When one is confronted with eternity and its iron clad reality ... 

This world will seem like the most short lived of existences ... 

This once overwhelmingly alluring life will be of no value to anyone ...

Somewhere On Earth Is A Door ...

Somewhere on earth is a door reserved for each soul ... And one day each of us will walk through that door never to return to this life again ... Where that door is and when we will walk through it are unknowns that we must live with ... Upon death, suddenly all of this, this whole world and all of its charms and occupations will become as if it were all a dream ...

Step a little less on each other's faults ... 

And land on those beautiful spaces that make people love one another wholly ... 

They might step on those light filled spaces that will unmake their broken, imperfect, unbeautiful relationship ... 

And place a healing hand on their bruised bond ...

A Drop In The Ocean ...

Even if you see yourself as a part of all creation and lasting for eternity ... 

You, as a single human, are still but a drop in a vast ocean ... 

That ocean is held by gravity to a small sphere orbitting a tiny star among billions of others ... 

Your time as a seperate drop, however important you may seem to be in your own world, is so brief ...

That the ocean itself may be unaware of your existence, your foaming or dissolving ...

Love Is ...

Love is to see what is good and beautiful in everything ... 

It is to learn from everything ... 

To see the gifts of God and the generosity of God in everything ... 

It is to be thankful for all God's bounties ... 

This is the first step on the road to the love of God ... 

This is just a seed of love ... 

In time the seed will grow and become a tree and bear fruit ... 

Then whoever tastes of that fruit will know what real love is ... 

It will be difficult for those who have tasted, to tell of it to those who have not ...

Come follow me and you will find the way ...

Your mistakes can also lead you to the Truth ...

When you ask, then answer will be given ...

Reflect on these ... Use them for upliftment ... Peace ...

- When someone see's the same people everyday, they wind up becoming a part of that person's life ... And then they want the person to change ... If someone isn't what others want them to be, the others become angry ... Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives ... But none about his or her own ...

- Every search begins with beginners luck ... And every search ends with the victor's being severly tested ...

- If you start out by promising what you don't even have yet ... You'll lose your desire to work toward getting it ...

- Some people say that everyday is the same for them ... And when each day is the same as the next, it's because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives everyday that the sun rises ...

- To die tomorrow is no worse than dying on another day ...

- This natural world is only an image and a copy of Paradise ... The existence of this world is simply a guarantee that there exists a world that is perfect ...

- God created the world so that, through its visible objects, men could understand His spiritual teachings and the marvels of His wisdom ...

- Listen to your heart ... It knows things, because it came from the Soul of the World ... And it will one day return there ...

- Wherever your heart is ... That is where you'll find your treasure ...

- The fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself ...

- Every second of the search is an encounter with God ...

- That thing we speak of, can never be found by seeking ... Yet only seekers find it ...

Tree's ...

I think that I shall never see

A poem as lovely as a tree

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth's sweet flowing breast

A tree that looks at God all day

And lifts her leafy arms to pray

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair

Upon whose bossom snow has lain

Who intimately lives with rain

Poems are made for fools like me

But only God can make a tree 

Tears ...

Why are we made with the ability to cry ??? A laugh feels good ... And we never question its value ... But why tears ??? 

We are born with the ability to cry tears because of the cleansing nature of water ... 

What softens a dry, hard sponge ??? 
What cleanses a wound and washes away dirt ??? 

I could go on forever asking questions about what water can do ... 

It is necessary for life, and so are tears ... 

Emotions held within destroy us ... 
But those that are washed away with tears restore us  

Think of a sponge lying dried up and hard on the kitchen counter ... 
If you didn't shed tears, that would be you ... 

But if you plunge the sponge into warm water, it softens ... 
Just as we do when we are willing to cry tears of pain, joy, love, and acceptance ...

Everyday Small Kindness ...

While large scale terrible things may happen ... It is the everyday small kindness that actually endure ... 

Perhaps we can't stop suffering ... Or change the course of humanities history ... But through our active acts of compassion and kindness one human agony could be lessoned ...

