#How do we know Allah is the only God?

[arabriddler]

important ! In recent years especially this year I’ve noticed a lot that the internet language picked up so many Islamic phrases and, from a muslim perspective, it makes the internet a little more welcoming. the thing is, a lot of the time with Islamic phrases you have to be careful about when and where to say them they hold their own weight and demand their own respect so here is a list explaining each phrase and some notes about it.

In sha allah

It means “ If God wills “. It’s mostly a response that can mean yes or no. If someone asks you to do something you can say in sha allah as in “ I heard you and I’ll try to do itc but I can’t claim that It will happen “ . Muslims say it because we’re unaware of what future holds it’s actually blasphemous to claim to know the future, so saying so means “ If it’s the will of god it will happen if not it won’t “ and you’d also say it about future events.

Ma sha allah

It means “ this is what god intended “ and it’s a compliment. Saying so is like saying WOW! But it’s also kind of a prayer of protection? If I see someone with pretty hair I should say “ Ma sha allah your hair is very pretty “ the ma sha allah protects the person from the evil eye. By saying that I’m also saying I’m not jealous I’m genuinely enamored and I don’t wish any harm to go to it.

Astagfurullah

it means “ to god I repent “ or “ from god I seek forgiveness” it’s usually used when you make a mistake but people also use it when they see something bad or when they want to avoid saying something bad. Like once my card refused to work and I’d say that so I won’t say any curse words and to calm down my anger

wallah/wallahi

okay this one is important. This one shouldn’t be used so lightly. It means “ by god’s name “ and it’s basically swearing in Allah’s name. You are only supposed to say it if you genuinely mean what you’re saying. It’s such a heavy word that I only say it very rarely and if you say it and don’t follow up on what you said you have to fast for three days as repentance.

ya allah

ya is an addressing word? Like talking to someone or calling them? Like saying O’ ( someone ) so ya allah means O’ god

Al hamdullilah // hamdullilah

it means ‘ praise/thanks to god ‘ said when something good happens or when you feel relieved about something— for example, my shirt is stained badly and I’m worried it won’t clean well. I clean it and the stain is gone so I say “ al hamdullilah “ kind of like phew!. Sometimes people say it as an answer when they’re asked how they are it can either mean things are good or bad but we preserve .

One more note is that with the name of Allah you should also be careful it’s not supposed to be written on papers that’ll get stepped on or lightly used in art because it also has its own weight it’s regarded heavily. Like even in home decorations it should be elevated and not overshadowed. If I have to throw away a paper I have to sit down and color over the name of Allah or burn the papers so it won’t get thrown in trash.

another note is that those phrases aren’t Muslim exclusive. Some Arab non-Muslims use them as well. This is only my explanation from a Muslim perspective.

Another another note is this is what I can remember at the moment but if you have additions or enquiries let me know

[enoughbykelela]

“I am Hala, and I'm a biomedical engineer from Sudan, a country that has been engulfed in war since 15 April 2023. The conflict has not only disrupted my life but also put my dreams and most importantly put me and family's safety at great risk.

I have been displaced four times, constantly moving to escape the violence. I live in Omdurman now where militias are shelling artillery and we could die at any moment. Moreover we suffer from severe shortages of food, water and no electricity it's too bad to a point we have one meal a day.

Tragically, My dad was a prisoner for months by RSF militias and accused him of having a rank in the sudanese army, tortured him and stole all his money leaving him nothing, almost lost his life but thank god he manged to escape. What's worse I lost my dear aunt due to the lack of medical supplies and assistance tragically after her decease we intended to leave but a long siege was forced on us by the RSF. But eventually were forced to leave our home due to a mass shelling but still we couldn't manage to completely leave danger zone. I hoped of returning to a safe home but it has now been 11 months, and I still haven’t seen it, don't know if i ever will. Honestly till this moment i do not know how I survived and still alive or if I will have a life to live in the future.”

Please keep Sudan (and Congo) at the front of your mind. Donate if possible, and spread!

[fairuzfan]

I've seen you posting a lot about Palestine and i wanted to ask something. I'm doing what i can wrt spreading awareness and boycotting (unfortunately do not have the funds to be donating at the moment) but this is all so terrifying and it doesn't feel like enough. Idk if this is overstepping or unnecessary or anything, but i was wondering if there's any sort of Muslim prayer i can do on behalf of the people in Palestine. It might not mean anything coming from someone who's not religious but i know people take their faith very seriously and if it means something to them it feels like the least i can do. I would do the same thing for any Christian friends or family going through a difficult time, the only difference is i have no idea how to go about it in this case (I don't really have any Muslim friends, and it's primarily Christian in the area i live). Do you have any suggestions on how i could do this? Or is it not something i should do at all?

Hey thanks for this. Its very kind of you to ask. Honestly, prayers are quite appreciated and I, and other Muslims, would never turn down such a sweet request, nor would we look down on this.

Prayers (or duaa as we call it in this instance) are definitely welcome no matter any religious affiliations. There are also many Christian Palestinians in Gaza as well.

In Islam, duaa, or supplication, is when we ask God (Allah, in Arabic) for things both material and ideological. You cup your hands together and hold them in front of you while you say the prayer. Here is an English version of a prayer you can do:

“O Allah! I complain to You of my weakness, my scarcity of resources, and the humiliation I have been subjected to by the people. O Most Merciful of those who are merciful. O Lord of the weak and my Lord too. To whom have you entrusted me? To a distant person who receives me with hostility? Or to an enemy to whom you have granted authority over my affair? So long as You are not angry with me, I do not care. Your favour is of a more expansive relief to me. I seek refuge in the light of Your Face by which all darkness is dispelled and every affair of this world and the next is set right, lest Your anger or Your displeasure descends upon me. I desire Your pleasure and satisfaction until You are pleased. There is no power and no might except by You.”

Though even putting your hands together and asking for the safety of the Gazans or any other wishes you might have are also acceptable. You don't have to do a formal prayer in which you recite something—as long as it's a genuine wish, then it's more than accepted in Islam.

You can do this anywhere and anytime. Even if you're unable to use your hands, you can still do this as long as your intention is for it to be a Duaa.

I'm not sure how Christians pray so I can't speak on that if someone else wants to provide insight.

[bijoumikhawal]

I've gotten tired of making a post like this every few months so let's just fire a few of these off, and feel free to add on! Tropes you should at minimum reconsider using when you write or talk about Julian Bashir:

Mentions of "harem" pants, "Arabian nights" aesthetics, etc. These are improper terminology (that feeds into racist ideas) for real things, and when using that terminology those things are often being misrepresented. For my part, if you would actually like to know about the material culture of the Middle East and North Africa, I'm a "hobby" researcher of that very topic and will readily answer asks about it- with the caveat that I mostly know about Egypt, and I'm not the best person to ask about Sudanese specific culture even though I know a little, and I don't know much about Indian or Pakistani fashion (mentioning because these seem to be the most common cultures brought up around Julian).

comparisons to monkeys, apes, the word "simian". This should be obvious but it happens a fair amount, and it's almost comedic given a common trope is to comment on how much Garak hates being compared to a lizard.

This is separate but the way some people use mammalian tips from writing xenofic and trying to understand how an alien would think and categorize things into something that feels very exoticifying. It's not a "full stop, do not do this" but it is something I've noticed

Jokes about how undesirable Julian is. He's the exception that proves the rule about fandom's obsession with white twinks and a rare example of a brown nerd who isn't pinned into the "Couldn't sleep with a woman if they were the last two people on earth" box. I'm not saying we can't make fun of how he flirts just- Stay clear of Raj BBT territory

Conversely: my most hated garashir trope is when the author makes Julian's libido a problem by making him inconsiderate, cruel, and outright manipulative in service of his dick, and the writing often makes it clear they're connecting this to his masculinity. Julian does do some really stupid shit when it comes to his relationships, but this particular way of trying to incorporate this into writing him is just OOC, and you need to not confuse writing Julian's canonical robust and healthy sex life with negative stereotypes about lecherous Black and brown men. There's fics that pull off Julian being a bit of a dick or manipulative well- such as Salt the Earth or the ageswap series (at least where I last left off on it).

making his eyes green or blue. I have the same eye color as Siddig, more or less, and while it's technically hazel (or olive, as some people call it) most people think it's brown and most lighting makes it look brown. If you look at screencaps of Julian, you'll notice it also most of the time, looks brown. This sounds minor if you haven't experienced it, but it has a real and very negative impact on people's self image.

