Q and A With Dr. Laurence Brown

Dear Dr. Brown, Assalamualaikum,

I accidentally found your email address. I don’t know whether you will receive this message, anyway I will continue.

A non-Muslim friend of mine asked me some questions. The friend is a Buddhist.  I want to answer these questions in an effective way that the friend could understand. Can you please help me ? 

I told my friend that this life is a test for the hereafter, so that is why some are poor, some are healthy and some are rich. Then the friend asked me, “if it is that, what is god's criteria to select who will become rich, who will become poor, and who will be healthy?  Even if it is a test shouldn’t  everybody be tested in the same way?  Why does god test us in different ways? If he decides to test in different ways can't some question that this is unjust?

When Muslim women wear the hijab, some people might be curious to see what is inside (because the whole body is covered) which will cause the Muslim women harm. So can we say that it will protect her?

I don’t know whether these questions are illogical. I need to answer in a logical way so the friend may understand that is why I need your help. Can you please help me answer these questions.

Jazakallah khaire. Hoping to hear from you soon.


MY ANSWER:

Assalam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu,

Every parent knows that different children prefer different rewards, benefit most from different punishments, and demonstrate love through different sacrifices. What works with one child will not work with another. So it is with people. The test of faith works differently with one person from another. One person worships money more than anything else, so this person's faith is best tested by loss of money. Another values his wife more than anything, or his car, mother, or whatever. So the test will differ according to the differences in human nature, and according to what that person is most attached to. Will you take a rich man and test him with wealth he does not need? Or take someone who hates his children, and test him with the loss of one of the children he couldn't care less about? People are tested according to their dispensation.

As for covering women, this man's question betrays his sickness. What is he saying, that all women should be naked to remove all curiosity? That we should take our showers with the door open, in case he wants to see what we are doing? We cover ourselves (men and women) out of modesty. Only people with sickness in their hearts try to mentally undress others.

Best, and salams,
LBrown

Reader's Review: Excellent Work!

"Dr. Brown has delivered another excellent work in the field of contemporary Islamic literature. Books of this nature are relevant, timely and necessary in view of the increasing numbers of people either interested in or reverting to Islam in the western world. 'Bearing True Witness' provides a succinct overview of the faith as well as a road map to new Muslims, as they go about learning the day-to-day practices of the faith. Additionally, there is much in this balanced work that will be of benefit to those born into the faith. All in all, an excellent work, and priced most generously, especially in the digital format"

The Happy Hauthor By Dr. Laurence B. Brown

I remember a beautiful line in a movie I once saw, in which a father described his happy-go-lucky son as “a failure in everything but life.” Some people know how to succeed on societal terms, others know how to live, on their terms. Me, I want both. Screech! With all four tires of the vehicle of dreams locked and skipping, laying down dashed rubber burns on the macadam of life. In other words, reality-check time.
 
If you entered the literary world in hope of achieving fame and fortune, well, good luck. And good-bye. You’re not likely to last long. I know I didn’t. My ego was extinguished, my spirit shattered, my hopes and aspirations hacked and addered (not a real word, but nothing else would maintain the alliteration. Hey, if you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with big, steaming field patties of fecal smoothies from an adult male bovine who still has two eight-balls in his center pocket. Isn’t that how the saying goes, or did I miss something?). In any case, I quickly learned that I had to reset my expectations and come to grips with marketplace reality. To succeed in the literary world, you need vision, zeal, and commitment. More than anything else, you need to love what you do. Equally important, you need to redefine success. Notice I’m talking about you, not me. Me, I just need people to buy my books.

