Category: Catholicism

Resisting Happiness

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resistI woke up this morning and smiled when I remembered that I didn’t have to read any of the Qur’an this morning! So, instead of reporting on another chapter of Islamic scripture, I thought I’d write a little bit about one of the books I’m reading, Resisting Happiness by Matthew Kelly.

I’m only about six chapters through “Resisting Happiness” so far, but since we’re at the beginning of a new year, I thought it would be a good time to share the book’s central message.

Resistance

Matthew Kelly opens the book by describing what he calls “resistance”:

It’s that sluggish feeling of not wanting to do something that you know is good for you, it’s the inclination to do something that you unabashedly know is not good for you… It’s the desire and tendency to delay something you should be doing right now.

– Resisting Happiness, Chapter 1

Hopefully it’s clear why I think this subject is appropriate to discuss. We are at that time of year when everyone makes New Year resolutions which will, unfortunately, probably not last beyond February…

As with most of Mr. Kelly’s books, I’m sure his hypersensitive critics will complain about the style of this book. It doesn’t use hefty theological terms and, at least in the opening few chapters, it doesn’t identify “resistance” as “the world, the flesh and the devil”, the three enemies of the soul which are traditionally identified in Christian theology. Even though it’s not described in these terms, Mr. Kelly makes it very clear that “resistance” is to be fought and he uses imagery which should be very familiar to most Christians:

Make no mistake, resistance is your enemy. It will not quietly go away and leave you alone. You have to slay it like a dragon, and you have to slay it anew each day

– Resisting Happiness, Chapter 1

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Qur’an Cover-to-Cover: Day 25 (“Luqman” and “Sheba”)

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wise

It’s another long one today, one hundred and eighty-two verses.

Surah 31 – “Luqman” (Luqman)
The opening is fairly standard stuff…

  • Muhammad is told to warn those who lead other away from the Qur’an and Allah
  • “…those who believe and do righteous deeds  – for them are the Gardens of Pleasure”
  • Allah’s work of creation is extolled.

The title of this chapter refers to a person, “Luqman, the Wise”, an Abyssinian or Nubian slave who lived around Madyan, who was known to pre-Islamic Arabs. Muhammad is told to remind the people of when Luqman told his son “do not associate [anything] with Allah”. There then follow two ayat which comment on the two subjects raised here: care of parents and shirk. We then return to Luqman. He tells his son that Allah reveals all wrongdoings. He exhorts him to prayer, right action, patience and humility.

We turn to the subject of unbelievers, who chose to reject prophets who come with revelation and instead to follow the religious practices of their ancestors.

Muhammad is told to “not let…disbelief [of others] grieve you” since they will ultimately return to Allah: “We grant them enjoyment for a little; then We will force them to a massive punishment”. This seems rather vindictive.

The chapter ends by emphasizing that man doesn’t know the future, but Allah is all-knowing (“[Allah] knows what is in the wombs”).

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Qur’an Cover-to-Cover: Day 23 (“Those who set the ranks”)

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angels

It’s another long one today, one hundred and eighty-two verses.

Surah 37 – “Those who set the ranks” (As-Saaffat)
The chapter opens with Allah swearing by the different angels that “your God is One”.

We are then treated to a description of Heaven’s defense system. We are told that an “adornment of stars…[act] as protection against every rebellious devil [so] they may not listen to the exalted assembly [of angels]” and “are pelted from every side” by flaming meteors. I believe this is a reference to the jinn we read about earlier who eavesdrop on Heaven and report what they hear to soothsayers.

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Qur’an Cover-to-Cover: Day 22 (“Cattle”)

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cattle

Today’s chapter is a long one…one hundred and sixty-five verses…here we go…

Surah 6 – “Cattle” (Al-Anaam)
We begin with statements about Allah: how he created mankind, the heavens and the earth and how he knows all things.

Next we hear from Muhammad’s critics:

  • Some appear to have asked for Allah to send down a written scripture that they can touch (rather than simply a recitation from the mouth of a prophet). However, we are told that the critics would just dismiss it as magic.
  • Some demand an angel alongside Muhammad. We are told that, if this happened, the disbelievers would just be destroyed immediately, allowing them no chance for repentance.
  • Some questioned why the messenger of the Qur’an couldn’t have been an angel. In reply, we are told that if this had happened, Allah would have made the angel appear as a man, and this would have confused them and filled them with doubt.

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Islamic Prophets

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In my post on Surah “Hud”, I asked a question. If there have been thousands of prophets sent by Allah, why is it that we are repeatedly told about the same ones? I mean, we hear the stories of Noah, Hud, Salih, Abraham, Lot and Moses again and again…

This piqued my curiosity, so I searched for a list on the Internet of all the prophets mentioned in the Qur’an. It turns out that, in total, twenty-five are mentioned. Here they are, together with the names used for them in the Arabic text:

prophets-in-islam

Qur’an Cover-to-Cover: Day 21 (“Rock City”)

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thamud

So, I’ve made a decision… Once I reach the halfway point in the Qur’an (which should happen in a few days), I’m going to take a break from this series for a couple of weeks.

I’ve finally managed to make contact with a local Imam, so I’m hoping to meet him soon and start working through the large backlog of questions I’ve recorded about the chapters read thus far.

I’m sure that more than a few of you are getting a bit tired of the relentless posts about Isalm.  To be honest, I’m also finding that my daily reading and writing is becoming a bit of a grind. It’s time-consuming and there are some other long-overdue posts I’d much prefer to complete!

However, as I am not quite at the halfway point, today I read the chapter of the Qur’an which is rather excitingly titled “Rock City”…

Surah 15 – “Rock City” (Al-Hijr)
We open with the affirmation that this is a “clear Qur’an [i.e. recitation]”. I will no longer point out when the Qur’an’s chapters begin like this. Hitherto, I wanted to make sure that I emphasized in these notes how often the Qur’an affirms its perspicuity.

We are told that no city was ever destroyed which had not previously received a warning of imminent destruction from one of Allah’s Messengers. This will be important for the examples which we will cover later in this surah.

We hear the common objections given by the disbelievers:

  • Accusations of madness against the Messenger
  • Expectations of angels accompanying the Messenger

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