Older one but to be clear: if you're writing Julian as explicitly Muslim, find and replacing "god" with "allah" in English text is not how Muslims (or Arabic speakers in general) use the word? It is really funny to read, but please...

Over focusing on Julian as British. There's a long, LONG conversation that could be had about the dynamics of assimilation and how European racism (ime) very specifically views it as progressive to strip people of their culture and thinks they're causing the problem if they don't go along with it that would need its own post and which I've had with white fans before and feel exhausted thinking about- but to put it simply, there is no such thing as "just British", even for white Englishmen.

Yes the inverse is also wrong but I really haven't read a fic newer than 2014 guilty of that lmao and I think some of the more recent complaints about it are overblown, given I've read only a few fics recently published that delve into Julian as a Brown/African Person and I enjoyed them

I would personally appreciate it if fic writers were a little more balanced about cultural discussions honestly. If you write a lot about Cardassian culture, it'd be nice if Julian’s background was discussed. I won't say that kind of research is easy (again, I do this as a "hobby" that's very important to me, it's actually really annoying and difficult sometimes), but it is possible. I recently talked about how not doing this kind of mentally slots Julian into a "white guy" role.

This is not a matter of me policing your "artistic expression". I have no control over what you do. I would just like for fandom, a hobby I do for fun, to be a place where people stop being racist in a way that directly impacts me.

[dyemelikeasunset]

I can't sleep so I'm venting. for the most part i love my d&m readers, but oml sometimes i get qpoc blues so bad 😭😭

It's just liiiike. ppl either don't talk about Mor or completely misinterpret her personality. Like I can always tell if my readers are black or not because nonblack readers no NOT see Mor's significance, or just miss the mark when they talk about her, or they misread her personality. Like I don't understand what's so hard to understand about a cute and thoughtful artist??

AND LIKE LMAO Dom's sexuality gets brought up all the time but no one talks about Mor being a lesbian and how rare that is to find in media 😭 white lesbians are always talking about "we need more open lesbians in media!! ppl shouldn't be afraid to use the word lesbian!! blah blah" and i'm like "here you go!!" and no one claps at all lmao. Like I get it, i know why it happens, i understand racial microaggressions, i know how fandom spaces treat Black women, I UNDERSTAND BUT I CAN STILL BE UPSET. I have the right to be upset about it!!! 💀💀 And I know fem lesbians get ignored all the time, invalidated all the time, but it just sucks to see it happen to my character. I just feel like her being lesbian doesn't clock a lot of people, and I get asked to do more thirst trap art of Mor and I do want to but i'm also trying to be careful about like. Idk reducing a dark skinned fem lesbian to being validated only thru being sexy? LMAO.... Mor should be able to be attractive and lovable without tons and tons of thirst trap art (and it's not like I don't do it at all!! I'm not trying to be overprotective or deny her sexiness but I guess it's considered not enough?? give me a break)

And mannnn I was so mad actually that several comments voiced thoughts that essentially said Mor didn't "help" or "take care" of Dom enough, and that when Dom was finally opening up to her it was "Morgan finally doing something" LIKE HELLO??? HELLO??? It's DOM'S flaw that she can't open up? And Morgan does a lot??? I know immature ppl do not appreciate more soft and domestic/feminine forms of care bc they're used to taking their mothers for granted lmao but wooow I was taken aback. First of all, like, I try to show that Mor is the main cook, works just as much as Dom (let's go double income household), is always checking in on Dom's comfort as she navigates being queer, and is overall a very considerate girlfriend. AND SECOND OF ALL LMAO like even if she didn't do all that she doesn't need to have relationship currency to have a doting girlfriend, like the fucking trope of black women needing to suffer for love is so terrible I'VE HAD ENOUGH AND i"M NOT EVEN BLACK. Like there is NOTHING WRONG with their typical dynamic and I'm sick of people acting like there is. SOMEONE SAID DOM WAS LIKE A COMFORT PILLOW W NO AGENCY AND i"M LIKE WTFDYM???? She has TONS of agency and her sense of agency says she wants to LOVE AND DOTE ON HER PARTNER LIKE LMAO. WHAT?? Why is that hard to understand??? Is it because I made one (1) joke bout Mor being a pillow princess and the anti-princess squad are grinding their teeth in the bushes seething over it? Ppl are so twisted sometimes oh my goddddd. Like as an ace who was very confused navigating the lesbian dating scene as a teen and young adult I WISH i had met a pillow princess. Sometimes ppl don't realize that stone dynamics are very safe for aces!! Dom literally says she prefers it!! It's not Mor being selfish like lord please GOD ALLAH I'M TIRED I'M SO TIRED

and like on the topic of Domi overall she is more "popular" but sometimes I feel like people don't even really take the time to appreciate the significance about her either. She's not just a funny thirst trap 😭 and I feel like ppl dont acknowledge that she's asian half the time. I have so many white aces who only zone in on that aspect of her and it's like YEAH I GET IT, I'm ace and we don't have a lot of nuanced rep but she's also got more layers than that too. Tons of people related to her in the chapters where she talks about her childhood abuse yet very few people really, like, talked about the type of generational trauma that is very deeply embedded in her different cultures, no one saw that and oooof idk idk it felt inivisible. It's sometimes harder to talk about the racist microaggressions that Domi experiences thru my readers bc ppl will argue "well most webtoon leads are asian" but not many of them are asian in a way that like. talk about it. I'm born in the US so my experiences with being othered as an asian is just gonna be different and it's gonna affect my art and writing but it feels so unappreciated. I've had some queer asians relate to her but i can count them on my hand 💀 (I actually think it's two LMAO i"M SO SAD)

And going back to Dom and the comfort pillow w no agency comment lmao. This is another thing that rubs me the wrong way is once again, people are ignorant to the ways asians get pigeon-holed to media roles that have us being depicted as incapable. Maybe I want Dom to be more of a protector archetype bc I'm tired of meek Asian women in media? 🤔 Maybe I want Dom to be a prince-like character because asians get emasculated a lot?? 🤔🤔 Maybe I want Domi to maintain her prince persona instead of being "'physically' androgynous/masculine but really soft and girly on the inside uwuwu please treat me like a 'real' girl" because even in east asian media we won't allow women to exhibit strength and dependability??? 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔 Like why is a tough girl empowering but once we have a gentle and doting personality in a romance it's considered cliche and the flaw of her partner for being "too weak." MAYBE THEIR PRINCE/PRINCESS DYNAMIC COMPLIMENT EACH OTHER??? HAVE YOU CONSIDERED? I WROTE THEM THAT WAY FOR A REASON??

Good lord this turned into an essay but I have so many things on my mind always

if you read this all. Thanks. I mainly needed to scream into a towel and put this down somewhere bc I complain about these issues to my discord and they understand/validate me all the time, but I wanna give them a break 😭 I also lowkey wanna document my various feelings as I work through Dom & Mor so I can remember and also grow from it

[therosevest]

tried to type up a quick transcript of motaz's stories featuring the anonymous phone calls. it's baffling.

(i think my recording software might have cut off the end of some clips, and i may have misheard/mistyped slightly as the audio is muddled, so if you can go listen for yourself)

transcript under 'keep reading'

[BEGIN TRANSCRIPT]

caller: hello?

motaz: hello

caller: hello motaz, how are you?

motaz: i'm fine

caller: fine? fine day to go to the beach?

motaz: yeah, sounds lovely

caller: hm?

motaz: yeah, who are you?

caller: i don't understand

motaz: (slowly) who are you?

caller: ehh... i'm nobody. but anyways, um, can you like, post a story maybe condemning hamas so this can all end?

motaz: what?

caller: can you post a story maybe against hamas?

