Nearness and Guidance -> Knowledge and Wisdom = Peace and Prosperity
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Harmony with you brother Zulf,
It makes me glad that it helped you. Praised be God.
God bless you
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Harmony be with you,
Are you harmonized (aslam) or progressing while being harmonizer (muslem)?
Some people tend to say that "Muslims" are automatically within "Islam" once they "convert" into this "religion", but I would argue that the 'm' in "muslim" indicates that one is working towards the goal of becoming harmonized (aslam lillah) and it not until one has gained faith, which means confidence and not belief in my world, they can be called to be (fully) harmonized ("aslam lillah". And you do not have faith when you still have doubt about God and your faith is thus weak.
I found a passage about the heifer that the tribes of Israel were supposed to sacrifice with an example of a word (ٌ stemming from the root S - L - M. Please read the passage and ponder, particularly if you know Arabic or otherwise check http//corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=2&verse=71 (the word-by-word is better to look at than Monotheist translation).
271 He said ?He says it is a heifer which was never subjugated trained to plough the land, or water the crops, harmonized, free from any blemish? They said ?Now you have come with the truth.? And they slaughtered it, though they had nearly not done so.
Red Monotheist translation somehow even skipped inserting any translation of the word (musallamatun) for some reason. Or they misunderstood that the word means submitted so they thought blue was rightfully inserted there.
Green Monotheist translation somehow lacks this word (dhalulun).Can you not now see that the word does not connote on submission at all?
Check common translations of the word commonly referred to as 'face' (ُ then take a look at these verses.2112 No; whoever submits harmonizes face (+ missing uncertain idiomatic phrase) himself to God, while doing good, he will have his recompense with his Lord. There will be no fear over them, nor will they grieve.
2115 And to God belong the east and the west, so wherever you turn, there is the "face" (?) of God. God is Encompassing, Knowledgeable.
What the heck? Would you ascribe a face to God? Of course it is idiomatic both in this verse and the other one 2112. It can thus not indicate any face down in prostration in 2112 either as some traditionalists may advocate. The question of course is what idiomatic phrase is supposed to be formed from aslam wajhahu lillahi.
Let us investigate about the word's allegorical/idiomatic meaning
2144 We see the shifting of your face mind towards the sky (?); We will thus set for you a focal point that will be pleasing to you ?You shall set yourself towards the Restricted Temple (?); and wherever you may be, you shall all set yourselves towards it.? Those who have been given the decree know it is the truth from their Lord. And God is not unaware of what you do.
After thinking about the previous verses and this one I get to this theory that it implies a certain confusion in your mind. Harmonize (your) mind to God in 2112. And as most people who have abandoned their sectarian ways and start to wonder about the near-"magical" word 'qiblah' they see that it does not indicate any direction at all making the first phrase in 2144 to seem of bad literal quality. "Restricted Temple"may or may not be a location, but it is more like coming to the prophet's teachings most likely. It has been a hard nut to crack this annoying "Restricted Temple", but it is beginning to come clear to me. The solution is to look at the surrounding context and not stare yourself and myself blind at the "Restricted Temple".
But after some thinking I am not content with the idiomatic translation in 2144 that I theorized about. does inevitably literally mean sky whereas mind in conjunction with sky would clearly seem inappropriate.
It is important to know that "Qiblah" can semantically never mean "prayer direction" as traditionally implied. The root q - b - l suggests that something in before something else.
Let us continue the investigation.
2148 And to each is a direction that he will take, so you shall race towards good deeds. Wherever you may be, God will bring you all together. God is capable of all things.
Wait a second; here we have run into a logical problem again. The mind in the previous part of the discussion suddenly becomes viable again. To each is a state of mind of his, so race towards good deeds. To me it looks like we all have ours ways of serving God.
It also questions the whole interpretation with the "qiblah" thing and the "faces" in the discussion. Could be that you look at the sky and with a confused mind in 2112 and not literally looking for any direction to "face" because there is a problem with the faces indeed.
Listen to the traditional weirdness of the translations of "al-masjed al-haraam".
2149 And from wherever you go out, you shall set yourself towards the "Restricted Temple" (wth?); it is the truth from your Master; and God is not unaware of what you do.
