One of the most famous Kabir lines. If God is only in the mosque, who owns the rest of the world? If Ram is only in the image, who is minding the streets? Kabir collapses the Hindu-Muslim divide in one move. Hari (a Hindu name for God) and Allah, Karim (Merciful, in Arabic) and Ram — same presence, different tongues. "Kabir is the child of Allah and of Ram." He means it literally. He was born Muslim and died equally claimed by both. His verses ended up in the Sikh Guru Granth Sahib, where they still are.Guru Granth Sahib preserves 500+ verses attributed to Kabir.
All the men and women of the world are His living forms. This line, buried in the Hindu-Muslim fusion song, is its most radical theological claim. Kabir is not merely saying God can be accessed from inside either religion; he is saying every human being is already the form God is taking. The Christian doctrine of the imago Dei — every person bearing the image of God — lands here in Hindi vocabulary. Rumi's verse that every face is the face of the Friend makes the same claim in Persian. Each tradition has had to argue for the position because every culture is tempted to deny it.Genesis 1:27; Rumi, Divan-e Shams ghazal 1521.