irshaad.net : The ascending stairways

Attack on Gaza - Israel’s Ideological Imperative

I recently read an article titled “New Information Agency Winning Support For Israel” (Globe and Mail). It described how Israel was skillfully managing the propaganda front of it’s attack on Gaza by effectively swaying the nature of news and opinion coverage on all media fronts. Even YouTube was being flooded with video that portrayed Israeli military operations in a favorable light. Israel had gone to great lengths to ensure that the major media outlets as well as new media such as YouTube and popular news blogs and discussion sites would spin the unfolding events in a way that benefits Israel.

But this spin is only a miniscule part of the propaganda campaign that has gone on for years - the one that tells the endlessly repeated story about the imminent threat to Israel’s existence posed by the Palestinians. Every controversial action, no matter how outrageous, no matter how destructive, is justified on the grounds of removing threats to Israel’s security. Considering the vast discrepancy between Israel’s military capabilities and the almost shantytown existence of Palestinians in Gaza, it is a sign of the resounding success of Israeli propaganda that this fable has gained general acceptance. A fenced in, long term refugee camp (whose inhabitants struggle to raise themselves from poverty amongst endless import restrictions, trade blockades, travel barriers) is no threat to one of the best-equipped military states in the world. The real threat is to the Palestinians, whose land continues to be stolen a few homes at a time and encroached upon one fence at a time by the Israelis. The world seems too busy, too occupied, or too diffident to pay attention to this continuous process of annexation which continues under various pretexts, or to the constant hardships imposed through restricting the flow of essential goods available to the Palestinians, or to the intolerable living conditions and psychological pressures that arise as a result of the ever-shrinking options open to them.

Propaganda and spin - these have been effectively pressed into service by Israel over the years. In this current crisis, Israel’s Information Agency is openly claiming that it’s strategies and it’s seeding of the media with biased material is a wonderfully effective strategy. After all, the aim of such an agency is to serve a particular ideology and to bend all information, all facts, to the service of that ideological aim.

By it’s nature an ideological approach is a reductionist approach since the wide sweeping complex panorama of reality is then reduced to fit set ideological directions. It provides a set of facile algorithms which grind up available facts and re-form the resultant paste by pouring it into a preset ideological mold.

A process like this works well for a nation like Israel whose Zionist ideology does not seem to allow for a truly fair and legitimate shared existence with the Palestinians, nor will it accept and act on criticism of that ideology, even that which arises from within the state. This is because this ideology is more connected to will and power than to knowledge and morality. In other words, ideology trumps knowledge and morality. It reshapes, rejects, accepts, and even manufactures “knowledge” (as propaganda) according to the goals (will) of the ideology and in seeking it’s own preservation and growth (power).

A combination of ideology and effective propaganda has the potential to make people apathetic, cold, indifferent, or even pleased at the plight of others - those others who hold conflicting viewpoints. No longer able to see each other’s humanity, they instead see ideological ciphers. This allows a state or group to undertake unsavory or repugnant actions - bombings, aggressive and unbalanced military action, killing of civilians etc. - in order to accomplish that which they desire to accomplish, to carry out their business with a minimal amount of moral outcry. Hamas is guilty of this with it’s pitiful and foolish rocket attacks on Israel, and Israel prods the Palestinians through a myriad of continuous and purposeful provocations designed to generate just such a response that will allow it to take heavy-handed retaliatory action without being restrained by the international community.

This type of scenario has played out over and over again since the creation of Israel as a Zionist state. Over the years, the existence of groups such as Hamas, Fatah, the PLO, have all been used to excuse the refusal to come to a fair accommodation with the Palestinian people (to allow a viable Palestinian state) and to justify wholesale slaughter, expropriation of land, and greater restrictions on the already hamstrung Palestinian population. Israel will always manufacture excuses since it acts, not on the demands of the situation, but on an ideological imperative that will brook no other course of action, no other goal but complete capitulation of the Palestinians to Israeli demands.

And now the Israeli’s have become far more proficient in their management of international perceptions, so that, with barely a whisper of protest from governments or the major media outlets, they go to their brutal task with speed and amoral ease.

Discussion on takfir

A website called Seeking Ilm recently published a post about an Ottoman fatwa that pronounced takfir on a group of “rafida“. Takfir is when one group of Muslims declare another group of Muslims to be kafirs and therefore outside the bounds of Islam. The article saw some possible benefit in such a fatwa being revived in our time. With all sincerity, considering the disastrous prevalence of takfir (and takfir based killings) in the modern era, I couldn’t resist commenting negatively upon that notion and this led to an extended discussion on the place of takfir in Islam. The article and the ensuing discussion can be read here at the Seeking Ilm website.

I also came across an article and discussion on takfir at Indigo Jo blogs - the discussion terminates unfinished at Indigo Jo but is covered in full here at Katib’s website along with another article by Katib questioning the limits and legitimacy of takfir.

See also: The Hermeneutics of Takfir at Islam from inside.

2008 10 30 Irshaad Islam
religion
Islam 101
madhhab
takfir Comments (0) Permalink

Spirituality in Art in Aboriginal societies (Zainab Hussain)

This essay was written by my (sixteen year old) daughter Zainab for an Aboriginal studies University class she took with Professor Georges Sioui, a very unique and knowledgeable First Nations teacher and a dignified and compassionate man. The directions in which he took the class (mixing spirituality and history) meshed beautifully with independent readings on Islamic history and traditional Islamic spirituality that my daughter and I undertook together. The understanding that emerged from her Islamic readings flowed naturally into a beginning grasp of traditional First Nations societies - those within which metaphysical/mythological consciousness flowed like a lifeblood that informed and affected all aspects of those societies. The spiritual roots that nourished traditional societies have undergone devastating damage in modern times and this essay, although it speaks specifically about art in the Amerindian context, applies generally to all traditional societies.

Spirituality in Art in Aboriginal societies (Zainab Hussain)

Aboriginal art arises from and is connected to the natural and supernatural world through its form and content. It is therefore an art permeated with the spiritual meanings which traditional Amerindian societies associated with the natural world and the importance which they placed upon it. This art, as it existed in traditional societies, was not an art designed only for museums or for the creation of decorative objects but it was art that was embedded into everyday functional objects that were in use by that society. Living in a world where everything was connected to both natural and spiritual domains, their art was imbued with meaning, and this created an atmosphere which encouraged a society to remain constantly connected to both natural and spiritual worlds.

It was assumed by the Europeans that the Indians, before they (the Europeans) arrived, did not have the leisure time necessary to make art, because they were too busy simply trying to survive. They assumed that the only time the Indians made art was for major events, such as births, deaths, events related to food supplies (such as the harvest or the hunt), and other things associated with survival. This was because the Europeans did not, and possibly could not, understand the Amerindian way of life and because they could not recognize an art that was dramatically different from European art.

The Amerindian way of life was one in which their well-being was linked with the earth, and in which they were intimately interconnected with everything in the natural world, and their art reflected this. While Europeans may have believed that they had no art or at best a primitive art, in fact the exact opposite was true. “…Evidence exists that the first peoples of this continent spent a great deal of time fancying up virtually every item of their cultural repertoire, primarily because they believed that every item, no matter how ordinary, was a gift from the Creator and somehow interconnected.”(1) Beautifying the object was a form of spiritual recognition, or worship, to show their appreciation for gifts received. Aboriginals never created art for the sake of art itself, unconnected to life, it always had a deeper meaning, usually spiritual. It was also simultaneously functional, whether it was a decorated pair of moccasins, a bowl, a weapon, or a tool - it had a practical function but it was also constructed in such a way as to remind the people of deeper connections.

Aboriginal art is different in a number of ways from non-traditional art forms. First, it is very old art - its roots possibly go back (according to recent estimates) between 25,000 to 40,000 years. It is a form of art that focused on primarily natural themes. The materials the Native artists used were strictly natural - they used components gathered from animals, minerals, and plants to create their artwork and the use of these materials in conjunction with the respectful and careful manner in which they were utilized emphasized the strong connection between what they created and the natural world. Finally indigenous art was almost always an expression of spiritual affinity, whether it was in weaponry, clothing, or housing, a spiritual obligation to the creator and all creation was inherent in the work itself and in the methods used to create the art.

Though there were many significant differences among the various Indigenous peoples, at base their beliefs had a degree of unanimity. Aboriginal people fundamentally believed in one all powerful being, the Creator or Great Spirit who created everything and who is engaged in a continual and perpetual act of creating and re-creating. The universe, the earth, and all of nature were perceived as gifts from the Creator, and therefore they had to show sincere appreciation and thanks for these gifts. They also believed that everything had a spirit and so deserved some level of respect. At this level they saw little difference between humans and animals, living and non-living, material and non-material, all were connected, essential to one another, and therefore to be respected. They believed that through their interconnectedness with creation they had a spiritual responsibility for the thoughts and actions that emerged from them. They had a profound regard for the earth as they saw it as a sustainer. Also they believed that, since each thing is complexly interconnected with the rest of creation, the world belongs to everyone and everything, including to the generations yet to come. Therefore they had a duty to keep the earth just as beautiful and useful for the generations yet to come as it was for them. For the Amerindians there was no separation between spirituality, culture, and everyday life. “The reality of the sacred circle of life, wherein all beings, material and immaterial, are equal and interdependent, permeates the entire Amerindian vision of life and the universe.”(2)

“The Indians did not set out to create art for its own sake. In traditional Indian thinking, there is no separation between art and life or between what is beautiful and what is functional. Art, beauty, and spirituality are so firmly entwined in the routine of living that no words are needed, or allowed, to separate them.”(3) Amerindian art was not merely something pretty to be put on display and admired as was often the case with European art, it had a real function and a spiritual meaning in it - it had its own spirit. One way in which the Amerindians showed their respect to the spirits of the things they made was to decorate the item to give it meaning through the decoration. They saw the art as a way to express their respect, appreciation, and understanding of the spiritual mystery of the universe, and everything it contains. Symbolic designs on everyday items, such as moccasins, were placed so that they could be seen best by the wearer (rather than by others) as a reminder, to themselves, of deeper truths. This was also true of items such as birch bark dishes, wooden bowls, drums, and other seemingly ordinary articles. And by wearing or using these items they were linking themselves to both the spiritual and natural worlds. “Aboriginal religious rites and Aboriginal art symbolize certain realties and at the same time bring those realties about….they have an active religious role of their own.”(4) They created and decorated commonplace objects as a spiritual exercise, These objects were linked to the natural world through their origin and through the manner in which they were made. They were linked to the spiritual world through the meaningful symbols which were embedded in them and through the religious concentration, the time and thought given to produce an object with practical and spiritual utility. This increased the appreciation for that object. These objects, through their decorative aspects, and through what they were made of, and through the way in which they were made, linked the user to both spiritual and natural worlds.

“Anyone who has studied traditional art becomes aware of the presence of an impressive amount of science which makes such an art possible. Some of the science is of a technical character which nevertheless remains both amazing and mysterious.”(5) The way in which natural materials were both utilized and worked shows a deep knowledge of natural processes and an ability to use these processes in a non-disruptive manner. An example of this knowledge is their obsidian blades, which can have a sharper edge than that attainable with metal. “Obsidian is a type of naturally occurring glass… obsidian blade edges can reach almost molecular thinness….”(6) Obsidian was used for weapons, tools, and also in their art work. They had to have a depth of knowledge in this and other matters related to their traditional civilization and in what it created “…in as much as man must know the manner of operation of nature before being able to imitate it.”(7) A way of passing on that knowledge was to teach that form of art to the younger generation, an art which involved understanding many natural sciences and which incorporated a complete spiritual outlook - a spiritual science.

