A-ManESL

I consider myself such. Although I profess Judaism, I only believe in the authority of Hashem and the Tanakh (and, to some extent, the Talmud). I don't believe in any human leadership/hierarchy.

I messaged you via e-mail

Jazakallah khair. Mash'Allah you know so much about these movements it seems, I'm not very familiar with Islam on the sub-continent tbh, obviously Sufism has become a label nowadays, I know plenty of Ahmadis, as Ahmadiyya is influential in Germany but their approach is completely different.

I have a friend who is an active follower of madani channel and her family used to be from bareilly before moving to Pakistan after partition, I believe they adhere to Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi's teachings.

My friend explained the madni ppl are those who supposedly conveyed the message of Sufis to us, I guess barelvi/madani is similar?

Are the barelvi sufi too?

Salam. Hope you're fine, I heard you were a Muslim from India?

I read a lot of your posts, I really liked them...you might be able to help me in saving my Islamic faith.

I would speculate that Islam/Muslims (atleast in recent times) has been influenced by Hinduism rather than vice versa. As Muslims nowadays say things like "Allah consciousness" and Allah as "the Ultimate Reality". Things which I am sure were never previously said by Muslims. Whereas has always been present in Hinduism.

Although there are many similarities/parallels between Hinduism and Islam apart from the presumption that Hinduism is necessarily "polytheistic" or "pantheistic" as many non-Hindus adamantly emphasize Hinduism as being as. And apart from the superficial differences of the Hindu Deities as having physical form and "mythologies" surrounding them. It is obvious that "Allah" is to Muslims more alike to the way any of the Deities of mainstream Hinduism (Devi, Shiva, Vishnu, Skanda, Ganesha) is to Hindus. We can find more common in how Hindus worship a Hindu Deity - the intensity of devotionalism, the types of things that are said about the Deity, the relationship between the worshipper and the Deity and the general personal theological concepts and the benefits of worship in certain ways with that of Muslims worshipping Allah than say with the worship of the Deities of Egyptian, Greek, Germanic, Native American, Chinese or Japanese native religions.

- in both Hinduism and Islam, "God" is seen as genderless. Another highly interesting feature of both religions. Brahman is said to be genderless and thus spoken of as gender neuter. Allah is also said to be genderless and is held to be as gender neuter inspite of the pronoun that is used to refer. Such an understanding of God in both Judaism and Christianity has been absent, alien rather prior to the influence of Islam.

- the tradition of containing and enumerating the names of God that are found within the corpus of their scriptures is well established in both religions. Muslims refer to this lyrical chanting as dhikr and in Hinduism it has been known as "japa-nama". It is also noted that some Muslims like Hindus use prayer beads while doing so.

So I would request that as much as you are committed to showing the world that "Jihad" is not what it largely is considered to be as, I would prefer to not discuss and defend the accurate definition of something that get many emotionally upset...

I said Islam may be more similar to Hinduism than even Christianity and Judaism.

- Islam supposedly means "submission" in Arabic and that is submission to God. Surrender to God is a concept called Saranagati in Hinduism. The emphasis of it is strong in theistic Hindu sects as part of the Bhakti(devotion). So clearly this is a strong feature of both religions that are almost in non-difference. We see the concept of submission to God in Islam more distinct and in ways that are rather absent in Christianity and Judaism. It's like Islam brought introduced this concept for the first time outside of Hinduism. And as a matter of fact that is the very basis of Islam as the name suggests.

I'm sorry but I think you misunderstood me in that thread.

1) please note that unlike some annoying Hindus, I don't go on a rampage labeling all Muslims as terrorists and Islam as pure trash.

2) I admitted that Islam and Hinduism share many similarities. Even saying that perhaps more so than Islam does with the other two Abrahamic religions.

I also said, yes, Jihad of Islam also has parallels in Hinduism. What I was merely doing was correcting where it differs.

And this is an extremely important and sensitive issue. Although I don't want to go on about here, at least not with you because it seems to me that you are one of those decent Muslims. But I am afraid I just can't forget about it and cover my eyes when this subject is brought up.

I agree, but I would think that if an author were to present his case he should cite a relevent example.

For example I was very moved by his exegesis on bismillah and the quote of Ali "all the knowledge and secrets of the Qur'an are contained in surah Fatiha and all the secrets and knowledge of Surah Fatiha are contained in the Bismillah and all the secrets and knowledge of Bismillah ar Rahman ar Rahim are contained in the letter "Ba"
of the Bismillah and all the secrets and knowledge of the letter "Ba" are contained in the dot under the letter Ba and I am the nuqta of the letter "Ba"!"

And I was also liked the explanation of why we say the bismillah, in essence to sanctify any activity that we consider of importance. Regardless, do you have any favorite books of seerah?

I wanted to know your feedback on the book. From what I have read so far I like the aspect with which he approaches various matters like the idea of esotaric vs exoteric and the idea of the various symbolism in the Qur'an with nature serving as a literal meaning for those who are not educated and being transformed to the extent that the prophets had a understanding of the verses that cannot be achieved by us.

But I cannot find any concrete ideas such as any particular symbolism and how that meaning changes as you look at it from the perspective of the uneducated, to elite, to the saint, and then to the prophet.

So while I agree with and appreciate many of its ideas it doesn't give me the means to explore and reflect on them.

Not sure if that makes sense

Salaam brother,

"The Koran is like a bride who does not show her face to you even when you draw aside the veil. The fact that you have examined her, and yet have not attained happiness or mystical unveiling, is a sign that your act of trying to remove her veil has itself repulsed her, so that she appears to you as ugly. She says, “I am no beautiful bride.” The Koran shows itself in whatever form it pleases. But if you do not try drawing aside the veil, and seek only the Koran’s good pleasure, watering its fields, attending it from afar, working upon whatever pleases it best, then it will show you its face without any effort at drawing aside the veil.-Discourses of Rumi"

You are by any chance reading that book of Nasr you recommended to me?

I'm blown away by your recent remarks in that mysticism thread. Thank you for sharing those!

hey, thank you

Thanks

Thanks for your reply, dear Sir :) Sahar has started a thread on the topic of Poltics and Religion, perhaps you would enjoy that topic too :) I will try to address your posts you lined too. http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/comparative-religion/109855-religion-politics.html#post2315537

Salaam,

Thanks very much for these recommendations! I'm planning on restricting my time spent on things like the computer and hopefully concentrating on studies and literature on the side. Inshallah these will all make excellent reads

~Abibi

Salaam brother,

I always enjoy reading your posts as you always have a tone of scholarly authority on the subject. I was reading through some of your comments and was wondering if you had any books on the subject of Islam that you could recommend? Primarily I'd be interested in early Islam. I've read your references of both Martin Lings Rene Guenon and was wondering if they are good reads? Thanks in advance

~Abibi