Sinners Guide to Reading the News and The Agenda of Inclusiveness

Pick your Agenda. Or in the new world of data-mining your internet history,
the Agenda will pick you. He he he.

As part of his mandatory community service to pay for all his past sins, this sinner is compiling some rules for reading and watching the news. It is a one-size fit-all baseball cap to fine tune your brain in reading and distilling the vast 'information' tsunami pouring out of the newspapers, internet and television...

Rule 1: Facts are not Neutral. It sits in an Agenda.

Rule 2: Yes. Everyone has an Agenda. Even Julian Assange. 

Rule 3: If you are reading or watching any particular News, you are likely the target of the Agenda.

Rule 4: Don’t just watch the News. Read the stories behind the News. And the stories behind the stories.

Rule 5: Business News – There is no such thing as pure price discovery (there never was, to be quite honest), only price propaganda for the Agenda.

Rule 6: Don’t react. Think about your reaction. This will scupper the Agenda.

Rule 7: When did mainstream become mainstream? But both mainstream and alternative news sites have their own Agenda. 

Rule 8: Advertizing and Psycho-technics - News are advertisements for the Agenda, and driven by the Agenda. 

Rule 9: There are no real News Reporters, per se. Only News Makers. So even Journalism advances an Agenda.

Rule 10: So what is the Agenda then, Mr. Smarty-pants?

Yes, sunshine. Even these guys have an agenda (or agendas),

Good question. Some agendas are well documented and follows the normal grain of ideology, race and religion. You know... right wing, left wing, centrist, nationalists, patriotism, Atheism, religion, race, socialism, communism, capitalism and all other sorts of -isms that mankind has created to mirror their views and unfortunately divide humanity. 

I too have an agenda. I am just not too sure what it is. I am a Muslim, I am a Malay, so there are some beliefs that I lean towards. I like to eat. I don't like conflict. I can be lazy sometimes. I have diabetes. Like it or not, your entire person influences your thoughts and aspirations. I like to write. I like to sketch. I love music. Even Kylie Minogue and Abba (I think Abba is so underrated). All this forms the foundation on which I write this Almanac. But above all this (I would like to believe, I may be fooling myself after all. I don't discount that possibility), I am most fond of the teachings and experiences from the Sufi Masters and friends that I am aware of. For however I define what I am, the inclusiveness taught to me by these fine fellows helps me break down the walls that we sometimes prop up because of our own origin, upbringing and social, ideological and religious prejudices.

So people may talk to you about this Islam and that Islam, this Muslim and that non-Muslim. But things are not as simple as that. If you are a Muslim, and if you believe that the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) is the Seal of the Prophets, the Prophet for the End of Time and God's anointed Mercy to all the World(s) and all the Creatures, then a sense inclusiveness must play some part in your faith. And this sense must encompass all mankind, whatever their piety, creed, race or religion. And this also includes the animals and the natural environment of the world.

I guess this is my agenda (for now). Inclusiveness. It is not about agreeing about everything. It is about agreeing to sometimes disagree. Isn't this what the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s) has taught you, o' Muslims? O' Arabs?

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Facts do not exist in the Vacuum of Human Nature - knowledge, human instincts and the greatest struggle of humanity

It is our own human nature that evokes the emotion we feel when looking at this picture.

The Perception

Facts do not rule our lives. 

Our perception does.

And to better understand the world

Is to better understand our own humanity

Our good and bad inclinations,

Our good and bad nature.

To encourage the former

And resist the latter

Is the greatest struggle

For all of us.

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

No Vacuum. We are all humans. Facts do not exist in the vacuum of human nature. Well, it could exist in such a vacuum... but so long as we are human beings, what experiences and knowledge we all acquire is distilled by our natural instincts. This is true whether we seek physical experiences and knowledge, or spiritual experiences and knowledge.

Love is beyond the physical. Even Atheists know this, but some have been conditioned
by a Mr-Know-All sense of pomposity and condescension. And the Believers? Of course
we believe in Love, we are just not very good at it. Still working to improve....

