When something is considered Divinely Providential such as the Quranic recognition of religious diversity (such as in 5:48), is Divine Providence in regards to religious diversity understood to mean something which God directly Willed or just 'Permitted'?
I think both the 'Divine Willing' and 'Divine Permitting', although not being mutually exclusive, are distinct categories. Providentiality encompasses both God 'directly Willing' something to occur and/or 'Permitting' something to occur. In a sense, God more directly Wills the good to occur while only 'permitting' an 'experience' of evil to occur in one's life or destiny, for example. However, with regard to God's Willing of diverse revelations and messengers along with the human response to Divine Revelation in a given Traditional world, there is a kind of meeting between God's direct Will 'to be' and God's permission 'to exist'. God directly Wills for a revealed Perspective or Narrative to take a particular form, while God 'permits' humanity (or a particular religious humanity) to excercise their free will and intellect in shaping and molding that revealed narrative in order to promote, maintain, and transmit in an integral fashion, a Divinely revealed teaching on the human plane of religious discourse. In this regard, Frithjof Schuon's perspective on the "human margin", or the "human response" to a Revelation in a given Traditional framework is an apt means of reconcilling how religous diversity is both a "Divine Willing" and a "Divine Permitting". The 'human margin' can be seen as a kind of "margin" of human speculation "allowed" or "permitted" by God in order to transmit certain timeless and universal teachings of revelation within a given, particular human context which are diverse by nature. This "margin" which is the meeting of Divine Mercy and human response can be seen intra-religiously and inter-religiously. Intra-religiously: with the flowering of many oft-competing Intellectual, Theological and/or Spiritual Schools from Christianity to Islam to even Hinduism or Buddhism for example, each school or perspective serving the psyhcological, intellectual and spiritual needs of its adherents. Inter-Religiously: with the human and Divine 'barriers of mutual incomprehension' (each developing in their own ways) which dilineate the multiplicity of Revealed Sacred forms. In this sense, the 'human margin' is a 'divine margin' as well:
"For each We have appointed a Law and a Way. Had God Willed, He could have made you one community. But in order to test you with what He has given you [he has made you as you are]. So compete with one another in good works. And Unto God you will all return. He will reveal to you [the truth] of that about which you differed" (5:48)
In this particular Quranic verse, religious diversity is clearly seen in a very positive light, whereas in other verses the Quran does remain a bit ambiguous and at times views diverse religious opinion as negative especially when the Quran criticizes the human behavior to split into factions or sects after the coming of Guidance. Yet factions and sects based on 'human desires' and 'conflicts' is one thing, and the Divine Wisdom and Mercy in diversifying and multiplying revelation, something else. All this dovetails nicely into the inquiry regarding the Muslim or 'Islamic' critiques of Islamic Universalism. From an exclusivist point of view which has its Quranic precedents as well, God only 'permits' the continuity of 'false' or 'deviated' religions while Willing directly the Truth (or more superior Truth) of the Islam of Muhammad (saw) to flourish and live on; much like God permits falsehood and truth while direclty Willing only the truth, etc. And this is one of the more intelligent critiques of the traditionalist perspective out there (in fact offerred by Leggenhausen in his critique of 'Nasr's perennialism').
While recognizing the legitimacy of this claim on the level of exclusivist Truth for some and acknowledging how this is sufficient to resolve any tension regarding the Truth of the Self and providentiality of the continued existence of the Other for exclusivists, the inclusivist however goes a step further in his understanding or awareness of Divine Providentiality. For the inclusivist, universalist, or any kind of religious adherent whose intellectual or spiritual awareness of religion and religious truth expands to include the Other to some degree of universality, what appears to be God's 'neutral' or 'ontological permission' to allow other religions to flourish is now seen to be more a direct and 'positive' Willing than a mere 'Permitting'. In other words, the conception or awareness of the Divine Providentiality regarding the authentic Other expands to include and recognize not just an ontological 'validity' of the other, but rather a 'spiritual', 'holy' and 'sacred' validity for the Other: a validity 'rooted' in the same ineffable Sacred Root which is the 'root' and heart of one's own Religious Self.
In the words of al-Hallaj, a Sufi Martyr, words proclaimed about 1000 years before a Guenon, Schuon, Lings, Nasr or the Traditional School 'providentially' came into existence:
"Earnest for truth, I thought on the religions:
They are, I found, one ROOT with many a branch.
Therefore impose on no man a religion,
Lest it should bar him from the firm-set ROOT.
