Bring no Harm

in the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Even from a young age you called me by name

Yet you showed no love as you put me to shame

With that you only can cast a shadow over your life

As with each step you do only invite nothing but strife

 

If it is fame you seek at the expense of another

So does the hurt you bring with it not you bother

Did you forget this world is but a temporary abode

That you worry not about deeds you carry in your load

 

So sad you see not now the error of your ways

Happy you are for as long as people sing your praise

What will be your state when upon you reality does dawn

Will you then be the one who cuts a figure so forlorn

 

The one you so deliberately took your time to harm

In so many ways that often there was little calm

So now in old age the victim has certainly not forgot

So his denial of forgiveness will surely be your lot

 

It is often said a cat has nine lives and we have one

But when the warner came you were happy for him to be done

For the reminders of your Lord was never meant for “me”

You seem certain your Lord will accept your “not guilty” plea

 

You prayed and you have been to the stranger good

Sadly the laws of your Lord you never really understood

So today I can only remind myself of that which I must avoid

For in you I see a reminder of how acts of goodness can be void

 

 

 

#spreadgoodness #spreadlove

Patience and Silence

In the name of Allaah, Most Gracious Most Merciful

 

If silence is a sign of patience, then I need to be silent more

 

If silence is a sign of wisdom, then I need to be silent more

If patience is a sign of wisdom, then I need to be patient more

If a prayer is better uttered in silence, then I need to be silent more

But how is it that one can be silent when one sees suffering and even abuse

It is that one practises wisdom through patience

But patience may require silence but never inaction

Thus practise wisdom with patience and a measured silence

Such that there is no need to wail and beating the chest

Such acts are best replaced by silence

But the silence is broken when the wisdom has been relayed to a tongue

That speaks out against abuse and injustice

But there is beauty in patience

but excellence in wisdom

While silence is golden when little is to be said.

 
And the best jihad is patience

for this is the real jihad

 

Another’s opinion

In the name of Allah,  Most Gracious, Most Merciful

 

I asked you what the answer to “one plus one” was and you said “three”.  I know not how you saw it that way but you were adamant without ever considering you may have miscalculated. I tried to explain to you how to calculate and perhaps in that way you will get to the correct answer. But you acted stubbornly. You said I waffled but you were never listening to even. You grinned as if I was talking absolutely nonsense and refused to listen to a word I said. Perhaps, my explanation was wrong but it was not my explanation you challenged. You merely listened to your own view - a view that you could not explain.

And in all of this, the answer was not really the issue. But the issue was that you refused to engage but stubbornly clung to your point of view or was it a point of view – anything another said had no merit to you. It was your way or no way and you made the other person look like a fool. Yet, you will claim to be the victim. But the only victim is you; you are a victim of stubbornness. The next person’s view does not matter because you refuse to learn and engage. You are as stubborn as a spoilt child, yet your mother never raised you like that.

You who wish to learn, need first to learn to engage. You who wish to give your opinion, must at least try and understand something of another’s opinion and if you still cannot, be adult enough to admit it.

At the end we may differ, but not until you have at least tried to understand something of what I had to say because I have tried to understand you. That is respect or is it that only you want to be treated with respect?

 

 

Learning

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious Most Merciful

I look at history and find many a situation and people who made an impact

Today much of what we see and do does only from the true path distract

Does not one’s immediate family at least offer one some hope of growth

Or am i the person that even my dear ones think that they do loathe

 

I kneel before my Lord and shed a tear while deep in prayer

For what have I offered my family and friends to show I care?

