were told by our foreign policy here you
know we're going to stand behind you
don't you can stand up to him right and
that was a very easily you know not an
intractable problem at all but
unfortunately there are people that have
vested interests in using the violent
option before the diplomatic options
right there's a lot of money to be made
in war Bechtel was already was already
before that war began had contracts with
the Kuwaiti government to rebuild their
infrastructure right so I mean Thoreau
said an educated soldier is usually
called a deserter right if you really
know what what the fight is about you
know sorry
count me out on this one right what a
wonderful world it would be they say if
somebody called a war and nobody showed
up and you know the ancient peoples when
they used to fight they had these war
bonnets if it rained they'd call off the
battle and and they used to do you know
the Prophet Mohammed is seen as this but
in the West is this violent person over
over 23 years less than 1,200 people
were killed in all of the engagements
that took place less than 1,000 - we had
it's recorded every battle how many
people died and they actually prefer to
have you know the heroes would go out
and they Duke it out and then they you
win and they'd all go home right and
that's I mean would that be a great way
right let let it's like you know
Lindbergh said the America first during
World War two he said it's not their
sons that are going to die in this war
right the war mongers they never send
their sons right and that's why the
Iroquois nation in the Iroquois nation
it was the women that were the war
council the women decided whether the
nation would go to war with another
tribe with the belief that it was the
women who sent their sons to die right
and there's the great Greek play yeah
thank you about the women all going on
strike okay
all right is minaton online
the the next
these are the two classical divisions
some will put it into five and other
seven seven is you know Shakespeare has
the Verona tapestry that has the seven
stages of man and so it's consistent
some of the Western tradition but here
one through 1515 was traditionally more
commonly the onset of puberty was around
that age where I was in West Africa
that's that's pretty much when when
puberty happens for most of the people
there but you're obviously going to get
some are delayed and some are earlier
but it's around that and this is also
consistent with neurological research
that indicates that the brain is pretty
much by 15 its fully formulated and at
puberty there's actually a hormone
that's released that that will remove if
networking was not done it removes all
the potential so which is really
important why children need so much
stimulation in those early periods and
we've shown now there's a Israeli study
that indicated that for the first at
least 10 months there was strong
corollary study that showed that
children that were breastfed that their
IQs increased about a point for every
month that they had mother's milk and
it's interesting also that it's actually
a right of a child to be nursed with
breast milk it's it's a right and if a
woman is not able to do it then it's a
responsibility of the man to find what
we used to call wet nurses which
obviously we don't have this anymore but
mother's milk is seen as really
important and in fact the Arabic word
for the the actual tit of a woman's
breast is is Halima which mean it's the
same root word for compassion and
forbearance and there is a belief you
know it's what we used to call in this
tradition the milk of human kindness
that there's actually that that is
transmitted to the children through the
breasts that there is a transmission of
him and it's interesting that
historically the wet-nurse of the
prophet's name was Halima that was the
name of his wet nurse was Halima Satya
and so it's also believed in the Islamic
tradition that this hill which is
forbearance proceeds in which is
knowledge and so the woman for the first
seven years is inculcating forbearance
in the child that that is what the child
needs to learn in those first seven
years is how to be a human being how to
actually have the ability to be empathic
compassionate forbearing kind generous
the these this is what the mother is
imparting to the child and and this is
why she's been given and there's a very
interesting correlation between the
breast and the womb that many women know
the womb in Arabic is ryeom which which
the root word is compassion and there is
a hadith in which the the prophet
sallallaahu sanam said that God says I
have derived the womb from my name the
merciful so ever severs the womb has
been severed from my mercy so the womb
is the source of human Rama and this is
why kinship ties are so important
because if a child does not learn to
have mercy at the at the at the the unit
of the family it will never be able to
extend mercy to the greater human family
so in the Islamic tradition is it's
essential that a child learns to be
compassionate within
family unit and this is why rama is is
believed to be the dominant Sakina and
this why the quran says that the male
and the female come together with two
qualities moet de and rama moet de is a
love that is not less full its
transcending the the erotic love and
moving into the the the the divine love
and this is why one of the names of god
is edwin it's from the same root the one
who loves divinely so milada and also
the prophet peace be upon him said the
best woman was the wudood this woman
that has this divine love because she
will transmit it to her children and
then the second quality of marriage is
Rama which is compassion and mercy the
two of these result in Sakina which is
tranquility and Shekinah in the Hebrew
tradition right Shekinah which descends
the the Trank the word in Arabic for
that marital house is called muskan
which in arabic means the place of
tranquility so this is what the the
marital house is a place where this
divine Sakina is allowed to descend
because of divine love and compassion
and children that grow up in that
environment our children that are fit
for our children that will have
compassion love and tranquility so that
when they move out into the dominant
culture and society they're not a threat
to people they're actually a
contribution and this is why the the
prophet sallallaahu said i'm said one of
the three things that a human being
leaves behind that will benefit him in
the next life is righteous children
righteous children so
this stage cannot be underestimated this
stage will actually affect the parents
afterlife if they do it properly and he
also said that people that don't do it
properly they will accrue the wrong
actions of their children throughout
