Many follow religion as a formula, a series of ceremonies that have been handed down to them and which are followed without full depth of understanding. There is comfort (and a benefit) in performing rituals but the goal of a ritual is not the ritual itself. Ceremonies and rituals are symbols, they are indicators, or shadows of greater realities - there is profound intellectual content behind them, underlying them - they are an invitation to embark on the road to discovery of greater realities - to experience of and verification of these realities - to personal knowledge of them.
-
Islam from inside (recent posts)- We have adorned for each society their acts
- (Sura 11: verse 7) Six days of creation
- (Sura 11: verse 49-50) Messages from the unseen
- Paradox for a modern age: a god-eat-god world - no metaphysics required
- Climbing the ascending pathways
- Tafsir Sura 11:5-6 Transparency before God
- What is truth?
- And Fast until the onset of night (Fasting in Ramadan)
- The hermeneutics of takfir
- Rules of political misdirection
Blogroll
- A Shi'ite anthology
- Abdur Rahman’s corner
- Akram's razor
- Al Kitab
- Al Musawwir
- al-islam.org
- Al-Mizan
- at-Tazkirah
- Black iris
- Centre for islam and science
- City of Brass
- Damascus dreams
- Darvish
- Eteraz
- From Clay
- Hakim Abdullah
- Islam from inside
- Islamic architecture
- Islamic foundation for Ecology
- Islamic philosophy online
- Islamica
- Islamicity
- Istikhara
- JourneyWoman
- Katib
- Lantern Torch
- Laughing Muslim
- Light disciple
- Lightness of Being
- Mad Sufi
- Mere Islam
- Mind, Body, Soul
- Moderate observer
- Mullah Nasrudin
- Muslim cultures
- Muslim matters
- Mystic Saint
- Nisaa
- Nuradeen
- Pixelisation
- Planet Grenada
- Qunoot
- Radio Fatima
- Rolled-up trousers
- Seekers digest
- Spirit 21
- Sufi news
- Sunni sister
- Tarjuma-e-azaa
- The fig
- Truth and Beauty
- Under progress
- United nation
- Visual Dhikr
- Waqt well wasted
- Watching Jihadwatch
- Wayfarers Journey
- What the blog
- World without transcendence
- Yahya Birt
- Zaytuna
Other sites
- Craig Murray
- Electronetwork
- Eric Margolis
- Eternal awareness
- Global issues
- God in a shrinking universe
- Gush Shalom
- Informed comment (Juan Cole)
- Joe versus the volcano
- Joe's observatory
- Mr. Renaissance
- Noam Chomsky
- Open source theology
- Outside the box
- Pop Occulture
- Stefangeens
- Theology blogs
- Tom dispatch
- Velveteen Rabbi
- Whose name I know
{ 2 } Comments
I’m inclined to agree. And while I can see some obvious benefits in sawm, the intellectual/spiritual benefits of salah have so far eluded me. But I’m not giving up on it yet, at least, I’ve not given up on looking for a reason to do it (even if I currently don’t). I just want to know its about more than hope of heaven or fear of hell, a al Rabia.
Salaam Yakoub,
An interesting and refreshingly honest perspective.
“I just want to know it’s about more than hope of heaven or fear of hell”
Eventually it is - but the road there may pass through many landscapes - the Qur’an holds out a broad range of possibilities and potentials - we each decide according to our aspiration and capacity and circumstance (if and) where along the path we settle down - our halting place.
Post a Comment