A spiritual Ishmaelite

Category: Sufi spirituality

  • Quran 75:2, Dunning Kruger effect and the self-hating self

    Robert Murphy
    Why do so many right wingers believe they are geniuses at economics, simply because they hate poor people? The worst part is many right wingers are poor themselves and think that their bourgeoise aspirations make them better than other poor people. The Dunning Krüger effect in operation.
    Ishmael Abraham
    This effect was studied for millenia in Abrahamic theosophy. A Sufi scholar Yahya bin Mu’adh said: Who recognizes himself recognizes God. However, this self-insight is focused on recognizing our incompetence rather than competence because Quran glorifies nafs lawwamah or the self-hating self. Like Guy Winch a western psychologist says that guilt is a relationship protector. Dr Ali Shariati was the best Muslim sociologist who studied class conflict in depth.

  • Quran 62:10 and Torah im Derech Eretz

    Quran 62:10 Then, when the prayer is finished, scatter in the land and seek God’s bounty, and remember God frequently; haply you will prosper.
    The phrase Torah im Derech Eretz is first found in the Mishna in Tractate Avoth (2:2): “Beautiful is the study of Torah with earning livelihood, as involvement with both makes one forget sin”
    “Such is the way of Torah: Bread with salt you shall eat, water in small measure you shall drink, and upon the ground you shall sleep; live a life of deprivation and toil in Torah. If so you do, “fortunate are you, and good is to you” (Psalms 128:2): fortunate are you in this world, and it is good to you in the World To Come.”

  • The martyr Savonarola, contempt of the world and Ishmaelite theosophy

    The Gothic interior of Florence Cathedral is vast and gives an empty impression. The relative bareness of the church corresponds with the austerity of religious life, as preached by Girolamo Savonarola. In the unfinished treatise he left behind, later called “De contemptu mundi,” or “On Contempt for the World,” he calls upon readers to fly from this world of adultery, sodomy, murder and envy. Savonarola and two of his supporting friars were imprisoned. On 23 May 1498, Church and civil authorities condemned, hanged, and burned the three friars in the main square of Florence. Ishmaelite Prophetic descendant Imam Jafar As-Sadiq(as) interprets Quran 26:89 to mean that the only thing that will benefit in the next life is a clean heart which is not corrupted by love of the world. Most of his biographers reject or ignore the account of his younger brother and follower, Maurelio (later fra Mauro), that in his youth Girolamo had been spurned by a neighbour, Laudomia Strozzi, to whom he proposed marriage.

  • 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.

  • Merriam-Webster:What made you want to look up hoard?

    What made you want to look up hoard? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

    Ishmael Abraham·Saturday, January 23, 2016
    Quran 10:57-58 Tafsir Jalalayn O MANKIND there has come to you an admonition from your Lord, a Book which contains [mention] of that which is [permissible] for you and that which is enjoined on you, and this [Book] is the Qur’ān; and a healing, a cure, for what is in the breasts, of corrupt beliefs and uncertainties, and a guidance, from error, and a mercy for those who believe, in it. Say: “In the bounty of God [that is] Islam, and in His mercy, the Qur’ān, in that, bounty and mercy, then, let them rejoice: it is better than all [the worldly wealth] that they hoard. altafsir.com

  • Did Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him use to laugh?

     

    Ishmael Abraham·Sunday, January 24, 2016

    4 Reads

    Although Hadith discourages excessive laughing like worldly people, but modest laughing is a blessed Sunnah.
    Ishmael Abraham “The Messenger of Allah said: ‘Allah laughs at the despair of His slaves although He soon changes it.’ I said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, does the Lord laugh?’ He said: ‘Yes.’ I said: ‘We shall never be deprived of good by a Lord Who laughs.’”
    http://sunnah.com/urn/1251800
    Ishmael Abraham Narrated Jarir bin ‘Abdullah:
    “The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) never screened me ( meaning forbade my entry in his presence) since I accepted Islam, nor did he look at me except that he laughed.”
    http://sunnah.com/urn/637050
    Ishmael Abraham He was asked: At what did you laugh? He replied: I saw the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) do as I have done, and laugh after that. I asked: Messenger of Allah , at what are you laughing? He replied: Your Lord, Most High, is pleased with His servant when he says: “Forgive me my sins.” He know that no one forgives sins except Him.
    http://sunnah.com/abudawud/15/126
    Ishmael Abraham All of a sudden the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) who had come up behind caught me by the back of the neck, and when I looked at him he was laughing. He said: Go where I ordered you, little Anas. I replied: Yes, I am going, Apostle of Allah! Anas said: I swear by Allah, I served him for seven or nine years, and he never said to me about a thing which I had done: Why did you do such and such? Nor about a thing which I left: why did not do such and such?
    http://sunnah.com/abudawud/43/1
    Ishmael Abraham When all laughed for something, he would laugh too.
     http://sunnah.com/urn/1803330
    So, we should not excessively laugh at pornographic, blasphemous, backbiting and untruthful jokes like worldly people but we should revive the blessed practice of modest laughing.