their lives so it will have the opposite
effect so at the age of fifteen to
thirty five you enter into the new stage
which is you it's called Shabab which
comes from a root word Shepperton all
the fire became inflamed so youth is
when you have this energy and this is
considered the age of plowing the field
there's a tradition of imam ali but of
the Ilan who said he's the nephew of the
Prophet and one of the greatest scholars
of Islam he said play with your children
for seven years
educate them for seven years befriend
them for seven years and then release
their reins right let their reins go
play with them for seven educate them
for seven and then befriend them for
seven though that age of fourteen to
twenty-one it's the identity they need
that mentorship you know they're they're
moving into the world and then at
twenty-one your job is done and now if
you do that then there'll be a
contribution to yourself and to society
so from that period is seen as the
period of struggle this is where you're
really meant to do your serious work one
of the scholars said if you if a man has
nothing to boast of by the age of
twenty-one he'll never have anything to
boast right that this is the real time
of effort and struggle at the age of 35
a new phase is coming in and some take
it to 40 40 is productivity versus
stagnation right in Erickson's model 40
is the age now where the other world
is really moving in to picture now one
of the things that happens at 40 is gray
hairs begin to emerge and there's a
wisdom in that because gray hairs what
what the scholars say is that gray hair
is a sign that harvest time is soon
right the chafe is yellowing the Grim
Reaper's on his way and so 40 is seen as
a time of getting serious if you haven't
been yet it's no longer you don't have
the youth to waste anymore it's it's
time to really start thinking about and
this is what Erickson says what you're
leaving behind what your contribution is
right what what are you going to leave
behind and that will determine his later
stage of integrity versus despair did
you do something worthwhile that you can
say my life has had meaning or was it an
egocentric life and this is why in our
culture 40 can be so frightening for
people right men will often leave their
wives and go find a woman and now women
are starting to compete with men in that
realm as well right and with enhanced
cosmetic surgery and things like that
people are doing you know really bizarre
things because and this is our death
denial culture we're not dealing with
this this is a turning point right it's
it's literally the focus on this world
is really meant to
forty is is the transition where you're
turning your back on this world and
you're really starting to face your
mortality at in a deep existential way
and so this is called now the age of
maturity you Jula it's the age the
module which it can apply to the male
and the female it generally means man
but it's the idea of somebody now who
who has reached this age of dignity they
are no longer going to do anything that
is indicative of the folly of youth that
they have wisdom now there's no longer
an excuse for the stupidities of lack of
experience you should know better right
shame on you and this this period then
will be the most productive period from
40 to 50 in terms of contribution
because now you really have you still
have remnants of the strength of youth
but you also have the maturation of
intellect and spirituality according to
this tradition at 50 you move into
what's known as chez hoo-ha cher or Shia
this is now where you become an elder
your your your wisdom now has has
matured in a way that you are now
guiding peoples that went before you
you're you're giving them insights into
their own journey because you've gone
down the path you've been through these
stages and now you can actually guide
them and there's a hadith in which the
prophet sallallaahu sanam said he is not
from us the one who does not respect our
aged nor has compassion on our youth so
there is an interesting dyadic
relationship between the aged and the
youth the aging have to have compassion
because the youth don't have the
experience so they make these mistakes
but the youth have to have the respect
of the aged in that they can derive from
them
the wisdom of those who have already
traveled the path so this is a really
important period and this will go on for
about 20 years at about 70 you're moving
into the ages now obviously the baby
boomers are going to alter this because
of you know people now they're like 75
and they're they have the strength of
people traditionally that were you know
in their 50s we're seeing this now and
it's interesting but traditionally 70
was really where you're settling down
into you're slowing down physiologically
and in every other way and so you're
really now you walk slowly right there's
a type of dignity that goes with this
age and it's it's an age where the
Prophet Muhammad said that that God is
shy of punishing somebody who reaches
the age of 70 in a state of submission
in the next world
and then he wept and they asked him why
are you weeping and he said I'm weeping
for those of my community who are not
shy about disobeying Allah at that age
right so this is really a time where
people should be really directed
the other world this is a time when you
really leave behind this world you begin
to go into spiritual in in many you know
physiologically this is a time of
insomnia for a lot of people and
traditionally the that was because the
body is designed at this age to go into
deep meditative states in the night
which replaces sleep and and in the
traditional Muslim culture that's what
people did at this time it was going
inwardly in a very deep way and spending
the nights in meditation getting ready
for the afterlife and then we have death
now death is an amazing thing if you're
familiar with Heidegger's philosophy he
built an entire philosophy around the
phenomenon of death and death is
ultimately you know if you don't want to
think about where your you came from
everybody at some point has to think
about where they're going and I had a
professor once in fact in in Western
schools he was really the only really great teacher that I had, was a very brilliant Catholic scholar, Ken Kramer. Who in a class I had with him which summons materials taken from "Death and Dying in religious traditions" and he said one day, in class, there is a point in your life where you will become absolutely certain of your mortality and he said it comes to people at different stages in their life. Some people, it happens really early and other people it happens really late. When he said that to me, it struck a chord with me because I know that point with absolute certainty.