The Honey and Poison of Human Nature. Both believers and unbelievers, between those who believe in the existence of God and those who do not, we all come born into this world with certain virtuous instincts unalienable to our nature - the instinct to survive, to seek company, to socialize, to love, to forgive, to seek understanding, to tolerate and to be caring. But we are also born with our ego, thus our instinct is not only to survive but to dominate, not only to seek company but to rule, not only to socialize but to to demonize and ostracize those who are 'not like us', not only to love but to overwhelm, not only to forgive but to put 'such people' in their rightful place (beneath us), not only to understand others for empathy but to subjugate, and lastly... not only to be tolerant and caring but to rationalize our own sense of moral superiority.

So you see, for each honey of humanity, there is an equal and devastating poison when you look closely at the words and action of Mankind. The poison can, and alas has destroy the happiness of many, many people. 

Unhappiness is waiting in the rain for a ride that will never come. Admit it, we have
all felt like this at some point or rather in our lives. 

The Importance of History. It is too bad that history is such a neglected topic of public discourse. Because there is no better way to study human nature than history. It is all there, because frankly, there is nothing new and original under the Sun. All has been gone over, many, many times before in the past - orthodoxy, conservatism, revolution, war and evolution, economic boom and bust, spiritual enlightenment and moral decay, liberalism and reactionary forces, all entwined in a constant struggle for and the conditioning of the human heart. If we would only look into history, it will reveal many warnings and signs that can help us avoid the worst manifestation of our egos... violence, hate, hubris, wars and oppression.

Islam. For the Muslims, we must look beyond the trending news of terror, fundamentalism, extremism, violence and hate that is perpetuated by the very same Mass Media that is purportedly acting for liberalism, freedom and justice. We must look back to history to understand the significance of these global trends. For as you may recall, no facts exist outside human nature. By acknowledging this, not only about 'the others' but especially more so, about our own selves, we will come better to understanding our own human instincts, and learn to encourage the good of God that is within all of us, and struggle against the selfish and self-conceit of our egos. The Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s) calls this the greatest struggle of humanity.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Breathing - life, grace, gratitude and God

 If not now, then when?

You ask for air every few seconds,

And lo, you take your breath.

When there are always a multitude of reasons,

Why your request may not be answered,

But it is! It is! And you breathe!

How we take for granted our wish

And how it is answered by God,

In each moment,

In each breath,

In each thought.

God is in all the details, you see

Not just the Grand Cosmic Events,

So if you do not realise this now,

Then when?

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

Hey, sunshine. I hope your day has been swell for you. For me it has been a little of hit and miss. But I am glad to be back, and find this little prose recorded some while back. Of all things that God has granted me, it is undoubtedly my breathing that I regularly forget to give thanks for. It is so 'automatic' you know, your heart and your lungs doing all the work, gathering oxygen to feed our body. Then one day the heart goes kaput or semi-kaput and we are immediately reminded of our mortality. Oopsie.

So while my heart is still in an A-Okay condition, I would like to register with God, the Originator of the human breath and the Divine Breath, my sincerest thanks.

And my appreciation to Sumathi, my former colleague who once shared many hours with yours truly, talking about God and Saints, and finding commonality in our different faiths. It is a good feeling, and I wonder why some Muslim leaders are so afraid of talking with non-Muslims. Surely it is not because they fear something? Someone posted something rather smart on my FaceBook recently, 'Fear often overcomes our natural instinct to compassion and tolerance.'

So do not fear anything but God, sunshine. And let God the Most Compassionate (ar-Rahman) and Most Merciful (ar-Rahim) find in you, and through you, His own Device for Divine compassion and mercy unto this world, for all mankind and creatures of differing colour and creed. Ameen.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Malaysia Merdeka Thoughts 2012 - fear, democratic tyranny, education, neo-colonialism and NGOs

We should always remember. We should respect history and our elders.
And we should learn how old problems can return in a new form.

