A Magical Number.
Tis magically number’d.
An age when a man becomes a Man,
And he wonders how he might be remembered.
And he wonders about his children.
What he might bequeath to them,
That might not ruin, nor be ruined.
But for one man that was not so.
It was the beginning of a new beginning.
That grew, and even now continues to grow.
At forty he received it.
A revelation like no other.
And at forty we do pay homage to it.
A bequest that cannot be ruined.
A pure message to the Worlds,
From the most Merciful, who created.
For him, at forty, twas a new beginning.
But for his tribe, his people and us all too,
Twas a beginning without an ending.
A life changing force.
A word from the Most High,
That did change our history’s very course.
An uncorruptable word.
An Arabic Qu’ran,
That resonates to your heart’s very chord.
Only the corrupt it corrupts.
But any that wants godliness,
For them, there they shall find it.
This is my bequest.
To read, to live, to study,
That precious treasure chest.
The Qur’an, it’s revelation.
The life of Muhammad,
Who forever will be blessed.
END
Peace, Shafi.
This was written on my pda, on the flight out to Nairobi.
Some notes will be added later, inshaAllah.
This poem talks of that magical age of 40, when a man tends to look back on his life and reassess it. It is said that for any that do turn 40, should say the prayer contained in the Qur’an on it’s arrival, that their fate might be sealed.
It also takes as it’s source one of the proofs of Muhammad (saw) Prophethood, that before the age of 40 he did not do.
Before the age of 40, he was well liked, well known and respected by his people. He used to honour his relatives, feed the poor and treat the downtrodden with kindness and even strive for their rights that others might have ursurped.
But before the age of 40, he showed no inclination to poetry or the magical prose that is the Qur’an. He did not start any widespread social movements, nor did he in any way call any attention to himself.
At 40 that all changed. He still did the good, but now his calling was to a Higher source than himself.
Why would a man, having had children and lived a whole age with his people suddenly change?
If he were a reformer, he would have started at 20.
If he were a poet, we would have been made aware of the development on his poetry.
Rather it is proved by reliable sources, including thro the phenomenal incident of the Treaty of Hudabiyyah, that he could not read nor write.
But that does not mean that he was illiterate, rather it means that he re-wrote everything. He re-wrote manhood, nobility, generosity and so much else!
He was the greatest of MEN, living in age of true Men.
And Indeed without GOD sending him wih the truth, we would all have been ignorant!
So Allah t’ala we beseech you reward Muhammad innumerably, and send our salutations and peace down upon him until the ends of time. For forever will he be blessed, by us all and by others yet to come. Ameen!
A
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Sunday, 20 January 2013
Powerful WORDS
Don’t you ever wonder at the Power of Words?
To change ourselves,
To cast spells.
To change others,
To make enemies, brothers.
To cast doubt,
To wreck mischief, all about.
To wound, to heal.
To make laws and then repeal.
To question and then to know.
To create and then bestow.
To dream, and then try to make real.
And when you flounder, to call another for appeal.
Have you never wondered at the power of words?
To make you, or to break you!
PARAPHRASED....One day Umar (ra) came upon Abu Bakr (ra) whilst he was pulling at his tongue. Umar (ra) astoundedly asked him what he was doing. To which Abu Bakr replied with the following saying of Muhammad (saw):
"I worry about two things for my people that which is between the legs and that which is between the lips.."
I was astonished and asked Muhammad (saw).."Will we be asked concerning what we say?"
He (saw) replied .."O Abu Bakr! What will cause people to fall flat on their faces into Hell-Fire, other than what they say!"
What you say has the power to exalt you, or demean you.
Be wary my dear friends, choose choice words that will not mislead you.
And to this end let your first knowledge be the World you can see.
Marvel at its intricacies, its inter-connectedness, its wholeness and its beauty.
Then know that there is much that you cannot see nor know.
Marvel and be humbled.
And then say "There is a POWER!"
And then say "God is the POWER, the ONE and ONLY".
And then say "Glory be to GOD who created and to WHOM is our return".
And then say, even as Abraham (as) said, "I will be free of what they ascribe to God".
And then believe in HIM and put your trust in HIM, and ask of HIM.
For HE is the one who gave you the power of speech, and words, that you might deliberate, know and ask.
Surah Balad.. (Al-Qur’an):
"Have WE not given you two eyes (that you might see),
And two lips (that you might deliberate and know),
And shown you the two paths
(the path of ascent by which you are purified and exalted, and the
path of descent by which you are made low and abased).
Then what is the matter with you that you take not the paths of ascent?" brackets are mine...
By the leave of GOD, Most Gracious, Most Merciful....
I call you to the sure, undoubtable knowledge and a true and straight path...
To believe in GOD, the Indivisible ONE and ONLY, and to follow the way of Muhammad (saw), who shall forever be blessed!
Yb Shafi
Lastly, the hadith mentioned above is from memory and highly liable to error. May Allah t’ala forgive me, the ONE who loves to forgive. The below hadiths I have sourced which lend credence to the message contained in the above hadith..
