3. Islam
The Great Mystery - Texts

La ilaha illa Allah.
There is no God but God.
(Shahada)

Allah! There is no god but He - the Living, the Self-subsisting, Eternal. No one can seize Him nor (does He) sleep. His are all things in the heavens and on earth. Who is there that can intercede in His presence except as He permitteth? His Throne doth extend over the heavens and the earth, and He feeleth no fatigue in guarding and preserving them. For He is the Most High, the Supreme (in glory).
(S. 65-70 - Throne Verse)

Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is as if there were a Niche and within it a Lamp: the Lamp enclosed in Glass; the glass as it were a brilliant star: lit from a blessed Tree, an Olive, neither of the East nor of the West, whose Oil is well-nigh Luminous, though fire scarce touched it: Light upon Light.
(S. 24:35 - Light Verse)

The 99 Beautiful Names of Allah

ALLAH, the Merciful, the Compassionate, the King of Kings, the Holy One, the Peace the Faithful, the Help in Peril, the Mighty, the All-Compelling, the Majestic, the Creator, the Artificer, the Fashioner, the Forgiver, the Dominant, the Bestower, the Provider, the Opener, the All-Knower, the Closer, the Uncloser, the Abaser, the Exalter, the Honorer, the Leader Astray, the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing, the Judge of All, the Equitable, the Gracious One, He who is Aware, the Clement, the Strong, the Pardoner, the Thankful, the Exalted, the Very Great, the Preserver, the Maintainer, the Reckoner, the Beneficent, the Bountiful, the Watchful, the Hearer of Prayer, the All Comprehending, the Judge of Judges, the Loving, the All-Glorious, the Raiser from Death, the Witness, the Truth, the Guardian, the Almighty, the Firm, the Nearest Friend, the All-Praiseworthy, the Accountant, the Beginner, the Restorer, the Quickener, the Slayer, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsisting, the All-Perceiving, the One, the Eternal, Providence, the All-Powerful, the Forewarner, the Fulfiller, the First, the Last, the Manifest, the Hidden, the All-Governing, the One Above Reproach, the Good, the Relenting, the Avenger, the Rewarder, the Ever-Indulgent, King of the Kingdom, Lord of Splendid Power, the Equitable, the Gatherer, the All-Sufficing, the Sufficer, the Provider, the Withholder, the Propitious, the Harmful, the Light, the Guide, Eternal in the Past, Eternal in the Future, the Inheritor, the Unerring, the Patient.
---from Pearls of the Faith or Islam's Rosary being the Ninety-Nine Beautiful Names of Allah (Asma-el-husna) Edwin Arnold

The Great Mystery - Musings

Allah has ninety-nine names. Nine hundred and ninety-nine, nine million nine hundred and ninety-nine are not enough to describe the infinite vastness of His splendor. His throne encompasses the heavens and covers the miraculous earth. There is not a corner of creation where His brilliance does not shine and where His compassionate presence is not felt.

In every verse of His Holy Book His name is invoked.

With every breath throughout the days and nights, His worshippers hold in Him remembrance. Before or after many spoken figure of speech, the Holy Name of Allah is spoken - In'shallah, God willing.

In Arabic the name of Allah vibrates with infinite layers meaning. It resounds throughout the universe. Allah is the One Who creates, Who nurtures and Who sustains all that is. The very earth and heavens stand as signs of His Bounty and Majesty. So merciful is He that He sent His angels to bestow the great gift of revelation to his holy messengers. Though the angel Gabriel is but a dim reflection of His Glory, he filled the horizon and overwhelmed Muhammad in his appearance. Conducted to the 7th heaven and approaching the Throne of Allah, the Prophet was struck dumb.

Yet the unfathomable Majesty and Grandeur of Allah are matched by a profound intimacy with us humans. He is "closer to us than our own neck vein."

