Podcasts about god allah

TRANSCRIPT Gissele: [00:00:00] Gissele: hello and welcome to the Love and Compassion podcast with Gissele. We believe that love and compassion have the power to heal our lives and our world. Don’t forget to like and subscribe for more amazing content. Today we’re talking about extraordinary acts of forgiveness and love. Today’s guest is Abdul Munin. Gissele: Sombat Jitmoud, an educator faith leader and father whose response to unimaginable loss stunned the world in a courtroom in Lexington, Kentucky. After his son was murdered, Dr. Jitmoud publicly forgave the man responsible, embracing him. In choosing mercy over vengeance, what could have been a moment of rage became a living testament to faith, courage, and radical compassion. Gissele: Abdul Munin. Gissele: Sombat Jitmoud, Was featured in the National Geographic documentary, the series, the Story of God with Morgan Freeman. Since then, he has traveled internationally speaking [00:01:00] across faith and cultures about forgiveness, healing, and the transformative power of love in the face of violence. Please join me in welcoming Sombat. Gissele: Hello. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Good morning from Thailand Gissele. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: my make-believe daughter of the century, 21st century. Thank you. Thank God so much, Allah Almighty, to give us a daughter that have been waiting for 75 years. Gissele: thank you so much. Thank you for being on the show and for the incredible message that your act has done. Gissele: I was wondering if you could tell the audience a little bit about the loss of your son and how you came to be in the courtroom that day. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Yes. I like to go back to, when I marry righteous wife, her name Linda. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: her father from Greece and her mother [00:02:00] are from Germany, so she born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. I came from Thailand from further of my higher education and I earned all of my degree, bachelor degree, master degree, EDS degree and doctorate degree in one of the university. I met this young lady, she’s also the minister of the Christian Church and she feel sorry for me for, she said Sombat, you are so nice person. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: And you, talk so much about God because, at that time I was reading the Holy Quran is my friend, because as a foreign student, you don’t have many friend quickly. So the friend I have on my life is I, I read the holy [00:03:00] Quran, the word of God Almighty. And then she said that I feel sorry for you, that you are such a nice person. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: You are very kind and you’re very helpful to me as a college friend. But, I’m sorry to tell you that you will go to hell fire. She said, I said, Linda, why you said that? We just met and become good friend, college friend because you don’t believe in Jesus Christ our Savior. So as a Muslim from Thailand, Buddhist society, I start to share my faith for a few words because we just first met, we just met a few days. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: She said, Linda, actually as a Muslim, I believe in Jesus Christ, but not as God or Son of God. I believe Jesus Christ is one of the great prophet of Allah who came before Muhammad over [00:04:00] five, 500 years. She was stunned that I believe in Jesus Christ. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: After that, we didn’t see each other. for some time she went to the bookstore and start, reading the Holy, holy Book of Islam, quran in English. She, because she tried to find a mistake in holy, to come and convince me that you see, Gissele: yeah, Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: your holy Quran has a lot of mistake. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: But she found none, finally one day, one 19 of Ramadan, actually, she came to us in the mosque near the campus, Truman State campus in northern Missouri. She said that I want to become Muslim. So my friend and I. Invite her and give her shahada that Morgan Freeman love this word shahada. All I [00:05:00] bear witness that no one will of worship except Allah Muhammad and Prophet Muhammad much is the servant and the messenger of Allah. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: If you can see I have this, in the background here. That’s what Ilan, so she became Muslim. So we thank God for that. And then she start to learn more Islam. And then a year later I asked her to marry me. So not marry right away because she is become my sister in faith, but I nurture her along the way. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: She ask question. And of course, I left to pursue my PhD in Indiana. And then sometime we keep on communicating. And finally we met again and I asked her to, to marry [00:06:00] me and with her righteous nature, God give us six son. And Salahudin was number five, who passed away, with a murder case as you introduced. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: And, go back. on the February 15, Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: three o’clock, I was in St. Louis City, to be the principal of biggest Islamic school. In the morning I was sleeping. The phone woke me up, so I grabbed the phone. And the message said that, are you Dr. Jitmoud? I say, yes. your son is dead. I was really shocked. First shock. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: I was this a dream or I has a nightmare. So I pinch myself pin the back of my hand. It’s hurt. I said, oh, I’m still alive. I awoke. So I said The word that the holy [00:07:00] register, Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: the meaning we all belong to Allah, the creator. And until Allah, we all return back to him. I, it is calm as the first shock of the news. Then I said, if this real happened, I said, oh, Sadahudine, my, our dear son, you belong to Allah now. Allah called you back to him. I have to accept this. It is calm me down. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Then I think of what the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessing me upon him do in the situation like this. In his life. We studied the life of mohamad. He, when he have a shock like this, he would pray. He didn’t go to the bar, he didn’t go crazy. He went and to make [00:08:00] abolition. And he start bowed out to Allah. Pray Lady. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: I said, oh, I have to do what Prophet Moham used to do. I went to the bathroom and make Ablution wash up lady, wash myself real good. That’s the most ablution, the hardest one in my life because my mind was, my son is dead, but I have to pray. I have to pray to God. So I finished and start bow down to to Allah almighty, as prophet we used to do. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Then I woke my son, Musa sitting with me right now. Let’s go to the mosque. We need to pray with the community. And we have to take seven hours to Lexington, Kentucky from St. Louis, to prepare for the funeral. And at that time, we didn’t know how he died. What? We learned that he’s dead. can I move on just a little [00:09:00] bit then? Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Of Gissele: course. Yeah. That’s, Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: this how Allah Mercy, his mercy was hidden in my crisis life. Crisis. that’s one, one verse, in Quran appear into me, it was revealed to Prophet Muhammad 1400 years ago. But tonight, it’s like a reveal to me. May I decide in Arabic? Gissele: Okay, of course, Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: this in, surah, in Surah nine. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: And, um, I verse verse number 51, before I move on, I just go like this amazingly, uh. I check the holy gra it, it’s miracle. After that, I said number nine and verse 51. You know what happened in my life? I’m number nine in birth ranking in my family. My mother, my [00:10:00] father in Thailand, in rural Thailand, they have 11 children. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: I happen to be number nine. And in my passport, it just, my birthday was 1951 and this was 51. So I was amazed. I thank God, wow, God reviewed these words. 1400 years ago applied to me in 21st century. So I bowed out to God again. Thank him for like a. Help me to calm myself down at the time of crisis. So that’s what, um, the, the God said that[00:11:00] Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: is really comfort me so much. He said, oh, Muhammad, tell all mankind nothing happened to us by accident. All happened by the decree of Allah. It had been written, has been ordained before. Anything to happen. Let the believer put trust in Allah and Allah is the best of friend and put trust in Allah and Allah. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: The most forgiving, the most merciful, forgiving at the time of shock there was of Allah at the end of verse said the most forgiving. At that [00:12:00] time, I don’t know what, our son died, how he died. There were forgiving and mercy came side by side, like a twin tower. Then we went to the mosque, we pray, and I called the school. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: My principle too, manage the school for me because I have to drive seven hours to Lexington to prepare the funeral. Then I asked the imam if I can say a few would about the death of our son, and then I didn’t know anything. I said, please pray for our son. He was dead last night. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: I have no idea what he, how he die. And then Musa, my son, a man, a good friend of mine, asked him what on my way out to put the shoe on in Islam. You know when you enter the moss, you take the shoe off, put the shell on the shell. So I went ru rushed [00:13:00] going out. This gentleman, he, I will mention his names, alio. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: He asked my son what happened with your brother? And then my son said he, he got. Murder. Why? delivering pizza, very innocent, uh, honest earning. Then he suddenly, he ran after me, Dr. Chimo, congratulation. I said, I just announced you to the community that my son just got killed. We just on our way to, to prepare for funeral possession. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Okay? I’d like to thank you for congratulating me. What for? he said, you are the father of the righteous death of your son. Comfort death. He said, because it fits what God said in Quran and what Prophet Muhammad [00:14:00] said in his teaching. That’s another the comfort Gissele. My dear daughter, Allah comfort me at the time. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: I don’t know what happened yet. So we drove off, to Lexington, Kentucky. Then I communicate with community in Lexington because I was the principal there for seven year. They communicate with me, we body. He said that Dr. Chen will at this time with, the ambulance took him to the Frankfort, the capital of Lexington, for the exam. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: So his body about 50 miles away from Lexington. So, okay. Thank you. And then we keep on driving. So I told my son live in different state. They all met. We gonna meet in Lexington for. So finally we met each other halfway. I said, we have to pass [00:15:00] Frankfurt. Let’s stop by to, to see the doctor where the body of Saudi is there. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: So I stopped by. The doctor asked me, are you the Saudi father? I say, yes. We just came from St. Louis City, my son in the bank. well, can you tell us about s She said, I have been practicing, this is my career over some year. He’s a very noble, doctor, and he start to, swallow, swallow his, saliva, compose himself from crying. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: he is a big man. Crying in front of the stranger is something, but he said, I feel so sorry for your son surrounding. I stop here sunshine. What happened? Because I didn’t know what happened. He said, uh, Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: somebody slit his throat. I said, oh, and then before anything he said this, [00:16:00] you know what? The knife that somebody used to slit your son throat is so sharp. I say, to praise God. I thank God that because Prophet Muhammad peace and blessing say in his teaching, before you slaughter animal, make sure you sharp the knife because when you slaughter the cow or goat and sheep or chicken so that the animal will not feel so much pain. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Then that’s what I say, Aham all praise and thank me to Allah. And he said, and then he followed it how Allah comfort me on this crisis harm. He said. However, your son probably have very few moment of pain because the knife is so sharp. I thank God and all our son in the back [00:17:00] a sigh of relief. This probably the beginning of forgiveness come to play in the role because number one, the man in Saint Louis where you are the father of the righteous son who have a noble death now. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: The doctor gave me all this and then asked, may I see his body? He said no. Um, the body has had been chief back, to Lexington for the Islamic funeral, tradition. I thank God again my daughter, Gissele, because I thought that the body gonna be, in the refrigerator, right? Because a murder case like this probably will exempt, the body cut the body and thing, but in Islam, not, uh, not permit to have anybody cut without [00:18:00] necessary without telling God already. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Tell the doctor that, this is enough for this young man, 22 years old who got killed. So the bodys already in Lexingtons. So we drove off, with comfort and the community in Lexington said, Dr. Jitmoud we cannot pray to Saudin in the mosque. because. Hundred upon, hundred people came to honor Saudin because, uh, people know me after seven year of principal in the, I know the mayor, I know the chief, the police, they all become my good friend during my service of community. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: So people came upon hundred or become thousand, uh, before I even arrive. Gissele: Wow. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: then said, I want you to go to cemetery, because that’s what we are gonna, we gonna pray. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: So I went directly there when I ride the street into the [00:19:00] cemetery was packed. Cannot drive in, so we have to walk in. To get to, to the grave sign when I arrived there. Hundred upon hundred two. Lie of male and female male, one lie, female other lie they want to come to, to comfort me, but I arrived late. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: So I thank them and they were crying. I comfort them and tell them not to cry because this happen happened by the will of Allah. We all believe in Allah, right? They say yes, so don’t cry. And it’s not accident. God ordained this to happen. By the time I look up way, by the main street, I saw eight men carry the coffin of, Saudin I asked the, the guest who visit me, may I, excuse me, I have [00:20:00] to, receive my son. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Usually I. I carry the c oftentimes in, in Thailand and in America, because it is in Islam, it is rewarding to do the good deed of honoring the person who live this world. So when it came close to me, I went to the left side for, to support the coffin. Like this, it flew away. So I ran in the other side to grab on this side. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: It flew away. Again, it remind me of the teaching of Prophet Muhammad, that a righteous person see how Allah comfort me again. And our sons, the righteous person. He will request a. In Arabic. K. Hurry me. Hurry me to the grave. My knee bul [00:21:00] because he don’t care anymore about this world. So at the time I heard, four men in the back complain to the foreman in the front, why you pull so fast, so hard? Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: And the foreman in front said, no, you are the one who pushed so hard. I come to the teaching of prophet moment, the angel, he’ll carry the casket. Gissele: Mm-hmm Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Hurry me, hurry me, hurry me. Finally, I was able to catch up. with the coffin they put down by the grave and the leaders said, open the face from the cloth, the white claw, that cover, because when they have, uh, they wash the body, they have to put, they come to the teaching of Islam, white claw to the whole body, including face. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: So they said [00:22:00] they carefully open the place and after to here, they don’t want me to see the neck that the doctor after to here, oh, Gissele, when I open, when they opened the face, I saw him smiling. a dead person got killed by the sharp knife, but smiling face. And like a happy dead person. So when then I, I saw something dark on his forehead, which is, is about the coin dark spot. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Uh, then I, remind me of the holy ground. God said Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: this dark spot is a mark of prayer. So he’s [00:23:00] 22 years old. His mother, Dr. Linda Jamila, she, she’s a new Muslim for 34 years before she die. She has spot two. She pray so hard because she thank God that, uh, she became Muslim and she has a wonderful. Family and she pray. Thank God the best way to thank God is to pray in Islam. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Now our Saudin has like his mom who passed away a year ago and they love each other. My wife love our six son so much, and then we saw, we found the dark spot Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: prostration and the forehead on the ground. I kiss him the last time I ever kissed my son in this world. I kiss on his dark spot and I said, oh my dear son, I love [00:24:00] you so much. I, I say it to you. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: I love you so much for the sake of Allah, me, Allah is a prayer. Now me, Allah reunite us with your mom and you and all of us in the high is paradise. Oh my son. We meet you soon in Shaah, God willing, then they start closing the cloth over his faith. That’s the last scene I saw of him Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: So the our four son, his big brother and young brother ine, went to the grave to receive his grave site to receive his coffin. And the community also came down to receive. They said that his body is very light. you believe in Angel? my daughter? [00:25:00] Yeah. Christian, Judah. We are these three about Abrahamic faith. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: We have very similar faith and we believe in the angel unseen, but God create the angel. They said as we carry and now we carry him to the resting place. His body was so light Gissele: Mm-hmm. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: So make the people who do the service very, very comfortable that he is a good man. So after of course we pray the imam, of the community. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: I have to mention his name because he my best friend also, he, the Imam who lead our prayer and he the leader community for 30 some years in Lexington. And he used the lesson to, to teach. Hundred of people who came to pray. He said, and he cry. He said, look at this young man. He’s my friend [00:26:00] now. I miss him. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: I pray for him. But this a young man that I adore because I have been the imam and pray the funeral, pray for many years I knew. So people come to honor his departure from this world in the ude of the prayer, and he cry and he will, he say, live yourself in the righteous, life and you’ll face the happy ending of this world, just like this young. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: And he, and then we put the dirt over him. So I stop right here. You just a good listener. Gissele: thank you for sharing that. if I heard you correctly, one of the things that I’ve gotten from your story was that you had received signs along the way of the need for forgiveness and mercy, even before you knew what had happened, and [00:27:00] also that your son had a righteous death. Gissele: is that correct? Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: uh, he is a righteous son. Gissele: Oh, okay. Well, the reason why I mentioned that is because, your son is a hero. He saved a woman’s life, right? Like there was somebody else who was supposed to go on that pizza delivery run who was afraid. is that accurate? Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Oh, yes. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: let me, cross right here. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Okay. all this information came later after after offender opposition. We bur him and everything and pray. Last time, so the community announced that Dr. Jitmoud and his family will be in an Islamic school, Lexington Universal Academy. That’s why I used to be the principal, to receive condolences, please come to the school, after evening prayer. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: So a lot of friends, hundred of them came to condo, me and my son. Then out of that, [00:28:00] a friend from Pizza Hut. Because they know the Saudi father work here So he came, he start, one of them start telling the story with Saudin delivered pizza not his order because he came back. Okay. He has a young brother named Nurodine, calling him at home about 10 o’clock. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Says it’s raining very hard. that night, the young brother said, Baba, is rain so hard? I worry about My brother Saudin So I called him. He answered right away. He said, uh, sa uh, um, it’s almost 10 o’clock. You’re supposed to be home by now. And it’s raining too. When you gonna come home? He said, I’m delivering the last pizza. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Then I will be home soon. So when he deliver little pizza, he went back to Pizza Hut. The young lady pulled [00:29:00] out the order slip and saw the address. That’s her turn, to go. And she said, no, I’m not going to this place. These are section eight. You know, section eight, a housing, complex. I’m not going. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: It’s raining and dangerous. So Saudin just walk in. He said to his coworker, he said, don’t worry, I’m on my way out. my brother just called. I’m gonna stop by and I will come back and give you a tip. tomorrow. So he went, see how Allah ordained that he gonna die. The lady will be safe. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: So the lady allow him to go. And when he went, it’s a fake address. He just look around to look for the receiver. I know, I’m sure, know for sure that he didn’t see who behind him. He’s a big tall man and s above my side. Gissele: [00:30:00] Mm-hmm. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Probably he just lock him and then, finished the job and he took pizza, took Saudine`s purse and, then he even finished the pizza too. He must be very hungry. the murderer. And then that’s what it is, the story that the lady was saved. Now God want us to save the man who killed You want me to, uh, Gissele: uh, yeah, you can, you can keep going on the story for sure if you want to. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Then what happened? next morning, the police team of the police above and detective came to our house. I still in have a house in Lexington. he said that, Dr Jitmoud, we’re gonna take you, to see the crime scene that your son got murdered yesterday. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: I was so happy. So we went, when we went through the Section eight complex, a lot of neighbor [00:31:00] came running is no more rain. Last night was raining, before I forget, Gissele my daughter in Islam. when the righteous soul passed away from this world, the nature will cry. When we, because missing a person who worship a lot day and night, that’s one of the side that will lead to forgiveness because start to evaluate already our son have the righteous soul. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: We so many signs. Then when we arrive to the complex, the police, says, this is the place. And we look at this is the, his body lean on the wall. when we came to investigate all the blood was, wash up a few spot, still there, but pretty much clean now. Can I take a little break on the rain and the blood? Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: So [00:32:00] what happened while during the night, the police knocked on the door off. Iraqi family who just moved in about a month ago on this first floor. And, I need to mention his name because I want God to reward him and his wife, his name sad, and his wife name Amina. When the police knock on the door started open the door, and Amina came along too because he know that, something going on in front of her house because that is, 10 o’clock or plus. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Why police asking her husband about witnessing Amina looked through the door she saw Saudin lean against the wall and has one finger stick up like this. And then he has, he wear a cap at the piece of delivery. [00:33:00] So he said, oh. This man got murdered and his hand got cut off. His finger got cut off except one. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Whoa, poor guy. So she’s know that he’s a Muslim. Yet Now this is God honor Amina to see the finger. You know what has a finger in Islam before you die. If you say with the finger up, as I told Mr. Morgan Freeman, there is no God worthy of worship except Allah. That person will enter paradise. Prophet Muhammad reassure then next miracle happened in front of Armina. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: the wife. Why police talking to her husband? She said that because of the rain, the rain water brought. The [00:34:00] blood to her door because she was the first floor. The blood was so red and clean. On top of that, she smelled perfume from the blood. Not ugly smell, but perfume. This other side of the righteous soul who passed away. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: I was being comfort after we bury him yesterday. I was comfort, so comfort of all the neighbor. The neighbor came crying apart, condolence. Sorry for the loss of your son, all the thing. But this family give me comfort and Gissele: yeah, Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: so let me share with you this. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Two years and seven months later become the story of courtroom that we forgive the man because it’s stack up of righteous deed before death and after death. I share that with [00:35:00] you. Gissele: Yeah. Thank you just one of the things I wanted to touch on is the fundamental teachings of Islam of humanity and love and compassion that are often not emphasized in Muse. Gissele: AndI wanted to for you to talk a little bit about the fundamental beliefs, of Allah in terms of the unity of people, the oneness of people, and how you were able to see the perpetrator as somebody not separate from you. You talk a little bit about that. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Yes, yes. of course, as a Muslim, have to refer to the statement of God, Allah Almighty, himself in the holy Quran first of all, God say that whoever killed one innocent life he killed the whole humanity, then God follow Allah, follow his whole statement. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Whoever saved the life, saved the soul. One [00:36:00] soul, he saved the soul, the whole humanity. This is leading to forgiveness. After Saudin, we call about 15 righteous side. Within, uh, a short time after his death, he said, our son. People witness, we didn’t say it. The people who know us just said, um, Shahied, shahied, shahied. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Shahied means the righteous death, the word Arabic we just said in holy gra and the haddi of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing we are one he said. Then I think to myself, have not informed our son yet because they were angry because he loves Saudin. and people ask me, especially the student ask me, Dr. Jitmoud, is he the one who killed Saudin is your enemy? Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: He said, no. he’s my friend, but he just misguided guy friend. he’s my [00:37:00] nephew. he’s like my son and my nephew, but he have been misguided by satan chatan, okay? Gissele: Mm-hmm. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: And then he asked. You have any enemy? I say, yes. Who? The devil. They said, whoa, the man who killed your son? Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: still you call him nephew? I said, yes. He just like us. Only that because of drug, because of he, he robbed by the misguided guy friend. So all taking drugs and the money ran out. So he and his team plan to kill someone. they didn’t know that they’re gonna kill Saudin. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: They want to kill someone that robbed the money and take Pizza too. Enjoy then. That’s what it is. So all this happened, that’s why I said it not accident, had been ordained by Allah. Allah love Saudin. Allah [00:38:00] want to know that soul to return to him in the righteousness. And another thing, Gissele, my daughter, as at that time in America, Islamic phobia was high hate Islam, afraid of Muslim terrorist, all these thing, God with his wisdom chose our son to show the world that not what Islam being portrayed on media. Gissele: Mm. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Islam forgive. Then I go back to Prophet Muhammad. He was 13 years in Maka. People want to kill him. Then God said, I want you to migrate to Medina and you’ll establish the city Medina so that Islam will be spread. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Islam established in Medina, eight years later, he came back and conquered, maka his [00:39:00] birthplace without a single fight, without a single life being lost. On top of that, he forgave all of those who tried to kill him. Gissele: Mm-hmm. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Who am I? I’m not a prophet, but I should learn from my prophet of Allah. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: I said, son. Allah say this. Can I say the statement that finally change the family, the history of the world Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: I seek refuse with Allah from the shaan said the curse, the Allah God. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: So have to [00:40:00] forgive the one who cause harm to you. Command from God while just and overlook his shortcoming. His shortcoming was drug friend. And Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: an environment that he was raised, not friendly to him. And then God said, don’t you love that? Allah shall forgive you? And Allah is the most forgiving, the most merciful. I told my son this a lifetime opportunity to be forgiven by Allah. No one can go to paradise when you have sin within us. Even one spot of sin you have to go to serve time in this like jail, right? Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: So in next year, you have to go to hell fire for some time to erase the sin. So they all forgive [00:41:00] except the youngest one. Ludin, because he’s the one who received bad news that night. And we have a few minutes already left. Let’s go back to Ludin about, three o’clock. Lexington time was ahead of Sunday time. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: One hour Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: after he called his brother, he wait and he slept on the sofa. he heard somebody knock on the door. he afraid to open right away. So the police, the one who knock on the side, uh, can you open the door? We are the police officer. So he opened the door. Slowly, he saw three police officer it, this resident, he say, yes, I’m his brother. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: And he, I’m waiting for him since 10 o’clock. And he’s not here yet. I dunno what happened with him. He’s 18 years old, so the, uh, Saudi not [00:42:00] coming home anymore. He’s got murdered. We just came to deliver the bad news for you and they left. Poor guy, home alone. Mother passed away. Older brother live far away. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Me musa live in in St. Louis, seven hour drive. So he was really, Gissele: yeah, Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: shocked Yeah. then. When come to the courtroom he didn’t want to forgive. And the police, the chief of police chief will not ask him to stay in the hotel. They prepare everything fine. He said, you have to stay here because tomorrow it’s gonna be hard for him. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: So the morning come, he said, Baba, I want to go, uh, to the courtroom. He said, so we took him with police, one side and one side grab his hand because the murderer just walk in. The last one, everyone waiting for him. He’s [00:43:00] the very, or man, of course, only on his third, every eye poke focus on him. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: He walk in, we look. Then in the process of court testimony, he cry, right? I give the tissue to him and he came, walked to him. I walked halfway. And he grabbed the tissue right away. I grabbed his hand and pulled, and I hug him. Nolin said, Baba right in front of Nolin. Nolin said, Baba. He’s not a monster. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: He’s a human being like him. He’s the misguided guy. So I forgive him right away, Baba. I say all praise and thank you to Allah. I am my family. That is your family. 100%. Forgive the man who murder. That’s what it is. So come back to forgiveness, prophet moment. Forgive the one who tried to murder him [00:44:00] also. So who am I? Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Uh, not to forgive. Seen Aah. Offered opportunity to earn his blessing and mercy to go to paradise in the life he after. Gissele: I just wanted to mention the fact that, you said so many fundamental things. One being that there, there really is no evil. Gissele: Like most people are just misguided. Right? if they really truly understood how interconnected we are, if we really, truly understood that we are all made of the same God source energy, Allah or whatever God they believe in, they would understand that whatever they do impacts them as well. Gissele: We’re so connected. but I think many people have a hard time with forgiveness. I think because of the way they view death. I think many people view death as final and they don’t see it as a return to God. They see it as this is the end, there’s nothing else. Mm-hmm. And so in those circumstances, I think it can be hard to forgive and people’s [00:45:00] fear of death is quite strong Gissele: the fear can be overwhelming. did you have anyone that was. I didn’t really understand your ability to be able to forgive something. So monumentous, as a mother myself who has two children, being away from them, despite my connection to God would be really difficult. Which is why your behavior is so extraordinary. Gissele: and your connection to God is so extraordinary because I think, maybe my listeners might have a hard time saying or understanding the importance of needing to forgive for ourselves. Right. And for each other. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Yeah. Because I’m a very personal person Gissele. So before we move on, I have grandchildren in Canada too. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: I pray now to Allah Almighty God. To, protect you from harm and to, and you. Amen. My [00:46:00] grandchildren and your, of course your son and your family from this trouble world, and I want you to be safe. And so live your life. with safety and security come back. I need to tell you also the teaching of Islam has three choice in term of the first degree murder, like this is mentioned in the holy Quran. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Also, one, if this man were to be seated in the electric chair, it’s okay for my family because life and life or life. Is okay because Islam allowed it. Second one say that the two family can negotiate blood money. Okay. Blood money. Uh, then [00:47:00] Allah and Prophet Muhammad peace and blessing be upon himself. The best is to forgive. Gissele: Mm-hmm. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: So my family chose number three. Forgive because we feel that if the man have to be seat in electric chair with a few moment and die, we gonna feel guilty. We the cause of the man sitting electric air. Right. All in the life sentence in the dark room for forever. Gissele: Mm-hmm. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: So we don’t want to cause that. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: To happen to him. We want to save this young man so that he can live. I told him that when you are in the prison, I want you to bow down to Allah of God Almighty. He’s created to you and he creates Saudin. So I want you to thank God that you able to breathe a few [00:48:00] more years, and I want you to grow up in righteousness. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Prison is a good place for you now to reflect upon your life. And I want you to think positively about your life. And I pray that may God keep your life safe in the prison. Prison is not always safe, right? Mm-hmm. So I pray for him. Yeah. And then I said that I am this age, and the judge. reduced his time from 36 years, through 31 years. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: And I am this age, I don’t know if conceived that long. When I told him before we hug each other in the private room now, I said, if God Allah gave me life longer, I will come to the prison door to with your parents so we [00:49:00] can welcome you to the free world. Okay? Because this last, when you say, wow, I have to go back. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Last January, the year before my family went to Lexington to visit Saudin. So we in communication with his father. Okay, so we contact him that we are gonna visit Saudi. Can you come and meet us? So we invite him to have lunch with us. So he came, his father, and they said, when I come back from Thailand and we gonna go visit your son together in the prison, he was so happy that, and you will talk about his son or you, his, your son. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: I blame nobody but satan the devil. That’s what I blame for. So that’s what in Islam, we choose the best choice for a human being and he have a good chance to live a good life. I say when you come out, be a good [00:50:00] citizen of our land and be productive citizen of the society because time for you to pay back to the community that raise you. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Even though put you in a tough time. Yeah. So this, I don’t know if I answered the question. Gissele: Yeah, you did actually. Um, and you raised some important things in terms of, there’s a lot of trauma and there’s a lot of environmental things that people have been raised with and they carry that trauma and they hurt other people, which is really difficult. Gissele: Do you know how he’s doing in prison? Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Okay. these are often asked question when I travel to give at talk. even his father have a hard time especially during, COVID-19. Father not able to go. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Mm-hmm. And also he had been moved from jail to jail, but, we cause, tight security. Mm-hmm. Because he’s, first degree murderer. But now that’s why when I met him during [00:51:00] invitation for lunchtime with my family in Lexington, he said, I’m able to visit him, but I have to, declare, my identification even as a father, but now able to visit maybe once a month, something like that, or once a week based upon my availability. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: That’s why I said, let’s go together so that we can help comfort your son and make sure that he has hope outside the prison. So this what, we need to tell the world that everyone. In your life being sent by God Almighty. A good person is for you to live and care and be thankful to God. A person who give you hard time is also the test from God. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: That you have to be patient and you have to understand everyone, not alike, but we have to work together. And we have to understand that [00:52:00] if I teach the thousand of students in America, along with our six son, you have if you see somebody not good to you, you pray to God, to guide you for to be righteous and to guide the man. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Woman to become righteous as God, to be good citizen of the world because God create everyone the same God who, create the animal and birds and everything in the universe. So be good to everyone, especially the one that cause you harm. This is the challenge because you pass the test that all pays upon you because life is a test. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Life is journey to the hereafter. And our destination is paradise. In our, in Quran cause it general to And can you say Janna? Gissele: [00:53:00] Janna Gissele: Sah, Allah. Sorry. Because. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: It’s like I pray for you and me to go to this. the highest has seven rank, need the highest rank with the righteous, with the prophets. Okay? So that’s why we pray for the one who harm you with the best of prayer. And the angel will say, may you receive the same, we come back to the angel again Gissele. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Uh, yeah, Gissele: yeah, for sure. May you receive the same. we see right now the world that is so divided, and I know you travel a lot to give messages to people. my listeners are from all over the world, and some people are involved in war. Other people are, in different circumstances and seeing what’s happening.[00:54:00] Gissele: What’s one thing that I think you would like our fellow human beings to know and understand, about your experience and how maybe what things we could do to come closer together to one another instead of be more divisive and more hurtful towards one another? Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Okay. Uh, my daughter Gissele. I have to go back to the words that I mentioned to you earlier in the program. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Yeah. Oh, Mankin. Along create all of you from the single and male and female, Adam and Eve. The purpose is for you to know each other, cooperate with one another in peace and harmony. the best among all of you, mankind that Allah create is the most righteous of you. My righteous wife. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Linda, she live righteous wife, righteous life, and our sonin live righteous life. And that’s why [00:55:00] in the criteria of Allah, the best of you, Allah want everyone, you and me and your two children to grow up in Righteous Way. And the best among you is the one who provides service to others. Right now you are performing, a program, podcast, right? Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: This gonna go to a few viewers and this is a service you are doing for the humanity who will listen to your program. And of course, everyone has, God creates the rationale to think, to evaluate a situation. What good and what not so good. Which one is toxic situation we able to identify? And your program, I hope and pray that people will understand, the usefulness of your program and always think of you in the positive possible [00:56:00] contribution that you from Canada have done to the humanity. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: So we together, and my thinking is that you as my make-believe, daughter have a joy reward from Allah Almighty because you spread good word, not violence, because God want us to be harmony, work together and know people are alike. But you have to overlook. Remember God said, you have to forgive the man who killed your son and overlook his shortcoming because everyone has strength and weakness. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: That’s why as wife and husband, when you look at your wife, look for her strength. And when she has weakness, overlook, don’t emphasize on the weakness because, you forgive her weakness. Okay, but strengthen. Oh, [00:57:00] Charla. Um, my dear darling, you are just a good mother. You’re just a good wife you are. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Cooking is so delicious. All the positive thing. If she didn’t wash the dishes, overlook her. You do too. Because I help my wife wash the dishes too, wash the clothes, do everything because how the Prophet Muhammad will do, be example for us, And of course the c Korean Indian is in Arabic in holy gra, Ana Africa Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: please us Bucket upon bucket of patience when you are a patient and Allah little patient. That’s why we don’t have enough patience. Somebody step on our toe. We just, just Right. We have to. Excuse me. Oh, no problem. Are you okay? [00:58:00] Be gentle, be quiet, be humble In Islam, whoever humble before God, I make you and humble before his. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: His creation. You are his creation and a lot will raise our rank very high because we live up to his test because life is a test right now. A lot test you and me because we are sometime don’t think alike, but we have to respect. You don’t have to agree, but you have to respect a person who you disagree with. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Then in Shaah, God willing, with the help of Allah, the world will be a better place to live. And my grandson, which is behind you, should be a better the world that we left behind. Am I correct? We should establish environment for our grandchildren, great-grandchildren, more than we are within moment right now in Shaah. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: That’s why the war [00:59:00] going on. I pray so much what’s going on in Middle East and how America react to the situation. Pray that, oh, Allah, God, by the please save the world. And, everything within it with your mercy because you are the most forgiving, and the most mercyful. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Oh, Allah, forgive the oppressor and then, and reward the oppressed because you know best in your wisdom. Who is best among your servant, the one who lived the righteous way. the one who live in the righteous life. That’s your criteria to judge who is the best. So we ask your kindness, your mercy, to judge your servant, with the best judgment in your wisdom. Gissele: Thank you for that. your life is a testament of how love can transform, and forgiveness can transform not only the young man who was involved in your son’s murder, but also the [01:00:00] inspiration that other people have gotten from your story and their willingness to forgive and through those actions, thus bringing the world closer together. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: I love you. I love you too. I, I love you for the sake of Allah. May I say in Arabic one more time? I’m sure a lot Arab. Gissele: Yeah, of course. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: My friend. I have a hundred of Arab friend too. Yeah. And I plan on going to, oh, I need to tell you the, I need, I will go to Pilgrimme, after the court case, I went to Maka, performed Pilgrimme by the Kaba, GABA, right? Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: the house of Allah that the Muslim pray every day face this house we pray for, the one who murder Saudin, to be guide, to be safe from all the harm may happen to him. Because, and we ask a lot to accept our [01:01:00] forgiveness. during this, hour, also with conversation. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: You know that I never mention his name. Yeah. Because I have to honor him. Gissele: Yeah. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Because he’s not here to defend himself. Gissele: Yeah. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Okay. So I went to, of course, when I went to gaba, I present his care to Allah. So I mentioned his name, but because the angel would write down the name Gissele: mm-hmm. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: That, oh, Allah, please forgive him. And let him, grow up to be righteous. And we went to harsh this coming harsh season, which is in. May I will go to H again. So I will be praying for him to my righteous wife, Linda, and then, and I will pray for you too. and you are children. Gissele: Thank you.[01:02:00] Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Please, hug them for me Gissele: Well, Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: and convey my love to them for the sake of God. Gissele: Thank you. Same. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Yeah. Gissele: You extend to our family and thank you. thank you so much for sharing your story and your wisdom. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: Thank you. Gissele: and your love and all the work that you do for humanity Gissele: Helping us come closer together. So appreciate it, appreciate you. and thank you for those who tuned into another episode of Love and Compassion podcast, with Gissele Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: I pray that, uh, your program will be further of success in the future endeavor. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: And I pray again that may almighty God, give you a healthy, good long life and stay in this world, to serve God for his pleasure. And may God guide you. Grant you the most happiest life in the life [01:03:00] hereafter And may God look after you, after your family and your friends. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: The friend of your program here, may God also have mercy upon them all and has a happy life and good long life forever. Okay, lemme thanking to you, lemme pray in Arabic to close. Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: We ask God to forgive us in the word that we express you are to may not. Uh, please with each other, may God forgive us and everything. Forgiveness is the greatest gift of charity in Islam. My Islam. And in the, Abdul-Munin Sombat Jitmoud: I know, good life [01:04:00] in Canada and good late morning in Thailand.

