TODAY

A double class was suppose to begin at 9:25. It was no ordinary class....it was sociolinguistics! A cup of tea in the morning did not seem enough a doze to keep us awake. Anyway, we at least had Chocolato didn't we Naeema?! I as usual had an imaginary screen running in front of my eyes throughout the class. We were desperately looking forward for Sir TZ's aka Tayyab Zaidi (who happens to be our teacher) class. He couldn't come... for a genuine reason *Sigh* Our souls wandered from place to place in that huge campus for the next hour before the start of another nightmarish session that happens to be conducted by a highly "culture oriented" professor KRK, Kulture re Kulture! We learn..or rather we will learn to translate from one language to another.. BUT NOT WITHOUT KNOWING THE CULTURE OF THAT LANGUAGE...so you see..The day ended on this note:

tum na aae to her cheez wahi thee keh jo hai...

Intellect, Reason and Unity Of Being

Intellect, Reason and Unity Of Being
S H Nasr

The tragedy of modern Western philosophy lies, from the Muslim point of view, in confusing intellect and reason. The intellect to which the Sufi doctrine appeals and through which it is understood is that instrument of knowledge which perceives directly. It is not reason which is, at best, its mental image. Intellectus is not ratio. The latter can create and understand philosophy in the usual meaning of the word; only the former can understand metaphysics in its true sense which lies at the heart of the doctrine. To comprehend the doctrine is therefore not just to try to conform ideas to a logical pattern. Nor is it to play with ideas and seek to perform any kind of mental acrobatics. It is a contemplative vision of the nature of things made possible through intellection. The doctrine or metaphysics would be the easiest thing to teach if all men could understand as easily as they can reason. But in fact it is most difficult to explain precisely because only a few are capable of intellection. That is why even within the Tarîqah [i.e. spiritual path within Islam] only a small number are capable of fully comprehending the doctrine.

Doctrine is in a sense the beginning and end of the Path. It comes at the beginning as a knowledge that is 'theoretical' and at the end as one that is realized and lived. Between the two there is a world of difference. Every doctrinal work of Sufism is like a key with which a particular door is opened and through which the traveller must pass until finally, at the end of the road, he realizes in his being the doctrine that he knew 'theoretically' at the beginning. There are those who belittle doctrine in the name of experience. But doctrine is absolutely essential especially at the beginning of the Path when man is lost in the maze of distracting thoughts, and especially in modern times when the confusion in the mental plane makes the possession of a clear vision of the nature of things indispensable. The doctrine at the beginning is like the map of a mountain to be climbed. At the end it is the intimate knowledge of the mountain gained through the actual experience of having climbed it.

Also in the same way that different descriptions can be given of a mountain depending on the angle from which it is being viewed, doctrine is often expressed in terms that may seem contradictory in certain external aspects. But the subject of all the descriptions is the mountain and the content of all the expressions of doctrine is the Truth which each formulation expresses from a certain point of view. In metaphysical doctrines there is no innate opposition, as in schools of philosophy, but complementary forms that reveal the same essence.

All doctrine, as already stated, is essentially the distinction between the Real and the apparent, the Absolute and relative, or substance and accidents. Its cardinal teaching is that only Allah is absolutely Real and consequently this world in which man lives is contingent. Between God, who transcends Being and whose first determination is Pure Being, and this world, which is farthest away from It, there are located a number of other worlds each standing hierarchically above the other in the scale of universal existence. Together they comprise the multiple states of being, which all receive their being from God, while before Him they are literally nothing. Man thus stands before this vast number of worlds above him, and beyond them before the Divine Presence Itself which, although completely transcendent with respect to all domains of the Universe, is closer to man than his jugular vein.

The central doctrine concerning the ultimate nature of reality has usually been called wahdat al-wujûd or the (transcendent) unity of Being. This cardinal doctrine, which is not pantheism, or pan-entheism nor natural mysticism as Western orientalists have called it, is the direct consequence of the Shahâdah. It asserts that there cannot be two completely independent orders of reality or being which would be sheer polytheism or shirk. Therefore, to the extent that anything has being it cannot be other than the Absolute Being. The Shahâdah in fact begins with the lâ, or negation, in order to absolve Reality of all otherness and multiplicity. The relation between God and the order of existence is not just a logical one in which if one thing is equal to another the other is equal to the first. Through that mystery that lies in the heart of creation itself, everything is, in essence, identified with God while God infinitely transcends everything. To understand this doctrine intellectually is to possess contemplative [intuitive] intelligence; to realize it fully is to be a saint who alone sees 'God everywhere'.

