Green Pearls For Ramadhan 11-20

GREEN PEARLS FOR RAMADAN- 11: GENEROSITY

Generosity of the Spirit is the ground on which true piety and nearness to Allah can grow and bear fruit. If the spirit (I mean basic character and disposition) is meant, then we have the most arid desert imaginable. Such an unblessed person's 'faith' consists of intellectual consent to a theoretical view of God and produces nothing but selfish fanaticism and perhaps also an insatiable greed for certain worldly things. Only the faith of the generous person is real and productive of good. And generosity is three:
Giving tangible benefits, forgiving offences to own person and praising Allah in and for everything.
Don't you see, our supreme exemplar the Messenger of Allah (sws) was exactly like that: Firstly both his character and name being built from PRAISE he was all praises for Allah and Allah is all praises for him. Secondly any goods which came his way he distributed to those who needed and wanted them at no time. His last act before meeting his Lord azza wa jalla was enquiring about the few last coins under his mattress and ordering their immediate distribution in charity: "I am ashamed to meet my Lord with money hoarded" he said. Lastly he forgave every single offender whose offences he regarded against his person and his loved ones. It is such things of character and disposition that are the greater sunna which saves and not so much the theatrical duplications of externals although every form of sincere emulation of the Prophet (sws) is beneficial. Examine yourself in private and the harsher you judge yourself and the more you fight against your failures in these respects the more fortunate you will become.

GREEN PEARLS OF RAMADAN- 12: THE REALITY OF DHIKR

Dhikr (remembrance of Allah) is the basis of sufism it is said. So we sufis are very interested in dhikr, in fact it is and should be our central and most fundamental interest. But this idea of dhikr is Islam itself which means Sufism and again, is Islam itself. I mean real sufism which came to us, in the case of our way the Naqshibandi from the Messenger of Allah (sws) through his best disciple Abu Bakr al Siddiq RA. Although every sufi knows something about dhikr and loves it more than anything else sometimes we forget what it ultimately means. Let this story shed light on it.
One day the Prophet (sws) told the sahaba that such and such man was one of the people of the Garden (ahl al janna). But the sahaba could not see anything special in him. One, Abdullah b. Amr RA decided to find out and insinuated himself as a guest into the house of the said brother. In bed after dinner and isha prayers, Abdullah RA secretly kept watch of his host. He noticed nothing special, certainly not even much night prayer. But one thing stuck in his mind. Whatever the host did he mentioned Allah in thanking and glorifying terms, EVEN WHEN TURNING FROM SIDE TO SIDE IN BED MID SLEEP! The man was simply an unstoppable dhikr machine so-to-speak, even when apparently fast asleep, remembering Allah at all times with emotion and undiminished enthusiasm (Hadith:"My eyes sleep but my heart does not"). 
Nothing can go wrong with such a man for he is always with Allah and Allah with him. He has attained the top Sunna of the Prophet (sws) which in fact covers and mothers all other sunnas. Remember, one of the names of the Prophet is 'Dhikr Allah' (sws.) Never forgetting Allah (Dhikr of Allah) IS the Garden of Eternal Felicity (jannat al khuld) as well as the Garden of Refuge (jannat al Ma'wah) as far as it can go in this world. Cultivate a habit of dhikr until you also enter the Garden here and now. Then you are outwardly here but actually light-years up and away. I invite you to this unmitigated love. It is worth everything. Without it nothing, is worth anything. 

GREEN PEARLS FOR RAMADAN- 13: ONLY TRUTH SAVES

We people find all sorts of false reasons to explain away what does not please our egos and explain in what does please it. But the ploy is self-defeating. For a while we feel satisfied with ourselves for supposedly having things our way. But gradually the false posture begins to cause us many aches and pains, like standing too long on one leg with one arm twisted and curved in the opposite direction. All unjust and unwise positions are doomed to harm ourselves as much as our victims. The sooner we look for and listen to truth the better.
"La ilaha illallah Muhammad rasulullah" is the top truth.
From it flows and cascades all the rest. Commandments are one of them; they must be obeyed. But we also have everyday, mundane truths, such as "I hurt A and I owe him an apology". The sooner you obey this truth the better. Trying in vain to justify yourself keeps hurting your victim and then Allah the Truth hurts you on the victim's behalf. There is no way out but admitting and abiding by the truth.

