General Issues / Questions

Peace Wakas, You stated I think she meant "livid" bro P

Wow! What a response! Thank you everyone! Elena, I was a Catholic as well, and yes, ONE GOD is doctrine. I was always taught that the ONE GOD was a triune being, or 3 in one. However, I did get the nonverbal inspiration. I don't know where it came from, well, yes I do, it came from God. But nonetheless, I knew in my heart that there was something very wrong. I prayed to Mary and the saints for intercession, but I never could bring myself to believe in it. It always felt like a waste of time, and thank GOD, now I know that it was. I ate the bread and wine, and was SUPPOSED to believe it was the body and blood of Jesus, but I never could believe it in my heart. First because why would God subject Himself to such a silly ritual? and second because it never 'sanctified' me the way I was taught that it should. Another practice that was a total waste of time. So regardless of what I was taught, God showed me the Truth without books, without words, just inside my heart. After that, He gave me friends that follow the Qu'ran. Allah is all-knowing, and He leads whomsoever He pleases! Salam, Nahla I can relate to your story. I was a prostestant and remember that feeling of "something wrong" oh to well. I read translation, after translation, after translation...I even strived to read an untranslated bible. It felt like something was off with the trinity idea for me. In comparison to the God of the old testament and Isa of the new, I loved and paid more attention to Isa and, although they were supposedly one and the same, something felt REALLY wrong with that in my heart. Then it came to me-before I ever picked up the qur'an-that Isa probably was just a prophet. But I had no proof of this until I began reading The Reading. Once I began to study , it was, as if, I recognized what was written. It was a very difficult transformation at the time. And, many times, I felt completely lost and abandoned once I realized Christianity may not be the absolute truth of God's plan and existance as I was told. And, of course, now I am here. At any rate, I understand what you are trying to say about Christians serving "one God". But, undeniably, what makes a Christian a Christian is not the belief in one God, but the belief that Jesus Christ was the son of God, son of Mary, God incarnate on this earth. The only way one can be saved from hellfire is to believe in John 316-317 316 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 317 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. Many Christians interpret this as Isa being an inteccessor to "save" us....hence, setting up partners. I remember clearly the times when I thought praying to Jesus's father was worthless as Jesus was the one who was doing the saving! roll Now this is not to say that those who call themselves Christians are destined for punishment (even if they were, how would we are not the ultimate Judge). Its not about what you call yourself, its about what you do. Like the reading said, all are not the same....

See also http//www.free-minds.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3738 This article is from the point of view of Psychology.... OK. So, maybe you should have a look at this book http//www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0262232227/103-8438923-4149440?v=glance

Mullah truth, I've requested your thread be removed. Your fear-driven obsession with me, is the result of your fear that people will begin to listen to me, thus, exposing your un-Quranic and superstitious notions.

Peace Fatima, It's a translation of the quran. Joe

Sorry. I do not have my Qu'ran on me and I do not bring it to scgool. However, I do not know where in the Holy Qu'ran, but I am about sure it is there.

Is it true that our today Quran is compiled just like it is said in Hadith? See 80/11-16 please. That's all we need on that issue.

Peace be upon you, I had an interesting thought today regarding gender references in the Qur'an. I have been socially conditioned to accept that a scripture's reference to "he" or "him", by default, is applicable to both sexes. However, to my knowledge, this rule stems from man's conceptions. Given that the God's language is precise and has used the term "she", "her", and "woman" in the reading, how can I justify the many ayat referring to "he" as also referring to "her"? Similarly, it is understood that the God self references by this seemingly "masculine" article. I know that arabic is a uniquely precise language when it comes to gender, plurality, etc and would like any linguistic clarification as to why so many ayat seem to be directed at men. Or rather, is this just the translation, or did the God actually use a term (he, him) denoting "masculinity". Peace. Khi- Salam. It is the Arabic grammatical rule that whenever men and women are addressed TOGETHER the pronoun used would be maculine, EVEN if the group consists of one men and x amount of women. Only when women are uniquely referred to is the femine pronoun used. As for the word "Allah" it is in the grammatically masculine form for whatever reason so it would be preceded by a masculine pronoun, sincew Arabic does NOT have "it" as a pronoun. Things or any nouns are either masculine or feminine. GOD Bless!

How do you "know" that God does not grant PhDs? I didn't see him at the ceremonies I've been to LOL! That response was so cute! wink

PEACE 2PAC-NOTTS, Is it possible to communicate to dead people?? No. 3942 Allah takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that die not during their sleep; then He withholds those on whom He has passed the decree of death and sends the others back till an appointed term; most surely there are signs in this for a people who reflect. Peace.

