Nearness and Guidance -> Knowledge and Wisdom = Peace and Prosperity
-
Salaam everyone,
I think that the reason I have not continued on this thread yet if because I was not ready. I am beginning to feel enough inspiration to proceed soon. It coincides with the heavy research I am into with the Old Testament and New Testament. I am having a critical approach, but I am beginning to convince myself that I may be right. In fact I did not do much but God suddenly made it clear to me.
It is clear that the Wisdom and Knowledge granted by God is a specific blessing and as you know it is due to Nearness and Guidance if you have studied this thread.
If it now comes forth as true this crazy theory that the story of the Bible takes place in Fars, then it might give you a clue of what blessed Wisdom and Knowledge means. I do not claim to be better or boasting, it is just for demonstrative purposes.
Wisdom and Knowledge is to make the right choices and know the right things. But what is really right? This is why the second part of my thread is so hard to proceed with.
Anyway, few people actually get to this stage and if they do then even fewer get a big share of it. As you know the majority of people do not believe, they just delude themselves that they do and they show it through their behavior. But if you gain Wisdom and Knowledge, you will surely get Peace and Prosperity, because you are already a winner. Peace is the ultimate goal of Islam and I may have wanted to separate Prosperity from the third category and put it together with Wisdom and Knowledge, but at a second thought it is indeed coming together with Peace, and Prosperity is not necessarily about physical wealth. Peace and Prosperity is about feeling calm and that you have everything you need, the same feeling as you will have in Paradise. This is what Quran says that the people in Paradise will say "This is what we had before". But more about this in the next stage of the thread "Peace and Prosperity".
It is hard to describe this phenomenon Wisdom and Knowledge as it is very subjective. It occurs when you have Nearness to God and receive (active) Guidance from Him. If you honestly become mindful of God and work to purify yourself this will come to you for sure. Pure belief is not enough as I think I wrote earlier in this thread but you also have to become a good person before you will see results and proceed on to the next stage, the stage I am talking about now. You might even end up being able to say the classical quranic phrase "I know from God what you do not know".
But you who feel that God's interactions stopped 1400 years ago are surely mistaken I am afraid. In fact something new is going on. We need to purify ourselves and be mindful of God and keep our minds open and see what the future has in store for us. But do not say "My mind is made up!"
God bless you
-
Pure belief is not enough as I think I wrote earlier in this thread but you also have to become a good person before you will see results and proceed on to the next stage...
Yes, in other words, we need to evolve, develop and redeem ourselves by TAKING ACTION here and now. This is action is not about saving the world or become a missionary or debate others. It's rather about doing good deeds... whether small or big. And a huge secret is that it needs to start from HOME and those closest to you. Many people are very generous and charitable, social and kind, to strangers, acquaintances and friends... but do not keep up the same good behavior with family. This is cheating and will not produce any good effects in us worth mentioning. We always have to work inside out, from small to big. This may sound silly but it is not to be underestimated.
In addition to good thinking, we MUST have good action, or all will be waste. Good, deliberate, frequent and straight action... no matter how small. This builds character... cleans your vibration, opens you up to higher "dimensions" and opens up new doors.... and this is of course an ongoing process that takes time and effort.
Peace!
-
Peace be upon thee,
I am finally back in Sweden and I can resume the works of researching on the data I have acquired. Thanks for your input Zulf; it is always valuable to me, the things that you write. You are right. We are only expected to primarily be good people and any "missionary's" duty is also to advocate people to purify themselves and be good people and not teach them strange rituals and rules.
I think I am going to make this statement an initial, but here it goes again The only criteria to enter God's Paradise is to believe in God alone, the Last Day and to be righteous people. Remember that a heavy weight is put on the righteous thing and it is harder than we think and an honorable objective of our lives. Being good is the point in God's system. It is really good versus evil, i.e pretty simple. And any sensible person can work out what that means and they also have Quran as a guide.
God bless you
-
Peace zulf, all.
May I add to your post, the following
Believing in the truth is only an initial choice we make on the right path. Appreciating that truth and expressing our appreciation determines our true convictions. We express our appreciation by acting upon our belief and striving to lead the righteous life style dictated by God. Such expression of our appreciation by leading a righteous life is always a condition, side by side to our belief in God and the Last Day, to be redeemed (262, 2112, 569, 4613, 1719 and many more). Thus, actively expressing our appreciation spells out the test of being on earth and constitutes a vital element for salvation.
