What Should a Teacher Look Like?

For all of us who yearn to know the qualities of a great teacher, we just have to read about the many illuminaries that Allah has brought mankind throughout the history of Islam. Here's one good example...

"Shaykh `Ali al-Shabramallisi may Allah be pleased with him) became one of the greatest scholars of his age in all the religious discplines, but especially in the Shafi`i school of Sacred Law. He was someone that the scholars of his age returned to in order to solve difficult issues, and he had a powerful memory and a sharp understanding.

The noble traits that his biographers mention about him include the following:

(1) He was extremely gentle and forbearing, to the extent that no one recalls him ever having spoken any harsh word to any of his students, despite the time and energy that he would put into teaching them. If one of his students said something to displease him, the worst thing that he would say was, "May Allah rectify your state, O so-and-so." He was pleasant to speak to and interact with, and he would not talk about anything that did not concern him.

(2) He commanded respect and reverence from everyone to the extent that anyone who saw his illuminated face, his white beard, and his beautiful appearance would feel humbled and and would not want to part company with him. When he walked in the marketplace, people--Muslim and non-Muslim--would crowd and compete with one another to kiss his hand out of respect for him.

(3) He was unattached to the world. His gatherings were completely free of backbiting or speaking ill of people. He was so unconcerned with the affairs of the world that he wasn't aware of the latest happenings and he wouldn't spend time with people of worldly influence except in order to use his own standing to put in a good word for those in need. He used to spend all of his time reviewing sacred knowledge, reciting the Quran, praying, and worship.

(4) He would not get annoyed with investigating answers to difficult questions during his lessons. Rather, he would get upset if the students would not investigate these issues with him. If he investigated an objection to one of the early scholars, he would do it with the utmost respect.

Shaykh `Ali Shabramallisi used to say, "A single carat of proper behavior (adab) is better than 24 carats of knowledge." - Shaykh Amjad Rasheed

May Allah bless you and be pleased with you Shaykh 'Ali....

When reason reaches its peak...

When reason reaches its peak and the souls of His lovers feel helpless and disabled, they grow restless and stretch their hands in supplication, seeking comfort for their burning souls. When every manner of search within their power has been consumed, the doorway to Him is opened.

-Al-Hujwiri, "The Kashf al-Mahjub"

The Earth is Fixed! And Other Wahhabi Knee-Slappers...

In support of the notion that Wahhabism is anti-intellectual/anti-reason/anti-science and thus anti-Islam:

"Abd al-Aziz bin Baz was the chief cleric of Saudi Arabia, the head of the Council of Senior Religious Scholars for three decades. He had a great impact on the passing of regressive and oppressive laws in Saudi Arabia, including the ban on women's driving. A book authored by Bin Baz was published in 1975 carried the following title: "Scientific and Narrative Evidence for that the Earth is Fixed, the Sun is Moving and it is Possible to Go to the Planets." The book was not published by any publishing house; it was published by none other than the Islamic University of Medina.

In that book, Bin Baz complains about a new heresy; he is saddened to see, well more accurately, hear, people talking about motion of the earth and he wants to put a stop to that heresy. In page 23, Bin Baz after listing some hadiths issues a fatwa, asserting that those who believe that the earth is rotating are kafirs (disbelievers), and if they were Muslims before they become apostate. The Saudi leader does not stop there and explains the ramification of fatwa: any Muslim believing in the rotation of earth lose his or her right to life and property; they should be killed!

Bin Baz, in his book, quoted some verses and many hadith to support his position that the earth is fixed. After his expressing the religious verdict of death penalty for the apostates who believe in a moving earth, he included the following reasoning as his scientific evidence:

"If the world was rotating as they assert, countries, mountains, trees, rivers, seas, nothing would be stable; humans would see the countries in the west in the east, the ones in the east in the west. The position of the qibla would change continuously. In sum, as you see, this claim is false in many respects. But, I do not wish to prolong my words.""

- Edip Yuksel

Pure Awareness

The implication here is awareness, constant, perpetual, self-effulgent awareness for its own sake, and not an awareness of any particular created thing. Awareness of something is ghaflah –غفله – (distraction), because of it we will miss some other thing. But if we have a pure awareness, then we are open and made available, and the knowledge we need in any circumstance will come to us...

If we are sensitive enough, we find meaning in every breath, and then every occurrence that takes place in front of us has meaning. But we are generally insensitive, and if we do not see it as it passes, then it is gone forever and we have missed it…Every split second Allah is giving us a meaning in order to show us the total ecological balance in this existence, the mizan – ميذن - (balance)."

- Sheikh Fadhlalla Haeri

The Goal of Religion is Alchemy

In Alchemy it is said that a first minimum portion of gold is needed to enable the transformative process from lead into gold. It is the basic yearning for nearness with Allah, the Source of everything. This first godsend of Allah is required to enable the transformation from urge-driven human beings into believers. Every human being is in possession of this "start-capital" that he or she has received as a gift from Allah. Therefore we have to respect each individual person for being a carrier of this gift, this potential for transformation, even though thick layers of personality may cover it.

Religion is meant to support this transformation. Religion reaches far beyond our intellectual capacity, and its ultimate value cannot be comprehended by the mind.

- Peter Huseyin Cunz

Tawhid Involves Reconciling Apparent Duality...

Tawhid involves reconciling that which is apparently irreconcilable, there are mutualities between us and the people of Isa (as) and between us and the people of Musa (as). Let us accentuate those mutualities in a bid to revive the spirit of tawhid, to revive the dream of virtue and take on the characteristic of Allah Subhana Wa Tala. Why have we shortchanged ourselves and not aspire to that aspiration? This is a question we must ask ourselves.

The Prophet (pbuh) says if you find people without aspiration, leave them. The mu’min by definition is a visionary, he is by definition someone who is living beyond the apparent and who’s reference point is in the hereafter. Is that our reference point? Is that our reference in the way in which we interact with ourselves? Our reference point in the way we interact with others? We must have rahma upon ourselves and have mercy upon the creation of Allah and Allah will have mercy upon you.

- Imam Luqman Ali

On Tawhid and Shari'ah

...This is the completion of the message of the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh), that Allah Subhana Wa Tala is transcendent, He is majestic, and He is also beautiful. He is also closer to us than closeness and more approximate to us than we can imagine. The entirety of the deen and the Sharia is designed to minimise and bring to an absolute minimum, the inherent conflict in duality. If our Sharia results in the division of people, it is not tawhidi Sharia, it is not a tawhidi deen. It is Sharia being used by people for other ends, for power and other such corruptions.

- Imam Luqman Ali

The One You Desire is Before You...

This long journey can be shortened for you,
If you sit in The Presence.
The One you desire is before you,
Become eyes to see Him, surrender your thoughts of Him.
Because to think is to be thrown afar,
The Friend does not associate with otherness.

- Sheikh Mahmoud Shabistary

Five Things to Focus On...

Dhu'l-Nun was asked: "What causes a devotee to be worthy of entrance to paradise?"
He said: "One merits entrance to paradise by five things: unwavering constancy, unflagging effort, meditation on God in solitude and society, anticipating death by preparing provision for the hereafter, and bringing oneself to account before one is brought to judgment."

-'Attar, "Tadhkirat"

What is Soul?

What is soul?
Soul is conscious of good and evil, rejoicing over kindness, weeping over injury.
Since consciousness is the inmost nature and essence of the soul,
the more aware you are the more spiritual you are.
Awareness is the effect of the spirit:
anyone who has this in abundance is a man or woman of God.

-Mathnawi [VI, 148-150]

Persistence

Whether you are fast or slow, eventually you will find what you are seeking. Always devote yourself wholeheartedly to your search. Even though you may limp or be bent double, do not abandon your search, but drag yourself ever toward Him.

- Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi(rahmatullahi 'alayhi)

Beware the Invalid Aqidah of Wahhabism

Shaykh Jamil Effendi al-Zahawi al-Hanbali al-Makki on Wahhabism:

"... These verses [of the Qur'an] he [i.e. Muhammed ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab] interpreted in his own obscure fashion, having the gall to stand before Allah and facilitate the accomplishment of his own personal political ambitions by means of an unwarranted and unjustified exegesis of His holy text. His method here mostly consisted in applying these verses concerning the idolaters to Muslims and on this basis declaring that they had been disbelievers for the last six hundred years, that one may shed their blood with impunity and confiscate their property and reduce their land, the Abode of Islam, (Dar al-Islam) to a field of war against disbelief (Dar al-Harb)."

Sounds a lot like what we're up against today.... Using the Qur'an to declare war and unbelief against anyone that disagrees with them.... They are nothing but wolves in sheeps' clothing hoodwinking most of the Muslims because of our ignorance and tribalism... And how many 'imams' around us make du'a for these 'mujahideen' of calamity and suffering, while actually believing that they are fighting for Allah's sake as opposed to their own fascist political agendas (i.e. nafs)? I cannot support nor excuse fascism, whether it comes from Western leaders or Muslims... Right is right and wrong is wrong (Qur'an, 2:224; 5:8; 6:152; 16:09)...

The Shaykh continues:

"One of Ibn `Abd al-Wahhab's more enormous stupidities is this: When he sees reason going against his claims, he casts aside all modesty and suspends reason giving it no role in his judgment. He endeavors thereby to make people like dumb beasts when it comes to matters of faith. He prohibits reason to enter into religious affairs despite the fact that there is no contradiction between reason and faith. On the contrary, whenever human minds reach their full measure of completeness and perfection, religion's merits and prerogatives with regard to reason become totally manifest. Is there in this age, an age of the mind's progress, anything more abominable than denying reason its proper scope, especially when the cardinal pivot of religion and the capacity to perform its duties is based on the ability to reason? For the obligation to carry out the duties of Islam falls away when mental capacity is absent. Allah has addressed his servants in many places in the Qur'an: "O you who possess understanding" (cf. 65:10) alerting them to the fact that knowledge of the realities of religion is only a function of those possessed of minds.

