The Big Bang and a Century of Science[part2]:The True Nature of Reality

Friends,

I was surfing an Islamic website,www.islamic-world.net today and discovered a gem!!! This is Malaysian based website!!!. World class!!!Headed by Prof Muhammad al-Mahdi. No Dato'ship or Tan Seri-ship here, just the simple honorific Prof but his contribution to Truth here is better than a hundred Tan Sri's.

If you peruse through my earlier writings, on Tuesday 13th May 2008 I wrote on 'Surah al-Anbiya :The Big Bang and a Century of Science',my 2nd article in the blog in fact, after the celebrated 'Lina Joy' affair.
[also, Surah al-Anbiya 21 : 30, 'heavens and earth.' start from one point....May 18th, 2008.....].

I was lamenting on the inability of most Western physicists 'to see God' in their work. Their inability and refusal to see ' intelligent design' behind this universe, even though , of all people the physicists are the ones 'mapping out' the 'finger print' of God on this universe."Intelligent design' stood out like a sore 'elephant' in front of them! A high sense of 'ignorant arrogance' or most probably 'feigned ignorance' of the 1st order that 99 % of them missed it..

Any 2nd year science students across the globe would be familiar with Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle of matter. From there one proceed to the more 'hazy' and mind boggling Albert Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity and his famous formullae : E=MC squared where E is energy, M stood for Mass and C is a constant representing the speed of light[ 300,000 km per second!]. The collective'destructive' brains of this 'material' world of that time looked at this formullae, within the constraint , stress and rat race to get the 1st nuclear fission bomb during the 2nd World War, and lo and behold we have the 'atom' bomb with such destructive power 'tried' on the 'yellow perils' ie the Japanese. [ Why not on the Germans you may ask...Long story the historians may answer but again history is always written by the victors! Just look at Iraq ! ]

Actually ,E=MC squared, is the formullae that 'unites the spiritual ,'non material' world to the 'material world', according to the good professor. E stands for 'absolute light', that is light itself. M stands for 'relative light' that are made up of electrons,neutrons and protons.One do not see protons, neutrons or electrons but it is there.C is 300,000. You square it and that explain the collousal destruction that followed. On the other hand if you are 'rightly' guided, God willing, you would be able to see God, angels [ alam Malikut , from 'light'], and man from earth as the khalifah of this universe, in such elegant formullae.

Listen to the good Prof Muhammad al-Mahdi carefully in his 'elegant' and mind boogling audio presentation on The True Nature of Reality and 'intelligent design' at : http://http://www.islamic-world.net/
Go to section: Mechanism behind intelligent design, and enjoy the audio. He was the missing link I have been searching since may 2008. I knew for years after reading Abdal Qadir as-Sufi's seminal work, ' The way of Muhammad' ,that E= MC squared has higher meanings than what it seemed but could not put my finger on it .Now Prof Muhammad al-Mahdi had elegantly put it on the 'silver platter' for us all to fathom and gain an 'atom' of insight into God's work : God , the Absolute, malaikat from light, and man from 'earth', 'Time' before time,ten thousand billion billion stars starting from a 'point of singularity'[ Surah al-Anbiya, ayat 30... ], and Kun Fayakun, starting something from nothing!

Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawkin [ A short history of the universe ], Brian Green [ Elegant universe ], Leon Ledderman [ The God particle ], and above all the rest, Albert Einstein himself, all knew too much science but all these men of science, like those 'blind men' feeling the proverbial 'elephant' missed the crux of the matter when they are too proud and too arrogant to accept the truth and follow their conscience to where their knowledge lead them. You can have an IQ of 200 and the best read in the world but without 'hidayah' you are just like a donkey carrying a whole load of books! As the Quran succinctly puts it: " They repudiated them wrongly and haughtily, in spite of their own certainty about them. See the final fate of the corrupters." [ Surah an-Naml, 14 ]

GOd need no science to validate Him before ,now or in the future,but in 2009 when science reigned supreme in our psyche, and when one 'hamba allah' with a strong background of quantum physics come along who can justify the universe along scientific lines, then why not?I am proud to be Malaysian today!
Listen to Prof Muhammad al-Mahdi......