That because *you* lived, one persons world was completely transformed ... One child's future altered ... And a personal tragic history was transformed into a story of hope and beauty ...

Muslims For The Sake of Allah ... By Jafar Alam ...

We should make it very clear to ourselves ... 

That we are Muslims only for the sake of Allah ... 

We are not Muslims for the sake of our parents, friends, family or community ... 

It must be clear in our minds that we are Muslims for the sake of Allah ... 

First ... Last ... And only ...

Don't go back to sleep ...

The early breeze at dawn

Is the keeper of secrets

Don't go back to sleep

It is time for prayer

Time to find what

Is your real need

Don't go back to sleep

The door of the One

Is open always

Don't go back to sleep

A Void in Your Heart ...

- Truly in the heart there is a void that can not be removed except with the company of Allah ... And in it there is a sadness that cannot be removed except with the happiness of knowing Allah and being true to Him ... And in it there is an emptiness that cannot be filled except with Love for Him and by turning to Him and always remembering Him ... And if a person were given all of the world and what is in it, it would not fill this emptiness - (Ibn al-Qayyim al- Jawziyya)

- The Qur'an guides you to the recognition of your illness and to their remedies ... Your illness are your sins ... And your medicine is seeking Allah's forgiveness ...

- Who does greater evil than he who is reminded of the signs of the Lord ... Then turns away from them - (Qur'aan)

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

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

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

A Sip Of Wine ( Islamic Mysticism ) ...

- Love draws us to love ... Pulls us into this sweet abyss ... Melts away attachments ... Drowns us in ecstacy ... Who would not give away everything for another taste of this intoxicating substance ??? The Sufi's say that one sip of this wine and you are lost ... You would sell everything for just another sip ...

- I felt the butterfly wings of love at the edge of my heart ... I knew I was given more than I thought could ever be given ... And later the love came again ... Richer, deeper, more complete, more intoxicating ... All one can think is, why me ??? ... What have I done to deserve this ??? ... And the heart is so greatful ...

- In this love affair all of our patterns of seduction, the games we play to keep our lover, are useless ... We become so vulnerable ... We are loves prey ...

- In human relationships we have been taught to look after ourselves, to draw boundaries and not be victimized ... We know that we shouldn't be taken advantage of ... That we shouldn't be violated ... This is very important ... Learning to keep our human integrity and sense of self ... Not to sell ourself for what appears as love or the promise of security ... But the ways of mystical love are very different ... In the relationship with our souls Beloved, we have to give ourself without restrictions ... And we are violated, abused, and loved beyond compare ... We are taken by force, abducted and transformed ... And we give ourself willingly to this self-destruction through love ...

- Love takes us by force beyond every limit ... Beyond what we think is possible ... We are tortured and made whole by love ... Time and time again we lose and rediscover ourself ... Only to fall deeper and deeper into loves endless abyss ...

- Loves ocean is real and endless ... A place not for the fainthearted ... Not for those who like security or safety ... The mystic is seduced and dragged into this love ... Seduced by its softness, dragged by its power ... This love abuses our sense of self, destroys our patterns of control, violates our deepest beliefs, and takes us back to God ... In this love there is neither form nor limit ... Only a completeness beyond even our dreaming ... A sweetness beyond imagining ... And a terror that belongs to the absolute ... Love takes us into the infinite emptiness of His presence ... Into the vastness that is hidden within our own heart ...

- This is why the sufi's call the lane of love a one-way street ... Once this primal passion has been awakened the lover cannot return to the rational world ... To the world of the ego ... You can only give yourself ... And give yourself ... And give yourself ...

- Love is the only thing that every soul brings to earth with it ...

- The outer beauty of a person must merge with the inner beauty and become one ... This is the source of true beauty - (Sufi Wisdom)

- Love is a net where hearts are caught like fish - (Sufi Wisdom)

- A heart enlightened by love is more precious than all of the diamonds and gold in the world - (Sufi Message)

- Greatfulness in the character is like fragrance in the flower - (Sufi Wisdom)

- A worldly loss often turns into a spiritual gain ...

