Secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.

When you enter the Room of Now, do close the Door of Past behind you. If not, you will be consumed, and the Corridors of Future will be annihilated with you.

Open your eyes!
See the great dance this illusion is in!
See Creation at its being!
See how every moment shapes itself, and nothing is the same forever!
Sense who you are be-ing!

Be fascinated!

Yet know that a human heart's flight is even beyond, beyond this illusion! You have no moment to lose in the illusion, for you are to transcend it!

Do not fear loss, there is no such thing.

Do not be afraid: the distractions are just to tease you to realize the significance of the Path; they are part of the entrapment of this maze.

You transcend,
you transcend.

Light and Darkness

When the first man was complete he was asked to look over his right shoulder. There were three lights. He asked the first light its name and where it resided.

"I am Intelligence"
it said "
and I live in your head"

He asked the second light the same question" I am Conscious and I reside in your eyes"

He looked at the third light and had to shield his eyes from the glow: "Who are you and where do you live?" he asked

The Light answered "I am Compassion and I live in your heart"

On the other side of Prophet Adam (AS) stood three darknesses

He forced himself to ask the first darkness its name. "I am Arrogance and I live in your head"

"This is Impossible" cried Adam(AS) "for that is where Intelligence lives " "Only until I enter; than there is no room for intelligence" said the darkness"

And who are you?" Adam (AS) asked the second darkness

"My name is Insatiable Ambition and I reside in your eyes"

"That is where Conscious lives" said Adam(AS)

"Not when I am there" uttered Ambition."And You ... who are You? the third darkness was questioned

"I am known as Envy and I occupy space in your heart"

"Compassion is in my heart" said Adam(AS)"

When I enter your heart," whispered Envy with a smile " Compassion departs"

The Greatest Gift God has given is the gift of worship; to worship Him. But He has allowed us free will to decide whether we want to do it or not.

For anyone whose soul is brushed in the slightest with the poetry of Rumi, love and poetry become inseparable after that beautiful accident. Or to say it another way, love becomes poetry.

One of my favorite words these days seems to be "lyrical."

The idea of lyrics is closely tied with fluidity.

Lyrics flow.

The state of fluidity is to have no blocks.

There are no blocks once there is no resistance.

No resistance is surrender.

Surrender is to allow life to be lyrical. To allow life to reveal its poetry.

But I was speaking of love - and poetry. In a state of surrender to the energy of Love, we feel its force, its ebb and flow, its rising and falling, much as we experience poetry. Love has its own rhythm.

And it is this rhythm which may explain the connection between poetry & love, and Rumi's words and a divine sense of love that is at once individual. Rhythm is the ebb and flow of energy. A rhythm that flows out of surrender has an energy that is out-flowing and abundant. It is an energy that gives. It is an energy that is the force of life. It is the kind of energy that you can see throbbing alive in a leaf, or the warmth of the one you love.

I feel at once in a state of surrender, and of love. And the beauty is, that this is love that is not demanding me to split between The Divine and the Human - it is the One and the Same. Indeed, is it not the beauty of Rumi's poetry? The universality?

Yet was it of Rumi that I meant to write?

No, I meant to write of just poetry, love, and I.

A few days ago,a poem occured to me. It was inspired by human love, yet when I began to write, I addressed it at once to God and human. Is there a difference? No longer, for me. It cannot be, because if one speaks of love, and holds the concept in integrity, then there cannot be God and another who is somehow apart from God.

Let this not confuse minds. It means that once we surrender to God's Will, love flows out of it that bathes our Universe in its glory. After that, whoever we love is by the Will of God, and that makes our love no separate from God (Who we know through Hu's Will).

Have I made this complicated? I am interpreting the lyrics, which is not a fine practice. Love is poetry, and great poetry is a bit of mystery. Yet these are times of mysteries unraveling, thus we know all is One. If it were a mystery, we'd still see more of everything.

I am not making sense. My head is still full of poetry, intertwined with the oft-unmagical quality of this existence. But I love this unmagicness, for it allows me to transform it through love, and a bit of poetry.

Courtesy : Prophecy and Rumi Sushi

...

I appeal to the goodness in you to let goodness prevail. You must acknowledge the progress you have made on your path - do not allow it to be destroyed by fear or greed. Do not speak words of anger or of sarcasm. Fear Allah. Be fair. Do not, also, be soft and appeasing. Speak the truth in whatever tone you have been granted with. Truth is a strength unto itself, it requires no shouting. It only requires the conviction and the honesty of the one speaking it.


Do not let Ego change its ever subtle shape and trap you in its ploy. Beware of the dangers on your Path. Awareness overcomes unconsciousness.

Trust yourself, communicate with yourself, stay rooted, and let nothing and no one sway you. You are your path. Find that fine middle way between staying firm, and being responsive to change. Between firmness and kindness.

Speak the truth, for nothing else liberated the human soul but speaking and appreciating the truth.

Speak the truth.

I wish to be liberated from non-listeners.

"Sawaal ban to sahee, mein teray jawaab mein hoon!"

.

.

..

"Well, go on, become a question! I am awaiting to be the answer!"

Never sell your soul to the Devil!

12 Signs of your Awakening Divinity

Body aches and pains, especially in the neck, shoulder and back
Feeling of deep inner sadness for no apparent reason
Crying for no apparent reason
Sudden change in job or career
Withdrawal from family relationships
Unusual sleep patterns
Intense dreams
Physical disorientation
Increased "self talk"
Feelings of loneliness, even when in the company of others
Loss of passion
A deep longing to go Home

.

.

.

.

Oh - and I just thought of what I wanted to think of - a better metaphor:

Talking Like a Map.

Âyam be sar-e-kûye to pûyân pûyân
Rukhsâr be âb-e-dîde shûyân shûyân
Bîchâre rah-e wasl-e to jûyân jûyân
Jân mîdeham o nâm-e to gûyân gûyân


I came to the end of Your street, running, running.
Tears came down my cheek, washing, washing.
Union with You, I am helplessly seeking, seeking.
My soul I surrender while Your name I am reciting, reciting.


-Nizamuddin Awliya-

What is the root of all conflict?

Love? Money? Desire...?

No!

The root of all conflict is "me."

The root of all conflict and evil is EGO.

It is arrogance, and "takabbur."

This is the one sin for which there is no forgiveness.

This is seed of all evil.

"Me!"

"You may attempt to do 100 things in this world, only Love will give you release from the bondage of yourself." - Jami (Sufi)


If I have made "accept your self" another" this moment in Love" my realization in this month of December- and if my belief in the power of Love as the greatest healing force in the world had been reinforced through experience - then this quote I found during a random Twitter search is an affirmation of all that I am feeling at this moment.


Love, that is found in our heart and nowhere else; Love, that is given and not taken or demanded or hoped for; Love, which is the most benevolent form of attention - it is this that sets us free from the only entity that truly possesses us: our lower self.

The point is to remind us that we are free.

And we are truly free when we are free of the entity that truly enslaves us:

a sleeping mind

Imam al-Qastalani narrates in his Mawahib Ladunniyyah that when Nabi Muhammad( s.a.w.) died, his daughter, Sayyidah Fatimah (r.a.) took sand from His Qabr and put it over her face and wept, saying:

“Maza ala man shamma Turbata Ahmadin an laa yashumma madaz ZamaaniG hawaliya’’

(The person who has smelt the dust of the Grave...

of Nabi Muhammad (s.a.w.)

does not need to smell any perfume ever again)

Ay dust hejaab-e to kasi nist to'i
Andar rah-e to khaar o khasi nist to'i
Goftam keh be ma'shuq rasam yaa narasam
Az to bar ma'shuq kasi nist to'i.

O, friend! Nobody veils you, but yourself.
In your path there is no thorn or weed, but yourself.
You said: Shall I reach the Beloved or not?
Between you and the Beloved there is nobody, but yourself.
-A.Kermani-

Nothing left to hide, not anymore,

so empty tonight is my heart's core;

My sweetest dream a nightmare has become,

I see no hope for the days to come.

Screaming is my inner voice,

So help me Allah, You're now my only choice.

My life seems a waste to me,

I'm crying now on bended knees.

I find no reason for this pain,

then why this agony must remain,

Am I now to call this fate?

So help me Allah, I am losing faith.

The world I see is soaked in red,

obsessed with anger and hatred.

Yet to all You promised Love,

I want to feel what You were speaking of.

The visions I see are of despair,

So help me Allah, I know You care.

Scholars on Sufism (Tasawwuf)

The following quotations of the scholars of Shariah regarding the precedence of the knowledge and science of Tasawwuf (Purification of the Self).

Imam Abu Hanifa (85 H. - 150 H)

"If it were not for two years, I would have perished." He said, "for two years I accompanied Sayyidina Ja'far as-Sadiq and I acquired the spiritual knowledge that made me a gnostic in the Way.

"[Ad-Durr al-Mukhtar, vol 1. p. 43]

Imam Malik (95 H. - 179 H.)

"whoever studies Jurisprudence [tafaqaha] and didn't study Sufism [tasawwaf] will be corrupted; and whoever studied Sufism and didn't study Jurisprudence will become a heretic; and whoever combined both will reach the Truth."

['Ali al-Adawi , vol. 2, p 195.]

Imam Shafi'i (150 - 205 AH.)

"I accompanied the Sufi people and I received from them three knowledges: ...how to speak; how to treat people with leniency and a soft heart... and they... guided me in the ways of Sufism."

[Kashf al-Khafa, 'Ajluni, vol. 1, p 341.]

Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal (164 - 241 AH.)

"O my son, you have to sit with the People of Sufism, because they are like a fountain of knowledge and they keep the Remembrance of Allah in their hearts. they are the ascetics and they have the most spiritual power."

[Tanwir al-Qulub p. 405]

Imam Ghazzali (450 - 505 AH.)

"I knew verily that Sufis are the seekers in Allah's Way, and their conduct is the best conduct, and their way is the best way, and their manners are the most sanctified. They have cleaned their hearts from other than Allah and they have made them as pathways for rivers to run receiving knowledge of the Divine Presence."

[al-Munqidh, p. 131].

Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi (544 - 606 AH)

"The way of Sufis for seeking Knowledge, is to disconnect themselves from this worldly life, and they keep themselves constantly busy with Dhikrullah, in all their actions and behaviors."

['Itiqadaat Furaq al-Muslimeen, p. 72, 73]

Imam Nawawi (620 - 676 AH.)

"The specifications of the Way of the Sufis are ... to keep the Presence of Allah in your heart in public and in private; to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet (s) ... to be happy with what Allah gave you..."

[in his Letters, (Maqasid at-tawhid), p. 20]

Ibn Taymiyya (661 - 728 AH)

"Tasawwuf has realities and states of experience which they talk about in their science. Some of it is that the Sufi is that one who purifies himself from anything which distracts him from the remembrance of Allah and who will be so filled up with knowledge of the heart and knowledge of the mind to the point that the value of gold and stones will be the same to him. And Tasawwuf is safeguarding the precious meanings and leaving behind the call to fame and vanity in order to reach the state of Truthfulness, because the best of humans after the prophets are the Siddiqeen, as Allah mentioned them in the verse: "(And all who obey Allah and the Apostle) are in the company of those on whom is the grace of Allah: of the prophets, the sincere lovers of truth, the martyrs and the righteous; Ah! what a beautiful fellowship."

(an-Nisa', 69,70)

"...some people criticised Sufiyya and Tasawwuf and they said they were innovators, out of the Sunnah, but the truth is they are striving in Allah's obedience [mujtahidin fi ta'at-illahi], as others of Allah's People strove in Allah's obedience. So from them you will find the Foremost in Nearness by virtue of his striving [as-saabiq ul-muqarrab bi hasab ijtihadihi]. And some of them are from the People of the Right hand [Ahl al-Yameen mentioned in Qur'an in Sura Waqi'ah], but slower in their progress.... And this is the origin of Tasawwuf. And after that origin, it has been spread and [tasha'abat wa tanawa'at] has its main line and its branches.

[Majmu'a Fatawa Ibn Taymiyya al-Kubra, Vol. 11, Book of Tasawwuf, p. 497].

"The miracles of saints are absolutely true and correct, by the acceptance of all Muslim scholars. And the Qur'an has pointed to it in different places, and the Hadith of the Prophet (s) has mentioned it, and whoever denies the miraculous power of saints are only people who are innovators and their followers."

[al-Mukhtasar al-Fatawa, page 603].

Ibn Taymiyya says,

"what is considered as a miracle for a saint is that sometimes the saint might hear something that others do not hear and they might see something that others do not see, while not in a sleeping state, but in a wakened state of vision. And he can know something that others cannot know, through revelation or inspiration."

[Majmu'a Fatawi Ibn Taymiyya, Vol. 11, p. 314].

Ibn Khaldun (733 - 808 AH.)

"The way of the Sufis is the way of the Salaf, the preceding Scholars between the Sahaba and Tabi'een of those who followed good guidance..."

[Muqaddimat ibn al-Khaldun, p. 328]

Tajuddin as-Subki (727 - 771 AH.)

"May Allah praise them [the Sufis] and greet them and may Allah cause us to be with them in Paradise. Too many things have been said about them and too many ignorant people have said things which are not related to them. And the truth is that those people left the world and were busy with worship. ...They are the People of Allah, whose supplications and prayer Allah accepts and by means of whom Allah supports human beings"

[Mu'eed an-Na'am p. 190, the chapter entitled Tasawwuf]

Jalaluddin as-Suyuti (849 - 911 AH.)

"At-Tasawwuf in itself is the best and most honorable knowledge. It explains how to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet (s) and to put aside innovation."

[Ta'yid al-Haqiqat al-'Aliyya,p 57]

Ibn Qayyim (691 - 751 AH.)

"We can witness the greatness of the People of Sufism, in the eyes of the earliest generations of Muslims by what has been mentioned by Sufyan ath-Thawri (d. 161 AH), one of the greatest imams of the second century and one of the foremost legal scholars. He said, "If it had not been for Abu Hisham as-Sufi (d. 115) I would never have perceived the action of the subtlest forms of hypocrisy in the self... Among the best of people is the Sufi learned in jurisprudence."

[Manazil as-Sa'ireen.]

Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab (1115 - 1201 AH.)

"My father Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab and I do not deny or criticize the science of Sufism, but on the contrary we support it, because it purifies the external and the internal of the hidden sins, which are related to the heart and to the outward form. Even though the individual might externally be on the right way, internally he might be on the wrong way. Sufism is necessary to correct it."

[ad-Dia'at mukathaffa did ash-shaykh ibn Abdul Wahhab, p. 85]

Ibn 'Abidin (1198 - 1252 AH.)

"The Seekers in this Sufi Way don't hear except from the Divine Presence and they don't love any but Him. If they remember Him they cry, and if they thank Him they are happy; ... May Allah bless them."

[Risa'il Ibn 'Abidin p. 172 & 173]

Muhammad 'Abduh (1265 - 1323 AH.)

"Tasawwuf appeared in the first century of Islam and it received a tremendous honor. It purified the self and straightened the conduct and gave knowledge to people from the Wisdom and Secrets of the Divine Presence."

[Majallat al-Muslim, 6th ed. 1378 H, p. 24].

Maulana Abul Hasan 'Ali an-Nadawi (1331 AH b.)

