Hate Need Not Be Their Fate - the encounter between the World of Hate and the World of Love

A verse of Rumi

Sings from the book,

Reminding me, once again,

That Love was here

Before me,

A smiley drawn

On a sandy shore,

Tells me, once again,

That Love was

Here before,

The peddlers of hate

Often tell us that

Their hate was here

Before they were born,

But beneath the rainy sky,

And across the fields of corn,

Walking through a lavender field,

I cannot but wonder why...

Why do they live their life for hate,

When theirs were a home

That Love built?

And for whatever stories

That they might hear...

Hate need not be

Their fate.

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Mawlana Abul Kalam Azad

History and Present Hate. Pundits, the dogs of war and the hyenas of the mainstream like to portray the conflicts in the world today as a generational inheritance. An age-old dispute and blood feud passed down from father to son. Whether they are spouting generalizations about the so-called East-West conflict, the so-called Clash of Civilizations between Islam and Judeo-Christianity, the Sunni and the Shia, or the Sinhalese and  the Tamils, at the end of the day, for an age-old hatred to find expression, someone in the present, not in the past, must take up arms to inflict harm on his neighbour. So we should stop blaming the past for the past, as if we are dogs collared and destined to perpetuate the hate, bigotry and hubris of our forefathers. 

Mahatma  Gandhi

Another Planet. What do you feel when you watch the television news or read the media coverage? For myself, I find that the hatemongers and patronizing opinions of the so-called impartial pundits to be a broadcast or a news article from some strange and hideous world that is not mine, and nor do I think, it is yours. 

For hating and hate-filled people live in a separate planet entirely on their own, whether they call themselves Buddhist, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Christians, Agnostics or Atheists. Oh, they may be walking on the same Earth as we do... but their Earth, their world is very, very different. The brewers of hate and the warlocks of war tread in a world contrary to the world of Mahatma Gandhi and his friend and counsel, Mawlana Abul Kalam Azad... and of course, our dear old bleeding heart, Rumi the Fluent.

A Footnote in History. To them, let it be their way, for us, ours. For in the inevitable encounter between the World of Hate and the World of Love, hate becomes nothing but a footnote in the unveiling of Divine Power, of which, we sinners and believers, may play some small part in. 

May you have a lovely day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

I AM YOUR FIRST SNOWFALL - unity of God

First Snowfall 

I am not a Sufi,

I am not a Dervish,

I am not a Student of anything,

I have no love to give,

So I need you to give me love,

I have no real understanding,

So I need you to give me understanding,

I am the broken flute in the back row,

I am the one hidden behind the pillar,

I am the one outside the prayer hall,

But I am here because I heard you 

When you called.

Like winter you came,

And like a facsimile of love,

I am your first

Snowfall.

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After I finished the subuh (dawn) prayers, I scuttled away from the Sufic gathering. I joined a new friend for breakfast, though he did not know he was my friend (and neither did I). Only after fifteen minutes of engaging talk did my Hindu friend said, "Ah... we have been talking for a while, and I don't even know your name! My name is Raja..." I replied shyly, "I am Taufiq."

So what is your name, sunshine?

For whether you know it already or not, we are friends. Indeed more so, for we are brothers and sisters united in the worship of one God. We are the colourful threads weaved by God upon the divine tapestry of humanity. You are a Hindu? You are a Christian? You are Jew? A Buddhist?

No. You are me. And I am you.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The West and the Irrationality in Rationalism - get a grip, will you?

These are all good and religious people. But the rationalist-agnostic-atheist will have
you believe that Abul Kalam Azad, Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Theresa were good
in spite of their religious beliefs. Oh come on... And they accuse religious people of
being bigoted and condescending?

The West and The Conflict

We are not heirs to the Western conflict,

We are not participants in this debate

Between those who believe in God

And those who disbelieve…

We are not in their history,

We are not involved in their story,

We have no problems adapting,

We have no problems changing,

We have no problems tolerating

The many passions and strange obsessions of man,

Whether he is in secular study,

Or praying in religious robes…

For in their arguments

The agnostics and preachers,

The conservatives and liberals,

The Traditionalists and Progressives

All forget good manners and

Taint both rationalism and spiritualism.

