Reflection is Remedy

“Just because you don’t take an interest in politics, doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.” -Pericles

The true sufi is the one who is actively engaged in the world, but possesses the heart of detachment from it.

Although I want to dedicate the majority of my life to religious learning and God-willing, one day to teaching, one of my hobbies that I consider to be of great importance is to understand the role that politics plays in the lives of others and to stand up for what I believe is right and what will safeguard the lives, rights, and freedom of people, animals, and the natural environment.

O infinite in beauty, whose endless good befalls,
the creatures You have made, so answer all our calls!

You alone save drowning souls, so gracious with our states,
rescuing the doomed, relieving our dire straits:

Constriction is increasing, there is no cure in sight,
So hasten to our needs, respond to set them right!

Our hands are raised to You, our palms are open wide:
We seek sincerely endless grace You do provide.

Be gentle with our souls in all You have decreed,
Bestow on us what pleases You in what we need.

Replace our state of hardship with Your gentle ease,
And guide us with Your power’s prevailing breeze,

And place our status over those who took our lands,
Constrain their evil now, and tightly bind their hands;

Overcome our foes with Your subduing might,
Unravel all their hopes, and force them to take flight;

Deter their evil aims, and dash their unjust plan;
Repel them from our gates, and mystify each man.

Be swift in justice, Lord, in this our anxious hour,
For they cannot remove an atom of Your power.

Ameen.

-Dua’ an-Nasiri: The Prayer of the Oppressed

“The World of Imagination allows spirits to become embodied and bodies to become spiritualized. On the microscopic level, our minds spiritualize the objects of the outside world simply by perceiving them. The spiritualized nature of these objects becomes evident in the world of dreams, where we perceive sensory objects drawn from the outside world in a kind of never-never land between the inanimate matter of the corporeal(material) world and the living and luminous substance of the spirit.

The five senses remain active in imagination, but the five senses that perceive imagination are not necessarily identical with the five senses that function in the corporeal world. Hence, one needs to distinguish between the “eye of sense perception”, which sees during wakefulness, and the “eye of imagination” which sees during sleep. However, the eye of imagination may also see during wakefulness.”

-Dr. William Chittick

“There’s a hidden sweetness
in the stomach’s emptiness.
We are lutes, no more, no less.
If the sound box is stuffed
full of anything, no music.
If the brain and the belly
are burning clean with fasting,
every moment a new song
comes out of the fire.
The fog clears, and a new
energy makes you run up the
steps in front of you.
Be emptier and cry like
reed instruments cry.
Emptier, write secrets with
the reed pen.
When you’re full of food and drink,
Satan sits where your
spirit should, an ugly metal
statue in place of the Kaaba.
When you fast, good habits gather
like friends who want to help.
Fasting is Solomon’s ring.
Don’t give it to some illusion
and lose your power.
But even if you’ve lost all
will and control, they come
back when you fast,
like soldiers appearing out
of the ground, pennants
flying above them.
A table descends to your
tent, Jesus’s table.
Expect to see it, when you
fast, this table spread with
other food better than the
broth of cabbages.”
-Rumi

I used to wonder while growing up, why are so many people indifferent towards religion? Indifferent towards studying hard and doing well in school? Indifferent towards many things that I had a passion for… Only in recent years did I fully realize that these differences are necessary for the world to function. Professor Chittick once implied that not everyone was meant to be religious, or spiritual. If everyone was fascinated by religion then how will the world grow in fields and areas where religiosity or spirituality are not a prerequisite, such as technological developments in medicine and computer science? I have encountered some of the most well-mannered and sincere people in these fields, but when the topic of spirituality comes up, they are not conversant or interested. But this is fine. People will follow their callings to their respective field and role in life. And all of these roles need to be valued and respected. The lack of speech in the areas of religion and spirituality does not mean that a person’s manners and behaviors cannot exemplify the state present in the Awliyaa (friends of God).

Regarding the indifference towards studying hard in school: intelligence and knowledge are not limited to history, math, science, and literature. There are interpersonal skills and knowledge, public speaking skills, spatial understanding and physical performance skills, music, art, and more. Without music, without art, without oratory, this world would be completely devoid of beauty. A person may excel in the hard sciences but can they move an audience to tears like how an actor or a poet can? We must learn to appreciate both roles, for indeed all human skills and talents are a reflection of the Infinite Wisdom and Beauty of the Creator.

When I grab you, your light is hidden beneath the clasp of my hand.
When I release you, your light is shining for the world to admire.

I shall release you forever, so that your light may be multiplied endless times over.

