God Willing and Chinese Gold - a little Malay habit and investing in gold to hedge against inflation

Malay Boy

GodWilling

I have a plan to write this,

But God knows if I will finish this,

I have a plan to return to the office,

But God knows if I will get back,

I plan to have a nap now,

But God knows if I ever will,

Each breath I take,

Each glance I give,

Each smile that is drawn,

Each whimsical thought

That crosses the plain of my mind,

Albeit even for the briefest moment,

Is just my plan, and nothing more

Not when everything that happens,

And everything that does not happen,

Happens or doesn't happen

As God's Wills it.

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

InsyaAllah (Godwilling) is a commonly used phrase by the Malays. We use it sincerely and also less sincerely when the occasion requires. Like when an excitable friend wants you to join their multi-level marketing scheme. So you will hear politely and reply, "Of course, I will come over to your weekly meeting this Saturday, Godwilling!" He he he. You see, us Malays sometimes find it very hard to say no. 

And unfortunately, our mind is not quick enough to scramble around for an excuse to avoid the dreaded appointment. So we say, InsyaAllah! What the excitable friend doesn't hear is our secret prayer to God - "InsyaAllah, over my dead body...".

Golden Ponzi Schemes. I guess there is a purpose in an economy for genuine multi-level marketing schemes. But there are also other less-than-kosher 'business' such as the Ponzi schemes. Presently the flavour going around locally is based upon gold investments. Investing in gold is perfectly fine (indeed I would encourage it as a hedge against the volatility and inflationary nature of fiat paper money), but if you do not get your gold almost immediately, then something smells fishy. Personally I do not encourage the purchase of gold certificates which entitles you to a certain weight of gold. If you want to buy gold, then get physical possession of it. 

Where is the Chinese Gold? An interesting story is making its round among the goldbugs in the social media and newsites. Although China (as in the People's Republic) is one of the largest producer of gold, gold officials of the HSBC (the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) as one of the global conduits of the gold trade have not seen a single gold bullion marking it as originating from China. Conclusion - the Chinese are keeping their gold to themselves as a hedge against the possible collapse of the trillion dollars of U.S. government bonds that the Chinese have purchased.

The Chinese have a long memory, you know.

Something to think about this Sabbath, sunshine. God bless you always. 

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way 

God's Own Fool - courage is not something that can only be found in the battlefields

Take courage. Do not let fear cage your compassionate heart...

The Lord's Own Fool

"What have you given away?" The man asked his sister, 

looking at the retreating back of the beggar.

"I didn't have anything to give, so I borrowed some dinari 

that I might give to the poor man..."

"Are you a fool?" The brother hotly interrupted, 

To which she said firmly,

"I may be... but if I am, 

I am the Lord's own fool!"

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

A friend of mine called me early this morning. She had just taken a loan to settle her outstanding credit card bills. But as is often the case with parents and their magical instincts, it was on this very same morning that the father asked to borrow a substantial amount of money from her. 

And she lent it immediately, knowing all too well that it may never be repaid.

People often talk of the parent's sacrifices for their children that shall never be repaid. But not every child put to practice such noble sentiments. My friend cried a little thinking of her own financial woes, and how there appear to be no end to her worries. "I must be a damn fool!" she exclaimed.

Indeed she is foolish. But if you would believe me, she is God's own fool. For God loves those who do not allow fear to stand in their way of compassionate fealty. Courage is not something that can only be found in the battlefields... It can be found in the exemplary conduct of people all around us.

May God enrich this world with our generous friends, sunshine!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Best Things in Life Are Free - lovingly wrapped in your mortal skin and crowned with a heart and a conscience

I am a confirmed hoarder. My bedroom and my office is full of knick knacks and bric-a-brac from my misadventures over the past couple of years. A few are impulsive purchases, but nowadays, as I grow old, I tend to contemplate long and hard before buying anything. It can be as big as the purchase of a new car to something trivial like a new pair of walking shoes. I don’t why know why I do it. Perhaps it is because of my fondness for familiar things. Take the walking shoes for instant. It’s a New Balance, and I have had it for almost 7 years I. Literally it is now in its last gasp of life, barely hanging on - having been re-glued at least twice and stitched once over the past year.