Dr Nik Howk

Spiritual Confusion, Liberal Islam...A Dissenting View

Friends,

A major problem with Muslim Malaysia nowadays, if one examine the issue of 'religious and political freedom of expression' closely, is not that of increasing narrowness of freedom of expression per se. Accepted that we are not America, and nor do we want to be America or Britain. People who still wish we are perhaps can softly and quietly migrate to these 'so called 'Lands of the Free' where there they can 'burn the Quran', if one fine day they woke up on the wrong side of their beds and in their hearts of hearts,felt so. That is freedom as they interpret it.Freedom to denigrate and sneer thy neighbours!

Malaysian's freedom , so to speak, has been 'hijacked' by some few individuals who are 'media savvy',be it electronic, mainstream or within the cyber space.It is a case of a small group given the option and the 'public space' by people who control the mainly secular media[ for purpose to further their own interest], to make the loudest noise, as if they are the mainstream 'thoughts and soul of our soceity. In the main, these individuals generally are upper Malay middle class in upbringing, have excellent control of the English language, years and years of public funded secular, oxbridge education or the likes, and until recently, highly sought after and courted by the so called National Press [ Thank God, that Mamak fella has lost his job with NST and now using his talent elsewhere !] and print media. Their hobby horse: pandering to the gallery of mainly ignorant, similarly secular audience, Malay Muslims and non Muslims Malaysians ready to join the bandwagon of 'Islam bashing', at least if not physical, 'mental' will do [ just read the letters section of Farish's OtherMalaysia blog in the 'link' section, and you will know what I mean.]

These individuals are no doubt Muslim by names [ and sadly by 'National definition'], less so in spirit. They are what God termed as 'sellers of the Religion for a 'fistfull of ringgit'. They , at least for some of them , enjoy unlimited business class travel to oversea conferences selling their 'moans and groans'[ you know who I am alluding to], international media hypes and funding [ Ford Foundation funded some of them to the hilt], etc etc and etc.If they are within the academic circles, they get their 'highs' from the gallery of applause whenever they 'score' with their convoluted arguments and circuitous reasonings.

During Pak Lah's time we see and hear too many of them, discussing Islam and professing their brand of Islam even within the proximity of Sri Perdana Putrajaya. That phase of political 'immunity' has ended but one has only to read the writings of the likes of Farish Noor and Marina Mahathir et al to realise that they are still well and flourishing.

It is always fashionable, and trendy to lament on politically correct but contentious issues such as 'human rights', gay rights, liberal feminism, the unfairness of 'Faraid', polygamy in Islam, 'democratic space' to discuss and dissect Islam in the lay press[ for whatever it means ] by 'lay' people etc etc but these chaps do have to thread carefully on issues that borders on the 'aqidah'. To make matters worse open it to a gallery of equally ignorant and secular minded populace, and at worse to non Muslims. In plural Malaysia I question the wisdom of this very public 'slaying' of Islam. It is alright if one wants to burn one's bra or even the Quran in Central Square, Copenhagen.Not inKuala Lumpur, please....

Yes, it is similarly trendy and sounds intellectually profound to be able to say that 'at the highest level, there is transcendence of all religions, that all religions are the same' but do these people understand or comprehend what they are regurgitating like parrots what the likes of erudite scholars like Martin Ling, Prof Fazlur Rahman, Hussien Nasr et al, meant. Even then, the fully 'converted' like Prof Syed Naguib al Attas, former doyen of ISTAC and his more humble and junior colleague Prof Wan Muhammad of ATMA UKM, have high reservation. Certainly both of them think Martin Ling et al are treading on 'boggy ground'.

The contentious issue of 'transcendence of religions aside', it is easier to accept that 'Kufr at its highest level, does transcends all religions'. Serious food for thought.

" Is he who goeth groping on his face more rightly guided, or he who walketh on a straight road? [22]. Say [unto them , O Muhammad]: He it is who gave you being, and hath assigned unto you ears and eyes and hearts. Small thanks gave ye! [23].".......[ Surah al Mulk: 67, 22-23 ]

'Muslim Blood-letting' all across the globe.......