It is not only... (Merdeka Poem III for 2012)

It is not only independence

That can make a country great,

But the stock of men and women

And their firm sense of rightness,

It is not only liberty

That can make a country good,

But the choice through which

The people enjoy such liberty,

It is not only material wealth

That can make a country rich,

But the respect people hold

To their own tradition and history,

It is not mere tolerance

That can make a country

Of multi-ethnicity live in peace,

But the magnanimity

That people show towards one another

On a day to day basis.

………………………..

Fear in Malaysia 2012. There is a lot of fear out there. In the newspapers, in the blogs and on TV, the mongers of fear repeat the speeches of politicians and preachers and perpetuate a climate of fear. The problem with fear is that if that is the primary thing that motivates your political agenda, it is an easy step to hate, then bigotry and hubris. This is not essentially a Malaysian problem. We are merely symptoms of a greater chronic disease suffered by the international mainstream and alternative news media. A pandemic of fear.

They wore uniforms (they are Germans, after all), but
a lot of common voting folk also thought them swell.

Democratic Tyranny. I am not a fan of either the incumbent government nor opposition parties here. I find both their posturing and vote-chasing distasteful, but then again I do not believe in democracy. I simply see too many people blinded by their own agenda, for that is what democracy is about – fighting for your rights. If it gels with other people’s interest that’s fine, but if it doesn’t, well… tough luck. People often forget that Hitler’s Nazi party came to power in Germany on the backs of a democratic election. Of course they were not actually vanilla in their electoral campaigns, but they won because they were simply more brutal and single-minded than their socialist and communist opponents. And people also forget that when the French King's Bastille was broken into, that so-called symbol of royal oppression, Parisian revolutionaries found only a couple of petty criminals. But the Great Terror that followed the French revolution helped to fill Bastille up with those fortunate few who were lucky enough to escape the bloody Guillotine. Yeah. Democracy. Great.

Education. But what sort? And although I often said before that it is education that firms an enlightened world view, even that is not enough, for education in the modern democratic context often focuses too much on worldly knowledge and material gain. Good education must be based on progressive and scientific ideas but built upon foundations of family, history and Adab (courtly manners and courtesies). In this respect, I believe that the federal government will soon be unveiling its review of the National Education Policy (or has it? I have been missing the news lately). Well, I suspect the single biggest issue which I wish addressed will not be there – the prohibition of any government ministers to send their children to private / international schools. You see, they do not even have the good manners to regard us as people with intelligence. Give the ministers's children 2 weeks in a public national school, and I assure you, sunshine, that the standards and facilities and funding for public education would improve almost immediately. All other options are secondary to this.

World Bank. Their mission is
to eradicate world poverty.
Yeah. Right.

Neo-Colonialism and the NGOs. Non-Governmental Organizations are a necessary check and balance to the executive powers of government. But when we do not have a transparent record of their funding, and when the NGOs patently parrot the Western ideas of human rights, progress and democracy, we have to be a little more concerned. For the progress of the West from colonial overseers to a bastion of equality and freedom is a false story. The West may tolerate a couple of brown, yellow or black leaders as its pin-up poster boy (or girl) for their tolerance and equality ads, but the overwhelming tide of events under the globalization of the economy, corporatist (read none-existent) ethics and the oppressive system of currency and international banking will continue to stoke East and West divide. This is naturally so, because a large segment of people believe that the West is superior to the East. And in a way, they are not wrong, so I don’t blame them for taking measures to protect their overwhelming material and military dominance of the world. But to have our own local NGOs leading the vanguard of this neo-colonialism is unfortunate. The NGOs may think themselves a world away from the corporatist powers of the Halliburtons, Shells and ExxonMobiles, the Morgan Stanleys and the Citibanks, the IMFs and the World Banks, but things are not so black and white in reality. There is a lot of money in CSR (corporate social responsibility), you see. CSR makes behemoth non-human profit-making monsters appear as cuddly as teddy bears, and NGOs needs money, after all. It’s a question of supply and demand, and the graph never lies. And before any politician claims otherwise, they are probably even worse - just see the amount of financial industry and corporatist money pouring into the present American presidential campaign.

