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Seventh Sense

sufihameer — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 05:35:06 CST

The Human Imagination" Our Seventh Sense

"Human Imagination is the ability of humans to visualize in their mind. To be creative! The power to become aware of the wonders of the Universe! An eagle may have much keener eyes then ours but it cannot "see" the things that we can!" - D.Ham.

THE TRANSFORMATION -

Scientist pretty much agree that something strange and wondrous began to happen on our planet about forty thousand years ago. A strange new life form began to leave an indelible mark on our archaeological history. New tools and artifacts designed with aesthetic beauty began to appear. Later, beautiful art was painted on cave walls and probably a lot of other places that did not survive the ages. This is hard evidence that a radical new form of life was beginning to make its presence known on Earth.  A revolutionary, entirely new phenomena was taking place on this tiny insignificant planet. 'Human Imagination' was being introduced to life on Earth, a quantum leap in the evolution of life. A new chapter was opening in the Homo Sapiens story that would eventually evolve into our present civilizations. This "seventh sense" allows Mankind, above all other animals in the world, to control its own destiny own destiny. It has allowed us to speculate about our own creation.

The "Homo Sapiens" species had been 'transformed' into the
"Homo Imaginative Sapiens".

'Human Imagination' has allowed mankind to delve into the mysteries of its own creation - to behold the wonders of the Universe. It is a totally new dimension for life on Earth!
It is "Our Seventh Sense". It created the "MIND" of Mankind!

I would like to introduce mankind's 'seventh sense' at this time. It is exclusively human, vital for carrying on human activity. Without this 'seventh sense' all human progress would cease. The 'seventh sense' I am writing about is 'Human Imagination'.

We all know about the five senses everyone possesses, (provided they are not unfortuate enough to be either blind or deaf). There is also the sense of balance which some scientists say is not a sense but I always include as another of our vital animal senses, for a total of six senses.
Around forty thousand years ago the culmination of billions of years of the evolution of life forms was occuring in the brains of the Homo Sapien species. This 'final evolution' created a powerful new brain that allowed human beings to become aware of the wonders that surrounded them. A whole new world had opened up for people! We had become 'imaginative beings'. It was our 'seventh sense'. This 'seventh sense' has opened a whole new world for mankind to enjoy. It has allowed mankind to reach out beyond the very narrow animal world into a vast new universe to “see” the wonders of nature.
We share our other senses; sight, smell, hearing, feeling, taste and balance, with the other animals. These are the senses that are vital for animal survival. They are the vital contacts between the physical body and the environment that surrounds it. They tell us what is happening to our body and about our immediate surroundings.
They tell us whether we are in danger, our spatial orientation, whether we are hot or cold, if the food is good or bad, sweet or sour. They help us hunt for food (see, smell, listen). They warn us if another predatory animal is our vicinity ready to attack us. All these senses are extemely vital for our well being and survival. We could not survive without them. We share these six senses with all the other animals. They are our “animal senses”.
Humans have all these senses, although they may not be as keen as some of the other animals. We may not be able to see as good as an eagle or is our nose as sensitive as a bloodhound, but our animal senses are sufficient for our survival. Human's, as well as all the other animals have the six senses, necessary to carry on their style of life. The higher animals also have a limited imagination, enough so that they may survive and prosper, but thats about all.
In addition to the animal senses, nature has bestowed a very special 'seventh sense' on human beings. It is an immensely powerful imagination. I call it 'Human Imagination'. It is not a vital gift, the Hominids survived remarkably well for million of years without this 'seventh sense'. It is a very special gift however because it has allowed an animal, such as we are, to peer beyond the veil and see startling new worlds never before seen by any animal on the planet.
'Human Imagination' has allowed mankind to climb from the valley of the ordinary to the peak of the mountain, where all of natures’s wonders lie before it. It elevated the human race to a quantum level above all other animals. It allows us to “see” deep into the secrets of nature, to think abstract thoughts, to associate marks on a paper with objects and profound ideas of other human beings, to communicate verbally with other people, to create and listen to beautiful music. (The other animals can also hear music but they cannot appreciate or comprehend its meaning or the richness of its rhythms and melodies.) It has increased our cognitive powers enormously.
We can look at a collection of colors dabbed on a canvas and preceive it as a beautiful painting, a work of art. It allows us to 'see' into the past or project into the future. It allows us to perceive the beauty of God’s creativity. It has allowed Mankind to create and progress, over the ages. It allows us to 'see' things that no other animal can. No other animal has this 'imaginative power' it is strictly a human sense. Its sensors are the billions of pathways located in the matter of the cortex of our enlarged brain. This 'seventh sense', "Human Imagination" had created the 'Mind' of mankind!

Just what is the 'Mind' of mankind??

Astrology

sufihameer — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 05:19:46 CST

Astrology Astrology - belief in the physical influence of planetary rays on earth - is one of the most important historical contexts in which astronomy developed. Astrology served as a motivation as well as a means of gainful employment for astronomers. The Babylonians meticulously compiled tablets of the position of Venus, as it was believed to signify omens for weather, war, famine, diseases, rulers and kingdoms. Ptolemy composed the Tetrabiblos, believing that astrology could be placed on a rational footing, despite being a conjectural art like medicine. In practice, belief in astrology meant that horoscopes were cast for new-born children, prospective spouses and political enemies, public buildings were opened and marriage and other ceremonies conducted on auspicious days. Numerous records of astrological practice can be found from the Roman times.
Several important Arabic authors on astronomy, such as al-Kindi, Masha'allah and Abu Ma 'Shar were astrologers: Abraham ibn Ezra and Ibn Yunus discussed astrology in a scholarly manner. In the Latin West, the terms astrology and astronomy were interchangeable for a long time. In the arts faculties of medieval universities, the theory of planetary motion of Sacrobosco, Ptolemy and Gerard of Cremona (later Georg Peurbach) was always taught alongside guides for interpreting the influence of planetary configurations, through texts such as Alchabitius' Introduction to Astrology, Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos and Centiloquium and Albumazar's Great Conjunctions. Johannes Kepler believed that he could set astrology onto a surer footing, and his astrological beliefs were fundamental to his heliocentric cosmology.
It is important to remember that one of the important reasons for studying astrology in the Latin West was medicine: parts of medical prognosis and treatment were determined by astrological information. For instance, whether a disease 'turned' (on 'critical days') better or worse depended on the state of the patient's body and whether it was an astrologically favourable moment. Bloodletting, a medical treatment intended to rectify the imbalance of bodily humours, was regulated by the position of the moon, which was considered to exert greatest influence over the human body. For instance, every sign of the zodiac was considered to rule a part of the human body: the Saggitarius ruled the thighs, Pisces the feet, and so on. When the moon was in the zodiac ruling a particular part of the body, bloodletting from that part was to be avoided, since the attraction of the moon might cause excessive bleeding. Numerous medical manuscripts and almanacs include the figure of the 'zodiac man' as a reminder of the specific influence of the moon. In addition, the power of the moon's pulling power varied by its phases, and thus almanacs usually showed the phases of the moon.
Thus, students of medicine at Bologna, for instance, learnt astrology for four years, including grounding in Euclid's geometry and Ptolemy's Almagest. In addition, they learnt how to use instruments such as the astrolabe and the quadrant, and were taught how to use the Alfonsine Tables along with their canons. The instruction to use astronomical tables indicates that students, or future practitioners of medicine were not expected to calculate afresh planetary positions each time they needed to make a prognosis or conduct blood-letting. Several manuscripts for physicians contain short-cut tables or volvelles (paper discs) in order to establishing planetary positions and phases of the moon. More frequently, practitioners relied on calendars which listed the necessary astrological information. Thus mathematics professors at Bologna were required to compile the official prognostication in order to ensure the dissemination of proper and accurate astrological knowledge. The need for some mastery in astrology for the study of medicine explains why so many teachers of mathematics or astronomy had medical degrees or went on to become physicians, including the most famous astrologer of the Early Modern period, Nostrodamus. The works of Copernicus and Regiomontanus, and contemporary expectations and reactions to them, also needs to be understood in this light: developments in astronomy were inextricably linked with, and were believed to have, implications for astrology. Astronomical developments did not necessarily mean the demise of astrology.
Outside the university walls, the belief in planetary powers was wide-spread enough that rulers retained their own court astrologers. Frederick II (1194-1250) employed Michael Scot, Federigo da Montefeltro (Duke: 1468-82) Paul of Middelburg, and Rudolf II Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler in succession. Galileo Galilei, as courtier was also expected to meet the astrological needs of the prince. Tracts and pamphlets came to be written, blaming astrological configurations for social upheavals or diseases, such as the Black Death, the Sack of Rome, the Peasants' War, the split of the Church, outbreak of syphilis. Prognostications in the vernacular flooded sixteenth-century Europe, foretelling terrible weather, major floods, political unrest and the coming of the Anti-Christ. Comets were eagerly studied as signs portending disaster. Novelties in the heavens were scrutinised for their influences and meanings on earthly matters. Belief in the power of the heavens became part of a world-view; poems were written and metaphors developed in the works of Chaucer, Shakespeare and Milton, to name only the most famous. The supreme and central power of the sun was successfully employed as an image of kingship by the advisors to Louis XIV, the 'Sun-King'.
It should also be remembered there were many who objected to astrology in one way or another. The profusion of astrologers, their practice of divination and forecasting the future alarmed Christians as well as Muslims, who saw them as implying a deterministic world-view in which God would loose his omnipotence and humans their free will. Constantine thus made divination a capital offence in 357, a ban repeated in 373 and 409; Augustine spoke out vociferously against it in his City of God. Avicenna, Al-Farabi and Averroes all objected to certain astrological practices. Important critiques of astrology in the Latin West included Nicole Oresme, Thomas Bradwardine, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, and Martin Luther. In 1586, Gregory XIII issued a Bull against astrologers, confirming existing prohibitions against predictions of fortuitous events or events depending on human will. However, predictions based on nature and of use to medicine, agriculture and navigation were still permitted.

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sufihameer — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 01:08:23 CST

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sufihameer — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 08:07:25 CST

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Jhoolay Lal

sufihameer — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 06:30:48 CST

Jhoolay Lal WHEN Mahmud Ghazni was returning from his sack of Somnath early in A.D. 1017 he had decided to take the Sindh route. Here, however, the Jats gave him so much hell that later the same year he had led a special expedition to punish the Sindhis. The `religious' reason for the expedition was that Mahmud was a Sunni, attached to the Khalifa in Baghdad, and the Muslims in Sindh were inclined towards the Karmatian Shia rulers of Egypt, who had even carried away the black stone of Kaaba. The Karmatians in India were half-Hindu; they looked upon Ali, the son-in-law of Mohammed and fourth Khalifa, as the tenth avatar of Vishnu!
Obviously, Mahmud's effort was not particularly successful. The contemporary writers do not even mention it. The later flattering historians, however, claim that Mahmud defeated the Sindhis in a titanic river fight in which his 1400 boats allegedly worsted the Sindhis' 4000 boats. These historians also claim that Mahmud's horoscope was identical with that of Prophet Mohammed. Which, in turn, could be quite an embarrassment for the latter!
However, historians dispute the victory claim. They point out that Mahmud's was a land army and never an amphibious force. They also point out that Mahmud had never before used boats --- and that so many boats were never found even in all the Sindh- Punjab rivers put together.
Mahmud's fans claim that the underwater spikes attached to his boats had pierced and overturned the Sindhi boats. Historians ask: how could Mahmud'5 spiked boats overturn the Sindhi. boats, without themselves overturning in the process!
But Mahmud did seem to have succeeded in carrying away many Sindhis as slaves. Today, they are known as ``Sintis'' among the sixty lakh Gypsies now in Europe.
Students of history, however, do note three points: Mahmud,. who had invaded India seventeen times between A.D. 1000 and 1026, did not repeat the exercise after his Sindh adventure,. though he had ruled for another five years. Secondly, the Karmatians survive today as Ismaili Khojas --- who, till 1937, were governed by the Hindu civil law --- having produced in modern. Sindh, important leaders such as Mohammed Ali Jinnah and the Aga Khan. Thirdly, Mahmud's attack had ended the Arab presence in Sindh and it was followed by the local Rajput clan of Soomras emerging as sovereign rulers of Sindh.
The first big Soomra name early in the eleventh century was that of Dalurai. In folklore, Dalurai was a bad man who required every new bride to spend the first night with him. God, it is believed, visited His wrath on him and destroyed ``Dalurai ji Nagari''. Nobody knows for sure what was this Dalurai's capital. But the local people point to every major pile of ruins in Sindh as ``Dalurai ji Nagari''!
It is possible that Dalurai did indulge in ``First-Night-with-the- King'', an old anthropological custom surviving in some mediaeval societies. (Till modern times the bridegrooms of certain castes in Kerala looked upon the bride's bleeding caused by the tearing of the hymen as ``violence'', and engaged professionals to do the ``dirty bloody job'' for them!) Very probably the public opprobrium represents a later, higher morality. For while a couple of early sources --- known to be hostile to the Soomras, and close to their rivals, the Sahtas of Sahiti, Central Sindh --- denounce Dalurai for this practice, many other sources praise him as a great and just king.
Interestingly enough, the Alor and the Brahmanabad ruins, hundreds of miles apart, are both supposed to be ``Dalurai ji Nagari''. But it is now known that Brahmanabad was destroyed in an earthquake in 962, about fifty years before Dalurai; and Alor was ruined only by the shift of the river course, almost three hundred years later!
History is something more than a chronicle of events; it is also an expression of hopes and fears of the people. The story of ``Dalurai ji Nagari'' is people's way of rejecting a lower morality and fostering a higher morality in men's minds.
The Soomras ruled Sindh for almost three hundred years --- until A.D. 1315. But, who were they? Some Muslim writers are inclined to think that there was at least some Arab blood in them. But scholars have no doubt that, like the Jareja Rajputs, they were Parmars. According to the Tarikh-e-Tahiri, the Soomras were Hindus. According to H.T. Sorley, the Soomras did become Muslim, but nobody knows when. They were like the Jareja Rajputs, he says, ``of whom the Rao himself once averred that out of 2,000 Jarejas, there were not three who knew what their religion was''. Obviously, the Soomras were Hindus with some Muslim influence, who later became nominal Muslims while retaining their Hindu culture.
At this distance in time it is no use going into the rise and fall of dozens of Soomra kings --- from Rajpal and Bhoongar and Dodo to Hamir and Nangar and Chanesar. There even was a Nehro Dodo, who saluted the commanders of Alauddin Khalji's invading force with his left hand, by way of Sindh's defiance of the Khaljis. But more revealing than the chronicles of kings are the epics of men which throw a flood of light on the life and culture of a society. As Arnold Toynbee puts it in his Study of History: ``History, like the drama and the novel, grew out of mythology, a primitive form of apprehension and expression in which --- as in fairy tales listened to by children or in dreams dreamt by sophisticated adults --- the line between fact and fiction is left undrawn. It has, for example, been said of the Iliad that anyone who starts reading it as history will find that it is full of fiction but, equally, anyone who starts reading it as fiction will find that it is full of history.'' The same is true of the tales of Sindh which combine history with story to produce literature that reflects life intensely and reflects it whole.
The oldest extent tale of Sindh is the Rai Diyach, with its locale in lower Sindh and Saurashtra. The Samma Rajputs of Sindh had migrated to Saurashtra (``Sorath'' in Sindhi) after the Arab invasion. In the first decade of the eleventh century, Rai Dewas (or Diyach), belonging to the Chuda tribe of the Sammas, was ruling in Girnar, Junagadh. His sister gave birth to a male child who, the astrologers said, would slay his maternal uncle. The mother asked her maid to dispose of the unlucky child, but the latter was so charmed by the baby's looks that she put him in a box and let it float down the river. The box was picked up by a charan (minstrel) in the territory of King Anirai and the child was named Bijal. Bijal grew up to be a great singer. At this stage, Sorath, the daughter of potter Ratna, in Girnar, was engaged to Anirai. When the marriage procession was on way, Rai Diyach intercepted it, carried away Sorath, and married her.
Anirai was furious over this humiliation. He announced a big platter of precious stones for whoever would avenge his insult and bring Rai Diyach's head. Bijal's wife, who was sure her husband could achieve anything with his bewitching voice, accepted the jewellery on promise of doing the needful. She persuaded Bijal to go and sing in front of the palace of Rai Diyach --- and when the king would ask him for ``any favour'', to ask for his head. That was exactly how it worked out. The king chivalrously agreed to offer his head and said: ``If I had a hundred thousand heads, I'd cut them one by for every song of yours.'' Shah Abdul Latif [Shrine], the Mahakavi of Sindh, has made the story immortal in his ``Sur Sorath''. It makes four great points: justice must be done; fate is inevitable; women have a fatal weakness for finery; and Music has more power over men than anything else.
Another incident of the same period is the story of Lila- Chanesar. Chanesar was the Soomra ruler of Devalkot near Thatta. He was happily married to Lila. Kounroo, the daughter of Rai Khangar, the Solanki ruler of Lakhpat, fell in love with Chanesar, but she could not seduce him. Thereupon Kounroo hit upon an idea. She dressed up as a maid servant and joined Lila's service. After some time she offered Lila a rare necklace, if only she would let her spend one night with Chanesar. In a fit of weakness for a rare piece of jewellery --- and hoping that Chanesar in his cups would not be able to distinguish Kounroo from Lila --- Lila agreed. But Chanesar found it out, rejected Lila for good, and married Kounroo. The story highlights women's weakness for gold --- and for gadgets of all kinds. It also empha- sizes that the Lord --- whether he be temporal or spiritual --- can not be trifled with.
Shah in his Sur Lila-Chanesar tells Lila: ``What you thought was a necklace, became a stone round your neck.'' Lila says: ``Oh God, one should never be too smart; the smart ones come to grief.'' Shah ends with this advice to Lila: ``Oh Lila, weep no more; get up and sweep your yard, and go and sacrifice your own self, your father and your grandfather at the altar of your Lord.''
However, the Sindhi epic of the period par excellence is the Umar Marui. Marui is a village belle, engaged to her kinsman, Khetsen. When the Soomra ruler Umar of Umarkot or Amarkot comes to know of her beauty, he abducts her, confines her in his fort, and invites her to marry him. Marui declines. She refuses to take any rich foods or wear any finery. She would not even oil or comb her hair. She is afraid her kinsfolk have given her up, thinking she may not like to give up the palace for the sand-dunes of the Thar desert. However, she manages to send word to her people. She then tells Umar she would like to go out for a stroll. That makes Umar think she is relaxing and relenting in her rejection of him. She then goes out and is rescued and taken home among joyous scenes.
Marui reminds us of Sita in her confinement in Lanka. Interestingly enough, both Ravana and Umar, old villians, were gentlemen enough; they did not force their will on their captive beauties.
Marui is very emphatic that she is a poor girl, in love with her desert land; that she is already engaged and will not marry any other man --- for love or money or both. Her love of her poor land and poor people almost makes us wish to go and live in a blooming desert. Her pining for her desert-home has elicited some of the most patriotic poetry in Sindhi literature.
Says Shah's Marui: ``I wish I had not been born; or if I were born, l wish I had died there and then, rather than face this ignominy.... Oh Umar, don't make a laughing stock of me by making this poor girl wear those silks of yours. We are poor but we don't change our life-partners for gold. O Umar, when I die, send my body to my land [watan], where it will then come back to life....''
The Umar Marui is one long paean of patriotism. Even more, it is a plea for swadharma --- for y our own life values and life style. The Umar Marui is an abiding source of inspiration for the Sindhi nationalists today.
However, the long and memorable Soomra rule is enshrined most in the historic contest of Dodo and Chanesar. When Bhungar Rao died towards the end of the thirteenth century, the court elders had decided to crown Dodo, his younger and brighter son by his regular wife, and not Chanesar, his elder son, by an iron- smith girl. Neither half-brother was keen on the pugg (pugree, turban or crown); and Dodo even said that he would be a titular sovereign and Chanesar would be the real ruler. But even so, the formal crowning of the younger brother infuriated Chanesar's mother and wife --- even as Kekayi and Manthura had been enraged by Rama's succession --- who provoked him to seek the aid of Alauddin Khalji in Delhi. What followed was a titanic struggle between Sindh and the Khaljis in 1296--1300. A huge army descended on Sindh via Gujerat. The army was so huge, say the Sindhi bards, that ``they drank the Sabarmati dry''.
The Khaljis now not only wanted to replace Dodo by Chanesar; they also wanted Bhagi, Bhungar Rao's daughter by a third (regular) wife, for Alauddin. However, the Soomras would not agree to either demand. Rejecting the idea of a matrimonial alliance, they said: ``Tu Turk asee Soomra, ahri jor na jugai'' (``You are a Turk and we are Soomras; such a union will not be right''). In the fight that ensued, both sides suffered heavily. Dodo's son Bhungar Jr. and even Chanesar s son Nangar ``Nehro'', fought heroically for Dodo --- and fell. Sabar Abro, a Samma chief on the Soomra side, killed Alauddin's son Syed Ghazi Salar. When Dodo was speared and raised high, he told Chanesar standing by: ``Even now I am above you!''
Meanwhile the Khalji attack on his own land and people had induced second thoughts in Chanesar. He now began to hate Alauddin for his excesses against Sindh. He is believed to have died fighting Alauddin.
The most important aspect of this episode is that in Sindh it became a people's war. Even peasants, shepherds, cowherds, bards, faqirs, fishermen, potters and weavers joined the fray. They all said: The sword is our plough.''
The Soomra ladies secretly left for the safety of Samma protection in Kutch, and Alauddin found the palace deserted. He left Sindh disgusted and disappointed.
To this day songs are sung in praise of the heroism of the Soomras and the beauty and purity of their womenfolk. Dodo's martyrdom is still observed with an annual fair in the month of Chaitra. Three-hundred-year-old ballads, still sung in Sindh, go on like this:
``Sindh is the life-breath of the Soomras.... Their Vagahkot is God's own fort; may it not suffer the slightest indignity. Oh Dodo, glory unto your mother who gave you birth. The warriors of Sindh are fighting the enemy. Oh God, give them victory....Let there always be peace and prosperity in this auspicious land....''
The Soomras gave us, even in the twentieth century, Allah Bux Soomro, the prime minister of Sindh, who resisted partition till his dying day. And dearest to the hearts of the Sindhi people are two holy figures of the Soomra times --- Jhoolay Lal and Lal Shahbaz (Red King-falcon).

Lal Shahbaz Qalandar's Shrine

Lal Shahbaz ``Qalandar'' [Shrine] was born Pir Usman Shah in Marwand, now Afghanistan, in 1143. He came and settled down in Sehwan, famous for its ancient Shiva temple. He is the first well-known Muslim to have preached love and tolerance in Sindh. He, therefore, became an instant hit with the Muslims and the Hindus alike. He was called Shahbaz because he was believed to have turned himself into a falcon to pick up his friend Sheikh Farid Shukur Ganj from the gallows of the fanatics. He was called ``Lal'' (red) for the red robe which he wore all his life. Lal Shahbaz is the first important Sufi saint in Sindh. The Hindus regarded him as the incarnation of Bhartihari, the saintly brother of King Vikramaditya, who is believed to have worshipped Shiva at the spot where Lal Shahbaz's shrine stands today.
The other holy figure is that of Jhoolay Lal, also known as Udero Lal, Amar Lal or Lal Sain. In the tenth century when Arabs were declining and the Soomras were coming up, Mirkh Shah, the fanatical ruler of Thatta, ordered the Hindus to embrace lslam. The bewildered people collected en masse on the banks of the Sindhu and prayed to Varuna Devata for a saviour. Legcnd has it that a handsome young man emerged from the river on a charger, showed many miracles and saved the people from cultural genocide. He is shown in Nasarpur --- where he is believed to have been born to Rattan Rao Luhana and his wife Devaki---as a baby in a silver swing(jhoola or peengho) --- just like Lord Krishna in his childhood. Elsewhere he is shown with a flowing white beard, like Guru Nanak, but seated on the river- fruit, fish. But he was obviously a great youth leader who saved the Sindhi Hindus a thousand years ago. To this day temples are built in his honour and panjaras (five-line verses) are sung to his greater glory. And in recent years Roona Laila has made Jhoolay Lal --- and Mast Qalandar --- household names in Hindustan and Pakistan alike, with her lilting ``O Lal, Meri Pat Rakhiyo Sada Jhoolay Lalan....'' Rendered in English, it reads:
OH LORD of Sindh, Jhoolay Lal, and Sire of Sehwan, the red- robed Cod-intoxicated Qalandar, glory unto you! May I always have your benign protection.
YOUR SHRINE is always lighted with four lamps; and here I come to light a fifth lamp in ycur honour.
LET YOUR heroic name ring out in Hind and Sindh; let the gong ring loud for your glory.
OH LORD, may you prevail every time, everywhere. In the name of Ali, I pray to you to help my boat cross (the river of life) in safety.

Qalandar Lal Shahbaz

sufihameer — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 06:26:41 CST

Qalandar Lal Shahbaz
Lal Shahbaz Qalandar is a patron saint of Sindhis - both Hindus and Muslims. Lal because of his red attire, Shahbaz denotes his free spirit like the great falcon, bird native to Sindh and Qalandar - one who knows one's inner being - is the Sufi sect he belonged to.
His real name was Syed Muhammad Usman and he was born early in the 13th century in Marwand, Iran. His father became a dervish, that is one who has taken a vow of poverty and austerity, and his mother was a high ranking princess, Even as a young boy, he showed strong religious leanings. He knew the Qua'ran by heart at age seven, and at twenty he was initiated into the Qalandar order. He dressed from then on in beggars clothes, embraced poverty, wandering throughout Middle East. In 1263, he arrived in Multan, Punjab where people begged him to stay. He continued his journey south, eventually settling down in Sehwan in southern Sindh, where he took up residence in the trunk of a tree on the outskirts of town.
The legend has it that the incumbent fakirs in Sewhan sent him a bowl of milk filled to the brim indicating that there was no room for one more. He returned the bowl floating a single flower on the top. His legend spread far and wide by the time of his death in 1274.
The shrine around his tomb, built in 1356, dazzles the eye with its Sindh kashi tiles, mirror work and two gold-plated doors - one donated by the late Shah of Iran, the other by the late Prime Minister Zulfikar Bhutto. The inner sanctum is about 100 yards square with the silver canopied grave in the middle. On one side of the marble floor is a row of about 12 inch high collapsible wooden stands on which are set copies of Quar'an for devotees to read. On the other side, beside a bundle of burning incense sticks, are rows of diyas - obviously for Hindu devotees.
Urs, which means death anniversary of a saint, is celebrated every year at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz in the first week of February. The usr is a carnival as well a religious festival. It attracts over half a million pilgrims mainly from Sindh and Punjab who flock into Sewhan, a small town of about 30,000. Local residents take in many relatives and guests but most people pitch in tents. On each morning of the three day feast, the narrow lanes of Sewhan are packed to capacity as thousands and thousands of pilgrims, fakirs and worshippers make their way to the shrine to commune with the saint and make a manta - a wish.
The pilgrims file into the inner sanctum clutching, caressing, kissing, touching and feeling the grave, the railing, and the doorposts. They bow and touch their eyelids to the grave. They communicate with the saint with eyes closed and hands folded - in Hindu style. Most offer flowers and a green chadar with qar'anic inscriptions in silver or gold threads. At night, there is singing and dancing in praise of the saint.
Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, a patron saint of Sindhis, was born early in the twelfth century in 1177 in Marwand, now Afghanistan, to a noble Makhdum, sayed Ahmed Kabir, who was a close friend of the King of Tabriz. Lal Shahbaz Qalandar's real name was Syed Muhammad Usman and his mother was a high-ranking princess. He showed from his infancy signs of a deep spiritual nature. It is said that even when very young he had developed occult powers. He knew Quran by heart at age seven, and at twenty he was initiated into the Qalandar order. The call of the Spirit came to this man who was destined to be the mystic light, the light of Sufism to India and especially to Sindh. He had three other friends: Baba Farid Shakar Ganj of Pakpattan [1174-1266]; Jalaluddin Bukhari of Uch- Bahawalpur [1196-1294] and Bahauddin Zakaria of Multan [1170-1267]. They are known to the Sufis as the four great friends, the great pioneers of 13th century Sufi movement. Lal Shahbaz Qalandar and his friends conceived the idea of coming over to India. The King of Baghdad, who loved and revered Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, entreated him not to leave Baghdad; but he, who felt the urge from within, could not see his way to remain, and soon after led his three companions on the holy mission that was to spreads Islam in India.
Many are the stories given about their adventurous journey: tradition is resonant with the voice of miracles. It is said that when the party arrived at the Persian Gulf and after they had reached one particular island they could not find a soul. They had to cross to some other place to secure a boat. Lal Shahbaz Qalandar said to his companions: "Depend upon God and enter the stream; but take care, you must have no attachment to the things of the world, otherwise the waters cannot give you a safe passage. Here is my bowl, lay your hands on it and it shall serve us as a boat." The four entered the stream. In the middle of the river the bowl began to sink and the companions along with it. Usman said to them, "One of you has some burden of the world on your person." Actually Bhawaldin, on of the three companions, had carried with himself a gold brick, calculating that it might be of some use on a rainy day. Marwandi ordered him to throw it into the river, and behold! As soon as the brick sant, the bowl came up and the friends safely reached the other side.
Lal Shahbaz Qalandar is said to have been challenged on the way by a famous ascetic to bathe in a tub of burning oil. He successfully passed the test. Thus he earned the title of Lal (a ruby) as the ascetic said to him, "Thou are indeed the Lal of Lal (the ruby of rubies)". This meant that Lal Shahbaz Qalandar was real gold having been tested by fire. He received no injury; only his robe turned crimson.
It is believed that Lal Shabaz Qalandar was so named because of the red robe he wore all his life, and a story is told of how Lal Shahbaz Qalandar rescued his friend Sheikh Farrid Shakar Ganj by a miracle from a baker's wife's accusations.
The friends, in 1263, arrived in Sind, which included in those days Multan and some other portion of the Punjab, where people begged Lal Shahbaz Qalandar to stay. His three friends went to other lands. He continued journey south, eventually settling down in Sehwan in southern Sindh, where he took up residence in the trunk of a tree on the outskirts of town. Sehwan is located on the right bank of the Indus about 180 miles north of Karachi. Sehwan is famous for its ancient Shiva temple and the remains of Kafir-Qila, a fort reportedly made by Alexander. Lal Shahbaz lived and died in Sehwan.
The legend has it that the incumbent fakirs in Sewhan sent him a bowl of milk filled to the brim indicating that the place was already full of faqirs and there was no room for one more. He returned the bowl floating a single flower on the top suggesting by this reply that there was ample room for him, as he would remain among them floating as a flower. His legend spread far and wide by the time of his death in 1274. Thus a sacred flower was planted in the soil of Sind.
It is said that 17 leading tribes of Punjab accepted Islam at the hands of Baba Farid. Some of these tribes were Kharals, Dhudhyan, Tobian and also Wattoo, a Rajput tribe. Jalaluddin Bukhari converted the Soomros and Sammas of Sindh while Shahbaz Qalandar had a great following in Multan and Northern Sindh.
The shrine around Lal Shahbaz Qalandar tomb, built in 1356, dazzles the eye with its Sindh kashi tiles, mirror work and two gold-plated doors - one donated by the late Shah of Iran, the other by the late Prime Minister Zulfikar Bhutto of Pakistan. The inner sanctum is about 100 yards square with the silver canopied grave in the middle.
His annual Urs celebrations are held on the 18 Shahban - the eighth month of the Islamic lunar calendar. It attracts over half a million pilgrims mainly from Sindh and Punjab who flock into Sewhan, a small town of about 30,000. On each morning of the three-day feast, the narrow lanes of Sewhan are packed to capacity as thousands and thousands of pilgrims, fakirs and worshippers make their way to the shrine to commune with the saint.

