Messages

Salaam Truth Seeker,

God exists outside His creation as far as I understand it...separate and distinct.
Spiritually though we feel Him close to us.That does not mean that He is everywhere in everything though as some sects believe.

I agree with you as far as separate and distinct.  I do not know where He exists. He tells me He is closer than my jugular vein and not a leaf falls without His knowledge.  He is the essence of my existence and His existence defies both form and term and human understanding.  He was there when I was not there.  He was totally non-manifest, undifferentiated Unity.  Without creation, He cannot manifest as a Creator. Before creation His Essence differentiated itself into duality: Jalal and Jamal which manifested as Majesty and Mercy; wrathful, powerful, overpowering, and loving, kindness, beautiful .  Creation is the constant interplay of these two aspects of the Essence. Inhaling-exhaling; male, female; two poles of electric current. Life is about complementary polarities

The names of God are identical with God Himself.  I have disregarded for so long the hadith-qudsi Sufis use, but now I understand it, where God says "I was a hidden treasure".  The names were latent within Him. Names are not distinct from the Reality.  Only when the cosmos appears, the names display their characteristics.  I have to sin to receive His forgiveness.

Hope this clarifies a little.

salaam,

http://www.moonsighting.com/qibla.html

this why I stated that I cannot locate my direction. It is too confusing for me.  I have two compasses at home yet I cannot determine if they are pointing to the correct direction.

Peace Truth Seeker,

Yes, it is my understanding and it is metaphorical.

God is both near to us by His attributes in which we can participate in this life yet at the same time He is far from us by His attributes in which we can have no participation. God is co-existent with the universe and at the same time outside the universe shaping it.

Peace,

59:24
He is God the Creator, the Originator, the Giver of Form. His are the most excellent names. Everything in the heavens and earth declares His glory. He is the Mighty, the Wise One.[/color]

He is only limited by our own capacity. All life is borrowed from the source of life Al-Hayy.  As Martin Lings says, "such life we have on earth is not ours but a brief loan from the Living Himself, immensely reduced to the level of our transitory earthly existence.  If the question be asked, 'what is life?' a good answer is that Life is a Divine spark within us."  25:58

The Divine Throne is around and in us.

Peace,

I do not think human ear piercing is implied here.
5:103 God has not ordained anything (in the nature) of a bahirah, nor a sa'ibah, nor a wasilah, nor ham. But those who disbelieve fabricate falsehoods against God – most of them do not reason and indeed are devoid of sense.
Jahilliyah had superstitions and idolatrous practices regarding cattle like they would slit the ears of some and not use their milk, some were labeled as sacred.

[excite in them vain desires] refers to these superstitions, making haram halal; halal haram, changing the the deeni fitrah into manmade religions.

peace Duster,

Thank you, very well said.  Tendency of assigning a single meaning to key words in Quran study-groups has been going on for over 10 years that I'm aware of. It was argued that if meanings change in different contexts, it would be too difficult for those who do not speak the language; majority does not know Arabic.

I remember one individual claiming to fast every July  since it was the hottest month.  July was his Ramadan.

My generation was awakened by Rashad Khalifa.  It was so painful for me when I realized the 19 phenomena was miscalculated.  I felt so betrayed. Yet bless his soul, his views were instrumental for me to get into the religion.  Before I did not even know the existence of "hadith"  I thought everything I knew about the religion was from the Quran.  Brother Joseph was talking about the innocence of the children.  My thinking was like a child but I was not a child.

So, in a way I understand where they are coming from; they don't want to be duped again. The pendulum needs to stay hanging down instead of oscillating from one extreme to another.


Genie was out of the bag

Peace,

I think there are two views regarding this group of men:  1. those who are tied in good and bad deeds, waiting for a tiebreaker. [ 57:13] a wall with a door will be put between munafiqs and believers.  Inside will be mercy, outside torment.  I do not know if this soor is the same as the barrier mentioned in surah 7 because  others say it is a lofty bridge suspended between Heaven and Hell.  I cannot tell if the elevation points to the wall or the wall has elevated places meaning different  grades, degrees.

Then the second opinion, proposed by Hasan Basri, is that ashabal-araf is related to marifa, the  intuitive knowledge, that includes the group of saints, prophets, angels that assume human form who are able to recognize the two groups. http://quransmessage.com/forum/Smileys/default/embarrassed.gif

Peace,

Thank you for pointing me to your extensive study on Mecca and Baka.

Reinstitution becomes a test of faith in the new religion.

Peace

  I'd like to know also. I was told that they were the ones whose credit and debit are the same and hoping for God's mercy to tip the scale.

Salaam br. Joseph,

Thank you for the link you provided- though I had read it previously it must have never registered without the context of current discussion.  Per 3:95, the Prophet was asked to follow the millata ibraheema haneefa, so his uneasiness facing Jerusalem is very logical.

2:126 and 14:35 mention land of safety meaning land free of idolatry, dedicated to the One worthy of worship?

Salaam Wakas and all,

Read your article, you raise good questions that I am not qualified to answer.  I agree with you that those who are not located in Arabia should not need a compass to determine the direction.  Since I can never determine my location, I always take refuge in God's ayah 2:115 and hope He accepts what I'm saying is a reflection of my heart.

shatra almasjidi alharami  What does shatra mean?  Does it mean a piece of  or a major component of something?

