Being human is being “of Adam.” In terms of the Universal Spirit (al-ruh al-kull), “being of Adam” is a kernel from the truth of the Praised One, Ahmad (meant to bear fruit as the perfected human). In terms of the realm of Divine Might and Majesty (al-alam al-jabarut), being of Adam is a blessed effulgent seed, germination, and bloom. In terms of the visible realm and corporeal existence, it refers to the father of humanity, to the distilled servant of God. On account of this blessed bond, people are alternatively referred to as “Children of Adam.”

The word “Adam” marks a beginning and origin for comprehensive truths; the essence of which we believe should be referred to Divine knowledge and wisdom, so we would rather go into the conditions of “being of Adam” in relation to the minimal capacity of human willpower and inclinations that exist as basic conditions. Having the inner human endowments and inclinations—that can be directed to good or evil—and being apt to fluctuate between the “highest of the high” and “lowest of the low,” and sometimes displaying behaviors admirable to angels and sometimes committing atrocities repulsive to devils, the human is a multi-dimensional being with a unique anatomy among beings of the earth and heavens. Human beings sometimes journey in the shade of the blessed light God created firstly—and in that of Adam, the distilled one regarded as a blessed seed of that great truth—and thus reveal a nobleness to be compared with angels. Sometimes they abandon themselves to conditions to be derided by devils with impulses of their nature which are prone to error and oblivion and which is a potential whirlpool of different negativities.

Sometimes they are admirable with a true attitude of Adam; and sometimes “being of Adam” solely remains in superficial form and they assume a completely different state. While they can be a companion to celestial beings in an atmosphere of consciousness of, and love for, God on the one hand, they might stagger to be dominated by fancies of their carnal soul and become no different than a devil on the other. Sometimes they reject worldliness and all it offers and make an envious leap to adopt the state of those in the loftiest circle, transcend themselves and reach the horizons of the pioneers and thus become one of the children of Adam closest to God, and there comes a time when they fall headlong into the trail of the lowest of the low…

The Prophets are also fruits of the “tree of Adam” with their innocence and being under absolute Divine protection against misguidance. Thanks to their endowments in alignment with their missions and being blessed with special graces, their sights and insights were always oriented to the Sun of suns with their shadows falling behind them. They walked to their eternal sanctuary without the slightest lapse. With reference to this quality of theirs they were mentioned as being truly Adamic and “of Prophet Adam”; they presented a fabulous “spiritual texture” with respect to their distinguished origin as blessed fruits of “the first Intellect” or the “first blessed light.”

Those distinguished and lofty personages who followed a dazzling course on the Prophetic path of Adam and who effected transcendental rhythms in hearts were firstly followed by their perfectly loyal companions, and then by heroes blessed with extra graces and attained closeness to God behind them. Afterwards, saintly servants followed them, who had oriented themselves to that illustrious circle. Only God knows their true number and nature, and what falls to us is to be reverent towards those known to us.

Thirsty for having insight into, and savoring everything with their actual nature, these paragons of Adamic humanity are always in pursuit of Divine breezes and are distinguished with letting hearts feel and love God. Their nights are permeated with yearning for, and dreams of, reunion with God. Every attitude and behavior of theirs is like a polished mirror that reflects the Divine. Their tongues are dominated by their hearts, and constantly keep spelling the Eternal Beloved. Their hearts shake like a leaf with a concern against leading those behind to deviation. They see the fact that they gain forgiveness to be closely related to being among their road companions. They see reaching beyond in the furthest sense as conditional to serving their adherents with utter self-effacement and humility. In response to waves of extra graces and inspirational blessings, they always keep serious with concerns of the deceptive lull before Divine retribution (istidraj). Their heads are held humbly down while waiting at God’s door, with a constant excitement in the most profound sense to make their hearts nearly stop, they keep entreating Him as, “O Lord, please do not expel me from Your door, although I am deserving of that.”

Despite being blessed with faith vast like mountains, good deeds, deep recognition of and love for God, as well as exclusive spiritual delights, they view these blessings with shudders of caution, for they fear that they may be alluring elements of a lull before Divine retribution. Together with not failing to praise God in response to the greatest attainments and Divine gifts they were honored with, they just dismiss those at a half-glance and never overestimate them. Although hundreds of hearts remember God and become ecstatic upon seeing them, these souls turn a blind eye to all of such interest on them and think about the so-called “errors” within the horizons of those closest to God and say,

If the All-Merciful One weighs my sins as they are,
the scales of the Judgment Day will break under them, I fear!

and they are troubled with this concern. When they receive appreciation from those around them, they dismiss it as the latter’s positive assumptions, and respond as,

May God not let you face disappointment because of me!
May He bless me with clinging to the Prophetic Tradition with both hands!

Thus, they dispelled the thought and always continued their lives as humbly bent before God.

As those on top always walked on Adam’s path of Prophethood, those behind ceaselessly followed them as doves of “annihilation in God” (fanafillah) and “permanence with God” (baqabillah). They walked on in complete humility towards their eternal sanctuary. They lowered their own voices before the pioneers; to those who gently walked from formality to spirituality in their footsteps and who displayed ability to walk, they sounded off the most moving melodies, whose lyrics belong to the pioneers; and they enchanted those who turned towards them. They saluted the sublimity of the destination with purity of heart, with an ambition and perseverance to breathe the same things with those over the top, they said in the highest pitch what needed to be said; by showing a performance to share the inspirations and graces granted to the pioneers with phrases of contemplation, deliberation, and reflection, they constantly walked towards being human in the Adamic sense. They walked on and while they outwardly appeared to be among us, they were in a constant endeavor to keep upon the path of those in the loftiest circle.

The examples and mission of the eminent Prophets were effulgent manifestations of the true likeness of Adam. This manifestation took the form of a brilliant moon in the Last Prophet, Muhammad (peace be upon him). As for his companions who excelled in loyalty, they would become the center of attention thanks to the quality and profundity of being in that lofty circle. Although there were occasional eclipses in those who came after them, there was no issue as a never-ending eclipse. And thanks to the ampleness of Divine Mercy, there will be no such thing until the end of the world. And then the gates of wisdom will be closed for good, whereas gates of Divine Power and providence will open wide. Those who lead their life in the course of Adamic humanity will be blessed with rewards incomparably greater than the transient things they had lost, so much so that they will never regret for this loss.

As for those solely Adamic in the animal sense or outward form, despite their being fruits of the same seed, they underwent a hard-to-repair deformation under dominance of the carnal soul. They appear to be human in terms of their physical anatomy and form, and they have a mechanism of conscience and systems of the heart, spirit, and sir (secret inner faculty), they opt for a lifestyle much below the course of “the best of stature” they are supposed to follow with an utter disregard for their spiritual anatomy. Since they experience concentric deformations within their spiritual worlds, they drift with currents of character corruption, darken their Adamic humanity, and fall below the course of true humanity and thus virtually turn into animals in a spiritual sense. They fail to realize the purpose of creation and the requirements of being blessed with the best pattern of creation, which is emphasized in the Divine decree, “I have not created human and jinn but to worship Me” (Dhariyat 51:56). Running after their fancies, they were caught in Satan’s hook; although they retained their outer human form, they ruined their spiritual anatomy, knowingly preferring the material world over the realms beyond. And in spite of so many favorable dynamics of success, they went through the disgrace of having successions of disappointment. Moreover, as most of them fell to the level of beings which spend their lives by eating, drinking, and ruminating, they rather presented a mood as described in the Divine verse, “They are like cattle, or even more astray (A’raf 7:179).

Ignorant ones with diplomas who failed to crown knowledge with good deeds, good deeds with recognition of God, that with love for God, and that with a yearning for reunion with God, rather drifted to the lowest of the low, with an attitude of sheer ignorance as expressed in, “like donkeys burdened with books” (Jumu’ah 62:5) while they were supposed to target the highest levels of perfection. As for others who suffered from a different deformation, who kiss others’ feet when they are weak and who become tyrants when they come to power and keep biting those they apprehend as opponents by considering that “might is right,” the immaculate statements of the Qur’an portray them as dogs panting with their tongues lolling out whether you chase it away or leave it (A’râf, 7/176). They are mentioned as some separate category of unfortunate ones who are not aware of the blessing of being a mirror to the Eternally-Besought-of-All.

Different examples by both Divine verses, and sayings of the noble Prophet, mention such deformed types, and it is possible to see so many such people everywhere today. Because when people deviate from the course of faith, belief, sincerity, perfect goodness, loyalty, uprightness, and become oblivious of recognition of God (marifa), love for God (muhabba), and intense yearning for reunion with Him (liqa’ullah), it becomes inevitable for their spiritual world to be contaminated, their heart to die, and the person’s coming under the dominance of the carnal soul and Satan.

The manifold ignorant ones of our era, who do not know the Divine, do not recognize the Prophets, who interpret religion as they fancy, who do not know what needs to be known as it requires, who do not even know their state of not knowing but consider themselves to be insightful and enlightened, harmed real religious thought even more than pharaohs did. And if they also drifted with masses devoid of consciousness under the guise of religious arguments, then such a destruction even goes beyond the destruction of Antichrist. It appears that such ones are not likely at all to cease their humanity in the animal sense and adopt humanity in the real sense, the saintly sense they are supposed to be.

O God guide us to the Straight Path, to the path of those whom You favored,
from the Prophets, truthful ones, martyrs, and the righteous.
And peace be upon the noble Prophet, his family, Companions, all of those pure ones.

