Conspiracy theories ? a Tool to search Truth or Devil's Pastime
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Peace Novice.
Worship/service to GOD is a complicated act as it involves certain deep emotions of extreme honor, regard, passion, adoration, trust, devotion, remembrance and reverence.
Should we not value GOD as He(no gender )should be valued?
Worship is often mentioned distinctively, as an addition to our religious practices and/or our acts of righteousness. The following verses make it clear
"I am God; there is no other god beside Me. You shall serve/worship Me alone, and observe the Salat to remember Me.O you who believe, you shall bow, prostrate, worship /serve.your Lord, and work righteousness, that you may succeed
They steadfastly persevere in seeking their Lord, observe the Salat, spend from our provisions to them secretly and publicly, and counter evil with good. These have deserved the best abode.
O you who believe, you shall reverence God and seek the ways and means to Him, and strive in His cause, that you may succeed.
The Lord of the heavens and the earth, and everything between them; you shall worship/serve Him and steadfastly persevere in worshiping Him. Do you know of anyone who equals Him?
Yet, some people set up idols to rival God, and love them as if they are God. Those who believe love God the most.....
There is no image being created. The Almighty is beyond images!!!!!
We thus understand that when we are in true love with God, we devote our life and death to Him and we become obsessed with regarding His commands, observing His rites and honoring His ethics.
We value His attributes. We become preoccupied with seeking His pleasure and approval.
We compete in serving Him. We remember Him out of passion, adoration and reverence.
We meditate and praise Him in awe of Him. We love what He loves and abhor what He abhors.
We appreciate His words and this is why we take them seriously.GOD bless you.
Peace. -
It is said that when you do ritual prayer feel as if you are standing in front of Allah...this indeed create an image out of Allah even though it is abstract and indeed there is nothing like Him.
Salamun alaikum.
The Jews believe that if you write ?God? it could lead to blasphemy because you?d be creating image of God. So they write ?G-d?. But does it really help not creating an image?
When we say, You are the One we are slave to, You are the one we seek help from? aren?t we already creating an abstract ?image/personification? of God by calling Him in 2nd Person singular? Many Budhdhists will object to that!
When we help the poor ?seeking the face of Allah?, are we creating an image of God?
The essence of not creating an image of God does not stop us from writing the word ?God? or to address God as ?You? or sensing the presence of God?s spirit in others or physically prostrating to God. Creating an image / symbol of God for reference is not a sin - it is part and parcel of all forms of communication by humans, RATHER, creating an image / symbol of God is sinful when the image becomes more important than our devotion and obedience to God, when the image / symbol becomes more sacred than righteousness itself.
Allah has created us in Body and Soul. When we are devoted to our Master we show our devotion with both body and soul ? not because we like to see the image of God, but because we offer both our body and soul to our Master.
If someone is confident that one can purify his soul without offering his body ? one is welcome to try that. If they can be righteous Our Master will not wrong them by a hair?s breadth. But inventing misleading ?theories? about Allah and vilifying the sincerity of God?s obedient servant would count as a clear sin.
449 Did you not see about those who purify their souls? No! Allah purifies whomever He wills and they will not be wronged (by) a hair?s breadth .
450 Watch how they invent the lie about Allah ? and it suffices as a clear sin.
(My personal translation, cross checking is recommended.)
May Allah guide us all to the straight route.
Regards,
Arman -
Peace Good Logic
Thanks for your detailed post. I am not challenging your understanding but explaining mine on some issues mentioned in your post.Worship/service to GOD is a complicated act as it involves certain deep emotions of extreme honor, regard, passion, adoration, trust, devotion, remembrance and reverence.
You have used worship/service together. For me these are two different things. One serves GOD by following his commands to do good and others worship HIM with rituals.
Should we not value GOD as He(no gender )should be valued?
How do we value GOD..By obeying his commands for doing good or by practicing rituals?
Worship is often mentioned distinctively, as an addition to our religious practices and/or our acts of righteousness. The following verses make it clear
"I am God; there is no other god beside Me. You shall serve/worship Me alone, and observe the Salat to remember Me.What is Salat? A perpetual discussion going on here and everywhere. If we can differentiate between worshipping and serving that's where what Man of Faith wrote makes sense.
