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“Suf” – wool, ascetic’s wool robe |
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Influence from Eastern Christianity |
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Ibn al-Arabi – Spanish Moor Sufi |
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Jesus a prominent figure, model |
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Web Site: Jesus in the Qur’an |
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Personal Relationship with God |
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Emphasis on Love – Devotion and Communion with
God |
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Goal of Oneness with Allah – methods or
techniques; “schools” or orders; Dervish |
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Iran, Syria and Turkey |
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1800s, Yemen – wandering preachers in East
Africa: Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan |
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Jamiya Mosque in Nairobi |
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“Jesus will change your brass into gold |
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“And if there is already gold in you, Jesus will
make pearls from it. |
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“And if there are pearls within you, Jesus will
make them |
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“Even more beautiful than the Moon or Jupiter.” |
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-- “Another Alchemy, Aflaki |
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“Real repentance requires tears and fire in the
heart. … |
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“Before the heart has shattered into lightning |
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“And before rains of tears have fallen from your
eyes, |
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“How can the fire and menace of God’s anger be
appeased?” |
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-- “On Repentance” Mathnawi |
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“In the name of God, see to it that you pray
constantly, so that your worldly means and heirs and friends become
numerous; when the Resurrection comes, you will console your friends
through these prayers. |
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It is certain that, through the blessing that is
attached to prayer, anyone who asks and begs will be granted their desires
both on the Path and in the world.” |
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“See to it that you pray constantly” Aflaki |
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“Praising God is pure; when purity has come |
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“All filth packs its bags and leaves. |
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“Contraries flees from contraries; night flies |
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“When the Pure Name comes into your mouth |
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“Neither impurity nor griefs remain.” |
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-- “The Pure Name” Mathnawi |
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Sahu – permanent wakeful union with God; Jesus
the primary model, guide |
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God fills him and works in him |
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Scholar of the Sunna, worked for social justice
and reform |
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He was put to death on a cross, then decapitated |
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Hallaj’s Death prayer from the Cross: |
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And these Thy servants who are gathered to
slay me, in zeal for thy religion and in desire to win thy favor, forgive
them, O Lord, and have mercy upon them. … Glory unto thee in whatsoever
Thou doest, and glory to Thee in whatsoever Thou willest. |
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A Prayer of Hallaj: |
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My God, I fear you, for I am a sinner, |
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And I hope in you, for I am a believer; |
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I depend upon your generosity, for I am
inadequate in myself; |
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I have confidence in your mercy, for I ask
pardon; |
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I continue my prayer to you, for I think well of
you. |
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Crusades – The “Cross Wars” |
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Medieval Frankish Kingdoms |
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Kurdish-Mamluke Empire (Egypt, Syria) |
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Ottoman Turkish Domination of Arabs |
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Western Colonization |
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British-Ottoman protectorates |
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WWI British-French occupation |
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WWI and WWII British Iraq |
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Western Missionaries followed the troops |
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North Africa – Italy, France |
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Anglo-Egyptian Sudan |
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Spanish territories in Morocco – |
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bits taken after expelling Moorish
conquerors |
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“…Roman and Persian soldiers crossed the Muslim
borders in various raids. So by the
time of his [Muhammad’s] death the Muslims were involuntarily at war with
their neighbors. |
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“That state of affairs continued.... This
meant at the time that all Christendom, including Spain and France, was at
war with the emerging world of Islam.” |
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à |
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“…The fact that all Christendom was operating as
one power is proven by the unquestionable authority of the Roman papacy
over Christians. It is also proven
by the general mobilization of Christian powers against Islam during the
Crusades of the Middle Ages and even of the first quarter of this twentieth
century.” |
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(italics mine – OBJ) |
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--Hammudah Abdulati, Islam in Focus,
American Trust Publications, London, 1975. |
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Jihad – “effort, struggle” |
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Jitihad~Ijtihad~Jitahid |
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Swahili Christian: jitihada = |
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revival, renewal campaign |
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Jihad = inner struggle for purity, |
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outer
struggle against enemies of Islam |
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“Holy War” is a Western concept, from the
Crusades, used to translate the “jihad” in war context. |
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Many have expressed the opinion that those
Muslims were motivated by religious zeal to spread Islam by force. |
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Many other consider this opinion silly and
naïve, because Islam – by its nature – cannot be forced. |
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--Hammudah Abdulati, Islam in Focus,
American Trust Publications, London, 1975, p. 146. |
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Another trend of thought [suggests that they]
were simply motivated by economic needs and circumstances. Those wars and adventures were not
religious or spiritual but merely the outcome of pressing wants. |
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--Hammudah Abdulati, Islam in Focus,
American Trust Publications, London, 1975 , p. 147. |
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Some interpret the more militant chapters as
applying only to the time in Medina under pressure. |
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Others claim these were the later chapters after
Muhammad’s more moderate early attempts. |
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Muhammad had a special dispensation for “Peoples
of the Book – they could retain their faith and autonomy under a Muslim
society, by paying a “tax.” |
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Modern views are more open and claim jihad is
only for self-defense. |
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Sufis generally reject use of force. |
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Outcry against 9-11 from Muslims got lost in
Western news |
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One writer defends the use of force and argues
against those who say Islam allows violence only for defense, but explains
it this way: |
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Islam does not force people to accept its
belief, but it wants to provide a free environment in which they will have
the choice of beliefs…., to abolish those oppressive political systems
under which people are prevented from expressing their freedom to decide
whether they accept Islam or not. |
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--Sayyid Qutb, Milestones, Int’l Islamic Federation of Student
Organizations, Salmiyah, Kuwait , pp. 78-79. |
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Islam never tolerates aggression from its own
side or from any other side, nor does it entertain aggressive wars or the
initiation of aggressive wars.
Muslims are commanded by God [in the Qur’an] not to begin hostilities. |
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--Hammudah Abdulati, Islam in Focus,
American Trust Publications, London, 1975 , p. 142. |
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Church co-opted (willingly) as an agent of
Constantine’s Roman State |
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Charlemagne’s troops baptized so they could win
(though there are signs he took his faith seriously) |
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Serbian and other Slavic ruthlessness against
Muslims in Europe (and even other types of Christians) |
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Visigoths contracting with the Iberian Roman
Church to run the Empire in “Hispania” after they took it away from Rome |
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Roman Catholic intrigue and political network in
Medieval Europe |
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Saxon Roman Catholics military impositions
against the ancient Celtic independent church in Britain |
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We meet as humans to humans, painfully limited
and fragile |
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Muslims are real people of various ethnic
groups, struggling to care for their families, deal with the bewildering
world and trust God within in the light they have |
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Many of them feel under threat – we can be their
friend |
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Faith is service to God and to others for God |
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We have the opportunity to witness |
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“Witness” is joyous and loving testimony to what we have experienced
with God as we have found him in Jesus |
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Prayer should be a natural expression of your
faith, and is a value in common with Muslims |
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Pray for and with your Muslim neighbors |
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Pray over the news you hear daily |
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Pray for the dictators |
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Faith serves God and others for God |
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