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بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم As we stated earlier, before we can answer the question “how can I know that God exists?” we must first ask the question “how do I know anything at all.” There are multiple ways that the intellect comes to know, and these modalities (or ways) of knowing are arranged hierarchically. I will go from the lowest form of knowledge to the highest – though this may seem unintuitive to the modern mind, which has been conditioned to see certainty as ordered in precisely the opposite direction. I will sort out these modern confusions as we proceed upon each level, inshaAllah. The lowest form of knowing, and the least certain is that of sense perception. “Huh? But I thought you had to see it to believe it?” you may ask. Ah, but you see sense perception deceives us all the time. We readily admit that. Sometimes we see things that aren’t really there, and sometimes what we see does not reflect reality. For instance, we perceive the earth as being flat, the sun as setting upon the horizon, the stars as being small, and if I were to put my finger in a glass of water it would appear to break due to the refraction of light. Your eyes deceive you Take a look at this clip around 12:30 where Dawkins himself says that if he were to see a direct sign of God – the heavens opening up and seeing the angels – he would still disbelieve in God. Instead, he would find it more probable that he were hallucinating, that David Blaine or some magician were playing a trick on him, or that aliens with some advanced technology could manipulate reality to make him think he were seeing what he were seeing. You can hear his own words here.... This article was originally published on themuslimtheist.com. Click here to continue reading.

Salaamu alaykum all. True example of Islamic akhlaq. May Allah increase this quality in the ummah.

The following excerpt is from The Muslim Theist Blog. Click here for the full original article. بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Before we can answer the question “how can I know that God exists?” we must first ask the question “how do I know anything at all.” Or perhaps more appropriately, since God is not a “thing,” we should ask “how do I come to know?” As we shall see, all knowledge is ultimately grounded in what is unfortunately called “intuition” in English, but which is more appropriately called “immediate knowledge” or “knowledge by presence” in Islamic philosophy. I will nevertheless sometimes use the word intuition, but it should not be mistaken for the ordinary usage of simply having a “hunch” about something or the vain, amorphous imaginings of artists and poets. From intuition, in its proper sense, descends pure reason, with its capacity to give completely certainty based on deductive proofs. After that descends inductive reason, which allows us to make probabilistic arguments that reach a different kind of certainty. Lastly, we have sense perception, which contrary to popular belief is actually the lowest and least reliable form of knowledge. Sense perception, quite obviously, cannot on its own lead one to belief in God, since God is immaterial. It must be combined with either reasoning or intuition in order to yield fruit, at least as far as we’re interested in the question of God and meaning. Now the question for you, my dear reader, is what are you looking for? Are you looking to know God directly, unmitigated by any long-winded, tedious discourse involving minute reasoning? Are you looking for absolute proof of the existence of God, one that considers all objections and involves very precise reasoning? Would you be satisfied with a very compelling probabilistic argument, based on solid evidence, for the existence of God? Or perhaps, more darkly, you are here simply to “refute” any attempts to show that God is, in fact, Reality. Perhaps you have already made up your mind and are here simply to edify your ego, without the slightest intention to actually listen to what is being said and to make a genuine attempt at understanding. Perhaps if you were to hear something that might otherwise change your perspective, you would miss it simply because you are subconsciously committed to an uncharitable reading and fault finding rather than sincerity. If so, realize there is nothing to be gained in this world by proving that you are right, other than the momentary satisfaction of having domination over another soul, but everything to be gained through sincerity. With that reminder at hand, I shall assume going forwards that you are entirely sincere in seeking to know the truth, whatever it might be, and that you are entirely prepared to hear this humble author’s perspective. As to the previous concern, what will ultimately satisfy all human beings is the direct knowledge of God, which is acquired intuitively. When a person experiences God, by definition certainty is attained – light fills the heart and one’s phenomenological experience of Being radically alters. It might be wise then, to simply prescribe steps for how one might achieve this meeting with the Divine, so that one might see the Truth for themselves rather than merely hear of it second hand. Indeed within each religion, there is a mystical path that is aimed at precisely that, and if one wishes they are entirely free to embark upon such a path. However, a problem arises in that a person who is not already on this path wants to know with certainty that the object of the journey, namely God, does in fact exist and so such efforts would not be in vain. It seems to be asking a little much to tell a person they must completely change their lifestyle, values, and temporarily suspend their established beliefs about the nature of reality simply to experiment and see, perhaps, if God is indeed Real and as Glorious as He is made out to be – a highly dubious supposition to begin with if one is already entrenched in the atheist camp. Continue...

