The day those who fought to protect For-Profit Health Insurance
Celebrate the birth of The Guy who gave it away for free.

#HOMERUN

Is there any vestige of truth left in our declaration that we think for ourselves?  Or do we even trouble to declare this any  more?  Perhaps the man who says he “thinks for himself” is simply one who does not think at all; because he has no fully articulate thoughts, he thinks he has his own incommunicable ideas. Or thinks that, if he once set his mind to it, he could have his own thoughts.  But he just has not got around to doing this. I wonder if “democracies” are made up entirely of people who “think for themselves” in the sense of going around with blank minds which they imagine they could fill with their own thoughts if need be.

Well, the need has been desperately urgent, not for one year or ten, but for fifty, sixty, seventy, a hundred years.  If, when thought is needed, nobody does any thinking, if everyone assumes that someone else is thinking, then it is clear that no one is thinking either for himself or for anybody else.  Instead of thought, there is a vast, inhuman void full of words, formulas, slogans, declarations, echoes – idologies!  You can always reach out and help yourself to some of them.  You don’t even have to reach at all.  Appropriate echoes already rise up in your mind – they are “yours.” You realize of course that these are not yet “thoughts.” Yet we “think” these formulas, with which the void in our hearts is provisionally entertained, can for the time being “take the place of thoughts” – while the computers make decisions for us.

Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1966)

If you grew up without much knowledge of Islam, be aware – be conscious – that many of your neighbors are celebrating something sacred – something on the level of your Christmas and Easter celebrations.  Show respect and be courteous.  If you have questions about Islam, what better time to ask?  I don’t know about you, but I get excited every time I think I might actually learn something.

There are the bumper stickers:  “Everything I need to know about Islam I learned on 9/11″.  Those folks need hugs, really.  Don’t be mad at them.  Christ Jesus, Isa al-Masih (AS) taught that to Love someone you must treat them as you yourself wish to be treated.  He (AS) was a genuine radical – someone who ordered his disciples to love their enemies – and pray for those who hated them.  This was his teaching.  This was his sunnah.  The Holy Qur’an teaches that Jesus – Isa (AS) was sent by Allah (SWT) as His Mercy – and His Spirit.  To him was given the Word of God – in that he embodied it.  He became it, by God’s leave.  Our various Christian communities in Central Arkansas do well when they remember these things.

Ramadan doesn’t end on a calendar date.  It ends according to the changing phase of the moon.  I guess sometime back before any of us were born, folks used to use the moon and stars to calculate time and dates.  Actually, it is still done this way because these are the most accurate methods of calculation.  But some guy named Julius Augustus Caesar loved himself a little bit more than necessary – and decided to add the months of July and August to the calendar we’re using.  Anyway, the Moon Sighting Committee of Islamic Center of Little Rock will observe the Local Sighting on the evening of Thursday September 9th, 2010.
(see visibility charts here).

Insha’Allah(God Willing) the Executive Committee of Islamic  Center of Little Rock will announce its decision as early as 9PM CT and no later than 10:30PM CT.

If you will not be attending the prayers, for whatever reason, would you consider praying where you are with/for those who will be in attendance.  This is a blessed opportunity to walk in the footsteps of the prophets and directly into the presence of Almighty God.  Consider it.

Was-salaam.

Sultan Ahmet (The Blue Mosque) reflected in glass at Anya Sophia

REJECTION

The English word “faith” appears just two times in the King James translation of the Hebrew meaning of the Old Testament.  That’s interesting, right?  Two times – and that’s it.  For reference – those two times are:  Deuteronomy 32:20 & Habakkuk 2:4.  This gives a brother pause, if you know what I mean.  Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that Faith is a key concept in Judaism – and by extension – Christianity.  Seriously, that’s not really a stretch at all.  So where’s the word? It occurs 245 times in the New Testament.  What about the foundation – the basis for the New Testament?  For the record, by the time we get to the NIV (New International Version) of the scriptures, we see “faith” a total of 15 times.  Where is faith?  With certainty we can state that a word which carries such great weight would have been used throughout the Old Testament.  And it was.