But nothing beats the free stuff. I think that old saying, ‘The best things in life are free’ is so true. Take for instance this picture of my ‘possessions’. I put the word in open and close inverted commas because these things are not really mine. I am simply holding these gifts in my care and custody for a while. The long beige velvet Mehlevi hat is from my Turkish hombre, Mr. Ihsan Aslan, who gave it to me about 4 months ago. The small green and red insignia of the Prophet (pbuh) adorning the hat was given to me about 8 months previous by an Indonesian of Yemeni extract from the Hadramaut region, this same Mr. Ahmad Alatas also gave me the two hundred beaded tasbih (rosary). The yellow turban cloth is at least 20 years old, but it was given to me by my own brother, Mr. Saiful Bahri some 4 years back. And beneath all that headgear is little Muhammad Mikhail bin Taufiq. And he was given to me some 8 years ago by God Almighty.

I do not know why they give me these things. Perhaps they believe that I have been a good friend and brother (What a ridiculous idea). I certainly cannot fathom why God gave me Mika. Perhaps it is because He sees something in me that is lost to my own sight, but is apparent and clear in His Vision. I cannot say that I will succeed (in fact I have little faith), but I hope to one day see this Taufiq He is seeing. Because once I perceive who I really am, I shall be able to perceive God. And finally get to 'know' Him better. At long last...

At least that is what bearded wise men tell me.

If you are a father or mother, I think this is a good quest to take up. And even if you have no children, it is still a good quest. After all, you are God’s gift and trust to your own father and mother. So again, there must be something utterly perfect and beautiful in you that God had decided to present you to your parents as a precious gift of His own creation - Lovingly wrapped in your mortal skin and crowned with a heart and a conscience.

Have a lovely Monday, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Divine Usury vs The Temple of Money & The Palace of Debt

Purrrr...

The Myth of Money, The Great Deception
We are asleep in an opium dream of debt;
Credit cards and housing loans,
Mortgages and hyperinflations
Recessions and sub-prime moonshine,
Monetarism and cronyism,
As we continue to be kept asleep,
Drugged in the jester’s dream
With intravenous drips
Of debt and fiat based money.

It is not blood that is coursing
Through the body of our society
But The Great Deception.

God is Scarce. Gold is a scares commodity and it will always be valuable. And so is silver. But it is not because of these precious metals that we are criticizing the economy of debt and fiat based currency. Our faith is founded on the single most scarce resource of all Creation - God. For God is Only One, and you cannot be more scarce than that.

The Copying of a Divine Attribute. In God’s absolute oneness He does appear to have an infinite ocean of divine attributes. He has however unbended enough to share with us a few of His fascinating attributes. For this topic, the most important divine power is His ability to make something out of nothing.

The entire premise of money as opposed to barter trade is to utilize a mode of currency that would enable A to sell barley to B in exchange for a recognizable and standard value unit - money. For this to work well you ought to utilize a resource (often metal) that is scarce and universally recognizable. For centuries mankind have been contented using metals, shells and even pieces of wood to signify a monetary value, but most popular are of course gold, silver, copper and their assorted mix.

But modern man has become too smart. To cover their deficits, the governments of the world have decided that they have an implicit right to make money. This is what is called fiat (by-right) currency. It is similar to usury because just like the normal banking right to leverage on its capital (say by 10 x capital), this 'created' money can be used to buy products and services. This money came from nowhere but by virtue of magical accounting and government legislation copied globally - The Central Bank Act. The Money Act and other assorted financial institution statutes. It is a complex structure intended to show off a veneer of 'creation' of value. But the truth is only God can create something out of nothing. Only God can create an intrinsic value out of a vacuum. Thus, begins the deception that is the source of all our present credit and fiscal problems…

132. Mortal Usury
Oh My enterprising servants!
I have vested upon this earth
Wealth of certain certainty
For people of certainty,
Dabble not in the arts of usury,
And attempt not to copy My Unique Ability
To make something from nothing.

The Weakness of Man. The thing with mankind when they decide to do something is that we always begin with the best of intentions. The best of hope and aspirations. After all, no one goes out of their way to bankrupt their own company or country. That would simply be suicidal. But...  

The Temple of Money. The Palace of Debt. Have you ever wondered why are bank buildings often imposing like temples of religions and palaces of the kings, where the priests of money walk about in reverent silence upon marbled floor and gilded walls? The answer is simple. It is because they need to impress you lest you decide to peek behind the shiny edifice of the current debt and fiat-money system and see the weakness of the system - Man himself. Because, however high bankers build their global headquarters, debt and usury are essentially based on human promises, and we know how easily humans are corrupted by greed and desire…

188. Paper Promises
Paper money makes poor substitute
For gold and silver,
A mode of transaction
On human promises.
And oh, how well
We know of man
And his paper promises!