"These Sufis were initiating people on Oneness and sincerity in following the Sunnah of the Prophet (s) and to repent from their sins and to be away from every disobedience of Allah 'Azza wa Jall. Their guides were encouraging them to move in the way of perfect Love to Allah 'Azza wa Jall."...In Calcutta India, everyday more than 1000 people were taking initiation into Sufism. "...by the influence of these Sufi people, thousands and thousands and hundreds of thousands in India found their Lord and reached a state of Perfection through the Islamic religion."

[Muslims in India, p. 140-146]

Maulana Abul 'Ala Maudoodi (1321 - 1399 AH.)

"Sufism is a reality whose signs are the love of Allah and the love of the Prophet (saw), where one absents oneself for their sake, and one is annihilated from anything other than them, and it is to know how to follow the footsteps of the Prophet (s). ..Tasawwuf searched for the sincerity in the heart and the purity in the intention and the trustworthiness in obedience in an individual's actions." "The Divine Law and Sufism: "Sufism and Shariah: what is the similitude of the two? They are like the body and the soul. The body is the external knowledge, the Divine Law, and the spirit is the internal knowledge."

[Mabadi' al-Islam, p. 17]

Come and rest in my lap my child,

No fear, no sadness here resides…

This is and end much waited,

No more tears for these eyes…
Let me sing u a sweet lullaby,

Let me caress your hair to sleep,

No one shall pull, no one shall scratch,

No more grieves, no shattered dreams..

Lend me your hand,

ill never let it go,

And I collect these prayers unanswered,

Wishes split from their sacred rosary,

Tonight giving birth to your poetry,

Hidden in me , the love in the letters,

The wait, the agony, the first light never shattered,

The wilted flowers, the sighs , the sleepless nights,

The sad symphony, the ethereal reprise….

You the corpse and I the grave,

A relation for ever that never is slayed,

Come and rest in my lap my child,

No fear, no sadness here resides…

I'm not a loner.

I just like to be alone when I am sad,

and I am sad all the time.

the tearful eye, the noisy spirit are not enough,
the accusation of hidden love is not enough,
lets go today in the bazaar in chains,
let's go with hands waving, intoxicated, dancing,
let's go with dust on our heads, blood on our sleeves,
let's go the city our love live in,
everyone is watching,
the city's rule, the general populace
the unhappy morning, the day with no purpose,
the arrow of accusation, the stone of abuse
who else beside us in their intimate friend?
who now in our beloved's city is till pure?
who now is worthy of the executioner's hand?
Pick up the burden of the heart,
let's us go, heartboken ones
we are the ones who have to be mudered again, my friends.

"A woman's heart should be so lost in God,

that a man must seek Him in order to find her"

-anon.

....

I love...

Waking up to your name

Hearing your voice

Feeling your body against mine

Sensing your quiet demeanor

Seeing your beautiful eyes

Searching your soul

Talking with you until I fall asleep

Understanding your problems

Being with you

Standing by you

Hugging you

The butterflies I get when I see you...

you

lost...

Sometimes in the night,

I feel so strange,

Nothing seems right

I feel afraid,

So I turn on all the lights

I feel alone,

And I stare with trepidation,

At the phone,

Wondering if it's going to talk to me,

All on it's own

And I get lost,

Inside myself

In the middle of the night,

I'm someone else,

That I don't know

Nightfall lifts me up so high,

Even when I'm crawling,

I feel like I can fly

But I'm afraid to,

Spread my wings and try,

Because...

I just might die...

Sometimes in the night,

I hear voices praising me,

With all their might

I feel disconnected,

So I turn off all the lights

I feel passive,

I feel aggressive,

I wonder if all of this,

Is just a lesson,

That I'm not learning...

And I get lost,

Inside myself

In the middle of the night,

I'm someone else,

That I don't know

Nightfall lifts me up so high,

Even when I'm crawling,

I feel like I can fly

But I'm afraid to,

Spread my wings and try,

Because...

I just might die...

I might die,

And I don't care!

I can smell my fear,

Upon the night's air!

I hear whispering incantations,

That just a second ago...

Were not there!

I get lost...So lost...

Inside myself

In the middle of the night,

I'm someone else,

That I don't know

Into the night I go...

Nightfall lifts me up so high,

Even when I'm crawling,

I feel like I can fly

But I'm afraid to,

Spread my wings and try,

Because... I just might die...

- December 19, 2009

Knowledge exists potentially in the human soul like the seed in the soil;

by learning the potential becomes actual."

— Imam Al Ghazali

Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon and star.

- Confucius

Could one not imagine oneself in a state which compares to being awake, just as wakefulness compares to being asleep? Being awake would be like the dreams of that state, which in turn would show that the illusion (of the certainty) of rational knowledge is nothing but vain imagination.

— Imam Al Ghazali

No matter how busy you may think you are,

you must find time for reading,

or

surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.

- Confucius

Join me in the Pure Atmosphere

I slip in and out of the Sea at night with this

Amazed soul I have.

I am like a magnificent, magic ocean turtle

Who sets aside his vast wings of

Blue effulgence

When I crawl upon your shores

To leave my divine seed of verse.

Let me remain cryptic tonight

All the way till dawn

As I orbit God

In this holy, ecstatic mood.

Grab hold of the corners

Of my luminous, tender shell

And I will whirl for you,

For I am covered with eminent crystals

That I have gathered from the infinite depths

Of love.

Follow my tracks in the sand that lead

Beyond thought and space,

For I can see deep down

That you are really a golden bird

That needs to

Dance

With your spirit enraptured and ascending

On the currents of Light

–On the currents of His

Breath.

Join me with your hands, wings, hoofs or fins

In my sublime applause.

Join me in the pure atmosphere of gratitude

For life.

I slip in and out of the Moon each night

With a gracious ease

With this brilliant heart I have.

The Beautiful Friend, the Exquisite One,

Sometimes steps from His Invisible Body

And walks upon our shore

So that we might see and know

His radiant Tender Shell-His eminent crowns

That are the three worlds.

O grab hold of the hem of His skirt

As He spins this Universe on an emerald

Dance floor!

Cling to the Transcendent Elements in His glance

As the Beloved forever whirls

His Love.

Hafiz

Slips in and out of God at night

Tied to his own amazed

Soul.

From: “The Subject Tonight is Love: 60 Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky

Yunus Emre,

Burning, burning, I drift and tread.
Love spattered my body with blood.
I'm not in my senses nor mad,
Come, see what love has done to me.

Now and then like the winds I blow,
Now and then like the roads I go,
Now and then like the floods I flow,
Come, see what love has done to me.

Hold my hand, lift me from this place
Or take me into your embrace.
You made me weep, make me rejoice,
Come, see what love has done to me.

Searching, I roam from land to land,
In all tongues I ask for the Friend.
Who knows my plight where love is banned?
Come, see what love has done to me.

Lovelorn, I tread; madly I scream.
My loved one is my only dream;
I wake and plunge into deep gloom.
Come, see what love has done to me.

I'm Yunus, mystic of sorrow,
Suffering wounds from top to toe;
In the Friend's hands I writhe in woe.
Come, see what love has done to me

When it seems

That I will fall

And everything

Feels so wrong

When I’m just

Too weak within

Lord your love

Makes me strong..

Hide me as a secret that will never shine on lips like my words.

Gift..

I envy the sand that met his feet

I’m jealous of honey he tasted sweet

Of birds that hovered above his head

Of spiders who spun their sacred web

To save him from his enemies

I envy clouds formed from the seas

That gave him cover from the heat

Of a sun whose light could not compete

With his, whose face did shine so bright

That all was clear in blinding night

I envy sightless trees that gazed

Upon his form completely dazed

Not knowing if the sun had risen

But felt themselves in unison

With those who prayed, and fasted too

Simply because he told them to

With truth and kindness, charity

From God who gave such clarity

His mercy comes in one He sent

To mold our hearts more heaven bent

I envy all there at his side

Who watched the turning of the tide

As truth prevailed and falsehood fled

And hope restored life to the dead

Men and Women through him found grace

To seek together God’s noble face

I envy the cup that gave him drink

His thoughts that helped us all to think

To be one thought that passed his mind

Inspiring him to act so kind

For me this world is not one jot

If I could simply be a thought

From him to God throughout the ages

As revelation came in stages

I pity all who think it odd

To hear him say there is one God

Or he was sent by God to men

To hone their spirits’ acumen

It’s pride that blinds us from the sight

That helps good men to see his light

He taught us all to be God’s slaves

And he will be the one who saves

Humanity from sinful pride

Muhammad has God on his side

So on this day be blessed and sing

For he was born to grace our Spring

With lilies, flowers, life’s rebirth

In a dome of green like his on earth
( In honour of the Prophet [pbuh] )- Hamza Yusuf

taste of Rumi...

Last night
I lost my grip on reality
and welcomed insanity.
Love saw me and said,
I showed up.
Wipe your tears
and be silent.
I said, O Love
I am frightened,
but it’s not you.
Love said to me,
there is nothing that is not me.
be silent.
I will whisper secrets in your ear
just nod yes
and be silent.
A soul moon
appeared in the path of my heart.
How precious is this journey.
I said, O Love
what kind of moon is this?
Love said to me,
this is not for you to question.
be silent.
I said, O Love
what kind of face is this,
angelic, or human?
Love said to me,this is beyond anything that you know.
Be silent.
I said, please reveal this to me
I am dying in anticipation.
Love said to me,
that is where I want you:
Always on the edge,
be silent.
You dwell in this hall of
images and illusions,
leave this house now
and be silent.
I said, O Love,
tell me this:
Does the Lord know you are
treating me this way?
Love said to me,
yes He does,
You, just be silent.

Love’s fire, for a lifetime, burned my heart and soul

until the Beloved taught me the way of the lover.

Love’s jealousy gave me no chance to cry out;

it sewed my lips to keep me from speaking.

Like a moth, out of passion I circled Him so much

that He burned like the candle, kindling me for every assembly.

He stored me for years in the heart of time

so that in this age I could amplify the whisperings of Love.

I am a slave of The Master of the DIVINE Holy Fire;

from myself He bought me.

Then sold me for the price of the tavern’s wine.

Ru-Hu with the breath of the Beloved,

drunkenly said,

“Love’s fire, for a lifetime, burned my heart and soul.”

Copyright ©2009 RU-HU( Nizhat Ansari)

MODERATION IN HOPES AND WISHES

Deficiency in the hope for Divine Forgiveness when error and sin are committedis a sign of reliance on one's virtuous deeds.

In every single act the reliance of the arifeen is only on Allah Ta'ala. They do not rely on their spiritual states, knowledge and righteous deeds.

When these Saints of Allah render virtuous deeds, their hopes do not rise. They do not feel that they have acquired elevation in their ranks on account of their pious deeds. They perpetually dwell in the hope of Allah's mercy. Their gaze is never on their righteous deeds.

On the other hand, the non- arif reposes confidence on his good acts. When he practises virtue, his hopes rise and he feels pleased with himself, thinking that he has now become deserving of Maghfirat (Forgiveness) and Jannat. When he sins, his hopes sag. Since his reliance is on his own deeds, he labours under the impression that his sins constitute an obstacle in the path of Divine Rahmat. In consequence, such a person often abandons righteous deeds and takes to the road of sin. This is plain stupidity and ignorance.


Although A'maal-e-Saalihah are commanded and A'maal-e-Baatilah (sins) are forbidden, they do not constitute the basis of Maghfirat. The basis is solely Allah's Mercy. Thus, the sinner should not despair. He should advance along the spiritual path and turn the gaze of his heart away from his deeds, relying solely on the Mercy of Allah.

The aforementioned explanation should not be misconstrued. It should not be understood to mean abstention from regret and repentance after commission of sin. Regret and repentance are essential. The Mu'min will most assuredly repent. However, he will not despair of Allah's mercy.


If Allah Ta'ala returns you to your nafs, then your misfortune is limitless. If He reveals His grace and kindness to you, then there is no limit to your fortune.

The natural propensity of the nafs is evil and vice. Whatever virtue emanates from it, is purely the fadhl of Allah Ta'ala. If Allah Ta'ala allows you to remain enslaved to your nafs, and withholds His grace and kindness from you then there will be no end to your evil because the nafs is the abode of all evils and mischief.


On the other hand, if Allah Ta'ala directs His grace and kindness to you, then your virtues will be limitless on account of His grace being limitless.


Thus, when goodness emanates from the bandah, he should contemplate on the grace of Allah and refrain from attributing the virtue to his nafs. But if he perpetrates transgression, he should know that it is from his nafs.


Whoever has the notion of his good speech being the product of his virtuous deeds, will be silenced by his sinful acts on account of shame and embarrassment. Whoever speaks, bearing in mind the kindness of Allah Ta'ala, his sins will not silence him.

If the propagator of Naseehat to people or the one who expounds spiritual realities and subtleties labours under the impression that the knowledge which he is expounding is the consequence of his uprighteousness and good deeds, then he will be silenced if he commits a sin. Since his gaze is riveted on his uprighteousness, shame will overwhelm him. He will feel his discourses to be hypocritical, hence abandon his duty of propagating the truth.


But, this is not the state of the arif who believes that whatever knowledge and virtue he possesses are the fadhl of Allah Ta'ala. Since this is his constant perception, he never attributes anything of his excellences to his nafs. Should he commit a sin, he will not abandon the duty of proclaiming Allah's Law. He will continue to proclaim the Law with the same confidence and eloquence with which he rendered his duty before the sin.

When you wish the Door of Hope to open for you, then contemplate on Your True Master's kindness and bounties. When you wish the Door of Fear to open, then contemplate on the sins and transgression you had committed.


The state of his nafs and the evils perpetrated by him are kept in view by the Saalik. As a result, his heart suffers grief and despondency. Sometimes he is overwhelmed by despair and he loses hope in the mercy of Allah, which is, in fact, kufr. At times when the despair becomes excessive, the Saalik will abandon even Namaaz, Roza, etc. It is, therefore, essential that the aspect of Divine Mercy be kept in view.

When despair sets in, the Saalik should employ his intelligence. He should bring into contemplation all the bounties and favours which Allah Ta'ala has conferred on him. He should then convince himself that if it was Allah's desire to destroy him, He would not have blessed him with so many zaahiri and baatini favours. He should meditate for a considerable time on this aspect. Allah Ta'ala will hopefully open the door of hope for the Saalik and the state of despair will be dispelled.

Sometimes the opposite condition settles over the Saalik. Perceiving his good deeds, he develops vanity and self-esteem. On such occasions the Saalik should call to memory his acts of disobedience and transgression. This contemplation will engender fear in him.

Neither should the Saalik permit despair to overwhelm him nor excessive hope which will render him audacious. He should adopt moderation.

True rajaa (hope) is that which accompanies righteous deeds otherwise it is false hope.

The rajaa which is genuine is the hope which the Saalik entertains when practising righteousness. Along with his practice of virtue he hopes for the mercy of Allah Ta'ala. The man who has hope of reaping the fruits of his farm, will expend full effort in ploughing and caring for his fields. Similarly, the Saalik who has hope of acquiring Allah's mercy, will diligently involve himself in practising virtuous deeds. His hope will then be justified and be true.

