Islam - Religion of Peace

Renewing peace between two aggrieved parties surpasses ritual praying, fasting, and almsgiving.

-Prophet Muhammad (SAW), as reported by Abu Darda'a

Be Ready to Receive Light...

If you wish for light, be ready to receive light.
Nourish your ego and be deprived of light.
If you wish to find a way out of this prison,
do not turn away;
bow down in worship and draw near.

-Rumi, "Mathnawi"

Allah Enjoins...

Allah enjoins justice and kindness, and in giving alms to kinsfolk,
He forbids indecency and abomination and oppression.
He exhorts you that you may take heed.

-Qur'an, An-Nahl, Surah 16:90

On Materialism.... Our Number One Ailment Today?

We are always asked and instructed to choose eternity over temporal matter, the short-term and the earthly engagements that we cling to so heavily. Yet, because of our doubt, suspicion, fear, and willful ego attachments, we get stuck and lose our perspective. We cling heavily to the earth. Over and over again, we slam head-first, like a head-on collision, into the earth (materialism). We mistakenly thought that the earthly things that we cling to would give us comfort. Indeed they don't! There is never enough money for us here. There is never enough beauty for us here. There's never enough food, pleasure, partners, power or years to be alive.

In spite of feeling grateful, truly thankful, for life, family, beauty and for our time on earth, our limitless longing is never completely satisfied by things. Our limitless longing, infinite desire, always has us wanting more. As Baba Anandamurti has perfectly stated, "There exists in the living being a thirst for limitlessness." That thirst is unlimited; therefore, limited things cannot quench it. So why do we cling so heavily to the earth? What is wrong with us? If we truly believe ... then what is wrong with us? Do we still prefer the life of this world to the hereafter, even after it has been proven within the scope of our own lives that the attachments that we have formed, and our willful nature, do not provide us comfort? Our willful nature does not satisfy human longing, but our willing nature will, both for ourselves as well as for those to whom we willingly give.

"How can you reject the faith in Allah? Seeing that you were without life and Allah gave you life, then will Allah cause you to die and will again bring you to life. And again to Allah will you return. It is Allah who has created for you all things that are on the earth. Moreover Allah's design comprehended the heavens for Allah gave the order and perfection to the seven firmaments. And of all things Allah has perfect knowledge." SURAH AL-BAQARA, 2:28-29

-Sheikh Din Muhammad Abdullah al-Dayemi

Seek the Essence, Not the Structure

Little by little God takes beauty away.
Little by little life's luster decays.
Listen to the passage, "To whom We grant a long life, those We cause to decline."
Seek the essence and not the structure.
The beauty of heart shall forever abide, for it is enriched with the water of life.

- Rumi, "Mathnawi"


In my view, what ails us today is this inability or lack of desire to discriminate between essence and form. We strive and strive and strive for those things that are real only to our senses and thus only real to this world, yet have no care to know what those objects represent. We are cutoff from Reality because we cannot see beyond the surface of things. We spend our days and nights killing ourselves for titles, fortune and status and have the nerve to claim that we are doing so 'for the glory of the Ummah.' What rubbish! We are blind to the Real because we do not seek the essence, the truth, the real meaning behind the appearances. We hide behind appearances of piety while our hearts are empty of true love. The things of this world are mere representations, yet we remain fixated on their physical value and worth. How can we ever claim to know God who is Himself unseen if we lack the desire and ability to see beyond the outer appearances of things? How can we truly be worshipping God if we do not know Him out of our lack of desire to go beyond the surface and find the deeper meaning of what He Creates? Seeking the world is seeking the world. There is no way to gift wrap it and make it something it is not, which is a heart that is filled with other than God.

Do Not Burden Others, Be Burdened By Them

"Do not burden people according to your own pleasure, but burden yourselves according to their pleasures so long as they do not violate the Shari'a."

- Imam Al-Ghazali, Ayyuha l-Walad, 131

Trying to be Godly or Like God?

