e-Nuri Opticians, Where believing is seeing!

[Nur]

Eid Mubaarak Nomads

 

 

I cane across a post by brother Nino-Brown who was frustrated by un Islamic behaviour by some nomads, I just want to share with all of you that the best way to correct others is through dialogue, and a realxed one at that, so if you find anyone on these boards failing the grades, please bring them on, we will help them here at Nurtel opticians with a good pair of glasses, believing iis indeed seeing.

 

Nur

[Nur]

Salaams Nomads

 

As promised, This thread provides a treatment clinic for Nomads who have lived in the west for too long, to the point of believing that western and pagan lifestyles to be closer to Somali culture than Islam is. A case in point is an article posted here on these pages by Tony Montana and written by Bashir Goethe ( Somali German Poet?)

 

 

Scenario:

 

 

Nurtel Opticians Examination Room.

 

 

Nur: Good morning Bashir

 

Goethe: Good Morning Nur

 

Nur: I understand that you are suffering from vision problems, that you can not reconcile the fact that Somalis are Muslims without having any need to pray, fast or go to Hajj, You also seem sympathetic to Sufis, you think that Sufi Music is great, specially if we mix a little bit of Jazz and bluies, from Lousiana. Look like black babtis church choir to me.

 

Bashir: That is right Nur, let me add to it that I am very furious about womens plight in Somaliland, that our women have to wear this medieval rags on their heads when they can wear the latest fashion from Paris and London, dresses designed by Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, and diplayed by beautiful women like our great Somali Model iimaan ( you see Nur, she has iimaan without wearing anything at times). I also have problem accepting this brand of islam that I have never knbown that came from Saudi Arabia, because I feel our indiginous homegrown Islam to be far better than this cut throat vicious Islam that allows no fun at all, like dating girls, dancing and drinking foaming camel milk, I mean I am annoyed at these neo Muslms who have changed my religion that tolerated me even if I claim to be a God , as long as I do not preach it in public ( although that is also against freedom of expression), because, too much Camel Milk can make you feel like you are a God of sorts, you know caano ciir iyo qaad what they can do to a fun loving guy like me. Nur, I miss the good old days, before the Waxda guys came to our corner grocery shop near Kala Baydhka, and started their march to win over the hearts of our women, now, most beautiful women are all hijaabified, you cant't sit outside your balcony to enjoy looking at the body curves of our beatiful women, they wear Abaya from Saudi, it is too bad.

 

You see Nur, religion back then was great, we used to date girls and still had great faith in Allah, we never prayed , but we were ideal Muslims, because Islam, was ingrained in our blood, we had no need of showing it in public, so we only had fun in public, and once in a blue moon we prayed at funerals, because that was the only time we feared Allah.

 

 

Nur: OK Bashir Goethe, so do you think that Somali Islam was better than Wahaabi islam?

 

Bashir Goethe: You see NUR, " Depending on your view of history, since Somalis embraced Islam at the time of the Prophet or shortly after his death, it never clashed with the local culture in terms of clothing, eating and going about their ordinary life. Once it settled in the heart"

 

You see Bro, Arabs have threatened our culture, like the Dirac, and the three piece suits, so, women wear abaya, and some crazy wadaads wear saudi Thawb and Ghutrah and Cigaal. what a shame. why can't they wear Cerruti suits?

 

 

Nur:

 

So, you think that Somali culture is the epitome of Islam in its purest form, since our culture and Islam are the same thing?

 

Bashir Goethe: That is correct Bro, in our Somali culture, Islam is part of our culture, and the only measure of our faith is the QALB, the heart, so no action is needed to show our faith, just inside beleif, it is the wahhabis who added deeds to islam, Islam according to Somali culture needs no deeds. because like I say " The heart was clean and nothing else had mattered much " and in my opinion, mixing with girls is no orgy although we called it in Hargeisa "Geeresh" and fashion is good even if a girl has to wear a transparent dirac, showing her breast which she needs to show so her child can easily find ger breast, because these transparent Kaneebo Brand Dirac manufactured in Japan and imported in Jabouti to be sold in Hargeisa are 100 Islamic compliant, because Islam encourages beauty, am i correct bro?

 

 

To be contimnued.......

