"Every great dream begins with a dreamer"

- Harriet Tubman -

"How can I lose faith in the justice of life, when the dreams of those who sleep upon feathers are not more beautiful than the dreams of those who sleep upon the earth?"

Brother and Sister ...

Sometimes we forget that absence

is just as difficult and meaningful a choice as presence

Love seeks one thing only: the good of the loved one.
It leaves all other secondary effects to take care of themselves



- Thomas Merton

"We have what we seek,

it is there all the time,

and if we give it time,

it will make itself known to us"

- Thomas Merton -

Your soul does not live in poverty,

it grows from all your experiences

and will flower in the season of enlightenment ...

"I don't like what you are doing, but I respect who you are.
You know why?
Because maybe who you are tomorrow,
will be better than who I am today"



- Tariq Ramadan

Your belittling of an act of sunnah

is but the belittling of the guardian

of the sunnah (pbuh)

There is nothing

between the soul and the hereafter

but one moment

Lovers share a sacred
decree to seek the
Beloved.

They roll head over
heels, rushing toward the
Beautiful One
like a torrent of water.


- Rumi (One Whisper of the Beloved)

"If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness.
It will change your life mightily."


- Gerald Good

Cradle ... By Anis Mojgani ...

Set the warriors to sea in a ship stacked with shields, layers of swords, mountains of gold.
Lay them out with their wife. With their child. Lay them out with their livestock, with the whole farm.
The rain is not coming here.
Not today.
For today the gods welcome one of their own back home.
So set the hero out on the soft waves that will carry him to the other side of the pink ether where he will float on fire until the ash consumes him like the mighty warrior he once was and like the legend he will become.
The flames will dance over his possessions, his goblets and arrows, his blankets, his paintings, his passions. The flames will dance across his flesh like the soft fingers of the soft lover he left, and as he sleeps this last sleep, the fires will eat him away, the heat will write his skin across the night sky to join the constellations that will guide the sailors at storm, the herders lost in the clouds, they will all come home by facing the direction his eyes are facing.
The heavens are filled with smoke.
This is history this is legend this is what we once were.
Where the stories come from, what we are.
When you fall in battle, they will take your body with the life you made in this world and set it off to sail behind you into the next, so that you will stay a king, remain forever the golden being you breathed as on this side of the mountain.
When you pass, may your life follow you like a shadow into the light.
When I go, bury me with nothing but my own skin.
I spent far too many days trying to outrun this thing called mine, so if I set myself into your arms would you hold me like the earth, quietly?
I am yours. Give me a field, give me a big sky. A mountain. Give me your mouth.
I’m just looking for a quiet place that I could die inside of. (c)

Human Nature ...

Looking out across the night-time

The city winks a sleepless eye

Hear her voice shake my window

Sweet seducing sighs

Get me out into the night-time

Four walls won't hold me tonight

If this town is just an apple

Then let me take a bite

If they say, why, why? Tell 'em that is human nature

Why, why does he do me that way?

If they say, why, why? Tell 'em that is human nature

Why, why does he do me that way?

Reaching out to touch a stranger

Electric eyes are everywhere

See that girl, she knows I'm watching

She likes the way I stare

If they say, why, why? Tell 'em that is human nature

Why, why does he do me that way?

If they say, why, why? Tell 'em that is human nature

Why, why does he do me that way?

I like livin' this way, I like lovin' this way

Looking out across the morning

The city's heart begins to beat

Reaching out, I touch her shoulder

I'm dreaming of the street

If they say, why, why? Tell 'em that is human nature

Why, why does he do me that way?

If they say, why, why? Ooh, tell 'em

Why, why does he do me that way?

If they say, why, why? Cha cha cha

Why, why does he do me that way?

If they say why, why, why? Ooh, tell 'em

Why, why does he do me that way?

If they say, why, why? Ooh, tell 'em

Why, why does he do me that way?

If they say, why, why? Da da da

Why, why does he do me that way?

I like livin' this way

- ( Michael Jackson ... Songwriters: Bettis, John;Porcaro, Steve ) -

Oh My Lord

What has he found who has lost You

And what has he lost who has found You ?

- ibn Ata'illah -

"Oh most precious of nations,

one that is ever elevated by its virtue,

tread forward with aspiration, and strive!

Our worth is only by beautiful character,

and that enough is light for the darkness."

(One of my friends took this picture from last year)

Sh. Hamza explaining to Sh. Abdullah the nature of Halloween as he listens in amazement ... lol ...

Gotta LOVE the innocence and wisdom ... mashaAllah ...

Courage does not always roar
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice
At the end of the day saying
“I will try again tomorrow”



- Mary Anne Radmacher

“Given enough time, any man may master the physical.
With enough knowledge, any man may become wise.
It is the true warrior who can master both…and surpass the result.”


– Tien T’ai

"I know that God doesn't lie and I know that He knows how to talk to the hearts of people better than anybody else. So, I don't worry about that."

-Lauryn Hill

Understanding the Prophet's Life ...

Entertainment

Entertainment is indeed an important dimension of life, but it should constitute "a pause" between two more important things: its function is primarily to give rest to the mind, heart, and being, to divert them in Pascal's usage, so as to enable people to return to more important things, to their responsibilities regarding life, society, work, justice, and death. This is exactly the meaning the Prophet of Islam had given it when he had been questioned by his Companion Handhalah who, on the contrary, saw in entertainment evidence of his hypocritical disposition before God (since it led him to forget). The Prophet, peace be upon him, answered him: "By He who holds my soul in His hands, if you were able to remain in the [spiritual] state in which you are in my company and in permanent remembrance of God, angels would shake hands with you in your beds and along paths. But it is not so, Handhalah, there is a time for this [devotion, remembrance] and a time for that [rest, distraction, entertainment]." [ Bukhari, Muslim]

Compiled From:
Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation - By Tariq Ramadan, pg. 196

When there is freedom from mechanical conditioning, there is simplicity.