May God save us from the earnest ones!

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I am an avid follower of American politics. And I guess I have become familiar and much acquainted with liberal progressive views propagated by the likes of Bill Maher and The Young Turks. And I am the first to admit that some of the brightest and sparkling intellectual stars do populate the agnostic atheistic constellation. I agree with a lot of what they say. They are smart, they are sexy and they are very persuasive. Just like me. Hehehe.

But I have discerned an air of smugness in the representations of their ideas against believers of God in the US. And they are starting the bad habit of pontificating, just like the Evangelicals that they abhor. This is not a good trend.

It doesn't matter what you believe to be the truth. Nobody wants to drink wine, however sweet and pure it may be, if it is served in a dirty glass. Bad manners = dirty glass.

I hope the rationalists will maintain their rationalism in their challenge against what they think to be the irrationality of religious people. "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind", said Mahatma Gandhi.

Don't you agree, sunshine?

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way.

A Man from Sweden and the Saints of India

Yesterday evening, I attended a meeting in a nearby hotel with an old client. Literally, he was old apart from having been with my firm since its inception in 2004. I was happy to see that his old Swede business partner was there. A man I have had the pleasure of making acquaintance a couple of times over the years. Shall we call him Ericsson?

Eric looked a little tired after traveling over 27 hours by car, train and plane to reach Kuala Lumpur from his hometown in Sweden. He too must be around my client’s age (about 67 perhaps), and was quietly working with his mobile office in the business lounge of the hotel. My client was late, so we chatted a bit.

I asked him about Sweden (“The economy is good. It is one of the strongest in the EU…”, pausing thoughtfully, “… for today. Tomorrow, who knows?”) and the sick states of Greece, Spain and Portugal. I do not know how, but our conversation drifted to his travels (he is a world traveler), and in one part he made this rather innocuous remark, “India is full of very rich and very, very poor people. The poor people live in the streets, and when I pass by them, I know that God do not exist”. He paused and looked at me, and I was wondering whether he expected me to reply or make some comment. But I didn’t. Instead I returned to our original topic and asked about Iceland. Later my client arrived and I left Eric to attend my client in a cosy private corner of the place.

After work I was exhausted, so I fell asleep early. 6 hours on, here I am - Awake and bright-eyed in the early hours of Saturday in a Mamak restaurant near my house. I was surrounded by foreign Chinese students having a late supper, and denizens of the night clubs drinking hot milky tea and eating roti canai before returning to their beds. I cannot go back to sleep because I keep recalling what Eric said. And what answer, if any, I could have given.

On the way here, I saw a sight which struck me. On the road was the lifeless body of a beautiful black kitten. It was probably run down a couple of hours earlier, perhaps when I was safe asleep in my bed. Does this also mean that God doesn’t exist?

It is easy to despair. It is a door that is always open for us to walk through. And witnessing the easy death of a beautiful cat, or the teeming hungry masses of humanity of India, despair appears the easiest path to accept. I can almost hear Despair inviting me. “Come in, Taufiq.” I hear it speaking to me. “There is no God. Otherwise I, Despair, would not exist.”

But I cannot. Not because I am a superman with some profound understanding of life. But I have seen with my own eyes the dogged determination of mankind to persevere no matter the hardship. To wake up in the morning, praising God, alhamdulillah, and to fall asleep, again thanking Him, alhamdulillah. And I have also heard the whispered oath of the caregivers – the Mother Theresas, the Gandhis, and the Mawlana Abul Kalam Azads of India… all who live for the sake of others, finding fulfillment and God Himself in caring for the sick, the needy and the homeless –

THE SELFISH SAINTS
I am a selfish person,
I cook for the hungry,
Because if I do not,
Then to me,
God ceases to exist.

I am a selfish person,
I build homes for orphans,
Because if I do not,
Then to me,
God ceases to exist.

I am a selfish person,
I give all my wealth away,
Because if I do not,
Then to me,
God ceases to exist.