When it happened to me, I was 17 and I was in a really intense car accident. I realized during the accident that I might be going into the next world. I realized it, I mean completely, a total realization of mortality. And that completely altered my experience of life after that. I was disconnected for about a year after that accident. Completely disconnected. Conversations: I couldn't hear people talking. I mean it was very very profound experience for me and that was my experience
For him, he said it happened when he was 25. He was in Theological Seminary sitting on a windowpane looking out and he realized he was going to die. That realization of death and mortality I think for most people and there's also
I believe in my own experience there is, a because this happened several times. Since then there's an experience that that you can you know there's a belief
that you cannot experience get death in
this life there is a belief amongst a
lot of the Freudians and and and other
psychologists in this culture that you
know human beings cannot really
understand death as long as they're
alive
in all the traditional cultures death
spiritual death is real that you can die
to the sensory in this world before you
leave this world and in fact that is the
goal of most religious traditions that
the spiritual death and the spiritual
death is where one enters into meaning
you die to the sensory and this is an
inward experience and once that death
occurs you can never look at the sensory
world in the same light you're freed
from it the chains of it in a deep way
one of them said
furro furro Calissa and the decay
Niharika one Anna Magnani lay ahead Luke
Arakawa poet said he freed himself from
sensory sensoria that was his obstacle
and he embraced meaning and embrace that
he's not permitted to ever leave so the
ideas once you make this you embrace
this meeting which is your mortality and
that you will be brought back into the
divine present that will completely
alter your life you will never be able
to look at the world in the same way and
this is the spiritual goal of the
spiritual path now there's a lot of
reasons that why we fear why we fear
dying right and these these five are
going to be the majority of people are
going to fall into this people have a
fear of pain there is a hadith on which
the Prophet said whoever loves to meet
God God loves to meet them and his wife
said what about fearing death and he
said we all fear death
in other words it's very human to fear
the pain right that comes with death
what's called in the Quran Sakura to
melt at the Quran says a Jessica rattle
molt Bill Hawk the pangs of death have
come in truth and then it says this is
that which you were putting off right we
don't like to think about this the fear
of loss separation leaving this world
loved ones the fear of meaninglessness
right despair that comes with feeling
that your life really didn't turn out
the way you wanted that it wasn't really
you
didn't get what you wanted to get done
right I can't die now I've still got
things to do fear of the unknown right
of what's going to happen in the next
room many people will say well there's
nothing but it's Pascal's wager which is
in the Muslim tradition called Satan
Ali's wager because he preceded Pascal
by centuries with that somebody was
debating with him about you know believe
in the afterlife he said well if if I'm
right you're in big trouble but if
you're right I don't have a problem
right in other words in the next world
if the materials who says it all ends
with death if it indeed does then the
religious man has has or woman has led
an ethical life I think it was Whitehead
who said even if there isn't a day of
judgment we should all live our lives as
if there was which is the secular
humanist perspective right it's we've
still done the right thing
whereas the the the aesthetic or the
garment or the the person who wants to
live the sensual life
and not think about what's coming after
or say nothing's coming after if indeed
there is something after then he's he or
she is in in trouble and then fear of
non being right it's hard to imagine
ourselves in fact it's really at one
level impossible to imagine ourselves
just not here at all now
if you look at death there's different
types of death we have physical death
but we also have psychological death
what one is in Georgia with all cos a
homeopath said was in America we die at
25 but live to 75 right that that at a
certain point a lot of people literally
stop experiencing life and go into this
just numb to state where they've had a
psychological death a physical death is
determined by Harvard's right I used to
always be amazed in the hospital in it
because I saw a lot of people die nurses
can't say they're dead
you need the doctor to come in and
declare them dead I mean if that's not
religion I don't know what is the priest
has to come in right yeah he's dead okay
thank you
brainwaves that that determines death
right that is one type of death brain
death so if they're not seeing brain
activity they're determined to be dead
heart and blood if the heart stops and
blood start circulate stop circulating
death occurs very quickly all right
there can be resuscitation if somebody
is for instance defibrillated or
something brought back into you know a
beating heart but that happens pretty
quick the nervous system is one way of
determining so you poke you don't get
any reactions and then breath and lungs
you really have to have all four in
order for them to you know this is a
dead there there's no longer life now at
one point people started weighing
cadavers because there was a belief you
know that the soul leaves and obviously
it's going to be lighter which again is
such a stupid concept because
the soul is immaterial right so
obviously it's not going to have any
weight I mean that's the point of the
soul it's it's not material substance
it's not part of this this realm it's
from another realm the body is material
now the soul you know there's a lot of
people that don't believe in this all in
fact there's a lot of scientists with
that would really like to prove that we
are nothing other than anabolic and
catabolic processes just biochemistry
that's what we're dealing with now at
the psychological level you have types
of death so at the brain level you get
cognitive impotence where the brain is
not functioning anymore so
psychologically you know people
literally stop thinking and they become
automatics that that literally kind of
go through life without really ever
thinking about anything other than the
most functional things you know so
people go into these trance-like states
and and they go into this this
perfunctory life that is nothing other
than routines right and this is why like
Ezra Pound here all teachers Ezra Pound
said the day that a teacher is not
excited about teaching a class is the
day they should retire right so this
isn't really a type of of death of brain
death when you're no longer excited
about the material I was telling a Hakim
I rented a car and this man said to me I
said he was from another state and I
said how long you've been here he said
thirty years but I'm moving on I said oh
really what you don't like here anymore
he said well seen every mountain been on
every trail hunted every hunting area
fished every stream I'm bored right and
I was just I mean that always amazes me
because I've never looked out here and
seeing the
same place every single time looked here
I've been coming here all these years
I've never it's like where did that
mountain come from you know it's and
it's all lights you know it's always
changing here the lights are incredible
and so this idea of like boredom that's
something I you know I've that's another
thing I really always amazed me about
people who say I'm bored
right how people get into that state
what happens where something say I'm
bored and children are not like that
we teach them boredom right children are
not bored I mean they're just you know
they're you know in everything right