The classical man is just a bundle of routine, ideas and tradition. If you follow the classical pattern, you are understanding the routine, the tradition, the shadow — you are not understanding yourself.

- Bruce Lee

Don't get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.

- Bruce Lee

Acquire knowledge It enables its possessor to distinguish right from wrong
It lights the way to Heaven
It is our friend in the desert
Our society in solitude
Our companion when friendless
It guides us to happiness
It sustains us in misery
It is an ornament among friends,
And an armour against enemies







- Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) -

Medina is Love

Him and His Lord

( Photo taken by my friend M. Davis )

The reality of the Dunya and its imminent end

(A graveyard in Cairo)

( Photo taken by my friend M. Davis )

Eyes fixed on his path,

Leaning slightly forward,

Walking quickly through the market ...

[ Matching the description of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) ]

( Photo taken by my friend M. Davis )

PRAYERS AND PEACE TO OUR

MOTHERS AND FATHERS WHO DIED

SO THAT WE COULD LIVE

(A beautiful prayer written by M.Davis)

The first of knowledge is realizing that,

"What is with you perishes,

and what is with Allah remains."

[Qur'an]

Do You Know ... By Liza Garza ...

[ I love Liza Garza's poetry ... Such an amazingly talented writer mashAllah ... ]

how hard it is to love you.
and hate you, my insides are no longer aligned…
or assigned to such an easy task…this ugly mask was once so beautiful

that i was scared to touch it
or take it off
for fear i would reveal a soul different from what you had envisioned.
from what i had envisioned
we were both willing to stay here
forever…or leave freely
and happily
if we were no longer meant for one another.
sent for one another
to gather the pieces that fell from heaven

and gently make this place seem whole
two strangers in the distance
the only familiar bond is love
although it is broken
and blue
we recognize its first form and true shape
lest we decide to rather take mementos and souvenirs
of a poetic potential
pleasures unmatched
riches untapped
if we could only trust
or take a seed of this lust
and learn the sacred alchemy
turn love over
and uncover our most
sacred secret
so divine
i find
myself
witnessing you next to me
as we circle
Our Lords Throne (c)

( Check out Liza's blog : http://lizagarza.wordpress.com/ )

Wherever I shine the lamplight of Divine breath,
there the difficulties of a whole world are resolved.
The darkness which the earthly sun did not remove,
becomes through My breath a bright morning.


- Rumi

I think I'm in love with Egypt ...

The door is panting ... looool ...

No comment ...

Ya'neeee ...

As if Tang wasn't bootleg enough ... lol ...

Yes, we can see that ...

Asalaam alaikum ...

Hello Sunday, you look nice

Just wanted to wish everyone a beautiful day :)

Alhumdulillah, we are in a blessing ...

That's all ... For now ...


- Jafar out

The Messenger of God (pbuh) said:

"Remember often the Ender of Pleasures"

When he (saw) was asked who the intelligent were he replied:

"Those who remember death most often, and prepare for it best.

They are the intelligent ones, who have gained

the honour of this world and a noble rank in the Hereafter."

And he (saw) said:

"Death is the most imminent of all hidden things lying in wait."

Now, if death is the nearest of the hidden things lying in wait,

then one must prepare for it through being decisive and taking

the greatest precautions in every condition in which it may come.

And this could be any time and under any circumstance.

Imam Ali (ra) said:

"Whenever a believer dies

the place where he used to pray weeps for him,

and so does the place from which his deeds

used to ascend to Heaven."

Then he recited:


The heaven and earth wept not for them (44:29)

Know that a long life in God's obedience is greatly to be desired

"The best among you are those
whose lives are long and whose works are good."

And:

"Let none of you wish for death,
(for you are) either doing well and thus may increase,
or doing evil and thus enjoying the chance to make amends."


- (Hadith)

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn’t make any sense.


-Rumi-

At last you have departed and gone to the Unseen.
What marvelous route did you take
from this world?



- Rumi -

Show me things as they truly are

Let the false appear false

and true as true

O Allah
I seek refuge in Your good pleasure from Your wrath
and in Your protection from Your punishment
I seek refuge with You from You
I cannot praise You enough
and You are as You have praised Yourself


- Dua of the Last Messenger (saw)

Look deeply into nature,

and you will not fail to observe

the signature of the Divine written

all over it

Nothing is more visible than the Real

He is hidden only to the blind

- Misri -

Ostentation

The root source of ostentation (riya) is desire, wanting something from a source other than God. The cure for ostentation is actively and sincerely seeking out purification of the heart by removing four things:
1) love of praise;
2) fear of blame;
3) desire for worldly benefit from people; and
4) fear of harm from people.

This is accomplished by nurturing the certainty (yaqin) that only God can benefit or harm one. This is at the essence of the Islamic creed.

Helen Keller once said that there is no slave in this world that didn't have a king somewhere in his ancestry; and there is no king that didn't have a slave somewhere in his ancestry. This world has peaks and valleys. Nothing in creation is permanent. To spend time and energy seeking permanence in the fleeting things of the world - like praise - and then neglect what lasts forever with our Maker is the summit of human folly.

So recognizing that there is no harm or benefit except with God purifies the heart of vain pursuits and ostentation.



