Eight Lessons in 27 years

As I am slowly moving towards the end of a journey (you may probably learn in next post - what's this journey), I would like to list down the important lessons that I learnt(learning) in my life through various incidents, experiences, sources, art, literature, philosophies, mysticism, psychology, science, abstractness, falsehood, deception, grief, hunger, illness, patriotism, rebellion, wealth, temptations, pride, arrogance, envy, ignorance, power, fear, culture, language, parents and my extended human, animal and plant families .. here's an attempt to paint them with images and quotes for you to reflect and agree or disagree ..
 
1. On Existence (On Ego & Soul)

“I can't believe, I'm simply not existing because it doesn't seem true, and I would just be lying to myself.“

"My soul is my guide, for my soul is of that abode

I will not speak of the earthly, I am of the unknown."

"I did not come here on my own accord, nor will I thus leave. 

He who brought me here, shall return me to my very own."

"The sun itself is proof the sun exists!

Seek your proofs, but don't turn your face from it."
 
"Do not ask, Where is God?
Rather ask, Where am I?"

"All day I think about it, then at night I say it. Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing? I have no idea. My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that, and I intend to end up there."

"I am naught, He is all; there is no being but God's."

2. On Knowledge (On Intuition & Intellect)

“Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave”

"Given that true reality (haqiqat) is obscured by forms and appearances, as we have seen, an epistemological question is inevitable: how reliable are intellect and logic as a means of discovering and knowing the real? Can we humans reach certainty about our knowledge and our beliefs? "
 
"Knowledge that is acquired
is not like this.
Those who have it worry if
audiences like it or not.
It's a bait for popularity.
Disputational knowing wants customers.
It has no soul.

The only real customer is God.
Chew quietly
your sweet sugarcane God-Love, and stay
playfully childish.”

"Come, seek, for search is the foundation of fortune:
every success depends upon focusing the heart.Everything you possess of skill, and wealth and handicraft,
wasn't it first merely a thought and a quest?"

3. On Mistakes (On Lessons & Wisdom)

"Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it's a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from."

"Mistakes are the portals of discovery."

“Come follow me and you will find the way.
Your mistakes can also lead you to the Truth.
When you ask, the answer will be given.”

"The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue - so, the most important lessons lay not in what I needed to learn, but in what I first needed to unlearn."

"Who are the learned? Those who practice what they know."

4. On Evil (On Choice & Consequences)

"We stopped checking for monsters under our bed and we realized they were inside of us?"

"The lion who breaks the enemy's ranks
is a minor hero
compared to the lion who overcomes himself."

"Thou does not know evil till thou knowst good: (only) from (one) contrary is it possible to discern (the other) contrary, 0 youth!"

"All evil qualities—oppression, hatred, envy, greed, mercilessness, pride—when they are within yourself, they bring no pain. When you see them in another, then you shy away and feel the pain."

"God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites, so that you will have two wings to fly, not one."

“…whoever rejects evil and believes in God hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. "


5. On Love (On Need & Greed)

"One should not confuse true love with the feeling felt for members of the opposite sex. Such love, although sometimes transformed into true love, is deficient, temporary, and has no inherent value unless he desireth for his neighbour that which he desireth for himself."

"And if a person were given all of the world and what is in it, it
would not fill this emptiness(greed)."

"You know what love is?
It is all kindness, generosity.
Disharmony prevails when
You confuse lust with love, while
The distance between the two
Is endless."

"The lover’s ailment is different from all ailments; Love is the astrolabe of God’s mysteries."


6. On Struggle (On Purpose & Goals) 

"The angel is saved by knowledge, The beast by brute ignorance;
Midway between and struggling Such a predicament is man's!"

“Verily never will God change the condition of a people until they change what is within themselves.”

"The intelligent desire self-control;
children want candy."

"Speak truth, even in the face of a tyrant."

"The most excellent Jihad is that for the conquest of self."


7. On Freedom (On Oppression & Responsibility)

"Knowing your enemy is winning half the battle"

"It doesn't mean that I advocate violence, but at the same time, I am not against using violence in self-defense. I don't call it violence when it's self-defense, I call it intelligence."

"Usually when people are sad, they don't do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change."

"The undisciplined person doesn’t wrong himself alone–
but sets fire to the whole world."

"Either way, change will come. It could be bloody, or it could be beautiful. It depends on us."

"Lawless are they that make their wills their law."

"If you do not feel ashamed of anything, then you can do whatever your desires want."


8. On Submission (On Liberation & Peace)

"The worldly comforts are not for me. I am like a traveler, who takes a rest under a tree in the shade and then goes on his way."

"Let God be the ruler over your hearts, not the duniya (world)"
 
"Do you want to enter paradise?
To walk the path of Truth
You need the grace of God.
We all face death in the end.
But on the way, be careful
Never to hurt a human heart!"

