DIVINE IRONY - Beware who you hate, God might make you fall in love with him/her.

Oh oh! He is following me! Is he friend or foe? 

17. Friend or Enemy?

I am writing for God,

I am writing for me,

And I am writing

For the me that

I perceive in

Others that

I see.

And though

I am already

In the company

Of such friends,

Others are still

Hidden

From me,

So if perchance,

O’ seekers,

That you are

One of me,

That let me bid you,

“Hello friend!”

And you shall not

Then call me,

“Enemy!”

Though the truth is,

As friend or enemy,

You cannot run

From me.

Nor can I flee

From you.

Not for as long

As I can conceive

You and you

Can conceive me!

I am acquainted with a Mureed (student) of a Sufi Tariqa Order. I remember him recalling this story...

"Do you know, before I met him I regularly cursed the Mawlana (Grandshaykh of the Sufi Order). I said that he was full of it and what he preaches is bida'ah (innovation). I even used four letter words in my rants. Then one time I was performing my mini-pilgrimage (the Umrah)  in Mecca. I was lazing about in my room when a particular verse of the holy Quran suddenly crossed my thought. Then it crossed and crossed and kept running through my head. It was the most craziest thing to have happened. It literally drove me mad and I was hitting my head against the wall trying to make it stop. It didn't stop, but I got a huge headache for my efforts. 

Some months later I was back in Malaysia when I heard that this crazy Mawlana was in town. I decided to visit him and went to the house where he was giving his sohbet (sermon of sorts). A large crowd was already in the house. I peeked through a window, then I tentatively made my way to the front door, and saw him sitting in the middle of a lot of mureeds. Then, by some strange coincidence, people started to move aside and open a way for me to walk in. Curious to hear what the Mawlana was saying, I stepped into the house. Then again the crowd gently parted like the Red Sea before me, so I edged further and closer, until finally I was in front of the Mawlana. He was unlike any man I have ever met. He looked up and saw me and gazed into my eyes. Then he started to recite the exact Quranic verse that almost drove me mad in Mecca. I started to cry. I fell into his honeypot, my friend... and have been in love with him since."

We do not know how long our friends will be friends, and our enemies will be enemies. We do not know what fate may have in store to turn your most hated foe into your most beloved friend. It happened to Umar the 2nd Caliph with the Prophet Muhammad and it happened to my friend with his Mawlana.

So be careful whom you hate. For the Lord may decide to have you falling head over heels in love. Such is the way of God - Most Wonderful, Most Beautiful, and always Most Surprising and Ironic!

It is Friday, sunshine. May this day turn your enemy into your beloved companion.

wa min Allah at-taufiq