If he acts in conflict with the Shariah and refrains from A'maal-e-Saalihah, his hope for Divine mercy and Jannat will be vain and false. It is false to describe such vain hope as rajaa. Such a person is like one who does not plough his land, but expects to reap a crop.

If you do not have a high opinion of your True Master by virtue of His Attributes of Excellence, then at least establish a good opinion of Him by virtue of the beautiful treatment He accords you. Has He not showered His Kindness on you? Has He not conferred His Bounties on you?

A true Mu'min is he who holds a high opinion of His Rabb. He understands that whatever treatment his Creator metes out is for his own benefit and welfare regardless of it being pleasing or displeasing. Since all attributes of Allah Ta'ala are only of excellence and nothing else, whatever is decreed by Him will be for the benefit of the Mu'min.

Although His attributes of excellence and perfection demand that the Mu'min holds the highest esteem for Allah Ta'ala (i.e. with regard to His attributes of perfection), nevertheless, if you lack this ability, then at least ponder on the treatment which you have received from Allah Ta'ala to this day. Do you not acknowledge His boundless favours upon you? He created you in perfect form. He bestowed a variety of innumerable bounties to you. You are, in fact, drowned in the abundance of favours. This wonderful relationship which Allah Ta'ala has with you should be sufficient to induce in you a good opinion of Him.

The high esteem on account of Allah's attributes of excellence is the rank of Allah's selected servants. Those who lack this rank should contemplate on the bounties of Allah Ta'ala for the cultivation of a beautiful comprehension of Allah Ta'ala.

He who thinks it amazing and difficult that Allah Ta'ala will release him (the Saalik) from the grip of nafsaani desires and from the prison of ghaflat, casts the blemish of inability (Ijz) against the infinite power of Allah. But, Allah has power over all things.Sometimes people lost in worldly affairs and forgetful of Allah Ta'ala, on seeing a pious man, yearn to be like him. They momentarily yearn to be free from worldly encumbrances so that they too could take to the path of piety. But, the nafs immediately raises its head and neutralises their eagerness for piety. The nafs leads them to believe that on account of their numerous mundane involvements, it is not possible for them to adopt piety. Their initial idea appears extremely far-fetched and impossible of realisation.

Similarly, some Thaakireen despite their Thikr and Mujahadah do not discern any improvement in their moral and spiritual condition. They then labour under the notion of the impossibility of their reformation.

There are also such Thaakireen in whose hearts Thikr has taken effect, but has not become entrenched. They, therefore, sometimes experience ghaflat and sometimes kayfiyat (the spiritual effect of Thikr). This fluctuating state remains for even years. They, therefore, begin to believe that it is impossible to eliminate their ghaflat and improve their condition.

For such people the Shaikh (rahmatullah alayh) says that those who feel that it is difficult for Allah Ta'ala to extricate them from the grip of their nafs, are in reality attributing weakness to Allah Ta'ala. They are implying by their attitude that the infinite Qudrat (Power) of Allah Ta'ala is defective – Na-uthubillah!

It is within Allah's power to deliver you from the grip of your nafs and bless you with His remembrance. There is, therefore, no need for despair. Many Auliya were involved in sin and transgression in their initial stage, but later Allah Ta'ala elevated them to the rank of Auliya and Masha-ikh. He bestowed elevated ranks to them.

There is nothing but Khauf (fear) or intense Shauq (eagerness) which can prevent and expel the lustful desires of the nafs. Khauf is cultivated by meditation on the Fiery Attributes (Sifaat-e-Jalaal) of Allah or on the terror of the Day of Qiyaamah. Shauq is acquired by contemplating on the Beautiful Attributes (Sifaat-e-Jamaal) of Allah Ta'ala or on Jannat and its pleasures.

It was explained earlier that when a nafsaani desire becomes grounded in the heart, it is most difficult to remedy it. The Shaikh (rahmatullah alayh) informs of its remedy. There are two treatments for such a severe disease: Khauf and Shauq.

Khauf (Fear) is either of the terrifying episodes of Qiyaamat or of the Fiery Attributes of Allah Ta'ala. The former is for the masses. The second kind of Khauf for His Sifaat-e-Jalaal such as Him being Qahhaar (Wrathful), Jabbaar (Powerful in Punishment), Muntaqim (Vengeful), etc., is for the elite (i.e. the select ones striving to attain His Proximity).

By meditating on these issues for some time, Khauf will be cultivated. Gradually it will permeate the heart and eliminate the domination of emotional desires.

Shauq (Eagerness, Yearning) is achieved by contemplating the pleasures of Jannat. This kind of Shauq is for laymen who strive to gain piety. The second kind of Shauq is achieved by meditating on Allah's attributes of Beauty such as Him being Rahmaan (Most Merciful), Ghafoor (Most Forgiving), etc. This kind of Shauq is for the elite.

It should, however, be understood that Khauf and Shauq of an inferior degree will not eradicate lust from the heart. To eliminate the entrenched disease of shahwat (lust), a strong state of either Khauf or Shauq is essential. In view of the essentiality of a high degree of these states, the Shaikh (rahmatullah alayh) qualifies Khauf with the adjective, ‘preventive' and Shauq with ‘intense'.

Do not despair of the acceptance of an act in which you do not experience the pleasure of concentration. In most cases acts, the worldly fruits of which you do not experience, are accepted. (Worldly fruits: sweetness, pleasure and concentration in ibaadat).

Hudhoor-e-Kaamil (Perfect Concentration) is to perform ibaadat with such concentration of mind and heart as if you are seeing Allah Ta'ala. Not a vestige of shaitaani and nafsaani thoughts remains to distract the heart from Allah Ta'ala. The pleasure of such Hudhoor permeates the entire being of the bandah. If by the fadhl(blessing) of Allah Ta'ala the bandah(person) has gained such a high degree of concentration, it indicates that his ibaadat is accepted by Allah Ta'ala.

If the bandah(Person) fails to attain this high degree of concentration, he should not despair nor interpret it as rejection of his ibaadat. While Hudhoori is the sign of acceptance, it is not conditional for acceptance of ibaadat. Thus, the absence of a sign does not indicate rejection of the act. It frequently happens that despite acceptance by Allah Ta'ala, the effects of the ibaadat are withheld here on earth. The reward is reserved for the Hereafter.

‘Ilm (Divine Knowledge)

Hazrat Ali (RTA) narrated from The Prophet (SAW)[ peace be upon him]: The Arch Angel Gabriel said to me: “Love whom you would for you shall part with him, and do as you would for you shall meet with it (for judgment or reward or you will meet Hu) and live as you would for you shall die surely.”
You loved her or him and no matter how hard you tried, when s/he was placed under the dust you could not go with the person! And when your turn arrives you shall not be able to take her or him with you, for you are now alone within the constriction of your grave.

“When the scholar dies Allah fashions/shapes his ‘Ilm (Divine Knowledge) (into some creature) within his grave, to keep him company till the Day of Judgment and it wards him off all vermin of the earth” said the Prophet (SAW),[ peace be upon him].
Often Allah takes away someone you dearly loved, and no matter how dearly you loved yet you kept your Adab (Etiquette) being mindful of Allah’s Presence by being patient, and soon you find yourself drawn to ‘Ilm (Divine Knowledge), not a moment is to waste, busied with nothing else but any and all acquisition of knowledge.

Your books as your pillow, night after night you fall asleep, tearful, begging Allah: O Allah this night every soul on this earth has a soulmate but me, where is mine my dear Lord? Soon in a dream, as vivid as the daylight, you find someone of immense beauty and tranquility, mistakenly your Nafs (Self) may place some familiar face on this graceful creature, but be aware that in this moment of temporal death you have met none other than your own ‘Ilm (Divine Knowledge).

And so will be that day when everyone deliberately shall forsake you underneath the dust, except for this Divine Companion fashioned/shaped from your ‘Ilm (Divine Knowledge), that this eager creature is to keep you company in the grave and to protect you against all harm and pain.

So this night be sleepless my studious love, that you may cry to Allah begging for a soulmate, but that day shall soon arrive when every dead in their grave sorrow within their eternal loneliness, yet you shall be joyous and festive with your grave companion, your own ‘Ilm (Divine Knowledge)

“If someone memorized something of the Qur’an (some Zikr) and died before the completion, Allah shall raise angels within his grave to make him memorize the remaining and they shall stand upright (unwavering) to teach him” Said the Prophet.

Now do you want to learn the knowledge for the sake of people’s recognition? So they may say s/he is so great knowing all this! Or writing this poem, book or giving that lecture, or my love you may study to have a soulmate in your grave!

Imam Rabbani (ks) on importance of Shaykhs

BismillahirRahmanirRahim

Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi, radhiAllahu anh, in Mabda wa Ma'ad


"You may know that the obligation to the Shaykh is above the obligationto any one else, except for the Divine blessings and the Propheticfavors, (the obligation to Allah T’ala for His blessings and theobligation to His Messenger (salAllahu alaihi wasallam) for hisfavors). And in reality, the Messenger of Allah himself (salAllahualaihi wasallam) is everyone’s true Shaykh. (That is, one’s Shaykhis the representative and inheritor of the Prophet, salAllahu alaihiwasallam, in this life)

And though one’s physical birth is from one’s parents, the spiritualbirth is from the Shaykh. This physical life is only for a few days,but the spiritual life is ever-lasting."

City of Dignity

BismillahirRahmanirRahim


“O people, by Allâh I have visited kings. I went to Caesar, Chosroes and the Negus, but by Allâh I never saw a king whose companions venerated him as much as the companions of Muhammad venerated Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allâh be upon him). By Allâh, whenever he spat it never fell on the ground, it fell into into the hand of one his companions, then they wiped their faces and skins with it. If he instructed them to do something, they would hasten to do as he commanded. When he did wudû’, they would almost fight over his water. When he spoke they would lower their voices in his presence; and they did not stare at him out of respect for him.” ( al-Bukhârî, 3/178, no. 2731, 2732; al-Fath, 5/388).



Muhammad ibn `Umar said: “(Imam) Malik’s circle was a circle of dignity and courtesy. He was a man of majestic countenance and nobility. There was no part for self-display, vain talk, or loud speech in his circle. His reader would read for all, and no-one looked into his own book, nor asked questions, out of awe before Malik and out of respect for him.”


Is it possible to take the typical second, third, fourth generation Muslim and shoehorn them into the circles described above? What would be their experience?


More than likely it would be filled with boredom, confusion, and criticism all stemming from how very different this circle is than any other gathering they have participated in earlier in the day.

Sitting cross legged is already difficult enough for us, much less being surrounded by air which is infused with odd things such as ‘awe’, ‘nobility’, ‘dignity’, ‘respect’. We don’t know how to handle or envision such words in literature, and we certainly are unprepared to be faced with the practical reality of them.


Which movie prepares us for this environment? Which show? Which video game?

None.

In this void, awkwardness fills us and most peoples chests are pressed with an instinctive reaction to remove ourselves from the heat of uncomfortably.


Surrounded by people that are genuinely devoted to another individual on the basis of their superior knowledge and religious practice is disturbing in a culture which raises us towards complete self-reliance and the total equality of all men in all aspects.


Add a dash of some form of group expression of faith that we are unfamiliar with, and the field is ripe for the ego to rebel.

There are just so many ‘outs’.


The convenient (yet arbitrary) distinction between religious life and the life dedicated to this world, especially when it is intertwined with the buzzword of ‘innovation’ gives us the most convenient of explanations to categorize our reaction.

*I don’t like it, because it feels weird.*

Self knowledge tempers this.

When one realizes the weakness of ones own faith, prayer, worship, it makes it more difficult to come to grandiose conclusions condemning people who dedicate themselves to the same.

Humility dictates to us that we aren’t good judges, much less good prosecutors of others.

It is only when one confronts their own bias, in which one finds the reflection of sworn self-esteem and pavlovian pride, that one get past this haze which limits spiritual awakening.
Introducing the arbitrary categorization of the innovation when applied to worldly life vs religion contains within it the supposition that life is separate from religion.

A conclusion which has far hitting impacts.

In this model, watching TV feels quite alright, at least if you try to avoid some ‘bad scenes’. And watching 25 pictures per second on a wall mounted LCD screen is for some reason, so much harder to complain about than having a picture of a holy man who reminds us of prophecy, faith, improvement.

Under this mentality we think: Rock groups haraam?

Let us have Islamic pop stars.

Let’s have Muslim comedians.

Muslim fiction writers.

Muslim movie studios.

Muslim news channels.

All the while, we don’t exclude ourselves to the ‘Muslim’ version of these institutions of mimicry.

So they do not help in creating a Islamic culture in the West, what they do is create a bridge of acceptance.

To watch a ‘Muslim pop star’, you still have to enter a concert hall. And to see a ‘Muslim film’ you still have to sit on a couch.

These issues reflect the implicit approval by the Muslim community of dramatic shifts away from the cultures which underwent a millenia of Islamization, and towards those which are challenging those cultures at every turn.

Islam was so much more than a filter of existing cultures, it brought something new. And these accomplishments are written in sand swept stone of Mughal architecture to the grand prayer halls of the Ottomans, to the poetry of Mevlana Rumi and the ironic statements on humanity from Nasruddin Hoja.

This system has put the final wall up between knowledge and practice. It’s done this by actually turning Islam away from traditional values and a culture in which people of dramatic faith and unique characteristics were raised and nurtured.

Modern institutions catering to Muslims have been continuing the century old transition from Muslim culture and values to Western ones, all under the name of preaching Islam. And its not always so obtuse as obvious as Azhari recent ban on niqaab. Pay-as-you-go ‘Islamic classes’ have cloaked an entirely foreign idea of Western style instruction in the mantle of religiosity.

And when examining this issue of cultural adoption, what we have chosen is not hamburgers over curry. We have settled for abandoning circles of dignity.


by Yursil Kidwai !!

Friend! Nobody veils you, but yourself.

In your path there is no thorn or weed,

but yourself.

You said:

Shall I reach the Beloved or not?

Between you and the Beloved there is nobody,

but yourself.

-Awhadoddin Kermani

Life is an invitation;

it asks to be discovered by the one who lives it.

Often,

I say to myself,

"Go ahead and explore what you're curious about."

This is my life, a lived by me.

Your Hand in Mine...

Listen for the stream
that tells you one thing.
Die on this bank.
Begin in me
the way of rivers with the sea


--Rumi



I wonder
from these thousand of "me's",
which one am I?
Listen to my cry, do not drown my voice
I am completely filled with the thought of you.
Don't lay broken glass on my path
I will crush it into dust.
I am nothing, just a mirror in the palm of your hand,
reflecting your kindness, your sadness, your anger.
If you were a blade of grass or a tiny flower
I will pitch my tent in your shadow.
Only your presence revives my withered heart.
You are the candle that lights the whole world
and I am an empty vessel for your light.

--Rumi - Hidden Music

Rumi...

This being human is a guest-house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of it's furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

Come closer so I can hear you breathe, the rhythm of your existence ever so sweet. Whirl in this melody, you are heavens treat, deep in my heart, you will hear my soul beat...


by Zakir

The source of belief, is love.

The source of proof, is doubt.

Oh Lord, let love be sufficient for me, and make me not of those who require proof.

My Master taught me a lesson:



“Any moment you are negligent
in remembrance of God
is a moment spent in denial of God.”





