As the nineteenth century progressed, such rigidly orthodox views gathered strength in Delhi, and the position of the 'ulama solidified, so that by the 1850s the tolerant Sufi ways of Zafar and his court slowly came to look as old-fashioned and outdated as the hybrid lifestyles and open-minded religious attitudes of the White Mughals [the British who embraced Indian culture] did among the now solidly Evangelical British. The stage was being set for a clash of rival fundamentalisms.
All religions were one, maintained the Sufi saints, merely different manifestations of the same divine reality. What was important was not the empty ritual of the mosque or temple, but to understand that divinity can best be reached through the gateway of the human heart—that we all have Paradise within us, if we know where to look.
The mullahs are always trying to fight a jihad with their swords, without realising that the real jihad is within, fighting yourself, achieving victory over your desires, and the hell that evil can create within the human heart. Fighting with swords is a low kind of jihad. Fighting yourself is the greater jihad. As Latif said, 'Don't kill infidels, kill your own ego.'
![As the nineteenth century progressed, such rigidly orthodox views gathered strength in Delhi, and the position of the 'ulama solidified, so that by the 1850s the tolerant Sufi ways of Zafar and his court slowly came to look as old-fashioned and outdated as the hybrid lifestyles and open-minded religious attitudes of the White Mughals [the British who embraced Indian culture] did among the now solidly Evangelical British. The stage was being set for a clash of rival fundamentalisms. - William Dalrymple quote.](/img/q/53/53853A-as-the-nineteenth-century-progressed-such-rigidly-orthodox-views-gathered-william-dalrymple.png)
