Floating my Boat and Praying against Tsunami - Mikhail in the U.S.A. 2012

Mika with his Nenek in the City of Angels, California. Tired-out after the long flight.

Whatever floats your boat. Mikhail & Co have safely arrived in Los Angeles on Monday evening. I think yesterday they have already visited the Magic Kingdom a.k.a. Disneyland. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves. I recall a while back, driving to dinner with my 8 year old son and asking Mika which restaurant he thinks we ought to visit. My midget surly teenager simply replied, "Papa, whatever floats your boat."

So I hope Disneyland floated his boat.

He also said that when he finds Mickey Mouse, he was gonna kick him. So I hope that happened too. [postscript 2 hours later... Well, Mika called just now and my mistake. They haven't gone to Disneyland yet, so the day of reckoning for the giant rodent is postponed until Thursday. What they did yesterday was to gawk at the celebrities' mansions. As fate would have it they saw Simon Cowell being limo driven out of his house in Beverly Hills. It may have floated some people's boat but my son was quite unaffected. The trip to Universal Studios today, might just do the job.]

An earlier incident in Narita Airport... The flight from Kuala Lumpur to LA had a transit stop at Narita International Airport, Tokyo. As Mika was disembarking, he was accompanied by his grandmother, Nenek. But just as he stepped off the plane he suddenly stopped and whispered to himself, within earshot of Nenek, "Hmm. I am not gonna take any chances. Tokyo is famous for its tsunamis." Then he proceeded to pray a short du'a asking God to cancel whatever tsunami that might be scheduled to rampage down Tokyo Bay.

"I better not take any chances..."

Well, as it turned out, there was no Tsunami. "Safe and sound in LA..." I bet he is thinking. I hope nobody tells him that Los Angeles is a mere 40 miles away from the nearest southern segment of the San Andres Fault, a continental transform fault that has been the cause of many earthquakes in the West Coast of U.S.

Don't anyone show this to Mikhail.

Otherwise, I am pretty sure Mikhail would start praying very, very hard there also.

2. Did You Pray?
I cannot recall.

I do remember folding paper ships
And setting them upon the water
A gentle breeze from Qubruz came 
And carried them away

As I waved them farewell
I caught my reflection in the water
To find the face smiling back at me
Belonged to another.
..............

Have a lovely day, sunshine. I will, but I miss my son. I am told that he purchased a t-shirt for me already with his own pocket money. 

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Happy to be Unknown in the Only Truth that Deserves to be Known - Mika and Rihanna...

Mikhail's endless 'Papa this...' and 'Papa that...' drives me crazy.
But happiness is... listening to a trans-pacific call
from your 8 year old son saying the exact same thing. 

1. Each second it gets better and better

Each second of my life,

Each moment that comes

Is more beautiful,

More honoured and more blessed

Than the last moment

Preceding it.

For you see, the division

Of time is illusory,

It is a necessary condition

Of existence when God created

And ordered the Sun to precede the Moon,

As day turns into night,

And seasons come and go.

For the truth is that

Time and space

Is one single giant canvas,

And the Lord whom I know and love

Is an Artist of Unimaginable Brilliance

Who would not leave a single colour and shade

In my life which was not beautiful and meaningful

With the true essence of Divine love and understanding!

Am I frightened to know this?

Of course, I am!

Am I happy to know this?

Happy beyond words!

Happy to know, happy to be known,

Happy to be unknown in the only Truth

That deserves to be known!

Goodbye and peace of heaven to thee, seekers!

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

Spotted!

It doesn't take much to make me pleased. Earlier today, Mikhail, my 8-year old son called from LA, California. It seems that the entire family of his mum, Gina and his stepdad Herman, saw Rihanna (yes, the umbrella singer... who else?). Mika was less than impressed by the sighting (after all, she is JUST a girl) but he sounded happy, and of that I am glad.

I cannot stay long, sunshine. Too many chores to run back here in Malaysia.

The prose was in fact recorded more than 3 years ago. I am contented to see that things haven't changed. And indeed, if things have changed, it has changed for the better. So as the poem ends, so does this posting... Goodbye and peace of heaven to thee, seekers!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Mika's Memento - travel and sadness through the gates of love

1. A good land

Wherever you may go, Mikhail

However far you may journey,

Because you bring me with you,

The land to which your feet takes you,

Will, with my blessing,

Always be a good land.