- Sultan Bahu, from Death Before Dying



— The Sufi Poems of Sultan Bahu, by Jamal J. Elias

I have always known
that at last I would
take this road, but yesterday
I did not know that it would be today.

- Narihira (9th century Japan), translated by Kenneth Rexroth

I'll be Gone

I'm drowning in this,
Falling apart in the mist,
I'd rather see you one more time then die,
I'd love to see you smile,

To see the sun walking upon the miles,
But time has chosen to take me,
To suck me up in darkness,
Away from you,

I don't want to go but I have to know this is true,
I won't be here tomorrow,
I won't be here for another day,
I'll be gone by the next day,


But please don’t forget me,
Keep me in your sorrow,
Keep in mind that our hearts aren’t borrowed.

I am on a journey of love


I am on a journey of love

The journey that I am on has said to gain a lover
Oh lovers let me find this supreme lover that never stops loving

I am on a journey of love

The ones who have fallen in love with him
Has said that this path is full of thorns I care not
My lover will save me

I am on a journey of love

The ones who have fallen in love with him have given me the tools
These tools are small but very powerful


I am on a journey of love

This journey has caused the dust vast pain
But the lover has cured that pain

I am on a journey of love

This journey of love has showed me a lott
his journey of love has taught me a lot

I am on a journey of love
lol this is my poem that i tried to write.

The butterfly throws itself into the burning fire

If you must love, then you will need that much courage

At each step, the heart is pushed to its limits,

At each breath, it is tested,

If you must love, then you will need that much courage.

Like a quiet river, this song-of-mine is so deep and so silent and so wise, that I can only speak of it with my eyes.”


—Heather K. O’Hara

Peace be unto Stranger

Peace be unto thee, stranger, enter and be not afraid.
I have left the gate open and thou art welcome to my home.

There is room in my house for all.
I have swept the hearth and lighted the fire.

The room is warm and cheerful and you will find comfort and rest within.
The table is laid and the fruits of life are spread before thee.
The wine is here also, it sparkles in the light.


I have set a chair for you where the sunbeams dance through the shade.
Sit and rest and refresh your soul.


Eat of the fruit and drink the wine.
All, all is yours, and you are welcome.

The entire world, in sama,

whirls in ecstasy.

But what in a mirror does a blind man see?

Shaikh Sa'di of Shiraaz

the direction of love..

The map of love has no cardinal points, for the compass of the lover directs only to the Beloved. When the lover meets the Beloved, the east is lost in the west, and the west is lost in the east. Look then upon That which transcends direction. For in the destiny of this journey, the explorer becomes the explored, and the explored becomes the explorer. Where then is the need for a north and a south? Encompassed within this Axis of Spirituality is indeed the direction of Love. For this destiny is the beginning to which there is no end!

I saw my Lord with the eye of my heart.

I said ,” No doubt, You are the One, You are, You are “.

You are the One that has sensed every “where”

where there is no “where” but You.

There is no way for the “where” to know where are You,

because there is no “where” except You.

No Imagination can contain You,

because it will not be able to find how You are.

Your knowledge encompasses everything and in everything

I see Your Oneness.

In my annihilation my annihilation was annihilated, and in my annihilated

annihilation I found You.

(i actually do not know its by whom)

Your Soul was created on earth

Solely to accompany my Soul

Journeying on the ocean of life until the end

What I need is not your mortal form

But your Soul,

For me to take back to eternity

Where there is neither boundary nor time limit

You also know,

That True Love cannot be denied

For it comes from the bottom of the heart

It originates in the ocean of

The Divine Presence

And is free of desires and the ego…

This is called… True Love

I will waken your Soul

That has been sleeping for too long

So your Soul will be alive with Heavenly senses

Because

I am You

and

You are I

When someone arrives at our

door step,we know who sent him,

so we can't refuse"

Sulthanul Awliya Mawlana Syaikh Muhammad Nazim Adil al Haqqani

"Do you think we came from the Divine Presence with our whole originality, our whole personality? Never. We are like one ray of the sun. We are, in our originality, in reality, still in Divine Presence. Not moving, out of time and space there is no movement. We are continuously worshipping, always in the Divine Presence for service. Here, in this life, there is only one ray from that timeless 'sun' for us. We are here for a little time only."



-Grandsheykh Mevlana Nazim al-Hakkani al-Kibrisi

The Alchemy of Heart

The heart of man has been constituted by the Almighty that, like a flint, it contains a hidden fire which is evoked by music and harmony and renders man beside himself with ecstasy. These harmonies are echoes of that higher world of beauty which we call the world of spirits; they remind man of his relationship with that world and produce in him an emotion so deep and strange that he himself is powerless to explain it. The effects of music and dancing fan into a flame whatever love is already dormant in the heart, wether it be earthly and sensual, or divine and spiritual.


Imam Ghazzali continues that "pure religious music is used by the Sufis to stir up in themselves greater love toward God often obtaining spiritual visions and ecstasies, their heart becoming as clean as silver in the flame of a furnace."

Kinds ov Heart

The Messenger of God said,

"There are four kinds of hearts:

There is a bare heart within which is a shining lamp, and this is the heart of the person of faith.

There is a black and inverted heart, and this is the heart of the unbeliever.

There is a heart bound by attachments, and this is the heart of the hypocrite.

And there is a layered heart, within which are both faith and hypocrisy.

The faith within it is like a plant nourished by sweet water, while the hypocrisy within it is like a boil nourished by pus and filth.

The heart will be judged by whichever nourishment dominates over it"

If you are coming here like this cup you are not taking anything.

This cup is full.

Whatever you put in,

it is not going to take more.

If you are bringing the cup empty then you are going to find your cup getting

filled again, and every time

you are tasting from that cup you are going to know that

it's different than what was in it before.

But if a person is coming with his cup filled,

then he is only going to take what he brought.

Nothing else.

_Sheik Nazim Adil Haqani

If you could get rid

Of yourself just once,

The secret of secrets

Would open to you.

The face of the unknown,

Hidden beyond the universe

Would appear on the

Mirror of your perception.

- Rumi

Rumi says about this direction as follows:

The direction for kings is the crown and the belt; and the direction for the worldly-minded is gold and silver; and the direction for those who love material beings is idols; and the direction for lovers of spirit is the heart and the soul; and the direction for ascetics is the niche of a mosque; and the direction for the careless is unnecessary works; and the direction for the lazy is to sleep and eat; and the direction for humans is knowledge and wisdom.



The direction for the lover is eternal union; and the direction for the wise person is the Face of Allah; and the direction for the worldly-minded is possessions and rank; and the direction for dervishes is the provisions of religious orders; and the direction for passion is worldly desires; and the direction for the people of confinement is putting trust in Allah.


We must be aware that the direction we face for prayer is not the building of the Ka’bah, but it is the place where the Ka’bah is located. If the Ka’bah is moved to another place it cannot be the direction for prayer there.”


So one is supposed to direct his heart to Allah while directing his body towards the Ka’bah. Because the direction for the heart is Allah.



On the other hand, in order to accomplish pious reverence in prayer one is supposed to have a perfect intention to perform his prayer in accordance with the following saying of the Prophet (pbuh), “acts are judged by intentions.” This means being conscious of whose presence we are in as we pray. This requires examining the desires of the heart and also divorcing all aims except the approval of Allah.



it keeps you engaged this way ;)

insha'allah.

Heart has died.

Thought I tried.

Evil mind,

So unkind,

Stole you away.

Not a day

Passes by

Without a sigh.

Thinking of you.

What shall I do?

Whatever I do, the responsibility is mine,

but like one who plants an orchard,

what comes of what I do, the fruit,

will be for others.

I offer the actions of this life

to the God within,

and wherever I go, the way is blessed.

—

Lalla

letters to a Young poet by Rainer Maria Rilke

I want to beg of you much as I can to be patient

toward all that's unsolved in your heart,

and learn to love the questions themselves,

like locked rooms, or like books that are

written in a very foreign tongue.

Do not seek the answers, which cannot be given you,

because you would not be able to live them,

and the point is to live everything.

Live the question now,

perhaps you will then, gradually, without noticing it,

live along some distant day into the answer."

One regret dear world,
that I am determined not to have
when I am lying on my deathbed
is that I did not kiss you enough.

by Hafiz

whirling Dervish

As waves upon my head,

the circling curl.

So in this sacred dance,

weave ye and whirl.

Dance then O heart,

a whirling circle be.

Burn in this flame,

is not the candle He!

Knowledge is like a lamp.

Love is like the sun.

Upon the rising of the sun,

the lamp is rendered useless!

Until you see,

how can you find?

This is true for all but Lovers:

For how can they seek the Beloved being Blind,

Until they have discovered

- Rumi

I have become drunk in the fermentation of Love.

O Lord, what is to be done?

My mind sees 2 but my heart sees 1.

O Giver of life!

Grant me a life in Love!

O Giver of death!

Grants me a death in Love!

And O Lover of ur Beloved!

Raise me once again in the company of your Beloved!

The eye of the mind is blinded by reality,

while the eye of the heart is enlightened by divinity.

Yet still, both are limited by material conjugality!

The science of the heart is taught within the faculty of love.

The mind perceives fantasy while the heart experiences reality!

Is it not strange that the beauty of the sun can only be perceived from its reflection on the moon? Yet we say the moon is beautiful!

Love is the wine!

The ego is the swine!

When two flames unite,

a single fire is born!

The flame is not the fire,

nor is it other than the fire!

by Zakir

Oh dreamer, be the dream!

Oh lover, be the beloved!

And

Oh seeker, be the sought after!

The melody of love can only be heard by the heart.

Compassion be thy grape,

the sweetest in taste,

all harvested in respect for Thy sake.

Matured over time,

no doing of mine,

let love be thy wine!

truth..

When the madness,

being love,

enters the faculty of truth,

being the heart,

the heart is rendered mad,

and love demonstrates the truth...

The difference between love and hate, is that one consumes the heart, while the other consumes the mind...

by Zakir.

When I ask you to listen to me,

And you start giving me advice,

You have not done what I asked.

When I ask that you listen to me,

And you begin to tell me why I shouldn't feel that way,

You are trampling on my feelings.

When I ask you to listen to me,

And you feel you have to do something to solve my problems,

You have failed me, strange as that may seem.

Listen.

All that I ask is that you listen,

Not talk or do - just hear me.

When you do something for me

That I need to do for myself,

You contribute to my fear and feelings of inadequacy.

But when you accept as a simple fact

That I do feel what I feel, no matter how irrational,

Then I can quit trying to convince you

And go about the business

Of understanding what's behind my feelings.

So, please listen and just hear me

And, if you want to talk,

Wait a minute for your turn - and I'll listen to you.

It is better to sit alone than in company with the bad; and it is better still to sit with the good than alone. It is better to speak to a seeker of knowledge than to remain silent; but silence is better than idle words. (Bukhari)

The Sufi Way by Seyh Ibrahim Efendi

They say the Sufi way
is to give one’s life away.

The Sufi way is to become a sultan
on the throne of the soul.

In the station of the Path,
it is to destroy appearances.

In the station of Reality,
it is to become a guestin the inner
most palace of the heart.

They say it is to be pure of body,
the light of the Beloved.

The Sufi way is to gradually take off
the dress of earth and water.

They say it is to burn up in Love’s fire–

The Sufi way is to be utterly inflamed
with the light of the Beloved.

They say it is to believe and follow the rules–

The Sufi way is to discover the rules
of the multitude of heavens.

They say it is to become a medicine for every ailment–

The Sufi way is to know and become all the secrets
of creation.

They say it is to destroy the illusion of bodies–

The Sufi way is to open the secrets of the body
with the key of the Divine Names.

O Sufi, to comprehend it,
one must be it.

The one who gets lost in words
will never be their meaning.


They say it is to become the secret of God
within one’s innermost heart–

The Sufi way is to read the outer signs
and know the inner meanings.

They say it is to be in wonder
at the greatness of creation–

The Sufi way is to be constantly amazed
by the nature of Reality.

They say it is to make each heart
the throne of God–

The Sufi way is to remove all else but God
from the heart’s dwelling.

They say it is to watch over all humanity–

The Sufi way is to cover East and West
with every breath.

They say it is to shine as brightly as the sun–

The Sufi way is to perceive God
in every minute thing.

They say it is to be in harmony
with every kind of person–

The Sufi way is to appearin a hundred thousand forms daily.

They say it is to be like Solomon
to the whole universe;

The Sufi way is to understand
and speak in every language.

They say it is to become an ocean
from a single drop–

The Sufi way is to make your heart a cellar
to hold the wine of the Truth.


They say it is to become a human being
illuminated with the light of Being–

The Sufi way is to destroy Being utterly
in the light of Non-Being.


They say it is to become a life
for each particle of life

–The Sufi way is to die a thousand times
and return to life each moment.


They say it is to become a master
of wisdom and eternal justice–

The Sufi way is to become an eye
looking out from every hair.


They say it is to surrender
your soul to the Beloved–

The Sufi way is to become
the soul of the Beloved.

They say it is the proof
of Muhammad’s message–

The Sufi way, O Ibrahim,
is to embody God as one’s own self.

YYOU CAN`T CHANGE THE WORLD...


In the old times, there was a king who ruled a prosperous country. One day, he went for a trip to some distant areas of his country. When he was back to his palace, he complained that his feet were very painful, because it was the first time that he went for such a long trip, and the road that he went through was very ROUGH and STONY. He then ordered his people to cover every road of the entire country with leather... Definitely, this would need thousands of cows' skin, and would cost a huge amount of money. Then one of his wise men told this to the king : "Why do you have to spend that unnecessary amount of money ? Why don't you just cut a little piece of leather and cover your feet instead ?"The king was surprised, but he later agreed to his suggestion, to make a "shoe" for himself.. and thus came the invention of the "Sandal"..There is actually a valuable lesson of life in this story : To make this world a happy place to live, you better change yourself - your heart; and not the world..

KNOW
WHEN TO CHANGE COURSE..


Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities. Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing of the bridge reported, "Light, bearing on the starboard bow." "Is it steady or moving astern?" the captain called out. The lookout replied, "Steady, captain," which meant it was on a dangerous collision course with their ship. The captain then shouted to the signalman, "Signal the ship: We are on a collision course. Advice you to change course 20 degrees." Back came a signal, "Advisable for you to change course 20 degrees!" In reply, the captain said, "Send: I'm a ship's captain. Change course 20 degrees, now!" "I'm a seaman second class, "came the reply, "You had better change course 20 degrees, now!" By that time, the captain was furious. He spit out a command, "Send: This is a battleship. Change your course immediately."


Back came the flashing light's reply :

'THIS IS A LIGHTHOUSE !!"


These who would be costant in happiness and wisdomMust often change...~ Conficius~


It is not the strongest of the species that survive..but the most responsive to change..~ Clarence Darrow~

Have an awesome weekend..

