The Sacred Mountain Parable

 

     

While chatting with Hosham the dervish, who was also a philosophy student at the University of Khartoum where we sat on the veranda of the house in the desert village of Abou Groun the question of exclusivity came up again. To answer this we invented a story of a Sacred Mountain and the people who come to it on pilgrimage from the Four Directions.

 

Hosham seized the image. "Yes and there must be a guide who knows the way to bring the people from each direction. For me this leader is Mohammed, or the Spirit of Mohammed, who has existed since, `before Adam was between water and clay.' And the top of the mountain,” he says. "Should be called `The Realization of Predestination' for at that point we are free and laid back in the lap of God. Islam means `Surrender to the Will of God,’ the Will which is written in the great book of heaven before we are born. When we achieve surrender then we are free."

 

I asked if we could elaborate on the idea in the form of a story rather than as a discussion of what is right or wrong.

 

We agreed to imagine the mountain to be somewhere near Khartoum, so that we might make the geographical details relevant to where we were. He let me speak for a while. 

 

"From the South people come through a great rain forest and vast wetlands. They need canoes to cross the swamplands and to use the river-ways, and they need tents and raincoats. On their way fruit is plentiful and there are many settlements where food is available.

 

"The people who come from the West must pass through a great desert. They need camels, and large supplies of food, and water in goatskins tied onto the camels, and firewood in order to light small fires in the sand on which to boil water for tea. They need good sandals for walking on the hot sands during the day and a good cloak for the cold nights of the desert.

 

"From the North people come over mountain ranges, crossing high, snow-covered passes. They need warm coats and boots, warm sleeping gear and mules to carry these through the valleys when it's too hot to wear much. There may be bandits along the way so these pilgrims need to know how to defend themselves and may even need to take an armed escort to accompany them through the most dangerous places.

 

"The people who come from the East must cross a great sea. They need to choose a sturdy ship and must take food and water for the voyage and warm clothes in case of storms at sea. They must know the right season to travel so that there may be favourable winds and helping currents. And some of them should know about navigation."

 

The story continues with a question,

 

"If, while sitting under the brilliant desert stars at night, or huddled round a log fire in a refuge near the top of a mountain pass, some members of the group should ask their guide about the route and question him as to whether they are on the right path or the best path or the only path, then what should he answer?

 

"Yes." Hosham replies readily, "'Yes!' he would say. 'Certainly this is the only way for us to go to the mountain and I am familiar with the path and all its stages.'"

 

"But perhaps after weeks of travel,” I continued. "In the intimacy of evening conversation round a fire when coffee has been served, the pilgrims might ask other questions, such as:

 

"`Do any other routes exist? Do other people come to the mountain, and perhaps by other paths?' Then what will the guide answer?

 

"If he feels that they are confident in their own path, have faith in their guide, and have a clear vision of their goal, perhaps he can tell them tales of the routes which come to the mountain from directions different to the one that he and his party are treading.

 

"At a high point on each of the four separate approaches is a Temple facing the mountain, which for most pilgrims is their final destination. This is the fullness of the path of Orthodox Religion. From there they can see the mountain in all its splendour, the green flanks, the steep slopes, the bare rock cliffs and then a layer of cloud, popularly referred to as the `Cloud of Unknowing,' hanging below the peak. This layer of cloud sometimes is illuminated by flashes of lightning, and reverberates with loud claps of thunder. Above the cloud the peak of the mountain rises noble and pure, bedecked by its mantle of eternal snow, either gleaming in the sunshine, or reflecting the many colours of the sunset, or sunrise, or moonlight.

 

"From this Temple the pilgrims will caste their minds back upon the long hard journey they have completed to come thus into the presence of the Sacred Mountain. They look before them at the splendour of the place they have longed to see, and are satisfied. They are feeling the effects of the altitude on their breathing. They think of their families at home and how happy these will be to know that they have succeeded in completing the sacred journey.

 

"The guides from the various directions accompany their groups only as far as the Temples. From there they will lead them back on the return journey.

 

 

"But there is the possibility, for the intrepid few, of embarking upon the hazardous and time-consuming circumambulation of the mountain. This is the beginning of the Way of the Mystics, what are called Sufis in Islam  Those who are interested are screened for fitness, because of the high passes which must be climbed on the way round. They must also show appropriate attitudes for they will meet pilgrims who have come from other directions with a different understanding of the mountain and a very different experience of the path which must be followed to arrive at the Mountain.

 

"There are rules for the circumambulation, similar to the rules for the Hajj in Mecca: no sexual contact, no killing of any living thing and no display of anger is permitted.

 

"The four faces of the mountain are as different to each other as the paths leading to them. The southern face is warm and green like a summer's day, to the West there is thunder and lightning, in the North it is clear and cold like an ice crystal, while the East is bright and fresh like a morning in Spring.

 

"The captain of the guides, called the Khalifa, has established schools near each of the Temples for training the guides. There is also a place where those who want to attempt the journey higher up the mountain may be prepared, but this place is difficult to find and one must be invited to go there. The true function of the Khalifa is to prepare aspirants who wish to risk the ascent of the mountain through the Cloud of Unknowing to the peak which stands clear in the light."

 

Hosham enthusiastically interjects.

 

"The peak is known to the aspirants as, The Threshold of the Throne of Majesty."

 

"The Khalifa also supervises the selection and training of guides and he visits the pilgrims at the various Temples on the lookout for aspirants for the Threshold. His real work is to guide selected souls from the Tariquat, which is the Path, to the Ma`rifat, which is Knowing.

 

"Now should the Khalifa be asked, 'Which is the right way to the mountain?' how would he answer the question?"

 

                                                                                    Abou Groun:

                                                                                    Ramadan, August, 1979