Eye of the Soulstorm

Narrated Abu Qatada bin Rib’i Al-Ansari:
A funeral procession passed by Allah’s Apostle who said, “Relieved or relieving?” The people asked, “O Allah’s Apostle! What is relieved and relieving?” He said, “A believer is relieved (by death) from the troubles and hardships of the world and leaves for the Mercy of Allah, while (the death of) a wicked person relieves the people, the land, the trees, (and) the animals from him.”

My father’s death was a blessing (inshAllah).  He was finally relieved of his suffering from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease).
May his soul find peace and beauty in the barzakh, the Day of Judgment, and in the Hereafter. Ameen.  I pray Allah grants him residence in Paradise near to the beloved Prophet (pbuh) and his companions.  My dad was amazing, he sacrificed his sleep and spare time to take me to countless of Islamic programs and events when I was a child.  I could write more but it would not do justice.  I’ll just keep my satisfaction and love for him in my heart for now.

I wasn’t sad at my dad’s wake nor at his janazah.  I was happy.  Happy because iA he is going to meet the Being that is the most beloved to him.  :)  My duty now is to carry on his legacy. <3 <3

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The point of my last post was that I was finding it hard to tolerate narrow-mindedness.  I think this toleration is getting easier, mostly because of the amazing adab people display.  Manners and character go a very, very long way.  But here are the examples of closed minds that I have a hard time fathoming:

Materialistic people who cannot burst out of their bubbles:  They are driven by the brand-name fashion industry in which they cannot leave and realize that there are much more important matters to be worrying about.  Instead of acquiring a PhD to make a difference, they are bubbling with excitement about the future car they want to buy along with their entire coach collection of purses.  Some of these people complain that they cannot stand it when their parents or scholars of Islam tell them what to do…then why are they allowing a bunch of men who control the fashion industry to influence their minds and tell them what to wear?

The person who is bound to their culture by every thread.  I have no problem with this person unless they begin to demean people of other cultures and criticize others who choose to marry outside of their culture.  Yes.  I have heard (through secondary sources) that people have called my brother a “wannabe Arab” after he married a girl who traces her roots back to Yemen.  There is a line in the Quran where God says that he created people into different tribes and cultures so that we may learn from each other.  What better way for inter-cultural exchange and harmony than to marry people from a different culture?  A partner for marriage (in my opinion) is someone with which you have a harmonious, mutual understanding in the views that mean the most to you.  If I find this harmony in a person of a different culture or race, then by all means I will consider him.  I am also disappointed when people place priority on culture over religion.  The stigmas and ideologies developed by men through a culture can never outweigh the divine sources of religion.

Finally, people who are not willing to accept or even consider religious viewpoints that are different from their own.  I have countless of examples for this, but I will list only a few.  Intelligence to me is something that grows over time.  If one is stuck in a certain ideology, or in an ideology that inherently inhibits growth, then I will begin to feel suffocated.  The Quran is a guidance to all men for eternity.  This means that its guidance will oversee many eras of culture, fashion, governance, music, food etc.  This does not mean that the fashion, food, and culture that existed during the time of the prophet is superior to all others!  What is superior during the Prophet’s time was the Muslims’ character, knowledge, manners, and intimacy with God.  As long as a Muslim is covering the necessary areas of their body with modest clothing, I do not think that their intimacy with God is limited by their failure to wear a black abayah and niqab (face-covering).  The Quran did not come down to turn humanity into robots-it came to guide us into realizing that everything that exists is a proof of God and His oneness-including the culture, fashion, and food that changes throughout time.  I have no problem with niqab, I just have a problem with those who believe that to not wear it is restricting their relationship with God.

Of course this is an extreme example, but this “niqab” is a symbol for ideologies too.  My cousin-in-law told me once that he was criticized for playing basketball because it was a biddah (innovation) and had no place in the Quran and Sunnah.  This is ridiculous and sad at the same time.  One of my favorite scholars said that the reason so many Saudi youth are turning to “western” music is because their own display of musical creativity (Nasheeds, Qasidahs, etc) is being shunned in their land as a biddah, thus they have no means to express it except though foreign music.