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

Tomorrow morning, Mikhail is leaving on a jetplane on a trip to the U.S. of A. He will be visiting his mother's family in Bismarck, North Dakota (the only state in the Union with a falling population) after making a short side-visit to Disneyland LA.

I am not sending him off at the airport tomorrow, but promised him that I shall be waiting for him when he returns in a couple of weeks. I hate airport goodbyes, and the drive home alone would be torture, ya know?

I took him out for a couple of hours today. I wanted it to be just me and him, but after a while, I decided to call Heche. I was becoming a little quiet thinking of him leaving and Heche would provide the infotainment to deal with Mr. 'Chatterbox' Mikhail.

We managed to take some pictures before we finally dropped him off at Gina's place in the afternoon. Pictures always tell stories, if you listen to them carefully enough...

No, this is not just a Lego Han Solo. This is a memento of love.
It came with a Star Wars Universe book of Lego memorabilia.
Mikhail will be taking the book on flight, so I get to keep Han Solo.
I get my way because I am the father. he he he

Lookin' Good!

What do you do with a pair of chopsticks?
Stick 'em up your nose of course!

I didn't feel like writing at all today. But it is sometimes good to share a little sadness. Because someone extremely smart once told me...

22. The Gates of Love

Love is not all joy.

It is also to learn how to cry.

So disdain not sadness,

For of all the gates of the House,

It is through Love

That sadness enters

And departs.

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

Don't you agree, sunshine?

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Merdeka Poem 2012 Part Deux - Democracy and the Opium Den of Fantasy Money and Usury

Democracy and The Opium Den of Fantasy Money & Usury

Leaders, don’t give me paper money

To buy my votes,

Don’t build bridges and roads

On money created in fantasy,

For you are robbing the future

From me and my family,

Leaders, don’t tell me that

You can cure all the problems of humanity

By printing more and more money,

For each scribbled paper that you print

Steals the value of my savings,

Each QE that you sanction

Is a sanction against me,

Yet, again and again you climb

On your soapbox and assure me,

"Trust in me, believe in the economy,

“Vote me in, for change you can believe in!”

Leaders, don’t promise me

That things will change for the better

When you topple the incumbent,

With quotes from the Quran

About morality, when in your policy

You say nothing about the

Immorality of paper money,

Leaders, don’t speak to me of God

For who are you trying to kid?

Who will explain to God and His Prophet

For the usury and interest that

Is in the very water that we drink

And food that we eat?

Leaders, stop dressing your thirst for power

With the cloak of charity for others

And the pious dress of a religious teacher,

For you are taking the road to hypocrisy,

Wanting to be electable by the majority

And leaving behind the Adab of the Nabi,

And the morality of Unity of humanity

In the Oneness and sublime Uniqueness of God,

The One True guarantor of Love, Truth, Mercy and Beauty!

If you are playing

The Game of Democracy,

Do not waste your time with me,

Sell your fantasies and dreams

To those still drunk and dazed

In the Opium Den

Of Fantasy Money

And Usury.

………………………………………

A GROWING AWARENESS. There is a growing awareness in the West, especially amongst the more thoughtful, about the scourge of Wall Street greed and fraud in the City (of London), the two biggest centres of finance and credit in the world. Also becoming a focus of progressive research centres, NGOs and financial reform activists is the role played by the Federal Reserve of U.S. in first permitting, than openly perpetuating and encouraging the financial regulatory system (or lack that of, actually) and Wall Street executive compensation structure that profits the irresponsible and the fraudulent bankers of the big banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions. The new word coined by the activist about these crooks in pin-striped suits is 'the banksters', a wordplay of bank and gangster. And they are not far from wrong.

NOT HIPPIES. I take seriously the view of these activists, social commentators and pundits because they are not hippies travelling in a Volkswagen van and typing their blogs while smoking a joint. They are often former Wall Street suits themselves, financial whizkids, respected writers, lawyers, auditors, former securities and finance industry regulators, professors of economics and attorney generals. But things are just so bad, that fraud, cheating, open abuse of power and insider information are so toxic that these guys (and gals) simply had to voice out their conscience.

