As in man there is a faculty for art, music, poetry and science, so there is the faculty or spirit of guidance; it is better to call it spirit because it is the supreme faculty from which all the others originate.  As we see that in every person there is some artistic faculty, but not everyone is an artist, as everyone can hum a tune but only one in a thousand is a musician, so every person possesses this faculty in some form and to a limited degree, but the spirit of guidance is found among few indeed among the human race.

A Persian poet says, “Jewels are stones, but cannot be found everywhere; the sandal tree is a tree,m but does not grow in every forest; as there are many elephants, but only one king elephant, so there are human beings all over the world, but the real human being is rarely to be found.” This seems to show that there is some essence, be it in the mineral, vegetable, animal or human kingdom, which represents this spirit;  as the ruby differs from the ordinary stone only by the amount of light within it. We find the essence is light. In the vegetable kingdom we call it fragrances and it appeals to the breath and not to the eyes, and in the animal kingdom we know it as reason or the light of reason.

When we rise above faculty and consider the spirit of guidance we shall find that it is consummated in the the spiritual Teacher or Messenger. There is a saying that the Reformer is the child of civilisation, but the Teacher is its father.  This spirit has always existed, and must always exist; and in this way from time to time the Message of God has been given.

The “Sufi” magazine
vol. IV, no. 2
October 1920