Another example of this close-mindedness happened recently after a conference.  The conference had different sessions: one discussing the socio-psychological perspective of Islam, one discussing the political perspective of Islam, another discussing the spiritual perspective of Islam, and another discussing business marketing and how to use it to improve the west’s understanding of Islam.  A lot of my friends went.  At first I heard many criticisms about the atmosphere because it was not gender segregated and did not offer a lot in terms of Islamic knowledge.  Then however, I heard a completely different perspective.  My own cousin and his wife told me how much they enjoyed it, and another one of my good friends said it was amazing.  When I told them about the initial criticisms, they were shocked and said that the quality and comprehensiveness of the conference outweighed the fact that it was gender-mixed.  In fact, men and women sat in clusters so it was not completely mixed.  Conclusion: do not let a petty discomfort prevent you from benefiting from something larger and substantial.

These are three main qualities that I have difficulty coming to terms with.  However one of my friends told me that you should NEVER hold antipathy towards a person who says something hurtful.  What you should hold antipathy towards is the statement that was made.  This is beautiful.

At the end of the day, everyone is raised differently and has different experiences that make them who they are.  Maybe I need to learn to open my mind, too.

Posted in: Advice & Wisdom, Defeating the Ego, General by Hifzin114 /
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Lately I have been feeling suffocated.  How do you feel when the people you love the most look down upon something you admire a lot? I’ll tell you. You feel suffocated. You may have pains in your stomach. You may be unable to breathe. Ok. I’m being dramatic, but this is the first time I am experiencing this for longer than….5-10 minutes.

How would you feel while staying in a room filled with racist people; particularly against blacks?  Their racial comments are not harsh, but bitter and blunt.  The racists are all educated too; all with at least a bachelors degree.  This is how I would feel: disgusted.  I would want to leave immediately.  I know I would start feeling “suffocated.”

Lately I have been realizing that my passions are not shared by those who I love.  Let me give you an example.  Let’s suppose you have a fascination for art. You cannot explain in words how much pleasure you receive by drawing and molding structures out of clay. It is bliss.  Moving your hands through the damp clay is the most stress-relieving, happiness-inducing movement ever.  It is ecstasy. One day your FAVORITE art scholar has appeared in town. But there is more to add to this. Your favorite art scholar designs his art around religious symbols and themes. He uses art to express his love of God and religion. OF COURSE you are excited to go.  However, you know two of your friends would not go. They are not the artsy type.  They think it is a waste of time.  They don’t realize that without art, no mosque, temple, or place of worship would be beautiful.  Some people are tempted to pray more because of the beauty and serenity of a prayer area.  Anyway.  You ask your last closest friend to attend the event with you.  Her response?  ”No, I think art and Islam coupled together is a harmful innovation.”  You let her words sink in before you respond. Your heart freezes but you don’t show it visibly.

Once you are in safe haven you stare at the mirror in utter shock at the narrow-mindedness and ignorance of the world.  But that’s not so much an issue.  You can handle narrow-mindedness.  But when everyone around you criticizes and demeans art…your heart eventually crumbles.

This is the end of my example but not the end of my post, iA it will continue this weekend.  Further explanation is necessary.

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Today I saw Avatar; I really wanted to know what the buzz was all about. Although there was a cliche sub-plot and an extremely predictable main plot, the timeless message that was displayed is what I love the most.

The graphics and scenery were amazing too, however, in terms of beauty, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for wii blew my mind away. And the wii game is even better since you are actually playing the main character in the game.  One of my friends mentioned that the movie made her think of the beauty of Jannah.  That is exactly what The Legend of Zelda did for me.

Anyway, here are the turn-offs of the movie for me:

Cliche love story: This reminded me of “Pocahontas”.  Of course the protagonist just happens to bump into the daughter of the leader of the tribe.  In reality, what are the chances of this happening?  Also, Neytiri is in charge of teaching Jake Sully.  Hmmm.  Very predictable.  Maybe they were cute, but I think the growing relationship between Jake and Grace the scientist was more intriguing.

