Thursday, April 23, 2009
The Heretic's Feast: A History of Vegetarianism
Along with the essay on Islam (which takes me longer than I thought) I started to read The Heretic's Feast by Colin Spencer, a history of vegetarianism and, among other things, how it was (is) related to the philosophy of religions. The reason why I chose to give a priority to this book rather than the books I planned before is just because it is not my book, and so while other books I can read any time at home, I "have to" read this one while I'm here. :)
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Essay on Islam (in progress)
Islam is a monotheistic religion and it is a descendant of Judaism and Christianity. These three “religions of the book” believe in the same omnipotent God and have the same ancestors like Abraham or Moses, but my general impression gives me three different “spiritual systems” with same roots and goal, but with a different way and approach to God. I feel the evolution from the elitism of Judaism (a belief in the chosen nation) and the majesty of Christianity (e.g. Catholic cathedrals) to the humanism and equality of Islam. Truly, the latest is very simple, honest and straightforward in nature without complicated hierarchies like the Church or clergy, when it offers the same relationship with God to every believer.
In contrast to Christianity, Islam denies divine nature of any persons, places or objects. The only manifestation of God on Earth is the Koran (Qur'an, “the recitation”), for Moslems His eternal and literal word revealed to the prophet Mohammed by the angel Gabriel. It is said that it is less narrative than the Bible, and it is focused on moral issues more than on historical stories. Koran is divided into suras, that are basically of two kinds. Suras from Mohammed's early years, when the God's message was revealed to him, are poetic, whereas suras from his life in Medina, when he established Islamic community, are more pragmatic.
The picture of universe drawn in the Koran is common to the monotheistic religions. Everything is the part of divine order, and a man is the highest God's creature, who can freely enjoy the fruitage of the world as long as he obeys God (Islam does not teach asceticism). On the other hand, to my knowledge the imagery of the Koran is unique. For instance the vision of Paradise, “a garden watered by running streams,” creates an absolute contrast to scorched deserts of the Arabic land, though it is a very “temporal” vision, in the terms that it appeals more to senses than to spirituality. I was particularly impressed by the description of the Apocalypse, when “the heavens shall become like molten brass, and the mountains like tufts of wool scattered in the wind” and “to redeem himself from the torment of that day the sinner will gladly sacrifice his children, his wife, his brother, the kinsfolk who gave him shelter, and all the people of the earth, if then this might deliver him.” (70:8) Ancient scriptures are highly inspirational, and I really would like to read the Koran sometimes, though obviously it would require more concentration and time than usual books.
Koran is also considered as the perfect example of the potential of the Arabic language and in the view of Islam the Arabic is the only “true” language of Koran, while its translations are just mere “interpretations.” Every language has its own unique “sound” and structure, and so along with translations every work necessarily loses a piece of its authenticity. On the other hand, I think that every language originates from the same pattern, and so I believe that a sensitive translation can successfully “transplants” a work to a different language, although it still would lack some of its originality.
Mohammed, the founder of Islam, is in its view the last divinely inspired prophet, but in any case he was a strong individual who had significantly left his trace in the world. It is said that he was a honest and pragmatic man, and as I perceive it his character is precisely reflected in the character of Islam. He is the example of a perfect man, but even he does not have any special relationship with God and in contrast to Jesus he did not make miracles, and when he was asked to show the evidence of God, he pointed out that all life and nature was God's miracle.
Mohammed had a “direct contact with divinity” in two mystical experiences. In the first one the angel Gabriel revealed to him Koran. The second one is known as a “night journey,” when he was “transported” to Jerusalem, “the sacred city of monotheism,” and then he ascended to Heaven. The night journey has also an important symbolical value in the cohesion of monotheistic religions.
Physical symptoms of these experiences resembled epilepsy, and therefore it is likely that Mohammed was an epileptic. Critics use to point this out as the only cause of his visions, but visionariness of any kind is frequently accompanied with some mental disease (it is enough to see how many artists were schizophrenics or suffered with bipolar disorder), so epilepsy would not deny the divine nature of his experiences.
The essential religious duties of Islam are the Five Pillars. The first one is shadaha, “the profession of faith,” which embraces the basic beliefs of Islam (a belief in one omnipotent God and Mohammed as his prophet...). The second one is a “ritual prayer.” In Islam, believers are required to pray five times per day, and the prayer is universal. It does not require any special place, which just has to be clean and a believer has to face the direction of Mecca and Kaaba. Mosques can be understood as the equivalent of churches, but they are simply the places where believers come to pray together. The equality of Islam can be seen in practice here, when every believer pray shoulder to shoulder without any distinction, as well as in the third pillar, zakat or the requirement of the support of the poor. The fourth pillar is fasting during Ramadan, the feast of the first revelation of Koran. It teaches man to control his wants and by the refusal of secular enjoyment it moves him closer to God. It also increase compassion for the poor, which is so stressed in Islam, by an experience of hunger and thirst.
