tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19081613359869438142024-02-06T19:21:23.107-08:00Judeo-SufiWeekly quotations from Judeo-Ṣūfī rabbis and related historical references.Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-60757591469296212752012-12-15T07:24:00.001-08:002012-12-15T07:24:52.797-08:00<b><a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=100001897466856" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashlamah" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: initial;">Hashlamah</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> Project at Antioch College's Friday Forums</span></b><br />
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<br />Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-75801149053708131102012-09-23T04:46:00.005-07:002012-09-23T04:47:46.589-07:00Hashlamah Project Study Circles are forming around the world!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<br />Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-51448033042114844892012-09-23T04:43:00.001-07:002012-09-23T04:47:27.133-07:00Was the Epistle to Yemen actually written by Maimonides?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Was the Epistle to Yemen actually written by Maimonides? If part of it was, does this mean that the entire work was? Might a letter from Maimonides have had later commentary added in by a community that found itself victims of Zaydi oppression and forced conversions?</div>
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This video explores some anomalies in letter, which indicates possible later interpolation from the Yemenite community which passed this letter down. This is a particularly important matter for Jewish-Islamic relations, as this is the only source of the Rambam speaking negatively towards Islam and Muhammad, whereas works that he wrote and claimed promoted a different view altogether.</div>
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<br />Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-89262734991583067532012-02-14T19:53:00.000-08:002012-02-14T19:54:51.089-08:00The Qur'an Commands Obedience to the Bible, and Instructs Jews to Follow Judaism; the Covenant of the Mitzvot<p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span >Throughout the centuries, the Muslim world has argued that the Qur'an is to be read as <em>sola scriptura, </em>with supplementation only from fairly late <em>hadith</em> accounts, but never from the Bible. This is determined through the late<em>hadith</em> literature where the literary character of Muhammad is claimed to have forbidden Umar from reading the Bible.</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span >In contrast to this, Shi`ah accounts, from Muhammad's direct descendants through `Ali and Fatimah, claim that these descendants - spiritual <em>a'immah</em> - were extremely well versed in the Bible. Similarly, such accounts contend that the Bible would be a primary source of judgment for a future "mahdi", who would also pray in the Hebrew language. While such accounts are repleat throughout the Shi`ah <em>hadith </em>literature - itself being writting as late as the Sunni accounts - normative<em> Ithna `Ashari </em>beliefs today are much closer to mainstream Sunni views, and than they are to the actual <em>hadith</em>narrations attributed to the <em>Ahl al-Bayt</em>, Muhammad's family, with regard to such matters.</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span >As for the Qur'an itself, it is even more clear; mincing no words whatsoever, and having no awareness of any later notion that it should supercede, or abrogate the Bible. We read, for instance, that if something is already in the Bible, the follower of Muhammad has no business asking him for a decision on such a matter; which is already plainly commanded by God in the Bible.</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: right;font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span >وَكَيْفَ يُحَكِّمُونَكَ وَعِنْدَهُمُ التَّوْرَاةُ فِيهَا حُكْمُ اللَّهِ ثُمَّ يَتَوَلَّوْنَ مِنْ بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ ۚ وَمَا أُولَٰئِكَ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span >And why do they come to you for a decision, when they have the Torah before them? Therein is the Command of God; yet even after that, they would turn away. Such are not Believers (Mu'minin/Ma'minim). (5.43)</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: right;font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span >فَإِنْ كُنْتَ فِي شَكٍّ مِمَّا أَنْزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ فَاسْأَلِ الَّذِينَ يَقْرَءُونَ الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ ۚ لَقَدْ جَاءَكَ الْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّكَ فَلَا تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span >If you are in doubt as what We have revealed to you, ask those who have been reading the Bible before you. Verily, the truth from your Lord has come to you, so be not of those who waiver [in belief]. (10.94)</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span >Criticizing those who don't adhere to the Torah and Gospel, only hypocrites are criticized, and not Jews and Nazarenes across the board. This tells us that the Qur'an viewed the Torah and the singular Gospel used by the Nazarenes, according to historical sources, a singular Hebrew Gospel which the Ebionites and Nazarenes alike utilized, as being valid, and does not criticize it as being textually invalid or corrupted.