The Heavenly Dragon, The Heart Shield and Zulfiqar the Renowned!

In Islam, in the name of Ali, the Cousin and Companion of the Prophet, Consort to our Lady Fatima az-Zahra, the 4th Rightly-guided Caliph, and He who wields the two-bladed sword Zulfiqar, there is no hate. Not even in times of war. In times of war, a high banner of chivalry is raised - it is named The Futuwat.

The shield is shaped like the spiritual heart for therein God has established the Throne for He Who Shall Sit On It. And it is also shaped thus because the enemy of hate is Love. And we take shelter in God and the Prophet(pbuh), The Loving and the Beloved from the whispers of hate, envy, pride and hubris fashioned from the black fires and furnaces of the Enemy, the Devil himself. As we also take shelter from his legions of Djinn armies and the traitorous Ego that works within us. Amen.

The wielder of the sword and the shield is symbolized in the form of the dragon, which in the deeper lore of Islam is a heavenly creature, before he was tricked by the Devil. And the dragon is crowned with the pointed hat of the Naqshbandis and turban cloth of royal purple, the tail of which is fluttering in the wind. There is always a breeze, you see, because wherever this particular dragon goes, so does the salawat (hymns and songs of praise for the Prophet). And the salawat calls the wind, which in the deeper lore of Islam is also a creature and creation of God. Blessed be all of God's heavenly creatures.

The sword shaped like the renowned Zulfiqar is held downwards in the dragon’s claws as a token of peace to Man, but it is unsheathed because iron and particularly sharpened iron is a semboyan (signal) to the Djinns that are ever lurking near to beware and to not trespass upon us. It works. Sometimes.

I like to explain things. I like things when they are just so... at their proper places, and properly named, properly posed. Like ending this posting in the very same way I have done for many, many moons…

Have a lovely day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Dealing with Perceived Betrayal - Chivalry & Empathy

159. Zulfiqar I

Victory without chivalry is not victory.

Defeat with chivalry is not defeat.

Not War.

And I think this is the best way forward for anyone anytime. The prose was written about war, a serious endeavour at any time, but for many of us, thankfully, we are not involved in any adventurous land war. We are middling our way through life, working, sleeping and playing. No war zone for thousands of miles, no war correspondence embedded in our daily life to witness and record our enduring joy and sadness, and our conflicts with our neighbours, co-workers and family.

Conflicts.

Because so long as we are a part of humanity, conflicts will arise. Betrayal, or perception of betrayal is not war, but it is something which we all have faced to a certain degree. But betrayal, just like war, must be handled with care. And chivalry. To win vengeance or revenge is no victory, not when it is done in hot-temper or cold-blooded malice. Oh, how we are often tempted by our perception of someone's betrayal to act against that person. Thankfully, nowadays we seldom reach for our gun or our dagger. But often enough we hit back... With mankind's own Weapon of Mass Destruction, the WMD of Words.

Betrayal. 

I do not know how people resolve their feelings of betrayal. I myself, find such feelings a dirty, dirty stain in my conscience. So I distrust my mental calculations, I discount my anger, and I try (as humanly possible) to detach myself from my mind's sense of injustice, and its machinations against the betrayer. How can I believe my feelings and my so-called reason, when the entire scheme is all about feeling betrayed, and the accompanying feeling of hate and anger.

Two sides of a Coin. 

The reason why I detach myself is because everything that happen is for the ultimate good end. And the ultimate good end is the knowledge of myself, the knowledge of God, the knowledge of both this world and the next. That is the ultimate reward that we are playing for. We are not desiring short term gratification offered by this world, nor are we desiring something other than God in the next. These things we must consider especially when we are in the throes of righteous indignation. After all, we do not know what is in the heart of the betrayer. We do not know even that he considers his deed as an act of betrayal. And on our side, have we TRULY been honest and transparent, and have we ourselves TRULY kept to our side of the bargain?

Chivalry 24/7. 

To release ourselves from the bitter poison of human failings we must do this - to see other people in the best light possible, and to see ourselves in the worst light possible. And we must do this in the most dire straits - when we think we have been betrayed. It is easy to love the lovely, it is easy to trust the trustworthy, but when we are so biased and prejudiced, and we must accept the fact that this is our natural baser habits, we must learn to love the unlovely, and we must learn to trust the untrustworthy.

GOD.

For God loves this way. Everyday He looks at us unlovely humans, and He thinks us lovely. Everyday He looks at us untrustworthy humans, and decides to trust us. Again and again and again.

Don't you agree, sunshine?

