A BONFIRE OF WHITE FIRE

A Bonfire of White Fire

You are my wonder

You are my mystery

You are my forever

And I would lay waste

All my world for You

In a bonfire of white fire,

If it was Your pleasure,

You are my perfection

You are my redeemer

My Guide and my Master

And how I regret each breath

That I steal when of You

I fail to remember,

For it is theft that I commit,

It is a fraud that I abet,

It is a lie that I aid to fulfill,

The vainglory of my capricious will...

When oh Lord, oh Master,

I forget myself for even a moment.

By forgetting my God, Allah, and Muhammad, my Master,

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

The seconds are endless... the days countless... the years, shamefully many in which I, your writer, has constantly failed to remember God Almighty, and His Habibullah, Nabi Muhammad (saws).

For I fear that for far too long, I, your sinner, was easily persuaded by the temporary distractions of this world, by the poison honey, the chemical happiness, the cheap tawdry gratification so well presented in the window shop of this reality. 

But not you, sunshine. You who are my betters, saw through the deception of this ego-world, and learned well the lessons. At the knees of the wise, you learned to discern the true sweetness of love, the honey of submission, the wine of exaltation in the praise of Allah swt and the wonder that is the Holy al-Quran and the sunnah (traditions) of His Beloved Muhammad (saws).

If you can spare a cup of knowledge, a drop of compassion, a hint of hope, pour your love in my direction, and keep me in your prayers, please. You may consider yourself ordinary, my readers. But I see you very differently. You are my hope for my humanity. So grip tight the robes of the saints and the saintly!  

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Notrumi Embun, 1st September 2014

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way   

THE SYARIA AND HUDUD, The Prose (Part 1)

The Syaria (The Journey, the Garden and the Fruit)

I saw a journey,

Where I saw you, and I saw myself,

And along the path there were

Beautiful places to rest,

Restful places to ponder God,

As Love, as Life, as the Sustainer

And the Only Nourisher,

I saw goodness and kindness,

Compassion for humanity,

For the birds and the animals,

For even the rocks and water

That filled the mountains and valleys,

And above us in the journey,

Is a constant sky of guiding stars,

As we discover along the many stations,

More and more knowledge of the universe,

But always, subservient in its synchronicity

With the Universal Truth of God...

Thou Most Beautiful, Most Lovely!

And the road on which the journey

Begins and ends...

It was known as the Syaria.

I saw a garden, a paradise,

Wonderous in its colours,

Glorious in its breadth,

As if the Creator Himself

Has taken the trouble 

To paint each petal of flower,

Each pebble in a glistening stream,

With His own beauty and wisdom,
Each creature and creation,
Competing in fierce rivalry,
To best praise God...
Thou Most Compassionate, Utmost in Mercy!

And around the garden stood fences,

White as light, bright as a thousand suns,

And the fences were also known

As the Syaria,

I saw in the blessed garden a fruit,

And the fruit was nourishing,

It was delightful and tasteful

Whatever your taste may be,

It was good for you,

And it was good for me,

The inside of the fruit changes in colour

According to your needs and fancy,

Its texture can be hard or soft,

And according to your need, crumbly or fleshy,
Nourishing you from the beginning to the end,
An assurance from garden of the Almighty...
Thou Most Companionable, Thou Best of Hosts,
Thou Friend of Friends!

And the protective skin of the fruit,
Keeping the flesh pure and pristine,
Shining in the garden like a beacon
Guiding our wavering, floundering conscience,

That too was known as the Syaria.

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

This is a longish tale, so forgive the sinner if he spreads his wings over a couple of postings. But I think it is worthwhile expanding our contemplation a little... Hope you are all having an awesome Ramadan Kareem...

wa min Allah at-taufiq

-Notrumi Embun, 14th July 2014

Hate has no place in Islam
Love will show the Way

HAPPINESS & THE SWEETNESS OF SERVANTHOOD -being a slave to God all-Eternal vs being a slave to logos

Happiness & the Sweetness of Servanthood
Why pursue happiness,
When happiness itself will pursue you
If you devote yourself to
The sweetness of servanthood?
.......................

