It is as a matter of fact true that belief in a literal Genesis and Pentateuch is indeed an archaic and ancient world view rejecting science.
Yes 95%++ of all scientists, and every major university in the world supports evolution. Presenting facts is not mocking. It is just plain factual science.
Much of what
@1213 , @
3rdAngel and you present in your argument for a literal Biblical Creation have been down right false, and a rejection and misrepresentation of science. This is represented in your posts #248 and #249.
Charles Darwin wrote in his book The Descent of Man:
“A tribe including many members who, from possessing in a high degree the spirit of patriotism, fidelity, obedience, courage, and sympathy, were always ready to give aid to each other and to sacrifice themselves for the common good, would be victorious over most other tribes; and this would be natural selection.”
In Islam, just like in Buddhism and Christianity, the concept of brotherhood and sharing is essential.
Just like in the times of Buddha and Jesus, Prophet Muhammad also worked hard to establish a divine community.
In 622 AD, Muhammad and his few hundred followers left his hometown and sought refuge in another city called Yathrib. In his hometown he had been threatened and persecuted so he had no choice but to take those who believed in him, leave and start his life anew. The followers that had accompanied Prophet Muhammad had left all their belongings behind when they immigrated. Some of them had even left their families. They were from that moment on called the “Muhajireen” (Emigrants); while the citizens of Yathrib who had welcomed them in their hometown were called “Ansar”.
To integrate the Muhajireen, who had lost everything, into the economic and social life of the city, he made them “brothers” of the locals, the Ansar and he paired them in twos.
Therefore the early Muslim communal life was, just like life in the early Christian communities, characterized by those who had many possessions, sharing with those who were destitute.
Those Ansar that owned businesses made their brothers, whom they barely even knew, equal business partners. They shared their houses with them and when one passed away, his immigrant brother would be one of his inheritors, together with his relatives.
Several sources also report that Ansar gave away half of the land they owned to their newly arrived brothers.
According to
‘The Valley Came Alive: Life of The Last Messenger (PBUH)’ by Ibn Katheer, it is reported that the Prophet (pbuhahf) said to the Ansar:
“Your brothers have left wealth and children and have immigrated to you” The Ansar said: “Divide our wealth into portions between us.”
– The Valley Came Alive: Life of The Last Messenger (PBUH), Ibn Katheer
Unconditional sharing was even commanded through a verse in the Quran,
“As for those who had settled in the city and ˹embraced˺ the faith before ˹the arrival of˺ the emigrants, they love whoever immigrates to them, never having a desire in their hearts for whatever ˹of the gains˺ is given to the emigrants. They give ˹the emigrants˺ preference over themselves even though they may be in need. And whoever is saved from the selfishness of their own souls, it is they who are ˹truly˺ successful.”
– Holy Quran Al-Hashr verse 9
How beautiful would be a place where everybody considered the other person’s children to be his own? Where does everybody feel responsible to sustain and care for his brother’s family just like he feels responsible for his family?
Plato writes in his famous book,
Laws:
“The first and highest form of the State and of the government and of the law is that in which there prevails most widely the ancient saying, that “Friends have all things in common.”… this communion of women and children and of property, in which the private and individual is altogether banished from life.”
– Laws, Plato
For Plato, the best community (or state) is one where everybody shares everything.
Where everybody shares “women and children and of property”, meaning where everybody takes care of each other’s children and each other’s families.
Nothing is private, meaning nothing belongs to just one person, everybody feels a sense of responsibility for each other (“the private and individual is altogether banished from life”).
Now Plato takes the concept even further by saying,
“…and things which are by nature private, such as eyes and ears and hands, have become common, and in some way see and hear and act in common, and all men express praise and blame and feel joy and sorrow on the same occasions, …—whether this is possible or not, I say that no man, acting upon any other principle, will ever constitute a state which will be truer or better or more exalted in virtue.”
-Laws, Plato
Plato does not only want properties and families to be shared but rather he urges people to share their own selves, to give up the very urge of self-preservation or distinctness.
In the perfect state that he envisions, members share their ears when someone needs to be listened to, and they share their hands if someone needs help. If the self is not considered a private but common good, no one would ever feel burdened by helping out the other, as he does not feel that his body or even his very existence is his own in the first place. This inner acknowledgement leads to a place where all “see and hear and act in common” as one body, all together, not everyone for themselves and where even happiness and sorrow are not personal but for the sake of the community and others.
