BREAKING FAST WITH CELESTIAL THOUGHTS - The Ramadan Story, Part 15

Time & the Heart

A second ago is not just one second long,

It can be as long as eternity

And shorter than even one second.

And a thousand years ago is not just one thousand years long,

For that too can be as long as eternity

And much, much shorter than one thousand years.

Such is the vast expanse of a believing heart,

Whose expansion and contraction cannot

Be counted or measured

By physical limits.

And alas, such is also the smallness of a heart

Constrained by hate, bigotry

And hubris,

Deceived by the pettiness of its piety

Or completeness of its knowledge.

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

How strange the month of Ramadan can be. For it pulls, stretches and manipulates the normal order of nature, the proper sequence of events, of cause and consequence, and of time itself.

Still many hours to go. Perhaps it is the hunger or thirst that makes the day long. The constant inquiring glance at the clock. Oh, no! Six more hours to go. Then again. Oh no! Still five hours and fifty-five minutes to go before iftar!(the breaking of the fast at sunset and upon the call of the Muezzin for the Maghrib prayers) For a smoker, this wait is often interesting (and always challenging). Even in the last 10 days of this fasting month. He he he.

Praying while fasting. For those pious Muslims, I think the best part of Ramadan is their prayers during fasting. How beautiful and melancholic it must be, to be praying in the state of fasting, their bodies and all their senses suddenly focused in the magical moment, on that intimate occasion and sweet transaction, between the created and the Creator, between the one of many and the Absolute One (Ahad). Each recitation, each posture and gesture that he (or she) makes, in perfect union with the Universe, prostrating before the Unimaginable Beauty of Allah (s.w.t.), before His Unrivaled Mercy, before His Infinite ways by which He shows His Love for all His creatures... How I envy them.

Celestial thoughts. I like to break fast alone sometimes. I am not being antisocial or that I dislike company. It is just sometimes, when I am sitting alone, taking that first sip of water and first crust of bread, I feel like I am breaking fast with celestial thoughts. How gentle is that moment and how reassuring for a sinner like me. It is as if, God is saying, "Who will keep him company? Surely he shall not break his fast alone."

I am not a good person. I wish I was. I only hope that God shall continue to show me the way to commemorate Him better, serve Him better and thank Him better!

For you see, there is still much room for improvement. 

Have a lovely day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

A COCKTAIL OF TEARS, A SEA OF LOVE & LAUGHTER - The Ramadan Story, Part 7

Only If They Ask, Part 2
...And if they ask why are your eyes closed,

Tell them that you don't want to open them

For fear of unleashing another flood

That neither seawall nor dyke can stem.

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

1. A Cocktail of Tears. Mix a little knowledge, add a bushel of sins. Pour a sea of neglect. Sprinkle some remembrance. Top off with a cherry of regret. Stir ingredients in a colourless crystal goblet, and you would get me. When this is me, you must ask why I don't cry more. 

2. Here and There. Everywhere. But I don't. In fact in my life, there is still a lot to smile and even laugh at. Something to warm the cockles of my heart. Something to reignite my faith in my humanity, in my brothers and my sister. I think it is perhaps because however we may be, sweet or sour, good or bad, forgetful or grateful, ugly or beautiful, God is always there. I mean here. With me. And I also mean there, with you. It gets kinda confusing with God and with True Love. For He is one and the same, the Unique One. Transcending the elemental time and space of this physical world. It is easy for Him, He is after all, God.

3. Choose battles that you can win. But the world is not sitting still, letting you go so easily. It throws at you the horrors and hatred, the bigotry and hubris, the greed and selfishness, the apathy and lethargy, the tired old sad stories. So do yourself a favour this month, don't read the newspapers. It is good to be knowledgeable. But sometimes too much knowledge makes us weary. Especially bad news. Especially when we can do almost nothing about it. So my thought for today is - let us choose battles that we can win. And that starts with ourselves. Quit drinking. Quit smoking. Quit neglecting our body. Quit wasting time. Quit sleeping too much. Quit procrastinating. Quit bitching (does this count?). Quit judging people. 

"Don't even think about it." said the Angel of Quitting Bad Things

4. Stop it. It is funny that the biggest battle is really about quitting something. But sometimes quitting is necessary to begin a better life. God willing, I think this is true. Note to self - God and Goodness always wins when bad men (read me) stop doing bad things. 

