Re: Secrets of Islam
Notice the writer's emphasis/distinction on exoteric and esoteric dimensions of religion :)
Messenger of Allah
At the same time that in the West the Church of Rome emerged triumphant, in the East arose a new prophet and Messenger of God. In the ancient land of Arabia, in fulfilment of age old prophecies, Muhammed began to proclaim complete surrender to the One God of all mankind. His message became known as Islam, the last of the great revealed religions. And after the manner of Moses and Jesus, the prophet Muhammed distinguished between the exoteric and esoteric dimensions of religion. Being the last of all the celestial faiths, Islam contained the essential divine truths of all the earlier revelations.
At first Muhammed confided his experience only to a small group of close associates. Soon, an inner circle or secret school of disciples began to form around him, and in time they publicly proclaimed the exoteric message of surrender to Allah. Prophet Muhammed never claimed to found a new religion. In fact, he always said he was just continuing the primordial tradition that was working long before him. Like Moses and Jesus, Muhammed came in a long line of prophets who from time to time delivered to their people, under divine inspiration, the same revelation of God's nature and of Man's relationship to Him, as had been given to Adam. Muhammed came to reinstate this eternal pristine message that had been obscured by ignorance, idolatry, and used to enslave rather than liberate humanity. From this perspective the Holy Quran teaches the primordial unity of all religions and the common origin of each. It affirms that there is not a nation or people to whom a prophet has not been sent.
The central message of Islam is the declaration of faith (shahada): "There is no god but God [Allah] and Muhammad is the Messenger of God [Allah]."** From the esoteric perspective this is also understood as "there is no reality except Reality". The exoteric practice is summed up in the 'Five Pillars of Islam'. These are Faith, Prayer, Fasting, Almsgiving and Pilgrimage. **
The Holy Quran has both an exoteric (zahir - the outer or apparent) meaning and an esoteric (batin - the inner or secret) meaning. Within Islamic esotericism, as in the original Mosaic and Christian revelations, knowledge is made accessible depending on the integrity and cognitive ability of its recipients, with the consequence of requiring the withholding of information from the uninitiated. This is why there has always been a gradual unveiling or communication of spiritual truths to mankind. What Muslim esotericists call the "wisdom of gradualness" (hikmat at-tadrij).
Spiritual knowledge, states a highly regarded Islamic esoteric text, is like food and light:
Just as a small child needs to be fed gradually, stage by stage, until it reaches adolescence, so that it may not eat something detrimental to its constitution, and just as light is appropriate only to persons with open, healthy and strong eyes, so that a person whose eyes have been shut, or had just emerged from darkness, will be severely dazzled by daylight, in the same way, those who get hold of this Letter should communicate it only to those who are in need of it.
Christian mystics travelled to Arabia seeking a genuine spiritual Master Teacher. In fact, mystics surrounded Muhammed during his life. These Companions, as they are known, he privately instructed in the doctrines of Islamic esotericism. Two of these Companions, the Prophet Muhammed's close friend Abu Bakr and his son-in-law Ali, later inspired their own Orders.
*Although Muhammed, as the last of the prophets, was the repository of a complete treasure of precepts, Muslim tradition asserts he publicly declared only some of them, leaving the rest undeclared. This was due either to their inapplicability at the time, or because of the expediency of disseminating them in that particular period of history. It is said even Prophet Muhammed himself mentioned certain secret moments of revelation, saying, "If the Muslims knew of them, they would stone me." He therefore entrusted the undeclared precepts to the Companions and through them to the worthy of succeeding generations so that they would progressively reveal them at appropriate junctures according to their wisdom, whether by inferring the particular from the absolute, or the concrete from the abstract. *
After the death of Prophet Muhammed in 632 A.D., the Companions, particularly Abu Bakr, Ali and Salman al-Farisi, continued to preserve the esoteric tradition within the exoteric faith of Islam. Abu Bakr becoming the first Caliph, leader of the Muslim community. However in time, just as Muhammed had warned before his death, the thirst for power and political intrigue soon caused strife and division among the Muslims. The mighty Islamic empire became divided as positions of authority were usurped by individuals bereft of spiritual understanding. Those who seized power and wealth did so in the name of the prophet and the exoteric creed of Islam. The outer creed represented by the law (sharia), the accumulated customs of the Prophet (hadith), and a literal reading of the Quran, emerged as 'orthodox' Islam. Again, exotericism appeared to vanquish esotericism. Many Muslim initiates, custodians of esoteric wisdom, went into hiding or exile. Yet a number of Muslim spiritual teachers, considered by the people to be saints, did not conceal the fact they had been initiated by members of a school or brotherhood (tariqah) founded by one of the Companions.
The Sufi
Our cause is the truth of truth. It is the exoteric, the esoteric of the exoteric and the esoteric of the esoteric. It is the secret of the secret; it is the secret of that which remains wrapped in secret.
- Hadith of the Sixth Imam
At the end of the eighth century and the beginning of the ninth century, many Muslims who followed the spiritual path openly declared their connection with Islamic esotericism. They divulged truths based on spiritual experience that, because of their outward appearance, brought on them the condemnation of orthodox Islamic jurists and theologians. Some were imprisoned, flogged, and even killed. Historically, the practitioners of esotericism were associated with the descendants of the family of Prophet Muhammed. Ali, Muhammed's son-in-law, being universally regarded as the fountainhead of esoteric knowledge. The relationship between the Prophet Muhammed and Ali, symbolic of the exoteric form and the esoteric core of divine religion. This is similar to the Christian Gnostic idea of the relationship between Jesus, representing the exoteric, and the beloved disciple John to whom the esoteric doctrine was divulged.
The Sufi, like all genuine mystics, aims for a glimpse of the Eternal while still trapped by life in this world. To achieve such a personal encounter with their Divine Beloved, "the Sufis laid out the 'path' (tariqah) that would lead to gnosis (marifah) or mystic knowledge of the Lord. The 'path' of ascension to divine union with God passes through stages known commonly as 'stations' or 'states': the last stage is that of fana, or passing away in God, which is the ultimate desire of a successful mystic. The Sufi at this point ceases to be aware of his physical identity even though he continues to exist as an individual."
Although the majority of Sufi Orders meticulously observe the Islamic law (Sharia), they believe it to be only the outer clothing or external shell protecting the core, the esoteric truth. The Holy Quran calls those who know the essence of things "the possessors of the kernels." The Sufis liken esoteric wisdom to a "kernel" hidden within a shell. Exoteric Islam, experienced as a traditional way of life, creates the environment, the culture, the community, and necessary psychological orientation, from which certain individuals are called to initiation into esotericism. The authentic gnostic and mystic is always a minority when compared to the great mass of humanity who are fully satisfied with exoteric religion.
I guess thats it. Although there is more interesting detail but it would make it very long. :)