"Surf Reyes, Tony Ganding Bayamban and Lola Inday: 'Thanks for you beautiful comments and contributions to clarify important things. I have been reading all your comments and reflecting on them, and must admit I'm feeling rather shy in coming in and contribute my idea on a very interesting discussion and thus explains my late interaction with you. We all have our own perspectives about God and religion. These may appear to be diverse but what is common among major religions is the teaching on the existence of the deity, the God of love, among others; 'God is love' is shared by all. We mainly come to know that there is God even on the intellectual level because of religion. In my perspective as a Muslim, I share your reasoning that true religion is not confined in the intellectual mind (the level of reason) but of the heart (experiential and deeper level where true unconditional love resides). My own Book emphasized clearly the main purpose for faith in this Qur'anic verse: "Unless you love others as you love yourself, you have no faith at all". It is starkly inferred here that love is the essential purpose of faith; and love is truly the working of the heart not the mind. However, I also share the contention that reason and logic (mind level) is quite important on the awareness process and unless you pass through this process effectively you may not succeed in reaching the deeper experiential level which is the ultimate goal. When you had reached this deeper level, it would seem that reason which is the work of the intellectual mind plays a secondary role and not much important to you, and thus religious dogmas and rituals become secondary or even immaterial to you, as mystic Muslims do. Faith is mainly intellectual but spirituality is experiential. But it is clear, on the Islamic view, you need faith before you attain spirituality. Faith and spirituality however are not confined or a sole property of religions. I dare say, that even those who have no religion at all can have faith and spirituality, which are unique to them. While this is true, religions also teach ethics where the exercise of love expands into the exercise of justice to ensure righteous relations among God's creation and enhance peaceful co-existence. This is the one that complicate matters for fundamentalists and extremists now a days; as they seem not able to appreciate the notion that justice comes from love; and they are not able to harmonize the two. In reality, what happens is, love is sacrificed into the altar of political expediency and faith does seem to lose it's humanity. Where the struggle for justice is suppose to be influenced by love it is now replaced by anger and violence and thus stripped us of our humanity. Faith have totally lost its meaning in this case.'" ~Maguid Maruhom (October 2014)
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"Conflict is a natural phenomenon, so they say. It is present everywhere, all the time. Every conflict is a possible trigger for violence. What is taught by this piece of history is that, big wars are caused by small conflicts which are easily resolved. Despite our great leap in knowledge, our age had failed to understand the roots of conflicts and had not been doing enough to mitigate it. We are bound to repeat history." ~Maguid Maruhom (June)
"Have we lost our humanity? Have we forgotten that we belong to one another? That we are one in one humanity?" ~Maguid Maruhom (July 2014)
"Respect of one's thought is part of righteousness. The freedom of thought is a universal value that is guaranteed by any religion and nation on earth; though it is also a kind of freedom that should be exercised with responsibility." ~Maguid Maruhom, 10 April 2014
"Boomerangs are like balls you throw to a wall. They bounce back to hit you. It is like committing sins, it goes back to you. For every sin or crime committed there is a concomitant price to pay." ~Maguid Maruhom, FB , 18 November 2012
"Embedded in the spirit is not only intellect but free-will, as well. We are free to choose to believe in God or not. Sadly, many people took to blame God for the many disasters that come our way as a result of unbelief." ~Maguid Maruhom, FB , 18 November 2012
"Environment, along with poverty, is the biggest issue that threatens life, dignity and human existence." ~Maguid Maruhom, FB - 7 January2012
"Intention consummates an action. Bad decisions and actions are not crimes (sins) unless they are borne out of ill-intentions." ~Maguid Maruhom, FB, 12 August 2012
"Staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, dream a lot, and lie about your age." ~from Maguid Maruhom, FB, 20 January 2012
"Deeper wisdom is shared by the great religions of the world." ~Maguid Maruhom. FB, 22 December 2011
"Disasters can be prevented to happen, if not, damage can be reduced to a minimum, if we are only vigilant and ready to respond. People of different faiths and cultures should be ready to join when they have understanding of the deeper meaning of human responsibility." ~Maguid Maruhom. FB, 22 December 2011
"I remember a bishop friend of mine who said: "the heart of revolutions is the revolution in the heart", starkly similar with Prophet Muhammad's saying, "the greater struggle is the struggle within oneself." ~Maguid Maruhom, FB, 22 December 2011
"In my mind, only those who find solace and sublime joy in their hearts and are consciously willing to be meek and compassionate to others have the chance to succeed. Faith in God, hope for humanity and deep realization of human responsibility for love could be the virtues needed to succeed in practicing forgiveness, patience and perseverance; without these, we may never last the long journey in advancing our principles."~Maguid Maruhom, FB, 22 December 2010
"It is hope and faith that sustains us."~Maguid Maruhom, Facebook, Politician- Humanitarian, Schoolmate from Karomatan Lanao del Norte
"It is the machination of the wealthy that fails democracy and makes it work like a dictatorship." ~Maguid Maruhom
"Let's make democracy work the way it should." ~Maguid Maruhom, 3 June 2014
"Life, like a coin, has two sides: the social and spiritual dimensions. It is how you harmonize and integrate these two aspects that gives you the chance to attain the fullness of life"..~Maguid Maruhom, Politician/Humanitarian, Facebook.
"The body is composed of matters, but what matters is the mind and heart." ~Maguid Maruhom
"THE HIGHEST CONTRACT BETWEEN THE SOVEREIGN PEOPLE AND PUBLIC SERVANTS (elected or appointed) is a clause in the Constitution which meant the people are the 'rights holders' (as owners of government) and public servants are 'duty bearers' who must protect and safeguard life, property and liberty of the people at all times and serve the people's well-being to their utmost." ~Maguid Maruhom, 10 May 2016
"The rights and freedom you enjoy now were not served in silver platters, we fought hard battles for them. Your responsibility is to keep and protect them." ~Maguid Maruhom, 19 May 2016
"There is no forever or always; they are illusions, nothing is permanent. Everything arises, and everything passes away. What we can hope for is to make things last longer." ~Maguid Maruhom, FB, 12 August 2012 (rephrased from Buddhist saying.)
"When you put your soul and God in every work you do, everything becomes a worship of God. Don't be afraid of failure because nothing fails when God is present in all you do. Even if you are only thinking of doing it with God, and have not yet started it, you already win something good. This is the deeper motivation for doing good with God always present in your mind and heart. Everything turns to be a worship of your God which will not only make you peaceful but happy too." ~Maguid Maruhom, FB, 27 August 2011
THANK YOU╚═════ ೋღ☃ღೋ ═════╝
