Extremism and Moderation, the Syrian Crisis and King Abdullah II, the Caliph of Islam - in the Land of Shams the Saints are Marching in

1. Arabi's Arrows and Darts

Do we not have All Eternity?

And from our heart,

Do we not shoot

Volleys of Ibn Arabi’s arrows?

And rain on the enemy whistling darts?

For it is we who are besieging doubt,

Our Master has taken to the field, you see

And He is saying unto the enemy,

Come out! Come out!

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

Faith is not a numbers game. If you were to trawl the cyber ocean of the Internet, you would grow despondent and sad at the countless millions of websites, blogs, forums, commentaries, tweets and postings that appear to exhibit humanity at our very worse - all the hate, hubris, anger, bias, despair and that unending cacophony baying for war, war, war. And that is only in English. Heaven knows what other malevolence are expressed in the other languages of Man.

Neither Christianity, Islam, Democracy, Sharia or very smart... this is simply hubris, ignorance and despair.

I would think that Christians, with the teaching of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, would be the first to preach love and understanding. And I would have thought that Muslims, with the Sunnah (traditions) of Muhammad (s.a.w.) would have promoted moderation, compassion and mercy. And wouldn't you think that the unbelieving Atheists themselves would be a big force for openness and understanding? 

Atheism - not very open-minded

But alas, not. For many Christians, many Muslims, many Atheists and many believers of other religions and ideologies have forgotten the singular factor that affects the human politic - manners and courtesies. Instead of exhibiting humility as human beings, a little sparse dot of life in the great cosmos, people are wont to be swaggering bullies. And when they should show magnanimity, they show instead condescension. Patience is replaced with impatience, and understanding is replaced with intolerance. 

The truth of the matter is that the extreme forces of hate is arrayed against each other according to their different banners and flags that they follow. Yes, you may be a Muslim or a Christian, or even an Atheist. But by your rude manners, you are following the Religion of Hubris and your fight, your revolution, your great crusade or jihad has nothing to do with us. Indeed, you are just bandits, mercenaries and pirates - Neo-conservative chicken hawks, old mad clerics, despotic tyrants, the neo-Young Turks, Salafis, closed-minded academicians, reformist political Islamists, arms-dealers, warmongers and crooked politicians. They dress differently and perform different rituals and prayers... but all are united in the Religion of Hate.

Well, this cannot continue forever. The Era of the Lost Caliphate has ended, King Abdullah II of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is the new Caliph of Islam and the Commander of the Faithful. Next door in Syria, violent forces are gripped in a proxy battle. But the word is for the faithful of Shams (the old name for Syria) to stay indoors, to keep their family close, to pray upon their sajadah (prayer mat) for peace and understanding. And not to lay hand on a single weapon. 

Ignore those who seek to define their faith with AK47s, grenades, bombs, drones, missiles, jet fighters and destruction. It is not faith nor certainty that adorn their actions, but doubt and despair, masked in hubris. Have faith, sunshine... for in the holy land of Shams, the Saints are marching in. Lo... they have never forsaken her! For they remember the Prophet's promise!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

I Think, Therefore I Am Witnessing - all about wahdatul wujud, wahdatul shuhud, Mircrosoft grammar check and the cosmic ping pong table

Your separateness and individuality are lost in
the overwhelming Oneness that is God.

How should we phrase this often used-sentence – “God and the Prophet have ….” or “God and the Prophet has…”? This may appear a trivial matter, and the sinner may have way too much free time, but I think it is an interesting question to answer. And to approach this problem we will be applying the Ibn Arabi made-famous dichotomy of the two Wahdatuls. 

Some people say that the concepts of Wahdatul Wujud (the state / unity of creation) and Wahdatul Shuhud (the state / unity of witnessing) are too high and lofty for the contemplation of mere underlings like us. But hey... let's give it a shot, shall we? After all, we have a grammatical problem to solve.

At the level of Wahdatul Wujud there is only one True Reality. One Absolute Existence that existed even before the term ‘exist’ was ever created and understood. So in that context it is “God and the Prophet has…” because we are in fact referring to one True Absolute Person, aka God and no one else but God. Indeed this would apply whenever God is accompanied by any other identity, even you. Your separateness and individuality are lost in the overwhelming Oneness that is God.