 

 

Nurtel Opticians

 

Dedicated for correcting the Vision of the Blind Somali Nomads.

 

 

Nur

[Maymuunah]

Very interesting indeed, I like how you create characters of your own. keep it coming brother, and don't let this one occupy all of your time..we are still waiting the continuation of suratul Racad.

[Nur]

Sundus sis

 

InshaAllah I will continue Suurat Racd as soon as I can, meanwhile, I have to put off forest fires on this site ignited by blind Nomads, so keep up the readership, and pray for me to stay the course.

 

Walaalkaa

 

 

Nur

[Coloow]

Ramadaan kariim,

 

Berigii aan bilaabayay post graduate dhigiriga wax afka qalaad lagu yiraahdo ayaan waxaan is oran jiray wadaadada falsafada waa dad ballo ah, oo sida hasha geela badha.

 

I used to associate everything in life with a statement I read in the philosophy class. Suddenly, I found myself reasoning like the dudes I was reading about. Xataa hoyadeey markaan siin u diro

 

Critical thinking ayaan jeclaan jirey. Laakin markaan soo caqliyeeystay waxaan ogaaday in khurafaad laigu soo akhriyey.

 

Sidaasi darteed saaxibiyaal, doodaha ku saabsan diinta sida loogu dhaqmo, sida loogu dhaqmo etc, waay ka duwanyihiin doodaha cilmiga aqoonta maadiga ah.

 

Anyway, Nurow, aarkii aalada Internetkoow, ilaahaan kuu barye aadane kaama il helow...ee nuurka eebe noo soo gudbi.

[Nur]

Caaqil bro

 

Great comment in Somali, not counting your valuable duaa, may Allah accept it amin.

 

Walaal waxaa diinta u kala baxdaa labo qaybood

 

1. Naqli: oo ah cilmiga naloo soo gudbiyey oo ka yimid Rabbigeen naloogu soo dhiibay Rasuulkeenna SAWS.

 

2. Caqli:Waa cilmiga lagu gaadho milicsiga, iyo u fiirsashada uunka iyo aayihiisa, waayaha adduunka iyo dhacdooyinka.

 

Ibn Taymiya oo u jawaabay nimanka Philosphistka ah oo ku dooda in Caqliga oo qudha waxa lagu fahmo ayaa waxuu qoray kitaab la sameysan afar qaybood oo kulminaya miisaamayana labada dusha aan ku soo xusnay.

 

Kitaabka waa kitaab aad u qiimo badan oo la yidhaah:

 

درء تعارض العقل و النقل

مواÙقة صريح المنقول لصريح المعقول

 

"Dar u tacaarudh al caql wal naql, ama

Muwaafaqat saxiix almanquul li sariix al macquul.

 

Kitaabkaas run ahaantii wuxuu si tafaq tiran ukala shaandeeyay ( analaysed) doodda philospherska ku wareeray iney diinta ku fahmaan cilmul kalaamka.

 

Sidaas darteed hadalkaaga ah inaad gaadhay cilmi ah inaad ku tiirsato Naqliga oodan ku fitnoobin Cilmul kalaamka waa talo ay kaaga horreeyeen culimo waaweyn oo ku soo jabay cilmul kalaamka dababdeedna raalli ku noqday iimaan habraha gaboobay.

 

Nur

[Mutakalim]

I used to associate everything in life with a statement I read in the philosophy class. Suddenly, I found myself reasoning like the dudes I was reading about. Xataa hoyadeey markaan siin u diro

 

Philosophy in general and islamic philosphy in particular (kalam is not pure philosophy, rather it is more appropriately described as "discursive theology" or "islamic dialectic")is not a dedcidedly western and/or unislamic phenemonenon. Equally important, although less conspicous, is the notion that Philosophy is not merely an academic discpline or a subject one learns within the confines of a classroom; philosophy is the most self-concious of all the displines and as such it has been described as the "sumum bonum of life". Philosophy is, forsooth, a comprehensive way of life.

 

Critical thinking ayaan jeclaan jirey. Laakin markaan soo caqliyeeystay waxaan ogaaday in khurafaad laigu soo akhriyey.

