Muhammad

here is an inner man that nobody sees,” he replied. “Now he is on the outside, and the outer man, who is seen by everyone, he is gone forever.”

The most significant mystical event in Muhammad’s life was the night journey he took to Jerusalem on the back of a lightning steed. Muhammad worshiped there with his predecessors and then was lifted up to the seventh heaven, where he communed with Abraham, Moses, and Jesus before being ushered into the presence of Allah.
The purpose of the Koran, to borrow Jesus’s words, was to fulfill the law, not to break it. It took warfare to spread the new faith, but just over the horizon was a Paradise in which one God welcomed all believers. We can say that Islam brought monotheism to replace polytheism—the Arabs got one God in place of many. But the message was more universal. Allah wasn’t Yahweh dressed in a caftan. He was the One, an all-pervasive presence that upheld the cosmos.

went to Muhammad and asked him if this was their promised land.
“That’s not my concern,” he replied. “God can find his own anywhere on earth. There’s something more important.” He pointed to a pile of scrolls on the floor. “This is God’s book. It has been growing for twelve years now. Nothing is more precious. You are people of the Book, so you understand.”

must wander like Joseph among the unbelievers, only I don’t weep. I adapt. And if these Muslims have found their own Elijah or even Moses, why should I kick the cow that gives me milk? My job is to write, not to judge.

Christians also write, perhaps more than the Jews

First they persecute you. Then they need you. In the end, they convert to your religion.”

God commands us to live: close to the mystery, but never solving it.

There is no longing when you are close to God

The creation is like God’s family. Everything that sustains it comes from Him. Therefore, He loves most whoever shows kindness to His family.”

strongest wrestler has no strength compared to the man who can control his anger