"People who attach their identity & happiness to things of the material, who are happy when their relationship is going good, or when their work is going good, or when their financial status is good, they will be among the losers. A submitter's happiness is attached to Divine. And the Divine is eternal, That is why a submitter always says 'I seek refuge in God' to whatever good or bad things that happen to them"

"Forgiveness is a creative act, a true gift, that changes us from prisoners of the past to liberated people at peace with our memories"

"True devotion is for itself:
not to desire heaven nor to fear hell."




~ "All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds."

The Self

The nafs is a sea of calm until it roars.

The nafs is a Hell that radiates little heat.

The nafs is an ankle-deep river you drown in.

Better to be ignorant of worldly concerns,

better to be mad and flee from self-interest,

better to drink poison and spill the water of life,

better to revile those who praise you,

and lend both the capital and the interest to

the poor, forgo safety and make a home in danger.

Sacrifice your reputation and become notorious.

I have tried caution and forethought;

from now on I will make myself mad.

- Mevlana Rumi

~  ".. I am both the candle and the moth crazy around it ..'"

10 years of smoking towers

"On September 11th our lives changed forever. We witnessed an act of aggression that in many ways does not have a parallel in past or present times. There are several elements that make this act unique, from the use of civilian planes as weapons of mass destruction to the attack on the most widely recognised skyscrapers in the world. Nor have we ever witnessed the terrible indictment of Islam as having a part to play in such a heinous crime .. "
~ Sheikh Hamza Yusuf 

I was in my living room, preparing for my school-exams, as I heard footsteps descending down the stairs rapidly, it was my neighbor's son - a student of 6th grade. There was something unusual with his tone, and he gasped and gave a direct command of some sort - "switch on the television!". 

The immediate thought was, probably some cricket match was on as this fella was an ardent sports fan.
I lazily moved and turned on the tube to receive a frame of smoke among the skyscrapers - the skyline looked familiar, I assumed - an earthquake probably, or was it some kind of air-crash accident .. two minutes into the content of the tube, a flash scrolled by - 'Terrorists attack on Twin-towers, estimated death-toll in hundreds'. Scores of questions fired in my brain, but apparently I wasn't thinking, it was like a mixed-mashedup-mind experiencing shock & confusion. I was in my high-school when it happened, what went down in history as the 9-11 attacks.

The next day the news focussed on the tragic events with an unbelieveable content,"Muslims are seen rejoicing in some parts of the world". This gave me a jolt much heavier than the tragedy itself. The thought in my mind was the people who died in the attacks are civilians - people with dreams, people like me - children, women, old-men and people living normal life.

In folowing days my imagination went too far when I assumed Muslims not to celebrate even their birthdays and anniversaries, if it fell on September 11^th. “We can’t have Muslims walking into bakeries and ordering cakes with big smiles on their faces or exchanging roses on this day shouting ‘Happy Anniversary!’ at restaurants,” explained my turbid-brain, “It would be highly suspicious and inhuman if Muslims appeared even remotely happy or laugh on this day and, as international citizens, I implore Muslims to appear sad on this day.”
And after all these turbidity it took me almost half-a-decade to learn that the media bias, mis-information and subtle-propaganda could hard-wire a normal human to associate two entirely different things and yet would convince himself/herself that they are one and the same. This idea sedimented so much into a average human that if "black" meant "color", then "Islam" meant "terrorism".

With so much confusion over 5 years, slowly made me drift into the world of agnosticism(ridiculous enough to be influenced by Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris), religion & belief became just tags for me, nothing more than a cultural stamping upon my identity, and this view-point grew upon me for over 5+ years and it was partly due to the following facts

1. I was ignorant of what my original faith represented or spoke about.
2. I believed whatever the Television suggested to be undeniable realities.

I was fortunate among many Muslims, who were also taken for a ride after such an event, during my agnosticism phase I was destined to meet and befriend a fellow Muslim - who took his faith seriously. What followed were series of conversations, and a period of enlightenment for my 'nafs'
I learnt that unfortunately, much of the world does not know what almost every Muslim who has studied Islam knows; that the worst enemies of Islam are from within. The worst of these are the khawaarij who delude others by the deeply dyed religious exterior that they project.
The Prophet, peace be upon him, said about them, “When you see them pray you will consider your own prayers insignificant. They recite the Quran but it does not exceed the limits of their throat.”  In other words, they don’t understand the wisdom & true meanings. The outward religious appearance and character of the khawaarij deluded thousands in the past, and continues to delude people today. Every Common-Muslim should therefore be aware that despite the khawaarij adherence to certain aspects of Islam, they are extremists of the worst type. As Dr.Lang suggests,"Islam has the best religion and probably the worst believers"

The Prophet said, peace be upon him, “Beware of extremism in your religion.” 
Islam is the middle way between excess and neglect. Zealots are a plague upon religion. These extremists roughly come in two types.
The first group is a reactionary extremist who falls far right of a centre-point. Reactionary extremists do not want any pluralism; they view the world in melodramatic, black and white, good and evil terms. They are good and anyone who opposes them is evil. From among the Muslims these are people who ‘excommunicate’ any Muslim who fails to share their interpretations of the Quran. They are used often by the Western media in order to scare simple people and cause them to believe that Muslims are insane and barbaric. Unfortunately, some Muslim individuals and communities provide them with much fuel to fire their incendiary flames.