[next clip]

motaz: it's been going on since 1948, okay? and for us, we believe this is our land, and you believe it's your land, and this is the fight we'll never end until the last day of this life. okay? but i'm not understanding why you need me to show you what you want to show, because i'm palestinian. what do you expect me to show? show that -

caller: i expect you - i expect you to - what i think is best for you is - obviously you're a camera man, and i don't think you would harm - let's say you're - you're just a person you know

motaz: yeah, but if you are afraid from the pictures, you are so weak. you should know that. if the pictures are harming you, you should know there's something wrong with you.

caller: no -

motaz: because as you said, i can't harm anyone

caller: let's think for a second. gaza is divided into two. the north fled to the south

[next clip]

caller: i can say, all the people that are marching, protesting in the street, saying 'free palestine' they don't really care. honestly, motaz. if they cared, they would go fight the war together. people are fake. all the people that say in the comments when you post a post 'may Allah save you guys, may Allah -' no they don't - they care about it to a certain point. they don't really know anything about it. they're going to go down today, like - they're not going to do anything. they are just making noise.

motaz: yeah, making noise, but if this is annoying for you or for israel it's your problem, because you are killing people, okay? you are genociding my people. so if, if i'm gonna stand and watch - i don't know who the hell who are you, okay? and uh.. but believe me after what i saw, after what i experienced, i don't care about my life, okay? you destroyed the whole strip, like, the only part we were happy about having, a small part of our country, okay? and it's now destroyed. and you were right when you called the first time that there'll be [the army?] there'll be more bombing, more killing, 'don't go to the borders, don't go to the north,' and i try, uh, to be careful, but, uh, the killing never stops. i mean, i'm in the south, i'm in the middle area, eh, you can't -

caller: isn't it possible for your people to flee to egypt?

motaz: why to flee to egypt, man? it's not our country. why to flee? we have our country. why flee to egypt? be reasonable, okay, be reasonable when you are talking.

caller: i care about life.

motaz: you care about life? stop the killing, man. stop the killing. you are going to have the most powerful weapons in the whole world -

[new clip]

motaz: i'll say it to you, the first time you called me, i was terrified, because a lot of journalists have lost their lives. but now, believe me, now i swear to god i don't give a fuck, because we are all gonna die. so, at least, i will, if i die, i die while trying to do something for my people. this is from my side. eh, something else - you expect me to affect on my people, or to give them advice to go to, to egypt? to flee from the strip?

caller: yeah, it's not about right and wrong, it's about surviving. if you wanna die in the name of Allah, you can, you can say 'i don't care about dying anymore.'

-video cuts off-

[END TRANSCRIPT]

[krisluxxeeempress]

JUPITER OPPOSITE JUPITER SYNASTRY | ASTROLOGY SYNASTRY SERIES

Sharing this synastry aspect with someone, I find, to be quite difficult, hence the opposition. Usually, I have an optimistic and philosophical approach and understanding due to universal law and the necessity of opposites. As You should know, it’s impossible to have one without the other, which is officially known as “ the law of polarity”. Interpreting this synastry dynamic requires treading lightly, as is the same for those who have a significant other and or person of interest with this mixture. With any other oppositional synastry, i would more than likely support and even encourage those to do the work to understand and stay together despite the difficulties that arise, however, with Jupiter opposite Jupiter synastry- things become tricky for many reasons.

Jupiter is the planet of the Gods, and in mythology and history, Gods and Goddess main priority was that of teaching. Their main teaching method was by being an example. One of the ruling Gods of Jupiter is Zeus! My mentioning of Zeus is for the sole purpose of explaining how powerful, influential and damaging having this synastry with another can be especially if one’s beliefs or mental discipline is not strong- and or worse if it is.

With much difficulty trying to get to the point - Understand it is common to see two people with different spiritual and religious beliefs. Or wants and needs in life. As an example, one person may be Christian whereas, the other is atheist. One person may believe in astrology whereas the other does not. One person may be Muslim, whereas the other is Catholic. One person may politically be democratic whereas, the other is a republican. One person may believe in having a big family, whereas the other does not want children- and so forth.

Personally, I believe wholeheartedly in spirituality and astrology. Through hardships I have found out that it may be impossible for me to ever marry or be with anyone long term who does not understand astrology on a higher level, like me, nor can I be with someone who is unable to tap in spiritually, like me.

Now from a general perspective, most people befriend those who are like them. Who thinks like them and usually wants the same things in life. Why? because we all want to relate and feel understood. Most times we will disconnect, reject and or deny anyone who does not like or share the same beliefs, lifestyle and so forth. The same concept applies having this synastry in opposition to your significant other and or person of interest. This is not a synastry where I believe you can work through. Going back to the God Zeus governing Jupiter. The energy and the beliefs of one and or the other are so strong that there’s no compromise. Perhaps another word for this is both individuals have a strong conviction for how they should live and be in life.

For example, if you want children and your significant others does not- tell me how this can be compromised? If one person get’s their way, the other will forever be resentful and unable to truly relate, be happy and live their life how they believe is right for them.

Having Jupiter opposite Jupiter in synastry is riddled with deal breakers. This synastry will be found in interracial, the lgbtq couples. For others, you will see someone in the relationship who is a fitness junkie and the other is overweight etc. but again, because Jupiter rules beliefs that are strongly held- one person in the dynamic may overtime feel pressured to abandon their beliefs for the other. This not only reveals superficiality and inauthenticity but births resentment over time. I have seen secular women convert to a Muslim faith, to keep their main for example. I do not see this decision being made for genuine purpose or due to a connection with Allah. Or men agree to having children to keep or make a woman happy even though he really doesn’t want them and vice versa.

This synastry becomes tricky because, as forementioned, this synastry is riddled with deal breakers and yet- most people refuse to break up or find someone else with similar goals and beliefs. This is due to hopeful thinking “ maybe they’ll change their mind” and most times, they do not and best believe arguments, regrets, divorces, infidelity, domestic violence, drama and legal battles ensue.

A smart person would acknowledge the red flags and or deal breakers as they come up. Like if you know that someday you want to have a family and a lot of children, do not try to force things to work with someone who does not share that same desire. “loving” someone should not be the reason you are willing to convert to a religion that you do not resonate or agree with. True love, unconditional love would not expect you to change your beliefs, wants and desires just to have the relationship and unfortunately, this is another reason why having this synastry with someone is tricky. Personally, I am into occult studies, astrology and astronomy, I cannot be with someone who does not believe or value those things because this confirms they are unable to understand me on some level and secretly they probably think I’m silly- a mockery. I would feel like I have to hide an aspect of myself that is most important to me plus, how do you love someone if you do not accept or understand them? I view this as not really knowing who I am, therefore, there’s no way you love me.

If you were curious, I have Jupiter in libra 12th house.

Another thing to note, Jupiter does also influence our in- laws. So, for those who want to get married or are already married and share this synastry, please expect your in-laws to reject you. Due to this being Jupiter opposite Jupiter, both sides of the family will not like you or each other. You will be viewed as the jezebel and or thug, haha. You will be blamed for brainwashing their beloved child and turning them against their upbringings. I’ve witnessed this with celebrity athletes. The man for example, if the celebrity athlete and let’s say he’s black. His mom is black, sisters are black, father and brother so the point is, he was raised as a black man and the expectation is for him to choose a black woman. Instead, he choices a white woman or Spanish etc. this will cause an uproar in both families because that white or Spanish woman- for example, will have a family that expected them to marry or date within their race as well. A wealthy family will expect their children to marry wealthy but let’s say they do not. “They marry down”, this will cause an uproar for both families. The wealthy family will be mad their child married someone who does have the same financial standing and be convinced their child is being used for money. As for others, their family will be jealous or resentful towards the wealthy family and claim their child is a sellout. I can give so many different examples because well, the universe, our world and reality are made up of polarity- opposites. Hopefully you get the gist.

In conclusion, I may be biased, but I do not recommend continuing a relationship with someone who has this synastry aspect with you. There will never be peace, authenticity or long-term happiness. Having my Jupiter in libra 12th house, it’s imperative for me to have peace and to share the same values, beliefs, wants and desires with someone I intend to spend my life with. I do not want constant tension, drama, misunderstandings, power struggles or feeling less than. There will always be challenges in life and in relationships. However, this synastry aspect is too sensitive, powerful, influential and immensely important to us all and should be honored as opposed to changed. Again, if you want children, be with someone who wants that instead of fighting someone to have them and or feeling anxious to tell someone your pregnant. This can also play out where a woman is unable to bear childrean and either she does not tell the man, who wants children or the Man will stay depsite wanting children he'll never have with her. Overtime, this will be brought up and the damaging arguments will take place. Anyway, you deserve someone who will share the same excitement not the opposite- no pun intended. Keep in mind, my pregnancy examples are just that. An example of how this synastry can play out in real time.

[giddythekitty]

Am I the only one who discovered some pretty sick stuff about our reality after discovering shifting??

I mean like stuff that exists only in fantasy books or something. Like I found out a long while ago that witches do, in fact, still exist, and they worship gods that also do, still in fact, exist. And I don’t mean like those big religions, with God or Allah or something, I mean like the greek or roman or norse gods.