Verily it is the mind on the teachings of God that it the truth from your Master and not some building in the middle of the desert in Arabia. Suddenly after racing towards good deeds by making the individual choices in serving The Master then suddenly in the next passage it tells you to wherever you go out set yourself towards "al-masjed al-haraam". We need to go back to the previous part of the discussion of my previous posts on the topic of s - j -d and see on masjed with new light. First of all I would say that al-haraam refers to the restrictions that God has imposed, i.e. the decree and judgment to use as guidelines for living and masjed as showing of respect to the restrictions. So without any deeper check of the preceding words to al-masjed al-haram I would say that the passage says "Whatever you do, keep your mind (yes is in the sentence) at the respect of the restrictions; God is not unaware of what you do".
Green Please pay careful attention to the following phrase after the first one. God seems to strictly warn of not doing this.
So now let me try with my own rendition of the passage.
2149 And from wherever you go, keep your mind at the respect of the restrictions; it is the truth from your Lord; and God is not unaware of what you do.
2150 And wherever you head out, you shall respect the restrictions. And wherever you may be you shall keep your minds at it; that the people will have no room for debate with you, except those of them who are wicked. You shall not be concerned by them, but be concerned by Me; so that I may complete My blessings upon you and that you may be guided.
You see that there is no restricted masjed or sacred masjed as per traditional understanding. Their claim is literally nullified. The traditional use of masjed + haraam in conjunction shines of contradiction to begin with.
I was so confused about this and annoyed the other day but suddenly it all came clear to me and I am so overwhelmed I am nearly crying of breaking the myth of Mecca's kabah and all the idolatrous practices there.
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I found a passage about the heifer that the tribes of Israel were supposed to sacrifice with an example of a word () stemming from the root S - L - M. Please read the passage and ponder, particularly if you know Arabic or otherwise check http//corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=2&verse=71 (the word-by-word is better to look at than Monotheist translation).
Bold Agree.
Peace.
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Harmony be with you,
I accidentally posted before I was done with the post. I suppose I have to correct all the instances with the words I propagated about in the previous post.
Al-masjed al-haraam - a mythical building
2190 And fight in the cause of God against those who fight you, but do not aggress, God does not love the aggressors.
2191 And kill them wherever you encounter them, and expel them from where they expelled you, and know that persecution is worse than being killed. And do not fight them about the respect of the restrictions unless they fight you about it; if they fight you then kill them, thus is the recompense of the opponents.
2192 And if they cease, then God is Forgiving, Merciful.
2193 And fight them so there is no more persecution, and so that the system is for God. If they cease, then there will be no aggression except against the wicked.
Now we come to another hot topic about restricted month whereas month has been questions about for quite a long time. I need not delve further into that meaning at this time.
2194 The restricted month (?) may be met within the restricted month (?), and what is unlawful may be met with retaliation. Whoever attacks you, then you shall attack him the same as he attacked you; and be aware of God, and know that God is with the righteous.
2196 And conclude the Pilgrimage and the visit for God (?). But, if you are prevented, then provide what offering is affordable; and do not shave your heads until the offering reaches its destination. Whoever of you is ill or has an ailment to his head, then he may redeem by fasting or giving a charity or a rite. But if you are secure faithful (ْ, then whoever makes the visit, but decides to continue until the Pilgrimage, then he shall provide what offering is affordable; but for he who cannot find anything, then he must fast for three days during the Pilgrimage and seven when he returns; this will make a complete ten - this is for those whose family is not familiar with the respect of the restrictions. And be aware of God, and know that God is severe in retribution.
You have to pay careful attention to the very last phrase in the long passage which talks about severe retribution. You see that the whole interpretation of the passage is completely off the charts. I will not work on a correct rendition of this passage right now, but I have shown the right rendition of the short phrase with al-masjed al-haraam.
2197 The "Pilgrimage" months are made known. So whoever decides to perform the "Pilgrimage" therein, then there shall be no sexual approach, nor wickedness, nor baseless argument in the Pilgrimage and any good that you do, God is aware of it; and bring provisions for yourselves, though the best provision is righteousness; and be aware of Me O you who possess intelligence.
2198 There is no sin upon you to seek goodness from your Lord, so when you disperse from the "elevated place", then remember symbol which is restricted the perceived restrictions with God, and remember Him as He has guided you; for you were straying before that.
2199 Then you shall disperse from where the people dispersed, and seek the forgiveness of God; God is surely Forgiving, Merciful.