The second group are radical extremists, who while they are almost identical with the former group, differ in that they will use violence to further their cause. They are actually more dangerous & worse than the first. They believe like every nefarious secret society before them that ‘the end justifies the means.’ They see any act as acceptable if it will further their ‘cause.’ This is blatantly anti-Islamic for a number of reasons.
Then came the wave of conspiracy theories. These were not limited to the Islamic world - infact much of these theories are rooted with the individuals living in America and were actively voicing such diverging interpretations(propagated by people like Alex Jones, and scores of other such people) and, year by year they were becoming increasingly prevalent among Muslim communities, and some theory-makers went as far as claiming the the world is run by 'green aliens' in White-House, and many paranoid common-Muslims were sucked into these games and some of these paranoid-Muslims went to trigger their own 'X-Files type' interpretation of 'End Times Map', and it grew so popular that it forced few Muslim Scholars to study the series and provide their refutations.

The 9-11 incident though tragic became a poster-advertisemt for Islamophobia, there were series of events that triggered the  divide of 'Islam and West' - almost all the major geo-political events and incidents over the decade that followed, subtly-mapped into a Muslim-mind as suppression of Islam, and steadily becoming a victim of injustice: War on Afghanistan, War on Iraq, Cartoons Controversy, Minaret Ban, Adhan Ban, Niqab ban, Flotila incident, Abu Garib, Civilian Deaths, Depleted Uranium, Psycho-Soldiers, more Psychos, Ariel Sharon Incident, Gujarat riots, Quran burning, Profiling at Airports (the ex-President of India was also a target), and such.

As every coin has two-faces, on the flip-side 9-11 incidents also tried to balance the Muslim-minds by giving them an opportunity to bridge the gaps, prejudices and misconceptions - Scholars, Intellectuals and Common-men alike came forward to the break the stereotypes, and therefore it led to a domino-effect of different kind: Rejection of extremism by scholors, condemnation of the 911 incident, and as bridges were built it surprisingly led to growth of Islam in the West, and more surprisingly among western-women. 

This was followed by waves of Young Muslims coming forward to dismantle the "Angry-Muslim" caricature built by news-media and popular-movies , and helped by young generation of scholars, converts, and preachers like: Hamza Yusuf, Nouman Ali Khan, Ali Ardekani, Idris Tawfiq, Jeffrey Lang, Eddie, Hamza Tzortzis, Adam Deen, Suhaib Webb, Peter Casey, Rageh Omaar and such, were also balanced by wisdom and patience through a number of experienced Muslims in similar/same fields.

Thanks to technology and internet - forums like social-networking sites, campaigns and discussion-rooms opened up possibilites for Muslims to express themselves - and suddenly these initiatives were complemented with popular Muslims coming to spotlight: Muslim Comedians, Oscar-winners, Pop-stars, Journalists, Peaceful-Revolutionaries(aka Twitter revolutionaries), Athletes, and even Muslim animals, mountains, and planets coming into visiblity on the world-stage, and the biggest of them we nearly had a Muslim President in White-House!:)
Though the final one was a disappointment.. yet, we had Tony Blair's sister-in-law, Lauren Booth choosing Islam, and Islam is now counted to be growing popular among Russians, South Americans, Australian-Aborigines and Chinese based on many independent yet, converging reports.

Well, what does all these little details & unrelated things about demographics, statistics and projections have to say to me? - personally, I have learnt that: Islam is not a blind and barbaric faith defined by a minute fraction of violent individuals, neither is the Prophet, peace be upon him, a liar nor a mad-man, and logically could not be both - as many individuals like Daniel Pipes, Pamela Geller, Geert Wilders, Alisina, Sam Shamoun, Robert Spencer, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Walid Shoebat, Nonie Darwish, Wafa Sultan, and Terry Jones (loosely put the neocons) would say, and also work hard to propagate the idea openly/sublimally that 'Islam is of the evil'.
This post is kind of a 'thank you note' to my fellow Muslim friend who guided me out of agnosticism - by engaging me in discussions and how... reason, rationality, spirituality, science, God and religion are not conflicting spheres, and also thanking Dr.Lang for his wonderful book 'Struggling to surrender',that helped to open up my heart for Islam to enter again.
And by some coincidence about 2 years ago, I was introduced to an amazing bunch of individuals under a forum on facebook - who in my opinion are the 'centre of wisdom' on facebook, though not a strictly theistic forum -  it definitely is an oasis in 'desert of materialism',and I came to know there are plans for launching a web-page based on the group's discussions, posts and paradigms (would share the link here once the project is online).

