Joy overcomes

Joy comes

Now sweetened with a thing else.
But then I had no time

No time to feel the pain
No comparison to try to give it a name

No sight
Nor understanding
Of the sham.

Living the lie
Civiliesed
Drawn through Western mould

Thin, lacking substance
Not knowing the worth of small things
Precious things
Easily sold.

Born to work
Not to work to live.
Enslaved
Without even knowing

Family
Company
The time to acknowledge
A Shared time
To be just there

Cementing ties
Yasar, my br'er friend,
Faisal my friend from before
Arif Bhai a friend for the now.

The fair companion
Came
Changed
Educated me with tender loving care.

A gust of fresh air,
Monsoon of the east
Drenching my soul
That brought me home again.

From machine to man
Feeling
Helping
Connecting

For thank God, my Lord blessed
With a twinkle in my eye
That was her cheerful smile.
Making me both, and at once hot blooded, tempered and tame.

That still lightens my life
A not so heavy load to bear.

And a thing that I cannot bring to verse
That I cannot risk with terse words
That in this day and age people ridicule

And still others portray as cruel.
My LORD has blessed me with the greater.
A calm happiness that takes me when I stand,
at night.

Location:London

Borrowed Woe

Borrowed Woe

Sorrows line my brow
Alienation became my name

Swimming with my eyes
Near the tear filled rim

Nothing new this feeling of
Dread mixed in Disgust

Every decade sees in some new crisis
A new turn of events

That twists and turns my stomach
With malcontent

Never allowed to be put to rest
Always regurgitated up

Like a cow being fattened
On other people's hard luck

For these newspapers hail each new low
Like they take pleasure in other people's woe.

How their culture victimised me,
Alienated and converted me.

They called me Libyan,
Because I was Muslim and brown skinned.

Well I am.
Libyan, Saudi Arabian, Iraqi and Syrian.

And they?
They are the ones that condone evil.

Torture.
Who buy the lies of their corrupt masters.

Well they too,
Will be called to account on the day Day of decision.

Those who condone the torture of my
Mothers, brothers and sisters.

Of their children
my children

And no escape will they have.
From GOD's wrath.

END-
Shafees
Patience is the best of clothing,
That hides and shrouds what goes on inside.

My heart goes out to those that continue to suffer torture under the sway of the wicked regime.
And to my Gazan and Palestinian brothers, sisters and children...
I stand with you.

But even in our despair
My heart blooms and gladdens
With belief and trust that in all
Goodness will shine through.

Location:The US

Thatcher's Children- poem

Thatcher's Children... (posted 24/4/2008)
Thatcher's children, we did "our time".
But Rehab doesn't work,
When you're brought up in grime.

While you're behind prison bars,
Ever in your mind,
Never escaping to the stars.

Rehab don't work,
When you born, brought up.
With beliefs that leave you naked and stark.

You are- who you are,
Don't aspire to be.
No imagination, no history.

Thatcher's children, we've grown up,
Through times of uncertainty,
Fearing change. Becoming Thatcher's people.

Can't dare to hope,
Can't see a better way.
Better just forget and try to cope.

We're all Thatcher's children,
Where-ever we might be,
We live in a World of Uncertainty.

Shafees 

At a time of uncertainty, recession...
Our nature is to dare not to hope,
To buckle down all our aspirations,
To not VOTE for Change, Nor HOPE itself.
But to vote for what we know, however CRASS,
However BASE!

The Problem with Obama, 28th July 2009

The Problem with Obama, published 28/7/2009 on MySpace.

The relevance of this after so long appears after reading Chris Hedges... on truthdig

The greatest problem the World faces today is the resolution of the East-West divide.

I recall Tony Blairs congratulatory message that he sent to President George W. Bush on his re-election, Mr Blair lauded Mr Bush as a unifying force in a divided World. Off course the pair of them destroyed the credibility of the one organisation that was capable of really being seen as a unifying force for the World, the U.N. But irrespective of Mr Tony Blairs spin, his words underlie a sentiment that he must have keenly felt: a divided World.

At the root of our divided World, is not a Chinese Bird Cage but rather an unholy Jerusalem.

The Middle East is so vitally important for our divided World, not just because it straddles the East and the West, but because more importantly 1 in 4 of the World’s population are Muslims.

And then we had Obama.

Just today I am returning from staying 2 weeks in Mombasa with my in-laws. Blogging on a plane is off course one of my most beautiful past-times.

Obama is Kenya’s favourite son, precisely because his father was Kenyan. And so on his election to the office of the US Presidency, Kenya celebrated with a 2-day National Holiday. Mombasa has also honoured Obama by naming the important thoroughfare that connects Mombasa town to Moi International Airport after him: Barrack Obama Avenue. And yet there, I learned that Obama had vowed not to enter into Kenya until it puts an end to corruption. Laudable sentiments indeed.

Off course the seriousness of our divided World has attracted less laudable sentiments, and more telling actions from Obama.

The tragedy that was and is today’s Gaza has been forgotten by most of us. But Palestine and Gaza are more relevant to World Unity than ever before. Israel invaded and decimated Gaza on the pretext of stopping the Gazan rocket attacks into their territory. Gazan’s themselves began these token/ ineffectual attacks as a means of trying to the end the year long blockade that Israel had wantonly imposed on them because they sought to elect Hamas as their political broker and representative on the international scene. Off course time and again throughout the Muslim World the people, who represent the people that matter, are ignored, pressurized and demonized. Obama is no different; even he cannot swallow the bitter pill of democracy within the Middle East.

