A spiritual Ishmaelite

Author: ishmaelabraham

  • A conversation about comparison of Kabah and Karbala

     

    Ishmael Abraham·Sunday, January 24, 2016

    Ishmael Abraham Shia book Kamil Az-Ziyarat says that land of Karbala is spiritually superior to land of Kabah. But Quran says that Kabah is the first House of God on earth made for worship of God by humans and is full of blessings but Quran never mentions Karbala. Have Muslims ignored the Book of God like Jews and Christians due to blind imitation(taqlid) of anti-Quranic writers.
    Sayed Ali The problem with Bakris is they never read their own books. To hold distinction of earth from a holy place is not something unusual. The companions also shared this view. Hence Nasbis like yourself mock the followers of the Ahlulbayt (a.s) for believing the soil of Karbala is of great importance. Even though it was so dear to the Prophet (saw) and the companions (r.a) they used to keep it with them.
    On the same token you must also mock the same companions who believed in the blessings of the earth of Makkah and Madinah. In addition to the companions, scholars also held a view that ANY land carries a blessing (as recorded in Sahih Muslim). It is a wonder why people like yourself become irritated by Muslims, who appreciate the land of Karbala for this very reason. Perhaps it because such reminder will only bring back memories of the actions of your ‘Amir Muawiyah’s’ son.
    Ibn Hajar Asqalani:
    Abu Bakr Al-AbharI Al-Maliki argued that Madinah is better than Makkah because the Prophet (saw) was created from the Madinah’s argil and he (saw) is the best among human kind. Therefore, his (saw) argil is the best. His (saw) argil being the best among all argil is non-questionable. However, the debate is whether that makes Madinah better than Makkah or not, because having two things in vicinity and one of them having the same qualities of the other will lead us to say that it is because of their vicinity, therefore anything in immediate vicinity of Madinah would be better than anything in immediate vicinity of Makkah, and this was the answer of many recent scholars and it is worth examination.
    Source: Fath Al-Bari. Part 18, Pg. # 223.
    Ishmael Abraham Ibn Hajar is not giving any conclusive verdict so why I should I give preference to a controversial opinion over Quranic virtues of the House of God.
    Sayed Ali I only gave you one example would you like me to show you the others? Now it has become a ‘controversial opinion’?
    Sayed Ali By the way talking about holy places your ‘Imam’ Abu Hanifah went against Sahih Hadith. He did not believe Medina was a sanctuary. Consider the following.
    Narrated Anas: The Prophet (saw) said, “Medina is a sanctuary from that place to that. Its trees should not be cut and no heresy should be innovated nor any sin should be committed in it, and whoever innovates in it an heresy or commits sins (bad deeds), then he will incur the curse of Allah, the angels, and all the people.”
    http://sunnah.com/bukhari/96/37
    Muhammad Amin ibn Abidin:
    Medina has not sanctuary among us (i.e. Hanafis) and Mecca is superior to it according to the preferable opinion, except for the members of the Prophet (saw), because it is absolutely superior to Kabba and the Throne and Al-Kursi and the Ziyarah of his grave is recommended, rather it is said that it is Wajib for the one who has the ability.
    Source: Radd al-Muhtar ala ad-Dur al-Mukhtar. Pg. # 52 – 54.
    Look forward to your reply. That is if you have anything academic to say. Let me know if you need any more medication to help with your illness.
    Ishmael Abraham The narration of Kamil Az-Ziyarat does not compare the body of Imam Husain(raa) to Kabah but the land of Karbala to land of Kabah, so the comparison with quote of Ibn Abidin is false.
