THE SYARIA AND HUDUD, The Prose (Part 1)

The Syaria (The Journey, the Garden and the Fruit)

I saw a journey,

Where I saw you, and I saw myself,

And along the path there were

Beautiful places to rest,

Restful places to ponder God,

As Love, as Life, as the Sustainer

And the Only Nourisher,

I saw goodness and kindness,

Compassion for humanity,

For the birds and the animals,

For even the rocks and water

That filled the mountains and valleys,

And above us in the journey,

Is a constant sky of guiding stars,

As we discover along the many stations,

More and more knowledge of the universe,

But always, subservient in its synchronicity

With the Universal Truth of God...

Thou Most Beautiful, Most Lovely!

And the road on which the journey

Begins and ends...

It was known as the Syaria.

I saw a garden, a paradise,

Wonderous in its colours,

Glorious in its breadth,

As if the Creator Himself

Has taken the trouble 

To paint each petal of flower,

Each pebble in a glistening stream,

With His own beauty and wisdom,
Each creature and creation,
Competing in fierce rivalry,
To best praise God...
Thou Most Compassionate, Utmost in Mercy!

And around the garden stood fences,

White as light, bright as a thousand suns,

And the fences were also known

As the Syaria,

I saw in the blessed garden a fruit,

And the fruit was nourishing,

It was delightful and tasteful

Whatever your taste may be,

It was good for you,

And it was good for me,

The inside of the fruit changes in colour

According to your needs and fancy,

Its texture can be hard or soft,

And according to your need, crumbly or fleshy,
Nourishing you from the beginning to the end,
An assurance from garden of the Almighty...
Thou Most Companionable, Thou Best of Hosts,
Thou Friend of Friends!

And the protective skin of the fruit,
Keeping the flesh pure and pristine,
Shining in the garden like a beacon
Guiding our wavering, floundering conscience,

That too was known as the Syaria.

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

This is a longish tale, so forgive the sinner if he spreads his wings over a couple of postings. But I think it is worthwhile expanding our contemplation a little... Hope you are all having an awesome Ramadan Kareem...

wa min Allah at-taufiq

-Notrumi Embun, 14th July 2014

Hate has no place in Islam
Love will show the Way

THE ONE AND ONLY ONION - for all believers, all unbelievers... for all of humanity

I like onions. They are a delicious part to any dish, when brown and caramelized, they add a distinct taste to any food you may like to cook. Apart from that, onions when raw are also excellent for detox. I have even read of sick people leaving a peeled onion next to their bed to detox the air in the room. Which is why I am told that you should not eat peeled onions left uncooked too long. They help to purify the air in the room, pantry or even the fridge, so you don't want to go eating the impurities absorbed in that onion.

Infinite Layers. Apart from eating them, I also like to use the onion as a metaphor. For I find that in this journey we call life, as we muddle and blunder our way through the many, many levels of understanding... it brings tears to our eyes sometimes. Just like when we peel the onion. But when we realise that everything we experience in life is entirely connected to the journey to an understanding of ourselves and of God, why... we find that there are infinite layers to this special onion.

Only One. So if you find yourself at one layer of understanding, which may not gel with another person's, so what? If you are both honest and sincere, what matters our differing views? The crucial thing is that we must always remember that this onion we are individually peeling and exploring... it is only one onion. One onion for all believers, for all unbelievers, for all of humanity.

Have a lovely day, sunshine. Enjoy that onion...

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

When Passion and Work Converge - result is blissful and happy activity

Hullo, sunshine. I have been awfully busy today. Sitting. Well, not just sitting, I was writing and sketching too. It looks like the talk scheduled to be given by the sinner on contract law will indeed happen next month. So I have been hard at my presentation slides like a mad beaver (assuming beaver are hard-working animals). It is two weeks overdue. My bad.

To show that I am not lying and have been sleeping the day through, below is one of the first slides concocted...

Please don't click on the website in the pic. It's not yet constructed.

Hehehe. Does the lawyer in the picture look familiar? I guess I have grown fond of the fat bearded fella in his sunglasses that has been residing in the cartoons of this almanac. Or perhaps, I don't have the time (or the talent) to come up with a new character. It is possible. But I cannot tell you how delighted I am to be this busy... because when my Passion (sketching and writing) and my Work (legal practice) converge, the result is blissful and happy activity.