O you who believe, you shall bow, prostrate, worship /serve. your Lord, and work righteousness, that you may succeed.
Again it is the meanings of Rakus and sajood that make individual understanding different. There are people who interpret them as obedience.
O you who believe, you shall reverence God and seek the ways and means to Him, and strive in His cause, that you may succeed.
Taqwa is reverence for you but for others it is watching Divine Commands.
Yet, some people set up idols to rival God, and love them as if they are God. Those who believe love God the most.....
Again for some loving GOD means obeying His commands.
There is no image being created. The Almighty is beyond images!!!!!
Just check with ordinary people and they will explain you what they imagine during their ritual prayers.
We thus understand that when we are in true love with God, we devote our life and death to Him and we become obsessed with regarding His commands, observing His rites and honoring His ethics.
We value His attributes. We become preoccupied with seeking His pleasure and approval.
We compete in serving Him. We remember Him out of passion, adoration and reverence.
We meditate and praise Him in awe of Him. We love what He loves and abhor what He abhors.
We appreciate His words and this is why we take them seriously.True but red part is different for everyone as per their understanding. What are GOD's rites? He commands us to give zaka to society as well as to our Nafs. Those who follow rites, are satisfied that they have done good but for others zaka is obtained through doing good to others.
So Goodlogic it depends what you get from Quran as guidance because guidance is not same for everyone. If you are satisfied that following rituals is the command then please do follow them and make yourself satisfied. For me message of Quran is to do good deeds to give zaka to society and our nafs, loving GOD means to follow His commands to do good sincerely, remembering GOD is to feel His presence around me and recalling and following His commands. That's of course my understanding and I would never ask others to follow me. I believe everyone is responsible for ones actions. We have discussions and study others work to know what others understand but we must use our GOD gifted faculties to evaluate and understand and then follow the best.
God bless you.
Peace. -
What is this opposition between serving nd worshipping? What is the original Arabic word which is being translated with those words.
Why should God want to be served? In what? He does not need absolutely anything from anybody or anything? He does have anything He wants. If God orders us anything it is not for Him but for us. We need, He does not. We cannot serve God, because He does not need anything. We do need.
Again, which word is being translated as those two things? That is the question.
Salaam
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Huruf, others,
Abd means neither worship nor serve but it means to be on merged condition with. To do works in the spirit assimilation with Allah is this misunderstood word.
Allah has obviously no need for neither of them that people ascribe worship and service to mean. The test is a spiritual check what we go for basically and not because Allah needs to be served as a separate entity.
Since Allah is not concrete and taking any real space anywhere, humans fill this empty void, if they get filled with spirit. Those others who do not are left out in what is usually referred to as Hell. So the purpose is to absorb the consciousness of Allah. This message is hard for people unable to comprehend such an abstract reasoning and why most people fail to not see the essence of why they are here.
Salaam
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Good logic,
It does not matter if you say or think you have no image when you do a ritual, particularly a prostration, because Allah has already become an image of worship abstractly.
Salaam
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Peace Novice.
Thank you for your reply.
I understand you and respect your choice . Of course you are entitled to do as you understand.
What I am saying is we are here to choose either GOD or "others"! If we choose GOD then we must believe His words ,all of it.
Serving/worshipping/whatever one wants to call it... is for our benefit . GOD does not need anyone or anything,that is clear.
We learn from Qoran that God's enemies are also enemies of His systems and His decreed laws and commands (472.
All true believers, including angels, reverence all of His systems and are always eager to please Him according to His issued will (1321, 2361, 3532). Therefore, they abhor all that He abhors, disown all that He disowns, and love all that He loves.
They utter all that conforms with His issued judgments and act upon His commands with no hesitance, compromise or a trace of hypocrisy.If we follow GOD, we follow His instructions and commands to "feed" our soul in readiness to meet Him. ( The weight will be heavy to withstand GOD s presence in the next life).
If we do not ,then we "starve" our soul and we run away from GOD when we meet Him( The weight will be light and we will not be able to withstand GOD s presence).
That is how I understand the service/worship from Qoran.
GOD bless you.
Peace. -
Peace Good logic.
I understand you and respect your choice . Of course you are entitled to do as you understand.
Thanks for your understanding GL. I respect your understanding as well.