Through this art that was connected to the natural world because it was made of natural materials and had natural themes, and that was connected to the spiritual world through its subject matter and through the way it was created and used, a unique environment was created. When people are surrounded by the messages carried by a natural and spiritual art that is present in every aspect of life, it creates an atmosphere that allows and encourages a society to remain in continual contact with the natural and spiritual worlds. The ultimate aim of all this art was to make the human being into a piece of art (8) - one that fits into the beauty of the natural and spiritual world. “…all human beings are sacred because they are an expression of the will of the Great Mystery.”(9) Traditional aboriginal society guided them in this direction. Even if there were some who did not have much of an interest in this path, the society and the atmosphere within it kept them within a certain range of connectedness to nature. This opposed to our modern day society in which it is a struggle to have any kind of contact with nature at all, and in which spirituality and religion plays only a disconnected and small part in our lives, and art is mainly for museums. In traditional aboriginal societies art encompassed all areas of life and embodied a sacred knowledge which powerfully and intimately connected the Amerindian to nature and to the Creator, to natural and spiritual worlds.

Notes

John W. Friesen and Virginia L. Friesen, Canadian Aboriginal Art and Spirituality: A Vital Link, (Calgary, Alberta: Detselig Enterprises Ltd., 2006) 15.

Georges E. Sioui, For an Amerindian Autohistory, (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1995) 9.

Anna Lee Walters, The Spirit of Native American Beauty and Mysticism in American Indian Art, (San Francisco, California: Chronicle Books, 1989) 17.

Max Charlesworth, “The Religious Sources of Australian Aboriginal Art,” Aboriginal Art and Spirituality, ed. Rosemary Crumlin (North Blackburn, Victoria: Collins Dove, 1991) 111.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Knowledge and the Sacred, (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1989) 265.

“Obsidian,” Wikipedia, 21 Nov 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsidian> (23 Nov 2007).

Nasr, 264.

Nasr, 274.

Sioui, 9.

Bibliography
Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. Christian and Oriental Philosophy of Art. New York, NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 1956.

Crumlin, Rosemary, ed. Aboriginal Art and Spirituality. North Blackburn, Victoria: Collins Dove,1991.

Dickason, Olive Patricia, Canada’s First Nations: A History of Founding Peoples from Earliest Times. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Feder, Norman. Two Hundred Years of North American Indian Art. New York: Praeger, 1971.

Friesen, John W., and Virginia L. Friesen. Canadian Aboriginal Art and Spirituality: A Vital Link. Calgary, Alberta: Detselig Enterprises Ltd., 2006.

Harvey, Graham, ed. Indigenous Religions. New York, NY: Cassel, 2000

Jenkins, Philip. Dream Catchers. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Lipsey, Roger. Coomaraswmy Vol. 1 Selected Papers Traditional Art and Symbolism. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1977.

Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. Islamic Art and Spirituality. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1987.

—. Knowledge and the Sacred. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1989.

Patterson, Nacy-Lou. Canadian Native Art. Don Mills, Ontario: Collier-Macmillan Canada, Ltd., 1973.

Rajnovich, Grace. Reading Rock Art. Toronto, Ontario: Natural Heritage/Natural History Inc., 1994.

Sioui, Georges W. For an Amerindian Autohistory, Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press,1995.

Walters, Anna Lee. The Spirit of Native American Beauty and Mysticism in American Indian Art. San Francosco, CA: Chronicle Books, 1980.

Wikipedia, 21 Nov 2007, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsidian> (23 Nov 2007).

2008 06 13 Irshaad religion
Art
modernity
first nations Comments (2) Permalink

The profanity of a profane world (Shuja Ali Mirza)

This was left as a comment (by Shuja Mirza) on the article “Danish cartoons and the sacred” at Islam from inside. However, being such a comprehensive (traditionalist) comment and conveying so expressively the fall away from metaphysical connectedness that the article only touches upon, I felt it deserved to be highlighted in a separate forum. I have reproduced it in full below.

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The Profanity of a Profane World

The modern era in which we find ourselves is unlike any other era in the history of the world. From the very beginning of human history, the greatest and most intelligent men of every epoch have given credence to the existence of worlds and beings beyond this physical realm, and have posited an Absolute Being who is at once the Origin and Destination of all things. It is only now—in the last few centuries—that man has found not only “reason” to doubt the things that his forefathers saw to be certain and sacred, but has also discovered the “courage” to break from tradition and, by standing on his own two feet, has had the audacity to deny the very existence of anything sacred. The roots of this newfound “enlightenment” of man can be traced to his predilection to rebel against his Creator—individually speaking, and to the effects of the Fall of man—on the level of society and civilization. A thorough examination of these roots reveals the fact that modern “reason” is nothing other than the obfuscation of metaphysical insight and vision or, at best, the vestiges of the sacred Intellect deposited in man; and the much touted “courage” is really foolhardiness and merely the masked rebelliousness of Promethean man.

To understand the rebellious nature of fallen man, it is important to first understand his “created” nature and the fact that he is not the cause of his own existence. Man exists, but then so do dogs. What separates man from other creatures is his ability to reflect and intellect his “own” existence. Upon doing so he discovers that in himself and by himself he is nothing and that his existence is nothing but the consequence of his connection with the Source of all existence. Just as a ray of light radiating from the sun has no independent existence, so too man is an effusion of Divine Being. But when man does not use his intellect and does not see in this essential way, he begins to imagine that his existence is real and that he is a “something” in its own right. Such a skewed view of reality results in a corresponding deviation of human will. Fallen man in this new and modern fashion of “seeing” now starts to appropriate powers and rights for himself that he previously saw as a trust from Heaven which he had to safeguard and be true to. As he is now the measure of all things, he is also the sole criterion of human activity and henceforth only he decides what is to be done and what is not to be done - a bona fide rebel without a cause.

It is when man is rebellious and a renegade from heaven that he does not see the need for mediums and conduits of grace that connect him with the Source of all being and all grace. He balks at authority—spiritual or mundane—and hopes to go it on his own. Unwilling to see anything beyond his own self, he fails to transcend his limited and relative reality and becomes a prisoner of his body and a slave of his carnal desires. Sensing this and the futility of his situation he becomes desperate and in an occasional act of vulgarity, lashes out at the very sources of grace and sanctity that could save him from himself and his dire situation. Hence it is not a coincidence that profanity and blasphemy aimed at holy personalities are commonly observed in our modern era. But arguably that which is worse than the verbal or pictorial blasphemies is the general attitude of indifference and nonchalance that modern men have adopted towards religion and the sacred. It is one thing to vent “hatred” towards sacred realities, it is quite another to totally ignore them. In this vein, the very act of living a modern, liberal, secular life that is “untouched” by religion is the greatest of blasphemies.

Turning now to the social plane, it is the general conditions of the Fall which bear heavily upon modern man’s inability to have faith in God and the men of God. To explain, in opposition to the cult of progress that modern man subscribes to, traditional religious doctrines have always seen man’s entry into this world to be a fall from a higher realm to lower and lower ones. They speak of a degression, not progression. On the noetic plane, they hold that the former generations of men had more of a direct access to Revelation and the vision of the prophet through whom the religion was established, the latter — due to their distance and the entropic conditions of the Fall — have more difficulty in “seeing” the truth. They need to be helped from the outside, so to speak. They require aids to achieve the vision and intellection of the former generations. These aids and “artificial” constructs are providentially provided, and are a part and parcel of the religious tradition as a whole. So while they are in reality instruments which compensate for the overall decline, they are seen ostensibly as “developments.” After the initial vision there is for instance the development in the religious universe and orthodoxy of a doctrine, theology, ideology, sociology, and political system.

For a time the constructs, ones that pertain to a discursive and rational understanding of religious truths, were satisfactory and sufficient, as reason was still based on higher levels of the intellect and the sense of the sacred and holy was still alive and strong in traditional societies. Further on this was not the case and reason was increasingly divorced from its higher principle—namely the sacred intellect or al-‘aql al-qudsī — and a purely human rationality came to take its place; a rationality that insisted that all aspects of being fall within the pale of its discursive and deductive methods. This led to the absolutization of the said constructs—things which are in principle relative, leading to their solidification, irrelevance, and eventual impotence. This in turn, opened the Pandora’s box of religious criticism and, after which, there was nothing sacred left. All things were to be dissected by man’s rational faculty and pronounced as dead after the event. Indeed, God himself was pronounced as dead at the scene of the crime that modernity represents.

Man without a sense of the Absolute is a man that is bewildered and distraught amongst countless relativities. In a world where there is no Sacred, everything is profane. In a profane world, profanity is indistinguishable from true and noble speech worthy of man and his divine origins. Without such distinctions, man is free to bark everything and anything that comes out of his mouth. Not realizing that the very freedom of will that he uses to express his profanity is only made possible by the existence of the sacred and supreme will of his Creator. Hence the profound statement of Meister Eckhart, “the more he blasphemes, the more he praises God” rings true in our day more than in any other. But the final word must be from the Master of Eckhart, Jesus, upon whom be peace, who said:

“Woe to the world because of scandals. For it must needs be that scandals come: but nevertheless woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh.” (Matthew 18:7)

- Shuja Ali Mirza

2007 06 15 Irshaad Uncategorized
Islam
Qur'an
religion
Prophets
Muhammad
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Christianity
Bible
philosophy
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Hiking break

2007 06 14 Irshaad Islam
Travel
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Stages of the “fall”

“Contemporary philosophical anthropology does not have the capacity to speak of a “fall” because it does not accept any reality beyond man himself – so there can be no talk of a fall from, or ascent to, that reality. In the mythological view of things and due to the levels of existence that it considers, there is mention of war with the gods and an escape or exile from their presence. For contemporary philosophical anthropology though, even this latter is not a possibility.

Scientific anthropology also cannot speak of a “fall”. This is because it reduces all reality to the natural and material level. The idea of the Fall can only be spoken of where there is attention paid to existence in its totality and to multiple states of being. Such a point of view has its roots in religion….

Post-modern ideas are rooted in contemporary philosophical anthropology and accept the idea of cultural relativity. As a result they not only do not see the issue of the fall or ascent of man as substantive, but also deny the story of man’s historical evolution. They see it rather as a cultural phenomena which is produced by humanity and hence can be destroyed by it.

Now in classical philosophy, where there is talk of the totality of existence and the laws of metaphysics, a certain type of “fall” is envisioned. For instance, Plato saw man’s appearance in this world to be the result of his falling from the intelligible world of the forms….

The first stage of the fall is the descent from the heaven of divine unity. In this stage, whatever is seen in the natural or imaginal worlds is no longer a sign or indicator of the One God. It is rather the sign of the intermediaries and agents which are mistakenly seen to be discrete and independent existents. The world of myth begins precisely at this stage. During the course of the levels and stages that follow, man’s connection with heavenly and imaginal realities becomes weaker and weaker yet. Until finally, there remains no trace of even the broken and skewed visions of those realities that he previously had. Those unsound visions and apparitions become totally hidden and the perspective of polytheistic man now becomes one that is purely worldly and material. He sees nothing but matter and feels only the physical….

The place where the physical sun goes down turns out also to be the place where the light of truth wanes and sets. This is so because the lowest stage of the fall of man took place in the geographical west and the lowest interpretation of man and the world appeared for the first time in this part of the world in the form of a new culture and civilisation.”

(from Existence and the Fall)

2007 06 11 Irshaad Uncategorized
Islam
religion
philosophy
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Existence and the Fall by Hamid Parsania

A number of readers, both of this blog and of “Islam from inside” have requested information on the availability of “Existence and the Fall” by Hamid Parsania - snippets from the book appear scattered through many of the “Islam from inside” articles. The full book title is: Existence and the Fall: Spiritual anthropology of Islam”. It may be purchased here. Here is an excerpt from the preface, by the book’s translator Shuja Mirza:

“If modern man no longer asks himself, other than in a scientific way, about his origin, his present situation, and his future destination – as a countless number of his predecessors did – he stands in danger of misunderstanding the human situation and even, in a manner, forfeits an essential part of his humanity. To be truly human requires him to think, apply his intellect, and understand his own self in an essential, substantive manner. Understanding himself fully means apprehending his origin, life and destination – or to say the same thing – to come to know the true reality of his existence. A lack of understanding then, results in a loosening of his grip over reality and, in its extreme form, this ignorance ushers him into a world which is relative…and ultimately meaningless. He finds himself disoriented, alienated…and in an ambivalence with regards to reality. This ambivalence begins with obliviousness of essential aspects of the self and ends in profound delusion and nihilism. Hence in our time, more than in any previous age, the Socratic imperative “Know thyself”, itself the echo of the perennial message of all religions, becomes indispensable as an antidote and as the beginning of a cure.