Slave to the Logos. I have been selling myself short, sunshine. The fool that I am, to be hoodwinked by this world, and by the wasteful consumer society that we have become. To become a slave to the logos, brands, trends, fads, and the illusion of human progress. 

A very, very smart lady who has written a best-selling book on
advertising and consumerism. Worth a read, I reckon.

The Meaning of Happiness. So we seek happiness by buying whatever Madison Avenue advertising companies are selling, and by voting whatever faddish trends are being promoted by politicians. But what is the happiness we find? Is the happiness being sold by the corporations and politicians permanent and completely fulfilling? Or is it really a temporary form of self gratification?

As one servant to another, help me...

Transient Nature. By the nature of everything conceived in Creation, it is all transient. So your feeling of joy at getting the latest iPhone, or satisfaction by voting in the most attractive candidate into office are both transient, temporary emotions. 

In this World and in the Hereafter. If we seek contentment (as opposed to gratification), it is useless to try and plant our hopes on our turbulent emotions and feelings. For they rise and ebb according to our circumstances at any given moment. That is why, our Beloved Prophet Muhammad (saws) has brought the ideal of servanthood into our central core of living - servanthood to humanity, animals, the natural world and ultimately, to our One Creator, God.

As a typical consumer, I am greatly distracted from servanthood by my own selfish need for gratification. But then, I am not the sort to leave 'civilization' and bunker down in some cave up some lonely mountain. So a sense of proportions and balance must be achieved. This, I cannot do alone...

Help me and pray for me always, sunshine. I am in need of your good wishes and good examples.

I ask this of you, as one servant to another...

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

IF THIS WORLD IS A DISH, ALLAH IS THE PLEASURE - war, conflict, politics... what of such trivial things?

...And Win

Lay to rest thy weary mind,

Ever in conflict with this world unkind,

Brothers fighting shouting aloud,

"This is not thine! This is mine!"

Lay to rest your sword of right,

Forget the glories that might have been, 

Say to the rabble, "This is not my fight,"

Turn to God, turn to the Prophet 

Know thyself 

And win.

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

Every spoken word, written or heard, if it does not meander its way ultimately to the only true worthy thing that you can gain in this world, why say such a word? And why bother to write or read it?

Beautiful Garnish. It is this driving love, that propels the dervish, the sufis, the mystics to disdain wasted words, and wasted breaths. For the shining beacon on the shore of this world is Allah (swt) and His Muhammad (saws), the only true absolute discovery that you may ever find through this transient and illusory world. Everything else are only beautiful garnish and signposts to mark your way to God Almighty and His Messenger (saws).

This is not my war. The newspaper, today, yesterday and tomorrow will be full of hateful things, hateful people and hateful conflict. But this is not your war. This is not your conflict. The very definition of words and names for which people are killing or killed does not resonate in your heart. Money, power, religious authority, political gain, global domination, usurious profit and exploitation of the world are words meaningless to you.

Allah the Most Compassionate and Most Merciful has already picked you, and your eyes are forever drawn to the unseen and unknowable behind the curtain.  

This divine love does not make you an alien to this world. It does not leave you loveless with no affection for this world and its inhabitants. It will make you and those you touch better...

How blessed you are, sunshine!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

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.

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

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

NOT EVERY EYE CAN SEE. NOT EVERY EAR CAN HEAR

Assumptions

Not everyone who is breathing is living,

Not everyone who is reading is learning,

Not everyone who is hearing is listening,

Not everyone who is talking is sharing,

Not everyone who is bent down in prayer is praying,

Not everyone who is smiling is happy,

Not every eye can see,

Not every ear can hear, 

Not every success is sweet,

Not every failure is bitter, 

.........

