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December 25, 2006 to January 1, 2007

Friends, Relatives, Acquaintances, Countrymen:

    Lend me your minds!  I choose to praise Jesus, not to bury him.  The real Jesus died on the cross but the true Jesus lives on in Truth.  The false Jesus exists only in the minds of the deceived.
    This is in response to the many cards and messages I have received in the past at around Christmas, Chanukah and New Years.  Many have a message directed toward the 'Christians' among us.  Since I am not a Christian, perhaps they carry a message, intended or implied, to make me wish I were a Christian or make me decide to become one.  Cards without religion as content were also received from some who may not want to challenge my sensitivities.  Rest assured that my sensitivities are not bruised and I appreciate the gesture, especially when a letter and or pictures are included.
    Some of you know that I have embraced Islam, the religion of  'submission to the will of God.'  My wife and two of my children were born of Muslim parents.  A Muslim is one who submits to the will of God following the teaching of the prophet, Mohammed.  Islam is our religion.  Anyone who, whether born of Muslim parents or not, and, by his or her own sincere decision, submits to the will of God is muslim. (I use the lower case 'm' to denote that they need not be members of an organized faith or followers of the prophet, Mohammed.)  The term applies to all sincere servants of Truth who lived before the prophet Mohammed and those who have never heard of the prophet Mohammed or even the prophet Jesus.
    Muslims (capital M) consider themselves followers of the prophet, Mohammed, and may or may not observe 'religiously' the ritualistic prayers and practices of a formal organization of Muslims or one of its schisms.  They may consider themselves Muslim by birth, by conversion, or by decision to embrace Islam.  They may further qualify their commitment in accordance with practices of one of the schisms of faith formed in opposition to petty practices of the others. (Petty practices are those which do not materially affect the true belief.)   However, all must meet the qualification of acceptance by God because Allah (Al Haq al Mobeen, The Real Truth) accepts those whom He will, and rejects the insincere.  "Allah is all knowing."  (Nobody can hide what is true from Allah.)  Allah is Lord over all that is true.  Allah knows what is not true.
    Muslims know of the prophet Jesus of Nazareth and venerate him in prayers and in practices.  They even give male children the name of Issa (Jesus).  Believing that Jesus was a real human being and prophet who received a message from God, Muslims consider him to be equal to the prophet Mohammed.  Those who have sincerely submitted to the will of God are muslim even if they call themselves Christian, Jew, or any other designation of religion.  The only difference is that Muslims consider Mohammed to be the final prophet.  From the time of Mohammed, it is expected that people have received the true message from God through a prophet or will have received the message from God, can understand the message when they hear it, and/or can get it from their own observations of God's creation and creatures.  No more prophets are expected.
    What is the nature of God?  St. Anselm said, "God is that than which nothing greater could be conceived."  St. Thomas Aquinas said, "God is Truth."  In the Koran and in the Bible as well as in other religious books it is stated that God is Truth (Al Haq Al Mobeen, The Real Truth).  Ghandi said, "No God is greater than Truth."  I do not pretend to know what each person meant by "Truth."  I know that I mean by Truth: the true name of God, Jehovah, or Allah.  (Different words for the same real thing in different languages.)  I believe that the English word 'Truth' means what is referred to when the word 'God' is used in its essence and unencumbered by conditional and traditional beliefs or assumptions which come with the teachings of an institutional church or organization of religion.  It is the English name for what is meant by the idea of God in the mind of a thinking human being.  It is the one God-nature undivided and simple.  Just as the digital number 2 is used to denote anything of which there are two, true is used to denote anything which is factual or actual or certain as well as to denote that what does not exist does not exist in fact or is certainly not true.  Truth is the universal term for the transcendental monistic principle over all existence and reality.