Sikhism

sufihameer — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 06:22:29 CST

Sikhism Sikhism (ਸਿੱਖੀ, founded on the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev and nine successive gurus in fifteenth century Northern India, is the fifth-largest religion in the world.This system of religious philosophy and expression has been traditionally known as the Gurmat (literally the counsel of the gurus) or the Sikh Dharma. Sikhism originated from the word Sikh, which in turn comes from the Sanskrit root śiṣya meaning "disciple" or "learner", or śikṣa meaning "instruction."[2][3] The principal belief of Sikhism is faith in Vāhigurū—represented using the sacred symbol of ēk ōaṅkār, the Universal God. Sikhism advocates the pursuit of salvation through disciplined, personal meditation on the name and message of God. A key distinctive feature of Sikhism is a non-anthropomorphic concept of God, to the extent that one can interpret God as the Universe itself. The followers of Sikhism are ordained to follow the teachings of the ten Sikh gurus, or enlightened leaders, as well as the holy scripture entitled the Gurū Granth Sāhib, which includes selected works of many philosophers from diverse socio-economic and religious backgrounds. The text was decreed by Gobind Singh, the tenth guru, as the final guru of the Khalsa Panth. Sikhism's traditions and teachings are distinctively associated with the history, society and culture of the Punjab. Adherents of Sikhism are known as Sikhs (students or disciples) and number over 23 million across the world. Most Sikhs live in the state of Punjab in India and, prior to the country's partition, millions of Sikhs lived in what is now the Punjab province of Pakistan.

Philosophy and teachings

Sikh religious philosophy and Sikhism primary beliefs and principles Sikh religious philosophy has roots in the religious traditions of northern India.[4] The Sant Mat traditions are fundamental to the teachings of Sikhism's founder, Nanak. Especially important to the connection with Sikhism were the teachings of some of the saints such as Ravidas and Kabir. Sikhism is also inspired by the emphasis on devotion to God in the traditions of Vaishnavism, especially through the Bhakti movement, as well as influences of Sufism. However, Nanak's teachings diverge significantly from Vaishnavism in their rejection of idol worship, the doctrine of divine incarnations and a strict emphasis on inward devotion; Sikhism is professed to be a more difficult personal pursuit than Bhakti.[5] The evolution of Nanak's thoughts on the basis of his own experiences and study have also given Sikhism a distinctly unique feature.

God

Sikhism is a monotheistic religion. In Sikhism, God—termed Vāhigurū—is formless, eternal, and unobserved: niraṅkār, akāl, and alakh. The beginning of the first composition of Sikh scripture is the figure "1"—signifying the universality of God. It states that God is omnipresent and infinite, and is signified by the term ēk ōaṅkār[5]. Sikhs believe that prior to creation, all that existed was God and his hukam (will or order).[6] When God willed, the entire cosmos was created. From these beginnings, God nurtured "enticement and attachment" to māyā, or the human perception of reality.[7] While a full understanding of God is beyond human beings,[5] Nanak described God as not wholly unknowable. God is omnipresent (sarav viāpak) in all creation and visible everywhere to the spiritually awakened. Nanak stressed that God must be seen from "the inward eye", or the "heart", of a human being: devotees must meditate to progress towards enlightenment. Nanak emphasized the revelation through meditation, as its rigorous application permits the existence of communication between God and human beings.[5] God has no gender in Sikhism, though translations may incorrectly present a masculine God. In addition, Nanak wrote that there are many worlds on which God has created life.[8]

Pursuing salvation

Nanak's teachings are founded not on a final destination of heaven or hell, but on a spiritual union with God which results in salvation. The chief obstacles to the attainment of salvation are social conflicts and an attachment to worldly pursuits, which commit men and women to an endless cycle of birth — a concept known as reincarnation. Māyā—defined as illusion or "unreality"—is one of the core deviations from the pursuit of God and salvation: people are distracted from devotion by worldly attractions which give only illusive satisfaction. However, Nanak emphasised māyā as not a reference to the unreality of the world, but of its values. In Sikhism, the influences of ego, anger, greed, attachment and lust—known as the Five Evils—are believed to be particularly pernicious. The fate of people vulnerable to the Five Evils is separation from God, and the situation may be remedied only after intensive and relentless devotion.[9] Nanak described God's revelation—the path to salvation—with terms such as nām (the divine Name) and śabad (the divine Word) to emphasise the totality of the revelation. Nanak designated the word guru (meaning teacher) as the voice of God and the source and guide for knowledge and salvation.[10] Salvation can be reached only through rigorous and disciplined devotion to God. Nanak distinctly emphasised the irrelevance of outwardly observations such as rites, pilgrimages or asceticism. He stressed that devotion must take place through the heart, with the spirit and the soul. A key practice to be pursued is nām simraṇ: remembrance of the divine Name. The verbal repetition of the name of God or a sacred syllable is an established practice in religious traditions in India, but Nanak's interpretation emphasised inward, personal observance. Nanak's ideal is the total exposure of one's being to the divine Name and a total conforming to Dharma or the "Divine Order". Nanak described the result of the disciplined application of nām simraṇ as a "growing towards and into God" through a gradual process of five stages. The last of these is sac khaṇḍ (The Realm of Truth)—the final union of the spirit with God.[10] Nanak stressed kirat karō: that a Sikh should balance work, worship, and charity, and should defend the rights of all creatures, and in particular, fellow human beings. They are encouraged to have a caṛdī kalā, or optimistic, view of life. Sikh teachings also stress the concept of sharing—vaṇḍ chakkō—through the distribution of free food at Sikh gurdwaras (laṅgar), giving charitable donations, and working for the betterment of the community and others (sēvā).

The ten gurus and religious authority

Sikh Gurus The term guru comes from the Sanskrit gurū, meaning teacher, guide or mentor. The traditions and philosophy of Sikhism were established by ten specific gurus from 1507 to 1708. Each guru added to and reinforced the message taught by the previous, resulting in the creation of the Sikh religion. Guru Nanak Dev was the first guru and appointed a disciple as successor. Guru Gobind Singh was the final guru in human form. Before his death, Gobind Singh decreed that the Gurū Granth Sāhib would be the final and perpetual guru of the Sikhs.[11]

#	Name	Date of Birth	Guruship on	Death	Age
1	Nanak Dev	15 April 1469	20 August 1507	22 September 1539	69
2	Angad Dev	31 March 1504	7 September 1539	29 March 1552	48
3	Amar Das	5 May 1479	26 March 1552	1 September 1574	95
4	Ram Das	24 September 1534	1 September 1574	1 September 1581	46
5	Arjan Dev	15 April 1563	1 September 1581	30 May 1606	43
6	Har Gobind	19 June 1595	25 May 1606	28 February 1644	48
7	Har Rai	16 January 1630	3 March 1644	6 October 1661	31
8	Har Krishan	7 July 1656	6 October 1661	30 March 1664	7
9	Teg Bahadur	1 April 1621	20 March 1665	11 November 1675	54
10	Gobind Singh	22 December 1666	11 November 1675	7 October 1708	41

After Guru Nanak Dev's passing, the most important phase in the development of Sikhism came with the third successor, Guru Amar Das. Guru Nanak Dev's teachings emphasised the pursuit of salvation; Guru Amar Das began building a cohesive community of followers with initiatives such as sanctioning distinctive ceremonies for birth, marriage and death. Guru Amar Das also established the manji (comparable to a diocese) system of clerical supervision.[10] Guru Amar Das's successor and son-in-law Ram Das founded the city of Amritsar, which is home of the Harimandir Sahib and regarded widely as the holiest city for all Sikhs. When Guru Ram Das's youngest son Guru Arjun Dev succeeded him, the line of male gurus from the Sodhi Khatri family was established: all succeeding gurus were direct descendants of this line. Guru Arjun Dev was responsible for compiling the Sikh scriptures. Guru Arjun Dev was captured by Mughal authorities who were suspicious and hostile to the religious order he was developing.[12] His persecution and death inspired his successors to promote a military and political organisation of Sikh communities to defend themselves against the attacks of Mughal forces. The Sikh gurus established a mechanism which allowed the Sikh religion to react as a community to changing circumstances. The sixth guru, Guru Har Gobind Sahib, was responsible for the creation of the Akal Takht (throne of the timeless one) which serves as the supreme decision-making centre of Sikhdom and sits opposite the Harimandir Sahib. The Sarbat Ḵẖālsā (a representative portion of the Khalsa Panth) historically gathers at the Akal Takht on special festivals such as Vaisakhi or Diwali and when there is a need to discuss matters that affect the entire Sikh nation. A gurmatā (literally, guru's intention) is an order passed by the Sarbat Ḵẖālsā in the presence of the Gurū Granth Sāhib. A gurmatā may only be passed on a subject that affects the fundamental principles of Sikh religion; it is binding upon all Sikhs.[13] The term hukamnāmā (literally, edict or royal order) is often used interchangeably with the term gurmatā. However, a hukamnāmā formally refers to a hymn from the Gurū Granth Sāhib which is given as an order to Sikhs.

History

History of Sikhism Guru Nanak Dev (1469–1538), the founder of Sikhism, was born in the village of Rāi Bhōi dī Talvaṇḍī, now called Nankana Sahib, near Lahore (in what is present-day Pakistan).[14] His father, Mehta Kalu was a Patwari: an accountant of land revenue in the government. Nanak's mother was Tripta Devi and he had one older sister, Nanaki. His parents were Khatri Hindus of the Bedi clan. As a boy, Nanak was fascinated by religion, and his desire to explore the mysteries of life eventually led him to leave home. It was during this period that Nanak was said to have met Kabir (1440–1518), a saint revered by people of different faiths. Sikh tradition states that at the age of thirty, Nanak went missing and was presumed to have drowned after going for one of his morning baths to a local stream called the Kali Bein. Three days later he reappeared and would give the same answer to any question posed to him: "There is no Hindu, there is no Muslim" (in Punjabi, "nā kō hindū nā kō musalmān"). It was from this moment that Nanak would begin to spread the teachings of what was then the beginning of Sikhism.[15] Although the exact account of his itinerary is disputed, he is widely acknowledged to have made four major journeys, spanning thousands of kilometres. The first tour being east towards Bengal and Assam, the second south towards Ceylon via Tamil Nadu, the third north towards Kashmir, Ladakh and Tibet, and the final tour west towards Baghdad and Mecca.[16] Nanak was married to Sulakhni, the daughter of Moolchand Chona, a rice trader from the town of Batala. They had two sons. The elder son, Sri Chand, was an ascetic, and he came to have a considerable following of his own, known as the Udasis. The younger son, Lakshmi Das, on the other hand, was totally immersed in worldly life. To Nanak, who believed in the ideal of rāj maiṁ jōg (detachment in civic life), both his sons were unfit to carry on the Guruship.

Growth of the Sikh community

In 1538, Nanak chose his disciple Lahiṇā, a Khatri of the Trehan clan, as a successor to the guruship rather than either of his sons. Lahiṇā was named Guru Angad Dev and became the second guru of the Sikhs.[17] Nanak conferred his choice at the town of Kartarpur on the banks of the river Ravi, where Nanak had finally settled down after his travels. Though Sri Chand was not an ambitious man, the Udasis believed that the Guruship should have gone to him, since he was a man of pious habits in addition to being Nanak's son. They refused to accept Angad's succession. On Nanak's advice, Angad shifted from Kartarpur to Khadur, where his wife Khivi and children were living, until he was able to bridge the divide between his followers and the Udasis. Angad continued the work started by Nanak and is widely credited for standardising the Gurmukhī script as used in the sacred scripture of the Sikhs. Guru Amar Das, a Khatri of the Bhalla clan, became the third Sikh guru in 1552 at the age of 73. Goindval became an important centre for Sikhism during the guruship of Amar Das. He preached the principle of equality for women by prohibiting purdah and sati. Amar Das also encouraged the practice of langar and made all those who visited him attend laṅgar before they could speak to him.[18] In 1567, Emperor Akbar sat with the ordinary and poor people of Punjab to have laṅgar. Amar Das also trained 146 apostles of which 52 were women, to manage the rapid expansion of the religion.[19] Before he died in 1574 aged 95, he appointed his son-in-law Jēṭhā, a Khatri of the Sodhi clan, as the fourth Sikh guru. Jēṭhā became Guru Ram Das and vigorously undertook his duties as the new guru. He is responsible for the establishment of the city of Ramdaspur later to be named Amritsar. In 1581, Guru Arjun Dev—youngest son of the fourth guru—became the fifth guru of the Sikhs. In addition to being responsible for building the Harimandir Sahib (often called the Golden Temple), he prepared the Sikh sacred text known as the Ādi Granth (literally the first book) and included the writings of the first five gurus. In 1606, for refusing to make changes to the Granth and for supporting an unsuccessful contender to the throne, he was tortured and killed by the Mughal ruler, Jahangir.[20]

Political advancement

Guru Har Gobind, became the sixth guru of the Sikhs. He carried two swords—one for spiritual and the other for temporal reasons (known as mīrī and pīrī in Sikhism).[21] Sikhs grew as an organised community and always had a trained fighting force to defend their independence. In 1644, Guru Har Rai became guru followed by Guru Har Krishan, the boy guru, in 1661. No hymns composed by these three gurus are included in the Sikh holy book.[22] Guru Teg Bahadur became guru in 1665 and led the Sikhs until 1675. Teg Bahadur was executed by Aurangzeb for helping to protect Hindus, after a delegation of Kashmiri Pandits came to him for help when the Emperor condemned them to death for failing to convert to Islam.[23] He was succeeded by his son, Gobind Rai who was just nine years old at the time of his father's death. Gobind Rai further militarised his followers, and was baptised by the Pañj Piārē when he formed the Khalsa in 1699. From here on in he was known as Guru Gobind Singh.[24] From the time of Nanak, when it was a loose collection of followers who focused entirely on the attainment of salvation and God, the Sikh community had significantly transformed. Even though the core Sikh religious philosophy was never affected, the followers now began to develop a political identity. Conflict with Mughal authorities escalated during the lifetime of Teg Bahadur and Gobind Singh. The latter founded the Khalsa in 1699. The Khalsa is a disciplined community that combines its religious purpose and goals with political and military duties.[4] After Aurangzeb killed four of his sons, Gobind Singh sent Aurangzeb the Zafarnāmā (Notification/Epistle of Victory). Shortly before his death, Gobind Singh ordered that the Gurū Granth Sāhib (the Sikh Holy Scripture), would be the ultimate spiritual authority for the Sikhs and temporal authority would be vested in the Khalsa Panth – The Sikh Nation/Community.[11] The first scripture was compiled and edited by the fifth guru, Arjun Dev, in 1604. a former ascetic, was charged by Gobind Singh with the duty of punishing those who had persecuted the Sikhs. After the guru's death, Banda Bahadur became the leader of the Sikh army and was responsible for several attacks on the Mughal empire. He was executed by the emperor Jahandar Shah after refusing the offer of a pardon if he converted to Islam.[25] The Sikh community's embrace of military and political organisation made it a considerable regional force in medieval India and it continued to evolve after the demise of the gurus. After the death of Banda Bahadur, a loose confederation of Sikh warrior bands known as misls formed. With the decline of the Mughal empire, a Sikh empire arose in the Punjab under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, with its capital in Lahore and limits reaching the Khyber Pass and the borders of China. The order, traditions and discipline developed over centuries culminated at the time of Ranjit Singh to give rise to the common religious and social identity that the term "Sikhism" describes.[26] After the death of Ranjit Singh, the Sikh kingdom fell into disorder and was eventually annexed by Britain after the hard fought Anglo-Sikh Wars. This brought the Punjab under British rule. Sikhs formed the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee and the Shiromani Akali Dal to preserve Sikhs religious and political organisation. With the partition of India in 1947, thousands of Sikhs were killed in violence and millions were forced to leave their ancestral homes in West Punjab.[27] Sikhs were facing opposition from the Government in forming a linguistic state that other states in India were afforded.The Akali Dal started a non-violent movement for Sikh and Punjabi rights, but was brutally suppressed by India. Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale led a movement to restore Sikh rights but the movement was opposed by the Indira Government and eventually attacked by the army killing thousands of Sikhs in Operation Bluestar and the Khalistan movement, This was followed by the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots massacres all over India.[28]

Scripture

There are two primary sources of scripture for the Sikhs: the Gurū Granth Sāhib and the Dasam Granth. The Gurū Granth Sāhib may be referred to as the Ādi Granth—literally, The First Volume—and the two terms are often used synonymously. Here, however, the Ādi Granth refers to the version of the scripture created by Arjun Dev in 1604. The Gurū Granth Sāhib refers to the final version of the scripture created by Gobind Singh.

Adi Granth

Ādi Granth It is believed that the Ādi Granth was compiled primarily by Bhai Gurdas under the supervision of Arjun Dev between the years 1603 and 1604.[29] It is written in the Gurmukhī script, which is a descendant of the Laṇḍā script used in the Punjab at that time.[30] The Gurmukhī script was standardised by Arjun Dev for use in the Sikh scriptures and is thought to have been influenced by the Śāradā and Devanāgarī scripts. An authoritative scripture was created to protect the integrity of hymns and teachings of the Sikh gurus and selected bhagats. At the time, Arjun Dev tried to prevent undue influence from the followers of Prithi Chand, the guru's older brother and rival.[31] The original version of the Ādi Granth is known as the kartārpur bīṛ and is currently held by the Sodhi family of Kartarpur.

Guru Granth Sahib

Gurū Granth Sāhib The final version of the Gurū Granth Sāhib was compiled by Guru Gobind Singh. It consists of the original Ādi Granth with the addition of Guru Teg Bahadur's hymns. It is believed that it was decreed by Gobind Singh that the Granth was to be considered the eternal, living guru of all Sikhs, however, this belief finds no mention either in 'Guru Granth Sahib' or in 'Dasham Granth' compiled by Guru Gobind Singh. Punjabi: ਸੱਬ ਸਿੱਖਣ ਕੋ ਹੁਕਮ ਹੈ ਗੁਰੂ ਮਾਨਯੋ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ । (This statement finds no mention either in 'Guru Granth Sahib' or in 'Dasham Granth' compiled by Guru Gobind Singh.) Transliteration: Sabb sikkhaṇ kō hukam hai gurū mānyō granth. English: All Sikhs are commanded to take the Granth as Guru. It contains compositions by the first five gurus, Guru Teg Bahadur and just one śalōk (couplet) from Guru Gobind Singh.[32] It also contains the traditions and teachings of sants (saints) such as Kabir, Namdev, Ravidas and Sheikh Farid along with several others.[26] The bulk of the scripture is classified into rāgs, with each rāg subdivided according to length and author. There are 31 main rāgs within the Gurū Granth Sāhib. In addition to the rāgs, there are clear references to the folk music of Punjab. The main language used in the scripture is known as Sant Bhāṣā, a language related to both Punjabi and Hindi and used extensively across medieval northern India by proponents of popular devotional religion.[4] The text further comprises over 5000 śabads, or hymns, which are poetically constructed and set to classical form of music rendition, can be set to predetermined musical tāl, or rhythmic beats. The Granth begins with the Mūl Mantra, an iconic verse created by Nanak: Punjabi: ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥ ISO 15919 transliteration: Ika ōaṅkāra sati nāmu karatā purakhu nirabha'u niravairu akāla mūrati ajūnī saibhaṅ gura prasādi. Simplified transliteration: Ik ōaṅkār sat nām kartā purkh nirbha'u nirvair akāl mūrat ajūnī saibhaṅ gur prasād. English: One Universal Creator God, The Name Is Truth, Creative Being Personified, No Fear, No Hatred, Image Of The Undying, Beyond Birth, Self Existent, By Guru's Grace. All text within the Granth is known as gurbānī. Gurbānī, according to Nanak, was revealed by God directly, and the authors wrote it down for the followers. The status accorded to the scripture is defined by the evolving interpretation of the concept of gurū. In the Sant tradition of Nanak, the guru was literally the word of God. The Sikh community soon transferred the role to a line of men who gave authoritative and practical expression to religious teachings and traditions, in addition to taking socio-political leadership of Sikh adherents. Gobind Singh declared an end of the line of human gurus, and now the Gurū Granth Sāhib serves as the eternal guru, with its interpretation vested with the community.[4]

Dasam Granth

Dasam Granth The Dasam Granth (formally dasvēṁ pātśāh kī granth or The Book of the Tenth Master) is an eighteenth-century collection of miscellaneous works generally attributed to Guru Gobind Singh. The teachings of Gobind Singh were not included in Gurū Granth Sāhib, the holy book of the Sikhs, and instead were collected in the Dasam Granth. Unlike the Gurū Granth Sāhib, the Dasam Granth was never declared to hold guruship. The authenticity of some portions of the Granth has been questioned and the appropriateness of the Granth's content still causes much debate. The entire Granth is written in the Gurmukhī script, although most of the language is Braj and not Punjabi. Sikh tradition states that Mani Singh collected the writings of Gobind Singh after his death to create the Granth.[33] From 1892 to 1897, scholars assembled at the Akal Takht, Amritsar, to study the various printed Dasam Granths and prepare the authoritative version. They concluded that the Dasam Granth was entirely the work of Gobind Singh. Further re-examinations and reviews took place in 1931, under the Darbar Sahib Committee of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee they too vindicated the earlier conclusion..[34]

Janamsakhis

Janamsākhīs The Janamsākhīs (literally birth stories), are writings which profess to be biographies of Guru Nanak Dev. Although not scripture in the strictest sense, they provide an interesting look at Nanak's life and the early start of Sikhism. There are several—often contradictory and sometimes unreliable—Janamsākhīs and they are not held in the same regard as other sources of scriptural knowledge.

Observances and ceremonies

Observant Sikhs adhere to long-standing practices and traditions to strengthen and express their faith. The daily recitation from memory of specific passages from the Gurū Granth Sāhib, especially the Japu (or Japjī, literally chant) hymns is recommended immediately after rising and bathing. Family customs include both reading passages from the scripture and attending the gurdwara (also gurduārā, meaning the doorway to God). There are many gurdwaras prominently constructed and maintained across India, as well as in almost every nation where Sikhs reside. Gurdwaras are open to all, regardless of religion, background, caste or race. Worship in a gurdwara consists chiefly of singing of passages from the scripture. Sikhs will commonly enter the temple, touch the ground before the holy scripture with their foreheads, and make an offering. The recitation of the eighteenth century ardās is also customary for attending Sikhs. The ardās recalls past sufferings and glories of the community, invoking divine grace for all humanity.[35] The most sacred shrine is the Harimandir Sahib in Amritsar, famously known as the Golden Temple. Groups of Sikhs regularly visit and congregate at the Harimandir Sahib. On specific occasions, groups of Sikhs are permitted to undertake a pilgrimage to Sikh shrines in the province of Punjab in Pakistan, especially at Nankana Sahib and the samādhī (place of cremation) of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Lahore. Festivals in Sikhism mostly centre around the lives of the Gurus and Sikh martyrs. The SGPC, the Sikh organisation in charge of upkeep of the gurdwaras, organises celebrations based on the new Nanakshahi calendar. This calendar is highly controversial among Sikhs and is not universally accepted. Several festivals (Hola Mohalla, Diwali and Guru Nanak's birthday) continue to be celebrated using the Hindu calendar. Sikh festivals include the following:

Gurpurabs are celebrations or commemorations based on the lives of the Sikh gurus. They tend to be either birthdays or celebrations of Sikh martyrdom.
Vaisakhi normally occurs on 13 April and marks the beginning of the new spring year and the end of the harvest. Sikhs celebrate it because on Vaisakhi in 1699, the tenth guru, Gobind Singh, began the Khalsa baptismal tradition.
Diwali (also known as bandī chōḍ divas) celebrates Guru Hargobind's release from the Gwalior Jail on 26 October 1619.
Hola Mohalla occurs the day after Holi and is when the Khalsa Panth gather at Anandpur and display their fighting skills.

Ceremonies and customs

Nanak taught that rituals, religious ceremonies or empty worship is of little use and Sikhs are discouraged from fasting or going on pilgrimages.[36] However, during the period of the later gurus, and due to increased institutionalisation of the religion, some ceremonies and rites did arise. Sikhism is not a proselytizing religion and most Sikhs do not make active attempts to gain converts. However, converts to Sikhism are welcomed, although there is no formal conversion ceremony. Upon a child's birth, the Gurū Granth Sāhib is opened at a random point and the child is named using the first letter on the top left-hand corner of the left page. All boys are given the middle name or surname Singh, and all girls are given the middle name or surname Kaur.[37] Sikhs are joined in wedlock through the anand kāraj ceremony. Sikhs marry when they are of a sufficient age (child marriage is taboo), and without regard for the future spouse's caste or descent. The marriage ceremony is performed in the company of the Gurū Granth Sāhib; around which the couple circles four times. After the ceremony is complete, the husband and wife are considered "a single soul in two bodies."[38] According to Sikh religious rites, neither husband nor wife are permitted to divorce. A Sikh couple that wishes to divorce may be able to do so in a civil court – but this is not condoned.[39] Upon death, the body of a Sikh is usually cremated. If this is not possible, any means of disposing the body may be employed. The kīrtan sōhilā and ardās prayers are performed during the funeral ceremony (known as antim sanskār).[40]

Baptism and the Khalsa

Khalsa (meaning pure) is the name given by Gobind Singh to all Sikhs who have been baptised or initiated by taking ammrit in a ceremony called ammrit sañcār. The first time that this ceremony took place was on Vaisakhi, which fell on 30 March 1699 at Anandpur Sahib in India. It was on that occasion that Gobind Singh baptised the Pañj Piārē who in turn baptised Gobind Singh himself. Baptised Sikhs are bound to wear the Five Ks (in Punjabi known as pañj kakkē or pañj kakār), or articles of faith, at all times. The tenth guru, Gobind Singh, ordered these Five Ks to be worn so that a Sikh could actively use them to make a difference to their own and to others' spirituality. The 5 items are: kēs (uncut hair), kaṅghā (small comb), kaṛā (circular heavy metal bracelet), kirpān (ceremonial short sword), and kacchā (special undergarment). The Five Ks have both practical and symbolic purposes.[41]

Sikh people

Sikh Worldwide, Sikhs number more than 23 million, but more than 90% of Sikhs live in the Indian state of Punjab, where they are close to 65% of the population. Large communities of Sikhs live in the neighbouring states, and large communities of Sikhs can be found across India. However, Sikhs are only about 2% of the Indian population. Migration beginning from the 19th century led to the creation of significant communities in Canada (Brampton & Milton, Ontario; Surrey, British Columbia), the United Kingdom, the Middle East, East Africa, Southeast Asia and more recently, the United States, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Smaller populations of Sikhs are found in Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Fiji and other countries. As with most world religions, there are groups of Sikhs (such as the Namdharis, Ravidasis and Udasis) who do not adhere to the mainstream principles followed by most Sikhs. Some of these groups may not consider themselves a part of Sikhism, although from an outsider's perspective similarities in beliefs and principles may firmly render them a part of the Sikh religious domain[citation needed]. Groups such as the Nirankaris have a history of bad relations with mainstream Sikhism, and are considered pariahs by some Sikhs. Others, such as the Nihangs, tend to have little difference in belief and practice, and are considered Sikhs proper by mainstream Sikhism.

