Messages

Important: For those who are taking psychiatric medication, consult your doctor if you want to stop, because stopping immediately can also affect behavior and mood in a bad way. The boarding school suggested I stop taking my medication while I was under their supervision, with the support of a psychiatrist, who helped me ween off of the medication. In college, I was temporarily prescribed psychiatric medication until we came to an agreement, after I told them I did not want to take it because of side-effects and childhood experiences. I know people who take psychiatric medication, and I do not bother them about it, yet I have told them my perspective. It has been very important to practice forgiveness and live in the present moment.

The boarding school was based on Alcoholics Anonymous program, and ABC method of analyzing emotions. They believed we can choose our emotional responses and outlooks on life's problems. I don't believe this is completely true, because some reactions are uncontrollable and it is unfair to expect that of others, especially if they are not in the same condition as you (authority, freedom, privilege, social class, ethnic class, appearance, etc...). However, it is a strength one can learn with practice, and it has great rewards. In my experience, and from wisdom of ancient Egyptian fans, physical illness and chronic issues can affect your mind and its capacity to think rationally. I've heard them talk about upper and lower self. The upper self is the conscious self, the good and the bad elaborate ideas in our mind (ex: wisdom, intelligence, machiavillian, evil plans, etc...). The lower self is the unconscious self, the good and bad instinctual responses in our body (ex: fight-or-flight responses, gut reactions [saving a person, helping, not just bad], urges, etc...). They say illnesses, especially in the gut and related to diet, can affect the influence of the lower self over the higher self.

Dear Quran's Message forum,

I have been careless. The previous message was written on mobile phone, in order to preoccupy my time in a moment of distress.

Here are more details regarding my choice, which might help others.

One of my Jewish friends invited me to celebrate Hannukah. As they studied to become a Bar Mitzvah, I began to study Hebrew myself, as a wanna-be, mostly copying the letters and doing simple exercises. My main interest was calligraphy. During this time I was also interested in Albert Einstein. Although this may seem irrelevant, it was important, because it helped me feel more connected and interested in Arabic and later the Qur'an and finally Islam.

When I was in boarding school, I read some books about Taoism and Buddhism, yet mostly spent time thinking rather than learning or feeling like I belonged to those religions. One thing which stood out to me were these verses which made no sense, and it was said, these were the most popular verses, because they had not been understood yet. They said, the goal is to arrive to the conclusion that we cannot make sense of it. Similarly, I was given a modern book by a staff member, which was entirely incoherent, completely random made-up words, which didn't make any sense at all. After our workdays, we watched Stone by Edward Norton, and I spent a lot of time thinking about this fictional religion, Zukangor.

In highschool I became friends with African-American people, who were interested in ancient Egypt. After many years of knowing them, I began to consider what they said, and figured it would be good for me to learn what they are interested in. I was amazed by how much African-Americans have discovered about ancient Egypt, even though they are criticized and made fun of, because people think they are not related, and delusional. Learning from them helped me make later conclusions, even though these people on YouTube criticize Abrahamic religions, because of the violence they inflicted on their people. It helped me learn how to discern truth from conjecture, and the importance of being open-minded, and the benefit and advantage one can receive if they do that. Similarly, I try to be very open and honest about my influence by them (Baba Heru, Chester Higgins, Ashra Kwesi, Dr. Ishakamusa Barashango, etc...) and merciful with my criticism, because black people in America have inspired many great things, and many never get the recognition they deserve. For example, many think George Washington Carver was just the peanut-butter guy, yet he was a pioneering biochemist, and also wrote many articles about sustainable farming and soil conservation. He was originally a painter, specializing in botanical art, then became one of the leading minds in the field of chemurgy. He was also a devout person, and believed God showed him things in nature.