At the level of Wahdatul Shuhud, the presence of a witness to God necessitates two separate identities,  God and the Prophet Muhammad. In which case it makes sense that the phrase "God and the Prophet have..." is correct, signifying a plural dimension and the two very different and distinct personalities of God and His Creation (Prophet Muhammad).

So now I have two opposing and seemingly contradictory positions. But which is the best solution that Adab (courtly courtesies and good manners) would require to solve this grammatical puzzle?

In the Microsoft Word™ application, the embedded grammar and spelling-checker already underlined the word ‘has’ in green, in other words, the computer program is telling me that it is grammatically incorrect to use 'has' in context of the subject-verb agreement. The computer is telling me that the correct verb is “have”. So we know that Microsoft Inc is ostensibly at least, Wahdatul Shuhud.

Hehehe.

Personally, I prefer going with “God and the Prophet has…” because the overwhelming single reality is God Alone and that there is only He who is the willing force over all creation. The Prophet is there as the perfection of servanthood, God’s own flawless mirror set against God’s infinite and wonderful Divine Attributes. But to be fair, eminent translators of the Holy Quran have applied the plural verb when God is mentioned with other 'persons' in the form of His angels as in the verse 33:56 -

Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet: O ye that believe! Send ye blessings on him, and salute him with all respect. (Yusuf Ali)

Lo! Allah and His angels shower blessings on the Prophet. O ye who believe! Ask blessings on him and salute him with a worthy salutation. (Marmaduke Pickthall)

And then of course, some other translation avoid this grammatical problem altogether by separating the 'subject' God from the angels...

Indeed, Allah confers blessing upon the Prophet, and His angels [ask Him to do so]. O you who have believed, ask [ Allah to confer] blessing upon him and ask [ Allah to grant him] peace.

(Sahih International)

But to be absolutely honest here, I am happy to be the ping-pong ball being hit across the cosmic ping-pong table, back and forth, back and forth… by the Divine bats of Wahdatul Wujud and Wahdatul Shuhud. Because at the end of the day, even if we are 'thinking' Wahdatul Wujud... that act of thinking itself is a state of witnessing. To paraphase jolly old Rene Descartes - I Think, therefore I Am... Witnessing. 

'existential ping-pong'

Hehehe.

If you are not confused (enough) yet, you might like to read previous posts on the Wahdatul Wujud and Wahdatul Shuhud. You can find them all on the labels cloud on the right hand column of this almanac…

Thank you for coming by, sunshine. I have been wondering where you have gone to.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

PostScript - this posting is a re-written version incorporating earlier postscripts.

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Equations, The Wahdatul-thingy, Ibnu Arabi and the Umbrella...

Oh ho, umbrella is enough, is it?
Wahdatul Wujud that, sunshine!

In an earlier posting entitled 'The Divine Mathematics of Love' (Click Here), this brief equation was sketched…

On a Facebook comment, a reader adjusted the equation thus ….

So I had to contend with two different equations, and the outcomes (Surprise! Surprise!) are different. This is my conclusion (take into consideration that I am bad, bad, bad at maths. In fact, come to think of it, I am bad in general.): -

For this equation the solution must be that the Heart, at all points of the equation must have the value of One. Ergo, 1 x 1 = 1. I call this the Wahdatul Wujud stage. Which speaks of the Absolute Oneness of God, beyond which there is nothing. Not even ‘nothing’. There is only God, and He is One.

For the second equation the solution (I am thinking) must be that the first Heart must have the value of One, and the second having the value of 0. Ergo, 1 + 0 = 1. And of course this kinda brings the doctrine of Wahdatul Shuhud into the picture, which expresses the state of witnessing by the created (us mankind and the rest) towards the Absolute Oneness of God. And since there cannot be any addition to God (He is after all beyond adding or subtracting in any sense that we know), necessarily the second Heart (you and I and the cat named Moses) must have the ultimate value of 0. Yipee. Just like my form 1 maths teacher who once prophesied, "Taufiq, you will amount to nothing!"

So you can call me Mr.Smarty Pants, but what does this all mean to our daily life? How does this ‘knowledge’ improve our standard of living? But its usefulness on a general basis is limited, because even in a spiritual or theological debate, bringing in the wahdatul effect is like closing the topic down for good, because no sense can came out of it, and really there is no reply to it…

14. Whao.

To bring wahdatul wujud

To confirm your argument

Is to bring a Sun

To light a candle.

