Table Of ContentREFLECTIONS
OTHER TITLES BY GAI EATON
AVAILABLE FROM THE ISLAMIC TEXTS SOCIETY
Islam and the Destiny of Man
King of the Castle
Remembering God
REFLECTIONS
Gai Eaton
THE ISLAMIC TEXTS SOCIETY
Copyright © The Estate of Gai Eaton 2012
First published in 2012 by
The Islamic Texts Society
Miller’s House
Kings Mill Lane
Great Shelford
Cambridge CB22 5EN, UK
Reprint 2016, 2018
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978 1903682 821 paper
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
produced, installed in retrieval systems, or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publishers.
CONTENTS
Preface 7
Reflections: Sufism 11
Reflections: The Five Pillars of Islam I 8
Reflections: Fear, Love and Knowledge 29
Reflections: Seeing and Being Seen 3 5
Reflections: Beauty 45
Reflections: Living by the Book 53
Reflections: of One Accord 77
Reflections: Contemplations 8 7
Reflections: Faith and Action 103
Reflections: Contemplation and Action 109
Words of Faith: Man as Viceroy 115
Words of Faith: Detachment 124
Words of Faith: The Capacity to See Near and Far 132
Words of Faith: Inner and Outer Peace 140
Words of Faith: Islam: The Sunni/Shi ah Divide ,4,8
Words of Faith: who is the Infidel? 151
Words of Faith: The ،Labels’ of Rehgion ¡55
Words of Faith: A Relationship of Reciprocity 163
Words of Faith: The Night Journey 169
Words of Faith: The Islamic Way of Life: The shari'ah 172
Words of Faith: The Islamic shari'ah Today 174
Pause for Thought: The Need to Pause 177
PREFACE
WHEN MY FATHER, Gai Eaton, died in 2010 at the age
of eighty-nine, he left behind a body of work that
included King of the Castle, Islam and the Destiny of Man, and
Remembering God, books that continue to inspire Muslims
and all seekers of truth from around the world, and an auto
biography, A Bad Beginning, that was published only weeks
before his death. My father was a passionate Englishman who
first converted to Islam at the age of thirty while living in
Egypt, inspired by the writings of Rene Guenon, Ananda
Coomaraswamy and Frithjof Schuon, and a close friendship
with Muslim scholar and philosopher Martin Lings.
After spending much of his life as a diplomat in the Caribbean
and India, Gai Eaton returned to England in 1977 and for the
next 22 years worked from the Islamic Cultural Centre in
London, lecturing widely on Islam and doing what he could
to counter the growing radicalization of many younger mem
bers of the congregation, which he believed was counter to the
basic tenets of the faith he loved so much, reminding them of
the Prophet Muhammad’s remark that “anger burns up good
deeds just as fire burns up dry wood.” His intellectual honesty
led him to disagree with mainstream British Muslim opinion
on many issues. As he told me on several occasions, “those
who refuse to listen should not expect to be heard.”
As he grew older, all of his passion was channelled into his
faith, his love for the majestic beauty of the Qur’an, and for
telling truth as he saw it, eloquently sharing the lessons of a
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REFLECTIONS
lifetime with the world. In addition to his books, and the lec
tures he gave around the world, he also gave a series of Friday
talks on BBC Radio about Islam and its role in contemporary
society. Between 1978 and 1996, he recorded eighty-six of
these talks; variously titled Reflections, Words of Faith and Pause
for Thought, and they were heard around the world.
My brother, sisters and I thought these talks lost forever,
vanished across the Event Horizon of that Black Hole where
so many old magnetic recordings disappeared before the
advent of digital memory. But then, shortly after my father’s
death, Dr Jeremy Henzell-Thomas of the Book Foundation
contacted me, and it seemed my father had entrusted him
with all the scripts from those eighteen years of BBC talks.
As we prepared them for publication, we came to understand
that together they provide a beautifully clear and accessible
introduction to the central tenets, principles and practices at
the heart of Islam and, as such, are not only a unique guide
for non-Muslims, but also an inspiring reminder to Muslims
of the essence of their faith. While some of what my father
said in these talks has been published in different forms in his
earlier books, there is much that is new and I know he would
be happy that they are finally being published.
While it was in Islam that Gai Eaton found his founda
tion and his home, he wrote his books for people of all faiths,
and none, never doubting that all the great revealed religions
offered visions of the one true God. He has been called a per-
ennialist, but what does that mean for such a devout Muslim?
He once said: “I can only follow one religion; that is the sun
while all others are just stars. But stars are suns to other people,
and ،they are all paths to God.”
In his second, book King of the Castle, he wrote: ،،Imagine a
fertile landscape, surrounded by desert and inhabited by many
nations, many tribes, set in a circle around a great mountain
that stands alone, filling the vie٦v. Depending on where they
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Preface
stand, different people see the mountain differently. Some
stand close and see clearly but only from a particular and lim
ited point of view. As far as their perspective permits, they
see truly. Some, because of faulty eyesight or distance, see
darkly with much disagreement and uncertainty about what
they see. Others stand with their back to the mountain and
describe only the desert in front of them. Only a very few will
know the mountain whole, either because they’ve climbed it
or their sight has been inspired.”
I believe Hasan Gai Eaton’s sight was inspired. We live in
dangerous and challenging times. On one side, too many insist
that belief in God is mere superstition. On the other side, too
many across all faiths take the name of God to justify and
reflect their own narrow prejudices and ambitions. My father’s
words and work suggest a better way. This is why he speaks
so clearly to a new generation, and why I am so delighted to
let his words and wisdom take flight again to embrace all who
believe, as he did, that ،،whatever we do that is good comes
from God, not from our creaturely selves. If we are praised, it
is only He that is praised. We have no excuse for self-congrat
ulation, only thankfulness.”
And I am especially thankful that the Islamic Text Society
is making this book of my father’s Reflections available for old
and new admirers around the world. Gai Eaton may have left
us but his work remains. Like a stone tossed into a pond, its rip
ples spread, and with God’s will, it can help others glimpse the
mountain whole, working as he did, in his eloquent and quietly
courageous way, to calm the turmoil of an unquiet world.
Leo Eaton
July 2012
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