Salaamu alaykum everyone, Thanks for all your support so far. My last major post (The Aql is Not Reason - It's Consciousness) had a reception beyond my expectations, and received over 200 shares alhamdulillah. Continuing with this series is my next post. There's been a gap since the post on the Aql, but inshaAllah I'll be producing the next posts in the series in rapid succession. After this series, if I have the tawfeeq I will move on to the proof(s) for the existence of God inshaAllah. I always appreciate any likes/shares and/or comments, jazakumullah khayr. http://themuslimtheist.com/you-are-not-your-rational-mind/

Salaamu alaykum everyone, This is the start of a series in which I am trying to distill the most important spiritual truths which I have realized in studying and participating in this deen. It is extremely relevant to Shiachatters especially as unfortunately many in this community have taken the deen to be a series of propositions which one assents to with the mind instead of a series of realities that have been integrated into the soul through the heart. What I have shared here has really changed my life. http://themuslimtheist.com/the-aql-is-not-reason-its-consciousness/

Bismillah. Salam. While surfing Isra Publications website I read and article and it is my favorite now. You can read it here: http://www.israpublications.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Dhikr_and_the_Wisdom_behind_it.pdf Thank you. ma salam.

Iranian scholar Dr. Rahimpour Azghadi discusses the differences between Islamic Spirituality (Irfan) and the Eastern-Western forms of "Spirituality". 4 minutes clip from an Islamic Sermon.

(bismillah) In his magnum opus, Mathnavi Ma’navi, Rumi tells the story of spiritual purification and compares it to spiritual development. In the story, the king wants the main hall of his court painted. He employs two groups of painters, Chinese and Romans; those nations reputable for their mastery of fine arts in the ancient world. In order to evaluate the creativity of both rivals, a curtain is placed along the hall and each group start its work on one side of the long hall. The winner of the royal competition is to be announced by the king himself after a week. From the first moment, Chinese started their hard work of mixing different colors, designing and painting; while Romans were constantly burnishing the opposite wall to create a large mirror. After one week, the King stepped in the hall to announce the winner. Everybody was waiting for the king’s opinion. The wall of Chines was unveiled. He looked at the wall which was a magnificent masterpiece of miraculous colors and design; it was a living paradise on the wall of the hall. “Chinese have just won the royal prize" everybody thought not very long before it was the time for Ruman's wall to be unveiled. The king looked at the wall which displayed exactly the same Paradise with the same magic art of even more glittering colors and with one unbelievable addition: the king himself was in that Paradise! According to Islamic mystical teachings, God created man as a mirror for Himself to complete His manifestation in His creation. Nothing else could replace man for this task. This unique merit of man, which stems from his freewill, made him worthy of reflecting God’s attributes and thus, angel's prostration. Spiritual purification actualizes the unbelievable potentials of human spirit. It is the process of restoring the original function of man's spirit as a mirror for Divine Attributes. No matter how much well-designed and complicated, a rusty mirror is useless. Here comes the importance of spiritual purification. While we generally think that we must add something to our spirits in order to achieve spiritual improvement, the right approach seems to be from the opposite direction. We have lost our direct, immediate and honest contact with the world outside; and this seems to be the main obstacle to our spiritual improvement. We have lost our grasp on the reality of our own actions and motivations. During the course of life, we've been involved in the business of creating false flags, sometimes even to deceive ourselves! As human beings, we naturally tend to decorate things, including our own actions, so that we can be satisfied and pleased. But in long term, this business of mixing and creating unnecessary additions becomes a continuous habit and a strong obstacle to an honest self-realization which is the first step toward spiritual improvement. The spiritual purification is a difficult process in which we try to be honest, first and for most with ourselves and then, with the world outside. Contrary to its naïve appearance, spiritual purification in this sense is neither easy, nor passive. It is a lifelong endeavor to acquire perfect balance in life, both personal and social. Passive spiritual purification is very much likely to become one of those static decorating habits; while actual purification is an active back-and-forth process which only ends with death. It is a dynamic set of different efforts to stabilize one's character in different situations of life while maintaining spirit's original honesty. We don’t need to live in caves to gain spiritual purification, nor do we have to cut our social relations; the true virtue, however, is to live this life with all its complications and maintain the original honesty of human spirit. Such circumstances and complications make the spiritual purification an active and dynamic quest which seems unfruitful without an external help from God.