As far as the origin of language is concerned, Abrahamic traditions agree on the fact that language is a gift of God to humanity. To exemplify, the Holy Bible in Genesis 2:20 (King James’ Version) states that: “[20] And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.” Identically, the Holy Qur’an in Surah Al-Baqara (The Cow) voices the following verse: “And He taught Adam the names of all things; then He placed them before the angels, and said: ‘Tell me the names of these if ye are right’?” Both of these divine expressions indicate clearly that mankind was created from the beginning with an innate capacity to use language. Therefore, a theist from any level of society does not have any doubts about the origin of human language; for him the explanation is both simple and persuasive.

However, for those who do not subscribe to such a faith tradition, it is rather nerve-racking to come up with a unanimous answer as to the emergence of language since there are so many competing and contradictory theories and hypotheses. Efforts to explain the origins of language usually sound dubious and are collected under two main hypotheses in linguistics that are based upon human invention and necessity. According to the “pooh-pooh hypothesis,” the first words originated from involuntary exclamations expressing a human’s pleasure, dislike, pain, hunger and so on, which later on led to the expression of more complicated feelings and ideas. Given this, the first human words would have been involuntary “Aa!”  “ouch,” “ha-ha-ha,” etc., which were used to name the actions that resulted in these sounds. Yet, the problem with this thesis is that emotional exclamations not only constitute only a small part of any human language but also that they are highly language specific. Apart from sneezes, tears, and laughter, exclamations show variations among languages. For instance, English people say “ouch,” Russians “ol,” and native Indians “eee” to indicate sudden ache or discomfort. That is, their forms mostly hinge on a specific language that already exists rather than preceding language.

The second is Charles Darwin’s own “ta-ta hypothesis” (which he himself finds rather erroneous) about the origin of language. For him, human speech might have come from a kind of mouth pantomime according to which speech organs were used to imitate different forms of hand signs. That is to say, human language originated from body movements which were soon imitated by speech organs; therefore the first-ever words used to be lip icons of hand movements. However, here again we notice inconsistency because the meaning of human gestures vary from culture to culture, such as the “thumbs-up/thumbs-down” once used by Romans to decide upon the life of a defeated gladiator. While for Western people the “thumps-up” gesture implies a positive remark expressing mainly a task well done, it surprisingly has negative implications in Greece, Russia, Italy, Latin America and West Africa where it instead stands for the middle finger.

These are only two amid various other inconsistent hypotheses (which include the “ding-dong”, “bow-wow”, warning, “yo-he-ho”, and lying hypothesis) offered as an explanation for the origin of language. What is interesting is that in the late 19th century, the Linguistic Society in London and Paris forbade any commentary and debate on the emergence of human language for valuable time was wasted to find a sane thesis.

This reminds me of letters from the Islamic scholar Said Nursi in which he states that just showing the evidence is sufficient to prove the presence of anything; otherwise you have to inquire of the entire world so as to show its non-presence. In Islamic law, two witnesses are enough to resolve any skeptical case; this may be a lawsuit, a dispute, doubt or disagreement between people. For example, if two people testify that they have seen the crescent, which is the harbinger of the holy month Ramadan in Islam, there is no need to ask other people for verification of the same sight. Even if thousands of people oppose the sighting, it is worthless and does not change the truth. Perhaps, what Abrahamic traditions are teaching us on language is the only source to verify its origin.

Hallaj al-Mansur was inspired by the philosophy of Unity of Being (wahdat al-wujud), which he followed. When looking at his words we can understand love in two ways. First, love is an irrevocable desire for truth and the quest to discover it. Second, love is being preoccupied with someone, expecting favor from them, and not accepting any other rivals for their affection. Selfishness and egoism can easily be sensed in this second type of love.

As a matter of fact, Satan can be said to be superior to humankind in terms of its extensiveness in time and space – at least as far as its nature is allowed to reach. Being so blessed, one could think highly of oneself. Satan thought, “I will not prefer Adam to myself.” If we call this “love,” this is the kind of love Satan possesses.

Instead of such an impaired love, a love that expects reciprocity, we should follow a love of obedience, which takes a person to perfection. This obedience refers to doing everything for the sake of God’s good pleasure and expecting nothing in return. It means remaining remote from worldly grudges, never making one’s relation to God a matter of negotiation with God, and always behaving with submission and surrender.

Hallaj was referring to these considerations, which are by all means restricted by various boundaries, when he said, “Love should be learned from Satan and obedience from Adam.”

Love is associated with one’s weakness and neediness; as such, there are some gateways in its nature that are open to abuse. Perhaps, this was the case with Satan.

Causality

For this reason, it is very important to follow the Prophetic path in regards to love, enthusiasm, and gratitude. Sometimes a person may not find the things he has been seeking. This person may consider causes as absolute values, and may say, “These causes should have given certain results.” This person doesn’t understand that there is a distinct mercy and justice in God dragging us through compulsory situations. Of course, He is not required to create a result according to our causes. The Prophetic path teaches us this truth. As Ali al-Qari said, nothing is incumbent on God, Who is All-Transcendent. In some of the covenants He condescends to make with His servant, His saying, “This is your right and this is Mine,” is characteristic of the language as it occurs in a mutual communication. Otherwise, what right do we have to try and determine the result of something with our will, all the materials of which belong to Him? Getting a result is not in our hands, nor is passing judgment on the result.

Yes, there actually is a relationship between causes and results, and within the principles of Divine practice when those causes are observed, a certain result occurs. However, people representing those causes have no right to think of the result and say “It has to be like this…”

For even if there is a connection between cause and effect, in reality, effects are not built on causes. For example, if to put forth His will, God said to people, “When you blow on the solar system, I will disperse it,” and we blew on the solar system and God dispersed it, then we thought we were the cause of this, we would be mistaken. Our blowing would not have caused the solar system to disperse.

Servanthood

It is better to follow the path of Adam’s servanthood instead of Satan’s love. For love can sometimes cause a person’s foot to slip from the true path. But obedience on the Prophetic path will never slip!

Let’s also look at Hallaj al-Mansur’s point from the perspective of a comparison between love and obedience. Actually, what made Hallaj say this was that he thought Satan had fixed his heart on God; he gave his heart to no one else. However, when he saw man between himself and God, Satan’s love prevented him from prostrating to anyone but God.

It is not possible to fully agree with these ideas. Even if it were true, there is something that Hallaj and Satan overlooked; that is the fine point of the command to obey. Adam understood this fine point, and after his lapse, he pleaded and prayed, “Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive us and do not have mercy on us, we will surely be among those who have lost” (A’raf 7:23).But Satan did not learn; he did not understand God’s command to bow down to Adam.

In comparing love and obedience, it was stated that if love is based on obedience, then it means something. If there is no obedience in love, then just as intoxication can be born from it, so, too, can hopelessness, vexation, and even rebellion. In fact, intoxication grows in proportion to the size of the love, which may lead to estrangement from God, even while one may assume he or she is on the Divine path. Worthy things can suddenly lose their value.

These results do not prove that love is unimportant. As stated in “The Emerald Hills of the Heart” series, love is very important. In fact, some have even given great importance to metaphorical love, even considering those who died for physical love as martyrs. Folk stories like Laila and Majnun, Shirin and Ferhat, and Aslı and Kerem all turned this kind of obsession into legend. However, love is meaningful only when it is endowed with the merits explained above. If these requirements are not fulfilled, then when one’s expectations from love are not fulfilled, and reunion does not take place, love can turn into resentment.

The case with Satan is – perhaps – that when he did not find reciprocation from God, he was disappointed and ruined; as such, he did not rise up again. With respect to obedience, this kind of mistake can never be made. Obedience is a heartfelt and active deed made in line with the approval of the One who must be obeyed because His wishes and desires must be obeyed. On the other hand, love affects the balance of a person. It opens the door to unbalanced behavior. In other words, it can make a person insane. In this regard, Satan is an unbalanced creature. It is mandatory to conform scrupulously to rules imposed by obedience. This is balance. Adam preferring obedience shows he was a balanced creature.

A final point: I initially mentioned, with just one sentence, that Hallaj believed in the philosophy of the Unity of Being. He and people like Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi often evaluated matters from the angle of the vastness of God’s mercy. They do this and even seek a road to salvation for Satan and the pharaohs. In this respect, their kind of interpretation is a necessity of their basic philosophy. For according to them, “Everything is He,” and Satan is a different manifestation of Him. Whereas according to me, “Everything is from Him.” Consequently, Hallaj’s saying, “Love should be learned from Satan and obedience from Adam,” should be accepted as normal in respect to his philosophy of Unity of Being.

In the Hebrew Bible, God says to Moses: “I know you by name.” This knowledge indicates a deeper insight as to who Moses really is and tells that the acquaintance via exchange of the names is not just superficial information, but rather a kind of in-depth knowledge.2 In the Psalms, David narrates: “He leads me on right paths for his name’s sake” (Ps 23:3).

Both in the Hebrew Bible and in the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad (hadith), God is present wherever His name is recited: “In every place where I proclaim my name I shall come to you and bless you” (Exod 20:24).

In the Qur’an, in Chapter Baqarah, God declares His intention to create humans. The angels cannot help but ask Him “Are you going to create someone who will shed blood on the earth?” Then God says “I know what you don’t.” When He summoned Adam and asked him to recite the Names He taught Him, the angels were surprised by the knowledge and potential of Adam. “They said: ‘Glory be to You! We possess no knowledge save what You have taught us. Indeed, You alone are All-Knowing, the Wise’.” He said: “O Adam! Inform them of their names.” When he had informed them, God said: “Did I not tell that I know what is unseen in the heavens and on Earth, and I know what you reveal and what you hide?” (Surah al-Baqarah; 31- 33.)

