Sufi spirituality – Page 20 – A spiritual Ishmaelite

About Pope trying to change a prayer about temptations: Quran teaches that God CAN allow temptations to mislead us if we stop going back to God often.

Peter Bell I wrote a comment for Ishmael Abraham on the original post he is referring to here: Thank you! I appreciate and value your prayers. I have been giving a lot of thought lately to the prayer we pray every day, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” I am not a Catholic, but the pope recently said he wanted to change the modern form of this ancient prayer to make it seem less like God is doing the tempting, because the Scripture states that God cannot be tempted as we are. I share in your prayer and look forward to a year of holiness before God.

Ishmael Abraham Quran teaches that God CAN allow temptations to mislead us if we stop going back to God often.

Peter Bell Well, I think the point Pope Francis is making is that there is a difference between God “allowing” temptations to come our way and God “sending” the temptations to harm or mislead us. God is always good and does no evil, and is not himself tempted by evil. I also agree with your statement that “going back to God often” can help keep us from falling into temptation.

Alperovich Anatoly Without temptations we cant grow stronger in faith and character . Evolve . Thus the last Rabi von Lubawitz told : i have no temptations left , i am jealous of People , who have malevolent feelings ( sitna ) to overcome

09/09/2020

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

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.

09/09/2020

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

09/09/2020

The dialectics of Ishmaelite mysticism

Ishmael Abraham

16 hrs ·

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?

09/09/2020

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)

09/09/2020

Is transcendental love like romance?

Is transcendental love like romance? Ibn Arabi thought so, and Ibn Taymiya disagreed. The founder of Ahmadism declared apostate by legal scholars, went to the extent of comparing orgasm to mystic tears. The transcendental love is very ineffable and female mystic Rabia Basri would have found the romantic comparison contrary to what she felt. The first phase of my life was like Rabia and Ibn Taymiya, and I also underwent a phase like Ibn Arabi, but now I am in an intermediate or indeterminate spiritual state. 🙂 It’s not confusion, rather a stage cautious transition into marital bliss. May Allah bless me with a qanitah partner.

09/09/2020

Quora, narcissism and Islam

David Moore, author

Answered Mar 10, 2016

Thanks for the A2A, but….
What??? WHAAAAAT????
Either you have no understanding about what the narcissistic personality disorder is about or you have no understanding of Islam or religion in general. Now as for some of the radical leaders in contemporary Islam, I think you could make a case for that. There certainly are many who exhibit some pretty extreme behavior patterns consistent with narcissism and its handmaidens, paranoia, delusions of grandeur and obsessive/compulsive disorder. That at very best is a twisting of the religious precepts to serve their own agenda.
The thing about religion is that it tends to be the very opposite of narcissistic. It is about the “other”, not about the self. Look at the five pillars of Islam: Faith, Prayer, Charity, Fasting and Pilgrimage to Mecca. They are all about getting past ones self, even self denial, and moving into closer relationship with Allah (God) and being a conduit of God’s blessing to the world. Narcissism is extreme self centeredness. Islam is extreme ‘other’ centeredness. Polar opposites.

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Ishmael Abraham

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Some researchers have discussed the correlation of healthy narcissism and industrial progress, so a lack of industrial revolution in Middle East is a sign of high self-annihilation. But Hadith teaches: wa linafsika alayka haqqun: Your biological and physical self has rights too. So, Islam has has a buffer to extreme Buddhist self denial which secular Buddhism seeks to cure which is already cured within sacred texts of Islam.

https://www.quora.com/Are-the-Contemporary-Muslims-Narcissists

BigMouth • 5 months ago

I am married to someone who has “talked to God.” He let’s me know that when the end times come (right around the corner), I will get what’s coming to me because I didn’t believe him. We were strong, traditional Catholics. He joined an internet cult that claims to be Catholic, and never looked back. The cult is a tight circle that has decided they are end-times prophets with secret knowledge, tells everyone else to WAKE UP and closes anyone with mainstream beliefs out. I am the one threatening to divorce. I am not a narcissist. This “article” has some truth, but my delusional husband would read this and see me in it. It’s dangerous to label a narcissist in a nutshell. Those abused by narcissists often need to employ their tactics to survive. It’s not as easy as 15 memes

Ishmael Abraham BigMouth

I am an orthodox Muslim electrical engineer from Pakistan, and my father is a man of faith but he suffers from narcissism due to an over critical mother who in turn suffered childhood trauma due to early death of her father. Before, I studied narcissistic pathology, I chose flight or fight, but now I have chosen the path of empathy and what Stephen Covey calls the third alternative. This alternative requires high EQ and high level of empathy. The bestsellers suggest that such people are too complex to be close to, but I think if we succeed in the missions impossible, we can make earth a better place to welcome the blessed advent of the Abrahamic King Messiah, peace be upon him.

http://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/galleries/15-narcissistic-religious-abuse-tactics.aspx

09/09/2020

Eden on earth and the remembrance of the divine and the eternity

ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·MONDAY, 27 NOVEMBER 2017

Some suggest than Eden was on earth, and our physical existence can become an Eden on earth if keep the remembrance(dhikr) of the Alpha and the eternity alive in our own mundane consciousness and the popular consciousness.

