A religion of Miracles

Assalamu’alaikum brothers 

Jumaa Mubarak. 

Islam is a religion of miracles. 

It takes a particular mind set to see beyond the everyday, and to realise just how much we  take for granted, and how much we have to be thankful for. 

For some that religious mindset makes them feel special. Of itself that is not a problem, however we should all be wary that after a time that feeling can lead to the slow erosion of what started as humility. 

And it is only by God’s kind grace presenting us with chance circumstance that we can return back to that humility with gratitude. (David (as) and the litigants). 

This is the role that Jamaa’ (the collective) often plays within our collective psychology. 

For when the army of Muslims returned from Mutah, having proved themselves against a mightier Roman force, by a factor of ten, they were rebuked by the crowd on entry into Medina. The rebuke was ill founded but the Messenger (saw) took heart from it and saw in them an eagerness for their religion. 

(Do not believe the Wiki account online as it fails wrt to historical analysis and is at odds with the Muslim version of events). 

The recent controversies surrounding M&S toilet tissue, and Nike, are points in question. To disdain your Muslim brothers when they show eagerness to defend the faith, is not the Sunnah. And if you think that you are better than them, then perhaps you need to contemplate the Ahl al Saff mentioned within the first twenty verses of Baqara. 

For these have not overstepped the bounds. 

And political activism is something that every Muslim should aspire to in the making of a just and true society. 

However for some the religious mindset only makes them feel special, and causes them to disdain others, sometimes even their own Muslim brothers. And sometimes it is because they feel themselves better educated or more intelligent. 

Still others when they have stood to gain from the usurping of other’s rights, only see that act of wrong as an affirmation of their specialness. 

That God has enabled them to do so, to wrong another, as an affirmation that God is on their side. (Israel vs Palestine).

But this is not borne out when we study the life of the most special of men, Muhammed (saw) who came as a guide. 

Know that if GOD loves you, then He will prevent and stop you from wrong, or from the stealing of another’s right, even when it is a trifling sum. And at these times if there is clear intervention, a greater miracle cannot be wished for. 

For then God has seen fit to protect you from harm. Or from your harming another, or taking another’s right. 

And if the rope is made out for you, and it is made easy for you to wrong another, however slight, then use it at your own loss- and stop it, at your gain. 

For still others that want of being, and feeling special, causes them to invent and add things to the religion that do not belong. Embellishing that which needs none, both simple and beautiful as it stands. 

They do this as a means of making themselves “feel” more special than the rest of us. 

I have seen this happen on multi levels, from the over complication of Fiqh, to the heresies of some tasawuf (Sufi paths seeking closeness to God). To know their error, is not to disdain them, but neither is it to hold them in regard. 

In all cases, it is openness that is a cure for them, or for their folk. And that openness means accepting them for who they are and then moving on. 

The believers have a sacred trust in God that far outstrips worries over their particular version of the religion. For it is He who promised to keep this religion pure, and to explain it. 

The Islamic mindset should make you both grateful and humble, strong in adversity, true and just in all dealing with fellow man. 

If should make you appreciate the ahlul saff, the simple men, and their needs. 

The secret of contentment and happiness lies in nothing but the remembrance of GOD.  

And religiosity has its bounds. 

Do not overstep them, thinking that by it you become better than others. 

Stick to the Jamaa’, and make excuses for those of your brothers that do so too. 

What I have said here is my opinion. If it is wrong then that wrong belongs to me. 

Knowledge is sought through study and contemplation, not via lectures, nor speeches, nor this. 

Shafi. 

Long Drawn

Long Drawn

Why is it we see the dead abroad 

When nights curtains pulled toward 

And when it parts we breathe relief 

As though the stillness was closing us in

Then we welcome the bird song 

As if heralded a present for us all. 

Is not time one seamless unity 

Bereft of meaning, plodding on

Nothing stays those hands, not even pity. 

But when we watch them, they drag along 

And in the dread of night 

They drag as if, it would not end. 

