Aum Gung Ganapathaye Namah

Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma-sambuddhassa

Homage to The Blessed One, Accomplished and Fully Enlightened

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Islam

A Collection of Articles, Notes and References

References

 (Revised: Tuesday, January 11, 2005)

References Edited by

An Indian Tantric

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet.

- William Shakespeare

Copyright © 2002-2010 An Indian Tantric

The following educational writings are STRICTLY for academic research purposes ONLY.

Should NOT be used for commercial, political or any other purposes.

(The following notes are subject to update and revision)

For free distribution only.
You may print copies of this work for free distribution.

You may re-format and redistribute this work for use on computers and computer networks, provided that you charge no fees for its distribution or use.
Otherwise, all rights reserved.

8 "... Freely you received, freely give”.

            - Matthew 10:8 :: New American Standard Bible (NASB)

 

1 “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.

2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,

4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God

5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires,

7 always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.                                                                  

8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth--men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected.

9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.”

            - 2 Timothy 3:1-9  :: New International Version (NIV)

 

6 As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

            - Hebrews 5:6 :: King James Version (KJV)

 

Therefore, I say:

Know your enemy and know yourself;

in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated.

When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself,

your chances of winning or losing are equal.

If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself,

you are sure to be defeated in every battle.

-- Sun Tzu, The Art of War, c. 500bc

 

There are two ends not to be served by a wanderer. What are these two? The pursuit of desires and of the pleasure which springs from desire, which is base, common, leading to rebirth, ignoble, and unprofitable; and the pursuit of pain and hardship, which is grievous, ignoble, and unprofitable.

- The Blessed One, Lord Buddha

 

Religion – the opium of the masses

            - Anonymous

 

Contents

Color Code

A Brief Word on Copyright

References

Educational Copy of Some of the References

 

Color Code

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Color Code                                                               Identification

 

Main Title                                                                  Color: Pink

Sub Title                                                                   Color: Rose

Minor Title                                                                Color: Gray – 50%

 

Collected Article Author                                       Color: Lime

Date of Article                                                          Color: Light Orange

Collected Article                                                      Color: Sea Green

Collected Sub-notes                                              Color: Indigo

 

Personal Notes                                                       Color: Black

Personal Comments                                             Color: Brown

Personal Sub-notes                                              Color: Blue - Gray

 

Collected Article Highlight                                    Color: Orange

Collected Article Highlight                                    Color: Lavender

Collected Article Highlight                                    Color: Aqua

Collected Article Highlight                                    Color: Pale Blue

 

Personal Notes Highlight                                     Color: Gold

Personal Notes Highlight                                     Color: Tan

 

HTML                                                                         Color: Blue

Vocabulary                                                               Color: Violet

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

A Brief Word on Copyright

Many of the articles whose educational copies are given below are copyrighted by their respective authors as well as the respective publishers. Some contain messages of warning, as follows:

Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited

without the written consent of “so and so”.

According to the concept of “fair use” in US copyright Law,

The reproduction, redistribution and/or exploitation of any materials and/or content (data, text, images, marks or logos) for personal or commercial gain is not permitted. Provided the source is cited, personal, educational and non-commercial use (as defined by fair use in US copyright law) is permitted.

Moreover,

  • This is a religious educational website.
    • In the name of the Lord, with the invisible Lord as the witness.
  • No commercial/business/political use of the following material.
  • Just like student notes for research purposes, the writings of the other children of the Lord, are given as it is, with student highlights and coloring. Proper respects and due referencing are attributed to the relevant authors/publishers.

I believe that satisfies the conditions for copyright and non-plagiarism.

  • Also, from observation, any material published on the internet naturally gets read/copied even if conditions are maintained. If somebody is too strict with copyright and hold on to knowledge, then it is better not to publish “openly” onto the internet or put the article under “pay to refer” scheme.
  • I came across the articles “freely”. So I publish them freely with added student notes and review with due referencing to the parent link, without any personal monetary gain. My purpose is only to educate other children of the Lord on certain concepts, which I believe are beneficial for “Oneness”.

 

References

Some of the links may not be active (de-activated) due to various reasons, like removal of the concerned information from the source database. So an educational copy is also provided, along with the link.

