Random Religious and Philsophical Thoughts

These thoughts have been in my oneNote journal for over a decade. I keep having some epiphanies and I keep adding them to this list. This is not heavilty edited or curated = raw thoughts

1. Why taking care of parents is mentioned mostly after Tauheed in the quran?

        - b/c parents are the only worldy relation that  is as close to being asymetrical in terms of love put and love returned as relation between man and God.

2. Whats the deal with predestination?

        - Everything that will be, will be. What man has is the freedom of choosing an intention. If it is good and meant to please/follow Allah, his reward will be good and vice versa.

3. Does everyone have a bias? Yes... Us with our religious bent and an apriori belief (by definition faith) in  Allah look at all issues and scenario's that might appear controversial but keeping this in mind that we believe in Allah being the creator and the reality of an afterlife; we are able to mold an argument that allows that scenario to be consistent with a more understanding overall picture of Islam or our religion. But we are not alone in this: Even the so called rationalists/atheists have this belief in the theory of evolution (which in its primal sense has been proven to be real) to explain EVERYTHING, and will mold everything --- the creation of man, human being, the mind/conscience and even social behaviors and norms--- into something that is somewhat explained by a very wide interpretation of this "Darwinian theocracy". I read a very pertinent article in the last Economist of 2008 where all matter of social sciences--- from reasons for why women are earning less, to racial discrimination etc.. --- trends were explained by the Theory of Evolution.  I want to point that I am not trying to say that such an attempt is incorrect in itself. It is just that I dont see any significant discrepancy in what we (with a religious bent of mind) do to understand the observable "facts" of the world into a religious doctrine, and what they (the atheists) do to mold them (the facts) into their "Darwinian theocracy".

4. The liberal concept of separation of state from church leads to the following equilibrium  (as it exists today): No religious activities sponsored by state, individuals or groups can however practice what-ever they want (religion wise) within the broader purview (actually knowledge) of the state.

My understanding of an Islamic state would flip this balance and lead to another equilibrium: No a-religious activity possible in the state sponsored sphere (i.e. society) but individuals or groups can practice whatever they want (from an athiestic point of view) with their private life as long as its not either contradicting govt/religious law OR its not known to the state (i.e. done in relative secrecy). The state is not obligated to find out and eradicate these religious sins as long as they are not obviously promoted or apparent to the community as a whole.

5. The question about Women empowerment and why they are not given equal status when giving evidence: My view, albeit considered sexist, is that there is NO difference in the median capability of women in terms of their decision making powers and mental faculties. However, they are wired in a way that they are motivated by completely different things in life, and so when put at positions of power or responsibility, their lack of motivation/drive (which are present in men more naturally to get e.g. Power) makes them --- on avg--- less suitable and reliable. The few example of women showing great leadership and responsibility are the exception to the rule, and generally these women will lack common maternal/feminine drives (just like a few men lack some common male drives like power/money/possessiveness etc).

6. It is not that the Quran is full of pearls of wisdom that is its greatest ijaz (since as someone points out, there are many wise quotes by people), it is the fact that many ayah's lend themselves to so many insightful meanings that vary with time and space that it is unfathomable for a human author.

7. The reason highly educated people and also gang-members appear to be attractive/commanding respect is due to confidence. While gang members can get the same confidence from having a gun or knowing that he can kill people who object to his point-of-view, the educated person has a similar confidence but derived from the truthfulness of his words. He "knows", to the best of his knowledge, that what he is saying is backed with historical evidence and human wisdom. But this is so only for the truly erudite people, the people who read not just stuff related to their work, but have a more wider understanding of how the world works (social sciences!). Thus, education can *only* help create a better society if it promotes learning in all direction, not just the field of interest.

1. Forget the good things that you do in this life (so that you don’t get complacent), remember the bad things you do (to be constantly aware of when you are  repeating them)

2. What is meant by "ilm-ul-yaqeen" and "ain-ul-yaqeen" in suran kausar? Is it what I mused about sometimes that we humans have a limited understanding. What we can see is limited to our eyesight, we cant see in IR or UV, so perhaps there are other bands of seeing. Similars Knowing that Allah talks about is something beyond what we human can ever Know? Is it Knowledge that we cannot gather… no matter how much we try? How do we ever know that our minds do not have a fundamental limit? After all a dog's brain has memory and neuron, what makes us more sure that we don’t have a similar limitation (Dog's cant fathom what a computer is and how it works… but they are pretty sure about what they do know… playing dead and catching Frisbees!)

3. To create a revolution and successful change there are two attributes needed -- high intellect and drive --- generally these are very rarely found in the same person. So many revolutions owe their genesis to some very philosophical people that were not men of action, but men of words.

4. The two times (Surah Kahf and Surah Yaseen) when sangsaar (stoning) is mentioned as punishments for apostasy it is done by kufars to those who were muslims. Not mentioned in a *positive* light at all.

5. Light speed is the ultimate speed as per theory of relativity. At speed of light, there is no time. Photons exhibit this speed (see this quora answer). Allah calls himself noor. His notion of time is non-existent. Hence he doesn’t need to exist before or after time. [https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/speed-light-time-explained-quran-part-9-mahmoud-muhammad-ibrihim/?trackingId=mR9%2BvZ1jRBKNSCxKDxtMXA%3D%3D]

6. The road less taken by to ert frost is an apt analogy for the right path. By definition of difficult decisions in human life the one that is wrong is easier to take in yes of it's cost to self and self interest, but the the fork that has less people treading because it is the more difficult task, well take that to get onto the right path

7. The time spent in fardh salah is approximately 2.5% of 8hr work day (1% is 5min). This is the minimum zakat for the daily work and giving more by prayers extra makes you go into sadqa.