Okay, new subdivision of written composition. A paragraph, that is. Here goes: Few successful authors slug through their work in the manner of a clerk, going through the motions of satisfying the predetermined template of duties that constitutes their job. But don’t listen to me; go ahead and try it. Attend all the writing and publishing seminars you want; read all the instructional blogs and books you wish; study the secrets of the masters and catalog their success formulas. I’m not saying these tools won’t help. All I’m saying is they are like sex without salt, or meat without emotion. Uh, hold up a sec. Kids, don’t try this at home. Remember, I’m a trained professional, but there’s a small chance I transposed a couple of words there. Anywho, the fact of the matter is, if you don’t love what you’re doing (again, you, not me. If I sell my movie rights, I guarantee I’ll love what I’m doing), if you’re not intoxicated by the process of word-smithing, character-crafting and plot design, your work will lack the luster today’s audience demands. Simply going through the motions, like a literary prostitute, will never generate the same customer satisfaction as works of love and devotion, no matter how well you fake your “O”. Unlike me, of course. I’m really enjoying this. How is it for you?

All kidding aside, how is it, really? Does the flow catch you, does the energy carry you? No? Oh, well, in that case just leave your money on the pillow and be gone. The rest of you can probably tell that I’m having fun writing this. Matter of fact, I’m having a blast. Despite all the. Incomplete sentences. My grammar checker keeps highlighting. Ha! If only computers could scream from frustration!

So why am I having a blast? And why do you sense it? One reason, and one reason only: because I could care less what anybody thinks. I’m writing as I am, and loving it. To me, that’s the secret. If you sell yourself out as a writer, even if you make millions, you’ll always go to bed feeling dirty. And compromised. A dirty, compromised, sell-out millionaire sleeping in a bigger house than mine, dining on gourmet food served on the naked belly of your worldly desires, and loving every minute of it.

Stop. Remind me – what, exactly, was my point? Oh, yeah. Have fun. Be yourself. And get stinking rich. Then, when you’re bathing in warm Perrier, eating pre-chewed food and wiping your bootie (now isn’t that just the cutest little word you’ve ever heard?) with twenty-Euro notes left over from the latest of your many European tours, turn around and tell other people not to prostitute themselves to the craft.

But not us. Oh, no. We’re clean and pristine. You and me, that is. I’m not sure about the rest.

What? Return to the subject? Gosh, don’t you just love editors? Okay, back to the point: In addition to the reading audience, did I mention that literary agents and publishers also don’t like uninspired work? No? Well, there’s a reason I didn’t mention it: I try not to care (you probably couldn’t tell, huh?). Too many authors write to satisfy what they perceive to be a success formula demanded by literary agents and publishers. Big mistake, in my opinion (Sigh; another sentence fragment). From what I have seen, agents and publishers care about one thing, and one thing only, and that is whether a book will sell. If your work has an audience, they’ll be interested, whether they like your writing or not. Oh, sure, some of them are biased (painfully many) against handling politically or socially incorrect material, others have ethics (painfully few) that preclude material they judge to be offensive, and others confine their business domain to specific genres of their liking. In general, however, any book with an audience can be published by somebody, somewhere. I mean, have you checked out the children’s section of your local bookstore lately? If they can publish and sell kiddy books with titles like “Your Handkerchief is Better than the Wall,” what does this say about the marketplace?

Okay, that’s the theory. Fact is, the market is tough. Everybody who has tried to break in as a first time author knows this. The one thing we don’t like to admit, however, is that most authors don’t make the grade of marketability. All joking aside, we have raging egos, we’ve attended too many positive-thinking “Will Your Way to Success” seminars, and our books are our babies. Despite the fact that our book-babies are often wrinkled, bald and ugly, and frequently marred by multiple, serious birth defects, we love them as our own and simply cannot believe others don’t love them as much as we do. What are they, nuts?

Usually, no. Usually, they are trained professionals, and if they say our work doesn’t make the grade, we should listen. And learn. And try again. Even our nay-saying friends and family are usually trying to help, and we shouldn’t brush their criticisms aside. The cry of “The world just isn’t ready for me yet,” “This is my art, and I’m not going to change it for anybody,” and “You just don’t get what I’m trying to convey” are death rattles in the throat of the artist who seeks commercial success.

My serious advice?

1)    Accept criticism but reject praise. Criticism makes you introspective and helps you to improve yourself; praise condemns you to conceited lassitude, even when your work is littered with deficiencies.

