A spiritual Ishmaelite

Author: ishmaelabraham

  • The nests of divine remembrace and obedience: Eagle’s nest and secular distrurbances

    ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·WEDNESDAY, 15 NOVEMBER 2017 
    God compares attraction of a saint to remembrance and obedience like that of eagle to its nest.
    This is narrated by Imam Ahmad in his book about asceticism from Ata bin Yasar who describes a dialogue between Moses peace be upon him and God. Moses peace be upon him asks God, who are your Godly people whom you will grant the shade of your throne. So, God describes them as eagles of love and obedience and tigers against the forbidden.
    في الزهد للإمام أحمد عن عطاء بن يسار ، قال : قال موسى عليه السلام : يا رب ، من هم أهلك الذين تظلهم في ظل عرشك ؟ قال : يا موسى ، هم البريئة أيديهم ، الطاهرة قلوبهم ، الذين يتحابون بجلالي ، الذين إذا ذكرت ذكروا بي ، وإذا ذكروا ذكرت بذكرهم ، الذين يسبغون الوضوء في المكاره ، وينيبون إلى ذكري كما تنيب النسور إلى وكورها ، ويكلفون بحبي كما يكلف الصبي بحب الناس ، ويغضبون لمحارمي إذا استحلت كما يغضب النمر إذا حورب
    A Vermillion, Ohio nest measured 2.6 meters across its top and was 3.6 meters high and weighed nearly 1,000 kilograms! Sometimes, eagles will build more than one nest and use them alternately.
    An eagle nest is constructed from large sticks, which are laid together to form the outside part of the nest. The center of the nest is filled with dead weeds, stubble and other softer materials, which may be available in the area. The nest cavity where the eggs are laid is lined with grass, dry moss and feathers. Many authorities believe that some bald eagles show such a strong attraction to their nesting site that, if displaced or overly disturbed, a pair may not return to the nest the following year. This fact places great importance on protecting nesting areas from disturbances such as logging operations, land development and recreational activities.
    Secularism describes those disturbances.
    http://eaglenature.com/eagle_facts.php
    The weeping saint Ata bin Yasar due to the scorpion of seduction:
    https://iskandrani.wordpress.com/2008/02/09/ata-bin-yasar/

  • May God save bioengineering from military industrial complex

    ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·WEDNESDAY, 15 NOVEMBER 2017
    I have always been skeptical of military industrial complex because of the tragedy it has caused to the traditional world in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan. So, I have explored research areas like BioMEMS as an ethical alternative. But reading this had been painful. Please at least salvage this area from serving the military industrial complex.

  • Quran 6:108: The difference between self-shaming, guilt, insult and blasphemy according to psychology

    ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·SUNDAY, 12 NOVEMBER 2017
    Self-shaming and guilt about trying to hurt God’s honour are good. Because Guy Winch admits that guilt is a relationship protector with God or another human. But God says that even the most faithless should not be insulted in Quran 6:108. As mentioned in 1 Corinthians 10:28 Pulpit Commentary But if any man say unto you. Who is the “any man” is left undefined. Perhaps some “weak” Christian is meant, who happens to be a fellow guest. This is offered in sacrifice unto idols. The true reading is probably, hierothuton, sacred sacrifice, not eidolothuton, idol sacrifice. Perhaps there is a touch of delicate reserve in the word, implying that the remark is made at the table of heathens, who would be insulted by the word eidolothuton, sacrificed to idols.
    Thanks for contriubting to interfaith dialogue
    Submitted by Ishmael on November 11, 2017 – 2:26pm
    I am involved in an interfaith dialogue with a Christian sister from US about the nature of spiritual self-shaming and guilt for displeasing God. Thanks for contributing to our dialogue by adding the nuance.

  • I learnt what Nick Elam means after an American Zionist called me Asshur the Antichrist :)

    ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·SATURDAY, 11 NOVEMBER 2017
    He did not even know that that my biological forefather was the one who killed Nimrod. May God make me a spiritual, intellectual and possibly a physical purifier of Temples of Jerusalem and Baca like the holy Elam of Nehemiah 12.
    Elam is also the name of the place where the Muslim philosophical saint Ghazali was born which is modern day Iran.
    Elam is also included in the name of my tolerant American secularist virtual neighbour Nick Elam.
    When the temple of Baca is purified, the oud pefume is mixed with holy water which is made from agarwood. First-grade agarwood is one of the most expensive natural raw materials in the world, with 2010 prices for superior pure material as high as US$100,000/kg
    The name Nick also has wonderful connotations for me. Nick is shortened form of Saint Nicholas who was born in Turkey and apparently my Nick loves The Young Turks who are involved in US politics. However, there is something even more interesting he was involved in anti-unitarian heresy and Isaac Newton and Muslims would have disagreed with him, but with rise of greek rationalism, unitarianism makes more sense than trinity.
    Santa Claus is thought by some to have evolved from Saint Nicholas too. I hope just like people today disagree with idea of Santa, they may also overcome the trinity of Saint Nicholas.