 

And while Gazans suffered innumerable war crimes, and continue to suffer under an illegal blockade that prevents them rebuilding let alone coming to terms with the great loss of civilian lives that they have been made to suffer, Obama turns a blind eye.

 

Worse still Obama then rubs salt into our still fresh wounds.

For complicit in the massacre that was Gaza, and in their continued suffering, is Egypt. And what better place to extend a hand of friendship, an olive branch of Peace to the Muslim World, than in the place through which Israel still continues to exert it’s most greatest oppression of the Palestinian people. 

 

That speech may have been well written and performed, but taking place in close proximity to the tragedy that is Gaza whilst seeking to ignore and belittle its significance says much, much more.

 

Kenyans should be happy with Obama’s, impossible but nevertheless laudable, insistence on it’s being corruption free. The World should be much less so with Obama’s misguided wish to heal a broken World by ignoring its most recent victims.

DeColonised

DeColonised

They colonised and raped the World with their brand of right,

still make the fires roar,
that they might brand us once more.

Their faces changed,
Where once a meek Christian evangelised
Promising to civilise.

Now there a liberal stands,
Who castigates you to hell.
Because you dare to not toe his line.

Sure, we, humans have rights,
But the logical fool takes all to its conclusion
Until he stumbled.

More so do the family,
Community,
Peoples of our World.

More right have they,
And more so still the have-nots,
An edict sent down from high.

But for those others,
Steeped in the pride of their brilliant ignorance,
For them there is no sacred book,
No line that cannot be crossed.

They vented one from the other,
Without so much as a change in colour.

Both laying claims to be the civilising forces,
In this denuded, raped and colonised World.

Which one day will shake,
And the one who has woken from slumber,
Will accuse

"You did this,
You civilised fools !"

Location:Perth

Sakina

Sakina

You were my second mother
Through my silence
You chided

Ziddee you named me
In playful jest
"Stubborn as an ass"

Whilst you had no son
I was your son
"May GOD have mercy upon you
Bless you."

And accept this dua
As the dua of a righteous son.

My one regret
That i did not take you on holiday
That I was not there when you needed me

Cancer defeated you
But worse still the suffering alone
The impersonal institution took you
From us

Isolated you
Separated us
Caused you to give up

Slowly sipped your life
Without love
Care
Or nourishment.

Until you lay on that bed
Asked me for by name
I came
And you left.

Peaceful is your name
Peaceful may you rest.

In loving memory of Sakina Aunty, my Masi (mother's sister).



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Kingsbury

Perhaps

'haps it bodes of death and pending doom,
thrice night sky traversed by new moon.

Waxing then waning along its way,
Forced to swim upon its course,
And never stray.

Before the death of winters dream.
Where life once gain knocks at the door.
The squirrel cracks,
Red breasted robin, quietly peers.

A burst of life,
There springs forth.
Of daffodils,
In patches sown.

Yet winters last breath,
Yet to come.
And bury them,
Those upstarts
Before they've become.

And once again
Life pushes forth
Until the summer of our youth
Turns to the autumn of golden years

Wherefrom the beginning
We did start.

Shadedthoughts


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Regents Park

Proud Parent

Proud Parent

I cannot remember first becoming farther.
I see myself in the theatre
A canopy over my wife
Hiding her from grim sight

Holding her hands
Whilst they butchered into her to extract the boys
Each so small and vulnerable
Slightly bigger than my hand.

My memory's non-reliable
Not un but non
Because I believe I have none.
Emotionally detached.
Just another fact.

Strange that I need to be moved
For those sights and sounds that reside within me
For them to be made real.

Imagine if you can a life of fact.
Dull, never moved.
Emotionally lost.
A postcard life of snapshots.

Pregnancy is one place that we cannot go,
Cannot know, nor really empathise.
Emotionally detached.

Very often the babe is competition for your wife's affection,
And time.
Imagine that twice
Imagine that twice concurrent

Like a sentence handed down.
And when your friend explains it to you
You sigh with relief.

But now through all turmoil,
Far from being farther,
I am glad that I am a father.

I am proud of my sons,
The both of them.

And love them each,
Every one singly
All of them dearly.

Shafees.
On the 15th birthday of my twin sons. Their birth kunyas- Sayf and Emad Ud Deen. :)

Happy Birthday Boys.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Northwick Park

Darling Memories

Darling, a poem for my wife on her birthday:

Sweet times combine
Splashes of mime
Your smile enticing
From the very first time.

We met
I crossed legged
Sat on a bed.
You crossed my heart.
Let of a dart.

Even sweetness can kill.
Then you made me king.
And you became my Queen.
When we knitted our destinies together in rhyme.

Marriage is the antidote
To the poison of love.
Rote in hot blood.
Cooed by paired doves.

Every memory
Sweetened by time
Serenaded by your smile
Makes me love you more and more
Time after time.

By GOD's great favour.
We found one another.

Better together
Made for one another.
This and the next
Will be ours forever.

InshaAllah.

Shafees


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Heart Central

The Placid Extremist

The Placid Extremist.