These are some of my thoughts about Malaysia today, on it’s 55th birthday (well, for West Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak joined in 16 September 1963 – we really should consider combining both celebrations. It makes sense). There are a lot of challenges out there.

Am I worried? Not really, because my mum and dad taught us not to despair and to always persevere. In the cosmic scale, no human (or djinn) conspiracy can overcome the Plan of God and His Beloved Prophet. So Happy Merdeka Day and do not be discouraged! Have faith!

If you have a little faith (and a good camera) like Shamel, even you can defy gravity.
Happy Merdeka Day!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Dawn & Dusk, The Virtue of Constancy - Monday blues after a long holiday

Dawn & Dusk

Dawn and dusk,

Day and night,

Right and wrong,

Black and white,

Twice a day and

Many, many more times

In our lives,

We cross the line between

What the Good Lord enjoins

And what our ego enjoys.

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

Sincerity is natural enough sometimes when it is spurred by regret and passion. Consistency in sincerity is much, much harder. I think our One God puts it best...

By (the Token of) Time (through the ages),

Verily Man is in loss,

Except such as have Faith, and do righteous deeds, and (join together) in the mutual teaching of Truth, and of Patience and Constancy. (Quran 103:1-3, translations by Yusuf Ali)

After a good four days' break to the northern state of Perlis for a wedding, I awoke today a little unprepared for my regular Monday routine. Fortunately I have left tokens of work to be completed scattered about to remind me - in my bedroom, in my bag, in my car, on my work table, in my cellphone and less visible sometimes, in my head. And there are of course a mound of emails in my inbox left there by my clients and Alexander (my partner in crime).

In the Surah al-Asr, the very final lesson that we are asked to enjoin each other is constancy. And I reckon it's because we can be very, very honest sometimes, we can be exceedingly patient some times, but to carry both with constancy is the true measure of the human spirit.

So you are lucky, sunshine, that you only get me through this blog. I do not think I am an easy man to live with. On a daily diet of Taufiq, you may find me just a little bit too much. If there is talk of sincerity, patience and honesty in this almanac, it is not mine, rather it is about those who keep close to me and tolerate me.

See, this is me being honest and sincere. May we share and heighten our understanding, that such virtue becomes a more common place occurrence in our daily life. For it is perhaps too uncommon for me.

Oh well. Have a great Monday anyway, sunshine... because however it begins, the day can only get better. If anything, that is the singular enduring belief that I always nurture in my sinful heart. Sinners are like that. We have to be, to face this world with some optimism. He he he. Hu... Hu... Hu...

Angel: Where is this enduring optimism of yours this Monday morning,  o' mortal?
Me: Just bring me my cup of coffee and I will show you!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Talking to the Wall - time, foresight of hindsight and the nature of humanity

31. Longhair & the Wall

The wall of the zawiya is asking,

“Why leave me behind when my bricks can build your palace in Jannah?

While I may not be as pretty as the jeweled walls of Jannah,

Was I not your constant company when you were remembering Him and the Rasul?

O’ Longhair, if the Lord grant you success,

Would you then forget me?

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

I wrote this prose some 8 years ago, after a brief conversation with my friend, Longhair, who is a familiar face in the neighbourhood zawiya (small mosque dwelling) of a Sufi Order.

The prose was recorded because it is true - inanimate objects, whether it is a wall of a zawiya, a tasbih (rosary), a wristwatch, a pebble in a river, a leaf of a tree, your bed, the floor of your house, a walking stick, a pair of shoes... they all become conscious as your awareness of God and His Prophet(pbuh) carries you ever closer to the Divine Presence. For as you change and become more alive in the presence of the Lord, so do you change and breath life to the world around you.