Think long. Drink deep your wine of contemplation. Every person you meet, every happenstance in your life, each breath, each moment is worthy of an infinity of reflection. 

So put down that iPhone. Shut down that Samsung. Disconnect for awhile and show courtesy to your friend and family, to your dinner companion, to the stranger sitting next to you in the bus. They are looking to you for a little mercy, a little compassion. And mercy is often heralded by sweet human courtesies. 

Many people assume themselves to be part of humanity, but they are often away, Lost in the distractions of Twitters, Instagrams, emails and Whatsapp. "I am here, I am alive and real.", their companion is beseeching them for attention and empathy, but alas they hear but do not listen.

So let us disconnect for awhile, and reconnect with each other. There is still so much goodness in this world to give, to receive and to share.   

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

DRUMS BEATING IN THE NIGHT, SUFIS WHIRLING IN DELIGHT

A Journey in the Meaning of Sound

Life begins as a journey in the meaning of sound,

As you cry out for your mother's milk,

Then, as you grow and learn to discern reality,

Stringing sentences to encapsulate your understanding,

Life becomes a journey in words and their ever-changing meaning,

But for the music writer, 

The composer in all of us,
Listening to nature,

Life still remains  a thing

To be understood in the ebb and tide,

And the tone and tempo of raw sound,

The oboe, the cello, the guitar and the flute,

The piano, the synth, the stirring cup of music,
The songs of the nightingale,
The watery speech of the sperm whale,

Drums beating in the night,

Sufis whirling in delight.

Like the child we once were... 
Crying for our mother's milk,

They raise their voice

In words formed yet formless,

Praising a God felt yet unseen,

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

Why is a sound pleasant to us? Why is Mozart's music often uplifting, Bach's symphonies thought provoking? What is in the nature of a particular melody or chord that strikes us with sadness, joy and melancholy? Even without words, instrumental music has been instrumental (forgive the pun) in shaping our thoughts and our feelings.

The appreciation of music has been wired into the human soul. It is one of the most visceral form of communications we have been granted by God, the Most Musical and Melodious One. To appreciate God and His Attributes through song and music is a gift beyond measure.

If you are musical, do not fret, for you are in good company. As I recorded with a merry nonchalance many, many years ago...

2. Music, Truth and Mercy

Music is prohibited for some,

Not advisable for a few,

Optional for others,

Highly recommended for the rest,

And mandatory for a number.

Truth is for all.

And Mercy is for the asking.

Heh! 

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

So let the music play, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

MERDEKA POEM 2013 - Malaysia's 56th Birthday - A Country is an Idea - Zombie States - Our merdeka from our own ego

Merdeka! (with postscript)

If I appear to you ill-used, forgive me.

People have used me, used my name

And said "I am doing this thing

In her name and 

For her sake!"

I don't know what they are talking about!

If I appear to you confused, forgive me.

For people who live with me say one thing

And yet do another,

They talk of compassion, but only for themselves

And those like them,

They talk of progress, but they abuse me

And take me for granted,

They talk of God, but they show no mercy whatsoever,

Confusing information with knowledge,

Confusing knowledge with wisdom,

 Confusing tolerance for weakness...

If I appear to you lost, forgive me.

For how would you feel if people try

To disconnect you from your past?

From your own history,

From the testaments and pledges

That were made on your birthday?

Therefore, if I appear ill-used, use me well,

If I appear confused, end your own confusion,

If I appear lost, learn your own history,

And if ever anyone was unkind to you,

What can I say? I am very, very sorry.

For they do not represent me

No matter what you have been told.

I am Malaysia, 

And this month I shall be 56 years old.

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

The Postscript

And even you would be hard-pressed

To look young and desirable at my age...

So have no fear,

Do not be depressed,

Quell your hate and your rage.

For the bumps and knocks that you feel

Are the bumps and knocks I also feel,

It is the opening of our new chapter,

The turning of a new page.

So Happy Birthday to you

And Happy Birthday to me!

