The Ignorant Man and the Worshipper

The Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam said: “Indeed, an ignorant man who is generous is dearer to God than a worshipper who is miserly.”

Looking at this Hadith and juxtapositioning first the ignorant man with the worshipper and then in reverse generates incredible meaning:

First:

Normally the opposite of an ignorant man is a knowledgable man. Taking this as the context the Hadith then reads that 

GOD loves an ignorant man who cannot share any knowledge, since he has none, and so he shares his time, money, smiles etc... Over a knowledgeable man whom here the Prophet (saw) reduces to a worshipper since he does not share his knowledge.

And then also, another way of juxtapositioning the two would be as follows:

The opposite of a worshipper is one who does not pray and does not worship. Here GOD loves

An ignorant man who does not know that he had been commanded to worship over a worshipper who is miserly. Plainly because the Ignorant man actually knows GOD more than the worshipper. 

For ALLAH t'ala is the most generous, gracious - the one that bestows without measure. 

O Allah bestow us without measure of understanding your religion, and send your peace and our salutations down upon Muhammad (saw), indeed the most intelligent of those whom you sent. Aameen. 

IMAGE CREDIT

Like Stars on Earth, a film by Aamir Khan details the story of a “Duffer” Dyslexic Child, who just happens to be very intelligent:

Everyone is special, not least that know God the most. 

Many parents of Downs Syndrome children say that they would not change them for the Earth, precisely because of the amount of love that they bring into their lives. 

To be generous is to know God, and to know God is to be blessed and a bringer of blessings. 

A supplication to God for Ramadan

A dua for Ramadan 

“Did He not find you an orphan and gave you shelter, find you straying and guide you, find you in want and made you rich..” S Ad-Duha, early Meccan revelation. 

So ended the period of silence in the revelation sent to our Messenger (saw), which mirrored that of a bigger and greater silence. 

For Nabi Isa (as) - Jesus (may God be pleased with him) - told his followers that the Kingdom of God was near at hand. 

An unprecedented 600 year silence followed on from that penultimate revelation. And some of the believing men and women from that Nation still, unknowingly, wait for it’s completion. 

Each and everyone of us is born alone, separate, cold and unloved and then God puts compassion into the hearts of our mothers, families and communities. 

And then God sent all of the Messengers and Prophets as a guiding light so that we might know of the truth of His existence. 

And yet mankind was still in need. 

And then God enriched us with Islam. 

 🌙 With a qibla that unites us. 

🌙 With the prayer that is the key to paradise. 

🌙 With the zakah, and charity, that purifies us. 

🌙 With an abundant life that is a source of continual inspiration- the Seerah of our beloved Messenger, Muhammed (saw). 

🌙 With a heavenly recitation that soothes, cajoles and instructs us. 

🌙 With the month of Ramadan that enlivens us. 

🌙 With the Hajj, the most open and accessible physical reminder of the promised meeting. 

Is not Allah t’ala- God, the most High- the most generous and gracious. 

O Allah the first casualty of Ramadan is often the loss of patience, make us patient and easy, grateful and kind, and happy with whatever fare we are given. 

O Allah bless us that we might praise you this Ramadan to the best of our ability. 

And even though we cannot do justice to all the praises that are due to you, accept them from us. 

O Allah make this Ramadan a source for becoming closer to your words, and their recitation. 

O Allah indeed we are deficient, overlook our deficiencies, and help us in our proficiencies. 

O Allah we are the wrongdoers, but you are the one that loves to forgive, so forgive us. 

O Allah we are in need, so fulfil our needs, and the needs of our brothers and sisters who are more in need than us. 

O Allah for those in distress relieve their distress, for those feeling alone give them the company of angels to soothe them, for those in need of help provide them with an ally to help them. 

O Allah bless us that if we have the means then open the ways for us that we might make the Hajj this year in answer to Ibrahim’s call that reverberates down through the ages. That we might honour your house and fulfil our obligations to you. 

O Allah bless us that we might be amongst those that do good, are true and honourable, and stand up against injustice wherever it may be. 

And are not scared to call it out. 

And are not scared to care. 

Ameen. 

Ibrahim’s Children

The Messenger (saw) said that when two people love each other for God’s sake and by His leave then He will make them like so in the Highest Heaven. It is as if the love referred to here is because of evident dissimilarity, that in spite of it all, they would go miles for one another. And be there for one another. 