Christianity

sufihameer — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 06:12:49 CST

Christianity On a late afternoon, in about the year AD 30, two men were walking from Jerusalem to the nearby village of Emmaus. Their conversation centered on notable events that had occurred the previous week. As they journeyed, they were joined by a stranger who seemed ignorant of these events. Surprised, they asked him: “Are you the only person staying in Jerusalem not to know what has happened there in the last few days?” So they explained to him about a certain Jesus of Nazareth, “a prophet powerful in speech and action before God and the whole people. Our chief priests and rulers handed him over [to the Roman authorities] to be sentenced to death, and [they] crucified him. But we were hoping that he was the man to liberate Israel.” Even more amazing, they went on to say, were reports from some women who visited his tomb that he was alive again, raised from the dead. Suddenly the stranger spoke: “How dull-witted you two are! And how slow to believe all that the prophets said. Was not the messiah bound to suffer thus before entering upon his glory?” Then he went on to clarify from the Hebrew scriptures all the passages that referred to himself. For the stranger was Jesus of Nazareth, of whom the two had been speaking. Based on the life, death, and coming to life again of this man Jesus—also called the Christ—there has developed the world's largest religion, Christianity. It claims more than one billion members in all parts of the world. In the late 20th century, it is divided into hundreds of groups, or denominations, the largest of which are the Roman Catholic church, the Eastern Orthodox churches, and innumerable Protestant churches. (For explanation of these divisions within Christianity see “A Short History” below.
Expectation and Reality The two men on the road to Emmaus were not disinterested bystanders. They were followers (called disciples, or learners) of Jesus who had known him for at least three years. During this period they had listened to all he said and had witnessed his amazing actions, such as healing the sick, giving sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, and even bringing individuals back to life. They had become convinced that he was “the one who was to redeem Israel.” Israel wanted and expected redemption. This small Jewish nation, located in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, had for centuries looked forward to a time when their God would, through some decisive action, free it from outside domination and establish it as the preeminent nation in the world. One way he might do this was by sending a messiah (Christos in Greek) who would deliver them from their enemies and become their king. The word messiah means “the lord's anointed,” someone God has set aside for a specific task Christians believe that Jesus, from the small town of Nazareth in Galilee, was that messiah. They also believe that what he accomplished far exceeded the expectations of Israel. The Jews looked for a messiah exclusively for themselves, though his power would be such as to draw other nations to a belief in their God. Christians believe that Jesus, as God's agent, accomplished something that was intended to benefit the whole world directly without being tied to the fate of any single nation. His work is to be considered inclusive of everyone in all times and places.
The Man and the Message With all the differences in beliefs in the many denominations of Christianity, it is impossible to set out one list of teachings that apply to all Christians everywhere. The reason for this is fairly simple. Jesus, along with his life and work, are for Christians objects of faith; and the objects of faith are thought of by different people in different ways and differently in various periods of history. No one has ever succeeded in distilling an “essence of Christianity.” But the early followers of Jesus came the closest in their assertion that “Jesus is lord.” By this they seemed to mean that he was more than a man. He was also, in some incomprehensible way, God. And by his ministry, death, and resurrection he had accomplished a universal salvation available to all who believe in him. What Jesus said and did can be gleaned from the first four books of the Bible's New Testament These books—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—are not biographies; they are called Gospels, a word that means “good news,” because they are his followers' written testimonies of what his life was all about. The Gospels depict a man who was thoroughly imbued with the whole tradition of Israel's religion from the time of Abraham onward. From what Jesus said and did, his followers came to believe that God was perhaps acting through him in a very special way. Very possibly he was the one long awaited who would inaugurate God's kingdom on Earth. It was reasonable that they should think this, for they too were Israelites; and they saw in his words and deeds what portended to be the dawning of a new age. What dashed their hopes was his ignoble death, for crucifixion was a punishment reserved for criminals. Then came the great surprise: He was raised from the dead and appeared to them again over a period of 40 days. This stunning event required a complete reassessment of what Jesus was all about. It is this reassessment that forms the basis for the writings of the New Testament. The Gospels themselves are part of it, but it is more strikingly conveyed by the other 23 books, all written by his followers over the subsequent decades after he had left them. For he had left them. How and where to could only be explained as his returning to the God who had sent him. But he did not leave them forever: He promised that he would one day return, and he gave them a mission to perform—to carry the message about his life and work to the whole world.
The Assembly of Believers: the Church First, a word about terminology. The small group of Jesus' followers that gathered in Jerusalem after his departure did not call themselves anything. The word Christian came into use years later and was at first a derogatory term applied by outsiders. When the books of the New Testament were written, the word used to name the believers was simply assembly. The Greek word is ecclesia and denotes any assembly of people, though it often had political connotations. Much later, probably in the 3rd or 4th century, the word church came into use to denote the specific kind of assembly that the believers composed. The term church is also of Greek origin, from the word kuriakon, meaning “belonging to the lord.” It is now the most common term applied to groups of Christians as well as to the totality of the world's Christian membership. The word is also frequently applied to denominations, a usage now so common as to be unavoidable. Denominations are, however, institutional arrangements based on specific viewpoints and traditional practices. They exist as a result of long historical development, doctrinal diversity, and geographical separation. During the first decades of the church's existence, there were four significant accomplishments: The assembly of believers separated themselves from the religion of Israel; they formulated an extensive assessment of what the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus meant; new congregations of believers were founded in all parts of the Roman Empire; and the believers improvised organizational arrangements and forms of worship that were to remain influential.
Separation from Israel. The early Christians were all Jews. They remained in Jerusalem and partook of the religious observances in the Temple. They differed from their fellow Jews only in that they believed that the Messiah had come. Had they remained quiet about their conviction, they might well have remained a sect within Judaism. However, they insisted on preaching to all who would listen that the Jesus whom the Jewish authorities had persecuted was the one Israel had long awaited. This preaching aroused great hostility on the part of religious leaders, and the early Christians were persecuted. Yet these Christians had no thought of venturing beyond the confines of Israel with their message. It was only with the appearance of a man named Saul of Tarsus that the assembly of believers enlarged its horizons to include the whole known world. Saul, a strict Jew, was a persecutor of the church. He was nevertheless converted, and, after changing his name to Paul, began what is called the mission to the gentiles. (The word gentile is simply a cover-all term for all non-Jewish peoples.) It was this man who, more than any other, pulled the church out from temple and synagogue and set it apart as a separate institution But the separation was, for Paul, more than a physical one. It was also doctrinal. Christians, he asserted, did not have to become Jews. They were not subject to all the rites, rituals, and laws of Israel's religion. This, perhaps more than any other factor, aroused the intense hostility of the Jews and led to a definitive separation of the two camps.
Assessment. The books of the New Testament, particularly the writings of Paul, contain the early church's testimonies about who Jesus was and what his life meant. The first issue that had to be settled was whether Jesus was for Israel only. The answer, already noted, was no. That he was for Israel in some sense was undoubtedly true, because he is presented as the one who had fulfilled every prophecy and promise in Israel's scriptures (called by Christians the Old Testament). The first verse of the Book of Hebrews states: “When in former times God spoke to our forefathers, he spoke in fragmentary and varied fashion through the prophets. But in this, the final age, he has spoken to us in the Son whom he has made heir to the whole universe, and through whom he created all orders of existence.” In this verse, and in many other places, the New Testament makes clear that Jesus was the full and final revelation from God for all people. This represented a whole new way of thinking about God. Somehow this Jesus was one with the creator. This notion is abhorrent to both Judaism and Islam, which are strictly monotheistic religions for whom God is one and cannot be divided. But the Christians had to deal with this problem, and from what they believed about Jesus they could come to no other conclusion. They claimed it to be true, even though they could not understand or explain it. They simply believed it and stated it in their early confession: Jesus is lord. How could this man have achieved such status? The writers of the New Testament answer: by his death and resurrection. But how could these events, occurring as they did in a remote part of the Roman Empire, have a universal significance? Paul himself admitted that the notion was scandalous; it was offensive to Israel because the Jews could never conceive of their messiah being put to death; and it was likely to appear as plain nonsense to gentiles who had no knowledge of Israel's beliefs. Yet it was stated as true by all early Christians. They believed that Jesus, by his death, had paid a universal penalty for all human unbelief and disobedience toward God. They further asserted that the resurrection was the first act by which God was restoring the whole creation. Creation was, in the words of some modern Christians, being “born again,” being reconstituted and remade after God's original intention. This was the message the earliest Christians took, first to Israel, then to the rest of the world.
Mission to the gentiles. Paul and his associates took this message to most of the urban centers of the Mediterranean world. By the end of the 1st century there were strong congregations in Alexandria, Ephesus, Antioch, Corinth, Thessalonica, and even at Rome, the capital of the empire. Jerusalem, the mother church, was dispersed when the Roman legions destroyed the city in AD 70 during a Jewish uprising.
Organization and worship. It is unlikely that the early Christians intended to devise structures that would endure for centuries. But any institution, to operate successfully, must organize itself. Of first importance in the church were the apostles, those who had been with Jesus during his lifetime. To their number Paul was later added. They were the living and authoritative voices that could be appealed to on all questions of belief To assist them, deacons, or attendants, were appointed to help in preaching and in the everyday operation of the congregations. Later, there developed other leaders called elders (in Greek, presbyteroi, from which the modern Presbyterian denomination gets its name) and leaders called episkopoi (literally meaning “overseers”—the word episcopal is derived from it—normally translated as bishops). The early church had no clergy; it had people who performed specific functions—leading worship, preaching, collecting offerings, and feeding and clothing the poor among them. But as centuries passed, the three functions of bishop, elder (priest), and deacon became arranged in a hierarchy. The bishop became the overseer for a city or region. He was, as well, the authoritative person in matters of doctrine. In time these functionaries came to be set apart from the rest of the membership by a process called ordination—suggesting that they were a special order within the church. One of the problems that troubles modern denominations is the relation between these ordained offices and the regular members of the denomination, called the laity. Some denominations have attempted to erase the distinction, while others have held rather rigidly to the traditional forms. In its worship life, Christianity borrowed greatly from Jewish forms. Christians used prayers, sang psalms, read from the scriptures (the Old Testament) and from some of Paul's letters, and listened to someone expound the scripture passages for the day. The day was Sunday, to commemorate the resurrection, which had taken place on the first day of the week. In addition, Christians used two rites that had been commanded of them by Jesus himself. These rites, often called sacraments, or holy acts, were baptism and the Lord's Supper (or Eucharist, meaning “thanksgiving”). Baptism, an immersion in water to represent the washing away of sin, was the initiating rite by which one became a member of the church. The Lord's Supper was originally a community meal, followed by the receiving of bread and wine. This meal was a remembrance of Jesus' last meal with his disciples before he died. Today these rites are so variously defined by the many denominations that no single interpretation of them is possible.
God's Presence in the Church Before Jesus left his disciples, he promised them that they would not be alone and helpless in the world. He said that after he was gone he would send them a helper, a teacher, a comforter to sustain them and aid in carrying out the church's mission. He called this helper the Holy Spirit. It would be the Holy Spirit's purpose to “guide them into all truth” and to bring to remembrance all that Jesus had said and done. The books of the New Testament are vivid in their conviction that this spirit was indeed living and working through the first Christians. They were spared neither pain, persecution, nor death; but they were convinced that God's spirit was sustaining them in all their endeavors. The faith that the Holy Spirit was working among them again forced the early Christians to broaden their understanding of God. They concluded that he had revealed himself as the creator of all things, as Jesus the redeemer, and lastly as the spirit that sustained and preserved the church. To explain this impenetrable mystery, early Christian thinkers devised the doctrine of the Trinity. This doctrine was never an explanation of God. All it could do was set forth the firm belief that, for Christians, God was somehow at the same time one and three.
Life of Discipleship Essentially Jesus commended to his followers the same type of life he led: selfless obedience to the will of God. He called himself a servant and said that they were to be servants as well. They were to fear nothing, not even death. He summed up what their basic attitude was to be by saying, “You shall love the Lord your God above all things and your neighbor as yourself.” They were to do good to all people and to carry the message concerning him everywhere. Above all, they were not to be just people who believed certain doctrines. Their obedience was to be an active participation in the life of the world. Paul summed up the characteristics of the individual Christian by saying: “Put on the garments that suit God's chosen people . . . compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience. Be forbearing with one another, and forgiving. The nature of the individual Christian's obedience and quality of life was generally left to private judgment within these parameters. Christians over the centuries have found a great variety of ways to express their individual faithfulness.
A Short History The history of Christianity is filled with conflict, controversy, and division. It also has countless instances of brilliant creativity in worship, architecture, painting, sculpture, music, and literature. And in all ages churches have sought to carry out the mission entrusted to them by Jesus. Within this article only a very brief summary of the history can be given.
Early period to AD 380. Christianity became established in nearly all parts of the Roman Empire and in the Middle East during the first two centuries. As it continued to grow and expand, it became the object of persecution by the Roman authorities. The severest persecutions came during the reigns of the emperors Domitian (AD 96), Marcus Aurelius (161–180), Decius (249–251), and Valerian (253–260). Worst of all was the attempt by the Emperor Diocletian (284–305) to extinguish Christianity altogether. But in 313 Constantine the Great issued an edict of toleration for all religions. In 380, Theodosius I made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.
Middle Ages. Although the church was empire-wide, two cities came to be more influential than others in guiding its affairs: Rome and Constantinople (now Istanbul). Many theological disputes arose in the centuries after Constantine, and these were usually settled by councils The Roman church, headed by its bishop, the pope, gradually diverged in both belief and practice from the church at Constantinople, headed by its patriarch. The Roman church became dominant in Western Europe, while the church at Constantinople dominated the East. In 1054 the two churches broke off relations with each other.
Modern period. Early in the 16th century a split occurred in the Roman church. Since that time the church in the West has been divided primarily between the Roman Catholic and Protestant segments. The term Protestantism has come to refer to nearly any denomination that is not affiliated with either the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox branches. Among the older Protestant denominations are the Lutheran, Anglican, Presbyterian, Reformed, Methodist, and Baptist. In the 20th century there have been attempts to revitalize and reunify the church. The World Council of Churches, founded in 1948, is an organization made up of most denominations except for the Roman Catholic. In the 1960s the Roman Church, in its Second Vatican Council, strove for spiritual renewal and modernization. Thus, after many centuries, most of the denominations that make up the worldwide church are in contact with one another. Many are involved in cooperative projects, and others have undertaken actual merger negotiations. The Roman and Orthodox churches resumed contact in 1965.
Bible Many religions have a literature that serves as a foundation for belief and practice among their followers. For Judaism and Christianity such a literature is found in the Bible—a term derived from the Greek meaning “book.” The Bible is a collection of many books by an unknown number of authors. In Judaism and Christianity the makeup of the Bible is not the same. The Christian Bible is divided into two major sections: the Old Testament and the New Testament. For Judaism the Bible consists of the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings—what Christians call the Old Testament. Some Christians, notably the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, include certain books that are not accepted as authoritative by Judaism or Protestant Christianity. These books, called by Jews and Protestants the Apocrypha, are commonly included in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox versions of the Bible but omitted from (or segregated within) Protestant Bibles.
THE BIBLE OF JUDAISM Written originally in Hebrew and Aramaic, the compilation of sacred writings that came to be the Jewish Bible emerged from the religious experiences of the ancient nation of Israel. The Jewish Bible contains 24 books divided into the three sections. The Christian Old Testament (excluding the Apocrypha) contains the same books, numbered and ordered differently, resulting in a compilation of 39 books.
The Law The first five books of the Jewish Bible are referred to as the Law, or the Torah, or as the books of Moses. They are also sometimes called the Pentateuch, from a Greek term meaning “five scrolls.” (The books were originally written on long scrolls instead of in a bound book form, which is commonly used today.) The names of the books are: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The story told in these books concerns how Israel was founded and how its people are called on to serve as a positive example to other nations. Taken together, these books are called the Torah, meaning “to teach,” because so much of their content is devoted to explaining in detail what God's laws are and how they are to be interpreted.
The Prophets The term prophet is derived from a Greek word meaning “to speak on behalf of.” The prophets were ancient Israelites who spoke to the nation on behalf of God. In other words, they were preachers. Their purpose was not, as is often mistakenly assumed, to foretell the future. The prophets were men who interpreted Israel's behavior in the light of God's laws and frequently found reason to condemn that behavior. The prophets also declared that Israel would be punished for breaking the laws. A series of national disasters that befell Israel seemed to prove the merit of the prophetic warnings: Israel was conquered or subjugated in turn by Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome over a period of seven centuries. The prophetic books are divided into two groups: the Former Prophets and the Latter Prophets. The Former Prophets include the books Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. In the Christian Old Testament these are considered historical narratives rather than prophetic works. The Latter Prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, plus a group of shorter books called the Twelve. In the Christian Old Testament, the Twelve are called the Minor Prophets—specifically Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
The Writings The third section of the Bible of Judaism consists of a miscellaneous assortment of books that includes history, songs and hymns, poetry, stories, and wisdom literature. Unlike the books in the Law and Prophets sections, the Writings do not constitute a unity, but their very variety has made them useful in both Judaism and Christianity as aids in worship and for teaching purposes. The best-known and probably the most often used book among the Writings is Psalms (from the Greek word for “song”). It is a collection of hymns and songs dating from various periods in the history of Israel. The collection was assembled so that it could be conveniently used at worship services. The book is often called “Psalms of David,” referring to the king of Israel in about 1000 BC It is now generally accepted by Biblical scholars that, while David may have written some of them, the authorship of most of them is unknown. The other books included in the Writings are: Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah (considered as two books in the Christian Old Testament), and Chronicles (also considered as two books). The books of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes are books of wisdom, a literary form that flourished throughout the ancient Near East. There were two main types of wisdom literature: practical and speculative. Practical wisdom, of which Proverbs is an example, consisted of wise sayings, maxims, parables, and aphorisms. This kind of wisdom was used as a teaching device to instill in young students sensible attitudes for the conduct of life. Speculative wisdom, as found in Job and Ecclesiastes, explored issues such as the problem of good and evil, justice versus injustice, the sufferings of innocent people, and why the wicked are so often successful and prosperous. The books of Ruth and Esther are basically short stories that have a bearing on Israel during various periods of its history. Daniel is a composite of stories (chapters 1–6) and visions (chapters 7–12). The Song of Songs (also called Song of Solomon) and Lamentations are collections of poems. The Song of Songs is a collection of love poems, often ascribed to Solomon, king of Israel after his father David. Lamentations is a collection of five poems, mourning the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC. At that time Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside were overrun by the armies of the Babylonian Empire Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles are historical books. Both books are interpretations of the history of Israel. Chronologically the book of Chronicles precedes the material in Ezra-Nehemiah, but in the Hebrew Bible their order is reversed. This was probably done because Ezra-Nehemiah contains information found in no other book of the Bible, information that follows logically upon the material in the book of Kings. Chronicles, on the other hand, basically reiterates the material already told in other books. In the Christian Old Testament the two books are divided into First and Second Chronicles and Ezra and Nehemiah, and the four books are printed in that order. In modern Hebrew Bibles the five books Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther are grouped together in that order for use on an annual sequence of festivals. Originally called “festival scrolls,” they have little in common except for their roles in worship services.
THE NEW TESTAMENT For Christians, the Bible has two components—the Old Testament and the New Testament. To clarify the reason for having two testaments, it is helpful to think of the word testament in terms of one of its synonyms—“covenant.” (The two parts of the Christian Bible are often called the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.) A covenant is an agreement or a contract. The chief teaching of the Old Testament (or Hebrew Bible) is that God has made a covenant with the nation of Israel, beginning with a covenant He made with Abraham, the founder of Israel Under the terms of the covenant God chose the people of Israel to be His special people, promised to make their nation great, gave them the Law (the Ten Commandments and many other statutes detailed in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), and demanded obedience from the people. The purpose of the covenant was to make Israel a “beacon light” by which all other nations would be enabled to become God's people. The promises God made to Israel were contingent upon Israel's complete loyalty to him. It is on the issue of whether God's promises were ever fulfilled that the religions of Judaism and Christianity became absolutely divided. Judaism maintains that Israel, the Jewish people, are still God's nation, obedient under His Law, and waiting for the fulfillment of His promises. Christians believe that the promises of the Old Covenant have been completely fulfilled in the life and ministry of Jesus and that the terms of the Old Covenant were sufficiently transformed by the life of Jesus so that a New Covenant was instituted They therefore believe that the Old Testament (or Covenant) is incomplete without the New Testament. Christians accept the Old Testament completely, but they interpret it in terms of what is said in the New Testament.
Origin and Contents The Old Testament was written by many authors over a period of many centuries. The New Testament was written by far fewer men over a much shorter span of years—perhaps between AD 50 and 150. After the earthly ministry of Jesus was over, his followers banded together in an organization that came to be called the “church,” a word derived from the Greek kuriakon, meaning “the Lord's house.” The church formulated as its mission the spreading of the message about Jesus to the civilized world. As the years passed, some members of the church began to write down the message. They wrote for several reasons: to make sure information was correctly preserved, to instruct believers, to exhort believers to keep the faith in difficult circumstances, and to make a record for coming generations. The writers whose work makes up the New Testament composed four different kinds of books: the Gospels, a history of the early church entitled Acts of the Apostles, epistles (letters), and a prophetic-dramatic work entitled Revelation. All of the books were originally written in Greek.
The Gospels The word gospel is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word godspell, meaning “good news.” There are four Gospels in the New Testament—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—each presumably composed by one of Jesus' closest followers. The Gospels appear at first to be brief biographies of Jesus. While they do contain a wealth of information on the life of Jesus, they are really testimonies of belief about him. Beside recording what he said and did, they interpret the history of his ministry. The Gospels are biographical forms of proclamation of good news. Although appearing second in the order of New Testament books, Mark was the first Gospel written. It is also the shortest. Biblical scholars believe that Matthew and Luke used Mark, as well as other sources, to write their Gospels. These three, taken together, are called synoptic Gospels. Synoptic is a term of Greek origin meaning “viewed together.” The three Gospels can be printed in parallel columns and their contents can be compared to see which passages appear in all of them and which material is peculiar to each of them. The Gospel of John differs in several respects from the Synoptics. It contains much information not found in the other Gospels, and it has a different chronology for the ministry of Jesus. The author of John probably drew on traditions about Jesus that were unknown to the writers of the other Gospels.
The Acts of the Apostles The apostles of the early church were messengers sent to announce the Gospel. The book that tells of the founding of the church and the early work of the apostles is Acts. It was written by the same man who wrote Luke's Gospel, probably as the second of a two-volume work. The period of time covered in Acts is about 35 years. The book can be divided into two main sections: chapters 1 to 12, the “acts of Peter,” and chapters 13 to 28, the “acts of Paul.” Peter was one of Jesus' original disciples and later became the first of the apostles (Paul was the missionary to the non-Jewish world of the Roman Empire It is believed that both of these men were executed in Rome about AD 64 by Roman authorities. Their deaths brought to a close the earliest period of the church's mission.
The Epistles Of the 27 books in the New Testament, 21 are epistles; and of these 21 many were written by St. Paul. The names of his epistles, or letters attributed to him, are Romans, I and II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I and II Thessalonians, I and II Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. This is the order of their arrangement in the New Testament. While the letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon were addressed to individuals, the others were sent to churches in various cities. All of these letters were later copied and circulated among the churches in the Roman Empire. It was the intent of the writer of the letters that they be read aloud in the churches, because the messages contain extensive interpretations of the Gospel, solutions to local problems in the churches, and sound advice about how the Christians were to live. Sometime before the end of the 1st century, most of Paul's letters were collected and circulated for general use in all the churches. The Letter to the Hebrews, at one time ascribed to Paul, is now generally accepted to be by some unknown Christian of the 1st century. More like a sermon than a letter, it is one of the best and most carefully constructed compositions in the New Testament. Addressed originally to Christians out of Jewish backgrounds, the book makes extensive use of Old Testament material to demonstrate that the ministry of Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Covenant. The other seven epistles are James, I and II Peter, I, II, and III John, and Jude. They are collectively referred to as the Catholic Epistles, meaning that they were not addressed to specific persons or churches but were meant for general circulation among all the churches. The authorship of most of the letters is in dispute, though it would seem likely that I John was written by the author of the Fourth Gospel. They were probably all composed late in the 1st century or early in the 2nd century, for there are indications in them that the churches were subject to persecution by the Roman authorities, which occurred at that time. The purpose of the letters was to give guidance for everyday living, refute false doctrine, and encourage perseverance in the face of opposition and persecution.
Revelation The Book of Revelation, also called the Apocalypse of St. John the Divine, is the most colorful and imaginative work in the New Testament, as well as the most difficult to interpret. An apocalypse is a type of religious literature that has to do with the end of the world and the events that will take place before the end comes. The author of the book was probably a man named John, leader at the church of Ephesus in Asia Minor, who was banished to the island of Patmos, just off the coast. While on Patmos, John wrote Revelation for circulation among the churches in Asia Minor. Revelation got its name from the first verse in the book. The book is in two main sections: chapters 1–3 contain an introduction and letters to seven churches; chapters 4–22 contain the visions of the writer concerning the end of history and the triumph of the Kingdom of God. The book may have been written during the time of the Emperor Domitian (ruled AD 81–96), who inaugurated the first systematic persecution of the churches by the Roman Empire. The theme of the book is the lordship of God over history, a message intended to encourage Christians to endure even the most savage persecutions, because the Kingdom of God is near.
OTHER BOOKS The Old Testament is not the whole literature of Israel, nor is the New Testament the whole literature of early Christianity. Many other books with religious themes circulated among those of ancient Judaism and in the early church. Some of these books are called pseudepigrapha, a Greek term meaning “spurious writings.” Among Judaism's pseudepigrapha are: The Letter of Aristeas, III and IV Maccabees, the Ascension of Isaiah, the Testament of Job, the Life of Adam and Eve, the Psalms of Solomon, and the Assumption of Moses. The Christian pseudepigrapha include various gospels, books of acts, epistles, and revelations. There is another group of books, not included in the Hebrew Bible, that have been accepted into the Old Testaments of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. These books circulated in ancient Judaism, and many of them were very popular and widely read. For some reason they were never accepted by Judaism as authoritative, probably because they were not included in Hebrew versions of the text. This collection came to be called by the Jews the Apocrypha, a Greek term meaning “hidden things.” In reference to the writings it has the connotation of books not meant for common use. Although not included in the Hebrew versions of the Bible, the Apocrypha was included in a translation of the Hebrew texts into Greek made at Alexandria, Egypt, beginning in the 3rd century BC. This translation, popularly called the Septuagint because of the legend that it had been made by about 70 scholars, became the Bible of the early Christians before there were any New Testament writings. In about AD 400, when St. Jerome made a Latin translation of the Hebrew Bible, he included the Apocryphal books (somewhat against his better judgment) because they had been in the Septuagint used by earlier Christians. These books thus found acceptance in both the Latin (Roman) and Greek churches. In the Bibles used in these churches, these books are found distributed throughout the Old Testament and are not considered Apocryphal as they are in Judaism, but as authoritative. Some modern editions of the Bible include these books as a separate section. The books in this collection are: I and II Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Additions to the Book of Esther, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus (or the Wisdom of Jesus, son of Sirach), Baruch, Letter of Jeremiah, Song of the Three (or the Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Young Men), Daniel and Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, Prayer of Manasseh, and I and II Maccabees. Of these 15 books, three are not recognized as authoritative by the Roman Catholic church: I and II Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh. This listing is based on compilations of the books under the title Apocrypha. The books' chief value is to aid in understanding Judaism in the two or three centuries before Christianity. The books contain wisdom literature, poetry, history, stories, and apocalypses (or revelations).
20TH-CENTURY DISCOVERIES Two major discoveries of ancient texts in the 20th century have added considerably to the understanding of the development of both Hebrew and Christian Bibles. These are the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi collection. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in the Palestinian desert beginning in 1947. They contain copies or remnants of almost all the Old Testament writings as well as hitherto unknown books and fragments The other find was made by two farmers near the Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945. It contains a miscellaneous assortment of texts from various schools of Gnosticism (from the Greek gnosis, meaning “knowledge”). Some of the books were written by Christians, others were not; they represent a wide range of philosophical speculation in the ancient period, most of it far removed from the teachings of the New Testament. The documents are nevertheless valuable in gaining an understanding of the thoughts and feelings that existed when early Christianity developed. The collection was translated by Christians into Coptic, the language of Egypt at the time, and buried at Nag Hammadi in about AD 400, when the teachings of Gnostic Christians came to be viewed by other Christians as mistaken and heretical.
THE AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE Of the vast literature that circulated in ancient Israel and in the early church, only a small number of works came to be included in the Bible. Those that were eventually included make up what is called the canon (from a Greek term for standard) of the Old and New Testaments. This meant that there was a consensus in both Judaism and Christianity concerning the authoritative books of their religions. Getting into the canon was not an automatic process. The books that were included were accepted after extensive usage over long periods of time and after much debate. The formation of the canon and the origin of the great number of different texts were two separate matters.
Old Testament canon. The formation of the Old Testament canon took place in stages. It is almost certain that the books constituting the Law, or five books of Moses, were recognized by the Jews as authoritative by the late 6th or early 5th century BC. Since the Law became the foundation of Judaism, any other books that were to be considered canonical had to be in conformity with its teachings. From early in the 5th century BC the prestige of the prophets as national figures aroused interest in preserving their teachings in written form. The acceptance of the various books of the prophets was probably complete by the late 4th century BC. Most of the books in the Writings are of much later origin than either the Law or Prophets, at least in their present form. Most seem to have been in circulation by the early 2nd century BC, for the author of the prologue to Ecclesiasticus, an Apocryphal book, wrote of “the law, the prophets, and the writers” in about 132 BC. Although the collection of Law and Prophets was a closed collection by the end of the 3rd century BC, there was no attempt to make a final selection of the Writings until the end of the 1st century AD. Sometime about AD 100 it is probable that rabbis living in Palestine at Jamniah, a major center of scholarship for Judaism, settled the canonicity of the Old Testament.
New Testament canon. The 27 books of the New Testament are the only canonical books out of many writings considered sacred by the Christians of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. The process of sifting to form the final canon took another 200 years. There were two chief reasons for the formation of a definitive New Testament canon. As the church moved from the 1st to the 2nd century, it was obvious that the oral tradition concerning Jesus and the work of the apostles was ending because the original witnesses were dying. And a number of sects and heresies (schools of doctrine) had emerged, each laying claim to the correct interpretation of the Gospel. Both of these factors made it imperative for the church to collect those writings that most accurately presented its message. The principles by which books were accepted as canonical were three: they had to have the authority of apostolic teaching in them; they had to present true doctrine; and they had to have been widely circulated. The first part of the New Testament to gain general acceptance was a collection of the letters of Paul, in circulation before the end of the 1st century. The four Gospels were widely regarded as canonical by the end of the 2nd century. The rest were slowly received, but by AD 325 the historian Eusebius of Caesarea made a compilation that listed most of the present canon and left a few books on the list as disputed. In 367 Athanasius, the bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, made a canonical list of all the presently accepted New Testament books. Church councils in subsequent decades established his list as final. Still, controversy over the Book of Revelation and some of the Catholic Epistles lasted for at least two centuries.
THE BIBLE TODAY None of the original Bible manuscripts exists. They were lost centuries ago, and the texts that are now in the Bible represent copies of copies that were handed down in a variety of translations over many generations. The most famous version of the Old Testament is a Greek translation, the Septuagint, made at Alexandria by about 70 Jewish scholars beginning in the 3rd century BC. Another famous ancient translation, including both testaments, is the Latin Vulgate (common, or vernacular) made by St. Jerome in about AD 400. Throughout the Middle Ages the Bible was translated and copied by hand, a process prone to error. It was only with the invention of printing in the late 15th century that fixed, invariable texts of the Bible could be published. The present versification of the Old Testament is based upon the work of a 15th-century rabbi. It was edited by Jacob ben Hayyim ibn Adonijah and published in Venice in 1524. The New Testament division into verses was done by a Paris printer, Stephanus, in 1551. His printed version of the Latin Bible in 1555 was the first edition to contain both testaments in the present chapter and verse forms. In the 20th century the Bible has often been updated—mainly to eliminate archaic translations and reflect contemporary usage. The American Standard Version of 1901 was followed by a rephrasing of the New Testament in 1946 and the Old Testament in 1952. Among the more than two dozen different English translations of the whole Bible published since then was the New Revised Standard Version (1990). The sexist language of older translations was also altered in the Revised English Bible (1989), the work of British scholars. While specific gender references to God were unchanged, the word he was no longer capitalized. Sometimes “man” was changed to “person”.

