The Tribulations

Like a loving father God may shower us with sorrows and tribulations not because of His selfishness nor His hatred nor His wrath for eternally He is Love and loving. This sorrows and tribulations are thrown into us like fire to remove impurities from gold because He wishes to see us shining, submitting and clinging ardently to Him. Happiness may rotten a neglectful soul. 

Let everyone judge you but be indifferent to it for all that matter is His eyes. He wishes to see you in your position, in your present condition because only in you can he see His different forms and images. Without you He is indescribable. You are in need yet He needs you to be in that position at the very moment. It is all that matter. Let Him be happy for you. For after all He is at all your own service. In essence, He was, is and will always be your servant for you are His God, a long-time passion of His, which from eternity He has been deprive of. He didn't have God from eternity. It is only this time that He found you, assisting you, answering your need, giving all what you don't have. He has always been more than a slave to you because He has always love you more than anybody can. He has always prayed to you. Innallaha yusalli alaykum so goes His words.

The Celever King | Parallel Truth to Death

There was a country long time ago where the people would change a king every year. The person who would become the king had to agree to a contract that he would be sent to an island after his one year of being a king.

One king finished his term and it was time for him to go to the island and live there. The people dressed him up in expensive clothes and put him on an elephant and took him around the cities to say goodbye to all the people. This was the moment of sadness for all the kings who ruled for one year. After saying farewell, the people took the king with a boat to the remote island and left him there.

On their way back, they discovered a ship that had sunk just recently. They saw a young man who survived by holding on to a floating piece of wood. As they needed a new king, they picked up the young man and took him to their country. They requested him to be a king for a year. First he refused but later he agreed to be a king. People told him about all the rules and regulations and that how he will be sent to an island after one year.

After three (3) days of being a king, he asked the ministers if they could show him the island where all the other kings were sent. They agreed and took him to the island. The island was covered with thick jungles and sounds of vicious animals were heard coming out of them. The king went little bit inside to check. Soon he discovered the dead bodies of all the past kings. He understood that as soon as they were left in the island, the animals came and killed them.

The king went back to the country and collected 100 strong workers. He took them to the island and instructed them to clean the jungle, remove all the deadly animals and cut down all the excess trees. He would visit the island every month to see how the work was progressing. In the first month, all the animals were removed and many trees were cut down. In the second month, the whole island was cleaned out. The king then told the workers to plant gardens in various parts of the island. He also took with himself useful animals like chickens, ducks, birds, goats, cows etc. In the third month, he ordered the workers to build big houses and docking stations for ships. Over the months, the island turned into a beautiful place.

The young king would wear simple clothes and spend very little from his earnings as a king. He sent all the earnings to the island for storage. When nine (9) months passed like this, the king called the ministers and told them:

“I know that I have to go the island after one year, but I would like to go there right now.” But the ministers didn’t agree to this and said that he has to wait for another three (3) months to complete the year.

Three months passed and now it was a full year. The people dressed up the young king and put him on an elephant to take him around the country to say goodbye to others. However, this king is unusually happy to leave the kingdom.

People asked him, “All the other kings would cry at this moment and why are you laughing?”

He replied, “Don’t you know what the wise people say? They say that when you came to this world as a baby, you were crying and everyone was smiling. Live such a life that when you are dying, you will be smiling and everyone around you will be crying. I have lived that life. While all the other kings were lost into the luxuries of the kingdom, I always thought about the future and planned for it. I turned the deadly island into a beautiful abode for me where I can stay peacefully.”

 The moral lesson from this story is about how we should live our life. The life of this world is to prepare for the life hereafter. In this life, we shouldn’t get lost into the deceiving and attractive things of this world and forget about what is to come in the afterlife. Rather, even if we are kings, we should live a simple life like our beloved Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and save all our enjoyments for the hereafter. May Almighty God make it easy for us. Amin

References:
Death: a beautiful gift for a believer

Sit with true people

Establish the House of your Lord in your heart on a good foundation.

