Soul Food For The Week Of 9/10/2014

Soul food is a weekly collection of verses, stories, and quotations from various traditions to meditate on and be inspired by. All verses from the Hebrew Bible, Deuterocanonical books, and New Testament, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). All verses from the Quran, unless otherwise noted, are from the MAS Abdel Haleem Translation.

Jewish

Torah

“It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

-Moses, Deuteronomy 31:8

Talmud

“Assume for yourself a master, acquire for yourself a friend, and judge every man to the side of merit.”

-Ethics Of The Fathers 1:6

Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha

“Great is truth and mighty above all things!”

-1 Esdras 4:41

Other

“God doesn’t care which is which, poor or rich.”

-Yiddish Proverb

Christian

New Testament

“Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

-Paul, Philippians 4:7

Church Fathers

“I have never gone to sleep with a grievance against anyone, and, as far as I could, I have never let anyone go to sleep with a grievance against me.”

-Abba Agathon, Sayings Of The Desert Fathers, pg.20

New Testament Apocrypha

“There was a rich person who had a great deal of money. He said, “I shall invest my money so that I may sow, reap, plant, and fill my storehouses with produce, that I may lack nothing.” These were the things he was thinking in his heart, but that very night he died. Anyone here with two ears had better listen!”

-Jesus, The Gospel of Thomas 63 SV

Other

“If you cannot be perfect, do what you can.”

-Didache

Islamic

Quran

“The believers are brothers, so make peace between your two brothers and be mindful of God, so that you may be given mercy.”

-Quran 49:10

Hadith Al-Qudsi

“Allah has written down the good deeds and the bad ones. Then He explained it [by saying that] he who has intended a good deed and has not done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as a full good deed, but if he has intended it and has done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as from ten good deeds to seven hundred times, or many times over. But if he has intended a bad deed and has not done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as a full good deed, but if he has intended it and has done it, Allah writes it down as one bad deed. It was related by al-Bukhari and Muslim.

-Hadith Al-Qudsi 16, Related by Al-Bukhari and Muslim

Hadith

“None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.”

-Al-Bukhari, Book 2, Volume 1, Hadith 12

Sufism

“Come you lost Atoms to your Centre draw,
And be the Eternal Mirror that you saw:
Rays that have wander’d into Darkness wide
Return and back into your Sun subside” 

-Farid al-Din Attar

Other

“Virtuous action does not consist in doing good to someone who has done good to you—that is merely returning a favor. Virtuous action consists in doing good [even] to those who have wronged you.”
-Jesus, Ahmad bin Hanbal

Other Wisdom

“Life, he said, is like a festival; just as some come to the festival to compete, some to ply their trade, but the best people come as spectators, so in life the slavish men go hunting for fame or gain, the philosophers for the truth.”

-Pythagoras, Diogenes Laertius, VIII,8

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”

-Maria Skłodowska-Curie

The Importance Of Muslim Unity

Before I begin I would like to point out that this is not directed at all Muslims, as there are many that already have nothing but love for their brothers and sisters from different Islamic traditions, but to those whom still remain in their ignorance and bigotry.

“We must put an end to anything which brings about any Islamic unity between the sons of the Muslims. As we have already succeeded in finishing off the Khilafah, so we must ensure that there will never arise again unity for the Muslims, whether it be intellectual or cultural unity.”

-George Curzon, former British Foreign Minister

As a Muslim when ever I read that quote I get infuriated. There has never before been any moment in history with a greater need of Muslim unity than the present moment. Yet when I think of that quote, no matter how mad I get, I realize Islam does not need any outside force to keep it divided, we do that ourselves. Sure the European nations which colonized the Islamic world divided it up into superficial states that did not exist before hand. However the problems that prevent Islamic unity are religious and theological, and these disputes are caused by Muslims.

At present moment Shia and Sunni Muslims both condemn and kill each other. The animosity between Sunni and Shia is one that has existed since atleast the Abbasid era (1258 C.E). There is a history of violence and persecution of Ahmadiyya by their Muslim brothers. More recently Hadith believers and those who do not accept the Hadith, Quranistⁱ, both denounce each other as not being real Muslims. It is not just sect against sect, it is sometimes madhhabⁱⁱ against madhhabⁱⁱⁱ. Once here in Indonesia I heard an Imam say that Muslims in North Africa don’t have fiqh because they follow the Maliki madhhab. This mentality of, “If you don’t believe just as I do you are not a Muslim, you are not my brother or sister.”, has to stop^iv.

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

-Abraham Lincoln

Sunni and Shia Muslims praying together in Iraq. Can you distinguish between the two?

