Life that Continues After Death

When a person dies, all action is cut off for him with the exception of three things: charity which continues, knowledge which benefits, or a righteous child who makes supplication for him.

- Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم

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Hermit

The hermit keeps a window open onto the sky, without which the world would perish from suffocation, ugliness and boredom. He is the only one, along with the poet, who still speaks the language of the beyond, who makes existence sacred, who gives life this verticality without which humanity is buffeted about beneath itself. He is a rampart against the assaults of mediocrity, nastiness, hatred that is intolerant of its opposite. He is this force, made out of weakness, that warms the atmosphere, melts the winter of the world. For men turned toward secondary things, his presence recalls the existence of the essential things: the order of the world, knowledge, the priority of salvation and the adoration of the Supreme, by imitating the sunflower whose heliotropism has much to teach us, who never turns away from the trisolar brightness. Model and prototype, the hermit represents, in a chaotic and dehumanized world, a final landmark, an ultimate axis for reference. He allows man to remain standing by recalling the Absolute; when deprived of the Totality, man becomes totalitarian by compensation.

- Jean Biès

Surah Al Ghashiyah (The Overwhelming Event)

(Click the play button to listen to the Noble Qur'an recitation of Surah Al Ghashiyah)

Has there come to you the narration of the overwhelming (i.e. the Day of Resurrection); 

Some faces, that Day, will be humiliated (in the Hell-fire, i.e. the faces of all disbelievers, Jews and Christians, etc.).  

Labouring (hard in the worldly life by worshipping others besides Allah), weary (in the Hereafter with humility and disgrace). 

They will enter in the hot blazing Fire, 

They will be given to drink from a boiling spring, 

No food will there be for them but a poisonous thorny plant, 

Which will neither nourish nor avail against hunger. 

(Other) faces, that Day, will be joyful, 

Glad with their endeavour (for their good deeds which they did in this world, along with the true Faith of Islamic Monotheism). 

In a lofty Paradise

Where they shall neither hear harmful speech nor falsehood

Therein will be a running spring, 

Therein will be thrones raised high

And cups set at hand. 

And cushions spread at rows.

And rich carpets (all) spread out. 

Do they not look at the camels, how they are created?

And at the heaven and how it is raised?

And at the mountains, how they are rooted and fixed firm? 

And at the earth, how it is outspread?

So remind them (O Muhammad (Peace be upon him)), you are only a one who reminds. 

You are not a dictator over them. 

Save the one who turns away and disbelieves.

Then Allah will punish him with the greatest punishment.

Verily, to Us will be their return; 

Then verily, for Us will be their reckoning.

 

Her Reply

A man had an argument with his wife and said, "I am going to make your life miserable." The wife calmly replied, "You cannot do that." He said, "Why not?" She said, "If happiness were to be found in money or jewellery, you could deprive me of it and take it away from me, but it is nothing over which you or any other person has control. I find happiness in my faith, and my faith is in my heart, and no one has power over it except my Lord."

Lady in the Painting

* after Georges de la Tours, The Penitent Magdalen

Mirror frames it all aside
From where the canvas she is 

Destined in absolute stillness

Of the trapping darkness.

The world forgotten
With all its slyness and fake kindness

Where everything is given for a price

Engulfed in fake metaphors—
Like the candle as a lamp.

It melts and dies out

What lies on her lap
Is the realization that the flesh
Had rotten out
Leaving a petrified skull
Shining on the candle’s light.

Goodness

Goodness cannot grow and develop unless one leaves evil, in the same way that a plant cannot develop unless the area around it is thatched. The soul and the deeds are not purified until what negates that is removed. A person cannot be purified unless he abandons what is evil. The soul that does not abandon evil cannot be purified at all for evil pollutes and soils the soul. 

 

- Ibn Taymiyyah, Tazkiyah, p. 43-44

White Camias

After Eid Al Fitr

We celebrated the end of the month of Ramadan, the Eid Al Fitr last Friday. It was a happy day, we met many of our Muslim brothers and sisters. I was glad to meet my sisters in faith after quite a long time. We ate some delicious food at the mosque. The next day, which is yesterday, we traveled to Dagupan, Pangasinan, to visit the seaside there. And today, I saw a big fat caterpillar while weeding at the garden.

As a whole, it was truly, a blessed and memorable month. So many unexpected things did happen during Ramadan, so In sha Allah, I will be able to write some of those memories these coming days.

Mosque

Letting Go of My Lost Ponytail

* This piece was written on July 31, 2007, exactly six years ago. 

