Sabr and Shukr

Everything that happens to us in life is a test.

If something good happens to us, it is the test of shukr, that is, does the Believer expresses thankfulness to his or her Lord?

If something bad happens to us, it is the test of sabr, that is, does the Believer express patience and perseverance for his or her Lord?

Maulana Zulfiqar Ahmad always says : Sabr kar neh wala jannati, aur shukr kar neh wala bee jannati

[The one who observes patience is among the people of Paradise, and the one who observes thankfulness is also among the people of Paradise]

But we are neither Prophets, nor the Sahaba nor the Awliya. We are weak human beings so we should make dua that we are not inflicted with the test of sabr, but rather with that of shukr.

Good Time Pass

Well, below is the fruitful efforts of my passing weekend, and I am happy with the results, Fun to do but took way too long.

Allahu Akbar (God is Greater)

I like the dark blue on light blue, it gives it a nice, gently effect. As I finsihed painting, despite my not really knowing Arabic, I felt something was amiss. Sure enough, I had missed one of the alifs and you’ll see I tried to cram it in,  didn’t have enough space so I just made a short one. I like it though, gives it a nice overall look.

Alhamduillah (Praise be to God)

I wanted to do dark yellow on light, just like the previous one but my yellow ran out and the green was the only one that hadn’t dried into oblivion. I like it, though, I think the green looks nice on the yellow backdrop.

I hope I wrote this all right.

Ya Allah, you say you love beauty so I beautified your name in the best way I know. Ya Allah, beautify me that I may be amongst your beloved! Ameen.

Tags: alhamduillah, Allah, allahu akbar, arabic, dhikr, Islam, islamic, Love for Allah, painting, paints, project, zikr

To learn: To sleep; No more

Recently got into journal writing, something I’ve never actually done but, it actually has many benefits. Firstly, it reinforces what you have learned simply by writing it down, and you can always refer to it later. Secondly, you can monitor your progress and growth of your learning. Lastly, it’s fun, and can be extremely therapeutic.

Make sure you get a quality journal though.  Somethings you wanna look for are bookmark so you can find you place easily and elastic strap at the front to close the book nicely. Quality paper, amount and size is also something to consider. Oh, and don’t forget your favourite pen! Here’s a picture of mine:

I got this at the dollarstore. The reason for the red pen will become obvious if you read on ...

Once you’ve got a essentials, what to write about? Naturally, considering the content of this blog, if it’s any reflection of my life, I chose to write about the heart, and this is all the entire book is dedicated to:

Opening page, kind of pathetic. I got to learn how to say that word in many different languages though!

The point is to fill the journal completely with anything pertaining to the topic.  I am going to includes passages from the Qu’ran, hadiths, sayings from the Auliya, my own observations, other people’s view points, food that is good or bad for the heart, scientific and biological information of the heart, etymology of the word in different languages, what the ancients thought about it … basically anything and everything about the heart. You can see a sample entry below:

Terrible, terrible handwriting

I’m really excited. Goal is to use this activity to awaken something in the heart. The best part, once this book is done, I get to open up a fresh one on a completely different topic!

Tags: Allah, etmyology, heart, journal, language, learning, notebook, reflection, writing

The Key to Purifying the Heart

The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: “The key to paradise is prayer and the key to prayer is cleanliness.” (Tirmidhi)

I believe by “cleanliness” it means wudu and tahara, meaning that the key to proper prayer is to perform wudu well and observe physical cleanliness, including in clothes and prayer location. This is quite true. If one takes the time to be attentive and careful while making wudu,he or shw will find that they enjoy salah (prayer) more and can concentrate in it.

So, let’s break down the meaning of the above quote. Every Muslim can perform the outward actions of the prayer no problem, from hand movements to the verses that need to be recited, it’s so ingrained in our minds that we can do it, without even paying attention! A good prayer means one in which the person pays attention to what he or she says and is mentally present. The key to being able to do this, that is, purifying the mind in prayer (and thus purifying the prayer itself) is to actually be attentive in the outward, physical purification!

In this same way, we should approach the heart. If one is not attentive in physical, outward cleanliness, how can they expect to be pure in the heart, which is, largely, a much harder task. A good way to approach the heart, is to clean a area in the house you control, for most people, that largely means their own bedroom.

