Allah (swt) begins to tell us about the event that is most momentous, one he wants us to be conscious of.
The zalzalah - trembling of the earth. Fear your Lord - be Allah conscious, be mindful. Protect, shield your hearts, selves from the grip of nafs and shaiytaan. Taqwaah is all that counts. "the earthquake of the Hour is a tremendous thing." (22.01) "On the day when ye behold it, every nursing mother will forget her nursling and every pregnant one will be delivered of her burden, and thou (Muhammad) wilt see mankind as drunken, yet they will not be drunken, but the wrath of Allah will be strong (upon them)." *Every* pregnant being will let go. Imagine the stress and fear. The nursing mother will give up their infant. For a female to naturally abort. The fear is beyond our comprehension.
Suratul Hajj also tells us of the end of our hajj, the journey of our life. It's not a coincidence that here is told about the journey of hajj, and associated with the end of the journey of man. We are to always be in a state of readiness, and to leave; to journey with our hearts. Al Hajj begins with a reminder of the ultimate earthquake. The only protection from the calamities of this indescribable action are taqwaah.
Connect your hearts. Stop connecting every bit of your heart to every part of dunya.
Taqwaah is arming, protecting your qalb from too much orientation to other than Allah. Change of discourse; you'll still find people who don't believe at all.
Then Allah tells us about those who believe, but are standing on an edge. Whichever way the wind blows. Allah says - what puts this person on the edge? For this individual, if he/she is graced in something good, he or she feels comforted. The means become the attachment; the source of the comfort is the means. Joys of the world, friends, whatever - there is comfort having it while it was there. It became the source of the heart's attachment. When those toys/friends/power aren't present, we feel a loss of that comfort; are anxious, depressed, angry.
We believe in Allah; when there is affliction by trial; we should turn into our faith. But when the person on edge is tested by conditions that would make that person tested in his or her faith, they read/hear ideas of sorts. Waver from ibadah to no ibadah because they experienced something that made them *doubt*. Losing everything - dunya and hereafter.
Fitnah: can be emotional, intellectual, philosophical, concerning diseased hearts. Later in the same surah:
There are types of people whose quloob are sick, spiritually, morally; they don't see the truth as truth, can't put things in the right perspective.
For people whose heart is ill, it will make them worse; Anything makes it worse, because it's weak. Fitnah only makes it worse. (By different views that shed doubt).
Allah tells us later - Don't they walk on earth and have hearts with which to comprehend? When Allah speaks about comprehension and wisdom, he speaks of the qalb as the seat of comprehension. It's not the eyes that go blind, it's the heart. When our quloob are sick, then even the way we interpret the world will be affected by that inclination. If we lose the faculty of our hearts, we lose the balance of our reasoning. Reasoning about truth - is characterized by the state of our hearts; to recognize shirk or tawheed, selfishness or truthfullness. To be balanced or imbalanced; how we see the world is from our qalb. Anger - you can't make a proper judgment, nor can your heart.
Another call to mankind at the end of the surah:
"Those on whom, besides Allah, ye call, cannot create (even) a fly, if they all met together for the purpose! and if the fly should snatch away anything from them, they would have no power to release it from the fly."
Stuff that you attach your heart to, those that you take as sources of imploration, instead of Allah; the worship of idols within us and outside us. They will not create a fly - even if they all came together. The fly is one of the simplest genetic compositions to study, and sceintists study the fruit fly all the time, to learn the genome. Allah referred to this 14 centuries ago, the fly, now under intense research, the simplest to understand.
"and if the fly should snatch away anything from them" - the seeker is weak, the sought after is weak.
Showing posts with label 2003. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2003. Show all posts
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
Ramadan, 10/30/03; Surat Ta-ha, Suratul Anbiya
Surat Taaha:
Profound lessons, the powerful virtue of tawakkul; Allah holds in his sovereignty the reigns of every movement in this universe. Reflections on the story of Musa alaiyhis salam, who climbed the mountain towards the burning bush he saw, and that encounter he had there, the manifestation of Allah (swt). Imagine, a man journeying alone, with his walking stick/staff. That staff his means of defense, his feeling of security. Builds a trust in you, confidence in the means. As Allah manifests himself, He instructs Musa to take his shoes off. "And what is that in the right hand, O Moses?" Allah wants us to learn a lesson; Musa started explaining. "It is my rod: on it I lean; with it I beat down fodder for my flocks; and in it I find other uses."
