Ideas Inspired by the Qur an Part 2

Ideas Inspired by the Qur'an, 2023

“We know GOD better than we know ourselves.” This is the first sentence of the book – a statement that poses a challenge to three types of readers. Muslim and Non-Muslim readers with an interest in philosophy may be surprised to learn how the Qur’ān can illuminate the problem of evil, the rationality of faith, the limits of science and religion, and the nature of reality. Where do the ideas of Plato, Aristotle, Al-Ghazzālī, Vico, Mill, and Spengler fit within the frame of Qur’ānic metaphysics? How were the modern demand to ‘see’ God and the persistent elevation of facts over values both anticipated and dismissed as moral and intellectual failures in the Qur’ān? Many Muslim readers will be nonplussed to learn how little of the Qur’ān they have digested fresh from its Source. As Islamic society faces accelerating cultural collapse, cognitive dissonance, and loss of self-confidence, where in the Qur’ān can they find the inspiration and courage to keep up the struggle? What are the ideas they need to defend their faith against scientism, secularism, and loss of the Divine? Has God become a distant father-figure for them, or is He still the heartfelt Reality of their lives? Most importantly, the Qur’ān challenges you. You may consider yourself free of all categories, but there is no exemption from one reality, namely that “You did not get to choose ‘you.’ But for the grace of GOD, ‘you’ might be someone else.” Whether you call yourself an atheist, an agnostic, a Christian, a scientist, a believer, a scholar, or just an observer, you need to decide who and where you are vis-à-vis your personal Absolute … be that Truth, Love, Peace, or whatever you hold as your Highest Value. By what we see in ourselves as our ultimate meaning, purpose, or ideal, we are on our way to GOD. With Him in mind (and taken to heart), we need nothing else. And so we read, in closing, a statement that offers a lifetime of deep thoughts and high hopes: “If AL-LĀH is all you have, you have it all.”

Ideas Inspired by the Qur'an, 2023

“We know GOD better than we know ourselves.” This is the first sentence of the book – a statement that poses a challenge to three types of readers. Muslim and Non-Muslim readers with an interest in philosophy may be surprised to learn how the Qur’ān can illuminate the problem of evil, the rationality of faith, the limits of science and religion, and the nature of reality. Where do the ideas of Plato, Aristotle, Al-Ghazzālī, Vico, Mill, and Spengler fit within the frame of Qur’ānic metaphysics? How were the modern demand to ‘see’ God and the persistent elevation of facts over values both anticipated and dismissed as moral and intellectual failures in the Qur’ān? Many Muslim readers will be nonplussed to learn how little of the Qur’ān they have digested fresh from its Source. As Islamic society faces accelerating cultural collapse, cognitive dissonance, and loss of self-confidence, where in the Qur’ān can they find the inspiration and courage to keep up the struggle? What are the ideas they need to defend their faith against scientism, secularism, and loss of the Divine? Has God become a distant father-figure for them, or is He still the heartfelt Reality of their lives? Most importantly, the Qur’ān challenges you. You may consider yourself free of all categories, but there is no exemption from one reality, namely that “You did not get to choose ‘you.’ But for the grace of GOD, ‘you’ might be someone else.” Whether you call yourself an atheist, an agnostic, a Christian, a scientist, a believer, a scholar, or just an observer, you need to decide who and where you are vis-à-vis your personal Absolute … be that Truth, Love, Peace, or whatever you hold as your Highest Value. By what we see in ourselves as our ultimate meaning, purpose, or ideal, we are on our way to GOD. With Him in mind (and taken to heart), we need nothing else. And so we read, in closing, a statement that offers a lifetime of deep thoughts and high hopes: “If AL-LĀH is all you have, you have it all.”

