THE CENTRE OF THE CENTRE -

How wide the centre white line appear to be when you get smaller!
Here is the manifestation of an ego under control.
(someone else's ego, that is. Not mine!)

Where is the Centre of the Centre?

You and I,

We are walking the Path,

And the best and the safest line

Is straight down the middle,

But the middle way,

The centre of the Path

Is a strange place indeed.

Because the smaller we get,

The more we can adjust our line

To a better middle,

A more centre err... centre.

And since there is no end as to how small we can be,

Then there is in truth no end as to how centre we can be

As we walk along the Path,

So be not like those who have judge themselves as 

Being perfectly centred!

For they are likely to judge and condemn those

Who are not along their line of

Walking, thinking, praying and living.

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

The Secrets of Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) After all, sunshine, true perfection (that is beyond the comprehension of us mere mortals) is the remit of Allah (s.w.t.) alone, and if there is created perfection to be reflected upon, then I reckon the owner of such perfection is the Beloved of Allah (s.w.t.), our Prophet Muhammad Habibullah (s.a.w.s.). And even such prophetic perfection we are only just beginning to understand. For such is the completeness and continuity of His blessings and powers granted unto his blessed person by the Almighty God that they increase with each measure, as if there is any man or angel created who is capable of measuring the gifts of Allah (s.w.t.) to His Chosen One... 

Ya Rabbi, the secrets of Your Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) is 

Yours to keep secret and disclose as You will!

Standing on the Edge of the Precipice. Let us leave the crazy loony murdering fanatics to the madness of their dogma, whether they call themselves Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists or Atheists. For they have taken a bit of knowledge, but have lost control of their ego, growing bigger and bigger until the Path appears so small, tight and narrow that they are standing upon the edge of the Path...

71. One Path, But Wide II (Or Angels In Hardhats)

You say the Path is straight and lo, so narrow!

But perhaps it is simply because you are standing on its edge?

 ..........................

And this is why, I guess, that the Saints and Shaykhs have time and time again admonished the mureeds (students), "Try to be nothing!". 

He he he. Easier said than done, of course. But what is life without a challenge? What is life without a journey? If anything, God the All-Loving doesn't want His creation to get bored with easy quests and easy-peasy tests...

55. Love Test

I am He who heals all wounds

I am He who cherishes the afflicted

I am He whom you claim to love

What is love if it is not tested?

I am writing this as a sinner, still wandering about the X and Y axis, looking for the centre of the graph, the Sublime Zero where naught occurs but by the Will of Allah the One. But I am thankful that at least I know our centre... our own beloved Prophet, Muhammad (s.a.w.s.). The way is there along the path of the Holy Quran and the Sunnah (traditions) of the Habibullah (s.a.w.s.). Can you see it in the horizons of your soul?

May you be safe in your journey, sunshine. Please leave some clues and signs in your wake and I will follow your breadcrumbs out of the witch's forest. 

The same old story for me. All over the X and Y planes...
Help! 

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Atheism blames Religion, but the fault lies in Man's Hubris and Bigotry

It is Bigotry and Hubris, not Religion that is the Disease

It is not religion that is adding

A new volatile ingredient into the soup of bigotry,

It is instead racism and hubris that is adding

A new abhorrent ingredient into religion,

Making it all distasteful...

And not just religion,

But Atheism too!

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

Religious right-wing nuts and some Atheist left-leaning elites are selling the same soul-rotting candy but just packaged differently. In their own unique way they are equally narrow-minded, regarding any idea, faith or philosophy coming from the black, brown and yellow people as really second-class stuff.

If people lose their sensibilities and good manners (Adab), it really doesn't matter whether they are religious or Atheists, Caucasians, Latinos, Slavs, Chinese, Indians, Jews, Nordics, Arabs or Malays. For 'knowledge' has possessed them, and they need to be exorcised of their inner demon called the human ego disguised as 'being right all the freakin' time!'.

Intellectual arrogance and religious superiority... oh boy, that doesn't make for an attractive package... does it, sunshine? It rained earlier today, and because it was hot, the water steam up and you can actually smell the grass and the soil in the air. And I bet everyone can enjoy this good Earth, whatever belief or disbelief he may entertain in his heart. Thus it is rather a shame that we often allow our ego to colour our lives... 