Ostentatious Consumerism. One unfortunate consequence of the flooding of the economy with debt is the flourishing consumerism. To consume something is not wrong. After all, if we don’t consume food and water we will all die. But consumerism goes beyond what is necessary for survival. In fact it goes beyond even what is necessary for a comfortable and decent quality of life. Everything is built to decay or become redundant. So we can buy more fridges, more cars and more washing machines, zipping our credit cards to fiscal exhaustion.

Divine Leverage. There is in fact a place in this world for usury, but it is for God to give us, not for us take it for ourselves. This is the divine leverage that God has promised us - It is goodness and prosperity in this life and in the hereafter, where a single act of patience, kindness or courage can bring you an ocean of joy in the Divine Presence. He is offering this free for us with no hidden charges...

133. Divine Usury
Oh Divine Usury!
Oh Divine Mercy!
Thy place is in the Hereafter
When we place our deeds on the Mizan, pleading
“Usury for Umati Muhammadi!
For our deeds weigh for nothing, O’ Lord,
In the Light of Thy Infinite Mercy!”

Well, something to think about, sunshine.

Pax Taufiqa

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Sickness, a Book Project and Mika's Just-In-Case Fund - Books connect us

4. A little unwell

I am a little unwell,

And I am saddened I have nothing to write today,

No love letters, no damning reports,

Just another old soul, huffing and wheezing,

Shuffling from pantry to bed,

From bed to book,

Oh Love!

No passions to be reckoned today

But bitter pills and running noses.

DIET. Your humble chronicler of the Sinners Almanac has been unwell for the past couple of weeks. So he has been a good boy and staying home of late. He missed one birthday party and one funeral already. At 41 years old, time is always a scarce resource, so he hopes to make up for it soonest he is back to his fighting fit self. Being diabetic, it takes me about 3 times longer to get better, compared to a non-diabetic. So for those sugar addicts out there... I hope you will watch your diet.

BOOKS. My convalescence has however permitted me to finally finish 2 books. Bill Bryson's 'At Home. A short history of private life' and a 100 years history of the United Kingdom entitled 'This Sceptred Isle: Twentieth Century' written by Christopher Lee (A historian and not the actor playing Dracula in the 60s and 70s). As always Bryson's book is packed full of interesting and diverting trivia, and as this book is about the history of private life and homes, it DOES cover a lot about the development of the modern house concept. But being Bryson, he cannot resist amassing other bits and ends of trivia in such unlikely topics as the bat guano industry, Victorian ideal of childhood to the fad of women's corsets. The second book is a very readable summary of Britain's 100 years history in the past century. Engaging and thoughtfully written, if a little right wing.

THE PROPHET'S BOOK. I am also finally resolved to prepare my second collection of poetry. The first book, 'A Cup of Storm - Love letters from a sinner' is a runaway success with at least 10 books sold (so my Publisher, PoetsDemocracy, informs me). The second book shall also all be about love, but this time revolving on the love, life and ideal of Muhammad Habibullah, the Prophet of Islam and last Messenger of God. Indeed, to be perfectly honest here, it will be written for him. Yes, yes... I know he has passed away some 1,300 years ago. And of course I don't expect I will be able to give a copy of the book to the Prophet personally, but I am sure he will know about the book soon enough. That is the perk of being so pally-wally with the Almighty God.

The Just-in-case Fund. Mikhail was on the bed, counting his money. I asked him whether he wanted to put the money in the piggy bank. He replied, "No, Papa. This is my just-in-case money." Money of course cannot buy you happiness, but I guess it is only sensible to have a just-in-case fund for that just-in-case moments when you are faced with unexpected expenditure. And I think this is true even for a 7-year old. 

How has this Sunday been for you, sunshine? It has been raining cats, dogs, turtles and hippos here in Kuala Lumpur.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Alchemy, Fiat Money and the Zealous Watchdogs

Oh Lord! Sorry! I should have been studying Your Secrets instead!

8. Philosopher’s Stone II

Deceived and tricked,

They rest their hopes

In transmutation,

Drowning in complexities,

Drifting into conjecture.

Not knowing that

Alchemy is the quest

For gold

But without the ‘L’.

Prophets have said it. Saints have said it. Evangelicals, mystics and decent people have all said it. It is written in the holy scriptures and in the lessons of spirituality through the ages. Why look for gold when there is God to look for? Why be satisfied with the kingdom when you can have the King Himself? But we mortals are like that. We make mistakes, we err than we go, "Err... ooops. Sorry, God."

