Category: STRONG
Things get all screwed to Hell if it doesn't happen like the above (Re: Love). Ok, it's natural for young women to want kids. It's kinda cute actually. But uh... there really is little difference between women wanting kids without the context of a marriage/relationship/love and men wanting sex without the context of a marriage/relationship/love (pure Western culture, there are other parallels for other cultures or hybrid-cultures). They're both biological desires or urges. Think about how totally mammalian that is... males wanting sex, females wanting offspring. It makes sense. In fact, just as how a woman will attribute her biological urge for children to something spiritual (indeed, the selfnessness of raising children is spiritual, but it's something even animals... without souls... do), a man can also 'spiritualize' his sexual appetite (as in... it's human nature to want to mate... and simple mating can be spiritual, but just because a spiritual context is thrown on something, does not make that very thing spiritual at all. it has to be effected from within, not without).
What is a child really? Not yours, Khalil Gibran would say who I thought had the best quotes about them. What a child really is, is all that stuff from above. It's everything. An expression or manifestation of love and faith in the union more or less. Just as that's what sex is really supposed to be for people who pursue existences higher than simple animals, it's a perfect way to express love, and having a child together and the act of raising it is an even more perfect expression of love.
Raising the child employs full use of the 'mirrors' of all parties involved. Because the child is an altogether different person from either of the parents. It's a seperate soul. The selection of that soul might be based on Divine Wisdom, so it might be similar depending on circumstances, or it might be completely different.
"Your children are not your children:
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which
You cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
But seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday."
-Khalil Gibran
Anyway, the love of parents. It goes without saying a child needs parents that love it, and also love EACH OTHER. Ok, maybe it doesn't go without saying. Parents who love each other (outside of the scope of religion) will usually have kids that are pretty decent in worldly terms (the spiritual correlation is a different matter). The 'complete' expression in this method would be love predominating between the parents-to-be, and funnelling into a love for God. Often, the sure-fire way to insure that happening (cuz love isn't storybook for most people) is to do the whole union for the sake of Allah, by having sincere intentions and right actions (using only Deen itself as the major criteria when finding)... you love Allah, so you love doing what Allah orders you to do, and marriage being half the religion insures the partners will be in a state of perfect/pure love regardless of whether or not they even sensually love each other because love and faith can be converted into each other like currency. And this is important to note, because in an Islamic atmosphere (sometimes zero contact between husband/wife before marriage), love cannot happen before the marriage and is almost purely the result of the conversion of the Faith poured in. And you see that before you as something that works. You can't see Faith? You can see love in these relationships. All of that came from Faith. That isn't to say that will wind up being the best marriage, but it definitely has the best set-up and the most optimal chances because of how close it's linked to faith.
Parents who don't love each other have weird kids. You can have an absentee or horrible father, and a mother who completely dotes over her children because they're the only love left in her life and likely they'll grow up to just throw all that incredible spoilage back in her face without any gratitude. That's freaking horrible to just think about, and that happens all the time. Thank God though that children are independent souls, and it could be that God allocated a soul destined for awakening in completely random environments: "The wife of Nabi Loot was an unbeliever/ While the wife of Firaun was a believer./ He brought forth from a temple of idols, a Siddeeq/ And in the Kaaba was born a Zindeeq (Abu Jahl)./ The son of Azar (i.e. Ibrahim (A.S.)) was the friend of Allah/ And Kan'aan, son of Noah, was gone astray."
Buuuut, all of that, that's not something people usually think or feel. They just do it, and if their hearts are open to it, they reap the spiritual benefits of it. If not, they just further the human race. Which in and of itself is a sort of worship as I said before, since simply living is a reflection of a Divine Attribute. You know how they say everything does dhikr to Allah? That's how. (This is probably the most profound branching-off point of any idea here, but I'll stick to the love stuff). That's why the structure for marriage is laid out in such detail in the Qur'an... it provides the optimal atmosphere for that kind of 'worship' of Allah. All of what I'm writing here are feelings translated into thoughts for the purpose of discourse. You don't have to think this stuff, you FEEL it. An idiot can be in love and have/raise children. But the problem nowadays is the lack of that very feeling. You can't force people to FEEL it the right way. And just like other matters, doing without feeling is common. That's why I find it not surprising at all that 'liberals' in Western society are all for the disintegration of marriage... they're the Wahhabis or Salafis of the relationship-world. After all, the same Western principles of 'liberalism' are what gave Wahhabis/Salafism the chance to emerge onto the Islamic scene recently.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Love
Category: STRONG
Love is reflection. Borrowing liberally from Hamza Yusuf's lecture at RIS, when you're in love with someone, you mimic them. You try to be like them. If your Layla's Egyptian, you'll learn Arabic for her. You'll adopt a different culture for her. You basically just copy them.
If love were to be put in equations, they'd probably fall somewhere in the field of Optics under Physics.
A metaphor for love: Your heart is a mirror. Nobody will have trouble accepting this, as that's been in Sufi tradition for over a thousand years. Everyone's born with a mirror, which is the source of their ability to love and other spiritual things. (It's called a 'Qalb' in Arabic).
You point that mirror at things you love, and reflect them within yourself.
Biological love can also be explained in this metaphor. If you're reflecting something, you're kind of loving it. You are born reflecting your parents, because you have their DNA. You love them because they reflect you. They love you because you reflect them.
I'm pretty sure if we started cloning ourselves, you would have a kind of love for your clone and vice-versa. Maybe a strange kind of love, but something that qualifies as love nonetheless.
As Sufis say, when you love God, you reflect His Divine Attributes. That is the goal of all spiritual enlightenment.
When you love other people, you point the mirror at them. But this is blinding. They'll probably be like "wtf, get that thing out of my eye" and point their mirror back at you, which will blind you. Two people pointing their mirrors at each other cannot keep the mirrors focused on each other because they'll lose sight of each other and wind up reflecting nothing. This is a metaphor for 'romantic' relationships of the day. The best compromise is to point the mirror at the other person, then lower yours and have them point their mirror at you. Just like how in relationships, it is usually one party in love with the other at any given moment, and then they swap. One gets used to having the other, takes them for granted, and falls 'out' of intense feeling while the other will suddenly fall into it. Laws of human attraction, it's a game of attention.
Needless to say, such a thing cannot really be love between people. That is the problem with attraction. Everyone has love, but that's not how you connect it to another. There's also the fact that love is only of as high a quality as the lover, not the beloved. (That the lover reflects the beloved later is a different factor). So the highest form of love would be for the sake of God. (Not for anyone's sake, not for love's sake, not for goodness' sake, but literally for the sake of God... and loving something for the sake of God is the border land between Faith and Love which are different phases of the same thing).
"Love is not looking at each other, but looking out at the world together."
A better balance than to shine shit into each other's eyes and make each other blind and ultimately frustrated, angry, and very much NOT in love would be to hold your mirrors together and reflect the rest of the world. And God. This is the highest form of love between people, and it just so happens to not be limited to romantic love at all. In fact, it might even exclude the contemporary idea of romantic love. This is something more akin to a type of friendship, or more aptly put, 'companionship'... although spouses are set up in optimal circumstances to become best friends or true companions within Islamic culture dictated by Islamic law. For instance, incredible love exists between Spiritual master and apprentice (sounds almost Star Wars...). A Shaykh and his Mureed. A huge chunk of Rumi's works were him going crazy over his Shaykh: (Wikipedia: As the years passed, Rumi attributed more and more of his own poetry to Shams as a sign of love for his departed friend and master. Indeed, it quickly becomes clear in reading Rumi that Shams was elevated to a symbol of God's love for mankind, and that Shams was a sun ("Shams" is Arabic for "sun") shining the Light of God on Rumi.)
Back to the love between man/woman, which has the natural advantage to reach the highest stage of love above all other types of human relationships (even above parent-child). What are children, if not the perfect expression of love? The two reflect themselves into one new mirror. You don't carve the likeness of your beloved into a mountain. Mountains end. But into a new human being, combining half of your two signatures is the most perfect way. And in fact, the very act of having children itself is as if the two pointed their mirrors together at Allah Himself. The birth of a child is reflection of the Divine Attribute of Creator which cannot be reflected by humans in any other way (save extraordinary Prophets with the gift of miracles). This is why the vision of God in woman is the most perfect of all because she is literally a mirror for the act of Creation.
Love overload.
The fact mankind continues to exist, is due to Allah's love for it. Simply reproducing and achieving it's nature is a touch of His Mercy and Love since life itself reflects the most basic ideas or Divine Attributes of 'God's image'.
I should also mention most people completely dirty up their mirrors by our age (young adults). So it doesn't work exactly like it should. Spiritual exercise (expressing faith in practice) is like rubbing. It wipes it clean. Although if you go too far (some crazy ascetics), you could end up warping the mirror but I doubt any of us will ever get that far in this world. The Qalb is also a source of thinking and intelligence according to Islamic philosophy. Except it recieves knowledge from Divine Insight and Inspiration, so a functioning Qalb will only give you Truth and an understanding of the true nature of things. The problem is when amateurs can't tell whether they're listening to their Qalb, to their Nafs (al-Ammara), to Shaitan, or to other people.
Love is reflection. Borrowing liberally from Hamza Yusuf's lecture at RIS, when you're in love with someone, you mimic them. You try to be like them. If your Layla's Egyptian, you'll learn Arabic for her. You'll adopt a different culture for her. You basically just copy them.
If love were to be put in equations, they'd probably fall somewhere in the field of Optics under Physics.
A metaphor for love: Your heart is a mirror. Nobody will have trouble accepting this, as that's been in Sufi tradition for over a thousand years. Everyone's born with a mirror, which is the source of their ability to love and other spiritual things. (It's called a 'Qalb' in Arabic).
You point that mirror at things you love, and reflect them within yourself.
Biological love can also be explained in this metaphor. If you're reflecting something, you're kind of loving it. You are born reflecting your parents, because you have their DNA. You love them because they reflect you. They love you because you reflect them.
I'm pretty sure if we started cloning ourselves, you would have a kind of love for your clone and vice-versa. Maybe a strange kind of love, but something that qualifies as love nonetheless.
As Sufis say, when you love God, you reflect His Divine Attributes. That is the goal of all spiritual enlightenment.
When you love other people, you point the mirror at them. But this is blinding. They'll probably be like "wtf, get that thing out of my eye" and point their mirror back at you, which will blind you. Two people pointing their mirrors at each other cannot keep the mirrors focused on each other because they'll lose sight of each other and wind up reflecting nothing. This is a metaphor for 'romantic' relationships of the day. The best compromise is to point the mirror at the other person, then lower yours and have them point their mirror at you. Just like how in relationships, it is usually one party in love with the other at any given moment, and then they swap. One gets used to having the other, takes them for granted, and falls 'out' of intense feeling while the other will suddenly fall into it. Laws of human attraction, it's a game of attention.
