Reflection is Remedy

“But tell me, did you sail across the sun?
Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded
And that heaven is overrated?
Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star
One without a permanent scar?
And did you miss Me while you were looking for yourself out there?”

Lines from “Drops of Jupiter” by Train

“I am going to light a fire in the Garden and pour water onto the Fire so that both these veils may disappear from the seekers, and that their purpose may be sure, and that the servants of God may see Him, without any object of hope or motive of fear. What if the Hope for the Garden and the Fear of the Fire did not exist? Not one would worship his Lord, nor obey Him. But He is worthy of worship without any immediate motive or need.” -Rabia Al Adawiyah

This song is so beautiful and also one of my favorites, I had to do a parody on the lyrics. :)

It’s a love conversation between Rabia al Adawiyah (A sincere lover of God and saint) and God:
Rabia’s words are not italicized.

Hey there, Beloved
What’s it like to be Your wali?
I’m a thousand veils away
But Lord, I’m lost in Your vast Beauty
Yes I am…
Heaven can’t shine as bright as You
I swear it’s true…

Hey there, Beloved
How I long to see Your Presence
You’re right here when I get lonely
Give my song another listen
Hear my cry…
Listen to my prayer, it’s no disguise
On You I rely…

Oh it’s what You do to me…
Oh it’s what You do to me…
Oh it’s what You do to me…
Oh it’s what You do to me…
What You do to me…

Hey there, Rabia
Don’t you worry about the distance
I’m right here if you get lonely
Give this surah another listen
Close your eyes
Listen to Qur’an, it’s My disguise
I’m by your side

Oh it’s how you long for Me…
Oh it’s how you long for Me…
Oh it’s how you long for Me…
Oh it’s how you long for Me…

A thousand veils seem pretty deep
But I’ve got love, and praise, and deeds
I’d walk to You if I had no other way
The people all make fun of me
And we’ll just laugh along because we know
That none of them have felt this way
Beloved, I can promise You
That by the time that we get through
My world will never ever be the same
And You I Praise

Hey there, Beloved
I’ve got so much left to say
If every simple song I wrote to You
Would cast Your glance this way
I’d write it all
Even more in love with You I’d fall
Across the world I hear Your call,
My dear Beloved, here’s to You
Your Love is all…

Oh it’s what You do to me…
Oh it’s what You do to me…
Oh it’s what You do to me…
Oh it’s what You do to me…
What You do to me…

Great article that describes the qualities that make up the successful employee. Not surprisingly, many of these traits/characteristics are within the muhsin (sincere believer/lover of God):

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/do-you-have-right-personality-successful-dr-travis-bradberry

They’re willing to delay gratification.
They can tolerate conflict.
They focus.
They’re judiciously courageous.
They’re in control of their egos.
They’re never satisfied.
They recognize when things are broken and fix them.
They’re accountable.
They’re marketable.
They neutralize toxic people.

I encountered these beautiful poems and had to share:

Sing! O winekeeper, of Layla’s beauty.
O Fountain of Fountains, you appeared lucid
in every symbolization, cup and wine.
Sorrows disappeared, the Presence made sweet
by the concealed secret of Layla’s treasure.
Ibn Yallas was enraptured upon drinking
the wine of spiritual tastes, annihilated then subsisted.
Upon you be peace, Best of Creation
for as long as this wine is drunk in Layla’s life.

Send blessings, O Source of Peace, upon the Intermediary,
the Sun of mankind, Layla’s visage.
O cupbearer of the lovers, fill up the cups
with the wine of spiritual tastes that revives souls.

if you stay awake
for an entire night
watch out for a treasure
trying to arrive

you can keep warm
by the secret sun of the night
keeping your eyes open
for the softness of dawn

try it for tonight
challenge your sleepy eyes
do not lay your head down
wait for heavenly alms

night is the bringer of gifts
Moses went on a ten-year journey
during a single night
invited by a tree
to watch the fire and light

Muhammad too made his passage
during that holy night
when he heard the glorious voice
when he ascended to the sky

day is to make a living
night is only for love
commoners sleep fast
lovers whisper to God all night

all night long
a voice calls upon you
to wake up
in the precious hours

if you miss your chance now
when your body is left behind
your soul will lament
death is a life of no return

-Rumi

Fasting is an expression of freedom.