Faith is Iman.  It’s hidden in the words used and written in the original texts.  I say hidden.  No, wait – actually it’s in plain sight…  if you read Hebrew.  But our “modern translation”, sponsored by King James, has forgotten it.  Basically, faith was removed from the Old Testament.  The Hebrew word for “faith” is אֵמוּן

If we transliterate the original Hebrew word which was translated as “faith” in the King James, we get ‘emuwn. I need help to “sound out” the word, so I use a standardized pronunciation guide and find that it is pronounced as ā·mün’.  All this originates in the semitic root אָמַן

This word is pronounced ä·man’.  So what we’re talking about is Faith – capital F.  And the Hebrew word for Faith is pronounced a-man (like the city in Jordan) the ä sounding like the a in “father”.  So  – here we go with another tremendous stretch…  Iman and Aman are the same.

إيمان Iman is the transliteration of the Arabic word for Faith.  Given that the Arabic and Hebrew are virtually the same, both literally and figuratively, clarification of the original meaning of the word is of great benefit.  After all, the scriptures were not revealed – nor were they written – in anything remotely resembling English.  It is critical to note that the word for Faith actually does occur 102 times in the Old Testament of The Holy Bible.  But the pure (original) translation of the word a-man/iman as “fatih” has been rejected by our “modern” translators a total of 100 times.  Mathematically, if we consider the fact that a word (Faith) has been rejected 100 times more than it has been employed in translation, it becomes clear in the most minimal sense that some kind of discrepancy exists.  But the very fact that it is “Faith” which has been rejected is, perhaps, the most shocking feature of our examination.

The Holy Qur’an warns us in Surat Al-Baqarah:

“As to those who reject Faith, it is the same to them
whether thou warn them or do not warn them; they will not believe.” (2:6)

Even if you don’t believe the Qur’an is the literal word of the Lord of the Worlds, you should be wondering about the inclusion/exclusion of such a critical word.  If this is not the case, perhaps a better question is this:  When the red flag – the warning signal – is raised, why is it that some folks just look the other way and continue living as if they didn’t see… ?  Has faith been rejected and replaced with a simpler idea – one that is easier to stomach?

It is easy to treat this problem as an elementary word study.  But this could (and should) be used against us, as it could easily be deemed an over-oversimplification.  Obviously.  So, it may be best to back-track and examine an argument which has existed for centuries among linguists regarding translation:  Languages change over time.  Fact.  But, as a language changes – so does the meaning which is given to the words.  Understanding does not develop along linear trains of “thought”.  It develops among individuals and communities – separate and apart from one another.  Whole new meanings spring up.  Whole modes of “thought” disappear.  Expansion of original context may be clear.  Or, on the other hand, we may clearly see a contraction of meaning – wherein a word has been “abandoned” for the sake of a better phrase or term.  One might argue that the thinking in early Juadaism was geared more toward understanding of the concepts of belief, assurance, and trust.  This appears to have been the collective idea of the men responsible for the King James version of the Bible.  They did not choose to use the word but twice.  Still feels strange, doesn’t it.

I’d like to inject something refreshing, with the hopes that it isn’t merely adding to whatever confusion surrounds the issue of Faith’s seeming exemption from the King James Old Testament.  Here’s a bit from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass in which Alice (of Wonderland fame) and Humpty Dumpty discuss our dilemma:

“I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory,’ ” Alice said.
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously.
“Of course you don’t—till I tell you.
I meant ‘there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!’ ”
“But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean ‘a nice knock-down argument’,” Alice objected.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather a scornful tone,
“it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words
mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty,
“which is to be master   –   that’s all.”

THE GRAND DELUSION

What is being governed in America is  the perception of the people.  Legislation is the curtain pulled down between the elites and everyone else.  Justice is for sale.  We have been blinded to the fact that our consumption is destroying the planet, the atmosphere, and – thereby – …all of us.  We are being lulled to sleep.  Painted faces sing out from glowing screens everywhere we turn.  Opinions, wherever they may be formed – from whomever they may arise, have somehow come to constitute knowledge.  One does not have to have knowledge to have an opinion.  Sadly, one’s “right” to the “freedom” of speech is of little value without genuine knowledge.  So – we are inundated with opinions rather than knowledge.  And all that is left is disputation.  But opinions, like laws, mustn’t be taken for solutions.

