Highwhey & I are proud to announce: We converted to Islam

[DonDadda59]

People trying to figure out a hidden "purpose" or "meaning" to life are like the ants trying to figure out why "the great foot" is squashing their family on daily basis.

Why can't we all just live this one life we have and stop thinking there is a better place after death? Whatever happens happens. No need to obsess over it. We are all as insignificant as the ants in the bigger picture, but people need to believe they are special snowflakes following some God's plan to sleep at night.

[JEFFERSON MONEY]

Function =/= purpose

I saw a fully formed, functioning roach walking on my wall the other night. I squashed it with a tissue and threw it in the garbage. Where was the purpose there?

Right, can't forget the minor distinction.

Cockroaches, and other small insects usually consume decaying matter, debris or smaller bacteria. They serve to clear the debris and the dead rotting things all around the floor. Millions of organisms die everyday, but strangely enough the bulk of their corpses are not detected. It is theorized that it would only take the corpses of a few insect species to pile up over the Earth, but day after day they are cleaned to provide a fairly natural floor.

Likewise, the human being has an important function. That is to reach its highest moral refinement, develop its strongest spiritual powers, serve as Allah's vicegerent, and come to know and love Allah. This is achieved through worship (these can extend from prayers to meditation), to acquiring knowledge, remembering, reflecting, and abiding by the laws stated by Him.

Where we differ, DonDadda59, is you were raised X-Tian and left a countryside in South Africa to go head over to the concrete jungle and thus lost touch with those spiritual roots and are now surrounded by a helluva lotta corruption everywhere in NYC ; whereas I was born "Muslim" and lived in a Suburban Christian atheistic materialistic comfortable suburban environment, skimped out completely on worship (ended up having atheistic thoughts that mirror much of ISH's sentiments from ages 15-22 or so, literally searched EVERYWHERE in University for all kindza knowledge.... moral codes, optimal daily wake up routines, history, politics, philosophy, ethics, covered a LOT and religion as a whole simply made a lot more sense than irreligion). How could one person know the secrets of the Universe without even considering the Creator of the Universe? There being One God, not zero nor two, made a lot more sense. Thus, which religion is the right one? Original Judaism, Original Christianity and Original Islam seemed one and the same upon watching the documentaries.


then took my worship duties seriously, and things become slowly but surely oh so, clear now, with the light of the Holy Qu'ran. This story is not remotely unique. It's the usual youth being enamored and drunk by the fun and games of this world.

Either way, I greatly respect you sticking up for the oppressed and spreading peace and love and quoting Scripture. I can only kindly ask you realize there's a reason why Elijah Muhammad, Loon, Hakeem, Busta, take their aforementioned duties seriously. There's an eternal life after death that's been promised to all human beings since the dawn of time depending upon their actions in the first world. That narrative fits more squarely with the virtues, ethics, civilization, efforts, cohesiveness, devotion, and achievements earned by all the grand civilizations of the past. It takes man a hella lotta motivation to want to carry a big frickin brick up a pyramid; not even Sanaa Lathan waiting at the bedside feeding you grapes can do that. That gets old. It's gotta be a lot, lot more.


1. Did you then think that We created you in vain, and that you would not be returned to us?

The Holy Quran 23:115

2. And I created not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me (Alone).

The Holy Quran 51:56

The purpose of our life is the worship our Creator in the many ways there are to worship Him (prayer, helping others, seeking knowledge, etc.).

3. …Who has created life and death so that He may try you which of you are best in deeds…

The Holy Quran 67:2

Who will do the best works for the sake of Him?

4. And We have not created the heaven and earth and what is between them in vain. That is the opinion of those who disbelieve. And woe to such disbelievers, because of the Fire. Shall we treat those who believe and do good deeds as those who spread corruption on the earth? Or shall we treat the pious as sinners?

The Holy Quran 38:27-8

The believers will not face the same afterlife as the corrupters. The pious will not be treated the same as sinners.