- We can never pray enough, or give enough, or share enough, or care about the world enough ... And we could never love enough to repay God for His gifts to us ...

- Do you not love for Allah to forgive you ??? - (Qur'an)

- You will never attain piety ... Until you spend from what you love - (Qur'an)

(This is how you rid yourself from wealth and desire)

- They hear no word but the words of God ... They never cease from the remembrance of God ... Everywhere they behold God's Beauty ... Their aim is God alone ... And their desire is God's good pleasure ...

- Whoever desires to purify his heart ... Then let him prefer Allah to his desires ...

- When I touch the ground in prayer ... I have no other purpse but You ...

To live the hearts longing for God awakens us to our state of seperation ... 

Longing is the pain of seperation ... 

The pain that is underneath every other pain ... 

And with this pain comes the awareness of Him from whom we are seperate ... 

Longing is the hearts remembrance of God ... 

And as we live this longing, so we remember our Beloved ... 

Longing turns us back towards God ... 

And our tears wash away the veils of forgetfulness ...

This world is a preparation ... 
Where one is given many lessons and passes many tests ... 
Choose less over more in it ... 

Be satisfied with what you have ... 

Even if it is less than what others have ... 

In fact, prefer to have less ...

Avoid Overeating ... By Ghazali ...

Not to over-indulge in lawful food at the time of breaking Fast, to the point of stuffing one's belly ... There is no receptacle more odious to God, than a belly stuffed full with lawful food ... Of what use is the Fast as a means of conquering God's enemy and abating appetite, if at the time of breaking it one not only makes up for all one has missed during the daytime, but perhaps also indulges in a variety of extra foods ??? ... It has even become the custom to stock up for Ramadan with all kinds of foodstuffs, so that more is consumed during that time than in the course of several other months put together ... It is well known that the object of Fasting is to experience hunger and to check desire, in order to reinforce the soul in piety ... If the stomach is starved from early morning till evening, so that its appetite is aroused and its craving intensified, and its taste for pleasure is increased and its force exaggerated ... Passions are activated which would have lain dormant under normal conditions ...

The spirit and secret nature of Fasting is to weaken the forces which are Satan's means of leading us back to evil ... It is therefore essential to cut down one's intake to what one would consume on a normal night, when not Fasting ... No benefit is derived from the Fast if one consumes as much as one would usually take during the day and night combined ... Moreover, one of the proprieties consists in taking little sleep during the daytime, so that one feels the hunger and thirst and becomes concious of the weakening of one's powers, with the consequent purifications of the heart ...

One should let a certain degree of weakness carry over into the night, making it easier to perform the night Prayers (Tahajjud) and to recite the litanies (awrad) ... It may then be that Satan will not hover around one's heart, and that one will behold the Kingdom of Heaven ... The Night of Destiny represents the night on which something of this Kingdom is revealed ... This is what is meant by the words of God, Exalted is He:

"We surely revealed it on the Night of Power" - ( Qur'an, al-Qadr, 97:1 )

(Inna anzalnahu fi laylati-lqadr)

Anyone who puts a bag of food between his heart and his breast becomes blind to this revelation ... Nor is keeping the stomach empty sufficient to remove the veil ... Unless one also empties the mind of everything but God ... That is the entire matter ... And the starting point of it all, is cutting down on food ...

Making the Quran the Spring of Our Hearts ... Hamza Yusuf

As the world turns and seasons change, our lives move inexorably toward their fated ends ... Our minutes become hours, our hours days, our days weeks, our weeks years, and our years make up the totality of our lives ... In these days of great imbalance, we are in greater need of connecting to the natural order that surrounds us ... 

Each planet knows its course and each tree its cycle: “And the stars and the trees submit in prostration” 

The stars ornament the sky, and the trees the earth, and between the two realms resides man who is made up of both terrestrial and celestial elements, spiritual and bodily, willful and appetitive, angelic and bestial, light and dark ... Each resides in us, at times compelling us to wrongs, and at others to rights ... In these latter days, it appears as if the bestial aspect of our natures is waxing, and the spiritual is waning ... Wordsworth reminded us of this when he wrote:

The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon !

In spite of the insanity of this country’s recent attacks on Iraq that began on March 20th, 2003, the next day the sun crossed the equator on its apparent path North to initiate a new Spring ... That evening, I went out and gazed up at old Orion, known to the Iraqis as al-Jabbar, and sure enough, there he was in all his glory, right where I expected him to be ... The trees outside my home were blooming, and nature’s order was so palpable, I realized that no matter how disorderly man becomes, God’s order in His Divine creation is there to constantly remind us: “Come back, come back, a thousand times come back”

Birth, growth, maturity, decay, and death: these are the cycles we see around us, and these are our own reality ... We too are part of nature, and it is our task to comply with the laws of nature and nature’s God ... This is submission, what we call Islam ... It is not a sociological category of creedal belief that determines how we are to be classifed nor a culture or civilization – although those elements are invariably there ... It is a state of being ...

We were in that state so perfectly when we were children ... We knew just what to do at each stage ... We knew just what to do in our mothers’ wombs: as each stage progressed, our cells fulflled their destinies becoming the organs and structures they were meant to be ... We knew when to leave the womb, and we came into the world effortlessly, latching onto our mothers’ breast ... We never overate but knew when we were satiated ... We knew when to take our first steps, to walk, to run, to imagine, to play ... We were following the natural order of childhood ...

Then, a strange event occurs ... Not so suddenly, but over time ... We begin to learn how not to be ourselves but to be what our society expects of us ... We lose that state of submission to our true nature, which is servitude to our Lord, Cherisher, and Sustainer; we begin to transgress ... We learn to lie; we learn to say the opposite of what we think, feel, or believe ... This new state is not arrived at effortlessly but with much pain and sorrow ... Our thoughts are troubled, our actions are heavy, and our states laden with cares that are not our own ...

“If you truly believed” said our Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, “you would go out in the morning like birds, hungry and return in the evening flled” ... Effortless is the bird’s movement towards its predetermined sustenance, and without anxiety it seeks it ... The bird is in submission ... The trees that provide the bird’s home are in submission ... The worm that becomes its dinner is in submission – each fulflling its function, its purpose; each taking its place in the grand scheme of things ... Only man is the odd one out, and we are the ones who suffer as we squander our energies on pursuits not suited to our souls, on desires not healthful for our natures, on thoughts not conducive to our salvation ...

Spring is here gently reminding those willing to listen: “Come back, come back, a thousand times come back” ... Our Prophet said, “O Allah make the Quran the Spring of my heart” ... What a glorious request ... If indeed the Quran was the Spring of our hearts, our hearts would be in bloom always with the freshness of nature’s newness and nature’s order ... The green that cools our eyes, the fragrances that perfume our scent, the fruits that delight our taste and nurture our bodies, and the flowers that remind us of life’s bounty and delicacy ...

The Quran should be the Spring of our hearts, and our Lord can make it so ... Let the Spring of this season renew you once again ... Let your return be to your Lord once again ... Just as Spring has returned, let us return ... Just as Spring has brought life to countless felds and innumerable flowers, let our hearts come back to life ...

May this Spring renew our hearts and our commitment to grace the world with states of submission and gratitude, peace and prosperity ... May this Spring bring forth in us a desire to dedicate our lives to working toward the changes in ourselves that we demand of our leaders and our societies ... May we be people of charity and concern for others ... May God grant us victory over our real enemies: Pride, Envy, Covetousness, Spiritual sloth, Wrath, Gluttony, and Lust ... In conquering those, we are prepared to conquer the forces in the world that threaten humanity’s well-being ... In submitting to our real enemies, we become easy prey to the forces that result in our own submission to their means of occupation ... Please pray for our brothers and sisters in the Middle East, who have so long suffered, that light may come soon to that region ... We, like our beloved Prophet , before us pray: “God forgive our people, for they know not what they do”

- (Hamza Yusuf)

Tastes of Rume ...

