He Watches Over Those Who Are On His Path

Dervish Pen

This morning I woke up

And found a dervish who

Drew himself from the ink

Of my pen.

"Help me, o' Lord...

Help me, o' Lord..."

He said, while clutching his breast.

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

Salam Jumaat the Blessed, my friends. However you seek the Lord's succour and mercy, you will find Him the Listener and the Gatherer of those who is asking for Him. Lay your weariness at the Door of His Help, cast your love-yearning spirit at the Cradle of His Ministration, turn away from this world's distraction and perceive this world in its true nature as a reflection in the Mirror of God.

Assuredly that is the best path to seek Him. And assuredly the path-maker, the one who tends to the path's straightness, the one who watches over those who tread his path, is none other than God's Own Path-Maker - the Seal of the Messengers and Prophets, Muhammad ibn Abdullah (s.a.w.s.).

ya Muhammad, Sayyidina Siratullah s.a.w.s.!

(Path of Allah)

ya Muhammad, Sayyidina Harisun Alaykum s.a.w.s.!

(Watchful Over You)

So fret not while on the path, sunshine. Keep your eyes straight on the object of your journey, even though you may stray a little. Have faith that He is watching over you... 

After all, it is His path that you are on! 

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Just Like Old Times - of friendship, chance meeting and the shedding of bitterness

My Old Friend

I met him, 

I saw him last night,

And we exchange pleasantries,

I saw him last night,

And I thought him beautiful

As the first time we met,

All my bitterness,

All my sadness,

All my sorrow fell away

Like leaves on a beautiful autumn day,

We spoke for a while only,

But it was enough for me,

He was my friend, you see.

And the funny thing was last night... 

My heart unconditionally confirmed, 

"You fool, Taufiq. He still is!"

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

I was outside the banquet hall at a wedding. It was there that I chance into my old friend, just minding his cigarette under a bleak evening rain. He was also invited to the wedding because he is a cousin to the bride.

I anticipated this meeting, but not the outcome. For you see, he had some harsh words that he once wrote me, and I was hurt. And for the longest time, I kept my sadness and, I must admit it here, my bitterness. Like a troll sulking in the cave, I nursed my pain and bitterness like a burning itch. But after a while, even this troll grew tired of being separated from his friend. Yet even then, I did not look for my friend, and indeed, in a couple of occasions when I saw him in a social function, I slipped away. Still a troll, I guess.

So it was a relief for me, that when I bumped into him last night, with no chance of evading an encounter, my heart delighted in seeing his smiling face, shedding in an instance, two years of hurt, regret and sorrow. I was happy because I did not even have to think about it, I was simply glad to finally talk to him. And being reminded once again in his kind words and thoughtful remarks, why he is my friend.

It was just like old times. I count this as a win for the Prophet, and glory unto God, Friend of the Friends, and Best Fixer-Upper of Petty Squabbles. 

Amongst Friends... and Shaykh Raja. Sometime in 2006, I reckon.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way 

Why...? Love asks

Some gathering of roses in the shape of a heart... by Cristina Colombo

Why...? Love asks.

Why are you standing?

I was anticipating  your arrival, love.

Why are you praying?

I knew you would be listening, love.

Why are you forgetful?

I knew you would still remember, love.

Why are you flying?

I am not flying, love.

It is this world that is falling away beneath my feet.

Why is the world falling away?

For this world cannot bear the reality

Of your love for me and my love for you, love.

…………………………..

And why was I unwell? I caught a sickness from my son, Mikhail. But he is better already and I am back, alhamdulillah. Thank you for waiting, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

An Extraordinary Soul Garbed in Humility and Courtly Courtesy - The Prince Part 21

No pretense here... 

24. Pretensions

May Allah save me from faith’s pretensions

And away from pretensions of no pretensions

Until I become but a passing moment

Indistinct from the rest of the ocean.

