The Christ Nature and the Path to Illumination - Nashid Abdul-Khaaliq

From our beautiful Brother Nashid Abdul-Khaaliq (Ascertain the truth)

The Christ Nature and the Path to Illumination!

Thursday, 11 August 2011 15:06 | Written by Nashid Abdul-Khaaliq | | |

That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah.;- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:-[ 4:157] 

Behold! the angels said: "O Mary! Allah giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him: his name will be Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, held in honor in this world and the Hereafter and of (the company of) those nearest to Allah.[3:45]

The Qur’an makes it clear in the verse above that Jesus (peace be upon him) was not killed or crucified. It also describes Jesus as a Word from Allah. The Arabic expression for that is "Kalimatan min Allah". In saying this, the Qur’an is telling us that Jesus’ (pbuh) true identity was not in his flesh, but in the Message he brought. As such, that Message or word from Allah, cannot be crucified or killed. His flesh being no different than other human beings flesh was made up of the elements of the earth and subject to the laws of nature -- that all human flesh is subjected to. While living, his flesh was a tool used by his mind to give expression in this world. So in identifying with the specialness of Jesus’ flesh, we miss the mark about identifying with the body of knowledge that Allah blessed him with which was his true identity.

Then will Allah say: "O Jesus the son of Mary! Recount My favor to thee and to thy mother. Behold! I strengthened thee with the Holy Spirit, so that thou didst speak to the people in childhood and in maturity. Behold! I taught thee the Book and Wisdom, the Law and the Gospel and behold! thou makest out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, by My leave, and thou breathest into it and it becometh a bird by My leave, and thou healest those born blind, and the lepers, by My leave. And behold! thou bringest forth the dead by My leave. And behold! I did restrain the Children of Israel from (violence to) thee when thou didst show them the clear Signs, and the unbelievers among them said: 'This is nothing but evident magic.[5:110]

The Qur’an also tells us that Jesus (pbuh) was able to “makest out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird” by Allah’s leave. That is a powerful message if we understand the meaning of the scriptural language used. Clay is malleable. It can be easily fashioned into any shape that the one holding the clay desires. We all have seen how clay pottery can be used to fashion and shape cups, pots and other figures very easily. Compared to rocks, wood, metals and other materials, clay can be easily molded into different forms. Both the Bible and the Qur’an states that Adam, the first human being, was made from clay.

Clay is a symbol for the mind or the baby form of human development. It represents the impressionable mind. As new born babies born into this world, our minds are like clay in the hands of the environment we are born into. Babies born into a Chinese culture are shaped by the influences of that culture. It does not matter if that baby is Caucasian, Indian or African. They will speak Chinese if that is the only language they have been exposed to in their environment. The same is true of every human being who is born into particular environments. Allah uses clay as an example of the human mind that is easily malleable and can be fashioned into any form by the influences in our environment. 

Again, Allah says that Jesus (pbuh) was able to “makest out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird” by His leave. Let’s think about birds. I once observed some ducks in a park. I saw how the ducks walked comfortably on land. They also flew in the air with relative ease and on water they glided comfortably moving in any direction as they please. I felt jealous because I -- without machinery -- was only comfortable on land and if I did not know how to swim, I would have serious problems in water. But the ducks -- and this is also true about other birds -- were comfortable in land, air and water! This was natural for them. They mastered being able to move as they please in all three elements.

In scriptural language water is a symbol for morality, land is a symbol for rational or intellectual development and air is a symbol for spiritual development. The Qur’an is telling us that Jesus’s Message was able to take impressionable human minds (clay) and transformed them into enlightened G'd conscious human beings who became like birds, masters of their moral, rational and spiritual natures. Morally, rationally and spiritually, the message Allah gave to Jesus brought about the full growth and development that Allah intended for the moral, rational and spiritual natures in the human being. That message can never be killed or crucified! 

