Friday, March 21, 2008

Belonging To God ...


Muhammad (PBUH) was able to express love and spread it around him ... 

His wives were gratified by his presence, tenderness, and affection ... 

His companions loved him with an intense 
Profound
And extraordinarily generous love 

He gave and offered his presence 
His smiles 
His being 

And if a slave happened to address him 
Or wanted to take him to the other end of the city
He went
He listened
He loved

Belonging to God, he was nobody's possession ... 
He simply offered his love to all ... 

When he gave someone his hand, he was never the first to draw it back ...

And he knew what light and peace can surge in the heart of a being 
Who is offered a tender word 
An affectionate name
Comfort 

Freed from his own self 
He neglected nobody's self  

His presence was a refuge 

He was the Messenger 

He loved 

He forgave  

Every day he begged God to forgive his own failings and oversights  

When a woman or a man came to him burdened with a mistake
However serious 
He received that soul 
And showed her or him the way to forgiveness
Solace
Dialogue with God 
And the Most Gentle's protection 

He covered other people's mistakes from the sight of others 
While teaching everyone the need for personal rigour and discipline 

When laziness moved anyone to ask him for minimal practice
He always answered positively 
And invited them to use their intelligence and their qualities 
To understand 
Improve
And free themselves 
From their own contradictions 
While accepting their own fragility 

He taught responsibility without guilt ... 
And adherence to ethics as the conditions for freedom ...



Source: In The Footsteps of the Prophet - (Tariq Ramadan, p. 212)

May Profound 
Divine Peace and Blessings 
Be Upon The Prophet of Light ...

And through his love

May the light of our heart and soul be unveiled ...


Love of the Shaykh vanishes 
In love of the Messenger ... 

Love of the Messenger vanishes
In love of God ...

May we love Prophet Muhammad ... 
Habib'Allah ... 
The beloved one of God (SAW)

With love worthy of him ... 

May the love of the Prophet (SAW) illuminate our inner heart ...
And become our support on The Day of Intercession ... 

Ameen ...


I take refuge in Allah ...
From illusional dualities ...

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Rumi ...


Reason is powerless in the expression of Love 

Love alone is capable of revealing the truth 
Of Love 
And 
Being a Lover 

The way of our prophets 
Is the way of Truth 

If you want to live 
Die in Love

Die in Love 
If you want to remain alive 


What is the benefit of gold ???
What is the meaning of soul ???
What are pearl and coral worth ???

Unless they are spent for the sake of love
And sacrificed for a sweetheart ???

Supplication and worship is to be with Allah

For someone who is with Allah

Death is as pleasant as life

Saadi ... The Rose Garden ...


The world
My brother 
Will abide with none ...

By the world's Maker 
Let thy heart be won ...

Rely not
Nor repose on this world's gain ...

For many a son like thee 
She has reared and slain ...

What matters
When the spirit seeks to fly

If on a throne or on bare earth 
We die ???


Tuesday, March 11, 2008


One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town 
Proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley ...

A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect ...
There was not a mark or a flaw in it ...

Yes, they all agreed 
It truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen ...

The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly 
About his beautiful heart ...

Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said: 

Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine ...

The crowd and the young man looked at the old man's heart ...
It was beating strongly ... 
But full of scars ... 

It had places where pieces had been removed 
And other pieces put in ...

But they didn't fit quite right 
And there were several jagged edges ...

In fact, in some places there were deep gouges 
Where whole pieces were missing ...

The people stared ... 
How could he say his heart is more beautiful, they thought ???

The young man looked at the old man's heart 
and saw its state and laughed ... 

You must be joking 

He said ... 

Compare your heart with mine ... 
Mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears ...

Yes said the old man 

Yours is perfect looking ... 
But I would never trade with you ... 

You see 
Every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love .....
I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them ... 
And often they give me a piece of their heart 
Which fits into the empty place in my heart ... 
But because the pieces aren't exact 
I have some rough edges, which I cherish 
Because they remind me of the love we shared ...

Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away ... 
And the other person hasn't returned a piece of his heart to me ...
These are the empty gouges ... 

Giving love is taking a chance ... 

Although these gouges are painful 
They stay open
Reminding me of the love I have for these people too ... 

And I hope someday they may return 
And fill the space I have waiting ... 

So now do you see what true beauty is ???

The young man stood silently 
With tears running down his cheeks. 

He walked up to the old man 
Reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart 
And ripped a piece out ...

He offered it to the old man with trembling hands ...

The old man took his offering
Placed it in his heart 
And then took a piece from his old scarred heart 
And placed it in the wound in the young man's heart ...

It fit .... 

But not perfectly 
As there were some jagged edges ...

The young man looked at his heart 
Not perfect anymore 
But more beautiful than ever ... 

Since love from the old man's heart
Flowed into his ...

They embraced 
And walked away 
Side by side ...


Heart Hardening:

The Prophet of Islam (PBUH) has said: 

Do not speak excessively without the remembrance of Allah 
Since verily excessive speaking without the remembrance of Allah 
Makes the heart hard ...

Allah revealed to Prophet Musa (PBUH): 

(O Musa) Do not have long desires or hopes for the world 
Since this will make your heart hard 
And the one whose heart is hard 
Is far away from Me ...

Imam Ali (PBUH) said: 

The eyes do not dry (tears are not stopped) 
Except due to the heart becoming hard
And the heart does not become hard except due to increase in sins ...

Imam Ali (PBUH) said: 

Looking at a stingy person makes the heart hard ...

Imam Ali (PBUH) said: 

An abundance of wealth corrupts the religion and hardens the heart ...


Monday, March 10, 2008

Al-Naziat (The Setting Stars)


But unto him who shall have stood in fear of his Lord's presence 
And held back his inner self from base desires 
Paradise will truly be the goal

How numerous the tongues that move with the name of Allah  
But how meagre the benefit 

And how rare the hearts that become genuinely humble at the mention of Allah 
Yet how desperate the need of the world for those rare hearts 

Undoubtedly
The ruin of religion comes about when it digresses into empty words and forms 

And the mission of religion will not have been accomplished 
Until the day it creates in all men 
Living Conscience
Pure Mind 
And hearts that aim in awe 
At countenancing the divine 

That is what true dhikr is 

Accounted among the influences of this kind of dhikr 
Is that it curbs man's appetite for wealth 

Thus 
Those who remember Allah 
Are never obsessed by greed for more and more 
And are certainly never demeaned by greedy or covetous constitutions 

Rather 
They earn their money honourably 
And spend it on their legitimate needs 
Without ever thinking to hoard or accumulate it


Source: Remembrance And Prayer - (Muhammad Al-Ghazali, p. 159)

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Beauty Secrets ...


For attractive lips
Speak words of kindness

For lovely eyes
Seek out the good in people

For a slim figure
Share your food with the hungry

For beautiful hair
Let a child run his fingers through it once a day 

For poise
Walk with the knowledge
You never walk alone

We leave you a tradition of the future

The tender loving care of human beings
Will never become obsolete

People
Even more than things
Have to be 
Restored
Renewed
Revived
Reclaimed
Redeemed
And
Redeemed 
And 
Redeemed

Never throw anyone away

Remember
If you ever need a helping hand
You'll find one at the end of your arm

As you grow older
You'll discover that you have two hands 
One for helping yourself
The second for helping others

You have great days still ahead of you

May there be many of them


Drunk without wine 
Sated without food
Distraught 
Foodless 
And sleepless

A king beneath a humble cloak 

A treasure within a ruin 

Not of air and earth 
Not of fire and water 

A sea without bounds 

He has a hundred moons and skies and suns 

He is wise through universal truth 

Not a scholar from a book

Rumi ...


I am the servant of the Qur'an as long as I have life ... 
I am the dust on the path of Muhammad, the Chosen one ... 

If anyone quotes anything except this from my sayings 
I am quit of him 

And outraged by these words ...


Love will find its way ...
Through all languages ...
On its own ...