In college I met another friend through church dinners, who also had an open-mind about other religions and cultures, yet was devout Christian and was surrounded by many other people. These church dinners helped introduce to me how different people perceived the Bible, and how fluid movements of believers and their attempts to create a free-spirited movement often crystalize and become another sect. The dinners taught me to overlook strangeness in worship, and differences in beliefs, and find people who cared enough to have dinner with me. I maintained some friendships, yet stopped attending them. Later, I attended a Bible-study group which also was helpful to be together with people. Throughout my journey I've met many people, some strange, some imposing, mostly normal and casual. I try to keep an open mind and find the truths in what people say, rather than try to ascertain whether everything they say is true or not, trying to question things, especially after I strongly believe something and then find out I was wrong. This has been my learning technique also when studying on YouTube and listening to what others have to say.

My friend from Najran was a colleague, and he invited me to Eid al-Adha sacrifice, and dinner. He bought me Arabic calligraphy pens and books. He never talked to me about Islam, nor tried to convince me. He simply treated me with kindness, and when I talked about Jesus and giving money to homeless people, he told me wisely how it is also important to talk to them and spend time with them, because some people use money to hurt themselves, if I remember correctly. He talked about blessings and good deeds. Later I began chatting with someone from Egypt, who also talked about the same and recited Qur'an to me, teaching things about Islam.

Thanks again. May Allah guide you and bless you.

Fireheart47

Dear Quran's Message forum,

I'd like to share some perspective about the 2nd verse of the Surah al-Fatihah and get feedback, and additional wisdom from the community.

Surah al-Fatihah 1:2

ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ

Sahih International

[All] praise is [due] to Allah , Lord of the worlds

AJ Arberry's The Koran Interpreted

Praise belongs to God, the Lord of all Being,

Studying this verse was one of my first interests in the Qur'an and Islam. What stood out to me was the word al-'alameen or العلمين. I know now some people say it was originally العالمين، to whom I've said that it reminds me of the Geneva Bible.

When I was a kid, I used to play Call of Duty 2 on PC, and played a level in El Alamein, Egypt. I noticed the similarity in this word, and found it curious. Others have suggested it is not the same word, and even Wiktionary.org asserts it comes from a different root, meaning flags? However, I recently learned about the ancient Egyptian site of Zawyet El-Aryan, which transliterates the «-ال» as «El-», which furthers my belief that the city in Egypt was named after the verse in the Qur'an.

When I began to study this word, I was struck by the similarity between it and علم ('alam, English: knowledge, [many other words ...], Latin: scientia), as well as معلم (mu'alam, English: teacher). It is also similar to the Hebrew word עולם (olam, English: universe, [...]), which I had heard of before. When I read the verse, it made me think of God as the Lord of all-knowledge, where all that exists is God's awareness. It reminds me of how in English people can say about another person, "They are a worldly person", meaning they know the world and are knowledgeable. I believe the Arab, Jewish, historic Israelites, and all other linguistically connected people, had this similar way of perceiving knowledge.

When I learned about AJ Arberry translation, I was glad to see someone thought similarly. I was surprised it is considered less reliable. Why is that?

Then I began to ponder about El-Alamein and its significance in WW2. The German military was stopped there by the British, a moment where this terrible war changed tides, and the Nazi government's militaries which had been murdering innocent people, sterilizing innocent people, and doing other horrific things,  began to lose in a region where ancient world powers have fought and gained power (Rome, Greece, Persia, etc...).

El-Alamein is also a curious place, because if one looks at photos and watches videos about the WW2 memorial sites and battlegrounds shortly after WW2, it is surprising how it is in the middle-of-nowhere. It is desert. It makes one think how pointless war is, how all those soldiers fought and died for this barren land.

Perhaps one day with our changing climate, it won't be as barren. Yet even then, farmers and gardeners, like shepherds and civilians today, will have to be aware of the thousands of land-mines left by the foreign militaries. Not only those, but the other more modern land-mines left by Egyptian military near the Sinai Peninsula.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Location-map-for-landmines-distributions-in-Egypt_fig1_237580585

Some scholars suggest it was the first verse in the Qur'an, yet now is the second verse. That seems interesting, yet I believe the name of Allah and his attributes are so important, I think it makes sense for it to start how it does.

In a previous religious debate, when I considered myself only a Christian, the Muslim person said to me something wise, which I think is important. He said, paraphrased, "If a religion is the religion of God, only God can add or remove from the scriptures, it is not up to an authority to choose." Even though there are things in all the scriptures, which I don't feel comfortable about, I believe they should be preserved, because they are knowledge about the past.

