Love God for God’s sake, Spiritual Meditations, NewAgeIslam.com

Spiritual Meditations

Love God for God’s sake

By Sadia Dehlvi

January 7th, 2010

Although born a Muslim, I embraced true faith at the feet of my Sufi master who taught that religion is meaningless unless warmed by emotions of love. Thirty years ago, I took the oath of allegiance in the Chishti Sufi order, making the lifelong commitment to spiritual Islam.

Sufism, the accepted name for Islamic mysticism, is about awakening the higher consciousness through submission to divine will. Prophet Mohammad said, “Surely in the breasts of humanity is a lump of flesh, if sound then the whole body is sound, and if corrupt then the whole body is corrupt. Is it not the heart?”

The Sufi path is about purification of the heart. It’s about how to free oneself from the ego and realise God’s countless attributes within one’s own spirit. Sufis desire to unravel divine mysteries and remove the veils that separate mankind from God. Sufism is the eternal quest for union with God, the beloved.

The life of Rabia Basri, my favourite woman Sufi saint, best illustrates the philosophy of divine love. The 8th century mystic remained a celibate for her overwhelming love for God left no room for any worldly relationship. She wrote:

I have made You the companion of my heart,

But my body is available to those who desire its company,

And my body is friendly toward its guest,

But the Beloved of my heart is the guest of my soul.

http://newageislam.com/love-god-for-god%E2%80%99s-sake/spiritual-meditations/d/2342

War is Terrorism, is War: Disgust over the profound silence of Muslims on terrorism, Islam and the West, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and the West

War is Terrorism, is War: Disgust over the profound silence of Muslims on terrorism

By Tracy E. Tomlinson

Throughout history war has been the catalyst of scenarios culminating in acts of genocide and mass murder in such grand proportion that the sociopolitical impact has been that of a terrorism campaign. Indeed, protracted conflicts configure the ideal conditions for elements of terrorism from all sides.

For the past eight years the US has committed to what it calls a war 'against' terrorism.

Though perhaps few Americans question the rationale for an aggressive movement to minimize the possibility of future attacks on American soil, there is a critical world view of the tactical results and the effort to withhold timely, factual information regarding on the ground realities of a two front conflict.

Terrorism is not just a term inserted into the script of foreign policy. It is a conception wrought of the violent acts and ideological attitudes formulated in orchestrating collective influence and social change. It is administered with the intent of reducing the public psyche to a simple equation of fear and submission. This is potently clear within the deconstructive campaigns of Hitler, Stalin and Mao Tse Tung for example.

With this in mind I would mention that although history illustrates the brutal necessitates of power brokering between nations and within societies, the consequence of modern state terror has never been so relentlessly challenged by small, covert cells of civilian agents, nor has it been so blatantly justified in the broad political theater as the means to a an end.

http://newageislam.com/war-is-terrorism,-is-war--disgust-over-the-profound-silence-of-muslims-on-terrorism/islam-and-the-west/d/2242