A modern day Muslim scholar, M. Fethullah Gulen, writes that the knowledge given to Adam was not exclusive to him, but rather was given to all humans. Generations of people developed the seeds of knowledge given to Adam and this is how the sciences were developed. Human’s deep desire to know is the seed that was planted in human soul with the “Names.” 3

According to the early 13th century scholar, Fahraddin al-Razi (d. 1209), the knowledge that should be attained first and foremost on earth is the knowledge of God’s names. Only through His names can a person know God.4 20th century scholar Said Nursi (d. 1960) writes that all sciences came from one specific name of God. For instance, 2 plus 2 makes 4, and this relates to equality of the two sides of the equation. Thus, math comes from His name Just, in Arabic, al-‘Adl. Medicine treats an illness and has a strong connection to the name of The Life-Giver, al–Hayy. Similarly, the physics that rule the universe, from gravity to rain, are reflections of God’s name in the language of this world. The clouds function as a sponge, clean the sky, and the rain cleans the earth, leaving behind not only cleanliness but also beauty and tons of benefit for the circle of life. 5

Muslim scholars have written treatises to explain the meaning and function of the Names of God over the centuries. These treatises are called “The Exegesis of God’s Names.” They are manuscripts in libraries, from Spain to Turkey, and in various languages, from Arabic to Turkish. When one considers that Hebrew became a written language in Spain in the 12th century,6 and since God’s names are a theological topic in Judaism, manuscripts on God’s Names in Hebrew might have been penned. I am not aware of any research to disclose the various forms of Hebrew literature on God’s Names. However, there are books in traditional Cabbalist literature on the power of God’s names when recited certain times.7 These types of books also exist in the Islamic tradition, but they are read as a means and formula to pray in the best way to communicate with God. Reciting God’s seven names, though different in Judaism and Islam, exists in both traditions. Certain Muslim scholars used to recite these names, while others recited the other names, either in silence or aloud in a group, once a week, functioning as a social practice of prayer and meditation.

The names of God also formed a genre on its own in poems written by Muslims and Jews. Muslims narrated that the Qur’an reveals a hundred names of God, Allah, being the one that encompass all other names. Yet God’s names are not limited to this number. Another prayer called “Jawshan” enumerated God’s 1000 names poetically.8 This book is narrated in the sources of Shia, yet it is widely read among Sunnis, too. Ali, the son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, is known as the door of the city of sciences and knowledge in both Sunni and Shia traditions. Thus, it is not a surprise that Ali narrated this very valuable source on God’s names. After all, God’s names are the keys to opening the doors of knowledge and various sciences till the end of time.

A thousand names of God are poetically narrated in “Jawshan” in a form of prayer for all, 300 names were revealed in the Torah, and another 300 in Bible.9 God’s name reminds believers, not only Muslims of different sects – but also People of the Book, be they Muslim, Jewish, Christian, or someone else – that the hearts and minds of humans address One God, Who has Beauty and Mercy in His Power, and Power and Magnificence in His Beauty.

Notes

1. Clarke, Arthur C. 1983. “The Nine Billion Names of God”. Golden Age of Science Fiction.
2. Exod 33: 12 from Mettinger, Tryggve N. D. In Search of God: The Meaning and Message of the Everlasting Names. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988, p. 8
3. http://en.fgulen.com/reflections-on-the-quran/4240-al-baqarah-2-31
4. Dilek, Mehmet. “Hadislerde El-Esmau’l-Husna”, HRU Ilahiyat Fak. Dergisi, C: XI, Sayi: VI, Temmuz-Aralik 2003, s. 77-94.
5. Nursi, Said, and Hüseyin Akarsu. The 30th Gleam, in The Gleams, The Risale-I Nur Collection. Somerset, N.J.: Tughra Books, 2008.
6. Menocal, Maria Roa. The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain, 2003.
7. Swart, Jacobus G., The book of Sacred Names, The Sangreal Sodality Press, 2012.
8. Al-Jawshan Al-Kabir: a prayer for all, a supplication of Prophet Muhammad. Somerset, N.J.: The Light, 2006.
9. Sahin, Abdullah. ‘Edebi bir Tur Olarak Klasik Edebiyatimizda Esma-i Husnalar’, A. U. Turkiyat Arastirmalari Enstitusu Dergisi, s. 16, Erzurum, 2001, s. 52.

Large scale phenomena, with almost similar religious zeal, can also be observed in the natural world. The Qur’anic verse, “All that is in the heavens and on the earth extols and glorifies God, for He is the Tremendous, the Wise,” (57:1) tells us that all creatures of God glorify, praise and, hence, worship God in a language of their natural disposition. When a seed lifts a tall tree or a bud on a branch opens into a beautiful flower, they reflect the Power, Wisdom, and Glory of God. Just as this occurs individually when creatures display the wonders of the Creator and live in accordance with the purpose of their creation, they also worship God collectively by obeying the call of God in large numbers. All dramatic animal migrations, with their millions of creatures moving as one, and the synchronized blossoming of all plants in the spring, are examples of collective acts of worship in the natural world. In Africa, wildebeests migrate – tens of thousands of them, all going at the same time – to greener pastures in the continent’s highland steppes. In North America, millions of monarch butterflies migrate thousands of kilometers every winter. A recent discovery spectacularly demonstrated that corals along the length of the Great Barrier Reef, on the east coast of Australia, germinate at the same time, even down to the hour. Similarly, Muslims also display a mass act of worship by hearing the invitation of God for pilgrimage, and turning up in their millions, at the same time and place.

Cosmic objects and sub-atomic particles orbiting around a central point can be seen as another common act of worship expressed in the tongue of natural disposition. While electrons ceaselessly orbit the nucleus of an atom, the earth and planets tirelessly traverse space in an orbit around the sun. In turn, the solar system becomes the whirling dervish orbiting the centre of the Milky Way. It seems that circling a central point of reference is a universal act of worship. Muslims join in this cosmic mode of worship and synchronize with the whole universe and all existence by circling the Ka’bah as the reference point of monotheism.

The central aims of worship – exalting, glorifying and praising God – are realized individually and collectively. Muslims exalt God by showing up in mass as though saying “O Lord! You are greater than my self and You are far exalted above the whole humanity; here we are ready to worship you in mass.” They glorify God by going around the Ka’bah as though saying “just as we circle the single point of reference, the one and only Ka’bah, the oldest place of worship on earth, we only obey You, the Absolute One worthy of worship.” They praise God through the collective supplication and remembrance of God in the plains of Mt Arafat.

Muslims believe that the Ka’bah was the first place of worship built by the first human, and the first prophet, Adam. It was later rebuilt on the same foundations by Abraham and his son, Ishmail, and declared as a shrine dedicated to the belief and worship of one God (2:125-127) – the central tenet of monotheism. Abraham called on people to make pilgrimage to the site. Before the days of Islam, the Hebrew Bible confirmed the existence of this pilgrimage to Mecca: “O Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they are ever praising You. Blessed are those whose strength is in You, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Beca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools” (Psalms 84:4-6).

The climax of Pilgrimage occurs on the plains of Mt Arafat, about twenty kilometers outside of Mecca. All pilgrims have to be present in this location at the same time, simulating the day of resurrection when all humanity will be gathered before the court of God. Everyone wears the same simple garment and supplicates to God with no distinction of race, color, wealth or status.

Mt Arafat has a very significant place in the history of humanity. According to Islam, this is the place where the first man, Adam, and his partner, Eve, sincerely repented and received forgiveness for their mistake committed in Paradise. Similarly, Muslims repent for their sins and ask forgiveness in the same place. The plea and petition of millions of people at the same time is a compelling spiritual force that begs forgiveness. If three million people walked to the home of a president and asked for something, it would be impossible to ignore them. According to Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, God will not send away empty handed a pilgrim who sincerely asks for forgiveness. His or her sins will be wiped clean and they will attain the sinless state of a newborn. Over time, it has become a tradition for pilgrims to visit their family and friends before going for hajj, where they ask for forgiveness of any unsettled grievances or transgressions of human relations.

While there are other spiritual meanings expressed within the rites of hajj , Muslims especially announce their commitment to God through the two fundamental aspects of hajj – the circumambulation of the Ka’bah and the collective prayer offered on the plains of Mt Arafat. As people from all races and nations gather at the spiritual epicenter of the world, they affirm their common paternal ancestry with Adam and their spiritual ancestry with Abraham, peace be upon them.

Mehmet Ozalp is an author and PhD candidate at the University of Sydney, Australia.

References

1. These quotations are mine. They are intended to express the sentiments of pilgrims.
2. In ancient times, Mecca was known as Bakkah.
3. Ghazzali, Ihya’ul Ulumuddin, Tugra Nesriyat (Tr): Istanbul, Vol 1, 622. Hadith was narrated by Abu Hurayrah in Bukhari and Muslim hadith collections. Note that some scholars interpret this hadith to say that human rights violations are not included in this overarching forgiveness.
4. All rituals of hajj relate the story of Abraham, his son Ishmail, his wife Hagar and their dramatic ordeal to survive as monotheist in the largely polytheist world. Rituals of hajj include being present at Mt Arafat; circumambulation of the Ka’bah; offering ritual prayers after circumambulation; sa’y the fast walk between two hills; stopping at Muzdalifa on the first day of the festival; symbolic stoning Satan’s pillars; wearing of ihram; and cutting of the hair at the end.

