Thursday, June 30, 2005

The Morals of Muhammad (PBUH)

The Almighty Allah says: "And verily, you [O Muhammad] are on an exalted [standard of] character." (68:4) His wife Asha had said " his moral is the Quran". That is to mean he was the first to apply his message. All morals that God stressed on Muslims to have it Muhammad had exemplified them. I will mention down his most well know characters:
1- The honest and trustworthy: these made people to take him very seriously. Particularly believe in the unseen in religion which is quite appalling: a God, angels, demons, heaven and hell you need someone that you do not have on him a tiny suspicion. Particularly they would have to endure, be oppressed or get killed for their religion.
2- He had a smiling face and was to start in saluting people.
3- Patience: it unbelievable how much he suffered from his enemies who would spread everywhere that he is a liar or crazy despite his miraculous Quran and his great wisdom.
4- He was kind to all people, except those who hurt Muslims.
5- He would smile but he would rarely joke.
6- What he says was always the truth.
7- He would not retaliate to himself.
8- His wars were to spread his religion particularly when Muslims were oppressed.
9- He would ask his followers to pray in their way to fight for not meeting the enemies and would tell them "to guide someone to Islam is better for you than the world and all it contains".
10- When his enemies would convert to Islam they become his best friends. The main leaders of his armies are the same who were fighting him at one time before they become Muslims.
11- He was very humble you do not know who is Muhammad from his friends. He would not examine people with his eyes. He gets shy and his face turn red like a virgin.
12- He never sinned, he had few minor error. Muslims love to say he has zero error which contradicts the Quran. He had very few errors.
13- He was compassionate and merciful.
14- He always accepted God's orders and the hardship that he has to go through with strong faith and acceptance.
15- His love and praise to the other prophets particularly Jesus was great.
16- He would help his wives at home. He was very civilized in dealing with women and they can argue with him in a polite way. He never made them feel inferior.
17- He does not criticize people and his servant for long years mentioned that he never told him for something he did why he did or he did not do. One of his servants refused to go to his family and insisted to live with Muhammad. He was dealing with his servant like he is his own son. He would sleep in the ground. He would eat only few dates for most of his days.
18- His faith in God and his message was very strong and that eliminated any doubts in the heart of his believers except for the few times that they thought that they are going to be exterminated like happened with the Jews and prophet Moses.
19- He never used foul language and he would not talk one inappropriate word. He was teaching his followers that man's tongue is the one to lead him to hell. With man tongue he can hurt others feelings, he can create hate and wars between people.
20- Living holly like the prophet and with followers around him in thousands doing every thing the right way and the angel Gabriel bringing down the Quran over 23 years you feel that they were connected with creator and the universe. Muhammad however praised most those who will come after his death and not see him and believe him.
21- Fear of God and knowing his glory made the Muslims at the Time of Muhammad to live with great manners. There were no jealousy in between and they lived like real brothers.
Muslims now live a material life and left in most part the spiritual life. They are very different from the early Muslims and much less happy.

Universal Happiness in a Just World.

