UBAT (THE MEDICINE) - the remedy for bad manners, life and prayers...

Ubat

Ubat biadab

Ikutlah adab si-Abdi

Ubat si-hidup 

Ada dengan pesakit atau si-mati.

Ubat si-peminta

Hanya pada Si-Pemberi,

Medicine

The cure for bad manners

Is to follow the good manners of the Servant,

The cure for those living

Is with the dead or dying,

The remedy for the one asking

Is with The Only One giving,

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

Ubat biadab, ikutlah adab si-Abdi. The remedy for bad manners, which accounts for all the ills and sorrow of humanity is through good manners. For good manners should be the basis of our interaction with the world, from the people that loves us and the enemy that hates us, to the animals that we keep or is wild. Adab (good manners) in Islam encompasses the natural environment that nourishes us, how we organise our community, how we trade and live as neighbours. The very best adab rules even how we deal with inanimate things like rocks and sand, water and air - for there is nothing in this world that is not sustained by Allah (swt) and recites His Names and His praises. From the deep space of stars, galaxies and constellations, deep into the inner space between atoms, molecules and electrons - they all remember His Name and His Glory!

And there is no servant more steeped in servanthood to God and His Creation than Nabi Muhammad (saws), the first servant and prophet.

"I was a Prophet when Adam was between clay and water"

Ubat si-hidup ada dengan pesakit atau si-mati. My late mother (may Allah Almighty bless her soul) always took the time to visit the sick and the dying. Many years ago, our loyal gardener, Mr. Menon was injured in an accident and broke his leg. "When I woke up in the hospital, the first and only person I saw when I opened my eyes was your mother." So he recalled one morning as we chatted about my late mum. For my mother it was no-big-deal. It is a given thing, a natural order and manner that if whomever we know is injured, ill or dying, we must visit them. I wish I had such discipline and natural instinct. Because visitations to cemeteries, hospitals and the sick bed reminds us of our own transient state of health. For all the bad manners from which all ills and sorrows of humanity originates cannot happen until a man or a woman forgets their condition of being in utter need, love and mercy of God the Most Compassionate and Most Merciful.

And boy, do we need all the reminders we can get. So when your conscience is pricked, go and do not hesitate. Go to your friend at his sick bed or at the cemetery. Sickness or death is no impediment to the love and adab you may find there.

Ubat si-peminta hanya pada si-Pemberi. Whatever goodness we receive comes from the Giver, a.k.a. God Almighty. Oh, He may pick and choose the timing, the person, the condition and the form through which a goodness is given, but undoubtedly, for all believers, it is He who is the one and the only one giving. So we thank God all the time, for our parents and our siblings, for our kin and our friends, for the hospital treatment, for the house we are living in, for the car we are driving, and for the infinitesimal atoms and sub-atomic particles that (temporarily) cloth our spirit.

So, whatever and whenever we are asking for... only He can gives. Don't you agree, sunshine? 

So do not be shy with your asking. Ask God for God!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

-Notrumi Embun, 26th June 2014

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way 

WHAT IS HAPPINESS? ...is it merely pleasure and enjoyment? I think our spirit is created to be infinitely more subtle and refined...

The Key to Happiness

I lay in wait, hunting for happiness,

But happiness eludes me like an elusive thingy,

Then I look to God and the Prophet

And desired that the Almighty and the Beloved

Be happy with me,

And lo! I finally found 

My happiness

In me.

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

What is Happiness? How do you know where and how to find happiness? But most importantly, would you recognise true happiness if it bites your nose? Is self enjoyment and gratification the final definition of happiness?

Is it merely Gratification and Pleasure? Because if that is true, then food, money, companionship, sex, power, drink and adrenaline rushes are all that it takes to make us happy. But it doesn't, does it? It touches at a visceral and material level, admittedly. But such things do not last. Money is ultimately spent (or hoarded away), food is ultimately eaten and deposited in the toilet the next morning, companionship can be boring at times, you can't have sex all the time, power corrupts, happy drunkenness turns easily into a morning hangover and you can only bungee jump once in a while. At the end of the day, such pleasure and gratification are very transient, plus they take a whole lot of effort and the outcome often unreliable.

I am too tired to look for this so-called happiness. So I have decided to kick off my slippers, give my restless spirit a break and stop looking for happiness. For I just find all this happiness-seeking enterprises to be too much like work. 

Oh, what shall I do now?!

Spade work ahead. Happily, yesterday a solution came to me on the whisper of a wind - a friend said to me, "Look for God and the Prophet to be happy with you... Then you will have all angles covered."