The Bible also describes Jesus (pbuh) as a word. It says of Jesus:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with G'd, and the Word was G'd. He was with G'd in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it-----yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of G'd---children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of G'd. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

(John chapter 1, verses 1-5, 12-14)

This definition of Christ as "a word" agrees with the Quranic definition of Christ as a Kalimatan min Allah, a Word from G'd. Looking deeper into the origin and meaning of the word Christ, we find that the word Christ is derived from the Greek word Christos. The word Christos means the "Illuminated Soul" that is within the potential of all human beings to be awakened. The awakening of the Christos in human beings leads them to Soul Consciousness or Mastership as in what the man Jesus of Nazareth (pbuh), the Nazarene, attained. This is the same as described in the above example about the meaning of the bird in the Qur’anic verse referring to the mastership that human beings gain over their moral, rational and spiritual natures. The Qur’an says of Jesus (pbuh) that he “makest out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird” -- whereas the Bible says that through the light of Christ, G'd gave human beings “the right to become children of G'd.” Both expressions are referring to the same thing – the natural right of all human beings to reach self-actualization or Soul Illumination.

Not only is the symbolism in the use of "a word" similar between the Qur'an and Bible when referring to Jesus (pbuh), the symbolic reference to bird is also common in both books.  The dove is used often in representing that symbol. Although the dove is perceived as a symbol of purity by most Christians, it also points to the spiritual ascension of the human being. This is seen in the following verse taken from the book of Psalms:

Psalm 55:6 "And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then Would I fly away, and be at rest."

The symbol of a bird used to represent mastery is also expressed in the Bible. In Matthew chapter 3 this Mastership is seen where upon the completion of the baptism of Jesus (pbuh) the spirit of G'd descended like a dove and lighted upon his shoulders.  Afterwards G'd expresses His pleasure with Jesus as in the following verses:

3:16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 

The Qur'an says the following about Jesus being the only begotten son of G'd:

They say: "God hath begotten a son!" - Glory be to Him! He is self- sufficient! His are all things in the heavens and on earth! No warrant have ye for this! say ye about God what ye know not? [10:68]  

Most Christians worship the man Jesus of Nazareth (pbuh) as the son of G'd, one among the three deities in Christianity. In deifying Jesus, the whole humanity is bereft of Christos as an eternal potency within every human soul, a latent (embryonic) Christ-like nature in every human being.  In thus deifying one man, Paulene Christianity has orphaned the whole humanity of its Christos  or Illuminated Soul that is in need of awakening within each human being. The man Jesus of Nazareth demonstrated this by becoming the Christ, a title referring to an Anointed One who has gained mastership as a result of the Illumination of his soul. Jesus himself referred to this human capability in all of us when he said: 

"At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you." [John 14:20] 

And also: 

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." [John 14:12] 

The "I in you" self that Jesus (pbuh) is referring to is in every human being. Through the awakening of the Christos as Jesus of Nazareth (pbuh) the man did, we too can do great works and in Jesus’ words -- greater than his.

In this we see that through the inner development of the human being, the mind moves towards full Illumination to inspire great works in life’s arena. Rather than focusing on our external, worldly, subjective identities, human beings should focus on their real internal identities working towards self-actualization or full Illumination of the soul, achieving great works in their life, and attaining the levels of consciousness that the Creator intended for all human beings. It is a metamorphosis that all human beings are entitled to go through symbolized in nature as the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly. This growth process as the goal of human life is nicely captured in these wonderful words from the Qur’an:

By the Sun and his (glorious) splendour; 

By the Moon as she follows him; 

By the Day as it shows up (the Sun's) glory;

By the Night as it conceals it; 

By the Firmament and its (wonderful) structure;

By the Earth and its (wide) expanse: 

By the Soul, and the proportion and order given to it;

And its enlightenment as to its wrong and its right;-

Truly he succeeds that purifies it, 

And he fails that corrupts it! [Chapter 91, The Sun]

When success is achieved pursuing the great work of self-development and illumination of the mind in an effort to be pleasing to our Creator, then we will achieve the state of Nafs Al-Mutmainna, the state of the soul's complete satisfaction with itself and with it's Maker. The Qur’an gives us a glimpse of this sublime stage of Nafs Al-Mutmainna as follows:

(To the righteous soul will be said:) "O (thou) soul, in (complete) rest and satisfaction! "Come back thou to thy Lord,- well pleased (thyself), and well-pleasing unto Him! "Enter thou, then, among My devotees! "Yea, enter thou My Heaven! [Chapter Fajr 89:26 – 89:30] 

The successful soul will reach the state of Nafs Al-Mutmainna after great effort towards purification, self mastery, submission to Allah's Will,  and enlightenment.  They will indeed achieve a state of heaven in this life and will be further rewarded with a greater heaven in the Hereafter.

