Watching a beautiful and soothing dance piece, one of the 12 tranditional ‘ballet’s or ‘vannam’ in Sri Lankan classical dance here is a little piece of poetry…it is rather a ‘kaviya’ or a poem that is sung according to a slow melody, where often the last syllable is dragged/elongated. Actually I was just humming this to the tune in the video below and thought I’d share it.
O my Lord, I do glorify you
Whatever beauty I see in myself,
That is from you
Protect me from the harm
that I do to myself
and protects others from it too.
I find it amazing that in so many ancient cultures, nature is revered and celebrated, honored and protected. In Sri Lankan classical dance, the 12 vannams are each a celebration of some form of beauty in nature. For example, this dance celebrates the peacock. Others celebrate the elephant, the swan, the eagle etc. I particularly appreciate that there is no complex emotional story or saga like in Western ballet, but a simple veneration of natural beauty. Indeed it is such a humble approach. Watching these dancers I also got to thinking of the discipline and devotion they give their art. The lead dancer for example is a maestro, who has been training since a child. I got to thinking we are all the vicegerants of God, here on this earth to perfect our dance of devotion and master our weaknesses. So the five time ritual prayer, the rules with food, speech, how we should live every day, or simply, the way of life of our great guide and exemplar, the prophet (peace be upon him) taught us is about training and discipline. How beautiful it must be to see our ‘performance’, that of the true devotee of God therefore. What a beautiful person it is who walks the earth in this way. Perhaps this is why the prophets and great sages are so beloved and revered to this day. No wonder Allah azza wa’jal loves those who remember Him! Men and women who lived and walked this earth in that humility, borne out of discipline and training – they were beautiful to behold! Whether Jesus (peace be upon him) or the Gautama Buddha or Moses or Abraham or Mary or our own beloved Muhammed (peace be upon them all). Allah protect us and help us continue upon this way. It gladdens my heart to know we will have the best teacher in this path. And remember, Allah loves you more than you can ever love yourself for your Creator knows you better than you know yourself and is the one true nurturer.
So I am posting this video in the hopes you too will marvel at the discipline and beauty of these dancers and be soothed by the gentle music. I do not see anything but modesty in it and hope you will too. Sometimes we need to see with the heart.
It is a beautiful morning here in Vancouver. MashaAllah it snowed last night (we have had hardly any snow this winter) and the earth covered in its white mantle suddenly seems a different place. How amazing it is that something so simple as crystallized water on the ground can completely change one’s perspective. But nay, I am wrong to say ‘ice on the ground’ is simple. Indeed water is one of the most amazing creations there is. From a scientific point of view it’s shear brilliance is astounding. It is the perfect substance and the perfect matter to bear creation. Indeed, in the Quran, Allah says He created every living thing from water;
Quran (21:30)
Transliteration
Awa lam yara allatheenakafaroo anna assamawati wal-ardakanata ratqan fafataqnahuma wajaAAalnamina alma-i kulla shay-in hayyin afalayu/minoo
Yusuf Ali Translation
Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before we clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?
The above verse is precisely what science understands of the process of creation. Isn’t it amazing to have the Big Bang Theory and even the evolutionary origin of life theory in one simple sentence! As a scientist, this excites me to the heavens and humbles me to the dust! Subhahana wa bihamdihi (Glorios is He and all praise and thanks is his). I could go on and on about water, but I really began this post to copy Rumi’s poem. So here is a link to a post on the mention of the water cycle in the Quran. And here are excellent articles about why water is so miraculous- The source of the water miracle: hydrogen bonds The design in water
By the way, to my non-Muslim readers, water is one of the most often used words in the Quran and discussed in a very many varied contexts and instances.