Shafeesthoughts

Injustices fight

Injustice 

The good fight beckons these merry men 

Those that count themselves all heart 

Corruptions had, when you stay still 

And roll with the onslaught of the dominant cultural wiles 

That would have you bend, and wallow 

Not stand straight, nor reaffirm your own 

Find yourself, within your own cultural tomes

Those books and languages that they say are gone and dead 

Have yet fire in them, to rekindle a light 

That would blaze to all four points 

That they could not stop, aghast with envy 

What nonsense a culture that has not a book

Unearth within yourself the sky. 

Leash yourself to tomorrow’s peace 

And fight the good fight, never letting up

Pray a Mujahid, let me once be called. 

Shafeesthoughts 

Eminently rational 

With reaching passion

The Protectors of al- Hudood

Salaams brothers. 

Jumaa Mubarak. 

I promise this won’t be a rant 😂. 

And I hope that the little that I give here is of benefit. 

We all hold in respect the Hafidh (or Hafiz) ul Quran, those protectors of the recitation that have it, as it were, inscribed on their hearts. For them it is both a great achievement and a lifelong struggle, to keep it ever present. 

In Surah Taubah, v112, after telling us to enjoin good and forbid wrong, God extols yet another protector, one who is hardly ever mentioned in our discourses. 

They are the Hafidh (or Hafiz) ul Hudood; the protectors and upholders of the punishments prescribed by God in the Quran. These include the punishment for theft and sexual transgressions. 

It is a interesting choice of words, for why does God choose to say protectors in those regards and not enforcers. For are not the two synonymous?

When we contemplate this question in light and context provided by the life of the Messenger (saw), and his companions (as), then we realise that they are not. 

For it was their understanding that to protect the Hudood was to not be overzealous in its application, and instead to err towards leniency, and only prescribe them when all other options were at a loss. 

There is an interesting anecdote of Umar (ra) chasing a man who had snatched his hat in a marketplace and shouting after him, “you have not stolen that from me... I have given that to you in Sadaqa (charity)”. 

This is what it means to be a protector of the Hudood, and these are the ones that God lauds in Surah Tauba....

From good emanates good, and from wrong emanates wrong. 

Those that affirm the Hudood, but are easy in it’s application and err on the side of ease. And prevent wrong with good. These are the ones. 

For the prescribed punishments are necessary to prevent society slipping away from a concrete moral code, as is happening now on a Worldwide scale. 

However the Saudi understanding of our Shariah, hampers rather than helps. And it is not true to the Sunnah, and is not a reflection of how Muslim society should be. 

Even the best of us sin. 

To sin is human, and to forgive is angelic. 

The Messenger (saw) informed us that of all of his Nation everyone would be forgiven, but not the sinner that outwardly displays his sinning and has no shame. 

In imam Ghazali’s thought the Fasiq is the wrongdoer who feels shame, and the Munafiq (hypocrit) is the one who wrongs but feels no shame and then tries to justify his/her wrong action. 

Here we note that when we do wrong, shame trumps truth. For it dictates that we cover it up in shame. 

Just as Cain covered his brother out of shame of his crime, and was guided thus by God sending a crow to show him how. 

When we sin, it takes you momentarily out of belief, until you remember that God loves to forgive and is aware of our weaknesses. And then recompense your sin with a good deed- reaffirming your faith in goodness- by the Salat and then by directly asking for God’s forgiveness and admitting your weakness to Him. 

No sin is so huge that it cannot be forgiven. 

And then God blessed us, as a Nation, with the sixth pillar of our belief, Qadr or predestination, which frees our future action, and resolve, from the encumbered past which had already been written. 

May God make us all Hafidh ul Hudood. Affirming it’s truth, whilst being easy with it, chasing away wrong with good, and then not seeking to apply it whilst we have not the power to construct a just society, along the lines established by the Sunnah (way) of the Messenger (saw), where mercy takes precedence over everything. 

And then may He bless us to hide our shame, and the shame of our brothers and sisters, and seek forgiveness from him. 

Ameen

What I have said here is my opinion. If it is wrong then that wrong belongs to me. 

I have paraphrased for effect, and knowledge is sought through study and contemplation, not via lectures, nor speeches, nor this. 

Shafeesthoughts