Talking to the Wall - time, foresight of hindsight and the nature of humanity

31. Longhair & the Wall

The wall of the zawiya is asking,

“Why leave me behind when my bricks can build your palace in Jannah?

While I may not be as pretty as the jeweled walls of Jannah,

Was I not your constant company when you were remembering Him and the Rasul?

O’ Longhair, if the Lord grant you success,

Would you then forget me?

................

I wrote this prose some 8 years ago, after a brief conversation with my friend, Longhair, who is a familiar face in the neighbourhood zawiya (small mosque dwelling) of a Sufi Order.

The prose was recorded because it is true - inanimate objects, whether it is a wall of a zawiya, a tasbih (rosary), a wristwatch, a pebble in a river, a leaf of a tree, your bed, the floor of your house, a walking stick, a pair of shoes... they all become conscious as your awareness of God and His Prophet(pbuh) carries you ever closer to the Divine Presence. For as you change and become more alive in the presence of the Lord, so do you change and breath life to the world around you.

You will also find people to be more animated creatures. Because it is the well-earned habit of a lifetime that some people may say things, or do things that would cut you... an insult, a jibe, a slight, a rude remark. As you approach the Divine Presence you will develop a sense of vision that cuts through those ill-judged words or deeds and see the true reason that animates people's actions and conversations. And often enough the reasons that people sometimes say or do bad things are reasons which you can empathize with - normally some stressful event or sense of insecurity that is inhibiting the person's natural sense of fairness, friendship and good humour.

You will thus acquire the ability to respond with foresight at a level others would require hindsight. A form of time-travel actually, when you think about it. In simple terms, it means that you become far more tolerant and understanding of others. And this is always a good change!

So if you want to learn to hear and speak with inanimate objects, and if you wish to learn to better love your fellow human being, there is no better, no quicker way than to begin your journey on the Path towards the Divine Presence.

Isn't that why you are here, sunshine?

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way