And same with other entities or creatures. Like fairies. Or dragons(fun fact they’re apparently from another galaxy). Or wendigos. Or sirens. They just don’t show themselves to us or we can’t see them.

Like— society has made the world so dull you don’t even realize just how alive it is. And you can’t tell me I’m lying, a perfect circle of mushrooms are NEVER accidental.

Because I feel like I only know about them now because they all know I’ll believe them, because I literally shift realities. Not dimensions, realities.

[radfemsiren]

I am deeply, deeply afraid of God (Allah) i just want to say... lets for a moment say it's true. Lets say if you don't believe in allah, you will go to hell and be tortured there (ik you don't believe that, just asking you for a second to humor me)

What if... i reject faith and I die. What if it's true? Then it will be too late. God then (according to the quran) 😔 will not forgive. What will I do if it turns out to be true? Can't go back then..

I'm afraid. I can't live without Allah. I reject the mysogyny and the pedophilia bc that is NOT fucking okay. But i cannot live without allah. I'm afraid of death.

I'm sorry

Thank you for sending this ask ❤️

I want to talk about Pascal’s wager, because this is a popular concept that was argued between Christians and Atheists when I first got into debate. Pascal’s wager was proposed by a Christian, and his argument was yours: It’s better to just believe in God and follow Christ’s teachings “just in case”, that way if it’s true, you go to heaven, and if not, then at worst you just wasted some time. Because if you don’t follow the faith, and risk it being true, then you go to hell. So the least risky avenue would be to follow the religion…

This is a logical fallacy: it doesn’t make sense when put to the test of rational thought. This risk to reward analysis would only work if there was one religion.

There are thousands of religions, almost all of them punish non believers. What if Christianity was right? Now you risk going to their hell by being a Muslim. What if Hinduism is correct? What if the ancient Greeks were correct, and you will now be punished by Zeus?

There is no safety in choosing a faith, almost all of them rule by fear and will punish you if you make the wrong choice out of thousands…There is only one rational conclusion : none of them are correct, and our life is simply ruled by the principles of science. When we die, we decompose, and new life is created. We are made of dying stars, and will become a dying star once again… You can find beauty in that or not, but it’s the simple truth.

There is also another logical fallacy with Pascal’s wager when it’s proposed by Muslims: intent is everything with good deeds. We know this, it’s taught repeatedly to us. If you pray wrong for years, and learn the right way, they still count because of your intention. You can’t force someone at gunpoint to be Muslim or pray because any worship done without pure intention is not a true good deed, and won’t be counted for judgement day:

You can not make yourself believe something. You either do, or don’t. It’s not a choice: you can actively work against it for years, but in your heart, you know what your true perspective is. I know the sky is blue, I can keep trying to make myself believe it’s not, but it won’t work. If you pray to Allah for years, and in the back of your mind you know he doesn’t exist, those prayers don’t count. The only unforgivable sin is being an unbeliever in Allah… that’s the one thing that Muhammad can’t argue on your behalf on judgement day. And it’s also the one thing you can’t make yourself do: once you realize how fake it all is, you can’t make yourself unsee the lie.

I hope this helps! ❤️

[elegantshapeshifter]

Steven Dillon's conversion to Christianity: what does it mean to Hellenism and Pagan Community?

Steven Dillon, the author of "The Case for Polytheism" and "Pagan Portals - Polytheism: A Platonic Approach", recently returned to Christianity.

This event made me think a lot. I think this event can teach us that the more you are concerned with "the One" and you think it can respond, the more likely you will go towards monotheism.

The point is that "the One" is us, and is "a thing", not "somebody".

The One is not a person. This is the reason why we worship the Gods, they are persons.

The One, the All, is so big that the idea that it can listen is nonsense.

Monotheism emerges when you think the entire universe can listen to you. Polytheism is the humbleness to understand that only certain parts of the Universe can listen to you.

And when you think you are talking to the One you are always actually talking to a part of it.

This is the reason why Christ, Yahweh, Allah, etc. are parts of the One and not the One.

Even attempts to interact with the entirety of the One are just interactions with parts of the One, ie one of the many Gods.

This is confirmed by Aleister Crowley's experience, we can read from the Liber Astarte Vel Berylli that he considered Allah, Christ and Yahweh as Parts or Aspects of the One, exactly as other Polytheistic Deities, and not as the All/the One in its entirety:

"Let the devotee consider well that […] Christ and Osiris be one […]".

"As for Deities with whose nature no Image is compatible, let them be worshipped in an empty shrine. Such are Brahma, and Allah. Also some postcaptivity conceptions of Jehovah".

"[…] the particular Deity be himself savage and relentless; as Jehovah or Kali."

-

Moreover, Dillon was (is?) Platonic, and the problem is even worse, because sadly the reaction to the problem of evil is very similar between Platonism and Christianity.

However, the Stoic (and maybe the Hindu and Buddhist) worldview completely destroys the problem of evil, because if the Divine is good and we simply don't perceive the goodness and that is what evil is, ie ignorance or misperception, then the problem of evil is solved.

If we, instead, perceive the evil as something real and the Gods as totally good not evil, the problem of evil remains.

-

Finally, a Pagan that comes back to Christianity usually doesn't know history very well, and is unaware of Natib Qadish, ie Modern Canaanite Religion or Neopaganism.

If you listen to Natib Qadish (ie Canaanite and Israelite Polytheistic Neopaganism) and Wathanism (Arabian pre-Islamic Polytheistic Neopaganism) practitioners' voices, you cannot come back to Christianity.

In fact, Christianity doesn't make any sense: Yahweh is a Storm God that comes from Edom to Israel through the Kenites or Shasu, which were nomads. His name meant "to blow", and so he was a variation of Baal Hadad.

In the origin, El was the father of Baal/Yahweh, and his sister was Anat and his mother Asherah. Later, El ie the Sky God and Yahweh ie the Storm God, merged and so Yahweh was seen as the husband of the Goddess Asherah.

In fact in Kuntillet Arjud it's possible to see blessings by "Yahweh and his Asherah". Moreover, even the Bible (read The Book of Judges) witness that people worshipped Asherah/Astarte and Baal together with YHWH.

In Elephantine in Egypt there was a Jewish temple for Yahu-Anat, ie both Anat and YHWH.

So how can Jesus be the son of the only God Yahweh if Yahweh was never a monotheistic God before the Josiah's reform that made Judaism monotheistic?

If Judaism is originally polytheistic then Christianity makes no sense.

By reading the "Cycle of Baal" we'll discover the origin of the Biblical Deity (or Deities?).

I end my dissertation with some interesting quotes from the Bible:

Jeremiah 7:

"17 Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven."

Jeremiah 44:

"17 We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm. 18 But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine.”

"19 The women added, “When we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands know that we were making cakes impressed with her image and pouring out drink offerings to her?”"

"25 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You and your wives have done what you said you would do when you promised, ‘We will certainly carry out the vows we made to burn incense and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven.’"

[lilacmuse]

What is love?

بِس��مِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Love, in its deepest essence, is a bridge to the Divine. 

Love is God's way of calling us back to Him in the most beautiful of ways, because the true object, source, and final endpoint of all loves is Him. The true root of every desire, every yearning, and every aspiration is the yearning for Him. He is the Beginning and the End of everything, including love.

Every permissible form of love is beautiful and sacred in its own right, because every pure love the human being experiences is like a river that leads back to the infinite ocean of Him. But the wine of His love is the only one capable of fully quenching the primordial thirst of every soul. So everything we look for, everything we long for, and everything we love is, in its deepest essence, a longing to be quenched by Him.

Speaking from the lens of negation, love is the anthisesis of ego. The ultimate goal of ego is self-preservation, while the ultimate goal of love is self-annihilation within the beloved. So philosophically speaking, love is the intrinsic yearning of all contingent beings to experience absolute union with the Necessary Existent. In other words, the instinctual desire for human union is merely an echo of the soul's deepest yearning: reunion with the Beloved. 

The symbolic link between human love and Divine love is also why men are so deeply drawn to female beauty, and why women are so deeply drawn to masculine power; a woman who embodies divine feminine energy finitely mirrors the jamaal of Allah (swt), while a man who embodies divine masculine energy finitely mirrors the jalaal of Allah (swt). When union happens between the two, the resulting bond is like a lighthouse of Divine love in a dark world; powerful enough to bring new life into this world, which in itself is a sign. The completion the masculine and feminine find through union with each other is a metaphor for the ultimate completion every soul finds in its reunion with the Lord.