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

My birthday. The picture is not colour, but the day was colourful!

Happy Birthday, you are 56! Come, 31st August, we are all 56 years old. We, meaning the 29 million people who live in Malaysia and call themselves Malaysians. Please excuse my poetic license as most people will point out that Malaysia was in fact born on 16th September 1963 when the states of Sabah and Sarawak joined the Federation of Malaya to create Malaysia. But ultimately, the genesis of Malaysia and Hari Malaysia (Malaysia Day, which we also celebrate) can be traced to the Hari Merdeka (Independence Day) on 31st August, 1957. So there.

I am an idea. Yours. 

We are (or should consider ourselves at least) 56 years old because we are born into a country that old. So our life has been moulded in the socia-economic, political and spiritual structure of the state, no matter how independent or free-spirited we may think we are. 

A Country is an Idea. As I reflect at the age of 56, like most people, death doesn't seem like such a distant event anymore. And for my country, I began to wonder about its mortality too. How many years more does Malaysia have left? One? Ten? Twenty? One Hundred? Unlike us humans, where death is inevitable and can be statistically determined, the life of a country can be extended for the foreseeable future, so long as human civilization exists. For a country is in fact a metaphysical entity, an idea. 

The Zombie States. And it can exist so long as people believe and work towards realizing that idea. For some countries, which are categorized by the media pundits as 'failed states' (Afghanistan, North Korea and Iraq spring to mind), they exist in a strange limbo between reality and ideal, where they are still members of the United Nation and retain some semblance of normal stately functions, but are in fact lifeless and soulless... The Walking Dead of Nations. Sad but true. 

I see many countries here. And I see a few more on life-support...

Our Educational & Ethical Deficit. No, I don't think my country has qualified to join the infamous troupe of zombie countries, yet. I think Malaysia still has some life in it, some soul and some ideals. But we gotta arrest our decline in our educational system. That is uber-important. And we also need to redress the professional and ethical deficit of all sectors of public and private life. Yes, the rot is not in the civil service alone, in some sense it is perpetuated and actively encouraged by the private sectors too. In this scenario, everyone who has taken or directly or indirectly benefited from a bribe, whether it is in the tens of millions of Ringgit Malaysia (our currency) or even for a mere RM10.00 is complicit in corruption. But as the saying goes, the fish rots from the head, so all the bosses and leaders must account for their actions and consider the country, the ideals that they are teaching their children and just what sort of future we are leaving for them.

This country , Papa... Did you make it better? Or did you make it worse?

Independence from Our Own Ego. My religion is Islam, my race is Malay, my nationality is Malaysian and ultimately, my species is human. So let us reach out towards one another in the spirit of Merdeka (independence)... to counter the hateful ideology of the ego, manifested in hubris, ugly nationalism, colonialism, corporate slavery and bigotry. For in my book, there is no merdeka more important than the independence from our own ego. And submission to the Love of God the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy.

This is what my Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s) teaches me, sunshine. Otherwise, merdeka and independence just becomes a throw-away word with little meaning or life to it. 

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

FORGIVENESS, FEAR OF GOD - The Ramadan Story, Part 18

Forgive me, o' Lord

Forgive me, o' Patience

For not knowing your better,

Forgive me, o' Wisdom

For thinking I have already attained you,

Forgive me, o' Hope

For abandoning you again and again,

Forgive me, o' Beauty

For failing to distinguish you from Vanity,

Forgive me, o' Mercy

For putting limits to your vastness,

Forgive me, o' Love

For putting a lie to you

And accepting a mere facsimile,

Forgive me, o' Me

For wavering in my quest

To understand You.

Forgive me, o' Forgiveness

By the Light of the Moon

And the Ocean that washes upon my shore,

I am standing here beneath the crying seagulls,

Counting my daily errors and unspoken curses,

Realising that more than ever before,

I am in need of Your Attention,

Your Conciliation,

Your Forgiveness...

