April 20, 2009, 8:56 am by dc-agape.

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I continue to get messages like this:

Lechiiq | 175.ru@175.ru | 175.ru |

IP: 92.113.186.131 

Я непойму почему так мои посты удаляют или непубликуют и неотвечают на вопросы
_______________

http://175.ru

Translation:

I nepoymu why so my posts are removed or nepublikuyut and unresponsive to questions (the best Google Translate can do).

I will put it as plain and simple as I can: spam will be deleted!  Links that are obviously only to spread a business’s website will be removed.  Questions like this one will be ignored:

stusadusdealk | aninuebit@gmail.com | IP: 209.239.112.48

Yooo..

I kno it has nothing to do with what you wrote, but have you ever heard of http://bluestickers.info/ringtones. They seems to promise free ringtones

PS. Dont be an ass, this is NOT spam

Posted in Comment Policies, State of Mind | Print | 39 Comments »

April 20, 2009, 8:35 am by dc-agape.

Image by Lulu Vision via Flickr

Surāh 86 – Al-Tāriq: The Comer By Night

I will start each post on the Qur’an with a link to M Mohammad Ali’s translation of the Qur’an with his commentaries. 

Three things strike me as I read this surāh.  The Prophet uses the same euphemism as Jesus about the time not being known.  This surāh also points out that humans come from bodily fluids.  Some commentaries even go so far as to describe both the male and female fluids.  Others talk about the how the backbone and ribs give humans their personality, actions, and heart.  But the last part of the surāh is most interesting.  It is one of the first places I have read in the Qur’an where Allāh is described as having a plan.  Other places refer to this plan, but have not made it so clearly stated that one exists.

Whether the “piercing brightness” is a physical star or a spiritual light does not matter.  For both Jesus and the Prophet uses this euphemism to describe a specific event in each individual human’s life.  Whether it is the return of Jesus, death (Day of Judgment), or enlightenment also does not matter.  All three events cannot be predicted.  Of course, only one has any significance on earth: when an individual is enlightened.  We individuals have no control over the first two, but we can increase the possibility of enlightenment.  By providing proper education to the next generation, slowly attitudes change and societies become for civil towards individuals and to other societies.  The Qur’an uses the spread of Islam as an example of this, but there are two more that have occurred since then.  Within one lifetime, the concept that humans are different than animals has been crushed.  We have learned that animals uses tools, that they use complex communication (frogs, no less), that some of their brain size/ratio (sorry about the opening advert) are similar to humans, and that the DNA of humans and the great apes is surprisingly similar (by the way this is an Answers in Genesis article).  The other change in one generation is the US society change in perception of the gay community.  In 1988 when I ‘came out’ everything was hush-hush, you did not ‘advertise’ your sexual identity.  Less than two decades later…TV shows with main characters are gay, schools are protecting gay students, and we even have a few states that allow gay marriage.  All three of these examples show how quickly human perception changes.  Unfortunately, the opposite can occur as well…before 9/11 the US and most European countries were tolerant (if not ignorant) of Muslim culture and society.  In a single day with one single outcome, a new revolution in the human attitude occurred.  Suddenly, Islam went from being another religion in the world to a multimillion (if not trillion) dollar war industry.  Hopefully, one day the leaders of our world will understand that this was the act of radical religious people instead of lumping all Islam into the ‘enemy’ category.

This surāh also strikingly describes the creation of life (human) and compares it to the rain and plant life.  The purpose is to attempt to explain how a supreme being can also raise the human dead on this unknown night/day of Judgment.  But this is not a decisive word!  Spring time, rain, and plant life cycles are repeated cyclically.  We also know what causes each of them, whether it is the rotation of the earth around the sun, or the Water Cycle, or germination.  The once in a million years Day of Judgment is not a cycle, unless you believe the Matrix! 

In the closing three verses, the Prophet tells about the plans of humans and the Devine.  Humans rarely have grand schemes, but to create the ‘us vs. them’ concept one side will create the idea of the enemy having a grand scheme.  For example, the Christian right here in the US believes there is a “Gay Agenda”.  I use the link to a poe here for special effect.  Below is the true Christian Agenda against the made up ‘Gay Agenda’:

I have learned as a gay Atheist that it is usually not the disorganized populous that creates plans.  No, it is the organized, in many cases, religious groups that make plans and carry them out with devastation results.  Neither the gay nor the Atheist community have an Agenda, yet both are claimed to have one by those who oppose equal rights, freedom of expression, and tolerance.  So as my favorite quote from Susan B Anthony says:

I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.

Allāh does not have a plan either.  It is only his followers that have the plan.  So please, followers of the Prophet, listen to the last verse of this surāh:

86:17 So grant the disbeliever a respite – let them alone for a while.

How I wish that the Christians had such lessons.

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Posted in Holy Qur'an, Readings | Print | 5 Comments »