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... The Qur’an itself warns muslims not to ask questions because by asking questions you can lose your faith. Rev. William Sutter

   This is true, but as put into words here it is slightly misleading.  It is not the "general principle" the writer makes it seem.

   This misconstrues the passage, and anyone with the Qur'an at their fingertips should feel free to tell me where, exactly, it's located and I and some others here at Liberty Forum will be interested to go into what the Arabic actually says, in depth, which is essentially this:

   Inquire not into that which may lead you into difficulty.

   Like, for instance, what Israeli devotees are doing in America and at Liberty Forum.  Big trouble there for sure just for knowing about it..

   But that's tongue-in-cheek, merely to show that this counsel from God has a range of meaning, a purpose.  It does not mean what Reverend Sutter says he thinks it does.

 

God does not waste words.  I never use three words where seventy-three will be sufficient, but I'm not like Him ~ nothing is like Him ~   No, "nothing" is not like Him, He is like nothing.  No, He is not "like nothing," He's The Only Thing That's "Really Something" as in "THAT'S REALLY SOMETHING" all in bold italic caps and He's not "a thing" or even "a something" as some people call Him, wishing and hoping they're calling on something.  Only His Words catch the real deal.  Here is my (I alone am responsible for this) American idiomatic English rendering of His Words, fresh from the Arabic right now, this minute, writing this post:      Say He ~ ALLAH ~ One    ALLAH ... The Permanent    Unbegetting, unbegotten    And He made not one to match.    [Cut.  Print.  That's a wrap.  He hasn't made a god.  We do that, starting with our very own selves that we make into a god for our devotions.  There's a khutbah for sure.] ... and He uses words like none all together could possibly use words:  He makes words what they are, the very nature of words is His doing.  Every word is His.  He places them where they go and makes them do what they do and what we have and think are our words are ours, but they're really His ~ He gives them to us and we choose what to do with them, like for instance claim them as our own.    They're not our own, they're His and He will ask us ~ to remind us, He already knows ~ of what we do with them.    Look how He weaves them together for me.  It's the most entertaining feature of my life.  I couldn't do this in a jillion years, I'm a monkey banging on typewriter keys.  I don't even think, hardly, I just type and then read it, and change it as I like.

   Inquire not of the darkness, there is no seeing there.

   Inquire not of evil, you will find much falsely attractive.

   Inquire not of shame, find it within and keep it there.

   Lots of avenues not to pursue.

   Hey BlueGrass ~ do you smoke dope?

   No!  Don't tell me, I don't want to know.  I wouldn't know what to think, no matter how you answered.

   Would you lie?  I don't want to find out but I will if you would and I have to, I don't want to think that you even might.  And however you answered, I might wonder.  This is why I would like to try to avoid asking about things that people might not want to talk about.  Sometimes I can't avoid it and that's when I start enquiring into things that may trouble me.

   This is the sense of The Book.  Some things are not worth pursuing.  A lot of stuff is not worth pursuing ~ that's what we find out all the time, while we're looking for something worthwhile to pursue.  And that includes a lot of thinking we do about what turns out to be nothing or, even worse, trouble itself.

   Not libertarianism, of course.  Nonononononono, that's that tongue of mine, stuck in my cheek again, liberty is goooood ~ it's what the whole shebang is about ~ the liberty to pursue the good ~ or whatever seems like it, in a lot of cases.  That's In The Book, liberty is sacrosanct and depriving people of it is worse than slaughter, that's what He tells muslims and we try to live By The Book.  That's our bottom line.

   It's possible to live by The Book.  Life itself is By The Book.  We write it.  Everyone writes their own Book.  Maybe ~ just maybe ~ some of it will be The Book and that's what may make it worth doing.

   Like this "Rev. William Sutter" fella.  I'm grateful to him.  He wrote what he wrote and I pity his dilemma, but he brought my attention to this Guidance:

   Inquire not into what may trouble you.

   I've read that, I've recited that, I've thought about it, I knew exactly what he was referring to when he wrote "The Qur’an itself warns Muslims not to ask questions because by asking questions you can lose your faith."

   But now I have more insight into it.  This blind man led a blind man to a little bit of light.  And he was trying to do something entirely different:  he was very probably trying to hide his light under a bushel basket.

   Amazing.  Words.  He makes them and then gives them to us.  And we're supposed to play with them and make them music, a symphony of bliss for whoever can stand it.  By them.  Through them, even.

   I'm drunk again.  On His Word.

 

Say He ~ ALLAH ~ One    ALLAH ... The Permanent    Unbegetting, unbegotten    And He made not one to match.