"The Prophet (s) also said, "The heart of a believer is the house of God."
God, Whom neither heaven nor earth can contain, has allowed Himself to be contained within the human heart.
What is the foundation of that house? Good manners. When you are a good person, then God will send that Light into your heart. When you are not a good person, but you are trying to be one, God will support you. However, when you never try to be a good person, satan will support you. If you like satan’s support, take your support from him. But you will be the loser. If you want your Lord to support you, you are a winner. Establish that ’House’ in your heart.

But sometimes, to be good alone is difficult. And so God said in Quran,

"O believers, fear God and accompany true people" [9:119].

Sitting with true people is very important. Whenever you find a true person, go and sit with him. Even if he does not talk, sit with him. The Light in his heart will come to you. There is a saying, "Do not sit with a blacksmith, because one ember may fall on you and burn you, but go and sit with a perfume-maker, because one drop of perfume might fall on you." So when you find one of those people, go quickly and sit with him. How do you know a true person? Your heart quickly connects to him. You will know immediately that this is a true person. If your heart says to you, "No, this is not a true person," leave. A true person must be a good example in the community.

The Faqir and The Thief

“So it is, and so it was long ago, when the Qalandar met the bandit chief . . .”
So began the Master’s last tale. It was an unexpected one, for the hour was late, well past the time of farewell. But we settled ourselves to listen, knowing that the Master does nothing without purpose.
The Master sipped once more on his cup of tea and said:
“Not so long ago, as time is counted, there came to a certain oasis far in the western desert a faqir. He was a Qalandar, a wandering dervish, who had walked the deserts of Africa and Arabia for many years, seeking only solitude wherein he could remember his Creator and contemplate the Divine mysteries. His virtue and faith, his submission to the will of God, had been rewarded with tranquility of spirit, and his sincerity and devotion on the path of Love was such that the Hidden had been revealed to his heart, and he had become a Wali, a Friend of God.

“Now it came to pass that the night the faqir wandered into this oasis and lay beneath a palm tree to rest before the midnight prayer, there was, unknown to him, another man under a nearby tree who was also making camp for the night.
“But the other man was a notorious bandit, once the feared chieftain of a band of robbers who had for years plundered the spice caravans and waylaid rich merchants on their way from the coastal cities to the inland towns. The outcry against his merciless raids, however, had at last reached the ears of the Sultan and he had
ordered his soldiers to hunt down the band and destroy them. Many were caught and beheaded. Many others deserted their chief out of fear that they would share the fate of their comrades.

“Eventually, this evil man found himself alone. His purse was now empty, every last coin having been spent in escape, and he was a hunted criminal with a price on his head. Even his former allies, those dishonest merchants who had bought his stolen goods, closed their doors against him. They also feared, lest the wrath of the Sultan fall upon their necks. And so he had fled for many days across the desert and come at last to the oasis where, tired and hungry, he sat beneath a tree and cursed his wretched fate.



“Now I ask you, which of these two men is the greater, and which the less? Whom has God blessed and whom has He cursed?..."
Everyone of us kept silent.
"No, do not answer! You do not know the answer, for you are not their judge. The Creator alone is the judge of His creation.
“Munkir and Nakir, however, the angels who question the dead when they are assigned to the grave, looked upon the scene of the two men and sighed. ‘Surely,’ said Munkir ‘here at least the true gold may be seen from the false. These two may be judged, though their end is not yet come. God will have the greater, and Satan the
less.’
‘Alas! It must be so,’ agreed Nakir. ‘True gold is the most rare, and therefore are the fields of heavens spacious indeed, while the halls of Hell are filled to bursting, overflowing even the deepest
pits.’
“Now God perceived the thoughts of His servants, and spoke to the hearts of the two angels. ‘Verily, thou hast pronounced their just fate,’ He said. ‘Yet woe unto mankind had I created the world by justice alone. Am I not the Merciful and Compassionate? Behold! I will visit them with sleep and visions that thou shalt
know the truth of My creation.’
“Thus the Lord sent sleep and mighty dreams to the faqir and the wretched thief. And lo, the Qalandar awoke in hell, even into the midst of the great fires of the pit. And the bandit chief arose in Paradise, where he stood among the saints before the very Throne of God.”

