Pride: A barrier to Paradise

[Um Ismail]

by Al-'Allamah 'Abdur Rahman Ibn Nasir As-Sa'dee (d.1376H) [1]


بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم


From ’Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud who related that the Messenger of Allah sallallahu ’alayhi wa sallam said:

‘‘Whoever has an atoms' worth of kibr (pride) in his heart will not enter Paradise." So a man asked: 'What about a person who loves (i.e. takes pride in) wearing beautiful clothes and beautiful shoes? So he replied: ‘‘Indeed Allah is beautiful and loves beauty. Kibr (pride) is to reject the truth, and to despise the people.’’ [2]

So Allah - the Most High - informs us that the Hellfire is the abode of those who have kibr (pride and arrogance). And we learn from the (above) hadith that:

‘‘Whoever has an atoms worth of kibr (pride) in his heart will not enter Paradise.’’

So this is a proof that kibr (pride) necessitates entry to Hellfire and prevents entry into Paradise. And this comprehensive explanation that the Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam mentioned has clarified the meaning of kibr (pride) in the clearest possible manner. So he divided kibr into two types:

1. PRIDE AGAINST THE TRUTH:

This is to reject the truth and not to accept it. So anyone who rejects the truth is proud and arrogant – in accordance with what he rejects of the truth. So it is obligatory upon everyone to humble themselves to the truth which Allah sent His Messenger with, and which He sent down in His Book. As for those whose pride and arrogance prevents them from totally complying with the Messengers (i.e. having eman in them and their message) - then they are kuffar (unbelievers) who will dwell in the Hellfire for eternity. Since when the Truth comes to them via the Messengers, who explain to them the signs and clear proofs, they reject it and are prevented from accepting it, due to the kibr that they harbour in their hearts. Allah - the Most High - said:

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُجَادِلُونَ فِي آيَاتِ اللَّهِ بِغَيْرِ سُلْطَانٍ أَتَاهُمْ إِن فِي صُدُورِهِمْ إِلَّا كِبْرٌ مَّا هُم بِبَالِغِيهِ فَاسْتَعِذْ بِاللَّهِ إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ

"Verily, those who dispute about the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) of Allah, without any authority having come to them, there is nothing else in their breasts except pride (to accept you (Muhammad SAW) as a Messenger of Allah and to obey you). They will never have it (i.e. Prophethood which Allah has bestowed upon you). So seek refuge in Allah (O Muhammad SAW from the arrogants). Verily, it is He Who is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer." [Sooratul-Ghaafir 40:56]

As for those whose arrogance and pride prevent them from complying with parts of the truth - because it opposes their personal opinions of their whims and desires – then such people are not kuffar (unbelievers), but such an action necessitates them being punished in accordance with what they have of kibr. This is why the Scholars have agreed that whenever the Sunnah (guidance and way) of the Messenger of Allah sallallahu ’alayhi wa sallam has been explained to anyone, then it is not lawful for him to turn away from it to the saying of someone else, whoever and whatever status he may have.
So it is obligatory upon the seeker of knowledge to give complete and absolute precedence to the saying of Allah and the saying of His Messenger over and above the saying of anyone else, and that he should make the basis to which he returns, and the foundation upon which he builds:

following the guidance of the Prophet, striving hard to understand what is intended from it, and following this both inwardly and outwardly.

When a person conforms to this great principle, then he has indeed reached goodness and excellence and all his errors will be forgiven to him; since his overall objective is to follow that which has been prescribed upon him. So his errors are excused due to his striving his best to recognize and comply with the truth - and this is humbling oneself to the truth.