"Now the time has come for me to give a summation of the vain and empty prattle of the renegade Wahhabi sect which it aspires to issue as a doctrine. Next, I shall discuss it in terms of the research that has been brought in its rebuttal and refute its argument. Their invalid creed consists of a number of articles:

1 - Affirming the face, hand, and spatial direction of the Creator and making Him a body that
descends and ascends;
2 - Making principles derived from narration (naql) prior to those derived from reason (`aql);
3 - Denial and rejection of consensus as a principle (asl) of Shari`a legislation;
4 - Similar denial and rejection of analogy (qiyas);
5 - Not permitting copying and emulating the judgments of the Imams who have in Islam the
status of those capable of exercising independent reasoning in matters of Shari`a;
6 - Declaring Muslims who contradict them disbelievers;
7 - Prohibition of using the name of the Messenger in petitions to Allah or the name of someone
else among the friends of Allah and the pious;
8 - Making the visiting of the tombs of prophets and of pious people illicit;
9 - Declaring a Muslim a disbeliever who makes a vow to someone other than Allah or sacrifices
at the grave or final resting place of awliya or the pious."

- Shaykh Jamil Effendi al-Zahawi al-Hanbali al-Makki

The Knowledge of Muhammad (SAW)

"Anyone not learned in the Knowledge of Muhammad dies insisting on unforgivable sin."
~ Sufi saying ~

This is an affirmation of the Sufi knowledge that he (Muhammad) is the first and the last of the saviours of souls. This is not a statement of exclusivity but of inclusivity, for the Healing or Salvation brought by the knowledge of Muhammad emcompasses, embraces and loves the knowledge of salvation and healing brought by all other prophets, saints and guides to this way of reality.

There IS only one way, the way of personal salvation and it is the personal way, the way of choosing to be in that way, to seperate yourself from ignorance, and join with the people of salvation. For salvation of the soul is attained only by the personal choice to realize and accept the Forgiveness of God, and through communion, accepting the guidance, tuteledge and education of the teachers of this way; by being saved, and by being among those sent to guide, tutor and educate others in the ways of Surrender to God's Mercy, Forgiveness and Abundance.

Hence the Muslim call to prayer is "come to Service and Worship, and come to True Success and Prosperity. "

- Ali Ansari

Whose Touching Our Hearts?

Hidden creatures good and bad always touch the heart. The touch of the angel is inspiration; Satanic touches temptations untold. Tarry with patience until your confusion is resolved and you know whom you rejected and who became the leader of your heart.

-Rumi, "Mathnawi"

Practicing Youth Development: Teaching Young People to Strive and 'Follow Their Bliss'

On the death of Ed Bradley...

"Born June 22, 1941, Bradley grew up in a tough section of Philadelphia, where he once recalled that his parents worked 20-hour days at two jobs apiece. "I was told, `You can be anything you want, kid,'" he once told an interviewer. "When you hear that often enough, you believe it."

The above quote serves as support for the importance of having high expectations for children and young people. Youth development research tells us that adults who have high expectations for their kids, and support them accordingly, play a major role in nurturing resiliency in young people, particularly those that grow up in at-risk environments. Resilient youth are those that are able to succeed where so many others fail; who can pick themselves up when they are knocked down and who are less likely to fall victim to the lures of vice and unhealthy lifestyles. Resilient youth do not denigrate themselves because they know their own self-worth; they believe in the words of the adults that nurtured them and taught them that they can be something. To teach someone that they can be something implies that they already are something. Thus, if we teach our children how honored they are to be in the human family, how special a gift their life is, that Allah himself created them as the pinnacle of His magnificent creation and His khalifah, and raise and support them according to this mindset, they will believe it and expect of themselves excellence in life.

Teaching young people to follow their bliss means encouraging them to pursue that inner drive and direction about which the Prophet (SAW) said: "Act, for each of you will find easy that for which he was created" (Muslim). Don't deny young people this divine gift by forcing them to be something that they are not inclined to. Surrender to the God-given fitra that lies within and nurture young people to actualize themselves according to their divinely-created nature. Then, support them and guide them along this path of theirs and help them to learn about themselves along the way. Education, in the end, is ultimately about knowing oneself and "He who knows himself, knows his Lord." So let's practice youth development by encouraging and supporting our young people along the path of self-discovery, self-realization and self-actualization.

Islam is the Medicine the World Needs

If we Muslims simply see ourselves as healers, not warriors, and see Islam as the medicine, not the weapon, and learn to apply it, like all medicines, with a judicious perspective on the nature of disease and disharmony, then we will be successful in our endeavors to have the world understand the benefits and healing nature of Islam.

- Ali Ansari

Comprehend Your Relationship with Allah

Behold the words of the Qur'an:
"We are closer to you than you are yourself."
Comprehend your relationship with God!
He is closer to us than our own selves.
Yet through ignorance we search for Him
Wandering from door to door.

- Anonymous

Understanding Allah and Opposites

God created suffering and heartache, so that joy might be known as their opposite. Hidden things become manifest through their opposites. But God has no opposite; so he remains hidden. Light is known as the opposite of darkness. But God's light has no opposite. Thus we cannot know him through our eyes.

-Rumi, "Mathnawi"

Reason and Knowledge

"Reason is that wherein man goes before all other earthly creatures and comes after God only.... For whereas God ... hath furnished other creatures, some with hoofs, others with other instruments, and weapons both defensive and offensive, man is left naked, and destitute of all these, but may comfort himself in that one endowment of reason...whereby he is able to govern them all."

- John Robinson


In Islam "...logic is an aspect of truth and Truth (Al-Haqq) is a name of God." (Nasr, Living Sufism). The use of logic is like the use of a rung in a ladder - properly used it can help man move upward along the vertical axis of his being. Reason is an innate ability within man which encompasses logic and which can propel him rapidly upwards along the vertical dimension. But in order to do this reason must be free of the taint of man's animal, material propensities. Otherwise reason can be subverted to provide spurious justification for man to attain his desires in whatever realm his desires may fall. Reason and correct knowledge must go hand in hand. "....one who has no reason secures no success. He who has no (correct) knowledge has no (correct) reasoning....A person devoid of reason cannot be conceived of except as a corpse." (Al-Kafi, The Book of Reason and Ignorance)

- Irshaad Hussein

Silence is Golden

Stop talking!
What a shame you have no familiarity
with inner silence!
Polish your heart for a day or two:
make that mirror your book of contemplation.

-Mathnawi [VI, 1286-1287]

The Power of our Belief

"Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is." And the underlying belief of the nafs is in insufficiency and inadequacy - of being "without", rather than "within". When we look to the outside world, we see that we do not have it, so we see ourselves as "without" it. It is our first perception and reinforced as true by all around us who believe in it.

So belief in the world is belief in our perception of lack, of absence, for which the only cure is knowledge of God, which leads us back to the inner life and results in the disappearance of the universe. Then we live in the outside world, which is always changing, guided by our inner reality knowing the truth and behaving outwardly accordingly.

So be guided by those who lead to Heaven through transforming and guiding the inward understanding and who do not fall prey to the illusions of the existence of the outward world and give over their lives to the vain and futile struggle to change it according to their desires. Changing your inward IS changing your outward, for indeed, "as you believe, so shall it be."

- Ali Ansari

The Importance of Knowledge of God

I once saw a Christian monk gaunt through self-sacrifice and doubled over by the fear of God. I asked him to show me the path of God. He replied, "If you knew God you would know the way to Him. I worship Him although I do not know Him; you disobey Him though you know Him. With knowledge comes fear, yet you are self-assured; with heresy ignorance, yet I feel fear within me." His words moved me so deeply that since then I have refrained from wrongdoing.

-Abd'Allah bin Mubarak al-Marwazi, "The Kashf al-Mahjub"

The Scholars Have Spoken - Alhamdulillah!

Alhamdulillah for our learned who have responded with this wonderful letter in response to the infamous speech by the Pope. Rather than respond with 'demands for apologies' and political rallies, the scholars of our ummah have put together a thoughtful, scholarly and measured response in the spirit of truth, dialogue and mutual respect. May Allah bless them and allow this letter to highlight to the world the difference between true Islamic scholarship and politicians in the guise of the learned...

It is too long to include in full so please click on the link above to access it...

Be it the world or the space, He is with you...

Be it the world or the space, He is with you.
He chastises to make the impure pure.
Neglect devotion and be bound by fetters of pain and doubt.
Seek freedom, the remedy of all pain.
Seek the roots from which sprout leaves and fruit.
Water the roots and grow to perfection.
And when the fruit blossoms, give it to your friends.

-Rumi, "Mathnawi"

What is Justice?

What is justice? Giving water to trees.
What is injustice? To give water to thorns.
Justice consists in bestowing bounty in its proper place,
not on every root that will absorb water.

-Rumi, Mathnawi [V, 1089-1090]

The Greater Jihad

I made peace with all the people in the world, resolving never to wage war on anyone, and I waged war against my self and have never since made peace with it.

-Kharaqani in Attar: Tadhkirat

Ramadan

Bismillâhi-r-Rahmâni-r-Rahîm


As-Salâmu 'Alaikum Wa Rahmatullâhi Wa Barakâtuh

Ramadan Mubarak

Dear beloved brothers and sisters,

Our beloved sister Amr has sent this jewel for your hearts, thank you Amr.
Ramadan Karim.
*********************

The Prophet Muhammad's (s) Sermon given on the last Friday of Sha'ban on the reception of the Month of Ramadhan

"O People !"