Narrated Sahl bin Sa’d: Allah’s Apostle said, "Whoever can guarantee (the chastity of) what is between his two jaw-bones and what is between his two legs (i.e. his tongue and his private parts), I guarantee Paradise for him." (Book 76, Hadith 481) Bukhari
Malik related to me from Zayd ibn Aslam from his father that Umar ibn al-Khattab came upon Abu Bakr as-Siddiq pulling his tongue. Umar said to him, "Stop, may Allah forgive you!" Abu Bakr replied, "This has brought me to dangerous places." Al-Muwatta.
*1 added May 2023
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
To change ourselves,
To cast spells.
To change others,
To make enemies, brothers.
To cast doubt,
To wreck mischief, all about.
To wound, to heal.
To make laws and then repeal.
To question and then to know.
To create and then bestow.
To dream, and then try to make real.
And when you flounder, to call another for appeal.
To declare love.
Never once giving up. *1
Have you never wondered at the power of words?
To make you, or to break you!
PARAPHRASED....One day Umar (ra) came upon Abu Bakr (ra) whilst he was pulling at his tongue. Umar (ra) astoundedly asked him what he was doing. To which Abu Bakr replied with the following saying of Muhammad (saw):
"I worry about two things for my people that which is between the legs and that which is between the lips.."
I was astonished and asked Muhammad (saw).."Will we be asked concerning what we say?"
He (saw) replied .."O Abu Bakr! What will cause people to fall flat on their faces into Hell-Fire, other than what they say!"
What you say has the power to exalt you, or demean you.
Be wary my dear friends, choose choice words that will not mislead you.
And to this end let your first knowledge be the World you can see.
Marvel at its intricacies, its inter-connectedness, its wholeness and its beauty.
Then know that there is much that you cannot see nor know.
Marvel and be humbled.
And then say "There is a POWER!"
And then say "God is the POWER, the ONE and ONLY".
And then say "Glory be to GOD who created and to WHOM is our return".
And then say, even as Abraham (as) said, "I will be free of what they ascribe to God".
And then believe in HIM and put your trust in HIM, and ask of HIM.
For HE is the one who gave you the power of speech, and words, that you might deliberate, know and ask.
Surah Balad.. (Al-Qur’an):
"Have WE not given you two eyes (that you might see),
And two lips (that you might deliberate and know),
And shown you the two paths
(the path of ascent by which you are purified and exalted, and the
path of descent by which you are made low and abased).
Then what is the matter with you that you take not the paths of ascent?" brackets are mine...
By the leave of GOD, Most Gracious, Most Merciful....
I call you to the sure, undoubtable knowledge and a true and straight path...
To believe in GOD, the Indivisible ONE and ONLY, and to follow the way of Muhammad (saw), who shall forever be blessed!
Yb Shafi
Lastly, the hadith mentioned above is from memory and highly liable to error. May Allah t’ala forgive me, the ONE who loves to forgive. The below hadiths I have sourced which lend credence to the message contained in the above hadith..
Narrated Sahl bin Sa’d: Allah’s Apostle said, "Whoever can guarantee (the chastity of) what is between his two jaw-bones and what is between his two legs (i.e. his tongue and his private parts), I guarantee Paradise for him." (Book 76, Hadith 481) Bukhari
Malik related to me from Zayd ibn Aslam from his father that Umar ibn al-Khattab came upon Abu Bakr as-Siddiq pulling his tongue. Umar said to him, "Stop, may Allah forgive you!" Abu Bakr replied, "This has brought me to dangerous places." Al-Muwatta.
*1 added May 2023
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Life & Fractals, part 2
Life and Fractals contd
This is a continuation of the preceding blog, please read part 1 to fully follow the arguments presented.
Un-Fascination.
Many people ignore the complexity that is the World because they believe that it has all been explained away by cataloguing its constituent parts and their relations with one another.
And likewise, to many people the miracle of life holds no fascination simply because they believe it to have been explained away by evolution.
A recurring theme within the Qur’an is however the miracle of our lives. Of our conception and being put to rest in a safe place (in our Mothers’ wombs). Of the clothing of our bones with flesh and of the development of our senses through which we know so much of our World.
Evolution & Chaos.
In essence evolution does affirm the complexity and intricacy that is life. But it seeks to explain this by purporting the existence of a relationship between the order we see and a chaos that is.
Because both evolution and quantum theory see an underlying chaos as being the basis for, and even the foundation-stone of that intricate order. And so they claim that there is no need to suppose an intelligent design in order to explain the complexity and intricacy that is Life, the Universe and Everything.
LAWS rule.
But both fail to see their dependence on laws and rules of behaviour to maintain that order. From the Mendelian rules of genetic inheritance, to the number of electrons that are required to fill an orbital shell and to the Quarks that can only come in threes! It is laws like these that provide the basis for that order.
Even evolutionary theory is suffused with laws. Is not "Survival of the Fittest" a Law?
At each level of our WORLD it is Laws that RULE. And it is this intricate web of Laws that should be humbling, marvelling, fascinating.
