Beauty?

A fellow blogger Asma bajee posted a rhetorical question asking about beauty. I made some comments on her blog and have posted them here.

The the meaning of beauty is subjective and depends on who you ask and how they (”they” being those whom you ask) define it may sway you on whether you even want to be accepted by them or not. You don't even need to ask directly. You can know how they define beauty by observing how they interact with those around them.

Beauty for sure is deeper than the skin. However internal beauty is enhanced by outward beauty (but NOT vice versa). Outward beauty is not limited to how one looks but also on how one carries themselves i.e. the body language, the tone of the voice, etc.

We all love beautiful people who keep a cheerful face and talking to them makes us positive about life( and it's issues). Someone may look good but how they interact with you might make those "good looks" lose their light. We also love beautiful older people who have a youthful radiance on their face.

Essentially the expression of the inward beauty is through aspects of outward beauty or real beauty is inward beauty and outward beauty is only a means of expression of the inward beauty.

The best way to increase our beauty is by following the sunnah as a means to please Allah (SWT).

Sea, ocean, overlooking faults and the Prophet (peace be upon him)

Was at the masjid last night and one of the attendees was giving advice to a few of us. He was talking about forgiving others and overlooking their faults. He said our hearts should be like the sea unaffected by the little pieces of garbage that others might throw at us. The sea is so huge that one little piece of garbage does not affect it.

This reminded me of Habib Umer's counsel in the " Good Character" SunniPath course where he said we should strive for noble character. He said the noblest of characters was that of the Prophet ( peace be upon him) and his character was like the ocean. You stand at it's shore and you cannot see the other shore of it-such were his qualities.

May Allah make us of those who strive to learn and follow the prophet's ( peace be upon him) character.

Punjabi Wise Saying 6

Ik dar band tey sau dar khuley
If one door closes, dont be desperate, a hundred doors are open for you

So if there is something you seek then dont worry if it doesnt happen the way you want it to happen ( or when you want it to happen or it seems as if you are failing). Because the closure of one door means that there are other may have opened now.

In the end, if we have patiently preservered in a matter by taking effective means ( in an effective way), then we should know that the result is the the hands of Allah. The hopes we have should not be in the means but should be in Allah and know that the best of means is dua. The following ayah is quite fitting here:

"So with distress there is relief, Indeed , relief comes with distress. So when you are done still be prepared and direct your request to your Lord" (94:5-8 Trans: Cleary)

On "Love"

From a discussion on DP where I said:

I think when one loves someone for the sake of Allah, it is easier to be selfless and make the sacrifices that a relationship ( which could be with parents, relatives, friends or spouse) requires.

So loving someone would a means to getting closer to Allah and not an end in itself.

While emotions are inevitably part of love, the emotion behind one's intention and goal to please Allah through this love should be prioritized over the emotional feelings for the person we love.

May we love His creatures for His sake and seek everything for Him and from Him.

And then quoted Sh Faraz who said in Lesson 3a of SunniPath's Introduction to Worship ( Hanafi):

"We don't love the Ka'aba for itself.

Its like Majnun said when he was asked why would he go the neighborhood of his beloved Layla. Majnun was commonly known because he was madly in love. He would go and press his body against the walls of Layla's neighborhood and kiss the walls of her neighborhood. Oh Majnun (mad one), what are you doing? Majnun replied ' I pass by the houses, the houses of Layla-I kiss this wall and kiss that wall. it is not the love of walls that has taken my heart but rather the love of the one who dwelves within.'

Allah does not not dwelve within Ka'aba but he has made it a sign that we direct ourselves to. We love the Ka'aba and love all things which have some ascription to Allah SWT. Why do we love the messenger ( peace be upon him)? He is the Messenger of Allah ( peace be upon him). Why do we love the Quran? It is the book of Allah. Why do we love the righteous? Because they are the ons who have directed themselves to Allah. Why do we respect the books of knowledge? Because they contain knowledge of the guidance of Allah. Why do we honor believers? Because they believe in Allah. Why do we treat all of the creation of Allah with respect? Because it is the creation of Allah. This is the way of the servants of the Merciful . May Allah make us of them."

Changethis: Humanize it

A great document on customer service from Changethis called "Humanize it". It really narrows down how we should treat our clients> While the document is talking about client service, I will argue you can apply the same pricniples to your social life/marriage/etc. Our entire lives are consisting of give and take relationships and if we do look at our social contacts as clients then we would probably use the same principles. Islamically, your relatives, friends, neighbors would all be your clients and your payments would not be expected this world but in the hereafter, so you would treat them well for the sake of Allah.

My favorite part in the document is:

Principle 2. To assist an upset customer,
transform yourself into Leonardo’s Itali an Mama:
“Oh my darling, look at what happened. Oh you skinned your knee on that walkway,
my little bambino; do let me kiss your ouchie.* Let’s watch a little TV.
Oh, and here’s some ice cream for you while I disinfect that awful wound!”

The reaction to complaints in conventional companies is nothing like that.

It’s: “Let’s sort out the facts of the situation. What was the angle of the cement sidewalk at time of impact, and were you wearing proper protective clothing per the user’s manual at the time your knee impacted the walkway?”

And:
“Were you exceeding the sidewalk speed limit?”

Read full document here.

Koonj: Divorcee

A must read poem by Bajee Koonj for people wanting to understanding the situation of women in Pakistan. While, one would like to think that these problems are limited to the poor uneducated classes of Pakistan, that is totally not the case. The expectations placed on the shoulders of women in most cases ( specially after marriage) there are idealistic and unrealistic. Anyways, go ahead and read this poem:

Divorcee

Hi there.
What happened to you?
He broke your heart?
Took you for granted?
Hurt your feelings, left you? Degraded,
dehumanized, derided you?