This present work takes as its point of departure the substantive origin of man and traces, in a “historical” fashion, his movement away from that origin. It concludes with the arrival of man on the material plane of existence and his accelerating descent into the modern world.

The original Persian title of this book, “Hastī wa Hubūt”, might also have been rendered as “Being and Descent”. I chose “Existence and the Fall” for two reasons. The concept of the Fall is a universal concept found in all true religions and orthodoxies. As a universal idea eternally existing, it is a single concept, but one that is expressed in different ways depending on the context and people for whom it is meant. Hence, though in certain traditions the emphasis might be on specific facets of the idea, this does not, at least in principle, exclude the other aspects. – In the Christian tradition – the one which is usually more familiar to English readers – the emphasis falls more on the moral dimension of the Fall than on the metaphysical or ontological dimension. This means that the word “Fall” or “fall of man” is usually accompanied by such expressions as “fall from grace”, “loss of innocence” and “original sin”. In the Islamic tradition, on the other hand, …the fall is seen either as… a departure from heaven or as a descent from the divine realm to this mundane one. Where the moral dimension is mentioned, …it is always with reference to and as a consequence of the greater ontological or wujūdī picture of reality. It was my feeling that the English reader would find it easier to understand the word “Fall”, while keeping in mind its different nuance and usage in Islamic literature

The word “existence” comes from the Latin existere or exsistere, which is itself composed of the prefix ex meaning “out of” and the verb sistere or stare meaning “to cause to stand, to stand”. Hence exsistere literally means to “to stand out, emerge”….

As man “stands out”, seeking independence, he actually falls…away from his origin and principle – distancing himself and becoming more relative and limited. Hence existence includes and prefigures the idea of the fall. Man’s return is to…go towards his origin, root, and aspect of being qua being. This inward or esoteric tendency is to know, in a direct fashion, the reality of man and the world; to envision with the “eye of the heart” the created nature of things; to see that any thing is nothing in itself and that it is something only by virtue of its bond and connection with its origin; and finally, to see in created things the infinite faces, names and attributes of the Creator.”

2007 06 10 Irshaad Uncategorized
Islam
Qur'an
religion
philosophy
modernity
Islam 101 Comments (1) Permalink

the believers see him

“Abu Basir has related that he said to Abu Abdallah (Imam Jafar-al-Sadiq) - upon whom be peace: “Tell me about God, the Mighty and Majestic Will believers see Him on the Day of Resurrection?”

The Imam answered, “Yes, and they have already seen Him before the Day of Resurrection.”

Abu Basir asked, “When?”

The Imam answered, “When He (Allah) said to them, ‘Am I not your Lord?’ They said: ‘Yea, verily’ (Qur’an 7:172).” Then he was quiet for a time. Then he said, “Truly the believers see Him in this world before the Day of Resurrection…. But seeing with the heart (al-ru’yah b-il-qalb) is not like seeing with the eyes (al- ru’yah bi-l-ayn). High be God exalted above what the comparers (mushabbihun) and heretics (mulhidun) describe!”

(Imam Jafar al-Sadiq (a.s.) on perceiving with the heart - from “A Shi’ite Anthology”)

2007 06 09 Irshaad Uncategorized
Islam
Qur'an
religion
irfan Comments (1) Permalink

Islam 101 - seven earths, seven heavens

“God is He who created seven heavens and of the earth a similar number. Through them all descends His Command: that you may know that God has power over all things, and that God comprehends all things in His knowledge.” (65:12)

Every higher level surrounds, envelops and comprehends the levels lower than it. Every lower level falls under the dominion of the level above it. Every higher level – with respect to that which it encompasses and dominates – can be referred to as a “heaven” or “sky”. Correspondingly, every lower realm can be called an “earth”.

In the same way that light and water descend from the sky to the earth of this physical world, Divine Grace and Mercy is showered down from the spiritual skies and heavens to the realms below. So, the affairs of the earth are made and managed in heaven. “He regulates the affair from the heaven to the earth…”

From these verses, it is possible to divide the three stages spoken of in the previous lessons into further sub-stages, and in so doing, arrive at a number of heavens and earths that fall into a precise vertical hierarchy. In this hierarchy, every heaven surrounds and comprehends the earth below it, while the divine heaven transcends them all. The Qur’an says, “and from beyond them, God is encompassing.” (85:20)

The Prophet in his Nocturnal Ascension (mi’raj), passed through the seven heavens and the Qur’an also speaks of seven heavens and seven earths: “God is He Who created seven heavens, and of the earth the like of them; the decree continues to descend among them, that you may know that God has power over all things and that God indeed encompasses all things in knowledge.” (65:12)

In a tradition from Imam Rida, upon him be peace, he described sevenfold heavens and earths – one encompassing the other.

The highest level is exclusively heaven, and is not an earth of any level whatsoever. Likewise, the lowest level is exclusively earth, and is not a heaven relative to any other level. Now, of the remaining six levels, each is a “heaven” with respect to the levels below it and is an “earth” in respect of those above it. In this way, seven heavens and seven earths can distinctly be spoken of. These seven heavens are spiritual heavens, not material or worldly skies.

The natural world and all that it contains is “under” and encompassed by them. Now of course in this physical world itself, there exists a heaven (or sky) and an earth pertaining to it. This heaven is the very same sky that is seen by the naked eye, and the same one that is decorated by the stars. The Qur’an says of this sky, “Surely We have adorned the nearest heaven with an adornment of the stars.” (37:6)

The spiritual heavens are, on the other hand, otherworldly, and encompass this material world. It is for this reason that the means of arriving at these heavens and returning from them is not a worldly or materialistic means or method. No rocketship can take you to these heavens….”

(from “Existence and the Fall” by Hamid Parsania)

2007 06 07 Irshaad Uncategorized
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words and actions

“Surely the people are two sorts with regard to wisdom. One makes it firm by his word, and spoils it by his bad work, and one makes it firm by his word and confirms it by his work. What a difference between them! Blessed are those who are scholars in their actions, and woe to those who are scholars [merely] in their words.” (Tuhaf al-’Uqul)

2007 06 06 Irshaad Uncategorized
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the faults of others

“Do not look at the faults of others as if you have been appointed to spy over them, but attend to the emancipation of your own selves, for you are slaves, possessed. How much water flows in a mountain without its becoming soft, and how much wisdom you are taught without your hearts becoming soft.” (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 324)

2007 06 04 Irshaad Uncategorized
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the ego has bared its teeth

“The dog of the ego has bared its teeth and nipped the spirit’s foot. Since your ego predominates you are a beast. Your properties are determined by that which predominates, oh self-worshipper! This ego…it drinks down the seven seas. It makes a morsel out of a world and gulps it down. Its belly keeps shouting, ‘Is there any more?’ This ego will swallow down the seeds of your worldly designs, and once you have planted them, they will surely grow.” (Rumi)

2007 06 03 Irshaad Uncategorized
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through intellect

“O Ali, Since mankind seeks to come near to their Creator through all kinds of piety, bring yourself close to Him through activities of the intellect, so that you may arrive there before all of them.” (hadith of the Prophet)

2007 06 02 Irshaad Uncategorized
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embark on the road

Many follow religion as a formula, a series of ceremonies that have been handed down to them and which are followed without full depth of understanding. There is comfort (and a benefit) in performing rituals but the goal of a ritual is not the ritual itself. Ceremonies and rituals are symbols, they are indicators, or shadows of greater realities - there is profound intellectual content behind them, underlying them - they are an invitation to embark on the road to discovery of greater realities - to experience of and verification of these realities - to personal knowledge of them.

2007 05 31 Irshaad Uncategorized
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dispense mercy

“The dispensing of mercy brings down divine mercy….I am astounded by the person who hopes for mercy from One above him, while he is not merciful to those beneath him.” (hadith qudsi)

2007 05 30 Irshaad Uncategorized
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facing outwards

We cannot be fully human if we touch upon our humanity when looking inward (to our own peoples) but place it aside when we turn to face outwards.

2007 05 29 Irshaad Uncategorized
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Who answers the distressed

The Qur’an places the responsibility and moral burden of sadaqa (and of compassion towards those who suffer) upon individual Muslims - it makes each of us responsible for acting to relieve the suffering of those in difficulty. This is perhaps because it does not want to transfer such duties entirely to institutions, to lock it up within governmental agencies or within the systems of any given time as these are susceptible to political, social, economic, or ideological stratification. They are susceptible to falling into hierarchical layers based not on moral superiority or deep knowledge but based on accumulation of wealth and on the control of the organs of political influence - based on lobbying, currying favor, or altering rules and laws in order to benefit the already wealthy, to favor those who are already influential and thus to grow the power of institutions that further economic imbalance. In such conditions the destitute are cut adrift - they may dwell in a land where they are surrounded by wealth in all its material and economic forms but the keys to this wealth are locked up within the convolutions of the system itself - so that in the midst of wealth people perish from poverty. Bringing relief (for the sake of God) to those in distress becomes an elevated responsibility connected with the deepest wellsprings of faith - those who act in such a fashion are like the hand of God, a living response to the Qur’anic verse:

“Who answers the distressed one when he calls upon Him and removes the distress - He will make you elevated in the earth….” (Qur’an 27:62)

2007 05 28 Irshaad Uncategorized
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Look deeply

“Use the intellect that examines, that penetrates into matters…and not just the intellect that repeats what it hears, for surely there are many that repeat the knowledge that they hear, and there are precious few who examine it deeply.” (Imam Ali - Nahjul Balagha)

2007 05 27 Irshaad Uncategorized
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their labor is lost….

Their energy and effort, their time and the bulk of their thought, inventiveness, and mental energy goes towards their worldly pursuits. That is the portion of their life they act upon with utmost seriousness (as it is the (apparent) source of their wealth and influence) - they allow its fluctuations, its ups and downs to weigh them down or lift their spirits and overtake their minds and hearts - and in their free time they pursue distraction with the variety and variability of the entertainment available to them. Their energy and their best behavior is invested in the domain of work, in service and submission to their business or their employers - their irritability, their lack of patience, their frustration, their hastiness, manifests in their interaction with those who should be dearest to them - their family - and hardly any trace of the graciousness and compassion of religion appears in their character.

“Shall We inform you of those who are manifest losers in their deeds…their labor is lost (trapped) in this world’s life though they imagine that they are well versed in the skill of the work their hands produce….” (Qur’an 18:103-104)

2007 05 26 Irshaad Uncategorized
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The template of their fiction

When there is no connecting thread that ties information together the way is opened for someone to overlay a story (a way of viewing the information) onto events and in this way to color and shape perceptions. Rather than looking for patterns which naturally emerge from events and which best explains all the information, a desired interpretation is instead imposed upon the data. This is a function of propaganda - a storyline is strongly, emotionally, and persistently repeated - its outcome and objectives are linked to a national/societal ego, to strategic hegemonic goals, to pride, and to fear of imminent dangers and threats. The information that doesn’t fit the story is re-interpreted or deemed irrelevant or insignificant while that which bolsters and supports the ideological viewpoint is emphasized and harped upon as evidence of the truth of the story and the viewpoint. First comes the policy, then the story to legitimize the policy - this becomes the frame through which all information is viewed, the template which blocks out undesired interpretations - if it doesn’t fit the frame it’s not relevant. So we are asked to dwell within the limits of this story, to only look outward through that particular frame.

In this is a tragedy that overtakes all involved. Some swallow and then carry out the plot of the story in the hope and belief that the fiction they are enacting is a true one. They believe the imagined story, they act on that story, and they hope to bring it to the imagined ending. They have overlaid the template of their fiction on the world and through every means at their disposal they seek to press that template upon the world rending, tearing apart, editing out, or re-interpreting whatever does not fit the convolutions of the plot they spin.

2007 05 23 Irshaad Uncategorized
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One glance

“A single attraction from God outbalances all the efforts of men and jinn” (Prophetic hadith)

One glance….