2)    Hire a fearless, no holds barred, tell it like it is, manuscript-shredding editor. Cheerleader editors who say you’re doing everything right are probably just trying to get your business, and aren’t likely to guide you to a higher plane of achievement.

3)    Write for yourself. You’ll never regret having written a book that was boiling inside you, bursting to get out. Even if the book falls short of your market expectations, you’ll have it for posterity, and your sense of accomplishment will be priceless.

4)    Focus on subjects about which you are passionate. That passion will come through, and people will ride your wave of enthusiasm.

5)    Have fun. Conform to the necessary market rules, but bend or break the rest. A unique, fun, and/or eccentric literary voice can be an important key to success. If you take your work too seriously, you will suppress that voice, like Uncle Scrooge trying to do stand-up comedy.

6)    Keep your day job. Dream big, but don’t let your dreams override market reality. Writing is an art, and few artists live off of the proceeds of their craft.

7)    Redefine success. Despite all the playful stuff I wrote above, true success is to be had in satisfied accomplishment. If your work lives up to your standards, that is the first rung on the ladder of literary success. The more critics and readers you seduce with your writing, the higher you will climb up that ladder. If and when you get to the top, just don’t forget to salt your “O”.

Inspiration

T'is known by the name of perseverance in a good cause, and of obstinacy in a bad one -- Laurence Sterne

Dear Friends ...

"Last time, I told you that some of my books are under attack! Those who wish to take time for the pleasure of Allah and support my work can do so by giving positive ratings on Amazon.com and on Amazon.co.uk at the following links. 

Best, and salams,
LBrown

Bearing True Witness provides practical guidance to those who embrace the Islamic religion, suggesting the manner in which the new Muslim should live the Islamic religion. Issues such as fiqh differences, deviant sects, the pillars, and God-consciousness are all discussed, not to mention the sunnah of the shaitan, and how to protect oneself from being led astra.

http://www.amazon.com/Bearing-True-Witness-Found-Islam/dp/1451549172/ref=pd_sim_b_4

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bearing-True-Witness-Found-Islam/dp/1451549172/ref=pd_sim_b_3

 

Who follows Jesus Christ: Muslims or Christians?

Virtually Anyone Can See The Dead Sea Scrolls Now

Inspiration

Nature is but a name for an effect, whose name is God 

-- William Cowper

ON ATHEISM

“Life’s greatest tragedy is to lose God and not to miss him.”

--F.W. Norwood

Atheists might assert that they don’t acknowledge the existence of God, but the view of ome Christians and all Muslims is that at some level even the confirmed Atheist affirms God’s presence. The innate but neglected awareness of God typically surfaces in Atheist consciousness only in times of severe stress, as exemplified by the World War II quote “There are no Atheists in a fox-hole.” 

Undeniably there are times -- whether during the agonizing days of a lingering illness, the seemingly eternal moments of a violent and humiliating mugging, or the split second of anticipating the impact of an imminent car crash -- when all mankind recognize the reality of human fragility and the lack of human control over destiny. Who does a person beseech for help in such circumstances other than The Creator? Such moments of desperation should remind every person, from the religious scholar to the professed Atheist, of the dependence of mankind upon a reality far greater than our own meager human selves. A reality far greater in knowledge, power, will, majesty and  glory. 

In such moments of distress, when all human efforts have failed and no element of material existence can be foreseen to provide comfort or rescue, Whom else will a person instinctively call upon? In such moments of trial, how many stress-induced appeals are made to God, complete with promises of lifelong fidelity? Yet, how few are kept?

Reader's Review: Best book I've read in a while...

I recommend this book for honest truth seekers and those who appreciate really good story telling! Dr Brown once again combines truths and fiction to really get the reader thinking, while taking them on a roller coaster ride. The use of characters and their interactions are original and their are some truly shocking facts that most today are unaware of.

Why are we Muslims and not Christians?

The Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls

In the spring of 1947 Bedouin goat-herds, searching the cliffs along the Dead Sea for a lost goat (or for treasure, depending on who is telling the story), came upon a cave containing jars filled with manuscripts. That find caused a sensation when it was released to the world, and continues to fascinate the scholarly community and the public to this day.