It is hard to include Rumi or anyone else’s work in the same post that includes the words of our magnificent Maker. However, I am guilty of the same, mixing my words up with the Quran as I write this blog. So may there be some good in these poor words from a very faulty specimen of Allah’s creation and may my Lord be pleased with the effort. We Muslims say that ‘All good is from Allah’. For among his attributes is ‘The Good’… whatever is good in this too is from Allah and may our beautiful Creator make us more receptive to Divine grace. Rumi himself was an inspired person after all, and indeed it is amazing for I was only going to copy the poem when I began with the comment on the snow, and then that lead to thinking of water and this leads to thinking of how water is the source and nourishment of us all which perfectly ties in with the message of this peom, which is that if you have God as your source and well-spring, you have nothing to fear or grieve! Alhamdulillah! even my brain is wired and works as God desires! 🙂 yay 🙂
What a Nourisher
The sensible man doesn’t pay attention
to what increases and decreses,
since both pass like a quickly moving stream.
Whether the water of life runs clear
or is tumultuous as a flood,
don’t bother speaking of it-
it doesn’t endure more than a moment.
In this world thousands of animals live happily,
without throes of anxiety.
The dove on the tree coos gratefulness,
even though her food for the night has not yet arrived.
The nightingale’s glorification is this:
“I depend for my daily bread,
on You who love to respond.”
The falcon delights in the King’s hand,
and no longer looks at carrion.
Look at every animal from the gnat to the elephant:
they all are God’s family
and dependent on Him for their food.
What a nourisher is God!
All these griefs within our hearts
arise from the smoke and dust
of our existence and vain desires.
MashaAllah, on that note to end with one of my most favourite ayah from the Quran (ayah meaning ‘sentence’ but the root word means ‘sign’ or symbol or proof..a word rather deeper than sentece and used in many ways. Actually one of my close friends named her daughter ‘ayah’, I think that illustrates what I mean). It is the last ayah of a very beautiful short lyrical surah (chapter) called ‘Mulk’ (The Dominion)
قُلْ أَرَأَيْتُمْ إِنْ أَصْبَحَ مَاؤُكُمْ غَوْرًا فَمَن يَأْتِيكُم بِمَاءٍ مَّعِينٍ
Transliteration
Qul araaytum in asbaha maokumghawran faman ya/teekum bima-in maAAeen
Sahih International Translation
Say, “Have you considered: if your water was to become sunken [into the earth], then who could bring you flowing water?”
Yusuf Ali Translation
Say: “See ye?- If your stream be some morning lost (in the underground earth), who then can supply you with clear-flowing water?”
Quran (67:30)
Many a thing; whether short and pithy, long and elaborate, deeply philosophical or traipsingly lighthearted, poem or prose, fiction or real, has been written on love. Far be it from the ability of this novice to attempt to say anything profound on the subject. But I did want to share a few impressions and experiences as a Muslimah and our community’s dealing with the concept of love. These are basically, as my blog was set up to do, musings aloud 🙂
Why is it, that it seems, we Muslims, as a Nation, are almost afraid to use the word ‘love’. Is it because of it’s much over-use and abuse by many peoples and nations before and in our time or are we just afraid to talk about something we do not really understand? Certainly the ‘mystical Muslims’ (for lack of a better term), or those in touch with the inner spiritual Islam, have no aversion to using this word. But the vast sunni Muslim community (or at least, the community I’ve interacted with, which is primarily the Muslims of the Indian sub-continent, my own Island home and this multi-ethnic multi-national community of Muslims in Canada and the USA) seems to shy away from using this word. While I find it common in the language of leaders in other faith groups and even community groups, it is rare to hear it among our Imams and leaders. Nay, it almost seems as if talking of love is considered a weakness by the Ummah (an arabic work meaning ‘nation’ and used to denote the Muslim peoples generally) so our Imams shy away from it. At least this is my impression and I hope I am wrong!
