Date: Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:54:10 -0500 Return-Path: phpmailer@islamreligion.com To: you@you.com From: "IslamReligion.com Recommend Service" Subject: Your friend read this article recommends you : Colonel Donald S. Rockwell, Poet and Critic, USA Message-ID: <2cfb0685d7b9290b48cad7393e2b0891@www.islamreligion.com> X-Priority: 3 X-Mailer: PHPMailer [version 1.73] X-Original-Sender-IP: 38.107.191.99 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; type="multipart/alternative"; boundary="b1_2cfb0685d7b9290b48cad7393e2b0891" --b1_2cfb0685d7b9290b48cad7393e2b0891 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="b2_2cfb0685d7b9290b48cad7393e2b0891" --b2_2cfb0685d7b9290b48cad7393e2b0891 Content-Type: text/plain; charset = "iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Colonel Donald S. Rockwell, Poet and Critic, USA Description: Poet, literary critic, author, editor-in-chief of Radio Personalities, and author of the books “Beyond the Brim” and “Bazar of Dreams” tells the reasons he embraced Islam. By Colonel Donald S. Rockwell Published on 16 Jan 2006 - Last modified on 01 Apr 2008 Viewed: 5808 (daily average: 4) - Rating: 4.7out of5 - Rated by: 14Printed: 319 - Emailed: 6 - Commented on: 1 Category: Articles > Stories of New Muslims > Personalities The simplicity of Islam, the powerful appeal and the compelling atmosphere of its mosques, the earnestness of its faithful adherents, the confidence inspiring realization of the millions throughout the world who answer the five daily calls to prayer - these factors attracted me from the first.  But after I had determined to become a follower of Islam, I found many deeper reasons for confirming my decision.  The mellow concept of life - the fruit of the Prophet’s combined course of action and contemplation - the wise counsel, the admonitions to charity and mercy, the broad humanitarianism, the pioneer declaration of woman’s property rights - these and other factors of the teachings of the man of Mecca were to me among the most obvious evidence of a practical religion so tersely and so aptly epitomized in the cryptic words of Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, “Trust in God and tie your camel.”  He gave us a religious system of normal action, not blind faith in the protection of an unseen force in spite of our own neglect, but confidence that if we do all things rightly and to the best of our ability, we may trust in what comes as the Will of God. The broadminded tolerance of Islam for other religions recommends it to all lovers of liberty.  Muhammad admonished his followers to treat well the believers in the Old and New Testaments; Abraham, Moses and Jesus are acknowledged as co-prophets of the One God.  Surely this is generous and far in advance of the attitude of other religions. The total freedom from idolatry ... is a sign of the salubrious strength and purity of the Muslim faith. The original teachings of the Prophet of God have not been engulfed in the maze of changes and additions of doctrinarians.  The Quran remains as it came to the corrupt polytheistic people of Muhammad’s time, changeless as the holy heart of Islam itself. Moderation and temperance in all things, the keynotes of Islam, won my unqualified approbation.  The health of his people was cherished by the Prophet, who enjoined them to observe strict cleanliness and specified fasts and to subordinate carnal appetites ... when I stood in the inspiring mosques of Istanbul, Damascus, Jerusalem, Cairo, Algiers, Tangier, Fez and other cities, I was conscious of a powerful reaction [to] the potent uplift of Islam’s simple appeal to the sense of higher things, unaided by elaborate trappings, ornamentations, figures, pictures, music and ceremonial ritual.  The mosque is a place of quiet contemplation and self-effacement in the greater reality of the One God. The democracy of Islam has always appealed to me.  Potentate and pauper have the same rights on the floor of the mosque, on their [foreheads] in humble worship.  There are no rented pews nor special reserved seats. The Muslim accepts no man as a mediator between himself and his God.  He goes direct to the invisible source of creation and life, God, without reliance on saving formula of repentance of sins and belief in the power of a teacher to afford him salvation. The universal brotherhood of Islam, regardless of race, politics, color or country, has been brought home to me most keenly many times in my life and this is another feature which drew me towards the Faith. The web address of this article:http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/107/Copyright © 2006-2009 IslamReligion.com. All rights reserved. --b2_2cfb0685d7b9290b48cad7393e2b0891 Content-Type: text/html; charset = "iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Colonel Donald S. Rockwell, Poet and Critic, USA

