Humour, The Cup of Ikhlas and The Path of Endurance

Piety & Irony

Oh my Lord, oh my Prophet,

Forgive me for hiding my serious-ity,

Containing my deep felt yearning

And my heart that oft becomes teary

And the thought of You...

Between the levity in piety

And the sweet, sweet humour in irony,

You very well know where my place is...

Between Abdul Qader and Rumi

Sits me, between the aisles

And beneath the Prophet's radiant smile!

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Humour and The Cup of Ikhlas
I spend a little time in a day, observing the chatter on Facebook. And I am attracted most to those who give me their brand of piety in little and often humorous bite-size nuggets of faithful reflection on God, the Angels the Prophet, His Companions, the Saints and Mankind.

But you don't know people really. Especially on the internet, and sometimes we inadvertently cross the line between what is respectful and what is disrespectful in the perception of people. But for my friends, humour (especialy irony) is an essential part of their faith. Because without humour, we become, let's face it, boring old farts and we start to take ourselves WAY too seriously. And that often enough, can lead to self-righteousness and hubris - which is the poison to the Sufi's Cup of Ikhlas (Sincerity) - the holy grail sought by all mystics through out the ages, regardless of their religion.

The Sufi Path is an Endurance Race, not a Short Sprint

So we try to keep our comments in this almanac and on the FB wall light and breezy. Not because the matter in discussion is unimportant. But because we need to maintain a decent pace in how we live our life and try to avoid committing into words holy promises which we may not be able to live up to. The path (Sufi Tariqa) is not a short sprint but an endurance race. We race over hills of joy and valleys of sadness, through bogs of doubt and up highlands of certainty, through a route set by He Who Organises Best (aka God). And lo, how God makes it so interesting for us!

So there it is. My apologia for my lack of levity and serious-ity about religion. But to share a secret with you, sunshine... I am very serious with my humour and do try my best to keep everyone entertained...

Hehehe.

Thank you for coming by, today. God bless.

wa mi Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Snapshots along the Path - Cartoon Saturday Part 1!

Good morning, sunshine. I am still not awake. Around midnight, Mikhail, my brother and myself drove to a nearby food-court for a late supper. Now you can blame me for being lazy, but I shall not write anything today. So I hope you don't mind if I re-hash some of my old cartoons. I hope you have not read any of them yet. In the early years, I have found that a cartoon sketch sometimes best illustrates the interesting and curious occurrences in the spiritual journey of the Path (Tariqa). I try(ish) to be a good mureed (student) and be all serious, but frankly when I catch my reflection on the mirror, I cannot help but sometimes laugh...

(Footnote: Rabia al-Adawiyah is an uber-famous female Sufi saint. She has the
propensity of twisting the turban tails of male Sufi saints... hehehe)

Have a wonderful sabbath, sunshine. Always look on the light side of life.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Why Evil Exists, and why Believers like you need Sinners like me. *evil laughter*

Why is the propensity of evil permitted to exist? Because only through these soulful examinations can we show true devotion – devotions which would gleam with the inner iridescence of precious stones, to illuminate lives of other man and beings- Does man not reflect on how the most beautiful and valuable gemstones are bred through the gripping pressure of earth and time. How after eons of subjugation beneath the soil, from dark and blackened coal, diamonds are born? My kind readers, we are the coals, the weight of the mountains bearing upon them are the challenges we face in this life, and to become diamonds and adorn the hand of the Prophet (Pbuh) our most-sought end (should only we knew better), so that the Prophet(Pbuh) may say in His presence; O’ Lord Most Forbearing, look at my people, are they not beautiful in their devotion and gratitude to You? Are they not shining in their trusteeship of the trust You have settled upon them? Do their brows not shimmer in devout humility to You? O’ Lord, be pleased unto them, as I am unto them!
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(….Perhaps another sad analogy that can be drawn as to why such small portion of creation constitute these precious stones)
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Everything is known by its opposites. What is spoken love if not put to the test? Empty words of no consequences! Better to attempt to inscribe it on running water than to suggest that its verbal declaration suffices as proof. Bring me a man or woman who has never suffered a betrayal by another who professes love or friendship, then would I entertain such mortal fancies! Devotion, love, appreciation, empathy, forgiveness, understanding and all such high ideals only ennoble man by its adherence regardless. Virtue is only affirmed by a challenge to its pre-supposed eminence in the heart of its holder. We may discern such truths from the play of darkness and light; How do we shine if there is no darkness to shine through? How can we recognize light and say; “that is light!” if no shadow lies by its fringes and no outline marks its borders? How would you recognize a good man without knowing a bad one(or at least an idea of what constitutes a bad person) in comparison. The Maulana Sheikh Nazim al-Qubrusi speaks in a chapter entitled ‘Everything Is Known By Its Opposites’ thus; “Everyone is appointed to an important position in this life, and just as more aspects of light are absorbed into the consciousness by means of the awareness of darkness, so is the wisdom of the believer sharpened by the existence of wretched individuals”.
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If all the heavens stayed bright and clear, and there is no night, who would appreciate the luminous and Blessed stars that dot the twilight sky? Herein lies beauty and many abject truths, so reflect o’ lovers of the Light and Love;

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“Blessed is He Who made constellations in the skies, and placed therein a Lamp and a moon giving light.