NO PROSECUTION. Since the 2008 credit catastrophe have you heard of a successful conviction of a single Wall Street boss? No, because more often the regulators are former Wall Street veterans themselves. And when their tenure ends they will return to the welcoming arms of the companies that they were regulating. On top of that, the banksters' friends in the government and regulators (read politicians, including, alas, President Obama himself) have declared certain banks (who coincidentally are the biggest contributors to political funds) to be 'too-big-to-fail'.

MOM & POP BUSINESS. By that logic, if you are a family hardware store in suburbia, you deserve to fail if the economy tanks, demand falls and you are over your head with debt. You didn't do anything morally wrong, you just made a couple of bad judgment calls... something which is normal and acceptable in a capitalist economy. But the Government won't come and rescue you. Too bad.

DAYLIGHT ROBBERY ON A TITANIC SCALE. But if you run your investment bank / insurance company / fund management into the ground by overselling stocks and lying to your customers (see recent Facebook and the old dotcom IPO fiascos), or by encouraging predatory lending to the poor and disadvantaged (sub prime mortgage), or by disconnecting profit from risk (by dumping the toxic debt out of your books to another bank or fund manager), or by spreading the contagion of easy(read worthless) credit worldwide to the point of bringing the 8 billion souls on Earth to the precipice of global financial armageddon... well that is okay. You are too-big-too-fail. The government will simply print more money (QE or quantitative easing they call it) to 'lend' to these banks. Each dollar that the government circulates into the industry(not the real industry and commerce, by the way, but the finance industry) devalues your savings. Pundits have said that this present generation of well-dressed thieves have successfully engineered the biggest theft in history of real wealth from the poor and middle class to the rich few. The bastards.

A GLOCAL PROBLEM. This problem is not a U.S.A. problem. This problem is not a European problem or even a Chinese or Japanese problem. It is a global epidemic that can affect you, me and a Bedouin camel herder in the middle of the Saharan desert. Because are you aware that these financial powerhouses have started their speculative trading into food and commodities futures and derivatives? The curs. 

TOO BIG OR TOO CORRUPT TO FAIL? Too-big-too-fail is an intentionally deceptive adjective for these financial giants. The more accurate term should be too-corrupt-too-fail companies. Because the hard truth is that our current global fiat money system and usurious interest-bearing financial system is riddled with SYSTEMIC corruption and fraud.

These writers are heavy hitters
in the world of finance, securities,
currency systems and interestingly
enough, regime change. Very
informative, very scary.

LOOKING FOR DEEP THROAT. Malaysia will be celebrating its Independence Day this coming 31st August. Less celebratory is the upcoming national General Election. Some say end of this year, although those who should be in the know tells me that it would be early 2013. The election issues are the same infantile stew of religion, racism, money and provincialism. As far as I know no single political party is addressing the singular riddle knocking on the borders of our country, which is how to stay connected to the global economy while trying to immunize the country from the pandemic of banking fraud, speculative plays in the commodities and food market and the crumbling edifice of the world's reserve currency - the American Dollar. People tell me Malaysia is 'relatively' safe because our central bank has been conservative in their policies on lending and proprietary trading by the banks. But is it really? I spoke to Moses and I think we deserve to have our own local pundits and activists to keep an eye on the banking sector. But who will write? And most importantly, where can we find our Deep Throat?

Hmm.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Young Turks & The Miracles - America, the gun culture, atheism and miracles.

In this Colorado cinema, just days ago during a night showing of the latest Batman flick,
a mad gunman entered the hall with an assault rifle and killed twelve innocent souls.

The Young Turks & The Miracles

A couple of nights back

Shots rang out in a Colorado cinema,

Twelve dead, fifty-eight wounded,

Four men leaped to their death

In front of the bullets to save

The lives of their lovers,

And one woman was saved

By an unlikely illness in her brain

That allowed the bullet to pass

Through her skull avoiding

All the critical parts

Of her brain.

Her Christian family rejoiced

Saying, “Oh what a miracle (of God)!”