If you take the time to clean your bedroom, you will find, in a way, it is a reflection of your heart. There are areas of the room that you clean often, because it gets dirty often, like the closet. It is a section of your room that requires high maintenance, and effort as well as discipline to always keep it clean. Then, there are areas of the room that are always dirty and you never bother inspecting it, like hidden corners or beneath the bed. They are also areas that, amazingly, are always clean. Then there is mess that is shoved into boxes, so that it look clean when in actuality it is not.

In the same sense, these same areas also are present in the heart. Taking care of the room then, requires understanding it and figuring out which areas need attention. If you take the time to carefully go through each and every aspect of the things hidden in you room, removing the cobwebs, recycling the junk, changing the sheets etc, you will find that the physical purity will actually help you to rectify your heart.

How can someone learn the fasting of the mind and heart, when they have not yet been disciplined through the fasting of the stomach? The important take home message is to practice physically before you journey into the intangible and spiritual.

Tags: clealiness, heart, namaz, physical, prayer, salah, spiritual, tahara, wudu, wuzu

Your Hidden Self

You are truly yourself when you are by yourself.

If you take the time to ponder, the above statement is quite truthful. Many people are ashamed of some of the sins they commit, so they do it secretly, when no one else is around. On the one hand, this is a relatively good thing, meaning that at least they are not fasiq, someone who commits the sins openly for all to see. The humility is there, which is a commendable first step to ridding the sin entirely.

But going back to the original quote. A person shows their true colours in solitude. Their sinfulness is shown at a time when no one else is there to see. SubhanAllah! Isn’t that amazing? Allah hides the sins, the faults of others, their true sinful nature from the rest of humanity. In turn, you only see the goodness in the person.

So, if Allah can do this much for you, He deserves a lot of praise and thanks. Furthermore, we have a moral duty to hide the fault of others.

The Prophet, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam, mounted the pulpit and said in a loud voice: “O You who have accepted Islam with your tongues, but in whose heart eman (faith) has not yet entered! Do not annoy the Muslims’ nor revile them, nor seek out their faults. For whosoever seeks out the fault of his Muslim brother, Allaah will seek out his faults. He whose faults are sought out by Allaah, then Allaah will expose him, even if he is inside his house.” (Muslim)

The Prophet, peace be upon him said: The Muslim is the brother of his fellow-Muslim; he should not mistreat him or let him down. Whoever meets the needs of his brother, Allah will meet his needs, and whoever relieves a Muslim of some distress, Allah will relieve him of some of the distress of the Day of Resurrection. Whoever conceals the faults o f a Muslim, Allah will conceal him (his faults) in this world and the next. (Bukhari).

The Prophet, peace be upon him said: Whoever relieves a believer of distress in this world, Allah will relieve him of some of the distress of the Day of Resurrection. Whoever makes things easy for those who are in difficulty, Allah will make things easy for him in this world and in the next. Whoever conceals (the faults of) a Muslim in this world, Allah will conceal him (his faults) in this world and in the Hereafter. Allah will help the slave so long as the slave helps his brother. (Mishkaat al-Masaabeeh)

Lastly, Allah is as-Satter , the Veiler of sins.

Tags: Allah, conceal, faith, fasiq, guna, hadith, imaan, Islam, Muslim, piety, sins, taqwa, veiler

Jesus on the Lean Donkey

Jesus on the lean donkey,
this is an emblem of how the rational intellect
should control the animal-soul.

Let your spirit
be strong like Jesus.
If that part becomes weak,
then the worn-out donkey grows to a dragon

Be grateful when what seems unkind
comes from a wise person.

Once, a holy man,
riding his donkey, saw a snake crawling into
a sleeping man’s mouth! He hurried, but he couldn’t
prevent it. He hit the man several blows with his club.

The man woke terrified and ran beneath an apple tree
With many rotten apples on the ground.

“Eat!
You miserable wretch! Eat.”

“Why are you doing this to me?”
“Eat more, you fool.”
“I’ve never seen you before!
Who are you? Do you have some inner quarrel with my soul?”

The wise man kept forcing him to eat, and then he ran him.
For hours he whipped the poor man and made him run.
Finally, at nightfall, full of rotten apples,
fatigued, bleeding, he fell
and vomited everything,
the good and the bad, the apples and the snake.