In the past I have been gently rebuked by concerned citizens that even Ibnu Arabi (the current Saint-in-station of the wahdatul wujud – wahdatul shuhud dichotomy) warned aspirants of the Path from contemplating this unique dogma which seems to suggest that God must be everything and nothing all at the same time. Are we really here? Are we not here? Is God here? Where is here? As for me, I am not too worried. Because if I see grey skies overhead, I make sure I carry my umbrella…

8. Rainy Days & Wahdatul Wujud

In rainy days,

It is my umbrella that shelters me,

And a beggar is better comforted with coins and food

Than any understanding of Wahdatul Wujud.

And at the end of it all, ‘understanding’ without experience is like having the Kama Sutra manual but going to bed alone every night. It just adds to the frustration, you know?

Have a joyous day, sunshine. And I promise, no more maths after this.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Earlier postings on Wahdatul Wujud / Shuhud:
• Wahdatul-Wujud
• The Magpie and Ibn Arabi, Wahdatul Wujud and Wahdatul Shuhud

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Who Are You In History? - the deniers and nay-sayers

Even these little flowers know their history. It is embedded in their DNA.
But too few Muslims understand their own past.

A History Lesson

They have not been to the Library of Baghdad,

They have not seen the singers and dancers

In the market place of Damascus,

They have not looked as Ibn Arabi

Walked across the town square,

They have not eaten in the taverns of Cordoba,

They have not seen the sun rise over

The Dome of the Blue Mosque,

They have not eaten the dates

From the plantations of Medina,

They have never seen the golden glory of the Ottomans,

The delicate royal flourishes of the Andalusian Umayads,

The Sword, The Lion and the Gentle Sultan,

Love-torn Rumi, Mighty Abdul Qader Geylani,

Wise and Crazy Nasruddin...

... are all their history

If only they would inquire and ask,

If only they would open a book to learn,

And as we bear witness of the most misguided

Claiming leadership over our community,

Claiming jihad on behalf of our community,

We pose a question, "If you are a leader,

Whereof is your knowledge of 1,433 years

Of your own history?"

If you are not crying for the loss of our Lord's glory

Dressed in the society of good people,

If you harbour hate and bitterness in your heart

And bear the standards of hubris into battle,

Who are you in your faith's history?

My dear Muslims, we will all play our part in history. So find out how you got to where you are now and learn of your roots. Close your ears to those Deniers and Nay-Sayers among the Muslims who will tell you that 1,400 years of Muslim history never happened. Those preachers who will tell you that only they have the perfect absolutist faith. They are often called Wahhabis, though they will deny it. It is not for the disagreement in the protocols of religion that their falsehood begets the evil, but their trenchant denial of the true state and nature of Muhammad, the Prophet of God, that is corrupting their lessons. 

Have a sweet Sabbath, sunshine. Do not let my little rant spoil your breakfast. You yourself are part of the beautiful history, so don't worry...

Pax Taufiqa

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Ibnu Arabi's Dreamer and something totally whimsical about cousins

Kiara Cemetery

35. The Dreamer's Dream

I read that Ibn Arabi

Encouraged us

To learn the ability to

Control our thoughts

In our dreams,

I pondered how,

Until I heard a voice;

"And who is to say that

Awake, you are still

Not dreaming?

And in truth, you are

Only alive in the Dreamers's dream?"

Ibnu Arabi. At first glance, Ibn Arabi appears to be advising us to learn to behave in our dreams. But then how will we learn good manners (adab) in our dreams when awake we behave badly. So in a roundabout way, he is also telling us to control our thoughts (and behaviour) while conscious. Because our conscious reality is nothing but a Divine whim within a dream of God. But of course, this is just my conjecture.

And what is a good way to good manners? A friend offered this advice - speak less and listen more. Right ho.

