The Station of Love, the Soul housed in Clay - the state of Divine Love

This Love is not my Love

O' Prophet, o' Moon of Ahad,

O' the Perfect Man, o' the Chosen One,

I do not love you myself,

I do not know you well enough

To claim that I love you,

So this love must come from Allah,

And it is taking its time passing through me,

To take whatever sustenance I may,

To nourish this soul housed in clay.

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

Knowledge is a beautiful thing when married with Adab (good manners). And good manners is the best for us, when it is married with sincere Love. And there is no Love more expansive, infinite and true than the loving vows exchanged between Allah (s.w.t.) and the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.).

And blessed above many, a thing of divine tranquility is the man or woman who takes sustenance from the exchange of vows between the Lover that is God (s.w.t.) and the Beloved of God that is Muhammad (s.a.w.s.). For when you dip your soul in the Divine Love, it is a river unending, flowing from the fountain of love perfected beyond mortal comprehension.

Sink or swim in the river, however uncomprehending you may be, you are still blessed, sunshine!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

PLAYGROUND OF THE SOUL - chance encounter with a servant of Peace

Playground of the Soul

This is not just a mosque,

This is no mere house of worship...

This is a playground of the soul,

A garden of the spirit

To seed and till your happiness...

This is where you will see flowers

Rise, bloom and fall

In all hours of the day, 

Enchanted by the Lord's heavenly call.

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

Last night, as I was making my way to intercept young Ustaz Malik (the man with the golden voice), I was suddenly waylaid by an elderly gentleman. He introduced himself as Abdul Salam (Servant (Abdul) of He Who is the Source of Peace, Safety and Perfection (Salam, one of the Divine Names of God)). 

Being the forgetful dummy that I am, I cannot recall his face although he says that he has seen me around our neighbourhood. When we embraced I felt a burning warmth when his cheek touched mine. In my fanciful retrospection, I felt that it was the warmth of love.

So nothing to report but the chance meeting with kindly affectionate strangers in the Playground of the Soul. 

Have a lovely day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

SEA, EARTH, SKY - the blank canvas of Mankind

Sea, Earth, Sky

I am the Sea,

And the wake of the ships

That pass upon me

Keeps me awake

At night,

I am the Earth,

And the rivers that carve their path

Through my valleys and meadows

Leaves me happy and

Desiring more of

Their company.

I am the Sky,

And the birds that fly in me

Makes me wonder where

They are flying to,

And whether I can

Come too.

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

This almanac is called the Sinners Almanac. But of course, if you read it there is a clear tone of writing - spiritual, mystical, dervish-like and Sufi-esque. 

But I am no Sufi.

I am barely a human being, barely a father, barely a son, a brother or a friend. I am not gifted with a generosity of spirit (I can be very bitter sometimes), kindness (I am quite selfish, you know) or particularly knowledgeable (Hahaha! Of course I don't really know much about anything!).

Yet I am blessed. For however stormy is my Sea, however unkind and barren my Earth may appear, and however empty my Sky can be, the truth is that people have come into my life, with their generosity, kindness and knowledge. Filling my perception of life and this world with great love and empathy that they project. Where do they learn such virtues? I wonder...

It is our pursuit to clean the canvas of our own life, so that when Allah (s.w.t.) through His Habibullah (s.a.w.s.), Companions and Saints project the True Perception of the True Reality that is Love upon our hearts, we might be able to see and understand better.

This is a good pursuit, I think.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

 

PERISH WISH, Undone by love, Returning to the Sun

Words, Sighs and Sounds

I have my words

Which I write and carry

In my head or in my pocket,

I have my words

That can turn me into

A hero or a villain

Riding a super-rocket,

I have my words

Varnished and etched,

A secret promise written

Inside a maiden's locket,

I have my words,

Until love came and

Changed my many words

Into many, many worlds...

As many as the breaths that I breathe

And the thoughts that pass through

The station of my soul,

From the moment I was born

Till the day I lie in wait

Beneath my farewell wreath,

Returning the life that

I once stole,

I have my words,

But love has proven the heresy in me,

In my prayers and who-to?-devotion

Reciting the holy prose

When I should have listened...

Until together did the congregation rise

But I lie still upon the ground,

Nay a word left for me to speak,

Nor escape from my lips

Any unbidden sigh or sound...

