THE REMOVER OF WORRIES - Muhammad, Sayyidina Kashiful Kurab... and a bit of something about nothingness and Angel Archers...

Angel Archer

Sometimes I want less of something,

Sometimes I want less of less,

Sometimes I need less of nothing,

So sometimes I simply wait and see

And take whatever the Angel brings.

Be it a pot of gold,

A sliver of silver,

A ghost of a fright,

Or an arrow of light,

As sharp as a bee sting.

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

I can understand what less of something means. But less of less? Does that mean more of something? After all, more of less means lesser (I guess...). And what about less of nothing? Does that mean we want more of something or more of nothing? My friend, Moses, would accuse me of purposely obfuscating what I mean. 

But sometimes I am not sure what I mean. Some days are like that, don't you agree?

Anyways, it is Sabbath, sunshine. So I will not tire you with my confusion. Today I hope to rest, just like you. And to recall my Master and Prophet, Muhammad Habibullah (Beloved of God). And all my care and worry, I pass upon his magnificent mercy, flowing from the Mercy Ocean of Allah (s.w.t.)... Thus, I am adrift, floating like a leaf in the stream of...

Muhammad, Sayyidina Kashiful Kurab (The Remover of Worries) (s.a.w.s.)

Have a perfectly fine Sabbath, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Candle, The Utter Loveliness and the All-encompassing Kindness - you, God, life and love

3. Burn Slow

Burn slow, o’ lighted candle

And fear not the dark that lie outside.

Burn slow, o’ lighted lantern

And see the shadow flee your burning bright.

The sword upon the anvil,

The hammer upon the sword,

The whirling moth that spins and sings

Oh God, oh God, oh God!

23. Annihilation Is…

The unusual pursuit of extinguishing your flame

Through realizing that no candle exists

Separate from the Sun.

And that all numbers are in truth nothing

But aggregates of One.

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

Candles. The burning of the candle is an oft used parable and metaphor in the spiritual path, and I do not think that it is the sole remit of the Sufis. In other faiths, the burning of the candle, the flame flickering in the darkness and the life and truth-giving light that emanates from it is an observation infinite in its symbolism. 

Little Joys. As a sinner, I often lose my flame and my light. And there on my face you can see my sadness as I stumble in the darkness of my own making, a black shroud drawn over the day by my own mistakes of my anger, pride and insecurities. But happily, it takes only a little spark to light up my day - a smile from my  father, a short chat with my auntie, waking up early to greet the morning sun, a cup of teh-o halia (tea sans milk with sugar and infused with garlic), a teaspoon of wild honey from the jungles of country, getting a good parking space near my office, or just discussing work with my clients in the morning. It is nothing perhaps to some, but these little joys mean everything to me.

For through this little pools of work and pleasure, family and friends, I see Him and His Prophet's handiwork. Allah (s.w.t.) and His Beloved Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) who knowing fully well my faults and mistakes (both past, present and future), nevertheless will not allow me to stray too long in the gloom of my fatal follies.

I cry sometimes. For I am constantly reminded how undeserving I am, a lowly and weak servant that I am. So thank you, sunshine. For you too are a constant source of wonderment to me of His utter Loveliness and His all-encompassing Kindness. You have come here to read my stumbling prose, and you also mean everything to me.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way 

Fana, Fun and Work - end of year whinging

17. Putting the Fun in Fana

Do not blame us for feeling happy

Being at the side of our Saidi

Swimming we are, in a sea of manna

Leaving footprints, on the shore of fana.

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

Fana is often referred to as the spiritual state of annihilation. There are different phases of fana for a mureed (student) to reach. You have the state of fana with your Master, the state of fana with the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) and the blockbuster box office state of fana with God Almighty. Well... this is what I am told. I cannot vouch for any such station as I am not even a mureed, merely a sympathetic bystander.

Right now, at this very moment, I am in a state of fana with my work. Overwhelmed with it. And at the end of the year of all times. I was kinda hoping things would ease off a little coming into December, but alas not. As it is, it looks like me and Alex will have to make another business trip to Singapore this weekend. But I guess this is a good fana also. The income feeds and clothes me, my partners and my small band of workers. So that we might live another day, to perhaps move one small step towards the other fanas.

God bless you, sunshine, in whatever work you are doing. Because for fana or manna, work you must... Hehehe. Yeah... it is not all just fun and games. Alhamdulillah!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Why...? Love asks

Some gathering of roses in the shape of a heart... by Cristina Colombo

Why...? Love asks.

