A spiritual Ishmaelite

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  • The dialectics of Ishmaelite mysticism

    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?

  • Why ethical truths are more important than logical truths in 21st century politics?

    To a tolerant American secularist: The epistemological dialogue about nature of truth should not be a factor in political decisions, because these discussions were promoted by Muslim culture in a respectful intellectual atmosphere in past. As I told you before military industrial complex is based on scientific truths but it is unethical. So, we should also explore the nature of ethical truths along with logical truths.

    Peter Bell Yes, we do need to explore ethical truth — but I think you know that the epistemological discussion you mention IS IN FACT NOW a major factor in American politics, with highly disastrous results on every front. Many specific examples spring to mind. I agree with you that THIS SHOULD NOT BE SO, but in fact it is so, and we need to explore what to do to change it to the way it should be.

    Ishmael Abraham When atheist Krauss criticized Ben Carson for being inaccurate about beginning of universe and evolution, I could sense that logical truths are valued more in modern West. But I think one does not need a PhD to be ethically and spiritually honest. But I thank God that no one can criticize my IQ too, but I think IQ cannot save your soul if you are not humble as it leads to what psychologists call grandiose delusions and educated people suffer from those the most.

  • 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)

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

    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

    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.

  • Lost virginity, peer pressure and explicit music

     

    Jerry Sexton I was virgin until my 20s, and never cursed. My friends pressured me to curse on high school graduation night, they had never heard me say objectionable words. My point is that I don’t think music plays a role nearly as much as peer pressure.

    Ishmael Abraham I was forced to eat Indian sweets last week while being the co-bridegroom of my cousin on his marriage, and when I became angry, they said that the fun lies in the pressure. But my introvert personality has helped me to avoid conformism through reduced social circle.

  • 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.

  • Islam and reformative/unjust gheerah: Narcissism and traditional/liberal Pharisees

     

    I have low IQ and relatively secular family members who have immigrated to Australia due to higher income there. Since I have family members who suffer from NPD, I enjoyed your articles about economic and violent forms of narcissism. Since, I am involved a lot in intrafaith Scriptural dialogue so I understand the Scriptural ignorance and psychological weaknesses of the violent faithful. There has been some research on NPD and marital infidelity which is more common in West. Psychologists have also talked about healthy self-love. I think being happy if your spouse is sexually faithful is healthy self-love. But since the global impact of sexual revolution, this healthy self love is hurt although in controlled amounts in East, so Pharisees of our culture are guilty of violently reacting to narcissistic mortification. To overcome that I have a vision of a psyche- sensitive pronomianism to overcome both traditional Phariseeism and modern liberal Phariseeism. Thanks for being though provoking. 🙂

    https://www.theguardian.com/profile/anne-manne

  • Quora: Bible, Quran and a violence free tomorrow

    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.

  • Quora: Islam, existential anxiety and thanatophobia

    Daniel Fawcett
    May 2, 2014 · 1 upvote

    Ishmael Abraham
    Just now

    Quran talks about misotheistic/angry non-faith as well as how faith inspires existential anxiety and awakens the moral anxiety, and we tend to feel euphoric rather than dealing with existential dysphoria. So, one can call it euphoria-seeking escapism than a phobia. People have talked about thanatophobia. Phobia is an intense form of anxiety. The more we do not deal with existential anxiety in daily life due to being more involved in temporal affairs after the industrial and sexual revolutions, there is high probability of this developing into full fledged thanatophobia or Islamophobia.

    Ishmael Abraham
    Just now

    Although Islam is more life-affirming than Christianity, but since as a reaction to historical life denial in Christianity, the modern culture takes life affirmation to higher levels, so even Islamic moderate life affirmation seems as primitive leading to a form of anti-traditionalist xenophobia which can be seen from the economic lens of class conflict. Knietzsche understood how Islam is more life affirming than Christianity but modern atheism has lack of empathy due to cultural narcissism their classical predecessors tried to overcome.