Last night

I lost my grip on reality

And welcomed insanity

Love saw me and said:

I showed up

Wipe your tears

And be silent

I said: O Love

I am frightened

But it’s not you

Love said to me:

There is nothing that is not me

Be silent

I will whisper secrets in your ear

Just nod yes

And be silent

A soul moon

Appeared in the path of my heart

How precious is this journey

I said: O Love

What kind of moon is this ???

Love said to me:

This is not for you to question

Be silent

I said: O Love

What kind of face is this

Angelic or Human ???

Love said to me: This is beyond anything that you know

Be silent

I said: Please reveal this to me

I am dying in anticipation

Love said to me:

That is where I want you

Always on the edge

Be silent

You dwell in this hall of

Images and illusions,

Leave this house now

And be silent

I said: O Love

Tell me this

Does the Lord know you are

Treating me this way ???

Love said to me:

Yes He does

You just be silent

Spring's Gift (Poem) ... By Hamza Yusuf

I envy the sand that met his feet

I’m jealous of honey he tasted sweet

Of birds that hovered above his head

Of spiders who spun their sacred web

To save him from his enemies

I envy clouds formed from the seas

That gave him cover from the heat

Of a sun whose light could not compete

With his, whose face did shine so bright

That all was clear in blinding night

I envy sightless trees that gazed

Upon his form completely dazed

Not knowing if the sun had risen

But felt themselves in unison

With those who prayed, and fasted too

Simply because he told them to

With truth and kindness, charity

From God who gave such clarity

His mercy comes in one He sent

To mold our hearts more heaven bent

I envy all there at his side

Who watched the turning of the tide

As truth prevailed and falsehood fled

And hope restored life to the dead

Men and Women through him found grace

To seek together God’s noble face

I envy the cup that gave him drink

His thoughts that helped us all to think

To be one thought that passed his mind

Inspiring him to act so kind

For me this world is not one jot

If I could simply be a thought

From him to God throughout the ages

As revelation came in stages

I pity all who think it odd

To hear him say there is one God

Or he was sent by God to men

To hone their spirits’ acumen

It’s pride that blinds us from the sight

That helps good men to see his light

He taught us all to be God’s slaves

And he will be the one who saves

Humanity from sinful pride

Muhammad has God on his side

So on this day be blessed and sing

For he was born to grace our Spring

With lilies, flowers, life’s rebirth

In a dome of green like his on earth

* In honour of the Prophet (PBUH) *

Rumi ...

In your light I learn how to love ...

In your beauty ... How to make poems ...

You dance inside my chest ... Where no one sees you ...

But sometimes I do ... And that sight becomes this art ...

Reflections In Ramadan ... By Jafar Alam ...

Last night's taraweeh prayers took me to another place. I have never experienced such a feeling before. Standing in qiyam amongst men, women and children, all intoxicated with a deep yearning to come closer to their Lord. Grown men crying to my left and my right, from the front and back. The imam recited Fatiha ( The Opening ) in the most beautiful recitation I have ever heard. He went from reciting in his beautiful melodious tone, to reciting and trying to keep his composure, to crying uncontrollably through the last eight rakaat's. Once again, he had managed to move me to tears. Rumi's famous poem came to mind at that moment : "What Allah said to the rose and caused it to laugh in full blown beauty, He said to my heart and made it a hundred times more beautiful" ... Praying at home lets us see how our family's doing. Praying in jamah lets us see how the community's doing. And hajj lets us see how the ummah's doing. Lastnight's taraweeh made me solely evaluate myself. It made me realize how much poorer I am spiritually this year, then I was last year ... What a difference a year makes ... I felt like a hypocrite, who fasts only with the stomach and a few dhikrs by day, and had minor spiritual highs during taraweeh ... only to go back to the same routine for the next day. I'm ashamed to say, that with a third of Ramadan over, I've opened the Qur'an only twice, missed 3 fasts, and performed the five daily prayers on time only once. I've given into the dunya again ... Temporary pleasures ... My brother Ahmed Hussain ( May Allah have mercy on his soul ) said it best: "This world is a prison, and it's upto you to free yourself from it" ... and "This world is like a beautiful whore, it makes you feel special, but it doesn't care about you" ... Now I see the world for what it really is ... an illusion ... Anything that comes to an end, cannot be real. Allah says in surah Ar-Rahman "All forms of life will come to an end, and the Face of your Lord will remain" ... Now I'll try harder to not chase after the shadow, but to chase after the Real ... How can I go to the world for help, when the world itself is in need of something Greater?



