SOFTLINE MUSLIM - Don't let your religion blind you to God

Don't Let Religion Blind You

Don't let your knocking stop you from entering,

Don't let your walking stop you from arriving,

Don't let your knowledge tie you down,

Don't let your religion blind you to God.

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Softline. I am not a hardline Muslim. For my line is soft and yielding, embracing and entwining. I like to tie the different strands of humanity, our varying colour, race and creed into a knot impossible to unravel. It is called Love.

So you can call me a softline Muslim. This is what is taught to me by my mother and brother, my friends and my Masters.

Doors. God does not discard any of His doors. By His own attributes and names He has at least 99 of them. Knock on any of them (or all of them). And if He invites you in, it is polite to enter... After all, why were you knocking in the first place if not to be let into the Divine Presence?

Religious Blindness. Sometimes (and I think you may agree with me) I feel that religion is a terrible hindrance in our journey to the Divine Presence. People get confused between religion and spirituality. Between knowledge and wisdom. Between self-love and Divine Love. Between strength and intolerance. Between nobility and hubris. 

I say this because I am often at odds myself. It is a challenging journey, this life of ours. So one day, when you are invited to the Divine Presence, don't stand in doubt and dither any longer. Go quickly and may Allah (swt) bless you and the Prophet Muhammad (saws) welcome you!

Have a lovely Sunday, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Certainty is with God, in most other things doubt has a role to play...

1. Doubt as a blessing

If there is no doubt,

There would be no

Tales to tell,

Nothing to learn.

Within measure,

Even doubt,

While troubling,

Is a blessing.

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It is okay to be doubtful about most things, my friend says - Politicians, currency exchange, price of oil, the weather, politico-preachers, the England football team (soccer they call it in America), the traffic congestion today, inflation, the ozone layer, the giant multinationals, the too-big-too-fail banks, the Rating agencies, the pharmaceutical companies, genetically modified food, etc. Really, the list can go on and on. We have this list because mankind and their agencies have proven time and again to have feet of clay - promising the world to us, but failing to deliver...

So my friend said that we should strive for certainty in our relationship with God instead. It is called 'yakin' and when all else fails, it is this certainty that will pull us through. We cannot all be saints or even saintly after all, nor geniuses or wise scholars. Most of us are really just trying to get through life without hurting (too many) people. I am fond of what the Prophet(pbuh) once said - "My follower is he whose hand and mouth no man or woman need fear of."

Thanks for driving in today, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Doubt and the Honey of Certainty

15. I appreciate Doubt

Doubt is my enemy.

But I have my Captain on my side,

While Doubt stands alone.

And when my Captain blinks,

Doubt perishes,

Becoming a mere moment of uneasiness

In an Eternity of contentment and happiness.

So you see,

I appreciate Doubt,

Because if there was no Doubt,

The Honey of Certainty would pale in taste.

I had a chat with a friend. I asked him, "Are you certain in your belief of the Prophet Muhammad?" And he replied, "No. Otherwise I would not be doing bad things, and I would certainly be doing more good things."

But I disagreed. I think that we all have certain beliefs that are sacrosanct. After all, most people will tell you that they are 110% certain till the day they die that they are loved by their mothers and fathers. And our parents teach us all to do good and avoid being a problem to ourselves, our family and the community. Yet sometimes we fumble the ball. We do a googly and make some mistakes. We can become immoral, and steal, cheat and lie. Or we can become super-moral and become lost in our hubris and pride of our 'piety' and sense of righteousness. We become the sort of people that others avoid at parties.

The truth is the doubt which we all share is doubt in ourselves. Not in God, by whatever name you may call Him. For years we have been confounded by our own self-doubt. In our inability to appreciate our true potential and promise as a human being. If you cannot find that certainty in yourself, you will never truly benefit from the certainty that you have in the people whom you love and who love you back. God included. Because you do not trust yourself. But how can you trust yourself when you have not found yourself...?

So have a good day searching, sunshine. The Honey of Certainty is you.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Happiness is the Nemesis of Doubt

1. By Myself
By myself
I am aimless,
A driftwood,
Claimed by a tide,
And overcome
With grief,

By myself
I am lost,
An orphan
In the witch’s forest,
A deer, in the crosshair
Of the hunter’s gun.

By myself
I am dead,
Alive but breathless,
Rich in pain
In fear of the sun,
Running from the rain.

By myself,
I have no home
Nor journey’s end,
The soles of my feet,
Red and raw
Walking on the stones of judgment
That paved the road
Of my endless wandering.

By myself,
I ever hunger,
And were creation
Turned inside out,
It would not be enough
To sate my desire.

By myself,
I am all these
And more.