Daoism

sufihameer — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 06:07:26 CST

Daoism In the Chinese language the word dao, which is also spelled tao, means “way,” indicating a way of thought or life. There have been several such ways in China's long history, including Confucianism and Buddhism. In about the 6th century BC, under the influence of ideas credited to a man named Laozi, or Lao-tzu, Daoism became “the way” Like Confucianism, it has influenced every aspect of Chinese culture. Daoism began as a complex system of philosophical thought that could be indulged in by only a few individuals. In later centuries it emerged, perhaps under the influence of Buddhism, as a communal religion. It later evolved as a popular folk religion.
Philosophical Daoism The philosophical branch of Daoism speaks of a permanent Dao in the way that some Western religions speak of God. The Dao is considered unnamed and unknowable, the essential unifying element of all that is. Everything is basically one despite the appearance of differences. Because all is one, matters of good and evil and of true or false, as well as differing opinions, can only arise when people lose sight of the oneness and think that their private beliefs are absolutely true. This can be likened to a person looking out a small window and thinking he sees the whole world, when all he sees is one small portion of it. Because all is one, life and death merge into each other as do the seasons of the year. They are not in opposition to one another but are only two aspects of a single reality. The life of the individual comes from the one and goes back into it. The goal of life for a Daoist is to cultivate a mystical relationship to the Dao. Adherents therefore avoid dispersing their energies through the pursuit of wealth, power, or knowledge. By shunning every earthly distraction, the Daoist is able to concentrate on life itself. The longer the adherent's life, the more saintly the person is presumed to have become. Eventually the hope is to become immortal.
Communal Religious Daoism Unlike its philosophical counterpart, communal religious Daoism emphasizes moral teachings and collective ceremonies. Good moral conduct is rewarded with health and long life, while bad conduct results in disease, death, and suffering in the afterlife. There is an array of gods who are administrators of the universe, of which they are a part. From these gods come revelations of sacred texts. There is an order of married Daoist priests who live in the communities they serve and perform exorcisms and complex rituals.
Folk Religion In the more folk-oriented form of Daoism, the religion is part of the everyday lives of the people. The gods are intimately connected with each individual's life as bringers of calamities or givers of bountiful gifts. Each object of daily life has its presiding spirit that must be consulted and appeased. All types of Daoism have in common the quest for a harmonious, well-ordered universe. They emphasize the individual's and the group's need for unity through mysticism, magic, and ceremony

Judaism

sufihameer — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 06:03:56 CST

Judaism Along with Christianity and Islam, Judaism is one of the three major monotheistic religions of the world. With them, it has in common a belief in one God as creator and ruler of the universe and the lord of human history. Of the three, Judaism is much the oldest, having its roots in the history of Israel, a nation, or people, that traces its origins back at least 3,000 years to Abraham, the patriarch who is considered the father of the Jewish faith Ancient Israel dwelled in the land of Palestine in the Middle East, and the modern state of Israel, founded in 1948, represents a return of the people to a homeland that had been under other domination for more than 20 centuries. With the passing of centuries, any major religion develops within it a great deal of variety and numerous points of view: Islam is divided into several competing factions, and Christianity is made up of many denominations. So, too, Judaism in the modern period is not uniform (see below, “Modern Judaism”). This article presents primarily the basic beliefs and institutions of Judaism as they emerged in the ancient world and have persisted in a fairly traditional manner for nearly two millennia.
Origins The events of Israel's past are recounted in the Bible or, more properly, the Hebrew Bible, which the Christian church calls the Old Testament The period covered by the Biblical narratives is a long one—from about 2000 BC to the end of the 6th century BC, with the addition of some few occurrences from a later period. Within this time span, the story of Israel as a nation unfolds, beginning with the founding of the people by Abraham. Long after the time of Abraham, an agricultural crisis led the Israelites to move to Egypt, where they were originally made welcome but later turned into slaves. After more than 400 years they were freed from Egyptian bondage under the leadership of Moses and led back to Palestine, or Canaan, as it was called then This release from Egypt is believed to have taken place about the 13th century BC. Over the next several centuries Israel became a moderately powerful nation in the Middle East, particularly under its first three kings—Saul, David, and Solomon. After Solomon's death, the kingdom was divided in two parts. The northern segment of Israel was overrun by the Assyrian Empire late in the 8th century BC, and the southern part (known as the nation of Judah) was conquered by the Babylonians early in the 6th century. When the southern kingdom ended with the carrying off of most of the remaining Israelites to Babylon, the nation's days as a political and military power were virtually over. This Babylonian captivity began what is called the Diaspora, or dispersion. From that time until the present, the Jewish people were dispersed throughout the world, particularly in the Middle East and the Mediterranean region. Some Jews were allowed to return to their homeland beginning in the 6th century BC. From that time on, however, the region was under the domination of one foreign power after another, with the exception of a brief period of independence in the 2nd century. In the 1st century BC, the region was incorporated into the Roman Empire as Palestine. Jewish revolts against Rome in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD proved fruitless, and from that time until the modern state of Israel, the Jewish people had no homeland. The whole history of Israel may be viewed as the tale of a tiny nation caught up in the struggles between the great powers of the day. But Jews do not see it that way, and it is their view of Israel's past that sets them apart from other states and forged the nature of Judaism. It is Israel's firm conviction that the one God, creator of the universe, was active in every phase of its history: God called Abraham and told him to go to Canaan to become the father of a nation. God released the people from Egypt and led them back to Canaan because He chose to select Israel from all the nations of the world and use it as the vehicle for bringing knowledge of Him to the rest of the nations. This arrangement between God and Israel is called a covenant (solemn agreement). God promised to make Israel a great nation, and, in response, Israel was to be obedient to Him forever. Although there is a direct line of historical continuity from ancient Israel to modern Judaism, the two are not identical. The word Judaism is not to be found in the Hebrew Bible, nor is the word religion. Today it is impossible to do without the word religion when discussing the relationship of humans to God, but in ancient Israel life was not compartmentalized into the social, the political, the economic, and the religious. The people of Israel believed that all human activity—both individual behavior and community action—was under God's guidance. The notion of religion would have been incomprehensible to them. Modern Judaism originated in the period after the return to Palestine from the Babylonian captivity in the 6th century BC. The days of Israel's political power were over. The people began to reflect on the meaning of their existence, in the light of their whole history from Abraham to the Diaspora. What direction the nation should take was unclear, since there seemed to be no new directives from God. If there were no new directives, the Israelites had to rely on what they knew—their history as it had been compiled in the many books that now make up the Hebrew Bible. Should Israel assert itself to become a political power again, or should it await some definitive action by God to restore its fortunes? Opinions were sharply divided, and, by the time of the early Roman Empire, a number of parties or sects had formed. One party centered around the priestly cult of the Temple at Jerusalem. The Temple was the center of worship and sacrifice. Another major party consisted of the rabbis, teachers and interpreters of God's law. Some small sects withdrew from public life to await the coming of God's kingdom, while others organized to prepare a revolt against the Romans. When the Romans destroyed the Temple in AD 70 and ended Jewish opposition 60 years later, Jerusalem as the center of worship ceased to exist. The rebellious sects were smashed, and those who had withdrawn into the desert to await the action of God were of no effect. The one group that was left to fill the breach and provide guidance for the Jewish people was the party of rabbis. The program of the rabbis replaced Temple worship and pilgrimages to Jerusalem with the study of God's law, prayer, and good works. The new place of worship became the local synagogue (from a Greek word meaning “assembly”), where Jews could gather together and hear the Scriptures read and interpreted, sing the Psalms, and pray. The rabbis attempted to standardize religious practices for the dispersed community and to build up a large body of interpretation of God's law. This collection of rabbinic law, called the Mishna, became the primary reference source in all rabbinic schools and the core around which the Talmud—the extensive commentaries on the Mishna—were later compiled. The rabbis also saw to it that the collection now known as the Hebrew Bible was carefully put together about the end of the 1st century AD.
Beliefs The beliefs of Judaism rest upon the Hebrew Bible. Of particular significance is the Torah, the name of which comes from the Hebrew for “to point the way.” The Torah is the first five books of the Bible. Commonly called the books of Moses, they contain the early history of Israel and the laws of God. Jewish doctrines concerning God, man, the nature of Israel, obedience, and the end of the world are derived from the Torah and other writings.
God. The foundation on which the whole course of Israel's faith rests is the conviction that the one God, creator of the universe and absolutely unknowable in Himself, revealed Himself (revelation) to Abraham and his descendants. The concept of revelation is not an easy one to grasp: In the common understanding of the term, what is revealed is no longer hidden, but with reference to God, He always remains hidden in his revelation. He does not put Himself on display, but He acts within the course of events. His acts are perceived only by faith in those to whom He gives understanding. This means that all of His actions could be regarded from a completely secular point of view: There is no evidence available to the senses that can point to an event and say it is from God. This God, Israel believes, was the one and only God; all other gods are but idols and fictions of the imagination. As stated in the basic creed of Judaism, derived from Deuteronomy 6:4–9: “Hear, O Israel! the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.” This God created the universe and mankind, and He, for incomprehensible reasons, chose Israel to be His beacon light for the rest of the nations. He did this, because the world, as it exists, did not know Him: It was Israel's mission to call all people back to knowledge of Him and obedience to His precepts. God's law upholds and provides for the whole of creation. To go against the law, whether natural or moral, creates many evils.
The Covenant. The arrangement God made with Israel is called a covenant. It was first stated to Abraham about 2000 BC in Mesopotamia: “The Lord said to Abraham, ‘Leave your own country, your kinsmen, and your father's house, and go to a country that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation'.” The obedience of Abraham was dependent upon God's fulfilling this promise. This covenant has been renewed time and again by God in Israel's history, always with the condition that the nation be obedient to His commands. After the escape from Egypt, God restated the covenant (Deut. 7:6–11): For you are a people consecrated to the Lord your God: of all the peoples on earth the Lord your God chose you to be His treasured people. . . . Know, therefore, that only the Lord your God is God, the steadfast God who keeps His gracious covenant to the thousandth generation of those who love Him and keep His commandments, but who instantly requites with destruction those who reject Him—never slow with those who reject Him, but requiting them instantly. Therefore, observe faithfully the instruction—the laws and the rules—with which I charge you today.
Torah. “These commandments, statutes, and laws” find their fullest expression in the Torah. After Moses had led Israel out of Egypt, the people formed themselves into a nation. He became their lawgiver. According to the book of Exodus, Moses received the Ten Commandments, the basic moral law, directly from God on Mount Sinai. These laws were amplified by an extensive code providing statutes and regulations for all aspects of personal and communal life, including the manner of worship and sacrifice. The complete laws may be found in the book of Leviticus in the Hebrew Bible. Torah, however, means more than law. In its broadest sense, it is the entire content of Judaism: its sacred Scriptures, its oral traditions, its theological affirmations, its ethical obligations, its historical recollections, its ritual and ceremonial observances, and its interpretations of authoritative texts. More specifically, Torah is the five books of Moses, the first books of the Hebrew Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. From this core developed the rabbinic teaching and interpretations that formed the foundation for modern Judaism, which the rabbis elaborated upon in their teachings in the Mishna and explained in the Talmud. The creation of the Mishna, an authoritative, post-Biblical collection of oral laws, was considered necessary by the rabbis in order that Jewish people dispersed throughout the Middle East and the Roman world would have one standard for the practice of their religion. The Mishna was given its final form by the 3rd century AD. While there was one Mishna for all Jews, there developed two Talmuds, one in Palestine and the other in Babylon. Both places were at the time advanced centers of rabbinical learning; both Talmuds were compiled during the early centuries of the Christian era. In time the Babylonian Talmud became the standard work for all of Judaism. This happened in part because Babylon was a far more stable region than Palestine, but it also owed a great deal to the determination of the Babylonian school to displace the work of its Palestinian competitors.
The nature of man. Unlike the speculations of Greek philosophy that sought to arrive at a complete understanding of human nature, man in the Hebrew Bible is seen primarily as a creature of God, put on Earth to be free and responsible before Him. The long-held notions, devised by the Greeks and others, concerning man as a composite of material body and spiritual (or immortal) soul was foreign to Israel. The book of Genesis presents mankind as created in the image of God. The meaning of this term is uncertain and has been the subject of debate for centuries. Presumably it means that as God's creature, man is able to be responsive to the Creator, yet he is free to make his own ethical choices. He is even free to choose disobedience to the will of God. The issue of human death was never clearly defined in Israel. There was no question of the body's dying and an immortal soul's going off by itself, because the individual was believed to be a unit, not a composite of body, mind, and soul. The whole man died; but Israelites did not believe that death meant extinction. The dead continued to exist in a kind of netherworld called sheol, where they had no experience of any kind. This concept, while not very clear, laid the groundwork for the later belief in the resurrection of the body from the dead.
Ethical behavior. If Israel's ideas on the nature of man were not clearly defined, its ideas on man's responsibilities to God and his fellow creatures were spelled out in great detail. Mankind is, with no choice of its own, created by God and subject to His divine will. This will is expressed in the law—the moral law of the Ten Commandments and the hundreds of statutes that are meant to regulate daily life for the individual and the community. It is necessary to note here that individual and community always are together. There is no life for the individual outside the community: God called a whole people for Himself, not isolated individuals. A just society requires just individuals, and just individuals function best in a just community. The whole law can be summed up as total devotion to God and love for one's neighbor. The statutes, as collected in the book of Leviticus, specify all the many ways these two injunctions are to be carried out, and the regulations are extremely detailed, governing the minutest aspects of daily living along with the larger arena of social interaction. In rabbinic Judaism, the supreme virtue for individuals and the community is the study of the Torah, for it is by careful scrutiny of God's laws that true obedience can be learned. The Torah is not only a guide to right attitudes but also a compendium of specific directives to be observed in detail.
The coming of God's kingdom. The promises made by God within the terms of the covenant were specific. They promised to make Israel a great nation with a land of its own. They also pointed to a time when Israel, under an ideal king, would draw all other nations together in a worldwide community of justice and peace under the guidance of God's law. After the exile in Babylon and the evident failure of Israel to become a holy people and witness to all nations, speculation arose about how God would in fact fulfill His promises. The variety of speculation led to the emergence of a number of schools of thought. One opinion held that there would be a gradual restoration of Israel to its promised land in Palestine. There, a divinely chosen ruler would exhibit his obedience to God and stimulate the obedience of the people. This holy community, in which economic, social, and political justice reigned, would be the inspiration to lure all nations to an imitation of Israel. Another view put little faith in the gradual processes of history. It looked, rather, for a decisive act on the part of God whereby He would reassert His divine sovereignty over the whole creation. This expectation often looked for the appearance of a messiah figure, an individual chosen by God to inaugurate His reign on Earth. The messiah (meaning, “the anointed one,” from the ritual of applying oil in the consecration of a king), would be a monarch after the style of David, Israel's greatest king Other motifs were also woven into the hope for God's kingdom. It was expected by some that all the dead of Israel would be raised to enjoy life in the new community. But even the restored kingdom was not viewed as permanent. At some future date God would intervene to judge the wicked and transport the righteous to a new world—a transformed creation—where the rule of God would be direct and endure forever. Some believers held that the end of the present world would be preceded by a titanic struggle between the forces of good and evil. After the victory of the righteous the end would come. Still other Jews abandoned hope of a redemption within the historical process. They emphasized instead a personal salvation through individual piety and scrupulous adherence to all tenets of the law.
Institutions and Practices As had been true in ancient Israel, so too in rabbinic Judaism it was understood the life of the individual and the life of the community were bound up together. The institutions and practices of Judaism reflect this conviction. There are observations and rituals that take place within the family, ceremonies that pertain to the individual, and the pattern of practices within the synagogue—the community of the faithful. Many of the observances are bound up with the cycle of the religious year, with its feasts and its commemorations.
The rabbi. The term rabbi means literally “my teacher.” It was used as a title of honor for graduates of Palestinian academies in the period after the exile. The graduates, who had studied the Torah, were normally appointed as legal officers and supervisors of local communities. They were not priests: All the priestly functions took place at the Temple in Jerusalem under the authority of a priestly class whose membership was strictly regulated. Nor were the rabbis a clergy in the modern sense: They were not ordained to serve their function. They were appointed scholars. A synagogue could actually call the rabbi it wanted to serve them. In the modern period the rabbis have become similar to Christian clergy. They are college graduates who receive subsequent training in seminaries. After seminary graduation, they serve as congregational rabbis in much the same way as Roman Catholic priests and Protestant clergy serve their congregations.
The synagogue. The origins of this local house of worship and community center are obscure. It probably first made its appearance in the years after the Babylonian captivity, when Jews were dispersed throughout much of the Middle East, and later throughout the entire Roman Empire. The center of Israel's worship life was, of course, in the Temple at Jerusalem, and all Jews were expected to make at least one annual pilgrimmage to Jerusalem. But to maintain the quality and continuity of religious life, it was necessary that those who were far from Jerusalem have some place where they could study the Scriptures and hear them explained. After the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, the synagogue became the locus of worship life. At the heart of synagogue worship is the public reading of the Scriptures, specifically the five books of Moses arranged in an annual cycle. These books, the Torah, are inscribed on a large scroll. The order of worship consists of preparatory prayers, the recitation of Psalms, the “Hear, O Israel” (the Sh'ma, from the Hebrew word that opens the passage in Deut. 6:4), a call to worship, a prayer of petition, the reading of Scripture, and concluding prayers. Worship services take place on Friday evenings (the beginning of the Sabbath, or seventh day), on Saturday mornings, on holy days and festivals, on Monday and Thursday mornings, and on Sabbath afternoons. The Sabbath is derived from the creation story in the book of Genesis, where it is stated that, after the six days of creation, God rested. When, in later generations, the law was promulgated in Israel, it was commanded that the people observe the seventh day as a day of rest and, later, of worship as well. The language of formal worship, at least for more orthodox Jews, is Hebrew. This language of ancient Israel was for a time replaced by Aramaic, a similar language, and by other local languages. In the modern period, Hebrew developed as a literary tongue, and its use has been restored in worship, as well as in the reading of the Scriptures.
Festivals and holy days. Judaism has two cycles of festival days in the year. One, beginning in the spring, observes occasions of historical or agricultural interest. Passover, for instance, commemorates the escape from Egyptian bondage. Shavuot, or the Feast of Weeks, marks the end of the grain harvest as well as the giving of the law to Moses. Succoth, or the Feast of Tabernacles, is an autumnal harvest festival. The last of these holidays, Simchat -+Torah, marks the conclusion and new beginning of the annual cycle of Torah readings. The other cycle begins in the fall with Rosh Hashanah, the new year, and a ten-day period of penitence that concludes with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. In early winter the feast of Hanukkah commemorates a successful war for independence in the 2nd century BC. Purim, later in the winter, celebrates the deliverance of the Jews from potential extermination in Persia, as told in the book of Esther. In the summer a fast day commemorates the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in AD 70. All of the festivals and holy days combine synagogue worship and family observances and rituals.
Individual and family observances. Judaism considers that all of life is holy, that is, set apart for devotion to God. All the moments of an individual's daily life, therefore, are times when God is to be remembered and thanked. Every deed, no matter how trivial in appearance, reminds each person that the world and his life exist in the presence of God. The family, too, is a locus of worship and devotion. Nearly every occasion of community worship in the synagogue has its counterpart in an observance by the family at home. One of the best known of these is the Passover Seder, or meal, with its symbols and the narration of the events surrounding the Exodus from Egypt. Most of the celebrations involve a careful and highly ritualized preparation of food. The life of the individual and the family is marked by a series of rites of passage, rituals that single out notable events in the life of the person within the community. Infants are dedicated to God and named. At the coming of age, a young person accepts responsibility for following the Commandments in a ceremony called a Bar Mitzvah, or, in the case of girls, a Bas, or Bat, Mitzvah. In the ceremony, which is after a girl's 12th birthday and a boy's 13th birthday, the young person is called to read from the Torah. Betrothal, marriage, and death are also marked with observances in the community of the local synagogue.
Modern Judaism Like all major religions, Judaism has always had within it a number of movements, points of view, and local emphases. These did not constitute sects as such historically, since rabbinic authority maintained itself intact until the 18th century. By that time, Jewish people had settled all over the Western world. In the Middle East and North Africa they were influenced by Islam, with its rich cultural and philosophic traditions. In Europe Jews came into contact with a modernizing society, new ideas in philosophy and religion, discoveries in science, European modes of living, and the Industrial Revolution. These developments could not but influence the growth of Judaism in the modern era. The Enlightenment in Europe challenged traditional philosophical and religious views and promoted new ideas on the nature of human beings, society, and religion. One result of this was a demand for reform in Judaism, particularly in Western Europe. In Germany during the 1840s, Reform Judaism became institutionalized. It asserted that since the Jews were no longer a nation, but citizens of the states where they lived, they were no longer bound by the whole religious code of law. Only the dictates of the moral law were necessary. Reform Judaism never had any great success in Europe, but when millions of Jewish immigrants came to North America in the late 1880s, they brought it with them. By 1880 most of the synagogues in the United States had become Reform and were members of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, which had been formed in 1873. Conservative Judaism appeared in the 1840s. Although it did not adhere entirely to Orthodox standards, it clung more closely to the traditions of historic Judaism, while making some concessions to the spirit of reform. Reconstructionism was founded in the United States in the 1920s and holds that Judaism is a religious civilization, and its religious elements are expressions of a specific culture. The movement rejects the notion of an all-knowing God who made a covenant with His chosen people, and it does not accept the Bible as the inspired word of God. The most traditional adherents of rabbinic Judaism are commonly called Orthodox, those who uphold what they consider to be the unchanging faith of Israel. None of the major segments of modern Judaism can, however, be viewed as having complete uniformity within it. Two major phenomena of the 20th century have deeply influenced modern Judaism: Zionism and the Holocaust. Zionism, the reassertion of Jewish nationhood and the goal of reestablishing the state of Israel, emerged in the late 19th century under the leadership of Theodor Herzl in Europe. Although not winning the loyalty of all Jews, Zionism gained momentum steadily after 1900. Whether a Jewish state would have been established without the occurrence of the tragic events in Nazi Germany during World War II is difficult to say. The systematic massacre by the Nazis of about 6 million Jews—the Holocaust—one of the most cataclysmic events in world history, spurred the proponents of a Jewish homeland to achieve their goal. Three years after the end of the war, the State of Israel was established in Palestine. For the first time in nearly two millennia, the Jewish people had their country again.
Non-Orthodox conversion. In a vote that angered Reform and Conservative Jews in Israel and around the world, the Knesset, Israel's parliament, gave preliminary support in April 1997 to a controversial bill that would bring an end to government recognition of conversions to Judaism conducted by non-Orthodox rabbis. Opponents to the bill argued that the legislation would establish a hierarchy within the Jewish community internationally whereby non-Orthodox Jews would be considered “second-class Jews” in the eyes of the state. Much of the most vehement criticism came from Jewish groups within the United States, who warned that Orthodox intransigence over the issue would create a sharp divide between Israeli Jews and Jews of the Diaspora, those Jews dispersed throughout the world. Supporters of the bill, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, argued that the legislation merely codified the unwritten rule that only Orthodox conversions performed within the state of Israel would be recognized officially, but that conversions performed by Conservative and Reform rabbis outside of Israel would continue to be recognized by the Israeli state. Those most affected by the legislation would be the more than 650,000 Russian Jews who immigrated to Israel following the fall of the Soviet Union. Many of these Jews, who form approximately 15 percent of the Jewish population in Israel, had been nonpracticing or assimilated Jews who converted to non-Orthodox Judaism upon their arrival in Israel.