2. PRIDE TOWARDS PEOPLE:

This type is to despise the people and to look down upon them. This attitude arises when a person is amazed with his own self, thinks highly of himself, and thinks he is better than others. So this causes him to have kibr towards the creation, despise them, mock them, and to degrade them through both speech and action. The Messenger of Allah sallallahu ’alayhi wa sallam said:

‘‘It is enough evil for a person to despise his Muslim brother.’’ [3]

This is why the man asked: "What about a person who loves (i.e. takes pride in) wearing good clothes and shoes?" Because he feared that this was the kibr which would be under the treat of punishment. So the Prophet explained to him that this was not from kibr, since this person was one who complied with the truth, and was humble towards people, and that this was from the truth, and from the beauty that Allah loves, for indeed Allah – the Most High - is beautiful in His Dhat (Self), Sifat (Attributes) and Af’al (Actions), and He loves both outer and inner beauty.
As regards outer beauty, then it includes cleanliness of the body, clothes and place. As regards to inner beauty, then it is beautifying the character. This is why the Prophet sallallahu ’alayhi wa sallam used to supplicate:

‘‘O Allah! Guide me to having beautiful manners and characteristics, no one can guide me to beautifying them except You. And turn away from me all evil actions and characteristics, no one can turn them away from me except You.’’ [4]


Footnotes:
[1] Bahjatul-Quloobul- Abraar (pp. 156-158)
[2] Related by Muslim in his Saheeh (1/65)
[3] Related by Muslim (no. 2564)
[4] Saheeh: Related by an-Nisaa‘ee (no. 861). It was authenticated by Shaykh Muhammad Naasirud-Deen al-Albaanee in his Sifatus-Salaah (p. 93)

[William Wurkmun Fosterr]

I Think That Pride Is A Good Thing. ...Except when It impinges on Someone Else's Well-Being. I Think That Muslims Have So Much To Be Proud Of.:) Among So Many Other Good Things, Muslims Can Be Proud Of Their Humility. (!)

[Magoo]

I Think That Pride Is A Good Thing. ...Except when It impinges on Someone Else's Well-Being. I Think That Muslims Have So Much To Be Proud Of.:)

theres a difference between pride and integrity, there is a difference between pride and self respect

the pride we are talking about is the one that causes prejudice because we fail to accept our own misgivings

Allah knows best

[William Wurkmun Fosterr]

theres a difference between pride and integrity, there is a difference between pride and self respect

the pride we are talking about is the one that causes prejudice because we fail to accept our own misgivings

Allah knows bestAh. Well Done As Always, Brother Magoo! Thank You.:) ...I Think You Mean 'shortcomings'.

[William Wurkmun Fosterr]

theres a difference between pride and integrity, there is a difference between pride and self respect

the pride we are talking about is the one that causes prejudice because we fail to accept our own misgivings

Allah knows bestWow. That Is Awesome, Magoo.

[Magoo]

Ah. Well Done As Always, Brother Magoo! Thank You.:) ...I Think You Mean 'shortcomings'.

yeah, thats what i meant, shortcomings..... oops :confused:

[William Wurkmun Fosterr]

We All Represent Groups That Are vulnerable to prejudice and stigma. I Belong To A Couple Of These Groups: The Mentally Ill And The Advanced In Age (NOT Advanced in deterioration!). I Think It's Good To Feel Oneself Responsible For A 'Minority' This Way. It Appeals To The Rebel In Me...But, Like You, I Want To Change the (possibly poor) conception of My 'Minority'.

You Are A Wonderful Guy, Magoo. Thanks For All You Do.:)

[melo061]

We All Represent Groups That Are vulnerable to prejudice and stigma. I Belong To A Couple Of These Groups: The Mentally Ill And The Advanced In Age (NOT Advanced in deterioration!). I Think It's Good To Feel Oneself Responsible For A 'Minority' This Way. It Appeals To The Rebel In Me...But, Like You, I Want To Change the (possibly poor) conception of My 'Minority'.

You Are A Wonderful Guy, Magoo. Thanks For All You Do.:)

Moderators, have you guys finally deduced on whether William is a bot?

[Abuz Zubair]

Moderators, have you guys finally deduced on whether William is a bot?
I doubt bots will be as sophisticated. He is a very good natured individual, may Allah open his heart up to faith, amen.

[melo061]

I doubt bots will be as sophisticated. He is a very good natured individual, may Allah open his heart up to faith, amen.

Yeh, it just seems he is a bit toooo disconnected. I get the vibe that he isn't real. Even if he isn't a bot, it could be someone with a different identity on the net. He says he is an old man and maybe be mentally ill?

