THE CENTRE OF THE CENTRE -

How wide the centre white line appear to be when you get smaller!
Here is the manifestation of an ego under control.
(someone else's ego, that is. Not mine!)

Where is the Centre of the Centre?

You and I,

We are walking the Path,

And the best and the safest line

Is straight down the middle,

But the middle way,

The centre of the Path

Is a strange place indeed.

Because the smaller we get,

The more we can adjust our line

To a better middle,

A more centre err... centre.

And since there is no end as to how small we can be,

Then there is in truth no end as to how centre we can be

As we walk along the Path,

So be not like those who have judge themselves as 

Being perfectly centred!

For they are likely to judge and condemn those

Who are not along their line of

Walking, thinking, praying and living.

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

The Secrets of Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) After all, sunshine, true perfection (that is beyond the comprehension of us mere mortals) is the remit of Allah (s.w.t.) alone, and if there is created perfection to be reflected upon, then I reckon the owner of such perfection is the Beloved of Allah (s.w.t.), our Prophet Muhammad Habibullah (s.a.w.s.). And even such prophetic perfection we are only just beginning to understand. For such is the completeness and continuity of His blessings and powers granted unto his blessed person by the Almighty God that they increase with each measure, as if there is any man or angel created who is capable of measuring the gifts of Allah (s.w.t.) to His Chosen One... 

Ya Rabbi, the secrets of Your Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) is 

Yours to keep secret and disclose as You will!

Standing on the Edge of the Precipice. Let us leave the crazy loony murdering fanatics to the madness of their dogma, whether they call themselves Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists or Atheists. For they have taken a bit of knowledge, but have lost control of their ego, growing bigger and bigger until the Path appears so small, tight and narrow that they are standing upon the edge of the Path...

71. One Path, But Wide II (Or Angels In Hardhats)

You say the Path is straight and lo, so narrow!

But perhaps it is simply because you are standing on its edge?

 ..........................

And this is why, I guess, that the Saints and Shaykhs have time and time again admonished the mureeds (students), "Try to be nothing!". 

He he he. Easier said than done, of course. But what is life without a challenge? What is life without a journey? If anything, God the All-Loving doesn't want His creation to get bored with easy quests and easy-peasy tests...

55. Love Test

I am He who heals all wounds

I am He who cherishes the afflicted

I am He whom you claim to love

What is love if it is not tested?

I am writing this as a sinner, still wandering about the X and Y axis, looking for the centre of the graph, the Sublime Zero where naught occurs but by the Will of Allah the One. But I am thankful that at least I know our centre... our own beloved Prophet, Muhammad (s.a.w.s.). The way is there along the path of the Holy Quran and the Sunnah (traditions) of the Habibullah (s.a.w.s.). Can you see it in the horizons of your soul?

May you be safe in your journey, sunshine. Please leave some clues and signs in your wake and I will follow your breadcrumbs out of the witch's forest. 

The same old story for me. All over the X and Y planes...
Help! 

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Patience, Perfection and the Light of Muhammad - on the road with Mikhail

1. Just between you and Me

There will be people

Too wise and godly

Who will say,

“O’ Lord, she calls

Unto You

In poor speech.”

But just between you and Me, o’ seeker

I think you call on Me beautifully.

……………………….

Patience or Perfection?

I picked up Mikhail earlier today, and as we were driving the verbal overflow began from my 8 year old. He told me about the house warming party he went to on Friday, and that his mother recently purchased for him a new pair of shoes.

He may not look like much, but Mika can come up
with some pretty profound questions.

While on the way to the neighbourhood IKEA store, he asked me an interesting question, “Papa, which is better… Patience or Perfect?”

“What do you mean, Mika?”

He sighed the sigh of a 8 year old patiently dealing with a slow father and replied. “Papaa…, remember? Patience is better than passion right?” eluding to a conversation we had some time back, “...So which is better this time, patience or perfect?”

“Oh…, you mean perfection?” I clarified.

“Yeah, yeah. Which is better, patience or perfection?” asked the curious Mika.

“Hmm. Well I reckon that perfection is better than patience. But true perfection is owned only by God. But if you are looking for perfection in this world… then the best bet would be Nabi Muhammad (pbuh).”

He thought for a while, then concluded, “Yeah. I think you are right!”

……………………….

