Losing my religion

The need to press on and ignore F.R.'s view that Islam is a pagan religion (there is a whole history to this, the idea that Islam is nothing more than a corruption of the true faith, a set of borrowings). This hostility is not altogether surprising when you think of Islam's traditional aversion to the idea that any one people or religion has an exclusive claim to the truth: no eternally fixed "chosen people" and no salvation through Christ alone. 

If one has been brought up to believe that you have a monopoly on the truth (and in practice Muslims are as guilty of this as anyone else) then the orthodox Islamic view that every people, community or "civilization" had its prophet can jar and be profoundly psychologically disturbing. 

Let's leave the last word to Putnam:

"The most unfortunate aspects of the Star of Redemption  are, in fact, its polemical remarks about religions other than these two [Christianity and Judaism]...I find this aspect of the Star depressing..."

But no, let's press on or the day will never start...

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It is a sad fact to contemplate the losing of one's religion (if one still takes religion seriously, that is). Over the years a number of good friends have-understandably-felt themselves increasingly ill at ease with their faith (or, more accurately, with the way it is expressed all around them in its political, cultural and social guise). Understandably, I say, because when one sees all the pettiness, hatred, ignorance and violence associated with religion in its current manifestation any sensitive soul and any reflective person would recoil, in good faith, at the horror that is unfolding before him or her.

And yet, if we move beyond current events and probe a bit deeper there is another source of unease and I think it's this: much of the modern world has grown from roots that have little to do with Islam (this is a view that is in stark contrast to the Allama's lectures). The political and economic systems, for instance, do not seem to bear much resemblance to the religious world-view. And, the disjunction between an unbridled capitalism and disdain for the environment and a religious sensibility (in general) over the last century stands as an even more glaring example of the specific incompatibility between Islam and modernity.

I mention all of this in relation to F.R. because I want to ask: are the Muslims the new Jews? The point of this question is not to neglect the continued existence of anti-semitism or to draw any firm  historical parallels, and even less is it to harp on about victim-hood. Instead, can we ask this question in the light of the Rohingya and the long history of Islamophobia, in light of what is seen as the pressing problem of "assimilation" and integration, the radical 'othering' of Muslims, the strangers in our midst whose values are "not like ours".

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"If there were five seconds of love, understanding, and truth, what would the rest of the day be like?"

"The Middle Ages are the East's revenge on antiquity for Alexander's conquests."

"For what is the use of the most perfect organization of Jews if there are now Jews left to be "organized"?"

"I make excerpts, collate, I experience commas, make tracings..."

"An entire train of thought was concluded with a gesture." 

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In the light of experience.
In light of. 
In. Light. Of.

Our love of, the necessity of, life lived in darkness. Our life is just as much structured by the light of what we do not and cannot experience.

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"I too am now anxious for a furlough (bath, carpet, sofa, chair, Beethoven variations, old manuscripts, which again interest me."    

"I detest sets and love the single book."

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 F.R., growing up with the usual antisemitism, the pressures (however subtle or gross they may have been) to conform to "Germany" or "Christianity" turns to what? What resources does he draw upon? 

There is something utterly fascinating about Rosenzweig. His Understanding the Sick and the Healthy has some lovely writing. But his face is too harsh. I don't know why I set such great store by the looks of a person. 

At Herr Lukas's place for dinner over the weekend. He recalled to me, with some glee (perhaps pride would be a better word) that he had told the students in his class that Abraham didn't actually exist. Learn to be critical (by which he really means: stop believing). It seems as if there are some people hell-bent on making sure the kids lose their religion, just as there are other forces at work trying to convince them to adopt the harshest, sternest and most unforgiving version of it.