Posted in Uncategorized on September 30, 2017| Leave a Comment »
on this night
standing before the tent of Zaynab
was the only place to be
so i beseech You
Creator of New York City
Sweller of the Atlantic Ocean
Lord of Jupiter and Mars
to place me in the service of Your beloveds
in whatever land You wish
in whatever time You desire
there is no god but You
Posted in Ahl al-Bayt on September 30, 2017| 2 Comments »
when i was young
and the world was new
i was filled with joy
at everything i could do
the spring brought rain
and in summer felt sun
i could dance, i could laugh
i could swim, i could run
but at times i would feel
a piercing cold wind blow
and wonder in my heart
about those below
i approached an adult
with a question in my heart
“what happens when we die?”
and the fear began to start
they said they did not know
and about this we do not think
there is so much to enjoy
to eat, to touch, to drink
but as the years passed
that fear began to creep
in the darkness of the night
when you cannot sleep
the blinding of the I
the ending of the me
the world will go on
and nowhere i shall be
but then there came a man
whose name was al-Mustafa
who said in death is life
nothing to fear at all
only One should be feared
who gave you life at first
who satisfies your hunger
and takes away your thirst
if you walk in His way
you will never be alone
even in your grave
angels will come to bring you home
and for years I walked with Him
and He blessed me with a son
hoping to see him safe
until my life is done
but then the One he told me
about the son of al-Husayn
and learned that I know nothing
of tragedy and pain
in ancient sands, under burning skies
death was all around
body upon bloody body
sinking into the ground
if i had looked when i was young
only despair would i have seen
unable to bear history’s oppression
what could this possibly mean
but for the sake of Truth and Justice
this precious one did die
lying in his father’s lap
looking into the sky
“my grandfather is coming
to quench my bitter thirst
come join us soon, my father
as I take the journey first”
to a place beyond sadness
where dreams are reality
manifest by the One who made us
and everything you see
the One who crafted imagination
and the heights of the human soul
from nothing came all of this
and everything we know
But ‘Ali al-Akbar could see
something that we cannot
a sacred drop from Heaven’s rain
that brings forth tears that do not stop
for the love of al-Mustafa
with trust in the All-Mighty One
Husayn let his oldest son die
certain that Heaven he had won
for this life will end, there is no doubt
and we will all face the final test
but can we watch our little one die
the one we had held to our chest
can we let go of our hopes and dreams
and still know that Allah is there
can we undergo life’s crushing trials
and still believe He cares
well I say to the world and all who will hear
Husayn faced more than we know
yet he never backed down and never gave up
for he knew where we all will go
it is better to live a moment for God
than to spend a lifetime clinging to Earth
better to know one’s precious soul
the source of the human’s worth
better to fear Justice’s wrath
and hope in Mercy’s embrace
to let go of our tight grasp upon this life
and seek out our Master’s face
to seek for the beauty of a boy who stood tall
and made his grandfather proud
the reflection of the greatest of Allah’s creation
whose battle cry he shouted out loud
“Do you know who I am, by the Ka’ba’s Lord
I am the son of Husayn and ‘Ali
I will strike you down with the sharpest of swords
so come face this young Hashimi!”
and with that I lost the fear of my youth
a poison that destroys any heart
for the call of Husayn is that we cannot die
even if our body is torn apart
the One who made the man you see
from a single drop of fluid despised
will create me again and make me stand
under dark and foreboding skies
the pregnant will forget the child she has
the friend will turn into foe
and the result of our lives will be revealed
the truth of existence we will know
we will see it all with our very eyes
the veil will finally be gone
and on the Day we face that test
our tears will help us along
these tears we shed are not in vain
they are our soul longing to be free
yearning for our everlasting home
where with our Imam we can be
by the Grace and Mercy of the One
Each of us has a choice
and the best advice I can give to you
is listen for ‘Ali al-Akbar’s voice
listen to him calling you
repeating, “there is nothing to fear”
for my father and I are waiting for you
and the end of the journey is near
Posted in Ahl al-Bayt, Layla on September 28, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Last night, I felt so close to God that I felt like I was not real – a fading shadow, soon gone from the world. For hours, I was trying to put into words what I was feeling, but nothing felt adequate. Then I read the words attributed to Imam al-Sajjad, upon him peace, and they expressed it better than I ever could.
O God,
if You will
You will pardon us through Your bounty
and if You will,
You will chastise us through Your justice.
So make our ways smooth to Your pardon through Your kindness
and grant us sanctuary from Your chastisement through Your forbearance,
for none of us has the endurance for Your justice
and none of us can reach deliverance without Your pardon!
O Richest of the rich!
Here we are, Your servants, before You.