The Consequences Of This Infighting

The world is no longer a collection of disconnected nations and peoples but an interconnected global community, which the Islamic world and Muslims are apart of. This is due to the advent of jet planes and the internet. People can travel from one side of the planet to the next in less than a day now and information can circle the globe with the press of a button. When something happens on one side of the planet, it can be known all over the globe almost instantly. Another reality of the modern world is: whether we like it or not, regardless of whether it is fair or not, Non-Muslims judge Islam based on our actions. Every single Muslim, no mater what sect or tradition they follow is an ambassador of Islam to the World.

Whenever one Muslim calls another Muslim, who practices a different form of Islam a disbeliever, insults them, and/or threatens them, this has far reaching consequences. As does assaulting these Muslims or vandalizing their Mosques and homes, even in the most remote lands. In this technologically advanced age of social media and news outlets, news can travel very far and fast. Nothing makes great ratings for a news story quite like violence and hate carried out by Muslims, in the West, where Islamophobia runs ramped. If a Muslim writes derogatory remarks about a fellow Muslim on the internet, it is likely to remain there permanently for all to see. Islamophobes and those who wish to discredit Islam love it when Muslims participate in this type of behavior. It gives validity to their world view.

If you live in an Islamic country or one with a Muslim majority population, you will probably not feel the effects of this type of behavior, but if you are a brother or sister who lives in North America, Europe, or any Muslim minority country you will. As a Muslim who has lived in a small town in the American Southeast, I experienced back lash from this type of behavior. I was told that I believed in a Satanic religion and that I would one day become a full fledged terrorist. When one Muslim disrespects a Muslim of a different variety, Muslim around the world feel it.

Not only does this make the lives of our brothers and sisters who live in Muslim minority countries more difficult, it also makes the work our brothers and sisters who undertake performing dawah^v more difficult as well. Anyone who has ever performed dawah, or who defends Islam from Christian missionaries and apologists, can tell you that the atrocities carried out by supposed Muslims comes up very often. Christian missionaries and apologists use such material to make Islamophobic material, to create hate among Non-Muslims, whom are not well educated, against Islam. When a Muslim disrespects another Muslim or commits acts of violence against them, he or she gives the enemies of Islam ammunition to use against us.

When a Muslim hurts another Muslim of a different sect or background, not only does he hurt that brother or sister, he hurts all Muslims, including those of their own variety, such as his own mother and father. A believer in Islam who does such things is even more Anti-Islamic than the worst Islamophobe, close minded missionary and apologist.

Benefits Of Muslim Unity

If our infighting and hatred harms our religion, then our doing the exact opposite will strengthen it. This could bring with it several benefits for both us as individual Muslims and our religion as a whole.

1. Islam’s Self Image

As I said before, we as Muslims are representatives of our religion, when people see us, they believe they see Islam. Islam is a religion of peace. Islam calls us to better our world, to help our fellow man, not just our fellow Muslims, to establish and protect justice. Yet when people see infighting in Islam, Muslim’s killing one another, it causes doubts. “How can it be a religion of peace, when they kill each other?” Fortunately the opposite is also true, when we live by Islam, and we love our fellow Muslims as ourselves, as the Prophet commanded us^vi, the image of Islam can inspire not doubt, but interest in Islam, even conversion to the faith!

Malcolm X is a prime example of the power the image of Islam has to change people’s lives. When he was first introduced to Islam, it was by the Nation of Islam, a racist, black supremest religious group. He adhered to this view for sometime, but after journeying to Mecca, where he saw equality between Muslims, despite the color of their skin, he renounced his belief in racism and embraced Sunni Islam.^vii

2. A Tighter Ummah^viii

This serves two functions, first with a tighter community we can stand together more firmly. When a crisis strikes, whether man made or natural, community and unity is a must. Members of a community must come together to support one another. As the old adage goes, there is in fact strength in numbers. A community is a lot like a forest, when a wind storm comes the trees support each other, some block the wind, others entangle their roots, but they all support each other. Thus the trees in the forest will have a better chance of surviving, than a lone tree, or disconnected tress.

Secondly with a tighter Ummah comes a more closer knit brotherhood and sisterhood of Islam. Not only can this cause us to build stronger relationships with members of the Muslim community, this can offer us great learning experiences. Though we may disagree on some issues, we agree on many as well, and we could learn how to see these commonalities from different perspectives.

The Commonalities All Muslims Share

We do disagree on some issues, such as the hadiths^ix, and these differences are important ones that we should be able to discuss freely with one another, but we also have many commonalities. These include:

1. Belief in one God Allah.

2. Belief in Muhammad (PBUH) as a prophet.

3. Acceptance of The Quran as authoritative scripture

4. Prayer

5. Fasting

6. Giving to poor

7. Pilgrimage

Can you distinguish Sufi, Shia, Quranist, Ahmadiyya, and Sunni from each other?