Sexy, sexy gold and silver bars. 

There used to be a time when people go mad for gold. They would steal for it, beg for it and marry for it. The possession of gold ruled their moods, and often ruining their lives. But then, sometime during the 20th century, fiat money was created. Fiat essentially means that this money is 'by right'. And it is devolved from a country's legislation on the central bank and the monetary laws. Right now there is no other type of money in circulation in the world. But lets not waste time on economics, for the truth is...

7. Fiat Money

... is Monopoly™ Money.

Fiat money is essentially make-believe because... err, how do I put it frankly, because IT IS. It is essentially an I-owe-you issued by the central bank or a you-owe-me issued by the commercial and investment banks. There used to be a time long ago when you can actually exchange paper money for gold. Now that those days are long gone. Fiat money is also known as paper money...

188. Paper Promises

Paper money make poor substitute

For gold and silver,

A mode of transaction

On human promises.

And oh, how well

We know of man

And his paper promises!

In the offices of the European Central Bank there live gremlins. And their entire job
is to make gremlin promises.

People nowadays are worried about the value of money. And there are a small but noisy group asking for the return to gold and silver. But their crusade is difficult. For it is in the interests of the powers-that-be to keep the system in place, even as we see the ruination of economy and capitalism by the 2008 credit crisis and the current Euro-mess in Greece, Ireland, Spain and Portugal. This is not capitalism or free market, for there is no competition to banks. They set the rules, they break their own rules and often they change the rules to suit their profit margins. And they would fight all comers to keep the system in place... And keep YOU in your place in the ponzi-pyramid scheme that we are presently living in...

At which level of the pyramid are you?

14. The Pyramid 2

There is no get-rich-quick schemes,

No multi-level marketing pyramids

More heinous and globally prevalent

Than the interest-banking

And fiat currency systems of the world.

And lo! Its illusion is guarded by watchdogs

Zealous in their affairs.

The Federal Reserve. One of the most fiercest watchdogs around...
I am informed that they never sleep.

In the mean time, the people are blackmailed and threatened. Without fail, every minute and every day, the mainstream media is awash with news as to how bad things are going to be if the banks collapse. If the fiat currency collapses. If the pyramid crashes into society. So people are scared even to voice their concerns...

18. The Pyramid 

The fiat currency system

Is a weapon used by all governments

To blackmail its restless population;

‘Dismiss us? Do so and see the savings

That you keep in our currency take wing,

I am sure your children who will go hungry

Shall understand your crusade against us!’

The Greeks are up in arms but to no avail. People say that they were
bad money managers. But I think they got fooled by their own politicians and bankers.

The system is corrupt and biased against free market competition and capitalism. I think that many people who are protesting the banking corruption in USA and Europe are not against capitalism or free market. They are simply asking for honesty in government and transparency in the relationship between the elected representatives and the big banks. And they are asking why the few are so often advantaged to the detriment of the many.

But ultimately for many of us, we are merely reiterating the words of the wise before us. After all, did Jesus not chase out the money-lenders? He had a point, and I wish to marry that point to the concept of tawhid in Islam which speaks of the utter Uniqueness of God and His Attributes...

132. Mortal Usury

Oh My enterprising servants!

I have vested upon this earth

Wealth of certain certainty

For people of certainty,

Dabble not in the arts of usury,

And attempt not to copy My Unique Ability

To make something from nothing.

We mortals cannot make something out of nothing. Whether it is fiat money or interests on loans, people are essentially trying to do just that. I do not know if or when the fiat money and usury banking system will ever end. But I think we have seen enough examples through out the world and notice how such a system is easily corrupted by banks and insurance lobbyists and the politicians who are their paid minions. There used to be a time when paper money is at least backed by gold and banks actually do their job, which is to provide financial services to industries of manufacturing and trade. A time when regulators were actually given the laws and resources to supervise the industry. Now we know that those laws have been changed, and each budget we find the regulators scrimping to understand, much less regulate the financial alchemy engineered by rocket scientists under the hire of Wall Street and the City (London).

God made man and he did not leave mankind to our own devices. Ought we not to trust Him? Even the USA Dollar says so...

Have a fiscally prudent day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq.

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

THE IMMORTALS and MARGIN CALL - The movie reviews.