Fireheart47


 

Dear Quran's Message forum,

My journey to Islam is a recent personal choice. For me it is a private personal thing, rather than belonging to a community and interacting with other people who identify as Muslim. I believe the essence of our beliefs can be found in many who don't identify as such, and that my obligation is simply to worship God and treat others with sympathy, empathy, compassion, respect and give to them when I can.

The ultimate reason why I believe Islam is attractive, is because the concept of س-ل-مً and ש-ל-ם as a sense of completeness is important in resolving identity issues. As a Latino in largely Germanic society, I've felt half much of my life. I look darker and different than my mom and her side, and the majority of people around me. Yet, I was raised here and culturally I feel more comfortable. I don't like either the conflict and dislike from the Latino community against people who are white and English speaking. It is difficult to find peace with these parameters.

I've longed to be part of this society, yet my struggles have prevented such from happening. When I was a kid I was popular and didn't feel different, yet that quickly changed. I started to suffer from sadness due to school misbehavior, shameful sexual experiences, and unable to get the emotional support I wanted. Doctors prescribed me psychiatric medication, and then my condition worsened. I would cry and yell, and from my family's perspective it was part of my disease, yet later as an adult I realized it was part of the side-effects of the medication. I was prescribed around 7 different psychiatric medications before I became 16. I believe this affected my brain development and is one reason for my current suffering.

At 16 I was sent away to a wilderness program and boarding school by force for selling and smoking weed, skipping school, failing freshman year and kicked out of summer school because I missed 3 days of summer school, because I stayed home sick, not because I purposely didn't go. At the wilderness program I spent 2 months hiking outside in Utah with the expectation I'd be back in 30 days, and was transferred to a boarding school, despite my that wilderness colleagues got to go home. There I had been told I was going to go home after 6 months and stayed for 2 years.

The authorities in charge didn't care about my excuses, they simply wanted me to accept my situation and to work the program. In order to do that I began to gravitate towards Taoism and Buddhist thought to cope with the trauma. Eventually I would realize the skills I learned during this time would help me immensely.

With the guidance of a staff member I began to read the Bible, and began to think more about it. I grew up catholic, yet I would often sleep in church and doubted the idea of God early on in my youth. I felt agnostic or atheist.

I began to smoke weed and drink again two years after program, which was 1 year after highschool. I didn't go to college, and quit making music (my intended profession). I think my lungs reacted poorly, because in highschool we used to smoke out of soda cans and I would ignorantly make pipes out of axe spray cans. Reflecting on this causes me to think about the lack of guidance we had because smoking weed was illegal, taboo in certain families, and we had to hide it, and also the difficult chemical environment we have to navigate in the modern world.

During this time I learned about Arabic, Islam. I would go in chat rooms. The shame of smoking and leaving music, influenced me to talk about controversial topics and bully people. Then I think someone attempted to hurt me by putting dangerous substances in my underwear, and also began to receive phone calls and other strange activity.

During this time, I decided to study German. When I was a kid I would play WW2 videogames and WW2 movies. I was fascinated by Nazis and went through a neo-Nazi phase, despite having Jewish friends and other types of friends. Learning German later in life helped me make sense of this, and provided me with information to learn what I believed in before was false. Although my family didn't like it and I felt alone because people didn't receive me, rather I continued to feel like a foreigner.

During and bit before college I began to seriously read the Bible again and tried to live the words by forgiving people and helping others. Early on I experienced strange things, which led me to believe I had sold my soul to the devil. I met a Uber driver who told me you can't sell what's not yours. This led me to learn about Satan and devil in Bible with help of people like Dan McClellan.

I finally went to college, transferred schools, took semesters off, and barely graduated. My health is declining, and I'm not very productive. It is difficult to study and to accomplish what I intended to, which was to garden and study plants.

Near the end of college I went to a wedding and drank heavily, I ended up alone and drove home, stopped at a Walgreens and hit my head against glass door. That's when I stopped drinking and stopped smoking around that time. Since then I haven't drank nor smoked weed, yet I smoked tobacco recently and felt terribly ill.