Why are you standing?

I was anticipating  your arrival, love.

Why are you praying?

I knew you would be listening, love.

Why are you forgetful?

I knew you would still remember, love.

Why are you flying?

I am not flying, love.

It is this world that is falling away beneath my feet.

Why is the world falling away?

For this world cannot bear the reality

Of your love for me and my love for you, love.

…………………………..

And why was I unwell? I caught a sickness from my son, Mikhail. But he is better already and I am back, alhamdulillah. Thank you for waiting, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Being Nothing and Doing Nothing - the ego and the selfless ones...

1.      Be Nothing

To be nothing

Is not to do nothing.

It is to do something

With your life

In the pursuit of

Being nothing.

And accepting

That whatever effort

That you expend,

At the end,

It is entirely up to Him.

Yes, it is a little

Like God having the cake

And eating it too.

But, you see,

That is God.

And I would accept

Him regardless of

The  infinite ways

That He may breach

Our petty human norms.

Indeed, it makes

God to me,

God the Most Interesting,

God the Utterly Unique!

But don't believe me.

For I am in love, you see.

And I would say the most

Foolish of things now,

To keep Him

Interested

In me.

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

Doing Nothing. And when you are doing nothing, you are also doing something. For the human ego has to two contradictory abilities, it can motivate you to do the baddest thing in the world, and like a giant donkey, it can simply sit on you and stop you from doing the best thing you can do, for yourself, and the world. As a sinner who has graduated with both majors, I can assure you that the ego can ruin your life either way.

The Ego. Whether you are rich or poor, the ego as the selfish, proud, a genuine mr-know-it-all with a middle-age spread of hubris can make life unbearable. Whether you are sick or healthy, the ego will either make the path of recovery appear so unlikely that it will convince you to do nothing at all, or it will tell you that you will always be healthy and live forever. Both are of course, damn lies, but it is difficult sometimes to sieve through the truth and lies, facts and illusions, especially if you are inclined to believe the insidious mutterings of your ego most of the time...

The Selfless Ones. I admire the selfless and the generous, who thinks of nothing to lend their last penny to their brothers and sisters in need. They have trained their ego to heel, to sit, to stand up, to trot and to gallop according to their conscience, and not the other way around. God bless them!

Thank you for sharing the loft of your mind with me, sunshine. It is Monday and the Sun is shining obscenely bright outside. And I can almost hear the cackle and noise of humanity knocking on the door of my contemplation, requiring my attention. In my line of business, worrying and doing something about other people's problems is my vocation. My donkey is tethered outside and impatiently braying for me to come. Thankfully, I like what I do very much... May we all be guided to do in life what is natural to our fitrah (individual essence), whether as a doctor, a mechanic, a farmer, a writer, a singer or a nurse. Love what you do and do what you love... as the old adage goes.

Whatever you are working as, may you have a wonderful day ahead.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Ultra Intangibles - the beautiful happy way inspired by the Guiding Spirit

Boy: What is humility?
Angel: It is something that you cannot possess
but possesses you. It is a tricky subtle affair.
Good luck to you mortals!

161. The Ultra Intangibles

As the Ultra Intangibles,

Humility and faith are possessions

That abandon you the instant

You think you have them.

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

It is good to have knowledge but better to have Adab (courtly courtesies). We are all trying to get through college and university for that paper qualification. But if we do not score marks for good manners, well... it is really too bad.

But even before that, we need humility as the cornerstone of etiquette and courtesies. In my life I have met some whose humility is already a part of their existence. But God, in His infinite Mercy, has veiled them from their own spiritual station, and when one mentions this, they would inevitably (and sincerely) say, "Me? Humble? Are you kidding me?"

They are blessed. For humility and faith is not their possession, rather that they are possessed by the Guiding Spirit of God, Muhammad Habibullah(pbuh). And they are free of hate, envy and hubris, and they are happy.

But perhaps the greatest ultra intangible is our life. So certain are we
in the possession of our existence or the existence of another whom we love,
only to one day find such life returned to He from
Whom all Life and Love originates. al fatiha

Have a lovely Sunday, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Apakah Agama Tanpa Nabi? What is religion without the Prophet? - Our Hari Raya cards....

Our office is finalizing our Eidul Fitri greeting cards to be sent to our friends and clientele to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadhan and the 1st day of Syawal. Here in Malaysia such cards are commonly known as 'Hari Raya' cards, meaning 'Day of Festivities / Celebration' in Malay. Our girls have chosen the design and I was asked to do the inlay text, but this time in Malay. I initially had an idea and the first line of the prose to be printed in the greeting card went like this -

Apakah hidup tanpa mati?

