tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3571146151683416940.post2276930682006662912..comments2024-03-16T10:05:23.129-07:00Comments on LA Quaker: Becoming a Friend of God: the Path of Sufism and QuakerismLA Quakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11084465501021443492noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3571146151683416940.post-6925892307050185792017-10-03T07:58:25.845-07:002017-10-03T07:58:25.845-07:00Islam is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It comes ...Islam is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It comes not even close to it.<br />A common name in Islam is Abdullah. It comes in many form and languages. It means: slave of Allah. A slave has no rights. If he does not do his job he is thrown out. He does not inherit.<br />Christians are Children of God (and that through Jesus Christ) Christians inherit the Kingdom of God.<br />Hans, a Quaker.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3571146151683416940.post-58974651438071408792017-02-04T21:07:10.302-08:002017-02-04T21:07:10.302-08:00Hello. Janis Ian posted a Sufi quote on facebook a...Hello. Janis Ian posted a Sufi quote on facebook about how words should go through three gates before leaving the mouth: 1)Is it true? 2)Is it necessary? 3)Is it kind? And immediately I thought how lovely & familiar it was to me even though I had never heard it before.<br /><br />I'm Catholic, but always had an affinity with the Quakers and since the Sufi quote sounded Quaker-like, I wondered whether the Sufis were the Quakers of Islam in desperation, trying to find ways to make people understand that Muslims are not the monsters they are made out to be in the media. I often try to love and understanding against the hatred and incitements I encounter online so this page you have kindly maintained was a delightful find. Thank you & all the best. YC, London.UKAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3571146151683416940.post-14351816567791388102015-07-21T09:43:03.538-07:002015-07-21T09:43:03.538-07:00Hello!
I just stumbled on to this site, and would...Hello!<br /><br />I just stumbled on to this site, and would love to know if you ever finished this pamphlet. And if so, how might I get a copy?<br /><br />I'm a Sufi, and am currently researching the Quakers in the context of a piece I'm writing for lightningdpress.com on the poet Basil Bunting and how his lifelong relationship with the Friends informed his experience in terms of his long "Sonata" poems. But I am also personally very interested in that intersection where I believe I see Quakers, Catholic Workers, Sufis, Ismaili Muslims, radical mystic Jews, engaged Buddhists, and progressive (Neo)Confucians meeting. I'm fascinated by this this deeply ecumenical intersectionality, and multi-religious expressions of it in particular. I would love to hear any thoughts or experiences you'd like to share.<br /><br />Please contact me, if you like, at xishraqx [at] gmail [dot] com.<br /><br />Thank you!!<br /><br />Peace,<br /><br />JeffAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09767649716129672296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3571146151683416940.post-7096705264114217102015-06-12T16:53:54.015-07:002015-06-12T16:53:54.015-07:00I have studied Islam with Timothy J Winter (Cambri...I have studied Islam with Timothy J Winter (Cambridge University) and in Istanbul on an MA program me there. I cannot agree with the positive assessment of Islam expressed by the author of this piece. Islam has always been committed to offensive war in order to expand the boundaries of Islamic rule. This is well documented. Those who do not submit to this rule are killed. The Christians and Jews who did unwillingly submit to Islamic rule in places like Spain, Syria and Turkey (the once Byzantine Empire) were put under a tremendous social pressure so that lots of Christians converted to Islam in order to alleviate these social constraints. Non~Muslims were humiliated when paying the jizyah tax (read All Ghazali on this). As for women in Islam: women do not have social equality with men. Worse is the fact that Islamic society condoned sexual slavery. Even the Sufi All Ghazali mentions that it is permissible to have sex with ones wive or wives and ones "slave captive". According to one academic source most slavery in the Muslim world was for this purpose. Indeed the Sultan in Constantinople had 1000 concubines! Many well known Sufis hasd slave captives who were obliged until sale to satisfy their master. This was all sanctioned by verses from the Qur'an. In short: I can see very little similarity between a religion that condones offensive war, social inequality of men and women, and sex slavery and Quakerism! ~ The author also described Quakerism as _"mystical Christianity"; but I would argue that both Orthodoxy and Catholicism are mystical in their deepest roots. All of the great saints who built these faiths were mystics. Mount Athos is the heart of modern Orthodoxy and its a mystical heart! The Jesus Prayer, etcetera. Most Catholic thinkers regard the Carthusian vocation as the highest and they are pure mystics. I spent some time in a Carthusian monastery and it is a life given over to prayer, asceticism and love of God. Quakerism in my opinion has yet to produce a mystic as pure or profound as Gregory Palamas or St John of the Cross. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3571146151683416940.post-2445085499963724732012-04-05T14:19:32.416-07:002012-04-05T14:19:32.416-07:00An interesting site to have stumbled upon.