Cliche Plot:  Again this reminded me of “Pocahontas,” and even “V for Vendetta”.  The perceived enemy is really not what you think they are.  The evil, white humans want to reap the natural resources, destroy nature, make money, and kill the indigenous.  The movie was predictable from the start.  Of course Jake is going to side with the natives.  After all, he becomes an Avatar.

Scantily clad female (and male) Avatar: This is added for greater effect.  The movie has all the weak-nafs pleasing elements; including attractive female heroines, and lots of violence and action.  The Avatar creatures actually reminded me of Jack from “The Nightmare Before Christmas”.

Turn-ons:

The dramatic change in relationship between Colonel Miles and Jake.  This reminded me of the same kind of plot in “Crimson Tide”.  There is a strong pact and understanding in the beginning, but it later changes because of a moral dilemma.   This reminded me that sometimes the right course of action is sometimes the most difficult to undertake.

Nature.  I love trees.  Yes.  I am a tree-hugger. :)  The appreciation of nature, animals, and its preservation.  It’s interesting because the same people who loved “Avatar” are also afraid of all pets that walk.

A new perspective of the so called “enemy”.  In the beginning of the movie, the Avatar are the ferocious enemy.  This is still evident when Naytiri tries to kill Jake.  Her gentleness begins to show when she shows regret and sorrow for killing the creatures that were attacking Jake.  When Jake later learns to slaughter the sacred Avatar way, he thanks the animal.  This reminded me of zabiha meat and showing gratitude.

When Colonol Miles says, “Let’s fight terror with terror.”  I love this!  Hopefully this will open many minds!  At this point the audience is routing for the Avatar to win the battle.  Clearly the movie makes an allusion that what we perceive to be terror or terrorists may not be true.  In fact, the humans were clearly terrorizing the Avatar by destroying their sacred tree, chasing them out of their homeland, and killing innocent Avatar.

Reality of the Avatar World.  When Jake admits that the land of the Avatar was becoming reality, and that his life on the space station was turning into a dream.  My friend pointed out that this reminded her of Akhira vs. Dunya.  Akhira=land of the Avatar!  After all, when we die, we wake up!

Limb Liberation.  The fact that Jake gets to use his legs again in the land of the Avatar.  Although I am not paralyzed from my hip down, I could feel a sense of his liberation and joy.

My Favorite:

The network and the sacred energy that passed on from the ancestors to the modern Avatar.  SubhanAllah, this reminded me of Tasawwuf and barakah.  The unbroken chain of ijazas that lead back to the Prophet (pbuh) is like the chain of energy and understanding that the avatar receive from their holy tree with the connection to their ancestors.  Also, the energy reminds me of barakah.  The more energy the Avatar have, the more their God is pleased with their actions.

Overall, the movie was very nice.  The perspective of the “enemy” and the realization of their innocence is the theme I liked most.

Posted in: General by Hifzin114 /
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What a blessed way to start the new year…this program was absolutely AMAZING.  Alhamdulilah, I’m so glad I went.  Here are some gems.

I missed one day (Saturday).  Also, I left out A LOT of notes about fiqh and the development of fiqh over the course of time.  I just listed some inspirational stuff.

Even the best of creations (Prophet Muhammad, pbuh) had a teacher: Angel Jibreel.  Who are we to say that we do not need a teacher?  And what a blessing it is to take knowledge from a teacher with a chain of teachers leading back to the Prophet (pbuh).

The differences between the sahaba are a mercy for us.

Books are secondary sources to the scholars.

Just by mentioning pious people, the mercy of Allah descends.

Every religious matter that does not begin with “Bismillah hir Rahman nir Rahim” will fall short.

If one wants high levels of Paradise, then one has to attain high levels of knowledge.

Be one who takes little, but benefits a lot, not one who takes a lot, but benefits little.

The boat of the shariah is designed to keep you from drowning in the ocean of dunya.