"Indeed ahead of you is the blessed month of Allah. A month of blessing, mercy and forgiveness. A month which with Allah is the best of months. Its days, the best of days, its nights, the best of nights, and its hours, the best of hours. It is the month which invites you to be the guests of Allah and invites you to be one of those near to Him. Each breath you take glorifies God; your sleep is worship, your deeds are accepted and your supplications are answered. So, ask Allah, your Lord; to give you a sound body and an enlightened heart so you may be able to fast and recite his book, for only he is unhappy who is devoid of Allah's forgiveness during this great month. Remember the hunger and thirst of the day of Qiyamah (Judgement) with your hunger and thirst; give alms to the needy and poor, honour your old, show kindness to the young ones, maintain relations with your blood relations; guard your tongues, close your eyes to that which is not permissible for your sight, close your ears to that which is forbidden to hear, show compassion to the orphans of people so compassion may be shown to your orphans. Repent to Allah for your sins and raise your hands in dua during these times, for they are the best of times and Allah looks towards his creatures with kindness, replying to them during the hours and granting their needs if he is asked...

"O People! Indeed your souls are dependant on your deeds, free it with Istighfar (repentance) lighten its loads by long prostrations; and know that Allah swears by his might: That there is no punishment for the one who prays and prostrates and he shall have no fear of the fire on the day when man stands before the Lord of the worlds.

"O People! One who gives Iftaar to a fasting person during this month will be like one who has freed someone and his past sins will be forgiven.

Some of the people who were there then asked the Prophet (s): "Not all of us are able to invite those who are fasting?"

The Prophet (s) replied: "Allah gives this reward even if the Iftaar (meal) is a drink of water."

"One who has good morals (Akhlaq) during this month will be able to pass the 'Siraat'...on the day that feet will slip...

"One who covers the faults of others will benefit in that Allah will curb His anger on the day of Judgement...

"As for one who honours an orphan; Allah will honour him on the day of judgement,

"And for the one who spreads his kindness, Allah will spread His mercy over him on the day of Judgement.

"As for the one who cuts the ties of relation; Allah will cut His mercy from him...

"Who so ever performs a recommended prayer in this month Allah will keep the fire of Hell away from him...

"Whoever performs an obligator prayer Allah will reward him with seventy prayers [worth] in this month.

"And who so ever prays a lot during this month will have his load lightened on the day of measure.

"He who recites one verse of the Holy Qur'an will be given the rewards of reciting the hole Qur'an during other months.

"O People! Indeed during this month the doors of heaven are open, therefore ask Allah not to close them for you; The doors of hell are closed, so ask Allah to keep them closed for you. During this month Shaytan is imprisoned so ask your Lord not to let him have power over you."

------------------------------------------

The Month of Ramadhan.

We have all come from before endless time, passing through this experience and returning to endless time. Allah in His own description of Himself declares that nothing in this creation increases Him nor does it decrease Him by any measure of perceived creation or destruction. He sends souls to the Fire and He is not affected., He sends souls to the Garden and He is not affected. He is Himself, fulfilled and needs nothing. By His Love He manifested this creation to be known and worshiped. He gathered the Arwah (spirits) of all creatures and asked if He is not their Lord. All the Arwah (spirits) answered "yes!" This is the pre-???creational imprinting stamped on every created thing.

Each Ruh (spirit) is cloaked with nafs (soul) and through the heart (mirror) reflects the world around us. Face the mirror-heart towards what nourishes the primal imprint and command to 'know the Lord" and it will shine with the light of that realization. Face the mirror-heart towards that which distracts it from the pre-creational affirmation and it will languish in darkness and distraction. The heart is so vast by its nature, you may spend an eternity filling it with the pleasures and distractions of this world, yet still never be content. The heart was made to contain only the Light of Allah, therefore, it is truly "the heart of the matter"; the focal point to which Allah makes himself known. Allah in His overflowing and immeasurable bounty gifted mankind with the means to fulfil His intention, establishing His Khalifa in this world. Islam is the provided means and clear universal articulation of the path to fulfill His Love to be known and worshiped.

In this coming month of Ramadhan, Allah has spread the table wide for nourishing both the inner and outer. He provides the means to realizing His omnipresence and complete engulfing of our entire affair. Allah created the world on a dual foundation that permeates every experience and possibility. As we develop as human beings, there are basic energy centred facets of our nature that compound and play a major role in our lives. They are based on the universal law of duality. This universal dynamic expresses itself in our human experience in many ways. The essential way we experience the dual nature of things is through repulsion and attraction.

From even before we are born, we experience repulsion and attraction. We are cramped; we move. We are tired; we sleep. We are hungry; we seek food. As we develop from birth to childhood these wants and their resolution complexify into a fully developed personality we call "I", or me. Each one of us develops in different ways, but the basic foundation is the same for us all. For many of us, the way that these basic attractions and repulsion's were met, resulted in the pollution of the prime imprinting to discover His Lordship. So we ate, repulsed by hunger, seeking fulfilment (attraction) to food that may or may not have been the best for us. This is where the wisdom teachings of Islam are needed to bring about the best choices. But as children and later as adults we aren't always given the best, nor do we choose the best. It is as a long result of these errant exposures and choices that effect the development of our selves, its health or sickness. Ramadhan is the cure for these developments. It addresses the basic energies behind most of what motivates us. These are sleep, food, and sex.

In the blessed month of Ramadhan, we are awakened when we would sleep. We eat at unaccustomed times, and we curtail our sexual desires until permitted, by the wisdom teachings of Ramadhan. All these basic energy centres are affected, making it possible for old and negative patterns to be broken and transformed. Fasting through the month of Ramadhan makes it possible to realign these basic energies, giving way to a new and realised approach to the health and well being of the Soul.

The natural result of curtailing these basic energies is that it makes us more sensitive, capable of more readily perceiving the subtle nature of our being. Fasting from the engagement of these powerful primal energies frees us to direct our focus on the true purpose of heart and being. It is as though we are removed from the bodily needs, bringing forth a focus on the needs of the soul. It is in a way a mythal of the meaning of La ilaha illa 'llah, there is no god but God. Denial of one (La ilaha) brings about the realization of the truth (illa Allah). Close down the path to the appetites of the nafs and the pathways of nourishing light are opened. From constriction comes expansion, and it is in the practice of fasting that we are raised to a higher state of consciousness. Ramadhan is a great gift and if entered into with the intention to fast for Allah alone, the reward will be for what you intend.

Allah Created Sin for the Sake of Forgiveness

Abu Sirma reported that when the time of the death of Abu Ayyub Al-Ansari had drawn near, he said,

I used to conceal from you a thing which I heard from Allah's Messenger. He said, "Had you not committed sins, Allah would have brought into existence a creation that would have committed sin (and Allah) would have forgiven them." (Muslim 37:6620)

Allah created sin so that He could forgive because He, the Most Forgiving, loves to forgive... SubhanAllah!

This should encourage us to never despair of Allah's mercy... No matter what we have done. Of course, this implies us taking the humble initiative to repent, repent and repent to the One who hears all...

Esoterics of of Al-Fatihah

As for the opening chapter of the Qur'an (al-Fatihah), it contains a synthesis of the whole book, and as noted earlier, its recitation marks the beginning of every daily service. It has a role in Islam that is analogous to that of the Shema' in Judaism and of the "Lord's Prayer" in Christianity, and is divided into two parts. The former contains a mention of the divine names, while the latter is a request of guidance and of protection against deviance.

Its words mean:
1. In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate
2. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds,
3. The Merciful, the Compassionate,
4. Master of the Day of Judgment.
5. Thee we worship and Thee we ask for help.
6. Guide us to the straight path,
7. The path of those whom Thou hast favored, not the path of those who earn Thine anger, nor of those who go astray.

Abu Hurayrah, one of the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad, narrated that he heard him say: "God, mighty and sublime is he, had said:

I have divided the service between Myself and My servant into two halves, and My servant shall have what he has asked for. When the servant says: "Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds," God says, "My servant has praised Me," and when he says, "The Merciful, the Compassionate," God says, "My servant has extolled Me." When he says, "Master of the Day of Judgment," God says, "My servant has glorified Me." When he says: "Thee we worship and Thee we ask for help," God says: "This is between Me and My servant, and My servant shall have what he has asked for." And when he says: "Guide us to the straight path, the path of those whom Thou hast favored, not the path of those who earn Thine anger, nor of those who stray," God says, "This is for My servant, and My servant shall have what he has asked for."

This mention of divine answers to the recitation of the creature leads us to understand in which sense the service is considered an intimate colloquium between the creature and his Creator. After completing the reading of al-Fatihah, the worshipper adds other verses from the Qur'an, and then bows, to show that he has not added anything to the praise which Allah gives to himself, but as only manifested by means of his created tongue, the uncreated Word which — according to Islam — is one of the divine attributes. After bowing, the believer stands again, and while coming back to the erect position says what means, "God listens to the one who praises him." This is a further clarification of the intimacy with the Divine Essence that is reached by means of the service, since God is not actually listening to the words of his servant, but rather to his own Word, which descended upon the tongue of his servant. As a consequence of this divine epiphany, the same individuality of the creature is temporarily abolished, and the worshipper prostrates with his forehead to the ground, symbolically coming back to the earth he came from. No individuality can stand in front of God, and the prostration represents a condition of extinction (fana' in Arabic) of the created nature, which is like a temporary mirage, like a contingent shining which made God's light manifested. Even so, extinction in God is not conceived in Islam as a permanent condition, but as the first stage, which in the Islamic terminology is referred as "the journey from the creation toward the Truth." It is immediately followed by subsistence in God (baqa'); i.e., by the "journey from the Truth toward the creation." After being extinguished in God, the creature is sent back to himself, and this is represented by the seated position, which follows the prostration. That subsistence through God, the coming back to one's createdness while remembering the precedent, relative union with God, is itself transitory, and is followed by the stage in which the creature is again extinguished through the "extinction of the extinction" (fanu-l-fana'), which is represented by a second prostration.

