Volume
Vol. 13, Gathas
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Superstitions, Customs, and Beliefs
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Sub-Heading
2.7, The Greek Mysteries (2)
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Vol. 13, Gathas
Superstitions, Customs, and Beliefs
2.7, The Greek Mysteries (2)
This was really a Sufi institution, though not called by this name, for exactly the same thing is to be found today in the schools of Sufis in India and Persia.
The lesser mysteries were `Ilm-i-Rabbani, the "mystery of gods," in other words the mystery of the different attributes of God. For when the proper name of God is repeated a certain of times some particular effect is produced by it, resulting in a desirable object.
Before Islam the different names of God were considered to be different gods known by different names and identified with different attributes and characteristics. By invoking the names of different gods a person accomplished his object in life, as now Wazifa is practiced by the Sufis. The music which the ancient Greek knowers of mystery had as a means of their spiritual development, the same is used even now in the Chishtiyya schools of Sufis, where the Qawwali meeting, which is called Sama, is held, in which music is played and sung for awakening the emotional nature, which is the secret of revelation.
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