Compiled From:
"Purification of The Heart" - Hamza Yusuf, pp. 57-59

And to Allah is our return

In the world there are invisible ladders,
Leading step by step to the summit of heaven.
There is a different ladder for every group,
A different heaven for every path.
Each one is ignorant of the other's condition in this wide kingdom which
Has no end or beginning.
This one is amazed at that one and wonders why he is happy,
While that one is astonished at this one and asks why he is amazed.
God's earth is spacious: every tree springs up from a certain soil.
The leaves and boughs sing thanks to God:
"What a fine, broad kingdom."
The nightingales hover around the fruiting blossom,calling,
"Give us some of what you drink."
This discourse has no end.


- Rumi

I seek forgiveness from Allah

For the lack of my sincerity when I say

I seek the forgiveness of Allah

- Rabia al-Adawiyyah -

Eyes are at rest, the stars are setting.
Hushed are the stirrings of birds in their nests,
Of monsters in the ocean.

You are the Just who knows no change,
The Balance that can never swerve,
The Eternal which never passes away.

The doors of Kings are bolted now and guarded by soldiers.
Your Door is open to all who call upon You.

My Lord,
Each lover is now alone with his beloved.
And I am alone with You.


-Rabia al-Basri

Never be without rememberance of Him
For His rememberance gives strength and wings
To the bird of the Spirit.


- Jalaluddin Rumi

Allahumma
Salli wa Sallim wa Baarik 'alaa'Ayni'l 'Inaayah
Wa Zayni'l Qiyaamah
Wa Kanzi'l Hidaayah
Wa Tiraazi'l Hullah
Wa 'Arusi'l Mamlakah
Wa Lisaani'l Hujjah
Wa Shafi'il Ummah
Wa Imami'l Hadhrah
Wa Nabiyy i'r Rahmah Sayyidina Muhammadin Kaashifi'l ghummah



O Allah!
Bestow blessings, peace and favours on the spring of grace,
adornment of the Day of Judgement,
source of guidance,
the best type (model) of creation,
a Prince of the Kingdom of heaven,
the tongue that delivers the Divine Argument,
the Intercessor for the believers,
the Leader of those nearest to Allah,
and the Prophet of mercy, Sayyidina Muhammad (SAW), who dispels pain and suffering

Is it any wonder that the spirit doesn't remember its own home, in which it lived and emerged from so long before? This sleep inducing world is wrapped around (the spirit) just as the clouds blot out the stars. (The soul) has travelled through so many cities, and the dust still hasn't been cleared from its senses. Likewise, it hasn't made any serious effort to purify itself and take a good look at the past, so that its heart can cast a glance through the opening of mystery, allowing it to see the beginning and the end with an open eye.


- Jalaluddin Rumi

A thorn in the foot is hard enogh to find, so much harder would it be to find a thorn in the heart? Answer me that! If every unlucky person could find the thorn in his heart, then how could sadness ever prevail over him?

- Jalaluddin Rumi

The happiness of the believer lies in loving Allah,and love for the sake of Allah brings deeper happiness whose taste is known to sincere believers who do not accept any substitute for it.

Even if you were a powerful king who posseed every fortune, remember still that fortune is something else, besides you. One day your wordly fortune will disappear, and you`ll be left with nothing, like a pauper. Let your soul be your fortune, O chosen one. When you are your own fortune, O person of truth, then how can you, who are fortune personified, ever lose yourself ? How can you lose yourself, O person of goodness, when your very essence has become your kingdom and your treasure ?


- Jalaluddin Rumi

Balaghal ula be kamaalihi
Kashafad duja be jamaalihi
Hasanat jami'u khisaalihi
Sallu 'alayhi wa aalihi



He taught people with his best way
He showed his beauty
He was all good
So peace be on him and his family


- Saadi al-Shiraz commenting on the ways of the Blessed Prophet Muhammad (SAW)

I am amazed concerning the Hellfire, how does the one who could flee from it sleep?
And I am amazed concerning the Jannah, how does the one who desires it sleep?
For by Allah, if you neither desire Paradise, nor fear the Hellfire, then you are destroyed and grievous will be your sorrow, interminable your sadness and without limit your tears.
You will be amongst the wretched, the punished ones.
So if you claim that you are amongst those who seek refuge from the Fire and desire Paradise, then strive for that which you seek and do not be misled by your worldly desires.


- A pious slave

(This is beautiful)

Imam Malik said:


Man tasawwafa wa lam yatafaqqa fa qad tazandaqa

wa man tafaqqaha wa lam yatasawwaf fa qad tafassaqa

wa man jama`a bayn al-ithnayn fa qad tahaqqaqa


He who practices Tasawwuf without learning Sacred Law,corrupts his faith. While he who learns Sacred Law, without practicing Tasawwuf, corrupts himself. Only he who combines the two proves true.

Good Manners ... Imam al-Haddad ...

Know disciple, that the beginning of the path is patience, and its end is thankfulness. Its beginning is difficulty, and its end is bliss. Its beginning is toil and weariness, and its end is opening, unveiling and arrival at the ultimate goal which is gnosis of God, arrival to Him, being comforted by Him, and standing in His noble presence with His angels standing before Him. The one who makes gracious patience the foundation of all his affairs turns to every goodness, reaches everything that he hopes for, and wins all that he seeks.

If those who do not possess knowledge avoid the scholarly discussions,disagreement will end.


-Abu Hamid al-Ghazali

Do not allow the fear of people to prevent you from proclaiming the Haqq (the truth of Allah's Deen)

- Muhammad (SAW)

To admonish your brother in private is to advise him and improve him.
But to admonish him publicly is to disgrace and shame him.