It is a slippery slope, I know. If you see me stumble and fall into my own hubris and conceit, help me. For God knows I am weak too.

Easy does it... eaaasy does it....

Have a good Friday, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Servants of The Lord of Forever - The Muslims and the Believers

1. I found Forever II

We have the form,

We have the essence,

And we have true measure

Of the enemy that

Stands before us!

And while they scurry

Like madmen to meet

Their deadlines,

We meet them at leisure

In the instructions

Of Forever.

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

The fearsome West think that they are against the Muslims, but they have not met them yet. The fearsome East think that they are fighting for the Muslims, but they too have not met them yet. Both peddlers of ancient hates and prejudices are so busy conquering and dominating mainstream mass media and the geo-political world, that they are not bothered with the Muslims and the believers. They are dressed as padres and preachers, evangelical crusaders and neo-jihadis, ulamaks and imams and priests, issuing forth from the pit of despair and bringing whatever creed they believe in as a religion of despair, death and destruction. They speak of God, on behalf of God and with God in a most unruly, angry and ego-driven tone. They have blood on their hands and have chosen to worship at the altar of terror and death.

But the Muslims and all believers of One God are biding their time, being servants of God, Most Compasionate, Most Merciful - Creator of Time and the Lord of Forever. And I think such benevolent men and women are everywhere, on all the points of the divine compass.

May we be blessed to be in the company of such people.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

VICTORY FOR THE US of A. The New Jersey Governor and the Muslim Judge - Prose of Ramadhan Part 66

I like American politics. It is just like Malaysian politics - bipartisan, mad and full of interesting characters. I have been following American politics since 2008 and am full of admiration for the good people (and even some politicians) who are fighting the good fight and trying their level best to keep America in her best traditions of multiculturalism, enterprise, freedom of religion, free speech and secular form of governance. So in the course of my understudy, I therefore have very little nice things to say about the Republican Party, and the right wing nuts that appear to infest its hive.

So today I was happy to bump into Chris Christie, the current incumbent Governor of New Jersey. Christopher James "Chris" Christie was born in Newark in 1962, a lawyer, a lobbyist, a former District Attorney and clearly in the Bush team for the duration of the former President’s tenure in the White House (he was a top fundraiser for Bush’s 2000 presidential election). He was a pal of Carl Rove and a mover and shaker in the rarified heights of Republican party organisation. So there is (normally) no reason why I should sing his praise. Until I watched this YouTube video …

He looks like a cast member in the Sopranos, don’t you think? So now I have two things I admire coming out of New Jersey - the Sopranos and Governor Chris Christie. You see, the Governor earned the ire of the right wing fundo-nuts when he appointed Sohail Muhammed, an American of Indian Muslim descent, as a Superior Court judge in New Jersey. By defending Sohail Muhammed and speaking so candidly against the ‘crazies’ in his own party and the right-wing movement, he has painted a political bull’s eye on his back. But by God, how I admire his courage. I don’t care what his antecedents are, but for this brief moment in time, he is one of the stars that are shining brightly in these dark nights that we are living in.

Another fine New Jersey export.

I have been preparing this posting the whole day. And each time I get back to it (I do actually work, you know) I ask myself this question, - Am I being overly enthusiastic about this little piece of American drama? But when I re-watch the video, my sentiment about this story is still the same. There are just so few good stories coming out of American politics that it affects me in places only goodness and love can reach - Chris’s constituency is not just New Jersey anymore, it is now the world. Simply because he decided to speak from his conscience.

God bless his Christian heart.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Please do a good job, Mr. Sohail. You will be judged
even though you are the judge now. God bless you...

After this, I don't know how his political career will develop,
But boy, I wish the Governor the very best...

This is a victory for the US of A. I hope the Americans
will realise this. 

Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Lion of Panjshir Chapter 1 - Prose of Ramadhan Part 6

The Lion of Panjshir (Ramadhan Verses #7)

Massoud, where are you now?

You were the breath of Islam

And you maintained the balance

In the Path of the Middle Way,

The Path of the Nation of Muhammad.

Massoud, what are you doing now?

You were the handsome leader,

The Commander of men,

Lettered and wise, feeling with emotion

The Feeling that a true leader should have.