And it is He Who made the night and the day to follow each other: for such as desire to be mindful or to show their gratitude (Al-Furqan, 25:61-62) ”

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The above is an extract from the uncompleted unpublished book (circa 2001) of mine entitled "THIS WORLD IS MY MOSQUE - A Walk Through a Twilight Forest under a Crescent Moon", which was earlier touched on in the posting entitled Mawlana Abul Kalam Azad Part 2 (Click Here). I was such a serious little fella back then. Or at least I used to write in such a vein. Now I appear to be writing in the vein of the grape vine, replacing water with wine, pomposity with levity. Ah, what a wretched sinnerI am! Ya Huu!

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God bless you, sunshine. May your virtues shimmer like the full moon compared to the dusky grey template of my contradictions. Like the Maulana rightly pointed out, you know - You need sinners like this blogger to sharpen your true wisdom.

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Pax Taufiqa

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A NECESSARY POST SCRIPT (9 am, Saturday 5th Feb) - The idea of 'evil' has changed for me. 10 years on, it has become a far more subtle event, and it can hide in the many many folds of our mind. It has no sway in our hearts, I believe. And if evil is done, it is never because of the exhortations of our hearts, instead it is because we refuse to listen to our heart, obeying instead the whispering dictates of our ego and nafs - sometimes patently bad, but often disguised as the best of intentions... It is a delicate affair, my friends, being alive... may your inherent goodness guide you to a good and goodly life. And beware of the whispers!

5. Only Whispers
Evil, if you wish it a name,
Has no powers,
Only whispers.

(Poem from Chapter 26, 'Stay Clear' circa 2007)

An Angelic Message via Mr. Funny Guy

I was in your neighbourhood, sunshine, and I thought it would be a good time to drop in. So I followed the smell of your mother’s cooking and the gospel that was playing in your soul. But arriving at your heart’s door, I was surprised to find an angel peeking through a hole along your white picket fence! The angel was a creature of light and cloaked in feathers of light. He was too engrossed with whatever he was looking at that he did not notice me at all.

I crept close beside him. Well, I guess the correct term is ‘it’, since angels are without gender, but frankly I just do not have the moral fibre to refer to an Angel of God as ‘it’. But I am enough of a fusspot to ask the winged herald, “What the heck are you doing?”

The angel was totally unaffected by my sudden appearence, turning calmly to me and smiling. I find this apparent inability of angels to be surprised infuriating sometimes. But that is besides the point, anyway, this was his reply, “Hi, Taufiq! I was just wondering how to plug this hole.”

Indeed? You were not sneaking a peak?

The angel drew back and stood up to his full height, casting a shadow of light upon me. “Angels do not peek.” He replied coldly. “We merely observe”.

"Hey! I am not judging you." I chuckled. “It is all the same to me - To-may-to To-mah-to, you know. Hehehe.”

The angel gazed at me for a moment before replying, “Ah… We were warned about you, Son of Adam. You are the one that likes to make Ha-Ha. Mr. Funny Guy they call you amongst the lesser brethren”.

“What a pack of lies!” I rejoined hotly.

“You say that, but you are clearly lying."” The angel continued. “I discern that this is yet another one of your attempts at humour.”

Okaay, this angel is a critic. I decided to move on and said. “Oh, nevermind. I am going in now. Are you coming? Or are you too busy ‘fixing’ the peak-hole…”

“I must fly, mortal, for I have urgent errands. As for the hole, I shall ask one of the cherubims to plug it. But this you can tell your friend – That when he sings praises of God, please stop singing the hymns with such sincerity. Or at least not too loud. For he is distracting us from our assignments. Peace!” With that, he was away, flying at a great velocity until he was a speeding little dot in the farthest horizon of your conscience.

Well. Ahem. Here I am then, sunshine… And that was the angel’s message. So keep the volume down, will you?

Hehehe.

Have a good Friday, sunshine.

Pax Taufiqa.

The Servant and the Master, Rumi and Abdul Qadir Geylani

PARK HERE. Many eminent people park their cars in the multi-level car-park of my soul, but two names often appear on the bumper stickers - Mevlana Jalaludin Rumi and Shaykh Abdul Qadir Geylani (note that spellings of their names differ according to the book / website that you are reading). They are revered as saints and masters of the Path (Tariqa).