You will also find people to be more animated creatures. Because it is the well-earned habit of a lifetime that some people may say things, or do things that would cut you... an insult, a jibe, a slight, a rude remark. As you approach the Divine Presence you will develop a sense of vision that cuts through those ill-judged words or deeds and see the true reason that animates people's actions and conversations. And often enough the reasons that people sometimes say or do bad things are reasons which you can empathize with - normally some stressful event or sense of insecurity that is inhibiting the person's natural sense of fairness, friendship and good humour.

You will thus acquire the ability to respond with foresight at a level others would require hindsight. A form of time-travel actually, when you think about it. In simple terms, it means that you become far more tolerant and understanding of others. And this is always a good change!

So if you want to learn to hear and speak with inanimate objects, and if you wish to learn to better love your fellow human being, there is no better, no quicker way than to begin your journey on the Path towards the Divine Presence.

Isn't that why you are here, sunshine?

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Silver Medal but Golden Heart - Lee Chong Wei, Lin Dan and the heart of Malaysia

Not Olympic champion, but our champion.

Last night, at about 9.30pm I left my house to pick up Mikhail. The road was empty with only a few cars making their way through the overcast Malaysian night. I knew where everyone were... they were at home in front of their television, recovering from (watching) an epic battle between David and Goliath, between our Lee Chong Wei vs the People's Republic of China's Lin Dan in the finals of the men's badminton competition in London.

After winning the first set and trouncing Lin Dan at 21-15, Chong Wei faced a resurgent Lin Dan who won the 2nd set with a confidence-boosting 21-10. In the nail-biting see-saw battle of the final set, the PRC player, seen by many badminton pundits as one the most talented and dominant player in the sport's history finally overcame our Chong Wei at 21-19. The scores barely hint at the drama that was being played on court and in the homes of millions of Malaysians as once again, our champion lost to the amazing Lin Dan.

Because truth be told, I suspect many Malaysians, when they knew that Chong Wei was to face Lin Dan in the finals, kinda sighed a mute resignation, "Oh, well... silver is already an achievement." That is the level of awe inspired by the unquestionable ability of Lin Dan.

Lin Dan. Simply amazing. 

I was close to tears watching the last few minutes of the 79-minute ordeal because my gut feeling was that Chong Wei was not going to make it. And alas, the hopes of millions of my countrymen perished after Chong Wei lost the battle of nerves with only 2 points away from our country's first gold medal. 5 minutes later I was on the road to pick up my son.

Don't fret, my friend. For you have won your place
in the hearts of milions of us back home.

But during the drive I recalled the British female commentator when she exclaimed that Lin Dan had once again broken the hearts of millions of Malaysians rooting for our champion, and it got me thinking... Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God), that we as Malaysians had a heart to be broken. And for that thrilling 79 minutes, we forgot our communal and religious differences, our political agendas and historical baggage, our gripes and complaints... to find a common cause and a common hope in the heart of that thin lanky young man standing alone in the centre court of Wembley Arena, London.

Yes, I am right. Alhamdulillah that we had a heart to be broken. For it is a precious thing in this strange and often troubling times that we live in.

Thank you for sharing our sadness and happiness this morning, sunshine. God bless you.

Postscript 10.46am - And after the match the fella actually went and tweeted an apology to the 28 million Malaysians that were rooting for him to defeat Lin Dan... How can you not but love this guy? *smiling through tears...*

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Patience, Servanthood and Adab - a Divine Manna-back guarantee

Psst... Do not despair in the rude manners of your fellow creatures.
God Himself sent me to keep you company.

