Hazrat Inayat Khan gave teachings on various aspects of both eastern and western religion, including this insightful passage on the prophet Abraham.

Abraham was the father of three great world religions. For it is from his descendants, who were called Ben Israel, that came Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Abraham was the first to bring the knowledge of mysticism from Egypt, where he was initiated in the most ancient esoteric order. And on his return the place he chose to establish as a world center was Mecca, to which people made pilgrimage. Not only in the age of Islam, but long before Muhammad was the sacred center of Mecca held in esteem by the pious.

In the ancient tradition the family of Jesus Christ is traced back to the family of Isaac, and Muhammad came from the family of Ishmael. The prophecies of Abraham were always living words, though various people have given different interpretations according to their own ideas. But to the mind of the seer these prophecies have a very deep meaning.

With Abraham’s vast knowledge of esotericism, he was considered a great patriarch among his people. He was interested in everybody’s troubles and difficulties. He was thrown into the midst of worldly responsibilities, to learn all that he could from them, and then to teach his knowledge and experience to those who looked to him for the bread of knowledge. No doubt some of the stories of ancient times strike our modern ears as somewhat childish. But it is the way they were told, and to what kind of people, that makes all the difference. In the first place there was a great scarcity of lettered people in those days; therefore the stories were told by the unlettered, who must certainly have improvised upon every legend and pictured it according to the understanding of their particular age. Nevertheless, truth is there, if we only know how to lift the veil.

Abraham’s life makes him not only a prophet, but also a murshid. He was a mystic; he gave counsel to those who came to him in difficulty. He examined them, treated their minds and healed their souls according to their needs. The most remarkable thing one finds in Abraham is that, besides being a prophet and a mystic, he lived the life of an ordinary human being, at one with his fellow men in their times of pleasure or sorrow.

To be continued…