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Reflecting on the life of Jesus and participating in it, Thomas a Kempis’ Imitation of Christ seems to be a perfect manual of practice. It instructs on what you should be and do to imitate Christ. Thomas spells them out in his book and Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr lived it out. The content of this reflection is: The Concept of the Imitation of Christ Musing One Musing Two Musing Three Acts 7:55-60 Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and Stephen said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out in a loud voice,  covered their ears and rushed upon him together. They threw him out of the city and began to stone him. The witnesses laid down their cloaks  at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell to his knees and cried out

Table of Content Hephaestus Tiresias Larunda How can human language describe the gods and goddesses and their potent infliction of disabilities on other gods or goddesses? This writing will focus more on the ‘other-inflicted’ disabilities by the gods and goddesses with a few examples from ancient Greek or Roman mythologies. The gods and goddesses seem to punish other gods or goddesses with disabilities for either speaking out or saying their minds or even being cast out for having a disability. Here, we see the confrontation between the powerful and the protected, between the superior and inferior gods and goddesses, between what is normal and what is different, between ability and disability. A god or goddess that is inflicted with disability seems to lose the capacity to revert to ability again.   Can there be anything like a god or goddess with a disability? To start with, a god is a supernatural being who is viewed as divine or sacred. The word ‘divine’ means a being like a God

Table of Contents God is dead The literally dead gods Mortal/Eternal gods Tezcatlipoca and Nanauatzin Osiris Izanagi and Izanami Immortal/Eternal God Jesus Conclusion To say that ‘God is dead’ does not make him dead. It is like a boy venting his anger on his daddy for grounding him for two weeks. In reaction, he utters: ‘I wish my dad died.’ At that moment of seething resentment, he wanted him dead, but did he mean it? When inconvenienced or in a tight corner, we want immediate solutions or answers to our problems or questions. Usually, in human minds auto-suggestions of relief or balancing acts pop up. The boy’s strength cannot match his dad’s, so he resorted to a verbal duel.    To say that ‘God is dead’ is like a verbal duel that arises from one’s feelings of dread, frustration, or despair. It is a declaration that has no foundation. A God that is immortal does not die. This claim may be influenced by some Christian background. Reviewing the ideas of ‘god-death’ or ‘deicide’ can b

Table of Contents Oneness of the Lordship of Allah ( Tawhid-ar-Rububiyyah ) Oneness of the Worship of Allah ( Tawhid-al-Uluhiyyah ) Divine Names and Attributes of Allah ( Tawhid-al-Asma was-Sifat ) God - Unique and Unchangeable Conclusion In the recent past, there have been confrontations and demonstrations when some individuals through ignorance tended to teach students about Islam and got themselves into trouble by making paintings of the Prophet. I call it ignorance because if they had learned the Qur’an or been informed about the Shahadah, they would not have done that. This writing will briefly introduce to the reader the importance of the Shahadah in the Islamic religion.   In Islam, the concept of Tawhid invokes three aspects of monotheism, which the Shahadah   (the profession of faith) embodies. The Shahadah is made up of two declarations: “There is no god but God” and “Muhammad is the Messenger of God” ( La ilaha illallah, Muhammad-ur-Rasul-Allah ). The former signifies the T

Table of Contents Cautionary Surahs and Ayat Adversarial Surahs and Ayat Tolerant Surahs and Ayat Neutral Surahs and Ayat The ‘Covenant of ‘Umar’ The reason for the inclusion of Christians, Jews and Sabians as People of the Book, not only depends on having a sacred book but is also based on monotheism. Another fact was that the Qur’an calls on Prophet Muhammad to: “Set you (O Muhammad...) your face towards the religion (of pure Islamic Monotheism) …. Allah’s Fitrah (i.e. Allah’s Islamic Monotheism) with which He has created mankind” (Al-Rum 30:30). Strictly speaking, monotheism is another criterion and followed by the fact that the three religions considered Abraham as their father; “it is the religion of your father Ibrahim (Abraham), Islamic Monotheism” (Al-Hajj 22:78).   Another criterion can be found in terms like Al-Muttaqun ( Al-Baqarah 2:2). The term Al-Muttaqun means to profess faith in one God as a revelation given and written down in the form of scripture. This definiti