Criticism of Leo: I don't think he understands Islam

[Husseinisdoingfine]

Greetings everyone.

So recently Leo published a blog post about the 99 names of Allah.

https://actualized.org/insights/the-99-names-of-allah

And all the way back in 2018, he published a video Understanding Islam.

https://www.actualized.org/articles/understanding-islam

 

This is a bit perplexing, but I don't think Leo understands Islam. He's trying to twist Islam into this higher consciousness vision when it is really far from that.

First criticism, the greater jihad.

In Leo's video, Understanding Islam, he presents Muhammad as a sort of self-help guru. According to Leo, Muhammed taught that the "greatest jihad" was the fight against the inner self. That to fight the enemies of Islam through military conquest was the lesser jihad, but the greater jihad was the fight to improve and become a better person.

I have two problems with this:

Criticism No.1: The greater jihad hadith is not a reliable hadith according to most Islamic scholars. Some scholars go as far to say that the hadith is fabricated. 

Criticism No.2: The are authentic hadiths which directly contradict this. 

Beginning with criticism No.1, the greater jihad myth comes from this inauthentic hadith:

" Jabir (Allah be pleased with him) narrates; “The Prophet of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) returned from one of his battles, and thereupon told us, ‘You have arrived with an excellent arrival, you have come from al-jihad al-asghar (lesser jihad) to al-jihad al-akbar (greater jihad) – the striving of a servant (of Allah) against his desires.’' "

Now while this hadith may sound nice and beautiful, like as if Muhammed wanted us to improve ourselves, there are a few glaring flaws to be found here. Firstly, the chain of narrations is not sound. In order for a hadith to be considered sahih (authentic), there has to be a reliable chain of narrators going back to the prophet.

More info on that here: https://friendsofdeoband.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/analysis-of-hadith-the-greater-jihad/

But this hadith first appeared in the 11th century, and Muhammed lived in the 6th century.

Now with criticism No.2 , there are hadiths which directly contradict this idea that the greatest is the struggle against the inner self. Its even in contradiction with the Quran.

Those believers who stay at home—except those with valid excuses1—are not equal to those who strive in the cause of Allah with their wealth and their lives. Allah has elevated in rank those who strive with their wealth and their lives above those who stay behind ˹with valid excuses˺. Allah has promised each a fine reward, but those who strive will receive a far better reward than others—

Quran 4:95

And here's the final nail in the coffin for the greater jihad myth.

“I came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, which Jihad is best?’ He said: ‘(That of a man) whose blood is shed and his horse is wounded.’”

Sunan Ibn Majah 4:24:2794

And wait, there's more:

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "The best life is that of the man who holds his horse's rein in Allah's way and flies on its back to the places from whence he hears a war cry or the clatter of arms, seeking martyrdom or slaughter on the battlefield; or that of a person who goes to stay on the top of the hill or in a valley, and there he performs Salat (prayer), pays the Zakat and worships his Rubb till death overtakes him. He has no concern with the affairs of anyone except the doing of good."

riyad as-salihin 12:1299

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was asked: "Which deed is the best?" He (ﷺ) replied, "Faith in Allah and Jihad (fighting, struggle) in the Cause of Allah."

riyad as-salihin 12:1287

 

[Husseinisdoingfine]

Now with the supposed names of Allah, the problem with this is that the God of Islam got his own name wrong. This is too lengthy to explain, so I will just refer you to this video:

 

[integration journey]

Can’t we just have some positive things about Islam so I don’t start hating my own culture 

Edited 23 hours ago by integration journey

[integration journey]

And I also believe this belongs to the intellectual sub forum. 
what does this has to do with personal development? 

[Leo Gura]

Dude, I do not care about literally reading Islam. I read it not according to how Mohammad intended, and not according to how tradition wants, but according to how God actually works.

The way God actually works is, the lesser Jihad is nonsense and the Greater Jihad is what matters for realizing God.

Allah does not favor anyone. Allah does not care what any human does. You could have sex with a goat and Allah will not care. You could wage the best lesser Jihad ever and slay a million demons, and Allah will not care.

I interpret Islam according to how it ought to be in its purest form. I don't parrot their corruptions, obviously. I cut out all the corruption and human confusion.

This is called being charitable. I steelman Islam. You are strawmanning it.

You will never realize Allah by waging a war. And Allah requires no war to defend his honor. War is silly human survival nonsense.

I do not care if Mohammad said it or not, I am telling you how God actually works.

You need to throw all the tradition and literalism out the window.

If you want to define Islam as waging war to gain favor with Allah, then that Isalm is without a doubt bullshit. So the question is, What is the Islam that is not bullshit?