Whether these laws are contained within the very nature of the things that they regulate or not, as the case may be, is a by-the-by. What is relevant is that even if we suppose a quantum or evolutionary chaos we cannot escape from admitting the existence of such regulation and an underlying order that is provided by it.
Our LIVES.
Even in our chaotic lives, is it not our laws that lend stability to our society?
And a law that is not enforced is no law at all!
Evolution is POWERLess.
By its own admission and its belief in a chaotic World, Evolution is Powerless. It is an organising PRINCIPLE, a Law without a direct enforcer. Darwinists claim that the enforcer of Evolution is a distant force of a millennia, over vast distances/numbers and what ifs. A principle or a law is NOTHING without a FORCE, a real and tangible force, to enforce it.
The ONE who gives SHAPES.
Evolutionary force does not explain the intricacies of our creation in our Mothers Womb. As we develop our cells differentiate from generic mast cells and become our organs. Cells that are destined to become part of our eyes migrate, past countless other cells, and into the corresponding place of what would one day become your eye socket. What causes these cells to "know" how and where to migrate to, given that their destined place in your eye is not even ready for them? What if that cell makes one slip at one T-junction (and a T-junction is a 2-D characterisation of a 3-D dilemma!)? What prevents that chaos, a distant force that exerts itself over a millennia and over huge numbers of statistical proportions.... i think not!
The Programming.
Darwinists will counter that Evolution has caused each cell to be PROGRAMMED with the correct responses to each possible eventuality (or to at least 99.9% of them).
YOU DECIDE...
Do you think that a distant force can programme each cell for each eventuality?
And that it can do so whilst all other cells develop and morph in tandem?
The ISLAMic View.
In the Qur’an GOD asks you to look carefully at the World, at every aspect of it. And GOD testifies that your eyes will come back to you dazed, full of wonder at the perfection of HIS creation.
The Qur’an talks of the "Sunnat-Allah", the ways of God, being unchangeable! Unbending laws, God’s laws over His creation and laws enforced by Him. For GOD testifies that "No change will you find in the Sunnat ALLAH". HE is the ONE that upholds them and enforces them. And HE is closer to HIS creation than even your very own jugular vein.
HE is the Creator, the Giver of Shapes, the Sovereign, the KING to whom all things go back to for decision.
Muslim Scientists
Seek to make clear the LAWS of GOD on HIS creation. And they wonder at the Perfection of it all and glorify HIS names in the Mornings and Evenings!
Shafi
A Last Word...
For a more detailed expression of my thoughts on Evolution please see a previous blog!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
This is a continuation of the preceding blog, please read part 1 to fully follow the arguments presented.
Un-Fascination.
Many people ignore the complexity that is the World because they believe that it has all been explained away by cataloguing its constituent parts and their relations with one another.
And likewise, to many people the miracle of life holds no fascination simply because they believe it to have been explained away by evolution.
A recurring theme within the Qur’an is however the miracle of our lives. Of our conception and being put to rest in a safe place (in our Mothers’ wombs). Of the clothing of our bones with flesh and of the development of our senses through which we know so much of our World.
Evolution & Chaos.
In essence evolution does affirm the complexity and intricacy that is life. But it seeks to explain this by purporting the existence of a relationship between the order we see and a chaos that is.
Because both evolution and quantum theory see an underlying chaos as being the basis for, and even the foundation-stone of that intricate order. And so they claim that there is no need to suppose an intelligent design in order to explain the complexity and intricacy that is Life, the Universe and Everything.
LAWS rule.
But both fail to see their dependence on laws and rules of behaviour to maintain that order. From the Mendelian rules of genetic inheritance, to the number of electrons that are required to fill an orbital shell and to the Quarks that can only come in threes! It is laws like these that provide the basis for that order.
Even evolutionary theory is suffused with laws. Is not "Survival of the Fittest" a Law?
At each level of our WORLD it is Laws that RULE. And it is this intricate web of Laws that should be humbling, marvelling, fascinating.
Whether these laws are contained within the very nature of the things that they regulate or not, as the case may be, is a by-the-by. What is relevant is that even if we suppose a quantum or evolutionary chaos we cannot escape from admitting the existence of such regulation and an underlying order that is provided by it.
Our LIVES.
Even in our chaotic lives, is it not our laws that lend stability to our society?
And a law that is not enforced is no law at all!
Evolution is POWERLess.
By its own admission and its belief in a chaotic World, Evolution is Powerless. It is an organising PRINCIPLE, a Law without a direct enforcer. Darwinists claim that the enforcer of Evolution is a distant force of a millennia, over vast distances/numbers and what ifs. A principle or a law is NOTHING without a FORCE, a real and tangible force, to enforce it.
The ONE who gives SHAPES.
Evolutionary force does not explain the intricacies of our creation in our Mothers Womb. As we develop our cells differentiate from generic mast cells and become our organs. Cells that are destined to become part of our eyes migrate, past countless other cells, and into the corresponding place of what would one day become your eye socket. What causes these cells to "know" how and where to migrate to, given that their destined place in your eye is not even ready for them? What if that cell makes one slip at one T-junction (and a T-junction is a 2-D characterisation of a 3-D dilemma!)? What prevents that chaos, a distant force that exerts itself over a millennia and over huge numbers of statistical proportions.... i think not!