- Shaykh Abdul-Hadi Palazzi, "What Do We Want the Other to Teach
About Islamic Prayer and Liturgy?"

Oh Allah, You are Peace and From You is Peace

O God,
Thou art Peace and Peace comes from Thee,
And Peace cometh back to Thee.
Let us enter,
Our Lord,
In the abode of Peace
And grant us access to Heaven.
Thy abode is an abode of Peace,
May Thou be blessed and exalted,
Thou art the Owner of Majesty and Generosity.

- Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)

Imam Shafi's Love of Truth

Never do I argue with a man with a desire to hear him say what is wrong,
or to expose him and win victory over him.
Whenever I face an opponent in debate I silently pray --
O Lord, help him so that truth may flow from his heart
and on his tongue, and so that if truth is on my side,
he may follow me;
and if truth be on his side, I may follow him.

- Imam Ash-Shafi (rahimullah)

A Beautiful Du'a

OH ALLAH, I thank YOU for this day.
I thank YOU for my being able to see and to hear this morning.
I'm blessed because YOU are forgiving and understanding.
Oh Allah, YOU have done so much for me & YOU keep on blessing me.
Forgive me this day for everything I have done,
said, or thought that was not pleasing to YOU.
I ask YOU now for YOUR forgiveness.
Please keep me safe from all danger and harm.
Help me to start this day with a new attitude and plenty of gratitude.
Let me make the best of each and every day;
To clear my mind so that I can hear from YOU.
Please broaden my mind that I can accept all things.
Let me not whine and whimper over things I have no control over.
Let me continue to see sin through YOUR eyes and acknowledge it as evil.
And when I sin, let me repent, and receive YOUR forgiveness.
And when this world closes in on me, let me remember YOU;
- To slip away and find a quiet place to make DUA...
It's the best response when I'm pushed beyond my limits.
I know that when I can't make DUA, YOU listen to my heart.
Continue to use me to do YOUR will.
Continue to bless me that I may be a blessing to others.
Keep me strong that I may help the weak.
Keep me uplifted that I may have words of encouragement for others.
I make DUA for those that are lost and can't find their way.
I make DUA for those that are misjudged and misunderstood.
I make DUA for those who don't know YOU intimately.
I make DUA for those that will delete this without sharing it with others
I make DUA for those that don't believe;
But I thank you that I believe.
I believe that Allah changes people and Allah changes things.
I make DUA for all my sisters and brothers.
For each and every family member in their households.
I make DUA for peace, love, and joy in their homes;
That they are out of debt and all their needs are met.
Ameen.

- Author Unknown

Letter to the Editor: Pope’s Speech Being Used to Fuel a Divisive Agenda

The Muslim world is aghast once again at another seeming ‘low-blow’ to the faith by none other than Pope Benedict. Upon reading the Pope’s speech itself rather than relying on press accounts, the Pope makes reference to a dialogue carried on in 1391 by the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam, as mentioned in an obscure book written by one Thomas Khoury. In reading the Pope’s words in the context of his full speech, it appears that his only crime is in his choice of using Thomas Khoury’s book and the weak and obtuse arguments presented in it to make a broader scholarly argument about the incompatibility of violence and faith across all religious traditions. Though it is unclear why he chose Khoury’s book and its provocative language as a reference, his arguments can be easily refuted with even basic knowledge of the role of reason in faith from the perspective of Islamic thought. That being said, the Pope’s speech is evidently being manipulated once again by those that aim to benefit from more hatred and violence between the Western and the Muslim worlds, in step with the Danish cartoon incident. Unfortunately, many Muslim leaders and groups are falling for the trap and making irresponsible comments, even after admitting they did not read the speech but based their reactions entirely on what the press had written. Instead of asking for apologies and protests, perhaps the response should come in like form to the Pope’s original statements; that of a scholarly dialogue on the issues discussed in his speech. In so doing, perhaps we could turn another potentially disastrous incident into a positive one by moving toward a dialogue of civilizations rather than a clash of civilizations.

Read the speech here: http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=94748

The Perfection of Awareness

There are three stages to the perfection of awareness (at the end of which you are no longer aware, it is only Al-llah! who is aware). They are:

Islam - Acceptance and Surrender (to the way of the peace and the love) - Surrender begins with the realization that guidance cannot be and should not be 'self-provided', that it must be sought at the hand of a realized teacher; and acting in accordance with that knowing. At this point, according to your level of Himma (willingness), you will be put into contact with the classical Islamic learning process.

Iman - Correct faith (with experientially verifiable certainty). The perfection of faith is its conversion to certainty (Yaqin) yielding correctness in behavior and knowledge coming from the complete realization of Truth and a deep understanding of the human situation. This process has three phases: Hearing the Truth, Seeing the Truth, and Being the Truth.

`Ilm ul Yaqin - Hearing about a knowledge of which you wish to learn more. The Power of the mind used and developed for the accomplishment of this stage is known in Sanskrit as Dharana (concentration, focus, search, contact, discovery, identification), and the accomplishment is achieved by a combination of pure intent and asking the right questions.

`Ain ul Yaqin - This is the stage of actually doing the work necessary to complete understanding. It requires the development of a sufficiency of dedication, determination and commitment, and a continued use and development of the Powers of Dharana, focus of attention or concentration.

You might notice that the development of each one of these powers of the stages of process requires the use of the entire process - identification, contemplation and comprehension.

Haqq ul Yaqin - Being the Truth. Attainment. Becoming the reality (a
carrier) of this Certainty. Complete comprehension.

Ihsan - Perfect guidance (finished, liberated, able to guide others). Spiritual Liberation implies the perfection of one's understanding of purpose and purity of intention. It does not imply the kind of liberty that supports childish behavior and undisciplined carelessness. This is the holy station of 'Salik al Majdhubi", the contained and sober intoxicated; the Sufi who is the union of the way of the walking (Shari`at - Muhammadun Rasulullah) and the Ultimate Reality (Haqiqat - La ilaha illa 'llah).

The completion of this process of alignment is the ultimate fulfillment and the end of personal desire and hence the end of the ruling power of the perverse ego (both your own and others'), since ego is the defensive aggressive tool constructed for the purpose of attaining personal desire. Personality is thence put to the uses that Al-llah! intended for it in the first place, namely service, friendliness and education.

- Ali Ansari

Why Use Drugs to Treat Dehydration?

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The Night of Mid-Sha`ban (laylat al-bara'a)

The Night of Mid-Sha`ban (laylat al-bara'a)

Allah said:

inna anzalnahu fi laylatin mubarakatin inna kunna mundhirin

Lo! We revealed it on a blessed night -- Lo! We are ever warning --

fiha yufraqu kullu amrin hakim

Whereupon every wise command is made clear

amran min `indina inna kunna mursilin

As a command from Our presence -- Lo! We are ever sending --

rahmatan min rabbika innahu huwa al-sami`u al-`alim

A mercy from thy Lord. Lo! He is the Hearer, the Knower. (44:3-6)

Although the majority of the commentators consider the "blessed night" in the above verses to refer to the Night of Decree (laylat al-qadr) which is considered to be in the month of Ramadan, yet the commentaries also mention that this "blessed night" may be that of mid-Sha`ban (laylat al-bara'a). This view is based on the profusion of hadiths on the great merits of the latter. Consequently the Shari`a has commended observance of that night. Concerning supererogatory worship on the night of mid-Sha`ban Suyuti says in his Haqiqat al-sunna wa al-bid`a:

As for the night of mid-Sha`ban, it has great merit and it is desirable (mustahabb) to spend part of it in supererogatory worship.

Even Ibn Taymiyya -- the putative authority of "Salafis" -- considered the night of mid-Sha`ban "a night of superior merit" in his Iqtida' al-sirat al-mustaqim:

[Some] said: There is no difference between this night (mid-Sha`ban) and other nights of the year. However, the opinion of many of the people of learning, and that of the majority of our companions (i.e. the Hanbali school) and other than them is that it is a night of superior merit, and this is what is indicated by the words of Ahmad (ibn Hanbal), in view of the many ahadith which are transmitted concerning it, and in view of what confirms this from the words and deeds transmitted from the early generations (al-athar al-salafiyya). Some of its merits have been narrated in the books of hadith of the musnad and sunan types. This holds true even if other things have been forged concerning it.

Among the hadiths stressing the status of laylat al-bara'a are the following:

The Prophet said : Allah looks at His creation in the night of mid-Sha`ban and He forgives all His creation except for a mushrik (idolater) or a mushahin (one bent on hatred).

From `A'isha:

She said: The Prophet stood up in prayer during part of the night and made his prostration so lengthy that I thought his soul had been taken back. When I saw this I got up and went to move his big toe, whereupon he moved, so I drew back. When he raised his head from prostration and finished praying, he said: "O `A'isha, O fair little one (humayra')! Did you think that the Prophet had broken his agreement with you?" She replied: "No, by Allah, O Messenger of Allah, but I thought that your soul had been taken back because your stayed in prostration for so long." He said: "Do you know what night this is?" She said: "Allah and His Prophet know best." He said: "This is the night of mid-Sha`ban! Verily Allah the Glorious and Majestic look at His servants on the night of mid-Sha`ban, and He forgives those who ask forgiveness, and He bestows mercy on those who ask mercy, and He gives a delay to the people of envy and spite in their state."

