THE EGO & THE ENVIRONMENT - Islam and our accountability for Earth and all its inhabitants

Borrowed Blessings

We are living on borrowed blessings,

Upon the thousands of years past

When somewhere far in time,

An ancestor of ours said,

"No... let's not do that.

Let us do the right thing"

When a forefather with tears in his eyes,

Raised his hands to the darkening skies,

And said, "Oh Lord... Please keep safe

My children and my children's children,

For what I could have done for them I have,

And now I leave them in Your hands."

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

The Ego & The Environment. Oh my beloved friends, I am a little worried. For I fear the day when we shall account for all our deeds done to our environment, all our actions and omissions. For all the times we could have acted to do the right thing but did not. My lazy ego often tells me... 'Naaw... you don't need to think too much about the environment and sustainable development and consumption... that is the problem for the politicians, the experts, the university professors, the... (ad infinitum)." According to our lazy ego, it is everyone else's problem but ours.

But Marshall Mcluhan, a Canadian philosopher in a statement referencing the Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth (1967), clarifies most succinctly, 

"There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew."

Crew and Viceregents. So there is indeed no escaping our responsibility for this beautiful Earth, which is not ours, but in truth, God's grant to humanity. But the Angels of God, in their wisdom and foresight raised the query of our fitness to crew the Spaceship Earth, or in the words of the Holy Quran, to be the Khalifah (viceregents of God) upon this Earth...

Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: "I will create a vicegerent on earth." 

They said: "Wilt Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein 

and shed blood?- whilst we do celebrate Thy praises and glorify Thy holy (name)?" 

He said: "I know what ye know not."

(Quran 2:30, Yusuf Ali)

We are full of mischief, the Angels alleged. And as history unveils itself through time, indeed, we brought a lot of mischief and oppression to the Earth. But closely parallel to the evil, is the goodness inherent in Man, made manifest and clear by the Prophets and Saints of God, authorised by God to advise, admonish and encourage Man towards good and to reject all evil and all falsehood. 

So we are the Khalifahs (viceregents) on Earth. So what is new? But today is different from any other day in the past, you see. For our economy, our industries and apparent insatiable appetite for consumption has led to a point when Man can actually physically and permanently do harm to the Earth.

Back to the Basics. The way forward for us as a community, is the same way as revealed by the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) in verse 2:30 above, that is to find the answer from and through God Almighty. After all, did He not say unto the Angels, 

"I know what ye know not."

We are asking continuing support and guidance from the Flag of Guidance, Sayyidina Alamul Huda Muhammad (s.a.w.s), lest we be branded by our children as the generation that took a paradise from Allah the Most Compassionate, and passed on to them a dying planet.

May Allah the Ever Generous save us from our most selfish and wicked desires!

Pray for humanity, sunshine. And pray for Spaceship Earth.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

THE MEANINGS OF AS-SALAMU ALAYKUM & THE GARDEN BEFORE THE GARDEN - The Ramadan Story, Part 17

I don't need your salam! Go awaaay...!!!

The Ego's Salam

As-salamu alaykum!

I am a Muslim!

As-salamu alaykum!

I am about to say something

Rather important and heavy here!

Hey you!

Did you not hear?

I said As-salamu alaykum!

Listen and pay attention to me!

I am about to divulge information

Of great serious-ity!

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

3 Meanings. People use words in all sorts of different ways, as my brother likes to say. And this is the same regardless of what words they are. My brother was mentioning this yesterday in the context of the greeting most used by the Muslims, which is As-salamu alaykum, meaning (as generally accepted) 'Peace be upon you'. Most people of course knows this, but perhaps we can go a little further. 

This beautiful greeting is recorded in the al-Quran in context of the Angels coming to greet the believers who have successfully endured the trials and tribulation of this life to receive the Pleasure from Allah (s.w.t.) in a number of connected verses of Chapter 13. In the 23rd, the Angels are...