Allah is such a beautiful soft name. Meaning ‘Al-ilah’ or ‘The God’, with no plural form and no masculine or feminine form, it is a word beyond gender. Easily lilting on the tongue, easily breathed with the breath, easily sung in lullabies…’la ilaha illallaah’, that beautiful phrase that affirms a person is a Muslim, translated simply to ‘no God but Allah’ is such a soft and gentle thing. When we talk of Allah, we also use the word Rabb often. ‘Rabb’ is hard to translate, it has the meanings of one who nurtures, nourishes, sustains, guides, looks-after and yes, loves! It can be poorly translated as ‘Lord’ and implies one’s Master and complete source of all things. However, Master is a poor word as it has in it an inherent notion of gender, which in the Muslim theology, God is beyond. But my point was that we use the word ‘Rabb’ often and that word is full of the meaning of love. As a dear sister and mashaallah (by God’s grace) emerging voice in our community Sr. Yasmin Mogahed said, Allah loves you more than your Mother. Indeed Allah created mothers, and instilled in them this divine quality of love (it goes without saying this applies to Fathers just as much). We say, that all our good qualities are only small instances of the much greater divine.
I have been thinking recently on this idea of attachment. That by attaching oneself to objects and things and even people, we feel emptiness inside when they are removed from us. Sr. Yasmin speaks of this a great deal. Love is indeed linked to this idea of attachment. And so it is possible to feel deep loss, hurt, pain when one does not feel a reciprocation of the love one gives out, be it to a lover, a relative, a friend. One solution to this, is to detach oneself. But I would disagree with this and say, yes do attach, do feel that deep love and show that. But don’t have expectations from those you give to. Keep your expectations only with Allah. Allah is the sole provider, nourisher, sustainer. Indeed Allah is ‘Al-Wadud’, ‘The Love’. Meaning God alone is the source of all love. So knowing this, when we are only channelled to recieve His devine mercy (Muslims often use the word mercy as a translation of ‘rahma‘, a core attribute of Allah, and one that also has the idea of love in it) and then transmit it, we don’t really expect a reciprocation from the entity we give it to. If at all we recieve something back we realize that person is only also chanelling to us a love from the same source! So we love our Lord more and in His name love those around us. But we do love, and love deeply. And we cry when we miss our loved ones. Even our prophet (peace and blessing of Allah be with him) himself teared when he would remember his first wife after her death. But we are not the slaves of those we love, but only the slave of ‘The Love’, so we know our source never dries up and therefore we are never alone and never need feel that level of heartache that is despair. Which is probably why our beloved prophet marvelled at the condition of a believer and said, “Wondrous are the believer’s affairs. For him there is good in all his affairs, and this is so only for the believer. When something pleasing happens to him, he is grateful, and that is good for him; and when something displeasing happens to him, he is patient, and that is good for him.” (Reported in the hadith collection of Muslim)
These are a few thoughts I wanted to share on the subject. And attached is an image of a painting completed with Allah’s majestic ‘name’ of ‘Al Wadud’, ‘The Love’. It was inspired at a time when I was the recipient of love mashaallah and was deeply in that emotion. So I am grateful for that inspiration and grateful for what I recieved. That too from my beloved glorious Lord!!! So celebrating Allah’s name, and sharing that, is attaching this image.
All good and all benefit is from Allah and Allah alone. So if any of you found anything good in this, that is by God’s grace and I am very humbled to be able to write and I do hope you find this beneficial for you.
May God’s light and peace be with you all
By God’s grace I am returning from a magical journey, a retreat you could say, to Vancouver Island. Being a girl who grew up on an island myself (even if it was half a world away!), there is always a special indescribable feeling I experience when I visit the island.
The journey has been magical for many reasons. InshaAllah I will share more of why soon. But since this is the first time I am blogging from my phone and more to the point since the ferry I am presently on is about ti dock(!), I will leave you with this picture taken of seagulls as they played catch with the ferry and danced with the wind. Brave and joyful souls! Birds remind me of the ayat in surah mulk
أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا إِلَى الطَّيْرِ فَوْقَهُمْ صَافَّاتٍ وَيَقْبِضْنَ ۚ مَا يُمْسِكُهُنَّ إِلَّا الرَّحْمَٰنُ ۚ إِنَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ بَصِيرٌ
Transliteration
Awa lam yaraw ila attayrifawqahum saffatin wayaqbidna mayumsikuhunna illa arrahmanu innahubikulli shay-in baseer
Sahih International Translation
Do they not see the birds above them with wings outspread and [sometimes] folded in? None holds them [aloft] except the Most Merciful. Indeed He is, of all things, Seeing.
