"Stop Being So Religious Like That" | Hafez Speaks on how the Creator is Beyond Labels and Religions

In this radiant reflection drawn from the ecstatic poetry of Hafez, we are lovingly reminded to turn our gaze beyond the surface of religion toward its essence. Religion is not the end. It is a beginning—a path, a guide, a gesture pointing toward the ineffable. Its rituals, its names, its sacred words were never meant to be worshipped in themselves, but to awaken the longing for what lies beyond them: the living, boundless presence of God.

Religion is like a map. It outlines the way, but it is not the destination. It gives structure, language, tradition—but it is not the beloved we seek. Once the traveler reaches the doorstep of the Divine, the map falls from their hands, not out of disdain, but because it has served its purpose. Once love floods the heart and the fragrance of the Beloved fills the soul, there is no need to worship the signpost. The traveler is home.

Hafez, with his boldness and deep compassion, invites us to see the truth that so many forget: God cannot be owned, branded, or reduced to any name, scripture, or image. God is not Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or Jew. Not man or woman, not form or formless alone. God is the unnamable source—the breath within the breath, the silence behind every prayer, the fire that animates every soul.

We all speak of the same mystery, but with different tongues. One calls Him Allah, another Christ, another the Friend, the Light, the Eternal. But the One behind every sacred word is the same. The fragrance does not change when we name the flower in different languages. And yet, we quarrel over language, over form, over doctrine—forgetting that these were given not to divide, but to guide.

When religion becomes a banner to wave, a wall to guard, or a weapon to wield, it forgets its origin. The prophets did not come to found empires of belief—they came to awaken the soul. They taught surrender, compassion, stillness, truth. They pointed to the same flame, and asked only that we follow its light back to the Source.

If we worship the rituals but forget the love, we are missing the point. If we cling to form and forget the formless, we are circling the shrine but never entering. True devotion is not loud. It is not rigid. It is the quiet bowing of the heart in awe of the One who cannot be captured in word or image.

To know God is to feel His presence in all things—in the laughter of a stranger, in the stillness of dusk, in the ache of longing. It is to see the sacred in what others dismiss, to hear the music of the Divine in the everyday. To know God is to melt the walls of self and other, and see only One.

Hafez laughs gently at our dogmas, not because he mocks faith, but because he has seen the truth they point to. He reminds us that true religion is not in being religious—it is in being real. In being kind. In being emptied of pride and full of love. It is not about being right—it is about being in love with the Beloved.

So stop being so religious like that.
And start being free. Start being open. Start being love.

Let the path take you home—but do not mistake the path for the home itself.

#hafez #hafiz #sufismpoetry #sufi