Islam

sufihameer — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 06:01:45 CST

Islam From the Atlantic Ocean across North Africa, the Middle East, and Southern and Central Asia to the Pacific Ocean, the world's predominantly Muslim nations form a long, continuous band. (Muslims are those who practice the religion of Islam.) Within this band lie the countries of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the Persian Gulf states, Oman, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The largest minority populations of Muslims are found in India and in Nigeria. Altogether there are about 750 million Muslims around the world, though there are no precise statistics. Some estimates range as high as 1 billion. The word Islam means “surrender” or “submission,” submission to the will of Allah, the one God. Muslims are those who have submitted themselves. The basic creed of Islam is brief: There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah. One night in the year 610, the first of many revelations came to Muhammad from God by way of the angel Gabriel. The message Muhammad received told him that there was but one God, not many gods, as most Arabs believed. This God was creator of the world, and He would one day judge mankind. This was no novel message: Judaism and Christianity were already spreading the idea of one God. Muhammad saw his task, therefore, not as something new, but as a continuation and conclusion. He was the last in a succession of prophets—stretching from Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Elijah, to Jesus—who proclaimed the oneness of God, or Allah But Islam was never incorporated into either Judaism or Christianity. It became a new religion and, soon, a new empire and a new civilization as well. The revelations that Muhammad received were collected into a new book, the Koran, directing his followers in what to believe and how to live Because Muslims believed that everything Muhammad said and did was inspired by Allah, many reports of his sayings and deeds were collected. At first these were just remembered and spread by word of mouth. Later they were captured in writing, to serve as an additional guide for believers, along with the Koran.
Basic Beliefs Islam teaches that there is one God, the creator and sustainer of the universe. This God, Allah, is compassionate and just. Because He is compassionate, He calls all people to believe in Him and worship Him. Because He is also just, on the Last Day He will judge every person according to his deeds. On the Last Day, all the dead will be resurrected and either rewarded with heaven or punished with hell. Mankind is regarded as the crown of creation, entrusted by God with management of the whole created order. Yet humanity is also seen as weak and prone to disbelief in God and to disobedience to His will. Humanity's weakness is pride: It does not realize its limitations and views itself as self-sufficient. To compensate for this frailty, God has sent prophets to communicate His will. These prophets, all mortal men, were elected messengers to whom God spoke through an angel or by inspiration. Unfortunately for mankind, most of the prophets have been ignored. People, deluded by Satan, or the Devil, continued to disbelieve in Allah. In spite of this, God is always ready to pardon the individual and restore him to the sinless state in which he started life. The life of each Muslim is always within the community of the faithful: All are declared to be “brothers to each other,” with the mission to “enjoin good and forbid evil.” Within the community, Muslims are expected to establish social and economic justice. They are also expected to carry their message out to the rest of the world. In the early Islamic community, this meant the use of force in the form of jihad, or holy war. The intent was not to force conversion on anyone; this was forbidden by the Koran. The object of jihad was to gain political control over societies and run them in accordance with the principles of Islam. During the decades following the death of Muhammad certain essential principles were singled out from his teachings to serve as anchoring points for the Islamic community. These have come to be called the five pillars of Islam. The five pillars are the basic creed, prayer, pilgrimage (or hajj), fasting, and the zakat (or charitable contribution).
Basic Creed The first pillar is profession of faith. “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah” is the core assertion upon which membership in the community depends.
Prayer Islam recognizes two forms of prayer. One is the personal, devotional, and spontaneous type, not bound by any rituals or formulas. The other is ritual, often congregational, prayer, with specific words and postures, to be offered five times a day: at dawn, midday, midafternoon, sunset, and before going to bed. Before prayer, ablutions are performed by washing the hands, feet, and face. A person called the muezzin calls for prayer and chants from a raised platform or minaret tower at the mosque (the house of communal worship). Congregational prayer is started with the imam, the prayer leader, standing at the front of the mosque facing Mecca, the holy city of Islam. The congregation is lined up in rows behind him. (There are no seats in a mosque.) Each prayer consists of several units, during which the individual is either standing, kneeling, or prostrate. At every change in posture, “God is great” is recited. The chief day of communal worship is Friday. Believers gather at the mosque to pray, listen to portions of the Koran, and hear a sermon based on the text. The sermon may have moral, social, or political content. It should be noted that Islam has no ordained clergy such as exists in the Christian churches, but there are men specially trained in religion, tradition, and law. Theoretically, anyone considered competent can be called upon to deliver the Friday sermon.
Pilgrimage The hajj, “pilgrimage,” is an annual Muslim rite that every believer is expected to take part in at least once in his lifetime. From the seventh to the tenth day in Dhu al-Hijjah, the last month of the Islamic (Arabic lunar) calendar, thousands of Muslims converge on the city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia to visit the holy shrine of the Kaaba in the Great Mosque. Tradition has it that the shrine was built by Abraham, considered by Islam, Judaism, and Christianity to be a prophet and the founder of the faith The pilgrimage is intended to reenact the hegira, the flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622. Hence most travelers will visit both cities, in addition to performing a number of other ritual observances. The pilgrimage culminates with the feast of sacrifice, one of the two major festivals that are celebrated during the Islamic (Arabic lunar) year. For centuries, the pilgrimage has brought together thousands of Muslims from many countries and has provided a valuable link between the centers of Islam. It also gives the believers a sense of belonging to a vast world community. In the 20th century all Muslim countries send official delegations to the hajj, providing for an interchange of ideas on all socio-political issues facing the Arab peoples
Fasting In the second chapter of the Koran is the statement “Fasting is decreed for you as it was decreed for those before you.” Because the Koran was first revealed to Muhammad in the month of Ramadan, the whole month was set aside as a period of fasting. During each day, from dawn to darkness, all eating, drinking, and smoking are forbidden. Those who are ill or on a journey may postpone the fast until a “similar number of days later on,” according to the Koran. The second major festival of the Islamic (Arabic lunar) year begins at the termination of the fast and lasts several days.
The Zakat The last pillar is an obligatory tax called the zakat, a contribution made by Muslims to the state or to the community. In the modern period, the zakat has become a voluntary charitable contribution. Some Middle Eastern countries still collect it, but on a voluntary basis, not as a tax levy.
Divisions and Schools of Thought The second chapter of the Koran says: “There shall be no compulsion in religion. True guidance is now distinct from error. He that renounces idol worship and puts his faith in Allah shall grasp a firm handle that will never break. . . . As for the unbelievers, their patrons are false gods.” Islam has always been characterized by diversity with unity. As the above verses suggest, once the believer has made his allegiance to Allah as the one God, he is a Muslim and trusts in God to guide him in his beliefs and actions. The consensus of the community should keep him from straying far afield into erroneous practices. There has been no inordinate fear of differences in beliefs and practices, such as developed in Christianity. Muhammad himself was quoted as having said, “Difference of opinion in my community is a manifestation of divine mercy.” This is not to suggest that there were not, in the long history of Islam, periods of persecution over differences in belief and practice; there have been people in every religion who have regarded themselves as arbiters and enforcers of truth. But such occasions have been far fewer than in most other major beliefs. The major divisions in the history of Islam arose over questions of leadership of the Muslim community, called the caliphate, not over issues of doctrine. Only later did there emerge sects based on divergent emphases in doctrine and practice. Yet all have continued to recognize each other as Muslims on the basis of allegiance to Allah. The seeds of division were sown early. Muhammad's death left the community without a commonly accepted leader, or caliph (from khalifah, meaning both “successor” and “deputy”). The leadership crisis was compounded by the fact that it came at a turbulent time, when Muslim armies were already beginning the century of conquests that would create a vast new empire The first three caliphs, Abu Bakr (Muhammad's father-in-law), ʿUmar, and ʿUthman ibn ʿAffan, had all been close companions of the Prophet. ʿUthman was a member of the important and wealthy Umayyad clan at Mecca and a son-in-law of Muhammad. His murder in 656 led to his replacement by another son-in-law of the Prophet, ʿAli ibn Abi Talib, and to a civil war among Muslim factions. His murder in 661 again opened the question of whose right it was to be caliph. It also was the occasion of the first and only major division in Islam—between the Sunnites and the Shiʿites, the latter the followers of ʿAli.
Sunnah The term means “well-trodden path.” This branch of Islam, to which the Sunnites, the great majority of Muslims, belong was defined in the decades of the earliest schisms. The conflicts over leadership, belief, and practice enabled the Sunnites to develop what they believed to be correct religious positions, based on the Koran and the sayings (hadith) of the Prophet and in reaction to what they regarded as sectarian points of view. Sunnah regards itself as orthodox Islam, representing the consensus of the Islamic community against wayward positions. While condemning schisms and sects, the Sunnites also developed the contrasting trend of toleration in order to embrace the widest range of views that could be accepted as orthodox, in accordance with Muhammad's statement on the virtue of diversity. This toleration made it possible for diverse sects and schools of thought to coexist within the larger community of Islam. No group would be excluded unless it specifically renounced Allah and Muhammad. This toleration was the answer of Sunnah to those who were trying to narrow the concept of Islam according to the use of selective passages in the Koran or the hadith.
Shiʿah After the murder of ʿAli, his followers, called the Shiʿites, demanded that the rule of the community be restored to the family of ʿAli. By his marriage to Fatima, daughter of Muhammad, he was a kinsman of the Prophet; and the Shiʿites claimed the divine right of the family of Muhammad to rule. In the course of its history, Shiʿah developed some distinctive doctrines and a number of sects. Probably out of its reverence for ʿAli, it came to regard the community leader, the imam, as an infallible being who alone knew the hidden and true meaning of the Koranic revelations. Orthodox Shiʿites recognize 12 imams in their history, the last of whom (named Muhammad) disappeared in the 9th century. Orthodox Shiʿites believe that the 12th imam will return near the end of time to inaugurate a reign of truth and justice. Until he returns, all law and doctrine are interpreted by scholars called mujtahids. Since the divine knowledge was mediated through the infallible teachings of an imam, the Shiʿites believed (in contrast to the Sunnites) that all knowledge derived from fallible, human sources was useless. It was not what the community thought, but what the imam proclaimed that counted. This narrowed the scope for toleration of divergent views. Another major difference from Sunnite emphasis was the emergence of a “passion history” among the followers of Shiʿah, comparable in many ways to the Passion plays about the life of Jesus. The violent death in 680 of ʿAli's son, Husein, is celebrated annually with orations, plays, and processions. These celebrations have influenced Sunnite believers in Afghanistan and India, who participate in similar passion plays. The influence of Shiʿah is also felt in the veneration in which all Muslims hold ʿAli and his family and in the respect that they show for his descendants. In addition to the main body of Shiʿite believers, there are a number of fairly extremist sects that have broken away. The largest group is the Ismaʿilis. The difference originates in the identity of the seventh imam. The main body of Shiʿah accepted Musa, but the Ismaʿili recognized instead his brother Ismaʿil. Since his disappearance, they await his return and hence are usually called Seveners, instead of Twelvers, the name applied to orthodox Shiʿites. The seven imams recognized by the Ismaʿilis are, in a sense, higher in excellence than the Prophet because they receive their teachings directly from God Himself. Ismaʿilis may be found mainly in East Africa, Yemen, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The Ismaʿilis are divided into two groups: the Nizaris and the Mustaʿlis. The head of the Nizaris is the Aga Khan, believed to be a direct descendant of ʿAli. The Mustaʿlis live mostly around Bombay, India, and have their own spiritual head. A number of other sects arose out of the Shiʿite movement: the Nusayris, the Zaidis (Yezidis), and the Druzes. Only the Druzes have any considerable following, mostly in Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, the West Bank, and Syria The total Shiʿite movement comprises probably less than 10 percent of the Islamic world. The greatest concentration is in Iran, where Shiʿah has long been the national religion and where 90 percent of the population is Shiʿite. It is in Iran that the conflict between the Shiʿites and the Sunnites became explosive in the late 20th century. Since the 1979 takeover of the government of Iran by the Islamic fundamentalist leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his followers, other Muslim nations in the Middle East have feared that their governments would be subverted by Shiʿite fundamentalism
Sufism Early in the history of Islam there emerged groups who were not satisfied with the outward observances and rituals of religion. They wanted, instead, a religion of inner experience, an asceticism that renounced the luxuries of the world and devoted itself purely to obedience to God. By the 8th century, these groups became known as Sufis, probably from the garments of wool (suf in Arabic) that they wore. These groups of ascetics were similar to the monks who appeared early in the history of Christianity Sufism evolved through three phases: asceticism, the rejection of worldliness; ecstasy, the desire for communion with God; and the cognitive (knowing), by which the believer sought a higher knowledge than that granted to the average Muslim. Because Sufism developed largely within the Sunnite branch of Islam, it helped balance the expansion of the Shiʿite movement that also had high regard for such exceptional divine knowledge. Sufism remained a parallel development within Sunnah until the 11th century, when the theologian al-Ghazali made a formal attempt to merge the doctrines of mysticism with the orthodox consensus of the community that was the Sunnah. He told the other theologians that unless they created a “science of the heart” for all believers, the doctrines of Islam would be nothing more than outward formalities devoid of any inner life or meaning.
American Muslim Mission A distinctive version of Islam emerged in the United States early in the 20th century. Known as the American Muslim Mission, Black Muslims, or the Nation of Islam, it originated as an African American religious and nationalist movement. Its original main thesis was that all nonwhite races should ideally form one nation. The Nation of Islam grew out of a religious tradition started by Noble Drew Ali (born Timothy Drew), who founded the Moorish Science Temple in Newark, N.J., in 1913. In 1929 the movement was taken over by W.D. Fard, also known as Wallace Fard Muhammad. The organization then had its headquarters in Detroit. His followers accepted him as an incarnation of Allah, or God. When he disappeared mysteriously in 1934, he was succeeded by Elijah Muhammad (born Robert Poole). He moved the organization to Chicago. The Nation of Islam grew slowly but took advantage of pent-up frustrations of African Americans by offering them a militant creed. Elijah Muhammad encouraged blacks to give up Christianity, which he said was a tool used by whites to oppress blacks. The movement provided its followers with a community of common religious, cultural, and economic interests. Elijah Muhammad's teachings stressed black nationalism and economic self-sufficiency. Local mosques and individual members were encouraged to start businesses. The organization itself owned farmland and businesses, and it maintained schools for children and adults. Members were not supposed to participate in the country's affairs or serve in the military. Elijah Muhammad kept tight control of the organization, but after his death in 1975 the leadership was divided. In the 1960s the mission got the unofficial name Black Muslims after publication of a book by C. Eric Lincoln entitled The Black Muslims in America (1961). During this decade of the civil rights movement, the Nation of Islam gained national prominence through one of its most eloquent spokesmen, Malcolm X. He attracted his own significant following and after a while broke with the national leadership. He was assassinated by fellow Black Muslims in February 1965, causing a setback in the organization's popularity Throughout the late 1970s the movement was led by Elijah Muhammad's son, Wallace Dean Muhammad, later known as Warith Deen Muhammad, and in 1980 adopted the name American Muslim Mission. During this time color-consciousness, racism, and the deification of Fard were repudiated. Warith Deen Muhammad then announced in 1985 that the mission was being dissolved so its members could become part of the worldwide orthodox Islamic community. Several black nationalist segments of the organization retained both the name and the original beliefs of the Nation of Islam. The largest and most prominent splinter group was led by Louis Farrakhan, who had served as the national spokesman for the Nation of Islam after the assassination of Malcolm X. Farrakhan, like Elijah Muhammad, emphasized economic independence and black self-identity. Based in Chicago, Farrakhan's Nation had success in combating the drug abuse prevalent in public housing projects in many American cities

Hinduism

sufihameer — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:59:22 CST

Hinduism The major religion of the Indian subcontinent is Hinduism. The word derives from an ancient Sanskrit term meaning “dwellers by the Indus River,” a reference to the location of India's earliest known civilization in what is now Pakistan Apart from animism, from which it may have partly derived, Hinduism is the oldest of the world's religions It dates back more than 3,000 years, though its present forms are of more recent origin. Today more than 90 percent of the world's Hindus live in India. Significant minorities may be found in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and smaller numbers live in Myanmar, South Africa, Trinidad, Europe, and the United States. Hinduism is so unlike any other religion that it is difficult to define with any precision. It has no founder. Its origins are lost in a very distant past. It does not have one holy book but several. There is no single body of doctrine. Instead there is a great diversity of belief and practice. Many doctrines would be at odds with each other in any other religion. Hinduism, however, has always tended to be inclusive rather than exclusive. There are many sects, cults, theologies, and schools of philosophy, and all of them find a home within Hinduism without persecuting each other or accusing each other of heresy. It is a religion that worships many gods. Yet it also adheres to the view that there is only one God, called Brahman. All other divinities are aspects of the one absolute and unknowable Brahman. Another distinctive feature of Hinduism is belief in the transmigration of souls, or reincarnation. Associated with this belief is the conviction that all living things are part of the same essence. Individuals pass through cycles of birth and death. This means that an individual soul may return many times in human, animal, or even vegetable form. What a person does in the present life will affect the next life. This is the doctrine of karman, the law of cause and effect. The goal of the individual is to escape this cycle, or wheel of birth and rebirth, so that the individual soul, Atman, may eventually become part of the absolute soul, or Brahman. The caste system of India is another historic characteristic of Hinduism. In its most ancient period Indian society was divided into four classes: priests (or Brahmins), warriors, merchants, and servants. These classes, or castes, have since been subdivided into thousands of subcastes, ranging from the Brahmins at the top to the Untouchables at the bottom. These groups have traditionally been hereditary and have married only among themselves
Origins The precise origins of Hinduism have so far eluded scholars and other investigators. It is known for certain that there was, from about 2300 to 1500 BC, a highly developed civilization in the Indus Valley and beyond. This civilization had its own religion, which may not have been uniform throughout the extensive land area it covered. Around 1500 BC the Indus Valley was invaded by an Indo-European people called Aryans. They almost totally transformed Indian civilization, and in so doing they imposed new forms of religion. The problem in understanding the development of Hinduism is disentangling what may have preceded the Aryan invasion from the religion that was superimposed after 1500 BC. It is probable that much of the Indus Valley religion moved away from Aryan population centers and survived in the countryside. It may have eventually become interwoven with Aryan beliefs and practices to produce historic Hinduism. The religion of the Aryans was similar in many respects to that of other Indo-European groups. It was a religion of the household, of veneration for ancestors, and of devotion to the world spirit (Brahman). The Aryans had numerous gods, nearly all of whom were male. But the Aryans made no images or pictures of their gods as later Hinduism has done. Aryan worship was centered around the sacrificial fire at home, while later Hinduism worshiped in temples. The complex ceremony of the Aryans involved ritual sacrifice of animals and the drinking of an inebriating liquor. Hymns were composed for these rituals, and it is in the collections of the hymns, along with incantations and sacrificial formulas, that the nature of the early religion was spelled out. The collections of these are called the Vedas, and it was under their influence that the earliest Hinduism developed. (For the literature of Hinduism Vedic Period Sometime between 1500 and 1200 BC, the period of Aryan conquest and consolidation, the Rig Veda was composed. It is the oldest religious scripture in the world. The Rig Veda is a collection of 1,028 hymns to the gods. Three other collections—the Samaveda, Yajurveda, and Atharvaveda—were added later. These were all composed over a period of several centuries and collected in their present form sometime during the 1st millennium BC. Between 800 and 600 BC a body of prose writings called the Brahmanas was attached to the Vedas. These contain explanations of the ceremonies mentioned in the Vedas. Even later additions, called the Aranyakas and the Upanishads, presumably written between 600 and 300 BC, were added to this body of literature. All of these texts, along with some later books, became the sacred scripture of Hinduism as it evolved in the second half of the 1st millennium. Of them the Rig Veda is the most revered, though its contents are not much known by most Hindus today.
From 700 BC to AD 800 The writers of the Vedic hymns seem to have believed in a heaven and hell to which the dead pass, depending on the quality of their earthly lives. Sometime after 600 BC, however, the belief in reincarnation appeared. Although at first confined to small groups of ascetics, it soon spread rapidly throughout India. The doctrine was first expounded in written form in a body of literature called the Upanishads, a term that means “sitting at the foot of a teacher.” The purpose of these works is the gaining of a mystical form of knowledge that allows the individual to escape the cycle of rebirths. The Upanishads represent the beginnings of philosophy in India. They are the last stage of interpretation of the Vedas. The Upanishads developed the concept of a single supreme being, Brahman, and they investigated the nature of all reality. By the time the Buddha appeared in the 6th century BC, the belief in reincarnation was firmly established. From that time Hinduism's main concern became release from the cycle of birth and death instead of making offerings to please or pacify the gods. Sacrifice became infrequent because of an unwillingness to destroy living things. This doctrine of reverence for life, called ahimsa, became one of the chief teachings in Jainism At this same time the primary older gods of the Vedas—named Brahma (not to be confused with Brahman), Indra, Agni, and Varuna—were slowly displaced by newer deities—primarily Vishnu, Shiva, and Shakti—who still have millions of devotees. Many of the earlier gods were absorbed by these three. The Hindu teaching on divine incarnation (gods becoming flesh) made it possible for the older gods to be accepted as incarnate in the newer ones. The religious development of this period is reflected in two great literary works, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. The Mahabharata, or Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty, is the world's longest poem. It is a mass of legendary material about the struggles for power between two families. It is also an extensive code of conduct (dharma) to guide those seeking release from the birth-death cycle. Within the narrative is one of the most famous literary works in the world, the Bhagavadgita, or “The Lord's Song.” The book is written in the form of a dialogue between Prince Arjuna and his charioteer, Krishna—an incarnation of Vishnu. The Ramayana, also an epic poem, is about 24,000 couplets long. Its theme is the life of Prince Rama and his adventures. A few centuries later (perhaps as late as the 10th century AD) another collection of literature, the Puranas, began appearing. These were written in simple poetry, obviously designed for the ordinary reader. They became the scriptures of the common man. Although the Puranas contain a great variety of legendary material, their main purpose was glorifying the gods Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma. Of the 18 principal Puranas that survive, the most popular is the Bhagavata-Purana on the early life of Krishna. In the early part of this era, the Hindus generally worshiped without the aids of statues or other images of the gods. By AD 300–650, however, the worship of images in stone temples was firmly established. The worship of female divinities had also become common. The Mother Goddess, most commonly called Shakti, was worshiped in various forms and under differing names. She was the subject of another body of literature called the Tantras. Some animal and human sacrifices were revived by the end of this era, as was the practice of suttee, the burning of a widow on the funeral pyre of her dead husband. In the period immediately after 550 BC, Buddhism and Jainism emerged, religions centered on the monastic life A strong emphasis on the ascetic life in these religions had a profound influence on Hinduism. Asceticism was unknown to the religion of the Vedas, and the priestly class of Brahmins looked down upon it. However, more and more young men became ascetic and gave up the worldly life to become wandering hermits and beggars. Asceticism grew rapidly and has remained a prominent feature of Hinduism.
From AD 800 to 1800 This 1,000-year era was noted for the division of Hinduism into sects and schools of philosophy, the writing of devotional hymns to the gods, and the influence of Islam in India. By this time the creative vitality of Hinduism had moved to southern India, home of several of the devotional movements collectively called bhakti. Six schools of philosophy emerged during this time. The two most significant were based on the teachings of Sankara and Ramanuja. Sankara was the chief exponent of the Vedanta school of philosophy, from which most of the main currents of modern Hinduism derive. The several schools of Vedanta all believe in the transmigration of souls, the authority of the Vedas, Brahman as the creator of the world, and the responsibility of the individual for his actions. Sankara taught a doctrine called monism, which means that all things—God, the world, and the individual soul—are basically one in spite of appearances. Ramanuja, the single most influential thinker for devotional Hinduism, was also of the Vedanta school. His teaching differed, however, from Sankara. He believed that God, the soul, and matter are three separate realities. The goal of the soul is to serve God, just as the body is meant to serve the soul. The goal of meditation is the contemplation of God. An unusual school was founded in the 12th century by Basava. It rejected all forms of image worship, the Vedas, and all caste distinctions. It is probable that Basava's teachings were influenced by Islam. A similar doctrine was taught by Kabir in the 15th century. He denied image worship, the castes, asceticism, sacred texts, and pilgrimages. He accepted the doctrine of reincarnation. His God was called Rama, though he accepted the minor gods of Hinduism as having some reality. He was also a hymn writer. More significant than Hindu schools influenced by Islam was the emergence of Sikhism. It was founded by Kabir's disciple Nanak. Sikhism's theology is basically Hindu, but it took over a number of elements from both Islam and Christianity. It, too, denies the use of images, and it has a form of baptism and a communion meal. In the long run Hinduism probably had a more powerful influence on Muslims living in India than Muslims did on Hinduism. Hindu devotional literature and hymns honoring Vishnu and Shiva were first written in the Tamil language. Collections appeared as early as the 7th century. The composition of similar hymns in northern languages did not begin for several centuries. By the end of the 17th century, the writing of hymns had ceased, and there were no advances in Hindu thought during the next century. By the time Europeans arrived in large numbers in India, they found a conservative religion steeped in tradition. The chief aim was preserving a rigid social order by means of complex rituals and regulations.
Modern Hinduism British colonialism and the arrival of Christian missionaries were the primary influences on Hinduism from the early 19th century. Because of both, Hinduism underwent a revival. By the 20th century it had become so intertwined with the movement for independence that Hinduism and Indian nationalism became virtually synonymous. While rejecting the doctrines of Christianity, Hinduism was strongly influenced by its social consciousness. A number of influential men launched reform movements that took what was beneficial from the West without compromising basic Hinduism. Rammohan Ray promoted education patterned after that of England, and he called for the prohibition of widow-burning. Dayananda Sarasvati rejected idol worship and the caste system and urged India to adopt Western technology. Narendranath Datta, under the name Vivekananda, founded the Ramakrishna Mission to send out monks to do good works and to promote scholarship. He also carried the message of Hinduism around the world. In the 20th century the major figure in Hindu nationalism was Mahatma Gandhi, who strove successfully to end British colonialism
Gods of Modern Hinduism Although many divinities may be worshiped, modern Hindus are generally divided into followers of Vishnu, Shiva, or Shakti. Nearly all Hindus look upon one of these as an expression of the ultimate being, the one in charge of the destiny of the universe. Each group of followers holds the Vedas in high regard, but each also has its own scriptures. In the Bhagavadgita, for example, Vishnu is honored in his incarnation Krishna. Another incarnation, Rama, is the hero of the Ramayana. Vishnu is the protector and preserver of the world, and he is worshiped by many cults in various forms besides Krishna and Rama. The worship of the god is called Vaisnavism. The beginnings of this cult were about the 7th century BC Shiva, a Sanskrit word meaning “auspicious one,” is a more remote god than Vishnu. His worship is called Shivaism. Shiva is a more difficult god to understand than is Vishnu. He is regarded as both destroyer and restorer. Doctrines about Shiva may have merged roles that were once assigned to various earlier gods. Shiva has a female consort who goes under several names. He is occasionally paired with Shakti, the mother goddess. They and their sons Skanda and Ganesa live on top of Mount Kailasa in the Himalayas. He is depicted in a number of forms—such as a wandering beggar, half man and half female, or a dancer. Shakti is the mother goddess. Like Shiva, she can be either beneficial or fierce, depending on her form. As Parvati she is depicted as a beautiful woman in middle age. As Kali she is a giantess with black skin, a blood-red tongue, and large tusks. Kali carries an assortment of weapons and wears a garland of human skulls around her neck. The mother goddess thus stands for all aspects of nature from birth to death. In addition to the three primary deities, there are several others who are still worshiped. Ganesa, the elephant-headed son of Shiva and Shakti, is prayed to before all undertakings. Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu, is patroness of wealth. Sarasvati is the goddess of learning and the arts. Hanuman is the monkey-god associated with the adventures of Rama. He appears as the personification of the power of God on Earth. Manasa, the goddess of snakes, is worshiped by peasants in some areas. Many animals and plants are also regarded as sacred. Most notable is the cow. All cattle are protected, and even among castes that are not vegetarian, beef is not eaten. Monkeys, tree squirrels, and some snakes are also considered holy. Among sacred trees are the banyan and the tulsi. All rivers are considered somewhat holy, but the Ganges in the north of India is the holiest of rivers because it supposedly flows from the head of Shiva. It is the focus of pilgrimage for millions. People are also sacred according to their station in life. Thus parents are holy to their children and teachers to their students.
Festivals and Pilgrimages Temples of any significance hold a festival at least once a year. Festivals are combinations of religious ceremonies, processions of the locally favored god, music, dances, and other forms of celebration. Most festivals are related to the cycles of nature. The New Year celebration, Diwali, takes place with exchanges of gifts, lighting of ceremonial lamps, gambling (a ritual designed to gain luck for the coming year), and fireworks to frighten away spirits of the dead. Pilgrimages to holy places have been common since the Vedic period. Certain places are considered sacred because of a specific historical event, connection with a legendary figure, the appearance of a god, or location on the bank of a holy river. Visits to sacred places are supposed to confer some benefit upon the pilgrim—frequently the healing of a dread disease. People who travel to Varanasi (Benares) when death is near hope to be released from the birth-death cycle by dying near the Ganges River. Many shrines organize annual gatherings that are partly religious and partly local fairs.
Temple Worship Temples range in size from small village shrines with crude statues to huge complexes—almost small cities—with walls and monumental gates enclosing courtyards, pools for ceremonial bathing, schools, hospitals, and monasteries. Services are not carried out at fixed times as they are in Western religions. The worship itself is an act of calling forth the god's presence and entertaining the deity as a royal guest. The first act is opening the temple door. For worshipers of Vishnu this symbolizes opening the gates of heaven. For Shiva worshipers it secures the building's protection. Temple visitors may take part in chanting or listening to doctrinal expositions. Images of the gods are honored with gifts of flowers, fruit, or perfumes, and visiting worshipers are given small portions of consecrated food. In addition to temple worship, there are daily household rites, including an offering of food, often fruit, or flowers to the gods and recitation of the Vedas. Household worship focuses on the transitions in a person's life, such as the rite of passage from childhood to adult responsibility, marriage, or childbirth. Wedding ceremonies are the major household rites, and they have remained quite elaborate, lasting usually up to three days. The traditional funeral method is cremation. Part of the funeral rite is a gift of food to the Brahmins (the priestly class) for the benefit of the deceased.

The life of prophet

sufihameer — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:31:18 CST

The life of prophet Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam (Peace be upon him)
The life of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam: Its means peace be upon him), peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was a mercy to the universe. His life ever shines as a symbol of light and guidance for all time and for all people. He was the last messenger of God to humanity, the seal of the prophets. To the Oneness of God he called:

La Ilaha Illalla Muhammad-ur-Rasullullah
There is no God but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah This is the life and message of Islam.
Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam), the last prophet, was born in the harsh desert land of Arabia almost 600 years after Jesus (peace be upon him) in the city of Makkah located in a deep valley surrounded by a curtain of brown and black jacket mountains.

Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) was an orphan. His father had died before he was born so he was raised and weaned in the desert according to the Arab custom. By the tender age of six, his mother Amina also died and he was left all alone to be brought up by his grandfather Abdul Muttalib and later under the care of his paternal uncle Abu Taalib.

Makkah was an important and famous city primarily because within it stood the Holy Kaaba, the first house ever set up for mankind to glorify the One true God constructed some 3000 years earlier by the Prophet Abraham with the help of his first son Ishmael (peace be upon them). It was here in this deserted and barren valley that Abraham according to Divine Will has settled his wife Hagar along with their child Ishmael. So it was, that with the passage of time, Makkah gradually became a city of pilgrimage and a flourishing center of culture and trade, through which passed the great trade caravans between Syria in the North and Yemen in the South.

Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) was a direct descendent of Abraham through Ishmael belonging to the noble and renowned family of Bani Hashim. As a shepherd boy, Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam), used to tend the sheep and goats around the hills of Makkah under the bright burning sun. A familiar training it seems for those destined to fulfill the role of Prophethood.

As a young man, Muhammad became known to everybody as Al-Amin, the trustworthy, because of his honesty and noble character. His uncle loved him dearly and would take him on trading journeys to Syria. This gave Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) the opportunity to learn how to earn his living as a trader. He managed business well. Although he was relatively poor, Muhammad's truthfulness and generous nature made him trusted and loved by everyone who knew him.

There lived in Makkah, one of the most honorable of ladies, her name was Khadija. Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) had worked for her. At the age of 25, he received from her an indirect proposal of marriage although she was a senior and twice widowed, Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) accepted her offer. They were married and lived a happy life. She bore him 2 sons and 4 daughters. Sadly, the 2 sons died in infancy. Nevertheless, it was an ideal marriage and they lived together a blissfully perfect family life.

Muhammad's company and wise counsel were greatly sought after. It is said that once when the sacred Kaaba was being rebuilt after serious floods had damaged its walls, a disagreement arose among the four main tribes of Quraish as to which tribe should have the honor of replacing the sacred black stone. A skirmish was about to begin when one of the elders suggested a solution. "Make the first to enter the gate, your judge" he said. They all looked and to their great joy, Muhammad entered. "It is Al-Amin, the trust worthy" they cried. Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) saw what was happening and he asked for a piece of cloth to be brought. He laid the black stone upon the cloth and told the members of each of the four tribes to hold the corners of the cloth and raise the stone as he himself eased it into its position. So he ended the quarrel and with it the threat of war.

The Arabs of his time had many great qualities. They were brave, generous, loyal and yet they were often involved in petty feuds fighting endless battles among themselves ready to shed blood on flimsies pretense. They had little respect for the weak, the orphans or widows and frequently indulge in heavy drinking and frivolity. Because of the important status given to the sons, many fathers practiced the evil custom of burying the unwanted daughters at birth. But at the root of all evils, lay polytheism. Polytheism, the cult of worshipping idols was practiced by almost everyone. The everlasting religion and legacy of Abraham, the worship of one true God alone had been buried and forgotten with time. Over the years, some 360 idols and statutes of false gods had been installed in and around the Holy Kaaba worshipped as lords and intercessors. Even the followers of Moses and Jesus have diverged from the universality and teachings of the pure monotheistic faith of Abraham and had divided themselves into many separate sects and tribes.

But Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) was an exceptional figure. He did not take part in any of this. It became his habit in later years to retreat to an isolated cave in the nearby mountain called Hira, not far from Makkah to bear his heart and pray in search of truth. With no sound but the stirring wind, he would contemplate in his solitude, the signs of the universe. It was here one night during the month of Ramadan, at the age of 40, that the Almighty called Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) to his service. This night, known as Laila-tul-Qadar, the night of power, the spirit of truth was to descend with God's decree and light for humanity, the Quran, a new chapter for the world was about to unfold.

The white veining moon was shining brightly when suddenly he perceived a presence. Out of the stillness of the night a voice was heard "read". Muhammad was shaken "I cannot read", he replied. The earth seemed to tremble as the voice repeated the command pressing him on, "Read". "I cannot read", he felt himself frozen with fear unable to move. "Read" the awesome voice commanded again. "What shall I read?" Then suddenly he was released. At that moment all time and space were suspended. The heavens and the earth joined, peace, as mankind stood at the threshold of a new dawn.

Surah Al-Alaq (Chapter 92 of Holy Quran: The Book of God) -- Verses 1 to 5

"Read, in the name of your Lord who Creates, Creates man from a clot of blood. Read and your Lord is most Generous who teaches by the pen, teaches man that which he knew not."

These were the first five jeweled verses of the Glorious Quran, the voice was that of Angel Gabriel, the spirit of faith and truth who had been sent to the last of the God's prophet. The mission had just begun for Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam), the Messenger of Allah, a mercy to the worlds.

The Prophet Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) had just received first words from his Lord on mount Hira. He rushed down from the mountain, his face shining with beads of sweat heart beating fiercely, the verses of Quran still echoing in his soul. "What kind of recitation was this? What kind of words?" He ran to Khadija "Cover me, cover me". She gently comforted him as he explained what had just happened. "I fear that something may befall me", he said. "Never by Allah", said his wife faithfully, "Allah will never disgrace you, you keep good relations with all your relatives, you help the poor and the needy, you serve your guests generously and assist the deserving, the unfortunate ones."

Sometime later Khadija took him to her cousin a learned scribe named Waraqa who knew the Torah and the Gospel well. After describing to him what had happened that night, the old man without hesitation affirmed that "Indeed this must have been a meeting with arch Angel Gabriel whom Allah has sent to Moses. I wish I were young and could live up to the time when your people turn you out", the old wise man said. He knew that the prophet foretold in the earlier scriptures had arrived. So began the call of the Last Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) which was to influence the world for ever more and herald a new age in the history of human consciousness and progress, the birth of Islam.

The first to believe in the Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) was his wife Khadija followed shortly after by his young beloved cousin Ali, son of Abu Taalib, who lived with them. Most were violently opposed but some willingly opened their hearts and accepted the call like Muhammad's closest friend and companion Abu Bakr and his servant Zaid and others. After a while, as the revelations of the Quran continued, the Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) was commanded to publicly deliver the message of Islam and recite the verses which has been sent to him.

translation of Surah Fatih: Chapter 1 of the Holy Quran, the Book of God)

"In the Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds

The Beneficent, the Merciful

Master of the Day of Judgement

You alone we worship and You alone we ask for help

Show us the straight path, the path of those whom You have favored

Not those who earned Your anger, nor those who go astray"

One day, the Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) climbed to the top of Safa, a small hill close to the sacred Kaaba and called after his kinsmen, the people of Quraish. As they gathered around him, they asked him, "What was the matter?" Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) answered, "Tell me O men of Makkah if I were to inform you that I see an army on the other side of this hill, would you believe me?" "Indeed", they all answered, "for we trust you and we know you never tell a lie." "Then", Muhammad said, "Know that I am a Warner and that I warn of severe punishment. God has commanded me to warn you, my nearest kin, that I can guarantee you no good on earth or in heavens."