Tirmidhi, Ahmad, and Ibn Majah relate:

From `A'isha: I missed the Prophet one night so I went out to al-Baqi` (and found him). He said: "Were you afraid that Allah would wrong you and that His Prophet would wrong you?" I said: "O Messenger of Allah, I thought that you might have gone to visit one of your wives." He said: "Allah Glorious and Exalted descends to the nearest heaven on the night of mid-Sha`ban and He forgives to more people than the number of hairs on the hides of the sheep of the tribes of Kalb."

Ahmad and Ibn Majah relate:

From `Ali ibn Abi Talib: The Prophet said: "The night of mid-Sha`ban let all of you spend in prayer (i.e. partly) and its day (i.e. preceding it) in fasting, for Allah descends to the nearest heaven during that night beginning with sunset and says: Is there no one asking forgiveness that I may forgive them? Is there no one asking sustenance that I may grant them sustenance? Is there no one under trial that I may relieve them? Is there not such-and-such, is there not such-and-such, and so forth until dawn rises."

Two Views of Politics in Islam

The traditional view understands the role of politics in terms of what the Qur’an teaches. It indicates that prophets were sent to humans to teach them truths about God, ethics, ways to achieve prosperity in this world, and beatitude in the hereafter, and to warn about the consequences of injustice and sinfulness. A prophet who is called to preach in a stateless milieu has to assume a role of political leadership; this mantle fell on Moses, as it did to Muhammad (peace be upon both of them). Islamic tradition teaches that when this happens, the two roles are combined by accident; political leadership is not a necessary element of the prophetic mission. By way of confirmation, note that the Qur’an uses different titles to describe the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) but none of them refers to his political function. Verses 33:45-46 say that he was sent as a witness (shahid), a bearer of glad tidings (mubashshir), a warner (nadhir), as someone who calls to God (da‘i ila Allah), and as a shining light (siraj munir). Nowhere does it say he was sent as a political leader or a head of state. That the Prophet Muhammad actually had a political role resulted from the social conditions that prevailed in his time, but this was not a necessary part of his prophetic mission.

Islamists, however, have a very different interpretation. For them, building an Islamic state is the central achievement of the prophetic mission. Conflating the role of the Muslim scholar with that of a political leader, they hold that the spread of Islam cannot be separated from the creation of what they call the Islamic state. (The Islamists Have it Wrong, Abdul Hadi Palazzi, 2001)

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Islamists in Malaysia argue that the Prophet (SAW) was a politician, and therefore, Islam cannot be separated from the quest for political power. In my opinion, calling the Prophet (SAW) a politican is almost an insult. Politicians, by the very nature of politics itself, are about one thing -- acquiring worldly power. If one wants to be a politician, fine, no problem. We are not saying that there is anything wrong with politics. But to call Rasulullah (SAW) a politician is rediculous for the simple reason that throughout his 23 years of Prophethood, Muhammad (SAW) repeatedly turned down offerings of power and rank. He was literally offered to be made king by the Meccans and turned it down for to do so would have meant abandoning his mission of spreading the message of Islam. This example alone shows that he knew that his amanah from Allah was only to be a warner and educator. The leadership position of Medina he received after 13 years was not the product of politicking or running for office. Rather, it was bestowed upon him from Allah; the product of total obedience, courage, perseverence, patience, mercy, steadfastness, forgiveness and dedication to his cause and purpose. A leader is not synonymous with a politician. Many leaders come to leadership positions by means other than through political activities.

Politics is the act of vying for worldly power. My political science professor in college defined it as simply "getting what there is to be gotten." It implies the action of seeking and acquiring power, whether for better or worse. Rasulullah (SAW), however, never sought after anything in this world. His heart lived in the Akhirat. He knew his Lord better than any other and when given the option to stay in the world or return to Allah, he chose the latter.

When Faced with Temptation...

When temptation claims your reason,
know that misfortune is about to strike.
Fall down prostrate and begin to pray.
With flowing tears implore the Lord
that He may deliver you
from the throes of doubt.

-Rumi, "Mathnawi"

Blessed are those who...

Blessed are those who honour God in all they do, who believe in the revelations of their Lord, and who worship only their Lord. Blessed are those who, when they give to the poor, do so with hearts filled with awe, knowing that they will soon return to their Lord. Blessed are those who vie with one another for God's blessings; they will be foremost in receiving them.

-Qur'an, Al-Mu'minun, Surah 23:57-61

What I love about this ayah is the 'between the lines' content. It doesn't only stress the 'what' in Islam, but the 'how', which is exactly why we can never judge books by their covers. We can never claim to know what is inside of an individual when they do what they do -- just one more reason why we should leave judgment to Allah.

Removing a Stone from the Road

Affirming the positive is not always positive, but removing the negative always is. (Prophet SAS said that the humblest charity is removing a stone from a pathway.) Positivity exists (and in reality is all there is), negativity does not, except in our minds. Purifying our minds to know, love and live richly, prosperously and benevolently in God is the point of Tasawwuf (Sufism) and of Islam, and the third part of personal and community development in Islam, to wit, establishing Health, providing Education, and achieving personal and social Welfare.

- Ali Ansari

Letter to the Editor: Adult Hypocrisy and our Youth

Adults in Malaysia appear to have an integrity problem when it comes to young people. Recent reports on out of control drug use, sexual promiscuity and others among youth have re-ignited apparent concern about the health and direction of younger Malaysians. In virtually every case, the question always seems to be, ‘what’s wrong with our youth?’ Well, I for one feel that there is nothing wrong with our youth, rather, the problem rests with us adults. In my opinion, young people are merely reacting to the hypocrisy of adults. For example, how often do our young people hear about the need and importance of science and technology? To be world-class scholars, they need much more than schools. We as a nation must create a culture that is inherently intellectual, that desires to know truth and is committed to human excellence in all aspects of life. Knowing this, what do we do toward facilitating this? We give them Malaysian Idol, Mentor, Survivor, Jom Hebot and the like – a steady diet of it. On the one hand, our leaders rightly encourage youth to strive toward becoming world-leading scientists, engineers, doctors and professionals while on the other hand, everywhere they turn they are being seduced into lives of glamour, self-aggrandizement and mind-numbing ‘infotainment’. We frown on classical and traditional arts but spend billions on promoting hip-hop, rap and other contemporary ‘art’ forms that contain virtually no intellectual or cultural value -- all in the name of profits. The bottom line? Young people are used for their consumer power by none other than who? Adults. They are targeted by big corporations because as a collective group, they have money and they like to spend it. Has anyone wondered how much telecommunications companies make off those sms contests? Do these corporations really care that our young people are squandering millions every year for these useless contests when they could be saving their money for things like education and marriage? We don’t really care about our young people, let’s face it. If we did, we would have things like world-class libraries instead of discos, and profits would come second to things that really mattered to them and their future. The next time we feel the urge to criticize our young people, maybe we should start by looking in the mirror and pondering what kind of example we are setting for them.

The Delusion of Selfhood

Wherever the delusion of your selfhood appears — there's hell. Wherever "you" aren't – that's heaven.

-Abu Sa'id in Ibn Munawwar, "Asrar at-tawhid"

Meaning

How does one explore meaning? With conviction, determination, investigation and repetition! The word 'Gnostic' means Knower (of God). The word 'Gnosis' means Knowledge (of God). The word 'agnostic' means to be without knowledge (of God), and therefore, ignorant.

Consider, if you will, the meaning of the word 'ignorant' (Spanish/Latin: ignorante)-one who ignores. To ignore is an act of will and therefore of deliberate denial and uncaring, and therefore unknowing, (of the Divine Nature of Existence). And now consider the consequences of ignorance - singularly the most damaging aspect of human existence. Fear, war, pestilence, disease, all the damaging elements arise from this one human quality. The war of light is always with knowledge, against ignorance.

- Ali Ansari

The Beauty of Problem Solving

When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.

~ Buckminster Fuller

How We See Reality

Instead of pouring knowledge into people's heads, we need to help them grind a new set of eyeglasses so that we can see the world in a new way.

~ J S Brown.

Every Moment is a Moment in Creation

When we live in the moment, we fulfill our obligation of living in surrender to the Creator of every moment.
By doing so, akhirat takes care of itself, insha-Allah.
Living for akhirat, however, means living for some other moment, one that does not exist outside of our minds. It is not the same as living for Allah, who is eternal and present all the time and everywhere.
Rather, living for akhirat is living in blindness of Allah, for Allah is the Creator and is known and appreciated by His creation, which occurs continuously every moment of our lives.
He created to be known. He created us as the knower to know Him. How to fulfill the obligation to know Him without paying full attention to Him through his creation?
Though He cannot be known (i.e. His face/essence) with our eyes in this life, He is known through attention and awareness to His Attributes and Names which can only be known by way of His creation, ourselves and His revelation.
A blind man can know many things even though he cannot see with his eyes. The blind man, through the sensitivity of his sharpened inner perception, can even know things at a much deeper level than most of us.
Likewise, we can know Allah even though we cannot see Him, through the purification of our inner Selves and by being fully aware and present every moment...

"Take Wisdom from Wherever You Find It"

Children tell stories,
but in their tales are enfolded
many a mystery and moral lesson.
Though they may relate many ridiculous things,
keep looking in those ruined places for a treasure.

