Science From The islamic World

AbuRaihan AlBiruni

Biruni wrote the following on the geology of India: "But if you see the soil of India with your own eyes and meditate on its nature, if you consider the rounded stones found in earth however deeply you dig, stones that are huge near the mountains and where the rivers have a violent current: stones that are of smaller size at a greater distance from the mountains and where the streams flow more slowly: stones that appear pulverised in the shape of sand where the streams begin to stagnate near their mouths and near the sea - if you consider all this you can scarcely help thinking that India was once a sea, which by degrees has been filled up by the alluvium of the streams."

For More,Read Here

Inventions From The Islamic World

An illustration of patterned Girih tiles, found in Islamic architecture dating back over five centuries ago. These featured the first quasicrystal patterns and self-similar fractal quasicrystalline tilings.

The programmable humanoid robot band of Al-Jazari.

A number of inventions were developed in the medieval Islamic world, a geopolitical region that has at various times extended from Spain and Africa in the west to the Indian subcontinent in the east.^{[1][page needed]} The inventions listed here were developed during the medieval Islamic world, which covers the period from the early Caliphate to the later Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal empires.^[2] In particular, the majority of inventions here date back to the Islamic Golden Age, which is traditionally dated from the 8th to the 13th centuries...FOR MORE,READ HERE

See The Similarities Part3

The Birth Of The Mighty Vibuthi Mohammad And The Rebirth Of Sanatan Dharma In The Form Of Islam

Mohammed's birth. Miniature illustration on vellum from the book Jami' al-Tawarikh (literally "Compendium of Chronicles" but often referred to as The Universal History or History of the World), by Rashid al-Din, published in Tabriz, Persia, 1307 A.D. Now in the collection of the Edinburgh University Library, Scotland

The Yogic Methods Of Naqshbandi Sufi Order

'Abdul Khaliq al-Ghujdawani coined the following phrases which are now considered the principles of the Naqshbandi Sufi Order:

Conscious Breathing ("Hosh dar dam")
Hosh means "mind." Dar means "in." Dam means "breath." It means, according to Abdul Khaliq al-Ghujdawani (q), that

"the wise seeker must safeguard his breath from heedlessness, coming in and going out, thereby keeping his heart always in the Divine Presence; and he must revive his breath with worship and servitude and dispatch this worship to His Lord full of life, for every breath which is inhaled and exhaled with Presence is alive and connected with the Divine Presence. Every breath inhaled and exhaled with heedlessness is dead, disconnected from the Divine Presence."

Ubaidullah al-Ahrar (q) said, "The most important mission for the seeker in this Order is to safeguard his breath, and he who cannot safeguard his breath, it would be said of him, 'he lost himself.'"

Shah Naqshband (q) said, "This Order is built on breath. So it is a must for everyone to safeguard his breath in the time of his inhalation and exhalation and further, to safeguard his breath in the interval between the inhalation and exhalation."

Shaikh Abul Janab Najmuddin al-Kubra said in his book, Fawatih al-Jamal, "Dhikr is flowing in the body of every single living creatures by the necessity of their breath -- even without will -- as a sign of obedience, which is part of their creation. Through their breathing, the sound of the letter "Ha" of the Divine Name Allah is made with every exhalation and inhalation and it is a sign of the Unseen Essence serving to emphasize the Uniqueness of God. Therefore it is necessary to be present with that breathing, in order to realize the Essence of the Creator."

The name 'Allah' which encompasses the ninety-nine Names and Attributes consists of four letters, Alif, Lam, Lam and the same Hah (ALLAH). The people of Sufism say that the absolute unseen Essence of Allah Exalted and Almighty is expressed by the last letter vowelized by the Alif, "Ha." It represents the Absolutely Unseen "He-ness" of the Exalted God (Ghayb al-Huwiyya al-Mutlaqa lillah 'azza wa jall). The first Lam is for the sake of identification (tacrif) and the second Lam is for the sake of emphasis (mubalagha).

Safeguarding your breath from heedlessness will lead you to complete Presence, and complete Presence will lead you to complete Vision, and complete Vision will lead you to complete Manifestation of Allah's Ninety-Nine Names and Attributes. Allah leads you to the Manifestation of His Ninety-Nine Names and Attributes and all His other Attributes, because it is said, "Allah's Attributes are as numerous as the breaths of human beings."

It must be known by everyone that securing the breath from heedlessness is difficult for seekers. Therefore they must safeguard it by seeking forgiveness (istighfar) because seeking forgiveness will purify it and sanctify it and prepare the seeker for the Real Manifestation of Allah everywhere.

Watch Your Step ("Nazar bar qadam")
It means that the seeker while walking must keep his eyes on his feet. Wherever he is about to place his feet, his eyes must be there. He is not allowed to send cast his glance here or there, to look right or left or in front of him, because unnecessary sights will veil the heart. Most veils on the heart are created by the pictures which are transmitted from your eyes to your mind during your daily living. These may disturb your heart with turbulence because of the different kinds of desire which have been imprinted on your mind. These images are like veils on the heart. They block the Light of the Divine Presence. This is why Sufi saints don't allow their followers, who have purified their hearts through constant Dhikr, to look at other than their feet. Their hearts are like mirrors, reflecting and receiving every image easily. This might distract them and bring impurities to their hearts. So the seeker is ordered to lower his gaze in order not to be assailed by the arrows of devils.

