The inner and the outer Temple

Another aspect of religion is the sacred shrines,
the importance that one attaches to the church
or priest or clergyman or to a certain house of prayer,
to the temple, pagoda, mosque or synagogue.
For the Sufi, it is not the place that is holy,
but it is our faith that makes it so;
and if a person has faith that this place,
this synagogue, temple or church is holy,
he will be benefited by it.
But, at the same time, the holiness is not in the house,
the holiness is in his own belief.
Yes, according to the external customs
of the different religions, one goes to Church,
one to the Mosque, one to the Synagogue,
and one to the Temple of Buddha;
but the inner Church is neither in the Mosque
nor in the Synagogue, but in the heart of man,
where God abides and which is the habitation of Christ.
The Unity of Religious Ideals

The Sufis say:
"My body is the Temple of God
and my heart His altar." or
"The heart of man is a temple;
when its door is closed to man,
it is also closed to God."
But the right interpretation of this saying would be
that the body is made to be the temple of God.
A temple cannot be called a temple of God,
if God is not brought and placed there.
With this divine element lighted in man's heart
he will go to the House of Prayer,
and then his prayer will be heard.
& The Soul, Whence and Whither

I searched, but I could not find Thee;
I called Thee aloud, standing on the minaret;
I rang the temple bell with the rising and setting of the sun;
I bathed in the Ganges in vain;
1 came back from Ka'ba disappointed;
I looked for Thee on earth;
I searched for Thee in the heaven, my Beloved,
but at last I have found Thee
hidden as a pearl in the shell of my heart.
Gayan

Hazrat Inayat Khan

I am in love with every church and mosque and temple
And any kind of shrine
Because I know it is there
That people say the different names
Of the one God

Hafiz

My heart is capable of every form
A cloister of the monk, a temple for idols,
A pasture for gazelles, the votary's Ka'aba,
The tables of the Thora, the Qur'an.
Love is the creed I hold.

Ibn 'Arabi