2007 05 22 Irshaad Uncategorized
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in the darknesses of the land and sea

All truths in this world are partial truths since as limited beings we are (through our limitations) restricted to seeing things from one perspective or the other. We have trouble reconciling opposites and differences since our perspective is limited by the ever-present reality of our many limitations. Total illumination in which there is no error is only with God. Creation only experiences a limited light – it is said to be a night in which the creatures move about in the darkness of the constraints generated by our own hemmed-in, bounded knowledge. Just as in darkness a person seeks to find his way by the light and position of the stars (“in the darknesses of the land and sea” Qur’an 6:97), so also we seek to find our way by the lights of the Prophets (who are conduits for an illumination connected to the light of God’s throne) and by the light of revelation which contains the potential to illuminate our own soul and thereby provide glimpses of a shielded and trustworthy path to a higher world. Otherwise, if we rely solely upon what we create and what we invent, we will be in error since our inventions (whatever high opinion we hold concerning them) are suffused with the same limitations which permeate us – they are the product of limited creatures drawing upon their own limited understanding.

2007 05 20 Irshaad Uncategorized
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Divine attractors…Divine authorities

“Say…Who encompasses the hearing and the sight?…” (Qur’an 10:31)

Man rises to knowledge only through the faculties given to him by God, that is, the various senses, the ability to think and reason, and the potential for subtle and deep insight. Even the ability for these senses, such as the sense of sight, to function, is dependent on the system and laws through which the physical world operates. Sight is dependent on the existence of light, and vision is in fact limited to a narrow range of the full spectrum of light. All our information derived in this world is severely limited and incomplete, just as our senses and even the instrumentation by which we extend them provide us only a limited and incomplete view of the material world we live in. And our reason can carry us only so far in overcoming these limitations.

In this verse God is pointing out who has the limitations (us) and Who is free from limitations and regulates and encompasses all affairs and all systems (God). Within the systems He causes certain attractors, certain nodes of confluence, to arise - these provide a connection with levels of reality that rise above sensory knowledge and which, being above the senses, lead to deeper, sturdier, and more reliable knowledge. They act as a conduit for higher, more encompassing points of view, for more intense levels of reality. As such they carry weight and authority - they are divine attractors, guides manifesting in the form of revelation and the messengers. And through these two authorities further ways to knowledge will be opened up for the people.

2007 05 18 Irshaad Islam
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The means by which we see

We can witness the light of the sun only by means of the light of the sun…. so God says, “When My servant draws near to me, I become the means by which he sees….” (Sayyid Haydar Amuli)

2007 05 17 Irshaad Uncategorized
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For every one of you, a path

“…there has never been any dispute amongst the prophets and messengers with regard to the foundations and pillars of religion, then one should realize too that if differences do occur in the details and branches of the law, then these differences are of quality or quantity and do not indicate any difference in the essence or reality. Thus the reality of the shari’ah has been the same in all ages and locations; indeed it is untouched by contention and difference. What variations in law and rule there are arise because of the diversity of situation and time or because of the difference of degree in people’s spiritual rank and understanding. Thus Allah has said: `We make no difference between any of His apostles.’ On further investigation we realize too that this divergence results from the complexity of the creational order and harmony and as such could not be imagined otherwise….

If existence were not organized and arranged to this degree of sophistication, then it would not be possible for any of His servants (that is all of creation) to attain their own individual reality in accordance with their own individual capacity: it is clear that it would be impossible to channel all the varying capacities into one single path and at one simple level. Allah Himself says: `For every one of you did We appoint a path and a way.’ Thus these differences are in accordance with the nature of existence and a state of affairs other than this would not be possible.”

(Sayyid Haydar Amuli - “Inner secrets of the Path”)

2007 05 16 Irshaad Uncategorized
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Do not abandon what is easy….

“Even if one does not attain everything, one does not abandon everything….Do not abandon what is easy because you have not been able to achieve what is difficult.” (Ali ibn Abu Talib)

2007 05 15 Irshaad Uncategorized
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He named man ‘insan’

“He named man ‘insan’ (from the Arabic word…whose root implies intimacy and friendship) because of the possibility of intimacy between him and the rest of creation. He also placed within him…an inner reality and an outward form which… enables him to act in both the earthly and spiritual worlds. His inner reality is the Greater Spirit… the Universal Soul is his treasurer and bondsman; Universal nature is his agent and the head of the natural forces.”
(Sayyid Hayder Amuli, “Inner Secrets of the Path”)

2007 05 13 Irshaad Uncategorized
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illuminate the clay

“He connected the body to dark clay and the spirit to the breath of His own Spirit, so that the light and divine Breath would make the dark clay its instrument for… guarding God’s Trust; so that it might be a means of …elevation, and high degrees. The purpose was not that the dark clay, through its greed for the light of ‘I breathed My spirit into him’, should make the lamp its instrument for treachery and theft. When a thief comes with a lamp, he takes the better goods. On the contrary, that lamp and candle… should illuminate the clay of the body… and hold it back from its greed….” (Rumi, Maktubat)

2007 05 12 Irshaad Uncategorized
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jump free of your own embrace

“As long as you cannot jump free of your own embrace
Your worship is bound to a temple of devilish idols…
Do not trade on (a show of) piety - the coin is debased.
How long will you stand dry - lipped on the shore of desire?
Hurl yourself - now! - into the infinite sea….
And behold the secret of the Unseen in the world of the Witness.”
(Fakhruddin Araqi)

2007 05 11 Irshaad Uncategorized
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Islam 101 - science and faith

Again, a condensed excerpt from Murtaza Mutahhari’s “Fundamentals of Islamic Thought: God, Man, and the universe”. This is taken from the section on science and faith:

“Does our science carry us in one direction and faith in another? Or do science and faith fulfill and complement one another?…. Science shows what is; faith inspires insight into what must be done. Science is the outer revolution; faith is the inner revolution…. Science expands man’s being horizontally; faith conveys him upward. Both science and faith empower man, but science gives a power of discrimination, and faith gives a power of integration…. Both science and faith are beauty, but science is the beauty of reason, and faith is the beauty of the spirit…. Science brings the world into harmony with man, and faith brings man into greater harmony with himself.

Although (science) is a tool in our hands, it cannot transform our essence and identity. Likewise, faith cannot replace science, to enable us to understand nature, discover its laws…. Faith must be known in the light of science; faith must be kept far from superstition…. When science is removed from faith, faith is deformed into petrification,…it turns on its own axis and goes nowhere…. Conversely, science without faith is a sword in the hands of a maniac, or else a lamp at midnight in the hands of a thief, so he can pick out the choicest goods….the power of science is instrumental - that is, dependent upon man’s will and command….But when man puts the instrument to work, he already has an object in view; instruments are employed in pursuit of objects….

(Man’s) human potential must be gradually nurtured in the light of faith, by nature he moves toward his natural, animal, individual, material, self-interested objects and employs his instruments accordingly. Therefore man needs a power not among his own instruments and objects….He needs a power that can detonate him from within and activate his hidden potentialities. He needs a power that can produce a revolution in his heart and give him a new direction. This is not accomplished by science….It is born of the sanctification…of one’s spirit….Science is absolutely necessary but it is never sufficient.”

2007 05 10 Irshaad Islam
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it becomes his qiblah…

“Man is compounded of form and meaning, of satanic and divine; every instant the houris of paradise and the devils of hell show their faces from his inward reality, so that it may be seen which vein and which attribute dominate over him. His desire takes him to that form with which he has a greater affinity; it becomes his qiblah (direction) and beloved. Necessarily in the end he will become identical to it and be resurrected with it.” (Sultan Walad)

2007 05 09 Irshaad Uncategorized
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Islam 101 - argument by definition

Here is Mutahhari’s condensed presentation of the “argument from attributes” - the definition of Divinity and its properties leads to recognition of the necessity for God’s unity and uniqueness and the impossibility of multiple divinities. I’ve edited it down to a few lines - the full text can be found in “Fundamentals of Islamic Thought“.

From the section “The world view of Tauhid”:

“It is fundamentally impossible that God should have a likeness and in consequence that, instead of one God, we should have two or more gods, because to be multiple, twofold or more, is among the special properties of limited, relative beings. For an unlimited, absolute being, manifoldness and multiplicity have no meaning….

Because (God) is single, the universe is necessarily single in respect to its principle and source and in respect to its point of return and end… In consequence, just as God has no partner in essence, neither has He any partner in agency. Every agent and cause gains its reality, its being, its influence and agency from Him, every agent subsists by Him. All powers and all strength are by Him: ‘Whatever God intends, there is no strength except by Him - no power and no strength except by God.’ “

2007 05 08 Irshaad Uncategorized
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Islam 101 - necessary being

I was recently re-reading my heavily underlined and dog-eared copy of Murtaza Mutahhari’s excellent “Fundamentals of Islamic Thought: God, Man, and the Universe” (a book which should be more widely used as a fundamental primer text on Islam) and thought I ‘d post a few bits and pieces taken from its contents. This particular section is Mutahhari’s compressed presentation of the philosophical argument for a “necessary being”. I’ve edited this excerpt down to its main points for brevity. I would highly recommending obtaining a copy of the book and reading it in full.

From the section “The world-view of tauhid”

“The realities that man perceives through his senses, the sum total of which we call the world, are phenomena from which the following five properties are inseparable:

1. Limitation: The beings we sense and cognize, from the smallest particle to the most immense star, are limited. They are allocated to a particular area of space and interval of time….

2. Change: The beings of the universe are all undergoing change and transformation, are unstable. No being in the world of sense remains in a single state. All are either growing and evolving or eroding and declining….

3. Dependency: Every being’s existence is dependant and conditional upon the existence of one or more other beings…. We find no sensible being that can exist unconditionally and absolutely (free of ties to other beings, such that the presence or absence of other beings is of no consequence to it)….Each being exists by virtue of the existence of another, which in turn exists by virtue of another, and so on.

4. Need: Among all sensible beings, we cannot find one that is of itself, that does not need things other than itself…. Thus poverty, necessity, and need envelop all these beings.

5. Relativity: …We characterize (things) as great, powerful, beautiful, old…. If we say the sun is large, we mean it is large by comparison with us, our earth, and the other bodies in our solar system; but the sun is small in relation to some stars….

The power of man’s reason and thought, which, by contrast to the senses, do not remain content with appearances but cause their rays to penetrate behind the curtain of existence, proclaims that being cannot be confined to these limited, mutable, relative, conditional, and necessitous phenomena….

There must necessarily exist some unlimited, enduring, absolute, unconditioned, self-sufficient reality present at all times and places as a support to all beings. Otherwise the edifice of existence could not subsist…. The Qur’an refers to God by such attributes as “the Everlasting,”"the Free of Need” and “the Eternal.” Thus, it reminds us that the edifice of existence needs that Reality by which it subsists. That Reality is the support and preserver of all limited, relative, and conditional things. He is without need because all other things have needs….”

(Mutahhari in “Fundamentals of Islamic Thought”, Mizan Press)

2007 05 07 Irshaad Uncategorized
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The human representation of the writing of the Divine pen

Symbols, texts, iconic personages, and rituals are the architecture, the geometry, the symbolic worldly aspect, the formalized representation of metaphysical realities and of the human connection to these realities. For Muslims, the Prophet is the human representation of the writing of the Divine pen. He is the one on whose heart God wrote His revelation and whose inner being is joined to God’s Throne. His inner reality (his form) is representative of an exalted metaphysical architecture.

2007 05 06 Irshaad Uncategorized
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Like palm fronds in a shifting breeze

Those whose actions arise from truly profound readings of the Qur’an are in every age in the minority. Those who play at politics or play with ideological interpretations of religion are in vast abundance. In between are many who stand confused - without firm knowledge we are sometimes swayed this way, sometimes that - waving like palm fronds in a shifting breeze.

“Here (and he pointed to his chest) is abundant knowledge. If only I could come upon people to bear it. Indeed I have come upon those who are not faithful to it - who took it hastily and did not imbibe and protect it (they sought it superficially, for their own ends). Such people seek to use the tools of religion for (advancement) in this world. They use the devices of belief as a means of attaining domination (and power) over God’s friends (through the authority of religion).” (Imam Ali - Nahjul Balagha)

2007 05 03 Irshaad Uncategorized
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Tongues of God, the Prophets

They were the tongues of God…speaking, through their actions, His words.