I am gonna rest now, sunshine. I shall leave you with one of my earliest cartoons. I am sure it has been posted earlier, but I think it is always a good reminder that however strange the other person looks, or sounds... however peculiar his culture or religion is to you... however irritated or angry you might be by the other person's behaviour or words... and lastly, however tempting is the idea that there are people who are 'others' and there are people who are 'one of us'... that actually, deep beneath our skin and running through our veins is the same crimson coloured liquid that breathes life into us all. Such are the signs within our very bodies of Oneness of the Creator of all humanity. Don't you agree?

God bless you on this early hours of Sunday morning...

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Bernie Ecclestone is Awliya Saint ......if somethings mean something else

The Sufism of F1

If life is an F1 Race,

The Syaria (the Law) is the racing car,

A work of sublime engineering designed

To bring the F1 driver (that's you) from

The starting line (your birth)

To the Checkered Flag (your death)

Pursuing a perfect racing line (the Sunnah of the Prophet)

And avoiding the barriers and hard walls

That ring the circuit (that's your Ego),

With the hope of winning a podium finish (the Divine Presence)

With the brolly dolly girls (that's the Huris (angelic companions) of Heaven)

And popping of the champagne (after all, wine and spirits are permissible there).

The fuel especially designed in God's Lab to run the Horsepower

Of your engine is the Tariqa (The spiritual path often known as Sufism),

Your years of training as a novice driver and test driver before earning your racing spot

Is your daily solat and awrad (prayers, remembrance and praise of God),

The Team Manager is your Murshid (Spiritual Master),

Your pit crew consists of your family and friends,

All the colourul brands that you sport on your racing car,

Your racing suit and cap are the Divine Attributes of God,

The race marshals and safety cars are His Angels,

The spectators at the circuit being all of creation witnessing

Your winning runs (good deeds) and spectacular crashes (bad deeds),

And of course, lastly... Bernie Ecclestone is the Awliya Qutubul Zaman (Saint and Polar of the Epoch) overseeing the overall running of F1 (your life and every other life on the planet), and within whose heart resonates the Power of the Prophet Muhammad(pbuh).

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

I don't think I really have anything to add to this 'prose'. Have a fantastic Friday, sunshine, on this blessed month of Ramadhan.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

We are not seeking knowledge, we are seeking to remove the barriers to knowledge - dear old Rumi

"Is that the Quran you are reading, little boy?" asked the Angel.

The Holy Quran is also known as the Holy Furqan, meaning the Criterion or the Standard by which one judges right and wrong, and what deeds that God prohibits, discourages, recommends or makes compulsory upon Muslims .

In the old days, when I used to think about the hukums (rules / laws), I get blurry-eyed and bored, thinking, “Rules, rules and more rules! Is God only God of Rules?!” Well, God is still the God of Rules (the Sharia), and obedience is frankly, the best and straightest path to happiness and grace. But, as others have informed me much to my happy delight, God is also the God of the Tariqa (the spiritual path/journey), a God of the Haqiqa (the Absolute Reality), and God of the Maqrifa (gnosis or direct spiritual knowledge of God).

Rumi always had a lot of things to
share with us. He was like a stream,
pouring forth love and wisdom.

All these technical terms sound terribly complicated, but as dear old Rumi once said, “We are not seeking knowledge, we are seeking to remove the barriers to knowledge.” And really that makes all the sense in the world, for God is not putting an ardous quest for you. For where is knowledge if it is not with God in the divine presence, and where is God if He is not closer to you that your jugular(vein)? - there is a veil cast over your eyes that you do not see Him. So to paraphrase Rumi, “We are not seeking God. We are seeking to remove the barriers to God.” And indeed as one Indonesian analogy once described, the sought end that is the Maqrifa is the ability to see the true God from the false gods manufactured by our own egos, Nafs (base desires) and the whisperings of the Devil. Perhaps you may think that all these fine subtle differences are a waste of time, but God is not anything if not God the Most Fine and the Most Subtle One. For verily, the meaning of al-Furqan goes deeper than only 'the Criterion' or 'the Standard' by which we may evaluate and improve our individual lives. At a more intricate and intimate level, al-Furqan suggests discernment. 

