A much needed advice: The unifiying principle of two lives

‘Work for your terrestrial life in proportion to your location in it, and work for your afterlife in proportion to your eternity in it.’

- Al-Ghazali, Letter to a Disciple.

This is the kind of principle i had been looking for these days as being perplexed by the duality of this life and that of hereafter, on the top of that - fraudulent Marxist interpretation of the notion of life after-death as a kind of pain-killer notion. The same idea has been propounded by Abdal Hakim Murad in his speech Seeing with two Eyes, in which he gives the scholars' interpretation of the one eye Dajjal as a singular perspective which ignores balance in the favor of going to (any) extreme, either good or bad. The idea of harmony, balance is without doubt one of the greatest ideas in Islamic discourse and metaphysics, but least actualized. O Allah! forgive us, and guide us, keep us on the right track. Aameen.

The beauty of Muslims' prayer

"Last Friday, after the dawn prayer, I stood outside a mosque on a remote mountain in New Mexico. The planet Mars shone like an aircraft coming in to land. But silence reigned: the dawn was, as the Koran puts it, breathing. The trees and stars were, in its words, prostrate before God.

The Muslim life is shaped by acts of prayer which, in turn, are shaped by the movements of the solar system, and the rolling of the planet beneath our feet. A sense of harmony, we hope, is the result. Science can alienate us from the holiness of nature. It can teach us how to destroy nature. But we should thank it too, for giving us more reasons to feel awe, humility, and even gratitude."

Abdal-Hakim Murad

Religion on quality time with children

The greatest Muslim theologian, al-Ghazali, who died in the year 1111, taught as follows:

"A child is on loan from God, entrusted to its parents. Its pure heart is a precious uncut jewel devoid of any form or carving, which will accept being cut into any shape, and will be disposed according to the guidance it receives from others."

A traditional, yet a modern father, who sometimes has to leave home while his children still asleep, reflects on the al-Ghazali's quote as: "So faith is big on quality time. Believing that one's toddler is potentially a saint is, I confess, not always easy. But if I think that he, or she, is the vessel of a vulnerable but immortal soul, the consequences for my commitment, and my parenting skills, should be enough to outweigh even my material desires."

From Abdual-Hakim Murad's Thought for the Day, on BBC, 26 February 2003.

Human Nature and Quran

"'Everyone is born on fitra'. If you combine this human nature (fitra) with the light of Quran, it's teaching - you become a walking tafsir, embodiment of, 'Light upon Light,' verse of Quran." (Imam Suhaib Webb, from his lecture, Way to Approach Quran.) It's like nur on nur.

Similary, the wudu we do has such a spiritual value that if you do wudu on wudu (do it two times), you multiply the light (nur) you attain.

Muslims' Epistemology

image source

The other we were discussing in our Sociology of Religion class a term called epistemology.. I confess every time I look up its meaning in the dictionary, which I have been doing for some years now, I get more confused than ever, especially because of its fairly repetitive mention in books and philosophical articles. Now I have no confusion about it, since when i came to know:

"The sunna is our epistemology."

-Abdul hakim Murad.
Source.

Love your fellow men as you love yourself

A friend of mine gave a very wise advice. He said, "Don't have contempt for people, because the person you disdain may become friend of God someday - you never know it."

God, Man and Choice

Frithjof Schuon says in the Light on the Ancient Worlds, "Man does not choose; he follows his nature and his vocation, and it is God who chooses." Yet there are people on earth suffocated enough, blind in their vision that makes them to take such statements lightly because they find their defenses against the devil so down, so to say them being dominated by him, that they are unable to free themselves of the hatred of wisdom he induces in us. Revolt against Islam is revolt against oneself, against Man. And even Derrida believed that Islam is not Islamism...

Of Proofs!

"Man is the proof of God. The man of God is the proof of religion." And that "He who knows himself, knows Islam."

-Abdul-Hakim Murad

These contentions should never be taken lightly for they are the extracts, like perfumes, of penetrating intellective vision, of deepest meditations, reflections and study of truth - suffice to say, these are nothing but expression of the Truth, which can only be perennial.