2200 When you have completed your rites, then remember God as you remember your fathers or even greater. From among the people is he who says ?Our Master, give us from this world!? But in the Hereafter he has no part.It seems as if this "rite" is a kind of running off to an isolated place to reflect upon God, much like has been done like the people do in the Bible hearsay. I said I was not going to reflect upon the content of these passages, but I could as well put things right about the topic of hajj as well because now with clarification it does no longer have any target location to go to.
Green Pay careful attention to this phrase within the practices of "hajj" because it seems it is a time of devotion to God when you do something like Jesus does when leaving everything behind and goes out helping people.
Red Pay even more attention to this as it is very much like a time of ultimate devotion into helping others and you bring your own food and rations.2217 They ask you about the restricted month ?Is there fighting in it?? Say ?Much fighting is in it (those who) repel from the path of God and to oppose it, and the respect of the restrictions, to drive its inhabitants adherents from it is far greater with God, and persecution is worse than being killed.? And they still will fight you until they turn you back from your system if they are able. And whoever of you turns back from his system, and he dies while opposing, then these have nullified their works in this world and the next; these are the people of the Fire, in it they will abide!
Ahh! This translation and interpretation is a mess, but I made the best that I could as fast as possible. Inhabitants is completely off the chart as they use "ahl" for that which means someone who adheres/follows something.
52 O you who have faith, do not forsake the mindfulness of God, nor the restricted month, nor the donations, nor what is regulated, nor the faithfulness of the prohibited families; for they are seeking a bounty from their Lord and a blessing. And when it is permitted for you, then you may hunt. And let not the hatred of another people; because they had stopped you from the respect of the restrictions; make you aggress. And help each other in piety and righteousness, and do not help each other in sin and aggression. And be aware of God, for the retribution of God is severe.
Purple The word used here connotes on perception and what word is better used than mindfulness in the context.
Red Those families unable to perform the rites due to some reason like poverty.834 And why should God not punish them when they are turning others away from the respect of the restrictions, and they were never its protectors! Its protectors are the righteous; but most of them do not know.
835 And their contact prayer at the family was nothing but noise and aversion. Taste the retribution for what you have opposed.97 How can the associators have a pledge with God and with His messenger? Except for those with whom you made a pledge of respect of the restrictions, as long as they are upright with you, then you are upright with them. God loves the righteous.
919 Have you made the watering of the pilgrim (?) and the keeping of the respect of restrictions the same as one who has faith in God and the Last Day and he strives in the cause of God? They are not the same with God. And God does not guide the wicked people.
928 O you who have faith, the associators are impure, so let them not approach the respect of the restrictions after this year of theirs; and if you fear poverty, then God will enrich you from His blessings if He wills. God is Knowledgeable, Wise.
Red Obviously the associators want to prevent through sanctions the respect to the restrictions. Translation may be lackluster.
929 Fight those who do not have faith in God or the Last Day, nor do they restrict what God and His messenger have restricted, nor do they uphold the system of truth; from among the people who have been given the decree; until they pay the reparation, willingly or unwillingly, and they are subdued.
You see that this phrase belongs with the other one about restriction.
930 The Jews said ?Ezra is the son of God,? and the Nazarenes said ?The Messiah is the son of God.? Such is their utterances with their mouths, they imitate the sayings of those who opposed before them. God will fight them. They are deluded from the truth!
171 Glory be to the One who took His servant by night from the respect of the restrictions to the most distant (?) respect which We had blessed around, so that We may show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the Hearer, the Seer.
Obviously this is not an error in my arguments but the translation needs to be straightened up. The problem is how you understand al-masjedi al-aqsa.
2225 Surely, those who have opposed and repel from the path of God, and from the respect of restrictions that We have made for the people ? for the one devoted with it and the one who new to it ? and whoever inclines to evil action with it, We will let them taste a painful retribution.
Sorry. No time to write any more at this time. Hope it helps you.
God bless you
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Peace,
The ones in respect of the restricted
Let me continue because I found another passage with the "Restricted Temple" later on.
4826 Those who opposed had put in their hearts the rage of the days of ignorance. Then, God sent down tranquility upon His messenger and those with faith, and directed them to uphold the word of righteousness, and they were well entitled to it and worthy of it. And God is fully aware of all things.