If you strive and struggle, you will see the results.

A man had a belt of disbelief around him due to his constant showing off to others.  He became sincere by realizing that all of creation are dead.

When one’s acts are for other than God, he/she will find it very difficult.

The only way to understand Tasawwuf, is to taste it.

A sign that a man holds the dunya in his hand and not in his heart, is the lack of care he shows when he loses his dunya.

Winter is the best season for a believer–its days are short for fasting, and its nights are long for praying.

A Wali of Allah is able to look through you and realize your defects through the light of Allah (Firasa).

Guard your tongue in front of a ruler, guard your heart in front of a Wali.

Someone asked a shaykh how he was able to still use his limbs so well after having lived such a long time.  He responded by saying that he preserved his limbs from sin while he was young.

Imam Al Haddad: Don’t let a sunnah reach you, except that you follow it at least once.

Imam Al Chisti: If a man is walking over water, or flying over air, do not consider him a Wali of Allah unless he is following the Quran and sunnah.

There are two types of Nifaq (hypocrisy): Intending to destroy Islam from within, and doing things for other than God.

A lot of people wonder why all except one of the Tariqahs lead up to Ali (R).  Keep in mind that the prophet bestowed secrets to some or one of his companions that he did not reveal to others.  Hudayfah ibn Al Yaman knew the names of the hypocrites.  Zaid Ibn Thabit was taught the fiqh of inheritance.  Thus, Ali was taught secrets as well.

A man was with his wife when the call for battle was made.  He left his action and went to fight.  He died during battle, and the angels performed Ghusl for him.  The man had left his desire and fought with his life for the sake of God.

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Enough with these pessimistic posts. After midterms I have stuff planned. I think I want to change the entire layout of this place. I want to start a series of posts quoting from Rabia Al Adawiyah.

I read part of her bio one day when I was down…and I was completely in awe.
You know she refused to get married because she could not calm herself from the anxiety of whether she would be successful or not on the Day of Judgment? She did not want to be distracted from her preparation.

When others asked why she didn’t marry, her reply was, “The marriage bond concerns a ‘being,’ but where is ‘being’ to be found (in me)? I do not belong to myself. I am His possession.”

Posted in: General by Hifzin114 / Tags: Rabia Al Adawiyah

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This year has been the roughest year of my life.  I am going to post up things that I have learned, and here is something that I have thought about:

We never lose anything.  Many people become distressed because they think that they have lost a loved one, (either through death, mental illness, physical illness, broken friendship, broken engagement, etc.).  However, you are merely separating yourself from the person temporarily, and if you really loved them, you will be reunited with them in Jannah (Paradise).  In Jannah God will ask, “Have you ever felt any form of distress or pain?”  The inhabitants will say that they have never felt pain.  This is truly amazing…in Paradise, our lives on earth will be completely insignificant.  Even beautiful marriages…the time we spent with our children…even the joys of earth will be insignificant.  So why do people envy the joys in others?  The joys of paradise are incomparable to the joys of earth.

Anyways, through my own struggles (inner & outer), I have lost a lot of interest in this world.  I am serious.  What is it worth spending money on things that will bring you only temporary pleasure?  This world is a cycle of distress and happiness.  This world is one big risk.  How do we know what we will encounter in the future?  I have little motivation for simple, stupid pleasures.  Television is one big waste of time.  A lot of people have been ranting about a recent football game.  Why do people take pleasure in watching football?  Wouldn’t you rather play in the game than to watch it?  Most of modern music, television, and popular media is all junk food for the soul.  I am sick of it.

Actually, my mom was pretty upset at me for looking so badly upon this earth.  But if you ever had chronic sadness that manifested into a physical pain, you just may lose interest in this world too.  I still hold a lot of optimism, however.  Work in this world for the good of the next.  May God help us.

