UBAT (THE MEDICINE) - the remedy for bad manners, life and prayers...

Ubat

Ubat biadab

Ikutlah adab si-Abdi

Ubat si-hidup 

Ada dengan pesakit atau si-mati.

Ubat si-peminta

Hanya pada Si-Pemberi,

Medicine

The cure for bad manners

Is to follow the good manners of the Servant,

The cure for those living

Is with the dead or dying,

The remedy for the one asking

Is with The Only One giving,

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

Ubat biadab, ikutlah adab si-Abdi. The remedy for bad manners, which accounts for all the ills and sorrow of humanity is through good manners. For good manners should be the basis of our interaction with the world, from the people that loves us and the enemy that hates us, to the animals that we keep or is wild. Adab (good manners) in Islam encompasses the natural environment that nourishes us, how we organise our community, how we trade and live as neighbours. The very best adab rules even how we deal with inanimate things like rocks and sand, water and air - for there is nothing in this world that is not sustained by Allah (swt) and recites His Names and His praises. From the deep space of stars, galaxies and constellations, deep into the inner space between atoms, molecules and electrons - they all remember His Name and His Glory!

And there is no servant more steeped in servanthood to God and His Creation than Nabi Muhammad (saws), the first servant and prophet.

"I was a Prophet when Adam was between clay and water"

Ubat si-hidup ada dengan pesakit atau si-mati. My late mother (may Allah Almighty bless her soul) always took the time to visit the sick and the dying. Many years ago, our loyal gardener, Mr. Menon was injured in an accident and broke his leg. "When I woke up in the hospital, the first and only person I saw when I opened my eyes was your mother." So he recalled one morning as we chatted about my late mum. For my mother it was no-big-deal. It is a given thing, a natural order and manner that if whomever we know is injured, ill or dying, we must visit them. I wish I had such discipline and natural instinct. Because visitations to cemeteries, hospitals and the sick bed reminds us of our own transient state of health. For all the bad manners from which all ills and sorrows of humanity originates cannot happen until a man or a woman forgets their condition of being in utter need, love and mercy of God the Most Compassionate and Most Merciful.

And boy, do we need all the reminders we can get. So when your conscience is pricked, go and do not hesitate. Go to your friend at his sick bed or at the cemetery. Sickness or death is no impediment to the love and adab you may find there.

Ubat si-peminta hanya pada si-Pemberi. Whatever goodness we receive comes from the Giver, a.k.a. God Almighty. Oh, He may pick and choose the timing, the person, the condition and the form through which a goodness is given, but undoubtedly, for all believers, it is He who is the one and the only one giving. So we thank God all the time, for our parents and our siblings, for our kin and our friends, for the hospital treatment, for the house we are living in, for the car we are driving, and for the infinitesimal atoms and sub-atomic particles that (temporarily) cloth our spirit.

So, whatever and whenever we are asking for... only He can gives. Don't you agree, sunshine? 

So do not be shy with your asking. Ask God for God!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

-Notrumi Embun, 26th June 2014

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way 

Who am I? Hu is He? - lighting our way with remembrance... Allah Allah Allah...

Who am I? Hu is He?

When I am in the dark,

When all life appears black,

And there is no light to be seen,

I simply remember...

Who I am,

And Hu He is...

"Oh Lord, you are my Lord!

And I, your tired, helpless servant!"

And just like that a light appears,

First as a tiny flicker, then a white flame

Before bursting into a mighty blazing light,

A living light, a governing light!

Banishing away all my sadness,

All my fears and all my despair...

As my soul voices a whimper,

A whisper of gratitude...

"Oh Lord, I knew You would always care..."

('Hu' is used in Arabic, to mean 'He', signifying the only He in Absolute Existence, being God Almighty)

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

Yesterday I was unwell and kept to my bed, and today I am still a little weak. But the worst appears over, and things are looking up. I will not lie to you, sunshine, and say that my mind and emotion was unaffected. Seized in some moments, words tumble from my lips, Why... why, God... why?"

