- I recently returned to Montreal only to realize that I had lost my tasbih(rosary, prayer beads,mala) on the airplane. I panicked lol They are part of my being like prayer and coffee. So I quickly contacted my artisanal Tasbih maker, Net Tasbih (beautiful stuff for which I am terribly grateful) to get s replacement. Two actually-for security.
- On my way across the city to his place, I asked myself why this item is so easy to lose. Then I thought of compsrable items-umbrellas and gloves that are equally easy to lose and the tajalli(inspiration) came! Of course! Umbrellas protect us from the rain; gloves protect us from the cold; and Tasbihs protect us from dunniya( worldliness) by reminding us of our Lotd. It all made sense! Alhumdulillah,
All posts by jebrahim2@gmail.com
Laminate Floors
- (Bottom line-Consumer Reports)”We have also published Ratings of prefinished solid-wood, vinyl, and tile floors; all are better choices (than laminate)when it comes to formaldehyde emissions.” Another epidemic of toxic products -laminate floors or as the marketers call them”floating floors” lol Ya, right -floating in cancerogenic chemicals!
Lying-the M.O. of Modern Societies
Breaking News! Shocking developments! Donald Trump instructed Michael Cohen to lie! How could he lol?! Really? The entire legal,democratic political and advertising industry to boot is based on lying! Does the court not instruct witnesses to “tell the truth,the whole truth and nothing but the Truth”?Do the lawyers in preparing their clients not then train them on what to say,what not to say and how to say it?Is that not lying ?! Do the government and legal reports and Commission reports not have ridiculously large amounts of redactions? Is that not lying? When Monsanto tells us its pesticides are safe and when the cellphone companies tell us there is no danger from the emfs and microwaves coming from our phones and their towers, are They not lying.And when the hallowed Supreme Court of the U.S.A.says that billionaires being allowed to spend as much money as they want on campaign financing is consistent with democracy,are they too not lying?!This is outright hypocrisy! It is time for our entire society to come clean and admit that currently lying is endemic -even necessary for success! The real slogan here behind the scenes is:” Lie but don’t get caught”.And admittedly Trump is an incompetent liar.Obama and both Clintons were much better at it!
Statement of Purpose
I am convinced that I have the best product on the market-a lifestyle based on Islam as a religion, Sufism as s spiritual practice, an in-depth understanding of psychology and the sociology of modern time plus a practical approach to environmental and holistic medicine. What more can you ask for?! Yet I can’t sell this product to anyone-with one or possibly two exceptions. Help me out here! What is going on?!
The “Logos”
This posting comes from a response to a T.V. episode of” Young Sheldon” where Sheldon confronts the preacher with his version of the Greek word “logos’ lol
Actually Sheldon is wrong! “Logos” as used by the Greeks meant “reason” more than knowledge i.e. according to them the means of obtaining knowledge-a dubious prospect at best as those who have read my writings are well aware. What is more important than what the Greek word is ,is the original Hebrew or Aramaic word that was used.Unfortunately for Christianity, and for us as well,we have no idea what that word is or even might be.Perhaps some Biblical or linguistic scholars may hazard a guess.Touché Sheldon.You often get it wrong because you are hoodwinked by Scientism’s aberrant theology lol
One spiritual group that uses and overuses the concept of “logos” are the Perennialists affectionately known as Schuonians by people who are obliged to deal with them.They ,too,like the Greeks believe that we can understand the Universe and especially its different religions through the ultimate tool of reason.In that attempt, they fail miserably leading to numerous falsehoods and heretical beliefs.Ultimately this Absolutist belief in reason is a form of human arrogance which regularly leads to misguidance!
Quintessential Sheikh Nazim
Mashallah!
Cleanliness is next to Godliness?!
Their hearts are full of greed and envy and resentment and self-centredness but their houses are impeccably clean. This is one of the shirks( idolatries) of the modern era . I can hear the naysayers already”But isn’t cleanliness important?Don’t the Christians say:’Cleanliness is close to Godliness’. Don’t the Muslims do wudu and avoid ‘najas’(dirty things)?”Yes, this is all true. But there are priorities and perspective that is needed. Seriously!
