THE BANNER OF LIGHT VS THE EVIL KNOT

Unravelling That Evil Knot

You need a little knowledge
To know you own none of your own,

You need a little good manners

To know that good manners 

Is the natural order of things,

You need a little love in your heart

To find true love in the form

Of God Almighty and 

His Muhammad,

So while you are finding solace in these little things,

While walking, prostrating, 
Or upon your knees bended,

Do not act as if

Your search has

 All but ended,

For you are in the path of eternity,

That unfathomable and unending

Journey through God to you,

And through you to God,

Slowly unraveling the schemes

Of your ego, the enemy and 

 The evil knot.

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

When the prose was concluded, I recalled, "Saay... where did I read about 'the knot'?" Then of course, I remembered. 

Say:"I seek refuge with (Allah) the Lord of the daybreak,
"From the evil of what He has created;
"And from the evil of the darkening (night) as it comes with its darkness;
"And from the evil of the witchcrafts when they blow in the knots,
And from the evil of the envier when he envies."
(Al Quran 113, Muhsin Khan translation)

Darkness of the night, witchcrafts, evil knots and enviers. Jeepers. Not exactly the sort of light-n-easy love lorn stuff that we record here. But darkness, the blackness of our world 'exists' only in the absence of light. So seek refuge with our God, Lord of the daybreak, and see your worries and pain, your most secret despairs run skulking from the sunrise of Allah (swt) upon the forest of our (often) needless confusion.

Insya Allah (Godwilling), there is no place where the shadow can hide!

....Light is coming! 

The banner of Muhammad Habibullah is made of light! 

Light upon Light!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

-Notrumi Embun, 2nd June 2014

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Blinding Sun and the Power Grid of God

75. One

One.

And I am undone,

Unmade, unwritten, unread.

Unraveling, my brother! I am unraveling!

Fading but not dying,

Dreaming but not sleeping.

One.

And I am undone,

Lost to you,

Lost to me,

Blinded by the Sun.

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

You do not look directly to the Sun because it would injure and blind you. But if you look at the Sun's reflection on a pool of water, it is alright. For God has made this world both a veil and a mirror, to hide and to display His many divine attributes. It is the way that He has chosen for all humanity to approach Him. A divine courtship, of Layla and Majnun, as we Majnuns run hither and tither chasing Layla's reflection, God's own intimacy, kindness and beauty for those who seek Him. 

And God has constructed a world of your existence with countless ways to communicate with Him, and He has created the capacity of the human heart to express numerous ways for us to praise Him. And the path of love is not through the highlands of elevated thoughts alone, but through the valley of humanity, with its many weaknesses, folly, greed, apathy, hate and hubris. You are meant, my friend, to be a beacon, a lamp, a connection to a better reality. So you do not thumb your nose at what most people think to be ridiculous and stupid. You are looking through the veil of humanity's own weakness to see the divine connection, that we might make this world a better place.

That is all. 

The Power Grid of God

Do not look down upon the old,

And what appears to be broken,

Do not cast aspersion without knowing

The true reality of meanings,

Do not think lowly of those

Whom you think have lost the plot,

For even the humblest looking sockets

Is connected to the Power Grid of God.

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

Have a lovely day, sunshine. God bless you.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Will you not love Me? - asked God persistently

First day at school. Still very dark though it is in fact past 7am. 

Mika is back home. And brought a gigantic poster of Star Wars 'Clone Wars' play cards.
The poster is almost as tall as the little blighter.

If you live in Malaysia, you will know that the Chinese New Year is just around the corner.
This means that the hot weather has begun and the year's end rainy season has ended.
And let me tell you that (to me) there is no greater thirst quencher than a glass
of rippling wet ice water. Ahhhh.

I woke up very, very early on Saturday. I found the Moon lying very low to Earth,
just peeping over the nearby hills of Bukit Kiara. I found her nearness haunting and
her luminous beauty beguiling. I took out my cellphone and took a picture, but I
forgot to say thanks to the Maker. So I will do it right now - "Thank You , God!"

The Persistent God 

"Will you not love Me?" Asked God persistently...

Your mother loves you the way I deign best,

Your father loves you at My encouragement,

Your siblings love you at My own behest,

Your lover loves you at My blandishment,

Everything and everyone,

From friends, aunties and uncles,

Nephews, nieces and cousins

All love you by My will.

Thus, will you not love Me in return?

Loving Me best of all,

Loving Me above anything else,

Takes nothing away from

Your love for anyone else,

If you but understood what Love means...