But then I remember Him, and that I am addressing Him. And that happenstances of 'good' and 'bad' fortunes are but labels we put to events that God has fated for us. So I say, "Alhamdulillah (praise to God), it could have been far, far worse. Thank You, God."

And to top it off, my ugly bout of eczema on my hands and feet seems to have faded away with a little gel cream I purchased from my neighbourhood pharmacy. And of course, I have passed through yet another chapter in my life with God, so when all things are considered, is there any other words I can express but Thank You to You, Allah(s.w.t.) and to Your Rasul, Muhammad Habibullah(s.a.w.s.)?

And thank you to you also, sunshine. For sharing a little corner of your thoughts with me today.

Even the longest storm has an end... 

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Pooh the Sufi Bear - the world and its sweet purpose

Honey World

"I am not asking for the world," Pooh said to the Lord.

"I am only looking for sweetness..."

To which God replied to the little bear, "Do not blame the honey

If you cannot taste its sweetness, Pooh."

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

I like Pooh Bear. And I like honey. In fact I have with me three types of honey. One from the Hadramaut desert of Yemen, one collected from the virgin rainforest of Malaysia, and the last one is from a cultivated honey farm in the southern state of Johor. 

Three Honeys. The most raw and slightly bitter tasting honey is from the rainforest, which is no surprise considering the different types of fauna and flowers that the bees take nectar from to make the honey. A close second is the honey of bees of the honey farm. But my favourite, the most smooth and mellow of all is the Hadramaut honey, rich and yet silky in its texture.

"The wise man...", says an old friend of mine, "...is the man who can taste the sweetness and richness of this world, but does not confine his understanding (and pleasure) in the mere physical sense. For he sees each sweet honey and fruit bringing him closer to the sweetness of the Divine Presence of God Almighty."

So may this Sabbath find you in the sweetness of life, dear Pooh... and in yourself, bringing sweetness into other people's.

God bless.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Want Some? asks Nigella - Chefs in the Kitchen of God

That looks yummy! And so does the spaghetti. 

Nigella and Me

Faith is like food,

What is the point of reading

Cooking books and watching

Cooking shows if we are never

Going to be able to taste it?

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

FOOD IS GOOD. "Ooh... what am I gonna eat during the breaking of fast?" I am asking myself every day. I am fat, you see. And it is because I like food. Nice delicious food. If God had wanted, He could have created us without the need to eat. And even if we did need to eat, He could have NOT left this Earth with so much delicious things for us. Delectable, savoury and sublime... fruits and vegetables, minerals and animals. In a manner of speaking, food is a great barakah and rahmat (blessing and grace) for humanity.

THE EGO ALSO AGREES! But our body (as one rainbow Shaykh said) is also the perfect host for our ego. Because God has also provided for our ego and has perfected a magnificent vessel and mechanism to sustain our ego - the human body. So when we eat, we are also giving food to our ego. But this catch-22 scenario covers not just our physicality, but the physicality and materialism of the world we exist in. This world too has been designed as a place to feed the needs of our ego.

A rainbow shaykh. 

MODERATION. With such odds stacked against us, what chance do we have to subdue our ego? Fat chance if left to our own devices. And that is why God has sent His prophets and messengers to humanity. To warn, to assure and to guide. To bring humanity to the path of moderation and simplicity. For mankind cannot run away from this world, after all, we bally have to live in it, like it or not. So we must take what we need to sustain our mind and body, but we are taught to do so in moderation, and not to overfeed the ego that we carry in our very bodies.

FAT MAN. As a fat man, I have failed to find the balance. Though in truth, food has become to me, at the age of 42, less hypnotic. It comes with the years, I guess. And the lessons I am learning from abusing my body as my limbs start to ache where they never used to, my sugar level is spiking, stairs-climbing becomes a daily jihad, and simply the mere act of walking must be measured and planned to avoid exhausting myself. Nothing beats pain and suffering as teachers of mankind.