MY CONTRIBUTION (BAFS)

Auzubillahi minash shaytaan ir rajiim

I put myself under the protection of ALLAH against the accursed Shaytaan

Bismillah ir Rahmaan ir Rahiim

In the name of ALLAH the All-Beneficent the All-Merciful

Perpetual Disclaimer

I know nothing and make no claim.  I am just trying to communicate, understand and share while passing through.  Anybody who knows something is welcome to share, but that something better be something I do not know, contextually and beneficial for the mind, heart and soul!  I also stand corrected for all my mistakes and lay no claim to infallibility because only ALLAH is Infallible.  I shut up in front of my elders and honest people of knowledge although they too are not infallible.  Scholars do explain much of that I do not understand and people I have been dealing with do not understand a lot like myself.  Unfortunately, to many  pose as experts because they have blind faith in what they believe to be the truth while I keep changing my mind as better explanations are offered while keeping the company of the greatest minds available and who are also full of wisdom.  Masha’ALLAH tabaarak ALLAH!  As ALLAH wills!  Blessed is ALLAH!

WE LIVE IN GREAT IGNORANCE AND WRONG BELIEF

GOD has no personal name and He has only attributes as stated in the Holy Qur’ân.  HE JUST IS GOD, AL LAH, THE GOD.  HE IS or as THE ONE GOD said to Moses in Arabia on the Holy Mountain (as recorded in the Old Testament: “I AM”, but both the Israelites and the Christians mistook that perfectly clear statement as the proper name of God.  I am just means that God is. He exists. 

But, as Moses (as recorded in the Old Testament, is himself of doubtful existence so Jethro his father-in-law must be too.  I wrote about Exodus a few times, but most do not read, and most who read do not understand or never learn or remember or simply walk away.  I invited readers to read or re-read Exodus, but I had no response whatsoever.  Humankind is under a spell of Shaytaan the accursed and Believers are leaving the Right Path more and more and even innovating in matters of the Diin or religion.  ALLAH subhanahu wa ta’ala is my witness - I do not innovate, but only try to understand and this is very hard given that I do not know the Arabic language in which the religion has been revealed. 

So, it is easier to find out how other religions have gone wrong because, for example, Christianity because it does not exist in its original language of “revelation”, not taught and discussed in Biblical Greek or Latin, but in modern European languages which is a lot easier for me to understand because I have a reasonable knowledge of at least French and English.

The story of Prince Moses in the Bible as portrayed in the film (and as depicted in the Old Testament) is just a Jewish fantasy!  “MOSES” does not even have a proper name!  He was not Jewish, but a LEVITE!  His wife was not Jewish, but an Arab Ishmaelite of Midian, Arabia, daughter of Jethro, a Bedouin priest of the One GOD.

Watch Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments” in colour by Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923 – April 5, 2008) and Yul Brynner (born Юлий Борисович Бринер, Yuliy Borisovich Bryner; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), a beautiful epic meant for retards.  It was made in praise of the mass murdering Jewish God, an extra-terrestrial or whatever, an alien from space or wherever who tricked the Israelites into bringing to him in the Tabernacle all the gold and precious stones of the planet or be destroyed.  This fabricated or real alien or monster God had one effect on the Israelites:  they became owner of all the gold and precious stones of the planet and have a monopoly on almost everything that is regarded as real material wealth!

Americans are far from being stupid, but they know that we are the stupid ones and this is why they sold us “The Ten Commandments” with almost no objection from our part.  The film is excellent though because it provides us with ample evidence to prove how misled both Jews and Christians are and how far gone from the true religion they are.  

People like me had to land on this earth to question those myths that the world has been passing for the truth although there is always a chance that some of them are based on real facts. 