When he saw that ugly snake
Come out of himself, he fell on his knees
before his assailant.
“Are you Gabriel? Are you God?
I bless the moment you first noticed me. I was dead
and didn’t know it. You’ve given me a new life.
Everything I’ve said to you was stupid!
I didn’t know”
“If I had explained what I was doing,
you might have panicked and died of fear.

Muhammad (peace be upon him) said,
‘If I described the enemy that lives
Inside men, even the most courageous would be paralyzed. No one
would go out, or do any work. No one would pray or fast,
and all power to change would fade
from human beings’
so I kept quiet
while I was beating you, that like David
I might shape iron, so that, impossibly,
I might put feathers back into a bird’s wing.

God’s silence is necessary, because of humankind’s
faintheartedness. If I had told you about the snake,
you wouldn’t have been able to eat, and if
you hadn’t eaten, you wouldn’t have vomited.

I saw your condition and drove my donkey hard
into the middle of it, saying always under my breath,
‘Lord, make it easy on him.’ I wasn’t permitted
to tell you, and I wasn’t permitted to stop beating you!”

The healed man, still kneeling,
“I have no way to thank you for the quickness
of your wisdom and the strength of your guidance.
God will thank you.” (Rumi)

The first two verses are simple enough, you should control the nafs. Notice, Rumi mentions Isa, alahis salam, (Jesus) sitting on a donkey. Here, donkey means your nafs and like I mentioned before in this post, Isa, alahis salam, is the essence of spirituality and asceticism. Therefore, one’s spirituality should be superior (sitting on top of) to the nafs and, not only that, but your nafs should feel neglected (lean donkey). Otherwise, the nafs will go out of your control until it is as big and powerful as a dragon.

He continues on by telling a story. This time, the nafs is the snake that crawls into someone. The wali helps him, as he rides on top of his donkey (meaning one in control of the nafs). Something bad could turn out to be life saving. In doing so, the sleeping man is shown his nafs and awakens his spiritual side.

“God’s silence is necessary, because of humankind’s faintheartedness …” –This above line is very true, I seem recall a hadith which said that humans are protected from hearing the torment of the grave, because othewise, we would not be able to function nor have any hope of Jannah. Will have to look for that hadith. I’m positive there is more to the poem than just this, but I feel too tired at the moment to wrack my brain with it.

Tags: destruction, heart, Isa, isqh ilahi, Jalaludin, Jesus, Love for Allah, mawlana, Moulana, nafs, poem, Poet of Love, poetry, prophet, Rumi, wali

The Uses of Fear

A donkey turning a millstone is not trying

to press oil from sesame seed.

He’s fleeing the blow just struck

and hoping to avoid the next.

For the same reason, the ox takes a load

of baggage wherever you want him to.

Shopkeepers work for themselves,

not for the flow of communal exchange.

We all look to ease our pain,

and this keeps civilization moving along.

God made fear the architect here.

Fear keeps us working near the ark.

There have been many soul-killing floods,

many arks, and many Noahs.

Some human beings are safe havens.

Be companions with them.

Others may seem to be friends,

but they’re really consuming your essence

like donkeys lapping sherbet.

Detach from them and feel flexibility return.

The inner moisture that lets you bend

into a basket handle is a quickening inside

that no one is ever afraid of.

Sometimes, though, it is fear

the brings you to the presence. (Rumi)

Animals are kept in line (as in, they do what we want them to) because, otherwise, they are punished. The fear of the punishment keeps them going, and Rumi mentions two examples (the donkey and ox) of this.

“Shopkeepers work for themselves…” –Here, I think Rumi means that people are busy trying to make a living. For example, shopkeepers sell so that they can make money, not so they can interact with others and bloom forth a community-like air. They do it for selfish reasons, not for the betterment of society. A donkey turns a millstone not because it wants to make you food (helping society) but because it’s afraid of the whip (selfish desires).

(Notice, Rumi uses animals as examples of describing selfish concerns, this is relating back to the animalistic nafs inside all of us.)

Yet, something ironic occurs. Even though we are only concerned for ourselves and not others, yet somehow our selfish desires ends up aiding society. A donkey continues to grind a millstone to save itself and ends up benefiting the humans by producing oil. A man runs a business to keep himself financially afloat, yet, ends up improving the economy.

