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Excerpt from ‘Misquoting Jesus’ by Bart D. Ehrman
I took it and went away to another part of the field, where I copied the whole thing, letter by letter, for I could not distinguish between the syllables. And then, when I completed the letters of the book, it was suddenly seized from my hand; but I did not see by whom. (Shepherd 5.4 )
Even though it was a small book, it must have been a difficult process copying it one letter at a time. When Hermas says that he "could not distinguish between the syllables," he may be indicating that he was not skilled in reading—that is, that he was not trained as a professional scribe, as one who could read texts fluently. One of the problems with ancient Greek texts (which would include all the earliest Christian writings, including those of the New Testament) is that when they were copied, no marks of punctuation were used, no distinction made between lowercase and uppercase letters, and, even more bizarre to modern readers, no spaces used to separate words. This kind of continuous writing is called scriptuo continua, and it obviously could make it difficult at times to read, let alone understand, a text. The words godisnowhere could mean quite different things to a theist (God is now here) and an atheist (God is nowhere); 5 and what would it mean to say lastnightatdinnerisawabundanceonthetable? Was this a normal or a supernormal event?
When Hermas says he could not distinguish between the syllables, he evidently means he could not read the text fluently but could recognize the letters, and so copied them one at a time. Obviously, if you don't know what you're reading, the possibilities of making mistakes in transcription multiply.
--
Ehrman, B. D. (2004). Misquoting Jesus. New York: HarperCollins
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Excerpt from Quran and Evolution - Dr. Ahmed Afzaal
The whole process of the evolution of cosmos can be understood as having several stages, as follows:
The first stage was that of physical evolution, which lasted from the creation of matter out of nothing up to the time when simple chemical compounds grew into complex organic molecules, leading to the emergence of life on earth. This stage of purely physical change was directed by the Divine current of consciousness that continuously runs through all matter, causing it to behave in specific ways (what we describe as the ‘‘laws of nature’’). The second stage was that of biological evolution, when the same current of consciousness took the form of an indwelling life-force which directed the process towards the creation of the perfect animal, the Homo sapiens. The third stage was that of human intellectual evolution, which started when selfconsciousness developed in man, and the Divine current took the form of an urge for Beauty and Perfection, expressing itself in human thought and behavior as the love of an ideal. Just as the biological phase of evolution was characterized by sudden appearances of new species at variable intervals which accelearted the process of biological evolution, in the same way the intellectual phase of evolution was characterized by the phenomenon of prophethood, the purpose of which was to accelerate the intellectual evolution of mankind. Prophethood ended after reaching its ultimate perfection in the person of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), who also represents the zenith of the human search for the ultimate ideal. At the moment we are going through the fourth stage of cosmic evolution, that of the social evolution, whereby humanity as a whole is moving towards the realization of the values and ideals which have already been achieved at an individual level in the life and teachings of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), and at a collective level in the politico-socio-economic system that was established by the Prophet. This phase of evolution is going to culminate in the global domination of the only true Ideal, otherwise known as Islam, at all levels of collectivity.
-----
Read the complete book here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6731618/Quran-and-Human-Evolution
The first stage was that of physical evolution, which lasted from the creation of matter out of nothing up to the time when simple chemical compounds grew into complex organic molecules, leading to the emergence of life on earth. This stage of purely physical change was directed by the Divine current of consciousness that continuously runs through all matter, causing it to behave in specific ways (what we describe as the ‘‘laws of nature’’). The second stage was that of biological evolution, when the same current of consciousness took the form of an indwelling life-force which directed the process towards the creation of the perfect animal, the Homo sapiens. The third stage was that of human intellectual evolution, which started when selfconsciousness developed in man, and the Divine current took the form of an urge for Beauty and Perfection, expressing itself in human thought and behavior as the love of an ideal. Just as the biological phase of evolution was characterized by sudden appearances of new species at variable intervals which accelearted the process of biological evolution, in the same way the intellectual phase of evolution was characterized by the phenomenon of prophethood, the purpose of which was to accelerate the intellectual evolution of mankind. Prophethood ended after reaching its ultimate perfection in the person of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), who also represents the zenith of the human search for the ultimate ideal. At the moment we are going through the fourth stage of cosmic evolution, that of the social evolution, whereby humanity as a whole is moving towards the realization of the values and ideals which have already been achieved at an individual level in the life and teachings of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), and at a collective level in the politico-socio-economic system that was established by the Prophet. This phase of evolution is going to culminate in the global domination of the only true Ideal, otherwise known as Islam, at all levels of collectivity.