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

Ramadan is the time not only to restrain
our hunger, but perhaps more importantly,
our wayward ego.

The Ego Sickness. Every single day, there is always something that happens to send me scurrying like a frightened mouse back to God. And what 'happens' is actually me, driven by some angry thought, bitter recriminations and hubris, motivated by my wayward ego. And it happens so often that I am led to realise that at this juncture of my life, I am more comfortable with my ego, allowing it to become my habit, which of course means that my ego has become me. This is not good news.

Good and Bad Days. Well, awareness of our own sickness is a beginning, I guess. And there is no better month than the month of Ramadan to try to bring our ego under containment and control. For the obligatory fasting is intended to also help quell our ego and nafs (base-desires). This requires some practice, because I have witnessed even the most gentle souls breaking into anger and impatience during fasting, as it occurred today just minutes before iftar (breaking of the fast at sunset) between a newly married couple who are otherwise contented and happy on any other day. But they soon get over it, and were back to their lovey-dovey default mode.

Fear only God. I guess we all have our peaks and valleys, and though we always try to put a brave happy face, we are in fact constantly being pulled and pushed by some anxiety or subconscious fear of something - money, health, marriage and relationships, work, tax, debt and career failures. To this, the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s) has said and exemplified the important and very fundamental tenet of the Muslim faith, which is - fear only God, so that you need not fear anything else.

39. Taqwa (With Poon)

Fear of God is not paranoia,

It is the certainty that you need not fear anything but Him,

Since nothing exists but Him.

It is therefore not the affirmation of your fears,

But the affirmation of His Oneness.

It is not the negation of His Mercy,

But the negation of all that is illusory.

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

Nice... but mind the mountain goat.

Muhammad's Faith. The Islam of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) isn't and has never been the hermetic, lets-leave-the-world-and-find-a-lonely-mountain-top-to-occupy. After all, not many mountain tops are lonely, and you would probably be unfairly evicting a mountain goat or a golden eagle who has lived there for generations. No, your life belongs here, amidst the crowd of humanity, striving and working for a honest living. Being born, growing up, learning and working, getting married and having children, before withering gently into contented, forgetful dotage. In this sense, what the Faith of Muhammad has to offer are the tools and instruments that we need (if we only knew better!) to face such a life, with a good heart and a healthy active conscience. And to leave this world one day, if not better, at least not making it any worse, for our children and grandchildren. And one of the greatest sunnah (Prophetic tradition) is to fear Allah (s.w.t.). For that is the equalising factor between people, whether you are rich or poor, old or young, a king or a beggar in the gutter...

O' mighty kings! Fear God!

O' religious preachers! Fear God!

O' presidents and prime ministers! Fear God!

O' generals and leaders of men! Fear God!

Fear God and obey His Prophet!

And how worthy is God to be the only centre of your fear and anxiety to please! For no one, nothing created or uncreated, past, present or future, known or unknown, will ever love you more or know you better than your Maker, who coincidentally, is also my Maker... a.k.a. God Almighty, Allah (s.w.t.) - the One God and most Beloved of His Beloved, Muhammad Habibullah (s.a.w.s.).

And that is the happy conclusion of our travel through this form of 'fear'... into the all-welcoming arms of God - the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful, Lord of Mercy, Giver of Mercy, that being none other than Muhammad (s.a.w.s.), the Mercy to all the Worlds...

Fear of God is the balloon by which you can float above
the valley of illusory fears that has plagued not just
you, but all of humanity since time immemorial.

So are we not blessed in infinite ways, sunshine? 

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

THE DESERT IS COMING UNLESS WE CHANGE. BEGINNING WITH THE MOSQUE - The Ramadan Story, Part 10

My Paradise is My Mosque

There is no desert in my heart. 

For my land is a rainforest, full of tropical trees, flower and fauna. 

Green rivers and streams meander across my heart from the hills that dot my land. 