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This story is UNBELIEVABLE….   Props to Mauree who e-mailed it to me:

It is narrated that Ibn `Abbas (may God be pleased with him) said that the Messenger of God, Muhammad, (may God bless and grant him peace) said, “On the night in which I was taken by a night Journey, a pleasant fragrance came my way, and so I said, “O Gabriel! What is this pleasant fragrance?” He said, “This is the fragrance of the hairdresser of Pharaoh’s daughter, and [of the hairdresser]’s children.”

This is her story as narrated in a lecture by Bilal Assad based on a hadith found in Ahmad and Ibn Majah:

There was a women called Mashit of Firoun (Pharaoh), she was the hairdresser of Firoun’s daughter…the same Pharaoh who said, “I do not know any god but me.”  Mashit of Firoun had embraced Islam in secret and when she was combing the hair of the pharaoh’s daughter, the comb fell to the ground and Mashit automatically and subconsciously picked up the comb and said, “Bismillah,” (in the name of God).  This Mashit of Firoun also had five children and one of them was still being breast fed.  After Mashit said “Bismillah,” the daughter of Firoun said, “Allah Abi, are you saying God my father?

And Mashit said, “No! God, the God of your father and yourself and me.”

The pharaoh’s daughter became angry and went to her father and said to him: “Father, this woman worships another god besides you.”

He said: “What? She knows another god besides me, who is that? Call her to me.”  They called her to him, and she came and stood, a woman, a woman in front of this great Pharaoh.  And he said to her, “Who is your God?”

She said, “God is my lord.” 

He said, “Who is God?”

“God is my God and yours.”

“What? Bring the chains!”

They brought the chains, and they began to punish her and whip her. They asked her, “Who is your lord,” and she would say, “God is my lord and yours.”  And so Pharaoh ordered for them to bring a large container and he spilt boiling oil into this container, a large container like a swimming pool, and then he said, “Bring me all her children!” They brought them one by one and he said “Worship me, I am your lord.” She said, “Never!”  So he brought her first son and threw him into the oil.  In front of her eyes his meat and flesh fell off his body and his bone disintegrated.  Then they brought her next son and she was firm: “Allahu Akbar!”  They burnt him; she could not stop them, and then her third and her fourth and finally her fifth, he was on her arm and she was about to pull back, she was about to pull back in front of the eyes of all the people and then all of a sudden God (Glory and High is He) from above seven skies made her child speak while he was in the cradle.  He said: “Be patient my mother, you are in the truth, God has promised you with a great heaven, keep going mother.”  And then they threw her son into the boiling oil.  Mashit knew that she was going to die, and then she began to cry and Pharaoh said, “Why are you crying? Stop!” And she said, “I was crying because I wanted to ask you to do something for me, and I don’t know if you’re going to do it.”  He said, “Ask me for whatever you like.”  She said, “Once you throw me into the oil, then I want you to gather whatever is remaining of our bodies and I want you to bury us together in the same grave, because I want to be resurrected with my children and I want to go to Jannah (Paradise) with my children.”

Posted in: General, Pain & Tribulations by Hifzin114 / Tags: Pharaoh

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I am currently at the Deen Intensive’s RIHLA 2009 program at Maryland. We are up from Fajr (dawn) until Isha. (They do give us breaks in between to nap).

So far I have listened to Ustadh Yahya Rhodus, Imam Zaid Shakir, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, and Shaykh Faraz Rabbani.

I will write more later inshAllah, Imam Zaid is about to speak.
:)
Alhamdulilah Rabbi ‘Alameen-Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds

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Today something rare and fortunate happened. There is a lady at my workplace who NEVER smiles. I always smile at her, but she never returns it. I just ignore it, and keep up my usual routine of smiling at all strangers. I can’t help it, sometimes I feel like a smile is glued to my face.

Today I didn’t bring my ID with me, and I forgot that I needed it to enter the bathroom. So when I tried to open the door and realized it was locked, I turned around and lo and behold!..the same lady who never smiles (or speaks to me) was smiling and waving her ID card. I was a bit shocked but was happy nevertheless.

I was so bewildered by this occurence that I had to post it. My blog is becoming more and more personal as time progresses. InshAllah I will return to posting my usual reflections.

Fi-Amanillah

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