The Qumran site and the Dead Sea.

The first discoveries came to the attention of scholars in 1948, when seven of the scrolls were sold by the Bedouin to a cobbler and antiquities dealer called Kando. He in turn sold three of the scrolls to Eleazar L. Sukenik of Hebrew University, and four to Metropolitan Mar Athanasius Yeshue Samuel of the Syrian Orthodox monastery of St. Mark. Mar Athanasius in turn brought his four to the American School of Oriental Research, where they came to the attention of American and European scholars. 

It was not until 1949 that the site of the find was identified as the cave now known as Qumran Cave 1. It was that identification that led to further explorations and excavations of the area of Khirbet Qumran. Further search of Cave 1 revealed archaeological finds of pottery, cloth and wood, as well as a number of additional manuscript fragments. It was these discoveries that proved decisively that the scrolls were indeed ancient and authentic.

Qumran Cave 4.

Between 1949 and 1956, in what became a race between the Bedouin and the archaeologists, ten additional caves were found in the hills around Qumran, caves that yielded several more scrolls, as well as thousands of fragments of scrolls: the remnants of approximately 800 manuscripts dating from approximately 200 B.C.E. to 68 C.E. 

The manuscripts of the Qumran caves include early copies of biblical books in Hebrew and Aramaic, hymns, prayers, Jewish writings known as pseudepigrapha (because they are attributed to ancient biblical characters such as Enoch or the patriarchs), and texts that seem to represent the beliefs of a particular Jewish group that may have lived at the site of Qumran. Most scholars believe that the Qumran community was very similar to the Essenes, one of four Jewish "philosophies" described by Josephus, a first century C.E. Jewish historian. Some have pointed to similarities with other Jewish groups mentioned by Josephus: the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Zealots.

We do not know precisely who wrote those sectarian scrolls, but we can say that the authors seemed to be connected to the priesthood, were led by priests, disapproved of the Jerusalem priesthood, encouraged a strict and pious way of life, and expected an imminent confrontation between the forces of good and evil. 

The Qumran archaeological site.

The Qumran library has proven to be enormously informative. From these texts we have increased our understanding of the transmission of the Bible, we have learned more about the development of early Judaism, and we have gained insight into the culture out of which emerged both Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity. 

Photographs by Bruce and Kenneth Zuckerman, West Semitic Research. 

Commentary by Marilyn J. Lundberg.

Read More

Inspiration

Even cowards can endure hardship; only the brave can endure suspense. 

-- Mignon McLaughlin

Dear Friends ...

"Last time, I told you that some of my books are under attack! Those who wish to take time for the pleasure of Allah and support my work can do so by giving positive ratings on Amazon.com and on Amazon.co.uk at the following links. 

Best, and salams,
LBrown

David Cohen's wife didn't deserve to die. Sarah Weizmann shouldn't blame herself for Leah's murder. But the shocking crime served a militant Zionist group's strategic purpose. When David and Sarah team up to find Leah's killer, they are drawn into a maze of murder and intrigue designed to conceal the ugly history of Zionism. Following a path through Poland’s WWII death camps, they are forced to fight for their lives against both a psychopathic Nazi war criminal and Israel's Mossad. When they discover the dark secret that links their two antagonists, they realize something is bound to die – themselves, the horrifying truth, or all together. The Zion Deception is a fully-annotated and meticulously researched work that expresses pro-Jewish, anti-Zionist views popular among Jewish revisionist historians. Although controversial, it challenges what readers know about anti-Semitism, Zionism, and Israel. With a keen sense of closure and awareness of the interconnectedness behind history’s failings, author Dr. Laurence B. Brown exposes popularized fallacies, and reveals the threat Zionism poses not only to Jews, but to the world as a whole.
 

The Zion Deception

http://www.amazon.com/Zion-Deception-Dr-Laurence-Brown/dp/1453762116/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358653673&sr=1-1&keywords=the+zion+deception

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Zion-Deception-ebook/dp/B009QBC5S4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358654295&sr=1-1