By comparing the presentation of spiritual matters in the...

By comparing the presentation of spiritual matters in the basic texts of the world's religions it can be clearly observed that the texts of Islam have concerned themselves with the description of everlasting felicity and the external world more than the texts of other religions. Therefore, the appearance of the way of the purification of the soul within Islam is perfectly natural, without there being the need for any relationship as to its origins with India or with any other place.

Furthermore, as history is there to prove, a large number of the companions of ‘Ali (the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet and the first Shi'ite Imam) such as Salman, Kumayl, Rashid, Maytham and Uways were under his direct spiritual guidance and instruction at a time when Islam had not yet reached India and when there could be no question of contact with Indian thought.

The fact that the chains of spiritual initiation ( silsilah ) of practically all of the Sufi orders in Islam reach back to Ali further corroborates this point. Previous…