We will certainly put you to the test, in order to distinguish those among you who strive, and steadfastly persevere. We must expose your true qualities.
Peace to all
-
Salaam good logic,
Good addition. Thank you.
God bless you
-
Im sure this has been asked before but I have not seen it yet..but I always wonder if we were with God before we were born, how come we don't remember anything? How come the earliest memories most of us have of existing are from random, scattered projections from our childhood. I remember reading somewhere that the infant/toddler mind is the most receptive to our environment and to God because our subconscious hasn't been crowded with junk and schematics to tell us how to think, and what to believe. So then why can't we remember infancy? Why does it seem like we grow farther away from our true nature the older we get, and our subconscious is harder to access (even if we weren't engulfed by sin and the evil things in this world)? I always associate dying and ceasing to exist with deep darkness, and no sound at all like you are in a vacuum in space. Even though I believe in Heaven and Hell, logically I feel as if death is followed by the same nothingness that comes to mind when I try to recall my early existence. To try to envision myself as "spirit/energy" without my body seems too...cartoonish to me. I feel like it must be something unimaginable. Maybe that is way God left us with no recollection or perception of ourselves before our births.
Just some thoughts...
-
Peace be with thee Tigress,
It is interesting to think what we were before we were born into this world. It depends on what we believe. My interpretation of the Quran is that we are fresh souls assigned to our bodies and that they are thus new and it was just our ancestors Adam and Eve who were actually "blown into existence". Our soul is a copy of this "layout", but with individual traits and originality.
To elaborate more theoretically and hypothetically I believe we have a positive part of our soul which is God's qualities (which we can choose to use with our so-called 'free will' and a negative part which is Shaytaan's qualities, the Jinn part of soul. The thing, which I deem complicated, is that if you with your free will decide to follow God then your positive born "split personality" will dominate and you are a good person. It does not mean automatically that you are destined for Heaven as that requires belief in God and the requital as well as goodness, but it is at least one of the criteria.
On the other hand, if you choose to let the evil part of your brain/soul dominate then you have problems making righteous decisions and let "the whispers of Shaytaan" affect you much. Since you are born with a copy of Shaytaan's traits this is possible.
I may not be right, but these are my crazy thoughts.
God bless you
-
Peace Man of faith, Tigress, all.
"I had no knowledge previously, about the feud in the High Society
.This event must be something that happened before the creation of our universe?
God said
Did I not covenant with you, O Children of Adam, that you shall not serve/worship the devil? That he is your most ardent enemy?When did He do that?
And;
Most exalted is the One in whose hands is all kingship, and He is Omnipotent
The One who created death and life for the purpose of distinguishing those among you who would do better. He is the Almighty, the Forgiving.
Also,
Recall that your Lord summoned all the descendants of Adam, and had them bear witness for themselves "Am I not your Lord?" They all said, "Yes. We bear witness." Thus, you cannot say on the Day of Resurrection, "We were not aware of this."When?
Finally
We created the human being from aged mud, like the potter's clay.Recall that we said to the angels, "Fall prostrate before Adam." They fell prostrate, except Satan; he refused.
I believe we existed before this physical creation that we are in now.God ,out of mercy, is giving us a chance to redeem ourselves back to His kingdom. We committed the original sin--sided with Iblis-This life is the trial
Contrary to common belief, the "Original Sin" was not Adam's violation of God's law when he ate from the forbidden tree. The original sin was our failure to uphold God's absolute authority during the Great Feud. If the human person convinces his or her jinn companion to denounce that original sin, and uphold God's absolute authority, both creatures are redeemed to God's eternal kingdom on the Day of Judgement. But if the jinn companion convinces the human being to uphold Satan's idolatrous views, then both creatures are exiled forever from God's kingdom.The companion said, "Here is my formidable testimony"
Peace to all.
-
Salaam,
Thanks for your valuable input, good logic.
God bless you
-
Peace Good Logic,
Yes, I agree with this understanding. This is how I see things too.