Cousins. On a less somber topic, Me and Heche had a lovely afternoon in the company of my awesome possum cousins, Kak Nani and Kak Lah who fed us too much. Kak Nani had a birthday party for her granddaughter last Saturday which we were unable to attend because of a wedding. Anyways, there were still a lot of delicious leftovers, so she called me early this morning to come help empty her pantry. "More. More. Some more. Please take some more. Surely 4 is not enough. You can rest then eat again. Just a bit. Come on..." We had Mee Bandung (a noodle in prawn chilli based broth with eggs and veggies), popiah basah (a steamed vegetable in a heavy chilli -fried shallots - dried prawns - dates gravy in a thin Chinese roll), ABC (a dessert of shaved ice with corn syrup, peanuts, evaporated milk, creamer, broadbeans and assortment of other garnishes) and finally a couple of sweet mangoes. After 2 hours we had to beg leave and slowly waddled our way back to the car.

Have a lovely sunday, Sunshine. God bless our cousins (however determined they are to make this sinner even fatter).

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

In the Library of Love

The Library of Love

I wandered into the Library of Love,

And what a strange collection

That Love possesses,

For in all its cabinets and shelves

Are filled with books

All embossed by the singular title of

“Ahad & Ahmad”

I have been honoured with the permission

To open and read many

Although there is still

A mountain of books

Yet to be read.

In one book

I found an illustration

Of my mother,

In another I read the life of

My paternal grandfather,

In one giant book I became

Enamoured with the Angels,

And in the next I studied

The map of Hallaj’s heart.

In a colourful tome I was

Educated in the stories of

The People of God,

And their names were

Both Muslims and

Non-muslims.

I became acquainted with Raj,

Amir, John, Karen, Martin,

William and Maria.

In the donors' list

Of the Library I found

The names of the people

Who came to donate

Their own books… and

Their names were

Ominously familiar to me -

Rumi, Ruzbihan,

Abdul Qader Geylani,

Ibnu Arabi…

Pax Taufiqa

The Magpie and Ibn Arabi, Wahdatul Wujud and Wahdatul Shuhud

MAGPIE. I am the Magpie of Stories. Welcome to my nest. Here you shall find an assortment of stories, parables and whimsical thoughts and feelings that I collect on a daily basis. Like all magpies, I have an eye for the shiny bling-bling. But to quote J.R.R. Tolkien in his Lord of the Rings trilogy (Book 1, Fellowship of the Ring)...

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

VALUABLE? I therefore cannot guarantee the quality of my writings, some may be worthy of my weight in gold of about 2.75 million Pound Sterling (My writing isn't that good, I am just fat), while some compositions tend to be fluffy white marshmallows - You know, like clouds in the sky. Interesting, but distant and intangible.

KNOWLEDGE OR PERCEPTION? Driving this morning, one of those cloudy thoughts strayed into my head. The world really is based on perception. Good and bad luck, misfortune or a cosmic lottery, sweetness and bitterness, all these values by which we judge our lives are essentially based on perception. In as far as we say we know something (or even someone), we are akin to a stranger, standing at the edge of a huge sea, saying, “Yea, I know you.” We don’t really. We say we ‘know’ but when you go to the root of what is truly being said, what you actually mean is “Yea, I perceive you.”

SNOW WHITE AND THE APPLE. If you notice in the previous sentence, the word ‘perceive’ begins with the word ‘I’. For the mystical aspirant, ‘I’ is a poison – the accursed apple offered to Snow White by the wicked Queen! The saints say that ‘I’ is intended only for God. Only He is the true ‘I’, the One, the Eternal and Absolute (Ahad and Samad). Therefore the ‘I’ in me is the human ego, which desires to be the master, and in its almost infinite disguises, it will claim credit in everything that I do, think and desire. It is the Bitter Enemy to the first wing of the Muslim declaration of faith - “I bear witness that there is no god but God.”

WHAT?! Hehehe. Yes, smarty-pants, you noticed the contradiction in my story above. After all, if the ‘I’ in you cannot exist, then how will you ever go about witnessing anything, what more God? The state of witnessing which some refer to as ‘Wahdatul Shuhud’ (State / Unity of Witnessing) exists – but only as a necessary condition to bear witness on the Almighty Beautiful and Absolute nature of God. We are like mirrors. And we are suppose to reflect the infinite loveliness of our Creator. And this analogy goes bouncing back to the Sufi fans of old Ibn Arabi who says that the entire reason for Creation was given when God said that...