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

Have a perfectly well-rounded day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

All Gypsies under the Mercy Moon, All Sheep under the Shepherd Sun

All Gypsies under the Mercy Moon, All Sheep under the Shepherd Sun

I do not know of your God,

Nor do I know of my God,

I only know of God,

Neither yours nor mine,

Just God.

I do not know of you,

Nor do I know of me,

I only know of we,

Neither you nor I,

Only we.

Are we not all Trespassers under the His Sky...?

I do not know of the Guide

Who would leave those

In utter need of guidance

Without someone to bring

Them to safety.

Are we not all Gypsies under the Mercy Moon...?

I do not know of the love

I feel in my breast,

For it is not knowledge,

It was never written

Save as a spell

In the heart of

The unwary.

Are we not all Spellbound under the Sky Unmade...?

I do not know of Him

Though He knows fully

And truly of me.

I tried to capture a little

Of His vision, smiling in grace

Upon the most magnificent sky,

But my thieving hand trembled

As my atoms whirled in His praise...

For how can a fish

Catch the fisherman?

How can a deer

Catch the hunter?

And how can the sheep

Catch the shepherd?

Are we not all Sheep under the Shepherd Sun...?

I could not sleep, taken ill because I neglected my medication today. So I surfed the internet sea and I came across this interesting little concert, played and sung by men garbed in strange attire. The music that they played were beautiful and hypnotic. I do believe that this was recorded live in Germany. I wrote the prose listening to their haunting harmonies.

May God bless you always in your wandering and in your staying. Take care, sunshine.

Pax Taufiqa

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF HOPE, AND NOT HATE - God, religion and humanity

14. The Sun & The Moon II (Epilogue)

Allah!

By the Sun shall you see the Moon,

And by the Sun shall you see the Sun.

Allah!

And blessed and oft-forgiven are those

Who share the Light with his neighbours,

Returning scowls with a smile,

Returning hate with love,

Returning weakness with strength,

And ignorance with the sweetness of understanding.

13. Muhammad is Here!

Do you have the fear?

Do not fear!

Do you have the hate?

Do not hate!

Believe and be reprieved,

For wherever you may turn,

He is here, Muhammad is here!

The Glory of Creation!

The Gladness of all God’s creatures!

These are two old prose recorded against the dominion of hate, the crusade of bigotry, the war of hubris now fought in our names by politicians and preachers who think they speak and act on our behalf. We are not one of their meek sheep, to be led blindly into the abyss of darkness. 

Though we may be clothed in different faiths, are we not brothers and sisters, you and I? Thank you, sunshine for being a part of humanity... For being a part of hope, and not hate.

Hate has no place in Islam. Hate has no place in any religion.

The Sun, the Cold & the Old Soul - Prophecy concerning the Sun rising in the West

The Old Soul

The poor is not in poverty,

Rather the rich who fill

Their lives with distraction,

The beautiful in love

With their own pain,

The learned ones

Collecting their degrees of ignorance,

The miserly who gives charity in pittance

Even as the Lord befuddles tyrants

With castles and princesses...

It is they who are sadly poor.

I find no lesson cruel,

but mankind.

And it is not time

that is ancient,

but me, an old soul

coming out of the cold.

Life is not ugly

But for me,

Hate cannot consume me,

But I too will be lost

Confronting hate.

If there is a flame of humanity

Left of me, leaving a scorched mark

On the tapestry of man,

Remember me to God…

That I was just an old soul,

Coming out of the cold,

Seeking His shelter and His forgiveness

That the Prophet and Saints foretold.

Tell him I had no doubt,

That I gave my best

And daily when I awake,

My eyes looked a sun rising in the west.

MORNING COFFEE. I fell asleep early , and I woke shivering in the early morning air chilled by rainstorm and wind the day and night before. I guess waking up alone and cold can make one melancholy. But once I gathered up my fuzzy thoughts, I am myself again, feeling glad and happy. Especially after my morning cup of coffee.

THE SUN RISING IN THE WEST. This is an ancient lore, passed down from master to student, recalling a prophetic tradition that coming to the end of times the Sun shall rise not in the East but in the West. I do not know what this actually means in the physical or metaphorical sense, although I am aware of some speculation.

MY SUNSHINE. Have a lovely Wednesday, sunshine. We may never find out the truth about the prophecy, but at least I am comforted that many of my readers awake in their beds to the West of me. By far the largest number being from the USA, next Malaysia (okay, don't count this!) and followed by United Kingdom, Canada, India and Pakistan. So I guess for me at least, the Sun is indeed rising in the West now. 