Then when the Messenger (saw) said that the one who shelters and feeds the orphan child that he will be like that with him. Take a second to reflect on that. 

In fact reread the above paragraph again, replacing the Messenger (saw) as one of those two. 

Irrespective of your dissimilarity, irrespective of your mistakes and we all have them, the Messenger (saw) is holding a door wide open for you to be that close to him, simply by showing love and affection and taking care of the orphans from whom you cannot gain. 

Then isn’t it a shame that we worry about the legality of it all. 

Be like the fighters at Badr when they were told that Heaven lies beneath the shadow of swords, threw away their date fruits as an incumbrance from something far greater. 

Throw away your scruples and do the right thing. 

And remember the whole of the Muslim family can trace the ancestry of each, and everyone, of us directly to Ibrahim (as), a more near relation than that of Adam, the father of mankind. For did not God, the Most Merciful, call him (Ibrahim) our father is Surah Hajj (see the last verses). 

And a relation that God makes, let no one doubt. 

So if any has not a father, or his/her father is absent, then remember that God has declared that her/his father is the father of the Prophets, the friend of God, Ibrahim (as).   

And do not treat them unjustly. 

Treat each with loving care. 

And never abandon them, nor shut any door off from them. 

And if you can’t house an orphan then, like me, sponsor them and care for those who are near to you. For God loves most those charities that are little but often done. 

In the month of Ramadan our charitable acts are even more blessed. So take advantage of that blessing. And show even more care, love and affection. 

Shafees 

Ramadan Kareem

The month is near upon us,

when we come alive. 

For what we can do then, 

we can do, in no other. 

Despite our words being, fewer,

And our time less our own. 

Something stirs our spirits,

Our efforts redoubled, anew. 

Mammoth events, await

So let not sabr be the first to depart 

For when the pangs of hunger, bite,

Or things go skew and out of plan 

Sit down, be calm,

Remember 

For remembering only profits 

The one who yields to God’s words. 

And the greatest of that is the Quran

A solace to our hearts 

An embroidery to our minds

A blessing to all those who hear. 

Shafees 

1st version APRIL 2020, no less true. 

Heaven and Earth. Unity or Duality?

Heaven & Earth: Unity or Duality?

A LOSS?

In the last post I argued that many religious Muslims have difficulty with the loss of the revelationary link between Heaven and Earth. This finality, in a long and ancient history of Messengers, and Prophets, from GOD, occurred when the final Messenger sent to ALL Mankind, Muhammad (saw), left us.

And it is their incapability to deal with that loss that causes them to suppose the continued revelationary and/or spiritual succession of Muhammad (saw), either through his family (our Shia brothers) or through his dear ones (our Sufi brothers).*1

*1[The way in which our cousin brothers of the Christian Faith deal with the same problem is through the supposition of a ephemeral entity called the Holy Ghost and/or through the divinement of the society of their Church.]

However the message that Muhammad (saw) brought, whilst affirming all that came before it, revolutionized our understanding of the relationship and link between Heaven and Earth.

Heaven v/s Earth.

For in OUR prior Judeo-Christian Heritage we find that Heaven and Earth were divided, separate and disparate. The antonym for Heaven, there, is almost Earth. For in Christian fiction Hell lies below our plane of existence, at the very centre of our sphere.

There also we find that Adam (as) FELL to Earth, whereas in the Qur'an Adam (as) was sent down to Earth (anzalna, which is also used to denote the descent of the Angels, Revelation and even life giving rain). Both traditions agree on whence he came, Eden or Aeden is in the Heavens above, but the manner of his descent is relevant.

From Heaven, being the abode of the divine, Adam (as) fell to Earth, being the place of mundane.

Heaven is perfection, whilst the lot of those on Earth is decay and loss. Heaven is bliss, whilst Earth is all toil and hardship. Heaven is the place of those whom GOD loves, the elect company of near ones. And Earth is the place of the rebellious ones who do wrong.

Thus was the speech of the high company of Angels when they were told of the creation of Adam (as), "Will YOU, O GOD, create one who will wreck mischief and shed blood on Earth, Whilst we do glorify YOUR every praise (in Heaven)?" (TMQ S2 paraphrased).

