What does worshipping God actually mean?

What does it mean to worship God (or Allah) ?

Bismillah
This is my view. And it is similar to the Sufi view as well as other mystic traditions I believe.

If you hear someone eg a teenager say "I worship that singer" what does it mean to you?
Does it mean they have fallen very deeply in love with them? Their room maybe full of posters adoring that singer. And their talk will revolve constantly about him and what their next album is and what he said in his latest song etc. It's as if that artist has taken full control of their mind. And they will become very loyal to him/her. And the singer will become their idol. And an idol is another name for a god ( from idolatry meaning multiple gods).

The above is what true worship is. A deep falling-in-love. And the thing you love becomes your god (the idol ). So if God (or Allah, or Jehova etc) says in its book that it created man to worship it then what does that mean? Or if he says that we were created to worship it, what does that mean? It means, to me, that it wants us to know it, discover it ( as it is hidden and invisible ) and then fall in love with it. But why would we fall in love with it? It must therefore be something amazing. Eg truly unlimited in all powers. Can really and actually do everything. Even magic of all sorts (real magic not fake). Something beyond what we can imagine. And at the same time be wise and intelligent. How is that for an idol !Will it beat a pop star? This is close to what my understanding of worshipping God/Allah/Jehova etc means. This is the essence and how it was meant to be understood originally. Until the church and priesthood done a hijacking and turned it into fear and forced obedience and threats of Hell. This is were we are today. And we have been here for such a long time too. A great big misunderstanding of God and worship. And it explains why we are spiritually lost. For who wants to worship an evil dictator as a god? No one. Hence religion has become a moot subject. Mostly filled with understandable negatives.

Enter the new age. The so called Golden age that some believe humanity is currently approaching (I do too ). What's going to change in it? A very good question. The picture of God will change. From an evil dictator eager to throw us in Hell to something completely different. What ?

The real God I believe has the following characteristics (at least):
1- Not evil at all. But the opposite. Very fair and just.  And also full of love.
2- God is beautiful and wonderful as well as amazing. Able to design things and materialise things.
3- That he/it/she created us humans and brought us down here on this planet for a short period of testing and learning. As well as training.
4- That those who think and use their mind correctly will be the winners. Whilst those who follow others blindly will be amongst the losers. So it's vital to be able to think for ourselves and develop an independent mind. Conditioning and dogma is not the way. Questioning and full curiosity is. As well as courage to challenge all thoughts. These minds we have , God wants us to use them. And not to refrigerate them. So get them churning. [ A side note to those who think religion is just blind faith and dogma : you haven't seen anything of true religion yet and you have a big wake up ahead of you]
5- There is a plan and there is a guidance. If we seek the guidance and play a role in that plan then prepare for an amazing life and for great success in the next one.
6- The foundation for this change within each one of us I believe is to remove the current picture of God that we have (brutal dictator) and replace it with a completely new picture. This new foundation is seriously vital. Without it, no significant change can happen I think. We need to know ( and discover) how the true amazing God is. A vital prerequisite.

Below is an article that can help in that:
"Logic for the existence of the Devine Spirit"
http://creationismtheories.blogspot.com/2013/06/logic-for-creator-of-everything.html

Now going back to what worshipping God now means , under this new understanding. It means that once we think and ponder and discover God we will actually fall in love with him. (Note I use him/it/her interchangeably because god is not a human but above human. And is neither male nor female. And using "it" doesn't always feel correct. God is unique).

So if we fall in love with God what does that mean? It means , to me at least, that we will find him/it as truly amazing and worthy of being loved and amazed with. But the journey to this state maybe long depending on how much impurity we have to cleanse ourselves and hearts off. It can be a long journey. But once arrived it will be a new life. A new beginning. Born again sort of thing. Good luck to you.

Peace

PS: Some religious folk already see God as love and goodness. This article isn't for you. You have already travelled far and been resistant to TV conditioning.

Are Muslims allowed to vote in a secular system?

Bismillah Ar Rahman Ar Raheem
(In the name of Allah the very merciful and the very good)

This question and the debate seems to come up every election with people like HT (Hizb ut tahrir) and some salafi/wahabi groups saying no because it means we believe in a non Islamic system when we participate in the voting process. Others like sheikh Imran Hossein (not salafi or wahabi) argue that it means you are saying that sovereignty doesn't belong to Allah when you vote and that it belongs to the people (and for him this is unislamic).

On the other side, others says it's fine to vote because you are choosing the lesser of two evils and so doing a benefit to society. And others may say it's a duty to vote so that you help in benefitting society.

My current view is that it's a duty to benefit society and hence we should vote for the party we think is best for the society. I feel in the uk that Corbyn is an honest politician and so he is 1000 times better than the Tories who I feel are liars and are controlled by the Elite and the deep state much more than Labour under Corbyn. So all people (Muslim and otherwise ) should vote for honesty and anti Elite.

The fact that both parties carry laws that aren't Islamic isn't the point. The point is to help get the best party that we can in power. And today I think it's labour under Corbyn. And I see this as a Muslim duty because muslims should be good and positive citizens. And it doesn't mean we believe in all labour policies. Just we feel it is the better party. And by a significant margin.

