A spiritual Ishmaelite

Author: ishmaelabraham

  • Is disagreeing with American scholars of Islam cannibalistic backbiting

    When a Companion disrespected another black Companion, the Prophet(p) said: You still have traces of pre-Islamic ignorance.
    At the recent RIS Conference in Toronto, Hamza Yusuf spoke disparagingly of Black Lives Matter movement and the Muslim Brotherhood.
    Илия Александр Лахоз There’s no single sociopolitical viewpoint that is obligatory upon Muslims. Holding a position that is out of fashion in that realm is not one of the exceptions to back biting. This is especially true in the case of ulama.
    Ibn ‘Asaakir (499 A.H. – 571 A.H.) (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:
    ((اعلم يا أخي – وفقني الله وإياك لمرضاتِهِ وجعلني وإياك ممن يتقيه حق تقاته – إِن لُحُوم الْعلمَاء رَحْمَة اللَّه عَلَيْهِم مَسْمُومَة، وَعَادَة اللَّه فِي هتك أَسْتَار منتقصيهم مَعْلُومَة لِأَن الوقيعة فيهم بِمَا هم مِنْهُ برَاء أمره عَظِيم والتنَاول لأعراضهم بالزور والافتراء مرتع وخيم والاختلاق على من اخْتَارَهُ اللَّه مِنْهُم لنعش الْعلم خلق ذميم))
    “And know my brother – may Allaah guide me and you to seek His pleasure and make me and you from among those who fear Him as He should be feared – that the flesh of the scholar is poisonous. And the custom of Allaah in removing the screens from those who seek to belittle them is well-known. This is because attacking them in matters that they are free from is truly a tremendous matter.
    Surrounding their reputation with lies and fabrications is infertile grounds, and differing with those whom Allaah has chosen amongst them to disperse the knowledge is a dishonorable characteristic.”
    [Source: Tabyeen Kadhib al-Muftaree, p. 29]
    Ibn ‘Asaakir (may Allaah have mercy on him) also said:
    من أطلق لِسَانه فِي الْعلمَاء بالثلب بلاه اللَّه عَزَّ وَجَلَّ قبل مَوته بِمَوْت الْقلب
    “Whoever speaks ill of the (righteous) scholars, Allaah will give death to that person’s heart before He will give death to that person.”
    [Source: Tabyeen Kadhib al-Muftaree, p. 425]
    Ishmael Abraham Does it apply to him too because he once called the traditional ulama naql-heads? Criticizing those who struggle in the path of God should also be sinful. God says that political activists who try to make the word of God supreme are superior in the sight of God to passive Muslims. Quran 4:95. I do love him when he is right but scholarly difference was treated by the righteous predecessors as a mercy.
    When Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi a scholar from Prophetic family through Imam Hasan (r), visited US, he had warned against the dangers of an American form of Islam.
    Илия Александр Лахоз So BLM = المجاهدون فى سبيل الله
    Ishmael Abraham No. I am talking about Al-Banna who was martyred and even Tariq Ramadan who has a political philosophy.
    Илия Александр Лахоз That’s a whole other discussion, but 90% of the article is taking him to task about racial politics. Ishmael Abraham You are right. A liberal from Bangladesh Atif Choudhury was promoting the article who has also called Nouman Ali Khan an abusive preacher. I do hate BLM for the qawm Lut among them. But still I am skeptical about the global Sufi liberal alliance against Sola Scriptura scholars.