'On the Excellence of reciting the Qur'an'

Image source

Prophetic Guidance Regarding the Excellence of Reciting the Qur'an

by Imam Nawawi
Translated by Ustadha Ayesha Bewley

"991. Abu Umama said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, 'Recite the Qur'an. It will appear on the Day of Rising as an intercessor for its people.'" [Muslim]

992. an-Nawwas ibn Sam'an said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, 'On the Day of Rising the Qur'an will be brought with the people who used to act by it in this world, preceded by Surat al-Baqara (2) and Ali 'Imran (3), arguing on behalf of those who knew them.'" [Muslim]

993. 'Uthman reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "The best of you is the one who learns the Qur'an and teaches it." [al-Bukhari]

994. 'A'isha reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Someone who recites the Qur'an and is fluent in it, is with the noble pious angels. Someone who recites the Qur'an and stammers in it has two rewards as it is difficult for him." [Agreed upon]

995. Abu Musa al-Ash'ari reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "The metaphor of a believer who recites the Qur'an is that of a citron - its scent is fragrant and its taste is good. The metaphor of a believer who does not recite the Qur'an is that of a date - it has no scent but its taste is sweet. The metaphor of a hypocrite who recites the Qur'an is that of basil - its scent is fragrant but its taste is bitter. The metaphor of a hypocrite who does not recite the Qur'an is that of colocynth - it has no scent and its taste is bitter." [Agreed upon]

996. 'Umar ibn al-Khattab reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "By this Book Allah elevates some people and abases others." [Muslim]

997. Ibn 'Umar reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "You can only have envy for two things: for a man to whom Allah has given the Qur'an and he gets up and recites it throughout the night, and for a man to whom Allah has given wealth and he spends it throughout the night and the day." [Agreed upon]

998. Al-Bara' ibn 'Azib said, "A man was reciting Surat al-Kahf (18) and he had a horse with him tethered by two ropes. Then a cloud came over him and began to draw near and his horse began to shy away from it. In the morning he went to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and mentioned that to him and he said, 'That was the Sakina which descended on account of the Qur'an.'" [Agreed upon]

999. Ibn Mas'ud reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Whoever recites a letter of the Book of Allah earns a good deed, and each good deed is worth ten like it. I do not say that 'Alif-lam-mim' is one letter, but that alif is a letter, lam is a letter, mim is a letter." [at-Tirmidhi]

1000. Ibn 'Abbas stated that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "A person who has nothing of the Qur'an inside him is like a ruined house." [at-Tirmidhi]

1001. 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "It will be said to those who know the Qur'an, 'Recite and ascend. Recite slowly as you did in the world below. Your station will be at the last verse you recite.'" [Abu Dawud and at-Tirmidhi]"

Source.

The Root Crime

Imam al-Junaid said:

The root cause of all the evil and crime in this world is 'ghaflah' (heedlessness/negligence).

We are people of negligence. We day dream all the time even on busy roads. Only we tend to forget that the reckoning is coming near. Prophet (SAW) said, "Take yourself to account, before you are taken to account." One who feels himself to be safe and finds himself busy in playing ('activity with no purpose, i.e., entertainment') doesn't care about results. Why should he tremble and weep? Wo ankh k hai surma e Afrang say rooshan; Purkar o sukhan saaz hai, namnaak nahi hai! (Iqbal)

This world(dunya) is an illusion, because it makes us think that we are permanent. Historical evidence proves how deluded we are. The remedy to this state of heedlessness: Consider yourself already in the grave! (Hadith from Sahih Muslim.) Contemplating on death, barazkh, and the day of judgment induces hikmah (wisdom) in me, which is really profound and serious. It increases as I think more about these matters. My faculties becomes sharp like the ears of a Rabbit, constantly looking out for dangers. Considering the reality of this temporal world (dunya), I can only consider my myself to be already in grave, and I cannot afford haughtiness.

