The Garden of the Prophet in the City of Medina

238. Catacombs and Tombs

They are saying unto us,

You are worshipping Muhammad!

You are setting him as a rival unto God!

We say unto them, only this;

Stray thee not into your elders’ library

If permission was not granted to you!

Stay your hands from plucking fine

The pages, ancient and true,

Looking for reasoning

To support you!

We say unto them also;

Do not come between

Our Captains and our army,

Between our Master and our mercy,

Between His Heart and our hearts.

We do not choose,

We are chosen.

And you are not chosen?

Of course, you are!

May you excel in what the Lord

Has chosen you for!

And may the Lord forgive us

For always failing miserably

In what He has chosen for us!

So go to bed in your silent catacombs!

There are voices, music, songs,

Commandments and orders

That emanate from our tombs!

To you be your catacombs!

To us be our tombs!

Within the Raudah, the Garden Tomb of the Prophet in the Masjid Nabawi in Medina, men, women and children all come to make acquaintance with Muhammad, Most Beloved of God.

The deniers and usurpers who cloak themselves in religion have long sought to break the connection between Muhammad and his Nation. "Enough with this heresy!" They say. "He is just a man!" They tell people. Such are their protesting words rising like ghosts from the catacombs of their mind. Well, they can keep their strange ways, because happily there are still many people keeping to the traditional path, paying respects in visitation to the tombs of Prophets and Saints, some saving their money for years to pay their way.

Love guided them to thee, o' Prophet!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Medina is all about Muhammad and his Nation - Umrah Pilgrimage Part 21

I visited the Prophet at the Raudah (‘the Garden’ to denote the resting place of Muhammad, prophet of God at his mosque in Medina) a couple of times over the four days I was in Medina, and mostly at night. There is in fact a whole chapter on the Adab (the beautiful manners) of visiting the Raudah, which was later given to me by my friend, Syful. But for the first couple of visits I was on my own with my feelings,... and how my feelings found strange expressions in the Arabian nights.

Medina is all about the Prophet...

And his Nation...

"O' my Prophet", we said, "O’ my Nation", he replied
O’ my Prophet,
You are the Sun of my sun,
O’ my Nation,
You are the moon of my Moon,
You are the Light of my light,
You are the eye of my Eye,
You are the Truth of my truth,
You are the sky of my Sky,
You are the Hu of my Hu,
You are the i of my I,

O’ my Prophet,
You are the Sea of my sea,
O’ my Nation,
You are the lake of my Lake,
You are the dream in my Wake,
You are the Tears of my tears,
You are the Smile of my smile,
You are the joy of my Joy,
In all of my Years.

O’ my Prophet,
You are the Hope of my hope,’
O’ my Nation,
You are the kiss of my Kiss,
You are the Breath of my breath,
You are the peace of my Peace,
You are the Soul of my soul,
You are the good to my Good,
You are the flame in my Night,
That has never grown cold.

O’ my Prophet,
You are the rain of my Rain,
O’ my Nation,
You are the Pearl of my pearl,
You are the Heart of my heart,
You are the being in my Being,
You are the sea to my Shore,
The rise of my Sleep,
The path to my Door
The road to my Keep.

O’ my Prophet,
You are the Spring of my spring,
O’ my Nation,
You are the sting of my Sting,
You are the Strength of my strength,
You are the Sword in my sheath,
You are the Grace of my grace,
The Praise in my praise.

O’ my Prophet,
You are the Stone of my stone,
O’ my Nation,
You are the earth of my Earth,
You are the Salt of my tears,
You are the eternity of my Forever,
You are the Water in my ocean,
You are the Treasure of my Passion,
You are the hope above all Hopes,
You are my answers to the Lord,
When He asks me this question…,

“O’ Muhammad,
What is the greatest gift
You have ever received?”

And I reply,

“It is my Nation,
It is your Mercy,
It is Me.”

I am glad I managed to finish this poem. It has been burning a beautiful bloom upon my back, and I weary of carrying it alone. The writing commenced at 11.15am on the 26th March 2011 in Medina and finally finished just last night. So now it is written and it is out here.

Thank you, sunshine. For allowing me to share the burden of my happiness and madness with you.

Pax Taufiqa.

Medina and the Chapter Ya Sin - Umrah Pilgrimage Part 20

WHAT A PITY. One of the first emotions which I crossed my heart when I gazed upon the gilded entrance into the actual tomb of the Prophet was “He looks caged… What a pity.” Later that night while chilling with my companion, Afizan, he also voiced the same feelings – “I don’t know, but when I gazed before the Raudah, I felt pity – that he is visited by thousands upon thousands of his followers each hour of the day, yet he looks imprisoned behind in the Raudah (Literally means ‘the Garden’ and denotes the resting place of the Prophet inside his mosque, Masjid Nabawi).” I thought I was the only one feeling such emotion, but I guess I am not alone.

EASILY PLEASED. While I was sitting by the pavement on my first day in Medina, suddenly a young arab youth sat next to me and asked to borrow my lighter. He said “How are you, brother?” It was a greeting which he obviously thought little of, but to me it meant everything. Finally, a local of the City of the Prophet greeted me as a guest. He then said thank you and left me to my contentment. It doesn’t take much to please me. Not in Medina especially.

