Can it genuinely be this simple?
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Psalm 315
5 Into your hands I commit my spirit;
redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth.John 832
32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."http//www.absolutetruth.net/truth/
Hast thou not seen how the ships glide on the sea by Allah?s grace, that He may show you of His wonders ? Lo! therein indeed are portents for every steadfast, grateful (heart).
Our lives are a gift from Allah, as we "glide" through life under Allah's watchful eye we can experience his wonders.
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Peace ayani, all,
there's a theological idea called panentheism which i think may apply here. that God is within the universe but also transcends it.
that God is His attributes, yet is also more than them, transcends them.
i remember a kind of small experience i had a few years ago... i was wondering, in general ways, about meaning and Truth, had been reading some Ibn Al-Arabi and Kahlil Gibran. a few years ago i went on this neat trip for a class to find baby snakes. we came across this beautiful, beautiful expanse of woods with a few birch trees and between them a carpet of little white flowers. it looked flat, but as you walked through it, there were dips and rises in the earth that you couldn't see. i think that God and our spiritual lives are like this field. you can not divorce in circumstances of your own life from Al-Haqq- just as you can't just look at the filed, you have to walk through its hills and ditches yourself. He is both manifest in and transcendent of the entire expanse of field, as we walk through it.
but you have to notice, to seek, to be mindful.
Very beautifully stated. And I agree that panentheism can, in many ways, be understood from the qur'an.
Peace,
Tay -
There was a time when these questions busies me a lot. Now I find extenuating trying to explain, describe or define God in any way. It is impossible. We don't know. We know about He manifests to us and in everything, but that is just like seeing the shape of a letter and thinking that you know everything there is because you can read. However we can experience God, like we can experience the sea from the beach. It is the same see that goes deeper than the mountains and in fact we know mentally some descriptions of the sea, but we do not know it in deept reality, although what we know cannot say that it is not true. Huwa Allahu hayy, qayum. We experience that, but when we try to think of it, master the idea and its contents we are way, way, surpassed.
Salaam
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there's a theological idea called panentheism which i think may apply here. that God is within the universe but also transcends it.
that God is His attributes, yet is also more than them, transcends them.
i remember a kind of small experience i had a few years ago... i was wondering, in general ways, about meaning and Truth, had been reading some Ibn Al-Arabi and Kahlil Gibran. a few years ago i went on this neat trip for a class to find baby snakes. we came across this beautiful, beautiful expanse of woods with a few birch trees and between them a carpet of little white flowers. it looked flat, but as you walked through it, there were dips and rises in the earth that you couldn't see. i think that God and our spiritual lives are like this field. you can not divorce in circumstances of your own life from Al-Haqq- just as you can't just look at the filed, you have to walk through its hills and ditches yourself. He is both manifest in and transcendent of the entire expanse of field, as we walk through it.
but you have to notice, to seek, to be mindful.
Beautifully stated, Thank you.
peace
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Yeah, when I made this thread I had pantheism/panentheism in mind.
Anyhow, I think the point is to know what god isn't, as opposed to wasting our time "knowing" what god is.
If we remember Abraham, he tried to assign God such and such a form but then gave up and defined god as the one that created him (if that makes sense). In that manner, it wouldn't matter who or what the heck "god" is, but you still have an idea. So if the quran does that and consider that Abraham is the model muslim, then surely we have to follow suit.
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yes... good point returning to Abraham, OPF.
when i am unable to pray, or feel nearly unable to do so, i return to "i am grateful to be alive right now...", and then, God willing, an understanding of God, of my life, of the deen will come back, bit by bit, and i can pray again, and know what to pray for.
oooh, also! i just found this! it's like a child's version of 675-79
http//www.hagalil.com/kinder/kidz/lesen/avram.htm
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I think a key difference between monotheism and pantheism is that a singular God means there is a Will, and a Purpose. That can be missing from pantheism, which might imply that God's will is merely the collective will of everything in the universe, rather than something that transcends the created universe.
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Peace Mahmud,
You are correct in your assessment of pantheism. However, panentheism is more in line with qur'anic thinking, imo
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panentheism
A panentheistic belief system is one which posits that the one God interpenetrates every part of nature, and timelessly extends beyond as well. Panentheism is distinguished from pantheism, which holds that God is synonymous with the material universe.
In panentheism, God is viewed as creator and/or animating force behind the universe, and the source of universal truth.Panentheism is essentially a unifying combination of theism (God is the supreme being) and pantheism (God is everything). While pantheism says that God and the universe are coextensive, panentheism claims that God is greater than the universe and that the universe is contained within God. Panentheism holds that God is the ?supreme affect and effect? of the universe.
Peace,
Tay -
I think it really could be this simple, the truth/reality is universal. The truth/reality is everywhere. You just gotta seek it
If you substitute 'the truth' for 'allah' doesn't it seem to work? Haven't cross-referenced it ... yet.
IIRC there is a saying by Muhammad (pbuh) where he says that religion is simple, man makes it complex.
I think when we're told something very simple, and told, 'this is all you need to do', there are people who create things thinking that more needs to be done. They assume that for that amount of outcome, there must be a hugely high expectation.
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The truth is from GOD and God is the truth. To find it, you must read the Quran ... which is the truth as well. Truth or truthful .. who is more truthful than GOD?? We delude ourselves with metaphors that we cannot understand and we try and solve the mysteries of the Quran when we don't even have the most basic understanding of the book. Read the Quran ... over and over and over and over .. then read the Torah and the Bible ... then read the Quran over and over and over and over ... maybe you will start to see with your heart instead of the balls in the sockets of your head.
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Peace,
Respectfully.You are discussing about something you have some knowledge,
but whay are you discussing about something you have no knowlege of?I forgot which chapter carries this verse but i remember the verse.
AlhamdilAllah,
Glory be to our God.Peace.
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Alen
"Ah! Ye are those who fell to disputing (Even) in matters of which ye had some knowledge! but why dispute ye in matters of which ye have no knowledge? It is Allah Who knows, and ye who know not!"
366But I do not see anything wrong in discussing the wonders of God, for we cannot truly comprehend God.
"No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision He is above all comprehension, yet is acquainted with all things."
6103God tells you attributes of Himself so you can get some idea of God without anthropomorphizing him as human beings always do in religion. He tells you He is indeed the Truth, the Light, the Sovereign. I personally believe He defines these characteristics rather than He has assigned them to Himself. God says
"The most beautiful names belong to Allah so call on him by them; but shun such men as use profanity in his names for what they do, they will soon be requited."
God's nature defines all we see as beautiful and worthy of praise rather than what we see as beautiful is akin to God. At the same time this does not limit what God is. My understanding is God is not emmanent, He is not reality nor are we living in him (there is nothing in the Qur'an to make me believe so) God says He is ever-watchful of His Creation. I believe him to be Transcendent and Emmanent at the same time.
At the same time, I may be wrong, Possibly we are existing in the "mind" of God. But this is just me putting limitations on God because I do not truly know. Our own perception of reality may not be the same as God's indeed 3-dimensions may be a crude way of looking at the Universe and other dimensions, which we may be given knowledge of when we are raised again, will give the universe more cohesion.