Valleys and ravines follow the water, clean and pure like the rain 

That showers regularly on the emerald roof of the jungle. 

Birds and mousedeers, tigers and elephants co-habitat, flowers, leaves 

And fruits of wondrous variety, colour and benefit hang from the branches 

Waiting for my eye and ministration. 

For I am not only the master of my heart and my land,

I am also its custodian and servant. 

My eyes takes rest and pleasure gazing on this Earth, 

Its riches spilling over into the tenuous civilization raised by Man. 

And were I to build a mosque here, a House of God, 

I would not build high walls to separate the mosque from the forest, 

Nor find the need to decorate it with the pictures of paradise. 

For my land is both my paradise and my mosque 

And wherever I am praying, 

I want to see heaven all around me.

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

God...?

From the Desert I Came. The religion of Islam is often associated with the desert. For it was in the desert dunes of Arabia that the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) completed the message and deen of Islam, thereby completing the comprehensive beliefs and rites that make up the faith. There is an old saying, which I cannot remember who said it, that God created the forest for Man, but created the desert for Himself. And I guess when you are thinking of setting the atmosphere for contemplation of Man's vulnerability and insignificance, nothing beats a night in the desert, alone with a billion stars twinkling in the heavens above. Questions like "Who am I?'', "Why am I here?" and "Who is out there?" will come to your heart as naturally as breathing.

The Arabian Heaven. The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus is not one of the three Great Mosques of Islam (the Masijidil Haram in Mecca, the Masjid Nabi in Medina and the al-Aqsa in Jerusalem), but in context of the End of Time sequence, it will play a significant role because it is here that Muslims anticipate the Second Coming of Jesus (Isa a.s.). But my interest in the Umayyad Mosque is not about its prophetic relevance, but the design. In particular, the interior walls on which is engraved with green and gold depictions of Paradise, of palm trees overflowing with dates, clear blue rivers of Jannah running through the gardens, and mansions and palaces on the hills for the believers. It is a religious propaganda (and I mean this well) and a spiritual assurance for the believers, as they pray, rest and learn beneath the pillars of the Mosque, a visual persuasion playing upon the Arab's ideal of paradise... "Ah, lovely, beautiful, inspiring..." they must be thinking.

The Tropical Paradise. But it is a little different here. For in Malaysia, as in most tropical and equatorial regions, there is no desert. There is no sand dunes or far-off desert horizons to inspire us. The forest and the jungle is right next door. And some of us ethnic aboriginals even live in the jungle. Tall rain forest trees of hundred years old tower over dense undergrowth. And through them run gentle streams and rivers full of fish, turtles and even alligators. Is this not paradise (well, sans the mosquitoes, alligators, tigers and leeches!) already? So even if you are expelled from your village, in days of yore, you would not starve to death. You will undoubtedly be inconvenienced, but you will live. (My little caveat here is that this might not be the case now for soft, fleshy city folks like me... I would probably misstep and fall into a ravine within hours. And get eaten by tigers. But you get the picture)

An Architectural Proposition for the Mosque. I am not an architect, so all I can venture is a proposition for an open concept Mosque which sits in sympathy with its tropical surroundings. It can be of any size, but the surroundings must be a tropical garden and a running stream drifting around the mosque and perhaps even through it. And the view from inside the mosque must rest upon the bountiful brilliance of the rain forest however far the congregation can see. The mosque must be built with wood and stone, with river pebbles shining darkly from the lower part of the walls while timbered pillars rise up to the wooden beamed roof. But from within the mosque, one ought to be able to see and hear the surrounding garden with its crickets and frogs. Especially at night. After all, the sound of nature is the sound of dzikr (recitation and remembrance of God's Names)

Shutting out Paradise. One of the reason why the proposition encompasses the outside surroundings of the mosque is because the truth is Muslims have been too lazy in caring and nurturing the environment. The mosque should not be a building to shut out the world and dream for paradise. Especially not in this tropical country. Not when just outside most mosques and suraus (small mosques), we find litter, pollution, environmental destruction and ecological disasters staring in the face of the Ummah (the Muslim nation). 

