Bghagavad Gita 6:7 Abhyasa Yoga. The being who has conquered the mind, transcending the dualities of cold, heat, happiness, distress, honor & dishonor is firmly established with the ultimate consciousness within. http://www.bhagavadgita.org/Gita/verse-06-07.html RICHARD KING on BLACKNESS "King argues that blackness or carbon is life and is therefore divine. He says that ancient Africans understood this, and called themselves by various names meaning 'black,' such as 'Kemites' (people of the black earth), from which the Greeks developed the word 'chemistry' (and the Arabs 'alchemy'). Recognizing the special significance of their blackness,which far transcended the color of the skin, according to King, these ancient scientists studied the workings of their own minds, which they understoood as being identified with their entire bodies. (So much for the mind/body split so basic to European thought.).... According to King, the ancient Africans studied until they came to understand the relationsip of 'blackness' to spirituality and inner vision; the higher levels of understanding on which synthesis occurs. For them Blackness' represented the divine. In his series of works entitled, The Black Dot, King supports this contention with an impressive array of references to ancient Kemetic texts and symbolic images and to a host of other theorists and historians.(105) What did these early, advanced scientists discover?" 'The original titans found that all life came from a black seed, all life was rooted in blackness, all things possessed a memory of their collective ancestors. Blackness, the universal solvent of all was seen as the one reality from which spun the threads of the loom of life. All colors, all vibratory energies, were but a shade of black; blackwas the color of the night sky, primeval ocean of outer space, birthplace and womb of the planets, stars and galaxies of the universe; black holes were found at the center of our own galaxy and countless other galaxies; black as the color of carbon, the key atom found in al living matter of our world; carbon atoms linked together to form black melanin, the first chemical that could capture light and reproduce itself, the chemical key to life; and the brain itself was found to be centered around black neuromelanin. "Inner vision, intuition, creative genius, and spiritual illumination were all found to be dependent upon pineal gland blood bourne chemical messengers that controlled skin color and opened the hidden door to the darkness of the collective unconscious mind, allowing the ancient priest-scientist to visualize knowledge from the timeless collective unconscious memory banks of the mind. Indeed, the Black Dot was found to be the hidden doorway to universal knowledge of the past, and future.'(106) In the ocean today I remembered the first Angel, Isis the Alchemist. In hieroglyphics she is winged, and the top of her wings are 'peacock' feathers. It's now known that DNA of the peacock feather, and that of melanin are identical. In fact the brain is comprised of black neuromelanin, which holds the key to tapping into the timeless collective unconscious mind.
She gave birth to herself out of the primordial waters of time (existence).Reverence to her, reverence! She lived in the land of Khem before the pharaoh kings and the great pyramids.Reverence to her, reverence! She lived in Egypt as the throne itself.Reverence to her, reverence! She is worshipped as the star Sirius.Reverence to her, reverence! Her home is amidst celestial stars and the primordial abyss.Reverence to her, reverence! She is the voluptuous sunset sky.Reverence to her, reverence! She exists as the iridescent dawn blue sky.Reverence to her, reverence! She exists since beginningless time as Uraeus Kundalini.Reverence to her, reverence! She is a mother to the motherless.Reverence to her, reverence!
She grants boons to her devoted devotees.Reverence to her, reverence! She is the great physician who heals all disease and grants radiant health.Reverence to her, reverence! She suckled the pharaohs and great kings in the land of Al Khem (Egypt).Reverence to her, reverence! She slays the ego through initiatory rites in her templesin Egypt, Greece, and Rome.Reverence to her, reverence! Her sweet breast milk nourishes her initiates and devotees.Reverence to her, reverence! She is the primordial feminine.Reverence to her, reverence! She is the primordial now.Reverence to her, reverence! She is worshipped as the path of Bhakti and wisdom yoga.Reverence to her, reverence! She lived on the muddy black banks of the river Nile. Reverence to her, reverence! Her presence is felt in the heart as ecstasy and pure
delight.Reverence to her, reverence! She is Sat Guru and liberator from the myriad forms. Reverence to her, reverence! She will return in her full glory as universal mother to all.Reverence to her, reverence! She was worshipped in Egypt, Rome, Greece, the Middle East,Asia, Scandinavia and the Celtic lands Reverence to her, reverence! She is loved by all and as diverse as the stars. Reverence to her, reverence! She exists as no mind and the living mind throughout creation.Reverence to her, reverence! She exists as the solar essence and the lunar currents. Reverence to her, reverence! She nourishes the world in need and will destroy the evildoers as she pleases.Reverence to her, reverence! She alleviates suffering in all its forms.Reverence to her, reverence! Her priestesses and priests were scattered to the winds.Reverence to her, reverence!
She is known by one thousands names.Reverence to her, reverence! Her mystical teachings were veiled in the language of the Hieroglyph,Sacred Geometry and the Divine Proportion,in Freemasonry, Tarot, and Alchemy Reverence to her, reverence! She will restore peace amidst chaos, and calm were violence reigns.Reverence to her, reverence! She is Adi (first) Shakti, impermanence and permanenceReverence to her, reverence! She lived on the mountain of Meru in the land of Khem.Reverence to her, reverence! In her temples were abundant animals, reptiles, insects, and all species of birds.Reverence to her, reverence! She who was the first Buddha, Bodhisattva to humanity.Reverence to her, reverence! She understands the sentience and intelligence of all animal species.Reverence to her, reverence! She rules romantic love and heals the heart through divine love.Reverence to her, reverence!
She resurrected the corn god Osiris from the dead. Reverence to her, reverence! She is the mother of Horus (Harpocrates), the Christ. Reverence to her, reverence! She took Osiris as consort and lover.Reverence to her, reverence! Her temples were surrounded by lakes and pools of water.Reverence to her, reverence! Her temples had birthing and dream chambers for her devotees.Reverence to her, reverence! Her breasts were the symbol of life giving nourishment and healing.Reverence to her, reverence! She was worshipped by kings, statesmen, warriors, the affluent and the poor.Reverence to her, reverence! She inspired Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera,the Mysteries of Isis (The Magic Flute).Reverence to her, reverence! She inspired Verdi's opera Aida.Reverence to her, reverence! She is mother of all regardless of race, religion, time,
or space.Reverence to her, reverence! As mother she is support, foundation, and divine grace.Reverence to her, reverence! She is the protectress of babies and children everywhere.Reverence to her, reverence! She who as woman is worshipped as the highest form of devotion.Reverence to her, reverence! Lady of the pyramid and the galaxies in space,ruler of the stars, invoked to change the course of ones fate. Reverence to her, reverence! She was the first Madonna with the child Horus,who became the Madonna with the Christ child in the Christian pantheon.Reverence to her, reverence! She will return to the new Egypt on the Continent and her worship restored.Reverence to her, reverence! Her ancient symbol is the lotus flower found on the banks of the river Nile.Reverence to her, reverence! To you great mother I offer my humble obeisance.To you great mother I offer my humble obeisance.It is you I worship, it is you I adore!
PLEASE ASSIST ME IN FINDING MORE INFORMATION ON SANTUMAKI / SANTAMAKI. I FOUND A PAGE ONLINE ON 18.JUNE.2008 GREGORIAN, WITH INFORMATION ON A MUSICAL GROUP GENERATIONS-OLD WHO MENTIONED SANTAMAKI, THEY WERE IN FINLAND BUT ACKNOWLEDGED THAT THE "KOMUTIANS" BROUGHT THE KNOWLEDGE OF SANTUMAKI FROM KOMUT/KAMUT/KEMET - THE REALM OF MUSIC AND SOUND WHICH MUST BE MEDIATED BY CHOSEN HUMAN BEINGS TO CHANNEL AURAL TRANSMISSIONS TO EARTH-BEINGS. NOW WHEN I SEARCH THE PAGE DOES NOT APPEAR!! I have never heard of this, however the realm of music dealing with creation is the 8th octave, aum, know to sufis and tamareans and buddihst. The 11th attribute of allah is al khaliqu which translates in syraic arabic as the creator or fashioneror the nuwaupik al khalug to fashion create from where the sound kha which is contraction and expanison for this is the sound each being makes when entering the physical plane of naasuwt and this is the sound of chaos after the big bang of our solar system. However the true sound is aum or aun which will link back in with pa paut, the all. Tha realm u speak of is the realm of malakuwt, however they may have given another name. The science of sound is called wazufa in nuwaupik and wazifa in syraic. Which is to repeat sacred words over and over for spiritual health and protection." Space-time continuum To put it in very simple terms, the space-time continuum is our universe. When most people think of dimensions, they only think in terms of spacial dimensions (up-down, right-left, forward-backward). These are the dimensions through which we have a certain limited amount of control over our movement. However, there is another dimension through which we have no control of our movement, time. Excluding relativistic effects, time just keeps moving forward. We can't slow, stop, or reverse it, but it is something with which we must deal. Whenever we describe an object's place in the universe, there is a time factor involved as well as a spacial location. For example, if I give some one my address, that assumes that I am living at that address right now. It's not the same address at which I was living just a year
ago. So, space and time are both parts of our universe. However, since most people tend not to think about time in this context, the term space-time continuum was coined as a means of emphasizing times importance. The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene, the time-space continuum is a time/space loaf. If you sliced a cross-section in the loaf, perpendicular to time's flow, you have a sampling of everything that is happening in the universe at this moment. You are watching tv, and an alien is 5 galaxies away is watching tv. However, if the alien gets up to cross the room to grab the tv remote, his velocity has changed the time/space slice diagonally. And now he shares the present moment relative to our space with Abraham Lincoln. That is a crossreference index of that comparitve distance (5 galaxies apart) with that relative velocity (5 mph walking over to get the remote control). So the speed of a slow stroll amplifies outward to huge differences when comparing vast distances in the time/space continuum. Since the universe is vast and everything is in motion, you can see how the concept of time gets a little mooshy. Nevertheless, this is how I picture the time/space continuum. Spacetime is a model in physics that joins the three dimensional space and one dimensional time into the idea of space-time continuum. Combining these two ideas helped physicists to make many laws of physics easier to understand, and to explain how the universe works on the big level (e.g., stars) and small level (e.g., atoms). The actual number of dimensions in spacetime is not fixed, but usually spacetime means a four dimensional (three dimensions of space and one dimension of time) spacetime. Some other theories claim that there are more than four dimensions. The space-time continuum is a mathematical model that combines space and time into a single construct. This spacetime is usually explained with a model where space is three-dimensional and time has the role of the fourth dimension. If one follows the model of space that Euclid had, our universe has three dimensions of space, and one dimension of time. By combining space and time into a single manifold, physicists have simplified a good deal of physical theory, as well as described in a more uniform way the workings of the universe at both levels: the supergalactic and subatomic. Two-dimensional analogy of space-time distortion.
Where an important quantity of matter exists, it changes the geometry of spacetime, this (curved) geometry can be understood as gravity. The white lines ot the picture on the right do not represent the curvature of space, but instead represent the coordinate system imposed on the curved spacetime which would be rectilinear in a flat spacetime. In classical mechanics, the use of spacetime over Euclidean space is optional, as time is independent of mechanical motion in three dimensions. In relativistic contexts, however, time cannot be separated from the three dimensions of space as it depends on an object's velocity relative to the speed of light. [change]Historical origin The origins of this 20th century scientific theory began in the 19th century with fiction writers. Edgar Allan Poe stated in his essay on cosmology titled Eureka (1848) that "space and duration are one." This is the first known instance of suggesting space and time to be different perceptions of one thing. Poe arrived at this conclusion after approximately 90 pages of reasoning but employed no mathematics. In 1895, H.G. Wells in his novel, The Time Machine, wrote, “There is no difference between Time and any of the three dimensions of Space except that our consciousness moves along it.” He added, “Scientific people…know very well that Time is only a kind of Space.” Albert Einstein's 1905 theory of special relativity is the beginning of the concept of spacetime, but the first mathematical theory of spacetime was proposed by one of his teachers, the mathematician Hermann Minkowski, in a 1908 essay.[1] His concept of Minkowski space is the earliest treatment of space and time as two aspects of a unified whole, the essence of special relativity. The idea of Minkowski space also led to special relativity being viewed in a more geometrical way, this geometric viewpoint of spacetime being important in general relativity too. The 1926 thirteenth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica included an article by Einstein titled "space-time".[2] ↑ Hermann Minkowski, "Raum und Zeit", 80. Versammlung Deutscher Naturforscher (Köln, 1908). Published in Physikalische Zeitschrift 10 104-111 (1909) and Jahresbericht der Deutschen MathematikerVereinigung 18 75-88 (1909). For an English translation, see Lorentz et al. (1952). ↑ Einstein, Albert, 1926, "Space-Time," Encyclopedia Britannica, 13th ed. Lorentz, H. A., Einstein, Albert, Minkowksi, Hermann, and Weyl Hermann, 1952. The Principle of Relativity: A Collection of Original
Memoirs. Dover. Lucas, John Randolph, 1973. A Treatise on Time and Space. London: Methuen. Poe, Edgar A. (1848). Eureka; An Essay on the Material and Spiritual Universe. Hesperus Press Limited. ISBN 1-84391-009-8. Wells, H.G. (2004). The Time Machine. New York: Pocket Books. (pp. 5; 6)simple:Spacetime Physicist: Space-Time Continuum Just an Illusion Friday, May 16, 2008 By Robert Roy Britt Physicists have come up with a way to explain how information could escape from a black hole, an idea that's been debated since the 1970s. But the new proposal leaves the long-held concept of a space-time continuum in tatters. Whether you've been following the arguments over the years or not, now might be a good time to reach for some aspirin, as space-time continuum textbooks may have to be revised. First, some basics: Black holes are like kitchen sinks. Stuff is only supposed to go one direction, and then it's gone forever, lost to the formidable clutches of gravity in a bizarre distortion of space and time, or what scientists call space-time. You no longer have to be an Einstein to have heard as much, though all this is indeed based on his work. However, in the 1970s, Stephen Hawking declared that black holes leak. Eventually, like a tire doing a slow, inaudible pffffft, everything that was sucked in would seep out. But, and this was a big but that Hawking proposed, any information that went into the black hole would be lost. Whatever stuff leaked out, in other words, would not be identifiable as corresponding ingoing stuff. Oops! But by the late 1990s, Hawking's idea fell out of favor. It messed too
much with quantum mechanics, a successful theory that says information can't be lost. In 2004, Hawking renounced his idea. Yet no viable explanation has emerged, until perhaps now, for how the information could get out of the black hole. The newly proposed scheme, in a nutshell, says space-time is bigger than was thought, and so there's room for the information to reappear. "Information only appears to be lost because we have been looking at a restricted part of the true quantum-mechanical space-time," said Penn State's Abhay Ashtekar, who has come up with the idea. "Once you consider quantum gravity, then space-time becomes much larger and there is room for information to reappear in the distant future on the other side of what was first thought to be the end of space-time." While this might not explain where your socks are, it does come with some mind-bending new concepts for theorists to chew on. For starters, Ashtekar thinks space-time is not a continuum, as we've been hearing for years. Rather, "it is made up of individual building blocks," according to a statement released by the university. It's like a piece of fabric which, "though it appears to be continuous, is made up of individual threads." Now what? The space-time continuum has long been invoked to understand how things get warped in the presence of gravity. For example, light from the sun is bent slightly as it passes Earth, thus changing the timing and perceived origin of that light as witnessed by someone farther out in the solar system. The effect in this example would be minuscule, but not imperceptible. One study found that satellites are dragged by about 6 feet (2 meters) every year because our world's gravity, combined with its spin, mucks with the cosmic fabric.
Light traveling near a black hole is bent so severely that it's consumed, never to be seen again (excepting that whole leaking thing). Such a distortion in the space-time continuum, hard as it might be to comprehend, is the basis for other exotic notions such as time travel. A person who wants to go to another dimension, the thinking goes, need only to enter a severely warped reality, called a singularity, and somehow emerge unharmed on some other side. "Once we realized that the notion of space-time as a continuum is only an approximation of reality, it became clear to us that singularities are merely artifacts of our insistence that space-time should be described as a continuum," Ashtekar said. The mind-bending proposal will be detailed in the May 20 issue of the journal Physical Review Letters. It was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Penn State Eberly College of Science. Victor Taveras, a graduate student in the Penn State Department of Physics, and Madhavan Varadarajan, a professor at the Raman Research Institute in India, contributed. _________________ AFRICANS INVENTED ARITHMETIC AND ALGEBRA The earliest treatise on algebra is the Egyptian Rhind Papyrus (c.1700 BC). But in c.3000 BC Egyptians called it “aha Calculus” because “Aha,” “Ahe,” or “Ahau” was the name of the second pharaoh of the first dynasty. Meaning mass, quantity, or heap (a pile of many things), it was used as an abstract term for the unknown in an equation. Originally, the word “algebra”—(“al” “from Egypt”--“al-Kemit”)--meant the reuniting of broken parts and was later defined by the Arabs as “restoration”, including “bone setting”. Note that Yin and Yang are also about the union of separate parts. Now, algebra deals with math structures—the solution of equations and the general relations among numbers. It embraces calculus, logic, theories of numbers, equations, functions, and their combinations. Both arithmetic and algebra are branches of mathematics and both are ways of figuring. Figuring involves discovering answers (e.g. establishing values) to problems using the amount or value given in
numbers, using unknown numbers, or using letters or symbols standing for quantities. A letter or symbol for any number is called a Variable. Quantities of matter have size, weight, number, mass, height, depth, width, length, capacity, extent, endurance, time duration, and volume. They can be counted, weighed, and measured geometrically (e.g. lines, curves, angles)—and these may be added to or lessened. Arithmetic (“the science of numbers”; “the art of calculation”) applies numbers to answer questions such as “how many?” –how much?” --and how far?” Algebra is the next step up and features letter or symbol “shorthand” in expressing quantities. With arithmetic the simple job of adding can be expressed as 3+4=7 or three + four = seven. However, in algebra the same could be written T + F = S—i.e. using the first letters of the words to stand for the numbers. This is called an Equation-- a statement that two things are equal. Equations have many governing rules—rules which allow discovering unknown numbers that appear in an equation with known numbers—and rules which make calculation with big numbers just as easy as calculation with small numbers. For example, “x” (or any other letter of the alphabet) stands for an unknown quantity. As in arithmetic, addition is shown by + and subtraction is shown by —. When you put one letter over the other--like a/b-- you are dividing b into a. Putting two symbols together-- as ab—means to multiply them. In algebra the multiplication sign is not used when two symbols are placed side by side. T x F is written TF and 3 x T is written 3T. Although certain symbols, marks, and letters customarily represent quantities and operations, seldom would the letters T, F, and S (see examples above) be used. Usually the early letters of the alphabet—a, b, c, etc.—are applied to stand for constants (fixed or known numbers) and the late letters—x, y, z—to stand for variables. Variables are quantities that may have various values or that are unknown. The letter “n” is used to mean “any given (or known) number”. A Power of a number is the product or result you get when you multiply the number by itself, one or more times. It is expressed by an Exponent (a small number written after and higher than the number). When you read it aloud as “three squared,” this means 3 x 3 =9; or “two to the fifth power is 2x2x2x2x2 or 32. Roots, the opposite of a power, must be multiplied by itself to produce a given number. The cube root (using a number three times as a factor—4x4x4) of 64
is 4. A Series is a group of numbers related by some rule. In an arithmetic series—1, 4, 7, 10—a constant number (here, 3) is added to each term to give the next. Africans found a place for arithmetic and algebra during their on-going activities on such vast construction projects-- as in building temples, pyramids, irrigation works, and obelisks. Joseph A. Bailey, II, M.D. ALGEBRA & TRIGONOMETRY Medieval Muslims made invaluable contributions to the study of mathematics, and their key role is clear from the many terms derived from Arabic. Perhaps the most famous mathematician was Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (ca. 800-ca. 847), author of several treatises of earth-shattering importance. His book On the Calculation with Hindu Numerals, written about 825, was principally responsible for the diffusion of the Indian system of numeration (Arabic numerals) in the Islamic lands and the West. Traditional systems had used different letters of the alphabet to represent numbers or cumbersome Roman numerals, and the new system was far superior, for it allowed people to multiply and divide easily and check their work. The merchant Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa, who had learned about Arabic numerals in Tunis, wrote a treatise rejecting the abacus in favor of the Arab method of reckoning, and as a result, the system of Hindu-Arabic numeration caught on quickly in Central Italy. By the fourteenth century, Italian merchants and bankers had abandoned the abacus and were doing their calculations using pen and paper, in much the same way we do today. In addition to his treatise on numerals, al-Khwarizmi also wrote a revolutionary book on resolving quadratic equations. These were given either as geometric demonstrations or as numerical proofs in an entirely new mode of expression. The book was soon translated into Latin, and the word in its title, al-jabr, or transposition, gave the entire process its name in European languages, algebra, understood today as the generalization of arithmetic in which symbols, usually letters of the alphabet such as A, B, and C, represent numbers. Al-Khwarizmi had used the Arabic word for "thing" (shay) to refer to the quantity sought, the unknown. When al-Khwarizmi's work was translated in Spain, the Arabic word shay was transcribed as xay, since the letter x was pronounced as sh in Spain. In time this word was abbreviated as x, the universal algebraic symbol for the unknown.