(What is life without death?)

I emailed out the suggestion to Aeenzy, who is organizing the printing of the cards. Immediately I got a call from our latest (and youngest) addition to our office, who asked me earnestly, "TK? Are you SURE you want this in the Raya card?" I answered in the affirmative. Why not? After all, isn't death also an event worthy to be celebrated? When we are united with our Maker? But I guess it depends on how you die. He he he.

But sometimes there is no need to share ALL truths. And I think most people are less keen to be reminded of their mortality when they open a greeting card, especially a Hari Raya greeting card. So after some thought, I amended the prose, and the poem inside of our card will now read thus...

Apakah...?

Apakah jasad tanpa hati?

Apakah jantung tanpa nadi?

Apakah iman tanpa erti?

Apakah agama tanpa Nabi?

What is...?

What is a body without a heart?

What is a heart without a pulse?

What is faith without understanding?

What is religion with the Prophet?

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

It sounds better in my native Malay, I guess. It rolls off the tongue quite well, don't you agree? But then again, I am biased. He he he.

I like bringing the Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) into the picture. I think he is a one-Prophet-fit-for-all-occasion-kinda-divine-emissary. It is not protocol or spiritual etiquette. It just feels good. Like breathing.

I guess we all have our own way of breathing. But whatever creed you may be holding, may your own breath that you exhale glorify the Lord, and may the next breath that you inhale give thanks to His all-encompassing Mercy and Compassion.

Have a lovely night, sunshine. For it is night here and the fast is over for today.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Transfixed by a Vision of Hu - preparing for the inevitable meeting, and how you (yes, you!) are involved.

Transfixed by a Vision of Hu

My spirit is transfixed by you, o’ Vision

Your far-off lighthouse shining like a beacon

For my soul ship adrift far from home

That is by Your side and in Your presence!

My spirit is mystified and besotted by you, o’ Vision

Your love gently washing upon my shore

Like some Heavenly tide raised by

The Full Moon of Muhammad!

Lo, if I could come closer to You!

Lo, if I could fly to You so that neither

Would my head touch the sky

Nor my feet touch the earth!

Then would I know defeat -

Vanquished and consumed,

To cease thinking and being,

To cease being born of

Some fair maiden birth!

…………………..

I am glad I am a confounded sinner. A do-little-good and do-much-bad kinda fella. So people generally don't expect too much of me. Thus, I don't hold it against God Almighty if He (in His Infinite wisdom) also feels the same way. In my Heavenly High School yearbook, I am unlikely to be voted by anyone as The-Soul-Most-Likely-To-Save-The-World. I think God and the Prophet would be well pleased if I am able to save just myself.

But then again, how can I even vouch for myself? I cannot nor do I want to. Coming into my 42nd year of living on this PlanetMTV, I am fairly certain that when the day comes and my deeds are weighed on the holy Mizan (Divine Scale), I will be needing some SERIOUS Divine intervention and mercy...

So I am asking God right now for His Mercy and the Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) for his intercession on my behalf, so that there would not be any nasty surprises for me when the time comes when I need help. So no holy excuses like 'there is an awfully long queue for mercy here...' or 'well, our mercy quota is kinda full right now... please try again next time. Oh wait, sorry. there will be no next time...'

So thank you kindly, sunshine, for coming in today. Honest, I am extraordinarily thankful... because when that not-to-be-delayed time comes and Taufiq will be sweating for fear of all his past wickedness coming to roost, I will have to call on you to bear witness that on this day, 17th of July 2012, I wrote this posting asking God for His Everlasting Forgiveness and the Prophet(pbuh) for his prophetic intercessions as God's Own Mercy to the Worlds.

I know you are a generous person and possessing a kindly soul. Just the sort of person that God loves. So your words and testimony to mitigate my malfeasance will go a long way to square me with God... And if you think otherwise, if you think that God shan't care for what you will say... then let me share with you my view - from where I am looking, you are a shining star... and our Most Loving God, is in truth, the Most Attentive to His creation, however high and noble, however low and miserable.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

If Love is Trying To Drown You, Why Struggle? - the challenging quest of comprehending God and Love

94. I heard this somewhere, I read this somewhere

You say you love God,

Say instead that you love

The idea of God,

For if God has wrecked

Your ship on the rocks

Of fate, why then are you

Still holding on to

Floating planks?