I would like to end this posting on this lovely Sunday morning in reference to the Godly bit about the jugular vein as mentioned in the Holy Quran (50:16) –

We verily created man and We know what his soul whispereth to him, 

and We are nearer to him than his jugular vein. (Marmaduke Pickthall)

Have a lovely day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Sinners Guide to Scams and Cons

“Between a fellow who is stupid and honest and one who is smart and crooked, I will take the first. I won’t get much out of him, but with that other guy 
I can’t keep what I’ve got”~Lewis B Hershey

THE LANGUAGE OF THE CON. As a practicing lawyer, I have heard many, many fishy stories. I have read many, many documents, great works of forgery, and in some instances, fantasy - in one instant that I shan't easily forget is coming across an official Land Office document which was written over by one individual to alienate a certain part of his property as a garden and home for elves (no kidding). I have learnt a little I think, to distinguish between the sincere and the less-than-sincere, and use my nose to smell a rat. I have also come across many ‘businessmen’ who are honest but naïve in the ways of the world. But  of course, I have also come across a number of con artists. These are some telling points about our ethically-handicapped friends (of course, some of whom are down right criminal) –

THE GREAT PYRAMIDS - If it looks like pyramid scheme. If it smells, walks and talks like a pyramid scheme. Then, in ALL probability, it is a pyramid scheme. It doesn’t matter what the ‘object for sale / trade’ is. In my short life I have come across blatant gimmicks like shoe polish, mattresses and herb-infused women’s err... feminine pads that doubles as an alternative remedy for high-fever – you plop it on your forehead. (I kid you not), that is utilized as the ‘trade’ to justify collecting a disproportionately high ‘purchase price’. Alternatively, I have come across pyramid schemes organized around a real estate development, with millions upon millions of dollars invested to market and give a veneer of legitimacy to the fraudulent program. The simple rule is that if there is a ‘down-liner’ structure, if you are required to make a hefty deposit (say, 20-30%), then it is highly likely that it is pyramid-ponzi scheme.

THEY ARE FAST TALKERS! Conmen tend to talk fast. They are not too fond of pauses and silent contemplation. They have a story to sell and they don’t want you thinking too much over it…”And you said that Ferdinand Marcos had this deal with…? What date exactly? Waitaminute, wasn’t he overthrown already then?

THEY TRAVEL IN GROUPS! They often come with hanger-ons. Sometimes two, three even four ‘partners’ who appear to have no role whatsoever but to take up valuable space in your meeting room. Oh, they sometimes nod vigorously in agreement with the lead speaker's claims, and that's it. Most of the time not  a word would they breath through out the entire pitch.

THEY ARE BEING SHADOWED BY THE CIA! If they throw in words suggesting grand conspiracies like the CIA, the FBI, IMF, President of the United States, World Bank, McDonalds, Freemasons… and how these people would come down hard on them for their product (whatever it may be) if only they BUT knew! But of course, in the real world, those that need to be-in-the-know are probably already in-the-know. So the question is, why are such ‘malevolent forces’ not doing anything? Of course the truth is, they don’t care, because it is all a pack of lies.

He was caught and punished. But mainly because he
soaked and conned his own class, the rich.

IT IS YOUR LUCKY DAY! If it is such a great idea, if it is such a brilliant scheme… why are they coming to you? Why not just keep it to themselves, or at the most to their close friends and family? Why need they set up shop in your country and not their own? And even if they had to, why not get venture capital from the USA, Britain or Europe? If the idea is too good to be true, you KNOW that it is too good to be true.

JUST PAY USD20,000 AND YOU ARE GUARANTEED TO GET USD6 MILLION! And finally, the clinching evidence if you have any doubt as to the honesty of any deal - If such a scheme entails you paying a small amount relative to what you will get – say, paying a USD20,000 to help ‘facilitate lottery administrative charges’, ‘pay death duties’, ‘settle bank financial fees', ‘help procure necessary permits to remit monies cross-borders’, through which a disproportionate amount of money (maybe USD6 million and above) is released / remitted into your account, then come on… you have to be naive to fall for such trickery.