5. Loveliness... I started this posting with a typically melancholy love prose as befitting my quasi-sufi pretensions. But it is Ramadan the Blessed. And this month refuses to allow me to wallow in sadness. And I am glad that I can end the almanac with loveliness instead. The Loveliness of Allah (s.w.t.), the Loveliness of Muhammad Habibullah (s.a.w.s.) and the loveliness that is all you, ministered between Ahad and Ahmad, between the Chooser and the Chosen.

May you have a beautiful day, sunshine.Tears or laughter, it is all about Love after all.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Ramadan al-Mubarak and the Nourishment of Love - The Ramadan Story, Part 1

The Month of Sinners. Do you know that this blessed month of Ramadan is the month of us sinners? Oh yeah. Well, it is also a month for all sorts of things... it is also the Month of Quran, the Month of Light, the Month of the Poor, the Month of Repentance, the Month of Invocation and Standing in Supplication, the Month of Doing One's Best, the Month of Victory and Success and the list goes on and on. And just so you and I are not mistaken in the divine awesomeness of Ramadan, it is also known as Sayyid al-Shuhur, the Master of All Months. 

ADAB (Good Manners) YA HU (Oh He!) This, in two very short and perhaps surprising phrase for some, is inscribed above the doorway of a Sufi Grandmaster, in his little abode in Lefke, Turkish-Cyprus. In a breathless act of grandstanding, this sinner is also putting one up above the entrance to the hermitage in the sky. Below are practice sketches of the writing by my good ol' buddy, Moses. I think they look beautiful, don't you?

There is only a few minutes left before fasting on this very 1st day of Ramadhan. So I bid you a wonderful and joyous Ramadan al-Mubarak, and though we may empty ourselves of food and water for awhile, may we also gain eternal light, peace, good manners, knowledge, patience, constancy and contentment that is the Nourishment of Love. And this is a dish served especially in this blessed month.

Have a lovely month, sunshine!

wa min allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Gathering of the Birds. Happy Birthday to the Prophet! Happy Birthday to You! - 12 Rabi ul Awwal

The Gathering of the Birds

Tired and listless,

Before arriving home

I wandered to the home

Of the nightingales,

And there I saw the gathering,

Not only of nightingales...

But I saw owls and falcons, 

Budgies and sparrows,

Ravens and eagles,

Crows and Mockingbirds,

And even an assortment

Of Ostriches and Dodos.

God bless the birds!

God bless them all 

Of whatever hue and colour,

Singing or silent,

Flying or earth bound,

Wise or foolish,

Beautiful or less so,

For it is the Twelth of Rabi ul Awwal,

And Mercy made manifest in Muhammad

Whose Love shall forever more flow!

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

It was a tiring day yesterday. But in the evening I dropped by the Naqshbandi Zawiya nearby. And there I saw the gathering of those strange Sufis. I could not stay long, but I did spend some time talking to them. It always stirs my curiosity to see such a mingling of people of different colours and races, vocation and age, nationality and culture, wealth and educational back ground, all drawn to this place of worship, as is happening in the whole Muslim world today, to celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.), when God made His mercy for all creation manifest in the clearest sign possible.

For the Muslims, the birthday of the Prophet (s.a.w.s.), Beloved of God, Mercy to all the world(s), is intimately linked to their own. For naught is the reason for their lives, for each waking hour and sleep, in work or in play, in sadness or joy, were it not to be lived in their love and devotion for Muhammad (s.a.w.s), Prophet of God.

We have all our own birthdays. But our soul all share one birthday in that of Muhammad (s.a.w.s.). For it is not for nothing that he is also known as Abu Arwah (The Father of Souls).

So happy birthday, sunshine! Keep your smile on, always.

wa min Allah at-taufiq.

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The New Year 1434 - Maal Hijra and the Tree of Choices

1434 at the Stronghold of Love

I laid siege on the Stronghold of Love for a whole year.

Then a Master of Love came out upon the high ramparts

And said, “You have wasted one long year besieging us,

When you could have gained entry with but one phrase…”

“And what is that phrase?”, I asked.

“In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.”

He replied and continued,

“So the year 1433 has passed you by,

And the year 1434 is coming near,

Will you shed another year of tears

And upon Love’s Gate to wilt and die,

Or will you now believe in the words

That your heart have often spoken

But your mind has long denied?”

……………………………….

In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful - or in Arabspeak, BismillahiRahmaniRahim, is possibly the most recognizable Muslim phrase in all the sultanates and kingdoms of the Muslim world, and even outside. But truth be told here, it is a collection of words that I am forever trying to tie my turban around... and  failing miserably.

As I gingerly make my way through this life, filling my barrel of deeds with both good and rotten apples of my own picking, the phrase BismillahiRahmaniRahim continues to expand in its breadth and scope. 