-----
Read the complete book here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6731618/Quran-and-Human-Evolution
Step By Step Guide To Prayer (Salah)
This DVD as well as the Booklet will be available for FREE to organisations and individuals all across the globe. http://www.myprayer.org.au.
Evolution and Islam
Excerpt from ‘The Emergence of Islam’ by Muhammad Hamidullah
Hamidullah Muhammad, 1908 – 2002
The Emergence of Islam /by Muhammad Hamidullah
Translated by edited by Afzal Iqbal.
Published by Islamic Research Institute, Islamabad, Pakistan
ISBN: 969-408-137-8
--
Muhammad Hamidullah, born in 1908 in Hyderabad, India, graduated from Osmania University, Hyderabad and then obtained doctoral degrees from the Universities of Bonn and Sorbonne. He taught at the Osmania University and as a Visiting Professor in the University of Istanbul. He also worked for long as a researcher in Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris. He moved to USA in 1996 where he breathed his last in 2002.
Hamidullah’s translation of the Quran and his biography of the Prophet (peace be upon him) won him renown in the French-speaking world. His ‘Muslim Conduct of State’ is regarded as a standard work on Islamic International Law. In addition to a host of significant works and research papers in Arabic, Urdu, French and German, Hamidullah has edited several classical manuscripts of major academic significance.
Afzal Iqbal (d. 1994), who rendered Hamidullah’s lectures into English, is widely known as a diplomat and scholar. ‘The Culture of Islam’, ‘Diplomacy in Early Islam’, ‘Contemporary Muslim World’ and ‘The Life and Work of Rumi’ are some of the many works which made him known to the world of scholarship.
--
Question and Answers:
------------------------------
Question:
If Darwin’s theory of evolution is correct from the scientific point of view then there is conflict between science and Islam. Kindly elucidate.
Answer:
It has been presumed that Darwin’s theory has been rejected by Islam. It appears to create complications for us because we presume that Darwin was an atheist, although the fact is he believed in God. When he completed his medical education and entered his family profession, Darwin went through a metamorphosis. Being sick of the world he became interested in God. He studied Christianity in the Faculty of Religion at the University of Cambridge. Comparative Religion was one of the subjects taught in the University. Darwin also learned Arabic in order to understand Islam. In the collection of his letters which have been published, a number of them are addressed to his Arabic teacher. They are couched in extremely reverent and respectful language.
Among the text books prescribed for Arabic studies at the time were selections either from the Epistles of Ikhwan al-Safa or al-Fawz al-Asghar of Ibn Maskawayh. Both the books mention the theory of evolution. Nobody ever criticized their Muslim authors on this account nor were they dubbed as unbelievers. The books in question belong to the third or fourth century of the Hijrah.
These books state that God first created matter and invested it with energy for development. Matter, therefore, adopted the form of vapours which assumed the shape of water in due time. The next stage of development was mineral life. Different kinds of stones developed in course of time. Their highest form being ‘marjan’ (coral). It is a stone which has in its branches like those of a tree. After mineral life evolves vegetation. This evolution of vegetation culminates with a tree which bears the qualities of an animal. This is the date-palm. It has male and female genders. It does not wither if all its branches are chopped but it dies when the head is cut off. The date-palm is therefore considered the highest among the trees and resembles the lowest among animals. Then is born the lowest animal. It evolves into an ape. This is not the statement of Darwin. This is what Ibn Maskawayh states and this is precisely what is written in the Epistles of Ikhwan al-Safa. The Muslim thinkers state that ape then evolved into a lower kind of barbarian man. He then became a superior human being. Man becomes a saint, a Prophet. He evolves into a higher stage and becomes an angel. The one higher to angels in indeed none but God. Everything begins from Him and everything returns to Him.
