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  • Divine assistance is not simply political victory but leaving private sins

    عن عبد الله بن الفضل الهاشمي، قال
    سألت أبا عبد الله جعفر بن محمد (عليه السلام)، قال: قلت: قوله عز و جل:
    { وَمَا تَوْفِيقِيۤ إِلاَّ بِٱللَّهِ }
    ………
    متى خلى بينه و بين المعصية، فلم يحل بينه و بينها حتى يركبها، فقد خذله و لم ينصره و لم يوفقه 
    Quran 3:160
    Tafsir Al-Bahrani
    The narrator of this narration is Thiqah according to six Sunni scholars of Hadith.
  • To American Jews: Is a modern Maimonides possible?

    To American Jews about the concept of a chosen race or community: The concept of a chosen community is based on spiritual responsibility. According to primogeniture this has now shifted to Ishmaelites due to their universal mission not based simply on a chosen DNA but special spiritual responsibility. So, the question is whether Judaism can tackle the intellectual challenge of modernity? Is a modern Maimonides possible. Islam has many modern Maimonides. If we do not employ our smartness to spiritual and ethical ends, then we contribute to a cruel and hedonistic Machiavellian world rather than a blessed 21st century Zion.

     

  • Are Tawhid and trinity supra-logical or illogical?

    Response to a pedantic query about the concept of supra-logical truths: If Tawhid/unitarianism had not been intelligible, prominent scientists like Isaac Newton and George Boole would not have been unitarians. But what is supra-logical is to encompass the full nature of divinity what Hawking called the mind of God while also asserting that science will always be progressing making encompassing even created nature an endless journey. Like the vision in the Night of Ascent was a vision of truth that factually happened but not an encompassing vision. The question of encompassing vision in Hereafter is open to curiosity and Scriptural dialogue in classical Muslim scholarship.

  • Saint Mary peace be upon her and world’s most viewed video on youtube

    I am an orthodox Muslim and I liked the neglected statue of Mary peace be upon her in the beginning of the Despacito video more than the ensuing nudity 🙂

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-viewed_YouTube_videos

  • Sufi music by pious South Asian modernists

    O Most Generous One, O Greatly Forgiving One, O Most Merciful One,
    O Most Mighty One, O You Whose Favour is quickly achieved
    May I always remain pleased with what You have granted me
    O Most Generous One, O Greatly Forgiving One, O Most Merciful One,
    O Most Mighty One, O You Whose Favour is quickly achieved
    May I always remain pleased with what You have granted me

    This rosary of repentance that lies around my neck
    Please turn this into a means of heartfelt prayer and praise of Your perfection
    Please turn this into a means of heartfelt prayer and praise of Your perfection
    Please turn this into a means of heartfelt prayer and praise of Your perfection

    O God, I ask You by Your Divine Mercy
    O Majestic One
    My head is bowed in regret and shame at my actions,and my heart is grief-stricken
    If You don’t hear my plea, who else would I appeal to?
    You are the all-Hearing and all-Seeing Answerer of Prayers
    You are the all-Hearing and all-Seeing Answerer of Prayers
    You are the all-Hearing and all-Seeing Answerer of Prayers

    You are the Lord of Bilal’s call to prayer
    You are compassionate and You are also formidable
    And You are the one who commands the universe to ‘Be’, and it is
    You are the Lord of Muhammad Mustafa
    God is Great
    You are the Lord of Ali Murtaza
    God is Great
    The Lord of the Straight Path
    God is Great
    The Lord of the Ka‘bah
    God is Great
    I see the Ark of Noah
    I drown in the sea of repentance

    O Merciful One
    Please grant me closeness to Yourself
    O Generous One
    Please disregard my misdeed
    O Merciful One
    I am a seeker of Your Divine Mercy
    O Generous One
    I am Your flawed and sinful slave

    We are fated to burn in the river of fire
    But if you become our support, we can be saved

    You are the light that I became blind to
    By committing witting and unwitting sins, I gained nothing

    If You cast Your merciful gaze towards me, this difficulty too shall pass
    You are the Benevolent, the Knower of Unspoken Prayers, the Clement
    You are the Benevolent, the Knower of Unspoken Prayers, the Clement

