Messages

Dear relearning,

I thought to check back on this topic, because I remembered something, which I forgot to mention.

Some of the earliest evidence of Jesus was found in the ruins of Pompeii, which was preserved in the pyroclastic flow. Graffiti showed signs of Jewish followers of Jesus. Pompeii erupted in 79 A.D. in the Gregorian calendar.

Scientists who studied these ruins, and the writings of philosophers and ancient authors, say that Pompeii was famous for its sex slavery. They had many male and female Jewish sex slaves.

In my mind, it is not a coincidence it suffered such fate at the moment it did. In my experience, moments often align, and things occur simultaneously without explanation.


I don't know a lot of the answers to the questions you have. However, I can tell you first what I'd do to find the answers.

The Qur'an is written in Arabic, and so first I'd look at all the problematic verses and try to find out if there's a hidden translation or interpretation that can be rationally determined through linguistics, comparative linguistics, scriptural comparisons, and historical comparison. Part of this process includes looking at what scholars have already said in what people call, "tafsir".

If that doesn't make sit right with my conscience, then I'll read the entire Surah, looking for connections across long portions of the text, because people's attentions span was much longer during that era.

In your questions you mention God a lot. If God is the force which set the world in motion, giving life, instead of letting it be nothing, than it doesn't make sense for people to act against that by opposing others into submission and killing.

This sort of logic is the reasoning behind the Golden Rule and the fundamental ideas in Qur'an and earlier books, which give context to what "peace", "completeness" and all these other concepts which define "Islam". This is often not said, because religion is organized and people repeat the same thing over and over, fighting and killing, contradicting the fundamentals, instead of considering, discerning and testing through various methods.

For this reason, I do not want to mislead into an organized religion. Yet I believe the concept of Islam is important, and it's why the Qur'an has value.

You said I didn't answer any of your questions before, so I'll re-address myself simply. Scripture is written by humans called scribes. God is spiritual, it communicated with people before any book ever existed. The books have the spirit of God, because when you study it, it gives us wisdom and guidance in a transformative powerful way.

Errors, mistakes, and misleading information which contradict the fundamental ideas exist in all the scriptures. Yet, people say they're 100% true, because they just want everyone to follow along.

Be should careful what we follow, because if we don't know where we're going, than there's a risk we're going to be misled. Like a bunch of buffalo jumping off a cliff together unable to stop, because the people behind push you towards it.

Just because these scriptures aren't 100% true doesn't mean they aren't perfect. Because they reveal something important: a warning of what is truly happening.

It is a mystery, because even though it's not all true, it fits together and works together. Someone wise told me if this is a religion of God than only God can add and remove. Even if something seems bad, we shouldn't change it. It's not our responsibility, and the burden falls on those who made that mistake a long time ago. That's what, "Woe to the scribes" means. The scribes made a big big shameful mistake, yet God is merciful and exceeds our understanding.

I think we should forgive the scribes, just like we would want others to forgive us.


The way it happens is complicated (ex: the real first surah, the real first ayah, the location of vowels,  differences in archeological finds). The Qur'an is exceptional in that it seems to have less differences than other scripture.

So, when the Qur'an says to kill pagans, I am upset that it says that, and I disagree with it because it contradicts the fundamental ideas (ex: Cain and Abel, Mark of Cain to prevent vengeance, Noah's flood on murderous world, Jesus pacifism even with Samaritans, Hud's camel).

However, it doesn't shake my faith in the rich wisdom that it provides me with. For me, the Qur'an answers the mysteries of why Christianity and Judaism are what they are.

Allah, al-Ilah, ilah, El, Eloh, Elohim, Elaha. These are the original written names of an ancient idea of single source behind and pushing reality.

Traditionally when a word in Hebrew ends with Ha, it is feminine.

Please question this information, doubt it, test it. I hope you find an answer and that we all figure it out ourselves. I hope you or anyone reading this does not get mislead into harmful situations.