Robert of Chester's translation of al-Khwarzmi's treatise on algebra opens with the words dixit Algorithmi, "Algorithmi says." In time, the mathematician's epithet of his Central Asian origin, al-Khwarizmi, came in the West to denote first the new process of reckoning with Hindu-Arabic numerals, algorithmus, and then the entire step-by-step process of solving mathematical problems, algorithm. FinalCall.com News - Refer This Page PERSPECTIVES Islam, Mathematically Speaking By Kathleen X and Kareem Abdullah Updated Jul 29, 2008, 04:20 pm “After learning Mathematics, which is Islam, and Islam is Mathematics, it stands true. You can always prove it at no limit of time. Then you must learn to use it and secure some benefit while you are living, that is—luxury, money, good homes, friendship in all walks of life.” —The Supreme Wisdom Lessons In an article titled “The Mathematical Legacy of Islam,” which was published by the Mathematical Association of America, it suggests that Islam prefigured modern mathematics. Math scholar Keith Devlin wrote, “As mathematicians, we are all children of Islam.” He supported this claim, citing a book that was written by a ninth century Muslim scholar named Abu Ja’far Mohammed ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi, entitled Kitab al jabr w’al-muqabala, which means “restoration and compensation.” Devlin stated, “The phrase al jabr in the book’s title gave rise to our modern word “algebra.” He further noted, “After AlKhwarizmi, algebra became an important part of Arabic Mathematics.” Arabic mathematics provided a foundation, upon which modern civilization was built. Like the Prophet Muhammad ibn Abdullah (PBUH), whose divine leadership inspired those named above to become mathematical scholars and scientific thinkers, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, through His Servant-the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan is inspiring present-day Muslims to do the same. At Muhammad University of Islam (MUI), we are striving, with the help of Allah, to produce students who will reflect such excellence. Brother Shahid Muhammad (SM); the upper-grade math instructor at MUI and a Student in the Nation of Islam’s Ministry, has worked diligently towards such a worthy cause for nineteen years.
Commonly known as “The Math Doctor,” Brother Shahid is an unusually humble man. In fact, his unassuming character would lead one to never suspect that he has received considerably high honors in his respective field. For instance, in 2002 he received a Master’s Degree in Mathematics, from Lincoln University. Shortly thereafter, he received the distinguished Who’s Who Amongst American Teachers award, which made him a widely sought-after authority on mathematics. He has traveled throughout America, and even to London, England, holding lectures, workshops, and seminars; promoting mathematics among youth and adults, alike. He granted us a very informative interview, addressing several issues faced by Black America, in mathematical terms. MUI: What is Mathematics? SM: Mathematics, which is the mother of all sciences, facilitates the systematic construction of the Kingdom of God and provides indisputable proof of the reality of Allah (God) and the majesty of His creation. It is the universal language and the basis by which Allah (God) makes His decisions. MUI: When did you develop a passion for teaching Math? SM: My high school Algebra class gave me the spark that made me want to teach it. I was inspired to master it by Doctor Abdul Alim Shabazz; Endowed Chair of Mathematics, at Grambling University. The Teachings of the Most Hon. Elijah Muhammad, as well as Mother Tynetta’s workshops, introduced me to the power of math and gave me an appreciation for it. The Teachings opened up my mind to the root of math as universal; not just a course. Beginning to teach it gave me more insight into its application and [relation] to the universe. MUI: What role does the teacher play in the student’s appreciation for Math? SM: The teacher’s role is critical and vital. The teacher is the catalyst to help the student gain a love for math, which is usually seen as an elitist course, or subject, that only a few can master, i.e., predominantly Whites and Asians. The teacher has to be excited and have a love for it, themselves, in order to inspire and motivate the students to love it. Otherwise, the students will pick up on the teacher’s lack of enthusiasm.
MUI: Please describe your teaching method. SM: I incorporate humor and animation in my presentations. I strive to be very invigorated, excited, and enthusiastic. The Most Hon. Elijah Muhammad and the Hon. Minister Louis Farrakhan teach us, as teachers, to make the subject matter relevant to the students. I show the students how they are Math by illustrating all of the mathematical correlations in human anatomy, biology, and chemistry, to name a few. I also show its universal presence in cooking, sports, music, video games, etc. MUI: In your book How to Teach Math to Black Students, you remarked on “worksheet feeders” or teachers who are somewhat unimaginative. What strategies do you use to avoid such monotony? SM: Statistics and research show that students retain more mathematics when they are actually doing or demonstrating it. I like to incorporate videos and computer-assisted instruction using activities such as math games, simulations, experiments, hands-on discovery, peer tutoring, group problem-solving and project-based learning to get out of the traditional mode of lectures, chalk talk and worksheets. MUI: Is there one strategy that stands out more than others? Educational DVDs by The Math Doctor Click here to browse titles SM: One of the most powerful aspects of the class is when I integrate the Supreme Wisdom Lessons into the math curriculum. This serves to illuminate each child’s mind to Master Fard Muhammad, the Great Mahdi. This is what the Hon. Min. Louis Farrakhan desires each instructor to do with every subject. MUI: When did you begin using the name “Math Doctor?” Why? SM: It started in 1995, when I wrote How to Teach Math to Black Students. I saw a lot of advertisements for “Rug Doctors”, “Tax Doctors”, etc. I coined the title because a doctor heals and helps those that are sick. Our people are at the bottom, in terms of math literacy and achievement. I embarked on a mission to raise the level of mathematical literacy amongst our people, since [we] are suffering from so many math ailments and math phobias; I used the title, “Math
Doctor.” MUI: What is “math phobia”? What can parents and instructors do to decrease or diminish its effect? SM: “Math phobia” is a fear of mastering mathematics, based upon a misunderstanding of its nature; coupled with negative past experiences in math courses. Parents should first refresh their math skills, by taking adult education classes, online classes, or viewing instructional DVD’s. Children should be exposed to mathematics around the house, be involved in fun math related activities to reinforce their lessons and have parents to help support them. MUI: Why should we be mathematically literate? SM: Math is universal. It is vital to every aspect of [our] lives. Good health is predicated upon the use of mathematics. For example, there are certain amounts or percentages of vitamins, minerals and nutrients that the body requires to run effectively. Heart rates, blood pressure, vein/artery widths and the number of white/red blood cells are all examples of how we are mathematics. There is no aspect of our lives that is not touched, in some way by mathematics. Basketball players follow a parabolic path on their way to slam dunk a basketball! The Most Hon. Elijah Muhammad and the Hon. Min. Louis Farrakhan desire for us to build a Nation. Every aspect of nation building demands mathematical literacy and proficiency. (The Math Doctor is available to conduct seminars/workshops for teachers and parents, as well as give motivational math talks to children. Please email him to schedule workshops, lectures or programs at
[email protected]. Visit http://store.finalcall.com to browse The Math Doctor's educational DVDs for Children.) A-Z of Islam Compiled from the books and tapes of Dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips Allah (God) Cleanliness Muslim Contribution to Science Human Rights Jesus
Knowledge Main Pillars Muhammad Women Other Religions Peace Relevance Sources Sunnah Tolerance Universality Allah (God) Islam is the complete submission and obedience to Allah (God). The name Allah (God) in Islam never refers to Muhammad (pbuh), as many Christians may think; Allah is the personal name of God. What do Muslims believe about Allah? 1. He is the one God, Who has no partner. 2. Nothing is like Him. He is the Creator, not created, nor a part of His creation. 3. He is All-Powerful, absolutely Just. 4. There is no other entity in the entire universe worthy of worship besides Him. 5. He is First, Last, and Everlasting; He was when nothing was, and will be when nothing else remains. 6. He is the All-Knowing, and All-Merciful,the Supreme, the Sovereign. 7. It is only He Who is capable of granting life to anything. 8. He sent His Messengers (peace be upon them) to guide all of mankind. 9. He sent Muhammad (pbuh) as the last Prophet and Messenger for all mankind. 10. His book is the Holy Qur'an, the only authentic revealed book in the world that has been kept without change. 11. Allah knows what is in our hearts. These are some of the basic guidelines Muslims follow in their knowledge of God: 1. Eliminate any anthropomorphism (human qualities) from their
conception of Allah. His attributes are not like human attributes, despite similar labels or appellations. 2. Have unwavering faith in exactly what Allah and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) described Allah to be, no more, no less. 3. Eradicate any hope or desire of learning or knowing the modality of His names and attributes. 4. Belief totally in all the names and attributes of Allah; one cannot believe in some and disbelieve the others. 5. One cannot accept the names of Allah without their associated attributes, i.e. one cannot say He is Al-Hayy - 'The Living' and then say that He is without life. 6. Similarity in names (or meanings) does not imply similarity in what is being described (referents). As a robotics arm differs from a human arm, so the "hand" of Allah is nothing like a human hand, His speech is nothing like human speech, etc. 7. Certain words are ambiguous or vague in their meanings, and thus may be susceptible to misinterpretation. Only those meanings that are in accordance with what is specified by Allah and His Prophet (pbuh) are acceptable. Top Cleanliness Islam places great emphasis on cleanliness, in both its physical and spiritual aspects. On the physical side, Islam requires the Muslim to clean his body, his clothes, his house, and the whole community, and he is rewarded by God for doing so. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, for example: "Removing any harm from the road is charity (that will be rewarded by Allah)." [Bukhari] While people generally consider cleanliness a desirable attribute, Islam insists on it , making it an indispensable fundamental of the faith. A muslim is required to to be pure morally and spiritually as well as physically. Through the Qur'an and Sunnah Islam requires the sincere believer to sanitize and purify his entire way of life. In the Qur'an Allah commends those who are accustomed to cleanliness: "Allah loves those who turn to Him constantly and He loves those who keep themselves pure and clean." [2: 22]
In Islam the Arabic term for purity is Taharah. Books of Islamic jurisprudence often contain an entire chapter with Taharah as a heading. Allah orders the believer to be tidy in appearance: "Keep your clothes clean." [74:4] The Qur'an insists that the believer maintain a constant state of purity: "Believers! When you prepare for prayer wash your faces, and your hands (and arms) to the elbows; rub your heads (with water) and (wash) your feet up to the ankles. If you are ritually impure bathe your whole body." [5: 6] Ritual impurity refers to that resulting from sexual release, menstruation and the first forty days after childbirth. Muslims also use water, not paper or anything else to after eliminating body wastes. Prophet Muhammad )pbuh) advised the Muslims to appear neat and tidy in private and in public. Once when returning home from battle he advised his army: "You are soon going to meet your brothers, so tidy your saddles and clothes. Be distinguished in the eyes of the people." [Abu Dawud] On another occasion he said: "Don't ever come with your hair and beard disheveled like a devil." [Al-Tirmidhi] And on another: "Had I not been afraid of overburdening my community, I would have ordered them to brush their teeth for every prayer." [Bukhari] Moral hygiene was not ignored, either, for the Prophet (pbuh) encouraged the muslims to make a special prayer upon seeing themselves in the mirror: "Allah, You have endowed me with a good form; likewise bless me with an immaculate character and forbid my face from touching the Hellfire." [Ahmad]
And modesty in dress, for men as well as for women, assists one in maintaining purity of thought. Being charitable is a way of purifying one's wealth. A Muslim who does not give charity (Sadaqah) and pay the required annual Zakah, the 2.5% alms-tax, has in effect contaminated his wealth by hoarding that which rightfully belongs to others: "Of their wealth take alms so that you may purify and sanctify them." [9: 103] All the laws and injunctions given by Allah and His Prophet (pbuh) are pure; on the other hand, man-made laws suffer from the impurities of human bias and other imperfections. Thus any formal law can only be truly just when it is purified by divine guidance - as elucidated by the Qur'an and the Sunnah - or if it is divinely ordained to begin with - the Shari'ah. Top Muslims Contribution To Science Astronomy Muslims have always had a special interest in astronomy. The moon and the sun are of vital importance in the daily life of every Muslim. By the moon, Muslims determine the beginning and the end of the months in their lunar calendar. By the sun the Muslims calculate the times for prayer and fasting. It is also by means of astronomy that Muslims can determine the precise direction of the Qiblah, to face the Ka'bah in Makkah, during prayer. The most precise solar calendar, superior to the Julian, is the Jilali, devised under the supervision of Umar Khayyam. The Qur'an contains many references to astronomy. "The heavens and the earth were ordered rightly, and were made subservient to man, including the sun, the moon, the stars, and day and night. Every heavenly body moves in an orbit assigned to it by God and never digresses, making the universe an orderly cosmos whose life and existence, diminution and expansion, are totally
determined by the Creator." [Qur'an 30:22] These references, and the injunctions to learn, inspired the early Muslim scholars to study the heavens. They integrated the earlier works of the Indians, Persians and Greeks into a new synthesis. Ptolemy's Almagest (the title as we know it is Arabic) was translated, studied and criticized. Many new stars were discovered, as we see in their Arabic names - Algol, Deneb, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Aldebaran. Astronomical tables were compiled, among them the Toledan tables, which were used by Copernicus, Tycho Brahe and Kepler. Also compiled were almanacs - another Arabic term. Other terms from Arabic are zenith, nadir, albedo, azimuth. Muslim astronomers were the first to establish observatories, like the one built at Mugharah by Hulagu, the son of Genghis Khan, in Persia, and they invented instruments such as the quadrant and astrolabe, which led to advances not only in astronomy but in oceanic navigation, contributing to the European age of exploration. Geography Muslim scholars paid great attention to geography. In fact, the Muslims' great concern for geography originated with their religion. The Qur'an encourages people to travel throughout the earth to see God's signs and patterns everywhere. Islam also requires each Muslim to have at least enough knowledge of geography to know the direction of the Qiblah (the position of the Ka'bah in Makkah) in order to pray five times a day. Muslims were also used to taking long journeys to conduct trade as well as to make the Hajj and spread their religion. The far-flung Islamic empire enabled scholar-explorers to compile large amounts of geographical and climatic information from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Among the most famous names in the field of geography, even in the West, are Ibn Khaldun and Ibn Batuta, renowned for their written accounts of their extensive explorations. In 1166, Al-Idrisi, the well-known Muslim scholar who served the Sicilian court, produced very accurate maps, including a world map with all the continents and their mountains, rivers and famous cities. Al-Muqdishi was the first geographer to produce accurate maps in color. It was, moreover, with the help of Muslim navigators and their
inventions that Magellan was able to traverse the Cape of Good Hope, and Da Gama and Columbus had Muslim navigators on board their ships. Humanity Seeking knowledge is obligatory in Islam for every Muslim, man and woman. The main sources of Islam, the Qur'an and the Sunnah (Prophet Muhammad's traditions), encourage Muslims to seek knowledge and be scholars, since this is the best way for people to know Allah (God), to appreciate His wondrous creations and be thankful for them. Muslims were therefore eager to seek knowledge, both religious and secular, and within a few years of Muhammad's mission, a great civilization sprang up and flourished. The outcome is shown in the spread of Islamic universities; Al-Zaytunah in Tunis, and Al-Azhar in Cairo go back more than 1,000 years and are the oldest existing universities in the world. Indeed, they were the models for the first European universities, such as Bologna, Heidelberg, and the Sorbonne. Even the familiar academic cap and gown originated at AlAzhar University. Muslims made great advances in many different fields, such as geography, physics, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, pharmacology, architecture, linguistics and astronomy. Algebra and the Arabic numerals were introduced to the world by Muslim scholars. The astrolabe, the quadrant, and other navigational devices and maps were developed by Muslim scholars and played an important role in world progress, most notably in Europe's age of exploration. Muslim scholars studied the ancient civilations from Greece and Rome to China and India. The works of Aristotle, Ptolemy, Euclid and others were translated into Arabic. Muslim scholars and scientists then added their own creative ideas, discoveries and inventions, and finally transmitted this new knowledge to Europe, leading directly to the Renaissance. Many scientific and medical treatises, having been translated into Latin, were standard text and reference books as late as the 17th and 18th centuries. Mathematics It is interesting to note that Islam so strongly urges mankind to study and explore the universe. For example, the Holy Qur'an states: "We (Allah) will show you (mankind) Our signs/patterns in the
horizons/universe and in yourselves until you are convinced that the revelation is the truth." [Qur'an, 14:53] This invitation to explore and search made Muslims interested in astronomy, mathematics, chemistry, and the other sciences, and they had a very clear and firm understanding of the correspondences among geometry, mathematics, and astronomy. The Muslims invented the symbol for zero (The word "cipher" comes from Arabic sifr), and they organized the numbers into the decimal system - base 10. Additionally, they invented the symbol to express an unknown quantity, i.e. variables like x. The first great Muslim mathematician, Al-Khawarizmi, invented the subject of algebra (al-Jabr), which was further developed by others, most notably Umar Khayyam. Al-Khawarizmi's work, in Latin translation, brought the Arabic numerals along with the mathematics to Europe, through Spain. The word "algorithm" is derived from his name. Muslim mathematicians excelled also in geometry, as can be seen in their graphic arts, and it was the great Al-Biruni (who excelled also in the fields of natural history, even geology and mineralogy) who established trigonometry as a distinct branch of mathematics. Other Muslim mathematicians made significant progress in number theory. Medicine In Islam, the human body is a source of appreciation, as it is created by Almighty Allah (God). How it functions, how to keep it clean and safe, how to prevent diseases from attacking it or cure those diseases, have been important issues for Muslims. Prophet Muhammad himself urged people to "take medicines for your diseases", as people at that time were reluctant to do so. He also said, "God created no illness, but established for it a cure, except for old age. When the antidote is applied, the patient will recover with the permission of God." This was strong motivation to encourage Muslim scientists to explore, develop, and apply empirical laws. Much attention was given to medicine and public health care. The first hospital was built in Baghdad in 706 AC. The Muslims also used camel caravans as mobile hospitals,
which moved from place to place. Since the religion did not forbid it, Muslim scholars used human cadavers to study anatomy and physiology and to help their students understand how the body functions. This empirical study enabled surgery to develop very quickly. Al-Razi, known in the West as Rhazes, the famous physician and scientist, (d. 932) was one of the greatest physicians in the world in the Middle Ages. He stressed empirical observation and clinical medicine and was unrivaled as a diagnostician. He also wrote a treatise on hygiene in hospitals. Khalaf Abul-Qasim Al-Zahrawi was a very famous surgeon in the eleventh century, known in Europe for his work, Concessio (Kitab al-Tasrif). Ibn Sina (d. 1037), better known to the West as Avicenna, was perhaps the greatest physician until the modern era. His famous book, Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb, remained a standard textbook even in Europe, for over 700 years. Ibn Sina's work is still studied and built upon in the East. Other significant contributions were made in pharmacology, such as Ibn Sina's Kitab al-Shifa' (Book of Healing), and in public health. Every major city in the Islamic world had a number of excellent hospitals, some of them teaching hospitals, and many of them were specialized for particular diseases, including mental and emotional. The Ottomans were particularly noted for their building of hospitals and for the high level of hygiene practiced in them. Definition The word ISLAM has a two-fold meaning: peace, and submission to God. This submission requires a fully conscious and willing effort to submit to the one Almighty God. One must consciously and conscientiously give oneself to the service of Allah. This means to act on what Allah enjoins all of us to do (in the Qur'an) and what His beloved Prophet, Muhammad (pbuh) encouraged us to do in his Sunnah (his lifestyle and sayings personifying the Qur'an). Once we humble ourselves, rid ourselves of our egoism and submit totally to Allah, and to Him exclusively, in faith and in action, we will surely feel peace in our hearts. Establishing peace in our hearts will bring about peace in our external conduct as well.