Coming back to this blog-post, it wasn't all good though - we had Israel & Iran getting locked into an escalating battle of ego, and Iran's envious neighbor Saudi approving Israel's use of their Air-space for possible air-raids on Iran. Afghan tribal Muslim cutting off his wife's nose, Female circumcision among some Muslim in North Africa, Sectarian conflicts in Pakistan, Apostacy arrests, Rebel uprisings and attacks on NATO+US in Afghanistan & Iraq, the usual EDL vs Muslims clashes, Islamophobia still evident in Europe & USA, Dawkins gang suggesting that Muslims are delusional-beings, and Subramanian Swami suggesting to revoke voting rights of all Indian Muslims and more..  - but I'm happy emphasising the positives, things like these (link) and these (link) that there have been efforts by people from both camps to reach out to common-terms, be compassionate and most importantly be Insaan(human). 

(P.S: Only those individuals who are striving to live by the spirit of Islam as a 'way of life' are referenced as the popular Muslims above. Hence the list didn't include the likes of Kasab, Salman Rushdie, Lockerbie/Underwear bombers, and such - on expected lines weren't advertised)

~ “Knowledge exists potentially in the human soul like the seed in the soil; by learning the potential becomes actual.”
― Imam Al-Ghazali

The Nothing

The Buddhist Monk next to them giggled. "Why worship anything at all? Nothing exists."

The Rabbi and the Pagan-Priest looked at the Monk and laughed like only a pair of stoned hippies could. "You're right Monk! Nothing exists! I guess we should stay here and worship nothingness instead?"

The rabbi got-up, smiled and greeted the others farewell. He took one last puff on the hookah and passed it to the monk.
"Where are you going?" asked the Monk as the Rabbi went to the door.

"I'm going back to my land 'Canaan' and speak to my people there about 'softening their hearts' - and teach them about a message that preaches love and tolerance!" responded the Rabbi and added, "I just wish that they don't demand of me like walking on water, and turning water into wine."




"Thats not a very nice thing to do. Messing with people's minds and their traditions is risky business. They might kill you for it.",said the Monk.
The clay-lump which had been shaped into a bird-figure by the Jewish rabbi during their conversation all of a sudden came to life and flew out of the hut. 

~ “Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.”

(C.S. Lewis)

Who Says Words With My Mouth?

All day I think about it,
then at night I say it.

Where did I come from,
and what am I supposed to be doing?

I have no idea.

My soul is from elsewhere,
I'm sure of that,
and I intend to end up there.

This drunkenness
began in some other tavern.

When I get back around
to that place,
I'll be completely sober.

Meanwhile, I'm like a bird
from another continent,
sitting in this aviary.

The day is coming when I fly off,
but who is it now in my ear
who hears my voice?

Who says words with my mouth?

Who looks out with my eyes?

What is the soul?


I cannot stop asking.


If I could taste
one sip of an answer,
I could break out
of this prison for drunks.

I didn't come here of my own accord,
and I can't leave that way.

Whoever brought me here
will have to take me home.

This poetry,

I never know
what I'm going to say.

I don't plan it.

When I'm outside the saying of it,
I get very quiet
and rarely speak at all.

From The Essential Rumi, page 2. Translated by Coleman Barks.
© Copyright, 2004, HarperSanFrancisco. Permission pending; fair use intended.









“We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars like dust”

~ MEVLANA RUMI

Is the 'dot' an ellipse or a polygon - a spiritual quest.

Philosophy is a branch of knowledge and is also a longstanding tradition in the compatibility between reason and faith.
It is not necessarily concerned with religious issues, nor it is exclusively produced by Atheists.


Among the concerns I have in person is that “time is moving faster - so that a whole year passes like a month, a month passes like a week, a week like a day, a day like an hour, and an hour like the amount of time it takes to light a fire.” Why so?

I believe that the perception of time moving faster is in consequence of the our inner knowledge departing from the heart, and a preoccupation with the worldly life taking exclusive possession of the heart.
The consequence of this inner-spiritual vacuum is that "we lose the identity of ourselves, and began imitating and stealing identities, like the mannerism to imitate a star or idol in a particular field be it music, attire, dancing, to the extent of personal-looks and behaviour : We suppress our original-self and wear a mask of being someone else."

These seem to be times of great betrayals in which “temptations are being presented to men’s hearts as a reed-mat is woven stick by stick, and any heart which is impregnated by them would have a black mark put in it. The result is that hearts are of two kinds, one, white like a white stone, which is not be harmed by temptation as long as the heavens and earth endure, and the other, black and dust-colored like a vessel which is upset, incapable of recognizing what is reputable, or rejecting what is disreputable, but being enveloped by its passions and desires.”

There can be no doubt whatsoever that this so-called age of ‘progress’ is, indeed, the age when these signs of the spiritual breakdown have appeared. This is the age of secularism. Even the state is secular, and so too politics, the economy, education, the market, the media, sports, sciences, entertainment, etc. The dining room and the bedroom are today also secularized.
Secularism begins by ‘excluding God’, and would likely culminate by ‘denying God’! How so? When knowledge is secularized it leads to the belief that knowledge comes from only one source, i.e., external observation and rational enquiry. The implication of the adoption of this epistemology is as follows: since this material world is the only world we can ever ‘know’ in this way, it follows that this is the only world that really ‘exists’.