“I am a Hidden Jewel and I wanted to be known”.

IBN ARABI. The poor old Andalusian Saint. He was much criticized for what he taught and wrote in his life time. Even nowadays, there are many people who just don't get him*. The wise and learned says that his exposition on the mirror image of Wahdatul Shuhud, which is called Wahdatul Wujud (State /Unity of Creation or Oneness) is an aberration, an innovation (read heresy) of traditional Islamic lore. They say that the poor guy got all messed up in his head reading the totally 'unIslamic' tomes and manuscripts of Greek knowledge, reintroduced back to Europe by the Andalusian Umayad Caliphate – via Arabic translations of Greek books in Baghdad (capital of the co-existing Abbasid Caliphate), then transported thousands of miles back to Europe through Andalusia and Cordoba. I suspect however, that his critics are not so much concerned by the theological aspect of his pronouncements, but rather the practical implications. People will get confused, they say. Anything can be proven right and wrong. Good and evil loses all meaning, and everyone can have a one-way ticket into the asylum. In a manner of speaking, they are right. But that doesn’t mean that Ibn Arabi was wrong. Oh no.

BACK TO THE MAGPIE. I am told by a saint that dear Ibn Arabi got a lot of grief simply because he was talking about stuff not intended for his time. You know, he’s that kid in school, who wants to share (or show off) his profound understanding of applied physics that you will only learn when (and if) you are smart enough to apply into rocket science college. And Ibn Arabi was not just studying the rocket science of God, but he is right up there sitting on the pointy end of the rocket cone! Is it then a wonder that scholars of his time were scratching their head at the sight of him flying into the stratosphere and breaking away from the earth’s orbit, while muttering “What the…!?”

Ibn Arabi and the ‘I’ in the Sky
O’ seekers!
O’ aspirants of the divine!
If I have become like a bird
With the sky, the stars and the moon
As my constant companions,
Do not then wonder and ask of me
What I perceive.
For what I am looking at is the same thing
That you all are looking at,
But my view and perception is
Very different!
For I do not see with the eye in my body,
I have seen the ‘I’ in Truth, Love and Mercy.

WHATEVER... Well, that’s it, my friends. I started this posting with a magpie who changed into Aragorn son of Arathon, thereafter amending into ol’ Arabi and then transmogrified into the ‘I’ in the Sky. Is it transcendental wisdom? Or is it simply a fairy tale widowed of any sense of reality? All I can tell you is "Nuts, I am hungry!’"... Ah, so much for Wahdatul Wujud. Back to being the regular ol’ witness. And no operatic audience of the Divine, just acknowledging that I am just me as another hungry magpie in a world of hungry magpies.

Have a nice day, sunshine.

Pax Taufiqa.

Footnotes:-
Related Posting – Please see Wahdatul-Wujud (Click Here) and Ground Zero Mosque and the Ornament of the World (Click Here)
Caveat - * I am not saying I get Ibn Arabi. I don’t get him at all. But as a magpie I spied him to be a shiny golden ring on the dressing table of Saints. And as per my nature, I stole him away and flew him back here to my nest. I am sure I am not supposed to be stealing, but I cannot deny my nature - I am a thieving old magpie!
Poems – Ibnu Arabi and the ‘I’ in the Sky is freshly recorded today.

Toons - The swag carrying magpie is from sbritt!

Love, Madness and The Illusion of You

Love, Sweetest & Most Bitter

We are loading our donkeys
With tributes and riding them into the sea.
We are the courageous and foolish,
Simpletons on Quixote’s mount,
Undaunted and fearing nothing,
We take our supper under the sky
And quench our thirst with wine
Stolen from our masters’ cellars!

The incorrigible and destitute,
The lost and guided knights
With banners borrowed
From Saladin’s tomb.

Stampeding headlong,
Hardheaded and kindhearted,

To be lost forever in His Ocean,

O’ Love, Sweetest and Most Bitter!

(No.9, from 'Raindrops') If you desire to walk the path, then prepare yourself to stumble, to get lost, to face monster windmills and other illusions that challenged Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Along the way, you may perhaps even face the mightiest illusion of all... the illusion of you. Abu Yazid, Ibnu Arabi, Hallaj and old Rumi may have put it differently, but this is what we call poetic license. Hehehe.