The thinking Muslim's experience is always want to be either one, or the other, extreme even when extremism is not their outlook.

Take the furore over the twelve or eight degree ruling in regards to the start of the fast. Or even the twenty or eight rakah taraweh?

But the extremism I talk of here is not of the type that "I am right and you, therefore, must be wrong". Nor is it of the zealousness that some might impart to those words. But it is an extremism of logic dictating what must be.

I had an illuminating conversation with a brother where it crystallised into the fact that you had to set yourself a rule and then be true to it.

So for example if you were a twelve degree person in regards to Sehri then you must wait for the twelve degrees in regards to Isha and then the Taraweh times. To chop and change was a definite no-no.

The same argument is used by the madhabees, those people who insist that you must follow one or the other madhab and to not do so is to be a type of a hypocrite. Picking and changing as is your want, is to them, a hypocrisy. And so in all likelihood the extremism that I talk of here originated with their outlook no matter how placid they might be.

Whilst this hypocrisy is true from a purely semantic and logical view, must it be true when we talk about life?

And whilst it is true that logic helps us to uncover the hidden depths within our religion, is it not also true that overmuch logic can tip the balance out of right?

I read a beautiful exposition of the madhabee position on Facebook, but it was not balanced. And whilst it is important to argue to a point it is also important to stay true to our legacy of selfless enquiry and debate. That legacy stipulated that you argue to the best of your opponents position;

1-that you take their best interpretations and
2- do not interpret them in ways that they would be loathe to, and
3- that you do not use as evidence those that can also be used as evidence against your position, unless that is that the opposition has brought it first and you only do so to right the imbalance.

The opposite methodology is used by the one wanting to thwart and hide truth. It is the one expounded in the European schools of thought as rhetoric. It is the one used by Orientalists, past and present, to cast doubt on the sublime.

But it is not our way.

TAQLEED
That Madhabee paper argued that Taqleed was a practice at or just after the Prophetic era, and therefore part of the tradition of the Muslims.

What the paper failed to do is to recognise the very real destructive partisanship that followed on from the classification of practise into the five schools of thought. We all know that that saw four minbars and four congregational prayers for each of the Fardh prayers in the Holy Mosque. A sectarianism that must not be revisited. And the term Taqleed was defined in that atmosphere, and it is in that atmosphere that it must be understood.

The first point in such a definition would be to admit that Taqleed was and is real.

The second point would be to contrast and compare it with the Prophetic era and the era of his companions.

And not the reverse as that paper had done, which if it were the case would have seen partisanship in belief destroy the Muslim potential that altered the course of World History.

When we sincerely do it in the right order then there is no doubt that the Madhabs that are present now, were not present then, and therefore the Taqleed that is a consequence of the Madhabs was also an unknown force in the lives of the companions.

To ask those in the know, a Quranic injunction, therefore has nothing to do with Taqleed. Taqleed thus must then stem from the belief that the Madhabs brought consistency to Muslim practice, and that consistency was a thing to be sought after and valued.

After all before the Madhabs Muslims were Muslims, and after them Muslims remained Muslims.

The only claim that the Madhabs brought was that an overarching understanding of the religion should guide practice and lend to it a consistency that previously might not have been there.

But, can any Madhab really claim to be whole, consistent and free from logical errors? Isn't that an honour that we should reserve for that which claimed of itself such: the holy Quran?

And even if a Madhab were free from logical inconsistencies would that really reflect life?

We know that the Qur'an declares itself to be free from those inconsistencies and contradictions, and that ALLAH t'ala in His abundant wisdom revealed both it and the wisdom.

But can the application of the divine lay a likewise claim?
Can it claim to be free from contradiction and even then reflect and direct life?

These questions hint at the necessity of abrogation and what it means.

That was the need for the Prophetic example to explain, reflect and then direct the lives of the Muslims in that light of divine inspiration.

ALCOHOL
So we see the first revelation in regards to the use of alcohol as "being of some benefit but of greater harm" and later the recommendation to "not approach the prayers in the state of intoxication" which preceded a complete banning.

Whilst it might be argued that one abrogated the other preceding injunctions, when we look it at from a dispassionate linguistic position there is no contradiction or abrogation between any of those passages.

This is because the first is phrased as an argument that Muhammad (saw) was to put to the people. And abrogation is between injunctions or rulings and not between an argument and injunctions. Indeed we see that he himself abstained from it from the first in the Hadith that relates regarding Israa:

Hadith Anas:
"I entered the mosque and prayed two rak'ahs in it, and then came out and Gabriel brought me a vessel of wine and a vessel of milk. I chose the milk, and Gabriel said: You have chosen the natural thing."

Or similarly that "God has guided you to the natural way".

There we see reference to a second type of guidance, or inspiration, given to Muhammad (saw) and encoded in his Sunnah.

And so the Sunnah was in accordance with the revelation even prior to banning being enacted.
The interesting question that stems from this is how did Gabriel (as) know what the Fitra was, after all he is an angel and would have no internal experience or understanding of human Fitra, nor would he have bern able to imagine it. And then if he (as) knew of it, why did he offer both wine and milk.

The Sunnah preceded revelation on many occurrences and revelation confirmed the Sunnah on many occasions.