Hehehe.

wa min Allah at-taufiq.

I met the Sun, the Sea but the Moon spoke for all three - An Ancient Promise

"We have grown old, you and I." said the Sun.

The Sun, the Sea and the Moon
I live untold lives,
Living a particular way
That is all my own.

"Marry me." said the Sea.

But I have grown old,
I have fallen into the sea,
I cannot deny the day its due,
Nor can I resist the night.

The sun says to me
while I shelter under
the shade of a tree,
"Yes, we have grown old, you and I."

I walked by the sea,
And when she saw me,
she said, "I know you. Marry me."

I braced my heart walking
Under a full moon,
She called me a familiar soul,
And a tear fell from my eye.

"A familiar soul!" exclaimed the Moon.

I did not ask for all this...
To which the moon replied,
"Yes, you did. But you do not remember.

... Before we three ever came to be
You were here already,
In the promises that God gave to us -
That there will come a time in our age,
When a creature will be born, created, made
Of sublime nature and sorrowful beauty.
Called Adam and Eve, they will walk upon the Earth,
Giving us some strange thoughts and calling us
The Moon, the Sun and the Sea."
...............

I do believe we should take some comfort, some level of assurance, that however low we fall, and indeed, however high we deemed we have climbed, we are still just part of an ancient promise. A story long ago wrought by God, before we ever felt our first tinge of sorrow, before we ever tasted our first cup of love, before we ever grew in stature to understand the pleasure of success, the anguish of failure and the strength of hope.

May you have a wonderful day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq.

The Bridesmaid of the Sun and Her Veil

7. Shams-al-shams

O’ Pale Shining Moon

Bridesmaid of the Sun

How many veils have been drawn

Between this one

And the Sun of the Sun?

And a few days later...

12. Shams-al-shams II

One night the moon crept low to earth

And I wondered again,

How many veils have been drawn

Between this one

And the Sun of the sun

And the answer came; What veil?

These 2 poems were written more than 7 years ago. I know this because it was written when Mikhail was born. Life was born, and death dies. Good and bad things have happened, but the sinner is still the same. Mika is bigger though. Cleverer and wiser. He brightens up the house when he returns and when he leaves, it always feels like someone switched off a light in the wellness of my soul. We have sparkling nonsensical conversations, and his observations about life and people is worryingly mature.

God bless our children, and God bless our parents. Sometimes, when the divine hue of the moon is just so, when the number of Angels in company is just so, and the runes in the sky are all in perfect symmetry, again I can hear the whisper from the moon... What Veil, mortal?

What Veil, mortal?

wa min Allah at-taufiq.

Servanthood to the Finite precedes Servanthood to the Infinite - Translation: Be Nice And God will Like You

God is the Infinity in any Equation

If you are just 10% with God,

You are not 90% with the world.

If you are 90% with God,

You are not just 10% with the world.

If you are 100% with God,

You are not 0% with the world,

Actually, you would be a Prophet,

And Prophets are all 100% x infinity with the world,

Because being with God

Increases you and your presence infinity times over.

So you are not a Prophet, but so what?

You can still increase your presence with God

And become a better person,

A better spouse,

A better lover,

A better worker,

A better father or mother,

A better son or daughter,

A better auntie or uncle,

A better niece or nephew,

A better you.

And that is the guaranteed sum

Of your presence in the Divine Presence,

As witnessed by the Moon and Sun...

Good for God, good for you

Good for everyone…

CAVEAT EMPTOR (Let the buyer beware) – If you do wish to purchase the prose above, you ought to be warned. That the price of entry into the Divine Presence (as listed in the Divine Brochure of Saints) is servanthood. Servanthood to men and servanthood to God.

SPIRITUAL EXCUSE? The attainment of spiritual enlightment is not the excuse or pretext to lessen our responsibilities to our family, friends and neighbours. In fact, your salvation is through their happiness. So avoid doing what is irritating or annoying to others. Because, sunshine, as I have learnt (and is still learning with each day) - you will not deserve presence of the Infinite, if you cannot master yourself in the presence of the finite.

SO SEEK THE INFINITE IN THE FINITE. Live amongst people, work and play with them. Make people laugh and smile, make them reflect on the goodness of God – but this you cannot do if you yourself are not good and charitable to them. So don’t be like this tired sinner. Be a good person, and do good unto others always, then surely God the Good will be happy to have your good company. Good attracts Good, you see.