[Abuz Zubair]

Yeh, it just seems he is a bit toooo disconnected. I get the vibe that he isn't real. Even if he isn't a bot, it could be someone with a different identity on the net. He says he is an old man and maybe be mentally ill?
May be, but good natured ppl are rare in today's world which is why some consider them abnormal :)

[Madarijas-Salikeen]

as salamu alaykum,

people need to leave william alone. It seems people just want to argue just about anything. When they cant fulfill their desires of feeding their ego in other threads they then begin to pick on another individual and hence continue to feed off of the energy that comes from bickering and arguing. It is very dysfunctional.

[Madarijas-Salikeen]

as salaamu alaykum

jazakallah khayr umm ismail


A nice quote I like to take out of the article is this:

As regards outer beauty, then it includes cleanliness of the body, clothes and place. As regards to inner beauty, then it is beautifying the character. This is why the Prophet sallallahu ’alayhi wa sallam used to supplicate:

‘‘O Allah! Guide me to having beautiful manners and characteristics, no one can guide me to beautifying them except You. And turn away from me all evil actions and characteristics, no one can turn them away from me except You.’’ [4]

May Allaah tabaraka wa ta ala give us all the strength to show him grattitude and to transform our character into our true selfs by submitting and surrending to the fitra and obeying Allaah subhannahu wa ta ala and making him pleased with us due to making ittiba of his messenger salalahu alayhi wa salam . Ameen

[Um Ismail]

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Assalamu alaykum,

Ameen to the dua brother Ahlus Sunnah, and I second your posts about William.

I look at it this way, William is on this forum for a reason, as decreed by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He may be a test for us and it is not proper to first of all talk about him, if we have questions we should ask him directly.

Perhaps Allah is testing us through him. So far, I can safely say William has been nothing but kind and well mannered and I pray that Allah guides him to Islam. Some of us on the other hand take joking and mocking to lightly, when our goal should be to call people to Islam, not only with knowledge but with wisdom and fair preaching, and our actions/manners whether on a forum or in "real life" reflect that.

Secondly, William stated that he is mentally ill, so who knows, perhaps the pen is lifted from him? Even if this is not the case, there is absolutely no reason for misbehaviour towards him, as our brother Abu Zubair said, he seems to be a well natured individual.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to keep good manners, and we really should remain silent if we have nothing good to say. It just may be that one word uttered may lead us to Jannah or Jahannam, may Allah save us from the later.

William, I want you to know I appreciate your comments, although sometimes admittingly I do not get them or sometimes don't agree with them, you seem well mannered and I keep you in my prayers.

[William Wurkmun Fosterr]

I Think That You All Are Wonderful. Know That You Are In My Prayers And I Am Confident That Allah Is Big And Good Enough To Want Each Of You Near Him In Jannah.

I Sometimes Am put off by the persistent arguing But Then I Observe How Closely You Fit With One Another. You Are So Close, So Responsive. I Wonder How Glorious It Could Be If The Conversations Were Positive.

My Parents have passed away now But I Look So Forward To Their--And Everyone's--Resurrection. They Are Extraordinarily Positive And I Follow Happily In Their Footsteps. Optimism Is My Religion And I Think That Resurrection Is The Cherry, The Peak Of Optimism. ...AND IT IS REAL!

I have schizophrenia. Without Five Miligrams Of Abilify Every Day I become delusional. I once was terrified of The People In Iowa (!!??) I Know It's An Acronym For "Idiots Out Wandering Around" But I Have No Idea Why I Was so frightened of Them. The Abilify Returns Me To Normal.

I Value You Each Greatly As A Sister Or Brother. We Are All In This Together AND We Are Family.

Unconditional Positive Regard,
Brother William:)

[UmmAbdulMalikStorm]

William, you're the best. You say the BEST things.

We All Represent Groups That Are vulnerable to prejudice and stigma.

Like that. Hmm, I always did wonder if you took drugs.

[Nu7]

William, you seem to be a good, positive person.. And we all pray that you are guided to islam some day.

Every once in a while you meet non-muslims who are genuinely good and decent individuals and you become so sad knowing that they will end in Jahannam unless they save themselves.

William, Hell is real.. the afterlife is not all good, I sincerely urge you to learn about islam. Some of the Revert brothers may be helpful if you have some questions..

