Reflection is Remedy

“Without doubt, whenever you sit with someone and are with him, you will take on his disposition. On whom have you been gazing that tightness should have come into you? If you look at green herbs and flowers, freshness will come. The sitting companion pulls you into his own world. That is why reciting the Koran purifies the heart, for you remember the prophets and their states. The form of the prophets comes together in your spirit and becomes its sitting companion.” – Shams-i-Tabrizi

Divine Love is unexplainable
A mystery so incredible.
The foolish describe it aimlessly
While the wise feel it inherently.

Do not call me “Guyanese” or “West Indian”. These terms are alien to me.

I associate myself with nothing less than the environment of Tasawwuf (the science of ihsan, inward purification) and all of its strivers, the religion of Oneness: One God, One Love, One Ummah; the Religion of Love and Mercy. I feel at home with the lovers of intellectual progress under the teachings of Ibn al Arabi. I feel at peace with the lovers of poetic and religious mastery under the teachings of Mawlana Rumi. My soul is at harmony with the lovers of outward discipline and inward excellence under the teachings of Imam al Haddad. My heart is satisfied in the company of the lovers of Imam al Ghazali, the Reviver of the Spiritual and Intellectual dimension of Islam in his century and beyond. I feel at bliss in the company of the lovers of our beloved teacher and final Messenger of the Creator to mankind, and all of his prophetic predecessors (Jesus, Abraham, Noah, Moses, Adam and more) and his inheritors. Peace be upon them all.

This is my family. This is my home. This is my love. This is my passion.

Let us look beyond the outward shells of culture, class, and color, and revel in the unity of the human spirit.

Excerpt from Shaykh Hamza Yusuf’s “Climbing Mount Purgatorio: Reflections from the Seventh Cornice”:

The spiritual power of women is great, but so too is the power of their physical attraction to men. It is this power that causes vile men to want to dominate women, and virtuous men to honor and protect them. But that physical power of the female form over men is a sensory power that veils men from her metaphysical meaning. Her sensual form prevents the man lost in carnality from knowing her spiritual reality, that she is the source of mercy in the world. The Arabic and Hebrew word for womb (rahm) is derived from the word for mercy (rahma) and an expression of the creative power of God in man. In degrading woman, we degrade the highest qualities of our human nature; in elevating her, we elevate our highest nature. When her natural virtues—compassion, kindness, caring, selflessness, and love—predominate in men, men are able to overcome their natural vices and realize their full humanity. When, however, those virtues are absent, men descend to the lowest of the low and are worse than beasts. In unveiling the outward beauty of a woman, we become veiled from her inward beauty.

As a poet from the distant past wrote:

I said to my rose-cheeked lovely, “O you with bud-like mouth,
Why keep hiding your face, like flirting girls?”
She laughed and said, “Unlike the beauties of your world,
In the veil I’m seen, but without it I’m hidden.”

The greatest advice I can give anyone is to not take advice from anyone. Listen to the voice of your heart, the voice that is uncontaminated by the ego. You will many times need advice to find the right voice, but once you do, listen to your heart.

Shaykh Nuh Keller said, “Do not let the opinions of people interfere with the directions given to you from God.”

Shaykh ibn Ata’illah said, “The most ignorant of all people is the one who abandons the certitude he has for an opinion people have.”

Just Beautiful:

The dumbing down of religion to simplistic and literal terms has brought on the likes of ISIS. The intellectual elevation of religion to metaphysical and spiritual terms has brought on the likes of Rumi, Attar, and more. May God preserve the elevators and elevate the simpletons.