This is why marriage can mark the completion of half of one's faith: deep mortal love is one of the most transformative, transcendent, and spiritually powerful of all human experiences. Because the most profound human love teaches the soul how to forget itself in favor of one's beloved; in this way, it serves as a training ground for Divine sublimation. 

Not every mortal love meets this criteria, and not every person will experience this depth of love- because to seek it requires courage, patience, devotion, and sacrifice- but those who do experience it are able to taste spiritual transcendence to an incomparable degree. A prime example would be ibn 'Arabi, whose love for Lady Nizam became his catalyst into spiritual enlightenment (beautifully explained here), or Maulana Rumi, whose platonic love for Shams Tabrizi turned him from an 'alim (one who has knowledge) to an 'arif (one who truly knows).

In closing: if shaytan is the epitome of ego, waliullah is the epitome of love. This is why Shi'as and Sufis have a uniquely deep capacity for enlightenment: they understand the centrality of walayah- the purest, most concentrated form of mortal love- in attaining true Tawhid.

To summarize in one line:

Love is a measure of the soul's willingness to be annihilated for a mere taste of the Beloved.

❤️

[i-cant-sing]

Me (an atheist) : Damn how am i gonna explain this one now

see i dont think i could ever be an atheist because I rely very HEAVILY on God to do miracles to solve my problems. Like I cant count the amount of times I've been pulled out of trouble when I had ZERO hope or chances of coming out alive, and then just a quick prayer to God/Allah and Im all set :)

Like this is not me trying to convince anyone to be religous or something, but like i dont think i could possibly function without God because i just need HIS HELP every single day.

Im sure if most of you sat down and recalled moments in your life where things just seemed to fall in line out of nowhere, when deep down you knew that this was more than just a random coincidence, that one problem you just couldnt find any solution to, and then BAM! Its done. Your issue is solved. Youre out of trouble. Your secret is safe.

Personally, I think that having a relationship with God is important for your mental health. Like Allah doesnt need me to praise him, thank him and stuff. I need to thank him for all the He blesses me with, because well- if I'm more grateful, wouldn't I be more blessed? Wouldnt He give me more?

Ofc its not like God hates those who arent grateful to Him, or that he takes away His blessings from people who dont thank him. There have been times that I hadnt been praying to Allah, hadnt been a good muslim, but... Allah didnt take away His blessings. He didnt punish me, He didnt even lessen His gifts. And yet, deep down, despite having everything in my life, I still felt... abnormal. Anxious. Depressed even. Maybe I felt so restless because I didnt have Allah with me. Which is weird, because why dont I have God with me? Isnt God supposed to love all his creations, his beings?

And thats when it hits you- Allah has always been there. He's still in the same spot, waiting for you- for me, to return to Him. It is me, you, the human who gets lost in worldly pleasures and moves away from God. And you know, Allah guides who He wills, so maybe thats why some of us feel restless even though we have everything. Sometimes Allah sends some trials our way, just to remind us of Him, to make us call Him for help, to run and return to Him. Sometimes Allah sends more blessings our way, so that we become more thankful, return to Him and ask for more- as is human nature.

And some of you may ask, as i did, "so if Allah only guides who He wills- if Allah has already planned everything, if He already knows everything, then why should I make an effort to do better? Maybe He made me this way? Maybe I was meant to not be guided?" and I think the answer to this is that the very fact that you're reading this post, the fact that you have such a dilemma about your relationship with God, the fact that you question your current belief system, maybe its Allah's sign for you.

I think that to do something, anything, we must first desire for it to happen. So... if you and I have this question about our relationship with God, and then develop a desire to improve this relationship, then maybe it is God's will to guide us.

Nothing happens without His will, so this post reaching your dashboard, you reading this despite knowing by the first two paragraphs that this is not a fic, this was Allah's will, hm?

[wallterwall]

POSTAL

(2007)

By Uwe Boll

MAN:

Tower two.

Stand by.

[ speaks indistinctly ]

That's affirmative.

Congratulations, Nabi.

We are at the doorstep

of our martyrdom.

Praise Allah.

Praise him!

Soon we will be greeted

by Allah, the one true god,

and by the cheers

of our forefathers

and by 99 perfect virgins

who will worship us

for all eternity!

I thought it was 100.

What's that?

they promised me 100.

what's the difference?

If they're telling you one thing

and they're telling me another,

maybe they don't know

for sure.

Maybe.

Maybe the exact number

of virgins is not precise.

I mean, if it's in the 90s,

I can live with that.

Or 75.

Hey, I'm not greedy,

but what if it's 10?

Well...

What if it's 10, but we have

to split them between us?

Then you'll have

five more virgins

than you have right now,

right?

We're talking

about eternity here!

How long will five virgins

last you -- maybe a month?

They're not going to be virgins

for long, right?

Look, would it make

you feel better

if we called the big guy?

Yes.

Take the stick.

- Okay.

It's ringing.

Osama, yes, it's Asif.

No, we're on it.

It was fine, but security

takes forever, you know?

What are you going to do?

Anyway, look,

Nabi has a question.

Will you talk to him?

No!

[ mutters indistinctly ]

You do it!

Hello!

Yes.

Uh, it's about the virgins.

Really?

It was 100 when I signed up.

[ sighs ]

He said

it's not that many anymore.

Too many martyrs

in the first go-around.

You've got to be kidding me.

Does he know where we are here?

Give me the phone.

Take the stick.

Osama, it's Asif.

Right now, can you tell me

the number, absolutely,

that you can guarantee

Nabi and myself,

as far

as virgins are concerned?

[ pounding on door, indistinct talking ]

No, that's fine.

MAN:

Do it!

Come on, man!

He can't guarantee

more than 20.

MAN #2:

Open the goddamn door,

you bastards!

MAN #3:

We're gonna f***ing

kill you, you motherf***er!

MAN #4:

Lying pieces of sh*t!

MAN #5:

Open the door!

MAN #6:

- Open this f***er!

Screw this, right?

I'm glad you said it first.

Okay, get on the intercom

to the passengers.

We are changing course

for the Bahamas.

Bahamas!

Aah!

[ indistinct shouting ]

We're going to the Bahamas!

[ indistinct shouting ]

Aah!

[ whistling ]

[ gunshots ]

MAN:

...Has again expanded

the definition of marriage,

this time to include any union

between a man and a woman,

a man and a man,

a woman and a woman,

a man and a collie,

or a woman, a polish sausage,

and a long weekend.

The standoff with Mr. Cruise

Has now stretched

into its eighth day.

Cruise continues to insist

that police are violating

his parental

and religious freedoms,

citing human sacrifice

as essential...

Today on

"Good Morning Paradise,"

mayoral candidate Eugene Wells

joins us to talk about

the new political landscape,

and the newest toy craze

of the year --

Krotchy dolls.

Stay tuned. It's gonna be

a super-dupe show.

Turn down that f***ing TV!

I can't hear my show.

[ indistinct shouting on TV ]

Yeah,

nothing's good on anyway.

Just, uh, preparing

for my interview.

Fight!

Aw, you fight like a p*ssy.

No one's gonna hire

your sorry ass.

Why don't you go suck up

to your Uncle Dave already?

[ gagging ]

God damn it!

What the hell

is going on out there?!

Ugh.

Nothing.

Make sure you pick up

that welfare check!

Kiss, kiss,

sweetie pie...

[ speaks indistinctly ]

[ squishing ]

Come on!

Come on!

No.

Bad boy.

Bad boy.

I told you --

no poopies in our yard.

No poopies in this yard.

You only poop in

the next-door neighbor's yard.

[ gunshots pinging ]

Feces in the yard.

[ sighs ]

That's a violation

of trailer-park

ordinance number 101-40.

Stop eating the poop.

I'll add that to the list.

Th-the list?

The list. Great. The list.

W-what else?

What else

you got on the list?

Ordinance number 143-11.

Yesterday around lunchtime.

Now, I don't care what you two

do in your own bedroom,

but ordinance number 143-11

says if I hear your lewd

lovemaking after 10:00 a.M.,

I get to file a grievance

against your sorry ass,

which is

exactly what I'm gonna do!

Oh. Oh.

- Oh, okay.

Well, at least I wasn't boning

my sister, you inbred hick.

Oh, for your information,

hillbilly,

I wasn't even here

yesterday afternoon.

[ laughs ]

[ sighs ]

I hate this town.

