Some thoughts/questions...

[savage_carrot]

Salam all,

While reading 'the arab conspiracy' (quite an interesting article, ... has some very valid points) few things came to mind...some questions and general opinions about stuff...so please bear with me and read on...I hope everyone who's maybe gone through this, or has something to share (opinions/comments) would do so...tia...

Okay, reading the start, preface and all...led me to think...that over the course of history, people have corrupted God's deen time and time again by embellishing and trying to create a cultish/elitist type thing where only those that follow a certain 'set' of rituals/way can achieve salvation...always creating some kind of intercession between man and God. This leads them to try and consolidate power in some body of sorts that will then be the 'way' through to saving man's collective souls...if you don't go through this body, you are damned so to say..(catholicism, judaic belief in having to be born a jew ,being God's chosen race etc and now the certain set of rituals/beliefs that you have to have/do/profess to attain salvation basically in modern day 'islam' that have virtually nothing to do with the Quran). Those who ignore history are bound to repeat it and all that, i do believe thogh that everything in the Quran is universal and has to apply to everyone regardless of where they are..with that in mind...going through the salat section certain things..

First I was thinking that maybe commitments fits somewhere and learning connection fits elsewhere but see, we can't take it to mean two different things..consistency is the key...so it all fell into place and commitments does seem to fit everywhere..it does require a shift in thinking and then your perception picks up things that you couldn't otherwise see...and this way starting from the time of fajr when you read the Quran through the whole day...you have to keep that fear/thought of God and those guidelines in mind, then all day and night everything you do will be in line with keeping your end of the commitments/obligations which is what the link would be...this link of your daily life with God, complete with no demarcation...it seems very easy to just do the ritual prayers and there, thats it..you are done with your obligations but keeping it going throughout takes strength...
I would, though, like to read any thoughts on how we can shorten our commitments while travelling...

We also studied a little bit of the 'Baytul' thing...and i do have more questions but they will have to wait until i'm through studying it..but one thing seems to be there...Why did the prophet retake Mecca...as it was the nexus of Quraysh's power (which was the top dog around at the time, over every other tribe)... the capital of sorts, so to say, it makes complete strategic sense to take it...not because there was a house of God there (this house could well be a pagan shrine)...and as its documented in various sources hadith and all that he destroyed the idols etc (bear with me as i'm theorising a bit here)...He would not have asked anyone to do anything there right?? Then when did this thing come about?!?! When was it rebuilt/built?? There should be records of this as it's a very big thing to happen in God's deen and everyone following God's system/deen prevalent at time i.e. Quran only(supposedly without this house), would be concerned...As it's mentioned in the Quran,

002.282
YUSUFALI O ye who believe! When ye deal with each other, in transactions involving future obligations in a fixed period of time, reduce them to writing Let a scribe write down faithfully as between the parties let not the scribe refuse to write as Allah Has taught him, so let him write. Let him who incurs the liability dictate, but let him fear His Lord Allah, and not diminish aught of what he owes. If they party liable is mentally deficient, or weak, or unable Himself to dictate, Let his guardian dictate faithfully, and get two witnesses, out of your own men, and if there are not two men, then a man and two women, such as ye choose, for witnesses, so that if one of them errs, the other can remind her. The witnesses should not refuse when they are called on (For evidence). Disdain not to reduce to writing (your contract) for a future period, whether it be small or big it is juster in the sight of Allah, More suitable as evidence, and more convenient to prevent doubts among yourselves but if it be a transaction which ye carry out on the spot among yourselves, there is no blame on you if ye reduce it not to writing. But take witness whenever ye make a commercial contract; and let neither scribe nor witness suffer harm. If ye do (such harm), it would be wickedness in you. So fear Allah; For it is Good that teaches you. And Allah is well acquainted with all things. If ye are on a journey, and cannot find a scribe, a pledge with possession (may serve the purpose). And if one of you deposits a thing on trust with another, let the trustee (faithfully) discharge his trust, and let him Fear his Lord conceal not evidence; for whoever conceals it, - his heart is tainted with sin. And Allah knoweth all that ye do.

This means that God wanted a system where everyone would record/write down stuff to avoid future problems, also this thinking would be prevalent,of writing down history (by scribes at least), or other stuff like when did certain things happen etc... boring mundane stuff,like who bought what and where, land sold to whom, what building being constructed etc...where are these documents/records/contracts/history?? Like the Vatican and all the secrets/documents it's hidden away...does mecca/medina/arab govt have these documents?? If they confirm that the 'house' was built later or that there was no such pilgrimage that used to be done during the times of the prophet and later, then they might well have destroyed/hidden them...but it would be interesting to say the least...I have not heard or read anywhere about such contracts/documents, seems strange that such a history (every other culture has these mundane history records..romans/egyptians/greeks etc) does NOT exist except for the so called hadith...

The 'hadith', 'sayings of the prophet' does not seem to be a valid history...they seem to be like a gossip column/tabloid(with occasional historical references, i admit, but that is hardly understood as the embellishments pertaining to the'religious/ritualistic' aspect have completely drowned out any sense/credibility that historical reference might have had if it was just a normal everyday account) where you give the people what they want to hear/appeal to their base desires...mention sex, the future, murder, strange creatures with one eye etc...no wonder things spiraled out of control...i mean the people wanted to hear this stuff or it would not have been so popular/pervasive throughout...makes sense don't it?!?

On the other hand maybe the Saudi govt is ignorant of the importance of their history, maybe no one has(these same mundane documents are the real meat of it all, they actually tell us far more than anything else about any time period) actually realised the benefit of actually having these things studied, and scanned and put up where the public can access it....Someone (maybe a govt of, say,pakistan can request them to send scanned/copied documents that they can archive and set up on the internet for the public, who can then research it or just plain look at it...why not?? Anyway, thoughts are much needed/appreciated/welcome..

I am learning arabic so that I can translate for myself, learn things that may have been overlooked etc..am using
An Introduction to Koranic and Classical Arabic by Wheeler M. Thackston
Edward Lane's Lexicon
Hans Wehr Dictionary
Arabic through the Quran by Alan Jones
Any more recommendations?!? Suggestions??

BTW, i do feel that you need to take whatever you experience/learn about in life and apply it to the best of your ability whenever you try to understand something so profound as the Quran. As that allows you to really get to another level..if you don't you stand at a serious risk of stifling creative/original thought and thinking processes...leading to a stunted growth of the soul.

Ps forgive the extensive use of slashes..i can think/write better when they are present, also any other ramblings that might be diffult to understand due to bad construction of sentences/grammatical liberty etc..just ask me to clarify please ..thanks...