Men Wearing Long Beards Tell Me This - God, Prophet, the Saints, the Saintly and the Less-than-Saintly

Men Wearing Long Beards Tell me This

My Lord, My God,

My Master, My Prophet...

Men wearing long beards tell

Me this of You,

They tell me this is Who You are,

And this is what You have given me,

And this is what You will give me,

They tell me what I should feel about You,

They tell me what and how I should speak to You,

They tell me all so many things,

But I cannot force my feelings,

If I do not feel gratitude,

If I do not feel empathy,

If I do not feel love for You

What can I do?

Men wearing long beards share

Their love, their intimate servanthood to You with me,

This only makes me want

What only You can give,

So I am asking you, o' Lord, o' God,

O' my Master and Prophet...

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

It is not only saints or saintly people that share with me their experiences with God. It is even the less-than-saintly that sometimes let escape a shy confession. My continuing happiness is to find them still thinking of God, still looking for their unmistakable connection to the Divine Presence, however unworthy they feel their present state to be.

If they are older than me, sometimes I think it better for God to give them my days. If they are sicker than me, sometimes I think it better for God to give them my body. If they are tired and lonely, sometimes I think it better for God to give them what little strength I have and the company of my honoured friends. For you know, to be perfectly honest with you now, I don't think I am making full use of what I have...

I am chasing the days and nights, the hours and minutes that are flying pass me to share with you something good. Which I hope I am. For I have lived my life in such folly that you would be ashamed to know me.

So do not think that your visit means nothing to me. It does. More than you will ever know. For don't you know, whoever you are? You are my love and my sunshine.

A sun bloomed in my garden, and it was you...

And may God bless you always.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

GOD'S GLUE FACTORY - Prose of Ramadhan Part 8

A couple of days earlier, I recorded a prose entitled ‘I won’t stay to say goodbye’ which was kindly hosted by the faithful barkeep of the Camel Saloon, Mr. Streur. Click Here to read the entire poem, but this is how it begins –

O’ fear, you have long haunted me,
O’ failure, you have long dogged my steps,
O’ hate, you have long coloured my view,
O’ misery, you follow upon your brethren’s way
And often darken my day…

ONE STEP. Fasting in Ramadhan is not just about restraining from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset. At the centre of its purpose, it is also to restrain ourselves from acting upon the darker inclinations which often form part of the human psyche. Of course, better still to totally rid ourselves of this mortal encumbrances, but if you are not able to (and I find it tough), then at least, to will ourselves against acting upon such negative impulses is already a good change. One step at a time.

GOD'S GLUE FACTORY. As a certified sinner, I often fail. What else can I do but pick the pieces of my hopes and try to glue them back together again. Happily, I have a key to God’s Glue Factory, and He lets me have as much glue as I need to piece back together my broken promises and dreams. He is All-Wonderful that way.

Good night, my friends. Tomorrow beckons, and I hope to receive it with a smile on my face. Sweet dreams.

Pax Taufiqa.