    Ishmael Abraham Ziyarah is mustahab while Hajj is wajib. That’s why Al-Kafi says Imam Zayn Al-Abidin(ra) did dozens of Hajjs.
    Sayed Ali You really are incompetent. The land of Karbala was considered scared based on numerous Hadith. Not only because of Imam Hussain (a.s).
    Ishmael Abraham I do not know a Sahih Hadith which says Karbala is superior to Kabah.
    Sayed Ali Not in Bakri books. Though your Sahih Hadiths have advocated all sorts of nonsense.
    Ishmael Abraham Many Shia Sahih Hadiths contain kufr as well. That’s why we should give more importance to Quran and aql.Sayed Ali You worship a God who has a foot in hell and your here trying to educate me about Kufar. Better start praying Allah puts his foot in hell before your reach there.
    Ishmael Abraham Quran mentions the word Saq(shin) for God. So, using such a word is not kufr if you do not believe in it literally. And there is a narration in Al-Kafi which even unites the Creator and creation by calling Imams(ra) eyes, ears, face, tongue and sides of Allah.
    Sayed Ali We don’t take things literally. And we should understand the Quran by allowing it to explain itself. Your understanding of the Quran is based on nothing but contradictions. This is not about a Shin but a Foot! Next you will be telling me Allah will be breastfeeding people like the way Aisha did.
    Ishmael Abraham You expose your fahish(lewd) heart once again.
    Tau Rean sanctity is something that Allah gives to everything and everyone He wants, if He gives more sanctity to something than something else that is what He knows better.
    in your books it has been narrated that the Prophet(saw) said to Kaa’ba:
    وَالَّذِي نَفْسُ مُحَمَّدٍ بِيَدِهِ لَحُرْمَةُ الْمُؤْمِنِ أَعْظَمُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ حُرْمَةً مِنْكِ مَالِهِ وَدَمِهِ وَأَنْ نَظُنَّ بِهِ إِلاَّ خَيْرًا
    By the One in Whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad, the sanctity of the believer is greater before Allah than your sanctity, his blood and his wealth, and to think anything but good of him.’
    Sunan Al-Termidhi
    so if Allah(swt) gives a high sanctity to the grave of a believer like Imam Husain(a.s) who gave his everything for Allah, it is not surprising at all.
    Ishmael Abraham You are forgetting the hurmah(sanctity) of the honour of a believer because Shias always violate the honour of the Companions who preceded us in Islam. {“Verily your blood, your property and your honour are as sacred and inviolable as the sanctity of this day of yours, in this month of yours and in this town of yours. Verily! I have conveyed this message to you.”}
    Neuman N. Nazir Ishmael you are too much of an exoteric literalist. If you know Arabic then you know the Basmallah formulations of the Qur’an implicate the entire cosmos as being within a womb, and that womb is within the body of the Imam. Thus all lands are holy lands. The difference is that which is an icon of the Imam, who is the Beyt/House of God. The Kaaba is an icon of the Imam much as Karbala is. Yet the Kaaba was built by one Imam and Karbala stained with the blood of an Imam. What you fail to see is that icons change as zeitgeists change; which is why the mishkan went to Shiloh, to Jerusalem, and today the icon is the Kaaba. When the Qaim comes we will have new icons. Do we care ? The goal is to ascend to the reality behind the icon and not remain trapped behind it. Your own religion, your own sect has produced enough literature on the Ascension theology through the 7 heavens (the 7 classical planets) on all this. When Sunni Islam claims the earthly Kaaba is torn to ascend up to the 7 Kaaba (typed through Saturn) then to turn around and critique similar traditions in Shi’ism is utterly preposterous
    Ishmael Abraham I do not care what your perspective of so called Sunni Islam is. I do not believe in blind taqlid. I find no mention of land of Karbala in Quran.