Why did they want you dead?

Massoud, who are you smiling at now?

Beneath the sky of God,

You fought for your people

On the soil of your ancestors,

But some were ashamed of you,

Because they did not understand

The Light of Love that animated

Your strength and your compassion.

Massoud, how are you?

You who once surveyed the land

From the top of a mountain,

And you look upon your nation,

Tired, poor and dispossessed,

But you saw the coming of the pirates,

Who came to your valley with

A foreign hatred and a foreign bullet.

They said they were Muslims, these Talibans and al-Qaedas

But what faith were they following?

You stood in their way,

And with certainty you said,

“I reject you and your horrifying interpretations!”

Massoud, who are your companions now?

This Ramadhan, once again I know

That you are not with me anymore.

You have left us and only ghosts

And whispers are left of you

To counsel us, to caution us.

You were the Lion of Panjshir,

But you shall always be to me

The Lion of Islam,

For I claim you

In the name of

The Nation.

How can the world now forget

Massoud?

Who tried in his own tireless way

To do good?

This man, Ahmad Shah Massoud was instrumental in the defeat of the Soviet invasion and occupation of his homeland, Afghanistan. Later he was murdered in a lowly and cowardly assassination by the ruthless mechanism of his own co-religionists, when he rejected the Taliban and al-Qaeda as portraying a very wrong idea of Islam. His passing marked the end of the one real hope for the country before it fell into the hands of the evildoers.

"The only thing standing in the way of future Taliban massacres is Ahmad Shah Massoud."

—National Geographic, "Inside the Taliban"(2007)

I expect to be writing more about him during this month, ergo, this is Chapter 1.

Osama bin Laden is a blurry footnote of a footnote of a footnote in the page of history that belongs to Ahmad Shah Massoud. And with the killer’s demise, his mad ideology should perish too. But I fear that people will remember Osama more than Massoud - the Muslim bodypolitik are so easily manipulated, and a large chunk of Muslims are showing time and time again, why they do not deserve a leader like the Lion of Panjshir.

When leaders like Massoud is shining upon the Muslim nation, their compassion and courage only shows up the horrible ugliness of those other ‘Muslim leaders’ who continue to defame the Prophet’s legacy by their hate, hubris, arrogance and violence. Such managers of suicide-bombers and 'moral guardians' may be sincere in their convictions, but madmen can be sincere too, so we reject them utterly.

Especially in this holy month, we shall give them no quarter, and no respite.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

The Nun & the Taliban

No, no. Not 'Friar'... its Nun Tuck.

I have had the pleasure of reading Nun Tuck's Almanac today in an article entitled 'Who are the Taliban?-CLICK HERE' She is a Christian fellow blogger and someone whose writing resonates closely to my better heart.

In a world where Islam and the Prophet is often savagely mishandled by writers and journalists, I always find her articles on Islam refreshing. She has a delicate touch and is well-informed, so kudos to her teachers and abbot. In fact, this is another one of her writings which I secretly wish I had written. I am envious that way.

Well, you shouldn't be surprised with my jealousy. I am after all just a sinner.

On a celebratory note, Its Mother's Day!, sunshine.

Pax Taufiqa.

Instrument of the Devil, Impatience, Saintly Clerks and Me

AT THE DENTIST. I am not a patient man, but there is however one situation where I am not just patient, literally I am PATIENCE itself. As a paragon of consideration and compromise, I turn into a statue of perseverance at my dentist. Every atom of my being suddenly patient, transforming me into an inert life form – a barely sentient glob of flesh and blood in the dental dungeon. I am NEVER IN A HURRY when I am at the dental clinic. In fact I am never in a hurry to get to a dental clinic. You know… all those contretemps and happenstances that causes you to delay or postpone your dental appointment. Suddenly, you have to paint your room, suddenly, you have to reorganize your shoe rack. You know, riiiight? And in such cases, I never bitch or complain about having to postpone seeing my dentist – “Not available this week? Gee whiz! Never mind, maybe in 3 month’s time? No? Dr. Rachel can see me sooner? But WHY? Really I don’t mind at all, I know she has a busy practice… Perhaps sometime next year? Hello? Hello?”

.

