NO FAITH WITHOUT WONDER

The Created and the Uncreated

The perfume cannot comprehend the perfumer,

The arrow cannot comprehend the archer, 

The created cannot comprehend the uncreated,

Yet the scent of the perfume excites the maiden, you can smell it!

And the arrow is flying on its trajectory towards the deer, you can see it!

Thus all of God's creatures sense their own created beings,

But what lies beyond our physical senses...?

Oh Wonder! You are a wondrous thing!

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

Physical Senses. If you stop wondering, you stop living. Oh, you can live physically, since all of our senses are geared towards the purpose of continuing our own life and existence - Hungry? Eat. Thirsty? Drink. Horny? Procreate. 

Inner Senses. But the problem with physical senses is that  they act at a very basic animal instinct. And unless we are prepared to live as animals, we must address the substrata of our conscious existence, that is our emotions and thoughts that is beyond our base desires. And once we explore our inner consciousness, we are in a different world altogether, a world of flux often pulled by opposing forces of love and hate, generosity and greed, attachment and detachment, companionship and loneliness, humility and hubris. 

Such things we 'sense' within ourselves according to our mind and our heart. And it is in this horizon of intangible feelings, that we find the need for assurance, hope, redemption, knowledge and contentment. This is the hidden form of this world, and the door of exploration that God has laid in the well of our conscience. 

The Outer World and the Inner World. For however wondrous is a storm at sea. However mysterious and beguiling is a night sky full of stars, however maddening is the beauty of a human child, it is our inner understanding, our inner self that is reacting to all these physical expressions of this world and giving meaning to them.

And so religious faith is all about that really. It is our natural inclination towards the inner uncreated reality that is God, helping us towards finding the true meaning of our deeds, our emotions and ultimately, this world and our purpose in life. This is the basic tenets of all religion whatever faith you may be dressed in.

The Inner Uncreated Reality is More Real Than Our Physical Created Reality,

Giving understanding and meaning to it all.

And though meanings find their expression through our actions (and omissions), it is essentially our inner reflections through which we may find our happiness  and success in this life and in the next, towards that One uncreated Being, the incomparable Absoluteness, that is God the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate, the Lord of Mercy and the Giver of Mercy...

All about You

When I contemplate life, 

When I listen to you,

When I consider myself,

When I read the books of the wise,

When I look at the world,

The birds flying in the sky,

When I listen to the world,

The dogs barking in the night,

When I dip my feet in a cool forest stream,

When I see a candle light 

And the near wandering moth,

In truth,

It is God that 

I wonder of.  

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

So you see. If you have stopped wondering, where is your faith? For faith is not about the certainty by which you judge yourself or other people. It is faith in the certainty that God Almighty does not discriminate between one person to another save by our good deeds, good thoughts and helpfulness to others. 

God. The True Wonder of all, beyond wonder, beyond all!

Don't you agree, sunshine? Even if I do tend to ramble on? I wonder...

He he he.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Seeing Through the Nothingness of Self - the garden, the stage and the Stage Master, Muhammad Habibullah (s.a.w.s.)

Black or White, Tiger or Mousedeer?

If you are the black

Will I be the white?

If you are tiger

Shall I be the mousedeer?

If you are the hunter

Will I be your prey?

If you will be the Moon at night

Shall I be the Sun at daybreak?

If you are the shore

Will I be the sea?

If you are the accused

Shall I be the jury?

If you are struck blind

Would you still see me?

If you will be the Pharaoh

Shall I be Moses and Aaron?

If you are the Queen of Hearts

Can I be your knight errant?

If you will be the damsel in distress

Shall I be the gunslinger?

If you will be right

Will I be wrong?

We can be this, that and the other,

So long as we remember, my love...

To whom we all belong. 

People walk by,

Passing us unknowing

Of the universe we create

And the roles we play

In our mould of clay.

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

al-marhum Shaykh Raja Ashman Shah
ibni Sultan Azlan Shah ('coach')

Dear God, I need Thy love, sweet and beautiful as it is, and however Thou may imagine in Thy infinite imagination. I have found myself, and I saw nothing there. Then I saw through the nothingness to see Thy perfect order and subtle ministration of this beautiful, beautiful world Thou has created for us, us poor weak servants - too playful and foolish, naughty little children let loose in Thy Garden of Paradise called Earth. Protect us from the accursed one who ever seeks to lead us astray. Help us, o' Lord of the Garden!