When I saw “Solomon and Sheba” by Yul Brynner or “Samson and Delilah” by Victor Mature, two beautiful productions, I was so disgusted by the outright lies and the non historical events depicted in them that I rejected the entire Biblical narratives of even those people like Adam, Eve, Abraham, Sarah, Lot, David, Samson, Ezra – the whole lot of them.  To this day Hollywood or Christendom has never been able to make one single convincing historical or religious film about any Biblical character, not even John the Baptist of Jesus Christ or the Neo-Christian Saul of Tarsus.

 I was always worried that Islam too got those previous religious figures quite wrong, and refused to be like people of unshakable faith that would swallow even the impossible.  Because of this I always kept myself alert; not that I doubted.  Fortunately, the Holy Qur’ân, as far as I know, avoided the weaknesses of the previous religious texts.  Even, Dr Maurice Bucaille who studied it in its original Arabic found nothing in it that was questionable, not even scientifically.  However, almost every time I look deeper into any other religious (or other) phenomenon I happen to find out that there is a lot based on wrong translations, wrong or doubtful interpretations, and even outright fabrications.

As the fable of God’s mass murder of Egyptian babies in the Old Testament sold quite well, it was also introduced in the Gospel as having this time being committed by the Jews themselves under “King” Herod and for exactly the same reason, and this fabrication became part of the faith of millions.  Although Islam is not under scrutiny here, it is fair to mention that Muslims too have to face certain of those obstacles.  I once saw the title of a book which I never read (although I may still have it in my library), which to me seemed outright so outrageous that if investigated will, I am almost certain, reveal that Muslims too have succumbed to certain fables which have become part of their faith.  It was about the Prophet of Islam “splitting the moon” probably the way some Biblical figure claimed to have stopped the sun!

But, to this day I have seen all the objections raised by sincere scholars or critics about the authenticity of the Holy Qur’ân and about the plausibility of its contents successfully refuted by some of the greatest experts in matters of Islamic scholarship and of the Arabic language.  Two names come to my mind who I have never stopped listening to:  Dr Jamal Badawi and Sheikh Hamza Yusuf Mark Hanson.  So, my criticism, observations and even conclusions have to be regarded not as one coming from an expert but always as one raised and found by a neophyte evolving among people of lesser knowledge and most probably of greater faith.   

Pressed to talk about GOD, Christmas and statues, this very day I told my little grand daughters the account about God Shiva, Goddess Parvati and their son, Elephant God Ganesha.  I omitted though the worship of Shiva’s phallus.  Then, I explained to them how Prince Moses obtained the Ten Commandments from the Arab God of the Mountain, which I insisted was not a true story as well as the opening of the Red Sea although based on facts that can be explained.  I showed them how God asked Moses to remove his shoes before walking on Holy ground, a practice which Muslims still respect to this day when they worship God in a Masjid (mosque) and I told them that Jews and Christians worshipped God in exactly the same manner as Muslims in olden days, but that they have later changed their ways.    

Because they were confused about all the different stories they keep hearing from school (where they are being brainwashed), from their friends, neighbours and members of the close family, I had a tough job trying to clear out the mess in their mind.  The best that I could come up with was that the Hindu, the Jew, the Christian, the Muslim and the Atheists were all human beings created by GOD, but that they had different ways of looking at Him and worshipping Him.  I told them that even Atheists believed in God in their own way, but in many false gods like fashion, money, drugs, gambling, and so on and that it was a very dangerous way of living, and that many who believe in God too fall into those same temptations. 

I asked them to always remember once I am gone to keep away from all evil action no matter what the religion is.  They both started crying saying they did not want me to go.

This brings me to add a few outrageous things about which I wrote once, but needs to be repeated here.  It may make Dr David Duke happy and Black people feel outraged, even my Black friends and Brothers of the faith, but my intention is to offend no one, and to tell the truth as I see it.  I perfectly understand Dr Duke’s racialist choice (not racist ideology) about White people although my perspective is somewhat different.  I have found the most physically beautiful specimens of humankind among the White people I have met in Eastern Europe as well as in Western Europe.  And, I have enjoyed a certain white culture of old (despite its institutionalised racism) which I am very nostalgic of, but which I still enjoy a lot within the four walls of my home thanks to my priceless souvenirs. 