To know that life is not that we should stagnate and grow no more

Rather, is it not a journey from this life to paradise that we live for

Perhaps not in one living person we find the complete example to follow

But from a few there is a lesson and some advice we can borrow

Then we learn it and practise it so that within our souls may grow

and with this improvement those around you will want also to know

 

That young or old, male or female each have a role to play

We can learn even from the young some of us may be grey

So acquire knowledge far and wide and the means to apply it

Then with that newfound wisdom the learning pattern is complete

 

That is who we ought to be when we impact others and learn from some
That we do not go through life as if our minds and souls are numb

But the sun needs to shine from our very souls and an active mind

Let not it be that on that great day we are raised deaf, dumb and blind

 

 

A bride no more

in the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

She extends her hand reflecting the henna-draping in preparation for her wedding day. The exquisite wedding dress was a transformation of an idea, the right pattern and of course the ideal fabric. There is  buzz of people around her as the excitement builds up to the actual wedding day.

Her parents are overjoyed at the occassion of her getting married. Yet in her heart there is a trembling for the certainty of the decision, which was beyond her, is about to become reality. Today she will become a wife and she will spend time and space with her new husband’s family. Silently and passively, she wonders why they call it in-laws.

At this tender age, she is agreeable to marriage, but fears that this decision was none of her making. She has no problem with the fact that parents have an important role to play in ensuring their chldren choose ideal partners. But therein lies the concern – was she marrying her ideal partner.

Revelry, exhange of greetings and gifts marks the occassion. Lavish as it is and joyous as it appears, she is withdrawn. She prays to her Lord, her Overseer, Allah, to guide her, to protect her and to make her marriage successul. Tears stream down her cheeks and as this not unusual for many a bride, nobody shares her concern. She manages a smile as expected of her. This bubbly person inside is smothered by the occassion and the reality of its meaning.

The success of the day is but a minute speck since the real success is the growth of the married couple as individuals and as a couple. As the wedding day became of distant memory, she bears the struggles of her marriage patiently. She eventually has children but the struggles are only intensifying as she feels robbed of her identity, her motherhood. Perhaps “wife” is a misplaced word in this partnership which by now barely resembles a marriage.

Her inner circle knows of her concerns, but nobody believes it to be too serious. An eventuality which was inevitable. The person locked up inside of her all these years wants to live. The bride of yesterday is no more. She can bear it no more. The most hated thing in the sight of Allah, but which is permitted, is about to become a new reality. She is granted a divorce after enduring much hardship. A harsh lesson but all good husbands will feel aggrieved at this situation. All good meaning fathers will understand that their ideal relationship is not necessarily the ideal relationship of their children.

Divorce happens. There ought not be a stigma attached, neither for the divorcee nor for the one intending to marry a divorcee. There are too many sad stories, some similar, some worse.

Marry them and if things don’t work out, after exhausting all avenues, then part in goodness.

The Bond

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

The glue that sticks it all together has become undone. Slowly the world is fragmenting. Each one is on a path of his own. When he does offer a helping hand, the world remains resistant to such aid. But mostly it is that the world has become immune to bonding and adhesive. At best such bonding is merely for pleasure but holds little value and soon the cracks appear yet again.

This phenomenon is much the order of the day in families, in groups of friends and in communities. One would have thought that each grouping would have its own special bonding like the old saying that blood is thicker than water. But, while that may yet be true, the bond is no longer one of strength. This is not an overnight problem, but one that has been on the cards for a while, yet many turned a blind eye.

Somebody made a comment recently saying that “our generation are going to make the weirdest grandparents”. That may have so many meanings and while the one who said this may have meant something totally different, the reality is perhaps that the gap between families and generations are forever widening. Technology is likely to be a key form of bonding because the natural human contact is no longer high on the agenda.

Perhaps in days gone by a strong family member held the family together. Perhaps in days gone by friends trusted each other and built strong relationships. Perhaps in days gone by communities were held together because of the influence of strong elders. Some may argue that therein lie the problem. The problem may be that these strong influencers did not necessarily pass on the baton. These influencers did not teach others the values to lead, they did not mentor. But shall we merely place the problem at their feet and claim innocence?
The world is falling apart and we merely embrace each other for others to see, for the picture. We have done much scientific research, business has advanced, sports has changed with technology and yet human relations has become merely an academic subject and no longer the pulse of our lives. Our own selfishness, our own absolute independence, our own self-righteousness has made us islands. While wars are being fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, our own missile launchers are aimed at anyone who encroaches, even though well-meaning, and often those who encroach are those we know like family and friends,.