Undone by love,

As a light returning to the Sun.

This is how I wish to perish.

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

I worship not death. I write a lot about death and cemeteries. But I have no death wish, nor am I one of those fixated by the idea of dying and death. Just as this world is full of distractions, We are also looking towards death beyond its distractions, looking beyond death and towards the Creator of Death, which is of course the same as the Creator of Life - a.k.a. God Almighty.

Jihad? Says who? As troubles continue to hinder peace and prosperity in the Middle East, and the gun, the bullet and the bomb becomes the one-size-fit-all solution to mankind's problem, I am saddened by my fellow humanity who appears fixated with war and death. As if it is the end of it all. It is too sad to contemplate such ignorance and hubris masked as piety and sacrifice.

Choose Love. Choose Allah and Muhammad. I am happy to be who and where I am. For once we only had words to play with, then Love came and endeared us to the incomparable Beauty, Knowledge and Generosity that is Allah (s.w.t.) and His Beloved Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.). The path, whether you choose good or bad, shall never be dull and boring. But why choose war and violence when you can choose Love, choose Allah and His Anointed Mercy to all the Worlds - Muhammad ibn Abdullah (s.a.w.s.).

You can have as many worlds as the breaths you breathe...

So choose your worlds right, sunshine, that you might live contented and in honourable servanthood.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

I am a Sign of the End of Time - prose from Singapore

The Sign of the End of Time

The man makes his way to the mosque,

And says, "The Key to my Heart is Morning Prayers at the Mosque..."

The traveler turns away from the world and the crowd

And says, "O' Lord, while I was all alone you kept me company,

But now that I am not alone, I seek your Divine Assurance still..."

The traveler makes his way out of the mosque,

And he hears a preacher man speak, "Now, let me tell you

About the Signs of the End of Time"

The man smiles hearing this and says to no one in particular,

"I am a Sign of the End of Time..."

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

Good morning, sunshine. I am back, arriving in Kuala Lumpur International Airport just a hair before 11pm. How have you been keeping in my absence? I trust all is well, insyaAllah...

The trip was good for me, work-wise as well as attending to matters that I have delayed to do in Singapore. The prose recorded above are the nuggets I have found trawling through the sleepiness of the soul, across the plain of reflection, alone and away from friends and family. And since this is Sunday and is a good day, I leave you, my beautiful spirit, with a lasting and difficult contemplation, but one worthy of your best effort - 

Patient Will

Patience is the unveiling of the Will,

All conquering over the arbitrary

And whimsical nature of

This world.

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

Have a lovely day, sunshine. Rest and relax...

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

God bless the Invisible Thread! - fathers and mothers, sons and daughters...

The Invisible Thread

There is an invisible thread

Between your heart and your child's,

And every tremor, every passion and peace,

Every fear, hope, every ambition and wish

Passes like mercury between the two of you,

So think beautiful things and thoughts,

Reflect with candour and gratitude

For all that the Lord has wrought,

Above all, that which is your child,

And the invisible thread 

That is between the two

Of you.

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

I am off to Singapore again shortly for work. So I shall miss my Saturday with Mika, my 9-year old son.

It is weary sometimes, working apart and away from your children. Not being able to come home to them. But this is just a two day's delay. My esteem for those who have to work outstation or overseas for months (or even years!) on end without seeing their children cannot be over estimated.

And the love that such parents have for their children - to work in a foreign country just so they  can give their children a better life?

God bless all fathers and mothers, all sons and daughters!

And God bless the Invisible Thread!

Have a wonderful Friday, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

NOISY CREATURES IN A NOISY WORLD - death before dying and the silence of the grave

Noise and the Silence of the Grave

I am a noisy man,

I need not speak for you to know that,

You can see it in the expression of my face,

In my colour, in the clothes I wear,

In how I walk, sit or stand

Any where, any place.

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

Noisy Creatures. Mankind tend to be noisy. Within ourselves, even in silence, we are confronted with our hopes and dreams, our fears, ambitions and guilt, our uncertainty and our passion, our worry for tomorrow, and our regrets for yesterday - Amid this relentless internal din we let the present go by unattended by our focus and attention.  

Noisy World. To make matters worse, this personal cacophony of emotion throws a veil across our perception of the world, making the world also a right hellish racket to bear sometimes.