Sincerely,
Fireheart47

Dear relearning,

Forgive me, because I did not address the topic of sex slavery as much as I wish I would have.

It goes against the basic principles of these religions.

Even if it is popular in society, and found in scripture, it contradicts the fundamentals (Leviticus 19:17-18)(Gospel of Matthew 22:36-40)(Qur'an 41:34-36).

https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-ideology/naseer-ahmed-new-age-islam/the-quran-golden-rule-do-unto-others-them-unto-you/d/108800

People like Dan McClellan look deeply into scriptures and talk about these sensitive topics. It is important to discern what he says, yet he knows a lot about the meaning of words.

Just like people should discern what I say. I am fallible. Only human.

May God guide us all.

Sincerely,
Fireheart47

[Pre-Islam]

Dear relearning,

Your questions seem important to me. Although I am not a woman, it is important to strive to find the truth, for the sake of all of Allah's creatures. Here is my perspective on the verses and topics you have mentioned.

Pre-Islam

What is the role of scripture? And what does it mean for it to be the word of God? There was a moment in history when the Qur'an did not exist. I have faith that it was a prophet named Muhammed, who revealed the Qur'an and it changed how Arab tribes lived. Women in some places were very mistreated, and the spread of the Qur'an helped better their condition. https://www.mehbooba.com/women-in-the-jahiliyyah-pre-islamic-arabia/

Arabs

Arabs traveled a lot. The people of Judah were more sedentary with a central temple in Jerusalem for all tribes, all believers, and descendants of Israelites that left Egypt. Not all people in Judah believed or practiced the way the priests and scribes instructed. Those who did, are the antecedents of the Jewish faith. They had faith this is how God wanted them to live. Christians became a group of Jewish and non-Jewish people who became categorized as different group, because they came from Nazareth and had beliefs which differed from the religious authorities in Jerusalem. They used metaphor of Father for God very frequently, whereas Jewish writings used it less frequently. Some Arabs traveled and heard all of this, participated in this, because many of them too had ancestors who left Egypt and who had lived earlier in Mesopotamia. An Arab prophet miraculously recited what we now know as the Qur'an, which gave the believers (Jewish, Christian or any other group) a reminder of the earliest wisdom.

Islam

Now this wisdom has spread around the world through travel, commerce, war, conquest, recitation, book, and computers. It is part of what people call the religion of Islam, though the word Islam has a deeper meaning and is not just a category. That's why the prophets before the recitation of Prophet Muhammed were also muslims. It is an idea central to the Isrealite worldview and the word "muslim" is an attribute or adjective.

Here are two documentaries showing the lives of Muslim people: "A Glimpse of Paradise Culture Garden in the Islamic World" by Veronika Hofer. "Mystic Iran: The Unseen World" by Aryana Farshad.

Your verses

Some people say, the verse you shared Quran 33:59, has the implication that too much covering of the face is not advisable. The issue of sex slavery is important. It is not mentioned in this verse.

The other verse has interesting words with possible different translations. Same words in other parts of the Qur'an have different meanings. For example, "fataya-tikum" or "فتيتكم" comes from root letters ف-ت-ى, which can mean "ask", "boy", or "youth" in different contexts. Why? I don't know. Though it seems societal. https://www.islamicity.org/quransearch/?q=chapter:24

Woe to the scribes

In the Gospels, Jesus is quoted announcing to the crowds how scribes mislead people (Gospel of Matthew Chapter 23). The four gospel books were written in Greek by Christians, and the narratives are similar to each other in many ways. They must be discerned and evaluated. In the Book of Revelation, the names of God (Book of Revelation 3:14) are repeated between "ὁ"'s. There are more names of Satan repeated together (Book of Revelation 12:9). The scribes and priests in many organized religions of the ancient world and today have been forbidden to be with women. This might be a reason why they would depict The Church as a woman, in the allegory.