which is people that take hypertrophic
drugs or like that right they'd start
looking at leaves like you know amazed
at and that's why children are they're
in a whole other realm right and that
type of excitement about life is not
something that has to stop discovery in
in Arabic the word to find something or
discover something means to be ecstatic
and the word for existence is the same
root word existence is the arena of
ecstasy and but you have to be alive to
be in that to be in that state where it
is you are in an ecstatic state because
there's constant discovery this is a
theater of enlightenment there's all
these revelations happening in every
moment you know the divine attributes
are manifesting all over the place and
and then the next is emotive dissonance
people who die emotionally and this is
the ruin of myriad marriages emotional
death that occurs in marriages where
there's no nothing's happening people
are dead and numb inside to each other
which one of the things about death and
really keeping death in perspective is
unlike having the morbid experience it
actually invigorates your experience of
life because
it's like this might be the last time
I'm ever with you right this might I
might never see you again we leave we go
to work or and come home and think that
it's always going to be like this
but there's people all over this country
right now that are getting phone calls I
hate to tell you this but your husband
was in a car accident today
you know your wife or I hate to tell you
this but you know the tests came back
positive
you've got terminal cancer I mean this
is going on all over right now
everywhere right and we forget that you
know we go into this thing that's always
going to be like she'll always be around
he'll always be around volitional
routinization of life right just sit
down at the terminal turn on plug in
check my email coffee you know phone
rings yes okay it's people all over the
world like that literally just right
driving cars same radio station right
it's amazing so that's a type of death
and then intuitive paralysis losing that
expansion contraction the breath you
know losing that that experience of
right that that breath can be cut off
and that when you're connected to your
breath you're connected to yourself in a
really powerful way which is why breath
is a primary meditation now you have
these are not universal and there's
actually knew death work that's that's
beginning to go beyond kubler-ross is I
mean she was important at one point
singh's book the art of dying which is
published by Harper has taken a whole
other and that's probably going to
become an important book it's going
really beyond that because there are
many people that do not go through these
ages there are many people that you know
but but this is a common death denial
people in a death denial culture this is
very common these stages and they do
work denial is the first stage right
he's relating them to these but I'm not
going to go into that but denial is the
first stage you know people hear it
there's a film called the doctor I don't
know if people saw that but that's very
much in that genre of somebody who's
told they're going to die and they
thought it's not going to happen to me
it happens to everybody else and this is
one of you know our joonas asked krishna
with what is the the greatest wonder of
the world and he replies that the
greatest wonder is that you see people
dying all around you and you don't think
it's going to happen to you right so we
you know we go into this denial of death
and and once people overcome that it's
it's anger will often emerge getting
angry why is this happening to me
especially you know you're 3540 and
you've got terminal cancer there's a
wonderful piece that was written by Lee
was it Lee Atwater who was the campaign
manager for Bush huh
Lee Atwater really bad guy this guy was
bet and he admits it in it was a piece
that was published in an Inc New Age
magazine several years back when he
first do you remember he had the brain
tumor he said that he based his life on
Machiavelli's The Prince you know he
said that that was my life Machiavelli
this guy on top of the world could do no
wrong the Republican golden boy but his
you know screw unto others before they
screw unto you that was the motto of
that man's life right really and he
admits that in there if he could you
know dam
bitch attack people's reputations do the
worst things that that was his realm and
that's why they loved him so much
right because he got people elected when
he suddenly came to terms with you know
this guy's early 40s wealthy politically
powerful one of the major players in
Washington at that time and suddenly
incurable brain tumor right that his
back piece you know that should be
memorized by every politician before
they're allowed to run for office
because he just talks about wanting to
make amends with all the people he ever
heard right and this is something
amazing is that even the the worst
people can have radical transformations
when confronted with their mortality why
does it have to take that right why does
it have to take that and the you know
one of the things about our age is work
we're confronting species death right
we're looking at you know our entire
world is being threatened with death
right our biosphere is is is showing
signs that it can no longer sustain us
because of what we're doing to it and
what if if that really enters in to the
collective consciousness of human
societies now what type of
transformation is that but as long as
we're in denial about this right or in
the anger stages like the echo warriors
right because they're furious right
earth first people they're not in denial
they see it happening but they're angry
you know the Unabomber let's blow these
people up that are ruining our world
right this is all anger what but if we
as
as species could really see that we are
threatened with our own extinction that
there is not going to be a sustainable
world for our children for our
grandchildren what type of
transformation is going to occur
bargaining give me another chance
god I know I mucked up give me another
chance right
and then acceptance this is submission
and I mentioned that you know the denial
is Kufa that's what Kufa means rejection
right anger is fighting it
fighting the truth bargaining is trying
to deal with the truth on your own terms
right trying to deal with it on your own
terms I know it's true okay but can't we
leave you know let's let's bargain here
a little bit you know give me a break
this is hard I can't deal with this and
submission is I submit I'm accepting
this thing completely and from that
experience is an incredible liberation
you transcend yourself you are a free
human being before that you're a slave
you're a slave to your fear you're a
slave to your desires once you accept
your own mortality
right what higher calls up being unto
death you can nurture you can enter into
your humanity as long as you're in
denial with that most fundamental fact
and Heidegger goes to the radical
proposition that that you that your
death Act will be the only real thing
that you will ever do that was not
determined by anybody else
that every act that you do in your life
is because you've been influenced by
your parents by
appears by your education by your
society it is death alone that will be
uniquely yours
no one will teach you how to do that no
one will show you that path you take it
on your own and so that is your one true
act that can be absolutely volitional
you can die and and that is really a in
harmony with the Islamic understanding
this is kind of interesting just in our
culture all these these are like
euphemisms because people don't like to
say he died I passed on croaked kicked
the bucket gone to heaven gone home
expired breathed his last to come left
us went to his return reward loss met
his maker wasted checked out eternal
rest laid to rest pushing up daisies
called home was a goner came to an end
bit the dust annihilated liquidated
terminated gave up the ghost left this