Ideas Inspired by the Qur'an, 2023

“We know GOD better than we know ourselves.” This is the first sentence of the book – a statement that poses a challenge to three types of readers. Muslim and Non-Muslim readers with an interest in philosophy may be surprised to learn how the Qur’ān can illuminate the problem of evil, the rationality of faith, the limits of science and religion, and the nature of reality. Where do the ideas of Plato, Aristotle, Al-Ghazzālī, Vico, Mill, and Spengler fit within the frame of Qur’ānic metaphysics? How were the modern demand to ‘see’ God and the persistent elevation of facts over values both anticipated and dismissed as moral and intellectual failures in the Qur’ān? Many Muslim readers will be nonplussed to learn how little of the Qur’ān they have digested fresh from its Source. As Islamic society faces accelerating cultural collapse, cognitive dissonance, and loss of self-confidence, where in the Qur’ān can they find the inspiration and courage to keep up the struggle? What are the ideas they need to defend their faith against scientism, secularism, and loss of the Divine? Has God become a distant father-figure for them, or is He still the heartfelt Reality of their lives? Most importantly, the Qur’ān challenges you. You may consider yourself free of all categories, but there is no exemption from one reality, namely that “You did not get to choose ‘you.’ But for the grace of GOD, ‘you’ might be someone else.” Whether you call yourself an atheist, an agnostic, a Christian, a scientist, a believer, a scholar, or just an observer, you need to decide who and where you are vis-à-vis your personal Absolute … be that Truth, Love, Peace, or whatever you hold as your Highest Value. By what we see in ourselves as our ultimate meaning, purpose, or ideal, we are on our way to GOD. With Him in mind (and taken to heart), we need nothing else. And so we read, in closing, a statement that offers a lifetime of deep thoughts and high hopes: “If AL-LĀH is all you have, you have it all.”

Ideas Inspired by the Qur'an, 2023

“We know GOD better than we know ourselves.” This is the first sentence of the book – a statement that poses a challenge to three types of readers. Muslim and Non-Muslim readers with an interest in philosophy may be surprised to learn how the Qur’ān can illuminate the problem of evil, the rationality of faith, the limits of science and religion, and the nature of reality. Where do the ideas of Plato, Aristotle, Al-Ghazzālī, Vico, Mill, and Spengler fit within the frame of Qur’ānic metaphysics? How were the modern demand to ‘see’ God and the persistent elevation of facts over values both anticipated and dismissed as moral and intellectual failures in the Qur’ān? Many Muslim readers will be nonplussed to learn how little of the Qur’ān they have digested fresh from its Source. As Islamic society faces accelerating cultural collapse, cognitive dissonance, and loss of self-confidence, where in the Qur’ān can they find the inspiration and courage to keep up the struggle? What are the ideas they need to defend their faith against scientism, secularism, and loss of the Divine? Has God become a distant father-figure for them, or is He still the heartfelt Reality of their lives? Most importantly, the Qur’ān challenges you. You may consider yourself free of all categories, but there is no exemption from one reality, namely that “You did not get to choose ‘you.’ But for the grace of GOD, ‘you’ might be someone else.” Whether you call yourself an atheist, an agnostic, a Christian, a scientist, a believer, a scholar, or just an observer, you need to decide who and where you are vis-à-vis your personal Absolute … be that Truth, Love, Peace, or whatever you hold as your Highest Value. By what we see in ourselves as our ultimate meaning, purpose, or ideal, we are on our way to GOD. With Him in mind (and taken to heart), we need nothing else. And so we read, in closing, a statement that offers a lifetime of deep thoughts and high hopes: “If AL-LĀH is all you have, you have it all.”