Friends,

"Muslim blood-letting' is occuring with alarming regularity in the past and present. It is no longer on 'an individual basis' but also has been upgraded as a 'national sport' in some regions of the world. Just take the case of the recent massarce in Narathiwat, Southern Thailand when eleven people were machine gunned to death in a mosque. It sounds like Peshawar or Rawalpindi and the Thai government was fast in putting the blame on intra Muslim strife as the cause, assuming there are 'naive people' around the world able to accept whatever they put up with. One basic important ingredient was missing in the Patani Massarce,which is the sine qua non of all intra Muslim blood letting the world over: schism amongst the Muslims of Narathiwat, as there are in Pakistan. They are 100 % Sunni !

It is high time the Buddhist government of Thailand wake up and set their 'Southern House' in order. World Muslim tolerance of what is going on can only go so far. If you' cannot govern and feed 'your' people despite their differences in the way they pray, give them liberty or give them autonomy . Fifty years on and 'you' guys are still searching for a formulla. That is poor governance by any standard. 'You' are very lucky the Muslim world is so disunited and in disarray ! And for God sake please stop pointing fingers at your neighbours !

Prophet Muhammad[ peace be upon him] was 100 % spot on when he prophesised 1450 years ago, in a well known hadith sahih, that 'there will come a time in the future when Muslims would be pushed aside like flotsams in the ocean'. A sahabat asked him what was wrong with the Muslims, were they few in number and he replied that ' they were numerous then but they all have lost the spirit of Islam, they are Muslims in name only' to that effect as I recall.

OIC as usual looks on and say 'Oh I see'.

Dr Nik Howk
Read: Of Slow Temiang and tales from Yala.....under 'diary', Monday 6th April, 2009

Muhammad Abduh

"I went to a place where there was Islam without Muslims and I came from a place where there were Muslims without Islam"

Muhammad Abduh, the Egyptian Islamic reformist, on his first visit to Paris.

The Straight Path :.....of Judaism, Christianity and Islam..

Friends,

I find, London based Hussain M Abbara's " The Straight Path " a good, worthwhile read. I think this book that come in two volumes, is easily available here since the publisher is KL based. Try, http://www.hikmahmedia.net/ or editor@hikmah.net

I reproduce here an exceprt from chapter three of the book, in which the author did a short discourse on the similarities and differences of Judaism, Christianity and Islam for your 'sample' reading.

Dr Nik Howk

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Muslims admit that there are certain similarities between them, since they believe that all Divine Revelations came from the same Source, the One Universal God. They also believe that there was relationships between authentic original Scriptures, but those Sciptures in the present form have been adapted to changing beliefs and conceptions. The Bible, for instance, is found in several versions.

Some parallels are bound to exist in the various moral systems but there are nevertheless certain basic points of discord. As Dr G. Badawi has pointed out, some of these many essential differences refute the thesis of the Judaeo-Christian origin of Islam.

Such differences cover a wide spectrum of topics, including the concept of " original sin ", the necessity of blood sacrifice, forgiveness of one's sins through someone else, the question of intermediaries between man and God, the necessity for the authority of a religious hierarchy, the concept of the sabbath, the concept of prophethood, essential information about previous prophets, the presence or absence of an inherent conflict between matter and spirit, and between body and soul, the concept of man's role on earth and the meaning of "religion", and whether religion covers just the spiritual aspect of man's life or the totality of it.

A discussion of such differences could extend to almost any lengths.

Islam reaffirms all previous Messengers, including both Moses and Jesus, as proponents of Islam, since they preached the worship of One God. Muslims, therefore, are urged by their faith to respect all prophets and revere all of them in equal measure, giving them as much reverence as they give Prophet Muhammad. " And verily We gave unto Moses the Scripture and We caused a train of Messengers to follow him and We gave unto Jesus, the son of Mary, clear proof of [ God's ] Sovereignty and We supported him with the Holy Spirit. Is it ever so, that, when there cometh unto you a Messenger [ from God ] with that which ye yourselves desire not, you grow arrogant? Some ye disbelieve and some ye slay. " [ 2 : 87 ].

Christians believe that Christianity is the only true religion, with Judaism as its precursor. " Both Jews and Christains say, " We are God's children and His beloved ones.' Say: ' Why then does He cause you to suffer from your sins? Nay, you are but human beings of His creations." [ 5 : 18 ]

The Jews believe that God chose the Children of Israel of all races and people for the purpose of revealing His religion. It is confirmed by the Quran that God blessed them and favoured them above all other people, and sent Prophets to them, but when they rejected the message of Jesus because it was not according to their desires, they denied the Truth. All who deny the truth are rejected by God. " Shame and misery were stamped upon them and they incurred Wrath of God. This is because they were rejecting the Signs of God." [ 2 : 61 ].