Listen to your heart… Though your dry-bone and almost empty wallet is shouting to be filled. This will save you money, or at least the blushes of being duped by a con artist.

This has been a public service broadcast from the sinners’ almanac. I hope you found it to be helpful. Actually, I have been wanting to write this for the longest time.

Thank you for dropping in, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Schism, Diversity and Unity - a pocket-book guide to avoid some big potholes along the road to you-know-Hu

God, the Saints and You

There are some close to God,

But cannot stand that God permits

Others less ‘holy’ to be with Him,

To be near Him, unassailed

By any Retribution.

There are some close to the Saint,

But cannot stand that the Saint permits

Others less ‘correct’ to be with Him,

To be loved by Him, unhindered

By any Judgment.

We do not own God

But we presume to speak on His behalf,

We do not own the Saint

But we presume to judge others

That the Saint has, with love, shown mercy.

Do you now see?

That is what makes a Saint a saint,

And we mere jesters and observers.

Do not stand in the Saints way...

For alive or dead their stories continue

In the unveiling of Truth above falsehood,

So now... Of that part, which is fit for you?

…………………………

Schism is an ugly word in religion. In Islam's history we have seen the rise of two co-existing caliphates, the Abbasids in Baghdad and the second Ummayad Caliphate in Andalusia, Spain. We also have the 4 jurisprudence schools of Hanbali, Maliki, Syafie and Hanafi dividing the Muslim nation as well as numerous sufi orders - Adawiyya, Chishti, Mehlevi, Qadiriyya, Rifa'i, Naqshbandi etc. But is this really schism?

But in religion, diversity and unity are really beautiful words. If God had wanted a single-one-type utopia He would have made everyone alike. but He didn't. He didn't even make His Angels the same, what more Djinn or Mankind with our varying passions, wisdom and foolishness? I think that this reflects the Unity through Diversity or Plurality... a reflection of the infinite multi-faceted attributes of God. After all, even God has many names and attributes, although a couple are clearly His favourites - Most Compassionate and Most Merciful, ar-Rahman and ar-Rahim.

Thus He has decide to reveal Himself to us, in God's single-absolute-unique Oneness but One whose attributes are so vast that really, we only know Him as He guides us to know Him. Clearly it was fated that from the seed of Adam, there would grow this rich diversity in our differing races and cultures. And I see no harm in this. So long as we know where we came from (from Him) and where we shall one day return to (to Him again). And even in this understanding we must withhold judgment on those who are still travelling in the journey... as we all are.

73. HU-man-ity

I always believed that

Man was just man.

Until HU came

And changed man into HUman.

Then HU made me see,

That from Ahmad’s single Nur

Came plurality,

Thus, HUman became HUmanity.

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

In terrible danger are those who think that they have 'found' God and that their journey is at its spiritual end while they still live. For they are always at risk to pride, hubris and the ego-driven alienating feeling of 'us' and 'them'. And yes, this danger is alive in all of us, whether we are laypeople or clerics, Muslims as well as those who aspire to the Tariqas (the Path) of Islam. Thank God that God and the Prophet is ever attentive to our mischiefs, and correcting us along each step of our own personal journeys.

If the storm clouds of schism is over your house, remember God, the Prophet
and observe patience and tolerance towards those whom you think are different.

Alhamdulillah then, praise be unto God, that you are you and I am I. Two separate personalities but united in the belief and worship of One God. May God make your journey easy (but always interesting). Of course, the funny thing is that often, when the journey becomes really interesting it becomes less easy. Hehehe. Just a thought, sunshine.

Have a happy, happy day.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will shown the Way

Bad Parking and Creative Public Retribution - a rant of sorts

Use your brain.. use your brain...

Bad Parking. A couple of days ago, me and Heche were having a post-work drink at our neighbourhood bistro. Suddenly the peace was broken by the incessant honking of obviously disgruntled and angry drivers. Being the busybody that I am, I investigated the uproar and saw that a Perdana (a Malaysian saloon), illegally parked, was blocking the small side-road where our bistro was situated. The driver finally gave up and drove away.