Islam acknowledges very well from its early days the importance of the government. Though Islam believes in many of the American values like the free market, human rights and freedom of speech, it uses the morality of the religion to build the structure of the government. It believes well that a lot of things that cause people to be happy have to be provided by the government. To understand that we have to go through the things that cause people to be happy: 1- A sense of freedom: the list goes on which include freedom to worship, to speak to chose the political system and the leaders,...2- Absence of fear: this goes with freedom you should be able to do the above things with no fear. 3- Material fulfillment as food, marriage and having a family. Poverty is the most famous enemy to happiness. Above the level of poverty money does not add much as per statistics to affect most people happiness. 4- Health: it is hard to be happy if you are sick or you do not have money to pay for a costly illness. 5- Long term security: as you get older you feel the anxiety of supporting yourself as you get older. These 5 points are the job of the government. Unfortunately many politicians seek self-interest and their own happiness and forget their job of how to make their people feel happy. Happiness stems from other causes as well that mostly depends on us: 6- Spirituality: if you have everything and you lack spirituality you feel emptiness. You still enjoy the material things but you feel boredom and lack of purpose. Living with God all the time gives happiness and fullness to your life. 7- humor: the best medicine for the soul particularly in these days of world distress. 8- Purpose: this discussed best by Rick Warren in his book Purpose Driven Life. The highest purpose is when you feel you are doing God's work in earth. 9- Altruism: there is happiness in giving that selfish people deprive themselves of. 10- Confidence and high self esteem: These are usually internal job and are achieved best by lack of fear and being proactive to go for the things that feel you with happiness. 11- Feeling important by appreciating others and being appreciated and when you live for a purpose. 12- Love: humanism is the greatest expansion of love, however most people are still trapped in self-love, family-love, nation-love or religion-love. The power struggle and the desire of every one to exert his superiority cause this kind of love to be an illusion. If people feels that justice is the law of the land they can forgive and even love each other after years of hate. Cooperation rather than competition between governments is important to spread love beyond the artificial borders. Thus what makes us happy is universal and if we are sincere in changing the world we have to understand the importance of governments in doing their role in improving the conditions of their people. I may sound idealistic but the cost of misery and hate is quite high to all of us.

The Measure Of God: righteousness

"Oh humankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may know each other (not that ye may despise each other). Verily the most honored among you in the sight of Allah is the who is the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things)" (49:13). It is clear from this verse of Quran the measure that God uses to us is our righteousness. To learn this we have to go and make our measure from the Bible and Quran. Most principles to be righteousness are the same in the Bible and Quran: to be just, honest, kind,.... Theologians from the three major religions can easily agree on that. They may differ which book is the most they trust. But the righteousness are the same. Selective righteousness is a common practice. To be sure we are not preaching hypocrisy we have to follow the righteousness that God want us to have. Otherwise we will be creating our own God. Before Islam the Arabs would make their own God of dates and when they get hungary they eat their God. Islam believes in getting righteousness through a sound political system. This is complicated by the fact that other religions may not like it and secular thinkers are quite fearful of the overtake of religious people over their life. The brilliance of Moral Utopia Project I proposed (see in my blog) that it accommodates every one. It will make it possible to have the lamb and wolf sleep in the same bed. I am not creating a new religion or mixing religions but allowing our coexistence. At time of prophets there were the followers against the disbelievers. In early Islam the government was particularly difficult to accommodate its enemies. Now it became very difficult to live except as one world family. The media particularly the internet makes it possible to exchange the ideas and connect all of us at home. Finding the right background to all of us will allow this utopia dream to come true. The brilliant of the project is that it makes the individual and even countries to feel no oppression but loosely connected in a system that respect and church all humans. It creates a predictable and safe world. I have no doubt that the savior is the Christ and it will be wise to prepare the world for his coming. I agree with the evangelists to spread the gospel to all the world before he comes. The morality of the gospel with that of the Quran and old testament will make the world much better place to live in. We are separating the state and Church but we are taking the common dominator of our religions to build a righteous world. This project aimed to get all of us righteous 5-9/10 not like with fanatics who want all of us to be like prophets 10/10 or those religious leaders who accepts 9/10 for few people and the rest can be 1-2/10. For people who think the world is doing very well and I have an image problem they have to visit many Muslim countries where many people are living in cemeteries. Many of them envy the dead who do not need to suffer the daily hardship. Or they can read the statistics of their own schools to see the spread of violence, drugs and STD's. If the west wants to continue to enjoy domination, power and prestige I have no problem, they just have to take care of the world. As in world wars movie we may be watched all along and the UFO's (or the angels) are getting ready. I do not read the future but I read the bible.

