The month of Ramadan, in which millions of Muslims are fasting throughout the world, reminds us of our need to reach out to the divine with compassion and love in our hearts. We want to love God and be loved by Him. But by creating a relationship in love, we are also able to love others whatever their religion or culture.
This is the lesson the sages and the poets from every religious faith teach us. Whether they are of the Abrahamic religions or non-Abrahamic ones, male or female, live in the West or the East, they constantly return to the theme of love.
Let me give some examples of poetic expressions that we can all share and appreciate -- all the more valuable because it is coming from other traditions. I will give the name of the writer, the title of the poem and then a sample verse.
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Jay Patel said on 12 Friday 2011 am31 11:55 am: Kadene, We are created out of Divine love and love is essential to human nature. God simply asks us to be and to express who we are which in essence is love. God does not need anything from us or anything including our love. However, when any human being acts out of a lack of love, compassion, mercy, and kindness it has karmic repercussions within ourselves and for society in general. The dire consequences are not arbitrary or vengence. Divine love isn't merely like selfish human passions and inversely divine anger isn't like human anger. God is not forcing you at gunpoint, he is simply asking you to be true to yourself. Which is to be loving, kind, compassionate, merciful, and benevolent. Read some of the love poetry written by mystics. That level of love can never be compelled. Love compelled shows itself in expressions. Read Rumi or any other mystical poet and its clear there was no compulsion, they were consumed by the infinitude of love itself and to them God revealed HIS love. Love is the meeting point between man and God bc man's essence is Love and so is God's. |
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Professor Akbar Ahmed is the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington DC, and is the author of the new book of poems "Suspended Somewhere Between" (2011).
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WITH YOU I AM HOME
Why do I Run?
Why do I Roam?
When I have It
All Within,
Where YOU Make Me Feel So At Home.
Tried This Place and That Place
But Now I Know
The Best Place For Me
Is With YOU,
My Best Friend;
The ONE
WHO Has Been With Me
Since The Beginning And
Will Be With Me
Till THE END.
Through Thick And Thin
If I’m Out
Or In
It’s YOU DEAR LORD.
When I Think of YOU,
I Just Have To Grin.
If I’m High Or Low
I Always Know
I Can Count On YOU
TILL THE END OF THE SHOW.
Why do I Run?
Why Do I Roam?
Wherever YOU Are
I AM ALWAYS AT HOME.
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"I have seen you equate the concept of 'Brahman' with 'Allah'. You cannot do this unless you ignore the many 'anthropomÂorphic' concepts of Allah. Not just attributes but specific claims, instructioÂns, laws that are being passed off as the 'words of God' which is self-evideÂntly absurd. You are only trying to elevate the concept of 'God' in Islam to the monistic concept of 'Brahman' which is impossibleÂ."
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This isn't something I'm "trying to do". Mystical Sufism in Islam defines Allah in the same exact way Hinduism defines Brahman - as totality, wholeness. There is no "non-Allah", just as there is no "non-Brahman".
Every religion / spiritual tradition spans a spectrum from the literal and dogmatic to the universal / mystical. In the Dharmic traditions, the latter view dominates, at least among the educated, progressive-minded and spiritually aware. In the Abrahamic religions, this (universal / mystical view) is less common, but many Muslims hold the view of Allah we are discussing here.
You seem to be comparing the universal / mystical (esoteric) within Hinduism with the dogmatic / literal (exoteric) within Islam - a comparison which can never really be made.
If you compare the esoteric view within Hinduism to mystical Sufism, you'll see a lot of compatibility, and even unity.
For more on the mystical Sufi view, in Islam, please see:
http://www.ahmedhulusi.org/en/
He watches over our neighborhood
Although it's generally understood
Not quite the way we would.
Jackson Browne
William Blake wrote: "The best wine is the oldest, the best water the newest."
So what about those who drink this wine in copious amounts but think that its water?
The Divine 'wine" could never be mistaken for water. Its effect will not allow it:) Once drunk, there is no cure for the addiction:)
Do not equate the intuitive with the experiential pragmatic,
to you what is obviously ethereal, to others is undoubtedly static.
The secret, is knowing the process of overcoming "love's" equivocation,
only then, love becomes self-awakening divine sensation.
Only when love becomes as pragmatic as this life's breath,
only then man knows why, can, conquer death.
