Smaller than an Atom

Smaller than an Atom (a poem).

What use to poem,
If there is neither reason,
nor rhyme.

A play on words,
Mere syntax.

Drab syllables,
Placed here,
Or..................................  there.

Or else,
Recorded events and emotions,

Played out as the needle spins
Atop vinyl. Played out.

Round and round.

Round and round.

No hope of change,
No desire to instruct.

Round and round.

Round and round.

Left our hearts to pound.
To the rhythm of the poets sound.

I desire neither that auspiciousness,
Nor the command that such poetry brings,
Even if the whole World were of my virtue, to sing.

But rather, for me,
To instruct is the height
Of all that I can be.

Would be,
Should be.

To shed some bare light
On the World's follies,
To instruct in the secrets of
The luminaries.

Secrets never meant to be,
Only that they have been lost.
Tarnished,
By the false interpretation of men whose words are but ghosts.

For they take what is real,
Live.
not surreal.
Them twist and turn,

And with a snakes forked tongue,
Change all that is said and done,
Into all that they want remembered and sung.

And by that they kill,
The lush spirit of the luminaries will.
But not so, is my wish.

To unwind and unsing their pittiless songs,
Full throttle against their rile,
Their contemptuous rattle and din.

Against their arrogant pride,
For the rationalists, us they chide.

Poke fun and belittle,
All that they cannot comprehend.

But smaller still are they
Who cannot see the miracle
In every atom of their being

In every sight peering from their seeing,
In every syllable that vents from me,
Shimmying down expanding corridors till it reachs my listeners ears.

And finds expression and meaning,
Resonating, reverberating within.

What chance is that that syllable doth resonate?
And can cause you to both beam and cry and ask questions of why?

Such rationalusts are incomprehensible.
Who cannot see the beauty in all that we have been given.

Who believe in their self,
Above all else.

Small as fools,
Giants, only, within their pride.


The END.
By Shafi Bachelani.

Glory be to GOD, most High,

Who provided us with light,
That we might see,

And words,
That we might understand.

And yet sometimes words carry meaning beyond their evident import.
I enjoy Jabberwocky, by Lewis Carroll.

Revolutions Coming Our Way

Revolution's coming our Way.

Revolution's coming our way,

People's power's, here to stay.

Democracy's flawed and failed.

Supporting tyrants, is just the last nail.

Now, let's throw that coffin six feet deep,

Covering it up for ages, for all time to keep.

So that another generation might not be deluded,

By its fine words, that forever blinded,

 bind-ed.

Us to hypocrisy's ways.

Which always made someone else pay.

Colonialism, of another name.

Whilst we left our brothers and sisters to suffer in pain.

(pause)

Kings, and Amirs, Fathers of the Nation.

Forever claiming that they were their own peoples salvation.

Titles given, taken for what?

For whatever reason it's long forgot.

Lids lifted, veils removed.

Hearts boiling, the people are moved.

For they have seen tyranny's true ear,

Glued shut, deaf to all just tears.

Brothered, twinned with Democracy's lifeless ear.

Where Politics is just another career.

Vested interests both of them have,

Our Politician's and their tyrannical other halves.

So the truth of this unholy relationship is laid bare,

Now is the time of change for all those who care.

Revolution's coming our way,

People's power's, here to stay.

But let it not be a flash in the pan,

Nor any entry for just another breed of man.

Who shouts in anger against all that is low,

Whilst on the morrow, he forgets

And upholds the Status Quo.

He is the son,

Of all that he hated, simply begot 

and then got.

So let the World unite in Our Flight.

Let the World unite in our flight,

From the vested interests of the few,

From the rampant hypocrisy of this democracy.

To clean shores,

Not of a lifeless ideology.

(pause)

But of an example, real,

Of the greatest of revolutionaries.

From a long line of Prophets, 

he was their seal.

Mohamed Shafi Bachelani.

Believing in Democracy,

But not of the Hypocritical Kind.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

God, our Father who art in Heaven

The Middling Nation.
In the Qur'an, our Messenger's Nation is termed the middling one. The Qur'an is an address to all men, women and Nations of this World, but primarily to the Nations that preceeded ours; our cousins the Jewish and Christian Nations. And so it is within this context that middling is to be understood.


The Judaic Nation is insular. For truly no man can be a Jew except that his parentage is of such.


The Christian Nation is evangelical, and is ever seen to bend and turn with the times so that it can evangelize all the more better. The Council of Nicea that promoted the trinitarian doctrine is just one prime example of such.


And so, we as a Nation do not evangelize nor are we insular. Instead we believe in the ascendency of Truth and Justice above all else, even when it is to our own personal self-detriment. A Truth and a Justice that is codified within the immutable text of the Qur'an, which we believe is GOD's words revealed through the noblest of Messengers.