Wisdom of Islam

I have been told that Islam doesn't have this situation, because it promotes people to have families. The Qur'an also affirms that God is not a literal father, which is the belief of the community. It also prompts the inquisitive believers to go back and find out that the Father was a metaphor in Jewish literature, which appears to have caused people to deviate from the original wisdom and faith. The original wisdom and faith is that Allah cannot be represented by physical forms.

I have faith that if you pray to God, especially with repetitive meditational prayer like Lord's Prayer and/or Surah al-Fatihah. This technique grows faith that God already knows all of your thoughts (Gospel of Matthew 6:7-13). Comparison of Lord's Prayer and Surah al-Fatihah: https://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/~mmiller/Fatiha-LordsPrayerComp.pdf

God will show you what you seek.

Sincerely,
Fireheart47



 

One of the things which I've been reminded to consider is my privilege to be able to do what I do without immediate consequences. For example, the privilege to read the Bible and the Qur'an. I also come from a place with resources, education and other advantages. If it wasn't for the struggles, I wouldn't have pursued trying to understand the Qur'an and scriptures the way I have. I feel as if good to acknowledge the constructive role of bad things to alleviate worries. Yet, it is the material advantage which allows me to do what I do. My hope is that I can flow and be part of the many.

I feel as if I should still provide my perspective when it is needed or requested, however I seek to be more conscious of the differences between people, and what role I play and how I influence. Forgive me if I misguide you. May God guide us. May God protect us from people and keep us and our loved ones safe.

Peace,

When I began to study the Qur'an, I was surprised by the meaning of the word Qur'an and its Hebrew cognate. For me this made total sense, because traditionally it is recited. Later, more recently, I thought about the verses, which refer to the Qur'an as a book, and this troubled me, because I asked myself, "Why would someone reciting something verbally refer to their speech as a book?".

Your inquiry and explanation of the multiple meanings of the word kitab in Arabic resolved this mystery, because it explains how the word kitab doesn't only mean book, instead also record and decree. Therefore, there would be no contradiction if understood in the original Arabic of the Qur'an.

Thank you for helping us learn more about the Qur'an and resolving doubts, which may hinder our faith in the important messages within the Qur'an.

Perhaps I should not discuss Bible verses in this forum category. If it has any value, it should be that the moral of the story has to be extracted from the whole chapter, because certain verses alone leave room for the imagination to introduce new ideas out of context. Perhaps the Qur'an requires similar intra-Surah analysis. People's minds had longer attention span back then, it seems. Concepts are spread apart across the Surah, for example the criticisms of self-loathing and automatic denial of wisdom in Judah found in Surah an-Nisa.

I haven't concluded in my understanding of 27:40. If you have a cogent understanding please share.

The verse reminds me of this article: https://www.islamicity.org/7691/understanding-kufr/

From my perspective, the Qur'an teaches how people cover up the truth (كفر), and they also deny it (كذب).

Especially in relation to the interpretation of scriptures. Just look at how people cover up and deny the sons of God (plural) in the Bible. I believe if it were not covered up or denied by believers, it would've directed our devotion to each other in servitude of God, rather than to statues and images of one person.
Although it might also cause people to feel like special, and better than others, hateful of "the sinners" (because we all are). That's why 1st Letter of John Chapter 3 discusses Cain and Abel, hate is the sin. 

The article has now been updated...

Your articles are always very informative. I found the other one about lunar calendar very insightful.

I agree with your argument in this article about kitab and hikmah, it being one and the same. Your discussion about the deeper meaning of kitab resolved one of my doubts of the Qur'an. I agree it makes sense for us to interpret it as a record or decree.

However, life experience shows me wisdom can be found outside of the scriptures. I'm sure the hadiths have some wisdom. Yet, when it pertains to religion, it makes sense to focus on the original documents and prioritize those.

I like when you mentioned the lack of intra-textual analysis. This is very descriptive of the thinking pattern, which is best to analyze the text to fullest potential.

Dogmatic thinking often causes people to fall into routine, and causes people to confuse faith in the unseen and receptivity with obedience. It can hinder the most important part of our faith, which is to treat other people well.

