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Maimonides pronounced his Imshallah. In doing so he denounced Judaism and embraced Allah. Jews who still try to claim his work go through contortions trying to say he really was a Jew despite his conversion. Some among the Jews say this of him Rahmatullahi 'alaihi. It is slander, he embraced Judaism by making Shahadah, he completed his Covenant with God that he made once beneath Sinai and once at his Bar Mitzvah, his entry into the Covenant with standing and binding him forever to the Law of Moses. First your interlocutor, Muslim, it appears: They're right. He really was Jewish despite conversion. This is most true. As a member of the Ummah of Musa 'alaihi as-salaam he will never lose that distinction, nor will any other bound by their Covenant with God, whether in the garden or in the fire. There are athiest Jews, and Christian Jews, Muslim Jews, and so forth. There are no atheist Jews. They know with utter certitude, that is the term of the Covenant they enter. It is not remotely a matter of belief, they know first-hand and forever and cannot forget Him just as He has sworn by Himself that He does not forget them. Those who are actually Jews who deny what they know, claiming not to believe it, are deniers, they are not atheist even slightly. It is their personal and collective hell, they abide in it, it is among what they were Promised. They are free to despise Him, and some do. It's a matter of ancestry, not religious belief. It is a matter of Covenant willfully and knowingly entered and chosen and has nothing to do with religious belief or ancestry, it is a Bargain they freely made with God at the hand of Moses or his successor among them empowered to make the bargain. Ancestry bestows the privilege of being born within the Covenant, it is germane. They tried to change the Bargain after they had made it, Scripture says this abundantly, but that is another topic. They are (presumably) the "Semites" in the Anti-Semitism that Jews speak about. Jesus 'alaihi as-salaam is reported to have identified their lineage and ancestry. That was the Last Word for all of them, if he said it. That would mean they are Children of Shaitaan a'oodhu billah, and their biological origin did become completely irrelevant when they made their Bargain with God, that's part and parcel with the Covenant. That Covenant was the answer to a prayer of Abraham 'alaihi as-salaam who asked that Ishaq 'alaihi as-salaam be given a distinction comparable to the Messenger of the Covenant Promised in Abraham. This included being the first among humanity to be gathered together in the Kingdom of God, instituting liberty following the justice instituted at Noah's hand, binding them together in love and harmony, invincible against the vagaries of hellfire. It included an unbroken succession of prophets and messengers from Moses all the way through Jesus, at times there were literally thousands of prophets in Israel and everyone knew precisely who they were, where to expect major changes in Time to be announced and made, and the entirety of God's Plan for them. They were waiting at Tema, which today is al-Madinah al-Munawwarah, The City of Lights, when the Messenger of the Covenant came and they knew exactly who he was, they were there waiting for him for generations as Scripture bid them to do. It included a Messiah 'alaihi as-salaam who would Call them to Fulfill their Bargain which was also their greatest distinction, they were to be those who announced to all Humanity that God would give everyone a Law that would last forever and be His Free Gift to all who might accept it, and His Mercy. And then they would join this new Covenant, this social contract for all humanity, and they would remain with all of their works, individual and collective, forever like badges on their chests, feathers in their caps, stripes on their arms, golden silk robes and white satin, the people of Moses. And so they are, some of them, and it will never be taken away from them. Those who tell it, Muslim, because they are told to tell it and have promised to hear and obey and who remain obedient when they'd rather not, tell it. Those who think they know it and have not been told to tell it, but do so on their own, usually get some things wrong. I am the heir, the beneficiary, the purpose for the mere existence of all the prophets and messengers: I am neither, I am he to whom they were sent, a man without distinction among other men, endowed with reason and sense and placed in the world like all men and women to be the crown of creation, the best of it.
Walkin', talkin', stinkin' clay, corrupt with shame and too stiff-necked to humble myself, greedy for anything I can imagine and ungrateful for what He gives me in sheer abundance, waiting to slake my cravings and caring too little for "should" or "shan't" ~ and He says I am the Crown of Creation and that's inherent in my nature and unavoidable. And I have the temerity to think I might be a sparkle on it for the briefest of instants.
Obedience ~ when it suits me ~ is all I have left. Everything else is sheer entertainment. Writing here is my obedience. And now your victim ... That may do for the primitives among us but civilized people realize no one can be born a member of a religion. Judaism is a religion. Judaism is a Bargain with God, that's how it reaches the people who adhere to it religiously. The Covenant came first, that's what's in the Ark of the Covenant; the Torah came afterward, and sits in the side of the Ark of the Covenant. Judaism commences where an individual capable of understanding the binding nature of "Promise" and "contract" then binds himself or herself with a promise made directly to God at the hand of someone who is already bound by it. In the Law of the Torah this is Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah and is roughly assigned to the onset of puberty, although someone not born of Israel can enter it at any time after due preparation of understanding, which is included in Halacha. Until then, it is personal and does not constitute "Judaism," which is a suitable generic term to refer to the entirety of what was given to the Children of Israel. With the act of making a promise to God comes communion among the Children of Israel and the constitution of a social contract and society apart from others of humanity, bounded by the terms of Promise. Then everyone asks God to help them keep it, and that's "religion," it's heartfelt, "God help us!" and whoever makes a promise to God had better ask Him to help them keep it. Completely different considerations attach to Jesus 'alaihi as-salaam and the purely missionary Promise of his community. Everything changed and nothing changed ~ they have the benefit of the Covenant at Moses' hand and it is to them as if they have kept the Law completely while they need not do so with the particularity of those before Jesus, as the entirety of the Law prepared the Children to deliver the Good News of the Kingdom, that was its central purpose and they fulfill that purpose as best as they can, it's terms are completely distinct from the Covenant in its otherwise totality, although of course inseparable from the Covenant ~ those who did not respond to Jesus' Call failed to keep their Bargain and the Law addresses that as well. It's very civilized. It doesn't bear any comparison with a lawless nation ignoring it's own formulations to do whatever it will, like America has become. It's not even apples and oranges ~ it's more like the apple of God's Eye and orangutans. And to think America started out as the Eagle. I wonder where the yellow went ... with red, white and blue we can't even make green. Just blue-blooded purple. |
