Reverts armoury/toolbox/travel bag

[ghengis]

hey.

80-90 yrs on this planet... whatever it is... the aim is the heighest hights of heavn right??? and if not why not??? my bros and sisters and getting lazy on me are you???

good.

i remember a hadith i read a long time ago.... pardon me for my errors.:

some guy was taking ages doing hi dua..... so our prophet pbuh, told him to say either: 1. just say i pray for all the things muhammed pbuh prayed for.... or
how the prophet said a certain dua and added at the end " and multiply it by the droplets of water in the ocean"

sorry for the errors but if anyone knows these it would be helpful....

....emphasis on::::"work smarter not harder" religion should be fun, easy, a pleasure, a joy, a blissful experience.....in my humble opinion.....


so if u wanna get to the heighest heights might as well enjoy the process right????

and therefore one is now studying life and the self and all else... to become a synergistic catalyst of divinity. ( maybe???)

studying the mind...the senses... the emotions... the body... and how to control it ultimately.... and planning the direction of travel... and taking steps to achieve that...


WHAT RESOURCES HAVE U ALL BEEN USING TO COMPLIMENT YOUR SPIRITUALITY????? to enhance your spirituality??


just list out and quick description of all you have found helpful
books/ movies/ audio/ any source.

if you could advance someones spirituality what would u give them..

so for starters the basis, the foundation of knowledge.

quran
hadith

but what else?????

 

[ghengis]

okay.... so satan tempts men by their desires.....

desires are lead by our emotions... the emotion of desire.... the wanting.... so if you understand your emotions and the way they occur and ultimately have the full control of your emotions than...... ??????


score???? i think so. big time.

1. EMOTIONAL CONTROL.......vital for spiritual success.....

i stumbled across desire expounded well in eastern religion....
hinduism, buddhism etc....

the buddhist mentality is that of "desire causes misery.. so lets not have any desire"
this i thought would be helpful in my islamic endeavours.
bagavad gita also goes on about controlling desire.....

an the mighty mighty king book of them all the qu'ran mentions desires too.

so i stared overed snowtopped mountains and thought....

i need to know about my own emotions, how they arise and how i can control them,
i need to know about my desires how they arise, how i cant direct my desires as i wish and control them.

topics of interest......

the emotions and desire......

psycology of evolution....tells us why we are wired in certain ways... why we have certain desires wired into our neurology...

for eg/: why we like sweet food and fatty food... bec ause in the olden days it would help u survive cos it wasnt abundant... now the neurology of that particular desire is still in place so we are all sweet and fat eaters... lol hahah

can be controlled though easy.

meditation helps too...... and other stuff....

anybody researching emotion and desire???? any input??

i'll be more concise later....

 

[Fishman]

Eh? I don't understand this thread, mr Khan!

 

[ghengis]

yeah... i dont think anyone does...... ok i'll try again... briefly

analogy.

to be the best sportsman these days u have to push yourself hard. they recruit the best medics, sports psycologists, counsellors, personal trainers etcetcetc..
in order to achieve PEAK PERFORMANCE,... so they can perform to the best of their ability....


as a muslim the goal is heaven....

life is used to get to heaven
you have been given about 70yrs to USE YOUR TIME WISELY so you can get to heaven...

think of your time on this earth like currency and use it wisely...

so like the pro sportsman who wants to want to maximize his potential athletically the spiritual man wants to maximize the use of his time to reach greater spiritual understanding and piety,. and therefore maybe a better place in heaven.... with me so far??

.....i think i'm gonna end this post.... forget it... delete the whole thread...


...well if we all hired our own spiritual councellors and psycologists and trainers etcetcetc... they would advise us in certain ways so we can use our time more wisely.... phew.... our goal is to worship and increase in piety... so we need (well it would be nice to) have PEAK PERFORMANCE!!

yeah baby!!!

make sense/??? i think its important.

the example i gave:

satan tempts men by desires.... so instead of plodding through life with no knowledge of desire... study it... its the chink in your armour. defend it.

if you for example study the emotions/ the arising of emotions/ the psycology of emotions/ the manipulation of ones own emotions/ and all things emotion related...... and gain control over them via understanding.

then u will not be emotionally swayed. u will be in control.
lifes ups and downs have no effect on you.... your at peace. 24/7.... ?

so some of u out there must have studied the emotions???? right???

???
make sense???

...... i'm saying in a nutshelll.. study the emotions for spiritual increase...

i need some feedback folks.... tell me it makes sense...

and if it doesnt....then please tell me you are a blind follower of the religion u were born in....

no offence.

and.... emotions are not the only thing that if studied complements religion well...... ..

???? feedback??

 

[ghengis]

the point to the thread is i'm putting up signposts... metaphorical signposts for a persons intellectual and spiritual journey through life....

peak performance... ??

 

[Woodrow]

Many of us here including myself are reverts to Islam. to me the signpost are:

The Qur'an
The Ahadith
The daily prayers
the feeling of freedom gained through submission
The fellowship of the Ummah
The joys of life, when directed to serve Allaah(swt)

 

[Yanal]

Nice intention I can see but lack of grammer. What are signposts?

 

[ghengis]

lack of grammar.... hahah


yeah i'm asking a lot from people huh?

decipher the note formation messages.... decipher my shorthand and then i get a little annoyed when no-one understands wat i'm talking about


lol


ok......

 

[ghengis]

signpost:

when your walking a path (ie the spiritual journey) you will come across many things that other people that have trodden before you have come across...

the journey.

for example when talking to unbelievers you may advise them to read the quran.... its a signpost.... but they have to walk the path themselves....

all people can leave are signposts...

so help me out here and leave the signposts for your journey so far......

