Mystical Wonders Discussion Group

d_redant · Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 4:35 am Post subject: Mohammed and Islam

Mohammed and Islam!
By Dr Joshua David Stone

I very much wanted to include a chapter in my book on the world of Islam, because I perceive a separation in the Western world from the Islamic world. This has occurred, I believe, because of radical fundamentalists who have misinterpreted the true teachings and given Islamic religion a bad name.

This chapter is meant to correct this injustice, and to show that the teachings of Mohammed and the Kiran are as beautiful as those of Christ, Moses, Buddha, Krishna, Confucius Lao Tse, or Zoroaster. It is truly time to see all religions as just spokes on a wheel.

The Islamic religion takes a major step in this direction for it acknowledges that the God of the Hebrews and Christians, is the same God that they worship. The teachings also acknowledge Jesus, Abraham, and Moses as prophets of God. Let us, however, start at the beginning.

Islam is the youngest of all the great universal religions. It is also one of the simplest and easiest to explain. It is monotheistic in nature, and venerates a single and powerful God. Mohammed, the founder of the teachings of Islam was a channel for the Archangel Gabriel, and that is how he gained much of His information.

It is interesting that Mohammed, unlike Krishna, Rama, or Jesus Christ, was not seen as a divine incarnation of God. He was seen as more of a prophet or mouthpiece of God. The word Moslem means "One who submits". Its adherents encompass one seventh of the world’s population.

The sacred book of the Islamic religion is the Koran. Moslems acknowledge the truths of the old and new testament. They see these texts as incomplete, however. The Koran is seen as the final and absolute expression of the Will of God. They also see the prophet of Mohammed as the greatest of all the prophets since Abraham.

One night the Archangel appeared to Mohammed in a vision and cried "Recite!" From this initial revelation the Koran was articulated. The Islamic name for God is Allah. Mohammed continued his channelings for over a decade. The people of Mecca heckled him and threatened his life because of his denunciation of idol worshipping. Because of this Mohammed left Mecca in 622 and went to the city of Yathrib. The year of Mohammed’s flight is considered the first year of the Moslem calendar.

Mohammed quickly became a religious leader and governor of the city. A war ensued between the two cities and Mohammed returned to Mecca in triumph. The Moslem’s teachings are monotheistic and do believe in a last judgment. They don’t, however, believe in the trinity of God as the Christians do.

The Koran is very detailed in its descriptions of heaven and hell. Mohammed prescribed five duties for every Moslem as "Pillars of Faith".

1. Shahadah - To profess their belief, "I witness that there is no God but Allah and that Mohammed is the prophet of Allah."

2. Salat - To pray five times a day.

3. Zakat - To give alms for the needy.

4. Saum - To fast in the month of Ramadan.

5. Hajj - To make the pilgrimage to Mecca.

The Moslems believe that when all people submit to Allah and live by the teachings of the Koran, that peace will come to all people. The Koran also contains many legal and moral laws. There are rules for marriage and divorce, and punishments for crimes. It disallows Moslems to gamble or eat pork. It also doesn’t allow the making of images, pictures, or sculptures of Mohammed. There is also a law that no non-Moslem may take the pilgrimage or even enter Mecca.

Second only to Mecca as a sacred spot to the Moslems, is Jerusalem. In Jerusalem resides the Dome of the Rock. Beneath the temple mosque, called the Dome of the Rock is a hallowed rock long sanctified by the Moslems. According to Moslem teaching, this is where Abraham sacrificed, or at least was about to sacrifice his son, Issac, in the Old Testament story. It is also where angels visited before the creation of Adam.

Noah’s ark was supposed to have sailed around it seven times. All the great prophets including Elijah came to pray there. It was from this rock that Mohammed was to have ascended to heaven. It is also the rock that, on judgment day, the angel "Israfil" will sound His last trumpet.

Right near the Dome of the Rock are also the holy places of Judaism and Christianity. In one of the Paul Solomon channelings of the Universal Mind, the Source predicted that this could be the starting spot of a future war in the Middle East. He foresaw Jewish fundamentalists trying to rebuild their sacred temple in an area that was sacred to the Moslems near the Dome of the Rock. This, he prophesied, as the instigation point for a possible conflict. Let us pray and hold the thought that this does not occur, for the future is in our hands to create every moment.