(Saying) : Peace be unto you because ye persevered. Ah, passing sweet will be
the sequel of the (heavenly) Home. (Quran 13:23, Marmaduke Pickthall)

1. The Angelic Affirmation of Human Perseverance, Prophetic Intercession and Divine Compassion. When the Angels thus spoke, the greeting is their affirmation of what has come to pass for you - a celestial garden of joy and pleasure for you. An eternal abode for the patience that you have shown in your devotion, and ultimately, submission to what God had bequeathed you in this world. All the smiles and tears, all the success and failures, all the laughter and sorrow that make up our life, each and every single day we are here. But of course this cannot happen, the Muslims believe, by our efforts alone. Above our struggle is the divine intercessions of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.), in answer to which is the unimaginable Mercy and Compassion of Allah (s.w.t.), He Who forever looks upon His creation through His infinite Ocean of Forgiveness.

2. The Beautiful Prayer. And as for us wingless non-Angels? One Grandshaykh describes the greeting as a prayer. And how beautiful is the prayer! - I am greeting you with brotherly love, and looking upon your graceful countenance, I am asking Allah (s.w.t.)... 

"O' my Lord! Let our discourse begin with peace and end with peace!

Grant unto him the peace that only You can give. 

Grant to us in our meeting the brotherly peace that only You can bestow, 

Grant us Your peace for our today and all our tomorrows."

Praying.

Whatever conversation that may transpire after that... be it about personal matters, about work, about money or health, isn't this a good beginning? May we always remember how we began!

3. The Ego's Salam or 'Overcome by the Gravity of the Situation'. And of course, humans are sometimes overcome by the brevity of the occasion - an example is when he/she is a politician / preacher about to begin some important religious or political sermon. Then he/she will say As-salamu alaykum in a heavy, serious and modulated tone... to accentuate that he/she is about to say something really, really important and that you had better pay attention.  He he he. 

My brother's view, and I agree with him, is - Oh come on, just get over yourself, will you? 

Salam to the Perfect World. So to conclude this meandering tale, we reckon that the best way to give salam is with a smile, a skip and a joyful hop, as if the world is perfect, that there is no hate or hubris, and the certainty that the Eternal Garden awaits us at the end of our journey through this world's garden of beautiful souls, inspired by the Inspired Mercy that is Muhammad Habibullah (s.a.w.s). For actually the world is perfect, isn't it? Would Allah (s.w.t.) have given us an imperfect abode, even if it is only temporary?

Dunya, The Perfect Fascmile

Peace be unto thee, o' Dunya,

If you are transient, You are perfectly transient,

If you are illusory, You are perfectly illusory,

If you are a fascimile, You are the perfect fascimile,

And I shall take you as my beautiful abode,

The Garden before the Garden,

If only for a while.

Also praying.

43 years old, and only just starting to learn how to say As-salamu Alaykum. I am a late-bloomer, what other excuse can I give?

But you will forgive this old sinner, won't you, sunshine?

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Hide the Weaknesses of Others - Adam, Eve, the Devil and the All-Loving God

103. The Second Lesson (with Shal)

What did Satan do

But to only expose

The truth of man’s

Innate weakness?

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

When you think about it, Adam and Eve was created with a certain level of weakness. In the contented existence of Paradise, it didn't show. It needed the Devil to come around with his bag of tricks, whispers, innuendos and fear-mongering to reveal our poor ancestor's folly under the tree of the forbidden fruit.

"Hey... I just showed the first couple for what they truly are... oh so weak and susceptible to persuasion!" the Devil might say.

When I watch the western mainstream media, I see how it all fits together. And the Devil didn't have a 24 hours 7 days a week 365 days a year television channel drumming his malicious agenda non-stop into Adam and Eve. The west is still mighty, with its fingers on the nuclear button, but the Devil is satisfied already, for he has helped create the division between left and right, liberal and conservative, progressive and traditional, believers and atheists, mothers and daughters, fathers and sons. Christians huddle together defensively in their suburban churches, while the progressives and Libs control popular media and entertainment, with stand-up comics poking fun at Christ and the Bible, scorning the very idea of the existence of God.