We don’t have to agree on everything, but we do need realize that at the core of our Islamic traditions is the same foundation. We may not disagree with these elements, but we may differ in our interpretation of them, and we need to realize and accept that. It is certainly possible to disagree with out being disagreeable.

How Can We Bring about Muslim Unity?

1. We have respect each other as Muslims

Not only must different Muslims and their beliefs be tolerated but they each must be counted as a full member of the Muslim community. More so, we as individual Muslims have to love each other as brothers and sisters in Islam, even if we do not believe the exact same way they do.

2. We have to educate ourselves

We have to educate ourselves, so that we can become more familiar with the beliefs of our brothers and sisters. The more we educate ourselves, the less alien those different from us appear. More so there is much negative, false material out there that demonizes Muslims from various Islamic tradition, this education can give us the ability to shift through this stuff and to defend each other against those that wish to divide us. When you are learning it is important to be critical of your sources. As Krister Stendahl said,

“When trying to understand another religion, you should ask the adherents of that religion and not its enemies.”^x

If you cannot find sources that meet these requirements, then seek those by neutral, mainstream, and qualified scholars^xi, but never trust anything that is written by someone that is biased against a group of people. An even better way to learn is to meet and befriend other Muslims whom come from the different Islamic traditions.

3. We have to educate our children

Just as important, if not more so, than educating ourselves, we have to educate our children. It is cliche to say, but still very true, our children are our future. More so they and their children are our extensions into the future. We need to be very mindful of their education about others, even more than we are with ours. If you befriend believers from other Islamic traditions and they have children, introduce your children to them. Their most important source of education must be from you though. Not your words but your actions. Your children must learn how to respect other Muslims from how you respect them. Be sure you set a positive example for your children to follow, for the world of tomorrow is built by our actions of today, and through our children, we will inhabit that world.

What This Does Not Mean

This does not mean you have to accept, agree with, or believe in what other Muslims, those different from you believe in. It does mean you have to respect their right to believe in it and their right to practice their form of Islam.

Lastly if you ever think about hating a fellow Muslim or if you think that a Muslim is not your brother or sister just because they do not believe and practice exactly like you, and stop and remember this

“We must put an end to anything which brings about any Islamic unity between the sons of the Muslims. As we have already succeeded in finishing off the Khilafah, so we must ensure that there will never arise again unity for the Muslims, whether it be intellectual or cultural unity.”

-George Curzon, former British Foreign Minister

iSometimes called Quran Aloners, Quran Alone Muslims, or by their detractors Hadith Rejectors.

iiA school of usual al-fiqh, which is principals of Jurisprudence

iiiThis is a new occurrence. Historically most of the Sunni schools of Madhhab respected each other and considered each to be valid. Robinson, Francis. Atlas of the Islamic World since 1500. New York, NY: Facts On File, 1982. Print. Pp 29

ivThis issue is not unique to Islam. In Judaism the Ultra-Orthodox Jews considers Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionalist Judaism not to be real Judaism. In Christianity, many evangelical and fundamentalist Christians believe that Catholic and Orthodox Christians are not really Christians and that they are idolaters.

vThe preaching of Islam to Non-Muslims to convert them

vi “None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.”, Al-Bukhari, Book 2, Volume 1, Hadith 12

viiMalcolm, X, and Alex Haley. The Autobiography of Malcolm X: With the Assistance of Alex Haley. New York: Grove Press, 1965. Print. pp. 388–393

viiiArabic for nation or community.

ixSunni and Shia do not except all of the same traditions, though there is much overlap, where as the Quran Alone Muslims do not accept any hadiths, as their name suggests..

xStendahl’s three rules of religious understanding

xiSuch as Karen Armstrong.

An Interview With Dr. Thomas McElwain

Recently I had the pleasure to interview the renowned international religious scholar and author, Dr. Thomas McElwain. He discusses his background, his work, and so much more!

Perspectives Of A Fellow Traveler: Can you tell our readers about your Educational and religious background?