This is my view.
Furthermore my thinking also is that a secular state is actually an Islamic state as long as it allows an Islamic party to exist and get voted for. People can then choose which party (and hence which laws they want in power ). I don't see any contradiction with Islam on this. In fact the opposite, I feel and believe this is Islam. True Islam. The other version of Islam that currently exists ( it maybe called political Islam or Islamism) is all about forcing people to have just one type of party ( Islamic ). And only one type of law ( Islamic ). To me this isn't Islamic. True Islam for me is about giving people freedom. They choose for themselves if they want Islam or non Islam. This is how Allah/God wants people in a society to be. To be free to choose how they want to live and not have a minority imposing their view on them and creating an unfree dictatorship. In fact this is why many muslims come to the West. To enjoy the freedom that exists. So there is plenty of hypocrisy amongst us muslims today.

Salam
Ali Twaij
Political Sufi
Non sectarian 

My understanding of politics in Islam

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My understanding of politics in Islam.

Main points:

1. The main law is justice and fairness for all citizens of the state whether Muslim or not.
2. People choose what laws they rule by. They are not forced.
3. The state allows for parties of all ideologies( thoughts ) to be set up and the majority party gets to rule. Regardless if it's Muslim or not. No forcing on the people is allowed.
4. All thoughts are allowed in the state and freedom of thought is encouraged and protected. Whatever thought that may be.
5. Humans are free thinkers. Not sheep. They change their ruling system as they see best and through a fair political process.

This is how I see the Islamic political system. And one can call it khilafah or whatever. The main component is a fair political system for all individuals in society. Because fairness is a fundamental law in Islam. And forcing people isn't allowed.

Needless to say this isn't how the Islamic state was for most of its time because soon after the first 4 Caliphs someone called Muawiya took over in a coup and changed the system into dictatorship and monarchy. And muslims got turned into obedient  sheep with the priests conditioning them to love being sheep and not to think. The corrupted priests/sheikhs are the equivalent of what the media do to people in the West today. Brainwashing into sheep mode and removing independent thought.  And using fear to control people. Instead of Hell they use the fear of the T word.

Happy to be challenged in any part. And feedback and comments all welcome.

Thankyou.

Are we part of God or separate ?

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Bismillah
Are we all part of God or are we separate from God?
There are those who are on one side and those on the other.
My view is that although it sounds nice to be part of God and that everything is thus one etc that I think the other side is right. I also thought if both can be true at the same time but concluded they cannot.

So why i do I think we are separate? Apart from the obvious ( eg that I know I'm not God and so I am separate, or when we pray to God who are we praying to? Ourselves or something outside us?) , I can now present my view of unity. What does unity mean when we are separate from God?
If we believe that God is unique from all things and that He is infinite and everything else ( ie God's creatures) are finite (meaning limited) then it means that everything in totality compared to God is zero. ie nothing. Because the sum of all finite things is also finite. So all of us compared to God are nothing. And so God on his own is everything effectively. Like in maths 1/infinity is zero. And a million/infinity is also zero. A trillion is also zero etc.

So if we are nothing and God is everything then this perspective is superior to the "we are all part of God" for the following reasons:
1- It removes the ego very well. As we believe we are nothing in comparison to him. So there is no room for the ego. And removing the ego is an essential core to enter the garden of spirituality (see for example the film Awake aka "the autobiography of a guru"). Whereas if you think you are part of God there is still some residual ego there. ie You think you are important because you think you are part of the Devine.
2- If the Devine is everything and we (nothings) connect with him then how do we feel? If we see It as beautiful and loving then how will that reflect on us? It will bring love and beautify into our hearts too would it not? And we will see everything as His creation and so love and wonder at it too. Gleaning from the creation, signs about its creator, the Devine Being. We humans also become brothers and sisters from the same family (Adam and Eve) and here I'm talking at the soul level rather than the body level. We are spiritual souls residing in material bodies. The soul is the important thing I think.
So the unity comes when we become so small and tiny in our own eyes that we dissolve and see only our beautiful and amazing creator. At this moment , of no ego , we become united with the beloved and enjoy a feeling of ecstasy and euphoria which is both beautiful and pure. When our ego is melted away through acknowledging our nothingness and experiencing the pure Devine love .

And so this is how I see unity. We are separate but at the same time negligible compared to Source. And hence Source unites us into one union when we dissolve the ego away. And it seems that love and intellect are the powers that do this melting and dissolving. This the union with Source is established.

Comments welcome

Peace

A short message to my Christian brothers & sisters

To my dear Christian brethren (I'm a Sufi Muslim speaking to you)
Plz forget this business of Jesus (peace be upon him) being Son.
Just forget it plz.
There is only one god and that is the Creator. Everything else is a creature. Including Jesus. One creator and many creatures. Mary (peace be upon her) is also a creature. So plz stop this business about son.
Thankyou
Ali Twaij
Sufi