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Let the Mounts of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse Starve. Facing the One True Conspiracy - The Human Ego

Quite a few people bump into this almanac because they googled up ‘sword ali zulfiqar’. And it is good because the Muslims (and non-Muslims, come to think about it) should always learn more about Muslim lore. There are also quite a few hits arising from search words like ‘dajjal’, ‘antichrist’, ‘Obama’ and of course, the inevitable favourite - ‘jihad’.

CONSPIRACIES. This obsession however, with the so-called conspiracies and grand designs of 'the Bad Guys' in coming to the end of time is worrying. Simply because a large chunk of what is out here in the worldwideweb is rubbish. The internet casts the illusion of knowledge. It builds a façade of information in the absence of real life experience. Like the television, and religion to a big segment of humanity, the cyberworld has become an opium of the masses. A disinformation superhighway, and the car crashes and wrecks are piling up, my friends.

THE HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE. If you want to look for anti-Christian sites, they are all here. If you want to drown in a sea of hate for the Muslims, they are here. If you desire to read about the anti-Israeli sites, you need only press a button. If you want to bask in the glory of your faith, ideology or country – it is all here, splendid in their sanctimonious and arrogant postures. Hate, fear, despair, envy and hubris – all these Horsemen of the Apocalypse, they are all here. And the tragic thing is these websites or Facebook pages all portray themselves as being the saviour. The warner. The superhero that is warning humanity of the impending doom and how the problem is never ever ‘us’ but always ‘them’ and ‘the others’. THE EGO. Things never change. From the year dot, mankind has been troubled by the most cunning and wily adversary. And no, I am not talking about Azazil the Accursed (you can call him Satan or Bezelbub or Iblis or Mephisto). My prying mind is addressing that thing which all of mankind carries in their pocket. Our ego. And I do not wish to talk to your ego. I wish to talk to you. Can you tell the difference?

192. An Egologue II
Ego! These words are not for you.
They are meant for that poor fool
You have bound and trampled
Under your cloven hooves.

THE ENEMY OF ALL. It is through the human ego that the very worst of our nature arises. Ego is the fodder that fuels the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. It is from the ego that all our hate, fear, despair, envy and hubris manifests itself – in all things. Each second of the day, each moment of your life is an ego-moment, unless you are rightly guided and have the conviction of your conscience to overcome it. Even in Sufism, even in your highest aspiration to goodness and servanthood to God, whether you are a Hindu priest, a Jewish Rabbi or a Christian Pastor – your ego will seek to misguide you. For a Muslim, especially those dutiful aspirants of the Tariqah order, shelter under the protection of the Master is no guarantee of safety from the ego.

13. Beware
Even the ego
Will love the Shaykh,
But for its own
Selfish reasons.

THE CUNNING OF THE EGO. It is easy for us to grasp upon the big conspiracies to validate our smallness in the face of the vast cosmos. The bigger the Masonic conspiracy, the bigger the Illuminati plans, the bigger our egos grow to meet our so-called enemies. Such is the delicate test which this life has to offer us. Even when we think we are learning, when we are acquiring knowledge, we are in truth only feeding the human ego – whose appetite has no limits. For the Masters of the Tariqah, what is more important? Is it the so-called devious establishment of the New World Order? Or is it about how you brush your teeth or button up your shirt? You will be surprised by the answer.

THE HUMAN CONSCIENCE. The only hope that mankind has rests within them too, it is the human conscience. Just like the ego. But our ego, encouraged by the what’s-in-it-for-me generation and mass consumerism has grown to such proportions that we have become confused where we begin and our egos end. Instead of our ego being submissive to our conscience, it is our conscience that has adapted to fight a guerrilla war against our dominant ego. But thank God – the Conscience is winning. Indeed, the Conscience must win. Otherwise, the future will be black for our children and grandchildren.

157. Dear Man-Ego
You think you are on your own,
You think you will have it all your way.
But your soul, your secret name
That common man call conscience,
Is already planning his next trespass.

So do not be fooled, sunshine. Do not take part in the mass hysteria of despair, crusade and jihad which is being fanned by the extreme religious and economic zealots on one hand, and the mass media on the other hand. It is all lies. It is all a pack of lies.

Today, the Sun is still shining. And I have just sent my son to school. Shortly I will be going to work. And it is my prayer, that I will be guided in all that I do by my conscience. For this is what my Prophet Muhammad is teaching. Religion of the Conscience, of which Love is the Highest Law.
LET THEIR HORSES STARVE. I offer my hand, though it is sinful. I offer my eyes, though it has seen many bad things. I offer my heart though it is unpolished, to you. You must make a difference in this world. You are the hope on which all Creation rests. So do good in the name of Love, God, Beauty, and in the very best etiquette of Servanthood. Even if it is simply brushing your teeth or buttoning up your shirt. Your ego will hate you for being concerned and taking pleasure in such mundane things. And that is the best way to take away the fodder from the black stallions of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Let them starve, I say.

