Nearness and Guidance -> Knowledge and Wisdom = Peace and Prosperity
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@man of faith
I would appreciate if you would answer this question can any person change God's will/plan?
If you can, please provide quranic references in answering. Thanks.
Peace justamuslim,
Shifts (of angels) take turns, staying with each one of you?they are in front
of you and behind you. They stay with you, and guard you in accordance with GOD's
commands. Thus, GOD does not change the condition of any people unless they
themselves make the decision to change. If GOD wills any hardship for any people,
no force can stop it. For they have none beside Him as Lord and Master.GOD does not change a blessing He has bestowed upon any people
unless they themselves decide to change. GOD is Hearer, Omniscient.When they went (to Joseph), they entered in accordance with their father's
instructions. Although this could not change anything decreed by GOD, Jacob had a
private reason for asking them to do this. For he possessed certain knowledge that
we taught him, but most people do not know.GOD may change the animosity between you and them into love.
GOD is Omnipotent. GOD is Forgiver, Most Merciful.In essence, there is an overarching reality that we humans are not a part of.
Here are my answers to your quiz.
http//free-minds.org/forum/index.php?topic=9605132.msg329710#msg329710
ONE DEEN
peace
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Peace brother hawk99,
Thank you for your input and assistance.
God bless you
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Thank you @Man of Faith for your first post, I liked it very much, and I would like you to continue it, thank you.
I liked the distinction between the Peace given by God and peace which might be acquired by human means, same as the distinction between wisdom from experience vs God's Wisdom He might bestow upon someone.
God bless
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@man of faith
I would appreciate if you would answer this question can any person change God's will/plan?
If you can, please provide quranic references in answering. Thanks.
Can any one understand what is God's Will/Plan for us ?
Why to change God's Will/Plan ?
Whether God's Will/Plan would harm us ?
Ponder
Regards
Balachandran
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@man of faith,
The question I ask is relevant to the theme but before I comment, could you please elaborate on what you said
Many individuals who have discovered about God never truly follow the before-mentioned rules of thumb and this is where many people go wrong. In fact, many people fail even at the step before my chain of events, which is handing themselves over entirely to God?s Grace and Mercy.
When you say many people who are you referring to? What do you mean by saying handing themselves over entirely to God? Can you give examples.
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Here are my answers to your quiz.
http//free-minds.org/forum/index.php?topic=9605132.msg329710#msg329710
Read your answers but I keep getting side tracked here.....
Thanks for providing the references.
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Peace justamuslim,
It means as the sentence reads. You should trust God, knowing all good comes from Him, have Faith that He will be with you when you need Him. He will help you and provide for you. He will (hopefully) bless you with things you did not have before you handed yourself over to Him, such as Knowledge, Wisdom, Peace and Prosperity.
The opposite of handing yourself over to God is to be running your own race, take credit and honor for things and believe they are due to your own cleverness.
When you handed yourself over to God you have sided with him, becoming an ally. You praisr God for every little tiny thing you get, He is the doer of everything. And if someone thank you you should often say "do not than me, thank the one who sent me".
I have no more time to type ao hope it cleared things out.
God bless you
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Peace Man of Faith.
Originally I dislike something about philossophy or another similiar, because my motto is the Quran is Scripture with the best phylossophy wrotten on it.But if it's about Islam, I will try to read it.
Your article is good Man of Faith, keep writing, so you can share your knowledges to us plus the more strenghtening my english language skills.
But I want ask you a question, Can you explain more about "This Wisdom is not self-acquired but the result of reverence "?
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Peace Man of Faith,
Nice thread, some good points and I look forward to the next part.
As you can tell by my user name, I would agree with the emphasis on Peace.
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But I want ask you a question, Can you explain more about "This Wisdom is not self-acquired but the result of reverence "?
My wild guess is that he means that God sends/inspires/injects/reveals wisdom, insights and understanding to us, that we wouldn't have been able to figure out by ourselves using only our intellect. The Wisdom he talks about is a blessing and help forward on your path on purification.
I'm looking forward to the coming articles. I know for a fact that it is not easy to 'leave it all to God', even though this is what we should do in case we wish for success and purification. When we are disconnected from God (to whatever degree), fear (in whatever shapes) is abundant in our life. To 'fear nothing but God' is something profound... and it would be the closest thing to real peace we can come in this life.
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Thank you Zulf for your answer, but I'm not asking you, I'm asking Man of Faith.
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Peace Earthdom,
Zulf's answer is practically the same as I would answer and well-written. Thank you Zulf!
