Interfaith dialogue

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

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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

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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

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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?

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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

 

Egoistic or curious questioning: Is God masculine or feminine?

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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)

How to help Trump overcome his pseudo-religious pseudo-Christian narcissism?

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ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·SUNDAY, 10 DECEMBER 2017
Alperovich Anatoly
I am so glad for That Trump’s declaration on Jerusalem. All the antisemites crawled out of their holes. I am fighting antisemites for a week now. And that’s , what i was born for. Haleluya for that man . How could i dislike Donald , for decades. I cant even understand now .
He’ll change his mind when he no longer needs the distraction.
Chris MK I thought you hated him. Didn’t you say something about this white supremacist disrespecting you country when he visited? I keep saying he’s a friend of the Jewish people but people say no.
Ishmael Abraham May God make Trump, Zionists and Ishmaelites the true spiritual Semites and Abrahamites so that we resist the flood of Sodom and apostasy together.
Alperovich Anatoly Amen. You always find something new to add to discussion.
Ishmael Abraham I want to be the modern pro-Ishmael Maimonides.
Alperovich Anatoly Wish you all the success. You have the restraint . That’s the game changer.
Alperovich Anatoly Talmud says , that the toughest test for Abraham, ( be his memory blessed) , was the martial acts, in Beer sheva on the way to Egypt , and rescuing Lot . Because he was Fidel, devoted , kind to creatures and wise by how creator put him on this earth, but he wasnt a hero . So when man do for his creator , something he wasn’t meant by his creational plan, thats the greatest hesed, or spiritual gain. The beard is 13 measures of hesed and rahamim. I know you understand that .
Alperovich Anatoly Ishmael Abraham the vision of Joseph in the pit in Egypt , two thousand stairs up, Roman slavery . It will end exactly in Iovel, hamsin years from now. We may be still alive to see prophecies come true and sodom fall.
Ishmael Abraham Eastern Orthodox Christians understand the rabbinic significance of beard, but an Eastern Orthodox monk unfriended me because I disagreed with trinitarian idolatry.
Ishmael Abraham Quran has a Chapter about Joseph peace be upon him, and when the second consultation-based Caliph of Islam recited this Chapter in pre-dawn fajr prayers people could hear his almost-silent tears(nashij) because he was tempted by Potiphar’s wife, and today Sodom offers believers millions of Potiphar’s wives.

An American secularist asks me about Reza Aslan

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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.

Quora: Bible, Quran and a violence free tomorrow

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The sacred texts classify violence into two categories. The physical violence(qital) and the spiritual violence(fitna) and as Quran teaches that being tempted is more horrible than being injured or martyred because temptations kill the soul which is eternal while martyrdom only kills the body of the believer. So, we see that early Christian martyrs were fearless because they fear faithlessness more. Now, we should think about what Bush calls pre-emptive violence as opposed to defensive violence. The concept of spiritually pre-emptive politics can be both heroic and destructive like the views of Simon the disciple and Maccabees who revolted against Hellenistic threats to faith, but Jesus peace be upon him was inclusive of both assertive views of Simon and compromising views of Matthew. So, we we want a humane political vision of religion, we should try to channel the spiritual zeal of the assertive people into a movement for political reform rather than violently suppressing them and stigmatizing them, then we can achieve a Biblical hermeneutics which can contribute to a violence free tomorrow.

Nathan peace be upon him and an intra-Ishmaelite debate

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ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·FRIDAY, 1 DECEMBER 2017
The legacy of Nathan peace be upon him also relates to Ishmaelites. There is an intra-Ishmaelite debate whether the House of God or the Prophetic flesh and blood is superior. David peace be upon him wanted to build House of God, and Nathan understood the significance of Prophetic flesh and descendants. Rather than pitting both against one another, we should work for synergy like you are a living synergy of faith and reason.

Why am I non-blind admirer of Imam Busairi?

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ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·FRIDAY, 1 DECEMBER 2017
A Shia friend criticizes Sola Scriptura believers for calling Naat a heresy.
Ishmael Abraham I love Qasida Burda because Imam Busairi also wrote poetry against Jews and Christians. But I think  bhar do jholi, manzur dua karna, and khoti qismat karo khari were not written by alim poets.
Ishmael Abraham
I love this: لَوْ نَـاسَـبَتْ قَـدْرَهُ آيـَاتُهُ عِظَمـاً أَحْيَـا اسْمُهُ حِيْنَ يُـدْعَى دَارِسَ الرِّمَمِ
If his miracles were proportionate (according) to his (A) rank in greatness, then his (A) name, when called out, would have brought decaying bones back to life.
The miracle of Quran is greater than supernatural miracles because it will inspire informed faith in an age of naturalism.