I am a selfish person,
I attend to the lepers
And the dispossessed,
Because if I do not,
Then to me,
God ceases to exist.

And to be absent
From His Presence
Is to me,
The most painful lesson
That this life can offer.

God doesn’t exist in words, whether written or uttered. God is manifest in His Most Compassionate and Merciful attributes in the tireless working hands of the caregivers of this world. God bless Ericsson and all caregivers of this world. We owe them our humanity.

Have a charitable Sabbath, sunshine.

Pax Taufiqa.

Japanese Tsunami, Democratic Tsunami, Education & the Informed Voter

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DEMOCRACY. You may notice from my previous postings (Click Here) that I am not an unconditional admirer of democracy. Democracy, like any system by which you run your country, and indeed your life, is subject to the quality and integrity of the operators of the system.

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COMMUNISM AND OTHER RELIGION. After all, if you were to read the Constitution of the former Soviet Union, the freedom of religion is protected in the document. But that didn't stop the government oppression of all religious practices in the country, especially the Russian Orthodox Church, and Islam in the Central Asian states (you know, all those '...stans').

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ISLAM & OTHER RELIGION. It is also my belief that Islam respects and accepts the mix of religions of this world which venerate our One Single God. This 'Unity of Religion' is mentioned by Mawlana Abul Kalam Azad in his brilliant book (Click Here), and here too he finds it strange why such an integral and core belief of the Prophet has been intentionally or unwittingly ignored or even suppressed. This is the unfortunate result of a disconnect between the faith and those who practise it. This human illness is a common disease in all forms of belief systems.

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THE DEMOCRATIC TSUNAMI. Unless you have been sitting under a coconut shell like a frog, you will know of the tidal wave of democractic protests crashing into the countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The media calls the demonstrations and rallies as an expresson of pro-democratic movements. And I guess they are right in the sense that people are fighting for some pretty basic demoractic rights from rulers who have perhaps been in power waaay too long. But the question is what plans do they have once they have toppled their autocratic leaders? This crucial issue must be resolved by the people. If they don't do it, two things may happen - the country will descend into further chaos OR someone else will decide for them. They need a plan.

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This is not a plan.

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THE PLAN? We have been hearing almost nothing about the specific ideas and objectives of these pro-democracy movements. In fact, there appears to be no clear leadership. And that is worrying..

THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION. In whatever system you choose for your country, there must be some process or tradition by which people are educated. Because, lets face it, voting is a highly emotive choice and such decision-making must be made in context of long-term benefits for the country, a healthy knowledge of the origin and history of its people, a respect for the often conflicting interests of different communities, races and religion, and a broad if not specific understanding of technology and sciences, geo-politics and the economy. You are not born with this information already downloaded in your brain. This basic general knowledge must be learnt. And a liberal advance tradition of education is the key to make what I call the Informed Voter...

The devastating wave

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JAPANESE TSUNAMI. I am not a card-carrying Nipponophile (is there such a word?). But we must accept that these Japanese have arisen like the phoenix from the traumatic years and ashes of World War II. There are much in the habits and traditions of the Japanese that deserves to be applauded and emulated. And I believe that the Japanese in their calm and canny ability to sort our problems will be able to save the most lives, compared to many other countries around the world. To put it simply, their high quality education system will bear fruit in these times of national tragedy and emergency, when everyone needs to now to roll up their sleeves and get digging.

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Saved! Ya Huuuu!

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HIGH QUALITY EDUCATION is the seed for any human enterprise, whether it is voting for the mayor of your town, planning to topple a dictator, saving people stuck on rooftops or trying to figure out how to repair a broken nuclear reactor.

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Thank you for reading my blog today, sunshine. May we all learn something new every day till the day we finally graduate from the University of Life. And may the Chancellor-God Almighty be pleased with our performance. Amen!

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Pax Taufiqa

Unity of Religion, Moderation and Tolerance

13. Moderation
If you choose moderation,
You must be moderate
To those who are not.
And not let your understanding
Lead you to become
What you oppose.