 

Please edit the above-quoted statements. I can only hope that no else reads nonsense of this strain. It sounds like you are saying that critical thinking is "khurafaad". Whatever you think critical thinking means, it does not mean being able to bend spoons with your mind. The definition of Critical Thinking is to be found in "reportive" definitions and not "stipulative" definitions.

 

Critical thinking is an exercise that is oft-encouraged by scriptural revelation. Allah constantly invites humans to reason and think in the most critical manner. In order to come to any conclusion one has to go through a process of ratiocination. So for you to even say that critical thinking is moot, you would have to think "critically" to come to that conclusion. We are by nature, as Aristotle said, "rational animals". If you do not think critically, then you are, de facto, not any different from the beasts of nature.

 

I shall endeavor to explain the divine nature of islamic philosophy. Needs must you apprehend the nature of islamic philosophy in its unadulterated form. Islamic philosophy has many functions and as such is necessary.

 

Whilst the dissolution of the tension between religon and reason (narrational and rational) is not the sole objective of islamic philosophy(despite the sayings of others), it is one of the major functions of islamic philosophical thought. I think the 'aql is, if used aright, in complete accordance and harmony with scriptural revelation, because He, the Exalted, has made available through "hikmah" ( an arabic word which has been defined as "falsafa" by philosophers and mutakallimuun or theologians) what he has revealed through prophecy. As the age-old and time-hounoured aphorism states "philosophy issues from the niche of prophecy".تنبع الحكمة من مشكاة النبوة

 

That is to say, a blatant contradiction of the narrational by the rational is not possible as the rational iteself is a part of that reality which is the "revealed". In other words, what we learn through ratiocination and 'aql is a microcosmic reflection of the macrocosmic reality which is the instrument of revelation; hence the saying, Plato was Moses in Attic Greek.

 

Islamic Philosophy is not merely a regurgitation of greek thought. Revelation is ultimately the "measure of all things". Revelation, however, is construed by the "logos", the intellect.

 

Unlike Jurists we are not concerned with the branches of religon (furuuc ad-diin, shariica), instead we study the fundementals of religon (usuul ad-diin). All of religon is based on a set of "axioms" and everything else is merely derived therefrom.

 

Nur:- I can not say that I have read the works of Ibn Taymiyyah, the 14th century dogmatist par excellence, but I have studied excrepts of his book during my undergraduate years. Thusly I am familiar with the cardinal objections to philosophy that he articulated. Most but not all of the arguments advanced by this sunni jurist are emotive arguments (logically invalid). God willing, I will initiate a thread pertaining to this matter. I shall show that his arguments suffer a grave logical error. The strongest counter-argument to philosophy is Al-Ghazali's magnum opus, The Incoherence of Philosophers (tahafut al-falaasifa). But even Al-Ghazali's arguments are counter-intuitive as evidenced by his reasoning.

 

والعقل يعجب والشرائع كلها

خبر يقلد لم يقسه قائس

متجسمون ومسلمون ومعشر

منتصرون وهائدون رسائس

 

Or as the other poet said: reason is our "xujjah"

 

Ùسال حجاك اذا اردت هداية

واحبس لسانك ان تقول مجازا

 

With Salaams

PK

[Coloow]

ASC,

Philosopher King bro, With all due respect, I have read much of what you write on these boards. One major fallacy in what you write is the assumption that the readers of somaliaonline are a bunch of ppl who never went to a philosophy class. What is wrong with my above statement? That is what I think. We shouldn't agree on everything bro.

 

La Fléche, a french philosopher once wrote:

 

â€From my childhood I lived in a world of books and I was eager to learn from them. But as soon as I finished the course of studies, I found myself saddled with so many doubts and errors that I seemed to have gained nothing.â€

 

Your reply above reminds me of my first philosopher class. I remember the prof. giving a lecture called â€the indestructible questions†and if my brain is not letting me down, I remember engaging in a writing spree of discussing many philosophical questions:

 

What is reality? What is morality? Is the rock a material thing? Are reality only particles of matter in meaningless motion, ending in an enviable death, the death of an individual person or a collective death? Is reality and Morality only found in the world of the mind, in eternal truths? Or in the wisdom of reasoning and purposse of God? Am I just a body, a material organism which avoids pain and seeks pleasure, a collection of programmable atoms to grow and mature?