When all this has been stated by Muslim thinkers and no Muslim scholar ever took them to task for making such statements, one should pause and ponder ever these facts. In the Quran it is stated that God made man out of clay. Our concept of the creation of man is that God, like a potter, molded clay into shape and breathed His spirit into it and Adam was thus created. Possibly this was the process but what does one do with verses 18:37, 22:5, 35:11, 40:67 which state time and again that God created man from clay and sperm? It is obvious that clay does not create sperm; it comes from an animal and a human being. It means that the mention of all intermediary stages of evolution has been omitted and attention is drawn to the original source which is clay. The last cause is the sperm of man which stays in the womb of a woman.
Take yet another verse of the Quran (71:14): “He created you in stages”. The word ‘tawr’ is the basis of ‘tatawwur’ which means evolution. This can also mean that God created man as a mineral in the first instance. Minerals developed into vegetation which developed into animal life. There is no contradiction.
Hamidullah Muhammad, 1908 – 2002
The Emergence of Islam /by Muhammad Hamidullah
Translated by edited by Afzal Iqbal.
Published by Islamic Research Institute, Islamabad, Pakistan
ISBN: 969-408-137-8
--
Muhammad Hamidullah, born in 1908 in Hyderabad, India, graduated from Osmania University, Hyderabad and then obtained doctoral degrees from the Universities of Bonn and Sorbonne. He taught at the Osmania University and as a Visiting Professor in the University of Istanbul. He also worked for long as a researcher in Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris. He moved to USA in 1996 where he breathed his last in 2002.
Hamidullah’s translation of the Quran and his biography of the Prophet (peace be upon him) won him renown in the French-speaking world. His ‘Muslim Conduct of State’ is regarded as a standard work on Islamic International Law. In addition to a host of significant works and research papers in Arabic, Urdu, French and German, Hamidullah has edited several classical manuscripts of major academic significance.
Afzal Iqbal (d. 1994), who rendered Hamidullah’s lectures into English, is widely known as a diplomat and scholar. ‘The Culture of Islam’, ‘Diplomacy in Early Islam’, ‘Contemporary Muslim World’ and ‘The Life and Work of Rumi’ are some of the many works which made him known to the world of scholarship.
--
Question and Answers:
------------------------------
Question:
If Darwin’s theory of evolution is correct from the scientific point of view then there is conflict between science and Islam. Kindly elucidate.
Answer:
It has been presumed that Darwin’s theory has been rejected by Islam. It appears to create complications for us because we presume that Darwin was an atheist, although the fact is he believed in God. When he completed his medical education and entered his family profession, Darwin went through a metamorphosis. Being sick of the world he became interested in God. He studied Christianity in the Faculty of Religion at the University of Cambridge. Comparative Religion was one of the subjects taught in the University. Darwin also learned Arabic in order to understand Islam. In the collection of his letters which have been published, a number of them are addressed to his Arabic teacher. They are couched in extremely reverent and respectful language.
Among the text books prescribed for Arabic studies at the time were selections either from the Epistles of Ikhwan al-Safa or al-Fawz al-Asghar of Ibn Maskawayh. Both the books mention the theory of evolution. Nobody ever criticized their Muslim authors on this account nor were they dubbed as unbelievers. The books in question belong to the third or fourth century of the Hijrah.