On this episode, my guest is Hasan Kerim Güç. Kerim graduated from Istanbul High School in 1992 and from Yildiz Technical University in 1996. Between 1997-2004, he completed his master's degree in Information Systems and Business Administration in Baltimore, USA. He returned to Turkey in 2010. Realizing that the treasure he had been looking for for 14 years was right in his own home, he took the position of Chief Editor at Nefes Publishing House in 2014. Kerim nourishes his business life with Sufi studies and is pursuing a doctoral degree from the Usküdar University Institute for Sufi Studies. He has published four books.Show Notes* Rejecting the American Dream* Anatolian and Sufi Hospitality* Sufis and the Ottomans* Tanri misafiri (“God's guest”)* Togetherness, and the roots of Religion* When we welcome suffering, we make honey out of pain* Submission, servants and the prophet Mohammed* The Conference of the Birds / Stories from the Thirty Birds* Limits to hospitality in the Islamic world* Bereket / Baraka* Rumi's Guest HouseHomework* Kerim Vakfı* Stories from the Thirty Birds* Cemalnur Sargut: A Sufi Life of Love, Suffering, and Divine Union* Cemalnur Sargut Books* Kerim Guc - Instagram* Kyoto University Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies* Ken'an Rifâî Chair of Islamic Studies at Peking University* University of North Carolina (UNC) Ken'an Rifâî Chair in Islamic StudiesTranscriptChris: [00:00:00] Welcome to the End of Tourism podcast, Kerim. Hoș geldiniz.Kerim: Thank you very much for having me.Chris: Yeah, it's my pleasure. Thank you for joining me today. Perhaps you could tell our listeners, where you find yourself and what the world looks like there for you.Kerim: Well, first of all, I'm an immigrant also. I was an immigrant. I lived in the US for a while, and then I came back to to my own country. And things are very different here than there, than it is in US. From the perspective of what I did... I was actually an engineer, and I was working in the IT fields, and I was living the American dream, and then I realized that there was some kind of an emptiness, and this whole thing, and I decided to go back to Turkey and [00:01:00] study Sufism, and since my mother was actually a Sufi teacher. She decided to actually move this whole Sufism into academia. So, she basically established an institute in Istanbul - Üsküdar Istanbul - at the University of Üsküdar. The difference between this institute and the other schools, the people like myself, like engineers, coming from different disciplines, including lawyers and whatnot, they were not able to do their masters or PhDs in Sufism, because in other universities, they require for you to actually have theology backgrounds. But with this new establishment, we were able to educate people from all different disciplines and, [00:02:00] so we basically concentrated on ethics rather than the religion itself.So, a lot of people coming from different areas, especially the white-collar people, living this, like - how do I say that? - it's a world of money and materialism and all kind of that stuff. They're coming to our institute and realizing that money or career is not the only goal for life.And we started to concentrating on things like spirituality more than the materialist world.Chris: Thank you. Well, I'm very much looking forward to exploring these themes with you and a little bit of the work that you do with Kerim Vakfı.Kerim: Sure.Chris: And so for the last season of the podcast, I'm very much interested in focusing on different hospitality traditions and practices from around the [00:03:00] world, as I mentioned to you. And, one of the key themes of the podcast is radical hospitality. Now, the word “radical” comes from Latin and it means “rooted,” or we might even say “local” or “living.”And so. I'm curious if there are any radical hospitality practices that you think are unique to your place, to Istanbul, or to the Sufi community that you might be willing to share with us today?Kerim: Well, Istanbul, actually, is a very metropolitan city. So like the other metropolitan cities, we kind of lost that - what we call the hospitality of Anatolia. Anatolia is basically the Eastern part of Istanbul. And in Istanbul, we have, right now, 25 million people in a very small area. And in older days when the population was smaller, [00:04:00] we were able to show our hospitality, because the Turkish hospitality is very famous, actually. In this area the hospitality is very famous, including the, you know, Greek and Arab hospitality. Usually, it's a little bit different than the western countries.For instance, we welcome people - we used to, and probably still, in the countryside - the people coming from other cities or countries or whatnot. The locals actually helped them out as much as possible. They even invite them to their own houses and let them stay for how long they want to stay. And this was kind of like a regular thing in the old days. It's still going on very much in the eastern side of Turkey, pretty much in the countryside. [00:05:00] But Istanbul, like other cosmopolitan cities, we kinda lost that. You know, neighbourly things. We have a lot of neighbours and we we have always good... we used to have a lot of good relationship with them, but nowadays, again, because of this material world, we kind of lost this hospitality.So from the Sufi point of view, hospitality is very important. It's interesting that you mentioned the “radical.” You were talking about where “radical” come from, but you didn't talk about where “hospitality” comes from. See, there is a relationship between the hospital and the hospitality and the way the Sufis look at things is very much like the illnesses in our body are our guests. So, we don't think that they're bad for you. They're actually [00:06:00] the guests of our house for a time being. So we show them the hospitality as much as we can, and then hopefully we say goodbye to them.Chris: Wow. Wow. That's fascinating. I do know that the term “hospitality,” hospital is part of that, and hospital historically came from these notions of hospitality. I mean, in the western world in, and at least in the Christian world, there's a kind of unauthorized history in which a lot of this hospitality, as you mentioned, that was offered to the stranger, was done by the families or the individual houses or homes within a community. A stranger would come and they would ask for hospitality, ask for food and shelter, and the family would have to decide whether to do that and how to do it. [00:07:00] And then at some point, the institution of the Church kind of stepped in and said, “you know what? You don't have to do this anymore. When the stranger comes to the community, when they show up at your door, just send them to us. Just send them to the church and we'll give them what they need.”And so this did a number of things, but the two most obvious ones, I think, are that the family, the individuals in the family and the community on a grassroots level, slowly ended up losing their ability, their unique kind of familial or personal ability to host the stranger. And at the same time, of course, the church used this as a way to try to convert, the stranger.Kerim: Right.Chris: And so I'm curious if there's anything in that realm that you see in the Islamic world, maybe in the Sufi world... you mentioned that, since the [00:08:00] imposition of modernity and the industrial Revolution in the world, we see less and less possibilities for small-scale, grassroots hospitality between people, in part, because there's so much movement, and of course, because the hospital has its brothers and sisters in the sense of the “hotel” and the “hostel.”Kerim: Absolutely.Chris: So, I'm curious if there's anything like that that comes to mind for you in regards to the Islamic world.Kerim: Well, one thing is about like the Ottomans. The Ottomans, when they were coming from the Anatolia and then started conquering all those places in the Balkan area, Greece and Bulgaria, Hungary and all those places, after they actually conquered, they sent Sufis to those places. And, like in Hungary, there is a person, his name is [00:09:00] Gül Baba, which means “Rose Father.” That's what they call him. He actually has his own tekke (tekke is like a church for Sufis). And this place, it's like a school more, more like a school, but it's a religious school.And in this tekke, he actually finds all those people with needs, and he pretty much helped them out with all those needs. And the people coming from different religions, they actually started liking people like from the Turks' point of view, because the Turks were symbolized by these Sufi movements. And instead of, you know, pushing people to convert or demolishing the churches and rebuilding mosques and stuff. Instead of that, they actually [00:10:00] welcomed people from all over the world, or all over the place, basically, to stay in the tekke, to eat and to get education in the tekke. So this was a great strategy of Ottomans. That's how they actually stayed in Europe for almost like 600 years. So that was very much like, you know, their strategy, I think. And in a good way.Chris: Yeah, you know, in my research I found out that there's still Sufi orders in the Balkans a group called the Bektashi.Kerim: Right.Chris: And of course, with the very little historical understanding that I had, I was very surprised. I had no idea. But of course, when I eventually went to visit the regions that my father is from, I saw churches, synagogues, and mosques, all in the same little neighbourhoods.[00:11:00] So, quite an impressive kind of understanding that the major religions in those places could coexist for so long. And that in the context of someone who grew up in North America, who thought it was the opposite (previously) and such things are so difficult.Kerim: Right. Right.Chris: So, Kerim, a mutual friend of ours has told me, that in the Turkish language, there is a phrase (and excuse my pronunciation). The phrase is tanri misafiri.Kerim: Right.Chris: Which translates into English as something like “God's guest.”Kerim: Right.Chris: Or “the guest sent by God.”Kerim: Right. Right.Chris: And so I'm wondering if you could speak about this phrase, maybe what it means to you and where you think it comes from?Kerim: Well, in Anatolia, it's a very famous phrase. And like I said previously, you know anybody coming from somewhere else, who comes into somebody's [00:12:00] house, is allowed to stay in the house as “the guest of God,” because we believe that God has sent that guest to us and we try to... you know, it's more like making that guest happy means making God happy. So, that's the understanding of older generations.In today's metropolitan areas, I don't think it's possible because of the security problems and everything. But like I said, in the countryside, people are very welcoming when it comes to this, because it is very important that knowing that person is actually coming from God, from Allah, so we have to take care of that person as much as possible to please God, actually.So that's how it is. I still see that in many cities in the [00:13:00] more eastern side of Turkey or south side of Turkey, or even north side of Turkey except in the bigger cities. But in the smaller cities, people are much more welcoming, again because of this specific idiom, actually.Chris: From tanri misafiri?Kerim: Right. Tanri means “God” in our language. In the original Turkish language, it's tanri, and, misafiri means “ the guest.”Chris: Yeah. So beautiful. Thank you for sharing that with us.Kerim: Absolutely.Chris: And so when guests arrive in a home, you know, in English, at least in, in the context of the older traditions, it is said that the guest or the potential guest, the stranger, asks for hospitality. They don't necessarily say “ they ask for food,” which we can imagine that surely they [00:14:00] do. They don't necessarily say that “they ask for shelter” or “accommodation,” which we surely we could imagine they do. But the literature often says they ask for hospitality.And so, when we think of hospitality today, we often think about people sitting around a table eating food together. And so I'm curious if there's a shared understanding among Sufis or at least the community that you live among and in, about the importance of both eating food and eating food together.Kerim: Togetherness is probably one of the most important things in the Islamic religion. Because like even our way of worshiping God - Allah - we try to do that in a union as much as possible. It is very interesting, the words that “religion” comes from.[00:15:00] Re- means “again,” and legion means “union.”So it's almost like “religion” itself means “to recreate the union,” “to reshape the union,” “ to have the union back,” because we have the tendency to be alone. And even you can imagine that in the western countries, in the western world, a lot of people want to be alone.Like, there's a lot of individuals rather than a group of people. And in the eastern world, it's a little bit different. We are more like family-oriented people. We try to do things together. I mean, there are advantages and disadvantages obviously, but there is a difference between them.So, we always had this [notion that] “the more is better,” basically. You know, more people is better. So, we help each other, [00:16:00] we understand each other, we talk about our problems. When we try to solve them, it's easier together. And if there's pain, you know, the pain actually, can be eased with more people, easier, I think, compared to have this pain alone. So, again, we're more family-oriented people.And the Sufi are very much like that. The Sufi always pray together, and they think that it creates a n energy, basically. It produces an energy that basically helps all of them at the same time, in a union.Chris: Hmm hmm. And do you find that sitting down for a meal together also creates that kind of union, or recreates as you were saying?Kerim: I think so. Doing any kind of activities, including eating... eating is basically the most common activity [00:17:00] that we do in our daily life and getting together, to talk about our things together, and discuss things together, all those things - togetherness, when it comes to the idea of togetherness - I think, is beautiful.Chris: Hmm, hmm. Amen. Yeah, I very much agree with that, Kerim.And so, when we think about hospitality, and we think about food, we often imagine big banquet tables and as you said, this sense of togetherness and celebration.But there's also, you know, from what little I've read, there's also this important aspect of the religious life in the Islamic world, and perhaps in the Sufi world as well that points to, maybe not the absence of food, but a different way of being fed, and a different way of feeding that doesn't [00:18:00] include the food we're used to, the kind of material food. And we often refer to this as fasting. And so, there's a beautiful video that you sent me, Kerim, of your mother speaking, and she recalls a phrase in that video from her own mother who said that “when we welcome suffering, we make honey out of pain.”And so, this is a question I very much want to ask you because I've fasted myself quite intensely. I'm curious, what is the honey that comes from fasting? Or, what do you think is the honey that comes from fasting?Kerim: Right? First of all, yeah, fasting is in our religion. So, we basically do that one month in the whole year. It's called Ramadan. In some cases, we actually do that because our Prophet Muhammad, when he [00:19:00] lived, he was fasting every Monday and every Thursday. So it was like a common practice for some of the religious people. And at least we do that one month in the whole year.And obviously, that month is a little bit difficult, you know, because we not only stop eating, we also stopped drinking and all that stuff. In theory, we should not be lying, we should not be telling bad things to other people or gossiping and all that stuff, but usually we do during that time. I mean, in theory, we should not be doing that.So it's like a whole discipline thing - the whole fasting. And at the end of the thirty days, you become a really, really different person. And first of all, one thing that [00:20:00] I feel, is that you understand the people who do not have food. We still have people in the world, unfortunately, in Africa, and all those places, the people, having less access to food as we do, and we feel like, oh yeah we don't actually thank God for all those things that he's giving to us. And this is the time that you start thinking about the reality and start thanking God for actually giving us all that food, twenty-four hours, seven days [a week]. And when you are fasting during that time, you are understanding the feeling of these people, who are like poor and who cannot eat.There are people now, in the social media, we are seeing people, who never had [00:21:00] chocolates in their life. The people living in these countries or in the cities or metropolitan cities, we never think about these things.So, we take these things for granted, and during that time of fasting, you start thinking about these stuff and then you become more thankful, and that's basically honey itself, after the suffering. And I wouldn't say “suffering,” because we don't suffer as much as they do, honestly.And we're just telling our egos, “just stop for a day to do bad things and stop eating,” and all that stuff that ego wants to have. And again, it's at the end of the thirty days, you become a new person because now you have a different mentality. Now, in the other eleven months, you still forget about these things, but [00:22:00] again, it comes through. It's like a cycle.Chris: Yeah. Yeah. I totally agree with you that, you know, gratitude is the honey and...Kerim: Absolutely.Chris: ...I remember the fasting that I did over the course of four years, and I don't know if it was as intense as the fasting that happens during Ramadan, but doing that fasting and trying to feed something other than myself for a time imbued a degree of hospitality and gratitude that I don't think I had ever felt before. And it sticks to me. It sticks to my bones to this day. And it's something that, like you said, I also have to constantly remind myself of those moments when I sit down to eat a meal, because it's so easy to forget.Kerim: Absolutely. Absolutely. And one thing is [00:23:00] basically during that time of fasting, you basically stop feeding your ego, and start feeding your spirit, basically. That's what I think.Chris: That's beautiful. Yeah. I absolutely understand that. Thank you, Kerim.So my next question is around the word “ submission.” So, translated into English, the word “Islam” means “submission.” Now I've read that this word can also be translated to mean “servants of God.” Servants of God.Now in English, the word “servant” can be synonymous with “host.” A servant and a host. Now, there's a book by an author named Mona Siddiqui called Hospitality in Islam. And in that book she writes, it's actually a quote, but she writes,“'What is faith?' The Prophet replied, ‘the giving of [00:24:00] food and the exchange of greetings.' He ends on a most dramatic note saying, “a house which is not entered by guests is not entered by angels.”Kerim: Perfect. Yeah.Chris: And it seems that in this phrase, the Prophet is suggesting that the way we are with guests and strangers has something to do with how we are with the divine, which I think you kind of alluded to a little bit earlier.And so I'm curious, is this something that you've seen in your own days or in those of others that you know? Is hospitality a practice that connects us to the divine?Kerim: Absolutely. Because reaching God, you need to reach people first. To be able to reach God... when I say “reach God,” meaning be in communication with Him, is basically being in a communication [00:25:00] with the people he created. So, to serve the people is basically serving him from the Islamic point of view.So, and that's a hadith that you mentioned in the book. It's a hadith of Prophet Mohammed, like you said. And Prophet Mohammed always... it was a common practice that he was hosting maybe, you know, 10-15 people every night. And he was a poor person, by the way. I mean, he doesn't have much money, much food or anything, but they share. There was a time that... there's a story that somebody, actually, one of his apostles rather, asks him to visit him for a dinner. So he invites him to a dinner.But during his conversation, Prophet Mommed said, “can I bring my friends too?”[00:26:00]And the apostle says, “of course you can bring your friends.” And he brings hundreds of people. Now, the host only have some bread, and maybe a little bit meat, and a little bit rice in the cup.So, he was ashamed because he doesn't have any money, and the Prophet Mohammed is going to bring all those guests together, and he didn't know what to do. But he uses submission, basically.He said, well, if Prophet Mohammed is coming, then something is going to happen. And as he was thinking all those things, Prophet Mohammed puts his hand on top of the rice holder. And every time he was putting rice onto the dishes, the rice never ends, the meat never ends. So he served like 200 people during this invitation and the food never ended.[00:27:00]So he was happy for his submission, basically.Chris: Wow. Beautiful. Thank you, Kerim.Kerim: Of course.Chris: You know, you have this beautiful book - that is still in the mail, unfortunately I haven't got my hands on it yet, but I'm very much looking forward to it - called Stories From the Thirty Birds, which I understand is inspired by The Conference of the Birds, this incredible book from I think the 1300s.And I'm curious if you could tell us a little bit about that book and what, if any inspiration or maybe teachings around hospitality that come from both, The Conference of the Birds and how you've employed it in your book.Kerim: Right. The Conference of the Birds is really a beautiful story of Farid ud-Din Attar who lived in Nishapur, which is in Khorasan, in Iran, today. And he was one of the very famous [00:28:00] Sufis at that time. He was the teacher of Rumi. A lot of people know Rumi. And he wrote this book about birds, millions of birds, who are in the process of going to their king, which is the phoenix (or what we call it simurg). And during that time, during that travel, they go through seven valleys, and in each valley some of the birds get lost, because the valleys actually symbolize things.Like, the first valley is the valley of intention. So, a lot of birds actually don't have the intention to reach their king. The king is basically symbolizing Allah (God), and the birds are symbolizing us very much, and we are getting [00:29:00] lost during the time of life. Like, our intention is basically this world. If our intention is staying in this world, then we stay in this world. And that's the valley of intention.And a lot of birds, like half of them, actually, get lost in this stage.And the second valley is the valley of love. And the birds that get lost in this valley are the ones that actually think the beauty is in this world, rather than they don't see the beauty of God himself. So they see the shadow of that beauty in the world, but they're content with that beauty, and they don't really want to move on.And again, the third valley is the value of wisdom. And the birds that get lost in this valley are the ones who think that knowledge, [00:30:00] in this world, is more important than anything else, and they don't realize the source of the knowledge is actually their king.So on and so forth, they go through the seven valleys and at the end of the seventh valley, only thirty birds remain. And the thirty birds, they're ready to see their king, and they go through this mountain called Qaf, where the  simurg, the phoenix lives (behind the mountain). And it's very difficult to get there, basically. When they get there, they can't find the king over there. They only find a mirror. So, they realize the king is themselves, but more specifically, the union of thirty birds. So simurg - the [00:31:00] phoenix - in Iranian, in Persian means “thirty birds,” actually. Si is “thirty.” “Burg” is “bird,” actually.So from what we understand is, the union of ourselves, what we are seeing, is our reflection, because the king is actually a perfect mirror. But we don't see ourselves, only, we see the union of thirty birds together. So there are birds that we don't think live together. For instance, a hawk doesn't live with a smaller bird together, but in this union, they live together. There in one. And they use whatever advantage they have together. So it's almost like being one and using the characteristics of every single bird [00:32:00] itself.Chris: And I imagine that someone growing up in a culture like that, whether back then or more recently, and hearing this story or hearing it multiple times throughout their life or maybe once a year, that that notion also might arise in the way that they are with others, the way they are with strangers.Kerim: Right.Chris: And so, I have one final question for you, if that's all right?Kerim: Absolutely.Chris: So, before we say farewell I'd like to ask you about Istanbul, and I'd like to ask you about the limits to hospitality. So, last year, on a trip I took to the city I met a friend of a mutual friend of ours, and for a couple of hours we walked around the Karakoy neighbourhood and he spoke to me about how the city has changed quite a bit over the last decade.For many people who grew up in Istanbul, the city [00:33:00] might now appear to be very difficult to live in. He said that the cost of living has skyrocketed. The rents, the rent prices or costs have doubled. And much of this is a combination of tourism and gentrification in the city.Now it seems that many religious traditions speak of the importance of welcoming strangers and offering them hospitality, but they also speak of the limits to such hospitality. In one particular, hadith or saying of the Prophet Mohammed, it is said that “hospitality is for three days. Anything more is charity or sadaqah.”Again, excuse my pronunciation.Kerim: No. That's perfect pronunciation.Chris: And so I'm curious, you mentioned a little bit earlier, in the Sufi community and perhaps in the Islamic communities, there is this notion of togetherness, but also that “more is better.” And so I'm [00:34:00] curious in the context of what's happening in Istanbul and what's happening in many places around the world, do you think there should also be limits to the hospitality that is offered to the guest or stranger?Kerim: Well, of course. I mean, of course we have financial issues here, and it's very difficult for us to actually serve other people as much as we want to. But again, when we are together, even if it's very difficult to live in the city, it's still something, you know?What I see: the rent went up, like you said, so the people try to move into their family houses, the houses there of their families and everything. And in western countries, it's difficult. You usually don't do this kind of stuff, but in our community, it's much easier to do these things. And, you know, the families welcome the children [00:35:00] more than other countries. So that's something I think that's a positive thing.But to the strangers. What do we do for strangers? Obviously, we do as much as possible. We may not be able to serve them as much as we used to, obviously, before this inflation. And we have the highest inflation in the world, or probably the second-highest inflation. So again, it's difficult, and Istanbul became probably one of the most expensive cities in the world. But even that, again, we may not be able to take them to dinner every night, but we serve what we have in the house, like in the Prophet Mohammed's story.Whatever we have, we share. And, we call it bereket, as in Arabic baraka, they call it. Baraka is something [00:36:00] like... we use it for money. It's not “more money.” That's not important. How do I say that? I don't even know how to say it in English, but it's more like “the luck of the money, itself.” Basically, you may be able to buy more stuff with less money based on your luck. That's basically what we call it. Bereket. So the bereket is much more important than the amount of the money or the financial thing. And the bereket always goes up when you share it.Chris: Beautiful. Yeah, I love that. I mean, in English, not to reduce it at all, but in English we say, quality over quantity.”Kerim: Yeah, absolutely.Chris: And you said that, in order to offer hospitality or the hospitality that we would like to offer to our guests, sometimes maybe that means not doing it all the time, [00:37:00] because one simply cannot. Right. It's not possible.Kerim: Right.Chris: But yeah, it's a really beautiful point.Kerim: Rumi is a very important Sufi, probably known by many Americans. Even the world knows him. He wrote a poem, which is about the guests. So, if you don't mind, I'm gonna read that, uh, it's called the Guest House and it goes like:This human life is a guest house. Every dawn, a new visitor arrives.A gladness, a sadness, a pettiness, a flash of insights all come knocking, unannounced.Welcome them all. Make room even if a band of sorrows storms inand clears your rooms of comfort.Still honour every guest.[00:38:00] Perhaps they empty you to prepare you for something brighter.The gloomy thought, the shame, the bitterness,greet them at the door with a smile, and lead them inside.Be thankful for whoever comes, for each is sent as a messenger from the beyond.So that's a poem by Rumi, and I think it pretty much explains the whole hospitality thing.Chris: Yeah, that's a gorgeous, gorgeous poem. I love that. I'll make sure that's up on the End of Tourism website when the episode launches.And so finally, Kerim, uh, I'd like to thank you so very much for being willing to join me today, to be willing to speak in a language that is not your first, or mother tongue, and to share with us some of the beauty that has touched your days. Before we say goodbye, [00:39:00] perhaps you could tell our listeners how they can follow and learn more about Kerim Vakfı, Stories from the 30 Birds, your book, and any other projects you might want them to know about.Kerim: We have a Sufi centre in North Carolina, at the University of North Carolina. We have a centre in China, Beijing University, and another center in Kyoto University in Japan. And my mother's book about the commentary of some Quranic verses is the one. For instance, Yasin is available through Amazon and my book Stories from the 30 Birds is available on Barnes and Noble and all that other places in US.Chris: Beautiful. Well, I'll make sure that those links are all available on the End of Tourism website and on my Substack when the episode comes out. [00:40:00] And on behalf of our listeners, tesekkur, tesekkur.Kerim: I thank you. Get full access to Chris Christou at chrischristou.substack.com/subscribe

