Acceptance or taslim takes place outside the realm of moral judgments, prior to the categorization of reality according to our desires and wants. First, a thing or event simply is. Later, we judge it to be good or bad, lucky or unlucky, desirable or undesirable. Such judgments are often necessary due to their practical importance,…
In a previous post, I suggested that the act or attitude of islam–usually translated as submission or surrender — can be imagined as falling into two categories. We practice one kind of islam when we bring ourselves in conformity with God’s prescriptive commands; we practice the other kind of islam when we enter a state of…
We may disagree about God’s prescriptive commands, about what God wants us to do in a particular situation, but we cannot disagree concerning God’s creative commands. Unlike the former, which we generally encounter through words and thoughts, the latter are manifested in the stark purity of our everyday experiences . . . so long as we…