I Will See You In the Morning of Your Life

What a strange morning it is. I woke up and looked at my watch. 6.30am! Half-awake I jostled Mikhail out of bed,"Get up, Mika! Get up! It's already 6.30, you gotta shower quick!" We normally get him to school just before 7am. I stumbled into my washroom for my morning ablutions and when I got out I inadvertently glanced at my watch again. What the...? It was just past 5.45am. At 5.46am I am back in bed under the duvet. At 5.55am, I heard Mika walk into the room, "Let's go, Papa."

"Err, it's not even 6 yet, Mika."

"Whaaaat?!" Exploded Mikhail.

Sorry, Mikhail. My bad.

Later I was driving him to school and saw that the temperature indicator read it to be 22 degrees Celsius. By Malaysian standards, that was exceedingly cold. It rained last night, you see. Seeing the leaves, broken branches and remnants of bird's nests lying on the roads, it must have been quite a downpour. But in Malaysia it is habitually 'quite a downpour'.

127. Audacity

The dew on the grass in early morning makes me happy

The puddle of water left by the evening rain leaves me merry

The Sun glimmering behind a veil of green canopy keeps me cheery

And God is most-pleased with those who smile

Whatever the hour

Who have the audacity to be happy

When all life seems sour.

Life is not sour. Life is good, especially in a bracing and cold morning. I will see you, sunshine, in the morning of your life.

Pax Taufiqa

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Art of Drinking in the Tavern of Love, with Abu Yazid, Hallaj, Rumi and Abdul Qadir Geylani

In Teddy Bears and Sweet Gentle Walks we spoke of how Love will change your life. And I must warn you that, given free rein, Love will demolish your doubts and sadness. I know this to be true, because more than a year ago a kindly bartender in the Tavern of Love told me…
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21. A heady draught II
Ah, drinkers,
Did you not see
The sign outside?
“Verily, you who
Wish to enter,
Leave your doubts
And sighs outside.

For only love is
drunk here. Love
in all her delight.
Love! Love!
Love without respite!”

So how can we stop drinking Love, my friends? It is a most addictive beverage. A drink distilled by the Very Best of Distiller and promoted by the Very Best of Copywriter …

22. A Heady Draught III
Love is a draught
Exquisite in nature,
Brewed in secret
Like no other,
A loving nectar,
A liquid amber
Coursing through
Your soul like a
Golden river.

So, again and again we order from the bartender, “One more! One more!”, despite the looming hangover which we sometimes suffer because …

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23. A Heady Draught IV
Without discretion
Love manifests itself
In the morning after
As a painful hangover.

And after 4 prose of Love, where are we? Ah, here… to the fifth and final round, which I invite your toast, ladies and gents, in the honoured remembrance of Abu Yazid al-Bistami, Hallaj, Rumi and Shaykh Abdul Qadir Geylani! Come on, sinners… finish it and I will join you drunk under the Table of the Prophets and Saints! Because, if we are not worthy to sit with them, at least let us get intoxicated under them!
.

A Heady Draught V
If you desire Love, Happy Hour is Every Hour
Alas for those who seek Love without Love,
For only by Love will you find Love.

And if you have passed that stage,
And come to know the Bartender
A little better, then
You will finally realise that
In the Tavern of Love,
All drinks are, In Truth,
On the House!

Have a great Sunday, sunshine.

Pax Taufiqa.

.

P/S - First 3 poems here are from the chapter entitled 'How Beautiful Love is' completed 9th October 2009. The last, is happily freshly brewed this wonderful Sunday morning, 14th November 2010. How lucky are we!

She is the Weather of my World

I have a secret summer,
Awaken in the sunrise of her soul,
Bright and warm like an eternal sun
Rising over the spoils of my wicked soil,

I have a secret autumn,
As she comes to rest upon my shoulder,
Like leaves withering and falling,
Desiring words of hope and healing.

I have a secret winter,
Neither bitter nor cold,
But white like the white of her eyes,
And I am lost in her dunes and folds,
For there is warmth here, and I turn away
From hearth and home, finding
Mine in her snowflakes, melting
On the warmth of a winter morning.

I have a secret spring,
Sprung with desperate release
From a rich earth, as seeds of
Hope and healing burst into flower,
And from her lips words tumble,
Sharp as needles, sweet like nectar.

For you see,
I am in love and
Have met a girl,

She is no secret at all,
She is the weather of my world.

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

From the chaper entitled 'How Beautiful Love is', circa Oct 2009

I look into her eyes as I would look out of the window. To see how fair or rainy the day would be. I think it is best to be prepared whatever the weather... But in her torrential storm, an umbrella won't be of any use at all. I am not complaining, Heche. I am just sharing. Hehehe.