However, we are not a Nation built around a single tribe, nor many tribes, rather for all Muslims, whether they be Chinese or African or European, the Messenger of GOD is their Messenger and as it were talks down through the ages intimately with each and every one of them.


And so it is with this understanding of our middling tradition that I approach each and every topic that I discuss.


It is not to convert, nor to explain a deficiency, but just simply to tell it as it is. Nor is it said in the interests of keeping some things hidden, the provender of a select few.


An Exemplary Nation.
Furthermore, whilst the Jews say that they are the Chosen Nation and the Christians say that none will enter Heaven save those who accept Jesus as saviour and redeemer of sins. I say neither.


That the middling Nation presumes in it's very conception not a domination, but an exemplary leader amongst the community of Nations. Nor do I say that none can attain Heaven save those who follow the Religion.


However, neither beliefs impinge on my following the words of GOD, that no religion will be accepted by HIM other than the religion of Islam (submission to HIS will and reliance on HIM).


GOD, Our Father Who Art in Heaven.
And so after length we come to it.
A Christian friend had the impression that our Lord GOD was different to his own.


The Christians call the Creator of All, because that is the essential first act of GOD, their "Father who art in Heaven".


It is meant in an allegorical sense to convey the sense of provider, the one who looks after us. But because of it's comparability with our own lives, it suffers the severe confusion of an anthropomorphic GOD; of God being in man's image, of God having a family with sons and daughters.


To accept that man is made in God's image does not imply the reflective notion that God be a man, with the concurrent needs of family and society.


In Islam the non-reflective nature of the relationship between GOD and the whole of creation, including man, is made abundantly clear through the use of negation.


That GOD is the ultimate Creator, who has neither father nor son.
The Creator, who Himself is not created nor born of any.
That GOD is the provider and sustainer who is Himself in need of no sustenance nor provision.
That GOD sees all, whilst none can see Him.
That GOD comprehends all, whilst none can comprehend Him.


And none is like unto HIM.


An Affirmation.
The Qur'an declares of itself that it is an affirmation of all the revelations that came before it (the revealed books being the Torah, Psalms and the Gospel).


That the GOD of the Torah, Psalms and Gospel, is the very same GOD that revealed the Qur'an.


For the sense of the Father GOD who provides, nurtures and cares, the Qur'an terms Rab= Lord, Provider of Sustenance. And it is a term without the ambiguity of Father, whilst retaining it's essence of thankfulness.


In the Lord's Prayer, GOD is called Father whilst then thanking Him for "our daily bread".


The opening of the Qur'an is Al-Fathihah which itself opens with: "All gratitude and thanks belongs to the Lord, Sustainer of all the Worlds".


Whilst Muslims often see the ambiguity of the terminology associated with the Bible as being caused by a loss in translation, the reality may be in it being a reaction against the first Nation. For the Judaic Nation often perceived the very same GOD as being the aloof Law-Maker and Law-Giver. And saw the religion as being one solely about the Law and not necessarily it's ethical spirit.


A Shifting Emphasis.
Jesus, a Prophet we name Nabi Isa (may GOD be pleased with him), often tried to instruct the Sanhedrin (Jewish Priests concerned with the Law) in their disregard of a balanced application of the Law, so that it's spirit of mercy might flow through. Muhammad (saw) did likewise in his application of our Shariah.


And it is this shifting of emphasis that is captured in the transformation of the terminology used for the same One GOD. Away from ELOHIM, and HIS name which the Judaic Priests feared to write, an impersonal aloof GOD to GOD the father, provider and carer of all.


However, the choice of "of our Father who art in Heaven" resonates a little further than that within our own human social experience. For is not the father the one who provides but also administers and upholds the law. Is he not the first to uphold the principle that the blind application of Law is both a necessary mercy and a blessing to all.


And so GOD the Father who art in Heaven, is the one and same Law-Giver GOD of Moses and the same Sovereign over all Creation, both Heaven and Earth, of the Muhammad (may he forever be blessed, the last Messenger sent from GOD with the completion of all that preceded it).


Shafi,
Telling it like it is, if GOD so wills!








- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Fanatical Holidaymaker

The Fanatical Holidaymaker.


On holiday with family in Bournemouth. After a wet and windy promenade on the beach front we retired to a luncheon of traditional battered cod 'n chips. Followed by an even more traditional, save of a different origin, ritual Zuhr Salaat.


Forgetting the virtues of Salaat for a man constantly in search of meaning, I want to focus on what I did after.
I spied the craven images of man and beast hanging on my hotel room wall. Of course on any other occasion they would have been just plain pictures, even to me.


But at that time, I covered them with cloth so that their forms would not be visible. And I thought, does that action make me a fanatic in the eyes of this World?


For most people I would be just that. Even though I did not seek to influence their own public perceptions of imagery, but in fact because I had to alter what they had sought to impose on me.