The Jews did not accept Muhammad, the Last prophet of God, any more than the Christians do. The Muslim believes in the Divine Origin of the other two monotheistic religions, viz. Judaism and Christianity, and in their Prophets, and has a profound love and respect for both Moses and Jesus, believing that God is the loving Creator of all the peoples of the world without discrimination.

"Verily, the noblest of you in the Sight of God is the one who is most deeply concious of Him." [ 49 : 13 ]. This verse refers to people of all religions and places, not just Arabs or those who call themselves Muslims but are without true belief and piety.

There are many uncertainties in the New Testament. The Gospels tell the life of Jesus in different ways. " He has left no written law. His Gospel was written on the tablet of his heart and he delivered his Message of 'Good news', not in script, but orally." The Children's Encyclopaedia Britannica teaches us that the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, were written for Christians who did not know the full story of the life of Christ.

John, who wrote his Gospel last, took it for granted that the story was well known. The Books of the New Testament began to be collected together in the second century and were finally declared to be Word of God in 397 C. E. [ after the Roman Empire had become Christians ]. They were probably written in Greek, though Jesus himself spoke Aramaic. This may be why, in many places, the Gospels conflict with one another. There is no Gospel extant which is written in the language Jesus spoke.

The Old testament was written in the 10th Century B.C.E. and additions were made to it over the next few centuries.

The Quran, on the other hand, was immediately memorised and written down by Muhammad's companions and remains the same to this day. In any case, the very words of the Quran are, in terms of form and content , beyond the ability of the highest scholar, in so far as its content observes the genuine previous content of the Old and New Testaments.

As God is the Author of the Quran, its words are superior to those of the previous Books. It has been preserved intact, rather than collected by different scholars in different languages, and this is especially important since spiritual literature cannot meaningfully be translated into another language. For example, if any translator could translate the Quran from Arabic to English, his work would fall short by several degrees of the original.

The Old Testament and the Quran condemn the doctrine of Three Persons in God: God the father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The New Testament does not expressly hold or defend it, but, even if it contains hints or traces concerning the Trinity, this is no authority at all, because it was neither seen nor written by Christ himself, nor was it in the language he spoke. For at least the first two centuries after him it did not exist in its present form and content.

The idea of Trinity conflicts with 'Jesus' teaching, for Mark[ 12, 29-30 ] says "Hear O Israel! The Lord thy God is One God." In the Old Testament, God is called the Father because of His being a loving Creator and Protector, but, as Churches have abused the Name, the Quran has justly refrained from using it.

The Quran preaches the plain, simple Unity of God. "Say: He is the One God, the Eternal, the Uncaused, Cause of all being, He begets not neither is He begotten; and there is nothing that can be compared with Him" [112:1-4]. The Quran adresses in different places an appeal not merely to the Christians, who attribute divinity to Jesus and certain aspects of divinity to their saints, but also to the Jews of Arabia, who assign quasi-divine authority to Ezra and even to some of their great Talmudic scholars.

It says, "Say: 'O followers of earlier Revelations! Come unto that tenet which we and you hold in common: that we shall worship none but God, and that we shall not ascribe divinity to aught beside Him, and that we shall not take human beings for our Lords beside God.'" [3: 64]

The ascribing of divinity to others besides God is levelled against both Jews and Christians to add to the statement that they "do not follow the religion of Truth which God has enjoined upon them. The Quran elucidates their intention when it says, "And the Jews say, 'Ezra is God's Son,' while the Christians say, 'The Christ is God's Son.'" That is what they say with their mouths, following in spirit assertions made in earlier times by people who denied the Truth. They have taken their Rabbis and their priests- as well as the Christ, son of Mary- for their lords besides God, although they have been commanded to worship none but the One God, save Whom there is no deity: the One Who is utterly remote, in His Limitless Glory, from anything to which they may ascribe a share in His Divinity." [9:30-1]