“O my Lord! bestow wisdom on me, and join me with the righteous”,

(Surah Shu’raa, verse 83)

Superiority of Fasting (Saum)

Narrated Abu Huraira (ra): Allah’s Messenger (SAW) said: Allah said: Every good deed performed by son of Adam is a credit for him but fasting is exclusively Mine and I give reward for it. Fasting is a shield against sins. Therefore, when any of you is fasting he should neither indulge in obscene language nor raise the voice. If any one abuses him or quarrels with him he should say: I am fasting. By Him in Whose Hand is Muhammad’s soul! The smell coming out of the mouth of a person fasting is more pleasant to Allah than the smell of musk . And he who fasts has two occasions if joy. One is when he breaks the fast, and the second is when he meets his Lord.

(This Hadith is sound and reported by Bukhari and Muslism.)

Self-Control

According to a hadith of the last and the final prophet of God:

One who can control himself in anger, in passion, in fear, and in attraction is safe from the hands of the devil and the fire of hell.

(Quoted from Essential Sufism, ch # 7.)

Knowledge/education sans moral and spiritual virtue

A Persian poet, Sana'i, once remarked:

If a thief comes with a lamp, he will be able to steal more precious goods.

A person with mere knowledge and no 'moral and spiritual virtue' is a like a thief with a lamp, as symbolized in the already mentioned quote. This mostly happens when formal education or attainment of knowledge is divorced from the spiritual and moral training of man. In this assertion of Sana'i lies the reflection of the so many, seemingly unsolvable problems the modern literate society faces today, and a clear proclamation of the solution.

(Quote from Traditional Islam in the Modern World, p.124.)

Of a Lifetime War

I find asking myself such question now-a-days: Any wind of change? Any hope of domaniting these thousand 'against the fitrah' (un-natural) urges that destroy the solace and harmony (the latter term as they say much misunderstood and misused) in me, the two precious things I inherited from my innocent childhood days?

[Pause in the flood of thoughts and feelings]

Shaikh Isa Nur-ud-din said:

"A noble man is one who dominates his self."

When you're caught up in later part of your life due to your misdeeds of past, how do you take the very first step? What if you're terrorized not by the troubles of this war you're to wage, but by the horrific error you live in, which has the potential to destroy you completely, in case you surrender?! Can this latter thought, when in affirmative, help the first proactive step sustain?
Or, can you ever hit-the-nail at the right spot if you're not even aware of the situation completely?

The answer to the last question is in Nay. Here becomes the "useful knowledge" - the kind of knowledge that takes Man from darkness to light - a blessing for being a 'necessity' in the first place. Some call it the "force": the energy behind the right offense againt the wrong offense. And rightly so. It's indeed a blessing, the right knowledge that frees man from error.

I thank God for that. And my prayer is - O Lord free us from the intoxication of ignorance and of this world.

* * *

You never are, however, in the position to say: All the rest is the work of man if you're a just Man once you have known the truth through God's help, or that you're given a set of integers to manipulate with them. Prayer is must for many reasons. One reason that fits in the mosaic this post is: on the one hand, there's "Taqdeer e Mutliq/Mutlaq", which means that destiny can change with the help of prayer or by some other mean; and on the other, there's "Taqdeer e Mubarram" (please correct these terms if wrong), the sort of destiny that is absolute and unchangable. Since we never know what the case is with someone, or with a particular situation, so it proves that prayer is must!
Prayer after "discernment between the Absolute and the Relative, the Real and the Illusion" is most "essential" thing for me, as it was for late Shaikh Isa Nur-ud-din.

An advice to the seekers of truth

There is this tendency among weak minds, notes al-Ghazali, of judging the truth from where it is to be found: That is, they are not concerned primarily about 'separating truth from falsehood', but they are much keen to know the possessors of truth and not the truth itself! Therefore, 'the prince of believers', Ali the son of Abu Talib, said:

"Do not seek for the truth by means of men; find first the truth and then you will recognize those who follow it."