Islam is careful to remind us that it not a religion to be paid mere lip service; rather it is an all-encompassing way of life that must be practiced continuously for it to be Islam. The Muslim must practice the five pillars of the religion: the declaration of faith in the oneness of Allah and the prophet hood of Muhammad (pbuh), prayer, fasting the month of Ramadan, alms-tax, and the pilgrimage to Makkah; and believe in the six articles of faith: belief in God, the Holy Books, the prophets, the angels, the Day of Judgment and God's decree, whether for good or ill. There are other injunctions and commandments which concern virtually all facets of one's personal, family and civic life. These include such matters as diet, clothing, personal hygiene, interpersonal relations, business ethics, responsibilities towards parents, spouse and children, marriage, divorce and inheritance, civil and criminal law, fighting in defense of Islam, relations with non-Muslims, and so much more. Top Human Rights Islam has been from its inception very concerned with issues of human rights. Privacy, freedom, dignity and equality are guaranteed in Islam. The holy Qur'an states clearly: "There is no compulsion in religion." And there are no reliable reports to confirm the old accusations that when the Muslim armies were expanding into Asia, Africa and Europe the people were put to the sword if they failed to convert to Islam. The best proof is that not only did the Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians and Hindus in those areas not perish or otherwise disappear, they actually flourished as protected minority communities, and many individuals rose to prominent positions in the arts, sciences, even in government. The lives, property and privacy of all citizens in an Islamic state are considered sacred, whether or not the person is Muslim. Non-Muslims have freedom of worship and the practice of their religions, including their own family law and religious courts. They are obliged to pay a different tax (Jizyah) instead of the Zakah, and the state is obligated to provide both protection and government services. Before the modern era it was extremely rare to find a state or government
anywhere in the world that was as solicitous of its minorities and their civil rights as the Islamic states. In no other religion did women receive such a degree of legal and moral equality and personal respect. Moreover, racism and tribalism are incompatible with Islam, for the Qur'an speaks of human equality in the following terms: "Mankind! We created you from a single soul, male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may come to know one another. Truly, the most honored of you in God's sight is the greatest of you in piety." Top Jesus Islam honors all the prophets who were sent to mankind. Muslims respect all prophets in general, but Jesus in particular, because he was one of the prophets who foretold the coming of Muhammad. Muslims, too, await the second coming of Jesus. They consider him one of the greatest of Allah's prophets to mankind. A Muslim does not refer to him simply as "Jesus," but normally adds the phrase "peace be upon him" as a sign of respect. No other religion in the world respects and dignifies Jesus as Islam does. The Qur'an confirms his virgin birth (a chapter of the Qur'an is entitled "Mary"), and Mary is considered to have been one of the purest women in all creation. The Qur'an describes Jesus' birth as follows: "Behold!' the Angel said, God has chosen you, and purified you, and chosen you above the women of all nations. Mary, God gives you good news of a word from Him, whose name shall be the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, honored in this world and in the Hereafter, and one of those brought near to God. He shall speak to the people from his cradle and in maturity, and he shall be of the righteous. She said: "My Lord! How shall I have a son when no man has touched me?' He said: "Even so; God creates what He will. When He decrees a thing, He says to it, 'Be!' and it is." [3:42-47] Muslims believe that Jesus was born immaculately, and through the same power which had brought Eve to life and Adam into being
without a father or a mother. "Truly, the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam. He created him of dust, and then said to him, 'Be!' and he was." [3:59] During his prophetic mission, Jesus performed many miracles. The Qur'an tells us that he said: "I have come to you with a sign from your Lord: I make for you out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, and breathe into it and it becomes a bird by God's leave. And I heal the blind, and the lepers, and I raise the dead by God's leave." [3:49] Muhammad and Jesus, as well as the other prophets, were sent to confirm the belief in one God. This is referred to in the Qur'an where Jesus is reported as saying that he came: "To attest the law which was before me, and to make lawful to you part of what was forbidden you; I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, so fear God and obey me." [3:50] Prophet Muhammad emphasized the importance of Jesus by saying: "Whoever believes there is no god but Allah, alone without partner, that Muhammad is His messenger, that Jesus is a servant and messenger of God, His word breathed into Mary and a spirit emanating from Him, and that Paradise and Hell are true, shall be received by God into Heaven. [Bukhari] Top Knowledge Islam urges people to read and learn on every occasion. The verses of the Qur'an command, advise, warn, and encourage people to observe the phenomena of nature, the succession of day and night, the movements of stars, the sun, moon, and other heavenly bodies. Muslims are urged to look into everything in the universe, to travel, investigate, explore and understand them, the better to appreciate and be thankful for all the wonders and beauty of God's creations. The first revelation to Muhammad showed how much Islam cares about knowledge.
"Read, in the name of your Lord, Who created..." [96:1] Learning is obligatory for both men and women. Moreover, education is not restricted to religious issues; it includes all fields of knowledge, including biology, physics, and technology. Scholars have the highest status in Islam, second only to that accorded to prophets. Almost from the very beginnings of the Islamic state Muslims began to study and to master a number of fields of so-called secular learning, beginning with linguistics and architecture, but very quickly extending to mathematics, physics, astronomy, geography, medicine, chemistry and philosophy. They translated and synthesized the known works of the ancient world, from Greece, Persia, India, even China. Before long they were criticizing, improving and expanding on that knowledge. Centuries before the European Renaissance there were Muslim ³Rennaissance² men, men who were simultaneously explorers, scientists, philosophers, physicians and poets, like Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Umar Khayyam, and others. Top Main Pillars 1. Shahadah The first pillar of Islam is that a Muslim believe and declare his faith by saying the Shahadah (lit. 'witness'), also known as the Kalimah: La ilaha ila Allah; Muhammadur-rasul Allah. 'There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.' This declaration contains two parts. The first part refers to God Almighty, the Creator of everything, the Lord of the Worlds; the second part refers to the Messenger, Muhammad (pbuh) a prophet and a human being, who received the revelation through the Archangel Gabriel, and taught it to mankind. By sincerely uttering the Shahadah the Muslim acknowledges Allah as the sole Creator of all, and the Supreme Authority over everything and everyone in the universe. Consequently the Muslim closes his/her heart and mind to loyalty, devotion and obedience to, trust in, reliance on, and worship of anything or anyone other than Allah. This rejection
is not confined merely to pagan gods and goddesses of wood and stone and created by human hands and imaginations; this rejection must extend to all other conceptions, superstitions, ideologies, ways of life, and authority figures that claim supreme devotion, loyalty, trust, love, obedience or worship. This entails, for example, the rejection of belief in such common things as astrology, palm reading, good luck charms, fortune-telling and psychic readings, in addition to praying at shrines or graves of "saints", asking the dead souls to intercede for them with Allah. There are no intercessors in Islam, nor any class of clergy as such; a Muslim prays directly and exclusively to Allah. Belief in the prophet hood of Muhammad (pbuh) entails belief in the guidance brought by him and contained in his Sunnah (traditions of his sayings and actions), and demands of the Muslim the intention to follow his guidance faithfully. Muhammad (pbuh) was also a human being, a man with feelings and emotions, who ate, drank and slept, and was born and died, like other men. He had a pure and upright nature, extraordinary righteousness, and an unwavering faith in Allah and commitment to Islam, but he was not divine. Muslims do not pray to him, not even as an intercessor, and Muslims abhor the terms "Mohamedan" and "Mohamedanism". 2. Salah (Prayer) Prayer (Salah), in the sense of worship, is the second pillar of Islam. Prayer is obligatory and must be performed five times a day. These five times are dawn (Fajr), immediately after noon (Dhuhr), midafternoon ('Asr), sunset (Maghrib), and early night (Isha'). Ritual cleanliness and ablution are required before prayer, as are clean clothes and location, and the removal of shoes. One may pray individually or communally, at home, outside, virtually any clean place, as well as in a mosque, though the latter is preferred. Special is the Friday noon prayer, called Jum'ah. It, too, is obligatory and is to be done in a mosque, in congregation. It is accompanied by a sermon (Khutbah), and it replaces the normal Dhuhr prayer. There is no hierarchical clerical authority in Islam, no priests or ministers. Prayers are led by any learned person who knows the Qur'an and is chosen by the congregation. He (or she, if the congregation is all women) is called the imam. There is also no minimum number of congregates required to hold communal prayers. Prayer consists of verses from the Qur'an and other prayers, accompanied by various bodily postures - standing, bowing, prostrating and sitting. They are said in Arabic, the language of the
revelation, though personal supplications (Du'ah) can be offered in one's own language. Worshippers face the Qiblah, the direction of the Ka'bah in the city of Makkah. The significance of prayer lies in one's maintaining a continuous link to God five times a day, which helps the worshipper avoid misdeeds if he/she performs the prayers sincerely. In addition it promotes discipline, God-consciousness and placing one's trust in Allah alone, and the importance of striving for the Hereafter. When performed in congregation it also provides a strong sense of community, equality and brotherhood/sisterhood. 3. Sawm (Fasting) The fourth pillar of Islam is fasting. Allah prescribes daily fasting for all able, adult Muslims during the whole of the month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the lunar calendar, beginning with the sighting of the new moon. Exempted from the fast are the very old and the insane. On the physical side, fasting is from first light of dawn until sundown, abstaining from food, drink, and sexual relations. On the moral, behavioral side, one must abstain from lying, malicious gossip, quarreling and trivial nonsense. Those who are sick, elderly, or on a journey, and women who are menstruating, pregnant, or nursing are permitted to break the fast, but must make up an equal number of days later in the year. If physically unable to do so, they must feed a needy person for each day missed. Children begin to fast (and to observe the prayers) from puberty, although many start earlier. Although fasting is beneficial to the health, it is regarded principally as a method of self-purification. By cutting oneself off from worldly pleasures and comforts, even for a short time, the fasting person gains true sympathy for those who go hungry regularly, and achieves growth in his spiritual life, learning discipline, self-restraint, patience and flexibility. In addition to the fast proper, one is encouraged to read the entire Qur'an. In addition, special prayers, called Tarawih, are held in the mosque every night of the month, during which a whole section of the Qur'an (Juz') is recited, so that by the end of the month the entire Qur'an has been completed. These are done in remembrance of the fact that the revelation of the Qur'an to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was begun during Ramadan.
During the last ten days - though the exact day is never known and may not even be the same every year - occurs the Night of Power (Laylat al-Qadr). To spend that night in worship is equivalent to a thousand months of worship, i.e. Allah's reward for it is very great. On the first day of the following month, after another new moon has been sighted, a special celebration is made, called 'Id al-Fitr. A quantity of staple food is donated to the poor (Zakat al-Fitr), everyone has bathed and put on their best, preferably new, clothes, and communal prayers are held in the early morning, followed by feasting and visiting relatives and friends. There are other fast days throughout the year. Muslims are encouraged to fast six days in Shawwal, the month following Ramadan, Mondays and Thursdays, and the ninth and tenth, or tenth and eleventh of Muharram, the first month of the year. The tenth day, called Ashurah, is also a fast day for the Jews (Yom Kippur), and Allah commanded the Muslims to fast two days to distinguish themselves from the People of the Book. While fasting per se is encouraged, constant fasting, as well as monasticism, celibacy, and otherwise retreating from the real world, are condemned in Islam. Fasting on the two festival days, 'Id al-Fitr and 'Id al-Adha, the feast of the Hajj, is strictly forbidden. 4. Zakah The third pillar of Islam is the alms-tax (Zakah). It is a tax on wealth, payable on various categories of property, notably savings and investments, produce, inventory of goods, salable crops and cattle, and precious metals, and is to be used for the various categories of distribution specified by Islamic law. It is also an act of purification through sharing what one has with others. The rationale behind this is that Muslims believe that everything belongs to God, and wealth is held by man as a trust. This trust must be discharged, moreover, as instructed by God, as that portion of our wealth legally belongs to other people and must be given to them. If we refuse and hoard this wealth, it is considered impure and unclean. If, for example one were to use that wealth for charity or to finance one's pilgrimage to Makkah, those acts would also be impure, invalid, and of course unrewarded. Allah says:
"Of their wealth, take alms so you may purify and sanctify them." [9:103] The word Zakah means purification and growth. Our possessions are purified by setting aside that portion of it for those in need. Each Muslim calculates his or her own Zakah individually. For most purposes this involves the payment each year of 2.5% of one's capital, provided that this capital reaches a certain minimum amount that which is not consumed by its owner. A generous person can pay more than this amount, though it is treated and rewarded as voluntary charity (Sadaqah). This amount of money is provided to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor, and can be used in many useful projects for the welfare of the community. Historically the pillar of Zakah became mandatory on Muslims form the second year after the Hijrah, 622 C.E. It is mentioned more than thirty times in the Qur'an, usually in the same breath as Salah. So important is this pillar that one is not considered a part of the Islamic brotherhood if one ignores this obligation. 5. Hajj The fifth pillar of Islam is to make a pilgrimage (Hajj) to Makkah, in Saudi Arabia, at least once in one's lifetime. This pillar is obligatory for every Muslim, male or female, provided that he/she is physically and financially able to do so. Prerequisites for performing the Hajj are to be a Muslim, to be free, to be an adult or mature enough, to be of sound mind, and to have the ability to afford the journey and maintain one's dependents back home for the duration. The reward for the Hajj is nothing less than Paradise. The Hajj is the ultimate form of worship, as it involves the spirit of all the other rituals and demands of the believer great sacrifice. On this unique occasion, nearly two million Muslims from all over the globe meet one another in a given year. Regardless of the season, pilgrims wear special clothes (Ihram) - two, very simple, unsewn white garments - which strips away all distinctions of wealth, status, class and culture; all stand together and equal before Allah (God). The rites of Hajj, which go back to the time of Prophet Abraham who built the Ka'bah, are observed over five or six days, beginning on the eighth day of the last month of the year, named Dhul-Hijjah (pilgrimage). These rites include circumambulating the Ka'bah
(Tawwaf), and going between the mountains of Safa and Marwah, as Hajjar (Abraham's wife) did during her search for water for her son Isma'il. Then the pilgrims stand together on the wide plain of Arafah and join in prayers for God's forgiveness, in what is often thought of as a preview of the Last Judgment. The pilgrims also cast stones at a stone pillar which represents Satan. The pilgrimage ends with a festival, called 'Id al-Adha, which is celebrated with prayers, the sacrifice of an animal, and the exchange of greetings and gifts in Muslim communities everywhere. Top
Muhammad Muhammad (pbuh) was an illiterate but wise and well-respected man who was born in Makkah in the year 570 C.E., at a time when Christianity was not yet fully established in Europe. His first years were marked by the deaths of his parents. Since his father died before his birth, his uncle, Abu Talib, from the respected tribe of Quraysh, raised him. As Muhammad (pbuh) grew up, he became known for his truthfulness, generosity and sincerity, so that he was sought after for his ability to arbitrate in disputes. His reputation and personal qualities also led to his marriage, at the age of twenty-five, to Khadijah, a widow whom he had assisted in business. Thenceforth, he became an important and trusted citizen of Makkah. Historians describe him as calm and meditative. Muhammad (pbuh) never felt fully content to be part of a society whose values he considered to be devoid of true religious significance. It became his habit to retreat from time to time to the cave of Hira', to meditate near the summit of Jabal al-Nur, the "Mountain of Light", near Makkah. At the age of 40, while engaged in one such meditative retreat, Muhammad (pbuh) received his first revelation from God through the Angel Gabriel. This revelation, which continued for twenty-three years, is known as the Qur'an, the faithful recording of the entire revelation of God. The first revelation read: "Recite: In the name of your Lord Who created man from a clot (of blood). Recite: Your Lord is Most Noble, Who taught by the pen, taught
man what he did not know." [96:1-5] It was this reality that he gradually and steadily came to learn and believe, until he fully realized that it is the truth. His first convert was Khadijah, whose support and companionship provided necessary reassurance and strength. He also won the support of some of his relatives and friends. Three basic themes of the early message were the majesty of the one, unique God, the futility of idol worship, the threat of judgment, and the necessity of faith, compassion and morality in human affairs. All these themes represented an attack on the crass materialism and idolatry prevalent in Makkah at the time. So when he began to proclaim the message to others the Makkans rejected him. He and his small group of followers suffered bitter persecution, which grew so fierce that in the year 622 C.E., God gave them the command to emigrate. This event, the Hijrah (migration), in which they left Makkah for the city of Madinah, some 260 miles to the north, marked the beginning of a new era and thus the beginning of the Muslim calendar. During his suffering, Muhammad (pbuh) drew comfort from the knowledge revealed to him about other prophets, such as Abraham, Joseph, and Moses, each of whom had also been persecuted and tested. After several years and some significant battles, the Prophet and his followers were able to return to Makkah, where they forgave their enemies and established Islam definitively. By the time the Prophet died, at the age of 63, the greater part of Arabia had accepted Islam, and within a century of his death, Islam had spread as far west as Spain and as far east as China. It was clear that the message was not limited to Arabs; it was for the whole of humanity. The Prophet's sayings (Hadith), are also believed to be revelation. The number of sayings collected by his followers and scholars is about 10,000. Some typical examples of his sayings are as follows: "To pursue knowledge is obligatory on every believing (man and woman)." [Ibn Majah] "Removing a harmful thing from the road is charity." [Bukhari, Muslim] "Those who do not show tenderness and love cannot expect to have tenderness shown to them." [Bukhari] "Adore Allah (God) as though you see Him; even if you do not see Him, He nonetheless sees you." {Bukhari, Muslim]
Although Muhammad is deeply loved, revered and emulated by Muslims as God's final messenger, he is not an object of worship. Top
Women At a time when the rest of the world, from Greece and Rome to India and China, considered women as no better than children or even slaves, with no rights whatsoever, Islam acknowledged women's equality with men in a great many respects. The Qur'an states: "And among His signs is this: that He created mates for you form yourselves that you may find rest, peace of mind in them, and He ordained between you love and mercy. Lo, herein indeed are signs for people who reflect." [30:21] Prophet Muhammad said: "The most perfect in faith amongst believers is he who is best in manners and kindest to his wife." [Abu Dawud] Muslims believe that Adam and Eve were created from the same soul. Both were equally guilty of their sin and fall from grace, and both were forgiven by Allah. Many women in Islam have had high status; consider the fact that the first person to convert to Islam was Khadijah, the wife of Muhammad, whom he both loved and respected. His favorite wife after Khadijah's death, Aeisha, became renowned as a scholar and one of the greatest sources of Hadith literature. Many of the female Companions accomplished great deeds and achieved fame, and throughout Islamic history there have been famous and influential scholars, jurists and mystics. With regard to education, both women and men have the same rights and obligations. This is clear in Prophet Muhammad's saying: "Seeking knowledge is mandatory for every believer." [Ibn Majah] This implies men and women. A woman is to be treated as God has endowed her, with rights, such