I know my son asks all sorts of question, and sometimes I wonder whether he actually understands the full extent of what he is questioning. And indeed, whether he can comprehend the answers that I try to give him. But an old soul dropped by a moment ago and said to me, “It does not matter, Taufiq. After all, who are you to say that even now, you fully comprehend what you are saying, thinking or even feeling?”

He he he. Yeah. I worry too much.

NurMuhammad - Light of Muhammad. That is why this evening I am sharing with you the above prose entitled “Just between You and Me”. Because the Me here is God, who unlike us mortals, fully comprehends not only what we say or do, but as our Creator, He is in complete knowledge of our nature – our strengths and our frailties, our passion and our patience, our highs and our lows, our good and bad. And while He sees us in our dire imperfection, for a strange beautiful reason, He still loves us and has the most incredible hope for our success. And for Muslims the world over, that strange beautiful reason is manifested in God’s highest and very first creation, the NurMuhammad (Light of Muhammad) of the Prophet(pbuh). As to what is actually the NurMuhammad is something inexplicable to me. What is the nature and material that makes up this first created light is beyond my understanding. What I do know is that upon the unveiling of the NurMuhammad, verily, God fell in love with His Creation.

Angel: I find your imperfections beguiling, Mikhail. When we asked God why
He created Mankind that is so imperfect in so many ways, He only replied
to us, "I know what ye knows not."

This Sufi parable is played out every day in our life. Especially if you are blessed with children. Such is the lessons we may learn in our difficult but often poignant and always beautiful experiences as a parent.

May God bless our children, and our fathers and mothers who reared us with love, affection and of course, patience. We may not be perfect, but to be loved by God and His Prophet is already the perfect beginning and ending of our journey in this world. It is strange how often we get distracted and forget this very simple truth.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Mikhail and His Verbal Jackhammer

Aieeeeeeeee! Someone make him stop!

Have you ever spent one hour with your son (or daughter) and you felt like your beloved child was drilling into your head with a verbal jackhammer? - Papa, why are you back early? Papa, I think I hate school. Papa, you win Angrybird every time when I am with you! Papa, I love the Beast Quest books! Papa, when are you sending me back to small house? Papa, your tummy is so big! Papa, can we sleep early tonight... and on and on and on. You get it. It's a Papa-Papa-Papa-Papa-Papa parade... And it drives me nuts sometime.

Mika's jackhammer is blue. Because he's a  boy obviously.

I came back pretty tired today, and I saw that Mikhail's ustaz (religious teacher) is in the living room teaching him to read Arabic scripts. I waved at Mika and ducked upstairs to my room. Not 10 minutes after, Mika comes crashing into my room wearing only his yellow Sponge Bob underwear.I sought a clarification from my son as to his state of undress. He replied smiling and chuckling to himself, "(After the ustaz left) I wanted to see you so much that I couldn't wait to get dressed!""

Hmm. Maybe I can deal with a few more hours under Mikhail's jackhammer...

Life is so lovely sometimes, and some moments so poignant that I am glad I have a path to channel all these observations. So thank you sunshine, for being here and listening.

God bless.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Birth of Democracy - when individual right seeks to overthrow Divine Rights, who wants to be servants now?

Arab Spring? What nonsense is this?
Only God grants Springs and Autumns,
Winters and Summers!

1. The rejection of the Saints III

The rejection of the saints,

The demise of the philosopher kings,

All paved way to

Tyranny of the Many.

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

Democratic Ulamak. If you ask some Ulamaks (religious preachers/scholars of Islam), they will say that political democracy is not incompatible with Islam. But I follow my friends, and the teachers and masters of my friends, who disagree vehemently with this proposition.

No Minister. When asked by a minister (yes, currently sitting in the Malaysian cabinet now) about democracy, one of the masters said that democracy had its origin from the Devil. Now that brought the conversation to an awkward point. And he was not wrong. Because what is democracy but a public forum where each of us fight for our individual rights? And this struggle supersedes the rights of everyone else, including that of the sovereign (the Sultan or the King or the Emir), and alas, ultimately supersedes the holy rights of the Sovereign of the Worlds, the Shahanshah (as the Persians would put it), the Kings of Kings aka God Himself.