FAITH AND FOOD. Another fine shaykh, one whom the rainbow shaykh likes to call a grandshaykh, a serious-and-right-proper shaykh also had something to say about food. Well, not actually food but in fact faith. Essentially, he said that the problem with this epoch is that some religious scholars and preachers often write books and give sermon about God and religion. But faith, just like food, is in the tasting and eating. It is no fun simply reading and listening. And as a avid foodie, I get what he means. What is the point of reading Nigella Lawson's book or watching her cooking show. I want Nigella to come over to my house and cook her Sunday roast beef.

A serious-right-and-proper shaykh, here with Charlie, HRH The Prince of Wales.
I am sure you have heard of him... 

KITCHEN OF GOD So look for the Chefs of Faith who can not only speak well and write books about God and the Prophet Muhammad(pbuh), but who can actually come over into your heart and bring God and the Prophet into the very essence of your being. For it is in your heart that you can taste the Divine Presence. Don't you see... The heart is the Kitchen of God. 

You do that, sunshine. While I address my health problems. Together we can make it. Together, we BETTER make it. Alhamdulillah and thank you for sharing a bit of your consciousness with me this morning.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Da Playa and da Compression Fracture

AN OLD FRIEND. I met the player today. Or maybe I should call him ‘da Playa’. His younger brother is called Longhair and once upon a time he too was also a player. I remember Longhair in the old days, coming into the school bus, a musky but sensitive cologne perfuming the air around him, his school shirt sleeve rolled-up, his face wearing a thin Errol Flynn mustachio and winsome smile. I was not one of the cool kids. Anyway I was a bit younger than him, so back then we weren’t friends, just bus school mates. Oh wait, I am supposed to be talking about da Playa and his recent injuries…

COMPRESSION FRACTURE. Da Playa is just back from hospital after being hospitalized for what the doctors call a compression fracture. One morning, da Playa was torn by a gripping unbearable pain cutting across his right torso, just below the heart, and was immediately brought to the hospital. Initial ideas of his pain being caused by gastric complication or a heart attack was soon dismissed after a full check-up, including MRI scan. Only after 5 days of interrogation by the physicians (“No, no. you MUST have had a fall or accident recently!”) did he finally recall a fall in the washroom, “Waitaminute, doctor. Now that you mentioned it, I do remember…”

PAIN DELAYED. The problem was that when da Playa fell, he did not suffer any serious pain. And in fact for two whole days he was going about his daily routine sans any pain, until that fateful day when he felt an excruciating inflammation “like a claw gripping and squeezing me and refusing to let me go…” Once the doctors received the clue, they were able to trace the injury back to a compression fracture in his spine. The pain was so bad that da Playa remained motionless for hours after an attack, fearful of triggering another attack. The attending physician would come calling on him and asked da Playa, “Mr. Playa, please turn a bit”, to be responded with a curt and dismissive, “NO, I don’t want to.”

THREE INTERESTING FACTS. 1. The doctors said that the inflammation which he suffered was a natural defensive reaction of his body to protect the fracture from further deteriorating. 2. Also interestingly, you may have hurt your spine, but you feel the pain in your torso. 3. And it appears that you could have suffered some really bad injuries after a fall, and your body won’t be giving the warning signals (ergo the pain) for months on end. Now, that is something to worry about! So if you do fall, please see a doctor, even if you are not in pain, okay?

EARNING HIS STRIPES. Da Playa is not a title that I grant to him lightly (in fact I am sure he hates it.). When he was younger (way younger), he would be a default invite to any party because he had with him his little black book which would ensure a respectable attendance of girls to any occasion. But most of all, da Playa is da Playa to me because he is steeped in the old manners of delicacy and courtesy. Both men and women find his company entertaining, and he is always patient, polite and attentive (Basically he is my opposite). If Providence had it that da Playa was born in the USA, I reckon that he would be a proper southern gent - gallant to the ladies, discrete and thoughtful to everyone else.

Well, the point is that I am glad he is back on his feet and smiling. This is turning out to be a pretty good Sabbath, sunshine. God bless all our true and wonderful friends.

Pax Taufiqa.