BEAUTY IS IN THE EYES OF A WOOKIE - Mikhail, Gungi and Emina...

299. Learn to Listen

You must learn

To listen

To your children.

For though

They may be the one

Asking the questions,

In truth, it is you,

Who is also learning.

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

My son, Mikhail is 9 years old now. And I guess like all children he is both curious and self-absorbed, both habitual and arbitrary, both learning and forgetting, resting and playing, and sometimes doing such contrary actions all together in a single moment. Sometimes he appears to be the kindest angel, while at times he can be overborne by impatience and confusion in a world where the adults say one thing, but do the exact opposite sometimes. I think it is tough being a kid, sorting out all the mixed signals we adults transmit in our daily lives.

When he is sleeping, I too get confused. I know Mikhail is Mikhail, but I when I gaze at him also know that he is me. And that a part of me and my kin is inside him. An epoch of previous lives making up part of what we and our children are. And I wonder sometimes, how shall we account compared to our ancestors, both the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly?

But what is beautiful and ugly anyhow? A young wookie may not be everyone's idea of the ultimate expression of beauty, but to Mikhail he certainly is. "But Gungi is sooo... cute, Papa!" My son exclaims. 

"Cuter even than Emina (Mikhail's malay-turkish cousin)?" I enquired. 

"Of course, Papa!"

Oh well then.

Listening in was Heche, and she unhelpfully interjected, "Do you know, Mika, we used to have a belief that pregnant woman who always looks at a particular person during her pregnancy, her baby will probably turn out looking like that person?" Mika's eyes widened, "Really?"

Heche, "Yes, reaaally..."

"In that case, when I have a wife, I am going to lock her up in a room with three types of food (Don't ask me why...) and hang pictures of Gungi all on the wall! Then I will have a baby that looks like a mini-Wookie! Yea!"

Heche laughed and simply commented, "I cannot wait to see how your wife will react to your plan, Mika."

Life is full of laughter and wisdom. And the ever-engaging personality of a 9-year old and his strange ideal of human (Wookie?) beauty.

alhamdulillah, sunshine!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Legion of Saints in The Age of 'Enlightenment' and 'Renewal' - democracy and the repeated lies of the Arab Spring

The Mawlana

Life begins at 40, they say, so I must be only 2. Hehehe. Life begins at our birth they say, and yea they are not wrong. But my life, your life, our lives is much, much older than that. From our birth, we have in our beings already the past history of mankind, from the creation of Adam and Eve, through the tumultuous events of the past Prophets of God until the arrival upon this Earth, and great was the welcome given unto him because by his birth God has honoured and blessed the world, of the Seal of the Prophets, Master of the Beginning and the End, our most beloved Prophet, Nabi Muhammad ibn Abdullah (pbuh), radiant light of Mercy, perfection upon perfection, the most beautiful rose in the Garden of Creation. Muhammad(pbuh) is the final and complete divine assurance given by God that verily, He has not forsaken us and verily He is most concerned unto his creation with the sublime and all-encompassing attribute as the Most Compassionate (ar-Rahman) and Most Merciful (ar-Rahim).

So how can we say we are young? It makes no sense, even if we are 1 year old or 15. We are only young in experience. So how can we say we are old, for our life stretches from the known history into the known future. The Devil, who is our tireless enemy, has conspired through his arsenal of tricks and traps to disconnect us from this knowledge. And verily, he has succeeded. First through the Renaissance of the West, when he duped people into thinking, “We are young! We are new! We are fresh thinkers! What for we obey the traditions of our forefathers? What for we respect our elders and their silly bumbling ways? King? Who needs a King when we can ALL be Kings?”

146. Old King Louis

Who was it that deposed the King,

And invited the devil(s) in?

Hah! They speak of nations with no thrones,

They speak of republics with no tyranny.

In truth, what have they done

Save only to leave the people

Kingless and unguided

But for the single-minded pursuit of avarice.

Emptying the Bastille

Only to fill her up again.

The hallmark

Of mobs in power.

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

They started it.

And we follow. Very smart. 

For the Devil knew that if he wanted to use a people to corrupt others, they themselves must be assured that they are right, that they are the enlightened ones. And the Devil was most arduous in cultivating his ideas amongst the young, the intelligentsia, the soldiers, the politicians and the merchants, breaking down the authority of the Church and the King, until churches and palaces are now mere museums and a showcase for European royalties without authority. Figureheads forced to accept the tyranny of the majority.