In college I met a Saudi from Najran who gave me calligraphy pens and books, and eventually my father bought me a Qur'an after always telling him my opinions about it. I knew about Hebrew because of Jewish childhood friend. I began to study it from a skeptical point of view, then began to believe more in it's authenticity and true value. I still believe that religious scriptures have some flaws and that the simple teachings (Surah Al—Bayyinah) are the most important.

Much of what I've learned about Qur'an I've learned in the past year and mostly in the last couple weeks.

Islam to me is about being 100% me, and not feeling half-Latino or half-less, and at peace with who I am. I believe science confirms this also because we are all unique organisms products of meiosis, and all DNA analysis requires the statistical grouping of other unique individuals, which excludes outliers, relies mostly on modern living samples (not distant ancestors), and prepares conclusions which are meaningful to the pre-conceived boundaries between people groups. When compared to plant genetics, plant morphology and evolution found in fossil record (300MY), we humans are all so very similar(>1MY).

Islam is also part of my Christian faith, which is simply my reverence of Jesus, who I always believed was a prophet. As a Christian I was non-denominational, and attended church dinners or prayed at home instead of going to church physically, yet sometimes made exceptions. I study the Bible and learn from what others say. I question doctrine, dogma, and tradition, in order to seek truth. I believe Jesus embodied the teachings found in the Qur'an.

For me, Islam is a concept, and there also exists a religion we call Islam, which is organized. I feel there has been a big miscommunication which causes divisions amongst good people. It causes people to fight, demean and kill each other in the name of the all-merciful all-encompassing and living hidden God, we call Allah.

In the Bible, Jesus preaches about Kingdom of God, and in many ways it is a rhetorical tool to unite people, while the Kingdom of Judah was being destroyed by Roman Empire. He is quoted saying that the Kingdom of God is among those who accept that his good works are not from Satan, which would mean a Kingdom divided. He is quoted saying the Kingdom of God is neither here nor there, but amongst the religious authorities who mocked him. And so I hope to further holistic thinking, which sees the whole and focuses on the relationships between things, rather than analyzing and breaking everything apart into groups and describing them in isolation.

Thank you for reading this and may Allah bless you and keep you on the path.

Fireheart47

Hello Quran's Message forum,

Please discern between my ideas and the truth, and may God guide you to an answer. I hope the scholarly among you may answer my questions and consider my conjecture.

One of my troubles with the Qur'an and mysteries of the Qur'an are the verses pertaining to Jesus' death and resurrection in Surah an-Nisa 4:157, it reads:

Surah an-Nisa 4:157

وَقَوْلِهِمْ إِنَّا قَتَلْنَا ٱلْمَسِيحَ عِيسَى ٱبْنَ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولَ ٱللَّهِ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَـٰكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ ۚ وَإِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱخْتَلَفُوا۟ فِيهِ لَفِى شَكٍّۢ مِّنْهُ ۚ مَا لَهُم بِهِۦ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِلَّا ٱتِّبَاعَ ٱلظَّنِّ ۚ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينًۢا

Sahih International

And [for] their saying, "Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah ." And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain.

Surah an-Nisa 4:158

بَل رَّفَعَهُ ٱللَّهُ إِلَيْهِ ۚ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ عَزِيزًا حَكِيمًۭا 

Sahih Intl.

Rather, Allah raised him to Himself. And ever is Allah Exalted in Might and Wise.

Arabic pasted from https://quran.com and English translation from https://www.islamicity.org/quransearch/

*Note: I usually study with https://www.islamicity.org/quran/ and prefer AJ Arberry English translation found on http://archive.org , because of the translation:

The Opening 1:2 Praise belongs to God, the Lord of all Being.