This is logically difficult for people who prefer a linear methodology. After all logic dictates premise and then conclusion, a linear movement towards right and away from wrong.

The miracle of Islam is that it was very often other than that.

And then to have tried to squeeze it into that linear and logical box, that the Madhabs have sought to do, even after the Prophet (saw) left us, is plain wrong.

MUADH (as)
After all when the Prophet (saw) instructed Muadh ibn Jabal (ra) on how he would judge, the Prophet (saw) confirmed his opinion.

Muadh (as) said that after he had exhausted what he knew of the Qur'an and Sunnah without knowing any better what to do, he would revert back to his own opinion.

Does holding an opinion really mean allowing logic to dictate what must be done in order to maintain consistency?

Even when the Prophet (saw) informed us that the true leaders of a people are those that help them, and do good to them?

Sometimes overmuch logic can be over bearing. I for one have been told that, and know it from primary experience.

Maslahah is but one legal method that is much overlooked and in accordance with the prophetic words asks for us to base our decisions, when there are no clear injunctions, on the public benefit or good.

And in that lies the answer to our placid extremists.


Shafeesthoughts

















- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:London, UK

Bricks and Mortar

My hearts bleeds,
Not when I see the destruction that is visited upon my people.

But when I see my people destroyed by that destruction-
When they forget to care for their own.

Then they, our enemies, would have won.
When we no longer care to feed or look after the one who has no other,
The one who is left alone in the darkness
Because the criminals have taken their family.

Then YA BASIT, YA ALLAH
Expand the hearts of the Muslims,
Remove from them the narrowness of this day,
And of the next day, and those to follow.

And replace it with the vastness of the next life.
So that even when they have nothing
Not a thing.
They still care.

And look after the one who has less than them
Left destitute without family.
Let them become one family.

Indeed this religion has the greatest of institutions
Not those of bricks and mortar
But far greater.

Men who might take heed
Of the words of the glorious
Qur'aan.

Take care my people
Of your people
And then GOD will take care of you. :)



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Gaza, Syria, Iraq ...

Thrives

Thrives....

What makes him thrive?
Reach for the sky.

What impetus pushes him to rock climb?

Nappy clad,
and yet he mounts that which is over his head.

Visit the centre of parks.
Amidst that quiet serene,
There emits shrieks, bangs, whistles and screech.

The iconic noise of the swing.
The cacophony of oneupmanship
That I cannot see being driven by another

Simply, he does because he can
He pushes because he can
Not driven by sordid competition.

This be not a wild world.
No matter how bitter Materialisms pill,
That does not make it any more true.

Astonishingly that cacophony
Descends not into a mire of disorder.

But our World is driven by possibility.
I can and therefore I will.
A purpose that causes even those immature selves
To order and consideration.

Consider in all that disorder
Why is there no more hurt and pain
In those childhood years.

Thrives.

A coming into existence of possibility.
A movement towards fulfilment
Not what they would want you to believe.

Until education and socialisation
Adds fear to the mixture
And into the bowl. cruelty

Materialism's bitter pill.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Kelsey Park Playground

The Prophesy of Zacharia

The Prophesy of Zechariah

"Tell the daughter of Zion: Here is your King, who comes to you in gentleness riding on an ass, riding on the foal of a beast of burden."

Gospel of Mark.

"Rejoice, rejoice daughter of Zion,

shout alound, daughter of Jerusalem;

for see, your king is coming to you,

his cause won, his victory gained.

Humble and mounted on an ass,

on a foal, the young of a she-ass.

He shall banish chariots from Ephraim,

and war-horses from Jerusalem;

the warriors bow shall be banished.

He shall speak peaceably to every nation,

and his rule shall extend from sea to sea,

From the river to the ends of the Earth."

Book of the Prophet Zechariah, son of Berachiah.

Jesus (as) is said according to the Christians to have fulfilled this prophesy by entering Jerusalem on the back of a colt, on which no one had yet ridden. However much of the rest of this prophesy has been unfulfilled by Jesus (as)…

An Unfullfilled Prophesy:

1-The banishing of chariots, which is a clear reference to Rome…

2-peace and rule extending from sea to sea…

3-· from the river to the ends of the Earth…

All remain unfulfilled…

Context

When Jesus (as) came the Jews were subjugated under Roman Rule. They were expectantly awaiting the coming of a Prophet who would deliver them from this ordeal, who would fight for them and remove the yoke of Roman rule from them. They delved deep into prophesies and knew that a prophet would come from the wilderness. Hence, the community at Qumrun for whom we have to thank the Dead Sea Scrolls. They were a puritanical hermitic community that sought to purify themselves to ready themselves for the coming of that Prophet.

A whole melee of Jewish Reformers sought to ready the Jewish Nation for this occurence. And when Jesus (as) appeared they denied his claim to Prophethood, denied that his coming was the inception of the Kingdom of God and sought to kill him.

A Prophet in the Depths of Wilderness:

Some 600 years later…. A man appeared in Mecca, in the depths of the dessert and wilderness, and started to call his people to the worship of the One True God… Allah t'ala (which means the most high). The God of Abraham, of Moses and of Jesus (as).

He claimed nothing more than Prophethood, he denied Kingship and his people sought to kill him. 

After years of conflict and war, he conquered them in Peace and forgave them. When he died, according to the lore and traditions of the Muslims, he was given a choice between seeing the extent of his authority in this world coming to fruition and the next World. 