The Programming.
Darwinists will counter that Evolution has caused each cell to be PROGRAMMED with the correct responses to each possible eventuality (or to at least 99.9% of them).
YOU DECIDE...
Do you think that a distant force can programme each cell for each eventuality?
And that it can do so whilst all other cells develop and morph in tandem?
The ISLAMic View.
In the Qur’an GOD asks you to look carefully at the World, at every aspect of it. And GOD testifies that your eyes will come back to you dazed, full of wonder at the perfection of HIS creation.
The Qur’an talks of the "Sunnat-Allah", the ways of God, being unchangeable! Unbending laws, God’s laws over His creation and laws enforced by Him. For GOD testifies that "No change will you find in the Sunnat ALLAH". HE is the ONE that upholds them and enforces them. And HE is closer to HIS creation than even your very own jugular vein.
HE is the Creator, the Giver of Shapes, the Sovereign, the KING to whom all things go back to for decision.
Muslim Scientists
Seek to make clear the LAWS of GOD on HIS creation. And they wonder at the Perfection of it all and glorify HIS names in the Mornings and Evenings!
Shafi
A Last Word...
For a more detailed expression of my thoughts on Evolution please see a previous blog!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Life & Fractals, part 1
Life and Fractals
Original Cause
Many people believe that the essence of religious knowledge is the question of the original cause.
Granted the original cause is a fundamental spanner in the work of materialistic theology that tends to avoid it like the plague. Because as with Hawkins they cannot answer that problem unless they resort to an infinite series of infinites, which any sane person will throw off as incomprehensible dogma.
But even if we forget that original problem, the complexity that is life, the universe and everything should be humbling. However just as many people as those who believe in GOD, also believe that GOD created, set the World in motion and left. They believe that the laws of biology, chemistry and physics were determined by the act of creation and that the rest is history.
A ClockWork Mechanism
This is the Christian belief of the 7th day of Creation "and then HE rested"... a clockwork Universe set in motion.
The Muslim version is HE created and then "HE rose over the Throne (of Authority)" and "Neither does HE rest, nor does HE sleep" and "All affairs go back to HIM for decision" (All Qur’anic Quotes).
At the turn of the Scientific Revolution it was this idea that drove our exploration into the ever smaller realms. That everything could be explained by reduction, by examining the cogs and wheels and their relations with one another.
The Mandelbrot Blot
However the more we have studied the World, the more we have observed it’s similarity to fractal geometry!
Because no matter which level of existence you consider, there is no depreciation in complexity.
Quantum Dynamics
The most basic/elementary/explanatory of the Sciences is purported to be Particle Physics, and yet the laws that hold in that realm have absolutely no relation to say Cosmology (which is just another branch of Physics), or any other branch of science.
Gravity is a basic force of the Physics of Cosmology that exerts itself over huge distances, and yet it has no power or use when it comes to considering the interactions between electrons/ quarks etc... Likewise the relationships that exist between particles have no consequence when considering the motion of the planets.
a ToE
Of course in order to mend the hole in their aspirations Physicists have long looked for a particle that would be a modulator for gravity, the so called graviton. If it existed it would neatly tie up both cosmology and quantum mechanics into one neat bundle. But the Physicists search for that their holy grail of a ToE (Theory of Everything) is in vain. The World is a Mandlebrot blot!
If this is true of the so called mother of all sciences, it is also true of chemistry and of the study of life, biology.
Life tbc
Each is as intricate as the other, and the study of life is the most intricate of them all.
To be continued...
Dedicated to my MySpace friend George, ever the Scientist!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Original Cause
Many people believe that the essence of religious knowledge is the question of the original cause.
Granted the original cause is a fundamental spanner in the work of materialistic theology that tends to avoid it like the plague. Because as with Hawkins they cannot answer that problem unless they resort to an infinite series of infinites, which any sane person will throw off as incomprehensible dogma.
But even if we forget that original problem, the complexity that is life, the universe and everything should be humbling. However just as many people as those who believe in GOD, also believe that GOD created, set the World in motion and left. They believe that the laws of biology, chemistry and physics were determined by the act of creation and that the rest is history.
A ClockWork Mechanism
This is the Christian belief of the 7th day of Creation "and then HE rested"... a clockwork Universe set in motion.
The Muslim version is HE created and then "HE rose over the Throne (of Authority)" and "Neither does HE rest, nor does HE sleep" and "All affairs go back to HIM for decision" (All Qur’anic Quotes).
At the turn of the Scientific Revolution it was this idea that drove our exploration into the ever smaller realms. That everything could be explained by reduction, by examining the cogs and wheels and their relations with one another.
The Mandelbrot Blot
However the more we have studied the World, the more we have observed it’s similarity to fractal geometry!
Because no matter which level of existence you consider, there is no depreciation in complexity.