world rubbed out snuff six feet under
consumed found everlasting peace wishful
thinking went to a new life in the great
beyond no longer with us made the change
got Myrtle eyes on the other side God
took him asleep in Christ a part of
transcended bought the farm with the
Angels feeling no pain lost the race
time was up cashed in crossed over
Jordan Paris lost it was done in
translated into glory returned to dust
withered away in the arms gave it up it
was curtains a long sleep on the
heavenly Shores out of his or her misery
ended it all angels carried him away
resting in peace changed form dropped
the body rode into the sunset that was
all she wrote
so a lot of ways to say the same thing
one of the Arabs said
in them to mood to be be safe and mid to
be ready to know why this babble and
motor what I do if you don't die by the
sword
you'll die by something else there's a
lot of ways to die but death is one
right now
what happens then from the Islamic
perspective of when we die obviously in
in pre-islamic cultures the Arabians
most fascinating aspect of arabian
culture the arabs did not believe in an
afterlife really interesting because
most cultures have a concept of the
afterlife the arabs did not believe in
an afterlife they said now move to an
idea will not you live the lacunae
alleged we live and we die and nothing
kills us but time there have said and
and will we be decayed bones dust in the
earth and brought back to life they say
who's going to revive these dead and
decayed bones the quran says paul Yoji
Haneda and shia
/ Amara the one who brought them to life
the first time he'll do it the second
time the Quran says we created you the
first time the commentators say second
time around is always easier right if it
was done once it can be done again now
how did the Quran deal with this
disbelief because it's very interesting
that the the Arabs didn't believe this
how did it deal with it the way that it
dealt with it was it told the Arabs to
look at the dead earth and instead we
take a dead earth send down rain from
the heavens it mixes with the seed
and we bring forth we bring the earth
back to life again and like that you
will be brought back now this analogy
there is a hadith that says that the
Prophet Muhammad said every human being
has what's called as Ashbaugh venom the
wondrous tale and it's it's at the tip
of the coccyx and it's the seed of the
human being so the Muslims believe that
there is a seed that every human being
has and like seeds seeds are very
interesting because they're very hard to
destroy right you swallow seeds they
come out the other end hydrochloric acid
doesn't break them down in fires seeds
stay right forests that are burned down
come back to life because of seeds that
are there that aren't destroyed drought
comes kills everything but the seeds
when the rain comes back it comes back
to life now the belief of the Muslims is
that every human being has a seed and
that seed will not be destroyed we don't
know where it is or what it is the
hadith indicates that it's in the coccyx
but we don't know what size it is what
it looks like nothing like that but from
that seed every human being will be
recreated from a divine reign and it's
interesting that we deny resurrection
and yet our own culture is talking about
recreating human beings from one cell
bringing back the entire human being by
cloning one cell because all
of the information about you is
contained in one of your cells and this
one of the verses in the Quran is it
says we will continue to show them our
signs in their selves and on the horizon
until it becomes clear to them that what
we're saying is true so the belief in
the resurrection is absolutely
fundamental to the Islamic tradition and
there is a belief that every soul will
be completely renewed the body but the
body that's recreated is not the same as
this physical body
yeah no it's not reincarnation now
here's a little schematic the this was
what we called the world of spirits and
from that we move into now one of the
things about the world of spirits
according to the prophet muhammad's
Eliza time if you met people in the
spiritual realm because we actually
intermingle if you met people in the
spiritual realm you will have a natural
affinity for them in this realm so there
will be people that you meet in your
life that you immediately connect with
and this is believed to be a pre worldly
meeting that is replicated in this realm
and there's a recognition of that and
likewise the people most distant from
you on that primordial plane will be
people that you have natural you you're
not attracted to them and this can also
be within within families and within
religious tradition in other words it
could be a Muslim for a Muslim you know
there could be Muslims you just don't
feel comfortable with and that is not
seen you know you're not you're not
supposed to be mean or cruel to them you
know or take them as enemies or
something but it's recognized that there
are natural affinities and these
affinities are from a pre worldly
recognition and there is a hadith in
which the Prophet said souls are like
regimented ranks those who knew each
other before feel affinity in this realm
and those who did not fit if there's
differences you know and it's like if
you look at it for a metaphor here you
know you have the the Armed Forces and
they're all on the same side but when
Marines are at a bar drinking and then
some Navy boys come in right there's all
this kind of aggression that that will
often happen you know because they're
from different regiments you know that
that these guys are another group even
though it's the same army there are
another group and there's that kind of
animosity that's a result of not being
from that same
Regt now this area is the world of life
choice and effort this is called anima
dunya so you enter into this and from
here you move into the butter sock
now according to the hadith when your
soul dies it hovers above your body and
it's a very discomforting experience and
this is why a sleep is considered to be
the little brother of death in Islam and
the Quran talks about we cause them to
die and there are those we return to
their bodies and others that we keep
them in other words that sleep is a
death it is a type of debt one of the
things sleep is the indication of the
afterlife because what happens when you
go to sleep is like you live your life
you go to sleep and you enter into this
this bottle Zac and then waking up is
like the resurrection you come back into
the body or and you wake up you your
resurrected during sleep you can live
lives you can have extraordinary dreams
you can feel like you were dreaming for
just all these things happen and those
are indications of another world and
this is why the Muslims believe that the
dream realm is a very important realm
and they differentiate between dreams
the quran differentiates between dreams
that are at what we would call in this
culture like food dreams you eat a lot
of food before you go to sleep and then
you have all these funny garbled dreams
so there's but you're still in that
what's called the animal haya the
imaginal world it is part of the unseen
realm but there is also true dreams and
the more ones spirituality soul
work becomes Lucent the more access they
have to that realm and the more opaque
and materialistic they are the more cut
off they are from that realm so there
are people who literally their dream
world is incredibly rich there are
people in our tradition there are many
people who saw The Messenger of Allah
every night in their dreams like Imam
matica van Deniz he said he never woke
up without having seen the Prophet in
his dreams there are others that have
what are called true dreams in which
there's information given to them and
much of the dream realm is symbolic and
there is an extensive science of dream
interpretation in Islam several books
written on it where you will see very
specific things and they have very
specific meanings and this is a first
century work by eben Sedin which is