Needless to say, such a thing cannot really be love between people. That is the problem with attraction. Everyone has love, but that's not how you connect it to another. There's also the fact that love is only of as high a quality as the lover, not the beloved. (That the lover reflects the beloved later is a different factor). So the highest form of love would be for the sake of God. (Not for anyone's sake, not for love's sake, not for goodness' sake, but literally for the sake of God... and loving something for the sake of God is the border land between Faith and Love which are different phases of the same thing).
"Love is not looking at each other, but looking out at the world together."
A better balance than to shine shit into each other's eyes and make each other blind and ultimately frustrated, angry, and very much NOT in love would be to hold your mirrors together and reflect the rest of the world. And God. This is the highest form of love between people, and it just so happens to not be limited to romantic love at all. In fact, it might even exclude the contemporary idea of romantic love. This is something more akin to a type of friendship, or more aptly put, 'companionship'... although spouses are set up in optimal circumstances to become best friends or true companions within Islamic culture dictated by Islamic law. For instance, incredible love exists between Spiritual master and apprentice (sounds almost Star Wars...). A Shaykh and his Mureed. A huge chunk of Rumi's works were him going crazy over his Shaykh: (Wikipedia: As the years passed, Rumi attributed more and more of his own poetry to Shams as a sign of love for his departed friend and master. Indeed, it quickly becomes clear in reading Rumi that Shams was elevated to a symbol of God's love for mankind, and that Shams was a sun ("Shams" is Arabic for "sun") shining the Light of God on Rumi.)
Back to the love between man/woman, which has the natural advantage to reach the highest stage of love above all other types of human relationships (even above parent-child). What are children, if not the perfect expression of love? The two reflect themselves into one new mirror. You don't carve the likeness of your beloved into a mountain. Mountains end. But into a new human being, combining half of your two signatures is the most perfect way. And in fact, the very act of having children itself is as if the two pointed their mirrors together at Allah Himself. The birth of a child is reflection of the Divine Attribute of Creator which cannot be reflected by humans in any other way (save extraordinary Prophets with the gift of miracles). This is why the vision of God in woman is the most perfect of all because she is literally a mirror for the act of Creation.
Love overload.
The fact mankind continues to exist, is due to Allah's love for it. Simply reproducing and achieving it's nature is a touch of His Mercy and Love since life itself reflects the most basic ideas or Divine Attributes of 'God's image'.
I should also mention most people completely dirty up their mirrors by our age (young adults). So it doesn't work exactly like it should. Spiritual exercise (expressing faith in practice) is like rubbing. It wipes it clean. Although if you go too far (some crazy ascetics), you could end up warping the mirror but I doubt any of us will ever get that far in this world. The Qalb is also a source of thinking and intelligence according to Islamic philosophy. Except it recieves knowledge from Divine Insight and Inspiration, so a functioning Qalb will only give you Truth and an understanding of the true nature of things. The problem is when amateurs can't tell whether they're listening to their Qalb, to their Nafs (al-Ammara), to Shaitan, or to other people.
The Mythical "Moderates" within Islam
Category: STRONG
The mythical 'Moderates' in Islam.
The idea of 'moderation' within Islam is often misunderstood.
There is no moderation in or within Islam. Islam is itself moderation (within life).
Applying Western political terms to a non-Western construct like Islamic politics is begging for disaster. These terms include 'moderate', 'radical', 'extremist', 'fundamentalist', 'liberal', and 'conservative'.
To put it simply, do you take the Prophet(saw) on the one hand and a non-Muslim on the other and say "Equidistant between these two is a moderate Muslim"? No. That's a half-assed Muslim. Common-sense, no? The prophet Muhammad(saw) himself was the pinnacle of moderation within life and an example of such to all Muslims.
Therefore, a perfectly moderate Muslim would be one that has completely emulated the Islam of the Prophet(saw). Nobody can really make that claim. Such a person could perhaps be said to be halfway between the two excesses (materialism and asceticism). So being halfway between the Prophet's example and that of a typical non-Muslim puts the person at being in excess (whether materialistically or ascetically) in about 75% of their life. That is nowhere near moderation.
This can all get very confusing, but it's as simple as it initially appears. To sum it up, these would be the correct translation/application of Western political terms onto the Islamic political landscape:
Western idea of a 'Liberal' Muslim = A conservative Muslim. A complete spiritual ascetic.
Western idea of a 'Moderate' Muslim = Muslim who is attempting complete solidarity with the Prophet's Sunnah. Very few people. Most of the high-end clerics would be here.
Western idea of a 'radical/extremist/fundamentalist/conservative' Muslim = Actual liberal Muslims. Western liberalism is what spawned these groups of Muslims. All terrorists go here.
Notice how most Muslims don't fit anywhere on this spectrum. They simply don't have enough Islam to make it onto there. I'm not saying they (including me and you) aren't Muslims. But they're a tough demographic to categorize within Islam. You need to show something to fit somewhere. I guess you could call them/us 'apathetic' Muslims. The clear silent majority. I don't need to bring up the likely fate of apathetic Muslims. At least the fate of the liberal/conservative Muslims above is up for debate.
Anyway, these terms are stupid and should not be used for non-Western systems. They aren't made for them.
The closer you are to the example of the Prophet(saw) in Islam (doctrine/aqeedah), Ihsan (spirituality), and Iman (faith), the closer you are to the moderate and healthy path in life. If you mistakenly thought this was the 'conservative' path, and halfway between that and the typical Western path was 'moderation', then you are mistaken. Moderation within Islam is literally just simply half-assing it out of apathy.
Remember, complete 100% Islam is itself perfect moderation within life. To debate on that (if you're not Muslim) would require a foray into philosophy. Subject for another note.
The mythical 'Moderates' in Islam.
The idea of 'moderation' within Islam is often misunderstood.
There is no moderation in or within Islam. Islam is itself moderation (within life).
Applying Western political terms to a non-Western construct like Islamic politics is begging for disaster. These terms include 'moderate', 'radical', 'extremist', 'fundamentalist', 'liberal', and 'conservative'.
To put it simply, do you take the Prophet(saw) on the one hand and a non-Muslim on the other and say "Equidistant between these two is a moderate Muslim"? No. That's a half-assed Muslim. Common-sense, no? The prophet Muhammad(saw) himself was the pinnacle of moderation within life and an example of such to all Muslims.
Therefore, a perfectly moderate Muslim would be one that has completely emulated the Islam of the Prophet(saw). Nobody can really make that claim. Such a person could perhaps be said to be halfway between the two excesses (materialism and asceticism). So being halfway between the Prophet's example and that of a typical non-Muslim puts the person at being in excess (whether materialistically or ascetically) in about 75% of their life. That is nowhere near moderation.
This can all get very confusing, but it's as simple as it initially appears. To sum it up, these would be the correct translation/application of Western political terms onto the Islamic political landscape:
Western idea of a 'Liberal' Muslim = A conservative Muslim. A complete spiritual ascetic.
Western idea of a 'Moderate' Muslim = Muslim who is attempting complete solidarity with the Prophet's Sunnah. Very few people. Most of the high-end clerics would be here.
Western idea of a 'radical/extremist/fundamentalist/conservative' Muslim = Actual liberal Muslims. Western liberalism is what spawned these groups of Muslims. All terrorists go here.
Notice how most Muslims don't fit anywhere on this spectrum. They simply don't have enough Islam to make it onto there. I'm not saying they (including me and you) aren't Muslims. But they're a tough demographic to categorize within Islam. You need to show something to fit somewhere. I guess you could call them/us 'apathetic' Muslims. The clear silent majority. I don't need to bring up the likely fate of apathetic Muslims. At least the fate of the liberal/conservative Muslims above is up for debate.
Anyway, these terms are stupid and should not be used for non-Western systems. They aren't made for them.
The closer you are to the example of the Prophet(saw) in Islam (doctrine/aqeedah), Ihsan (spirituality), and Iman (faith), the closer you are to the moderate and healthy path in life. If you mistakenly thought this was the 'conservative' path, and halfway between that and the typical Western path was 'moderation', then you are mistaken. Moderation within Islam is literally just simply half-assing it out of apathy.
Remember, complete 100% Islam is itself perfect moderation within life. To debate on that (if you're not Muslim) would require a foray into philosophy. Subject for another note.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Quotes
Category: SOUND
"Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation."
-Rumi
"How can words trapped in the heart come out of the mouth?"
"Don’t allow your animal nature to rule your reason."
-Rumi
"God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites, so that you will have two wings to fly, not one."
-Rumi
"In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.
You dance inside my chest,
where no one sees you."
-Rumi
"All day I think about it, then at night I say it. Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing? I have no idea. My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that, and I intend to end up there."
-Rumi
Ibn Rushd: “What kind of solution have you found through divine unveiling and illumination? Is it identical with what you have found through speculative thought?"
Ibn Arabi: "Yes...No. Between the yes and the no, spirits take wing from their matter and necks are separated from their bodies."
"All loves are a bridge to Divine love. Yet, those who have not had a taste of it do not know!"
-Rumi
"Now why from its perch on high was it cast like this
To the lowest Nadir's gloomy and dear abyss?
Was it God who cast it forth for some purpose wise,
Concealed from the keenest seeker's inquiring eyes?
Then is its descent a discipline wise but stern,
That the things that it has not heard it thus may learn.
So 'tis she whom Fate does plunder, while the star
Sets at length in a place from its rising far,
Like a gleam of lightning which over the meadows shone,
And, as though it never had been, in a moment is gone."
-Ibn Sina (Translated by EG Brown)
"Whatever the situation may be, in the recollection of death there is reward and merit. For even the man engrossed in the world benefits from it by acquiring an aversion to the world, since it spoils his contentment and the fullness of his pleasure; and everything which spoils for man his pleasures and his appetites is one of the means of deliverance."
-Al-Ghazali
"The person I like most is the one who points out my defects."
-Umar (RA)
(marking a difference between pointing out defects which may not be verbal and simple disparaging which usually always is)
"O people who take pleasure in a life that will vanish,
falling in love with a fading shadow is sheer stupidity."
-Ibn al-Qayyim
"Knowledge is taken from breath,
not lives in a book"
-Shaykh Hamza Yusuf
"Only that which was effective for the first of this community will be effective for the last of it."
-Imam Malik (rahimullah)
"The righteous salaf (original Muslims) were as fearful of their good deeds being squandered, or not being accepted, as the present generation is certain that their neglect will be forgiven."
-Hasan al-Basri (died 737 A.D.)