PR and Propaganda at its finest.

And once assured of his control, the Devil used the West to spread the Renaissance ideas of corruption, deception and ill-manners under the guise of egalitarianism, liberty and equality, this poison upon the natural human spirit that is called popular democracy. And they found amongst the young Turks and Arabs an eager audience of listeners, ready to uproot the old ways, to topple the Throne of the Shadow of God, to stop calling themselves Ottomans, but now simply Turks! To stop calling themselves Arabs and the Nation of Muhammad but now Iraqis, Jordanians, Egyptians etc… The Devil has reintroduced selfish nationalism and tribalism back into the soul of Islam, when the Prophet himself(pbuh) has cursed it for the hatred and enmity that it sows amongst humanity.

What has happened has happened.

The House of Democracy, Tahrir Square, Egypt.

The House of God, Mecca. Which of this places has God blessed?

The Mawlana of Lefke, Cyprus is calling unto the Nation of Muhammad, and the Believers not to forsake their history. To remember and respect the past, and to seek support from the Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) and unto all His Companions and Saints who are themselves ready and supported by the Light of God. But now people are walking past the Maqams (graves and tombs) of the Saints not knowing or not caring. They don’t even bother to give gracious greetings of salam(peace). Do they think such personages are dead and sleeping in their graves? The saintly dead has hallowed their life and death in the perfection of their Adab (courtly manners and courtesies) while the living walk around with no Adab at all.

What has happened has happened.

You and I know that the dead do not sleep. That death is but a door, a gateway to another place, and verily the blessed Friends of God are more alive than we are. Let us recall our history, for alone we cannot sustain our vigilance against the unending conspiracies of the accursed Devil and his tribe, who sleeps not for even five minutes in their undying hatred for all of Mankind.

God has blessed you, sunshine. For though we are weak and a little pathetic, we are with The Legion of Saints.

Three don't make a Legion, you say? Look with your heart, they reply.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way.

Where is your mind? - Said Nursi, God and the Universe

88. Said Nursi revisited

Tell me that you have reached

The deepest depth of

Inner space,

And

The furthest stars

Of outer space,

Before

You tell me that God

Doesn’t exist.

Otherwise it is all

Mere conjecture,

And that, o’ my disbelieving friends,

Is a playground for your imagination.

Hehehe.

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi is a famous Turkish personality. He has passed away but before he did he inspired the resurgence of Islamic thought in the days when such endeavours were against state policy in Turkey.

New Turkey. The prose above describes Said Nursi's challenge to atheists to disprove the existence of God. Or rather, not to propagate as 'fact' that God does not exist. For these were the days when Turkey underwent a secularism blitz, one of which being the promotion of atheism and disbelief in the existence of God. This included the less than cerebral banning of the turban and other traditional Turkish / Muslim attire. Young acolytes of the New Turkey were educated in the state universities and sent to towns and small villages all over the country to correct the masses's misguided belief in this God of theirs. Often they were listened to the chagrin and amusement of the villagers.

Where is your mind? During one famous exchange, the government man challenged the villagers, "If there is a god, then show him to me! Where is he?" The huddled villagers were silent for awhile until an old man stood up and asked in return, "Young man. If you have a mind, show it to me. Where is your mind?"

If you think that Islam forbids you to think, read Said Nursi's books.
For him, the freedom to think and reason things out is an essential step
in understanding our place in the Universe and our relationship
With the Maker of the Universe.

Atheists like to say that religion is bad for mankind. But it is not true, rather it is mankind who is bad for religion because we spoil religion's name by our own faults. Almost all religion approach the world in two aspects - the form and the essence, in its apparent and the hidden nature. In a manner of speaking, this physical world is really just all conjecture. The reality of this world is in its hidden essence. Thus it is for man to adjudge the good and the bad of this world. And unfortunately, if a man is bigoted, hateful, envious, greedy, false and egoistic, then sadly he will colour his perception of this world with such follies. And if he is a 'religious' man, the Atheists will say - "Look, this is what belief in God has led him to!" However, if a man is kind and loving, patient and understanding, charitable and giving, honest and merciful, then verily he would colour his perception of this world with the very Divine Attributes of God. So the Atheists have to be fair in how they weigh and judge people and their belief systems. That is all.

Oh well. That is my penny thought on this. Have a beautiful day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way