3 TOK Question Choices

1. To what extent is truth different in mathematics, the arts, and ethics?
2. How can the different ways of knowing help us to distinguish between something that is true and something that is believed to be true?
3. "We see and understand things not as they are but as we are." Discuss this claim in relation to at least two ways of knowing.
   

Islam "Looking at Life the Islamic Way" Reading Notes

The Three-Fold Journey:

• 3 levels of self-development to pass through during life -
  

1. Animal Self - basic instincts and desires
2. Accusing Self - higher-order questioning of our purpose
3. Restful Self - transcending worldliness as a focus

• These are the stages we attain as we struggle toward the realization that God is real and we should move toward him
• Born sinless and free of sin, but drawn into pleasures of world around us
• Aim of fitrah - counteract this trend and elevate our minds to seek God
• Iman - Arabic word for faith or belief
  

The Animal in All of Us (Animal Self):

• Basic desires (food, wealth, power, etc.) guide our life choices
• Shaytan (evil jinn) - seeks to corrupt/ruin us so that we will eventually forget our Creator - lay upon fears/desires/emotions

Stepping Up to the Plate (Accusing Self):

• Happens when we discard our animal self and receive a flash of insight
• Reflect on the meaning of life and ultimately become motivated to seek spiritual guidance - realize that we need God and need to mold our lives according to his way
• Less attached to materials , more introspective, and less irritable and stressed
• Through daily prayer, reflection, fasting, study, and a consciousness of morality, we become more at ease and closer to God

The Supreme Achievement (Restful Self):

• Through devoted effort, we ma achieve complete peace and tranquility
• No worldly holds, lead lives of contemplation, awaiting meeting the creator
• Maintain a normal life, but no longer living to satisfy themselves, instead realizes the higher purpose of life

Sin and Redemption:

• Surrendering to God = believe in him, follow a harmonious lifestyle, and follow a personal code of morality that leads to a higher understanding of God's nature
• Qur'an - last installment of divine guidance to the world (following Gospel of Abraham, Psalms of David, etc.) and is the culmination of God's previous revelations
• Major sins of Islam: idolatry, stealing from an orphan, committing adultery, disobeying parents, collecting interest on investments, accusing a woman falsely, giving false testimony, committing murder or suicide or infanticide, enslaving a free person, and engaging in slander or gossip
• Virtuous deeds of Islam: speaking the truth, being kind to family, honoring parents, giving charity, feeding the poor, fighting injustice, freeing slaves, returning borrowed property, studying and learning, and being kind to animals

How Does God Forgive?:

• To receive God's forgiveness, must go through process of repentance (tawba) -
  

1. Feel remorseful about the sin
2. Repent your action to God by saying, "My Lord forgive me."
3. Make restitution for the sin (if possible)
4. Resolve to never do the sin again

Law and Order:

• For some crimes - prescribed penalties that must be paid in this life
• Judge allowed to forgo the punishment if mitigating circumstances allow

Everything Counts When It Counts:

• Save/damn yourself everday through belief, actions, and overall record (can be good or bad)
• Must ask God for forgiveness everyday until we leave this world
• Sins (if unrepented) will be held against us, good deeds work in our favor
• Don't earn your way to heaven, salvation is believing in God and surrendering your will to him

The Last Payday:

• The more good you do, the more rewards you will get from God
• The "capitalism" of Islam

Our Report Card:

• Day of Judgment - confronted with our book of deeds
  
• Based on actions, sent to Heaven or Hell

There'll Be Hell to Pay:

• Consequence of rejecting God and remaining in Animal Self is that our soul becomes corrupted - wasted free will and intelligence
• akhirah - Arabic word for next life
• When deserved punishment is finished, newly cleansed soul may rejoin God's presence and receive it's reward in Heaven