These books state that God first created matter and invested it with energy for development. Matter, therefore, adopted the form of vapours which assumed the shape of water in due time. The next stage of development was mineral life. Different kinds of stones developed in course of time. Their highest form being ‘marjan’ (coral). It is a stone which has in its branches like those of a tree. After mineral life evolves vegetation. This evolution of vegetation culminates with a tree which bears the qualities of an animal. This is the date-palm. It has male and female genders. It does not wither if all its branches are chopped but it dies when the head is cut off. The date-palm is therefore considered the highest among the trees and resembles the lowest among animals. Then is born the lowest animal. It evolves into an ape. This is not the statement of Darwin. This is what Ibn Maskawayh states and this is precisely what is written in the Epistles of Ikhwan al-Safa. The Muslim thinkers state that ape then evolved into a lower kind of barbarian man. He then became a superior human being. Man becomes a saint, a Prophet. He evolves into a higher stage and becomes an angel. The one higher to angels in indeed none but God. Everything begins from Him and everything returns to Him.
When all this has been stated by Muslim thinkers and no Muslim scholar ever took them to task for making such statements, one should pause and ponder ever these facts. In the Quran it is stated that God made man out of clay. Our concept of the creation of man is that God, like a potter, molded clay into shape and breathed His spirit into it and Adam was thus created. Possibly this was the process but what does one do with verses 18:37, 22:5, 35:11, 40:67 which state time and again that God created man from clay and sperm? It is obvious that clay does not create sperm; it comes from an animal and a human being. It means that the mention of all intermediary stages of evolution has been omitted and attention is drawn to the original source which is clay. The last cause is the sperm of man which stays in the womb of a woman.
Take yet another verse of the Quran (71:14): “He created you in stages”. The word ‘tawr’ is the basis of ‘tatawwur’ which means evolution. This can also mean that God created man as a mineral in the first instance. Minerals developed into vegetation which developed into animal life. There is no contradiction.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Extract from 'Teachings of Hazrat Shah Waliyullah' by G.N. Jalbani
Subject-matter [of the Quran]. While explaining the principles of Tafsir he [Hazrat Shah Waliyullah] has divided the subject-matter of the Holy Quran into five categories:
1. The science of Injunctions, which pertains to what is Incumbent, Approved, Disapprove and Forbidden, whether they be in connection with worship or dealings of man with man, household administration and state politics.
2. The science of Disputations, which relates to the four misguided groups, namely Jews, Christians, Polytheists and the Hypocrites.
3. The Science pertaining to the Divine wonders, wherein the attention of the people is drawn to the wondrous signs of the Almighty in nature.
4. The science pertaining to the important occasions is given on which the obedient were helped and blessed and the disobedient were taken to task and punished.
5. The science concerning Death, wherein is the mention of the horrors of death and of the effect on man of the events which are to follow it,
He clearly asserts that the topics treated in the Quran are confined to these five categories only.
---------------
Teachings of Hazrat Shah Waliyullah Muhaddis Dehlvi
by G.N. Jalbani
Formerly Professor and Head of the Department of Arabic University of Sind, Hyderabad
First Published in India 1988
Published by Nusrat Ali Nasri for Kitab Bhavan
1784 Kalan Mahal, Daryaganj
New Delhi-110002
Printed in India at
Lahooti Fine Art Press
Sui Walan, Delhi-6
1. The science of Injunctions, which pertains to what is Incumbent, Approved, Disapprove and Forbidden, whether they be in connection with worship or dealings of man with man, household administration and state politics.
2. The science of Disputations, which relates to the four misguided groups, namely Jews, Christians, Polytheists and the Hypocrites.
3. The Science pertaining to the Divine wonders, wherein the attention of the people is drawn to the wondrous signs of the Almighty in nature.
4. The science pertaining to the important occasions is given on which the obedient were helped and blessed and the disobedient were taken to task and punished.
5. The science concerning Death, wherein is the mention of the horrors of death and of the effect on man of the events which are to follow it,
He clearly asserts that the topics treated in the Quran are confined to these five categories only.