Have a conscionable day, pet.

Pax Taufiqa.

Motherhood, Womanhood and Godhood

Get Me Down From Here
There is no good raising my mother on a pedestal,
For she will only say…
“Hey, get me down from here, I look ridiculous!

There is no good praising her with praise,
For she will only say…
“That is not important, what is important is you.”

There is no good putting up many pictures of her in my house
For she will only say…
“That is just too much, take some of them down.”

There is no good reminding people of her,
For they will only say…
“How can I forget your mother, she was so friendly!”

And finally, there is no good writing poems of her,
For she will only say…
Really, you are wasting your time with this frivolous activity!

COOKIE. My mother, God bless her sweet soul, is an awesome cook. And that means getting the ingredients as fresh (and as cheap) as possible at the neighbourhood wet markets. Thanks to my father who gave her considerable allowance for housekeeping, she was not only able to keep her family fed (perhaps too well) but also feed close and far relatives and friends, all day, every day. In her lifetime, our house was a hive of hospitality, and my Mom was the queen bee.

WOMANHOOD AND GODHOOD. Technology of the Heart is a blog I used to frequent a lot, but of late, between work and my own writing I have had very little time to read blogs or books (I have 3 books still waiting for me to complete). So I count myself lucky to drop in today because there I read 'Divine Feminine in Islam and Fatima' (Parts 1 and 2 – Click Here). It is a sublime and indepth exposition on the idea and ideal on women and femininity in Islam. If you are a rare visitor to the Sufi world, or even like me, an occasional trespasser in mysticism, you will still be amazed by what is written... I kid you not.

I write a lot about my mother. But I bet she is like all mothers out there, caring, loving and with a stubborn belief in the goodness and promise of their children. We must not let them down, sunshine... I know you won't.

God bless God, and God bless Motherhood and Womanhood.

Pax Taufiqa.

Crusade & Chivalry, Jihad & Futuwat - United in Love against the Hemlock of Hubris Unholy

The Christians must recall history through the path of love, for surely they will continue to fight a battle different to the battles that the Muslims have fought and continue to fight, though in the past

they fought each other in the same plains and valleys of war.

For the Muslims, they too must revisit history through the path of love, for surely they will persist to fight a battle far different from the battles that the Muslims in the past have fought,

for so long as they think that glory in arms is the enlightened end.

The irony of these days is that it is not a Holy War that is consuming

the Christians and Muslims, it is the Hemlock of Hubris Unholy

– offered in a cup held by deceitful hands

while proclaiming themselves as heirs of Crusaders and Jihadis.

The way of glory is easy - It is the vain path of all would-be heroes,

martyrs and historians.

The Path of Love - ‘tis the hardest and most bitterly fought.

Here is the true Crusade and Chivalry. Here is the true Jihad and Futuwat.

And if anyone contests what you say, then tell them that it is I, Zulfiqar who says this!

And if they disbelieve you, so what!
………

Glory to God this wonderful Sabbath, pet. In this silent and bracing morning, I do not hear the Universe disagreeing with me at all.

Pax Taufiqa.

The Stray Dog & the Happier Truth!

Woof! .

.

I AM A STRAY DOG. And I strayed from the conventional education of my religion, drifting into books of masters and saints of what people conveniently call Sufism. In their gentle company I found the beautiful interpretation of my religion through an ancient lore. But the wisdom contained within their grasp is as fresh as if it were first uttered by the Prophet Muhammad a moment ago, as if it was acted upon by Umar the Mighty only this morning, and illustrated by the Chilvarous Ali presently by his valour and the sword Zulfiqar. In the wonderous and often humorous escapades of the Murids (students) I find great joy and wit, only to rest upon the eyes of the Masters for balance, patience and moderation. I am a stray, and I strayed into a courtyard of lovers - seeking love and desiring to learn the ways of love. There is no difficulty here. There is only ease.
.