THE IMMORTALS. As promised, the sinner dragged himself to the nearest cineplex to watch The Immortals. In a previous posting, the sinner audaciously pre-review reviewed the movie (Click Here) and predicted that actual review would find The Immortals garnering a pitiful 3 out of 10. I am afraid that even that prediction turned out to be optimistic.

Oh, there is something about a super-Bow in the movie, but by that time I was bored.

So this is the important bit about the story - a King (Hyperion, played by Mickey Rourke) sees wife and children dying of a disease. They never actually spell out what disease, but because of that, Hyperion decides to start an all-out assault on the Greeks and their holy Mount Tartarus where he is knowledgeably informed that the Titans are imprisoned - The Titans are essentially the other gods who got clobbered by Zeus and family. So if the Titans are out, they would start another war in heaven and hopefully (thinks Hyperion), Zeus and family would all be killed. Theseus (who happens to be Zeus's bastard son, I think) gets caught up in all this, along with Phaedra the Virgin Oracle (played by Freida Pinto, from Slumdog Millionare).

This is about as naked as naked men are gonna get in this movie.
So if you are expecting another meat-feast, prepare to get disappointed.

The Virgin Oracle about to lose her qualification to be one.

Things happen so fast, there is very little time for character development, and really, I just ended up not caring at all about what happens to Theseus, Hyperion, Phaedra, Zeus or the Titans come to think of it. The script is really just barely this side of bearable, and surprisingly the set and CGI, to be absolutely honest- ain't so good as the scenes in 300. And really, Hyperion is just another pissed off guy, except that he is just really obsessed about getting his vengeance. Other than that, I think that Mickey Rourke (who was brilliant in The Wrestler) is just doing this movie for the money. Heche, who agreed to sit as co-reviewer had 2 important observations - 1. If you are looking for a large number of almost-naked men in loincloth doing manly things... well you would be disappointed. There is barely any sight of abdominal muscles or 'a cute butt'. Only Theseus was on hand to show off his ripped body. Yes, just one eye-candy for our discerning female audience. Not good enough. 2. Her second observation is the most interesting - if the Greeks were so concerned about the Oracles being virgin, why do they pick such hot-looking babes as their Oracles. Really, just choose the ugliest maidens in the village and surely, the chances of them losing their virginity would be smaller. All in all, The Immortals turns out to be an even greater disappointment than anticipated -  2 out of 10.

MARGIN CALL. From a movie lemon to a movie corvette. Where do I begin with a movie about Wall Street greed that is so full of talent and amazing acting of the highest calibre. You just gotta look at the cast - Kevin Spacey as Sam Rogers, Paul Bettany as Will Emerson, Jeremy Irons as John Tuld, Zachary Quinto as Peter Sullivan, Penn Badgley as Seth Bregman, Simon Baker as Jared Cohen, Mary McDonnell as Mary Rogers, Stanley Tucci as Eric Dale and Demi Moore as Sarah Robertson - for you to realise that this is a powerhouse acting resource for the director to pull in. So did the director, JC Chandor manage to bring out the best from his actors? He did. Awesomely.

There is a Greek phrase for this scenario -
The shiteus is gonna hit the faneus.

Margin Call is a story set over a 24 hours period in an anonymous Wall Street Investment firm. Over that 24 hours, people are sacked, huge previously unnoticed liabilities in derivatives and CDOs are going to bankrupt the firm (to know more watch Inside Job, the Cannes Festival winning feature documentary which brings to light the many sins of Wall Street), and the firm's decision to dispose of ALL their toxic assets into the market by lunch time next day - which would trigger (as the movie implies) one of the worst credit crunch default in the history of civilization. People are going to lose their jobs. Other firms, banks and mutual funds are going to sink, but at least this particular firm will managed to sneak out FIRST. In one of the final scene, Sam the crusty Risk Management departmental boss confronted John Tuld, the Boss of bosses in the firm about the appalling effect on Wall Street and the economy that would be triggered by their decision to dump their foul-smelling bonds into the market. And this was John's reply - "It's just money. Made up. Pieces of paper with pictures on it so we don't have to kill each other to get something to eat..."

An intelligent and entertaining movie. A must-watch for anyone who's at least a little bit concerned about the condition of this world and where consumerism and cheap (read false) credit will ultimately take mankind to. An amazing 8 out of 10 movie.

Have a beautiful day, sunshine. God bless.

Pax Taufiqa

Hate has no place in Islam.

Love will show the way.