Dr. Thomas McElwain: I was educated in Seventh-day Adventist schools from the first grade to the end of college, except for the sixth grade. Monterey Bay Academy in California, Antillian College in Puerto Rico, and Séminaire Adventiste in Collonges, France. Then summer school in Andrews University. I then studied Ethnography in Uppsala University in Sweden through the doctoral level, but did not present a dissertation. Instead, I went to Stockholm and studied Comparative Religion under Åke Hultkrantz and finished a Ph.D. with a dissertation on Iroquois mythology. I completed the grade of docent in Stockholm in 1981. That’s it for education. My parents were Seventh-day Adventists, but I left that as soon as I got old enough to think for myself. My grandmothers were very influential. My mother’s mother had a Quaker background that influenced me highly, especially through the Hicksite tradition and finally back to Edward Elwall, who was a Sufi from a Turkish order. My father’s mother was a Baptist, but whose father was a Sufi as well. She was a vigorous admirer of Imam Khomeini. These two women were the most influential people in my religious world. That’s it in a nutshell. I’m sort of a Quaker hard-shell Baptist Sufi who has practiced Islam for several decades. Just like Edward Elwall, except I don’t wear a turban or 18th-century Turkish dress.

POAFT: What exactly is the Beloved and I?

Dr. McElwain: The Beloved and I is a rhymed verse translation (to the extent I’ve been able to translate from the Hebrew, Greek and Arabic) of the wider canon of the Bible, books of Enoch and Jubilees, apocryphal gospels and Qur’an, all armed with about 8000 commentaries in a verse form combining features of the sonnet and the ghazel. It is a contemplation of the “I” from a Sufi perspective, which may be claiming too much. It takes something approaching a fool or an idiot to need two and a third million words to fail to explain what the English word “I” means. I have written other books, both academic and apologetic, prose as well as verse.

The Beloved and I

POAFT: Not everybody makes a translation of The Bible nor of the Qur’an, to the best of my knowledge no one has ever done both. More so they have never, in their entirety, been included in the same anthology. In addition, you have included a few of the most important works of the Apocrypha and Psuedipigraphia of The Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and of the New Testament Apocrypha, What was your inspiration?

Dr. McElwain: To my knowledge, no one has every set either one to rhymed verse either. So my inspiration was probably a lame attempt to get into the Guiness book of records. That must be it, because I surely did not have the temerity to imagine that anyone would ever read all of that. I must admit with humility, however, that a few people actually have. Actually, it was inspired by the practical need of producing a weekly reading for the dhikr in which I participate each week.

POAFT: Of The Texts not included in the Bible, why did you chose these to include as opposed to the countless others?

Dr. McElwain: chose all of the texts in function of one criterion: the text must state or imply adherence to the Decalogue [Ten commandments]. I see the Decalogue as a brief and comprehensive expression of Abrahamic faith. It is the only such text in all of the classical scriptures of the world that claims to have been spoken by God directly to a large, representative segment of humanity, without the medium of an angel, prophet, or vision. That gives it an objective distinction. So I have used it as a criterion or rule of thumb. Obviously, I have not been able to include all texts that might fit the criterion. But I think all that I have included do so. The first “commandment” I find to be fundamental, from which all else is derived: Thou shalt have no other gods but Me. I think that the principles of the Decalogue are foundational to all religious traditions, though all of them might not affirm everything in the Decalogue of Exodus 20. All religions prohibit murder, thievery, false testimony, etc.

POAFT: Is there any benefit to studying these texts together?

Dr. McElwain: Both believers and scholars have tended to focus on their differences. This is a skewing of reality. There has to be a fundamental consistency at some level, or they would never have been compiled together in the one book of the Bible, nor would the Qur’an have referred to the earlier Scriptures in confirmation of its own validity. It seems strange to me that this obvious fact is rather often ignored. Study of these texts in view of finding such fundamental consistency and focusing on it ought to contribute to both understanding other people and their faiths and fostering peaceful existence among them.

POAFT: Have you received any criticism for grouping these texts together?

Dr. McElwain: Yes. I’ve lost all my friends!

POAFT: Is there any text not currently in The Beloved and I that you would like to add to it?

Dr. McElwain: Yes. The Gospel of Barnabas. The battle of the books, which I earlier saw as serving at least some good purpose in keeping controversy focused on texts rather than killing each other, has not succeeded in keeping peace. Physical violence between so-called Muslims and so-called Christians has increased. Given the recent events in the world, I think the recognition that The Beloved and I gives to the common foundations of humanity is more acutely important than ever. The defense of one segment of the Abrahamic Scriptures, coupled with an attack on another segment of them, is misguided and contributes to an atmosphere of suspicion and eventually physical violence. It is unacceptable. My refusal to engage in anti-Bible or anti-Qur’an activity has aroused some opposition and hatred. I do not for a moment see myself as a victim or a failure. It is a simple fact that I lost my Christian or Baptist audience when I wrote Islam in the Bible. I lost my Muslim audience when I wrote The Beloved and I, even though it consistently supports Islamic views. My work does not support the general trend towards polarization and violence, and for that reason is not popular or even acceptable today. That may or may not change in future. I have done my duty and am satisfied.

POAFT: Why do you think people are attracted to polarization and violence?