While discussions on the education of creation in schools continue, generations grow up with lack of knowledge about the Creator and understanding of His Actions. The current education system in high schools and colleges are giving knowledge about the universe, nature, earth, and life but courses are not directed to understand the Actions of the Creator. How and where can people learn about their Creator? Although there are various means such as the internet, religious groups, and journals, it is not always feasible and enough to understand directly the Creator’s Actions without a good understanding of sciences. Fortunately, every science continuously mentions God with their unique language and speaks of the Creator, but we will need a point of view, windows to see beyond our sight and knowledge, just like we need a microscope to see microorganisms or a telescope to discover depths of the universe. With some attention, everyone can understand what sciences reflect from God’s Actions. That’s why we should listen to what sciences tell us in their own language.

Imagine there is a simulation program to analyze a car crash. In this program, let us say you enter different parameters such as velocity, weight, angle of hit, general structure of the car, hardness of the body, and weather information like wind velocity and its direction and so on. After you click on the OK button in this imaginary simulation program, you almost get the same results with real physical crash tests. This obviously shows us a skillful software programmer and his great knowledge in mathematics and physical events. Noticeably, nature is composed of millions and millions of parameters determining final result just like this simulation program. For instance, when you throw a stone to a lake or into water, first of all it falls down with a velocity and then you see a wave of water expanding to its surrounding from the center affected by that velocity. The velocity of this stone at a certain time and place and wave formation on the surface of water can be explained with some physical laws described with mathematical equations. Whoever put these rules for the physical events also created the universe in a perfect mathematical order. From these and the knowledge we get from computer sciences, physics, and mathematics, we can open windows to understand the ruler of the universe as Glorious Creator.

We are at the time of great advancements in gene technology and huge increase in knowledge about molecular biology; even individual structures of biological molecules are known and many more discovered about cellular mechanisms. The more we learn, the more we face complexity and organization in the tiniest compartments of cell. Cell is no longer a small room filled with a gel-like structure in our minds, it is a massive factory that contains all required machinery and it is automatic, well balanced, and continuously renewed. Things are in constant motion; uptake follows release of substances and signal from outside results in a response produced inside. With increase in understanding of how living things are working and necessity to answer how these things originated caused discussions in scientific research. Some scientists like to talk only at scientific platforms or on so-called testable scientific subjects, but this does not change the reality. We wonder about the beginning and we wish to live forever. We are finite but dream of infinity. How can we think of eternal life if we were a product of something that is not eternal?

Imagine there is a high-tech, but small self-working factory producing highways and trucks to carry items, fuel engines for the energy that can be used in many different processes and containing solar energy collectors. There are great photocopy machines for the production of a new factory, feedback systems to control and repair any problems as well. Without any concern, control of all these events and thousands of machines, engines, highways in such a small sized factory without any problem involves a perfect engineer, scientist, architect, and chemist. Similarly, believe it or not, the cell is an excellent composition of around one million molecules, thousands of machines, and energy producing engines. There are highways, trucks, feedback systems and more in an arranged and fine control in such a small size. Mitochondria, for instance, is one of the most essential cellular organelle and produces ATP molecules as carrier of energy obtained from organic molecules for energy requiring cellular processes. In addition, cellular requirements vary by time and vesicles carry required molecules as cargo on molecular motors using microtubule pathways to different places. Those and many other examples we learn from biological sciences point to the Glorious Creator of the Earth.

When you consider a cell coming into existence by causes other than the hands of a Creator with numerous levels of regulation, coordination of subcellular compartments like organelles, information storage in DNA, and use of this information required for their specific function, it means molecules come together under the effect of natural causes and form an artistic cellular structure in a wise-manner. Actually, this reminds us of a very famous experiment by Stanley Miller to make amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, to demonstrate that life on earth has originated by natural causes and chance. Miller, in his experiment, took molecules which were supposed to represent the major components of the early Earth’s atmosphere and put them into a closed system. He used methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3), hydrogen (H2), and water (H2O) in his experiment and ran a continuous electric current to stimulate lightning storms and to drive these unfavorable reactions. He found that three amino acids have been synthesized in these conditions. Later, it was found that this composition was different from the early Earth’s atmosphere and arguments raised to his experiment due to continuous energy input not possible in nature. However, this was exciting at that time and some used headlines like “Miller created life.” On the other hand, what Miller had managed to synthesize was only a few inanimate lifeless molecules.

People who do not believe in God also do not believe in creation. That’s why they tend to conclude that “nothing is created out of nothing, and nothing goes to nothing; there is only composition and decomposition.” But, the All-Powerful One has two ways of creating. The first way is through origination and invention and the second way is through composition and through art. He creates from out of nothing together with everything necessary for, again, nothing. In the second way of creating, He forms beings from materials of universe in order to show his delicate wisdom, perfection, and the manifestations of His Names. “O people! be careful of (your duty to) your Lord, Who created you from a single being and created its mate of the same (kind) and spread from these two, many men and women…” (Quran 4:1)

When we think about the lessons learnt from these examples and natural sciences with their special focus areas, we realize that every science somehow declare the Glorious Creator of this universe. However, there may not be an opportunity in school to discuss and go deep into the understanding of the Actions of the Creator. With the window of what sciences open to us about God, we can uncover the hidden truths.

Ali Fethi Toprak is a PhD candidate at Southwestern Medical Center, Texas University, Dallas.

He was few minutes late for the meeting, but not so late as to be unacceptable. After the meeting was over, Adam went to his office. He had a lot of things to do: a report was due in two weeks, there was to be a presentation for a project he had just finished, a proposal for a new project, and a bunch of minor office tasks. However, he did not feel like doing any of them at the moment; moreover, they all could wait a few minutes. He was curious about the up-coming election, so he decided to read the news online. Then he felt the need to look up on the latest technology news. Without noticing, he spent nearly an hour reading the news.

Adam then felt compelled to start preparing his presentation. He was intelligent and the project was innovative; now was the time to prepare the best possible presentation. He outlined the presentation in his mind and started working on the first slide. He spent quite a bit of time on the first slide, but he could not get it right; every time he tried something, he saw that it was not perfect and started again from scratch. Finally, he exhausted his energy and motivation and decided that preparing the presentation for this project was too difficult and postponed working on it later that day.

He decided to move to the report task, but first he needed a break. It was around 1 p.m. and it was time for the noon prayer, but this was not urgent, he thought; he could do it later. He decided to take a break and check his emails. He quickly checked his three email accounts to see if he had any unread messages-there was a message in one of the accounts. It was from his high school friend asking how he was doing. He was busy right now, and decided that he did not have the time to answer; he signed out. Finally, he started writing something for the report. Even though he had planned to work on the report last week, he had not been able to do it, not because he did not have enough time, but because it had not been due and he decided that it could wait. He started working on the report, but he noticed that the software he was using to write the report was notifying him of a feature update. Because he did not feel like working on the report, he went ahead and downloaded the update. Installing it took some time. Even though it was completely unnecessary at that moment, he convinced himself that it was worthwhile, at least for the future.

He jotted down some notes for the report. While he was working on it, his friend from the next office came and asked him if he could join them to play basketball at the weekend. He told him that even though he would very much like to join them, he was very busy and had no time nowadays. The time for the noon prayer was nearly over. He hurried up and performed the obligatory part of the prayer quickly. As for the voluntary prayers, he had no time for them right now.

After the prayer he remembered that he still needed to write the proposal for next week. He was planning to work on it this week, but, because he had not worked on the report last week, he had to work on that now instead of the proposal.

Without having realized it, it was nearly 6 p.m. already. He was married, so he did not want to stay in the office. After all, he could work on the report at home, he thought. He went back home, had dinner with his wife; his wife mentioned that it had been a long time since they had seen a movie together and wondered if they could go and see one. He told his wife that even though he would very much like to, he was too busy this week; perhaps they could go next week. He remembered that he said the same thing last week; he had worked well last week so he would have time this week. He knew that he was not working very efficiently, and he was not able to do so, even though he wanted to. He condemned himself of being lazy and not a very good husband.

Weeks passed. Adam continued the same style of lethargic life; he was carrying out all his duties (his job, volunteering tasks, duties as a husband, etc.) at the bare minimum; he was neither satisfied nor completely unhappy. However, his wife was not happy with the whole process; every time she asked something from Adam, he would promise to do it later; however this would almost always be delayed indefinitely. Once at the weekend she asked Adam whether they could go out. Adam said that he was very busy; perhaps they could go out later that day or next week. This time, his wife told Adam that she no longer had confidence in him. He was shocked; he had not expected such a response. He tried to explain himself to his wife by saying that every promise he had made was with sincere intentions, but his wife did not believe even this explanation. He said he was sorry, but his wife did not accept his apology as this was the hundredth time he had apologized. Adam felt that the most important thing between a husband and a wife was trust; losing this meant losing everything. He felt terrible; he tried to explain everything, but nothing pleased his wife. He felt exhausted; he blamed his wife not being more understanding and left.

Adam spent hours thinking about what had gone wrong. Indeed, his wife was right; every time she asked for something, he would promise to do it and even though he was sincere in his promise, he would put it off indefinitely. He felt awful about the whole situation, but he was not able to rectify it. Then he thought about all the promises that he had made to God, almost all of which he had broken. Then, he shivered with the thought of “what if God also says that He does not trust me anymore?” And what if God told him that He had given Adam enough chances and that he had used them all up, that he had none left and therefore, there is no need for him to be alive any longer? That would be a horrible end indeed.