At first I was thinking that the christian Orginial Sin was something perverted negative... and nonsensical. Now I see it that it is probably just misunderstood and mutated, like so many other things. What I could never digest was the idea that we inherit sin from the those who committed the sin in the first place. It is as perverted as believing that God would punish and kill his own innocent son to save humanity (some of them at least). That's not love; that's unfair and illogical. In any case, now I see it that Original Sin is that thing, that rebellion, that rejection, by us, that caused us to turn away from truth and reality, and thus become blind and find ourselves in darkness, turned away from God and truth.
Our only mission on this Earth in this life is to redeem ourselves back towards God, truth, reality and the light. It has nothing to do with what God likes or wants, as atheists think it is all about. We are getting a chance to come back home, and this life is designed for that purpose. God's mercy is everywhere... but it is we who decide in what direction to go. Life is also beyond our comprehension and understanding, so we should be very careful not to jump to conclusions about God and life when we see misery, unfairness, filth, evil, sorrow and disaster. God knows what we don't know. We should not think so much. We should focus on doing good things, life-promoting things, progressive things.... good deeds.
I'm also amazed at the Great Impostor Morpheus... our most ardent enemy.... the Evil that constantly changes shapes and shows up in all sorts of guises, pretending to be good, but spreading disharmony, disunity, suspicion and fear. It doesn't matter WHAT this evil/devil is, as that is irrelevant. We can recognize evil by it's fruits, if we are honest. That's all we need. Evil will always be exposed, and it can never hide behind excuses. Fruits are fruits. It's time we stop associating things with God, things like messengers and tribes. And it's time we stop associating things with the Devil (whatever that is)... things like other nations, other religions, other cultures, human beings. God is too close to us for us to recognize.... and evil is too close to us to recognize in ourselves and our immediate surrounding. We look out there, far off, at others. This is why no-one will be prophet in their home town. We are only comfortable with things that are enough distant to us. We have no issues believing things, as long as they are not too real an close.
Evil is always the Other, not us. Miracles (outrageous nonsense) always happened thousands of years ago, not now. God is up There, not here. We will be judged Then, not now continuously. This is how we think and behave... unfortunately. The signature characteristic of the human being is Separation, in every sense.Peace y'all!
-
Salaam,
There is some gaps between the sessions where I write on this thread but it is far from abandoned by me. I just realized myself how much my sequential illustration of how the complete procedure of faith is constructed goes hand in hand with the main spiritual criteria of Qur'an. I discovered this when writing on another thread. If we take a look at my usual rambling about "Islam's" criteria (all over forum);
- Belief in God
- Realm
- Righteousness
; we can clearly see that Nearness and Guidance belongs to criterion 1, Knowledge and Wisdom to 2 and Peace and Prosperity to 3. It was an interesting self-observation that I did and I had not even considered that when I first wrote the illustration.
And as I said on that thread (which I unfortunately forgot the name of) with my personal story about my coming to God and Islam I went through the criteria in an orderly manner from 1 to 3. This was never anything I had anticipated and all praise is to God alone.
Continuation Knowledge and Wisdom part 1
I never really continued with "Knowledge and Wisdom", but now we can say it means reassurance about the Truth of the Messengers of old and being able to use and understand the moral stories associated with them in a wise manner. This is what the category Knowledge and Wisdom really means. It may also reflect the common and often recurring expression from the Qur'an where known people say "I know from God what you do not know". When you have Nearness and Guidance (criteria 1) and then build up Knowledge and Wisdom (criteria 2) and become strong on these parts together with Peace and Prosperity (criteria 3) then you may reach the know from God what others do not know. If you study Qur'an and simply are reassured that it speaks of a certain thing that is according to the Truth then this expression is rendered true, automatically, as you know from God what other people have either failed to realize or completely missed. It does not guarantee that people will believe you when you utter the Truth that you got to know, but you utter the Truth nevertheless.
The reason Knowledge and Wisdom goes hand in hand is because Knowledge is the physical attribute while Wisdom is the ability to utilize the acquired Knowledge. Knowledge in God's Realm is basically knowing the (true) Message while being able to filter out the falsehood. It is a constant process and I suppose most people will never know everything about the Message and you can know various quantities. When someone knows Knowledge that someone else does not you qualify for the expression "I know from God that you do not". Wisdom is an accompanied attribute and is raised at practically the same "speed" as Knowledge and is the ability to judge more according to God's will the stronger this attribute is and taking one's Knowledge into account.