Do less.. but do perfectly! The imprint, or impression which you are leaving over the time, and this planet is the action you are doing! Your contribution will persist after you in this world in the form of your action. Same like an old man who is planting a fruit tree, although he understand the reality the he will not able to see its fruit in his life.. but he has a hope that his grandparents will enjoy its fruit and climb over its shoots.. passersby will take rest under its shade during hot summer, or rainy winters.. and birds will take shelter in its leaves.. the pray of gratitude will directly or indirectly appear for him from every heart of whoever will get benefit.. The old man is not doing that virtue for money or any consideration from any one in this world, he is doing it.. because virtue in its very essence is itself a return, it is giving to his heart and his action has become a source of pleasure for him! Allah is a great Admirer of virtue, He never keeps any thing, and always returns every good deed with the best consideration! He is The King of the kings, and nothing ever decreases in His treasure!




So, whenever you have chosen a job, finish it with due diligence. Just burn yourself completely, get absorbed in it completely and forget every negative thought and eliminate the wall made by the negative emotions which is causing disruption in the way of action. You will find a peace to your existence. When you have fulfilled your duty with wholeheartedly, it is followed by a deep pleasure, a mental satisfaction. And the respect will follow you as well.





~+~





The two worst strategic mistakes to make are acting prematurely and letting an opportunity slip; to avoid this, the warrior treats each situation as if it were unique and never resorts to formulae, recipes or other people's opinions. - Paulo Coelho





“When you do something, you should burn yourself up completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself” - Shunryu Suzuki





"Whatsoever you do, do it with deep alertness; then even small things become sacred." – Osho





Whatever you are doing, do it as if it is a question of life & death. Put your total energy into it, and it will give you tremendous bliss - Osho


~+~





But the Messenger and those who believe with him strive hard with their property and their persons; and these it is who shall have the good things and these it is who shall be successful. - Quran 009.088





And (there are) others who have acknowledged their faults. They mixed a righteous action with another that was bad. It may be that Allah will relent toward them. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. - Quran 009.102

I'm a big believer in growth. Life is not about achievement, it's about learning and growth, and developing qualities like compassion, patience, perseverance, love, and joy, and so forth. And so if that is the case, then I think our goals should include something which STRECHES us.
(Jack Canfield)

WHAT I LEARNED IN LIFE


I've learned -
that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them.

I've learned-
that no matter how much I care, some people just don't care back.

I've learned-
that it takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it.

I've learned-
that it's not what you have in your life but who you have in your life that counts.

I've learned-
that you can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes. After that, you'd better know something.

I've learned-
that you shouldn't compare yourself to the best others can do.

I've learned-
that you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life.

I've learned-
that it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.

I've learned-
that you can keep going long after you can't.

I've learned-
that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.

I've learned-
that either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I've learned-
that regardless of how hot and steamy a relationship is at first, the passion fades
and there had better be something else to take its place.

I've learned-
that heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.

I've learned-
that money is a lousy way of keeping score.

I've learned-
that my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time.

I've learned-
that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you're down
will be the ones to help you get back up.

I've learned-
that sometimes when I'm angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.

I've learned-
that true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.

I've learned-
that just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have.

I've learned-
that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had and what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated.

I've learned-
that you should never tell a child their dreams are unlikely or outlandish. Few things are more humiliating, and what a tragedy it would be if they believed it.

I've learned-
that your family won't always be there for you. It may seem funny, how people you aren't related to can take care of you and love you and teach you to trust people again. Families aren't always biological.

I've learned-
that no matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.

I've learned-
that it isn't always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you are to learn to forgive yourself.

I've learned-
that no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn't stop for your grief.

I've learned-
that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.

I've learned-
that just because two people argue, it doesn't mean they don't love each other And just because they don't argue, it doesn't mean they do.

I've learned-
that we don't have to change friends if we understand that friends change.

I've learned-
that you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.

I've learned-
that two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.

I've learned-
that no matter how you try to protect your children, they will eventually get hurt and you will hurt in the process.

I've learned-
that your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don't even know you.

I've learned-
that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help.

I've learned-
that credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.

I've learned-
that the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.

I've learned-
that it's hard to determine where to draw the line between being nice and not hurting people's feelings and standing up for what you believe.

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

...and here are some great qoutes about the subject :

* Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.
~Chinese Proverb

* Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn and you will. ~Vernon Howard

* I find four great classes of students: The dumb who stay dumb. The dumb who become wise. The wise who go dumb. The wise who remain wise. ~Martin H. Fischer

* No matter how one may think himself accomplished, when he sets out to learn a new language, science, or the bicycle, he has entered a new realm as truly as if he were a child newly born into the world.
~Frances Willard

* Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.
~Henry Ford

* We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.
~Lloyd Alexander

* I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think - ~Socrates

* I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.
~ Albert Einstein

* The teacher if he is indeed wise does not teach bid you to enter the house of wisdom but leads you to the threshold of your own mind.
- Kahlil Gilbran


Have an awesome weekend..

Among Imam Shafi’i’s words which carried Sufi values were :



"A man who is cruel to himself, is one who lowers himself to someone who does not respect him, and one who likes something which does not bring him any benefit, and one who is praised by someone who does not really know him. One who is not honoured for his Taqwa, is not a person who is honoured. To probe into a man’s secret, is more cruel than investigating an animal. If I know that such an investigation will affect my honour, I shall not drink even if I am thirsty. Among the true signs of Ukhwah is to accept criticisms from friends, and to protect a friend’s honour and forgive his mistakes."

....

Abu Maalik Al-Ash’ari narrates that the Prophet (pbuh) says, “Certainly in the paradise, there are chambers. Its outside can be seen from inside and its inside can be seen from outside. Allah has prepared these chambers for those who feeds others and spreads salaams and performs Salaah in the night when people are asleep."


Abu Hurairah (r.a) says, “I said, “O Prophet of Allah, whenever my eyes fall upon you, I am overjoyed and my eyes are cooled. Inform me of everything? The prophet (pbuh) said, “Everything is created from water”, and then I asked him to inform me of an act, that if I do it, I will enter into paradise. He (the prophet) said, “Feed others and spread Salaams and join family ties and pray at night when people are asleep, you will enter paradise peacefully”.

Mawlana Shaykh Nazim Adil Haqqani


The Lord created us and loves us; that is why everyone loves love. No one complains of love or wants it to be taken from him, but all want to be loved more. Where are you seeking love? Are you taking pure water from the gushing source, or muddy, slimy water from the ditch? You love people, but they will die. Perhaps your love will be unrequited, or because of a small error or indiscretion on your part that person's heart will harden to you and love will be no more. You say that you love him or her, but do you love him or her unconditionally? Is your love permanent-love for the real immaculate divine essence living in that person, or temporary, as a result of some desirable attributes: beauty, youth, wealth, station or wit? When that beautiful, young, wealthy, clever, amiable socialite becomes an ugly, old, penniless, senile, grumpy outcast will you still love her? Is your love of the spirit or of the world?


Oh people, seek real love, a love that cannot go astray. That love is the love of God and the love of his creatures for the sake of His love for them. That love emanation may bind all receptive hearts. There is a common saying: "The friend of a friend is a friend", so love people if you love God, for you must know that He loves them. It is not always easy to love people, even good people, so what about the Korahs of this world?

Love pertaining to the ego is not love, as all the ego knows is to love itself, and what is commonly called love is but a mutual understanding to support each other's egoism. Don't trust your ego, nor anyone else's, for the ego is disloyal by nature. When the spirit gains ascendancy the ego may be harnessed and put to good use, as the Holy Prophet (sallallaho alayahi wasallam) said: "Your ego is your mount", but left to its whims it will take you many miles from your path in search of herbage.


This discourse is an Ocean, its summary is: what is of the world beware of, and pay attention to the dose. When crossing that ocean embark on a sturdy ship with well maintained lifeboats and life-preservers, and if you swim in it keep your head above water!

lost by Atif

I lost someone,

in the woods of darkness,

trying to find a way,

back to the earth.

I left someone,

in the hell of silence,

pushing the brakes,

hitting me back,

paralizing me in those immortal thoughts.

I am being seperated from someone,

in the way of that unknown path,

where I couldn't get a hint of liquor of truth,

nor a wing to hold from start to last.

The lost someone is nobody else,

but me in the fits of fears,

which made me hate the darkness,

which I loved before, around the sphere.

And at the end,the tears says,

the truth carves on the rocks of ever,

that I am lost forever,who can be rescued never.

-Atif Hussain

I guess you didnt notice how i looked into ur eyes,

And saw how your soul screamed

For the truth through all the lies.

And now you're with him

when it should be me.

i guess that you're too oblivious to see,

how happy I am

when you're with me,

but now you're gone

And my heart bleeds

There is a secret path to the heartwinding through a rose,

where deep between

the layers of roseness,

a lover can find the wayto the embedded clues of the truth,

hidden there by the warriors of love.

There is no battle cry, no army,

no weapons, no flag to carry,

for the wayfarer must enter

the deep jungle of fragranceand alluring silken beauty

to find the heart within the rose.
Enter the rose with Rumi,

and he will show you the way,

spinning you around and dancing

you into laughter and wonder.

The mystics know the way of the heart

and guard the secrets well.

No map exists, and no words can describe

the alchemy of the journey

that turns you into light.
Fall out of your well laid plans,

and fall deeply into love.

Love will meet you inside the rose,

and you will awakenin the beauty of your heart.

(c) whispering mystic

Look at Love...
how it tangles
with the one fallen in love
look at spirit
how it fuses with earth
giving it new life
why are you so busy
with this or that or good or bad
pay attention to how things blend
why talk about all
the known and the unknown
see how unknown merges into the known
why think separately
of this life and the next
when one is born from the last
look at your heart and tongue
one feels but deaf and dumb
the other speaks in words and signs
look at water and fire
earth and wind
enemies and friends all at once
the wolf and the lamb
the lion and the deer
far away yet together
look at the unity of this
spring and winter
manifested in the equinox
you too must mingle my friends
since the earth and the sky
are mingled just for you and me
be like sugarcane
sweet yet silent
don't get mixed up with bitter words
my beloved grows
right out of my own heart
how much more union can there be
- Rumi

.

God came to my house and asked for charity.

And I fell on my knees and

cried, “Beloved,

what may I

give?”

“Just love,” He said.

“Just love”

Remember of the Divine is not the job,

of a useless idler,

And return to God is not the way

of any worthless wanderer.

In the school of lovers, silence is better than speech

reality ....

...

In love, nothing exists between heart and heart.
Speech is born out of longing,
True description from the real taste.
The one who tastes, knows;
the one who explains, lies.
How can you describe the true form of Something
In whose presence you are blotted out?
And in whose being you still exist?
And who lives as a sign for your journey?

Love has given me wings,

So I must fly far, far away.

And if that means leaving this life behind,

Then I leave it without sorrow.

It’s my time to go,

A new beginning calls to me.

I’ll never forget,

I'll always remember,

And if fate allows it,

we will meet again.

Never have been I welcomed,

So driving away is no goodbye.

I forgive your mistakes, your choices,

But now it’s my turn to make my own.

If I never see you again,

My never ending love is forever yours.

You brought me into this world,

And I plan on making the best of what I was given.

Love has given me wings,

So I must fly far,

far away.

And if that means leaving you behind,

Then I leave you without looking back...

It took me losing you twice,

To honestly realize you were the one.

Now that you're gone,

I realize I'll never get you back..

Poison runs through my veins,

It's slowly killing the human in me,

But I can't stop it,

I need more.

When it's apart of you,

There's no point in fighting,

Just embrace what you've been given,

Take charge and feed the hunger.

They'll never understand why I'm doing this,

But one day they'll realize,

I was right ;

The Monster was right...

It feels as though,

A century has faded,

Since you left,

My love.

And yet I feel you with me,

Every step I take,

Every move I make,

I feel you in the the wind.

I shall never love another,

As I have loved you.

Our love may be forbidden,

But I still long for your touch.

Our love was passionate,

Our love was strong.

It ended in a flash,

But I will die loving only you.

In a thousand years,

No one will remember our names,

No one will remember our story,

No one will remember our love.

Our memory,

Will die with our souls,

So will our names,

And our story.

But not our love,

Forbidden or not,

It shall survive,

It shall remain alive...

words of wisdom from Quran...

1. Respect and honour all human beings irrespective of their religion, color, race, sex, language, status, property, birth, profession/job and so on [17/70]

2. Talk straight, to the point, without any ambiguity or deception [33/70]

3. Choose best words to speak and say them in the best possible way [17/53, 2/83]

4. Do not shout. Speak politely keeping your voice low. [31/19]

5. Always speak the truth. Shun words that are deceitful and ostentatious [22/30]

6. Do not confound truth with falsehood [2/42]

7. Say with your mouth what is in your heart [3/167]

8. Speak in a civilized manner in a language that is recognised by the society and is commonly used [4/5]

9. When you voice an opinion, be just, even if it is against a relative [6/152]

10. Do not be a bragging boaster [31/18]

11. Do not talk, listen or do anything vain [23/3, 28/55]

12. Do not participate in any paltry. If you pass near a futile play, then pass by with dignity [25/72]

13. Do not verge upon any immodesty or lewdness whether surreptitious or overt [6/151].

14. If, unintentionally, any misconduct occurs by you, then correct yourself expeditiously [3/134].

15. Do not be contemptuous or arrogant with people [31/18]

16. Do not walk haughtily or with conceit [17/37, 31/18]

17. Be moderate in thy pace [31/19]

18. Walk with humility and sedateness [25/63]

19. Keep your gazes lowered devoid of any lecherous leers and salacious stares [24/30-31, 40/19].

20. If you do not have complete knowledge about anything, better keep your mouth shut. You might think that speaking about something without full knowledge is a trivial matter. But it might have grave consequences [24/15-16]

21. When you hear something malicious about someone, keep a favorable view about him/her until you attain full knowledge about the matter. Consider others innocent until they are proven guilty with solid and truthful evidence [24/12-13]

22. Ascertain the truth of any news, lest you smite someone in ignorance and afterwards repent of what you did [49/6]

23. Do not follow blindly any information of which you have no direct knowledge. (Using your faculties of perception and conception) you must verify it for yourself. In the Court of your Lord, you will be held accountable for your hearing, sight, and the faculty of reasoning [17/36].

24. Never think that you have reached the final stage of knowledge and nobody knows more than yourself. Remember! Above everyone endowed with knowledge is another endowed with more knowledge [12/76]. Even the Prophet [p.b.u.h] was asked to keep praying, "O My sustainer! Advance me in knowledge." [20:114]

25. The believers are but a single Brotherhood. Live like members of one family, brothers and sisters unto one another [49/10].