Quran (67:19)
Assalamu alaikum, peace be with you! It has been a long long while since I last wrote. I have been on a journey, not just external but also internal as many life events took their toll. But this joy that we are all born with, the light within, never abated…only I could not see it sometimes, blinded by tears. Aren’t we all at some point in our lives and is not the benefit of the tear to wash the dirt from the soul? to clean the eye so it can see again, what is important and essential.
Here is a poem I wanted to share, I found it writen some time ago, during Ramadan I believe.
Taught to trust
through hours
when my feet swell
and my body sways
gently to the rhythm of the recitation
rising and falling
as my breaths
joined to the rhythm of the universe
this reverberation
Ramadan night resonation
With the soul
for a moment, split second divine
worry leaves and the heart is re-born
The soul’s polish
reaches that first sparkle
when polishing cloth leaves its surface
and before dust can settle
split second glimpse
of the Divine
Light upon Light
so heavy, yet so ethereally weightless
so substantial, everywhere yet nowhere
It explodes, this light
in a quiet spreading
beyond physics…beyond the created
It is just there. And polished mirror soul
I reflected it. Till it was everywhere.
And I was nothing, in a sea of light
There I found trust, implicit absolute immaculate trust
My Lord will look after me.
It has been too long since I last wrote. I have been traveling, resting, absorbing, healing, wondering….Alhamdulillah! Being quiet as I try to come to grasp with life’s changes. Allah knows best and in this I have peace, and again, this too by the grace of the Almighty. Here is a poem written some time ago that a beautiful encounter with a kindred spirit this evening has prompted me to find and now to post. May you enjoy it! Love and peace to all.
Note: ‘sabran jameelan’ is an arabic phrase appearing in the Quran many times. ‘sabr’ means patience and ‘jameel’ is beautiful. As with many arabic words, the meaning is deeper than this especially when put together in the form of ‘sabran jameelan’. Though meaning a beautiful peace it is in an action form, meaning it is not a passive thing to achieve this or have this beautiful peace, but rather an active state requiring toil but completely at peace in beauty and a quiet state. It was the reply of the prophet Jacob when he was told by his other sons that they had lost his beloved son Joseph while out playing. The prophet Jacob knew the brothers were not telling the truth about the wolf having devoured Joseph story but did not say that. This story given in the 12th chapter of the Quran (chapter called ‘yusuf’, the arabic of ‘joseph’) is detailed, beautiful, profoud and the narrative differs in many ways so that Quranic form of it is unique. Anyways that long note was not meant to be so long, but I hope it helped. The phrase is found in other places in the Quran as well.
Sabran Jameelan
I find it hard to write in the old way, holding my pen
Dripped ink staining my cuticles
Pausing to think and write again and write again and think
While dipping my tip in to the ink pot to rejuvenate it.
It dried up while I was thinking.
But oh I need to, need to connect.
Can I in this modernity find the me that was
In my past, a simpler world, a truer me
Is that me yet.
Now music must play so I can hear myself think
And the soft patter of keys pressed is oddly comforting
The world is hard. Sabran jameelan. Sabran jameelan
In my old pen, I would write it in Arabic
And the formation of the curves of that majestic script soothing
Bringing closer the immensity
Of sabran jameelan.
Write in your soul, write everyday and no matter
What medium.
No matter what medium.
Simple rhymes to share this beautiful time of dawn…Assalamu alaikum warahmatullah
***
Subhahanallahi wabihamdihi
Words that fill the scales
Said my beloved prophet
Who I long to meet…inshAllah soon
It will be. On that great day
When my scale I fervently pray
Will be filled with
Subhahanallahi wabihamdihi
***
The stomach moans and groans
My senses are numbed with the pain
I count the hours until
My throat can feel the cool rain
Of water..truly
The barren earth is brought to life,
The sun sets and the call rings out
Come to prayer, come to salvation, come to success, come to joy
Come, come!