4827 God has affirmed, that the vision of His messenger will come true ?You will approach the ones in respect of the restricted, God willing, faithful, with your heads shaven, and shortened - no longer in fear.? Thus, He knew what you did not know, and He has appointed before this a conquest near at hand.
4828 He is the One who sent His messenger with the guidance and the system of truth, so that it would expose all other systems. And God is enough as a witness.
4829 Mohammed is the a messenger of God, and those who are with him are severe against the opponents, but merciful between themselves. You see them kneeling (?) and respectfully seeking the blessings and approval of God. Their distinction is in their faces minds, as a result of respect. Such is their example in the instruction and their example in the enlightenment is like a plant which shoots out and becomes strong and thick and it stands straight on its trunk, pleasing to the farmers. That He may enrage the opponents with them. God promises those among them who have faith and do good works a forgiveness and a great reward.Green It was the vision of the messenger.
Red Finally I have realized to make a proper translation I need to also take the 'm' in masjed into account, i.e. one who respect, just as 'm' in mumin one who has faith (iman).
Blue I cannot ignore the fact that the word is in singular. Here you got the right form which does not change anything but will make the picky content.
Purple Just because of this word I finally figured out another falsehood in the interpretation of the recitation. As we already know kneel would require a more sophisticated combination of words in Arabic. Words with a root like this with only two syllables indicate only carry a simple meaning, expression or motion. In this case it is humble(!)
Ruku - Bow down or be humble?
Let us give new light to many passages containing ruku and see that it does not have the advanced meaning of kneel but the mental image of humbleness. And you can see that the passages make a whole lot more sense given new light. And you have virtually nullified the physical connotations in the traditional understanding completely. They were probably connoted because those who interpreted the scripture wanted to validate their traditions. Let me begin with the passage we were already at in the previous section.
4829 Mohammed is the a messenger of God, and those who are with him are severe against the opponents, but merciful between themselves. You see them humble and respectful seeking the blessings and approval of God. Their distinction is in their faces minds, as a result of respect, which is their example in the instruction and their example in the enlightenment is like a plant which shoots out and becomes strong and thick and it stands straight on its trunk, pleasing to the farmers that He may enrage the opponents with them. God promises those among them who have faith and do good works a forgiveness and a great reward.
Okay. Let us go to the beginning of the recitation.
243 And hold the communion, and contribute towards purification, and be humble with those who are humble.
2124 And Abraham was tested by words from His Lord, which he fulfilled. He said ?I will make you a "leader" for the people.? He said ?And also from my progeny?? He said ?My pledge will not encompass the wicked.?
2125 And We have made the Sanctuary family to be a model for the people and faith and you take from the station the example of Abraham how to make the unison (contact). And We entrusted to Abraham and Ishmael ?You shall be a pure Sanctuary family for those who visit are new, and those who are devoted and the kneeling, the prostrating. respectfully humble?Above translation is far from perfect and accurate, but if gives you the image of what the passage want to say with new light. As you see it is Abraham and his family that is supposed to be the example for people and not some cubic house. It is due to this devotion and responsibility-taking that we are supposed to follow this example.
2126 And Abraham said ?My Master, make this a faithful land, and provide for its inhabitants of the fruits for whoever has faith in God and the Last Day.? He said ?As for he who oppose, I will let him enjoy for a while (too), then I will force him to the retribution of the Fire. What a miserable destiny!?
You see that Abraham prayed for the righteous people who have faith and God returns with that The Master will provide for the rebellious people too.
2127 And as Abraham raised from the family its foundations (of the faith we adhere to), along with Ishmael ?Our Master accept this from us, You are the Hearer, the Knowledgeable.?
2128 ?Our Master, and let us harmonize to You and from our progeny a nation harmonized to You, and show us our rites, and forgive us; You are the Forgiver, the Merciful.?
2129 ?Our Lord, and send among them a messenger from among themselves, that he may recite to them Your revelations and teach them the decree and the judgment, and purify them. You are the Noble, the Wise.?Red It is likely not referring to any messenger in particular but to all the messengers that have arrived at a relatively regular basis although from the last one it has been a while.
I need to stop writing at the moment, but I will continue on the topic of ruku and sajda.
God bless you
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Harmony be with you,
Ruku - Myth busted
343 ?O Mary, be dutiful to your Master and be respectful and be humble with those who are humble.?
