twists and secrets

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twists and secrets
shadow493
09/09/01 at 02:41:18
[slm]

anyone got any cool twists and codes for movies relating themselves to islaamic concepts? (eg. life after death, dunyah, etc) :)

[wlm]

the adami :D
there's a difference between knowing the path, and walking the path...
se7en
09/09/01 at 04:46:23
wa alaykum as salaam wa rahmatAllah,

Ok.. you asked for it shadow :)

If there is *any* one movie out there with definite Islamic themes, it's the matrix.  If you really think deeply about a lot of the dialogue and concepts in the movie, you can draw so many parallels between them and Islam and the Muslim's perspective of life..  

this is part of the dialogue from one scene:

[quote][i]Morpheus[/i]:  Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know, you can't explain.  But you feel it.  You felt it your entire life.  That there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there.  Like a splinter in your mind -- driving you mad.  It is this feeling that has brought you to me.  Do you know what I'm talking about? [/quote]

This is deep yeah?  Something in Neo is telling him that there is more to this world than what we see in the everyday.  It's as if his *fitrah* is screaming for him to question the nature of the life of this world.  In another part of the movie Morpheus says:  "Its the question that drives us, the question that brought you here.  You know the question, just as I did."

the conversation continues...

[quote][i]Neo[/i]:  The Matrix?

[i]Morpheus[/i]:  Do you want to know what it is?

(Neo nods his head.)

[i]Morpheus[/i]:  The Matrix is everywhere, it is all around us.  Even now, in this very room.  You can see it when you look out your window, or when you turn on your television.  You can feel it when you go to work, or when go to church or when you pay your taxes.  It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. [/quote]
And isn't the matrix described just like hayaatud dunyaa?  A world that blinds and deludes us from truth, from reality, from understanding that there is so much more to our existence than what we encounter in this life.

Here's another quote from the movie about the matrix, by Agent Smith: "Have you ever stood and stared at it, Morpheus?  Marveled at its beauty.  Its genius.  Billions of people just living out their lives... oblivious."

Read the next part (a continuation of the dialogue quoted before) for what's really amazing..

[quote][i]Neo[/i]: What truth?

[i]Morpheus[/i]: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch.
[/quote]
SubhanAllah!! Talk about islamic eh? :)  We are all born having acknowledged that the purpose of our lives is being 'ubaad of Allah.  We are all slaves, but we are slaves to That which liberates us from being servants to creation.  (I'll talk about this more later on :))


Something else that I thought was very 'islamic' about the movie was the whole concept of sleeping and waking, and the matrix and the 'desert of the real'.  Check it:

[quote][i]Morpheus[/i]: I imagine that right now you're feeling a bit like Alice.  Tumbling down the rabbit hole?

[i]Neo[/i]: You could say that.

[i]Morpheus[/i]: I can see it in your eyes.  You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he's expecting to wake up. Ironically, this is not far from the truth.

---

(In his left hand, Morpheus shows a blue pill.)

[i]Morpheus[/i]:  You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.

(A red pill is shown in his other hand)

You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.

(Long pause.  Neo begins to reach for the red pill)

Remember -- all I am offering is the truth, nothing more.

(Neo takes the red pill and swallows it with a glass of water)

---

[i]Morpheus[/i]:  Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream, Neo? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?

---

[i]Neo[/i]: Why do my eyes hurt?

[i]Morpheus[/i]: You've never used them before.
[/quote]
SubhanAllah, these parts of the movie *always* remind me of a hadeeth of Rasulullah [saw] that Hamza Yusuf mentions quite a bit.. that "people are asleep, and when they die, they wake up."

This is *deep*.  Think about it.  We're living our lives heedless, oblivious to so much.. asleep, unconscious, dreaming away, unaware of the truth of the nature of the world around us.  We get into this 'sleep' of the mechanics of the every day.. getting up, going to school/work, watching tv, buying stuff.. we start to forget that the purpose of our lives isn't to make some money or to raise a family or even to establish an Islamic state.. it's ubudiyyah to Allah.

And it's like 'ilm is the red pill.. that opens up the 'desert of the real' for us and allows us to 'see' and understand what's beyond the matrix, that wakes us up and reminds us of the purpose of our lives.

And often times, when we are granted that ability to wake up -- by that verse in the Quran or that lecture that really 'opens our eyes' :) instead of choosing to, we choose the blue pill.. to go back to sleep, to ignore reality, and go back to thinking or pretending that the matrix (dunyaa) is everything.

We don't believe as Muslims that this world is unreal or a dream, but we know there is more to it than what we see around us.  (A great lecture on all this is "What do Muslims Believe?", by Hamza Yusuf, it has some awesome stuff on how we should understand hayaatud dunyaa. :)


Another quote from the movie that's deep:

[quote][at a restaurant in the matrix]

Cypher:  You know, I know this steak doesn't exist.  I know that when I put it in my mouth, the matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious.  After nine years, you know what I realize?  Ignorance is bliss.
[/quote]
Now *this* is the quote that got me and Haroon Sellars talking :)  Cypher is just like us eh?  Think about what he says in terms of our shahawaat and shaytan, instant gratification and long term consequences.  It's deep man, reflects a lot about ourselves.


Now one of my favorite parts of the movie:

[quote]Spoon boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth.

Neo:  What truth?

Spoon boy:  There is no spoon.

Neo:  There is no spoon?