Here is the path of approach, here the markers, the signposts, here the guide - so strive - we came to lead you to the goal, not to ourselves - wipe the sweat of effort from your eyes and follow the ascending way - this is the time of aspiration and exertion, not of ease - “make your Lord your exclusive object” (Qur’an 94:8) - leave the time of rest to come when it comes - like an evening breeze it will arrive to refresh - “after hardship comes ease. Surely after hardship is ease.” (Qur’an 94:6)

2007 05 02 Irshaad Uncategorized
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Modernity, Ulama, and intellectuals

“Unlike the traditional ulama, who never go beyond the texts that they read, the modern intellectual will be able to read deeper into the text in a critical, imaginative manner.” (AbdolKarim Soroush)

Actually, among the traditional ulama there are many who “read deeper into the text” albeit more cautiously and using different tools than “modern intellectuals” - they’re perhaps not as well known as the louder, more politically visible ulama - it doesn’t mean that they don’t exist. In the same way there are far more superficial, modern intellectuals who are crassly loud, vocal, and shallow in their criticism than ones who truly read deeper into the text and strive to provide real, rooted, truthful and fair alternatives rather than simply rejectionist ones.

It’s a false juxtaposition to set modernity on one side, traditional ulama on the other, and intellectuals in the middle. Rather, there are flawed facets within these groupings (ulama and intellectuals) and their approaches, and there are beneficial and good aspects within each of them. The ulama, the modern intellectuals, and modernity are all fated to interact with and impact one another. Seeking the neutralization or total capitulation or loss of influence of a particular group (such as the ulama) is doomed to failure - it is a ridiculous and dangerous goal to pursue. Interaction on the level of ideas (not political ideology, which too often voices its debate in the form of violence) is inevitable (even if it presently seems remote) and may reduce the distance between seemingly hostile and clashing alternatives, if pursued with sincerity and not as a political weapon.

Modernity and some of the issues (technological, social, and philosophical) it raises can’t simply be sidestepped or avoided, and both the ulama and the “intellectuals” draw upon valuable resources and methodologies in arriving at solutions and responses. (Modernists may not agree with the conclusions of the ulama but this does not mean that some among the ulama have not read deeply in both traditional and modern texts - it simply means they have come to conclusions not favored by the proponents of modernity.) The decidedly difficult task for Muslims is to develop the insight to ascertain a path which is not based on polarization and rejection, violent confrontation, political intimidation, blind acceptance, blind following of ancestral traditions or leaders, false intellectualization of the situation, or fostering a belief that modernity and the difficulties and problems it generates can be ignored or kept forever at bay.

Each era faces its own unique difficulties, its own unexampled challenges and tests - but we are also given the promise that “the Qur’an is not restricted to a certain age or a distinct group of people. What it contains will be fresh, new, and alive for each succeeding generation.” (Imam Jafar al-Sadiq) Each generation that devotes itself to deep study of the Qur’an will draw insight and unfold solutions for the tests that they face in their time. Like the “tree whose root is in this world but whose branches are in the highest heaven” (Qur’an 14:24), its verses open the way to proportion, perspective, and balance within the flux and churn of the physical world. But if the Muslim rejoinder to the imbalance and extremes generated by modernity and its political and economic structures is an imbalanced and extreme political interpretation of the Qur’an, then those Muslims have allowed the lowest aspects of modernity to shape their Islam. Such an Islam becomes a mirror image of modernity, a child of the physical world, severed from metaphysical moorings, lost and adrift in the world of matter.

In seeking answers to the questions raised by modernity and solutions to its problems, those ulama or those intellectuals who engage in deep-seated, knowledgeable, respectful, and sincere interaction with the text of the Qur’an (and other Islamic texts) will manifest approaches and solutions that truly and profoundly satisfy - the rest will play at politics or play with ideological interpretations and what they produce will be deeply dissatisfying.

2007 05 01 Irshaad Uncategorized
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Questioning all that we once held dear and inviolable

“Modernity is characterized by the questioning of everything, of all that we once held dear and inviolable. It opens the way to plurality and diversity, but it can also be seen as a challenge to the worldview of the past.” (AbdolKarim Soroush)

I wish there were some truth in this definition - if there truly were a questioning then we could move towards some cohesive answers. Modernity does not necessarily question or seek answers in any especially meaningful way. And it cannot escape from the flaws that have afflicted all ages and all attempts at reviewing past systems and then constructing new outlooks and worldviews. It is as fraught as were past ages with giving ear to special pleadings, special interests, to allying with power, and seeking justification for specific viewpoints and activities through revisionist interpretations of history and texts (sacred or historical) - of reading current trends and values backwards into the past. If modernity seeks to explore all the latent social and philosophical possibilities open to human beings, it often seeks to justify and defend the results of this exploration through an “imaginative” re-interpretation (or sometimes outright dismissal or mockery) of sacred texts and of the past in general - an abrasive internecine approach. In doing so it elevates this present time and this present mindset above all past generations, making it the decider of the “true meaning” and “worth” of the entirety of past thought and history. To the extent that a process with this type of complexion occurs, it is a flawed process.

Like water poured out on the ground that flows outward and sinks into every nook, cranny, and crevasse until it’s flow is exhausted and it has settled into the lowest available basin, such a methodology will seek out and justify (under the demeanor of an appeal to plurality and diversity) all the mental and behavioral crevasses that the present age opens up.

2007 04 30 Irshaad Uncategorized
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Travel - View of Half-Dome from near Glacier point

This was taken on a trip to Yosemite National Park. It’s a view of Half-Dome from high up on the Glacier Point side of the valley - a truly spectacular view - that’s my daughter in full hiking gear taking in the view.

2007 04 29 Irshaad Uncategorized
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Cultivating literacy

Literacy that goes beyond the simple ability to read and write, that is connected with the ability to comprehend a text, involves hermeneutics. It involves decoding the symbol world of texts to gain access to the source meanings which underlie the text - of which there may be many, multiple, layered meanings.

Literacy, in this sense, invokes the reverse of the writing (creative) process. It is the means by which the words written by an author are decoded and understood so that the understanding leads one from mere words on a page, to comprehension and recognition of the thoughts and the “mental landscape” of the author. In a sense, the author, through carefully crafted words, creates a landscape within the readers mind. The author is like a programmer writing a series of interwoven, interacting instructions which run in the reader’s mind - like a software program that collaborates with the engine and variables of the reader’s imagination and perspicacity to create a world which can convey meaning and relevance. A well-crafted text may be understood simultaneously on many levels, from the simple to the subtle and complex. But the greater the skill of the author, the higher the level of literacy that is required within a reader in order for them to extract the full range of meanings coded within the text, though partial surface meanings may be easily accessible.

Literacy begins in children as an oral process. Teaching the skills involved in understanding texts can be done orally - through telling or reading stories to children and interacting with them (answering questions, chatting, discussing, opening up in a playful manner the possibility of multiple meanings, of depth - all very casually from the time when they are very young). Even when they are reading on their own, it is important that this oral interaction take place as they gradually acquire the skills and understanding which will let them achieve a greater grasp of the meaning of a text - and as they mature, the skills necessary to decipher texts, to distinguish subtle shades of meaning and to view texts as dynamic generators of enhanced mental perception instead of as static, inert containers of information. To do this requires both good skills and good source material - otherwise “literacy” will remain in a realm of superficial entertainment which operates primarily on a surface emotional or sensational level. A hermeneutical literacy goes deeper and produces a firmly rooted enjoyment that comes from grasping and comprehending meanings and unfolding the significance of their content - this in turn can lead to the meanings influencing and shaping one’s own internal world, imagination, and understanding - a process which can have a powerful and lasting impact. Cultivating deep levels of literacy is a first step, a beginning movement in the direction of opening a future path of access for emerging generations to the astonishing profoundity of the Qur’anic landscape.

2007 04 28 Irshaad Uncategorized
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Qur'an
religion
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Art
education Comments (0) Permalink

We prefer the idea of God to God in actuality

We prefer the idea of God to God in actuality. The idea generated in our own mind bends and conforms to our wishes - then what need is there for us to bend our own selves. We remain unbowed, unbent, unchanged, unaffected, and so…untransformed….

2007 04 26 Irshaad Uncategorized
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Qur'an
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Muslims Comments (1) Permalink

Jesus - “No one approaches the Father but through me”

This was my response (in a discussion forum) to a statement claiming Christianity’s exclusive access to truth and the negation of all other alternative religious paths as indicated by Jesus’ apparently “clear and unequivocal” statement that he is the only way to God: “No one approaches the Father but through me.” (John 14:6)

For Muslims, the Qur’an acts as quality control over what has come down to us of previous books, adjusting and compensating for what time and doctrinal interpretation may have obscured. We look through the lens of the Qur’an just as Christians and Jews look at other religions and each other through the lens of their own scriptures. This is a given. But this does not mean that we cannot respect and highlight the similarities, discuss the differences, and dialogue in good faith with one another - “…and discuss with them in the most beautiful manner….” (Qur’an 16:125) We can then perhaps explore the possibility of deeper more inclusive interpretations, rather than only accepting surface-level sectarian readings. And we can see this principle was followed by some of the brightest lights of Christianity in the past, many of whom did not adopt an exclusivist stance:

“As St. Thomas Aquinas said, quoting St. Ambrose, ‘all profound truth, no matter where it is found, has the Holy Spirit for its author.’ “

Again, St Justin stated: “God is the Word of whom the whole human race are partakers….” and (Meister) Eckhart spoke of an ancient sage in the following terms: “Our most ancient philosophers found the truth long, long before…ever there was a Christian faith at all as it is now.”

Thomas of Villenova taught…. “Our religion is from the beginning of the world….if you saw Abraham, and Moses, and David alongside Peter and Andrew and Augustine and Jerome, you would observe, in all essential things, a perfect identity.”

There’s a profound principle in these words of great Christians, one that can allow a level of proximity (instead of exclusivity) between different faiths even if they hold doctrinal differences. When Jesus says “No one approaches the Father but through me”, he refers to those whose hearts are on his path, whose beings have a resonant identity with his, whose spirits are congruent with his - they are the ones who approach God through Jesus, even if they have never seen or heard Jesus. They cultivate an essential identity which connects and accords with the spirit and truth of his teachings though they may know little or nothing about Jesus himself. It is a person’s inner reality (and the actions which spring from it) that is the deciding factor. Those whose tongues speak doctrinal words but whose inner reality is far from his are a different case:

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven…. And every one that heareth these sayings, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.” (Matthew 7:22-27)

Jesus “took two handfuls of earth and said, ‘Which of these is the best? People are created from earth, so the most honorable among them is the most virtuous and God-conscious.’ ” (Mqjmu’ah al-Akhbar fi Nafa’is al-Athar 106)

For further elaboration see “What is truth?“, “I and the Father are One“, “Abba/Father“, “Jesus, son of Mary“, “Jesus: An Islamic Perspective“, “Jesus’ temptation“, “Raising children - discussion on Biblical teachings“, “Mocking the Prophets“

2007 04 25 Irshaad Uncategorized
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Qur'an
religion
Prophets
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Jesus
Christianity Comments (4) Permalink

Seek your religion

If you seek your religion,
Lower your forehead into dust (in prayer).

If you seek to witness Him,
Place your forehead in the dust (in sajdah)
And distance yourself from your low nafs,
And erase yourself in salat.

Then witness the presence of God in prayer,
And like Husayn at Karbala make your sacrifice -
Lose your head (lose your self, your nafs) while immersed in prayer…
Then cry, O Husayn, O Husayn
In recognition of the status he gave to this salat….

