{"id":17282,"date":"2018-09-25T09:23:20","date_gmt":"2018-09-25T13:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=17282"},"modified":"2018-09-25T09:38:52","modified_gmt":"2018-09-25T13:38:52","slug":"islam-holy-nonviolent-struggle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=17282","title":{"rendered":"Islam Holy, Nonviolent Struggle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Islam<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Holy, Nonviolent Struggle<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Tuesday, September 25, 2018<\/strong><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mwZsywhXDg8\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nKaren Armstrong continues exploring the origins of Islam:<br \/>\nIn [the] early days, Muslims did not see Islam as a new, exclusive religion but as a continuation of the primordial faith of the \u201cPeople of the Book,\u201d the Jews and Christians. In one remarkable passage, God insists that Muslims must accept indiscriminately the revelations of every single one of God\u2019s messengers: Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Moses, Jesus, and all the other prophets. [1] The Qur\u2019an is simply a \u201cconfirmation\u201d of the previous scriptures. [2] Nobody must be forced to accept Islam, because . . . God was not the exclusive property of any one tradition: the divine light could not be confined to a single lamp, belonged neither to the East nor to the West, but enlightened all human beings. [3] Muslims must speak courteously to the People of the Book, debate with them only in \u201cthe most kindly manner,\u201d remember that they worshipped the same God, and not engage in pointless, aggressive disputes. [4]<br \/>\nAll of this would require a ceaseless jihad (which did not mean \u201choly war\u201d but \u201ceffort,\u201d \u201cstruggle\u201d), because it was extremely difficult to implement the will of God in a tragically flawed world. Muslims must make a determined endeavor on all fronts\u2014intellectual, social, economic, moral, spiritual, and political. Sometimes they might have to fight, as Muhammad did when the Meccan kafirun vowed to exterminate the Muslim community. But aggressive warfare was outlawed, and the only justification for war was self-defense. [5] . . . An important and oft-quoted tradition (hadith) has Muhammad say on his way home after a battle: \u201cWe are returning from the Lesser Jihad [the battle] and going to the Greater Jihad,\u201d the far more important and difficult struggle to reform one\u2019s own society and one\u2019s own heart. Eventually, when the war with Mecca was turning in his favor, Muhammad adopted a policy of nonviolence. . . .<br \/>\nLike any religious tradition, Islam would change and evolve. Muslims acquired a large empire, stretching from the Pyrenees to the Himalayas, but true to Qur\u2019anic principles, nobody was forced to become Muslim. Indeed, for the first hundred years after the Prophet\u2019s death, conversion to Islam was actually discouraged, because Islam was a din [way of life] for the Arabs, the descendants of Abraham\u2019s elder son, Ishmael, just as Judaism was for the sons of Isaac, and Christianity for the followers of the gospel.<br \/>\nFaith, therefore, was a matter of practical insight and active commitment; it had little to do with abstract belief or theological conjecture.<br \/>\nI would add that mature Islam beautifully parallels the Franciscan and Christian contemplative emphasis on orthopraxy (right practice) and the importance of nondual consciousness. For our jihad to be nonviolent and transformative, our actions must be rooted in an inner experience of love and communion\u2014what we call contemplation. Opening our hearts, minds, and bodies to union takes lifelong practice.<\/p>\n<p>__________________________________________________<\/p>\n<p>Young, Sarah. Jesus Calling<\/p>\n<p>September 25, 2018<\/p>\n<p>POUR ALL OF YOUR ENERGY into trusting Me. It is through trust that you stay connected to Me, aware of My Presence. Every step on your life-journey can be a step of faith. Baby steps of trust are simple for you; you can take them with almost unconscious ease. Giant steps are another matter altogether: leaping across chasms in semidarkness, scaling cliffs of uncertainty, trudging through the valley of the shadow of death. These feats require sheer concentration, as well as\u00a0utter commitment to Me. Each of My children is a unique blend of temperament, giftedness, and life experiences. Something that is a baby step for you may be a giant step for another person, and vice versa. Only I know the difficulty or ease of each segment of your journey. Beware of trying to impress others by acting as if your giant steps are only baby ones. Do not judge others who hesitate in trembling fear before an act that would be easy for you. If each of My children would seek to please Me above all else, fear of others\u2019 judgments would vanish, as would attempts to impress others. Focus your attention on the path just ahead of you and on the One who\u00a0never leaves your side.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PSALM 23: 4; Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>MATTHEW 7: 1\u2013 2;\u00a0\u201cDo not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> PROVERBS 29: 25;\u00a0Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Islam Holy, Nonviolent Struggle Tuesday, September 25, 2018 Karen Armstrong continues exploring the origins of Islam: In [the] early days, Muslims did not see Islam as a new, exclusive religion but as a continuation of the primordial faith of the \u201cPeople of the Book,\u201d the Jews and Christians. In one remarkable passage, God insists that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17282"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17282"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17286,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17282\/revisions\/17286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}