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
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Monday, November 27, 2006
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
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
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
- Imam Luqman Ali
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
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
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
Monday, November 20, 2006
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"
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]
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]
Thursday, November 16, 2006
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)
- 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
"... 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
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
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
~ 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
Monday, November 13, 2006
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"
-Rumi, "Mathnawi"
Friday, November 10, 2006
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.
"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.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
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
- 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
"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
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
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"
-Rumi, "Mathnawi"
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
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
- 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]
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]
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
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
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
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
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"
-Abd'Allah bin Mubarak al-Marwazi, "The Kashf al-Mahjub"
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
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...
It is too long to include in full so please click on the link above to access it...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)