There is a difference between God-given Wisdom and the "standard" wisdom as the one from God is superior. This is why being supported by God is the best scenario and the support comes gradually and increases depending on how well we are doing.
God bless you
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Peace Family,
The greatest wisdom is from God simply because it is one of his attributes,
and he bestows it upon whomever he pleases.When he reached maturity, we endowed him with wisdom and
knowledge. We thus reward the righteous."O John, you shall uphold the scripture, strongly." We endowed him with wisdom, even in his youth.
ONE DEEN
peace
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@man of faith,
One can easily distracted on this forum. I am looking to read your next posts finishing your thoughts before commenting and having a discussion.
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My wild guess is that he means that God sends/inspires/injects/reveals wisdom, insights and understanding to us, that we wouldn't have been able to figure out by ourselves using only our intellect. The Wisdom he talks about is a blessing and help forward on your path on purification.
Thank you Zulf, I can agree with you for usefull of wisdom.
One can easily distracted on this forum. I am looking to read your next posts finishing your thoughts before commenting and having a discussion.
Thank you justamuslim for reminding, it's better if we waiting Man of Faith to finish his articles then we can commenting on it.
But your mention is not too useful if we waiting the next part too long.Btw keep witing Man of Faith. )
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Peace,
Okay. I will try to sit down and write my next post soon since you seem barely able to wait. Well, it takes some time to finish a good post, so I need a good amount of time and concentration, as well as inspiration to write anything.
God bless you
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Peace,
Okay. I will try to sit down and write my next post soon since you seem barely able to wait. Well, it takes some time to finish a good post, so I need a good amount of time and concentration, as well as inspiration to write anything.
God bless you
Sure can understand that and also relate. I am yet to post on wudu and ablution thread trying to get all my thoughts together in addressing hawk99.
You bring up some important concepts - wisdom/Wisdom, relying on God.... I suppose while awaiting your next posts, I can share my thoughts thus far commenting. But really am looking to read your next posts.
You think a whack on the head would help speed up the process to get you going? ;D
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Nearness and Guidance -> Knowledge and Wisdom = Peace and Prosperity
Post 2 ? Nearness and Guidance part 1
Peace be unto you,
In the last post I introduced my thread and what its contents will be. Now we will delve deeper into the topic and I will discuss the first link in the chain; ?Nearness and Guidance?, which I consider is the first step one will need to take once they have discovered the Path of God and Faith has entered the heart.
Not do I command you to do the following, but I always state my intention before I initiate a monolog with God such as this; ?? I seek your Nearness and Guidance?? and I add the following phrase as an intensifier ?? as well as protection from the evil one and his followers?. I feel these phrases have filled their intended purpose for me, but this is nothing which is sanctioned by the Quran and it is a mere aim of my personal development. Still, I believe this is the initial aim of someone who chooses to follow the Light of God.
I am sure we should always implore God for our needs in life and this will bring us closer to God, meaning you gain his Nearness by doing this as you put your trust in Him. It is a kind of proximity and it means allegorically to ?walk along the beach with the Lord?. The Most Gracious will lend his powerful hand and where your energy runs out He will carry you. This is surely the assistance God is mentioning in the Quran when He promises to help those who are steadfast and have Faith in Him.
There is a famous poem which was inspired to a certain woman named Mary Stevenson in 1936 which reads
?One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky. In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints. Other times there were one set of footprints.This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow, or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord, ?You promised me, Lord, that if I followed You, You would walk with me always. But I noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there have only been one set of prints in the sand. Why, when I have needed You the most, You have not been there for me??
The Lord replied ?The times when you have seen only one set of footprints is when I carried you.??
Some variations of this poem exist on the Web, but I believe this one to be the original. The alternatives are adapted to Christianity with Father or Child and thus I disregard them. I personally take this poem as that God continues to inspire humans through all ages and that He did not stop in the 7th century. As you can read in the poem it means to hand yourself over to God entirely and put all your trust in Him.
