Perennial Philosophy and Islam

Cino said:
@Thomas might be the right person to go down that rabbit hole
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OK.

I suspect it might all trace back to Hermes Trismegistos. According to Wikipedia, the Quranic prophet Idris is the Biblical Enoch, is the Egyptian Hermes Trismegistos.

The Hermetic tradition seems to resonate with all these other traditions.


Personally l thought Hermes was Khizr, "The Green", the Teacher of Arabia, alluded to in the Qur'an. He was the one Moses was sent to be educated by, they travelled together with Moses secondguessing his bizarre acts and Khizr each time explaining the wisdom behind them.

I know Khizr is important to Sufism. I think he may also be cognate with the Green Man of Celtic tradition but l'm wildly conjecturing now.
 
SufiPhilosophy said:
So, it's the unifying system behind the cosmos at all levels, and all true beliefs.
I guess l can see why Neoplatonism features in it.
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That's one way of looking at it ... The Perennialists would say there is the One is like the centre of the circle, and all authentic belief systems were radii of the circle.

SufiPhilosophy said:
But: How does it differ to Theosophy or Sufism?
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Well the perennial tradition rears its head from age to age. The most recent, I think, was with René Guénon (1886-1951), who lived through a time when 'alternative' and 'the esoteric' were all the rage in the salons of the elite. He was an excoriating critic of when he saw as syncretism, pseudo-religion and pseudo-spirituality. Theosophy became a particular target.

The Perennialists insist that while all religions flow from the One source, that source is Itself formless, invisible, unfathomable, unknowable, etc., and that it is only in and through an authentic religious tradition that the One is accessible.

Both Guénon and Frithjof Schuon (another heavyweight) were born Christian but became Muslim, in fact Sufi, declaring Islam to be the most recent Revelation.
 
Ah i see! Thank you. I would go further though: i think Moses saw the Burning Bush which was probably the closest anyone living got to actually seeing God (??? conjecturing), but he was just looking for firewood at the time, not engaging in any religious practice.
 
SufiPhilosophy said:
I know Khizr is important to Sufism. I think he may also be cognate with the Green Man of Celtic tradition but l'm wildly conjecturing now.
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Which similarities do you see, besides his title "Green Man"?

Do you know someone who encountered Khizr?
 
Cino said:
Which similarities do you see, besides his title "Green Man"?

Do you know someone who encountered Khizr?
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Green Man was a nature spirit. I read somewhere that Khizr (meaning "Green" in Arabic) caused greenery to sprout wherever he trod, and he was perpetually young even if he had a beard. Some legends even state he is still alive, but l doubt orthodox Islam would agree with this due to a hadith where the Prophet implored God to give him victory otherwise there will be no Muslims left if they lost the ensuing battle, hence Khizr couldn't have been around and about at that time.

The birth day / festival day of Khizr, considered a sort of patron saint of Sufism, is April 23 in Turkey, same as St George's Day, which marks the beginning of spring for some.St George has been paralleled with Elijah who is another perpetual youth type? I think Jesus was asked if he was Elijah or "that Prophet" (which we would take to mean Muhammad). So Elijah was thought to have great longevity.

So there's a lot of nature and youth symbolism there. Bear in mind that in ancient times, at the time of Khizr's florit (sp.?) there couldn't have been a lot of people in the world, and they were probably living far closer together.
 
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