What you usually know as a "blessed man" is a person who has reached relatively far on the Knowledge and Wisdom category and knows much that other people are ignorant of and maybe even reject even if the blessed man is trustworthy. Blessed men are not always being listened to and may be mocked and ridiculed for their information even if it is the Truth. Just look at the Messengers of old, were they not mocked and ridiculed? Messengers are blessed men that have excelled in their rank and obtained Messenger status, of course all according to God's will and some of them are less willing to complete their "job" than others, see Jonah/Yunus for example, so it suggests Messengers are not even close to being perfect Believers but are in varying degrees and we should make no distinction between them but rather heed their Message and purify ourselves and form our own identities because the group of people that is admitted into Heaven is relatively small and there is no time to copycat and imitate Messengers in risk of committing idolatry. Follow in their footsteps is okay and it is their positive attributes which you ought to follow and not the pride of Muhammad, unwillingness to obey of Jonah or the aggression of Moses, for example.
They are all signs for mankind as well as deliverers of the Message (the Realm) and they show the disbelievers that they have something to fear, but they seldom take heed and are just confused and say that they are just tales of the past.
And then there are the hypocrites that lead many people astray just by pathetically preaching their (false) religion. They say that Jesus is the son of God while God has never said such a thing, and they love their Messengers as lords and as God should be loved. And they invent strange rituals and practices making God look like a tyrant or twist the Message with their tongues. These are the true stray people and your worst enemies, o fellow brothers and sister.
Strengthen your Faith, o fellow Believers and increase your Knowledge and Wisdom that you may save yourself and perhaps even a few friends from the Hellfire. Become blessed men and fulfill the three criteria of God's creed
- Belief in God
- Realm
- Righteousness
God bless you
ps. Where all that came from I do not know, I felt in trance sun
-
Continuation Knowledge and Wisdom part 2
In the last part of this categorical discussion I drew parallels between the main salvation criteria and my illustration model, and after I had posted it I realized I had not explained it enough, so I felt that I had to complement it with a part 2. With my previous post it seemed like one has to be deeply rooted in Knowledge and Wisdom to stand a chance of salvation, although this should not be necessary and is a flaw with my illustration for this purpose. I wanted to connect "God's Realm" with Knowledge and Wisdom as they are related to each other, but I did not want to make it seem like you need to be very knowledgeable to be forgiven.
By believing in the Realm of God means believing in God's plot, i.e. the Messengers and what God has narrated in Qur'an. It does not mean believing in everything we hear and interpret by reading, but we ought to believe that God sent Messengers to the face of the Earth that preached the Message. As you already know the fundamental parts of the Message are the criteria I so often mention about, so Knowledge and Wisdom is rightly connected to criteria 2 in ways. However, additional Knowledge can be knowing the exact Truth about some Messenger or the Wisdom might cause you to properly understand the moral lesson of a narration of Qur'an and this is a bonus of this extension of the blessings from God.
So by believing in the Message and primarily the three criteria ought to be enough for salvation and if you believe the Message you sort of automatically confirm that you believe in the Messengers and the Angels/Controllers. God's Message is actually pretty simple and most of Qur'an is only to convince people that God is really real and act as a guidebook for those who are convinced, and confuse the hypocrites.
Not knowing the exact Truth cannot mean that you are doomed to Hell as long as you had good intentions and did not engage in idolatry.
In conclusion; determination on the main principle of God's creed ought to be enough for salvation on parameter 2, meaning one-third (33%) is fulfilled by believing in this. Together with strong Faith (Iman) and particularly righteousness this is a winning concept, for with righteousness Faith will also skyrocket. It is difficult to use these arguments to say that a person qualifies for Heaven though as the true judgment by God will be made based on evil or negative deeds versus righteous deeds, plus taking the fulfillment of the main criteria into account. So fact is that Criteria number 3 is obviously something we actually need to put more focus on as the judgement will be highly based on it. This is something I try to make clear in all threads where I nag about good deeds and I am afraid that a lot of people miss this fact despite that it is very clear in Qur'an.
