A spiritual Ishmaelite

Category: Dialogues with secularists/modernists

  • Quran 55:24, Titanics and Inselbergs

    Since, I was reciting Quran 55:24 this morning and this talks about ships like mountains so I was curious. They may also refer to Inselbergs. Thanks for this.

    https://www.themeshnews.com/top-10-biggest-and-largest-ships-in-the-world-2016/

  • Quran 55:4 and did Neanderthals speak?

    Divine peace be upon truth seekers. Today I found an agnostic listening to the Recited Logos of Quran for the first time and he chose Chapter 55 and its very 4th verse talks about learning and teaching of language, but as the word recitation tells us, oral expressions also fall in the category of bayan or self-expression. The title of this article is exactly the question that came up in my mind after I read verse 4. Thanks for writing. I was happy to read about Neanderthal funerals because our Scripture also talks about corvid mourning.

    Did Neanderthals Speak?

     

  • Sacred ink of the Recited Logos and the sacred tears of five prayers

    To an American sister marrying a Pakistani guy: I met the American converts in interfaith fb discussion groups. I think Pakistani men never cheat unless they are too secular. So, it is a good choice for a life partner. I have also offered Sufi counseling to couples in past so if you feel the need to understand traditional psychology, I will help. Islam is a life long journey in the ocean of sacred ink and sacred tears. Quran the Ishmaelite Logos is sacred ink and five daily prayers are the sacred tears. You can start from weekly Friday prayers or bi annual Eid prayers. In America, they have Sunday although Jesus prayed on Saturday. Then God changed it to Friday with easier rules. We take a bath before Friday prayers because the feeling of purity makes us feel holy.

     

    Great I like small steps. Cheating is a problem but my approach has been to address it with the individual rather than addressing the issue in general.
    What is Sufi counseling?

     

    Psychology is a modern invention by a secular but Abrahamic scholar Freud, but before psychology, Sufi saints used to give advice to couples in our cultures.

     

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Egoistic or curious questioning: Is God masculine or feminine?

    To a modern critic of supposed masculinity of Abrahamic God: Interestingly, the Ishmaelite theology talks about the hebrew word rachum/compassion which has etymolgical roots in the word for a mother’s womb. So, Islam while criticizng the concepts of fatherhood and sonship, emphasizes the feminine dimensions of divinity. I have a personal and fallible conjecture that the divine attributes of beauty(jamal) express feminine tenderness ( absent in modern feminism) and the divine attributes of awe-inspriation(jalal) express masculine charisma ( absent is modern males especially the clean shaven males resembling lions with manes)

  • An American secularist asks me about Reza Aslan

    ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·SATURDAY, 9 DECEMBER 2017
    When he ate human flesh with Aghoris, I thought that he was antitheistic, but when I learnt more I learnt that he emotionally converted to Christianity and then after becoming a Bible scholar he intellectually converted to Islam. Bible scholar Bart Ehrman has quoted him which shows that Reza is a popular figure. I value non-conformist piety more than Templeton prize winners, but still I pray that he starts loving faith and commandments on a psychological level rather than only at Platonic level. His Persian background also resonates with me because the philosopher-poet of Pakistan, Iqbal did most of his poetry in Persian.
    I am also happy that he has discussed the tendency of Simon and Donatists within Christianity and Maccabees within Judaism which is directly antithetical to secular versions of Christianity and Judaism.