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 

Religious Sensibilities

Religious Sensibilities 

There are few lessons in life that cannot be had by contemplating history. 

And recently I was reminded of an extremely important one. 

When Uthman (ra) the third rightly guided was killed, the Caliphate of the Muslims was taken up by Ali (ra). However Muawaiyya (ra) the governor of Kufa and relative of Uthman drew up an army and marched on Medina, ostensibly he asked that Ali (ra) deal with the rabble rousers that had murdered Uthman. 

The armies were lined for battle, and then Muawiyyah commanded his troops to put their Qur’ans on their own spears. 

The army of Ali (ra) would not fight, even though he urged them to. 

And Ali (ra) was forced to agree to a mutual arbitor between them. 

This is our ancient history, and what the scholars said about it, after the fact, was that however an enemy tries to affect your resolve, even through using religion, it should not stop you fighting for what is right. 

This lesson speaks volumes when you encounter Muslims brothers who try to manipulate you through wrongly appealing to your religious sensibilities. 

They do not want you to fear God, rather what they want is for you to cede to their wishes. 

You see, brothers, whilst our belief is simple, that God is one and sent Messengers to act as guides to mankind. The religion in nuanced, sophisticated and borne of paying attention to detail. 

That is why our religion had so many great scholars, who contemplated every nuance  in the revelation and the words of the Messenger (saw). Attention to detail was even then a thing. 

“Those who hear me, relay from me, perchance those (that hear from me, through you) might understand the better” 

So for example “fear God” was and can be used as an advice to remind people of their responsibilities to others, by all the more acutely reminding them to pay attention to detail- for God is witness over us all. 

However, it can also be used be by others, however innocently, trying to manipulate you. And this is where you need to reflect upon yourself and how those words make you feel. 

If they help you to become better, and remind you to good then all the better. 

But if those words make you feel encumbered to do a thing that does not feel right, then they are not empowering you with knowledge, nor supporting you with sound advice, and know that then those words, however seemly, may be being used to manipulate you. 

Islam as a religion always teaches us to reflect before we act. 

Always use your brains first. 

What God wants is for you to be just and true first, and that nobility of spirit is closer to the religion of Islam that those that use it as a game, or as a pawn of one-up-manship. 

The only way to educate those of our brothers that believe that such appellations to our religious sensibilities are appropriate, is not to be cowed by them in that instance, but to call them out and not stop calling them out. 

In my younger days a brother called me a coward for not ceding to his demands. 

Another more recently admonished me to fear Allah. And yet both were trying in their own way to manipulate me. 

For in our heart of hearts, we all know that nobility is what is just and true. 

Off course let your heart be open to the believers, and let there be softness in there for them, but for those that try to cause mischief through the inappropriate use of religion, let then find hardness in you in those instances. And softness in you at all other times. 

This is my opinion. And opinions can be wrong. Whatever wrong there is here, is mine alone. 

Shafeesthoughts 

Endless Dread

Endless Tread

“Mine not to feel hate,

Nor retribute crime. 

Though at my approach the guilty flee. 

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 movement 

Most filled with the pain of regret 

For destined are we,

Though you often forget.

In a given land and at a given time

Mine, to rip and sear,

To take you from a place you call home and your own. 

To a place where the leisure of rhyme, cannot cut. 

When your sustenance is done 

Then you will see me

And know that your time has come. 

For then will cease your hearts drum. 

But until then my friend,

Remember, and let that remembering be for profit 

That though we be destined. 

How you choose to live,

Is how we shall meet. 

And do not pity me. 

For by HIS grace

I will be freed and death will take me. 

But not before

I rip and sear 

And take you for my own.”

Death

(C) Shafeesthoughts 1st December 2018

Another version of another rhyme 

Chance Destinies

Chance Destinies 

We are the master of our destinies 

But if we were truly free then there would be no destination or path written for us 

Nothing entrenched in our pasts 

That would make us who we would come to be. 

Every moment would be a memoryless flirtation 

As significant, or insignificant, as the decimal point 

Whose small movement can make such huge differences, or none at all.  

Significance is all a matter of expectation 

What is the norm 

A true measure of our worth?

Not to the One who created and nurtures us. 

And at that one time like the appearance of a different moon. 

Perturbations of momentous tidal changes, significantly altered the celestial order

Then at that point

History was not what it used to be 

There...

History was unmade

To live within that tsunami is all we should aspire to 

Not the death and misery of millions 

But the chance opportunity to renew

The bond that he came to remind us of

(C) Shafeesthoughts 

20th November 2018