The uncomprehensible

Sometimes we can see that things are not in our hands and are following an uncomprehensible order. At this point, we must do our best to just submit --and stay out of the way of Allah (swt).

Haiku

In this murky swamp
Confusion becomes evil
It entraps the light

Just a conduit

Many believers see a profession as making a living. A profession doesn't make anything. What people receive is from Allah (swt), in a nonmaterial realm. Your career is to set up a conduit to allow all that to flow into the material world.

Darkness Visible

Forward

As to those who believe and work righteous deeds, they have, for their entertainment, the Gardens of Paradise (18.17)


i

The primal state of the
Human mind is Jannah.
A state where all that
Matters is to reach to
The light and to bring
More radiance in.


ii

There is a single temptation
In that blessed state, and that is
To know the darkness as well.

What could be so terrible about
Knowing the darkness as well?

Says the nefarious mind:

--To know darkness is to
Know as Allah knows, for
From Him come all things.


iii

For Allah to know darkness
Is to create darkness.
That is part of creating light.
For us to know darkness
Is to become darkness,
And to imprison light within it.


Afterword

Its night doth He endow with darkness, and its splendour doth He bring out with light. (79.29)

For your consideration

Consider this in times of trouble:

The world was brought into being because of the benevolence of Allah (swt). And the ultimate good for humanity is that we should not be shamed, but feel as partners in the fulfillment of the Qadr (قدر). A jihad-free life is for us is a life of shame -- labour is the nature of Man.

That is why nothing good comes without labour. And according to the labour, can be known the harvest that will be reaped in the end.

A Regal Haiku

Britannia's crown jewel
The commonwealth's heart of oak
Allah, save the Queen

Have faith

Our individual paths are full of curves and blind spots.

When the road is flat and straight, you don’t have to search to find happiness, it is there. When a fog permeates, as on a bad day, you keep searching but your heart comes up with nothing. There are times when visibility drops so much, we think to ourselves, ‘How will I get through the next hour?’

We must have Iman --faith.

Verbal explosion

This morning I awoke and knew
That I should say hello
To these new words. That's how it always seems
To go on the easy days. Words just burst out
Into the world. It's impossible to keep them in
Forever! here in my soul.

Words --words. They must make themselves heard.
Some hang about to find their place elsewhere.
But most of them go exactly where creation intended.
Who knows where their final resting spot will be.
Before they find their place
In Islam.

One thing

This dunya stands on three things: on justice, on truth, and on peace.

Our deen teaches these three are one thing: where justice is done, truth is done and peace is made.

Every place there is justice, there is peace.

divine decree

proceeds by qadr
and necessity

becomes order
through chaos

creates peace
from fracas

nurtures consciousness
unconsciously

develops awareness
from obliviousness

an aspiration
within destination

divine decree



** This poem is a response to 'natural selection' by Alan Shapiro

The Quran?

The Quran is not about getting to the truth. When you are immersed in the Quran, even while pondering the question, even while struggling to make sense of it all, you are at truth already.

The Quran is about being truth.

Wind

Allahu akbar
Swept up by His gusts of wind
Allahu alam

Here, now.

We become imprisoned when we seek Allah (swt) in places of isolation.

When we search for Allah (swt) by abandoning this dunya --which He has made, we can never truly find Him.

As long as we believe there is a place to be escaped, there is no true peace.

True Islamic liberation will come when we open our eyes to see that Allah (swt) and everything we need is here, now.

A day at the laundrette

Al-Ghaffaar, help me wash my moments in time,
And dry them on the lifeline I have left.
Help me scrub out my days, months and years
And rinse out the filth of my error,
Immerse my deficiency in your pleasing waters,
And dry them in Your perfect radiance.

So that I my go forward in faith, clothed in your mercy
-- Singing songs of perfect love, relief and truth.

A passion-filled reality

A child's passion comes in a flurry of inner and outer motion, taking over the child's entire reality. That is why, when a child embraces a new, good attribute, it enters forever.

Hajirah's Questions

i

Are you sure this is the Will of Allah?
Leaving us here in this desolate place?
My beloved nodded, picked up his staff
And he left me...

ii

With just a bag of dates and our child to nurse.
Our provisions lasted but a few short days before
the desert heat threatened us with death.
Desperate I ran in search of water --
From Safa to Marwa, back and forth in

Disappointment.

iii

Then at Marwa where my child's feet caressed the sand
It gushed, water from heaven came from the earth. I sang in

Thanksgiving

to Allah, as Ismail and I drank our hearts' content.