about dream work just very extensive if
you see this it means this if you see
this and there are there multiple
interpretations that it doesn't always
mean one but that work is deals with
these other realms there are also
spiritual journeys that are taken in the
unseen world so people will have very
profound spiritual experiences in in
their souls
now that the mirage of the messenger is
believed to have been was not a dream it
was a of the soul and the body although
time expanded because he returned to his
bed and it was still warm so he went
through this entire experience he saw
many things on that journey he described
them he went in fact if you are seen
palacios work indicates that much of the
Divine Comedy is actually taken from a
very famous exposition of the messengers
journey through the
the hell's and through the heavens the
seven heavens right
until you have the beatific vision which
is was the result of that now Dearing at
the point of death it's encouraged you
wash the body you do a ritual you pray
for the body and then you put them into
the grave the grave
this is shoulder link and then there's
what's called a nod where you put the
body there's not supposed to be any
coffin it's wrapped in a white gown
white seamless garment like the one that
men wear on the Hajj both women and
females males and females are placed
into this you're placed into your grave
facing Mecca and then three when they
place them in the grave you everybody
throws dust the whole community who goes
to the funeral partake cygnus they all
throw dust and they recite a verse of
the quran from dust we created you from
dust we return you and from dust we will
bring you forth again and then it is
believed that the beginning of the next
stage this is the barzakh stage right
we've got these five stages the next
stage begins in the Barza there are
angels that come to angels munkar and
nakir these angels are very frightening
they're very powerful
they have voices like thunder and they
ask a person who is your Lord
what is your Deen your your religion
your way and who is your prophet the
Prophet Muhammad said the only thing a
man takes or a woman takes into their
grave will be their actions according to
the tradition because now you're moving
into the realm of meaning you're no
longer in the
of sensory although the realm of sensory
is a symbolic realm according to the
Quran these are signs in the next world
the signs right it's not sensoria that
you're in you are in meaning so all of
the things that you did in this in this
life are translated into meanings in the
next life so there are these foul
creatures that people will find in their
grave that smell and they have a strong
stench and the soul is distressed by it
and the soul says leave me alone who are
you and they say don't you know us we're
your actions and this is people who did
evil things in their lives and then
there's others where it's very pleasant
and there's a perfume that diffuses and
the soul finds itself in this and and
and he asks who are you and they say
we're your good actions so these angels
ask and this begins the testing phase
and according to the Quran it says we
will make firm those who believed and
did good works in this life and in the
next with the true word which is lela
lela but we will make them firm so they
won't have these tribulations and the
prophets on the lot is that I've said
that according to the person's
experience in the grade that will
determine whether what comes after it is
easy or difficult so it's the first
stage of the next journey at this point
the grave either becomes a very wide and
expansive or it becomes dark and
constricted based on what people did in
this life and there's a verse there's a
hadith also that indicates every human
being will have an initial constriction
the grave will literally constrict them
to where they think they're going to
burst their soul and then it will become
either easy or difficult and there's a
prophetic tradition of Jesus son of Mary
who they were looking at a man who was
being buried
and all the companions said it sews
constricted and narrow and Jesus says to
them you don't remember the wombs of
your mothers that expanded for you in
other words that the tomb can also
expand for you if the soul grew in this
life whereas if it was stunted it won't
so this is the sole work that's done in
this dunya realm that's going to
determine whether you're constricted or
expanded in this next stage here in this
stage now everybody who has died before
us is in this realm with the exception
of the martyrs the martyrs do not go
into this realm they go directly to to
the divine presence they're not they
don't go through this stage so they're
there they are the exception and Islam
does not restrict martyrdom to those who
died witnessing their their belief which
is the traditional meaning including in
Greek a martyr was anybody who died
witnessing their belief a person who
dies in a fire is considered a martyr a
person who dies of a sudden disease like
cholera a person like dies in a plague
that's a martyr death a person whose
roof falls on them like in an earthquake
and the Scott modern scholars have said
that includes by analogy airplane
crashes and car accidents that these are
martyr deaths as recompense for the
trauma of that experience and not having
been able to deal with your difficult
you know people I mean it's people who
know they're going to die it really
helps them to resolve a lot of things
where if you die suddenly there's a lot
of untaken care of business and so this
is a recompense for that drowning is a
martyr death those who drown so these
are all deaths of Martin
so in other words if you've been a real
rascal all your life when you died in a
car wreck because you were DWI or
Sackett how you be drunk yes yeah see I
mean it's it's it's based on acceptance
yeah like it just depends on what state
you were in because people who can die
you know that's the the assumption of
the community is it's a martyr's death
but but that is not an absolute
including people who died on the
battlefield we assume that they're
martyrs but there's a hadith that said
one of the first people to go to the
Hellfire is a soldier who fought to be
called brave and he tells God I know I
fought for your sake and God says you
lied you fought to be called a brave
person and you got your reward they said
you were brave and the same with a
scholar who learns that God says why did
you say he said I studied for your sake
to teach your religion and he said you
lied you studied to be called a learned
man and you got your reward and the same
with a wealthy person mm-hmm on the
other hand you have a prostitute
according to the hadith who once came to
a well and and and put her shoe down and
brought water up and drank it and there
was a dog who was who was dying of
thirst and she looked at the dog and
thought that dog is like me thirsty and
so she put her shoe down and gave the
water to this dog and got and the
Prophet Muhammad said she was forgiven
all her wrong actions for that one act
right and there's another man who said
who comes on the day of judgment the
only good action that he had was used to
loan money to people and when he sent
his bill collector out he said if they
don't have it just leave them and the
hadith says that God said I am more
generous in absolving my debts than this
man so he forgives him mm-hmm
case of soldiers fighting both sides of
the name of Allah safest iran-iraq war
yeah give the souls of both sides that
can happen and be back in happen yeah it
depends on it whether it was a valid is
she hard or not if there's a hadith
which says the one killing and the one
killed are in the fire right so
generally it's it's not the case and
they said we understand the one killed
what about the one killing or we
understand the one killing what about
the one killed and he said well he would
have wanted to kill him had he been able
so they both have that whereas if there
was a valid ich T had which is where you