Thus it is that secularism leads inevitably to materialism, i.e., the acceptance, for all practical purposes, that there is no reality beyond material reality. And materialism has led, naturally so, to a world of greed, lies, promiscuity, injustice, oppression, good-lessness, and great betrayals since the moral foundations of society cannot be sustained without the spiritual heart of goodness. And such a world is not bothered in the least with such things as the inner spiritual knowledge and guidance.

What is ‘remembrance’? When a man visits in his heart the woman that he loves, he shudders as an enchanting fragrance envelops his heart. It happens every time! When he hears her name mentioned, the same thing happens. That is ‘remembrance’! Clearly ‘remembrance’ is only possible when there is true love.
And so it is really when love and quest for spirituality departs from the heart that ‘time’ moves faster and yet faster.
Hence it follows that when sincere love for 'grandoise of universe, nature and spirituality' allows truth to enter and take possession of the heart, that ‘time’ would surely move slower and yet slower, until that truth transports us to a ‘timeless’ world.

People tend to forget the bigger question and concentrate on the little irrelavant details like I said - The question (which is irrelavant) but is still unanswered "Is the dot an ellipse or a polygon?" .....


~ It is evident that everything which does not exist at first and then exists, is determined by something other than itself.

Religion, God and Society

Ideally there are 2 possibilities:

1. There is no God
2. If there has to be God, It/He/she cannot be a God only for a Selective Group, but instead the architect of Universe.

People often confuse Mythology with History, which is the real basic problem for conflicts.

So if the case is #1, no explanation needed - you can go to sleep,

Case #2.

First, I have a serious of question here "Define God", and which one will you choose to define, the one in Christianity, or Judaism or Islam or Buddhism or Hinduism or the Greek and Roman God(s) ?

Under a critical analysis - we have the capacity to isolate the "myth" and reality, and probably may get to closest meaning of 'what may be God'. Definitely a horse, chimp, tree, man or bacteria cannot be God.

So ideal and safe definition is " a force, or intelligence from which matter and energy originated " - in scientific norms it can be closest to 'big-bang', but i understand primeval-atom was not 'God' as well.

This is why i am not "hard-nut" religious, but i am spiritual and believe in God, of which i have my own understanding.

Religion is just a round-table, where you join your society, expressing your concerns - getting guidance - celebrating - mourning death/loss - just a emotive part, but nevertheless it is also the real need in any kind of animal-groups, including humans.

Tell, me one thing : if atheists are really so : why do they bury or cremate the dead, why just not dump them in garbage cans round the corner. Man, this too is religion - even atheists follow some sub-conscious acts - just for the sake of society !


And the flaw in the image/message above is religion follows something called 'mythos', and the crude material conception can only support 'logos - as much as comparing monkey with a comet, though both are composed of atoms, molecules, water : etc - but, the difference is clear'.

Religion, has molded humans into a social group for around 4000+ years ( as per archeology dating )
Religions helped man to organize society, settle down for agriculture, develop writing, work on art, and most importantly contemplate on the origins either through Belief or Science.

Believe it or not, Mathematics and Science would never have been developed unless there was a Religion in first place.

If not for Religion, Probably we might have been sharing a tree next to our closest relative Chimp, until now.







~ The greatest enemy of knowledge is not 'ignorance' ... it is the illusion of knowledge : Stephen Hawking








( Source: Internet )

The Rig Ved: defn. Compounded Praise ( to God )

In the beginning there was neither existence nor non- existence; there was no atmosphere, no sky, and no realm beyond the sky. What power was there? Where was that power? Who was that power? Was it finite or infinite?

There was neither death nor immortality. There was nothing to distinguish night from day. There was no wind or breath. God alone breathed by his own energy. Other than God there was nothing.
In the beginning darkness was swathed in darkness. All was liquid and formless. God was clothed in emptiness.

Then fire arose within God; and in the fire arose love. This was the seed of the soul. Sages have found this seed within their hearts; they have discovered that it is the bond between existence and non-existence.

Who really knows what happened? Who can describe it? How were things produced? Where was creation born? When the universe was created, the one became many. Who knows how this occurred?
Did creation happen at God's command, or did it happen without his command? He looks down upon creation from the highest heaven. Only he knows the answer -or perhaps he does not know.

~ Rig Veda 10:129.1-7 ( 2200 - 1600 B.C.E )

“Ajam Nirvikalpam Nirakamarakam Nirnanandam Anandam davaatepuranam Parar Nirgunam Nirvishesham Neereham Parbrahamroopam Ganesham Bhajaim”

“Oh Lord, Thou art Unborn, Absolute and Formless; Thou art beyond Bliss and again Bliss itself-the one and the infinite. Thou art the supreme, without attributes, differentiation and desire. Thou art verily the Supreme Brahman. To Thee, Oh Lord do we offer worship”

A mere coincidence - (A)Theist Point of View

I was walking out of the Al-Haram (the Ka'bah in Makkah) and saw a man begging from
everyone whosoever passed by him.