A new age is dawning, much "wants" need be done
You must choose to rise up from your grave, coffin, bed
Or continue on sleeping the sleep of the dead
There is only one path... that's the way to proceed
What you've REASON to doubt serves to water the seed
Outside in the field where you're destined to venture
There's hard work you must do to prepare for adventure
To harvest your crop, selflessly must you labor
In the field you don't own, but do share with your neighbor
Make no mistake it'a a virtually impossible task
And you'll receive no assistance if you don't care to ask
If you're blinded by profits, you'll not share in gains
Divulge all your secrets, MORE than human remains
Don't seek outside blessing, who's INSIDE will account
If you believe you're in favor, then karma will mount
Form precedes matter - first things MUST come first
It's the LAW - thus work simply to build up your thirst
Now this thirst will consume you, but suffer you must
Through a trial by fire or a slow death by rust
Buckle up as you burn, hold on while you give up
When you realize you're empty, then offer your cup
To be filled with the water I'm bearing to you
Which provides CONTEXT to TEXT; reveals FALSE to be TRUE
[con. below]
The world you're perceiving's a reflection of thought
And your conscience is proof that GRACE cannot be bought
Life's a lesson to learn... you must CHOOSE to be taught
For until you've found meaning you haven't a clue
Of how real "Disneyland" is... thus the chosen are few
Please take heed of this call from our Father and Mother
And you'll make your acquaintance
Peace be with you
Your Brother
A young man with Down's syndrome gingerly sat beside his father patiently waiting in the still, sultry air. His father basked in his son's love.
The professor was expounding on a subtle point in Krishna's response to Arjuna concerning the proper approach of devotion. An old men with trembling hands slowly walked with an unsteady gait to the front of the classroom grasped the professor's long wooden pointer and broke it in two. "Now do you get the point?" The old man begged of the students. "It is not found in this lecture or any disquisition on these sacred books. Then where is it found? This is the question of the hour. It must be sought with the heart."
The chela asked his teacher, "How does one obtain such a radiant countenance as you have?" His teacher replied, "When the 'I' becomes 'we." This was heard from a poet of some renown who has embellished known translations of Rumi's poetry.
the awe is spellbinding, makes me forget what I came to claim.
all I feel is either a single bitterness, or wordless awed joy,
altar Rose on thorny stem, offered by a little boy.
High at the cathedral’s domes I stretch, yet I am still close to the floor,
I am still standing at the threshold of the transcendent’s door.
Come here as often, in the chamber no man is allowed to reside,
there is no place for mortals to get in and hide.
As I stand at the threshold, await my echo from the highest domes,
asserting I have been heard so clearly, that disturbed the cathedral’s angelic doves.
To people eager of building a house, however, the smallest hint of "best" house building, is immediately noticed.
Thank you for this article.
Please continue to bring more of these poets and your poems to this site.
Very well said!! Image means we are a reflection of God and hence we have his attributes only some of which are Love, compassion, kindness, mercy, patience, wisdom, Truth, Justice, a conscience, intelligence, will, etc......
As-Sifât adh-Dhâtiyya of Allahu are six:
As-Sifât adh-Dhâtiyya are the Attributes that belong to GOD exclusively. No creature has any of these six attributes, nor any relation with them.
Al-Wujûd: Allahu exists. His existence is eternal in the past. He is Wâjib al-wujûd; that is, His existence is necessary.
2. Al-Qidam: Allahu existence is without beginning.
3. Al-Baqâ’: Allahu’s existence is without end. He never ceases to exist. As the existence of a partner is impossible, so the nonexistence for His Dhât [Person, Essence] and Attributes is impossible.
4. Al-Wahdâniyya: He has no partner or match in His Dhât, Attributes, and Deeds.
5. Al-Mukhâlafat-un lil-hawâdith: His Dhât and Attributes do not resemble the dhât and attributes of any of His creatures.
6. Al-Qiyâm bi-nafsihî: Allahu exists with His Dhât. He does not need a place. When there was not material or place, He was existent, because He is free from any need. He will always be the same in the everlasting future as He had been before bringing this universe into existence out of nonexistence.
As-Sifât ath-Thubûtiyya of Allahu ta’âlâ are eight:
As-Sifât ath-Thbûtiyya are the Attributes, an example of each of which Allahu has endowed upon human beings in limited amounts
Surely, you deem us interpretive fools and spiritually vacant ones, at that...Demonstrating that you have never actually sat down with us to discuss the jewels of the scriptures and the depths and treasures of their offerings. I and my literalist friends would completely and 100% concur with your understanding of the concept, which is the normal (and blessed!) understanding. Where have you heard/seen a literalist advancing such an impoverished understanding of Gen. 1:26? It's time for us to sit and share a cup of tea together, that we might mutually benefit from a shared understanding. We may have more in common than you realize! A literalist seminary cannot offer degrees in Divinity with such a paucity of theology as you wish to attribute to us. We find many layers of meaning in the scriptures, as do you.
However, I should add that the literalists that I had in mind, (again not all of those either), were from my own faith, though I'll concede that the phrase "in God's image" is a theme that figures prominently in Christianity.
I should also add, that God's qualities are beyond being apprehended by the human mind, itself His creation, and there are many that have not been conferred upon humanity. Those that have, are but glimpses of His nature more than mirror reflections of the full majesty of their manifestation in Him.
Amazingly, when love is such a palpable feeling, and we know not only through revelation but also inner spiritual reflection that this is most assuredly an attribute of God, then were this the only one of His divine qualities we were allowed to share, it would still be the miracle that it is. Sometimes we can experience something so often as to lose sight of its truly awesome nature. Thus it is with gifts and nowhere more so than those conferred upon us by God.
The cup of tea sounds inviting.