If the link is active, do cross-check/validate/confirm the educational copy of the article provided along.

  1. If the link is not active, then try to procure a hard copy of the article, if possible, based on the reference citation provided, from a nearest library or where-ever, for cross-checking/validation/confirmation.

 

References

Halevi, Yossi Klein. (Wednesday, December 04, 2002) Islam's Outdated Domination Theology. USA: Los Angeles Times.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-halevi4dec04,0,5855711.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Doped%2Dmanual

Morse, Chuck. The First Holocaust against the Jews.

http://www.chuckmorse.com/first_holocaust.html

14th century Muslim sage has much to teach us. (Friday, October 26, 2001) UK: The Telegraph.

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml;$sessionid$USU4UK21M1BXDQFIQMGCFF4AVCBQUIV0?xml=/opinion/2001/10/26/do02.xml&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=308372

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Educational Copy of Some of the References

FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Reference

Halevi, Yossi Klein. (Wednesday, December 04, 2002) Islam's Outdated Domination Theology. USA: Los Angeles Times.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-halevi4dec04,0,5855711.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Doped%2Dmanual

 

December 4, 2002   

 

COMMENTARY

Islam's Outdated Domination Theology

 Only when Muslims accept religious pluralism will peace have a chance.

  

By Yossi Klein Halevi, Yossi Klein Halevi is author of "At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden: A Jew's Search for Hope with Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land" (Harper/Collins, 2001).

 

JERUSALEM -- With the globaalization of Islamic terrorism and mob violence, it is becoming increasingly absurd to ascribe the threat to a fanatic fringe. Yet between those who dismiss the growing Islamic assault on the West as marginal and those agitating for a war of civilizations, a third way exists: offering Islam the respect it deserves as one of the world's great faiths while insisting that it confront its outmoded theology of domination.

 

Muslims who note that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance are right, but only in a medieval sense. Muslim law does indeed permit freedom of religion for Jews and Christians, who are cited in the Koran as "peoples of the book." But the prerequisite for Muslim tolerance is Muslim rule. Even Muslim Spain, the medieval world's most inspiring example of religious coexistence, was premised on the primacy of Islamic dominance.

 

Like Christianity, Islam is a universal faith that envisions the ultimate transformation of the world in its image. But unlike large parts of Christianity in our time, Islam has yet to consider the option of religious pluralism based on the equality of faiths.

 

For Islam, historical experience reinforces theology. As historian Bernard Lewis notes, Islam is the only monotheistic religion whose founder lived to see the triumph of his faith. Because Islam knew power from its very inception, Muslims came to see dominance as their birthright. In the past, Islam proved capable of magnanimity toward its non-Muslim subjects. But it hasn't proved its capacity for equality. For Islam, only two options exist: to dominate or be dominated.

 

The Palestinian terrorist war against Israel is the most extreme form of that mind-set. The terrorists' goal isn't ending the occupation of the West Bank and creating a Palestinian state living peacefully beside Israel but the destruction of the Mideast's only Western, non-Muslim state.

 

For normative Islamic theology, the very existence of a Jewish state in the Muslim heartland -- "Dar al Islam," the House of Islam -- is an offense. Al Qaeda statements against Israel don't refer to its policies as much as its very existence.

 

Yet Islam, along with other faiths, is capable of adapting to changing circumstance. The Koran, like other scriptures, contains verses that reinforce religious exclusivity but also verses that can be summoned to justify a new Islamic pluralism. Religions grow subtly when their adherents begin emphasizing certain parts of scripture to support their new spiritual insights. That is precisely what happened after the Holocaust to the Catholic Church, which stopped citing the New Testament's anti-Jewish verses and instead began emphasizing those verses affirming God's love for the Jewish people.

 

Islam's challenge is to balance its vision of itself as a faith that dominates the world with a humility that concedes the need for religious restraint in a world threatened with nuclear destruction.

 

Humility is a profound trait in Islam. More than most faiths, Islam inculcates in its believers a frank acknowledgment of their own mortality. Muslims live with a constant awareness of human transience.

 

The dark side of that awareness is the demonic phenomenon of the suicide bombers. But at its best, the Muslim ability to accept death produces spiritual generosity. Palestinian Muslims have repeatedly told me how foolish it is for Arabs and Jews to fight over land when in the end the land will claim both. That acceptance of mortality offers hope for Muslim restraint in addressing the ambition of universal domination.

