VOA on American Muslims

In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful Iqra1 in the name of your Lord Who created humanity from a clot Iqra for your Lord is Most Generous Who taught humanity by the pen What it did not know. Qur’an (96:1-5) This selection is the first revelation of the Qur’an; a declaration of the Prophet’s (PBUH) mission and a declaration of it’s intent. Iqra. God has taught us much, much that we did not know. God has taught us by the pen, but that act of teaching is not yet complete, the Qur’an also says (31:27): Even…

[updated for clarity] I have been thinking a bit lately about how people practice their faiths. One of the issues that keeps coming back to me is of one’s vision of God, which should be the defining part of any religious understanding in my opinion. I would categorize the understanding of God into two, not mutually exclusive, categories – the imminent and the transcendent. I personally consider God’s presence to be one of imminence, which in turn feed my God consciousness (taqwa), and that helps me to realize God’s transcendence. I understand there are people who feel humbled by God’s…