Fear is the architect; it keeps civilizations going. In other words, it’s what drives people to remain moral. We work near the ark, or the Islamic way of life — the sunnah.

The Sunnah is like the Ark of Noah. Whoever embarks upon it reaches salvation and whoever refuses is drowned. (Imam Malik, rahmatuallah)

“There have been many soul-killing floods…” — Here Rumi begins to metaphorically use the famous story of Nuh’s ark, alaihis salam, to explain the spiritual development. Many floods or circumstances have occurred where souls were killed, or people were deprived of spirituality; their spiritual sides died and their development was hindered. There have been many arks, or tools to save one from these floods and many people, who were saved and called others to safety.

Spiritual floods- these can generally be any event that really causes one to lament and give up. This is extremely dangerous to one’s imaan. So if a loved one died, one might cry out and ask useless questions such as “Why Allah?” These can really turn one away from religion, and thus spirituality.

Arks- the tools to avoid these floods are taqwa (faith in Allah), tawakkul (trust in Allah) and many others, depending on the specific circumstance. By far the most important of all of these, is sabr (patience). When a calamity occurs, one must exercise patience to receive the reward.

Many Nuhs – Generally anyone who is pious but I think Rumi was perhaps referring to murshids (spiritual guides/teachers).

Rumi goes on to say, that these “many Nuhs” are who you should keep company with because they keep you on the straight path. While, others deter you from the path. There is no doubt that friends have an impact on your personality. You will change completely depending on who you keep company with. So, while you may have friends, not all are healthy for your soul. Some will make you forget about Allah, while others will remind you of Him. Those who make you forget, harm your soul. If you free yourself from these people, you will find freedom yourself.

“Inner moisture…” –I believe this is referring to dhikr, such as in the context of keeping your lips or heart moist with the remembrance of Allah.He goes on to say that dhikr lets you bend into a basket handle, continuing on from his theme of flexibility or freedom. This could be referring to reaching ecstasy, which stirs the heart (quickening inside) and this is something no body fears because now they have become lover of Allah. They do not do what is religiously required of them for fear of the punishment, but they have reached a state in their spiritual development that they now do what is required of them because they want to and love to.

But before you get to that state of loving Allah, you first arrive because you fear Allah. Meaning you become religious out of fear but then eventually as you spiritually progress, the love aspect enters.

Tags: Allah, ark, companions, dhikr, faith, fear, friend, friendship, heart, imaan, Islam, isqh ilahi, Jalaludin, Love for Allah, mawlana, Moulana, nafs, Noah, Nuh, patience, poem, Poet of Love, poetry, prophet, Rumi, sabr, sunna, sunnah, taqwa, tawakkul, trust, zikr

Tips for Memorizing

It is quite difficult to memorize  Quran when you don’t have an active teacher who can listen to you and correct your mistakes. However, with today’s technology available and endless amount of resources, learning the Quran, I find, has to some extent, actually gotten easier. Here are some tips I have picked up along the way:

1) This should be obvious but in case it isn’t, start from juz 30 and work backwards. This way, you learn the shorter surahs before the longer ones to help build motivation and stamina.

2) Start small. Many people feel that they need to learn 10 verses everyday, but when you are just starting out, this is quite difficult, and could deter you from making progress. Rather, one should start memorizing 1 verse a day and gradually increase the number as they find fit to do so.

3) When memorizing, a very useful strategy is to simply observe the verse and pick out of it what you can. Try to understand the meaning. This often entails reading the necessary translations but also reading a few of the tafsirs. The reason I find this is helpful is because you will not only memorize the Quran, but also know its meaning in depth at the same time. Another great thing about this way is that, if you approach many resources for the same verse, you encounter the words in that verse over and over again until their meaning almost becomes second nature to you.

4) Memorize the meaning of each word of the verse. This is extremely helpful in picking up Arabic vocabulary but also, should you forget the verse, you can remember what it means in English (or whatever native language) and piece the verse back together in Arabic.

5) Listen to some recitations of the verse by different Qaris. This will help to make sure you pronounce everything correctly. Hint: Keep to simple reciters and not masters like Abdul Basit, because it’s hard to hear all the subtlety in his voice and pronunciations.

6) Learn Arabic! The Quran is compromised of very few words, considering its length. I was on lesson 3 of an Arabic grammar book, just entering the actual meat of the course and after I had finished, I could already pick out and understand some of the words used in Surah Rahman.