By very sterile logic I can put up a hypothesis 50% of chance of salvation is based on the deeds and 50% is based on the Faith in God and the Realm. You clearly see that a poor attitude, arrogance and ego-centrism will bring an obvious disadvantage for the Muslim even if the person may max out Criteria 2, i.e. very good Knowledge of the Realm.
And with insufficient goodness from the Muslim's part will cause Faith to falter or not grow and the whole chain will weaken.
Question on the Topic for Readers
I have a question for those who read this thread
I am curious whether someone had a different experience than I had of the coming to God, and by that I mean whether you came to the creed through the chain I have suggested, i.e. you started to seek His Nearness and Guidance, then built up Knowledge and Wisdom and first after that you begun to realize you had to work harder on being righteous (the Purification), or was it another way around by always done a lot to be a good person and purify yourself?
My model is constructed around a chain where you first need to come closer to God by seeking His Nearness and Guidance before you He will bestow any serious Knowledge and Wisdom in you. Real Peace and Prosperity also known as Righteousness will only come after you have the first parameters. Of course the Peace and Prosperity is a reward for the actual Righteousness, but according to my model one will not manage to be truly Righteous first after being within the proximity of God and possessing at least some Knowledge and Wisdom.
We need to remember that some sectarian Muslims are outwardly Righteous in charity and things but they are not doing it with their heart and beneath the surface is a plain ego, because they seem to lack the first parameters. The optimal charity is given out of love for your fellow humans without an expectation of any personal gain and for the being good itself and not only to satisfy a personal self-conscience or fear of God.
Thus my theory is based on that no Righteousness is accomplished unless you have strong Faith in God and His Realm. The Purification does not mean instantaneous Righteousness. If you do not know how to do it right God will not show the right Righteousness so to say, for example, when you have idols such as Muhammad or Ali, then God will prevent you from seeing clearly as to the creed (Realm) and Criteria 2 will not be reached. And as we know if you listen to the majority of people they will lead you astray, so one must use their intelligence and only listen to the relevant which can come from any anonymous blessed man among the people, or from the scriptures particularly Qur'an. "Follow the best and ignore the rest".
God bless you
-
Salaam,
I composed a diagram so that you can more easily see the point I try to reach in this thread. It is still a pretty rough illustration, but the concept is clear. As you can see, Islam consists of all these parameters which I separated into Faith and Actions within the creed Islam. The illustration is as you see no chain and I will try to compose such a chain as well and the intention with this diagram was to enable the readers to see the elements involved in a graphical presentation. On the other hand, all the pieces of the cake form a chain so one cannot leave out any piece without breaking the chain which makes a Believer (Mu'meen), but as long as a person at least tries to follow at least one of the parameters he can be considered Muslim, because a Muslim works towards Islam, the condition not completely unlike Nirvana in Buddhism.
Like you saw earlier, I personally came to Islam through Nearness and Guidance first and after that Knowledge and Wisdom and lastly I begun with a true aim towards Peace and Prosperity. But I wonder if this chain of events is a standard and everyone get to Islam this way. Like I said before, one does not have to max out Nearness and Guidance to achieve some Knowledge and Wisdom etc, but it is kind of a prerequisite to at least being slightly mindful of God.
Circle diagram presenting a graphical illustration of the creed Islam
http//farm6.staticflickr.com/5546/10816793444_18c10caea7.jpg
God bless you
-
Muslim - Who is Muslim?
So we must kill the myth of who is Muslim and what being Muslim is and what Islam is. Why there is such a big misconception about this subject is because it is slightly complicated and due to our egos, but after this off-topic post it will become clear to everyone. The goal everyone who is a monotheist works towards is Islam and the person in progress is a Muslim because he wants to reach the condition Islam through the illustration in the previous post. When a Muslim has all criteria fulfilled and no doubts through strong Faith and Righteous deeds, then he is a Believer per God's definition "Mu'meen" which works pretty much like with the term 'Muslim' gives a status with the attribute Iman which cannot completely accurately be translated into Faith but is a very special characteristic in God's creed.