A man who had parked his tinted Mercedes excessively close to the Haram in a designated VIP parking walked passed by the beggar on his way to get back to his car. As he pulled the keys out and the alarm did the 'whup whup', the beggar raised his finger to the sky and said, "Please, for the sake of Allah!"

Trying to end the moment and avoid a dip into the pocket, the Mercedes man said back, "Allah will provide!"

The beggar replied: "What! Did you at any moment think that I thought YOU were my provider! I'm not asking for your provision, I KNOW Allah will provide for me."
The two stood there staring at one another for a moment and then the Mercedes tinted windows came up and the man drove away.

An ordinary African sister who was sitting nearby on the street selling clothes was moved by the incident. She did not have much, but from what she did have, she pulled out a riyal and placed it in the hands of that beggar.

He smiled and went on his way.

Possibly, Meanwhile the Mercedes man could not drive on with the choke of guilt.
I saw him come back made his way through the crowd to the place where the incident had happened.
I saw with as he pulled out a 10 riyal bill from his briefcase to give it to the beggar, and he looked left and right but could not find him. What was he to do?
He had already pulled out the bill to give for the sake of Allah and was not going to put it back. So he found the nearest person he thought was worthy of the bill, placed it in her lap and went on his way.

The 10 riyals sat in the lap of the African sister who had given the riyal to the beggar!

The Messenger had said that Allah's injunction is:

"O my servants ! Spend and you will be given." [Bukhari, Muslim]

The Messenger said that "Charity does not diminish wealth." [Tibrani]

(May Allah Give you Reward)

P.S:
------
- Quite and Quite entirely off, from my normal posts.
This mail was shared by one of my close friend, with a condition that i must put this up on my blog, without knowing the content in it - i accepted, and frankly i had to keep my promise to her.


Insane Lesson:
-------------------
Rushing into promises could take a toll, if you are a man of words. (Ewwwwwww!!)

God Can't Be (Dis)Proven

One of the most futile debates you can possibly have is about the existence of God. Unless the argument is purely philosophical, it is bound to end up going nowhere — because God can't be proven empirically.
To prove (or alternately, disprove) the existence of God empirically, the scientific method has to be followed. The first step, naturally, is proposing a hypothesis, i.e. God (does not) exist(s) — depending on whether you're arguing for or against theism, include or exclude the portions in parentheses.At this very first stage, we run into problems. How do you define God? What definition of God do we use? I think the following definition would probably be acceptable to monotheists:
God is an omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient being.

Our hypothesis thus becomes:

An omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient being (does not) exist(s).

Now, let me ask you... Just how on earth do you prove or disprove this hypothesis? If this being is omniscient — all-knowing — it will know we're looking for it. And if it is omnipotent — all-powerful — it can hide itself at will.
The result is that unless this being chooses to reveal itself to us, it is impossible to prove or disprove the hypothesis, since the subject of our experiments will be able to manipulate the evidence at will. Some creationists when confronted with radiocarbon dating argue that God put the dinosaur bones in the ground and artifically backdated them, but in reality we were created 10,000 years ago.
If such is the case, how do you empirically and scientifically prove or disprove God? You definitely can't disprove him, because of this manipulation of the evidence, if there is a God.

At the same time, you can't prove God's existence unless he comes out and issues a statement along the lines of "Hey guys, I'm God. See, I can prove it — I'll just turn this wine to water." Without such hard evidence, all the theists have left going for them is aphorisms like "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." (Intelligent design as a scientific theory is utter bunk — all the proofs of intelligent design are nothing more than critiques of evolutionary theory as it is currently understood, and don't in themselves prove that there is a higher being.)
But what does this failure to prove or disprove God actually bode? Does this mean religion or atheism is pointless, since we can't prove any hypotheses about God's existence or lack of it?
I don't think so. I think there is actually a subtle beauty in our inability to prove God's existence empirically. Being able to prove that God is real would actually be the real death blow for religion.
The point of religion is faith — to believe, not just accept. Being a Christian, I naturally will prefer Biblical authorities, but I'm sure followers of other religions will be able to find passages in their own holy book with similar meanings.
The Bible states "The fool saith in his heart, there is no God" — it does not say "saith in his mind" or "saith in his thoughts". If there is empirical evidence God exists, there is basically no point in believing — you are forced to believe God exists, not because you are convicted in your heart that he is real, but because the evidence is there and you can't run away from it.
Believing because you have to, and believing because you hold a conviction in your heart are two totally different things. As the Bible says, "Even the devils believe [God exists]". Their belief does not save them, because they do not hold a conviction in their heart about God — they just have no choice but to accept God exists.
The fact that God has not given us evidence of his existence is meant to affirm our free will, and to lend our faith a meaning. Hard atheist Richard Dawkins says that if after dying, he finds himself in front of God, he will tell Him, "Not enough evidence, God. Not enough evidence."
But the point of the evidence's absence is to give us a choice, and to make believing truly believing. That is something all people, theists and atheists, have to come to terms with. Trying to empirically prove that God exists, or to disprove his existence, beyond as some mental exercise, is a complete waste of time.

