Despair

Sure, there are worse things happening around the than our personal tragedy. Worse things happen every day, but it shouldn't lead to indifference of personal turmoil. Indifference of personal turmoil leads to indifference of public turmoil.Nothing matters much. Nothing much matters. Despair sinks in and spreads its tentacles, killing all desire to grow, love, live, dream. It leaves a cold, dark emptiness behind. It reflects in the eyes, a lack of ambition and promise, a slack, plastered, shell face, a distant look in the eyes of an observer watching the passerby from a window. There is the closing of the mind, a quietness that settles in, stripping it of thoughts, words and numbing it of all feeling.

 "Verily, with every difficulty there is relief." Quran (94:5-6)

Origins of Fundamentalism

         "The term Fundamentalist originated in the context of late-19th and early-20th-centuary Christianity. As many Christians endeavored to adapt traditional beliefs to the new academic and scientific understandings of the world, others recoiled in the face of modernism and sought to defend Christian doctrines against such heresies. This segment of the Christian community focused on what they described as “the fundamentals,” including belief in the inerrancy of the Bible. For fundamentalists, the Bible offers an accurate description of science and history as well as clear guidance on morality and religious life. Their belief in the perfection of the Bible led them to reject a good deal of modern scientific thinking, most notably the theory of evolution. They maintained that a literal reading of Genesis mean the world was less than 10,000 years old. the clash between “fundamentalists” and “modernists” was dramatically played out during the famous 1925 Scopes trial in Tennessee, but it continues to live on today in places such as the Creation Museum in Kentucky.

       Most fundamentalists in the 19th centaury and today embrace the doctrines of premillennial dispensationalism, an interpretive framework that dissects Bible literally, premillennialists find all kinds of hidden meanings, hints, clues, messages that unlock prophetic secrets not readily obvious to uninitiated. This framework is constructed by selecting verses from various parts of the Bible-Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, the Gospels, Paul’s letters, and the book of Revelation, most notably- and patching the verses together for a detailed map of the end of times. According to this view, we are now very close to the end of history as we know it. Soon, Jesus will return and “rapture”the faithful up into the heavens. The Tribulation, a nightmarish period of seven years, will follow the Rapture. During this time, Satan’s agent, the Antichrist, will reign supreme and large segments of the population will be decimated. At the end of seven years, Jesus will return to defeat the Antichrist at he Battle of Armageddon in northern Israel. Jesus will then establish a thousand-year reign of peace on the earth, where Isaiah’s vision of swords made into plough shares and the lion lying down with the lamb become reality.

          In the late 1970s and 1980s, when multiple religiously inspired and powerful political movements emerged globally, journalists and some academics referred to them as “fundamentalists,” even though the specifically Christian context that defines the term poses problems when it is applied loosely in a cross-cultural way. What does it mean to talk of Islamic or Jewish fundamentalists? Is a belief in scriptural inerrancy defining component of Jews and Muslims as it is for Christian fundamentalists? the pieces don’t fit neatly. In one sense, virtually every practicing Muslim affirms the Quran as the literal, inerrant Word of God. As is true with Jwes and Christians, the diversity of interpretations of sacred scriptures within Islam is enormous. Various theological, legal, and mystical schools share this affirmation about the Quran, but come to radically different conclusions about what it teaches and what their faith requires. Further, all Muslims acknowledge that passages in the Quran can convey both a straightforward literal meaning and mystical, hidden meaning, simultaneously."

-Charles Kimball

Non-muslims in Muslim lands

       "There is little indication that non-Muslim people in the conquered territories were expected to embrace Islam. A range of factors contributed to some non-Muslims shifting allegiance to Islam, among them the compelling message of Islam, intermarriage, and the desire to share in the military, political, and economic success this movement enjoyed. For the most part, however, non-Muslims were largely free to function within their own communities, so long as they paid a specified tax (called jizya) to the ruling Muslim authorities. Numerous stories form this period attest to Umar’s generous attitude towards Jews and Christians.

        Contrary to the 21st-century view promulgated by some highly visible Christian and Muslim leaders, Islam does not teach its followers to label Jews and Christians as infidels and then seek to kill them. Quranic affirmation of the People of the Book and the attitudes and actions of Umar and other caliphs help explain how large numbers of Jews were able to live in Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Morocco, Palestine, and elsewhere for more than 1,400 years. Similarly, the presence of 15 million- 17 million indigenous Arabic speaking Christians in the Middle East today indicates a long history of accommodation and cooperation rather than constant military assault or forced conversion by the overwhelming Muslim majority.”

-Charles Kimball

Interpreting Sacred Texts

      "It is common-extremely common-to find people in all religious communities who read their sacred texts selectively. When one lifts a line here or two sentences there from the page, one can make a sacred text support literally any position or theology imaginable. The world of the 21st centruy is awash with religious leaders and obedient belivers who use sacred texts in this way. The consequence of such selective narrowness and the zealotry it reinforces is often deadly. The righteous slaughter by Christian crusaders and inquisitors as well as massacre carried out by the Baruch Goldstein at Abrahan's tomb are chilling examples.

      Muslims, like Jews and Christians, who claim asacred text face the challenges of understanding and interpreting the whole text. The ceaseless production of numerous, mulivolume commentaries on the Bible and Quran right up to this day illustrates that this process of interpretation in ongoing. It is easy enough to declare the "truth" and then find sacred texts to support the claim; it is far more daunting to wrestle with the entire text and seek to discern the meaning and contemporary application of the truths one believes are contained therein."