555 For your supporter are God and His messenger and those who have faith; they hold the communion and contribute towards purification, and they are humble.
9112 They are the repenters, the worshipers, the thankful, the devout, the humble, the respectful, the advocates of good and the prohibiters of vice, and the caretakers of the boundaries of God; and give good news to the ones with faith.
2226 And We have appointed to Abraham the example for the family ?Do not set up anyone with Me, and purify My family for those who are new, and those who are committed, and the respectfully humble.?
2227 And call out to the people with the "Pilgrimage", they will come to you walking and on every transport, they will come from every deep enclosure.
2228 So that they may witness benefits for themselves, and mention the name of God in the appointed days over what He has provided for them of the animal livestock. So eat from it and feed the needy and the poor.
2229 Then let them complete their duties and fulfill their vows, and let them travel to the distant family. (ie. home)
2230 Thus, and whoever honors the restrictions of God, then it is better for him with His Lord. And the livestock has been made lawful for you; except what is being recited to you; so avoid the taint of idols and avoid saying false statements.2232 Thus, and whoever honors the mindfulness of God, then it is from the piety of the hearts.
2233 (and) In them are benefits to an appointed time, then their place of service is to the their distant family.
2234 And for every community We have established rites that they may mention the name of God over what He has provided for them of the animal livestock. Your god is One god; harmonize to Him and give good tidings to those who obey.2277 O you who have faith, be humble and respectful and serve your Lord and do good that you may succeed.
3824 He said ?He has wronged you by asking to combine your lamb with his lambs. And many who mix their properties take advantage of one another, except those who have faith and do good works, and these are very few.? And David guessed that We had tested him, so he sought forgiveness from his Master, and fell down in humbleness, and repented.
7748 And when they are told to be humble, they are not humble.
Do you think that Muhammad was dogmatic and zealous enough to tell those who opposed him "Kneel down!"?
To me this myth is busted and so is the one about respectfulness. How about you? And I also think that "Hajj" is taking a different form when the truth comes forth. It seems like a time when you devote yourself to good deeds and reflection on God and not brainlessly move around a black cubic building in the middle of the desert.
God bless you
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Harmony be with you,
And I have broken the myth about the mysterious "salat". And you will be quite surprised of what I am going to have to say. And likely a lot of people will never have faith in what I am going to say.
But this is indeed the truth from The Master. I was shocked over the truth myself that people could be so deceived by the interpretation of the Arabic language.
When I have recovered from my shock I will try to reveal to you what it is that I really discovered, but I can say it utterly nullifies the delusion that it means anything like "contact prayer". Not even remotely it means "contact prayer".
God bless you
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Harmony be with you,
And I have broken the myth about the mysterious "salat". And you will be quite surprised of what I am going to have to say. And likely a lot of people will never have faith in what I am going to say.
But this is indeed the truth from The Master. I was shocked over the truth myself that people could be so deceived by the interpretation of the Arabic language.
When I have recovered from my shock I will try to reveal to you what it is that I really discovered, but I can say it utterly nullifies the delusion that it means anything like "contact prayer". Not even remotely it means "contact prayer".
God bless you
Salaam,
I am interested to know about what Allah teaches you about Salaat.
May Allah bless you pr
mmKhan -
Harmony be with you,
I will return with my discoveries when I have enough arguments to be able to stand by them. I need to cover every loophole that can make people get an advantage first. And it has been a tedious work deciphering this abused text and without misrepresenting what it really says.
God bless you
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Harmony be with you,
And I have broken the myth about the mysterious "salat". And you will be quite surprised of what I am going to have to say. And likely a lot of people will never have faith in what I am going to say.
But this is indeed the truth from The Master. I was shocked over the truth myself that people could be so deceived by the interpretation of the Arabic language.
When I have recovered from my shock I will try to reveal to you what it is that I really discovered, but I can say it utterly nullifies the delusion that it means anything like "contact prayer". Not even remotely it means "contact prayer".
God bless you
I'm all ears bro.
And I doubt I'll be shocked. Especially if it makes sense. In that case it would just feel good, no matter how different it is from the common interpretations. I usually say that the closer you go to religion, the farther away from God you get. Bring it on!
The only thing I keep being amazed at is to what lengths people are willing to let them selves be deceived, having no interest in searching for something truer than what currently held as belief. Sad, and amazing.