The World - Texts

Have We not made the earth as a wide expanse,
And the mountains as pegs?
And have We not created you in pairs?
And made your sleep for rest?
(Qur’an, Sura 78)

He set on the (earth) mountains standing firm high above it, and bestowed blessings on the earth, and measured therein all things to give them nourishment in due proportion, in four Days, in accordance with the needs of those who seek sustenance.
Moreover, He Comprehended in His design the sky, and it had been as smoke. He said to it and to the earth: Come ye together, willingly or unwillingly. They said: We do come together, in willing obedience. So He completed them as seven firmaments in two days and He assigned to each heaven its duty and command. And We adorned the lower heaven with lights, and provided it with guard.
Such is the Decree of Him the Exalted in Might, Full of Knowledge.
(Qur'an S.41.10-12)

The World - Musings

The world stands as a beautiful sign of Allah's love, a miraculous gift for humans to partake of. It is a heart-lifting vista, provider for our every need. The earth is a wide expanse, the mountains its pegs. Night is our enveloping coverlet, and day our time to make use of her gifts - the corn and the vegetables, the gardens of scented flowers, and the waters of life.

Allah made the birds and beasts, the heavens and the firmament. Who could be so blind as not to see the miracle of creation as a SIGN of God? His hills and valleys give shade and the substances of the earth are ours to fabricate into shelter, clothing and fine stuff.

How magnificent and mysterious is His design.

He but comprehended and decreed that the world be His miracle, He the Exalted, full of Knowledge.

The Qur'anic verses flow naturally from the creation of the world to the creation of humanity, and visualize us all as part of the same Creation. Islam's Holy Book is full of paeans to the natural world as the field of humanity's actions. By making correct use of the goods of the world, adorning ourselves with them and sharing them among ourselves, we can live in perfect submission to the Will of Allah.

Humanity - Texts

Mankind, fear your Lord, who created you of a single soul (Adam), and from it created its mate, and from the pair of them
scatter abroad many men and women.
(S. 4.1)

Proclaim! (or Read!)
In the name of thy Lord and Cherisher
Who created --
Created man, out of a mere clot of congealed blood.
Proclaim! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful --
He who taught the use of the Pen -- Taught man that which he knew not.
Nay, but man doth transgress all bounds, in that he looketh upon himself as self-sufficient.
Verily, to thy Lord is the return of all.
Seest thou one Who forbids a votary when he turns to pray?
Seest thou if He is on the road of guidance? Or enjoins Righteousness?
Seest thou if he denies truth and turns away?
Knoweth he not that Allah doth see?
(S. 96.1-14)

Among His Signs is this, that He created you from dust; and they -- behold, ye are men scattered far and wide! And among His signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquility with them. And He has put love and mercy between your hearts:
Verily in that are Signs for those who reflect. And among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the variations in your languages and your colours; verily in that are Signs for those who know. And among His Signs is the sleep that ye take by night and by day, and the quest that ye make for livelihood out of His Bounty:
Verily in that are Signs for those who hearken.
(S. 30)

Humanity - Musings

If the world is an ode to the creative majesty of Allah, humanity is its crowning glory.

Among His signs is this that He created you from dust…
And He has put love and mercy between your hearts.

How could anyone fail to see that the fact of creation, the fact of our very existence, is proof of Allah's majesty and love?

Allah wishes nothing but the best for us if we will but turn to Him in Surrender and Love. Some translations of Qur'anic verses come close to capturing the beauty of Allah's care for us human beings. Here is Camille Adams Helminski's translation of sections of Suras 76, 96 and 70:

We created the human being from a drop of mingled sperm in order to test him.
So We gave him hearing and sight, We showed him the Way:
It is up to him whether he is grateful or ungrateful

In the Name of God, the Infinitely Compassionate and Most Merciful
Recite! In the name of your Sustainer Who created,
created the human being out of a connecting cell:

Truly the human being was born restless- filled with self-pity when difficulty touches him and selfish when good-fortune comes to him -
but not those who consciously turn towards God in prayer…

The Teacher - Texts

Do not exceed bounds in praising me, as the Christians do in praising Jesus, the son of Mary, by calling Him God, and the Son of God; I am only the Lord's servant; then call me the servant of God, and His messenger.
(S. 57)

Arise and deliver thy warning.
O thou (wrapped up in a mantle)!
Arise and deliver thy warning!
And thy Lord do thou magnify!
(S 74.1-3)

