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| Yesterday's sunset |
The Shirk of Self & Blameworthiness
Between yesterday's sunset
And today's sunrise,
I have learnt of
The Shirk of Self and
The Shirk of Blameworthiness;
When for the longest time I have associated
My self to something or someone other than me
By associating my sins and mistakes to something or someone other than me.
So lest I forget, let me declare that I bear witness that
There is none more blameworthy than me
In all that I do or fail to do!
........................................................................
What is shirk? At its basic as taught to me all those many years ago, shirk is the act of associating or making a partner to God Almighty, or in another way, by associating or partnering God to other things or deities.
The Shirk of Self and Blameworthiness is a form of shirk where the sinner associates his sins, his neglect and errors to something or someone other than himself. It is running away from the oneness of his blameworthiness, and the veiling of his sins from himself. This is spiritual poison as..
...we must accept the blame, and let blame call us by our own name...
Because the alternative is impossible. The alternative path is the path of rejecting one of the beautiful divine attributes of Allah (s.w.t.) when He Himself said in a hadith (oral tradition) of our majestic Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.),
"O' My servants, I have forbidden oppression for Myself and have made it forbidden amongst you, so do not oppress one another."
Oppression has a very wide meaning and would include being unfair, and placing blame unfairly. Were we to blame something else or (even worse) someone else for our own folly and misdeeds, we have not only oppressed that something else or someone else, but we would have also denied God's absolute utter Fairness and Rightness by claiming, "How can I be blamed? It was him, it was her! It was the weather, it was the hunger, it was the Sun, it was the Moon, it was time! It was the lack of time! It was too much time! It was my work, it was my parents who failed to bring me up well! It was the day, it was the night! It was everything and everyone else... I cannot be blamed. I am not to be blamed! There speaks the ego of Mankind through the ages.
Acceptance of blame is the acceptance of the power of Allah the Changer of People, Things and Circumstances. Ya Allah... I am to be blamed! I am the blameworthy one! You are the One that cannot be blamed for any wrong! So in Your Rightness, right me! In your Absolute Utter Correctness, correct me! Guide me and leave me not a moment alone to the whispers of my ego and the Accursed one! O' Thou Who art the Only Owner of Absolute Fairness, Place me amongst the Nation of Muhammad, upon whom shines a Lamp Fair and Wonderous beyond the contemplation of mortal men!
Phew.
Hi there, sunshine. What are you doing here today, reading the ramblings of this sinner? There must be some purpose... come to my life and help me, for I am ever in need of those that Allah (s.w.t.) and the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) has sent to guide me to goodness, away from the ego-centric deception of my shirk of myself.
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| Today's sunrise. |
wa min Allah at-taufiq
Hate has no place in Islam
Love will show the Way
