What measures are you willing to take/taken to gain knowledge of religion?

[tendersoul 299]

Salam,

 

I would like to ask all, what caused you  thirst for knowledge of religion,

(if you had any thirst at any given point in your life)

 and what measures did you take to quench that thirst.

Where did you stop, after you found your source of knowledge? and why did you stop?

This need to quench thirst is more apparent in new reverts, or reverts in general.

But is not so much present in people who are born to muslim families,

 who generally copy paste what they parents do or have taught.

 

I have deep respect for reverts who came to be sunni's first, then arrive at Shia islam.

This shows an open mind and  thirst to grow and seek the truth.

 

This mind set reminds me of Salman Farsi, who did not stop growing, and searching for the truth.

He took drastic measures to quench his thirst for knowledge and truth.

And when he arrived at Islam, he did not stop, at the arrival, he plunged deeply into it,

So much so he was called part of ahlul bayt by the prophet pbuh.

 

Once you arrive at Shia Islam, how do you grow from here? do you stop after arrival?

or do you start looking further and deeper and start questioning like before,

to arrive at a new level within Shia Islam itself.

 

My other question, what measures do you take or willing to take to learn your religion?

Considering the fact Internet break the barriers.

Considering the fact we don't need to struggle going from one country to another like Salman did,

Considering we don't have to even travel as far as China any more,

But are willing to travel and pay for worldly knowledge, which 70% of us may never use, 

as we may never be hired in the field of the studies we spent so much money and time on.

Considering the fact when we fall in love, we make way, even if there is no way.

 

The other thing I noticed and observed,

the thirst for seeking deeper knowledge of religion is still mainly limited to Iranians in general.

I have noticed this up close, when an equal opportunity is introduced to an Iranian and non Iranian,

Most of the time, Iranians pursue it on deeper levels.

Why is that?

Are other Shias less interested in religion? or more engrossed in personal opinions?

While other nationalities may pursue Islam, but hardly seem to go deeper at a certain stage ,

 and pursue other philosophies/theories which may not benefit their here after as much.

I am trying to understand the reason behind this.

 

There must be a reason to it that the prophet said:

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying:

If the din were at the Pleiades, even then a person from Persia would have taken hold of it,

or one amongst the Persian descent would have surely found it.

 

Although there has been much complain about Islamic knowledge not being translated to English,

Probably there are not as many English speakers, 

who would are truly interested to pursue religion on a deeper level, for it to be translated in English.

Because if there was true thirst, either people would start either studying Arabic or Farsi, 

or definitely make an effort to make sure islamic knowledge to be translated into English,

or would have truly searched or seeked for a teacher or scholar to learn from.

**********************************************************************************************

 Life is too short to learn all the knowledge that you find attractive,

so learn what inspires you, only what inspires you.” - Imam Ali (AS)

 

Edited December 3, 2015 by tendersoul
OP request minor title edit

[narsis 2,636]

53 minutes ago, tendersoul said:

what caused you  thirst for knowledge of religion,

My nature.

 

54 minutes ago, tendersoul said:

what measures did you take to quench that thirst.

Uncountable.

 

56 minutes ago, tendersoul said:

Where did you stop, after your found your source of knowledge? and why did you stop?

I've not stopped and never be.

 

56 minutes ago, tendersoul said:

This need to quench thirst is more apparent in new reverts, or reverts in general.

Not at all. All feel such thirst because there is no limit for knowledge.

[tendersoul 299]

23 minutes ago, narsis said:

My nature.

 

Uncountable.

 

I've not stopped and never be.

 

Not at all. All feel such thirst because there is no limit for knowledge.

Salam,

Thank you for your response. If all left such thirst of such knowledge, Imam Sadiq ,would not have said during hajj,

if there were only 5 people from my shia...Or I would like to whip my shias to understand their religion.

And there will only be 313 true initial shias to assist Imam Mahdi, followed by 10,000,

from 300,000,000 current shias (according to one Sc poster) according to Hadiths,

Unless Allah does Badah, or the hadith is false.

 

Probably it is true for yourself, and Alhamdulilah for that.

Would you kindly elaborate, Since when did this thirst for knowledge of Islam started?

and only if you wish, to disclose, what measures you took to gain it?

Did you travel to learn it? did you seek all sources online? did you find a learned scholar to learn from?

What struggle did you encounter and how did you over come it?

What kind of knowledge interest you in religion more now?

How have you evolved?

It would be nice to hear your struggle, like we know the struggle of Salman Farsi.

And probably might encourage others the possibility to gain such.

Edited December 2, 2015 by tendersoul

[narsis 2,636]

My struggle had began when I realized that there are different faiths in the world and mine is not the only one. So I decided to do my own research in any idea and faith to the extent that I can. I started studying Islam, then different sects of Islam, then Christianity, Judaism,  eastern schools of thought like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Shinto, and others like Zoroastrianism, Bahaism and even Wahhabism, but the more I go forward, the more I feel unawareness and thirst of need to gain more knowledge specially Islam.