  • The legality of women attending mosques

    Ishmael Abraham·Sunday, January 24, 2016

    3 Reads

    Angelica Elsayeeda
    Your scholars cool with this? Think the Prophet would be cool with this? Not in a million years would he be. It is Wahhabi and Salafi scholars who have done this to our women. They should be ashamed of themselves. This is not Islam.
    Rabia Chaudry
    I visited perhaps my favorite place in Istanbul today, the Sultan Ayyoub Ansari mosque and shrine. From the first time I went there, with Imam Abdullah T. Antepli , and prayed a hauntingly beautiful fajr there, I’ve felt the deeply spiritual nature of the place. Today though, I came away feeling a bit destroyed instead of spiritually renewed.
    It was early in the day, before dhur prayer. There was no prayer going on, but the imam was giving a lecture. There were maybe around 60 men in the main space, meaning it was mostly empty. I joined the few women who prayed in the back of the main hall, behind the small wooden rails where women usually pray. After a few minutes a man came and shooed at us, telling us to go upstairs. I ignored him the first time, then gave in on the third shooing and went up.
    The stairs were narrow, cramped, steep, and circular. Treacherous really. I went up and there were about ten women on the balcony area. I started praying, asking God’s mercy and blessings for my family, friends, for Adnan’s hearing, for the health of loved ones, etc etc. Then I looked over and saw a woman emerge out of the stairway door. Except she wasn’t standing up. She was crawling.
    She was the first of a number of very elderly women who crawled up those awful stairs on their hands and knees. One of them dragged her cane with her. They would get to the top, then have to be helped to stand up and wobble over to a place on the carpet to pray.
    That pretty much broke me. I can’t remember the last time I wept, really wept. I had already been shooed away from a number of mosque doors that were the domain of men only, but this really broke me. What has happened to our men? Where is the mercy and compassion of our Prophet (saw)? How many would send their own elderly mothers up such stairs to sit away from…from what? From prayer?
    Balconies and basements across the Muslim world are full of us, sisters, daughters, wives, and yes mothers – the same mothers who carried you for almost ten months, squeezed you out of her body through a passage that ripped her apart, raised you for decades. And in return you send her crawling through back doors, hidden in basements and balconies like something obscene, crawling on hands and knees just to get to a place to sit and worship their God, all so men can assert their control. Their control in a house and on a God that doesn’t belong only to them. God and His places of worship belong to us all. In a religion where both God and Prophet repeatedly emphasize the status of mothers and women, where our history is full of the voices and stories of women teachers and leaders, we are truly at a low.
    Muslims face many challenges today, but there is nothing more soul crushing to be oppressed by those who are our brothers in faith. The same men who should be respecting, elevating, protecting us instead are primarily responsible for degrading, marginalizing, dehumanizing us. Muslim men cannot expect or deserve the respect of the world when they deny it to the women in their lives.
    When Muslim women attend the mosque, they are not your property. They are guests of God. They are in His house. They are dressed respectfully, purified through ablution, with hearts full of prayers, difficulties, pain. While you spread out comfortably in spaces half-full, with access to all doors, windows, and light, our prayers are said in discomfort. But I bet our prayers carry more weight because we go through so much just to say them. God sees it all, and if these men think on the Day of Judgement they will not be held to account for what we have put up with, and put through, for centuries, they’ve got another thing coming.
    I watched my daughter play with one of the elderly women, who gave her candies. Another, seeing me cry for quite a bit, came and gave me sweets and a gift of prayer beads. I felt better knowing that the unkindness of the men didn’t strip the kindness from the hearts of the women. But I have no hope that it will ever be any better in the future, I am certain that even my daughters will become the mothers shooed away into third-class citizen spaces.
    I am sick and tired of it, but no matter what will not abdicate God or my faith to this. It is all an affront to our religion.
    Shame, and lanaat, on the men who send their mothers crawling on their hands and knees.
    Ishmael Abraham The people in Turkey are not Salafis but Hanafis like my parents, so this attitude has nothing to do with your school of thought.
    Angelica Elsayeeda I didn’t say it did. What I said was this is not Islam no matter what school of thought. But make no mistake that it is the doctrine of the Wahhabi/Salafi deviants, who have used iol money to spread their cancerous ideology. Tell me 70 year old women crawled on their hands and knees up narrow stairs in our Prophet’s time. Tell me he would have said this was fine. You and I both know he wouldn’t. I hope every man who allowed their women to do this burns in hell. Islam came to save women from this kind of treatment. Not to spread it.
    Ishmael Abraham I think Salafi scholars allow women to pray at mosque. The university at which I studied had some Salafi professors of engineering who made it sure that women are allowed in the mosque although the majority in Pakistan is Hanafi and they did not like that.
    Angelica Elsayeeda Ishmael Abraham they also say women should cover all but one eyes. I call Bullshit on that.
    Ishmael Abraham Many Hanafi scholars say that as well. I read a narration that Aisha may God be pleased with her covered her face when she saw Safwan bin Muattal may God be pleased with him when she was left behind in the desert. But I think uncovering face and hands is allowed. But taqwa is to cover like my mother does after she secluded herself in Itikaf meditation and worship one Ramadan.

  • A self-styled skeptic could not tolerate my skepticism of Krauss

    Ishmael Abraham·Sunday, January 24, 2016

    3 Reads

    The Skeptical Chief This looks suspiciously like proselytizing, Ishmael.
    Not allowed on this page. Please stop. Thanks.
    – TSC
     Ishmael Abraham Atheists are the most active proselytizers of secularism in the world right now.
     Ishmael Abraham I am simply skeptical about secular propaganda.
    Ishmael Abraham So, you should not resort to censorship if you are consistent in your secular ideas.