-Imam Shafi (ra)

One evening a Cherokee elder told his grandson
about the battle that goes on inside people.

He said,
“My son, the battle is between the two ‘wolves’ that live inside us all.

One is Unhappiness. It is fear, worry, anger, jealousy, sorrow, self-pity, resentment and inferiority.

The other is Happiness. It is joy, love, hope, serenity, kindness, generosity, truth and compassion. ”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather,
“Which wolf wins?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed”.



-Native Indian wisdom tradition

What is done for you ... allow it to be done
What you must do yourself ... make sure you do it


-Khawwas

True speech is the fruit of not speaking.
Too much talking clouds the heart.

If you want to clear the heart,
say this much, the essence of all talking:
Speak truly. God speaks through words truly spoken.

Falsity ends in pain.

Unless you witness all of creation in a single glance,
you're in sin even with all your religion.

The explanation of the Law is this:
The Law is a ship. Truth is her ocean.
No matter how strong the wood,
the sea can smash the ship.

The secret is this:
A 'doctor' of religion may in reality be an unbeliever.

We will master this science and read this book of Love.
God instructs. Love is His school.

Since the glance of the saintly masters fell on poor Yunus
nothing has been a misfortune.



-Yunus Emre (1240 - 1320)

"Only the dead see the end of war"

- Plato -

Life can be found only in the present moment.
The past is gone,
the future is not yet here,
and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment,
we cannot be in touch with life.

Adornments ...

The adornments of the present world are three things:
livelihood
children
and companion

The adornments of the afterworld are three things:
knowledge
keeping away (from unreal worldly distractions)
and charity

The adornments of the body are three things:
little eating
little sleeping
and little talking

The adornments of the heart are three things:
patience
silence
and gratitude



- Wisdom from Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)

Saying Allahu Akbar (God is Great), doesn't mean He is greater than something else, because there is nothing else for Him to be greater than.

It means He is too Great to be perceived by the senses and too deep to be understood by the intellect.

Too Great indeed, to be known by anything other than Him.

Only God (fully) knows God.


-Ahmad ibn Ata'illah

A friend of God must display hospitality like the earth

We are raised and cradled in its lap

and yet it is always under our feet

Cowards do not count in battle

they are there

but not in it

The world is held up by Four pillars:

The Wisdom of the Learned

The Justice of the Great

The Prayers of the Righteous

And the Valour of the Brave

(Inscription at the entrance of the University of Granada in Muslim Spain)

Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise,

seek what they sought

"There comes a time when silence is betrayal"

- Martin Luther King -

And ever has it been known that love knows not its own depth
until the hour of separation.

-Kahlil Gibran

Rulers usually appoint people to watch over their subjects. I appoint you a watcher over me and my behaviour. If you find me at fault in word or action guide me and stop me from doing it.

- Caliph Umar ibn Abdul Aziz (Rahimahullah)

"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"

- Prophet Muhammad (SAW)

Blessed is he who has but one thing to worry about,
and whose heart is not preoccupied by what his
eyes have seen and his ears have heard.
He who has known God is abstemious
about everything that distracts from Him.

I Carry Your Heart With Me ... E E Cummings ...

I carry your heart with me

(I carry it in my heart)

I am never without it

(anywhere I go you go,my dear;

and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my darling)

I fear no fate (for you are my fate,my sweet)

I want no world (for beautiful, you are my world,my true)

and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)

Ibn Abid-Dunya mentioned that Dawud (as) asked Allah:

'What is the least of your blessings?

Allah revealed to him.
'O Dawud ,take a breath.'

Dawud (as) did so and Allah told him,

'This is the least of My blessings on you'

Wherever I shine the lamplight of Divine breath,
there the difficulties of a whole world are resolved.
The darkness which the earthly sun did not remove,
becomes through My breath a bright morning.


- Jalaluddin Rumi

RUMI ... Mathnawi ( I,836-7 ,852 ) ...

When you feel pain, ask pardon of God;
this pain has its uses.
When He pleases, pain becomes joy;
bondage itself becomes freedom.
When you take a clear look,
you'll see that from God
are both the water of mercy and the fire of anger.

"If Salafi's are calling you a Sufi and Sufi's are calling you a Salafi, then u are in a good place to be "

- Hamza Yusuf

All night, a man called "Allah"
Until his lips were bleeding.
Then the Devil said, "Hey! Mr Gullible!
How come you've been calling all night
And never once heard Allah say, "Here, I am"?
You call out so earnestly and, in reply, what?
I'll tell you what. Nothing!"

The man suddenly felt empty and abandoned.
Depressed, he threw himself on the ground
And fell into a deep sleep.
In a dream, he met Abraham, who asked,
"Why are you regretting praising Allah?"

The man said, " I called and called
But Allah never replied, "Here I am."
Abraham explained, "Allah has said,
"Your calling my name is My reply.
Your longing for Me is My message to you.
All your attempts to reach Me
Are in reality
My attempts to reach you.
Your fear and love are a noose to catch Me.
In the silence surrounding every call of "Allah"
Waits a thousand replies of "Here I am."

"Terrorism is the war of the poor.
And war is the terrorism of the rich."

- Sir Peter Ustinov

O God, we are incapable of praising You;

You are as You have praised Yourself.

All praise belongs to You alone.

" Woe to us! Who has woken us from our sleep. This is just as the Most Merciful has promised, and the messengers have spoken the truth" ( 36:52 ), say the sleepers of this world when they are finally and forcibly removed from the poppy field of pleasure and forgetfulness. The newly awoken come to the realization that they were in fact accountable for every God-given breath, but they have squandered their entire lives foolishly or, worse still, spent them in malevolent deeds.