</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: right;font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span >وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ أَقَامُوا التَّوْرَاةَ وَالْإِنْجِيلَ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْهِمْ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ لَأَكَلُوا مِنْ فَوْقِهِمْ وَمِنْ تَحْتِ أَرْجُلِهِمْ ۚ مِنْهُمْ أُمَّةٌ مُقْتَصِدَةٌ ۖ وَكَثِيرٌ مِنْهُمْ سَاءَ مَا يَعْمَلُونَ</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span >If only they had stood fast by the Torah, the Gospel, and all the revelation that was sent to them from their Lord, they would have enjoyed happiness from every side. There is from among them a party on the right course: but many of them follow a course that is evil. (5.66)</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span >This clearly says that if those who turned away from the Torah and the Hebrew Ebionite Gospel would have kept to those texts, then they would have enjoyed happiness. This thus precludes the possibility that those scriptures were viewed as corrupt or abrogated by the Qur'an. Furthermore, the Qur'an commands Jews to continue to follow the Brit of the Torah and Mitzvot:</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: right;font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span >يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتِيَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَأَوْفُوا بِعَهْدِي أُوفِ بِعَهْدِكُمْ وَإِيَّايَ فَارْهَبُونِ</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span >O Children of Israel! call to mind My Favor which I bestowed upon you, and keep up your Covenant with Me as I fulfill My Covenant with you, and fear no one but Me. (2.40)</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span >That is, the Qur'an instructs Jews to continue to practice Yahadut, the praising of Yah through the Covanent of the Mitzvot in the Torah. This is the clearly articulated Covenant to which the Qur'an refers, and which any reader of the Bible is familiar. </span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span >The Qur'an in fact says that when those who follow the Bible already hear what Muhammad recited, they recognized it as Biblical and Midrashic stories and instructions ALREADY received. </span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: right;font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span >مُ الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ هُمْ بِهِ يُؤْمِنُونَ</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span >Those unto whom We gave the Bible before it, they believe in it (28.52)</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: right;font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span >وَإِذَا يُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْهِمْ قَالُوا آمَنَّا بِهِ إِنَّهُ الْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّنَا إِنَّا كُنَّا مِنْ قَبْلِهِ مُسْلِمِينَ</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span >And when it is recited to them they say: We believe in it surely it is the truth from our Lord; surely we were submitting ones (muslimin) before this. (28.53)</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span >Clearly then, a "muslim" is here defined as one who believes in the Bible and follows it. This was a new message to polythesists in the Arab world, but it was nothing at all new to Jews and Nazarenes. Thus, the Qur'an says, to its polytheist audience, that the Jews and Nazarenes in their midst already know this and are the first to say "we were submitting ones before this"; indicating clearly that "muslim" was not a term for a separate religion, defined by the Qur'an (but instead was a universal practice of obeying God by honoring the instructions in the Bible or the instructions given by Muhammad to the Arabs who had not previously been exposed to the Bible and Midrash. Thus the Qur'an tells us to "And believe in what I have revealed, verifying that which is with you, and be not the first to deny it, neither sell My communications for a small price; and Me, Me alone should you fear" (2.41).</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: right;font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span >وَآمِنُوا بِمَا أَنْزَلْتُ مُصَدِّقًا لِمَا مَعَكُمْ وَلَا تَكُونُوا أَوَّلَ كَافِرٍ بِهِ ۖ وَلَا تَشْتَرُوا بِآيَاتِي ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا وَإِيَّايَ فَاتَّقُونِ</span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "><span ><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; ">Thus, the Bible which the Qur'an is "verifying" is "with you" currently, in Muhammad's day and ever since. 'Ayah 89 also repeats that the Qur'an is "verifying" the Bible, and that the curse of Allah is on the "kafirin", the "koferim" in Hebrew; meaning those who apostate from Judaism by breaking the Covanent. The Bible is not seen as corrupted, nor filled with deformed and distorted accounts that the listener to the Qur'an is to disregard. When Muslims reject the Bible, they are literally rejecting and disobeying the Qur'an. </p>Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-33297115601098480862012-02-04T05:55:00.000-08:002012-02-04T06:09:16.989-08:00Why does the Hadith say Ashura was the Day Moses and his people "were saved"?As we have already seen, Hadith tells us that Ashura (the tenth of Muharram), was the day on which Moses and his people "were saved" from Pharaoh. This has led to some confusion. First, we must remember that "Hadith" itself literally means that the statement has been orally passed down. If these sources often trace to a textual origin, that we have documented before the penning of the Hadith narration, then we should expect the oral tradition to get a little confused, particularly so if the narrator does not understand the religious context of a claim he is transmitting. <div><br /></div><div>We see this proven in the layers of change that occur in the tradition, as it is narrated sometimes as saying that this day was the Jewish fast day, on the tenth of the "Sacred" (Muharram) month, when the Jewish people were saved "from Pharaoh" (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Hadith 6.202), and other times simply as "from their enemy" (3.222). It is clear that the reporter of the "from Pharaoh" versions, has simply misunderstood "their enemy" to refer to the external enemy in the Exodus story. In reality, this Hadith has its origin in Jewish Midrashic sources. An excellent compilation of these stories can be found in Louis Ginsberg's, <i>The Legends of the Jews</i>.