From: Ideals and Realities of Islam, S H Nasr

Advice For Students Of The Deen

Advice For Students Of The Deen

by Sh. Shoayb Ahmed

1. We must make sure that we are acquiring knowledge firstly for the pleasure of Allah. We must be mindful of the Hadith, "Actions are according to the intentions." (Al-Bukhari & Muslim)

2. We must always practice on whatever we learn. This reaffirms our knowledge and Allah will grant us insight and knowledge of those matters which we were totally unaware of. "A person is not an Alim (learned person) until he acts on his knowledge." (Ibn Hibban)

"Whoever acts upon what he has learnt, Allah grants him knowledge of that which he was unaware of." (Abu Nuaym in Al-Hilyah)

Ibrahim ibn Ismail ibn Mujamma' said: "We used to memorize the Hadith by relying on practising on it." (Tadreeb Al-Rawi)

3. Students must work on developing a high level of Taqwa. The greater the level of taqwa, the greater the quality of ones knowledge. Allah says in Surah Al-Baqarah, verse: 282 "Fear Allah and Allah will teach you."

It is reported from Sufyan Al-Thawri: "When a man wished to acquire knowledge (ilm), he engaged himself in Ibadah before that for twenty years." This may be achieved through being very particular on the five Salaat, regular Istighfaar for our shortcomings, Dua, recitation of the Quraan and other adhkaar.

The Dhikr is a source of peace and contentment. Surah Ra'd, verse: 28

4. The Nur and the fruits of true knowledge and the ability to retain and remember whatever was learnt is possible when the person abstains from sin. In this regard, Imam Al-Shafi complained to his teacher, Waki' about his weak memory. His teacher directed him towards avoiding sin and he went on to say that knowledge (of Deen) is a light and the light of Allah is not granted to a sinner. 5. Students must select a good teacher and a pure source of ilm. If and when the teacher is an embodiment of virtue, piety and ilm, then this will permeate to the students. Muhammad ibn Sireen is reported to have said: "Certainly this ilm is Deen, so take care as to who you take it from." (Safahaat fi Adab Al-Ra'y by Shaykh Muhammad Awwamah)

Imam Malik was asked: "Can ilm be taken from a person who has not acquired it and neither has he sat (with scholars)?" He replied: "No"

The person then asked: "May it be taken from a person who is true and authentic (reliable), but he does not memorize and does not understand?"

He (Imam Malik) said: "Knowledge is not documented from anyone except a person who memorizes and has truly acquired it and sat with the people (scholars) and really knows and practices and he possess the quality of fear of Allah."

Imam Abu Hanifah was told about a group in the masjid discussing issues of Fiqh. He asked: "Do they have a leader?"

They replied: "No"

He said: "These people will never gain true understanding (Fiqh)."

6. Students may aspire to acquire certificates from different institutions as this is what may assist them in this world, but they must remember that the transmission of ilm through the sanad must never be neglected. This is the very means by which our Deen has reached us and in this way it has been preserved.

Abdullah ibn Al-Mubarak said: "The Isnad is part of the Deen. If it were not for the Isnad, then any person would have said whatever he wished."

7. As students we must not be distracted by excessive physical comfort. Our illustrious scholars of the past underwent great difficulties to acquire knowledge even it were a single Hadith. They valued their ilm more than their lives. Yahya ibn Abi Kathir said: "Ilm cannot be acquired through physical comfort." (Tadhkirat Al-Huffaaz)

8. Many students wish to gain maximum in the shortest possible time. In trying to achieve this, they experiment with different short courses. These do not provide the desired fruits. In a couplet by Imam Al-Juwayni, he says that knowledge will not be achieved except through six things; intelligence, eagerness, hard-work, competence, the company of a teacher and a long time.

We must be willing to gradually progress in our knowledge. Imam al- Bukhari in Kitab Al-Ilm defines a Rabbani as one who trains people with basic matters of ilm before more complex ones."

