A spiritual Ishmaelite

Category: Political philosophy

  • 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.”

  • 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.

  • Advice to an American secularist regarding synthesis of civilizations

    I think US is comparatively better than Middle East. For example, due to laws made by Bush as known as ideological exclusion act Tariq Ramadan could not enter US. But activists like you helped him enter US and then he had a dialogue with Hitchens. In the Middle East people get executed simply for supporting democratic brotherhood due to Israeli pressure. You once told me that my optimism and activism will not bear fruits until I die but you are my fruit and I am your fruit. Your open mindedness makes me hopeful about synthesis of civilizations through dialogue. They promote clash of civilizations. They cannot kill truthful ideas. Our ideas will inspire future generations and finally the humanity will wake up. We should work on developing intercultural ideas. For example I am working on promoting science and psychology in the traditional world. You can explore Middle eastern ideas which resonate with you and promote them in the modern world. In this way, we overcome xenophobia and war cannot work when xenophobia is gone. When people start to see foreigners as humans like them, imperialist propaganda cannot work anymore. Even if one candle is alive darkness cannot prevail and if that candle lights at least one another candle before dying the cycle will continue.

  • Bridges TV, Ali A. Rizvi, musician Zameer, bullying of American extremists and Islam

    ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·SATURDAY, 30 SEPTEMBER 2017
    I was introduced to Bridges TV by a Christian extremist who said Islam motivated the murder of wife by the CEO of Bridges TV. He neither prayed nor fasted. Her wife was more conscious about her identity than him because she was the one who insisted to launch the TV so that her children grow up as self-confident Muslims the self-confidence of American Muslims is shattered by perpetual bullying of Christian and secular extremists because Islam causes existential anxiety to both identities. As far as the music is concerned, once a jurist(qadi) of Madina was asked why do you accept the testimony of musicians/music listeners in religious courts? So he said: May God forgive us and you, which one of us does not sing (ayyuna la yataghanna).

  • The relationship of Muslim scholars and money

    Ishmael Abraham·Saturday, January 23, 2016

    5 Reads

    Ishmael Abraham
    Muslim scholars do not receive any taxes. In fact they are the poorest and the most altruistic volunteers in the world
    Donna Smith Islam was spread using taxation of non Muslims as a coercion to become Muslim. You did not understand what I said.
    Ishmael Abraham That freedom and protection tax was nominal and it’s purpose was to exempt non-Muslims from military service. Muslims in West pay taxes to Godless government which are even spent on killing Muslims. So, at least try to know what you hate rather than your blind xenophobic ignorance. That’s why Christians of Spain used to say: Thank heaven for 711 when Muslims conquered it and established peace, justice and freedom of religion.

  • Hadith prophecy about a future western world order 

    ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·SATURDAY, 8 OCTOBER 2016

    7 reads

    Amr ibn Al-As reported: The Quraish importer said to him that he heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say, “The Hour will be established and the Romans will be a majority of the people.” Amr said, “Be careful what you say.” The man said, “I have said what I heard from the Messenger of Allah.” Amr said, “If the Prophet said that, indeed, there are four qualities in them: they are the most judicious of people during a tribulation, they are the quickest to recover after a calamity, they are the quickest to return to battle after a retreat, and they behave well with the poor and weak. Their fifth quality is good and beautiful: they are best at preventing the oppression of their kings.”
    Ibn Kathir interprets it to mean that Romans will convert to Islam. الحافظ ابن كثير رحمه الله: هذا يدل على أن الروم يسلمون في آخر الزمان،
    But Munawi interprets it to mean that Romans will become atheists. وقال عبد الرءوف المناوي: (تقوم الساعة) أي القيامة. (والروم أكثر الناس) ومن عداهم بالنسبة إليهم قليل، وثبت في الصحيح: ) أنه لا يبقى مسلم وقت قيام الساعة ( لكن يكون الروم وهم قوم معروفون وهم أكثر الكفرة ذلك الوقت.
    Qurtubi a Spanish Muslim scholar says that Amr found those qualities in his contemporary Romans but they were absent in Romans of his time.