"All humans are dead except those who have knowledge; and all those who have knowledge are asleep, except those who do good deeds; and those who do good deeds are deceived, except those who are sincere; and those who are sincere are always in a state of worry."
-Imam Shafi (rahimullah)
"This life is not real. I conquered the world and it did not bring me satisfaction."
-Muhammad Ali
"Allah guards the justice-loving government, even if it is the government of non-Muslims, and destroys the tyrant government, even if it is the government of Muslims."
-Ibn Taymiyyah
"Dear friend,
Your heart is a polished mirror. You must wipe it clean of the veil of dust that has gathered upon it, because it is destined to reflect the light of divine secrets."
-Al-Ghazali
"I seek forgiveness from Allah for the lack of my sincerity when I say I seek the forgiveness of Allah."
-Rabia al-Adawiyyah
"Who are we to wish for Paradise? It will be enough if God spares us his wrath."
-Imam Abu Hanifah (rahimullah)
"He who practices Tasawwuf without learning Sacred Law corrupts his faith, while he who learns Sacred Law without practicing Tasawwuf corrupts himself. Only he who combines the two proves true."
-Imam Malik (rahimullah)
"Knowledge is proud that it knows so much;
Wisdom is humble that it knows no more."
"You say that you are just a body, but inside of you is something greater than the Universe."
-Imam Shafi (rahimullah)
"He who clings to my Sunnah when my Ummah is corrupt, will receive the Reward of a hundred martyrs."
-Prophet Muhammad(saw)
"Many things in life will catch your eye, but few will catch your heart."
"The glance is a poisoned arrow of Shaitan. Whoever lowers his gaze for Allah, He will bestow upon him a refreshing sweetness which he will find in his heart on the day that he meets Him."
-Prophet Muhammad(saw)
A man came before Hazrat Ali (RA) and asked: "Is man forced
or not?” (Meaning does he have a choice in his actions or not).
Hazrat Ali told him: "Lift up your one leg!"
The man lifted his one leg up. Then he said: "Now lift up the other".
He asked: "How can both legs be lifted up?"
Hazrat Ali replied: "Well, that is the answer to your question.
Man is half forced and half free".
'Behold and see as you pass by
As you are now so once was I
As I am now so you must be
Prepare for death and follow me.'
-A tombstone inscription from a cemetary in New York
"Reason wins love through eloquence, the soul wins love through silence."
"Expressing spiritual faith in physical practice is the key to life."
"We did not acquire this level of Tasawwuf just by talking about it; but rather, we acquired it through spending the nights awake in prayer, experiencing hunger from fasting the days, and going against our worldly desires."
-Imam Al-Junayd
"There are five signs of righteousness: a gentle disposition and a soft heart, shedding tears of regret, ascetism and not caring about the world, being unambitious, and having a conscience."
-Shaqiq al-Balkhi (rahimullah)
[The secret of secrets]
"Innumerable changes of moods are yours,
and they are uncontrolled by you.
If you knew their origin,
you would be able to dominate them.
If you cannot localize your own changes,
how can you localize that which formed you?"
-Rumi
"The punishment of becoming changed from human form to that of
animals has been lifted from this Ummat, but the punishment of the reason becoming so affected that we behave like animals, still descends upon us."
-Maulana Yunus Patel
"Create the bounty of madness in your heart (of His love)
Not by intelligence alone will you reach to the truth."
-Rumi
"Verily, the price for the goods of Allah is very expensive."
-Prophet Muhammad(saw)
"Verily Allah has purchased from the believers their selves and their possessions."
(Al-Quran: Surah Tawbah)
"May the Lovers of this world and Kingdoms enjoy their world,
Soon it will pass away
But for the True Lover of God,
A Kingdom that never ends."
"How can that one be a servant to Allah, who wants to keep their
wishes above that of Allah?"
-Rumi
"'Dunya' is that and only that which diverts attention from Allah."
"Heavens and earth cannot contain me.
But into the heart of a believer I enter like a guest."
-Allah(swa) Hadith Qudsi
"I tested reasoning but when nothing successful. emerged,
I made myself into a madman and I was successful. .
And when madness proved fruitful and caused me to reach my
Beloved,
I became in love with madness and cast aside reason.
O True Beloved, to utter cries in Thy remembrance appears very good.
O Allah, grant me the ability to continue crying to you till
Qiyamat."
-Rumi
"Allah equates the tears of sorrow and grief from the eyes of a repentant sinner With the blood emanating from a martyr."
"I am with those of broken hearts."
-Allah(swa) in Hadith Qudsi
"Do not curse time for I am time."
-Allah(swa) in Hadith Qudsi
"When you experience sorrow in the heart, turn towards Istigfaar,
Sorrow comes through Allah's command,
So neglect not good deeds, but in fact increase therein.
When Allah wishes to shower His mercy on us,
He creates in us the ability to incline towards weeping in humility."
-Rumi
"Without Mujahadah (spiritual efforts and exercises) no light of the truth is created in the heart
Which is perceived through true faith and Divine communion.
If that perception was possible through reason alone,
Then there was no need for putting the self to such strenuous
exercises."
-Rumi
"When does a friend keep himself aloof from the sorrow of a friend?
The friendship of a friend is like a skin around him and he will bear all sorrows from his friend.
A friend is like gold and calamities and misfortunes are like fire.
And pure gold shines even brighter when the heat of fire touches it."
"Proofs and arguments of proof have legs of wood, which are weak, But Divine Knowledge through
taqwa, righteous deeds and true love are beneficial indeed."
-Rumi
"Within yourself create the path towards Allah.
How is that achieved?
Cast from you the perception of the pictures of others
And when others leave the heart, Allah's splendour will enter into it.
O Man, treat your illness with the alchemy medicine that was placed within your body.
So that good morals be created from bad
And so that your enemies, yourself and your desires, turn to friends.
And when through the spiritual guide your bad morals turn to good,
You will become beautiful,
And He will bring you near to Him
And save you from the loneliness in contrast to worldly lovers. From whom He will turn away."
-Rumi
"O heart consumed with love, what did you breathe into my heart That there is in my heart a burning
fire?
I was not aware of the ways of love
But let a similar heart be pressed against my chest.
Perhaps its name is love and madness,
This flame that has been lit inside."
-Rumi
"Space and orbits do not contain Me, neither do minds nor the selves of men."
"However in the heart of a believer I am contained like a guest Who has been given full access and control over the residence of the host."
"Without such a mirror no one could bear to look upon My beauty, Neither on this earth nor in the heavens."
-Allah(swa) in Hadith Qudsi
"Understand the secret unseen ways of heart to heart contact like this:
When two lamps are being lit
The lamps will remain separate
But their light will become intermixed as one."
-Rumi
"Their signs are on their faces, from the effects of prostrations."
-Qur'an 48:29
"Keep yourself unknown and without name or fame and be like an indigent one
So that this condition should keep you far removed from fame
For fame takes away all bounds of comfort and brings many calamities in its wake".
-Rumi
"The bad smell of arrogance, greed and lustful desires comes out of conversation.
Just like the bad smell exuding from the mouth of him who ate onions.
O you people! you commit sinful acts and then go to sleep
And the unpleasant smell thereof reaches up to the green heaven".
-Rumi
"The whole creation are children except the lovers of Allah and the
darling servants of Allah,
And for as long as one does not attain freedom from the jungle of
desires of the self (Nafs) that body will remain immature".
-Rumi
"Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him."
"A human being is not a human being while his tendencies include self-indulgence, covetousness, temper and attacking other people."
-Al-Ghazali
"Your children are not your children:
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which
You cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
But seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday."
-Khalil Gibran
"So many Muslims are concerned about 'Iman' as a conception and as a point of argument in debates, but few Muslims even comprehend the depth of 'Iman' which is total conviction (yaqeen).
It is the latter which the Sahabahs sought, attained, and through which, gained victory."
-Shaykh Hasan Ali
"It is striking that today, we Muslims read so many books and still have no result of any revival;
yet the Sahabahs revived a great portion of the world by reading only ONE book in their time:
the Holy Qur'an.
The fact is that they did not just read it
but practiced every bit of it.
It was enough then - and is still enough today."
-Shaykh Hasan Ali
"If you see my Ummah afraid of telling the oppressor: You are an oppressor, it is farewell to the Ummah."
-Prophet Muhammad(saw)
"The rise of Islam offers perhaps the most impressive example in world history of the power of words to alter human behavior in sudden, surprising ways."
-William H. McNeill
Somebody asked Imam Abu Hanifah one day what he thought of the battles between 'Ali (RA) and Mu'awiya (RA). "My mind," replied the Imam, "is always full of fear about things on which I shall be questioned on Judgement Day. I am sure this is not one of them. So I do not think much about it."
"Whoever sees sincerity in his sincerity, his sincerity is itself in need of sincerity. The destruction of every sincere person lies in his sincerity, (he is destroyed) to the extent that he sees sincerity in himself. When he abandons seeing sincerity in himself he will be sincere and purified."
"O Allah! How can I ask you for any favors knowing how disobedient I am, but how can I not ask you for anything knowing how Generous You are?"
'My heart is so small
it's almost invisible.
How can You place
such big sorrows in it?
"Look," He answered,
"your eyes are even smaller,
yet they behold the world."'
-Rumi
"The world is full of people looking for spectacular happiness while they snub contentment."
"Every utterance that comes forth does so with the vestment of the heart from which it emerged."
-Hikam of Ibn Ata'illah
[Commentary] It is said, that the tongue translates what is in the heart. If the heart is confused or sick, so are the utterances. If the heart is wholesome and pure, then the utterances are real and appropriate. If you contemplate deeply what is being said, you will come to know the state of the speaker and the extent of his connectedness to the Truth and his position with Allah.
'The highest degree of love is Tatayyum (total enthrallment). The lowest degree is ‘alaqah (attachment), when the heart is attached to the beloved: then comes sabahah (infatuation), when the heart is poured out: then gharam (passion), when love never leaves the heart: then ashaq (ardent love), and finally tatayyum. When we say that a person is enthralled, as it were, by Allah, it means that he worships Allah, because enthrallment is like enslavement to the beloved."'
'When some of the rulers from the Tabi'in (Successors... 2nd generation Muslim rulers) sent a delegation to collect the jizya from the non-believers, the latter refused to pay. The officials asked, "Why do you refuse to pay us when you used to pay the jizya to our forefathers?" The non-believers replied, "When your forefathers used to come, their clothes were old and torn, their hair was disheveled, and their eyes were streaked with red due to worshipping throughout the night. Yet their faces were so awe-inspiring that we were unable to raise our eyes towards them. Your characteristics are not like theirs, nor will you be as just. Be gone, we will not give you anything.'
