MAN OR SHEEP? - The Ramadan Story, Part 16

Either God or your ego. Who is looking at you in the mirror of
your reality? 

Simply Untrue, There is Only You

There is no one else here but me,

So let me take the blame myself,

For however the world may turn,

Let me be the one to stop the flood,

Let me be the one to quench the fire,

Let me be the one to call the rain and end the drought,

For there is no one else here but You,

And I cannot rest thinking that You

Are to be blamed for anything at all.

So let me take the blame completely.

For if I don't, I have would have 

Inadvertently named You

As the cause and the consequence

For whatever calamity

That may befall me.

And that I cannot do.

For I know,

That is simply untrue,
For there is no calamity,
There is no tragedy,
There is no failure or success,
No more disappointments,
No real expectations,

For me,
There is only
You.

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

Calamity after calamity. Tragedy after tragedy. Death, death and more death in the streets as conflict between Muslims goes unabated, even in this most blessed month of Ramadan. And that it is happening in the Middle East, in the cradle of Islam, makes it all the more sadder. So much for the sanctity of the holy month.

Default Villain. Politicians, political and current news pundits, as well as a healthy brace of preachers and preachers-wanna-be like to place the blame on the standard default villain. And depending on your political and religious credentials, they would be The West, America, Israel, Zionists, Al-Qaeda, the Communists, the Russians, the IMF, Barney the Dinasour, the Wahhabis, the Salafis, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Jihadis, the Neo-liberals, the Global Bankers, the Illuminatis, the Iranians, the Saudis, the Qataris, bla, bla, bla, yada, yada, yada, ad infinitum. Well, I am quite tired of all this blaming. 

The Devil hates sharing the limelight. 

Bleat if You are a Sheep. 99% of the time, when you are about to pull a trigger, there is no one there physically forcing you to do it. If you are flying a drone, you are not under threat of execution if you don't (well, maybe a court-martial for disobeying orders). If you are about to leave a bomb in a market place in a Baghdad neighbourhood, nobody has you in the cross-hair of a rifle sniper, just in case you have an attack of the conscience and decide not to place the bomb. You are the actor in this tragic drama, no one else. After all, what are you, man or sheep? I am only asking this because I am often confused myself.

At the end of the day, the plain simple truth is that most Muslims are dying being murdered by other Muslims. And I think the weary old justifications of 'Oh, its a complex hatred inherited through generations of them...' or 'The young are unemployed and disenfranchised...' or the much-used 'The Mossad / CIA / Hamas are behind it...' are frankly wearing thin. Not because such reasons are definitely untrue or that  there is no conspiracy, but rather, why do we as Muslims, need to follow this same old plot-lines? If we do know what is what and can see through the hole of a donut, then why do we fall for the same old cliche? So the question begs to be answered again, are we really men or sheep?

Have we become so cold and heartless that we are now deaf to our basic humanity?

Go sit in the corner, o' Muslims,
and think that maybe, just maybe,
change for the better begins
with you and no one else.

To be Human is to be Humane. I am not entirely convinced by people who keep on and on about trying to be better Muslims. About creating the so-called Islamic state and Islamic economy. I reckon we are already having a hard time distinguishing ourselves from common animals. 

Maybe we should try to be human and humane first. 

The world is not complex. It is Man and our weakness that complicates things. And in that complication, hundreds of thousands, and even millions have died.

Personal Change. If you consider yourself a Muslim, there is no running away from the blame. You must take it, for that is the path to true servanthood, where even personal change is possible insyaAllah (God Willing). And once you have been guided by Allah (s.w.t.) and His Beloved Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) to change yourself for the better?

Well, then you will find that nothing is impossible. In our Creator's scheme for you every tempest is now merely a storm in a tea cup. So don't drink from that tea cup. Choose another cup. Make your world in His image.

Have a lovely day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Blame Game, Joy and Sadness and the Presence of God in your heart - contemplation of love b.c. and a.c. ( before coffee and after coffee)

1. Sorrow and joy to God 

I must admit to you, o’ seekers, 

It is sometimes through sorrow 

That we learn of our Lord. 

Although perhaps we may wish 

For only joy to be the means 

By which we understand Him. 

Sorrow or joy, does it really matter? 

When both paths 
Lead to Him? 

................... 

Forgive me, sunshine. I must have been in a real gloom the day I recorded the above prose some 3 years ago. He he he. I think I was heart-broken. At least momentarily. But I (being a sinner) have little patience, you see. Not willing to keep it all in and just wait and see. 

I guess being a writer means I must find some avenue to vent my sadness and frustration. Whether I am with Him, against Him, or in some sort of ambivalent association, whether I am sad or angry, bitter or happy, depressed or joyful, it has all been about God. 

Like this morning. I went to bed last night feeling quite healthy really. Then I wake up this morning with some aches and sore limbs. "Why God? Whyyyy...?", I whined as I made my way gingerly down the staircase. He he he. But now it is different. With the caffeine coursing through my veins, breakfast already safely deposited in my stomach, I feel quite chirpy actually. And the aches are gone. Like magic.

After morning coffee and some reflection I think
I can conquer the world. Or at least get up
without feeling so achy and sore. 

So lest I forget, let me register my appreciation with God right here and now... 

Dear God...

Thank You, God. 

If in my forgetfulness, 

I blame You for EVERYTHING. 

When in my wakefulness 

The least I could do is 

To thank You for EVERYTHING. 

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

He he he. 

Have a lovely day, sunshine. And stop whining so much. 

He he he. 

Wa min Allah at-taufiq 

Hate has no place in Islam 

Love will show the Way

Forgive God

The Angel plucked me from the sea and she whispered,

"Why did you try to kill yourself?"

"Because God hasn't forgiven me." I muttered.

"You silly-billy. Of course He hasn't...,

Because you haven't forgiven Him."

Despair, anger, sorrow. Let's face it, sunshine. We blame God all the time. We just dress our dissatisfaction and disguise our grumbling by blaming some indirect cause, when all causes occur through His Will.

We have been taught that there is always someone to be blamed. Who left the fridge door open? Who did not keep an eye on the baby? Who let mother die? Who took a loan which he cannot pay? Who ran over Spotty? You? Your husband? Your wife? Your friend? The neighbour next door? There is always someone to be blamed but at the end of it all, you only end up blaming God, albeit indirectly.

Don't play the blame game, pet. Stick to forgiveness and understanding... because if you cruelly judge God, then one day will come when you will realise that, all along, you have been cruelly judging yourself... Then where will you run to?

Was it not Rumi himself who said that this world is perfect, and whatever woe and ugliness we see in it is through our own mirror and a reflection of our own imperfections?

Oh come on now! There must be someone I can blame. Yes, sunshine. You can blame Love. The very reason behind your existence...

Think about it.

Pax Taufiqa.