And so a day’s fast necessary to know what it means to be saved
And to know…
Give, give, to those who are waiting for your aid
A wandering soul finds rest
Taught by a merciful Lord
How to forget the self
For this brief twelfth of a year, to be sanctified.
***
The moon so soft, the faintest crescent
shyly peeps before descending
Oh so gently greets
This bounteous month
Heralding
A peaceful time of prayer and service
It is Ramadan, days resplendent
With God’s glorious kindness
and angels walking among us
Greet your neighbour and share
The time will pass quickly, beware
May it bring you opportunity to polish your heart
Clean your soul and refresh your spirit
May you once more, be whole
****
Peace to all my brothers and sisters this blessed month.
Alhamdulillah wa shukr Allah. Allahu akber, Allahu akber, Allahu akber. Allahumma salli ala Muhammed wa ala ali Muhammed.
I am just returned from a blessing of a trip up in the Cascade Mountains. I had gone camping, my first time doing so, and gone alone. MashaAllah it was certainly an adventure and provided many a thrill. But more than this, it was deep joy and deep peace. To be alone among the undiluted Creation of Allah. Since it was bear territory and I was hiking alone, they told me to make lots of noise while walking. Now, inspiration indeed, for I took it an excellent opportunity to practice the recitation of the surah I know and also to make lots of du’a and salawat. Also it was a perfect time and place to bellow out the azan! Indeed, I felt just such a rush doing so it was humbling. Dawud Wharnsby Ali ( a fellow Canadian and a folk singer who mashaallah is so talented, I am sure he would have reached Cat Stevens status had he not converted early ;)) in one of his songs talks about the wonder of calling out Azan on the top of a mountain…ah, subhahanallah indeed he had that spot on.
Sh. Hamza once said all the trees are in continuous sujood…he said their heads were the roots and it was in the ground. Completely prostrated to Allah. Walking among all those prostrate trees I felt as if I was on hajj. A pilgrim surrounded by millions of fellow pilgrims, in complete submission. And then looking out at the immense mountains I thought of how these mountains too, who had been given the trust of ‘free will’, refused it, out of fear. Ya Rabb, how foolish then us man, to have taken it on. And how kind, that you have given your constant presence and the five time prayer to help us through with carrying the trust.
Here are some images;
The mountains as 'pegs', imagine this same extent reaching in to the bowels of the earthMillions of fellow pilgrims...here before us and patiently in constant worshipWater reflects the sky and clouds..as the water cycle keeps us aliveremember the last ayah of Surah Mulk when I see this.
It has been a difficult time on returning from this august gathering. And that peace elusive again. But Allah has said that the only peace is in his remembrance. What a glorious ayah that is! How much to ponder upon in how it relates to every facet and circumstance of our lives
“Truly, it is by the Remembrance of Allah that hearts find rest.” [Qur’an, 13.28]
There is a beautiful and very helpful short article here about how ‘dhikr’ (remembrance) can help with every sickness and anxiety, heart ache and grief. Especially for fighting depression and melancholy. Please do read it and stay in dhikr.
I ‘youtubed’ the ayah and found this short video, I wanted to insert it here, not just for the medical stats it projects but also for it’s beautiful soothing music. And indeed music too is a glorious creation of our Lord. I was listening to all the different birds while hiking and could not but help think of the majesty and intricacy that is the creation of sound. Subhahana wa ta’ala
Allah protect and help us all and forgive us our countless sins. Forgive me my errors, defects and omissions and keep me in your du’a please.
This song has always helped me. I just came across this youtube video of it with these beautiful images of the ocean. I wanted to share it here… MashaAllah so healing. Allah bless Sami richly for the courage he has shown in expressing his feelings and just being himself, regardless of what any one says about his music. He is true to his heart and Allah gives success to the one true to his heart.
JoyManifest's Blog 