Islamic Yoga The Mystic Tradition The world's major religions were founded by people who employed mystic procedures to reach the level of enlightenment that enabled them to grasp the principles that have been passed down to us as religious systems. A full comprehension of those systems is not possible unless we also engage in mystic practices which will unfold our own spiritual potential so that we may also fully grasp those spiritual principles. Religion has primarily been presented to people according to the exoteric or outer court information. This information includes the basics on how to perform prayer and other rituals, basic tenets and emotion-laden stories (myths) which convey moral principles. In the outer court, people are encouraged to listen to sermons about God and His prophets and to talk about the love of God and the love of His prophets. Few, however, are encouraged to experience God or to actually function according to the methodology employed by the various prophets. Such work is the business of the esoteric or inner court. The Quran states: "They know the outer meaning of the life of the lower world, but of the Hereafter they are heedless." While in the outer court people argue over such absurdities as "my religion is better than yours" or "my God is the true god and yours isn't," the inner court promotes unity because those who reach the inner court witness that unity and realize that god has always conveyed one primary message, a message that appears to be different because it came to men and women in different geographical locations and who were of different racial backgrounds. Thus in speaking to people via their environment, God seemed to convey different messages. People who reach the inner court realize that the principles are the same across time and geography even though those principles may be contained in different "bottles" bearing different labels. But the essence of the content is the same. People who reached the deep religious wisdom of the inner court or mystic tradition are called yogis in the east, sufis in Arabia, shamans in so-called nature-based religions, Essenes in the Judaic tradition as well as Qaballists and many other titles. Prophet Muhammad received the revelation of the Quran during an intense meditation session in the cave of Hira during the month of Ramadan. Islamic tradition says that the angel Gabriel appeared to him and told him to read. During the remainder of Muhammad's