There is a lot of wisdom in Islam, Abd ul-Rahman. Many thanks for elaborating on the thought.
Lawrence de Bivort On Apr 1, 2010, at 12:50 PM, Abd ul-Rahman Lomax wrote: > At 08:22 PM 3/31/2010, Terry Blanton wrote: >> On Wed, Mar 31, 2010 at 8:10 PM, Abd ul-Rahman Lomax >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> > God, protect me from false friends, who will agree with me when I'm astray, >> > and stoke the fires of my self-righteousness. >> >> . . . to further their agenda. >> >> Is that yours or a quote from an adept? > > Well, I wrote it and wasn't quoting anyone, but it's pretty standard stuff > for a khatib (giver of the sermon at Friday prayer), which I've been. It's a > variation on some very standard invocations, along the lines of "God, protect > us from the urgings of our selves." The Prophet is reported as saying, when > victorious in battle in the world, "Now begins the greater struggle (jihad), > the struggle with the self." The word in Arabic has a range of meanings, > similar to those in English for "self," but it can also mean "soul." > Classically, the "self" is compared with a camel, which is a animal that has > a reputation for utter stubbornness and meanness, the stereotype is that a > camel would sooner step on your head if on the ground, than to avoid it. > > The short of this, translated into conversational English, is that we can be > our own worst enemies, and if we realize this, and step away from attachment > to being right, to being superior, and all that, and start listening to > others who are giving us good counsel, we can avoid this danger. > > I've noticed that it's most important for me to listen to those who are > attacking me, because sometimes they will tell me things about myself that my > friends won't, for whatever reason. That I notice this doesn't mean that I > always do it!