Wish you all the best, and the Creator's wonderful blessings in your search for truth.
sun -
When I have recovered from my shock
http//4.bp.blogspot.com/-5BFO3PDratE/Tv9GFxyXbXI/AAAAAAAAAj8/xjYxSRsI3IU/s400/kiki%2Bemoticon.png
I will try to reveal to you what it is that I really discovered, but I can say it utterly nullifies the delusion that it means anything like "contact prayer". Not even remotely it means "contact prayer".
I still like to perform contact prayer, even if it turns out that contact prayer doesn't have any relation with the order to uphold Salat.
However, I hope what you're going to reveal in this forum (regarding Salat) is true, brother.
I'm ready to listen to your explanations in this regard, inshaAllah.
Peace.
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Peace,
I am a bit fascinated that this is such an important topic to people, but well it is to me too.
It takes a bit of time because when begun to wrestle with it it happens that I started a chain reaction which revealed a ton of more errors on the same level as this one. And to make my corrections fit in I have to change a lot of the other errors too or mine will contradict a lot. And that does not mean I changed anything from what the author, ie God, wanted to convey but rather "turn things right".
The interesting thing is that "islam" looks a whole lot more like "Christianity" with the corrections which should not really surprise anyone considered the origin of the practices. I am actually glad that it turned out that way because I never liked that compulsory islam with exactly timed rituals and such which is just a pagan/associator influence. Without the trinity and Jesus-obsession it is a fine "religion" but it in fact is not any different just the difference is in the amount of falsehood entering the various groups.
And if I solve this last part and it is convincing, damn how many death threats I will get from the sects! rotfl
But after I have done all these changes people can choose themselves what to do with it and I have done my part.
And I thought I was done when coming unto the 'Peace and Prosperity' part of this thread, but interestingly this noob is about to explain this soup.
God bless you
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And if I solve this last part and it is convincing, damn how many death threats I will get from the sects! rotfl
Bold It is not to be laughed at... elektro
You indeed have to be careful... http//3.bp.blogspot.com/-wn2wPLAukW8/U1vy7Ol5aEI/AAAAAAAAGq0/f7C6-otIDY0/s1600/squinting-emoticon.png
Peace.
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Peace,
Do not worry, sister. I die if God allows it and if God wants to protect me then The Master will do so. No reason to be afraid.
They will likely not do anything unless I become a threat anyway.
God bless you
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Peace,
I am a bit fascinated that this is such an important topic to people, but well it is to me too.
It takes a bit of time because when begun to wrestle with it it happens that I started a chain reaction which revealed a ton of more errors on the same level as this one. And to make my corrections fit in I have to change a lot of the other errors too or mine will contradict a lot. And that does not mean I changed anything from what the author, ie God, wanted to convey but rather "turn things right".
The interesting thing is that "islam" looks a whole lot more like "Christianity" with the corrections which should not really surprise anyone considered the origin of the practices. I am actually glad that it turned out that way because I never liked that compulsory islam with exactly timed rituals and such which is just a pagan/associator influence. Without the trinity and Jesus-obsession it is a fine "religion" but it in fact is not any different just the difference is in the amount of falsehood entering the various groups.
And if I solve this last part and it is convincing, damn how many death threats I will get from the sects! rotfl
But after I have done all these changes people can choose themselves what to do with it and I have done my part.
And I thought I was done when coming unto the 'Peace and Prosperity' part of this thread, but interestingly this noob is about to explain this soup.
God bless you
Salaam,
What a anti-climax >(
I was ready to get a big shock >(Now you have put yourself in a difficult situation yes
Salaam
Bender -
I am following this discussion laugh eat
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Peace,
Have patience, dear Bender. You may have your shock if you manage to understand what I am going to reveal. You probably know that if one word is erroneously interpreted it affects more or less all instances within the recitation. And I cannot jump unto an interpretation without verifying it carefully first.
God bless you
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Salamun Alaikum.
Below is the meaning of the English term "salute" from Merrium Webster Dictionary
sa-lute verb \s-l?t\
to give a sign of respect to (a military officer, flag, etc.) by moving your right hand to your forehead to give a salute to (someone or something)
to show respect for (someone or something) / to publicly praise (someone or something)
Note that the term has 2 distinct meanings and each meaning becomes obvious in a given context. Example
- The soldiers saluted the General when he entered the room.