Ideas Inspired by the Qur'an, 2023

“We know GOD better than we know ourselves.” This is the first sentence of the book – a statement that poses a challenge to three types of readers. Muslim and Non-Muslim readers with an interest in philosophy may be surprised to learn how the Qur’ān can illuminate the problem of evil, the rationality of faith, the limits of science and religion, and the nature of reality. Where do the ideas of Plato, Aristotle, Al-Ghazzālī, Vico, Mill, and Spengler fit within the frame of Qur’ānic metaphysics? How were the modern demand to ‘see’ God and the persistent elevation of facts over values both anticipated and dismissed as moral and intellectual failures in the Qur’ān? Many Muslim readers will be nonplussed to learn how little of the Qur’ān they have digested fresh from its Source. As Islamic society faces accelerating cultural collapse, cognitive dissonance, and loss of self-confidence, where in the Qur’ān can they find the inspiration and courage to keep up the struggle? What are the ideas they need to defend their faith against scientism, secularism, and loss of the Divine? Has God become a distant father-figure for them, or is He still the heartfelt Reality of their lives? Most importantly, the Qur’ān challenges you. You may consider yourself free of all categories, but there is no exemption from one reality, namely that “You did not get to choose ‘you.’ But for the grace of GOD, ‘you’ might be someone else.” Whether you call yourself an atheist, an agnostic, a Christian, a scientist, a believer, a scholar, or just an observer, you need to decide who and where you are vis-à-vis your personal Absolute … be that Truth, Love, Peace, or whatever you hold as your Highest Value. By what we see in ourselves as our ultimate meaning, purpose, or ideal, we are on our way to GOD. With Him in mind (and taken to heart), we need nothing else. And so we read, in closing, a statement that offers a lifetime of deep thoughts and high hopes: “If AL-LĀH is all you have, you have it all.”

Islamic Studies Journal, 2023

This article argues that the attacks of atheists or philosophers against the Islamic conception of God (i.e., Allah) are constructed on the misunderstood notion of Islamic theology. Because God is already at a station where the standards of reason alone are frivolous if His existence is understood vis-à-vis the claimed teleological essence of His message (Islam). The fundamental approach here is to highlight the doctrinally necessary transcendence of God vis-à-vis human epistemological tools in Islam in the light of its objective (i.e., a test of faith). This article demonstrates the normatively affirmed limitations of reason in logically necessitating the being of Allah under the faith-test dynamic of Islam, which is a necessary component of the purpose of human existence according to the Qur'ān. The article aims to establish the necessity of faith vis-à-vis a designed limitation of the capabilities of the logical arguments for God's existence through three major claims: faith in the unseen, Allah's signs in creation, and the trial of faith, all three being rooted in the Qur'ān. The article also explains the nature of imān in the system of Islamic epistemology, referring to the works of Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī and Ibn Taymiyyah and highlighting the incoherent, unreasonable scepticism of atheists in attacking Islamic theism through the principles of reason.

2003

Attraction to the invisible world is in man's primordial nature 2. The Straight Path means a combination of exoterism and esoterism 3. The Holy Qur‹ān calls for purification along with intellection 4. Mullā Ó Sadrā's recommendation for humility of the heart and acquiring intellectual sciences 5. The chain of gnostics during the last hundred years 6. Reasons and motivations for compilation of this treatise       ⁄  7. The human being in the darkness of materialism 8. Wayfaring and spiritual journey according to the gnostics 9. Difficulties in passing through the intermediate world and the realm of multiplicity of the soul vii 10. The spiritual traveler entering the realm of spirit 11. The goal of the traveler is companionship with God and His Image 12. Murāqabah, its stages, and effects 13. The meaning of wine (mey) according to gnostics 14. The traveler observes his own soul 15. The traveler observes Divine Names and Attributes 16. Immersion in the Divine Essence of the Lord and subsistence in the Worshiped 17. The station of being present in the world of multiplicity while simultaneously witnessing and experiencing the realms of Divine Lordship 18. Reasons why not everyone can reach the station of human perfection 19. The inability of words to describe the realities of the lights of catharsis and the Realms of Divine Lordship 20. The world of sincerity (khulūÓ s) and its hierarchy 21. Peculiarities and manifestations of sincerity of essence (khulūÓ s-i dhātī) 22. Freedom from the world of multiplicity is one of the first and most essential necessities of spiritual journey 23. One's detachment from one's essence 24. The need for Divine Grace for total victory in the struggle against the carnal soul 25. The necessity of observing all religious duties throughout spiritual journey 26. Observing religious duties by the Perfect Man is by virtue of perfection, and not for finding proximity to God 27. Brief description of the realms preceding the realm of sincerity (khulūÓ s) according to Qur‹ān viii Contents           K H U LŪÓ S ⁄  28. The Greater Islām (Islām-i Akbar) 29. The Greater Faith (Īmān-i Akbar) 30. The Greater Migration (Hijrat-i Kubrā) 31. The Greater Spiritual Struggle (Jihād-i Akbar) 32. The Greatest Submission (Islām-i a⁄aÔ zam) 33. The Greatest Faith (Īmān-i a⁄aÔ zam) 34. The Greatest Migration (Hijrāt-i ⁄uÔ zmā) and the Greatest Spiritual Struggle (Jihād-i a⁄aÔ zam) 35. Choosing to Die 36. Explanation: Special privileges granted to Muslim spiritual travelers over travelers of of previous religions 37. The Station of Righteousness (Ò SulūÓ h) 38. Different kinds of righteousness (Ò SalāÓ h)              ⁄  39. The necessity to seek reason to prove the truth of religion 40. The effects of lamentation and pleading to God with humility to find faith in the World of Meaning 41. Conversation between the prophet Ò HaÓ drat-i Idrīs with ⁄Allāmah Ò TabāÓ tabā‹ī in a dream 42. God will guide those who search guidance from Him with sincerity and purity of heart Contents ix 43. Knowledge and action complement each other 44. The necessity of having bodily organs share the joy of faith 45. The absence of sadness and fear for the selfless traveler 46. Wayfaring in the Angelical Kingdom is not in contradiction with being in this world 47. Prayers and supplications of the Shī⁄ite Imāms were not merely for guiding and teaching purposes