9. Students must have a high degree of respect and humility for their teachers and more especially the scholars of the formers generations. When we consider ourselves after a few years on par with the pious predecessors or even in a position to ridicule them, then we will be deprived of true knowledge.

Abu Hatim Al-Razi reports from Yahya ibn Maeen: "We criticize some people and it is likely that they already have their feet in Jannah some two hundred years ago."

Abu Nuaym mentions in Al-Hilyah in the biography of Imam Malik who told a young boy from the Quraysh: "Learn etiquette (adab) before you acquire knowledge."

In Rislat Al-Mustarshideen: "Humble yourself in front of those from whom you learn."

A person must be humble in his relationship with the creation of Allah especially those who are eager to benefit from his knowledge. Allah had even instructed the Prophet Muhammad to be humble with those who followed him. Surah Al-Shu'ara, verse: 215 When one inculcates the quality of humility, then will he be a source of good for the creation. Allah mentions that He had not sent the Prophet except as a means of mercy for the world. Surah Al- Ambiya verse:107

10. We must never consider ourselves as having reached a stage where we cannot learn something new. A person remains a student forever. Saeed ibn Jubayr said: "A person is a scholar (alim) as long as he continues to learn. No sooner does he abandon knowledge, thinking that he is not in need and he is content with what he has, then he is the most ignorant."

11. We must not be deceived by some eloquent speaker who does not possess true and genuine ilm. The Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said: "My greatest fear for you after I depart from this world is the evil of the hypocrite whose knowledge is only on his tongue." (Al-Tabarani in Mujam Al-Kabir and Ibn Hibban)

12. We as students must regard our knowledge as the most valuable and prized possession. We must never feel inferior in front of people of other professions.

The Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said: "Indeed the ulama (scholars) are the heirs of the Prophets. The Prophets did not leave behind gold (dinars) and silver (dirhams), instead they left ilm. Whoever takes it has surely taken a great share." (Abu Dawud, Al- Tirmidhi, Al-Nisaai & Ibn Majah)

13. Students must inculcate in themselves the readiness to admit and say, "I don't know."

It is reported form Ibn Masud: "Whoever knows then must speak, and whoever does not know then must say, I don't know because to say this is part of ilm."

Al-Sha'bi was asked about something to which he replied and said; "I don't know." Someone told him, "Are you not ashamed to say this even though you are the jurist of Iraq?" He replied: "The angels were not ashamed when they said, Glory be to You (Allah), we have no knowledge about this." (Al-Sha'bi was referring to the incident when Allah created the Prophet Adam and thereafter instructed the angels to prostrate before him)

14. We must be mindful of the fact that we could be wrong. It is reported from Ibn Masud who used to say: "If it is correct then it is from Allah, and if it is incorrect, then it is from me and shaytaan."

15. Ever era is weaker academically and intellectually than the former. As the years go by, true and genuine scholarship is weakened.

It is reported Ya'qub ibn Shaybah from Ibn Masud: "Not a day comes upon you except that it is of a lesser degree in knowledge then the day before it. So when the ulama are all gone, people will all be on the same level. Then they will not instruct others to do good and they will not forbid evil. This is when you will be destroyed." Ibn Taymiyah said in Rafu' Al-Malaam: "Assuming all the Hadith were gathered in compilations (books), no Alim will know all that is contained in the books. Some person may have many books, but he is not aware of its contents. However, those who lived before these compilations were gathered were much more knowledgeable in the Sunnah. Their chests were their compilations and it contained much more then these books."

16. A student must take out some time to teach whatever he has learnt . By doing this whatever was learnt is further embedded in the heart and mind.

There is great reward in this because we have been advised by the Prophet in a Hadith reported in Sahih Muslim "Whoever invites towards good, then for him is a reward equal to those who follow, but their reward is not decreased in any way."

Through teaching, a person will be following the example and Sunnah of the Prophet. In a Hadith reported by Ibn Majah the Prophet is reported to have said,

"…Indeed I have been sent as a teacher." 17. One must adhere to the teachings of the Shariah and in doing so he will be a perfect role model for others. In Surah Al-Imraan, verse: 31 "Say! If you love Allah, then follow me (the Prophet), then Allah will love you and He will forgive your sins." In Surah Al-Ahzaab, verse:21 "Indeed there is for you in the Messenger of Allah a perfect example."