When I think of an example in the gospels, I think of the one Son of God and Son of Man versus the many more examples of Sons of God, Sons of Devil, and Sons of Gehenna, and many of other examples in the Hebrew Bible and other Jewish literature (ex: Sons of Prophets [bnei nevim]). Most people ignore these metaphors, because they contradict the practice of worshipping Jesus. I don't think he would've wanted that, and would've wanted us to worship God and help others. He is quoted, however, telling his disciples that he set forth an example for them to know the Father, which again is a less-frequently occurring metaphor used in the Hebrew Bible for God, which seems to have been popularized at the time of Jesus in certain Jewish communities. The apparent contradiction between Qur'an and Bible, seems to orient us towards a perspective of the gospels, which supports the historical worldview, where it makes most sense that it is not literal father nor literal son, rather a metaphor or attribute, and for all who behave that way, not just one.


My questions are:

What did you mean when you said this about 27:40? Can you help me understand this verse? To me it doesn't seem to say that, was it a mistake?

natural laws of the universe for example (see the interesting example of 27:40).

Also, can you help me understand Surah at-Tahrim 66:3? What does it mean by

she informed [another] of it and Allah showed it to him, he made known part of it and ignored a part

?

May God guide us. May God protect us.

During my studies, I studied a major within the plant sciences. I took a course on genetics, which focused on human and animal genetics. Plant genetics is an important topic, because it is where the first contributions to the study of genetics occurred, and also other fields within biology.

This is important and sensitive information. Before the mechanics of genetics was understood, people used the concept of genetics to murder millions of innocent people. It goes to show how easily people can manipulate the truth. This occurred after World War 1, which created the conditions where people were not at their healthiest and sound of mind.

The simple lesson from the course, which I learned: DNA instructs the production of RNA and proteins.

The false idea that DNA affects everything is called, "genetic determinism". Some of it is controlled by societal factors (how parents treated us, how their parents treated them, generational trauma, wealth, poverty, diet).

There are many factors, which influence our being.

In other biology courses, we talked about "emergent features", which show how complicated functions arise from the simple functions. This is an important topic. DNA is near the bottom of a long list of processes and structures, which contribute to higher function. This is why there is a lot of risk in changing DNA, and RNA.

I have faith we are not doomed. I have faith God will protect us. One of my reasons is that DNA is not the main process influencing complicated processes. For example, if you studied a fish in the ocean, and I told you it happened because of the formation of the Milky Way galaxy, it wouldn't give you the relevant processes. Yet without the proper formation of the Milky Way galaxy, Earth wouldn't exist, neither us or the fish. For this reason, I believe our collective understanding of DNA does not seem to be accurate, which gives room for unexpected protection for honest mistakes.

This is one reason I am very critical of Genetic Engineering (GE). DNA is at the beginning of a complicated process tree, and changing it can have unintended consequences. Also, because changes which are made do not appear to be reversible.

In the case of crop seeds, new GE crops get bred and replace the old seed. I am unaware of any GE crops which affect our health through consumption. This could be an important research topic. It is entirely possible, a GE crop could produce an unwanted metabolite. This is something researchers are interested in. Yet, it certainly is a problem for the future genetics of the crop species. Even conventional breeding can have detrimental effects, so why is it so controversial to speak out against the manipulation of some of the most important and consequential features of life on Earth?

I have faith in God, even though I cannot provide proof. My faith gives me hope there are things, which we don't understand which will protect us. Mechanisms in our bodies which protect us against mistakes.

In one course, they talked about how mosquitos can make changes to the expression of DNA through RNA interference. They often boasted about this, because it disproved the naysayers against GE. This doesn't change the risk of changing the fundamental processes at the beginning of chains of processes we don't seem to understand.

We have many warners, and yet we do not listen. We also have many people who fight for a cause they do not know the consequences of. We have people who try to manipulate others, because they realize they can't convince others with information.

