Saturday, February 24, 2018

Knowing God, Reality And Quality Of Life

 

Contents:

* Introduction

* Trust in God.

* Living Peacefully.

* Inner Peace

* Freedom

* Getting the best in Life

* Selflessness

* Ethics

* Coexistence

* The Way Ahead

 

* Introduction

There is what appears to be a natural basic need to understand what is going on, and that is why maybe one does not have to be a religious scholar or a sufi or a philosopher or a scientist, to read about religion, philosophy and science. Maybe it is better to consider different ways to look at the same existence and its events, in an attempt to get a better view.

Dealing with events, and trying to make sense of what's transpiring, are two related things. Usually one learns from experiences one goes through in Life. But, maybe there are differences between individuals regarding how curious and serious one might be to understand what's going on, and how deep one is willing to go in this regard.

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Ancient Civilizations And Religion

Note: I understand that the subject deserves to be covered by experts, and I am not one of them. I felt the need to write because, as far as I can tell and based on what I have seen and read so far, the angle from which the subject is considered below is not satisfactorily covered, and my hope is that this effort may contribute in a better understanding of the subject, given of course the limits of what I think I understand about it.

 

* Introduction

It appears that the subject of ancient civilizations has been drawing attention in recent decades, including from the general public. There is a notable amount of writings and videos on the subject.

Religion is usually a prominent part when discussing ancient civilizations.

As I understand, the essence of Religion is about knowing God. It is a journey that starts from self improvement and awareness about one's own being (definitely not in a limited, narrow and selfish way at all) and requires peace of mind, purity of heart, clarity of inner sight, integrity, high moral values and open eyes and minds. The path to know God is not something that any intelligent being can invent, the Path can only be discovered, as it is. The Path is about the underlying or the deep spiritual inner structure of all beings, and every intelligent responsible being in creation can benefit from.

However, regarding modern popular media coverage of ancient civilizations, when the subject of Religion comes up, I would always feel that there is something missing in what I see and read, and I have often found myself wondering how strange some views sound, given just a basic religious background, about basic religious concepts (such as presented here: Al-Ghazali's Aqeedah), that an average religious person like yours truly would know about.

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Livelihood And Life In This World

 

Contents:

  • Introduction
  • Prophets And Worldly Gains
  • Means And Ends
  • "Glitter of Wealth and Power"?
  • Moderate Consumption, Without Excess Or Waste
  • Charity
  • Being "Possessive" about what appears in existence as Possessions
  • Social Harmony
  • Limits Of Human Knowledge about Livelihood
  • Final Note

 

* Introduction

- A student once asked a Sufi master, "Why most wise men are poor?". The master, noting that the student confined the meanings of the Arabic word رزق 'Rizk' (provisions) to material things, said "Wisdom is part of Rizk, and they have plenty of it."

Rizk or provisions that humans can benefit from are much more than to be confined to material things. Some of what the word includes are:

- Availability of basic natural resources (food, water, fresh air).

- Total wellbeing (covering man's whole "being", it used to be the natural way to look at wellbeing in ancient medicine, in many different cultures, as I understand).

- Security

- Shelter

- Relationships

- Inner Peace

- Inner Sight

- Knowing God

None of the first five is necessarily tied to any particular amount of financial resources. And the last three have definitely nothing to do with financial resources. And the last three are the focus, and advancement in this aspects is the most prized and the most precious a human being can ever have, as far as mystics are concerned. A Sufi saying goes : "What did he find [of worth], he who did not find You [God]? And what is it [of worth] he missed, he who found You?" [from Ibn Ata-Ellah's Munajat (Prayer)].

Saturday, July 9, 2016

ملاحظات على النقاش حول الدين والعلوم المعاصرة

ملاحظات على النقاش حول الدين والعلوم المعاصرة

 

هذه المقالة تستند إلى معلومات ذكرت (وفيها متابعة لبعض النقاط التي جاءت) في المقالة التالية:

المنطق بين الرؤية العلمية المعاصرة والآراء الإسلامية التقليدية

وسأفترض فيما يلي إطلاع القاريء الكريم على تلك المقالة.

Friday, May 27, 2016

Al-Burdah - Verses 30 to 47

Al-Burdah - Translation and a Brief Explanation - Verses 30 to 47

 

Related Article: Al-Burdah Verses 1 to 29

 

 

Monday, June 22, 2015

Editions of Yusuf Ali's Translation

There are many translations of the meanings of the Holy Quran. The one I usually refer to first is Yusuf Ali's translation. Specifically the following old edition:

Ali, Abdullah Yusuf, "The Holy Quran, Text, Translation and Commentary", Hafner Publishing Company, New York, 1946. (PDF Download - Over 1800 pages - Size: About 90 MB. I hope it is ok to offer a download link. I have not seen this edition sold anywhere. Please note that the whole preface has been moved to the end of the pdf file, most likely to keep the page numbers in sync between the printed pages and the pdf file pages.)

This edition came in two large volumes. It was part of father's book collection, and was the first English translation that I started to explore.

Later on, I bought a newer edition, that came in one volume with better paper quality and better printing. However, I was surprised to find that there were changes (in the translation of verses and the associated comments) compared to the original edition. In many cases, such changes would give a meaning of a verse that is different from the original.

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Prophets Stating Their Certainty Of Knowing God - "إني على بينة من ربي"

The phrase "على بيّنة من ربي" appears several times in the Quran, specifically when different Prophets were arguing with nonbelievers.

In Surat Al-An'am (ch. 6), Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him is addressed as follows (Quran 6:57):

"قل إني على بينة من ربي"

Yusuf Ali's translation of (6:57): "Say: 'For me, I (work) on a clear Sign from my Lord'."

Pickthall's translation of (6:57) : "Say: I am (relying) on clear proof from my Lord".

Imam Al-Razi (in his exposition, Mafateeh Al-Gaib) interprets "على بيّنة من ربي" in his comment on (11:28), saying it means: "Knowing the Essence of God and His Qualities".

Sufi shiekh Ibn Ajeeba (in his exposition Al-Bahr Al-Madeed) interprets (6:57) as: "Say: I am on a clear Path that leads to Realization of Knowledge of God, and being exposed to the good pleasure of God "رضوان الله" (which is described in Yusuf Ali's translation of (9:72), as the greatest bliss and the supreme felicity), myself and those who follow me." A couple of paragraphs later, he adds about the same phrase, that it points to "having a penetrating insight which enables to clearly see/experience the secrets of the Lord".

 

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Views About Religion In The Media

Notes about some views on Religion in the Media:

Friday, March 27, 2015

The Pilgrim and the WC - A Sufi Story

This story happened about a couple of generations back. It is about a Pilgrim in Makkah Grand Mosque who needed to go to a WC.