It was time for the afternoon prayer. After the prayer, he made the following supplication over and over again: “Should He not know what He created? And He is the Subtle, the Aware” (Mulk 67:14). Thus, he asked for help from the One Who is aware of everything, Who is the All-Compassionate, the All-Merciful, and the All-Powerful.

This time, he was determined to solve the lethargy problem. First, he contemplated about what were the causes of being lethargic.

Indeed, Adam was very lethargic and there were many reasons for it. It was not that he wanted to be a lazy person; on the contrary, he wanted to succeed; he could be smart and successful when he put his energy into a task. However, he was very disorganized; because he did not assign tasks to different time slots, he could easily spend those times on tasks that seemed necessary but actually were unnecessary, such as spending long minutes or even hours reading the news, installing feature updates, etc. He was a perfectionist; he wanted to make the final product (report, presentation, etc.) perfect; this is a good habit to have. However, being a perfectionist made him overcritical of himself, and this dampened his desire to work. He procrastinated; procrastination made his tasks pile higher and deeper; delaying one task caused delays to others. The constant thought of piled-up tasks constantly preoccupied him and as a result he had no time to reply to his emails, no time for the optional prayers, no time for sports, no time for entertainment, and no time to read books, etc. However, had he set aside some time to do sports; however to support hard work he would have to have a healthier body and mind, he needed to set aside an hour for relaxation, and not spend long hours on the web surfing while thinking “I should not be doing this right now” at the back of his mind, yet at the same time he had to be able to relax and start the next day with a fresh mind.

To solve these problems, he would have to eliminate the causes; however, most importantly, he needed energy and determination. He had neither. Then, he remembered: “My Lord would not care for you were it not for your prayer” (Furqan 25:77). Indeed, he was too weak to depend on himself alone, but he had learned that if he depended on God he could be the most powerful person in the world. He remembered all the things he had read and learned… The importance of “In the Name of God,” the need to put his trust in God, the fact that the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, had a prayer for almost every occasion, that it is very important not to sleep at dawn, that one should perform their daily prayers as early as one can, that one should eat, sleep and talk less, and that eating much meant sleeping much, that our Prophet used to go to bed after the night prayer, the importance of lawful earning and legitimate food, that the work between two prayers is counted as worship, that he should not leave today’s task for tomorrow, that he should know the value of free time before he became too busy, and so on. He felt that he could not do all of these; but once again, he remembered the verse above. However, he did not know where to start. Then, he recited: “Should He not know what He created? And He is the Subtle, the Aware” (Mulk 67:14) and while making the prayer, he knew that God knew everything about him and that Adam had to extricate himself from this problem but he was not successful. He asked for help; he asked for solutions to all his problems, dilemmas, troubles and obstacles.

He thought of starting a new life-style tomorrow morning, but then he remembered that it was Satan who was whispering him to start “tomorrow”; he needed to put an end to this miserable life right now. He went back home; dinner was waiting. He thought “what a patient wife I have; we had a quarrel, yet she still prepared dinner for me.” The food was very good, but he did not eat much. First of all, he was not feeling well, but he also wanted to practice the “eat less” principle. When it was time for the night prayer, he immediately rushed to his prayer rug; he knew that if he does not pray now, he will delay it at least two hours. After the prayer, he went to bed.

He woke up early in the morning; he was able to wake up early because he had not slept with a full stomach, and he had gone to bed early. He made the supplication “All praise belongs to God; He gave me life after my death; we shall return to Him. There is no god but God. O God; increase my knowledge. Do not let me go astray after you have guided me to the straight path. Grant me mercy. Indeed You are the Bestower.” He thanked God for giving him another chance.

He performed the morning prayer and he thought about some of the wisdoms inherent in the morning prayer: By nature man is extremely weak, yet everything touches him, saddens and grieves him. Also, he is utterly lacking in power, yet the calamities and enemies that afflict him are extremely numerous. Also, he is extremely wanting, yet his needs are indeed many. Also, he is lazy and incapable, yet the responsibilities of life are most burdensome. Also, his humanity has connected him to the rest of the universe, yet the decline and disappearance of the things he loves and with which he is familiar continually pains him. Also, his reason shows him exalted aims and lasting fruits, yet his reach is short, his life brief, his power slight, and his patience little. Thus, it can be clearly understood how essential it is for a spirit in this state to have recourse to and present a petition to the Court of an All-Powerful One of Glory, an All-Compassionate All-Beauteous One at the time of prayer in the early morning through prayer and supplication, to seek success and help from Him; this is an essential support so that one can face the things that will happen to them in the coming day and bear the duties that will be loaded on them. He then sought refuge in God from laziness. He was feeling energetic, but still very deep in thoughts of all the things that had happened yesterday.

He felt very sleepy, but he resisted going to bed; in order to wake himself up, he took a shower. After the shower, he recited a few pages from the Qur’an. He was feeling very ashamed every moment he felt he was in the presence of God, but interestingly, he was also feeling very close to God.

After having a light breakfast, Adam left for the office. It was pretty early in the morning. When he arrived at work, he made a list of the things he needed to do. Then, he divided his day into five, according to the five daily prayers; he put the prayers down on his list first. He was determined to perform them as early as he could. Then, he arranged the other tasks between the prayers.

Now, it was the time to start the first task. It was a new project and it was always difficult to take the first step. He pushed himself to start the task, but he could not start. He was about to give up; then, he remembered the power and the treasures hidden inside “bismillah” (in the name of God).” He recited it and he also recited “O God, make it easy for me, not difficult. O God, finish it with a good and beneficial end.” Adam felt a little better; he recited the words a few more times. He was able to take the first step and the rest just followed.

When he tired of one task, he said “All Praise belongs to God, Alhamdulillah” for each task, and he moved onto the next with bismillah. But, after about two hours, he felt very tired. He was inclined to read the news, to relax; but he resisted. He asked himself “What purpose does reading the news serve right now? Relaxation? I don’t remember ever being relaxed after reading news. Being up to date about current events? Well, I’ll do that towards the end of the day when my mind is more tired.” He then went outside to get some fresh air. After a 10-minute break, he returned and realized that he could complete one more task before the prayer. He started the task with bismillah and before he knew it, it was time for the prayer and the task had been complete.

Now it was time for the noon prayer. This was the moment he had been waiting for. Adam thought about some of the wisdom of the noon prayer: the time of noon prayer, just past midday is the time of the day’s zenith and the start of its decline; the time when daily labors approach their achievement, the time of a short rest from the pressure of work, when the spirit needs a pause from the heedlessness and insensibility caused by toil, and a time when Divine bounties are manifest. Everyone can then understand how fine and agreeable, how necessary and appropriate it is to perform the midday prayer for the human spirit, as it is a means to be released from the pressure, to shake off the heedlessness, and leave behind those meaningless, transient things, clasping one’s hands at the Court of the True Bestower of Bounties, the Eternally Self-Subsistent One, offering praise and thanks for all His gifts, and seeking help from Him; through bowing one display one’s impotence before His Glory and Tremendousness, and prostrates and proclaims one’s wonder, love, and humility. He performed his prayer with great humility and submission. He was able to refresh himself with the prayer; he reminded himself of the source of the power and he reminded himself that the work between two prayers counted as a type of worship. While praying, Adam forgot all about work and his mind was rested. He made a supplication at the end of the prayer, thanking God for all the things He had given him and thanking Him for the work he had been able to complete in the morning; he also asked for help for the rest of the day and the rest of his life.

After the noon prayer, Adam continued his tasks that had not been finished in the morning. When he became tired, he took a book out of his bag and spent some time reading it as a break and then he returned back to work. When it was time for the final task on his list for that day, he remembered that the task was not due for another week, so he thought about delaying it. However, he remembered that he should not leave today’s tasks for tomorrow.

The day passed. It was a very productive day; he felt that time had expanded. Maybe, it had expanded because he had recited prayers in the morning, maybe it had expanded because he had not remained asleep at dawn, or perhaps there was some other reason. Whatever the reason was, it was a bounty from God and he thanked Him for it. Adam once again felt a great humility in front of God.

A few days passed like this. Adam would perform the night prayer on time and he would go to bed after the prayer, making supplications when he woke up; he would not sleep after the morning prayer, but rather recited supplications before he left for work. He was very happy throughout this time, but it was not easy. He felt that he did not have the same motivation or energy that he had had at the beginning. He was about to lapse again. He knew that to remain on this track would not be easy. From all his experience he knew that every time he made a resolution to adopt a new style of life, it would only last a few days. But, this time, Adam was more determined than ever. First of all, he was sick of being lethargic and all the results of this lethargy. It was destroying his life; his time was passing unused and he was not fulfilling his promises to his wife or those to God. He really wanted to put an end to all of this and he was successful for a few days. Adam was now afraid that he would revert to his former life-style. Then, he prayed: “Our Lord! Let not our hearts deviate now after You have guided us, but grant us mercy from You; for You are the Grantor of bounties without measure.”

He finally decided to talk to his wife about the situation. He explained things to her, he discussed the lethargy and that he had constantly been fighting it for so long, but that he had not been successful. It was the cause behind all the broken promises. But, this time, he was very determined; he was constantly praying and he was also looking for different sources of information to solve the problem. He also told his wife that solving this problem would not be easy and it was possible that he would revert to his old habits on occasion, more frequently in the beginning than towards the end. He asked for her help in the entire process; he asked for her encouragement and he asked her to support him lest he stumbled. His wife felt the great pain that her husband was experiencing and she also felt the great determination he had. Additionally, she had witnessed very positive changes within the last few days. She said she would always be with him. Adam also talked about the process that he was going through with his best friend and he asked for help from him as well.

