Here I go again

[SwedenMajidah]

Peace Maria;
I know you did not mean that (I mentioned that at the end of my last post).

Peace Br,

Oh ok sorry.

Maria

[Wakas]

peace all,

Everything in the universe, willingly or unwillingly, is in islam/surrender to God. The only difference is whether one chooses to actively acknowledge this and thus follow through with this acknowledgement, e.g. accountability, servitude etc. "satan" acknowledges the existence of God, this can clearly be seen in The Quran, but does not follow through and act in harmony with this. It is like when a part of you knows doing XYZ is wrong, but you do it anyway. When "satan" like the other controlling forces / malaika was asked to "sujud" to adam/mankind, "satan" refused, thus mankind will struggle being in conrol of "satan", and "satan" is that part of ourselves which acknowledges but refuses to "sujud" within us. It is an eternal struggle, that is why mankind and "satan" are described as enemies of one another. I like chapter 114 on this, here is my rendering:

Chapter 114
Say: I seek refuge with the Lord/Sustainer/Provider of people.
The Ruler/Owner/King of people,
The God of people,
From the harm/evil of the withdrawing whisperer/tempter,
Who whispers/ places temptations into the hearts of people,
From within and (from) the people.

Note: the first 3 verses discuss the protector, and last 3 verses discuss protection from what. The Quran ends on this balance, and in my view, showing us the two ways, then leaves the greatest battle to us: the battle within.

Read in conjunction with:
http://free-minds.org/forum/index.php?topic=12703.msg102151#msg102151

I actually reflected on the story of "adam" recently, and I began to see connections with humans becoming the khalif/successor on earth (i.e. the evolutionary peak, and the transition from our previous ancestor to a human being and all that comes with it: free choice, responsibility, speech, communication, power, weakness, God-awareness, revelation, beginning of the test and its rules etc). I believe this important transition phase is strongly represented in the story of "adam", or at least, this is my working hypothesis at the present time.

And:
http://free-minds.org/forum/index.php?topic=15870.msg159537#msg159537

Cites an interesting usage of "whisper" in 50:16, in which our soul "whispers/tuwaswisu" to us, the same word used for when shaytan "whispers" to us. A case for shaytan being a part of us.

The reason I bring up these posts again, and interlink them is I realised something today for the first time. The Quran ends with chapter 114, which is basically about the greatest battle: within, and in the story/parable of adam in The Quran, it begins with how iblees (~ destructive/repelling force) does not sjd/acknowledge/submit to adam/mankind. In other words, the human story begins and ends on the same note, it comes full circle, ending where it began.

[AK85]

Hi,

I'm really glad I found someone from Egypt here. I think since you live there you probably saw what happened to the country when it became "religous." People  became mean, rude and intolerant. How can a country that has one of the oldest civilizations, and the most beautiful culture with the third movie production in the world go down like that? How can the country that has for decades been producing some of the best movies, music, literature brand all of these things as "haram." What's going on here? Why is all this happening?

I have to say one of the things that are really turning me off Islam is how people are becoming so bloody judgemental. You don't see Christians or Jews or Buddhists or in fact people of any religion behave like that. Last year I was interviewing a convert to Islam (I'm a journalist) and half way through the interview he said, "you know some people like to be middle muslims like you so that they can be accepted by the West." Now why did this guy call me a "Middle Muslim"? Because I'm not veiled. This is by the way a very small example. Muslims are becoming so bloody judgemental, always telling each other that they are not practicing the way they should. Which other religions do that? None.

Actually there are many Christian and Jewish sects which all have animosities toward each other. In fact the late Pope John Paul even oversaw a work in which he criticized and "appraised" the various Christian sects.

[AK85]

I do agree brother...but God said some of them are not. Therefore, we can't generalize, can we?

peace. i find the flowers beautiful. in one of the posts you mention about you "the only desert rose (am not sure)". what/where desert are you in right now.

salams. ramon.

You know I read something interesting once in a Christian person's refutal of the Qu'ran. He was talking about how the Qu'ran is double edged in its views on Christians saying some will get into heaven, and then mentioned a negative view saying "pagans are those who believe God had a son"

First of all. Does Nasara mean Christian/Nazirite? Classical Arabic has a word with a "z" sound correct? Zechariah is referred to as Zakariyya not Sakariyya.

So the Nasara will get into heaven. Pagans on the other hand, are not Nasara.

[Mazhar]

and then mentioned a negative view saying "pagans are those who believe God had a son"

Where has Qur'aan said so?

[AK85]

Where has Qur'aan said so?

I made an error, the word pagan is not used thank you for correcting me.

[AK85]

I've noticed that in 5:73 and 5:116 the subject of the trinity is discussed and the people who believe in this are never mentioned (in regards to a title) however I've noticed that the word nasara is employed in 9:30 when discussing them to believe the Masih is God's son

commentary/thoughts?