Lowering the gaze is also a sign of humility; proud and arrogant people never look at their feet. It is also an indication that one is following the footsteps of the Prophet (s), who when he walked never used to look right or left, but used to look only at his feet, moving steadfastly towards his destination. It is also the sign of a high state when the seeker looks nowhere except towards his Lord. Like one who intends to reach a destination quickly, so too the seeker of Allah's Divine Presence is moving quickly, not looking to his right or his left, not looking at the desires of this world, but looking only for the Divine Presence.

Imam ar-Rabbani Ahmad al-Faruqi (q) said in the 295th letter of his Maktubat:

"The gaze precedes the step and the step follows the gaze. The Ascension to the high state is first by the Vision, followed by the Step. When the Step reaches the level of the Ascension of the Gaze, then the Gaze will be lifted up to another state, to which the Step follows in its turn. Then the Gaze will be lifted even higher and the Step will follow in its turn. And so on until the Gaze reaches a state of Perfection to which it will pull the Step. We say, 'When the Step follows the Gaze, the murid has reached the state of Readiness in approaching the Footsteps of the Prophet, peace be upon him. So the Footsteps of the Prophet (s) are considered the Origin of all steps.'"

Shah Naqshband (q) said, "If we look at the mistakes of our friends, we will be left friendless, because no one is perfect."

Journey Homeward ("safar dar watan")
It means to travel to one's homeland. It means that the seeker travels from the world of creation to the world of the Creator. It is related that the Prophet (s) said, "I am going to my Lord from one state to a better state and from one station to a higher station." It is said that the seeker must travel from the Desire for the forbidden to the Desire for the Divine Presence.

The Naqshbandi Sufi Order divides that travel into two categories. The first is external journeying and the second is internal journeying. External travel is to travel from one land to another searching for a perfect guide to take and direct you to your destination. This enables you to move to the second category, the internal journey. Seekers, once they have found a perfect guide, are forbidden to go on another external journey. In the external journey there are many difficulties which beginners cannot endure without falling into forbidden actions, because they are weak in their worship.

The second category is internal journeying. Internal journeying requires the seeker to leave his low manners and move to high manners, to throw out of his heart all worldly desires. He will be lifted from a state of uncleanness to a state of purity. At that time he will no longer be in need of more internal journeying. He will have purified his heart, making it pure like water, transparent like crystal, polished like a mirror, showing the realities of all matters essential for his daily life, without any need for external action on his part. In his heart will appear everything that is needed for his life and for the life of those around him.

Solitude in the Crowd ("khalwat dar anjuman")
"Khalwat" means seclusion. It means to be outwardly with people while remaining inwardly with God. There are also two categories of seclusion. The first is external seclusion and the second is internal seclusion.

External seclusion requires the seeker to seclude himself in a private place that is empty of people. Staying there by himself, he concentrates and meditates on Dhikrullah, the remembrance of God, in order to reach a state in which the Heavenly Realm becomes manifest. When you chain the external senses, your internal senses will be free to reach the Heavenly Realm. This will bring you to the second category: the internal seclusion.

The internal seclusion means seclusion among people. Therein the heart of the seeker must be present with his Lord and absent from the Creations while remaining physically present among them. It is said, "The seeker will be so deeply involved in the silent Dhikr in his heart that, even if he enters a crowd of people, he will not hear their voices. The state of Dhikr overcomes him. The manifestation of the Divine Presence is pulling him and making him unaware of all but his Lord. This is the highest state of seclusion, and is considered the true seclusion, as mentioned in the Holy Qur'an: "Men whom neither business nor profit distract from the recollection of God" [24:37]. This is the way of the Naqshbandi Order.

The primary seclusion of the shaykhs of the Naqshbandi Order is the internal seclusion. They are with their Lord and simultaneously they are with the people. As the Prophet said, "I have two sides: one faces my Creator and one faces creation." Shah Naqshband emphasized the goodness of gatherings when he said: Tariqatuna as-suhbat wa-l-khairu fil-jam`iyyat ("Our Way is Companionship, and Goodness is in the Gathering").

It is said that the believer who can mingle with people and carry their difficulties is better than the believer who keeps away from people. On that delicate point Imam Rabbani said,

"It must be known that the seeker at the beginning might use the external seclusion to isolate himself from people, worshipping and concentrating on Allah, Almighty and Exalted, until he reaches a higher state. At that time he will be advised by his shaikh, in the words of Sayyid al-Kharraz, 'Perfection is not in exhibitions of miraculous powers, but perfection is to sit among people, sell and buy, marry and have children; and yet never leave the presence of Allah even for one moment.'"

Essential Remembrance ("yad kard")
The meaning of 'Yad' is Dhikr. The meaning of 'kard' is the essence of Dhikr. The seeker must make Dhikr by negation and affirmation on his tongue until he reaches the state of the contemplation of his heart (muraqaba). That state will be achieved by reciting every day the negation (LA ILAHA) and affirmation (ILLALLAH) on the tongue, between 5,000 and 10,000 times, removing from his heart the elements that tarnish and rust it. This dhikr polishes the heart and takes the seeker into the state of Manifestation. He must keep that daily dhikr, either by heart or by tongue, repeating ALLAH, the name of God's Essence which encompasses all other names and Attributes, or by negation and affirmation through the saying of LA ILAHA ILLALLAH.

This daily dhikr will bring the seeker into the perfect presence of the One Who is glorified.