 

[ghengis]

Many of us here including myself are reverts to Islam. to me the signpost are:

The Qur'an
The Ahadith
The daily prayers
the feeling of freedom gained through submission
The fellowship of the Ummah
The joys of life, when directed to serve Allaah(swt)

thanks buddy.... that was important for me....

thats a sweet path

i havent reached the fellowship of the ummah signpost yet....

i'll look forward to it....

 

[ghengis]

ok. quick run down of my journey so far..... certain signposts ( lol ) or steps i needed to get through to heighten my spiritual understanding...

this is in kinda the rough order i did them... but the order doesnt matter...i suppose?


bagavad gita
torah
quran ( and ongoing, on repeat for the rest of my life...)
various hadith
bible..old and new testaments...
dhammapada (buddhas teachings)
various upanishads
how to do islamic prayer book


nlp (neuro linguistic programming)
positive psycology
general psycology and psychiatry
books on emotions and emotional control
books on society

a lot of self help/ psycology of success/ and western spirituality thrown in for good measure too... and goal setting books... meditation... oh yeah and ghengis khans autobiography lol

a lot of how to be wealthy stuff too lol.

.... i think there is a hadith...."nobility is wealth and wisdom"... so go get wealthy people...go get wealthy....

this is the basics of it......

the basic topics i went and am still going through to increase my quranic understanding, and to complement my islam...

put your own lists up....

i'll be more specific later


thanks for the feedback ... much appreciated.....

 

[Woodrow]

To carry the sign posts back to before my Islamic life I would say:

Catholic Catechism
Study of Languages
Seminary
The Bible
Living in North Africa and Mideast
The Qur'an
The Ahadith
Saying the Shahadah
The daily prayers
the feeling of freedom gained through submission
The fellowship of the Ummah
The joys of life, when directed to serve Allaah(swt)

 

[ghengis]

thanks.... stay with me on this one... i'm tryin to find my way....

...after some reflection on my posts and thoughts, i have realized i am not as fully immersed as i would like to be in islam.

i pray, but dont go to the mosque ... yet.
i am not involved in the community whatsoever.
..this is something i'm going to remedy...

also i will spend more time delving into the quran... however what resources can you recomend for this?

commentary on quran??
to reveal deeper meaning..?

i have no knowledge of islamic scholars or texts.




think of it as putting out more signposts...for those going deeper and deeper into islam.



...so quick question: do you read anything apart from islamic material at your stage?

and u have joy serving allah....... so do i.

but what exactly do you do specifically to serve your lord?

please clear this up for me, i am not questioning you in the strict sense of the word i am searching for guidance....

thanks buddy...

 

[Woodrow]

thanks.... stay with me on this one... i'm tryin to find my way....

...after some reflection on my posts and thoughts, i have realized i am not as fully immersed as i would like to be in islam.

i pray, but dont go to the mosque ... yet.
i am not involved in the community whatsoever.
..this is something i'm going to remedy...

that is an important sign post. The going to a Masjid. Sadly since I moved from Texas, that has become difficult for me. Here the nearest Masjid is over 200 miles away. But, in some way that has made the Masjid more meaningful for me. At the moment I am snowed in and it is obvious I will not be leaving the house for at least several more days. But, when the weather does break, I will be going out with enhanced enthusiasim

also i will spend more time delving into the quran... however what resources can you recomend for this?

I always reccommend a person use at least 3 Translation of the Qur'an and 2 of those being Yusuf Ali and Pickthal. Next a good supply of Qur'an audios in Arabic. I also listen to many Nasheeds both in English and Arabic, I only use those with out instrumental accompainment

commentary on quran??
to reveal deeper meaning..?

Caution needs to be taken here. Do not rely on any single commentary. Reading Commentary is good, but keep in mind it is often simply opinion

i have no knowledge of islamic scholars or texts.

There us reverts start off feeling lost and helpless. Fortunately, the internet is proving to be a helpful tool. I urge people to visit many forums, check many websites and discuss their findings on forums such as this one.

think of it as putting out more signposts...for those going deeper and deeper into islam.

I think you are onto something here. A good idea for us reverts to post the sign posts and milestones as we travel down the road of Islam

...so quick question: do you read anything apart from islamic material at your stage?

Of course I do. I am still a student of life, although Islam is the major facet of my life, it is also opening doors to other facets of life. For example I am now deeply involved in affairs of native Americans primarily that of the Lakota Sioux

and u have joy serving allah....... so do i.

I am discovering that I can do all I do as servitude to Allaah(swt) Being a Slave has given me freedom and I now do things I always wanted to do and see I can do them as a worship to Allaah(swt)

but what exactly do you do specifically to serve your lord?

At this time my prime servitude is doing Dawah among the Lakota Sioux on the Pine Ridge and Cheyenne river reservations. I am also involved in Charity work among the few Muslims we have in the Dakotas and Minnesota. Although there is a sizable number of Muslims in Minneapolis, out here in the rural areas where I live, we are few and far between. Today my big concern is how to get food and water into the recent reverts out on Pine Ridge reservation. Much of the area is blocked by snow, the area is even impassable for helicopter because of the Blizzard wind conditions and people are there without food, water or utilities. But, I trust in Allaah(swt) that they still have the knowledge to survive as their ancestors have for thousands of years.

please clear this up for me, i am not questioning you in the strict sense of the word i am searching for guidance....

Questions are always welcome, I consider it a favor for people to ask me questions, I gain from the questions, perhaps even more than the question asker.

thanks buddy...

I am the one who should be doing the thanking. Jazakallahu Khayran Akhi