It’s a fact of life! One can’t please everybody all of the time. I am speaking about my various articles. Due to the sometime sensitive nature of these articles and the complexity of the subject, it sometimes takes quite a few words and some examples to clarify certain meanings that the author wants to get across. That is the unfortunate thing about these types of articles.
‘Ideally’, or so certain people say, an article should be around 2,000 words or less. Certainly when one is talking about simple things or on a simple level that does not require multi-tasking that so-called rule is a good rule. These days of hustle and bustle do have a tendency to leave little time for the reader to be challenged in both thinking and reading.
That can translate into someone saying, “Just give me the gist of what you are saying because I have little, precious time on my hands.” In this era of rushing to catch something or other, time is a precious commodity. So, I can agree with those who find most of my articles of 8,000 words and up to be quite challenging – time-wise as well as verbally. My advice would be to print them out and read them like a book – whenever time permits.
Another possible complaint might come from the topics chosen. To me these topics need words and lots of them to clarify the issues. This is so true especially when one is dealing with Comparative Religion and when wanting to deal with a many sided issue.
Our Christian brothers, for example, when they want to show something common in both Islam and Christianity, usually spend 95% for their side and 5% for Islam and consider that fair and balanced! To me that is neither fair nor balanced but that is just me. Furthermore, I like to add a little ‘meat’ to my sandwich as they say and so when I get on a particularly sticky topic, I would prefer if I could make a solid stab at covering it and giving the reader some ‘depth’ to chew on.
The last article about the Non-Crucifixion was only about 7,000 words long and it only scratched the surface. But what a surface it scratched! Reading the book The Non-Crucifixion of Jesus and the article The Crown and the Cross to mention just a few things will put the reader in a greater frame of mind.
Something ‘new’ apparently popped up in my last article in mentioning the ‘rumors, stories, and myths’ belonging to the generic title of ‘Tales of the Ancients’ and I took one of them – the Phoenix Bird example – to develop. However, surprisingly that is not a new topic – at least the connection between what has been related from the possible ancient past and connecting to let us say Jesus the son of Mary (pbh).
I have heard before that paganism and ‘Tales from the Ancients’ are not new. The ‘direct connection’ to let us say Jesus the son of Mary (pbh) would seem like a reach. That is not true and we can get this from the Quran itself! Of course we must be careful of two things:
1. Don’t go beyond the solid ground of the known/most probable.
2. Be careful and very cautious about saying things that could be misconstrued. So be as clear as possible when offering up any suggestion.
The Quranic verse is as follows:
And behold! ALLAH will say: “O Jesus the son of Mary! Did you say unto men, worship me and my mother as gods in derogation of ALLAH?” He will say: “Glory to YOU! Never could I say what I had no right (to say). Had I said such a thing, YOU would have indeed known it. YOU know what is in my heart, yet I know NOT what is in YOUR HEART. For YOU completely know all {things} that are hidden. Q (5: 116)
ALLAH does not forgive (The sin of) joining other gods with HIM {if the person dies while holding strongly to that belief}; but HE forgives whom HE pleases other sins than this; one who joins other gods with ALLAH, has strayed far, far away (from the right Way). Q (4: 116)
This verse, Q (5: 116), may do several things but the one CLEAR THING that it does is to separate the foolishness of man’s folly and false corruptions in the past from the reality that occurred from the birth of Jesus (pbh) to his Ascension and then back to folly and false corruptions again several decades after his Ascension. Hence, it is revealed to us that this is nothing new but rather an oft repeated pattern.
So in truth it could be said that some people deep down inside the vastness of their soul liked the idea of pagan concepts over reality. Perhaps it made their life juicier or more colorful. But in the end they will be answerable for the ‘systems’ that they indulged in and created as opposed to their particular messenger’s wisdom and truth.
If one can recall, there have been around 124,000 prophets sent to mankind. Hence, one can get the picture that the last straw of the pagans trying to protect themselves against their LORD will be to declare, quite foolishly because of the records kept, that they somehow were misled by circumstances. Therefore, Jesus the son of Mary (pbh) according to that warped logic has to share the blame. The reason for this is that supposedly he didn’t make things clear.
That thought is utter nonsense and a blatant lie!