This quote of Plato strongly correlates with the teachings of Ahmad Al-Hassan, the messenger and vicegerent of Imam Al-Mahdi (pbuhahf). He said:
“Peace and blessings of God be upon you, verily the believers are siblings. They are from one soul divided upon many bodies. Whoever does not feel or hurt for the pain of his sibling, is not one of us. Whoever is not happy for the happiness of his brother is not one of us. Stick to one another, hand in hand, like a tall building, may God safeguard you from everything bad and harmful.”
– Sayings of Imam Ahmad Al-Hassan (PBUH), p.14, hadith 1
Plato states clearly that without practicing this everyday communal self-sacrifice, humans will not be able to create a better society.
The concept of living to serve, support and help one another truly and wholeheartedly is part of building a divine community.
The idea is that the outer change of the living condition causes a profound change inside the human being and makes him face his darkest sides.
Building and being part of a divine community is a way of practicing the ways of the prophets and messengers.
In
‘The Republic’, Socrates seeks to map out the ideal society, a society filled with justice. The focus of Plato’s Republic is the structure of a just society. Socrates saw that you can’t ever make everyone happy but you can do the greatest amount of good for most people.
Socrates defined justice as a specialisation, in which every citizen does his duties in his appointed place. And remarkably, his definition lines up exactly with the words of Imam Ahmad Al-Hassan (fhip), who said:
“Justice means placing something into its right place.”
– The Book of Monotheism, Imam Ahmad Al-Hassan (fhip), p.47
Putting everything in its right place. In other words, justice requires each person in the city to mind his own business, doing the particular job that has been allocated to him to the best of his abilities. Socrates claims that operating in this manner will allow the city to thrive, which is in everyone’s best interest. According to Socrates, an ideal society consists of three main groups of people. First are the producers, the people who make living possible – the craftsmen, farmers, and artisans. The second class is the warrior class. And finally, we have guardians or rulers, a society is just when these three classes are right and work in harmony with one another.
According to Socrates, the ruling class of the ideal society would consist of true philosophers – men and women, dominated by their rational faculties.
Buddha, Krishna, Jesus, Muhammad and even Plato have all agreed that no one can walk the path of truth alone, but that we all need brothers and sisters on our sides, that walk with us.
Building and living in a divine community is indeed a practical way to live the teachings of selflessness that the prophets and messengers have come with and the only cure for our corrupt society that has completely forgotten the concept of selflessness.
Imam Ja’far Al-Sadiq (pbuh) said: “The simplest of the rights of the believer is that you should love for him what you love for yourself and you should despise for him what you despise for yourself. The second is that you should pursue what pleases him and avoid his displeasure and obey his command. The third is that you should help him with yourself, your wealth, your tongue, your hands and your feet. The fourth is that you should be his eyes, his guide and his mirror. The fifth is that you should not fill your stomach whilst he is hungry, you should not be quenched whilst he is thirsty and you should not clothe yourself whilst he is naked.”
– Al-Kafi, Muhammad ibn Yaqub Al-Kulaini, v.2, p.169, hadith 2
In the Bhagavad Gita, a prominent text of Hinduism, Krishna (pbuh) says,
“Those devotees are very dear to Me who are free from malice toward all living beings, who are friendly, and compassionate. They are free from attachment to possessions and egotism, equipoised in happiness and distress, and ever-forgiving.”
-Bhagavad Gita, ch. 12, verse 13-14
Imagine such a community where nobody owns more than the other, and where everything is shared. How many of our conflicts today are caused by greed, the fear of losing our possessions, the fear of being exploited or giving too much? What if we were to rid ourselves of all this by choice and through giving away and sharing all our belongings with our brothers in faith we defeat the urges of greed and selfishness that house inside every human being?
“Verily Al-Hussein (pbuh) paved the way for the Divine Just State, as if Al-Hussain (pbuh) was slaughtered in Karbala in order that the Qa’im (pbuh) from his sons reigns, and as if Al-Hussain (pbuh) was a sacrifice for the establishment of the Divine Just State, and for the rulership of Allah, the Almighty…”
– Sayings of Imam Ahmad Al-Hassan (PBUH), p.100-101, hadith 208
The promised Divine Just State will be implemented in this day and age by Imam al Mahdi. A state filled with peace and love towards one another will be established and an end will come to corruption, suffering and conflict. A balanced society, in which the structures are fair to everybody without exception, a society where no man, woman or child is discriminated against. A state that is built without currency, injustice, disease and death unless murdered or by accident. The people’s necessities and needs will be taken care of. The ones in high authority will no longer be in position, equality will be established & oppression banished. Everyone will live like a king and play a role in society but live the same as their brother. A communal society will be built.
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