Ramadan al-Mubarak and the Nourishment of Love - The Ramadan Story, Part 1

The Month of Sinners. Do you know that this blessed month of Ramadan is the month of us sinners? Oh yeah. Well, it is also a month for all sorts of things... it is also the Month of Quran, the Month of Light, the Month of the Poor, the Month of Repentance, the Month of Invocation and Standing in Supplication, the Month of Doing One's Best, the Month of Victory and Success and the list goes on and on. And just so you and I are not mistaken in the divine awesomeness of Ramadan, it is also known as Sayyid al-Shuhur, the Master of All Months. 

ADAB (Good Manners) YA HU (Oh He!) This, in two very short and perhaps surprising phrase for some, is inscribed above the doorway of a Sufi Grandmaster, in his little abode in Lefke, Turkish-Cyprus. In a breathless act of grandstanding, this sinner is also putting one up above the entrance to the hermitage in the sky. Below are practice sketches of the writing by my good ol' buddy, Moses. I think they look beautiful, don't you?

There is only a few minutes left before fasting on this very 1st day of Ramadhan. So I bid you a wonderful and joyous Ramadan al-Mubarak, and though we may empty ourselves of food and water for awhile, may we also gain eternal light, peace, good manners, knowledge, patience, constancy and contentment that is the Nourishment of Love. And this is a dish served especially in this blessed month.

Have a lovely month, sunshine!

wa min allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

GOD ASKS TO BE ASKED, SO ASK! - life-vocation, work and the Lord of Surprises, the All-Hearing (al-Sami), the Compeller (al-Jabbar)

Say... in the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, then ask.

Give Me Forever

If the words of my language are not enough

To extol Your Beauty, Mercy and Magnificence,

Teach me another language that I might try!

If the charity of my deeds lie so low 

Compared to the charity of others,

Give me the means to do charity

Until I forget what my hands have given away

In Your Name!

If my work is transient until 

My real purpose is revealed,

Please do not delay disclosure

And share Your purpose for me!

If I am meant to be Your mathematician,

Oh Lord, teach me mathematics,

If I am meant to be a teacher,

Teach me patience and give me knowledge,

If I am meant to be a student,

Send me the righteous Imam,

If I am meant to build bridges,

Teach me physics and engineering,

If I am meant to praise You forever,

Give me words worthy for Your praise,

And give me forever!

Oh Lord, Oh Allah the Beautiful,

The Fountain of Unimaginable Source

Of Love, Compassion and Mercy!

Your generosity is bigger than the night sky

And bigger than my contemplation of what

Is bigger than the night sky!

You asked to be asked,

You asked to be sought,

You asked to be loved and praised,

So here am I,

Your weak, weak servant...

Asking You,

Seeking You,

Loving You,

Praising You...

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

Work and the Lord of Surprises. We are what we are now because it is fated. You are perhaps an engineer. Or a lawyer. Or a government servant. Or a banker. Or a stay-at-home philosopher. Or a trader. Or a soldier guarding the kitchen store against all comers. But whatever you may be right now, your job might not last forever. And perhaps it is a temporary-while-you-get-yourself-sorted-out career. Your true work, your divinely favoured purpose, specific for your natural talents and inclinations may be something totally different. God does these things for us... and I think it is good to always consider what He has planned for you in the future. As I said, it may be something totally surprising. 

For I have always contemplated God as the Lord of Surprises. And the surprises are always good ones, insyaAllah.

Beneath this Monday morning's overcast sky, strange incoherent thoughts assail me. It is not because of some spiritual-mystical reason. I am simply tired and sleepy. He he he. We humans are still caged in our mortal bodies, and susceptible to the weather, tiredness and lethargy, however lofty our sufi pretensions. Don't you agree?

Al-Sami, Al-Jabbar. I was contemplating the evening sky last night, in the hour of Maghrib (sunset prayers), and I said to God (after all, he always listens... being al-Sami - the all-Hearing), "You distract me to distraction, my Beloved God... with Your endless repertoire of Loveliness and Beauty that You manifest in the natural world. Every day, I feel compelled by Your work of utter Beauty (after all, he is the Compeller - al-Jabbar) and every day I find myself challenged to put into words what cannot be put into words - the Beauty of Creation that is all Your Own..."

I have such conversations with our One God. For He always listens. Like I said. 

May this Monday bring Beauty into your life. After all, Beauty closest to Allah (s.w.t.) came on a Monday many years ago when the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) was born.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

IF YOU HURT, AT LEAST YOU KNOW YOU ARE NOT HEARTLESS! the benefits and advantages of pain and hurt

A mureed was attending the discourses of a mighty Shaykh, a well-known master of the spiritual path of Islam. The Shaykh was not the sort to mince his words, and as he spoke, barbed darts and barbed arrows issued forth from his lips and pierced the conscience of all the mureeds in attendance. Each one felt it, in his or her own way. Ouchie.