26. Do not make mockery of others or ridicule others [49/11]

27. Do not defame others [49/11]

28. Do not insult others by nicknames [49/11]

29. Avoid suspicion and guesswork. Suspicion and guesswork might deplete your communal energy [49/12]

30. Spy not upon one another [49/12]

31. Do not backbite one another [49/12]

32. When you meet each other, offer good wishes and blessings for safety. One who conveys to you a message of safety and security and also when a courteous greeting is offered to you, meet it with a greeting still more courteous or (at least) of equal courtesy [4/86]

33. When you enter your own home or the home of somebody else, compliment the inmates [24/61]

34. Do not enter houses other than your own until you have sought permission; and then greet the inmates and wish them a life of blessing, purity and pleasure [24/27]

35. Treat kindly " Your parents " Relatives " The orphans " And those who have been left alone in the society [4/36]

36. Take care of " The needy, " The disabled " Those whose hard earned income is insufficient to meet their needs " And those whose businesses have stalled " And those who have lost their jobs. [4/36]

37. Treat kindly " Your related neighbours, and unrelated neighbours " Companions by your side in public gatherings, or public transportation. [4/36]

38. Be generous to the needy wayfarer, the homeless son of the street, and the one who reaches you in a destitute condition [4/36]

39. Be nice to people who work under your care. [4/36]

40. Do not follow up what you have given to others to afflict them with reminders of your generosity [2/262].

41. Do not expect a return for your good behaviour, not even thanks [76/9]

42. Cooperate with one another in good deeds and do not cooperate with others in evil and bad matters [5/2]

43. Do not try to impress people on account of self-proclaimed virtues [53/32]

44. You should enjoin right conduct on others but mend your own ways first. Actions speak louder than words. You must first practice good deeds yourself, then preach [2/44]

45. Correct yourself and your families first [before trying to correct others] [66/6]

46. Pardon gracefully if anyone among you who commits a bad deed out of ignorance, and then repents and amends [6/54, 3/134]

47. Divert and sublimate your anger and potentially virulent emotions to creative energy, and become a source of tranquility and comfort to people [3/134]

48. Call people to the Way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful exhortation. Reason with them most decently [16/125]

49. Leave to themselves those who do not give any importance to the Divine code and have adopted and consider it as mere play and amusement [6/70]

50. Sit not in the company of those who ridicule Divine Law unless they engage in some other conversation [4/140]

51. Do not be jealous of those who are blessed [4/54]

52. In your collective life, make rooms for others [58/11]

53. When invited to dine, Go at the appointed time. Do not arrive too early to wait for the preparation of meal or linger after eating to engage in bootless babble. Such things may cause inconvenience to the host [33/53]

54. Eat and drink [what is lawful] in moderation [7/31].

55. Do not squander your wealth senselessly [17/26]

56. Fulfill your promises and commitments [17/34]

57. Keep yourself clean, pure [9/108, 4/43, 5/6].

58. Dress-up in agreeable attire and adorn yourself with exquisite character from inside out [7/26]

59. Seek your provision only by fair endeavor [29/17, 2/188]

60. Do not devour the wealth and property of others unjustly, nor bribe the officials or the judges to deprive others of their possessions

at the moment you were leaving,
the heart
seemed dry,
and no tears!
at the moment you have left,
the heart is
like a sponge,
shrinks,
giving off a lot of water!

Prisoner of Love..

I am a prisoner of love, completely captive, bird whose wings wish only to fan the face of his Beloved. What need have I to fly? Where in this world can I go? Bound with the invisible thread of devotion, I pace my inner courtyard, rave silently beneath a local moon and wait for his return. To call this a jail is a lie when all I want to do is crawl further in, dig my tunnel deeper to the one forever guarding me.

A prisoner of love, yes, that's what I am!

Howling at the half moon, screaming for the full, I turn my self in, keep turning myself in and in and in to the only one worth being in love and alone with. Why dream of other times and places when the one who has the key is knocking at your door?

If words come out of the heart, they will enter the heart,
but if they come from the tongue,
they will not pass beyond the ears.

Ocean of my Dreams.. by Ibn Arabi, Rumi and A. yaseen.

Ocean of my Dreams

I sail with you in the Ocean of dreams
To a far away distant places
Of great beauty
And tranquaility.

Where pain and suffering
Do not exist.

Where we give praises for,
Our joy and happiness,
Where our love intertwines,
With the love for all things.

O’ beloved Compainion of my heart,
Keeper of my soul,
You have reached out and touched
The essence of my being,
And showed me the way,
To the higher plane,
Your love has awaken me,
From my years of slumber,
A beckoned call to spiritual world,
Where my body is mist in the mountains,
This is where my heart belongs,
This is where my soul lives,
Because I love you,
Yes ‘ I love you,
Ya Allah , I love you.


Compainion of my heart,
Keeper of my soul.


No one knows desire except for,
The one who bears it,
Nor fervent longing except for,
The one who suffers from it.


When I am with you we stay up all night,
When you are not here, I cant sleep,
Praise God for these two insomnias!
And the difference between them.

A moment of happiness,
Thou and I together here,
And in the timeless sweet land,
We feel the flowing water of life here,
With the garden’s beauty,
And the birds singing.

The stars will be watching us,
And we will show them,
What is it to be a thin, crescent moon.

This is where my heart belongs,
This is where my soul lives.

Because I love you,
Yes I love you,
Ya Allah, I love you!

Companion of my heart ,
Keeper of my soul.

the Conference OF Devils :::

The king of devils called a worldwide conference of all his minions.
In his opening address he said,
“We can’t keep believers from their prayers and meditations.”
“We can’t keep them from reading their holy scriptures and knowing the truth.”
“We can’t even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their Lord.”
“Once they gain that connection with their Creator, our power over them is broken.”
“So let them go to their houses of worship; let them have their community dinners, BUT steal their time, so they don’t have time to develop a relationship with God.”
“This is what I want you to do,” said the Devil:
“Distract them from remembering their Lord and maintaining that vital connection throughout the day!”
“How shall we do this?” his helpers asked.
“Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life, inventing innumerable schemes to occupy their minds, bodies and souls” he answered.
“Tempt people to keep spending with no end in sight, continually borrowing to fund their addiction!”
“Persuade people to go to work all hours of the day and night, 6-7 days each week, so they can afford their empty lifestyles.”
“Keep them from spending time with their children.”
“As their families fragment, soon their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of life!”
“Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice.”
“Entice them to play the radio constantly whenever they drive, and further entertainment throughout the day and night in their homes! Make sure there is no escape from our entertainments, so they get so lost in the material world, they begin to forget their spiritual reality…”
“This will jam their minds and break their union with God.”
“Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers.”
“Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day.”
“Invade their driving moments with billboards.”
“Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogues, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotion offering free products, services and false hopes.”
“Keep skinny, beautiful models on magazines and TV, so husbands will believe that outward beauty is what’s important, and they’ll become dissatisfied with their wives. Women will be so distracted trying to attain these impossible looks, they’ll have no time for the more important things in life, destroying their health into the bargain!”
“Keep husbands and wives too tired, to spend time loving each other at night. Give them headaches too!”
“If they don’t give their spouses the love they need, they may begin to look elsewhere…”
“That will fragment families quickly!”
“Even in their recreation, let them go to excess!”
“Have them return from their recreation exhausted.”
“Keep them too busy to take walks in the park, amongst the natural world, preventing their reflection upon God’s creation. Send them instead to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies. Keeping them ever so busy!”
“And when they go to their congregational prayers, involve them in internal politics, gossip and small talk, so they leave with troubled hearts…”
“Crowd their lives with ever so many distractions, they have no time to seek the pleasure of their Lord.”
“Soon they will be working on their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause.”
“It will work!” “It will work!”
It was quite a plan!
The devils went eagerly to their assignments, causing believers everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there. Having little time for God or their families. Having no time to tell others, about the infinite love and mercy of the Almighty to change lives.
I guess the question is, have the devils been successful in their schemes?
You be the judge…
Does “BUSY” mean:
B-eing
U-nder
S-atan’s
Y-oke?
Please pass this on, if you aren’t too BUSY!

The breath of zekr inhales love and exhales kindness/ The heartbeat keeps time to the rhythm of intention/ Steady the breath with silence and good works/ Listen to the heart beat La illa ha ill Allah!/ O seeker, the traveler on this path takes no provisions but love.


Irving Karchmar

Quotes !!

Anger is a destroyer for the heart of a sage; and he who does not have his anger under his control does not have his wisdom under his control, either."

"Be the friend of he who may grace you, not of one whom you are better than." (i.e make friends with ones who are higher than you so that you progress.)”

"Piety is that Allah does not miss you in the place where He has commanded you to be, and does not see (find) you where He has forbidden you from."

“The believer should live between two fears the past sin that he does not know what Allah will do about it and the remaining days that he does not know what misfortunes he will encounter during them. Thus, the believer begins his day fearfully and ends his day fearfully. Except fear, nothing mends the believer.”

“The world is the believer's jail, patience is his fortress, and Paradise is his abode. The world is the disbeliever's paradise, grave is his jail, and Hell is his abode.”


"Someone who possesses knowledge on a subject but conceals it when he is asked will be bridled with reins of fire." (Therefore, if a person possesses information that would help a bewildered person and improve his situation but he remains silent, he has surely committed a great sin.)


“At the (appointed) time of every prayer, I hear a caller who calls and says, ‘O children of Adam! Keep up prayers in order to extinguish the fire you have lit against yourselves (by committing sin).’


“Whoever has not made any improvements in one day has lost.”

“Say each of your prayers as if it were your last prayer.”


“He who travels in the search of knowledge, to him God shows the way of Paradise.”


“Keep yourselves far from envy, because it eats up and takes away good actions, like the fire that eats up and burns wood.”


“Deal gently with a people, and be not harsh; cheer them and condemn not.”

“As for those who practice without guidance, they are like him who walks without choosing a definite path. The more he walks, the remoter he becomes.”

... From the lips of the Prophet Muhammad {peace be upon him} ...
came the saying, Mutu qabla an tamutu (Die before you die): leave this world with your own will before you are faced with the necessity of leaving it at the end of your life.

There are three steps to achieving eternal life by dying to the world.

The first step is to protect oneself against the love, the ambition, the lust, the pleasures of this world, whose attractions pull us down to it and whose illusions distract us from Truth.

The second step is to try to live in strict accordance with the divine precepts -- not in a forced way but in seeking and assuming the divine attributes, the beautiful names of Allah, and in making them one's character in sincerity. The most ordinary sort of example of this is when a sincere man is dead and buried, beautiful memories of him live on.

The third and final step is to efface oneself, all that one has done, and all that one was -- including the divine attributes with which one has characterized oneself, such ass the Living One, the Hearing One, the Seeing One, the Knowing One, the Speaking One, the One with Power, the One with Will, the One Who Can Create -- all and everything, and to realize that there is no existence except allah. There is no you, but He and you are lost in Him, and you exist with Him. This is truly dying before dying.

Such a person is in continuous remembrance and continually conscious; his consciousness extends this world into the other. Therefore, he will be alive eternally.

Continuous remembrance, total consciousness, is the goal and the sign of the perfect man. It is also the beginning, the means, and the key to perfection. Perfection is in Allah and is from Allah, and man attains it in the measure of his closeness to Allah.

To come close to Allah is only possible through loving Him, and to love Him is only possible through remembering Him. The Beloved of Allah, Muhammad {peace be upon him}, said: Man remembers often the one whom he loves.

Frequent remembrance of Allah increases His love in one's heart. If one's heart and mind are preoccupied with other things, one will forget the Creator and Sustainer of that heart and will neither remember nor love Him.

It is impossible to realize the Creator only with one's senses and one's mind. It is not easy to submit to Him through reason. But if one remembers Him often, that remembrance will penetrate into one's being -- into every part, every cell, deep into one's essence, making one able to remember Him without effort, like a heartbeat. Then the effort to be conscious will be replaced by the pleasure of consciousness. That pleasure will bring the love of Allah. Allah says: Remember Allah so often so that you will find deliverance from heedlessness, and find happiness. (Juma', 10). And: Those who remember Allah standing and sitting and lying on their sides... (Al-i'Imran, 191) are the heedful who see the signs of the creation of the heavens and the earth and know that they were not created in vain.

Realization of this is the reward of remembrance. The pleasure of seeing the harmony in the creation, the love felt for the Maker of this creation, are the signs that Allah has opened the eyes of one's heart and the gates of His Paradise.

There are only two rewards which Allah bestows upon a human being that He never takes back. One is the pleasure given in the remembrance of Him; the other is the lifting of dark veils from the eye of the heart, so that wherever one looks one sees the Truth in the beauty and power of the Creator.


An excerpt from

Inspirations: On the Path of Blame
Shaikh Badruddin of Simawna
Translation and commentaryby Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi

Rumi...

Joyful the moment when we sat in the bower, Thou and I;
In two forms and with two faces - with one soul, Thou and I.


The colour of the garden and the song of the birds give the elixir of immortality
The instant we come into the orchard, Thou and I.


The stars of Heaven come out to look upon us
We shall show the moon herself to them, Thou and I.
Thou and I, with no 'Thou' or 'I', shall become one through our tasting;
Happy, safe from idle talking, Thou and I.


The spirited parrots of heaven will envy us
When we shall laugh in such a way, Thou and I.


This is stranger, that Thou and I,
in this corner here...


Are both in one breath here and there - Thou and I





(i just love this poem so thot to share with u all)

my courage failing,

and shelter in friendship gone

re-evaluateto renew past acquaintance

and specify a path home.





(In the past few days I have come to know the horror of friendship lost, and of the difficulty in clawing back a dignified existence from the ashes of that situation. Not for myself, I've felt no tragedy in my personal life for some time, no - instead, a friend is suffering. i thought of her, and these few lines came to me)

Beware! Don't allow yourself to do what you know is wrong, relying on the thought.

A sip ov Wine

Love draws us to love, pulls us into this sweet abyss, melts away attachments, drowns us in ecstacy. Who would not give away everything for another taste of this intoxicating substance? The Sufi's say that one sip of this wine and you are lost, you would sell everything for just another sip.
- I felt the butterfly wings of love at the edge of my heart, I knew I was given more than I thought could ever be given. And later the love came again, richer, deeper, more complete, more intoxicating. All one can think is, why me? What have I done to deserve this? And the heart is so greatful.
- In this love affair all of our patterns of seduction, the games we play to keep our lover, are useless. We become so vulnerable. We are loves prey.
In human relationships we have been taught to look after ourselves, to draw boundaries and not be victimized. We know that we shouldn't be taken advantage of, that we shouldn't be violated. This is very important, learning to keep our human integrity and sense of self, not to sell ourself for what appears as love or the promise of security. But the ways of mystical love are very different. In the relationship with our souls Beloved we have to give ourself without restrictions, and we are violated, abused, and loved beyond compare. We are taken by force, abducted and transformed, and we give ourself willingly to this self-destruction through love.
- Love takes us by force beyond every limit, beyond what we think is possible; we are tortured and made whole by love - time and time again we lose and rediscover ourself, only to fall deeper and deeper into loves endless abyss.
- Loves ocean is real and endless, a place not for the fainthearted, not for those who like security or safety. The mystic is seduced and dragged into this love, seduced by its softness, dragged by its power. This love abuses our sense of self, destroys our patterns of control, violates our deepest beliefs, and takes us back to God. In this love there is neither form nor limit, only a completeness beyond even our dreaming, a sweetness beyond imagining, and a terror that belongs to the absolute. Love takes us into the infinite emptiness of His presence, into the vastness that is hidden within our own heart.
- This is why the sufi's call the lane of love a one-way street. Once this primal passion has been awakened the lover cannot return to the rational world, to the world of the ego. You can only give yourself, and give yourself and give yourself.
" Love is the only thing that every soul brings to earth with it"
" The outer beauty of a person must merge with the inner beauty and become one. This is the source of true beauty " - Sufi Wisdom
" Love is a net where hearts are caught like fish " - Sufi Wisdom
" A heart enlightened by love is more precious than all of the diamonds and gold in the world"
- Sufi Message
" Greatfulness in the character is like fragrance in the flower " Sufi Wisdom
" A worldly loss often turns into a spiritual gain "
" We can never pray enough, or give enough, or share enough, or care about the world enough, and we could never love enough to repay God for His gifts to us "
" Do you not love for Allah to forgive you? ( Qur'an )
" You will never attain piety, until you spend from what you love " ( Qur'an )
( This is how you rid yourself from wealth and desire )
" They hear no word but the words of God. They never cease from the remembrance of God. Everywhere they behold God's Beauty. Their aim is God alone, and their desire is God's good pleasure"
" Whoever desires to purify his heart, then let him prefer Allah to his desires "
" When I touch the ground in prayer, I have no other purpse but You.