INSULTS AND ANGELS. An old friend shared this on his FB wall earlier this morning. It is an oral tradition of the Prophet(pbuh), as narrated by Abu Dawud. It involves the Prophet and Abu Bakar, his bestest ever friend-cum-companion in this life and in the next. It went something like this -

Once the Prophet s.a.w. was sitting with his Companions, and one person used insulting words against Abu Bakr r.a. causing him pain. But Abu Bakr r.a. remained silent. The person again used bitter words against Abu Bakr r.a., and still Abu Bakr r.a. did not respond. The third time when this ignorant person hurt Abu Bakr r.a. with his tongue, Abu Bakr r.a. tried answering back.

At this point the Prophet s.a.w. got up. Abu Bakr r.a. asked him, “Are you displeased with me, O Messenger of Allah?” The Prophet s.a.w. replied, “No, but (when you remained silent) an angel came down from the heaven responding to this man’s talk. But the moment you started replying to that man, the angel went away and the devil sat down. And I cannot sit where the devil is sitting.” (Abu Dawud)

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

I wonder what was the insulting words used to have caused hurt to Abu Bakar. I don't do Arabic, so I don't know any of the curses and insults available to them. Was it something like "You son of a cross-eyed camel!" Or maybe something along the line of "If I was a camel dying of thirst in the desert and found my way to an oasis and YOU were there, I would look for the next oasis..." We can only conjecture. Abu Bakar (ra) is well known but little is known of him. He is the silent one, compared to the towering personalities of the other uber-Companions of the Prophet, Umar and Ali. Usman however is also known to be shy and reticent, a soul of modesty.

When I think Arab and I think insults, somehow or rather, Camels always
come into the picture. I am predictable that way, I guess. 

And when the angel came down 'responding to this man's talk', what does that mean? Did the angel talk back? And obviously even if the angel responded on behalf of Abu Bakar, it is clear that the guy didn't hear it, because he went on haranguing dear Abu Bakar. Imagine if you were insulting someone and suddenly a disembodied voice from nowhere spoke with angelic gravity, "Hey, mortal! Stop it, thou art a bully!" I think you would have fainted out of fright. But it didn't happen in this case. I wonder why...

And when did the devil come into the picture? Was he a quiet witness all along, observing the tirade? And why did he sit down?

PATIENCE. I guess the morale of the story, at this level (which is not very high, mind you) at least, is that you do not allow your ego to respond to the provocation of another's ego. You just take it. You sit down, you smile and you ignore. As the Christians like to say, you turn the other cheek. And you have faith in God that He will not leave you alone in the face of unwarranted rebuke or insult. Thus, you avoid giving the devil the evil enjoyment to savour success in inducing conflict between man and man.

I AM SURROUNDED BY IDIOTS! It is not easy - this patience exercise which the Prophet(pbuh) likes to stress upon his followers. Patience, patience, patience. Servanthood, servanthood, servanthood. And Adab, Adab, Adab (good manners). None of this virtuous troika is easy. Not when we KNOW that there are fools and bad people we must contend and tolerate on a daily basis.

It's population is small because it is not easy to get in.
...But you can.

BUT THEN AGAIN... I myself have been a fool many(MANY) times in my life. And I have erred and done bad things too. Yet my family tolerates me. And so do my friends and co-workers. Hmm... but I have not done much insulting of people though (my brother Poon might debate this claim). Maybe I should, and bring an angel down from heaven... (I am just kidding here).

Patience. Servanthood. Adab. Words to live by, sunshine. It works fine more than 1,300 years ago, it will work fine now. Manna-back guarantee from God Himself. 

God bless you!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Mohamet and the Saracens - facing up to an ancient prejudice

If you recall, while I was in Singapore I purchased Karen Armstrong's book entitled 'Muhammad - A Biography of the Prophet'. The book was originally written by her as a personal quest to challenge the general Western mass media sentiment vilifying Islam because of the Ayatollah's 1990 'fatwa' calling for the death of Salman Rushdie. The sudden clarion call to defend Western civilization, liberty and freedom became an overwhelming denunciation of almost all things Islam, reigniting ancient European prejudices against those savage Saracens and their false prophet Mohamet, but now dressed less as a Christian response but more as a secular post-Age of Enlightenment indignation.

