Re: Who decides what deen of islam is and how? Allah, people or both?
peace bother pysah, when a person explains something from one’s own point of view, it has to be a monologue till others read and understand it from their own perspective and ask questions about it and that is how a discussion begins through questions and answers, so I am not worried whether people read what I write or not because that is for others to decide for themselves. You young folks are lucky people because you have all you need at your finger tips. In my younger days there were no personal computers or internet. People like me had to sit in reference libraries and read through encyclopaedias and other reference materials for little bits of information. So it all depends how much motivating factor is one’s curiosity and how much effort one is willing to put into one’s study of things. Just because most people may never read a work people should not stop writing books. It is good enough that someone soemwhere does.
Yes, brother psyah I do have a lot to share but can only share the way I can. The questions you are asking are important and they should be addressed if possible and I have tried to addressed them the way I could. So if you have not read the posts please do when you have some time on your hands, you may find them helpful and your targeted comments then in return may help me as well to try to understand things better.
As I see things, people learn at their own pace and there is a wide range of information about things but I put up things that I find useful so if anyone is looking for information at that level then such a person should have no problem finding that sort of information.
We all should rely only on reliable information and we all should have some way of ensuring that the information we have is as reliable as it can be. The source of information is only of secondary importance the primary things is purpose of information ie how useful it is for its stated purpose for the intended recipient of information.
No information becomes important in itself or reliable just due to being attributed to a source. It must pass reliability test such as pragmatic test or historical test backed by archaeological evidences where necessary or if possible both.
Information is not reliable because we received it from a certain source but because it stands the test of reliability.
A chain is as strong as its weakest link, so people can only be as reliable as their testimonies or statements or explanations. It is important to rely on reliable piece of information rather than the person who makes the statement because a person can make so many statements and many of them could be proven false if not deliberate but as a result of human errors.
So your logic breaks down when put to the test that we should start worshipping personalities instead of being as practical as possible. As human beings all people are respectable but some more than others due to their contribution to well being of humanity as a whole. Rulers, money lenders, mullahs, their touts and supporters do not fall under that category of people because they divided humanity for personal gains at the expense of humanity. So relying on testimony of 3rd person does not mean we worship the third person but that 3rd person testimony should be taken on its own merits or for that matter demerits.
That is what I said in my above posts but I said it my way and I said it because in my view that way works.
Brother psyah, it is time for you to start thinking beyond your box you have locked yourself in. The creation and the revelation is there for us to explore and discover things for ourselves and no two people can be necessarily at the same level of knowledge and understanding of things because each of the people is born knowing nothing at all and and keeps learning till one dies. So to expect that all people should know the very same thing is expecting the impossible. Of course we have some basic foundation where upon we all should stand and that foundation has to be something that makes sense and not something that is totally a nonsense. Make beliefs and useless rituals are a nonsense as compared to clear goals and guidelines and works based on them. Deen of ilsam is basically or fundamentally a way of life that leads to blissful, dignified and secure existence in this world so that there is awarding hereafter.
regards and all the best.