Re: DARA: Changing the Nafas

I very much appreciate the response. The response is a cooky cutter
response. That means it is not a reasoned response to the reasoned
questions; in fact the reasons embodied in the questions and the reasons
driving the questions have completely been ignored. So the response merely
reproduces what the responder heard from some one else, in a different
context. That is cooky cutter approach. No matter what the reasoning just
repeat the standard answer :-)

I do not mean to say that the response isw not valuable to me. In fact it
is. It could however be more valuable if it was reasoned keeping in mind the
drivers for the original enquiry and the context.

Below are specific things in relation to the response.



1. What is the modality for one to change one's Nafas?

You approach Allaah with a honest heart, and stick to The Straight path
often repeated in The Opening (surat Al fatiha)

This is a non-thinker's response. The zillion dollar question is "what is
the straight path?". The whole problem of secterians comes from an attempt
to answer this question. The truth is, you can not possibly do both: (1)
approach Allaah with a honest heart and (2) stick to The Straight path.

An open heart always seeks its own path, it never constrains that path with
dogmas.



[15.87] And certainly We have given you seven of the oft-repeated
(verses) and the grand Quran.

Another cooky cutter statement. We cant even agree what these verses are.
Pick up a Quran from Saudi sources and it has the versus differently
distributed!



What is the relationship between the change of Nafas and the
change in the external World?

Your perceptions!

If you truly leave it to my perseptions, then there is no room for any other
input, except possibly in enhancing those perceptions, assuming I would
permit that.

This is a thought provoking response, but one that no traditional muslim
scholar would endorse.



Do we change our Nafas with a focus on the external changes that we
desire?

You should change your nafs with a focus on divine rewards in the
Hearafter in addition to your "earthly" desires, as it says in the
Quraan the best prayer is those ask a goodness in the lowely life, in
the Hearafter, and ask to be saved from the punishment of fire.


Here you completely lost the original thread. The discussion was about the
activism, to change the external world. No advice was sought on divine
rewards.

This is a perect example of cooky cutter non-thinking.


2. How do we draw a line between "my Nafas" and the "World external to
myself". Where is it that my Nafas ends and the external world starts. I
find it impossible to tell the boundary!

The Sufi Al Hallaj in Baghdad came in public saying: "I am The Truth",
one of the Fine Names of Allah. His realization was that all that is
around is simply fake and he is the only truth is a sea of illusion.
One should not recommend such philosophy of course, since it falls
short from what the "THE TRUTH" really is. Not to mention that the fate
of Al Hallaj was not pleasant (Ordered stoned by the Khalifa).

I have to find my answers myself. What some one else did or did not is not
so relevant. Nor does Hallaj constitute an argument for me.


As mentioned in the Quraan there are degrees. More plausible, as you
mentioned, there are no boundries, and the change of nafs is usually
associated collectively with the group or the nation as in the verse
[13.11] and Allaah knows best.

Dara's suggestion was that you change your NAFAS and the change in external
world will happen. You are saying there is no difference between the two.
That makes a non sense of Dara's statement. May be it is non sense, but it
is for Dara to state that.

This "and Allaah knows best" is another point of irritation in a reasoned
approach. What is the point of stating your position fully and appending it
with a "and Allaah knows best"! If you really believe in it on a topic then
you keep your mouth shut and admit ignorance, or do not meaninglessly assert
both: knowledge and ignorance.



3. Allah clearly says elsewhere that I am the one who changes the Nafas
of
people. If He changes my Nafas than how I am to change it too? Examples
are:
KHATAMALLAHE ALA QULUBEHIM WA ALA SAMEHIM WA ALA ABSAREHIM.

The compilation of sins, greatest of them are Shirk, which includes
Pride and self worship, are the main reasons for blindness and
deafness. So start by asking forgiveness.

Again you completely ignore the reasons of the discussion. An advice is not
sought regarding what I should start with. The discussion is: if one is to
change one's NAFAS, what does that mean, can one even do that, because Allah
says it is I who does it.



[2.284] "Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth is
Allah's; and whether you manifest what is in your minds or hide it,
Allah will call you to account according to it; then He will forgive
whom He pleases and chastise whom He pleases, and Allah has power over
all things."

While the standards appear too high, but so are the rewards.

He is the one who changes these components of Nafas, so how is it that I
should change
them?

[87.1] Glorify the name of your Lord, the Most High,
(Sabeh bi Isma RabiKa Al Aalaa!)

An other advice that is not relevant to the discussion, and offered
unsolicited.




.

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