Freedom from the routine patterns and habits of everyday life.
Freedom from the enslaving urge for food, drink, and sex.
Freedom from instantaneous gratification.
Freedom from the opinions of others regarding the status of our stomach, tongue, and limbs.
Freedom from our lower selves and ego.
Freedom from worldly attachments.
Freedom from indifference to Divine bounties.
Freedom from mindless and profitless chatter.
Freedom from empty hearts into hearts brimming with awareness and love.

I choose freedom, do you?

Here is a relevant hadith (it’s authenticity is debated on) on fasting and the removal of veils at the time of iftar (meal of breaking fast):

“Prophet Moses said to God:
‘O God! You have granted me the honor and privilege of talking to you directly, Have you given this privilege to any other person?

God replied, ‘O Moses! During the last period I am going to send an Ummah (community), who will be the Ummah of Muhammad (pbuh), with dry lips, parched tongues, emaciated body with eyes sunken deep into their sockets, with livers dry and stomachs suffering from the pangs of hunger. They will call out to me (in du’a). They will be much closer to me than you. O Moses! While you speak to me there are 70,000 veils between you and me but at the time of iftar, there will not be a single veil between me and the fasting Ummah of Muhammad (pbuh). Oh Moses! I have taken it upon myself the responsibility that at the time of iftar I will never refuse the du’a of a fasting person!’”

Every pain of separation we feel from those we love on this earth, is just a tiny speck of the type of loss and pain we should feel in our separation from God. The loss of a loved one is a microcosm of the macrocosmic loss of union with God. The joy of Paradise is really a joy of reunion with the Ultimate Beloved.

Powerful and beautiful reminder:

“Sacred Knowledge is usually accompanied with danger to the soul. The majority of people, except the few chosen ones, who begin their pursuit of Sacred Knowledge will find the feelings of self-righteousness and intellectual arrogance taking over their hearts. Indeed, that was Imam al-Ghazzali’s problem as noted by his own brother. Before he went on his 10-year journey that made him into the magnificent scholar we look up to today, Imam al-Ghazzali was known for his remarkable level of knowledge and erudition. But that was combined with a level of intellectual pride not to be missed by people of the hearts. Imam al-Ghazzali described it as being on a cliff about to fall into an abyss. His knowledge was in his brain and on his tongue, but it had not yet taken over his heart.”

-Mohamed Ghilan

“When the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) went to ta’if, he had just faced the worst two weeks of his prophethood.  He had lost his wife Khadijah, his first wife, and his grandfather, his uncle… and when he went to spread Islam in Ta’if, the people there absolutely humiliated him.  They spat at him, chased him down narrow alleyways, threw stones at him.  For two weeks.

He was at one of the worst lows he experienced as a prophet.

Later, the event that is known to be Israa’ wal mi’raj happened, the holy ascension where Jibreel, the chief of angels, took the prophet (pbuh) to Masjid al-Aqsa where he lead all of the other prophets in prayer, and then ascended to the heavens to see paradise.

It was a kind of healing, a reward, a way that God comforted the prophet after his traumatic experiences. Very touching, very detailed, but that’s not the point of this post.

One of the things that happened when Jibreel was showing Muhammad (pbuh) around, was that he showed him his Ummah, the Muslims who follow him, his people.

Keep in mind that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is the final prophet. There is none after him.  And at the time of Israa’ wal mi’raj he had about a hundred followers at most.  A hundred was huge to him.

So he saw a crowd, a huge crowd, and tearing up, he asked Jibreel, ‘Are those my followers?’ And Jibreel said, ‘no,’ and he turned the prophet around…. and the prophet saw millions…billions of people standing in front of him. Jibreel said, ‘that is your ummah,’  and the prophet, peace and blessings be upon his soul, cried.”

-Reem Zohny

My religion consists of a humble admiration of the unlimitable superior who reveals Himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.

–Albert Einstein