At death, the body is washed and the hands are placed in a prayer position. Before the head is covered the relatives say their good-byes. After prayers and a type of catechism is whispered into the ears of the dead "Who is thy God? Allah. What is thy religion? Islam. Who is its prophet? Mohammed." This prayer prepared the departing soul for questioning by the Angels, Munkar and Nakir. Mourning may last as long as 100 days.

Of all the religious duties of a Moslem, the fast of Ramadan is the most important. All Moslems must not drink or eat food or perform any sexual act from dawn till dusk. People are supposed to pray, meditate and read the Koran.

The Koran is the one sacred scripture of the Moslem people. It is made up of 114 chapters called suras. It is believed that these came to Mohammed as revelations of God. It is read daily in all schools and mosques.

The opening of Koran states, "In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful! Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, the beneficent, the merciful. Owner of the day of judgment, Thee (Alonge) we worship; Thee (Alonge) we ask for help. Show us the straight path, the path of those whom thou has favored; Not (The path) of those who hear thine anger, nor of those who go astray."

The Koran is not organized in the order that Mohammed received the messages. It is rather organized with the longer chapters coming first and the shorter ones coming last. All but one of the suras begins with the sentence. "In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful!"

The word Koran actually means recitation, which is the first word that was received from the Archangel Gabriel. It is very interesting that Archangel Gabriel was so instrumental in the creation of the Islamic religion as well as in the lives of Mary and Joseph in the Christian saga. As I have also said previously in this book, Jesus was one of Mohammed’s teachers on the inner plane. A lot of the suras in the Koran give detailed rules about how Moslems should live. Moslems regard the Koran as the most important book in the world.

More on the Five Pillars
Before praying a Muslim must wash his face, arms, head, and feet. The prayers follow a fixed pattern of words and movements. Prayers may be recited in any clear place. Adult males are supposed to go to a mosque for noon prayers on Fridays.

Islam teaches Muslims to be honest, generous, just, and ready to fight in its defense. Muslims are also not allowed to lend money for interest. Muslims see these ordinances as being commandments from God and cannot be altered.

The Mosques in the Arab world are very beautiful. One unique external feature is the minaret or tall tower in each mosque. This tower is to allow the "Muezzin" to call the people to prayer with the following words:

"God is most great, I bear witness that there is no God but Allah, I bear witness that Mohammed is the messenger of Allah. Come to prayer, come to your good, God is most great. There is no God but Allah." The mosque is a place for meditation, prayer, teaching and serves as a meeting hall.

Ramadan occurs on the ninth month of the Muslim calendar. This month is holy because this is the month when Mohammed first started receiving revelations from God. Moslems are supposed to fast for all thirty days, however, not in the evenings. During this time they are also not supposed to smoke, argue with friends or neighbors, and be helpful, kind, and generous.

Muslims also can only eat meat that is prepared in a certain way. This coincides with the Jewish tradition of eating Kosher food. When an animal is being killed, the butcher must say "Bismillah" which means, "in the name of God." This is to show that life is only taken to provide food for the devout Muslim. Meat prepared in this way is called halal or permitted meat. Alcohol in any form is 100% disallowed in the Moslem faith, as is eating the meat of a pig. Again, this is similar to Judaism.

Once in his or her lifetime, a Moslem is supposed to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca. This is only if they can afford it and doesn’t cause undue suffering on one’s family. Male Moslems wear, on this pilgrimage, only two seamless sheets of white cotton. The reason for this is to make all people, regardless of status or wealth, look equal in the sight of God.

During the pilgrimage, no soap, perfumes, cutting of hair, or nails, killing of any form of life, or sexual relations, is allowed. Upon reaching Mecca, the Muslim walks seven times around the "Ka*Aba". The entire tracing of the path of Mohammed is much like how Christians and Buddhists trace the travels of Jesus and Gautauma Buddha.

Muslims have been undertaking the "Hajj" (pilgrimage) for fourteen centuries. It is the world’s largest spiritual gathering. If you have never seen pictures of it, I recommend going to the library or book stores and looking at some of the pictures. It is quite a spectacle to behold.