Dear God, in whatever role I may play with my opposite, in whatever mask I wear, in whatever masquerade party I am invited to, let me be Thy answer to the eternal questions of Mankind - who am I? why was I created? Where did I come from and to whom shall I return to?

Dear God, I can play the bad part. I can play the good part. Guide me always to the good part. Send me the script, send me the director, send me my acting coach, send me my agent and only true Master... bring me unto the guiding light of Thy Prophet Muhammad Habibullah (s.a.w.s.), Thy Own Beloved, and anointed mercy to all actors upon this stage that we call the world.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

With the right coach, you will feel like you are walking on air...

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Karmic Junction, Deaths in Benghazi, the Cruel Salafi Ideology and the Coming of Archers of Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqqas

1. Orbiting around the Sun, looking up to the Stars

The Sun will orbit around you,
When you orbit around the Sun,
Truth will protect you,
When you protect Truth,
Mercy will save you,
When you save Mercy,
Love will love you,
When you love Love,
Kindness will welcome you,
When you welcome Kindness,
Honour will honour you,
When you honour Honour,
Forbearance will care for you,
When you care for forbearance,
The Stars will guide you,
When you look up to the Stars,
Muhammad will be your Captain,
When you obey your Captain,
God will be your God,
And for this,
You only need to ask.
.................

A Karmic Junction. Life is about reciprocity, a two-way street. A karmic junction where meets all our good and bad deeds, all our hopes and fears, and all our loves and hates. If left entirely to our own devices, the karmic junction would be the scene of our tragic crash, because, let's face it, we are not perfect, and often we err.

The Divine Modifier. Happily, above us and around and within us is God. The Divine Modifier of fate and just desserts, adjusting our lives, fine-tuning the events and incidents that make up our days, that we might learn of who we are, and be guided to Who He is - our Lord, our Love, our Creator.

Muhammad. And coming to the fabled end of this world, the Lord sent His most subtle agent, His anointed mercy to the worlds, Muhammad ibn Abdullah the Seal of the Prophets (pbuh), carrying the banner of Truth (Haqq) to help rid this world of hubris, hate and ignorance.

Deaths in Benghazi. We are aware of the current controversy and tragedy surrounding a movie which purports to insult the Prophet. But I have not seen it. Nor am I interested to watch it and flame my own anger. For where does anger ultimately leads to but hate and violence? The true Muslims of Libya have already come out on the streets protesting against the murder of the Americans in Benghazi. True Muslims have already come out fighting to protect their rightful heritage of the Saints of Islam from the same people that wrecked the tombs of the Saints, who undoubtedly rejoiced in the death of the Americans. These people (salafis or wahabis, however you wanna call them) are led by their noses by the chain of hate and fear and despair, and they call it Islam. It is not Islam that they follow.

The Eastern Dogs. Why do people stoke the fire? It is to prick the ego and provoke a reaction. Muslims, especially our brethren in the Middle East and Northern Africa ought to not be the Eastern dog perpetually wagged by the Western tail. We knew this was coming. So reject the Salafis. Reject the Wahhabis and their demented ideology. As these Libyans have...

Two Bow's Length. That is all. Just writing about the Salafis and Wahhabis brings a brooding pall over my day. But never you mind, sunshine. For the karmic junction for these liars and deniers 'in Islam' is coming. It is merely two bow's length distant from this present.

They may not be carrying rocket launchers, molotov cocktails or AK-47s.
But the archers are bearing the heart, the bow and the arrow of Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqqas,
Madad ya Saydeena...

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Alhamdulillah for Little Nayati! - Abducted Boy Released Safe & Sound

Recently I posted about the tragic abduction of young Nayati Shamelin Moodliar, the 12-year old son of an Indian-Dutch South African couple living here in Kuala Lumpur. As days pass, I started to worry as the chance of finding the boy alive and unhurt begins to ebb.