5. And among the people there is he who sells himself for the pleasure of Allah, and Allah is kind to His worshippers.

The Holy Quran 2:207

The pleasure of Allah should be our goal.

6. There has come to you from God a light and a luminous Book, through which God, by His grace, guides all who seek His good pleasure on the path of peace, and brings them out of the depths of darkness into light and guides them unto a Straight Path.

The Holy Quran 5:15-16

Shalom.


Now we're at a crossroads. Not by chance. For me, mathematically speaking the chances of survival alone are so moot and so finely calibrated that not even the finest pharmacists could ever create a sound human bloodstream. It had to be done by a Creator. Thus the second question, what do we owe the Creator?


Likewise, having tried to make a sculpture of something as simple as, say, a tree, it makes ZERO sense that the Intelligence taken to make one let alone billions of organisms, planets, stars, were done without a far, grander endgoal.

[JEFFERSON MONEY]

People trying to figure out a hidden "purpose" or "meaning" to life are like the ants trying to figure out why "the great foot" is squashing their family on daily basis.

Why can't we all just live this one life we have and stop thinking there is a better place after death? Whatever happens happens. No need to obsess over it. We are all as insignificant as the ants in the bigger picture, but people need to believe they are special snowflakes following some God's plan to sleep at night.

Because every single soul is actually unique, every single soul, way, way, way deep inside instinctively knows it was created from a Source that it will once again return to, and Allah Himself has promised the afterlife.

Humans would not have been created with a craving to want to live forever in a better place everlastingly happy or spiritually come nearer to Allah, had it not been that they would be granted that through obedience to their Creator. The hottest women, the best food, the nicest cars for a mere 30 to 40 years tops can't make you happy. There has to be something internal and invisible that creates genuine contentness within the vast human populace.

You're right though, we only have this one life on Earth to do our best. Let's agree on that.

Your resiliency and courage are indubitably admirable, atheists. To go through your days knowing the finiteness and the oblivion into darkness, is something we can learn from through our days of hunger and soon to be oppression.

But I'm here to relay the message that there is One God, His Last Messenger was Muhammad, and that everlasting happiness and peace are very much a legitimate goal to achieve.

[gigantes]

People trying to figure out a hidden "purpose" or "meaning" to life are like the ants trying to figure out why "the great foot" is squashing their family on daily basis.

Why can't we all just live this one life we have and stop thinking there is a better place after death? Whatever happens happens. No need to obsess over it. We are all as insignificant as the ants in the bigger picture, but people need to believe they are special snowflakes following some God's plan to sleep at night.

because we don't operate by hive mind.

[Graviton]

because we don't operate by hive mind.

That's ironic considering how religion works.

[JEFFERSON MONEY]

That's ironic considering how religion works.

Right... Jesus apostles totally did the whole brainless group think thing.

[gigantes]

That's ironic considering how religion works.

religion (or better yet a belief-system) works nicely at the small group level.

that can be a very useful and healthy 'hive mind'.

[ArbitraryWater]

It just seems weird to me that people think we live here for no meaning.. just wasting time... nothing in the end matters... apparently...

You will learn with time :)

[nathanjizzle]

Right, can't forget the minor distinction.

Cockroaches, and other small insects usually consume decaying matter, debris or smaller bacteria. They serve to clear the debris and the dead rotting things all around the floor. Millions of organisms die everyday, but strangely enough the bulk of their corpses are not detected. It is theorized that it would only take the corpses of a few insect species to pile up over the Earth, but day after day they are cleaned to provide a fairly natural floor.

Likewise, the human being has an important function. That is to reach its highest moral refinement, develop its strongest spiritual powers, serve as Allah's vicegerent, and come to know and love Allah. This is achieved through worship (these can extend from prayers to meditation), to acquiring knowledge, remembering, reflecting, and abiding by the laws stated by Him.