Iman, or simply Faith, is a value which can vary and is not fixed and suddenly flush into your mind but is something which has to be grown for you through all the before-mentioned criteria together. Even a Mu'meen is a Muslim all through his/her life, but the Mu'meen can be seen as a special tag for this Muslim that they are on the path of Faith. We might consider a Mu'meen to be a blessed person, who has all three parameters of my model fulfilled and is blessed plentifully by the Lord, but most importantly a Mu'meen does not have any doubt whatsoever about God, not the slightest doubt, so the circle is complete and the person only needs to work towards the perfect level of Iman. If my Knowledge increases about Iman I may be able to elaborate on this later, but for now I can only say that this is an opener when the person loses all doubt about God and his Realm.
Islam is not the name of a traditional religion, at best it is God's religion without any particular label, but is a description of the certain mindset of a person. A determination to first of all seek God's Nearness and Guidance, even without belonging to any group such as "Islam" or Christianity per traditional views, will make you a Muslim and not by going to the local mosque, uttering a shahada and expressing "Now I am a Muslim!". Supposedly a person who contemplates existence and realizes that there has to be a Creator and thus starts to do something about it for the benefit of their very soul is a Muslim.
A Muslim can be naive due to ignorance and might not have Knowledge and Wisdom, but Faithfulness will, as said before, lead you further. Obviously, evil behavior and deeds will be counterproductive, but persistent determination that there is a One God and purification of the soul will turn the individual towards the Light. God knows the expression "Rome was not built overnight" and will be patient with you if you are patiently steadfast with determination to become better and purify yourself through mindfulness of Him and good behavior. Idolatry and dependance on religious sources without involving the brain God bestowed upon us is a dangerous combination.
Faith + Action = True
My expression "Man cannot live by words alone, but must show it through his actions"
God bless you
-
Salam
I believe both are protected and beyond human reach, unless and until they are free from Shirk.
Knowledge
Indeed, it is a noble Qur'an
In a protected Book
None can grasp it <- not for human to decide, never.
except those purified (from Shirk)
(5677-79)Wisdom
He grants wisdom to whom He pleases <- not for human to decide, never.
and whoever is granted wisdom
he indeed is given a great good
and none but men of understanding mind
(2269)Condition to benefit from the Qur'an
This is the Book
about which there is no doubt
a guidance for
those conscious of Allah <- conditions
(22)Peace all
-
Salam
I believe both are protected and beyond human reach, unless and until they are free from Shirk.
Knowledge
Indeed, it is a noble Qur'an
In a protected Book
None can grasp it <- not for human to decide, never.
except those purified (from Shirk)
(5677-79)Wisdom
He grants wisdom to whom He pleases <- not for human to decide, never.
and whoever is granted wisdom
he indeed is given a great good
and none but men of understanding mind
(2269)Thanks for your input. That is true and it is basically what this thread is trying to prove. Without Nearness and Guidance (and the involved Purification) one will not receive Knowledge and Wisdom through God opening your eyes and will be astray and devoid of the true Message. Trying to trod unto conjecture through not focusing on Nearness and Guidance by "cheating" towards Knowledge and Wisdom will only lead to the typical show of sectarians and Mullahs who look like they know a lot while they actually know almost nothing, particularly because they continue to adhere to associating partners with God and idolize Messengers, Prophets and others, and listening to false sources without wholeheartedly seeking God's Nearness and Guidance. And they are not using their brains. God will make it feel to them like they are right while they are wrong and they will say in the courtroom of God "But we believed!?" while in fact they did not fulfill the circle of criteria as seen previously.
-
because they continue to adhere to associating partners with God and idolize Messengers, Prophets and others, and listening to false sources without wholeheartedly seeking God's Nearness and Guidance. And they are not using their brains. God will make it feel to them like they are right while they are wrong and they will say in the courtroom of God "But we believed!?" while in fact they did not fulfill the circle of criteria as seen previously.
Salam
Perfect peace
Say Shall We inform you of the greatest losers in (their) deeds?
(These are) they
whose labor
is lost
in this world's life
and they think
that they are well versed
in skill of the work of hands <- righteous peoples, good peoplesThese are they
who disbelieve <- but they disbelieve, all or any part of the Qur'an
in the communications
of their Lord and His meetingso their deeds
become null
and therefore
We will not set up a balance for them
on the day of resurrectionThus it is that their recompense is hell
because they disbelieved
and held My communications and My messengers in mockery
(18103-106)Peace
-
Salaam,
I interpret ayat in that verse you talk about as signs and not the actual literal passages. Not exactly the same interpretation we have.