Monday, June 27, 2005

Authenticity Of The Quran

As Muslims we were asked by the messenger Muhammad (PBUH) not to believe or disbelieve the people of the book when they mention verses from the Bible. This made a lot of sense to Muslims since Quran is the last revelation. If there is some differences you would believe the last revelation. It is rare for most Muslims to read the bible. This is simple most find the Quran is just too compelling that it is difficult to imagine a human can invent it. For Satan to inspire Muhammad with the Quran would appear foolish to most Muslims. However, some Muslims particularly now in this turning point of history are reaffirming their belief and examining the Bible and Quran to be sure they are not in the wrong side of both the truth and history. The authenticity of the Quran is confirmed by many facts:
1- It was written down minute by minute. As the Angel Gabriel would inspire Muhammad (PBUH) Muslims would write it down. This allowed Muslims to learn and absorb the Quran over 23 years. They felt the connection to heaven all the time during Muhammad life. He would tell them this verse goes to this sura and the other to the other sura. It was like you are putting different parts of a machine in place without looking at the design which was a miracle in itself.
2- Then they will recite it in their prayers which is 5 times a day. Many including the messenger would pray for hours each night.
3- Many of the first Muslims including the messenger and then many over the last 1400 years had recited the whole Quran. It is just easy to watch in an Arabic T.V channel like Akra (read) children from different parts of the world reciting many sura of Quran or even the whole Quran.
4- In the month of Ramadan: the messenger would recite the Quran to the angel Gabriel (updated version) and before the messenger death he recited the Quran twice to Gabriel.
5- The Hadith that contain the sayings of the messenger that are separate from Quran were not written as per the messenger request so the writers do not confuse it with the Quran. It was written after his death.
6- God promised "the verse: who is more trustworthy to keep his promise than God" to keep it as it is and he kept his promise (the verse:" it is we (God) who brought down the revelation (Quran) and it is we who will sustain it").
Both the old and new testaments are inspired by God. However the accuracy is less than that of the Quran. Jesus was a great prophet and though the idea of having a God who sacrifice his son for our sins is a noble one the Quran strongly defy it. Salvation is by the teachings of the Christ and Muslims came through the Christ. Taking care of every one of the planet regardless of his religion is the core of Jesus message. Uniting through our humanity is the way to deliver his message. The Moral Utopia Project is the structure that can deliver his message. This is my message to the American politicians take it and implement it and after you are done I will be glad to come out of my cave and shake your hands.