GREEN PEARLS FOR RAMADAN- 14: APPRECIATING FRIENDSHIP

We men are made for friendship and not hostility. Friendship promotes, hostility destroys. Men or women, we must be friends. Friend means concerned and helpful well-wisher, not only companion. Islam is entirely for friendship and Muslims are friends of each other. Unfortunately however this often remains the theory. The reality is a bit less friendly.
What is the cure? The cure is regarding and appreciating each other more. Let's see how.
Each man and woman is a unique masterpiece of Allah and no less. You sometimes hear about an auction when an artist's or even film star's personal effects are put before the public. Just because they belong to the greatly admired artist or star even his or her handkerchiefs or a scrap of paper daubed with some colours are treated like works of art and command incredible prices- all this because the owner is almost worshipped by the fans. If that is so for spiritually indifferent people how true Muslims should then treat the incomparably superior masterpieces of Allah they claim to be 'fans' of and they in fact earnestly worship? Now, mind you, this is not massaging imagination. Each and every man, woman and child is a unique masterpiece right from the Hands of the Almighty and are inspired from Allah's Own Spirit. One who truly believes in Allah with love and appreciation cannot fail to be overwhelmingly impressed by all He created. Yet, we often fail to recognize the fact and as a result sometimes treat each other like dirt. One particular and very painful area of Muslims' failure in appreciating each other is male-female relations. This in fact is often a disaster area. Many men seem to regard women not only their automatic inferiors but also worthy of disrespect and even abuse. This most certainly isn't Islamic but a hangover from pre-Islam when misogyny was the norm. Most Muslim nations, simply and unfortunately, moved into the new house of Islam with their old cultural baggage in tow. The Messenger of Allah (sws) could not impress the women's worth and personally demonstrate it more. He said:
"Three things of your world have been made lovable to me- WOMEN, perfume
and salat which is the light of my eye.”
Ask many Muslims about women, even their wives. The least they will say is "women!" as if they are spitting in disgust. Apparently they only love their mothers forgetting that all women in principle ARE mothers now or later. The Darling of Allah (sws) also said "Only the noble characters among you honour and treasure women, and only the mean characters insult and abuse them. I AM THE BEST AMONG YOU REGARDING WOMEN.” 
We talk about SUNNA, sunna, sunna... all the time thinking of baggy pants, tooth twigs and two rik'ats of this salat or that. All of which are very well no doubt. But let me tell you something: The Top and Source Sunna, the mother of all sunnas is the CHARACTER AND DISPOSITION OF THE DARLING OF ALLAH (sallallahu alayhi wa sellem). Emulation of that should be the very ground and centre-piece of our pursuit of Rasulallah's Sunna. So loving, honouring and treasuring women, whether mothers, sisters, daughters or totally unrelated sisters in Islam or even non-Muslims... IS Sunna, indispensable Sunna because it is based on the Prophet's character inseparable from his blessed special person and NOT acts which he sometimes did not do, like some nafls (we call them sunna ghayri muakkada- sunnas not insisted on). And you know what? The Prophet (sws) did not treat women well just because he was kind. He really saw their worth and merit- for Allah only produces masterpieces. He couldn't love, admire and appreciate his great first wife Khatija more, for example.  Loving and honouring women is Sunna Muakkada (insisted-on). But of course our love and friendship problem is general, not confined to women. How to tackle this bad problem? The standard we said above (i.e., each is a unique Divine masterpiece) holds the clue. Now please go out and try this experiment, even for fun's sake. Treat each person you meet or come in contact (e.g. on the phone) as if you like and appreciate him, addressing or responding to him or her politely, indulging and ignoring his or her mistakes and misdemeanours if any as if you are a polished and accomplished diplomat. But never allow yourself to look and sound artificial or go to excess. The person will brighten up. Why?  Because the God in him or her is pleased. He or she will return your compliment one way or another, then or later but return he or she will. Prophet said: "Speak to people according to the level of their understanding (causing them to appreciate what you say).” Good-will and politeness disarm almost all bad tempers and dissipates most suspicions. If you do these things (and especially towards your spouse) you will create a new world for yourself and your friends and respondents. I have Allah's authority, no less, to testify for me, read if you wish: "Idfa billati hiya ahsan faizallazi baynaka wa baynahu adawatan kaannahu waliyyun hamim. Wa ma yulaqqaha illallazina sabaru wa ma yulaqqaha illa zu hazzin azim" (please forgive 'z' renderings). This is from Surat Fussilat, ayat 35. Allah the Most High and Sublime is teaching us:
"Respond to evil with good and you will see that the one between whom and you there is hostility will become as if he is a warm friend. NONE CAN ATTAIN THIS STATIOIN BUT THOSE WHO KEEP PATIENCE AND THOSE WHO ARE ENDOWED WITH A GREAT SHARE OF SAINTLY POTENTIAL".
Let also and especially spouses abide by Allah's directive and see the love and happiness come like a new baby into their relations. Now please do not play this for a day or two like a game in vogue. Make it your habit for the rest of your days and deserve and get the blessings, good-news and rewards promised above in the Book of Allah. Amen.