<br /><div><br /></div><div>In Judaism, Midrash teaches that, "The Day on which God showed Himself merciful to Moses and to his people, was the 10th day of Tishri [Yom Kippur]. This was the day on which Moses was to receive the tables of Law from God for the second time... and all Israel spent it amid prayer and fasting. 'My children, I swear by My Lofty Name that your tears shall be tears of rejoicing for you; this day shall be a day of pardom, of forgiveness, and of cancelling of sins for you, for your children, and your children's children to the end of all generations.'"</div></div>Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-73264543281852443532011-06-01T15:25:00.000-07:002011-06-01T19:04:46.758-07:00Rabbi Avraham ibn Hasdai and Muhammad the SageRabbi Avraham ibn Hasdai, the early 13th century author, writes in his rephrasing of Al-Ghazali's <i>Mizan al-Amal</i>, in<i> Sefer Moznei Tzedek, </i>a hadith which was in some accounts attributed to `Ali ibn Abi Talib, but most popularly attributed in various hadith narrations, to Muhammad. <div><blockquote>So The Sage has said, "Heresy begins like a black dot in the heart." This can increase until the heart becomes totally black. Similarly, faith begins like a white dot. As faith increases so does the whiteness. If a person's faith is complete, then his heart becomes totally white. So it is written, "Even though your sins are scarlet, they can become as white as snow" (Isaiah 1.18). (<i>Moznei Tzedek, </i>81)</blockquote></div><div>We see this in hadith literature, such as the following:</div><div><blockquote>Abu Hurairah narrated: God's Messenger, peace be upon him, said:"When a servant [of God[ commits a sin, a black dot is dotted on his heart. Then if that person gives up that evil deed, begs God to forgive him, and repents, then his heart is cleared; but if he repeats the evil deed, then that covering is increased till his heart is completely covered with it. And this is Ar-Ran that God mentioned [in the Qur'an]," No! but on their hearts is the Ar-Ran which they used to earn" (83:14) (At-Tirmidhi, Vol 5 , Hadith No: 3334)<br /></blockquote>We thus see not only is the hadith sited, but Muhammad is called "The Sage", and a Biblical verse is substituted for the Qur'anic reference in the hadith<i>.</i></div>Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-91016820229919076312011-04-25T12:34:00.000-07:002011-04-25T12:40:28.084-07:00Talmudic "Oral" Torah Regarded as Binding by MuhammadNarrated Salman al-Farsi: "I read in the Torah that the blessing of food consists in ablution before it. So I mentioned it to the Prophet. He said: The blessing of food consists in ablution before it and ablution after it." (Abu Dawud: Book 27, Number 3752)<div><br /></div><div>This is from the <i>Oral </i>Torah, recorded in the Talmudic tractate <i>Berakhot </i>53b. As with Judaism in general, the Oral Torah is considered part of the Torah, and is indicated in the written Torah as having been delivered to Moses on Sinai. Salman and Muhammad both apparently referred to this as the "Torah" as well, and we see numerous Talmudic stories cited, and quoted in the Qur'an.</div>Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-69852008825172012482011-03-14T20:49:00.000-07:002011-03-14T20:56:20.232-07:00Maimonides on the Monotheism of Muslims<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; ">"The Ishmaelites are not at all idolaters; [idolatry] has long been severed from their mouths and hearts; and they attribute to God a proper unity, a unity concerning which there is no doubt. And because they lie about us, and falsely attribute to us the statement that God has a son, there is [nevertheless] no reason for us to lie about them and say that they are idolaters... And should anyone say that the house that they honor [the Ka`abah] is a house of idolatry and an idol is hidden within it, which their ancestors used to worship, then what of it? The hearts of those who prostrate toward it today are [directed] only toward Heaven . . . [Regarding] the Ishmaelites today - idolatry has been severed from the mouths of all of them [including] women and children. Their error and foolishness is in other things which cannot be put into writing because of the renegades and wicked among Israel [koferim/apostates]. But as regards the unity of God they have no error at all." Maimonides (the Rambam) in his responsum to `Obadyah the proselyte."</span>Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-2592833034267348852011-03-14T18:48:00.001-07:002011-03-14T19:15:45.755-07:00"'Ummatun Qā'imatun"<div>They are not all alike from the People of the Book (Ahl al-Kitāb, People of the Bible or Tanakh). There is an Upright Ummah ('Ummatun Qā'imatun); they recite Allah's ayat in the nighttime and they prostrate (Yasjudūna). (Qur'ān 3.113)</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: right;">لَيْسُوا سَوَاءً ۗ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ أُمَّةٌ قَائِمَةٌ يَتْلُونَ آيَاتِ اللَّهِ آنَاءَ اللَّيْلِ وَهُمْ يَسْجُدُونَ </div><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/UV5gLXSiJuU/0.jpg"><img src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/UV5gLXSiJuU/0.