________________
1008
THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
(2) “Verily God saith: I became ill, why didst thou not enquire after me; I became hungry, why didst thou not feed me; I begged of thee, why didst thou not give me.'*
(3) "If you let down a bucket by a rope into a well, it will, of a surety, descend on God."
(4) “What God created in the beginning was my soul."
(5) "I was a hidden treasure and loved to know myself, and so I created Khalk to know myself."
The above are consistent with the Vedantic theory we have examined in the earlier chapters of this book, and unmistakably point to the doctrines of Islam being identical with the tenets of Hinduism. The passage : “I was a hidden treasure and loved to know myself, and so I created the khalk (universe) to know myself” is, almost word for word, the same doctrine as is contained in the Vedantic formula "I This Not.” Some of the Muslim Saints who have attained to greater wisdom have even gone so far as to maintain their identity with God, as was the case with Shams Tabrez, the poet, whose famous couplet, “Ajal man Shams i Tabraizam, ki gashtam shaifta
bar khud, “Chun khud ra khud nazar kardam nadidam juz
Khuda dar khud,” || breathes the purest Vedanta. Ba'izeed is another ins* The Philosophy of Islam, p. 87.
Ibid, p. 88. [Ibid p. 89. $ Ibid p. 89.
تبریزم ki گشتم شیفته بر خود عجب من شمش چو خود را خرد نظر کردم ندیدم جز خدا در خود
Tr.. What a unique being am I, Shams of Tabrez;
When I came to look into myself, I discovered none but God in the self.'
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org