Tags: abdul basit, arabic, ayah, hafiz, hifz, language, memorizing, memory, qari, Quran, surah, verse

On Etmyology

Arabic etymology is by far the most interesting science of the entire language. It is quite amazing when one discovers why a certain word is used in the Quran. Not only this, but it helps to really emphasize the point that Arabic is actually a very clear and precise language. I’ll give your two examples here:

Munafiq — a hypocrite; one who outwardly professes the faith, but does not do so inwardly.

Nifaq means hypocrisy and it comes from the root word nafak which means a tunnel, or a sort of chamber with two entrances. The point here is that, a person can escape from whichever side of the tunnel (belief or disbelief) depending on which side is more beneficial

Kaafir – a disbeliever

It comes from the root word which means to cover up. Farmers were called kaafirs because they covered up the seeds with soil. In the same sense, a disbeliever covers up the truth with falsehood.

An Extra (this isn’t from the Quran):

Ajami — a non Arab (one who does not speak Arabic)

The Arabs at the time prided themselves so much on knowing Arabic, that they used to call anyone who didn’t know Arabic as Ajami. It literally means one who is dumb in speech and illiterate. This is because the Arabic language is very clear and precise, it comes from the root word meaning to make something crystal clear. That’s how great the Arabic language is! We should all learn it.

Tags: Quran, etmyology, arab, arabic, ajam, ajami, kafir, kaafir, kufr, munafiq, nifaq, nafak, tunnel, language, semetic, root, word, hypocrite, disbeliever, non-Muslim, infidel, precise, clear, illiterate

The Grammarian and the Boatman

A grammarian once embarked in a boat. Turning to the boat man with a self-satisfied air, he asked him:

‘Have you ever studied grammar?’

‘No,’ replied the boatman.

‘Then half of your life has gone to waste,’ the grammarian said.

The boatman thereupon felt very depressed, but he answered him nothing for the moment. Presently the wind tossed the boat into a whirlpool. The boatman shouted to the grammarian:

‘Do you know how to swim?’

‘No,’ the grammarian replied, ‘my well-spoken, handsome fellow.’

‘In that case, grammarian,’ the boatman remarked, ‘the whole of your life has gone to waste, for the boat is sinking in these whirlpools.’ (Rumi)

Good poem. It’s not in my book, so I used a different translator and you may notice that the style is slightly different too. The grammarian is a rather arrogant fellow, and what happens in the end? He is destroyed because he couldn’t swim. The boatman was a humble man, could have easily shot back at the grammarian’s arrogance, but he refrained his tongue and he was saved (because he could swim).

So the boatman was someone who was in control of his nafs and on the path to Allah while the grammarian was neither of these. Notice that the boatman wasted away half of his life because he didn’t indulge in the materialistic things of this world (like learning grammar), however, he was saved (in essence he got Jannah). The grammarian’s entire life was laid to waste because he indulged in what was not important (dunya affairs) rather than learning how to swim (something essential like controlling the nafs) and so he was destroyed (in essence he did not get Jannah).

Maulana Hakim Muhammad Akhtar Saheb says in his commentary:

In other words, by annihilating your ‘self’ the road to Allah is discovered. Those who act proudly and arrogantly become destroyed. .

Hence in the path of Allah, self-annihilation is most useful. It is of no great benefit to become involved with arguments and debates. Sometimes these debates create arrogance, which prevents one from building a close contact with the saintly ones. May Allah protect us against such deprivation and grant us perfect annihilation of the self, Ameen!

I once asked my Sheikh and Murshid: “What is annihilation?” He replied: “The meaning of the term’ destruction of the self’, and to ‘annihilate your self’ and to become ‘annihilated to Allah’ means that a person will discard all his pleasures and desires which are against the commands of Allah. That is what is called I annihilation of the self’. When a person initially takes the first steps on the path of sulook, this annihilation is accomplished through strenuous spiritual exercises and great difficulty. But in the end, the pleasure of Allah and the acquisition thereof becomes like second nature to a person – much more easy to attain “.

Tags: destruction, fana, heart, Islam, isqh ilahi, Jalaludin, Love for Allah, mawlana, Moulana, nafs, Poet of Love, Rumi, zikr