Witnessing Light

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
A man knocked at the door of his beloved.
"Who are you, trusted one?"
thus asked the friend.
He answered:
"I!" The friend said:
"Go away,
Here is no place for people raw and crude!
"What, then,
could cook the raw and rescue him
But separation's fire and exile's flame?
The poor man went to travel a whole year,
And burnt from separation from his friend,
And he matured, was cooked and burnt, returned
And carefully approached the friend's abode.
He walked around it now in cautious fear
Lest from his lips unfitting words appear.
His friend called out:
"Who is there at my door?"
The answer:
"You, dear, you are at the door?"
He said:
"Come in, now that you are all I-
There is no room in this house for two 'I's!"

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Day and night is a struggle between desire, and suppressing desire,
My heart agonizes me, and I agonize my heart.

The heart envies the eyes - the pleasure of its observation,
And the eyes envy the heart - the pleasure of its reflection

When Allah bestows His grace upon a servant, He opensthe way to reach Him. Then the remembrance (dhikr) of Allahpredominates.

The call to love was issued throughout the worlds,

Yet he whom the Beloved Himself loved,

Was granted the remembrance of the Beloved

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

fading memories...

"Say to my friends, when they look upon me, dead

Weeping for me and mourning me in sorrow

Do not believe that this corpse you see is myself

In the name of God, I tell you, it is not I,

I am a spirit, and this is naught but flesh

It was my abode and my garment for a time.

I am a treasure, by a talisman kept hid,

Fashioned of dust, which served me as a shrine,

I am a pearl, which has left it's shell deserted,

I am a bird, and this body was my cage

Whence I have now floron forth and it is left as a token

Praise to God, who hath now set me free

And prepared for me my place in the highest of the heaven,

Until today I was dead, though alive in your midst.

Now I live in truth, with the grave - clothes discarded.

Today I hold converse with the saints above,

With no veil between, I see God face to face.

I look upon "Loh-i-Mahfuz" and there in I read

Whatever was and is and all that is to be.

Let my house fall in ruins, lay my cage in the ground,

Cast away the talisman, it is a token, no more

Lay aside my cloak, it was but my outer garment.

Place them all in the grave, let them be forgotten,

I have passed on my way and you are left behind

Your place of abode was no deweling place for me.

Think not that death is death, nay, it is life,

A life that surpasses all we could dream of here,

While in this world, here we are granted sleep,

Death is but sleep, sleep that shall be prolonged

Be not frightened when death draweth night,

It is but the departure for this blessed home

Think of the mercy and love of your Lord,

Give thanks for His Grace and come without fear.

What I am now, even so shall you be

For I know that you are even as I am

The souls of all men come forth from God

The bodies of all are compounded alike

Good and evil, alike it was ours

I give you now a message of good cheer

May God's peace and joy for evermore be yours."

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Thursday, September 4, 2008

..... by Atif

After so many years of being blind, and walking in the dark, one day, Allah the Most Gracious Most Merciful shone the torch in my eyes, and I woke up from the trance, from the illness, from the blindness I was trapped in for so long. So I said the simple and so logical words. The clearest and most perfect words that have ever reached human ears. “La ilaha il Allah, Muhammed Rasoull Allah”. This sentence was the defining moment in my life which made me become a Muslim, and to this day, I have never looked back. Allah is One and Whole and Perfect and Muhammad was His last Prophet The Qur'an for me is like a manual, just like a car needs a manual to function properly, the Holy Quran is the guidebook to life, and something which covers all areas and which we cannot live without.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Itna toota hoon ki choonay say bikhar jaaoonga,

Ab agar aur dua dogay to mar jaaoonga !

Pooch kar mera pata, waqt ra-e-gah na karo,

Main to banjara hoon, kya jaanay kidhar jaaoonga !

Har taraf dhund hai, jugnu hai na charag koi,

Kaun pehchanayga, basti mein agar jaaoonga !

Zindagi, main bhi musaafir hoon teri kashti ka,

Tu jahan mujh say kahegi main utar jaaoonga !

Phool rah jayeengay guldaan mein yaadon ki nazar,

Main to khushboo hoon fhizaon mein bikhar jaaoonga !

Itna toota hoon ki choonay say bikhar jaaoonga,

Ab agar aur dua dogay to mar jaaonga

Monday, September 1, 2008

Your clothes conceal much of your beauty, yet they hide not the unbeautiful"

Forget not that modesty is for a shield against the eye of the unclean"

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Destiny by Atif Hussain

I stand at a crossroad, from where many roads diverge
Which is the one too my destination,
My mind ponders to unfurl.
Is it the one straight or is it the one to the right,
Or may be the one that turns left,I fall short to decide.
I wonder if I should solve this puzzle,
Or just let it be.Taking the road,
my instinct guides
Leaving it to my destiny
Not long after, when I close my eyes,
And gather all my impulses, to take a decision wise.
To move in the direction I have walked yet.
Not submitting to the puzzle or my confused mindset.
Realizing that there are no crossroads that exist,
It's just the manifestation of my mind.
'Coz all routes are the ones to my destiny,
Only if I labour and sincerely endeavour to do it right.

why by Atif hussain..

The darkness has conquered over the colorful gaiety…

The drastic changes of surroundings surprise me…

I rush towards the burning candle

-My only ray of hopeBut a frosty unfriendly breeze kills the flame

I shiver with fear

Stationed there all alone

I try hard to evade my horrific thoughts

But my scruples won’t let me

Just then a bizarre happening takes place

The room abruptly starts quaking and contracting

To close in on me from all the four sides

I scream…..I screech…..

But the room is getting smaller and smaller

I close my eyes...