 Maybe we want a substitute for what we really want, and can't get it? The Beatles had the answer? All you need is love love love… Most of the desires are fear driven (80% of the thoughts are fear driven because our mind wants to protect us),  then comes greed for goods, money, sex, power, fast food and drugs, and at the end comes success. After Antonie Robbins, the rich people are attached to money and have more fear to lose the money than poor people. A. Robbins thinks that the wealthy people in average are unhappier than the poor people. Because the search for money and power is so vast, that even if the rich people have reached their goals; fast, they build up new goals. The wealthy people think it is not enough, instead of to be happy with what they have. Otherwise, they would never be so prosperous and successful. What is if we have all the money, success, power in the world but not the happiness and love? Alexander The Great was asking Diogenes. Diogenes was a joyful, fulfilled person with no goods, total poor. Diogenes said simple to the most powerful and richest man in the world: Go out of the sun, I like to sunbath. Instantly Alexander did so, and then Diogenes said this great quote: “ Everybody is dying in the middle of his journey.” How is it, if we take the time to come home inside of ourselves and let the craving go, instead of running behind worldly things our whole life. How is it to enjoy what we are doing at this moment?We can find inner peace/calmness of our mind, bliss, love, and happiness inside of ourselves, without the worldly substitutes. This doesn't mean, that we can not fulfill our human desires.The King Akbar Khan from India also had everything, and his focus was on God/Allah, he was also a spiritual master. It is a misconception that the religions are against worldly desires. We can have the best from both worlds (spiritual and material world) when we are focused on God. My Video: Why do we always want more?  Maybe we want a substitute for what we really want, and can't get it? The Beatles had the answer? All you need is love love love… Most of the desires are fear driven (80% of the thoughts are fear driven because our mind wants to protect us),  then comes greed for goods, money, sex, power, fast food and drugs, and at the end comes success. After Antonie Robbins, the rich people are attached to money and have more fear to lose the money than poor people. A. Robbins thinks that the wealthy people in average are unhappier than the poor people. Because the search for money and power is so vast, that even if the rich people have reached their goals; fast, they build up new goals. The wealthy people think it is not enough, instead of to be happy what they have. Otherwise, they would never be so prosperous and successful. What is if we have all the money, success, power in the world but not the happiness and love? Alexander The Great was asking Diogenes. Diogenes was a joyful, fulfilled person with no goods, total poor. Diogenes said simple to the most powerful and richest man in the world: Go out of the sun, I like to sunbath. Instantly Alexander did so, and then Diogenes said this great quote: “ Everybody is dying in the middle of his journey.” How is it, if we take the time to come home inside of ourselves and let the craving go, instead of running behind worldly things our whole life. How is it to enjoy what we are doing at this moment?We can find inner peace/calmness of our mind, bliss, love, and happiness inside of ourselves, without the worldly substitutes. This doesn't mean, that we can not fulfill our human desires.The King Akbar Khan from India also had everything, and his focus was on God/Allah, he was also a spiritual master. It is a misconception that the religions are against worldly desires. We can have the best from both worlds (spiritual and material world) when we are focused on God. My Video: Why do we always want more?  https://youtu.be/vP5DiYw9nXMMy Audio on Podcast: RELAX WITH MEDITATION or see link in the end.   My Audio: Maybe we want a substitute for what we really want, and can't get it? The Beatles had the answer? All you need is love love love… Most of the desires are fear driven (80% of the thoughts are fear driven because our mind wants to protect us),  then comes greed for goods, money, sex, power, fast food and drugs, and at the end comes success. After Antonie Robbins, the rich people are attached to money and have more fear to lose the money than poor people. A. Robbins thinks that the wealthy people in average are unhappier than the poor people. Because the search for money and power is so vast, that even if the rich people have reached their goals; fast, they build up new goals. The wealthy people think it is not enough, instead of to be happy what they have. Otherwise, they would never be so prosperous and successful. What is if we have all the money, success, power in the world but not the happiness and love? Alexander The Great was asking Diogenes. Diogenes was a joyful, fulfilled person with no goods, total poor. Diogenes said simple to the most powerful and richest man in the world: Go out of the sun, I like to sunbath. Instantly Alexander did so, and then Diogenes said this great quote: “ Everybody is dying in the middle of his journey.” How is it, if we take the time to come home inside of ourselves and let the craving go, instead of running behind worldly things our whole life. How is it to enjoy what we are doing at this moment?We can find inner peace/calmness of our mind, bliss, love, and happiness inside of ourselves, without the worldly substitutes. This doesn't mean, that we can not fulfill our human desires.The King Akbar Khan from India also had everything, and his focus was on God/Allah, he was also a spiritual master. It is a misconception that the religions are against worldly desires. We can have the best from both worlds (spiritual and material world) when we are focused on God. My Video: Why do we always want more?  https://youtu.be/vP5DiYw9nXMMy Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast.B/Why-do-we-always-want-more.mp3  