Within a month after the controversial fatwa, the Islamic Congress of 45 Islamic states voted and resolved by a majority of 44-1 that the fatwa was unIslamic, the one single state alienated being the origin of the ruling itself, Iran. But Armstrong noted that nobody(and I mean nobody) in European politics or media was willing to entertain and air this important decision adopted by the vast majority of Muslim countries. Because, as we shall find in the course of time, the general attitude of the mainstream media is to blame terror and extremism of Muslims as being caused by their religion, and praise Muslim's moderation and tolerance as arising in spite of their religion - fuel for the fire that has been burning in the breast of the West for more than 1,000 years since the founding of Islam.

I am up to page 39 of the first chapter entitled 'Muhammad the Enemy' as Armstrong seeks to put the reaction of the West towards the Ayatollah's fatwa and the more recent 9/11 horror within the context of an ancient and almost tribal vendetta against Islam and its Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). I do not know about anyone else, but I was profoundly disturbed as she reeled out examples after examples of European church, Kings and intellectual denunciations and insults being rained on the 'Arabians', 'Saracens', savages of the desert and the heretical teachings of the imposter, the Antichrist Mohamet. And alas, such perception arose from misinformation and a skewered worldview that firstly, sees the Western civilization as the highest pinnacle of human endeavour and secondly, that nothing of worth can ever come out of the savages and primitive cultures that lie outside the boundaries of Europe. Again, it is the hubris and the racial-driven convenience to divide the world between the 'us' and 'them'.

The old world view is coming back with a vengeance.

It is neither anger nor indignation that wells up in my heart reading Armstrong's exposition of this Mohamet as an enemy. It is a profound sense of sadness and realization that there is a great wall of hate and hubris that stands between nations and religions. How internalized prejudices and bigotry can misguide the most rationale or the most religious of peoples.

I know that some of my readers are non-Muslims. If you sympathise with my writing, I thank you. Thank you for not believing the hate-filled news reports and comments in the mainstream AND in the alternative mass and social medias. Thank you for giving me a little corner of your conscience and allowing me a little time to share with you stories and prose about Islam and the Prophet(pbuh). In whatever creed you may be dressed in, surely God is looking and smiling at the empathy and tolerance that you are showing us. Bless you, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq.

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Anger Issues and a Cancerian - a grey pall cast over the Shore of Love, a temporary glitch in the Matrix of Mercy

Anger

Anger is a fire

Burning beneath you skin

Sapping your soul of the goodness

That you hold within.

A cancer destroying your spirit,

The source of many foul deeds

And many, many thoughts all-wicked!

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

I am a sinner. I think I have made this pretty clear. But even as a sinner I tremble with (extra) foreboding at holding any hatred in me for anyone or anything. It makes me disconsolate and discontented, you see.

This, I am not. I am fat but I hope my fattiness is transitory and will go away
if only  I pray really, really hard. I savoured this dream for a long time until an ancient
friend suggested I pray while jogging 2 kilometres a day. He said God is sure to
answer my prayers then. I don't like my friend very much.

I would like to say that I am hate-free, no-Trans-Fat, sugar-free kinda fellow. But I am on the err... plump side of the weighing scale, I have diabetes and I can entertain hateful sentiments like the best of the haters.

But if hatred does pop up like a hateful boil on the landscape of my soul, I try to take immediate corrective measures. I consider the other person's point of view and his/her antecedents. I also weigh my own faults and see how I came to this hate-filled conclusion. Often enough I am able to attain some sense of perspective and the hatefulness drifts away like a grey pall cast over the Shore of Love - a mere temporary glitch in the Matrix of Mercy. And of course, as a One-Size-Fit-All-Problems-Solution I ask God and the Prophet(pbuh) to help me rid of the hate within me.

I hope to one day graduate from being this sort of Cancerian... 

.... to this kinda Cancerian!