  • First Muslim in Antarctica and the idolatry of Saint Andrew through saltire

    Ishmael Abraham·Monday, January 25, 2016

    1 Read

    A SCOTTISH adventurer has become the first Muslim to ski to the South Pole after completing a gruelling endurance trek across the frozen wastes of Antarctica.
    Mostafa Salameh spent 38 days crossing the ice-bound continent with two teammates, pulling up to 90 kilos of supplies behind them on sleds.
    He set off in November, but was trapped at the Union Glacier base camp by fierce storms for 13 days before setting off across one of the harshest landscapes on earth.
    Along the way he raised huge sums for charity, and carried a Scottish saltire for good luck which he flew over the Pole after finally reaching his goal earlier this month.
    An Islamic perspective on saltire: I am a practicing orthodox and orthoprax Muslim student of Quran and Hadith. Saltire is a symbol of pagan saint worship which is anti-biblical and anti-Quranic sin of idolatry(shirk) in Islam which God will not forgive. Saint Andrew has no power to bring victory to anyone, he was only a servant of God who was martyred for keeping the first and greatest commandment to love One God the most, called Tawhid in Islam, but humanity has forgotten the Abrahamic message by glorifying the messenger instead of God the Creator. Quran 9:31 Tafsir Jalalayn They have taken their rabbis, the scholars among the Jews, and their monks, the devout among the Christians, as lords beside God and the Messiah, son of Mary, when they were not commanded, in the Torah and the Gospel, except to worship One God: there is no god except Him; glory be to Him, as an affirmation of His transcendence [high], above what they associate [with Him].
    Quran 2:120 Tafsir Jalalayn Never will the Jews be pleased with you, neither the Christians, not until you follow their creed, their religion, Say: ‘God’s guidance, that is, Islam, is the true guidance’, besides which there is only error. And if you were to follow their whims, hypothetically speaking, [whims] to which they are calling you, after the knowledge, the Divine revelation, that has come to you, you shall have against God neither friend, to protect you, nor helper, to defend you against Him.

  • A Muslim adulteress and supporter of lesbianism Asra Nomani claims to be a descendant of Muslim scholar Maulana Shibli

    Ishmael Abraham·Monday, January 25, 2016

    5 Reads

    DAWN, Pakistan Apirl 22, 2005
    WE were extremely embarrassed to read in ‘Books & Authors’ (April 17) about Asra Nomani, a controversial personality, who claims to be a direct descendant of Allama Shibli, after whom she has named her son. Asra is in NO way connected to the Shibli family. We five real granddaughters are the real direct descendants of Maulana Shibli, who had one son and two daughters, Rabia Khatoon and Jannutul Fatima. Both the daughters died in their youth in 1904 and 1909. They were married and their family lived in their ancestral villages in Azamgarh.
    Allama Shibli had only one son, Hamid Hassan Nomani. He was born in 1882 and died in 1942. He had no sons but five daughters. They are:
    A) Dr Nasim Jehan, retired director of health, Bangladesh, died in Karachi in 1997. She was married to Dr Zafrul Huda of Dhaka University. He died in 1978 at Dhaka. They have one daughter Shahla living in the US.
    B) Shamim Jehan, married to Ehtesham Ahmed, who died in Azamgarh in 1982. They have eight sons and seven daughters all married and living in Pakistan, except one, who is in Kuwait.
    C) Tahsin Jehan, married to Shaukat Sultan, principal of Shibli College, Azamgarh. He died in 1986. They have three sons and four daughters, living in India, the UAE and Karachi. The above three daughters were married in 1940 at Azamgarh.
    D) Mohsina Sultana, married in 1950 to Amanullah Khan, director of industries, India. They have five children, all married, one daughter and three sons living in the US and one son in India.
    E) Momna, the youngest, was born in 1935 and married in 1952 to Capt. Khan Sohail Sultan, who retired as general manager of Pan-Islamic Steamship Co., Karachi in 1993, now living in North Nazimabad. They have four sons, all married. Eldest Maj Khalid Sultan, Sitara-i-Jur’at, met ‘Shahadat’ at Siachin in 1992, Capt. Danish Sultan is managing director of Pac Marine Singapore, Wamiq Sultan, MD, living in the US, youngest Capt. Toaha Sultan is serving in the Pakistan Army.
    Considering our sentiments and Maulana Shibli’s fame as writer of Seerat-un-Nabi, we hope you will publish this clarification.
    MOMNA SOHAIL SULTAN Karachi
    online source: milligazette.com/Archives/2005/16-31May05-Print-Edition/163105200560.htm