This writ is up for debate http//img397.imageshack.us/img397/3778/mrh1513ht.jpg Any overview concerned with HALLOWEEN probably will touch upon ideas in HALL, HALLER, HALO, HALLO, HALLOW and HEALTH as well as in fruitful fruits such as APPLES and pumpkins which are full of seeds. HALO http//img447.imageshack.us/img447/4531/jesushalo20zp.jpg http//www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050328/wd4.jpg http//dlg.atspace.com//photos/halo1.jpg http//www.alanbauer.com/images/Weather/Halo%20around%20sun%20before%20incoming%20rainfront-Horz2.jpg compare with http//img447.imageshack.us/img447/4295/170px410pxsunhaloopticalphenom.jpg http//www.consultsos.com/pandora/images/f7622.jpg http//www.consultsos.com/pandora/images/f7621.jpg Those with an aura were often called "auracles"...oracles. HALL, in the sense of enclosure, relates to ideas such as HOME, HELL and in the case of spiritual and materialistic counterparts, SHRINE and HALLMARK, which are HALLOWed or valued as spiritual or materialistic sites. HALLO and HALLOA imply shouting or HOLLERING, as in HAIL and HEIL HITLER, signals of vigor and HEALTH which extend to WHOLE, WHOLLY, WHOLESOME and the old term HAL for HEALTH. The above cascade brings us to HALLOWEEN, the name for a VIGIL held October 31st., also known as ALL HALLOWS (formerly ALLHALLOWS EVEN). This feast has survived many attempts by the Vatican to supplant the Druid, Celtic and ancient Roman elements of this festivity with Christian ecclesiastical ideas. Halloween, as a Druid tradition, represents an ancient celebration to mark the "end of summer", and to welcome the " spirits of all the departed". As an ancient Roman tradition, Halloween represents the festivities celebrated each November 1st. in honor of POMONA ( http//www.thaliatook.com/pomona.html ), a deity that protected fruit orchards. The Vatican dedicated these dates to celebrate saints and the dead. In 61 AD, Roman rulers of Britain forbade human sacrifices during Halloween - but, to this day, some continue to sacrifice black cats in the belief that they represent the incarnation of evil spirits. With time, the Celtic Samhain, mixed with ancient Roman elements, became Halloween and as always, is celebrated as a vigil on October 31st. The added ecclesiastical elements remain segregated to celebrations during first two days of November. In 731, Pope Gregory III declared November 1st as the Day of all Saints. In 834, Pope Gregroy IV and later Odilo, the radical Abott of Cluny, instituted the "Day of all Saints" and the "Day of all dead", as a church-wide ecclesiastic festivity. In 1484, the Vatican initiated a "war" against witches who were to be incinerated by public burning and black cats who were to be slaughtered. Halloween was imported to the USA mainly by Irish immigrants. However, lucre fuels a growing tendency in the USA to manipulate traditional celebrations such as HALLOWEEN. In any case, Halloween includes, among its emblems, spirits, ghosts, skeletons, witches with their brooms and black cats as well as an emphasis on apples (In Hesperides or Paradise, golden apples had a cosmic power), nuts and pumpkins. The ancient Druids believed that the spirits of the deceased gather on October 31st. and are guided by the deities to their final destinies. This provided an occasion for ghosts of the departed to visit their kin, and engage in "trick and treat" as they searched for cheers and affection. Living relatives offered apples, nuts and lit bonfires to guide the spirits as well as to singe witches and their brooms. In some cultures, there are traditions akin to Halloween when, on a given day, relatives visit their deceased kin to light candles on their tombs. HALLoween opens a gate to explore HELL, HEALth and death. It is provocative that HELL in Ukrainian and Spanish points to devil, sin, fornication, darkness and baking in the INFERnal heat of the INFERior strata of the world. Satan, on the other hand, may have whispered to John Milton to write "... the mind ... is its own place ... in itself can make heaven of hell ... hell of heaven ... Regarding HEALTH and HEAL, the core idea can be summarized as preservation of self, aging not withstanding. HEALTH also points toward WHOLE WHOLLY and HOLY. In biologic and medical terms, health is a state of optimal HOMEOSTASIS or perpetuation of "self" under conditions of continous flux. Additional vistas open when deities such as Salus, Hygiea, Esculapius, Medicina which are concerned with salubrity, health, healing and medicine are explored. Regarding DEATH, SPIRIT, GHOST, and WITCH, these "think-words" gain clarity from other languages distant from English. Death points to stop, cease, sleep and peace and in other tongues, to failure, pestilence and loss. SPIRit in some tongues points to properties of alcohol and breath or respiration, while in other tongues, words with SPIR often convey ideas of eternity. GHOST and aGHAST point to