Because the ulama are the heirs of the Prophets, it is only appropriate that they are also examples for the people.


Sh. Shoayb Ahmed (shoayba---webmail.co.za)

Hatred by Wislawa Szymborska

Look, how constantly capable and how well maintained in our century: hatred. How lightly she regards high impediments. How easily she leaps and overtakes. She's not like other feelings. She's both older and younger than they. She herself gives birth to causes which awaken her to life. If she ever dozes, it's not an eternal sleep. Insomnia does not sap her strength, but adds to it. Religion or no religion, as long as one kneels at the starting-block. Fatherland or no fatherland, as long as one tears off at the start. She begins as fairness and equityt. Then she propels herself. Hatred. Hatred. She veils her face with a mien of romantic ecstasy. Oh, the other feelings -- decrepit and sluggish. Since when could that brotherhood count on crowds? Did ever empathy urge on toward the goal? How many clients did doubt abduct? Only she abducts who knows her own.

Talented, intelligent, very industrious. Do we need to say how many songs she has written. How many pages of history she has numbered. How many carpets of people she has spread out over how many squares and stadiums! Let's not lie to ourselves: She's capable of creating beauty. Wonderful is her aura on a black night. Magnificent cloud masses at rosy dawn. It's difficult to deny her pathos of ruins and her coarse humor mightily towering above them columns. She's the mistress of contrast between clatter and silence, between red blood and white snow. And above all she never tires of the motif of the tidy hangman above the defiled victim. She's ready for new tasks at any moment. If she must wait she'll wait. She said she was blind. Blind? She has the keen eyes of a sniper and boldly looks into the future --she alone.

-translated by Walter Whipple

in a haze. . .

Is this real life? I mean is this really the real life I am living? Dead while living...screaming while living...annoyed while living...happy and flamboyant while living. It is so very difficult to refrain from doing what is done and doing what is untouched. It seems as if everything is hazy...disappearing..slowing fading away..

REGRET: An amazing article by Maulana Muhammad Aslam Shaikhupuri

I am staring in bewilderment at the burnt corpses of the innocent little twin brothers....

The Divine Power has His own scheme of providing or withholding offspring, which is without doubt a wisdom-based system. Some yearning arms remain empty forever; some are given boys, some girls, and others both. It is another debate that a Mu'min should have firm belief in destiny, but the desire for boys is ingrained in the human breast. One can of course pray, or even wish, but not act in any way that would anger the Decider of male or female. One hears of couples that get out of their minds in their wish for a male child, are again and again swindled by doctors, hakims, quacks, so-called magicians, but even then never give up hope. Even their trials and tribulations fail to lead them to the sweet satisfaction of bowing to Allah’s will. The acquisition of a son seems to them the greatest gratification and the solution to all problems. Man faces problems and his nature makes him believe that if this problem were solved he would be happy and content with no other worries or desires to bother him; the second, third, fourth problem leads him through the same feelings and he, designating it the last one runs to solve it like a mad man. Problems keep getting worked out but his madness instead of being satiated gains new heights...the desire for sons is one such desire that maddens those who are not aware of daughters being a mercy and dissatisfied with destiny.

But you would rarely have heard a tragedy so sad, that a mother burnt her lovely innocent children with her own hands. But we, who are gradually becoming the heirs of the practical, moral, and social waywardness; immoralities, excesses, lawlessness, and corruption of bygone nations; are finding such shocking and heartless acts recurring incidence. A number of unmarried mothers do such a thing to cover their black deeds, but the little twins I am talking about were the legitimate children of their mother. The little angels were not given up to lashing flames by any other than their own mother who wrapped them in a blanket, poured kerosene over them and struck a match. The mother who is a shade of love, a sea of affection, a tower of greatness, a fortress of adoration, a sign of heaven, the most beautiful gift of nature, a sweet gentle breeze.........the mother who gives up her warm and dry bed to her wet child, becomes a shield in troubled times, provides coolness in the harshness of the world...no one can even imagine how a mother who conjures up the music of falling water, the coolness of stars, and the fragrance of flowers could throw to flames her own flesh and blood? Imagine it or not but it is the truth. This did happen at the hands of a mother in the cultured metropolis of Karachi. A woman named Zahra, laying aside family traditions, honor and shame, married a handsome, well-dressed, eloquent man of her choice.