When I read the whole chapter and tried to find the context of the verses, I saw these verses as important:

Surah an-Nisa 4:46

مِّنَ ٱلَّذِينَ هَادُوا۟ يُحَرِّفُونَ ٱلْكَلِمَ عَن مَّوَاضِعِهِۦ وَيَقُولُونَ سَمِعْنَا وَعَصَيْنَا وَٱسْمَعْ غَيْرَ مُسْمَعٍۢ وَرَٰعِنَا لَيًّۢا بِأَلْسِنَتِهِمْ وَطَعْنًۭا فِى ٱلدِّينِ ۚ وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ قَالُوا۟ سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا وَٱسْمَعْ وَٱنظُرْنَا لَكَانَ خَيْرًۭا لَّهُمْ وَأَقْوَمَ وَلَـٰكِن لَّعَنَهُمُ ٱللَّهُ بِكُفْرِهِمْ فَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًۭا

Sahih Intl.

Among the Jews are those who distort words from their [proper] usages and say, "We hear and disobey" and "Hear but be not heard" and "Ra'ina," twisting their tongues and defaming the religion. And if they had said [instead], "We hear and obey" and "Wait for us [to understand]," it would have been better for them and more suitable. But Allah has cursed them for their disbelief, so they believe not, except for a few.

with specific emphasis on this segment:

مَّوَاضِعِهِۦ وَيَقُولُونَ سَمِعْنَا وَعَصَيْنَا

[they*] say, "We hear and disobey"

*I added this to show it was talking about Jewish people, which is shown if you hover over the words in Islamicity.org

Surah an-Nisa 4:155

فَبِمَا نَقْضِهِم مِّيثَـٰقَهُمْ وَكُفْرِهِم بِـَٔايَـٰتِ ٱللَّهِ وَقَتْلِهِمُ ٱلْأَنۢبِيَآءَ بِغَيْرِ حَقٍّۢ وَقَوْلِهِمْ قُلُوبُنَا غُلْفٌۢ ۚ بَلْ طَبَعَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْهَا بِكُفْرِهِمْ فَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًۭا

Sahih Intl.

And [We cursed them] for their breaking of the covenant and their disbelief in the signs of Allah and their killing of the prophets without right and their saying, "Our hearts are wrapped". Rather, Allah has sealed them because of their disbelief, so they believe not, except for a few.

It seems there is a constant theme of criticizing Judah, the place and people with power in the temples of Jerusalem. I believe the criticism here is not to deny the Jewish people right to their faith or exclude them from Islam. Instead it is to warn them against a tradition of viewing themselves negatively, as rejecters and stumblers, instead of believers and people with a right to salvation and a right to the straight path. This conflict and negative self-perception is something which the Bible talks often about: the Golden Calf, Moses and him never arriving to the promised land, and in light of Christianity, the conspirators against or killers of Jesus.

So, this could add context to why Jesus wasn't killed but instead lives, because God raised him. He is not another source of collective negative self-perception.

Additionally, I have pondered about the use of وما in 4:157, because the Hebrew cognate מה can also mean "how" (Book of Numbers 24:5). In some instances it can negate, yet it does not seem as strong of a negation as ولم (Surah al-Ikhlas 112:4). Could this change the meaning, so that the killing and crucifixion is not negated, rather stated as a condition before arriving to the final conclusion? What do scholars think?

When I reflect upon this verse in light of what the Gospels say, I find some conflict. Jesus' death, be it by crucifix or on a stake (Deuteronomy 22:22-23, Luke 23:31, Acts of Apostles 5:3, and JW sect belief), is an important part of the gospel narratives, which can't be easily negated, because of multiple allusions to it throughout the gospels.

In one lecture, Dr. Zakir Naik, makes a powerful argument against it, by pointing out the outcome of the Jonah story, where he survives. Or prophecies which speak of people being unharmed. Yet, I believe resurrection teaching, which Jesus and others in the Jewish faith believe in, is that resurrection is the survival of ourselves after death. So, I believe the Jonah story comparison can be refuted, since it alluded to a future resurrection.