The other messengers of God had their miracles, mine is the Kur'an and will remain for ever.
(Sayings of Mohammed 258)

When the Messenger of God entered a place of worship he said,
O God! Pardon my sins, and open for me the gates of Thy compassion.
O Lord! I make my complaint unto Thee of my feebleness, the vanity of my efforts. I am insignificant in the sight of men, O Thou Most Merciful! Lord of the weak! Thou art my Lord! Forsake me not!
O Lord! Grant to me the love of Thee; grant that I love those that love Thee; grant that I may do the deeds that win Thy love; make Thy love dearer to me than self, family and wealth.
(Sayings of Mohammed 327-329)

The Teacher - Musings

Muhammad was an ordinary man called to an extraordinary mission. He had a multi-faceted soul with gifts of the world and gifts of the spirit. He was holy in the world.

In the world, he was the trusted merchant for the older woman Kadijah whom he married. They served as mentors for each other and modeled the perfect marriage.

Being holy, he was a mystic prone to solitude in the lonely mountain caves outside of Mecca, deeply attuned to his spiritual nature. Kadijah understood this. True to the great tradition of the Semitic prophets, he deemed himself unworthy to receive the overwhelming message of God. He found solace enwrapped in his wife's protective embrace, and two years later he made his public proclamation.

Besides all this he was a great military strategist, a peacemaker and a statesman. Drawing on all of his skills he single-handedly brought order, cultural coherence and religious devotion to the vast unruly tribal conglomerate that was the seventh century Arabian Peninsula.

He set down the roots from which a great civilization would grow. While Christian Europe languished through the centuries of its Dark Ages, Islam nourished the ancient light of science, medicine, jurisprudence, and the arts. The lightning speed, at which Islam and the great flowering of learning inspired by its principles spread, was miraculous. It spread over three continents within a mere few years.

Muhammad claimed no miracles, only a devotion and willingness to receive the Qur'an, and to lead an exemplary life, may peace be upon him.
 
The Way - Texts

Let them (my servants) also with a will listen to My call,
and believe in Me that they may walk in the right way.
(S.2.186)

Establish regular prayers -
At the sun's decline
Till the darkness of the night,
And the morning prayer
And pray in the small watches
Of the Morning (it would be)
An additional prayer
(Or spiritual profit)
For thee.
(S. 17.78-79)

Ramadan is the (month) in which was sent down the Qur'an, as a guide to mankind. So every one of you who is present (at his home) should spend it in fasting, but if anyone is ill, or on a journey, the prescribed period (should be made up) by days later.
Allah intends every facility for you. (He wants you) to complete the prescribed period, and to glorify Him.
(S.2 185)

Feed the hungry and visit the sick, and free the captive, if he be unjustly confined. Assist any person oppressed, whether Muslim or non-Muslim. (Islam, Hadith) Your Lord has enjoined you to worship none but Him, and to show kindness to your parents. If either or both of them attain old age in your dwelling, show then no sign of impatience, nor rebuke them, but speak to them kind words. Treat them with humility and tenderness and say: "Lord, be merciful to them. They nursed me when I was an infant."
Your Lord best knows what is in your hearts; He knows if you are good.
(S. 2.274)

The Way - Musings

There are five "pillars" of Islam.

The image of a pillar is an interesting one. Pillars serve as supports for a structure so that it will not collapse. The modern equivalent for the pillar is the girder. To live confidently as authentic human beings, we need to be sure that our underpinnings are strong that we "gird up our loins."

Modern steel girders are not generally visible but are incorporated into the internal structure of buildings They are essential elements of its matrix. Our internal support must also be inherent in our being, or we cannot stand.

The first pillar is to know that God is. We bow to him in submission and in praise.

It follows from our acknowledgement of God that we should live as He wishes us to.

The second pillar is prayer. Our lives should be lived against the background of constant remembrance of God throughout the day and the night.

The third pillar is charity, giving to the hungry, the orphans, and the dispossessed, sharing with them the bounty that we have.

The fourth pillar is to fast during the holy month of Ramadan in order to develop our strength, sharpen our attention and show our solidarity with the poor.

The fifth pillar is to make the Hajj, to travel in the company of pilgrims from numerous races, ages and places, to the center of the world so people may know the unity of all who bow before Him.
 