 

Those who want us to believe that the anti-Christian riots in Nigeria and the terrorist atrocities aimed at international tourism in Indonesia and Kenya are merely the work of a frustrated fringe are weakening the West's ability to recognize the scope of the threat and to defend itself from a new totalitarian onslaught. But those who label Islam as inherently violent and intolerant are denying its capacity for spiritual growth. And they are abandoning those still-rare but extraordinarily courageous voices within Islam calling for theological modernization.

 

Winning this war, then, requires a two-pronged approach. First, the West must respond to aggression without sentimentality or self-recrimination. At the same time, we must support those who are struggling to help Islam evolve so that it can become again a crucial shaper of civilization.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Reference

Morse, Chuck. The First Holocaust against the Jews.

http://www.chuckmorse.com/first_holocaust.html

 

Muhammad was precise in his genocidal program when he declared, ""Two religions may not dwell together on the Arabian Peninsula."(Muwatta, in Al-Zurkani's commentary IV, p. 71) Muhammad's generals and successors, Abu Bakr and Omar, exterminated the entire Jewish population of northern Arabia along with the Jewish refuge of Khaibar. Arabia has been Judenrein ever since.

(Reference: Morse, Chuck. The First Holocaust against the Jews. )

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Personal Note

All One.

If each person can give equal importance to all forms of sacred texts – be it Bible, Quran Gita, etc, read (there are concepts in each text for celibacy as well as non-celibacy. You take only the celibacy path), understand and follow on the basis of celibacy, then you are absorbing all forms of practice into one. Why then, blood shed? For, the first law, Thou shalt not kill. To that sort of believer on oneness, there are no two or three or many other religions. There is only one path. Of ascetism, of celibacy.

Such a person will be on a daily cycle, a 24-hour program, day after day, watching his own body and mind. Where will the time be for those matters which are irrelevant to the training?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Reference

14th century Muslim sage has much to teach us. (Friday, October 26, 2001) UK: The Telegraph.

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml;$sessionid$USU4UK21M1BXDQFIQMGCFF4AVCBQUIV0?xml=/opinion/2001/10/26/do02.xml&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=308372

 

14th century Muslim sage has much to teach us

(Filed: 26/10/2001)

 

IS this, in the words of Francis Fukuyama, the end of history? Or the end of the end of history? Is it, as Samuel Huntington would say, a clash of civilisations? Or a war for civilisation against barbarism? What does it all mean? These and other "grand theorists" claim to explain the present crisis, but American gurus have no monopoly on wisdom. Equally illuminating insights into contemporary world history, however, come from a Muslim historian who wrote more than 600 years ago.

 

Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) was no less distinguished as a statesman and judge than as a scholar, but it is as the author of a colossal Universal History (Kitab al-'Ibar), and especially of its Introduction (the Muqaddimah), that he is remembered. His family were refugees from the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of Spain, and Ibn Khaldun served various rulers of North Africa and Granada.

 

After a life full of adventures, including the loss in a shipwreck of his entire family, he died in Cairo. His last adventure was an encounter in Damascus with Tamerlane, the last of the great Mongolian-Tartar conquerors who destroyed so much of the classical Islamic civilisation of which Ibn Khaldun's history was one of the pinnacles.

 

What renders Ibn Khaldun pertinent today is not only the fact that he wrote as a Muslim, with an encylopaedic knowledge of the Islamic world, but also the modernity of his methods. There was nothing comparable in the medieval historiography of the West. Ibn Khaldun is empirical and critical in his use of evidence, doctrinally dispassionate and rational in his attempts to account for historical change.

 

In the Muqaddimah (1377), Ibn Khaldun presented a complex philosophy of history that still merits serious consideration. He anticipated modern attempts to explain the collapse of cultures by climate change. He presented a sophisticated analysis of free trade, markets and the rule of law that foreshadowed Adam Smith. As a political thinker, his secular outlook has much in common with Machiavelli and Hobbes. Though an Arabian determinism permeates his work, Ibn Khaldun does not treat human beings as passive victims, but as active agents with responsibility for their own fate. The Muqaddimah is the product of a cosmopolitan, humanistic civilisation - the antithesis of the reactionary, theocratic fundamentalism of some present-day Islamic states.