What is the resurrection? This is something which troubles many, because it seems very difficult to believe someone can conquer death, and seems like a fanciful story. Yet, I believe idea of resurrection can be traced back to ancient Egypt, where the priests would observe nature's cycles, and determined our lives must conform to a cycle. Many Egyptologists talk about how these stories deal with the Pharaoh's journey into the afterlife, yet I believe they are universal stories, which were attributed to the kings in their tombs, because of the political structure of the religion and the funerary economy the priesthood could complete if they conformed their wisdom around the identity of the king. So for example, in one story, a person's soul transforms to light, and passes through a group of beings of light, then must struggle against a monster representing chaos and annihilation, before rising with the sun. This idea of rising up, the idea of our light rising again with the sunrise, reminds me of the word al-Qiyama, القيامة.

(Source: Egyptian Secrets of the Afterlife, National Geographic)

For this reason, I believe the idea of a metaphysical resurrection makes more sense than a physical resurrection. In a metaphysical resurrection, one's qualities and attributes survive, and are manifested in others. The essence of ourselves or mathematics of our being persists in the universe, God-willing. In a physical resurrection, one's body re-materializes and we come back to life fully ourselves and with a body to control our spirit. I hope the latter option is true, and God knows, I don't.

The former option is demonstrated in various parts of the gospels (Gospel of Matthew 18:20 [Jesus' presence amongst his followers], Gospel of Mark 16:12 [Jesus appears in different form], Gospel of Luke 24:16 [Disciples can't recognize him], Gospel of John 20:14-17 [Jesus resembles gardener]).

What do you all think about this topic?

Dear IjhazAhmad,

The article from Joseph Islam seems the most informative from Arabic perspective. I believe each word has a deeper meaning, which when studied linguistically can reveal the thought-form which ancient people tried to convey. Thus, it makes sense to find the various uses of Ruh in Arabic.

As for the Christian conflict, I believe there is some confusion. The trinity was created by monks to teach how the gospels portray Jesus, yet it has been a teaching which causes confusion and deviates from the wisdom of their predecessors, which the Qur'an preserves: oneness of Allah or tawhid.

In the gospels, Jesus is given power by a greater unseen force and is union with it. When confronted by authorities about calling himself a child of God, he points out how in the scriptures the term Elohim is employed to describe holiness within mortals, which does not apply just to himself, yet most Christian doctrine doesn't accept this as describing all humans, except Mormons (Psalms Chapter 82). And so this and many other occurrences cause people to wonder how can a human be connected to God, and the answer becomes the Holy Spirit, which I believe just means the unseen which gives rise to all life, not just Jesus. I believe it is Allah.

Many scholars debate about the meaning of this use of Allah in plural form used in Hebrew scriptures, אלהים. Although this has become the most popular way to say it in Judaism, it is not always written this way, sometimes it is אל, אלה, or אלוה. I believe it refers to indistinguishable forces of reality, which are immense and belong to a unified whole, like a water within the sea, which is also why water is pluralized yet also singular. Some say it means mighty ones in some contexts.

Here are more informed opinions about the idea of the Holy Spirit:

From my perspective, the idea behind spirit is a metaphysical observation and can be found in many cultures. Many priests in Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt would make physical observations, which would then be represented by symbols and then worshipped. I believe Abraham logically concluded this type of worship is not accurate, because something created those celestial objects and something put into action those forces of nature, nor is an idol or limited object an accurate  representation of the unseen and the all-encompassing, this must be done through faith. Some cultures come to similar conclusions, yet very few practice tawhid, because they believe in a metaphysical all-encompassing concept, yet they also believe in lesser deities, prescribing them powers and giving them worship. It goes to show how special the religion of Islam has been in preserving this wisdom.

Metaphysics was also a concept popular with the Greeks. Some scholars cite people like Herodotus, who write that their knowledge came from ancient Egypt (astronomy, temples). The Hebrews of Moses, who became Israelites, also were deeply involved in Egypt. It is said Moses was a High Priest, and Joseph before him also worked for Pharoah. Some clues in the Bible (Deut 4:20, 1 Kings 8:51, Isaiah 48:10, Je 11:4) and in ancient Egypt could suggest the Hebrews were involved in metallurgy (Mines in Sinai, and trade with Hittite empire), and some scholar suggest they were under servitude by a Semitic people called Hyksos, who invaded Egypt, then assimilated to ancient Egyptian life and became rulers themselves. However, many Egyptologists like to say how there is little physical evidence of the Exodus in the temples.