RED MIST. Despite my numerous postings about patience, I am probably the most impatient man in Malaysia. I can become an ogre when the red mist of rage washes over my eyes - Especially when I am alone and there is no company to calm me down.

.

.

INSTRUMENT OF THE DEVIL. I remember when I first started practicing as a lawyer in 2000. In those days, me and my partner did mostly conveyancing work (real estate sale and transfer), which inevitably requires dealings with the Land Office. And in those days we were still typing on Land Office forms, as not many departments have digitized their documents. I remember coming to the office one Saturday, with 24 (yes, Twenty Four!) blank Memorandum of Transfer Form to be typed out for a conveyancing file. Of course, I just need one form to be typed, but knowing my very limited typing skill, I thought 2 dozen is a good back-up in case I mess-up typing a form. For you see, in those days you are not permitted to use correction ink. And no rubbing with the eraser too. Surely, I was being over-cautious, I thought.

.

Well, as it turned out, I managed (barely) to type the 24th form correctly, after 2 hours of bedlam and 23 copies of typing failures. If you walked into the office at that time, you would see a sea of torn crumpled papers strewn around the feet of a mad lawyer, his hair disheveled, his eyes probably cross-eyed and crazy-looking. To be honest, if it weren’t for the busy road under my office (which was on the 3rd floor), I would have thrown the typewriter out of the window.

.

I don't go crazy with typewriters anymore. Now I leave it to the infinite patience of my clerks. The girls are amazing, and I am ever in awe of their patience - So young, yet so wise. What I write about, they live...

.

7. Patience, that Beautiful Steed!
Patience! O’ Lord,
Of such things that will help me,
Help me attain this!
Patience in happiness and sorrow,
Patience in wealth and poverty,

Patience,
Graceful and most loved,
That beautiful steed ridden
By Your Prophet and Friends!

.
Have a nice day, sunshine! May you find patience however you may be tested.

.

Pax Taufiqa.

Saturday Cheer and Sunday Slaughter ( The Lunatics Strike Again)

SATURDAY CHEER. On Saturday the sinner was in good cheer and love for all mankind. Belatedly, he replied a New Year’s greeting from a friend, Major (r) Chan with the following missive…

.

“Happy new year, major chan! U n I, we r soldiers of love, truth is our defence n mercy is our shield. We seek shelter in d Lord n His Blessings in our charity n hard work! May Christ rain showers of grace unto u n yr family. Amen wasalam.”

Immediately upon receipt of the message, the man called me, giving thanks for my greetings and saying how liberal and progressive I appear to be. The good Major said that this was the first time he had a message mentioning the Lord’s name from a Muslim. I replied, “Major, this is what my religion teaches me.”

SUNDAY SLAUGHTER. Then early Sunday morning as I was reading the newspaper I came across this news. Oh, boy, did it spoil my breakfast…

.

What do I say now to Major Chan? I am sickened by the news as if it happened to churchgoers in my own neighbourhood. It is sick, sick, sick. The men who planned this terrible violence, the men who actually perpetrated the crime are all sick - diseased in the head and empty in the heart.

NO GREY AREA. As an abject sinner, I often talk about the grey area that most men find themselves in. That huge plain of doubt where right and wrong, black and white mixes. Well, what happened in Egypt, this church bombing, falls so far in the wrong, that it cannot be accommodated by any sane human being. Whether it is in Rwanda, Palestine, London, Madrid, Chechnya or Kosovo, any act of violence against innocent civilians are absolutely unacceptable. They say they are ‘fighting’ for their race and religion. They say they are ‘fighting’ for their sovereign right as a nation. They are not fighting. They are murdering, on a scale that would draw smiles of approval from Hitler and Stalin. These men, whether they profess to be Jewish, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs or Muslims, are all sick, sick, sick men. They are bandits with guns and bombs. They fall outside the forum of civilized discourse, and each atrocity that they commit, so called in the name of their God, Country or Race… is an affront and an insult on that which they claim to hold dear…

Who is this God?
This God you seek is not the God that I seek,
I seek the Merciful One at His Mercy Door,
Those tears you weep are not the tears I weep,
May you never find this god
That you are foolishly looking for.

FUCK IT. Some people may say, “Oh, no, Taufiq, you don’t know what is going on in Egypt with the Coptic Christians.” My answer is concise and easily comprehensible – “Fuck it. That is all appeasement bullshit.”
.