The Dhikr by negation and affirmation, in the manner of the Naqshbandi Sufi Masters, demands that the seeker close his eyes, close his mouth, clench his teeth, glue his tongue to the roof of his mouth, and hold his breath. He must recite the dhikr through the heart, by negation and affirmation, beginning with the word LA ("No"). He lifts this "No" from under his navel up to his brain. Upon reaching his brain the word "No" brings out the word ILAHA ("god"), moves from the brain to the left shoulder, and hits the heart with ILLALLAH ("except The God"). When that word hits the heart its energy and heat spreads to all the parts of the body. The seeker who has denied all that exists in this world with the words LA ILAHA, affirms with the words ILLALLAH that all that exists has been annihilated in the Divine Presence.

The seeker repeats this with every breath, inhaling and exhaling, always making it come to the heart, according to the number of times prescribed to him by his shaikh. The seeker will eventually reach the state where in one breath he can repeat LA ILAHA ILLALLAH twenty-three times. A perfect shaikh can repeat LA ILAHA ILLALLAH an infinite number of times in every breath. The meaning of this practice is that the only goal is ALLAH and that there is no other goal for us. To look at the Divine Presence as the Only Existence after all this throws back into the heart of the murid the love of the Prophet (s) and at that time he says, MUHAMMADUN RASULULLAH ("Mu ammad is the Prophet of God") which is the heart of the Divine Presence.

Returning ("baz gasht")
This is a state in which the seeker, who makes Dhikr by negation and affirmation, comes to understand the Holy Prophet's (s) phrase, ilahi anta maqsudi wa ridaka matlubi ("O my God, You are my Goal and Your Good Pleasure is my Aim.") The recitation of this phrase will increase in the seeker the awareness of the Oneness of God, until he reaches the state in which the existence of all creation vanishes from his eyes. All that he sees, wherever he looks, is the Absolute One. The Naqshbandi murids recite this sort of dhikr in order to extract from their hearts the secret of Oneness, and to open themselves to the Reality of the Unique Divine Presence. The beginner has no right to leave this dhikr if he doesn't find its power appearing in his heart. He must keep on reciting it in imitation of his Shaykh, because the Prophet (s) has said, "Whoever imitates a group of people will belong to them." And whoever imitates his teacher will some day find this secret opened to his heart.

The meaning of the phrase "baz gasht" is the return to Allah Exalted and Almighty by showing complete surrender and submission to His Will, and complete humbleness in giving Him all due praise. That is the reason the Holy Prophet mentioned in his invocation, ma dhakarnaka haqqa dhikrika ya Madhkur ("We did not Remember You as You Deserve to be Remembered, O Allah"). The seeker cannot come to the presence of Allah in his dhikr, and cannot manifest the Secrets and Attributes of Allah in his dhikr, if he does not make dhikr with Allah's Support and with Allah's Remembrance of him. As Bayazid said: "When I reached Him I saw that His remembering of me preceded my remembrance of Him." The seeker cannot make dhikr by himself. He must recognise that Allah is the one making Dhikr through him.

Attentiveness ("nigah dasht")
"Nigah" means sight. It means that the seeker must watch his heart and safeguard it by preventing bad thoughts from entering. Bad inclinations keep the heart from joining with the Divine. It is acknowledged in the Naqshbandiyya that for a seeker to safeguard his heart from bad inclinations for fifteen minutes is a great achievement. For this he would be considered a real Sufi. Sufism is the power to safeguard the heart from bad thoughts and protect it from low inclinations. Whoever accomplishes these two goals will know his heart, and whoever knows his heart will know his Lord. The Holy Prophet (s) has said, "Whoever knows himself knows His Lord."

One Sufi shaikh said, "Because I safeguarded my heart for ten nights, my heart has safeguarded me for twenty years."

Abu Bakr al-Qattani said, "I was the guard at the door of my heart for 40 years, and I never opened it for anyone except Allah, Almighty and Exalted, until my heart did not know anyone except Allah Almighty and Exalted."

Abul Hassan al-Kharqani said, "It has been 40 years that Allah has been looking at my heart and has seen no one except Himself. And there is no room in my heart for other than Allah."

Recollection ("yada dasht")
It means that the reciter of Dhikr safeguards his heart with negation and affirmation in every breath without leaving the Presence of Allah Almighty and Exalted. It requires the seeker to keep his heart in Allah's Divine Presence continuously. This allows him to realize and manifest the Light of the Unique Essence (anwar adh-dhat al-Ahadiyya) of God. He then casts away three of the four different forms of thoughts: the egoistic thoughts, the evil thoughts, and the angelic thoughts, keeping and affirming solely the fourth form of thought, the haqqani or truthful thoughts. This will lead the seeker to the highest state of perfection by discarding all his imaginings and embracing only the Reality which is the Oneness of Allah, 'Azza wa Jall.

`Abdul Khaliq al-Ghujdawani had four khalifs. The first was Shaikh Ahmad as-Siddiq, originally from Bukhara. The second was Kabir al-Awliya ("the Greatest of Saints"), Shaikh `Arif Awliya al-Kabir (q). Originally from Bukhara, he was a great scholar in both external and internal Sciences. The third khalif was Shaikh Sulaiman al-Kirmani (q). The fourth khalif was `Arif ar-Riwakri (q). It is to this fourth khalif that Abdul Khaliq (q) passed the Secret of the Golden Chain before he died on the 12th of Rabi`ul-Awwal 575 H.