Let the ROOT claim him, a root wherein all heights
And meanings are made clear, for him to grasp."
[emphasis added]
Allahu Alam
I think both the 'Divine Willing' and 'Divine Permitting', although not being mutually exclusive, are distinct categories. Providentiality encompasses both God 'directly Willing' something to occur and/or 'Permitting' something to occur. In a sense, God more directly Wills the good to occur while only 'permitting' an 'experience' of evil to occur in one's life or destiny, for example. However, with regard to God's Willing of diverse revelations and messengers along with the human response to Divine Revelation in a given Traditional world, there is a kind of meeting between God's direct Will 'to be' and God's permission 'to exist'. God directly Wills for a revealed Perspective or Narrative to take a particular form, while God 'permits' humanity (or a particular religious humanity) to excercise their free will and intellect in shaping and molding that revealed narrative in order to promote, maintain, and transmit in an integral fashion, a Divinely revealed teaching on the human plane of religious discourse. In this regard, Frithjof Schuon's perspective on the "human margin", or the "human response" to a Revelation in a given Traditional framework is an apt means of reconcilling how religous diversity is both a "Divine Willing" and a "Divine Permitting". The 'human margin' can be seen as a kind of "margin" of human speculation "allowed" or "permitted" by God in order to transmit certain timeless and universal teachings of revelation within a given, particular human context which are diverse by nature. This "margin" which is the meeting of Divine Mercy and human response can be seen intra-religiously and inter-religiously. Intra-religiously: with the flowering of many oft-competing Intellectual, Theological and/or Spiritual Schools from Christianity to Islam to even Hinduism or Buddhism for example, each school or perspective serving the psyhcological, intellectual and spiritual needs of its adherents. Inter-Religiously: with the human and Divine 'barriers of mutual incomprehension' (each developing in their own ways) which dilineate the multiplicity of Revealed Sacred forms. In this sense, the 'human margin' is a 'divine margin' as well:
"For each We have appointed a Law and a Way. Had God Willed, He could have made you one community. But in order to test you with what He has given you [he has made you as you are]. So compete with one another in good works. And Unto God you will all return. He will reveal to you [the truth] of that about which you differed" (5:48)
In this particular Quranic verse, religious diversity is clearly seen in a very positive light, whereas in other verses the Quran does remain a bit ambiguous and at times views diverse religious opinion as negative especially when the Quran criticizes the human behavior to split into factions or sects after the coming of Guidance. Yet factions and sects based on 'human desires' and 'conflicts' is one thing, and the Divine Wisdom and Mercy in diversifying and multiplying revelation, something else. All this dovetails nicely into the inquiry regarding the Muslim or 'Islamic' critiques of Islamic Universalism. From an exclusivist point of view which has its Quranic precedents as well, God only 'permits' the continuity of 'false' or 'deviated' religions while Willing directly the Truth (or more superior Truth) of the Islam of Muhammad (saw) to flourish and live on; much like God permits falsehood and truth while direclty Willing only the truth, etc. And this is one of the more intelligent critiques of the traditionalist perspective out there (in fact offerred by Leggenhausen in his critique of 'Nasr's perennialism').
While recognizing the legitimacy of this claim on the level of exclusivist Truth for some and acknowledging how this is sufficient to resolve any tension regarding the Truth of the Self and providentiality of the continued existence of the Other for exclusivists, the inclusivist however goes a step further in his understanding or awareness of Divine Providentiality. For the inclusivist, universalist, or any kind of religious adherent whose intellectual or spiritual awareness of religion and religious truth expands to include the Other to some degree of universality, what appears to be God's 'neutral' or 'ontological permission' to allow other religions to flourish is now seen to be more a direct and 'positive' Willing than a mere 'Permitting'. In other words, the conception or awareness of the Divine Providentiality regarding the authentic Other expands to include and recognize not just an ontological 'validity' of the other, but rather a 'spiritual', 'holy' and 'sacred' validity for the Other: a validity 'rooted' in the same ineffable Sacred Root which is the 'root' and heart of one's own Religious Self.
In the words of al-Hallaj, a Sufi Martyr, words proclaimed about 1000 years before a Guenon, Schuon, Lings, Nasr or the Traditional School 'providentially' came into existence:
"Earnest for truth, I thought on the religions:
They are, I found, one ROOT with many a branch.
Therefore impose on no man a religion,
Lest it should bar him from the firm-set ROOT.
Let the ROOT claim him, a root wherein all heights
And meanings are made clear, for him to grasp."
[emphasis added]
Allahu Alam
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