And yet the Atheists cry out

In protest, “Verily, it is no miracle!

And if it is so, why her alone? Why did

God not save anyone else?!”

……………………………

Smart, sassy Cenk. The Young Turk.

I am fond of the Young Turks. It is an American website and reputed to be the largest online news and political commentary show. I have been following their incisive, intelligent and often hilarious news commentaries over the past 4 years (Wow. Has it been that long?).

It is also Atheist / Agnostic inclined. Which basically means that most of the hosts do not believe in the existence of God.

I respect and find Cenk Uyger, the American anchor of Turkish descent quite huggable.

But however sincere my admiration, I find it interesting that the show, despite its pretension of progressive and liberal thoughts, has an absolute blind side to religion and God. So much so that they, in the most respectful tone admittedly, finds it uncomfortable simply because the family of Petra Anderson rejoiced in her recovery and called it miraculous. (Click Here to watch their coverage of this story)

The Young Turks argued – Why did God allow her to get shot in the first place? Why did God not save the others? Isn’t the others worth saving as much as Petra?

Well, ten years ago, my mother died of cancer. Why did God not save her? Why did God create such a lovely human being, only to take her away? Other cancer survivors made it, did she not deserve a ‘miracle’ too? Did my mother not suffer enough? Did my mother not do enough good and charity? There are murderers and rapists still alive out there in the world, why did God not kill them? In fact why did God create them to begin with???

The narrow and naïve posturing of Western Atheists boggles my oriental mind. Yes, us believers do actually use our minds, despite the direct and sometimes implied suggestions by the Atheists. When Atheists try to look into the spiritual stance of people, regardless of whether they are Jews, Christians, Hindus or Muslims,... I think it is an exercise in absolute futility.

Because they do not look at the world as believers do. Simply because Atheists see death as a full-stop in the existence of a human being. They do not see it like we do, sunshine. They do not see death as merely a comma, a brief pause in the sentence of love written by God for us, His beloved creation. I am ar-Rahman, God says, the Most Compassionate. I am ar-Rahim, God says, the Most Merciful.

Even Moses the Cat gets God.

Their material and physical-centric mind cannot accept the existence of metaphysical realities, wherein the True Reality of things exist, ergo in the Divine Imagination. They are unable to accept that human beings, this world and all the Universe (and other Universes) exist merely as a reflection of God’s Own unapproachable Power. Like a shadow on a wall. Lika a ripple in the ocean. 

And yet, if you sit long enough watching the show, you would discern much reference to love. For the Atheists still recognize human love and affection. As they did when they covered the story about the four boyfriends who died saving their girlfriends in the same tragic Colorado shooting (Click Here to watch their second coverage). But love and affection is a human emotion and rests in the metaphysical reality. How can this fit in their all-physical, all-material perception of this world?

The miraculous survivor. Or as the Young Turks would like to put it,
the 'lucky' survivor. But don't Atheists understand that even the laws of
probabilities is a creation of God?

I will still continue watching Cenk and his gang. Because despite their agnostic / Atheistic blind side, their sharp political commentary is still excellent.

Wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

American Politics and Angel Wings - we need both wings, the left and the right for our soul to fly to the Divine Presence

1. Modern Man
Modern man is taught
To question everything,
To revisit every dogma
And tradition, review
All beliefs. Failing to see
That not all traditions
Are skewered and unjust,
Not all dogmas are
Impractical. And that for
All their perceived folly,
Perhaps his ancestors
Over thousands of years
Have learnt some wisdom,
And, in truth, earned
A little respect from him.
.................

Are we better than the Romans? Are we better than the Egyptian Pharaohs? The Ancient Greeks? The Carthagians? The European Renaissance? The Ummayad Caliphate of Damascus and Andalusia? The Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad? The Ottomans? There is good and bad, there is holiness and tyranny in all ages.

2. Modern Man II

Modern man thinks

He is thinking,

Sadly, he is only drifting.

He could have chosen safety,

And stayed in the harbour,

But he is disdainful of his elders,

And seeks a reputation

For wisdom and adventure.

He has no sail or anchor,

He is without a rudder,

Really, he has no ship whatsoever,

For such things are inventions

Of another era, and in his pride

He thinks he can do better.