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

I am guilty of speaking easily about love, that four letter word that has conquered hate and hubris, been the fountain of many happy marriages, a constant inspiration for poets, singers and songwriters and has brought evil empires and tyrants down to heel. Love, simple to comprehend, is difficult to master for sinners like myself, who is still here in the kindergarten of Love, the biggest 'little boy' in the playground.

I don't know about you, but I am in love with the idea of God most of the time, and actually loving God during brief storms of clarity that has dashed my ship against the rocks that surround the shores of my soul. And even then, I am afraid that I often gasp for air and cling to the row or any other floating plank close at hand. For you see, I am not really very good with this love malarkey.

The angels often comment that it was my weight that ultimately sank my boat, and not love. But what do angels know?

Thus I am, my friend. Weak and prone to selfishness, conceited and often ruled by a hot temper. It is just my luck that God and the Prophet(pbuh) has populated my corner of the Mercy Ocean with saintly friends, family and sainted masters that would come to my rescue and heave my soaking wet self on board. But perhaps I was always destined to be a stowaway on someone else's ship. For I know that left to myself, I shall never be able to venture far into the beautiful blue waters of God's Mercy Ocean. Oh no, now that I think about it, I am not complaining at all. But before I conclude, I must ask you this -

The Question

If you are about to journey across God's Mercy Ocean,

Why are you wearing a life-jacket?
And if Love is trying 
To drown you,
Why struggle?

Hehehe.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

A Mirror of God Looking at another Mirror of God - in the journey to nothingness

1. All Ours

All things invented and made,

All things written and read,

All things of beautiful birth

Are in truth, ours.

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

An ancient friend shared with me, "Old chum, if you think you are something, you will have nothing but shadows and illusions of this world - money, power, men and women. If you have achieved nothingness, then everything is yours for the taking, and it will be everything in its essences and hidden meaning!"

The meanings are all behind that door only. Don't go looking for meanings
through any other door, however inviting it may look to you.

He paused, and smiled. "You are confused? Let me elaborate. It is important to gain something in its essence and hidden meaning because the outward shapes and forms are merely that - shapes and forms that we perceive by our senses. Your face and limbs hide your heart, brain and other organs that make you function. And when you pierce through the skin and look at the organs themselves, they too are only shapes and forms of the minute cells that make them. And then you go down to the level of cells, molecules, atoms, sub-atomic particles and etc, etc, etc... There is no end to the essences and hidden meanings of this physical reality. And beyond that there is of course the spiritual dimension of things created by God. Which in itself is a whole other world for you to explore and gain entry into. But it is invisible to the human eye. To attain such vision you must learn too see this world beyond its forms, to make the forms invisible and transparent, that you might see the beautiful working order in this wonderous machine which God has created and Man call the Universe. Really, to trade for petty baubles and trinkets of this world is a waste of your energy..."

Then he got up and walked away. I was left alone nursing my cup of coffee, after which I also left to continue my journey to nothingness. InsyaAllah, you shall errr... not see me there at all! And I shall not see you there also, transparent as you have become to me and I have become to you - a Mirror of God looking at another Mirror of God.

Hehehe. This is what they call an overbearing ambition. But why covet the Sultan's Palace when you can have the Sultan Himself?

Sufi Travel Advice: Pack light when you are embarking
on the journey to nothingness. You will have to discard all
of them anyways - all our masks and deceptions, all our attachments
and pretension - all to be left behind approaching the
Divine Presence of God and His Prophet...

Have a perfectly happy day, 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.

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

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

Through the Veil and Into the Garden of Solace

2. Did You Pray?

I cannot recall.

I do remember folding paper ships

And setting them upon the water,

A gentle breeze from Qubruz came and carried them away

As I waved them farewell

I caught my reflection in the water

To find the face smiling back at me

Belonged to another.

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

17. Putting the Fun in Fana

Do not blame us for feeling happy

Being at the side of our Saidi,

Swimming we are, in a sea of manna

Leaving footprints, on the shore of fana.

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

Perhaps today it is better not to talk much. Sometimes it is better to leave the prose dancing in the halls and salons of your heart, and let it take you to where it shall take you... through the veil and into the garden of solace. Go on... do not be shy.

Thank you for coming in today, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

I Think, Therefore I Am Witnessing - all about wahdatul wujud, wahdatul shuhud, Mircrosoft grammar check and the cosmic ping pong table

Your separateness and individuality are lost in
the overwhelming Oneness that is God.