The Master sipped his tea again. His eyes searched our faces over the rim of the glass.
“Is it mercy to send the worst of man to heaven?!” he asked. “Or justice to send the best of man to hell?!”
No one dared answer.
“Good!” he said soothingly. “To cleanse the heart of judgment is to discern the Way of Love. And such was the lesson of Munkir and Nakir. “For they beheld the faqir awaken in the very midst of Hell, and saw that most worthy of men rise up naked as the fires burned his flesh and the cries of tormented souls pierced his ears. Yet he did not feel pain at the touch of the flames, and showed neither surprise nor fear. His thought was only of his Beloved, and no affliction was great enough to sway his love. He sat among the fires and the torment as a dervish sits, and in a voice clear and strong he began to sing.
“‘La Illah illa Allah! La Illaha illa Allah!’
“The fires blazed furiously as the song began and then dimmed to smoldering embers, and the burning mountains trembled at the Holy Name. Now the tormented souls ceased their wailing to listen, for the name of God is not uttered in the pits. Then there was no other sound to be heard but his, and the song went on and on
until the very foundations of Hell were shaken, and the damned souls began to feel a spark of forbidden hope.
“Surely Hell would have fallen into ruin had not Satan himself appeared, and begged the faqir to depart. But the old man would not move, for he had walked many years on the Path of Love, and the Beloved’s Will was his will, whether it be paradise or eternal fire.”
The Master paused for a moment to again sip the tea beside him.
He did not look at us until he began the tale again.
“And what of the thief?” he asked, when the glass was empty. “This chieftain of bandits who was once so feared and terrible, and who had fallen into wretchedness and misery, the fate of all such
men in the end.
“God caused the two angels to perceive his vision also, and they saw him rise and stand robed in white, trembling amidst the host of heaven before the Throne of Almighty God. And the angel Gabriel
spoke unto him.
“‘By the mercy of the Lord, thy Creator, thy earthly deeds are forgiven thee,’ he said. ‘Come now and be at peace.’
“And now the truth filled his heart, and great wonder, and every veil fell from his eyes; and he saw with a clear sight the Majesty and Beauty of His Compassion, and he wept.
“And the Lord God spoke unto him, and said: ‘O man, fear not.
For thou canst not fall so low that I cannot raise thee up.’
“And fear left the thief. He knelt and prostrated himself before his God and wept. On and on flowed the endless tears of his wasted life, until they became the very waters of mercy and would not cease; and the feet of the saints were washed by his tears.
“He would have wept for eternity had not the vision ended and the two men abruptly awakened. Then the thief saw the faqir as he stood, and came to him still weeping from the dream. And the faqir perceived all that had befallen them and embraced him, and they prayed together at the midnight hour even unto the dawn. Much befell them afterwards, for the thief became the disciple of the faqir, but that is all of their tale I will tell.
“And Munkir and Nakir, who had perceived but the tiniest particle of the unending mercy of God, bowed before their Creator in submission, and in shame of their rash condemnation. For surely beyond the comprehension of men and angels is the Judgment of God.”

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This is a drop from the Book The Master of Jinn by Irving Karchmar, which gives an enlightenment to the sincere seekers.

Adam's Fall

Direct exposition of spiritual theme is avoided in the holy scriptures of most religions. The glare of the sun is too strong and blinding to the watery eye. If one wishes to have a view of its penumbra, one must use coloured glasses. Direct facts are misleading and confusing to the ordinary man; esoteric writers and speakers have all along clothed realities in may-hued garbs, so that those who have eyes to see may see. Jesus Christ (a.s.) has spoke in parables; he, even said, that pearls should not be thrown before swines. Common people, not realizing the drift of argument, go astray; it requires a certain amount of leavening in one’s temperament to grasp facts.. leavening implies fermentation of feelings to the proper degree, in addition to training of the intellect.

We are dealing here with the Esoteric side of Islam… If Islam is denuded of Esotericism, it become a mere skeleton of formalities which people of a rationalistic turn of mind would accept only a formalities. Unless this skeleton is clothed with flesh and vivified, the real beauty of Islam cannot be appreciated.