I was ...An interesting site to have stumbled upon.<br /><br />I was brought up in a Quaker family, lived in an English Quaker town and went to a Quaker school. Good, impressive people but who ultimately couldn't answer the urgent questions of an 18 year old who wasn't going to take silence for an answer. Quakerism seemed to me like a sanctuary for principled souls who saw nothing they liked in the big wide world out there - of Royalty, Catholicism and Wars etc.<br /><br />In the early 1970s Islam was a natural step for me, fresh from the 60s excesses but still protected somewhat by a Quaker childhood, although the inherited suspicions about holy war, oppression of women, prejudice about Turks and Arabs etc., had to be first laid to rest. Sufism is integrally part of Islamic law and very misunderstood (by Muslims as well). I have met other muslims like myself who came from Quaker families and who have said the same....Islam is the logical next step - it's the completion of true Christianity. A return to the primordial religion.Ian Whitemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16314273346922375917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3571146151683416940.post-49789332975041620302010-12-31T04:45:52.372-08:002010-12-31T04:45:52.372-08:00As a Quaker married to a Sufi I look forward to re...As a Quaker married to a Sufi I look forward to reading your work. Would you be willing to publish some excerpts or share some resources for further inquiry/reflection?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3571146151683416940.post-53082591628817050012010-11-26T12:03:03.951-08:002010-11-26T12:03:03.951-08:00Hi Anthony,
Thanks for the book recommendation. I...Hi Anthony,<br /><br />Thanks for the book recommendation. I'll check it out.<br /><br />I am glad you have met different Muslims than me:-) The ones I knew (who were nice persons) were dedicated to killing.<br /><br />I certainly agree that Christians in history have been intolerant and killers in the name of God. And most of the Christians I know still are for killing:-(<br /><br />But that is not reason for Muslims to kill hundreds of unarmed Christians his last year and with Muslim governmental support.<br /><br />As for Palestine/Israel, I lived there. What all the religious people there need to learn to do is to SHARE. They are all so vindictively self-centered.<br /><br />The place for them to start is for the Israeli government to stop stealing Palestinian land, to even offer back some of the land that they took in 1948.<br />And for the Palestinians to ask forgiveness for all the innocent civilians they've killed in cold blood (not in a battle but in markets, weddings, etc.).<br /><br />Once the two groups start living by basic human caring they wouldn't need weapons.<br /><br />The place for them to start is to ask forgiveness.<br /><br />As for Muslim Spain, the last scholarly book I read on Islamic Spain was critical of the intolerance of the Islamic government. <br /><br />True, Jewish persons had it better there than in Christian Europe, but Muslim Spain wasn't the nice place that so many think it was (at least not according to the last couple of books I read).<br /><br />But I look forward to reading Menocal's book.<br /><br />Thanks for the dialog,<br /><br />DanielDaniel Wilcoxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05178375087492786696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3571146151683416940.post-75435619041512966572010-11-25T22:31:16.458-08:002010-11-25T22:31:16.458-08:00There is nothing that exists, save The Divine One....There is nothing that exists, save The Divine One. There is nothing beside The One.<br />We are all, therefore, within this Oneness.<br />The major religions agree on this. It is in the scriptures. <br />The same message has been delivered, time and again, at different times, in different languages. Please, let us stop arguing about the languages, and heed the message.<br />And let us not heed those who would distort the message to further their own ambitions.<br />Peace, in every language.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3571146151683416940.post-18223259321128503532010-11-25T22:01:38.291-08:002010-11-25T22:01:38.291-08:00Dear Daniel, I cannot condone the behavior you cit...Dear Daniel, I cannot condone the behavior you cite, nor would most Muslims I know. My Muslim friends would be the first to admit that there is deplorable amount of ignorance and bigotry in the Muslim world, but most of it is cultural, not intrinsic to Islam. There was a time when Christians behaved as badly, if not worse, than the Muslims you describe. Look at how the Catholic Church treated Jews and Muslims in Spain during the "reconquista." And look at the withhunts, inquisitions, witchhunts and religous wars. Even today many of those who fight under the American flag see themselves as Crusaders. <br /><br />For a historical view of Islam during its golden age, I recommend Maria Menocal's book "The Ornament of the World" for a look at Muslim Spain as a model of what Islam could be.<br /><br />I know of no Muslims who are committed to war against Jews per se, but many who oppose Zionism and support the legitimate rights of Palestinians. <br /><br />Finally, when troops who are predominantly Christian invade Muslim countries, occupy their lands, and kill and torture many Muslims (with pictures for all to see), it is not surprising that poor, oppressed Muslims would resent Christians and treat them badly. If the United States were occupied by a Muslim army that killed those who opposed the occupation, I'm sure many Christians would retaliate against innocent Muslims. Sadly, that is what happens when empires wage war, or try to keep the peace, Roman style.Anthonyhttp://laquaker.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3571146151683416940.post-11797265801793401412010-11-23T22:26:04.014-08:002010-11-23T22:26:04.014-08:00Hi Anthony,
Thanks for the info on the simillarit...Hi Anthony,<br /><br />Thanks for the info on the simillarities/differences between Sufism and Quakerism.<br /><br />I haven't studied Sufism, but it does seem very different from the Islam of killing.<br /><br />If you remember last time I posted a comment about how I was surprised that you were supportive of the Islamic tradition.<br /><br />You responded by saying Islam is peaceful.<br /><br />Below is an example of why I still disagree. Notice this tragic evil isn't a case of insurgents but of the very government of Islamic Pakistan persecuting and planning to execute a Christian. Very tragic...<br /><br />>>Muslim men working in the nearby fields ran over and began harassing Asia, pressuring her to renounce Christianity. When Asia refused, the men forced themselves into her home where they tortured Asia and her four children. Among other allegations, Asia was accused of denying that Muhammad was a prophet and was sent to prison. She has been condemned to die for her actions. <br /><br />>>Her offense? She is Christian. According to a CNN reporter, “A town cleric in her home town declared Asia’s death sentence as one of the happiest moments of his life.”<br /><br />Any comment?<br /><br />Of all the Muslims I have known, I only knew one who was committed to peacemaking. All of the others were nice, but committed to Islamic war against Jews. And now more and more against Christians.<br /><br />Any response?<br /><br />In the Light of God,<br /><br />DanielDaniel Wilcoxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05178375087492786696noreply@blogger.com