Edited 19 hours ago by Leo Gura

[AION]

Most muslims try to live like the prophet mimmicking his beard, eating like him, living as a desert dweller and think that is how to be a good muslim. The equivalent for scientists would be that scientists would try to look like Albert Einstein and think that would mean they are a good scientist while knowing nothing about science. Who cares about what Arabs think? I think they are doing a disservice to Mohammed, may peace be with him.

[Jodistrict]

This is actually similar to the issue of the Bhagavad Gita, which starts at the beginning of a battle, where Krishna (who is God) convinces Arjuna that it is his dharma to take up arms and kill.    This can be considered a metaphor of an inner battle and the Bhagavad Gita was even an inspiration for Gandhi.  However, some scholars say that there was an actual war.  Both views seem too simplistic.   Eastern thought embraces paradox and both are actually true.  We are transcendent but we are also embodied. 

[integration journey]

1 hour ago, AION said:

Most muslims try to live like the prophet mimmicking his beard, eating like him, living as a desert dweller and think that is how to be a good muslim. The equivalent for scientists would be that scientists would try to look like Albert Einstein and think that would mean they are a good scientist while knowing nothing about science. Who cares about what Arabs think? I think they are doing a disservice to Mohammed, may peace be with him.

I’m curious where are you from that you have this idea? 

[Terell Kirby]

When I finally understood what Allah was, the last thing I wanted to do was wage war against the infidels. 

Edited 19 hours ago by Terell Kirby

[Nick_98]

Hello , I come from a muslim background, I got taught in school about it and I'm also a muslim based on my family identity. 

However I would say , Leo should not blamed for not understanding islam, I as well do not understand it completely. There is a HUGE language barrier between English and Arabic which makes Leo in an unfair disadvantage to try to decipher the teachings. The fact that Leo even read about islam is something I highly respect it shows the character of a very open minded and knowledgable person. The language in which the Quraan was given is a passes Highest levels of the Arabic language. You need someone who studies that for over 20+ years to start to decipher just the logic behind islam. However there are general things that could be well understood even if you are a foreigner to the language. Like for example Quraan's main rehearsed phrases. 

Quran Mostly focus on two aspects, The Heaven and the Hell. The people who believed in Mohamed the messenger , and the people who didn't believe that mohamed carried a true message. 

Quraan states that the people who believed in mohamed and did what the quraan explains will go to heaven. for example: Praying 5 times a day, Marrying only 4 women tops only under the condition that you provide for them "equally" , being kind to your parents even if they are mean, etc..

The people who do not follow mohamed are automatically labelled as NON believers , and shall go to hell. 

Quraan describes heaven and hell, Also it describes the  kind of punishment god will do to the non believers , and what kind of Ever lasting peace god will provide for the Believers. The day which the Quraan is talking about  is labelled the last day or  correctly speaking" يوم الآخرة""Yum al akhra" .. the day where people will be revived again according to quraan. 

Anyways, I just want to say that since I got taught Quraan since I was a child, and even had a teacher that visited me weekly to teach me some lessons, I wanna say that there is a HUGE language barrier there , even if you translate Quraan you are not doing it a big favor. Quraan is written in "Fusha" it's like a high level german language in terms of its difficulty. You need to be fluent in arabic first in order to start understanding "fusha" language. Translation can get you so far , but you will never reach the entire meaning. so guys.. Props to you for even reading about it. that was a brief about islam.

Additional notes 

Even tho I don't practice islam I want to share with you my favorite "Hadith" from prophet mohamed. Hadith means a sentence or couple of sentences that mohamed has said 

Are you ready to know my favorite Hadith ? It goes like this.. 

" Whoever believes in God and Yum al Akhra" should say something nice or shut up" 

that's my favorite hadith. It does mean that you shouldn't curse , you shouldn't irritate someone else by your words. It's as well in my opinion one of the hardest things to do. Try it 

Also That is my favorite hadith in general I don't mean anything against OP. OP presented us with a valid argument which I highly respect. Props to you op and Props to you Leo as well. Have a good day.  

Edited 15 hours ago by Nick_98

[Stick]

6 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Dude, I do not care about literally reading Islam. I read it not according to how Mohammad intended, and not according to how tradition wants, but according to how God actually works.

The way God actually works is, the lesser Jihad is nonsense and the Greater Jihad is what matters for realizing God.

Allah does not favor anyone. Allah does not care what any human does. You could have sex with a goat and Allah will not care. You could wage the best lesser Jihad ever and slay a million demons, and Allah will not care.

I interpret Islam according to how it ought to be in its purest form. I don't parrot their corruptions, obviously. I cut out all the corruption and human confusion.

This is called being charitable. I steelman Islam. You are strawmanning it.

You will never realize Allah by waging a war. And Allah requires no war to defend his honor. War is silly human survival nonsense.

