Intercession

As Isma'ili Muslims, one of the primary differences between our belief system and that of many other groups deals with the concept of intercession... That is, that we believe an individual requires some intermediary between themselves and God.

Why the difference?

It deals with belief. Although many different groups of traditions both within and without the Muslim world share our perspective of what God is, there is no universal agreement on what this belief means in a practical sense.

When I think of God, I think of an infinite and non-existent entity that makes up the being of everything that exists, everything that can exist, everything that does not exist and everything that cannot exist... A circle whose perimeter is everywhere but whose center is nowhere.

How can one interact with something beyond conception? ... Better yet, how can one love It?

It definitely is possible for us to love a concept, we are all adept at loving the thought of what a person could be rather than the reality that is in front of us, but this is not easy to do in our daily lives. It is not easy to love God... No one said it was. Only a select few throughout history have been effectively able to do this, to love the concept of God, to love the true Essence.

But what about the rest of us?! For God is All-Merciful... How could He leave the 99%+ of humanity behind while leaving only a few to love the essence?

For the rest of us, we have religion, we have our own paths and our own journeys. Eventually if we follow them truthfully, I believe we will learn to love the Essence in our own ways.

For Isma'ili Muslims, this path to God requires an intermediary, it requires us to focus our attentions on a medium between ourselves and God. For us, this medium is what we call our "Imam." This does not mean that our doctrines say that our Imam is God, the concept of God would make such a belief very simplistic. However it does mean that we reach God through loving creation. Through a love of the creation, we love the creator...

A piece of clay is turned into a beautiful piece of pottery and has become an object of wonder now that it has been shaped and moulded. The world is full of clay, we walk over it every day, we walk past it all the time, but it is beneath our notice. When it is turned into a work of art it becomes noticed. This is the nature of the spirit. The Essence is the clay that surrounds us all the time, but it needs to be turned into a form that we perceive and can interact with for us to appreciate all of the potential beauty around us. The piece of art realizes where it has come from, but the casual observer cannot see this.

Each of us looks for the clay whether we know it or not, many of us need to look at pottery to appreciate the clay. What's your pottery?