Things got better with every passing day; he was stumbling every now and then, but the frequency of such events was decreasing. He was very happy about all the goodness that had emerged from the “good work and determination” and he was very grateful to God for this blessing.

Finally, this manner of life became the norm, and his earlier life-style now seemed quite unnatural. In fact, Adam started wondering why he had led such a life. He repented all those lost days and hours. He decided to help his friends who were struggling with the same problem.

He knew that merely relating his journey to his friends would not help them much. They needed to find the causes, they need to be determined, etc., but most importantly of all, they needed to take action. However, he also knew from experience that taking action and continuing it for a long time was the most difficult part and that his friends might be too weak to do so. Well, they were human beings and this is the way things are; they were meant to feel weak without the help of God, for what value is anything if we do not have prayer?

And, as a first step in helping his friends, Adam changed the tone of his prayers; the “me” was replaced with “us” and he felt his friends’ pain in his supplications. He then remembered “O you who believe! If you will help (the cause of) God, He will aid you, and plant your feet firmly.” (Muhammad 47:7).

The father of humankind had no eyes and ears for the world, his life was a fasting life walking in the burning desert of human existence. He lived a life of seclusion with his Lord. His life signifies the true khalwat, true asceticism. He was made to leave the exalted station of paradise where the angels prostrated to him. But his pain of separation was not caused by the loss of paradise, the loss of the company of the angels, his loss was the loss of his Beloved!

Therefore, if fasting is not directed toward fasting from the world for the sake of the increase of love for the Lord of the worlds, our fasts are wasted effort and struggle. The result degenerates into a good meal at fast breaking. The opposite of fasting is not luxury, wealth, status, ownership, as the opposite of wealth is not poverty. Wealth, glamour, luxury is the absence of love, which means the opposite of fasting is the absence of the most Graceful, most Merciful! Fasting from the world means to dive into the ocean of God’s mercy and gain the treasury of intimacy and love. This is our Prophet Adam, who reached the most exalted degree of love, described by Rumi:

When Adam lapsed, God exiled him from paradise. God said to him, “O Adam! Since I have held you responsible and punished you for that sin you committed, why did you not dispute with Me? After all, you had an argument. You could have said, ‘All is from You, and You make all. Whatever You desire in the world comes to pass, and whatever You do not desire will never come to pass.’ After all, you had such a clear, correct and patent argument. Why did you not give expression to it?” Adam replied, “I knew that, but I did not abandon courtesy in Your Presence; love for You did not allow me to reproach You.”

This conversation shows the most noble feature of modesty, humility, love and shame or “haya.”

Observing the life of Prophet Adam, we learn that the human heart has to be cleansed with two attributes; repentance and muhabba. Repentance opens the door of one’s helplessness, need, poverty and the recognition of one’s servanthood and total dependence on the All-Majestic Lord of all the worlds. The recognition of one’s mistakes, insufficiencies, heedlessness, weakness, incapacities, and imperfections is the crucial point where love starts. Truthful repentance creates modesty or haya and haya is the awareness of love.

The wisdom we can draw from the father of humankind is that without seclusion from the world, there is no love. Love is only sold in the house of human hardship, efforts, fasting, works. We have to see the world as a plane of the hereafter! The fruit of eternity and divine harmony are only earned through struggle in daily life. Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said, “Struggling makes one witness the Sacred Essence.” This principle is especially effective in terms of fasting. We fast in the world from the world. We fast with the body to overcome the body. Through our temporal, limited existence, the material self, we can realize our true existence and reach selflessness. The education of the body through fasting is nothing but making matter subtle, making the heavy light, striving towards cleanliness and purity. In short, the body has to become refined by our own efforts up to the point of transforming it into a holy instrument through which God Himself can act as stated in the holy tradition, “When I love a servant I become the eyes with which he sees and the ears with which he hears…”

A wise man said, “True comfort is freedom from the desires of the lower self! Your prison is your own lower self. As soon as you escape from it, you will live in the comfort of eternity.” In other words, what makes you free is the abundance of what imprisons you! Fasting is the method to free oneself from the tyranny of one’s lower self. The wisdom of the fasting month is that you do not fill your stomach with food, so you might see the light of “marifa” within yourself! To become the king of our own heart is the result of true fasting! The root of all sicknesses is attachment to the world and the healing for all sicknesses is attachment to the hereafter! With fasting one learns to say no to the world and yes to the hereafter. With the help of fasting one is empowered by the world and enriched by the divine Presence. God’s Messenger said, “The one who fasts has two satisfactions. One is when he breaks his fast at the end of the day. The other is when he sees.” There are numerous levels of fasting, apart from fasting exclusively with one’s stomach, and the ultimate fasting of truth is the fasting which is not limited to the month of Ramadan, nor any other time. On the way of truth we have to answer to everything with hunger, referring to the famous utterance of the Prophet: “Knock on the door of hunger.” Hunger generates the absolute need of creatures for their Creator; hunger burns away impurities and clears the way to the Lord of Majesty and Bounty; hunger is our supreme teacher for all spiritual sicknesses. It is a remedy for all human distress, calamities, fears, depression.

The great saint Jalaladdin Rumi commented on so-called modern man eight hundred years ago:

You have an escape from God, but not from food. You have an escape from religion, but not from idols. Oh you who cannot bear to be without this despicable world! How can you bear to be without Him who spread it as a carpet? Oh you who cannot be without luxuries and comforts! How can you bear to be without the Generous God?

The crucial point is this; if we wish to save ourselves from the dangerous and low places of human existence, we have to discover the thirst of our souls. Today, modern societies obviously suffer a great thirst due to the unfortunate fact that the human soul is not attracted by the Water. Humans veil the light of their own sun by their own clouds of unconsciousness. Thus fasting is the perfect means to wake up from our sleep of unconsciousness and our ignorance. Fasting effectively increases our divine thirst! More precisely, it increases the need for the truth! In order to understand our true nature and find the purpose of our lives, we have to occupy ourselves with God. We have to drink from the water of life, we have to eat from the banquet of heaven, and we have to experience the heavenly ascension. There is no other reason why fasting is given to humanity except that it enables us to realize the eternal secret of human existence. When we do not build our lives on belief, we will be lost in moral decay, disorder and ignorance. In other words we will lack humanity.

To conclude, fasting from the world brings us paradoxically closer to the world, penetrating into the dynamic of human life on earth. It brings us closer to ourselves, it brings us closer to our fellow beings, and therefore it brings us closer to our Lord. This is the treasury of fasting-healing from the terror of selfishness, from the lower desires of the flesh, from the darkness of unconsciousness.

***

Oh Lord, turn off the hatred, envy, indifference, lightheartedness, and darkness of our hearts and replace them with affection, love, mercy, compassion, and generosity to our brothers and sisters! Oh Lord, enfold us in the robe of firm belief.

Oh our Lord, increase our immortality and decrease our profanity, increase our spirituality and decrease our materiality, increase our admiration and decrease our calculation.

We ask ourselves how much is the most precious of all books, the holy Qur’an in our hands, on our lips, in our eyes, in our hearts? How much is the Qur’an in our lives? Is it just placed on a shelf in our houses or is it not there at all? We ask ourselves how much do we run to do good deeds? How concerned are we to help our fellow beings in need? How much time do we reserve for the service of the poor and sick?

Oh Lord, we are ashamed of the answer to these questions. One of Your greatest servants, the venerable Abdul Qadr al-Jilani never slept at night for forty years! He made his morning prayer with the ablution he had taken to make his night prayer. He read the Qur’an every night so that sleep should not overtake him. He stood on one foot and leaned against the wall with one hand. He did not change this position until he had recited the whole Qur’an. When he could not fight sleep himself, he would hear a voice that shook every cell of his body. It would say, “O Abdul Qadr, I did not create you to sleep. You were nothing. I gave you life. So while you are alive you will not be unaware of Us!”

O my heart which finds rest in fasting, what a miraculous blessing of healing! What a relief from these constant ego attacks, what a great comfort, what freedom having cleaned the mirror of our hearts from dirt and dust, what a benefit, what a present for my soul having made order and set the barriers for the human kingdom of the body!

Rabia Christine Brodbeck is the author of From the Stage to the Prayer Mat: The Story of How a World-Famous Dancer Fell in Love with the Divine.

The Biblical account, found in Genesis 2:4-3:24, has been fundamental in religious and social life. As a primal depiction of man and woman and their roles and relationships, it functioned as a constitutive element in establishing social and religious concepts as we know them today.

Two of the most debated topics are Eve’s supposed inferiority to Adam, as she was created from one of his ribs, and that she is a temptress who caused humanity’s fall and expulsion from the Garden by persuading Adam to join her in eating the forbidden fruit.

Islam has a different interpretation of these events.

Male and female equality

While the Qur’an does not mention a rib, it is mentioned in a hadith. However, many experts believe that that particular hadith has been misinterpreted and is not really relevant to this matter. (1)

Whenever the Qur’an discusses humanity’s creation, it focuses not on who was created first or on gender, but on the broader concept of the creation: O men! Fear your Lord Who created you from a single original human self, and out of it created its mate; and out of the two spread many men and women (4:1). The original Arabic for a single original human self is nafs wahida (a single self or soul). Nafs has two cardinal meanings: a being’s self, and the animating energy or faculty that is the source or mechanism of the person’s or jinn’s life. Thus, the preferred translation of nafs wahida is a single original human self.