Quantum Dynamics
The most basic/elementary/explanatory of the Sciences is purported to be Particle Physics, and yet the laws that hold in that realm have absolutely no relation to say Cosmology (which is just another branch of Physics), or any other branch of science.
Gravity is a basic force of the Physics of Cosmology that exerts itself over huge distances, and yet it has no power or use when it comes to considering the interactions between electrons/ quarks etc... Likewise the relationships that exist between particles have no consequence when considering the motion of the planets.
a ToE
Of course in order to mend the hole in their aspirations Physicists have long looked for a particle that would be a modulator for gravity, the so called graviton. If it existed it would neatly tie up both cosmology and quantum mechanics into one neat bundle. But the Physicists search for that their holy grail of a ToE (Theory of Everything) is in vain. The World is a Mandlebrot blot!
If this is true of the so called mother of all sciences, it is also true of chemistry and of the study of life, biology.
Life tbc
Each is as intricate as the other, and the study of life is the most intricate of them all.
To be continued...
Dedicated to my MySpace friend George, ever the Scientist!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Saturday, 19 January 2013
Blogging Fiend
Written: 10 Mar 2008
I got that Blogging Bug.
And it's bleeding me dry.
Sucking me up, leaving me die.
Ratings are King,
Views are Supreme.
Life's becoming just one long dream.
Just like a TV station,
A lifeless corporation,
Or a worthless Politician.
I have become an Addict of sorts,
Constantly logging in,
Checking my viewings-stats.
I got that Blogging bug,
And it's driving me insane.
All my wild aspirations are becoming tame.
My ideas Fickle,
My concepts trickling Thin.
Especially when you have to Worry about the majorities thinking.
God forbid that should happen.
That I should become a Blogging fiend,
And that all my arguments should get creamed.
Not by any one person.
But by my inability to cognate,
In the face of a non-existent feedback.
God-Forbid that should happen.
That I should become one of the same,
And that all of my arguments should become lame.
God-Forbid that should happen.
That I should loose my faith,
And become a Blogging wraith.
End. Shafi.
Dedicated to the one constant in my prior- MySpace Life...
Thro' thick-and-thin,
"It's 2 Muslim",
Nos Amigo's Fernando the Tornado!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I got that Blogging Bug.
And it's bleeding me dry.
Sucking me up, leaving me die.
Ratings are King,
Views are Supreme.
Life's becoming just one long dream.
Just like a TV station,
A lifeless corporation,
Or a worthless Politician.
I have become an Addict of sorts,
Constantly logging in,
Checking my viewings-stats.
I got that Blogging bug,
And it's driving me insane.
All my wild aspirations are becoming tame.
My ideas Fickle,
My concepts trickling Thin.
Especially when you have to Worry about the majorities thinking.
God forbid that should happen.
That I should become a Blogging fiend,
And that all my arguments should get creamed.
Not by any one person.
But by my inability to cognate,
In the face of a non-existent feedback.
God-Forbid that should happen.
That I should become one of the same,
And that all of my arguments should become lame.
God-Forbid that should happen.
That I should loose my faith,
And become a Blogging wraith.
End. Shafi.
Dedicated to the one constant in my prior- MySpace Life...
Thro' thick-and-thin,
"It's 2 Muslim",
Nos Amigo's Fernando the Tornado!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Friday, 18 January 2013
The World and its People
The World and Its People
The World that we inhabit contains essentially two types of people. And it is the answer to the question of "who they are?" that determines "who we are?" and our futures.
Because it is the way that we see our World that makes our approach to our lives, and then what we ultimately do and become!
Some concrete examples of how people have answered that fundamental question are:
· Marx/ Stalin who saw a "Rich- Poor" divide.
· Hitler who promoted an "Arian and Semitic" divide.
· And more recently Blair & Bush who have both promoted a "the West, and the Muslim" divide.
The CUP.
But is there not a better way that does not divide the World along anthropological lines?
In fact throughout all types of people, and all times, there is a singular behavioural trait that determines their approach to life. It is the difference between a half full cup and a half empty one.
This means of perception cuts across all divides that divide us by the colour of our skin, or our nationality, or our religions.
And at its root determined how the people reacted to the true Messengers when they came to them; either with arrogance or with humility.
For arrogance is born not of power or wealth, but of a fear of loss of that power and wealth(*1). It is a fear of a possible loss of means, a lack of trust in providence and ultimately a fear that there are things that are out of your control (2).
Moses, Jesus & Muhammad (as).
So it was when Moses (as) came to Pharaoh and Pharaoh feared. He feared an empty cup. That Moses (as) was trying to take what was his Kingship (in the Muslim tradition Moses (as) was the foster brother of Pharaoh). He feared that these were things out of his power. And so he became arrogant and disbelieved.
So it was when Jesus (as) came to the Children of Israel. They feared. They feared that the Kingdom of God was slipping away from the ken of their power and knowledge. They feared the empty cup and they disbelieved.
So it was with Quraish when Muhammad (saw) came to them, they feared. They feared lest their standing amongst the Arabs would be diminished. They feared the empty cup and they became arrogant and disbelieved.