'One day a certain person took a burning lamp in his hand during the light of day as he proceeded to
the market. Someone said to him: "What is wrong with you? What need is there for a lamp during the
light of day?"
He replied: "I am searching for man everywhere. I do not see even
one man".
The person said: "But this market is filled with men".
He replied: "No there is no man in this market, only the outer
forms of men.
These are only bread-eaters and persons involved with their desires.
All the persons you see in this market are all carriers of attributes contrary to the true manhood.
They are not men but persons dressed in the outer forms of men.
For a man the attributes of manhood are necessary.
If aloe wood which has a fragrance, does not possess fragrance,
Then what is the difference between it and other timber?
Manhood and humanity is not the name for flesh, fat and skin.
Manhood is the name given to those attributes, character and deeds
Through which Allah's pleasure is attained.
If manhood is only for those in manly form,
Then Ahmad and Abu Jahl would be equal, yet we know it is not so".'
-Rumi
'Say: "Come, I will rehearse what Allah hath (really) prohibited you from": [1] Join not anything as equal with Him; [2] be good to your parents; [3] kill not your children on a plea of want;- We provide sustenance for you and for them;- [4] come not nigh to shameful deeds. Whether open or secret; [5] take not life, which Allah hath made sacred, except by way of justice and law: thus doth He command you, that ye may learn wisdom. [6] And come not nigh to the orphan's property, except to improve it, until he attain the age of full strength; [7] give measure and weight with (full) justice;- no burden do We place on any soul, but that which it can bear;- [8] whenever ye speak, speak justly, even if a near relative is concerned; [9] and fulfil the covenant of Allah: thus doth He command you, that ye may remember. Verily, this is My way, leading straight: [10] follow it: follow not (other) paths: they will scatter you about from His (great) path: thus doth He command you. that ye may be righteous.'
-The Ten Commandments (Qur'an 6:151-153)
'Once Nabi Isa (A.S.) was running towards the mountain. One of his followers shouted at him in a loud
voice: "0 Rasul of Allah! whither are you going in this manner? What is the cause of your fear? I do not
see any enemy following you".
Nabi Isa (A.S.) replied:
"I am fleeing from a fool. You go and do your own work.
I desire to grant myself safety from the company of a fool. Do not
interrupt my fleeing".
The follower said:
"O Messenger of Allah, Are you not that Messiah
Through whom the blind and the deaf were healed of their ailments?"
Hazrat Isa (A.S.) replied:
"The illness of foolishness is the wrath of Allah.
To be blind is not a punishment, but a trial from His side.
A trial is such a sickness which brings Allah's Mercy.
While foolishness is such an ailment which brings wounds of His wrath.
Flee from fools and like Nabi Isa (A.S.) prefer to run away.
The friendship of fools has caused much bloodshed
Both the blood of Deen and Dunya has flowed.
Just as air evaporates water slowly and gradually
So the fool takes away the light of your intelligence slowly and gradually.
Nabi Isa's (A.S.) running away was not out of fear,
For through the Grace of Allah,
He was sinless and protected, but he fled in order to teach his Ummat a lesson.'
A fool in the technical language of the Quran is that person who jeers and scoffs at Allah and His Rasool ~ and their injunctions. As Allah points out in the Quran: "Verily they are the fools, but they know not (that they are fools)", and "They only know the pomp and splendour of this worldly life. And regarding the hereafter, they are unmindful and neglectful".
-Rumi's Mathnavi
"O God of this Universe, God of Beauty and Love
A great trial for men is figurative beauty and love
If love is felt for others save You (i.e. illicit love)
Then that is not love but in fact is iniquity.
That love can prove to be your punishment,
And can be a hindrance on your path.
For this reason the command is given: "Cast down your gaze,"
So that the heart can be without damage from the poison of love.
Don't ever consider looking at evil as a minor sin,
It destroys the heart in quick time.
Looking at evil is like an arrow from Iblees.
It is deception drowned in poison.
How many have been destroyed in this path?
How many have lost the way in the path of this desire?
They have lost in this way their whole life
The value of their lives is just remembrance of a beloved.
This figurative beauty only lasts for limited number of days
It is only for a couple of days that the conspiracy lasts
The love that is of colour and complexion
Is like the lovers love of the sun over the shade. Those who themselves are helpless and in need on the
day of Judgement they and their lovers
Will be before Allah with blackened souls."
-Hakim Akhtar
"Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation."
-Rumi
"How can words trapped in the heart come out of the mouth?"
"Don’t allow your animal nature to rule your reason."
-Rumi
"God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites, so that you will have two wings to fly, not one."
-Rumi
"In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.
You dance inside my chest,
where no one sees you."
-Rumi
"All day I think about it, then at night I say it. Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing? I have no idea. My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that, and I intend to end up there."
-Rumi
Ibn Rushd: “What kind of solution have you found through divine unveiling and illumination? Is it identical with what you have found through speculative thought?"
Ibn Arabi: "Yes...No. Between the yes and the no, spirits take wing from their matter and necks are separated from their bodies."
"All loves are a bridge to Divine love. Yet, those who have not had a taste of it do not know!"
-Rumi
"Now why from its perch on high was it cast like this
To the lowest Nadir's gloomy and dear abyss?
Was it God who cast it forth for some purpose wise,
Concealed from the keenest seeker's inquiring eyes?
Then is its descent a discipline wise but stern,
That the things that it has not heard it thus may learn.
So 'tis she whom Fate does plunder, while the star
Sets at length in a place from its rising far,
Like a gleam of lightning which over the meadows shone,
And, as though it never had been, in a moment is gone."
-Ibn Sina (Translated by EG Brown)
"Whatever the situation may be, in the recollection of death there is reward and merit. For even the man engrossed in the world benefits from it by acquiring an aversion to the world, since it spoils his contentment and the fullness of his pleasure; and everything which spoils for man his pleasures and his appetites is one of the means of deliverance."
-Al-Ghazali
"The person I like most is the one who points out my defects."
-Umar (RA)
(marking a difference between pointing out defects which may not be verbal and simple disparaging which usually always is)
"O people who take pleasure in a life that will vanish,
falling in love with a fading shadow is sheer stupidity."
-Ibn al-Qayyim
"Knowledge is taken from breath,
not lives in a book"
-Shaykh Hamza Yusuf
"Only that which was effective for the first of this community will be effective for the last of it."
-Imam Malik (rahimullah)
"The righteous salaf (original Muslims) were as fearful of their good deeds being squandered, or not being accepted, as the present generation is certain that their neglect will be forgiven."
-Hasan al-Basri (died 737 A.D.)
"All humans are dead except those who have knowledge; and all those who have knowledge are asleep, except those who do good deeds; and those who do good deeds are deceived, except those who are sincere; and those who are sincere are always in a state of worry."
-Imam Shafi (rahimullah)
"This life is not real. I conquered the world and it did not bring me satisfaction."
-Muhammad Ali
"Allah guards the justice-loving government, even if it is the government of non-Muslims, and destroys the tyrant government, even if it is the government of Muslims."
-Ibn Taymiyyah
"Dear friend,
Your heart is a polished mirror. You must wipe it clean of the veil of dust that has gathered upon it, because it is destined to reflect the light of divine secrets."
-Al-Ghazali
"I seek forgiveness from Allah for the lack of my sincerity when I say I seek the forgiveness of Allah."
-Rabia al-Adawiyyah
"Who are we to wish for Paradise? It will be enough if God spares us his wrath."
-Imam Abu Hanifah (rahimullah)
"He who practices Tasawwuf without learning Sacred Law corrupts his faith, while he who learns Sacred Law without practicing Tasawwuf corrupts himself. Only he who combines the two proves true."
-Imam Malik (rahimullah)
"Knowledge is proud that it knows so much;
Wisdom is humble that it knows no more."
"You say that you are just a body, but inside of you is something greater than the Universe."
-Imam Shafi (rahimullah)
"He who clings to my Sunnah when my Ummah is corrupt, will receive the Reward of a hundred martyrs."
-Prophet Muhammad(saw)
"Many things in life will catch your eye, but few will catch your heart."
"The glance is a poisoned arrow of Shaitan. Whoever lowers his gaze for Allah, He will bestow upon him a refreshing sweetness which he will find in his heart on the day that he meets Him."
-Prophet Muhammad(saw)
A man came before Hazrat Ali (RA) and asked: "Is man forced
or not?” (Meaning does he have a choice in his actions or not).
Hazrat Ali told him: "Lift up your one leg!"
The man lifted his one leg up. Then he said: "Now lift up the other".
He asked: "How can both legs be lifted up?"
Hazrat Ali replied: "Well, that is the answer to your question.
Man is half forced and half free".
'Behold and see as you pass by
As you are now so once was I
As I am now so you must be
Prepare for death and follow me.'
-A tombstone inscription from a cemetary in New York
"Reason wins love through eloquence, the soul wins love through silence."
"Expressing spiritual faith in physical practice is the key to life."
"We did not acquire this level of Tasawwuf just by talking about it; but rather, we acquired it through spending the nights awake in prayer, experiencing hunger from fasting the days, and going against our worldly desires."
-Imam Al-Junayd
"There are five signs of righteousness: a gentle disposition and a soft heart, shedding tears of regret, ascetism and not caring about the world, being unambitious, and having a conscience."
-Shaqiq al-Balkhi (rahimullah)
[The secret of secrets]
"Innumerable changes of moods are yours,
and they are uncontrolled by you.
If you knew their origin,
you would be able to dominate them.
If you cannot localize your own changes,
how can you localize that which formed you?"
-Rumi
"The punishment of becoming changed from human form to that of
animals has been lifted from this Ummat, but the punishment of the reason becoming so affected that we behave like animals, still descends upon us."
-Maulana Yunus Patel
"Create the bounty of madness in your heart (of His love)
Not by intelligence alone will you reach to the truth."
-Rumi
"Verily, the price for the goods of Allah is very expensive."
-Prophet Muhammad(saw)
"Verily Allah has purchased from the believers their selves and their possessions."
(Al-Quran: Surah Tawbah)
"May the Lovers of this world and Kingdoms enjoy their world,
Soon it will pass away
But for the True Lover of God,
A Kingdom that never ends."
"How can that one be a servant to Allah, who wants to keep their
wishes above that of Allah?"
-Rumi
"'Dunya' is that and only that which diverts attention from Allah."
"Heavens and earth cannot contain me.
But into the heart of a believer I enter like a guest."
-Allah(swa) Hadith Qudsi
"I tested reasoning but when nothing successful. emerged,
I made myself into a madman and I was successful. .
