| IDEALS AND REALITIES OF ISLAM - Contd. |
This intellect is the angelic prototype of humanity. It is the celestial Imam who is the archetype of the terrestrial Adam and all men. The third Intellect of Spiritual Adam sought to reach the Supreme Principle without observing the proper hierarchy of the arch angelic worlds above him. This act resulted in his fall into a state of forgetfulness and stupor. Once he came to himself he realized that he had been punished by Allah and removed to the rank of Tenth Intellect.
He had been removed from his original abode by 'seven spiritual worlds' which came as a result of his forgetfulness. This seven worlds are the prototype of this world. That is why everything is governed by the cycle of seven. The world was created in order to enable man to regain his lost state, to be delivered from his own 'shadow'. And being based on celestial model, it consist of seven heavens, seven earths, seven cycle of prophecy and seven Imams.
The Isma'ili works speak of a large cycle of aeons sometimes mentioned as 3,60,000 yrs: within which there are seven cycles of prophesy. Each cycle is commenced by a prophet (Nabi) who has his esoteric representative or Imam who dominates over the cycle, the seventh bringing the cycle to an end.
The seventh is the 'Mahdi' or Imam of Resurrection, who does not bring a new Shariah but reveals the inner meaning of all revelations and prepares for the coming of new cycle.
Thus through the Prophets and Imams, the purpose of creation is fulfilled and man regains the state that he lost through his own negligence.
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| KNOW HOW - HEALTH - THE TELEGRAPH 4.12.2000 |
CUT THAT SAVES
A team of epidemiologists led by Helen West at the London school of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, pooled data from 27 studies on circumcision, to reach conclusion that it could help prevent AIDS. Circumcised men were only half as likely to become infected as circumcised ones, they report in the journal AIDS.
Believing is a fine thing, but placing those beliefs into execution is a test of strength. Many are those who talk like the roar of the sea, but their lives are shallow and stagnant like the rotting marshes. Many are those who lift their heads above mountain tops, but their spirits remain dormant in the obscurity of the caverns.
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| Kushwant Singh - Telegraph Column |
Wifely tales from here and there.
My wife dresses to kill. She also cooks the same way.
A good wife always forgives her husband when she's wrong.
The secret of a happy marriage remains a secret.
After a quarrel, a wife said to her husband, 'You know, I was a fool when I married you. " The husband replied. " Yes dear, but I was in love and didn't notice."
When a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let him keep her.
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