Jannah is also real, and there is only one way for you to get there. Think about it, if we were all destined for Jannah regardless of our beliefs then what would be the purpose of us being here? Why are we tested with trials and tribulations?

[Um Ismail]

William,

Thank you for your kind words first of all, I pray Allah makes us better then people perceive us to be and to cover that of our sins which people do not know about.

I want you to know you do not need to tell anyone here about your condition since people did not even have the decency to ask you directly rather then commenting about you as if though you do not exist. I am sure people who do so generally don't do it with ill intentions just lack of thoughtfulness and consideration.

That said, I am not saying people should treat you much differently because of your condition (this to me is disrespectful and belittling), just that we all need to be considerate of one anothers' situation and circumstances.

Wow, I have never heard of that acronym (IOWA). It is funny. I'm Bosnian and many Bosnians in the USA swear how nice it is in Iowa, which is why many moved there. I am tempted to make a joke in this regard but it is not allowed between opposite genders so I will let you take a wild guess what the joke would have been.

Ok now I seriously have to do more research about schizophrenia, other then the movie I saw "The beautiful mind". Did you see it?

By the way, if you don't mind me asking, do you have any family left or close friends? I hope so.

[William Wurkmun Fosterr]

William, you're the best. You say the BEST things.



Like that. Hmm, I always did wonder if you took drugs.It Takes One To Know One, Umm.

Well, I take medications. I Don't Regard It As The Same As taking drugs.:)

[Um Ismail]

If I may add, after reading many of your comments William, I often thought how your behaviour, especially in replying kindly to negative comments, reminds me of how a Muslim should be.

[William Wurkmun Fosterr]

William,

Thank you for your kind words first of all, I pray Allah makes us better then people perceive us to be and to cover that of our sins which people do not know about.

I want you to know you do not need to tell anyone here about your condition since people did not even have the decency to ask you directly rather then commenting about you as if though you do not exist. I am sure people who do so generally don't do it with ill intentions just lack of thoughtfulness and consideration.

That said, I am not saying people should treat you much differently because of your condition (this to me is disrespectful and belittling), just that we all need to be considerate of one anothers' situation and circumstances.

Wow, I have never heard of that acronym (IOWA). It is funny. I'm Bosnian and many Bosnians in the USA swear how nice it is in Iowa, which is why many moved there. I am tempted to make a joke in this regard but it is not allowed between opposite genders so I will let you take a wild guess what the joke would have been.

Ok now I seriously have to do more research about schizophrenia, other then the movie I saw "The beautiful mind". Did you see it?

By the way, if you don't mind me asking, do you have any family left or close friends? I hope so.

I Lived In Des Moines For One Year When I Was In Second Grade. I Have Wonderful Memories of Iowa. I Have No Idea How It got turned around in My Mind.

Thanks For The Joke!! I can't Imagine What It Is But I Love Jokes And You Have Brightened My Day!!

Yes--I Did See The Movie. ...Enjoyed It. My hallucinations were auditory. I Believe That My Genius Is That I See The Genius And Goodness In Everyone:)

You Are So Sweet!! I Have Good Friends In You And Many Good Friends Here In Tulsa. I Am Not Sure Why: I Feel Very Close To You All. You Are A Sober, Serious, Genius Bunch And I Just Look Forward So Much To Conversing With You Every Morning While I'm At Work. I Work From 8:00 to 11:00 Five Days A Week. I Also Have Three Brothers And Two Sisters In Different Cities. ...Very Close To Them. Thank You So Much For Your Interest And Concern, Um Ismail.

Unconditional Positive Regard,
Your Brother William:)

[Um Ismail]

Yes--I Did See The Movie. ...Enjoyed It. My hallucinations were auditory.

So what were his, I mean the guy in the movie? I reckon they were both auditory and visual? Sorry I don't know much about it and I saw the movie ages ago.

I Believe That My Genius Is That I See The Genius And Goodness In Everyone:)

OMG!!! THIS is the best of the DAY!!!! You nailed it (although surely this is one of the hallucinations).

I Have Good Friends In You And Many Good Friends Here In Tulsa.