GREEN PEARLS FOR RAMADAN- 15: TAWAKKUL

Tawakkul means delegating to Allah things which affect you but you cannot control. What is in your power to do you must do for your tawakkul for the rest to be acceptable, leaving to Allah everything relating to your interests.
I mean including things you can do yourself if you weren't so lazy, is not real tawakkul but expecting other servants of Allah serve you in those respects- a form of cheating. It is like begging on the part of a healthy man who can gainfully work if he wants. For a person begging while he is able to earn by working what he eats is hellfire the Prophet (sws) said: Wrong tawakkul is like that. We must do our best first.

GREEN PEARLS FOR RAMADAN- 16: FORGIVENESS

Like attract like. The more sins we commit the more we must commit, one bad thing leads to another. One lie has to snowball into many others. The chain reaction must be broken, the vicious circle must be broken. What breaks them is asking forgiveness. If the offence we commit is against Allah only we must offer our repentance to him. If the offence is against Allah's servants we must both repent to Allah and ask forgiveness from and make amends for our victim(s). Up and above that I find a prayer recorded in the Dalail al Khairat which we may read with great benefit. It is this:
“O Allah, I have sins between me and You and sins between me and your creatures. O Allah, what is between me and You please pardon and what is between me and Your creatures please take onto Yourself to remedy, for You are vast in forgiveness.” Hopefully that helps to pay for what we may not have the means to pay ourselves. Lastly, there is another pre-emptive means given us by Allah. It is forgiving those who offended us. Then Allah takes unto Himself to forgive us. Amen.

GREEN PEARLS FOR RAMADAN- 17: BLESSINGS

Allah the Most Kind and Sublime does not only say "Indeed Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet. O believers, you also do send blessings on him and greetings of submission." (Surat al Ahzab, v.56)
Even before that (v.43) He Almighty says: "It is He Who send blessings ON YOU with His angels together in order to take you out of darkness into light. For He has been merciful all along towards believers.”
Now Allah knows better Arabic than anybody else and no doubt the above two verses say the very same thing about both the Prophet (sws) and believers- that both Allah and His angels are constantly blessing both our Prophet (sws) and others. But in our case the reason is that, unlike the Prophet (sws) we are in many kinds and layers of darkness and need of being taken out of those abysmal depths of ignorance, injustice and impiety and brought closer to our full moon the Prophet (sws) who reflects the Light gushing out like a mighty infinite spring from our Mighty and Most Loving-Kind Creator and Lord, the Source of all light. Why are we to invoke blessings on our Prophet (sws)? Because he will invoke back at least ten blessings on us which will help to take us out of our darkness. Why to greet him with submission? Because he will bestow upon us of his excellent qualities when we willingly and happily submit ourselves to him. So what do all these mean? They mean that Islam (submission) is about being dredged out of the foul pits and pitch dark depths of our egos by both calling out upon Allah for help and invoking blessings on and submitting to His Messenger (sws). For their part Allah and all His angels and Allah's Messengers will be constantly sending blessings on us and no ego can hold us back when such irresistible and invincible Heavenly help rains on us.
But there is still another side to this secret which we often are unaware and negligent of. Because Allah and His angels and our Prophet are constantly sending blessings on us to save us, we Muslims also should send blessings not only on our and other prophets (salawatullahi wa salamuhu alayhim ajmaen) but also on all Muslims, past, present and future. This we can do by nurturing a total and unconditional goodwill and charity towards them, forgiving, helping and praying for them. For that is exactly what Allah and His angels and His Messenger (sws) are doing all the time. That is exactly how Maulana is treating us. The moment Muslims realize and practice this mutual goodwill and charity all the dark clouds of adversity and hostility their egos under the Satan have been inflicting on and among them will break up, disperse and vanish like the dark clouds when summer high pressure heat arrives. So let's pray:
"O Allah, shower blessings on our master Muhammad Your prophet and his brothers all prophets and on his household and companions and all who follow in their footsteps, men and women believers, to the number of your creatures and until You are satisfied and to the weight of Your Throne and to the number of Your words and to the scope of Your mercy, in its full measure and to its full amount (from Dalail al Khairat). Amen, amen, amen be hurmati sayyid'il mursaleen.”