Prayer - Texts

God is most great, God is most great,
I bear witness that there is no God but God
and Muhammad is His prophet.
Come ye unto prayer.
Come ye unto good.
Prayer is a better thing than sleep.
Come ye to the best deed.
God is most Great.
God is most great.
(The Call to Prayer)

Establish regular prayers -
At the sun’s decline
Till the darkness of the night,
And the morning prayer.
And pray in the small watches.
Of the Morning it would be
an additional prayer (of spiritual profit) for thee.
(S. 17.78-79)

At the call, leave your trading and hasten unto remembrance.
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill where
the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open,
Don’t go back to sleep.
(Rumi)

During prayer, God lifts the veils and opens the gates of the invisible, so that His servant is standing in front of Him. The prayer creates a secret connection between the one praying and the One prayed to. Prayer is a threshold at the entrance to God’s reality.
(Hadith)

Prayer - Musings

Muslims are the most prayerful people in the world. The Qur'an says Prayer is better than sleep. It is the best deed.

How beautiful it is to realize this. How revolutionary to the human life is the repeated act of prayer throughout the day and the night. Incorporated into the rhythms of each day, prayer infuses itself into the very fabric of life.

During prayer, God lifts the veils and opens the gates of the invisible, so that His servant is standing in front of Him. The prayer creates a secret connection between the one praying and the One prayed to. Prayer is a threshold at the entrance to God’s reality.

Muhammad received the perfect prayer, the Shahada or Opening of the Qur'an. In it Allah is addressed first as merciful and compassionate, and then as Great Judge and Guide of mankind. The Shahada is a prayer of praise as well as a plea for mercy.

Constant prayer has a name in Islam: dhikr, which means remembrance. Muslims pray the ninety-nine Names of God on their beads, and thus are engaged in His remembrance.

I once had a Muslim student who told me something that made me understand just how natural it is for Muslims to pray. She said we needn't worry if we don't happen to have our prayer beads. We can use the fingers of our own hands - each of them has three joints. She showed me how to use my thumb to touch each joint to count a pattern of thirty-three. When you do this three times, you have a way to use your own body to count the ninety-nine Names.

Evil and Suffering - Texts

O Children of Adam! Let not Satan seduce you in the same manner as he got your parents out of the Garden, stripping them of their clothing in order to expose their private parts… We have made the devils friends only to those without faith.
(S. 7.27)

O Children of Adam! Let not Satan seduce you in the same manner as he got your parents out of the Garden, stripping them of their clothing in order to expose their private parts... We have made the devils friends only to those without faith."
(S. 7.27)

Nay, nay! But ye honour not the orphans!
Nor do ye encourage one another to feed the poor! -
And ye devour Inheritance -
All with greed,
And ye love wealth with inordinate love!
Nay! When the earth is pounded to powder
And the Lord cometh, And His angels,
Rank upon rank,
And Hell, that Day,
Is brought (face to face) -
On that Day will man remember, but how will that remembrance profit him?
He will say: "Ah! Would that I had sent forth (Good Deeds) for this my (future) Life!
(S. 89.17-24)

Evil and Suffering - Musings

The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is a purely cautionary tale in the Qur'an. We did not inherit "their" sin of disobediance, but we ought to pay attention to it so we don't do the same thing.

When they gave in to the temptations of Satan, the Seducer, look at what happened to them. When we reject God's commandments, we too, call down upon ourselves banishment from His Presence and good favor.

The forbidden things that are harmful to us are: shameful deeds, telling lies, rejecting the unity of God, greed, arrogance, and ignoring the plight of orphans and the poor.

We have certainly been warned enough times. Prophets have appeared for thousands of years. It is us who ignore their warnings, and it is we who pay the price.

Struggle - Texts

Let those fight in the way of God who sell the life of this world for the next. Whoso fights in the way of God, be he slain or be he victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward.
(S 4.7)

The Prophet declared, "We have returned from the lesser holy war to the greater holy war."
They asked, "O Prophet of God, which is the greater war?" He replied, "Struggle against the lower self."
(Hadith)

Fight for the sake of God those that fight against you, but do not attack them first. God does not love the aggressors.
(S 2.216-218)

Struggle - Musings

Jihad. It is one of the most highly charged and misunderstood words in today's world. It means struggle or battle.