But, there must be a GOD to have saved me and millions others from succumbing to the disease that has affected so many people throughout the ages and to have brought Islam to the world and to me, the best way of life for humankind to rid the hearts of believing men and women from all racist inclinations.  The day the human being embraces Islam for real, sincerely and without any coercion, he or she starts looking at all GOD’s creation with totally different eyes. 

Physical beauty all of a sudden loses all its importance and the Muslims looks for the heart and soul of the human being.  They fall in love with GOD’s Creation, the entire Creation, through the magic of the Arabic language, the most powerful language of Creation, but which only lovers of Arabic can appreciate, and people with great intellect, pure hearts and souls. 

But, then, Muslims, although in theory is the best religion, does not produce only good human beings.  We find good human beings in all religions and even in so-called non religion although to a lesser extent.  GOD Himself saw goodness in the people of the Book of the time, but reminded us that there was not a single nation of the earth to whom He did not send Messengers or Prophets, meaning good people can also be found anywhere on the planet having been exposed to the Divine Message. 

Because usually humans live in groups and packs like animals, they tend to follow the pack and if the pack is predatory they become predatory as well.  Today, the world is filled with those predators and monsters, which we find almost exclusively among the desensitized nations of the West and among small groups in the very heart of other nations they have conquered, oppressed, terrorised, dehumanised, and enslaved, and in particular the Muslim nations or what is left of them.  Recently, I was accused of “begging” the Christians to come to the help of Muslims who are being exterminated by the millions.  I have very good reasons for that.

First, it is those same Christian nations (utterly deprived of all Christian virtues) who are carrying out those massacres allied to vipers, children of the Devil, to Satan himself.  If they stop, the massacres will stop.  So, I was appealing to their senses and compassion, to those among them who still have some sincere and dedicated love for Christ. 

Second, I have known throughout my stay in Russia, France and Britain, that there are still many good Christians who do not support those massacres in many ways although they do not come out in the open to oppose them except for the very few.  And, Muslims owe much to them, and in particular to Mark Glenn, Keith Johnson, Joe Cortina, Kenneth Collins O’Keefe, Michael Collins Piper, Reverend Mark Dankoff, Gilad Atzmon to name just a few, with a special mention of Daryl Bradford Smith, among the “not yet Muslims”.

Third, Muslims have failed so many times in protecting their way of life, their lives, property, and Islamic heritage.  People of faith say Muslims will win, but I am a more practical person and I say they need all the help they can get.  Some have called me a defeatist or an unfaithful Muslim, but they are absolutely free to do so.  Let them propose something better, but for GOD’s sake not by cowardly hiding behind faith which has already proved so useless and disastrous for the Universal Muslim Nation and cost Muslims nearly 150 million lives, although Islam’s power potentials and spirituality have not diminished at all in more than 1400 years, and made it the enemy number one in such a Godless world run by vipers and cold blooded monsters.  I have tons more to say, but who will read such boring stuff.  Modern Muslims and non Muslims alike prefer to let themselves be indoctrinated by Godless National Curricula, read “the news”, watch television and spend their lives uselessly and selfishly.

People who believe in an ‘Invisible’ GOD (He is very clearly Visible through His Signs!) must also admit that there are visible and invisible Dark Forces at work in the world, but they don’t.  They have ignored Satan and his evil ways.  They are not aware that Satan runs in their own body like the blood in their vessels and is causing great mischief in the land.

I sincerely hope these are not just more pearls cast to the wind.

BAFS

Just a travelling lover of humanity in a more and more Godless world

 

Thursday 22nd of December 2011

P.S. I hope this (last) part is not too controversial to be posted here.  ALLAH Himself said He created us DIFFERENT, but sent Islam in its perfected form for us to love one another despite our differences and excel only in matters of piety and good deeds, and not otherwise.

 

SHABIR ALLY - CHRISTIANITY EXPLAINED

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQbwdhwQmmc


THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF CHRISTIANITY
by Dr Khalid Abdullah Tariq Al-Mansour, U.S.A.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwOrxo1CM4w&feature=related