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="float: none; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 360px; " /></a></div>Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-78048435270529491982010-12-10T23:22:00.000-08:002010-12-10T23:46:12.853-08:00The Enemies of Judeo-Sufism Were the Enemies of the Rambam and his family...Today it is no surprise that there are some backwards members of various segments of the Jewish community who will - acting on their own ignorance of Judaism - accuse Judeo-Sufis of <span style="font-style: italic;">`avodah zarah</span>, or otherwise being part of some bizarre Shabbtaist or Frankist agenda. Their general accusations are nothing new, as these were the same caliber of attacks leveled against the son and grandsons of the Rambam.<br /><br />David ben Joshua (ca. 1335-1415), last known of the Maimonideans was similarly fascinated by Sufism and integrated it in the same manner as his predecessor. His Judeo-Sufi work <i>Al-Murshid ila-l-Tafarrud</i> (<i>The Guide to Detachment</i>), embodies the most all-encompassing synthesis of Rabbinical belief with Sufism.<br /><br /><blockquote>Despite Abraham Maimonides’ political and religious prestige, the pietist movement, like many revivalist trends in religious history, met with virulent opinion. The pietists were accused of introdcing “false ideas,” “unlawful changes,” and “gentile (sufi) customs,” and they were even denounced to the Muslim authorities.2</blockquote><br />By this time persecution against the movement had grown. The very same brand of opponent – “who attempt to refute those with real understanding” – who leveled accusations and proposed banning Moses ben Maimon, had now continued in opposition to his family legacy; working in collusion with “Islaamic” authorities of Egypt to have the Maimonides Synagogue closed. This persecution eventually culminated in the exile of David ben Avraham (1222-1300) from Egypt, and the gradual disappearance of this Judeo-Sufi pietist movement from Judaism.2 In spite of this, however, the intellectual legacy of the Maimonides family, and certainly of Maimonides himself, remains unscathed and unimaginably influential in the current era.<br /><br /><br />__________________________________________________________<br /><br />1. Josef W. Meri, Jere L. Bacharach, Medieval Islamic Civilization: L-Z. pp 547<br /><br />2. Ibid. pp. 547Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-13118640348928723052010-12-09T13:50:00.000-08:002010-12-09T13:51:02.396-08:00Judeo-Sufi Rabbis and Recommended Reading<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wtedG9bgfjg?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wtedG9bgfjg?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-44729154787215475182010-12-09T00:51:00.000-08:002010-12-09T01:05:33.997-08:00Rabbi Ya`qov Yosef, disciple of the Besht, quotes Rabbeinu Bahya on Muhammad the ChassidThe full eBook that this selection is from can be purchased here: <a href="http://www.hashlamah.org/ebooks.php">http://www.hashlamah.org/ebooks.php</a><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.hashlamah.org/ebooks.php"></a>In an anecdote about a pious person, a chasid, one of the early masters of the Chasidic movement, in eighteenth-century Eastern Europe, Rabbi Ya`qov Yosef of Polonnoy writes in Hebrew of the chasid with the following saying:<br /><br /><blockquote>It was told of a pious man (<i>chasid</i>) that he met some people returning from a great battle with an enemy. He said to them, ‘You are returning, praised be God, from a smaller battle, carrying your booty. Now prepare yourself for the greater battle.’ They asked, ‘What is that greater battle?’ and he answered, ‘The battle against the instinct and its armies.1</blockquote><br />This “chasid” was none other than Muhammad himself, though it is highly unlikely that Rabbi Jacob of Polonnoy had any idea that he was in fact quoting a very famous hadith, popular amongst both Mutasawwuf and Islamic literates alike. There is no question, however, that Rabbeinu Bahya was aware of the identity of this <i>chassid </i>of whom he wrote. </div><div><br /></div><div>In the same way, today readers of Hebrew and English-from-Hebrew translations of Bahya ibn Paqudah’s works might be just as surprised to know that this term for “battle” in this hadeeth was “jihad” and that this was the same Arabic term employed throughout Bahya’s works for both the external and great internal struggle (<i>jihadu-l-akbar</i>), the struggle against the self, or as Rabbi Ya`qov termed it, the “instinct” (“jahada-n-nafsa” in the original hadeeth). While there is absolutely no dispute that Bahya had much larger implications than mere “holy war” the <i>Mutasawwufin </i>would similarly claim that - as this source originates with Muhammad - that Muhammad neither meant by “jihad” physical struggle, but struggle against “the instinct and its armies.”</div><div><br />But if Muhammad was well acquainted with Jewish tradition, and if he saw himself as somehow implementing it, to an extent, amongst the Arabs, then the natural and problematic question is why would this not be clear amongst Islamic Orthodoxy today, or in the past. Todd Lawson, Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Toronto offers a poignant observation:<br /><br /><blockquote>Undoubtedly, one of the reasons such material has been ignored in the context of this problem has to do with what we now know are unsuitable categories - especially in the case of Islam - of 'orthodoxy' and 'heterodxy' as methodological guides in religious studies. In the past, in many scholarly circles, it was felt that 'real (cf. orthodox) Islam', which was naturally the most populous Islam, is what we should be studying. Whatever the 'real Islam' might be, we now know that the majoritarian version of Islam, that is to say Sunni Islam, represents a consolidation of doctrines and positions that were worked out over time and in discussion, sometimes heated, sometimes not, with alternative views of what 'real Islam' was.2</blockquote><br />_______________________________________________<br /><br />1. Diane Lobel, <i>A Sufi-Jewish Dialogue</i>, 2; ix<br />2. Todd Lawson, <i>The Crucifxion and the Qur'an: A Study in the History of Muslim Thought</i>, 6-7 </div>Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-26597479441298771442010-11-10T08:21:00.000-08:002010-11-10T08:44:41.613-08:00The Qur'an asks: Why ask Muhammad when you have the Torah?