Hazrat Inayat Khan now describes how the prophet has been seen in the West and in the East. The previous post is here.

There are two different conceptions of the prophetic soul. One is that of the Hindus, who called the prophetic souls Avatars, which means incarnations of God. They also distinguished the characters of their Avatars according to their claims. Some claimed to be the Avatar or the incarnation of Vishnu. Some claimed to be the incarnation of Shiva. It was easier for the people of India to grasp the idea of a prophet being a God incarnate than to accept him as another human being. The long line of prophets of Beni Israel were not called incarnations. They were called the godly, or the ones who were connected with God. Abraham was called Habib Allah, the friend of God. Moses was distinguished as Kalam Allah, the one who communicates with God. Jesus was called Ruh Allah, the spirit of God. Muhammad was called Rasul Allah, the messenger of God. 

The difference between the prophets among the Hindus and those of Beni Israel, is that the Hindu prophets claimed to be God themselves. The reason was that owing to their philosophical evolution the people of India were ready to accept the divine in man; but in Arabia and Palestine on the contrary, even the prophetic claim aroused such opposition against the prophets that their lives were in danger and their mission became most difficult for them to perform. 

After the claimants of godhead there have been many reformers in India, to whom people responded without much difficulty, but in the Near East it has always been difficult, and always will be so. It is for this reason that the ancient school of esotericism, the ancient Order of the Sufis, found it difficult to exist under the reign of orthodoxy. Many great Sufis have been made victims by the orthodox powers which reigned, until Sufism, that can be said to have been the mother of the coming reform in the religious world, was protected by Persia, and in the end found a still greater freedom in India, where the Hindus respected it and the Muslims followed it without the slightest hesitation. In the houses of the Sufis the followers of all religions met together in friendliness and in the feeling of brotherhood.

The Sufi message which is now being given in the Western world is the child of that mother who has been known for so many years as Sufism. It connects the two lines of the prophetic mission, the Hindu line and that of Beni Israel, in order that they may become the medium to unite in God and truth both east and west. It is the same truth, the same religion, the same ideal, which the wise of all ages have held. If there is anything different, it is only a difference of form. The Sufi message given now has adopted the form suitable for the age. It is a message without claim; and the group of workers in this message, and those who follow it, are called the Sufi Movement. Their work is to tread the spiritual path quietly, unassumingly, and to serve God and humanity. In this lies the fulfillment of the message.

To be continued…