Where we differ, DonDadda59, is you were raised X-Tian and left a countryside in South Africa to go head over to the concrete jungle and thus lost touch with those spiritual roots and are now surrounded by a helluva lotta corruption everywhere in NYC ; whereas I was born "Muslim" and lived in a Suburban Christian atheistic materialistic comfortable suburban environment, skimped out completely on worship (ended up having atheistic thoughts that mirror much of ISH's sentiments from ages 15-22 or so, literally searched EVERYWHERE in University for all kindza knowledge.... moral codes, optimal daily wake up routines, history, politics, philosophy, ethics, covered a LOT and religion as a whole simply made a lot more sense than irreligion). How could one person know the secrets of the Universe without even considering the Creator of the Universe? There being One God, not zero nor two, made a lot more sense. Thus, which religion is the right one? Original Judaism, Original Christianity and Original Islam seemed one and the same upon watching the documentaries.


then took my worship duties seriously, and things become slowly but surely oh so, clear now, with the light of the Holy Qu'ran. This story is not remotely unique. It's the usual youth being enamored and drunk by the fun and games of this world.

Either way, I greatly respect you sticking up for the oppressed and spreading peace and love and quoting Scripture. I can only kindly ask you realize there's a reason why Elijah Muhammad, Loon, Hakeem, Busta, take their aforementioned duties seriously. There's an eternal life after death that's been promised to all human beings since the dawn of time depending upon their actions in the first world. That narrative fits more squarely with the virtues, ethics, civilization, efforts, cohesiveness, devotion, and achievements earned by all the grand civilizations of the past. It takes man a hella lotta motivation to want to carry a big frickin brick up a pyramid; not even Sanaa Lathan waiting at the bedside feeding you grapes can do that. That gets old. It's gotta be a lot, lot more.


1. Did you then think that We created you in vain, and that you would not be returned to us?

The Holy Quran 23:115

2. And I created not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me (Alone).

The Holy Quran 51:56

The purpose of our life is the worship our Creator in the many ways there are to worship Him (prayer, helping others, seeking knowledge, etc.).

3. …Who has created life and death so that He may try you which of you are best in deeds…

The Holy Quran 67:2

Who will do the best works for the sake of Him?

4. And We have not created the heaven and earth and what is between them in vain. That is the opinion of those who disbelieve. And woe to such disbelievers, because of the Fire. Shall we treat those who believe and do good deeds as those who spread corruption on the earth? Or shall we treat the pious as sinners?

The Holy Quran 38:27-8

The believers will not face the same afterlife as the corrupters. The pious will not be treated the same as sinners.

5. And among the people there is he who sells himself for the pleasure of Allah, and Allah is kind to His worshippers.

The Holy Quran 2:207

The pleasure of Allah should be our goal.

6. There has come to you from God a light and a luminous Book, through which God, by His grace, guides all who seek His good pleasure on the path of peace, and brings them out of the depths of darkness into light and guides them unto a Straight Path.

The Holy Quran 5:15-16

Shalom.


Now we're at a crossroads. Not by chance. For me, mathematically speaking the chances of survival alone are so moot and so finely calibrated that not even the finest pharmacists could ever create a sound human bloodstream. It had to be done by a Creator. Thus the second question, what do we owe the Creator?


Likewise, having tried to make a sculpture of something as simple as, say, a tree, it makes ZERO sense that the Intelligence taken to make one let alone billions of organisms, planets, stars, were done without a far, grander endgoal.

i didnt read this. but from the functions of all living things on the earth, it seems that we are here to grow the earth into a larger planet. trees grow, they fall down and become the dirt. animals breed, they grow, they die, they become the dirt. earth only collects light from the sun which feeds all living things while not giving anything away, that means the earth is growing. The earth will live out its cycle and one day die. i personally believe the earth is a star that is building up to ignite, thus transferring its light throughout the universe to be utilized once again. the wonderful thing about this idea is that once you die and become part of the earth, eventually you will become light that travels through the universe.

[Dresta]

Better a muslim than an angry and bitter atheist. More power to you both!