 

Every thing I uttered was preceded and coloured by what I read.

 

 

“reportive" definitions and not "stipulative" definitions.

 

Aha- critical think could be defined from several dimensions. Don't be dogmatic bro.

 

Critical thinking is an exercise that is oft-encouraged by scriptural revelation.

 

Often? I don't think so bro.

 

"Islamic Philosophy is not merely a regurgitation of greek thought. Revelation is ultimately the "measure of all things". Revelation, however, is construed by the "logos", the intellect."

 

Could you eloborate pls. I am not so sure about the last part of that statement. Are you implying that it could be also construed? I hope you are not into social construction/constructivism etc.

 

 

2In order to come to any conclusion one has to go through a process of ratiocination. So for you to even say that critical thinking is moot, you would have to think "critically" to come to that conclusion. We are by nature, as Aristotle said, "rational animals". If you do not think critically, then you are, de facto, not any different from the beasts of nature.â€

 

ARISTOTLE SAYS???????? I don’t blv in that crap when I have the quran to turn to. Rationality is a screwed concept (read contextual).

 

 

†Needs must you apprehend the nature of islamic philosophy in its unadulterated form. Islamic philosophy has many functions and as such is necessary.â€

 

in its Unadulterated form? I hope this a slip of the tongue bro! Are you implying that there are parts of islamic philosophy that are altered?

 

Many functions??? It is everything bro!

 

You don't need a philosophy to blv. It is simple bro.

[Viking]

Even Prophet Ibrahim (AS) used the faculty of reason to convince the polytheists. I am referring to the time when (while the polytheists were away) he went and destroyed all the idols except one, the biggest. He then laid the axe he used on its shoulder and left. Upon the return of the polytheists, he was asked about the destruction (they suspected him because he had previously challenged their beliefs) and he referred to the big idol with the axe on the shoulder. He said that the big one must have destroyed all the others.

 

One cannot opt for speculative philosphy and disregard practical philosophy (or v.v.), best results are achieved when the two are combined.

[Coloow]

PK, assalamu calaykum, Oh boy, you are good at twisting words/concepts etc. Look at how many lines you wrote in regards to the word fallacy sxb.

 

I am not going to engage in a philosophical discussion. I have been doing that nearly 4 times a week for four years.

 

One thing, I notice though is the prospensity of novices to engage in dry- sometimes futile arguments which defy basic human reasoning.

 

I don't want to turn this thread into a philosophical discussion- marka ka baxay!

[Nur]

Caqil

 

I've just finished reading your interesting discourse wit PK. Here what I understand.

 

PK is responding to your resolution to abandon philosophical discourses.

 

For PK Philosophical disources are a search for truth, never to be abandoned.

 

For you Philosphical discources are Polemics, non ending brain draining excercise that almost always never deliver a conclusive tangible or practical result, thus futile.

 

 

As humans, we should never stop search for truth, as Muslims we should never waiver in understanding Quraan and Hadeeth as sources of wisdom.

 

PK Writes:

 

" philosophy issues from the niche of prophecy".تنبع الحكمة من مشكاة النبوة

 

I notice a slight semantics error here, Philosphphy and HIKMAH are not the same. However, philosophical discources may result in reaching Hikmah. Philosophy therefore is a process, Hikmah is the end result.

 

Hikmah is defined in Arabic as the activity of placing everything where they rightfully belong, in perspective. So in that sense, Justice is a manifestation of Hikmah, maximizing desirable good result when prioritizing competing options are presented is an excercise of Hikmah.

 

I agree with PK and Viking that the reason CAQL is tool given to us to find truth, without reason, we are unaccountable for our actions.

 

I also agree with Caqil that sticking with what we already know of truth to deliver what we as Muslims are required to deliver of worship of Allah is a great wisdom.

 

I can see it coming from Viking or PK that the excercice of thinking or reasoning in itself is a form of worship, and i fully agree, Allah SWT says:

 

" Surely in creation of the heavens and the earth, there are signs ( for pondering of the essence of life and creation) for those with pure minds ( not corrupted by wrong reasoning)"

 

But like Caqil noted, at last we all resort to the shortest path, we no longer have doubts, we things clear, it is time to enjoy loving Allah SAWT with good deeds, helping the poor, digging wells, helping farmers with technoilogies that aid their lives, adding value to the human experience.

