Ibn Arabi-Many Routes up the Same Mountain?

The question today, do all roads lead to God?

Here is a poem by the great Andalucian Islamic Mystic Ibn Arabi

Wonder

Wonder,
A garden among the flames!
My heart can take on any form:
A meadow for gazelles,
A cloister for monks,

For the idols, sacred ground,
Ka'ba for the circling pilgrim,
The tables of the Torah,
The scrolls of the Quran.

My creed is Love;
Wherever its caravan turns along the way,
That is my belief,
My faith.

- Ibn Arabi

This is, obviously not Orthodox Islam but Ibn Arabi is greatly revered as a Muslim writer and thinker. The sense of this poem is of a force, God, who is revealing himself through many sacred experiences.

This is the idea that underpins much of modern, inclusive "spirituality". Everyone who seeks God is ultimately communing with him. He has expressed himself through many different religious systems throughout the world and the differences in revelation are merely linguistic and cultural. This is backed up with a strong sense of the rights of humanity, especially the individual human's right to express his communion with God in whatever way he sees fit.

I, however, have many problems with this seemingly, "common sense" Philosophy.

This is a big question, so let us keep it within small parameters. Lets assume that the truth lies in either the Bible or the Koran. IE: in one of the three related Monotheistic religions, Christianity, Islam or Judaism.

After that nifty move that effectively silences over 1/3rd of humanity, let us further cut down our parametres and look at probably the key issue that divides these three faiths. Let us look at who is Jesus of Nazareth and what happened (or didn't happen) on the cross outside Jerusalem around 2000 years ago.

Putting it simply, Christians believe that he was God the Son in human form as well as being the Jewish Messiah and that he was crucified for the sins of mankind, died and rose again on the third day. Muslims believe that he was the Jewish Messiah but certainly not God the Son, was sentenced to death but Allah caused him to be changed for someone with a similar likeness and Allah caused him to be lifted to heaven. (Incidentally, this is not totally clear from the Koran as we shall see later.) Finally, Jewish people would say that he was not the Messiah, but was in fact an impostor or lunatic, was crucified but did not rise from the dead. (That is maybe a rather simplified view of Jewish teaching on the subject, feel free to comment.)

The question is, can these all be different liguistic, cultural expressions of the same, basic truth?

Simply put, they cannot be. The fact of the difference in the nature and death of Jesus are fundamental points of each faith and you could not compromise this difference in outlook without totally destroying the basis of that faith. Obviously, great visionaries like Ibn Arabi or Guru Nanak seem to be able to transcend their own cultural background and bring a synthesis of different elements, but they are, in fact, creating a new faith because they come up against things that are irreconcilable within the religions as they are.

Ok, that decided lets take a break.

Next week we will look at what are the different views of who Jesus is. We will start from the Koran, move on to the Jewish Old Testament and then finish with his own words in the New Testament.

Jake