Kimber’el Eventide I believe it can become once again…it is my goal and many other souls here on earth to help move humanity into that direction instead of one dreamed of by the elite in charge right now.

Ishmael Abraham The dream of the elite will be fulfilled for a finite time but sacred texts teach that when the sacred dream revives, the temporal empire will dissolve like salt dissolves in water. 🙂

09/09/2020

An interculturally synergetic sister introduces me to the modern Catholic Tolkien

ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·MONDAY, 27 NOVEMBER 2017

Ishmael Abraham Elvish is a linguistic concept and I have explored the concept of a divine proto-language. The sacred Abrahamic texts indicate that there will be a future universal spiritual language. So, I try to be eloquent writer of both ancient and modern languages.

Kimber’el Eventide thank you Ishmael Abraham! Indeed, the Elvish language Tolkien created is a “sample” of what light language can do for a species and how it elevates them getting them in touch with their divineness created by a divine source we all come from.

Ishmael Abraham If I had met Tolkien and CS Lewis I would have passionately described to them how Quran ecumenically resolves their denominations. Tolkien considered his mother a martyr of faith. He also leaned towards anarchism and I would have explained to him how a sacred democratic utopia can make anarchism unnecessary. :)Thanks for being a marvelous feminine inter-cultural bridge and being thought provoking.

Kimber’el Eventide Ishmael Abraham My pleasure! it is true. Tolkien would have understood the slight mysticism in the Quran and the glory of Oneness, he would get.

Ishmael Abraham You are right. Tolkien would have appreciated the mystic side while CS Lewis would have preferred the exegetical side. Both are complementary. Mysticism helps overcoming intellectual egoism and lack of praxis and exegetical approach helps overcoming the mystic ineffability and antinomian egoism.

Kimber’el Eventide Ishmael Abraham and another thing is Tolkien can go beyond cultures and see the truism of all religions. He was able to bring pagan/monotheism together as the Quran suggested once that the people belong as one great family.

Ishmael Abraham Rene Guenon has worked on the idea you have suggested and it is called perennialism. Quran sees paganism as an offshoot of primordial monotheism because we tend to grow closer in love to the physical manifestations of light instead of the Divine Source. So, first and greatest commandment teaches that the we should make the love of created lights subordinate to the love of The Light (An Nur).

Kimber’el Eventide Ishmael Abraham I will have to read about Rene Guenon then 😉

Ishmael Abraham Ha ha. Born in France and died in Egypt. He was a muhajir (Quranic term for a migrant for God) who left his home for God so his last word was Allah. I am agoraphobic so I cannot be as great as him. Just like Tolkien used allusions to European mythology, he used allusions to Hindu mythology of the Hindu ancestors of Pakistani unitarians.

https://hollowverse.com/j-r-r-tolkien/

I should commend that during interfaith and intercultural debates this is the best resource to briefly relate to famous western personalities, because Islam is basically defined by a unitarian theology and a sacred democratic political philosophy. A western sister who admires Quran introduced me to Tolkien and this article contributed to interfaith and intercultural dialogue. Thanks.

09/09/2020

Juan Cole, anti-war movement and Islamic schisms

Bernard Lewis has said that intrafaith violence in Christian history had been more violent than intrafaith violence within Islam. May be this is due to intersection of intrafaith schismatic debates and invention of gunpowder. While schismatic war within Islam had been early when gunpowder had not been invented. As far as Sola Scriptura- Gnostic schism is concerned, this is repeating in Muslim world in the form of Salafi-Sufi debate. Self-righteousness can be wrong on both sides but can also bring genuine reform if suffused with compassionate spirit. For example, Madkhali an apolitical Salafi scholar has admitted that our harshness has adversely affected our sola scriptura movement. While, Hudson institute has described anti-blasphemy Barelwi Sufis in Pakistan as extremists. So, this superficial and inaccurate dichotomy on western pre-conceived notions can lead to cruel foreign policies making the western anti-war movement an ethical failure like Christian humanism which is more Scriptually acceptable to orthodox Muslim due to it’s concomitant dissent of sexual revolution. May God bless all the truth seekers. I learnt about you through your healthy and courageous criticism of MEMRI and how they promoted intrafaith schisms in the Middle East through their inaccurate and zealous propaganda. Indian pro-mystic Sola Scriptura scholar Shah Waliullah has successfully resolved the Salafi-Sufi debate and Dr. Marcia Hermansen has translated his book The Conclusive Argument from God into English. Since, extremists in each denomination are not exposed to ecumenical literature due to sectarian xenophobia, intrafaith ecumenical activists should compassioantely introduce the sectarian fanatics to ecumenical ideas and I want to work on this and ecumenical Christians should work on it too to avoid secularization of their own future generations.

09/09/2020

Category: Sufi spirituality