as to be treated as an individual, with the right to own and dispose of her own property and earnings, enter into contracts, even after marriage. She has the right to be educated and to work outside the home if she so chooses. She has the right to inherit from her father, mother, and husband. A very interesting point to note is that in Islam, unlike any other religion, a woman can be an imam, a leader of communal prayer, for a group of women. A Muslim woman also has obligations. All the laws and regulations pertaining to prayer, fasting, charity, pilgrimage, doing good deeds, etc., apply to women, albeit with minor differences having mainly to do with female physiology. Before marriage, a woman has the right to choose her husband. Islamic law is very strict regarding the necessity of having the woman's consent for marriage. A marriage dowry (money) is given by the groom to the bride for her own personal use. She keeps her own family name, rather than taking her husband's. As a wife, a woman has the right to be supported by her husband even if she is already rich. She also has the right to seek divorce and custody of young children. She does not return the dowry, except in a few unusual situations. Despite the fact that in many places and times Muslim communities have not always adhered to all or even many of the foregoing in practice, the ideal has been there for 1400 years, while virtually all other major civilizations did not begin to address these issues or change their negative attitudes until the 19th and 20th centuries, and there are still many contemporary civilizations which have yet to do so. Top Other Religions Islam is the religion of all prophets. Muslims believe that all the prophets were sent to their respective peoples from God (Allah). They all had the same mission and message - guiding people to the right path. The three revealed, monotheistic religions, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, go back to Abraham. The prophets of these religions were directly descended from him - Moses, Jesus and others from Isaac, but Muhammad from IsmaŒil. It was Prophet Abraham who had
established the settlement which today is the city of Makkah, and with his son IsmaŒil built the KaŒbah, which Muslims all over the world face when they pray. Christians and Jews hold a special place in Islam. They are called the People of the Book (Ahl al-Kitab), since the original Torah and Gospel were also divinely revealed and they shared in the prophetic tradition. Islamic states have nearly always shown their religious minorities tolerance and respect and those communities flourished under Islamic rule. God says: "...[T]hose who believe (in the message of Islam), and the Jews, the Sabaeans, and the Christians - all those who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and act righteously - no fear shall come upon them..." [5:69] Setting up the Islamic state in Madinah, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) further warned: "Whoever oppresses any Dhimmi (non-Muslim citizen of the Islamic state), I shall be his prosecutor on the Day of Judgment." In setting up the Islamic state, Prophet Muhammad made it inclusive of the Arabian Jews and Christians. Their persons, properties, churches and synagogues were protected, freedom of worship was guaranteed, and they controlled their own community affairs with their own civil and religious laws and courts. For most of the first century of the Islamic state, in fact, the majority of the citizens were Christians, enjoying peace and liberty such as they had not had even under Christian Rome or Byzantium. The Jews, from the very beginning in Madinah, and later everywhere else, were lifted from the burden of being clients of individual Arab tribes to being citizens of the state, thus freeing them to focus on their Jewishness. When the Islamic state expanded outside Arabia the Jews of other lands were treated for the first time as liberated citizens. Judaism flourished as never before, with Jews even serving in Muslim armies and administrations while their culture bloomed in the arts, sciences, medicine and philosophy. This knowledge they transmitted to their brethren in the hostile climate of Christian Europe. Even Jewish mysticism originated under the influence of sufism and spread to northern Europe. When Islam reached Persia the concept of People of the Book was
extended to the Zoroastrians as well. Later, when the Muslims conquered parts of India and encountered Buddhists and Hindus, who appeared to worship idols, the question was referred to the ulema (council of scholars), who judged that even they could have the same protected status as the Jews and Christians, so long as they did not fight Islam and they paid the Jizyah tax. Top Peace "Peace" is the most common word on a Muslim's tongue. Whenever two people meet, they exchange greetings, wishing each other peace: "Peace be upon you." But peace cannot prevail except through justice. Since the concept of justice may differ from one man to another, or from one society to another, Muslims believe that real justice is that which is specified by Allah (God). Islam permits fighting in self-defense, in defense of the religion, or by those who have been expelled forcibly from their homes. At the same time, Islam requires one to treat one's enemy mercifully. It lays down strict rules of combat which include prohibitions against harming civilians and against destroying crops, trees, and livestock. Islam also requires that if an enemy declares his desire to end hostilities and seek peace, the Muslims must do the same. The concept of Jihad (struggling in the cause of Allah) is stated in the Qur'an. Allah said: "Fight in the cause of God those who fight you, but do not transgress limits. God does not love transgressors." [2:19] Jihad is never to be waged to force anybody to choose a particular religion. On the contrary, it is to waged to protect his right to choose freely. Therefore, if there is a force in the world that tries to prevent a person from practicing this right, Jihad may lead to fighting the force that is trying to prevent him from exercising free will. Top Relevance Since Islam is the last religion revealed by Allah, it possesses some elements that make it unique. One of these is its relevance for human
beings regardless of place and time. This means that Islam - submission to God - is a comprehensive institution which includes all the guidelines necessary for all aspects of life. Therefore, the best way to understand Islam is to look at it as more than a religion - as a complete way of life. In other words, it is a system which regulates every aspect of life, dealing with all issues social, economic, educational, judicial, health, and even military. Thus, it is suitable for all human beings and for all times, since it is the final religion. Islamic law aims to achieve five goals for human beings in life: protecting the religion, protecting one's self, protecting one's possessions, protecting one's mind, and protecting one's offspring. Therefore, God (Allah) decided on two main domains of law: 1. If the domain always requires change and progress, Allah legislated comprehensive yet flexible rules and gave people the chance to create and develop the necessary laws to satisfy the specific needs of a certain period of time. For example, in the rule of consultation (Shura), Allah decided that it should be the general rule for any government; however, its form and style are left open for people to choose and decide according to their needs. 2. If the domain does not require or lend itself to change or progress, Allah legislated fixed and detailed laws that govern all issues related to a specific area. Thus, there is no way for man to change or develop those laws, which were made for the welfare of all mankind. For example, the area of worshipping God contains fixed details which cannot be changed at all. These regard prayer, fasting, making pilgrimage, etc. Another example is in family matters, such as the laws of marriage, divorce, and inheritance. To show how Islam cares for the environment, one can cite the many laws that protect the environment. About fourteen hundred years ago. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: "The world is green and beautiful, and Allah has appointed you as His stewards over it. He sees how you acquit yourselves." Muhammad showed how important plants and trees are by saying: "Whoever plants a tree and looks after it with care until it matures and becomes productive will be rewarded in the Hereafter." Even in the territory of an enemy, Islam's care for plants, animals, and trees is profound. Abu Bakr, the first Caliph, or successor, to Muhammad
(pbuh), instructed his troops that he was sending into battle not to cut down any trees or kill any animals except for food. These are but a few examples of how Islam remains relevant in the modern world. Top Sources ³The ultimate manifestation of God's grace for man, the ultimate wisdom, and the ultimate beauty of expression: in short, the word of God.² This is how the German scholar, Muhammad Asad, once described the Qur'an. If one were to ask any Muslim to depict it, most likely they would offer similar words. The Qur'an, to the Muslim, is the irrefutable, inimitable Word of God. It was revealed by God Almighty, through the instrument of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The Prophet (pbuh) himself had no role in authoring the Qur'an, he was merely a human secretary, repeating the dictates of the Divine Creator: "He (Muhammad) does not speak of his own desire. It is no less than an Inspiration sent down to him." [53:3-4] The Qur'an was revealed in Arabic, to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), over a period of twenty-three years. It is composed in a style so unique, that it cannot be deemed either poetry or prose, but somehow a mixture of both. The Qur'an is imimitable; it cannot be simulated or copied, and God Almighty challenges mankind to pursue such an endeavor if he thinks he can: "Or do they say he forged it? Say: Bring then a chapter like unto it, and call (to your aid) anyone you can, beside God, if it be you speak the truth." [10:38]. The Qur'an's language is indeed sublime, its recitation moving, as one non-Muslim scholar noted, it was like ³the cadence of my heartbeat². Due to its unique style of language, the Qur'an is not only highly readable, but also relatively easy to remember. This latter aspect has played an important role not only in the Qur'an's preservation, but in the spiritual life of Muslims as well. God Himself declares, "And We have indeed made the Qur'an easy to understand and
remember; then is there anyone that will receive admonition?" [54:17] One of the most important characteristics of the Qur'an is that it remains today, the only holy book which has never changed; it has remained free from any and all adulterations. Sir William Muir noted, "There is probably in the world no other book which has remained (fourteen) centuries with so pure a text." The Qur'an was written down during the lifetime and under the supervision of the Prophet, who himself was illiterate, and it was canonized shortly after his death by a rigorous method which scrutinized both written and oral traditions. Thus its authenticity is unblemished, and is its preservation is seen as the fulfillment of God's promise: "We have, without doubt, sent down the Message, and We will assuredly guard it from corruption." [15:9] The Qur'an is a book which provides the human being the spiritual and intellectual nourishment he/she craves. Its major themes include the oneness of God, the purpose of human existence, faith and Godconsciousness, the Hereafter and its significance. The Qur'an also lays a heavy emphasis upon reason and understanding. In these spheres of human understanding, the Qur'an goes beyond just satisfying the human intellect; it causes one to reflect on implications. There are Qur'anic challenges and prophecies. One of the most exciting fields in recent years has been the discovery that, of the significant amount of scientific information in the Qur'an, including the event of the Big Bang, embryological data, and other information concerning astronomy biology, etc., there is not a single statement that has not been borne out by modern discoveries In short, the Qur'an fulfills the heart, the soul, and the mind. Perhaps the best description of the Qur'an was given by Ali, the cousin of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) when he expounded upon it as, "The Book of God. In it is the record of what was before you, the judgment of what is among you, and the prophecies of what will come after you. It is decisive, not a case for levity. Whoever is a tryant and ignores the Qur'an will be destroyed by God. Whoever seeks guidance from other than it will be misguided. The Qur'an is the unbreakable bond of connection with God; it is the remembrance full of wisdom and the straight path. The Qur'an does not become distorted by tongues. nor can it be deviated by caprices; it never dulls from repeated study; scholars will always want more of it. The wonders of the Qur'an are never ending. Whoever speaks from it will speak the truth, whoever
rules with it will be just, and whoever holds fast to it will be guided to the straight path." [Al-Tirmidhi] Top Sunnah The term Sunnah comes from the root word sanna, which means to pave the way or make a path easily passable, such that it becomes a commonly followed way by everyone afterwards. Thus sunnah can be used to describe a street or road or path on which people, animals, and cars travel. Additionally, it can apply to a prophetic way, i.e. the law that they brought and taught as an explanation or further clarification of a divinely revealed book. Normally, the prophetic way includes references to his sayings, actions, physical features and character traits. From the Islamic standpoint, Sunnah refers to anything narrated or related about the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), authentically traced to him regarding his speech, actions, traits, and silent approvals, before and after the revelation. Each narration is composed of two parts: the isnad and the matn. The isnad refers to a chain of people who narrated a paricular narration. The matn is the actual text of the narration. The isnad must comprise upright and sincere individuals whose integrity is unquestionable. The Speech of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) The speech of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) refers to his sayings. For example, he said: "Actions are judged by their intentions; everyone will be rewarded according to his/her intention. So whoever migrates for the sake of Allah and His Prophet then his migration will be noted as a migration for the sake of Allah and His Prophet. Conversely, one who migrates only to obtain something worldly or to marry a woman, then his migration will be worth what he had inteded.² [Bukhari]. The Prophet (pbuh) also said: ³Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, should say something good or keep quiet. The above two accounts clearly show that the Prophet (pbuh) spoke these words. Consequently, these are known as his speech.
The Actions of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) His actions pertain to anything he did, as authentically reported by the Sahabah (Companions). For instance, Hudhayfah reported that whenever the Prophet (pbuh) got up at night, he would clean his teeth with a tooth-stick. Also A'ishah reported that the Prophet (pbuh) loved to do everything starting with the right side - putting on shoes, walking, cleaning himself, and in all his affairs generally. The Silent Approvals of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) His silent approvals on different issues meant his not opposing or minding what he saw, heard or knew of the actions or sayings of his Companions. On one occasion, for example, the Prophet (pbuh) learned of actions of some of his Companions from other Companions. Soon after the battle of Khandaq, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) gave the order to the Companions to move quickly to surround the tribe of Banu Quraydah, encouraging them to hurry so that perhaps they would pray 'Asr (the late afternoon prayer) there. Some of the Companions of the Prophet (pbuh) responded immediately and left without praying 'Asr. They arrived after sunset, pitched camp and prayed 'Asr- after sunset. At the same time another group of Companions formulated their judgment differently. They thought that the Prophet (pbuh) was merely encouraging them to hasten to their destination, rather than to delay 'Asr until after sunset. Consequently, they decided to stay in Madinah until they had prayed 'Asr. Immediately thereafter, they hastened towards the tribe of Banu Quraydhah. When the Prophet (pbuh) was told of how each group responded differently to his announcement, he (pbuh) affirmed both judgments. Physical and Moral Traits of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) Everything authentically narrated concerning the Prophet's complexion and the rest of his physical features is also included in the definition of sunnah. Umm Ma'bad described what she saw of the great Prophet (pbuh). She said: "I saw a man, his face radiant with a bright glow, not too thin or too fat, elegant and handsome. His eyes had a deep black hue with long eyelashes. His voice was pleasant and his neck long. He had a thick beard. His long black eyebrows were beautifully arched and connected to each other. In silence, he remained dignified, commanding utmost awe and respect. When he spoke, his speech was brilliant. Of all people he was the most handsome and the most pleasant, even when
approaching from a distance. In person, he was unique and most admirable. Graced with eloquent logic, his speech was moderate. His logical arguments were well organized as though they were a string of gems. He was not too tall or too short, but exactly in between. Among three, he appeared the most radiant and most vibrant. He had companions who affectionately honored him. When he spoke, they listened to him attentively. When he gave orders, they were quick to execute them. They rallied around him guarding him. He never frowned or spoke frivolously." [Hakim] Along with his physical features, his Companions also described his habits and behavior with people. Once Anas reported: "I served the Prophet of Allah (pbuh) for ten years. Never once did he so much as express any bit of displeasure nor did he ever ask 'Why did you do it?' for something I did or 'Why didn't you do it?' for something I didn't do." From the above we can clearly see that when the term sunnah appears in a general context refering to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) it comprises anything narrated about the Prophet (pbuh) and authentically traced to him. Once a Muslim learns of the authenticity of any narration, he/she is obliged to follow and obey it accordingly. Such obedience is mandated by Allah as He declares "...and obey Allah and His Prophet and do not turn away when you hear (him speak)." [8:20] At times, some Muslims are perplexed when people say that sunnah is something only recommended and is not mandatory. Thus they conclude that we are only required to follow the Qur'an and not the Sunnah. Such an argument results from a gross misunderstanding. Scholars of Islamic jurisprudence use the term sunnah to denote what is authentically established of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in deeds which were not subsequently made mandatory by Allah. They further hold that this includes any saying of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) where he encourages Muslims to do a particular task and compliments those who imbibe such attributes. Thus to them, the term sunnah denotes what is authentically established of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in deeds which he did voluntarily and which were not subsequently made mandatory by Allah. They further hold that this includes any saying of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) where he encourages Muslims to do a particular task and compliments those
who imbibe such attributes. Thus to them, the term sunnah refers to what is "recommended" and is not mandatory (fard or wajib). From the above, we can clearly see that the term sunnah takes on different meanings when used by different Islamic disciplines. Top Tolerance Freedom of belief is guaranteed in Islam. It should be very clear that Islam tolerates not only other faiths but even its enemies. This is stated clearly in the Qur'an: "God forbids you not with regard to those who fight you not for (your) faith, nor drive you out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them, for God loves those who are just." [60:8] It is one function of Islamic law to protect the privileged status of minorities, and this is why non-Muslim places of worship have flourished all over the Islamic world. Islamic law also permits nonMuslim minorities to set up their own courts to implement family laws drawn up by the minorities themselves and to govern their own affairs. History provides many examples of Muslim tolerance towards other faiths. When the great leader and second Caliph, Umar, entered Jerusalem in the year 634, Islam guaranteed freedom of worship to all religious communities in the city. In fact, so careful was Umar in setting an example for his people that he not only went to a church to pray, he prayed outside in the courtyard, lest his followers after his death be tempted to convert the church into a mosque. Islam teaches that the closest to Allah and the most beloved of Allah are those who are the best in piety. Thus all people, male and female, and regardless of race, color, nationality or ethnicity, are considered and treated as equal before Allah and before the law. This concept of tolerance did not reach the West even in theory until the 18th century, and in practice not until the 20th century. Top Universality
In the Qur'an, Allah says: "We have sent you (Muhammad) as a mercy for all nations." [21:107] Thus Islam is not restricted to any particular race or nation, as many other religions are, but is universal, meaning that its message applies to all humanity, at all times, in all places. Since Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was the last prophet and messenger, his message applies to all future generations. All previous prophets, from Adam, Noah and Abraham to Moses and Jesus, were also Muslims: "Not a single messenger did We send before you without this inspiration sent by Us to him that there is no god but I, therefore worship and serve Me." [21:25] Since the Qur'an is the final testament, with every word and every letter unadulterated and unchanged, and protected by Allah from any change or tampering, it is the final revelation, and no other law will ever supersede it. It applies, moreover, to every aspect of one's daily life, including personal, social, legal, economic, political, even military. Furthermore, Islam affects every part of the individual - physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Chronological Presentation on Islam in America By United Taleem, Melbourne Muslim World Population Beginning of Islam and Early Mecca Prophet Muhammad (SAW) • Descendant of Ishmael (AS), the first son of Abraham (AS). • Born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, in the year 570 C.E. • Received first revelation at the age 40 through angel Gabriel.