Perception has been so warped that we believe the issues of greatest importance to be the opinions which we pay handsomely to have injected into our homes.  Sensational images and faces flicker and fade across giant slick-screened monitors.  It’s programming.  We are being conditioned.

Mevlana Jalaluddin Muhammad Balkhi (Rumi) saw this issue plainly.  “Disputational knowing wants customers. It has no soul.”  Friends,  Mevlana wasn’t confused.  He was as accurate 750 years ago as he is today.  The democratically licensed and controlled media has found plenty of customers.  Their machine is bought and sold by banks, weapons manufacturers, criminals…  (remember, it is a crime to break the “law” – even if you don’t get caught) These are the soul-less entities which decide what we see and when we see it.  The “news” is what they say it is.  And it comes to us by way of talk shows – pundits shouting at other pundits in an ad nauseam debate.

Americans enjoy the pretension of misery.  We have everything any living soul could want and deep down know that all of it -  down to the shoes on our feet – comes at the expense of someone else – somewhere far away. With this in mind, show me where a man puts his money – how he spends it – and  I’ll know what he believes in.  Give me an honest assessment of how you spend your “free” time – and I’ll understand your Faith. (now decide whether or not you can be honest about how many HOURS of television you watch each week)

We come back to faith.  The Grand Delusion is what we have chosen over a relentless pursuit of Faith.  But Faith is something which must absolutely be pursued.  It is not a choice.  We must pursue Faith with every ounce of our flesh, every draught of breath, every meditation.  I must change the course set for me, well in advance, by the industrious “leaders” of my corporations and nation.  What they want cannot be what we want.  Again, Mevlana:

I plot to get what I want and end up in jail -
dig pits to trap others and I fall in.
I should be suspicious of what I want.

We suffer from the delusion that faith is something which can be chosen. And how great is our suffering.  I cannot choose faith.  It is a gift.  The infant does not choose birth, or miscarriage.  The infant does not even represent a choice made by her parents.  She comes to be by the Will and Grace of the ONE – the Light in all beings.

I’d like to finish this rant with a look at the sheer simplicity of Faith.  The original word, from it’s semitic root, is Iman.  Iman literally – originally – meant to “prop”  to sustain or support – or to carry in one’s arms.  (Click here for a really good look at the root word) Somehow, we have become overwhelmingly confused in our culture.  We hear that churches are failing – mosques are going empty – synagogues are silent.  This should come as no surprise.  After all we have rejected Faith!  When we look at the term – CAREFULLY – we find that it was intended, revealed, and recorded to implant within our hearts and minds the image of each one of us being carried as a child.  We must get back to that point if we are to accept faith for the gift that it truly is.  As a child, I cannot choose to be carried.  I may moan and cry – stretch out my tiny hands and beg to be held – but the decision is not mine.

The Lord of the worlds created us this way.  We were not placed here in the playpen of life with much real choice.  But – I have to say – when the choice comes as to whether or not to open a gift like faith, I think our neighbors would truly benefit greatly if we were to act like children again – tearing and ripping at the paper – fighting to get into the package.  And what we are sure to find inside is miraculous.  It is the answer.  It is the Truth.

When Layla Jean, our fourth child, came from her hiding place last Tuesday night, I felt myself becoming increasingly more aware of a sense of unity greater than any I have known before.  The overwhelming, overpowering sense of God’s Love that came over me – i am convinced – was the direct result of prayer and supplication offered on our behalf by Muslims and Christians alike.  Our delivery room was bathed in this unity.  Friends of both faiths continued sending encouraging words via email and text – throughout Heather’s labor – from around the world.  Who would I be to deny that the LORD of the Worlds hears the prayers of one and all?  Who would I be to deny that He has Revealed Himself through tribes, tongues, and nations with which I may be vastly unfamiliar?

For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.