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

Hullo, sunshine. It is difficult to have no pretension, not when we are living in a world of pretense - a transient reflection, a momentary glimpse of God's power upon His own mirror. An artifice built upon the orbit of the smallest sub-atomic particle and the turning of the most gigantic star in the heavens, yet still nothing but the smallest manifestation of His grace. Thus He calls unto us - come to Me and let rest your worry. In this world of make-believe, verily you were made to look for Me, to find Me, and to seek your very best succour from none other but Me. With Me, there is no uncertainty, no worry. No pretense.

35. Brightest Star

Even the brightest star must diminish

When the morning sun appears

As do all sad songs finish

When eyes run out of tears.

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

None who met him, none who knew him shall ever forget him. For forgetfulness is the plaything of the human ego, subservient to nothing else. But those who have met him, find their eyes bowed and shy, instinctively knowing to be in the presence of an extraordinary soul garbed in humility and courtly courtesy.

The 100th day and more... has it passed so fast?

al fatiha

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Look For Me... I heard God whisper - the hidden and apparent nature of God

Sailing a sea of me to find Him

The Hidden God

If God is hiding,

It only means He wants to be found.

If you have found Him,

It only means He wants not to be found.

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

If God is hiding, it only means He wants to be found... Because He does. After all, He created all of Creation, you, me, Johnnie and the cat named Moses, simply because He desired to be known. As the old sufi saying goes - God was a Hidden Jewel, and He wanted to be known. So do not despair if for some time or moment, you do not feel Him near. Because the truth is, He is always near us... Thus speaks God in the Holy Quran.

We verily created man and We know what his soul whispereth to him, 

and We are nearer to him than his jugular vein. (translation by Marmaduke Pickthall)

And if for some quirky reason, you cannot sense Him within you, look for God in the heart of others - in the hearts of your kin, your family, your friend and even your enemy. For sometimes, the Lord hides in the most unlikely of places. He is, after all the absolutely Unique One, and I think He likes to surprise us this way... and He absolutely adores bringing people together in Mercy and Love. Making brothers forgive one another, making a sister forgive a sister for past slights. And making Jews forgive Christians, making Muslims forgive Jews, making Christians forgive Muslims, making Sikhs forgive Hindus, making Buddhists forgive Muslims... you get the drift of what God is saying, yes?

Look for Me - I heard God whisper.

If you have found Him, it only means He wants not to be found... Because God is that way. He says He is - He is the First, but He is also the Last. He is the Hidden One, but He is also the Apparent. Thus I think the only thing of God that we can assure ourselves in certainty is that He will certainly not break His promises, and that He certainly loves us and will forgive us for our mistakes and error. In between these points of lights, and how our lives will actually pan out, how each of our moment and breath is created differently, I think God is essentially saying - Leave it to Me. Trust Me.

So the moment you think you have found Him, I think He will be musing, "Hmm... Taufiq thinks he KNOWS Me. Hehehe, we will soon see about that!" But this Divine 'change' of our understanding of God and forced 'separation' is not done to us out of malice. Even here God does it purely out of love, and this is why... Because only God understands us completely. So He very well knows just how far the horizon of our soul can travel to perceive Him. While we are limited by our current human condition, God truly comprehends the Ocean of Love that is us. And in this life, He wants us to sail ever closer towards to Him, to Love and to Mercy, in a Sea that is all us...

I kid you not, sunshine... How blessed are you in so many ways.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Equations, The Wahdatul-thingy, Ibnu Arabi and the Umbrella...

Oh ho, umbrella is enough, is it?
Wahdatul Wujud that, sunshine!

In an earlier posting entitled 'The Divine Mathematics of Love' (Click Here), this brief equation was sketched…

On a Facebook comment, a reader adjusted the equation thus ….

So I had to contend with two different equations, and the outcomes (Surprise! Surprise!) are different. This is my conclusion (take into consideration that I am bad, bad, bad at maths. In fact, come to think of it, I am bad in general.): -

For this equation the solution must be that the Heart, at all points of the equation must have the value of One. Ergo, 1 x 1 = 1. I call this the Wahdatul Wujud stage. Which speaks of the Absolute Oneness of God, beyond which there is nothing. Not even ‘nothing’. There is only God, and He is One.