<span>Once we strip away the centuries of explaining the clear words of the Qur'an away, we read that Muhammad told people NOT to come to him and ask about matters which the Torah had already instructed us on:<br /><br />"And why do they come to you <span></span><span>for a decision while they have the Torah, in which is the Decision of God; yet even after that, they turn away. For they are not Believers (Mu'minin/Ma'minim)." (5.43)<br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: right;">وَكَيْفَ يُحَكِّمُونَكَ وَعِنْدَهُمُ التَّوْرَاةُ فِيهَا حُكْمُ اللَّهِ ثُمَّ يَتَوَلَّوْنَ مِنْ بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ ۚ وَمَا أُولَٰئِكَ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ<br /></div><span><span><br />Accepting the words of the Qur'an would revolutionize the Islamic world. Thus, the Torah tells us</span></span> that "Everything that I command you, you shall keep and observe; do not add to it, and do not subtract from it." (Deuteronomy 13:1) Al-hamdulillah, Muhammad understood this and it is reflected in the Qur'an which accepts the Torah, does not abrogate it, nor the commandments therein for Jews, but does not mandate the 613 mitzvot upon those who have not embraced willing the Yoke of the Torah. This was the position on Muhammad of such individuals as Rabbi Natanyel ibn al-Fayyumi, leader of the Jewish community of Yemen and the `Issuniyyah Jews.Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-72305510630689247662010-11-10T05:52:00.001-08:002010-11-10T08:41:45.784-08:00Sunni Hadith on Muhammad paying respect to the Sefer Torah and professing belief in itAbu Dawud narrated in his collection that Ibn Umar said:<br /><br />A group of Jewish people invited the messenger of Allah to a house. When he came, they asked him: O Abu Qasim, one of our men committed adultery with a woman, what is your judgment against him? So they placed a pillow and asked the messenger of Allah to set on it. Then the messenger of Allah proceeded to say: bring me the Torah. When they brought it, he removed the pillow from underneath him and placed the Torah on it and said: I believe in you and in the one who revealed you, then said: bring me one of you who have the most knowledge. So they brought him a young man who told him the story of the stoning. (Book 38.4434)<br /><p style="text-align: right;" class="MsoNormal"><span dir="rtl" lang="AR-SA">وقال أبو داود: حدثنا أحمد بن سعيدالهمداني، حدثنا ابن وهب، حدثنا هشام بن سعد أن زيد بن أسلم حدثه عن ابن عمر قال: أتى نفر من اليهود فدعوا رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم إلى القف، فأتاهم في بيت المدارس، فقالوا: ياأبا القاسم، إن رجلاً منا زنى بامرأة فاحكم. قال: ووضعوا لرسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم وسادة فجلس عليها، ثم قال «ائتوني بالتوراة، فأتي بها، فنزع الوسادة من تحته ووضع التوراة عليها، وقال «آمنت بك وبمن أنزلك» ثم قال «ائتوني بأعلمكم» فأتي بفتى شاب ثم ذكر قصة الرجم نحو حديث مالك عن نافع</span><span dir="ltr"></span><span dir="ltr"></span><span dir="ltr"></span><span dir="ltr"></span>.</p>How is this hadith viewed in the Ummah? Naturally it is rejected, as it is dissimilar and theological embarrassment to the mainstream dogma. The issue is pinpointed with a transmitter Hishām ibn Sa’ad Al-Madanī. Hāfith Ibn Hajr says about him in his <span style="font-style: italic;">Taqrīb</span>, that he was "Honest" though had "mistakes, and delved into Shi'ism." Thus, once again, we find that even those who we were not Shi`ah themselves found Jewish Muhammad traditions from amongst the school of the Ahl al-Bayt. While many of the most anti-Jewish polemicists in Islamicate scholarship seem to detest him, Abu Zura’ah said, "His status is honesty" and Al-`Ijlī said, "His hadīth are permitted, and are Hasan Al-Hadīth." (Entry 7294 of <span style="font-style: italic;">Tahrīr Taqrīb</span> published by Mu’assasat al-Risālah 1997)Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-9105508229344471892010-11-10T05:48:00.000-08:002010-11-10T05:49:58.678-08:00The Shi`i Imam al-Mahdi will pray in Hebrew<span class="" style="" id="profile_status"><span id="status_text">Reported to us Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Saeed al Uqdah who said: It was narrated to us from Ali ibn al-Hasan al-Taymali who narrated to us from al-Hasan and Muhammad the sons of Ali ibnu Yusuf, from Sa’daan ibn Muslim, from Rajaal, from al-Mufadhaal ibn Umar from Abu Abdullah (Ja`far al-Sadiq, the sixth Shi`i Imam) that:<br /><br />“When the Imam Mahdi calls out, he will pray to God in Hebrew.” (al-Numayni, Kitab Al-Ghayba)</span></span>Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-36313249213292093232010-10-21T20:42:00.000-07:002010-10-22T04:58:23.143-07:00Palestinian Muslims are Talmūdically Gerei TōshavThe Torah does NOT support the idea that only Jews can live in Eretz Yisrael and it COMMANDS many times that the <span style="font-style: italic;">ger tōshav </span>be respected and protected therein. Avōdah Zarah 64b indicates that a one fulfilling the Noachid commandments, and thus a Muslim, should be considered a <span style="font-style: italic;">ger tōshav</span>. Oppressing Palestinians in any way is a violation of the Torah and thus Judaism.