When I came back from a long sabbatical in the Middle East, I was astounded by what I saw. “There are only three virtues left here-punctuality, material cleanliness and not pushing into line”, I would say. I could add hard work in some cases. But that is a pitiful list of virtues, especially if one is trying to improve our relationship with our Creator ! We need to work on inner cleaning, big time. Otherwise we are sunk.
Amongst the more common complaints I heard from patients in my psychiatric practice was:”My mother was much more concerned with the house being clean than she was with my emotional state.I felt I didn’t really exist for her.” I heard that many times!
Christianity unpacked
There are times when I enjoy listening to Christian preachers on the television. The sincere Christians have’taqwa’(God-consciousness)What they don’t have is Shariah(an understanding of Divine Law). Historically that is because Paul introduced ( probably with the good intention of making Christianity acceptable to the pagan Roman and Greeks) a deviation into the religion by declaring that it was enough to Love Jesus. It is certainly a good thing to love Prophets and saints. But it is not enough! One needs to follow the rules laId down in Sacred Law. That is your Comparative Religion course for Xmas day lol. Btw Christmas was not celebrated by the early Christians until it was decreed by the Bishop of Rome in 354 AD.It was throughout history seen as a secular festival and was frequently banned by the Church itself for being too licentious!In Scotland it was banned for 250 years until 1953!(reference Judith Flanders “ A biography of Xmas”)
Climate Change?
The obsession with”climate change” and “global warming” has seriously obscured the environmental debate. The issue is not really “climate change” ! The real issue is human health, not global warming.
I’ll give you a couple of simple examples of what I mean. If you insulate your home in order to save energy, you are inevitably increasing the concentration of toxins in your home.(And for the more sophisticated nay-sayers amongst the readers,heat distribution units ,as recommended by certain construction norms,most often add in a new level of problems concerned with what grows in their ducts) Given that the concentration of toxins in indoor air is already ten times that in outdoor air, you can see that the potential for impacting human health is enormous.
Example two. If you install laminate floors now cleverly marketed as “ floating floors”( how comfy!)you have used much less wood than if you had installed proper hardwood floors. So you saved a few trees. And trees are good for the environment. They absorb CO2 and they produce O2. Great. But the laminate floors have a high quantity of glues and chemicals including formaldehyde! Formaldehyde is a known cancerogenic product and it off-gasses for years! So you have decreased the carbon emissions but you have contributed a serious hazard to human health!
Did you also know that those great solutions of solar and wind energy produce “dirty electricity” because of the intermittent currents generated? Dirty electricity is far more detrimental to human health than regular electricity! Oops!Thought we had the answer!
And that other great environmental solution-electrical cars- produce high levels of EMFs( electromagnetic fields) that are also known health risks. The last time I tested one with my Trifield meter , there was a reading off 100 Milligaus in the back sest! Above 3 milligaus there are known biological effects. Btw That specific spot in the back seat is exactly where your toddler would be sitting! And we wonder why there is so much cancer in children?!
PS If we seriously addressed human health,global warming would take care of itself as most of the carbon imprint is generated by toxic, cancerogenic chemicals like the byproducts of fossil fuel emissions.So beware! Most of the news you are getting is very partial and biased. It may not be “fake news”. But it is certainly “spun and filtered news”
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence: Ever had the experience of spinning your wheels trying to get something done on a website?It can be as simple as an address change or a request for information. Then you reach a person, admittedly after a substantial wait -no fault of your own-and the person at the other end of the line after a few annoying and mostly unnecessary security questions, resolved your problem in short order. Does that say anything to you about the infamous A. I. that will soon be taking over the world if it hasn’t already?! It’s s disaster! But who relies on experience and empirical evidence when they can rely on concepts and “tendences” as the French call it. The difference between concept and reality is THE most important factor of disturbance in the world. And nobody seems to be getting it!