GREEN PEARLS FOR RAMADAN- 18:  MIRACLES

Beginners are very interested in miracles- both seeing one and if possible 'performing' one. But the advanced know that everything Allah subhanahu wa taala (swt) does and creates is a miracle whether regarded commonplace by us or extraordinary. For example, the parting of the Red Sea when Moses (AS) struck it with his staff as Allah instructed was a miracle. But the sailing of a ship or coming down of the rain and the sprouting of the seed... all such 'ordinary' events are equally miraculous. In His Qur'an Allah (swt) cites all above as among His 'miracles' using the Arabic word 'ayat' for each without the slightest distinction.
To drive the message home even more He (swt) equates the supremely extraordinary resurrection of the dead to the greening of the fields after rain. He (swt) says:
"Look at the results of your Lord's rahmat how He revives the earth after its death. This indeed is His resurrection of the dead" (30: 50).
You can attain this understanding when you develop enough appreciation of Allah Almighty as the Lord Creator Who has no single work which is not infinitely great and perfect. This makes you lose yourself in wonderment and bewilderment.
One day Maulana Rumi was walking through the Konya market with his pupils. Suddenly the clang of a blacksmith's hammer hitting the anvil resonated in the air and giving out a heart-rending cry the sheikh fell unconscious. When he came around, they asked what the matter was.
"Didn't you hear the clang? It may be a mere clang for you but in it I heard my Lord calling".
So we so-called uncheatable bright sparks want mountains to move and the dead to come alive to possibly begin to wonder at Allah's greatness, don't we? The perfected man gets more wonderment from a clang for sure.
Awlia are in such wonderment of Allah, trembling with His fear and intoxicated with His love, so much eyes and ears for His signs in the most ordinary events, clangs or dropping leaves and signals that they see and hear from Allah in everything. Will not a lover see and smell his beloved who deserted him in all articles she left behind and weep over them, rubbing them to his face and kissing each a thousand times? Awlia similarly weep over everything Allah created, rub them to their faces with thanks and praises as His mementos, be they wild flowers or mere dust, admiring all worshipfully simply because they are made by the 'absent' beloved. They can never have enough of His nearness. Awlia are so sore with Allah's 'distance' and possible resentment. And Allah is so happy with and proud of such lovers of His although He may keep the knowledge from them. Their magnificent obsession with Allah is their dearest secret. That is continuous karamat for them.
Lastly our masters say "Ajall ul karamat dawam ut tawfiq" which is the only miracle that should occupy us the beginners really. It means:
"the greatest saintly miracle is the continuation of Allah's help.”
Like what? Like your being able to obey His commandments consistently and shun His harams without exception and lose your desire for haram and stabilize your obeying His will and a constant irreversible improvement in your morals and manners and an inexorable ascent of your grace and nobility of character. Please, please occupy yourself exclusively with these for there is nothing else required from and worthy of achieving by you. Then all miracles you can not even imagine rush and happen to you, such miracles that no eyes have seen, no ears have heard and no hearts conceived and you won't mind whether anybody else are aware of what is happening to you. Listen if you will what the Darling of Allah (sws) said:
"In the Garden Allah prepared for His servants what no eyes have ever seen, no ears ever heard and no hearts ever conceived.”
Do you understand?