The crowd on hearing this became dumb struck. As they stood silent and still under the heat of the sun, Abu Lahab, the prophet's uncle, finally burst out: "May you perish." They all turned their backs and dispersed leaving Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) standing alone. The people of Makkah listened to these new words calling them to bow to Allah and to enter the religion of love and submission, Islam. But soon they became sharply divided. Many began to reject the glaring truth. After years of knowing him as the most kind and pious among them, they started insulting him and ridiculing him and even calling him insane. Yet with all this abuse heard upon him, he would never speak a bad word in return. He used to say "He who believes in Allah and the last day, should be good to his guest, He who believes in Allah and the last day, should honor his neighbor, and He who believes in Allah and the last day, should say what is good or be silent." Nothing would deter him. He continued patiently inviting his townsfolk to what was the basic pillar of Islam to bear witness that there was no God worthy of worship but Allah, that he Muhammad was the Messenger of Allah.

translation of Surah Ikhlas: : Chapter 112 of the Holy Quran, the Book of God)

"Say, He is Allah the One
Allah the Eternal, Absolute
He begets not, nor was He begotten
And there is none comparable to Him"

The more he called on them to submit to one and Only God, the more enraged the tribal chiefs became. "What", they said, "Has he made all our gods into One God. This is a strange thing indeed." What was even more surprising to them was that these miraculous new words, the passages of the Quran, were coming to a man whom they knew was unlettered. Never had Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) learned to read or write, a skill that only few could claim among the Arabs at that time. So how then these words so matchless in their beauty and articulation coming to him.

The chiefs of the Quraish, the most influential tribe in Makkah, became more and more enraged. However at one of their council meetings they decided to ask the Prophet's uncle and guardian Abu Taalib to mediate, to try and stop him from calling people away from their customs and the religion of their forefathers. Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) when he heard this, was emotionally moved because of the love and affection he felt for his dear uncle but his answer was calm and clear: "By Allah if they place the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left, I would never abandon this course until Allah makes it victorious or I die therein."

Slowly, one by one, the number of Muslims grew under the guidance of the beloved Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam). This first noble group of believers followed the way of righteousness and submission. Their love for the truth shown out, illuminating the dull paganistic society of that time. The pursuit of worldly gain, the main objective of earthly life and ambitions was shunned in favor of pursuit of eternal life and wisdom. "Whosoever follows the path to seek knowledge therein" the Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) said "Allah will make easy for him the path to paradise."

Yet Muslims were made the object of persecution from the very beginning. Those who were poor of little means and had no position suffered the most. They were mocked and laughed at. But when ridicule failed, the disbelievers resorted to physical attacks and torment. Stones and dirt were hurled at them. Some 100 Muslims were permitted to leave Makkah abandoning their homes and seeking refuge in neighboring Abyssinia, a Christian land.

For those who stayed behind, the persecution increased. Bilal, a black Abyssinian slave who had accepted Islam was laid outstretched on the burning sand at the behest of his brutal master, while large heavy rocks were placed on his chest. "Where is your God now?" the disbelievers taunted him. But no amount of torture could shake his faith. The believers would never give up Islam.

So a new tactic was adopted by the chiefs of Makkah. The Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) and his followers were evicted and forced to live in a confined section of town. No provisions were allowed to get through to them. They had to suffer long torturous periods without food or water. Not eating for days or even weeks on ends. This boycott began in the 7th year after the commencement of Quranic revelation and lasted for 3 long years. But by the Grace of Allah, some kind hearts among the persecutors could not tolerate the victimization any longer. Their will gradually softened and the ban was finally lifted.

Again the people were able to observe and listen to the Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam). He was the most handsome of men of medium height, black hair and beard, his teeth shown gleaming white when he smiled. But it was his character and perfect behavior which made the greatest impression. His words were always full of guidance and wisdom. The customs and traditions of the tribal society in Arabia were shaken and revised by the extraordinary spirit of his teachings. He said: " Support your brother whether he is doing wrong or he is being wronged." A man enquired, "O Messenger of Allah, I can help him if he has been wronged but how can I support him if he is doing wrong?" He said "Prevent him from doing wrong. That is how you support him."

Muhammad's kindness and merciful nature was also unparalleled. Often when he passed by a group of children, he would pass his hands affectionately over their heads and sometimes would even join in their innocent games. He said: "There are for Allah one hundred mercies of which only one was sent down among the Jinn, mankind, beasts, birds and insects. Through it they incline towards each other. Through it, they show mercy to one another and through it they show affection to their younger ones. And Allah has reserved for Himself ninety nine mercies with which He will show mercy to His servants on the day of resurrection."

He gave special place and honor to women. In one stroke, Islam raised them to a position unimaginable in the society at that time guaranteeing them rights and liberties not equal anywhere. "Paradise lies beneath the feet of your mother" he said. But the majority still persisted in their ways of ignorance and continued to reject him.

It was during the 10th year of the mission that Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) was to experience the greatest sorrow of his life. His Uncle Abu Taalib, who adopted and provided him the much needed family protection and support died. This was followed soon after by the death of his loving wife, Khadija. To add to his grief, the people of Taif to whom he had journeyed to convey the message of Islam had mercilessly rejected him, sending raffians to pelt him with stones making his body stream with blood.

It was in this devastating and difficult time that the Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) was to be given one of the greatest and most uplifting honors by Allah, Glorified and Exalted as He. This was a miraculous night journey. On that special night, the Angel Gabriel came to Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) and woke him from his sleep. Gabriel then made him mount what looked like a dazzling white creature named Al-Buraq. Soon with lightening speed Muhammad was transported to Masjid Al-Aqsa, the distant place of prayer in Jerusalem. There, on this blessed site in the heart of Jerusalem, Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) was met by an assembly of earlier prophets who gathered behind him as he led them in prayer.

From there, Gabriel took him and they ascended through the seven heavens to witness the unseen mysteries of the universe and to see some of the greatest signs of Allah. According to tradition, the Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) said, " When I entered the lowest heaven I saw a man sitting there with the spirits of men and women passing before him. To one on the right, he would smile saying 'a good spirit from a good body' and to another on the left he would frown and say 'a bad spirit from a bad body'. I said, 'Who is this O Gabriel?' He replied, 'This is Adam and the persons on the right and left are his offspring. Those on the right are the people of Paradise, those on the left are the people of hell fire.' Then Gabriel ascended with Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) through each subsequent heaven meeting different Prophets as he went. Jesus, John, Joseph, Aaron, Moses, peace be upon them all. Until finally they reached the seventh heaven. There was a man sitting on the throne at the gate of the immortal mansion. 'Never have I seen a man more like myself', said the Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam). 'This was my father Abraham'. Then Gabriel appeared to the Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) in all his angelic light and splendor. They had reached the lot tree of the utmost boundary, the Sidrat-ul-Muntaha veiled by mysterious colors, inexhaustibly indescribable.

Translation) Chapter 53 of the Holy Quran, the Book of God -- Verses 11 to 18

"The heart falsified not what he saw
Would you then dispute with him concerning what he sees
And Verily he saw him yet another time by the Lot tree of the utmost boundary
Near it the garden of Abode, when the Lot tree was shrouded by whatever in shrouded
The sight did not swerved nor did it exceed, Verily he saw of the Sign of his Lord, the Greatest."

Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) had soared to the zenith of Divine heights. It was in this night of supreme spiritual and bodily elevation that he received from Allah Almighty, the second noble pillar of Islam: the five daily prayers. And that, which was given to no Prophet ever before, the whole world was made a place for prostration and prayer for Muslims. This was Al-Isra Wal Mairaj the night journey and ascension.

On his return the next morning, after hearing about this miraculous journey, the disbelievers now rejoiced in the opportunity to jeer and mock Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) even more. They had called him a mad man, a sooth sayer, a poet and now a liar. Persecution increased and life grew unbearable for Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) and his companions. They were constantly in danger so they quietly prepared to leave Makkah.

A delegation of those who had embraced Islam from the city of Yasrab (Yathrib), 250 miles away, offered their homes and welcomed all Muslims to live in the safety of their city. They especially wanted the Prophet to bring peace to their city torn by tribal feuds and unrest. The Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) accepted. This was to be the Hijra, the migration, the turning point in Islamic history, from which date the Islamic calendar began, the birth of the first Islamic state and thus Yasrab came to be called the city of the Prophet Madina-tun-nabi.

Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam), the Messenger of Allah, after 13 years of inviting to Islam and after suffering bitter persecution at the hands of pagan Arabs left Makkah together with the small community of Muslims and migrated to where they had been offered peace and security in the city of Medina. Thus began the second major phase in the mission and life of the Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam).

In Medina, the Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) became the head of state. From here Islam was to blossom. A new, brilliant and just social order was born. At the base was the mosque. Hereto Islam's vision for peace amongst all the people of the world of all faiths and races took shape in what was effectively the first constitution and charter of human rights and liberties ever. It guaranteed every citizen freedom, security and justice. Freedom of conscious and worship for Muslims as well as non-Muslims alike, Security and protection from any outside threat or attack, Justice and the abolition of all crimes and immoral practices.

Translation) Chapter 8 Al-Anfal of the Holy Quran, the Book of God -- verse 74

"Those who believed and migrated and fought for the cause of Allah and those who took them in and help them, these are the believers in truth, for them is pardon and generous provision."

Charity was one of the main features of this new society. Greed and selfishness became strangers and were replaced by compassion and concern for all living things. The Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) said: "Doing justice between two people is a charity, and assisting a man upon his burden and lifting his baggage is a charity, and answering a questioner with mildness is a charity, and removing that which is inconveniences to man such as thorns and stones is a charity and a smile to your brother is a charity."

Once a man came upto Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) and begged him for some sheep. There were large number of them grazing between two hills so he ordered that they were all to be given to him. When the man returned to his village he said: "O People, embrace Islam for by Allah, Muhammad gives so much he does not fear poverty."

Here in Medina, another two more important pillars of Islam were established. The Muslims were ordered to pay Zakat, the wealth tax due to help the poor and the needy. And fasting in the month of Ramadan. During this period, the Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) remarried. He was proposed to by many, but apart from Aisha, the daughter of Abu Bakr, his wives were mainly widows of Muslims who were killed or martyred. However, he always had a special place and memory in his heart for Khadija, his first wife and beloved partner.

The area of Medina was also populated by a number of Jewish tribes. The Muslims already felt a close affinity with these people of the book, as the coming of the Prophet had been foretold in Torah. God had said to Moses: "I will raise them a Prophet among their brethren like unto thee and I will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him." Who in the Old Testament were the brethren of the sons of Israel if not the sons of Ishmael? Who else could have been the Prophet like unto Moses? Who was most similar to him then the Prophet Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam).

And according to the sayings of Jesus, the prophecy was also fulfilled: "If I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart he will be sent unto you. He will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatever he shall hear that shall he speak."

Upto this time, Muslims had even prayed in the same direction as the people of the book, facing the Holy city of Jerusalem. The believers were now ordered to turn their faces for prayers towards the Holy mosque in Makkah, the Kaaba. This historic change in the direction of the prayer symbolizes the distinction and the honor given to the new Muslim Ummah. As the Muslims were returning to the original faith of Abraham so in prayer they turn to the first house of Allah erected by him.

Apart from the people of the book, the Makkan chiefs too were displeased. They were still determined to wipe out the new Muslim community and were plotting to attack Medina. But now at last, after years of persecution and torture, permission was given by Allah for Muslims to defend themselves.

Translation) Chapter 22 Al-Hajj of the Holy Quran, the Book of God -- Verse 39

"Permission is given on to those who are being fought against because they have been wronged and indeed Allah is able to give them victory."

The result was the battle of Badr in the second year after the Hijra in the month of Ramadan. The Makkan army attacked with 1000 men outnumbering the small Muslim army 3 to 1. But by the Will of Allah, the outcome was a spectacular victory for the Muslims. Some of the Makkan chiefs who had led the persecution against the Muslims were killed. Others were taken prisoners and subsequently ransomed. For the first time in history, the prisoners of war were fed and sheltered like their captors and treated humanely. This battle was a turning point. The strength and courage of the believers shocked the Makkans and their allies. But they were still determined to destroy Islam.

In battle after battle, the Muslims proved that they can withstand all attacks. After a narrow escape for the believers in the battle of Uhud, the following year the Quraish then planned a once and for all assault to destroy the Muslims. They plotted with certain Bedouin and Jewish tribes and hypocrites within Medina itself. In the 5th year of Hijra, a force of more than 10000 marched on Medina. However, the Muslims were ready. On the advice of Salman, the Persian, they had prepared to defend themselves by digging a system of wide trenches around the city. The Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) himself took part in this and while he was digging, they sang a refrain:

After a month long siege and unable to penetrate the Muslim defenses, the pagan army became impatient. Gradually distrust began to spread between the allied forces. Quarrelling amongst themselves and suffering from severe weather conditions, they finally packed up their tents and withdrew. This was a great victory for Islam. Medina was never again attacked.

In the following year, the 6th after Hijra, a truce was made between the Makkans and the Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam). Even though the terms were weighed heavily on the side of the Quraish, this was to be another triumph for Islam, and it was called the treaty of Hudaibeya. The period of peace which followed gave many non-Muslims the chance to see for themselves the blessings of the Islamic way of life. As a result, an enormous number of Makkans and the tribes embraced Islam.

One day, a man from a distant region with ruffled hair came to the Messenger of Allah to ask about Islam. The Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) said: "You have to offer prayers 5 times in one day and a night". The man asked: "Is there any more?" The Prophet replied: "No but if you want to offer extra prayers, you can." He continued: "You have to fast during the day light hours in the month of Ramadan." The man asked: "Is there anymore fasting?" He replied: "No but if you want to offer extra fast, you may." Then the Prophet further said to him: "You have to pay Zakat, obligatory charity." The man asked: "Is there anything other than Zakat for me to pay?" The Messenger of Allah (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) said: "No unless you want to give alms of your own." At that point, the man said, "By Allah, I will neither do less nor more than this." The Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) remarked: "If he is true to what he says than he will be successful."

During this period, the Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) sent letters to various rulers, including the emperors of the two superpowers of that time: Persia and Byzantine, inviting them to Islam. The emperor Herecules was on his way to Jerusalem when he received the letter bearing the Prophet¡¯s seal. It read: "From Muhammad, Messenger of Allah to Herecules, emperor of Byzantine. Peace be unto him who follows true guidance. I invite you to Islam. Accept it and you will have peace and prosperity and Allah will give you double reward. If you reject, the sins of your subjects will be on you." And the letter ended with the verse of Quran:

Translation) Chapter 3 Al-Imran of the Holy Quran, the Book of God -- Verse 64

"Say O People of the Book, come to common terms between us and you that we worship none but Allah and we associate no partners with Him and that we will not set up from amongst ourselves others as lords besides Allah. Then if they turn away say: Bear witness that we are Muslims submitting to Him."

Even though the emperor recognized that this was indeed the Prophet who according to the scriptures had been awaited he felt compelled by loyalty to his chiefs and courtiers to reject the message. And thus sadly the winds of fate blew closed the door. The good tidings went unheeded and the Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) words inevitably became fulfilled.

Meanwhile in Arabia, Islam's strength was rapidly growing. Two years after the truce with the Makkans was made and as its terms were repeatedly violated by the Quraish, Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) decided to march on Makkah with an army of about 10,000. What happened was to be an all time marvel and a landmark in the history of religious conquests. The Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) captured the city with hardly a single drop of blood being shed. He rode through the gate mounted on a camel with his head bowed in humility as all his trembling enemies looked on. Yet to their amazement, he preceded to forgive all those who uptil then were bitter enemies of Islam. And announced the general amnesty. This was the day of victory and the final chapter of the Prophet's life was about to begin.

The conquest of Makkah was over. The enemies of Islam had surrendered and were graciously pardoned. Witnessing the merciful behavior and character of the Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam), the people of Makkah voluntarily accepted Islam. The Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) entered the Holy precinct of the sacred Kaaba. There stood all of the 360 idols and stones, the false gods which the Arabs had bowed and worshipped so long. One by one, on the order of the Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam), the idols were smashed into pieces. Thus finally erasing the symbols of idolatry from the Arabian Peninsula. At last, this house, the sacred Kaaba erected by the noble Prophet Abraham and his first son Ishmael was purified and rededicated to the worship of the One and Only God, Allah Lord of all the worlds.

Translation) Chapter 9 Taubaof the Holy Quran, the Book of God -- Verse 33

"He it is, Who has sent His messenger with the guidance and religion of truth that He may exalt it above all religions even though the pagans may detest it."

It was now 21 years since the Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) has started calling humanity to recognize the one Transcendent God and the Quranic revelation had begun. Now Muhammad's mission was coming to a close. He stayed in Medina which effectively became the capital of the new Muslim world. Delegations from all over Arabia came to embrace Islam at the hands of the Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam). In addition, he sent group of believers to various provinces and lands inviting them to enter Islam. Even with all of Arabia and surrounding lands at his command, he continued to live as a humble servant of Allah. He used to patch his own sandals, sow his clothes and serve his family like any ordinary man. It was in the 7th century ten years after the Hijra, the Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) was nearing the end of his life on earth. That was the year he performed Hajj the pilgrimage, the 5th and final pillar of Islam.

Under the scorching sun on the plains of Arafat, Prophet Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) delivered his final sermon:

"O People, listen to my words carefully for I know not that after this year I shall ever meet you again at this place. O People, your lives and your property are sacrosanct until you meet your Lord, as are this Holy place, this Holy day and this Holy month. Remember that you will indeed meet your Lord and answer for your deeds, so be aware whoever of you is holding a trust let him return it to his rightful owner. All usury is abolished, your capital however, is yours to keep. Wrong not and you shall not be wronged. All blood shed from the pagan age of ignorance is to be left unavenged. O people, the devil has lost all hope of ever being worshipped in this land of yours, nevertheless he will try to mislead you in smaller matters. Beware of him therefore for the safety of your religion. Time has turned and it is as it was the day God that created the heavens and the earth. The number of months is 12, four of them are Holy in which war and fighting are forbidden. O man, you have your rights over your wives and they have rights over you. It is your right that they do not fraternize with anyone of whom you do not approve but if they do, Allah has permitted you to isolate them in their homes and chastise them without cruelty. But if they abide by your rights then they have the right to be fed and clothed with kindness. Do treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and committed helpers. You have taken them only as a trust from Allah and you have their enjoyment only by permission so listen to me in earnest O people and reason well. I leave behind two things: The Quran and my example. If you follow them, you will not go astray. O People, listen to my words, know that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that all Muslims constitute one brotherhood. It is only lawful to take from your brother what he gives you willingly. So wrong not yourselves."

The Prophet (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) then faced the heavens and said: "Be my witness O Allah that I have conveyed your message to your people." It was then that some of the final words of Quran were revealed:

Translation) Chapter 5 Al-Maidaof the Holy Quran, the Book of God -- Verse 3

"This day I have perfected your religion for you and have completed My favor upon you and have chosen for you as religion, Al-Islam."

A few months after, at the age of 63, Allah Almighty reclaimed his soul. The Prophet Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihewasalam) passed away in his home in Medina leaving no more than a few small possessions, for the world at his feet but not a dinar to his name. Yet the spirit of his message remain as clear and alive today as when it was first delivered that man may witness the miracle of his life and mission, the beauty of perfection of his goal.

La Ilaha Illalla Muhammad-ur-Rasullullah

There is no God but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi-Rumi

sufihameer — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:18:53 CST

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi-Rumi Mawlānā Jalāl-ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī known as Mawlānā Jalāl-ad-Dīn Muhammad but known to the English-speaking world simply as Rumi, (September 30, 1207–December 17, 1273), was a 13th century Persian (Tājik)[4][5] poet, Islamic jurist, and theologian [6]. Rumi is a descriptive name meaning "the Roman" since he lived most parts of his life in Anatolia which had been part of the Byzantine Empire two centuries before. Rumi was born in Balkh (in present-day Afghanistan), then a city of Greater Khorasan, and died in Konya (in present-day Turkey), then a city of the Great Seljuq Empire. His birthplace and native language/local dialect indicates a Persian heritage His poetry is in Persian and his works are widely read in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and in translation especially in Turkey, Azerbaijan, the US, and South Asia. He lived most of his life in, and produced his works under the Seljuq Empire. After Rumi's death, his followers founded the Mowlawīyah, better known as the "Whirling Dervishes," who believe in performing their worship in the form of dance and music ceremony called the samāʿ. Rumi's importance is considered to transcend national and ethnic borders. Throughout the centuries he has had a significant influence on Persian as well as Urdu and Turkish literatures. His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages in various formats, and BBC News has described him as the "most popular poet in America"

Life

Rumi's life is described in Shams ud-Din Ahmad Aflāki's "Manākib ul-Ārifīn" (written between 1318 and 1353). His father was Bahā ud-Dīn Wālad, a theologian, jurist and a mystic from Balkh, who was also known during his lifetime as "Sultan of the Scholars". His mother was Muʿmina Ḫātūn. When the Mongols invaded Central Asia sometime between 1215 and 1220, his father with his whole family and a group of disciples set out westwards. On the road to Anatolia, Rumi encountered one of the most famous mystic Persian poets, Attar, in the city of Nishapur, located in what is now the Iranian province of Khorāsān. 'Attar immediately recognized Rumi's spiritual eminence. He saw the father walking ahead of the son and said, "Here comes a sea followed by an ocean." He gave the boy his Asrarnama, a book about the entanglement of the soul in the material world. This meeting had a deep impact on the eighteen-year-old Rumi's thoughts and later on became the inspiration for his works. From Nishapur, Walad and his entourage set out for Baghdad, meeting many of the scholars and Sufis of the city. From there they went to Baghdad, and Hejaz and performed the pilgrimage at Mecca. The migrating caravan then passed through Damascus, Malatya, Erzincan, Sivas, Kayseri and Nigde. They finally settled in Karaman during seven years. His mother and his brother died in Karaman. In 1225 Mevläna married Gevher Hatun in Karaman. They had two sons: Sultan Veled and Alaeddin Çelebi. When his wife died, Mevlâna married again and had a son Emir Alim Çelebi and a daughter Melike Hatun. On 1 May 1228, most likely as a result of the insistent invitation of 'Alā' ud-Dīn Key-Qobād, ruler of Anatolia, Baha' ud-Din came and finally settled in Konya in Anatolia within the westernmost territories of Seljuk Empire. Baha' ud-Din became the head of a madrassa (religious school) and when he died Rumi inherited his position and succeeded him at the age of twenty-five. One of Baha' ud-Din's students, Sayyed Burhan ud-Din-e Muhaqqiq, continued to train Rumi in the religious and mystical doctrines of Rumi's father. For nine years, Rumi practiced Sufism as a disciple of Burhan ud-Din until the latter died in 1240-1. From then on started Rumi's public life. He became the teacher who preached in the mosques of Konya and taught his adherents in the madrassah. During this period Rumi also travelled to Damascus and is said to have spent four years there. It was his meeting with the dervish Shams-e Tabrizi on 15 November 1244 that changed his life completely. Shams had traveled throughout the Middle East searching and praying for someone who could "endure my company". A voice came, "What will you give in return?" "My head!" "The one you seek is Jalal ud-Din of Konya." On the night of December 5, 1248, as Rumi and Shams were talking, Shams was called to the back door. He went out, never to be seen again. It is believed that he was murdered with the connivance of Rumi's son, 'Ala' ud-Din; if so, Shams indeed gave his head for the privilege of mystical friendship. Rumi's love and his bereavement for the death of Shams found their expression in an outpouring of music, dance and lyric poems, Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi. He himself went out searching for Shams and journeyed again to Damascus. There, he realized: Why should I seek? I am the same as He. His essence speaks through me. I have been looking for myself! For more than ten years after meeting Shams, Mawlana had been spontaneously composing ghazals, and these had been collected in the Divan-i Kabir. Rumi found another companion in Salaḥ ud-Din-e Zarkub, the goldsmith. After Salaḥ ud-Din's death, Rumi's scribe and favorite student Hussam-e Chelebi assumed the role. One day, the two of them were wandering through the Meram vineyards outside of Konya when Hussam described an idea he had to Rumi: "If you were to write a book like the Ilāhīnāma of Sanai or the Mantiq ut-Tayr of 'Attar it would become the companion of many troubadours. They would fill their hearts from your work and compose music to accompany it." Rumi smiled and took out a piece of paper on which were written the opening eighteen lines of his Masnavi, beginning with: Listen to the reed and the tale it tells, How it sings of separation... Hussam implored Rumi to write more. Rumi spent the next twelve years of his life in Anatolia dictating the six volumes of this masterwork, the Masnavi to Hussam. In December 1273, Rumi fell ill; he predicted his own death and composed the well-known ghazal, which begins with the verse: How doest thou know what sort of king I have within me as companion? Do not cast thy glance upon my golden face, for I have iron legs. He died on December 17, 1273 in Konya; Rumi was laid to rest beside his father, and a splendid shrine, the Yeşil Türbe "Green Tomb" (original name:قبهلخزراء), was erected over his tomb. His epitaph reads: "When we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth, but find it in the hearts of men

Teachings of Rumi

The general theme of his thoughts, like that of the other mystic and Sufi poets of the Persian literature, is essentially about the concept of Tawhīd (unity) and union with his beloved (the primal root) from which/whom he has been cut and fallen aloof, and his longing and desire for reunity. The "Masnavi" weaves fables, scenes from everyday life, Qur’anic revelations and exegesis, and metaphysics, into a vast and intricate tapestry. Rumi is considered an example of "insan-e kamil" — the perfected or completed human being. In the East, it is said of him, that he was, "not a prophet — but surely, he has brought a scripture". Rumi believed passionately in the use of music, poetry and dancing as a path for reaching God. For Rumi, music helped devotees to focus their whole being on the divine, and to do this so intensely that the soul was both destroyed and resurrected. It was from these ideas that the practice of Whirling Dervishes developed into a ritual form. He founded the order of the Mevlevi, the "whirling" dervishes, and created the "Sema", their "turning", sacred dance. In the Mevlevi tradition, Sema represents a mystical journey of spiritual ascent through mind and love to "Perfect." In this journey the seeker symbolically turns towards the truth, grows through love, abandons the ego, finds the truth, and arrives at the "Perfect". The seeker then returns from this spiritual journey with greater maturity, so as to love and to be of service to the whole of creation without discrimination against beliefs, races, classes and nations. According to Shahram Shiva, one reason for Rumi's popularity is that "Rumi is able to verbalize the highly personal and often confusing world of personal/spiritual growth and mysticism in a very forward and direct fashion. He does not offend anyone, and he includes everyone. The world of Rumi is neither exclusively the world of a Sufi, nor the world of a Hindu, nor a Jew, nor a Christian; it is the highest state of a human being — a fully evolved human. A complete human is not bound by cultural limitations; he touches every one of us. Today Rumi's poems can be heard in churches, synagogues, Zen monasteries, as well as in the downtown New York art/performance/music scene." According to Professor Majid M. Naini, Rumi's life and transformation provide true testimony and proof that people of all religions and backgrounds can live together in peace and harmony. Rumi’s visions, words, and life teach us how to reach inner peace and happiness so we can finally stop the continual stream of hostility and hatred and achieve true global peace and harmony. In other verses in Masnavi, Rumi describes in detail the universal message of love: Love’s nationality is separate from all other religions, The lover’s religion and nationality is the Beloved (God). The lover’s cause is separate from all other causes Love is the astrolabe of God’s mysteries.

Major works

Diwan-e Shams-e Tabrizi and Masnavi Rumi's poetry is often divided into various categories: the quatrains (rubayāt) and odes (ğazal) of the Divan, the six books of the Masnavi, the discourses, the letters, and the almost unknown Six Sermons.
Mevlâna museum, Konya, Turkey

Rumi's major work is Maṭnawīye Ma'nawī ("Spiritual Couplets"; Persian: - Maṣnawīye Ma'nawī), a six-volume poem regarded by many Sufis as second in importance only to the Qur'an. It is considered by many to be one of the greatest works of mystical poetry.
Rumi's other major work is the Dīwān-e Kabīr ("Great Work") or Dīwān-e Šams-e Tabrīzī ("The Works of Shams of Tabriz"; Persian: named in honor of Rumi's great friend and inspiration, the dervish Shams), comprising some 40,000 verses. Several reasons have been offered for Rumi's decision to name his masterpiece after Shams. Some argue that since Rumi would not have been a poet without Shams, it is apt that the collection be named after him Others have suggested that at the end, Rumi became Shams, hence the collection is truly of Shams speaking through Rumi. Both works are among the most significant in all of Persian literature. Shams is believed to have been murdered by disciples of Rumi who were jealous of his relationship with Shams (also spelled Shems).
("In It What's in It") is composed of Rumi's speeches on different subjects. Rumi himself did not prepare or write these discourses. They were recorded by his son Sultan Valad or some other disciple of Rumi and put together as a book. The title may mean, "What's in the Masnavi is in this too." Some of the discourses are addressed to Mo'īn al-Dīn Parwāna. Some portions of it are commentary on the Maṭnawī.
Maktubāt is the book containing the letters he wrote to his close friends with the answers to questions asked.
Majāleṣe Sab'a ("Seven Sessions") contains seven sermons (as the name implies) given in seven different assemblies. As Aflakī relates, after Šams-e Tabrīzī, Rumi gave sermons at the request of notables, especially Salāh al-Dīn Zarqūbī.