SOURCE:http://www.naqshbandi.org/topics/principl.htm

Awareness of the Heart ("wuquf qalbi")
This means to direct the heart of the seeker towards the Divine Presence, where he will not see other than his Beloved One. It means to experience His Manifestation in all states. Ubaidullah al-Ahrar said, "The state of Awareness of the Heart is the state of being present in the Divine Presence in such a way that you cannot look to anyone other than Him."

In such a state one concentrates the place of Dhikr inside the heart because this is the center of power. All thoughts and inspirations, good and bad, are felt and appear one after another, circling and alternating, moving between light and dark, in constant revolution, inside the heart. Dhikr is required in order to control and reduce that turbulence of the heart.
http://www.naqshbandi.org/topics/awheart.htm

Splitting Of The Moon

The splitting of the moon (Arabic: انشقاق القمر‎) is a claimed miracle done by the prophet Muhammad in Islamic tradition.[2] The incident is mentioned in many early Muslim traditions as the context of revelation (asbāb an-nuzūl) for the Qur'anic verse 54:1-2 and virtually all Muslim commentators accept the historicity of the miracle...source

Islamic Yoga

[Yusufali 77:30] "Depart ye to a Shadow (of smoke ascending) in three columns,

The Divine has three aspects for us:
1. It is the Cosmic Self and Spirit that is in and behind all things and beings, from which and in which all is manifested in
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the universe—although it is now a manifestation in the Ignorance.
2. It is the Spirit and Master of our own being within us whom we have to serve and learn to express his will in all our movements so that we may grow out of the Ignorance into the Light.
3. The Divine is transcendent Being and Spirit, all bliss and light and divine knowledge and power, and towards that highest divine existence and its Light we have to rise and bring down the reality of it more and more into our consciousness and life.
In the ordinary Nature we live in the Ignorance and do not know the Divine. The forces of the ordinary Nature are undivine forces because they weave a veil of ego and desire and unconsciousness which conceals the Divine from us. To get into the higher and deeper consciousness which knows and lives luminously in the Divine, we have to get rid of the forces of the lower nature and open to the action of the Divine Shakti which will transform our consciousness into that of the Divine Nature.
This is the conception of the Divine from which we have to start – the realisation of its truth can only come with the opening of the consciousness and its change.

The distinction between the Transcendental, the Cosmic, the Individual Divine is not my invention, nor is it native to India or to Asia – It is, on the contrary, a recognised European teaching current in the esoteric tradition of the Catholic Church where it is the authorised explanation of the Trinity, – Father, Son and Holy Ghost – and it is very well-known to European mystic experience. In essence it exists in all spiritual disciplines that recognise the omnipresence of the Divine – In Indian Vedantic experience and in Mahomedan yoga (not only the Sufi, but other schools also) – the Mahomedans even speak of not two or three but many levels of the Divine until one reaches the Supreme. As for the idea in itself, surely there is a difference between the individual, the cosmos in space and time, and something that exceeds this cosmic formula or any cosmic formula. There is a cosmic
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consciousness experienced by many which is quite different in its scope and action from the individual consciousness, and if there is a consciousness beyond the cosmic, infinite and essentially eternal, not merely extended in Time, that also must be different from these two. And if the Divine is or manifests Himself in these three, is it not conceivable that in aspect, in His working, He may differentiate Himself so much that we are driven, if we are not to confound all truth of experience, if we are not to limit ourselves to a mere static experience of something indefinable, to speak of a triple aspect of the Divine?..read more

Spontaneous Surrender

Are not offering and surrender to the Divine the same thing?

They are two aspects of the same thing, but not altogether the same. One is more active than the other. They do not belong to quite the same plane of existence.
For example, you have decided to offer your life to the Divine, you take that decision. But all of a sudden, something altogether unpleasant, unexpected happens to you and your first movement is to react and protest. Yet you have made the offering, you have said once for all: “My life belongs to the Divine”, and then suddenly an extremely unpleasant incident happens (that can happen) and there is something in you that reacts, that does not want it. But here, if you want to be truly logical
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with your offering, you must bring forward this unpleasant incident, make an offering of it to the Divine, telling him very sincerely: “Let Your will be done; if You have decided it that way, it will be that way.” And this must be a willing and spontaneous adhesion. So it is very difficult.
Even for the smallest thing, something that is not in keeping with what you expected, what you have worked for, instead of an opposite reaction coming in – spontaneously, irresistibly, you draw back: “No, not that” - if you have made a complete surrender, a total surrender, well, it does not happen like that: you are as quiet, as peaceful, as calm in one case as in the other. And perhaps you had the notion that it would be better if it happened in a certain way, but if it happens differently, you find that this also is all right. You might have, for example, worked very hard to do a certain thing, so that something might happen, you might have given much time, much of your energy, much of your will, and all that not for your own sake, but, say, for the divine work (that is the offering); now suppose that after having taken all this trouble, done all this work, made all these efforts, it all goes just the other way round, it does not succeed. If you are truly surrendered, you say: “It is good, it is all good, it is all right; I did what I could, as well as I could, now it is not my decision, it is the decision of the Divine, I accept entirely what He decides.” On the other hand, if you do not have this deep and spontaneous surrender, you tell yourself: “How is it? I took so much trouble to do a thing which is not for a selfish purpose, which is for the Divine Work, and this is the result, it is not successful!” Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, it is like that.
True surrender is a very difficult thing.