Description: Poet, literary critic, author, editor-in-chief of Radio Personalities, and author of the books “Beyond the Brim” and “Bazar of Dreams” tells the reasons he embraced Islam.
By Colonel Donald S. Rockwell
 Published on 16 Jan 2006 - Last modified on 01 Apr 2008
Viewed: 5808 (daily average: 4) - Rating: 4.7 out of 5 - Rated by: 14
Printed: 319 - Emailed: 6 - Commented on: 1
Category: Articles > Stories of New Muslims > Personalities

The simplicity of Islam, the powerful appeal and the compelling atmosphere of its mosques, the earnestness of its faithful adherents, the confidence inspiring realization of the millions throughout the world who answer the five daily calls to prayer - these factors attracted me from the first.  But after I had determined to become a follower of Islam, I found many deeper reasons for confirming my decision.  The mellow concept of life - the fruit of the Prophet’s combined course of action and contemplation - the wise counsel, the admonitions to charity and mercy, the broad humanitarianism, the pioneer declaration of woman’s property rights - these and other factors of the teachings of the man of Mecca were to me among the most obvious evidence of a practical religion so tersely and so aptly epitomized in the cryptic words of Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, “Trust in God and tie your camel.”  He gave us a religious system of normal action, not blind faith in the protection of an unseen force in spite of our own neglect, but confidence that if we do all things rightly and to the best of our ability, we may trust in what comes as the Will of God.

The broadminded tolerance of Islam for other religions recommends it to all lovers of liberty.  Muhammad admonished his followers to treat well the believers in the Old and New Testaments; Abraham, Moses and Jesus are acknowledged as co-prophets of the One God.  Surely this is generous and far in advance of the attitude of other religions.

The total freedom from idolatry ... is a sign of the salubrious strength and purity of the Muslim faith.

The original teachings of the Prophet of God have not been engulfed in the maze of changes and additions of doctrinarians.  The Quran remains as it came to the corrupt polytheistic people of Muhammad’s time, changeless as the holy heart of Islam itself.

Moderation and temperance in all things, the keynotes of Islam, won my unqualified approbation.  The health of his people was cherished by the Prophet, who enjoined them to observe strict cleanliness and specified fasts and to subordinate carnal appetites ... when I stood in the inspiring mosques of Istanbul, Damascus, Jerusalem, Cairo, Algiers, Tangier, Fez and other cities, I was conscious of a powerful reaction [to] the potent uplift of Islam’s simple appeal to the sense of higher things, unaided by elaborate trappings, ornamentations, figures, pictures, music and ceremonial ritual.  The mosque is a place of quiet contemplation and self-effacement in the greater reality of the One God.

The democracy of Islam has always appealed to me.  Potentate and pauper have the same rights on the floor of the mosque, on their [foreheads] in humble worship.  There are no rented pews nor special reserved seats.

The Muslim accepts no man as a mediator between himself and his God.  He goes direct to the invisible source of creation and life, God, without reliance on saving formula of repentance of sins and belief in the power of a teacher to afford him salvation.