• Died in the year 632 C.E, after preaching Islam for 23 years. Early Muslim Explorers • There are historic accounts of Muslim explorers sailing to the Americas as early as 800 A.D. Early Muslim Explorers • 1178 - A Chinese document know as the Sung Document records the voyage of Muslim sailors to a land know as Mu-Lan-Pi (America) • Zheng He[Cheng Ho] sailed from China to many places throughout South Pacific ... in seven epic voyages from 1405 to 1433 ,some 80 years before Columbus's voyages Early Muslim Explorers • Abu Bakari II , Mali's "Voyager King" decided to embark on a voyage of discovery. Bakari assembled an armada of 2,000 ships and sailed from the West coast of Africa headed towards the Americas. In approximately 1300 A.D. –There is no recorded outcome of their voyage available Early Muslim Explorers • 1312 - African Muslims (Mandinga) arrive in the Gulf of Mexico for exploration of the American interior using the Mississippi River as their access route. These Muslim
explorers were from Mali and other parts of West Africa. Muslim Slaves from Africa • 1530s - African slaves arrive in America. During the slave trade, more than 10 million Africans were uprooted from their homes and brought to American shores. Many of these slaves were from the Fulas, Fula Jallon, Fula Toro, and Massiona as well as other areas of West Africa. These areas were governed from their capital, "Timbuctu." These slaves were sent to Mexico, Cuba, and South America. More than 30 percent of these 10 million slaves were Muslim. They became the backbone of the American economy. Muslim Slaves from Africa • 1809 - Al Haj Umar ibn Sayyid is enslaved in Charleston after running away. In jail, he is visited by John Owen and taken to Blade County and placed on the Owen plantation. John Owen later became Governor of North Carolina. It has been reported that Umar lived to be 100 years old. • There is a Masjid named after him in North Carolina • His autobiography, written in Arabic in 1831, is just one of several manuscripts Said is known to have authored. Although a slave, he keeps his Muslim faith Other early Muslim immigrants to America • 1893 - Muslim immigrants from the Arab
provinces of the Ottoman Empire, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, etc. arrive in North America. They are mainly Turks, Kurds, Albanians, and Arabs Moorish Science Temple of America - 1913 • Nobel Drew Ali (Timothy Drew) • Timothy Drew (Noble Drew Ali) establishes an organization in Newark, NJ, known as the Moorish Science Temple of America (MSTA). Drew Ali reportedly was commissioned by the Sultan of Morocco to teach Islam to Negroes in the United States. The MSTA is also responsible for many of today's AfricanAmerican converts to Islam. Muslim Masajid and Organizations • 1915 - Albanian Muslims build a Masjid in Maine and establish an Islamic association. By 1919, they had established another Masjid in Connecticut. Theirs was one of the first associations for Muslims in the United States. • 1920 - The Red Crescent, a Muslim charity modeled after the International Red Cross, is established in Detroit. Universal Islamic Society - 1926 • Duse Muhammad Ali, mentor of Marcus Garvey and the person who had a considerable impact upon Garvey's movement, establishes an organization in Detroit known as the Universal Islamic Society. Its motto was: "One God, One Aim, One Destiny."
• He started two publications: The African Times and Orient Review, which began publication in July 1912 • He initiated an organization in 1926 which he called the “Universal Islamic Society” in Detroit, Mich. • He died June 25,1945 Nation of Islam - 1933 • The Nation of Islam (NOI), one of the most significant organizations in American Muslim history, is founded. A high percentage of African Americans who were members of Nation of Islam later converted to Islam. NOI was also effective in highlighting American Christians' difficulties combating the effects of slavery and racism among African Americans. The NOI's philosophy was introduced in the United States by Fard Muhammad (Wallace Ford), a mystic who disappeared in 1933. The late Elijah Mohammed, who succeeded Fard in 1933, helped build the organization into a strong ethnic movement advocating a deviant brand of Islam as a way of life. Two of the most famous African Americans, Muhammad Ali, and Al Hajj Malik al-Shabazz (Malcolm X), were early adherents of this movement. Both later embraced the true Islam. Nation of Islam – 1930s Philosophy introduced by • Farad Muhammad (Wallace Ford) Leaders • Elijah Mohammed • Minister Louis Farakhan • Al-Hajj Malik al Shabazz (Malcolm X) • Imam Warith Deen Muhammad Well Known Figure • Muhammad Ali Farad Muhammad (Wallace Ford) • 1930 Door-to-door silk salesperson Wali Farad Muhammad (born Wallace Fard), later called "God in person" by Black Muslims, founds the Lost-Found Nation of Islam in Detroit. Although he believes that Islam is the natural religion for Africans, Farad does not stress fulfillment of any of the traditional "five pillars" of the religion. He instead focuses upon a revisionist mythology explaining the historical oppression of black people. This mythology includes the claims that black
people as members of the tribe of Shabazz were the original race of humans and came to the Earth 66 trillion years ago, and that white people were the result of an experiment performed by the evil scientist Yakub 6000 years ago. W.F. Muhammad subsequently spends three years teaching Elijah Muhammad (born Elijah Poole in Sandersville, GA) his version of Islam. Farad then sends Elijah Muhammad to establish a second temple in Chicago. Elijah Mohammed October 7, 1897 - February 25, 1975 • Muhammad was born Elijah Poole in Sandersville, Georgia, as one of 13 children of Willie Poole, Sr. (1868–1942) and Mariah Hall(1873– 1958). Both were tenant farmers (share croppers). At the age of 16 he left home and traveled about America. In 1917 he married Clara Evans, later to be known as Mother Clara Muhammad • In the early 1930s, Muhammad also became acquainted with a W.D. Fard also known as Wallace Fard Muhammad. W. Fard Muhammad, then working as a peddler, had already established his Temple of Islam in Detroit; he had approximately 25,000 followers Al-Hajj Malik al Shabazz (MalcolmX) • Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965), also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, was an American Black Muslim minister and a one-time spokesman for the Nation of Islam. After leaving the Nation of Islam in 1964, he went on a pilgrimage, the Hajj, to Mecca and became a Sunni Muslim; he
also founded the Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of AfroAmerican Unity. Less than a year later, he was assassinated in Washington Heights on the first day of National Brotherhood Week. Born May 19, 1925 North Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. Died February 21, 1965 (aged 39) New York City, New York, U.S. Minister Louis Farakhan • In 1955, while headlining a show in Chicago entitled "Calypso Follies," he first came in contact with the teachings of the Nation of Islam. A friend from Boston, sometime saxophonist Rodney Smith, introduced him to the NOI's doctrine. He joined the Nation of Islam in July of 1955, becoming Louis X- the "X" being a placeholder for two things- the unknown surname of his slave forefathers, and the Islamic name some Nation members are given later in their conversion • He was a professional musician • In the 1950s, Wolcott became an up-and-coming calypso singer. He recorded several calypso albums under the name "The Charmer." • Thirty days after joining, Elijah Muhammad stated that all musicians in the NOI had thirty days from the date of this announcement to give up the music world completely. Farrakhan did so almost instantly. • He became national spokseman for NOI Muhammad Ali • Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. on January 17, 1942) is a retired American boxer and former three-time World Heavyweight Champion and winner of an Olympic Lightheavyweight gold medal. In 1999, Ali was crowned "Sportsman of the Century" by Sports Illustrated and the BBC. • After winning the championship from Liston in 1964, Clay revealed that he was a member of the Nation of Islam • Aligning himself with the Nation of Islam made him a lightning rod for controversy, turning the outspoken but popular former champion into one of that era's most recognizable and controversial figures. Appearing at rallies with Nation of Islam
leader Elijah Muhammad and declaring his allegiance to him at a time when mainstream America viewed them with suspicion — if not outright hostility — made Ali a target of outrage, as well as suspicion. • Ali converted from the Nation of Islam sect to mainstream Sunni Islam in 1975. In a 2004 autobiography, written with daughter Hana Yasmeen Ali, Muhammad Ali attributes his conversion to the shift toward Sunni Islam made by W.D. Muhammad after he gained control of the Nation of Islam upon the death of his father, Elijah Muhammad in 1975. Imam Warith Deen Muhammad • In 1961, W.D. Muhammad refused military draft and was sentenced to three years in jail. While there, he began reading mainstream Islamic doctrine, and noticed contradictions with NOI theology. The resulting ideological rift with his father caused him to leave NOI in 1963. After the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, he returned to the NOI ranks, but was suspended by NOI for his "dissident views" in 1969 and again in 1971. Yusuf Islam -1960s / 1970s – Formally known as Cat Stevens • Wasn’t American • British Citizen • His songs were a big hit in America before he came to Islam (1970s) MSA and ISNA • The Muslim Students Association (MSA) founded in 1963, later to become ISNA in 1982, started with just a little more than a dozen students. The earlier conventions in the sixties attracted hardly a hundred participants. But the momentum provided by the likes of Ahmad Sakr, Ahmad Totonji, Jamal and others too numerous to mention, gradually caught on, membership increased, chapters multiplied and brought us to the point where we are today. • Muslim Student Association is now an independent Student
Organization in different universities and colleges ICNA • ICNA holds an annual convention in partnership with the Muslim American Society. CAIR • Muslim civil rights group Muslim Inventions that Affected the World • Algebra • Chemistry • Physics • Medicine • Astronomy • Etc. Conclusion • Last sermon of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) • All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over a white - except by piety and good action. • Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not therefore do injustice to yourselves. Remember one day you will meet Allah and answer your deeds. So beware: do not stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone.
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The Golden Words of a Sufi Sheikh Preface from The Golden Words of a Sufi Sheikh.
Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim, in the name of God, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful. May the beginning and end and all things be the responsibility of Allah alone. Only Allah, the One of limitless grace and incomparable love, the One who gives us His infinite wealth of grace, knows all the secrets of all the creations in the 18,000 universes. He is the One who created the essence, the manifestations, and the attributes. He created right and wrong, or khair andsharr, permissible and impermissible, or halal and haram, good and evil, heaven and hell. He is the One who knows their secrets. May we praise only Him. May we pray only to Him. May we trust only Him. May our faith, our trust, and our determination become steadfast in our hearts. May that steadfastness grow stronger and become the staff with which we walk through life. May it be the life within our prayers. Each one of us, every child, must reflect and realize the truth of the statement, "One who has iman, perfect faith, is exalted. One who hasiman will receive the undiminishing plenitude of the wealth of God's grace in all three worlds (the world of the soul, this world, and the next world)." My beloved brothers and sisters, we are children who have faith in God. All living beings have faith in God. The earth and the sky, night and light, lives that move and lives that do not move, all have faith in God; and God knows the hearts of all creations. He knows all thoughts and all intentions. He knows the speech of the tongue. He knows every part of every creation. The Precious One, the Exalted One who is Almighty God, Allahu ta'ala Nayan, is the Father of all lives. He is the Almighty One, the Able One, the Creator who showers compassion on all lives. He is Rahman and Rahim, the Most Gracious
One, the Redeemer. May we have faith only in Him. Amin. My very precious brothers and sisters, God created insan, true man, as the most exalted of all creations. To this exalted life, God has given exalted wisdom. He has given man seven levels of wisdom: feeling, awareness, intellect, judgment, subtle wisdom, divine analytic wisdom, and divine luminous wisdom. God has fashioned the seven levels of wisdom so that man can know God and understand Him through remembrance, contemplation, prayer, and worship. Human beings have faith in various types of worship and remembrances of God. There are four steps to prayer: shari'at, tariqat, haqiqat, and ma'rifat. Shari'at is creation, the religion of Zabur, or Hinduism, the section below the navel, the section of earth. When man looks at creation and the manifestations which appear from the earth, he must understand what is right and what is wrong. If he discards what is wrong and accepts what is right, he will come to one point: there is only one God. Tariqat, the next step, occurs when man's faith becomes strong. Tariqat relates to the religion of Jabrat, or Zoroastrianism, which represents the region of the stomach, the aspects of hunger, illness, old age, and death, and the section of fire: the hell-fire of anger, hastiness, the differences you feel between yourself and others and the evil actions which follow because of these differences. When man discards everything from this section other than the one point, the point of God, he comes to the level of haqiqat. Haqiqat is also known as the religion of Injil, or Christianity. It is represented by the region of the chest, the aspect of air, and contains
the vapors, gases, jinns, fairies, spirits, angels, and heavenly beings. When a man discards everything in Injil except for one point, the point of God, he takes on the beauty of God and he becomes very close to God. Next is the level of ma'rifat, or the religion of Furqan (Islam and Judaism), the head, the section of light. Furqan means to understand with wisdom what is perceived by the two eyes, the two ears, the two nostrils, and the mouth, which represent the seven diacritical marks.* If you know these four steps, understand them, and then pray to Allah ceaselessly, unmindful of the difference between day and night, that is true prayer, the fifth prayer, the prayer of Sufiyyat. Sufiyyat is the state in which there is no day or night. The prayer calledSufiyyat is the prayer in which you do not speak and you do not smile. You speak without speaking, smile without smiling, pray without praying, and intend without in tending, and in this way you control and subdue your countless desires. To speak to God without speaking is Sufism. Sufiyyat means to subdue mind and desire, that is, to restrict your own acting in the drama and to control your connection to blood ties, your cravings, illusions, attachments, vanity, envy, anger, the pride of the 'I' and the feeling of 'you', treachery, deceit, hunger, lust, and obsession. To cut away all these myriad qualities of satan, to pull them out and burn them to ash through wisdom and faith, is Sufism. Once they have been consumed we can begin to pray. In the prayer of Sufiyyat, God has ordained 43,242 sajdahs, or prostrations at the feet of God, per day. The man who performs these will see Allah before his eyes. He will see only Allah and nothing else. His qalb, which is his innermost heart, will see only Allah's light. His ears will hear only Allah's sound. His qalb will realize only God's
sound, God's light, and God's resonance. His nose will perceive only the fragrance of God. The tongue will speak only to Him in the secret silence, and in this silent speech man will die he must die in Allah. When he dies in Allah in the state in which he speaks without speaking, smiles without smiling, and prays without praying, knowing God without knowing Him that state is Sufism. In this way, every word must end in God, every breath must end in Him, and every speech must end in Him. Man's entire life must reach God; that is his true prayer. That is the culmination of the prayer of the Sufi. One who attains the clarity of perfect faith is called a Sufi. When he cuts away all his earlier states and realizes himself, he becomes a perfected man, an insan kamil, and at the stage in which he loses himself in God, he becomes a Sufi. At the stage in which he is dead to himself, he becomes Muhammad. When he loses himself within Allah, he becomes the Nur, the resplendence of Allah, and his treasure is the Nur Muhammad. God's powers appear within him and become the light within his eyes and the resonance of God within his ears. His nose smells the fragrance of Allah and his tongue relishes the wonderful tastes of Allah, while God's kingdom resplends within his heart. The kingdom of God exists and resonates in the prayer within his innermost heart. My very precious children, the attainments and the potentialities of the Sufi are impossible to describe. To become Sufis we must obtain clarity of faith and wisdom. In this way, little by little, we must remove the darkness which has veiled us. We must untie the ropes which illusion has wrapped around us. We must cut away the connections of blood ties and the desire for land, gold, and women. With the sword of wisdom we must cut away all the energies, cells,
and viruses which have been burning us, and then we must burn them. This is the state in which we can become Sufis. When we say Sufi we mean the state in which one has attained true wisdom. The state of the Sufi is the state in which, having controlled and subdued all the other states, one becomes the resplendent sun, the resplendent light of God. One who is in this state is called a Sufi, and the state is called Sufism, or Sufi-Sun. With his iman, he will split open and sift everything he sees. He will pierce through it with his wisdom and his firm certitude and determination, without allowing his mind to become fatigued, without allowing his heart to give up. If he can continue to pierce and cut through what is within everything, he will see only Allah. He will see Allah's wealth, Allah's powers, Allah's qualities, and nothing else. In every moment, in every tree, in every flower, and in every blade of grass, he will see only God. In every tree, every fruit, every fragrance, every flower, every bird, every cow, every goat, in whatever he beholds he will see only the secret of Allah, the powers or wilayat of Allah, and the qualities of Allah. When he looks at an ant he will discover Allah's secrets. When he looks at a fruit he will be amazed and say, "What a wonder! How praiseworthy You are. How subtly You have created the fruit. What flavors it contains!" If he looks at a honeybee he will see how much wisdom it has, how it builds its house, what qualities it has, and how it tastes the honey and shares it with everyone. In this way we must marvel and praise God, saying, "What a wonder Your creation is." As we open each thing and look inside, we will find that we can praise only Allah and worship only Him; this is all there
is. This is the meaning we must derive when we look at anything. Though we will be able to realize it through what we see, we can understand only through wisdom. And if we do realize that everything must be understood through wisdom we will see that all the explanations we find are the explanations of God's story, that the things we see are not merely creations but also His story. Everything He has created is His story. If we look inside this storybook of creation we will find His entire history. And if we look inside God's history we will see only Him, His powers, and His qualities. This is the explanation we must discover. This is why the Messenger of Allah, the Rasulullah (Sal.) has said, "Go even unto China to learn 'ilm;"learn 'ilm or divine knowledge, even if you have to go to China to do it. First, we must seek and acquire wisdom. Second, we must develop and strengthen our faith. Third, we must realize that Allah is the only One who exists. Fourth, we must offer prayers of praise, glorifying and worshiping Him. We must learn certitude of faith and we must develop the wisdom through which to worship Him. Through that wisdom we must discover the right and the wrong in our prayers to Him, understanding that Allah is the One who has no equal and that nothing can be shown as an example to illustrate Him. Each of us must open his heart, his qalb, and transform it into the Ka'bah, the central place of worship. Placing the Rasulullah (Sal.)before us as our imam, our leader of prayer, we must offer prayers of praise to Allah. To stand face to face before Allah and speak every word to Him directly is the true prayer and the true worship which we must fashion within ourselves. Each of the children
must pray in this way. Then wisdom will be our support, prayer will be our wealth, and faith will be the house of our qalb, the Ka'bah. We must reflect on this and think about it in our prayers. This is the duty of an insan mu'min, the man of true belief, and of an insan kamil, perfected man. When we say Sufi, it means one who has controlled his words, his tongue, and his heart, one who has controlled and stopped all unnecessary actions within himself. There are so many different kinds of dancing on the stage of the world. Everything dances: goats, cows, trees, shrubs, flowers, leaves, grasses, birds, winged creatures, animals, jinns, fairies, satans, illusions, and darkness. They dance in the sky, on the earth, in the oceans, and on the mountains. But this is not prayer. For one who is a mu'min, a true believer, acting and dancing are not prayer. All the others dance the drama of illusion and act the acts of hell, seeking the prizes which are advertised on the billboards of hell. All the labels they wear are advertisements for hell. Their fame and their titles and their attainments are the labels which will lead them to hell. Sufis give up the acting within themselves, burn up even their thoughts of acting, and reach the stage of contentment where they speak without speaking and immerse themselves in God. That is Sufism. Only when that state is established within us, only when wisdom dawns and God's ocean of divine knowledge appears within us, only when we have true faith and worship can we reach God, who is the wisdom within wisdom. Only in that state do we become creations who can reach God and speak to Him directly. We must realize this.
The essential requirements are absolute faith and wisdom. Our progress and the states we attain are in accordance with the level of our faith and wisdom. One who has transcended the four steps of shari'at, tariqat, haqiqat, and ma'rifat is a Sufi. One who knows these four steps and knows himself and knows his God is a Sufi. We must acquire the wisdom necessary to reach this state. God has created everything as an example in order that we may acquire and attain that wisdom. Everyone who is an insan, everyone who is a mu'min, everyone who is an insan kamil, and all of us must realize this. My very precious children, my brothers and sisters, we must realize it. May God protect us. This book contains many kinds of explanations. It is full of meaningful words which can be understood only by the faith, the wisdom, and the innermost heart of man. If you realize these words with your faith and understand them with your wisdom, you will discover the state which will guide you along your path. Whatever you read about faith, certitude, and determination must be read to strengthen your iman, your absolute belief in God. The fact that Allah is the only One who exists must be firmly impressed within your hearts. You must begin with this understanding and then search for wisdom with the certitude of determined belief in God. You must search in His guardianship and say, "Al-hamdu lillah , all praise belongs only to God." Begin your search with " Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. Alhamdu lillahi Rabbil-'alamin: In the name of God, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate. All praise is Yours, O Ruler of all the universes." Having begun in this fashion, you must understand every saying in this book by using your wisdom.
