Theos-Talk Archives (December 2004 Message tt00181)

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, Cass Silva <silva_cass@y...> wrote:
> But didnt Mohammed mean "there is no god (other gods) but God" 
Didn't his religion change the ruling tribes of Koresh (forgive 
spelling) from pantheism to monotheism. Nothingness as referred to, 
could mean NO THING NESS
> 
> Andrew Smith <aupanishad@m...> wrote:
> One thing has always bothered me, and that is the definitions and 
names and other restrictions we place upon the ultimate deity we can 
imagine only. HPB (of Theosophy fame) once talked about this in the 
Introduction to "Isis Unveiled." The Hindus talk about "God" 
as "Neti, neti" (nothing, nothing), and many mystics of all kinds 
think it is more reverent to speak little or none about the deity 
rather than try to hold Him in a religious "bottle" like a Genii. 
Zen "nothingness" (shunyata) also portrays this concept in their own 
version of Buddhism. I am in agreement with this movement, no matter 
how much I have said in the past (and no matter how bloody Islam's 
past, present, or future---those understand nothing of Allah's love 
for mankind). And now I feel that the simple "tawhid" (monotheism) of 
Islam is the best way to know the deity. In other words "There is no 
god but God" (la ilaha il'Allah) is the perfect way to attack this 
conundrum. Regardless of how Muslims act in view of this
> Great Truth, most of it due to the battlefields of the Middle-East 
throughout the centuries as civilization developes, Muhammad was 
truly given a Great Revelation when he found that "There is no god 
but God." 
> 
> Now, from a purely human, even scientific, viewpoint, there may be 
aliens or "gods" out in space, may even be UFOs, or "the Borg" (ah, 
those jokes were atrocious! LOL), but they can never be the deity Who 
is "the Beneficent and the Merciful." Muhammad wrote the Qur'an in 
his day for his people who were completely corrupt, and even killed 
baby daughters because they wanted sons only, but what the message of 
the "Qur'an is, is that we must be in gratitude to the One from Whom 
we sprang, however that was. In other words, as succinctly put in the 
beginning and end of Ian Dallas's book, The Book of Strangers," "La 
ilaha il'Allah."
> 
> 
> "Salaam Alaikum,"
> (Says) Al-Hallaj Kabir Ali
> "La ilaha il'Allah!"
> 
Cass,
I don't mean to mince words. The basis of all this is the "tawhid" 
(Absolute Monotheism) of Allah. The "jahilyah" (Pagan Arabs) were 
polytheisits, as were, and I can verify this, the Jews, and certainly 
the Christians (e.g. trinity, etc.) Even if Muhammad did not have a 
revelation (which I believe he DID), he was a genius for drawing pure 
tawhid out of the morass that Judaism and Christianity had 
created. "La ilaha il'Allah" is the perfect answer to all of this 
mess we call religion today. The CruSades (cf. the Marquis de Sade) 
are not over yet---just ask George Bush. As far as the "Nothingness" 
of the divine, you will find in any number of books on mysticism 
where pure faith is to know God as the cavity of the heart where "La 
ilalha il'Allah" is the only thing that can fill it. Read, for 
instance Meister Eckhart, St. Augustine,, Mircea Eliade, etc.