The universal brotherhood of Islam, regardless of race, politics, color or country, has been brought home to me most keenly many times in my life and this is another feature which drew me towards the Faith.
The web address of this article:
http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/107/
Copyright © 2006-2009 IslamReligion.com. All rights reserved.
--b2_2cfb0685d7b9290b48cad7393e2b0891-- --b1_2cfb0685d7b9290b48cad7393e2b0891 Content-Type: image/jpeg; name="Colonel_Donald_S._Rockwell,_Poet_and_Critic,_USA_001.jpg" Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 Content-ID: Content-Disposition: inline; filename="Colonel_Donald_S._Rockwell,_Poet_and_Critic,_USA_001.jpg" /9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAgAAZABkAAD/7AARRHVja3kAAQAEAAAAUAAA/+4ADkFkb2JlAGTAAAAAAf/b AIQAAgICAgICAgICAgMCAgIDBAMCAgMEBQQEBAQEBQYFBQUFBQUGBgcHCAcHBgkJCgoJCQwMDAwM DAwMDAwMDAwMDAEDAwMFBAUJBgYJDQsJCw0PDg4ODg8PDAwMDAwPDwwMDAwMDA8MDAwMDAwMDAwM DAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwM/8AAEQgAmABnAwERAAIRAQMRAf/EAJcAAAEFAQEBAQAAAAAAAAAA AAcDBAUGCAECAAkBAQEBAQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACAwEEBRAAAQIDBAYFBwUNCAMAAAAAAgMEABIF ASITBjJCUiMzBxFickMUITGCklMkFVGissIW8EFhcYGR0nOTNERUJeJjg8NklDU2JhcIEQEBAQEB AAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhIDEwEhMv/aAAwDAQACEQMRAD8AJyg+SfYj5kvWdC3tMbsXodTIhnE9ONQ+ lIhkD/DgF2LclcOdP3jUkgHL5wxZF70vh3NeMnVSWzhl1Bb3iq9eeNWJP7YZbSwzSrKBzwRRjT89 ZZIZPjCCavdp7EHFjTrTN0pKLvxYqbGhBezrEwljPh3NTUgbe1kyw5kjObvI6yIJp8TbgEkxlUmj yPW9pTS9bqRrI7gk4WkjUKrOmdJHFeGCAp/dcjqA6q3MpcLrCnbjuHRnf7ckcMkKO+qFZuuN4lt9 ftwZTIaZkRRBxKG8OOtVKWHfJnfxQuYccW4mPu5j8+A5T6jVKMsDyjOjaK+uB9sIMcNBZL5hI5hx 6a9TBCrIB+27EE0JYiRiEicgSX1I6h2foLo3eLb5MMfN+WAaYmARmqpcTjzPWW0k+qcBxZ4iwHHn 3SYbuNQLM0VRZ6oCpe9q6hhwgniw9yfy/q+a3Ce4wGHfvj0ImqRppCm8s8v0tqugOMc/X+eERpYf 5g5P07DUwOKvxDP6ENMcs+5q5aVZBZc2sjvD05Lkap0paNFqrWnri9QNirIfhVNQw68GulfUuknO