Imam Al Ghazali said : 

"Love whoever and whatever you want, for verily you shall taste its seperation" 


Wa anna ila Rabbika muntaha (And to Allah is your return)



May Allah increase us all in our iman, ibaada,ihsaan and islam ... 
May He increase us in taqwa and muhabba ...
And may He remove the love of the dunya from our hearts ... 
InshaaAllah ameen ... 




Peace & Blessings,

Jafar Alam

Abu Saeed Abil Kheir ...

If you are seeking closeness to the Beloved, love everyone ...
Whether in their presence or absence, see only their good ...
If you want to be closer and refreshing as the breath of the morning breeze,
like the sun have nothing but warmth and light for everyone ...


Beloved, show me the way of this prison ...
Make me needless of both worlds ...
Pray, erase from mind all that is not You ...
Have mercy Beloved, though I am nothing but forgetfulness ...
You are the essence of forgiveness ...
Make me needless of all but You ...


Drink from this heart now, for all this loving it contains ...
When you look for it again, it will be dancing in the wind ...

Let sorrowful longing dwell in your heart ...
Never give up ... Never lose hope ...
The Beloved says, "The broken ones are My darlings" ...
Crush your heart ... Be broken ...

The Rumi Cafe ...

2007 is known as the year of Rumi ... As one of the greatest mystical poets that ever lived, Rumi has captivated the hearts of many with his ability to manifest into words, the feelings of the heart ... Rumi spoke about love for the Beloved, the longing of the soul and Union ... In honour of Rumi's 800th birthday, I wanted to post some of my favourite poems by Rumi ... His words made a profound impact on me almost 3 years ago, when I was first introduced to his writings ... I found the feelings I was feeling, transformed into words through his writings ... Since then, my room has been filled with articles, books and print outs of Rumi's works ... Here are just a few of my favourites from Rumi:


Do you know what the music is saying ??? ... "Come follow me and you will find the way
Your mistakes can also lead you to the Truth ... When you ask, the answer will be given"


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 ...


Those who don't feel this love pulling them like a river ... Those who don't drink
dawn like a cup of spring water or take in the sunset like a supper ... Those
who don't want to change ... Let them sleep ..


The nation of Love differs from all others ... Lovers bear allegiance to no nations or sect


When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you ... A joy ... When actions come from another section, the feeling disappears ...


Beware ... Don't allow yourself to do what you know is wrong ... Relying on the thought, "Later I will repent and ask God for forgiveness" ...



Come out of the circle of time and into the circle of love ...


Your task is not to seek for love ... But merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it ...


All your suffering comes from desiring things that cannot be had ... Stop desiring and you won't suffer ...


For those who realize that everything is from Allah ... Everything is the same ...


There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled ... There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled ... You feel it, don't you ??? ... You feel the seperation from the Beloved ... Invite Him to fill you up, embrace the fire ... Remind those who tell you otherwise that
Love comes to you of its own accord ... And the yearning for it cannot be learned in any school ...


The free, the world enslaves ... But to slaves Love grants freedom ... I crave release from this world like a bird from its egg ... Free me from this shell that clings ...


When I come to Love, I am ashamed of all that I have ever said about Love ...


The Prophet mentions that God has said: "I cannot be contained in hallowed places ...  Heaven and Earth cannot hold Me ... But I am contained by true hearts ... If you seek Me, search in those hearts" ...

Rumi ...

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 ...

Peace to All ... Submission to ONLY ONE ... That is Islam ...