Cameron attacks Multiculturalism.
Cameron's attack on the failure of multiculturalism obviously leads on to questions of what he had hoped to gain from it. But for most British Politicians the question was not of gain, but because Multiculturalism naturally lead on from their traditionally tolerant disposition. This because today's World is shrinking and thence the pre-eminence of immigration. A traditional British disposition that at the turn of the 20th Century saw them play host to Karl Marx amongst others.


Traditions that made us Great.
Interesting then that Cameron should give voice to his values in a country that has no such tradition. That at the turn of the 20th Century saw the rise of fasicism. Are Cameron's values then not at odds with traditional British values? 


And like Blair, before him, is he not just playing poodle to Merkel's economic power, and ignoring our traditions. Then Cameron's and Blair's values that determine our policy are shown to be what they are, plainly feelings of inadequacy in the face of superior industrialization or markets. Playing poodle and undermining all that is Great about Britain is no way to up your game, no matter how you swing it.


Maybe he's appealing to our changing values?
Cameron may well argue and be justified in arguing that British values have changed, but then he should not seek to pull the wool over our eyes by appealing wrong-headedly to British traditions. Incredibly, if he were to argue that the now British values are based on a suspicion of immigration, then he would have to admit that the cause of the rise of such suspicion comes not from an indigenous population but from second and third generation immigrants themselves.


Maybe his position is plain and simply anti-Muslim?
And then if Cameron would fain admit to that position, then he is left solely with an anti-Muslim sentiment. He's not alone in that, but it can hardly be called traditional. After all Muslims were not public enemy number 1 twenty to thirty years ago.


So what's changed?
Well let's see, could it be something to do with oil being found in the Arabian peninsula. Well that's suits the timeline to a tee. And then with the World's economy booming on high because of cheap oil, is it a wonder that the Powers that be adopt a duplicitous, non-traditional and base foreign exploitative policy.


Muslims are people and when cornered, react as all people do!
No, put it that way then it's no wonder. It's no wonder then that there is free game on Muslims Worldwide. And it's no wonder that Muslims feel alienated and react aggressively, finding identity in a non-existent, non-traditional and even non-Islamic, but branded as such by bulls on both sides on the fence, ideology.


Back to the true fanatics.
I have met fanatics, and actually thinking about it not one of them was Muslim. My own definition of fanaticism would be the inability to step into another's shoes to see their arguments and reasons. Of course you cannot step into someone else's shoes if you cannot appreciate a common humanity between the two of you.


I know I can do that.
I know that all of the Muslims that I know can do that.


But that does not mean we have to adopt the precepts or values that public opinion, as dictated by the media savants, want us to adopt.
However, because we can appreciate them from the standpoint of their logic, it means that we are not fanatics.


Maybe at worst reactionaries to a failed foreign policies.


But the same cannot be said of the Camerons of this World, who cannot and will not step into our shoes. Because if they did, then with a clarity they would see the callousness of their words and the destruction that they might bring.


They are the true fanatics.
The only other difference is I chose to holiday in Bournemouth, and he chose Germany.


END.






Your Brother,


Shafi


(I had intended to talk more on MultiCulturalism, the imposition of values etc... I did no justice to those theme and hope to revisit them as soon as my pen rests upon my paper again.)






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Secret of Happiness.

Ask yourself are you Happy?

It is often said that to ask yourself, whether or not you are happy invites introspection. Which causes a withering into your shell, and then a necessary melancholic apprehension.

And that wisdom holds that when an outside agency asks it of you, that you should not take that bait nor question yourself, but laugh it off, save that melancholy comes to bear.

But if you cannot ask it of yourself, nor any other, without inviting such depression, then what use is the word Happiness.

It is then but a bitter tree bearing only barren fruit.

For if you cannot know that you are happy, how can you ever be expected to spread a little of it to those others whose lives you touch.

The whole of me irks at such a notion.

To know Happiness is to be Happy.
For I firmly believe that to know Happiness is to be Happy. (And not the opposite declared by so many, that "to be Happy is to not know Happiness").

And then I also firmly believe that to be Happy it is enough to know Happiness.

This is no play on words.
So please consider that last statement carefully, for it is the kernel of the attainment of Happiness.

To know Happiness is clearly of the mind, whereas to be Happy is clearly of the heart.

And so I put it to you my friends, that to be Happy it is enough to know what is happiness, and what makes people happy.

Happiness a MINDSet.
Happiness of the heart, is very much a mindset and this is what the great religions teach.

The secret of happiness is but three words, phrases or concepts:

1:-) Glory be to GOD who created (all including me), and
2:-)) All thanks belongs to Him who has nurtured me, provided for me and continues to do so from places I cannot see, and
3:-))) Truely HE is the Greatest.

(SubhanAllah wa bihamdihi SubhanAllah hil atheem.)