epHQiCyzVw0fsDwF2p42J1wjhTX9BryNWodOqg6DsJ+wf9mOvOkrXaqdpqW2zIrSWhb8lkBDt0VC UkVv9uOPRNJdMkxTlngsPM+VAsNNgCl1cJzgLfyp5eo1axCvVdDHYIXGKB6BrBrGETaGn27dNDcJ btKTgIhcjzrOim3cBD1JMR0lJ8TUgBNmBumYukh0u/j1vIEFUp5GxXBwnh6inY1IDPFapLqnEao7 9mHrhHGyITJNJO/xV57kGrSPKpYlcnodR0sHYg89CNaHSrYmdhiA+QEvljqDWUQHe3NiOKPkGqKp T4mJhwdkOc600VcwUpq3nUB0H3BBVtiZfYt6XTGLME5Ek0ADA2IwXKxpt08ZMuGMQt9rdcNeAqtV RlJT2WJPPBFKMo1JVNe/JOc6fYj1vOE+ak8IXXXDiBABp0iRlfU4mmnACjMDcWqimBvAnji9NOcs 2It8j5fC5im1xl+ua1+OoX62UwHo84p9Nqn4oBsoQyz6Z6EApT01BGU1J4BRmxauOZWWEFw3SaBn 6ccU094dOVMr/YjyvS+TISvq6AaEAoQyDMdztwFKrQ+KJSbdpa8WikSigoqmuCUVp5wdzhT1NBLu 58Q/qRsADVE5SUIoAWVj3hNcElLhnJ65xxTY9HZCwpqDU9RAAT9SIXlKp2WWiY2eawbbbfzRoyLb vDMxC/sQE7RKeo9eeFNcENc1O3oRyw6qVAqFGrFGzG64DFfBXX7f6URteR48Qmkn7SMHoU/MSzdJ OXxy/ikwxsBHU/vTihmauZocFUJvtAdYS9gC2h6sel5Bny+oLxsmhjrr9dY54xpconM2ZEMpKe+q SJGnPiQk6SzhXOZT6rEonTp95fkk141JkK3Vdqx8eRcIK81UJQXDpol3pvUcRT046ttpvZu0w4kY G0yKzSc0rLJUbPJaPy9MaMTBumUy+KEg48iYdSSeLSuOV0R+MX0wUxJJPQiOgJKzqkv1F6CqZn4s J+xhRk9CXUUEhu/s4haOGi01gS9RwPFul766i1/Uk7N3Vihmv/161pNWrL8nbquOKqgbZq0WANyB x6JpjUjTkXK7Wg09MUEDTXXk8Ua1+/GC5kGee6OLUqPPfQ7wNsI15o6AXWKeKtJTSYJh8UTXNzfu N1kdRIOzpRSfQOipvhWrTFX8UqnObu/fn6kHFedLbtMsM0zUOfE7EdbNPcpapVn+X8Wo351z8Ka2 xB5xNtswjs8swK29HT8nTAPiFQNJO9twElT6gsweNXndYm8iLBUo9NFg9qT9LeIVJMMPbCfT9Eoy eiVkFGcZPZxC3yzX3eTTKAhk6exQcXmk5SQEr4hGZMfmQGZOf3GYvQU3AXJI9HNjQLM8N6zmcXDA LhxbJUX1HTSJPfnL14AYV5QfESX10p5EPTjimysj0/4Xl2nNcDQDTjqVpJULFARt89vksgFFCvbo Ln3TwErgogIbMASsv1pq1ZhS3Sd/QaL7YRj0azS0DiJF8yMmz2osKVzW7yApxVR0/qBtUk/c2p79 19SDMu9zJS2tc+ELsXqBpoYxvjR9x/3EVLrNfNjO9HqlPQ8FJxzw/Qj0TLLQK0OpKOlHZYcgT7uO tSWYFp+33kceelLyjQxzVmxq1vqN6aeM62Ak0INm0WqKn6wdRPYibYpEm6FzpPEU0LLNSz8P5Ieg 5jI6WnFh+monu8Xu4Ccp7ofHtCDQxw3kRYLk05SbEed60U7Jwqmbcd314Io0Y2N0k1EGvd8f9OeC 9mtcWU+HOt2Zip3G2EVKKZg5gZfp5psXXw5AFULiYdTsR6XnCW1QUikGSYNjQjjWFHzQ4kTULXvn AhpDlnQSo2SaHIggD921BZ8vrnPfvxG3RCUTtFGcQ0InTNIJFiNDUwpVwTIpdS3ostt6IjK9ERbz yK4e67tTqR6WRdRRFqjjuj3SemcAEs2Zkqz/AACpzs6c1BefADYA4DbbV4L9mxdMzxGFSagsgenP