Silence of the Grave. So I am on a quest for a quieter world. I am not going to change the world itself, but I will try to do what I can with myself. The Sufis and other mystics of the world have elucidated about the concept of death before dying. And I wanna try that and receive the benefit that comes with death without actually being buried. What benefit, you ask? Why, the silence of the grave of course.

Grace and Grave. For I reckon that once you are along this path, you will get to hear and see the more important things in life - the Grace of God in everything that we are granted, the Wisdom of God in every tribulation that we may face, and the Beauty of God in the smiles, the laughter and the gentleness of our family and friends, and even from the acts and words of strangers. And of course, the Power of God in the thunder storms at sea, the high mountains in the clouds and the vastness of the oceans.

So I am intent on reducing the noise in my life. And as a Muslim, I am asking God for the intercession of the Prophet Muhammad's (s.a.w.s.) hand to reach into me, and turn down the volume dial within me.

Ahh. Lovely. Outside I can already hear the birds singing their hearts out on this peaceful overcast Wednesday morning.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

I AM YOUR FIRST SNOWFALL - unity of God

First Snowfall 

I am not a Sufi,

I am not a Dervish,

I am not a Student of anything,

I have no love to give,

So I need you to give me love,

I have no real understanding,

So I need you to give me understanding,

I am the broken flute in the back row,

I am the one hidden behind the pillar,

I am the one outside the prayer hall,

But I am here because I heard you 

When you called.

Like winter you came,

And like a facsimile of love,

I am your first

Snowfall.

................................ 

After I finished the subuh (dawn) prayers, I scuttled away from the Sufic gathering. I joined a new friend for breakfast, though he did not know he was my friend (and neither did I). Only after fifteen minutes of engaging talk did my Hindu friend said, "Ah... we have been talking for a while, and I don't even know your name! My name is Raja..." I replied shyly, "I am Taufiq."

So what is your name, sunshine?

For whether you know it already or not, we are friends. Indeed more so, for we are brothers and sisters united in the worship of one God. We are the colourful threads weaved by God upon the divine tapestry of humanity. You are a Hindu? You are a Christian? You are Jew? A Buddhist?

No. You are me. And I am you.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

GANG RELATED DRIVE-BY HU-ING

"Watch out! It's the Habibi St Crew!
Grab your tasbihs (rosaries)!!"

Nothing kills a joke like explaining it. So I won't commit humouricide so early this morning. If you get it, you get it. If you don't, don't worry. Be happy. 

I haven't sketched for ages. This toon was conceived when I recall that I used to come by a Sufi zawiya (small mosque) and park outside, listened and participated in their dzikr (remembrance of God by recitation of His names and divine attributes) while still in my car (Can I be more lazy?). Then I imagine a gang of Sufis hitting their opposing crew on the other side of town with recitations of dzikr, shooting love instead of bullets out of their hearts instead of an Uzi. You know... gang-related drive-by Hu-ing.

Have a beautiful Monday, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Love without Rival and the Beloved without Rival - towards a life of sincere sweetness

Love Without Rival

When my Lord looks for sincerity in me,

He sends me illness and poverty,

But He finds instead my hardness…

When my Lord looks for sweetness in me,

He sends me health and wealth,

But He finds instead my forgetfulness…

Either way I am undone,

Like a knot unraveled,

Unprepared as I am

To a Love without Rival.

…………………..

An illness gripped me for a couple of days, and I could not stand it, and I found true hardness in the core of my being, asking God why should I be made to suffer in this painful humiliating way. Even as the thoughts pass through my soul unchallenged, I felt guilty, and not a little stupid.

Ah, but that is what makes a man sometimes, yes? A little guilty, a little stupid. A clown really.

Yet it doesn't bode well for me even when the Lord grants me with health and wealth, for then you may find me silly and forgetful. Either way, I cannot win. Not alone, and certainly not by my own devices.

An ancient friend confides in me that the best path is the middle way, and the union of sincerity and sweetness into sincere sweetness, as elevated into a perfect art by Muhammad Prophet of God (s.a.w.s.), most intimate of all creation with the Creator. "That is the best way for you", he says... 

For Allah(s.w.t.) is Love Without Rival, and Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) 

is the Beloved without Rival.