After our brief soiree we passed by the offending car, and saw a note paper slipped in the windscreen wipers. hurriedly scribbled the writer advised the driver of the Perdana to "Guna Otak" which translated means "Please use your brain."

The Perdana driver ought to be thankful for this civic-conscious note of advise. For I have seen other more vigilante-esque reaction to bad parking in my neighbourhood. I saw one old lorry trying to pass by a corner where one car was blocking the appropriate entry. The lorry move forward and backwards, forward and backwards, turning bit by bit trying to get in, but alas to no avail. By that time a small crowd was already assembled and they were egging the lorry driver to "Jalaan... Langgar saja... langgar saja..." (Go on... Just hit the car). Collectively motivated that way, the driver did as he was told and his lorry (already beat-up and ridden with dents and scratches) grazed and dented the car's rear. The crowd cheered and clapped. 

On another instant, at the very same illegal parking spot, I saw a big municipal rubbish bin placed on top of the roof of a car. How I would love to have seen the look on the owner's face when he saw that creative public shaming sitting on his / her beautiful car!

Take a picture! This is rare sight in my neighbourhood.

The people who work in my neighbourhood of Desa Sri Hartamas are not mean-spirited at all. For we tolerate and sometimes park illegally ourselves because there is just not enough parking for everyone. But even when you do something illegal, you must be sensible and considerate. And anyway, I have been fined more times for not displaying my parking ticket than for being illegally parked on a yellow line. So at the end of the day, the enforcement unit of our municipality are more concerned with their parking collection than the safety and convenience of road-users. Because really, had they been thoughtful of the needs of the people, they would not have permitted such dense development of this neighbourhood without providing for adequate parking spaces. And before you say that we should take the public transport, let me share with you that Desa Sri Hartamas is one of the least serviced area in my city with only a couple of buses piling this route. It is ridiculous.

Hmm. Quite a rant.

Have a beautiful day, sunshine. And please park sensibly, even if illegally.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Friends & Mothers - 2 decades of love, loyalty and compassion

Hullo, sunshine. I am in a bit of a writer's rut. It is not as if I am not writing, but as I complained to Russell earlier, the pleasure is a little dry. I was going through this restless Sunday and came across some pictures circa 1989-1991. It is always good to look to the past for inspiration. After all, how can I move forward (from a rut) if I do not know how I got here in the first place...

This is the Moses in my prose. Not the cat, but the man himself who plays Moses
to my Aaron. 20 years ago he can be seen drawing cars. And now he is, among other things,
a motoring journalist. I kinda figured that Law (for he was a law student) would not suit
his mettle after he forgot to show up for his law exams two years in a row. He is also a writer now with
6 children, of which 3 boys is from a set of triplets. After the triplets were born,
for 2 years I rarely saw him and his wife socially, grappling as they were with
the sudden doubling of their brood from 3 to 6.

This is another old friend from college. One of the bright sparks from our Royal Military College
who condescended to join us mere mortals in ITM before flying off to the UK. He used to trade in many,
many things, including hiring out elephants. Now he is also a gold trader. From jumbos to gold bars, Amirul is
a gentleman you would appreciate to be in your corner. He is not so slim now though. Like the rest of us.

This is 'John'. It is apt that he is seen here holding a law text book, for Faizal is still in harness,
practising law and shuffling up and down courts in his hometown and up to the Courts of Appeal
in Putrajaya, the administrative capital of Malaysia. I would like to share with you how he got
the nickname, but I fear he would sue me. So I will just shut up right here... for now.

And this is me. Pondering into the future, some 20 years ahead. I always thought that my life shall be
quite simple and ordinary. It is ordinary, but the elements of ordinariness is not as  how I could have
ever imagined it to be. And I am glad, life gets boring if you can foretell your future. But things have
changed so dramatically that I even have doubt if I can read the present accurately. As life continues
to educate me, the least educated I feel I am, and the more I 'know things', the more I am certain that
I actually know very, very little. So I hold God's hand more often nowadays. And I hope He will guide
this poor dumb sinner. Wherever I don't really care. So long as I feel He is near. That is good
enough for the likes of me.