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MODERATION. I get moderation. But oh, in so many aspects of my life I am immoderate... my temper (especially while sharing the road with idiotic drivers - see!), my liberal food consumption, my cigarettes... all these bad things I do... I do it immoderately well.

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While talking to an old buddy of mine last night, the topic spanned into Islam, secularism, the OIC, belief and how religion has been co-opted into the politial mainstream. This I hope to write about later. What I wish to share with you is when he accused me of being tolerant of other faiths!

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GOD LABELS. I guess you could say that I am understanding. Indeed what brought this up is when I said that when it comes to dealing with your co-religionists, it is important for you, whether you are Christian, Jewish or Hindu to support and conform to the forms and labels of your religion. After all, that is the distinguishing fact by which you build unity and brotherhood within your faith. On the other hand, when it comes to interaction with other faiths, what is important to highlight is not the forms and labels - but rather the commonly held belief behind the different names and forms by which the One God is worshipped in different creeds. Common beliefs like steadfastness, patience, kindness, charity, love and compassion. These things by which God is recognised and devotedly worshipped and loved by a Rabbi, a Reverend or a Buddhist Abbot.

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IF IT IS EASY IS IT TOLERANCE? But can you say that I am tolerant? For me (and I may be mistaken), tolerance means that there is some will or conscious decision on your part - an inner struggle to accept/tolerate what does not conform to your personal world view. But the pluralism which underlies my belief in the Quranic message of Unity of Religion (see earlier posting on Mawlana Abul Kalam Azad's writings on this -Click Here) is not the conclusion of intellectual thought. It is an overwhelming feeling. So I do not have to struggle to be 'tolerant'. It just happens.

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Oh well, who cares, sunshine. After all, isn't my obsession is in the meaning behind the words and not the words themselves? So what does it matter by which names you and I are called... when in Truth, I only hope to follow your good example - united in worship to the Absolutely One God Almighty.

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Have a delightedful Monday, pet.

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Pax Taufiqa

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Picture - It is the Church of the Transfiguration, in Blue Mountain Lake, New York. I just thought it looked beautiful in a cozy sorta way.

Al-Rahman & Al-Rahim, Mawlana Abul Kalam Azad & the Beautiful You

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'On earth are signs for men of firm belief,

and also in your own selves :

will ye not then notice them?'

(Q : 51 : 20-1)

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WHO IS THE LORD HERE? There is nothing to hide the hidden praises of the Universe from our perception, save where we think ourselves masterly. For such praises are raised in the clouds above our heads, upon the earth that we walk and in our very own mind, body and soul. But if we think ourselves lordly, we only turn ourselves blind and deaf to the endless praise sprung for another Lord, the One and True Lord, God Most Most Compassionate (Al-Rahman) Most Merciful (Al-Rahim).

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THE MEANING OF AL-RAHMAN AL-RAHIM. What does Al-Rahman and Al-Rahim mean anyway? There are countless exposition on these names and attributes of God, but I shall turn to the boon companion of Mahatma Gandi and India's first Minister of Education, Mawlana Abul Kalam Azad’s belief in his seminal book, ‘The Opening Chapter of the Quran’, where he wrote (in page 47)…

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”The terms Al-Rahman and Al-Rahim are derived from Rahmat. The term Rahmat in Arabic is used to denote the type of tenderness which stimulates in one the urge to show kindness to others. Its connotation is wide enough to cover the qualities of love, compassion, benevolence and generosity…The two term Al-Rahman and Al-Rahim, though both are derived from the same root of Rahmat, denote two separate aspects of it. Al-Rahman means the being who possesses Rahmat ; and Al-Rahim means the being who not merely possesses Rahmat but gives perennial expression of it, and from whom everything in the universe derives goodness every moment…The purpose of the Quran in bringing to mind the aspects together is to emphasize the all-embracing character of the Rahmat of God…

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'And my Rahmat encompasseth everything in the universe.' (Q : 7 :155)"

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THE AMAZING MAN. I am quite enchanted with Mawlana Azad, but I fear he would find me a poor pathetic fool (if we are ever to meet in the future). I am not beneath being fond of his rugged good looks (see right), but before I ever saw any picture of him, it was his telling sincerity of his writing which bound my heart to his. How can I resist the good Mawlana, when in the name of God and the Prophet thus he inscribed in the pages of his book (in page 53)…”…The very nature of this universe is constituted of beauty. Even as elements were created to give form to the universe, even so was it invested with the qualities of colour, light and shade, and of rhythm and melody in order to lend beauty to it…

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’This is He who knoweth what is out of our knowledge an what is within it, the Mighty, the Merciful, who hath made everything which He hath created most perfect.’