Legacy

Rumi's importance transcends national and ethnic borders. Speakers of the Persian languages in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan see him as one of their most significant classical poets and an influence on many poets through history. He has also had a great influence on Turkish literature throughout the centuries. His poetry forms the basis of much classical Iranian and Afghanistani music. Contemporary classical interpretations of his poetry are made by Muhammad Reza Shajarian (Iran), Shahram Nazeri (Iran), Davood Azad (Iran) and Ustad Mohammad Hashem Cheshti (Afghanistan). To many modern Westerners, his teachings are one of the best introductions to the philosophy and practice of Sufism. Pakistan's National Poet, Muhammad Iqbal (November 9, 1877-April 21, 1938) was also inspired by Rumi's works and considered him to be his spiritual leader and addressed him as Pir Rumi in his poems (the honorific Pir literally means old man, but in the sufi/mystic context it means founder, master, or guide). Rumi's work has been translated into many of the world's languages including Russian, German, Urdu, Turkish, Arabic, French, Italian and Spanish, and is appearing in a growing number of formats including concerts, workshops, readings, dance performances and other artistic creations. The English interpretations of Rumi's poetry by Coleman Barks have sold more than a half million copies worldwide. Recordings of Rumi poems have made it to Billboard's Top 20 list. A collection of Deepak Chopra's editing the translations by Fereydoun Kia of Rumi's love poems, has been sung by Hollywood personalities such as Madonna, Goldie Hawn, Philip Glass and Demi Moore; also Shahram Shiva's CD, Rumi: Lovedrunk has been very popular on the Internet's music communities such as MySpace.com. Rumi is one of the most widely read poets in the United States

The Iranian Poet

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Say all in Persian (Parsi) even if Arabic (Tazi) seems better - Love will find its way through all languages on its own Iranians regard Rumi as an Iranian poet. Although Rumi was born in present day Afghanistan and died in present day Turkey, his poetry reflects the rich Iranian culture as it also is in the Persian Iranian language. Iranians regard Afghanistan as a major part of their own country and as one country torn apart by foreign influence (British). At the time of Rumi’s life Afghanistan and Iran were one country, as they have been only until recently. But maybe the most important part of Rumi being Iranian is his creative and artistic representation of the Persian/Iranian culture. This is most evident since Rumi’s master was Shams Tabrizi, the Iranian Sufi mystic who is responsible for introducing Rumi into Iranian Islamic mysticism. Shams was so much beloved by Rumi that Rumi's poetry collection is named after his master, Diwan-e Shams-e Tabriz-i ("The Works of Shams of Tabriz"). Rumi attributed more and more of his own poetry to Shams as a sign of love for his departed friend and master. Indeed, it quickly becomes clear in reading Rumi that Shams was elevated to a symbol of God's love for mankind, and that Shams was a sun ("Shams" is Arabic for "sun") shining the Light of God on Rumi. These cultural, historical and linguistic ties between Rumi and Iran have made Rumi an iconic Iranian poet. Rumi’s poetry is displayed on the walls of Tehran, sung in Iranian music, and read in Iranian school books. Literally, Iranians live with Rumi’s poetry. Of course, this sense of Iranian attachment does not mean that Rumi is not Afghan or Turkic, it’s just that Rumi connects with the Iranians as one of their own with their own language and culture. When it really comes to Rumi’s native land and people, nobody says it better that Rumi himself: What can I do, Muslims (Submitters to God/truth)? I do not know myself. I am neither Christian nor Jew, neither Magian nor Muslim, I am not from east or west, not from land or sea, not from the shafts of nature nor from the spheres of the firmament, not of the earth, not of water, not of air, not of fire. I am not from the highest heaven, not from this world, not from existence, not from being. I am not from India, not from China, not from Bulgar, not from Saqsin, not from the realm of the two Iraqs (Turkey and Iraq = Ottoman), not from the land of Khurasan (Afghanistan) I am not from the world, not from beyond, not from heaven and not from hell. I am not from Adam, not from Eve, not from paradise and not from Ridwan. My place is placeless, my trace is traceless, no body, no soul, I am from the soul of souls. I have chased out duality, lived the two worlds as one. One I seek, one I know, one I see, one I call. He is the first, he is the last, he is the outer, he is the inner. Beyond "He" and "He is" I know no other. I am drunk from the cup of love, the two worlds have escaped me. I have no concern but carouse and rapture. If one day in my life I spend a moment without you from that hour and that time I would repent my life. If one day I am given a moment in solitude with you I will trample the two worlds underfoot and dance forever. O Sun of Tabriz (Shams Tabrizi), I am so tipsy here in this world, I have no tale to tell but tipsiness and rapture

The Mevlevi Order

The Mevlevi Sufi order was founded in 1273 by Rumi's followers after his death. His first successor in the rectorship of the order was Husam Chelebi himself, after whose death in 1284 Rumi's younger and only surviving son, Sultan Walad, favorably known as author of the mystical Masnavi Rabābnāma, or the Book of the Guitar (died 1312), was installed as grand master of the order. The leadership of the order has been kept in Rumi's family in Konya uninterruptedly since then. The Mevlevi, or "The Whirling Dervishes", believe in performing their dhikr in the form of sema. During the time of Rumi (as attested in the "Manakib ul Arifin" of Eflaki Dede), his followers gathered for musical and "turning" practices. Mevlana himself was a notable musician, who played the rebab although his favorite instrument was the ney. The music accompanying the traditional ritual consists of settings of poems from the "Masnavi" and "Diwan-i-Kebir" or of his son Sultan Veled's poems. The Mevlevi were a well-established Sufi Order in the Ottoman Empire, and many of the members of the order served in various official positions of the Caliphate. The centre for the Mevlevi order was in Konya. There is also a Mevlevi monastery or dergah in Istanbul, near the Galata Tower, where the sema ceremony is performed and accessible to the public. The Mevlevi order issues an invitation to people of all backgrounds:

“	Come, come, whoever you are, Wanderer, idolater, worshiper of fire, Come even though you have broken your vows a thousand times, Come, and come yet again. Ours is not a caravan of despair.	”

During Ottoman times, the Mevlevi order produced a number of famous poets and musicians such as Sheikh Ghalib, Ismail Rusuhi Dede of Ankara, Esrar Dede, Halet Efendi, and Gavsi Dede (all buried at the Galata Mevlevi-Hane in Istanbul). Music, especially the ney, play an important part in the Mevlevi order and thus much of the traditional 'oriental' music that Westerners associate with Turkey originates with the Mevlevi order. With the foundation of the modern secular republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk removed religion from the sphere of public policy and restricted it exclusively to that of personal morals, behavior, and faith. On 13th December 1925, a law was passed closing all the 'Tekkes' (dervish lodges) and 'Zaviyes' (Central dervish lodges) and also the centres of veneration to which pilgrimages (ziyaret) were made. Istanbul alone had more than two hundred and fifty 'Tekkes' as well as small centres for the gatherings of various fraternities. This law dissolved the Orders, prohibited the use of mystical names, titles and costumes pertaining to these titles, impounded their assets, banned their ceremonies and meetings; the law also provided sentences for those who tried to re-establish them. Two years later, in 1927, the Mausoleum of Mevlana in Konya was allowed to reopen as a Museum. In the 1950s, the Turkish government began allowing the Whirling Dervishes to perform annually in Konya on the Urs of Mevlana, December 17, the anniversary of Rumi's death.In 1974, they were allowed to come to the West. The Mevlana annual festival is held every year in Konya in December. It lasts two weeks and its culminating point is the 17th December called Sheb-i Arus meaning 'Nuptial Night', the night of the union of Mevlana with God.

International Rumi Year

Upon a proposal by Culture and Tourism Ministry of Turkey, the year 2007 was proposed as the "International Rumi Year" to UNESCO, but has not yet been confirmed. This is intended for the commemoration of Rumi's 800th birthday anniversary and will be celebrated all over the world. On this occasion Iranian musician Shahram Nazeri was awarded Légion d'honneur and Iran's House of Music Award for his renowned works on Rumi masterpieces. 2006 was declared as the "International Mozart Year" by UNESCO In honour of Jalal-ud-Din Balkhi-Rumi, one of the great humanists, philosophers and poets who belong to humanity in its entirety, UNESCO issued a UNESCO Medal in his name in association with the 800th anniversary of his birth in 2007 in the hope that this medal will prove an encouragement to those who are engaged in a deep and scholarly dissemination of his ideas and ideals, which in turn would in fact enhance the diffusion of the ideals of UNESCO

Rumi and orthodox Islam

The idea that Rumi cared little for orthodox Islam has been put forward by translations of poems attributed to Rumi which were actually not composed by him and which express ideas that are not characteristic of him. Some writers have even claimed or suggested that Rumi really wasn't a Muslim, because they believed that the line, "na tarsâ na yahûd-am man na gabr-am na musalmân-am" ("I am not a Christian, a Jew, a Zoroastrian, or a Muslim") expressed Rumi's true attitude toward Islam. However, this poem is not in the earliest manuscripts and so probably is not a genuine Rumi poem. R. A. Nicholson first published a translation of this line in 1898, but he admitted that, "The original text does not occur in any of the editions or MSS used by me" (p. 281) Rumi's actual approach to Islam is clarified by the following quatrain composed by him: I am the servant of the Qur'an as long as I have life. I am the dust on the path of Muhammad, the Chosen one. If anyone quotes anything except this from my sayings, I am quit of him and outraged by these words.

man banda-yé qur'ân-am, agar jân dâr-am man khâk-é rah-é muHammad-e mukhtâr-am gar naql kon-ad joz în, kas az goftâr-am bêzâr-am az-ô, w-az-în sokhan bêzâr-am — Rumi's Quatrain No. 1173[ In an article written by Seyyed Hossein Nasr entitled "Rumi and the Sufi Tradition," he states: One of the greatest living authorities on Rûmî in Persia today, Hâdî Hâ'irî, has shown in an unpublished work that some 6,000 verses of the Dîwân and the Mathnawî are practically direct translations of Qur'ânic verses into Persian poetry."

WAHDAT-UL-WUJOOD

sufihameer — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:09:32 CST

Wahdat-ul-Wujood

the "Unity of Being" is a Sufi philosophy emphasizing that 'there is no true existence except the Ultimate Truth (God)'. All of his creations emerge from `adim (عدم non-existence) to wujood (existence) out of his thought only. Hence the existence of God is the only truth (Haqq), and the concept of a separate created universe is a fallacy (Batil).
Wahdat-ul-wujood is considered a formulation of Ibn Arabi (Muhyi ad-Din al-Shaykh al-Akbar) since he is considered the originator of this idea, however this term is not used in any of his writings. Wahdat-ul-Wujood spread through the teachings of the Sufis like Shaikh Abu Ali Sindhi and mansoor halaj Bayazid Bistami.darvaish haji khushi muhammad, Sachal Sarmast ,shah abdul latif bhattai,jam nizam ul din,Hafiz Muhammad Hashim Mashori, a Sufi and poet from Pakistan, was also an ardent follower of Wahdat-ul-Wujood.
Ibn Arabi was of the opinion that being in reality is to be one with God. All other actual and possible beings in the universe are manifestations and states or modes of his Divine Names and Attributes.
This mystic sufi philosophy found conducive soil in many parts of South Asia as most of the saints and sages became dedicated disciples of Wahdat-ul-Wujood. It is also associated with the Hamah Ust (Persian meaning "He is the only one") philosophy in South Asia.
Today, some Sufi Orders, notably the Bektashi sect and the non-traditional sects of Universal Sufism, place much emphasis on the concept of wahdat-ul-wujood.

Pantheism, Panentheism, and Wahdat-ul-wujood

The English word Pantheism means All is God but the Arabic word wahdat ul-wujood emphasizes that there is just a single being in existence and this single being is God. However, wahdat ul-wujood maybe closer to panentheism, because it states that while the Universe is part of God or God's mind, God is still greater than his creation.

Muslim criticism of the concept

Some Muslims, including both Sufis and Salafis, have made comparisons between wahdat ul-wujood and Pantheism, the concept that all is God. This criticism has come both from Salafis and from Sufis as well
Some, however, will counter that the two concepts differ in that wahdat ul-wujood states that God and the universe aren't identical. They hold that the real existence to be for God only and the universe to have no existence on its own or without God. Salafi criticism Some Salafis criticize the concept of wahdat ul-wujood on the grounds that it was a product of Arab interaction with Hindu philosophy, and is not a purely Islamic concept. Others also cite similarities with Kabbalah. Sufi criticism Some Sufis, such as Ahmad Sirhindi (Mujaddid Alif Sani), have critcised wahdat ul-wujood. Ahmad Sirhindi wrote about the sayings that universe has no existence of its own and is a shadow of the existence of the necessary being. He also wrote that one should discern the existence of universe from the absolute and that the absolute does not exist because of existence but because of his essence.

Similarity to other belief systems

It is also speculated that the concept of wahdat ul-wujood could be product of Arab interaction with Hindu mystics and literature, specifically in reference to the non-dualistic teachings of the Upanishads, which preaches very similar concepts in regards to reality being an illusion and the only true existence being Brahman. The Upanishads were translated into Arabic during Muslim rule of South Asia. However this concept was developed in Spain during the Muslim rule, much before Muslim rule in India.

Wahdat-ul-Shuhud

Wahdat-ul-Shuhud (or wah-dat-ul-shuhud, wahdat-ul-shuhud, or wahdatul shuhud) has often been translated into English as Apparentism. In Arabic it literally means "unity of witness".
One of the main proponents of Wahdat-ul-Shuhud was Ahmad Sirhindi of South Asia. According to his doctrine, any experience of unity between God and the created world is purely subjective and occurs only in the mind of the believer; it has no objective counterpart in the real world. The former position, Shaykh Ahmad felt, led to pantheism, which was contrary to the tenets of Sunnite Islam.
Ahmad Sirhindi, another exponent of the doctrine of wahdat al-shuhud, held that God and creation are not identical; rather, the latter is a shadow or reflection of the Divines Name and Attributes when they are reflected in the mirrors of their opposite non-beings (a'dam al-mutaqabila).
Abu Hafs Umar al-Suhrawardi and Abd-al-karim Jili were also proponents of apparentism.

Shah Waliullah's view of Wahdat

Shah Waliullah made the first attempt to reconcile the two (apparently) contradictory doctrines of wahdat al-wujud (unity of being) of Ibn al-'Arabi and wahdat al-shuhud (unity in conscience) of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi.
Shah Waliullah neatly resolved the conflict, calling these differences 'verbal controversies' which have come about because of ambiguous language. If we leave, he says, all the metaphors and similes used for the expression of ideas aside, the apparently opposite views of the two metaphysicians will agree. The positive result of Shah Wali Allah's reconciliatory efforts was twofold: it brought about harmony between the two opposing groups of metaphysicians, and it also legitimized the doctrine of wahdat al-wujud among the mutakallimun (theologians), who previously had not been ready to accept it.
In his books Lamahat and Sata'at, he discusses stages of being, the perceptive faculty, the relation of the abstract with the universe, the universal soul and the souls of man, after death, essence, miracles, the scope of man, the soul of the perfect, universal order, source of manifestation, and the transformation of mystics from quality to quality. He also demonstrated that the long-standing assumption that Sufi doctrine was divided between Apparentism and Unity of Being was a difference of expression alone, the latter doctrine being seen as merely a less-advanced stage of projection.

Mansur Al-Hallaj

sufihameer — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:02:11 CST

Mansur Al-Hallaj Mansur al-Hallaj (c. 858 - March 26, 922) was a Persian mystic, writer and teacher of Sufism most famous for his poetry and for his martyrdom for heresy at the hands of the Abbasid rulers. His full name was Abū al-Mughīth Husayn Mansūr al-Hallāj. Although he was of Persian descent, he wrote all of his works in Arabic.

Life

He was born around 858 in Shushtar (Khuzestan province), Persia to a cotton-carder (Hallaj means "cotton-carder" in Arabic). Al-Hallaj's grandfather may have been a Zoroastrian. His father lived a simple life, and this form of lifestyle greatly interested the young al-Hallaj. As a youngster he memorized the Qur'an and would often retreat from worldly pursuits to join other mystics in study. Al-Hallaj later married and made a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he stayed for one year, facing the mosque, in fasting and total silence. After his stay at the city, he traveled extensively and wrote and taught along the way. He travelled as far as India and Central Asia gaining many followers, many of which accompanied him on his second and third trips to Mecca. After this period of travel, he settled down in the Abbasid capital of Baghdad. During his early lifetime he was a disciple of Junayd and Amr al-Makki, but was later rejected by them both. Among other Sufis, al-Hallaj was an anomaly. Many Sufi masters felt that it was inappropriate to share mysticism with the masses, yet al-Hallaj openly did so in his writings and through his teachings. He began to make enemies, and the rulers saw him as a threat. This was exacerbated by times when he would fall into trances which he attributed to being in the presence of God. During one of these trances, he would utter Ana al-Haqq أنا الحق, meaning "Truth is me" or "I am God" and also, "In my turban is wrapped nothing but God," which was taken to mean that he was claiming to be God, as Al-Haqq is one of the Ninety Nine Names of Allah. In another statement, al-Hallaj would point to his cloak and say, "Maa Fil Jubbati Illa-Allah" meaning "There is nothing inside/underneath my cloak except God." These utterances led him to a long trial, and subsequent imprisonment for eleven years in a Baghdad prison. In the end, he was tortured and publicly crucified (in some accounts he was beheaded and his hands and feet were cut off) by the Abbasid rulers for what they deemed "theological error threatening the security of the state." Many accounts tell of al-Hallaj's calm demeanor even while he was being tortured, and indicate that he forgave those who had executed him. According to some sources, he went to his execution dancing in his chains. He was executed on March 26, 922.

Views on al-Hallaj

His writings are important to Sufi groups. Thelemites also make use of his teachings, especially in terms of his identification as God - a central gnostic principle. His example is seen by some as one that should be emulated, especially his calm demeanor in the face of torture and his forgiving of his tormentors. Many honor him as an adept that came to realize the inherent divine nature of all men and women. While some theological universalists theorize that Hallaj was a reflection of God's truth in much the same way Christians view Jesus, others continue to see him as a heretic. Rumi wrote on the claim "I am God" three centuries later: "People imagine that it is a presumptive claim, whereas it is really a presumptive claim to say "I am the slave of God"; and "I am God" is an expression of great humility. The man who says "I am the slave of God" affirms two existences, his own and God's, but he that says "I am God" has made himself non-existent and has given himself up and says "I am God", that is, "I am naught, He is all; there is no being but God's." This is the extreme of humility and self-abasement." Similarly, other supporters have interpreted his statement as meaning, "God has emptied me of everything but Himself. His life was studied extensively by the French scholar of Islam, Louis Massignon.

Works

His most well known written work is the Kitab al Tawasin , Arabicor Ta Sin al Azal, which includes two brief chapters devoted to a dialogue of Satan (Iblis) and God, where Satan refuses to bow to Adam, although God asks him to do so. His refusal is due to a misconceived idea of God's uniqueness and because of his refusal to abandon himself to God in love. Hallaj criticizes the staleness of his adoration (Mason, 51-3).

Beliefs and principles

Mystical universalism

His method was one of "universalist mystical introspection: It was at the bottom of the heart that he looked for God and wanted to make others find Him. He believed one had to go beyond the forms of religious rites to reach divine reality. Thus, he used without hesitation the terminology of his opponents, which he set right and refined, ready to make himself hostage of the denominational logic of others." (Massignon: "Perspective Transhistorique", p. 76) Even beyond the Muslim faith, Hallaj was concerned with the whole of humanity, as he desired to communicate to them "that strange, patient and shameful, desire for God, which was characteristic for him." (Massignon, p. 77) This was the reason for his voyage beyond the Muslim world (shafa'a) to India and China.

Spiritual meaning of the pilgrimage to Mecca

In the trial that led to his execution, he was accused of preaching against the pilgrimage to Mecca (the Hajj), which he, however, had performed three times. In reality, his concern was more with the spiritual meaning of Hajj, and he thus "spoke of the spiritual efficacy and legitimacy of symbolic pilgrimage in one's own home." (Mason, 25) For him, the most important part of the pilgrimage to Mecca was the prayer at Mount Arafat, commemorating the sacrifice of Abraham in an offering of oneself.

Re-interpretation of the tawhid and desire for unification with God

Whereas for most, especially legalistic, Muslims, the unity of God, tawhid, meant that God was inaccessible to man, al-Hallaj believed that it was only God who could pronounce the Tawhid, whereas man's prayer was to be one of kun, surrender to His will: "Love means to stand next to the Beloved, renouncing oneself entirely and transforming oneself in accordance to Him". (Massignon, 74) He spoke of God as his "Beloved", "Friend" "You", and felt that "his only self was (God)", to the point that he could not even remember his own name." (Mason, 26)

Death

He wanted to testify of this relationship to God to others, even at the price of his own life, thus even asking his fellow Muslims to kill him (Massignon, 79) and accepting his martyrdom, saying that "what is important for the ecstatic is for the One to reduce him to oneness." (Massignon, 87) He also referred to the martyrdom of Christ, saying he also wanted to die "in the supreme confession of the cross" (Olivier Clément. Dio è carita, p. 41) Like Christ, he gave his martyrdom a redemptive significance, believing as he did that his martyrdom "was uniting his beloved God and His community of Muslims against himself and thereby bore witness in extremis to the tawhid (the oneness) of both." (Mason, 25) For his desire of oneness with God, many Muslims criticized him as a "'crypto-Christian' for distorting the monotheistic revelation in a Christian way." (Mason, 25). His death is described by Attar as a heroic act,as when they are taking him to court,a sufi asks him:"What is love?". He answers: "You will see it today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow." They killed him that day, burned him the next day and threw his ashes to the wind the day after that. "This is love," Attar says. His legs were cut off, he smiled and said, "I used to walk the earth with these legs, now there's only one step to heaven, cut that if you can." And when his hands were cut off he paints his face with his own blood, when asked why, he says: "I have lost a lot of blood, and I know my face has turned yellow, I don't want to look pale-faced (as of fear)...".

Buddha

sufihameer — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 03:58:08 CST

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Buddha-nature vs. Atman

sufihameer — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 03:51:36 CST

Buddha-nature vs. Atman

Unlike the Western concept of Soul or some interpretations of the Indian Atman, Buddha-nature is not presented in the primary Buddha-nature sutras as an isolated essence of a particular individual, but rather as a single unified essence shared by all beings with the Buddha himself.[17] The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra is generally accepted by Mahayana Buddhists as genuine "Buddha-word" and is not alone amongst Mahayana sutras in asserting the reality of an essential Self within each sentient being (including animals) and linking it to the Tathagatagarbha or Buddha-dhatu. As Buddhist scholar and Tibetan lama, Dr. Shenpen Hookham, writes of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions: "Many venerable saints and scholars have argued for the Self in the past and do so in the present. Great teachers of the Tibetan Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya schools have and do argue that such a view [i.e. the reality of an essential Self] is fundamental to the practice of the Buddhist path and the attainment of Enlightenment". Other sutras which mention the Self in a very affirmative manner include the Lankavatara Sutra (in the "Sagathakam" chapter - e.g. "The Self characterised with purity is the state of Self-realisation; this is the Tathagata-garbha, which does not belong to the realm of the theorisers"[citation needed]), the Shurangama Sutra, the Mahavairocana Sutra: "Those who have been initiated into the Mahayana Mandala Arising from Great Compassion, who are honest and pliant, and who always have great compassion ... They know their hearts to be the Great Self and the Sutra of Perfect Wisdom called The Questions of Suvikrantavikramin: "...one who wisely knows himself (atmanam) as nondual, he wisely knows both Buddha and Dharma. And why? He develops a personality which consists of all dharmas ... His nondual comprehension comprehends all dharmas, for all dharmas are fixed on the Self in their own-being. One who wisely knows the nondual dharma wisely knows also the Buddhadharmas. From the comprehension of the nondual dharma follows the comprehension of the Buddhadharmas and from the comprehension of the Self the comprehension of everything that belongs to the triple world. 'The comprehension of Self', that is the beyond of all dharmas. The teaching on the Self which is attributed to the Buddha in the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra insists upon the True Self's ultimacy, sovereignty and immortality. The Buddha states (in the Tibetan version of the Sutra): "all phenomena (dharmas) are not non-Self: the Self is Reality (tattva), the Self is eternal (nitya), the Self is virtue (guna), the Self is everlasting (shasvata), the Self is unshakeable (dhruva), and the Self is peace (siva). In the Chinese versions of the Sutra, the Self is also characterised as autonomous or sovereign (aishvarya). The Mahaparinirvana Sutra specifically contrasts its doctrine of the Self with that of the Astikas in order to remove the reifying notion that the Self was a little person or homunculus, the size of a grain of rice or of one's thumb, sitting in the heart of the being, thus: "mundane [philosophers] mistakenly imagine it to be a person (puruṣa) the size of a thumb, the size of a pea or a grain of rice that dwells shining in the heart." This, the Buddha says, is a misconception of the nature of Self, for "that opinion of theirs is a mistaken opinion, one that is transmitted onwards from person to person, but it is neither beneficial nor conducive to happiness." The Self of which the Buddha speaks is said by him to be the "essential intrinsic being" (svabhava) or even "life-essence" (jivaka) of each person, and this essential being is none other than the Buddha himself - "radiantly luminous" and "as indestructible as a diamond" Moreover, the Buddhist tantric scripture entitled Chanting the Names of Mañjusri (Mañjuśrī-nāma-saṅgīti), as quoted by the great Tibetan Buddhist master, Dolpopa, repeatedly exalts not the non-Self but the Self and applies the following terms to this ultimate reality

"the pervasive Lord" (vibhu)
"Buddha-Self"
"the beginningless Self" (anādi-ātman)
"the Self of Thusness" (tathatā-ātman)
"the Self of primordial purity" (śuddha-ātman)
"the Source of all"
"the Self pervading all"
"the Single Self" (eka-ātman)
"the Diamond Self" (vajra-ātman)
"the Solid Self" (ghana-ātman)
"the Holy, Immovable Self"
"the Supreme Self"

In the Ghanavyuha Sutra (as quoted by Longchenpa) this immutable, universal and salvific Buddha Essence (the True Self of the Buddha) is said to be the ground of all things, but it is viewed by fools as something changeful and impermanent, whereas in fact it is stated by the Buddha to be the very opposite of such impermanence: "... the ultimate universal ground also has always been with the Buddha-Essence (Tathagatagarbha), and this essence in terms of the universal ground has been taught by the Tathagata. The fools who do not know it, because of their habits, see even the universal ground as (having) various happiness and suffering and actions and emotional defilements. Its nature is pure and immaculate, its qualities are as wishing-jewels; there are neither changes nor cessations. Whoever realizes it attains Liberation ... The Buddha in the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra insists that the Self of the Buddha (the Buddha Nature which is present in all beings) is everlasting, pure and blissful and is most definitely not transitory and impermanent: "The Buddha-Nature is the Eternal, Bliss, the Self, and the Pure ... The Buddha-Nature is not non-Eternal, not non-Bliss, not non-Self, and not non-Purity. The Buddha-Nature is in fact taught in such Tathagatagarbha sutras to be ultimate, conceptually inconceivable, immortal Reality. The Buddha-Nature concept remains a keystone of much Mahayana Buddhism in its varying forms.

Sufism and the Modern World

sufihameer — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 03:40:30 CST

Sufism and the Modern World

We live in an age when science and technology have brought mankind not only great material advances, but also a deep cynicism towards the religious and spiritual aspects of life. On the one hand, the success of the "scientific method" has set limitations on what are considered to be useful and practical fields of study. We are taught to believe that only that which the outer senses can perceive, and which the rational mind can analyze, are worthy of being called ‘the truth’. And on the other hand, it is very easy to become disillusioned with the various religions’ claims that they have access to absolute truth and goodness, when these claims are rarely actualized by experience.
Yet human nature is such that questions regarding the deep mysteries of life continue to arise in individuals, and there will always be some for whom the thirst to find answers to these questions is so great that it will not easily be quenched by rationalistic philosophical constructs or by literal readings of religious texts.
Sufism teaches that it is possible for us to see beyond the veils of darkness which unclothe our belief systems. One who sincerely devotes himself or herself to a program of Sufi training may eventually approach the state where one can "see things as they truly are", when one can "worship God as as though you can see Him", and when can truly realize that one is "in the world, but not of the world".
For many people in the modern world it may seem that such teachings are alien to their culture or are a thing of the past - if indeed they ever existed! Others may instinctively recognize that their destiny lies in the unfolding of these teachings in their lives, but are faced with overwhelming difficulties in finding a trustworthy and authoritative teacher who can show them the way out of the darkness.
One of the aims of the School of Sufi Teaching is to make tried and tested methods of gaining enlightenment accessible to people who are living ordinary lives in the modern world.

The Stations of the Soul

sufihameer — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 03:20:12 CST

The Stations of the Soul 1. At-Tafakkur 2. Silent Remembrance
In this station you remember with your mind, with your thoughts and with your heart. Be silent because this is the remembrance of at-tafakkur. You have changed yourself to live in your heart and now there is no difference between your self and your heart. Your heart is in the unity because you have changed everything. Now you have really begun to walk straight in the way of God.

Continue walking. Change every quality in your heart to become a new quality full of light. You begin to live with your soul and to know the meaning of His words. His words are the jewels, the jewels of knowledge, and they are different from anything that you have known before. Now your sun (soul) rises. Before now your heart was not filled with all the holy meaning. You did not understand the meaning of the love and you could not sit under this sun because this sun needs to contain all the qualities of your heart. If you do not guard every quality in your heart, and you do not clean them, then you cannot sit under this sun and know the secret meaning of the soul.

In this station, one needs to be more and more polite, and one needs more and more love. You also need to pray, but pray more deeply. Now you begin to sit in the garden of God. In this garden you need to be merciful all the time. You need to live, every minute, with your soul. In this station, you must understand the meaning of the soul because now you sit with soul of God, and your soul has returned to His soul. You do not need to remember with your tongue. Remember in the silence of your soul, which lives in His soul. Remember Him in everything because now everything is finished, and you have lost yourself. Discharge everything outside. This station is a very dangerous one. You need to understand how to sit with your soul because your soul has changed to be full of light.

In this station, He wants you to look only with the eyes of your heart. Keep yourself only with Him, in everything because there is nothing in this station, only His soul. Put your soul in His fire, which is full of the holy love and of all His qualities. He wants you to be with Him in everything.

If you want to walk in this station, you need to pray, but pray from the eye of your heart. Do not leave the prayer which you have done before because He loves to see you praying. You are His servant and you are the picture of Him, and He wants to see you when you pray as-salat. When you stand before Him, you must be silent and you must know the meaning of the prayer.

Also, when you walk anywhere, and when you watch the world around you, your eyes need to be praying. When you look, see the name of God. See the name, the soul of God in everything. When you see animals, birds or human beings, remember and know that God puts His soul in everything. There is nothing, only His soul, and when He wants to take the secret from anything, He takes it in a minute and it is finished. This is the truth of God.

Know the secret of yourself before you die. You need to be born again and to die again. You must clean every quality in your heart. You must die and break your tomb to wake up from your sleep, and then to break your tomb again to live with the soul of God. When I speak of your tomb I mean your body because it is like a prison. But know everything that is inside this tomb so that you can come to know the meaning of the secret. You will need a long time if you do not break your tomb, but if you do break this grave, which is the life of your body, you will find everything inside. You are full of the secret reality.

Do not lose any time in this station. You can go anywhere and you can do any work, but remember the name in your heart. Be silent throughout the day if you do not need to speak with anyone. If someone asks you a question, answer him with only a few words. Pray when you work because you are doing the work of God. When you walk, you are walking with the steps of God. When you speak, you are speaking with God. You are different from any other human being because you live inside the truth. When you leave everything behind you, you can see the secret inside every human being. You cannot know any of this without deep praying.

When you reach this station, you need to be polite and sincere. Listen to any order and to any voice because it is the voice of your God. There is only His voice. Now He wants you to be special for Him. How could you come again to know what you know now, if you are not special for Him in everything that you do? You want to carry His message. If you do not listen to every word He says, in whatever you do, you cannot reach the knowledge of the truth of God. Continue in the way and do not stand still. Walk straight and do not go left or right. Allah loves everyone who walks straight because He is One.

He wants to see His love in your soul. He wants you to know how to sit in the fire of His love. If you hold the fire of His love in your heart, He will help you, and He will take your hand, leading you to Him and giving you what you want. But in this station, wait and do not ask Him for anything. In another station, you have asked Him for everything, but now in this station it is from the polite to not ask Him for anything, but to follow everything that He wants because he knows everything you need and puts everything in its place.