Allah tells him .."throw that." What is it telling us, telling Musa? To not depend on *anything*. To clear your heart from attachment to anything; when you do, in full trust of Allah.
When Musa alaiyhis salam gave it up, because he HAD value in it, then Allah gave him much much more power in THAT means; after he *abandoned* the means, they became so much more effective. (i.e., staff was VERY powerful later on ).
"And indeed We conferred a favour on thee another time (before)."
"Behold! We sent to thy mother, by inspiration, the message"
Pharoah was killing the newborns of Bani Israel, and his mom was inspired to throw him into the water. It's the same concept that Allah is emphasizing for us - Throw him and it'll take him to be picked up *by an enemy.* The mother was very afraid for her baby. "If you are afraid for him, throw him in the sea." Think about the inconsistency; a mother afraid for her baby's life, told to throw him into the sea. It's against empirical knowledge.
Allah is the creator of cause and effect. He produces the cause, and the effect. We shouldn't attach ourselves. When Allah wants something to happen, it will happen even if by the very logic of human beings, everything that is done to prevent it (something Allah has decreed) actually becomes part of what is meant to be done, part of the cause and effect. Then He says, in beautiful contrast: But I cast (the garment of) love over thee from Me: and (this) in order that thou mayest be reared under My eye/fashioned in front of my gaze, in the way I like." The contrast of fear and enmity, with love. The misery and blaze of everything to be soothed by the love of Allah.
A lesson for all of us to reflect on - there is nothing that occurs in this universe without the will of Allah. Ask Allah to render our hearts in a state of surrender.
Suratul Anbiya - The prophets
A very powerful reminder to all of us. Salah means to ascend with our hearts, nearer to Allah, b/c we're so conscious. The surah begins, "Their reckoning draweth nigh for mankind, while they turn away in heedlessness."
As centuries pass by, they think it's all stories of ancients. "Nay, say they, (these are but) muddled dreams"
They receive the Word in jest, don't listen with their heart to the word, warning, reflections, good tidings of Allah. Their hearts are in "lahiya," busy with the everyday things we do every day. (Lahiyatan quloob). They listen without heart, don't respond as they should.
We're outside of Salat in daily life; we're in a state of distraction, not focused on the purpose of this life. As a result, we're distracted in salah. Don't be disillusioned by the world around, by those who don't believe. Don't be dissuaded. If you follow them, you will regret it. "Verily a Day in the sight of thy Lord is like a thousand years of your reckoning."(22.047) That means 10 centuries = one year. If our life boils down to a fraction of a day..
Ask Allah to connect our quloob effectively to Him. To begin our journey, so when death comes, our quloob would k now, and would be at peace.
Profound lessons, the powerful virtue of tawakkul; Allah holds in his sovereignty the reigns of every movement in this universe. Reflections on the story of Musa alaiyhis salam, who climbed the mountain towards the burning bush he saw, and that encounter he had there, the manifestation of Allah (swt). Imagine, a man journeying alone, with his walking stick/staff. That staff his means of defense, his feeling of security. Builds a trust in you, confidence in the means. As Allah manifests himself, He instructs Musa to take his shoes off. "And what is that in the right hand, O Moses?" Allah wants us to learn a lesson; Musa started explaining. "It is my rod: on it I lean; with it I beat down fodder for my flocks; and in it I find other uses."
Allah tells him .."throw that." What is it telling us, telling Musa? To not depend on *anything*. To clear your heart from attachment to anything; when you do, in full trust of Allah.
When Musa alaiyhis salam gave it up, because he HAD value in it, then Allah gave him much much more power in THAT means; after he *abandoned* the means, they became so much more effective. (i.e., staff was VERY powerful later on ).
"And indeed We conferred a favour on thee another time (before)."
"Behold! We sent to thy mother, by inspiration, the message"
Pharoah was killing the newborns of Bani Israel, and his mom was inspired to throw him into the water. It's the same concept that Allah is emphasizing for us - Throw him and it'll take him to be picked up *by an enemy.* The mother was very afraid for her baby. "If you are afraid for him, throw him in the sea." Think about the inconsistency; a mother afraid for her baby's life, told to throw him into the sea. It's against empirical knowledge.