(Q : 32 : 6-7)

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YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL. Disbelieve the form reflected in the mirror if it is ugly. How can you be ugly, pet? How can you be in a form that is less than most perfect. It is not I that says this, it is my Lord, your Lord, our Lord that is ever giving succor to our endless need for assurance. And when God affirms your beauty, who are we to deny? How blessed are we to have God as God!

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Have a fine day, beautiful... for today, tomorrow and forever more.

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Pax Taufiqa

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P/S. Earlier postings on or with reference to Mawlana Abul Kalam Azad -

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Writer's Block, Dead Poets, a Nun and a the Association of Pointy-Hatted Dudes

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WRITER'S BLOCK. Sometimes I just don't know what to write. This happens when the day has been particularly busy, and I had no chance for any thought or feeling to mature in the oak cask of my soul. Busy with work, busy with life generally. So my posting today may lack symmetry and a continuous theme. For that I beg your forgiveness, pet.

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NUN ON THE RUN. My fellow blogger, Nun Tuck is back with a vengeance. I guess she too were suffering from some form of writer's block. I am glad to see her writing regularly now. I bumped into what I believe to be her happiest posting (Click Here). It is noteworthy that the posting begins with a Rumi prose. This is purely coincidental. Or is it? It is a lovely turn of event that many of my blogmates all share the same weakness for this dead old poet (including Ruzbihan Baqli, Hafiz and the other usual suspects). I guess we are all members of the Dead Poets Society...

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THANKS. My friend Shamsul aka Atuk (also known as Moses in this blog) gave thanks to my brother indirectly through my earlier posting entitled A Little Note on my Brother's 47th Birthday. For you see, way back in 1988, my brother was already a pointy-hatted-turban-wearing curiousity in my house. With the mandatory walking stick and robe, my brother was in full regalia as a Sufi aspirant. Happily, my parents were tolerant of this wizard-like phantasm loitering about in our house. I just thought "Weird", and never gave it any further reflection. As my friend said, we were then too clueless to even know that we should seek 'something'. Well, fret not my friend, I replied. Even if we were not seeking 'something', we were still sought by 'something'. God bless God, the Giver of Gifts Undeserved.

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W.I.P. I am planning to write something about Mawlana Abul Kalam Azad. Hopefully I can get the reading done soon.

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Take care, sunshine.

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Pax Taufiqa

Chamang Waterfalls, Mawlana Abul Kalam Azad and Poseidon!

CHAMANG WATERFALLS. As mentioned in my earlier posting, today I went into the woods. Heche, Jehan, Kamarul, Fifi, Khaled and I visited the Chamang waterfall in Bentong, Pahang. Perhaps not really into the woods, as the hiking involved only taking 8 short steps down from the rest-area to the riverside. Click on the picture above for a better look!

STILL ALIVE. It was a wonderful break for us from the daily routine, and we found the waterfall empty of people. All this paradise to ourselves! But I had a small fright early in the day though. While playing in the water like seals, I missed my step and found myself in the deep centre of the stream. I was being pulled by the fast current and of course, I panicked. I trashed like a madman and tried to swim back against the current and inevitably I failed. Heche, who was eating on the rocky riverside shouted to Khaled and like Poseidon himself, Khaled strided through the water and pulled my raggedy wet arse to safety. My hero.