Unlike the Greeks, the Israelites were humble and worshipped the unseen in tents, mostly telling stories which informed self-growth and established norms between people. Whereas the Greeks became entrenched in the flaws of the ancient Egyptian religions, which were a mix of sciences, some core nature archetypes which became worshipped in ways that deviated from their original place within the story (Osiris [plants, wisdom, ancestral father, constellation Orion], Isis[fertility, ancestral mother, the Nile, I think the Milky Way], Set[conflict, war, death, the Saharan desert], and the most important one for them, Horus [consciousness, the observer], Ra [light, the observable, the sun], Amen [unseen]), and other made-up concepts used to organize activity around a temple. Each picture they used for explaining a concept became another religion, and new pictures were created like Aten (solar power, sun rays) to explain new concepts and create new all-encompassing religions. For this reason, they excelled in physical sciences, yet the flaw was that no one could study water without involving the deity of water, nor ceramics without involving the deity of potterwheel creator. The Israelite worldview was in many ways simpler and achieved what perhaps the pre-dynastic ancient Egyptians attempted but failed to preserve.

The word spirit in English comes from Latin and was used by alchemists and religious people, who trace their origin back to these cultures, the Greco-Egyptian and Judeo-Christian. In the sciences, spirits were unseen gases. For example, CO2 was once called Spirit of Wood. For this reason, alcohol is called spirit, because of the vapors or spirits they emit. From a metaphysical perspective and religious perspective, the spirit could be described as the unseen thing which is within everything, and which gives it life, like the code of the universe. This reminds of phrase regarding Allah: يا الحى يا القيوم

An example of another culture which talks about this is the Ojibwe culture. They believe in a concept of Gichimanidoo, which is translated as Great Mystery. Often the Native Americans are quoted talking about a Great Spirit. I believe this is the same as the Holy Spirit.

Given everything, it is a blessing we have the simple wisdom of the Qur'an and of tawhid, which I believe preserves the wisdom of the oneness of the force which created the world. It is a holistic worldview, which I believe helped the sciences by changing the way we study and perceive everything as connected. This holistic worldview can also be seen in one of the core values of our religion س-ل-م (Surah ash-Shu'arah 26:89).


 


 

Dear nalia96,

Forgive me for I was in a rush and forgot to add important information.

When I first began to study the Qur'an as a Christian, I doubted Muhammad's existence and viewed it mostly from the perspective of Christoph Luxenberg.

Later, I began to think about this more and after some experiences, concluded I had to have faith in Muhammad, the prophet who delivered the Qur'an, thanks to God.

I believe Muhammad is God's prophet, and recited the Qur'an. My intuition and my studies tell me the contents of the Qur'an may have been part of stories, which were told by Arabs, which in Hebrew ערב, can imply "nomad", whose ancestors intermingled and descended from Moses (Midianite and Tetragrammaton connection) and the earliest prophets like Abraham. They travelled down the mountains to Sheba and westward to Syria, and entered Jerusalem, and learned the prophecies of Jesus.

It has been difficult for me to accept that an angel revealed the Qur'an to Muhammed, and I struggled with this. Now I believe perhaps he experienced Total Recall, and was able to recite the stories he had heard from his travels, which effectively preserved one of the most important sources of information for this region of the world.


My hope is that my story can help those who are struggling to believe, and not to misguide those who are on a good path.

Now, I believe Islam is Christianity, and Christianity is Judaism, and Judaism is the faith of the Israelites, which believed in Allah and sought Islam. Yet each religion ventured on its own path, and its authorities persecuted prophets. Each has developed traditions and self-understanding, which separates them into unique religions.

I believe Judaism formed, because the tribe Judah inherited the Israelite religion by having control of Jerusalem together with tribe of Benjamin. I believe the Qur'an criticizes Jewish religion, because of tribal differences and religious trends, which caused religion to be centralized and the popular narratives to become narrow, and which focused ethnic relationships above faith, even when the Jewish scriptures say this is not so (Book of Isaiah 56). Similar criticism could be made about racist exclusive worldviews in Christianity.