For the second equation the solution (I am thinking) must be that the first Heart must have the value of One, and the second having the value of 0. Ergo, 1 + 0 = 1. And of course this kinda brings the doctrine of Wahdatul Shuhud into the picture, which expresses the state of witnessing by the created (us mankind and the rest) towards the Absolute Oneness of God. And since there cannot be any addition to God (He is after all beyond adding or subtracting in any sense that we know), necessarily the second Heart (you and I and the cat named Moses) must have the ultimate value of 0. Yipee. Just like my form 1 maths teacher who once prophesied, "Taufiq, you will amount to nothing!"

So you can call me Mr.Smarty Pants, but what does this all mean to our daily life? How does this ‘knowledge’ improve our standard of living? But its usefulness on a general basis is limited, because even in a spiritual or theological debate, bringing in the wahdatul effect is like closing the topic down for good, because no sense can came out of it, and really there is no reply to it…

14. Whao.

To bring wahdatul wujud

To confirm your argument

Is to bring a Sun

To light a candle.

In the past I have been gently rebuked by concerned citizens that even Ibnu Arabi (the current Saint-in-station of the wahdatul wujud – wahdatul shuhud dichotomy) warned aspirants of the Path from contemplating this unique dogma which seems to suggest that God must be everything and nothing all at the same time. Are we really here? Are we not here? Is God here? Where is here? As for me, I am not too worried. Because if I see grey skies overhead, I make sure I carry my umbrella…

8. Rainy Days & Wahdatul Wujud

In rainy days,

It is my umbrella that shelters me,

And a beggar is better comforted with coins and food

Than any understanding of Wahdatul Wujud.

And at the end of it all, ‘understanding’ without experience is like having the Kama Sutra manual but going to bed alone every night. It just adds to the frustration, you know?

Have a joyous day, sunshine. And I promise, no more maths after this.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Earlier postings on Wahdatul Wujud / Shuhud:
• Wahdatul-Wujud
• The Magpie and Ibn Arabi, Wahdatul Wujud and Wahdatul Shuhud

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Spiritual Hobo and The Spiritual Bourgeois - How to write Songs and Prose

A songwriter is driven by his feelings. I know of one famous songwriter with a large portfolio of beautiful songs before his conversion to Islam. The songs were sincere, melancholy and yearning, with a certain edginess in his music which attracted me.

After he converted to Islam, well... the songs are still rather good. But I could sense the feeling of contentment and satisfaction in the music - A 'I-am-home-already' sorta sentiment which permeates through the music and lyrics. And that is good for him personally, but for me it has lost that 'I-am-lost-I-need-to-find-my-way-back' drama and tension which rippled to the surface of his older songs.

I was talking to my brother about it, and I (cruelly, I think) commented that this musical phase as being the songwriter's 'spiritual bourgeois' phase - That middle-class suburban reality of self-satisfaction you achieve when you think that you have "made it". There is not much edginess or grit in this sort of music. The 'Blues' mood of separation, solitude, rejection, yearning and desire just fell away from the songs.

I hope that at a metaphorical level, we shall always be like hobos riding on a freight train of God. Not knowing where we might end up, living life a day at a time, a loaf of bread and an apple a day, utterly in the Mercy of the Lord who made us all. Because frankly, there is really no other way to write beautiful prose or songs.

The Love is in the searching and yearning. So may our search and yearning never end.

Have a lovely day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

The Girl, the Saint and the Sinner - Love for all your tomorrows.

The Heart said "Welcome Home"

The heart broke the mold

Of her own mortality,

And her prayers took wing

From the tears of her yearning.

The heart broke the earth’s orbit

And she is spinning and whirling,

Speeding fast past the nearest moon,

Overtaking a blazing comet.

The heart broke the silence in the night,

And while others fell wearily asleep,

The heart sang and will not stop,

Making her eyes weep.