- I salute brother MoF for his excellent effort on this post.
While it is obvious in the first sentence the term "salute" has a more literal meaning (i.e. showing respect by moving your right hand to your forehead), in the second sentence the more subtle meaning (publicly praise) is appropriate. In the given context reader should be able to discern the appropriate meaning. Let me put it this way as if the word has a body and a soul - while the body is the first literal meaning, the soul of the word is really the second subtle meaning. It is interesting to note that in some context only the soul would suffice and in other context both the body and the soul need to come together - but it is never the body alone. I mean just raising the hand to forehead without any intension of showing respect would never be a true "salute" - at least not in the proper essence of the word.
The reason of getting into the details of this word is it is similar to Arabic terms "Ruku" and "Sujud" discussed here. All these words have both literal meanings (body) as well as subtle meanings (soul). What brother MoF has shown here that the souls of the words suffice for understanding of all the relevant verses. Of course they do - and brother MoF has all my "salute" for his effort in showing this. The essence of the word is realy in the meanings that brother MoF has proposed and often in an mechanical translation these meanings are lost. However, let's not make the mistake of ruling out the literal meaning or the body of the word altogether (i.e. ruku = bow down, and sujud = prostrate) . In relevant verses the terms do convey both the meanings - otherwise our Master would not choose these specific words.
Some of us find it difficult to understand the mechanical body movements associated with the salaat ritual. Allow me share with you an excerpt from the book "Road to Mecca" by Muhammad Asad. The book discusses the author's journey from Judaism to Islam. In the quoted passage the author is discussing the "physical salat ritual" with an old man (hajji).
It somehow disturbed me to see so real a prayer combined with almost mechanical body movements, and one day I asked the hajji, who understood a little English
'Do you really believe that God expects you to show Him your respect by repeated bowing and kneeling and prostration? Might it not be better only to look into oneself and to pray to Him in the stillness of one's heart? Why all these movements of your body?'As soon as I had uttered these words I felt remorse, for I had not intended to injure the old man's religious feelings. But the hajji did not appear in the least offended. He smiled with his toothless mouth and replied
'How else then should we worship God? Did He not create both, soul and body, together? And this being so, should man not pray with his body as well as with his soul? Listen, I will tell you why we Muslims pray as we pray. We turn toward the Kaaba, God's holy temple in Mecca, knowing that the faces of all Muslims, wherever they may be, they turned to it in prayer, and that we are like one body, with Him as the centre of our thoughts. First we stand upright and recite from the Holy Koran, remembering that it is His Word. given to man that he may be upright and steadfast in life. Then we say, "God is the Greatest," reminding ourselves that no one deserves to be worshipped but Him; and bow down deep because we honour Him above all, and praise His power and glory. Thereafter we prostrate ourselves on our foreheads because we feel that we are but dust and nothingness before Him, and that He is our Creator and Sustainer on high. Then we lift our faces from the ground and remain sitting, praying that He forgive us our sins and bestow His grace upon us, and guide us aright. and give us health and sustenance. Then we again prostrate ourselves on the ground and touch the dust with our foreheads before the might and the glory of the One. After that, We remain sitting and pray that He bIess the Prophet Muhammad who brought His message to us, just as He blessed the earlier Prophets; and that He bless us as well, and all those who follow the right guidance; and we ask Him to give us of the good of this world and of the good of the world to come. In the end we turn our heads to the right and to the left, saying, "Peace and the grace of God be upon you" -and thus greet all who are righteous, wherever they may be.'It was thus that our Prophet used to pray and taught his followers to pray for all times, so that they might willingly surrender themselves to God -which is what Islam means -and so be at peace with Him and with their own destiny.'
The old man did not, of course, use exactly these words, but this was their meaning, and this is how I remember them. Years later I realized that with his simple explanation the hajji had opened to me the first door to Islam; but even then, long before any thought that Islam might become my own faith entered my mind, I began to feel an unwonted humility whenever I saw, as I often did, a man standing barefoot on his prayer rug, or on a straw mat, or on the bare earth, with his arms folded over his chest and his head lowered, entirely submerged within himself, oblivious of what was going on around him, whether it was in a mosque or on the sidewalk of a busy street a man at peace with himself.
May all guide us all to the straight route.
Best regards,
Arman