TheAudioQuran.com The Audio Quran: A Cinematic Experience Audible Audiobook – Unabridged Abdullah Yusuf Ali - translator (Author), David Williamson - adaptator (Author), David Williamson (Narrator), & 5 more 4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars (3,117) “Hear the Quran like a movie!” A Groundbreaking Cinematic Audiobook Experience AudioIlm proudly presents the first-ever fully dramatized audiobook of Islam's holiest scripture: the Quran, brought to life with cinematic storytelling and immersive sound. Produced in Dolby Atmos by multi-award-nominated sound designer Gene Williams, this groundbreaking experience combines: A cast of 55 Hollywood actors and voice artists Over 1,000 meticulously designed sound effects Custom immersive soundscapes for every location Cinematic, vocal-free nasheed music (featuring composers Ilyas Mao and Shahria Pathan) 360° Dolby sound design for headphones and speakers Featured Performers Include: Adam Lee Seitz (Emmy award-winner) as Zakariyya Mohamed Sameh (SOVAS award-winner) as Salih Brian Flaccus (award-winning filmmaker) as Abraham Sam Benjamin (Peaky Blinders) as Jesus Frank Gerrish (Criminal Minds) as Jacob Phil Miler (Brazil's top voice actor) as Dhul Qarnayn Paul Williams (Blogging Theology) as Luqman Ali Gohar as Moses, Ray Jericho as Noah, David Soltani as David, Michael McKeeman as Pharaoh, and many more! The Quran, recited daily by over 2 billion Muslims, is the final divine revelation sent by God (Allah) to mankind, conveyed over 23 years to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) through the Angel Gabriel. It speaks directly in the first person as the verbatim word of God, addressing: The nature of God and His attributes The purpose and moral responsibilities of humankind Stories of prophets, miracles, and past civilizations The creed and laws of Islam A confirmation of earlier scriptures such as the Bible and Torah This audiobook uses the Abdullah Yusuf Ali translation, one of the most enduring and widely read English renderings of the Quran, praised for its poetic fidelity and scholarly depth. Experience the Quran like never before. Every story. Every miracle. Every verse–as if you were there. From Executive Producer, Narrator, and Director David Williamson Also featuring Elias Siegelman, Dinesh Alvis, Josh Wells, Finian Schwartz, Alan Gabay, Nick DeMatteo, William Turbett, Zuri Washington, Dina Zhanybekova, Tina Marie Serra, Shane Montgomery, Mohammed Mufti, Jim D. Johnston, Dennis Rowley, Adam Clark, Amber Faith, Laura Mirsky, Alaeddine Madani, Danish Farooqui, Cliff Hanich, Jerry Beharry, Noor Hamdi, Art Dent, Richard Dugan, Yasmeen Ansari-Roberts, Fatima Maymoon, Michael McKeeman, Ibrahim Salah, Barbara Scolaro, Elizabeth Williamson, Aladdin Lakkaichi, Ayman Samman, Abdullah Baig, Yasin Siddiqui, Mohanad Ghonim, Mohammed Asfour, Uzair Bilal, Mouctar Diarra, Mutasem Aljariri, Mohamad Ghonim, Shayan Shivji, Mostafa Afr, and Ayman Alwaqzah

Send us a textSo Who Is This God/Allah Guy/Gal? shaykh ibrahim ansariQ:  I've read a lot of Sufi books, been to Zikr, watched a lot of YouTube videos, and even been to the Mosque a couple times. I love Rumi and the Turning. But I don't have a clue how to put it all together, I mean, I'm not even sure what I am feeling. I've tried Zikr and meditating…So where is this Guy or Lady God? Who is Allah?Q: I have put a lot of time and energy into calling on Allah, the Turning, and the Sohbets (spiritual discussions) are fun and supportive and enjoyable. The chanting, the drumming, the discussions all feel real and maybe just a bit cultish. But what's supposed to happen? When do the ‘mystical experiences' happen?A: First, let's put aside the idea of gender. There is no old man with a beard, or goddess waving her wand. This has nothing to do with a single entity or being. If we use the word He, it is just a symbol for something so vast yet intimate. Allah is greater than you can imagine, yet accessible.If you follow anything scientifically to its source, you will discover that everything is connected to everything. That is the physical truth. If I was to start linking, say, taking your next breath, some of its source is from the oxygen exhaled from your house plants, and some may be from trees near by a river. That river is connected to the water cycle, and the plants are connected to the chlorophyl cycle, all grown from recycled soil, animals, rocks and weather. Every little thing, alive or inanimate, has its source. Tracking that source will bring you eventually back around again. It has no end.Or, every complex atom on this planet came from stars colliding, and smashing the simple hydrogen and helium atoms to create our amazing Periodic Table of Elements. This also includes the stuff that makes you. Now, that is just the physical manifestation. Next we might look for a spiritual marker - for example, survival. All life has this energy and built-in desire to survive: to live. The Life Force. But where did it start? Whether you look at it physically or spiritually, you end up with the same mystery: we do not know. So, what if we were to say that life was Willed into being out of Love? That a loving intelligence weaves and connects all living and non-living things, and the purpose of this life is to love, be loved, and make more love? Maybe we could even add in: To learn, to Grow, to appreciate and enjoy creation.I believe that every one of us is born with a spiritual intelligence, a desire to feel connected to life and love. There are a few  circumstances that get in the way of this connection, one is when someone is afraid or hurt by love, or thinks they are more intelligent than they actually are, and imagining that they are independent. No one is totally independent. Sometimes rejecting spirituality is politically correct and the cool thing to do.Many have also been abused by those who practice one of the traditional religions, where the core of the teachings has been lost, and one is forced to believe in a deity of fear. The religiouSalaam Alaykum, murids, seekers, curious and interested listeners,We appreciate you, and are happy to share our Sufi Message. Your donation will help support our Sufi Centre in Sydney where we offer Zikr, Sohbet, spiritual counselling and healing services. We believe the message should be free, but it costs equipment, rental, services, software and hardware to get this to you. Thank you for choosing our podcast amongst all the millions available. If Support the showPlease send your questions to: shaykhibrahim@ansarisufiorder.org

 All Religions are telling us that we should omit a passionate, sexual love.Because when we are passionate we lose our calmness and can't find peace in our mind. When we live our passions, and the greatest passion is love, we lose our fears and in the end, we will find peace in our mind.If we don't live our passions, we suppress our fears and many years later the suppressed fears will cripple our life. And that result we can see in the old people. Most of the old people want to dictate our life that we should not live a passionate sexual love. Because they didn't have lived it either; cannot live it anymore; and they are jealous of the young people.In the famous novel “Siddharta” written by Herman Hesse, is a guy who had the longing to find the truth and renounced his worldly life. Siddharta could understand that renunciation will not lead to anything. Afterward, he was engaged in a passionate worldly life and when he was fed up with the worldly life he renunciate again. Again, he was drawn in a worldly life and finally he found the truth… I lived a similar life, was a devotee of Bhagwan; I found God in a tantric love and then I was 12 years in meditation retreats with celibacy… And now, I live both…The famous Sufi book: “Conference of the birds” written by Attar wants both: to renunciate the world and to live a passionate sexual life. Why? Attar was one of the greatest Sufis … he could understand that the greatest renunciation is to love a woman. For that, we should be well trained in the renunciation of the world. Otherwise, our love will be shallow and not so deep that we can discover God/Allah in our love. If you are 90 years old, do you think that you will regret that you could not live a passionate love? With 90 years you can't live that love anymore. Why not take your chance now, live your passionate sexual love and don't be afraid of the suffering…. In the end, you have done well. My Video: Why is passionate love stupid? https://youtu.be/jrh_NDJwu58My Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast.B/Why-is-passionate-love-stupid.mp3

 If I know deep inside that I can do it, without that I can logically prove it … I believe. And that might be for other people fanaticism.So deeper my belief for a positive outcome so better.What is if I believe the doctor is right that I have for instance terminal cancer?Then this belief will kill me. For instance, the doctors found out that the father in law from Antonie Robbins had a terminal brain tumor and would die soon. A. Robbins forbade the doctors to tell his father in law anything about his tumor. And so his father in law lived happily for years… After some years, a doctor told his father in law, he has a terminal brain tumor, the father in law died within 14 days. In this case, the father had the fanaticism to believe in the doctors and so he died. I had at least 6 times incurable diseases,- cured them all by myself. I was two times killed by doctors (clinical dad)… If I believe that every disease can be cured with the help of God, regardless what any stupid doctor is telling me, the disease can be healed. We need a good concept (how to cure our disease) in that we believe and with the faith in God we can cure every disease. A belief is always positive and a fanaticism is always negative. We need to believe in God and without demanding anything. So that God can choose (he will do it in any case).If we fanatic believe in God/Allah and sacrifice our life for the sake of a Religion leader we harm us, the believer in God, the society, and our family.  This never will work out. Fanaticism has always a negative outcome!What is if we believe in God; - that God knows it better for us and should decide for us. Through this belief in God, we get peace in our mind and don't demand things we could not get, even we have done everything. Because we can't calculate any outcome. We depend on so many things, that we even can fail in any way. Still, we are thankful for any outcome. Because everything is in the hands of God. And God knows it better. Through that, we gain trust and faith in God and can live a positive life. Even more, after some time we experience miracles because of our faith in God. And that discriminates a God believer from the rest of the world. Deep Faith in God is priceless and I think there exists nothing better. Fanaticism has never a positive outcome. And still, everybody has such fanaticism inside of us, that harms us.  Discover your negative beliefs or fanaticism that are inside of you.My Video: Is Belief = Fanaticism? https://youtu.be/ji_C9AiXttgMy Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast.B/Is-Belief-Fanaticism.mp3

 For sure not, if we compare how much time we lose on our smartphone, tablet or PC...If we want to gain faith in God or even better to connect to God, we have to do much more. Without surrendering to God, we can't achieve that.For instance, I have decided for myself to live a religious life, this means, to be honest, to care for people and to surrender my life to God. On the other hand, the great religious leaders have total failed, remember the sex scandals from the Catholic Church...The pastors sexual abused the kids and no punishment so that 50% of the American Catholics left the church...(Pope Benedict resigned because he was facing criminal charges by the People's Common Law for crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Vatican church. Slaughter of innocent Native children in Canada, poisoning of populations, human trafficking, child torture, and many more things.) For the Dalai Lama, everything is good,… Chögyam Trungpa for instance, the famous Meditation Master, died from liver cirrhoses because of his alcohol consume!!! Wealthy families are buying a Lama title for their first child; Rinpoches (high religious leaders) procreate secretly or openly their own kids, and for sure their children are Rinpoches, or you can buy this title… Today after a 6-week meditation course you can teach meditation… I can't understand that the monks eat animals, beat children who like to become monks; and at the same time saying, they have compassion for every being. The sex and corruption scandals of the Thai monks are normal. The Hindu Guru sex and corruption scandals are devastating, read the books: “Holly Hell” (over Mata Amritananda Mai Devi)  or “Cartwheels in a Sari” (over Sri Chinmoy). India is the biggest slaughterhouse in the world. And even for the Indian Hindus, it is forbidden to eat and kill animals. For the Muslim in the Turkey, it is recently allowed to marry girls under 16 and to have sex with them and why death penalty for girls who had approached a man in Iran without sex...? The German's young girls are afraid to go alone out, because of the Syrian refugees in Germany who are raping them. For the Muslim men in worse Muslim Countries, women/girls have no rights, no soul...Why are the religious leaders against SEX, even they have SEX secretly and abuse us when we enjoy SEX? SEX has nothing to do with GOD, Religion!!!! The basic fundamentals of any Religion are, to be honest, to care for the divine/God/Allah and to care for the people. If we see the whole picture:With all these abusing of God, Religion, Sex (double moral). Enjoying brutal, rude movies. Making wars just out of fun. Printing money like crazy…  What can we expect for our future? Do you really think that God will help and protect us under these circumstances? If God would have created a perfect world, who would think any more of God. (Attar)?My video: Are 5 times praying enough? https://youtu.be/CgPfS0_ub1kMy Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast.A/Is-5-times-praying-enough.mp3

 Bob Proctor said I have developed a good intuition after I decide… And so everybody can or better should do. I like to explain here, how to decide with our intuition through the pendulum method, intuitive using a book, Tarot, I-Ging, throwing a coin, and how to connect with our intuition through the Magic Mirror method. Throw a coin and ask God/Allah/ yourself/ inner child what you should doAsk the I-Ging …Ask a tarot card…Ask a book, like the Bible, and then open the book on a random page. Swing a pendulum. The pendulum can swing: up and down, left to right; circle left turn, and circle right turn. We define the different movements for these decisions:       a. I don't want to decide now.      b. Yes.      c. No.      d. I don't know.   In a calm place. This means we ask the pendulum: What is for instance: “yes” and then we see in which direction is the pendulum swinging… this we make with all the other different decisions (a, b, c, d). Have we found the movements for all decisions, then we can start to ask our question!The Magic Mirror: We calm down, get in a relaxed meditative space. We imagine that we are traveling faster like the light to a different planet. From this planet, we can see a half year or one year in advance what happened to us in the future. Then we look in a mirror and ask yourself on the other planet in this mirror: What we should do,… what is the best? We wait calm and relaxed for the answer inside of us. We let the answer come without judging and interfering. My video: How to develop intuition?  https://youtu.be/pK64MErikD0My Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast.A/How-to-develop-intuition..mp3