And when madness proved fruitful and caused me to reach my
Beloved,
I became in love with madness and cast aside reason.
O True Beloved, to utter cries in Thy remembrance appears very good.
O Allah, grant me the ability to continue crying to you till
Qiyamat."
-Rumi
"Allah equates the tears of sorrow and grief from the eyes of a repentant sinner With the blood emanating from a martyr."
"I am with those of broken hearts."
-Allah(swa) in Hadith Qudsi
"Do not curse time for I am time."
-Allah(swa) in Hadith Qudsi
"When you experience sorrow in the heart, turn towards Istigfaar,
Sorrow comes through Allah's command,
So neglect not good deeds, but in fact increase therein.
When Allah wishes to shower His mercy on us,
He creates in us the ability to incline towards weeping in humility."
-Rumi
"Without Mujahadah (spiritual efforts and exercises) no light of the truth is created in the heart
Which is perceived through true faith and Divine communion.
If that perception was possible through reason alone,
Then there was no need for putting the self to such strenuous
exercises."
-Rumi
"When does a friend keep himself aloof from the sorrow of a friend?
The friendship of a friend is like a skin around him and he will bear all sorrows from his friend.
A friend is like gold and calamities and misfortunes are like fire.
And pure gold shines even brighter when the heat of fire touches it."
"Proofs and arguments of proof have legs of wood, which are weak, But Divine Knowledge through
taqwa, righteous deeds and true love are beneficial indeed."
-Rumi
"Within yourself create the path towards Allah.
How is that achieved?
Cast from you the perception of the pictures of others
And when others leave the heart, Allah's splendour will enter into it.
O Man, treat your illness with the alchemy medicine that was placed within your body.
So that good morals be created from bad
And so that your enemies, yourself and your desires, turn to friends.
And when through the spiritual guide your bad morals turn to good,
You will become beautiful,
And He will bring you near to Him
And save you from the loneliness in contrast to worldly lovers. From whom He will turn away."
-Rumi
"O heart consumed with love, what did you breathe into my heart That there is in my heart a burning
fire?
I was not aware of the ways of love
But let a similar heart be pressed against my chest.
Perhaps its name is love and madness,
This flame that has been lit inside."
-Rumi
"Space and orbits do not contain Me, neither do minds nor the selves of men."
"However in the heart of a believer I am contained like a guest Who has been given full access and control over the residence of the host."
"Without such a mirror no one could bear to look upon My beauty, Neither on this earth nor in the heavens."
-Allah(swa) in Hadith Qudsi
"Understand the secret unseen ways of heart to heart contact like this:
When two lamps are being lit
The lamps will remain separate
But their light will become intermixed as one."
-Rumi
"Their signs are on their faces, from the effects of prostrations."
-Qur'an 48:29
"Keep yourself unknown and without name or fame and be like an indigent one
So that this condition should keep you far removed from fame
For fame takes away all bounds of comfort and brings many calamities in its wake".
-Rumi
"The bad smell of arrogance, greed and lustful desires comes out of conversation.
Just like the bad smell exuding from the mouth of him who ate onions.
O you people! you commit sinful acts and then go to sleep
And the unpleasant smell thereof reaches up to the green heaven".
-Rumi
"The whole creation are children except the lovers of Allah and the
darling servants of Allah,
And for as long as one does not attain freedom from the jungle of
desires of the self (Nafs) that body will remain immature".
-Rumi
"Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him."
"A human being is not a human being while his tendencies include self-indulgence, covetousness, temper and attacking other people."
-Al-Ghazali
"Your children are not your children:
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which
You cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
But seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday."
-Khalil Gibran
"So many Muslims are concerned about 'Iman' as a conception and as a point of argument in debates, but few Muslims even comprehend the depth of 'Iman' which is total conviction (yaqeen).
It is the latter which the Sahabahs sought, attained, and through which, gained victory."
-Shaykh Hasan Ali
"It is striking that today, we Muslims read so many books and still have no result of any revival;
yet the Sahabahs revived a great portion of the world by reading only ONE book in their time:
the Holy Qur'an.
The fact is that they did not just read it
but practiced every bit of it.
It was enough then - and is still enough today."
-Shaykh Hasan Ali
"If you see my Ummah afraid of telling the oppressor: You are an oppressor, it is farewell to the Ummah."
-Prophet Muhammad(saw)
"The rise of Islam offers perhaps the most impressive example in world history of the power of words to alter human behavior in sudden, surprising ways."
-William H. McNeill
Somebody asked Imam Abu Hanifah one day what he thought of the battles between 'Ali (RA) and Mu'awiya (RA). "My mind," replied the Imam, "is always full of fear about things on which I shall be questioned on Judgement Day. I am sure this is not one of them. So I do not think much about it."
"Whoever sees sincerity in his sincerity, his sincerity is itself in need of sincerity. The destruction of every sincere person lies in his sincerity, (he is destroyed) to the extent that he sees sincerity in himself. When he abandons seeing sincerity in himself he will be sincere and purified."
"O Allah! How can I ask you for any favors knowing how disobedient I am, but how can I not ask you for anything knowing how Generous You are?"
'My heart is so small
it's almost invisible.
How can You place
such big sorrows in it?
"Look," He answered,
"your eyes are even smaller,
yet they behold the world."'
-Rumi
"The world is full of people looking for spectacular happiness while they snub contentment."
"Every utterance that comes forth does so with the vestment of the heart from which it emerged."
-Hikam of Ibn Ata'illah
[Commentary] It is said, that the tongue translates what is in the heart. If the heart is confused or sick, so are the utterances. If the heart is wholesome and pure, then the utterances are real and appropriate. If you contemplate deeply what is being said, you will come to know the state of the speaker and the extent of his connectedness to the Truth and his position with Allah.
'The highest degree of love is Tatayyum (total enthrallment). The lowest degree is ‘alaqah (attachment), when the heart is attached to the beloved: then comes sabahah (infatuation), when the heart is poured out: then gharam (passion), when love never leaves the heart: then ashaq (ardent love), and finally tatayyum. When we say that a person is enthralled, as it were, by Allah, it means that he worships Allah, because enthrallment is like enslavement to the beloved."'
'When some of the rulers from the Tabi'in (Successors... 2nd generation Muslim rulers) sent a delegation to collect the jizya from the non-believers, the latter refused to pay. The officials asked, "Why do you refuse to pay us when you used to pay the jizya to our forefathers?" The non-believers replied, "When your forefathers used to come, their clothes were old and torn, their hair was disheveled, and their eyes were streaked with red due to worshipping throughout the night. Yet their faces were so awe-inspiring that we were unable to raise our eyes towards them. Your characteristics are not like theirs, nor will you be as just. Be gone, we will not give you anything.'
'One day a certain person took a burning lamp in his hand during the light of day as he proceeded to
the market. Someone said to him: "What is wrong with you? What need is there for a lamp during the
light of day?"
He replied: "I am searching for man everywhere. I do not see even
one man".
The person said: "But this market is filled with men".
He replied: "No there is no man in this market, only the outer
forms of men.
These are only bread-eaters and persons involved with their desires.
All the persons you see in this market are all carriers of attributes contrary to the true manhood.
They are not men but persons dressed in the outer forms of men.
For a man the attributes of manhood are necessary.
If aloe wood which has a fragrance, does not possess fragrance,
Then what is the difference between it and other timber?
Manhood and humanity is not the name for flesh, fat and skin.
Manhood is the name given to those attributes, character and deeds
Through which Allah's pleasure is attained.
If manhood is only for those in manly form,
Then Ahmad and Abu Jahl would be equal, yet we know it is not so".'
-Rumi
'Say: "Come, I will rehearse what Allah hath (really) prohibited you from": [1] Join not anything as equal with Him; [2] be good to your parents; [3] kill not your children on a plea of want;- We provide sustenance for you and for them;- [4] come not nigh to shameful deeds. Whether open or secret; [5] take not life, which Allah hath made sacred, except by way of justice and law: thus doth He command you, that ye may learn wisdom. [6] And come not nigh to the orphan's property, except to improve it, until he attain the age of full strength; [7] give measure and weight with (full) justice;- no burden do We place on any soul, but that which it can bear;- [8] whenever ye speak, speak justly, even if a near relative is concerned; [9] and fulfil the covenant of Allah: thus doth He command you, that ye may remember. Verily, this is My way, leading straight: [10] follow it: follow not (other) paths: they will scatter you about from His (great) path: thus doth He command you. that ye may be righteous.'
-The Ten Commandments (Qur'an 6:151-153)
'Once Nabi Isa (A.S.) was running towards the mountain. One of his followers shouted at him in a loud
voice: "0 Rasul of Allah! whither are you going in this manner? What is the cause of your fear? I do not
see any enemy following you".
Nabi Isa (A.S.) replied:
"I am fleeing from a fool. You go and do your own work.
I desire to grant myself safety from the company of a fool. Do not
interrupt my fleeing".
The follower said:
"O Messenger of Allah, Are you not that Messiah
Through whom the blind and the deaf were healed of their ailments?"
Hazrat Isa (A.S.) replied:
"The illness of foolishness is the wrath of Allah.
To be blind is not a punishment, but a trial from His side.
A trial is such a sickness which brings Allah's Mercy.
While foolishness is such an ailment which brings wounds of His wrath.
Flee from fools and like Nabi Isa (A.S.) prefer to run away.
The friendship of fools has caused much bloodshed
Both the blood of Deen and Dunya has flowed.
Just as air evaporates water slowly and gradually
So the fool takes away the light of your intelligence slowly and gradually.
Nabi Isa's (A.S.) running away was not out of fear,
For through the Grace of Allah,
He was sinless and protected, but he fled in order to teach his Ummat a lesson.'
A fool in the technical language of the Quran is that person who jeers and scoffs at Allah and His Rasool ~ and their injunctions. As Allah points out in the Quran: "Verily they are the fools, but they know not (that they are fools)", and "They only know the pomp and splendour of this worldly life. And regarding the hereafter, they are unmindful and neglectful".
-Rumi's Mathnavi
"O God of this Universe, God of Beauty and Love
A great trial for men is figurative beauty and love
If love is felt for others save You (i.e. illicit love)
Then that is not love but in fact is iniquity.
That love can prove to be your punishment,
And can be a hindrance on your path.
For this reason the command is given: "Cast down your gaze,"
So that the heart can be without damage from the poison of love.
Don't ever consider looking at evil as a minor sin,
It destroys the heart in quick time.
Looking at evil is like an arrow from Iblees.
It is deception drowned in poison.
How many have been destroyed in this path?
How many have lost the way in the path of this desire?
They have lost in this way their whole life
The value of their lives is just remembrance of a beloved.