Each of them thought that there Prophets brought with them portents of doom. But their doom belonged with them, and it was their seeing only an empty cup.
In contrast the believing men and women from all of the nations; Judaic, Nazarene and Muslim; saw only the good (*3). And even when they suffered trials and tribulations they only said "This is what GOD, most gracious, has promised us" and it only increased them in patience, in doing good to their fellow man, and in faith.
This was the case of the people to whom the Messengers were sent, and is in point of fact the case of all people, at all times.
The Blessed.
Those that ever see a full, brimming cup. Who take the best, and make the most, even from the worst of times. Who learn knowledge from the ignorant, patience from the impatient, and then share it with all (S. Asr). They are the ones who are blessed, whoever they may be, wherever they may be.
And this sentiment is at once both a Unifying and Uplifting force for the whole of Humanity.
It is a sentiment contained in the timeless words of Muhammad (saw), the Messenger of GOD, "The best of people inside the religion, are the best of people when they are outside of the religion". And "No Arab is superior to a non-Arab" famously said without condition on his farewell pilgrimage. And in his saying that "belief is Yemeni" by which he (saw) meant that civility, being kind and considerate, doing good to the people and making them happy are all aspects of true belief, irrespective of who or what you are.
And it is this unifying and uplifting sentiment that is the cornerstone of Qur’anic commentary. For we are told that when GOD intends to do good to a man or woman "HE expands their chest", causes all that is narrow therein to be extinguished and causes us to see an overflowing cup. And then causes belief to enter therein.
So that even when we are tried in this life with loss of means, or health, or life of us or those whom we love... We cry and we mourn but we do not lose hope, nor do we stop doing the good in the hope of earning HIS good pleasure.
The Muslims.
It is these sentiments that have ever guided the Muslims.
After Badr did they not give to their captives, who had been bent on snuffing them out, bread whilst they ate only dates. A rich man’s food they gave to those who had once tortured them in Mecca, and even then came out to kill them at Badr with a superior force.
Did they not always honour their treaties, irrespective of consequence.
Did they not always incline to Peace, when the other inclined to Peace, in accordance with GOD’s commands contained in the Qur’an. Whilst knowing and accepting that such actions might be strategies and deceptions.
These have ever been the sentiments of the Muslims, at one and the same time, both unifying and uplifting.
Believing in the goodness of people, trusting them and sharing with them the good that they have been given!
For notes see comments...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
The World that we inhabit contains essentially two types of people. And it is the answer to the question of "who they are?" that determines "who we are?" and our futures.
Because it is the way that we see our World that makes our approach to our lives, and then what we ultimately do and become!
Some concrete examples of how people have answered that fundamental question are:
· Marx/ Stalin who saw a "Rich- Poor" divide.
· Hitler who promoted an "Arian and Semitic" divide.
· And more recently Blair & Bush who have both promoted a "the West, and the Muslim" divide.
The CUP.
But is there not a better way that does not divide the World along anthropological lines?
In fact throughout all types of people, and all times, there is a singular behavioural trait that determines their approach to life. It is the difference between a half full cup and a half empty one.
This means of perception cuts across all divides that divide us by the colour of our skin, or our nationality, or our religions.
And at its root determined how the people reacted to the true Messengers when they came to them; either with arrogance or with humility.
For arrogance is born not of power or wealth, but of a fear of loss of that power and wealth(*1). It is a fear of a possible loss of means, a lack of trust in providence and ultimately a fear that there are things that are out of your control (2).
Moses, Jesus & Muhammad (as).
So it was when Moses (as) came to Pharaoh and Pharaoh feared. He feared an empty cup. That Moses (as) was trying to take what was his Kingship (in the Muslim tradition Moses (as) was the foster brother of Pharaoh). He feared that these were things out of his power. And so he became arrogant and disbelieved.
So it was when Jesus (as) came to the Children of Israel. They feared. They feared that the Kingdom of God was slipping away from the ken of their power and knowledge. They feared the empty cup and they disbelieved.
So it was with Quraish when Muhammad (saw) came to them, they feared. They feared lest their standing amongst the Arabs would be diminished. They feared the empty cup and they became arrogant and disbelieved.
Each of them thought that there Prophets brought with them portents of doom. But their doom belonged with them, and it was their seeing only an empty cup.
In contrast the believing men and women from all of the nations; Judaic, Nazarene and Muslim; saw only the good (*3). And even when they suffered trials and tribulations they only said "This is what GOD, most gracious, has promised us" and it only increased them in patience, in doing good to their fellow man, and in faith.
This was the case of the people to whom the Messengers were sent, and is in point of fact the case of all people, at all times.
The Blessed.
Those that ever see a full, brimming cup. Who take the best, and make the most, even from the worst of times. Who learn knowledge from the ignorant, patience from the impatient, and then share it with all (S. Asr). They are the ones who are blessed, whoever they may be, wherever they may be.
And this sentiment is at once both a Unifying and Uplifting force for the whole of Humanity.