WE did not send an apostle except (to teach) in the language of his (own) people, in order to make (things) CLEAR to them. Now ALLAH leaves straying those whom HE pleases and guides whom HE pleases: and HE is EXAULTED IN POWER, FULL OF WISDOM. Q (14: 4)
When Jesus came with Clear Signs, he said: “Now have I come to you with Wisdom, and in order to make CLEAR to you some of the (points) on which you dispute: therefore fear Allah and obey me. Q (43: 63)
That erroneous type of reasoning of trying to blame the Messiah is flatly denied. Therefore, the good man destined to be the Messiah and all that that entails and along with his admirable mother will be questioned as to their part that they played in disseminating the truth. The correct answers will be given and those who would try to weasel out of the responsibility they so often ignored will be put in despair with no more grasping at straws or hope of avoiding the just consequences to follow – whatever that may entail.
One may wonder why in my last article The Non-Crucifixion in Brief about 6 pages were taken up with discussing two verses from the Old Testament. The idea is a simple one. Every discussion that has at least two sides to the story will show that the major emphasis will be from one’s particular point of reference. For the Christian or Jew it will be what many call the ‘Good Book’ meaning their Bible.
From the Muslim point of view, it will be the same in that the Quran will be their general guide of reference. People have a tendency to stay within their own confines because that is what they are used to even at the cost of being fair and balanced.
In other words, the study of the Quran’s Perfection from the Arab standpoint (history, language, etc.) can be met with a certain sense of, “Sure, you feel about it that way because you’re a Muslim or an Arab.” That is somewhat understandable. However, approaching the perfection of the Quran from a book that is highly respected and upheld by the opposing camp (Jews and Christians) should cause quite a stir!
The ‘stir’ occurs when people want to uphold their holy book but in doing so this now translates into declaring that the Quran is totally Pure and Accurate. That is the case according to those two verses in Zephaniah. So, the premise that all we need to know about the subject of the so-called crucifixion has been justifiably and truthfully answered in the Quran.
According to my book The Non-Crucifixion of Jesus there are other verses in the Quran that meld very well with the non-crucifixion scenario. This was mentioned just to add depth and knowledge to combat the flimflam artists who try to pull a fast one for deception purposes.
In truth, it is not a very big issue but the opposing side made it huge for them – and how appropriate the saying now becomes, “hung from his own petard.” And with this phrase, which means ‘injured by his own machinery he is using to injure others’, is translated by religious speak as ‘one becomes ensnared by the vary snares that one has set down to trap others’.
The result of the ‘crucifixion fantasy/philosophy’ was that it became easier to see a different Jesus – a Jesus that never really existed or a god-man Jesus who is bigger than life itself!!!
And now it became easier and more physically profitable for the church to create a god which, by the way, didn’t hamper their designs on manipulating the masses. And so via the use of politics with the controlling of many countries and armies became easier. When this control waned, the damage had already been done as to the legend being born.
When we go back to the Quran we find the truth of the matter put very tersely and succinctly. That being the case, there is no need any more to debate the issue of the crucifixion of Jesus (pbh) because it just didn’t happen! So why put in about 6 pages to explain these two small verses from the Old Testament instead of just saying that it declares the Quran to be 100% Pure?
The reason is simple. Theoretically, the lengthier the discussion became, the more concrete the examples became. The more concrete the examples the sounder the logic became in opening the doors to understanding. Thus, allowing more factual clarity in the logical connections to Islam and the Quran to be put out in front of the hopefully ‘neutral’ audience.
On the other hand, when someone tries to refute this logic by submitting only a few paragraphs in trying to explain away these two verses from Zephaniah, the attempt will look shallow and disjointed. So now one might be able to say, “Well, this is your book and yet your ‘experts’ can only give a half-hearted and all too brief explanation of which some of it sounds quite nonsensical?”
Many people from Europe and America, just to name a few places, don’t really understand Islam. In fact, they don’t even understand their own religion. However, this being the case, it seems like they are followers NOT OF WHAT IS RIGHT IN THEIR OWN RELIGION BUT WHAT IS JUDGED AS POLITICAL CORRECTNESS.
This means quite simply that they fancy another ‘priest-class’ by following after their hearts desire those who would give them that taste that they long for – politically at least.
Both the Old and New Testaments declare that this is like a dog returning to its own vomit.
First from the Old Testament:
As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly. Proverbs (26: 11)
Next from the New Testament:
For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed {clean} to her wallowing in the mire {filth}. 2Peter (2: 21-22 – a pseudepigraph not written by Peter as many would have you believe but probably written several decades after his death and possibly by his secretary)
By looking at Q (14: 4) together with Q (40: 75) and one of the sayings of Paul found in 2 Thessalonians, we can get a very strong feeling that ALLAH is in TOTAL CHARGE and HE AND HE ALONE KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING FROM ALL THAT CAME FROM BEFORE AND ALL THAT WILL COME AFTER.