This figurative beauty only lasts for limited number of days
It is only for a couple of days that the conspiracy lasts
The love that is of colour and complexion
Is like the lovers love of the sun over the shade. Those who themselves are helpless and in need on the
day of Judgement they and their lovers
Will be before Allah with blackened souls."
-Hakim Akhtar
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Rumi - Vaakiyas
Category: SOUND
Originally Posted by Rumi's Mathnavi
One night Hazrat Ibrahim Bin Adham (R.A.) was lying asleep on the upper story of his palace, when he suddenly felt someone shaking his leg. He was immediately struck by surprise and wonder as to who could be so brave as to intrude into the upper story of the King's palace. He asked: "0 you arrivals, who are you?" They were a group of angels in human form, who had come from Allah's side with the aim of bringing about an upheaval in the heart of an unmindful one. The angels answered: "We are here, seeking our lost camel." The King replied: "I am surprised that you search for a lost camel in the upper story of the King's palace." They replied: "We are even more surprised that, in this atmosphere of pomp and comfort, you wish to find Allah".
Originally Posted by Rumi's Mathnavi
Nabi Moosa (A.S.) being a shepherd in the service of Nabi Shuaib (A.S.) is mentioned in the Quran. One day while grazing the goats, a goat ran away. Nabi Moosa (A.S.) had to run after it so far that his feet became filled with blisters. He walked so far that the rest of the flock too could not be seen anymore. Finally the goat became tired and came to a standstill and Nabi Moosa (A.S.) caught it. Instead of being angry with the goat or beating it, he rubbed sympathetically around its neck, back and head. Like a mother he acted kindly to the animal and although having suffered so much himself, did not in any way show his displeasure. In fact he felt sorry for the animal so much that tears came to his eyes. He said to the goat: "I thought that you had no mercy upon me. That is why you made me so exhausted. But why did you not have mercy upon yourself. If you had no mercy upon the blisters upon my feet and the thorns that pricked me, then at least you should have had mercy upon yourself. " At that moment Allah said to the Angels: "Nabi Moosa (A.S.) is now suited for Prophethood."
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Jihad vs. Terrorism
Category: SOUND
Hirabah versus Jihad
by Dr. Robert D. Crane
Dr. Crane grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and graduated with a B.A., summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Northwestern University in 1956 and a J.D. (Doctor of Laws) from Harvard Law School in 1959. From 1963 to 1968 he was personal adviser to Richard M. Nixon, who appointed him in January 1969, to be Deputy Director for Planning in the National Security Council. In 1981, President Reagan appointed him U.S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. Previously a hidden Muslim, he openly embraced Islam in 1981, left government service, and since then has worked as a full-time Islamic scholar and activist. He has authored or co-authored a dozen books and more than a hundred professional articles on long-range global forecasting, comparative legal systems, and the role of religion in society. As an advisor to the Center for Understanding Islam, he continues his research on Islam as part of the effort of American Muslims to present the true message of enlightened Islam.
What is Hirabah?
The term hirabah refers to public terrorism in a war against society and civilization. In legal terminology it is defined as “spreading mischief in the land,” but its precise meaning, as defined by Professor Khalid Abou el Fadl, is “killing by stealth and targeting a defenseless victim in a way intended to cause terror in society.” This is the Islamic definition of terrorism. It is the very opposite of jihad.
The term hirabah comes from the root hariba, a verb that means to become angry and enraged. By derivation the nown harb (pl. hurub) means variously “war” and “enemy.” Over the centuries, and especially during the Crusades, the hurub al salibiya, extremists have extended the meaning of this term, harb, to demonize all non-Muslims. They came to designate the entire world not controlled by Muslim rulers as the dar al harb, the House of the Enemy or the House of War, as distinct from the dar al islam, the House of Islam.
The modern extremist, Sayyid Qutb, perverted the teachings of his mentor, Hassan al Banna, by proclaiming: “There is only one place on earth that can be called the House of Islam, and it is that place where an Islamic state is established and the shari’ah is the authority and God’s laws are observed. … The rest of the world is the House of War.“
Over the centuries, there have always been scholars, particularly those politically funded, who have designated the fundamental dichotomy as the realm of Islam, dar al islam, versus the dar al zulm, the realm of evil (resembling Mordor in The Lord of the Rings), or versus dar al kufr, the land of those who are going to hell because they deliberately reject the truth. This type of extremism, found in all civilizations, is the psychological origin of both personal and state-sponsored hirabah.
The majority of Muslim scholars have always welcomed the diversity inherent in the unity or tawhid of the universe, including its different races and religions, in accordance with the clear teachings throughout the Qur’an. They speak of the dar al ijaba, the land of those who have accepted Islam, in contrast to dar al da’wa, the land of those who still need to be educated about Islam; or dar al taqwa, the land of those who stand in loving awe of Allah, in contrast to dar al ahd, the land of those with whom one has treaties of friendship and cooperation.
What is Jihad?
Western polemicists in recent years have latched on to the phraseology of Muslim extremists to distort the mainstream teachings of Islam. They translate jihad as Holy War, when, in fact, only fringe elements among Muslims consider that war, even a carefully circumscribed just war, can be holy.
The Qur’an refers to jihad only in terms of intellectual effort to apply divine revelation in promoting peace through justice: Wa jihidhum bihi jihadan kabiran, “Strive with it in a great jihad” (Surah al Furqan, 25:52); and Wa tammat kalimatu rabika sidqan wa ‘adlan, “The Message of your Lord is perfected in truth and justice” (Surah al An’am 6:115).
Two other forms of jihad were identified by the Prophet Muhammad, salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa salam, namely, the jihad al akbar or greatest jihad to purify oneself, and the jihad al saghrir or lesser jihad to defend the human rights of oneself and others. Some Muslims today refer to various other kinds of jihad or effort, such as jihad al tajdid or effort to renew, revive, or “modernize” Islam.
Countering Muslim Terrorism
There is no such thing as Islamic terrorism, but there have always been Muslim terrorists. Today there are many alienated extremists who rely on their own resort to violence in protest against perceived injustice, rather than relying on the jihads of akbar, saghrir, and kabir, with the help of Allah and ecumenical cooperation in peacefully building a better world. In effect, these extremists rely on and worship themselves. They are exhibiting the most serious crime condemned in the Qur’an, which is the root of almost all the other crimes, namely, arrogance. They are committing the crime of hirabah, which is the attack on the very roots of civilization, and justifying it in the name of Islam. There can be no greater evil and no greater sin. If there is to be a clash of civilizations, a major cause will be the muharibun, those who commit inter-civilizational hirabah.
There is only one effective cure for such hirabah. This is cooperation by the heretofore silent majority of both Muslims and those of other faiths in a jihad to marginalize extremism by putting their own houses in order through the pursuit of peace through justice.
---
PS: hirabah and it's punishment/prosecution is completely encoded into Shariah (Islamic Law) already. it can also be used to encompass other things such as rapes/murders/etc. anything that qualifies under the basic definition of war on people.
From Wikipedia:
Hirabah versus Jihad
by Dr. Robert D. Crane
Dr. Crane grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and graduated with a B.A., summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Northwestern University in 1956 and a J.D. (Doctor of Laws) from Harvard Law School in 1959. From 1963 to 1968 he was personal adviser to Richard M. Nixon, who appointed him in January 1969, to be Deputy Director for Planning in the National Security Council. In 1981, President Reagan appointed him U.S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. Previously a hidden Muslim, he openly embraced Islam in 1981, left government service, and since then has worked as a full-time Islamic scholar and activist. He has authored or co-authored a dozen books and more than a hundred professional articles on long-range global forecasting, comparative legal systems, and the role of religion in society. As an advisor to the Center for Understanding Islam, he continues his research on Islam as part of the effort of American Muslims to present the true message of enlightened Islam.
What is Hirabah?
The term hirabah refers to public terrorism in a war against society and civilization. In legal terminology it is defined as “spreading mischief in the land,” but its precise meaning, as defined by Professor Khalid Abou el Fadl, is “killing by stealth and targeting a defenseless victim in a way intended to cause terror in society.” This is the Islamic definition of terrorism. It is the very opposite of jihad.
The term hirabah comes from the root hariba, a verb that means to become angry and enraged. By derivation the nown harb (pl. hurub) means variously “war” and “enemy.” Over the centuries, and especially during the Crusades, the hurub al salibiya, extremists have extended the meaning of this term, harb, to demonize all non-Muslims. They came to designate the entire world not controlled by Muslim rulers as the dar al harb, the House of the Enemy or the House of War, as distinct from the dar al islam, the House of Islam.
The modern extremist, Sayyid Qutb, perverted the teachings of his mentor, Hassan al Banna, by proclaiming: “There is only one place on earth that can be called the House of Islam, and it is that place where an Islamic state is established and the shari’ah is the authority and God’s laws are observed. … The rest of the world is the House of War.“
Over the centuries, there have always been scholars, particularly those politically funded, who have designated the fundamental dichotomy as the realm of Islam, dar al islam, versus the dar al zulm, the realm of evil (resembling Mordor in The Lord of the Rings), or versus dar al kufr, the land of those who are going to hell because they deliberately reject the truth. This type of extremism, found in all civilizations, is the psychological origin of both personal and state-sponsored hirabah.
The majority of Muslim scholars have always welcomed the diversity inherent in the unity or tawhid of the universe, including its different races and religions, in accordance with the clear teachings throughout the Qur’an. They speak of the dar al ijaba, the land of those who have accepted Islam, in contrast to dar al da’wa, the land of those who still need to be educated about Islam; or dar al taqwa, the land of those who stand in loving awe of Allah, in contrast to dar al ahd, the land of those with whom one has treaties of friendship and cooperation.
What is Jihad?
Western polemicists in recent years have latched on to the phraseology of Muslim extremists to distort the mainstream teachings of Islam. They translate jihad as Holy War, when, in fact, only fringe elements among Muslims consider that war, even a carefully circumscribed just war, can be holy.
The Qur’an refers to jihad only in terms of intellectual effort to apply divine revelation in promoting peace through justice: Wa jihidhum bihi jihadan kabiran, “Strive with it
Two other forms of jihad were identified by the Prophet Muhammad, salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa salam, namely, the jihad al akbar or greatest jihad to purify oneself, and the jihad al saghrir or lesser jihad to defend the human rights of oneself and others. Some Muslims today refer to various other kinds of jihad or effort, such as jihad al tajdid or effort to renew, revive, or “modernize” Islam.
