LIFE AS A DIVINE CONVERSATION - "You Love Me?" Asked God. "Why?"

You Love Me? Why?

The most venerable of traditions,

The most eloquent books of praise

I read and recited for God,

And I found religion.

Then one night,

As I was reciting some ancient spell

Extolling love and yearning

For our Creator, He answered and asked,

"Why? Why all these beautiful words for Me?"

"Why? Because You told me to, of course."

"Really, is that the only reason?" He replied and said no more.

From that night on I always sought to find the answer.

Religion is easy. Just do as you are told. But in the context of spirituality, it requires a little more exploration, a bit of adventure through this world. And to answer God's ultimate question - You say you love Me? But why? And it is not enough for us to say "Well, the holy scriptures and traditions of your Prophet (and Prophets and Saints) all say that we ought to love You." For we are not Angels without error. We are human with the innate power of choice, or some would call it a crown of thorns or a bed of nails. We can choose, so it is in that choosing that we may find the answer to God's question.

To briefly answer God, I guess we can say that we love Him because of what He has ordained for us. That we awake in the morning, alert and fresh. That we turn to find our children by our side, their eyes sparkling like heavenly pearls stolen from God's own treasury. That the Sun gracefully peeks through the open doorway like a kindly uncle coming once again into our life, to banish darkness and bring light. That for all our mistakes and judgement errors, we are not dispossessed of hope. That despite the cunning duplicity of our egos and how it tries to divide humanity, we can still look across race, religion and nation and still feel empathy. That the love which God says He has for us is felt in every quivering of the restless atom, in every thought which is planted in our mind, in every affectionate gesture we receive from our family, our friends and our lovers.

A Divine Conversation through the Garden of Creation. It was last night when Heche said, "I love you." To which I queried, "Why?" And really, is life not finding God's grace in the best, in the biggest and the smallest drop of Mercy and Compassion which He constantly rain in our lives? What is life if it is not a divine conversation - A walk through the Garden of Creation with the sublime company of God's inspirations? To this end, I walk this world with my Prophet, Muhammad the Mercy to all the Worlds. Perhaps you are walking with Jesus, the Prince of Peace, Son of Mary. Or maybe Buddha? Or perhaps Moses the Red-haired?

Well, whoever you are walking with, I am happy you are with me today, sunshine. I cannot think of any other company finer than thee.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

You are Muhammad, the Answer - Prose of Ramadhan Part 38

You are Muhammad. (Ramadhan Verses 21)

We are the raging tempest,

We are the stormy sea,

We are the white blizzard,

We are the thundering avalanche,

We are the river breaking its bank,

For what we are, you are not.

You, whose named is extolled

Next only to God.

You, the still calm eye

Of our whirling cyclone.

You are Muhammad.

Upon the Throne of Hearts,

In gentle repose…

The Herald of Dawn

Against the retreating darkness,

The Light wielding the pen

Of our drunken verses.

I sometimes don't keep promises. But I am glad I can now, and as promised this is the prose in answer to the earlier riddle entitled "Who Am I?"- Click Here.

BAD EXAMPLES. Do not dwell so much in the bad examples of our humanity - the corrupt politicians, the mad mullahs, the chicken hawks in the right wing, the murderers and serial killers. They carry a dark karma, and it is not for you, sunshine. Look away and turn the page. Change the channel even if it's just to the Food Channel.

GOOD EXAMPLES. It is good to compare ourselves to something or someone good. There is no point really reflecting upon our personality in comparison to mad people. If you are Christian, you can compare yourselves to Jesus. If you are Jewish you can compare yourself to Moses (or perhaps Aaron). If you are Buddhist, you can join Buddha and sit under the tree. If you do not believe in God, well there is still your sainted mother and sister to think about. And of course, if you are Muslim, there is always Muhammad. Such are the examples of steadfast virtue and compassion that the Lord has seeded your history with. Look to them, and wait for the tree of servanthood to grow in the fertile soil of your soul.

Have a wonderful Sabbath night, sunshine.

Pax Taufiqa

Door after Door... Secret after Secret... only to undertand who you truly are

22. Excite and Entice
If this path appears unending,
If one door leads to another,
It is only because the Lord
Keeps one secret after another
To excite and entice
You closer.

Life is about cause and consequences. If you don't eat, you get hungry. If you don't work, you won't earn a living. If you hit someone, chances are, he will hit you back. If you smile at a girl, she might smile back at you. Or perhaps, she will start to finger the pepper-spray in her handbag and thinking, "Uh oh. Weirdo".

But Life is also sometimes just 'is'. And one of the biggest 'just is' is that God loves you. This 'is' should be on top of all the other 'is-es' there is. Err... get it? Because there are also a lot of tribulation in what is fated to you. A car drives over the pavement and runs down your dog. Your house is robbed. You get mugged. You get audited by the IRS. A bird flying overhead poops on your head. How do we rationalize and reason out the random occurences in our lives? Especially when it is a 'bad' thing. In such things, we simply have to have faith in God. It is not blind faith, for when God called on man to see the Divine signs without and within him, it is a call not only to faith, but to reason.

God Most Enticing. It is also through this pull between reason and faith, between what you can change in your fate, and what is ultimately destined for you that our God is the Best at. For He is the Lord Never Boring. The One God Most Enticing and Captivating. The Best Writer Ever, the Best Director Ever in this film called Creation... and He has casted you, sunshine, to play your role. A role which is not superfluous. Your character in Creation is not to play a two-bit extra. Your appearance in His Divine Production is absolutely necessary to complete this film. There are heroes and villians, temptress and princesses, the village idiot and the captain of the guards, but there is also a you-shaped hole in the casting that only YOU can fill.

He Listens. I think God simply wants us to be the best that we can be. So say, for me, it is to be the best Taufiq that I can be. Now, to be honest, it is not so straight forward, because I need to understand my script and get into character. And for that I talk to God a lot. Does He listen? He listen to all sinners, sunshine. And boy has He been Incredibly Patient with this one.

It is Wesak Day today here in Malaysia and it is a public holiday for all. God bless all Buddhists.

Pax Taufiqa.

God's Highway and the Illusion of Apostasy

“There is no apostasy in Islam, but there are apostates of love, compassion and mercy. Those who rejected such meanings in the Quran and Sunnah, and have exiled themselves from our association, they have also forced others to apostate according to their thinking. But to us, anyone wishing merely to live under the banner of love, compassion and mercy, such people will always be under our association.

The Tree of Ahad has no end, and the shade of love, the flowers of compassion and fruits of mercy which it offers, all called Ahmad, also have no end” – Mika read the sms and says that I should send it to Nabi Muhammad, but since I don’t have his mobile no, maybe you can pass on the message to him, when you see him next. Salaams, Taufiq."

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

The above was a sms sent earlier this morning from my cellphone to three friends, Kash, Jad and Ipen. I just thought to share it with you. You may also read it as a continuation of my earlier ramblings entitled 'Claiming you are a Muslim doesn't make you a Muslim. Claiming you are an apostate doesn't make you an apostate' in August 2010. How time flies when you are having fun! Alhamdulillah! Ya Huu!

Pax Taufica.