Sufism

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Summary: misleading claims
Review: After Sept.11 tragic there has been a lot of questions about and attacks on Islam, and in my opinion rightly so. I even started wondering what Islam really is and is not. There is just too many version of Islam floating around and there is no way for anyone to honestly claim that their version is the true Islam.
Quran commands us " all cling onto the rope of God and do not scatter", but realistically how is this possible when Quran itself seems to be so ambiguous on many issues. All these sects in Islam base their teachings on Quran and each one arrives at their conclusions using Quran. It seems to me that Quran can be used to support almost any point of view. I wonder since Quran has been used to support so many contradictory points of views how could God expect us not to "Scatter" and become divided amongst ourselves. Is that really a realistic expectation from us? I imagine us being like the blind men and the elephant, elephant here being Quran, and each one of us touch one part of the elephant and claim that we know what the elephant is. I am beginning to think that maybe Shiism has a point in claiming that there must be an infallible man to tell us what really Quran is all about and uncover its true meaning and true intentions at different times and for different generations.

Besides the Shiism , I have another alternative. It could be that there is no such a thing as "True" Islam. Why should there be such a thing as "True" meaning of Quran. Maybe Quran is like beauty, it is simply in the eye of the beholder, as someone has suggested. Whatever you think Quran means, then that is what it means truly and really. Why do we have to insist that Quran is infallible and it is a perfect book teaching "The" Truth and then arguing whose truth is "The Truth." Whatever I understand of Quran that is my perfect truth, it may not be someone else's truth but then who cares, it is my truth and that should be all I need to know. If we are all blind men, then why should one blind man's version of elephant be any better than another blind man. If God and His Prophet didn't leave us with any infallible guide, as we say they didn't, then this is a clear proof that Quran has no Fixed and True meaning. Quran is in the eye of the beholder and we should stop pushing our religion and our understanding of Quran unto others pretending to be an infallible, which of course none of us are, and I doubt it even if Prophet was infallible.

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Summary: The greatest Saint in Islam and Christ
Review: I wish o propose an interpretation of Mr. Arabi's choice of person for Seal of Saints which will undoubtedly be controversial and draw disagreement from many people. Ibne' Al-Arabi is known, by many in Islamic world, as the greatest saint and mystic and yet in his message he declares Jesus as the Seal of all saints. Given the fact that Mr. Ibne' Al_Arabi was originally from Spain; he must have had many encounter with Christians and their spiritual tradition. He must of have struggled with the notion of Islam vs. Christianity and in my view he made a final choice by declaring Jesus Christ as the Seal of all Saints over anyone else. He must have often wondered about the spirituality of Muhammad as compared to that of Jesus, or even other Prophets for that matter. According to Moslem history, Muhammad underwent a self-doubt after his encounter with the angel. This behavior is almost unprecedented even by Moslem's own holy book accounts. While Jesus declares his Holiness in a cradle, Muhammad is confused about his own spiritual ability, as is well indicated by the story of Muhammad's first encounter with Angel in which Muhammad rushes to his wife filled with agony and self-doubt as to whether he really saw an Angel or was he possessed by a Demon. In the story of Moses, too, we see that Moses had no doubt as to his encounter with his God in the Mount. In fact according to Quran, as far as I know, no Prophet had ever experienced the same kind of self-doubt as it has been attributed to Muhammad. This historical fact, written by Moslems themselves, indicates that Muhammad's spiritual capacity was at best a mediocre one. This indeed must have caught Ibne' Al-Arabi's attention.

Yet in another story we read that Muhammad underwent a heavenly operation to his "chest" to purify him and make him ready for his future mission. While Muhammad needed a direct intervention to be purified, Jesus had no such a need and was born pure. All these accounts and many more, must have made Ibne' Al-Arabi wonder about his religion and its truthfulness. Mr. Arabi makes a clear choice by announcing Jesus as the Seal of Saint, clearly making Jesus the most spiritual man in the world, and by doing so, in an indirect manner, invites Moslems to Christianity. He declares himself as the seal of saints among Moslem spirituals, knowing all too well, that he and only he alone had enough courage to declare the truthfulness of Christianity and superiority of Jesus over all, specially over Muhammad, in the heart of Islamic empire. I do not think of Ibne' Al-Arabi as a Moslem saint but rather an apostle of Christianity, a messenger of Jesus Christ to Moslems who happen to follow a man who, according to their own account, could not distinguish between an angel and a demon, even after going through a purification attempt by angels earlier at his childhood.

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Summary: Inspiring To The Soul
Review: This book gives a definition and general history of what sufism can best be described as, the spiritual aspects of Islam (it would be best to know some general things about Islam before reading this book), poems and writings by some famous sufis such as Rumi and Ibn Arabi, etc. William Chittick does write beautifully and found this book spiritually inspiring. However, I found a few of the concepts mentioned to be a little over my head such as the chapter about the lifting of the veils that surround God(swt).