My hope is this can inspire people to interpret what they already know, and to continue to study it, not feeling as if we know the truth, besides the simple teachings. I have not read the whole Qur'an and so I have much more to learn.

Sincerely,
Fireheart47

Dear nalia96,

As a Christian who recently chose Islam, I believe there is confusion about the meaning of prophecy.

Since the Qur'an is said to confirm previous revelations (Surah al-Maidah 5:48), I believe we can use gospels and/or the Bible to compare and find answers. We know how the gospels have scribal errors and errors from church politics. I believe Jesus knew this about all scripture, as he criticized the scribes (Gospel of Matthew Chapter 23) and preached a simple message (Matthew 22:36-40). I believe the essence of this simple message is also found in the Qur'an (Surah al-Bayyinah Ayah 5). Jesus taught about the spirit or essence.

In the Bible, in Acts of the Apostles (Acts 11:19-30), the Jewish and non-Jewish followers of Jesus were called Christians, because they followed Jesus Christ or Messiah. They also record a prophet named Agabus, whose prophecy of a drought came true. The Bible talks about prophesying (1 Corinthians 14:3-4) and testing prophecy (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

The centralized teaching of the religion called Islam is that Muhammad is the final prophet. One of the verses used as evidence is Surah al-Ahzab 33:40. The root of the word Arabic word for seal, خ-ت-م, is similar to the English word, because it does not only mean a seal for closing (ex: sealed lips), rather also a seal to confirm an attribute (English: seal of approval, seal of freshness)(Qur'an: Surah al-Mutaffifin 83:26).

I believe this refers to the attribute prophesiers must have, which is guidance for us to know what information is trustworthy and true. We follow specific prophets who have established wisdom and faith, yet I believe we can all be prophets. The word prophet and prophecy come from Greek word, which loosely means "to speak out". Our interpretations of religions cause this word to have an exclusive meaning, yet I believe environmentalists and civil rights activists prophesy, and so do those who try to preserve the wisdom and faith we inherited.

If by chance any reader doubts my religion, I will describe my faith.

I believe Islam, which comes from Arabic root س-ل-م and related to Hebrew ש-ל-ם, simply means peace, and has a connotation of completeness (1st Book of Kings 9:25), and reciprocity (Genesis 4:44, Book of Job 41:11), and for this reason it also means submission (Surah al-Baqarah 2:131). I believe this, because of how اسلام starts similar to the word انبوا (Surah al-An'am 6:5). I believe by a Muslim is a peace-maker, similar to how the م- prefix functions in other verse translations (Surah al-'Ankabut 29:69), and in Hebrew it could be written מי-שלם.

I believe Jesus is a prophet and attained elevated status of anointed one, Messiah, and his story helps guide our understanding of the scriptures. I believe he was Jewish, and his teachings are rooted in Jewish scripture (Genesis 4:15 [Against vengeance], Genesis 50:18-21 [Forgive and bless your trespassers], Leviticus 19:18 [Against vengeance], 1 Book of Samuel Chapter 2 [Hannah's prayer and God's dynamic control, from warriors to scribes]  Psalm Chapter 46 [God wants peace not war]). I believe he should not be worshiped, yet he said he was in union with God as example to his disciples to know what to do when he left them. I believe the Qur'an and the Bible both agree he didn't die, because he lives in spirit (Matthew 18:20). I believe the term "son of God" (Matthew 5:9) is an attribute or metaphor popularized by Jewish scripture, and it is not literally a son, nor the only son, which the Qur'an makes clear. Metaphor just like children of Devil (1st Letter of John Chapter 3 [Sin of hate]), and they are not fixed attributes, rather ideals we pursue through our thoughts and actions.

I believe Jesus spoke against corruption of the authorities of his organized religion, the Jewish religion, for the same reasons we should speak against Christian organized religion and Islam organized religion. However, we should show mercy, because we strive to emulate the attributes of the one non-physical God, which people have called Allah and many other variations of spelling and grammar.

I believe Jewish people although many don't accept Jesus as the Messiah can think and act like Jesus. And I believe the Qur'an confirms this (Surah an-Nisa 4:162).

Sincerely,
Fireheart47