THE VIRTUE OF SILENCE - adab, scandals and gossips, discretion and the veil over your sins...

A Drop of Adab

Give me a drop of Adab

Than an ocean of knowledge.

Give me a single pause of Adab

Than the most persuasive speech of the orator.

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The ancient ones value Adab (courtly courtesy and manners) above all else, even knowledge. For Adab is the inner and outer expression of our understanding or lack of understanding. 

Adab tells us when to keep silent and be discreet, and Adab also teaches us when to speak up and also be discreet. Adab is the highest form of human action through which we conduct our affairs with discretion. 

Scandal! Do you like knowledge? For knowledge is a two-edged sword whose edges are very sharp indeed! How do you like being told of a dark secret of someone else? Such knowledge (let's be honest here) is titillating, true. But after the brief moment of dark pleasure at someone's unfortunate contratemp or mistake (for it is a misfortune), we are suddenly weighed with the burden of knowing. And our ego is whispering ever so urgently to us, "Go on... tell it to him. Share this with someone... !"

Like a steak, a scandal is often juicy. But it is bad for you.
And even worse if you share it with someone.

Some people may reason, "But fate has disclosed his/her indiscretions to me! So the general prohibition against talking bad about someone must surely now not apply in this scandalous case! Anyways, it is the truth about him/her!" Hmm, persuasive but...

Gossip

O' foolish traveler! 

O' wayward listener to gossips and scandals!

Draw the veil that someone has saw fit to lift

Over the indiscretions of someone else,

That perhaps Allah may keep the veil

Over your own errors!

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When you think about all the preachers and evangelical politicians in this world, when you think about all the news, postings, comments, blogs, websites and portals covering Islam, it is ironic that in most instances, what Adab in Islam demands is silent contemplation. 

He he he. So it appears that I have written myself into a corner. So I better stay here for awhile and speak no more.

Have a lovely Monday, sunshine. May Allah (s.w.t.) and His Beloved Nabi Muhammad Sayyidina Alamul Huda (s.a.w.s.), guide you towards the perfection of your Adab. There is no purpose more beautiful than this single purpose!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

BLUE SKY, GOD & YOU - the haze, the hermitage

The Song of Solitude

I am caressed by the silence,

Listening to the song of solitude,

Alone, here in the hermitage in the sky,

I am as I am, asking God,

The pre-Eternal question...

"Who, what, how and why?"

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

After almost one week away, I am back at the hermitage, accompanied with the blue sky that was painfully absent for one week since the smoggy haze enveloped my sad country. But now, the blue and white wispy clouds are back, and I think my fellow countrymen have learned not to take anything for granted, certainly not the heavenly roof of the Earth. In any affliction, there is always wisdom to learn.

Lest You Forget

I made the sky of beautiful blue hue,

And the clouds of white luster,

And it is I Who keep them blue and white,

Lest you forget who is their Creator!

Lest you forget who is your Creator!

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

Yesterday an old friend of mine accompanied me home for awhile. He was delighted to find a balcony which opened up into the sky, and there he prayed his Asr and Maghrib prayers. Later last night, I sent him home.

But the hermitage is not a place for friends, I think. Well, at least not living, tangible ones. I find this place a calm quite oasis of solitude, and in this palpable silence, the voices of those whom we consider 'dead' are very much alive. I put 'alive' in quotes because Allah (s.w.t.) has said that those who pass away in the state of witnessing (syahid) is very much alive (and well). And I believe that Allah's declaration of these souls' life means more than the brief life that you and I are currently breathing, sunshine. These souls are of course the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.), His Family, Companions and Saints. Like stars twinkling in the twilight mist they are a joy constant, an assurance eternal and a sign of hope warranted by the Creator Himself, Allah the Beautiful, Allah the Just and All-Merciful.

Some fair thoughts, sunshine, on this fair and blue Friday.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

NOISY CREATURES IN A NOISY WORLD - death before dying and the silence of the grave

Noise and the Silence of the Grave

I am a noisy man,

I need not speak for you to know that,

You can see it in the expression of my face,

In my colour, in the clothes I wear,

In how I walk, sit or stand

Any where, any place.

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Noisy Creatures. Mankind tend to be noisy. Within ourselves, even in silence, we are confronted with our hopes and dreams, our fears, ambitions and guilt, our uncertainty and our passion, our worry for tomorrow, and our regrets for yesterday - Amid this relentless internal din we let the present go by unattended by our focus and attention.  

Noisy World. To make matters worse, this personal cacophony of emotion throws a veil across our perception of the world, making the world also a right hellish racket to bear sometimes.

Silence of the Grave. So I am on a quest for a quieter world. I am not going to change the world itself, but I will try to do what I can with myself. The Sufis and other mystics of the world have elucidated about the concept of death before dying. And I wanna try that and receive the benefit that comes with death without actually being buried. What benefit, you ask? Why, the silence of the grave of course.

Grace and Grave. For I reckon that once you are along this path, you will get to hear and see the more important things in life - the Grace of God in everything that we are granted, the Wisdom of God in every tribulation that we may face, and the Beauty of God in the smiles, the laughter and the gentleness of our family and friends, and even from the acts and words of strangers. And of course, the Power of God in the thunder storms at sea, the high mountains in the clouds and the vastness of the oceans.

So I am intent on reducing the noise in my life. And as a Muslim, I am asking God for the intercession of the Prophet Muhammad's (s.a.w.s.) hand to reach into me, and turn down the volume dial within me.

Ahh. Lovely. Outside I can already hear the birds singing their hearts out on this peaceful overcast Wednesday morning.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Solace of Silence - love conquers words all the time...

Words and Love

Words have built empires

As Caesar exhorted his legions to greater conquests,

Words have raised glorious domes and minarets

As the Ottoman Caliph said ‘O' Sinan, build!’

Words are the crucible of invention

For someone had to teach Edison to think,

Words is a vortex of hate

As preachers, politicians and demagogues

Spout their litany of anger and bigotry,

Words unleashed the power of the atom

As Oppenheimer debated with his fellow scientists,

Words have released Man from ignorance

As Ibn Arabi and Ibn Sina

Called on people to reflect and think,

Words have killed countless millions

In the name of religion

And in the name of reason….

Words have done this

And so much more

For good or evil...

But words lose all the time

When matched with love,

With nothing to say or

Very little.

…………………………

We humans are really strange. For we can hopelessly fall in love, or fall deeper in love even when no words are uttered, and no words heard. I suppose this is strongest felt in our bond with our dearly departed. With our late fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers. Our dearly missed friends and masters.

And sometimes, this happens with our living loved ones. A touch of the hand, a glance from a pair of dark-brown eyes, an embrace, a kiss.

Some of my most dearly loved ones are no more with me. Some I have not heard a word uttered from their lips for years, decades even. While some, only recently that they fell silent.

But in the separation that saddens us and in the silence that surrounds us, sometimes we can yet sense the most loving attention, a communication without words, enveloping us like a beautiful spring morning.

I am sure you understand what I mean.

*… silence …*

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way