" God is He save Whom there is no deity; the One Who knows all that is beyond the reach of a created being's perception, as well as all that can be witnessed by a creature's senses or mind. He is the Most Gracious, the Dispenser of Grace. God is He save Whom there is no deity; The Sovereign Supreme. The Holy, the One with Whom all salvation rests, the Giver of Faith, the One Who determines what is true and false, the Almighty, Who subdues wrong and restores right, the One to Whom all Greatness belongs. Utterly removed is God, in His limitless Glory, from anything to which men may ascribe a share in His Divinity. He is God, the Creator, the Maker, Who shapes all forms and appearances. His [alone] are the Attributes of Perfection. All that is in the heavens and on earth extol His Limitless Glory, for he alone is Almighty, Truly Wise." [59: 22-24]

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There you are, an exceprt from Hussain M Abbara's " The Straight Path ', certainly not a short read. Two volumes. Highly readable for all: discerning 'lovers', ritual Muslims [ as that Petra guy puts it. By the way where is he now? ], doubters, and dissenters.

For millions of 'ritual Muslims', myself included,extra knowledge is certainly not harmful. 'Lucifers' everywhere , at the work place, at home, during prayers , after prayers, during play and most importantly even during our death throes, for while our relatives and family 'surround' us with the 'proverbial' safety net of the 'much abused' Surah Yasin [..... a Malay phenomenon whereby we commit Yasin to memory without even knowing the meaning and leave the rest of the Quran high and dry on the shelf... ] and we are elsewhere 'fighting' our inner battles with Lucifer. Our 'amalan and 'faith' will no doubt, to some degree insyallah, be able to keep them apart, insyaallah[ how far apart Allahualam ], but only through 'knowledge' and more 'knowledge' our 'amalan' and 'faith' could be further strenghtened. Knowledge is the ultimate 'vitamin' and elixir to 'amalan' and 'faith'.Our 'amalan' and 'faith' waxes and wane like the changing tide, knowledge will energise them further. There is a 'sahih' hadith in fact, correct me if I am wrong, ,quantifying the difference between the prayer of the 'learned' from one who just follow blindly: The difference is between the Sun and the Earth! Mashaallah ! Allahualam.

[ Cross-link in Pearls & Gem : Wednesday, May 14th 2008...Trinity, Surah An Nisa { 4 : 171 } ]

[ 18th May, 2008 under 'personalities' : A day in the life of a Ritual Muslim ]

An Equestrian Journey: Asadullah Khan a.k.a CuChullaine O' Reilly

......Some days these tragic events which weigh upon our souls today will be naught but a footnote. Empires fade. Wrongs will be righted, and the Quran is still right when it says:

"But God, in His infinite mercy and love,

 Who Forgives and guides individuals and nations,

 And Turns to good even what it seem to us as evil.

 Never forsakes the struggling soul that turn to Him."

We Muslims believe that our deeds are personified, that there are witnesses for us and against us. Many of my previous deeds were dark ones born  of war and misunderstanding.

Now after my struggles, after many lands, I have ultimately come to believe that I am only three things.

I am a Muslim, a Scholar, and a Horseman.

Anything else is but dust and mirage of this fleeting image which we call life.

See you on the trail, Saddle pals.

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......An equestrian journey is not merely about covering vast amount of mileage. It is a journey that helps you see the world's pretensions, and opens you up to adventure of self conquest. It is a journey you and your horse take to reach the borders of an otherwise invisible place.

It is an antidote to the world's  obsession with speed because the three- mile per hour pace of your horse forces you to slow down your body, which in turn results in opening up your spirit. It allows you to ride on the secret trail traced deep inside your soul.

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Asadullah Khan a.k.a CuChullaine O' Reilly,

Founder of Long Riders Guild.

[ Go to Link: "An Equestrian Journey". Read, A word from the Founder ]

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The road leads neither East nor West, but within.

Rumi.

 

Shaikh Abd'al al- Qadir al- Jilani

Three things inevitably demand the attention of every believer under all circumstances:
A commandment to be obeyed,
a prohibition to be respected,
and a divine decree to be accepted with good grace.

In even the most trivial situation, at least one of the three is bound to apply. The believer must therefore keep his mind and feelings focussed upon them, talk to himself about them, and practice the physical discipline they require of him all the time.

Shaikh Abd'al al-Qadir al-Jilani,
in Futuh al- Ghaib," Revelations of The Unseen ".
Translated from Arabic by Muhtar Holland.