One example is how people use a creative interpretation of Genetically Modified Organism (GMO), which says traditionally bred animals and crops are also GMO. This gives the false impression, that the proposed GMO is normal and not new. For this reason, I refer to it as Genetically Engineered (GE).

There are many terrible things in this world, and it is easy to fall into a very negative mindset. One which enables us to act against God's will for peace, and contributes more to the problems. I believe in the power of prayer. I also believe in the power of people. For this reason, I feel obligated to warn you all, and to try my best to give you reassurances if you feel scared about the current moment.

However, I am fallible, elementary, and only human. May God protect us, and may God grant us peace to talk to people and treat each other as we would want to be treated. May God help us win people's hearts, and to find peace in our inability to control the world.

One topic related to knowledge and science, and also to the aforementioned verse, is the topic of miracles.

Many dismiss the possibilities of miracles, because they often think of the unrealistic stories we often told to accept by force, which contradict common sense. Many stories could've been exaggerated through time, changed through the game of telephone and hearsay, yet which still hold an element of truth, or a moral.

One certain miracle is how any of the holy scriptures have maintained a comparatively high degree of stability through countless scribes and thousands of years, with ancient wisdom and visions into the ancient past to savor.

There are things which defy our understanding and there some things we cannot study well.

The scientific method is a method to discover knowledge, which has been the best method to discover truths in our world. The scientific method requires building a hypothesis, experimentation, logical interpretation of data, and a conclusion, or continuation. It also requires peer-review, and this is what distinguishes it from religion. Because science ideally seeks to be refuted, until it arrives to certainty.

Religion teaches other truths. Truths about how people interact, how to expect the unexpected, and teaches the importance of faith.

The scientific method is really good at discovering the mechanistic properties of the universe, yet if something can only occur once, or appear to occur once, it is difficult to study. Also, even though the scientific process is logically oriented and the work scrutinized by others with a logical standard, the hypothesis building process can be illogical and involves faith. The way someone's life journey unfolds towards a certain topic can be a mystery, which is hard to predict. Often people have dreams or experience something illogical, which inspires them (ex: Mendeleev's Dream). Many times emotions, opinions, and worldviews influence what topics receive more attention, and what topics should be refuted.

Even our refutations belong at first to the world of imagination, possibilities upon possibilities.

It is important to distinguish the ideals of scientific method and the reality. The reality is that many people educate others and contribute to our collective opinions, and fewer participate in the real process.

How can we explain how events coincide? How does time work? And are the miracles we experience illusions, which appear to be exceptions to the rules? Or is there something we just can't understand? Perhaps if we satisfy ourselves with the unexpected goodness, we can receive its benefit. I've been told often people shun good things which come their way, because of self-perception.

May God help us. May God allow us to accept the miracles in our lives and to not feel excessive fear, rather to use discernment when necessary. May God help us have an ordered mind, which is not too rigid, yet natural and productive, so we can discover and do more good.

Praise belongs to God, the Lord of all Being.

One perspective, which I think should be considered, is the complexity of the world and in our inability to understand it and communicate it perfectly. One term which I found intriguing was "Black Swan event". It seems there are many factors which contribute to big events in history, and we are only able to understand it collectively in hindsight. Some of these factors include societal issues we aren't all aware of, or if we are, we often dismiss them because of other things. Sometimes it is hard to communicate this with others, because many are dogmatic and disrespectful about things beyond their true knowledge, when sometimes it is good to say, "It could be." or "It might be." or "I find that one thing you said interesting." There are also timescales we aren't well adjusted to and so this can challenge our expectations of how events unfold. I was told by my brother, we should leave room for miracles, so we allow an opportunity for good things to happen unexpectedly. So we can heal from chronic issues. I strive to find simple ways to live, simple ingredients in food, simple attitudes towards others and ourselves, and simple methods behind solving problems, in order to avoid unintended consequences. I believe God is merciful, and we are given many chances to make the right choices. May God guide us and show us what we need to know, and for our faith to be strengthened for the uncertainties and a purpose to survive the struggles, like Viktor Frankl talked about.