The reason I put Guidance on the same level as Nearness is that I believe when one gets closer to God, then God will provide Guidance at the same time or at least soon thereafter. Guidance is, according to me, pretty misunderstood and some people believe that God only guides through the Quran, which I believe is wrong. God is not confined to some Book and will guide as He pleases. Many are the generally called blessed men who lived through the ages and many of them lived while the Quran was not yet revealed, and these people were guided. They had put all their trust in God alone and that He will lead them straight, on a straight Path. The Quran was sent down as a blessing, a bonus because God is the Most Gracious, Most Merciful and to set things straight. It is a Guide for those who seek Guidance, but not without permission by the Lord. However, the Message has existed all along and the Mosaic Law revealed to Moses millennia ago is still contained within the Quran. These words were few and were inscribed on stone tables on the Mount Sinai, but apparently they seem to be long gone. They are left within the Old Testament of the Bible slightly corrupted with stoning as a punishment for breaking the rules which is a punishment of Pagans. Moses? people were told to uphold the Law which only seemed to have been Ten Commandments at the time and this Law is still valid as of today.Jesus was, centuries later (maybe a millennium or even 1500 years, but I am not sure), upholding the Mosaic Law and was simply exposing the clergymen of his time as well as bringing news of the Kingdom (Heaven). He was not there to sacrifice himself for mankind or any of the usual invented stories, and he was not a god or the son of God. He was simply a Messenger, although a very blessed one powerfully infused with the Holy Spirit (the direct spirit of God). Jesus seems to have been some kind of beacon in the timeline of Prophets, although I am not truly sure in which manner. Anyway, like every other Messenger he was a sign for mankind that God is present, always watching. He brought news for the Believers and clear warnings for the enemies of God (the clergymen and other hypocrites as well as those who disbelieve altogether). God decided to ?bring him back to base?, so He made the people believe they killed him while he brought his soul back before harm and suffering came to him. Almost instantly, and even before he is gone, he is the object of idolization by throngs of people who treat him as a lord.
And, about 600 years later, Muhammad is inspired by God and put to trial and seemingly manages to pass the trials, with assistance from God, and the Quran is revealed to Him. The Quran is the exact wordings of God, much like the stone tablets revealed to Moses, but way more detailed this time. It is the perfect source of scriptural information. The same as with Jesus, Muhammad is later treated as a lord and the Law-giver and a strong source of authorization to issue inhumane and ungodly rules for generations of so-called believers, which unfortunately the majority of people seem to have fallen prey to.
Before Moses came, Abraham arrived and there existed no scripture at that time. Everything was based on hearsay and the world population was small. I am not sure at all when Abraham lived, but I infer that he lived about 2000 years before Jesus, about 4000 years ago. I can by no way guarantee that this information is correct however. Take my guess with a grind of salt. Very little was written down of anything and what you knew was spread verbally. The only apparent other-than-verbal communication was paintings and inscriptions. As far as I know any uniform written language was not yet invented. This is why we have so little information from Abraham except what is written in the Quran. The Bible has tales about him, but it is difficult to know which are fairy tales and which are true. That Abraham was guided is proof that Guidance does not necessarily come by scriptural means. Guidance will come when we seek God?s Nearness, and that is a Truth from the Message, particularly when Faith is entering our hearts.
Between and before the above stated Prophets there were many more who ever roamed the face of the Earth, but I did not mention them here. They are also important as signs, but you can read about them yourselves if you are interested. They all had their own personalities and were not at all alike on the personal level although they shared one thing in common, Faith in God alone. They were not idol worshipers and they followed the righteous tradition (which was to live in the way of God) of their ancestors and they relied upon God for Guidance. Their ancestors only told them the important things like worship only the Lord and there existed not all these nonsense which were spread through the today so-called hadith. When they said to follow the ways of our ancestors Abraham and company, as retold within the Quran, it meant to embrace monotheism. God?s religion has never been complicated and filled with hundreds of rules but those rules that exist are pretty simple.
Pretty much everything of the practices were ideas of the Ummah (community), ie the uniformity of prayers and those fundamental things. I am pretty sure that there is no Rakah pattern or the other ideas taught by hadith of Muhammad and they may be later inventions. The word Salat basically means to contact God, not truly the commonplace prayer ritual. Do not get me wrong, I believe in prayers and God has told us to regularly make contact with Him throughout the day, and even at night.I think prayers or communication with God was never questioned. It is very obvious that one should implore and rely upon his God frequently. And what is the first thing that comes to mind when we wake up in the morning? Well, communication with the Lord as is the foremost all the time. The same goes for the night when we retire for the day. Moreover, commonsense tells that some communication and imploration during the day fits in well in a Believer?s life.
The practices of God?s religion do not divert much from past prophets before Muhammad. All have had their Salat (contact/communication) and Zakat (good deeds/behavior or something like that in my understanding).