Like a girl, the poet wrote poetry

Yearning for his beloved,

Page after page he filled a tome,

But when finally faced with the lover,

All his heart could barely whisper was…

Welcome home.

We live our lives half-in and half-out. Half we speak, and half we keep inside, nursing a painful hurt or a happy memory, a bitter hate or a secret love. When it comes to love, often when we speak, we never really say enough. We never really disclose the love that has engulfed our soul from the nearest shore to the furthest post.

Because sometimes, we cannot choose the circumstances of our meeting. We are not accorded the privacy nor intimacy, but even in a crowd of onlookers, if you love someone, you know you do, yes? And you shyly steal glances at his face, hands and feet. You lower your gaze because even though you wish to look at him... you cannot bear to see his eyes answering your stare. For you know he sees you in ways that makes you shy. Shy of your faults, shy of your many mistakes, shy of what you perceive to be your own imperfect beauty.

And while all this is going through your head, he ponders upon your presence with nothing but love and a little sadness. Love, because your lover was created to love you. And sadness because he knows you all too well, all your hidden happiness and secret sorrows.

So if you have fallen in love, love not for today, sunshine... love faithfully and you will be loved for all your tomorrows... 

wa min Allah at-taufiq.

p/s - Don't you think Roberta Flack is awesome? Live in 1988, Atlantic Records 40th anniversary concert. I just thought that the song was apt for this posting.

A Poem My Father Wishes He Could Write - Love in its many guises

ALL I DO IS WAIT. Wait, wait, wait. If it wasn’t God that I was waiting for, I would be terribly frustrated. But happily, it is God, so the waiting ain’t so bad. Indeed it sometimes doesn’t even feel like waiting. I call this active waiting. Some people call it living.

I AM LYING. I mean, I seem to imply that I am a patient man – and that is so not true. My dearest would find it very difficult to verbalise that I am a patient man. And sometimes, when I am patient I wonder whether I am actually procrastinating. And sometimes, when I am busy living, I wonder whether I am being impatient, too bored waiting for God. Ahh… all these thoughts! Where are they coming from… and where are they taking me?

I think too much? I suspect you may be right, sunshine.

DINNER WITH DAD. I had dinner with my father yesterday. It was just us, as my other brother was taking our nephew Imran to watch the Malaysian national soccer team face Liverpool F.C. and continue its beaten run with English football clubs; 4-0 with Chelsea and 3-0 with Arsenal so far. Anyways, while eating, my dad said, “You, know… this Chinese shop has been here for a long time.”

“Well, at least since 2004, since I started working here.” I interjected.

“Oh no, much earlier. Your late Mama loved this place. We used to eat here before... many, many times.” Then my father paused for a millisecond before stressing, “Right here.”, referring to the table we were sitting at outside the premises.

I think my father is kinda waiting too...

A Poem My Father Wishes He Could Write
Did we not live together for so long?
Did we not bear children from our union?

Did you not mark me for marriage

Before you even knew me?

Me, who was never sure of my own heart?

Did you not care for me with great pride?

My clothes, my food, my bed and my home?

While I was away, were you not

The master of the house?

Did we not have so many visitors

Coming to grace our home daily?

Did you not try to teach me love?
Did you not sooth my heart
When I am scarred by the world’s fickleness?

Did you not walk each step of my success
And consoled me in my disappointments?
Did you not know each dish that I loved,
Each dish that I disliked, and each dish
That you wish you lived to cook for me?

Did we not travel the world, you and I?
A wife and her grumpy husband?

And does the world now not miss you?
And does the world now not yearn for you,
If only to see you smile for just one last time?

I do not understand why the world doesn’t miss you.

And I certainly do not understand why people say
You were an angel for sticking with me.

You were never my angel.
You were my world.
And I miss you.

Life doesn’t last forever, sunshine. But love, in its many guises goes on and on and on. May we always appreciate our closest and dearest, always.

Have a thoughtful Sunday, pet.

Pax Taufiqa.