Poems and Aphorisms 16

Contentment

Be content with past

Be content with future

Work in the present for both

Open Minded 2

The hungry man is evidence for food

This line is proof against the sceptical dude

Who asks, “Where is proof of your God?”

And says, “fossils lie where dinosaurs once trod;

What traces reveal a Supreme Being?”

I answer simply this:

That our yearning for justice is not remiss

Rather, it proves that there is One who cares

Who created creatures in pairs

Yet still the sceptic dares:

“If each and every thing requires a cause

Then what caused the Creator?” A slight pause…

Then I reply that He is not subject to the laws

Which He set down. If otherwise there’d be flaws

And He is flawless

Second point…

Are we to make of God, Who is Lord

What we make of ourselves?

That is absurd!

Now, my friend lost for words ventures to ask

 “What say you of evil?

The sort that makes man, woman, and child suffer.

Tornados, Hurricanes, and Floods—life on Earth could be no rougher!”

I replied, “it is to make us tougher.”

Pain leads to struggle which leads to growth

“By God! I make the oath

That which does not kill me makes me stronger

Despite its trials I hope to remain on this Earth longer”

“Why would you wish such a terrible thing?”

“So that peace and harmony I might bring.”

And with that we departed ways

He returned to his religion and I to mine

Surprisingly, a few days later I receive a call

Asking would I like to dine

Me with orange juice and he with wine

I responded with this line:

“I’m always ready to talk with a brother

Regardless he be an atheist and I a God lover.

With respect we shall treat each other

And with that, a friendship fostered

Through meetings weekly rostered

From enmity cloistered

Through love bolstered

A happy ending. You see…

Speak your truth, then let others be

Know God and be carefree

Spiritual Gratification

Hours of meditation, reciting spiritual texts, prayer, thinking of Him, the All Benevolent, All Loving. All this can lead to something we may call a spiritual high. Spiritual highs are great, for a time, but they can be deadly to the spiritual seeker.

An obstacle for people treading the spiritual path is gratification. Gratification is a feeling of pleasure or satisfaction. Hours of devotion can lead to gratification. The feelings and emotions that produce a certain hāl (spiritual state) can be so pleasurable that we end up seeking that hāl rather than God. So devastating is spiritual gratification, one Sufi shaykh calls it the “the big idol” of the spiritual path.

While implicitly associating partners with God, we don’t stop there. By chasing spiritual states, we are bargaining with God, essentially saying: “I’ll do ritual acts of worship if you give me a hāl.” The adverse effect of chasing spiritual states can be seen in people leaving religion because they stopped feeling gratified via a hāl.

God created us to worship Him, not for a return, but simply because He is worthy of worship. May God grant us states that lead us closer to Him. May He keep our eyes fixed on the goal (i.e. worshipping Him as if we see Him) while on the spiritual path. Aameen.

Horizons Two: Fighting Sea-Sickness

As a child in school I remember the excitement I felt when one of my friends in class began wearing glasses. “The optician said I was short sighted,” she would announce with great pride. Now you may be thinking, what child would announce their need for glasses with pride? You see, my friends and I were part of the group known as the ‘nerds.’ But remembering this, I cannot but relate this further to our vision of the world. Are we amongst the self-absorbed, who only see what is near us, or do we look at the world we live in with a clearer vision, and see what is beyond us?*

A Muslim scholar, at a recent retreat, gave the analogy of sea-sickness in the dunya (i.e. the world) due to absorption in it; what we might call ‘worldliness.’ He relates the time at sea when as a chef working in the galley he would start to get that feeling in the stomach indicating sea-sickness. To counter the feeling, he would look out the window towards the horizon. He’d do this because unlike the pots and pans close up that were moving to-and-fro the horizon provided a still image, grounding him.

Just like a person on a boat which is moving to-and-fro fights sea-sickness by looking at the horizon to that which is beyond him, so, too, the scholar alluded that we as humans must look out to the horizon (i.e. to God) in our day to day lives. In doing so, it is hoped, we will realise that there is a Great Power in control of all affairs, and the world in which we live in is not just made up of our own temporary reality, but a bigger picture.

The contemporary social media age has made it easy (if not fardh [obligatory]), to focus on what is near (i.e. the dunya and ourselves) rather than what is far (i.e. the Afterlife). Whether it is what we ate for dinner, who we went out with, or what products we like, before long enough the only people in our life is us. Yet, if we were to wear glasses of reflection and fix our short-sightedness we could look to the horizon, and perhaps this would enable us to see the bigger picture we are a part of.

May Allah Allow us to see the bigger picture. May Allah Grant us vision beyond the horizon, Aameen.

*True story, as narrated by my wife. 

Horizons One: Falling On Our Feet

Cats fall on their feet when they are thrown up in the air. How do humans fare?

When we are ‘thrown’ around in life, during turbulent relationships and accidents, as victims of crime or natural disaster, being long-term unemployed, or the death of a loved one, many of us fall on our faces.

Why does this occur? Shortsightedness could be one cause. By shortsightedness I mean one’s eyes are focused on ourselves or what is just in front of us and not on the bigger picture. Seeing the bigger picture requires the ability to step-back in order to view the ground and what’s above: the horizon. The secret is to maintain vision beyond ourselves, whether directly on our Creator or the belief in a destiny.

At a recent spiritual retreat, a Sufi scholar said that “people of taqwa (God-consciousness) fall on their feet, through the grace of God.” When our eyes are farsighted, that is, able to focus on the horizon that is God, accidents and incidents lose their "it's a disaster" and “it's the end of the world” effect on our lives. The higher up our sight is focused the less grave events seem.

Life can throw up all sorts of challenges and trials. The trick is to stay above them by looking to Whom it is that is casting them downwards upon us. Can we be of those who look beyond the immediacy of events and look to the horizon, and in doing so land on our feet?

May God grant us the ability to look beyond the chaos on the ground. May we land on our feet after enduring the trials of this life. Aameen.