God loves you

I have very little to say today but realized I hadn't posted in awhile, which I'm sure disappoints me and the other reader of my blog.

I had promised to talk about Rumi, and I will. Rumi was a Sufi Muslim, a "whirling dervish," and depending on the times the Sufis were variously admired or labeled heretics. Today, Al Queda, the Taliban and the Muslim Brotherhood no doubt would call the Sufis heretics.

Why? Because, as you will see when I get to Rumi, the Sufis celebrated the Love of God. Rumi, I fully believe, met Jesus -- he didn't understand it for what it was because of his theology -- but he did, because God (Jesus) is humble enough to meet any lover of God wherever he is.

I wonder what difference it would make in Islam if it were taught that God loves you. There is no basis in the Koran or the Hadiths for such an assertion. Oh, I don't mean, "Allah loves a subservient Muslim." I'm sure it says that somewhere. I mean, "God loves you regardless whether you believe or not." Ain't there. It is, however, there in the Gospels.

What difference might it mean to a young Muslim to hear that "God loves you," whether you adhere to the teachings of the maniac in front of you or not.

I think it would transform Islam to teach such things.

Anyway, not much to say today. Rumi soon.