I did not like writing the post (Click Here if you wanna read it), because I was worried how this drama would end. Last night, about 4 in the morning, I suddenly woke up and thinking (and I don't know where that thought came from) that Nayati has been discovered safe and uninjured. So I immediately checked the internet, but there were no news. *Sigh* Feeling a little disappointed I went back to bed.

But God works in wonderous ways - for this morning it has been confirmed that Nayati has indeed been found safe and sound, released early this morning by the kidnappers on a highway lay-by near Rawang, about half an hour's drive from Kuala Lumpur. The family paid a substantial ransom after a protracted series of negotiations with the curs. You can read the link to the news coverage here - Click Here.

So the dream was true after all. And I am happy, because his pictures were everywhere and long would I have been haunted by his face if the worst were to have happened. But as it turns out, he is back, alive and unharmed in the embrace of a relieved family. As a father myself, I can only imagine the overwhelming sense of relief that the parents must be feeling right now - the world is once again wonderful and full of infinite happy possibilities. May God bless them and protect us always.

As for the kidnappers and their ill-gotten gains? This world is very small, and justice will find its mark, sooner or later. I do not like to wish bad things on anyone, but I believe that when you weigh karma in such a negative way by threatening the life of an innocent child... how will you answer God for your actions? I pray that the criminals will repent and find ways to redeem themselves with God and the rest of mankind.

But again, alhamdulillah for little Nayati! For it is a joyful news to savour!

May you continue to have a happy day, sunshine!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Win Some, Lose Some. But When Weighed On The Cosmic Scale... Win! Win! Win!

They may be thieving curs,
but they care about oral hygiene.

Lose Some. We had a little break-in over the weekend at the office. We lost 2 CPUs and 3 monitors. All other assets are accounted for thus far, so we Thank You God for Your Mercy. On the plus side our back-up system on an external hard drive will help us recover and update our files.

In our preliminary inspection we noticed that the burglars had opened one of our staff's mouth cleanser that she kept on her desktop. So if you come across a dubious looking character with a fresh pepperminty breath and lugging 2 CPUs for a quick-sale, please call us and we will get the police to apprehend the thief!

The ease by which these burglars carry off the now-prevalent slim monitors has persuaded us to replace the stolen monitors with the traditional fat boys. Let's see how easily they can carry off and sell these little monsters! 

Ye old Traditional 'Fat-boy' computer  monitors. More difficult to steal.

Win Some. On the plus side, I have found a beautiful little website called Healing Hearts, which would be of interest to Muslims, if they are interested to learn more of God, Prophet Muhammad and of course, themselves. It may also be of interest to anyone curious about Muhammad and Muslims' loving veneration of their Prophet. It is packed-full of beautiful stories to inspire and sustain us in these days of deception, hate and hubris. It was a reader known as Surya Dharma who pointed me to Healing Hearts, and the very first article I read was entitled 'How is Your Love for Me?', a short story about the Prophet and his wife Aishah.  

So we win some, we lose some. I lost my computers over the weekend, but I also gained access to a beautiful website packed with well-thought articles about Muhammad Habibullah. On the cosmic scale, what I have lost is incomparable to what I have gained.

Have a lovely day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way.

The Dead Sea, Jericho, and Karma at the Israel-Jordan Border - Umrah Pilgrimage Part 15

The Dead Sea

(Sorry for the delay, but this posting is the continuation and 15th part on my Umrah Pilgrimage) THE DEAD SEA. After the shrine of Moses, it was perhaps about half an hour's ride to the Dead Sea. It was a wet and rainy morning, so we all took shelter at the shop which was doing brisk business with Jewish and Arab tourists, who looked quite surprised to see our 50-odd crowd descending upon the small shop. This locality is famous for being the lowest spot on earth, about 418 metres below sea level. Left with no US Dollars, I got my friends to treat me to hot chocolate, which is the best drink in this cold weather. Brrr!

The Dead Sea Ashtray

For awhile I was famous, being the smoker at the lowest point on earth. How did the Marlboro taste at that altitude? Still good. Now, that's the problem, kiddo.

