“I do not say,” exclaimed Abu ’l-Hasan Khurqānī, “that Paradise and Hell are non-existent, but I say that they are nothing to me, because God created them both, and there is no room for any created object in the place where I am.” From this standpoint all types of religion are equal, and Islam is no better than idolatry. It does not matter what creed a man professes or what rites he performs. “The true mosque in a pure and holy heart Is builded: there let all men worship God; For there He dwells, not in a mosque of stone.” Amidst all the variety of creeds and worshippers the gnostic sees but one real object of worship. “Those who adore God in the sun” (says Ibn al-ʿArabī) “behold the sun, and those who adore Him in living things see a living thing, and those who adore Him in lifeless things see a lifeless thing, and those who adore Him as a Being unique and unparalleled see that which has no like. Do not attach yourself” (he continues) “to any particular creed exclusively, so that you disbelieve in all the rest; otherwise, you will lose much good, nay, you will fail to recognise the real truth of the matter. God, the omnipresent and omnipotent, is not limited by any one creed, for He says (Kor. =2.= 109), ‘Wheresoever ye turn, there is the face of Allah.’ Every one praises what he believes; his god is his own creature, and in praising it he praises himself. Consequently he blames the beliefs of others, which he would not do if he were just, but his dislike is based on ignorance. If he knew Junayd’s saying, ‘The water takes its colour from the vessel containing it,’ he would not interfere with other men’s beliefs, but would perceive God in every form of belief.” And Hafiz sings, more in the spirit of the freethinker, perhaps, than of the mystic: “Love is where the glory falls Of Thy face--on convent walls Or on tavern floors, the same Unextinguishable flame. Where the turbaned anchorite Chanteth Allah day and night, Church bells ring the call to prayer And the Cross of Christ is there.” Sūfism may join hands with freethought--it has often done so--but hardly ever with sectarianism. This explains why the vast majority of Sūfīs have been, at least nominally, attached to the catholic body of the Moslem community. ʿAbdallah Ansārī declared that of two thousand Sūfī Sheykhs with whom he was acquainted only two were Shīʿites. A certain man who was a descendant of the Caliph ʿAlī, and a fanatical Shīʿite, tells the following story: “For five years,” he said, “my father sent me daily to a spiritual director. I learned one useful lesson from him: he told me that I should never know anything at all about Sūfism until I got completely rid of the pride which I felt on account of my lineage.”