If all of you read this book of Sufi wisdom with open hearts free from doubt, separatism, and discrimination, free from all thought of 'my race' or 'your race', 'my religion' or 'your religion', you will realize and understand. You will see that all the children of Adam (A.S.) are one race and that there is no one worthy of worship other than Allahu ta'ala Nayan. Be certain of this. If you think of it with certitude you will realize that even though hundreds of thousands of prophets came to this world they all preached about one God and spoke only His commandments. All prophets placed their faith in only the one God. They did not see Him in different forms as many different gods. There is only one God and one family of Adam (A.S.), and the prophets brought the words of that one God. If we, too, have such certitude we will not create separations by seeing differences in religions or races. If you can open your hearts and read this book of Sufi wisdom with determined faith, your wisdom will be able to absorb certain words and certain meanings. As clarity grows, the darkness of the heart will gradually fade. All the nafs, the base cravings arising from ignorance, will disappear. Attachments will go and the desire for God will grow. His grace and wealth and the treasures of His qualities will resplend within. As wisdom continues to develop, we grow as human beings. Our hearts become increasingly resplendent as we gain more and more clarity of wisdom, and that resplendence will begin to cut away our darkness and our birth. As birth is cut away, death is cut away. When death is cut away, we will no longer be subject to birth or death, and our lives will become long. When our lives become long, we will realize the state of offering prayers of praise directly to God. We must
realize this without the slightest doubt. All we have learned so far amounts to only a handful of earth. What we have yet to learn is as large as the whole world. There is so much to know about the mysteries and the wealth of Allah. There is so much more to be known and we will learn it only as our wisdom develops. We must proceed slowly, always learning more and more. There are many meanings in this book. It is not enough to read through it in a superficial manner. Delve into the meaning of each word. If you read it ten times, you will receive ten different meanings. If you read it a hundred times, you will receive a hundred different meanings. That is better than superficial reading. As your wisdom begins to grow, the meanings and explanations will also grow. Read this book with your wisdom. We must all seek wisdom. There are many other aspects of Allah's resonance and Allah's explanations. His rahmat, or benevolence of grace, is limitless; it can never be judged. The power of God's grace, the words of His Tiru Marai, the Holy Qur'an, and all the words and commandments which He has given to the various prophets are impossible for us to estimate. Even if we turn all the water of all the oceans into ink and make all the trees and wood in all the worlds into pens and try to write His mystery, it would be impossible to complete it. His mystery is immense. It is said that anyone who touches even one drop of His grace becomes a good one, a good one. If we first become true human beings, then perfected human beings, and finally true Sufis, and if in that state we can touch even one drop of God's qualities and place it on our tongues, we will perceive the treasure of His grace, the
treasure of the three worlds (the world of the soul, this world, and the next world), and the treasure of His qualities. We must endeavor to attain the state in which we can touch at least one drop of His grace. It is an undiminishing, eternal wealth. My very precious brothers and sisters, may you read this book carefully, without caste, race, or religious prejudice. May each of you read it and understand it from within. Treat this book as a mother, a teacher, a brother, or a sister who can nourish your wisdom. May this book help you in your lives. May the heart of every child who takes up this book and reads it become full and complete. May this book dispel the darkness in the heart, fill it with wisdom, and explain the ways in which to worship God so that we may understand. May it assist you in reaching the state in which you can lose yourselves in God and merge with Him. May you attain that completeness. There is no state more exalted. May each of you, my brothers and sisters, take this Sufi book and read it. In sha'allah, ma sha'allah, al-hamdu lillah, tawakkal -'alallah. If God wills it, whatever God wills, all praise belongs to God, may we hand all responsibility over to Him. May all real responsibilities, the responsibility of divine knowledge, the responsibility of wisdom, the responsibility of faith, and the responsibility of life be given to God. Amin.M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen *In English, vowels are part of the alphabet, but in Semitic languages vowels take the form of notations above or below the letters, all of which are consonants. Whereas those to whom Arabic was the native language could read the Qur'an with little difficulty
in its original vowelless state, those who spoke other languages frequently misvowelled the words or misinterpreted the letter symbols. Thus, the diacritical vowel markings and nuqat, or dots, were developed over several centuries to make it easier for those less acquainted with Arabic to recite the Qur'an properly. In a mystic sense, the diacritical marks are said to give life or sound to the letters which would otherwise be silent. As the openings in the head animate it and take in light and sound, so do the diacritical marks give resonance and life to the Qur'an, also known as Furqan, the criterion of right and wrong.
The Angels A short talk given by M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen from SuraturRahmah: The Form of Compassion.
A CHILD ASKS: What is the difference between the kinds of angels: the angels, the archangels and the angelic hosts? BAWA MUHAIYADDEEN (Ral.): Have you not observed the political government here? The president is the leader, is he not? After him, are the vice president and the ministers. Similarly, in the kingdom of God and in the kingdom of gnãnam, divine wisdom, there are angels, prophets, representatives and the heavenly messenger, Gabriel (A.S.), who is of the first [rank of angels]. There are four archangels: Gabriel (A.S.), Michael (A.S.), Raphael (A.S.), and Israel (A.S.). Gabriel (A.S.) is the heavenly messenger who brought the commandments from Allah to the prophets. Gabriel (A.S.), Michael
(A.S.), Raphael (A.S.), Israel (A.S.) and Ruqã'il (A.S.) are the five angels who bring warnings to sections of the body. These angels of earth, fire, water, air and ether reside in the body. Allah gives commandments to these angels. He gives them revelations and explanations so that they can do their work. Everything that exists within the body also exists outside the body. Similarly, the same angels who exist within the body also exist outside the body. Such is the sirr, the mystery, the sirrullãh, the mystery of Allah Externally, these angels are water, fire, air, earth and ether. Malakulmaut is the Angel of Death. Ruqa'il (A.S.) is the ether, the sun, the moon and the stars. What is inside requires what is outside. It is through this that God controls cause and effect. What is inside is invisible. What is outside is visible. Munkar (A.S.) and Nakir (A.S.) are the angels who are going to ask the questions tomorrow on Judgment Day in the grave. It is also like this internally. For each question in your mind, a reply will come from the section of wisdom. "This is right, that is wrong," comes the warning; the warning comes right away. As soon as you make a mistake, the warning comes into your conscience, "What you did is not right. Think of this and do what is good." If you do not act the moment you receive the warning, if you do not ask for forgiveness within two minutes, if you do not realize what you have done, then 'Atid (A.S.), the angel on the left shoulder, will write it down; he will record it. If you have said something wrong, and do not say sorry, if you do not ask for forgiveness, it will become a fault. Will it not? Like that, we must ask God's forgiveness for our hasty words, the things we think of and the things we look at. The angel [Raqib (A.S.)] who writes the good writes immediately. The angel who writes the evil waits a little and watches. He waits for you to ask for forgiveness. He writes only if you do not ask for forgiveness.
There are the angels Ridwãn (A.S.)1 and Mãlik (A.S.).2 One performs tasbih, he offers prayers to God, "O God, give them goodness." He prays on our behalf. The other angel also asks for blessings on our behalf. "Allah!" The angels are the internal and external agents of cause and effect. Those who have strayed from this section are followers of satan, who was the leader of all the jinns. He was calledmal'un, and became the accursed one because of his jealousy and pride. Because satan and his thousand followers were in a state of intending harm to Adam (A.S.), and because of their pride, they were cast out of heaven. Satan is these qualities. These qualities are satan. No one has seen satan. Each evil quality is a satan: jealousy, backbiting, wrath, revenge, anger, self-importance, haste, vengeance, deceit, treachery, falsehood, theft, arrogance, karma, maya, Tãrahan, Singhan and Suran,3 sexual craving, hatred, miserliness, greed, fanaticism, envy, intoxicants, lust, theft, murder and falsehood. It is such qualities that are satan. Anyone who has these qualities becomes satan. All the thoughts that surround such a person, everything that comes from these qualities are miracles to him. They are desires. The hell known as sin is his miracle. His intentions and thoughts are the miracles of hell. This state is what is called satan. It is through these qualities that man becomes a satan. This is satan. These qualities are satan. If a man performs taubah, repentance, and transforms those qualities, he becomes an insãn, a human being. When man becomes insãn, and washes his ensãn surah, his eight span body, with the kalimah, the praise of Allah and 'ilm, and makes it clear, when he strengthens it with the faith, determination and certitude of imãn, he becomes an Insãn Kãmil, a perfected human being. When he becomes an Insãn Kãmil, he becomes a representative of Allah It is
with him that the angels speak. Allah advises such a man through these angels. All of the actions of such a man will be performed according to the asmã'ul-husnã, the ninety-nine beautiful names of Allah, the actions of the ninety-nine wilãyãt, powers of God; his speech, his words, his actions and his demeanor will be the qualities of Allah His qalb, his heart, will open and become the 'arshulmu'min, the throne of a true believer. His qalb will be the dhãhut, the throne, of Allah In that qalb, only Allah, His representatives, His lights, His qutbs, the auliyã', the messengers, and the ambiyã', the prophets, will exist performingtasbih, offering prayers to God. His breath and his words, his demeanor and his actions will be the actions of Allah Other lives will be like his own; the hunger of others will be like his own; the sadness of others will be like his own; other lives will be as valuable as his own. That understanding will remain within his awareness, his wisdom and his consciousness, always. No matter how much fruit a tree bears, the tree will not eat any of the fruit, but will give it to others. Such a person is like a tree: he will give his 'ilm, his divine knowledge, his goodness and his good qualities to others in order to make them peaceful. All the happiness that comes into his life will be dedicated to others in order to bring them peace. He will never search for anything for himself. He will never work for the sake of healing his own illnesses. He will dedicate his life to dispel the sadness in the lives of others, and he will try to obtain blessings for them. These qualities are the qualities of God. The qualities that do evil are the qualities of satan. The kingdom of God will belong to one who understands the qualities of God. The curse of hell, la'natuljahannam, that kingdom of jahannam, of hell, will belong to one who has the qualities of satan. We must understand the difference between the two kingdoms with 'ilm, with wisdom, with imãn, with
faith, with love, with peace and with unity. It is only then that we will be able to understand these things. THE CHILD: Thank you precious Father.
FOOTNOTES
1. Ridwãn (A.S.) guards the entrance to heaven.2. Mãlik (A.S.) is in charge of the punishment in hell.3. Tãrahan, Singhan and Suran are the three sons of maya; they represent sexual energies and passions.
Marriage Bismillahirahmaniraheem. In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
My brothers and sisters, al-hamdu lillah, all praise is to Allah. May Allah's help be with you. May Allah bless you with His rahmat, His grace, the rahmat of His mubarakat, the blessings of the three worlds, the blessings of the wealth of His kingdom, and His qualities. May Allah give this to you in fullness along with ïman, absolute faith, and certitude. Just as He blessed Adam (A.S.), may He give you that rahmat; may He protect you just as He protected Adam (A.S.); may He bless you both and give you His grace. Although Adam (A.S.) and Eve (Ral.) were cast out of heaven, one into the east and the other into the west, they were brought back together as one; they were brought back together as one and made to multiply into the family of mankind.
Just as Allahu ta'ala Nayan accepted them and brought them back into heaven and made them exalted again, may He do this also with your qalbs, hearts. Although Adam (A.S.) and Eve (Ral.) were separated by satan, they were brought back together as one through the love of Allah, and their love grew greater than before; may your love also grow as theirs did. Just as the dunya, the world, was cut away from them and they received the love and the heaven of Allah, may Allahu ta'ala Nayangive you this with His rahmat. Amin. Just as Allah protected Noah (A.S.) and that which was halal, permissible, for him, just as He placed him in the ocean and protected him, just as He protected him with unity, may Allah protect you and that which is halal for you in the ocean of maya, in the ocean of life, in the ocean of ignorance. May Allahu ta'ala Nayan protect you, may you live in unity, and may you never be separated by any suffering. Just as He protected Noah (A.S.), that which was halal for him, and his children from difficulty, may Allahu ta'ala Nayan bring you together as one with His grace; may He make your hearts unshakable in both happiness and sadness. May He give you ïman and faith on the path of Allah. May He protect and bless you in the dunya and in the akhirah, this world and the hereafter. Amin. May He join you together. Amin. Abraham (A.S.) was thrown into the pit of fire; just as Allah protected him and joined him with Sarah (Ral.), may Allah protect both of you from any suffering, from the fire of maya. Even though there might be suffering, may He join you together, qalb with qalb, heart with heart. Even though Abraham (A.S.) was subjected to suffering, pain, and torment in the time of Nimrod, he received the love and the rahmat of Allah; just as Sarah (Ral.) and Abraham (A.S.) were joined together by Him, may He join both of you and protect you
from the suffering caused by the dunya, from the suffering caused by people, from the suffering caused by the nafs, base desires, and from any other suffering. Even if you are put into the fire of maya and burned there, may your love for and faith in Allahu ta'ala Nayan and His compassion protect you so that you are not affected. May He protect you from the fire of maya. May He protect you from the fire of the dunya. May He protect you from the fire of suffering. May He protect you from the fire of hunger. May He protect you from the fire of illness and old age. May Allahu ta'ala Nayanprotect you from all similar fires so that they do not affect you. May He take you on the straight path; may He take your life on the straight path; may He take you on the straight path in akhirah. In the dunya, in happiness and in sadness, may you forbear, have patience, and give peace to each other, and reach the straight path. May Allahu ta'ala keep you together in this world and the next, and in akhirah. May He give you long lives without any separation. May Allah help you. Amin. Just as Allahu ta'ala Nayan asked Abraham (A.S.) to sacrifice his son Ishmael (A.S.), may any envy and jealousy in your qalbs be sacrificed. Because of the attachment Abraham (A.S.) had for his son Ishmael (A.S.), because he had placed his love upon his son instead of upon Allah, that is why he was asked to give him in sacrifice, qurban. Like that, may we never forget our love for Allah. May we sacrifice the love we have for the dunya in our qalbs. May we sacrifice this. May we sacrifice the desires of the world. May we sacrifice the sections of the dunya. May the love in our qalbs be for Allah, and may those qalbs form an attachment to Him. May He turn you to that straight path. May you conduct your affairs in the dunya on that straight path. May you conduct your affairs in akhirah. May you search for all the things you need for your hayat,
your lives. May Allah take us onto the path of love, may He take us to the straight path. May you be together in dunya, may you be together in akhirah. May you be together without ever separating in life. May God give you long lives with His grace. Just as Allah brought Moses (A.S.) and Safüra' (Ral.) together and made them one, may He keep you together without separation in your lives. May you stay together as one on the path of Allah's love. May He protect you, keep you on the straight path, and give you lives of completion with His grace. Amin. May Allahu ta'ala Nayan protect both of you just as He protected Prophet David (A.S.) and Jesus (A.S.). Just as He protected Muhammad Mustafar-Rasül (Sal.) and Khadïjah (Ral.), joined them together as one, and kept them on the straight path; just as He protected them through His du'a'u barakat, prayers for Allah's blessings, in dunya and akhirah; just as they always searched for the good things; just as He gave them the good treasures of ïman in dunya and akhirah; just as they obtained the wealth of the mubarakat, the blessings of the three worlds, and gave that wealth to the ummat, the followers; just as Allahu ta'ala Nayan blessed the divine Prophet, the divine Messenger, Muhammad Mustafar-Rasül (Sal.) with the Qur'an and ïman and Islam, may He give you the straight path commensurate with that. May He give you strength of faith. May He guide you to the straight path and grant you freedom, happiness, and the wealth of the mubarakat in your lives. May He bestow upon you the completion of patience, tolerance, peace, sabür, inner patience, shakür, contentment, tawakkul, trust in God, and alhamdu lillah, all praise to God, with His grace. Amin. May He protect you as He protected the prophets: Idris, Isaac, Job, and Jacob, may the peace of God be upon them. Just as He joined Yüsuf (A.S.) and
Zulaikha (Ral.) together and made them one; just as Prophet Job (A.S.) bore the suffering, and his kingdom was given back to him; just as the du'a'u barakat was given to Solomon (A.S.) and to each prophet; just as Allah blessed, protected, and watched over them, may you stay together in your lives and may your union never be severed. May He give you everincreasing ïman and the strength of certitude so that you are able to obtain all of His rahmat and His qualities, the rahmatul-'alamïn, the grace of all the universes, and the wealth of His divine kingdom. Just as He protected the prophets, may He protect you and watch over you with His grace. Amin. Precious jeweled lights of my eyes, this is the dunya. In this dunya, God created Adam (A.S.) and Eve (Ral.). How much suffering they underwent through the separation caused by satan. Because of that, Adam (A.S.) and Eve (Ral.) were thrown, one to the east and the other to the west. There they began to worship Allah again on the straight path; they did du'a' to Allah, they focused on Allah, and through their 'ibadat, their prayers, they were united once again. Allah united them once again, and brought them together again. We must understand this. Precious children, jeweled lights of my eyes, now you have reached the age at which you can realize things to a certain extent. You have had a certain amount of experience in this dunya, so let us explain a few things to you. All the things we see in the dunya, the world, are the things that capture us. What we see can capture us. What the eye sees, the mind will draw in. The ears will bring about an attachment to what they hear, to those sounds. What the nose smells will draw us in; that fragrance will pull us. Any taste, any word will pull us in and control us. The weight of the body
itself is a magnet that can be pulled by the earth. There is a part of the mind that forms an attachment to the many kinds of maya, arrogance, and karma; it seeks the ability to pull us in through earth, water, air, ether, fire, and maya. Because of this, karma, sin, and evil deeds arise and attach themselves to us. Precious children, jeweled light of my eyes, both of you must think; you must know what life is. We must know how a male child must protect a female child. The way to protect a woman is similar to the way we benefit from what we plant in the earth. We plow the earth and prepare it. We plow it, we make it ready, we level it, we clear it, and then we get flowers, trees, and fruit from it, do we not? Such coolness it brings us, the tree that grew from the earth. Such fragrance it brings us. Such fruit, such coolness, such flavor it brings us, does it not? Similarly, there is a duty that a husband must do towards the life of his wife. He must prepare her mind and level it. These are the sections that a man must care for. He must give her peace and tranquility. It is only if we make that child peaceful in her life, it is only if we display tranquility that we can experience the fruit and the benefit. Just as we observe the splendors of the earth and enjoy them, we must care for and attend to the life of a woman. The exaltedness of our lives depends on the way in which we treat our wives. Our exaltedness, our peace, and our tranquility depend on how we treat our wives. It is to the extent that a man cherishes his wife that there is exaltedness in the home, that there is love in the home, that there is light in the home, that there is light in their lives, that there is excellence in their lives, that there is happiness in their lives, that there is peace in their lives. A man must know the state of his wife's mind and act in the manner that a man should act. The heart of a woman is similar to a flower. It can very quickly