Err. This must be some kinda mistake

JALUR GEMILANG (name of Malaysian flag) IN ISRAEL. And this, must be the Malaysian flag at the lowest point on earth. We had quite a chuckle because Malaysia has no diplomatic relations with Israel. But I guess the proprietor bought a stock of national flags and just decided to raise them all up, regardless of diplomatic niceties.

Shalom!

FARMS AND THE FRONTIER. We came in peace. And as the sign instructed, we left the Dead Sea Resort in peace too. Its worthwhile to note that even in this seemingly infertile land, the Israelis appear to be growing some crop or rather. It looked like date palms, but I could be mistaken. In fact, as we made our way later through the frontier land facing Jordan, the Israelis are trying very hard to populate the region with small self-contained townships and farms dotting their outskirts. I never saw any farmhand at work during the afternoon, save for a couple of Arabs, but the vegetables and olive trees appear to be flourishing under the desert Sun.

Really? Oldest?

JERICHO prides itself as being the oldest city (as well as being at the lowest altitude) in the world. It is adjacent to the Dead Sea, and from the resort we could already see the town. Arriving absolutely hungry, we made our way directly to the cafeteria, after which we bought some souvenirs from the shop below - "The lowest lowest prices at the lowest lowest shop in the world!" the banner should have read. By this time the guide and bus driver was absolutely worried that we will be missing our flight from Amman to Medina. The drive from Jericho to Amman is not exactly near, and there is still the border crossing that we had to contend with.

Hashemite means the lineage to Bani Hashim, the Clan of the Prophet

A LITTLE PROBLEM EXITING ISRAEL. Our exit from Israel was directed to be via Sheikh Hussein Bridge which was a long, long way off from Jericho, instead of the much nearer King Hussein Bridge. That added at least an hour plus to our already oppressed time-management. At Israel immigration control, they processed us as fast as they could, but still took more than an hour (oh no!) and thereafter one poor dude was actually called into the interview room. I don't know why, maybe he looked like a security threat, but really I don't think so. While waiting for him, I was sitting behind the bus with Matt, and it appears that maybe our unfortunate friend's current predicament is perhaps not so coincidental after all. It was nothing really, but it appears that during the group's tour (which I opted out, remember?) after al-Aqsa Mosque, the dude was kinda rude to our Arab tour guide, ranting with expletives (!) at the poor man and witnessed by the group. "It's Karma", says Matt. Well, I have had my fair share of Karma biting in me in my bum, so I just nodded.

Anyways, after half an hour, the guy came out grinning out of the immigration complex. "Quick! Quiiiick! We must hurry!", our driver shouted as he hustled and bustled us up into the bus. Along the way, our Jordanian guide (who joined us at the border) told us that the Jordan, which is part of the Great Rift Valley is also known as the bread basket of the region, growing a lot of the vegetables and fruits for export to the Arab and Mediterranean countries. The Jordanians however aren't pleased because they say that the Israelis are taking too much water from the River Jordan.

The Prophet's Mosque, Medina

BOUND FOR MEDINA. It was a mad 3 hour's drive from the border to Queen Alia International Airport. Along the way, I noticed festooned on bridges, government buildings, military facilities, gateways, housing complexes and shops were the smiling picture of King Abdullah of Jordan, looking dour and mostly alone, but sometimes together with the picture of the Crown Prince, who must be in his early teens. We finally arrived at the airport about half an hour before the flight. Thanks to the pre-arrangement via phone by our tour leaders, the Major and Abu Ayob, we breezed through Jordanian passport control. My only hiccup was at the security scanner, where in a state of mad frenzy I deposited my phone, sandals, cane, slingbag, wallet, passport, boarding pass, cigarette and other assorted personal items into four separate boxes. "I am sure I will forget or lose some of them!" I worried. But of course being on pilgrimage, we had the Devil's luck - I got them all back safely.

Soon I was sitting in the plane bound for Medina, musing on the past 48 hours' travel and the sights I have seen in Palestine-Israel, and hoping that one day I shall return to the Land of the Prophets. But for now I was contented - Happy to know that in two hours' time I shall be stepping onto the blessed soil of Medina, City of the Prophet Muhammad, my Habibullah and Mercy to the Worlds. Even in my exhaustion, that made it all worth while.

Have a beautiful day, sunshine.

Pax Taufiqa