The Desert is Coming. So in reality are we shutting out the outside world because we cannot now bear to look upon the handiwork of our modern society on this paradise garden that we have been given? Are we turning our beautiful forests and jungles into deserts? If so, then we need not wait too long. The desert is coming if we do not change our ways.

Beginning with the Mosque. I reckon we can begin to accept our responsibility for the Earth this way - From the mosque, and if we believe in Allah (s.w.t.) and the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.), from our conscience which must always be in sympathy for all of creation and all of God's creatures that we share this planet with. 

I think that this makes more sense than all the political and often violent upheavals that are presently besieging the Ummah. After all, what is the point of Islam in a world already despoiled and destroyed..? 

Don't you agree, sunshine?

Wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way  

GOD ASKS TO BE ASKED, SO ASK! - life-vocation, work and the Lord of Surprises, the All-Hearing (al-Sami), the Compeller (al-Jabbar)

Say... in the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, then ask.

Give Me Forever

If the words of my language are not enough

To extol Your Beauty, Mercy and Magnificence,

Teach me another language that I might try!

If the charity of my deeds lie so low 

Compared to the charity of others,

Give me the means to do charity

Until I forget what my hands have given away

In Your Name!

If my work is transient until 

My real purpose is revealed,

Please do not delay disclosure

And share Your purpose for me!

If I am meant to be Your mathematician,

Oh Lord, teach me mathematics,

If I am meant to be a teacher,

Teach me patience and give me knowledge,

If I am meant to be a student,

Send me the righteous Imam,

If I am meant to build bridges,

Teach me physics and engineering,

If I am meant to praise You forever,

Give me words worthy for Your praise,

And give me forever!

Oh Lord, Oh Allah the Beautiful,

The Fountain of Unimaginable Source

Of Love, Compassion and Mercy!

Your generosity is bigger than the night sky

And bigger than my contemplation of what

Is bigger than the night sky!

You asked to be asked,

You asked to be sought,

You asked to be loved and praised,

So here am I,

Your weak, weak servant...

Asking You,

Seeking You,

Loving You,

Praising You...

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

Work and the Lord of Surprises. We are what we are now because it is fated. You are perhaps an engineer. Or a lawyer. Or a government servant. Or a banker. Or a stay-at-home philosopher. Or a trader. Or a soldier guarding the kitchen store against all comers. But whatever you may be right now, your job might not last forever. And perhaps it is a temporary-while-you-get-yourself-sorted-out career. Your true work, your divinely favoured purpose, specific for your natural talents and inclinations may be something totally different. God does these things for us... and I think it is good to always consider what He has planned for you in the future. As I said, it may be something totally surprising. 

For I have always contemplated God as the Lord of Surprises. And the surprises are always good ones, insyaAllah.

Beneath this Monday morning's overcast sky, strange incoherent thoughts assail me. It is not because of some spiritual-mystical reason. I am simply tired and sleepy. He he he. We humans are still caged in our mortal bodies, and susceptible to the weather, tiredness and lethargy, however lofty our sufi pretensions. Don't you agree?

Al-Sami, Al-Jabbar. I was contemplating the evening sky last night, in the hour of Maghrib (sunset prayers), and I said to God (after all, he always listens... being al-Sami - the all-Hearing), "You distract me to distraction, my Beloved God... with Your endless repertoire of Loveliness and Beauty that You manifest in the natural world. Every day, I feel compelled by Your work of utter Beauty (after all, he is the Compeller - al-Jabbar) and every day I find myself challenged to put into words what cannot be put into words - the Beauty of Creation that is all Your Own..."

I have such conversations with our One God. For He always listens. Like I said. 

May this Monday bring Beauty into your life. After all, Beauty closest to Allah (s.w.t.) came on a Monday many years ago when the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) was born.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way