 

Ibn Khaldun is worth comparing with the theories now fashionable in the West. Fukuyama, for instance, argues that rationalism and science flourish only in conjunction with liberal democracy and capitalism; consequently, history has come to an end. In their book Empire - now all the rage in America - the neo-Marxists Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri suggest that globalisation has created a new, universal and oppressive form of imperialism, which can be defeated only from within by the "multitude" (a global proletariat), who will create a non-exploitative world order. Huntington prefers to posit seven or eight rival civilisations. The West is only one of these, locked in perpetual struggle with the rest, which sustain themselves by utilising Western technology. All these theories are optimistic and progressive.

 

Ibn Khaldun's philosophy of history, by contrast, is pessimistic and cyclical. The vast scope of his research leads him to conclude that all civilisations pass through several stages, beginning with youth and ending in senility. He does not exempt Muslim states, though as a devout Muslim he naturally subscribes to the universal mission of Islam, which must ultimately convert or destroy the infidel.

 

He argues that civilisation (umran) arises only where there is asabiyah, "solidarity": the consciousness of communal or blood ties. He compares nomadic peoples such as the Bedouin with sedentary ones, who are far more civilised but lose the capacity for solidarity. Sedentary culture is the goal of civilisation, creating the necessary conditions for science and the arts to flourish. It need not be liberal or democratic, but commerce and property are essential. With sedentary culture, however, come luxury and prosperity, which lead to corruption. He singles out adultery and homosexuality as especially destructive. Senile civilisations abandon religion, thereby sealing their fate.

 

What, though, does Ibn Khaldun have to tell us about the present situation? America and Europe are certainly sedentary civilisations, while their terrorist opponents are nomadic, ascetic and savage. The attacks on New York and Washington are a test of Western solidarity. According to Ibn Khaldun, once a dynasty (or state) has become senile, its disintegration is inevitable. Solidarity having been dissipated, it seeks to compensate with pomp. Hence it imposes excessive taxation and confiscates property, so undermining the prosperity on which its power is based. America, like the Caliphates or Muslim empires, has expanded so far that its power seems limitless. Once the influence of dynasties such as the Umayyads or Abbasids had reached their maximum extent, however, they began an irreversible decline.

 

On the outcome of war, Ibn Khaldun argues that psychological factors are more important than military strength. The West must win the propaganda war against Osama bin Laden. The societies from which the terrorists emerge are at least as sedentary and corrupt as those of the West. America is still a vigorous civilisation, more than equal to the terrorist challenge. Its power seems limitless. But it must beware of hubris.

 

Ibn Khaldun is a useful antidote to the progressive theories that hold sway today. He reminds us that all civilisations decline, with a chilling evocation of the impact of the Black Death: "It was as if the voice of existence in the world had called out for oblivion and restriction, and the world had responded to its call." Yet that devastation in turn brought "a new and repeated creation, a world brought into existence anew". Muslims and non-Muslims alike may take courage from this Sufi sage, who lived in a period of even greater instability than ours.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

http://in.geocities.com/anindiantantric/islam.html

 

Published on internet: Monday, November 24, 2003

Revised: Tuesday, January 11, 2005

 

Information on the web site is given in good faith about a certain spiritual way of life, irrespective of any specific religion, in the belief that the information is not misused, misjudged or misunderstood. Persons using this information for whatever purpose must rely on their own skill, intelligence and judgment in its application. The webmaster does not accept any liability for harm or damage resulting from advice given in good faith on this website.

                                                                                   

Back to An Indian Tantric Homepage Index

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Thou belongest to That Which Is Undying, and not merely to time alone,” murmured the Sphinx, breaking its muteness at last. “Thou art eternal, and not merely of the vanishing flesh. The soul in man cannot be killed, cannot die. It waits, shroud-wrapped, in thy heart, as I waited, sand-wrapped, in thy world. Know thyself, O mortal! For there is One within thee, as in all men, that comes and stands at the bar and bears witness that there IS a God!

(Reference: Brunton, Paul. (1962) A Search in Secret Egypt. (17th Impression) London, UK: Rider & Company. Page: 35.)

Amen

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1