(loosely translated from a Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan qawali)

2007 04 24 Irshaad Uncategorized
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Qur'an
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Karbala Comments (0) Permalink

In His own form

“God created Adam in His own form (surah).” (Hadith)

Not the material form, not this body of matter driven by chemical interactions and electrical impulses. Not this form which changes with time and circumstance falling finally into decay and ruin, into death and dust, into its elemental components. Not this animal form so similar to that of the beasts, separated in physiology and genetic structure by a mere fractional arc. But the spiritual substance which is the essential configuration of a human being - a subtle form wrapped in the veils of body and mind which few have the perspicacity to witness. The ineffable true form of “My spirit” before which the angels fell in prostration. Of those who parade about in the world glorifying themselves and glorifying their ambitious causes, who is there that recognizes what the angels recognized? If the angels swooned in obedient prostration before the form of this ruh (this spirit), then why be ungrateful, negligent towards such a gift - the spiritual form which is the guide who knows the path of return to its Lord.

“I am going to create a mortal from dust, So when I have made him complete and breathed into him of My spirit then fall down making obeisance to him.” (Qur’an 38:72)

2007 04 23 Irshaad Uncategorized
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Qur'an
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Muslims Comments (0) Permalink

Sculpt yourself

The shell of a seed protects its kernel so that it may have an opportunity to gestate and grow. So too thoughts need to gestate and grow. In this manner we can perhaps create and shape an inner world of depth and texture arising from a struggle to acquire real understanding, to truly expand and deepen the boundaries of knowledge, to perceive not just form, but meaning - inner content.

We become the sculptor rather than the sculpture, the shaper rather than the shaped, creating and modifying our own internal configuration rather than allowing the external world to impose a configuration on us.

Then there arises some possibility of acting in the din, strife, and apparent chaos of the external world with a measure of thoughtfulness and depth - with a considered consciousness devoid of haste and maladroitness. Unruffled, collected, we can perhaps bring inner resources (nurtured to capacity) to bear on the complexity of life and bring a level of steadiness to the self and thereby possible benefit to others.

“There is no worthwhile movement (or action) whatsoever but that you need understanding for it.” (Imam Ali)

2007 04 22 Irshaad Uncategorized
Islam
religion
irfan
Muslims Comments (0) Permalink

Reflection

Reflection is the domain of a mind at rest, it requires stillness and an outer fortification against worldly din, media, worries, anxieties, interruptions, distractions - a temporary quelling of the desire to pronounce our opinions - a silencing of our inner fountain of preset habits, thoughts, assumptions, suppositions, attitudes, inferences, conjectures, and interpretations. With a brief respite from the noise and unceasing demands of daily life and our own mental habits and compulsions, the possibility of turning inward, of reaching beyond the surface and contemplating the inner kernel of a matter grows.

What is reflection except a rotation of focus towards interior constellations, the apperception of patterns through patient contemplation - allowing the mind the quiet, calm, concentration of its powers, opening degrees of depth - considering a matter in its many inter-related aspects, to recognize its relationship to surrounding events, to see the subtle connections which join and envelop all things but which escape our daily perception.

2007 04 21 Irshaad Uncategorized
Islam
irfan
Muslims Comments (0) Permalink

Politics of domination

Relationships of political and economic expediency, hierarchies of power and dominance dominate international relationships. Tensions exist because injustice, imbalance, and unfair advantage are the natural outcome of such relationships. Conflict occurs when players in this game seek to strengthen their positions and undermine others - expansion and gain for one often spells loss, instability, and reduced autonomy for others. There are many types of levers and weapons in this game - economic, policy, trade, military power, media, propaganda, covert acts, ideological sectarianism. The politics of domination pushes at limits to achieve the desired end - a player seeks a particular goal and musters available resources to achieve this end and manage its populations’ perceptions along the way. Everything becomes a resource to be utilized - everything is a commodity or tool to be managed or used. The profound danger is that truth, compassion, justice - religion itself, become distorted, having been manipulated and spun out as simply tools and resources useful for achieving questionable aims, for increasing influence and leverage rather than being foundational principles which shape both aims and methods.

2007 04 19 Irshaad Uncategorized
Islam
hegemony
ideology
war Comments (2) Permalink

Abba/Father

When I wrote the post “Jesus - I and the father are one“, Yunis from the website Katib raised an interesting question concerning the use of the word “Father” in the text of the Gospels. He wanted to know the original Aramaic term which is translated as father. The ensuing discussion in turn led to other “technical” questions concerning translation of the Gospel texts. If anyone can shed some light on the issues raised below, please do leave a comment.

The Aramaic for father is Abba. This is said to be a common and familiar term for father, similar to the arabic “Abu” (equivalent to dad or Papa in english). For example, the Christian prayer “Our father which is in heaven” begins with the word “Abun” translated as “Our father”. The word “kingdom” in the same prayer is transliterated as Malkuta (very similar to the Arabic for kingdom or dominion).

There are several places in the New Testament where the Aramaic term Abba/Father is left intact (in Aramaic). In untranslated form “Abba” (referring to God) appears three times in the New Testament (although only one of those three is spoken by Jesus). Why was Abba left untranslated in some instances and not in others? The term “Father” (referring to God) appears many times in the New Testament. If the original Aramaic was Abba in all these instances then shouldn’t Abba have appeared many more times in the text? The question becomes what was the original Aramaic word used for those other occurrences of father (including in John 10:30 - “I and the father are one”) and if it was also “Abba” why was Abba retained in only three particular places but not in numerous other places? I suppose this relates to the question of what portions of the Aramaic words spoken by Jesus survived. If the Gospels were originally written in Greek (the Greek texts are the only surviving versions), then Greek would have been the first level of translation - later they were translated to Latin and the English translations were in turn based primarily on the Latin (with reference to the Greek) so I’m assuming the only remaining Aramaic text are the bits and pieces left intact in the Greek text?

Another interesting statement of Jesus is this: “Do not call anyone on earth “Father” for you have only one Father and He is in heaven.” (Matthew 23:9) Here, Jesus is restricting use of the term “Father” (whatever the original Aramaic is) exclusively for God. Why would he do this if he was in fact using a common daily word by which people referred to their fathers? This would be equivalent to asking his followers not to refer to their own fathers as “dad” or “Papa” anymore. Is there any possibility that the original Aramaic word in these other passages (translated as father) suggested something far more serious than a common casual term like dad or papa, perhaps something more equivalent to the Arabic word Rabb (Lord).

Note: The Arabic term Rabb (Lord) is from the root Rabba and can be used, depending on context and derivative, to refer to God or, more infrequently, to a parent raising or caring for a child. It is used in both meanings, for example, in the well-known dua (supplication) for one’s parents: “Rabbir hamhumaa kamaa rabbayaaniy sagheera.” (O My Lord, have mercy on them both as they had mercy on me and nurtured me when I was small.) This example is given only to point out the multiple connotations that a word can convey in a language made up of root words and multiple derivatives arising from the roots.

2007 04 18 Irshaad Uncategorized
Islam
religion
Prophets
Jesus
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Bible Comments (5) Permalink

We are Qur’anic tourists

The Qur’an is composed of words and some approach it as words like other words - but some approach it as “a revelation from the Lord of all worlds” (Qur’an 26:192) - as God’s commanding and guiding words that entered in substance into the heart of the Prophet, expressed themselves encoded into the form of speech upon his tongue, and in the form of ink upon paper. We see its reality remotely, through glimpses and fleeting glimmers, through word and sound, it’s landscape distant as a mountain concealed in haze - the haze of our own minds and hearts, our veil of distracted thoughts. Like this, it still has beauty, the beauty of a distantly observed but awe inspiring height - and we are as tourists, viewing it from safe and comfortable mental vantage points. We are not those who labor on the slopes, hearts pumping, struggling to make the ascent, drawn upward by capitulation to beauty, by a divine attraction.

Those whose hearts are thus captivated, who “sell their selves (nafs), moving towards the pleasure of Allah” (Qur’an 2:207) comprehend that the Prophet’s heart is a sacred place, the container of tremendous truth - the receptacle, the place of manifestation of God’s Word - that same Word which would shatter mountains had it descended upon them: “Had We sent down this Qur’an on a mountain, you would certainly have seen it falling down, splitting asunder because of the fear of Allah.” (Qur’an 59:21)

2007 04 16 Irshaad Uncategorized
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Qur'an
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Muhammad
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Artist in a coal-mine

The artists of a society are often an early indicator of the direction and values that the society as a whole will adopt and reflect - they’re the social equivalent of a canary in a coal-mine - setting trends, extrapolating into the future through art, testing boundaries. And art has the potential to push into a self-indulgent decadence or to open a deeper consciousness. In both instances it looks within the human soul, either prying open and celebrating the nafs al-amarra (Qur’an 12:53) or striving to penetrate beyond the tangible surfaces of reality to open paths for the birth of the nafs al-mutmainaa (Qur’an 89:27-30). It manufactures, exhibits, and communicates through its own compressed yet often profound language, using its own visual and verbal grammar and intonation. It can speak in the phrasings of the gutter or in the tongue of angels. It is one of the indicators of the internal state of humankind.

—————————-

nafs al-amarra: (”And I do not declare myself to be free, most surely man’s nafs (self/soul) is wont to command (him to do) evil, except such as my Lord has had mercy on….” 12:53)

nafs al-mutmainaa: (”O soul (nafs) that is at peace. Return to your Lord, well-pleased with Him, well-pleasing (Him)” 89:27-30)

2007 04 15 Irshaad Uncategorized
Islam
religion
media
Art Comments (0) Permalink

Information environment

People look to the world around them and derive a significant portion of their concepts of value and worth, benefit and harm, from their interaction with society and from the images of their society and the wider world that are endlessly paraded before them through all the various forms of media by which they draw their information. This information environment and it’s content plays a powerful role in shaping and re-shaping viewpoints, eliminating or creating biases and prejudices, and defining boundaries and contexts within which people find their social identity. That identity which was once achieved through family, community, church, temple, or mosque is now driven largely by the media in all of its myriad manifestations.

As a result, the media is probably the most potent modern tool available to those seeking to change or condition a society’s viewpoints, biases, and identity. It has a positive function in that it plays a powerful role in creating a shared societal identity - it has a negative role in that due to economic and political realities, the major media are for the most part, profit-oriented heavily commercialized corporate enterprises.

And they’re highly networked enterprises in that whatever approach or tactic is seen to draw an audience or is successful in a given area rapidly propagates in slightly different forms across the range of media offerings. Ideas and values are shared, augmented, buttressed, sustained, and reinforced across this range. Despite the fact that there is commercial competition between media entities, that very competitiveness leads them to produce “competitive” variations of each others products which often amounts to little more than a repackaging of what another company has produced - the same formula in a new guise or flavor. In times of crisis the same “experts” appear and reappear across the various television and radio networks until, in effect, a fairly narrow and constricted range of interpretations of events propagate across the airwaves.

2007 04 14 Irshaad Uncategorized
Islam
politics
media Comments (0) Permalink

Media filters

In times of conflict, language and image are spun to shape perceptions of reality and it is through the characterizations and emotional coloring of the media’s visual language and their choice of terminology that events are interpreted, explained, and experienced. Just as symbolic religious language gives meaning and an interpretation to the world, so also the images and language of the media present a filter through which people view the world and react to unfolding events. To the extent that this language is adopted, accepted, and disseminated by the media and absorbed by the average citizen, it becomes an instrument in defining the role and shaping the response of the general public. In this way the visual and aural language of the mass media in times of crisis acquires a real potency and currency - one that is countered only through the growth and accessibility of alternate sources, through grassroots connectivity, and through our growing ability to filter out bias and spin.

2007 04 13 Irshaad Uncategorized
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media Comments (0) Permalink

Mocking the prophets

“Alas for the servants! there comes not to them an apostle but they mock at him.” (Qur’an 36:30)

According to the Christian gospels, when Jesus was arrested the Roman soldiers charged with his capture were at once amused by and spiteful towards him. Their spite was tinged with a sense of the superiority they felt through the virtue of belonging to what they believed was a vastly superior culture, one grounded in “reality”, not one based on some vague prophecies and the impractical teachings of a so-called Prophet. Their solid conviction in the pre-eminence of their civilization, their certainty in the unshakable power and authority backing them created within them a disdain and contempt for the unkempt, ragged looking disciples and for the bearded Prophet who led them. Malice, and anger combined with arrogance, caused them to first mock and deride Jesus and then, according to the gospels, to brutalize him.