As another person recently reminded me “when life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life a thousand reasons to smile” – likewise when those in our circle make us sad, think of the many joys they bring us and if these aren’t many, find the one thing that you appreciate about them. Let those around us share with love. Love each other with our hearts. It is no co-incidence that we, as Muslims greet by saying “peace be unto you” – we look that person in the eye and say that you and everything about you is safe from my tongue, my thoughts and I bear no ill-feeling towards you.
Spread peace and through the cleansing of the heart, perhaps love will grow. Perhaps it is too late to save this world, but for you and I, we can still live with each other in peace and harmony by living with love. Perhaps in our own small way, two may become four and before long families may have re-learnt this beautiful thing called love, the real love, the real bond.

I pray that the Almighty Allah guides us and instils in our hearts that love for each other that even death will not take away.

Choice

 In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

It has come down to a choice. An important lesson and value is to understand how one makes decisions. What choice does one make?

I can make a decision which may make you feel good albeit momentarily. But the pressing point is whether I love you, as a fellow human being, enough to offer you something other than momentary comfort. Perhaps what I may say to you may make you momentarily uncomfortable. We may have had this discussion before (that is if you know me at all), but even now I am duty-bound to address you on this issue.

The day is dawning when you celebrate the birth of a person, and most of you call him the son of God. If he is the same Jesus who is the son of Mary, the virgin, then we Muslims say “peace be upon them” and we recognise him as a great Prophet. We do not, however, refer to him in any other way but as a creation of God and not in any way as part of the Godhead. If you celebrate his birth purely on this basis, the basis of being only a creation like you and I, then there may yet be some understanding between us.  But most likely you don’t accept him purely as a creation and that is where my concern for you lies. That you recognise him, in some way or another, as part of a Godhead. I have no intention of criticising you, but rather I address you for two reasons, viz that you need to understand why I do not congratulate you on this festival, your day of celebration, and secondly, most important of all, I wish for you what I wish for myself, that you may have some understanding of Allah and Jesus (peace be upon him) and for that matter, to understand the most authentic book, Quran, which is nothing else but the word of God, Allah, Himself.

We have absolute conviction in this Holy Book and do not doubt even a letter of it. The majesty of the book is clear for all to see in all its facets. A book of which the eloquence, its word arrangement, its style, its historical accuracy, its scientific accuracy is beyond the abilities of any human. A book which is unlike any other book in that it is preserved in the hearts of men, women and children. A book which clearly states that God, Allah is One, that He begets not, nor is He begotten. A book which clearly states that Jesus (Eesa) – peace be upon him – was born of a virgin mother, that he performed many miracles by the permission of God, Allah and that he, Jesus – peace be upon him – ascended to heaven alive. That Book, Quran, also clearly states that Jesus is in no way the son of God. This is the book to which we subscribe, the word of Allah.

Dear Christian, if I congratulate you, then it is as if I wish you harm for I am telling you to continue on a path on which we disagree. Rather, my silence (as opposed to congratulations) should rather be seen as a prayer for your well-being and indeed wishing you well.

We also say Jesus (peace be upon him) saves and for that we revere him. He laid the foundation for a prophet to succeed him. That Prophet, Muhammad – peace be upon him – to whom the final revelation, Quran, was revealed, is the one we ultimately follow. Jesus – peace be upon him – remains special to Muslims for he was born of a virgin mother, he performed miracles by the permission of Allah, he ascended to heaven alive and he will return before all that is on earth will come to an end.

So the choice I make is one of love for you (because I love God Almighty, Allah) and therefore, it is for no other reason that I do not congratulate you on this day.

I greet you with peace.