Sorry, sir. The manufacturer doesn't warrant your piety. Perhaps you should do more charity?

Have a good day!

Pax Taufiqa.

In the Spiritual Tsunami the Best Miracle is YOU.

MIRACLE MOSQUE? My brother shared something with me the other day. You know that thing about the miracle mosque in Banda Aceh still let standing post-tsunami? Well, maybe it isn’t so miraculous after all. He said that perhaps (let me stress here perhaps) it’s simply because (i) the mosque had a lot of openings that allowed the water to pass through it, and (ii) the mosque was essentially better built compared to the houses surrounding it.

DOES IT MATTER? And my conclusion? Frankly, I don’t know. But if the alternative suggestion carries at least some weight, than perhaps it is unwise for the Muslims to place too much emphasis on the miracle-story. I am not saying it isn't a miracle. I mean, please believe it if you feel it is true, but for me it is not so significant. And this is why...

MIRACLE SHIMACLE! The Prophet Muhammad is extremely reluctant to use miracles to persuade people. He was kinda saying, “Look here, kiddo. Don’t steal. Don’t lie. Don’t kill your baby daughters. Don’t covet the property of others. Keep your promises. Don’t burden your animals unnecessarily. Take care of your health. Don’t eat and drink too much. There is only One God, so why are you messing about with idols of your own creation? And generally be nice to others, because sunshine, let’s face it – wouldn’t you want others to treat you that way too?” So he thought that this was so fundamentally true for anyone that surely, SURELY, the Quraish (the dominant tribe of Mecca then) would have no problems with his message, and that the necessity of having to perform miracles would not persist. Alas, people are stubborn. Stubborn in their old ways and habits. So he did perform a couple of miracles, most famously by splitting the Moon in two.

SO WHAT? But did that change people’s attitude towards his message of mercy? Well, for some it did. But for those who were adamant in their ways, Muhammad could have split the Sun and the Earth in two, but they would never have followed him. Thereafter, his enemies branded him a sorcerer, - a mage with the ability to hoodwink. That is how the coin drops sometimes, I guess.

For me the important lesson to be gained from the miracle mosque story is this – Islam is suppose to be an open religion. It has many doors, gateways and entrances, so that more and more people will stumble through and find the contentment and peace which is what the Prophet promised. The problem is nowadays, the idea of Islam has changed for some people. I think I posted this following poem before, but I would like to repeat it again to describe what I mean…

1. Islam Was Once A Splendid Garden
Islam was once a splendid garden,
Filled with rose, tulip and jasmine blooms.

The garden was protected
By a wall of stone
Upon which was inscribed
“All ye who seek shelter,
All ye who seek safety,
Come hither.”

Outside the garden wall
Ran a moat of clear sweet water,
From which travelers drink
And are feted with the words;
“If ye think the water is sweet,
Enter ye into the garden and drink
Thy fill from the fountain!”

That was then.

Now the free fountain
Has been replaced with
A coin-operated dispenser.
The walls have been torn down
And in its place
A fence of fire has been erected,
With gates and toll booths
Occupied by surly operators.

Alas! We find
The moat has dried up,
The trees and flowers
Are crying,
And into the garden
The fire sends plumes
Of damnable smoke
And noxious fumes,
Blocking out the stars and the moons
That once gazed brightly
Down upon us.

BE LIKE WATER. A grandmaster of a Sufi Order who once said, “The believers must be like water. If there is an obstacle, they must flow around or through it.” So I am sharing this with you. But before you begin to flow around or through any external obstacles, I am told that we must first flow around and through our internal obstacle – that fiery volcano in ourselves which mankind calls the Ego. I do think that even the mightiest Mountain of Fire can be subdued if only we could be like water… and flow around and through our ego and ultimately extinguish its flames. A steam will rise from our tamed ego, and from the heavens, the angels will see a heart-shaped soul and exclaim…”Look, one more has bridled his/her ego! Rejoice, brethren!”

THE BEST MIRACLE. There is an Ocean of Mercy within you, sunshine. Turn the tap, and let Love course through your Soul. For I believe with all my sinful heart that the Best Miracle of all is actually YOU (…you Jews, you Muslims, you Buddhists, you Christians, you Hindus, you Wiccans, you Atheists, you Sikhs, Trekkies, you Boy Scouts, you Girl Guides, you Volvo drivers… etc).

Wouldn't you agree?

Pax Taufiqa.