The Qur'an was revealed by Almighty Allah through Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) to mankind to bring them out of the disorienting and debilitating darkness of falsehood, ignorance and superstitions to the light and radiance of truth, guidance and proper erudition. The Qur'an is the only means available to man by which he can communicate directly with his Creator, Master and Sustainer. No other alternative is left as all the previous Scriptures have been tampered with, corrupted or utterly lost. This indeed is a hallmark of the Islamic message. Man needs no intermediaries of any kind-conceptual or physical-between him and his Master. The whole life affair is solely between man and Allah. Everything and everyone else stands for a secondary thing, playing second fiddle to that overwhelming relationship. Allah is only a Qur'anic verse (ayah), a contemplative thought, or a sincere supplication "away". Man has been created but to worship and serve Allah (al-Dhariyat, 56). However, this by no means implies that man is to engross himself fully and exclusively in sheer religious rituals and spend most of his terrestrial time mainly in mosques or some other religious institutions and establishments. Indeed, such would be impractical, uninspiring and dull an affair. Rather, that means that man in his capacity as Allah's vicegerent on earth is to live his life " to the fullest " but only according to the patterns and paradigms instituted by the Creator. Man is to live his life not according to his own will, but according to the will of the Creator and Cherisher of life. Each and every creation is to submit itself only to its Creator, rather than other creations. So imperfect, faulty and weak is man-and indeed every other creation-that he cannot be qualified for any of the tasks relating to the spiritual and existential lordship and self-sufficiency. That said, Islam is not a religion in the sense Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc., are. Islam is a complete way of life. It is a comprehensive lifestyle, culture and civilization. It is a form of total submission to the will, knowledge and guidance of Allah. Islam is not a religion of mere words, slogans, or symbols. It is not a religion of an abstract philosophy, or a set of pure religious rituals. Islam knows no distinction between the spiritual and material spheres of existence along the ideological and ontological lines. To assert something like that is to distort the Islamic message and to live in the wrong. Due to the unity and oneness of Allah (tawhid), Islam likewise propagates the unity and oneness of truth and of the meaning, purpose and providence of life and man. Islam is a religion of sincere faith (iman), actions and deeds ('amal salih). It is a religion of life accomplishments. Islam is life, and life, the way Allah created and predetermined it, echoes the quintessence and ethos of Islam. The word " islam " which denotes a total submission to Allah through one's acts, words and thoughts, clearly attests to it. Hence, there is nothing more thrilling, spellbinding, wholesome and rewarding than living life in the name of and for the Creator of the universe. Submitting fully to and worshipping Allah alone means personal liberation, self-assertion and self-fulfillment in the truest senses of those words.