As far as I have understood the only prerequisites to reach God?s ?Kingdom? is to
- Believe in God and His absolute authority
- Believe in the Day of Judgment
- Be a righteous person
If someone claims that you need to do more than this apart from some minor details explained by God in Quran you should not believe them. If you have more things you do they are personal commitments for God and nothing mandatory prescribed by God.
I think all (especially some of them like Moses, David, Jesus and Muhammad) are idolized against their will and they were very modest and humble. They have their own days of commemoration and they are treated highly, more than a healthy hero of their people. We can follow their example, but we do not do so by having days for them or constantly including them in our humanly ceremonies or rituals.
Now, roughly 1400 years after Muhammad and about 2000 years after Jesus, we have the Quran and God to rely upon. Most people interpret the Quran as Muhammad was the seal of prophets and that there will be no more prophets emerging on the face of the Earth. Considered how often the Quran is misinterpreted I am myself not sure about the passages stating this information and in my head I find that Messengers would still emerge when blessed men reach far and God would excel their Believer status. Also considering the state of God?s religion, I would not rule out that God could have another Messenger in His plans. God does not actively guide through His Book, but by Himself personally, generally known as through the Holy Spirit. The Quran is what it is, it is scriptural information, even though the author is God Himself. The text or book is not magical on its own and will guide people only through their Wisdom and Knowledge.
However, God?s religion should in theory not be difficult to practice at all since we are spoiled with the Quran, but since Guidance is not connected to the Quran it does not matter if some people have Quran or not. Only muslims (peacemakers) will find Guidance as well as Nearness. We need to work on our personalities and behavior before God will actively guide us into Believers. And Believer status means Wisdom and Knowledge which muslims do not possess (yet). In my opinion, a muslim does not necessarily need to have a strong Faith in heart, they ?want to believe?, they are still searching and need to actively work, as I stated above, on their personality and behavior.
Just to make things more complicated, we are all muslims even when you gain the extra tag Believer, but there is a considerable difference between the two, and that has to do with Faith, and lack of real Nearness and Guidance, such as when you truly feel God is near and guiding you. We may of course deceive ourselves and believe we are guided, but then it is imagined nearness and guidance. A person who does not live by the ways of a muslim will surely not be near God or guided, so we can easily say that they lack Nearness and Guidance. You must see such things in others from their behavior. The example of the above can easily be understood by studying the Quran and why some people believe they are guided while they are not and that is because they are hypocrites. Are we not actively working for the last part of the chain about Peace, we will not be rewarded by the first two parts of the chain, it is that simple. This is why I refer to it as a chain.
According to me, you shall put yourself in God?s hands, trusting that He will lead you straight. Close proximity to God will grant you Guidance and in its turn will lead to the next part of the chain, Wisdom and Knowledge. And in the long run the reverent Believer (mo?meen) will feel a clear reward of Peace and Prosperity. When Knowledge and Wisdom starts to be granted to the Believer then information like the Quran and its meanings will become clear to them. They will see that the Quran sets out clear guidelines for those who have chosen to follow God. I will talk more about the next step in the next post.
I am not sure whether I covered everything I wanted in this post or not, so there might be a Part 2 of this category. I brought the poem up because I discovered it by chance some years ago and I thought it touched my heart entirely. Also, I think I slipped into things irrelevant for my topic and I hope you excuse me and you still like what I wrote.
God bless you
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Peace be upon you Man of Faith,
Thanks for your second installment. Those comments about guidance I find particularly important. I also really believe that God swt guides all He will in many ways. The whole nearness and guidance thing really fits my understanding to - that as soon as one sincerely asks the One who Created them to guide them, then they get that guidance. Once again, I don't have much time right now to look it up, but there could be a verse in the Quran I believe that states that some Messengers came without books - so the studying of a book was not meant for all people in all times. It could be for us now because of the way our society has developed, the way in which Prophet Muhammad was the seal of the Prophets or other things. Allah swt knows best.
There will still be people in today's world who don't have access to the Quran and I believe they can be guided just as much to fundamental Islamic principles as someone with the Quran. I mean - why else is the Quran a Reminder? It's because much of it is what we can already understand I believe if we seek Allah's swt guidance sincerely even if we don't have a book or recitation.
With regards to Abraham - I definitely would say he was guided without the scripture at first - he used his own God given reasoning and he was always a monotheist as described in the Quran. I just want to add that later there was a scripture of Abraham as mentioned "the scrolls of Abraham and Moses." 8719. these may not have been similar in composition to the Quran but they were a type of scripture that Abraham would have received later in his life.
God bless you for your efforts