I guess reminiscing about friends, must bring me around to this friend. She was my friend from the moment
I was born. She fed me (too well), she tried to teach me right and wrong, hard work and good manners. Not
by nagging me, but by living her life the way she did. It was bonus that she was a good cook and pleasant
looking to my eyes. She seldom shouted or screamed, though life has baked her some nasty surprises,
she never spoke bad of anyone to me. She was my mother, but had I not been her son, I would still be
profoundly proud and blessed to have someone like her as a friend. Had God not chosen her for me,
I myself would have chosen my mother. 

What is 2 decades? It is the blink of an eye for the Sun, the Moon and the Earth. But there we were, sunshine, young, fit, and looking forward to the future with a glint in our eye and a smile on our face. We did not set out to conquer the world. We did not set out to build megacorporations. We did not set out to change the world. And I am glad. Because for my friends at least, they have found that nothing can change the world, unless we change ourselves. We had no choice really, stepping out into the vast void of a future unknown. But now that I am here, I am very, very happy. And I hope they are too.

Come, sunshine. Let's take another step.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

VICTORY FOR THE US of A. The New Jersey Governor and the Muslim Judge - Prose of Ramadhan Part 66

I like American politics. It is just like Malaysian politics - bipartisan, mad and full of interesting characters. I have been following American politics since 2008 and am full of admiration for the good people (and even some politicians) who are fighting the good fight and trying their level best to keep America in her best traditions of multiculturalism, enterprise, freedom of religion, free speech and secular form of governance. So in the course of my understudy, I therefore have very little nice things to say about the Republican Party, and the right wing nuts that appear to infest its hive.

So today I was happy to bump into Chris Christie, the current incumbent Governor of New Jersey. Christopher James "Chris" Christie was born in Newark in 1962, a lawyer, a lobbyist, a former District Attorney and clearly in the Bush team for the duration of the former President’s tenure in the White House (he was a top fundraiser for Bush’s 2000 presidential election). He was a pal of Carl Rove and a mover and shaker in the rarified heights of Republican party organisation. So there is (normally) no reason why I should sing his praise. Until I watched this YouTube video …

He looks like a cast member in the Sopranos, don’t you think? So now I have two things I admire coming out of New Jersey - the Sopranos and Governor Chris Christie. You see, the Governor earned the ire of the right wing fundo-nuts when he appointed Sohail Muhammed, an American of Indian Muslim descent, as a Superior Court judge in New Jersey. By defending Sohail Muhammed and speaking so candidly against the ‘crazies’ in his own party and the right-wing movement, he has painted a political bull’s eye on his back. But by God, how I admire his courage. I don’t care what his antecedents are, but for this brief moment in time, he is one of the stars that are shining brightly in these dark nights that we are living in.

Another fine New Jersey export.

I have been preparing this posting the whole day. And each time I get back to it (I do actually work, you know) I ask myself this question, - Am I being overly enthusiastic about this little piece of American drama? But when I re-watch the video, my sentiment about this story is still the same. There are just so few good stories coming out of American politics that it affects me in places only goodness and love can reach - Chris’s constituency is not just New Jersey anymore, it is now the world. Simply because he decided to speak from his conscience.

God bless his Christian heart.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Please do a good job, Mr. Sohail. You will be judged
even though you are the judge now. God bless you...

After this, I don't know how his political career will develop,
But boy, I wish the Governor the very best...

This is a victory for the US of A. I hope the Americans
will realise this. 

The Whole of Creation is their Playground of God, Tariqa & Syaria - Prose of Ramadhan Part 34

If your idea of the Syaria leaves you groping
in the dark, why don't you switch on the light of the tariqa?

Islamic State of Mind (Ramadhan Verses 20)

They want the Islamic State

But they are not in the Islamic

State of Mind...

- Writing laws into law books

And saying "This is God's law!"

When I see that it is a human hand

Still holding the pen.

- Disconnecting the law from the love,

Demanding obedience without discretion,

Thinking only they must be right -

Building the fences of law so high,

That we cannot see the garden inside.

- Following the religion of hubris,

These fancy God-botherers,

Acting like tourists, coming and

Going as they please.