breath or ATMA as in ATMOSphere which seems to underscore the ETHEReal nature of SPIRits. Notable are the many legends about ancient GHOSTS such as LARVAe and LEMURES and the more contemporary PIXIES and POLTERGEIST or polter-ghosts. The core power of WITCHES is foreSIGHT. In Ukrainian, WITCHes are called VIDma, while VIDomo and VID refer to KNOW and VISION. There are many stories about CHARming WITCHES who are called CHARivnas. Among the most famous witches, was the CHARismatic Baba Yaga, with her flying broom and a black cat. Another CHARming legend is about three witches who had monocular VISion and shared one eyeball. When Perseus stole their sole eye, they were forced to reveal the HIDEout of the HIDEous Gorgon Medusa. This ancient story, articulated by the Greeks from a variety of sources, underscores the CHARm that confers to WITCH stories, the grit to resist the oblivion of the ages. More recently, the idea of WITCH or BRUJa in Spanish, was incorporated in BRUJula, the name for a magnetic compass, as if to imply that this modern instrument is beWITCHED. Even later, religious zealots discovered WITCHes in Salem, Massachusetts. More surprisingly, among our contemporaries who should remember bloody WITCH hunting campaigns in France and Spain, are those who continue to believe that there are many witches living in the Basque country. In any case, WITCH is a word with roots in WEIBE, WICCA and UICTIMA pointing to VICTIM. Notably, the link of WITCH and VICTIM does not reflect ideas of mercy - instead, it underscores the human penchant to punish women who can beDEVIL or beWITCH, perhaps due the persistence of the belief that the DEVIL may be incarnate in carnal CHARMING or CHARISMATIC women. You can read about witches all over the Internet, but what I'd like to discuss here is the witch / broom connection. http//img424.imageshack.us/img424/6818/witcha45kf.gif On the eve of Samhain (what we now call Halloween) the witches would gather to perform the rites of divination. They would prepare a hallucinogenic ?Flying Ointment? to aid them in their journey. There are many recipes for this ointment all having a base of Atropa belladonna or Mandragora officinarum, both highly psychoactive plants producing visions and encouraging astral projection. The ointment was rubbed all over the body, especially in places where the skin tissue is rich in capillaries. The mucous membrane of the genitals was the preferred location. The ointment was applied to a broom handle then rubbed on and inserted into the vagina. This is one version of how the ointment got its name and probably where we came up with the picture of witches flying on broomsticks. Astral projection allows someone to leave their body and ?fly? anywhere in the world in their mind and visualize themselves in certain situations and their method of transportation was a broomstick. Over a period of about thirty years, the United States Intelligence services spent millions of dollars on a technique known as 'Remote Viewing', which is just another name for astral projection. This brings a whole new meaning to the Halloween Party. http//www.collecto-mania.com/disney/2004/witch_cauldron.JPG http//www.ridance.com/fbbroom.gif http//oregonstate.edu/dept/eli/images/witchlg.gif Owls and Cats have a connection to Halloween also (Moloch and Bast?). http//img397.imageshack.us/img397/6928/h5a9vr.jpg http//img447.imageshack.us/img447/8914/owlskitty3ga.jpg http//www.sloanillustration.com/images/hallownjr.jpg http//www.saroffillustration.com/portfolio/page/ch5_owl_cat.jpg Perhaps because of their vision, to remind us that we are never in the dark? Maybe cause they prey on similar animals? They are among the few predator animals whose eyes face forward. I think the most basic thing about them is that their eyes glow in the dark. Let's go back long before Egypt, before the Vedas, etc and imagine what associations shamans might have for these critters. The great White Goddess (the Moon, triple in nature (phases)), in some sort of varying relationship with the Sun, Her consort. Animals whose eyes glow in the dark (wolves, owls, cats etc) were connected to Her, and thus "sacred" to Her...they were seen as agents of the Moon on earth. Whenever decoding symbols of the Moon, these animals can be substituted images. (www.consultsos.com for more word-play) Written by Andrew Rutajit Mel's own comment. I find it interresting that they conclude that it is a druid tradition, as I had no knowlede it was so, untill I realised that it is the same as our "fastelavn" but as it appears pretty different so i didnt make the connection. Then again I have always been more interested in the execution of principles rather than the mythology surounding it (silly stuff like each plant has its own god). An attitude very common among norse druids, but not so with the wiccans (altso part of the druid family) who take the mythology and tradition very seriously.