End of School Year 1 for Mikhail - Looking Back

Tomorrow shall be Mikhail's last day of school for this year, his first in Primary 1. It has been a quiet year, enlivened once in a while with class birthday parties, PTA gossips and my son falling into the fish pond. I am glad that he enjoys school, preferring the company of his classmates than being cooped up at home with the old folks (We are all old here. I am youngest at 41).

With the list of final exam results coming in, it appears that Mikhail has garnered 7As, 1B and 1C. Not bad, but as I was driving him to breakfast on Tuesday, I ruefully observed, "Mika, I see that even with 7As you can still come out with me wearing your pants inside out." He just laughed.

My son is still as monetarily inclined as always. When I wanted to put some eye drops into his sore eyes, he said, "One eye, one dollar." Yesterday, I asked him to carry his own Lipton Ice Tea, and again, the same refrain, "One can, one dollar." I think he just makes these monetary demands to stamp his opinion that his time is money. I never actually give him any.

We woke up pretty early this morning - at 5 am. By 6.15am he was up and ready for school, so once again we had a little breakfast at our neighbourhood Indian Muslim (Mamak) restaurant. The Manager, Iqbal, was around, and as usual he gave Mika some candies. I am going to miss this morning ritual during the holidays. Sigh.

I like to think I can sketch and draw. But no work of art made by man can compare to the beauty of children. Children are wonderful in so many ways. Really, it is just up to us not to mess with their heads...

91. I, Wobot

Like a computer,

Every hour, divine programs

Are downloaded from the

Website in the Sky.

But it is when their elders,

Mess about with their codes,

That children become confused,

And they hang, refusing to reboot;

Ctrl, Alt, Del!

Ctrl, Alt, Del!

God bless you, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq.

Hate has no place in Islam

Make Money and Be a Trustee of the Wealth of God - He wants you to be happy and make others happy

Okay already with the spiritual pose. Go earn some money.

27. Most

Never underestimate

How money can make you happy,

Nor how its loss,

Will leave you morose.

Money is not the sort of thing that is often bandied in the elevated discourse about spirituality, mysticism, Sufism, Rumi and the like. But with my own eyes, I have seen grown men quiver and burst into tears, worried about money. Money, money, money.

The sinner likes having money. I will admit here that lack of money, or even worse, no money whatsoever gets me down. The apprehension sets in, the FEAR that I would not be able to cover my debts and expenses, Mikhail's maintenance and tuition fees. But the sinner is not poor, so I can only imagine how families try to get by on less, with more children and no house to call their own. The fact that they continue to live with a smile on their faces, leaves me in absolute respect of their bright shining souls in the face of adversity. Don't they deserve help? Don't they deserve a raise, or a gift? Of course, they do!

My mother, God bless her sainted soul, was a giving and generous human being. And nothing will recall you to people more than your kindness. When my family and friends come to visit my house to see my father, they always say the same thing, "We remember your mother and what she and your father has done for us..." Although some of my friends (all in their 40s already) still confess of being a little scared of my dad. I wonder why. Hehehe.

You cannot help people if you do not have the resources. So if you are bright and smart (as I am sure you are), do not descend into ordinariness. In what we do, whether we are a policeman, a banker, a lawyer, a businessman or just a clerk, I think it is best that we do the best we can. Let's try to earn a honest living and make money. And if possible, make more money than you actually need. You will then be in a position to give and help people, and they are so many of them out there. Then surely, you will be beloved by man and God. As the Prophet once said - "The hand that gives is more blessed than the hand that receives." Not everyone will be a millionaire philanthropist, but everyone can give a little.

Spirituality has its perks but money will put food on the table. It is a means by which Love is often expressed. Don't get me wrong. Money does not necessarily bring happiness. Money can also buy you a lot of grief. But so long as you remember where that money came from (God), where you came from and will return to (God again), and share your blessings to help people in need, then surely you will find happiness as a Trustee of the Wealth of God. I think all religion teaches this.

I am both Trustee and Beneficiary of God's Love! Lalalalaalaaaa...!

Don't you agree, sunshine?

wa min Allah at-taufiq.

The Merchant, the Poet and the Dervish - the degrees of madness

96. Degrees of Madness

The merchant counting paper(money) behind closed doors,

The poet writing rude prose in search of clarity,

The dervish crawling naked on all fours,

Differ only in their personal degrees of insanity.

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

Who is crazier? The man who counts paper money (fiat money) and say that it has value over and above the value of the paper and its artwork? Or the poet who locks himself up in his room, divining God's glory while outside, the world in all His Glory awaits to be explored? Or the dervish who calls people to Love while they spurn and mock him for his nakedness?