It is a sentiment contained in the timeless words of Muhammad (saw), the Messenger of GOD, "The best of people inside the religion, are the best of people when they are outside of the religion". And "No Arab is superior to a non-Arab" famously said without condition on his farewell pilgrimage. And in his saying that "belief is Yemeni" by which he (saw) meant that civility, being kind and considerate, doing good to the people and making them happy are all aspects of true belief, irrespective of who or what you are.
And it is this unifying and uplifting sentiment that is the cornerstone of Qur’anic commentary. For we are told that when GOD intends to do good to a man or woman "HE expands their chest", causes all that is narrow therein to be extinguished and causes us to see an overflowing cup. And then causes belief to enter therein.
So that even when we are tried in this life with loss of means, or health, or life of us or those whom we love... We cry and we mourn but we do not lose hope, nor do we stop doing the good in the hope of earning HIS good pleasure.
The Muslims.
It is these sentiments that have ever guided the Muslims.
After Badr did they not give to their captives, who had been bent on snuffing them out, bread whilst they ate only dates. A rich man’s food they gave to those who had once tortured them in Mecca, and even then came out to kill them at Badr with a superior force.
Did they not always honour their treaties, irrespective of consequence.
Did they not always incline to Peace, when the other inclined to Peace, in accordance with GOD’s commands contained in the Qur’an. Whilst knowing and accepting that such actions might be strategies and deceptions.
These have ever been the sentiments of the Muslims, at one and the same time, both unifying and uplifting.
Believing in the goodness of people, trusting them and sharing with them the good that they have been given!
For notes see comments...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Frankenstein and the Lode-Stone
Mary Shelley's nightmare (Frankenstein) was born of the then Darwinist pomposity that suggested that the "spark" that gives life is none too far away. Today Sci-Fi has recognised the impossibility of trying to play God in those respects, and yet even more pompously advocates a terra-forming gaseous concoction of methane, nitrogen and oxygen as a means of creating the basis for life (Star Trek & the last episode of Dr. Who).
But even then Mary Shelley's work differs from the art form of the now because it can and does remind us of certain wonders of the World and certain enigmas that we hold explained... For example...
To Wonder.
"There, Margaret, the sun is forever visible, its broad disk just skirting the horizon and diffusing a perpetual splendour. . .
What may not be expected in a country of eternal light?
I may there discover the wondrous power which attracts the needle."
There the hero ( ? cos l haven't read that far yet, lol!) was intent on discovering the fabled north-east passage near the Pole and ascertaining the secret of the magnet.
This passage shook me back down the years to school science.
The Secrets of Magnets.
So long ago I had been taught that the secrets of the magnet HAD been explained.
I had "learnt" that to make a magnet, one needed a fresh piece of iron and another magnet. And that all you had to do was to stroke the magnet over the virgin iron.
And we "learnt" that such stroking aligned all of a multitude of smaller magnets contained within the metal so that all their Norths pointed North and all of their Souths pointed South, in concordance with the linear stroking action of the first magnet.
But we never asked... And were never made to Ask or Wonder... (Until I read this masterly work).
1. Where the first magnet came from? (The proverbial Lode Stone, the mother of all magnets.)
2. How there could be such alignment when we could perceive no movement?
3. And what actually causes the magnet/ compass to point Northwards?
When you actually think about it, these things are not explained.
Explaining AWAY.
However they are explained away by allegory; by the backwards and forwards movement of reasoning from what we can see, into what we cannot.
So we examine how magnets and iron behave on our human scale and suppose it to be likewise on a truly global scale. And then we hold that we have done our job, are fully rational creatures and are masters of the Universe.
The theory of magnets is consistent, in that it assumes that reasonable movement from known to unknown.
"What" "We" "Know"?
So we know that if we cut a magnet into a thousand pieces, we get a thousand other magnets, each with their own Norths and Souths.
And we know that if we file a virgin piece of iron to make iron fillings, that these when they are placed near a magnet behave magnetically and when they are placed on a piece of paper trace a "field".
And so we reasonably, and by extension, believe the Earth and its core produce one big magnetic field. That there is no source that pulls the needle, well at least not at the North Pole anyway. If there is a source then it would be at the centre of our Earth.
To Marvel.
But even if that is so, should we still not marvel whenever we see a needle move?
Because we have not explained anything really. All we have done is observed and related one observation to another.
We have not explained the WHYs of the magnet! Only the Whats and the Whens:
All We Know is What happens When...
- We cut a magnet
- We place iron fillings near a magnet
Period. And that is the sum total of our Knowledge.
The Secrets of the Magnet continue to remain elusive.
Because--
Fundamental Questions
All of the fundamental questions that we can ask about our World, being What When Who How & Why, are all relational questions. The first three ask for a snapshot, an instance in time, and the last two seek to connect those instances to enable us to see causal patterns. Of all of them it is "Why" when it is applied to both man & non-man that implies something BEYOND How (a mechanism); it implies a HIDDEN something, whether it be motive or a greater plan!
And once we admit that, then the reality of a hidden World becomes a given.
