What is Islam?

The word “Islam” is an Arabic word that means “submitting and surrendering your will to Almighty God”. The word comes from the same root as the Arabic word “salam”, which means peace. Unlike the names used for other religions, such as Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity, the name “Islam” was both revealed by God and mentioned explicitly in the Holy Scripture – The Qur’an. Islam carries a deep spiritual meaning — only by submitting one’s will to Almighty God can one obtain true peace both in this life and in the life hereafter. Islam teaches that all religions originally had the same essential message — which was to submit whole-heartedly to the will of God and to worship Him and Him alone. For this reason, Islam is not a new religion but is the same divinely revealed Ultimate Truth that God revealed to all prophets, including Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus (peace be upon them all).

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“God is an imaginary friend for grown-ups.” ~Unknown

The Earth sheds each year. The trees and flowers let go of their identity. As the old identity dies, a new identity is born. The body sheds constantly. Some of it happens invisibly, so naturally and silently that we do not realize it is happening. The heart and spirit also shed. They shed the emotions and experiences that we no longer need. They shed the things that stunt our growth. This, too, is an invisible process. Yet because of the energy involved, the emotional energy, we often feel the emotional and spiritual shedding. It feels as if we are dying. We are. Just like the flowers and the trees, we are dying to an old identity. This shedding, or death, is not the end of us. It is the beginning..
~ Iyanla Vanzant

The Dilemma

To laugh is to risk appearing a fool

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental

To reach out for another is to risk involvement

To expose feelings is to risk rejection

To place your dreams before a crowd is to risk ridicule

To love is to risk not being loved in return

To go forward in the face of overwhelming odds is to risk failure

But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.

He may avoid suffering and sorrows, but he cannot learn, feel, change, grow, or love.

Chained by his certitudes, he is a slave – he has forfeited his freedom.

Only a person who takes risks is FREE

You can search throughout the entire universe for
someone who is more deserving of your love and
affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere.
you yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe
deserve your love and affection.

I just had a 3 hrs convo wit my baby bro on religion. About 90% of our conversations come from what’s on TV at the moment. Tonight I just happened to be watchin “Oh Drama” and some comedians were talkin about Christianity. Although they were comedians, they kept it pretty serious. Religion is a subject that I can talk all day about but don’t necessarily believe in. Lemme start out by sayin that I don’t hate on religion. I know that most ppl around me think that I don’t believe in anything. I do believe in a higher spirit.. matter of fact, I’ve felt it twice. It’s just a touchy subject because I don’t have it completely figured out. I don’t believe in “worship”, sacrafice, and many of the rules that I’ve heard are associated with Christians. I can’t seem to conform to a bunch of rules and I shouldn’t have to. Don’t get me wrong, just because it didn’t work for me doesn’t mean I condemn it for everyone else. I mean, I was considered Baptist until about 5 yrs ago. I was never brought up in the church and was never taught “The Word,” so like many things, I had to learn it on my own or from TV. I was really devout at one time.. wasn’t a bad thing but it makes me wonder sometimes.

Now, my baby bro was brought up and very involved in the church. We have conflicting ideas but they’re not all that different. Could a religious organization possibly be brainwashing? That’s a question we were tryin to answer and never came to any conclusions.
Is it just a plan to teach ppl morals and give them hope in the face of diversity?
Why would god be a jealous god?
The sermons that I remembered, tha preacher tried to make you scared of God…Why? Why should u be god fearing?
Why would a powerful person care if u worshipped him/her or not? Makes him sound insecure.
I dunno..just some thoughts I had.