Countering Muslim Terrorism
There is no such thing as Islamic terrorism, but there have always been Muslim terrorists. Today there are many alienated extremists who rely on their own resort to violence in protest against perceived injustice, rather than relying on the jihads of akbar, saghrir, and kabir, with the help of Allah and ecumenical cooperation in peacefully building a better world. In effect, these extremists rely on and worship themselves. They are exhibiting the most serious crime condemned in the Qur’an, which is the root of almost all the other crimes, namely, arrogance. They are committing the crime of hirabah, which is the attack on the very roots of civilization, and justifying it in the name of Islam. There can be no greater evil and no greater sin. If there is to be a clash of civilizations, a major cause will be the muharibun, those who commit inter-civilizational hirabah.
There is only one effective cure for such hirabah. This is cooperation by the heretofore silent majority of both Muslims and those of other faiths in a jihad to marginalize extremism by putting their own houses in order through the pursuit of peace through justice.
---
PS: hirabah and it's punishment/prosecution is completely encoded into Shariah (Islamic Law) already. it can also be used to encompass other things such as rapes/murders/etc. anything that qualifies under the basic definition of war on people.
From Wikipedia:
The punishments of those who wage war against Allah and His Prophet and strive to spread disorder in the land are to execute them in an exemplary way or to crucify them or to amputate their hands and feet from opposite sides or to banish them from the land. Such is their disgrace in this world, and in the Hereafter theirs will be an awful doom save those who repent before you overpower them; you should know that Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Ever Merciful. „
—Qur'an, 5:33-34
According to these verses, the punishment for spreading disorder in land is:
Taqtil (execution that serves a severe warning to others i.e. stoning)
Taslib (Crucifixion)
Amputating limbs from opposite sides
Nafi (Exile)
A Judge can give any of these punishments depending on the severity of the crime and condition of the criminal. These punishments can be prescribed for any crime that can threaten the society at large. Examples of these crimes are robbery (unlike theft which has a different punishment), rape, and terrorism.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Rumi on Friendship
Category: SOUND
Once on the bank of a river there lived a mouse and a frog. A very close friendship developed between the two of them. This friendship grew until it became a love relationship. By mutual arrangement they used to meet each other daily in the mornings and would converse with each other for a very long time. These meetings made both of them very happy. They used to tell stories to each other and listened to each other's tales. They even told each other their secrets and considered each other alone as holders of their secrets. When they met they even remembered and related happenings of more than five years ago, to each other.
Moulana Rumi (RA.) says:
"The excitement of eloquence and conversation from the heart is a . . sign of love
And when there is a termination of eloquence, it is a sign of lack of love.
How can that heart which had seen its loved one ever remain stern and cross?
And when the nightingale has seen a flower, how can it ever remain silent?
When a lover sits in the company of a lover,
Thousands of stories are remembered by the heart.
The Lowhul-Mahfooz -preserved tablet is the forehead of a Beloved
Which exposes the secrets of the worlds to the Lover."
"The guide to the path of guidance - Sayedina Mustafa Muhammad had said:
'My companions are like the stars in providing guidance.'
One day the mouse told the frog: "You are swimming around in
the water while I am here on the dry earth. I suffer the pangs of sorrow
over being parted from you. I come to the edge of the water to call you,
but while you are in the water, even the voice of a lover cannot be
heard. I am not happy with just meeting and talking to you for a short while". Salaah has only been
made obligatory five times a day,
but the true lovers of Allah Ta'ala permanently enjoy communion
with Allah through "Nafl" Salaahs.
"To be called from time to time for meeting a beloved is not for lovers,
The souls of true lovers remain thirsty at all times.
To be called for a meeting with a beloved is not for the fish,
For they will find no rest without the water. .
The heart of the lover is nothing without the Beloved,
There is between them no remover or removed."
EXPLANATION:
Moulana's object in mentioning these couplets }s a reference to the Hadith which says that meeting each other with intervals of a day, increases the love for each other. However, true lovers are exempted from this statement as Hazrat Abu Hurayrah (RA.) reports: "I used to make obligatory upon myself the company of Rasulullah at all times". Rasulullah did not prohibit it; which meant that he considered it permissible. Hence the first statement is a general one, while the latter one, is for special friends. The first statement was made by the Prophet at a time when Rasulullah asked Abu Hurayrah (RA.): "O Abu Hurayrah, where were you yesterday?" He replied: "Yesterday, I went to visit some relatives". Then Rasulullah said: "Meeting after a days break in between will increase love". There seems to be a contradiction between the two statements. However, this is not so. Reconciliation between the two statements is this: To make someone's company compulsory at all times, as Abu Hurayrah (RA.) did, refers to those situations where the contact and love is very strong. The other situation of meeting at specific times refers to those situations where the contact of love is not that strong.
"For a lover, the parting for even a moment is like a year's parting And the meeting lasting a whole year
is mere imagination."
Moulana Rumi (RA.) further explains that the people of this world have a good understanding of worldly
love, but as regards to Divine Love, which is granted to the Prophets and the Saints of Allah, they do not
understand. That is because they are caught
up behind the curtain of this world's external comforts and are deprived of the grace of Allah's love
which annihilates the needs of the self. Hence, only those who annihilate their selves gain this blessing.
It is not attained through reason alone.
"If through Reason the perception of Allah's love was possible,
Then of what use would spiritual strivings be?
In spite of the great mercy of having Allah ~ The Master of Reason
Why the command: Oppose your self and overpower your desires?"
It is through these strenuous spiritual exercises that the self becomes overpowered and annihilated.
The knowledge of Allah (Marifat) is dependent upon this. Moulana Sayed Sulayman Nadwi (RA.) asked
Hazrat Moulana Thanwy (RA.): "Hazrat what is the meaning of 'faquiri' ?" Hazrat Thanwy (R.A.) replied: "It
means annihilating your 'self'?"
The story continues:
The mouse then said to the frog: "O frog, beloved; without seeing your face at all times, I cannot find
peace. By day, the sight of you is my life, by night the thought of you is my consolation and sleep. It will
be q great favour on your part if you will permit me the pleasure of the opportunity of meeting you at
all times."
"It will be great generosity on your part if you will cause me the delight
Of remembering me at all times with your love.
You are unconcerned with my sorrows. 0, my Ameer!
Kindly grant me thy kindness and please me with your company."
Now Moulana returns to the object of the story, i.e. to return to Allah.
"O Allah, this indigent one without manners is most unsuited,
But Your Grace is all over, more higher and supreme.
O Allah, Your general Grace does not search for credentials or ability
And the sun of Your generosity even has effect on impurities.
The sun has warmed the belly of the earth
Which warmth has pulled impurities into its midst.
Those impurities have become part of the earth and created plants
And in this manner Allah wipes out sins.
If such is the robe of honour given to the evil ones,
How much more honourable will be the gift to righteous ones?
For His special bondsmen Allah prepares what no eye has seen,
And no tongue or language can ever describe.
Who are we? You kindly explain who we are?
O My Beloved, enlighten my day with beautiful morals. "
EXPLANATION:
Moulana describes 'Allah's wonderful actions by saying: "O Allah, when out of Your kindness, the rays of the sun falls upon the earth it enlightens it, when it falls on impurities like dung it dries the solid part and converts it to fuel, which light the furnace. . Another portion (i.e. the liquid part of the dung) sinks into the earth providing fertliser from which plants and fragrant flowers grow. The heat of the sun warms the earth and makes it absorb the liquid impurities. 0 Allah, impurities too are not deprived of Your bounty, what will be Your generosity towards the righteous servants and Lovers of Thee. You will grant such bounties which neither the eyes have seen, nor ears have heard nor has it passed through the minds of men as is said in a Hadith:
"I have prepared for my righteous servants what no eye has seen,
no ear has heard nor has passed through the minds of men. "
Thereafter Moulana says: When someone is inspired with. knowledge from the unseen, it is a sure sign
that from Allah's side there is a special glance of generosity and grace upon him. Moulana describes it in
this way:
"When on the banks of a river 'you notice greenery,
Then from far off you can be certain that there is water in this place."
Allah says: "The faces of my Messenger's companions are covered
With a veneer of Noor from their hearts
And this Noor is an indication of much Ibaadah and IstigJaar."
He then, in another couplet, mentions another example viz.
That the greenery of the meadows denote the fact that rain has fallen in that place.
"If by night rain fell while you were asleep and unaware of it having fallen, .
Then in the morning if you see the garden luxuriant and fresh,
You should understand that last night rain fell. Every beautiful garden's freshness
Is an indication of rain having fallen. "
The story continues:
The mouse told the frog: "Brother, I am a creature living on dry land and you are living in the water. I am unable to enter the water, but you are able to come to the dry land. But how will you be able to know inside the water that I have a desire to meet you?" For quite a time they discussed the problem and consulted each other. Finally, the mouse put forward a suggestion that one end of a piece of string the frog should tie to its leg and the other end to the foot of the mouse. Thus when the mouse had a desire to meet the frog he will pull the string. In the water the frog will feel the pulling of the string and thus come to the bank of the river. In this way they will be able to meet each other.
The frog considered the mouse's suggestion to be a bad one and said to himself: "This evil minded one
wishes to tie me up." ''It is no surprise if a blind one falls into a well,
Surprising when a seeing one falls into it."
In spite of disliking the mouse's suggestion, the' frog found
an inclination within himself to accede to the request. When a person's desire overpowers his reason, it
becomes the beginning of that persons downfall.
Moulana then proceeded to relate the story of the destruction of the frog. The two of them, by pulling the string, were able to enjoy the ecstasy of meeting each other repeatedly. Then one day the result of this bad company became a reality. A vulture came along and carried the mouse off in its claw. As the vulture flew off with the mouse, he also lifted the frog out of the water where up to now he was safe and comfortable, because the other end was tied to the frogs leg. What happened to the mouse also happened to the frog. The vulture killed both of them and ate them up. If the frog had remained in the water and not formed a friendship with the evil mouse, then nothing would have happened to him and he would have remained, safe.
LESSON
In this story Moulana has drawn our attention to the harm of bad company. It is a good story with a powerful moral lesson. In the story we see the soul, the self and the Shaytaan. The "Nafs-e-Ammaarah" is the evil mouse. The soul is the frog which lives in the water of Allah's nearness, which is its proper place. The vulture represents the Shaytaan or devil.
The Nafs - (Self) in order to satisfy its desires tries to engage the soul in evil doings and endeavours to tie it with a string. Where the soul obeys the desires of the Self and makes contact with the Self, then Shaytaan will pull it along wherever it wishes. In this way the soul is also humiliated because of its contact with the 'Self'. Hence, when the Shaytaan will go to hell, the Nafs (Self) which was in its claws will also go to hell accompanied by the soul as well, which had befriended the self in evil.