I did a lot of psychedelics in college and got into meditation, read heavily about religion and NDEs. There something out there and I felt it, we just don't know and can't understand at our current state. No one can say they do. Just have to be the best people we can be, whatever that path is.

I won't say that religion is necessary but if that path is religion, all the power to you. I can't hate. Know too many respect-worthy religious people to feel otherwise. All I know is that I am at peace.

The dogma of materialism has caused us to lose touch with out own sense of spirituality. It is sad that it takes psychedelics to unlock such thought and feelings these days: a serious reading of the Bible and Bach's Mass in b minor would achieve a similar effect.

It just seems weird to me that people think we live here for no meaning.. just wasting time... nothing in the end matters... apparently...

You will learn with time :)

They want to pretend life is purposeless, while living their lives as if it were otherwise. That is cognitive dissonance. These people are incapable of pushing their beliefs to their logical conclusions, because they are afraid of what they will find. Believe me, peering into the abyss is none too pretty. Without faith, there is nothing but complete relativism and absolute chaos, which manifests itself in society through social fragmentation (something we are already seeing).

[Dresta]

i didnt read this. but from the functions of all living things on the earth, it seems that we are here to grow the earth into a larger planet. trees grow, they fall down and become the dirt. animals breed, they grow, they die, they become the dirt. earth only collects light from the sun which feeds all living things while not giving anything away, that means the earth is growing. The earth will live out its cycle and one day die. i personally believe the earth is a star that is building up to ignite, thus transferring its light throughout the universe to be utilized once again. the wonderful thing about this idea is that once you die and become part of the earth, eventually you will become light that travels through the universe.

[sd3035]

i didnt read this. but from the functions of all living things on the earth, it seems that we are here to grow the earth into a larger planet. trees grow, they fall down and become the dirt. animals breed, they grow, they die, they become the dirt. earth only collects light from the sun which feeds all living things while not giving anything away, that means the earth is growing. The earth will live out its cycle and one day die. i personally believe the earth is a star that is building up to ignite, thus transferring its light throughout the universe to be utilized once again. the wonderful thing about this idea is that once you die and become part of the earth, eventually you will become light that travels through the universe.

[DonDadda59]

Right, can't forget the minor distinction.

Cockroaches, and other small insects usually consume decaying matter, debris or smaller bacteria. They serve to clear the debris and the dead rotting things all around the floor. Millions of organisms die everyday, but strangely enough the bulk of their corpses are not detected. It is theorized that it would only take the corpses of a few insect species to pile up over the Earth, but day after day they are cleaned to provide a fairly natural floor.

That's still more of an argument for function over any 'purpose'. What denomination are the majority of dung beetles?

Likewise, the human being has an important function. That is to reach its highest moral refinement, develop its strongest spiritual powers, serve as Allah's vicegerent, and come to know and love Allah. This is achieved through worship (these can extend from prayers to meditation), to acquiring knowledge, remembering, reflecting, and abiding by the laws stated by Him.

If that's true then what was man's 'purpose' before Muhammad came along? In the grand scheme of things, Islam (as well as every other major World religion) is a neophyte phenomena in Human History. Disregarding our hominid ancestors who were around 6 million years ago, Homosapiens have existed for roughly 200K years. You mean to tell me that our species didn't have purpose until c. 1,400 years ago (or a bit longer if you lump all the Abrahamic religions together)?

That amounts to about 0.007% of the time modern man has spent on Earth, and 0.00002% for hominids as a whole.

That means that, by your definition, 99.99% of humans who have lived on Earth never had any real, intrinsic 'purpose'.