This ocean of wonders

If Allah (swt) had made the world a complete mystery, we would have no path to know Allah (swt). And if all would fit together like a neat and tidy jigsaw puzzle, we would not know that there is anything more to know.

So Al-Khaaliq took His primordial, unknowable Will and hid it in wisdom, from which He formed a world. We approach the wisdom only to find ourselves swimming in an unfathomable ocean of wonders.

Now it is within the mind's grasp to know that no thought can grasp Allah (swt).

Sarah's Wonder

Oh, my Beloved what a
Strange thing indeed,
That I shall bear a child
As an old woman with
my husband an old man.

The wonders of God --
Subhan'Allah.

Joy

True joy is the highest form of selflessness. There, there is no sense of self -- not even awareness that you are happy. True joy is somewhere beyond "the conscious". Beyond self.

All the more so when you bring happiness to others.

Dua'a in the Fields

Come, Beloved, let us walk in the field;
Let us stroll in the village streets.
Let us arise early to go to the pastures;
Let us see the beauty of Your creation,
If the flowers have budded,
If the season has run its course.
There I will give my love to You.

Al-Khaaliq, let me seclude myself in
Meditation and dua'a every day,
Going out to Your fields to be
Among the trees and grass,
Pouring out my heart in supplication.
For all the leaves and grass and
Flowers, all the trees and plants,
Will stir themselves to greet me;
They will rise to perfect their iman
And their place in Your creation.
With them, my prayers and
Supplications will attain perfection.
If it be Your will.

Malik Al-Mulk, may my labour be a faithful
Dua'a before You, until my heart opens
At last. May my words flow until I
Pour out my heart like water before Allah.

Light

Be as An-Noor --The Light:

Burn within, stay beyond

Light the Beacon Within

You can stumble around in darkness,
Carefully avoiding every trap.
Reaching through the gray haze
For the right way, falling and
Struggling back up again.

Or you can turn on the light, the inner light
Buried, insha'Allah inside your heart.
Even if it is just ever so small, even a
Small flame can push away the
Darkness of a monstrous grotto.

Transformation

When light shines in the darkness, experience tells us another darkness shall come.

When the darkness itself is transformed into light, it is a light that no darkness can oppose.

Determination

Without determination --

What is life other
than a trap to escape?

Why would we value the dignity
of life if none of our lives
have inherent worth?

What would drive us to preserve
our world and treasure its beauty
if we believed that nothing is of
lasting value?

Jazakallahu khairn for this gift

determination

Say the opposite

Determination is the antithesis of despondency.

Whatever despondency will tell you, determination will say the opposite. And if you want to understand determination, listen to the person who is despondent and invert his words.

Whatever God Wills

Well into April
Snow blankets the ground
Allahu alam

His darkness becomes light

In creation, Allah (swt) made forces that reveal Him and forces that oppose Him -- Allah (swt) made light and He made darkness. One who does good brings in more light. One who fails, feeds the darkness.

But the Muslim who fails and then returns to his faithful place reaches out directly to Al-Bari'. For Allah (swt) is beyond darkness and light.

And so, his darkness becomes light.

Thoughts on depression

forward

People are there to be supportive of one
another and to be a shoulder to lean on.


i.

I think it’s the will of Allah that I be
blunt with you at this point. The
Shaytan know that if they can get you
to be depressed they will defeat you.


ii.

Do whatever you can to never let this
happen! Fight sadness with all your
heart, nafs and body. Force yourself to
be happy if that is what it takes.


iii.

If you think too much, keep yourself
busy so as not to think depressing
thoughts. Spend more time around
family and friends who can cheer you up.


iv.

Whenever I was down, I stayed away
from others so as not to bring them
down with me and this was an error
in my judgment.


appendix

People are there to be supportive of one
another and to be a shoulder to lean on.

Distress

Working for a living is good. It's the distress over making a living that is unpleasant.

Don't let your nafs get involved in your business. The nafs must be preserved for fulfilling your purpose in this dunya. Making lots of money is not your purpose in life.