"And when we heard the guidance, we believe in it, for whosoever believes in his Lord shall fear neither detraction nor oppression."
Quran 72:13
It doesn't seem possible that I've never referenced anything from this surah, al-Jinn, the 72nd surah, obviously rendered as "The Jinn," before, but according to my notes that's the deal. I think I tagged this one because of the question of whether that guidance is specific to Islam or more generally apply to any person of faith. Essentially, if you have guidance, which might just mean that you have a set of rules that you follow, and you try and lead a righteous life, then do you need to fear destruction or oppression? As I've stated many times over this last year's reflection upon faith - or at least my own personal faith - I think that there are a thousand paths to God. As we know there are over fifty times in the Quran where we are admonished to believe and perform righteous deeds, but I wonder if the two concepts are so interrelated that it's impossible to do one without doing the other. So, if you believe in your Lord, no matter how one defines that entity, then you "shall fear neither destruction nor oppression." I can't believe that we as Muslims actually have a monopoly on that path.
I've missed several days because I was roaming around India. My initial goal was to get all of this finished, and entrusted to the nano-overlords, and then released on a timed basis, but it was such chaos in the days leading up to the trip that it didn't happen. So, I'll go ahead and try and finish this up, which means that the year of discussing faith didn't finish as gracefully as I would have hoped, but I'm glad I embarked on the process. I feel I've learned a lot, even if at times it was just discovering questions for further study down the road. Usually around a dozen folks drop by every day to read these ill-considered musings, which is rather amazing to consider.
Quran 72:13
It doesn't seem possible that I've never referenced anything from this surah, al-Jinn, the 72nd surah, obviously rendered as "The Jinn," before, but according to my notes that's the deal. I think I tagged this one because of the question of whether that guidance is specific to Islam or more generally apply to any person of faith. Essentially, if you have guidance, which might just mean that you have a set of rules that you follow, and you try and lead a righteous life, then do you need to fear destruction or oppression? As I've stated many times over this last year's reflection upon faith - or at least my own personal faith - I think that there are a thousand paths to God. As we know there are over fifty times in the Quran where we are admonished to believe and perform righteous deeds, but I wonder if the two concepts are so interrelated that it's impossible to do one without doing the other. So, if you believe in your Lord, no matter how one defines that entity, then you "shall fear neither destruction nor oppression." I can't believe that we as Muslims actually have a monopoly on that path.
I've missed several days because I was roaming around India. My initial goal was to get all of this finished, and entrusted to the nano-overlords, and then released on a timed basis, but it was such chaos in the days leading up to the trip that it didn't happen. So, I'll go ahead and try and finish this up, which means that the year of discussing faith didn't finish as gracefully as I would have hoped, but I'm glad I embarked on the process. I feel I've learned a lot, even if at times it was just discovering questions for further study down the road. Usually around a dozen folks drop by every day to read these ill-considered musings, which is rather amazing to consider.
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