Even before that GOD had promised him through three visions seen whilst the whole of Arabia sought to destroy his city, Persia, Syria and Yemen. (This occurred at the battle of the trench). 

But, he (saw) choose the latter; to accept to the call to the next life. 

When the Angel of Death came to him, the Angel asked permission to take him, and he gave it. 

That man was Muhammad (saw= peace and blessings be upon him). 

He was and is one of the greatest proofs to the existence of a merciful God.

The Successors of Muhammad (saw)

When he died he left behind a community of believers. He was succeeded by Abu Bakr (ra= may God be pleased with him). 

Abu Bakr (ra) used the title Khalifatul RasulAllah which means the Successor of the Messenger of God. And in sending communications to his commanders and to the sovereigns of other powers he retained and used the signet ring of Muhammad (saw). 

This signet ring was used as a stamp for the political authority of the Messenger (saw) on this Earth, and it read "Muhammad RasulAllah" (Muhammad the Messenger of God). 

With it Abu Bakr (ra) carried the whole political authority of the Messenger. 

The second of the Khilafah Rashidun (the rightly guided Khalifs)was Umar (ra). He called himself Khalifatul Khalifatul Rasul Allah, the Successor of Abu Bakr (ra), (literally the Successor of the Successor of Muhammad (saw)). He retained the signet ring of the Prophet and used it on his communications to communicate his political authority.

During the authority of the third of the Khalifah Rashidun being Uthman bin Affan (ra) the triplicate title khalifatul khalifatul khalifatul RasulAllah became cumbersome and someone suggested that it be changed to Amir ul Mumineen (the leader of the Believers), Uthman conceded and the title change was effected. 

The signet ring that held the political authority of the Messenger (saw) was lost in the well of Aris. The Muslims searched for it for 3 days and could find it no more.

The important thing to note in all of the following is that it is quite clear that up until the time of Umar (ra), the authority of Muhammad (saw) was retained by the Khalifah (the leaders of the Muslims) both in terms of the title used and in terms of the signing of documents and formal communications. They were his successors and carried his authority. After that time our leaders became the leaders of the believers (amirul Mumineen).

Muhammad (saw) was shown the extent of his authority. 

And that authority was fulfilled during the time of Umar (ra), whereby the Muslim community witnessed it's greatest expansion.

Unfulfilled Zahariah’s Prophesy

Whilst the prior heavenly books: the Torah and Injeel (gospel) concern themselves with prophesies of the future, the Quran does not. The Quran prophesies two main events, one of which occurred within the lifetime of our Messenger. 

Indeed the title of Prophet in the Quran is Nabi- someone who is the bringer of news- whilst a Messenger is a Rasul, literally someone who brings a letter or a Message from God.

The main concern of the Quran is the creation of a just and equal society. And in the helping of people towards God consciousness. 

That the prophesy of Zachariah may have been inadvertently fulfilled by the community of Muslim believers, is of no concern to the Muslims, other than as a means of educating the former Nations in the truth of what Muhammed (saw) brought. 

Indeed the Jews still await the fulfillment of the prophesy of Zachariah. Whilst the Christians ignore it, forgetting that Jesus (as) began its enactment as a means of reminding them and preparing them for one foretold who would come. 

the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem.

A succession of battles took place between the Muslims and Persia and Rome. Contrary to popular thought these battles were of a denfensive character vis a vis the Muslims. The Muslim state was continually threatened with anilation both by tribal elements within Arabia and later by both Persia and Rome. During the time of Abu Bakr (ra) the Arabian problem was dealt with, and during the time of Umar (ra) the Muslims fought against both Persia and Rome.

After clearly defeating the Persian Empire, the Muslims were set upon by Heraclius the Emperor of Rome. He ordered a noted general of his, to muster his troops at Ajnadain. Amr bin Al-As (ra) defeated him in battle and he fled to Jerusalem. All places around Jerusalem fell to the Muslims.

The Christians were left with no alternative but to sue for peace, which they knew the Muslims would be ready to accept. It was the character of the Muslims to give easy terms which included the freedom to pass into another territory not held by the Muslims with peace, the freedom to accept Islam or to hold onto your original belief so long as you paid a tax called Jizya. 

The jizya was no different to what any other conquerer would ask, except that it entitled the payer to protection and the right of law. The Muslims were always found to be trustworthy and fulfill their obligations. And they always gave easy terms, for them the issue was protection and peace for everybody. To the extent that even after that had taken Damascus peaceably, the commanders of their different armies were forced to re-concentrate and regroup to counter the attack of Heraclius at another famous battle, the commanders decided to give back the Jizya tax that they had taken because they could no longer offer the resident population protection against Roman oppression. So the Christians of Jerusalem were predisposed to the signing of a peace treaty.

An Unusal Request.

However, the Christians did something unusal. They wanted the actual Caliph of Islam to visit Jerusalem to ratify the peace document himself.

Instead of the Muslim Generals' refusing their wishes outright, as any realist would naturally do, they sent this information to Umar (ra) in Medina a full 3-4 days journey away by the fastest route. This is an unusal action by any standards.