Dr. McElwain: The surface reason is because of business interests determining government policy and the need to manipulate the population to accept that. The fundamental reason of course lies in a spiritual issue. The spiritual issue is the fact that God has given the divine gift of self-consciousness to each individual. That results in either experiencing oneself as god and feeling threatened by other people or in seeing the divine in every other individual. The former experience is the root of all violence.

A young Dr. McElwain

POAFT: From my experiences with languages I know that between two languages there are rarely word for word equivalents. Translating is no easy task, and translating is largely interpretation. Would you agree with this?

Dr. McElwain: Definitely. That is why I think Jews and Muslims are wise to maintain the original-language recitation of Scripture, and Christians unwise to relinquish it.

POAFT: Can you describe how much more difficult it is to translate something into poetry than prose?

Dr. McElwain: I think it depends on the person. The craft of versification can be acquired by anyone, but it must be acquired. I actually expected versification to be a greater challenge than it was. My translation of the Bible into verse is often actually more literal and word-for-word faithful to the original than most modern prose translations.

POAFT: How long did it take to complete The Beloved and I?

Dr.. Mc. Elwain: Nine and a half years.

POAFT: What are some of your favorite verses from the Beloved and I?

Dr. McElwain: Surah 1 Al-Fatihah or the Opening

1 In the name of God most gracious, merciful,

2 All praise is God’s, Lord of the Universe,

3 Most gracious Lord and Lord most merciful,

4 King of the Day of judgement, 5 we rehearse

To You alone our worship and petition.

6 Guide us, O Lord, in Your right admonition,

7 In ways of peace in Your bounties’ fruition,

Not in their path who know Your wrath

Nor in their way whose steps go to perdition.

Surah 112 Al-Ikhlas, or Purity (of Faith)

In the name of God Most Gracious, Merciful.

1 Proclaim alone He God is one.

2 God without need of anyone.

3 He is not born, He sires no son,

4 There is none like him, no, not one.

[Commentary To Surah 112]

Truly, my Beloved, there is none like You!

The One and Only, Allah Allah Huu!

Eternal, Absolute, in need of none,

Truly, my Beloved, You alone are One!

For You give birth to nothing I may know,

In You there is no change, no come and go,

You have no birth, You have no source at all,

Time, place, inside or out the earthly ball.

Creation is an idol if by it

I might attempt to give You space or fit.

No weight or colour, sequence, sour or sweet

Can touch Your essence, trace Your hands and feet.

Invisible to eye and mind above,

I cannot know You, I can only love.

POAFT: Other than The Beloved and I, what are some of your favorite English translations of the Bible, The Quran, and the Other texts? And what is it about these that you like?

Dr. McElwain: I like the elevated language of the King James Version of the Bible. For the same reason I like Pickthall’s translation of the Qur’an.

POAFT: You have also authored several more books have you not? what are they?

Dr. McElwain: Islam in the Bible, London Lectures, Secret Treasures of Salaat, Invitation to Islam are some apologetic works that come to mind. I recently did Psalms in Brief. Academic books are Mythological Tales and the Allegany Seneca; Our Kind of People; and Adventism and Ellen White. I have pretty much turned away from public dialogue in recent years, as any discourse at all seems to feed violence in the present atmosphere. I do dhikr and wait for change. May Allah have mercy on the world, since humankind does not.

POAFT: Unfortunately I have not read all of your work, but I have read your Islam in the Bible. I knew Judaism, Christianity, and Islam was linked and as a Muslim I believe that God sent prophets to teach his message long before the advent of the prophet Muhammad. I was also aware of the practices of ancient Israel. However, it did not dawn on me that there was overlap between their practices and the pillars of Islam, other than the belief in strict monotheism. Is it common for people not to see this? If So why do you think it is?

Dr. McElwain: Jews are generally aware of this, while Christians are not. I suspect it has something to do with the Christian habit of reading the Hebrew Scriptures allegorically and not taking the literal meaning seriously. They would be likely to skip over the literal similarities, then, as most of them are in the Hebrew Scriptures, or the Old Testament, as it is called.

Islam In The Bible

POAFT: What inspired you to write Islam In The Bible?

Dr. McElwain: I was asked to lecture about the Bible in various Islamic venues in several countries. I used the material from those lectures then to produce the book.

POAFT: Do you think it is possible to be a practicing Muslim and to read and study the Bible?

Dr. McElwain: It is possible to be a practicing Muslim and study and read all of the classical religious books of the world. Al-Biruni is certainly one of the major founders of the science of comparative religion, which is thus to be considered an Islamic science. The fact that comparative religion is no longer seen as an Islamic science merely shows that current Islam is deficient and no long represents the original flowering of the faith. This is precisely one of the central flaws of contemporary Islam.

