A Muslim Meditation on Love

Judith Latham, who works for Voice of America, invited me to speak on Islam to her congregation at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Arlington, Va. As a token of friendship, she presented me a book, "Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West," edited by Daniel Ladinsky.

Judith is a compassionate person and I suspect she thought the poems would uplift me at a time when the discussion around Islam tends to be depressing.

Muslims are commonly equated in the media with "terrorists" and the Immigration and Naturalization Service's campaign to fingerprint Muslims in the United States has caused anger, dismay and paranoia in the community. The talk about war in Iraq and its possible consequences has been a further cause of concern. The ordinary Iraqi people are suffering terribly for no fault of theirs: first, the brutality of the dictator who rules over them; then the war over a decade ago, which isolated them from the world and created a wall of sanctions around them.

She was right. I was not only uplifted but even diverted from the headlines and television news. The drumbeat of war faded in my ears.

What struck me in the selection was the similarity in the theme and content of the poems: love, spiritual unity, and the oneness of creation. Western, Middle Eastern, and Indian sages; male and female; Muslim, Christian and Hindu -- if the name of the author was concealed it would be impossible to place his or her religion, sex, or region. Take the following six poems:

1. Close to God: "One may never have heard the sacred word `Christ," but be closer to God than a priest or nun.

2. The Christ's Breath: "I am a hole in a flute that the Christ's breath moves through, listen to this music."

 

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