One of the reasons I have faith in the Prophet Muhammad, the reciter of the Qur'an, is because of the story where he helps move the Kaaba by having people hold each end of a large cloth. It is very ingenious way of bringing people together, and one of the parts of his story I remembered the most. One day I had to clear objects from a table and had a towel to place the items onto. That reminded me of him, and it caused me to be more considerate.

Dear QM Forum,

This excerpt from Surah al-Bayyinah 98:6, is sometimes troublesome for me:

فِى نَارِ جَهَنَّمَ خَـٰلِدِينَ فِيهَآ

Fī Nāri Jahannama Khālidīna Fīhā

will be in the fire of Hell, abiding eternally therein

The word جهنم is similar to the word Gehenna, which also found in the Bible in Greek with similar meaning (Gospel of Matthew 10:28). Its origin, Hinnom, is also found in Hebrew Bible, where it is described multiple times as a place where children were sacrificed by fire (Book of Jeremiah 7:31). The Valley of Hinnom is a north-facing valley outside of Jerusalem, so it does not get as much sunlight. Considering the geology of Israel/Palestine and Jordan, it could be a fissure, part of the greater tectonic fault.

The translation "hell" is from Germanic cosmology, first used by Wulfila in the Gothic Bible "halja" as an equivalent for the Greek "hades" used in the Bible. Yes, the Greek deity, which represented the underworld. The original Germanic concept of hell was a cold afterlife destiny. Whereas Hades seems to be associated with fire, which could be due to climate and geography. For example, near Greece there are many volcanoes. Likewise, in Arabia near Medina there also many volcanoes.

Both hades and hell seem to originally represent death, and in the Bible it is also used this way (Acts of the Apostles 2:27). (Source: https://www.christianpublishers.org/post/what-is-the-biblical-understanding-of-sheol)

Across many cultures, the physical world is used to describe different emotions, and complex ideas. In many Native American cultures (ex: Ojibwe, Yucatan), there is a water panther, which governs the underworld. The panther is one of the largest predatory animals, and therefore represents danger. When projected into the watery underground places, it could symbolize a place of danger. The underground is where all life decays towards, and is where there is no freedom of movement, no light, and high risk of being trapped and dying. From what I understand, in ancient Egyptian cosmology, Apep plays a similar role, and represents watery chaos and annihilation below the desert.

Likewise, the sky often represents freedom and a higher power. The stars fill us with imagination and good feelings. In Hebrew the word מזל (Mazl, like Mazl Tov [Hebrew: Good Fortune]) can also mean stars, similar to how people think of horoscopes and astrology.

Birds, which fly in the sky, sometimes represent positive ideas. Bird feathers, for example, are used in ancient Egyptian culture, particularly Nubian culture, and in Native American cultures as a symbol for higher ideals. The feather in the Book of Coming Forth by Day (Book of the Dead) is shown on one side of the scales of justice, and a heart on the other. The feather is also seen in the Book of Coming Forth by Day on the heads of a group of people. For ancient Egyptians, pictures were their language, therefore the feather has a deeper meaning.

However not all birds in cultures represent good, there are also ideas of Thunderbirds, which in the Pacific Northwest of the USA, was found to represent an earthquake and tsunami. There are many other exceptions. This is the limitation of using symbols in nature to describe metaphysical and emotional truths.

In Abrahamic religions, heaven also represents the best place. In Hebrew, it is the abode of God and the angels. The Hebrew שמים (Shamayim) is related to the Arabic word سماء (sama'). In English, heaven is the best  afterlife destiny. However, heaven as the afterlife destiny in the religion of Islam is جنة (jannah), which means gardens. This is similar to the English word "paradise", which originally meant gardens in Persian. These ideas are very important, especially if we seek reward and things, which we are not given by other people in this world.

In Surah ash-Shu'arah, the people are warned to be aware of the source of their "gardens and springs"(Surah ash-Shu'arah 26:134), various times, and those who warned them are accused of magic (Surah ash-Shu'arah 26:153), just like Jesus was accused of using evil magic by the Pharisees (Gospel of Matthew 12:24).

