MAN OR SHEEP? - The Ramadan Story, Part 16

Either God or your ego. Who is looking at you in the mirror of
your reality? 

Simply Untrue, There is Only You

There is no one else here but me,

So let me take the blame myself,

For however the world may turn,

Let me be the one to stop the flood,

Let me be the one to quench the fire,

Let me be the one to call the rain and end the drought,

For there is no one else here but You,

And I cannot rest thinking that You

Are to be blamed for anything at all.

So let me take the blame completely.

For if I don't, I have would have 

Inadvertently named You

As the cause and the consequence

For whatever calamity

That may befall me.

And that I cannot do.

For I know,

That is simply untrue,
For there is no calamity,
There is no tragedy,
There is no failure or success,
No more disappointments,
No real expectations,

For me,
There is only
You.

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

Calamity after calamity. Tragedy after tragedy. Death, death and more death in the streets as conflict between Muslims goes unabated, even in this most blessed month of Ramadan. And that it is happening in the Middle East, in the cradle of Islam, makes it all the more sadder. So much for the sanctity of the holy month.

Default Villain. Politicians, political and current news pundits, as well as a healthy brace of preachers and preachers-wanna-be like to place the blame on the standard default villain. And depending on your political and religious credentials, they would be The West, America, Israel, Zionists, Al-Qaeda, the Communists, the Russians, the IMF, Barney the Dinasour, the Wahhabis, the Salafis, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Jihadis, the Neo-liberals, the Global Bankers, the Illuminatis, the Iranians, the Saudis, the Qataris, bla, bla, bla, yada, yada, yada, ad infinitum. Well, I am quite tired of all this blaming. 

The Devil hates sharing the limelight. 

Bleat if You are a Sheep. 99% of the time, when you are about to pull a trigger, there is no one there physically forcing you to do it. If you are flying a drone, you are not under threat of execution if you don't (well, maybe a court-martial for disobeying orders). If you are about to leave a bomb in a market place in a Baghdad neighbourhood, nobody has you in the cross-hair of a rifle sniper, just in case you have an attack of the conscience and decide not to place the bomb. You are the actor in this tragic drama, no one else. After all, what are you, man or sheep? I am only asking this because I am often confused myself.

At the end of the day, the plain simple truth is that most Muslims are dying being murdered by other Muslims. And I think the weary old justifications of 'Oh, its a complex hatred inherited through generations of them...' or 'The young are unemployed and disenfranchised...' or the much-used 'The Mossad / CIA / Hamas are behind it...' are frankly wearing thin. Not because such reasons are definitely untrue or that  there is no conspiracy, but rather, why do we as Muslims, need to follow this same old plot-lines? If we do know what is what and can see through the hole of a donut, then why do we fall for the same old cliche? So the question begs to be answered again, are we really men or sheep?

Have we become so cold and heartless that we are now deaf to our basic humanity?

Go sit in the corner, o' Muslims,
and think that maybe, just maybe,
change for the better begins
with you and no one else.

To be Human is to be Humane. I am not entirely convinced by people who keep on and on about trying to be better Muslims. About creating the so-called Islamic state and Islamic economy. I reckon we are already having a hard time distinguishing ourselves from common animals. 

Maybe we should try to be human and humane first. 

The world is not complex. It is Man and our weakness that complicates things. And in that complication, hundreds of thousands, and even millions have died.

Personal Change. If you consider yourself a Muslim, there is no running away from the blame. You must take it, for that is the path to true servanthood, where even personal change is possible insyaAllah (God Willing). And once you have been guided by Allah (s.w.t.) and His Beloved Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) to change yourself for the better?

Well, then you will find that nothing is impossible. In our Creator's scheme for you every tempest is now merely a storm in a tea cup. So don't drink from that tea cup. Choose another cup. Make your world in His image.

Have a lovely day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way