A COCKTAIL OF TEARS, A SEA OF LOVE & LAUGHTER - The Ramadan Story, Part 7

Only If They Ask, Part 2
...And if they ask why are your eyes closed,

Tell them that you don't want to open them

For fear of unleashing another flood

That neither seawall nor dyke can stem.

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

1. A Cocktail of Tears. Mix a little knowledge, add a bushel of sins. Pour a sea of neglect. Sprinkle some remembrance. Top off with a cherry of regret. Stir ingredients in a colourless crystal goblet, and you would get me. When this is me, you must ask why I don't cry more. 

2. Here and There. Everywhere. But I don't. In fact in my life, there is still a lot to smile and even laugh at. Something to warm the cockles of my heart. Something to reignite my faith in my humanity, in my brothers and my sister. I think it is perhaps because however we may be, sweet or sour, good or bad, forgetful or grateful, ugly or beautiful, God is always there. I mean here. With me. And I also mean there, with you. It gets kinda confusing with God and with True Love. For He is one and the same, the Unique One. Transcending the elemental time and space of this physical world. It is easy for Him, He is after all, God.

3. Choose battles that you can win. But the world is not sitting still, letting you go so easily. It throws at you the horrors and hatred, the bigotry and hubris, the greed and selfishness, the apathy and lethargy, the tired old sad stories. So do yourself a favour this month, don't read the newspapers. It is good to be knowledgeable. But sometimes too much knowledge makes us weary. Especially bad news. Especially when we can do almost nothing about it. So my thought for today is - let us choose battles that we can win. And that starts with ourselves. Quit drinking. Quit smoking. Quit neglecting our body. Quit wasting time. Quit sleeping too much. Quit procrastinating. Quit bitching (does this count?). Quit judging people. 

"Don't even think about it." said the Angel of Quitting Bad Things

4. Stop it. It is funny that the biggest battle is really about quitting something. But sometimes quitting is necessary to begin a better life. God willing, I think this is true. Note to self - God and Goodness always wins when bad men (read me) stop doing bad things. 

5. Loveliness... I started this posting with a typically melancholy love prose as befitting my quasi-sufi pretensions. But it is Ramadan the Blessed. And this month refuses to allow me to wallow in sadness. And I am glad that I can end the almanac with loveliness instead. The Loveliness of Allah (s.w.t.), the Loveliness of Muhammad Habibullah (s.a.w.s.) and the loveliness that is all you, ministered between Ahad and Ahmad, between the Chooser and the Chosen.

May you have a beautiful day, sunshine.Tears or laughter, it is all about Love after all.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

JUST TRY... AND LEAVE THE REST TO ME! - The Ramadan Story, Part 6

Mikhail, bless his heart, tries. And holds 100% clean record
for fasting so far this month. But either way, he is already my success.

Only If They Ask

If they ask if you are mad, tell them that you are in love,

If they ask if you are a bandit, tell them that your law is love,

If they ask if you are lost, tell them that your destiny is love,

If they ask of your journey, tell them that your path is love,

If they ask more, tell them that you are like a knot being undone,

Like a book being returned to the library,

Like a river flowing to the sea,

Like a number collapsing into the One,

Whatever that number might be... two, three or infinity!

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

Nikmat Puasa. It was a quiet breaking of the fast yesterday. And in the moment after the end of the muezzin's call of the evening prayers, a moment loaded with meaning could be sensed. And that meaning was the overwhelming peace and happiness of water from the river of paradise running over a parched soul. Is that a good description, sunshine? Aah. Maybe this is what the Muslims mean when they say nikmat puasa (the pleasure of fasting). And it was not the food or drink that they partake to end the fast, but instead their perception of completeness of Allah's (s.w.t.) blessing to humanity - a third eye being opened somewhere in the deep recesses of our consciousness to realise the goodness of God that our ancestors already knew long, long ago. Alhamdulillah.

A particularly excellent entourage
of those who try.

Just Try. I cry a lot nowadays. And if you count the number of times tears well up in my eyes, it is even more. Happily, most of the tears are tears of joy from some personal realization. You know, things like... I am lucky to be alive. I am fortunate to have God in my life. I am blessed to be a believer. And at the end of the day, whatever the test may be, Allah (s.w.t.) is only asking that I try. "Just try, kiddo, and leave the rest to Me... " I reckon God would say.

Earned Love. Those not familiar with the mystical path of Islam like to insinuate that Love is easy-peasy lemon-squeezy. They imagine Sufis to be bearded beatniks or hippies. But the truth is Love is not the easiest path. It is after all the foundation and building blocks of faith. So God has made Love to be sturdy, resilient and ever-lasting. And God has also made Love to be something that is earned.

May we all earn a place in His Love through the intercessions of His Own Beloved, Muhammad Habibullah (s.a.w.s.). And though ultimately, we can never truly earn either... we must try. Like I said, God is simply telling us, "Just try... and leave the rest to Me..."

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way