Editing Seyyed Hossein Nasr (section)

====Essential unity of religions====

In a commentary on a work by Nasr, [[Adnan Aslan]] reports that for Nasr, the various religions are "forms of the eternal truth which has been revealed by God to humankind through various agencies".{{sfn|Aslan|2004 |p=22}} It is this common truth which constitutes "the transcendent unity of religions", he says, referring to the expression proposed by Frithjof Schuon.{{sfn|The Essential Seyyed Hossein Nasr|2007 |p=94}}

"It is only on the level of the Supreme Essence ... standing above all the cosmic sectors from the angelic to the physical within which a particular religion is operative, that the ultimate unity of religions is to be sought".{{sfn|The Need for a Sacred Science|1993|p=31}} This unity, for Nasr, is "not to be found at the level of external forms; [...] religions do not simply say the same thing despite the remarkable unanimity of principles and doctrines and the profound similarity of applications of these principles".{{sfn|The Need for a Sacred Science|1993|p=31}} At the heart of every religion lies "what Schuon calls the ''religio perennis''", that is to say, "a doctrine concerning the nature of reality and a method for being able to attain what is Real". Doctrine and method vary from one religion to another but their essence and goal are universal.{{sfn|The Need for a Sacred Science|1993 |p=31}}

As a result, no religion is in itself "better" than another, concludes Nasr, since "all authentic religions come from the same Origin", but in practical terms it is nevertheless necessary "to distinguish the possibilities" that remain valid in the current state of "degradation" of each of the religions.{{sfn|The Need for a Sacred Science|1993 |p=32}} For Nasr, given the celestial origin of all religions, it is appropriate to respect their slightest particularities and to treat them "with reverence, as every manifestation of the sacred should be".{{sfn|The Need for a Sacred Science|1993 |p=31}}