But hey, the Devil is only revealing the truth of our existence... our unruly passions, our lack of patience and empathy, our quick response to judgment, our overbearing pride and hubris. It is not as if he is creating something that is not already existing in our bodies. The ingredients was already in man's pantry, the Devil just decided to cook up something really nasty for humanity.

Hmm.

Yes, it is true. We are weak, for that is how God made us to be. For only the weak would recognise the strong. Only the imperfect would recognise perfection. Only those who have been misguided would seek guidance, and only the exiled would yearn for home. And Adam never conspired against the Devil, it was the Devil who first cast the stone.

So reject the way of the Devil... cast not any stone of judgment, sunshine. Hide the weaknesses of others, for verily I am certain that God will hide yours too. For He is All-Knowing and All-Loving.

The Angel: There he goes again, the Devil... And true to form, the children
of Adam and Eve are ever susceptible to his whispers...
*angelic sigh*

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Dragons of Paradise and the Meditating Snakes

Taufiq's Dragon

I was away and the World fell asleep

The Light rose between the two hills

Like unto a Divine Lamp raised heavenwards,

Yet it was not the Sun rising,

But in truth the Earth turning and circling

Around the Mercy of the Worlds.

The World was alive between my eyes

When I awoke from slumber,

Yet it was not me waking up,

But in truth the World that was rising from

Its unconscious sleep,

As my soul left her to visit

Some hidden and faraway places,

To bask in the glow of some

Ancient familiar faces.

Day and night we travel, from light to darkness then back to light again. It is unfortunate that some of us wake up feeling more weary than when we fell asleep. You cannot have too many mornings like that, because it is a downer. If you have such restless sleep, find out what's wrong. We need our sleep.

Who knows where we go when we sleep. Our souls clambering out of our window, heading to meet who knows who and talk about who knows what. Maybe I have been meeting dragons in my sleep, but I like the idea of dragons. Not the vicious greedy types like J.R.R. Tolkien's Smaug the Magnificent, but kindly dragons. The sort who won't burn down a village to save its own scales. The sort full of dragon wisdom and kindness.

Tolkien's Dragon

I think dragons have been getting a bad rap in the West. According to an old story (origin uncertain) I have heard around here, dragons are heavenly creatures but was persuaded by the Devil to assist in his conspiracy against Adam and Eve. As a punishment by God the dragon was turned into a snake. Indeed beoming THE snake, the father of all snakes. In our tale, we are informed that some snakes are not satisfied remaining as snakes, and they would often find empty mountain peaks and desolate caves to hide themselves, praising and praying to God to be returned to their original shapes, as Dragons of Paradise. The Malays of old used to call these snakes "Ular bertapa", which basically means meditating snakes.

I guess we have a lot in common with these snakes. We too want to find our true selves. We too want to make acquaintances with our heavenly souls. The sad thing is we can also resemble a nest of angry rattle snakes! Grumpy and poisonous! May God grant us the patience to overcome our ill-tempers. Amen. 

Have a wonderful Tuesday, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

I am a Congress of Atoms

I am a congress of atoms,
Called upon to bear witness
Upon the Creator of atoms,

Once before, my atoms
Were formed to be very
Different things and persons,
Part of a tree perhaps,
Or a flaming fountain
Of a distant star,
Or a wavering wave
Of an ancient lake.

Then as now, my atoms
Continue to form and unform
In many trillion ways
As my Lord may
Infinitely dream,

And only my soul
Is real, living and
Possessing life
For a brief
Moment.

I am my Lord’s dream
In this world of form,
As you are.

If we talk then,
Is it mere words
You hear through
The reverberations of
Molecules in the air?
If we kiss then,
Is it merely pressure
That you feel upon
Your nectar lips?

I look into your eyes then,
But is it merely light that
I see reflected in them?

I have seen eternity,
I have spoken without speaking,
And our lips interlocked
In an ocean of honey stolen
From the bees of paradise,
So do not ask me anymore, o’ love,
Whether I love honey or not.
For we are all lost in God
And His Thoughts.

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

Another prose recorded in October 2009, in the chapter entitled 'How Beautiful Love is'.