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

LEFT WING AND RIGHT WING HUBRIS. I find that politics is replicated through all times and in almost all nation. In each nation we have the ignorant and the educated, each party personalised by their individual sense of pride and hubris. We are not interested in either if no good manners is exemplified. That is why myself, a firm follower of American politics find myself firmly in the middle - between the conservative right-wing Christians and the left wing liberal progressive agnostics and Atheists. I value the traditional family-oriented ideals of the right but cannot accept their pride in their ignorance. And I value the forward-looking and (mostly) well-educated progressives but I find certain aspects of their hatred of religion unbecoming of their claimed tolerance. American progressives complain that politics are drifting too much to the right. American Neo-cons assert that US politics are drifting too far to the left under Obama. The truth is that they are both true. Each wing is pulling the centre to their own extreme ends, and pulling the American nation apart. Anti-Americans may rejoice, but I think the whole world should be gravely concerned.

The Prophet(pbuh) says that the best way is the Middle Way, the Moderate Path. And I believe what Muhammad (pbuh) preaches is to be the best ideal of spiritual and physical life. A balance between respect for the past and its traditions, and a latent progressive-minded approach to life. Because you see, our soul needs both wings, the right and the left, for us to fly to the Divine Presence.

Have a good flight, sunshine. See you in the sky.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The West and the Irrationality in Rationalism - get a grip, will you?

These are all good and religious people. But the rationalist-agnostic-atheist will have
you believe that Abul Kalam Azad, Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Theresa were good
in spite of their religious beliefs. Oh come on... And they accuse religious people of
being bigoted and condescending?

The West and The Conflict

We are not heirs to the Western conflict,

We are not participants in this debate

Between those who believe in God

And those who disbelieve…

We are not in their history,

We are not involved in their story,

We have no problems adapting,

We have no problems changing,

We have no problems tolerating

The many passions and strange obsessions of man,

Whether he is in secular study,

Or praying in religious robes…

For in their arguments

The agnostics and preachers,

The conservatives and liberals,

The Traditionalists and Progressives

All forget good manners and

Taint both rationalism and spiritualism.

May God save us from the earnest ones!

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

I am an avid follower of American politics. And I guess I have become familiar and much acquainted with liberal progressive views propagated by the likes of Bill Maher and The Young Turks. And I am the first to admit that some of the brightest and sparkling intellectual stars do populate the agnostic atheistic constellation. I agree with a lot of what they say. They are smart, they are sexy and they are very persuasive. Just like me. Hehehe.

But I have discerned an air of smugness in the representations of their ideas against believers of God in the US. And they are starting the bad habit of pontificating, just like the Evangelicals that they abhor. This is not a good trend.

It doesn't matter what you believe to be the truth. Nobody wants to drink wine, however sweet and pure it may be, if it is served in a dirty glass. Bad manners = dirty glass.

I hope the rationalists will maintain their rationalism in their challenge against what they think to be the irrationality of religious people. "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind", said Mahatma Gandhi.

Don't you agree, sunshine?

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way.

At The Nib of My Pen - Muhammad and Mikhail

How I write About Mikhail

When I wrote your poem,

I had the Prophet Muhammad in my mind,

In my hand, and at the end of the nib of my pen...

I picked up Mikhail from school during lunch. He was surprised. "Aren't you working today, Papa?"

"Yes, but I am not so busy. After all, it's your birthday!" I replied.

We dropped by Nandos in Bangsar for some chicken. Is it me, or are those damn roasted poultry overpriced? While waiting for our food, I took some pictures of my son. "Oh, Mika. You are SO not photogenic. Come on... smile properly..." He explained why he cannot smile very well for the camera, "But I am not so happy."

"Why aren't you happier?"

"It's not as if Aqheel is here with us. If he was here, I would REALLY be smiling." (Brief note: Aqheel is his 11 year old cousin, and my brother's youngest son).

"Oh, I am so SORRY." I answered hotly. "If that is the case I will just take pictures of you minus your alleged smiles!"

Honestly.