Hket8oUorpDfKApVNyhTWuO6cTm/fHjOl8Y/UDqxaMobOFLaoNk3Xxx7TSxP1odmKlFMyZ0ZsZsV LM69RdL3zaSSSRsyUVqzElgMp8Xr6EcUiXFOcZgrjHLLDeHUV5F5O5bhfVV9WC8NpNaWik3aNUFN 01CRPsRlUr9HwpkF9JTh656EMo0enLigM0vlsPo+WK+J+kGzeVJL3q43BPeakkTTshXmSvDVFvcP 3Brt9914qVWH7i+UpqRoyGbk1nZGmugybV18Cl1Vf+hrn/DO/ZdlWM7XLQbxwszcYD9PDv7yMHoS KMsuLt6EBBVamsai3PxikmHw59CLQzvmyh0Xpma8LXPbjeHnBOrEiyL2hdwgGueoAQeiaHDlny3d ZZYu6zXv+x1wN+mF/wAMlpg3m+lGQLXw9NIZ8DDONZplROVMk5SkUGOoMSaWWSKW2zWW7uwvkgAT XM2PqvuuAy9gGv244pX1lcJGVJS7B3KHUMlb+tBWCiPeDt8OCalrnljnpPO1PDKteP8A8spSHH/n 24d6HWHWjKpJpJVVGuUEcVhv2qZ7xA/qRErCfNnMB44a+CBDA7ZxtMuVIJv80vDbpslZEEA7/bii ZMMi2IVvmFl9u6/d2k7k+vJoRFLqm0lF98mrPdTiWWiCZCZGOPc1zjZCGWlDE7u/vFIBK20LDtCx WZG0rOkvk8sBlexYpePHHol48RN2tSC0eo8UDEnjqHWFUTXcAGJJ7PrxxFpFSqvKM8Y1uln4F/TV 8Zi72DDUk+lBOW5OXueqXzLoKjoAAKin/wA5Sv5Zbb7JasefL0BtzK5b4qSlUowY5hx2uv6EXIyx mSmo05OV+pgKh/C68aiU5aM1mHMCnOKkBscdqfhU1gMJzPtxFIprwagnfSS0047MvPSvuFJVpA7v Tiwgo4RFGYz0L9yAYLrkoumYqzWg4Aitk81lltlvTAZQUfImPWQ0Ajj1veIKty/ihpwHz4SVTBUN DQw4CDTxGpXZJ9iAnCWF6nMV87+hATGVsxVbJdeY5ooJ4hAEj5rqOUddI4ih+huXaxS830FjWaQv jsqkE+GfFA9cD7MYDNn/ANAUenr52y6yGRN0vRPTnnuelHo5gEZhqWamVMY02pTr/DVwOlPluKEm pPFIoVMt8zKe6HAqO4dbe3Bl+BFF0i6bnKYKT346hG3VRvhh69+Aj7LbLVCFSeWxSxQA/D96AyGm KgKTbGnHHrSqbiT/ADICVTWKWQDPecOeAYuBHxEwIanz4D2zFZvOMBJM0VPD3ZNOAJPKfmEty+zE m2ef9arhgFS/0zjQB1+lEVIKHMrKdaz5mbM2ZmDsEPs+DZnQ5/4zBCczE9WJmkSGozZtpaaSrXEf r7ldPTMFktfZlilgg8ZqJOlwPitT3agdSLRk9oecqrRlt6ua6EDI/UHNideHyH104MqlLK2lYuNh urLCxxEV7PNbbbbZZZbb+KOoZRWWGZMEk8C5IZ6c5/Vjj1vam6Tn4kA+8UsNzQVT9OAUUeKKpgrh wCZYmJsCcBJN3Gqqd4D4fYgFHEpF246hobkPm5E29YyG9M13uAs5oa6x6kl9IOsMY9BSsirCdYXp p+KXx5/cUbhmevf1Rg0UjNdPRZPvFJBIhPv0/qRUuBm8RI1N1oxYnssulKNVmMx8eDG2hrVLfDCV lolbbZ02kXns6Pv2R1ky+JcTFT9SOPWdEtu/oQCBLbG8GAXGXd3OJAPrqScAvicNXDvwC5KCe6DS C+nAKNVHzCqMazSXUlSppgs1XDb2PS0YC2tawj9sPijVPwKDozNdCc7niOKASdaA8Z4eIro4TLQT uSfX2oAVpioaITevAdJRRus0LuAOOoHFrUv6AqrP52atv5gtg87/2Q== --b1_2cfb0685d7b9290b48cad7393e2b0891--