LIBERAL AND PROGRESSIVE? NO, JUST MUSLIMS. We are the ones picking up the pieces of our faith, while these mad mullahs and ill-advised young men carry on with their insane crusade against the ‘infidels’, allegedly in the name of God and the Prophet. We are the ones having to explain to the Major Chans of this world that Islam is about peace, tolerance and love. We are the ones having to explain that we are liberal and progressive because we are Muslims, not in spite of us being Muslims.

NOT JIHAD. The line is drawn in the sand. I am a sinner, but at least I know not to drag God into some egoistic malevolence that these men call ‘Jihad’. This is not Jihad. This is cruelty. And as I once said before, if the Caliphate was still around, these terrorist groups would be hunted down, tried and sentenced as the heartless bandits that they truly are.

LOGIC AND A HAPPY MUSLIM. I am writing as a happy and proud follower of the Prophet. I am not a good follower but I at least am not a prone to blow myself or anyone else to Kingdome Come. – such atrocities are acts of desperation founded upon despair, and no true believer despairs of anything. How can we, when we presume to have God and the Prophet on our side? This is simple logic, but mad people blinded by anger and anguish will never understand.

Thank you for reading this rant. I am just upset, you know… Forgive me, sunshine.

A FEW GOOD MEN. I am joining the Masters asking God to send unto mankind a few good men. Men who will save us from the misguided pronouncements of our religious hubris. Men of Mercy, Valour and Chivalry.

I am no one, a nobody, not even a ‘great’ sinner. But you, my friends… you are my hope for the world. You are with me, right?

Pax Taufiqa.
Related Postings:-

The Shining Lanterns, the Mother of All Jihad and the Garden of God(11 Dec 2010)
A god of war, Neo-Jihadis, Neo-Crusaders, Children, the Ego, the Business End of a Bullet and a Message of Mercy (23 Nov 2010)
Jihad, War, Caliph Ali and the sword Zulfiqar, Futuwat Code of Chivalry and Armchair Generals (17 Nov 2010)
Al-Qaeda can shove it. Taliban can stuff it. Osama is a nutjob - Putting the Joy back in Jihad, Putting the Fun in Fana!(9 Nov 2010)
Mad Jihadis, Crazy Crusaders and God, Christ, Jesus, Jehovah, Allah, Buddha, Tuhan, Father and Ram (29 Oct 2010)
The highest Jihad and Crusade, the Angels of Mons, a Cigarette, the Throne and you (18 Oct 2010)

God the Chef All-Mighty, Angels, Obesity, Excess, Diet and One Over-sized Mould

19. Recipe Book …
To turn base metal into gold;

Take a pot,
Boil some revelations,
Throw in a pinch of salt,
A smidgen of iron,
Some bones,
And let simmer.

Finally, pour the mixture into a clay mould,
Add a soul,
Then let it set for one hour.

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

(From the 2nd Chapter, 'The Dam.Munir.Ana')

We are all finely balanced recipes of God. Too much sugar – problem. Too little sugar – problem. Too little or too much salt – also problem. Too much water – bad. Too little water – more bad. No water – dead bad.

If God remained the Chef of our bodies, deciding what goes in and out of us, that’s fine. But He has left the kitchen (in that metaphoric sense) and is allowing the dishes themselves (that’s you and I) to add and subtract our ingredients as we like. And often, we like too much of the good stuff (and the good life). God of course left the cookbooks for us to follow. Often you will find God's recipes in the physical and spiritual teachings of saints. But do we follow their instructions? Of course not!

I am guilty. I have been peppering myself with sugar, salt, caffeine, nicotine, fat, oil and all the other yummies as if eating is going to go out of fashion.

So here I am, stuck over a slowly burning cooker. The sugar is caramelizing in my wok and my pillars of salt is making Prophet Lot’s wife faint.

I was a fanatical student of the maxim; The Road of Excess Leads to the Palace of Wisdom. Now my ‘wisdom’ is going to book me an early appointment with the Chef All-Mighty. I am just afraid that He will take one look at me and ask, “What have you done with My Creation?!”

And for once in my (after)life, I will be at a lost for words.

Help!

Pax Taufiqa.