Breath is a Divine gift, and the tongue is the plane upon which the breezes of the breath blow. To speak , we need a tongue, lips, and breath. To remember God, we need a heart. We have been given all four and reminded by God in every Book of revelation that the reason we are created is to worship Him. In fact, everything in existence is initially created in a state of worship. However, because of their free will, humans can forget the reason for their existence. "And if you forget, remember," says the Qur'an.

- Hamza Yusuf

Shams al Tabriz ...

"I Know the Way You Can Get

I know the way you can get
When you have not had a drink of Love:

Your face hardens,
Your sweet muscles cramp.
Children become concerned
About a strange look that appears in your eyes
Which even begins to worry your own mirror
And nose.

Squirrels and birds sense your sadness
And call an important conference in a tall tree.
They decide which secret code to chant
To help your mind and soul.

Even angels fear that brand of madness
That arrays itself against the world
And throws sharp stones and spears into
The innocent
And into one's self.

O I know the way you can get
If you have not been drinking Love:

You might rip apart
Every sentence your friends and teachers say,
Looking for hidden clauses.

You might weigh every word on a scale
Like a dead fish.

You might pull out a ruler to measure
From every angle in your darkness
The beautiful dimensions of a heart you once
Trusted.

I know the way you can get
If you have not had a drink from Love's
Hands.

That is why all the Great Ones speak of
The vital need
To keep remembering God,
So you will come to know and see Him
As being so Playful
And Wanting,
Just Wanting to help.

That is why Hafiz says:
Bring your cup near me.
For all I care about
Is quenching your thirst for freedom!

All a Sane man can ever care about
Is giving Love!"


- Hafiz

Ibn Ata'llah said:

“People praise you for what they suppose is in you,
but you must blame your soul for what you know is in you.”


- Hikam number 142

Between God and His servant are just two veils;
all other veils become manifest from these two: health and wealth.
He who is healthy says, "Where is God? I don't know and I don't see."
As soon as he begins to suffer, he says, "Oh God! Oh God!", and he begins sharing his secrets with Him and talking to Him. So you see that health was his veil, and God was hidden under his pain. So long as man has riches, he gathers together all the means of achieving his desires.
Night and day he busies himself with them. But as soon as he loses his wealth, his ego weakens and he turns round about God.



- Discourses of Rumi (Fihi ma fihi) 233/240

.•°*”˜˜”*°•.****** رمضان مبارك ******.•°*”˜ ˜”*°•.

"My dear heart never think you are better than others.
Listen to their sorrows with compassion.
If you want peace, do not harbor bad thoughts do not gossip
& do not teach what you do not know."

- Rumi

A sign of compliance with passion (hawa’) is haste in supererogatory good deeds (nawafil) and sluggishness is fulfilling obligations (wajibat).

A sign of the heart’s death is the absence of sadness over acts of obedience that you have neglected and the abandonment of regret over mistakes that you have made.

Among the signs of success at the end is turning to God at the beginning.


- Sidi Ibn Ata’illah (ra)

"The friends of Allah do not die

They move from one place to another"

“The real existence on earth

is of the one who benefits humanity”

Qur'an 13:17

"Nay, but you love instant results"

(Quran 75:20)

"Let them chat and play

until they meet their Day which they are promised."

(Quran 70:42)

To find yourself

Think for yourself

~ Socrates ~

Who taught you to hate yourself?
Who taught you to hate the color of your skin?
Who taught you how to hate the texture of your hair?
Who taught you how to hate the shape of your nose?
Who taught you to hate yourself from the top of your head to the soles of your feet?
Who taught you to hate your own kind?
Who taught you to hate the race to which you belong ...?


- Malcom X

"With Him are the keys of the unseen,

the treasures that none knoweth but He"

Qur'an 6:59

Hafiz ...

“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”

"This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time. "

-Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club, Chapter 3

Tomorrow's battle is won during today's practice


- Samurai maxim

"The cowards never started.

And the weak died along the way."

A minute, from now,

two days from now,

it will still be now.

The future is still only now.

The least of things with a meaning

is worth more in life

than the greatest of things without it

- Carl Jung -

Qur'an 3:173 ...

" Hasbunallahu wa ni'mal Wakil ''

Allah (Alone) is Sufficient for us,

and He is the Best Disposer of affairs (for us)

And surely what comes after is better for you than that which has gone before.
And soon your Guardian-Lord will give you that so you will be well pleased.
- The Quran 93:4,5


And put your trust in the Ever-living One Who dies not, and celebrate His praise;
and Sufficient is He as the Knower of His servant's shortcomings.
- The Quran 25:58

The breath of dhikr 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 traveller on this path takes no provisions but love ...

- Irving Karchmar

The Tasbih is a metaphor of existence. It is a beautiful tool that reminds our hearts that everything in the creation is created with the Haqq (truth). Each stone, bird, star and sound is a manifestation of the divine attributes, messenging us of His presence, in and with everything. Roll the beads through your fingers and see that all things are touched with His original intention to know, love and worship Him. Let each bead be a witness of what is already in the heart of every human being, the eternal light of the divine.

- Hajj Mustafa

May your heart communion (salaat) be such

that as if you are gazing upon your Lord,

for even if you do not see Him,

(behold well this consciousness that) He sees you.

~ Sacred tradition of Islam ~

"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"

- Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him)

If your enemy is superior, evade him.
If angry, irritate him.
If equally matched, fight,
and if not split and reevaluate

-Sun Tzu

Forgive him who wrongs you;
join him who cuts you off;
do good to him who does evil to you;
and speak the truth even if it be against yourself.