Al-Ghazali further explains, "Honey does not become impure because it may happen to have been placed in the glass which the surgeon uses for cupping purposes. The impurity of blood is due, not to its contact with this glass, but to a peculiarity inherent in its own nature; this peculiarity, not existing in honey, cannot be communicated to it by its being placed in the cupping-glass; it is therefore wrong to regard it as impure. Such is, however, the whimsical way of looking at things found in nearly all men. Every word proceeding from an authority which they approve is accepted by them, even were it false; every word proceeding from one whom they suspect is rejected, even were it true. In every case they judge of the truth according to its professors and not of men according to the truth which they profess, a ne plus ultra of error. Such is the peril in which philosophy involves its opponents."

'Adam al-wujdaan la yadallu 'ala 'adam al-wujud'

That is, 'the non-existence of knowledge of something is not proof of its non-existence' - the famous principle of Islamic philosophy.

(Quoted from, Traditional Islam in the Modern World, by Seyyed H. Nasr.)

The true intellectuality: Why 'The Way'?

Within our deepest center dwells the Self;
And so they say: you ought to realize
Your own divinity. But they forget
Without God's help we never can be wise
Ignoring this, too many astray.

With Heaven's Grace alone we find the Way.

-Frithjof Schuon

I wrote this poem by Frithjof Schuon on an entry page of a book Traditional Islam in the Modern World (by Seyyed H. Nasr), which I especially picked up from the dusty shelf to re-learn about the legacy of 14 century of Islamic education and its systems, seemingly forgotten by young Muslims. The poem much plainer, but not any more direct and penetrating as an Eagle, than Schuon's absolutist prose writings, made many doubts of mine vanish into the air! So to act. The strength-to-act is a quality many of my young fellows and modern day Muslims lack 'when it comes to point'. Nonetheless, it is a beautiful poem which you cannot commodify but burn and melt many iced up candles! As my master says, "Life like candle is burning and melting."

That Truth is Truth and Transcends Space-and-Time; And that Truth is not Systematic

Ibn Ata Illah in his Kitab al-Hikam says:

"He who is illuminated at the beginning is illuminated at the end."

And this is Truth. Yes, it exists.

Of Justice

Often tears come down my eyes when I correlate the amount of justice pervailing through the fabric of my society - an Islamic society by name containing many diversities - with the following Prophetic tradition. Prophet of Islam once uttered, and as I quote I weep:

Shall I inform you of a better act than fasting, alms, and prayers? Making peace between one another: enmity and malice tear up heavenly rewards by the roots.

I shall not hate. I shall love and be just, because "God loves the just (Qur'an 5:42)."

Two Pre-Sophia Philosophers & Their Concept of God

I once asked my friend about what he thought of pre-Sophist period philosophers. He deliberately restrained himself from answering, for some good, and instead put forward this question to me that as to what I thought of them. I could not reply him at that time. Therefore, I do it now.

'Brave'. They were brave. That is my first reaction about them. They rebelled against the masses and rejected what they considered as wrong, especially about religious philosophies, which is the primary concern of this post. Popular religion in their period was of many gods. A long list of them - begotten gods, sons of god, images of gods, etc, etc. Whereas, their polytheistic notion about god was "countered with a more philosophic conception of one god, the source in some way of the entire universe and the power behind all the phenomena of the universe."

I can highlight two such philosophers, whom I consider to be brave thinkers. One is Xenophanes and the other was Heraclitus. Both had a great contempt for the religion of public. Heraclitus condemned their religions in this way, "And to these images they pray, just as if one were to converse with men's houses, for they know not what gods and heroes are." Whereas Xenophanes, belonging to the sixth century B.C., "proclaimed that God was one and unchangeable." He condemned the popular notions of god as beings like us. "Yes, and if oxen or lions had hands, and could paint with their hands and produce works of art as men do, horses would paint the forms of gods like horses and oxen like oxen. Each would represent them with bodies according to the form of each," he wrote. He thought that God was unlike us, the mortals. And that He is the First and the Last, or to say that He had neither any beginning nor any end, "an eternal unity." Although he rejected polytheism and believed in monotheism, he however has been called pantheist in the book Basic Teachings of the Great Philosophers*, because he thought that God is the world. "A belief that everything in the universe is God, and God is everything in the universe," the book says. This position, of pantheism, is not acceptable in all three great monotheistic religions of the world, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

* All the quotes in this article were taken from this book.