GREEN PEARLS FOR RAMADAN- 19: CONCEALED PEARLS

Muslims are the only nation who have direct access to Allah. They can listen to Allah direct when they are reading His Qur'an for example. They can talk to Him direct when they pray to Him. He answers them back with direct inspirations into their hearts or lucid spiritual dreams and if the believer is advanced enough and can decipher them Allah communicates to him in the language of events he comes across daily.
About thirty five years ago I was with Maulana in a mosque in Cyprus having prayed the asr. We were invited to some place and were about to leave for it. Suddenly the heaven broke loose and an incredibly heavy rain began to fall. The meeting was supposed to be very important and we were fretting. But Maulana couldn't be calmer. He commented: "Allah azza wa jalla has sent down barriers for us not to go. We shouldn't.”
We subsequently learned that the host who had invited us had an emergency and couldn't receive us anyway. The distance being considerable and no telephones for most people at the time, we were saved the trouble. What is more somebody else was destined to turn up at maghreb prayer whom we should rather meet and Maulana was chuckling when we wondered at the significant ‘coincidence’.
But what awlia can 'read' and UNDERSTAND from ordinary events and 'coincidences' we are unable to understand from reading the Qur'an.  As Maulana Rumi said,
"What the 'elder' can see in a brick wall the novice cannot see in a mirror."
Mind you, if we really want to join the ranks of the friends of Allah we should befriend the Qur'an more. Some daily, cyclical reading is very beneficial. As we periodically come across the same verse we may read more into it and wonder at the Qur'an's incredible depths of light. For example did you consider what the verse means and imports, the verse which we read after concluding a time's salat and before ayat al Kursi, viz.,
"Wa ilahukum ilahun wahid. La ilaha illa huwar rahmanur raheem"
(And your God is One God. There is no god but He who is Universally Merciful and Mercifully Forgiving"?
It is the best news you can come across in life if you are a believer. It means:
"Don't worry, there isn't many gods with different characters and with conflicting demands on you, one god harsh, another too strict, another vindictive, still another unconcerned with you and won't listen to your supplications. Your God is One and only One God and that One has compassion for not only you His believer but all His creatures whatever their natures and records. You are sure to get what you need. He is also out and out Mercifully Forgiving. Don't panic too much if you somehow made a mistake. Just feel sorry for it, say sorry and resolve to try to avoid it in future and He will just not only rub it out but write in its place a reward at least ten times as big".
Such depths become visible to see and available to swim in delightfully to those who befriend the Qur'an The Qur'an is an unfathomable Ocean of Light Waves radiating direct from Allah the Most High and Sublime and as no other ocean it is full of concealed pearls for daring and persistent divers. I hope you have had some of them this Ramadan, some green pearls but what are they? Only a handful and not the most exquisite ones at all. Allah's pearls offered us in His Qur'an al Kareem al Majeed are absolutely infinite. Yet if and when we discover and appreciate one, that one leads inexorably to others, Light after Light, Light upon Light... until we come to the Light of His Face drowning and superseding all. Amen.

GREEN PEARLS FOR RAMADAN- 20: FROM EVIL TO GOOD

One of the greatest Sufi poets of the 19. C Ottoman Turkey was Sheikh
Ibrahim Haqqi effendi (RA, KS). His most famous poem TAFWIZNAMA begins with
the quintuplet:

"Haqq (Allah) converts evils into good
Do not think that He does else.
The Arif (man of gnosis) just watches that
Let's see then what Maula (Lord) does
Whatever He does He ends it beautiful."

Why so? Because nothing can defeat His purpose and His purpose is always beautiful goodness. Sooner or later all that happens under the firmament must end or lead to most beautiful goodness. Knowing this is true gnosis, for the wali is the one who knows that Allah is fully good and no less whatever the temporary and partial appearances. So he watches every event unfolding in front of his eyes expecting good and only beautiful good to be its ultimate result. Yet may Allah not test us with tests we cannot bear but give us His favours the easier way in His vast and ample mercy and indulgence. Amen

Web design by Surge Solutions