 Time only exists in our mind!!!Everything happens now… We can only be in the now.Nothing is there to come and nothing past. But an eternal now does always last. Abraham Cowley.This is exactly how it is, in our mind exist past and future; in reality, it doesn't exist. Time has only a relative existence! Carlyle When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, you think it is only a minute. When you sit on a hot stove for a minute, you think it is two hours.Time is relative and so not real…. Albert Einstein For instance when we dream, we think that we have dreamed for hours, in reality, we have dreamed only for seconds. If we live in our mind, we are missing that moment that happens now… And so we lose our life. If we are living entirely in the here and now, then we are relaxed, or we are in the flow…there is no space for thinking… There is no time, only this moment nothing more … Life starts to become beautiful. And for that is Meditation. Meditation is connecting with the divine/God/Allah, the mind is calming down without forcing/pushing, and then we are in the here and now...If we are in the flow, then only this moment is crucial for us. What is to be in the flow?  If we are relaxed and concentrate on what we are doing… Our doing will happen by itself…. The Chinese Proverb: Wu Wei: To do without doing, … Explains the flow.For instance, 80% of the complicated surgery is happening in the movement for the whole team! All great artists like the musicians, painters are in the flow when they create, the same goes for sport…. For instance when I was skiing a very difficult ski piste at high speed… I had to be in the flow, - one thought or fear could cause that I would fall (no time for thinking.If we are total emerged in the flow, like my example with skiing … Then we are in the here and now,- we are timeless. Or when I write this blog, I am in the flow, I let the words come, without thinking or forcing.  For what is then time?To measure a movement. If we relax and think more slowly… The time slows down…And that is wonderful, to become timeless…  We have just to go out of our head… To become timeless, to enjoy this moment. What is the most precious moment in our life?Now!!!My video: There exists no time https://youtu.be/bsZTSpGQJ4MMy Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast.A/There-exist-no-time..mp3

 First I want to provoke you… and then we find together the solution. For stupid people? For cowards? For what…?  To cheat the people with the divine incarnation in order to make money? For making huge money?It is sad to say that all world religion had cheated the people, squeezed them out, killed even people in the name of God/Allah and to the same time we hear that God is love, compassion, forgiveness, …. If I see the today divine incarnations…. Then I remember, what my first Guru Osho/Bhagwan said on 100 Saints comes one real one, all the others are fakes… The Sufis are saying 1 real Dervish/Sufi comes on 1000 pseudos Dervishes/Sufis. That is the reason why the people have lost their faith in God!The Srimat Bhagavatam has even forecasted this 2500years ago for this Kaliyuga. That there would be no real Sannyasin anymore, that even the Brahman cast would eat meat and drink alcohol drinks… That the holy cow would be slaughtered in India (Today India is the biggest meet producer in the world, Shame over it!!!)… That the Faith in God will disappear …  At least we can belief in the forecast of the Srimat Bhagavatam, who forecasted also Buddha….What is if we simple let go of these so holly people who are mostly not honest… Then there would be still God, who is not responsible for cheating, killing, in the name of God!!!! I write later over it more.On the other hand, a real Guru can give us the connection to the divine, the kundalini, the initiation in meditation, a satory, heal us and to change our life for the better.Now I want come back to our Question: For what we need religion?To find inner peace, happiness, love, wisdom, confidence and to gain faith in ourselves, in the world…! Through running behind worldly things we can't find inner peace. What is if we learn to meditate and so to relax even in the difficult times, is this not enough? If we can relax even in our difficult times, this is much more, than mostly of all religious people can gain in their life! On the other hand, if we learn religious teaching and spiritual techniques, than we can learn much faster meditation and even we will gain bliss, inner love and inner happiness through meditation. Without religion, we can't understand our life, our world, and we can't connect to the Divine/God. So that it is priceless to gain meditation with religion. Still we need to understand ourselves, this means to understand our psychology, how we act, why we act, how we can change our belief system, subconscious … I think that psychology is very important to gain what we want, … Without understanding ourselves, every step in a new direction of our life is much more difficult. This means we need Meditation, Religion and Psychology to live a happy life. My Video For what we need religion? https://youtu.be/eY_ngpzTrmMMy Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast.A/For-what-we-need-religion.mp3

 If we want to change our lives, then first we have to change ourselves. If we think, it is enough to do everything to reach our goal… This will not work out because inside we have to change. For instance, if we see all these Lottery winners,… after 5 years over 90% are even broken more than before they won the Lottery. Or T. Harv Eker, Antonie Robbins got very fast wealthy and had been poor after a short time again. And then they understood:You have first to be it (inside) before you can become/accomplish it (Goethe).Everybody is deciding after his belief system, and our belief system was mainly created in the first 9 years (95%). For sure it will not fit into our today environment anymore, so we have to change it. We change first our perception and so our belief system. The fastest way is, that we continuously question us, to change ourselves in the direction we want. Self-critic is the first step for improvement (Bible).This means that we are looking for the mistake inside of ourselves, why we can't get what we want… And the approach to look for the errors in the world, why we do not get what we want, will not work. For sure we will always find the mistakes in the world… Jesus said: You are blind to your own errors and you will find the mistakes always in other people… And this we can use for ourselves.-How is it, if we would ask our friends, relatives, enemies for telling us our mistakes, that we can't see by ourselves? It is much easier than to find our mistakes by ourselves! Be open for critic and don't push it away!!! We are not perfect so we can learn from the critic.On the spiritual, religion and psychology scene it looks much worse, that the people are pushing away negative people, critic… If I attract negative people, then I know, that I have attracted them, because I have negativity inside of myself!!!! Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan said so nice until I didn't realize that everything that I see,- I am by myself; I could not become enlightenment!!!  Very short expressed said Krishnamurti: You are the world! What you see that you are!!!If we want to have the grace of God/Allah, we have to become humble (Allah don't like proud people). If we feel better than other people, remember what I have written before, or the Tibetan quote: Everything is divine, but not our EGO!!! A religious person is looking for the mistakes inside of himself. Srimad Bhagavatam: The worst sin is faultfinding…. I hope I have convinced you… Otherwise: Our own sins we see first at other people (Goethe).  My video: Question yourself!  https://youtu.be/ZyoGRMRGwwMMy Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast.A/Question-yourself.mp3

 Looks really masochistic.... For sure the meanings is not that we are looking for suffering or hardship...  The meaning is rather more that we learn to appreciate our difficulties and to be thankful for that, instead to blemish our circumstances or people, be it our spouse or chief...The Sufis are saying build your enemies a throne... because we profit from them at most and not from our friends who confirm our personality instead to challenge us to become better...If we see the hardships as learning opportunity instead of complaining or fighting against our hardship, we profit from every hardship... After we had realized that our attitude was wrong or that we have been wrong or that we have to adapt to the situation and that not necessary our world (how we conceive) was right.... our personality changes...and so us or our world. We become open for new opportunities, start a new life...The greatest opportunities in our life are during our worst suffering/hardships, where we can connect with God/Allah and in good times we never can do so. Maybe you understand the story from Hiob (Bible), where Hiob got all the hardships from the devil to get tested from the Lord... And so it was/will be with every god seeker, Bhakti Yogi or Sufi.... we go through the tests of the Lord and our life will be transformed, when we fix our mind and heart on the Lord. I got so many tests from the Lord, and the last big test was, when I was laying in the hospital, my entire body was paralyzed, the doctors could not help me... I just repeated the name of the Lord (this time it was Allah) and gave thank you to God...And then I imagine that I can do it by myself- to walk out of the hospital,..... so I did after 7 hours... Would you have more faith in God if this had happened to you?My video: The worst times are the best! https://youtu.be/5gsXfyrXpWYMy Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast.A/The-worst-times-are-the-best.mp3

 We can not blame God/Allah for any disaster or bad luck… Because we are responsible for our life. There was a Guru who was teaching faith… His disciples went into the jungle to collect wood, and then a wild elephant troop was encountered them. One disciple didn't run away, instead were facing the wild elephants. The other disciples were calling him: Go! But he didn't move…  The elephants run over him… After he recovered, the Guru asked him, why you didn't run away? He said only I had faith in God. Could you not hear God shouting: Go, through the mouths of the others?If we are open, then we see, hear, recognize the warning for a disaster quite before it happened.  I had warned the people for the nature catastrophes/ stock market crashes, nobody believed me as usual, … I said 2005, we are running in nature catastrophic cycle (every 650 years) and the stock exchange crash cycle (every 50 years, and every 10 years) … This means, the world has his cycles/mechanics, and they run without that God interferes.If we are open to our intuition, then we get the warnings. For the religious people like Bob Proctor, is the intuition the answer of God.For what we need than God?People who were challenging big catastrophes with all the nightmares/traumas could recover much faster if they had a positive belief… (After a research from Hurricane Katharina) A positive belief is, that you give  “thank you” to God that you had survived, still alive… Enough to eat… A negative belief is, for instance, that you think, God want to punish you… or the people for their sins… Or the devil had done it… With a positive belief we go much easier through our life, we know that we don't have anything under our control and trust God. That God knows it much better than us what is the best for us and that “his will” will happen. He will give us in the right moment what we need and not necessarily what we want. We find inside of us peace just through our belief in God. God is love, and if we surrender to God, we become what we surrender to. For my personal life, I can prove that I got protected from God/Allah through the worst situation in life… I faced in the last 12 years 4 times the death, was one time clinical dead, one time my entire body paralyzed, no doctor could help me… And even 20 years ago, when I was living very risky, and my friends are worrying like crazy for me… I said: I will prove that everything is under control of God… and at the end, I asked them: Is there a God or not… They just shut up….If we want to gain something, then we have to do also the work… If we want to win the Highest/ Best, we have to do a lot more… And this is so true for the inner path, belief, and trust in God. We need the worst time in our life for developing love and faith for God/Allah. My Video: What have the Disasters to do with God? https://youtu.be/xEB-TvQmLEgMy Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast.A/What-have-the-Disasters-to-do-with-God.mp3

Almost every world religion offers a pathway to heaven through good works and personal efforts. Some even include a list of sacraments: Holy rituals by which a person can merit salvation. But Christianity is different. According to the Bible, there's only one way to know if you're good enough for God, and it has nothing to do with what you can do.--The Unveiling Mormonism podcast pulls back the curtain on Mormon history, culture and doctrine. Join us for new episodes every Monday. Find resources to talk about these episodes at pursueGOD.org/mormonism.Help others go "full circle" as a follower of Jesus through our 12-week Pursuit series.Click here to learn more about how to use these resources at home, with a small group, or in a one-on-one discipleship relationship.Got questions or want to leave a note? Email us at podcast@pursueGOD.org.Donate Now --Before we look at what the Bible says, let's do a quick survey of a few popular world religions…Hinduism: Hinduism does not have a singular concept of salvation but rather multiple paths (yogas) that lead to spiritual liberation (moksha) from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth (samsara). These paths include devotion (bhakti), knowledge (jnana), and selfless action (karma yoga), among others. Salvation is achieved when an individual realizes their true self (atman) as one with the ultimate reality (Brahman). (Liberation depends on YOU.)Buddhism: Salvation in Buddhism is the cessation of suffering and the cycle of rebirth, achieved through the elimination of desire and ignorance. In Buddhism, the goal is to attain enlightenment (nirvana) by following the Noble Eightfold Path, which includes principles such as right understanding, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. (Nirvana depends on YOU.)Islam: In Islam, the plan of salvation involves belief in the oneness of God (Allah) and the prophethood of Muhammad. Muslims believe in living a righteous life according to the teachings of the Quran and the Hadith (sayings of Muhammad). Salvation is achieved through faith, repentance, and good deeds, with the ultimate reward being entry into paradise. Salvation in Islam is not guaranteed solely by faith or deeds but is ultimately dependent on the mercy and judgment of Allah. Muslims strive to live a life that is pleasing to Allah and to follow the teachings of Islam in the hope of attaining salvation in the afterlife. (Paradise depends on YOU.)(Note: similarity with Mormonism. “Saved by grace after all we can do.”) - Don't include this in sermon!TRANS: So what does Christianity teach? To find that answer we need to look at one more world religion: Judaism. Jesus was Jewish. Christianity came out of Judaism. Understanding the link between those two religions, and specifically the key difference between them, will give us the insight we need to answer our question today. Let's start with the words of Jesus from his famous Sermon on the Mount:PerfectionMatthew 5:17 (NLT) “Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.”When Jesus talks about “the law and the prophets” he's referring to Judaism. Here's Judaism in a nutshell:God chose Abraham and made him some promises (Gen 12)God gave the 10 commandments to Moses - rules to live by in the land of promise they were

Almost every world religion offers a pathway to heaven through good works and personal efforts. Some even include a list of sacraments: Holy rituals by which a person can merit salvation. But Christianity is different. According to the Bible, there's only one way to know if you're good enough for God, and it has nothing to do with what you can do. --The PursueGOD Truth podcast is the “easy button” for making disciples – whether you're looking for resources to lead a family devotional, a small group at church, or a one-on-one mentoring relationship. Join us for new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Find resources to talk about these episodes at pursueGOD.org.Help others go "full circle" as a follower of Jesus through our 12-week Pursuit series.Click here to learn more about how to use these resources at home, with a small group, or in a one-on-one discipleship relationship.Got questions or want to leave a note? Email us at podcast@pursueGOD.org.Donate Now --Before we look at what the Bible says, let's do a quick survey of a few popular world religions…Hinduism: Hinduism does not have a singular concept of salvation but rather multiple paths (yogas) that lead to spiritual liberation (moksha) from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth (samsara). These paths include devotion (bhakti), knowledge (jnana), and selfless action (karma yoga), among others. Salvation is achieved when an individual realizes their true self (atman) as one with the ultimate reality (Brahman). (Liberation depends on YOU.)Buddhism: Salvation in Buddhism is the cessation of suffering and the cycle of rebirth, achieved through the elimination of desire and ignorance. In Buddhism, the goal is to attain enlightenment (nirvana) by following the Noble Eightfold Path, which includes principles such as right understanding, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. (Nirvana depends on YOU.)Islam: In Islam, the plan of salvation involves belief in the oneness of God (Allah) and the prophethood of Muhammad. Muslims believe in living a righteous life according to the teachings of the Quran and the Hadith (sayings of Muhammad). Salvation is achieved through faith, repentance, and good deeds, with the ultimate reward being entry into paradise. Salvation in Islam is not guaranteed solely by faith or deeds but is ultimately dependent on the mercy and judgment of Allah. Muslims strive to live a life that is pleasing to Allah and to follow the teachings of Islam in the hope of attaining salvation in the afterlife. (Paradise depends on YOU.)(Note: similarity with Mormonism. “Saved by grace after all we can do.”) - Don't include this in sermon!TRANS: So what does Christianity teach? To find that answer we need to look at one more world religion: Judaism. Jesus was Jewish. Christianity came out of Judaism. Understanding the link between those two religions, and specifically the key difference between them, will give us the insight we need to answer our question today. Let's start with the words of Jesus from his famous Sermon on the Mount:PerfectionMatthew 5:17 (NLT) “Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.”When Jesus talks about “the law and the prophets” he's referring to Judaism. Here's Judaism in a nutshell:God chose Abraham and made him some promises (Gen 12)God gave the...

