil and Quintessence