ZoyaHayat
Divine Female Power
Reality is different from reality. By Reality I meant something else, by reality I mean something else. (actually this distinguishing is not my innovation, rather something standard in spiritual literature, it stems from the idea the God only is real.) I thought I clarified that. Let me put it more plainly:
Whenever I write Reality I mean God or Absolute or Metaphysical Being etc.
Whenever I write reality I mean the state of physical things.
To answer your question would be long and tedious, because there are certain preliminaries to it, including the basic idea of what Islam is, to be covered first. There are a lot of other things, as to how the attributes come from God in man etc to be understood here. Some verses I have quoted ;ater though and the verse "And he taught Adam all the names", seemingly unrelated is quite relevant here.
I will content myself my posting a quotation and the book from where you can find the meaning to this.
Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) said, "I am Ahmed without the meem (i.e. if you remove 'm' from Ahmed you get Ahad, which I am: I am Ahad, meaning Unity, God), I am an Arab without the Ayn (meaning I am Rab, Rab again means God). Whosoever hath seen me, the same hath seen the Truth(Truth one of the names of God)."- You can understand the meaning in its full context if you are so bothered, from Hossein Nasr's Ideals and Realities of Islam.
You can also read Imam Ghazali's book Raddu’l Jamil. (I couldnt find an english copy online, the one I found is in French). It is on a slightly different topic, but shows in what sense, calling Jesus Christ(pbuh) is God is valid. He is in union with God at the level of ethics.
I have no idea why you mixed up pantheism with panentheism in the first place.
Anyway, it is a moot point now.
Bro, you are starting with incomplete understanding of the verse of the Quran, of what is meant by God in Islam. It seems silly to go about and circles with you like this. I named a book, which you can read when you have time. The word God needs to be equated with Ishwara or Brahman as the word God in Islam symbolizes the Absolute. It may or may not be that you have a certain understanding of the word God, and are carrying that forward and that is the source of the confusion.
As for idol worship etc, there are historical factors why it was prohibited in Islam. But it may interest you to know that this was in reference to the conditions in 7th C Arabia. From the book, I am repeatedly citing, (Schuon's Understanding Islam)
"...once the Moslems had grasped that Hinduism was not equivalent to the paganism of the Arabs; Hindus were then assimilated to the "people of the book", that is to the monotheists of the Western Semitic traditions."
Okay. Although please to remember that I never claimed that God is creation. I talked about panentheism, not pantheism.
But firstly note the context of the Quran. The situation of 7th C Arabia was such that a civilized and sophisticated society wasnt there and the concept of monotheism was simpler within the historical background of the already existing Semitic religions to assimilate. Hence the verses of the Quran reflect that. Other ideas such as pantheism, panentheism, monism etc would have appeared alien and out of place in such a society, so they are referenced to marginally. That said, here are some of the verses which may be interpreted in related senses:
2:115 And whersoever you may look there is the face of God.
57:3 He is the First and the Last, the Outward and the Inward...
4:78 ...All is from God ...
8:17 It is not you who slew; it was God. When you threw (a handful of dust), it was not your act, but God's . . .
Muslims recite a formula often "Verily we are from God and to Him shall we return."
I have no idea why you cant relate the response. Maybe first forget about the question and focus on the understanding. That is what is conveyed in the verse, anyway.
The word surrender in the above verse is the english substitute for the word Islam in the actual verse.
Hmm....okay. I guess I dont agree with you there, but other religions isnt the topic of this thread so maybe we should let it go.
Sufi concepts contradict Quran is nonsense (and I did quote 31:27, I think a few posts back). Some people have floated these ideas but they have only superficial knowledge of Islam and Sufism. Tell me what do you want: source from orthodox Muslims or from famous Sufis that Sufism is in Islam, and I'll be happy to provide it to you. You can buy these books online if you are serious. (btw .lava is one of the practicing disciples on RF. I am not a Sufi although some of my family members are disciples on the Sufi path.)
Regards
Actually i contradict you Lol...
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