Salams,

Taufiq.

Ground Zero Mosque and the Ornament of the World

35. Menocal 2

Tolerance is the Jewel

Upon the Crown of Certainty,

And intolerance is

The Unmasking of Doubt

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

From the chapter entitled 'Candy from the Ahad Candy Store', March 2010

In 2002, Maria Rosa Menocal wrote a book entitled 'The Ornament of the World'. I only just purchased and read it sometime earlier this year. It is an important book for everyone to read and understand. In light of the Ground Zero Mosque / Cordoba Center / Islamic Centre / Park 51 controversy in New York, one cannot but wonder, how far has the religionist of Islam drifted from the golden age of Cordoba.

I do not know who she is, I have not heard of this writer until I read the book, but her historical documentation of the impact of the Umayads in Spain cannot be overestimated in its importance. The book triggered a deep longing and yearning for those ancient days and a terrible realisation of just how far 'Muslims' have strayed from the poetic beauty, sincerity, compassion, love and strength that once illuminated the ancient world. This made me happy and sad.

Those people who are strapping grenades on naive men and women, those people who are tucking a cellphone bomb underneath the bus seat, those people who are called in the media as 'Islamic Extremists' or 'Al Qaeda terrorists' - They are just bandits. They are weak, doubtful, blind and desperate, and in their despair they hijack and slander the noble names of the Most Excellent Faith of Muhammad Habibullah.

These 'Muslims' have become intolerant because they have cast their faith in a vessel of desperation. And for those who knows of the Prophet Muhammad, the Red Rose, the Sublime Humility, oh woe unto those who despairs, for they have raised their banner against the Beloved. Muhammad is anointed as the Mercy to the Worlds, yet they slander him as the Doom of the Worlds. They are worse than even the most wicked amongst non-Muslims, because they cloth their wickedness in the Beautiful Names of Islam.

.

O' Nation of Muhammad. What is your incessent bickering and complaining about? What is your mad adoption of a million and one conspiracy theories? You act as if you are being oppressed. You act as if the whole world is against you. How easily the names of Muhammad and Allah and Islam spill from your lips. But compared to the Companions, you are rubbish...

13. Siege? What Siege? (With Poon)
Someone asked someone else during the siege of Medina,
“O’ brother! We are trapped, we are trapped by the Quraish!”

The someone else replied quietly,
“Trapped? We are not trapped, it is they who are trapped.”

“Whatever do you mean?!
How can they be trapped?
It is we who are encircled!” retorted the someone.

The someone else sighed and nodded.
“O’ my excitable brother, do listen.

Yes, the city of Medina is encircled, I agree.
But it is the Quraish who are trapped.

Trapped between us and the rest of the world!”

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

From the chapter entitled 'Be Nothing' circa February 2008

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God Bless God in His Unimaginable Beauty and God Bless the Prophet in His Perfection of Beauty and his Companions in the Brotherhood of Love. And God bless you, my fellow travellers, for you are in good company!

.

Pax Taufica.

Obama and the Most Audacious Hope of All

The dew on the grass in early morning makes me happy
The puddle of water left by the evening rain leaves me merry
The Sun glimmering behind a veil of green canopy keeps me cheery
And God is most-pleased with those who smile
Whatever the hour
Who have the audacity to be happy
When all life seems sour.

Before Obama, I thought of Audacity. This prose is from the Dam.SunSun.Ana collection circa June 2004. Alas, since then, I didn’t manage to become a Democratic Presidential candidate, got Oprah on the band wagon and became the first black American president in the line of ‘cool’ Presidents like Kennedy and Clinton.

My aim of Audacity was (and still is) ostensibly much lower. To wake up in the morning feeling thankful for a new day and to bury yesterday’s sadness and mischance. That is quite enough audacity for me.

Between me and Obama, I do not know who is luckier. For I am not weighed down by the burdens of Iraq and Afghanistan. I don’t have a crippling national deficit to wrestle and of course, my life and work is not being constantly criticized by right-wing fundamentalist capitalist fruitcakes.

I do not have a nation to lead. I only have my conscience. And on this nice Monday morning, my conscience bids your conscience “a very good morning and have a nice day.” So you see, even my conscience is not very audacious.

But I hope God is indeed pleased with you and with me. Of all hopes, perhaps that is the Most Audacious of All.

Pax Taufica.

(p/s forest pic is from of trailpixie.net, Obamapic is from NYMag.)