- Inscribed on the Prophet (SAW) sword

Innumerable changes of moods are yours,
and they are uncontrolled by you.
If you knew their origin,
you would be able to dominate them.
If you cannot localize your own changes,
how can you localize that which formed you?

- Rumi [ Fihi Ma Fihi ]

Wise is he who controls his desires and works towards that which is to occur after death; whilst an ignorant is he who follows that temptation of his desires and (regardless of that) keeps hope in (the mercy of) Allah.

One day the Prophet Abraham invited a person to dinner, but when he learned that he was an infidel he canceled the invitation and turned him out. Immediately the Divine Voice reprimanded him, saying, "You did not feed him food for a day even because he belonged to a different religion, yet for the last seventy years I am feeding him in spite of his heresy. Had you fed him for one night, you would not have become poor on that account."

- al Ghazzali

Iman is not something that I just “perform” in a place of worship.
Iman is life.
Iman is how I interact with Allah during all the breaths that I take.

- Shaykh Habib ‘Ali al Jifri

"He who truly remembers Allah is the one who obeys Him: whoever forgets is disobedient. Obedience is the mark of guidance, disobedience the sign of misguidance. The root of both states lies in remembrance (dhikr) and forgetfulness. Make your heart the focal point of your tongue, which should not move unless the heart indicates, the intellect agrees and your tongue accords with belief.Allah knows what you conceal and what you reveal"

- Imam Ali (ra)

Doubt is a precipice on the way to God. Blessed is he who is freed from its bonds. He who fares without any doubt, adhere to his footprints if you do not know the way. Cleave to the footprints of the deer and advance with care that you may reach the musk-gland. By means of such trekking, even if you walk on fire, you will reach the luminous peak.

- Jalaluddin Rumi

If we live good lives, the times are also good.
As we are, such are the times

- Saint Augustine

"When you reach the bottom of the well of your own nature,
then you will know that the wickedness is in you."

-Rumi

Goethe ...

"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be

and you will help them become

what they are capable of becoming."

R.I.P Michael Jackson ...

My childhood idol ...

The greatest performer ever ...

Thank you for being the music of my memory ...

Let sadness see what happy does...

Let happy be where sadness was...

Here's to you, both as a transformational genius of creativity and art that ever lived on earth and a tragedy of that of a humble helpless human soul. I am grateful to be a part of the generation who grew up with his inspiration ...

R.I.P Michael Jackson for your majestic contribution to art.

- Jafar Alam

Imam Al Ghazali ...

You should not neglect your time or use it haphazardly; on the contrary you should bring yourself to account, structures your litanies and other practices during each day and night, and assign to each period a fixed and specific function. This is how to bring out the spritual blessings (baraka) in each period. But if you leave yourself adrift, aimlessly wandering as cattle do, not knowing how to occupy yourself at every moment, your time will be lost. It is nothing other than your life, and your life is the capital that you make use of to reach perpetual felicity in the proximity of God the Exalted. Each of your breaths is a priceless jewel, since each of them is irreplaceable and, once gone, can never be retrieved. Do not be like the deceived fools who are joyous because each day their wealth increases while their life shortens. What good is an increase in wealth when life grows even shorter? Therefore be joyous only for an increase in knowledge or in good works, for they are your two companions who will accompany you in your grave when your family, wealth, children and friends stay behind.

The Prophet (pbuh) supplicated that God the Exalted show him things in their reality, distinguished and clear:

" Show me the truth as truth and give me the ability to follow it;
and show me falsehood and give me the ability to avoid it."

Ahmad al- Zarruq ( Moroccan scholar ) ...

"If you desire to live such that your religion is safe and your portion is full and your honor is sound, guard your tongue and never mention another's faults remembering that you yourself have faults and others have tongues."

Watch your eye. Should it ever reveal to you the faults of others, say to it, " O my eye, other people have eyes too ."

Live treating others well and avoid aggression, and should others aggress against you, leave them but in the best way.

The source of these words is in fact none other than the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) when he said,

" Be vigilant of God wherever your are, and follow a misdeed with a good deed and it will remove it; and treat others with the most excellent of character."

In another tradition the Prophet (pbuh) said, " Every child of Adam errs and the best of those who err are those who seek to redress them."

So be concious of God and make your request with dignity. In summation, repentance, awareness of God, and uprightness are the foundations of all that is beneficial. The truth is clear and its details are weighty and significant. The affair belongs only to God. Success is in His Hands.

Looking For God Everywhere ... By Jafar Alam ...

An African mothers breasts were cut off
So that her new born baby could not have her milk
She is looking for God
Everywhere

A young Haitian boy
Is eating mud pies on the street
He is looking for God
Everywhere

The alcoholic laying on the street corner
Looks inside his empty bottle
He is looking for God
Everywhere

The young Pakistani girl who was gang raped
Because of false accusations made about her brother
Was looking for God
Everywhere

Amongst the chaos in the world
The gluttons are not satisfied
They are looking for more gods
Everywhere

Two siblings sit in their room
Their hearts beating
Their parents fighting
They are looking for God
Everywhere

An adult male is discriminated against
Because he is a child of divorce
He is looking for God
Everywhere

A young kid is haunted by demons
From his past
He is looking for God
Everywhere

A 25 year old girl is searching for happiness
Without a father figure
She is looking for God
Everywhere

We were all born to die
In between the two
We are looking for God
Everywhere

There were many I would die for
The love was not returned

Betrayed

My heart died a hundred deaths

My worry
Is the pleasure
Of the Most High

A beautiful pattern
Of conduct
I am not

But I see God
Everywhere (c)

I stand here and watch the people of this world:
all against one and one against all,
angry, arguing, plotting and scheming.