I do not care if Mohammad said it or not, I am telling you how God actually works.

You need to throw all the tradition and literalism out the window.

If you want to define Islam as waging war to gain favor with Allah, then that Isalm is without a doubt bullshit. So the question is, What is the Islam that is not bullshit?

Looking at Islam not the way Mohammad intended is like reading Mein Kampf not the way Hitler intended.
Like sure dude you can interpret many good things and relate them with God but if your primary take away is that Hitler is some enlightened swami then you are wrong.
Intentions matter a lot. If we want to make sure that Quran is high quality material for awakening, we need to make sure the writer was awakened when writing it.

[Leo Gura]

1 hour ago, Stick said:

If we want to make sure that Quran is high quality material for awakening, we need to make sure the writer was awakened when writing it.

It is silly to expect a guy from 600 AD Arabia to have your sensibilities.

He was a dude of his time and place who understood God in some degree, not as well as someone today does.

If you can't understand that, well... carry on.

Mohammad was not strictly speaking Awake. He was channeling.

If you expect the Quran to describe God as precisely as I do, you are kidding yourself. I have the benefit of 1500 years of intellectual evolution. It is lucky they knew God at all back then.

Edited 13 hours ago by Leo Gura

[Jodistrict]

Of all the religious figures, I have the hardest time understanding how Mohammad could have been awake.   However, Sufism is based on Islam, and the Sufi mystics say similar things as the Hindu mystics.  So, I am willing to admit that there is something missing in the translation that I don’t understand.

[UnbornTao]

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

It is silly to expect a guy from 600 AD Arabia to have your sensibilities.

He was a dude of his time and place who understood God in some degree, not as well as someone today does.

If you can't understand that, well... carry on.

Mohammad was not strictly speaking Awake. He was channeling.

If you expect the Quran to describe God as precisely as I do, you are kidding yourself. I have the benefit of 1500 years of intellectual evolution. It is lucky they knew God at all back then.

[Raze]

53 minutes ago, UnbornTao said:

Ramana actually responded to this

Quote

This was his conflict. He was filled with Bhagavan’s presence, but as he was brought up in the Islamic tradition he had this feeling, “Am I brushing aside my Master Mohammed because he is no more in the body?” Fortunately, he was bold enough to go to Ramana Maharshi and confess, “Bhagavan, this is my problem. Please help me.”

Ramana Maharshi looked at him for sometime because Bhagavan was never interested in the question. Bhagavan was always more interested in the questioner. He looked at Masthan Swami for a full fifteen minutes, showering all his grace and replied:

“Do you take this body to be Bhagavan? Do you think the Prophet is dead? Then is Buddha dead? Is Jesus Christ dead? Is Adi Shankara dead? Are they not guiding, hundreds of thousands of people even today? Are they not living in the Heart? A living guru means the one living in one’s Heart as a guru.

A living guru does not mean somebody living in a body at a given historical time, and at a given geographical space. The guru ever lives in your Heart. Heart is Allah, Heart is Mohammad, Heart is Jesus Christ, Heart is Buddha, and Heart is Bhagavan. Live in the Heart as the Heart by diving into the silent Heart.”

 

[emptiness dancing]

some Islamic sayings that I love

Inshallah  
literally means God willing

kun fa-yakūn  
Be, and it is
symbol or sign of God's supreme creative power
if God wants to create a goblin, it is done

Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un
Indeed, we belong to Allah, and indeed, to Him we shall return
everything belongs to God, and that every being will ultimately go back to God.

[Leo Gura]

57 minutes ago, UnbornTao said:

A 20th century dude.

[UnbornTao]

5 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

A 20th century dude.

I know, I found his look funny. But in any case, it shows that your point about time is rather secondary. Truth does not change with time. He was an oblivious teenager when he had the breakthrough. Cultural developments probably don't hurt, though.

[UnbornTao]

5 hours ago, Raze said:

Ramana actually responded to this

Nice quote. 

[Leo Gura]

15 minutes ago, UnbornTao said:

I know, I found his look funny. But in any case, it shows that your point about time is rather secondary. Truth does not change with time. He was an oblivious teenager when he had the breakthrough. Cultural developments probably don't hurt, though.

You are being too flippant about how much culture and survival forces shape people's understanding of Reality.

If you lived in the Middle East 1500 years ago, you would in for a rude awakening indeed. These people were hardly more developed than cavemen. And you want them to give you some kind of pure spiritual textbook that can compete with today's work?

The only reason anyone knows about Ramana is because of internet and such. Nobody would know him 1500 years ago. Mohammad is known because he started a kingdom through conquest. That is how you got known back them. Not for being a hippie.

Edited 4 hours ago by Leo Gura