Ana Khairun Minhu. For you see, if you recall the tale, the Lord commanded (as was His right) all of creation to bow before Adam. But the Devil, in his hubris and prideful piety challenged God (which he really had no right to), and asked why should he bow down to any other than God? But the Devil's inner sentiment was clear when he said "Ana Khairun Minhu!", I am better that he(Adam)!

And democracy picks up from where the Devil left off - My ideas are better than yours! My right is higher than yours! My family, my faith and my race is more noble than yours! My opinion ranks higher than yours! And so the whining goes on and on and on ad infinitum ad nauseum. Oh, people will always say that this is for the common good. But when they forget the Common God, the One God who has rights over everyone and all of creation, there is no common good really. People are easily provoked by populist politicians (and preachers), and the Rule of God is overturned by the Rule of the Mob. And behind the mob, the Devil rubs his hands together, grinning with satisfaction at his handiwork.

Thus do you see? Democracy suggests that all men are equal, therefore all men are kings. But if everyone is a king, who is willing to be a servant? And who will be the student when everyone is a teacher? When none will be servants or students, it is the human ego that will be the king and the teacher...

194. The Brethren

When buildings stand tall as mountains,

Where stand all my brethren?

When all men are kings,

Who will be servants?

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

Our friends therefore do not look at the Arab Spring with great joy. Because the protests and rallies have merely replaced one form of evil with another form of evil, one form of tyranny with another form of tyranny.

Arrogance. When we forget that we are merely servants, weak and not possessed with perfect knowledge, therein lies the door through which hate, hubris, vengeance and great despair will enter the body politic.

Stick to being servants, sunshine, in whatever faith you may be worshiping God.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Perfect Action of Perfect Knowledge - man and his ill temper

A picture reveals many things and hints to many more,
But what is hidden is infinite.

I often find myself in anger, or at least irritated. There is little to doubt that this will occur when I am continuously caught in the stream of human interaction. Unless I steal myself away from society and plonk myself in the middle of the jungle, the contratemps of human commune will persist however careful I may be not to step on anyone's toes. Sometimes we just don't see those toes, right?

Perfect action only comes from perfect knowledge, but perfect knowledge is the sole attribute of God Himself. We unwashed masses only have a little experience, a little forethought, a little knowledge based mostly on probabilities and predictions to guide our action. From this untidy collection of  incomplete information, we try to take the best action. And that is why we often make mistakes, which is a very human trait.

"Had I but known! Had I but known!" is the refrain of regret that we sing after our initial burst of temper. For me personally, I am tired of singing this tune. I know I still will, being the lazy, inconsiderate brute of a man that I can be, but I hope to reduce the occurrence...

Be patient

God has taught thee to have patience,

For however complete a picture thou thinks thou has,

There is still a lot more merely hinted in the picture,

And by God, a sea of infinite things are totally hidden,

Unless by His Good Grace, God discloses such secrets unto thee.

So in all thy action, o' foolish man

Be patient.

And in bad temper, 

Never!

Thank you for dropping by, sunshine. May we always guide each other with understanding and good advice.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Life is Good. Death is Good. - The traveler on the path

36. Never more alive

We are never more alive than

Having passed the threshold of death,

To finally take complete possession

Of our souls.

There is no cure for death, but upon death, all illness ends. Not only physical illness, but perhaps more importantly spiritual illness. We are not meant to stay here forever, sunshine. As man is essentially a spiritual being, this world with its physical forms is not our ultimate home. We are travelers, wayfarers on a journey from eternity to eternity.

It is our good fortune that the Creator has made such a splendid and beautiful world for us to live in. So while we are travelers here, it is also beholden upon us to care for this world and its inhabitants. And we must abide by the natural laws that sings harmoniously about the perfection of our Lord. It is enjoined upon us by virtue of the Adab (good manners) that a guest must have for the Host and His House.

Death may not come unto you for sometime yet. So let us weigh the goodness that is all around us and decide for ourselves whether this world deserves to be respected and honoured, although it is transient. I think it does...

Have a wonderful Friday, sunshine.

Pax Taufiqa

Hate has no place in Islam

What will we leave behind for our children? An Earth past its Live-By-Date? - Prose of Ramadhan Part 51

You don’t have to make the world better. Just don’t spoil it!

(Ramadhan Verses 28)

A friend said and I wrote,

“It is my hope to leave

This world a better place

Then I found it to be

For my children.”

