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Monday, November 3, 2025
Part 2, Discussing Letters to a Young Muslim by Omar Saif Ghobash - Who On Earth Told You That? Learning Love for Neighbors...
I did not yet realize that Allah, or God as he is known in other religions, was not embodied in human form.
--Omar Saif Ghobach
Sometimes it's kinda wonderfully scary when you open up an online site and see the exact words that you wanted to begin with...
I remember at some young age when I started thinking for myself, I said to myself...
cause I knew nobody wanted to hear me...
Who cares about Heaven?
I wanted Joy here on earth right now...
Now, as I look back
I know and have learned through books
such as this one
That, indeed, God has given us Heaven on earth
Not
Worrying about getting to Heaven...
Suicide Bombing with promises of virgins in Heaven...
Using guns to ensure one "religion" in a Nation...
I know that I know that I know
All we have to do is open our Hearts and Minds
And allow the Great I AM to be Here with Us as Well!
Are you like the one who was given one Talent (coin)
Who buried it in fear?
Fear stamps out the Joy of Learning
Of What We Should Do to Speak His Truth and Love!
~~~
It is strange, but very gratifying to be reading this book. Learning that the thoughts, opinions, and guidance from a man of a different faith, are, for the most part, very close to mine (thus far). Yes, there is a major difference for me. I believe Jesus, was the son of God, who left behind, if you open your heart to Him, that part of God which is now residing in all creatures can be unlocked to each of us. For me, what that has allowed is to routinely know how and, sometimes, why God is leading me this way or that... And I accept it as His living spirit in Me.
Ghobash speaks of Muhammad who was guided by the Angel Gabriele to learn of God through revelations and teachings... Moses was a leader of the Jewish people, The Pope, Martin Luther... there are many many others who have been religious leaders... and also including Confucius, Socrates, and other philosophers... To some extent, some political leaders have acquired power which some saw as equivalent...
But does that mean that these were to be all separate groups of people, claiming that their god was the only god? Surely not, for if I, who only once opened my heart to hear Him, then surely thousands and millions have done so through thousands of years both before and after the birth of Jesus Christ. At what point, and why, did God decide to give us a son, a human who would be someone we could see and hear His words, is not a question that can be taken lightly, nor is it appropriate in this discussion. I have read somewhere that our religion is most likely based upon the part of the world in which we were born. That, to me, is logical. As we know, some accepted Christ. Others chose based upon a leader who presented something to document their relationship to God.
Still there is a major issue that must be known coming out of this book... If a Christian Woman and a Muslim Man can think through what we see on Earth, and they are so very similar--that any other part of any religion becomes minor, than I have to believe that God has been a part of both of our lives... For God seeks us to love our neighbors as the top priority... And it is my Mind that correlates all points and guides me, just as it guided Ghobash, in sharing what his mind has come to realize--that all that somebody else says, even if leaders, may not be relevant in the year 2025... and beyond...
Consider this, if God is a Living, Loving God, should we not all grow in what knowledge and changes which occur on an ongoing basis... Rather than attempting to go back and live historically? Which has no real reference for the complexity of the world at this time, based upon the work of All God's Children? Wheels go round and round, but also moves us forward...
WHO ON EARTH TOLD YOU THAT?
Habeebie Saif,
Where does religious knowledge come from? Who has the right to talk about Islam? You will discover lots of people telling you what to do and when to do it. I want you to be polite, but demand respect for your mind and independence of will.
If what someone tells you sounds convincing, ask more questions. In today’s world, take more than a step back. There are many things to consider. Stay strong and do not hand your fate to others. I remember watching TV with my father when I was about six years old. Someone was reciting the Quran on the small screen. It was late afternoon. He was dressed in the traditional clothing of a graduate from the ancient center of Sunni scholarship—Al-Azhar University. He had a gray coat with small buttons done up all the way to his chin. You could hardly see his neck. On his head, he wore the famous Al-Azhar turban with a thick white band and a ruby red flat top. His eyes were closed in deep concentration and he held his right hand up to cup his right ear. He rocked gently back and forth. As he chanted the verses of the Quran, I turned to my father and I asked him if the man on the screen was Allah. My father smiled at me and told me that Allah was not visible to us, and that the man on the screen was not Allah.
I did not yet realize that Allah, or God as he is known in other religions, was not embodied in human form. I assumed that Allah was visible to all and that I would see him one day. This little memory makes me think of the occasions when people around us take on the authority of Allah, and demand thoughts and actions of us as though they were either Allah or his representatives on earth.