-Charles Kimball

Interpreting the Quran

          Although the revelation of the Quran is considered eternal, Muslims also speak about the "occasion of revelation" as a necessary component for interpreting the meaning of a given passage. In other words, many of the verses in the Quran speak directly to particular circumstances. A good illustration of an “occasion of revelation” is found at the beginning of surah 80, entitled “He frowned.” The first verses of the chapter read:

 

In the name of Allah, most benevolent, ever-merciful.

He frowned and turned away

Because a blind man came to him.

What make you think that he will not grow in virtue,

Or be admonished, and the admonition profit him?

As for the one who is not in want of any thing,

You pay full attention,

Though it is not your concern if he should not grow (in fullness)

As for him who comes to you striving (after goodness),

And is also fearful (of God),

You neglect.

Assuredly this is a reminder

For any one who desires to bear it in mind (Quran 80:1-12)

 

             According to Muslim commentators, the specific occasion for this revelation helps one to understand it in context as well as draw the larger principles being communicated. One day, during the early Meccan period, Muhammad was engaged in conversation with one of the prominent leaders of the Quraysh (the ruling tribe in Mecca). As Muhammad was speaking to persuade the man of the truth of Islam, a blind man came and asked him a question concerning the faith. The prophet was annoyed at the interruption. He frowned and turned away from the blind man. The revelation then comes that makes clear one should not judge the importance of another on the basis of the person’s appearance or status. Further, one should never turn away form another sincerely seeking to know about Islam. It is important to understand this approach to interpretation of the Quran because it helps prevent people form reading verses out of context to fortify an already established position. By establishing deeper principles, Muslims could be more flexible in applying the principles in very different times and circumstances.

Manifest Desity and U.S Politics

       “A deadly form of religiously inspired U.S government action was found under the rubric of ‘Manifest Destiny’. a 19th century view that the United States was destined by God to expand across the continent of North America in order to rule over the land from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans. Manifest Destiny under girded the efforts to secure the land that is now California, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and Oregon. Late in the century,the ideology was employed to support acquisition of Puerto Rico, Guam, Hawaii, and the Philippines. By the 20th century, presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson spoke of “America’s mission” a version of Manifest Destiny, in support of American expansionism and the need to make the world safe for democracy...

        The language maybe moving, even inspirational, to many Americans, but to those on the receiving end of this “destiny”-most notably Native Americans-the reality was extraordinarily harsh and often deadly. Pick almost any part of the continental of United States and study the history of conflict, displacement, and decimation of the native population.Genocidal policies developed on the confident belief that God’s will for America must be manifest in control of the land “from sea to shining sea”

-Charles Kimball

Learning from the past is freedom from the tyranny of the present

“A grasp of history is essential for Americans of the center who struggle to decide how much weight to assign a religious consideration in a public matter. To fail to consult the past consigns us to what might be called tyranny of the present-the mistaken idea that the crises of our own time are unprecedented and that we have to solve them without experience to guide us. Subject to such tyranny, we are more likely to take a narrow simplistic view, or to let our passions get the better of our reason. If we know, however, how those who came before us found the ways and means to surmount the difficulties of their age, we stand a far better chance of acting in the moment with perspective and measured judgment.”

-Charles Kimball

Was God kicked out of schools by the Supreme Court?

"One of the most frequently lamentations has been a mantra summarizing a decisive turning point that must be corrected: "In 1963, the Supreme Court kicked God out of the public schools” This refrain refers to the June 17, 1963, U.S Supreme Court decision in the case of Abington Township School District v. Schempp. The Supreme Court prohibited school officials from organizing or leading devotional Bible reading or prayers in public schools. The details of the ruling , which often are lost in the image evoked by the mantra, lay out thoughtful and constructive clarifications for public schools. No one is banned from bringing a Bible to school, or praying in school, or forming religious groups as long as the religious activities don’t interfere with the rights of others or the educational mission of the schools. Nor does the ruling ban the study of religion as an integral component of human history and experience. To protect the religious freedom of the students whatever their faith or beliefs might be, it does prohibit public school teachers and administrators from either promoting or denigrating religion."

-Charles Kimball

My Experience in Mecca

I shall never forget the time I stood infront of the Kaaba. I can still feel it's magnetic pull, the awe and wonder it inspired. The Kaaba, a simple black cube with golden lettering, was the pivot around which millions circumvented, like drones around a queen bee. It was the heart that pumped fresh blood, rejuvinated it's worshippers, brought back to life every voice that called for oneness of God. I felt my soul at bliss, losing myself in the river of voices. Each cell in my body praised God, each testified to His Oneness.

A Lesson In Painting.

Paint what you see, not what you know
See the abstractions that exist in nature, in realism,
the worlds contained within worlds,
of mystery and fantasy,
of illusions and distortions.
It becomes a matter of perception
Opening doors to universes.

Paint what you see, and learn the
language of nature, of Art,
immersed in millions of textures, shades,
colors and lines.
It becomes a matter of composition
of learning the many songs of nature

Paint what you see, and define your
own tools, ways that meet your own temperment
there are no rules, no laws
Paint because you feel,  and think, and cry and love.