Out of the House of Bondage
I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
The world of Islam is a ‘house’, called both Dar al-Islam, and the ummah ‘motherhood’. The global Muslim community is exactly that: the ‘mother house’ in which all Muslims are ‘at home’.
A holistic house
Classical Islam –the version that still governs Islam today- is a house that knows no separation between church and state; between faith and government. Muslims have but two floors of the same house with the following Qur'anic ‘floor-plan’: Islam is their house of faith, their house of ethics, their house of culture, their house of education, their house of government, and their house of defence. Can you join the dots? All these features promise to (eventually) emerge in any robust Islamic community.
Think immigration. When sincere Muslims immigrate, they bring their religion + their culture + their legal code + their educational concepts + their government philosophy + their defensive ‘leagues’. This is the ummah house of Islam, a holistic infrastructure ready to emerge once Muslim leaders feel compelled to ‘promote or defend Islam’. Some Muslim immigrants and offspring feel no such urge and try to integrate. Others feel compelled to cooperate. Still others zealously promote Islam upon arrival or after a re-conversion to orthodox doctrines. In summary, Islam, classically understood, is always a theocratic government in waiting, be it the Middle East or a Western nation. Just read the international news.
A house unpackaged
Look at it again. By ‘faith’ Muslims mean a ‘superior monotheism’, which see all other faiths as corrupted or inferior –again, read their literature. Ditto for their ethics, called shari’a laws. By ‘Islamic culture’ we witness any of the 45-Islamic nations or sociological sub-cultures from which the migrants came, complete with modest fashions, rich foods, and tongues. Yet, the true identity of Islamic communities is forged on two fundamental cultural axes: Islamic orthopraxy (the 5-pillars) and a proud disdain for immoral Western values (& Israel).
For ‘Islamic education’ think of a mosque-based conservative discipleship, centred on repeating the Quran + whatever national curriculum might be required of their children. For ‘Islamic government philosophy’ think of either a future caliphate/imamate, or an eventual merger of one of these with features of alternative models: monarchy, chieftaincy, military dictatorship, democracy, or a fascist-oligarchy.
And if Islam is a future government in waiting, then it will need an eventual defence in waiting, which invariably begins as some form of public defensive league of Muslims, or in its worst form, some underground cell of resistance. Both expressions are united in one defensive word with multiple meanings: jihad.
Such is the greater logic of an emerging Islamic voice, brilliantly summarised in the chief cry of Islam: “Allah O’Akbar”, meaning, ‘Allah is greater than….!’ (We fill in the blank.)
A house of submission
Islam means ‘submission’ and the House of Islam is filled by those who correctly resemble their prophet’s name: Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Hasim: ‘the praiseworthy son of Allah’s slave of the Hasim (Ishmaelite) clan’. It is all about the glory of Allah’s slaves in the original house of Ismail & Ibrahim. The hajj to Mecca says as much: Allah’s willing slaves returning to the original Ka’ba house of Allah, ‘built’ by Ibrahim and Ismail. Now this worldwide ummah of Abdullahs (Allah’s slaves) have but one freedom: to be slaves. Just try leaving Islam! Free choice and Islam cancel each other out. The Qur'anic world is, therefore, a house of bondage, of servitude; of spiritual slavery.
“Better to be Allah’s honourable slaves than immoral Western infidels!” say sincere Muslims. True, slavery to Allah is preferable to infidel slavery to sin. Many Islamic values are, frankly, superior to the post-modern, post-human, post-Christian, post-European Western culture. But that’s a choice between two forms of slavery.
A House Divided
So, are there only slaves in Allah’s economy? Did not Abraham have both slaves and free family members? If the Islamic Ishmaelites feel like slave-born sons of Abraham who then are Abraham’s free-born sons? Voila: the greatest theological shock for a Muslim: there’s a third choice between Islamic slavery and infidel slavery: becoming free sons in Abraham’s tent. This promises the greatest breakthrough for Muslims amongst us. Will it happen?
Out of the House of Abraham
The Qur'anic worldview is blind to spiritual sonship and divine freedom. The thought is non-existent. This reality goes back to Abraham. For 13-years Ishmael was Abraham’s slave-born son. When God miraculously birthed Isaac, Ishmael dismissed and despised the free-born as a joke. He was blind to the Spirit’s work.
That cost him dearly; even as he dismissed Isaac, so was he dismissed, disinherited and disqualified. God did unto Ishmael what Ishmael did unto God. Nothing has changed. Ishmael, the struggling soul of the Qur'anic worldview, still cannot see divine liberty. In Islamic thought, a free son in Allah’s house is blasphemy! Allah only has slaves and Muslims are his best.
A House Reunited
Paul wrote that Christ Jesus, the Greater Isaac, has authority to bring all things under his power. Why does He wait to bring Islam into freedom? Have we not sufficiently prayed? Is the house of Isaac, in such a low state –and for 1450 years- that Muslims rarely envy the ‘free children of God’?
Only the Greater Isaac can call Islamic Ishmaelites out of the House of Bondage. When he does, Muslims must witness one of two things: a divine encounter with Christ in dreams or visions and/or a divine confirmation of Christ’s Spirit and Word in Christians, prayerfully awaiting the exodus of Muslims out of the house of bondage.