Another friend read and commented,

“But my dear fellow,

Have you not found the world

Exceedingly better now

Because of your children?”

I replied, “Hmm. You are right, actually.”

“So you see,” He continued,

“It is really not about making

The world a better place,

But to not spoil it

For our children.”

I say, old chum. Please don't insult us by suggesting
we have common ancestors. Unlike YOU, we never
inherited a predisposition of destroying
the earth. Now give me the banana 
you promised.

The world is already perfect, sunshine. The celestial beings in the celestial environment - the countless stars and moons, comets and asteroids, they all whirl in perfect motion – dancing the dance of the heavens to a perfect harmony written by God, the All-Knowing Composer of the Most Perfect Harmonies. It is therefore fortunate that mankind do not have the physical power to affect the movement of the stars (The stars should count their lucky stars!). Alas, that this earthly environment is within our grasp to use (which is good) and abuse (which is bad). It is too bad for earth and perhaps the moon (one day?) to have mankind as their viceregent. Thus, the perfection of God reflected in the natural world become spoilt and tainted by man’s greed and vanity. We can see it all around us. We can taste it in the air and in the water we drink, and in the enormous mounds of hormonally imbalanced chicken we consume every day.

So one day, shall our little Mikhail, Anis, Lisa, Penny, Malini, Sarah, Mary ,Emina and Joe question us? – “Mummy, Daddy… you found this world a paradise on earth. Why did you spoil it for me?”

Zainal Abidin... 21 years ago.

In 1990, the radio airwaves and television screens in Malaysia were inundated by a song entitled ‘Hijau’, which means Green.‘Hijau’ was written by Mukhlis Nor, sung by Zainal Abidin under the R.A.P label (Roslan Aziz Production). When it was released that year, the song quickly became the environmental anthem for all Malaysians, and still is I reckon. Zainal, that dear old luvvie sang a dire warning… and a call for us to reflect and reconsider. Where will our corruption and consumerism lead us? What shall we leave our children one day? An earth past its live-by-date?

Hijau – Green (composition and lyrics by Mukhlis Nor)
Bumi yang tiada rimba – The earth without her forest
Seumpama hamba – is like a slave
Dia dicemar manusia – ravished by mankind
Yang jahil ketawa – who laughs in arrogance and ignorance

Bumi yang tiada udara – The earth without the air
Bagai tiada nyawa – is lifeless,
Pasti hilang suatu hari – to surely disappear one day
Tanpa disedari – without anyone noticing.

Bumi tanpa lautan – The earth without the sea
Akan kehausan – Will thirst
Pasti lambat laun hilang – (and) surely sooner or later it (too) will disappear,
Duniaku yang malang – Oh my unfortunate world…

Dewasa ini kita saling merayakan – In recent times, we often celebrate
Kejayaan yang akhirnya membinasakan – Success which ultimately destroys,
Apalah gunanya kematangan fikiran – What is the use of a matured mind
Bila di jiwa kita masih lagi muda – When in our soul, we are still young (immature)
Dan mentah – And childish (ignorant),
Ku lihat hijau – I see ‘Green’

Bumiku yang kian pudar – My earth is slowly blurring
Siapa yang melihat – Who will see (?)
Di kala kita tersedar – And when we finally notice
Mungkinkah terlewat – It may already be too late.

Korupsi,opresi,obsesi diri – Corruption, oppression, self-obsession,
Polusi,depressi,di bumi,kini – Pollution, depression on this earth now.

Ohanok-anok – Oh little children
tokleh meghaso mandi laok – will not feel (the pleasure) of bathing in the sea
Besaing,maing ghama-ghama – While playing together,
Ale lo ni tuo umurnyo bejuto – This world, its age is millions
Kito usoho – We (must) strive
Jauhke dari malapetako – to avoid catastrophe
Ozon lo ni koho nipih nak nak aghi – The ozone is now getting thinner every day
Keno make asak – we have to eat smog / smoke,
Hok biso wei,pasa maknusio – (destruction) because of mankind
Seghemo bendo-bendo di dunio – all things in this world
Tokleh tehe – will not stand (last)
Sapa bilo-bilo – forever.

God bless your Friday, sunshine. This day, like any other day of the week, like this world we live in, is perfect. Let’s try not to spoil it (any more).

wa min Allah at-taufiq.