Yeah. That is better, I think. All angles covered. I like that, for I am sure our spirit is created to be infinitely more subtle and refined...

Well, not even my best-est of friends would describe me as subtle and refined. So I know now that I have a lot of spade work ahead of me.  

Be patient with me, sunshine.  

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

LEAP OF FAITH - releasing the power of the spirit through gaining mastery over our ego..

"Why does one pass away the instant someone shoots a bullet through them? Who takes that secret away?Why does someone pass away when they are fatally ill? The spirit is always trying to run away and break free from the cage of the body. When it find a way it will run away and go back to its origin. When you yourself, through your power over your own ego, free your spirit, at that time you can control the power of the spirit and it cannot run away. At that time you can do miraculous powers through your spirit."

From Mercy Oceans Secrets of the Heart, Rajab & Ramadan Lectures by

Sheikh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani

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

I sketched the above picture not knowing what I actually wanted to say with the drawing. But yesterday I found a beautiful part of Sheikh Hisham's book (one of the older ones, published circa 1992) which I feel compliments the sentiment of the picture. I hope you enjoyed them both!

Have a blessed Friday, sunshine. And a wonderful weekend...

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

THE MASTER & THE MOUNTAIN PASS - The Ramadan Story, Part 14

Inmates of the Bachelor Pad. Many years ago, before my housemates achieved marriage, middle age and a sheen of respectability, they were all seekers. Seeking for God and truth. Seeking for the straightest path and best methodology towards understanding themselves, their place in this world and really, to answer that age-old question - What loophole can people who are patently sinners and ne'er-do-gooders use to get in synch with the Universe and God's Plan for us?

The Techno Saint & His Loophole. One of my housemate back then, whom I shall call the Techno Saint (for he is a shy and retiring flower, and does not court publicity) told us of one loophole in the Universal Grand Design of God that he discovered. Moses, who was there, was intrigued and asked for further and better particulars. Essential to the Techno Saint's scheme is to ensure a transparent and straight path between our endeavour and accountability to God's desk which says 'The Buck Stops Here'. To do this, says the Techno Saint, we merely ask of God to send us a Master. Someone who will love us and support us, and help manage our otherwise caprice-driven life towards some meaningful end. So no more confusing and perplexing issues of theology. No more nail-biting decisions about where to move, what job to take and whom to marry. He he he. I guess not only were we sinners. But we were also commitment-phobic, lazy and procrastinating bums, dithering nervously between life choices. "So..." concludes the Techno Saint, "... If God sends us our Master, then we are sorted! And if God doesn't send us our Master... well, it's not our fault anymore, is it? For we asked already, and God ignored us."

After 13 years, thanks... I was not part of the menage that night in our bachelor pad when this Loophole was first discussed. Nor did I share in any of the strange coincidences and dreams which finally led my housemates to a Shaykh. But I too finally found my way to a Shaykh in 2004, whom coincidentally, was the very same Shaykh that Moses and the Techno Saint was led to. But this was not an event that occurred overnight, rather it was something which was seeded in 1991 when my brother took me to meet the Shaykh and to whom I unknowingly gave bay'at (the oath of fealty between a student and a teacher). I was 21 years old then, and had little preconceptions whatsoever, and when my brother told me to put my hand on the right shoulder of the man in front of me (this was part of the congregational bay'at with the Shaykh) I simply did so with little thought of its meaning. After the short prayer session, my brother sent me back to my college, back to my friends, my books and my puppy-love for girls. I would not have guessed back then, the sheer enormity of what had actually transpired (and how could I have?), and I cannot have imagine the calm and coolness of Love from which it had flowed since. 

And now that I think about it, I have never really thanked my brother for that brotherly gesture. I know he didn't do it to save me. No, it was because he found this wonderful thing called Love and Compassion, and he simply wanted to share what he has found. So despite being rather late, here it is... Thanks, Abang Chik!

"MasyaAllah!" Said the fisherman. "I am not kidding. The fish that got away
must have been at least THIS BIG!"

Who is Your Master? So after this meandering tale, we come to the whole point of this dictation... how would you actually know that the Master is really the Master and not some crank or Saint-wannabe? How would you know that he is actually telling the truth about the fish that got away?

The Master & the Mountain Pass

I cannot tell you how I know,

I cannot tell you why I know,

I cannot tell you what I know,

For I am ever in the state of relative ignorance,

With unknowing coming after knowing,

Coming after unknowing and coming after knowing!