Remember Him all the time and give yourself to Him. Keep nothing of yourself, only Him. This is what He wants from you in this station. Thank Him again and again. This is the meaning of at-tafakkur, the silent remembrance.

2. Al-Hubb: 3 .The Sincerity of the Love
My brother, my heart, listen to what I say to you, but with the ear of your heart because this hearing contains the Muhammadan presence (Muhammadan hadrat).

Be with me in every quality of your body, of your mind, of your heart, and of your soul. Be the eyes and the ears and the hands of God. Listen to what I say, from my heart to your heart, because you need to listen now to the language of the soul. You are the beloved and you are more than beloved. You need to listen to the words of Allah. Take what He wants to give you from the mercy, from the love, and from the truth. You sit near Him all the time now, soul to soul. You feel no sadness and you are not afraid because He has wanted you from the beginning, from the world of pre-eternity (al-azal) to know only His love. Put your soul inside His heart forever, to be more and more of the holy servant of your Master.

You will see the true face of Allah when you love the guide, when you give everything to the guide, and when you see the face of God in the face of the guide. Then you can touch the mercy from the love, because its meaning has become clear within you, like a drop of rain when it comes form the sky, splashing forcefully into the water. This splash is like the fire, and this fire is what He wants you to feel in your heart. He wants you to drink from this water, to meet your Beloved because you want your Beloved and nothing else. Allah wants you to live with Him every moment because you cannot live without your Beloved.

Who can live without God? If you want this life all the time, you must pray. And also pray when you walk, when you work, and when you sleep. Pray! And Pray! Do not refuse any order that Allah sends to you. Leave everything that He has forbidden. When you give love to anyone, you are giving everything. You do not keep anything inside or outside you. You have given yourself completely to your Beloved. Why does God show you this love? To help you to erase everything from your heart but Him, the Beloved. You sit in His soul near the door of love, all the time. You have lost your self. Your qualities have been put inside the Beloved, leaving nothing of you because there is only He. If you love God, sit with your self and your heart with your soul inside His soul.

Do not speak to anyone about what He wants from you, and do not give the secret to another. Speak only to Him because there is no one in this station, only He. You have put your heart in the fire of the heart of God to inflame the yearning (al-himma) of the love inside you. When you burn only with His name, you speak with Him, from your soul to His soul, with the lips of God. You move now only with His order. You are with Allah all the time, to Allah and from Allah. If you want the himma of this love for Him, you must forbid anything to sit in your heart, only His love. This is the religion of God. When you live in this station, you live on the top of the mountain, the holy mountain. It is forbidden to see anything, only His name, or to love anyone, only Him because He has given you His soul, and He has also given you His love, for you to be special for Him. When you love Him, you change yourself to become His love because the love of Allah is the greatest love. You are between His hands in everything. You are His holy servant.

Now your soul is beginning to die. It needs this dying because it is changing to live with the soul of Allah. After your soul dies, you awaken and you speak a new language. You can know everything form this language. The language of the soul speaks only with the voice of God.

Give Him your heart, so that He can change everything inside it to be the house of your Beloved. Continue in the way and do not stand still. Remember His name and pray. This is your chance to know the secret of your soul, to be the servant sitting inside the soul of God, soul to soul, with Him. Thank Him because he has given you everything that you have, and everything is from Him. Do you understand what He says to you?

3. Al-Itlaq: 4. The Station of Freedom
I speak here of the heart, the eye of the nafs, the eye of the soul, and the secret of God. The Muhammadan heart is the eye of the soul, and it contains more of the secret of the soul. If you ant to take the truth and to know Allah and His secret, you can only take it in your hand if you know that everything is in the way of the love. This love is different from the love of the body. If you reach the true love, the love of the soul, you reach the love of God because He is the secret love. Sometimes you think that the love comes from your heart, but if you look deep with the eye of your heart, you will find that this is the love of Allah. He is the secret inside the soul.

Know, my brother, that your heart is the center of knowledge. Listen to what it says. If you want to know the secret love, understand the meaning of every word and listen quietly to what Allah says. If you do not open your heart and close the door to the outside, how will you know the meaning of the love? When I say that everything is in the heart, I do not mean the heart of the body. The heart of Allah does not know human form. He has put His heart and His soul inside everything. You cannot touch it, yet it is very close to you – only a breath away. This is the meaning of inside. It is difficult to understand, but when you walk in the way of love, you can touch every quality with your whole body. But your body must change in everything and begin to walk to be born again, giving birth to a new soul. Then you being to be clean and alive, and to show your true self. You can listen to the voice of the soul. This voice sings the song of the deep love.

What do I mean by voice? This voice speaks the language of the soul. When you reach this station and understand this language, you understand every word of any song because you are the song. The language of the soul knows only the language of the love because it does not speak as we do. This is the language of the light.

When you reach this station, there is no darkness. If you feel darkness it is different from what you felt before when you lived outside. If you stand near the light but not in it, then there is still darkness, but if you walk closer to be with the light, you see only light. The more you clean your soul, the closer you come to the light, until you live face to face with the light of Allah. This is a different life than you lived before. Now you want to live with God, face to face with His secret because your body, heart, mind, and your self have returned to the unity.

He is the secret and you begin to put your hand on the key to open this secret. But then you are the key because the secret is inside you. There is no difference between anything outside you. You body, heart, mind, soul and your self have all opened to the secret, and you begin to live. If you reach this life and you understand what I mean in this station, you sit on the throne, and this throne is very holy. This is the throne of the truth. You are the truth and you can touch yourself buy yourself. In this station you have seven hearts from the heavens, and seven from the earth (an-nafs) and everyone one of these hearts if different. When you walk in the way, sometimes you are in the garden and sometime you are in the fire. You have everything, but know that there is no difference between the garden and the fire. When you reach this station and you know the meaning of the love, then you are the king because you are free.

I want everyone to be the heart because Allah says, “Neither My heavens nor My earth contain Me, only the heart of My faithful believer contains me.” In this station your heart walks with God everywhere, yet there is no place you can go but to Him. He lives in every quality and now you live because you do not see anything, only your God. Your heart walks with Him all the time. From this arises a war in your heart between the light of God and the darkness of the devil (ash-shaitan). What is the reason for this? Everyone wants the love, but in their own way. The darkness wants the love in the way of the darkness, but the student of the family of God only wants the love in the way of God, which is from the light. Everyone wants this love. Allah gives it to His family because He has put His love inside the heart of the student, His faithful believer. He has wanted you from the beginning.

If you find this love in your heart, thank your God. This is your chance. Send mercy to the people who cannot take the love and cannot understand what Allah wants from them. Be a child around the holy table of Allah, and be from the eye of God, and listen to every order He sends. This is from the love.

Know, my brother, that your mind needs to be clean if you want to know the meaning of the secret of the love. The mind is limited by what it believes, and in the beginning it does not know how to walk. This a very deep thing. If you want to know this mind, make it quiet and listen only to your heart because everything is from the heart of the heart. Clean your soul, and break your body to wake up from your tomb. Remember the name of God, and do not stand still. Give everything to understand every word, Then you mind will be free to give and to understand and it will be full of the love. Clean everything and change it, until there is no difference between your soul and Him. Allah!

Know, my brother, that my heart is from the heart of Allah. He has put every secret in side this heart, and it is a holy place. O, if I could speak of this place! Yet, in reality, He has no place because there is no place that could contain Him. You are not! You have no beginning and no end. You are the heart of Allah.

The words I want to share with you now are about the heart of the guide. He also has a heart like the one I have spoken about, and it contains everything inside it. This heart continues to walk with God all the time. There is no other work except to be with Allah. This heart has an eye and an ear, but they are different from anything you have known before. The guide lives all his time with Allah, and he sees Allah in every quality. He prays to Allah in every picture because he is the truth! Allah!

He sees Allah everywhere, when he walks, when he sits, and in everything. He is complete, and he is the clean mirror for Allah. When you stand near this mirror, he knows what is inside your heart,. He sees everything because his picture reflects the picture of God, and his heart is from the heart of God. Be quiet and be polite when you sit near him, and listen to what he says because his soul speaks with the voice of God. His truth is from the truth of God.

He is the cup and he is the wine, and his cup is never empty. He is the heart, the soul and the mind, and he is the secret. Do not lose any word that he speaks because he knows the meaning of every subject, and he knows what is inside every holy book. You can know after you walk in the way. Do not stand still, but continue because there is no end to this way. Allah!

At last, know that there is no difference between the nafs, the mind, the heart, the soul, and the secret. All are one. There is nothing, only He. But walk, and after you reach Him the real walking begins. He has put all that I have spoken about inside you, in your tomb, which is like a prison. If you break this prison and you search, you will find the real love; you will find yourself and what you want. After you know and you touch God in your hand, thank Him and pray to Him all the time. Be the mercy and give the mercy to anyone. He has put this quality inside you to make the peace and to be polite with everyone, if you can.

After that, you can reach what you want from God. When you live in this station, you live in the garden of the soul. There is no voice, nothing, only He. Be silent and also be silent in your soul, if you can. This station is very deep. Remember everything that I have said. This is the third station of the soul, the freedom, al-itlaq. This is the freedom of the soul. Here it is freed from its prison. You have broken your tomb and you have woken up. You are free. You will know, if you can reach. Allah!

4. Al-‘Ubudiyya: The Servant of God
If you want to be a complete servant when you reach the fourth station of the soul, then be polite, but be more and more polite. You need to believe what He says in every quality in which you live. Your qualities must be like the qualities of God because your eye is His eye and there is no one, only He. Be polite because now you being to see Him. Leave everything because this Is your religion, the right religion. Keep this religion in your heart, and do not give to anyone who is not polite because it contains your truth.

If you know the secret within yourself, show who you are only to Him. Show yourself and give yourself. Now you can see yourself. Pray to Allah because He has placed you near to Him. You are higher than the stars and the moon because you the sun of the truth. Contain everything, but with the love. Leave everything. Leave your love for anyone, but Him. Keep yourself with Him because you are the fire of the deep love. Look for the truth everywhere, in anything that you see, but in a polite way. There is no one, only He. There is no one who does anything, only He.

He created the human being and all the world from His soul, and all are servants for Him. The student needs to know and to walk in the truth. If you go left and right, from knowing to not knowing, then you are not a servant. If you walk straight and only see the truth of God, then you are the servant. Allah puts everything in it place with just one word.

He says, “The truth is made by Me. I made it to show Myself in the world. If you do not see My picture in the world, you do not understand why I created you. I have two hands – from the first hand comes the garden and from the second hand comes the fire. From the first hand comes family of God who love Me, and so I love them because they are special for Me. From the second hand come those of the family of the devil (ash-shaitan) who do not want to walk and who do not love Me. Do not follow them. Listen to My voice. I have put My voice in the voice of the guide, and before him in all the prophets. I put the complete voice in the heart of Muhammad, may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him. His the Prophet and the guide of the love. Understand what I mean, and do not ask why I make what I make. Everything is from me, but know inside yourself the reason why I have created all things. Then you can understand the secret of yourself. Do no look to anyone, and do not get angry with anyone. Give the mercy to everyone because they all need it. They are servants also, but they do not know themselves yet.”

If you live on this holy mountain, live and listen to the singing of the mountain. When you reach this mountain and you see the complete guide who knows the way of the love, listen to what he says because he is the wine. He is also the one who drinks this wine, and he is the cup of the wine. He can help everyone to drink this wine. His wine is very sweet and delicious. His wine is the truth, and when you sit near him you can see the garden. He is the truth, and he contains all the truth inside himself. When you know the meaning of every word, you will know all the meaning inside his heart. All this holy meaning is from Allah. Be polite when you reach and drink from his hand because his hand I very holy. Drink again and again and again. In the end, you will reach to be the slave of Allah (’abdullah), and there is no end to the wolking. This is what Allah wants from you. You are almost like a slave, but a very holy slave. You are a special servant of God in the fourth station of the soul.

5. Al-Ma‘rifa: 5. The Knowing of the Truth
When you reach the holy valley, all the wisdom will come to you. Stay inside your heart when you are in this valley because He wants you to pray to Him and to understand the meaning of the prayer. Then you will come to know Him well and your soul will be clean, Each time you pray, you begin to understand what you want from Him when you sit near Him, When you reach this place, which is no place, do not refuse what He wants from you. Do not say, “No!” Listen to His voice and say, “YES,” to everything. You are the face of God, and everything comes from Him. There is nothing after you know the secret. You are the secret, if you understand, and if you believe in what He wants from you in this holy message. Give everything to him because has given everything to you. In the deep meaning there is nothing for you to give Him because you are from Him. You are the meaning, you are the truth, and you are also a mirage. When you live in the outside world you are a mirage, but inside this mirage there is a treasure. Open this treasure to find the jewels inside. Take what you want from this holy treasure. You are the treasure, but bring forth the secret jewels that are inside you.

Now you are the light, and not just a part of the light, but you are all the light. There is no darkness at all if you understand. The darkness is an illusion, but in reality the light is also an illusion. After that, you are! And there is nothing else! Walk and continue in this holy way. Leave everything, both from the darkness and from the light, to show who you are, if you can see what is after that, There is no after because you are He and He is you. But you will not understand what He means if you do not discharge all the unnecessary qualities from your body, from you heart, from you mind, and from your self to understand the meaning of the secret. When you reach this station, you come to the holy mountain. You have not only come to the mountain, but you have reached the top of the mountain. There are no sides to this mountain, no beginning and no end.

What do you see in this station? Look, but not in your heart now. Look with the eye of your soul. There is a difference because you have cleaned this eye to see the truth of the soul. It is not enough to clean your heart and your mind, but you need to clean your soul. Allah!

There is nothing, only you and He. You have found the holy light in the darkness. After you reach the light of the soul, you can see God in the light and in the darkness, anywhere! This is different from what you have seen before. You can see the secret of the truth. You can see al-wahid in everything. It is important for the inside to be a clean picture because the inside picture is the truth.

There is nothing, only He. Where are you? You are from Him and you have returned to Him. You are a mirage and you are also the truth. All the world is a reflection. This is the picture of you, and you can see your picture in this reflection, but after a time you leave this picture. You live in a holy station if you understand the meaning of the picture. Your picture is also the picture of God. Inside this picture you can know the deep meaning. All the world is a reflection. Allah!

You move from this station after a time. Before you leave, know the meaning of this station and why He has put you here. The reason He put you here is to know Him, and to send mercy to everyone. This is your message if you can carry it. Thank your God if he helps you to carry this holy message. He has made every picture in all the worlds and He has put His name in everything to know Him. Know what He wants from you and from your message. He put His name in your message. If you can see the name in everything, you can understand what He means by any word. Pray, and remember what He wants from you.

He says “You cannot reach if you do not die.” After you die you wake up, but only after you have changed everything. He will make what he wants with you. When you reach, you say, “You are my Beloved,” and your soul begins to sit with Him face to face.

This is the real life because you are standing with God all the time on the mountain of mercy. You cannot close you eyes when you reach this mountain because there are many beautiful meanings in this mountain. Do you understand the meaning of this mountain? You are the mountain! But walk quickly to reach the top of this mountain. Reach, if you can. This is the way, but walk and listen to what He says, to what He sings, and to what He wants. Do not look to the left or to the right or behind, but look straight all the time because there are no sides, and everything is in your hand. Your hand is a holy hand because your hand is the hand of God.

Put the fire in all the pictures of your life to clean them and to remove them from your life because you want to live in the house of the truth. You cannot live in this house if you do not reach the holy valley and drink from His water. In this house you will find the heart of God. When you reach and when you know and when you see the heart, kiss this heart all the time. This is what He wants from you. What do you find inside this heart? You find the holy secret of the love. Live inside this heart if you can, and do not go outside. Do you understand the meaning of this heart? You are the heart!

All the prophets, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon them all, are inside your heart, and all the holy places are inside your heart; and everything needs you. Why do you not know yourself? This is your station, but open your heart to be inside the heart of your God. This is a deep secret and a holy secret, if you know.

When you reach this heart and the secret, you know what I mean by the house of God. You can walk around this house. This is holy walking because you understand what you want from this message. You pray from yourself to yourself because God does not need this praying. But He loves to see you when you pray. Pray and pray and pray as-salat, and remember the name. This is a song, and there is no beginning and no end to this song. Thank your God because He shows you Himself. When you reflect Him, you reflect yourself. This is the fifth station of the soul, the secret of the truth, al-ma‘rifa.

6. Al-Hadrat Al-Itlaq 6. The Presence of the Freedom
When you want to reach this station, you need to know all the qualities of God. When you know the qualities, you know how to walk all your time. You begin to reflect the qualities of God. You see with the eyes of God. You speak, not from yourself, but with the voice of Allah. Your hearing has merged to hear only the voice of God. You walk and you move only with the order of Allah. When you know your place in this station, you see yourself with the self of God, and there is no difference between you and Him. But this is only after you have returned all your qualities to Him because everything is from Him and there is no one else.

There is no one, only He in this world, and there is no soul but His soul. When you live in this station, you begin to understand what Allah says with every word, and every word is holy. There is nothing in this station but He. You live in a different way than you did before. You are clean, you are polite, and you are the beloved and more beloved. You are the mercy and more mercy. You are polite, and more polite. Then you find that you live in the holy garden of the soul, in the soul of God. You have found yourself in His soul. You see that there is no self because your self has changed and has returned to be soul. Your heart has also changed to be soul because your body has changed to be soul because your body has been broken and has woken up, and it begins to sing. This song speaks with a holy meaning with Allah all the time. This is the truth, the truth of your soul. You have found your truth, but you need to break your soul again to become the complete soul. You need to be still more complete.

How do you break your soul? In everything that you do, know what you are doing. Know what you are doing when you walk, when you pray, and when you sing. Know what you mean by the words you speak at any time.

Now there is nothing else, only He. There are no people. There is no world. There is nothing that makes you angry, and there is no darkness. There is nothing, only He. If you understand and return to Him to live in His heart, then you begin to break your soul. You give Him your soul to fill with His love and His mercy. This is a different mercy from before. You now stand in our place and understand what he means with any word. You do not let your mind fly from place to place. When you live in your body you are in a prison, but he wants you to leave this prison and to fly to Him, to be with His soul. Clean all of your qualities. Clean everything in your world, and leave everything but Him.

When you pray, you help yourself and you help your soul. When you remember His name all day and when you do not refuse any order he sends, then He will give you everything, and more than you could want because He gives you Himself.

Everything is from Allah to Allah. Stay with this life. This is what He wants from you. He wants you to be special for him. When you ask anything, ask only Him because He loves to hear your voice. You are special for Him because you are His beloved. He wants you to be with him all the time. He wants to see Himself in you, inside your soul and inside your mind. He wants you to see that your face is the face of the guide. Listen to what the guide says to you because he is the guide of the love. When he gives you anything, do not refuse it because when he gives to you it is from Allah to Allah. Know the every order is from God and not from anyone else.

Be with Him and when you ask Him anything, He wants you to ask Him with his qualities, “O Compassionate One (Ya ir-Rahim), O Merciful One (Ya ir-Rahman), O Elevated One (Ya-ir-Rafi), O Faithful One (Ya ‘l-Mu’minin)!” This is from the deep politeness and this is what He wants from you now. When you live in this station, you live in the light because you are the light.

There is no darkness because the darkness has changed to light, and every word you speak is very holy. Do not give any holy word to anyone who is not polite because he asks you about every word that you give. Give the meaning of the truth to only those people who want to know the truth. Be holy with anyone who wants to know. This is what He wants from you when you carry the holy message. You are His face and your face is very holy. Your picture is His picture. Do not give this picture to anyone, only to Him. This is what he wants from anyone in this life. The guide is also the picture of God. He is a clean picture. When you live in this station, you live in the word. You have no beginning and no end. You are free! There is no prison. This is the presence of the freedom (al-hadrat al-itlaq). This is the station before annihilation (al-fana’), which is the seventh station of the soul, but also the first station of the way.

Be quiet and more polite. Be silent and more silent because you sit with your God soul to soul, and not only face to face. In this station he wants you to be soul and nothing else. Then you die in the soul and are born again to be like child, but a child of Allah. This child has no father, no mother, no brother, and no sister. You are a very rich child and a very holy child. Who is like you? You live now with your God in everything.

There is no life like this life. This life is Allah! This is the presence of the Holy One (al-hadrat al-Quddus). This is a deep station of the soul. Be in this station if you can. Allah wants anyone to live in this station all the time. Send the peace and send the mercy. Be courteous and be the truth because Allah is the Peace, the Politeness, and the Mercy. He is the father of the love. If you can help people, this is what they need. This is your message if you can carry it and understand what it is that you give them from the holy message. This is the song of the soul! Listen to what He says to your soul!

7. Al-Fana’ 7. Annihilation in God
Now I feel in my heart the seventh station of the soul. This is a very holy station. If you do not open your heart and if you do not open the eyes of your soul, you cannot understand what Allah wants in this station.

Be polite, but now more polite because He wants to speak with your soul – to your soul. He wants to give you the key to open the door of your soul, so that you can find the holy meaning in everything. Listen to what he says. This is a holy song, and holy meaning, and a holy prayer. Listen to the song of David (Dawud), the servant of the soul. If you understand what he says, you can drink with your soul from the holy meaning. In order to drink, you must sit with Him. What does He want when you are sitting with Him? He wants you to sit quietly, and to understand the notes of every song and to see their beauty. He has given you this song in order for you to hear His melody, and for you to sing the song of the truth. You have found the secret and the holy garden. Now you walk around in the holy garden with the light everywhere, and you give your light to everyone, and there is no one, only the One, your Beloved. You have found the holy light. It is there for all to see at any time or in any place because He has put the love everywhere, and there is no place, only He.

This is the reason why He puts the love in every face. He puts it there for you to be holy and to reflect His light. Be polite with everyone when you reach this station because he wants you to reach the meaning of this heaven. There is no one who can touch this heaven, only you because you are the student who wants to know the truth of Allah. He wants you to take the holy key and to find tall the jewels inside. There is nothing like these jewels anywhere; they are precious and holy. You can find the secret inside the jewel, if you want o. Before, you did not know, but now He has given you all the meaning, and you begin to understand and to know everything.

If you do not love all things and know the meaning of this special love in the religion of God, you do not understand any of His truth. Before, you did not drink the wine of the special way of Allah. Now you are intoxicated by the wine, but this is the intoxication of love. This is a quality you have lived in from the beginning, before Allah created anything, and now you find Him in everything, in every face and everywhere. There is nothing like Him. He is in all the creation. In this station you know this truth. You can walk and you can fly with the light, with the holy self, and with the love. You can find all the knowledge of Allah if you open the secret of the love, to know the complete human being, the Perfect Man (al-Insan al-Kamil). He is the complete light and the eye of Allah. Continue to change everything, to clean your soul, and to know. This is a deep and long station. You need to leave everything behind to reach the heart of the soul. This heart is the holy house of Allah.

To reach, now you need to drink all the holy oil from the tree of the truth because it is necessary. You need to be like the oil lamp and to shine your light for all the world because you carry the holy message of the truth. This holy oil is from the olive tree, a symbol of holiness, of peace, and of the light of God. It is the same tree from which all the prophets, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon them, have come. It carries the qualities of the prophets, giving shade to everyone in the garden. It is the tree of the truth, and he who knows this tree knows the truth. This tree gives beautiful flowers, each with a holy fragrance, but from the wisdom, not every flower makes oil. Allah wants every student in this station to be the holy oil from this tree, and to know, and to change and to see Him in everything.

There are no sides to this tree, no east and no west, yet all sides are within this tree. There is no picture for this tree. It is from pre-eternity (al-azal). Allah has put this tree in the eye of everyone, and therefore you can see with your eyes what you want. Sometimes it lives within and sometimes it lives without, yet there is no inside and no outside. This is the holy secret because the tree is pure. It is the unity. It is as-samad. It is al-ahad. It is al-wahid. Allah lives in everyone and He puts His qualities in everything, and all His qualities are unified.

You could not climb the tree before because you did not speak or understand the language of the soul, which is the language of the deep love and the mercy. This tree is the holy bride. Its qualities are enough for you to know what the message is, and to know what you need to give so that you can live inside. There is no one who lives without this bride, and He is the mirror for the bride (who is you), and He is the heart of the bride. Now you can climb the tree if you want to reach its holiest place. This is the summit of the devotion of Laila (the divine essence of the love). If you smell the fragrance of your soul, then you are touching the key to open the house of your soul. Then you can change everything that came inside it from the beginning of your life in this world. You can see everything with a new eye, but his eye is the eye of God. After that you do not see anything, only Him. There is nothing else to see.

What do things and numbers mean in this station? There are no numbers. There are no women and no men, no angels and no ash-shaitan. Everything is from Him and you return to Him. He has made everything as a reflection, but these things in themselves are not the truth. When you see with the eye of your soul, you know this. You see what you are and what he is. Your place is from His face, yet there is no place, only he. You see, with this eye, the picture of Allah in everything. You know Who speaks with you in your life from the beginning to the end, You know Who lives with you all the time, and you know Who gives you want you want. There is no one, only One. Only He exists.

You have seen many pictures in this world, but they are not the truth, they are all reflections. Allah puts His name in everything (bismi’llah). Discharge everything and return every quality to Allah, then you will understand what He wants from you. He wants you to now Him, to know only the truth! There is nothing after that. There is no after and no before, to no up and no down because you have found yourself.

This is the truth, my son and my daughter. Write, but write with the hand of Allah. Change everything so that you listen only with the hearing of Allah. Then change everything in your life to be soul. This is a holy station. In this station, He sends you the message and the religion.

He gave all the prophets the secret, may His peace and blessings be upon them, and this is what He wants to give to everyone. If you search, you will find the unity. You want only Him and you His picture. I could not give every secret that is inside my heart. Allah!

This is the holy station of annihilation in God (al-fana’). Now you take the key, and with it you can open the door to the garden of Allah. This is a dangerous station and if you are not polite, He will discharge you. Ask Him to help you, and be polite. Do not give this station to anyone who lives outside because they could not understand this. What can they know about this? Keep the jewels which I have given you and do not lose them. Give only the picture of God. This is enough now.

The Politeness in the Seventh Station of the Soul
Now I want to speak about the student, about you who searches for the truth. After you reach the truth, you walk in the way, from station to station, until you sit facing God. When you reach the last station, you are born again, and return to be like a child, pure and clean. This is different from becoming any child. You become the child of truth. Your mother and your father are the truth, when you know. Every one of the family of God is a child because they are born again and again, many times each day.

When you reach the seventh station of the soul, you begin to know the meaning of God and you stand facing Him at every prayer, soul to soul. You do not pray from your body or from your heart, you pray with the soul. This is from the secret.

In this station you begin to know the meaning of the word because now the walking begins. If God does not help you, you will not reach. You must give everything to Him, and leave everything outside. Yet there is no outside and no inside. He is she and she is he. If you see a difference, then you are outside the truth. There are no differences in the truth. There is no one, only He, in this high station of the soul. When you complete this, He will give you what you want if you are polite with him. Know that politeness opens the door to the garden of Allah. If you reach the door, the politeness you need is different from before. It is the politeness of the soul. And if you have the soul of God, what more could you want?

If you live in this station, he gives you a drink of the secret nectar (al-rahil al-maktum). Only the believers, the people of God can drink this nectar. I hope you can open your soul to hear its secret language. The sweet nectar is from pre-eternity (al-azal). He gives you a drink of His sweet nectar because He has wanted you from the beginning. Thank Him because if He had not wanted you, you could not have reached. He has given you the chance to find this special way, the way of the deep love. Listen to what He says. He speaks to you with the language of love. You need to be polite to hear this language because if is different in every way.

From the beginning He has said, “I am your God! Know Me!” And what is your answer? Look in your heart and you will find the answer. If He helps you, you can speak to Him in a pure language. “Yes, My Lord, I am Your servant. Ask anything of me to return me to my original picture, the true picture. I want only to be Your mirror, and to see myself in Your heart and in Your soul. All knowledge can be seen from this mirror because You are the secret. Help me, my God, to clean this mirror to reflect only Your love.”

You live in the holy garden of the truth in this station. Your soul is the picture of the soul of God. This is not like any garden you have seen before. This is the garden of the soul. Your eyes have never seen what they see now through the eyes of the soul. There is no ear that can hear what the soul hears. It listens to the song of David, singing the songs of all the prophets. Its beautiful notes are from the soul. This singing is not from the voice of the tongue of the body because there is no body now. Where is the body? There is no human being in this station. You are and you are not! Listen to the singing It is the voice of the soul.

You need to know this song. There are no words to this song because something else is speaking with you. It is your soul speaking. If you do not pray you cannot hear this song. This is a very deep and elevated praying. If you do not remember His name with your voice, His voice will not sing to you. How can you hear the song of the soul if you do not send mercy to anyone you see? How can He sing to you if you do not love all the people who want to be polite and who want to know the truth? Be the guide for anyone, to show him what he is, if you can. Thank you God and say to Him, “You have given me everything I have. Nothing is from me. I see with Your eyes, no with mine. My Lord, keep me in the garden of Your soul all the time, to sit on Your carpet and to drink Your wine. I could not live outside Your garden.”

Be truthful with everyone, but first with yourself and then with your brothers and sisters. This is what God wants from you. He wants you to know only Him. When you reach this station, face to face, but in your soul, do not remember the name in a loud voice, be quiet and remember in your heart with your soul. If you say the name of God in a loud voice in this station, it is not polite because God is right beside you.

Look straight al the time. Do what He wants you to do, and do not refuse anything He asks because He knows what is best for you. Be quiet and courteous where you are. He gives you the food you eat and the clothes you wear. He has given you everything you have to remember His name. Be polite with everything you meet because you are filled with holiness. Be a mosque, if you can. Be a holy place, and pray in that holy place. Everything is inside you. You are the question and you are the answer. Understand every answer your heart gives you, and if you want o be a complete student listen to the song of the soul. Do not ask why you see any picture or why He makes something because He is putting everything in it place. There is wisdom behind everything that happens. If you see a picture that you feel is wrong or that you do not understand, you can say, “My Lord, please help me to now the meaning of this picture. Help me to be polite with this picture because everything is from You. You are the putting everything into it place with whatever You do. Help me, my Lord, to see You in this picture.”

He wants you to be like the prophets because you are the students of the prophets. You carry the message of love given by all the prophets. Why should you not do what they have done? This is your real message to give.

God will tell you his secret. Listen to His voice and understand what he says in everything inside you. You are a holy star. Know what is inside this star. This a holy night. This is the last station of the soul, and also the first station of the way, if you know what I mean. This is the annihilation in God (al-fana’)! Who are you now?

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