Theos-Talk Archives (December 2004 Message tt00147)

I am an atheist in the interstices

Like Nanak, Kabir, Hafiz

And Hallaj, my beloved

I worship Allah and Allah alone

In between those sects which try to capture Him


Don't try to classify me in any sect

Allah is in the interstices

Not just in Mecca, Karbala, or Madras

(Says) Al-Hallaj Kabir Ali

N.B. "God" (whom I like to call "Allah" due to it's radical montheistic tone) simply can't be known in any way possible except as a feeling in our "heart" (mind). Allah is an instinctive presence, as Meister Eckhart, the German Christian mystic, understood. Like many other mystics, I would rather call myself an atheist than to try to speak about or for Allah. I am atheistic about all other gods, and Allah is only Allah, "La iliha ilallah." 

Salaam Alaikum,
Andrew W. Smith

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