The whole drama of human existence is played in the context of God’s kindness and mercy. God desires to make human beings aware of their own nothingness so that they will put aside claims and open themselves up to His gentleness, love, and forgiveness. People should never forget that the fall of Adam from paradise was directed by the divine compassion from behind the scenes.

“O tree, put up your head next to Adam’s throne!”

“O appetite for fruit, enter into Adam’s heart!”

“O accursed one, let loose the reins of your whispering!”

“O Eve, you show the way!”

“O Adam, don’t eat the fruit, have self-restraint”

“O self-restraint, don’t come near Adam!”

Then the question is: O God, God, What is all this?

The answer is: “We want to bring Adam from the throne of indifference to the earth of need. We want to make evident the secret of love.”


“O servant, avoid disobedience and stay away from caprice!

O caprice, you take his reigns!

O world, you display yourself to him

O servant, you show self-restraint

O self-restraint, don’t come near him

O God, O God, what is all this?

We want to make the servant plead with Us. We want to make apparent Our Attribute of forgiveness.


God’s reality is mercy and compassion. The existence that He spreads out in the universe is nothing but mercy for all created things. His mercy and love make the Hidden Treasure manifest so that it might be known. When God’s own servants, created upon His form, come to know the Treasure, they experience it as sheer good and utter joy. God set up the drama so that His creatures may reap the fruit of existence, awareness, and
bliss. Even the angels with their superior knowledge of affairs were not able to see into this mystery.

The angels said, "What, will you place therein one who will wok corruption there, and shed blood?" God did not reply that He was not doing that. He said, I know what you do not know. In other words, “I know that I will forgive them. You know their disobedience, but I know My forgiveness. In your glorification, you make manifest your own activity, but in My forgiveness I make manifest My own bounty and generosity. I know what you do not know, which is my love for them and the purity of their belief in loving Me. Although outwardly their good works are barefoot, inwardly their love for Me is pure. I know what you do not know which is my love for them. No matter what they are, I love them.

No more can I speak. If you truly want to realize the ocean of wisdom of what I just mentioned, I can share to you one beautiful prayer of our beloved Prophet Muhammad “O Lord, show me ‘things’ as
they really are.”

I pray with you all so that The One show us things as they really are. No other prayer you will ever need to seek and realize the truths and the Ultimate Truth (Al-Haqq)

May Allah bless Muhammad and his holy households, and

May Allah send millions of salaams upon him and them.

Dho ‘l-Nun, A Saint | His Saying

The great muslim writer Fariduddin Attar believes that the words of the Saints are profitable even to those who cannot put them into practice, inasmuch as they strengthen aspiration and destroy self-conceit.

The Great Jonaid (or Al-Jonaid) of Baghdad, (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “Their sayings are one of the armies of Almighty God whereby He confirms and reinforces the disciple, if his heart be dejected.”

The Imam Yusof Hamadhani advised some people, who asked him what they should do when
the Saints had passed away from the earth, to read eight pages of their Sayings every day. Attar felt that it was incumbent upon him to supply this desideratum. And this was one of his motives in writing the Tadhkiratul Awliya' (Memoirs of Saints)

1.
One of the great saints mentioned in this book is Dho ‘l-Nun al-Mesri Abu ‘l-Faiz Thauban ibn Ebrahim al-Mesri. Also called Dho ‘l-Nun,he was born at Ekhmim in Upper Egypt c. 180 (796), studied under various teachers and travelled extensively in Arabia and Syria.

In 214 (829) he was arrested on a charge of heresy and sent to Baghdad to prison, but after examination he was released on the caliph’s orders to return to Cairo, where he died in 246 AH (861 CE); his tombstone has been preserved. A legendary figure as alchemist and thaumaturge, he is supposed to have known the secret of the
Egyptian hieroglyphs. A number of poems and short treatises are attributed to him, but these are for the most part apocryphal.