The Agenda,20th may,1953

Vedanta Brain Islamic Power

"..The Buddhistic enlightenment and discipline did not admit the supreme authority of the Vedas; it sought other bases of truth and reality. It was a great denial; and it meant and worked for a vital schism. The denial of the Vedas by itself, perhaps, would not be serious, but it became so, as it was symptomatic of a deeper divergence. Denying the Vedas, the Buddhistic spirit denied life. It was quite a new thing in the. Indian consciousness and spiritual discipline. And it left such a stamp there that even today it stands as the dominant character of
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the Indian .."

"..India today presents the problem on a larger scale and on a higher or deeper level. The demand is for a spiritual fusion and unity. Strange to say, although the Spirit is the true bed-rock of unity – since, at bottom, it means identity – it is on this plane that mankind has not yet been able to really meet and coalesce. India's genius has been precisely working in the line of a perfect solution of this supreme problem.
Islam comes with a full-fledged spiritual soul and a mental and vital formation commensurable with that inner being and consciousness. It comes with a dynamic spirit, a warrior mood, that aims at conquering the physical world for the Lord, a temperament which Indian spirituality had not, or had lost long before, if she had anything of it. This was, perhaps, what Vivekananda meant when he spoke graphically of a Hindu soul with a Muslim body. The Islamic dispensation, however, brings with it not only something comple-
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mentary, but also something contradictory, if not for anything else, at least for the strong individuality which does not easily yield to assimilation. Still, in spite of great odds, the process of assimilation was going on slowly and surely. But of late it appears to have come to a dead halt; difficulties have been presented which seem insuperable..."

The solution can come, first, by going to the true religion of the Spirit, by being truly spiritual and not merely religious, for, as we have said, real unity lies only in and through the Spirit, since Spirit is one and indivisible; secondly, by bringing down something – a great part, indeed, if not the whole – of this puissant and marvellous Spirit into our life of emotions and sensations and activities.
If it is said that this is an ideal for the few only, not for the mass, our answer to that is the answer of the Gita – Yad yad acharati sreshthah. Let the few then practise and achieve the ideal: the mass will have to follow as far as it is possible and necessary. It is the very character of the evolutionary system of
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Nature, as expressed in the principle of symbiosis, that any considerable change in one place (in one species) is accompanied by a corresponding change in the same direction in other contiguous places (in other associated species) in order that the poise and balance of the system may be maintained.
It is precisely strong nuclei that are needed (even, perhaps, one strong nucleus is sufficient) where the single and integrated spiritual consciousness is an accomplished and established fact: that acts inevitably as a solvent drawing in and assimilating or transforming and re-creating as much, of the surroundings as its own degree and nature of achievement inevitably demand.
India did not and could not stop at mere cultural fusion – which was a supreme gift of the Moguls. She did not and could not stop at another momentous cultural fusion brought about by the European impact. She aimed at something more. Nature demanded of her that she should discover a greater secret of human unity and through progressive experiments apply and establish it in fact. Christianity did" not raise this problem of the greater synthesis, for the Christian peoples were more culture-minded than religious-minded. It was left for an Asiatic people to set the problem and for India to work out the solution.

Nolini Kanta Gupta > Volume-1 > The Basis Of Unity

The Great Ethopian Dynasty Of Bengal

Firuz Minar of Gaur, West Bengal.A lasting monument built by the Habshi Sultan Firuz Shah

THE GREAT ETHIOPIAN DYNASTY OF BENGAL
By Horen Tudu

Introduction
African migration into the Indian Sub-Continent has occurred in both voluntary and involuntary waves. It is critical to emphasize that India’s most ancient existing inhabitants known as Adivasis are also of African origins. This has been recently confirmed on anthropological, linguistic and biological foundations. Therefore, we shall not needlessly lay controversy on such definitions and direct our efforts towards more pressing topics. In this article we shall focus on a specific subset of Africans, namely a small group of Ethiopians that rose to great prominence during the 15th century CE. During this period a great Abyssinian dynasty ruled over the entirety of Bengal under a single unified Muslim sultanate. Moreover, this episode of Abyssinian rule marked one of the most unique eras of Bengal’s history, where the Habshi rulers imparted great benevolence to the poor and destitute, as well as demonstrated impressive patronage of the arts, literature, architecture, science, and medicine...READ MORE

The Ascending And Descending Angels

[Yusufali 16:2] He doth send down His angels with inspiration of His Command, to such of His servants as He pleaseth, (saying): "Warn (Man) that there is no god but I: so do your duty unto Me."

"Then the Prophet ascended to the seventh heaven, and that is where our Messenger saw Prophet Ibrahim. Prophet Ibrahim is the best of the prophets after our prophet, Muhammad. The Prophet saw Prophet Ibrahim with his back against al-Bayt al-Ma^mur. To the inhabitants of the skies, al-Bayt al-Ma^mur is like the Ka^bah is to us, the inhabitants of the earth. Every day 70,000 angels go there; then exit from it, and never return. The next day another 70,000 angels go, come out, and never return. This will continue until the Day of Judgment. In this, there is an indication as to the greatness of the numbers of the angels--their numbers are far more than the numbers of the humans and the jinns together".SOURCE

Grandshaykh Sharafuddin narrated the following story:

The year in which Abu Muhammad Qasim was to leave this world,he set out on a pilgrimage on the third of Ramadan.When he arrived at al-Qudayd,where pilgrims usually sojourn,GOD opened to his vision to behold angels desending from heaven and ascending in countless numbers.They would come down,visit the place,and then go back up.And while he watched these angels carrying the the blessings with which GOD was sending them,it was as if that light and concentrated power was being poured into his heart directly,filling it with sincerity and GOD-conciousness

(from Classical islam and the Naqshbandi Sufi/History of the saints of the golden chain)

"You may remember Ramakrishna's saying that the Jivakoti can ascend the stairs, but not return, while the Ishwarakoti can ascend and descend at will. If that is so, the Jivakoti might be those who describe only the curve from Matter through Mind into the silent Brahman and the Ishwarakoti those who get to the integral Reality and can therefore combine the Ascent with the Descent and contain the “two ends” of existence in their single being."