Later we wandered into Toys 'r' Us, where amazingly my son was not interested in buying anything. "I don't want anything, Papa. I am waiting for Mummy to give me my money." Then he mused, "I wonder if she has gotten paid already. Hmm..." (Brief note: His earnest mother promised to reward Mika with cash on his birthday for totally dropping instant noodles from his diet... Yes, guilty as charged. We bribe our children.)

Then we wandered into a bookshop, where I bought him a TinTin adventure comic book, entitled "The Blue Lotus. "I chose it because it has a dragon, Papa." He explained.

While paying, I received a call from my brother inquiring about Mika because he wanted to drop off Aqheel at the house. I told the birthday boy the good news and without much ado, we paid quickly and hurried home. As I drove, I notice my son sitting quietly in the passenger seat. True enough, he is really smiling now.

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

I am not terribly worried about my son. I believe that wherever he may go in future, it will always be a good place. Perhaps it is the innate belief (or hope?) of a parent. Perhaps it is a father in denial of the murkiness and hazards of our times. I recorded the prose below because there was a time when Mika might have actually migrated overseas, to live in a foreign land, thousands of miles away from me. When I wrote the poem, I had the prophet Muhammad in my mind, in my hand, and at the end of the nib of my pen...

A good land

Wherever you may go, Mikhail

However far you may journey,

Because you bring me with you,

The land to which your feet takes you,

Will, with my blessing,

Always be a good land.

Have a beautiful day, sunshine. God bless all our children. 

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Global Thanksgiving and God - Do not be shy...

25. Be not shy

Gifts and charity to My servants reaches me,

So be not shy to give.

Expressions of gratitude to My servants reaches me,

So be not shy to receive and respond with gratitude.

My friend from the USA tells me that it is now the Thanksgiving Holiday there. And he tells me that one of the blessings that he shall give thanks for is me, which is irredeemably sweet of him. I replied and said that it was the nicest thing someone ever said to me today, except for one observation made by another friend... "Taufiq, you are fat, but not THAT fat."

A couple of days ago a new prose entitled The Third Eye, Love and Her Fury from your prosy sinner (that's me) was published in the Rainbow Rose (Click Here for the prose), a poetry blog introduced to me by my poem-inclined amigo called Russell Streur, who runs his own poetry establishment at the Camel Saloon. The Rainbow Rose is now added to the poetry roll on the right hand side column.

Of the many American holidays, I think this is one of the most admirable. Happy Thanksgiving, sunshine, wherever you may be, American or otherwise - Because when it comes to giving thanks, it should be a global ideal...

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Mikhail, Mathematics and his cousins - Pictures tell Stories

Mikhail'a cousins. From the left in gentle repose is Emina of Malay-Turkey stock.
Aaliya is an American here on holiday and comes from North Dakota.

She is here together with her 1+ sister, Jasmine. This time around they have decided
to bring their parents (Chad and Lin) along for the 23 hours flight from the cold of Bismarck, ND
to the hot and humidity of Kuala Lumpur.

I was a little curious why Mikhail was a bit slow in his mathematics when I
helped him in his homework. But it appears now that studying in the house is simply too
distracting. In his tuition class, Mika actually did decently. A little peer pressure is
useful sometimes. He came back very happy with his perfect score. "What are
you going to do with it?" he asked, as I looked at his answer sheets. "I will
blog it of course." I replied. Sorted.

I am looking at a vacant bungalow house lot abandoned by the owner. It doesn't
take long for nature to reclaim her own. You can still see a little of the perimeter wall.
I wonder why the owner did not go through with building the house. A little brook runs
down the hill slope just outside the property. This very green area is just 5 minutes from
one of the busiest suburb of Kuala Lumpur with its giant malls and shopping centres. 

To end this international posting is the marriage of this tall fella. He doesn't look
particularly native, and there is a reason. He is half Swedish. He speaks perfect Malay
which is rather astounding when I first met him more than a year ago. We were united
in our love for dance back then, so I am glad to see him this happy in connubial bliss.

No poetry today, sunshine. Just the poetry of life.

Pax Taufiqa.

Heroes and the Lament of History - Accepting our Heroes as Creatures Inspiring and Imperfect

15. We need heroes and flags

We need heroes.