[tendersoul 299]

36 minutes ago, narsis said:

^^

So, Do you still feel the urge to study other than Islam? 

Or have you arrived to a point that Islam, has all the answers to your questions, and you just need to go deeper?

The more you know, as you said, the more you will know that you don't know.

What sources do you use to gain knowledge?

Books? Books along with discussing topics with experienced scholars?

Or just self study? What do you do to help you in your studies, if it is solely self studies?

What do you struggle with now?

Excuse my many questions.

 

 

[narsis 2,636]

I focused on Islam but I continue my studying in other faiths. I rely on main sources through explanation of authentic scholars.

[hafiz 85]

i was born a sunni muslim, then learnt about shia islam and sufism and they intersect at belief in 12 imams as and the wilayah of Imam Ali as. muslims who dont know about those two things seriously need to grow. and it reli is a problem when people just regurgitate whatever their parents have taught and dont feel like learning more. i learnt from books and people and scholars but theres too much i dont know and need time and energy to learn and understand then apply in my life. had i not bothered learning i would be sinning with a lot of nafs and i wud also have been a wahabi ( living in a predominantly wahabi city). i would disagree about iranians only having this thrist for knowlede...its a good thing if many iranians are like this...i respect that but  now due to internet and material easily found on the net, many people are learning about the truth of islam and particulary shiaism...and they come from the most diverse  backgrounds. 

 

apart from pursuing knowledge, sometimes u need time for other things in life too your job, education, family, frends....sometimes those areas require attention and take the priority to some pressing issues. but its good in our religion even treating ur family well, respecting parents, helping the muslim brotherhood, earning halal, pursuing education is all considered meritorious. so theres limits of time, energy, opportunity, resources in pursuing knowledge. learning isnt sufficient assimilating, coordinating applying that knowledge also takes work.

but Allah is Alim and over every knowledgable one theres another one, so theres no end to the knowledge quantity and quality wise you can gain. 

i respect reverts too, their struggle is hard. 

 

Edited December 2, 2015 by hafiz

[reisiger 905]

Salaam alaikum!

There are so many thoughts I want to add to this.  In shaa Allah I will be able to later, but one thing I notice is that people give reverts a lot of respect, and that feels good, but (and this is a big but) all praise is to Allah subhana wa ta'ala for guiding us from error to the truth of Islam.  That is an act of mercy and kindness that awes me beyond words.  :)

R

[tendersoul 299]

Salam Brother Hafiz,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

This is my own opinion, I feel it is even harder to revert from a sunni muslim background, then from being agnostic or christian.

So, in my opinion your struggle, mentally and socially is quite tough too or even tougher.

So my hats off to you. I have a great deal of respect for people like yourself.

 

Were you a lenient/open minded sunni? or staunch sunni, who had an Aha moment ?

What struggle did you encounter in the process?

how did you deal with it?

What was your initial source of awareness/knowledge? people or books?

or simply reflecting on both?

 

When, I mentioned Iranian, I did not mean Only iranians, I mentioned in general.

This is apparent thru out history and also the hadith above.

 

Ofcourse part of true knowledge is to act is accordance to knowledge,

and to confirm the Quran Aya which says :

No soul shall be burdened beyond its capacity. (2:233)

This in itself is acting according to knowledge, to know your capacity of time and duty towards others.

 

What do you do now a days to upgrade yourself?

Are you trying to focus more on practising what you learnt souly?

Or also spending some time to learn more according to your capacity ( time/work etc)

What was/is your best source of learning?

Edited December 2, 2015 by tendersoul

[tendersoul 299]

18 minutes ago, reisiger said:

Salaam alaikum!

There are so many thoughts I want to add to this.  In shaa Allah I will be able to later, but one thing I notice is that people give reverts a lot of respect, and that feels good, but (and this is a big but) all praise is to Allah subhana wa ta'ala for guiding us from error to the truth of Islam.  That is an act of mercy and kindness that awes me beyond words.  :)

R

Salam,

Ofcourse every good is from Allah :

Whatever good happens to you is from God,

and whatever bad happens to you is from your own self.( nisa:79)

 

Whomever God guides is the guided one.

And whomever He sends astray—these are the losers. (Al-A'raaf: 178)

Having said that God guides people according to the knowledge

he has that, we would accept and submit to his path.

Something in you has to trigger, or atleast when the truth is shown to you, to accept.

God does not change the condition of a people until they change what is within themselves. (Ar-Rad : 11)

 

Hence my respect stems from a place that those who reverted, either from sunni, or any other religion,

were open minded people, open for change no matter what society thought of them.

I shall await for more of your response on the topic.