I've heard it said that Jewish people don't believe in hell or heaven, like Christians and Muslims do. Yet, after studying a few chapters in the TaNaKh, I believe this isn't entirely true. I believe the Hebrews were much like the Native Americans, and projected complex ideas onto the physical realm. The concept of Sheol (שעול) seems to mostly represent the underworld, which was death, our eventual fate, rather than one of two destinies of the afterlife. Yet, there are some verses, which show the connection between destructive behaviors and Sheol (Proverbs Chapter 7 [adultery]). Adultery is one of the sins of the 10 commandments , which is not directly in Qur'an, however there some verse where lists of commandments are made, which are similar. Perhaps someone knowledgeable could help me find them again.

And so, my problem with the first aformentioned verse, Surah al-Bayyinah 98:6, has to do with how people mistreat others and threaten them with hell, or manipulate people with the threat of hell, without using reason to understand the destructive behaviors.

After I finished reading the New Testament, I believe that the concept of sin was created to explain a reality, where our behaviors do not meet the expectations of life, and therefore contribute to suffering. The commandments were created from observations about life. For example, the impact of murder on ancient societies and how it caused many problems, and destroys the most precious thing on this planet.

I believe we can be perfect in the eyes of God, in the sense that God can accept us as we are and that this idea can bring us peace. However, we can still not meet the expectations of life by making wrong choices, and that is sin.

I believe once we are unburdened by shame and can live in the present moment, having faith that our sins can be forgiven, we are more capable of changing. Because shame can often make us feel tainted or irredeemable, which causes us to suffer and continue destructive behaviors. If we let go of the past, we can live in the present moment and become aware of God's mercy, and live our lives a better way.

In my life, I have experienced something like karma. I would begin to struggle and it would remind me of something bad I did in the past, causing me to reflect on my actions. Later, I reasoned that it was a blessing for me to experience a complicated consequence or a retribution from God for my actions earlier in my life, because otherwise it would come slowly and I would never be prepared for it nor be able to perceive it, causing more suffering in ignorance. Yet, I am very blessed, and the struggles contribute to new types of blessings, like the direction of my education towards Bible and Qur'an.

In European cultures, they portrayed something similar: the wheel of fortune. However, it seems not everybody experiences consequences in this lifetime, and I don't know why. The Book of Job is like a Hebrew philosophical debate around the idea of suffering in this life, and seems to suggest the best way to deal with it is to accept that we don't know and to have faith and continue worshiping God, despite our struggles.

God knows, I don't. God controls our destiny. God is the creator and destroyer, yet I believe God wants to create more, because of the blessings we receive by taking care of God's creation.

Just like a hospital services the needs of people in this life, so can a garden. Especially in these cities which contribute to our ailments and aren't healthy places for us to live. I don't believe we should have to wait until the afterlife to receive basic needs. Yet, there is so much that is out of our control and we should be ready to confront it and lose. From dust to dust. I believe shouldn't try to make utopia, and kill or hurt in the process, rather a better world should emerge from the simple goodness between individuals, particularly those closest to each other. If life is a game where we all lose, why do bad things trying win? If we all lose, then its about how we play the game. (Source: Level 42 - The Way Back Home)

Thanks for reading my perspective,
Fireheart47

Dear Joseph Islam,

If the Qur'an was once only recited, and thus the other believers were called People of the Book (Ahl Al-Kitab), does that mean after the Qur'an was compiled and made into a book that the believers of it are now also People of the Book?

Sincerely,
Fireheart47

This topic causes me to reflect on the modern implications of this seemingly universal concept of the importance of prayer and the Golden Rule.

The modern implications have been the conflict which started in Europe in the 1700s or earlier, because of the terrible conditions of the common people, who were made to work in factories and other dangerous places at the beginning of the industrial age. There were women, children and men being harmed, and it caused dysfunction in society. The people who wanted to make life better for them were called socialists. Many of them were Christian, and wanted the authorities (religious, political) to do something to protect them from harm. Unfortunately, the religious authorities were either in ignorance (no computers and internet back then), hypocritical, or limited in their abilities.