2.
Dho ‘l-Nun related as follows:
For thirty years I called men to repent, but only one person came to the court of God in due obedience. The circumstances were these.
One day a prince with his retinue passed by me by the door of the mosque. I spoke these words:“No one is more foolish than the weakling who tangles with the strong.”
“What words are these?” demanded the prince.
“Man is a weakling, yet he tangles with God who is strong,” I said.
The young prince grew pale. He arose and departed.
Next day he returned.
“What is the way to God?” he asked.
“There is a little way, and there is a greater way,” I answered. “Which of the two do you want? If you desire the little way, abandon the world and the lusts of
the flesh and give up sinning. If you want the great way,abandon everything but God, and empty your heart of all things.”
“By Allah, I will choose only the greater way,” said the prince.
The next day he put on the woollen robe, and entered the mystic way. In due course he became a saint.

3.
One day Dho ‘l-Nun’s companions came to him and found him weeping.
“Why are you weeping?” they asked.
“Last night when I was prostrating in prayer,” he replied, “my eyes closed in sleep. I saw the Lord, and He said to me, ‘O Abu ‘l-Faiz, I created all creatures and they separated into ten parts.
I offered the material world to them; nine of those ten parts turned their faces to the material world. One part remained over.
That one part divided also into ten parts. I offered Paradise to them; nine parts turned their faces to Paradise. One part remained over.
That one part split likewise into ten parts. I brought Hell before them; all fled and were scattered for fear of Hell.
Only one part remained over, those who had not been lured by the material world, nor inclined after Paradise, neither were afraid of Hell. I said to them, “My servants, you looked not upon the material world, you inclined not after Paradise, you were not afraid of Hell. What do you seek?”
All raised their heads and cried, “Thou knowest best what we desire.”

4.

These words uttered by Dho 'l-Nun reminds us and inspires us that we must not forget to Choose God. The Hell whose existence frightens the believers... to abstain from the forbidden things and the Heaven whose existence encourages the believers... to follow the commandments of God, are already things worth being grateful to our Lord. Every time these are mentioned we are reminded of our duties and responsibilities to our Lord and inspires us to pray and remember Him. Yet, we must not also forget that these may also tempt us... to such point we pray and follow the Commandments in great hope that paradise may be rewarded to us... and we abstain from forbidden things that we may not be thrown to the Hell.
Better than that, we must pray, follow the commandments, and abstain from forbidden things just for his sake, nothing more.

May God be pleased with Dho 'l-Nun.

And praise and thanks to God, the Creator of all the worlds for giving us these glad tidings, these consciousness, and these thoughts.


Reference:
Tadhkiratul Awliya' - Fariruddin Attar
Futu Al Ghaib - Hadrat Abdul Qadir Al-Jilani

What is Love?

1.
I can still remember in one of our high school days, our Filipino teacher asked (in tagalog language), "What is Love?"
The whole class was so silent for many seconds, thinking... Fearing that the teacher would be annoyed if no-one participated,I raised my hand and answered, "Ma'am, it is a special way of feeling that is experienced by most of us."

Six years later, someone explained to me what Love really is.
Love has no definition through which its essence can be known. Rather, it is given descriptive and verbal definitions, nothing more. Those who define love have not known it, those who have not tasted it by drinking it down have not known it, and those who say that they have been quenched by it have not known it, for love is drinking without quenching.

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2.
Someone asked, “What is loverhood?”
I replied, “Don’t ask me about these meanings –
When you become like me, you’ll know;
When it calls you, you will tell its tale.”

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3.
Love makes bitter sweet,
Love turns copper into gold,
Love makes dregs into wine,
Love turns pain into healing,
Love brings dead into life,
Love makes kings into slaves -

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4.
"What is it to be a lover?" a friend asked.
"To have a perfect thirst." I answered. "What would happen, o friend, if you became a lover like me. Every day madness, every night weeping. Her image not out of my eyes for an instant. You would cut yourself off from your friends. You would wash your hands off the world. When I mix with people, I am water with oil, outwardly joined, inwardly separate. Leaving behind all selfish desires, you would become sick, but not any sickness a doctor could cure. If for an instant the doctors tasted this heartache, they would escape their chains and tear up their books!"



References:
Futuhat Al makkiya - Ibn Arabi
Kulliyat I shams - Jalaluddin Rumi
Mathnawi - Jalaluddin Rumi