8. Arrogance is the true barrier to accepting Islam. ( Al-Ma'idah 5:82

   You [Prophet] are sure to find that the most hostile to the believers are the Jews and those who associate other deities with God; you are sure to find that the closest in affection towards the believers are those who say, ‘We are Christians,’ for there are among them people devoted to learning and ascetics. These people are not given to arrogance)

9. Being a good to great husband is a sure fire way to being a great leader. The skills required to manage a successful marriage are nothing short of requiring the highest form of EQ.

10. Predestination view: from a game, every day it loads the rewards we get when we spin a wheel. It seems they are random, but they were decided at start of day. But we can choose not to sping the wheel st all, or spin one or two times out of the allowed 5 times. Qadar of allah is similar... For every action we take the causal chain of reactions is predetermined. Hence while the qasar is correct in allah having omnipotence, and also we are fully liable for our choice.

11. Humbleness has perhaps the greatest benefit in allowing a person to take critique calmly and evaluate what they can do to improve on whatever kernel of truth is even the most caustic feedback. Pride on the other hand prevents you from listening to any improvement

12. In "Sapiens" author makes the point that humans have not increase intelligence over time. That would mean we were the same intelligent person as  now when the same level of intelligence, matches very perfectly with the idea of adam granted intelligence at a specific point in time as a gift.

13. In today's world with fewer opportunity of jihad in wars for Allah's will (it is not straight forward) , the jihad with your inner self is perhaps the only opportunity to reconcile and conquer your ego. Perhaps that is where we can get the status of a ghazi

14. When does information become knowledge? Exactly when a person can act on that to make a effect on their lifestyle. Related to this, When does a person become Mature? When they can use the information they have to self-reflect and adapt themselves. No one ever changes their personality completely, but information->knowledge becomes a way to use your mind to manage/control your natural impulses. THAT defines maturity. So read, understand, reflect first on yourself and then others.

15. Following Allah's instruction allow us to achieve the global maximum. When we follow just our instincts and experience our decision payoff is likely to hit a local maximum due to our limited view. Allah, with the truly global perspective due to time knows that we need to do to get to a global maximum from his omniscience. Believing in Qadar is to understand that by following Allah's instruction in the now, we are achieving global maxima for our efforts is a direct corollary

16. "Donot find hate in what people do wrong, find love in what they do right!"  -- "Do not hate people for what they do, find ways to love them for what they don't do!"

17. Remaining at the center, umat e wusata, is most difficult for all of humanity as anyone of us has a natural tendency to go towards one side. And thus all of us have to strive against our natural instinct in different ways to get to the center.

18. Quran mentions the growth of different plants from the same should and same water. I see parallel in this to humans that are part of same family or society, but each individual can grow into a different person. That growth potential in a person comes from a God given potential, and we.need to realize that in everyone, esp our kids, to believe a different plant can grow from the same environment given the internal seed that Allah has planted.

19. Learning Deen has two paths: either you find a guide (group, madhab etc) and start following it without much study of your own, or if you go the individualistic path then the onus to do deep study and follow a strict regimen of your own. The latter is clearly requiring lots of effort and discipline. Which most people won't have... So the question is then why am I taking the individualistic path?

20. Surah al inam, and in many other places in Quran, Allah gives the example of bringing us back to life by looking at rain and how that brings life back to the dead land. That gets me to think: if we as humans had NOT observed that a seed present in the ground has all the information needed to convert into a green tree /plant and needed water to make it sprout --- no scientific method would have been able to predict that a) seeds can convert into green foliage b) water is the stimulant needed. Thus for the bringing back of life, we don’t know what part of our remains have the required information to spring back --- and MOST importantly, we cannot  know the stimulant needed to bring us back to life. The parable is perfect to understand our limitation and compare the observation to the unobservable parts. (Surah qaf , 11)

21. When reading Hadith and Quran you come across appreciated characteristics of Muslim. So the question is, what should one do when trying to Listen to these characteristics. One option. Is to become overly concerned about those that. I don't have  I believe a better approach should look at those that you already possess intrinsically And then get this push that if you work more on them. You get so many benefits, so that's a positive thing approach to that part of the Quran.

22. we need to remember and recall Duas for special occasions (difficulty, family issuies, health, travel) primarily because the act of saying a Dua nearly involuntarily when we are in a situation is the true representation of "aiya.ka na Banu, wa aiya ka nastaeen"

23. The idea of excellence in your profession is to not to just become the bare functional model of your role, but make it to a level where the people interacting with that role are involuntarily praising you. This about training shoe; any simple slipper can cover your feet -- but when you go with a Nike/Addidas pureboost, the pleasure of using that shoe gives you the "wah wah " feeling --- thus that shoe is reaching excellence. This is the notion of Ehsan; in every role of life, find ways that people that interact with you (as father, son, brother, developer, PM, sales, Boss, Leader etc) -- those users are beginning to involuntarily praise you.

24. Wisdom is partly knowing what to not do or say when you have the power and acuity to say or do!

25. The notion of time dilation from special relativity clearly means that as long as an entity can go into a special state (like a photon, where it is traveling with speed of light or very close) it can appear very long time -- billions of year -- can pass in a blink of eye. Thus when people wake up at Judgement day, for all of them it would be not much different from when we passed away from the relative frame of ref on Earth. http://quran.com/10/45 , http://quran.com/23/113

26. Beware of the fury of the rightly wronged. OR those who feel righteous themselves give themselves the greatest latitude to be angry at at others as well as less inclined to consider reflection on their actions. (The blinded righteous}

27. True maturity comes when a person is able to swollow pride for sake of their principles.

28. Gratitude is like a muscle, it's not inherent, you have to learn to execute it regularly and build the