- Thanks: www.infernalramblings.com/articles/Philosophy_and_Religion

The People of the God

I am here with a rather delicate topic, this post might be blasphemous, erroneous and all the insane stuff - it might require, but i would still like to stick to the facts - to my best.

Religion indeed is a complex idea. People make it more complex.

The concept of God has been puzzling as ever - As for the Old Roman saying on christianity, "There is a new sect called christianity - they are very poor - they are so poor that they have only One God..!!"

But to the most, the Concept of God is rather Simple - There is a Supreme being residing in the sky - who watches over all other beings, counts their deeds - blesses them or punishes them on their account, as simple as that.Well, let me get down to the topic....


YHWH - The God of Abraham (The Monotheist God of Jews, Christians and Muslims).

According to the people of the books(Tanakh, the Jewish Scripture - The Bible, the Christian scripture - The Koran, the Islamic scripture ), Many messiahs and prophets existed before and after Abraham, but Abraham is one who is actally a distributing point for the three major religious followings (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) together they constitute abour 53% of the total world population. It is to be noted that around 14% of the total world population are not involved in any religious following.

I am not including the Dharmic religions for the discussion( they constitute about 19% - which are, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jaininsm and Sikhism) as this discussion is mainly with regard to the God of Abraham and his people, though there is a twist in the story with the entry of Baha'ullah - I will get back to the Dharmic belief towards the end of my post

If we had to arrive to a conclusion from the statistical and Historical account,

Probably, the Homosapiens settled around Mount Caramel (Coastal mountain range in current Israel and West Bank) approximately dating from about 90,000 BCE. This is regarded as the branching point of the Modern Humans. [Ref. The History of Levant]

Judaism was founded in the Early Iron Age (2000 BC) - Number of followers 14 million

Christianity was founded in 1st Century AD - Number of followers 2.1 billion

Islam was founded in 7th Century AD - Number of followers 1.5 billion

Do you find anything strange in this statistics ?

Why would Judaism, which was founded about 4000 years ago have less number of followers compared to Islam or Christianity ?

No offences meant here - But i came to an understanding that the Jews were the most suppressed people on earth, and This might be the reason for their imbalanced population statistics.,Every great nation wanted to wipe out the Jewish culture from this world - and finally had failed everytime. Right from the Egyptians(1300 BC) to the Germans, Hitler- to be more specific(1940 AD) have failed in their every attempt to eliminate Jews.Further more the Jewish diaspora during the Roman Period (around 135 A.D), led to further decline in the spread of Judaism. But why would so many nations specifically target this community ?

In modern times there are news regarding people converting to christianity and people converting to Buddhism or conerting to Islam, but not much on people converting to Judaism.

Frankly, the Jews are one of the most gifted people in the world - Einstein,Maimonides, Golda Meir, Emma Lazarus, Anne Frank, to name a few - Astounding is that the number of Jewish Nobel Prize winners (approximately 160 in all) - and as a fact the maximum output on modern telecommunication-protocol research and weapon research is from Israel(a.k.a, Canaan in Old Biblical Period).So, i am questioning myself- are they really the People of the God ?

The 3 Patriachs Abraham, Issac and Jacob (a.k.a, Israel) are the founders of modern Judaism.

The geneology from Abraham to Israel and then further down the generations to Moses and further then to Jesus(also a Jewish Preacher) can be mapped to how christianity came into practice.

Abraham- Through his First Son Ishmail (Born to an Egyptian Hagar) leads to the generation of Arabs and therefore to Mohammud, gives the origin of Islam.

To the people not familiar with either of The Tanakh, The Bible or The Koran, is the following piece of Information.

Adam the first man and Eve the first woman were created by God in the Paradise, and were sent to Earth after being tempted to taste the fruit of knowledge by a snake (Satan).

Noah (Associated with the Great Floood) and Abraham were several generations down from Adam and Eve.

Of all the God's People Abraham is an important figure in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The belief is like that Abraham, married for a long time didn't had any children.As per his wife's suggestion he entered into nuptials with an Egyptian Hagar, who gave birth to a son named Ismail (Later,The father of the tribe of Arabs). Later by some years the first wife gave birth to Issac(Later,The father of the tribe of Israelites).

For some reason, the first wife felt threatened by the presence of Ismail and requested Abraham to seperate Ismail and his mother from their tribe, so Abraham together with Ismail built the foundations of Kaaba(The holy-place in Islam) and left the two people in that town, in the desert of arabia.

As mentioned, further generations from Issac, namely - Jacob(a.k.a.,Israel) and Moses became the preachers of the One God. This belief is accepted by all these three religion of The Books.

After rescuing the Israelites from the Egyptian Pharoh(The Exodus), Moses brought the Ten Commandments for them from YHWH. But was enraged to see that his people had entered into Idolotary (By Worshipping the golden calf) and destroyed the tablets.These israelites were to become the earliest jews after accepting the Ten Commandments and believe in Monotheism.Thus after going through many changes from Abraham to Judah then to Moses, David , now what exists is the modern Judaism.