Matt!

- Whatever!

This f***ing sucks.

And NASA,

The National Aeronautics

and Space Administration,

does not exist.

All the space missions

that we've heard about

since we were little kids

in school --

creations of Hollywood.

We did not land on the moon.

There is no John Glenn.

Well, there's a John Glenn

who's a Senator...

Hey, hello?

You, professor.

What is this,

a reading library?

Yeah, yeah.

Two minutes, buddy.

Ah, no "two minutes" now.

You buy now, or bye-bye.

Bye-dee now now.

Ah, go on, bye-bye.

Go on.

Bye-bye.

You bye-bye.

Goodbye. Goodbye.

- Hey.

Don't let the door

hit you on the way out.

Daddy, Mohammed says he needs

to talk to you again.

What about?

What else?

Okay, so, what did she say

about me exactly?

That slut.

# killer, yeah,

and rhyme till I die #

# with an AK-47

from side to side #

# jihad killers #

# man, it's hot in here #

# you just to stake that

out of this atmosphere #

# jihad killers #

My brother.

Any police come around today?

Anything suspicious?

No, nothing, Mohammed.

Trust me...

you are safely hidden here

for as long as you want.

Well, that may not

be for much longer.

Oh?

We have news

from Afghanistan.

News? Oh.

It is all coming together.

The shipment

left three days ago.

Oh.

Praise Allah.

When, uh, will be it here?

Tomorrow!

The time has come for us

to place our swords

to the genitals

of the infidels.

[ exhales deeply ]

Whoo-hoo!

[ chuckles nervously ]

[ groans lightly ]

[ keys clacking ]

Gah.

I see

you noticed the heads --

motivational.

Those are

every f***ing bastard

that I had to climb over

to get this job.

Jesus.

[ laughs ]

Foul.

They're paper-mache.

They're --

he thought they were real.

[ chuckles ]

Sit down.

Let's get started.

So, I hope you don't mi--

I hope you don't mind

the recording.

Uh, we're gonna use it

as training later.

Ready?

Uh, yeah, yeah.

It's good.

What the f*** is wrong

with you?

It's, uh --

the chair is actually --

All right,

we're on a time clock,

So let's get started,

shall we?

Yes, sir.

Good.

Well...

Um, so, I'm here

for the job, sir.

Right.

You're a factory worker.

I was.

I was a factory worker, but

the factory got closed down,

so I got laid off, and --

I've interviewed 15 other people

for this job.

What makes you think

you're better than them?

Well, I don't know

if I am better than them.

Well, god damn it, pal.

If you want this job, you better

reach out and grab it.

You better put

those f***ing heads on the wall.

You know what? F*** it.

Let's go to the questions.

What is

your greatest strength?

Um...

I'm a really good team player.

Wrong.

[ keys clacking ]

What is

your biggest weakness?

Um, I'd say I work too hard.

Wrong.

How would you move a

mountain using only a spoon?

A spoon?

If you were in a box,

how would you think outside it?

I bought all these goddamn English CDs

For you

to say f***ing "glass"?

It's "glasses."

You f***ing foreigners

come over here,

and you f*** up

the language,

and this b*tch

is f***ing up the traffic!

Come down, Greg.

You f***ing calm down!

This flat-ass b*tch

comes over here,

she takes over

the convenience stores,

and they eat up

all our goddamn dogs!

Go and help her.

Come on.

WOMAN:

What's the holdup?!

You're right.

I'm trippin'.

I'll just get out of the car

and make sure she's doing okay.

She's an old lady.

[ sighs ]

I feel bad now.

[ woman shouts indistinctly ]

Hi.

The light is green.

[ speaking native language ]

The light is green.

You could have

went through the light.

The light turned gr--

what did you say?

[ speaking native language ]

What'd you say, b*tch?

Aah!

Why don't you stir-fry that?

[ man laughing ]

WOMAN:

Holy f***!

MAN:

Damn!

Yeah, that'll get her moving!

Man.

What happened over there?

B*tch called me n*gger.

[ indistinct conversations ]

Ooh.

Whoa-ho-ho!

Did you see that?

Yeah.

[ chuckles ]

One date with me,

she'll look like she's been hit

with a mayonnaise truck.

[ both laugh ]

That's right, Mr. Stickum.

[ both laugh ]

Yeah, I hope she comes back.

You got to hold it.

[ whimpers ]

Thank you.

Okay.

All set?

- Yes.

What do you got?

- I will have a medium...

[ inhales sharply ]

[ squeaking ]

No, you know what?

I'm gonna have a large.

I'll have a large mocha.

Okay.

No.

No, you know what?

Maybe a -- maybe a vanilla.

Okay.

W-w-what do you think

goes better with bagels?

Unh!

You had 10 minutes

to make up your f***ing mind!

What is it with you people?

Can somebody please tell me?

I mean, we sell coffee.

That's it, nothing else.

You're not buying a car,

I mean, right?

Make a f***ing decision, huh?

How about it?

I know.

Here we go.

You're gonna have

a regular coffee.

Careful -- the beverage you're

about to enjoy is extremely hot.

Next?

Uh...

What?

I, um --

Two lattes,

no foam, please.

[ rock music plays ]

I can't believe

this is the first time

you've ever been here.

Huh.

I mean, all these f***ing idiots

calling me Uncle Dave,

And here I am --

I actually am your Uncle Dave.

[ chuckles ]

Yeah.

So, when was the last time

I saw you?

The bachelor party,

right before the wedding night.

Oh, f***, yeah, right.

That was fun.

I wonder

if that donkey survived.

[ inhales deeply ]

Well, what do you think

of the place?

Ah, it's -- it's amazing.

Yeah. I kind of owe it

all to you, you know?

Me?

Well, we always talked

about running a con like this, right?

- Yeah.

[ why did you have to send like seven of these ]

[asma-al-husna]

Allah calls Himself Al-Khabeer— The Acquainted, the All-Aware — on six occasions in the Quran. He is the one who knows the true reality of all that is created. Al-Khabeer is aware of, knows about, and has understanding of all inner states, internal qualities, and the meanings of all things!

The Acquainted, All-and Fully Aware, Knower of Reality

Khabeer comes from the root khaa-baa-raa, which points to two main meanings. The first main meaning is to know, to be aware, and to understand the reality or inner nature of something. The second main meaning is to test, prove, and try by experience which results in inner knowledge.

This root appears 52 times in the Quran in four derived forms. Examples of these forms are akhbaarakum (“your affairs”), khubran (“any knowledge, information”), and akhbaarahaa (“its news”).

Linguistically, khabeer is derived from khibrah, which is the concept of comprehending and encompassing the inner and outward realities of things. It is said, khabartu ash-shay (I attained proper knowledge of something) when I came to know it upon its reality (i.e. as it truly is). Hence, He, the Sublime, is al-Khabeer, meaning the one who has encompassed the innermost, and the hidden realities of things, and the outward realities of things. [Sharh Aqidatul-Wasitiyyah of al-Fawzan]

Al-Khabeer Himself says:  . . . [He is] Knower of the unseen and the witnessed; and He is the Wise, the Acquainted. [Quran, 6:73] . . . Vision perceives Him not, but He perceives [all] vision; and He is the Subtle, the Acquainted [Quran, 6:103] [All] praise is [due] to Allah , to whom belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth, and to Him belongs [all] praise in the Hereafter. And He is the Wise, the Acquainted. [Quran, 34:1]

The ultimate awareness and knowledge of Allah

Allah is the one whose knowledge encompasses all that is outward and hidden, all things that occur, have occurred, and will occur of the affairs of the whole creation. There is nothing that is hidden from Him. Allah ‘azza wa jall paired His attribute of being khabeer with His attribute of all-encompassing knowledge.

 

Allah says: Verily Allah! With Him (Alone) is the knowledge of the Hour, He sends down the rain and knows what is in the wombs. No person knows what he will earn tomorrow and no person knows in what land he will die. Indeed Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware. [Quran, 31:34]

It is Allah who has knowledge of both the seen and unseen and it is He who can perceive our inner nature and intentions.  O Mankind! We have created you from a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes that you may know each other. Verily, the most honourable of you in the Sight of Allah is the most God-Fearing of you. Indeed Allah is the All-Knower, the All-Aware. [Quran,49:13]

In the Quran, Allah’s being khabeer is most often combined with His attribute of wisdom (Al-Hakeem), of seeing (Al-Baseer), and subtleness (Al-Lateef).