Do you have any contact with the Muslims there? I am glad to hear you have good friends.


I Am Not Sure Why: I Feel Very Close To You All.

Maybe this is your way to Islam, God willing. Ever thought about that? Btw, how did you find out about this forum and what attracted you enough to participate?

You Are A Sober, Serious, Genius Bunch And I Just Look Forward So Much To Conversing With You Every Morning While I'm At Work. I Work From 8:00 to 11:00 Five Days A Week.

Ok, I hope you're not saying 8:00 am-11:00 pm!!! That's just to long!

I Also Have Three Brothers And Two Sisters In Different Cities. ...Very Close To Them.

Nothing like family.

I have more questions but do not want to get too personal.

[William Wurkmun Fosterr]

I Just Think That We Here In The 21st Century are still suffering from the mistakes made five thousand years ago. If We Can Only Forgive Each Other Now!! At Long Last!!! I Think That Resurrection Will Be Just Around The Corner. Together We Are Unstoppable!!

Let Me Say Here, On Behalf Of My Ancestors And Whoseever Ancestors, Muslims And Arabs And Everyone Are As Chosen And Holy As ANyone!! Please FORGIVE us For excluding and ostracizing and even cursing ANyone That we excluded, ostracized, and cursed for lo, these many millenia.

Let's Turn This Whole DARNED Thing Around And Behave Like The Sisters And Brothers That Adam, Eve, Abraham, Sara, And Hagar And Everyone, AND ALLAH Would Want Us To Behave Like!!! --Please, PLEASE Forgive us.

[William Wurkmun Fosterr]

Sorry, Um--Yes: Just Mornings.

I Found This Wonderful Site By Clicking On An Ad For It Next To One Of My Emails. I Still Find It To Be Incredibly Well Conceived And Designed. That There Are No Real Authorities On It Is Also Incredible. It Was Designed To Foster Pure Free Speech. I Think It Just Speaks So Well For Islam That Muslims Have Done This. It Took/Takes Incredible Confidence That This Process Will Lead Us All To The Truth. I Share That Confidence.

Like You And Others Have Said, I Think That Courtesy And Respect Are The First Geniuses. I Have Been Told (Thank You To Them) That Our Wonderful Prophet Stated That He Had Come To Perfect Manners. To Me That Is Genius.

Salud!
William

[melo061]

as salamu alaykum,

people need to leave william alone. It seems people just want to argue just about anything. When they cant fulfill their desires of feeding their ego in other threads they then begin to pick on another individual and hence continue to feed off of the energy that comes from bickering and arguing. It is very dysfunctional.

I have not attacked him. I just didn't think he was a real person.

[melo061]

That Our Wonderful Prophet Stated That He Had Come To Perfect Manners. To Me That Is Genius.

So if you think that Muhammad is indeed a prophet then what is stopping you from accepting Islam? This is truly something special.

[William Wurkmun Fosterr]

So if you think that Muhammad is indeed a prophet then what is stopping you from accepting Islam? This is truly something special.I Don't Think That We Can Honor Each Other Enough. I Think That Each Of Us Without exception Is Gifted With A Personal, Exclusive Revelation From Allah That Is Our Gift To Our Human Family. I Believe That We Are All Equal.

I Believe That Allah Is Omnipresent. I Believe That Allah Is Love ...And Fun.

I Don't immerse Myself In Music But I Am A Musician. Music Is My Fun, My Work, My Discipline, My Identity.

I Don't believe that Anyone flew into outer space. I Don't believe in the so-called 'end times'. I Don't believe in antichrist or armageddon. I Don't believe in mahdi or messiah. I Believe That The Only Way We're Going To Get Anywhere Is With Us All Working Together, Not following one 'super' person.

But I Would By No Means keep Someone from Believing Those Things. It Takes Every Single One Of Us To Make This World And People Should Draw Their Conclusions For Themselves. Diversity Is Part Of What Makes Everything So Great.

I Support You And Everyone Wholeheartedly And I Believe That We Are All, Without exception--Stalin And Hitler Included--Family. We Are All Sisters And Brothers. ...DIVERSE, Yes, But Still Family. ...And We Owe Each Other The Love And Respect That Siblings Should Naturally Give Each Other, No Matter What We Each Believe.

