"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
A few weeks ago I wrote a post about Patricia Sandoval and I compared her to Abby Johnson, but it occurred to me afterwards that, although her story is quite well known, not everyone may be familiar with it. Today I would like to rectify this by sharing her interview of The Journey Home:
Now that I’ve built a preliminary glossary of Islamic terms, it’s time to read some more chapters of the Qur’an! Today I’m reading suwar 106, 101, 75, 104, 77, 50 and 90.
Surah 106 – “Winter” (Quraish)
This chapter addresses the Quraysh the tribe who dwell in Mecca. Allah says that because of the blessing He has given them, they should worship Him.
Questions
Q1. In what sense is the Ka’bah Allah’s “House”? Does he dwell there in any special sense as Yahweh did in the Jerusalem Temple?
If you regularly read this blog, you’ll know that at the moment I’m reading through the Qur’an, chapter by chapter. Each day I have been posting a brief entry discussing the material I’ve read that day. I’ve also been recording my questions about the text which I will ask when I meet one of the local San Diego Imams.
Since these posts contain words from Islam which may be unfamiliar to many Christians, this blog entry will act as a glossary of terms. I’ll be updating this post as I continue my reading each day.
UPDATE: Since this glossary is starting to get a little big, I’ve going to put the more obscure glossary items in a lighter font so that it’s easier to see which terms are more important.
Another day, another collection from the Qur’an…
Surah 112 -“The Purity of faith” (Al-Ikhlas)
In the hadith (collections of stories about Muhammad’s life), Muhammad said that this surah is equivalent to a whole third of the Qur’an. It asserts tawhid (Islamic monotheism), saying “He is Allah, [who is] One”, but also appears to specifically challenge Christianity and Jesus as the status of the only begotten Son of God (“He neither begets nor is born”).
Questions
Q1. Would you agree that “He neither begets nor is born” is a statement referring to the Christian belief that Jesus is the Son of God?
It has been a while since I’ve posted a debate between a Christian and Atheist. This is one which took place a couple of months ago between David Wood and Michael Shermer:
Continuing through the Qur’an, today I read the following chapters:
Surah 108 – “Abundance” (Al-Kauther)
A three-verse chapter in which Allah tells Muhammad that He has granted him the most abundant good and cut off Muhammad’s enemies from good things in this life and the next.
Questions
Q1. Muhammad is told to “offer sacrifice to [Allah alone]”. What sacrifices did Muhammad offer?
I’ve been getting through lots of books recently. I’ve been intending to write reviews for each of them, but have been procrastinating. Therefore, over the next few days I will be publishing a review for each of the books I have recently read.
Today I’d like to begin by talking about “The Way of a Pilgrim”. This review is also published on Amazon.com.
This book is well-known in eastern Christian circles and had been recommended to me by Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic friends for several years, but I somehow never never quite managed to find the time to read it.
However, soon after returning to San Diego last month, it was announced that my parish would be beginning a study of this book during the Advent season. This gave me the extra bit of motivation I needed to buy this book and was subsequently very quickly hooked, finishing it in just a few days. Here’s how the book begins:
“By the grace of God I am a Christian, by my deeds a great sinner, and by my calling a homeless wanderer of humblest origin, roaming from place to place”
– The Way of the Pilgrim
I’m sure you can understand why this Restless Pilgrim loved these opening words!