Reply #2: I think there are churches like you talk about [View All]

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

I know that the Sufi notion of God is very similar to the Taoist notion--to us "la illaha il Allah" means "There is nothing but God". As for helping others, isn't that the point? There's an old Sufi story about the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca that every devout Muslim takes in their lifetime if they have the funds.

God came to a Sufi sheikh in a dream, saying that a merchant of the sheikh's town had made the perfect pilgrimage that year, so everyone was blessed. The pilgrimage is full of ritual, and it is nearly impossible to do everything right, so upon awaking the sheikh decided to go to the merchant to find out his secret. The merchant greeted him with surprise. "I didn't go on hajj this year. I found my neighbor had fallen on great misfortune and gave him all my hajj money to get him and his family back on his feet."