How Can You Live by This Name?

 

1. Be comforted by Al-Khabeer.
Allah Al-Khabeer is the only one who is aware of all you do, say, hide, and want. Let this amazing fact comfort you in times of hardship, and in times of ease remind yourself to not get too attached to this world and its material benefits. Allah beautifully says: Does He who created not know, while He is the Subtle, the Acquainted?[Quran, 67:14]

2. Know that Al-Khabeer will inform you.
Not only is Allah acquainted with all your deeds, on the Day of Judgement He will inform you about all you used to do. Remember this each day and let it motivate you to do good deeds. When you slip, ask Him for forgiveness in this life so you will be saved from His punishment in the next.

That is Allah, your Lord; to Him belongs sovereignty. And those whom you invoke other than Him do not possess [as much as] the membrane of a date seed. If you invoke them, they do not hear your supplication; and if they heard, they would not respond to you. And on the Day of Resurrection they will deny your association. And none can inform you like [one] Acquainted [with all matters]. [Quran, 35:13-14]

3. Understand the reality of this world.
The Prophet salallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam happened to walk through the bazaar coming from the side of ‘Aliya and people were on both sides of him. There he found a dead lamb with very short ears. He took hold of its ear and said: ‘Who amongst you would like to have this for a dirham?’ They said: ‘We would not like to have it even for less than that as it is of no use to us.’ He said: ‘Do you wish to have it (free of any cost)?’ They said: ‘By Allah, even if it were alive (we would not have liked to possess it), for there is defect in it, as its ear is very short; on top of that it is dead now.’ Thereupon, Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wasallam) said: ‘By Allah, this world is more insignificant in the eyes of Allah than (this dead lamb) is in your eyes.’ [Muslim]

Understand the insignificance of this world, but know that at the same time this life is your only chance to strive for your eternal place in Paradise. So make your life worth something by paying heed to the reminders of Allah and His Prophet and fill it with actions that will benefit your next life!

4. Make sure to do hidden good deeds.
Al-Khabeer says: If you disclose your charitable expenditures, they are good; but if you conceal them and give them to the poor, it is better for you, and He will remove from you some of your misdeeds [thereby]. And Allah , with what you do, is [fully] Acquainted. [Quran, 2:271]

Be motivated to do good deeds not for the eye of the people but for Allah Al-Khabeer! This means you will thoroughly enjoy those good deeds you can hide as you know you do them for Al-Khabeer and the fact only He knows about them will make you feel close to Him.

5. Adhere to the laws of Al-Khabeer.
In the Quran Allah ‘azza wa jall mentions His attribute of being acquainted with all you do often after He has mentioned one of His laws. Follow the rules and laws Al-Khabeer laid out for you in the Quran and through the sunnah to your best ability.

6. Don’t judge people too quickly.
We are often quick to judge others. Don’t forget that you don’t have knowledge of the inner reality of others; only Al-Khabeer does. Therefore be careful in judging others not only by criticising them but also by over-praising them. Always say: I leave your judgement to Allah!

O Allah, Al-Khabeer, we know that You are aware of all things. Guide us to the best inner and outer characteristics and aid us in our manners with others. Assist us in abiding by Your rules and make us aware of the reality of this world and how to strive best for Your Paradise, ameen!

[jimmyogames]

Game Feel and How It Can Make or Break an Experience

What's up. I'm Jimmy, also known as JCJimmy, also known as "shitty Ridley", also known as yet another douchebag on the internet.

Things I hate about the essays I see online: meandering, summarizing, and barely-supported theses. It's my goal with this blog to avoid these pitfalls, or may God or Allah or whoever strike me down with a flaming, nuclear anvil like the proverbial Looney Tune I am.

With that out of the way, today I want to talk about "game feel", and particularly how it can strongly affect one's ability to enjoy games regardless of their other qualities.

Let's start from the top: what the fuck does "game feel" even mean? Video games are usually on screens, right? Is game feel the sensation of a cold, Dorito-smeared screen against your equally-smeared hands? No. Is it the Dorito-smeared controller in your hands? Partially, but also no. Believe it or not, what I call "game feel" has nothing to do with Doritos at all!

When I say "game feel", I'm actually talking about a few different things — all bunched together like three kids in a trench coat. The elements of game feel are "controls", "pacing", and "feedback". Let's explore each of these one at a time, starting with controls.

So obviously, what makes video games stand apart from movies is that you have the ability to play them — to control them, interact with them, influence the events within to produce various outcomes. A movie will always go through the same series of scenes at the exact same pace, every single time. Video games are the exact opposite: there are infinitely many ways that they can play out depending on the unique series of command any given player inputs. That's the core of games as a whole, even beyond the digital realm. What you do matters.

But games are as varied as the people who play them, and every game controls differently, has different ways for you to interface with them. In Pong, for instance, you can only move your paddle up and down, and that movement is instantaneous the millisecond you move your joystick. Then you have something like the original Super Mario Bros. Compared to the titles that came after it, the very first Mario is ludicrously simple; yet compared to Pong, it might as well be a leap into a new dimension. Pressing the arrows on the D-pad doesn't just move Mario any which way instantly. First of all, you can only move left and right; vertical movement is controlled by the jump button. Beyond that, unlike in Pong, Mario is governed by a set of physics. Just like in real life, he has to build up to his maximum speed and ramp down when he wants to stop. Jumping has a distinct arch and is affected by the speed at which you were travelling. Running and jumping are ostensibly Mario's only mechanics, but you can see just how complicated his control is versus what came before, yeah?

Well, as we all know, just as there was a leap from Pong to Super Mario Bros., video games would only become more and more complex with time. Third-person action games like Resident Evil 4 and Dark Souls make the NES look like a toy for infants with how many inputs there are to learn and master; and the less I say about DOOM: Eternal's trillions of inputs, the better.

What I'm trying to say, though, isn't that simple controls or complex controls are better or worse than the other. I simply want to emphasize just how varied games can be on the basest of levels, and why it's important to consider how a game controls before anything else — because the ease with which you can pick up a game and start playing is often what makes or breaks an experience altogether.

This is why I, personally, can't stand playing Super Mario 64. To me, the controls of that game just don't aren't fun to interface with. The physics of the original Super Mario Bros. are already rough enough to get used to, but put that same hefty gravity and momentum into the third-dimension, and it goes from being something to get accustomed to to a wet blanket weighing down the overall experience. I don't like making jumps in Mario 64; I don't like the wall-jump and how finnicky it is; and I really don't like it when the game expects precision performance with such clunky movements.

Super Mario Sunshine, on the other hand, controls like a dream to me. It's as if the iron ingots in Mario's underwear were extracted, giving him the freedom to fly through the air with agility that 64 Mario could only dream of. Couple that with FLUDD and the number of different techniques like the spin jump, and Sunshine is about as "fluid" as a 3D platformer can get, to my estimation. When I boot up Sunshine, I can hop right in and get to having fun in the various jungle gyms the game has constructed for me; when I boot up 64, I feel an exhaustion overtake me before I even get off the main menu, knowing that I'll have to take some time to reacclimate myself with Mario's gelatinous jumps and acrobatics. And don't even get me started on the actual Metal Mario you can play as.

Like I said earlier, however, control is only a third of what makes up "game feel"; another element of it is the game's pacing.

Pacing, put simply, is the flow of events from one to another. Think of how long movie scenes last before there's a camera cut to a different shot. The amount of time it takes for each cut is part of the pacing; the general progression of the narrative is the other big part of pacing. Both of these factors apply to games as well.

Just as every game controls differently, every game is paced differently, as well. There are fast games — Super Meat Boy, Ultrakill, and of course the likes of Sonic. There are slow games, too — puzzle games like Portal, text-heavy games like Disco Elysium, and even platformers that require more deliberation from the player, like Castlevania. The overall speed of a game can be either appealing or unappealing depending on what you like, or even how you feel at any given moment. No game is inherently flawed from its general pacing alone.

That said, games can be paced poorly, regardless of the speed at which they play. Let's pick on Sonic, as I am wont to do. Most of his games are blistering from start to finish, but there are a few outliers that really shit the bed. One of the most infamous examples is Sonic Unleashed, where half the game is spent running around like a coke fiend at a hundred miles an hour... and the other half is a half-baked God of War ripoff beat-'em-up that moves at a fraction of a snail's pace. That wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if the two gameplay styles were integrated more cohesively. Instead, most of the time, you get to play one super-fast level before being thrown headfirst into a series of brawler stages that each take upwards of twenty minutes to complete. That is poor pacing, and if it's poor enough, it can easily be a reason why someone would drop their controller and go off to do something like pay their taxes, because even that's more entertaining than another half an hour of Sonic x DMC stuck in a brick of molasses.

