Logic: Allah�s Omniscience & Omnipotence

but israfil is right, an american does not really mean a member of the US gov

I love you and Israfil both. I respect your points. But I was given to understand that the Amreekis elect their government?

�The essence of civilization is the orderly quest for truth, the rational perception of reality and all its facets, and the adaptation of man's behavior to its laws. So long as we follow the path of reason, we shall not move far from the lighted circle of civilization. Its enemies invariably lie among those who, for whatever motive, deny, distort, minimize, exaggerate or poison the truth, and who falsify the processes of reason. At all times civilization has its enemies, though they are constantly changing their guise and their weapons. The great defensive art is to detect and unmask them before the damage they inflict becomes fatal. 'Hell.' wrote Thomas Hobbes, 'is truth seen too late.' Survival is falsehood detected in time.�

�Civilization is the rational pursuit of truth within a framework of order. The discovery of truth, of course, is part of this ordering process, the way by which man located himself in the universe. This is a very long, complicated, and cumulative process. Man needs to orientate himself in time, by discovering and perfecting chronology; in space, by acquiring geographical and astronomical knowledge; in nature, by discovering its laws and using them to master his environment. He is also engaged in a continuous effort of moral and social orientation, reflected in his attempts to improve his designs for civil government, for legal and ethical codes, and his image of what a just society should be. There is, likewise, a process of moral ordering, in which man seeks to discover his worth in relation to other men, and to the potentialities of his surroundings. Human beings need to know where they stand in all these matters, for such knowledge is an essential element in their security, and in their happiness.�

�Truth is much more than a means to expose the malevolent. It is the great creative force of civilization. For truth is knowledge; and a civilized man is one who, in Hobbes' words, has a "perseverance of delight in the continual and indefatigable generation of knowledge." Hobbes also writes: "Joy, arising from imagination of a man's own power and ability, is that exaltation of mind called glorying." And so it is; for the pursuit of truth is our civilization's glory, and the joy we obtain from it is the nearest we shall approach to happiness, at least on this side of the grave. If we are steadfast in this aim, we need not fear the enemies of society.�

Paul Johnson wrote this in his much praised novel �The Enemies of Society�. It is a fascinating treatise concerning the evolution of the community of man, the length of which I won�t go into either in praise of or quoting more thereof; the above is the essence of his work. What I gained from this, what is important to me is the relevance it has to society�s constant problem; how do we coexist with each other? In the world, there is good and evil; between them lie the varying degrees of action which consummate human decisions, i.e. either one advocates towards the good in this decision, one chooses the other in that decision�etc. What is written in response is an advocation of the former. In the Middle East and much of the Muslim world, there is no voice such as this. Even in America, the common man (so to speak) has at least the �perception� of this type of voice. Ultimately of course what the world sees is seen through the lens of the status quo. The lens through which the current US administration is focused is obviously  disconcerting, based solely on the impetus and justification of retaliatory measures to 911. What the American people see of this is filtered through a  �heightened anxiety driven� or �heightenedly aware� (take your pick) press, and this from sources supplied by a status quo controlled press. It is dangerously assumptive and patently unjust to say that this is the general opinion of the American people. I don�t believe this to be right, but it is the way it is.

We could live in a world where dialogue, specifically faith-driven interfaith dialogue, could facilitate the fostering of relationships to promote understanding. We could regard one another as kindred spirits, whose true boundaries are that as struggling souls rather than within the perception of the man-made boundaries of nationalism. We could, if we tried. I feel for my brother when he says that American troops occupy his homeland yet  believe me when I say there are brothers and sisters here in America who rail and rally against the occupations of Afghanistan, Iraq and the rest of the Muslim world day after day. There are efforts towards fostering Peace. In the ideal world which Paul Johnson described, what he wrote is true. In an ideal world, what we as Muslims should attempt to do �inshAllah is exactly what he said, to apply the � � great defensive art � to detect and unmask them before the damage they inflict becomes fatal� by enjoining the good and preventing evil. In an ideal world, there are people working together towards a civilization with the same depth and determination that Paul Johnson wrote. There are those who seek �� the rational pursuit of truth within a framework of order�.

Unfortunately,  we don�t live in an ideal world.

We live in a world where the world over Muslims struggle daily for the bare necessities of mere subsistence. We live in a world where the voice of the Muslim is two-fold, either as a quiet majority who observes or survives oppression everywhere, quietly lamenting in acquiescence or as a proactive, violent minority which commits acts of  self justified barbarism. We live in the world the Prophet Muhammad (peace_be_upon_him) described in the Hadith Narrated by Thawban: The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: The people will soon summon one another to attack you as people when eating invite others to share their dish. Someone asked: Will that be because of our small numbers at that time? He replied: No, you will be numerous at that time: but you will be scum and rubbish like that carried down by a torrent, and Allah will take fear of you from the breasts of your enemy and last enervation into your hearts. Someone asked: What is wahn (enervation). Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him): He replied: Love of the world and dislike of death.  (Book #37, Hadith #4284).

We also who live, live in a world of Hope.

In the Name of Allah, The Most Gracious The Most Merciful �

Those who believed and those who suffered exile and fought (and strove and struggled) in the path of Allah,- they have the hope of the Mercy of Allah. And Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.  (Chapter #2, Verse #218)

Allah made it but a message of hope for you, and an assurance to your hearts: (in any case) there is no help except from Allah. The Exalted, the Wise:  (Chapter #3, Verse #126)

If only they had been content with what Allah and His Messenger gave them, and had said, "Sufficient unto us is Allah. Allah and His Messenger will soon give us of His bounty: to Allah do we turn our hopes!" (that would have been the right course).  (Chapter #9, Verse #59)

We hope that our Lord will give us in exchange a better (garden) than this. Truly, we turn to our Lord (wishing for good that He may forgive our sins, and reward us in the Hereafter)."  (Chapter #68, Verse #32)

Whisper wrote: Cryptic, if not arrogant and utterly condescending. None of these at all. I told you, you won't understand and come back with some garbbled message. Peace and be at ease. I know it's not easy to be an American these days.

Curious. Given that you have deflected from your original point into a kind of "diatribe", it seems you lack "self understanding". The point being that you have digressed from your original comment and given that you did not actually have a solid bases for your original point (your sweeping generalization about Americans), you are now "playing it off" by obfuscating this thread. I know it is not easy being "confused" these days. Perhaps you are in need of finding yourself? My intention for making a comment to your "sweeping generalizations" of Americans, was to make the point that "finding yourself" is a completely valid method for realization, and making "sweeping generalizations" is not only "unIslamic" but irrational, and your replies which have completely ignored the spirit of my reply is unfortunate. As far as the athiest is concerned, it would be best to say "alhamdullilah" that we are not so confused, instead of an irrational "sweeping generalization".

Whisper kindly go to the general forum and read my topic there.