Adam & Eve, the Best of You and the Best of Me

Adam and Eve
Adam was alone,
And yea, verily God
Assented to his plea
And created Eve.

So that one day,
Adam with Eve by his side,
Will return to God
And His Paradise of Delights.

And sometimes,
It is for Eve to chase Adam,
Angry, ashamed and disgruntled
Into the care of He,
The One Who Consoles,

And sometimes,
It is for Adam to chase Eve
Forgotten, neglected and torn
Into the embrace of He,
The One Who Embraces.

And sometimes,
It is for each Adam and Eve,
Weary, disappointed, and remorseful
To bring themselves
Into the guiding Light of He,
The One Who Guides, saying
“Oh Lord, I am weary of myself”

Only for God to answer,
“That is simply because you
Have not found the best of you.

I know you, I made you,

…Let Me Guide you to the best you.”

We are not perfect, you and I. Sometimes we cannot meet the expectations of our better-halves. And sometimes we fail to meet even our own expectations. But things are never appalling so long as we remember that we are not alone whether on our own or in the private embrace of our lover.

For the One True Reality exists in the One True Love, unmatched by any love stories of Adam and Eve or Joseph and Zuleika, and that is the love of God for us.

Have a good Monday, sunshine. And for the record, let me state here that I simply cannot wait to meet the best you! But I am aware that the likelihood of such an occurrence will increase ten thousand fold only when I am my best me. Oh dear... How am I ever gonna get there without your help?

So Jews. Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Taoists, Buddhists, Zoroastrians and ….. (add your religion here), let us, as true brothers and sisters would, encourage, motivate and pray for each other, that God might lighten our burden and ease our journey to find the best of ourselves. There in the Valley of Perfection, I am sure I will meet you. I am just hoping that I will also get to meet me! Hehehe.

Pax Taufiqa.

The Lord of Discord and the Meaning of War - Sinners' Dictionary

14. Lord of Discord
We resist the lord of discord,
Who rules over those
Who let their anger hold sway.

In their mad utterance,
He shapes their clay.
And in their violence
Is his to play.

To no fleeting shadow,
Will we bow,

To no whispers spun in the dark,
Do we bend.

For we serve the Lord of Accord,
And under His flag
We fear no discord.

I woke up this morning early, before the first ray of the sun spreads its glorious light upon this earth. And I expected something in the breeze to tell me a story. Something to say for this overcast Sunday. But nothing came to me. No verse, no prose no story. So I returned to my old poetry collection and found this old prose written perhaps two years ago.

The Lord of Discord has no name, unless it is our name. He has no form unless it is our form. He can do nothing to this world, and even the smallest ant is safe from him. Alas, through history we become his abject slave... setting swords, arrows and bullets upon our brothers and sisters. And all over words. Because in the Sinners' Dictionary war is defined thus...

War is...
A Series of Battles
Over the Meaning
Of Words.

When we stop talking and perhaps more importantly, when we stop listening, we become a ghost of our true selves. Another pawn in the momentum of a false history. Because the truth is, Love has always been king. From the looking glass of Glorious Love, there was never a Crusade, the Cold War never happened, and this thing which the media and leaders like to refer to as the jihad, the great clash between civilisations and faiths is a great big lie. Civilisations and Faiths must essentially be the same one thing - if we obey the Lord of Accord, whose counsel to be patient and understanding rises again and again in our Conscience...

The world has two histories you can choose from to inspire your life. The history of hate and the history of love. The power, and the responsibility to choose wisely is yours.

We must listen, sunshine. So we can be the true repository of Truth and Love in a world blinded by the illusory power of hate. Hate, like evil - exists in the absence of Love. And I know you are not like that at all...

Hehehe. Well it appears the breeze has spoken. The Sun is shining now and the wind has blown the overcast clouds away... I have my story.

I love you, sunshine. Have a perfect Sunday contemplating this joyous world...

Pax Taufiqa.

The Fountain of "I" and Patience

71. The Fountain
I approach the Fountain
And reflected in its waters I saw the sky,
As I came closer
I saw the mountains and trees,
As I came closer
I saw the meadows and valleys,
As I came even closer
I saw the hosts of humanity,
As I arrived and peered straight into its waters
I saw no one,
No meadows,
No valleys,
No mountains,
No trees,
Not even the sky.
I only saw I.