  • My message to Katherine Zoepf who was raised a Jehovah’s witness and who wrote a book about Muslim women ‘Excellent daughters’  

    Ishmael Abraham·Monday, January 25, 2016

    28 Reads

    Sister Katherine, before I introduce myself I want to thank you a lot for writing about Muslim women and allowing our mothers, sisters, wives and daughters to be better understood in the western world so that their perspectives are not based on xenophobic ignorance but at least on tolerant and informed dissent. I am an electrical engineer from Pakistan by profession and a practicing orthodox and orthoprax student of Quran and Hadith. I intellectually belong to the Islamic school of philosophy founded by Al-Ghazali a Persian mystic and Ibn Rushd or Averrores a European Muslim philosopher who inspired western philosophers. My mother is a Niqab-observant former zoologist who chose to be a housewife from Pakistan. She is an Awan descendant of fourth caliph of Islam Ali may God be pleased with him. A xenophobic atheist critic of Islam and my facebook friend was demonizing Islam on the basis of an article by a liberal Muslim woman Asra Nomani who quoted your book in her article. She falsely claims to be a descendant of an Indian Muslim biographer of Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him as known as Maulana Shibli. She cites your use of the Quranic concept of fitna which is not as simplistic as ‘the “chaos” that is often connected to “temptation of a sexual nature.” For example, once Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him was delivering a sermon, and his grandsons Hasan and Husain suddenly appeared inside the mosque so he stopped his sermon and rushed to pick them and he recited Quran 8:28 { And know that your wealth and your children are a fitna (test) for you } So, it symbolizes a constant emotional struggle in the life of a true believer to choose between the greatest love for God and other forms of love. But if those extra-divine forms of love do not make you break a commandment, then you have succeeded in the test. I liked that you chose to write about Qubaisi sisters in Syria. We consider them the spiritual descendants of Mary peace be upon her and Fatimah may God be pleased with her. I have a vision to become a sacred feminist within the Muslim world who is actively involved in an intellectual and spiritual dialogue with western civilization. I hope we can enrich each other through dialogue, so I would like to add you as a facebook friend. Islam is focused on salvation through first and greatest commandment to love One God the most which is called Tawhid. Jews and Christians are descendants of Isaac peace be upon him and Muslims are descendants of Ishmael peace be upon him whom bible writers have ignored due to their own racial biases. So, both of us are Abrahamic cousins. Islam seeks to revive Abrahamic brotherhood through universal worship of God the Creator in the world. I love Jehovah’s Witnesses because they reject trinity, symbol of cross, celebration of birthdays and Christmas which they have in common with orthodox Muslims. However we do not consider Jesus peace be upon him an angel but a human chosen by God. We also share belief in second advent of Jesus peace be upon him. We believe Islam exists to prepare for the kingdom of Jesus peace be upon him who will return as a Muslim because Islam has an anti-secular political philosophy. The word Muslim signifies the willingness of Abraham peace be upon him to sacrifice his son Ishmael peace be upon him, and Jesus peace be upon him shared the same willingness to obey God. He prayed by falling on his face like Muslims. He fasted like Muslims. He was bearded like Muslims. He did not eat pork like Muslims. He was circumcised like Muslims. His mother was covered like Muslims. You can learn more about the political philosophy of Islam in a book by a western scholar Edward Mortimer: The Politics of Islam. I would like to know your views on science and modernity for further dialogue. May God unite us with Mary peace be upon her and Jesus peace be upon him in Paradise through our shared recognition of ultimate truth.
    Honour killing is an anti-Quranic practise because under Islamic jurisprudence only a caliph is allowed to decide the case of a sinner after due process of law, and right now there is no caliph based on consensus in the Muslim world who has the divine authority to enforce commandments. Jesus peace be upon him and Ishmaelite king Imam Al-Mahdi which means the one is guided by God, will assume that role in bear future In Sha Allah God willing. And since it is very rare that someone commits a sin publicly in front of four witnesses. In case of rape, no one can punish the raped woman based on this proof text from Hadith: {When a woman went out in the time of the Prophet (ﷺ) for prayer, a man attacked her and overpowered (raped) her.
    She shouted and he went off, and when a man came by, she said: That (man) did such and such to me. And when a company of the Emigrants came by, she said: That man did such and such to me. They went and seized the man whom they thought had had intercourse with her and brought him to her.
    She said: Yes, this is he. Then they brought him to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).
    When he (the Prophet) was about to pass sentence, the man who (actually) had assaulted her stood up and said: Messenger of Allah, I am the man who did it to her.
    He (the Prophet) said to her: Go away, for Allah has forgiven you. But he told the man some good words (AbuDawud said: meaning the man who was seized), and of the man who had had intercourse with her, he said: Stone him to death.
    He also said: He has repented to such an extent that if the people of Medina had repented similarly, it would have been accepted from them.} http://sunnah.com/abudawud/40/29
    According to bible scholars the story of Jesus peace be upon him forgiving an adulteress is a later addition to bible, because Jesus peace be upon him clearly said: I have not come to destroy the laws of Torah but to fulfill the. Fulfilling them does not mean destroying them but keeping them better than hypocritical Jews.

