Crazy Dream
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PEace Bro Travis
You're my long awaited MAHDI!
What does Mahdi mean?
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I rarely recall dreams lately but this morning I awoke with a nightmare which was very vivid.
There were some other scenarios in the bigger dream but I saw one scene in which a machine that had a line up of men, maybe 10 of them with cables around their necks in a noose. The machine released the men causing them to fall and be hanged all at once. Strangely the men were facing backwards and the cable rotated turning them around while still hanging by their necks. Some sort of instruction was being followed and bizarrely the middle 8 group of men were able to raise their hands to their heads indicating they were still alive whereas the men on the sides were motionless.
I don't know what this was about exactly though I remember reading a thread last night that is in the trash and did at one stage have a picture of gay men in an Arab country with nooses around their necks - now edited and missing.
Perhaps this alluded to that picture... and that this was an illustration that people at the extremes, who do things at the extremes are doomed and that the middle ground is best?
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Mahdi is Jesus. Except he is a muslimified version who doesn't like pigs. He is supposed to slay them when he descends from heaven to kill the dajjal who is a one eyed creature with super powers (the cyclops from the Oddyssey + Superman = dajjal). He is our saviour.
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Peace Bro Travis
Yea it's what bro Phoenix mentioned. It's just this mythical story past on thru hadith, not quran and sunnis and shia literally are waiting for him. Every once in awhile you find an article or tv show about some woman who claims she just gave birth to the mahdi ;D
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So its just a myth? I was a little shocked/confused/ ??? when pheonix said that Jesus was the muslim savoir.
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PEace Bro Travis
Some people (Rashad KHalifa) interpret the story of Jesus that he was risen, never actually died a human death and therefore must come again because all people will taste death. So then people make up all these stories in the hadith of what he will do when he comes again. Some think he'll lead the believers to victory in a war between the good and the evil. Others think he'll usher in the era of peace and abundance throughout the world and everyone will be believers.
Others think Mahdi is a different person thant Jesus. That the mahdi is a person who is a direct descendant of Mohamed and will lead the believers into battle against the corrupters of the earth. Then Jesus will come down to bring peace but he will pray in the procession of the believers behind the Mahdi.
Alot of baseless stories that have nothing to do with the quran pretty much and alot of the stuff i think is borrowed from the christian and jewish traditions.
It doesn't mean it won't happen... just that the quran is silent about all of this.
But all sunni and all shia muslims believe that Jesus will come down again. Some quran aloners believe the same, others don't. I think there's a thread somewhere about this, i'll have to find it and paste it here for you )
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Wow, that sounds really close to the christian revelation. I would really like to read the quran, do you know where I can find a good english translation for a good price?
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Peace Bro
I personally only use rashad khalifa's translation but i know alot of people have issues with his translation of it. 19 code aside, i think the translation of the words are more general to encompass many meanings. He put in a ton of footnotes so you see his opinion of the verses too which alot of it i agree with.
i'm kind of biased because i was raised with only his translation so it's just nearer to my heart i guess.
you can find it on amazon hold on lemme look it up for you
http//www.amazon.com/Quran-Testament-Authorized-English-Version/dp/0972920927/ref=sr_1_1/104-2655536-6515937?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173038557&sr=8-1
i used to have the first version which in my opinion was better cuz it was before he went crazy ... but the local mosque took it from my dad and burned it
anyways if you ever come across the first version, get it. although i heard he stopped production of them after he made the second one so it's near impossible to find...
but i think alot of ppl on this forum have issues with his translation for a number of reasons and alot of people here go with more traditional translations while others go for the free-minds one.
a good thing you can do is go to www.quran.org on the top press Quran tab. then on the left you'll see a column. Press the English Translation tab. Then scroll to the bottom. If you go to quran browser i think, you'll find a number of different tranlsators. So you can compare how they translate the same verse just to get a broader picture in your mind. Then maybe if you notice one that resonates more with you you can buy that one.
If you're looking for just a traditional translation of the quran (might have hadith interpretations mixed in so be careful), i think www.cair.com will mail you out a free copy. i don't know how accurate their quran will be cuz they aren't quran-aloners. so it will probably have alot of hadith influenced interpretation. but if you'd like it to compare you could always do that too.
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PEace Bro Travis
I did some more research for you! The CAIR group gives you Mohamed Asad's translation. And you just pay $7.65 for shipping and they'll give you the quran they said it was a $55 value hardcover.
here's the link if you decide that's the one you wanna go for. i think it's alot of people's favorite on this forum, i'm not sure
https//www.cair.com/explorethequran/request.asp
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Wow, that sounds really close to the christian revelation. I would really like to read the quran, do you know where I can find a good english translation for a good price?
Why don't you download the free one from this site?
I personally only use rashad khalifa's translation but i know alot of people have issues with his translation of it. 19 code aside, i think the translation of the words are more general to encompass many meanings. He put in a ton of footnotes so you see his opinion of the verses too which alot of it i agree with.
i'm kind of biased because i was raised with only his translation so it's just nearer to my heart i guess.
I thought you are an Arabic speaker. So what is with the translation?
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PEace Bro
I could speak egyptian dialect. and could read and understand newspapers but that's modern standard arabic, not classical ) so i can read the quran in arabic and could probably understand a good 70% of the meaning on my own, but its just not as accurate as the meaning of the words in classical arabic.
plus i was born in the states so my first language is english. no matter how good i get at arabic, english would just be easier i guess. but i do read the arabic just to get the feeling of the verse... sometimes. most times i just go with translation.
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PEace Bro
I could speak egyptian dialect. and could read and understand newspapers but that's modern standard arabic, not classical so i can read the quran in arabic and could probably understand a good 70% of the meaning on my own, but its just not as accurate as the meaning of the words in classical arabic.
Hmm, that is I guess probably one of the reasons why there is no guarantee that average native Arabic speaker today understand Al Quran 100%. I can imagine how hard it is for average Arabs to read Al Quran just like when average Americans read classical poems by Shakespeare or Edgar A. Poe.
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Yup you're absolutely right in that. Also, it makes it even more difficult because some words have shifted their meanings over time. So we might read a word and think it obviously means something when really its not the case in classical arabic.
But one advantage that i think native arabic speakers have (but unfortunately i don't have it so much i don't think) is that they have all the roots and basics down and that didn't change. so in a way it makes things that much easier...
i think they just have to be extra careful though of those words that they think are plain but really might not be. i know people in my family do that alot.
so in a way non-arabic speakers have the upper hand because they don't come with any assumptions. -
Why don't you download the free one from this site?
I never knew there was a free one on this site. Is it put into word proccesor or someting else and where is it?
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I never knew there was a free one on this site. Is it put into word proccesor or someting else and where is it?
It is right there on the main page on the upper right corner.
It says
Download Latest English Translation of the Scripture by Progressive Muslims.org