But the heroes need you

To remember them

As men of flesh and blood.

In this lies their

High station of spirit

And faith.

For they have the ability

To be themselves,

In form and in substance,

In what is apparent

And in what is hidden,

Seeing only the thin gloss of mortality

Upon God’s Own Looking Glass,

Between the Here and the Hereafter,

Between now, and what is promised

To you and me.

THE LAMENT OF HISTORY. History holds so much treasure. In her infinite vault, history contains all our lives, right up to this point in time when you, my discerning reader, are reading this. And just like our lives, history is not all rosy and sweet. And oh boy, have I myself filled history with enough personal follies to embarrass the historians and blush the bifocaled librarians. History is important because if we do not know how we got here, then we lack the knowledge to move forward. There are many aspects of history worth a thousand years of our study, about religion, science, civilizations, romance etc. But for this next hundreds or so words, I am talking about heroes.

HEROES. Heroes in history are like sacred cows that cannot be inspected too closely, questioned or criticized. They become omnipotent presence in our psyche, taking on almost Olympian stature in our hearts. Thus, they become, just like the Olympians, a far-off and can never be reached personalities, ethereal and uncertain.

FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS. That is why when I finally saw the movie "Flags of Our Fathers" (Directed by Clint Eastwood, released in 2006) I was much taken by the raw reappraisal of the historical background concerning the raising of the flag in Iwo Jima. But most importantly, the human individuals that lived the moment, and their moments thereafter. If you have seen the movie you would have witnessed the sheer terror of hand-to-hand combat in the Pacific, the troubling doubts of the soldiers, the wistful dream of almost all of the boys (since they really were young) simply to make it alive and return home, their sudden fame and the personal aftermath of their lives post Iwo Jima. I love it because it took the heroes out of the two dimensional pages of propaganda and patriotism and laid bare their lives. After the movie, I did not think them any less and thought, "Wow... real heroes." Every single one of them.

The above prose was not born from the movie or appraisal of American heroes of WWII. Actually it was pertaining to Muslims and how they conduct themselves in the presence of their historical heroes. They are sometimes (not all the time, to be fair here) too diffident and shy to know about the Companions and Caliphs that came after. Especially concerning the Companions of the Prophet, Muslims in fact know so very little that the Companions become two-dimensional characters, almost like cartoon characters in a comic book.

MR.X THE MAGNIFICENT. I recalled to a preacher man about one personal condition of a Companion, and the preacher man was greatly offended to hear the story and rebuked me. We were talking about sex and how wonderful it is, when I shared with him a little story. The story is simple really, a famous and renowned Companion of the Prophet was someone of such flaming passion and fire, that he gets wet dreams every night. The preacher man was profoundly shocked and immediately advised me that it is forbidden for Muslims to make fun or ridicule the Companions of the Prophet.

Firstly, assuming the story is true (which the preacher man clearly doubted), I swear upon the cup of coffee that I am drinking now that I meant it as no insult or ridicule. For every single story of this Companion, good and bad (for Companions of Prophets are not perfect like Prophets) makes me fall in love with him - a towering masculine hero with a sharp tongue, a fiery passion and a truly, truly amazing Companion of the Prophet. Secondly, how can having a wet dream every night be a bad thing for any man. It is a challenge certainly for the Companion personally, because he would have to perform the complete ablution before morning prayers to cleanse his impure state post wet dream. But other than that? Come on...

You see, that is why Eastwood's movie sprang to my mind as I am writing this post. I think just as we need heroes to inspire us to good, the heroes need us to appraise them as human beings of flesh and blood. Amazing in their personal sacrifices, dedication and virtues... but not perfect. It does not make them any less of a hero to me. In fact it raises their stature higher in my soul. For I know that they are just like me... not perfect. But wow, how infinitely better are they in spite of this very human weakness that we share!

There are certain mores and manners which we should have in addressing historical heroes, that I accept. But if we approach them with love and understanding... how can we go wrong?

Look back with love.
Look forward with love.
Look at everything with love.
And even if the Lord Himself cannot be seen.
By God, He can be perceived!

God bless our heroes, sunshine. And may you have a heroic day.

wa min Allah at-taufiq.