-Mathnawi [III, 2601-2603]

Wisdom from the Most Wise is always manifested from the hearts of the pure ones...

When Misfortune Befalls Us, Who Do We Blame?

"If misfortune befalls you, it is the consequence of your own actions. Yet God forgives much. On this earth you can not escape God; and there is no one apart from God who can protect or help you."

-Qur'an, Ash-Shura, Surah 42:30-31

Until we all internalize this... don't expect things to change...

There is only one source of peace, Ya Salamu!

On the Unity of All Being

The central doctrine concerning the ultimate nature of reality has usually been called wahdat al-wujûd or the (transcendent) unity of Being. This cardinal doctrine, which is not pantheism, or pan-entheism nor natural mysticism as Western orientalists have called it, is the direct consequence of the Shahâdah. It asserts that there cannot be two completely independent orders of reality or being which would be sheer polytheism or shirk. Therefore, to the extent that anything has being it cannot be other than the Absolute Being.

The Shahâdah in fact begins with the lâ, or negation, in order to absolve Reality of all otherness and multiplicity. The relation between God and the order of existence is not just a logical one in which if one thing is equal to another the other is equal to the first. Through that mystery that lies in the heart of creation itself, everything is, in essence, identified with God while God infinitely transcends everything. To understand this doctrine intellectually is to possess contemplative [intuitive] intelligence; to realize it fully is to be a saint who alone sees 'God everywhere'.

From: Ideals and Realities of Islam, S H Nasr

As Leaders Go, So Goes the World

I think this speaks mountains in regard to our present situation...

If in the darkness of ignorance,
You don’t recognize a person’s true nature,
Look to see whom he has chosen for his leader.

-Rumi, "Mathnawi" [IV, 1640]

Better than Angels?

Angels were created without lust and evil, the worst obstacles of humankind. Those who, despite their evil nature, remain pious excel angels in rank.

Enthused by their purity angels denounced the human race so God chose three angels to go to the earth and reform its inhabitants. One angel, espying the corruption, begged God to let him return. The other two, in their earthly form, gave in to lust and fell from grace. Thus God revealed to the other angels the superiority of the devout.

-Al-Hujwiri, “The Kashf al-Mahjub”

The Blessing of Adam

Assalamualaikum Mohd. Adam Firdaus!

If you've ever doubted that the throne of Mercy surrounds us and abounds, just take a long look at the face of your newborn. The feeling of Allah's Greatness, Mercy, Love and Oneness is indescribable.

It just makes you want to stay there and melt away...

Allahu akbar.

The Flames of Love

Love is the flame which, when it blazes, consumes everything other than the Beloved.
The lover wields the sword of Nothingness in order to dispatch all but God:
consider what remains after Nothing.
There remains but God: all the rest is gone.
Praise to you, O mighty Love, destroyer of all other "gods."

-Rumi, Mathnawi [V, 588-590]

Polishing the Heart

When your heart is dark as iron,
steadily polish yourself that the heart may become a mirror,
a beautiful shine relecting from within.
Although iron is dark and dismal,
polishing clears the darkness away.

~ Rumi, "Mathnawi"

Everything Comes from Allah

If you investigate closely you will see that everything comes from Allah. Absolutely everything comes from Allah. The Source of all wealth is Allah. He it is Who Manifests from nothing. Did the raw material for creation exist before creation? OK, where did IT come from? Attain this connection (through understanding) first, and all else will necessarily follow. If you can see, feel, touch and maintain connection with Allah through seeing, feeling, touching and maintaining connection with yourself, only increase will result, insha-Allah...

~ Ali Ansari

The Switch

THE SWITCH
REMEMBERING UNITY

GOD'S PLEASURE IS ON HIS HOLY NAME, AL-LLAH! ("THE ONE GOD"). THE PLEASURE OF GOD (IN ARABIC) IS RIDHWANU'LLAH. "RIDHWAN" IS PLEASURE (DIVINE), "ALLAH" IS "THE ONE" (GOD) RIDHWANU'LLAH - THE PLEASURE OF GOD

THE SWITCH
THE SWITCH- (AS IN ON/OFF) - IS THIS -
WHEN YOU ARE NOT FEELING GOD'S SMILE ON YOU, YOU ARE FEELING SOMETHING LESS - EITHER "NEUTRAL" OR TRAPPED, PUZZLED OR DEPRESSED.

NOW GOD IS SMILING ON YOU ALL THE TIME, BUT YOU ARE NOT FEELING IT ALL THE TIME, BUT THIS IS A CHOICE YOU ARE MAKING BY REMEMBERING SOMETHING ELSE, NOT GOD.

YOU CAN CHOOSE TO REMEMBER GOD. JUST REMEMBER, GOD'S PLEASURE IS ON HIS HOLY NAME. SO TRY IT, SAY AL-LLAH! AND REMEMBER UNITY. FEEL THE CHANGE?

THAT IS THE SWITCH. YOUR CHOICE - REMEMBER, OR FORGET.

~ Ali Ansari

People Not Systems

Man, the living creature, the creating individual, is always more important than any established style or system.

~ Bruce Lee, 1940-1973, Chinese-American Actor, Director, Author, Martial Artist

What is great about this quote by none other than Bruce Lee, is the fact that he hits upon a very important point about any and all human systems and organizations, which is that the most common denominator in any system - whether it be a system of government, business, education, or any other - is the human being. If the individuals running a system or organization are of the highest human character, that system will stand the greatest chance of being successful and all will benefit from it. On the other hand, even the supposed best system in the world will amount to nothing if the individuals responsible for administering it are not morally, ethically and spiritually sound. In the end, religion and spirituality are about one thing: the refinement and perfection of human character, for it is that human refinement and excellence that represents the greatest glorification of God.

Our beloved Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) put this in the most succinct of terms: Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "I was sent to perfect good character." (Book 47, Number 47.1.8)

God Needs No One to Defend Him

God is His own Sovereign. His Sovereignty need not be “established” by men except in their own hearts. Then we will have a theocracy of luminaries, which is the only reality that matters, and for that we need only to learn true Surrender and teach true Surrender. And that is the pure Islam. Theocratic totalitarianism is not the sovereignty of God. It is paternalistic enforcement and very definitely the sovereignty of men. It is the attempted domination of the world by fearful and repressed minds, no matter what philosophy or religion they purport to be maintaining. It is always in the mindset of a like-minded group of people and is Not the Islam of trusting liberation ("La Iqraha Fi-d-Din") but that of religious slavery.

~ Ali Ansari

Problem Solving

Problems cannot be solved by thinking within the framework in which the problems were created.

~ Albert Einstein

How You Deal With Others Is How You Will Be Dealt With

If it's mercy and peace we seek in life, then we must first embody that which we seek...

A wise man once said to his son, "My son, do not become resentful when you are afflicted with trials, for indeed that is tantamount to having bad thoughts about one's Lord, and also, it gives pleasure to one's enemy.

Do not mock others, for indeed by Allah, every time I ever mocked anyone, I was afflicted in the same way as the person who I mocked. In this world, man is a target of arrows that come to him successively: some pass him by, some fall short, some fall to his right and others to his left, and some strike him.

Know that for every deed, you are rewarded, and how you deal with others is how you will be dealt with. And whoever is dutiful to his parents, his children, will be dutiful to him.

Avoid greed with ambition, for both represent poverty in the present.

Fear Allah as much as you are able. And if you are able to make today better than yesterday and tomorrow better than today and your secrets better than your outward deeds, then do so.

Beware of deeds that you have to apologize for, for one never has to apologize for goodness.

When you stand for prayer, perform the prayer of one who is saying farewell, as if you feel that you will never afterwards pray again (i.e., that you will die).

Adhere to modesty, and you will be of its people.

Do not inflict harm upon others; rather give them good, and forgive if you are able to.

Do not be miserly if you are asked for something and do not tarry when one seeks help from you. Whoever is stingy, then Allah will make things narrow for him; and whoever gives, then Allah will give him a replacement for what he gave."

- From "Gems and Jewels" (p. 141), compiled by Abdul-Malik Mujahid

The Playground of the Nafs is the Mind

As soon as you have made a thought, laugh at it.

~ Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher

The Problem Science has with God....

An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, the Almighty.

He asks one of his new students to stand.....

Prof: So you believe in God?
Student: Absolutely, sir.
Prof: Is God good?
Student: Sure.
Prof: Is God all-powerful?
Student: Yes.
Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't. How is this God good then? Hmm? (Student is silent.)
Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fellow. Is God good?
Student: Yes.
Prof: Is Satan good?
Student: No.
Prof: Where does Satan come from?
Student: From...God...
Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student: Yes.
Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct?
Student: Yes.
Prof: So who created evil? Student does not answer.
Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don't they?
Student: Yes, sir.
Prof: So, who created them? Student has no answer.
Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God?
Student: No, sir.
Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?
Student: No, sir.
Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?
Student: No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.
Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student: Yes.
Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.
Prof: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.

Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Prof: Yes.
Student: And is there such a thing as cold?
Prof: Yes.
Student: No sir. There isn't. (The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.) Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don't have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it. (There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)
Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?
Student: You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light....But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? In reality, darkness isn't. If it were you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?
Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?
Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.
Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?
Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?
Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.
Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir? (The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument is going.)
Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher? (The class is in uproar.)
Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain? (The class breaks out into laughter.)
Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir? (The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable.)
Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.
Student: That is it sir... The link between man & God is FAITH. That is all that keeps things moving & alive.

WANT TO KNOW WHO THAT STUDENT WAS?
The student was none other than......... Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the present President of India

He Who Knows Himself....