The fifth pillar is the pilgrimage to Mecca. The description of it is really impressive and I believe that for the most Moslems it is the strongest spiritual experience of their lives. Mecca has to be a magical place. It is “the birthplace” of the religions of the book, and the setting of Abraham's story of his absolute obedience of God, when was willing to sacrifice his son Ishmael (in contrast to Judaism and Christianity, where it is Isaac). It has to be a very strong moment for a believer to be close to the places where the ancient stories of the Bible and Koran happened. In the Kaaba, the chief shrine of Islam, is Black Stone, the only remnant of the house of prayer built by Abraham. It is a habit for pilgrims to kiss it, although with current numbers of them it is probably impossible, and it is understood just as a gesture, not as a worship of an object, and so it is consistent within Islam. Near the Kaaba is the well of Zamzam. When Hagar, the handmaiden of Abraham's wife Sarah, and her son Ishmael were in exile, it is believed that the well was opened by the angel Gabriel to save them from thirst. Hagar and Ishmael founded the community of Mecca around it. The well is still active and pilgrims usually drink water from it, or eventually take it to bottles with them. Here Abraham on the visit to his son agreed to sacrifice Ishmael, and later built the Kaaba as a house of worship. In commemoration of Abraham's obedience believers ritually sacrifice an animal. This is a rare act during pilgrimage and killing and hunting is otherwise prohibited, because the pilgrimage is “the moment of peace and harmony with all God's creation.” In Mina, where Abraham drove away Satan by throwing stones on him, are three stone pillars and pilgrims commemorate this act by throwing seven pebbles on one of them.
The pilgrimage is probably the moment where the ideals of Islam are in its purest form. It has to be a fascinating experience in the sense of the Moslem community, when every believer undertakes together with his “brothers” the spiritual way in the steps of his religious ancestors.
Although the Five Pillars are basic religious duties, they are not sufficient just by themselves and they are just “pillars” of a virtuous life. In Islam there is no dualism of “spirituality” and “secularity,” and the religious and temporal side of life are in balance. A behaviour of a believer has to reflect the religious belief. The example is mostly found in Sunna, the scripture recording the life of Mohammed. The set of codes and laws according to Islam is called sharia, which is not definite, but it takes a shape with a technological and social progress.
Logically, in Islam there is no division between religious and temporal power. On the one hand, it is less hypocritical and more “compact,” on the other hand some particular ideals of Islam can be enforced this way to “unbelievers” and it can be very easily abused.
In my eyes, the biggest problem of Islam is that the world is in it devoid of any divine attributes and it is impossible to have a personal relationship with God, therefore he is distant from people. The most sympathetic branch of Islam is for me Sufism. It is Islamic mysticism, and its core is love and sentiment instead of mere obedience. Sufis were inspired by Mohammed's night journey and sought a personal experience of God. They used prayer-beads and poetic expressions and introduced music and dance to the rituals. In the terms of left and right brain, Sufism “originated” in the unconscious, wild, artistic and “demonic” side of mind. The Sufi teacher Al-Hallaj even found Satan as one of his teachers. The summary of his teachings is a good insight to Sufi teachings. He taught that the uncreated Divine Spirit can be revealed to a created spirit by mystical visions, and it can be connected through asceticism and suffering. Saints in his eyes were personal witnesses of God, and he commited probably the greatest heresy when he claimed that the Five Pillars are not absolute and could be replaced.
The original Islam is more intellectual and sentimental, and understandably Sufism is often in conflict with it. The Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, in the chapter “Demonic Visions” from his Essay on the Jinn, wrote that mystical visions were just mere illusions created by jinns to deceive believers, and had no divine nature. In absolute contrast to Sufism is Wahhabism. It was a reasoning movement focused on the original Mohammed's teachings. I particularly like the individualism of Wahhabism, as it is reflected for example in a belief in an “intellectual independence of every believer,” when it prefers an individual interpretation of Koran rather than scholastic commentaries.
Whereas the moral side of Islam is deeply rooted in the tradition of monotheism, its imagery is as well influenced by local folk mythology. Islam believes in angels, made of light, humans, made of clay, and jinns, made of fire. Angels are purely spiritual beings, but jinns have corporal needs and they eat and drink like humans. They live in the world unseen by us, and they are more tended to be evil than humans (Satan according to Islam is a jinn), and they often try to deceive believers by illusions (as in “Demonic Visions” by Taymiyyah). Both angels and jinns appear in many forms, for example the angel Gabriel appeared to Mohammed as his companion Dihyah.