CHAPTER YA SIN, VERSE NO. 82. I spent a lot of time in Medina with a room mate whom I call Arjuna. He is a sincere person, charming, energetic and has lived an interesting life though he isn’t very old. In one of our many chats, he had this to share. “I have a teacher of the Tarikat (Sufi Order) in Indonesia. And one day he told me that in the Chapter Ya Sin of the Holy Quran, in particular verse No.82, the bit where it goes “…kun fayakoon…”, it means that God says “kun!” and the Prophet replies “…fayakoon!” Below is the actual verse in Arabic Script and as translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali.

Verily, when He intends a thing, His Command is, "be", and it is!
(Innama amruhu itha aradashay-an an yaqoola lahu kun fayakoonu)

So in summary, what the Sufi teacher is trying to say is that all happenings in Creation from the Year-Minus-Zero till now occurred and is still occuring upon God saying “Be” and the Muhammad replying “And it is!”.

I nodded my head appreciatively, “Cool, cool... I never heard that one before.”, and thereafter kept my silence. Later that night however I remembered our conversation and wrote it down in my journal. For me, it was the best thing so far that I have received in Medina. A third bundle came in the form of a poem to a sinner as he made his solitary walk back from his midnight soiree at the Raudah. And that prose shall be in my next posting about the pilgrimage. But for now I leave you with a little poem recorded some 7 years back, ‘the Nabee’ here meaning the Prophet, Muhammad...

38. Make Me Pretty
o' Lord,
If I am a gift to the Nabee,
Then wrap me up in Your Beauty.

Powder my nose with discretion,
Shade my eyes with compassion,
Scent my breath with remembrance,
Colour my lips with conviction,
Lighten my brow with humility,
And comb my hair with chivalry.

Have a lovely day, sunshine. God bless you.

Pax Taufiqa.

The Sinner & the Phoenix - Umrah Pilgrimage Part 19

THE FIREBIRD. The mythical firebird known as the Phoenix exists in perhaps all great civilizations across the globe. This flaming pigoen appears in Persian, Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Japanese and Chinese lore. This bird is like the dragon (and also the Green Man) who appears to make their appearances in the most unlikely (and unconnected) of folklores and traditional beliefs. Where there is smoke there is fire they say (well, unless its dry ice!). But we are not here to delve into the story of the mythical Phoenix, interesting as it may be. For you see, during his pilgrimage the sinner was accompanied by his very own Phoenix too, albeit of the wooden sort. Below is a picture of my own firebird (sans beak)...KING OF SAINTS. I purchased my Phoenix walking stick from my good buddy Ahmad Alatas from Indonesia. I asked him what sorta bird whose head crowns the cane. He said it was the Rajawali bird. In Malay that means the King of Saints (or the Saint King). I chuckled thinking that I would need all the help I can get as I begin my pilgrimage, and what better help for a sinner than a saint? And a King of Saints at that! Later, I found out that Rajawali is the Malay name for the mythical Phoenix.

BROKEN BEAK. Alas, even before arriving in Jerusalem I must have accidentally dropped my Phoenix, and a bit of the upper beak was broken. Distraught (and rather tired) I resolved to just dump the bally thing in Queen Alia Airport, Jordan. But my buddy, Ariffin, advised me not to, and to at least keep it until we reach Medina. There, he said, you can leave it at Masjid Nabawi (the Prophet's Mosque). Reluctantly, I agreed.

And so my Phoenix accompanied me all day and night for the entire 14 days of my pilgrimage. It followed me into the Masjidil Aqsa and Rabia's shrine in Jerusalem, Moses's shrine along the way to Jericho, to the Prophet's Raudah (Garden) in the Masjid Nabawi in Medina, and finally, when I performed the tawaf (the 7 circumambulation around the Holy Kaaba, Mecca), it was there with me, my support and constant companion. Rarely was I ever without my Phoenix. And rarely did I not drop it, so that when it came to the last day in Mecca a friend of mine suggested, "Taufiq, if we stay just a couple more days here, I reckon not only will your bird be beakless, it will be headless." And I think he is right.

I HIT SOMEONE IN FRONT OF THE HOLY KAABA. Well, I never did leave the cane in Masjid Nabawi. I have grown too fond of its ugly and broken beak, and the crease and carving of its head have become familiar in my hands. Initially, I was worried that perhaps the guards in the two great mosques in Medina and Mecca might not take kindly to a pilgrim lugging a walking stick depicting an animal (in strict Wahabbi regulation - I do not think it is actually permissable). But nobody stopped me, nobody questioned me, even when I was raising the Phoenix's head high amongst the masses of pilgrims circumambulating the Holy Kaaba. I didn't want to accidentally hit someone's legs or body, you see - And this is the embarassing bit - because I did in fact hit someone's head - the head belonged to a poor Turkish lady, and I accidentally hit her when an idiot behind me nudged my elbow. Wait, wait... It wasn't a hard knock really, so don't judge me. Maybe it was a divine intervention because she was thinking some impure thoughts? Hehehe. Okaaay... I am just kidding!

Well, such is life. Go to the Holy Kaaba, and you get beaned by a sinner.

Have a nice day, sunshine.

Pax Taufiqa.