Your Brother In Allah, In Adam And Eve, In Abraham, Sarah, And Hagar,
William:)

[Um Ismail]

I Don't Think That We Can Honor Each Other Enough.

William, allow me to share a few thoughts please. I think we need to differentiate between honoring one another as human beings and honoring one anothers' beliefs. It is inconceivable for one to love Allah yet honor the very same thing He hates, which is attributing partners to Him, be it in Creating, His Lordship or Worship. So what Muslims (literally those who submit to God) hate is the shirk (ascribing partners to Allah).

I Think That Each Of Us Without exception Is Gifted With A Personal, Exclusive Revelation From Allah That Is Our Gift To Our Human Family.

Yes, each of us is gifted with a personal, exclusive Revelation from Allah, William, and that Revelation can only be one, because there is only one God, and the last of Revelations is the Holy Qur'an. It is a mercy and guidance for mankind for the goodness of this life and the Hereafter. It is inconceivable that our Creator, our Lord, would send contradicting Revelations. His Revelation is universal, yet personal at the same time because it is a guidance and a way of life for each of us individually. Human family started with individuals, wouldn't you agree?

I Believe That We Are All Equal.

This is not for us to decide, William. I believe that if God says not equal are the believers and disbelievers, then these are the words set in stone and their meaning is clear. Otherwise, why is there heaven and hell? Yes, in human terms, in some sense we are all equal, such as we equally feel pain, we all know suffering, we all know loss, we all know desease, we all bleed the same, etc etc etc. Yet what matters is "are we truly equal before GOD"? Wouldn't it be inconceivable that God, who knows everything and is the Creator of everything, creates human kind and gives them no instruction and guidance? Wouldn't this be cruel, to leave us without guidance? And wouldn't it cause complete chaos if God sent billions of "personal" revelations, all differing from one another (because our desires are all different)? I believe it would cause total chaos, and I believe that our God is not a God of confusion and chaos. So to rightfully call ourselves equal before God, it is necessary that we all have the same, universal message from God.

I Believe That Allah Is Omnipresent. I Believe That Allah Is Love ...And Fun.

Allah is the Owner of all the most beautiful Names and Attributes, William. When you say He is fun, could you please elaborate what you mean by this? (Please note I am not debating with you, I am only trying to understand you).

I Don't immerse Myself In Music But I Am A Musician. Music Is My Fun, My Work, My Discipline, My Identity.

William, music is at this point truly irrelevant. Muslims believe it is a sin (musical instruments), but Allah forgives all sins except shirk (ascribing partners to him whether in creating, Lordship or Worship). I do not want to impose anything on you, honestly, but I do wish to share with you and I do wish to understand your way of thinking, your beliefs, which at this point I still can't say I do. I think if your desire is to know more about God and what Muslims believe, we should just focus on this for now, the foundation of belief versus disbelief. Do you wish to do that?

I Don't believe that Anyone flew into outer space.

What do you mean?

I Don't believe in the so-called 'end times'.

I don't understand this, just the other day you said you believe in Resurrection. Do you believe this world in which we live today is eternal? I also recall you saying you are a rebel against death. I'm having a hard time connecting this belief with your belief in Resurrection, so maybe your idea of resurrection is different from mine. Would you mind to elaborate please?

I Don't believe in antichrist or armageddon. I Don't believe in mahdi or messiah. I Believe That The Only Way We're Going To Get Anywhere Is With Us All Working Together, Not following one 'super' person.

Okay, allow me to ask you, William, do you have any role models and if yes why did you choose them as your role models? Also, if we were all to work together, what would that work entail and where do you think we would get with that?

But I Would By No Means keep Someone from Believing Those Things. It Takes Every Single One Of Us To Make This World And People Should Draw Their Conclusions For Themselves.

True, in fact, Allah encourages us to use our minds, to think and ponder, first and foremost to ponder over the Revelation he has blessed us with. Allah does not need us, we need Him, William, and He has given us signs of His existance in everything that surrounds us, even in our own selves. Allah does not wish for us to impose our beliefs on others, but being that he is the Creator of us, He does want his Laws to be established, this is His right and our duty, again, fo the benefit of our ownselves, as we are in need of Him, not the other way around.