  • Celibate philosophers and theologians in western and Islamic traditions

    ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·FRIDAY, 20 OCTOBER 2017 
    الفلاسفة والعلماء العزاب في التقاليد الغربية والإسلامية
    Abu Ghuddah has written a book with the title: The celibate knowers who gave preference to sacred knowledge over marriage. He lists Ibn Taymia, Nawawi, Tabari, Razi and Zamakhshari.
    Plato, as far as we know, never married.
    St Augustine (“grant me chastity, but not yet”) fathered an illegitimate child, but then became a celibate priest.
    Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre and Wittgenstein were all unmarried and childless.
    https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/mar/15/why-philosophers-make-unsuitable-life-partners
    However, God rejects celibacy/rahbaniya as a Christian heresy in Quran 57:27 and invites philosophers and theologians towards a Prophetic balance between the extremes of celibacy and sexual revolution called the sacred praxis of sunnah.
    Jerry Sexton There are verses both in support and against celebacy in the Bible. Catholics like to reference this one.
    Matthew 19:9-12:

    “And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery; and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry.” But he said to them, “Not all men can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it.”

    There is one problem. Priests, as far as I know, are not castrated. The hormones cloud thinking, children and women are often the victims of abuse. Here is a verse against celebacy

    Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, through the pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and enjoin abstinence from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth (1 Tim. 4:1-4).

    In my view, Jesus didn’t seek out virgins to be his disciples, (although he told them to abandon their families) so why should a preacher be celibate?
    Celibacy only leads to temptations driven by hormones.

    Ishmael Abraham In tribal and rural culture of Israelites, the temptations were limited, so there could have been a possibility of being able to sustain celibacy. But as humanity evolved, with the possibility of a global urban culture, God ruled out that possibility in Quran.In Quran 7:157 God talks about relieving humanity of certain burdens and liberating them from certain shackles, which includes celibacy. Abandoning families is called hijrah in Islam and the father of saint and legal scholar Rabia Ar- Rai (r) returned to his wife after 27 years. Islam teaches fasting to control the production of hormones. Medical researchers have proven that abstinence does not pose any risk to our physiological health. Learning to deal with the anxiety of abstinence can make us more emotionally intelligent and this emotional intelligence can become an effective part of our personality through the idea of self-directed neuroplasticity.

  • Hasan bin Qahtaba: A soldier of conscience or Mouchesias the zealot

    ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·TUESDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2017

    الحسن بن قحطبة جندي الضميراو رجل متعصب
    Assalamu alaykum brother. May God reward you for the article. I would like to point out that historians of Byzantine empire commit the character assassination of Hasan bin Qahtaba as Mouchesias the Zealot which seems very implausible because a God-fearing man who takes the risk of execution to avoid the sin of murder cannot plausibly be guilty of forced conversion of minorities which is forbidden by Quran 2:256.
    His story of conscience:
    Muhammad Pure Soul rebelled against al-Mansur in Madina in 145 AH and was supported by the people of Khorasan and others but he was too far away for them to be able to help him. It is reported that in Madina, Malik issued a fatwa, permitting Muhammad to rebel. At-Tabari and Ibn Kathir state that he gave a fatwa commanding people to pledge allegiance to Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullah and that when people said that they had already pledged allegiance to al-Mansur, he said that they had been forced and that a forced allegiance is not binding. So people pledged allegiance. Malik stayed in his house. The affair ended when Muhammad was slain, and the same fate befell his brother Ibrahim after he had rebelled in Iraq, takes several cities and attacked Kufa.
    Some people think that this alleged fatwa by Malik was the reason that he was flogged and injured. Abu Hanifa held an even stronger position about the matter than Malik. He openly supported them in his classes. Things reached the point where one of the generals of al-Mansur refused to go out to fight him. It is reported that al-Hasan ibn Qahtaba, one of al-Mansur’s generals, went to Abu Hanifa and said, “My situation is not hidden from you. Can I repent?”
    The Imam said, “If Allah knows that you regret what you have done. If you can choose between killing a Muslim and being killed yourself, choose your own death before his. Then you will have a contract with Allah if you do not go back on it. If you fulfil that, you have repented.”
    “I have done that,” said Hasan. “I make a contract with Allah that I will never again kill a Muslim.”
    Then Ibrahim ibn ‘Abdullah rebelled and al-Mansur com-manded Hasan to go against him. He went to the Imam and told him what had happened and he said, “The moment of your repentance has come. If you fulfil your promise, you have repented. Otherwise, you will be punished for the first and last.”
    So he was serious about his repentance, prepared himself for execution, and went to al-Mansur and said, “I will not go against this man. Allah is owed obedience in everything you do as far as you are able. I will have a fuller portion with Him. If it is disobedience, I am responsible.”
    Al-Mansur was angry and Hamid ibn Qahtaba, his brother, said, “We have suspected his mind for a year. He seems muddled. I will go. I am more entitled to excellence than him.” So he went. Al-Mansur asked one of his confidants, “Which faqih does he go to?” They said, “He frequents Abu Hanifa.”