Sometimes servants of God try to behave like the Lord, without a doubt.
Sometimes servants of God behave like servants.
When they behave like servants, they are truly like the Lord.
When they behave like the Lord, they are in a sorry condition.

- Ibn Arabi, "Fusus al-hikam"

The Creatures as Veils

God made the creatures as veils.
He who knows them as such is led back to Him,
but he who takes them as real is barred from His presence.

~ Ibn al-Arabi

Poverty

Poverty is not complete until one likes giving more than receiving.

-Abu Hafs Haddad in "'Attar: Tadhkirat"

Submit Before the Will of God

If you are destined for good fortune you will be blessed;
if afflictions have been ordained, no matter where you hide they will seek you out.
Submit therefore before the will of God;
be grateful in well-being and endure adversity with fortitude that His light may radiate within your being.

-Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jillani, Futhul Ghaib

Practice Patience

Practice patience; it is the essence of praise.
Have patience, for that is true worship.
No other worship is worth as much.
Have patience; patience is the key to all relief.

-Rumi, "Mathnawi"

How Allah Keeps us Attracted to Him....

Since Allah (God) wants us to know him in all his Majesty and Glory, He continues to create interesting puzzles to attract us to Him. For the architect, architecture, for the psychologist psychology, and for the healer, the Oneness of ALL with God...

- Ali Ansari

What We Do With Every Moment Determines Our Identity

It’s not about who you are, i.e. your identity, but rather whether you are truly conscious every moment. For the one who is preoccupied with trying to be someone or something cannot be truly conscious, for his or her mind is being used for the remembrance of self rather than God.

The Path to God through Prayer

Prayer is an instrument through which novices find their path to God.
Thus ablution symbolizes repentance;
the Qibla, a spiritual guide;
standing in prayer becomes self-mortification;
the recitation of the Qur’an, inner meditation;
bowing the head, humility;
prostration, self-knowledge;
profession of faith, intimacy;
and salutation becomes detachment from the world and bondage of stations.

-Al-Hujwiri, “The Kashf al-Mahjub”

Adversity is the Threshold to Freedom

Do not be ruled by lust; seek freedom by following the righteous.
Mere claims of piety will not earn you inner freedom.
Remain patient in adversity to attain peace, for adversity is the threshold to freedom.
Those who cannot persevere are held back from the doors of Mercy.

- Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jillani

God is the Real Provider

Do not seek sustenance from people.
God is the real Provider.
If He wills a certain person to be the means of your livelihood, do not consider that person to be in control of your destiny.
Have faith and be certain in the knowledge that your daily bread does not depend upon any mortal, but upon God who created all.

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

Healing Children....

Forcing the issue! (As children) we won't manifest (our best) as long as there is something else on our minds. And what's always on our minds? At the root of it is the dilemma of the need for self-justification, arising from an unwanted and unconscious compulsion to please our parents or to try to escape from pleasing our parents. So to that I say this. This attempt to please our parents is the root of all neuroses. It is our search for unconditional love. But even after we've found unconditional love it's hard for us to release our neurosis, our neurotic searching. Putting our neuroses back where they came from is integral to self healing. Children can never please their parents, it's impossible and they shouldn't have to. Parents must be pleased with their children, which means they must first be pleased with themselves. If they are not (and how many do you know that are?), they look to be pleased and project their need to be pleased onto their children. In effect, they put their children in the position of needing to please them - which can never be done because they cannot be pleased if they are not already. But if children can negotitate the shift from pleasing their parents to healing them, they can set themselves free and gain the approval they're looking for.

- Ali Ansari

Perfection on the Inside

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”

Two Instruments

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"

The Night is Gone....

Lord, the night is gone.
The dawn has lighted the sky.
How I long to know if You accepted or rejected my prayers.
Comfort me, Lord, for only you can comfort this state of mine.
You gave me life and nurtured me; Yours is all the praise.
If You would ever drive me away from Your door, I would never abandon it for the sake of Your love, which I carry in my heart.

-Rabi'a, "Rabi'a the Mystic"