Diversity Is Part Of What Makes Everything So Great.

I agree to an extent, we are not created as robots. Diversity exists amongst Muslims, I just don't believe that diversity in religions makes things great.

I Support You And Everyone Wholeheartedly And I Believe That We Are All, Without exception--Stalin And Hitler Included--Family. We Are All Sisters And Brothers. ...DIVERSE, Yes, But Still Family. ...And We Owe Each Other The Love And Respect That Siblings Should Naturally Give Each Other, No Matter What We Each Believe.

One big happy family huh? You seem to have good intentions and a very positive outlook on life. I also wish this was the case William, but with the difference that I wish all people would worship the one and only God, not how we THINK he is to be worshipped, but how HE has instructed us to worship Him, as the later is what He will accept, if He wills. I am not trying to resemble Allah to His creation, but just for the sake of maybe better understanding what I'm tying to say:

A mother, due to her experience, knowledge, wisdom, asks her son to do something. Naturally, the mother wishes what she knows to be good for her son, and if he does it, at the same time she will be pleased with him. So the son goes and does the complete opposite to what she asked of him, and the outcome of his action is bad for him while at the same time displeasing and saddening to her. A good son will rush to obey his mother, beleiving that due to her experience and wisdom she knows better then him what is good for him, and even at times when he dislikes something she wants him to do, he rushes to do it out of his love for his mother. I think you get the point. Similarily, when you love someone, naturally your love shows in your words and actions, you strive to prove your love for that person. Now, if this is how we are with human beings, how much more should we rush to obey and show our love for God?

Btw, I know I talk a LOOOOOT, so my apologies to you and other members who feel bothered with this.


You're in my prayers.

[William Wurkmun Fosterr]

Thanks, Um Ismail. Thanks For Your Attention And Attention To Detail.

I Believe That Our Awareness And Technology Will Improve To The Point That We Will Be Resurrecting Our Ancestors.

I Think That It Is Pragmatic And Useful To Regard Allah As One, As Unequalled. We Are Specially Equipped To Function In Life Because Of That Belief. I Expect Everyone To Arrive At That In Their Logic Eventually. I Think That They Will Observe Us, Our Holiness, Our Efficiency, Indeed, Our Superiority, And Will Want To Know More About Us...And Will Then Adopt Our Beliefs. I So Wish That People Would Not accept killing as a Solution To Our problems. We Are set back by every death.

I Don't Think That Everyone Will Ever Agree On Everything But I Do Believe That We Can Unite In Respect And Love For Each Other Nonetheless And I Know How Contagious Respect And Love Are.

Once We Do That, And While We Are Doing That, We Can Really Get To Work: Feeding the hungry, Clothing the naked, Homing the homeless, Raising the dead, Securing the insecure, Liberating the captive; Teaching The unteachable, Loving The unlovable.

I Don't Honor Anybody As My role model. My Future Ideal Self Is Informed, Defined By Everyone. I Am Inspired By Everyone Without exception. ...But My Future Ideal Self Is Someone I Create And Someone Who Creates Me. This Is Not To Say That My FIS is equal to Allah. I Keep Allah As The Ultimate, Never Achievable Goal. A Characteristic Of My FIS Is Someone Who Still Strives Unsuccessfully To Be Like Allah.

I Don't Believe That Jesus Or Muhammed (Peace Be Upon Them And Everyone Without exception!) ascended to the heavens. I Believe That They Are Spiritually In Heaven Like All The dead And That They Await Their Resurrection, Like All the dead. The Sooner We Have Peace And Love In This World The Sooner We Can Get To Raising The Dead.

One Important Thing Here Is That I Do Not Purpose to convince or persuade Anybody. I Feel That Everyone Is Able To Arrive At Their Own Conclusions And If Mine Are Superior, They Will Adopt My Conclusions As Their Own. Time Will Tell On My Conclusions. Honestly, I Think That People Will Arrive At The Same Conclusions, Whether They Hear Mine Or Not. People Don't need me to Make Up Their Minds.

Affectionately,
Brother William:)