People being possessed by jinn such as here (not for the faint at heart):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTEshwPppFM&feature=related

and here:
http://muslimmatters.org/2008/02/11/a-conversation-with-a-jinn-the-exorcism-experience/

Someone *could* still be skeptical. But my point is that their have been so many overlapping, reliable ( and of course, some unreliable) reports of such experiences, what reason could there be to deny it?

My father was telling me of a man (a non-practicing Muslim, borderline agnostic) who read the book I mentioned above, and he became completely convinced about it.

I don’t feel that there is a need to “prove” jinn (and I don’t feel that their existence is shrouded in that much mystery anyway), I do find it to be a good boost of eman. It’s just my two cents, take it or leave it…

Also, for further reading, one could also read Bilal Philip’s book on Exorcism in Islam.

My suggestion: read “Jinn & Human Sickness” by Darussalam publishers. It’s very convincing, very informative, and it’s a great eman boost as well .

for the purposes of this thread, yeah i was really only focused on the biological origins question.

I may be understanding faana wrongly, but it seemed an intellectual enlightenment, not a physical one. Transhumanism is very much concerned with the “crude matter” (to quote Yoda).

the path to faana or hallejean annihilation?
physical and mental/spiritual exercises…the accumulation of knowledge…the supression of ego…all to achieve that openchannel that some lucky few are born with. i think i can use both methods.
why couldn’t i use neurohormones or genetic engineering to attain a meditative state?

yah haqq!

I think that mixing metaphysics and religion is unwise

that is why you are not a Sufi.

do you know what i think about sometimes ‘ziz?
an infinite hyperplane..the fabric of spacetime. it is formed into a tube of enormous diameter, diameter so huge that our perception of the curvature from our view point is almost flat (penrose’s reduced curvature of spacetime)
unseen, imperceptible to us, far over our microcosmic mindss the inner surface of the rolled hyperplane curves back to make a surface with no begining and no end.
Allah’s carpet.

evolution is just part of the process.

I think that mixing metaphysics and religion is unwise – these are separate things and each hae their place (both apart from science itself). I find that atempting to reinterpret Creation from a nano/transhuman/etc metaphor only muddles things where there should be clarity. Even the most sublime transhumanist vision would still be insufficient to attain oneness with the supreme being.

There was a fantastic novel written by Rene Daumal, Mount Analogue. The summit of Mount Analouge was the ultimate asymptotic point, towards which each climber strove to reach, but none could ever attain. I will have to do a post on Mount Analouge later as we are veering quite far from the thread topic of evolution, but here is an essay written by a climber on Mount Everest, reflecting on Daumal’s wondrous slim novel, in the context of his own failed expedition to the summit.