tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post1866787949736271195..comments2023-10-04T09:50:08.070-05:00Comments on Logismoi: Free Muslim BooksAaron Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-18259098423988596972009-05-17T20:22:00.000-05:002009-05-17T20:22:00.000-05:00Anonymous> I suppose I have fared rather well w...Anonymous> I suppose I <I>have</I> fared rather well with Muslims. I’ve been nowhere near as dispassionate with Jehovah’s Witnesses, however!<br /><br />Yudhie> Thank you so much for commenting! I’m glad you like the blog. I suppose you are rather embattled there in Indonesia, and adherents of any religion are apt to behave very differently when they are a vast majority than when they are a minority toward whom there is a great deal of suspicion. Muslims in the US (or in Russia!) would be seriously hurting their cause by not being friendly. In Indonesia, they have nothing to fear. I will indeed remember you all in my prayers. (By the way, is ‘Yudhie’ your Orthodox name? If so, who is your Saint?)<br /><br />Bobbi> It’s great to hear from you! So nice to get a response from another friendly Muslim, and to know that you’re not offended. I’m also glad to get your recommendation of Gülen’s books. I only know the barest minimum about the different groups within Islam, and the way it struck me at the OCU presentation I attended was that Gülen almost seemed like he might be a bit of an oddball in the Muslim world. If that’s not the case, I’ll feel more like I’m getting the authentic deal from him. By the way, I thought your hijab post was really interesting.<br /><br />Mr Wolff> A very interesting point you’ve illustrated there. I’d forgotten that passage in Kireevsky.Aaron Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-2516878392630949642009-05-17T13:53:00.000-05:002009-05-17T13:53:00.000-05:00It is interesting that St. Ignatius has somewhat l...It is interesting that St. Ignatius has somewhat linked Islam with "rationalists in their fallen human intellect".<br /><br />This is not the first time I see an Orthodox pointing out that Islam has a rationalist basis. For example, this is what Ivan Kireyevsky said on Islam (emphasis are mine):<br /><br />http://www.geocities.com/trvalentine/orthodox/kireyevsky_culture.html<br /><br />"Reason's disintegration into particular faculties, this predominance of rationality over the other activities of the spirit, would ultimately destroy the entire edifice of European medieval civilisation; yet in the beginning it had an opposite effect, and the more one-sided it became, the quicker was the development that resulted. For such is the law of the deviation of human reason: the appearance of brilliance is accompanied by inner darkness.<br /><br />Arab civilisation evolved even more rapidly, for it was even more one-sided, though <B>it exhibited the same abstract rationalistic tendency as did medieval Europe</B>. It was easier for Muhammadan culture to turn its basic convictions into logical formalism than it was for Christian culture, which was essentially living and integral. <B>The systematic linkage of abstract concepts was the highest goal that Muhammadan intellectual consciousness of self could attain to, and it may be said to have formed the very basis of Muhammadan faith</B>. It demanded of Muhammadans only the abstract recognition of certain historical facts and the metaphysical recognition of the oneness of God, but it did not require an integrated wholeness of self-consciousness, thereby calmly allowing a disjointed human nature to persist in its unreconciled duality. It did not indicate to them the supreme purpose of being but, on the contrary, offered them a state of gross sensual pleasures, not only as the greatest reward of life on earth, but even as the highest aim of the afterlife.<br /><br />Consequently, <B>the scope of Muhammadan intellectual requirements was limited to the need for abstract logical unity, for bringing thoughts into a superficial order and correctly establishing systematic interrelations among them</B>. The supreme metaphysical problem that the inquiring Muhammadan mind could set itself — the very poetry of the Muhammadan's philosophy — consisted in evolving tangible formulas for the intangible activities of the spiritual world, in searching for the talismanic link between the laws of the supercelestial world and those of the sublunar world. Hence their passion for logic; hence their astrology, alchemy, chiromancy, and all their abstract-rationalistic and sensual-spiritual disciplines. This also explains why, although Arabs had borrowed their civilisation from Syrian East Romans and maintained close relations with the Eastern Roman Empire, they exerted almost no influence on the evolution of East Roman culture.