[hafiz 85]

tender soul, i was in a very difficult situation in my life, like i had no hope. so i came to know about tawassul. and i really needed a personal relationship with the ahlul bayt as. so i looked in shiaism and sufism. my best source of learning was a shia gillani syeda,( she introduced me to many concepts and sayyid ali khamenei )and a family of syeds who were sufi and shia mixed. 

 

Edited December 2, 2015 by hafiz
combining two posts

[hafiz 85]

soon i ll delve into biographies of the imams as...to know more of them individually. so i can do tawassul for help more respectfully and learn life lessons and morals from them. ill also read into imam mahdi as and his as reappearance...which i believe is imminent. in any case even if imam mahdi as is in ghayba, he as knows what attrocities are being committed in the world. 

Edited December 2, 2015 by hafiz

[tendersoul 299]

6 hours ago, hafiz said:

tender soul, i was in a very difficult situation in my life, like i had no hope. so i came to know about tawassul. and i really needed a personal relationship with the ahlul bayt as. 

Salam,

Thank you for sharing. Very interesting.

"What hurts you Blesses you,

Darkness is your candle."- Rumi

Edited December 3, 2015 by tendersoul

[LeftCoastMom 4,930]

Just a note: English speakers who choose to truly become scholars of any scripture ( or any text for that matter) learn the original languages they were written in. 

[knowledgeseeker 14]

Salaam Alaykum, 

There are many things that I want to say but iA will come back to it later and post my thoughts! 

[Ali.Isa 158]

On 12/2/2015 at 9:13 AM, narsis said:

My struggle had began when I realized that there are different faiths in the world and mine is not the only one. So I decided to do my own research in any idea and faith to the extent that I can. I started studying Islam, then different sects of Islam, then Christianity, Judaism,  eastern schools of thought like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Shinto, and others like Zoroastrianism, Bahaism and even Wahhabism, but the more I go forward, the more I feel unawareness and thirst of need to gain more knowledge specially Islam.

Salam Aalikom, what sources do you study in islam, or have studied! And by the way what your doing is good, you should check out the University of Religions and Denominations

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Religions_and_Denominations

On 12/2/2015 at 9:25 AM, tendersoul said:

So, Do you still feel the urge to study other than Islam? 

Or have you arrived to a point that Islam, has all the answers to your questions, and you just need to go deeper?

The more you know, as you said, the more you will know that you don't know.

What sources do you use to gain knowledge?

Books? Books along with discussing topics with experienced scholars?

Or just self study? What do you do to help you in your studies, if it is solely self studies?

What do you struggle with now?

Excuse my many questions.

 

 

Salam Alaikom, can we say when we know knowledge, it helps us to say so little we know, and this makes us to act properly and precisely, and talk less. There is a hadith i did not find, with following content: 'any cup/bowl is filled when  respective content is poured in it except the bowl of knowledge, contrary you get increased capacity.' Example you have capacity to learn 10 things, when you learn 2 things, it is not 8, but 2 increase. So one should remind oneself that if one discovers so ignorant one is, Allah gives capacity to learn further.

55ـ الإمامُ عليٌّ (عَلَيهِ الّسَلامُ): كلُّ شَيءٍ يَنقُصُ عَلَى الإنفاقِ إلّا العِلمَ.

55– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Everything decreases with giving away except knowledge.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 6888]

On 12/2/2015 at 8:41 AM, narsis said:

My nature.

 

Uncountable.

 

I've not stopped and never be.

 

Not at all. All feel such thirst because there is no limit for knowledge.

Salam Alaikom, Sure there is no limit, but when we eat physical food we get satisfied or we fill so much that we can not continue, And we can eat so much like muawiya Curse upon Him and never satisfied, until we die in certain age, and even this food for stomach continue in paradise but do not know if one gets filled in hereafter.

So the food is always available, eat; i stop when satisfied; start eating when feeling hungry. The problem for some is, they are dying of hunger spiritually but they do not recognize it, they are in pain, but... Imagine if there be such sickness that you do not feel physical hunger, or you train yourself and cheat like those follow deviated 'mystical paths', or you are out of your fitra like it and have such character, because you spend time on reflection like the Prophet Peace upon Him and His Family when he was child.

Maybe people that continue searching and eating spiritual knowledge without being satisfied, and stop to do it to act upon it, becomes like muawiya Curse upon Him but in spiritual sense. Of course long term it is normal to continue, but in short terms, we should be satisfied and act upon it. What is the point of food/knowledge when we eat it and not act, we have energy and we not do work, and is not only beneficial but contrary harmful. By writing like this opens our eyes how to deal with the problem, to continue reflecting this synonym and develop this 'logical reasoning'. To find the proper medication, use in right time, control the sickness, to start than fighting it and removing it so we start act with knowledge.

Edited January 4, 2016 by Ali.Isa