  • A food of thought to Times of Israel for progress in the mission of first Ishmaelite Nobel prize winner 

    ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·MONDAY, 29 AUGUST 2016

    9 reads

    He talked about rights of Palestinians while receiving Wolf prize. He also talked about how Islamic civilization brought humanity out of dark ages. Reformation preceded Enlightenment and since he was no atheist so a monotheistic reformation is required to produce his vision of monotheistic enlightenment. He also thought positively about Arab Spring which is a movement of freedom and freedom includes anticolonialism. Sola Scriptura orthodox Jews should become more vocal in terms of science and politics in order to make modern Zionism more receptive to sacred texts of Tafsir, Hadith and Ahlulbayt which we consider the universal Ark of Salvation in the global flood and firestorm of promiscuity, materialism and bloodshed.

  • Is there atheistic basis of altruism? How Augustine taught a false dichotomy?

    ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·SUNDAY, 21 AUGUST 2016

    6 reads

    Philosophy of Religion

    dfpolis

    Problems of Belief Systems – What is the theoretical basis of democracy generally, and the idea of equality under the law specifically? For Christians, it is that we are all made in the image of God and so intrinsically valuable.
    Another foundation is St. Augustine’s idea of the two cities: The City of God and the City of the World. In his Literal Commentary on Genesis, Augustine writes that what makes us citizens of the City of God is our commitment to the common good, while we are citizens of the City of the World in virtue of our selfishness. Clearly, much that is wrong in the U.S. at the moment is due to the fact that many politicians are more concerned about self interest than the common good. That is what allows lobbyists to have such power.
    A point of concern here is that Henry Sidgwick, viewed by many to be the most rational of all the classic utilitarianisms, admitted, with some regret, that he could find no rational reason to recommend the common interest over self interest. So, how are atheists to promote the primacy of the common good, and with it, the foundations of a successful republic?
    What brings this to mind is Eric Metaxas, If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty. In it he discusses the golden triangle as a founding idea of the republic. It is this: 1. Freedom requires virtue. If most citizens are not adequately self governing, excessive policing is required and that is antithetical to freedom. 2. Virtue requires faith. (I have argued in other posts that faith is commitment, not to a set of dogmas, but to love.) As I just pointed out, utilitarian ethics seems incapable of providing a rational basis for choosing the common good over self interest, while the Abrahamic faiths, especially Christianity, do. Note that I am not saying atheists cannot be virtuous. They can be and many are, just as many Christians are riddled with vice. The question is not who is virtuous, but what belief systems provide a theoretic ground for promoting the common good. 3, Faith requires freedom. A lack of freedom makes it difficult to follow one’s conscience. The use of “requires” here is not logical, but political. It is a statement of sound policy, not necessary conditions.
    So, again, the question is, how does atheism justify moral equality and choosing the common good over self-interest?
    Peace, Dennis
    Ishmael Abraham
    1Edit I am a neo-orthodox Muslim and the idea of City of God and City of the World resonates with me because we have a concept of Abode of Surrender to God (dar al islam) and Abode of Faithlessness and Apostasy (dar al kufr) based on whether God de facto rules a political entity or Satan. In the Abode of Surrender, God’s rights and human rights are concomitant, based on last words of Ishmaelite Prophet Muhammad(s) on his deathbed to take special care of obligatory prayers or duties towards God, and of subordinates or duties towards creation. But that does not mean God expects us to become robotically altruistic monks, as Quran discourages monasticism(rahbaniya), rather He also teaches us not to neglect our selves. The context of rights of self was that a holy companion decided to pray all night thus he ignored the right of body to sleep, he decided to ignore his wife thus he ignored the right of body to have intimacy and permissible gratification, and he decided to fast all year thus he ignored the right of body to food. So, Augustine’s false dichotomy is simplistic which leads to heresy of secularism the pinnacle of which is atheism. So, Christendom has committed a spiritual suicide into the supposed death of God, through some serious errors like anti-unitarianism, antinomianism and monasticism.