If you do not believe the signs which make you determined that God exist and that you will stand trial in front of God you will be among the losers because the whole chain of what is in the creed Islam is never fulfilled. It is not Qur'an exclusively that is required but Faith in God and the Last Day, Realm or his Message which has been the same all the time. If you fail to acknowledge God and His Message your deeds, no matter good or bad, seems to not mean anything at all on the Judgment Day and you have failed on Criteria 1 and 2 but fulfilled 3 which mean nothing anyway. We need to remember it has been Islam at least from the time of Abraham and he did not have any access to Qur'an but he discovered about God and thus he came to know that he would stand trial.
The whole test seems to be to become determined that God exists and is your Master, you will be responsible for your deeds and judged and the ayat we discuss say that you fail to discover about God then all you did will be completely meaningless in the courtroom of God. It is like discovering a hidden treasure only knowing some hints and if you fail before time is up it is game over, forever. Most people want to know why we are here and the answer is right in front of their very eyes and yet they fail to see that it is because of God.
And there are people who say they believe but are spreading mischief across the land and they obviously do not believe as they would know their behavior will lead to that they chain will not be fulfilled and they probably failed on all parameters even if they thought they believed.
Anyway, Qur'an is a perfect guidebook and it is wise to follow it to the best of one's capability. This book will lead one towards God if you seek His Nearness and Guidance as well as protection from the Evil One and his followers.
Our difference in interpretation of the verse do not really change much except placing a fixation on the Book instead of the Message, in my opinion. Still nothing to argue about as long as we follow the Message, and the Book and seek a close proximity to God. The Judgment God is responsible for and we should do our best according to our minds and ability to see reason.
God bless you
-
I interpret ayat in that verse you talk about as signs and not the actual literal passages. Not exactly the same interpretation we have.
If you do not believe the signs which make you determined that God exist and that you will stand trial in front of God you will be among the losers because the whole chain of what is in the creed Islam is never fulfilled. It is not Qur'an exclusively that is required but Faith in God and the Last Day, Realm or his Message which has been the same all the time. If you fail to acknowledge God and His Message your deeds, no matter good or bad, seems to not mean anything at all on the Judgment Day and you have failed on Criteria 1 and 2 but fulfilled 3 which mean nothing anyway. We need to remember it has been Islam at least from the time of Abraham and he did not have any access to Qur'an but he discovered about God and thus he came to know that he would stand trial.
Salam
If you wish, there is nothing wrong to interpret it as "signs" and if one reading the whole Qur'an, the word must refer to "Ayat" or "actual literal passages" and it can be "proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations etc". If it is to be treated as "signs", then it is signs specifically mentioned by Allah in the Qur'an. This is the "main premises" from the Qur'an and the basis that Allah wants human to start their comparison or reasoning and learn from. Therefore, it is the "actual literal passages", and then expand from there, from the "Muhkamat" and not the "Mutasyaabihat" (Allah's trap) (37) (1039).
This is so since everything must start from the Qur'an (constitution) and the meaning expands from the Qur'an according to the types of ayat and its "priority (awwaliyah)". That is why we must first "Islam" (submission) to the Qur'an, yet, faith is still not in our heart. It is Allah who will insert faith in our heart, based on level of our submission to the ayat in the Qur'an (just). Therefore, faith or believe or not believe, is something not for human to decides and therefore, it is the Qur'an exclusively that is required; ie. Submission (Islam).
The bedouins say, "We have believed."
Say, "You have not believed
but say, 'We have submitted,' <- Islam
for faith has not yet entered your hearts. <- no faith, faith is equal to "monkey love"And if you obey Allah and His Messenger <- Islam, vs. disobedience, all or any part of the Qur'an
He will not deprive you from your deeds of anything <- see below
"NOT DEPRIVE OF ANYTHING" means does not require "FAITH". In fact, does not even have to believe in Allah existence!
Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful." <- as long we submit, Allah is forgiving, even if we have 0% faithThe believers are only the ones
who have believed in Allah and His Messenger
and then doubt not
but strive with their properties and their lives
in the cause of Allah
It is those who are the truthful.Say, "Would you acquaint Allah with your religion
while Allah knows whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth
and Allah is Knowing of all things?"They consider it a favor to you that they have accepted Islam
Say, "Do not consider your Islam a favor to me.