Then one day, suddenly, they die.

And each gets one plot of ground:

four feet wide, six feet long.
If you can scheme your way out of that plot,
I'll set the stone that immortalizes your name.

- Zen Poetry of Han Shan (8th century)

Death is a tax the soul has to pay
for having had a name and a form

- Inayat Khan

Patience is bitter if you focus on yourself

Patience is sweet if you focus on Allah

Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are. Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.

"The Excited States of America" ...

“And we must face the fact that the United States is neither omnipotent or omniscient—that we are only 6 percent of the world’s population—that we cannot impose our will upon the other 94 percent of mankind—that we cannot right every wrong or reverse every adversity—and that therefore there cannot be an American solution to every world problem."

- John F. Kennedy, U.S. President

Bahlul, the wise fool, happened to meet the caliph Harun al-Rashid.

'Where are you coming from like this ya Bahlul?' the ruler asked him.

'From Hell' was the prompt reply.

'What were you doing there?'

Bahlul explained, 'Fire was needed, Sire, so I thought of going to Hell to ask if they could spare a little. But the fellow in charge there said 'We have no fire here.' Of course I asked him, 'How Come? Isn't Hell the place of fire?

He answered 'I tell you, there really is no fire down here. Everybody brings his own fire with him when he comes'

Sunnah of the Beloved ...By Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl ...

If envy is a sin, then I am the incurable sinner, for I envy every eye that ever caught a glimpse of you. I envy the waves that carried your voice and the air that touched your cheeks. I envy even the ground that once served you, and I confess to you that despite my indulgent sins, my shameful whimsies, and my ugly flimsies I confess to you, "I love you."

My confessions are as silly as my muted words. You have been loved by so many more substantial than I, and what good does my silence or confession possibly do?

So many moments have I sat sheltered by the night in the midst of these books, my mind fulfilled but my heart calling for you. Only my shame restrains my words from filling pages of books and from whimpering into the night, "I long for you."

This Conference of the Books, in countless days and nights, ignited by your memory, calls upon the world to ponder your legacy. Despite the citations, the arguments, and refutations, nothing equals a blissful moment spent engulfed in your adoration. For all the enlightenment of books, the brilliance of beauty, and the purification of light coalesced in the moments of time that hosted your life - Muhammad, Ahmad, Abu al-Qasim, al-Nabi al-Amin, the Messenger of God.

Permit me, my Prophet, my own beloved Prophet, to tell you that I do not know you from the majestic debates of this Conference. I do not know you from the lectures of learned teachers, nor from some infatuated delusional dream. No, I do not know you from the books full of sayings you reportedly said, and I even do not know you from all the reports about your life and about your likes and dislikes. I know you from a moment in time in which I fell in love with you.

In the outside world,

wind sets the trees in motion.

On the inside,

remembrance rustles the leaves of the heart.

In prayer it is better to have a heart without words
than words without a heart.

- Mahatma Gandhi

Being Human Rules ...

10 Rules for Being Human
by Cherie Carter-Scott


1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it’s yours to keep for the entire period.

2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called, “life.”

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The “failed” experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately “work.”

4. Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.

5. Learning lessons does not end. There’s no part of life that doesn’t contain its lessons. If you’re alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned.

6. “There” is no better a place than “here.” When your “there” has become a “here”, you will simply obtain another “there” that will again look better than “here.”

7. Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.

8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.

9. Your answers lie within you. The answers to life’s questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.

10. You will forget all this.

Lap Of The Morning ... By Jafar Alam

Lying in the lap of the morning

The dawn has just arrived.

She tries to find

The heart of her dream

She touches, squeezing,

Only the surface of hope

She takes a long deep breath

Along the brink of the valley

Of passion

That has blown away with the wind.

Amongst the leaves that become

As gray as dust

The mist of an old, lost love

Is felt shivering for a moment.

She stands on the green grass.

A breeze rises up

She turns away. (c)

Nabila ... By Jafar Alam ...

A poem for my aunt.

I write,because the page is empty.

She is greater than these words .

Her eyes

misty and wet,

Tell a story ...

She tells me the words in her heart.

Dark clouds follow her.

Her life is a gloom.

She refuses to let go of the wheel.

In living

there is hope.

Within this woman

lives a child

that calls me on days

where we talk for hours

about nothing.

We eat waffles

and tease each other.

In those moments,

we forget the world.

Only to come back to a reality

too hard to swallow at times.

She is a believer.

We have a bond

that is inexplainable.

Her face is luminous

giving light to darkness.

She gives colour to a world full of black and white.

A face,

salted by the sea of tears

shed,

everytime she saw the nature of the world.

Her eyes are like

violet stones.

She has four lives

she won't desert a single one.

A deserter will always be deserted.

Fear is taught.

Love is natural.

I asked her:

"What do you want your four lives to be?"

She said:"I want them to be alive"

O my heart,

in this darkness we are a prayer

that when she reads what this hand writes,

writes out of love for her.

She is strength.

She is patience.

She is love.

She is a mother.

She is not alone.

She ...

is reserved for Heaven. (c)

The Sweet Release of Death ... By Jafar Alam ...

Almond eyed girl is singing
A sad song in a far away place.
A boy is lonely on the harbour, because
Of those who forgot to be happy.

