Islamic Salat – Physical and Spiritual Connection

One unique characteristic of salat, the obligatory form of prayer in Islam, is that it incorporates “spiritual” (faith, mindfulness) with physical elements – the body language of bowing and prostration + the time/space elements of astronomical prayer times and a very specific geophysical direction of prayer. This prayer form grounds the believer’s worship, making a connection between this temporary earthly life and Allah’s Divine eternal presence. This key connection in our lives is in that sense like the Quran: a timeless message sent down in time. So our salat connects our time/space “world” – in this case the “world” of our lives – to the timeless and unbounded “NOW” of Allah. Below is an aya referring to time, 55:26, followed by an aya referring to eternity or timelessness, 55:27.

55:26 All that lives on earth or in the heavens is bound to pass away

55:27 but forever will abide the Face of your Lord, full of majesty and glory

Islam: Humanity’s Original and Revived Religion

For those people who are mostly unfamiliar with or only minimally knowledgeable about Islam and the Quran, this is the first of a series of posts (for me, relatively brief) on the subject of Islam as a religion or Way of life as presented in the Quran. Here we discuss how Islam is both humanity’s original, most ancient, belief system given to Adam, and at the same time the most recent major faith which has its own Sacred Divine Revelation, the Quran.

“The people of Gaza have become a living miracle”

While looking for another article I’d read before on Yaqeen Institute’s website (whose founder is Dr. Omar Suleiman), I discovered this headline: “How Gaza is Restoring Faith in God and Saving the World” by Dr. Ovamir Anjum. The title alone expresses what I’ve been noticing on every platform of social media, notably TikTok but also X (Twitter), Instagram, Facebook, even LinkedIn. And others. The title of this post is the first sentence of that article. Another great sentence from the article: “Hope for a new world, it has become evident, has come not from the shining capitals, technological feats, or trillion-dollar schemes, but from the rubble of Gaza.” In difference ways and from seemingly every corner of the globe, variations on this theme are being expressed by a vast array of people, united by this one astounding thing. At a time of unimaginable agony for people of conscience watching the unending horror of a genocide and extreme atrocities committed against innocent civilians, especially children, this is a much-needed positive take on the meaning and Divine purpose that transforms the evil demented deeds and goals of the perpetrators into a saving grace for the entire world. This is an article well-worth your time to read.

Islam and What’s Happening in the Middle East: Sami Hamdi

This video goes beyond its title to bring us a comprehensive view of how Muslims should view the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza in particular and all of the occupied territories in general, and all that results as a consequence of this. The Houthis have emerged as the heroes and most nominally Muslim countries have emerged as having been hijacked by West-promoted corrupt leaders to the point of being OK with genocide. As always with YouTube, you can adjust its speed and skip around the banter to focus on what matters. This video raised Sami Hamdi’s stature in my eyes to a whole new level. The very emotion that became visible, for which one tends to apologize, is the very thing that let me know he is truly a trustworthy witness to what we are seeing. The word mu’min at its heart means trustworthy in the most thorough sense of the word.

Videos on the Wisdom of the Quran and the Destruction of Israel’s PR War on Truth

Looking at videos on various platforms, I’ve found some that bring quite insightful studies and interpretations of the Quran from “ordinary people,” even new converts/reverts. Here’s one, whose interpretation of Surat Al-Nahl (the Bee), after studying an amazing book on the subject of bees, is quite impressive:

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8gT6fK1/

Many of those videos are from people who were so impressed by Palestinians’ faith, endurance, and patience through unimaginable horrors and suffering, that they were moved to read the Quran and find out about Islam. This video by CJ Werleman gives us an overview of this phenomenon as well as the consequences for Israel of their genocide.

Wives, Angels’ Wings, and the {2,3,4} Set in the Quran

Scholars have over time pondered two ayat – 4:3 and 35:1 which concern the elements named in the title above – connected somehow by the curious fact that each mentions the phrase “two and three and four.” Why are these specific numbers mentioned this unusual way? In light of what was previously discussed as a {3,4} set, which indicated the Quran’s architecture may be based on Allah’s name in Arabic, I’ve found that this Quranic {3,4} set is also part of a {2,3,4} set, matching the numbers given in these two ayat. By “set” I mean a group of objects (or “elements,” in this case from the Quran) as per set theory. Now, I’m no mathematician, but for me it’s a way of seeing these numbers as part of a fascinating structure in the Quran, found in Allah’s name in Arabic, the Basmalah, and how the last three surahs in the Quran connect to the first as we shall explain – and more. So first, we examine the two ayat, the meaning of “2 and 3 and 4” in each context, and how it relates to the Quran’s structure.