  • An atheist asks me to consider atheism

     

    Ishmael Abraham·Tuesday, January 26, 2016

    11 Reads

    Jerry Sexton A very nice column, Ishmael. I share many of your views about Christian origins. I ask you and others to consider the possibility that you have been mislead all along, that none of the religious stories and customs that you have been taught have any divine source. You don’t have to believe my assertion, for a few minutes just open your mind to the possibility.
    Ishmael Abraham So, I should start thinking that nothingness caused something which defies the whole concept of science without any evidence, and I should accept the slavery of secular state and modernity which are based on greed, sex and fame and should accept that pornography, sodomy, incest and masturbation are moral, and that Dr. Afia, Palestine, Afghanistan, Kashmir will be liberated through secular humanism. I should ignore that Hitchens an atheist supported Iraq war which has killed millions and Harris an atheist who supports Jewish occupation which has killed millions. I should also accept the lie of Dawkins that Quran is like Mein Kampf and I should also accept the lie of Dennet that Islam is a parasite. I have a truth-seeking mind which thinks and I can never accept all these intellectually and morally dishonest lies. And should I also ignore the spiritual compatibility of Quran with human mind and modern science as a mere “coincidence”. I am not talking about one “coincidence” of singularity at big bang but there are too many. You are unconscious victim of Antichrist brainwashing of western culture which has always been pagan although it adopted the artificial mask of Christianity for 2 millenia. Atheists are honest to admit that West was never on God’s side. Western power is not a sign of its being based on truth, maybe on half-truths, and no empire is history has ever been eternal. You will soon not be a part of West and will face your own spiritual destiny in the grave. You are seduced by the idol of your own making which is modernity, and you are seducing humanity to start worshipping that idol too. You need to overcome your delusions of grandeur like Quran tells how all immoral civilizations of past suffered from that. Your future generations will either call you backward by being more deluded about their power, or may be they start appreciating that how their intellectual leaders kept them in xenophobic ignorance about the biggest spiritual moral philosophy on earth by manipulating the anti-religious or xenophobic prejudices of masses. But Muslim scholars and saints are the most spiritually enlightened people on earth, they understand the human weaknesses and temptations and how Quran cures them. I think I have found the true alchemy of happiness and I want to share it with humanity. I agree with my father who disagreed with the American dream and the vision of pursuit of materialistic happiness and returned back from US after he won a scholarship to study there, to altruistically serve his brothers in faith by sacrificing his career. Hadith describes Antichrist having mountains of wheat with him and will kill men of faith. And it is not a coincidence that US dollar bill contains symbols of wheat and arrows, and it is a fact that they have economically enslaved the world based on forbidden interest(riba) and are actively killing believers. You may agree with my criticism of Christianity, but Islam and Christ peace be upon him have a lot more in common than Christ peace be upon him and modern Christianity which has a lot in common with atheists. I do not agree with the word addicting for religion due to its negative connotations. As Hawking (due to his professional economic circumstances) says that most people(who are practically secular like him) ignore the ultimate questions about life and universe, so it is morally far superior to engage in religious studies which discuss the ultimate questions about life and universe than secular forms of escapism like pornography, Hollywood and MTV.