<br /><br />Their impact on Western Europe, however, was particularly great, because they brought it the brilliance of their flourishing knowledge at the very time Europe lived in almost total ignorance. There can be no doubt that the abstract-logical tendency of their learning helped to strengthen the same tendency in European learning. And, though for only a short while, the vari-coloured stream of their talismanic speculations mingled with the dominant current of European thought. They were the first to acquaint the Latin theologians with the works of Aristotle, which first became known to them in translation from the Arabic, with Arabic commentaries — so unfamiliar to them was Greek civilisation by this time."Edward Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09298096663712855940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-6383220992975514852009-05-17T13:15:00.000-05:002009-05-17T13:15:00.000-05:00Aaron, your wife and I know each other from UCO, w...Aaron, your wife and I know each other from UCO, we both studies under Dr. Zhu. I'm Muslim and I didn't find your post offensive. We are each entitled to believe however we choose to believe. I have read several books by M. Fetullah Gulen, and I highly recommend them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-1435707429399164012009-05-17T04:17:00.000-05:002009-05-17T04:17:00.000-05:00Greetings, Aaron...
I am Yudhie from Indonesia. A...Greetings, Aaron...<br /><br />I am Yudhie from Indonesia. Actually, I have been reading your postings and this blog since about a month ago! This has been a great blessing for me! I am very enthusiastic with this blog, and hence I added this to my favorite blog list!<br /><br />And for this posting, this is very unique, and the funny thing is I can hardly find this case in Indonesia :). However I am very familiar of the 'evangelistic mission' of them, especially through marriage with young-Christians...<br /><br />Please, pray for us Indonesian Orthodox Christians... Thanks!<br /><br />Christ is risen! Kristus telah bangkit!<br />Yudhie<br />(yudikris.blogspot.com)yudikrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17224553073364977938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-80056011370268567552009-05-16T17:19:00.000-05:002009-05-16T17:19:00.000-05:00It's funny you should consider your post potential...It's funny you should consider your post potentially controversial; the thing which struck me most about it was your description of your encounters with actual muslims, which sounded uniformly cordial, causing me to question my own ability to put my criticism aside in such situations, where there was perhaps a slight undercurrent of 'proselytizing', and deal in as friendly and fair a manner as you have. While I know Islam is a false religion, and probably demonically inspired, I try to apply St. Paul's words about those who, without the law, have yet followed the law written in their hearts, to those individual muslims, who in spite of their false beliefs, yet have a true innate yearning for God, and also perhaps, live more in accord with virtue than I myself often do. I think apart from the great falsehood in Islam, conceding that there are true elements within it, and working from that basis, (with individual muslims, mind you- organized'Ecumenical' movements will only yield unhealthy compromises- may perhaps win some to Christ, and I congratulate you on being (from the sounds of it) a dispassionate witness for Christ, though perhaps not overtly, in a difficult situation. Glory to God!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-74616265411004342422009-05-16T16:29:00.000-05:002009-05-16T16:29:00.000-05:00I'm glad you liked it, Ian. I was worried this one...I'm glad you liked it, Ian. I was worried this one was going to be controversial, either with Orthodox who can't imagine why I'd own or read Muslim books, or with ecumenists or even Muslims who would stumble across it and wouldn't like the quote from St Ignatius!Aaron Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17775589009145031773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714437334790446678.post-72365138637723455122009-05-16T16:11:00.000-05:002009-05-16T16:11:00.000-05:00A busy life has meant I haven't been reading your ...A busy life has meant I haven't been reading your daily pearls as often as I'd like to, but this was a most wonderful one to come back to. I attended a "Sufi" 'concert' [for want of a better word] locally, with whiring dervishes, andn it was a fascinating experience. There are differences, I do not deny, but a bit of understanding can go some way to better and full relationships: at least I hope and pray.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com