Mankind, the Devil, Civil Wars and the Bitter Sweet Chalice of Choice

21. It is the much alike (The Devil and Man)

It is the much alike,

Not the wholly different,

Who are bound to

Bear grudges between

Each other.

It is ironic.

Almost funny, save that

It can bear a sea of pain

Stretching from the young

To the death bed.

I wonder if

The Devil

And man

Has considered this.

MAN AND DJINN. According to conventional lore in Islam, the Devil is of the race of Djinn (not Angels although he was raised to an arch angel-like rank). Like a family secret nobody wants to admit, we are actually similar to Djinns, us mankind. Otherwise God would not have said that He created Mankind and Djinn to praise and worship Him. What's the point of putting two entirely different species of creation in one sentence, if not to imply some comparison between the two. And indeed we are similar, the most significant common ground being that both humanity and Djinn have been given the bitter sweet chalice of choice - Our choice to do what is right or wrong, our choice to be patient or impatient, our choice to do charity or be greedy, our choice to contemplate the reflected glory of God in our worlds or to be borne by our egos to some poor end.

CIVIL WARS. Civil wars are the worst sort of conflict. And the irony is that it is most often fought by those very, very similar to one another. Civil wars are fought between a group of people who tend to look the same, eat the same type of food, wear the same type of clothes, dance the same type of dance and probably even worship in the same faith. But for one reason or the other we fall out, then once we stop talking we start fighting. A horrible precedence from the days of Cain and Abel, the very first civil discord in recorded history. Unless of course you want to count Adam, Eve and the Devil.

Mankind is blessed but he ought to remember that the Devil was blessed too, with great knowledge, with great victories over the rebellious Djinns, and with great piety, for nay an inch of the world exists where the Devil did not prostrate in worship and praise of God. The Devil was the poster-boy, a Hero of the Ancient Wars of the Djinns, and he made only ONE mistake in refusing to bow before Adam, and looked what happened to the poor fellow. That is the Devil, but how many mistakes have we made? How many times have we ourselves erred?

No conclusions, today. Just something to think about, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way