But the Bible is the most important pre-Islamic source for Muslims. The Bible was read and studied by Islamic scholars in all of the medieval Islamic empires as well as in the Ottoman Empire, where a knowledge of the Bible was required of high level clerics. Probably one of the best translations of the Bible into any language is that of Ali Bey, who was a revert and functionary in the Ottoman Empire. His translation, with some adjustment, was used by Christians until recently. The Evangelical translation into Turkish that is now replacing it is noticeably inferior. One of the major changes is the replacement of the Ottoman Turkish word Allah with Tanri. This feeds the abusive and divisive trend in current discourse which maintains that Allah has nothing to do with the God of the Bible and is merely a pagan moon god. Using Bible translation to affirm such nonsense is immoral.

POAFT: Does studying the Bible benefit Muslims in any way?

Dr. McElwain: It provides them with a realization of the continuity of revealed faith. It also provides the foundation upon which the Qur’an stands. Much of the Qur’an is a commentary or an extension of the Bible. Without a knowledge of the Bible, much of the Qur’an is subject to misapprehension.

POAFT: Do you think Jews and Christians should read the Qur’an? If so do you believe it is beneficial for them in any way?

Dr. McElwain: It is certainly beneficial for them, if they read it with the intention of discovering what Islam teaches. If they read it with the intention of finding excuses to incite genocide against the Muslim population, then they had better not read it. Reading the Qur’an without malice can only be beneficial.

POAFT: Does studying the Apocryphal Books and Psuedepigraphia have any benefits for Jews, Christians, and Muslims?

Dr. McElwain: There are two major benefits. The Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphical writings illuminate history and the faith configurations of the times in which they were written. Secondly, they are often very spiritual in content and provide real devotional material. For example, the Gospel of Barnabas, is a case in point. It is generally read either to disprove it and show it to be a fraud, or to prove that Muhammad was predicted before hand or to prove that Jesus did not die on the cross. I have never seen anyone quoting it for any other purpose. And yet, it contains a great deal of material of the highest spiritual quality. I would say that hardly any other single writing has impressed me so much in a practical way as this book.

POAFT: I have started reading your translation of The Writings of Edward Elwall. He seems like a very interesting fellow. Can you describe who he was for our readers and tell us what inspired you to translate his work?

Dr. McElwain: Actually, it is not a translation, but simply a copy. I visited the Dr Williams’s Library in London where most of his writings are found. I copied them into a computer file and finally posted them on the internet, where people could access them. Edward Elwall has been rather much my mentor for a long time. He is listed as a Unitarian Quaker who lived at the beginning of the 1700s, but he was also a member, apparently of the Mill Yard Sabbatarian Baptist Society in London and the Presbyterian church in Wolverhampton. But he belonged to a Turkish dervish order and commonly wore a turban and Turkish dress.

POAFT: Is there any subject you would like to write about one day that you have not yet written?

Dr. McElwain: Rather many! I’d like to write an acrostic on the Vulgata, every letter forming the first letter of each line of rhymed verse! I wonder how long it would take… (laughs)!

POAFT: (laughs) All of your works are available online, one can purchase a printed edition or get a pdf copy for free right?

Dr. McElwain: That’s right, although I’ve had complaints about not being able to download. In that case, I just send people a pdf file.

POAFT: Thank you very much Dr. McElwain for taking the time to talk with me, it is always a pleasure to talk with you. I hope we can do it again soon.

Dr. McElwain: My pleasure!

Once again I would like to thank Dr. McElwain for his time. Be sure to check out Dr. McElwain’s work and get your copy of The Beloved and I at http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/thomasmcelwain

The Day Of Resurrection: A Modern Adaptation Of Hadith Qudsi 18 And Matthew 25:41-45

I wrote the following back in the Spring of 2012, after coming across the aforementioned passages in Hadith Al-Qudsi and The Gospel of Matthew. Though it is short, I attempted to adapt the passages to the current times and situations myself, my family, and my community were facing. Drug addiction, especially heroine addiction, was, and unfortunately still is a major problem both my family and home town face. This is not the fault of the addicts, this is the fault of the dealers whom take advantage of their sickness, they are in effect modern day slave masters and the addicts, slaves. They cause much suffering to both the addicts, their families, and communities. At the same time several of my close friends and myself were facing relationship troubles with both love interests and people who claimed to be our friends. The common theme here is using people and exploiting them. All people are ends in themselves, not means to an end. When someone is being exploited they are no longer treated as a person, but objects to help the exploiter reach their goal. Though the injustice in this world may seem great at times and those whom cause injustice may seem and feel invincible, this is not to last. Their injustice will one day come to an end and they will be served justice, either in this world or on the Day Of Judgement. This Justice on the Day of Judgement is the subject of this adaptation. 