....

At first light, the Mourning Dove Woke me from my slumber, calling Coo, cooo ooo, coo, coo coo Alhamdulillah! O timely bird, Life is short and death is long La illaha ill Allah! Each word I heard in your song Awake! Awake! O lazy one, Time is flying, the sun is rising Now the muezzin echoes your call, Singing the faithful to prayer The earth is a prayer rug, Under a blue-domed mosque La illaha ill Allah!

Art asks questions, Faith supplies answers: it is important for Faith to allow the Heart a space where it can express with Freedom & Dignity its Simple, Human, Painful questions, which may not always be Beautiful but are never absolutely Ugly."

we scream in the silence

and no one hears us,

crickets chirp around us

and we pretend they're human,

we pretend they understand our pain.

maybe they dream in grayscale,

too,

maybe they count secrets like

stars, and maybe their body shakes

with anxious thoughts held in.

maybeit gets too much sometimes,

and maybe

they sound inhuman when they cry, and maybe

they realize that crying only makes you

Empty.

listen,

if you loved me, you

wouldn't try to fix me.

if you loved me, you'd paint

butterflies across the wall

to make me smile.

listen,

if you loved me,

you'd give

me handrails to hold on

toon the way down.

you'd tell me

that right now, i'm a caterpillar

(but that caterpillars becomebutterflies.)

listen,

if you loved me,

you'd love me broken,

too.

snakes crawl out of my mouth,

hands like sleep waiting silentlyf

or me to give into them.

i toss words like rocks

across my tongue, skipping

across the lake, and we reach,

hands outstretched,

for the sun

but it's a shame it's all empty.

I'm here.

Alone.

On my own.

No noises,

Just me and my complicated mind.

Just me and my noisy brain.

They're gone,

now.

Disappear,

Vanish,

I see them nowhere near.

Nowhere within my reach.

What do I do dear Lord,

I'm on my own.

What do I do,

what do I do,

I'm helpless on my own.

I'm confused,

I'm losing my bearing here,

I'm not hearing anything,

So don't leave me alone,

now.

Please.

Just stay by me.

be silent

Be silent , my heart, for space hardly hear you,

be silent for the phantoms of the night,

will not give heed to the whisperings of your secrets,

nor will the processsion of darkness halt before your dreams.

Be silent, how can the soul be patient untie ,

slumber restores the happy phantoms of hope and light.

Be silent, give heed my heart,

wakefullness will bring us closer to the stars.

Be silent, for the raging tempest is

ridiculing your inner whispering,

caves of the valleys do not echo,

the vibration of your strings.

Dawn is breaking,

speak up if you are able my heart,

why do you not speak?

has not the silence of night left.

A song in your inner depths with,

which you may meet dawn,

you may meet beloved.

Are you not capable of flying with birds,

has a horrible night weakened your wings.

Rise ,

my heart , walk with dawn.

walk with beloved , for the night,

has passed , and fear of darkness vanished.

Rise,

my heart,

raise your voice with music.

For he who stares not dawn with his songs

is one of teh sons of ever darkness.

- Atif Hussain

Unknown...

Stranger i am in this city and there is a severe solitude & painfull lonesomeness in my exile.i am alone but incase in my aloneness, i contemplate on unknown tht filled my dreams with the spectre of light and hope.

Stranger among my own people and have no friends , whenever i met someone or see someone i always say within myself "who is he" and how do i know him and why now when everything's over he is here, and why still i am polite to him.when ever i hear my tongue speak, my ear wonder over my voice , i see my inner subletles (self) smiling,crying,braving and fearing and whole my existence wonders on my own substance and in a same time my soul interrogates my heart and in a whole process i remain unknown , engulfed by tremendous silence.

My inner being is all of what im not by outside and my words are totally opposite with my thoughts, what is in face are not in soul, got something in eyes which did not lay in my soul.

Within myself i roamed in whole universe from east to west but could not find a place to rest, now did i find any human being i perturbed with, neither any being who would hearken to my mind.

At Dawn when i opened my sleepless eyes , myself imprisoned in a dark cave from whose ceiling hang the insects and upon floor crawl the vipers and darkness spilled on each corner of room.

whenever i met to light, the shadows of my being follows me but the shadows of my spirit precedes me and lead the way to unknown place seeking things beyond my understandings and graspings objects that are meaning less to me.

I am stranger until the white and friendly wings of death carry me home into my beautiful abode where light and peace and understanding abide , and will wait for my friends who are also be able to rescued by friendly trap of time from the narrow , dark world , the world of all the deceptions.

There is a place where words are born of silence,
A place where the whispers of the heart arise.
There is a place where voices sing your beauty,
A place where every breeath
carves your image
in my soul.

Choosing to love..

You don't choose whom you love. He chooses them. If you had that
choice to choose; then the road would be simple. Whom he puts in
your life, is part of your test: to bear with them, to accept them
and most of all to love them despite all that they may agitate you with.
After all, they come from Him and they return to Him, just like you
did and will do. "... And We have made some of you as a trial for others: will you have patience? And your Lord is Ever All-Seer "

(Surah al-Furqan:20)

Cryin...

In the West we are conditioned to believe that at the beginning of every journey we should know where we are going and how to get there. Caught in this conditioning, we apply it to spiritual life: what is the goal we seek and what are the practices that will take us there? But the real journey of the soul is not of our own choosing, nor can we find our own way. We are responding to a call that will take us beyond the known into the unknown, beyond the world of forms into the formless.The spiritual journey is the most difficult undertaking. It is a voluntary crucifixion in which we die to the ego. Of our own accord we would never turn away from the world with its many attractions and illusions and begin this painful, lonely quest. It is only because He calls us, because He attracts our attention with His love, that we set out upon the path of no return. Like a magnet He draws us to Him with love, for, in the words of the Sufi poet Nizami,

"If the magnet were not loving, how could it attract the iron with such longing?"

In the innermost chamber of the heart we have seen His face but this is hidden from consciousness. The heart speaks a language so different from that of the mind and the ego that we are not directly aware of what has happened. Instead we are left with a feeling of the emptiness of our ordinary life. The painful side of spiritual awakening is that the world becomes desolate. We may try to improve our outer situation, work harder, make money, or take a vacation. But we soon find that this is no answer. What is it that we really want? Why is the outer world losing its attraction? Friends and interests that used to be fulfilling can seem empty, and we are left only with a discontent that we cannot satisfy.We long for what our heart knows to be real, for love's union which is hidden beneath the surface of our lives. When we are awakened to this real love we can never be satisfied by anything else. This is why the world begins to lose its attraction, why we become discontented. We have been given a glimpse of something else, the real substance of our own self. Longing is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it takes us home, and a curse because of the pain it brings. Nothing can satisfy us but union with God. Rabi'a, who knew the deepest meaning of love's pain, expresses this in her usual straightforward way:
"The source of my grief and loneliness is deep
in my breast.
This is a disease no doctor can cure.
Only union with the Friend can cure it."

Jalaluddin Rumi once said:
"Love is a flame that burns away all that is not Allah."

Love is a Beautiful and Divine Gift that Allah has blessed us all with.
Love is what keeps the Universe in motion, it keeps the world turning, and it's what circulates in our blood. The essence of our Creation is Love.

In the sense of Romantic relationships, Allah tells us to Love one another for His sake. We Love a human being because he/she is also another Creation of Allah, and the fact that they're in our lives means that they're a blessing from Allah. Your family, your friends, your loved ones, they are all gifts to you from the Divine. The Special One ... the twin half or soul mate ... is a special blessing. The key to a successful marriage or union of souls is to understand the truth of "Love is a flame that burns away all that is not Allah."

Allah is the UNITER, the MATCHMAKER, the PILLAR OF STRENGTH and UNITY in the relationship. Whenever there is a problem between the couples, it should be understood that it is normal, but it should also be meditated that Allah is the solution to all problems. Love is friendship on fire, as many people say. Friends are granted to you from Allah, and so in turn, there will only be Beauty and Success for those who are mindful of Allah and his blessed gift of love.

If one loves someone because it gives pleasure, one should not be regarded as loving that person at all. The love is, in reality, though this is not perceived, directed towards the pleasure. The source of the pleasure is the secondary object of attention, and it is perceived only because the perception of the pleasure is not well enough developed for the real feeling to be identified and described.
(Imam al-Ghazali )


Many mistakes may occur in love. The first of them is that people imagine that the object of love is an existent thing...In fact, love's object remains forever nonexistent, but most lovers are not aware of this, unless they should be knowers of the realities.

(Shaykh Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi)

True love seeks sacrifice and I’ve given it all.
This, this is true love in it’s purest form.
I turn my face towards You now.
The Lord of my world and the Heavens above.
I am Yours and Yours, alone.
My prayer, my sacrifice are only for You.
My life and death are Yours to take.
A promise I make.
To lay my life for You.
An oath that I worship.
No-one but You.

(Inspired by dua of The Holy Prophet (pbuh) to be read at Qurbani time)

story...

A Sufi master and his disciple were walking across a desert in Africa.
When night fell, they pitched their tent and lay down to rest.
'How silent it is!' said the disciple.
'Never say "how silent it is",' replied the master.
'Say rather: "I cannot hear nature".

Dont ever let someone tell you you can't do something. If you got a dream, you gotta protect it. When people can't do something themselves, they wanna tell you, "you can't do it". You want something..go get it. Period.

Most people are afraid that if they back off a little that the object of their affection will move on and eventually forget about them. But, ironically, the real reason is that they, themselves, are afraid that if they back off that THEY will forget about the object of their affection and move on, and this they don't want to do.

when i come to the end of the road

And the sun has set for me,

I want no rites in a gloom filled room!

why cry for a soul set free!

Miss me a little -

but not too long

And not with your head bowed low,

remember the love that we once shared,

Miss me -

but let me go.

For this is a journey we all must take

And each must go alone;

It's all a part of the Masters' plan

A step on the road to home.

when you are lonely and sick of heart

Go to the friends we know

And bury your sorrows in doing good deeds.

Miss me -

but let me go.!!

life's Flame ..

Love is a source of many great troubles.
But lacking love
is a disgrace

for travelers upon this path.

Love is the life force of the entire universe-
those who lack love
are already dead.

- Awhad al-Din Kirmani

the sufi's wild dance

one thousand revolutions

within allah's palm

Could you stop the flood
Of tears if that's what poured

Straight down my cheeks,
like a never ending stream of despair?

Could you take away all the fear
that one day, like a bird,

You might fly away from me and never return again?

Could you stop a mental train wreck
Going on inside of my head
when everything is colliding
and crashing within me?

Could you...

For me?
............................


(I wrote it in two minutes, eh, so it's not all that great. But it was kinda screaming out to me inside. It was something that I needed to write down)

please don't leave

please

don't

go.

sunshine hurts my eyes.
the only cage i'm in is one i've made myself.

why, then,
can't i break out of it?

'you haven't lost
until you've given up,
'they remind me.

'don't give up.'

sometimes i wonder -
what if i already have given up?

have i lost,

then?

the roads are too long,

too slippery.

it's too easy to get lost.
and i have no map.

could someone be my map?

please?

my eyes are hollow.

happiness is hiding from me,
silence is stalking, suffocating.

how do i smile?

A story by Khalil Gibran

I was strolling in the gardens of an insane asylum when I met a young man who was reading a philosophy book.

His behavior and his evident good health made him stand out from the other inmates.

I sat down beside him and asked:
‘What are you doing here?’

He looked at me, surprised. But seeing that I was not one of the doctors, he replied:

‘It’s very simple. My father, a brilliant lawyer, wanted me to be like him. My uncle, who owns a large emporium, hoped I would follow his example. My mother wanted me to be the image of her beloved father. My sister always set her husband before me as an example of the successful man. My brother tried to train me up to be a fine athlete like himself.

And the same thing happened at school, with the piano teacher and the English teacher - they were all convinced and determined that they were the best possible example to follow. None of them looked at me as one should look at a man, but as if they were looking in a mirror.

So I decided to enter this asylum. At least here I can be myself.’

Trash is culture
Right next to the golden arches,
as seen on the side of a garbage.
The irony abounds.

Two wolves ...

An old Cherokee chief is teaching his grandson about life:"A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy. "It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves."One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego."The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.
This same fight is going on inside you
and inside every other person, too."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather,
"Which wolf will win?"
The old chief simply replied,

"The one you feed."

Another..

Life is this, dear reader ...
the inhalation and exhalation of the breath.
One passes, another enters.

Spring is here.
I wish for you re-birth.
Sap of life.
Color of bloom.
Peace

Guider...

You may follow anyone. if you can see from those meetings that some love is awakening in your heart for God Almighty,thn you must keep with those meetings.The love of God Almighty is not so easy, because you can not imagine Him. He is beyond our imagination.Therefore God Almighty has put His Divine representation into His prophets.Finally, He gave that Divine representation to His beloved Muhammad, blessings of Allah be upon him.


He was beloved by his Lord, Almighty God.

.

the happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything, they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.
When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

- It is said that there are two ways of dealing with people : One way is to control them, the other is to respect them. By controlling, you weaken the will of the other person. By respecting, you acknowledge the other's personal will. In one case, you make a person a slave, in the other you make him a partner.

- Change is an inevitable part of life. The seasons change, our feelings change, our appearance will change, and our health will change. Life is easier when we accept these changes and recognize how every moment of our journey is an important part of the growth of our soul.

- When it rains we sometimes see a rainbow. Moisture and light cooperate to create a stairway to heaven. We witness the seasons come and go in perfect timing. We watch as Summer fades into Fall, and Fall into Winter. Then we watch as the snow melts away and Spring appears. Just as we trust that the seasons will change, we must trust that we can weather the storms of life. When God is present, nothing can prevail against us.

Never ending night;

Reach for the stars above,

so they can guide you.

Darkness reigned today
Yet the light inside my soul
Will never grow dim

(these lines came arose in mind when i ended up my Jumma Prayer)

A broken heart beats
Like an echo of the dead
A memory gone

haiku..

Raining again,
it's always everlasting sound
Music in darkness

(No critiques, please. I wrote this out of my own feelings and made a picture to go with it. And don't ask what's wrong, that's for me to know and you never to know)

..

Reason is powerless in the expression of Love. Love alone is capable of revealing the truth of Love and being a Lover. The way of our prophets is the way of Truth. If you want to live, die in Love; die in Love if you want to remain alive.

Words firmented, twas long before they reached me. When they got here I knew them. A song I remember I just heard in the wind. That breeze carried the lyric forever until I was ready to breathe the air of love, with my sail full, battery charged, running outside, chasing the gust that carries the next tune. That melody fills my lungs, 'tis where it lives. I feel it there. If I'm still, stagnant air. When I hunt, I find worlds full to inhale. The silver lining was the cloud shading me from terrible burn. A storm is coming, I'm excited to see the music it brings.....