But in his eyes, I saw knowledge like a well whose depth is unknown,

And in his hands I felt the warmth of love,

And in his manners was discretion and subtlety

Sharper than the Steel of Toledo!

But above all, in his heart I sensed

An understanding, an enveloping compassion for me 

Despite all my wretchedness...

For he does not turn away in disgust,

Taking me as I am, beginning from that day,

Through the darkest valley of my conceit,

Through the highest path of the mountain pass.

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

Yeah. The answer, such as it is, is not easy, sunshine. After all, love must have its drama. Shakespeare knew this. The Shaykhs knew this, and certainly Allah (s.w.t.) and Muhammad Habibullah (s.a.w.s.) also knew this... setting humanity on our merry way, unwittingly towards love and all its tribulations, those essential ingredients which makes love and life both meaningful and joyful. 

Go on... knock on the door... You cannot resist Love, you know. And if you can resist Love's blandishments, then it is not Love at all and this door is not for you. But never fear, for Allah (s.w.t.) will always have a door for you. You need only to ask. After that, it is just a question of time before you find the right one for you.

Have a lovely day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

THE SPARROW-ALHAMDULILLAH! - Friday the Blessed, the Sabbath for contemplation

It was Friday the Blessed yesterday, and you would find a sinner loitering outside the Mosque, finishing his cigarette before making his way in, a sinner amongst the pious, into the Mosque for ablutions and prayers.  

A Young Man Without Any Arms. Cars were parking illegally all over the place, as like on all Fridays, ordinary traffic regulations are not enforced so long as you do not actually block a road. A space opened by the pavement right in front of me and a small car slipped in. A Chinese lady came out of the driver seat and I was thinking to myself, "Huh, even the Chinese take advantage of Friday!" when suddenly from the front passenger seat, out jumped a young man and I literally jumped out of my skin, because he had no arms at all. He walked pass me with a spring in his step, as I continued to stare at him. He looked well-pleased with himself and I wanted to smile at him. He noticed me watching and we smiled at each other shyly. Dammit. He looked happy. He looked contented. How could he be, when he didn't have any arms?

So I knew, you see... that this Friday, the last Friday of the Holy Month of Sya'ban would be an extraordinarily good Friday.

The sparrow-Alhamdulillah

Alhamdulillah... Praise be unto God,

Alhamdulillah... Praise be unto God,

Alhamdulillah... Praise be unto God,

I recited, my voice spoke, my heart ignited,

Alhamdulillah... my soul sang and sent

All my Alhamdulillah to the spirits of the dearly departed,

To my Beloved Prophet and His beloved Family,

To His Companions and His Saints, alive and living,

Alhamdulillah... my spirit sang and sent

All my Alhamdulillah like a flock of sparrows in their thousands

Flying towards the beloved faces of my mother and father,

Towards my brothers, my uncles and aunties and all my cousins,

To all my nieces and nephews and all my friends and their children,

And as the flock arrived, they descended toward my beloveds,

And they begin to whirl round and round my beloveds,

The flock of sparrow-Alhamdulillah continued to encircle them,

A circumambulation of love around my beloveds,

Until a desire sparked in me and I found that I myself

Have become one of my own sparrow-Alhamdulillah,

...I could feel the wind rushing over my feathered wings

As I flew with scriptural speed around these familiar faces...
Whirling and spiraling like blue lightning,

...Oh mother! Oh father! Oh brothers! Oh my loves!

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

Have a wonderful Sabbath, sunshine. Keep your light on, remember Allah (s.w.t.) always and devote your life and love to His Beloved Muhammad (s.a.w.s.), His Anointed Mercy to all the Worlds.

From the strangest places and avenues do mercy come, and yesterday it began with a disarming smile from a young man with no arms. May Allah bless him always... for the journey ended in the flight of the sparrow-Alhamdulillah!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way 

THE REMOVER OF WORRIES - Muhammad, Sayyidina Kashiful Kurab... and a bit of something about nothingness and Angel Archers...

Angel Archer

Sometimes I want less of something,

Sometimes I want less of less,

Sometimes I need less of nothing,

So sometimes I simply wait and see

And take whatever the Angel brings.

Be it a pot of gold,

A sliver of silver,

A ghost of a fright,

Or an arrow of light,

As sharp as a bee sting.

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

I can understand what less of something means. But less of less? Does that mean more of something? After all, more of less means lesser (I guess...). And what about less of nothing? Does that mean we want more of something or more of nothing? My friend, Moses, would accuse me of purposely obfuscating what I mean. 

