Saturday, October 20, 2007
786?
In my class on the life and teachings of Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, many of the readings have a header of "786" which corresponds to one of the names of Allah.
I wanted to do a little research on it to get a bit more info and came across this scathing opinion piece by somebody who believes that assigning a number to represent God is an arrogant mistake since that diminishes the label to a number. The part that I find humorous then is that the author then goes on to say that the numerologists have their arithmetic wrong, and that the number should really be 787!
Me, I think that Allah's love is going to shine on anybody who cares enough to try and find out the number, and will even shine on those who don't believe there's a number. And I'm sure that part of the love experienced is what the individual practitioner gets back from the efforts of their own devotion. Those who disregard the presence of Allah/God (and I write this from a somewhat multithetically panentheistic place, so the names "God", Nature, Creation, or "their Divinity" would fit for me here as well) are more susceptible of falling into a state of "taking all this for granted" and not having gratitude. By one definition (that of being ungrateful), they are infidels. Then again, even if one does try to be a devoted follower and praise the Divinity, if they are taken to quarreling about the nature of said Divinity, they are in danger of pride and are already falling away from that state of gratitude and calm reception of God's grace.
For those who may be feeling a bit bent out of shape with the God/Divine/Etc language, that's OK too. Visit this nice little video, because the sun does indeed shine on all whether they want it or not, unless they go indoors, or in the basement, or a cave.
For those who have opinions or more knowledge on the nature of this 786 usage, please comment here.
lyrics:
"I am a vampire lamp when I'm stoned, it happens all the time.
I tap prismatic light just like wine from the Divine..."
-from Vamp Lamp
colors: prismatic
mood: limboized
chant/prayer/mantra: not much more to say, just looking for new ways to say it.
pax hominibus,
joel
I wanted to do a little research on it to get a bit more info and came across this scathing opinion piece by somebody who believes that assigning a number to represent God is an arrogant mistake since that diminishes the label to a number. The part that I find humorous then is that the author then goes on to say that the numerologists have their arithmetic wrong, and that the number should really be 787!
Me, I think that Allah's love is going to shine on anybody who cares enough to try and find out the number, and will even shine on those who don't believe there's a number. And I'm sure that part of the love experienced is what the individual practitioner gets back from the efforts of their own devotion. Those who disregard the presence of Allah/God (and I write this from a somewhat multithetically panentheistic place, so the names "God", Nature, Creation, or "their Divinity" would fit for me here as well) are more susceptible of falling into a state of "taking all this for granted" and not having gratitude. By one definition (that of being ungrateful), they are infidels. Then again, even if one does try to be a devoted follower and praise the Divinity, if they are taken to quarreling about the nature of said Divinity, they are in danger of pride and are already falling away from that state of gratitude and calm reception of God's grace.
For those who may be feeling a bit bent out of shape with the God/Divine/Etc language, that's OK too. Visit this nice little video, because the sun does indeed shine on all whether they want it or not, unless they go indoors, or in the basement, or a cave.
For those who have opinions or more knowledge on the nature of this 786 usage, please comment here.
lyrics:
"I am a vampire lamp when I'm stoned, it happens all the time.
I tap prismatic light just like wine from the Divine..."
-from Vamp Lamp
colors: prismatic
mood: limboized
chant/prayer/mantra: not much more to say, just looking for new ways to say it.
pax hominibus,
joel
Labels: Islam
Comments:
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amusing that the scathing article somehow assumes words have more intrinsic value than numbers - which since numbers represent value in an of themselves, is impossible. Oo we could go in circles with that one! :) Plus, words get us into so much more trouble than numbers. Numbers are so much more concrete. 786 seems like a fine number to me. Does it include all the nontheistic names of god too, or the female names, or names assigned by other religions, or is this strictly the number of names from one religious perspective. Seems like I remember some great This American Life show about a kid named Shalom, and the trouble that caused him in Hebrew school, as that too is apparently a name of god. :)
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# posted by 
: 24 October, 2007 08:48
: 24 October, 2007 08:48 << Home