Her voice going higher and higher
We who listen, watch the dim moonlight
Kiss and caress her cheek
And her peach dress, like something in a dream.
Listen to the padding of her feet on the floor.
She is beauty in motion.

We're sure happiness will come.
Praying for the sweet release of death. (c)

Ahmed ... By Jafar Alam ...

I had a friend
who died.
He reminded me of God.
I met him once in a dream.
He hurt me, then hugged me.
He still reminds me of God.
He died with a broken heart.
The world was designed to break your heart.
And I feel hollow inside.
Friends have become acquaintances,
Reflection my companion.
I want to start over again with my mother.
I know love now.
Now I want love to know me. (c)

( Dedicated to my late friend Ahmed Hussain )

No more ... By Jafar Alam ...

He was a victim of her insanity.
He told her to take her pretty smile out of his way,
and let him go by with his pain.
It could be, that he was a thorn to her.
Thorns can't hurt flowers.
Maybe he made a mistake,
wedding his soul to hers.
Even the sun cannot live
alongside the moon.
She came knocking on his door.
He said " whatta you want?"
She said "Love"
He said " Love don't live here no more". (c)

Impossible isn't a fact ... it's an opinion ...

"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."

- Tariq Ramadan

The first word any man writes when he has found himself, his own rhythm, which is the life rhythm is Yes! Everything he writes thereafter is Yes, Yes, Yes - Yes in a thousand million ways. No dynamo, no matter how huge - not even a dynamo of a hundred million dead souls - can combat one man saying Yes!

"Please God, make my words today sweet and tender,

for tomorrow i may have to eat them."

“I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple,
pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion,
and it is The Spirit.”

- Khalil Gibran

"The person who can bring the spirit of laughter
into a room is indeed blessed."

- Bennett Alfred Cerf (1898-1971)

"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world,
the master calls a butterfly"

- Richard David Bach

"If you want to see how ugly the world is,
place something beautiful in it."

-Abiodun Oyewole of the last poets

Do not satisfy the demands of the physical self,

for the more you satisfy it,

the more it demands.

- Fareed Ganj Shakar -

It is none other than He who progresses or journeys as you. There is nothing to be known but He; and since He is Being itself, He is therefore also the journeyer. There is no knower but He; so who are you? Know your true Reality. He is the essential self of all. But He conceals it by ( the appearance of ) otherness, which is "you."

If you hold to multiplicity, you are with the world; and if you hold to the Unity, you are with the Truth .... Our names are but names for God; at the same time our individual selves are His shadow. He is at once our identity and not our identity ... Consider ...


~Ibn 'Arabi

"Don't be afraid that your life will end,

be afraid that it will never begin"

"YOU ARE IN THE CENTRE OF THE LOTUS FLOWER
IN MY HEART WHICH IS IN FULL BLOOM."

-Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (ra)

Jaded Dreams and Empty Promises ...

This is a poem, by a good friend of mine .

A phenominal poet, Faraz 'Veto' Khan

Jaded dreams and empty promises
Have left you so bitter.
Jaded dreams and empty promises
Is all you have to show.
Besides the scars that lie someplace
In your psyche that we call heart
They stole it then ransomed it.
You bought it back of course
But they sold it in pieces
Extorting every valve, vein, ventricle
For all that they could get.
Sold the rest in markets
Where pretty girls with auburn curls
Sell their bodies for acceptance.
Their souls for teenage love.
You are worth more than this.
You are worth more than a kiss
From the green eyed heartthrob’s lips.
His fists cloak his palms
That are like deserts
Engulfed in rivers of destiny
But only your tears run through them.
These same tears give me life
I kiss each one off your face
So I can taste your sorrow
And it tastes like an ocean.
Like the dead sea of phantom lovers
Who offered you the world
That was too heavy for their shoulders.
So you settled for love.
But love proved to be a heavier load
Than the world combined with the skies above.
So you lost hope.
My dear this is different.
Do not let your past be so vindictive
Burn it along with it’s Caspers
Cremate it and impregnate the wind with its ashes
Let the world be your ashtray
A cleansing fire to purify your present
So you can free yourself and fall in love again.
And we will walk with our fingers meshed
Through a Universe filled with possibilities
Our backs basking in the heat
From the bonfire left behind.
Your rose petals whisper in my ear
Your fears of future years to come.
If only you could read my soul
If only you could bite my wrists
And taste what flows in my veins
The residue left on your lips
Would scream your name. (c)

Here's a link to the youtube video of my performance at CBC on March 20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNAsJwWEXeo

RUMI ...

- I cannot sleep in your prescence.
In your absence, tears prevent me.
You watch me My Beloved
On each sleepless night and
Only You see the difference


- Love is our Mother and
The way of our Prophet.
Yet it is in our nature
To fight with Love.
We can’t see you, mother,
Hidden behind dark veils
Woven by ourselves.

- Do you want to enter paradise?
To walk the path of Truth
You need the grace of God.
We all face death in the end.
But on the way, be careful
Never to hurt a human heart!

- You know what love is?
It is all kindness, generosity.
Disharmony prevails when
You confuse lust with love, while
The distance between the two
Is endless.

- This Love is a King
But his banner is hidden.
The Koran speaks the Truth
But its miracle is concealed.
Love has pierced with its arrow
The heart of every lover.
Blood flows but the wound is invisible.

- Small heroes master their enemies,
big heroes master themselves.

"The thing I hate about advertising is that it attracts all the bright, creative and ambitious young people, leaving us mainly with the slow and self obsessed to become our artists. Modern art is a disaster area. Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little"

- Banksy

"Human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves."

- Gabriel Garcia Marquez from Love in the Time of Cholera