“On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: Allah (mighty and sublime be He) will say on the Day of Resurrection: O son of Adam, I fell ill and you visited Me not. He will say: O Lord, and how should I visit You when You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: Did you not know that My servant So-and-so had fallen ill and you visited him not? Did you not know that had you visited him you would have found Me with him? O son of Adam, I asked you for food and you fed Me not. He will say: O Lord, and how should I feed You when You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: Did you not know that My servant So-and so asked you for food and you fed him not? Did you not know that had you fed him you would surely have found that (the reward for doing so) with Me? O son of Adam, I asked you to give Me to drink and you gave Me not to drink. He will say: O Lord, how should I give You to drink when You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: My servant So-and-so asked you to give him to drink and you gave him not to drink. Had you given him to drink you would have surely found that with Me.”
-Hadith Qudsi 18, related by Muslim

“Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’”

-Matthew 25: 41-45 (NRSV)

The Modern Adaptation

Remember to treat your fellow man well and do not use one another, for one day there will come a day
of severe judgment. On this day your brothers, sisters, parents, children, lovers, family, and friends will
abandon you. On this day you will go before God, the owner of the Day of Judgment. He will say,
“Why did you use me?”

And you will say, “My Lord when did I ever meet you to use you?”

And God will say, “I was your former lover whom you used to make others jealous, whom you used as a back up
plan, whom you used for sex, whom you used for money. I was the sick heroin addict whom you exploited to make money, whose life and family you destroyed, whom you made to cause his children to go without food, whom you made steal from his Mother, whom you caused to overdose. You were my fair weather friend.”

Then you will say, “When did I ever mistreat you?”

God will respond, “I was the poor beggar whom you refused to give money to because you said I would use it to buy drugs, even though you had never met me nor knew anything about me. I was the lover you lead on, I was the person you hated. I sent a prophet to every nation, from Adam to Muhammad to show you how to live, yet you did not take heed. Depart from me into the fire.”

Soul Food For The Week Of 8/20/2014 Helping The Poor

Soul Food is a weekly collection of verses, stories, and quotes from various traditions to meditate on. All verses from the Bible, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). All verses from the Quran, unless otherwise noted, are from the MAS Abdel Haleem Translation.

Jewish

Torah
“If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, you shall not deal with them as a creditor; you shall not exact interest from them. If you take your neighbor’s cloak in pawn, you shall restore it before the sun goes down; for it may be your neighbor’s only clothing to use as cover; in what else shall that person sleep? And if your neighbor cries out to me, I will listen, for I am compassionate.”
-Exodus 22:25-27

Talmud
“Let your home be wide open, and let the poor be members of your household.”
-Ethics of The Fathers 3

Pseudepigrapha
“Stretch out your hands to the poor according to your strength. Hide not your silver in the earth. Help
the faithful man in affliction, and affliction will not find you in the time of your trouble.”
-Enoch, 2 Enoch or The Book Of the Secrets Of Enoch 51:1-3

Other
“Anticipate charity by preventing poverty.”
-Maimonides

Christian

New Testament
“They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was eager to do.”
-Galatians 2:10

Church Fathers
‘What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.”
-St. Augustine

New Testament Apocrypha
“Speak the truth to those who seek it,
And speak of understanding to those who have
committed sin through error;
Strengthen the feet of those who have stumbled;
Extend your hands to those who are sick;
Feed those who are hungry;
Give rest to those who are weary;
And raise up those who wish to rise.”
-Gospel of Truth 32:35-33:30

Other
“Having, first, gained all you can, and, secondly saved all you can, then give all you can.”
-John Wesley, “The Use of Money”

Islamic

Quran
“You yourself were in the same position [once], but God was gracious to you, so be careful: God is fully aware of what you do.”
-Quran 4:94

Hadith Al-Qudsi
“On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: Allah (mighty and sublime be He) will say on the Day of Resurrection: O son of Adam, I fell ill and you visited Me not. He will say: O Lord, and how should I visit You when You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: Did you not know that My servant So-and-so had fallen ill and you visited him not? Did you not know that had you visited him you would have found Me with him? O son of Adam, I asked you for food and you fed Me not. He will say: O Lord, and how should I feed You when You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: Did you not know that My servant So-and so asked you for food and you fed him not? Did you not know that had you fed him you would surely have found that (the reward for doing so) with Me? O son of Adam, I asked you to give Me to drink and you gave Me not to drink. He will say: O Lord, how should I give You to drink when You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: My servant So-and-so asked you to give him to drink and you gave him not to drink. Had you given him to drink you would have surely found that with Me.”
-Muhammad, Hadith Qudsi 18, related by Muslim

Hadith
A man asked the Messenger of Allāh, peace and blessings of Allāh be on him, what kind of deeds or what qualities of Islām are the best?
He said:
“That you feed (the poor) and offer salutation to whom you know and whom you do not know.”
-Hadith Of Bukhari 1.11

Sufism
He will deal harshly by a stranger who has not been himself often a traveler and stranger.
-Sa’di, Gulistan, 3, 28

Other

“Three worldly things have been made dear to me: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and reading the Qur’an.”