According to Paul:
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe in a lie:
That they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 2 Thessalonians (2: 11-12).
“You have met this fate because you rejoiced on the earth in things other than the truth, and then exulted in it.” Q (40:75)
These are strong words but the belief system of the Abrahamic religions was to give the feeling of THE OMNIPOTENT GOD WHO DID NOT BUILD HIS SYSTEMS HAPHAZZARDLY OR FOOLISHLY BUT WITH THE ULTIMATE CARE AND PERFECTION AS BEFITTING A DEVINE BEING THAT HAS NO EQUAL, NO PARTNERS AND NO COMPARISON CAN BE MADE OF HIM AS TO HIS GREATNESS AND MAJESTY.
Furthermore, some may have felt a little queasy about what might be called certain predictions made about events to come to pass. As for myself, I wouldn’t call them predictions but rather look upon them as ‘expectations’. The difference in these two words, ‘predictions’ and ‘expectations’ may be a subtle one but there is to me a big difference.
A prediction can be blurted out without any reference or connective material whereas an expectation is based on some medium like scriptural or hadith material and through the use of various devices can be analyzed to some degree. Several of the devices used are Comparative Religion, Science and just plain commonsense. There are other things to be sure, but the essence lies in the ability to feel or know what is being talked about and then see if there is a possible fit.
Therefore, some of the dire expectations and the round about time periods that were given by this author, for example the possible entrance of the false messiah or Anti-christ, his counterpart Jesus the son of Mary (pbh), and the coming of the Gog and Magog are but some of the examples that were introduced. Notice that by a careful study of the records we find that it is but natural that one follows the other in sequence and timeframe.
Many other things are related to these proceedings but must be diligently studied for one to seek out an understanding as to the nature of the events at hand. This might not set well with others especially if they believe that time is their servant and that when they are graciously ready to ‘move on’, they wouldn’t find it a tragedy that time itself will somehow remember to resume its normal beat.
That feeling of arrogance or misplaced pride is one reason, at least, why a person, peoples, or a nation can be taken down by surprise even when others have premonitions that it will surely and shortly come to pass. Whether one calls it a lack of awareness, a lack of commonsense or a lack God consciousness doesn’t matter. What does matter is where the heart is for that is generally where the so-called awareness is.
Set forth to them the parable of two men: for one of them WE provided two gardens of grapevines and surrounded them with date palms; in between the two WE placed tillage.
Each of those gardens brought forth its produce and failed not in the least therein: in the midst of them WE caused a river to flow.
(Abundant) was the produce this man had: he said to his companion, in the course of mutual argument: “I have more wealth than you and more honor and power in (my following of) men.”
He went into his garden while he wronged himself: He said, “I deem not that this will ever perish,”
“Nor do I deem that the HOUR (OF JUDGMENT) will (ever) come: even if I am brought back to my LORD. I shall surely find (there) something better in exchange.
His companion said to him in the course of the argument with him: “Do you deny HIM WHO created you out of dust, then out of a sperm-drop, then fashioned you into a man?
“But as for my part, ALLAH is my LORD and none shall I associate with my LORD.
“Why didn’t you as you went into your garden say: ‘ALLAH’s WILL (will be done)! There is no power but from ALLAH! If you do see me less than yourself in wealth and sons,
“It may be that my LORD will give me something better than your garden and that HE will send on your garden thunderbolts (by way of reckoning) from heaven, making it (but) slippery sand!
“Or the water of the garden will run off underground so that you will never be able to find it.”
So {after a while} his fruits were encompassed (with ruin) and he remained {besides himself} twisting and turning his hands over what he had spent on his property which had (now) tumbled to pieces to its very foundations and he could only say, “WOE IS ME! {I wish that I} would never have ascribed partners to my LORD and CHERISHER!
Nor had he numbers to help him against ALLAH, nor was he able to deliver himself.
There, the (only) protection comes from ALLAH, the TRUE ONE. HE is the BEST to reward and the BEST to give success. Q (18: 32-44)
This wonderful and instructive parable gives a wealth of information amongst which is that it is not profitable for man to be pompous or arrogant in this life even if he holds a lofty position due to the fact that he may at any time be brought down to the lowest of the low with none to render him help. All (true) help and therefore (true) success comes from ALLAH and this will most definitely be shown in the real life shown in the HEREAFTER.
Has not the time yet come for those who believe that their hearts in all humility should be submissive for the remembrance of Allah and of the Truth which has been revealed (to them) and that they should not become like those to whom was given the Book aforetime but long ages passed over them and their hearts grew hard for many among them are rebellious transgressors. Q (57:16)