Zabur (Psalm) 139: 13-16

Then We transformed the drop [of semen] into a clot, congealed blood. Then We transformed the clot into a [little] lump of flesh (mudgha), a piece of flesh, about the size of what one would be able to chew (mā yumdagh). Then We transformed the lump of flesh into bones. Then We clothed the bones with flesh (a variant reading in both instances [instead of the plurals ‘izāman and al-‘izāma, ‘the bones’] is [singular] ‘azman [and ‘al-‘azma], ‘the bone’; and in all three instances above khalaqnā, means ‘We made it become’ [as opposed to ‘We created’]). Then We produced him as [yet] another creature, by breathing into him [Our] Spirit. So blessed be God, the best of creators!, that is, [the best of] determiners (the specificier noun for ahsana, ‘the best’, has been omitted because it is obvious: khalqan, ‘in terms of creation’).

May God, The Highly Exalted & Mighty, count each of us among the believers.
May we work together to defeat the hatred sown in the world by the enemies of truth.

Was’salaam.

And yet, the unbeliever, digging beneath his own feet the grave in which he rushes to lie, chooses to boast.  We hear from men as they imagine themselves to have forged a path through the wilderness of this life; men who have “decided” with the intellect given them by the infinitely gracious and compassionate loving God, that their own existence is coincidental.  Imagine it clearly, the coincidence arguing its own irrelevance and boasting of its importance in the same breath.  The accident begetting it’s own cause.

Men fancy themselves powerful beings.  After all, we have developed speech and reason.  But what is man’s power – if not the imagined and wholly irascible desire for power – and yet again more power.  This is greed.  The lips of mankind are wet with greed, dripping with the honey of gain.  And again, the tongues with which men form the very words they use, the breath upon which their speech permeates the air; these are not their own.  They do not belong to man.  These do not originate even in the mind of man!  Indeed, my own language is a changing idea – passed to me by those who learned it from those before them.  It does not belong to any among us.  We merely borrow it for a time from the source from whence it came.

None of us has chosen to be here; having begun this journey with the decision to rise from the dust beneath his parents’ feet, through nourishment from the bounty of the earth, digested – converted into energy – and released as a drop of semen in a moment of passion to form into a lump in his mothers womb. This is not my choice.  Nor am I derivative of the choices of my parents.

The light of the sun does not come from the sun.  It comes from the source of light from whence the sun originates.

I am dust particles in that sunlight…

Tell me, how am I roundness of the sun?

Who writes the prescriptions?

The idea that Democracy is the medium upon which is written the language of Freedom is inconsistent with the lessons of history. In a very real and modern sense, the freedom we express in our culture, which is supposedly derived from the “will of the majority”, has come about through the willing degradation and exploitation of others.  Global economic policies which increase the profits of some while reducing and eliminating the profits of others facilitate the turning of a blind eye to the nameless families living in starvation around the world.  Consequently, those around the corner become invisible as well.  In this light, the bliss of ignorance is chilling – and truly terrifying.

A boy disconsolate, embittered by rejection and the self imposed distance of family and peers, seeks solace in the fanatical arms of martyrdom. He puts on the whole armor of the neo-extremist warrior. On his face, a beautiful face that will shine out across a billion web browsers and television screens in some future time whether he lives or succeeds; the patent sheen of fearlessness. And tucked away within the lining of his hand-sewn underwear, hidden from the theatre of modern security, an explosive powder – with which he hopes to bring down the giant. And he wins the Battle of Christmas Day – no matter the outcome. He has won because the greatest weapon of the extremist is not a civilian airliner turned IED. It is not a truck packed with 300 kilos of PETN. It is the media – a democratically licensed and controlled entity.

But who is Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab fighting? And – what if the answer is simply that it is you and I; our faces on the billboards and television screens he sees.  What if Umar’s enemy is so well hidden among us – so thoroughly integrated in our day-to-day living, that we have failed to identify him. When Umar looks at your picture on someone’s Facebook page, he doesn’t see you. He sees him – the enemy. To Umar, then, you have become invisible.

Context vs. Intention

You have heard the term “Good Samaritan” used when a person goes out of his or her way to show kindness to someone in need. The term comes from modern interpretations of a parable in which a Samaritan finds a man beaten and robbed alongside the road and stops to help him. But hidden beneath modern interpretations of the original meaning – over which layer upon layer of contextual sediment has been deposited – a radiant gem lies buried. This is no ordinary story. The storyteller was a revolutionary, and the implications of his parables are all too often overlooked – or what may be worse – diluted for mass consumption.