  • On teaching people about what they are ignorant or hateful about

    Ishmael Abraham·Tuesday, January 26, 2016

    2 Reads

    A Shia sister asks: Why do you mention the external commandments Jesus peace be upon him kept to Christians: Because Paul taught them to hate the external commandments. Quran says leave both external(zahiri) and internal(batini) sins. Sufyan Thawri may God shower his mercy on him said: When you go to Syria mention the virtues of Ali may God be pleased with him and when you go to Kufah mention the virtues of Abubakr and Umar may God be pleased with them. So, I try to educate what people are ignorant and hateful about.

  • Jesus peace be upon him will return as a Lion of God

    Ishmael Abraham·Tuesday, January 26, 2016

    4 Reads

    To Christians arguing whether Jesus peace be upon him was a lamb or lion of God: As an orthodox Muslim student of Tafsir and Hadith, I find this discussion interesting in the context of Islamic eschatology of second advent of Jesus peace be upon him as a Muslim. Quran 48:29 perfectly explains this dichotomy between a lion and lamb. It says that the Holy Companions may God be pleased with them treat the enemies of truth with firmness but treat believers with compassion.

  • Terry Pratchett: In my religion, the building of a telescope is the building of a cathedral.

    Ishmael Abraham·Wednesday, January 27, 2016

    5 Reads

    Muslims never believed in the superficial dichotomy between mosques and astronomy. Atheistic paganism is similar to Nicene paganism of impressive cathedrals (something Islam discourages) , both glorify creation instead of the Creator. The former has hijacked telescope as its symbol while Nicene pagans hijacked Christ peace be upon him as their symbol. The former glorifies pseudo-scientific intellectuals instead of Creator while latter glorifies pseudo-religious bishops instead of Creator. Both need the truth of Islam which appreciates science as a blessed message of Creator without worshipping and blindly imitating (taqlid) scientists and the blessed message of Abrahamic unitarianism(tawhid) without worshipping the Messengers of God. Islam unifies mosques and telescopes. Ibn Al-Haytham who taught the West about optics which led to the invention of telescope did not hate mosques because the mosques taught him the following:
    { Quran 2:164 “In the creation of the heavens and Earth, and the alternation of the night and day, and the ships which sail the seas to people’s benefit, and the water which God sends down from the sky – by which He brings the Earth to life when it was dead and scatters about in it creatures of every kind – and the varying direction of the winds, and the clouds subservient between heaven and Earth, there are signs for people who use their intellect.”}
    According to David King, after the rise of Islam, the religious obligation to determine the qibla and prayer times inspired more progress in astronomy for centuries.
    During the 10th century, Ibn Sahl, a Muslim mathematician of the Islamic Golden Age, in his treatise On Burning Mirrors and Lenses sets out his understanding of how curved mirrors and lenses bend and focus light. Ibn Sahl is credited with first discovering the law of refraction, usually called Snell’s law. He used the law of refraction to derive lens shapes that focus light with no geometric aberrations, known as anaclastic lenses
    . B. Wolf, “Geometry and dynamics in refracting systems”, European Journal of Physics 16, p. 14-20, 1995.
    3. R. Rashed, “A pioneer in anaclastics: Ibn Sahl on burning mirrors and lenses”, Isis 81, p. 464–491, 1990.
    Historian of Islamic science http://www.davidaking.org/DAK_CV_2011.htm
    Alhazen and telescope http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1950ASPL….6….4M
    The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System
    Oscar Marshall admits in Alhazen and the Telescope published in Journal: Astronomical Society of the Pacific Leaflets, Vol. 6, No. 251, p.4 that western investigators ignore these contributions due to biases inherited from Crusaders. George Sarton calls Alhazen the greatest Muslim physicist and student of optics of all times. Kepler digested Reisner’s translation of his book.
    Vasco Ronhci asks why was there hiatus between invention of lens and telescope? I think the reason was fall of Abbasid caliphate by Mongols. Adam Smith also acknowledges that sciences flourished under caliphate.
    Ignatius elevated one of the elders above all the others and called him “the bishop.” According to Ignatius, the bishop has ultimate power and should be obeyed absolutely. In Islam, absolute obedience belongs to God. Even Protestants have adopted pagan beliefs from Catholics like people standing in church while pastors are seated. They have not abandon the pagan worship on Sunday. They have not abandoned pagan trinity. They have not abandoned pagan symbol of cross. And most importantly they have embraced pagan Godless Zionism. Using music was a roman custom found in Protestant churches.