  • Why Sufi stories violating the sacred law should be subjected to critical thinking

     

    The Opening of Shaykh Abdal-Aziz Ad-Dabbagh
    translated by Sidi Abdassamad Clarke
    Shaykh Abd al-Aziz, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
    Three days after the death of Sidi Umar the opening happened to me and praise belongs to Allah. We recognised Allah by the reality of our selves, and praise and thanks belong to Him. That was on Thursday the 8th of Rajab 1125 H. I went out of our house and Allah provided me with four coins, by means of one of His slaves who give sadaqah. I bought fish and went to our house and the woman said to me, “Go to Sidi Ali Ibn Harazim (an area in Fez) and bring us oil so that we can cook the fish.”
    I went and when I reached the Bab al-Futuh a trembling came over me and then many shudders. Then my flesh began to creep very much and I began to walk in that condition until I reached the grave of Sidi Yahya ibn ‘Ilal, may Allah benefit us by him, and that is on the way to Sidi Ali ibn Harazim. My state became very extreme and my breast became tremendously troubled, and I said, “This is death without doubt.” Then my body began to extend until it was longer than any length. Things began to unveil themselves to me and to appear as if they were right in front of me. I saw all the villages and towns, everything in this land and the Christian woman breast-feeding her child sitting in her lap. I saw all the oceans, the seven continents and everything in them, the beasts and all creatures. I saw the sky as if I were above it looking at what was in it.
    Suddenly there was a tremendous light like dazzling sheet lightning which seemed to come from every direction. That light came from above me and from below me, from my right and left, and from before me and behind me. A tremendous cold from it struck me so much so that I thought I had died. I tried to cover my face so that I would not have to look at that light but I realised that my body was all eyes, the eye seeing, the head seeing, the leg seeing and all of my limbs seeing. I looked at the clothes I was wearing and I found that they did not veil that seeing which pervaded my whole body, so I realised that covering my face made no difference.
    That state continued for about an hour and then stopped. I regained the first state that I originally had and returned to town. I was incapable of reaching Sidi Ibn Harazim and was afraid for myself and was busy weeping. That state returned to me for an hour and then stopped again. It began to come upon me for an hour and then vanish for another hour until it was living intimately with me. It began to be absent only for an hour in the day and an hour in the night, until finally it became continuous.
    Allah had mercy on me because He made me meet one of the gnostics among His friends. When I woke up from the night after the day of the opening, I went to visit Moulay Idris, may Allah benefit us by him, and there I met the Faqih, Sidi al-Hajj Ahmad Jarandi, the Imam of the Moulay Idris Mosque. So, I mentioned to him what I saw and what had happened to me. He said to me, “Come with me to my home,” so I went with him to the house.
    He entered and I with him, and we sat down together and he said, “Repeat to me what you have seen.” I repeated it to him. I looked at him and he was weeping. He said, “There is no god but Allah, these four hundred years we have not heard the like of this.” He gave me many dirhams and said to me, “Take them and meet your needs with them. When you are finished with them do not ask anyone to give you anything. Return to me and I will give you everything you need. And I insist that you go to the grave of Sidi Abdullah at-Tawdi, for there you will see good.”
    I left him and I never saw him after that day. The sickness that caused his death came to him and he died, may Allah have mercy on him, but I followed his parting counsel and went to Sidi Abdullah at-Tawdi. When I reached the Bab al-Jaysah there was a black man outside the gate. He began to look at me and I said to myself, “What does he want?” When I reached him he took my hand and greeted me and I returned his greeting. He said to me, “I want you to return with me to the mosque, then we can sit for an hour and talk,” and I said, “With pleasure.”
    I returned with him and we sat in the mosque. He began to speak to me, saying, “I am sick with such and such, I saw such and such, and such and such happened to me,” mentioning everything that had happened to me. He threw off the burden I carried by his words, by Allah, and I realised that he was one of the friends of Allah, a gnostic. He said that his name was Abdullah al-Barnawi from Barno and that he had only come to Fez because of me. I rejoiced and realised the blessing in the words of the Faqih Sidi al-Hajj Ahmad al-Jarandi, may Allah be merciful to him, for he was one of the people of right action.
    Sidi Abdullah al-Barnawi remained with me, guiding me, directing me and strengthening me and removing fear of what I witnessed from my heart for the rest of the months of Rajab, Sha’ban, Ramadan, and ten days from Dhu’l-Hijjah.
    When it was the third day of the Eid festival I saw the Master of Existence (the Prophet Muhammad), may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Sidi Abdullah al-Barnawi said, “O Sidi AbdulAziz, before today I was afraid for you but today when Allah the Exalted has made you meet the Master of Existence, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, my heart is secure and tranquil, and I entrust you to Allah the Mighty and Majestic.” Then he went to his land and left me. His stay with me was only to protect me from darkness entering upon me in this opening and until the opening in witnessing the Prophet happened to me, may Allah bless him and give him peace, because there is no fear for the one who has the opening then. It is only feared for him before that.
    From Al-Ibriz ® “Pure Gold” by Sayyidi Ahmad ibn al-Mubarak, a pupil of the Shaykh.
    My response: As-Salamu ‘alaykum, How you respond to the story that he slept in the fourth bed with him and his wives at night? Is it possible that the story mentioned in Al-Ibriz is a fabrication because it is a violation of sacred law to enter someone’s house without seeking permission even if he did not look at his wives. It may be possible that he knew about that without entering the house.