Someone real old and real dead once cornered me in the hollow of my sadness. And this was what he had to say to me, "My dear fellow, whenever I feel let down, whether by myself or someone else, I go the Fountain. And there I will find the balm to heal all my heart's dismay. Because there I realise that although I cannot control whatever happens to me, I can still choose how I react to it. Because if life is entirely about perception, then the world's reality is entirely dependant on how I perceive it to be. And I choose to perceive the world to be perfect in all its essence, and to be beautiful in all its form."

"But how do I master my own perception", I asked.

To which he replied, "Patience must come before perception".

Pax Taufiqa.

When Your Father is a Day-Dreamer, You Better be a Real Trooper

A couple of years back, I think Mikhail was about 5 years old when I accidentally closed the driver’s door of my little hatchback on my little son’s fingers. I did not notice that he had placed his hand on the edge of the rear door and when I turn around, he was already screaming and crying.

Lucky for us that there was a gap between the two doors so neither was his finger cut or his nail torn off. Mika cried, he bawled, but in 10 minutes he was sitting in the sofa, sniffling quietly and watching tv. The doctor who examined him later said that there was no permanent injury, just some swelling which should abate in a day or so. But my own feeling of guilt did not end. Remembering how Mikhail kept on saying, “Sorry, Papa… sorry, Papaa…” (as if it’s his fault) in between his heart-breaking sobs, it just made me feel worst.

I felt like a complete moron. A fool of a father, a day-dreaming daddy… and just for that moment in time before the accident occurred, how I wished that I was perfect. That I had eyes on the back of my neck and saw what Mika was doing. Or at the very least attentive of the fact that when you are closing doors and a 5 year old is in the vicinity, it’s always a good idea to know where he exactly is and what is he doing before closing the door shut.

9. Perfection – parental accidental (Ran)
The Lord is necessarily perfect,
In Love and Devotion,
To compensate for our imperfections.

O’ fathers who curse in grief,
O’ mothers who faint in despair,
See the parables in yourselves,
And within your sons and daughters!

I ended the day thankful that Mika was not terribly injured. That he had innards of steel beneath his skin - a real trooper. So perhaps that is the lesson to be learnt on that day. That and the fact that as a father, I need to be more aware of my surrounding.

And Perfection? God is Perfect not because He stops accidents from happening (obviously He doesn’t Do that). He is Perfect in guiding us to better understand ourselves and our children. And guiding us to the beautiful virtues on display by fathers and mothers all around the world. Within the lesson that we learn, sometimes hard lessons, sometimes soft lessons, is the Delicate Reality of God’s Divine Beauty and His Love for all His creation. I am happy that God is God that way.

Pax Taufiqa.

The Prophet and the Sinner with the Silver Pen

88. Dear sirs
Dear sirs,
I am a stranger in this land,
And I am looking for my Master.

They say he has died,
Oh, what a foul lie which
They permit their lips
To utter!

Dear sirs,
I am a stranger in this land,
If you know of my Master,
If you know of his whereabouts,
Take me to him, please,

For he is keeping something of mine,
My name, my honey, my sword
And a lantern that burns bright,
Through a fire which burns white
And luminous without need
Of kindling or fuel.

It was Wednesday, the 23rd day of March 2011, when I stepped foot unto the blessed soil of Medina, City of my Master, Muhammad Habibullah. It was the most difficult thing for me to contemplate that finally, I am here. After years of yearning and writing, after years of composing foolish poems that is trying to put into words what cannot be put into words - The love and longing for this man called Muhammad, the clearest and sweetest tears which is forever falling from the eyes of my betters, forming a lake in the valley of souls. There I could see all sorts of angels and heavenly beings take their water, delighting in the manifest love between the Prophet and His Nation. Between Muhammad and you...

Of course, the Master has passed away. There is his Raudah (Tomb of the Prophet) in the Nabawi Mosque, Medina which I myself have visited. But although he has left his physical shell all those many years ago, he is not dead to me. He is very much alive, and I cannot stop thinking about him.

Sometimes, I feel shameful to share these silly feelings. But what am I here for if not to remember and write? And what you do, sunshine - to give your time to me and read whatever is posted in this almanac, that too is no coincidence. For the first fatality in the accident that men call Love is coincidence. After Love - all chance meetings become fate, and all coincidences become our destiny.

When you arrive in your ennobled station, do not forget me, my readers. Pray for the sinner with the silver pen.