Where we differ, DonDadda59, is you were raised X-Tian and left a countryside in South Africa to go head over to the concrete jungle and thus lost touch with those spiritual roots and are now surrounded by a helluva lotta corruption everywhere in NYC ; whereas I was born "Muslim" and lived in a Suburban Christian atheistic materialistic comfortable suburban environment, skimped out completely on worship (ended up having atheistic thoughts that mirror much of ISH's sentiments from ages 15-22 or so, literally searched EVERYWHERE in University for all kindza knowledge.... moral codes, optimal daily wake up routines, history, politics, philosophy, ethics, covered a LOT and religion as a whole simply made a lot more sense than irreligion). How could one person know the secrets of the Universe without even considering the Creator of the Universe? There being One God, not zero nor two, made a lot more sense. Thus, which religion is the right one? Original Judaism, Original Christianity and Original Islam seemed one and the same upon watching the documentaries.

Why does that make more sense? To play devil's advocate ( ), let's take atheism off the table. Let's say you assume that some celestial, all powerful being(s) created everything. Why are the Greek/Roman/etc polytheistic deity models any less valid than monotheism? Those religious paradigms were the go-to for people searching for 'purpose' much longer in Human History than the modern Abrahamic models. And those deities had specific functions and 'purpose' themselves- Apollo was responsible for moving the Sun, Poseidon was in charge of the tide, Demeter looked after the Harvest, etc.

Each God had a purpose to keep the celestial machine going and in turn every Human had their need for purpose fulfilled by paying homage to those Gods.

Perfect symbiosis.

then took my worship duties seriously, and things become slowly but surely oh so, clear now, with the light of the Holy Qu'ran. This story is not remotely unique. It's the usual youth being enamored and drunk by the fun and games of this world.

Either way, I greatly respect you sticking up for the oppressed and spreading peace and love and quoting Scripture. I can only kindly ask you realize there's a reason why Elijah Muhammad, Loon, Hakeem, Busta, take their aforementioned duties seriously. There's an eternal life after death that's been promised to all human beings since the dawn of time depending upon their actions in the first world. That narrative fits more squarely with the virtues, ethics, civilization, efforts, cohesiveness, devotion, and achievements earned by all the grand civilizations of the past. It takes man a hella lotta motivation to want to carry a big frickin brick up a pyramid; not even Sanaa Lathan waiting at the bedside feeding you grapes can do that. That gets old. It's gotta be a lot, lot more.

Just one last question- Yesterday an Imam who lived not too far from me was walking home with his assistant after leading a prayer service at his mosque. 2 blocks later, both were shot execution style in the head and died.

^Those were people who lived up to the highest ideals you laid out, men who lived a life of purpose by your definition and tried to lead others down the same path. Their reward from the all powerful, benevolent creator? A bullet in the head.

In the grand scheme of things, how is this any different than me killing that roach?

[Dresta]

There is a lot of crossover between Greek and Christian mythology. Laughing at people for "believing in myths" is to miss the point: the myths are allegorical. I'll just give one example out of many: both Greek and Christian fable teach that there is a forbidden knowledge that brings into the world nothing but woe (Pandora's Box, and eating from the Tree of Knowledge). These myths even provide a stark warning to us today: what we discover and make through these discoveries cannot be undone, they are permanent and irrecoverable; the existence of nuclear weapons, of the ability to manipulate the human genome, to eradicate the human species, and many other things that are on the horizon, bring with them sinister portents. We know not what we do when we put implacable faith in science and in progress: such a faith could in the end lead to our own self-annihilation. These myths are a warning and an urge for restraint, for prudence and reflection.

Our culture is very much a synthesis of the Christian and the Greek with some Roman concepts of law sprinkled in (the influence of Plato on Christian theology is enormous--our entire civilisation has descended from this intellectual and cultural milieu). Dondadda, in his sentiments and moral judgements, is a Christian whether he likes it or not--some faint awareness of this fact might help explain why militant atheists are so angry and so proud of their atheism.

[gigantes]

... Their reward from the all powerful, benevolent creator? A bullet in the head. ...

that's one of the crazier / more amusing beliefs i'm aware of-- that a unified, personal god is both benevolent AND looking after each and every cockroach running around. like, who the hell would want that job, yo?

help wanted: a completely neurotic omnipotent being to look after a deranged group of naked apes. apply within.

:D