How should we phrase this often used-sentence – “God and the Prophet have ….” or “God and the Prophet has…”? This may appear a trivial matter, and the sinner may have way too much free time, but I think it is an interesting question to answer. And to approach this problem we will be applying the Ibn Arabi made-famous dichotomy of the two Wahdatuls. 

Some people say that the concepts of Wahdatul Wujud (the state / unity of creation) and Wahdatul Shuhud (the state / unity of witnessing) are too high and lofty for the contemplation of mere underlings like us. But hey... let's give it a shot, shall we? After all, we have a grammatical problem to solve.

At the level of Wahdatul Wujud there is only one True Reality. One Absolute Existence that existed even before the term ‘exist’ was ever created and understood. So in that context it is “God and the Prophet has…” because we are in fact referring to one True Absolute Person, aka God and no one else but God. Indeed this would apply whenever God is accompanied by any other identity, even you. Your separateness and individuality are lost in the overwhelming Oneness that is God.

At the level of Wahdatul Shuhud, the presence of a witness to God necessitates two separate identities,  God and the Prophet Muhammad. In which case it makes sense that the phrase "God and the Prophet have..." is correct, signifying a plural dimension and the two very different and distinct personalities of God and His Creation (Prophet Muhammad).

So now I have two opposing and seemingly contradictory positions. But which is the best solution that Adab (courtly courtesies and good manners) would require to solve this grammatical puzzle?

In the Microsoft Word™ application, the embedded grammar and spelling-checker already underlined the word ‘has’ in green, in other words, the computer program is telling me that it is grammatically incorrect to use 'has' in context of the subject-verb agreement. The computer is telling me that the correct verb is “have”. So we know that Microsoft Inc is ostensibly at least, Wahdatul Shuhud.

Hehehe.

Personally, I prefer going with “God and the Prophet has…” because the overwhelming single reality is God Alone and that there is only He who is the willing force over all creation. The Prophet is there as the perfection of servanthood, God’s own flawless mirror set against God’s infinite and wonderful Divine Attributes. But to be fair, eminent translators of the Holy Quran have applied the plural verb when God is mentioned with other 'persons' in the form of His angels as in the verse 33:56 -

Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet: O ye that believe! Send ye blessings on him, and salute him with all respect. (Yusuf Ali)

Lo! Allah and His angels shower blessings on the Prophet. O ye who believe! Ask blessings on him and salute him with a worthy salutation. (Marmaduke Pickthall)

And then of course, some other translation avoid this grammatical problem altogether by separating the 'subject' God from the angels...

Indeed, Allah confers blessing upon the Prophet, and His angels [ask Him to do so]. O you who have believed, ask [ Allah to confer] blessing upon him and ask [ Allah to grant him] peace.

(Sahih International)

But to be absolutely honest here, I am happy to be the ping-pong ball being hit across the cosmic ping-pong table, back and forth, back and forth… by the Divine bats of Wahdatul Wujud and Wahdatul Shuhud. Because at the end of the day, even if we are 'thinking' Wahdatul Wujud... that act of thinking itself is a state of witnessing. To paraphase jolly old Rene Descartes - I Think, therefore I Am... Witnessing. 

'existential ping-pong'

Hehehe.

If you are not confused (enough) yet, you might like to read previous posts on the Wahdatul Wujud and Wahdatul Shuhud. You can find them all on the labels cloud on the right hand column of this almanac…

Thank you for coming by, sunshine. I have been wondering where you have gone to.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

PostScript - this posting is a re-written version incorporating earlier postscripts.

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

They do not know, so tell them - Love's Dialogue

They do not know, So tell them

They do not know Me,

They cannot comprehend,

What knowledge can they learn

What worlds can they hold in their hand?

They do not know Me,

They will never understand,

What promise can they offer Me

And what can they actually deliver into My hand?

They do not know Me,

They do not fathom My love for them...

As their mother cradles them,

That is Me and more,

As their lover embraces them,

That is Me and more,

As their friends support them,

That is Me and more,

Words and flesh, poetry and music

The patience and passion of love,

Intangible or tangible,

Visceral and absolutely real,

I am All that for them, and more.

So who will now come to Me?

Who will knock on My door?

Who desires to be greeted by Me,

The Greatest Love of them all,

Greater than great,

More delicate than the softest touch

Of a newborn babe,

More passionate than Majnun,

The All-Encompassing Me,

Beyond the hopes of poets and preachers

And their bewitching spells and runes.