MAWLANA AZAD. After the short burst of drama, I decided to chill on dry land and dug out Mawlana Abul Kalam Azad’s book entitled ‘The Opening Chapter of the Qur’an’ - Surah Al-Fatihah' out of my bag. Skimming through the pages my eyes were drawn to this short paragraph…

“THE UNITY OF RELIGION AND THE QUR’AN. This great truth forms the primary basis of the Qur’anic call. Everything else that the Qur’an presents rests on it. If this fundamental is discarded, the entire framework of the Qur’anic message will get out of order. But the vagaries of history are strange. The greater the emphasis that the Qur’an lays on this truth, the stronger has been the inclination on the part of the world to side-track it. In fact, no other truth of the Qur’an has been kept so deliberately out of sight than this. Should one study the Qur’an with an open mind, with every predilection strictly kept aside, and look into its numerous clear assertions in this respect, and then look at those who nevertheless regard the religion of the Qu’ran as nothing else than an exclusive religious groupism, even as other religions, one will assuredly cry out that either the eyes of such people deceive them, or that they deliver their verdict on anything even without looking at it.”(page 152 – 153)

ISLAM IS NOT ABOUT ‘US’ AND ‘THEM’. That is the essence of what I read from the above paragraph. You may choose to disagree with me and if you do, great! For I can only beseech you to find a copy of Mawlana Azad’s book and read it for yourself. But whatever my spiritual limitations (and they are countless), I will stake my heart and soul on the words of this great Muslim and Indian – That the moment we forget the call for unity of mankind as preached by Muhammad the Beloved, ‘the entire framework of the Quranic message will get out of order.’ and Muslims will fall into the trap of religious hubris and ‘exclusive religious groupism’ that has haunted people of other faiths from year dot.

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MALAYSIA. Like India, my country is a land of many creeds. And we have to deal with the very different outer manifestation of religious laws and rituals that define the varying religions in my country. But Mawlana Azad made a very succinct point (but one which is often glossed over by people of all faiths) and that is religion has two facets – the essence or inner meaning, and the outer form (the rituals and laws). And he says that the inner essence of all religion is the same, ergo – a belief in God, love, family, charity, kindness and honesty.

A RIVER OF GOD. As if to exemplify this for me today, I must remind you that we were the first there by the river. But later arrived a young Chinese couple. Then another Muslim couple. After that a a Chinese mother and either an Arab or possibly Caucasian husband came by with their little baby girl. Immediately on their heels arrived five foreign Chinese lads (they were way too white to be our local Chinese). This ménage was followed by a gang of Indian and Punjabi boys. Finally, as I was packing away I noticed the arrival of an Indian family, with father, mother, grandmother, uncle and two little children of about 3(boy) and 5 (girl) years old. This motley crew of humanity was drawn here to the serene beauty of the waterfalls. A River of God, a place of happiness where for a moment people can forget their differences and play as Adam and Eve once did, in a place called Jannah (Paradise).

CUP OF JOY. I leave you today with thoughts of thankfulness to God and His Beloved Prophet and to the Saints and Angels that is forever keeping guard upon the gates of our soul. And of course, my appreciation to Heche, Kamarul, Khaled, Jehan and Fifi who made the day memorable for me in so many ways. I arrived home in the evening and my father, brother, nephews and Mikhail had just finished dinner. I am not a good man, but as I gazed at them I felt the completeness of my joy overflow.

Thank you, sunshine, for allowing me the opportunity to share today’s report with you.

Pax Taufiqa.

Footnote: You may click on the earlier posting about Mawlana Azad (but referred therein as Mawlana Abul) here in Part 1 and Part 2. On a side note, my friend, King, who works in Malaysia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs desires to be made known now that he is still working late into the night (its almost 1am now). It appears that he does this on a fairly regular basis. So, Malaysians, please pay your taxes.

Mawlana Abul Kalam Azad Part 2

No.9 Wonderful
Beauty made the world a canvas,
To paint His Names
In cosmic colour and hue.

And in between the First suns and the Last moons,
Beauty found time to create you.

MECCA, 1888. Mawlana Abul Kalam Azad was born to a migrant Indian family in Mecca in the year 1888. This boon companion of Mahatma Gandhi was described by the Mahatma himself as ‘The Emperor of Learning” and “a person of the calibre of Plato, Aristotle and Pythagorus”.