  • Liberal Phariseeism: Character assassination of Nouman Ali Khan by liberals like Atif Choudhury

    ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·SUNDAY, 15 OCTOBER 20173 reads
    Message to Atif Choudhary who calls Nouman Ali Khan a Quran scholar an abuser. You sound like a salafi( sola scriptura legalist) against taqlid( hero worship of scholars) but to call sending private marriage proposals abuse is extreme. The sinful aspect is having private conversations. And, liberals are far more guilty of it so they do not have moral credentials of criticism. This phenomenon is called liberal Phariseeism.
    Atif Choudhury‏ @SultanOfSmiles
    Neither. I am just against preachers and religious figures having secret, predatory relationships with their students and employees. Sue me
    @SultanOfSmiles To be consistent you should expose the sexual scandals of secular dictators of the Muslim world too. We prefer forgiveness to lawsuits.

    @SultanOfSmiles

    How is it my job to expose anyone? And who is this “we”? I simply condemn scumbags once they are exposed. All scumbags.

    Replying to 

    We means orthodox Muslim scholars and saints. I am a student of school of Shah Waliullah an Indian scholar of Hadith and mysticism.

     @SultanOfSmiles 

    Also speaking of lawsuits, nobody has been firing off more than Nouman Ali Khan. Maybe stop being an equivocating centrist and call him out

    Replying to 

    I loved your article about counter extremism in Bangladesh.

    Replying to 

    I am not a centrist. I am a moderate right winger.

    Replying to 

    Traditional scholars are not like this.

    Replying to 

    That reflects the Americanism of NAK. His Americanism is what made him have lenient standards regarding segregation.

  • Cult studies, Dave Marash and imperfections of secularists

    I have tried to engage with experts of cult studies about definition of cult like Alexandra Stein but she ignored that. Many people see my faith as a cult but I think if you are open-minded to dialogue it is intellectually dishonest to describe such a person as a cult member. I think neglect or self-neglect is an issue related to mystic forms of religion and Quran 57:27 criticizes monastic mysticism and encourages social and intellectual participation. Religious people being humans are imperfect like secular humans but western culture condones the imperfections of secularists and disproportionately highlights the imperfections of the religious. However, there are secular intellectuals who empathetically analyze the fundamentalist movements. For example Martin Seligman a psychologist describes fundamentalists as the most optimistic people in the world. I do not know much about the theology or abuses of Aggressive Christianity but your distinction between anti- Semitism and anti-Zionism made me want to talk to you.

  • How an authentic unitarian paradigm can break ground in Cult Studies to offer tools of religious de-radicalization

    ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·THURSDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER 2016

    38 reads

    Ishmael Abraham
    To Natacha Tormey a victim of western sex cult: Sociologists classify David Berg as having charismatic authority, but western Scripture apparently lacks intellectual tools to challenge such authority due to history of saint-worship and deification of Christ peace be upon him . For example, a old woman challenged the charismatic authority of the second caliph of Islam on the issue of austerity in dowry, and he acknowledged that she knew Quran more than him. Even in the most revered personality of the divine Ishmaelite Messenger(p), Scripture emphasizes that he is not divine and can sometimes forget or in fact Scripture mentions that the Messenger(p) should have given more attention to truth seeking under-privileged than truth-indifferent elites.
    Ishmael Abraham
    Sister Natacha is accurate when she says that one is more at risk when one feels one is safe which echoes Quran that fitna or temptation which attracts you into doing something unethical is more harmful than physical harm. Cults or heresies are called fitna in Islamic heresiology