Almost every world religion offers a pathway to heaven through good works and personal efforts. Some even include a list of sacraments: Holy rituals by which a person can merit salvation. But Christianity is different. According to the Bible, there's only one way to know if you're good enough for God, and it has nothing to do with what you can do. --The PursueGOD Truth podcast is the “easy button” for making disciples – whether you're looking for resources to lead a family devotional, a small group at church, or a one-on-one mentoring relationship. Join us for new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Find resources to talk about these episodes at pursueGOD.org.Help others go "full circle" as a follower of Jesus through our 12-week Pursuit series.Click here to learn more about how to use these resources at home, with a small group, or in a one-on-one discipleship relationship.Got questions or want to leave a note? Email us at podcast@pursueGOD.org.Donate Now --Before we look at what the Bible says, let's do a quick survey of a few popular world religions…Hinduism: Hinduism does not have a singular concept of salvation but rather multiple paths (yogas) that lead to spiritual liberation (moksha) from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth (samsara). These paths include devotion (bhakti), knowledge (jnana), and selfless action (karma yoga), among others. Salvation is achieved when an individual realizes their true self (atman) as one with the ultimate reality (Brahman). (Liberation depends on YOU.)Buddhism: Salvation in Buddhism is the cessation of suffering and the cycle of rebirth, achieved through the elimination of desire and ignorance. In Buddhism, the goal is to attain enlightenment (nirvana) by following the Noble Eightfold Path, which includes principles such as right understanding, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. (Nirvana depends on YOU.)Islam: In Islam, the plan of salvation involves belief in the oneness of God (Allah) and the prophethood of Muhammad. Muslims believe in living a righteous life according to the teachings of the Quran and the Hadith (sayings of Muhammad). Salvation is achieved through faith, repentance, and good deeds, with the ultimate reward being entry into paradise. Salvation in Islam is not guaranteed solely by faith or deeds but is ultimately dependent on the mercy and judgment of Allah. Muslims strive to live a life that is pleasing to Allah and to follow the teachings of Islam in the hope of attaining salvation in the afterlife. (Paradise depends on YOU.)(Note: similarity with Mormonism. “Saved by grace after all we can do.”) - Don't include this in sermon!TRANS: So what does Christianity teach? To find that answer we need to look at one more world religion: Judaism. Jesus was Jewish. Christianity came out of Judaism. Understanding the link between those two religions, and specifically the key difference between them, will give us the insight we need to answer our question today. Let's start with the words of Jesus from his famous Sermon on the Mount:PerfectionMatthew 5:17 (NLT) “Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.”When Jesus talks about “the law and the prophets” he's referring to Judaism. Here's Judaism in a nutshell:God chose Abraham and made him some promises (Gen 12)God gave the...

Sling and Stone

Al-Muzzammil (المزمل, “The Enshrouded One”, “Bundled Up”, “Enfolded”) is the seventy-third chapter of the Qur'an, containing 20 verses, which are recognized by Muslims as the word of God (Allah). The last Ruku of this surah contains only one ayāt making it possibly the smallest Ruku according to the number of verses or ayāt Al-Muzzammil takes its name from the reference to prophet Muhammad, in his cloak praying at night, in the opening verses of the chapter. Many commentators claim that “The Enfolded One” is a name for Muhammad, used throughout the Qur'an.[1] Summary 1-4 Muhammad and the Muslims bidden to pray during the night 5-9 The Quran to be pronounced with a distinct sonorous tone 10-11 Muhammad exhorted to bear patiently the contumelies of the infidels 11-14 God will visit the infidels with dire calamities 15-19 The punishment of Pharaoh a warning to the people of Makkah 20 Modification of the law given in verses 1-4 [2] Content In the beginning of Al-Muzzammil (Quran 73), God expounds upon the merits of night prayer in the First Meccan Period. Muhammad, and subsequently the Muslim community, is commanded to “stay up throughout the night, all but a small part of it, half, or a little less, or a little more; recite the Qur'an slowly and distinctly.”[3] During the First Meccan Period, the total Qur'anic revelation was brief enough to recite during the night. As such, it was expected of Muslims to recite the Qur'an in full during the night. The night prayer was of such importance, because the believer's focus on prayer and separation from any distraction was believed to “make a deeper impression”[4] on the believer.[5] However, as time passed, the Qur'an continued to grow, and by the time ayat 20 was revealed, the Qur'an was too long to fully recite during the night. Consequently, God relaxes his prior command to recite the Qur'an at night. Muhammad is told to pray what is easy for him during the night (“recite as much of the Qur'an is easy for you”[6]), but to continue to pray throughout the day (“keep up the prayer [during the day], pay the prescribed alms, and lend God a good loan[6])

Nūḥ[1] ( نوح, “Noah”) is the seventy-first chapter (surah) of the Quran with 28 verses (ayat). It is about the Islamic prophet Nūḥ and his complaint about his people rejecting all warnings Allah gave them through Nuh. Nūḥ's themes include belief in Allah, signs of Allah (the Earth, Sun, Moon), and punishment for denying Allah's message Summary In Nuh, the seventy-first surah, the Quran refers to Nuh's prophethood in snippets. Nuh is a messenger of God. When Nuh realizes the messages are not accepted by the community, he supplicated to God, who planned to flood the community of Nuh at a specified time. God commanded Nuh to warn the people Exegesis 1-4 Noah receives message from God Verses 1–4 discuss the message Nuh received from God (Allah) to share with his community, to serve God. 5-20 the Earth, the sun, the moon are signs of God's existence In Verses 5–20, Nuh informs Allah that his people are not accepting his message. Nuh tries to make clear to the people that all of the Earth, the Sun, the Moon are signs of God's existence. 21-25 rid the world of the evildoers In Verses 21–24, Nuh asks Allah to rid the world of the evildoers because they refused to abandon their idols and encourage others to do the same 26-28 disbelievers all drowned In Verses 26–28, the disbelievers were all drowned and sent to hell (as a result of the flood). Nuh asks Allah to forgive the believers and to destroy the disbelievers because their faith will lead many astray.[3] While studying this Surah one should keep in view the details of the Prophet Noah's story which have been given in the Qur'an above. For this see Al-Araf: 59-64, Yunus: 71-73, Hud: 25-49, Al-Mu'minun: 23-31, Ash- Shua'ra: 105-122, Al-Ankabut: 14-15, As-Saaffat: 75-82, Al-Qamar: 9-16.

Patrick, Freedom of Speech, Peace & Love

Welcome to episode 27 of 'The Dawah Clinic' where we will be addressing your dawah dilemma's. If you have difficulty in answering certain questions or need help in responding to polemics towards Islam and Muslims, fear no more the dawah clinic is here to help empower you. So keep a note of your dawah dilemma's and call into the show or post your questions in the live chat.  Please note : waiting lists are very high and clinic places are limited to a maximum of 10 placements at any given time so keep your questions concise, to the point and please be patient. © 2023 EFDawah All Rights ReservedTimestamps:00:00 - Intro00:52 - EF Dawah Panel join: Format of the Stream02:29 - Discussion on Umrah, Ibadah & Niyyah07:05 - Islamic view of Jesus pbuh as the Messiah07:52 - The Name of God: Allah ﷻ10:08 - Praying through Prostration in the Bible 12:26 - Marwa joins13:45 - Discussion on the Fate of Jesus pbuh24:43 - Muhammad Ali joins25:11 - Some Reverts leaving Islam due to family pressure28:18 - Responsibility of Muslims towards Reverts & Non-Muslims36:16 - Khulood joins36:34 - Dating (Historicity) of the Gospels42:03 - Resources for Female Daees43:58 - Maya joins44:58 - Dawah to Ugandan & African people52:48 - Mir joins53:20 - Responding to Atheists' arguments59:06 - Why can't Something come from Nothing?1:03:40 - Concubinage in Islam explained1:26:00 - Mohammed-Gowhar joins1:26:33 - Question regarding Zakat1:27:22 - Giving a Share of Qurbani for the Dead1:30:39 - Fiqh Question about Zakat1:33:01 - Nullu joins1:33:38 - Nullu shares her experience with Jinns1:37:00 - Prohibition of Black Magic in Islam1:42:31 - The Truth about Shamans1:45:00 - Making Dua for the Deceased1:50:31 - Just a Muslim joins1:51:48 - Explanation of Sahih Muslim 79 a1:58:44 - Harbi joins 1:59:02 - Dawah Advice for an Agnostic Friend2:10:43 - Osama joins2:11:30 - Dawah Advice for Non-Muslim Neighbours2:31:57 - Advice to Married Couples about Reconciliation2:39:23 - D joins: Technical Issues2:40:14 - Concluding Statements2:43:09 - AmetAllah joins: Fiqh Question2:46:05 - Closing Remarks & Wrapping UpWebsite : https://efdawah.com/EFDawah بالعربية (Arabic)https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWDR...EFDawah Bosniahttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgcz...EFDawah Indonesiahttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSGJ...EFDawah Kurdishhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-kA...Podcast Website (New)https://efdawah.buzzsprout.com/RSS FeedSupport the show

Al-Ḥadīd (English: Iron, Arabic الحديد) is the 57th chapter of the Quran with 29 verses  The chapter takes its name from that word which appears in the 25th verse  This is an Al-Musabbihat surah because it begins with the glorification of Allah. Short summary 1-6 God ( Allah ) is omniscient and most powerful. 7-11 Muslims exhorted to give alms and help the Prophet's mission 12-14 The wise and the foolish in the judgment-day 15-17 True believers admonished to submit humbly to God 18 God will reward the faithful but will punish the wicked 19-20 The present life a vain show 21 Men exhorted to seek the life to come 22-23 All things recorded in God's book of decrees 24 God hateth proud and covetous persons (therefore the defeat at Ohod) 25 Apostles sent to former nations 26-27 Noah, Abraham, the prophets, and Jesus, with the Gospel, sent 28-29 Christians exhorted to become Muslims [4] Exegesis[edit] In his tafsir (exegesis), Ma'ariful-Qur'an, Muhammad Shafi Deobandi wrote: “It is recorded in Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi and Nasa'i that Sayyidna ‘Irbad Ibn Sariyah (may Allah be pleased with him) said that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) used to recite Al-Musabbihat before he went to sleep and said: ‘In them there is a verse that is more meritorious than a thousand verses'. “The collective name of the series Al-Musabbihat refers to the following five Surahs: (1) Al-Hadid; (2) Al-Hashr; (3) As-Saff; (4) Al-Jumu'ah; and (5) At-Taghabun. “Having cited this Hadith, Ibn Kathir says that the best verse referred to in Surah Al-Hadid is verse (3). (He is the First and the Last, and the Manifest and the Hidden, and He is All-knowing about everything . . . 57:3). “Among the five Surahs, the first three namely Al-Hadid, Al-Hashr and As-Saff commence with the past perfect tense ‘sabbaha' (purity has been proclaimed) whilst the last two, namely Al-Jumu'ah and At-Taghabun commence with the imperfect tense ‘yusabbihu' (purity is proclaimed). This implies that the purity of Allah should be declared at all times, the past, the present and the future. [Mazhari]”[5] In Kitab al-Kafi, Imam Musa al-Kadhim was asked for the interpretation of 57:11 Who is it that would loan Allah a goodly loan so He will multiply it for him and he will have a noble reward?, to which he replied "this was revealed about payment to the Imams. One dirham paid to the Imam is greater in weight than the mountain of Uhud and the reward is greater than two million dirhams paid for other charities." Another narration states it is the "good" towards the Imam during a government of mischief.[6] بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ All that is in the heavens and the earth glorify God. He is Majestic and All-wise. (1) To Him belongs the Kingdom of the heavens and the earth. He gives life and causes things to die. He has power over all things. (2) He is the First, the Last, the Manifest, and the Unseen and He knows all things. (3) It is He who created the heavens and the earth in six days and then established His Dominion over the Throne. He knows whatever enters into the earth, what comes out of it, what descends from the sky, and what ascends to it. He is with you wherever you may be and He is Well Aware of what you do. (4) To Him belong the heavens and the earth and to Him all things return. (5) He causes night to enter into day and day into night. He knows best what all hearts contain. (6) Have faith in God and His Messenger and spend for His cause out of what is entrusted to you. Those who believe and spend for the cause of God will have a great reward. (7) If you are true indeed to this covenant, why do you not believe in God, when His Messenger invites you to believe in your Lord with whom you have made a solemn covenant? (8) It is He who sends illustrious revelations to His servant to take you out of darkness to light. God is Compassionate and All-merciful to you. (9) 

Did Jesus call God ‘Allah'?

Bring people of different faiths together, and you're likely to hear vastly different views expressed about who or what God is or isn't. In this episode of Challenge 2.0, we decided to do just that-to bring together faith leaders from Christianity, Judaism and Islam...to explore the question of what they believe we get wrong about God/Allah...and why it matters. 

Open Forum – Questions Covered: 10:35 – Can you help me understand salvation history especially regarding substitutionary atonement? 22:00 – My protestant friend claims that Catholics put Mary and the saints above God. I'm a convert and I just want some clarification. 25:08 – Is the Aramaic word God Allah? 35:35 – Why does the gospel of John not have the institution narrative? 43:12 – How did Joseph and Mary deal with temptation if they didn’t have concupiscence? 47:00 – How do we counter the claim that the parable of the wheat and the weeds is evidence for double predestination? 51:18 – Could the church have made the change that they did at Vatican 2 without having an ecumenical council? …

Dear Believers, we are in sura 29 the Spider, AlAnkaboot, العنكبوت. Verses 1-9. Allah is the All hearing All knowing , His knowledge is more than we can comprehend. Subhanuh. Your hearts are the key for goodness, truthfulness and righteousness. If you want to meet God, there will be a time that is sure to come , so make sure everything you do in life is with النيه لله God's intention to do good in His world. No excuses , and if you make mistakes, repent to Allah and try again. He sees your heart. Be good to your parents no matter what religion they believe but don't listen to them if they ask you to not believe in God/ Allah the one and only. So believe and Do good deeds and you are promised the ranks of righteousness.

Dear believers, sura Luqman 31 stars with 3 themes. Wisdom, Mercy and Guidance from Allah. Verses 12-16 guides you to be wise and always thank Allah / gratitude/ Alhamdulilah الحمد لله the one and only God. Also to be good and kind to your parents ( no excuses) not even if they don't believe in God! Treat them kindly but do not obey them in associating anything with God).

1Al-Fatihahٱلْفَاتِحَة al-Fātiḥah al-ḤamdThe Opening, the Opening of the Divine Writ, The Essence of the Divine Writ, The Surah of Praise, The Foundation of the Qur'an, and The Seven Oft-Repeated [Verses][8] 7 (1)Makkah548Whole Surah [8] The fundamental principles of the Qur'an in a condensed form.[8] It reads: “(1) In the name of God (Allah), the Compassionate and Merciful. (2) Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds, (3) the Compassionate and Merciful, (4) Master of the Day of Judgement. (5) Thee we worship and from Thee we seek help.

1Al-Fatihahٱلْفَاتِحَة al-Fātiḥah al-ḤamdThe Opening, the Opening of the Divine Writ, The Essence of the Divine Writ, The Surah of Praise, The Foundation of the Qur'an, and The Seven Oft-Repeated [Verses][8] 7 (1)Makkah548Whole Surah [8] The fundamental principles of the Qur'an in a condensed form.[8] It reads: “(1) In the name of God (Allah), the Compassionate and Merciful. (2) Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds, (3) the Compassionate and Merciful, (4) Master of the Day of Judgement. (5) Thee we worship and from Thee we seek help.

What is a strong Personality? What is the difference between a weak and a strong Personality? Every Personality has an inherent aspiration for spiritual development, an aspiration to return Home (to the Spiritual World), and every human being as a Personality feels this. What should people begin their spiritual development with, and what is the most difficult stage on the spiritual path? How does consciousness (shaitan, satan) manipulate, mislead, and deceive a person? Who in us lies? An example of a stereotypical pattern in the work of consciousness: how friends betray each other in business. Who controls a person's thoughts? Why is it important for a person to understand who he is and become a strong Personality? What is the right way to pray so that God would hear you? What is service, and what is its essence? How do we understand what the will coming from the Spiritual World is? Why do Christians in some countries call God Allah and praise Him just like Muslims? Why is a spiritually strong Personality capable of a lot? What is the true goal of human life? We live in amazing times when more and more power comes to every Personality from the Spiritual World. During this period, many people become stronger as a Personality. #StrongPersonality #selfdevelopment #TheRightWayToPray Videos with the participation of Igor Mikhailovich Danilov: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-gwQUB4VIPlpCa4pvsjSqeQZ1N6hLzBB

Dear listeners, todays verses 61-65 are from sura 40 The Forgiver. The verse stars with the blessing of night so we can rest and the day for us to see. No matter how many words of thanks and gratitude for our sight or our sleep we can not be grateful enough.

Sura 47 Muhammad verses1-3 divides people into 2. The believers and the nonbelievers. Even if both groups have good deeds Only the one with Faith in God will be accepted. This is why intentions are important before you do something. Are you doing it to be famous? For others to say how amazing you are? Or are you doing this for the sake of Allah. So have faith in the one and only God Allah, do good deeds, believe in the prophet Mohammed and the Quran. God promises in verse 2 if you do the above your mind will be at ease اصلح بالهم. verse 3 also teaches us that you get to know people through their intentions.