don't run to another "religion" and remain divided from those who call themselves "christian" or any other ridiculous title, our goal is PEACE by following the laws of the universe (Spiritual and physical). This reading(quran) says that we have NOTHING to do with SECTS(religions), we are ONE COMMUNITY Thank you so much for saying that! You have quoted my main reason for turning to Islam. Because I want peace, because Allah is peaceful. Thank you so much!

Peace be with you Pazuzu, My question to you is this How do you think a person living in the 7th Century A.D could have understood this sentence ....And We sent down the iron, wherein there is great strength, and many benefits for the people. How could Abou Bakr, or Ali, or Uthman, or even the Prophet himself have understood this sentence, based on what the scientific knowledge was during that period? I don't know exactly but I take your point, yes. However, I disagree that this makes a verse mutashabih because the judgement of the ayat remains, that the book, the balance and iron is necessary for the upholding of justice. I'm not one to differentiate between Kitab and Quran. At least I don't see that the differentiation is necessary. To me the "kitab" is the God's book. Since this kitab was revealed to a messenger in a language - recited form - and is to be read (Iqra?a ) to the people, it's therefore called Quran ( Reading ). Simple as that. Ok, thanks for explaining that.

http//www.free-minds.org/forum/images/smiles/topicclosed.gif

Peace be upon you 2PAC, Should we be doing righeous deeds to win brownie points to heaven?? The God is not an object sitting there waiting to reward and punish you. The God is the bodiless intelligence that created this universe with LAWS. When you work with the laws you achieve inner peace, when you don you feel the "fire". Or should we be doing righteous deeds because God simply told us to?? Who told you to? When? Where? How do you prove so? Or should we be doing righteous deeds so we can UNDERSTAND that it is the ONLY way for our spritiual and physcial growth and betterment in this life and thus leading to a final state called HEAVEN We do it because it is the way towards PEACE, where nothing can disturb us and make us emotional(thus destroying our health). As sister Elena correctly stated Janna is a CONDITION which starts here on earth there are "hell" and "heaven" here, they will continue the God speaks about the "garden" and the "fire". They are allegorical descriptions of states of mind(nafs) But ALL OF THIS starts with your THOUGHTS(adam) and images(his wife) that we entertain constantly. What will the prophet Joseph say about your thoughts and visions?

Its the articles on the site. The members here have ranges of thoughts & values to contribute, I'm coming back always to get a bigger exposure to the religion.

SoCA! http//smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/26/26_30_2v.gif LOL! Cute Icon!

don't loose your sense of humor and I thought that was a good come back, doh!

Peace be upon you, The argument has no foundation because there is no such thing as different forms of peacefulness(islam). Further, he is using the word "muslim" to be a title rather than a description of one who is peaceful. We strive to remain at peace constantly, but certain conditionings we have not yet transcended, so we slip , some more than others. I concur wink

Hi PRIEST_BOKMEI, People the world over respect clarity of thought on part of their leaders. People respected Shivaji Maharaj, Indira Gandhi, and today George Bush. The hallmark of the clarity in their minds was to identify the enemy clearly. Today the enemy of the Hindus and of the world at large is terrorism. And terrorism resides in the hearts of all Muslims. Not just their leaders, but all Muslims, since all of them are bound by the Instruction Manual of Terrorism - the Quran that calls for killing of all Kafirs. The paramount concern in the minds of Hindus is that of terrorism, in addition to the equally important ones of unemployment, health care, etc. Only when the BJP took an anti-terror, anti-Muslim stance, the party succeeded. This happened in UP in the Ram Mandir wave, in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in the wake of the Gujarat riots in response to the roasting of 58 Hindu pilgrims at Godhra. Vajpayee, Advani and their cohorts like Pramod Mahajan, have led the party to its decline and this will end up in disaster for the Hindutva movement, if the movement is not saved now. We call on Narendra Ji Modi, Kalyan SinghJi, Uma Bharati Ji, Govindachrya Ji and all right-thinking leaders of the BJP, the VHP, the RSS to re-think what has got them success? Was it the anti-terror (anti-Muslim) stance fuelled by the Ram Mandir wave and the Gujarat riots or Gandhian Socialism? excerpt from http//www.hindutva.org/ wonder how u came across such a site. but yeah, its very true. these are the hindu religious fanatics who work day and night planning and scheming to kill/ destroy muslims in india. they work real hard poisoning the minds of people with secular beliefs with such messages. they incite so much hatred among the people. it happened with the Gujarat riots, which was one of the cold blooded massacres in indian history, ably led by the chief minister himself. and guess what? the guy got re-elected, instead of being punished.