<br /><br />Avōdah Zarah 65a indicates that <span style="font-style: italic;">gerei tōshav </span>need not be formalized before a Beyt Dīn, but can be informal; lest anyone try to suggest that their status as <span style="font-style: italic;">gerei tōshav</span> needs to be formally professed before rabbis. In either event, we know that the tenants of the Qur'ān mandate the Noachid laws and thus, by professing Islām, they are professing to be <span style="font-style: italic;">gerei tōshav</span>, and secondarily, 65a makes it clear that this is not even an issue. Simply by professing to follow the tenants of the Qur'ān, the Palestinian Muslim is Talmūdically granted the status of ger tōshav.<br /><br />It is time for Israel to <span style="font-style: italic;">truly </span>become a Jewish State and recognize the rights of the <span style="font-style: italic;">gerei tōshav</span>.Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-79683913814974004232010-09-14T19:36:00.000-07:002010-09-14T19:50:52.068-07:00A good starting place for Judeo-Sufi studies...Rabbeinu Bachya ibn Paqudah's <i>Duties of the Hearts. </i>Known in Arabic as <i>Al-Hidayah ila Fara'id al-Qulub. </i>In the Hebrew translation from the Judeo-Arabic, it is known as <i>Chovot ha'Levavot, </i>a text studied in Orthodox Yeshivot still today.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Direction-Duties-Littman-Library-Civilization/dp/1904113230">http://www.amazon.com/Direction-Duties-Littman-Library-Civilization/dp/1904113230<br /></a><br />The next book, <i>Al-Bustan al-`Uqul (The Garden of Intellectual-Reasonings) </i>is Rabbi Natanyel ibn al-Fayyumi. Like rabbeinu Bachya, he was a Neo-Platonist, influenced by the Ikhwan as-Safa and was also the head of the Jews of Yemen the generation before the Rambam. The Epistle to Yemen was to this man's son, one of several significant reasons arguing for its lack of total historicity...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bustan-al-Ukul-Nathanael-ben-Fayyumi/dp/0543712834/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1284477209&sr=1-1-fkmr0">http://www.amazon.com/Bustan-al-Ukul-Nathanael-ben-Fayyumi/dp/0543712834/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1284477209&sr=1-1-fkmr0</a><br /><br />The son of the Rambam, Avraham ben Maimonides, authored the <i>Kitaab Kifayat al-`Abideen, (Comprehensive Guide to the Servants), </i>a book which famously praised the Sufis of Islaam and called for the readoption of their ancient Jewish practices by the Egyptian Jewish community which he led. This is actually a very bad translation and not even the whole book. This was translated from the HEBREW translation from the Judeo-Arabic, and as i said, it is not even the whole thing. But the Judeo-Arabic translation is very long out of print. i have a copy that my son is scanning in, but it's not ready yet (still a lot to scan).<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Serving-Torah-Classics-Library/dp/1583309810/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284477257&sr=1-1">http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Serving-Torah-Classics-Library/dp/1583309810/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284477257&sr=1-1<br /></a><br />`Ovadyah ben Avraham ben Maimonides wrote an excellent Judeo-Sufi <i>Treatise on the Pool, </i>in Judeo-Arabic: <i>Al-Mawalah al-Hawdiyyah</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Treatise-Pool-Al-Mawala-Al-Hawdiyya/dp/0900860871/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284477473&sr=1-1-spell">http://www.amazon.com/Treatise-Pool-Al-Mawala-Al-Hawdiyya/dp/0900860871/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284477473&sr=1-1-spell</a>Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-38425952965126814562010-08-27T08:20:00.000-07:002010-08-27T08:23:54.320-07:00Natan'el Ibn Al-Fayyumi, Leader of the Jews of Yemen (ca. 1090-1165)"Nothing prevents God from sending into His world whomsoever He wishes, since the world of holiness sends forth emanations unceasingly... Even before the revelation of the Law he sent prophets to the nations... and again after its revelation nothing prevented Him from sending to them whom He wishes so that the world might not remain without religion... Muhammad was a prophet to them but not to those who preceded them in the knowledge of God. He permitted to every people something He forbade to others. He sends a prophet to every people (Qur'aan 14.4) according to their language."<br /><br />Ibn al-Fayyumi, the Bustan al-Ukul (ed. and trans. D. Levine; New York: Columbia University Press, 1908; repr. 1966), pp. 2 and el-Uqul: Gan ha'Sekhalim (Jerusalem: Halikhot Am Israel, AM 5744/1984)Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-60134944027194308012010-07-08T16:00:00.000-07:002010-07-08T16:11:21.301-07:00Rabbeinu Aḅraham ben Rambam on the Jewish Origins of Sufi Practice<div>You are aware of the ways of the ancient saints of Israel, which are not of but little practise among our contemporaries, that have now become the practice of the Ṣūfīs of Islām, on account of the iniquities of Israel...</div><div>Aḅraham ben Maimonides, Kifāyat al-`Abidīn, Volume II, translated by Samuel Rosenblatt, (Baltimore, 1938), 266</div><div>Do not regard as unseemly our comparison of that to the behaviour of the Ṣūfīs, for the latter imitate the prophets and walk in their footsteps, not the prophets in theirs... </div><div>Ibid, 320</div><div>Observer then these wondrous traditions and sigh with regret over how they have been transferred from us and appeared amongst a nation other than ours whereas they have disappeared in our midst. My soul shall weep... because of the pride of Israel that was taken from them and bestowed upon the nations of the world...