He treated you like dirt?
What’s new?

It’s your own fault, you know that, right?
Did you provoke him?

read the rest here

Do you want to understand Pakistan?

For those who want to develop a basic understanding about Pakistan in 45 minutes, the following is an excellent 2 part series recorded by Owen Bennett Jones of the BBC> I have the descriptions of the audios followed by the embedded audios themselves.

Pakistan has become the focus of intense global news coverage, since its former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was killed last year.

In this two part series Owen Bennett Jones, who lived in the country as a BBC correspondent, returns to look at the history of a nation where political crisis has become a way of life.

Nuclear armed Pakistan has been described as the most dangerous country on earth: what does its past tell us about its future?

Pakistan was created as a land where Muslims could live in safety.

But when the British split the sub continent in 1947 they left behind a nation that went on to suffer decades of political crises. Last year more than 750 Pakistanis died in suicide bomb attacks.

Why are Islamist radicals targeting fellow Muslims and why do they have any support in Pakistan?

Part One: The Dream Undone

Why have so many of the hopes and aspirations of Pakistan's founders remained unfulfilled?

Owen Bennett- jones discovers a nation split between powerful feudal families, the military elite, a religious establishment and tribal and regional forces.

The many crises that beset Pakistan from partition and independence in 1947 are explored, through the early military dictatorships, the wars with India over Kashmir, regional wars inside the country and the rise and fall of Benazir Bhutto's father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

He begins his story at the spot where Benazir was assassinated in Rawalpindi in December 2007.

In a bizarre twist of fate it was the same place where the country's first Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan was killed 57 years earlier.

In Pakistan, history has tended to repeat itself in a cruel cycle.




Part two: Powers in the Land

Owen Bennett-Jones examines the rise of Islamist militancy in Pakistan, tracing its ascendancy under the devout dictator general Zia ul Haq, the man who overthrew and subsequently hanged Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

General Zia had a great hatred for the Soviet Union and felt threatened by the Russian invasion of Afghanistan.

With the aid of billions of dollars of military aid from Washington, Zia helped to orchestrate the downfall of the Soviets.

But in doing so he unleashed a radical Islamist movement that his successors have been unable to quell.

Owen Bennett Jones follows the failure of successive civilian administrations and the decision of current ruler Pervez Musharraf to align himself with Washington.

Musharraf's siege of Islamabad's Red Mosque in August of last year triggered a wave of suicide attacks.

In the wake of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and with elections slated for 18 February, the country risks being split apart.

Living the 77 Branches of Faith

Aslamaua aliakaum,

ALhamdulillah, "Living the 77 Branches of Faith" is being held from the 14th to 16th of March at University of Toronto ( St. George). The teachers for this program includes local ulema like Sh Ramzi. Sh. Zahir, Sh Faraz, Sh Jamal and Sh Talal all of whom are very learned and respected teachers. I recall the same teachers teaching at a previous event last fall ( Imam Nawawi's 40 hadith) and all of my friends whom I talked to, could not help but be awed by the knowledge (and it's delivery) from these teachers.

I hope to see you there!

Urdu Poetry: Khuda ke bastee: God's Own Land

I just started the english translation of the famous book " Khud kee bastee" ( God's own land). It is a novel about the life of every day people in Pakistan ( it is set in the 1950s but the same issues appear to be relevant today. I will review it once I finish it). Here is some poetry form the book's preface:

Khuda kee basti men khuda ke bandon pey kia guzri
Khuda par yaqin hai lekin khuda kee baste par nahee

God gave us our country, we toil and we plod
We cant trust our land , but we trust in our God

very moving specially for those familiar with the circumstances in which the the poor live in Pakistan ( and in other developing countries).

May Allah make it easy for the poor and May he enable us with the desire and sincerity to help them the best we can.

Sh Faraz Quote: The reality of what we do....

" The reality of what we do is why we are doing it" Shaykh Faraz.

Very profound. Thinking of what we are doing beyond the physical and on an intulectual and spiritual realm is quintessential to adding sincerity to what we are doing. The immediate thing that comes to mind is "intention". While our aim should be that our intention in each and every thing we do is that our actions are for the pleasure of Allah, there may be sub intentions which we might want to ponder about. So for example, you volunteer at an organization. One of your intentions for volunteering could be that you want to seek good company by volunteering. The sub-intention of good company would fall under seeking good company to get closer to Allah SWT.

Anyways please do think about what you are doing and why you are doing. it doesn't take that long, perhaps a few seconds. And if it is a long project that you plan to embark on, then it might be a worthwhile to sit down for longer and to think it through...

MUST WATCH : Story of Stuff (20 minutes well used)

This flash documentary was recommended by Akram's Razor and also by a very good friend. Its 20 minutes but it really drives the message home......i wont say more because you should not read this but instead should go watch it!

http://www.storyofstuff.com/index.html

PIctures in my cubicle.....

SunniPath Spring term begins!

Aslamaua aliaakum,

SunniPath's Spring 2008 term begins this week. I have been taking these courses for 3 years and alhamdaulillah have benefited from them great deal.

A wonderful online classroom interface helps students interact and learn from the teacher. For most ( if not all) courses there are recorded lessons, live sessions and online forums. The teachers are highly qualified , and at the same time are relevant to the western muslim .

Inshahallah take a look at the course list here and say Bismillah!

P.S. Here is a youtube video about SunniPath.