This struggle with hate is a constant daily toil for me, being such an 'overly-sensitive' and emotional Cancerian (Yup, I am). I hope you will pray for this crabby crustacean, sunshine... that I might be permitted to accompany you to the Good Place where the Good Ones dwell in an eternal bliss.

.
Hehehe. A crab can always dream, don't you agree, sunshine?

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Man, Woman and SIRI™... you know there's gonna be trouble ahead - The Misadventures of Saint SIRI™ Part 2

Hehehe. Not that anyone was waiting.
But the story of the Iphone 4S upgraded version of the SIRI speech recognition
application continues...

I am a great admirer of women. After all, my mother was one and had she not surreptitiously ejected me out almost 42 years ago, I would not be here today, writing this.

A friend shared with me his relationship problems. He says that his female half likes to win their frequent arguments. And that she is arbitrary. Firstly - but of course women like to win arguments, why shouldn’t they when they are right most of the time?

And secondly, what men refer to as being arbitrary comes with the territory of being their women’s ‘chosen one’. I think the better adjective is ‘flexible application of generally agreed relationship rules'.

But the most laughable protest from his list of complaints is that if he were to give in and agree (or say sorry), then he is not being ‘himself’. In other words, he doesn't want to be insincere. For my naive friend, in the fruit basket of compromises, it was just one banana too far.

I had that banana ages ago.

Saint Siri™ always has a comment.

After all, sincerity is such an iffy concept. When it comes to placating your opposite half’s dissatisfaction, try putting sincerity and ‘being yourself’ on the back burner. I think being understanding and giving in is more important than men's self-important sense of sincerity. Honestly, when you count the aggravation of a war with your female half compared to swallowing some humble pie, that pie suddenly looks damn appetizing to me!

You might as well enjoy it. Because, oh boy, are you gonna be getting
your share of this fine pastry... Yummy!

Hehehe. God bless you. Thank you for coming by, sunshine.

Click Here for earlier posting on My Moral iPhone - The Misadventures of Saint SIRI™ Part 1

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Patience & Your New Universe of Beautiful Meanings

16. Truth Shaken in the Vessel of Imperfect Reality

Tyranny in spite of liberty,

- because the majority can be tyrannous...

Death in spite of wealth,

- because no money will save you from death...

Pride in spite of poverty,

- because even the most beggarly hovel can house hubris...

Ugly in spite of beauty,

- because vanity spoils all beauty...

Envy in spite of piety.

- because you have gain knowledge but not wisdom...

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

I must have been ticked off by some event when I recorded this prose many years ago. I really cannot imagine what it was, but if you would simply open your newspaper today, you can easily find at least one story (and probably many more) that, sadly, depicts the prose perfectly.

But no sooner was this poem recorded, an affirmative, hopeful one was written, probably the very next day...

17. Patience

Patience,

Unto me!

A new Universe!

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

And it is true. For however the world may turn, if we have patience... it is always a brand new world. A new universe of meaning in every breath that we inhale and exhale. And with patience, it is always a good meaning...

As how my father was yesterday. Not even his most loyal friends shall say that Khalid is the most patient person that they know. But yesterday, I accompanied my father to the workshop. We drove there because Adam, his grandson and my nephew, had car problem and had to have the car towed, and so we promised to meet him at the workshop. Because it was rush hour, there was some delay. But there was my father quietly sitting on his walking-stick-cum-stool, as the sun began to set and twilight draws nearer in.

When Adam finally arrived almost an hour late (they got lost) he was distraught with worry and quick to apologise, but surprisingly, his grandfather only assured him, "Don't worry, don't worry. It is not your fault."

A new world

Whether you are an ordinary man, simply waiting for your grandson and the tow-truck, whether you are a stay-at-home mum, a busy businessman, a diskjockey, a Sufi Shaykh or the Caliph of Islam, it is patience that is always the key to peace and happiness. Don't you agree?

A new Caliph

Thank you for coming in, sunshine. Always happy to have you here.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way