Sri Aurobindo

Integral Yoga Means Total Surrender Submission To The Divine

[Yusufali 3:19] The Religion before Allah is Islam (submission to His Will): Nor did the People of the Book dissent there from except through envy of each other, after knowledge had come to them. But if any deny the Signs of Allah, Allah is swift in calling to account.

[Yusufali 3:20] So if they dispute with thee, say: "I have submitted My whole self to Allah and so have those who follow me." And say to the People of the Book and to those who are unlearned: "Do ye (also) submit yourselves?" If they do, they are in right guidance, but if they turn back, Thy duty is to convey the Message; and in Allah's sight are (all) His servants.

"The surrender must be total and seize all the parts of the being. It is not enough that the psychic should respond and the higher mental accept or even the inner vital submit and the inner physical consciousness feel the influence. There must be in no part of the being, even the most external, anything that makes a reserve, anything that hides behind doubts, confusions and subterfuges, anything that revolts or refuses..A glad and strong and helpful submission is demanded to the working of the Divine Force, the obedience of the illumined disciple of the Truth, of the inner Warrior who fights against obscurity and falsehood, of the faithful servant of the Divine".
Sri Aurobindo

"Our yoga is not identical with the yoga of the Gita although it contains all that is essential in the Gita's yoga. In our yoga we begin with the idea, the will, the aspiration of the complete surrender; but at the same time we have to reject the lower nature, deliver our consciousness from it, deliver the self involved in the lower nature by the self rising to freedom in the higher nature. If we do not do this double movement, we are in danger of making a tamasic and therefore unreal surrender, making no effort, no tapas and therefore no progress; or else we may make a rajasic surrender not to the Divine but to some self-made false idea or image of the Divine which masks our rajasic ego or something still worse..."
SRI AUROBINDO

Vivekananda On Muhamad And Islam

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA ON ISLAM: “Principles that we practise in our day-today life constitute the philosophy of nature and are likely to be a more acceptable religious philosophy of the enlightened future generation. Except in the religious ideology brought by Muhammad, I do not see this aspect effectively and practically implemented and well entrenched. It is my humble assertion that, though Hindu Vedic philosophies are immensely beautiful, without the day-today practical applications and approaches of Islam, they (Vedic principles) may not adequately serve the humanity.”

THE INDIAN MINDSCAPE:
Swami Vivekananda And Sri Aurobindo's Contribution Towards Regeneration of India

By JAGMOHAN
Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo were the two towering figures of the Indian renaissance who contributed most to the regeneration of the Indian mindscape and the consequent reflowering of the Indian culture. About the former, whose birth anniversary was observed on 12 January, the latter had recorded: “British rule has been the record success in history in the hypnosis of a nation. It persuaded us to live in a ‘death of the will’, creating in ourselves the condition of morbid weakness the hypnotist desired, until the master of a mightier hypnosis laid his finger on India’s eyes and cried, ‘Awake’. Then only was the spell broken, the slumbering mind realised itself and the dead soul lived again.”
This awakening created a great turning point in Indian history. For about a thousand years after the fall of Harsha’s empire, decay and degeneration had set in, and the Indian mind had suffered a long spell of drought and desertification with a few meadows of green appearing here and there...

http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1132

The Code Napoleon

Napoleon's greatest reform of the Consulate Period was the creation of a universal system of laws that replaced contradictory and antiquated provincial policies. The Code Civil (more commonly known as the Code Napoleon) was compiled, ratified, and signed under the First Consul's

direction. From 1800 to 1804, a commission of jurors worked tirelessly on this project. Finally, in March of 1804, the new laws went into effect. Finally the Reign of Terror had truly come to an end since Frenchmen were now granted the ability to locate and learn all the government's policies and thus ensure that they were not acting contrary to them...read more

DID NAPOLEON CONVERT TO ISLAM?

England's foe for many years has been France. The legacy remains as seen in the Capital of England, London, where monuments dedicated to defeats over France, are evident. The defeats have been most significant against that of when France was being ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte. (Nelson's Column, Trafelgar Square, Waterloo Station to name but a few.)
Yet, history is seldom seen in the truthful light, and is nearly always partial to the 'winning side' - in whose hand the pen remains, long after both the battle and the war have been won. Yet, recent discoveries have seemed to suggest some interesting facts about Napoleon and his religious beliefs.
In the book, ‘Satanic Voices - Ancient and Modern’ by David M. Pidcock, (1992 ISBN: 1-81012-03-1), it states on page 61, that the then official French Newspaper, Le Moniteur, carried the accounts of his conversion to Islam, in 1798 C.E.
It mentions his new Muslim name, which was ‘Aly (Ali) Napoleon Bonaparte’. He commends the conversion of his General Jacques Menou, who became known as General ‘Abdullah-Jacques Menou’, who later married an Egyptian, Sitti Zoubeida - who was descended from the line of the Prophet Muhammad (on whom be peace).
Napoleon did recognise the superiority of the Islamic (Shari'ah) Law - and did attempt to implement this in his Empire. Most of this, as one can imagine, has been removed/replaced by modern-day secular laws in France and other parts of Europe, but some aspects of the Islamic (Shari'ah) Law do currently exist in French constitution as the basis for some of their laws from the Code Napoleone. One publicised case was that of the fatal car accident with Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Al-Fayed. "The photographers were charged with an old part of the French Jurisprudence, for ‘not helping at the scene of an accident’- which is taken from the Shari'ah Law of Imam Malik." (David M. Pidcock, 1998 C.E.)
Further detailed accounts of this can be found in the book 'Napoleon And Islam' by C. Cherfils. ISBN: 967-61-0898-7