I am the neediest of the needy toward You,
so redress our neediness through Your plenty
and cut us not off from our hopes through Your withholding,
lest You make wretched him who seeks felicity through You
and deprive him who seeks help from Your bounty!
Then to whom would we return after You?
Where would we go from Your gate?
Glory be to You!
We are the distressed,
the response to whom You have made incumbent,
the people from whom You have promised to remove evil
That thing most resembling Your will
and that affair most worthy for You in Your mightiness
is showing mercy to him who asks You for mercy
and helping him who seeks help from You.
So show mercy upon our pleading with You
and free us from need when we throw ourselves before You!
O God,
Satan will gloat over us if we follow him in disobeying You,
so bless Muhammad and his Household
and let him not gloat over us after we have renounced him for You
and beseeched You against him!
Posted in Ahl al-Bayt on September 22, 2017| Leave a Comment »
What were you thinking
my Imam
upon you peace
when you last looked at the House of God
Did you think of your forefather Abraham
hands worn from work
looking at the completed structure
Did you think of your paternal grandfather Abu Talib
sweating under the blazing sun
boycotted while the Banu Umayya
relaxed in its shade
Did you think of your maternal grandfather
the blessed Messenger of God
blessings and peace upon him and his family
making tawaf in his farewell pilgrimage
and wonder how things had come to this
Did you think of your father ‘Ali
born inside its sacred walls
murdered in a mihrab
in faraway Kufa
Was the House of God
my Imam
a reminder of your family
of what had passed
and what was yet to come
Did you leave that blessed place
– even though you had more right to it than anyone –
because of the God who made it sacred
knowing that those who pursued you
had no shame
What was in your mind and heart
my Master
as time’s unfolding
and the plotting of men
drew you away
from a place you loved
and that loved you too
And as you began your journey
did you think of your son
who would one day return
and inspire the poet to speak:
This is the son of Husayn and the grandson of Fatima, the daughter of the Apostle, through whom the darkness dispersed
This is he whose ability the valley (of Mecca) recognizes, He is known by the (Sacred) House and the Holy sanctuary, and the lands outside the sanctuary
and know with certainty
that even should your body be desecrated
to protect the purity of this House
God would always preserve what you stood for
echoing the words of your great-great-grandfather across time:
“this House has a Lord Who will defend it”
Posted in Ahl al-Bayt on September 21, 2017| Leave a Comment »
so many years I have wondered
what it means to be a Muslim
after the burial of the Messenger of God
blessings and peace be upon him and his family
I have listened and listened
to every voice tell me what it might be
and I have found that there is nothing as clear
as sacrificing one’s life
to defend the grandson of the Messenger of God
blessings and peace be upon him and his family
and the fact that so few
made that decision
makes all the difference
I listened to the Sunni khateeb
remind us not to be selfish
not to make our Salat nor our Hajj
about me, me, me
but instead turn outwards
and connect our worship of God
to our love for God’s creatures
and I finally realized
that opening my heart
to the tears and the blood and the centuries of burdens
was a way to make my worship
more acceptable to God
for what is more selfish
than forgetting
the next time I go to the Ka’ba
if God so wills
I will bring with me for the first time
the memories of al-Sajjad
the confinement of al-Naqi
the loneliness of al-Zahra
and so much more
that I never brought before
when it was just
me, me, me
you do not need to travel
to the east nor the west
to find Truth and Justice
you need only turn your attention
to Karbala’s burning sands
and listen to the story
of a few heroes
who lived Islam
Posted in Adhkar, Ahl al-Bayt, Layla, Spiritual Stations, The Struggle on September 17, 2017| 2 Comments »
dear God
i am so tired
the world’s woes pile up in my heart
which cracks and cracks
until
the idea that i have a heart
seems like a delusion
rather
there is an essence of who i am
somewhere deep below
that i can only reach
if i let You wash away everything
other than it
names like al-Naqi
and others
are “names along with other names”
but they speak to me of essences
transcendent yet historical links in a chain
back to the burial of Your Prophet in 632 AD / 10 AH
send him and his family blessings and peace!
back to You beyond time
but also
traveling companions for 2017 AD / 1439 AH
whispering to me
that one day
every tear will make sense
but also
forms encasing meanings
each an ocean
from which every time i take a sip
i am satiated
but also
dreams of another world
the resting place of human hopes
from the time of Adam
unto the end of the world
and i long for the one who carries their living legacy
who can speak to fire and make it cool
strike at the sea and provide safe passage
tell the dead to walk
and unfold every meaning of the Qur’an
for behind him
we would have no doubt in our direction
infallible commands
worthy of every cent under our control
more valuable than every drop of blood in our veins
the living leader of billions of embodied essences
attesting to Your oneness
so why suffice
with anyone less
my Lord
what i know is insignificant to what i do not
this is the best i have
no
this is how i feel You have washed me away
i planned none of this
wave upon wave of al-thaqalayn
has battered me
and asked me to consider it all
from beginning to end
the whole cosmos
my place in it
the reason we are
and where we hope to be
so that when ‘Allamah says
“everything in itself is no more than a tale and a dream”
i feel my heart let go
my entire story
the last 38 years and whatever remains
as my essence gently settles
upon the soft petals of roses
upon them all blessings and peace!