Twelve years ago, I was tiptoeing on a red sand desert, and I can feel my feet slightly sinking beneath the powdery-fine like mass. The heat of the sun was scorching and the sand cools my feet. I thought that in a place like this, no plant can possibly grow. But there were. The air was dry, and even if the heat was scorching you can cover yourself with a blanket and you're guaranteed sweat-free. There is something in this place that makes you look younger and beautiful than what you're supposed to. I guess that was how I see things. I was just around seven or eight years old that time and I was there because my father had been working at Saudi for years and he wanted to bring us there before his resigning to the company he was working with, to make us experience how to live in a wonderful place and practice and live our religion fully.

As I was busy playing with the sands, dune after dune, sinking my feet, lying down and running here and there, I suddenly realized that my ponytail is missing. I was wearing a ponytail and a headband around my head. I felt alarmed at first because I don't like losing my things. I value anything I have. I thought of going around looking for it—but I thought that the place is so vast; the sands can quickly cover anything beneath their surface. And so I left that place leaving a part of me, because I consider that ponytail as a part of me.

As the years passed through, that ponytail-lost-in-the-desert event stayed at the back of my mind. As a psychology student, I consider childhood memories crucial in every individual, and they actually play a big role in shaping who we are at the present. But now, I learned I have to let go of it—that lost part of me, that past I am constantly clinging into.

It is not merely a string tied around my hair, it is not merely a rubber band with fancy designs in it, but it is symbolical of the things both physical and emotional that hinders me to the present. Those memories will always live within, but I learned that I should not center my life around them. They were destined to happen in God's own plan we should dare not question. As our professor told us during one of our classes, every step that we take is connected to our past leading toward the future. Every step we do in the present is crucial for our future.

I finally learned the art of moving on with life. Letting go of my lost ponytail.

Desirability of Seclusion at Times of Corruption Committed by the People of the World

Allah, the Exalted says:

فَفِرُّوا إِلَى اللَّهِ ۖ إِنِّي لَكُم مِّنْهُ نَذِيرٌ مُّبِينٌ 

So flee to Allah (from His Torment to His Mercy Islamic Monotheism), verily, I (Muhammadصلى الله عليه  وسلم‎) am a plain warner to you from Him. 

- Qur'an (Surah Adh-Dhāriyāt 50)

Sa'd bin Abi Waqqas reported: Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said,

"Allah loves a slave who is pious, free of all wants, and the unnoticed." (Narrated in Sahih Muslim)

Commentary:

Isolation, according to the Hadith, is recommendable for the obedience and worship of Allah. It is particularly approved when the prevalent corruption and social intercourse endanger religion, or its implementation looks no more feasible.

 

[Source: Riyad-Us-Saliheen by Imam An-Nawawi]

Glad Tidings to the Patient Ones

وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُم بِشَيْءٍ مِّنَ الْخَوْفِ وَالْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍ مِّنَ الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَنفُسِ وَالثَّمَرَاتِ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ الصَّابِرِينَ

And certainly, We shall test you with something of fear, hunger, loss of wealth, lives and fruits, but give glad tidings to As-Sabirin (the patient ones).

الَّذِينَ إِذَا أَصَابَتْهُم مُّصِيبَةٌ قَالُوا إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ 

Who, when afflicted with calamity, say: "Truly! To Allah we belong and truly, to Him we shall return." 

أُولَٰئِكَ عَلَيْهِمْ صَلَوَاتٌ مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ وَرَحْمَةٌ ۖ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُهْتَدُونَ 

They are those on whom are the Salawat (i.e. blessings, etc.) (i.e. who are blessed and will be forgiven) from their Lord, and (they are those who) receive His Mercy, and it is they who are the guided-ones.    

- Qur'an (Surah Al-Baqarah 155-157) 

Morning Dew and Iftar at Home

The past few days had been raining mildly, so the plants and flowers are blooming and sparkling with life, Alhamdulillah. The white flower above was taken just this morning, its petals wet from the gentle rain and morning dew.

The blessed month of Ramadan is drawing near to its end and we started counting the last remaining ten days last Sunday. Fasting is well too, and during Iftar, I prepare hot soup like noodles, etc. During rest, I read the Qur'an more, including two books that deal about the topic of Qadr (Predestination): The Salaf's Guide to the understanding of al-Qadaa wal-Qadar by Dr. Saleh as-Saleh, and Islamic Creed Series Vol. 8: Divine Will and Predestination: In the Light of the Qur'an and Sunnah by Dr. Umar S. al-Ashqar. I don't do any active things lately, like going downtown etc. I just spend my time studying, studying, studying.

This year's Ramadan had been very spiritually productive, and I hope that Allah SWT accept the fasting, sacrifices, prayers, invocations, and good deeds of the rest of the brothers and sisters in faith all over the world, including the ones who are suffering in war-torn countries.

Ah, so many things in our lives happen unexpectedly, some, which apparently seem bad and terrible. But if we keep our faith and trust in Allah SWT, in His Infinite Wisdom and Knowledge, He will provide a way out for the suffering and grief that dwells in our lives and hearts.