The Islamic and Persian culture eventually (with the advance of Islam) merged (the most famous example of this fusion is The Thousand and One Nights). Here, in culture, can be recognized the “symbiosis” between religions. During the European Dark Ages, the Islamic empire was the center of religious and scientific knowledge. It preserved the ancient (Indian, Greek, or Roman) works and it invented e.g. the decimal system and zero. Europe became this “focal point” of knowledge again in the Renaissance and then it continued with the scientific and technological progress, while Islamic countries were in crisis and then began to develop back in 20th century.
In contrast to Christianity, Islam denies divine nature of any persons, places or objects. The only manifestation of God on Earth is the Koran (Qur'an, “the recitation”), for Moslems His eternal and literal word revealed to the prophet Mohammed by the angel Gabriel. It is said that it is less narrative than the Bible, and it is focused on moral issues more than on historical stories. Koran is divided into suras, that are basically of two kinds. Suras from Mohammed's early years, when the God's message was revealed to him, are poetic, whereas suras from his life in Medina, when he established Islamic community, are more pragmatic.
The picture of universe drawn in the Koran is common to the monotheistic religions. Everything is the part of divine order, and a man is the highest God's creature, who can freely enjoy the fruitage of the world as long as he obeys God (Islam does not teach asceticism). On the other hand, to my knowledge the imagery of the Koran is unique. For instance the vision of Paradise, “a garden watered by running streams,” creates an absolute contrast to scorched deserts of the Arabic land, though it is a very “temporal” vision, in the terms that it appeals more to senses than to spirituality. I was particularly impressed by the description of the Apocalypse, when “the heavens shall become like molten brass, and the mountains like tufts of wool scattered in the wind” and “to redeem himself from the torment of that day the sinner will gladly sacrifice his children, his wife, his brother, the kinsfolk who gave him shelter, and all the people of the earth, if then this might deliver him.” (70:8) Ancient scriptures are highly inspirational, and I really would like to read the Koran sometimes, though obviously it would require more concentration and time than usual books.
Koran is also considered as the perfect example of the potential of the Arabic language and in the view of Islam the Arabic is the only “true” language of Koran, while its translations are just mere “interpretations.” Every language has its own unique “sound” and structure, and so along with translations every work necessarily loses a piece of its authenticity. On the other hand, I think that every language originates from the same pattern, and so I believe that a sensitive translation can successfully “transplants” a work to a different language, although it still would lack some of its originality.
Mohammed, the founder of Islam, is in its view the last divinely inspired prophet, but in any case he was a strong individual who had significantly left his trace in the world. It is said that he was a honest and pragmatic man, and as I perceive it his character is precisely reflected in the character of Islam. He is the example of a perfect man, but even he does not have any special relationship with God and in contrast to Jesus he did not make miracles, and when he was asked to show the evidence of God, he pointed out that all life and nature was God's miracle.
Mohammed had a “direct contact with divinity” in two mystical experiences. In the first one the angel Gabriel revealed to him Koran. The second one is known as a “night journey,” when he was “transported” to Jerusalem, “the sacred city of monotheism,” and then he ascended to Heaven. The night journey has also an important symbolical value in the cohesion of monotheistic religions.
Physical symptoms of these experiences resembled epilepsy, and therefore it is likely that Mohammed was an epileptic. Critics use to point this out as the only cause of his visions, but visionariness of any kind is frequently accompanied with some mental disease (it is enough to see how many artists were schizophrenics or suffered with bipolar disorder), so epilepsy would not deny the divine nature of his experiences.
The essential religious duties of Islam are the Five Pillars. The first one is shadaha, “the profession of faith,” which embraces the basic beliefs of Islam (a belief in one omnipotent God and Mohammed as his prophet...). The second one is a “ritual prayer.” In Islam, believers are required to pray five times per day, and the prayer is universal. It does not require any special place, which just has to be clean and a believer has to face the direction of Mecca and Kaaba. Mosques can be understood as the equivalent of churches, but they are simply the places where believers come to pray together. The equality of Islam can be seen in practice here, when every believer pray shoulder to shoulder without any distinction, as well as in the third pillar, zakat or the requirement of the support of the poor. The fourth pillar is fasting during Ramadan, the feast of the first revelation of Koran. It teaches man to control his wants and by the refusal of secular enjoyment it moves him closer to God. It also increase compassion for the poor, which is so stressed in Islam, by an experience of hunger and thirst.