 

Ramadan Kareem

 

Nur

[Mutakalim]

Caaqil:- As the rabble often say, "I catch your drift". I shan't urger this point any farther. It would be advisable that you not opine on subjects you are not intimately familiar with. That is all.

 

Nur:- I guess you meant to say that there is a problem with the translation. The semantics of the phrase is not wrong at all. Either you have not perused my posts or you did not understand what I have written. In any event, the word "Al-hikmah" has been used by philosophers to mean "al-falsafa". Philosophy literally means the love of "wisdom". The exact translation of the word wisdom in arabic is hikmah (حصاÙØ© is not an accurate translation of the word). One of the names of He who has disappeared due to the excess of his presence is "Al-Hakiim". From a terminological perspective, hikmah is defined as falsafa. This definition is obviously not an arbitrary definition, rather it based on a certain intrepretation of the Quran and traditions. Philosophy is both a means and an end in and of itself. Do think that is meaningless? Do but reflect a little on this point.

 

عليك بالحكمة Ùان الخير ÙÙŠ الحكمة

 

With Salaams

PK

[Nur]

Mutakallim bro

 

I meant the translation of the semantics.

 

The word pair in context that I pointed out were Phiosophy - Hikmah

 

Philosophy is defined as:

 

1. n] a belief (or system of beliefs) accepted as authoritative by some group or school

 

2. [n] any personal belief about how to live or how to deal with a situation; "self-indulgence was his only philosophy"; "my father's philosophy of child-rearing was to let mother do it"

 

3. [n] the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and ethics

 

 

In the Arabic language, Al Hikmah is defined as:

 

1. v. Axkama. (Perfection) " Kitaabun Uxkima aayaatuh

2. v. Autenticated ( Thumma yuxkimu aayaatih"

3. n. Clear, not ambiguous, " Fa idaa unzilat suratun muxkamatun"- " Minhu aayaatun muxkamaatun"

4. n. Axkam, most just, " Wa anta axkamul xaakimiin"

5. n. Ximah, inteligence, firm grasp of issues, the perfect resolution of conflict.

6. n. Xakiim, a person with all above descriptions of perfection.

 

Xikmah in Quraan was manifested by Suurah Al Luqmaan, in which Allah showed us that the best Hikmah is to be greateful to Allah, by not making Shirk, kind to parents, humble when walking, lowering our voices etc.

 

Hikmah in Hadeeth :

 

The prophet SAWS defined Hikmah: Raasul Xikmah makhaafatul Allah" - The fear of Allah as the essence of Hikmah.

 

Based on these we note.

 

That the two concepts may not be interchangeable in most translations, albeit certain specific passages in which a very brilliant idea is said to be a philosophy and a Hikmah at the same time.

 

Wallaahu Aclam.

 

Ramadaan kariim

 

Nur

[Mutakalim]

Nur: I have no qualms with your linguistic analysis. It is important to mention, however, that hikmah has been "construed" or intrepreted by philosophers to mean falsafa. In like manner, I suppose, hikmah has been construed by mystics to mean 'irfan or ma'rifah. From a strictly linguistic point of view, hikmah does not always mean falsafa. I agree with you on this point.

 

I thought that it is important to breifly explain the nature of islamic philosophy and islamic philosophers (i.e. Al-Kindi, Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd) and theologians (Fakhr Ad-diin Al-raazi, Al-Zamakhshari, Al-Ghazali to name a few). Islamic Philosophers and Theologians (mutakallimuun)are not like western philosophers in their manner of living. The western philosopher only reads philosophy as a means of improving his "theoritical (علم النظري) knowledge"; thusly, philosophy has no practicable fruits for the western Man. It is only an excerise in intellective indulgence. التر٠الذهني

 

Islamic Philosophy combines both the speculative and practical aspects of philosophy into one science. This is why Ibn Sina writes in his book "Cuyuun Al-Hikmah"

 

Al-Hikmah [which he uses as being the same as philosophy] is the perfection of the human soul through conceptualization[tasawwur] of things and judgement[tasdiiq]of theoritical and practical realities to the measure of human ability

 

Al-kindi also writes in his On First Philosophy

 

Philosophy is the knowledge of the reality of things within people's possibility, because the philosopher's end in theoritical knowledge is

to gain truth and in practical knowledge to behave in accordance with truth.