But sometimes I am not sure what I mean. Some days are like that, don't you agree?

Anyways, it is Sabbath, sunshine. So I will not tire you with my confusion. Today I hope to rest, just like you. And to recall my Master and Prophet, Muhammad Habibullah (Beloved of God). And all my care and worry, I pass upon his magnificent mercy, flowing from the Mercy Ocean of Allah (s.w.t.)... Thus, I am adrift, floating like a leaf in the stream of...

Muhammad, Sayyidina Kashiful Kurab (The Remover of Worries) (s.a.w.s.)

Have a perfectly fine Sabbath, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

When You Fall in Love, You Lose Your Freedom - towards true servanthood of Love

No Freedom (a song by Dido)

"No love without freedom,

No love without freedom,

No love without freedom,

No freedom without love..."

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

Talented is Dido. When I heard this song, the chorus struck a chord in the piano of my soul. I thought of what she sang... "...no love without freedom..." She always had a way with lyrics, this Dido. Below is her music video.

But When You Fall in Love, You Lose Your Freedom - I think this to be true. And if at any point in our relationship, we appear to have a semblance of choice, a veneer of options? Why, the unpalatable truth is that we have not properly fallen in love. 

Divine Love. And that is why in the School of Love that is this world, and in relation to the object of devotion and affection that is our Lord God, I am still in kindergarten. Trying with some difficulty to grasp and to hold unto that which the mystics of Islam and the world call Divine Love. Because I still think I have choices, you see... Therein lies my weakness. 

But I am not too worried, sunshine. Because I also believe that our path, our journey in this life is through that weakness...

Onwards, through the realisation of our utter helplessness, towards true servanthood of Love.

ya Allah, ya Rasulullah... how blessed are we, sunshine.

Have a truly beautiful Sabbath.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

PLAYGROUND OF THE SOUL - chance encounter with a servant of Peace

Playground of the Soul

This is not just a mosque,

This is no mere house of worship...

This is a playground of the soul,

A garden of the spirit

To seed and till your happiness...

This is where you will see flowers

Rise, bloom and fall

In all hours of the day, 

Enchanted by the Lord's heavenly call.

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

Last night, as I was making my way to intercept young Ustaz Malik (the man with the golden voice), I was suddenly waylaid by an elderly gentleman. He introduced himself as Abdul Salam (Servant (Abdul) of He Who is the Source of Peace, Safety and Perfection (Salam, one of the Divine Names of God)). 

Being the forgetful dummy that I am, I cannot recall his face although he says that he has seen me around our neighbourhood. When we embraced I felt a burning warmth when his cheek touched mine. In my fanciful retrospection, I felt that it was the warmth of love.

So nothing to report but the chance meeting with kindly affectionate strangers in the Playground of the Soul. 

Have a lovely day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

I am a Sign of the End of Time - prose from Singapore

The Sign of the End of Time

The man makes his way to the mosque,

And says, "The Key to my Heart is Morning Prayers at the Mosque..."

The traveler turns away from the world and the crowd

And says, "O' Lord, while I was all alone you kept me company,

But now that I am not alone, I seek your Divine Assurance still..."

The traveler makes his way out of the mosque,

And he hears a preacher man speak, "Now, let me tell you

About the Signs of the End of Time"

The man smiles hearing this and says to no one in particular,

"I am a Sign of the End of Time..."

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

Good morning, sunshine. I am back, arriving in Kuala Lumpur International Airport just a hair before 11pm. How have you been keeping in my absence? I trust all is well, insyaAllah...

The trip was good for me, work-wise as well as attending to matters that I have delayed to do in Singapore. The prose recorded above are the nuggets I have found trawling through the sleepiness of the soul, across the plain of reflection, alone and away from friends and family. And since this is Sunday and is a good day, I leave you, my beautiful spirit, with a lasting and difficult contemplation, but one worthy of your best effort - 

Patient Will

Patience is the unveiling of the Will,

All conquering over the arbitrary

And whimsical nature of

This world.

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

Have a lovely day, sunshine. Rest and relax...

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Following the Wisest Path - the heart and the ego

The Wisest

Last night God made me blush,

And a couple of days ago

He made me feel like I could die,

An hour ago God made me hungry,

And five minutes later He fed me.

No doubt later this evening

He will give me a reason to laugh,

And a reason to smile,

He will give me a reason to cry

And a reason to love,

I reckon that not a moment of my life

Has God left me to my own devices,

And thus I know that those

Who know themselves, know their Maker

And amongst such wise men, I consider them wisest.