Tell them...

From Me comes the Ink, from Me comes the Pen,

From Me comes all history written by My Own Hand,

And I do not tire in My recreation

Nor My mysteries jade by study.

If they were ever enthralled,

I am The All-Enthralling,

If they were ever fascinated,

I am The All-Fascinating,

If they were ever captivated,

I am The All-Captivating.

When it comes to the Lord, Love and Mankind, there is no end to the superlatives and analogies available, stretching as it does an eternity to the past, and an eternity forward from us now. Really, the only limitation we have, between you and me, is the written and spoken human language. And of course, ink.

Thankfully, we can always communicate through the unspoken language of the heart...

'tis Love by any other name, and there is no end to Love's Dialogue.

Have a beautiful day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Fisherman, Rabita and the Ocean of God

The Fisherman, Rabita and the Ocean of God

THE MAN. Once upon a time, in a space between eternity and the great big bang, lived a man. He didn’t appear to have much talent for anything really. But he could write love letters. He hired out his skills to his troubled young male friends, who often enough were stumped for words to woo their maidens. But one day, he grew bored of all transient sentimental sop, and was moved to write about God, the Prophet and Love… and so he did. And he used to write about all sorts of things, even flirting with fana (annihilation in the spirit of the masters, the Prophet and God) and rabita ( a divine connection)…

The ocean is lapping on the shores of fana,

The moon is reflected on the waters of rabita,

And thou art nothing but a ripple,

A cloud of human emotions gasping

Across an eternity of oceans.

A whim, a thought, an idea of God,

A gesture of Divine recreation,

A treasure from God’s heavens,

A river of sublime connection,

From the Earth to the Moon to the Sun.

PRIDE AND HUBRIS. And thus he fancied himself pretty knowledgeable about this Divine Love malarkey. And hubris grew in his heart, overpowering love. He felt himself privileged and special. Honoured to be amongst the few who traded their days and nights contemplating God and Beauty. He became a poseur of holy prose, and the light in his heart grew dim. He spoke with condescending tone of ‘the many’, veiling his pride with certainty…

Casting off from the harbour of doubt,

Beyond the servitude of your mind

Swimming in a sea of wine

Fancied by many,

Tasted by few.

THE SAINTS. But you do not live your life alone. And whether it is in the physical world or spiritual realm there are always onlookers. Minders of mankind – some people call them saints, others call them saintly. And there is also a part of mankind who call them cranks, witchdoctors and snake-oil salesmen, men not to be trusted. Anyway, the saints mind the Sea and all the swimmers in it. Actually, some people prefer to merely picnic by the beach. But others, aspirants of the Path especially (let’s call them mureeds), like to go swimming in the Sea. Of such people, the Saints are particularly mindful of. Partly because the passion seeded in these aspirant-mureeds often came from them. These young fellows often swim and drink, letting the wine go to their mind, conjecturing great visions as drunkards often do. And as everyone will tell you, you don’t drink and swim and expect calamity to avoid you. You are calling calamity your way…

And lo, the mureeds think they have journeyed far

And have seen the King and His crown,

Alas, to drink too much

And into their wine, they gently drown…

THE FISHERMAN. Fortunately above all saints, there is the Fisherman. He is unlike any man you have ever met. Indeed there are those who say that he is in fact the only Man to exist in the perfect form. In the beginning, there was the Sea, until God chose to bring forth from the sea a light, an Orb perfect and luminous as an infinite number of Suns. And as he was the first to arose from the Sea, it is only fitting that above all saints and lifeguards, he is the true Saviour and Salvation over the Sea. For this story, we will call him the Fisherman. And it is the Fisherman who trawls the oceans, always looking out for the hapless fools who plunge into the horizon of truth with nay a thought for their own welfare. Because these mureeds are young when compared to the age of Creation, they are often plagued by uneven passions. Sometimes being wonderfully good, at other times, negligent and forgetful. As they trash for dear life (which they inevitably do at the end), it is the Fisherman who comes along with his net…

Only to be caught

In the net of the Fisherman

Before they perished in their watery graves,

Pulling them out from their hubris state,

And who then wearily remonstrates,

“ Do not think highly of yourself,

Nor too lowly,

For each pretension

Leave a lot of souls

Drowning in this Ocean…!”

But the Fisherman smiled and concluded,

“And my boy, have I been busy salvaging you lot

Flirting with Rabita in the Ocean of God!”

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Wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way