---------------
Teachings of Hazrat Shah Waliyullah Muhaddis Dehlvi
by G.N. Jalbani
Formerly Professor and Head of the Department of Arabic University of Sind, Hyderabad
First Published in India 1988
Published by Nusrat Ali Nasri for Kitab Bhavan
1784 Kalan Mahal, Daryaganj
New Delhi-110002
Printed in India at
Lahooti Fine Art Press
Sui Walan, Delhi-6
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Excerpt from ‘The Jesus Mysteries’ by Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy
Excerpt from ‘The Jesus Mysteries’ by Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy
-----------------------------------------------------------
The Jesus Mysteries – Was The “Original Jesus” a Pagan God?
Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy
Year: 1999
Published by Three Rivers Press, New York, New York. Member of the Crown Publishing Group.
ISBN: 0-609-80798-6
------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 2 – The Pagan Mysteries
Conclusion:
• Jesus is the savior of mankind, God made man, the Son of God equal with the Father, so is Osiris-Dionysus.
• Jesus is born of a mortal virgin who after her death ascends to heaven and is honored as a divine being; so is Osiris-Dionysus.
• Jesus is born in a cave on December 25 or January 6, as is Osiris-Dionysus.
• Jesus is visited by the Magi, who are followers of Osiris-Dionysus.
• The Magi bring Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, which a sixth-century BCE Pagan tells us is the way to worship to God.
• Jesus is baptized, a ritual practiced for centuries in the Mysteries.
• The holy man who baptizes Jesus with water has the same name as a Pagan god of water and is born on the summer solstice celebrated as a Pagan water festival.
• Jesus offers his followers elemental baptisms of water, air, and fire, as did the Pagan Mysteries.
• Jesus is portrayed as a quiet man with long hair and a beard, so is Osiris-Dionysus.
• Jesus turns water into wine at a marriage on the same day that Osiris-Dionysus was previously believed to have turned water into wine at a marriage.
• Jesus heals the sick, exorcises demons, provides miraculous meals, helps fishermen make miraculous catches of fish, and calms the water for his disciples, all of these marvels had previously been performed by the Pagan sages.
• Like the sages of the Mysteries, Jesus is a wandering wonder-worker who is not honored in his home town.
• Jesus is accused of licentious behavior, as were the followers of Osiris-Dionysus.
• Jesus is not at first recognized as a divinity by his disciples, but then is transfigured before them in all his glory; the same is true of Osiris-Dionysus.
• Jesus is surrounded by 12 disciples; so is Osiris-Dionysus.
• Jesus rides triumphantly into town on a donkey while crowds wave branches, as does Osiris-Dionysus.
• Jesus is a just man unjustly accused of heresy and bringing a new religion, as is Osiris-Dionysus.
• Jesus attacks hypocrites, stands up to tyranny, and willingly goes to his death predicting he will rise again in three days, as do Pagan sages.
• Jesus is betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, a motif found in the story of Socrates.
• Jesus is equated with bread and wine, as is Osiris-Dionysus.
• Jesus’ disciples symbolically eat bread and drink wine to commune with him, as do the followers of Osiris-Dionysus.
• Jesus is hung on a tree or crucifies, as is Osiris-Dionysus.
• Jesus’ corpse is wrapped in linen and anointed with myrrh, as is the corpse of Osiris-Dionysus.
• After his death Jesus descends into hell, then on the third day resurrects before his disciples and ascends into heaven, where he is enthroned by God and waits to reappear at the end of time as a divine judge, as does Osiris-Dionysus.
• Jesus was said to have died and resurrected on exactly the same dates that the death and resurrection of Osiris-Dionysus were celebrated.
• Jesus’ empty tomb is visited by three women followers; Osiris-Dionysus also has three women followers who visit an empty cave.
• Though sharing in his passion Jesus offers his disciples the chance to be born again, as does Osiris-Dionysus.
(Freke & Gandy, 1999)
Saturday, January 22, 2011
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