rising upon a Divine wind
carrying me home to You
When they tell you your life is naught but breath in the passing wind
That your history holds no beauty—show them from your end, you begin
Tell them your soil cradles seeds that when planted in blackened hearts
Are embraced by the sun’s touch, and at once from them darkness departs
That budded mouths that seem muted, blossom with sweet melodies
And hum heartbreaking tunes of a trampled garden’s tragedies
Tunes of beautiful flowers that once lived, looked on all with soft eyes
Gentle lions that in death are immortal, souls to heaven, they rise
But upon passing, broken petals have left a trail, a fluttering scent
Of minds empowered by love, of hearts that to the brim are content
There are gardens, but few roses, and the few that are found
Were long ago buried, abused, crushed deep into the ground
But called true Roses for having rose, risen after every demise
Lost everything but their God, so everything did they find
– “Frangrance of the Found” by Aqeela Naqvi
“The message of Shi’ism to the world can be summarized in one sentence: ‘To know God.’ Or in other words, it is to instruct man to follow the path of Divine realization and the knowledge of God in order to gain felicity and salvation. And this message is contained in the very phrase with which the Holy Prophet commenced his prophetic mission when he said: “Oh men! Know God in His Oneness (and acknowledge Him) so that you will gain salvation.”
As a summary explanation of this message we will add that man is attached by nature to many goals in this worldly life and to material pleasures. He loves tasty food and drink, fashionable dress, attractive palaces and surroundings, a beautiful and pleasing wife, sincere friends and great wealth. And in another direction, he is attracted to political power, position, reputation, the extension of his rule and dominion and the destruction of anything that is opposed to his wishes. But in his inner and primordial God-given nature, man understands that all these are means created for man, but man is not created for all these things. These things should be subservient to man and follow him and not vice versa. To consider the stomach and the region below it as a final end of life is the logic of cattle and sheep. To tear-up, cut and destroy others is the logic of the tiger, the wolf and the fox. The logic inherent in human existence is the attainment of wisdom and nothing else.
This logic based upon wisdom with the power which it possesses to discern between reality and the unreal. It guides us toward the truth and not toward things our emotions demand or toward passions, selfishness and egoism. This logic considers man as a part of the totality of creation without any separate independence or the possibility of a rebellious self-centeredness. In contrast to the current belief that man is the master of creation and tames rebellious nature and conquers it to force it to obey his wishes and desires, we find that in reality man himself is an instrument in the hand of Universal Nature and is ruled and commanded by it.
This logic based upon wisdom invites man to concentrate more closely upon the apprehension he has of the existence of this world until it becomes clear to him that the world of existence and all that is in it does not issue from itself but rather from an Infinite Source. He will then know that all this beauty and ugliness, all these creatures of the earth and the heavens, which appear outwardly as independent realities, gain reality only through another Reality and are manifested only in Its Light, and not by themselves and through themselves. In the same way that the “realities” as well as the power and grandeur of yesterday have no greater value than tales and legends of today, so are the “realities” of today no more than vaguely remembered dreams in relation to what will appear as “reality” tomorrow.
In the last analysis, everything in itself is no more than a tale and a dream. Only God is Reality in the absolute sense, the One Who does not perish. Under the protection of His Being, everything gains existence and becomes manifested through the Light of His Essence.
If man becomes endowed with such vision and power of apprehension, then the tent of his separative existence will fall down before his eyes like a bubble on the surface of water. He will see with his eyes that the world and all that is in it depend upon an Infinite Being who possesses life, power, knowledge and every perfection to an infinite degree. Man and every other being in the world are like so many windows that display according to their capacity the world of eternity which transcends them and lies beyond them.
It is at this moment that man takes from himself and all creatures the quality of independence and primacy and returns these qualities to their Owner. He detaches himself from all things to attach himself solely to the One God. Before His Majesty and Grandeur he does nothing but bow in humility. Only then does he become guided and directed by God so that whatever he knows he knows in God. Through Divine guidance he becomes adorned with moral and spiritual virtue and pure actions that are the same as Islam itself, the submission to God, the religion that is in the primordial nature of things.
This is the highest degree of human perfection and the rank of the perfect man (the Universal Man; al-Insan al-kamel), namely the impeccable Imam who has reached this rank through Divine grace. Furthermore, those who have reached this rank through the practice of spiritual methods, with the different ranks and stations that they possess, are the true followers of the Imam. It becomes thus clear that the knowledge of God and of the Imam are inseparable in the same way that the knowledge of God is inextricably connected to the knowledge of oneself.