  • Refuting a trinitarian Zionist in biblical terms

    ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·SATURDAY, 11 NOVEMBER 2017
    Thomas Edward Morgan Jr. Deuteronomy 29:25-29 “and they will say, ‘ALLAH (the accursed), for they forsook the covenant of Yahweh the God of their fathers, Asshur (he who shall come forth) shall cut off they who were brought out of the land of Egypt.’ They will come to serve another god (Allah), and prostrate before a god, Asshur (he who shall come forth) shall know to divide. And the breath of Yahweh shall burn against that land (Palestine whole – see Isaiah 14:29-31) to bring upon all a curse written in this book. Yahweh shall uproot the land in anger, fury of great wrath, to cast another land as it is this day concealed. Yahweh our God. Uncover the Son. For unto the last, this is the observance of all of the words of this book of law.” Ishmael Abraham Both US and Israel worship the golden calf and Sodom instead of One God of Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac peace be upon them. So, you should fear being uprooted. The verse 17 even talks about punishment for sinful thoughts and in US and Israel people proudly express their sinful thoughts. The verse 29 talks about observance of all laws of Torah. Do you obey all laws of Torah? Are you circumcised? Do you avoid pork?

  • Givaudan and Swiss Arabian: How sunnah of alcohol free perfumes contributes to synthesis of civilizations

    ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·SATURDAY, 11 NOVEMBER 2017
    Today someone brought Swiss Arabian alcohol free perfume in my house. I also learned that even Sola Scriptura scholars like Ibn Uthaymeen do not consider perfumes with alcohol content less than 1/20th part of it, to be forbidden according to divine commandments.
    God is beautiful and loves beauty according to Hadith, so the orthodox community should promote this sunnah to help promote a modernity-compatible super-traditionalism in the 21st century.
    We have a strain of mystic self neglect in the traditional culture which can occur in celibate forms of catholicism, but reviving sunnah has the heavenly reward equivalent to martyrs.

  • Redorbit and fadeeha: When children of clerics fall from grace

    I came here while researching the word fadeeha which can mean scandal and fall from grace and this word has been used for her in the Arabic world. May God guide her to the path of her cleric father. A sacred Islamic text states that those who look lustfully at others will be humiliated/fadeeha by God before they die if they do not repent.

  • When a Shia brother quotes Companion Abdullah bin Abbas, may God be pleased with him  

    Abdullah bin Abbas may God be pleased with him has said: Never in history did the wife of any Prophet commit adultery.
    Ayatollah Nasir Makarem Shirazi quotes that and defends the chastity of Mothers of Believers.
    But militant and divisive Shia missionary Yasir Habib did not like that and said that Abdullah was not infallible and he was a disciple of Jewish convert Kab Al-Ahbar so he does not have any legitimacy.

  • A Pakistani modernist ignorant of both Quran and West discusses sexology and humorous poet Anwar Masood

    ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·SATURDAY, 11 NOVEMBER 2017
    Assalamu alaykum. Anwar Masood brought me here due to his preference for a national Pakistani identity compared to his Punjabi identity. I also appreciate him for naming one of his humorous poems after Quran 59:2 about tragedy of East Pakistan. Islamic sexology has been practiced for centuries and even Mother of Believers has described the sacred sexual norms in detail and some narrow minded Shia brothers have criticized that. But even the Prophetic descendants in Shia texts have responded to questions vaguely similar to oral sex and fingering and supposedly allowed that. At least that responds to their biased criticism. Latest research has shown that many of Freud’s theories do not match the scientific evidence. For example oedipus complex never made any sense to me. Before dying Freud wrote about his Prophet Moses peace be upon him but secular Muslims are mostly ignorant about that. Cousin marriage, plural marriage and early marriage are still taboo in West. Darwin married his cousin. Martin Luther called plural marriage biblical and Romeo and Juliet were a case of teenage romance. NYT even published and glorified a Mormon pre-teen lesbian recently but they hate early heterosexual marriage. So, your criticism of Pakistani society is based on your own Scriptural and even western ignorance.

  • Al-Atash: Dying with thirst in desert of karbala and the thirst for sacred knowledge

    ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·FRIDAY, 10 NOVEMBER 2017
    Assalamu alaykum sister. I am an electrical engineer and a student of Tafsir, Hadith and Ahlulbayt from Pakistan and I am happy to know there are pak(pure) people in India who love the pak struggle of Imam Husain(as) against secular Muslim government of his time. Today I wept when I read the word Atash in wikipedia biography of Imam Daralqutni(r) in the context of thirst for sacred knowledge. فحُبب إليه طلب العلم وقد ساعده على ذلك مامنحه الله من تعطش شديد للمعرفة For example, Imam Husain(as) learnt the dua of qunut from his Nana, I guess, even before puberty. I wanted to tell my mother why I wept, but she could not recognize what Al-Atash means. I am happy that there are still modern educated sisters in the world who know Arabic words of religious significance. I like the approach of Zaydi Shias of Yemen who do not exaggerate in mourning and avoid public weeping which can become riya (pretentious worship) and self-mutilation. Dr. Ali Shariati an Ithna Ashari scholar has said that we should become Alawi Shia instead of becoming a Safawi Shia.I am happy that you are informed about history like Dr. Rajendra. God bless you. Imam Muhammad Al-Baqir(as) said: Our true Shia are those who do not disobey Allah and pray tahajjud. God bless you.