</div><div>Ibid, 322</div>Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-49869049678925118582010-06-21T17:04:00.000-07:002010-06-21T17:06:31.679-07:00The Qur'ān DOES NOT ABROGATE the Torah"Oh People of the Book! You have no guidance [in life] until you maintain the observance of the Torah and the Gospel and that which has been revealed to you from your Lord; and certainly that which has been revealed to you [O Muhammad] from your Lord will make many of them [who do not observe the Torah or the Gospel's commandment to continue observing the Torah until Heaven and Earth pass away] to increase in rebellion and disbelief [in their aforementioned Scriptures]." - Qur'ān 5.68<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;">قُلْ يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ لَسْتُمْ عَلَىٰ شَيْءٍ حَتَّىٰ تُقِيمُوا التَّوْرَاةَ وَالْإِنْجِيلَ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكُمْ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ ۗ وَلَيَزِيدَنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنْهُمْ مَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِنْ رَبِّكَ طُغْيَانًا وَكُفْرًا ۖ فَلَا تَأْسَ عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْكَافِرِينَ<br /></div>Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-9273809766794120592010-06-11T19:40:00.000-07:002010-06-11T19:49:04.650-07:00Poetry from BaḥyaAnd if you do not grant me grace and forgive my transgression,<br /> to whom shall I lift my eye?<br />If a master does not have compassion upon his servant and<br /> forgive his guilt<br />To whom can he cry other than his master?...<br />Whither shall I go away from your spirit, and whither shall I flee?<br />If I go up to heaven, there you are; if I go down to Sheol, there<br /> you are.<br />Therefore, from you to you I shall turn (mimkha elekha asurah)<br />From before you to you I shall flee (minegdekha `alekha evraḥah)<br />From your judgment to your mercy I run<br />From your quality of judgment to your quality of mercy I shall take refuge.<br /><br />- Baḥya ibn PaqudahNazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-29460213434098144402010-04-08T06:51:00.000-07:002010-04-08T06:57:18.314-07:00Rabbi `Oḅadyah Maimūnī on the Inner-ShayṭānKnow, o brother, how vigilant a man would be, if he were to know that he has an enemy who, not content with destroying and suppressing him, is resolved to seize his wife, raper her in his presence and kill his children. He would be ever-vigilant, even while eating and drinking, sleeping or waking, to ward off his enemy.<br /><br />As for the course to be followed, you must install the intellect in the center "upon the throne of his kingdom (Duet. 17.18). Then appoint the soul as his minister, the principal organs as close commanders and the secondary organs as servants in waiting, having each member carry out that which you deem appropriate. In this way, you will condemn your enemy and bind him "in fetters" and you will 'give judgment against him". (Jer 39.7, 5)<br /><br />Therefore be sure to learn all the artifices with which he defense himself. "Neither shall your eye pity him", (Duet.12.9) for to be merciful towards evildoers is (to show them) inclemency, as the Sage has said, "For the mercy of the evil is cruel", (Prov. 12.10),<br /><br />Chapter 13<br /><br />At prayer time, purify your niyyah (intention) and be thoroughly mindful of what you say. Beware not to harbor thoughts of anything else but the object of your devotion, lest the serpent's venom penetrate you at the moment of inattention and render your du`a (supplication) unacceptable and to no avail.<br /><br />Consequently, as a preliminary to prayer, it is fitting to prepare oneself through the wuḍū (ablution) of one's hands and fee, restoring and arousing thereby the soul. Furthermore, always recite a preliminary Psalm so that you kavvanah (singular concentration) be engaged and avoid praying in ruined places lest you entertain foreign thoughts. ... pay no attention to people who content themselves at prayer time with concentrating on the first verse of the Shema' and the first paragraph [of the `Amīdah], for the Truth shall show the Path.<br /><br />Chapter 14Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-20991141797586328612010-04-02T08:22:00.000-07:002010-04-02T08:29:45.059-07:00The Rambam on his son, Rabbeinu AḅrahamAḅraham ben Maimonides was a Judeo-Ṣūfī, author of <span style="font-style: italic;">Kifāyat al-`Abidīn</span>, the head of the Egyptian Jewish community, who readopted the ancient Jewish practice of Salāh and instituted it for Egyptian Jewry. The Rambam said the following of his son, lest any imagine the controversial views and practices of Aḅraham were disavowed by his father:<br /><br />When I consider the current state of the world, only two things console me: my involvement with wisdom, and the fact that my son Aḅraham has been blessed by God with the grace and the fits of the one whose name he bears [Aḅraham Aḅeinu] trusted, sustain, preserve, and lengthen my son's life and years. He is humble and unassuming when among others, in addition to all his other fine qualities. His mind grasps even the subtlest concepts, and he has a fine disposition. Without a doubt, he will be prominent among the great men of the generation, with God's help. I entreat God to watch over him and maintain His kindnesses to him. - Igros Ha'Rambam [Sheilat], vol. 1. p 424Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-90825160406999411182010-03-23T20:31:00.000-07:002010-03-23T20:35:15.623-07:00Rabbi `Oḅadyah Maimūnī on Reason, Purity and the MitzvōtWere an individual to remain steadfast and persevere continuously until he achieved this state, then the phenomena that were previously concealed from him and others, would