One particular mureed actually winced as if hurt by physical pain and the Shaykh noticed. He turned to him and addressed the mureed and by that way he addressed all the mureeds. "Oh foolish one! You winced, did you? You felt the heat of my white words, did you? Well, take that as a good sign from Your Creator, for He has left you now, even after years of your neglect, forgetfulness and sinning, with a heart that could still feel!"  

Hurt Heart

It is better to have feelings,

And with that, the ability to feel hurt,

Than to be heartless

And be known to your God

As someone without feelings.

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

And here we are today, sunshine. And I reckon just like me, you still have a heart that Allah (s.w.t.) has bestowed that you might feel and find your way through the maze of this dunya (physical world). Yes, I know... sometimes we stumble and fall, and often enough falling foul of God's commandments. But alhamdulillah (God be praised!), that when we fall we feel the hurt. 

Other wise, how long do you think we would still be falling into the abyss, unknowing of our errors and mistakes?

Greetings of peace and blessings upon the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.), and His inheritors through whom we may learn a little about who we are. They are like mirrors into our own souls.

Have a lovely Sunday.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

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

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

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

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

The sparrow-Alhamdulillah

Alhamdulillah... Praise be unto God,

Alhamdulillah... Praise be unto God,

Alhamdulillah... Praise be unto God,

I recited, my voice spoke, my heart ignited,

Alhamdulillah... my soul sang and sent

All my Alhamdulillah to the spirits of the dearly departed,

To my Beloved Prophet and His beloved Family,

To His Companions and His Saints, alive and living,

Alhamdulillah... my spirit sang and sent

All my Alhamdulillah like a flock of sparrows in their thousands

Flying towards the beloved faces of my mother and father,

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

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

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

And they begin to whirl round and round my beloveds,

The flock of sparrow-Alhamdulillah continued to encircle them,

A circumambulation of love around my beloveds,

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

Have become one of my own sparrow-Alhamdulillah,

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

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

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

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

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

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

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way 

BIG FAT CLOUDS - clouds, kittens and a 9-years old son seeking a restraining order against his mother

Distant Thunder
I hear the rumbling of a distant thunder,
Light is veiled behind a plume of cloud,
But rain is come
The seeker is now the sought
The lover is now the loved
Woe that I was ever in doubt!

Big Fat Clouds... this is the skyscape that was sorely missed by me and my
countrymen during the choking, bitter hazy days a couple of weeks ago when some
parts of Malaysia hit 400 on the API (Air Pollution Index). Back then we saw no
clouds, in fact not even the Sun, as a blanket of smoke blocked our view of the sky...
I felt like the haze descended on my very spirit and felt physically and
spiritually lethargic.

I guess telecommunication towers are a necessary evil in a developing country like
mine, but it does make one hill look the same as the next. 

The clouds drifted so close to the Hermitage in the Sky that I felt like I could
simply lean over the balcony and touch the wispy white water particles. 

I was bewitched by the evening clouds, and I thought I have never seen anything quite as lovely and reassuring as they floated near and around me. The haze and smog was a memory and perhaps a lesson that we ought not to take nature and its manifest beauty for granted. I reckon that is what God wants to remind us of. Don't you?

Before I left from the office, I detoured at the coffee shop beneath my
office. And there was a kitten, wandering around looking about in the
curious way that kittens do. It climbed on my lap and gazed at my face
with that pleading hungry cat's eyes.

Where is the mommy? That is what I would like to know... And I think
it is also asking the same question... "Have you seen my mommy?"

I am actually writing this at the very same coffee shop. But I haven't seen the kitten since that day, I hope it is alright... though doubt shadows my heart. Kittens have such a high mortality rate. *Sigh*

Mikhail (my 9 year old son): Papa... I can't stand doing revision with Mummy!
Me: Why is that? Mikhail: It is worse than school!! She would tell me to read this, do that... and
then she would go to sleep, or watch TV or play on her iPad! 

Mikhail: Do you think I can get a Restraining Order

against Mummy on the Internet?

Me: Hmm... you can try.

I don't know where Mika learned about Restraining Orders! But he has the mechanics of the judicial order correct and said that he wanted to restrain his mother from coming within 100 metres of him.

Setting Sun on the Hermitage. The low clouds have mostly marched
eastwards, and in the distance I could hear thunder. 

Have a pleasant Friday, sunshine. And if you are where the air is fresh and clean, count your blessings with each breath... Allah... Allah... Allah... 