 All Religions are telling us that we should omit a passionate, sexual love.Because when we are passionate we lose our calmness and can't find peace in our mind. When we live our passions, and the greatest passion is love, we lose our fears and in the end, we will find peace in our mind.If we don't live our passions, we suppress our fears and many years later the suppressed fears will cripple our life. And that result we can see in the old people. Most of the old people want to dictate our life that we should not live a passionate sexual love. Because they didn't have lived it either; cannot live it anymore; and they are jealous of the young people.In the famous novel “Siddharta” written by Herman Hesse, is a guy who had the longing to find the truth and renounced his worldly life. Siddharta could understand that renunciation will not lead to anything. Afterward, he was engaged in a passionate worldly life and when he was fed up with the worldly life he renunciate again. Again, he was drawn in a worldly life and finally he found the truth… I lived a similar life, was a devotee of Bhagwan; I found God in a tantric love and then I was 12 years in meditation retreats with celibacy… And now, I live both…The famous Sufi book: “Conference of the birds” written by Attar wants both: to renunciate the world and to live a passionate sexual life. Why? Attar was one of the greatest Sufis … he could understand that the greatest renunciation is to love a woman. For that, we should be well trained in the renunciation of the world. Otherwise, our love will be shallow and not so deep that we can discover God/Allah in our love. If you are 90 years old, do you think that you will regret that you could not live a passionate love? With 90 years you can't live that love anymore. Why not take your chance now, live your passionate sexual love and don't be afraid of the suffering…. In the end, you have done well. My Video: Why is passionate love stupid? https://youtu.be/jrh_NDJwu58My Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast.B/Why-is-passionate-love-stupid.mp3

Weekly catch up! Played... I'm just being in yo business.!! We get a little personal && give up some personal tea! Topics this week.. Trust issues!! Where do they come from childhood.. our parents?? What do y'all think? What makes you a good person? Emotional availability, communication... your relationship with God/Allah... are you a genuine person? … ask us if you're doing the most or not!!?? Email us @ Ayeyoudoingthemost@gmail.com … put in the subject “Am I doing the Most or Nah!?” Or send it in the DM!!! Please comment, like & subscribe.. Share with your friends!! Follow us on IG && TikTok @Ayeyoudoingthemost - @BurksIam91 && @CinnamonJaye

On this episode we ask Abrahamic theists if they will obey their God no matter what. You can donate here - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/tratheist Drop a Voice Message - https://www.speakpipe.com/TRAtheist Podpage - The Ranting Atheist (podpage.com) Join Atheism vs Abrahamics on Clubhouse Join The Freethinkers Hangout on Clubhouse. Check out The Ranting Atheist Podcast on YouTube Follow The Ranting Atheist Twitter - @TRAtheist Instagram - @tratheistpod Clubhouse - https://www.clubhouse.com/@tratheist TikTok - tiktok.com/@tratheist Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/tratheist Email - atheistranting@gmail.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tratheist/message

  Bob responds to a reconciling gesture on the part of a clergyman to have Christians also refer to God as “Allah.” Click on your podcasting platform below to subscribe to The Bob Siegel Show:   Apple  |  Google  | Spotify |  TuneIn  | Blubrry | Deezer | Android  | RSS Feed  Subscribe by email and get Bob's show delivered directly to your inbox! Visit […]

Dear listeners , whenever you have a heavy burden on your chest/ heart. when you feel this is getting too much , repeat sura 94 with the intention that the hardship will be replaced by ease. Take a deep breath. And keep on repeating Allahs words and with every breath remember his words are true and feel the uplift of your hardship and have (tawakul )faith that He has your back. Today is a special day in the Hijri/ Islamic calendar. 9/12/1443. The day of Arafa, the day the pilgrims go to mountain Arafa and make Duaa. Asking Allah for All the dreams, wishes, goals to come true, to forgive them their sins, to move away any hardships in their lives, to give them from His blessings. And accept them on their spiritual journey and a new beginning. It starts at dawn ( after fajir/ the morning prayer) and ends at dusk / magrib prayer as the sun goes down. All Muslims around he world take part in this day by Asking God ( making Duaa) May Allah give us the best of both worlds : here and there. The best words the prophets used to say on this day is ; la ilah ila Allah wahdahu laa shareek lah , lahu almulk, luh alhamd, yahee wa yameet wa huwa alaa kul shay gadeer ( there is no God except God/Allah alone, He has no partner, everything belongs to Him, to Him we praise, He gives life and takes life, He has the power over everything). May Allah bless us All today and surprise us with more goodness than we expected and help us in asking him for the best of both worlds. Ameen.

On this episode we ask Abrahamic theists if they will obey their God no matter what. Drop a Voice Message - https://www.speakpipe.com/TRAtheist Podpage - The Ranting Atheist (podpage.com) Join Atheism vs Abrahamics on Clubhouse Join The Freethinkers Hangout on Clubhouse. Check out The Ranting Atheist Podcast on YouTube Follow The Ranting Atheist Twitter - @TRAtheist Instagram - @tratheistpod Clubhouse - https://www.clubhouse.com/@tratheist TikTok - tiktok.com/@tratheist Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/tratheist Email - atheistranting@gmail.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tratheist/message

The End of Christ-less Religion! Read Revelation 17 The End of Christless Religion Let's Pray! As we will see, chapter seventeen is about the fall of religious Babylon, and chapter eighteen is about the fall of political and commercial Babylon. The Rise of the False Religion and its False Prophet V. 1-6 For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, because I have promised you in marriage to one husband – to present a pure virgin to Christ. -2 Cor. 11:2 If the people of God purify the planet as salt and light, the religion of Babylon pollutes the planet with its sewage. Now back in chapter thirteen we read of two beasts that get their power from Satan. One was clearly the Antichrist, and the other was clearly the one chapter sixteen calls the False Prophet. Chapter thirteen made clear the False Prophet will help the Antichrist achieve worldwide acceptance. Verse four lets us know this false religion is characterized by beauty and riches. Verse five lets us in on a mystery: this false religion has its roots in “Babylon the Great.” Folks, that's what Satan does – he counterfeits the truth, and then adds in elements of so called worship that appeal to the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. And it happened, as He spoke these things, a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!” But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” -Luke 11:27-28 I believe that after the rapture of born again Christians, those left who really aren't born again and don't obey the Bible will do anything it takes to have unity with other religions, even if that means calling God ‘Allah.' The Ride of the False Religion and its False Prophet V. 7-14 The Bible tells us in places like Daniel 7 that there will be a ten kingdom version of the Roman Empire at the end of days that the Antichrist will emerge from. There will be a united world under the Antichrist by the midpoint of the Tribulation, and false religion will help make it happen. The Ruin of the False Religion V. 15-18 Putting together the Bible's data I believe false religion will help the Antichrist gain worldwide power, perhaps even rebuilding Israel's temple in a show of tolerance, but at the mid-point of the tribulation the Antichrist will turn on all religion and insist on being worshipped. Three Responses we should have because of false religion: First, Treasure Christ! Second, do what it says in the Bible! Third, never bully people, but rely on the power of the Holy Spirit!

Thanks for checking out our Daily Show! Check back Monday-Friday to receive a boost of spiritual motivation along with trending topics and real life scenarios as we discuss our journey through life while we are outside of our Spiritual Sanctuary.In this episode we discuss how chasing excellence can block your blessings from God Allah.Enjoy!Music Performed by: Damian Lillard ( feat. Jane Hancock) The JuiceFacebook Page LinkRMCF Website: https://www.rmaz.org/

Thanks for checking out our Daily Show! Check back Monday-Friday to receive a boost of spiritual motivation along with trending topics and real life scenarios as we discuss our journey through life while we are outside of our Spiritual Sanctuary.In this episode we discuss how preconditioning has prioritized money over God Allah!Enjoy!Music Performed by: Damian Lillard ( feat. Jane Hancock) The JuiceFacebook Page LinkRMCF Website: https://www.rmaz.org/

Before moving forward, it is imperative to know the basic similarities and differences between each of the three Abrahamic religions—the world's three biggest religions. They are Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. All three religions consider themselves monotheistic faiths, as they all claim to worship one God. While Muslims and Jews are indeed strict monotheists worshipping one God as a single, indivisible entity, Christians, on the other hand, while thinking they are monotheists worshipping one God, are not, as they believe in the Trinity. Christians claim they believe in one God represented by or manifests himself in three persons. They claim they do not believe in three individual Gods; instead, they think they believe in one God who manifests himself through different identities, roles, and images: the Father in the Heavens, the Son, Jesus Christ, who came down in human form as the savior, and the Holy Spirit, the Counselor.    Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and God Himself. They believe that Jesus Christ has a divine and created nature. They also believe that each of these personas in the Trinity equally co-exists as God and that each of these entities is eternal and all-powerful. They do not think that each is a separate entity; instead, they believe that God the Father is the God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This, of course, is a contradiction; common logic dictates that there cannot be three Gods at the same time as there is one God. It is either one or three, as one and three are not the same.   Prophets are to be loved and respected, but no form of worship is directed toward them, nor are they treated as demi-gods or intermediaries between humanity and God. Christians appointed Jesus Christ to divine heights he was not entitled to, which eventually became the dominant Christian belief. Jesus Christ was a mighty messenger sent from God, but he was only a mortal human. He was born to a mother; he ate and drank, slept, and used the bathroom; he suffered pain and emotions. This differentiates him from God the Almighty, as God does not need to eat, sleep, or drink. The Prophet Jesus' mission was to confirm the Torah previously sent, make certain things lawful to ease the lives of the Children of Israel, and proclaim and re-affirm the belief in One God. He was only the servant and slave of God. The Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—and the concept that Jesus died for our sins are firmly rejected in Islam.    Just like Muslims believe that Jesus Christ was only a created human Prophet sent by God, Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad PBUH was also a mortal human prophet sent by God after Jesus Christ. Prophet Muhammad PBUH is separate and distinct from Allah (God). God is eternal and immortal; He never had a beginning and was never created. All the powers that Jesus Christ is said to have had were given to him by God. On the other hand, God's Attributes and Powers were not given to Him; they were within Him all along. God's Attributes and powers never knew a beginning, nor will they ever have an ending. He has always been, and will always be, All-Knowing, All-Mighty, All-Powerful. God hears everything from the buzz of a mosquito's wing to the eruption of volcanoes. All His Attributes are infinite.    The three religions worship the same God. The God in the Heavens that Christians worship and refer to as the Father is the same God worshipped by Muslims and Jews. Muslims use Allah to refer to God: Allah translates to God. Allah is not a foreign God, nor does He bear a foreign name. Allah, instead, is the semantic term for God. Regardless of this, some people harbor the mistaken belief that Muslims worship a different God than Christians and Jews and that Allah is the God of the Arabs or the Muslims. This is far from the truth. The word Allah is an Arabic name connoting the Almighty God. Arabic-speaki

Lyrics:Allah Bhajo Maula Bhajo Hey Allah Sai BhagawanRam Bhajo Hey Krishna Bhajo Hey Rama Krishna BhagawanNanak Bhajo Gautam Bhajo Hey Buddha Sai BhagawanYeshu Bhajo Zoroastra Bhajo Hey Mahaveer BhagawanSai Bhajo Shirdi Sai Bhajo Hey Shirdi Sai BhagawanSathya Bhajo Sathya Sai Bhajo Hey Sathya Sai BhagawanMeaning:Chant the divine names of God - Allah, Maula, Rama, Krishna, Nanak, Buddha, Zoroaster, Mahaveera, Shirdi Sai and Sathya Sai.

When spirituality is combined with Relaxation exercises, it gives the experience a different dimension of relaxation and psychological safety net.

This is an interesting bayan of Dr. Israr Ahmed which explains about the three Regions (Jews, Christians and Islam) that are from the same God (Allah). Thanks for listening to this Podcast.

The Ansari Podcast: Mahmoud Elansary and Amal Kassir, 2 Muslim Americans, discuss Amals personal experience growing as a Muslim, Syrian, white American. Her experience being raised a Muslim in this country, how her mother converted, how she found God(Allah), she felt she had no purpose even after success, she questioned Gods will and existence, her struggle with faith and Islam. The moment she turned to God(Allah), and why she started wearing the hijab. They discuss Sadness and its necessity, her transition in public speaking, the story behind the Syrian crisis, Bashar Al-Assad, her personal loss of family members in the war, how her family died in Syria, and Syrian peoples attitude towards God(Allah). They discuss peoples perceptions of God(Allah) and how it is so limited in scope. God(Allah) isn't always love, God is the full spectrum, there is so much beauty and imagery of God beyond what the general narrative is. And the more you learn about Islam the nicer and more loving you become.

The Ansari Podcast: Mahmoud Elansary talks about Ramadan and the mentality Mahmoud enters Ramadan with, he talks about Eid, he talks about Kyrie becoming Muslim. He talks about Stephen Jackson becoming Muslim, and Muslim celebrities, and what Islam means to Mahmoud personally and his mentality on God and religion. #ramadan #kyrie #muslim #Islam #stephenjackson #God #Allah #kyrieirving

The Ansari Podcast: Mahmoud Elansary and Soloin, 2 young Muslim Americans, discuss not liking Ramadan and Islam growing up, as well as the difficulty praying 5 times a day. But how the discipline and Islam has helped them tremendously through their lives. They discuss their relationship with their parents and how its influenced their view on Islam and on the world around them. Discuss the arsenal of Moral philosophies they have by Islam, their foreign cultural background and America. And how they navigate between which one to choose. They discuss how environment has an effect on your values and a Muslim environment vs. Secular environment. They discuss whether being a religious Muslim feels natural or if they're losing a part of themselves and how navigate through that. Discuss their struggles with mental health fame and how Islam and being Muslim influenced that. We talk about youtubes toll on Soloins mental health and how he started off. Caring about what others think, and mental health and Faith as a Muslim. How money and fame don't bring happiness. Discuss happiness and how it shouldn't be a goal. They discuss sinning, drinking and smoking then reverting back to Islam and praying and how forgetful us humans are. They discuss gratitude and a mindset that lasts over happiness. And Islam, the universe, the big bang and how God(Allah) is real. And how Aliens can definitely exist. Islam, Muslims, and happiness

The Ansari Podcast: Mahmoud Elansary and Dr. Yassine Daoud, 2 Muslim Americans, Dr. Yassine opens up about being a Palestinian refugee and his life and experience as a refugee vs. living in America. They discuss Prophet Muhammed and what it means to be rich. They discuss what the purpose in life is and being unfortunate and oppressed. Life as a refugee vs. Life in the United States. Lebanons oppression towards Palestinian refugees. They discuss Halal and Haram and how it's been given too much precedent over the main principles of Islam. What our purpose as Muslims here on earth are and in America. Who is the most beloved to God (Allah)? And how we should love and care for each other, mercy, compassion, and kindness. They discuss Muslims in America and how being Muslim and being American aren't mutually exclusive. Why young Muslims don't go too mosques anymore. Prophet Muhammed's Mosque and its culture. The issues with the modern mosque and what true Islam actually calls on you to do. The difference between the knowledge of Islam and its implementation. Hijabis and not judging them and what is a Muslims job. ABout Dr. Yassine Daoud: Dr. Daoud received his M.D. degree from Harvard Medical School. He was selected to the prestigious Doris Duke Fellowship where he obtained a clinical research fellowship under the mentorship of the world renowned Dr. C. Stephen Foster at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. Dr. Daoud is a highly published author and editor in multiple leading ophthalmology journals. He routinely lectures nationally and internationally. Dr Daoud is the chair of the Wilmer Eye Institute's Femtosecond Laser Assisted Cataract Surgery Committee. He currently leads a group of researchers to improve ocular health and incorporate evolving technologies to improve ocular surgery outcomes.