In Dr. Shah-Kaemi's own words, this essay intends to "show that, in traditional Islamic consciousness, to define the space of the sacred (the mosque, the qibla, etc.) does not confine the sacred…and thus that the space of the sacred cannot be subject to what we might call ‘religious nationalism’. The sacred is both transcendent and immanent.…At the heart of the sacred lies the paradox that its divine essence is absolutely unknowable; but there is nothing that does not, in its own way, manifest the sacred.…[The first part of the essay shows] how a particularly significant act of the Prophet…serves as an eloquent commentary on Qur’anic verses which explicitly uphold the authenticity and dignity of the religious Other, and how the principle embodied in this act helps to resolve the apparent contradiction between the inclusivist verses and the exclusivist ones.…[The second part demonstrates] the strong connection between the demise of this inclusivist orientation towards the sacred and the rise of political extremism in Islam. For Islam to be abused as the pretext for extremism or even terrorism it had first to be reduced from a religion or way of life to an ideology; and before it could be reduced to an ideology it had to be desacralised."

Reza Shah-Kazemi was a close associate to his mentor, Dr. Martin Lings, who was also known as Abu Bakr Siraj ad-Din. In this memorial piece, Dr. Shah-Kazemi gives us a portrait of the inner Martin Lings, the spiritual aspirant and later master teacher, the man of strong character who strove to attain the essential spiritual virtues, the gifted poet, and, above all, a man who came to embody in his words and actions a central aspect of the perennial wisdom: a message of hope that "that the ultimate goal is still accessible even in our most adverse conditions." This article first appeared in Sophia and is now available through religioperennis.org.