An extract from TALIMAT about Mir Dammad, Mullah Sadra and Al-Majlisi

RELATED: An Anthology on the concept of Wilayat al-Faqih, Approaches to Shariah, Brief Resume of Muslim History

Exploring ….. Mir Dammad and Mullah Sadra

Mir Muhammad Baqir Astarbadi (d.1631/32), an Ithna Ashari scholar known as Mir Dammad is famed as the founder of the hikmat Illahi School of philosophy. Mir Dammad was often referred to by scholars as the ’Third Teacher”, the first being Aristotle and the second being Al Farabi. Mir Dammad was highly esteemed by Twelver theologians and the jurors. He is also well known for being one the teachers of Sadr al- Din Shirazi, also known as Mullah Sadra.

Mullah Sadra is considered to be one of the most influential Shia Muslim thinkers. He was particularly interested in understanding hikmat, gnostic interpretations of the various doctrines of the faith. His esoteric views often caused him difficultly with religious scholars who stressed the exoteric aspects of faith.

Mulla Sadra’s thought combined elements from several existing systems, including Aristotelian logic, Ibne Sina’s metaphysics, and Sufi mysticism, in addition to Shia Twelver theology. He tried to unify in his philosophy, the three parts of revelation, reason and purification of the soul.

A story is told of the conversation in which Mulla Sadra asked Mr Damad was respected by all the religious scholars while he [Mulla Sadra] was attacked. Mir Damad answered that although they were both saying the same thing, he hid ideas within so many difficult expressions that only the elite would be able to understand. Mulla Sadra, on the other hand, wrote so clearly that anyone with knowledge of Arabic would be able to follow the trend of his ideas [and could therefore challenge him].

·       Which influences are reflected in Mulla Sadra’s philosophy?

·       In your view, why did Mulla Sadra seek to unite the different perspectives?

Exploring ….. Al-Majlisi

One of the most influential Ithna Ashari clerics of his time, and a proponent of the Usuli school of thought, was Muhammad Baqir al- majlisi (d.1698). He studied under several prominent teachers, including Mulla Sadra, and was appointed as the Shaykh al- Islam. He was responsible for consolidating a Shia Twelver hierarchy of religious experts and bringing the state under the direction of legal scholars.

Al-Majlisi was considered to be the first Mulla bashi, the most excellent and most learned scholar’ of the age. As a result, he was patronized by the court and received financial assistance for his prolific writings, including works on engineering and ethics. His most famous work, Bihar al-anwar (Seas of Lights) is a vast encyclopedia of Shia Twelver Islam. Al-Majlisi maintained clearly that the Imams were the ultimate sources of knowledge on doctrine and practice, and as a result challenged all other souces of doctrinal knowledge.

Al-Majlisi was known for his defence of the legal rulings of the mujtahids and the official institutions. It led to an increased persecution of those who did not conform to these rulings. Among those persecuted were Sufi shaykhs, philosophers, messianic figures, and minority communities.