Nina sits by her window in her dimly lit room.  The shutters are dark and dust-ridden, contrasting sharply with the light outside.  She grabs both shutters and pulls it open with a burst of energy!  Immediately forms and shapes become apparent in her room.  Things that were not visible before come to life.  Nina whispers to the gushes of wind that are now blowing across her cheek.  “Is it a crime to desire like-mindedness?  Is it a crime to desire stimulation of the mind?  Is it a crime to ask for proximity to the one who loves, who yearns, for the same pathways to Reality?” At this point Nina has climbed out of the window.  She is standing on the windowsill, her hands clasping the wood of the roof.  She basks in the radiant light and rush of the breeze.  Then she lets go.  She falls into the trust of her Creator, who will save her.

I wrote this after perusing through Dr. William Chittick’s latest book: Divine Love: Islamic Literature and the Path to God.

Why do people fall in love? Specifically, why do seekers on the Islamic spiritual path fall in love with God? One main and essential antecedent is beauty. Human beings are innately attracted to beautiful forms, and thus travelers on the spiritual path find ultimate beauty in their Creator. He is the embodiment of perfection in beauty, which He chooses to disclose to His select servants. Thereby these servants become perfect reflections of the Divine Beauty, and thereby humans fall in love with these perfected servants of God. The entire cosmos is beautiful because it is a reflection of the Creative Wisdom of its Originator. Finally, the attraction to this beauty in the cosmos, messengers, and God Himself, is the moving force and magnetic attraction that compels the wayfarers on the path to God to move infinitely closer to their Beloved.

I am taking an Arabic 1 class taught by Hafidth Abdur Rahman al Khattab at M.E.C.C.A. Center in NYC.  Several times in class he will go off on tangents, exemplifying aspects of grammar using history and poetry.  One day he told us a funny story, about how a gang of men threatened to physically attack a scholar of Arabic grammar.  The scholar told them, “Go ahead, for every plural is feminine.”  (I am not trying to reinforce the stereotype of femininity being mellow and weak).  However his example made us laugh and reinforced the concept that regardless of the gender of a word in its singular form, once it becomes plural, it becomes feminine.

Then as usual my thoughts became sidetracked.  This experience is reminding me so much of my time spent in Brother Nouman Ali Khan’s Arabic Grammar class that I attended in high school.  Brother Nouman used to go off on A LOT of tangents as well, which only served to show us the depth, vastness, and beauty of the Arabic language.  Which brings me to my next epiphany.

Every field of knowledge in this universe is a vast and endless ocean.  Whether it is music, grammar, language, art, history, anthropology, genetics, astronomy, etc.  It is impossible to become a thorough master in all fields of knowledge.  This is why we must search deep into our souls and find the passion that ignites energy in us, and choose to swim in that ocean.

My friend who used to be a Music professor before she became Muslim told me about the different methods and techniques to improve voice, (which is a lot).  She used to be an Oprah singer.  Listening to her speak only solidifies the fact that knowledge of Music is an ocean itself.

Even within the Islamic Sciences there is a multiplicity of oceans to choose from: language, tajweed, hadith, tafsir, seerah, aqeedah, fiqh, tasawwuf.

My last and final epiphany (and hypothesis) is this:  A successful and happy marriage will occur when both partners choose to swim in the same ocean of knowledge.  When one partner tires of the characteristics of the other, they will never tire of their mutual passion for their ocean of choice.  I have seen couples at Stony Brook University where both partners are professors are in the same field, and this is absolutely beautiful.  They can stimulate each others’ minds with the same body of knowledge.  Their combined passions will have a synergistic effect and give birth to a source of energy for the community and students, God-willing.

Now the point to be taken home: Which ocean will you swim in?  And how will you share it with others?

There is a literal and historical explanation behind every ayah in the Qur’an.  Then there is an infinite amount of deeper, metaphorical, and underlying meanings, disclosed only to those who are worthy of its disclosure.  This is what makes the Qur’an so beautiful and mysterious.  Reading the same ayah at a later time may reveal to you another secret that you didn’t know before.

There is one ayah in Surah al-Anfal that is referring to the aftermath of war.  The ayah is as follows:

“…If God knows any good in your hearts, He will give you something better than what has been taken from you, and He will forgive you, and God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” [al-Anfal: 70]

The Prophet (pbuh) was commanded to say this to the captives taken in war.  However this is also a powerful reminder to ourselves whenever something has been taken from us in the dunya.  We may not be captives of war, but we may as well be captives of the dunya and thus a loss in it is devastating for us!  May God replace our ‘losses’ with better opportunities and new openings! Ameen!