Further generations apart, through Issac, Jacob then through Judah, was Jesus of Nazreth (a Jew) who began his preaching on the concept of One God (This attempt was to renew the Monotheistic religion from Abraham, as few customs favouring the temple and the then jewish priests were in practice - the jewish priests encouraged many customs and changes to the original Scriptures for their own benefits, thus the original scriptures began to corrupt), the jewish priests felt threatened by his teachings wanted an end to this. They finally succeeded in his execution, through Judas Iscariot(The Crucifiction, as believed by the christians - to be noted islam doesn't believe in death of jesus, they believe that jesus(a prophet - not a son of God) was lifted up into the heaven before his capture by the Romans).The followers of Jesus(Jews and Romans) became the earliest christians.Thus through Abraham christianity had found its place.

Now do you remember Ismail ?? - yeah right, the first son of Abraham was the father of modern Arabs and Prophet Mohammed. Mohammed was born in Mecca (Town built around the Kaaba), during this period Kaaba, became the polytheist ground for 365 idols (a God for a day), this generated great deal of interest for the Egyptian, Abyssinians and the local Arab tribes for a pilgrimage, this helped the Meccans economically.Mohammed showed no interest in those idolotary right from his early age. when Mohammed received the message from God, throught the angel Gabriel, he spoke against polytheism and asked everyone to embrace monotheism and submit to One God. The meccans felt threatened by this as they would be at risk of losing their main source of income.So that says, how Islam had branched from Abraham through, Ismail.

Jerusalem, a holy-land for all the three religions, was a battleground once. The European Christians who felt threatened by the growing popularity of Islam wanted to gain back Jerusalem, in order to get their strong hold. This led to the Crusades (The Holy Wars) . "Jihad" is the the term used to describe this from the Islamic context.

It is said that the Jerusalem then was populated with muslims and jews were living in harmony with each-other.Their peace was disturbed by the christian invaders.The Pope during the period were Corrupted with power and held their sway over modern England, Burgundy(Germany) and Italy.Though more than a score of battles were fought, it ended as a stalemate between the christians and muslims.

So after this long narration, are you able to get the point that, in my view - all these three religions are said to be the one and the same, as the one preached by Abraham and his predessors, but geographically and politically - they have been divided into three.They all refer to the same God (but the variation being the Messengers - they were different - this made the religions different)

Before the I and II world wars, there was a three way hate prevailing .

1. The christians hated Jews (for their involvement in Jesus' crucifiction)

2.The christians feared the muslims (for being a big political power in Eastern Europe, Northern Africa and Asia) and the fast spread of the faith was threatening.

3.The Jews hated the Muslims(for the capture of Jerusalem, the Jews had a holy site there, the wailing wall)

4. Muslims hated the Jews and Christians for the same reason (To keep the strong-hold over Jerusalem and over their Political power)

Things began to change for the muslims after Turkey's defeat (The Muslim Ottoman Empire) was shaken down to it abyss.

At some point during the II world war, the European Jews (Survivors of the Holocaust), felt that a separate nation could make then secure(ZIONISM - return to the Holy Land), the Allies favoured in creating the Modern Israel state, which previously was an Arab area.This led to the Israel-Arab war, which lasts till date as the Palestinian conflict.The actual fact is that even before Arabs came to this land (Palestine), It was known as Canaan(In Modern day - Israel) during Biblical period, and it was the homeland of Israelites until the Jewish Diaspora around 135 A.D.

There seems a little difference in the belief systems (Regarding GOD and the monotheist beliefs) in all these three major religions, but the fight seems to be more on the basis of Geography, Wealth and Politics rather that religion itself.

The Struggle between the Three Religions can be mapped as a Struggle between Three Nations,

The Jews(Israel) , The Muslims(Arabs) and The Christians(Europeans) - It is more like three children arguing as whose daddy is the best, but what they do not know is their daddy is the same person.

One point worth mentioning is of Baha'ullah from Persia, regarded as the most recent of the prophets (Muslims believe that Muhammed was the last prophet from the God, they do not accept Baha'ullah as a Prophet), mentioned that Krishna, Buddha, Abraham,Jesus and Mohammed are all messengers of god like himself through the first man and woman, the Adam and the Eve.The famous Lotus temple at New Delhi stands as his testimony, Bahai faith has spread as far as Germany and America.The fact is that, he fused the Dharmic religions and the Abrahamic Religons into a single group.Bingo..!!

Well, i can drag down to few more pages but i feel that, i have come to a logical end and so i am closing this post here.

What have i gained from this post is an insight into Theology,Spirituality, Politics, History and Human Nature.

Signing off:

~ The Insane

References:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/time/origtime.htm

http://www.wamware.com/world-religions/timeline-top.htm

http://www.wikipedia.org/

http://www.mapsofwar.com/ind/history-of-religion.html

http://www.mapsofwar.com/index.html