-‘Uthman Ibn ‘Affan (radi Allahu ‘anhu)

Ancient Wisdom
“Fools don’t praise generosity; misers don’t go to the world of the gods. The wise rejoice in generosity and so finds happiness in the hereafter.”
-Buddha, Dhammapada verse 177

“If you, from your whole heart, give your bread to the hungry, the gift is small, but the willingness is great with God.”
-The Sentences of Sextus 379

A General Letter of Encouragement To Anyone Facing Hard Times and Distress

I originally wrote the following letter to one of my close family members whom was currently incarcerated in December of 2012 or January 2013. Once he got out he explained to me how helpful and encouraging it was to him, and because of that I believe that others whom are facing difficulties may find encouragement and inspiration in this letter. 

“Don’t let your difficulties fill you with anxiety, after all, it is only in the darkest nights that the stars shine more brilliantly”

-Ali Ibn Abi Thalib

Do not let your current situation get you down, no mater how dark things may get, do not let your situation bring you down, fore your situation will show you what you are really like. None of us can control what happens to us in life, however we can control how we respond to the situation, and it is our thoughts, actions, and motivations that determine who we are. When you get through this situation, you will take this experience with you for the rest of your life. When ever something bad happend, from now on you will have the experience and patience to deal with it from this situation.

“Smooth seas don’t make skilled sailors.”

-Ethiopian Proverb

Things may seem difficult at times, but God never promised us life would be easy, he said it would be difficult. All of God’s favored servants and Prophets endured hardships. Abraham wrestled with his wife’s infertility, Moses had to face the trails and tribulations of the bondage of his people, David had to face a giant, Jesus was plotted against, and Muhammad had been the target of an assination attempt. If these individuals, whom were favored by God had a difficult life, should us ordinary people not expect atleast the same?

“Do you think you will enter the Garden without first having suffered like those who passed away before you?”

-Quran 2:214

Yet God promises us that it will not be more difficult than we can stand. 

“God does not burden any soul with more than it can bear.”

-Quran 2:286

“No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.”

-Paul, 1 Corinthians 10:13

Be patiant and endure in your situation. Be like an ox pulling a heavy load through the mud, though it is tired, though it is constantly getting stuck, and though the load is heavy, the ox never stops looking forward and never stops moving.

” It is the part of a brave combatant to be wounded, and yet overcome. But especially we ought to endure all things for God’s sake, that he may bear with us.”

-Ignatius, The Epistle of Ignatius to Polycarp 1:14

Perhaps you will be like Jospeph (Yusuf, Yosef), maybe something good will come out of this. He was sold into slavery by his brothers and unjustly put into prision, yet because of these two events he became the second most powerful man in Egypt. Your situation maybe similar to how a pearl is made. An oyester sits at the bottom of the ocean, and because of this, sand enters it. The sand irritates the oyester, but the oyester secretes nacre, a substance that eases the pain. Over time this mixture of nacre and sand creates a pearl, yet without no pain, there could be no pearl.

Remember that God is in control and that he is both all powerful and all merciful. Everything that happens to us, even suffering is an act of God’s mercy. 

“A story is told about the saintly Rabbi Yisrael of Rizhin. A man came to him complaining about the Suffering that he endured in his daily life. The Rizhiner Rav consoled him by telling of a Jew who had come before the Heavenly Court for Judgment after his death. His Mitzvos (Merits) and Aveiros (Sins) were placed on the Scale of Justice but, unfortunately, his Aveiros outweighed his Mitzvos and he was to be sentenced to Gehinom (Hell). Then an Angel of Mercy came forward and testified: ‘This man endured much pain in his lifetime, and this should be taken into account.’ Then all the Suffering that he had borne was placed on the Scale together with his Mitzvos, and slowly but surely, the Merit side of the Scale began to descend. It inched down slowly, but fell slightly short. As the man was lead away to Gehinom, he cried out: ‘HaShem (God), You are a Merciful Father! Why couldn’t You give me just a little more Suffering?'”

I scencerly hope and pray that in these words you find comfort and meaning to weather what ever storm you may be facing. May the Peace and Blessings of God be upon you.