Umar (ra) convened his council of advisors. Some argued that the request should be flatly denied and rejected and that this would humiliate the Christians still more. Others, notably Ali (ra), the cousin of Muhammad (saw), argued for the Caliph going to Jerusalem. Umar (ra) consented to go to Jerusalem.

This is a most unusal decision, and one that cannot be disputed because of it's complete unnaturalness. That the leader of the conquering army, and in fact the whole Muslim empire, be forced to go to Jerusalem to capitulate on it's peace terms. After having conquered the Empires of Persia and having put to fright the Romans?

Umar (ra) goes to Jerusalem.

So Umar (ra), the leader of the Muslims, the Successor of the Successor of Muhammad (saw) made his way to Jerusalem. The manner of his way is told by the Muslims…

He travelled accompanied by only his servant. He came on a camel… a beast of burden, not a beast of war.*1

Contrary to the popular imagery of Lawrence of Arabia… Arabs, at least at that time, during war had recourse to normal horse cavalry. *2

Umar (ra) and his servant took turns to ride the mount. On one day he himself would ride and on the following day his servant would ride.

His clothes were patched, and when the commanders of the Muslims knew of his approach they went out to meet him. He rebuked them for their finery and silk (for which it is forbidden for any Muslim male to wear except in times of war… where silk can help extract the plunge of a blade), and they assured him, by showing him their swords under their garments, of their not leaving the path of truth.

The Part Fullfillment of the Prophesy.

This is the way that Umar (ra) entered Jerusalem…. Not as a conqueror, nor a defiler, nor a king… but with humility. He established peace, threw off Roman rule. And between the seas of the Meditterean and the Persian Gulf there was peace and security. Where once there had been the two great Empires of Persia and Rome constantly at arms with one another, now there was only Islam.

The:

1- Chariots of Rome were banished from Jerusalem...

2-and Peace reigned from the seas of the Meditterean to the Persain Gulf and beyond...

Jesus (as) and Muhammed (saw). 

For me the Prophesy of Zachariah speaks of both Jesus and Muhammad (saw), and his deputy being Umar (ra).

I will later post a translation of the peace document signed on that historic occassion and the behaviour of Umar (ra) in Jerusalem when he met the Christians.. Insha-Allah..

For Muslims do believe in Jesus (as (abbrev: alayhi salam= peace be upon him)):

· In his virgin birth…

· In his miracles of curing the leper and blind, and bringing some people back from the dead…

· In his removing of spirits (which we call Djinn)…

· In his return..

What they dispute about with the Christians is..:

· The claim that he called himself the Son of God. Muslims believe that he called himself the Son of Man and believe in his humanity, and believe him to be one of the 5 greatest Prophets and Messengers sent from God.

· His supposed death on the Cross. Muslims say that he did not die, was not crucified and that God changed the likeness of another to appear that he died on the cross. It is reputed that Judas had a similar likeness to Jesus, and it could be that it was he that was crucified instead of Jesus. And that would account for the words on the cross “O Lord, why have you abandoned me”. After all Judas believed that he was being a dutiful Jew, dutiful to his faith. The God of the Quran calls those that sought to murder Jesus unbelievers, because even whilst affirming God they denied Jesus. 

In a like manner, any who denies the truth of Muhammed (saw) after coming to know it’s undeniably, will be classed as an Unbeliever even whilst they profess to believe in God. 

The Last Portion of the Prophesy 

According to Muslim Lore (held in the traditions and sayings of Muhammad (saw)), Jesus (as) told his disciples that the comforter, the promised one could not come until he himself had gone. Jesus (as) fate is tied to Muhammad (saw). 

To such an extent that in the last days he will come as a verifier of the truth of Muhammad, as a follower of Muhammad (saw). And at that time he will bring war. 

Muslims are duty bound to offer Jizya and give protection and safety to all that ask for it, Jesus (as) will not. And PEACE will reign from the River to the ends of the Earth.

This Prophesy is fulfilled by Muhammad (saw)… by his deputy.. Umar (ra) and by the one who announced his coming and will come again to verify his truth: Jesus (as). 

Peace to the End of the World

The middle part of the Prophesy speaks as such:

He shall speak peaceably to every nation

And this finds expression in the first chapter of the Quran that determines what a Muslim society should look like:

“And thus We have made you a justly balanced Nation, so that you might bear witness to the truth before all mankind, and that the Messenger might bear witness to it before you.” Al-Baqara 143

This contrary to what is popularly believed is an instruction on how the Muslim Nation is to behave in relation to other Nations and communities: calling to truth and standing up for both truth and justice. 

Not a conquering Nation, but a Nation that wishes for Peace. 

END

This is an original work…. All Glory Belongs to the ONE True God… Allah t'ala… the God of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad… And all faults belong to me… May Allah t'ala forgive me. Ameen.

Shafees

NOTES

*1  I have not seen anywhere a report of the nature of the mount that Umar (ra) took precisely because the Muslims have never claimed the fullfillment of this prophesy. However, Umar (ra) was a big man being over 6ft tall, and so it is unlikely that he mounted a small camel. It is narrated in a separate incident that Muhammad (saw) wanted to give a present to a man and he (saw) said that he would give him the young of a she-camel. The man got upset because he wanted one that would carry him, and Muhammad (saw) laughed and said is not every camel the young of a she-camel?