NAPOLEON AT THE FESTIVAL OF MUHAMAD

NAPOLEON ADDRESSING THE DEWAN










Letter From The Leader


The following letter was sent by Islamic Party leader David Pidcock to The Sunday Telegraph, contrasting the French hysteric phobia of late with Napoleon Bonaparte's admiration for Islam.
An open letter to the Editor and owner Mr. Conrad Black
Gentlemen,
As an English convert to Islam, I feel bound to respond to your Editorial Comment, p.27, "The enemies within." (7/8/94).
Your reference to Mr.Charles Pasqua, the French Interior Minister, is clearly in ignorance of the debt his Department owes to Islam. With the exception of French family law, 95 per cent of French law, i.e., The Code Napoleon is, in its entirety Islamic. Unlike the United Kingdom ... which only has Courts of Law ... the French have courts of Justice.
Having recognised the divine nature of the Qur'an, Napoleon Bonaparte embraced the religion of Abraham in the latter half of 1798, taking Ali as his Muslim name. And, having further recognised the wisdom and superiority of Islamic Jurisprudence, he authorised the translation of the rulings of Imam Malik from the Arabic, and the implementation of it throughout the Empire. So The Code Napoleon, which is universally proclaimed and admired by the likes of Monsieur Pasqua, owes its origins entirely to Europe's Islamic past.
The Battle of Waterloo was, in fact, a battle of the usurers (represented by Wellington) and the opponents of debt - finance (represented by Napoleon Bonaparte). Unfortunately, the usurers won and wrote their account of history. On the 9th of February 1807, Napoleon had obtained the support of Rabbi David Sinzheim and the Grand Sanhedrin, in issuing a rabbinical Fatwa prohibiting usury. Napoleon clearly understood the root cause of Europe's problem. For, upon being shown a table of interest charges, he reflected for a while and made the following comment:
"The deadly facts herein revealed, lead me to wonder that this monster, interest, has not devoured the whole human race. It would have done so long ago if bankruptcy and revolutions had not acted as counter poisons." (Lincoln: Money Martyred; Omni Publications 1935).
Which makes it clear, why he found the liberating theology of Islam so attractive. In one of the most valuable pieces of evidence, attesting to his grasp of the subject, he is reported as having given the following reasons for his love of the Islamic religion. In a recently acquired copy of Bonaparte et l'Islam by Cherfils from the Bibliotheque National De France, we find on pages 105 - 125 the following well kept secret:
"Moses", Napoleon says, "has revealed the existence of God to his nation, Jesus Christ to the Roman world, Muhammad to the old continent... Arabia was idolatrous when, six centuries after Jesus, Muhammad [re]introduced the worship of the God of Abraham, of Ishmael, of Moses, and of Jesus Christ. The Arians and some other sects had disturbed the tranquillity of the East by agitating the question of the 'Father the Son and the Holy Ghost.' Muhammad declared that there was none but one God, who had no father, no son, and that the trinity imported the idea of idolatry...
"The Parthians, the Scythians, the Mongols, and the Tartars and the Turks, had shown generally themselves to be enemies of science and the arts, but this reproach cannot be fastened onto the Arabs, no more than upon Muhammad. The first Omayad Caliph, was a poet and he granted peace to a Rabbi, because he prayed for grace in four beautiful Arabic verses... read more



Bonaparte's approach to religion
Napoleon's conciliatory approach to Islam is well documented. He is known to have admired the Mohammed - he even learned off by heart several suras of the Koran. His relationship with Christianity being one of a practical statesman - religion was useful as long as it was comforting to society, but dangerous if it lead to fanaticism. And his frank disbelief in the Trinity caused him to adopt monotheistic attitude, obviously not a million miles from Islam...READ +

Sri Aurobindo on Semitic Religions

The Semites have afflicted mankind with the conception of a God who is a stern and dignified king and solemn judge and knows not mirth. But we who have seen Krishna, know Him for a boy fond of play and a child full of mischief and happy laughter"

The double law of sin and virtue is imposed on us because we have not that ideal life and knowledge within which guides the soul spontaneously and infallibly to its self-fulfilment. The law of sin and virtue ceases for us when the sun of God shines upon the soul in truth and love with its unveiled splendour. Moses is replaced by Christ, the Shastra by the Veda.

The Cross is in Yoga the symbol of the soul and nature in their strong and perfect union, but because of our fall into the impurities of ignorance it has become the symbol of suffering and purification

Mahomed's mission was necessary, else we might have ended by thinking, in the exaggeration of our efforts at self-purification, that earth was meant only for the monk and the city created as a vestibule for the desert.

