A spiritual Ishmaelite

Author: ishmaelabraham

  • Anthropology of HRM (Human resource management) and traditional cultures

    Ishmael Abraham · 

    Works at Digital Communications and Networks
     My father did MBA from US so I am familiar with the concept of human resource management which is a very underdeveloped area in traditional cultures. A local university has initiated a course on anthropology of HRM so that led me to arrive here. My orthodox cousin is an anthropologist but we are still unable to apply western concepts to indigenous contexts. Thanks for this contribution.
    Dr. Saif abbasi

      International Islamic University Islamabad
      Faculty Member, Sociology Department
    Peace. I am happy that you started a course on anthropology of HRM. Can we introduce in theory and practice the concept of organizational justice in indigenous cultures? Because even the highly qualified bosses have a tunnel vision and ignore ethics of management in indigenous cultures.

  • Poetic rhetoric and Scriptural accuracy: The case on an Iqbal verse about resurrection

    The angel of resurrection complained to God: O God I fear if this man raises the dead before you. Iqbal

     

    Cátia Lins No one would have such power. How can an angel who knows his Creator so well, ask him such a question? Because doubt precedes the question and angels do not doubt God.

    Ishmael Abraham You are right. This is only poetic rhetoric telling God about the wish to raise people from spiritual slumber 🙂

  • Quran, Pope and a rabbi on temptations

    About Pope trying to change a prayer about temptations: Quran teaches that God CAN allow temptations to mislead us if we stop going back to God often.

    Peter Bell I wrote a comment for Ishmael Abraham on the original post he is referring to here: Thank you! I appreciate and value your prayers. I have been giving a lot of thought lately to the prayer we pray every day, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” I am not a Catholic, but the pope recently said he wanted to change the modern form of this ancient prayer to make it seem less like God is doing the tempting, because the Scripture states that God cannot be tempted as we are. I share in your prayer and look forward to a year of holiness before God.

    Ishmael Abraham Quran teaches that God CAN allow temptations to mislead us if we stop going back to God often.

    Peter Bell Well, I think the point Pope Francis is making is that there is a difference between God “allowing” temptations to come our way and God “sending” the temptations to harm or mislead us. God is always good and does no evil, and is not himself tempted by evil. I also agree with your statement that “going back to God often” can help keep us from falling into temptation.

    Alperovich Anatoly Without temptations we cant grow stronger in faith and character . Evolve . Thus the last Rabi von Lubawitz told : i have no temptations left , i am jealous of People , who have malevolent feelings ( sitna ) to overcome

  • Islam has a more social and universal approach compared to celibate Catholicism, monastic Buddhism and tribal forms of Protestantism

    To a sister who admires Muslim families and societies: This is because previous religions were oriented towards personal development(tazkiya) or at most tribal supremacy(asabiyyah) while Islam also includes social engineering through focus on congregation(jamat).

    Peter Bell This is a fine thing wherever it is consistently true in practice. Of course, tazkiya and jamat go together and reinforce each other — overemphasis on either one produces a society (and individuals) in imbalance and disorder. But your description here is accurate in that it is quite possible for a religious group to focus on the individual development and fall short of the logical progression of the tazkiya into jamat. Fully functioning jamat will not happen unless the individuals are spiritually strong and healthy.

  • Exploring a Scriptural approach to evolutionary theism after failed deism

    Muslim evolutionary theism is still in infancy  but future of theism depends a lot in developing it at a more nuanced level, that’s why I love BioLogos foundation although when I chatted them, they did not like my Scriptural approach because deism is seen by some arguably as the forerunner of atheism due to lack of a Scriptural approach.

    Peter Bell I like BioLogos too, but I don’t see how deism leads to atheism. Deism as a philosophy or theology has been around for a long time, and deists don’t always turn into atheists but often stay deists for a very long time, even for a lifetime. I find deism deficient in that its impersonal nature keeps us a long distance from union with God (contrary to the teaching and experience of Sufis and others), but it is not the paved road to atheism. Is this what the folks at BioLogos are thinking? Thank you for the interesting and intelligent discussion.