know both sides like in Maui and Ali
this and the initial Great Tribulation
between the two companions who fought
the there is a hadith that said the one
killing and the one killed are both in
paradise except the one who killed Ahmad
and that is considered a motivator
hadith which has the highest level of
veracity it's it's a hadith that so many
people narrated it it's impossible for
it to have been considered a lie and and
that that's in the tradition so and
that's part of you know human beings do
crazy things and and this is part of the
human condition you know that there's
fits not what's called sedition and
troubles right and and and these are
often seen also as purification because
a lot of the tribulations people go
through are actually purification and
raising them to higher levels so at a
certain point there are two trumpets
which obviously this is not like you
know these are things that we don't
really understand but these are
approximations and and we have this in
the judeo-christian tradition also the
the first blast
is what's called the our the Sam and I'm
going to talk about this on the last
lecture I have which is about the end of
time at the moment it literally means
the moment the great moment when the
world comes to an end and it says in the
Quran that like the the the cosmos was
expanded at the end it will be
contracted and rolled up like a scroll
right which you know the modern
physicists talk about the Big Crunch
which is you know when it all goes back
to this initial and that's consistent
with with the Quranic view that there is
a rolling up of the cosmos and it's also
the heat death because everything heat
like the it says that the oceans boil
over everything ends in it in a massive
heat death so when this moment comes
every person that's on the earth is
going to be killed at that point it's
all over and and then the second is that
what's called the bath which is the
resurrection and then what happens then
is a very mapped out scenario in the
Islamic tradition at this point all of
the souls have left the dunya and the
next stage they go to which is the
bottle
and then you have the bath you have the
the what's called the neva
which causes the resurrection now at the
point of resurrection all of the souls
are bought brought to a plane and that's
what Auto phat is a preparation for that
they're all brought to the plane and
then according to the tradition
everybody is naked and they stand this
is this is where they wait for what's
called the that he said the reckoning
and according to the tradition it says
the waiting is 500 years and and people
are in it five I'm in the pod on talks
about you know a year with God is like
fifty thousand of years a thousand in
different verses so the idea of time is
very different in this realm it's not
like it isn't where we are here and
according to the Quran when they're
asked how long did they tear in the
earth they'll say a day or part of a day
that's what our lives on earth will seem
like in relation to the next world now
at this point according to the Islamic
tradition all of the souls some are
shaded by their actions and others are
literally up in sweat drowning in their
own sweat because it's so intense and at
this point after waiting an incredible
amount of time and it literally says
that people are going in and out like
waves in and out it's a very there's a
lot of confusion there's a lot of it's
it's actually the descriptions are
terrifying with the exception of people
that were the good people in this world
and then what happens is people say
let's go ask the prophets to get us out
of this and the tradition says they go
to Adam the first man and they say help
us intercede for us and he says nefzi
NFC my own soul my own soul
so he refuses he said I can't do
anything for you people go to their
mother they go to their father they say
nefzi NFC this is the day where nobody's
thinking about anybody else because the
soul is looking at infinity and in the
Quran it says when when we enter into
this realm the first thing the soul says
is Yahweh Lana member tottenham in
Medina oh woe to us who has woken us
from our sleep this is what the
messengers promised this is what they
told us they were truthful in telling us
this and this is the promise of the
merciful and they use that attribute
because that's what they want now in the
world people like Thomas Jefferson said
I used to beg for divine justice and
still when I looked at others and then I
start examining my own soul and started
asking for mercy right so this is the
day where people aren't thinking about
justice they're thinking about divine
mercy and what happens is they go to
each of the prophets they go to Noah
they go to Abraham they go to Moses each
one of them says nefzi NFC and they give
a reason that relates to stories that
are mentioned in the poem and finally
all of humanity according to the Islamic
tradition goes to the Prophet Muhammad
all of you met the Muslims the Buddhists
the Hindus everyone goes to the Prophet
Muhammad and that's why in the Quran he
is called a mercy to all the worlds
because on this day when they go to him
he according to our tradition is
uniquely the one who says Allah this is
my place and he takes the intercession
and it said that he enters into the
divine presence prostrates praises and
then it says
to him raise your head ask and you will
be given intercede and you will have
intercession and he asks for the
judgment because people are so terrified
in this waiting period they just want
the judgment to happen you know it's
like people that would rather just I
just tell me what's going to have I
can't wait anymore and so they that they
move to the next stage which is that he
sab because of this shafa'a
so so the intercession occurs here now
it's interesting the the Muslims
identify in the in the New Testament and
one of the names of the Prophet in the
Islamic tradition is parallels which is
the Muslims identify the Paraclete that
is mentioned in John 16 in the gospel
when he says I'm leaving but another
comforter is coming after me the word in
Greek Paraclete means comforter but
actually the first meaning of it is
intercessor it's the one who intercedes
who gives comfort and the Muslim
traditionally have believed that that is
the Prophet Mohammed the Christian
belief is that it's the Holy Spirit and
at this point they go now to the
reckoning that he Sam now there are
people that will not get up and remember
from the Muslim perspective the all the
traditions the righteous of every
tradition is going to be in a good
situation on this day this is not you
know I mean the prophets community is
only one community there are many
previous communities of prophets and
those people that were following their
prophets living according with their
prophet each one has their place and
that's why according to the hadith they
line up behind the people that they were
behind including the bad ones like false
prophets and say everybody's going to be
with the people they followed and those
people
the burden of leading people astray so
you know the Marxists are going to be
behind Karl Marx the whole it's it's the
Nazis are going to be behind Adolf
Hitler everybody's going to be with
what's that a big sign right
materialists over here well yeah I mean
there's a history of materialism so
there's there's definitely the first
philosophers of materialism the Greeks
have you know there in fact if you read
I really like Prometheus press I don't
know if anybody knows about them do you
know about Prometheus press it's a New
York public they publish everything
against religion right there they're
like total materialists and they can't
stand with it they publish books called
like the problem of God right why I am
NOT a Muslim and they're actually really
interesting because it's it's always
important to get reality checks right
from really radically different
perspectives you know I like to do that
for my own you know just okay I see how
you're seeing it's helpful to clarify
your own understandings to listen to