Like Lalla, I dance; my steps are light.
Uplifted, I leave no prints whirling in the garden.
With each step the reassurance, my toe pointed forward, the direction I'm headed.
My minds eye looks up, my chest engulfed with light.
the best wine, fruitful and filling. I'm drunk

.

love? ?

That lonesome leaf

Where I wrote your name

Still clings on,

As autumn wins.

Very soon it shall pass away too,

But who cares for a broken wing?

That Ocean breeze knows,

Where your footsteps lie.

It whispers those secrets to the waves,

So I try to bribe the shore,

But what will melt the sea

That died long ago?

May be the leaf foiled the wind

And fell somewhere near your feet,

May be the sands turned against the sea,

And took me there where you hid,

But never did it made the blind know

that every time it was the mute ,

who tried to show that she loved him..…

(a new poem by my friend to me let me know how you all feel abt it :)

Love is like a seed waiting to blossom. It lies beneath every surface waiting to be nourished. Every drop it is fed sprouts a new petal, its growth stimulated through the pleasure of commitment; for commitment breeds great pleasure. As each essence unfolds from within, it manifests itself outwardly, scattering its comfort to the surroundings. The blossoming of this love emulates into a source of illumination that guides the wandering, nourishes the deprived and calms the distraught.

Love is delicate. There are those who are reckless with love often letting it slip from their grasp with improper attention and lack of commitment. There are those who devour it in one gulp, swallowing without digestion. The value of true love is hidden from them or rather it melts upon consumption, denying them of an everlasting taste. Their hearts are left cold and emptiness within them persists.

It is only those who savour every drop of it while preserving its value, ensuring that it becomes a part of them and moulds them into the essence of their being, whose hearts wholly benefit. They let the stalk of love remain firmly rooted while receiving the fragrance of its scent and the sweetness of its taste, always admiring its precious and timeless beauty. They regard love as a life support that connects them with its Owner.

Like an admirer of an art piece, ever longing to meet its artist.

All of life is a journey. Which paths we take, what we look back on, and what we look forward to is up to us. We determine our destination, what kind of road we will take to get there, and how happy we are when we get there.

The Eyes of Love never turn away from its Source

There are times when we just sit in isolation and ponder over why our hearts erupt into such feelings. Feelings that plunge us into attachment for someone close to us. We wonder why our hearts flutter graciously whenever we are around that special person in our lives and even when we are not in their company, our heart aches in yearning and remembrance of that person.

Perhaps the key lies to the source of love. It is impossible to describe love in its whole, just as it is impossible to describe its Creator in whole. Even substituting expressions of our dimension doesn't wholly amount to what it really feels inside when the heart feels love. Love is exquisite. It is a name of His that He has reserved in a special place for His creation. In a place where the entire body is sustained from its core, with all vessels connected to it. It functions as a life support pumping existence to every outlet.

Surely, one who truly treasures and acknowledges the splendours he has been endowed with looks to the origins of its intricate beauty and glorifies its Maker. What love beholds really, only He knows, for it came from Him and surely to Him it must return.

Possessing Love

The ones who look to love as something that has been simply given to them for their possession fail to capture its true essence. As soon as it comes to them, they savour it with all their might, grasping it tight, hoping it to never fade away. To them love is of material possession, for when it exists, to them it exists as theirs. Hence, when it departs, they feel that a part of them departs along with it, caving a crater of emptiness within their hearts.

Those who greet love like a fountain spring cleansing and soothing them at every chance truly acknowledge its existence. These are the hearts that detect the Eternity of Love, acknowledging love in every corner of existence, knowing that it is the Name that drives creation, the battery of survival. To them love is immaterial. It never begins and it never ends.

ruin the air by Atif

Love once dwelt here in my head with all of its mindless fantasies
it ruled my every thought
Offering to do the illogical
Willing to do anything to achieve its goal

I'm not who I was anymore
You can't come back again
I'm too far gone
I'm not who I was anymore

I can't be blamed for your mistake
You told me I wasn't worth it
You said you never meant those things you said
You expected me to wait
And my heart still screams out for you

But I'm not who I was anymore
You can't come back again
I'm too far gone
I'm not who I was anymore

I'm too far to turn back now
The wounds are slow to heal
But I can't come back
You never could understand

(Moving on is hard and some times you have to hold back the tears, smile, pretend everything will be okay and move on )

....

what innumerable follies laid waste my waking n sleepings thoughts after evening last night.i wished to annihilate the tedious intervening days.i chafed against the work of university.At night in my bedroom n by day in the class room there are unacceptable ideas comes between me n the page.I strove to read "the syllables of word * **love** were called to me through the silence in which my soul luxuriated n cast an eastern enchasment over me.I could not call my wandering thoughts together. I hardly had any patience with the serious wrok of life which now that it stood between me and my desire ,seemed to me child's play ,Ugly monotonous child's Play.

Could you still protect me?
When your own world is falling down upon you?
Would you still want to hold me?
When you had someone else to call your own?

And as I fall down and look up
Will I see your hand offered to me?
Or will you just keep walking

And leave me all alone
When I wake up crying
From the bad man in my dream
Could I rollover and find you
Or will I turn over to the empty side of the bed?

Misunderstand I Am...

I am instead, a way like that
With pain I bleed, with the stains
I’m weakI have no soul, my mind confused
My heart has torn, my nails are bored

My fingers dancing,
my head is burning
the pencil writing,
instead I fight it

Let’s celebrate, a vision blinded
My nails talk, but yet I bite them
The fingers dance folk;
I think I’ll break them
In my head there’s a mind

And my mind is finding a head
So blank with pain that is blinded
My fingers and the pencil, they keep on dancing
Still sometimes I wonder if anything’s left to wonder

When humanity is lost on this earth
And to find it we cannot afford the cost

2nd thought...

things are not into hands properly and circumstances which made the ambience around my field wont let me sire this time.I know that way how to escape out from these unfavourable beckoned lights.Soul's feeling languid but there's still light somewhere in the depth of heart that might giving the energy to this unhealthy body to move on and faced the hurdles and harsh realities of life.

No hope by Atif Hussain

well, there is no hope for me this time.its the next stroke to my life.Night after night i had passed the house (vacation time).Misspently youth ov my life begins now.

*Guess so*

A amalgamation of fear,hate and amoral brings me to ambiguous life.I might be the anachronism incase o getting affable behaviour from out of my cure heart.I am still considering whether i would go away or spend the assiduous life with not giving time to my own humbly incarnate soul.I in that matter then become the apotheosis of renegades. I sometime soliloquying in mind that i should muster the thoughts with queer sights of responsibility & courage fro pusky labyrinths that caused to let me liv this way and made me sire.

I now adamant to this way for becaming the part of stalwart personality.

Again...

I found something behind the woods. Somebody was laughing like creepy leaves from a devil tree. A laugh without echo and serpent form of tongue licked my entire expectations to watch it. Persuasions are pulled deep inside my space. Subtle light in my fore head intoxicated my dreams. Fascist face was grown inside me. The black eyes still fixed on the wall of my imagination. I sliced the dark corners to kill the intellectual ghosts. I stepped inside to watch it, again and again. Galore of hidden hands pulled words from my land. Choking air hits my nostril again and again. Feminine form of mystery kisses over my fingers. Black and white rainbow haunted me. A soul flew away from me like a butterfly.

Dream....

I haven’t tried to shout in the deep forest. Watching the dark flowers and hearing the sound of insects’ intercourse. Not allowed the surprises to shock me for showing the beheaded animals’ dead bodies. The face I saw in the reflection on the pond water was not mine. Blood flows from my nostril and enjoys my skin, smell-less blood. I again washed my face in the cold cunning water. Somebody called my name from behind. I turned, nobody was there. Hide and seek? Can a tree talk? Who was it? Passing voice? Half moon face? I moved forward in steps of doubt and smelt the night. I felt the wet mud pull my legs into the earth. Panicked walk increased the steps of my breath. I stopped near a tree. Murdering anguish dreams by my silent pain. Smile of darkness covered all over my face. Its closed eyes searched the secrets of mine. Every heart likes to beg to lick blurred secrets with tasteless tongue.

i kill my soul...

I kill my soul in complete serenity
And I watched it day by day
It drowned as if I killed my self
I watched it as it lay
It cried for help and cried aloud

I watched as it passed away
It screamed and shouted, “Forgiveness be seen”
I touched it then walked my way

To soul, to self, and to my own
I killed my soul now is alone
I kill my soul in complete serenity

Can I even kill my sanity?
I did not speak, but did I lie?
Is not, is I did not try
In serenity be killed my soul
Did my self kill my soul to adore?
Did my sanity touch my goal?
Or did it act like a whore?

I kill my soul in complete serenity
And I’ve been trying to kill myself
I even touched the soul of sanity
Yet I could not be my self
I kill my soul in complete serenity

Now I’m watching it drown within myself
With pain I’ve been – and that’s what I’ve seen
Is all ‘cause ye touched my sanity

Now I kill my soul in complete serenity
Until, unless I reach eternity.

simple mind...

I’m too strange, and I’m too deranged
I’m too much I cannot change
I’m so dirty, I’m full of filth

I don’t know how, I can take the guilt
I feel no pain, I’m painless now
I`m so dumb, I feel like a coward

Pain can’t grip me neither can hate
You see, ‘cuz I don’t need a mate

Do not think that I am blind
I have not a piece of mind
My mind is too dirty to find

Because I’m just too …Unkind

ey hello 2009..

Raise your glass,
It’s time for the toast,
Champagne glitters in the grass,
Drink to the time we miss most.

Raise your glass,
Flip a false smile,
Time will pass,
Heal wounds of a bloody while.

Raise your glass,
Tip back your replacement cyanide,
Show some class,

To those we lost on our ride.

(Happy New Year! This is dedicated to those we lost in 2008, like my best soul mate. I wish everyone a safe, happy, healthy, and amazing 2009)

2009.

The old year ends in death,
and the new year starts with it
Don't be put off by the frost,
the earth shall be reborn soon enough

And in death, a new birth
Another circle of life completed
The continual walk forward
on the same path around the sun
A new Step for one

a new wrinkle for another
To the future,and the past
To loves old and new,
romantic or otherwise
To highs and lows,

and all things in between

To everything, anything, and nothing at all


Cheers.

cliche

Dreams, often perceived as irrelevant for the bright, are the essence of one's existence for figments of our imagination are far more conceptual and without a flaw than anything reality ever had to offer. All though, it often occurs to one if (Apart from being a manifestation of our thoughts, ideas, feelings emotions and all that shenanigan) they encourage one to realize all that there is within their creative and constructive abilities. I mock myself upon admitting that I am in love with someone, something so intangible, yet facilitating me to arrive at the truth of a human answer, the unnerving mystery, all that we urge ourselves t o believe. Yet, it never appears to be the truth, it's like truth coming out of a liar's mouth. I wonder if subjective analysis of emotions ever really facilitated one in achieving a certain enough conclusion. Harsh enough as they may seem, they have begun to grow on me over the last two years. I believe I have come to a point where life is a metaphor, and I have a very serious role to play. ( for it is the only thing that claims to belong to me.)
Someone wants to deeply understand. I dont know why.I do not condone self destruction of any sort ( be it smoking or killing your soul by the craft of mean bitchery.) Just somehow, my dreams make me face fears, not just mine.

Read: Insomnia.

Life turns to metaphor again, and again, and again. what does it say about me?
I am a lilly-livered, truth fearing, cry child.

And to be frank,
I somehow find comfort in that.

few lines..

Can I not see,

How time itself weaves

The shards and smithereens together?

Can I not blame,

the being, the supreme,

For every rip in the cashmere?

Its the indelible absurdity of it all,

But Oh,

isnt it

quite the gall?

through the rain

I see the car lights pass by

flashes

flashes of time

How everything

went by

weeks ended

months began

years gone

time to come

everything changes

except the desire

desire of not to change

Darkness veils me out..by Atif

Cold on the outside;
empty on the inside
this feeling is something that cannot be beaten
In all my attempts at overcoming it I have fallen
its power is too overwhelming for one to conquer
lost in this darkness;
overcome with fear and pain
my only wish is to have someone here to rid me of it
someone here to hold me tightly and whisper in my ear
"Everything will be ok, I'm here now"
only they aren’t here, nor are they coming
oh how I long to be rid of this feeling
but onward I must tread with its weight upon my back
unable to be rid of this hurt and pain
for loneliness knows no company...



(i hardly took a 5 min 2 wrote this one nd wrote last nite after leavin my friend the One never be with me..n nw i need no one nor even u)

Rest in dead dream like eternity by Atif.

I’m drowning myself at dawn, once again,
in an empty coffin of tears,
sleeping quietly and waiting for eternity to end, while
intense despair grieves for my innermost fears.
life dies in a murder so stunningly beautiful.
say why you never screamed loud your desire,
rose of my darkest garden,Buried sun,
withering silently,
deep into silent oceans of gray.

be the one to break the veil of my darkness,
eternally aboard a tainted raincloud,
sailing far away to one more fantasy,
where a purple dream can swim its way out,
to a world where lucid dreams intertwine with reality,
the blue heaven my reality will never be.

i hav four kinds ov days...

1) A day when I go out and meet someone more knowledgable than me, so I learn from him, and that is the day of my benefit and profit.

2) A day when I go out and meet someone less knowledgable than me, so I teach him, and that is the day of my reward.

3) A day when I got out and meet someone like me and I study and review with him, and that is the day of my lesson.

4) A day when I go out and meet someone below my level but sees himself as being above my level, so I don't talk to him, and I make that the day for my rest.

Sham kay sitaray say
Raat k andherey tak
Faasla he kitna hai…
Chaandni ki barkha say
Koondtay sawerey tak
Raasta he kitna hai…
Saans kay ukharnay say
Aakhri baseray tak
Marhala he kitna hai…
Ibtada bhi tareeki
Inteha bhi tareeki
Darmiyaan dono kay
Boond bhar sawera hai…

I'm...by Atif

"I'm a mere shadow of a life passed, my self, my soul, my death, my world, you & my heart!"

dusk's falling on my decadent reality.
my everyday landscape keeps drowning,
I'm a microscopic orange stain in a rusty universe.
i hope u'll come 2night...
surprising thread of my thoughts, my guide and lover,
let me cross again the dark frontier of my fantasies!
so close but uncertain to reach, this blurry paradise hides behind my eyelids.

release me...
and

I'll fade like a drop in the infinite ocean of a dream.

unknown...

here's a story I read a few days back ...

An oldy, but a goody :)

This is one of the best explanations of why Allah allows pain and suffering that I've seen. It’s an explanation other people will understand.A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. Barber began to work; they began to have a good conversation. They talked about many things and various subjects.

When they eventually touched on the subject of Allah, the barber said, “I don’t believe that Allah exists”.“Why do you say that?” asked the customer. “ Well, you just have to go out in the street to realise that Allah doesn’t exist. Tell me, if Allah exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If Allah existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain, I can’t imagine a loving Allah who would allow all of these things”.The customer thought for a moment, but didn’t respond because he didn’t want to start an a