There are many laws in the Koran concerning not misusing wealth. An example of this is that a Muslim is forbidden to not allow his family to share in his estate. Muslims also believe, very much in the resurrection of the body after death. It is interesting that in the Muslim faith, the dead are buried and not cremated, as in Hinduism. Muslims believe in the direct communion of each man with God. All are equal in the eyes of God and therefore priests or intercessors are unneeded.

The Koran teaches that the soul of man is immortal. After being embodied on earth, it then enters heaven or hell, according to one’s conduct on earth. The Koran also teaches of the high virtue of truthfulness, and that it would be observed at all times and in all circumstances even though it may bring injury or pain.

When a Muslim child is born, the first thing the child hears is the "Shahadah" which means the profession of faith. "I witness that there is no God but Allah and that Mohammed is the prophet of Allah." All Muslim boys are circumcised, which, again parallels the Jewish faith.

Parents have a special responsibility to teach their children what the Muslim faith requires of them. Schools in Muslim countries teach the principles of Islam, so there is not a separation of church and state, as in the West.

Teenagers are expected to work hard at school and to help around the house. Going to parties and discos is discouraged, especially for girls. Girls tend to be treated more strictly than boys. Family life is very important to the Muslim as is respect for elders.

Koran encourages Muslims to marry and have children. Sexual relationships outside marriage are forbidden. Parents arrange weddings for their children, as is done in the Hindu faith. The bride and groom, however, do have the right to refuse, and if both parties don’t agree then the marriage will not happen. Marriages in the Islamic teachings, is seen as not just two people, but as the marriage also of two families. For this reason, family opinion is very important.

Muslim men are allowed to marry up to four wives, but this is very rare. Islamic law requires that each wife be treated equally. The Muslim wife takes care of the family and homes. Providing for the family is the man’s job. Divorce is permitted in the Islamic teachings but frowned upon. If a divorce does occur, the wife receives some money from her ex-husband and also takes all the household goods and furniture. The wife’s maintenance now becomes the responsibility of the male relatives.

Women are seen as having equal rights, but different duties. Women have the same right to own property and seek education. In actuality, however, men are often still a bit chauvinistic, in this regard. Women work a lot in the fields of nursing, teaching, agriculture, and textiles.

Men are always to be covered from the navel to the knees, even when swimming or showering. Women are supposed to cover their whole bodies except for the face and hands when out in public.

The Prophet Mohammed
It was at the age of forty that Mohammed began to be seized by the conviction that he had been chosen by God to be the prophet of the true religion among the Arab people. The Arabs, up to this time, unlike other peoples, had known no prophet before him. For days Mohammed remained alone in a cave on Mount Hira, much like Moses’ experience of climbing Mount Sinai, to speak with God.

It was in that beginning divine moment that the Archangel spoke out, "Recite, speak out in the name of the Lord who created …. Speak out …For the Lord is the most beneficent and has taught the use of the pen."

As part of the Muslim spiritual practices, he will repeat the 99 beautiful names of God. When asked if there is a one hundredth, he answers,. "Only the camel knows it and that secret gives the camel his dignity."

Muslims use prayer beads much as all the major religions do. Muslims also believe very much in Angels. It was believed that Allah reveals his will through them. Azrael, they saw, as the Angel of Death, and Asrafel as the Angel who will blow his trumpet on judgment day.

Allah was seen by Mohammed as occupying a throne in the Seventh Heaven. He has about him, a host of angels who wait upon him and do his bidding. Among these are Nakir and Munkar, who are entrusted with the job of subjugating every dead person in his grave to an examina-tion (Bardo in Buddhism). Preparations for these tests have been made by the Recording Angels, two of whom are assigned to each person, and charged with listing the person’s good and bad deeds.

Mohammed also taught of the existence of a Satin. He became the devil when evicted from the Garden of Eden. Satin’s task is to tempt men and impede the purposes of Allah. The devil was seen as doomed for failure for the will of Allah cannot fail.