That is why,
O’ Master,
You find me now,
Beggarly and weather-beaten,
Knocking on your door,
Asking to be let in.
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IT IS NOT YOUR JOB TO CONVERT ANYONE. 'I bow to no man. I bow only to God.' - This is the common reason for many people who disdain the Path and claim Sufis and mystics of other religon as idolizing their masters. That is fine because the Path is not for everyone and really, so long as they are not bothering you, and you are not trying to convert anyone, why let such disputes poison your relationship. Swallow that spiritual pride and accept their difference of opinion.

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DISAGREEMENT. I recall reading a hadis (Prophet's saying) where he is said to have uttered -"Disagreement amongst my Ummah (Nation) is a beneficial thing." I have always wondered what is meant by that. The prose below hints at my untutored opinion...

4. 19th October 2004, Part II
Allah loves the sport
Of two friends
Who compete
Against each other
To extol
Their particular blessings
From their Benefactor!

It rained this Sunday, but the evening air is still warm and balmy. I should really shower now. By your permission, sunshine, I leave you with whatever agreement or disagreement that you may have with me. It matters not to me one iota - so long as you yourself are happy, and not stricken with doubt. For doubt is the nemesis of happiness as Happiness itself is the Nemesis of Doubt...

Pax Taufiqa.

Footnote (11.59pm) - I guess the conventional view is that you first remove doubt, then you get happiness. The aspirant attains yaqin (certainty), removing whatever suspicion and uncertainty which he/she used to entertain in the past. From certainty, you attain happiness. This process of doubt-certainty-happiness is commonly accepted to be the norm. But like many, many concepts contained in Islamic lore, whoever said that things should always run in one direction?

In my dealings with the friends, I have come across personal perceptions which do not question the individual milestones, but nonetheless rearrange the order in which such milestones is suppose to occur.

Above all, I think that when it comes to Love, it is an indefinable process. And I am not surprised that sometimes... It is Joy that overtakes you first, overcoming whatever doubt you may have as to the Absolute Loveliness of the Lord and His Abiding Concern for you. So the milestone is amended to become doubt-happiness-certainty. Because simply put - when you fall in love, it is often for an intangible and inexplicable reason, and sometimes perhaps no clear definite reason at all! This thing that I am saying... It is an easy task for our Creator to do with our hearts. Of this I am certain.

At the Conference of the Earnest I Found the Religion of Hubris

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CONFERENCE OF THE EARNEST. I spied upon a congregation of earnest people. Some of them looked slick and oily, others bright and sparkly like models in a skin whitening advertisement. Some were bearded and wore turbans, others wore the Jewish skullcap. Some looked like Christian bishops, and amongst the crowd I saw Mullahs with AK-47 strapped on their backs. There were also mystics, political lobbyists and cult leaders. They were all holding onto their respective holy books for dear life. A lot of them were shouting, and in the back, I could see a crowd of young ones, clamouring “Jihad! Crusade! Jihad! Crusade! The Dajjal! Red Heifer! Democracy! Capitalism! Jerusalem! Unity! Purity! Lies! Death! Eternal Life! Gog and Magog!” In a corner all to their own were priests of ideologies and dogmas in fevered debates - the Darwinists, Capitalists, Communists, Socialists, and all the other ‘-ists’ that your mind can google.

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NEMESIS OF MANKIND. On the pulpit was a man with white hair and he was raising the crowd’s spirit commanding, “We must fight for our religion! We must die for God! For Freedom! For Equal Rights! We must defend ……… (Well, just fill the blank space with whatever religion / ideology you want – it doesn’t matter really). Scurrying between the heaving mass of capitalist crusaders, armed bigots, and fuzzy muhajideens were a couple of nemesis of mankind – I recognize them, they were Uncertainty, Envy and Anger, unmasked and looking like pubescent trolls. They looked happy.

I CATCH ENVY. Behind the curtains I ducked, waiting for my chance. Then one of the little troll ran pass by and I managed to catch it by its collar. It was Envy. It looked hideous. It had hair but the colour is never the same, it had a face, but it changed every second, its shape shifting according to men’s insatiable and ever-changing desire and greed.

THE REAL RELIGION. I asked it, “What is this place?! Who are all these people? Envy smirked and said, “Look around, Taufiq. They are people who are adepts in the forms of their religion or beliefs – See, that is a big time Rabbi, and there you see an Evangelical TV star, and look, hey, that’s a world famous Jihadi! And I think we even have a Monetarist here somewhere…”

This evil imp wasn’t answering my question right. “Yes, yes, but what are they all doing here?”

Envy hissed, barring sharp carnivorous fangs, “They worship in their religion here.”

“What religion? All religions and ideologies are represented here!”, I argued.

“Bah! That is only the religion of their outer form, pet. The creed that they are truly following is the Religion of Hubris.”