Salaam Wakas,

Thanks.  You are right.  Zeenat is a multifaceted word.  In this context I understand it as God given provisions. 7:31-33 talks about some of these provisions.  Regarding clothing from plants we get cotton, flax; from animals we get wool, silk; from minerals we get gold, silver, gems.  We're also given health which needs to be protected by keeping the body clean and eating sensibly.  7:32 refers to the human prohibition of these provisions.

Salaam Wakas,

Quran says keep your homes clean and your clothes clean when in mosques.  It seems it is left to the individuals or cultures to define what cleanliness means.  Here is a history of human physical cleanliness:

"The origins of personal cleanliness date back to prehistoric times. Since water is essential for life, the earliest people lived near water and knew something about its cleansing properties - at least that it rinsed mud off their hands.  A soap-like material found in clay cylinders during the excavation of ancient Babylon is evidence that soapmaking was known as early as 2800 B.C. Inscriptions on the cylinders say that fats were boiled with ashes, which is a method of making soap, but do not refer to the purpose of the "soap." Such materials were later used as hair styling aids.
Records show that ancient Egyptians bathed regularly. The Ebers Papyrus, a medical document from about 1500 B.C., describes combining animal and vegetable oils with alkaline salts to form a soap-like material used for treating skin diseases, as well as for washing
At about the same time, Moses gave the Israelites detailed laws governing personal cleanliness. He also related cleanliness to health and religious purification. Biblical accounts suggest that the Israelites knew that mixing ashes and oil produced a kind of hair gel.
The early Greeks bathed for aesthetic reasons and apparently did not use soap. Instead, they cleaned their bodies with blocks of clay, sand, pumice and ashes, then anointed themselves with oil, and scraped off the oil and dirt with a metal instrument known as a strigil. They also used oil with ashes. Clothes were washed without soap in streams.
Soap got its name, according to an ancient Roman legend, from Mount Sapo, where animals were sacrificed. Rain washed a mixture of melted animal fat, or tallow, and wood ashes down into the clay soil along the Tiber River. Women found that this clay mixture made their wash cleaner with much less effort.
The ancient Germans and Gauls are also credited with discovering a substance called soap, made of tallow and ashes, that they used to tint their hair red.
As Roman civilization advanced, so did bathing. The first of the famous Roman baths, supplied with water from their aqueducts, was built about 312 B.C. The baths were luxurious, and bathing became very popular. By the second century A.D., the Greek physician, Galen, recommended soap for both medicinal and cleansing purposes.
After the fall of Rome in 467 A.D. and the resulting decline in bathing habits, much of Europe felt the impact of filth upon public health. This lack of personal cleanliness and related unsanitary living conditions contributed heavily to the great plagues of the Middle Ages, and especially to the Black Death of the 14th century. It wasn't until the 17th century that cleanliness and bathing started to come back into fashion in much of Europe. Still there were areas of the medieval world where personal cleanliness remained important. Daily bathing was a common custom in Japan during the Middle Ages. And in Iceland, pools warmed with water from hot springs were popular gathering places on Saturday evenings.
Soapmaking was an established craft in Europe by the seventh century. Soapmaker guilds guarded their trade secrets closely. Vegetable and animal oils were used with ashes of plants, along with fragrance. Gradually more varieties of soap became available for shaving and shampooing, as well as bathing and laundering.
Italy, Spain and France were early centers of soap manufacturing, due to their ready supply of raw materials such as oil from olive trees. The English began making soap during the 12th century. The soap business was so good that in 1622, King James I granted a monopoly to a soapmaker for $100,000 a year. Well into the 19th century, soap was heavily taxed as a luxury item in several countries. When the high tax was removed, soap became available to ordinary people, and cleanliness standards improved."

Peace, Salaam, Shalom all,

I would like to share with you Ms Marcia Kannry's reflection.  She is the founder of The Dialogue Project located in NYC.


On Yom Kippur, I am fasting and reflecting.  I am a Jewish Jihadi.

Jihad is an Islamic process of reflection and struggle to bring thoughts, words and actions in alignment with prayer and best ethical practices.  So too as Jews we practice sleichot/asking for forgiveness and teshuva/return to good - offering compensation, asking forgiveness from the humans whom we have offended.

Our roots are interwoven as our spirituality.  I ask my Muslim brothers and sisters to forgive those Jews whose fear and ignorance only points outward, rather than inward as this day of Yom Kippur asks us to do.  To my fellow Jews- G'mar Hatima Tova.

Marcia Kannry

Peace Passerby,

Welcome aboard, truly the site has 'magical' properties.  Like a magnet it pulls you in.
Deen-e-Hanifan is what we are asked to follow by God as exampled by the Prophet Abraham by surrendering our will to God.  It is a Way of Being. 

Then we have the religion of surrender which has come to be synonymous with the way of Prophet Muhammad.  It is a Way of Living.  34:28 highlights the universality of his mission.  It is the test for believers, who are in loving surrender to the Will and Guidance of our Creator, to use the Quran  to extract the Law given to Muhammad or not.

I welcome the false worship around me because it strengthens my faith. This is the universe of duality where everything is created or manifested to us in pairs.