....We think we are moving towards a more solid connection with reality but the solid connection we are truly looking for is only with the truth that is within ourselves. We perform this outward search (for material gain) because in the reality of our minds we feel disconnected from ourselves. Our drive to connect is in response to a sense of lack of connection. We imagine a connection that is not there because we cannot realize a connection that is. And that connection is with God - Who is everywhere - and no one can be any farther from God than any one else, except in their illusions. Your distance from God is all in your mind, and it is equal to your distance from your self. But because we've been taught to disbelieve in God, we have lost connection with the means of connection, which is ourselves.

- Ali Ansari

A True Human Being Changes Forty Times a Day

Imam Nawawi (Allah have mercy on him) said in his Majmu` Sharh al-Muhadhdhab:

“Abul Qasim al-Junayd (Allah have mercy on him) said, "A sincere person changes forty times a day, while the hypocritical show-off stays as he is forty years."

The meaning of this is that the sincere person moves with what is right, wherever it may lead, such that when prayer is deemed better by the Sacred Law, then he prays, and when it is best to be sitting with the learned, or the righteous, or guests, or his children, or taking care of something a Muslim needs, or mending a broken heart, or whatever else it may be, then he does it, leaving aside what he usually does. And likewise for fasting, reciting the Koran, invoking Allah, eating or drinking, being serious or joking, enjoying the good life or engaging in self-sacrifice, and so on. Whenever he sees what is preferred by the Sacred Law under the circumstances, he does it, and is not bound by a particular habit or kind of devotion as the show-off is. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) did various things of prayer, fasting, sitting for Koran recital and invocation, eating and drinking, dressing, riding, lovemaking with his wives, seriousness and jest, happiness and wrath, scathing condemnation for blameworthy things, leniency in punishing those who deserved it and excusing them, and so ion, according to what was possible and preferable for the time and circumstances (al-Majmu' (),1.17- 18, from Shaykh Nuh Keller’s translation of Reliance of the Traveller, c2.6).

The Purpose of Life

Because Allah (God) is permanent, and this is without question, so is the manifestation of His creation that is beyond the time and space of worldly existence. And we are that manifestation.
But by that I do not mean us as the temporary and transitory manifestation of this life, which is only a moment in which we may discover ourselves and choose to abide in the truth or ignore it and pursue the illusion. It is not that this temporary and transitory life is meaningless but that it is only a tool, a moment in eternity, by which we may gain knowledge of our transcendent nature. It is by means of this life that we gain our true recognition of God. It is by the very means of this life that we may learn to transcend it and know of and abide in our life forever in a garden not of our own making. That is why I say often that the purpose of life, death, and everything in between is Self- and God realization.

- Ali Ansari

Sacrifice and Self-Denial

If you devote yourself to God in this world, He will admit you among His chosen servants in the hereafter. Such devotion, however, demands sacrifice and self-denial, the two instruments that make union with God possible.

-Al-Hujwiri, "The Kashf al-Mahjub"

Practice Encouragement

Practice Encouragement

"Speak good words to all men." (Qur'an, 2:83)

"To God do ascend the goodly words, and He exalts the goodly deed." (Qur'an, 35:10)

Dr. Alfred Adler, the great psychologist, had an experience when he was a young boy. He got off to a bad start learning arithmetic, so his teacher became convinced that Adler was stupid when it came to mathematics. The teacher told Adler’s parents that the boy was dumb, and also told them not to expect much from him. His parents were convinced that the teacher's evaluation was correct. Therefore, Adler passively accepted the assessment that they had made of his abilities. And his grades in mathematics proved that they were correct.

However, one day he had a sudden flash of insight and thought he saw how to work a problem the teacher had put on the board that none of the other pupils could solve. He raised his hand and announced that he would like to do the problem. The students, and even the teacher, laughed at this. He became indignant. He strode to the blackboard and solved the problem perfectly, much to everyone's amazement. And at that moment he realised that he could understand mathematics. He had been handed an unreal, negative self-evaluation, and he had believed it and performed on the basis of that assessment.

Many of us have done the very same thing. Someone has told us that our abilities are limited, or that our dreams are unreachable. We have accepted that without question, and we go through life unhappy and unfulfilled. We become estranged from ourselves simply because we believe what others people have told us about ourselves.

Every one of us - young and old alike - needs to be encouraged. To encourage someone is to put courage into them. To discourage is to take courage out of them. It costs nothing to put courage into another ... to speak a kind word ... to let them know you appreciate them ... to tell them you believe in them ... that you admire them ...to thank them and so on.

So, today, make a point of putting courage into your spouse ... your children ... your boss ... your employees ... and the clerk at the local store. Go out of your way to do it. And in blessing others you will be blessed yourself.

Dick Innes

Purifying the Heart...

When you purify your hearts just as you purify your raiment, union with God will follow. You cannot become a Sufi by merely wearing coarse woolen shirts and following strict ritual, pretending to be pious while inside your hearts you bear malice and avarice. A real Sufi has attained a state of perfection on the inside. If you sincerely seek union with God, then seek Him inside your hearts and leave the world alone.

-Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jillani, “Fayuz E Yazdani”

A Response to Fear

A RESPONSE TO FEAR

Ali Ansari

My beloved brothers and sisters in Islam,

Determined to get to the garden?

"Methinks that Mecca thou shall not reach my friend, for the road thou takest leadeth unto Turkestan." (Sufi Poet)

In spite of the fact that you are frightened (and pretending not to be), frightening yourselves, others and sometimes me, I will continue to reach out to you with love, understanding and knowledge which you did not have before.

It is imperative that you listen to me in the right spirit, for what I say will be in contradiction to the dictates of your lower self and quite possibly the community around you, and we all know that the power of the lower self is very strong and compelling. The choices you make in every moment may govern the direction of your life forever.

If you choose the path of destruction then know that it is your destiny. It matters not what justification you put on it. You may say that it is the will of God and that He commands it. Whether this is true or not is of little consequence compared to the fact that it is still up to you to choose it. And God does not command the destruction of that which he has blessed and determined to be built. So if you choose the path of destruction, then know that it is your destiny.

But if you are a true Muslim and choose the way of the peace in your heart (the True Islam) then stop war now! Stop aiding it, stop abetting it, stop encouraging it, stop supporting it and most of all, stop believing in it as a means of accomplishment.

Believing in war as a means to peace is belief in slaughter, tyranny, oppression and destruction, and will only bring to you what you believe in.

Allah gives us the choice to believe as we will, and lets us know plainly that as we believe, so shall it be.

So if destruction is the destiny you seek then join with the others who are marching headlong into it in the name of the religion of their desires for the future, believing that therein lies their eternal pleasure in another world. Since we know not truly in which state we shall die, we do not know and cannot assume that we are the heirs of paradise or that we exclusively know or have discovered the way to get there. Only Allah Alone can grant that, and living truthfully to Allah in our own hearts in every moment is the only way to know the Reality of true Surrender. In the very assumption that a religious crusade is the right way to get there, there is enough inherent crime to keep you busy and out of the garden forever. Feel the peace that peaceful people are feeling in both worlds.

If you aid and abet in the destruction of a single human being, you have murdered, and who murders one being has murdered all of humanity, and oneself in the process. Hell is full to brimming with such people already. Why should you wish to join with them? So repent to Allah. Rethink your strategy. Is war and destruction really the best way to peace and eternity, or is it really simply suicide that you are after? It's really the death of your nagging lower self that you seek, and that will set you free to enjoy the life that God has given you in praise and gratitude.
Who are you following, anyway? Peace exists here and now. Be grateful. Enjoy it and grow strong in your faith and trust in Allah. The goal of war is to end war, and there is only one war that does that, and that war is the war of peace. So convert you warlike brethren to the way of dedication to peace and inner knowledge. Learn how to really live and teach your belief in Allah to the world around you. We need, now more than ever, that the true Muslims who are surrendered to God directly and committed to the peace that is found in their hearts manifest themselves and recommit to the peace of the garden of life that Allah has given us. Now, not later, after having committed a lifetime of sin.

Islam is a process of spiritual maturation. It is not to be used as a tool for children who are still demanding that the world owes them something or that it ought to be in any way different from what it is, and in such illusion make it easier for them and their tyranny-oriented cohorts at the expense of anyone else. Deal with Reality now, not some idealistic perfection later, after having killed all your enemies.

Get it straight! There are no religious enemies. No religion preaches hatred, much less Islam. ALL religions and spiritual paths preach the brotherhood of man. The enemy is your personal wounded self who makes enemies out of others and the world, and seeks healing and safety through domination. Believing in such a duality and calling it the reality is the proven way to eternal failure. Surrender and be healed! No one has ever achieved lasting success with such an unhealed attitude. Such an attitude will get you success neither in this world nor the next. It is only a sign that you understand neither the point of your religion nor the nature of your true self, and no success can come for you in either world if you continue to abuse God's Holy Truth for your own personal goals.

This is why you forbid yourselves the dhikr of Allah, the oft and sincerely repeated saying of His name with a heart full of longing for His truth and the real peace. You won't do it because you know that He in His immediate Reality will break your heart of hatred with His love, and then your peer pressure will be too much for you to resist, and your loyalties to gangs and turf wars will be shattered and you will be ostracized and excommunicated and punished. And all of this has happened to you in your youth and you have promised to never let it happen again, but it will if you break away from your collision bound groups and societies and political organizations and join with the truly Surrendered ones in the Struggle for peace not war, which is the real jihad of Islam, the jihad of healing wounds, and winning hearts and souls, not turf.