Spoon boy:  Then you'll see, that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.[/quote]
First of all, if you're flowing with me on this whole matrix parallel islamic vibe, you realize that we believe that there *is* a spoon.  (Meaning, we believe that hayaatud dunyaa is real, and it's laws are real.)  But, what spoon boy says about *bending your own self* is true.  This ties into a whole concept me and Lightning discussed.. about how, with belief in the ONE (that's in the movie too ;)) the laws and rules of this world can be bent.  

It reminds me of a quote.. that if you make Allah your mawla (your Master), all of creation becomes a servant to you.  And if you make other than Allah your master, you become a servant to all creation.

Think about Muslim armies that stood only three hundred strong and defeated armies three times their size.  Think about those people in our legacy that have been granted by Allah amazing abilities, like true dreams, perception of things others are unaware of, etc.

What happens when Neo believes in the One?  He doesn't even *need* to dodge bullets.  So if you’re flowin with me here you understand that with eman, with yaqeen in Allah - with belief in the One - the matrix collapses and you become it's master, able to defy laws others are not, have all of it at your command, instead of being it's slave.  
 
You get me?  Deep eh?

I could keep goin :)


What do you guys think about all this?  

It's not that I don't have definite issue with certain parts of the movie.. I do.  But I think that the movie is *deep*, and forces the general American public to think about life in a way that they're not used to.

What's cool is that the matrix is awesome for daawah.  Sometimes we forget that some of the things that are so basic to our understanding of life (like that this life is transient and the hereafter is what's eternal) are completely foreign and alien to non-muslims.  I remember one time trying to explain dunyaa/akhira to this girl in my physics class, and she had *no idea* what I was talking about.. but when I got her on this matrix vibe, I could see that something clicked :)

Also, the parallels only go so far.. there are a lot of parts of the movie that have *nothing* to do with Islam, so if you do decide to use this as an opener make sure you clarify :)

Man I can't seem to shut up about this :)  Can you tell I've thought a lot about it :)

wAllahu a'lam.. lemme know what y'all think about all this..

wasalaamu alaykum :)


Re: twists and secrets
jannah
09/09/01 at 03:50:10
ahh i get it...

well not to get all into american films b/c the overwhelming majority of them are completely disgusting...

but one movie that has a very strong moral backing and where the concept of the hereafter plays a central role is gladiator...the main chracter embodies alot of islamic concepts like truth, honesty, strength, courage, protector, justice, love for family, dying for one's principles...

he reminds me of what the muslim men of other ages might have been like fighting jihad. for that matter what some may be like today fighting jihad in different places around the world...

Allahummam-ansur islam wa mujahideen fee kulli makaan
Re: twists and secrets
eleanor
09/09/01 at 04:32:22
slm

wow! I've seen the Matrix and have it on DVD. I *never* saw it in that light before. I must admit it fascinated me when I saw it..the whole concept of reality as we see it not being real at all..

I loved this movie, not for the special effects but for the mind games it plays. A friend of mine (who is very dunya consumed) found it boring and didn't even watch it till the end..now I know why.

wasalaam
eleanor (who is currently running to watch the Matrix again)
Re: twists and secrets
shadow493
09/09/01 at 10:20:08
[slm]

yo se7en... thats deep... mad props to ya :)

[wlm]

adami
Re: twists and secrets
meraj
09/09/01 at 15:45:13
slm,

hahahaha oh man.. im glad im not the only one who ever thpough of the matrix in relation to us as muslims... i didnt think it through *that* deeply, but yeah i noticed a few parallels.. i never said it cause people would think im crazy :D

but thats awesome se7en... you broke that down really well.. and good observations :)
Re: twists and secrets
Saleema
09/09/01 at 15:48:27
[slm]

I saw gladiator after reading the reviews on here some time back.

now i gotta see the matrix after reading this.  :)

[wlm]
Re: twists and secrets
meraj
09/09/01 at 23:14:21
slm,

[quote]now i gotta see the matrix after reading this.  :)[/quote]

*gasp*

go see it now! and dont come back until you have ;-D

(heh.. j/k ;) )
Re: twists and secrets
Kathy
09/10/01 at 08:40:43
slm

City Slickers- (Yep a cow movie)

Anyone remember the one thing Billy Crystal found was the meaning to his life?
Re: twists and secrets
se7en
09/10/01 at 11:03:42

[quote]i never said it cause people would think im crazy [/quote]


I was gonna buy this shirt that said "institution for the insane" on the back.. but jannah wouldn't let me :(   bad daawah I guess?  ;)


"In a mad world, only the mad are sane..."


wasalaamu alaykum :)
Re: twists and secrets
Ziggy
09/10/01 at 13:19:09

[quote]slm

City Slickers- (Yep a cow movie)

Anyone remember the one thing Billy Crystal found was the meaning to his life?[/quote]

nope..what?

woaahh!! se7en! man u are a deeep thinker! :)
like eleanor....i  never saw the matrix in  that kinda light..blimey! its kinda like subliminal messaging innit? except..its sorta positive...speaking of subliminal messaging and stuff..has anyone heard 'From the Shadows'? u guys *gotta* listen to it! its amazing..!

anyways..thanx for that..i'm gonna watch these movies carefully now..no..not *too* carefully..lol.. :)

peace
zakira :)
Re: twists and secrets
Kathy
09/11/01 at 08:19:17
slm

What Billy found was the whole point of the movie- ya gotta watch it.

I just watched Jane Ayre-

There was a line- now one of my top ten...

"Ah, sweet madness..."


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