His father was reputed to be Sufi pir of the Qadiri and Naqshbandi Sufi Orders. Yet Mawlana Abul, although educated in the Islamic classic traditions, had a willful heart to explore beyond the books and sermons of the madrasah. His proficiency in Arabic, English, Urdu, Hindi, Persian and Bengali permitted him to study many knowledge and lore which would otherwise be locked away from him. When married with a highly astute mind and a compassionate heart, is it any wonder that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's referred to him as “a very brave and gallant gentleman, a finished product of the culture that, in these days, pertains to few”. When you consider the giant personalities of Gandhi and Nehru, you would know that such personal accolades are not something to take lightly.

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MY FIRST ENCOUNTER with Mawlana Abul’s book “THE OPENING CHAPTER OF THE QURAN” (Mawlana Abul Kalam Azad, Edited & rendered into English by Dr. Syed Abdul Latiff) was some 10 years ago while I was collecting notes and insights on the idea of Islam and the Environment for my book (grandly) entitled "THIS WORLD IS MY MOSQUE - A Walk Through a Twilight Forest under a Crescent Moon". Perhaps one day I should post some readable parts of my unfinished book.

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Anyways, while searching through my old notes last night, I came across this following extract from Maulana Abul’s book – “To visualize God as Rabbul’-Alamin or the Rabb (Lord) of all creation is to conceive Him as not only the Creator of everything in the universe but its nourisher and sustainer as well. The provision that He has made for the sustenance and growth of everything is made under a plan, so marvelous that every being is furnished with all that its particular nature demands for its existence, and at the same time, it is furnished in a manner that takes cognizance of every changing situation and need.”

GOD THE PAINTER. I remember thinking about Mawlana’s words and how if I consider God as the Ultimate Artist and Painter, God would not be any ordinary sort of painter. Such is the vacuum of meanings and substance before Creation that God’s canvas would be made of unimaginable nothingness. A canvas empty even of emptiness and devoid of even voidness. And upon this divine canvas, God found the time to paint each ant, each zebra, the forest and mountains, the lakes and the seas, the sky and the vast expanse of outer space and beyond. And while working on His Masterpiece, He found the inspiration to create you. Little ol’ you.

But as the Rabbul’-Alamin, the Painter of this vast Creation doesn’t stop painting. Indeed not a moment past from Untime to this moment when you are reading this post, that God has ever stopped painting. And were He like us, to grow tired and bored – and turns away from His Creation, all of Creation would cease to be nourished and sustained by His Grace and we, together with everything else would simply slip back into the unimaginable emptiness. All the colours of the worlds, each infinitesimal dot and speck of paint would fall from the canvas. A ripple of creation blinked away into a sea of absolute zero, where even memories would cease to exist.

RUBUBIYAT. But (thankfully) God is not like us. He loves all of Creation with a Love and Power which humbles our mind, thus wrote the Mawlana – “Indeed there are countless varieties of creation infinitesimally small in form that our naked eye cannot perceive them. For them, also, the Rububiyat of God has made the requisite provision for sustenance and growth with as much care as for the bulk elephant or the intelligent man. All this man can observe in his external world. Should he look into himself, he will notice that his life, at every moment of its existence, discloses a world of activity propelled by the Rububiyat* of God.”

LOVE THAT HAS NO LIMITATION. Such is the love that God has for you. Someone once commented about this blog. “Surely it isn’t as simple as that. Surely it is not just about love, kindness and mercy”. To my friend I reply here – It is. And the eternal sadness of mankind is that however we talk of love, singing and praising love in poems and novels, we fail to understand His Love. We refuse to believe that such Love as His Love could possibly exist. And we don’t even try. We put limitations on God when He Himself says He has none.

IMAM GHAZALI. Oh my dear friends, believe. And set yourself free of your mortal cage. Your body is imprisoned for awhile here in this world. But your heart, as Imam Ghazali once noted – is not of this world. Believe in His love and let your heart be the wings to fly you to Him…

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On this wonderful Wednesday, when I am sharing thoughts with Maulana Azad and Imam Ghazali (not to mention Nehru and the Mahatma), I bid you peace and love. Not of a sinner, but from these elevated souls to whom I owe so much.