The world of Islam is a ‘house’, called both Dar al-Islam, and the ummah ‘motherhood’. The global Muslim community is exactly that: the ‘mother house’ in which all Muslims are ‘at home’.
A holistic house
Classical Islam –the version that still governs Islam today- is a house that knows no separation between church and state; between faith and government. Muslims have but two floors of the same house with the following Qur'anic ‘floor-plan’: Islam is their house of faith, their house of ethics, their house of culture, their house of education, their house of government, and their house of defence. Can you join the dots? All these features promise to (eventually) emerge in any robust Islamic community.
Think immigration. When sincere Muslims immigrate, they bring their religion + their culture + their legal code + their educational concepts + their government philosophy + their defensive ‘leagues’. This is the ummah house of Islam, a holistic infrastructure ready to emerge once Muslim leaders feel compelled to ‘promote or defend Islam’. Some Muslim immigrants and offspring feel no such urge and try to integrate. Others feel compelled to cooperate. Still others zealously promote Islam upon arrival or after a re-conversion to orthodox doctrines. In summary, Islam, classically understood, is always a theocratic government in waiting, be it the Middle East or a Western nation. Just read the international news.
A house unpackaged
Look at it again. By ‘faith’ Muslims mean a ‘superior monotheism’, which see all other faiths as corrupted or inferior –again, read their literature. Ditto for their ethics, called shari’a laws. By ‘Islamic culture’ we witness any of the 45-Islamic nations or sociological sub-cultures from which the migrants came, complete with modest fashions, rich foods, and tongues. Yet, the true identity of Islamic communities is forged on two fundamental cultural axes: Islamic orthopraxy (the 5-pillars) and a proud disdain for immoral Western values (& Israel).
For ‘Islamic education’ think of a mosque-based conservative discipleship, centred on repeating the Quran + whatever national curriculum might be required of their children. For ‘Islamic government philosophy’ think of either a future caliphate/imamate, or an eventual merger of one of these with features of alternative models: monarchy, chieftaincy, military dictatorship, democracy, or a fascist-oligarchy.
And if Islam is a future government in waiting, then it will need an eventual defence in waiting, which invariably begins as some form of public defensive league of Muslims, or in its worst form, some underground cell of resistance. Both expressions are united in one defensive word with multiple meanings: jihad.
Such is the greater logic of an emerging Islamic voice, brilliantly summarised in the chief cry of Islam: “Allah O’Akbar”, meaning, ‘Allah is greater than….!’ (We fill in the blank.)
A house of submission
Islam means ‘submission’ and the House of Islam is filled by those who correctly resemble their prophet’s name: Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Hasim: ‘the praiseworthy son of Allah’s slave of the Hasim (Ishmaelite) clan’. It is all about the glory of Allah’s slaves in the original house of Ismail & Ibrahim. The hajj to Mecca says as much: Allah’s willing slaves returning to the original Ka’ba house of Allah, ‘built’ by Ibrahim and Ismail. Now this worldwide ummah of Abdullahs (Allah’s slaves) have but one freedom: to be slaves. Just try leaving Islam! Free choice and Islam cancel each other out. The Qur'anic world is, therefore, a house of bondage, of servitude; of spiritual slavery.
“Better to be Allah’s honourable slaves than immoral Western infidels!” say sincere Muslims. True, slavery to Allah is preferable to infidel slavery to sin. Many Islamic values are, frankly, superior to the post-modern, post-human, post-Christian, post-European Western culture. But that’s a choice between two forms of slavery.
A House Divided
So, are there only slaves in Allah’s economy? Did not Abraham have both slaves and free family members? If the Islamic Ishmaelites feel like slave-born sons of Abraham who then are Abraham’s free-born sons? Voila: the greatest theological shock for a Muslim: there’s a third choice between Islamic slavery and infidel slavery: becoming free sons in Abraham’s tent. This promises the greatest breakthrough for Muslims amongst us. Will it happen?
Out of the House of Abraham
The Qur'anic worldview is blind to spiritual sonship and divine freedom. The thought is non-existent. This reality goes back to Abraham. For 13-years Ishmael was Abraham’s slave-born son. When God miraculously birthed Isaac, Ishmael dismissed and despised the free-born as a joke. He was blind to the Spirit’s work.
That cost him dearly; even as he dismissed Isaac, so was he dismissed, disinherited and disqualified. God did unto Ishmael what Ishmael did unto God. Nothing has changed. Ishmael, the struggling soul of the Qur'anic worldview, still cannot see divine liberty. In Islamic thought, a free son in Allah’s house is blasphemy! Allah only has slaves and Muslims are his best.
A House Reunited
Paul wrote that Christ Jesus, the Greater Isaac, has authority to bring all things under his power. Why does He wait to bring Islam into freedom? Have we not sufficiently prayed? Is the house of Isaac, in such a low state –and for 1450 years- that Muslims rarely envy the ‘free children of God’?
Only the Greater Isaac can call Islamic Ishmaelites out of the House of Bondage. When he does, Muslims must witness one of two things: a divine encounter with Christ in dreams or visions and/or a divine confirmation of Christ’s Spirit and Word in Christians, prayerfully awaiting the exodus of Muslims out of the house of bondage.
posted by BLH | 9:18 pm
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