The print and electronic media have afflicted our sisters and daughters with the disease of idealism. A number of them knock around on roads, parks, markets, clubs, parties, colleges, and universities looking about for their ideals. A few meetings and outward get up are enough to decide them on their “life partners”, putting aside family background and practical and moral drawbacks. The parents are taken aback by their daughter’s imprudence; they beg and cry, try to frighten her with pictures of future unfaithfulness, with the dishonor among the family...but she hardly cares and rejects all appeals labeling them narrow-minded social hurdles; her enemy, and God knows what. She stands fast on her decision because this is what she has learnt from digests and tele dramas.

The first few months go by in a dream and she proudly shows off her love and laughs at the “frights” given her by her family and relatives. Then the rosy tints fade and life faces her in all its crudeness, then she starts lamenting her decision. The well-dressed, handsome, loving man she had married starts to change. The outer shell sheds and out comes a frightening, hard, loathsome character. The sentimental, unwise girl who spurned the love of her parents, the sincerity of here siblings, and the concern of relatives becomes frightened. She feels alone in a place where beasts abound and there is no sympathetic hand to help her out.

And when she is left all on her own with that piece of paper with “divorce” written on it, she is either compelled to sell herself or hide her face and beg on roads, or give up her life, or...like Zahra, burn the beautiful pictures she herself created. Countless Zahras are regretful of their decisions after emerging from their intoxication and deceitful pride...but this regret is of no use.

Come to think of it, this regret should also encompass the parents who never question their daughter’s freedom, licentiousness, mixing with the opposite sex, going alone in parties, making boy friends...but when their honor is at stake, they shake the sky with their cries.

This regret should also be shared by the untruthful flag bearers of women’s rights who encourage young girls to elope and stand against Islamic traditions and who then present such cases as models for others to follow.

This regret should also be shared by those reformers who have become negligent of their duty of social reform in their pursuit of unnecessary debates, indulgence, and desire for wealth. It is the result of their negligence that has resulted in the meaninglessness of shame and honor; that has made fornication easy and marriage difficult, that has advanced dowry and countless other meaningless customs that has made the easiest of the Sunnah of Rasoolullah (salallahu alaihi wasallam) the most difficult.

Until and unless there is a restraint on the free mixing of the sexes, until the importance of chastity and modesty are impressed in hearts, until reformers play their roles in society, unless marriage is freed from unnecessary, self-made, and ignorant customs, emotionally unstable “Zahras” will continue revolting against their families; temporary bonds will continue to bind; shells will continue to break; bitterness will continue to raise its head; homes based on lust will continue to break; divorces will continue to proceed; regrets will continue to be wept over.......but there will be nothing left except burnt bodies, cracking bones, blackened corpses, news reports and lamenting newspaper columns!

Wasting Time...

Dharney ko dil pey yaan na utha haath per se haath

Kaamon se log apne nimat ker chaley gaye

Time...the most precious commodity..you waste it and you face the consequences..sigh...today was grammar exam...in the three days I spend staring at the sentence structures and trying to know the difference between tense, aspect, time, and making the assignment, I think I spend most of the time allowing myself to daydream. The rest of the world saw me dug in my books..My sister called me from Malaysia..said to me.."would you ever care to separate yourself from books and talk to me instead"... called me a 'studious sister'..huh! Another sister is arriving from US on the day before my next exam and she has warned me that if she sees me studying she won't hand me the books she is getting for me...haha I laughed at myself..My brother asked me to get a life and my nephew and nieces think I am a lazy bump!


I decided to write this because I couldn't afford to waste more time...thoughts don't stay in one place all the time...they are a very clever specie..will find a way out through other means and haunt you for days at length:) Am I making any sense? I used to listen to a song when I was in school..liked its lyrics...

"Time, where did you go?
Why did you leave me here alone?
Wait, don't go so fast
I'm missing the moments as they pass
Now I've looked in the mirror and the worlds getting clearer
So wait for me this time...."