THE ENEMY, THE DOG, THE PIG AND THE RELIGION ... ending the illusion of 'religion'

What is Religion?

Things took a turn for the bad

When the Muslims took what they had,

The faith and the way that Muhammad brought,

And shoehorned Islam into their limited conception of

Religion and God.

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Think about it, sunshine. There is no comparable religious study program of Islam and any other religion. For the truth is Islam encompasses everything. It is the tea that you drink, the charity that you do, the sin that you commit, the trust that you keep, the friendship that you have betrayed, the life that you live, and the love that you have faithfully kept or lost. For God has said that He knows your all, your past and future deeds, your black and white and grey. Islam of the Prophet Muhammad (saws) is a key to the infinite, and as such cannot be judged in finite empirical methods. 

Often, we repeat similar sentiments when we say, "Oh... Islam is not merely a religion. It is our way of life!". But the truth is we are merely parroting some preacher man. For in our conduct, in our prejudices and delusions of humility and obedience, we have still far, far, far to go in understanding and keeping to the Islam and Sunnah (traditions) of Nabi Muhammad (saws). Sad that many of us still cling to the intoxication that we somehow deserve Islam and the Prophet of Islam - that we have better rights than the pig in the sty, than the dog in the gutter... may Allah (swt) save us from this foolish 'piety'!

The Islamic Pig

You have not completed your faith 

Until you can look at the lowly dog, 

The dirty, stinky pig, 

The Devil and your worst enemy,

And perceive the Islam

In their action and purpose

Of their creation.

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Dwell on this, my love. For one day, you may find me reprehensible, a liar and a wretched fool. And I hope that on that day, you will still perceive the Islam in me.

Have a hopeful beautiful Sunday.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

- Notrumi Embun, 25th May 2014.

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

A Piggy Tail - The Spiritual Station of Pigs

In the course of conversation with Gurindam (see earlier posting about Gurindam's saintly dogs - Click Here), Ariffin asked, "So what is the true maqam (spiritual station) of the Pig?" And this was Gurindam's considered opinion. He had a few of them, including the origin of the Pig, but we will carry on from when the Pig played such a pivotal role in Noah's Ark.

"The Pig..." Began Gurindam, "...is an honoured creature. When the Ark, filled with all of the animal kingdom was for sometime afloat, an odorous and hygienic problem arose. Where to get rid of all the animal and human (there were some of them, if you recall) droppings?" My unspoken reply to Gurindam was to just dump the crap out into the waters. Gurindam responded to my silent query, "For you see, you cannot just dump it into the sea, not when God's own storm was raging outside. All hatches were shut tight. So the Pig came into the picture, and he and his spouse happily consumed (literally) the problem." One issue resolved for the long-suffering Noah.

In recognition for the invaluable service by the Pig to Noah, the Lord thereafter made Pig's flesh sacrosanct and forbidden for almost half of humanity. Yes, yes, I know... there are also hygiene and health issues which is said to be the reasons for the Jewish and Muslim prohibition of the consumption of Pigs, but that is just the technical aspect. How many times have you gazed in awe at some one's seemingly endless patience and fortitude in taking crap from people, and wished that you could reward him/her. So it is with the Lord and the Pig.

It is to my daily amusement that believers are so disgusted, even physically nauseated by the mere sight, sound, smell or even saying the word 'Pig'. I could imagine a holy consumer dropping a shoe he was browsing when he suddenly noticed the words "Pig Skin" inside the shoe, Ayieee! - worried that the ham leather would somehow stain his otherwise flawless piety and purity. Purity? Hehehehe. At least the Pig is merely doing what nature has intended it to perform. It is doing nothing more nor less. Man, with his endless cheating, lying, stealing, envying, murdering, corrupting and hypocrisy can learn a lot from the natural resilience of the Pig to take all the crap that this world yields every day.

I don't have any new illustration, but I hope you can tolerate my re-posting of the sketch below. Hehehe.

Have a nice piggy day, sunshine.

Pax Taufiqa.

Footnote - If you have absolutely nothing else to do, I have written an earlier posting about pigs entitled 'Don't eat Bacon, but love the Pig'. Click here.

Don't eat Bacon, but Love the Pig

According to James Herriot, the late great vet of the Yorkshire Dales, there are good pigs and bad pigs. There are pigs that were once cute little piglets but when they grew up, turned into grumpy and short-tempered giant sows. There are also old kindly pigs, emanating kindness and general love-all attitude from their sty.

I think it is important to reflect upon the pig. It is famously known that Jews and Muslims, by their laws, aren’t suppose to eat pigs. But we are not suppose to despise them, after all, they are also one of God’s creatures.

I have a close affinity to pigs. Like the pig, I am also fat and have excellent appetite. And as a group we sinners are often despised too, just like pigs. People simply forget that often, when they look into the nature of what they presume to hate, they will only find their own prejudiced selves, reflected upon someone or something that have never in fact done them any wrong. So I like the Christian saying... “hate the sin, love the sinner.”

And I want to add another one for the book… “Don’t eat bacon, but love the pig”.

Have a safe Sabbath, pet.

Pax Taufiqa.