Once a Why is admitted then reality can never be solely confined to whats, whens, whos and even hows!
"Why" does not however presuppose an irrational hidden World.
Science, just another Story :-)
Furthermore even after our Science, and before our contemplation into what we have achieved, should we not marvel, that such things can be "related to" and that we can do "the relating"?
And that we can construct a story, a causal map of our reality. Is that not what every theory is, just another story?
Except Science is a story with teeth. Teeth chop, rip/tear and grind. Science gives us the questions to probe and ask. And it is this probing that causes us to ask those vital questions that are the body and soul of technology.
Body & Soul, Science & Technology.
Contrarily, the answer to those questions give us little beyond the impetus to ask still more questions. However it is the search for those answers that gives us technology.
Al-Qur'an.
And that is why God in the Qur'an testifies that HE has made the Universe subservient to us. Because it is HE who has given us 2 eyes and a mouth, and a reasoning mind... That we might see, question and "know"!
Shafi
Reading Frankenstein and shivering in my boots.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
But even then Mary Shelley's work differs from the art form of the now because it can and does remind us of certain wonders of the World and certain enigmas that we hold explained... For example...
To Wonder.
"There, Margaret, the sun is forever visible, its broad disk just skirting the horizon and diffusing a perpetual splendour. . .
What may not be expected in a country of eternal light?
I may there discover the wondrous power which attracts the needle."
There the hero ( ? cos l haven't read that far yet, lol!) was intent on discovering the fabled north-east passage near the Pole and ascertaining the secret of the magnet.
This passage shook me back down the years to school science.
The Secrets of Magnets.
So long ago I had been taught that the secrets of the magnet HAD been explained.
I had "learnt" that to make a magnet, one needed a fresh piece of iron and another magnet. And that all you had to do was to stroke the magnet over the virgin iron.
And we "learnt" that such stroking aligned all of a multitude of smaller magnets contained within the metal so that all their Norths pointed North and all of their Souths pointed South, in concordance with the linear stroking action of the first magnet.
But we never asked... And were never made to Ask or Wonder... (Until I read this masterly work).
1. Where the first magnet came from? (The proverbial Lode Stone, the mother of all magnets.)
2. How there could be such alignment when we could perceive no movement?
3. And what actually causes the magnet/ compass to point Northwards?
When you actually think about it, these things are not explained.
Explaining AWAY.
However they are explained away by allegory; by the backwards and forwards movement of reasoning from what we can see, into what we cannot.
So we examine how magnets and iron behave on our human scale and suppose it to be likewise on a truly global scale. And then we hold that we have done our job, are fully rational creatures and are masters of the Universe.
The theory of magnets is consistent, in that it assumes that reasonable movement from known to unknown.
"What" "We" "Know"?
So we know that if we cut a magnet into a thousand pieces, we get a thousand other magnets, each with their own Norths and Souths.
And we know that if we file a virgin piece of iron to make iron fillings, that these when they are placed near a magnet behave magnetically and when they are placed on a piece of paper trace a "field".
And so we reasonably, and by extension, believe the Earth and its core produce one big magnetic field. That there is no source that pulls the needle, well at least not at the North Pole anyway. If there is a source then it would be at the centre of our Earth.
To Marvel.
But even if that is so, should we still not marvel whenever we see a needle move?
Because we have not explained anything really. All we have done is observed and related one observation to another.
We have not explained the WHYs of the magnet! Only the Whats and the Whens:
All We Know is What happens When...
- We cut a magnet
- We place iron fillings near a magnet
Period. And that is the sum total of our Knowledge.
The Secrets of the Magnet continue to remain elusive.
Because--
Fundamental Questions
All of the fundamental questions that we can ask about our World, being What When Who How & Why, are all relational questions. The first three ask for a snapshot, an instance in time, and the last two seek to connect those instances to enable us to see causal patterns. Of all of them it is "Why" when it is applied to both man & non-man that implies something BEYOND How (a mechanism); it implies a HIDDEN something, whether it be motive or a greater plan!
And once we admit that, then the reality of a hidden World becomes a given.
Once a Why is admitted then reality can never be solely confined to whats, whens, whos and even hows!
"Why" does not however presuppose an irrational hidden World.
Science, just another Story :-)
Furthermore even after our Science, and before our contemplation into what we have achieved, should we not marvel, that such things can be "related to" and that we can do "the relating"?
And that we can construct a story, a causal map of our reality. Is that not what every theory is, just another story?
Except Science is a story with teeth. Teeth chop, rip/tear and grind. Science gives us the questions to probe and ask. And it is this probing that causes us to ask those vital questions that are the body and soul of technology.
Body & Soul, Science & Technology.
Contrarily, the answer to those questions give us little beyond the impetus to ask still more questions. However it is the search for those answers that gives us technology.
Al-Qur'an.
And that is why God in the Qur'an testifies that HE has made the Universe subservient to us. Because it is HE who has given us 2 eyes and a mouth, and a reasoning mind... That we might see, question and "know"!
Shafi
Reading Frankenstein and shivering in my boots.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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