We do not know, if we shall live the full twelve months of this Islamic calendar year. Perhaps we may only see the sunrise of just one day of 1434. But that is not our worry, for our passing is predestined as our birth was. I think we need only to concern ourselves with picking more good apples and trying to avoid the rotten apples that life and fate may be growing in our Tree of Choices. That is all.

So come on, sunshine. Let's climb this Tree... in the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful - BismillahiRahmaniRahim!

Happy new year, my friends.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

I DO NOT FEAR THE NEW YEAR - 1st Muharam 1433, New Year in the Islamic Calendar

The Riyadh Verse 1 (from Lulu)

Thanking you and thanking He for giving friends the eye can't see..

So close your eyes and open your heart

& see the friends who dance at night within the beloveds light..

They dance and sing praises of He and find deep love that's ecstasy...

Only thru his light will you find Him..

So close your eyes and let's begin..

So yes, thanking you and thanking He.. that He choose those words to come from thee...

No hate in this way... Only Love, love love will show the way

I am well pleased to host this prose from a new friend, Lulu. She appears to be over-enamoured with the Prophet and Companions. Ah, such is the risk you take when you start looking for the Reality of Muhammad, and peer closer at your spiritual inheritance. 

It is still the Thanksgiving holidays in America, but for Muslims the world over, tomorrow shall be the 1st day of the month of Muharam 1433, the beginning of the new year in the Islamic Calendar, which began with the hijra (migration) of the Prophet Muhammad from his hometown of Mecca to Medina.

At the closing of this year 1432 (the new day in the Islamic Calendar actually begins at sunset today), I think we have a lot to give thanks for - For old and new friends. For the healing of past sickness and the opening of new doors of promise. And above all, for the lovers of Muhammad Habibullah, giving thanks for the Prophet's continuing ascension in spiritual station, drawn as he is, by the Love and Mercy of God for His Beloved and for all of creation.

Some 7 years ago, I first saw a young man who stood up in the assembly of the lovers of Muhammad, and let free his voice in song of praise and love. That young man is now happily married and in honour of his recent wedding and this new year, I would like to recap the prose...

2. Swayed and Hummed

I swayed and hummed,

Standing in a row,

While the nightingale sang,

Yearning for a morrow

Which no sorrow hang.

Dreaming awake,

With a voice

Raised

Above

The cosmic quake.

I met him later.

The nightingale bowed,

While shyly taking my hand

With a smile

As sweet

As his song.

Oh friend! When the Master

Chooses his nightingale,

He does not choose wrong!

Happy New Year, sunshine. God has blessed you with a heart and a mind. With such blessings, what need you fear of the new year? 

Pax Taufiqa

Hate has no place in Islam.

Love will show the way.

Happy New Year and the Nature of Numbers

Free Yourself From Your Slavery to Numbers

I am the Master of Numbers,
I am the Owner of Infinity,
I am the Lord of Zeros.

If only you know of Me,
That I am the One and Only,
You would have freed yourselves
From the chains of slavery
To the Numbers.

I am here,
Yet you are distracted
By the plurality of Creation,
Which was created merely
To contrast the Oneness,
The Uniqueness and
The Beauty that
Is Me.

You are as many
As the grains of sands
In the Universe,
But my Love for each
Of you cannot be measured
Even if all the Angels sat to count
The seconds from the beginning
Until the End of Time.

So come to Me,
And let My Love topple
That frightening edifice
Of debt, age, overheads
And bankruptcies
That you have built
To haunt your peace.

Know My meaning,
Know that I am the One,
Wonderous and Fair.
And of Numbers
You shan't
Need to
Despair.
……………..

It's all about numbers. Today is the New Year’s Day of the Muslim Calendar. The number is now 1432. It is a modest number, not showy or grand at all. But its real significance must be traced back to the number “1”, when a Quraysh man was inspired to spread faith, compassion and civilization in the Arabian Peninsular under the light of a monotheistic faith (the belief in One God) called Islam.

He was Chosen to free mankind from the slavery to the many ‘gods’ of our imagination, and from servitude to our insatiable ego. To lead man back to the Path of Conscience and Good Manners.

I hope to be a better human being this year. Maybe lose a couple of inches around the waist. But above all, I hope to be more patient. And for this, I always look to your example, my dear reader.

.And I must also try to be less obsessed about my blog hits. Because I know that it doesn't really matter how many people read this blog, so long as you read it.

Have a superb year, sunshine.

Pax Taufiqa.

Footnote: ‘Free Yourself From Your Slavery to Numbers’ is from current and untitled chapter.