Muslims believe that Allah has revealed Himself in a progressive succession of 124,000 prophets, of whom Mohammed is the final culmination. If mankind fails to heed his revelation, then the end of the world is soon at hand.

Another one of the central beliefs of the Islamic teachings is the belief that every occurrence in life, whether good or bad, has been determined long in advance by the immutable will of Allah. Many Moslem philosophers think that Allah is the author of evil, also, and that man has no free will. This is not true of all Muslims. Muslims do tend to face life with an innate fatalism.

Muslims are warned that their wrong doings will be balanced against their good and meritorious deeds at judgment day. Because of Islam’s formal and sometimes rigid nature which, in some ways, has been similar to Judaism in this regard, a new movement arose called Sufism. Sufism being the more mystical side of the Islamic faith, much as the Kaballah is the mystical side of Judaism.

Sufism was started by Abu-Hamid Mohammed Al-Ghazzali. It emphasized the unison of the soul and God here on earth, not just in the after life. They tended to be very quiet, ascetic, and focused on the more mystical aspects of Islamic teaching.

The Islamic faith has many sects, just as Christianity does. At its best, Islam is divided into two between the Shiites and the Sunnites. They are linked together in the belief in Mohammed, the Koran, and the five pillars, but that is about all. The Sunnites tend to be the fundamentalists or traditionalists.

Another group with a heritage from the Moslem faith is the Sikhs. They are the men we see, who are tall with impressive beards and turbans, sometimes wearing a knife. They revered the great spiritual master, Kabir. Kabir’s focus was that love of God was enough to achieve salvation. It was Kabir that said, "Go where you will, to Benares or to Madura, if you do not find God in your own soul, the world is meaningless for you." Kabir was also, of course, a past life of Sai Baba.

A generation later came Guru Nanak. Guru Nanak taught the importance of repeating the true name of God as a main practice. The Sikh religion is a deliberate mixture of Hinduism and Muslim religions practices. Kabir believed there was truth in all religions, and that there was one God known variously as Allah, Krishna, Rama …Kabir was also the creator of many beautiful songs that are incorporated into the Sikh scriptures.

Guru Nanak was married earlier in his life, but then became an Ascetic, wearing the robe of a Hindu, but the turban and prayer beads of a Muslim. Guru Nanak had a vision of God holding out to Him a cup of nectar and saying, "Go and repeat my name and make others do so." This, of course, is a spiritual practice that Sai Baba has strongly recommended doing as a regular practice.

The nine successors of Guru Nanak are also called Gurus and are though to be Guru Nanak incarnated in all of them. This is much like the understanding of the Dalai Lama in Tibetan Buddhism. The tenth Guru, Govind Singh, instituted a ceremony of initiation in which all Sikhs took new names and the title Singh (lion). They swore to five rules: To leave the hair and beard uncut, to wear a steel comb, to wear shorts, to wear a steel bracelet on the right wrist, and to wear a steel dagger. All true Sikhs do this, though the shorts may be under the trousers.

Today the Sikhs number about six million followers. A Sikh is defined as one who believes in the ten Gurus and in the "Granth Scripture". The Granth Scripture refers to the "Primal book" of Sikhism. The succession of Gurus came to an end with the tenth, Govind Singh. After that the scripture became the Guru, and teacher.

Sikhs believe that God is everywhere so there is no need to become an ascetic in order to find Him. This is much like what Buddha learned on His spiritual path in espousing the middle way. Sikhs insist that God is personal, and revealed through their Gurus. The model for living is the example of the ten Gurus, especially Guru Nanak.

Summation
Mohammed died in the year 632. Within twenty five years after his death, the followers had already become masters of Arabia, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Babylonia, and Persia. Within seventy five years they had conquered all the northern coast of Africa and almost all of Spain. In summation, there are very beautiful practices, ideals, and concepts in the Islamic teachings. Clearly negative ego, glamour, illusion have infiltrated some of the teachings.

The same can be said, however about Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. This will be discussed in a later chapter. For now it is suffice to say that the teachings of the prophet, Mohammed and the Archangel Gabriel spiritually revolutionized the entire Arab world, and brought forth a moral code of ethics and ongoing devotion to God that is continuing and spreading rapidly even to this day.

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