Dawoodi Bohra Forum

You are confusing enlightenment with "blown a gasket", "blown a lid", "gone bonkers", "gone loony" etc. You hit the nail on the head. I'm not confusing, this is exactly it. The Prophet had "blown a gasket", "blown a lid", "gone bonker...

"Indeed, Allah leaves to stray whoever He wills, and guides to Himself whoever turns to Him..." I don't think there's any ambiguity in this translation. I understand it thus: It is Allah's decision to allow certain people to go astray, and by implication, it is Allah's decision to allow c...

Let me clarify "Allah leaves to stray whoever HE wills". So if you are the one who is straying, then Allah may choose to leave you to stray. It was your free will to go astray. Allah just let you follow your path. I've read it many times, but the first part of the ayat underlines Allah's ...

"that level of consciousness." One doesn't reach "that level of consciousness" just because. He struggled and was divinely inspired. Quran says do not be burdened down by your children and your wealth in your worship of Allah. Buddha followed in those footsteps, left his family ...

Oh anajmi brother, you do get excited. Ok let's put it this way, it is my understanding that the Prophet did not physically travel to the heavens. I think he had visions like many people do when they reach that level of consciousness. But of course, you can believe what you want to. Thanks for diggi...

Biradar, You are right, as I mentioned in response to anajmi, the origin of Islam is rooted in the Prophet's enlightenment. The Miraj was a part of the same mystical experience (the Prophet did not physically travel to the heavens as is commonly understood). True, we ordinary mortals can only unders...

Sure, that is a more nuanced meaning of Taqwa, but this not what I meant by God-consciousness.
Some people don't want to take chances with the afterlife, so take drugs in this life.

I was not referring to "God-consciousness" in the Quranic sense of Taqwa. What is generally meant by the term is the awareness of divine presence inside you--something that meditators strive for. Taqwa is more to do with obeying Allah and his commands or "fear of Allah". This is ...

I agree there are several ayats inviting believer towards what we can call as "God-consciosness". But I'm making two points here: 1) there is no systematic path offered towards enlightenment. 2) The main thrust of the Quran/Islam is to encourage believers to live a good, virtuous life. Enl...

A higher state of consciousness is a state when your consciousness transcends your material self and merges with the Creator, God, Allah, Supreme Being whatever you call it. These are just names, what is of essence here is transcendence, when all boundaries between the self and the other are erased....

Biradar, Long-form reading and discussion is what we need these days, but then all this demands an investment of time and attention. Hopefully, members are willing to put in the time and effort like they used to before. Speaking for myself, as I've mentioned elsewhere, time is a real issue for me bu...

Welcome back Prodigal :-) Your return is timely, this Forum is in dire need of a resuscitation. I hope other Prodigals too will follow suit and and help shake up things. I'll also make time to contribute. I suggest we cut down on our social media consumption and spare 10-15 minutes daily for this Fo...

Biradar, I am sufficiently goaded to write :-) I come here regularly and read almost everything that has sense and substance, which we all know is hard to come by here these days. I do not want to lament about the decline of this forum. It is what the contributors make of it. It is like politics, al...

If you kids behave then I won't have to be come back. If you don't, then - I'll be back!!! I think the biggest pull of the Dai is that he promises Jannah to his followers without hindrance. No matter what a Bohra does, as long as he is paying the Dai, bowing down before him and doing sajdah to him ...

anajmi, welcome back :-) so good to see you back here! The progressive movement was only concerned with social and administrative issues -- local jamat democracy and freedom to manage our own affairs, jamat to own community properties, end to extortion, financial accountability for monies taken by D...

PDB failed because it was holding onto historical practices rather than invest in becoming more Islamic and joining with larger Shia groups. They were just too few of Bohras who could not grow and have money to rebuild the services like centres, schools etc. PDB were holding on to the basic tenets ...

Ambassador_Mumbai wrote: ↑Mon Mar 22, 2021 12:10 pm On a lighter note, with all due respect, you Biradar and SBM are in a way mafia clergy on this Forum..

Would you care to explain?

So that the claims of current dispensation can be refuted in a proper academic theological way. Fine for the academically minded that refutation might be important. From my limited reading I can say that Dai ul Mutlaq is not infallible. But again, the point is do the mafia clergy care what is theol...

IMHO, isma is related to gunah in the way of God. Not in the worldly administration of dawat. In this sense, dai is masoom or kal masoom as you wish. Surely they make mistake in worldly judgements and administration as others have mentioned above, but they do not committ gunah in the way of Allah. ...

Why even care about what the scriptures say? Let's suppose the books say that the Dai is infallible, does it make him so? One does not need to go far into history to prove that even Imams -- let alone Dais -- were not infallible. Please do your research and don't ask me for evidence. As for the Dais...

AbdeYamani wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:53 pm Apologies, I was certainly out of line this time...Sorry

Accepted. Appreciate your honesty.

To everyone and to no one... their situation is pathetic... just search for youth on youtube and you will see how sorry state of their affairs are... But hey.. they have their justice, equality and accountability... guess who else has that.... many states and communities around the world... Hmm I w...

@Humsafar and @Biradar... Just because I think an authoritarian system is the right one, doesn't mean I condone the administration of TS MB MS KQ or TF in any way... I don't believe they are the correct ones..but just because they are not correct, it does not mean any or all authoritarian systems a...

The progressives 'failed' because they did not develop an institution.. there was a revolution, people got high.. rallied behind the revolutionaries.. but then that high faded.. a core group always remained. But they could not develop something...they did not focus on building a long lasting instit...

The belief in the necessity of a rightful guide is a Shia doctrine, not an Islamic one. I know that vast Shia scholarship and exegeses are available to justify this theology, and I do not want to go into it. Islam was founded on egalitarian principles and all believers are deemed as equal. Outside o...

Your whole progressive movement is a reactionary, even the udaipuris got mad after what happened in Galiayakot otherwise even udaipuris were still in mainstream and eventually most of those who started your so called movement including Ghulam Husain went back to main stream after mithaaq. An ultra ...

I am glad to see that a progressive community outside the mainstream versions is thriving however there is no room for 'democracy' in Islam.. atleast not in a sense where common members decide who will lead them... Please explain how there is "room no for 'democracy' in Islam". I'm really...

ajamali wrote: ↑Wed Mar 10, 2021 7:09 am It’s as though you said it yourself LOL!

No I did not, but I'll take that as a compliment.

Zinger,

Thank you for giving your cents and support. I must tell you that every cent counts.

Biradar, A brilliant summary on the progressive movement. It's high time someone outside of the formal progressive movement acknowledged and recognized our contributions and successes. This has been long overdue, to say the least. For years and years myself and a couple of others have been championi...