Rather, Allah has conferred favor upon you
that He has guided you to the faith <- it is Allah who will give us faith, not human
if you should be truthful." and based on our ability to "obey" to simple rules; ie. Islam
(4914-17)Therefore, the focus for our salvation is not relating to "what we believe or not believe", BUT what we "obey or disobey". This means it is the Qur'an exclusively that is required, ie. "actual literal passages" and observation on the "DO NOT" prohibition (method, refer here). What we believe is the bonus to our salvation.
It is not Qur'an exclusively that is required but Faith in God and the Last Day, Realm or his Message which has been the same all the time. If you fail to acknowledge God and His Message your deeds, no matter good or bad, seems to not mean anything at all on the Judgment Day and you have failed on Criteria 1 and 2 but fulfilled 3 which mean nothing anyway. We need to remember it has been Islam at least from the time of Abraham and he did not have any access to Qur'an but he discovered about God and thus he came to know that he would stand trial.
Since the day the Qur'an has been perfected, it is Qur'an exclusively that is required and submission without faith is sufficiently enough for one to enter Paradise. Allah does not require faith for one to be in paradise. The minimum requirements is Islam (submission) and they will be the companions of the right, even with 0% faith or not sincere, and as long they obey 100%, from level of his understanding. Those who fail are the one who denies all or any part of the Qur'an, those who ignore the word "DO NOT" in the Qur'an, even 1%. They are companions of the left. The highest achievements are "faith" without doubts and no grieve, while live in the cause of Allah and obeying all rules in the Qur'an. Therefore, we don't need to fulfill all the criteria or complete the circle to enter the Paradise.
And you become three kinds
(1) Then the companions of the right <- based on submission (Islam), even 0% faith
what are the companions of the right? <- not yet certain to be in Paradise, may also be in the Fire(2) And the companions of the left <- deny all or any part of the "DO NOT" prohibition, even 1% - borderline
what are the companions of the left? <- certainly to be in the Fire, the transgressors(3) And the forerunners, the forerunners <- based on submission, and level of faith (complete circle?)
Those are the ones brought near <- certainly to be in Paradise
In the Gardens of Pleasure
A company of the former peoples
And a few of the later peoples <- Why? Refer here
(567-14)There is not upon the doers of good any cause <- Islam, submission
(991)Allah does not charge a soul
except its capacity <- Islam, submission, even with 0% faith
(2286) and, capacity is referring to"signs" or clear and "actual literal passages"?These were my views. Allah knows best.
Peace
-
continue
He will not deprive you from your deeds of anything <- see below
"NOT DEPRIVE OF ANYTHING" means does not require "FAITH". In fact, does not even have to believe in Allah existence!
Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful." <- as long we submit, Allah is forgiving, even if we have 0% faithFurther, it is may become big mistakes or errors not to believe in Allah existence and merely obey what is in the Qur'an
but that is not the issue since Allah says, "Allah is Forgiving and Merciful"
and the term "Allah" itself is the "Mutasyaabihaat" which no human beings are able to control how to believe in Allah. (sura al-ikhlas)
Therefore, it is Allah who will "guided us to faith" in His existence
based on the level of our submission on all the "clear" rules from the Qur'an
and surely, "Allah will not charge a soul except with that within its capacity "; ie. our faith, believe or not to believe in AllahTherefore, "obedience" to the rules in the Qur'an is the most important things for our salvation.
ie. the "actual literal passages", the Muhkamat, and not the Mutasyaabihaat.
our "faith" is totally dependant on our level of submission to the Qur'an
and the terms "Muslims"
do not necessarily mean the so-called "Muslims" in today's world definition
ie. the sectarian definition of Muslim"We hear and we obey"
(2285)And remember the favor of Allah upon you
and His covenant <- Islam is a contract to obey
with which He bound <- Qur'an is the terms and conditions of contract
you when you said,
"We hear and we obey" <- Never ever breach your contract!
and fear Allah
Indeed, Allah is Knowing of that within the breasts
(57)These were my views, the non sectarian or non religious views. Allah knows best.
Peace all