 

We should, as you intimated, build mosques, help the needy and the like. I am sure you will agree, all the same,that knowledge of, as Abu Hanifa called it, "al-fiqh al-akbar" is a prerequistie to such deeds. In all of Islamic history, scholars from different camps of articulation agreed that the knowledge of the principles of religon is a hundredfold important than "Ax-kaam ash-shariica". In other words "'ilm at-tawheed", "ilm al-kalaam", "ilm usul ad-diin", or "ilm al-'aqaid" (all these title are categorized, terminologically, as "Kalam") is infinitely more important than jurisprudence. Ofcourse juridical knowledge is also necessary, but the "awaail sciences" take precedence.

 

I would also like to know how you would respond to someone who tells you that: 'aql is our first means of establishing the truthfulness of the Quran and the Prophet, if one later puts naql above 'aql, one is undermining the very means which led to the acceptance of the naql. I do not hold that 'aql should be put above naql for reasons I shall divulge after you post your answer.

 

والله اعلم بالصواب

 

With Salaams

PK

[Nur]

Mutakallim bro

 

Thanks for clarifying your point further, your comments on Islamic philosophers is well taken, there is no doubt that Islamic Mutakallimiin have contributed a great deal of wisdom to later generations but if you would allow me, although the aql is the gateway to knowledge, the heart , Al Baseerah remains to be the home of iimaan, and as the Title of this post reads, Believing leads to seeing, unlike the aql method that requires impirical proofs to validate ideas.

 

Muslim Mutakallimiin were somehow unsuspectingly dragged to this turf in their sincere desire and quest to make dawa to non Muslims or refute their claims, but as I will post later in more thoughtful way, Muslims Europe was lost not by Crusade armies, by two factors, Carnal indulgence of the ruleres, and mental indulgence of the learned. In contrast, Allah SWT teaches " Fa bi ayyi xadiithiin bacdallahi wa aayaatihi yuminuun?" " Fa dhakkir bil Quraan man yakhaafu waciid" and these verses are many. The messneger of Allah SWT taught that we refrain from polemics and Jidaal with people of the book, and in the Quraan Allah teaches, " wa jaadilhum bil latii hiya axsan" and if good comon sense does not avail, Allah teaches " wa acridh canil jaahiliin"

 

My point brother is Aql has a place in Islam, without it as I said previously, there is no accountability, and because our aql is limited in its capacity, we need to leverage Naql to aid the aql just like how we use glasses to aid our weak vision. That is why Muslims bedouins rose to world prominence and fame after literally following the naql, and on the way meeting more knoledgeable nations like Persia and Constantinoble, and winning the cultural confrontation with the knwoledge they gained from the Naql. For these bedouins to belive in Propphet Muhammads message Naql, they primarily relied on their aql to come to the conclusion that Muhammad was indeed a Messenger of Allah. Once that fact was agreed upon, they took wisdom from the purity of that single source of wisdom and knowledge, as the Prophet SAWS said " I have left for you two sources if you grasp well, you wouldn't get lost after me, The Book of Allah and my Sunnah"

 

One such aql mental exercise to aid naql was evident when a group of bedouins doubted the authenticity of the Quraan after they heard the verse " Inna haada la shey-un cujaab" in Suurah Saad, the word Cujaab, they argued was not Arabic, thus, Muhammad was making it up. When they actually visited a prominent linguist in his house and he aske them to come in, contraray to Arabic culture, they declined, and the infuriated linguist said " why are you not coming in? inna haada la shey-un cujaab" The dispute was resolved as they heard the liobguist using the same passage as the Quraan.

 

That was a case in which the Aql validated the Naql, and there are many other examples to this effect.

 

Brother, I am busy preparing the Ramadan Topics, please excuse me for not taking the time to express my thoughts as detailed as your post deserves, it is said that Knowledge is limited by our ability to communicate, inother words, no matter how much we know, if cant communicate our knowledge, to an observer we come short of their expectation. InshAllah, I shall come back, as this topic inetersts me.

 

 

Nur