be revealed to him. Reason’s will shall strengthen and reveal that which is inscribed on the Tablet (<span style="font-style: italic;">al-lawḥ</span>) Divine visions will be manifested to him without his knowing whence they came. He will walk by the light of his intellect, directed by its guidance. So take heed of your soul and safeguard its form, for the former has no lasting beatitude unless accompanied by Reason... [Like Moses taught the tribes] imparting to each individual in accordance with his capacity of understanding; this is similar to the manner in which reason itself proceeds [with us]. Chapter 6<br /><br />Know that prolonged consumption of harmful foodstuffs causes acute ailments... Likewise a man who neglects his soul, abandoning it to its illness through his indulgence in worldly affairs, spending night and day buying and selling and so forth, will have nothing but fearful and alarming dreams upon retiring to sleep... It is for this reason that our pure and purifying Law has cautioned us concerning all external and internal defilement. The former, such as menstruation and nocturnal emission, are to be cleansed through immersion in a <span style="font-style: italic;">miqvah</span>. Thus, Aaron and his descendants were enjoined “to wash their hands and feet, that they do not perish” (Ex. 30.21) this being the reason for the act of purification. For through the conviction man’s soul acquires after immersion that all veils, as it were, have been lifted, there ensues a state similar to spiritual predisposition (<span style="font-style: italic;">tahayyu’</span>) and communion (<span style="font-style: italic;">ittiṣāl</span>) with God. If not in need of immersion, then one must carry out the ablution of the hands and feet in order that the natural heat circulates in the body and arouse thereby the soul... “Say not <span style="font-style: italic;">v’neṭme’tem </span>and (you shall become defiled) but <span style="font-style: italic;">v’niṭamṭem</span> (and you shall become feeble-minded). (Yōmā’ 39a) Chapter 7.49-51, 53<br /><br />In a similar spirit, other prohibitions have been instituted by the religious law in order to restrain man’s lust and keep him from resembling the beast. Among these rank the class of forbidden unions and those not legitimately contracted... Also belong to this group the precept of circumcision which is carried out on the physical organ through which marriage is consummated. As for the commandments concerning the wearing of <span style="font-style: italic;">tzītzīt </span>and <span style="font-style: italic;">tefilīn </span>and the fixing of an inscription to the <span style="font-style: italic;">mezūzah</span>, they were instituted in order to remind the soul at the moments of inadvertence of its purpose and it is said concerning the <span style="font-style: italic;">tzītzīt</span>, “That you may look upon it and remember all the <span style="font-style: italic;">mitzvōt </span>of YHVH’. (Num. 15.39)... Hence it behooves the wise man not to ascend to a state which is too elevated for him but to be aware of the extent of his soul’s (capacity) and advance gradually, as is the wont of nature, which assimilates things progressively... be heedful of your soul, so that when you far upon the Path, you will be free of fear, “For the ground upon which you stand is holy” (Ex. 3.5) Mark these my words.” Chapter 5Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1908161335986943814.post-18301047361678888372010-03-21T18:09:00.000-07:002010-03-21T18:12:04.578-07:00More Ḥaqq from Rabbi `Oḅadyah MaimūnīLet not your intent (himma) falter upon seeing the difficulty and remoteness of the task. Say not that you are the prisoner of lust, anger, hunger, thirst, heat, cold, fear or disease, thus weakening your resolve to search. Instead fortify your determination, toiling in your effort, for whosoever persevere in this pursuit is a true man (al-insān `ala l-ḥaqīqah), concerning whom David has said ‘Happy is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways.” (Ps. 84.6), “Happy is the people whose God is YHVH.” (Ps. 144.15) It is proper that this verse is in the singular for this pursuit is the exclusive concern of the individual. But he who remains remiss (therein) is regarded as a dead man, (Ned. 64b)… (Chapter 2.19-20)<br /><br />There exists no pre-determination (jabr) and therefore man should close his thoughts to all and awaken his intellect, devoting himself to it since it is the bond (wuṣla) between him and his Creator. Were he continually to think of It, he would not fail to find It, as the prophet has said, Seek YHVH while It is to be found… (Is. 55.6) Were an individual to remain steadfast and persevere continuously until he achieved this state, then the phenomena that were previously concealed from him and others, would be revealed to him. Reason’s will shall strengthen and reveal that which is inscribed on the Table (al-Lawḥ)… [the soul] has no lasting beatitude unless accompanied by Reason. (Chapter 6.37-41)<br /><br />Reason is the bond (wuṣla) between the Creator and Its creatures… Consider how milk flows from the breast of the nursing mother whenever she thinks of her suckling; even though the latter be not with her, her compassion is moved ‘as a father has mercy upon his children’. (Ps 103.13) In a similar manner upon encountering a mutual affinity (munāsaba) with a certain individual, Reason will abide with the latter and never forsake him, “I will be with him in adversity (Ps. 91.15) “Fear not for I am with you (Is. 43.5) “when you pass through the waters I will be with you” (ibid.2) Be then attentive of this noble discipline and engage therein all your time… (Chapter 1.9-14)Nazirihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06884497523986175363noreply@blogger.com0