ASK FOR A MASTER. I never did, but a friend of mine, Ranaz once said, “O’ Taufiq. I made a good bargain with God. God always asks us to pray to Him for help. Well last night, I asked Him to find me a true Master. A Man of God who will help and guide me through this world. If God does grant my wish, well and good, but if He doesn’t, He cannot very well then blame me if I fail to stick to the straight and narrow, right? I have got all the bases covered!”.

JALALUDIN RUMI. The great master was once reputed to admonish a seeker who was traveling to see Shaykh Abdul Qadir Geylani. “No, No, don’t go to that shaykh. Stay with me! Stay with me!”

SHAYKH ABDUL QADIR. This sublime master once said, “Whoever doesn’t have a master, I will be his / hers!” He is yours, you know. The default Shaykh. Hehehe.

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Initially, I rather thought Shaykh Abdul Qadir to be an exponent of tough love. Being the coward that I am, I therefore ran to Rumi, only to find him a little err… dramatic for my taste. Hehehe. So now I bounce like a beachball between one and the other. I am no scholar though. I have never finished reading any compilation of Rumi’s work. Others however appear unable to get enough of this fellow’s prose. In 2002, Time Magazine named him the best-selling poet in the western hemisphere. Wow. Dead for centuries and still shooting arrows of love into the hearts of man.

OKAY, SERIOUSLY SERIOUS. The sinner here wishes to apologise. Firstly, for making jokes that isn’t funny, and secondly, for the flippant writing about topics, that let’s face it, are seriously serious, like religion, soul, life, hope, hubris, hate, mankind, prophets, saints, love and God. I write with levity and humour (well, my idea of humour) because my day job is a lawyer and draughtsman. I have legally serious terms coming out of my Wazoo. Nuances, definitions and interpretations of words are my bread and butter. My battlefield lies in statutory meanings, and customary usage of words. By my pen I try to bring a little certainty into the tumultuous world of commerce and contracts. It can get tiring. It is my daily relief therefore, to be able to write what I write here. 6 years ago, worn and world-weary, this sinner wrote…

167. World Weary
World weary,
The mind becomes numb,
And because it considers itself superior,
It feigns deafness to the good advice,
And exhortations of the heart.

The heart, unbowed, unbroken,
Takes its sustenance from a fountain
In the heart of a Shaykh,
Who draws sustenance
From the heart of Muhammad,
Who in turn, drinks from
The Fountain of Divine Presence,
Beyond which there is no further
Drawing or taking that we are aware of.

And Allah knows best.

YOU HIT THE JACKPOT. If you do come across a bona fide master, good for you! He will speak your name and you will think that no one has ever spoken your name in such a beautiful voice. Never have you heard your name sound so appealing… so beautiful. If people do not understand this relationship that you shall have with him, do not worry. It is your path, and only the master would understand what actually transpired…

8. The Observer
The man observed
The long line of devotees
Waiting outside the Master’s cottage.
Each entered. And in time
Each one left the cottage.
The observer approached everyone and queried;
“Are you happier now that you have met him?”

All in their turn answered, “Nay, we were mistaken.
He is not the one. He cannot help us.”

After awhile, the man left,
Convinced that the Master was a fraud,
Though he knew not, in truth,
What really transpired
Beneath the thatched roof.

BAH! HUMBUG! What people do not understand, they become suspicious of. And perhaps a little envious. This is a common perception faced by all apprentice of love in all religion. Your critics shall say that you are stupid to place someone between you and God. They shall say that man is supposed to be a servant to God and no one else. They will say that this is innovation. They shall say all this because they forget an old wise saying… “If you cannot bow to another man, how can you bow to God? If you are not a servant to mankind, how will you ever be a servant of God?” Dear friends, the best of Masters is the best of Servants and the best of Servants is the best of Masters. That is the rule, but some people will not be able to circumnavigate their mind through this Sea of Love... Not everyone are born to be sailors, you see...

13. I am a servant II
I am a servant,
But it is my Master
That supports me,
Attending to my every need,
Knowing what is best for me,
The Guarantor of my success,
My Love, My Layla.

O’ gainsayers!
Begrudge not my happiness.

For what you call the chain of servitude,
I call home.

And what you say is your mind,
I call it a prison of self-deception.

THEM ARE FIGHTING WORDS! Hehehe. Well, do not take what I write here too seriously, pumpkin. I am after all a sinner (and, OH God… a lawyer too!). But you, who are bright and fresh like a boiled egg, you would see better and travel further along the spiritual path to God. My only hope is that wherever you find yourself, perhaps atop some peak of guided enlightment, you will not forget this old sinner. You will write me a postcard, yes? .

Have a good day, sunshine. Meow.

Pax Taufiqa.