But even then, I can visualize, in my mind,

My body being crushed and squeezed

The sound of my bones breaking

My brain being squashed

Bloody veins inside my skull can be seen now

And blood pouring out.

I shut my eyes even tighter

And I wait….. and wait…and wait….

I open my eyes now. I see myself lying on the floor...

The Swiss knife all soaked in my blood is lying on the floor

.The sharp cut in my wrist has made a deep wound

My hand is lying in a pool of blood

My veins are showing.

My lips are Cold….deathly cold.

The expression on my face is depressing.

I lie there on the floor…all alone. Looking

Troubled……Lifeless…….Dead.

Now suddenly, I smile.

I’m walking away now….wearing a peaceful smile I had not known for years….

My wrist is still bleeding…..

But it doesn’t hurt anymore…

You know why?

I hate headache by Atif hussain

i hate Headaches, i especially dislike them in the morning when everyone's looking fresh and happy and i m looking grouchy and tensed. when i get a headache i cannot take my mind off it. Its like a red angry bull charging inside my skull making sure that it has all my attentionwhen i get a headache i can hear an insistant pounding in my ears that makes my head rock. and above the pounding i can hear the shrillest of sounds. its like the world is screaming at me. WHIRWHIRWHIR goes the fan. the chalk squeeeeaks across the board. and people just wont shut up!when i have a headache i wish i were blind. because colours attack me until i cringe under the pressure. i can open my eyes properly. and if i do i start getting dizzywhen i have a headache i want to put my head on something cool and soft i want to be somewhere dark and quiet, alone .

I Hate You by Atif Hussain

You sleep cushioned in silky confines,blanketed with an innocence
that is deft, and maybe hence devious
whilst I idolate the artful nuances of you.
You smell of French revolutions,
but I linger not in that history for my attentions are hinged on
the rise and fall of other utopias
and here I am well and truly guillotin.ed
I chance a wary and envious touch
near the suburbs of your forearm
and there is an uproar on your skin at my trespassing.
A stand raisedagainst my infringement.
Disgusted, I stare in condescension at soiled and unworthy hands and frown.
Those faltering lines do not draw pretty pictures
as I fold a fist to hold what is slipping away.
You awaken not at the interruption nor at my presence
and as my shadow mars your beauty,
return to dreams of unknown delights where I am excluded,
behind eyes that shut me out.

This is why I hate you.

Nothing

Drenched in the pain pouring down
Hidden beneath the pile of distress and grief
Breathing in the thick air filled with fiction
Passing out
Buried under delusive hopes
Searching desperately for an air pocket
But only choking up more blood
Filth stained.
With desire to rise again in absoluteness
Gasping for just one breath of validity
Longing for certainty
Hoping it will rain again
Showering the earth with truth, substance and conscience.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Advice from Our Prophet (PBUH)...

" Never get angry, for anger contains opposition to your Lord. Beware of making excuses, for they contain hidden polytheism. Say your prayers like someone saying farewell, for it contains a link to God and nearness to Him. Be modest before God as you are modest before the righteous among your neighbours, for this contains increased certainty. "

Among the marvels of modern technology is also the ability to track the missed calls which were made by our friends and foes and the likes. We do not get a good nights sleep, unless we have returned the calls of those who matter. We don't let any call go unanswered as long as we know that it matters. Don't we?But how about the calls of "hay-yaa al-as-salaah and hay-yaa al-al falah" made from the neighbourhood house of our Master - the Almighty Allah? Those calls are made five times a day and many a times they all go unanswered.We do not either respond!!! Nor do we respect these missed calls. Do they matter?Everybody can tell, if these really matter. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but surely in the Hereafter. Let us look at ourselves. Can we afford to let these calls of the muezzin be missed, day after day, after day.The call from our Cherisher, Sustainer and the Ultimate Master. Just think about it. Next time one hears this call, just ask yourself how good a nights sleep can I have by missing those calls from the house of Allah.Think about it....the answer may come from the inner heart.

(This is one of my favourite poems ... Beautifully written ... Giving 100% of your love and recieving an equal amount of love in return ... It seems to have been written after a past heartbreak, but non the less, an amazingly beautiful and touching poem)

I want you to know one thing.You know how this is: if I look at the crystal moon, at the red branch of the slow autumn at my window, if I touch near the fire the impalpable ash or the wrinkled body of the log, everything carries me to you, as if everything that exists, aromas, light, metals, were little boats that sail toward those isles of yours that wait for me. Well, now, if little by little you stop loving me I shall stop loving you little by little. If suddenly you forget me do not look for me, for I shall already have forgotten you. If you think it long and mad, the wind of banners that passes through my life, and you decide to leave me at the shore of the heart where I have roots, remember that on that day, at that hour, I shall lift my arms and my roots will set off to seek another land. But if each day, each hour, you feel that you are destined for me with implacable sweetness, if each day a flower climbs up to your lips to seek me, ah my love, ah my own, in me all that fire is repeated, in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten, my love feeds on your love, beloved, and as long as you live it will be in your arms without leaving mine.

Don't need boxes wrapped in strings
or desire love or empty things...
just a chance that we'll find better days.
Don't cry Falasteen,
you will see better days ...

Allah Huu [Nothing but God]Ruler of the world, soul of my blood

The promised one, there is nothing but you

Every great scholar is your studentIn every scent, there is nothing but you

Creator of and worshipped by both worlds

Every thing is witness to your manifestation

On everyone’s lips is your prayerIn every chord, every song is your presence

Every beginning is with your name

With your name ends everything

Your praise is ‘praise be to Allah’

That you are the God of my Mohammad

Allah Huu!

Allah Huu! Allah Huu!