One of the fundamental problems of our contemporary world has been judiciously referred to as a
“clash of the uncivilized.”1 This conflict has been particularly acute in the encounter between certain
mainstream elements of the secular West—with which one must aggregate, at least outwardly, a few
zones of resilient Christian identity and emerging neo-Christian cultures—and some of the most
visible contemporary expressions of people and societies for whom Islam is the predominant
principle of collective identity. In the West, one of the praiseworthy responses to such tensions and
oppositions has come from those who have called for a better “understanding” of Islam. Here,
understanding is not meant to refer to a full acceptance, but to a sufficient grasp of the inner and outer
“logic” of Islam, as well as to a degree of recognition of its spiritual and moral values. Perhaps
paradoxically to some, such a capacity to understand others presupposes an inner attitude which has
everything to do with the degree to which one has assimilated the core principles of one’s own
civilization. This holds true, needless to say, on any side of the civilizational “divide.” There is no
civilization formed by the sacred that does not ultimately lead its most discerning representatives to
perceive in some measure the relativity of its own exclusiveness, at least in petto. To this extent, to
be “civilized” amounts almost as much to recognizing the intelligence and beauty of other
civilizations as it is to fathom the foundations of one’s own; the latter being, in fact, the precondition,
if not the guarantee, for the former.
The writings collected in this volume make the case for a vision of Islam as a religion and
civilization intrinsically equipped to address universal human predicaments, and converging thereby
with the highest spiritual expressions of all authentic religious heritages. They point to fundamental
“universals” of Islam, such as the doctrine of Unity and “unification” (tawhīd), the essentialness of
Divine Mercy, the inclusive and integrative nature of the Muslim concept of prophecy, the Islamic
ability to assimilate various cultural and ethnic languages, and the capacity of Islamic mysticism to
serve as a spiritual bridge between diverse religions. They include now classic essays by “founding
fathers” of the Perennial Philosophy, testimonies from spiritual figures of Sufism, and contemporary
studies of Islam and Sufism by experts and younger scholars of religion. Finally, as the universal
language par excellence, poetry could not but be included in this volume.
* * *
The universal dimensions of Islam refer to the dimension of breadth as well as depth. They pertain to
both form and essence.
On the level of form, there is to our mind no better way of pointing out this universality than by
quoting Schuon’s assertions that “Islam . . . has given a religious form to that which constitutes the
essence [“substance” in the original French] of all religion”2 and that “Islam . . . aims to teach only
what every religion essentially teaches; it is like a diagram of every possible religion.”3 The
simplicity of the form renders it accessible to any man or woman, and therefore potentially to all of
mankind. It speaks to all capacities and levels of understanding. It also allows for its manifestation
through diverse cultural contexts, from Sub-Saharan Africa and the Balkans to India and China.
From another point of view—notwithstanding the expansive potentiality of Islam’s schema-like
form—other aspects of its form have placed limits on Islamic expansion. This is particularly true
when referring to the Bedouin and Arab cladding, as it were, of the message. Such a cladding is not
the best means of “exporting” Islam, as it enters into conflict with psychological and cultural traits
predetermined by other civilizational “logics”. Be that as it may, this twofold aspect of the Islamic
form may correspond to the distinction, on the one hand, between form as an expression of divine
essence, or “archetypal form,” and, on the other hand, form as a providential but necessarily
exclusive clothing of human culture.
On the level of the essence of the message, the principal element of Islam’s universality
undoubtedly lies in its doctrine of Unity, understood either from an exoteric or esoteric perspective.
From an exoteric standpoint, the universality of Islam is to be found, in a sense, in the aforementioned
“schematic” aspect of its affirmation of one supreme God as opposed to many divine manifestations.
The Qur’ān and the traditional teachings and interpretations of its message have shown the way of
universality through the affirmation of a metaphysics of the Unity of Divine Reality and through the
corresponding affirmation of a divine recognition of other traditional faiths. They have done so to the
extent that it is possible within the context of a religion, that is to say, within an exclusive belief
system. Esoterically, tawhīd opens onto the metaphysics of essential Unity, which the various
spiritual and traditional languages couch in so many “syntaxes,” either affirmatively or apophatically,
objectively or subjectively, doctrinally or methodically.
Thus, Islam arrives at the religious paradox of founding the providential legitimacy of its own
exclusiveness on the very principle of its overall inclusiveness; a paradox that lies at the core