May Allah grant us the ability to learn a lesson from this story and may He grant us protection against the Self and the Shaytaan in the following manner:
(a) No matter what pleasure from sins the Self places in front of us, do not even turn your attention to those sins. Consider the Nafs as a very big enemy. It is an even bigger enemy than Iblees.
(b) When the whisperings of Shaytaan come to you, continue to recite 'Laa Howla Walaa Qoowata Illa Billaah'. Live in the shadow and company of a Saintly Sheikh and derive benefit from his knowledge and instructions. Remember that Shaytaan's control only comes when our soul makes a mutual agreement with the 'Nafs'. For this reason, it is of the utmost importance for us to oppose the accursed 'Nafs' with the aim of avoiding the mischief of Shaytaan. The one who will conquer his 'Self' will Insha-Allah conquer the Shaytaan. The conquest of the ‘Self' is not an easy task. Unless one forms a close contact with a saintly spiritual guide. Close contact here means ~ relationship of love and respect, choosing the guide in accordance with one's temperament.
Once on the bank of a river there lived a mouse and a frog. A very close friendship developed between the two of them. This friendship grew until it became a love relationship. By mutual arrangement they used to meet each other daily in the mornings and would converse with each other for a very long time. These meetings made both of them very happy. They used to tell stories to each other and listened to each other's tales. They even told each other their secrets and considered each other alone as holders of their secrets. When they met they even remembered and related happenings of more than five years ago, to each other.
Moulana Rumi (RA.) says:
"The excitement of eloquence and conversation from the heart is a . . sign of love
And when there is a termination of eloquence, it is a sign of lack of love.
How can that heart which had seen its loved one ever remain stern and cross?
And when the nightingale has seen a flower, how can it ever remain silent?
When a lover sits in the company of a lover,
Thousands of stories are remembered by the heart.
The Lowhul-Mahfooz -preserved tablet is the forehead of a Beloved
Which exposes the secrets of the worlds to the Lover."
"The guide to the path of guidance - Sayedina Mustafa Muhammad had said:
'My companions are like the stars in providing guidance.'
One day the mouse told the frog: "You are swimming around in
the water while I am here on the dry earth. I suffer the pangs of sorrow
over being parted from you. I come to the edge of the water to call you,
but while you are in the water, even the voice of a lover cannot be
heard. I am not happy with just meeting and talking to you for a short while". Salaah has only been
made obligatory five times a day,
but the true lovers of Allah Ta'ala permanently enjoy communion
with Allah through "Nafl" Salaahs.
"To be called from time to time for meeting a beloved is not for lovers,
The souls of true lovers remain thirsty at all times.
To be called for a meeting with a beloved is not for the fish,
For they will find no rest without the water. .
The heart of the lover is nothing without the Beloved,
There is between them no remover or removed."
EXPLANATION:
Moulana's object in mentioning these couplets }s a reference to the Hadith which says that meeting each other with intervals of a day, increases the love for each other. However, true lovers are exempted from this statement as Hazrat Abu Hurayrah (RA.) reports: "I used to make obligatory upon myself the company of Rasulullah at all times". Rasulullah did not prohibit it; which meant that he considered it permissible. Hence the first statement is a general one, while the latter one, is for special friends. The first statement was made by the Prophet at a time when Rasulullah asked Abu Hurayrah (RA.): "O Abu Hurayrah, where were you yesterday?" He replied: "Yesterday, I went to visit some relatives". Then Rasulullah said: "Meeting after a days break in between will increase love". There seems to be a contradiction between the two statements. However, this is not so. Reconciliation between the two statements is this: To make someone's company compulsory at all times, as Abu Hurayrah (RA.) did, refers to those situations where the contact and love is very strong. The other situation of meeting at specific times refers to those situations where the contact of love is not that strong.
"For a lover, the parting for even a moment is like a year's parting And the meeting lasting a whole year
is mere imagination."
Moulana Rumi (RA.) further explains that the people of this world have a good understanding of worldly
love, but as regards to Divine Love, which is granted to the Prophets and the Saints of Allah, they do not
understand. That is because they are caught
up behind the curtain of this world's external comforts and are deprived of the grace of Allah's love
which annihilates the needs of the self. Hence, only those who annihilate their selves gain this blessing.
It is not attained through reason alone.
"If through Reason the perception of Allah's love was possible,
Then of what use would spiritual strivings be?
In spite of the great mercy of having Allah ~ The Master of Reason
Why the command: Oppose your self and overpower your desires?"
It is through these strenuous spiritual exercises that the self becomes overpowered and annihilated.
The knowledge of Allah (Marifat) is dependent upon this. Moulana Sayed Sulayman Nadwi (RA.) asked
Hazrat Moulana Thanwy (RA.): "Hazrat what is the meaning of 'faquiri' ?" Hazrat Thanwy (R.A.) replied: "It
means annihilating your 'self'?"
The story continues:
The mouse then said to the frog: "O frog, beloved; without seeing your face at all times, I cannot find
peace. By day, the sight of you is my life, by night the thought of you is my consolation and sleep. It will
be q great favour on your part if you will permit me the pleasure of the opportunity of meeting you at
all times."
"It will be great generosity on your part if you will cause me the delight
Of remembering me at all times with your love.
You are unconcerned with my sorrows. 0, my Ameer!
Kindly grant me thy kindness and please me with your company."
Now Moulana returns to the object of the story, i.e. to return to Allah.
"O Allah, this indigent one without manners is most unsuited,
But Your Grace is all over, more higher and supreme.
O Allah, Your general Grace does not search for credentials or ability
And the sun of Your generosity even has effect on impurities.
The sun has warmed the belly of the earth
Which warmth has pulled impurities into its midst.
Those impurities have become part of the earth and created plants
And in this manner Allah wipes out sins.
If such is the robe of honour given to the evil ones,
How much more honourable will be the gift to righteous ones?
For His special bondsmen Allah prepares what no eye has seen,
And no tongue or language can ever describe.
Who are we? You kindly explain who we are?
O My Beloved, enlighten my day with beautiful morals. "
EXPLANATION:
Moulana describes 'Allah's wonderful actions by saying: "O Allah, when out of Your kindness, the rays of the sun falls upon the earth it enlightens it, when it falls on impurities like dung it dries the solid part and converts it to fuel, which light the furnace. . Another portion (i.e. the liquid part of the dung) sinks into the earth providing fertliser from which plants and fragrant flowers grow. The heat of the sun warms the earth and makes it absorb the liquid impurities. 0 Allah, impurities too are not deprived of Your bounty, what will be Your generosity towards the righteous servants and Lovers of Thee. You will grant such bounties which neither the eyes have seen, nor ears have heard nor has it passed through the minds of men as is said in a Hadith:
"I have prepared for my righteous servants what no eye has seen,
no ear has heard nor has passed through the minds of men. "
Thereafter Moulana says: When someone is inspired with. knowledge from the unseen, it is a sure sign
that from Allah's side there is a special glance of generosity and grace upon him. Moulana describes it in
this way:
"When on the banks of a river 'you notice greenery,
Then from far off you can be certain that there is water in this place."
Allah says: "The faces of my Messenger's companions are covered
With a veneer of Noor from their hearts
And this Noor is an indication of much Ibaadah and IstigJaar."
He then, in another couplet, mentions another example viz.
That the greenery of the meadows denote the fact that rain has fallen in that place.
"If by night rain fell while you were asleep and unaware of it having fallen, .
Then in the morning if you see the garden luxuriant and fresh,
You should understand that last night rain fell. Every beautiful garden's freshness
Is an indication of rain having fallen. "
The story continues:
The mouse told the frog: "Brother, I am a creature living on dry land and you are living in the water. I am unable to enter the water, but you are able to come to the dry land. But how will you be able to know inside the water that I have a desire to meet you?" For quite a time they discussed the problem and consulted each other. Finally, the mouse put forward a suggestion that one end of a piece of string the frog should tie to its leg and the other end to the foot of the mouse. Thus when the mouse had a desire to meet the frog he will pull the string. In the water the frog will feel the pulling of the string and thus come to the bank of the river. In this way they will be able to meet each other.
The frog considered the mouse's suggestion to be a bad one and said to himself: "This evil minded one
wishes to tie me up." ''It is no surprise if a blind one falls into a well,
Surprising when a seeing one falls into it."
In spite of disliking the mouse's suggestion, the' frog found
an inclination within himself to accede to the request. When a person's desire overpowers his reason, it
becomes the beginning of that persons downfall.
Moulana then proceeded to relate the story of the destruction of the frog. The two of them, by pulling the string, were able to enjoy the ecstasy of meeting each other repeatedly. Then one day the result of this bad company became a reality. A vulture came along and carried the mouse off in its claw. As the vulture flew off with the mouse, he also lifted the frog out of the water where up to now he was safe and comfortable, because the other end was tied to the frogs leg. What happened to the mouse also happened to the frog. The vulture killed both of them and ate them up. If the frog had remained in the water and not formed a friendship with the evil mouse, then nothing would have happened to him and he would have remained, safe.
LESSON
In this story Moulana has drawn our attention to the harm of bad company. It is a good story with a powerful moral lesson. In the story we see the soul, the self and the Shaytaan. The "Nafs-e-Ammaarah" is the evil mouse. The soul is the frog which lives in the water of Allah's nearness, which is its proper place. The vulture represents the Shaytaan or devil.
The Nafs - (Self) in order to satisfy its desires tries to engage the soul in evil doings and endeavours to tie it with a string. Where the soul obeys the desires of the Self and makes contact with the Self, then Shaytaan will pull it along wherever it wishes. In this way the soul is also humiliated because of its contact with the 'Self'. Hence, when the Shaytaan will go to hell, the Nafs (Self) which was in its claws will also go to hell accompanied by the soul as well, which had befriended the self in evil.
May Allah grant us the ability to learn a lesson from this story and may He grant us protection against the Self and the Shaytaan in the following manner:
(a) No matter what pleasure from sins the Self places in front of us, do not even turn your attention to those sins. Consider the Nafs as a very big enemy. It is an even bigger enemy than Iblees.
(b) When the whisperings of Shaytaan come to you, continue to recite 'Laa Howla Walaa Qoowata Illa Billaah'. Live in the shadow and company of a Saintly Sheikh and derive benefit from his knowledge and instructions. Remember that Shaytaan's control only comes when our soul makes a mutual agreement with the 'Nafs'. For this reason, it is of the utmost importance for us to oppose the accursed 'Nafs' with the aim of avoiding the mischief of Shaytaan. The one who will conquer his 'Self' will Insha-Allah conquer the Shaytaan. The conquest of the ‘Self' is not an easy task. Unless one forms a close contact with a saintly spiritual guide. Close contact here means ~ relationship of love and respect, choosing the guide in accordance with one's temperament.
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