,

WHAT IS ACTUALLY CONVENTIONAL? What was discovered in the teachings of the Sufi Masters is both glorious and delicate - as magnificent as the Hagia Sofia, but more subtle than the fluttering of a butterfly;s wings. And it showed to me that what I first assumed to be the conventional teaching of Islam to be unconventional in its incompleteness. It is not the fault of anyone, but somewhere, somehow, Islam became a 'religion', a 'syllabus', a 'Phd' and a 'doctorate". Then it transformed into an 'Islamic state' with 'Islamic banks', 'Islamic Revolutions' and 'Islamic ways of dressing.' In the dire finality, Islam became an excuse. It loss the lustre of love - the Islam of Muhammad was the Sun during the day, and the Moon at night, but by the time I came to school in the 1970s, it turned into realpolitik. When I was young, Islam did not speak to me. The voice of Muhammad was still and mute in the religious books that was prescribed for my reading. I knew of him. But really, I knew nothing at all about him. In Sufi lore, I found him and a happier truth.
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THE HAPPIER TRUTH. What I say here, my friends, it is not the Complete Truth. But so far as I can see, it is certainly the Happier Truth. Yet there are some who would contest this Happier Truth, saying to us -.
.

1. Surely, the religion is not as simple as you claim it to be.
.
2. Surely, the religion is not as 'happy' as you say it is.
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CERTAINTY IN GOD IS THROUGH CERTAINTY IN HIS PROPHET. But why not? After all, the Prophet had to leave behind such divine lore so clearly fundamental so as to take into account the really slow-witted (such as me), and yet brilliantly fascinating to keep the most hard-to-please of his nation (such as you) captivated by its beauty and passion. He would not be Muhammad, had he not given to us the grace of his traditions, to exemplify and embody the Completeness of the Holy Quran. Of this I am certain.

.
Have a lovely Thursday, sunshine. I am gonna have breakfast now, will you join me in a cup of certain-tea?

.

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Pax Taufiqa
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Earlier posting on certainty entitled "Having a Cup of Certainty at Rumi's Famous Tea Room"
(Click Here)

Jihad, War, Caliph Ali and the sword Zulfiqar, Futuwat Code of Chivalry and Armchair Generals

The Caliph Ali is a cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet. He is a man of beautiful passions and a warrior of great valour. His sword, Zulfiqar is almost equally as famous. Some say that the code of chivalry known as futuwat (or futuwwa) is inspired by or originates from Ali.

159. Zulfikar I
Victory without chivalry is not victory.
Defeat with chivalry is not defeat.

As often is the case, Ali was chosen to be the champion of the army for a one-on-one duel with the opposing side's best warrior. In the melee, his opponent was thrown to the ground and disarmed. Ali raised his sword, the famed Zulfiqar, to smite his foe, when suddenly the man spit on Ali’s face. A dark shadow drifted over his countenance and Ali was temporarily stunned. Then he lowered Zulfiqar and said to his enemy, “Get up, pick up your sword, and let’s resume our duel!”

The man was stupified, he stood up and asked, “Hey, why did you not kill me when you had the chance?"

Ali replied, “When you spit on my face, I felt my anger rise up like the flaming ash of a volcano. And had I struck you then, I would have been motivated by my anger, and not by my love for God and His Prophet. I would have done a great wrong.”

160. Zulfikar II
Oh, noble Zulfikar who was never wielded in anger!
Who shall wield you now that for every man who fights for his Lord,
100,000 men fight for their egos?

Faith is a plant that flourishes in the soil of love, the sunlight of truth and the rain of mercy. Ego will empty any soil of love, it will be block out the sun, and cause a thousand years of draught. Ride and control your ego before it annihilates you and all that you hold dear.

161. Zulfikar III
As your ego grows,
Incrementally does the price of your admission
Into His Presence.

The condition of war is a special condition. It is not the natural condition of Islam. Those who talk of a thousand years of Jihad are madmen, fixated with swords and guns. But the truth is, if Zulfiqar had a voice, it will say, “I want nothing to do with such men. And if I must concern myself with them, verily, let someone wield me against them!”

Really, people should stop bandying the clash of civilization (Islam East vs Christian-Judeo West) fad and quit the warmongering bandwagon. The much anticipated clash has nothing to do with civility nor civilization. It is a clash of egos, a blood feud perpetuated by the dim-witted ‘faithfuls’. A game for bigots, armchair generals and psychopaths.

4. War
War should not be a game.
Nor for glory or fame.
It is mercy, tempered with courage,
It is acting with love
Though besieged by hate.

And if they ask, who says this,
Tell them, it is I,
Zulfiqar!

So next time anyone mentions jihad or crusade to you, tell them what Zulfiqar has shared with you here today. I will love you for that…

Well, that’s it. Have a great day, sunshine.

Pax Taufiqa

Footnotes – The 3 ‘Zulfikar’ poems are from the 1st Chapter entitled ‘The Dam.SunSun.Ana’, circa June 2004. The poem ‘War’ is from 28th Chapter entitled ‘A Celestial History, circa February 2008.