Then smiling, Envy asked me, “Are you an intruder here, Taufiq, or are you here by SPECIAL invitation?”

Ouch. I immediately dropped Envy and ran for dear life.

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How many times have we become the unwitting acolytes in the Religion of Hubris? May we all be guided by our conscience and our heart, elevated and unsullied by hubris. It is not an easy task, but in you I hope to find my guide and support - My brothers and sisters in the Religion of the Conscience, the Religion of Love. The most delicate and beautiful manifestation of our respective faiths, whatever it may be.

Have a good hubris-free day, Sunshine!

Pax Taufiqa.

She is the Weather of my World

I have a secret summer,
Awaken in the sunrise of her soul,
Bright and warm like an eternal sun
Rising over the spoils of my wicked soil,

I have a secret autumn,
As she comes to rest upon my shoulder,
Like leaves withering and falling,
Desiring words of hope and healing.

I have a secret winter,
Neither bitter nor cold,
But white like the white of her eyes,
And I am lost in her dunes and folds,
For there is warmth here, and I turn away
From hearth and home, finding
Mine in her snowflakes, melting
On the warmth of a winter morning.

I have a secret spring,
Sprung with desperate release
From a rich earth, as seeds of
Hope and healing burst into flower,
And from her lips words tumble,
Sharp as needles, sweet like nectar.

For you see,
I am in love and
Have met a girl,

She is no secret at all,
She is the weather of my world.

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

From the chaper entitled 'How Beautiful Love is', circa Oct 2009

I look into her eyes as I would look out of the window. To see how fair or rainy the day would be. I think it is best to be prepared whatever the weather... But in her torrential storm, an umbrella won't be of any use at all. I am not complaining, Heche. I am just sharing. Hehehe.

Salams,

Taufiq.

Ground Zero Mosque and the Ornament of the World

35. Menocal 2

Tolerance is the Jewel

Upon the Crown of Certainty,

And intolerance is

The Unmasking of Doubt

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From the chapter entitled 'Candy from the Ahad Candy Store', March 2010

In 2002, Maria Rosa Menocal wrote a book entitled 'The Ornament of the World'. I only just purchased and read it sometime earlier this year. It is an important book for everyone to read and understand. In light of the Ground Zero Mosque / Cordoba Center / Islamic Centre / Park 51 controversy in New York, one cannot but wonder, how far has the religionist of Islam drifted from the golden age of Cordoba.

I do not know who she is, I have not heard of this writer until I read the book, but her historical documentation of the impact of the Umayads in Spain cannot be overestimated in its importance. The book triggered a deep longing and yearning for those ancient days and a terrible realisation of just how far 'Muslims' have strayed from the poetic beauty, sincerity, compassion, love and strength that once illuminated the ancient world. This made me happy and sad.

Those people who are strapping grenades on naive men and women, those people who are tucking a cellphone bomb underneath the bus seat, those people who are called in the media as 'Islamic Extremists' or 'Al Qaeda terrorists' - They are just bandits. They are weak, doubtful, blind and desperate, and in their despair they hijack and slander the noble names of the Most Excellent Faith of Muhammad Habibullah.

These 'Muslims' have become intolerant because they have cast their faith in a vessel of desperation. And for those who knows of the Prophet Muhammad, the Red Rose, the Sublime Humility, oh woe unto those who despairs, for they have raised their banner against the Beloved. Muhammad is anointed as the Mercy to the Worlds, yet they slander him as the Doom of the Worlds. They are worse than even the most wicked amongst non-Muslims, because they cloth their wickedness in the Beautiful Names of Islam.

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O' Nation of Muhammad. What is your incessent bickering and complaining about? What is your mad adoption of a million and one conspiracy theories? You act as if you are being oppressed. You act as if the whole world is against you. How easily the names of Muhammad and Allah and Islam spill from your lips. But compared to the Companions, you are rubbish...

13. Siege? What Siege? (With Poon)
Someone asked someone else during the siege of Medina,
“O’ brother! We are trapped, we are trapped by the Quraish!”

The someone else replied quietly,
“Trapped? We are not trapped, it is they who are trapped.”

“Whatever do you mean?!
How can they be trapped?
It is we who are encircled!” retorted the someone.

The someone else sighed and nodded.
“O’ my excitable brother, do listen.

Yes, the city of Medina is encircled, I agree.
But it is the Quraish who are trapped.

Trapped between us and the rest of the world!”

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From the chapter entitled 'Be Nothing' circa February 2008

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God Bless God in His Unimaginable Beauty and God Bless the Prophet in His Perfection of Beauty and his Companions in the Brotherhood of Love. And God bless you, my fellow travellers, for you are in good company!

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Pax Taufica.