For he who knows his own symbolic existence has already come to know the true existence that belongs solely to God who is independent and without need of anything whatsoever.
“Shi’ite Islam” by ‘Allamah Tabataba’i, pp. 195-6
Posted in Ahl al-Bayt on September 12, 2017| 4 Comments »
It has been about 24 years since I began reflecting on the religious aspects of human civilization. This is the definition of “religion” that I find most compelling. It wasn’t a sociologist nor an anthropologist nor a comparativist nor a structuralist nor a post-structuralist nor an anti-essentialist who won in the market place of ideas. It was an Iranian philosopher and exegete of the Qur’an who passed away in 1981, may God have mercy upon him.
“There is no doubt that each member of the human race is naturally drawn to his fellow-men and that in his life in society he acts in ways which are interrelated and interconnected. His eating, drinking, sleeping, keeping awake, talking, listening, sitting, walking, his social intercourse and meetings, at the same time that they are formally and externally distinct, are invariably connected with each other. One cannot perform just any act in any place or after any other act. There is an order which must be observed.
There is, therefore, an order which governs the actions man performs in the journey of this life, an order against which his actions cannot rebel. In reality, these acts all originate from a distinct source. That source is man’s desire to possess a felicitous life, a life in which he can react to the greatest extent possible the objects of his desire, and be gratified. Or, one could say that man wishes to provide in a more complete way for his needs in order to continue his existence.
This is why man continually conforms his actions to rules and laws either devised by himself or accepted from others, and why he selects a particular way of life for himself among all the other existing possibilities. He works in order to provide for his means of livelihood and expects his activities to be guided by laws and regulations that must be followed. In order to satisfy his sense of taste and overcome hunger and thirst, he eats and drinks, for he considers eating and drinking necessary for the continuation of his own happy existence. This rule could be multiplied by many other instances.
The rules and laws that govern human existence depend for their acceptance on the basic beliefs that man has concerning the nature of universal existence, of which he himself is a part, and also upon his judgment and evaluation of that existence. That the principles governing man’s actions depend on his conception of being as a whole becomes clear if one meditates a moment on the different conceptions that people hold as to the nature of the world and of man.
Those who consider the Universe to be confined only to this material, sensible world, and man himself to be completely material and therefore subject to annihilation when the breath of life leaves him at the moment of death, follow a way of life designed to provide for their material desires and transient mundane pleasures. They strive solely on this path, seeking to bring under their control the natural conditions and factors of life.
Similarly, there are those who, like the common people among idol-worshipers, consider the world of nature to be created by a god above nature who has created the world specially for man and his goodness. Such men organize their lives so as to attract the pleasure of the god and not invite his anger. They believe that if they please the god he will multiply his bounty and make it lasting and if they anger him he will take his bounty away from them.
On the other hand, such men as Zoroastrians, Jews, Christians, and Muslims follow the “high path” in this life for they believe in God and in man’s eternal life, and consider man to be responsible for his good and evil acts. As a result they accept as proven the existence of a day of judgment (qiyamat) and follow a path that leads to felicity in both this world and the next.
The totality of these fundamental beliefs concerning the nature of man and the Universe, and regulations in conformity with them which are applied to human life, is called religion (din). If there are divergences in these fundamental beliefs and regulations, they are called schools such as the Sunni and the Shi’ite schools in Islam and the Nestorian in Christianity. We can therefore say that man, even if he does not believe in the Deity, can never be without religion if we recognize religion as a program for life based on firm belief. Religion can never be separated from life and is not simply a matter of ceremonial acts.”
“Shi’ite Islam” by ‘Allamah Tabataba’i, pp. 29-30
Of course, this perspective overlaps with some critical insights within the Western intellectual tradition. In particular, Tabataba’i’s conception reminds me of aspects of the work of Pierre Bourdieu and William James. But ultimately, Tabataba’i is speaking of something so fundamental to the human condition, that once grasped, it is hard to think and live in a way that does not continuously affirm the truth of what he says.
and God knows best.
Posted in Spiritual Stations, The Struggle on September 6, 2017| 2 Comments »
I am so shook by something my friend Trent posted on his blog, I felt I had to share it here:
[A man] once said,
“It is thirty years that I have been seeking forgiveness for one phrase, ‘Praise be God’s’, that I allowed to pass my lips.”
When asked to explain he replied,
“One night the marketplace caught fire, and I left my house to see if the fire had reached my shop. When I heard that my shop was safe, I said, ‘Praise be God’s’. Instantly I was brought to my senses with the realization that, granted my shop was unharmed, should I not have been thinking about others’?
A Mercy Case 