Have a beautiful Sunday, sunshine. For me it is beautiful already for my illness has abated under the care of my father. And with my friend's advice ringing in the bell tower of my spirit, I look forward to a new day refreshed with hope, and a love without rival.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Congress of Birds at the Court of the Sultan - where only love and mercy is the accepted currency...

The Congress of Birds at the Court of the Sultan

Is this a congregation of people praying?

No, it is a congress of birds, 

At the door of the Sultan,

Asking for release from 

The golden cage of Duniya,

To be permitted to fly free

To the Royal Court of the Sultan

Where grow trees of luminous Light

With flowers that bloom

More beautiful with each glance,

With fruits that become

More delicious with each mouthful.

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

Good Friday, sunshine. Life beckons anew with each dawn of your world. Is there a better gift that Allah (s.w.t.) may bestow upon you than by bestowing to you the attraction to sweetness which the Lord God Himself finds sweet and comely? And is there anything or anyone more sweet and comely to God than His Beloved Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) and his Nation?

Allah, Most Merciful and Most Compassionate, in the divine exercise of His absolute love and benevolence for you has granted you such mercy, so be merciful unto all of Mankind.

When you first fall in love with your lover, remember this!

When you first fall in longing to meet God, remember this!

When your firstborn open his eyes to you, remember this!

When you wake up to the sound of music of the birds, remember this!

And above all, when you hold another person in your power, remember this! For verily God(s.w.t.) and His Prophet(s.a.w.s) dislikes injustice and iniquity and loves mercy and generosity. 

And if you do remember, masyaAllah... please remind me! For I am ever the forgetful and weak, negligent and foolish sinner. You may find me at the door of the Masters, barking to be let in, like the naughty dog that I am!

Have a lovely Friday, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way 

Do not run from Me! - remembering, forgetting and forgiving

I leaned over the bar of heaven,

And saw white clouds of angel hair drift by,

And the voices of the dearly departed rises higher

And resonates more completely 

In the well of my soul,

As the Water of Life bursts

Aflame in Love's White Fire.

I climbed over the bar of heaven,

And plunged into history,

And the hymns and songs for the Lord blew gently by

Like leaves falling from Heaven's trees;

Do not deny Me...

Do not run from Me...

Do not forget Me...

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

An old friend shares with me that life is all about remembering and forgetting - remembering the tireless love of our fathers and mothers, and the incomparable love of God Himself for us. It is also about forgetting and forgiving insults, hurts and slights that we may have suffered in the hands of humanity. And when bad things happen and we really have no one to blame... we must forgive ourselves, for sometimes we inadvertently (and often enough intentionally) blame God, our Creator. And as far as I am told, the only path of self-forgiveness is to abase our pride and ego before the Almighty... I do not understand sometimes why things happen the way they do, but I know of no lover more true than You, o' Lord. And I know of no lover more unfaithful than me.

With that thought, I leave you to enjoy this blessed Thursday. May you always find favour with the Lord.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Secret Nature of the Red Sulphur

Red Sulphur

I am diminished,

Amounting to nothing,

If only I could share this with you

Without writing, without living,

Without reflecting or breathing.

If you read this, 

Assure the Lord that through

Your heart passed a thought,

And you know not from whence it came,

Nor who spoke them to you.

That way I can still continue writing,

And you can still continue reading,

But we can still amount to nothing...

Seeking the secret nature of the red sulfur.

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

Do you know that I am a prostitute? I have given myself to the world and all its distractions for a few baubles of worthless stones and validation by worthless men. Do you know that I am a thief? I have misappropriated time meant for virtuous deeds but filled them with lust, depravity and deceit. Do you know that I am a sorcerer? I have rejected the company of Angels and Heralds, preferring the boisterous party of Djinns and men with the nature of Djinns.

Well, you should know all this, for this is the sinner's almanac!

He he he.

If I have some hope for redemption and mercy, why should you, of all people, worry? You are beautiful already, sunshine.

So don't worry. Be happy. Believe. And help me find the secret nature of the Red Sulphur.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Envy, History and the New You

Envy and the 'New You'

Don't ask for a 'new you',

Ask God to help you reveal

Yourself as you truly are,

As God meant you to be,

Each morning, each day and night

This words come again and again to me, 

Harassed as I am in my despondency and envy.