Have a lovely day, my friends. Help me make my life worthy of your friendship.

Pax Taufiqa.

We are Bridgemakers and we use Love to Build our Bridges

82. A bridge between me and you

Love doesn’t hurt,
We hurt.
Love doesn’t bite,
We bite.
Love doesn’t lie,
We lie.
Love isn’t misery,
We are miserable,
Love isn’t hasty,
We are hasty.
Love isn’t blind,
We are.
Love doesn’t fail,
We fail.

For I have found
The Love to heal,
To restrain and
To be truthful,
Joyful and patient,
Revealing and
Illuminating a bridge
That exists between
My heart and yours.

Really, you don't need to book a ticket to Paris, look for a bridge and there declare your undying love. For as long as we live, we all have our bridges to cross already, wherever we may be. In the lore of the Prophet there is a bridge known as the siratul mustaqim (also called the Straight Path) which is said to be a bridge as straight and narrow as your hair split to the seventh degree. It is my belief that the material composition of this delicate bridge is Love, for what else can you build from, that is finer and more delicate than Love?

Glory and blessings upon you, sunshine. For you are indeed one of the bridgemakers of this world. You are not of those who seek to tear down the bridge between race, culture, nation and religion which is often the bloody habit of the peacebreakers of this world. You see me as one of you, despite me being a sinner. You see me as one of you, although we may not share the same skin colour or culture. You see me as one of you, although I am thousands of miles away from you.

But what is physical distance when the bridge that connects us is Love?

Have a perfect Sabbath, sunshine. *Sniff* I still have a little flu and cough. But I will muddle through alright!

Pax Taufiqa

The Thief, the Toothbrush and the Singlet

Exhibit 1 - Toothbrush

Private ownership over your clothes and toiletries is no protection for your assets when four people are staying in one hotel room, as I found out in my pilgrimage. Terrible... thieves in the midst!

One the first day in Medina al-Munawarra, the City of the Prophet Muhammad, I was about to take a shower, when I was faced with a dilemma - which toothbrush was mine? I knew that mine was green, but there were two of them in the tumbler. One was dark green, another in a lighter fluorescent green. The latter looked prettier, so I thought my toothbrush was the duller green, thinking that surely I would have remembered if mine looked the colour of Kickapoo (a radiation green soft drink). 1st mistake.

On the very next day, I found a white singlet on my bed. Now surely this must be mine. I had a singlet. And it was white, I remember. Okaay, putting it on now... hmm, maybe a little tight around the torso but its (L) sized. Hmm... must be mine! I resolved in my head. Mistake Numero Duo.

Exhibit 2 - Men's Singlet

Life was good in Medina (I shan't jump the gun here, as the story about Medina will be a separate posting later) and on the 5th and last day, I was packing up my stuff for my Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca (about 500km away). The others have all packed and were busy lugging their bags out of the room. While busy in my morning ablution, I noticed there my toothbrush was missing. "Oh oh." I thought. But the bright green one was there, in the tumbler - damning evidence that I have been unlawfully misappropriating someone's toothbrush.

After one week in Mecca, and on the last morning before our flight back, I finally asked my roommates who actually owned the toothbrush that I had inadvertently been using for 4 days in Medina - It turns out that it was Udin, who looked at me with disbelief and sorrowfully saying, "Oh, why oh, why did you have to tell me that, bro..." I also admitted to them that I think I may have been using another man's singlet, which immediately turned out to be Arjuna's. Since I have turned his singlet from (L) to (XL) by my use, I said I will just keep it as a souvenir and token of friendship. He laughed, I suppose because he saw the inevitability of my conclusion. The only roomie which I did not mistakenly use his garment or toiletry was Ijan. I wished I did. I didn't intend to make him feel left out, you know.

To be frank, things were not perfect in the pilgrimage. The rooms were okay in Medina but were minuscule in Mecca. Yet, I believe that I would not have enjoyed my Umrah as much as I did if the trip was more comfortable or more convenient. The degree of ease and difficulty were just so. The degree of good food and bad food were just so. The weariness of travel and enjoyment of sleep were just so. Perhaps one of the best thing which was perfect and complete was the camaraderie I felt in the group. Now that was not just so, it was simply perfect.

. Have a great Thursday, sunshine! Pax Taufiqa.