A remembrance that Muhammad (saw), the Messenger of GOD, said is light on the tongue and yet heavy on the scales.

To make you rich, beyond your means.
Muslim commentators have explained light on the tongue, because it is easy to say and rolls of it. And they say heavy on the scales of deeds which are measured on the Day of Truth and Justice (yawm ul haqq).

This is so.

But there is still more, for what does a person weigh on scales other than precious gold and wealth.

Saying these words makes a man wealthy beyond their means, not just on the Day of Truth, but also today.

For as Muhammad (saw) also told us, wealth is of the heart.

Remembering to thank GOD for what you have, will make you the wealthiest of people that walk this earth. Although that wealth will not jingle in your pockets it is a guaranteed way of making you smile, see the bright side of all circumstance and give to others not just wealth, but a helping hand.

Atheists can never know that Happiness!
It is an unfortunate circumstance that atheists and materialists will never be able to thank anyone, above themselves and that is a redundant action, and thus can never know this happiness.

A smile is charity- Saying of the blessed Prophet Muhammad (saw).

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Language and Truth

Language and Truth

Preamble.

The questions posed, and the observations made, here will seem unnecessary to the vast majority of people. They concern things that we take for granted, and perhaps because of this they should be established by reasoned argument. And their relationships, one with the other, should be made exactingly clear. Not for the vast majority of us, but especially so for those of us concerned with "the Theories (and Hierarchies) of Knowledge".

Language as a Tool.

Is language an impediment to realising Truth, or is it it's most worthy tool?

Certainly when language is used for ill it can create divisions and animosity. Whilst the choice of language can also cause reconciliation and harmony.

Language can then create our realities, and makes the proverbial bed on which we must lie.

Given then that the use of language can both create and destroy our World, it follows that language is but a tool in the mouths and hands of whoever uses it.

The onus of the question then shifts to us, "Can we be disinterested enough and objective enough to use language as a tool in order to discern the Truth as opposed to making our own truths?"

That we can talk about language and examine it's properties, as we have just done, suggests that it can be a very real tool in the search for Truth.

Does Truth exist within a language or outside of it?

This may seem like an irreverent question, but it's pertinence should not be doubted. When Allah t'ala, God most High, created the World HE created of all things in pairs; male and female, light and darkness, Truth and Falsehood.

What then is truth without falsehood?

And so it is because we can utter falsehoods, that we can also declare the Truth.

This is the double-barrel declaration of faith for the Muslims, at once an affirmation of the possibility of falsity and a declaration of truth; "There are no illahs (gods)" + "save the One True God (Allah)".

That in order to recognise the One True GOD, in all of HIS supremacy and transcendence, we must first deny the multiplicity of the false gods that populate our psyche.

True affirmation and belief comes only after denial.

This is part of the Truth that is present within our language, and which is necessarily the brother of falsehood.

But GOD is also Al-HAQQ, the supreme Truth, independent of all and upon which all are dependent. For Muslims GOD is independent of our language, and the worlds that we create by them, and yet our language is fully dependent upon GOD, the universal Truth. For did not GOD declare in the first revelation, "... Read, for surely your Lord is most gracious, who taught by the pen. Taught that which men knew naught." (Al-Qur'an S.Alaq).

An Absolute Truth.

(As I have hopefully shown previously in a separate blog) An absolute truth there must be, even if it is only the universal need that we all harbour for "solidity" in an uncertain World.

This absolute Truth is above / beyond and thus independent of any falsity.

A falsity that can only find expression in our language and within our own selves.

For can an object or an animal ever be said to bear false witness?

Even when the birds, or cats, when they feign ill-health to protect their young (as in a famous ahadith of Rasul-Allah (saw)) can they be said to lie?

One is an act of selflessness, whereas the other an act of egotism.

If falsity is borne of egotism, then truth is born of selflessness.

But if the absolute truth is at it's most basic a need for "solidity", then how can selflessness be a part of that? Selflessness is to give in, or to give away, or to relinquish for the good of another.

Muslims answer this particular conundrum with the famous sab-al-mathani, recited a minimum of 17 times a day, "All praise belongs to Allah the lord/ sustainer/ provider/ nourisher/ of all the Worlds (and all in them)" (Al-Qur'an, S. Al-Fathiha, the Opening).

Allah t'ala, God most High, is the One that fulfils our needs all of them.

And it is our belief in His sustenance/ provision/ care and nourishment that enables us to become selfless whilst yet living in this world.

To know God.

Using these arguments it follows that it is not possible to know the absolute Truth unless you first strive for selflessness. For selflessness is the bedrock of objectivity and disinterestedness.

But true selflessness can only materialise when you rely on another who guarantees you sustenance / provision.

Thus to "know" God, the most High, a person must first believe in Him.

Shafee

PS. Thanks to all the people on the Philosophy forum, for I am no linguist, nor philosopher. And to think is but to question.