When we tell old stories, we tend to transplant fresh, more “relevant” subjects in place of the primary ideas. The original characters and meaning are often lost in the process. But we accept and perpetuate this process because we are taught that it facilitates learning. And learning is good. Right? But identification with whichever character our collective consciousness assigns moral high-ground is not necessarily learning. While it may make parables more entertaining and easier to digest, it may simply induce heightened senses of satisfaction and enlightenment. In this sense, then, we become addicted to the rush. I am quick to identify with a man who lends a helping hand – the feminist coming to the rescue of the womanizing mongrel – or the merchant who brings his groceries to the thieves. But how often do I consider identification with the womanizing mongrel, the thief, or half-dead man alongside the road? Not very often. After all, that doesn’t feel very enlightening. And it certainly isn’t very much fun.

Transplanting characters from our own time into ancient stories may seem like an effective tool. It certainly serves a purpose. But looking into parables carefully to uncover originally prescribed meanings and thereby illuminate intentions arguably requires much greater care. With the Samaritan parable, then, we should exercise great caution, for within this tale can be found the cure for the festering spiritual wounds of hypocrisy. Powerful medicine. But medicine is prescribed for specific purposes in specific instances. Indeed, we should be extremely careful if we seek a cure. It is easy enough to alleviate symptoms. But what about removing the disease entirely? What about a cure?

Consider again the audience of the original Samaritan’s tale. The parable was actually given as testimony under the questioning of a lawyer. And, oddly enough, the storyteller had other intentions. He was not defending himself. He was defending the lawyer. While this may at first glance seem ridiculous, it is in fact the embodiment of the Christian faith. Jesus does not ask that the lawyer become a “Good Samaritan.” He hints, indirectly, that the teacher of the Mosaic Law might perhaps identify himself with the victim alongside the road. Beacause this is the only way, in ancient history or modern times, that anyone gains understanding of his own true nature. We are not the heroes we perceive ourselves to be. Inwardly, each of us is the ravenous wolf.

We may also look carefully at a similar instance in the Christian scriptures wherein Jesus was questioned by someone in a perceived position of authority. A wealthy ruler used the word “good” (Gr. Agathos Luke 18:18-19) to address Jesus. But Jesus turns the phrase around on him, saying that none but the One was “good” – that One being God. Again, Jesus’ answer to questioning by powerful people of his day cuts right to the heart. The wealthy man asks what he needs to do to achieve enlightenment – to reach heaven – to live forever. Jesus’ reply is simple. Sell everything you have. Give the money away. He does not encourage good deeds – Good “Sarmaritanism.” He encourages social and financial devastation.

In order to take a closer look at the teachings of Jesus, I must take a closer look at myself. And that isn’t always easy. Especially when I am quick to identify myself according to what past, present, and even future societies will determine to be “good.” Jesus teaches us, quite clearly, to identify ourselves with the brokenness and devastation with which the world is never too eager to mingle.

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

C.S. Lewis

]]> http://samheard.com/blog/2009/11/27/samaritan-identification/feed/ 0 http://samheard.com/blog/2009/10/06/she-weighs-12-ounces/ http://samheard.com/blog/2009/10/06/she-weighs-12-ounces/#comments Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:19:04 +0000 samheard http://samheard.com/blog/2009/10/06/she-weighs-12-ounces/

It is one thing to hope for something to happen – and another thing altogether to pray for days on end – imagining the possibility of that hope becoming reality.  When we are reminded, constantly, in our lives of how tiny and fragile each of  us truly is, some inner work – some kind of positive reaction must be the end result.  It cannot be otherwise.

The miracle hides in the notion that we’re not just sperm and egg; not the result of some coincidental mingling of fluids.

All flesh is grass.  And it’s loveliness is as the flower of the field.
The grass withers and the flower fades because the breath of the LORD blows upon it.
Surely all people are grass.
The grass withers and the flower fades:
But the word of God will stand forever.

Isaiah 40