    Unfortunately, people have confused two or more meanings of the word truth.  Some think of truth as the substance of something existing in act or fact which could also possibly not exist.  In that anything actual or factual, that is: something that can be thought as something real and other related concepts, truth means anything true.  It can mean the body of all that is true, or something certainly true or at least believed to be true when used with the definite article.  It can mean any particular true statement when the indefinitely article is used.  It can mean what one believes strongly whether true or not, but which one has the right to declare to be true as a matter of legal and traditional right.  It can mean truth value as to being true or not true as the valid conclusion of a proper syllogism, given proper terms, distribution and true premises.  Finally, it can mean the affirmation of one who expresses a belief sincerely held.
    OK!  Now what do I mean when I say that Truth is the proper name of God?  To paraphrase Anselm, I mean that, "Truth is that than which nothing greater could be conceived."  Truth in the sense of being what is understood as 'God' is not simply what is true, but the universal power and monistic transcendental principle of a being over all that is true.  It is true that you exist, but it is not true that you are Truth.  It is true that Jesus did exist, but it is not true that Jesus was, or is, God.  It is true that 2 + 2 = 4, but 2 is not Truth, and 4 is not Truth, they are number values which are true when properly applied and the equation is true when properly applied.  Each is a term for the universal number for which it is the symbol.  It is true that any object of real existence exists, but no object is Truth itself.  God is separate from all that is true as 2 is separate from anything of which there are two, or 4 is separate from anything of which there are four.  There is only one universal Truth and it applies to that which is over all that is true, whether known or unknown, believed or not.
    To say that Truth does not exist is meaningless.  It is not possible that Truth does not exist for if it were true that Truth did not exist, then Truth would certainly exist.  That is intuitively contrary to logic and a factual and actual impossibility.  No statement or belief of fact could be true without Truth.  Nothing could be certain without Truth.  It will forever be true that what has happened did in fact happen and it was true before it happened that it would happen.  It is now true, always was true, and always will be true that every event in the future will come to pass.  Truth holds the power of free will which is the answer to prayer. All that happens is the will of God (Truth).  All prayers are answered by Truth, in Truth, and with Truth.
    There is no greater evil than the evil of deception.  To allow oneself to be deceived or to deceive another is a sin, though Truth (God) is not harmed thereby.  To deceive oneself is the worst sin.  Some would believe that there can be a sin against God as though God could be harmed.  God cannot be deceived and cannot be harmed by deception.  The harm is to oneself or to another person deceived.
    Truth (God) would exist even if there were nothing else but Truth -- for that would actually be true.  Truth is before all, with all, and after all.  Truth is beyond everything possible and impossible.  Where there is nothing else, there is Truth, and there is no place where Truth is not and no time when Truth was not.  It is Truth that determines all that is true, not true, certain, or impossible.  Truth touches every object, every reality, and every event.  Finally, there will never be a time when Truth is not.
    Truth and Truth alone is eligible for worship.  I can know Truth without knowing every factual reality.  I can know Truth without knowing how any event is caused.  I can know that my fate is determined by Truth without knowing how Truth determines my fate or what my fate is to be.  I pray that all will be well between me and Truth (God).  I am thankful to God (Truth) when all is well with me and those I love.  With that, I offer my prayer to the power that be and my thanks to the power that is, not just five times a day, on Sunday, or any other day set aside as a Sabbath, and not only on Christmas, Chanukah, Eid or any other religious holiday, but continuously as long as I live.
    I make no apology for believing as I do.  I do not deprecate anyone who believes as he or she does.  Each of us must find our relationship with the Supreme Being.  What forms of worship or ritual a person accepts or practices is personal and should not be questioned nor criticized by those who believe that they alone hold the only key to the vault of Truth, unless the practices interfere with the quality of life of others in the here and now.
    I promise to respect your beliefs and your right to practice them.  I even respect your right to convince me and others to follow your way, but I also have the right to try to convince you that I am right.   Please respect my right to hold beliefs of my own conviction and to practice them in my own way.  I am not better than you and you are not better than I.  Truth is higher than us all, and Truth shall have the final say.  As Khalil Gibran says in the Prophet, "...even as each one of you stands alone in God's knowledge, so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God and in his understanding..."
    The next major religious day for Muslims is Eid al Fitr at the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting.  Celebration of Eid al Fitr is by means of feasting, visiting and giving of zakat (alms).