  • Quran 75:2, Dunning Kruger effect and the self-hating self

    Robert Murphy
    Why do so many right wingers believe they are geniuses at economics, simply because they hate poor people? The worst part is many right wingers are poor themselves and think that their bourgeoise aspirations make them better than other poor people. The Dunning Krüger effect in operation.
    Ishmael Abraham
    This effect was studied for millenia in Abrahamic theosophy. A Sufi scholar Yahya bin Mu’adh said: Who recognizes himself recognizes God. However, this self-insight is focused on recognizing our incompetence rather than competence because Quran glorifies nafs lawwamah or the self-hating self. Like Guy Winch a western psychologist says that guilt is a relationship protector. Dr Ali Shariati was the best Muslim sociologist who studied class conflict in depth.

  • Quran, Dunning-Kruger effect and the analogy of a donkey carrying books

    ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·SUNDAY, 13 DECEMBER 2015

    3 reads

    Many uninformed atheists suffer from Dunning-Kruger effect while assessing their religious knowledge about Islam. Also, many knowledgeable atheists suffer from Dunning-Kruger effect, while assessing their moral abilities, because an informed person has more moral duties which many fail to fulfill. That’s why Quran 62:5 calls Jews who believe in their intellectual and religious superiority, as donkeys carrying books because ignorant among them are not much informed about the relationship between Torah and Islam, while the smarter ones fail to fulfill their moral duties of following truth with respect to Islam. The same holds true about Christians and atheists who believe in their religious and intellectual superiority, respectively.

  • Are orthodox Muslims anti-Jewish or anti-Armilus?

    Julie Goren does this mean if i google my name, i will find it?
    Ishmael Abraham Due to my MS studies, it is difficult for me right now to put my notes on wordpress. Torah im Derech Eretz
    Julie Goren i guess i should stop responding to you if you are trolling me.
    Ishmael Abraham Trolls are hired for political reasons. I have no political affiliation. I just want to talk to you about Torah and Quran.
    Julie Goren first of all you are wrong about trolls but whatever. second you dont want to talk you want to convert
    Ishmael Abraham I read that trolls intend to offend others deliberately and I treat you with patience even when you say offensive things. God controls hearts (Muqallib Al Qulub) not me so conversion is beyond my power. May Allah open my eyes and eyes of all humanity for the divine Truth.
    Julie Goren well its true you are patient with me. my only question is: am i a pig or a monkey hiding behind the rocks and the trees? i know you hate me and my people, and would like to see me dead, because you believe your book without questions
    Ishmael Abraham You are not an atheist but a Torah lover so I do not think you will follow the secular false Messiah Armilus. The war will be between true believers and followers of Armilus. It is primarily a spiritual struggle we face each day to resist the temptation of gold and flesh.
    A Jewish Zionist sister Julie Goren unfriends me because she feared converting to Islam. While Islam never expects anyone to stop loving the blessed Torah.

  • Quran 62:10 and Torah im Derech Eretz

    Quran 62:10 Then, when the prayer is finished, scatter in the land and seek God’s bounty, and remember God frequently; haply you will prosper.
    The phrase Torah im Derech Eretz is first found in the Mishna in Tractate Avoth (2:2): “Beautiful is the study of Torah with earning livelihood, as involvement with both makes one forget sin”
    “Such is the way of Torah: Bread with salt you shall eat, water in small measure you shall drink, and upon the ground you shall sleep; live a life of deprivation and toil in Torah. If so you do, “fortunate are you, and good is to you” (Psalms 128:2): fortunate are you in this world, and it is good to you in the World To Come.”