Who is right and who is wrong? Who is sane and who is insane? Until God sorts that out I think we shall all do mankind a great service by just being nice to each other. Oh, and to our own selves too.

So have a nice day, sunshine. God bless you!

wa min Allah at-taufiq.

Golden Bull does Credit Crunch at Wall Street - The Disconnect between Risk and Profit, Action and Consequence

95. Oh stop it, you! (Blogged in providence)

Oh stop it, you!

Playing Moses

To my Aaron.

While you are communing

On top of the mountain,

I have golden bulls

To deal with down here.

BULLS AT WALL STREET. I find it interesting how the financial sector is sometimes called the financial industry, suggesting that it actually builds or makes something. I think essentially, the financial sector is a service sector. It is important to remember this, that the original aim of banking is to facilitate credit to finance the manufacturing, building, agriculture and infrastructure sectors.

CREDIT CRUNCH 2008. The credit crunch of 2008, the effects of which is still reverberating to this day arose when the bank or finance house which issues out the housing loans sell the loans to investment banks, who in turn packages the loans into CDOs (something like bonds/private debt securities), which in turn is rated as AAA by rating agencies (even if some or much of the loans in the CDOs have been given to subprime borrowers aka people who have little or bad credit history), and thereafter sold by the investment banks to investors all over the world. That in one sentence is basically what happened in 2008. So basically Mr. Joe Banker doesn't have to worry one bit whether Mr. Al Borrower will actually pay the loan. Because the risk of default has been passed way down the line to Mr. OMG Investor. And to make things worse, because of this disconnect between action and consequence, Mr. Joe Banker prefers to give the loan to subprime borrowers. Why? Because in subprime housing loans, the interest rates are much, much higher. So increase in the Bank's profit but at zero increase in the bank's risk. It's like magic!

The magic never lasts...

TEMPORAL BULL OR SPIRITUAL BULL? So when Moses came down the mountain and found his flock performing some ghastly dance around the golden bull (or is it golden calf? Oh who cares...), he was faced with a spiritual challenge. And he resorted to resolve this spiritual problem with the intensity for which Moses is well known for. The Golden Bull of Wall Street may appear at first instance to be a wholly temporal bull. But this is not so. Otherwise, why did Jesus chase the money lenders out of the temple?

The spiritual problem with credit is essentially two - Firstly, it is the creation of value (meaning the loans banks can give out) from nothing (whereby you put a capital of USD1 but by some magical legislative alchemy, you are able to lend out USD10. Where did that USD9 came from?) In financial jargon this is called leveraging. In spiritual terms, this is called trying to usurp the attributes of God, the Only One who can create something out of nothing. I say 'trying' because you cannot actually usurp any Divine Attributes. You simply create a lie and convince humanity to believe the deceit.

Secondly, this 'easy credit' is an enabler. In the current slang introduced to me by Heche, enabler is not a nice term. It suggests someone or something which enables or creates the scenario which is conducive for someone else to do something not nice - Like being greedy, selfish and foolhardy (with other people's money). The 2008 credit scenario above is an advanced example of greed permitted to grow into a global cancer with the connivance of the regulators, the banks, the rating agencies and the investment banks.

THE OLD WAYS. In the olden days things weren't so bad. Pre-Reagonomics, high street banks (ie. retail and commercial banks) were not permitted to speculate with their depositor's money. That is left to investment banks, who were then mostly partnerships - in other words even if they do speculate, they do so with their own money (more or less). During Reagan's time, the clear demarcation between high street banks and investment banks were broken, and high street banks were permitted to speculate with their capital and depositor's money. This led to the Savings & Loans debacle in the USA in the 1980s. That decade also saw investment banks becoming public listed companies, which basically means that they are not playing just with their own capital anymore, but investing public's money too. 

Any suggestions, sunshine?

Oh well, this is the world we have inherited now. I don't have any clever suggestions to make. I wish I did. Perhaps you have a solution?

DIVINE CREDIT. While you are thinking about it, I hope you will have a beautiful day, sunshine. But if it turns out to be a beautiful day, please... I don't want any credit. It's all God's.

wa min Allah at-taufiq.

A Wimpy Kid, Rupert Murdoch, the Amazing Lounging Chair, the Malaya Tigers and the venerable Assam Laksa

Mika has been playing too much with his laptop. So last week I took him to the bookshop to buy some books. I noticed that he has been buying books a bit too mature for him, so this time around I persuaded him to choose something a little nearer to his age group. He chose this book. I haven't seen him hold the book since that day! I reckon it is time for tough love.