When all is said, Love and Force together can save the world eventually, but not Love only or Force only. Therefore Christ had to look forward to a second advent and Mahomed's religion, where it is not stagnant, looks forward through the Imams to a Mahdi.

Law cannot save the world, therefore Moses' ordinances are dead for humanity and the Shastra of the Brahmins is corrupt and dying. Law released into Freedom is the liberator. Not the Pandit, but the Yogin; not monasticism, but the inner renunciation of desire and ignorance and egoism.

Mediaeval Christianity said to the race, "Man, thou art in thy earthly life an evil thing and a worm before God; renounce then egoism, live for a future state and submit thyself to God and His priest." The results were not over-good for humanity. Modern knowledge says to the race, "Man, thou art an ephemeral animal and no more to Nature than the ant and the earthworm,—a transitory speck only in the universe. Live then for the State and submit thyself antlike to the trained administrator and the scientific expert." Will this gospel succeed any better than the other ?

Vedanta says rather, "Man, thou art of one nature and substance with God, one soul with thy fellow-men. Awake and progress then to thy utter divinity, live for God in thyself and in others." This gospel which was given only to the few, must now be offered to all mankind for its deliverance.

The human race always progresses most when most it asserts its importance to Nature, its freedom and its universality.

To fear God really is to remove oneself to a distance from Him, but to fear Him in play gives an edge to utter delightfulness

The Jew invented the God-fearing man; India the God-knower and God-lover

The servant of God was born in Judaea, but he came to maturity among the Arabs. India's joy is in the servant-lover.

"..imam mahdi.."

Sri Aurobindo and Islam

Sri Aurobindo has written in Karmayogin about the attitude India should take to keep the Indian-Muslims as an indivisible part of the country:

"We shall make it a main part of our work to place Mahomed and Islam in a new light before our readers, to spread juster views of Mahomedan history and civilisation, to appreciate the Mussulman's place in our national development and the means of harmonising his communal life with our own, not ignoring the difficulties that stand on our way for making the most of the possibilities of brotherhood and mutual understanding. Intellectual sympathy can only draw together, the sympathy of the heart can alone unite. But the one is a good preparation for the other."

"yes,we have been bashing islam,and the followers of that religion for a very long time..and for over a decade,attacks on islam has increased by manyfold,no thanks to salman rushdie's virgins,and 9/11.. tragedies in palestine, bosnia and iraq dont make us numb with sorrow and anger..we have forgotten how much hurt we have inflicted upon them..constant insults,attacks will naturally transform anyone into a rebel or a human bomber..we have forgotten that muslim are also human beings with souls...now let us pause for awhile and think..why the mightiest amongst us highlighted/mentioned islam,and not judaism or christianity..vivekananda spoke of vedanta brain,islam body,sri aurobindo writing about presenting islam in a new light..why?..some interesting comments on sufism and sri aurobindo...[Yusufali 2:256] Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things...[Yusufali 2:165] Yet there are men who take (for worship) others besides Allah, as equal (with Allah): They love them as they should love Allah. But those of Faith are overflowing in their love for Allah. If only the unrighteous could see, behold, they would see the penalty: that to Allah belongs all power, and Allah will strongly enforce the penalty.

Vedanta Brain Islam Body

To Mohammed Sarfaraz Husain of Naini Tal



Almora,

10th June,1898



MY DEAR FRIEND,

I appreciate your letter very much and am extremely happy to learn that the Lord is silently preparing wonderful things for our motherland.

Wheter we call it Vedantism or any ism,the truth is that Advaitism is the last word of religion and thought and the only position from which one can look upon all religions and sect with love.I believe it is the religion of the future enlightened humanity.The hindus may get the credit of arriving at it earlier than other races,they being an older race than either the hebrew or the arabs;yet practical Advaitism,which looks upon and behaves to all mankind as one's own soul,was NEVER DEVELOPED among the hindus universally.

On the other hand,my experience is that if ever any religion approached to this equality in an appreciable manner,it is Islam and Islam alone.

Therefore I am firmly persuaded that without the help of practical Islam,theories of Vedantism,howver fine and wonderful they may be,are entirely valueless to the vast mass of mankind.We want to lead mankind to the place where there is neither the Vedas,nor the Bible,nor the Quran;yet this has to be done by harmonising the Vedas,the Bible and the Koran.Mankind ought to be taught that religions are but the varied expressions of THE RELIGION, which is ONENESS,so that each may choose that path suits him best.

FOR OUR MOTHERLAND A JUNCTION OF THE TWO GREAT SYSTEMS,HINDUISM AND ISLAM-VEDANTA BRAIN AND ISLAM BODY-IS THE ONLY HOPE

I SEE IN MY MIND'S EYE THE FUTURE PERFECT INDIA RISING OUT OF THIS CHAOS AND STRIFE,GLORIUS AND INVINCIBLE,WITH VEDANTA BRAIN AND ISLAM BODY.

Ever praying that the Lord may make of you a great instrument for the t help of mankind,and especially of our poor,poor motherland



Yours with love,
VIVEKANANDA

"hindus discovered all the spiritual laws,but has failed to spread the gospels,the truths found in the vedas ,upanishads,the holy quran to the masses..and it appears,european brand of equality and justcie in the forms of democracy,socialism,communism have also failed to unite and uplift the masses..atavasim,inertia are the main stumbling blocks..perhaps a massive shock is needed once gain to wipe out all those habits,customs,behaviors that have poisoned the society,the continent for a very long time...now,why did vivekananda mention islam body?