Azam Saeed Author

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(Note: This book assembles themes and information from disparate academic disciplines into a single thesis. The extracts available for reading here may sometimes seem disjointed on their own. Yet, when read contextually as the book flows, they come together to cohere with the book’s structure. In fact, bringing these eclectic motifs together was the greatest challenge this project entailed.)

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction

xv

1

Part One: Global Reality: Corruption and Terrorism

9

Chapter 1: Traversing the Layered Complexity of Geopolitics

11

Ideological And Economic Forces Threatening Human Heritage and Civilization

12

Geopolitical Agendas Exploiting Religion

18

Unrecognized Civilizational Impact

26

Chapter 2: Countering Geopolitical Terrorism

30

Defining Terrorism

32

1. Subjectively Targeting Individuals & Groups: Broadly or Specifically

33

2. The Irony of Computer Crime as Terrorism

34

3. Is It Really Impossible to Come Up with a Universal Definition?

36

Understanding the Geopolitical Roots of Religious Extremism

39

The Multi-dimensionality of the Sources of Extremism and Terrorism

41

1. “Freedom” Fighters

42

2. Sponsorship: International & Domestic

43

4. Globalization of “Islamic” Terrorism: Understanding Kosovo

46

5. Growth of Religious Extremism by Proxy: Understanding Syria

48

6. Propaganda in Covert War & Terrorism

51

7. The Company We Keep

53

8. Serving God and Humanity—Do-gooders on a Sacred Mission

54

9. Organizational Structures: Affiliate or Affinity

56

Validating the “Other” and Recognizing the Prevalent Narratives

57

Leveraging Information in Comprehension; Transcending Identity in Action

59

Choice: Individual and Collective

60

Chapter 3: Imperiled Societal and Institutional Structures

62

It’s Not the Apple, It’s the Barrel!

65

Structure and Corruption: Defining and Grasping the Concepts

68

Corruption That Touches Everything

69

Vulnerabilities of Our Societal Institutions

71

1. Healthcare: the “Monumental Fraud”

72

2. Justice v. the Legal System

75

Legal Leviathan or The Radical Love of Jesus?

81

Historic Racism and Other Injustice Via Legal Structures

83

In Search of a Free, Functional, and Just Society

85

Part Two: Hobbesian Enlightenment: Understanding the Societal Decline

89

Chapter 4: Societal Constructs Exacerbating Tyrannies of Human Psyche

91

Tyranny of Fear

94

Tyranny of Victory

100

Tyranny of Identity

103

Chapter 5: Education—Making or Breaking A Society

108

Democracy—A Product of Education

111

Literacy and Education in the United States

113

Ignorance & Arrogance: A Wicked Combination in Education

114

Shaking Academe’s Absolute Faith in Science as God

117

The Intellectual Industry

121

Colonized Imagination Undermining Education

125

Resulting Deficiency in “Education” and Its Societal Impact

127

Chapter 6: Realizing the Place of Culture in Society

108

What Is and Is Not Culture?

130

Language: The River Within Which Culture Flows

132

Loss of Culture Entails Loss of Key Societal Values

135

Deception and Division as the Basis of Political “Culture”

137

Creation of A Culture of “Reality Crisis” and “Information Disorder”

142

Countering the Trend of Thought Pattern Dominance

147

Part Three: Religion’s Exploitation to Serve Agendas

151

Chapter 7: The Money Machine

153

Hobbesian Hedonism as a Religious Tenet?

154

Monopolizing Power and Profit?

156

Chapter 8: The Source of Discord or Communion?

158

Challenging Ignorance and Hate

159

Claiming True Selfhood

161

The Conscious Antidote

162

Chapter 9: The Realm of Self-righteous Exclusivity

164

Sincerity Is Not Enough

165

Religion: The Means or the End?

166

Seeing Our Common Humanity

169

A New Narrative of Righteousness

171

Part Four: Barriers to Achieving Harmony Through Religion

177

Chapter 10: Language and Translation

179

Shifting Meanings of Words

181

Structural Linguistic Limitations and Notional Dissimilitude

185

Sociological Context

187

Subtlety of Expression and Appeal to Imagination

188

Chapter 11: Prejudices and Agendas

189

Bigoted Inclinations of the Translator, His Sponsor, or His Audience

190

Ideological Inclinations & Influences: Individual and Institutional

192

1. The Globally Spread Fraudulent Qur’anic Translation

193

2. Jihad: The Fabricated Holy War

196

Rumi the Hippie: Perils of Cultural Appropriation of Islamic Heritage

200

Chapter 12: Paradox and Contradiction

207

Coming to Terms with Contradiction and Paradox in Sacred Texts

208

Perceptual Paradoxes

210

Accommodating Contradiction in Physics

213

Accommodating Contradiction in Mathematics

214

Accommodating the Contradictions of The Enlightenment

215

Accepting Paradox and Contradiction as Valid Realities

217

Part Five: Breaking the Barriers: “Comprehending” the Divine

219

Chapter 13: Divine Reality in Spiritual Teaching

221

The Problem with Numeric Classifications

224

Comprehensibility of Divine Attributes

226

1. Light

226

2. Compassion

227

Understanding God by Apophasis (Negative Theology)

228

Unique and Incomparable Divine Nature

229

Chapter 14: Transcendent Meaning in the Text

233

Unfolding Meaning

234

Differentiating Substance from Form

237

Chapter 15: Human—The Spiritual Being with Agency

242

Innate Nature and Agency of Human Being

243

God’s Image, Spirit, and Breath Reflected in the Human

249

Love: The Foundation of All Relationship

250

Self-knowledge a Requisite to Human Agency

253

Understanding Spiritual Agency as Responsible Action

256

Part Six: Reclaiming Our Spiritual Core and Agency

259

Chapter 16: Faith Moves Mountains

261

Reconciling Faith and Certainty

262

Reflection—The Doorway to Knowledge and Faith

264

Understanding Reflection: An Example

266

Divine Wisdom for Human Benefit

267

The Not-So-Advanced Science

269

Chapter 17: Human Heart—The Center of Wisdom and Divine Inspiration

275

Heart: Abode of the “Inner Light”

276

Heart: the Source of Self Knowledge

279

Heart and Health: New Frontiers of Scientific Research

283

Heart: the Source of Wisdom

286

Heart: the Locus of Human Agency

289

Chapter 18: Discovering Connection—Human & Divine

289

Human Disconnection Sources: Reductionism, Trivialization and Tyrannies

290

1. Trivialization & Reductionism

291

2. Application of the “Tyrannies” towards Human Disconnection

293

Identifying the Stakes Unleashed by the Disconnection

296

Turning Around and Remedying the Disconnection

299

Non-Separation—The Key to Connection

300

2. Connection via Compassion

304

3. Connection via Service

306

4. Connection via Forgiveness

307

5. Connection via Gratitude

309

Chapter 19: Tikkun—the Conceptual Fountainhead of Agency

310

Earning God’s Love

310

Realizing Spiritual Motherhood

312

Honoring All of Divine Creation

316

Conclusion: Manifesting the Message

324

Appendix A: Culture/Structure Comparison

326

Endnotes

361

About the Author

407

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