New post on TIME

After Christchurch, Here’s How We Can End Hate Speech and Islamophobia

by nbajekal

Racists and bigots believe that diverse societies don’t work. Frustrated that their howling at the moon wasn’t enough, they’re now picking up weapons in an attempt to prove themselves right.
We can’t keep expressing shock and then moving on until the next outrage. We watched in astonished horror last year when a white supremacist entered a synagogue in Pittsburgh and shot dead 11 worshippers. And yet after the initial horror, the world carried on like before.
These haters are destabilizing our societies and concerted action needs to be taken before things get even worse.
To be clear, this isn’t just about Western societies. For many Muslims, the attacks on March 15 on Christchurch mosques that left 50 dead, represent just a tiny part of a global rising tide of anti-Muslim bigotry perpetrated by insecure majorities. From east to west, there are countless examples.
In Myanmar, decades of hate speech and persecution culminated in 2017 with over 700,000 predominantly Muslim Rohingya having to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh after a vicious campaign of ethnic cleansing. The implicated military in Myanmar has been given plenty of diplomatic cover by China, whose authorities are currently holding up to 1 million Uighurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups in euphemistically titled “transformation-through-education” camps in Xinjiang. It’s one of the stories of our age, subjugation on an epic scale.
Meanwhile, India’s historic multi-faith character has taken a hit under the leadership of Narendra Modi, a man who was chief minister during the 2002 Gujarat pogrom, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Muslims. His brand of Hindu nationalism has led to divisiveness rather than unity, leading to growing phenomena such as “cow-related violence”.
Many politicians across Europe have been gaining ground by peddling anti-Muslim messages. France’s Marine Le Pen compared Muslims spilling onto pavements from packed mosques after Friday prayers to Nazi occupiers. A key message of the Brexit campaign was the “threat” of Turkey joining the EU. Arch pro-Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage once accused British Muslims of having “split loyalties”.
The biggest beneficiary of ballot box Islamophobia though is Donald Trump with his campaign promise of a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” He said that this ban would stay in place until the country's representatives “can figure out what the hell is going on”. Trump arrived on the back of a generation of Islamophobia that went hand-in-hand with the controversial wars in Afghanistan and Iraq—wars that resulted in the still barely acknowledged deaths of hundreds of thousands of Muslims.
When the global picture is this grim, it’s little wonder that many Muslims feel embattled. Especially when they are also being told that despite these tragic numbers, they are actually the aggressors.
This is not, however, a religious conflict. The millions of Muslims who have lost their lives, been put in detention, or repressed in other multifaceted ways, have not been treated this way as part of a religious war. These are not the new crusades. The perpetrators are too diverse and too disparate for this to be case. So are the victims. Christians are also repressed in China, Pakistan and Indonesia. Christian and Muslim Palestinians face violence and discrimination every day in the context of Israel’s occupation of their territory. France and Germany reported disturbingly sharp rises in anti-Semitism last year; who can forget the distressing images of swastikas daubed across graves in Jewish cemeteries in Herrlisheim and Quatzenheim in eastern France? In light of the evidence, a "War on Islam" thesis doesn’t add up.
This is about how nation states treat their minorities. In this respect, Muslim-majority states are also often found wanting. Infamously there are no churches in Saudi Arabia. Given these circumstances, it was no surprise to see Saudi Arabia’s crown prince giving endorsement to China’s treatment of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.
Harmony isn’t going to be achieved if only we had more interfaith dialogue and more mosque open days. Tackling this threat effectively requires a radical rethink about how we talk about freedom, equality and respect for all.
The strength of a nation lies in how well you treat all your people. It’s a mark of strength when you celebrate everyone who lives alongside you. We move forward when everyone has the freedom to live their lives as they wish, to contribute to their society as they see fit, and to be the people they want to be.
I grew up in Scotland and am proud of my nationality and my faith. We used to say that it takes many different colored threads to make tartan, just as it takes many different types of people to make Scotland. Every culture around the world must find their language to bring people together, rather than to drive them apart. In 1945, the Nazis were defeated through war. This time, we’ll beat the haters through the force of our love, compassion and shared humanity.

FLOATING HYDROELECTRIC GENERATOR AND PUMPING STATION

RELATED: CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT, SELF HELP, ROAD-MAP, HUNZA POWER SUPPLY COMPANY, ClimatLaunchpad

Concrete Proposal towards “Hunza Power Supply Company”

إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّىٰ يُغَيِّرُوا مَا بِأَنفُسِهِمْ
خدا کسی قوم کو نہیں بدلتا جب تک کہ وہ اپنی حالت کو نہ بدلے

HISAMULLAH BEG·FRIDAY, 8 MARCH 2019

For the attention of GB government:

FLOATING HYDROELECTRIC GENERATOR AND PUMPING STATION:
Following link demonstrates the operation of this indigenously designed generator to produce cheap and sustainable energy directly from slow moving water in rivelets, rivers and canals throughout Pakistan. SEE: SDG-7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tnjimBAgQA
It produces cheap electricity for the region and beyond through technology implementable at village level, at the same time meant for pumping water to irrigate barren land all over GB thus creating a potential for poverty alleviation and thousands of jobs in coming decades. SELF HELP and TKN inherent within DJ goals as continuation of the three goals set at the time of launching of AKRSP, is the background. You can visit my blog read the details for implementation through the local entities such as the council, VO, WO and LSO.

This generating unit as well as improved versions can be mass manufactured in the existing workshop established by Norway for repair of turbines in Gilgit thus avoiding the need for additional infrastructure and associated budget.

PROTOTYPE-4 STATUS