Some of our friends are right happy about the sudden turn of events with Murdoch's News of the World debacle. I am only slightly interested. But I do find it strange how democratic countries can permit News Corp to own so many of its important newspapers and television networks. It doesn't really encourage debate and diverse views. Of course all owners of newspapers, networks and news organisations say that they have limited or no editorial control. That is an interesting fiction.

My father purchased this lounge chair some 7 years ago. Well, actually it is a lounging chair and the sole purpose of this chair is to lounge in our porch area. It is CERTAINLY NOT to be sat on. I have never actually seen my dad use it.

This is our Malaysian football team. We had a second World Cup qualifying round game with Singapore last Thursday. The Bukit Jalil National Stadium tickets were sold out within hours and 90,000 Malaysians braved our traffic jam to go and support our team. We lost in the 1st game so had to win by a clear 2 goals margin to make it through to the next round.  

Alas, Malaysia only drew and we are kicked out of the World Cup qualifiers. Late on Thursday night I went to 7-11, and nearby I saw many, many Malaysian supporters in the yellow and alternate blue jerseys. There were many Indians, a couple of Chinese and Malays commiserating each other about our defeat. We may have lost the match, but I am happy to see that we have not yet lost our constant struggle for harmony in this country. I salute my countrymen, who for once dropped their racial and religious division to fully support our players. I am happy.

And to end this posting on a victorious note, Malaysian newspapers (and let's be honest, Malaysians too) reveled  in our local dish 'Assam Laksa' in winning 7th place in a recent CNN International Food Survey, beating our neighbour Singapore which only landed a 35th ranking for the republic's 'Chilli Crab'. The Assam Laksa is a rice noodle dish served in a fish broth, filled with slices of pineapples, cucumber, chili pepper, mint leaves and small chunks of fish. And normally people would add the prawn paste for extra tanginess. Here in my country, restraint is a word non-existent in our food vocabulary.

I don't have much tale of my own to sell today. The day is beginning a little quiet here. Perhaps it is good to rest for a while. There is just so much the world can take of spiritual-mystical-sinner monologues. Hehehe. Maybe later.

Have a delicious Sabbath, sunshine.

Pax Taufiqa.

Money, Good Friends, Closet Sufis and the Angelic Audience

Look at him! His impudence is really too much. Writing as if he can see us!

260. Selling my words

For two days already,

I have been selling my words,

For glasses of tea and packets of cigarettes.

I feel a little guilty,

But not enough

To feel shame.

What a brigand and a bum am I!

And how glad am I to be one!

For what we steal and speak of

Cause Angels themselves to pause and sit in!

Now if only I can find a way to charge

These Angelic audiences…

A FRIEND IN NEED. ME. I was a little broke for a couple of days. But I still like having my chai at the neighbourhood Indian Muslim restaurant. So being the pragmatic and unprincipled rogue that I am, I simply went through my little black book and called up old friends that I have not seen in a while. Often they would not only pay for my cups of tea, they would also cover my meal, and sometimes even my fags (cigarettes). I am incorrigible, I know.

THE CRAZY ONES. My favourite collection of friends are the crazy ones. Well, not actually insane, but the sort that I could be truly honest with, especially in the topic of religion, spirituality, love, God, Prophets and saints. They tend to be humble, but most of all never boring and always funny, often making themselves the brunt of their own jokes. Some people call them Sufis. They deny it of course, but I can see through their pretensions of not being Sufis. They are rarely judgmental. Sometimes I can have a huge chip on my shoulder, a fuming volcano of dissatisfaction about something or someone. I would talk to them and with empathy, they would pop my balloon of anger / envy / jealousy. These are the sort of friends that EVERYONE should have. They won't allow you to wallow in your pit of negativity. And they certainly are not those who would make things worse by goading your ego. With a smile and a gentle hand on  your shoulder they would make you see that the world is in truth beautiful, all things are happening as they are fated to, and God is always smiling upon us. With my hand on my heart, I wish upon you such good friends. Amen.

THEM ANGELS. I have no doubt that the Angels are listening in. But sadly I am unable to cadge anything from them. After all, they don't drink, eat or sleep. And I don't think they smoke. There is absolutely no point to ask them for anything. But maybe they can put in a good word for me with  THE FRIEND OF FRIENDS... aka God.

Have a friendful day, sunshine! 

Pax Taufiqa.