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

Envy. I don't talk much about it, much less write it. I guess you can call it a sister or brother to pride / the ego. It is certainly a close relation, because just like our ego, it comes from an overwhelming sense of entitlement. Envy is the poison in the well, the hemlock in Socrates's cup, the overcast cloud that ever threatens your daily happiness.

Envy makes prayers dull and dry, and knowledge a burden. It has the ability to change your best of intentions into a warped hateful thing. What can I do??

History and His Mercy

Grab your envy,

Hold it tightly to yourself,

Then... in the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Leap off the cliff of your hurt pride

Into God's Mercy Ocean.

And surrender to history.

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

There is some solace, some balm for this poison. And I think you may find it reading and contemplating the history of the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) and his Companions and Saints. For in their history, we can reflect upon our own still-to-be-finished story and why that as long as we still have breath, we have opportunity. Well, it works for me... So I am going to read a good book today. 

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate and Envy has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Dervish and the Secret of his Unknown God

The Dervish and his Unknown God

The hot-headed young man approached the dervish

Newly come to his village.

"Who is your god?" The young man asks,

To which the dervish answered,

"I am forbidden to answer that question,

And you are not authorised to ask me that question!"

"Who is your god?!" The young man vehemently repeats,

To which the dervish smiled and again replied,

"I am forbidden to answer that question,

And you are not authorised to ask me that question!"

Now, truly riled up and insulted, the young man draws a dagger

He was hiding in his cloak and threatens the dervish,

"Look here old man. By all that is holy, you will answer me now,

Who is the god that you worship!?"

The old man looked at the dagger, then gazed sadly at the young man,

"The God I worship, you do not know..."

"You are a mischievous unbeliever then..." and the young man slipped his dagger 

Into the dervish's chest, Cutting into the man's heart 

And mortally wounding him.

 

Fallen unto the hard rocky ground, the dervish soon died and carried to his grave

The secret of his unknown God.

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

Have a lovely day, sunshine. I hope you understand what is recorded here, and that mayhaps we are of one mind and one heart before the all-encompassing oneness of Allah Almighty (s.w.t.) as taught as Adab (courtly courtesies and perfect good manners) by His Beloved Muhammad (s.a.w.s.).

If you are interested, the right question to ask at this juncture, if necessary at all is "...What is your religion?" And easily the dervish would have answered, "Islam".

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

THE DIVINE PROMISE OF MERCY - cemeteries, life, death and love

Cemetery of Bahagian Mosque Bandar Kuching, Sarawak

Only One Breath Separates Us from the Hereafter

People look unto the graves and cemeteries

As if the distance between life and death

Is a far and long journey,

But truth be told it is 

Only a breath that

Separates us.

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

I like cemeteries. It has a peaceful and gentle ambiance that encourages our heart to dwell upon the past lives of our dearly departed kindred, and to reassess our own life and where we are heading. And of course, as we get older, more and more of our beloved kin and companions have become residents there. So I go there also as a balm to our separation. 

Royal Maqam Bukit Chandan, Kuala Kangsar, Perak

Death is no finality. For us, the cemeteries, with its grave heads, mausoleums and tombstones do not give an air of finality, for if we believe in God, in whatever cloth or creed we may wear, we all believe in the eternal nature of the human soul. To us pious fools, the grave is not the buck-stops-here for our lives. It is just a door, a gateway from the transient to the permanent, from the hot and cold, bitter and sweet nature of this material life, to the eternal life in the Divine Presence of our All-Loving God (s.w.t.).

Protestant Cemetery, Georgetown, Penang

The Divine Promise. My admiration and gratitude for the Sufis and Dervishes cannot be counted in gold, silver or copper. For they have taught me to love life, yet to walk between the graves of the deceased, noting the lovingly written inscriptions of those whom they have left behind, to reflect upon the great journey that is this life, and the promise of hope through the mercy and salvation of God Almighty (s.w.t.). For when God gives us the hope for forgiveness, there is no 'maybe' or 'what-ifs', only the Divine Promise. Beneath the drooping eaves of the trees in the cemeteries of this world, you will find the answers to many of the questions to this life. How ironic. But that is God for you... Unique, Subtle, All-knowledgeable. 

Bukit Kiara Cemetery, Kuala Lumpur.

Have a lovely Sunday, sunshine. Life life well...

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way