This translation is supported by other Qur’anic verses: And of His signs is that He created for you, from your selves, mates, that you might repose in them, and He has engendered love and mercy between you (30:21); God has given you, from your selves, mates, and He has given you, from your mates, children and grandchildren (16:72); The Originator of the heavens and Earth; He has given you, from your selves, mates, and from the cattle mates (42:11).

The first couple

O Adam! Dwell you, and your wife, in the Garden, and eat (of the fruits) thereof to your hearts’ content where you desire, but approach not this tree, or you shall both be among the wrongdoers.

The first couple led a life of bounty in the Garden. They did not need to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. But the tree was a predestined element in the humanity’s life. As humanity is easily tempted into disobedience, the tree was a test. It brought out the weak side of humanity. Adam and Eve knew the risk associated with this act, for God had made it clear to them that Satan was their enemy and what they could expect if they obeyed him.

Then Satan whispered to him, saying: O Adam! Shall I lead you to the Tree of Eternity and to a kingdom that will never waste away? Then they both ate of the tree, and so their private parts appeared to them, and they began to stick on themselves the leaves from the Garden for their covering. Thus did Adam disobey his Lord, so he fell into error(20:120-21).

Notice the pronouns. Eve is not the sole wrongdoer or tempter, as she is portrayed in the Bible and the Torah. The Qur’an holds both Adam and Eve responsible for the mutual disobedience, and casts Satan as the tempter and enemy, for he was the one who whispered to Adam. Rather than blaming and curing the couple, God accepts their repentance and forgives them, saying that they had forgotten and blundered. There is no expulsion from the Garden by a fierce and unforgiving God who hangs a fiery sword above the gate to ensure that they will never return.

In Genesis, Adam blames Eve, and Eve blames the serpent (Satan) for their misfortune. The Qur’an depicts a more modest and mature reaction. There is no blaming, but rather two people admitting their mistake and seeking God’s forgiveness: They said: Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If You forgive us not, and bestow not upon us Your Mercy, we shall

certainly be of the losers (7:23).

Humanity is not destined to be banished forever. True, they have been dismissed from it, but they still have the hope of return. Thus, after a period of mourning and regret, God forgave Adam and made him His first Prophet: Then his Lord chose him, turned to him with forgiveness, and gave him guidance (20:122).

The image of Eve

The story of Eve is found in the second creation story in Genesis. After this, the Bible does not mention Eve, the temptress or refer to women of bad reputation as Daughters of Eve. However, the early Church fathers developed this interpretation and imagery, and thus referred to Eve (and women in general) as their first mother who was seduced by Satan and so brought death to humanity.(2)

Tertullian, a second century theologian, reminds women of their shameful legacy: And do you not know that you are (each) an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives in this age: the guilt must of necessity live too. You are the devil’s gateway: you are the unsealer of that forbidden tree: you are the first deserter of the Divine law: you are she who persuaded him whom the devil was not valiant enough to attack.

Many people, especially feminist activists, fought against the idea of the Fall because it encouraged society to think of women in very negative terms. Eve (evil) was the primal source of blame for human suffering. Therefore, women must endure pain at childbirth and subjection to their husbands, men must toiland eat the sweat of their brow, and all humanity must taste a bitter death.

The images of these monstrous fertile women with supernatural powers were sealed in the minds of early believers, and contributed to the generally negative attitude toward women. The parallels with Eve’s image are obvious, and their effects can be seen in religious illustrations of the Fall painted during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

Ave and Eva

Mary was presented as a substitute for Eve: the new Eve. With her came the hope that humanity could re-enter the Garden. Mary (Ave), the absolute opposite of Eve (Eva), obeyed Gabriel (and through him God); Eve obeyed Satan. Mary was a symbol of innocence and chastity; Eve represented corruptive sexual desire. Mary was the mother of God; Eve was to be the mother of all mortals. Mary brought mercy and salvation; Eve brought death and destruction.

There was an underlying feeling that women (Eve) could be blessed (Mary) if they suppressed their femininity, the alleged source of human weakness and disobedience.Christian women followed the image of Mary to be closer to God. They remained virgins, as virginity was the innocent state of the Garden. Some chose a monastic life, for such a lifestyle enabled them to pursue a somewhat intellectual and active life instead of the traditional role of mother and wife. Such women traveled to the Holy Land, engaged in scholarly dispute with fellow nuns, and enjoyed social respect and authority.

The early Church fathers promoted celibacy over fourth-century Roman society’s objections. Stories about Thecla, a woman who followed Paul’s call to a virgin life, were popular among Roman women. She refused to marry her appointed husband, cut her hair short like a man, and followed Paul as he preached all over the country. Once she was harassed by a king who had her thrown to wild beasts when she refused to comply with his wishes. Her strong belief and Divine protection saved her from this and many other such events.

If all women chose to remain virgins, however, humanity would disappear. The Bible told men to increase and multiply. Jerome, an early Church father, stated that he praised wedlock and marriage, for the result was virgins.

Reform and the woman’s bible

The Protestant Reform, brought on by Martin Luther (1483-1546), led to a critical study of biblical concepts. The Church considered marriage as inferior to virginity, and sexual and domestic relations were shadowed by the interpretations of the Adam and Eve story. However, reformists found Divine sanction for marriage: It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him (Genesis 2:18).

By the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, female moralists and activists were seeking to change society’s view of woman as a victim of sinful nature. They discussed such issues as female education, equal rights to employment, and possession of goods throughout society via literature, poetry, and protest meetings. In her novel Shirley (1849), Charlotte Bronte condemned a social system which requires women to scheme,’ to plot,’ to flirt’ and manoeuvre in order to win a husband.3 Women argued that beliefs like if a woman can cook a dinner or dress herself well she has culture enough were forcing women into being mischievous and empty-minded Eves.

The Woman’s Bible, published in 1895, was a collection of essays written by women opposed to the Bible’s portrayal of women. In one essay, Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) wrote that the Darwinian theory of evolution was less degrading for women than the allegory of Eden.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, human interpretations of holy texts have caused many people to abandon religion, and the truth for which they are searching is often hidden by shadows of ignorance and prejudice. Even worse is that Islam is usually overlooked as a pure source of Divine Knowledge. Ignorance and misrepresentation by Muslims, and prejudice by non-Muslims, have polluted the clear image of Islam’s message: No one can be judged for another’s sins.

Footnotes

1. Found in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.
2. The Qur’an does not mention Eve by name. Various hadiths call her Hawwa (created from a living thing). Muslims honor this wife of the first Prophet and mother of all believers by calling her Mother Hawwa.
3. Pamela Norris, Eve: A Bibliography (New York: New York Univ. Press, 1999), 292.

References

• Al-Hilali, Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din (interpreter). Interpretation of the Meanings of the Noble Quran.
• Saudi Arabia: Maktaba Dar-us-Salam, 1994.
• Armstrong, Karen. In the Beginning. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.
• Kurucan, Ahmet. Dusunce Kaymalari. Izmir: Kaynak A.S., 1996.
• Kvam, Kristen E., Schearing, Linda S, and Ziegler, Valarie H. (editors). Eve & Adam: Jewish, Christian and Muslim Readings on Genesis and Gender. Bloomington and Indiana: Indiana Univ. Press, 1999.
• Norris, Pamela. Eve, A Bibliography. New York: New York Univ. Press, 1999.

Islam, Judaism, and Christianity have much in common. For example, they are monotheistic and have their roots in the Abrahamic tradition. Islam is closer to Christianity, for Muslims recognize Christianity as being based upon Divine Revelation, whereas Jews do not accord this status to either religion. Ironically, while Jesus is the common link between Islam and Christianity, nearly all doctrinal differences between the two religions center around his nature. Therefore, we shall start with this topic.

What Do Muslims Think about Jesus?

Reputable scholars of Christianity continue to portray Islam and Muslims as enemies of Jesus. However, nothing could be further from the truth. It is often a surprising experience for Christians to learn that Muslims hold a deep love and respect for Jesus and Mary. In fact, a Muslim cannot be considered a true believer if he or she rejects Jesus (Qur’an, 2:136). One of Qur’an’s chapters is named Mary (Surat Maryam). The Qur’an praises Jesus and his family, and Muslims consider Jesus one of the five great Prophets, among hundreds of thousands of others.(1) In an authentic Tradition, Prophet Muhammad says: I am the nearest of all people to Jesus, son of Mary, in this life and the Hereafter.(2)

The Qur’an acknowledges the virgin birth (19:18-24), reports the miracles Jesus performed by God’s will (5:110), and praises his sincere followers not only at his time but also at the time of Prophet Muhammad. We give two examples below:

Behold! the angels said: Mary, Allah gives you glad tidings of a Word from Him. His name will be Christ Jesus, son of Mary, held in honor in this world and the Hereafter, and of (the company of) those nearest to Allah. (3:45)

In their wake, We followed them up with (others of) Our messengers: We sent after them Jesus, son of Mary, bestowed on him the Gospel, and ordained in the hearts of his followers Compassion and Mercy. But the monasticism which they invented for themselves, We did not prescribe for them. (We commanded) only the seeking for the Good Pleasure of Allah, but that they did not foster as they should have done. Yet We bestowed on those among them who believed their (due) reward. But many of them are rebellious transgressors. (57:27)

At the root of all doctrinal differences lies the perspective on God and the relationship between God and humanity. The Qur’an leaves no room for subjective interpretation, for God is as He describes Himself: eternal and infinite, with absolute knowledge of everything, and able to do anything. We cannot imagine any form for Him, or define Him in any limited fashion.

