These Are Satanic Verses (satire)

Now then, O people, you have a right over your wives and they have a right over you. You have the right that they should not cause anyone of whom you dislike to tread on your beds; and that they should not commit any open indecency. If they do, then God permits you to shut them in separate rooms and to beat them, but not severely. If they abstain from evil, they have the right to their food and clothing in accordance with the custom. Treat women well, for they are like domestic animals with you and do not possess anything for themselves. You have taken them only as a trust from God, and you have made the enjoyment of their persons lawful by the word of God, so understand and listen to my words, O people. --- Mohammad, The Farewell Sermon

To ignorant people the above words could be mistaken for condoning domestic violence and the treatment of wives as animals. However, such a view of these verses might makes them seem to be Satanic verses, but only if you didn't read the whole Farewell Sermon by Mohammad.

I'm pretty sure when he says "beat your wives but not severely" isn't a call for ritual domestic abuse, but rather a call to have a nice poker game with the wife and discipline her mercifully.

Seriously though, "Beat her but not severely" means "discipline her but don't use a belt or fists or verbal abuse." I'm sure that men who love their wives and treat them like queens aren't going to beat them at all. The real intent of this part of this sermon was a warning to wives to be faithful to their husbands and not be tempted to adultery and other similar things. The part about treating wives like animals implies that you care for them and tend to them compassionately, just like you do with the camels and goats (and cars).

Sadly though, a few Muslim men and women don't get this part of the sermon at all, mainly because they are forced to memorize it in Arabic, but not taught what it actually means.

In short, there is much a modern day Muslim imam or mullah could teach his followers. Instead, most of them waste their time bringing politics into the sermon instead of actually doing their job, which is to teach the truth of the Quran.

Telling your followers about the evils of the Great Shaitan America and the Zionists and what awaits them before the Fire is not proselyting; it is preaching ignorant fire-and-brimstone propaganda much like Christianity does.

There is much good in teaching the unconditional love of God Almighty like Rumi does that the imam could use to proselyte to his followers.

---

Reference:

Mohammad - The Farewell Sermon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Farewell_Sermon

To the Beloved, from the lover (love prose)

My Beloved:

I reject this world, because of the pettiness of ordinary sentient beings, ignorantly chasing after empty dreams projected on their minds by mass media.

Until she rejects the propaganda, the One destined for me will always run away from her own fears projected on me. The faster she runs away, the more she thinks her fears to only be me behaving "weirdly" and acting "creepy".

Fine!

Run away but until you realize that your anxiety and fears when projected on men who desire you creates the externalized monsters of your deepest fears, then even if you find your own One, then he'll soon become a monster until you either get a divorce or even worse, suffer abuse by his hands.

However, your own ego is deluded by the ignorant craving all sentient beings suffer, often needlessly. It even prevents you from seeing people for who they really are; instead, all you see of me is the projections of your fears, your anxiety about me making me seem "weird and creepy."

If I am a misogynist, then that too is your ego externalizing your hatred for men and reflecting it as hatred for women. In truth, misogynist is but the externalization of my self-hate as though reflected in a mirror.

Self-hatred when projected onto a person of the opposite sex becomes misanthropy if that person is male, and misogyny if that person is female.

However, I know of Loving-kindness in its highest form called True Love, which flows from True Nature through True Mind, transferred from a higher plane of existence called the Pure Land.

Yes, I admit all the words capitalized in the previous paragraph are religious terms, and am fully aware that at the moment, religious makes you run away, projecting your fear onto a "creepy" me and your anxiety onto a "weirdness" that I somehow have.

Ah, it sounds like you don't really know True Love at all. For if you did, then you would see that we were meant to be. Instead, just hearing that phrase causes your hears to project onto me, until I turn into a creepy monster whose weirdness has turned you off to me.

If you only knew love very well, then you would sense it, despite the weirdness of my words and the overall creepiness settling around you.

Fear not! Please breathe slowly until that moment of fright passes. For I have been there before, and I alone await you to mature, realizing that fear and anxiety are merely defense mechanisms of the deluded ego, which is best left exposed to humility and shame daily. In this way can anxiety be thwarted. Just breathe deeply and hold it. And while you are breathing, watch anxiety slip away and see fear wander right back where it came from: your mind.

I have firm belief in you, that you dear woman, will break this spell that your ego has over you. If it were healthy, then why do you needless fear me? Why too does it now tell you that your fear of me is healthy and normal? I know from experience that the ego will do anything to retain egocentricity.

For it is better to be the centre of attention than to pay attention to your mind through meditation. Once you scoffed at meditation's power. Now I tell you from experience that me being about to be fearless and rid of anxiety's embrace has much to do with meditation and its resultant mindfulness, which led to me taking control of my ego.

For such self control is what makes the ego healthy!

Having said so, you will have to take my word for it, until you too discover the benefits of the only mind control in the world. For other forms of mind control still require the compliance of the one who's being controlled. Only meditation will help you control your mind and help tame your ego before it's too late.

Well, having written all that, it is time for me to take my leave. Please remember that with all my body, heart, and mind I truly love and care for you.

If I did not care for you, then would I have written this for you to see? Would I have written so boldly that you know this message is meant for you?

Please answer as soon as you can, for we have a lifetime to complete your training, because it begins as soon as you reply.


Always your lover...

Water

If in thirst you drink water from a cup, you see God in it. Those who are not in love with God will see only their own faces in it. — Rumi

Water comes down as rain to fill reservoirs. From these reservoirs that was comes to our homes to slake our thirst.

We can also use water to coffee, tea, and other beverages. It is also used to irrigate crops.

Yet we often forget water's source, as many drops of it fall as rain which trickles into lakes from creeks, and flow in streams together into a mighty river to the sea.

Yet the fact of how rain is created is science. Rain is water.

Spiritually, water's significance has greater meaning for Rumi. He lived in a semi-arid city near an oasis. Sometimes it would not rain for days. So for him, water meant so much that he saw God in the cup.

From a religious perspective, this is no delusion. This is of the many deeply spiritual insights that Rumi wrote about.

When I read what Rumi wrote, I feel closer to God.

The Egolessness of True Love

>
In the early morning,
A lover asked her beloved,
"Do you love me more than yourself?"
"More than myself?
For sure I have no self anymore
--I am you already.
The 'I' has gone, the 'you' has come about.
Even my identity is gone.
The answer is taken for granted.
'You and I' has no meaning.
The 'I' has vanished
like a drop in an ocean of honey."

-- from the Masnavi collection of Rumi