    You are the Lord of Zulqarnain’s wall
    You are the Lord of the Prophet’s night journey
    You are the Lord of Ishmael and of Hagar’s well
    You are the Lord of Abraham
    God is Great
    You are the Lord of Gabriel
    God is Great
    The Lord of the angels
    God is Great
    The Lord of the fountain of Kausar
    God is Great
    Make us the humble servants of your true slaves
    O Supremely Great One, O Fulfiller of Needs

    I haven’t the capacity to picture the Day of Resurrection
    My deeds are not the kind to win Your favour and mercy
    I plea that You grant me closeness to Yourself
    Have mercy on this miserable beggar standing at Your door

    When all my grand schemes fell apart, I came to the realization
    That You alone determine what happens in Your kingdom
    For the sake of Your beloved Muhammad, please hear this humble prayer of mine

    You are the Nourisher, the Reckoner, the Resplendent
    You are the Nourisher, the Reckoner, the Resplendent
    You are the Lord of Ali and Hamza’s masterful strikes
    You are the lord of Moses’s staff
    You are present wherever we may turn
    You are the Lord of Jesus
    God is Great
    You are the Lord of Mary
    God is Great
    The Lord of the Prophet’s companions
    God is Great
    You are the Lord of the Five Holy Persons
    God is Great
    I see the Ark of Noah
    I drown in the sea of repentance

    O Merciful One, O Generous One
    O Merciful One, O Generous One
    O Merciful One
    Please grant me closeness to Yourself
    O Generous One
    Please disregard my misdeed
    O Merciful One
    I am a seeker of Your Divine Mercy
    O Generous One
    I am Your flawed and sinful slave
    Please grant me closeness to Yourself
    Please disregard my misdeed
    I am a seeker of Your Divine Mercy
    I am Your flawed and sinful slave
    Please grant me closeness to Yourself
    Please disregard my misdeed
    I am a seeker of Your Divine Mercy
    I am Your flawed and sinful slave.

  • Sex deprivation and orthodox Muslim communities

    Sex deprivation before marriage in orthodox Muslim communities inspires real spiritual creativity. I reached out to so many wonderful fellow faithful through this shared sense of abstinence. But those children raised within sexual revolution may never have an opportunity to experience an alternative worldview. Many might think there are no intelligent people in the orthodox and traditional communities. There are actually a lot. I am an electrical engineer from a prestigious university but many of us choose forms of spiritual art and literature as what Freud called sublimation. And, I have read about established research that abstinence has no adverse physiological effect. Facing the anxiety of abstinence actually makes you more brave, but according to psychology when we have other anxieties like anxieties of industrial revolution, we tend not to leave our comfort zones.
  • Future of earth and Hadith

    Even according to rational standards, we do not have an infinite future. In Hadith the proximity of the end is compared to two adjacent fingers, and if we have ten fingers, compared to 13.8 billion years, it makes sense that life on earth will become extinct in the next billion years due to evaporation of all water as predicted by science.

  • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow and thanato-conscious living

    Thanato-conscious living is the best way to live a life of flow. A critic of Islam said: ” I am like a character in a video game who gained a new skill and is now kicking ass against the bad guys. ” Overcoming the sadistic impulse is more liberating. Imam Shafi’i said: When I debate people, I never want to win the argument but pray and hope that truth becomes victorious at the tongue of my opponent.

  • Haya: Relationship of respect with God based on ethical shyness

    If you want honesty in your relationships, reward honesty. Appreciate it and give thanks when your child or spouse shares something honest with you that they didn’t want to tell you. If you lash out and punish them for telling the truth, you are setting yourself up for dishonesty. For an inauthentic life. For a life of acting and fakeness and pretending to please you while really not.

    Ishmael Abraham I would never share my personal sins between me and God, to a priest like Catholics or to parents or society like modernists. We have a beautiful concept of haya a private relationship of respect with God based on ethical shyness about sins . According to Guy Winch a western psychologist guilt is a relationship protector. Thanks God, I feel guilty when I look at semi-nudity in public places. I love that I have a father who would be angry if I told him about the semi-nudity I witnessed during the day. Death of righteous anger is the death of faith and the Godless empire of military-industrial-cultural complex seeks to destroy it to conquer defiant faith, but thanks God saints in every age will keep the candle of haya burning.
  • What have three scientists sharing the graveyard in common with Muslims?

    Darwin married his cousin like Muslims, Newton died a unitarian like Muslims and Hawking opposed Israel like Muslims. They are buried in the same graveyard.