“….And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him. And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee? And many other things blasphemously spake they against him.” (Luke 63 - 65)

Assured by his position in office and by the support of the people, Pilate ordered Jesus to be scourged and then handed him over to the mockery of his men in the praetorium. They engaged in jest and sport against Jesus by dressing him in a viciously farcical mockery of kingly attire, pressing a ring of thorns onto his head.

“…Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him….” (Matthew 27 - 29)

Here there is the mockery by the temporarily powerful as a display of their power and as a reassurance to themselves of their superiority. This is a drama that has been replayed endlessly throughout history in different ways (by the irreligious, the anti-religious, and those who let power politics shape their religion). In the case of Jesus, it was insufficient to have sway over him and to determine his fate, so it was also necessary to attempt to debase him and that which he stood for - to cancel out the psychological discomfort that his existence generated. It is a way of lashing out at the metaphysical possibilities that the teachings and the very presence of the Prophets raise. If that metaphysical reality is derided, then we can be satisfied with the physical and psychological existence that is at the forefront of our experience.

Yet there remains an agitation (manifested in attitude and action) in those who take such a mental path. “Man was created in restlessness/anxiety.” (Qur’an 70:19). In the case of those who confront, disparage, and mock the Prophets, this state of restlessness, of dissatisfaction and anxiety increases in urgency and intensity when they face one who advances claims concerning the existence of realities that transcend the worlds we know. And so the reaction is disproportionate as perhaps it is a reaction to an internal contradiction - an attempt to counter inner anxiety and tension by exercising a mocking superiority. Perhaps this arises from an unrecognized, unacknowledged, unrealized metaphysical connection - a subtle but foundational recognition of the Absolute - the remaining echo of our nafs acknowledgment of it’s meeting with God in pre-eternity.

“When thy Lord drew forth from the Children of Adam all their descendants, and asked them to bear witness concerning themselves (concerning their own souls, their nafs): “Am I not your Lord (who cherishes and sustains you)?”- They responded: “Yes! To this we bear witness!” (This), lest you say on the Day of Return: “Of this we were ignorant” (Qur’an 7:172)

We may not be able to grasp the full meaning and import of this covenant and the manner in which it dwells within us, but it nevertheless exists as an impulse within our being. And so long as it exists unrecognized, unknown, buried, forgotten and unsought, denied appropriate outlets, human restlessness and anxiety turns and churns unquenched.

2007 04 13 Irshaad Uncategorized
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Qur'an
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Bible Comments (1) Permalink

Unseen reality

Since the dominant paradigms of our time are scientific, rationalist, technology based ones, it is natural for us to seek out the how of any process, to seek to learn the technology behind it, the mechanics which govern it. But with metaphysical realities we can only attempt to align the mechanisms and observable processes glimpsed by science with the symbols and pointers to deeper realities spoken of in the Qur’an (and by the Prophets and awliya).

The observable mechanisms of this world may be traces and signs, indicators of unseen processes and realities which are not accessible in their entirety through material sciences, although a suggestion, a scintilla, a shadow of them is visible through these sciences. The deeper we peer into the fundamental nature of physical reality the more mystery we encounter so that even as we achieve wonders through the manipulation of new-found processes, so also does the mechanistic, easily dissectible view of the universe we once chased after recede into further complexity and fuzziness at our approach. Whether in the realm of the material or the metaphysical, the unseen (ghayb) component of reality is a resource that will never be in short supply.

2007 04 12 Irshaad Uncategorized
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Jesus - “I and the Father are one”

This was in response to a question from a Christian (writing in a comments forum) on how Islam could possibly deal with Jesus’ claim that he is God as manifested in the statement “I and the Father are one.”

It’s a fair question because it is a feature of every religion, every set of doctrinal beliefs, and even every ideology or political system, that the followers of that system believe it to be true and correct - why else would they adhere to the belief. So it is fair to inquire into how Islam might attempt to interpret the claims of mainstream Christianity - and, depending on the tone of the discussion, this can have a beneficial effect. In the case of belief systems, although we will find doctrinal disagreement, we may find that as we move to higher and deeper levels of scriptural interpretation, that the apparent differences may begin to dwindle. And even if they do not entirely disappear, we can at least achieve levels of understanding between faiths that denote true respect and understanding. And that’s a worthy goal.

So how might a Muslim approach Jesus’ statement “I and the Father are one”?

The Qur’an says that Adam was created with the two (metaphorical) hands of God’s power. Traditionally it is said that one hand represents the attributes (or names) of God that draw humankind near to God (e.g., mercy, love, compassion etc.). The other hand represents the attributes of distance (e.g., Majesty, Incomparability, Dominion, Kingship, etc.), those qualities representative of God’s kingly attributes which accent humankind’s distance from God and God’s power.

Jesus is sometimes said (because of his unique creation) to be representative of the hand of God that denotes the nearness of God to his creation. Whereas a Prophet like Moses who brings a law and enters into conflict with Pharaoh, necessarily primarily manifests God’s Kingly and awe-inspiring qualities (alongside his other qualities). But the essence of Jesus’ message powerfully focuses on God’s merciful proximity to humankind and the human proximity to God. Being a sign of this dual proximity, Jesus exhibits an archetype of this type of servant-hood - the individual will is identical with that which God wills - the individual has a proximity to God, and God manifests within the individual - “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30)

It is perhaps like the hadith which states that in respect of His true servants, He (God) is the sight with which they see, the hearing with which they hear, the foot with which they walk, and the hand with which they grasp. Such people give their being wholeheartedly over to God who takes them comprehensively into His charge - so they dwell in the Knowledge and Grace of God and He dwells in them. “I am in the Father, and the Father is in me…I speak not of myself, but the Father does the works.” (John 14:11) However, the servant remains a servant as Jesus repeatedly clarifies, carefully setting his mystical statements in context.

“Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in the One who sent me…. For what I have spoken does not come from myself; no, what I had to say, what I had to speak, was commanded by the One who sent me….” (John 12:44-49)

2007 04 11 Irshaad Uncategorized
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Bible Comments (9) Permalink

The measure of two bows

The Prophet’s internal reality is connected to the source from which the revelation descended - to seek him only in history and circumstance is to neglect his metaphysical nature, to give little weight to his “sublime character”. (Qur’an 68:4) The revelation is the indicator, both clear and encoded, that points to the source. It is the opening, the fatiha, through which believers have the possibility of comprehending and connecting, in some small measure, with realities that stand above this world. And through striving to approach the source (seeking nearness to God) through the Qur’an, through fasting, through pilgrimage, through zakat, through salat, through supplication, through dhikr, through our approach to life, we can begin to understand and gain respect for the position of the Prophet, not simply as a history lesson or a lesson in Prophetic manners, but in its essence, as haqiqah, as recognition of the elevated nature of the one who was lifted in nearness to “the measure of two bows or closer still”. (Qur’an 53:9)

2007 04 10 Irshaad Islam
Qur'an
religion
Prophets
Muhammad
irfan Comments (0) Permalink

Polarization is not dialog

A while back, a right-wing Christian blog featured several posts which purported to be an attempt to understand Muslims and the Muslim “mindset” by linking to videos depicting a fundamentalist, extremist, political interpretation of Islam. Then the “extremist Islam” interpretive net was cast over Muslims in general - if it wasn’t Muslims’ actions (as depicted in the videos) it was their inaction as a whole that was at the root of current conflicts and atrocities. All this was, of course, just an “honest” attempt to understand Muslims and Islam as part of a dialog. This was my reply (I’ve coalesced several comments together):

I can point you to any number of websites, flash cartoons, graphics, articles, comments etc. that portray Muslims in general, Muslim religious figures, their Prophet, their practices, their religion etc. in the most heinous light, that talk incessantly of nuking Muslims, eradicating Islam and Muslims, that seem to condone the worst excesses of, or make light of the atrocities in Abu Ghraib and other places where the American military overstepped bounds. These are even more disgusting and unpalatable than the tripe you have posted. But that would just be tit for tat.

I don’t like one or the other - both are propaganda (although I find the neo-con propaganda more cold, heartless, savage, and savvy), both emerge from reaction to political situations. The politics of conflict always enable the very worst in human nature to froth up to the surface. There is a very low level of thinking involved, a lot of verbal thuggery and crudeness, and it doesn’t reflect well on our own humanity when we turn again and again towards the purveyors of these debased viewpoints and accept their portrayals as accurate depictions of one society or another. That is nothing except participation in propaganda.

Again, falling into one ideological camp or the other is easy and tempting but it moves no one any closer to a useful dialog or solution. We have enough people and websites thinking within narrow ideological boxes whose boundaries are defined by fear and prejudice against the “other” - who spend their time and effort trying to build antagonism, hatred and division all in service of dubious ideological causes - who attempt to influence, box-in, direct, and delimit other’s opinions to match their own political biases.

There’s a world of literature, of history, of political, and religious writings (Muslim and Christian) that illuminate and enlighten and build knowledge and understanding and enable the construction of bridges between religions, cultures and peoples. There’s a world of human beings out there as well and when you mingle with them, and talk genuinely (not condescendingly, antagonistically, or threateningly) with them, you may connect mind to mind and heart to heart and all this internet based propagandistic posturing becomes exposed for what it is. If you don’t understand Islam, you’re certainly not going to understand it through neo-con viewpoints - no more than a Muslim will understand America through an extremist Muslim lens. Shaking off stereotypes and caricatured views of other communities, other faiths, other peoples is a difficult thing to do since it requires us to step outside of our own ideological boundaries.

We live in difficult times - and in such times fear, doubt, prejudice, hatred, anger, suspicion, casting of aspersions, come to the forefront - these are all impulses and reactions that mentally blind us - and they blind our hearts, whether we are Americans, Christians, Muslims, Israeli’s, Jews, Arabs, whatever. “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit?….” (Luke 6:37-42)

There’s no doubt that there is extensive political turmoil in the world, there’s no doubt that storms of political and military conflict are raging - there’s also no doubt that by jumping into the fray, by propagandizing for or against one side or the other we only stir up the already turbulent waters, add to the negative emotion, increase the division, and impart greater motion to a very dangerous and ugly machine - and let’s face it, for some there’s a certain smug and easy ideological satisfaction in doing that.

Calming the waters is more difficult, it requires placing aside ego and extreme political ideology (the two are strongly bound together with the glue of fear) and quick judgment, replacing them with depth of knowledge and understanding. The politically religious (those who tie time-bound, worldly politics to their religion to the point of overshadowing religious principles) love to stir up storms (even if only minor tempests in teapots), but there are other paths available for anyone who gives faith, knowledge, and the worth of the soul a place above turbulent, Machiavellian power politics.

But as long as one approaches from the standpoint of a pre-set power-based ideology, then it’s a foregone conclusion that ideology will re-interpret or selectively focus on whatever bolsters the ideology. That’s polarization - and polarization is not dialog.

2007 04 08 Irshaad Uncategorized
Islam
politics
religion
ideology
war Comments (2) Permalink

Into dust

We play at religion, intoning seriously the most achingly beautiful verses of the Qur’an, reciting with serious faces and careful pronunciation - the verses drop from our lips like honey but they slip past our hearts and spill instead upon the earth, vanishing into the dust…and the attributes of our nafs rise like obscuring vapor in their place….

