GOD MOST FAIR, FAIR EVEN UNTO THE DEVIL - the Power of Remembrance and the Gift of Forgetfulness

The Devil

I don't hate the Devil,

But I hate what he does.

I hate his conspiracies to spread

The corruption, the oppression,

The lies, the violence, the selfishness,

The exploitation, the wars, the genocides,

The murders, the rapes, the insults and jibes,

The confusion, the hubris and the ignorance of mankind,

Seeding in our society envy and anarchy,

But most of all, I hate what he does

Because he makes me hate me...

And makes me despair of my own humanity.

So this begs another question...

Why do I listen to him?

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

The Devil is real. I think we should be very clear about this. He is not some intangible malevolent force in the human consciousness, like a typhoon blazing destruction across the plains of your soul. Mr. D has a personality, he is intelligent, belligerent and has amassed countless years of experience to hone his skill in his job description - which is to morally corrupt all children of Adam and Eve, and lead them to utter spiritual and physical annihilation. 

But we are also not stupid. God All Wise, in His wisdom has given us akal, the cerebral faculty to reason things out, to weigh the pros and cons of our actions (or inactions), to judge which is the best path to take, and to learn from our own history, the History of Man that is often bloodied with wars, oppression, xenophobia, hubris, ignorance and hate, but are also shining with beautiful examples of messengers, prophets, saints and everyday simple people who were hardworking and intelligent, grateful and worshipful to their Maker, aka God Almighty. Surely, with such knowledge of our shared past, we would not fall to the deceit and dark whispering of Beelzebub.

Old Tricks New Suckers. But we do fall for his tricks, again and again. On a daily basis. Perhaps not murdering, pillaging or robbing a bank... but small 'white sins' that this sinner himself must admit to. I leave it to your imagination to contemplate this.

The Power of Remembrance. Which goes back to our enemy. If only we can always remember... remember God, remember our beloved Prophet, remember the kindness of our parents and siblings, the tolerance of our friends... remember the common history shared by all humanity... and learn from the lessons that our past can teach us...  how would the Devil fool us?

He won't be able to. 

But this would not fit God's plan for us.

The Gift of Forgetfulness. So I guess that is why we are also built with the capacity to forget. To give the Devil the opportunity to fool us and to corrupt us. So you see, God has leveled the playing field between Adam's Children and the Devil to give the Devil an even chance defeat mankind. Which goes without saying that Allah (swt), aka God Almighty is the fairest of them all... fair even unto the Devil himself.

And this also speaks of another thing... God's belief in us and in our inherent courage and goodness, that  mercy-rich fitra (essence) of Muhammad (saws) that is in all humanity (not just them Muslims).  

So perhaps we should remember all this and believe in God too.

I am trying. In my inevitably bumbling and clownish way. 

Some Shaykh: "O' Taufiq. If you clown around too much, you will always
risk dropping and shattering your heart. I am here to help you, but
what if I am not? What then?
The Clown: You will always be here, wherever you may be...

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

He Says She Says - Is it Love or is it Fairness?

He Says She Says
They say they want Love,
But they complain
When the food is too cold,
When she spend too long to get ready,
When he rather be with his buddies
Than spent the night watching Sex & the City.

They say they want Love,
But they complain
When he forgets to say I love you,
When she forgets to pay the bills,
When he laughs at her new hair do,
When she scoffs at his dreams.

They say they want Love,
But they complain
When she says she has a headache,
When he’s off to golf before daybreak,
When she thinks he’s putting too much weight
When he does nothing and simply says its ‘fate’.

They say they want Love,
But they complain
When she burns the soufflé in the oven,
When he says that mother belongs to a coven,
When he forgets to take out the garbage,
When her beauty starts to wither and age.

They say they want Love,
But they complain
When it feels like the affection is not equal,
When the feelings are not always mutual,
When they think they have given so much
And what they get is woefully little.

This is not Love they want…
What they want is Fairness.

Something to think about, sunshine. This thing called Love that we crave? It is more magnificent than mere fairness. Indeed, if everything is 'fair' there won't be any need for Love. or Patience. And what a dull life that would be, bereft of passion and patience.

Pax Taufiqa.