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

Inward with God, outward with men - such is the nature of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s), and to some degree, that of his Companions and the Saints. 

Know yourself / self-discovery - what a beautiful, profound and slightly fuzzy-wuzzy hippie goal to have. "Oh, she is taking a year away. To look for herself..." But the journey towards self-discovery is also a journey away from the ego, that malevolently cunning alternate personality that is joined to our body and often deceives us to think that it is us. But my ego is not me. Yet, if you find me in a foul temper, bitter or despairing, selfish, self-consumed and wasteful... I would not blame you if you think that my ego is me after all.

Thus, to reject the ego, to control and bridle it to your heart and your conscience is the way forward. I will not lie, it has not (it is not) easy for me, being a sinner and all, to quell the rampant rebellion of my own ego.

So the journey continues. It is a new morning here in Kuala Lumpur. One more step in the path of eternity, with God, the Prophet, you and me, sunshine.

*all pictures are from my recent trip with Mikhail
to Kuala Kangsar. Didn't want to waste them. He he he.

Have a beautiful day. Have a wise day.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Tears and the Reverberations of the Heart - grace and gratitude

35. Brightest Star

Even the brightest star must diminish

When the morning sun appears

As do all sad songs finish

When eyes run out of tears.

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

I am prone to tears nowadays. I do not understand why. The tears can come from suddenly remembering a beloved soul who has departed this worldly existence. But most of my tears are not tears of sadness or separation. Often they well up from the simplest gesture of kindness from another human being, and from an overwhelming sense of gratitude for this life that I have been given, and the love and mercy of God that is offered unto me now and in the hereafter.

It is a reverberation in the heart like church bells ringing and it happens in the most unlikely of places and circumstances. Maybe that's why I like to wear sunglasses even when it's raining.

God bless you and have a wonderful Friday, sunshine. May you reverberate with gratitude. For it is the sound of happiness cloaked in tears...

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Without Adab (Good Manners), You Do Not Attain the Divine Presence but Vertigo.

Thank you. I would like to remain attached to the high-wire, if you don't mind.

There is no detachment only Adab (Good Manners)

Not doing anything

Is doing something,

Making an observation

Is participation,

And however you would

Like to think that you do not judge,

To a certain degree, we all judge.

But what you do with your judgment

Is entirely your own choice...

To speak, to write or to keep silent,

And in this context,

Silence often speaks volume of who you are

And who you ought to be.

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

Writing. And if the prose is true, then by God... how far am I from that perfection of silence! Babbling away in this almanac, on my FaceBook and Instagrams... yakedee yaking away in my writing. Hopeless.

Observations. I think it is true. For we all judge. And however we would like to take the 'Sufi' path of detachment, we still fall into error, judging everything and everyone that comes our way. Judge, judge, judge... Yet there is some truth in that we sometimes merely observe and not pass judgment. But the moment you speak, the moment you share your observation, how can it not be a judgment of sorts? And oh boy... have I been sharing my observations here in the blog. 

My son is ever concerned about my financial well-being. He is not stupid.

A Hermit? My 8-year old son Mika says that I ought to be a judge. "So you can make more money!", he assures me. But the truth is I am already a judge. Judging my way through life and collecting a jealousy here, an envy there, a bitterness here and a dollop of despair there. I have had quite enough of it already for several lifetimes already. Thanks, but no thanks. Perhaps it would be easier to run off and be a hermit on top of a mountain.

Waitaminute. Did I leave the front door unlocked?

High-wire Act. But we cannot withdraw ourselves from the world. For the way towards God in the Divine Presence (according to the Masters) is to outwardly be with people, but inwardly being constant with God... Hmm. Easier said that done that. It is a high-wire balancing act across the cosmos of our physical and spiritual existence. And the higher your knowledge, the higher your high-wire act! Oh dear. Where is my sense of balance!

Divine Vertigo. So I am resting from pursuing knowledge for awhile. And I am asking for better balance and better manners. The best of Adab as taught in the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.). Too high a knowledge and I would undoubtedly attain not Divine Presence, but vertigo. Madad ya Saideena Muhammad.

No more war. I think if we only remember these simple rules, there would be less bitterness, less violence, less wars. For  people would be more careful of what spills out their lips and through the ink of their pen, and insyaAllah (Godwilling), there would be no more bullets in the guns, no more missiles in the silos and no more bombs by the roadside.

God bless you, sunshine. Have a lovely day...