2007 04 07 Irshaad Uncategorized
Islam
Qur'an Comments (0) Permalink

Our Prophet

The Qur’an’s verses contain open, apparent meanings and simultaneous inner, deeper meanings - the inner allusions layer one upon the other all simultaneously combined and concealed in the external arrangement of words upon a page. The words enter the mind and begin to come to life, displaying refractions of nuance and purport, showing the concealed colors that lay unified within the phrasings - our thoughts like a prism unfold the diversity hidden within the unity. The meanings enter the heart and, like life-giving breath, expand it “O my Lord! Expand my breast for me” (Qur’an 20:25) The substance underlying the meanings begins to manifest within an internal universe, they generate a congruence with the overarching realities that stand above and enwrap this universe in which we dwell - this dunya - and understanding begins to appear - “Ya Rabb, You have shown me the significance and meaning of all that I have encountered.” (from a dua of Imam Husayn)

And then we perhaps obtain a glimmer, a minuscule hint, a faint suggestion of the mighty reality of the Prophet’s nature - for he was the living Qur’an - the one upon whose heart the Qur’an in its entirety descended and within whom the full substance of its meanings and the great realities with which they were connected unfolded. “And surely you are of a tremendous (exalted) nature” (Qur’an 68:4)

We can seek to know our Prophet through history, through the hadith, through his circumstances, through what his companions have conveyed about him, through what historians have written about him. But in the end we come down to this: “His character is the Qur’an.” (hadith)

To the extent that we are connected to the revelation, to the extent that it unfurls and comes alive within us, to the extent that it moves within our hearts and illuminates our awareness, to that extent we can say we know our Prophet. To that extent our nafs will have some slight tenuous connection with the profundity of his nafs - but since the Qur’an actualizes only weakly within even the best of us, then “surely the Prophet has a greater right over the believers than they have over their own nafs (selves)” (Qur’an 33:6). And so one who even weakly brings the Prophetic character, through the Qur’an, to life within himself will have made a beginning on the path of straightening his own nafs - this through acceding to and acknowledging the Prophet’s guiding claim over the nafs of the believer.

So let him be your companion, this living Qur’an. Let him stand beside you when you speak, when you act, let his character manifest for you in some small way within your own heart through the verses of the Qur’an. Then who could approach injustice, which believer could unjustly trespass on the life and property of another, or gather wealth only for himself in the presence of poverty, turn away from those without hope, or slight a woman, when that Prophet who would rise to his feet at the approach of his daughter, who was the hope and shelter of the orphans, of the oppressed, of those whose hands were empty, stands guardian over the believer’s nafs.

2007 04 06 Irshaad Uncategorized
Islam
Qur'an
religion
Prophets
Muhammad
irfan Comments (1) Permalink

Matter asserts itself

Here religion is viewed as irrelevant - church, mosque, and temple may exist as physical buildings but their metaphysical structure is crumbling, decaying - matter is powerfully asserting itself and spirit is obscured, veiled, eclipsed. It is not that the ties between heaven and earth have been cut, so that religion decays into either fanaticism or vague sentimentality - it is that heaven becomes inconsequential when even the religious map out their religion by means of the compass of their lower nafs, according to the politics of the age, the ephemeral measures of this world and the fleeting intellectual fashions of the time.

2007 04 05 Irshaad Uncategorized
Islam
politics
religion Comments (0) Permalink

Ideology trumps knowledge

By it’s nature an ideological approach is a reductionist approach since the wide sweeping panorama of reality is reduced to fit set ideological directions. The ideology becomes the filter through which reality is viewed and it reduces vastly complex interactions to simplified statements and judgments that are more reflective of the mental state of the one who holds the ideology than the actual state of affairs. Yet ideology is attractive since it simplifies decision making and analysis - it reduces or eliminates the mental and spiritual effort involved in understanding and interacting with a complex world. It provides a set of facile algorithms which grind up information and re-form the resultant paste by pouring it into a preset ideological mold.

A process like this works well for the ideology since it redirects the critical faculties and intellectual abilities of adherents into an efficient process for re-purposing data to support and defend the ideology’s outlook and away from examining the ideology’s own assumptions, motivations, and limitations.

Because of this, ideology and ideological approaches can be said to be more connected to will and power than to depth and breadth of knowledge. In other words, ideology trumps knowledge. It reshapes, rejects, accepts, and even manufactures “knowledge” (as propaganda) according to the goals (will) of the ideology and in seeking it’s own preservation and growth (power).

2007 04 04 Irshaad Uncategorized
Islam
politics
religion
ideology Comments (1) Permalink

A transformative document

The Qur’an is a transformative document - its power evident in the fact that it impacts significantly all who come across it - whether they consider it in a negative or positive light, whether they are hostile to it or devoted to it. And so it also becomes a battlefield, it’s words a vast, expansive landscape upon which men’s interpretations contend and struggle one against the other - an arena which has now bled off the pages and into the contending power politics of this world, where some with arms and bombs, with fatwas and hadith, with dogma and doctrine, with conflicting tafsirs and clashing hadith wage ideological wars one against the other and call this activity religion.

“Do not strike one part of the Qur’an with another….” (hadith)

2007 04 04 Irshaad Islam
Qur'an
politics
religion
ideology
terrorism Comments (0) Permalink

And when the Qur’an is recited….

We quote verses to display the Qur’an’s relevance to what we do, to how we see the world, and in defense of the specific direction of our particular beliefs, our leanings, our ways and methods - and we quote to justify to ourselves and to justify ourselves to others. We take our own limited perspectives and through pecking at scattered verses, lift them as justification for totalizing our own hemmed in understandings. With this we soothe ourselves. In this manner we construct small idols out of the clay of our nafs and hold this out as that which all men should believe. Our reading of verses is accompanied by the chattering of what is already in our minds, understanding diverted by what is already in our characters - our thoughts busy spinning interpretations while the recitation is not yet complete.

“And when the Qur’an is recited, then truly listen, and remain silent within, that mercy may come upon you.” (Qur’an 7:204)

2007 04 03 Irshaad Uncategorized
Islam
Qur'an
religion
ideology Comments (0) Permalink

Bending the Qur’an

Some quote Qur’anic verses to correct or inspire or admonish. Some quote them as ammunition for their viewpoints, as support for cherished philosophies, some as adornments for vague sentiments, as buttresses for ideological perspectives, or as crutches on which to hang ferocious politics. Some wield verses as weapons to counter disliked viewpoints, to punish or to silence or to bully and badger into obedience. Some quote in support of the supposed “truth” of their views - whether conservative views or neo-conservative views, liberal views or fanatical views, progressive views or puritanical views, traditional views or radical views, unitary views or sectarian views. Some quote to bend men’s inclinations to their own interpretations, their own opinions. Some regard the Qur’an intellectually, some regard it emotionally, some approach it as a writ to be obeyed literally, some regard it as poetic suggestions optional to follow - we pick and choose, modify and alter to a form and interpretation that pleases us, bending the Qur’an to our will, our wish, to the shape of our nafs rather than shaping our nafs to the form of the Qur’an.

“Why do you admonish others among mankind and yet neglect your own souls while you read this Book; do you not comprehend (have you then no sense)?” (Qur’an 2:44)

2007 04 03 Irshaad Uncategorized
Islam
Qur'an
politics
religion
ideology Comments (0) Permalink

Flotsam in a flood

Like flotsam in a flood we are too frequently carried along by the overpowering flow of ideological currents, modalities of thought and expression of our times. Those who play at politics with deadly earnest, act, and the rest of us only react. Without firm and deep knowledge and connection with higher principles, our environments will shape and mold the form of our minds. Socially, politically, ideologically - the parameters within which we function (even the parameters within which we view and understand our own religion) will be driven and informed by a societal nafs that derives its structure from ambitions, desires and impulses that originate from and focus upon the gain to be achieved in this lower world.

The people in such an environment, even while they imagine themselves independent, are caught in the push and pull of the societal/political/ideological environments - objects floating in the stream. They have some restricted motion this way and that, but nevertheless the rushing river carries them along. Substance arises from depth of knowledge and understanding - without that solidity and profoundity of knowledge…

“…your numbers may be vast, but you will be as insubstantial as the foam of the water on the surface of the flood….” (hadith)

2007 04 02 Irshaad Uncategorized
Islam
politics
religion
ideology Comments (0) Permalink

Ideology overthrows ethics

Political instability and turmoil, war, conflict, oppression - all contribute to shape individuals who act and react in desperate ways and who in that desperation are susceptible to the manipulation and influence of those who see, in conflict, an excuse and opportunity to pursue suppressed ambitions - sometimes through unbalanced (one-sided), tilted, slanted interpretations of religious texts or doctrines. When this happens, ideological politics (not religion) is in the driver’s seat and ideological goals easily overshadow ethical teachings - religious or secular. New hierarchies of acceptable behavior emerge. Ethical precepts fall low in the hierarchy, interpretative barriers to brutal behavior are re-imaged to justify thuggish, brutish actions.

Ideological adherence of this type works a dark and ugly magic upon our souls - it allows us to switch off aspects of our humanity - to switch off the self-critical facets of our reason - and so crimes are committed with our vocal or silent acquiescence, or while we exhibit neglectful unconcern, or while we search out excuses or justifications for such behavior.

2007 04 02 Irshaad Uncategorized
politics
hegemony
religion
ideology
war
terrorism Comments (0) Permalink

Ideological ciphers

Wrapping oneself snugly in the garments of a particular ideology allows one to be uncritical of their own assumptions. While a person, group, or nation may be enviably efficient and rational about process and instrumental, technical knowledge and methods, they could simultaneously be blind and unreasoning about inhuman ideological methods and goals. Witness the holocaust, witness Israeli apartheid against Palestinians, witness the neo-con pursuit of hegemonic ambition through mis-information and through sowing fear and hatred of others, witness the erosion of civil liberties, witness suicide-bombings against civilians….the list goes on and on.

By politicizing, codifying, and elevating the ambiguous assumptions, uncritical inferences, and narrow viewpoints that define and shape one’s outlook and actions, ideology is elevated to a position of almost idolatrous importance. A combination of ideology, propaganda, and diversion has the potential to make people apathetic, cold, indifferent, or even pleased at the plight of others - those others who hold conflicting viewpoints. No longer able to see each other’s humanity, we instead see ideological ciphers. This allows a state or group to undertake unsavory or repugnant actions - economic looting, brutal conquest, suppression, massacres, bombings, torture, pre-emptive aggression, killing of civilians etc. - in order to accomplish that which they desire to accomplish, to carry out their business with a minimal amount of internal domestic resistance.

2007 04 01 Irshaad Uncategorized
politics
hegemony
religion
ideology
war
terrorism Comments (0) Permalink

Playing at religion

Whether we adhere to a religious tradition or a secular one, it is possible to fall prey to the allure of raising political ideology (and doctrine based on that ideology) to a position and level that is hierarchically above the truths encoded into the source documents of the tradition. Such a situation is most likely to materialize when politics and struggles for power, hegemonic contests for expansion of spheres of influence and control of resources is entwined with concurrent conflicts between different traditions and cultures. When this occurs it is likely that, in the absence of widespread and deep knowledge of the source-books of religion, these same books will become instead (to those who single-mindedly pursue their political obsessions) simply a mechanism, an accessory used to lend emotional weight and substance to ideological politics. Then religion (or in the case of secular traditions, constitutional or founding principle) becomes something that is played with, a football kicked across the political fields of nations in an attempt to score points in, what is at heart, a very worldly game.

“and leave those who have taken their religion for a play and a sport….” (Qur’an 6:70)

2007 03 31 Irshaad Uncategorized
Islam
Qur'an
politics
hegemony
religion
ideology
war
terrorism Comments (0) Permalink

About this blog

For those who are interested, my main website is Islam from inside. This current blog is, for now, a scratchpad, a storyboard, an online notebook, a place where I can jot down unpolished thoughts and explorations on a variety of subjects and interests. Because of this it is likely that I will post here more frequently than on Islam from inside where I post only when I have the free time to write on a subject with considered detail. Here the posts will be fairly short (which some readers will applaud) and cover a wider range of topics although my tendency is, no matter the topic, to view it from an Islamic perspective. This is not something I can help, it is simply reflective of paths taken and influences experienced. The first time I read the Qur’an (while still quite young), I felt a personal earthquake shake through my being - it was the verses in the last section of the Qur’an that I read first…and the words powerfully affected me, seized my mind and turned it in directions toward which I had never looked or looked at only distractedly, hazily - without deep interest. The recognition of and respect for the revelatory power of this book has been with me ever since.

Islam from inside reflects this influence in a formal, intellectualized manner. This website is meant to be a more casual catalog of thoughts, influences, experiences, travelogues, and other miscellany - but religion in general, and Islam in particular, will likely enter into and shape most of what appears here. What I write will likely be as much directed towards attempting to understand and explore my own encounter with religion, as an exploration of religion in the wider world.

2007 03 29 Irshaad Uncategorized
About the blog
Islam
Qur'an Comments (6) Permalink

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