something that's so different from what
you know it's a really good thing to do
so at this point then at the hey sab
which is the reckoning and this is why
there's a hadith that says reckon
yourselves before you're taken to
account in other words if you do your
work in this world you don't have to
deal with it in the next world so
there's a tradition in Islam of what's
called Mahasabha and it's also a
Christian tradition they're they're
they're orders that do this as a
practice in Christianity of at the end
of the day taking oneself to account and
really looking at one's actions during
the day if they were good you praise and
if they're bad you ask forgiveness right
and this is also penitence and you know
confession in the Catholic tradition is
going and getting this stuff off your
chest admitting
you know I did these things and then
having some way of atoning those wrongs
and then what happens is there is a
record on this day of everything your
entire life and according to the Imam at
Ozaki people will watch their lives in
front of them like a film they'll
literally watch their entire life and
there's a hadith that God will veil
people who for his veiling because
having to see your life you know all the
things that you did so in other words
there are edited versions right there's
a divine editing that can take place
where things are removed from your life
if if you ask them to be removed with
sincerity and at each stage there will
be testimony against you the hands
according to the Quran testify the feet
testament they ask them how will they
speak and he said the one who gave them
who made your tongue speak will make
your hand speak and the genitals
testified the tongue test because all of
them are afraid well the body is that we
don't want they know what's coming and
they're they're afraid and so they're
all owning up and they're saying he made
us do this in other words they don't
want to be taken to account which is
also there's an indication of this in
the Gospels when Jesus said if your
right hand offends thee then cut it off
for it's better to enter the kingdom of
heaven Maine right then than to go into
the fire with that you know it and and
that is obviously a spiritual severing
it's the it's not you know it's not
literal right I mean they're probably
some people out there they take that
stuff out and
oddly center yeah those are values that
when you enter into Islam everything is
erased with the exception of debt so so
in that case we may believe that all the
seems to happen for anything that you
have not taken on a literally removed
from your slate completely and then what
happens is there's what's called a
sahifa which is your the book of your
life right the book of your life and
your actions are weighed in in scales
and you'll find this in Egyptian
mythology and tradition in the Egyptian
Book of the Dead the way and there are
many glyphs about this right the
weighing of the basket and the soul
being in the basket and the actions
weighed and you know I had a in the same
teacher professor Kramer you know
mention the you know that isn't that
from that Egyptian mythology and there's
absolutely no indication that that
information was available in the 7th
century in Arabia and the way the
Muslims would look at that
is that much of Mythology is in fact
remnants of prophetic traditions and in
fact much of mythology you know some
religious scholars differentiate between
mythos and myth you know mythos is is
truth related in symbolic tradition and
myth is like fables and fairy tales and
stories whereas mythos is is something
that's true
and so people then are given their their
books and the book of their life will
either be given in the right hand or in
the left hand if it's given in the right
hand then it's an indication that they
they were successful in this reckoning
now there's also at this point there's
intercession so there are people that
intercede for other people in all the
traditions the righteous people of the
traditions can intercede for other
people and the first to intercede are
the prophets they will intercede for
their communities so Jesus will
intercede for the Christians Moses will
intercede for the Jews and and then
there are people from the community that
reached very high spiritual stations
that will be given permission to
intercede also and then after this the
Me's on the wing the next stage is so
you have the weighing here and you have
the people of the right and the people
of the left the people of the left
go to the place of ultimate divine
alienation which is the fire and the
people of the right go to the place of
ultimate divine intimacy which is the
garden now the Quran says that the
people that go to the garden inherit
they inherit places in the garden
because every human being according to
the Islamic tradition has a place
allotted to them in the fire and a place
allotted to them in the garden every
human being has property in both places
and they will sell their property from
one or the other
those whose free their souls in this
world and sell their place in the fire
then their places are taken up by others
those who free themselves in this world
and purchase according to Quran it says
we have purchased the souls of the
believers and their wealth and against
it is paradise that's the that's the
bargain that's the that's the
transaction that you give your soul to
God and God gives you the garden and so
now there's also a point here which is
known as the the hole and this is a
massive according to the Prophet
Muhammad it extends more than the
distance of between Yemen and Syria and
it is a watering place in which those
who drink from it will never have thirst
after that and he will those who were
the most righteous from his community he
will actually give them drink from his
own hand and this is followed by
what's known as the the qantarah which
is a bridge and people see the hellfire
and go over this bridge to paradise now
according to the hadith the Prophet
Muhammad said that the most punished
person who had the worst life in in this
world in the next world he will be asked
did you ever know grief sorrow or pain
and he'll say I never knew grief sorrow
or pain in other words just entering
into this divine presence all
remembrance of the suffering of the
world is removed and also the person the
wretched one who had the most pleasure
in this world is asked the same question
in the fire did you ever know pleasure
and he can't remember any pleasure in
the world
so these these are the final the these
are the according to the Islamic
tradition the final oppose then and that
day which is the day of judgement is
known as the last day there's there's no
day after it is there any questions
twelve O'Clock that's pretty good I
didn't even look at my watch everything
comes to an end
see this is the realm now the soul
according to the Muslim belief knows all
of these things what's happened in this
realm is were in the realm of
forgetfulness and this is why in the
quran in surah turn off the the QAF
chapter it says a young chef Narang
kelapa vibhava
waka chef Nawab autocad Yamaha D we have
removed the veils from your inner sight
and now your understanding is
penetrating see people will know all of
these things right people are going to
know these things
is there God is a fire in the city well
this possibility right now there people
do according to some tuition there were
people that will taste the fire and then
come out of it and there's two views and
these are not dominant views but there
and it's interesting because there are
two extremes who meet at this place
there's the view of eben tamiya who's a
very famous scholar from the 9th century
Syria Damascus who actually believed
that the fire went out he believed that
ultimately the mercy overrides and that
was his bleep the other extreme was
somebody who he didn't even consider a
Muslim at one point in his life is the
position of even our abhi the Andrew
Seon philosopher Sufi philosopher who
said that the fire also eventually
b