develop a beautiful, loving fragrance. If we carefully pick it and carefully take in the fragrance, it will give us the perfume. But if we pluck it impatiently and crush it in our hands, it will give us the smell of a crushed flower. It will not give us the original fragrance. You must not crush the heart of the woman in your life. You must not crush it or squeeze it. We must touch it with care, pick it with care, and smell the fragrance with care. It is only then that it will benefit you. The heart of a woman is very delicate and tender. A man can make his wife a demon or he can make her a fragrant [flower] with a wondrous taste. We must think of this. If a man causes his wife to convulse like a demon, that is what will make his life convulse. If he makes his wife fragrant, his life will be fragrant and exalted. Like this, we must know many explanations in our lives. When a man takes a wife, he must have patience, sabür, shakür, tawakkul, andalhamdu lillah. He must exhibit good qualities, good conduct, good manners, love, compassion, tenderness, and generosity. She must be treated as a wife—she might even turn to gold. If he treats her in the correct manner, she will be gold. If you keep her in the correct manner, she can be called gold. Why? She will be your undiminishing wealth. If you fail to treat her in the proper way, that is poverty. That will be poverty. Therefore, in his life a man must know the way in which he must treat his wife. A man must think about and know the way in which he must treat her. Her heart can be destroyed very fast; it can also grow very quickly. You can quickly deceive a woman; you can very quickly make her sad. A man must understand this. He must understand this and know how to live his life; he must know how to care for her and how
to lead his life. Alright. These are the things a woman must do: a woman is like the earth. Existing just as the earth, what benefit, fa'idah, there is within it! The earth benefits good people and evil people alike. It holds so much within it. It protects anyone, good or bad. Does it not? A wife must be able to know the mind of her husband, his qualities, his actions, his conduct, his manners, his love. She must be able to know what qualities he has when he goes to work, what qualities he has when he is at home, and what qualities he has when he returns from work. "Oh! Today his face is in that state!" She has to immediately meet him and say, "Please come. Anbu, love. Sit down." You must soothe him with peace and observe his qualities and his face. If he is like a lion, you must be like a cow and comfort him. When he approaches, you must call to him, "Come. Come. Wash your hands. Drink some water. Let's take off your shoes. Come, take off your coat." You must do this, and then you can control that tiger cub. You must control him. You must soothe him and comfort him at that time. But if at that time you say, "Tiger cub!" and pick up a stick, he will leap at you like a tiger. That must be controlled by the mantra called woman. A man has much more attachment for his wife than he has towards his mother or father. He has more attachment for his wife than for his children. Because of that attachment, he will attack his wife when something happens. Why? It is the attachment that causes the anger. The attachment causes the attack. If his boss criticizes him at work, he cannot talk back there. He keeps that anger under control on the bus or in the car, and when he comes to the wife, he will attack. He will come to his wife; he will throw his coat down, fling his shoes off, throw his umbrella on the floor, and
then he might attack his wife. Oh! she thinks as she smiles to herself, it seems as if someone has done something to him. Alright. Let him come. "Come. Come. Come. Sit down." She must embrace him and soothe him. She must not try to advise him at that time. You must realize the qualities with which he is coming; do not correct him. There is a time for advice. Not when he is eating; the plate will get thrown at us. Do not try to advise him as he is walking in; he will throw his shoes at us. Not when he is eating, not as he is coming home. There is a right time for this. There is this thing called the pillow mantra. Wait until that time, watch his actions and then whisper the appropriate words. That is the time that things can be resolved. At any other time, the result will be the opposite. We must think. A woman can turn a king into a beggar or a beggar into a king. If you want, you can make a learned man into a fool and a fool into a learned man. There is nothing a woman cannot do. God has placed the world into the hands of the women. God did not create anything in creation without the agency of a woman. Except for God, everything else was created through a woman. A woman has the power to nurture or destroy everything. She has the compassion, the empathy, the patience, the beauty, the attachment, the beautiful qualities, the gentle voice, and the gentle sounds. God has created women with beautiful qualities, beautiful sounds, a beautiful face, and a beautiful body. God has given you all the strength. If you decide, you can turn birth into death and death into birth. You can turn wealth into dust or dust into wealth. You can make a king into a beggar and a beggar into a king, a learned man into a fool, a fool into a learned man. You can make a poor man into a high-
ranking man or a high-ranking man into a poor man. You can do anything, in any way. Allah is the Creator, He is the only One who can create or destroy, but you have the ability to destroy or to make a life. You have the ability to either make a life on the good path or to destroy it. In what state should a woman be? She must have the quality of always obeying her husband. She must control him through love. She must control him through compassion. She must control him through sweetness, the sweetness of her love. She must control him with her voice. She can subdue him with patience. She can subdue him with tolerance. She can subdue him with peace. No matter how fierce a beast he may be, you have the quality to bring everything under your control through love. It is through the beauty of your husband that that exalted beauty will come to you. If you conduct your life with your husband, if you conduct that life with love, you will be known as a virtuous man and a virtuous woman. God loves that. God loves that union. God made that union inakhirah; that is the unity that God has made into your union, and here and there has given you inseparable wealth. You must strengthen your ïman. No matter how beautiful a woman may be, she must obey her husband, respect him, and do what he tells her to do. You must always follow your husband. You must never go ahead. Why? No matter how brave you may be, if you are confronted by a dangerous animal, "Ah!" you will scream. You will not fight it. That is why you should never go in front of your husband. At a time of suffering, you will shout, "Ah!" You will not be able to confront it. No matter how emaciated he may be, if he goes in front, even if he cannot do anything else, he will use his teeth, jump on that animal, roll on the ground with it, and drive it
away. Therefore, he must be the man, and you must be the woman. A woman may be living in peace, but it is the men who first come to hold her hand. It is the men who make the first move to touch you. It is the men who first come to pull you onto the path of sin. Women grow up and live in peace with patience. A man is the first to arrive in order to take you to sin and to hell. He is the one who catches hold of you first. He will take hold of you like that. But when suffering comes, he will say, "She used to be so beautiful, but now she is terrible. Since the day I first touched her, the devil came and caught hold of me. Since the day I touched her, the devil has not let go of me. When will I be free?" That is what he will say. Like this, everywhere he looks, he will show his teeth, "Eeeeee," whenever he sees a beautiful woman. When he is going down the road, he will crane his neck a little. That is the natural quality of a man. That is the monkey quality in the male, the monkey quality that is inherent in men. But a woman, like water, must change his qualities. Just as water quenches the thirst of a thirsty man and ends his fatigue, when the man comes with these monkey qualities, even though he has been scratching here and scratching there, you must pour the water of love upon him and make him peaceful. Instead of telling him, "Change those monkey qualities!" you must do that without speaking of it. You must do it with love. For a woman of good qualities, fighting with her husband is haram, impermissible. For her voice to be heard outside the house is haram. She must speak with Allah. She must speak within herself, inside her qalb. She must speak with patience. She
must speak with sabür. She must speak with beautiful qualities. That is the highest ideal. If you speak with those qualities and look at such a husband once, the minute he sees those qualities, he will bend down in shame. You must always treat him as a husband. No matter how strong you may be, you will be with the earth, and he will be higher. Therefore, it is crucial that you respect him. You must subdue him with your qualities; you must correct him with your love; you must chain him with your words and your gaze. That is the chain. That is the chain through which you catch him and pull him. Your love is what will hold him. Your qualities will make it strong; even more than your beauty, if your love, your compassion, and your qualities catch hold of him, they will hold him tight from all four sides. He will not be able to remove that chain. Like this, a woman must show beautiful qualities to her husband. Even if he is a terrible man, the magnet that must control him, the current, and the magnetism are within you. If you use that magnet and that intelligence, the current will hold him. You must realize this in your life. There is nothing in life that a woman cannot do. There is no need for a woman to go to court. In life, a woman will never have to separate from her husband. Separation comes about if we have bad qualities. Anger is haram; shouting is haram; impatience is haram; a quick temper is haram. The talk of "I" and "you" is haram. What is it that cannot be corrected by loving words, peaceful words, your beauty, your love, your compassion, and sabür, patience? What is it that we cannot control? What is it that we cannot subdue? You can subdue all the universes. In your life, you can subdue everything. You can bring everything under the control of your love, under your life. You must think of this.
God has given to a woman praiseworthy beauty, qualities, and peace. He controls men through women. He has controlled the male's arrogance, the male's strength, the male's pride, and the male's energies through women. Just as He has stopped the oceans with the earth, He has stopped the force of a male through the female. He has stopped it through the love that women have. Like this, precious jeweled lights of my eyes, children, you must think. Life is the connection that exists between a man and a woman. That connection between a man and a woman must be like a flower and its fragrance. A beautiful flower—what is within it? Beauty is within it. A man must be fragrance. A man must be the fragrance commingled with that flower; a fragrance commingled with that love. One woman for a man and one man for a woman— that is best in life. Not every woman a man looks at is his wife. That is karma; that is maya; that is sin; that is hell. A man must give up those ideas. One woman for his life is the best. One man for her life is the best. That is the greatest beauty in the family of mankind, the highest quality. To conduct your life in that state is to join in union in the dunya and also in akhirah—to be united in the dunya, to be united in the akhirah, to be united in love, to be united heart to heart. A husband must dwell in the heart of his wife. A wife must dwell in the heart of her husband. That is unity. When that form is sealed into the heart, that is the best in life. Wherever a man and a woman are, it is not the bodily forms [that must join], it is love and love that must come together in their hearts. Compassion and compassion must join together. Patience and patience must come together. Beauty and beauty must come together. Like that, to join together in the heart, to join together in the qalb, to
love each other in the qalb, to never separate from each other in the qalb is a life without separation. Please reflect on this. The connection between a man and a woman must be in that state. And if you can conduct your life in that state, that is the life of happiness. If you are in the dunya, that is heaven; if you are living in the akhirah, that is heaven—that love, those qualities, sabür, patience, shakür, contentment, tawakkul, trust in God, and alhamdu lillah, all praise to God. When a husband brings wealth, the wife must say al-hamdu lillah. If poverty strikes, al-hamdu lillah. When happiness comes, al-hamdu lillah. Even if you get only water, al-hamdu lillah. It is with that [alhamdu lillah] that everything can be made good. If you receive wealth, al-hamdu lillah, use it for good. Whatever you receive every day, al-hamdu lillah, and manage to make do. Even if there is only poverty in the house, even if there is nothing in your house, you must serve water, and the two of you must conduct your lives. Joy, sorrow, and selvam,1 riches, are fleeting. Riches keep going. Selvöm, we will go; these are things that will go. Poverty also leaves.Tangam,2 gold— tangom, we will not stay. Tarittiröm, tribulation, we will not tarry. These are all things that will go. They will come and they will go. Gold? That will go. Wealth, selvam, [will go]. Selvöm, we will go. Tarittiröm, tribulation, we will not tarry. Poverty will also go. It is also something that goes. But love is eternal. Indivisible love. Compassion is eternal. Patience is eternal, it will never perish. Our unity must be kept in an indestructible place. Do not lose that wealth. That is wealth, the wealth of akhirah. Both of you must be commingled as one in joy and in sorrow. You must share in both and manage. This is the state in which a man and
a woman must live together as a flower and its fragrance. If you can conduct your lives in that state, if both of you can be united, qalb toqalb—qalb to qalb, your husband in your qalb, and you in his qalb—only if that connection exists in the qalb can your lives have a connection to happiness. You must always conduct your lives free of any taint or blemish. Hastiness is an enemy to wisdom. Impatience eats up wisdom. Anger is the guru of sin. Love is greater than the ocean. Duty? The duty the two of you have is to know that the completion that is God's grace is the wealth that is complete. Without failing in that duty, a man and a woman must work together. Body with body, life with life, love with love, compassion with compassion, life with life. All of these must become one; when these become one while you conduct your lives, then that will be life. If a woman and a man and we act in this manner, that life will be a life of heaven, a life of freedom, a life of happiness, a life of two commingling as one and becoming complete. Tambi, younger brother, do you understand? This is how you must conduct your life. That life will be an exalted life. Precious children, jeweled lights of my eyes, although much suffering came to each of the prophets, they never separated from their wives, did they? How much Prophet Job (A.S.) suffered! Even when his body was covered with sores and was being eaten by worms as big as puppies, his wife ran about gathering herbs, begging, and bringing back what she gathered to her husband. The Rasül (Sal.) and his wife Khadïjah Nayahi (Ral.) gave all their wealth to the poor, and in the end the two of them lived as miskïns, impoverished ones. Even if they had only a handful of wheat, they shared it and lived peacefully with the people. Like this, the heart is
an undiminishing wealth. Love is undiminishing wealth, Allah's love is undiminishing wealth. May you establish the undiminishing wealth of His intention on the straight path. That wealth is a complete wealth. That wealth is a beloved wealth. That is the wealth of the rahmat. That is the wealth that is the most exalted for our lives. You must know your husband's qualities and act accordingly. You must know his actions; you must discover them. A wife must know the qualities and the actions of her husband. Conducting your life is a small thing—that is work that lasts for a second. But to know his qualities and to act accordingly is the exaltedness of life. Conducting your life is a small thing. But to know his qualities, to act accordingly, and to control him is a great thing. The men are always at fault. They are always guilty. Their eyes run after everything they look at. They show their teeth "Eeeee!" at everything they see. Their minds run towards everything they see. They attempt to capture each thing they see. The mind of a male is a monkey. A monkey and the qualities of a male are the same. It is like bringing up a monkey: how it jumps and leaps! The mind of a man is like that. While he is like that, if you have the appropriate qualities and place a mirror in front of that monkey, it will grab its own reflection. If you place a mirror in front of a monkey, it will look into it here, it will look into it there, it will look into it here. If it grins, the reflection will grin. If it cries, the reflection will cry. When it attempts to grab hold of what is there, nothing will come from it. Like this, your qalb must be a mirror. It is only if you are the mirror in front of that monkey that the monkey will embrace you. Your love must be like a mirror. Then it will stare and stare and stay involved. If you do not hold up that mirror, it will continue its monkey work. Like
this, a wife must have so much beauty, such good qualities, so much love, such good actions, such wisdom, such tranquility, such peace. Those are the ornaments of a woman. Those qualities are your ornaments. How comforting the quality of the earth is. How it comforts everyone. Your qualities must be like that. That is the gold. Those qualities are the gold. If you wear that gold, those qualities will be your ornaments. Those are the ornaments that you will wear. This is your wealth. When he sees that wealth, that quality of the earth, that gold, that beauty, he will not go anywhere else, will he? Because all the wealth is there, he will stay there. Not for one moment should you think you can get freedom through men. You will never be free. Everything a man brings you will be heavy. All the things he brings are burdens. You must be able to accept and accept and keep all the burdens he brings. This is marriage. Everything men bring is heavy. If someone has hit him, he brings you that burden. If someone has criticized him, he brings you that burden. At his job, someone else said something about him, and he brings that burden. Next is the burden of poverty. [Marriage is] all the work of accepting burdens. Men will just bring you burdens. The burden of a child, the burden of pregnancy, the burden of the house, the burden of the family, the burden of wealth, the burden of poverty—it is all heavy. "Look after all these burdens. Look after them," he will say. He will bring them and put them down before you. "Look! Poverty! Look after that! A child! Look after that!" Everything is heavy. "The family! Look after it. The house! Look after it!" He will bring you all the burdens.
These burdens brought by men are the only freedom in your life. This is happiness. Do not ever expect him to bring you anything else. You must accept and accept these burdens and pile them up on top of each other. Your life is to comfort those who burden you. He will never bring anything else or anything new. It is just another burden! That is all he will bring. He will bring burdens so heavy, he cannot unload them by himself. You must give him peace. You must accept them, put them aside, and comfort him. "Are you tired? Come." This is what you must do when he brings those things home. Men will only bring what is heavy; do not ever think they will bring you peace. What is peace? To make him peaceful is your peace. To correct his qualities is your peace. That is peace. To unload his burdens and to make him peaceful will become your peace. That is the peace of life. Otherwise, all the things that men bring are burdens. At times they may be extremely heavy. They may be so heavy you cannot even lift them, but you must accept them peacefully, and say to him, "Please hold this a little from below. I cannot put it down by myself." Then the two of you must hold onto it together. A woman's life must be to unload the burdens like this. If you conduct your life in that state, your life will never become shaky. There will never be separation. There will never be differences. You will have the life of the heavenly world. Your life will be a life of constant progress. God will be with you. His grace, the help of the prophets, and God's blessings will dwell with you. His wealth will dwell with you. Ïman will dwell with you. Sabür, inner patience, will dwell with you. Shakür, contentment, will dwell with you. Wisdom, tranquility, and gnanam, divine wisdom, will dwell with you. You must think about this. Do not send out even one wasted breath
from your mouth. Send out the useful breath of sabür; send out the breath of shakür; send out that beautiful breath; send out loving words; send out loving speech. It is through this that you can catch him with the current, that you can control that dangerous beast. Please think of this. Child? Do you understand what I have said? Yes. You must endeavor to live like this as one. May Allahu ta'ala Nayan give you that tranquility, that peace, that serenity, and the straight path. May Allah give you His qudrat, the power of His grace. Amin. In this life and in the hereafter, may He give you victory in life with His grace. May He give you a life of freedom in this dunya and in akhirah. May God protect you just as He protected the prophets. MayAllahu ta'ala Nayan give you His approval and His praise through the wealth of His grace. Fruit.3 Al-hamdu lillah. [ A recital follows of Süratul-Fatihah, Süratul-Ikhlas (three times), Süratul-Falaq, and Suratun-Nas. Du'a's, prayers, are recited and then the salawat is sung. ] May Allah help you. May Allahu ta'ala Nayan protect you just as He protected the rasüls, the messengers. Through the barakat of Nabï Muhammad Mustafar-Rasül (Sal.) and through Allah's kingdom of wealth, may you be given the love of Allah, the wealth of His kingdom, the three thousand blessings, His ninety-nine wilayats, beautiful names. In your lives, may you be blessed with His rahmat in completeness. May He give you long lives, very long lives, the undiminishing wealth, the wealth of the mubarakat which is Allah's wealth of grace. May He give you material wealth and the wealth of gnanam. May He bless you with long lives free from illness, free from disease, free from poverty. May Allahu ta'ala grant you long
lives, hayat, in completeness. Amin. Amin. Amin. Ya Allah, this is Your responsibility. M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen
FOOTNOTES
1. Double meaning: selvam means wealth or riches. Selvöm means we will go. 2. Another double meaning: tangam means gold. Tangöm means we will not stay. 3. After a wedding was performed Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.) always asked that fruit and tea be given to the couple.