And it is for this reason that all religions see religiosity as being other-Worldly, Heavenly.

Whilst Muslims acknowledge the primacy of the World to come, they are however forbidden from seeking to escape from the here and now of Our World, with all of its mess/ uncertainty and guaranteed loss (S. Asr).

For them Monasticism, or any other like phenomena, has been expressly forbidden through a Prophetic Hadith, and this is even whilst our Prophet (saw) acknowledged that GOD loves such people. (There is no contradiction here, because the fare of the Muslim is different from the fare of all other Nations).

Life as Struggle.

Muslims know that what GOD intended was for Life to be a Struggle. For when Adam and Bibi Hawa (Lady Eve) (as) were sent down, Allah t’ala decreed “And let there be enmity (hardship/ friction) amongst/between you” (S2). The you here refers as it were to the whole of Mankind. 

And so by extension if Life is easy then you are not living; truly not living.

Life is Struggle and full of movement. And in all that flux Muslims seek to keep their heads firmly fixed to their bodies lest they fall. Five times a day their hopes go heavenward, five times a day their eyes return homeward.

And so a Muslim is almost like a ballet dancer or dervish that spins and spins, and who in order to prevent himself falling keeps his head (and eyes) firmly fixed on one of two points... snap, snap, snap; between 2 points at two extremes.

To see the Spiritual.

Snap, snap, snap.....between the Spiritual and the Mundane.

Until with gathering speed, the two merge in his eyes... and he finds the Spiritual in the Mundane.

And so after those 5 appointed times, and after having been reminded of the true reality that awaits him, our hero seeks his livelihood on this, his, temporary home (Earth). And Muhammad (saw) on seeing a man working hard with his hands said of him “ALLAH t’ala (GOD, Most High) loves those hands.”

The Heavenly and the Mundane.

This understanding that the Heavenly can be found in the Mundane, is something that Muhammad (saw) brought. For whilst Nabi Isa (Jesus the son of Maryam)(as= may GOD be pleased with him) asked his haweri-oon (disciples) to renounce the World, Muhammad (saw) asked his followers to embrace the World and when the time comes, to embrace the Next. To embrace this World fully and in it’s entireity, but not to love it. To own wealth, but to not let it own you. To act responsibly and then to learn to have faith and trust in GOD, leaving all things to HIM (who creates and then fulfils).

For Muhammad (saw) said “Tie your camel first (to prevent it running away) and then have faith” and “Be in this World as a stranger/ traveller, who stops in the shade of a tree for a while”.

To hold an Opinion.

For such a Muslim, Islam is a religion full of empowerment. For they understand that it is easy to bow when you are weak, but when you are strong and you bow, that is something that GOD delights in.

And so we pray, how we pray. We stand to demonstrate our ability and GOD-given power and then we bow, to make clear our choice of submission. The fiqh-rules of the standing up after bowing forbids the use of an implement to aid in the standing. You cannot lean on a support, you must if able stand on your own two feet, by your own means.

And likewise for some Muslims piety is “Allahu Alam”= GOD knows best, which of a surety is Truth. But although the reply of the companions was often “GOD and HIS Messenger know best” on many occasions, this was not their reply towards the end of Muhammad’s (saw) mission.

For Muslims, who understand what GOD loves, hold an opinion. They study and contemplate and then hold an opinion and then when knowledge comes to them of what ALLAH t’ala or Muhammad (saw) decreed, or said, resign their opinion in favour of GOD’s decree. And this is true piety. To embrace the World and then to relinquish its hold on you for that which is better and much more longer lasting.

To remove pain and hurt 

They know that their Christian brothers conception of religion before them, that religiosity requires both atonement and pain, is not Godly. For God is not in need of pain and suffering. 

And that their duty is the removal of pain and suffering. The creation of a society that is free from it, where all of the people are but one brotherhood before the Most Merciful. 

Whom they choose

And they understand the specificity of “Choose the one who best knows the Qur’an” as opposed to the generality of “Obey those who are put in power over you”, two hadiths whose meaning becomes apparent to those who study the Seerah and the Sunnah of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (saw).

May Allah t’ala reward Muhammad (saw) abundantly who opened up for us both this World and the Next. And who taught what ALLAH t’ala intended for us, not to hide... but to fight against all wrong and oppression.

END

For more on whom we should chose see the following blog