Among his many talents, Muhammad was a brilliant military tactician. Looking back, it seems clear that the many tribes of Arabia, having been engaged in blood feuds and conflict from time immemorial, would never have been united without Muslim conquest. The Qur'an says,

Had not God driven back the people, some by the means of others, the earth had surely been corrupted.

This seems to favor action in the cause of achieving the greatest good for the greatest number of people as an eminently practical solution.

Bloodshed is a part of the human drama, but only as a last resort and only for the preservation of God's community which is the greatest good for humanity.

But this kind of physical jihad is the "lesser jihad." They asked,

O Prophet of God, which is the greater war? He replied, "Struggle against the lower self."

That is the Greater Jihad.
 
Death - Texts

Every soul shall have a taste of death:
And only on the Day of Judgement shall you
Be paid your full recompense.
Only he who is saved far from the Fire
And admitted to the Garden
Will have attained the object of Life:
For the life of this world
Is but goods and chattels of deception.
(S. 3:185)

Every soul shall have a taste of death:
And only on the Day of Judgement shall you
Be paid your full recompense.
Only he who is saved far from the Fire
And admitted to the Garden
Will have attained the object of Life:
For the life of this world
Is but goods and chattels of deception.
(S. 3:185)

Some faces, that Day [of judgement] will beam (in brightness and in Beauty) --
Looking towards their Lord;
And some faces, that Day will be sad and dismal, in the thought that some backbreaking calamity was about to be inflicted on them;
Yea, when (the soul) reaches to the collarbone (in its exit), and there will be a cry,
"Who is a magician (to restore him)? "
(S. 75.22-27)

Death - Musings

Death is inevitable. Only God knows the time it will happen for each of us. And when it happens, we will return to God and be judged. The Qur'an says:

The Death from which ye flee will truly overtake you: then will ye be sent back to the Knower of things secret and open: and He will tell you (the truth of) the things that ye did.

What's more, there will someday come a Final Judgement Day. The dead will arise from their graves. The good will be rewarded and the evil will be punished:

Life is but a fleeting thing. It serves us well to think on our own mortality, and to prepare for our deaths by paying attention to our deeds.

The Ultimate - Texts

Allah hath promised to Believers--men and women--Gardens under which rivers flow, to dwell therein, and beautiful mansions in Gardens of everlasting bliss. But the greatest bliss is the is the Good Pleasure of Allah: That is the supreme felicity.
(S. 9. 72)

And the Trumpet shall be blown: that will be the Day whereof Warning (had been given)
And there will come forth every soul: with each will be an (angel) to drive, and an angel to bear witness.
The sentence will be: Throw, throw into Hell every contumacious Rejecter (of Allah)
And the Garden will be brought nigh to the Righteous - no more a thing distant.
Enter ye therein in Peace and Security;
This is a Day of Eternal Life!
(S. 50:20-34)

Allah hath promised to Believers - men and women - Gardens under which rivers flow, to dwell therein, and beautiful mansions in Gardens of everlasting bliss. But the greatest bliss is the Good Pleasure of Allah: That is the supreme felicity.
(S. 9. 72)

The Ultimate - Musings

The Day of Judgement, familiar to all the prophetic religions, is graphically described in the Qur'an. There will be a cataclysmic apocalypse that ends the world, as we know it. When all of the dead rise, our places in the next world will be revealed through the public Judgement of Allah.

Hell and Paradise, familiar in the monotheistic religions, are also vividly described in the Qur'an. One is a place of hopelessness and pain. Evildoers and mischief-makers will be banned to the tortures and fires of hell.

The other is a place of perfection and ultimate fulfillment. The good will be directed to the presence of God. They will dwell with Him in paradise with its golden structures encrusted with precious stones, eternally refreshed from the clear-flowing waters of life, fed with the fruits of a million trees, feasting on choice meats and wines, and clothed with wonderful garments. They will live in perfection, in the most intimate and lovely communion with each other.