*2 After the Muhammad (saw) lost the battle of Uhud, he sent a scout to observe the behaviour of the Quraish, his enemies, and he said: "If they mount horses, then they will go and ransack Medina (his city) and if they mount camels then they are leaving back for Mecca (the Quraish's home)."

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Druken Sober

Drunken Stupor.

I have the unusual privilege of reflecting on my poor behaviour this night.

I went out for a meal with my work colleagues to wish one of them a safe onward journey to greener pastures.

I failed in my duty to myself and I became one amongst the crowd. And it was as if I was in a druken stupor even whilst alcohol remained alien to me. Stupor is the right word for even though my senses did not dim, I continuously failed to see my foolishness until the evening had done.

Maybe it was because of the unusual setting for me, or maybe because the purport remained clouded within a catch all "have a good time". Just maybe whenever anybody goes for a good time, they cannot bear, like me, to listen to defening silence and then in order to fill that void- talk vain. They put their colleagues and friends down, poke fun, reveal confidences and then call it banter or a tease.

It was interesting to observe that whilst my colleagues work well as a team in our organisation. But that when it came to relatively unstructured meal together the weak became easy game whilst the strong, and vocal, carried the day. Like as if we were on the battlefields of Golding's Lord of the Flies.

Now I know what it means by the fact that vain talk will become obsolete in Jannah. First that it is something disgusting and lowly that brings out the worst in us. Second that in Jannah every second will be a SubhanAllah and every thought and act a purposeful conduit.

I would that that Jannah were here for me nor.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bitter Me

Bitter Me.

Mine not to feel hate,
Nor retribute crime.
Though at my approach the guilty do flee, me.

Not mine to just __ be,
Nor ever still, as lake on a spring mourn.
Or as last even's dusk before the dread of night.

But If you were to meet
All people
For just a moment- span-
Then I would you and you would me.

Neither staying long enough to acquaint.
But ever the bringer of a pivotal moment.

For destined are we,
Though you often forget.
In a given land and at a given time, you will meet me.

Mine to rip and sear,
To take you from a place you call home and your own.
To the one you forgot,
Whereby be your return.

When I come upon you
Then you will see me
And know that your time has come.

Until then my friend,
Remember.

That though we be destined.
How you choose to live,
Is how we will meet.
And then I will show you your place.

And do not pity me.
For by HIS grace
I will be freed and death will take me.

But not before
I take thee.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Winter Blues, a ditty

Sitting in the van (lol) waiting for my parents, I wrote this little ditty for my youngest son:

"Winter blues.
Kisses summer adieu.

Reds and greens.
Turns russets and bronze.

Winter blues.
Wishes spring would come.

With a spring in his step,
So we could have some fun."

Stretch each line except the last two.
Obviously after one glorious day off English sun, I was feeling a bit down on our return to normality. :)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bound by thousands Suns

Score thousands suns bound my time.
Mark my beginning
and will mark my demise.

The count of them braced round my neck,
Ere I was born.
Into these wild lands.

From before I was with the father of man.
Shaded below his tall frame.
Tutted or smiled at?

I cannot know
Can never know.

From before even that
More ancient than that
I took an oath

A binding oath
That I forgot
Except in my bones.

Except in my blood.
Except in my being
The very centre of what it means to be me.

They remember it now and then
At those times when they bruise and bleed
Or when the very fear of life goes out of them.

But I do not.
And I cannot.

At those times what my mouth says astonishes me;
"Does it know more than I what know?"
Does it call that which I hope for,
Or that which I dread.

Do I try to stop it.
Smother and choke it.
Or have I heard those words before?

Will my hands be made to speak.
And my lips be made dumb.
Wouldst that they plead my foolishness,
Whilst my hands would prove my guilt.

Am I alone with no helper who would intercede for me?
No action or intention made whole and real that would free me?
No good deed that could come to my aid?

At the ending the sun might set,
And I yet live.
Believing that I make who I am.
And I will good, and help not for myself.

But for the pleasure of my LORD, most gracious.
That HE might bind me with robes of gold and silver.
That HE might love to forgive me all my sins
.
That HE might cause me to enter through the intercession of HIS Messenger.
The greatest of Men,
The blessed of Men,

Due abundance and excellence manifold.
Peace and Salutations upon you, O Messenger of God.
Who taught so well.

END
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Is News fit for Purpose?

Is the current news (print, TV and radio) of sufficiently high quality to warrant it's continued consumption? Is the news unbiased?

Really this question boils down to: "is the news fit for purpose?"

And this begs the question of what that purpose is for us, and we as a people strive towards different ends.

Some people consume news for its entertainment value, even if we discount celebrity, it becomes quite clear that for these people politics is a show. After all everybody enjoys holding an opinion and seeking to justify it. For such people the news as it stands is fit for purpose.

But there are other people for whom this news is just not enough.

I for one use Facebook as my alternative and daily stream of news. I do this by having politically active friends. I also at times read the guardian but that is for more joined up intelligence, which is not the same as knowledge, rather than the daily intelligence of fact.

I stay away from broadcast news. And I am not an isolated case, increasingly young people also look upon news with disdain.

Why do I do that?
Because I suppose I just don't trust it.

If I look back on my time line I can prove to myself the lies and hypocrisy of today's news from Yassar Arafat's sudden death by poisoning which came to light and then was denied, to the Gaza lies, all tell a woeful story that our news is in the hands of the powerful.