  • First good discussion with an Orthodox Christian

    Shalom on truth seekers. Have you studied Seraphim Rose. He admired the Muslim pro-Ishmaelite faithful Rene Guenon and also constructively criticized him.
    David Hawthorne Yes, before he was Orthodox he was a disciple of Guenon and the Perennialist school.
    Ishmael Abraham I love when Eastern Orthodox constructively criticize Roman Catholics and neo-Roman Protestants. Because Quran has a chapter on Roman Catholicism, as Syrian Orthodoxy assimilated into Islam. The wife of third Caliph was a Syrian Orthodox Christian and her husband died while reciting Quran.
    David Hawthorne Which sura is about RCism?
    Ishmael Abraham Chapter 30 predicted that Byzantine empire will defeat Persian Zoroastrianism.
    David Hawthorne I think Islam brought down the Sassanids. Ishmael Abraham Yes. But Islam was still in infancy when Byzantines struggled with Sassanids. Like US and Soviets in modernity.
    Ishmael Abraham An Orthodox Christian monk also blocked me ( an orthodox Muslim) when I asked him, if God loves Satan/Antichrist?
    David Hawthorne God loves all of His creatures, even the worst, otherwise the Scriptures would not say He desires that none perish but that all come to a knowledge of the Truth to be saved.
    We also hear from the Apostle John that “God is Love”. If He stopped loving when He came to some individual He would change and no longer be God. But it is common to all classical theisms including Christianity, Judaism and Islam that God is impassible so He cannot not love.
    Any deficiency of love is always from our part and it is this that can separate us from being in relation to God as we should be.
    So, yes, I would say God does love Satan and the Antichrist but their refusal to repent keeps them from being the good beings God calls them to be so that they are continually at odds with Him and for that reason under judgement.
    Ishmael Abraham Psalm 5:5 David Hawthorne A good insight that helped me comes from Origen’s Commentary on Jeremiah.
    He said that when we speak of God’ love or justice or “God got angry” or “jealous” or whatever we should remember we are only speaking by analogy.
    If I get mad or jealous then it is imperfect and mixed with sin most of the time but God has these perfectly without any impurities.
    So when we describe God as “jealous” we should remember it is not like a person being jealous but the word is just a homonym. It sounds the same but is fundamentally different.
    We just use such words because of our own limitations in understanding. Ishmael Abraham That’s why Quran 4:40 says that God never commits even an atom of injustice(zulm). David Hawthorne On that all classical theists can agree.

  • Yemeni Jews and Peganum Harmala: How Islam preserves Semitic culture?

    My mother told me about this today to make our homes more angelic. How Islam preserves Semitic culture.

    In Yemen, the Jewish custom of old was to bleach wheaten flour on Passover, in order to produce a clean and white unleavened bread. This was done by spreading whole wheat kernels upon a floor, and then spreading stratified layers of African rue (Peganum harmala) leaves upon the wheat kernels; a layer of wheat followed by a layer of Wild rue, which process was repeated until all wheat had been covered over with the astringent leaves of this plant.

    “The beta-carboline alkaloids present in medicinal plants, such as Peganum harmala and Eurycoma longifolia, have recently drawn attention due to their antitumor activities. Further mechanistic studies indicate that beta-carboline derivatives inhibit DNAtopoisomerases and interfere with DNA synthesis.”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peganum_harmala

     

  • We need a non-atelephobic post-industrial ethical revolution

    We have always explored the ethical aspects of work and secular involvement in general and this empowers me with the right intellectual tool to get our viewpoint across. Thanks and God bless you.
    https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/give-and-take/201401/the-no-1-feature-meaningless-job

  • The dialectics of Ishmaelite mysticism

    The dialectics of Ishmaelite mysticism: Although Rumi was a unitarian due to his ignored background in sacred texts, but some scholars have expressed skepticism about the Sufi mystic idea of unity of being in which you are so much immersed in the intimacy with the Divine that you annihilate your own being like that insect which moves towards light and ends up being burnt by it. This is called unity of being. But the texts teach that we should not forget the rights of our own breathing self. So, some saints who knew both texts and love, taught that we should love like unity of perception so that we only become self-unconscious while witnessing divine beauty without annihilating the breathing self. So, when we pray, we forget everything else but then we go to our families and work and share the light of intimacy with others. In past I was very self-neglecting but now I am an engineer while sharing the light of intimacy.  So, no one can now accuse the believers of unity of perception of polytheistic paganism.

    Jerry Sexton Could the ego not be fearing losing itself if it is annhilated? ( A secular Buddhist ) 
    Ishmael Abraham Scientists say matter and energy can neither be created nor destroyed. And, the consciousness of ego is both matter and energy so it cannot be physically destroyed. What annihilation means here being so intimate with someone other than you that you ignore or forget yourself. We can find an intimate life partner but still we can feel the lack of intimacy at least sometimes because what others want is beyond your control. What our mystics fear is not ‘losing ego’ but ‘not losing ego’ so I have evolved into sometime who engages in temporal activities as duties towards myself, family and society but I feel happiest and most free when I have lost my ego during reaching out.
    Matthew Williamson Unitarianism is false and heretical
    Ishmael Abraham Were Ebionites heretical? Is first and greatest commandment a heresy or the source of salvation?

  • Why ethical truths are more important than logical truths in 21st century politics?

    To a tolerant American secularist: The epistemological dialogue about nature of truth should not be a factor in political decisions, because these discussions were promoted by Muslim culture in a respectful intellectual atmosphere in past. As I told you before military industrial complex is based on scientific truths but it is unethical. So, we should also explore the nature of ethical truths along with logical truths.

    Peter Bell Yes, we do need to explore ethical truth — but I think you know that the epistemological discussion you mention IS IN FACT NOW a major factor in American politics, with highly disastrous results on every front. Many specific examples spring to mind. I agree with you that THIS SHOULD NOT BE SO, but in fact it is so, and we need to explore what to do to change it to the way it should be.

    Ishmael Abraham When atheist Krauss criticized Ben Carson for being inaccurate about beginning of universe and evolution, I could sense that logical truths are valued more in modern West. But I think one does not need a PhD to be ethically and spiritually honest. But I thank God that no one can criticize my IQ too, but I think IQ cannot save your soul if you are not humble as it leads to what psychologists call grandiose delusions and educated people suffer from those the most.