Reflection is Remedy

I do not believe in conforming to the cookie-cutter paradigm
of what it means to be successful and accomplished by a certain age.

I am a striver of witnessing the blessing within the present moment,
which is the goal of every spiritual path, regardless of your theology or religion.

I enjoy diving into the unlimited depths of ecstatic poetry and wisdom that effuses through the books that I read.
I enjoy traveling and visiting the sacred cities and homes of our spiritual sages throughout time.
I feel utter bliss when I teach and see the glimmer of awe and wonder in the eyes of my students.
I feel soul tranquility when I meditate, and contemplate the signs of the Divine in the outward world
and within my own self.
I feel soul satisfaction when I march and actively speak to protect our beloved home, earth, and the oppressed inhabitants within it.

And most of all…
I revel in the bliss of sitting at the feet of my teachers, feeling more and more enlightened as they guide and radiate their experienced knowledge to the world.

We are so, extraordinarily, blessed.
Thank You, O Source and Light of the Universe!
For your phenomenal, endless gifts.

What great comfort there is
in being alone with the Alone.

Whether we’re in the company of others or not,
the state of alone-ness, will leave us feeling soul full-ness. Connected to Being in every mode of being.

“When He alienates you from His creatures, know that He wants to open for you the doors of intimacy with Himself.”
-Shaykh Ibn ata illah

Please find me on Instagram @haseena.reflects, where you can find more of my micropoetry and reflections.

“The coming of prophets to open countless unique paths for people to journey to God, aside from just becoming seekers of religious knowledge and its scholars, has to do with connecting all of creation with the spiritual realm and transcending their attachment to material meanings.

One reason the Muslim community seems to obsess over disciplines such as law and theology is precisely because they pertain to this body and mind, even the spiritual reality of these sciences is neglected.

Consider, for instance, that shaykh al Akbar Ibn Arabi included an entire section in the Meccan Openings on the inward reality of shari’a where he discussed, among many others, the reason for permissibility to wear shoes during prayer as being that prayer is a journey.

It is worthwhile noting that the word shari’a itself, linguistically, comes from shaari’ (road), and thus refers to ones path to the water of spiritual life. This necessarily includes a constant awareness of the spiritual reality of our bodily worship.

Like metaphors in a poem, our bodily existence is a metaphor of our spiritual reality … we are a spirit first and foremost and a body second. The body is auxiliary and perishes, while the spirit is essential and remains.

Therefore, any discussion of law or theology that focuses solely on the bodily dimension, leaving out the spiritual reality is steering us away from our objective, God.

Even any attempt to rectify injustices in the world by resorting to social criticism without rooting the sickness and medicine in the spirit first and foremost is steering away from our objective, God.

Those Muslims who seek to fix the world whilst criticising abundant divine remembrance and singing of divine or prophetic praises as being a nice individual activity but irrelevant or inefficient at fixing the world’s problems, quite frankly, are exactly the ones who wrongly believe that our power lies in our bodies and minds, not spirit.

The simple fact is that the closer any activity we perform is to the spiritual world, the more powerful and efficient it is at changing both our spiritual and bodily reality. Anything else is in vain … all our institutions and conferences perish without this spiritual reality.

From this perspective of reality, art has more power to change a villains heart than all institutions, conferences and lectures combined… art works on hearts and all else works on the mind. And who are saints but perfected divine art works turned artists!”

Sidi Ali Hussain

Conversation between an Indian mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik and Alexander the Great:

The world conqueror apparently met what he called a ‘gymnosophist’ – a naked, wise man, possibly a yogi – sitting on a rock and staring at the sky, and asked him, “What are you doing?”

“I’m experiencing nothingness. What are you doing?” the gymnosophist replied.

“I am conquering the world,” Alexander said.

They both laughed; each one thought the other was a fool, and was wasting their life.

There are those who do not seek to be known while they are alive. When they die, God makes them become known world over.

Shaykh Murabit is the teacher of many of our teachers, including Shaykh Hamza Yusuf. Our world has lost a great and beautiful soul.

“May God reward him for his service to this deen and his love and concern for the Muslims. He was never known to speak ill of anyone. Once when a student was studying Khalil with him and asked what a certain word meant in the text, he explained to him that it was a slow and clumsy horse. The student then said, ‘like so-and-so’s horse?’ At this Murabit al-Hajj suddenly became upset and said, ‘I don’t spend much time with people because they backbite, so if you want to study with me, you must never speak ill of anyone in my presence.’ It is not well known by Muslims that to speak ill of someone’s animals falls under the ruling of backbiting.”
-Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

“My eyes fell upon the most noble and majestic person I have ever seen in my life. He called me over, put his hand on my shoulder, welcomed me warmly, and then asked me, “Is it like the dream?” I burst into a flood of tears. I had indeed experienced a dream with him that was very similar to our actual meeting. He then went back to teaching. I was given a drink, and some of the students began to massage me, which I most appreciated, as my entire body ached from the difficult journey.”
-Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

“People speak of the evil eye
But they overlook the good eye.
The good eye exists.
Just as the one who possessed the evil eye can cause illness with a glance,
The one possessed of the good eye can heal with a glance.”
-Habib Ahmed Mashhur Al Haddad
From ‘Signs on the Horizons’ by Michael Sugich

“Saints are like the circumference of a circle. The circle is composed of points. On its circumference there are countless points. Yet the circle’s center consists of but a single point, and from that point each saint receives light and power. The radii of the circle extend to every point on the circumference but the distance from the center to each point on the circumference is identical. Each point on the circumference is one saint, one here and another there.

Each saint takes from the center. All on the circumference are brothers and sisters there is no difference between them. When they reach this level, each knows and recognizes the other. But outside this level, humans do not know each other. That is why 124,000 great saints know each other, for all of them swimming in the same orbit. That is the meaning of the verse from God’s Holy Words:

Each one is swimming in his orbit.

The illustrious saints swim in the orbit of the 124,000, taking from the Center of everything, God most High. If you hold the hand of any one of them it is as if you are holding the hand of all. When you reach one it is as if you have reached them all. At that time the light they all possess will be bestowed on you and illuminate your heart.”

-Shaykh Hisham Kabbani