On the contrary, when a game is paced really well, it can be downright hypnotizing, and you can kiss many hours of your life goodbye before you even start playing. Ultrakill, for instance, is broken up into levels that can be cleared sometimes in under a minute. This makes it appealing to go through stages again and again, grinding your times down; and because the game is just so fucking fast, it never feels like you're stuck doing one thing for too long. An hour of playing Ultrakill barely feels like any time at all. Again, though, even games with lower speed can have intoxicating pacing. Disco Elysium gets sucked off every day between my friends and I, and I'm about to give it another round of sloppy dome for how well it's paced. While it's slow to go around, talking to people, wading through mountains of text, there's always something interesting for you to do in DE. You can help solve local mysteries, try and recover pieces of your missing identity, learn about the history of the slum you're stuck in, or even, if you truly must... try and deal with that pesky case that your partner keeps telling you is sooo important.

Good pacing makes it easy to slip into a "flow-state", a kind of zen where you and the game are like lovers, entwined in a waltz of fun and frolic that can only be broken by realizing that it's nine PM and you have work tomorrow and oh god I haven't eaten yet and-

Bad pacing is a dance where neither you nor your partner know the moves and so you kind of just bumble around until you end up falling on your face and wishing dearly that you were anywhere else, doing anything else.

Lastly, an often overlooked aspect of a game's feel is its "feedback". The exact definition of "feedback" as it pertains to video games can be a bit nebulous, but if I were to try and describe it the best I can, I would say that feedback is how a game responds to your actions.

Donkey Kong Country Returns is one of my all-time favorite games, and it masters game feel in many ways. One such way is how the game responds to what DK does in the world. When you jump on an enemy, for example, there's a loud, satisfying bop that plays both from the game and from your Wiimote, emphasizing just how well you gave that baddie a righteous smackdown. DKCR puts you in the shoes of your player character masterfully; every jump you make, every enemy you kill makes you feel like you're actually a five-hundred pound gorilla, mercilessly bulldozing your way to reclaim what's rightfully yours.

But when a game lacks feedback, it's just kind of... underwhelming. Imagine if you stomped on a Goomba in Mario and there wasn't a nice little ba-boop in response to the impact. Imagine if you didn't bounce up either, so you just kind of fell down on top of the Goomba, silently flattening it. That would be so fucking lame, right?

I wanted to try and keep my examples diverse here, but since he just has so much relevant material, I'll talk about Sonic again. Particularly Sonic 2006, that notorious stain on the franchise's record that I am honestly surprised it survived. 06 has enough problems to fill a book, but in relation to the topic at hand, one thing it did wrong was feedback. In most other Sonic titles, when you homing attack an enemy, there's a crunchy wham, accompanied by the enemy you just blasted going flying off or outright exploding. It's fast, it's satisfying, and it reinforces the power that you wield while playing as this character. In Sonic 06, when you attack an enemy, there's usually just a little metal... bonk. And that's about it. Most enemies in 06 have large health bars, so don't count on them going flying after only a single hit. Instead, you have to repeatedly hammer them like a bent nail, and when they finally go down, they do so literally, ragdolling as if you were playing Garry's Mod and not a Sonic game. Instead of making you feel strong and giving your actions tangible weight, it makes you feel weak — flaccid, even. You aren't a blue cannonball of death; you're a wet stick slapping around your enemies until they lie down in sheer pity. In any other game, this would be a glaring flaw, but as far as 06 goes, it's just another problem for the pile.

Sonic 06 actually encapsulates all three of the things I've talked about today: it controls like ass; the pacing of its gameplay and story are agonizing, especially if you're a fan of Sonic's usual speed; and it barely reacts to the things you do, making it seem more like you're clacking action figures together rather than controlling a real character in a real, physical world. It is pretty miserable.

As for games with great game feel, I can think of a few examples... DOOM: Eternal, mentioned briefly before, is a pretty stellar one. It controls well (despite the amount of inputs you need to keep track of at all times), it's paced so that any stage never overstays its welcome, and the way demons blow apart into meaty chunks when hit by a Super Shotgun blast says more about its feedback than I ever could. Other games with tremendous game feel (excluding those already discussed) include Pizza Tower, Darkest Dungeon (1 and 2), the Like a Dragon series, both Hotline Miamis, and Sonic Mania (had to throw the blue fuck a bone at least once).

Thus concludes today's discussion. If you got this far, thank you for reading. I want to make running this blog a consistent thing, but for that, I will need support. Feel free to suggest topics for me to talk about using the blog's submission feature, as well as to post your thoughts down below.

If you enjoy this content, please consider supporting me fiscally via Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/jcjimmy. One-time donations are appreciated; subscriptions are very appreciated, and will all but guarantee that this blog continues for the future. I may also consider opening a Patreon if enough support is gathered, but that's just a pipe dream at the moment.

That's all I have to say for now. Take care.

[eunchancorner]

Pspspspspsps come get your loreeeeeee

Tw for a lot of religious crap and some mentions of death. And remember, we don't need canon where we're going!

-

Once, long ago, when the universe came into being, so too did two great beings, known simply as Gods. One, the one who many know of, has many names, often known as Allah, Jehovah or simply God. But the other, the true creator, known to the few, was given the name The Eyes Of The Universe. 

The Eyes Of The Universe created the planets and stars, plants and water, and many animals to inhabit Its worlds. But God grew envious as It watched Its sibling’s creations flourish, jealous of the power The Eyes Of The Universe held. However, God knew It only held the power to make one creation, so It thought out carefully what It would create. The creation had to be so powerful that it could rule over all of Its sibling’s creations, but not obviously so, so that by the time it ruled over The Eyes Of The Universe’s creations, it would be too late to eradicate them. 

And so, it created a species that could evolve quicker, that could learn more than any other animal. And so it began, the evolution of humanity from that very species. Soon, humans would rule the world, being so strong and intelligent that they could easily take over the land and kill the animals that fought against them, but still so weak that they would be forced to remain subservient to God, lest they be reminded of their mortality. 

But slowly, humanity began to realize that there was more power behind their creation than God had intended to give, for they were made in jealousy, and as such, their own jealousy and ambition gave them power. 

God worked tirelessly to keep them down, spreading famine and pestilence, snuffing out lives before they were able to ascend to godhood. However, five siblings found a way to survive every time. 

Leshy, the youngest, would create chaos to distract God, to veil his siblings’ intentions. He was the first to fall. 

Kallamar, the second youngest, would heal the sick and the wounded, forcibly ending plagues brought upon the land. He was the second to be slain by God’s hand. 

Heket, the second eldest, would use the force of the land to grow crops and slay animals for meat to reduce famines. Despite her efforts, she was the third to fall to poison in her own hunt. 

Shamura, the eldest, would make peace with enemies, rallying them against God in an attempt to overthrow It. But eventually, they fell as well. 

Narinder was the final sibling, but he had managed to do something his siblings could not; he had found a way to reverse death, leading to his worship. Such power brought him up to the level of God, but in the end, even he was bested. 

However, due to his newfound power, he could no longer be slain, lest the people shunned God and began to worship Its sibling. So, he was tethered to a new plane, with four chains made up of His siblings’ power, a place where the souls of the dead could be sent in search of rest, instead of wandering the mortal plane seeking resurrection. 

In the aftermath of the battle, The Eyes Of The Universe revealed It had foreseen Its sibling’s betrayal, yet did nothing to stop it.

“But why then, did you allow me to create a species that could conquer your own?” God questioned, and yet was met with an answer that even It could not believe.

“For many reasons. I had foreseen their betrayal, and had hoped you would learn that attempting to usurp power with jealousy would be something that any species spawned out of jealousy would be capable of. But I was also not creating merely to create. I was creating for you, to show you how powerful you can be, to drive you to make a creation of your own, even if only one. I wanted you to feel the power of having a domain to rule over. So now, that is what I want you to do. Go forth, and rule over your creation as their God.”

And in time, humanity forgot about God’s betrayal, following Its word blindly and remembering only It. And The Eyes Of The Universe and Narinder waited in the shadows, expecting to be nothing more than rumors in the wind or tales for youngsters.

Alas, history had different plans.