Based on this, any anthropomorphic characterization of God or assignation to Him of any shortcomings or partners contradicts what Islam teaches.

Jesus As a Prophet

Muslims believe that Jesus was a genuine Prophet sent by God for the Jews.3 God created Jesus without a temporal father (4:171). But this does not make Jesus the son of God. Rather, it is a sign of God’s ultimate power. If such a birth made one a son of God, clearly Adam deserved it more, since he was created without a father or a mother.

The Qur’an relates that Jesus performed miracles. This does not make him a son of God, for all the religious texts report that other Prophets performed miracles. Muslims believe that if Jesus ever used the phrase son of God, he did so metaphorically, as is explicit in several places in Gospels.4 Consequently, Muslims do not believe that God sacrificed His only son so that humanity would be forgiven.

What Do Muslims Think of the Trinity?

In its simplest terms, the Trinity means that God is the union of three divine persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Christian Church accepts this as a divine mystery that cannot be fully comprehended. Muslims acknowledge that a lack of knowledge on something’s nature does not imply its non-existence. For example, they believe in angels, God, and Heaven and Hell, yet know little or nothing about such things’ nature. However, the Trinity is not one of those concepts.

First of all, the Qur’an and Prophetic traditions reject the existence of any deities other than God. Sometimes the Trinity is explicitly mentioned, as in:

O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: Nor say of Allah aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (only) a messenger of Allah, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him. Believe in Allah and His messengers, and say not: Trinity. Desist, it will be better for you, for Allah is One. Glory be to Him, (far exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in the Heavens and on the Earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs. (4:171)

They do blaspheme who say: Allah is one of three in a Trinity, for there is no god except One Allah. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them. (5:73)

Some Christians say that they do not worship three gods, that Christianity is monotheistic, and that people who say they are worshiping three gods do not understand the Trinity. However, Muslims feels that even if they do not understand the Trinity (but how many Christians understand it, assuming it is a divine mystery?), it is clear to them that God, speaking in the Qur’an, understands it and rejects it for reasons discussed above.

If there were several gods, none of them could be omnipotent, which contradicts the Islamic concept of God. Those who live on the Earth cannot be accepted as God, for they have needs: food, sleep, fulfillment of desires, and so on. In the Qur’an, God invites humanity to reflect upon the universe and thereby realize that God has no needs. The harmony and perfection of creation is enough evidence for His power and oneness. In fact, one can ask the following questions: Where is the evidence of the Trinity? If the concept of Trinity were so crucial to faith, why do the four canonical Gospels not refer to it? Why did Jesus not explicitly detail this issue in his teachings? Such questions make the Muslims doubt its veracity.

Do Muslims Believe in Earlier Scriptures?

Muslims are required to believe in all Prophets sent by God, and all Scriptures revealed to them in their originally revealed form (2:136).

The phrase in their originally revealed form is critical, for if it is ignored the Islamic viewpoint might be misinterpreted. Muslims believe that essentials of pure faith do not change, although laws that Prophets are sent with might be subject to change.5 Thus statements in earlier Scriptures that are at variance with Islam indicate human interference in those scriptures. The Qur’an refers to the Gospel of Jesus and Torah of Moses, but those are believed to be different from the Gospels and Torah as we now know them. This does not mean that Muslims reject the current Scriptures altogether; rather, Muslims use the Qur’an and the authentic Prophetic Traditions as criteria to see what is correct in other religious texts.

How Do Muslims Know That the Qur’an Has Not Been Altered?

The Qur’an was written and preserved immediately after it was revealed. The pieces were assembled shortly after the Prophet’s death, and with incredible sensitivity on the collectors’ part, and checked against by those who had memorized it fully. This careful process resulted in the Qur’an that eventually belonged to Caliph Uthman, who died 34 years after the Prophet, and which is preserved in Istanbul’s Topkapi Palace. There is no difference between it and the Qur’an that Muslims read today. There is no other version of the Qur’an in existence. If anyone can find such a thing, we would be interested in seeing it.

Do Muslims Believe in the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is mentioned in several Qur’anic verses.6 However, this does not refer to the Christian idea of Holy Spirit, but rather to the Angel Gabriel.

Will Christians Go to Hell?

Although this is a frequently asked question, it is hard to find a satisfactory answer. The reason is twofold. No one, not even the Prophet, can say that someone is going to Hell or Heaven unless God informs him on the issue. Also, there is a difference of opinion among Muslim scholars. The opinion we present here is the one that most fits the Qur’an and the essence of Islam.

People who are exposed to pure faith in an undistorted way, have a fairly good idea that it may well be true but do not search further and reject it out of arrogance or stubbornness, and then die in such a state will go to Hell. Those who have pure faith or are ignorant (i.e., they have not been exposed to pure belief) and have no practical means to search for more knowledge eventually will go to Heaven. These two groups are outlined fairly well in the Qur’an. As for those in the middle, meaning most believers in other faiths or in no faith at all, Muslims are told to leave the judgment to God, Who will judge them according to their specific conditions and render a final and absolutely just decision.

What about Original Sin and Salvation?

One fundamental disagreement between Islam and Christianity is Adams original sin. Christianity declares that Adam sinned by disobeying Gods order and that this sin is inherited by all of Adams children. In other words, humanity is born sinful, as everyone is a child of Adam. Gods justice requires a price to be paid for every sin, and only the shedding of blood can wipe out this sin. Since the original sin was infinite in nature, an infinite recompense was necessary. For this reason, God allowed Jesus Christ, His son, to have his holy, sinless blood shed. His suffering and dying on the Cross paid for humanity’s sins. Only those who accept Jesus Christ as their redeemer can be saved in the Hereafter. According to Islam, Adam and Eve were created and put into the Garden. After this, God told them to enjoy the Garden but not to eat a certain fruit. Satan deceived them, and they disobeyed God by eating the fruit. As a result, God ordered them to leave the Garden and descend to the Earth, where they and their children would live and die (7:24-25). In the Quranic perspective, both Adam and Eve share this sin. Islam does not recognize Original Sin or the need for a savior to redeem an inherently sinful humanity. It regards children as pure and sinless at birth, says that sin is not inherited, and that no one is responsible for someone else’s sin (53:38). God is just and holds every person responsible for what they do. Even after people sin, God forgives those who sincerely turn to Him and seek forgiveness. Thus He did not curse Adam or Eve, for they sincerely sought”and received”forgiveness from God.

Was Jesus Crucified?

The crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ represent the heart of Christianity. Everything a Christian believes in and hopes for is based on Jesus death on the Cross for unworthy sinners. His resurrection is the Divine vindication of the fact that Jesus did not die for any crime he had committed, but died in the place of sinners needing redemption and justification before an infinitely holy and just God. (Cf. 1 Corinthians 15:12-19; Romans 4:25, 5:8-11) Islam rejects these events, for the Quran gives very direct and clear information about what happened to Jesus: That they said (in boast), We killed Christ Jesus, son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah; but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them. Those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow. They killed him not. Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise. (4:157-58) Some Muslim scholars think that Quran 4:159 refers to Jesus return before the Day of Judgment. This belief is supported by several authentic Traditions. Thus, although Christians and Muslims disagree on Jesus mission, they agree that he will return before the Day of Judgment.

Dealing with the Differences

Faced with many things in common and serious doctrinal differences, how do Christians and Muslims deal with those differences? The Quran commands Muslims to avoid counterproductive debate and, whenever a controversial topic arises, to discuss it according to the highest ethics of civilized debate: And do not dispute with the followers of the Book except by what is best, except those of them who act unjustly, and say: We believe in that which has been revealed to us and revealed to you, and our Allah and your Allah is One, and to Him do we submit (29:46). Though it would be naive to assume that Christians and Muslims do not disagree on certain issues, it would be equally foolish to portray their relationship with each other as composed of conflict. Is there any religion whose followers have no form of virtue? Clearly there is not. And, especially in the case of Christianity and Islam, both parties have a lot to learn from each other. Christian civilization was built upon an Islamic heritage, yet even most respectable Christian scholars are unwilling to admit this freely. This is also true of those Muslims who wanted to stay away from Christian civilization, because the Christians have gone astray. Thanks to advances in mass communication, Christians and Muslims now realize that the other was not that bad. Shortly, we will realize that the other is not so different from us, hence not bad at all. Today, thanks to the Internet, we can increase our knowledge of the other rather easily. For example, the entire Quran can be read online at http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/Quran/, while the Bible can be read online at http://bible. gospelcom.net/. To reach this point, Christians and Muslims living in Americas democratic and highly heterogeneous society have a tremendous responsibility to serve as role models for people in less tolerant and more prejudicial countries, where the vision of the other remains entrenched. We have to carry out this task in the most efficient way, by continuously seeking for opportunities to learn about each other. Even if we can afford to live without getting to know the other, our children cannot

Footnotes:

1. Bukhari, Prophets, 652. See http://db.islam.org:81/ hadith/ssearch.htm. The other great Prophets are Abraham, Noah, Moses, and Muhammad.
2. Ibid. The authentic Traditions of Prophet Muhammad represent the second source of religion, immediately after the Quran.
3. The Gospels also state that Jesus was sent for the Jews: For example: He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel (Matthew 15:24).
4. For example: Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12); …and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one (John 11:52).
5. That is, believing in a monotheistic God, His Prophets, the Scriptures revealed to them, His Angels, the Hereafter, and that both good and evil are decreed by God.
6. For example: We gave Moses the book and followed him up with a succession of Messengers. We gave Jesus son of Mary clear (Signs) and strengthened him with the holy spirit (2:87).