TARIQA SYARIA. A wise man once described the connection between the tariqa (the spiritual path) and the syaria (the law) of Islam thus - 'The syariah is like a fence, it protects a beautiful garden which is the tariqa." And that, in a nutshell is the symbiotic relationship between the two essence of the faith.

ISLAM WRONG? If the pronouncements of the syaria, if the canons of law themselves, as interpreted by man does not reflect the inner beauty of Islam, then frankly, I don't think that the law, the lawmakers and the lawgivers are Islamic. If they say that this fence is to protect a glorious garden of paradise which is Islam, but from outside the fence I see no garden, I see no beautiful trees or flowers, well, what are you talking about, then? Either you are wrong or Islam is wrong, and to be honest, I believe in Islam but I disbelieve in you.

I think Sufis exist. Because all Sufis love cats. Purrrr...

SUFIS? BAH, THEY DON'T EXIST! It is of course even worse when the lawmakers and lawgivers don't even recognise that tariqas and Sufism have a role to play in Islam. They will say that Sufism, if it ever existed (which they doubt), is long dead, buried with the Prophet and his Companions. But if the tariqa, the inner spiritual path towards divine servanthood and taqwa (the pacific heart) does not exist anymore, then what on earth is the law protecting?

I am an angel, but the coldness of their hubris
have turned me stone cold to them.

HUBRIS. So I hope these 'defenders of the faith' will come to heel before God, the Owner of the faith. But I am afraid that unless a divine intervention happens, they shall not submit. They shall continue to pray in the religion of hubris and by their love-less and rude 'declarations of law', they shall continue to exhibit their personal insecurity over their own faith, and their despair to openness, transparency and truth. They are running from shadow to shadow, bleating like paranoid sheep, "We are being oppressed! We must fight! We must fight!" - These are the men who think they represent the Nur (Light) of Islam? This is so funny, I could cry. I do actually. Too often. sigh.

HEROES. The Sufis fear no oppression, so they do not oppress. And the Sufis love frankness and openness, so they do not run from interfaith meeting. For to them, it doesn't matter where they are or whom they are with, if the purpose is to explore and extol the Divine Attributes of God and how He manifests His Love and His Plan over mankind, then it is always a good place. In that way, the whole of creation is their Playground of God.

Have a thoughtful Friday, sunshine. 

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Islamization of Morality Laws - But I want to choose... God told me I could!

In my beloved country, and I guess in other muslim majority countries which like to call themselves 'Islamic countries', we always read the hue and cry of non-Muslims complaining about 'creeping' Islamization. This is especially true in respect of Islamic morality legislation. After all, for the non-Muslims, what is permissable according to their morale code is not permissable according to Islam (like drinking alcohol for instance), and what is morally and legally accepted by Muslims (polygamy, to name one hyper hot topic), may be abhorrent to some non-Muslims (and some Muslims too, truth be told).

But people rarely write about the Muslims themselves being worried about the codification and legislation of 'Islamic Moral' laws (the open and closed inverted commas are intentionally used here). Well, as a Muslim I am worried about the Islamization of my country's morality code of law. I think that we ought to be very careful how far we wish to legislate morality, especially when the prohibited activities (like going to karoake lounges and pubs) are only indirectly related to criminally prohibited activities like vice and drug-use.   

I do not know where to draw the line. Happily, it is not my job... and neither am I bound to appear politicially correct nor do I need to pander to the more 'conservative' elements of my brethren. But just to share with you - these are some basic ideas that have been swimming in the heads of sinners like me -

1. Religion (or as some people like to call it nowadays, 'spirituality') is not about stopping people from commiting bad things. It is about persuading people to see that doing bad things just isn't sensible, especially in the long term.

2. Folksy old sayings (much beloved by the chattering tabloids) like 'if a boy and a girl is sitting together alone, the third invisible person with them is the Devil' just tells half the truth. I have seen Devils impersonating man in mosques, whether in the congregation or preaching from the mimbar (pulpit) spewing hate and hubris like a giant evil armadillo.

3. As a human being. With brains (a little) and some sense of right and wrong (a little too) - I would like to keep the right to choose that God Almighty Himself has given me. I resent having to do anything for any reason other than my love and awe for Him - our Lord and Creator. And I certainly resent having to obey some misguided social dogma dressed in theological terms.