The fifth pillar is the pilgrimage to Mecca. The description of it is really impressive and I believe that for the most Moslems it is the strongest spiritual experience of their lives. Mecca has to be a magical place. It is “the birthplace” of the religions of the book, and the setting of Abraham's story of his absolute obedience of God, when was willing to sacrifice his son Ishmael (in contrast to Judaism and Christianity, where it is Isaac). It has to be a very strong moment for a believer to be close to the places where the ancient stories of the Bible and Koran happened. In the Kaaba, the chief shrine of Islam, is Black Stone, the only remnant of the house of prayer built by Abraham. It is a habit for pilgrims to kiss it, although with current numbers of them it is probably impossible, and it is understood just as a gesture, not as a worship of an object, and so it is consistent within Islam. Near the Kaaba is the well of Zamzam. When Hagar, the handmaiden of Abraham's wife Sarah, and her son Ishmael were in exile, it is believed that the well was opened by the angel Gabriel to save them from thirst. Hagar and Ishmael founded the community of Mecca around it. The well is still active and pilgrims usually drink water from it, or eventually take it to bottles with them. Here Abraham on the visit to his son agreed to sacrifice Ishmael, and later built the Kaaba as a house of worship. In commemoration of Abraham's obedience believers ritually sacrifice an animal. This is a rare act during pilgrimage and killing and hunting is otherwise prohibited, because the pilgrimage is “the moment of peace and harmony with all God's creation.” In Mina, where Abraham drove away Satan by throwing stones on him, are three stone pillars and pilgrims commemorate this act by throwing seven pebbles on one of them.
The pilgrimage is probably the moment where the ideals of Islam are in its purest form. It has to be a fascinating experience in the sense of the Moslem community, when every believer undertakes together with his “brothers” the spiritual way in the steps of his religious ancestors.
Although the Five Pillars are basic religious duties, they are not sufficient just by themselves and they are just “pillars” of a virtuous life. In Islam there is no dualism of “spirituality” and “secularity,” and the religious and temporal side of life are in balance. A behaviour of a believer has to reflect the religious belief. The example is mostly found in Sunna, the scripture recording the life of Mohammed. The set of codes and laws according to Islam is called sharia, which is not definite, but it takes a shape with a technological and social progress.
Logically, in Islam there is no division between religious and temporal power. On the one hand, it is less hypocritical and more “compact,” on the other hand some particular ideals of Islam can be enforced this way to “unbelievers” and it can be very easily abused.
In my eyes, the biggest problem of Islam is that the world is in it devoid of any divine attributes and it is impossible to have a personal relationship with God, therefore he is distant from people. The most sympathetic branch of Islam is for me Sufism. It is Islamic mysticism, and its core is love and sentiment instead of mere obedience. Sufis were inspired by Mohammed's night journey and sought a personal experience of God. They used prayer-beads and poetic expressions and introduced music and dance to the rituals. In the terms of left and right brain, Sufism “originated” in the unconscious, wild, artistic and “demonic” side of mind. The Sufi teacher Al-Hallaj even found Satan as one of his teachers. The summary of his teachings is a good insight to Sufi teachings. He taught that the uncreated Divine Spirit can be revealed to a created spirit by mystical visions, and it can be connected through asceticism and suffering. Saints in his eyes were personal witnesses of God, and he commited probably the greatest heresy when he claimed that the Five Pillars are not absolute and could be replaced.
The original Islam is more intellectual and sentimental, and understandably Sufism is often in conflict with it. The Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, in the chapter “Demonic Visions” from his Essay on the Jinn, wrote that mystical visions were just mere illusions created by jinns to deceive believers, and had no divine nature. In absolute contrast to Sufism is Wahhabism. It was a reasoning movement focused on the original Mohammed's teachings. I particularly like the individualism of Wahhabism, as it is reflected for example in a belief in an “intellectual independence of every believer,” when it prefers an individual interpretation of Koran rather than scholastic commentaries.
Whereas the moral side of Islam is deeply rooted in the tradition of monotheism, its imagery is as well influenced by local folk mythology. Islam believes in angels, made of light, humans, made of clay, and jinns, made of fire. Angels are purely spiritual beings, but jinns have corporal needs and they eat and drink like humans. They live in the world unseen by us, and they are more tended to be evil than humans (Satan according to Islam is a jinn), and they often try to deceive believers by illusions (as in “Demonic Visions” by Taymiyyah). Both angels and jinns appear in many forms, for example the angel Gabriel appeared to Mohammed as his companion Dihyah.
The Islamic and Persian culture eventually (with the advance of Islam) merged (the most famous example of this fusion is The Thousand and One Nights). Here, in culture, can be recognized the “symbiosis” between religions. During the European Dark Ages, the Islamic empire was the center of religious and scientific knowledge. It preserved the ancient (Indian, Greek, or Roman) works and it invented e.g. the decimal system and zero. Europe became this “focal point” of knowledge again in the Renaissance and then it continued with the scientific and technological progress, while Islamic countries were in crisis and then began to develop back in 20th century.
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