I used to follow all rituals with utmost sincerity but I could never find out the purpose behind them. Why we have to do repeated action for certain numbers at different times? I went for umra and after one round around Kaaba I started asking myself what I am doing and what is the purpose of this ritual? I have seen many pagan rituals around me practised by people of different cultures and I was feeling I am also one of them. Though I completed umra but deep inside me I was very dissatisfied. I went for umra a second time after two years expecting that I might get the experience correctly but no same thing happened. I could not convince myself that God demands this from us.
Then I learned Quranic Arabic and started reflecting on Quran. That started changing my life. Presently I spend all possible time in studying Quran. I try my best to live by Quran and thanks to GOD I am very satisfied.
What I am saying is we are here to choose either GOD or "others"! If we choose GOD then we must believe His words ,all of it
Serving/worshipping/whatever one wants to call it... is for our benefit . GOD does not need anyone or anything,that is clear.Exactly that's what I realized that GOD does not need anything so why these rituals. Do these rituals give benefit to people. Please look at the Muslim world and see the benefits of these rituals. Remembering and loving GOD is watching his laws as per my current understanding.
We learn from Qoran that God's enemies are also enemies of His systems and His decreed laws and commands (472.
Here is the issue. What is His system? Is it the rituals or benefitting humanity and as a result giving zaka to our Nafs. Of course one is free to follow ritualistic system if it satisfies him/her.
That is how I understand the service/worship from Quran..
That's great that you find it satisfactory and its your choice. May GOD help us in choosing right path and help us in understanding His Book.
GOD bless you.
Peace -
Salaam Novice,
Quran and Allah/God does not advocate any ritual such as salateh or hold a building in the deserts of Arabia holy, so you are entirely right about your gut feeling concerning your faith.
You are told by Quran and God to keep affinity and do works in God's spirit. And also every prophet who channeled such knowledge and wisdom.
Salaam
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Peace Novice.
Thank you. I appreciate your exemplary manner in which you are carrying this discussion. Well done.
Please allow me to further explain my understanding of "salat" for example,using Qoran
? What does it mean...etc..
Also what does mean?
Within the context of Qoran as a whole, I have no doubt that "Aquimi Salat" means the contact prayer to connect with GOD and cement our relationship with Him as well as feeding our spiritual self..
Of course this is my opinion.
Thanks again.
GOD bless you.
Peace. -
Regard God by minding your ways is the right interpretation, though.
Mind your ways is open to better phrasing. I apologize for all the criticism that I open up for with a not yet perfect translation. But it anyway means to reflect upon how one leads one's own life.
Refer to Shu'ayb, they ask him what they if they have to stop doing some wicked things if they follow his ways.
Also 'to follow' is an accepted definition by dictionaries for . Not sure why people have such problems to justify my heavy work on this. I maybe should update the Nearness and Guidance thread with the latest in advancements concerning salateh.
Salaam
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It is the biggest scam of the millennia this ritual salateh based on an innocent word. It does not have to do with connection at all.
and have to do with connection and guidance.
Salaam
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Peace Man Of Faith.
Could you interpret these verses please,according to your understanding
96-9,10Thank you.
Peace. -
Salaam good logic,
Without further deep study it looks like preventing a man from following someone in faith.
Not sure if it was meant as targeted towards me, for I am not trying to prevent anyone but only enlighten people to get their priorities right. Being aware of how one leads his or her life is much more important than blind worship, for that awareness is a kind of worship on its own. God said to Moses that the Creator is with him as long as he minds his ways. It is the deeds that show worship and not mere words, if we use the dull worship word. It is affinity and belonging with God that we seek. Worship the Creator obviously does not need, for what ego does the Creator have? No ego, just like the Creator expects its mergers to have but instead unite in itself.
That does not say we cannot love the Creator however. We love the Creator if we do the deeds that show affinity and thus show belonging. I love the Creator and I love to be in the Creator.
Have faith
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Salaam Novice,
Quran and Allah/God does not advocate any ritual such as salateh or hold a building in the deserts of Arabia holy, so you are entirely right about your gut feeling concerning your faith.
You are told by Quran and God to keep affinity and do works in God's spirit. And also every prophet who channeled such knowledge and wisdom.
Salaam
Thanks Man of Faith for your reply.
I have come to this conclusion after studying Quran in its original language. handshake I pray to GOD that we all get understanding of His straight path.Salam and God bless you.