Because of this conflict, many socialist thinkers began to criticize religion, and see it as simply myth, societal and mind-control, and not wisdom. In their utopian vision of the future, they wanted to replace religion with something more human and more physical: the government. Many differed in opinions, yet some of the socialists came to certain agreements and formed what we know as communism, and its many varieties. One of the agreements they came to is the importance of international cooperation among workers to try to overthrow their oppressors. However, because they abandoned religion, they did not believe in the Golden Rule, nor any universal law which protects human life. They became the new oppressors, justifying when they killed human life.

Other groups formed, because people weren't all the same. Benito Mussolini was the son of an anarchist, and he went to a boarding school, and had tendencies which did not conform to the ideals of thinkers around him. They rejected him, yet he wasn't just a victim, he had selfish ambitions of becoming great in the eyes of others and powerful. He created a newspaper, and he received help from England, who wanted Italy to join WW1. His new type of socialism kept the old ideas of a king-like leader, the national pride and stories of ancient Rome. It was also very militaristic, and supported war. He himself was possibly inspired by lesser-known predecessors before him, who caused massive protests and believed in many contrarian ideas.

In Germany, a wounded soldier became a spy for a new socialist group, which seemed threatening. The person was Adolf Hitler, and they had spent time reading fanciful magazines, which talked about a romantic mysterious past, and a superior angelic master-race. He ended up leaving his mission somehow, and joined the group he was tasked with spying on. His hateful words and long speeches caused people to be interested, yet they also inspired people to do terrible things to innocent people. He used his authority then to continue this and caused more wars, despite preaching about peace. From the beginning, him and the people around him were also militaristic and supported war.

Many people think about these leaders, who misled, and forget about the many people around them, which manipulated them for their own gain. Dictators are in many ways perfect for people who don't want to be held accountable. People also forget about the role of the military establishment in these events, which sought benefit from their pro-military politics, and who also played a role in causing the trauma experienced in WW1, which caused a deep-rooted ignorance, which manifested in beliefs in outlandish ideas, hypocrisies and contradictions, and inhumane worldviews and actions.

For example, I remember seeing in a documentary a racist publication which portrayed itself as biblically destined to attack the Jewish, ordained by God, by using a verse Book of Jeremiah 5:15 as their slogan, which says a foreign nation will attack the House of Israel. Yet in that same chapter, in Jeremiah 5:11 it distinguishes the House of Israel from the House of Judah, the origin of Jewish people. And the reason the House of Israel is threatened is because of its polytheism and worship of foreign deities. The irony.

(potential source: The Black Sun by Rüdiger Sünner [documentary about roots of Nazi ideologies])

The National Socialist party also did not know or did not acknowledge the linguistic evidence, which suggests the Germanic runes developed from Carthaginian Alephbet as proposed by Theo Vennemann and other linguists. Nor did the Italians acknowledge the role of the African ancient Egypt, which provided Roman culture with its columned temples, which were originally based off of natural observations of palm trees and papyrus reeds.

This all ties back to our collective sins of not practicing our religion and allowing poverty and war to shape the world around us. Our sin of hiding the truth and promoting ideas which contribute to dogmatic and harmful thinking and behavior, causing others to dislike religion and the people who hurt them.

This history is a lesson for us, because yesterday it was Italian and German people, but tomorrow and perhaps today it is some other group, who will be similarly misled into destruction. Italian and German culture have made and still make amazing contributions to religion (Latin Bible, Gothic Bible, Renaissance, Martin Luther Bible, Saarbrücken Schools of Islamic studies, House of One, Wilhelm Barthlott, Christoph Luxenberg, etc...).

It is a blessing media technology developed during this time for us to have so much evidence of the past, which enables us to compare it to the present moment, and to avoid similar mistakes.

Fireheart47