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Quran: The Word of God

I am not a Muslim scholar however I will try to make my case: Why Quran is the word of God. There is a verse in Quran states that: "If it was not from God they would find a great difference". Let us here imagine that Quran was not the word of God and the messenger Muhammad (PBUH) made it up or it was inspired by Satan as some in the West believe. Let us examine what difference it will be if it was not from God:
1- Weakness: the words of the speaker of Quran is strong from its beginning to its end. If not from God will find like in human speech times of weakness and contraction. I challenge you to read any page and think if this is the power and glory of a God or a human who is talking to us.
2- Politics: There is no politics in Quran. It is God who created us speaking to all humans as his slaves. He is not praising a group of people except when they are following his commands. He is not mentioning names of famous Arabs or tribes to get their approval. His not mentioning Muhammad (PBUH) friends or family members and so forth.
3- Different commandments: almost the same ten commandments that when broken are considered major sins as it is in the bible. Same strong God as in the bible who revenge to his commandments (which are ultimately good for humans). I do not think Satan would tempt us to follow God's commandments.
4- Different Prophets: though God did not mention all the prophets in Quran he mentioned the most famous and those who suffered the most. He told their stories several times in the book. He praised them and according to their sufferings the 5 mentioned most were Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad (peace be on them all). So the prophets were different in their Sharia (religious laws) they carried the same core: worshipping God and morality. Quran did not create different prophets but same link with same chronological order.
5- Not Moses and pharaoh: God loves this story and he repeated over and over in the bible and the Quran ( 7 times). It basically tell you the common struggle between the believers and oppressed against the unbelievers and oppressors or tyrants. It is the story of most prophets in the bible and even in our political history. Pharaoh was a kind of believer he believed in himself and denied his creator. You love it when God turned pharaoh wickedness with a striking defeat. He let him too close to catch the Israelites then all of sudden he split the water and after they passed through it he drowned pharaoh and his soldiers. At that point pharaoh said "I believed on what Beno Israel believed on" but it was too late for him. The stories of the common prophets you read them and enjoy them in the Quran. Why someone would create all of these stories. Why he got them that right as if he was watching with his own eyes. Why specifically Moses and pharaoh unless he is the same God who enjoyed his glory against the injustice of the pharaoh so he went down to earth to teach every tyrant this big lesson.
6- Different good and evil: Same Good and evil struggle and same temptation of Satan to us as he did to Adam and Eve. Quran carried same story. I do not think Satan will inspire the Quran to warn us of himself and his temptations to us or ask us to worship and glorify God.
7- Playing politics with the Jews and Christians: Same message to Jews and Christians since Quran started. If Quran was not from God you will find a lot of politics to win the Jews and Christians. It was clear from the beginning God was angry with the Jews at times when they did not follow his prophets and God anger was also strong against the misguided Christians who took Jesus as his real son. There is no compromise or politics from the start. If it was not God's words you would find much politics. The real politics are to be played by Muslims themselves to try to have harmony with the Jews and Christians. It is how to win them and in same time you are not changing God's words. It is very simple if they still do no believe in the Quran as God's word we can wait for the Christ he will come in few years. With his glory as he descent from heaven all people around the world will believe in him. He will tell us all the truth. What Muslims are asking is for all of us to get righteous and prepare for his second coming.
8- Heaven and hell: As we do in our life with our children, with our employees and even between nations people use the carrot and stick. For God you would expect to have both of them great. Both were mentioned in the Quran with a lot of details. Any one would make that up and pretend that God said that you expect him to be the first who will fear hell. People who question God mercy should understand that the requirements to go to heaven are few and very good to all of us. If someone would tell me that we will beat you up everyday and you will go to heaven for eternity I will tell him I got a good deal.
9- Not criticizing Muhammad (PBUH): it does not make sense to me if the Quran was created by Muhammad to criticize himself. In the few times God corrected his messenger he made it clear to him it is a mistake and told him what should be the right. As an Example when he was preaching to the leaders of the Arab tribes and he avoided a blind poor man. God made it clear that this man does not come after them. This man name is Abn Maktoum and after that Muhammad (PBUH) would give him the best reception when he sees him telling him "you are the man God had blamed for". I do not think Muhammad (PBUH) would create a book and criticizes himself.
As God mentioned in Quran talking to Muhammad (PBUH) "and so we inspired you through our spirit (Gabriel) with our message, and before that you did not know what the book and what the faith, but we made it (the Quran) a light that guides who we would like from our slaves, and you are a guide to the straight path" Quran 42:52.

The Return Of The Cave Man

I am not a Muslim Scholar or Imam. I am a thinker and home-based politician. The very complicated world affairs and the widespread injustices in the world forced me to come out of my cave. I was like a stone-man that were enjoying his loneliness and swallowing his sorrows until some people started to fight and threw stones on his cave. He came out shouting: What in hell is going on?. The cave man bought a T.V and a phone to see if he can change the world and he failed. He found the guys who are fighting would not listen to him. He offered a new world plan that can reconcile all our differences but they did not implement the plan. They still do not believe that restructure is the only answer as with the American Healthcare/retirement system. He thought he had a lot of evidences that is he is directed from God say 17 or more but people did not believe it or like to believe it. He had even evidences from the bible about God's wrath and how this plan will help us avoid his wrath but they did not believe the bible. When God's wrath comes we all will loose. I already made Taman Health Plan to save America billions of dollars. My children are born in America and it is their main country. He can just disappear like Jonah and hide from God but a fish would likely swallow him. For his kindness he is giving for free to the American politicians the Moral Utopia Project and if they implemented it as it is they would receive Taman Health Plan as a gift. He is not in the mood to discuss any plans with anyone. He is not arrogant but he is burn out. He is not weak but he had it. Just take the plans and implement them as they are. Just be public, the worst policies are made in the dark. The cave man wants to enjoy his cave and watch his T.V. If it was for personal glory he could had sold Taman Health Plan for millions of dollars and make his small family very happy. The cave man thinks he is on a mission from God. If he was 100% sure he would come out of the cave yelling "I am not the cave man, I am that man you were waiting for, I am the one to announce the return of the Messiah".