There is no beauty to the Law of Islam, if you divorce it from the Path of Islam. They are complimentary to each other, but are essentially different. Bad moral legislation is often because people have separated the Law from the Human Soul, which is the sole province and writ of the Path of Faith, the Path of Love, Truth and Incomparable Mercy. This is the complete reality of Islam, and any abdridged-hubris-centric version of the faith is an abberation. 

I hope things will get better. But tonight I am going to get a really good night's sleep - Who knows if tomorrow they will try to ban sleeping too...

Have a thoughtful day, sunshine. God bless you!

Pax Taufiqa.

Majnun, Love and Love's Crowning Glory

21. Majnun # 3
God is the Surety of the Prophet’s Love for me,
The Prophet is the Surety of my Love for God,
And I am the Surety of God’s Love for the Prophet.

God is the Surety of my Love for the Prophet,
The Prophet is the Surety of God’s Love for me,
And I am the Surety of the Prophet’s Love for God.

And although I admit to the existence of God and the Prophet,
Beyond that I shall speak no more,
Lest you say that I have abandoned religion
And the trappings of your tedious ceremonies.

This is what I would call a technical prose. Of course, it evokes emotion and perhaps passion, but the meaning is beyond that and is seeking to establish some key points, especially in the first two paragraphs. The last paragraph is one of those teasing endings which a wordsmith leaves for the reader to wonder, "What the heck does he mean?" After all, does he mean that he doesn't believe in any religion? Or that he doesn't believe in Islam?

I believe the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, which of course means that I believe in the religion of Islam. The first two lines of the last paragraph is only hinting to the Sufis' veneration of the Prophet as the second named in the Islamic syahadah, ergo, the declaration / witnessing by a Muslim that There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God. It really is a simple statement - but for those mystics, the meaning in its most delicate sense can be sliced into a trillionth of an atom - and deeper still. Some people are dipping their toes into the Ocean of Mercy... but others are swimming far into it. And a few others have become fishes in the sea and they do not wish to return to the shore. Which one are you? It doesn't matter really. Since we all play our own part to glorify the infinite aspects of God's beauty and loveliness.

There is no quarrel between the Tariqa (the Way or the Path) in Islam and the Syaria (the Law). Gurindam (my Saribas trip companion), added another interesting comparison between the two (I have quite a few) for my collection, and this was what he said, "If you compare the religion to a fruit, then the Tariqa is the inside of the fruit, sweet and savory with a beautiful texture to the taste. The Syaria is then the skin which protects the inner flesh. If the fruit is without the sweetness of the Tariqa or if it tastes bitter, no one would be attracted to it at all. But if the fruit is without the skin, the flesh tend to easily rot and no one would eat it also.

But what is the Law? And this is where we must part ways with the bigots, narcissists and hubris-addicts. For in this almanac the highest writ which reigns in the Kingdom of God is Love, which is is the Highest Law of the land. And even higher still is the crowning glory of God's Perfection in His Divine Attributes as the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful. The heart-breaking, heart-healing ocean which flows from His Fountain of Divine Mysteries - in the love between a man and a woman, between father, mother and child, between two villages, between neighbours, between the ruler and the ruled, between the lover and the loved, it is He, Who is the Necessary third...

Remind me of this day

When you love me in the best way I have ever felt,

When you hold me in the gentlest touch I have ever known,

When you say words so sweet that I am drowning in honey,

When you look at me with that look,

When you kiss me with such passion,

When you tell me that I am the one that you love,

And that there is no other...

Sometimes, I wonder.

Who is doing all this?

Is this really you.?

Or is this a manifestation of God's love for me?

Dear love,

If ever I turn back, if ever I stray,

Lost in the the world and all its chaos,

Remind me of this day...

And why, in Truth,

None can love me in a way better

Than you.

Whoever you may be,

Dressed as you are

As Love and Love's

Crowning Glory.

Have a wonderful Friday, sunshine. Whoever you may be, and whoever you are loving. You are my greatest hope for a better tomorrow. Don't you know?

Pax Taufiqa.