Pax Taufiqa.

Footnotes:
Earlier posting - Mawlana Abul Kalam Azad Part 1 - Click Here.

* Rububiyat means, as quoted from Maulana Azad’s book, “…in Arabic, Rububiyat means nourishing. But the term is to be conceived here in its widest sense, for in the opinion of some of the leading lexicographers, the terms means, “to develop a thing from a stage to stage in accordance with its inherent aptitudes, needs and its different aspects of existence, and also in a manner affording the requisite freedom to attain its full stature”.

The poem ‘Wonderful’ is from chapter 8 ‘Dawn Came, the Song’ circa October 2004.

Mawlana Abul Kalam Azad Part 1

THE BOOK. About 7 or eight years back I came across this book. I was amazed by the beauty of the Author’s words, and found great love and solace in his compassionate exposition on the Al Fatihah. This is the first chapter of the Al Quran, and the name of the writer is Mawlana Abul Kalam Azad.

From the Movie 'Gandhi', Mawlana's character is wearing sunglasses, sitting next to Viscount Mountbatten

INDIA. If you happen to have a dvd copy of Richard Attenborough’s epic movie, Gandhi, you would have seen Mawlana Abul, as acted by Virendra Razdan, a famous Indian actor. For you see, Mawlana Abul was a boon companion of the Mahatma, and he broke ranks with his Muslim political allies, when he chose for a united India instead of a separate state for the Muslims. This was what he had to say …

“I am Muslim and profoundly conscious of the fact that I have inherited Islam’s glorious tradition of the last thirteen hundred years. I am not prepared to lose even a small part of that legacy. The history and teachings of Islam, its art and letters, its culture and civilization are part of my wealth and it is my duty to guard and cherish them. But, with all these feelings, I have another equally deep realization, born out of my life’s experience, which is strengthened and not hindered by the Islamic spirit. I am equally proud of the fact that I am Indian, an essential part of the indivisible unity of the Indian nationhood, a vital factor in its total makeup, without which this noble edifice will remain incomplete. I can never give up this sincere claim. (Presidential Address I.N.C Ramgarth, 1940)”

GANDHI. The breadth of his vision is difficult for me to put down to words, so there is nothing better than to quote the Mahatma himself who said, “Maulana Azad is the most forceful, truthful, and fearless satyagrahi and fighter against oppression and injustice that I have come across”.

He was a leader of great stature, and as a fighter for the freedom and independence of India, he was jailed together with Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and others for six years. In 1993, Mawlana Abul Kalam Azad was posthumously awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna.

The Mawlana is a man after your own heart – He stood for the unity of man, when politics were causing division between Muslims and Hindus, he stood for hope, when all were despairing to find any peace in post-British India, and above all, he was a man of God, his words and action reflecting his deep and profound understanding of the Most Beloved God, Lord of all Mankind…

“In all that a Muslim does, it should be a rule of action that he help whoever that may be doing good, even if a non-Muslim or an opponent, and avoid helping whoever may be doing evil, even if a Muslim and a companion… even if an idolater honour and worship God in his own way, he should not be shown disrespect, for the honour and worship of God, is, in any event, the honour and worship of God.”

When he passed away in 22nd February 1958, India and the world lost a shining beacon of Truth, Love and humanity. But he is still speaking, you see. His words ring with such compassion and humanity that the Lord of Words shall not allow such a man, such a voice to be still merely by the happenstance of death. He is often in my thoughts, and I hope that he is now in yours too. Oh, by the way, ‘Azad’ is his adopted pen name. It means Free.

So, go forth, sunshine! Exercise your freedom as the Mawlana once did, and just like he, remember… always choose love, charity, unity and compassion. Your example will lead sinners like me to some good, Godwilling.

Pax Taufiqa.

Footnote: As and when I shall continue writing about him, because really, a single posting does him no justice whatsoever. Here are some news / blogs links on the Mawlana that you may wish to read, Ummid, pilot-pooja, and 4to40.