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Physical Gloss over the Spiritual Essence - knowledge and learning in the embrace of the Master

I asked a friend of mine recently, "Have you read Shaykh Abdul Qader Geylani?* (*a famous Sufi Grandshaykh of the Syariat (the Law) and the Tarikat (the Path)). To which he replied in the negative. And I think he was amused by my crestfallen reaction (which I think I found hard to hide) for he said, "He is not in my priority of reading..." 

So I asked him what was his priority reading, and he said, "The Holy Quran, the Hadith (verbal traditions of the Prophet), perhaps the books of the four school (mahzabs) of jurisprudence of Islam..." He felt that it is important for him to focus on these basic groundings and not be distracted by other books, which I guess appear to him to be secondary and collateral to these books.

My first (and emotional) reaction was to spring on him and shake his structure- Oh why oh why would you not want to open yourself to the love manifested by someone such as Shaykh Abdul Qader? A love of divine presence connected through the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) and the Companions and Saints? A love that you can sense, taste and feel through his spiritual discourses? Why would you not want to grab hold of this Saint's robe and let him drag you through our simple hypocrisies though it may hurt our spiritual sensibilities? Why would you not want Love at all? But then someone interrupted us and he whispered to me,

In the Kiss, In the Embrace

Love cannot be informed upon,

Love cannot be explained,

Love cannot be told from 

One person to another.

Love must be transmitted in a kiss,

In the embrace of the Master 

And submission by the apprentice.

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

So I said no more on this matter.

But the next day, another old friend of mine dropped by in the hallow of my thoughts and by this he challenged my friend's view - You say that you wish your religious study not to be distracted by other spiritual books than the Holy Quran and the Hadith and the books of the four Imams of Jurisprudence. But in your life you are reading the newspaper, you are reading about politics, the economy and society in general. You are driving and you would be studying the advertisement billboard that litter the roadside. You are reading books, journals, magazines, brochures for computers and surfing the internet and reading all sorts of things, written by all sorts of people. And this you say is okay because those reading material are not spiritual or religious in nature. 

But what is 'nature'? At another level everything in its very nature is spiritual. Whether it is about health or wealth, science or technology, people and society, politics and ideologies, banking and commerce - Such things sometimes appear with a gloss of materialism because we are dealing with the physical world and its inhabitants. But truth be told, the knowledge is coming from the same source and MORE importantly, one way or another, it is TALKING about that same source - the One Originator of all things physical, felt or deserving of our contemplation, our One Lord God.

Coming and Returning

All knowledge comes from God,

And all knowledge returns to God...

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

But I cannot share such things with him because there is of course adab (good manners) to consider. I cannot intrude into the bridal chamber of Love. So I ask of Love for Love and no more. Love will bide His time as He wishes.

Have a lovely day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

THE VIRTUE OF SILENCE - adab, scandals and gossips, discretion and the veil over your sins...

A Drop of Adab

Give me a drop of Adab

Than an ocean of knowledge.

Give me a single pause of Adab

Than the most persuasive speech of the orator.

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

The ancient ones value Adab (courtly courtesy and manners) above all else, even knowledge. For Adab is the inner and outer expression of our understanding or lack of understanding. 

Adab tells us when to keep silent and be discreet, and Adab also teaches us when to speak up and also be discreet. Adab is the highest form of human action through which we conduct our affairs with discretion. 

Scandal! Do you like knowledge? For knowledge is a two-edged sword whose edges are very sharp indeed! How do you like being told of a dark secret of someone else? Such knowledge (let's be honest here) is titillating, true. But after the brief moment of dark pleasure at someone's unfortunate contratemp or mistake (for it is a misfortune), we are suddenly weighed with the burden of knowing. And our ego is whispering ever so urgently to us, "Go on... tell it to him. Share this with someone... !"

Like a steak, a scandal is often juicy. But it is bad for you.
And even worse if you share it with someone.

Some people may reason, "But fate has disclosed his/her indiscretions to me! So the general prohibition against talking bad about someone must surely now not apply in this scandalous case! Anyways, it is the truth about him/her!" Hmm, persuasive but...

Gossip

O' foolish traveler! 

O' wayward listener to gossips and scandals!

Draw the veil that someone has saw fit to lift

Over the indiscretions of someone else,

That perhaps Allah may keep the veil

Over your own errors!

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

When you think about all the preachers and evangelical politicians in this world, when you think about all the news, postings, comments, blogs, websites and portals covering Islam, it is ironic that in most instances, what Adab in Islam demands is silent contemplation. 

He he he. So it appears that I have written myself into a corner. So I better stay here for awhile and speak no more.

Have a lovely Monday, sunshine. May Allah (s.w.t.) and His Beloved Nabi Muhammad Sayyidina Alamul Huda (s.a.w.s.), guide you towards the perfection of your Adab. There is no purpose more beautiful than this single purpose!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way