Novice -
Good, Novice. Good. It is good that someone can verify my same stance using traditional technique and word definitions instead of only my literal letter one and come to a similar conclusion.
You should bare in mind that the root of salateh has a possible traditional definition as to follow. In salateh it becomes reflexive due to the composition of the word and suffix. It merely means 'what you follow', i.e. your path taking. It is not more complicated than that. No religious ritual.
The first three letters of the salateh word mean "follow to be" literally and the giving substance characteristics and just implying that it is thereby (on the person the aquyum assalateh is addressed towards in the context, often the reader). is actually a letter which is a compound of and because instead of entity (which is default for then it implies on characteristic ت. In other words it becomes reflexive on the person in the context about their way of being.
It does not mean connection etc.
Salaam
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Peace Novice.
Thank you. I appreciate your exemplary manner in which you are carrying this discussion. Well done.
Salaam good logic
I am glad that you like this way of discussion. In fact I don't like to discuss with those who think they are right and others are wrong. For me Quran is a living book that interacts with the reader to provide God's guidance as per reader's intentions.
Before responding to the verses you quoted please allow me to present few verses for your reflection.
2455
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Allah has promised people who have faith in the truthfulness of the Divine Laws and who do the righteous deeds, that He will establish their authority on this earth..........556
And those who make Allah and His messenger their wali are Allah's party and will be victorious.
3139
......you are bound to prevail if you
are truly believers.These verses are promising us rule in this world if we are true believers. Now rituals are performed day and night but has Allah's promise fulfilled? Could you please reflect and then conclude why Allah's promise is not fulfilled? Why Muslim are not successful in this world despite of practicing rituals 24/7?
Muslim clergy has written books over books explaining the attributes of true believers emphasizing rituals but unfortunately they could not bring success promised by Allah in Quran.GOD bless you.
Salaam. -
Good, Novice. Good. It is good that someone can verify my same stance using traditional technique and word definitions instead of only my literal letter one and come to a similar conclusion.
You should bare in mind that the root of salateh has a possible traditional definition as to follow. In salateh it becomes reflexive due to the composition of the word and suffix. It merely means 'what you follow', i.e. your path taking. It is not more complicated than that. No religious ritual.
The first three letters of the salateh word mean "follow to be" literally and the giving substance characteristics and just implying that it is thereby (on the person the aquyum assalateh is addressed towards in the context, often the reader). is actually a letter which is a compound of and because instead of entity (which is default for then it implies on characteristic ت. In other words it becomes reflexive on the person in the context about their way of being.
It does not mean connection etc.
Salaam
Salaam Man of Faith
You are correct that salat means to follow closely. In Quran this term is used in different contexts and we are commanded to follow what is mentioned before this term (salat). You will not find any details of ritual prayer in Quran but you will find details of straight path e.g. 6151-153. All the commands refer to our relation with fellow beings. The rituals might have been introduced with sincerity or as a conspiracy but one thing for sure they do not bring success to their followers.
God bless you
Salaam. -
Peace Novice, Man of Faith
So what is the purpose of the mosque, we know the mosque is the place for information,
learning, and legal assistence. Are you saying there should be no ritual salat
conducted in the mosque? What is the purpose of ablution? Is it to follow closely?Sad-Lam-Waw = prayer, supplication, petition, oration, eulogy, benediction, commendation,
blessing, honour, magnify, bring forth, follow closely, walk/follow behind closely, to remain
attached. In a horse race when the second horse follows the first one so closely that its head
always overlaps the first horse?s body that horse is called AL-MUSSALLI (i.e. the one who
follows closely / remains attached).Central portion of the back, portion from where the tail
of an animal comes out, the rump.Have you chosen your definition to suit your personal point of view i.e., "I don't like making salat"?
God bless you both
peace
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Peace Man Of Faith.
I wanted to know your view . Nothing I say to you is directed at you nor do I want to be personal.
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Now The reason I asked about those verses is because GOD gives us a clue towards the end of that chapter
9619The clue is in "Fasjud waktarib" i.e whoever does 969-10 do not obey him/her but" prostrate and come near" my own understanding.
( I understand it to connect ,come near your Creator
Of course this is my view.
GOD bless you.
Peace.