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Speak to Him... awake or in your nightly dream...

Break the Silence

Talk to Him,

Talk to Him However Way You Want to...

Through your Prayer,

Through Your huMan Tears and holy Hymn,

Break THe siLence,

And talk to HiM...

eVEN in your nightly Dreams...

For though your lips stay stubbornly silent,

Your Soul may yet find its ReAl appearance, 

And while you fall asleep like a Heathen

Your DreaM takes its path to Heaven.

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

Life is about conversations about God and with God. And it is meant to be a two-way communications. A dialogue. And even if we are naughty and negligent in our prayers, does God turn away? Is our connection to Him severed?

So long as there is a single breath animating us, there is a link. For God is unlike us, whimsical and often arbitrary in our actions. "I am closer to you than your jugular vein", God expresses Himself clearly in the Holy Quran. Therefore, the only question is whether you are up to the task of accessing and filtering the information downloaded from the Divine Presence on a daily, second by microsecond basis. 

And this happens even in our sleep, as our spirit partially (and temporarily) relinquishes its worldly passport to find some divine sustenance from the Fountain of Knowledge. For this world is indeed a mere journey from our real home in the beautiful meadows of God's Divine Presence. And one day (and may such a day be blessed!), our worldly passport shall indeed expire and we will be invited home to the  place of honour as a weak servant in the Heavenly Court of God - Creator and Lord of all mankind.

This is something the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) teaches his followers. This is not just a journey for the Muslims, this is a journey fated for all humanity. So let us be nice to everyone sharing our travel!

Uh oh... and lest I forget, here is wishing all my Hindu brothers and sisters a wonderful Deepavali!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in  Islam

Love will show the Way

True Love Illuminates Truly - love, avalanches, floods and the whirling dervishes

1.      Tenacious

Yea, I may be tenacious,

But it is easy tenacity when you

Are carried by a mighty flood

Roaring down the side

Of a high mountain!

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

Love affects different people differently. For some, love is all about falling down the side of a hill or mountain like a flood or an avalanche. So you get bruised, beaten and broken. Then you climb that mountain again. For others, love can make them whirl. No bruises or broken bones here, just the drawing of light-threads through the blandness of the cosmos, as even your shadow illuminates the gloomiest corner of the human experience. For true love illuminates truly... 

This is my first ever sketch with white ink on black paper. I hope you like it.

Have a lovely Sunday, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Cartographer and the Map of the Human Spirit

Map of the Human Spirit

I am the hermit on the peak,

I am the monk in the cellar,

I am the priest in the temple,

I am the voice of everyone and no one,

I am the preacher on the soapbox,

I am the merchant in the market,

I am the judge, I am the jury,

I am the son of Adam, I am the daughter of Eve,

I am the sign of the times,

I am a universe all of my own, 

I am both made and unmade,

A thoughtful creation in

My Lord's imagination,

I am the minstrel for the stars,

I am a little servant of the servants,

In me you will find wickedness,

In me you will find virtues,

I am me, and I am also you,

The bear after the honey,

The knight after the dragon,

The alchemist after the philosopher's stone,

I am how my Lord made me,

And my quest is what my Lord makes it to be,

I am the Cartographer, 

Drawing the Map of the Human Spirit.

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

Anyone, indeed everyone can be whatever and whomever they desire to be - a scientist, a doctor, an artist, a cook, a housewife, a househusband, a preacher, a teacher, a mountaineer, a farmer... anything really. 

But above all this worldly ambition, they must learn of themselves - as some would call it the human spirit or the soul. It is not a choice really, for whatever we may be doing, we are all Cartographers of the Human Spirit, and in our daily deeds and conversations, slowly but with deliberate certainty, we map and chart out the seas and rivers, the hills and meadows, the high mountains and gentle valleys of our humanity.

But lo, how sad and limited is the vision of those who do not see that our mortal landmarks all lead to the heavenly seas and rivers, the holy hills and meadows and the divine mountains and valleys of the Life Hereafter. 

The Virtue of Adam and the Beauty of Eve manifest in the mirror of reality which we call our lives, which is not Reality itself, but a brief transient reflection of God's Own Reality, as how He Desires for us to contemplate and understand.

So I am greatly indebted to God for the richness of this world, and the infinite richness promised unto the kindly and compassionate of Mankind. You know... your kind mother, your gentle father, your thoughtful neighbour, your brothers and sisters united in the worship of the One God.

This is a little ray of light of the Light of Muhammad (s.a.w.s.), Seal of the Prophets.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way