MA’AT — Truth, Justice, Righteousness, Balance, Order, Harmony and Reciprocity Attributes: The goddess Ma’at represents the ideals of law, order, and truth. The word, Ma’at translates "that which is straight." it implies anything that is true, ordered, or balanced. She was the female counterpart of Tehuti. We know she is a very ancient goddess because we find her in the boat of Ra as it rose above the waters of the abyss of Nu on the first day. Together with Tehuti, they charted the daily course of the sun god Ra. She is sometimes called the 'eye of Ra' or the 'daughter of Ra'. Ma'at (G/R Mayet) - "Truth" Both the concept and the Name of Netr associated with truth, justice, order, and "that which is right." Kemetic society hinged completely upon the furtherance of Ma'at, Who was considered to be the first emanation of Tem/Ra, and depicted as a woman with wings or alternately a
woman with Her symbol, a single white ostrich feather, bound to Her head. Ma'at in antiquity was patroness of judges, magistrates and all court officials; the phrase "priest of Ma'at" in inscriptions can be understood as a euphemism for "judge". The Ma'at feather symbol is weighed against the heart of the deceased in the Hall of Judgment after death, a place which is also known as the Hall of Ma'ati, or Double Truth ("double" in Kemetic implying something more serious or intense than a "single" something, much as we use the terms "extra" or "advanced" in the English language). The path of Ma'at creates the harmonious governance of society based on ethical and natural principles and laws. Thus, Ma'at is the divine order that maintains the universe/cosmos and society. Ma'at can best be understood on an individual level as the daily living of an ethical code that puts the responsibility on the individual for her or his actions. It is from here that the people of Kemet (ancient Egypt) derived the essence of Ma'at, the proper relationship with one's self, others, animals and the world we live in. Our inner and outer worlds must be kept in balance and it is through the daily practice of Ma'at we achieve this goal "Ma’at" has two meanings in the Kemetic language (Mdw Netr). Ma’at is first the goddess of justice and truth, who gave meaning to the world and bestowed order upon the chaos of creation in the First Times. She governs the movement of the stars, the rising and setting of the sun, the inundation and retreat of the Nile, and the laws underlying all of nature. In the Judgement Hall of the Tuat the heart of the deceased is weighed against the feather of Ma’at, which represents truth. If the heart is found to be free from the weight of sin, the deceased joins the company of the gods; otherwise, the soul is devoured and destroyed. Thus Ma’at is the standard by which we are measured. From this role in the Judgement Hall arose the interpretation of "Ma’at" as a systemized spiritual ideal. The order she represents was apparent everywhere in the world around her faithful worshippers. It was observed in the orderly motion and interaction of the heavenly bodies and reflected in the natural laws at work on the earth. It was deemed necessary
to act in accordance with universal law and to understand one's place in the natural order to ensure the soul's position among the stars above. Ma’at is the underlying current that connects all things in an intricately woven network. Each nexus is the balance of the lines of force that pass through it. It was considered essential to live according to the principles of balance and justice so as not to disturb the very fabric of creation. The ultimate will of the gods is that order is to prevail.
42 Declarations of Ma'at 1. I have not done iniquity. 2. I have not robbed with violence. 3. I have not stolen. 4. I have done no murder; I have done no harm. 5. I have not defrauded offerings. 6. I have not diminished obligations. 7. I have not plundered the Netcher. 8. I have not spoken lies. 9. I have not snatched away food. 10. I have not caused pain. 11. I have not committed fornication. 12. I have not caused shedding of tears. 13. I have not dealt deceitfully. 14. I have not transgressed. 15. I have not acted guilefully. 16. I have not laid waste the ploughed land. 17. I have not been an eavesdropper. 18. I have not set my lips in motion (against any man). 19. I have not been angry and wrathful except for a just cause. 20. I have not defiled the wife of any man. 21. I have not defiled the wife of any man. (repeated twice) 22. I have not polluted myself. 23. I have not caused terror. 24. I have not transgressed. (repeated twice) 25. I have not burned with rage. 26. I have not stopped my ears against the words of Right and Truth (Ma'at). 27. I have not worked grief.
28. I have not acted with insolence. 29. I have not stirred up strife. 30. I have not judged hastily. 31. I have not been an eavesdropper. (repeated twice) 32. I have not multiplied words exceedingly. 33. I have not done neither harm nor ill. 34. I have never cursed the king. 35. I have never fouled the water. 36. I have not spoken scornfully. 37. I have never cursed the Netcher. 38. I have not stolen. 39. I have not defrauded the offerings of the Netcherw. 40. I have not plundered the offerings to the blessed dead. 41. I have not filched the food of the infant, neither have I sinned against the Netcher of my native town. 42. I have not slaughtered with evil intent the cattle of the Netcher. ABOUT US • THE HOUSE OF NETJER • LETTERS FROM THE NISUT GLOSSARY OF NETJERU • FORUMS • VIRTUAL ABDJU • CONTACTS • SEARCH RECOMMENDED READING • BOOKSTORE • BOOK REVIEWS • UPDATES • LINKS DAILY DEVOTIONS • EVENTS • DONATE • SITE INFO
This week, the House of Netjer completes celebration of the festival of the Beautiful Reunion of Heru-Behdety and Hethert of Dendera, and celebrates the Secret Procession of Ma'at and Ra and the Half-Month Festival. This week's letter focuses on a deep question: the nature and purpose of Ma'at.
Netjer and Ma'at (Shomu III ) This week, I had essentially the same question presented to me by a number of Shemsu, concerning the nature and purpose of
Ma'at. Clergy in other faiths will immediately recognize this question in other forms; these are the fundamental questions of human existence and perhaps a major reason why religion was founded in the first place: Why do good things happen to bad people? What is God doing about it? Or not? What is God's purpose, if good people get hurt, bad people get away with it, and praying and doing sacrifice etc. don't help? Kemetic Orthodoxy teaches belief in two things: a Being and a Process, the process sometimes being personified as one aspect of the Being. We call the Being, Netjer (or God, Which can in turn be identified by any number of its Names, or forms); and the Process, Ma'at. While I feel I can adequately refer to Netjer as "God" and not lose persons of other religions, I do not feel that translating "Ma'at" into English is helpful, for a number of reasons. Ma'at can be translated in a number of ways, all of which fall somewhat short of the total understanding of the real Process/Being. If I call Ma'at "truth," I characterize it as absolute and static; if I name it "what is right," I make it subjective and moving. If I translate it as "justice" I bring up an even bigger set of English baggage. What does "justice" mean to a man on Death Row who never committed a crime but was convicted on trumped-up charges? What does "justice" mean to the rich and to the poor? To a person in Turkey and a person in Japan? To children or the elderly? Ma'at is more than right action or right process.... even the word "right" in English has as many meanings as does "justice," and not all of them good. I am left with a word I cannot explain to you in the language I must use to explain it, and so we have a limitation. We will do our best to come to some understanding of what Ma'at is, even if we cannot agree on how best to term it in our native tongue. First of all, Ma'at is a process and not an event. Ma'at happens; it is not simply a monolithic yardstick for behavior, such as the Ten Commandments of Christianity. While there have been some useful comparisons of the 42 "negative confessions" one is asked to say in the judgment halls of the Kemetic Orthodox afterlife to
the Ten Commandments (such as in Karenga's The Declaration of Innocence), it is not a one-to-one comparison where Kemetics feel a need to tack on 32 more prohibitions than the Jews. The important part of the judgment of the dead, actually, is not the negative confession, but what comes afterward: the weighing of the heart (the central essence of a person, not the actual beating red muscle in one's chest) against Ma'at. This too unfortunately is not well understood. Ma'at is not the feather on the other side of the scale. Ma'at is the scale itself. There is a very good reason why ancient artists chose the scale motif to visualize the concept of Ma'at. A scale, first of all, neither chooses nor creates what it weighs: it is completely neutral. Ma'at doesn't play favorites or choose sides. Secondly, a scale is reactive rather than proactive: a scale doesn't start weighing until something is put upon it. Ma'at is reactive; an important revelation especially in a world where the majority of religions worship omnipotent, omnipresent Deities. Ma'at doesn't start working until you do, and then acts in reaction to what you do. She doesn't tell you what to do, She doesn't stop you, She simply reacts to your action, just like the laws of physics concerning motion and action. As such, She is fully part of the natural order of things ("order," incidentally, being another of those English words attributed as a meaning for Ma'at). Thirdly, and in relation to Ma'at's reactive rather than proactive nature: Ma'at has a purpose, and Her purpose is to put things in balance, just like the scale. A scale weighs two things and finds a balance between them. It does not decide which is better than the other, which is right and which is wrong. It simply holds two things together, adjusts them as necessary, and forces them to balance. This is Ma'at in action. Ma'at does not always work as quickly or in the manner in which a human wishes Her to act, but She will always act when actions force Her to do so. She will weigh out what is put into Her pans, no matter who puts it there or why. A person can have two reactions to learning these basic truths about Ma'at. One is a cynical approach: that the universe is blind and doesn't care. The other is perhaps more reminiscent of what Ma'at Herself does in a situation: looking at all sides, She always
makes the correct response. If one is told that one's actions always, no matter what, have reactions, and so one is always responsible for those reactions, no matter what, it would then stand to logic that to live a life of responsibility is the best way to avoid "bad things" happening. This is more than just cleaning up your own act, and here is where it becomes most difficult. Human beings, even in the Western world where people like to pretend this is not so, are social creatures and are to a certain extent dependent upon one another. Therefore, one's responsibility is not only to oneself, but to everyone else surrounding the self, because your actions may invoke Ma'at not just on you, but on everybody around you, the earth, perfect strangers: everything in the universe. You could be causing bad things to happen to someone and not even know it. Your response? It should be to get your life in balance: for them, for you and for Ma'at, Who exists to put things in balance in the first place. Part of the most difficult challenge to the Kemetic Orthodox is living up to this responsibility. We do not have the luxury of omnipotent deities that are either pulling all the foreordained strings anyway, or will "fix it" for us. The gods and goddesses expect us to be responsible children and do what is right, so that the right will return to us and multiply and benefit everyone. Netjer does not intervene in the troubles of mankind not because It doesn't care, but because It has, in Its wisdom, already provided a mechanism by which Its creation can ultimately check itself: the process of Ma'at. Ma'at is also a Name, implying that She is not so far off from Netjer, after all. THE MORAL CODES OF MA'AT Posted By: rasflako Date: Sunday, 13 January 2008, at 11:17 p.m. THE MORAL CODES OF MA’AT Greetings RasTafari Family As the search continues for the higher moral ground The 42 Declarations of MA”AT provides the useful templates for clean livity and inner calm within one self, for some the bar set is very
high. It is the ultimate challenge the Ites within the Ites .It is however refreshing to know that Kemites through their higher levels of spirituality has given InI this great guidance which has attained its permanent place in recorded history. The following were taken from “Know MA’AT and Live Abundantly “by Gabriel Bandele “The 42 Declarations of MA”AT are the source of the Ten Commandments and the origin and foundation of Judaism, Christianity and Islam can be traced back to the Ancient Kemet (Egypt) where the concept of MA’AT originates This is also true of many other key concepts and stories that are included in the Christian Bible .Some of these key concept(s) are life after death, saviors, virgin Birth, resurrection, crucifixion and judgement day.” MA’AT equals Truth, Justice, Righteousness, Reciprocity, Balance Harmony Order, Moral Mathematics and a life of joy THE PRINCIPLES OF MA”AT Control of Thought, Control of Action Devotion to One’s Purpose. Faith in a Master’s ability to teach truth Faith in One’s ability to assimilate the truth .Faith in oneself to wield the truth Freedom from resentment under persecution .Freedom from resentment under wrong Ability to distinguish right from wrong .Ability to distinguish real from unreal VIRTUES OF MA’AT Truth, Righteousness Harmony, Balance, Reciprocity, Justice and Order 42 DECLARATIONS OF MA’AT (1)I HAVE NOT DONE INEQUITY (2)I HAVE NOT DONE VIOLENCE (3)I HAVE NOT STOLEN (4)I HAVE NO MURDER NOR HARM (5)I HAVE NOT STOLEN FOOD (6)I HAVE NOT SWINDLED OFFERING (7)I HAVE NOT ACTED DECEITFULLY (8)I HAVE NOT TOLD LIES (9)I HAVE NOT WAISTED FOOD (10)I HAVE NOT CAUSED ANY ONE OR ANY THING PAIN (11)I HAVE NOT CLOSED MY EYES TO THE TRUTH (13)I HAVE NOT CAUSED ANY ONE TO SHED TEARS
(14)I HAVE NOT COMMITTED FORNICATION OR LAID WITH OTHERS OF THE SAME SEX (15) I HAVE NOT CURSED (16(I HAVE NOT LAID WASTE THE PLOWED LAND (17)I HAVE NOT STOLEN ANYONE’S LAND (18)I HAVE NOT BEEN AN EAVES DROPPER (19)I HAVE NOT FALSELY ACCUSED ANY ONE (20)I HAVE NOT COMMITTED A SIN AGAINST MY OWN PURITY (21)I HAVE NOT SEDUCED ANY ONE WIFE (22)I HAVE NOT POLLUTED MY SELF (23)I HAVE NOT TERRORIZED ANY ONE (24)I HAVE NOT POLLUTED THE EARTH (25)I HAVE NOT BURNED WITH RAGE (26)I HAVE NOT CURSED GOD (27)I HAVE NOT WORKED GRIEF (28)I HAVE NOT CAUSED DISRUPTION OF PEACE (29)I HAVE NOT ACTED HASTILY OR WITHOUT THOUGHT (30)I HAVE NOT OVERSTEP MY BOUNDARIES OF CONCERN (31)I HAVE NOT EXAGGERATED MY WORDS WHEN SPEAKING (32)I HAVE NOT WORKED EVIL (33)I HAVE NOT EVIL WORDS THOUGHTS WORDS OR DEEDS (34)I HAVE POLLUTED THE WATER (35)I HAVE NOT SPOKEN ANGRILY OR ARROGANTLY (36)I HAVE CURSED ANY ONE IN THOUGHT WORD OR DEED (37)I HAVE NOT PLACED MY SELF ON A PEDESTAL (38)I HAVE NOT SPOKEN SCORNFULLY (39)I HAVE NOT STOLEN FRO M OR DISRESPECTED THE DECEASED (40)I HAVE TAKEN FOOD FROM A CHILD (41) HAVE NOT ACTED WITH INSOLENCE (42)I HAVE NOT SLAUGHTERED ANIMALS References: The Book of Coming Forth By Day By Maulana Karenga MDV Divine Speech By Jacob H Carruthers ,Ancient Egyptians Myths and Legends By Lewis Spence ,African Psychology By Wade W Nobles, Kemet and Other Ancient African Civilization s Compliled By Vivian Verdell Gordon ,Nile Valley Contributions To Civilizations by Anthony T Brower ,Egyptian Yoga By Muata Ashby ,Foundations of African Thought by Chukwunyere Kamulu,SBA By AsaG Hillard111and Egyptian Book of the Dead By EA Wallis Budge . Guidance and blessings
Ras Flako Tafari The Way of Truth and Ma'at... 1 2 3 4 5 (0 votes) By Raquel Gilkes, Views : 178 Favoured : 15 Published in : Essays, Art & Culture In ancient African philosophy Ma'at is the primordial principle which gives order to all values. Several thousand years before that Semitic band of stragglers who later called themselves Jews wended their way into Egypt, the Egyptian philosphers had codified universal moral principles into a coherent value system called Ma'at. It is considered to be a fixed element of cosmic order, part of the Truth-Justice which allows a country to be orderly, harmonious and successful. Ma'at represents the notion of moral perfection--supreme virtue. All men living in society must submit themselves to transcending moral standards which guide and measures all human activity. It was associated with the seven cardinal virtues, supposedly the keys to human perfectability: Truth, Justice, Propriety, Harmony, Balance, Reciprocity and Order. From advice on how the mighty God-Kings (called Pharohs) should rule, to the duty a peasant owed to his country was covered in the Ma'at. The symbolic representation of Ma'at was as an anthromorphic winged Goddess, believed to be the prototype of the concept of an angel. She was the representation of Truth and Righteousness. On here brow was an ostritch feather, this was supposedly the measure of righteousness against which hearts were weighed. Her symbol was a scale and the combination of feather and scale symbolised the principles of Ma'at. Like modern religious systems,the Ma'at was concerned with both the Living and the Dead. People were expected to live their lives in accordance with these principles. This would ensure a perfect society and government, it would mean that all citizens had optimum life chances and that justice would be irrespective of station. The Ma'at embodied political theory, religion, civic duty,
ethics and a comprehensive cosmogony. Egyptians were admonished to give bread to the hungry, clothes to the naked and a boat to those without one." The similarities to the charity advocated in the Gospels caused Weber to note that "...presumably the development of the old Israelite charity was influenced by Egypt." It was the standards of the Ma'at against which the Egyptian souls of were judged in dead. At the entrance to the House of the Dead, souls were judged by Osiris. The Dead stood between the two figures of Ma'at and repeated "Declarations of Innocence" which were negative confessions, remarkably similar to the Ten Commandments. The two figures of Ma'at were also symbolic, one personified physical laws, and the other stood for moral virtues. Their hearts (believed to be the seat of the soul) were weighed against the ostrich feather, this process was supervised by the Gods Heru and Anpu. While the Dead repeated the Declarations, the heart responded; if it balanced with the feather, the soul would get a reward. The God Djhuiti recorded the outcome in the book of Judgement. Hell was instantaneous. A ravenous beast with the head of a crocodile, and referred to as 'The Devourer of Soul' sat at the foot of "The Throne of Judgement". On this throne, Osiris witnessed the entire process of declaration and weighing, after which he made the final pronouncement on the fate of the soul. If an "unjustified" verdict was rendered, the beast pounced upon the heart and ate it. Ma'athian ethics evolved in during the consolidation of Upper and Lower Egypt which were unified circa 3500 BCE under Menses. With the expansion of the territory and the growth in the beaurocratic class. It was recognised that some sort of code ought to be devised to provide for the ordering of the State. As with most belief systems, the state had a profound impact on religion. Religion, in turn exerts a critical force on the organisation of the State. Historically, weak administration and avarice produced internal chaos, but a strong disinterested commitment to honorable service made for stability and harmony. Thus the exhaustive concepts of Ma'athian ethics emerged, a cautious blend of religion, philosophy and regulations.
Acts 7:22 admits that "Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds." We al know the tired story of how he was raised in Egypt, studied at the best schools and was credited with the dissemination of monotheism. What is never admitted is that Egyptians believed in One God, and practiced Ma'athian ethics, which would have been passed on to Moses' teachings as 'foreign', accusing him of abandoning their religion and foisting on them the faith of his Nubian wife. The American scholar James Breasted in his book "The Dawn of Conscience" traced the evolution of human conscience and ethics to its origins in African philosophy. He said, "it is now evident, that the ripe social and moral development of mankind in the Nile Valley, which is three thousand (3000) years older than that of the Hebrew literature which we now call the Old Testament." He concluded that human moral heritage and social idealism was gleaned from a past which was anterior to the Jews. It is a result of the social experience of man himself, and was not a product of some spiritual revelation
42 Declarations of Ma'at The following 42 declarations originate from ancient Kemet and have been the blueprint for order and decency for various "civilizations" and religions. One of the most popular spin-offs are the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament. This particular version of the Ma'ats are more along the lines of positive declarations or affirmations but still correlate to other versions of translations. The balance of Ma'at, the heart that is light as a feather, the knowledge of righteousness and just living will carry our people into a new world that is free and advantageous for ALL. With love, light and balance we hope to see Ma'at practiced in every heart and every home HTP ANKH UJAH SNEB SA EN MA'AT
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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
honor virtue benefit without conflict am non-violent respect the property of others affirm that all life is sacred give offerings that are genuine and generous live in truth hold sacred those objects consecrated to the Divine speak the truth consume only my fair share speak words of good intent relate in peace honor animals as sacred can be trusted care for the earth keep my own council speak positively of others remain in balance with my emotions am trustful in my relationships hold purity in high esteem spread joy do the best I can communicate with compassion listen to opposing opinions create harmony invoke laughter am open to love in various forms am forgiving am non-abusive act respectfully of others am non-judgmental follow my inner guidance speak without disturbing others do good give blessings keep the waters pure
I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
speak with optimism praise the Goddess am humble achieve with integrity advance through my own abilities embrace the all spread joy do the best I can communicate with compassion listen to opposing opinions create harmony invoke laughter am open to love in various forms am forgiving am non-abusive act respectfully of others am non-judgmental follow my inner guidance speak without disturbing others do good give blessings keep the waters pure speak with optimism praise the Goddess am humble achieve with integrity advance through my own abilities embrace the all