But you are forced by your love of society and your need for justification of your personal anger and validation of your false self to create and believe in an artificial and illusory duality, and thereby deprive yourself voluntarily of, and separate yourselves voluntarily from, the love of Allah that you will receive from the true Surrender to Him as He bids you to do, so that He can heal your wounds and make you a true Muslim and bring you into your true unity and show you the true Islam so that you can live it and teach it to others without the hidden guilt of hypocrisy from knowing in your hearts that you are doing nothing more for Allah than competing with the US Marines and recruiting young policemen for a Muslim militia and law enforcement agency, and then wondering why you are not successful, and why no one wants to do it like you do, and so condemning the world as being unfaithful and touting yourself as being true, when it is you who are being untrue to yourselves and to Allah, all the while believing and claiming that you are the chosen faithful, earning your right to paradise and to punish, scold, chastise, police and even murder others.

Allah will take this religion from you, stripping you of the honor which was once yours, and give it to a people who will do right by it, and send you into the fires of the wars that you are so sure will gain you paradise.

"Divorced from reality" you say I am? If you only knew how hard I've worked and how much of my life I've devoted to knowing the Truth and the Real Reality of Allah as it is said that you can by the real masters of Islam that you blaspheme with your petty judgments as if they, or we, really cared. You only deprive yourselves. "And willingly and thanking God", you say, but "soon shall ye come to know". "If only you knew what the Reality is" "Beautiful to some, and horrendous to some". This is what Allah says to those of you who do not know the Reality but prefer the feeling of thinking that you do, while in reality you are only preaching gangs and turf-wars. You choose to not even try. You close the doors of your hearts to your true brothers and sisters in this life and the next who have come to the realizations of the Truth and Reality of Allah in every breath and deed of creation, who offer you the love of Allah but you are too afraid to accept it, except for just a moment so that you can go back to your associates and fellow deniers of love and re-affirm your vows to the hypocrisy of your selves to your very hearts and souls.

War is not the way! You are storming children and it matters not how much altruism and benevolence you claim. I know you feel that if only you could only rule you would manifest the benevolence, fairness and justice according to the book and tradition. So basically you want to be a policeman or a judge and dispense mercy and justice from a position of power, and feel that if the world gave you a chance, you would do a good job, and earn the pleasure of Allah and your reward in the garden. You think that the goal of Islam is a theocratic dictatorship. How little you know and how ill you judge. What do the dead and gone care about what you do with this illusory world of yours.

The Garden is not earned. It is Gifted here and now from the Mercy, Kindness and Benevolence of Allah. It can only be accepted by the believers and rejected by those still in denial. We've all been policed and judged to the death of our souls, and naturally we want to correct the injustices that we've experienced and know exist. But if you are not free of the hidden idol within you, the hidden childhood ego-demands from parents, others, and the world, then you are not free of your attachments, not a mature soul, not realized in the true way of God, the way of our innate nature (din al-fitrah) and can by no means understand or rule fairly, even with the best of tools at your disposal. Your primary responsibility is to know and to see God in every reality, not to respond to the promptings of your lower self to acquire your personal pleasure through violence, and justify it with your favorite interpretations of Scriptures.

Innocent children have heaven already inside of them. Discovery and protection of innocence, your own and that of the ones you love and care for, is of paramount importance, and we do not do that by shoving, however so gently, our guilt ridden fears, religious doctrines and dogmas, and patterns of fearful behavior down their throats. When we "educate" our children in that manner we are simply enforcing the message that they are bad until we say they are good, not that they are good until they are bad, as it should be. Such is the beginning of religious oppression and peer pressure in the family that suppresses the "lovingly rebellious" soul and causes the need for the "acting out" of extremes in the search for love.

Innocence is innate within everyone of us. Children are born in a state of Surrender (Muslims), and there is no way into the kingdom of heaven except by means of Surrender, to be as innocent and pure as little children - innocent of your selves and Surrendered to your reality, in a word, truly surrendered to Allah and real Muslims. There is clearly no such thing as original sin. Why then are we living our lives in a false fear, willing to make war and self-destruct to "earn" the place of our egos (which we think of as our souls) in paradise when we are in our truth already full of faith and confidence in ourselves, unless it is only the illusion of an oppressive life with false responsibility and obligation that we wish to destroy and be free of?

It's because our spirits have been repressed and we want to create an environment in which they can be free. That's the natural desire for paradise. But life, as short as it is, cannot be ruled, that is the dream of a wounded and vengeful child. "If we can marshal together enough of us of like mind, we can take over and have it our way." That's the very thesis of politics and gang philosophy. So you want a politically powerfully organization so that you can be heard and have your grievances addressed. But Allah can address your grievances immediately. But you do not want that because without your grievances you will not belong to the group any longer, you will not be sharing in the responsibility for the grief and suffering. Oh, horrors. You'll be part of the healing and not part of the suffering. You will be deemed by yourself and others as not doing your share.

So you deny yourself permanent happiness in this life (and the next), feeling that it is your responsibility to Allah, and that you are fulfilling it. But it is not and you are not. Your responsibility to Allah is your commitment to Him directly, in yourself and your heart, and then to find the peaceful way out of your own personal trap, and then to share it with others. That is the real way and the real religion and the real Islam. Surrender to Allah, Alone. Heal yourself first and then heal others. Bring them with you to be healed. When the power of your true reality dawns on you, and you feel the force and power of Allah in this movement, you will see that it is the true Islam and you will seek the forgiveness of your Lord morning and evening (for the misunderstandings you received and perpetuated), and offer the praise and gratitude of your Lord for the guidance of this direct way and dedicate your life to spreading it. This is the real way to world peace and the real teaching of the real truth of the real Islam. Period!

Life cannot be ruled, for, who then would be the ruler? You! Not God! Or are you God's partner? You and God? Is that your idea? I don't think so. I don't think you'll find that a very popular idea. So Surrender your false ideas to Allah Now, feel the real love and let go the idols of self-worship in your heart. This is the true way, so discover it and walk it in trust and confidence. Look to your hidden idol, the one of the ideal world in which everything goes your way because you are the Muslim, the one in which all others will bow down to you and your wishes or suffer the just and religiously required consequences. Look to your hidden idol, the one that keeps you from knowing God now.

Life is from Allah, it is Al-Hayy, His Sacred Quality, and it cannot nor should be controlled, It can only be surrendered to. It is the tyranny of the nafs (your lower self) that drives you to thinking that you can, or need to, rule in order to be happy. You cannot rule, because Allah rules. But you can be happy, so surrender to that part of you that is, deeply inside, content and happy with Allah Alone. Or don't. Your choice.

So surrender your horrible beast and enter into the garden now, not later. Do not allow yourself to go to war or to commit crimes of passion and aggression against individuals or humanity no matter how justified the cause or how strong the peer pressure. Stop wrong doing in yourselves and in your friends, family and community. Promise Allah, yourself and me sincerely and forever on the hand of the Prophet that you will be dedicated only to truth, peace, love, mercy, compassion, forgiveness. If you will not do this then be warned of the fires of the very war you are aiding and abetting which will consume you and your loved ones and many millions of innocents and which will not end with your death as you hope. The only way to inherit the garden is to be in it now and not leave. "Khaleelu min al Akhireen". Few among the people of latter times.

Nobody wins by war, or rules by domination. Your parents couldn't rule you. What makes you think you can rule the world. This not the Divine rule of God that you are preaching, but the tyranny of the Self. And it's Your Self, I might add. The assertion that you are on the right path is only an attempt at self-validation in like-minded company. It cannot be real just because you say it is. It must be validated by your actions in the spiritual presence of the prophet through the empowered `ahli bait themselves or in the presence of one of their duly authorized and truly rightly guided representatives. That is the true way preserved by the Sufis. Autonomy (self-governance) is your God-given right. You may exercise it to enter and stay in the coolness of the heaven in your heart through being dedicated to peace, healing wounds and love of thy neighbor, or to jump into a mindset of fear and hatred, creating and entering into the fires of your own desire for the war of self-destruction. But war is suicide and genocide, and for that very reason forbidden by God in all religions. War IS hell. And life is, or can be, heaven.

This is the way to world peace, the making of heaven on earth, not by means of domination and submission, but by the superior means of true understanding and reasoning. This is what Allah wants from us, not the violent outbursts of our wounded and vengeful selves. Restraining ourselves from outbursts of violence and anger is the hardest struggle of all and that's why it is referred to as the Jihad al Akbar, the Greater Struggle. It is abuse of the word Jihad to use it in reference to war over turf.

Historically, the masters of the heart have been the greatest propagators of this religion of truth through their knowing and explaining the reality of unity (tawheed). And it is only in times of peace that religion and civilization can truly flourish. So religion will flourish and reveal its purpose to you only if you keep a peaceful heart.

Giving Salams - Wishing you peace and stating the fact that the Peace of Allah is always present.
As-Salam `Alaikum means that the Peace of Allah is upon and within you. It's up to you to keep it there. It is as much a statement of truth as it is a wish, and for everyone in whom there is a beating heart it is true. It is not only possible but to be hoped for that the true Muslims who have the true peace in their true hearts are able to state the fact that the Peace of Allah is not only present but will never leave if the people chose to follow it. And the straight way to the Peace is from the Peace and not through the gates of war.

Nobody in the world wants to become a Muslim because of the example being set showing that Muslims are a people of peace outwardly, but of war inwardly. They claim to be wanting to make peace but secretly in their hearts want to make war and for that cannot be trusted. Their way is not the straight way but a way of deception, using the talk of peace and salvation to recruit more innocent believers into their theory of Jihad which is nothing more that a political power struggle.

So Peace. May the Peace and Mercy and the Prosperity of Allah be upon you.