I want you to be on the lookout for people who talk with unerring conviction and authority about what others should do. Especially about what others should do. These are the people who always seem to lead us into some kind of trouble. You will no doubt know the kind of person I am talking about. In school, on the playground, it is the boy or girl who sets the rules of the game with the loudest voice and a bit of bullying. And who then proceeds to modify the rules whenever they concern their own behavior. This is the kind of behavior that you will also notice when it comes to religion. The funny thing about those who claim authority in matters of religion is that they often make excuses for their own behavior because they have “devoted” themselves to the work of the Divine, and therefore, there is some kind of implicit leeway or permission for them to be “weak” on occasion.
This has been seen in news about jihadists drinking alcohol and visiting bars for adult entertainment, as well as in the sexual scandals of the Catholic Church or the photos that we have seen of Buddhist monks traveling by private jet to oversee their fortunes. Of course, I do not mean to condemn all men and women of religious devotion. On the contrary. What I am saying to you is that you need to make sure that you understand that those with plausible authority are also human beings like you and me. They are human beings, who can and will be distracted by the traditional human temptations of power, money, and sex. When I was a child, I was always willing to inflate the authority of such people, based simply on the fact that they carried themselves with authority. They had special uniforms. They had specialized knowledge. They spoke with a weariness that must have come from deep thought and great suffering. They spoke to us in a mystical manner. We would not understand everything they said, because we were simply not wise enough or good enough to understand.
The aura of authority can serve as a cloak for earthier matters. I want you to be aware of this possibility. This is a very human weakness of those who are looking for certainties in an ever changing world. We have a desire to know and believe that there are truly good people somewhere nearby. When we think we have found such a person, we are tempted to grant them our respect and even love. We slip into adding qualities to them that other observers can see they do not possess. Beware about endowing others with a goodness they do not have. Recognize that the goodness you see in them may actually be your own goodness. Turn your eyes inward to your own goodness and recognize that for what it is worth.
The question of authority is common to all religions. It spreads wider to encompass the workplace, school, and university, and anyplace where humans interact. There is always someone who claims to know better than the others. Over the course of my life, I have gone from gullibly believing those who claim this authority in front of the group to having a more realistic view.
I want you to make this move quicker than I did. We are often advised to give someone the benefit of the doubt. Or we are told that someone has a good heart deep down and thus we should not judge this person on the basis of their outward behavior. Or that the person in question is so learned that only those who have come close to learning as much will ever truly understand the wisdom attained.
The other side of this relationship is that you are told that you do not have the authority to speak on certain matters. Again, you will find this in all spheres of life, including the sphere of religion.
The acquisition of authority by one person usually correlates with a removal of authority from the other person. Here you will be told that you should simply fall in line, follow orders, be a team player, do your job, focus on what you can do, and leave more serious matters to others.
I just stopped to eat a bowl of cereal and turned on the TV...Law and Order special Victims was on, so I left it on to watch... It turned out to be quite different than a normal case of right or wrong. A child died and was buried by the mother, for she thought she had killed her baby... As the case proceeded and they found the child, it was determined that she had died from measles... Soon confusion began and more people got involved. It was discovered that another mother took her child, who had measles, to a local park. She had decided not to have her son vaccinated based mostly on her religious belief and people saying that vaccines were dangerous. She was then arrested; the jury said she was not guilty...even though she had purposely chosen not to vaccinate her son for measles...
I bring this up because of the fact that, recently, measles has been spreading in the United States. Many who are now acting against vaccinations, especially after the president spoke out against it during the Covid world-wide pandemic. Key, I think, is that while Trump initiated the vaccine to be created--remember warp speed--but then did not get elected again, he chose to change his message... If you don't know where I am going, I ask that you reread the excerpt from Ghobash immediately above...
Simply because it was an argument that was frequently argued during the Covid Shutdown...
Me, I had no reason to debate the issue of vaccines. I believe that by the year 2025, religious issues related to science should have been significantly changed. To me, this would negate all that God has given as gifts to doctors and scientists, who have studied and learned and worked to improve the lives of His people through the hands of His children... Thus, it is only logical that, taking the Covid vaccine was not only the right choice for me, but also because it would be helping to save the lives of others by not chancing that I would spread Covid to babies, in particular, who do not have the ability to make decisions for themselves. Frankly, a choice to not give a child vaccine based on religious beliefs, is actually denying that God's love for children is far greater than that of many parents. It is, indeed, our responsibility to spend time to do your own reasoning, to do research, but to also consider that what your choice is, will obviously affect the possible transmission to others, who are just as important as God's children all are... That is, Use the Golden Rule - Do Unto Others as you would have them Do Unto You...
Continuing Discussion soon... Comments and thoughts welcomed...
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