Allah is the creator of cause and effect. He produces the cause, and the effect. We shouldn't attach ourselves. When Allah wants something to happen, it will happen even if by the very logic of human beings, everything that is done to prevent it (something Allah has decreed) actually becomes part of what is meant to be done, part of the cause and effect. Then He says, in beautiful contrast: But I cast (the garment of) love over thee from Me: and (this) in order that thou mayest be reared under My eye/fashioned in front of my gaze, in the way I like." The contrast of fear and enmity, with love. The misery and blaze of everything to be soothed by the love of Allah.
A lesson for all of us to reflect on - there is nothing that occurs in this universe without the will of Allah. Ask Allah to render our hearts in a state of surrender.
Suratul Anbiya - The prophets
A very powerful reminder to all of us. Salah means to ascend with our hearts, nearer to Allah, b/c we're so conscious. The surah begins, "Their reckoning draweth nigh for mankind, while they turn away in heedlessness."
As centuries pass by, they think it's all stories of ancients. "Nay, say they, (these are but) muddled dreams"
They receive the Word in jest, don't listen with their heart to the word, warning, reflections, good tidings of Allah. Their hearts are in "lahiya," busy with the everyday things we do every day. (Lahiyatan quloob). They listen without heart, don't respond as they should.
We're outside of Salat in daily life; we're in a state of distraction, not focused on the purpose of this life. As a result, we're distracted in salah. Don't be disillusioned by the world around, by those who don't believe. Don't be dissuaded. If you follow them, you will regret it. "Verily a Day in the sight of thy Lord is like a thousand years of your reckoning."(22.047) That means 10 centuries = one year. If our life boils down to a fraction of a day..
Ask Allah to connect our quloob effectively to Him. To begin our journey, so when death comes, our quloob would k now, and would be at peace.
Ramadan, 10/28/03 "The fruit of righteousness"
The outcome in the long run of taqwaah, fear, awe, obedience of Allah (swt), in private, in public, are things we don't account for. Allah, through laws governing time and space, brings joy and comfort to those who are conscious of him.
Suratul Kahf - Examining the 3 instances between Musa alayhis salam and Khadr, the beautiful values Musa learned. At the first instance of the ship, owned by good, poor people, and Allah inspired al khadr to break the bottom of the boat, so the next day they found it irreparable. Musa asked.."why?" Allah had inspired him about something to come; a pirate would have caught them, killed them all eventually. Allah saved them the only capital they had in life.
The 2nd: the boy who would've been rebellious, and Allah wanted for the parents, who were good people, a better child, so Al Khadr sent him to Allah. He would've imposed kufr and shirk upon his parents. And the third, is the story of the 2 orphans who'd had a righteous father; Allah wanted them to find the treasure under the wall.
The fruits of righteousness -- we only look at consequences as far as a month, a year, IF that. How many people live in the comfort of their illusions, their own assessments of good/bad, then deal with consequences?
The mother of Isa - lived as a young woman, dedicated her life to the service and love of Allah, to the ibadah of Allah. Her parents dedicated her. Allah protected her heart, from Shaiytan, from attachment to dunya. Allah graced her with a child, made her a sign to the world - the fruit of righteousness, of Taqwaah. In the world of materialism, we rarely live as though these values are our own.
Refuge outside Allah - any such solution is a mirage. It doesn't last.
Suratul Kahf - Examining the 3 instances between Musa alayhis salam and Khadr, the beautiful values Musa learned. At the first instance of the ship, owned by good, poor people, and Allah inspired al khadr to break the bottom of the boat, so the next day they found it irreparable. Musa asked.."why?" Allah had inspired him about something to come; a pirate would have caught them, killed them all eventually. Allah saved them the only capital they had in life.
The 2nd: the boy who would've been rebellious, and Allah wanted for the parents, who were good people, a better child, so Al Khadr sent him to Allah. He would've imposed kufr and shirk upon his parents. And the third, is the story of the 2 orphans who'd had a righteous father; Allah wanted them to find the treasure under the wall.
The fruits of righteousness -- we only look at consequences as far as a month, a year, IF that. How many people live in the comfort of their illusions, their own assessments of good/bad, then deal with consequences?
The mother of Isa - lived as a young woman, dedicated her life to the service and love of Allah, to the ibadah of Allah. Her parents dedicated her. Allah protected her heart, from Shaiytan, from attachment to dunya. Allah graced her with a child, made her a sign to the world - the fruit of righteousness, of Taqwaah. In the world of materialism, we rarely live as though these values are our own.
Refuge outside Allah - any such solution is a mirage. It doesn't last.
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