  • Who unlawfully looks at private part of someone

    ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·SUNDAY, 13 NOVEMBER 2016

    14 reads

    من نظر إلى عورة أخيه المسلم ، أو عورة غير أهله متعمّداً ، أدخله الله مع المنافقين الذين كانوا يبحثون عن عورات المسلمين ، ولم يخرج من الدنيا حتى يفضحه الله إلاّ أن يتوب
    The Messenger of Allah(s) said: Who unlawfully looks at the private part of someone, Allah will gather him with the hypocrites and he will not leave the world until Allah humiliates him unless he repents.
    Narrated by Sheikh Saduq
    أمالى الصدوق ص ٤٢٧ ٤٢٨.

  • Why Tahajjud and Tarawih vigils improve intimacy in prayers.

    ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·THURSDAY, 3 NOVEMBER 2016

    2 reads

    كيف يزيد الخشوع باالتهجد في ضوء العلوم العصبية
    Just one night without sleep can increase the amount of the chemical dopamine in the human brain, according to new imaging research in the August 20 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. Because drugs that increase dopamine, like amphetamines, promote wakefulness, the findings offer a potential mechanism explaining how the brain helps people stay awake despite the urge to sleep.

  • Halal earning is not secularism 

    ISHMAEL ABRAHAM·MONDAY, 31 OCTOBER 2016

    2 reads

    Hussain Murtaza

    A man said to Imam Ja`far as-Sadiq [a], “By Allah! We seek after this world, and we love to attain it.”So the Imam asked, “What would you like to do with it?”The man said, “Use it to improve myself and my family, maintain relationships, give in charity, and perform Hajj and `Umrah.”The Imam said, “This is not seeking the world. This is seeking the Hereafter.”علي بن إبراهيم ، عن أبيه ، عن ابن أبي عمير ، عن هشام بن سالم ، عن عبد الله بن أبي يعفور قال قال رجل لأبي عبد الله عليه‌السلام والله إنا لنطلب الدنيا ونحب أن نؤتاها فقال تحب أن تصنع بها ما ذا قال أعود بها على نفسي وعيالي وأصل بها وأتصدق بها وأحج وأعتمر فقال عليه‌السلام ليس هذا طلب الدنيا هذا طلب الآخرة(al-Kafi)