Comments on Technology of the Heart: Recommended Reading: Ishanusharan | The Imitation ...

جزاك الله خير S:)

2010-07-15T16:06:03.298+06:00

جزاك الله خير

S:)

Sadiq, You did answer my question, thank you for ...

2010-07-15T13:06:57.915+06:00

Sadiq,

You did answer my question, thank you for that.

In regards to my friend, I did forget to mention one thing that actually irks me the most.

She is deadset on becoming a missionary, in the sense that she spreads Christianity to "non-believers". This is what I disagree with. She has a special relationship with God, and that is unique to her. However because of her lack of knowledge of other faiths, she cannot comprehend the idea that there are, as the old Sufi masters put it: "as many paths to God as there are souls on earth". She believes the path she has found is the only path, and thats what I find most improper.

Thanks for the response. I very much enjoy you're blog, please keep writing fantastic posts.

When I read about your friend for who knowledge of...

2010-07-15T01:14:53.625+06:00

When I read about your friend for who knowledge of her faith is sufficient, for who love for her Lord is sufficient, for who single pointed devotion to Christ is sufficeint - if we are able to see her from the Gaze of Love, we would see a different reality. Her refusal to learn other ten thousand things which her heart things useless - is probably useless, in reality.

For her the criteria to differentiate right from wrong is the Testament and if she is a sincere devotee, and Allah knows the best of His servants and their condition, then love shall suffice. May God bless her soul and raise her spiritual aspirations.

You know we all have our own path. To reach God we all have to search our own unique path, no matter how many things we might have in common: faith, school of thought, school of jurisprudence, church, same madhab - end of the day - its each soul journeing alone to its Source.

Please let me know if I failed to touch any areas you wanted to elaborate more and I ask your forgiveness in advance for that.

Dear Helena, You are such a gifted soul and I am e...

2010-07-15T01:08:26.290+06:00

Dear Helena,
You are such a gifted soul and I am ever grateful for Beloved making us meet. The way the grace filled book have effect on you as you shared in your personal email more elaborately is a direct witness of "the Glance" with which you're blessed.

Whenever the Remembrance of the Lord, the Possessor of Glory, shakes our inner core, our being - that is an affirmed sign of a high station of the soul. The Lord reveals in the Revelation that true devotees station is such that their heart chakra activates and opens when the Name of the Lord is mentioned.

May Allah preserve your station, raise it even more and may your love for Him reward you with gifts our mind can never comprehend, both in this life and the hereafter.

with love, blessings and peace

Dear Mo'in,
Indeed, the teachings are important for seekers. Alhamdulillah for Islam for providing the framework where deep asceticism (zuhd) and preservation of Remembrance can be practiced (principal teaching of the Imitation of Christ) even while living in family, serving the people of the world and going around the market place at the same time. and praise be to Him in the beginning and in the end.

Dear sfauthor,
I just downloaded the PDF version of the Gita. Havent got a chance to read, but I would love to soon, God willing. may the transcendental truth be our guide.

Dear Anonymous,
Your thoughtful comment demands some space and length to answer. So forgive me if my answer you find too brief, but I will be more than happy to write on this subject at a later date as a post.

Ok, exclusivity that we find among different followers of faith can be seen from two different vantage point. yes in one sense when we become blind to others devotion, faith, sincerity and love because of our own exclusivity and if it make one to look down upon another - that is worth shunning because it deny the very fact that God by His infinite wisdom have allowed diversity in every single aspect of His creation. To belittle other faith, other culture, other language, other nation, other opinion is simply a lack of knowledge and wisdom.

But there is another point of view to interpret someone's exclusivity and this is important to understand.

(comment continued)

This 'positive exclusivity' (lets call it by that name) is when the love and devotion is so increased that the devotee can not have any room for "otherness" in approaching the Lord. Remember I am not talking about bigotry, I am talking about love.

Let me give you an example. There is a person (new Muslim revert) who happen to given the love for the Rasul, Muhammad Mustafa so much so, that he love to imitate every sunnah of his. So he, even though being a white american will no longer sits on chair and table while he eats, but would prefer to eat sitting on the floor. No exceptions.

Now to some Muslims even this looks and sounds ridiculous. But wait before you ridicule his exclusiveness, otherwise you will miss the interestingness of it. This person, his way, and Allah the Knower of what is within the breast, knows best, if his way is out of boundless love for the Rasul and for that alone he does what he does, then this love shall suffice and it would wrong to condemn or criticize him.

Rumi said, “Let the lover be disgraceful, crazy, absent-minded. Someone sober will worry about events going badly. Let the lover be.”

Even in many example from the life when someone complaint of such ecstatic lovers, ecstatic devotee even in the time of the Rasul, the Divine Messenger did exactly that, he did let the lover be.

(comment continued)

Sadiq, I enjoyed this post, but it left me a bit ...

2010-07-14T13:17:04.433+06:00

Sadiq,

I enjoyed this post, but it left me a bit confused...specifically, the part in which you discuss "the Imitation of Truth"

To often I've seen such lines of thought lead to arrogance and exclusiveness in religion.

For example, I have a friend who is very firm in her Christian faith. She couldn't tell you the first thing about any other path, or literature, science, culture, or the world. However she can recite what her Church preaches with ease. She refuses to attend University claiming that all she needs is faith. It's quite obvious how this line of thought can be dangerous... But to her, she sees nothing wrong, but worse, is blinded to her own ignorance.

We must remember that the Profit also said: "Acquire knowledge. It enables its possessor to distinguish right from wrong; it lights the way to heaven; it is our friend in the desert, our society in solitude, our companion when friendless; it guides us to happiness; it sustains us in misery; it is an ornament among friends, and an armor against enemies."

Furthermore, many argue that since God is the creator of the world, indicatively to understand the world is to become closer with God.

I apologize if I didn't phrase this post to well, but I hope what I am asking is coming across. Is it not important to acquire knowledge and rid ourselves of the facade of ignorance?

You appreciate the importance of cross-religious understanding, and intergal spirituality, but to me the part of your post on the imitation of truth seems to be opposing such beliefs?

And what of my friend, who believes that she has the only path to God, and refuses to learn otherwise because of her spiritual convictions? It is unarguably ignorant, arrogant, intolerant and dangerous. We must remember that it is also true, as Blaise Pascal said: "Man never do evil so completely and cheerfully
as when they do it from a religious conviction".

Sorry for the unorganized ramblings, a response to help me understand my thoughts would be great.

Thank you and I very much enjoyed the post.

Nice posting. Do you know about this edition of th...

2010-07-14T06:19:45.764+06:00

Nice posting. Do you know about this edition of the Gita?

http://www.YogaVidya.com/gita.html

Dear Sadiq, Thank you very much for this post. I...

2010-07-14T05:58:02.851+06:00

Dear Sadiq,

Thank you very much for this post. I very much like the wonderful teachings in The Imitation of Christ.

Kindest wishes,

mo'in

moved me and shook me to the core!!! made me get o...

2010-07-13T22:52:28.084+06:00

moved me and shook me to the core!!!
made me get on my knees and pray with tears in my eyes,what a revelation,
thank you,
H.