Whilst once it might have been taught that news is one of the great bastions of democracy, the holding in check of the powerful.

That talk has turned to that of curbing the power of the press, but this belies that fact that the only press left is of the entertainment kind. The press of critical examination of the powers that be has moved on to the retirement fields. Not least because our politicians have become clowns.

Seriously funny clowns if it weren't for the implications of their actions.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Dumbing Down Sherlock

Dumbing Down Sherlock

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle called Sherlock a calculating machine. But Watson, the narrator of the adventures and Sir Arthur's alter-ego, thought much closer to the truth; "He was....the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen."

The most interesting thing about Sherlock is not his ability to follow fact to conclusion, but what he finds interesting.

For all of us only really observe things that we find interesting, or unusual, or different.

And Sherlock finds that the most mundane facts can be a source of interest and enlightenment. Whilst we, that is the rest of us, carp over the bigger fish, he uses those smaller fishes to land him the bigger fish.

In fact Sherlock is like our seven or eight year old selves. Except that he's given up searching for the answers, that he knows are out there, by asking our now grown, and in un-inquisitive, selves the most irritating of questions "Why?". And whilst he can no longer verbalise those sentiments, without the risk of bringing ridicule, he therefore resorts to deduction, and is the better for it.

Sherlock is like a good scientist; he takes nothing for granted. Scientists observe things that most of us would put down as being simply natural, or of no consequence. They observe these things and then they choose to observe them and then they make them interesting. An outlier for them is not just a blip off the map, but a reason, a what for, and a why.

I would by now have hoped that you would have questioned my use of the word observe twice in the pre-previous sentence.
Didn't you find it in the least interesting?

The first use is in the sense of "saw". I wonder how many of you saw the second usage in the sense of observe, in the sense of thinking "that's unusual" or "that's interesting" or "what's going on here? That'll be worth some effort"?

Well that's what Sherlock does almost instinctively.
And that's what Science teaches.

And great Scientists go one step further, for them they make even the usual matter. For them even the usual is interesting.

Once we realise that it's that matter of astonishment that powered the Scientific Revolution, we should then be at a loss as to what popular Science tells us is otherwise.

Popular Science would have us believe that there is nothing unusual about life.
That life is natural.
That there is nothing there worth being astonished over it since we've explained it all.

Maybe we can credit those bastions of the now Science with its dumbing down.
After all most of Science nowadays is about the statistical number crunching of machines. Newton, Mendel and the rest might just be turning in their graves.

But Sherlock he would have deduced long ago that the likes of Dawkins are poor scientists, if at that.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Dover

Dover

Dover

Over the rolling crest of land,
We sighted sea.

Through a beautiful green hill,
Came we,
Out of a hole, called tunnel.

And over the crest we saw
High on the horizon, sea.
And at that sight, we did guffaw and chortle.

Like we had seen a crock of gold,
so unexpected.
So looked for.

And many white sails,
Spotted here and there.

And many a commercial ship.
Advertisements for a life
Lived elsewhere.

We crossed the Marina,
And steeped below the white cliffs.

Dover,

We had come over to you from our jungle of spires.
But where Churches are few.
From Londonium renewed.

To take back from you,
A new member of our family.
A tortoise, that we have chosen to call

Clover.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

IKEA

Is my poetising that much of a crime?
That my mentor forgets me,
Ignores me.
Disdains what I try make sublime.

His works tell stories.
Whilst mine ghost at ideas,
A moment, a phrase, a thought-span.

Maybe my thin voice hollows through my rhyme.
Or my scratchy hand casts spidery shadows amongst these walled fonts.
mOre perhaps my syntax lacks both metre and time.

So holds he, the wisdom of the three monkeys to be not in vain.
And elects to "Hear no, see no and ignores that pain."

Or maybe our cultures are different,
And whilst I straddle the twain.
He cannot comprehend my hidden meaning
That drips from me as an effluent from a factory plant.

Maybe I'm all made up,
Constructed.
And IKEA is my being,
My end, middle and beginning.

Where his stories are real,
Strumming chords
On hearts.
That my imitation cannot reveal.

Whichever
Whatever
My attempt at packaged art,
Boxed art.
Factory constructed, homely assembled words.
Makes my world, home.

End
Although I do not rate this as a beautiful poem. It has it's place. Just as a Dishwasher has a place in an IKEA fitted kitchen. :)





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Just Me

Just me. (Poem)

Who do I want to be?
Is as much a determinant of who I am,
Than the next man.

Do I take the bait?
Hook, line and sinker.

Do I pick up the gauntlet?
Thrown.

Or do I make my own way?
Ignoring all those challenges.

Will they say I'm scared
Or admire my independence?

Yes. A man can be a godly man
Whilst ignoring the scandal that surrounds him
Is him.

Or he could be a cook
A master Chef
Who plays people as ingredients in a frying pan.

Or he could be buffeted
By all that they say
And thus loose his way.

And yet still think he be the cook.
Master Chef.
Cooked, crooked, mistook.

Served up on a plate.
For them to dribble and drooze at.
But is he palatable?

For me,
I'd rather not be.

For me.
I'd rather be neither ignoring
Nor palatable.

Bitter sweet.
Just me.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone