notions of a purple ontology

This Blog is Retired

2007-10-25T02:54:00.001+03:00

Better late than never!

Updates about what I'm doing now are at The Sixty Four Squares which is the feature film I'm making, Godwilling.

STOP THE PRESS I have just finished a 1st draft! Thank God!

(Have also scored employment teaching video production/editing here at NMSU Carlsbad!)

Drop on by anytime & say hi, see how it's progressing and even better, stay tuned.

God Bless & Salams!

2006-12-03T07:38:00.000+03:00

3 Boys: Ramadan 2006, Cairo

(best viewed large: just click through!)

May the Peace, Grace & Blessings of God Be Upon thee

hidey-ho from a Fairfield, Virginia basement basking in the glow off the TV as The Ashes unfold, Australia fighting back after some untypical English steel yesterday... boy my wife's been tolerant she seems to understand this male thing... Alhamdullilah

so,

Off to El Paso, Texas tommorow! Stopover & hike it up to Carlesbad the next day inshallah will check out our sun-drenched rental taken on sight unseen except for the photos...things will hopefully settle down after moving out of a suitcase for the first time in 5 months!

what a relief & God Almighty is the One who Grants ease & tranquility

make du'a if you feel the urge!

~~~~~

Was dumfounded by the Smithsonian Air & Space museum here.. it's what America does really well planes & rockets.. I became a 7 year old all over again, all those hands on air pressure physics experiments.. what an old familiar & joyous feeling...

A cracker photo I took on the night I went to meet my wife for the very first time!... starting to have time to review all the photos from Egypt

well until apache country & where the script will resume Godwilling

a contented salams to you!!

2006-11-25T09:44:00.000+03:00

Hey Wishes of Peace to you!

almost forgot about this blog! hey that' s married life! Alhamdullilah! got a life again haha

and that's the thing that this blog was borne out of the Saudi experience of utter isolation now the situation has reversed!

She's, certainly got rights over me, God Bless her & is not too enthusiastic about the amount of time I'm spending to maintain email etc on the web, so updating is bound to be less frequent.. and she's right, so the nature of this whole thing will have to be reconsidered in light of my new responsiblities... bithnillah

Well I 've been here in Fairfax near Washington DC for over a week now Alhamdullilah...wow Amrika! wide about 20% in almost all dimensions I'd say.... broadband heaven, hidef media and disturbingly addictive

Enjoying it immensely however, so far, except for the dearth of Islam, brotherly contact & the distance to travel to a mosque, but this was all expected & meant to be... & Praise be to Hu Who Maketh it so

Also Enjoying the Ashes improbably here at this late hour, England getting 'put to the sword' such an appropriate expression to the situation... embarrasing really

don't worry video is coming from Abu Hasan Shadhili's(RA) tomb, after I have more time, energy & momentum on my hands Godwilling after 3rd December when in New Mexico

in the meantime some more photos...

to the DC museums & Smithsonian tommorrow inshallah!

ALLAH!

& God Bless to any who chance upon this

the Tomb of Abu Hasan As-Shadhilli (RA), Abu Hasan, Egypt 140 km from Marsa 'Alam, Red Sea

2006-11-08T17:56:00.000+03:00

the Tomb of Abu Hasan As-Shadhilli (RA), Abu Hasan, Egypt 140 km from Mirsa Alam, Red Sea
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

Alhamdullilah they opened the locked inner door to make du'a for him & take a few photos..there was an incredible hadra going on in the tomb by some Egyptian murids took footage.. there was beautiful musky perfumed smell inside the tomb & no incense visible, they swore to God that no perfume was added either! similar to the smell in the cave of Uhud where the Prophet(salalahu 'alyhi wa salam) rested .. some interesting video was taken, will post on blog... Godwilling!

info about the revered Sheikh can be found here
&
wiki entry here

Old Beggar: road to the Tomb of Abu Hasan As-Shadhilli (RA) from Marsa 'Alam

2006-11-08T17:48:00.000+03:00

Old Beggar: road to the Tomb of Abu Hasan As-Shadhilli(RA) from Mirsa 'Alam
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

Big Salams from Alexandria, I like this town! very cool temperature wise & very European...!

and if your wondering where I've been...well... oh how do I say... best just out with it

I'm married!! by the Grace of God (Exalted Be He!) Alhamdullilah!

In a curious series of baraka filled events it finally happened..! we're both still amazed

So net access in wild & varied places around Egypt has not been so simple & time to transmit & upkeep email in light of my new responsibilities in life.. well I'm sure you understand! ... still on a blissed out honeymoon.. returning to Cairo tommorrow inshallah

God's Beautiful Wisdom in this matter is finally coming to light..

Heading to New Mexico around the 15th to set up house & shop of all places! apache country I believe!.. well she's a doctor God Bless her! that's where her work is & so planning to finish the script there Godwilling as it's something I can happily do independant of place.. inshallah

very large new page turning once again...

that's qadr! & Praise be to God, All Wise Who Maketh it so...

please make du'a (prayer/supplication) for us!

~~~~~

the blurb accompanying this photo, taken recently

"He was living alone in that tent on his right, with a few goats, sitting under a tree in a lonely valley kilometers from anyone with a trembling old hand holding an empty water bottle... God Help him! we did what we could"

photos of the tomb coming..

Glowing Salams to thee...

United Arab Interstellar League Energon Receiver Machine

2006-10-06T16:34:00.000+03:00

United Arab Interstellar League Energon Receiver Machine
Originally uploaded by perfectlymadebirds.

Salams!

Why not? the caption that goes with it is quite something but you have click through to see that by this eccentric American artist who dresses as an Arab maybe he's Muslim Allahu Alim

Otherwise weird sleep schedules ruling my life, destroying productivity Alhamdullilah! I can't keep a rhythm, sleeping hardly at all for a couple of days, Allah is doing strange things!

would like to think He's trying to help me maximise ibada' during this month wa Allahu Alim

~~
Please don't take this the wrong way, this is an observation only

Soberingly I had to perfrom on of my pillars by hand, to the poor in my neighbourhood, Alhamdullilah I visted widows, blind people, miserable abandoned wives & struggling daughters, the sick , the paraplegic, the weak, the helpless, the old, the almost forgotten...I saw their decrepid living quarters, families in one room, to weak to get up out of bed some of them all known to be decent people of taqwa, I was led to them by sincere brothers who know all the people in need...Alhamdullilah

this is their only social security their local community... literally a couple of hundred metres away is the presidential palace, sickening

so many, indeed there's here a city full of them & just the biggest city in Africa

I went home & couldn't help but cry thinking about the pain etched in their faces & my selfish, lucky life as a westerner & what the hell am I doing? Why aren't I doing more? All these people my brothers & sisters drowning in utter poverty..with an Alhamdullilah on their lips

there right there right now while I'm in expensive internet cafe

you can go back to whatever your doing now...

2006-10-04T00:11:00.000+03:00

Salams & Supplications thick be this Numinous Month,

since it is the nature of such things...great passage from

Sh Ibn 'Ata' Allah Al Iskandari's: 'Miftah al-Falah wa Misbah al-Arwab'

'The Key to Salvation: A Sufi Manual of Invocation'

regarding the practise of zikr (invocation) using Allah! (God!) instead of La ilaha 'illa llah! (there is No God but God!)

~~~~~~~~

"It is related that ash-Shibli was asked by a man 'Why do you say
Allah & not La ilaha-illa 'llah?' So ash-Shibli answered

Because Abu Bakr gave all his wealth to the point where not a
single thing remained with him. Then he took of a garment
in front of the Prophet (salalahu 'alyhi wa salam). So the Messenger
of God ( salalahu 'alyhi wa salam) said " What did you leave for your
family?' He answered, 'Allah'

Likewise I say Allah

Then the questioner said, 'I want a higher explanation than this'.
So ash-Shibli said, 'I am embarrassed to mention an expression
of negation in His presence, while everything is His light'. Then the
man said ' 'I want a higher explanation than this'. Ash-Shibli answered,
'I am afraid that I will die during the negation of the phrase before reaching
the affirmation.' (ie during La ilaha ila..(there is no god except..) & not during
'Allah'(lit The God!))
The questioner again said, 'I want a higher explanation than this'. So ash-Shibli
said "God Most High said to His Prophet :

"..say Allah. Then leave them to disport (show) themselves with their idle talk (or*) plunge in vain discourse and trifling"

(*: Yusuf Ali Translation)

(Quran 6:91:

ْ قُلِ اللّهُ ثُمَّ ذَرْهُمْ فِي خَوْضِهِمْ يَلْعَبُونَ (6:91)
Baset - Hussari - Minshawi

"Quli Allahu thumma tharhum fee khawdihim yal'3aboon"

Then the young man got up & let out a shriek. Ash-Shibli said
Allah. He screamed again; ash-Shibli said Allah then he screamed a 3rd
time and died, may God most High have mercy upon him!

The relatives of the young man gathered together and grabbed ash-Shibli,
charging him with murder. They took him to the caliph and were given
permission to enter, and they accused him of murder. The caliph said
to ash-Shibli, 'What is your response?'. He answered, ' A soul yearned,
then wailed and aspired, then screamed, then was summoned, then heard,
then learned, then answered. So what was my crime?
The caliph shouted, 'Let him go!"
~~~~~~~~~

I couldn't help but be overcome with a loud exahltation when when I read this...!!

a classic Sufi tale..

May it's inner mysteries unfold in our hearts all!

asalatu wasalam 'ala sayyidina Muhammad wa lahi wa sahabahi wa taslima
Amin! Ya Rabb

May the Peace, Grace & Blessings of God Be Upon thee!

Papua - Lafforgue

2006-10-02T21:26:00.000+03:00

Papua - Lafforgue
Originally uploaded by Eric Lafforgue.

Ramadan?? uh? go away shorty

(thanks to 'the' Eric)

a penny for his thoughts...

2006-09-29T22:44:00.000+03:00

my thoughts...
Originally uploaded by ornellab..

(thanks ornellab! the caption : This old man is waiting that many animals cross the way in Kashgar Bazar (West China))
May God Accept!

Praying tarawee'ah at home where I can understand it , practise the tajweed & am more involved, generally I believe (I mean I checked it out in shaf'i fiqh: please correct me if Im wrong!) ) there's more reward in my case (ie not being able to understand the arabic) than praying in jamm'a where it can last up to 2 & 1/2 hours for 8 rakats in places!!...it's definately not making it easy on the people! certainly in my case anyway.. I have to fight for concentration during these long Quranic passages up to 15 minutes at a time.. where are the techniques given by Ulema to do this? particularly if you're not good Arabic speaker or listener?.. My understanding was that it should be easier, particularly for the fard prayers, shortish suras, May God Forgive me but I'm taking the more interesting and legally valid option for me...

May He Accept all your Worship & deprivations this month!

May the Peace, Grace & Blessings of the Beloved Be Upon thee!

Iftar(breaking of the fast), 28 Sept 2006, Ramadan, with br 'Adl the lawyer, Giza, Cairo

2006-09-29T01:22:00.000+03:00

Iftar(breaking of the fast), 28 Sept 2006, Ramadan, with br 'Adl the lawyer, Giza, Cairo
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

He's got as law firm in Cairo with 7 lawyers working for him & not a single computer in the office! if you can believe it! obviously effective though!..very old school! always invites me, he lead the prayers in Tarawee'ah afterwards also very long rakats too, May God Accept!

OK the food:

bottom corner 2 soups
-cooked vegetable in corner
-egyptian classic 'lisan asfar' ie yellow tongues (small egg shaped nodules in tasty soup) on it's right
-'mashy (stuffed) coromb (like spiced meat/veggy thin wraps) on the left
-stuffed eggplant & cucumber
- far right ; Egyptian 'Canelloni' (pastry wrap of spicy meat of some kind)
-centre: the ubiqutous roast chicken
- lahm baqry (stewed beef)

then there was mangoe, pomegranite & figs for dessert! haha Alhamdullilah

Hope you're all enjoying similar delights...

God Bless & Salams

el Dumo, Milano

2006-09-28T01:02:00.001+03:00

el Dumo, Milano
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

this doesn't do it justice but I hope you get the idea..signing off for the night!

waterfall cliché!

2006-09-28T01:02:00.000+03:00

waterfall cliché!
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

Imam Abdel Fatah, Marseille, Sep 2006

2006-09-28T01:01:00.000+03:00

Imam Abdel Fatah, Marseille, Sep 2006
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

the sweet brother from 'Bled' (Algeria) & Imam of the mosque downstairs from my hotel showed me round town for a day

he trained as a dancer in Algeria & can run a 10k in 38 minutes without any training! amazing!

God Bless him!

statue station: backstreets, Marseiile

2006-09-28T00:55:00.000+03:00

statue station: backstreets, Marseiile
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

last fragments of sunset...there's a open air market in front

The ceiling of the Basilica Notra Dame de la Garde, Marseille

2006-09-28T00:54:00.000+03:00

The ceiling of the Basilica Notra Dame de la Garde, Marseille
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

amazingly like a mosque uh?

candle church, Marseille Harbour

2006-09-28T00:53:00.000+03:00

candle church
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

a torrent of photos from Marseille now! while I'm on it~

Interior of a church right near the Marseille Harbour

series: faces

2006-09-26T00:55:00.000+03:00

series: faces
Originally uploaded by kriziaa.

Sometimes I go to comment on photos & this happens:

penury speaketh, years laid waste
idleness inhabits his enamoured face
dissapointed jowls, soul hunger proud
into an invectiveness intramuscularily expressed
is it payed? or recompensed?

damn that picture's good

yes my postion in the khilaf favours photon catching not 'creating animate life'
~~~~~~

Ramadan skyving at the cafe back home NOW!

Hope the fasting/praying & striving is takin' you HIGHER!

by the Grace of He Who maketh all things just So

ALLAH!

2006-09-23T18:12:00.000+03:00

Salams wa 'Amil Eeh?

Notions of an orange Ramadan eve about to flow into the hearts of believers...

May Almighty God Make it the Closest approach for you all, yet! amin

I'm freewheeling around the 24 hour clock as I'm want to do with little or next to no contact with outside life, committments or regular appointments..

..takes me back to Adelaide circa '98-2000, when I attempted unsuccessfully to retire from the world, & turn my back on what I conceived was the hypocrisy of earning money while trying to utterly detach from it: couldn't work it out ...ahh the existential conondrums of a life outside of Islam

today couldn't sleep after fajr after being up all night, made it to the flipside about 8AM consequently was up at an unmentionable hour this afternoon, the night representing the least composing of distraction (& running yes again!)

So what's happended?

-well first, thanks to Irving Kirchmar I met the forceful & intelligent personage of a certain American sister Cathryn Goddard, a 10 year resident of Cairo, Phd holder in Economics, fluent in French, Turkish, Arabic & her native toungue and erstwhile sufi path seeker! Who is about to have her translation of the fascinating Eva de Mitray's Towards the Heart of Islam: A Woman's Approach published by Fons Vitae very shortly

She lives in an amazing flat, with an astonishing view atop of a tall building in Zamalek (the central island straddling the Nile)

She welcomed me, fed me wonderfully & provided hints, tips & contacts galore..God Bless for her efforts! By the Grace of God indeed

- Secondly I got suprisingly drawn into the fate of two 'leeetulle'(sic) orphan kittens, left in a filthy box by the main door of the labyrinthal edifice in which I live, abandoned by their mother a day old, one was already dead, I buried it but I was told by various people that the mother was about, & I didn't see anyone concerned about their welfare in a city infested with strays ( there's 10 living in our building at least) but I never saw her, so over the next couple of days I tried to keep them alive but as I learnt, it's a very tricky thing indeed I didn't have the knowledge to actually do it! Until it was too late, the last one died in my hands way to dehydrated to go any further, lapsed in coma & slipped out..they can't see, require specific high protein milk, cows milk unfortunately doesn't work, need to be kept really warm, hydrated: lots of stuff alas I tried but not hard enough..It's strange how such an interaction with such a really tiny helpless animal can almost completely involve you.. but back to the flat with me, myself & I & the recording angels & God Knows what else with tarawee'ah starting tonight I mean NOW

May God(Exalted be He!) Inspire all of us to profound ibada', good works & transformed hearts by the end, inshallah

go to go Maghrib's hitting, RAMDADAN'S ON! YA ALLLAH! & this keyboard's got me almost screaming, I've a cursor that jumps around as I type, no-one can fix it... it's like an obligatory 'have patience' device when you're trying to write stream of concioussness, forgive any typos..

& God Bless to any who may chance upon this!

outta here

Jame-Abbasi-Mosque-3

2006-09-14T01:44:00.000+03:00

Jame-Abbasi-Mosque-3
Originally uploaded by Hamzeh Karbasi.

It's not a Mosque it's an Islamic Teleporter.....!

had to let this out too

Salams!

M O S Q U E. Mandu

2006-09-14T00:48:00.000+03:00

M O S Q U E. Mandu
Originally uploaded by Claude Renault.

the one & only Claude Renault an astonishingly good photographer in the real sense

check out his work in flickr in the Outstanding Travel Photo pool

how does he do that?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Had a great meeting with __________ (removed at his request), newly minted **************************************, thanks to Brother Daoud, who, it turns out, is the one who approached me in Hyde Park corner back in August 2003!! After having made du'a to God (Exalted Be He!) that I meet people of inward knowledge, a few days after arriving in London from Adelaide...

Shortly after, he was the one who appoached me out of the blue! As he said tonight, "it looked like you were looking for something" & gave me the information that Sh Nuh was speaking that very night in Ilford which led me to meeting the Murids of Sh Nuh and Sh Ali (the Malaysian Nashqbandi Sh) which was like meeting family...after the years of wilderness in Aus :God Bless them all!

the thing is he gave me his number but I lost it or something & thought I lost contact...!!

How's that?!

ALLAH!

St Sernin: Global, Toulouse

2006-09-13T01:32:00.000+03:00

St Sernin: Global, Toulouse
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

so glad I got that wide angled lens, to quote wiki 'Saint-Sernin basilica located in Toulouse, France, was built during the Romanesque Period between 1050 and 1200 AD"

yes broadcasting some of my photos the last month as time permits!

the Crypt under St Sernin

2006-09-13T01:28:00.000+03:00

the Crypt under St Sernin
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

banging out the photos today oops 1:30 AM

to quote "them there Saint's bones in thart boox! liked that exposure in available light

Sarah Marzouk, Cairo, 12 Sept, 2006

2006-09-12T17:31:00.000+03:00

Sarah Marzouk, Cairo, 12 Sept, 2006
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

The best picture of the very few I've taken so far here...

20 minutes after arriving in Cairo in her Dr Faten's (her Mother) strange ol' eastern block communist classic car

Strange times..feeling very 'meant to be' and comfortable..I'd forgotten how much I love this city, particularly after the je m'en fou de toi : euro-froideur ....may change of course but it's a truly, slowly burning riot, an exotic cacophany so rich in density as to stagger belief..I think here, in this part of Cairo, is one of the most densely populated parts of the planet...

There's people running bakeries, delicatessants whatever out of filthy cracks in the pavement if you know what I mean!

So open, so warm hearted, so obliging..of course some are more lovable than others but...

...thus will humanity ever be until the day

Dr Osoama's old clinic is a little neglected nobody's been there for 3 years, the plumbing's dodgy, the ancient insecticide a little too strong but if you think I'm complaining: you're wrong!

Thanks God for the a/c, the privacy, got the hot water working there's fridge & cooker everything a need to focus writer will need in a distract free personal space.... and Praise Be to He Who hath placed me here for the time being!!

Rendevouz-ing with various people the next couple of days ( can't mention any names yet but if get the OK I shall) will hopefully make contacts for taking up my long neglected Arabic again & the Shuyukh of Tariqah, groups of zikr ie the Shadhilis etc inshallah

~~~~~

Started work on the script at last, first time I've had a look at it seriously in 4 years!..even while fasting yesterday the news is good...new ending, a much better ending...profound changes in my conciousness have taken place over the last 3 years in the 'kingdom/prison'; the taming of the soul, the forced restraint, the minimul external stimulation has brought a strange centering.. ideas were flowing effortlessly, wasn't the case too long ago in the dead end I found myself cornered into, back in what was the heart of ancient Gondwanaland

Thus the unveiling of tiny parts of the meaning of fate appears, like long storms shift sand to reveal ancient paths that were followed oh so long ago...and that you thought you were going somewhere new

forgive the expositional navel gazing but I'm not able to share this private joy with anyone as yet face to face or at least who can understand... the English being used with me is struggling second language at best with most minus the idiomatic cultural subtexts that we all take for granted when communucated with citizens of our own culture

However,

I'm looking at the script with very fresh eyes indeed seeing things: faults in expression & punctuation that were previously blind to me, are jumping out for some reason as is the shallowness & problems of new character development in the short form in which it is currently contained.. feature length will give great scope to remedy that Godwilling..

Alhamdullilah! the other blog is the place for that!

over to that I go... :)

forgive the selfishness! It's going to be necessarily that way until the draft is finished

God Bless & Salams to all!

2006-09-10T16:20:00.000+03:00

Ya salams!

Foreheads rising for the new creative blog The Sixy Four Squares

entirely selfish & self-explanatory....

here we go! most posts will be hopefully on there from now on...I can't seem to let go of this one as yet

I'd be most grateful if you feel motivated to make any du'a (prayers/supplications) for the success of this venture spiritually, creatively & financially

as I pray to earn my rizq in this regard from now on

inshallah wa t'alla

May the Epiphanitc Lights Burst Forth From within you all!

God Bless

Matt

Bab el louk, Cairo

2006-09-10T15:47:00.000+03:00

photo by Rafael Gray

Liberté, égalité, fraternité

yeah hilarious are those noble words in the France of today... just take a walk in the Muslim quarter or the gypsey quarter or the African immigrant quarter of any French city to see how hypocritical it actually is

just lost the post I was writing for the last hour due to a miss click & I can't face doing it again...here's the photo in any case...I Guess Almighty God (Exalted Be He!) was right in deleting it

hangin' at chez Rafa's unfinished house in Claira, France..poured a lot of concrete in that place between beach visits!

my muffled scream was thankfully ignored by the denizens of this cafe..

God Bless & Salams!

Anna Luna walking...

2006-09-09T15:35:00.000+03:00

Anna Luna walking...
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

happened to get lucky with the camera that evening...

Averting mine eyes ..

2006-09-09T15:24:00.000+03:00

Averting mine eyes ..
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

you see! It was hard work...

Ah the problem of becoming Muslim in the West & seeing old non- Muslim friends! I think they were laughing at me most of the time

anna luna squealing!

2006-09-09T15:06:00.000+03:00

anna luna
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

the very meaning of Joy!

oh & my new Cairo number

+20 (0) 100746928

anna luna

2006-09-09T15:03:00.000+03:00

anna luna one more time
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

the 10 year old younger sister of Marie, she was a delight everywhere we went: May God Bless, Guide & Let her Fulfill her potential Amin!

Lolita : Marie, Rafa & Julien

2006-09-09T14:21:00.000+03:00

Lolita : Marie, Rafa & Julien
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

Salams!

all the Mutawwa minded avert your eyes! It's about the photo not Marie..please save your criticism for someone else! ... if you do, it won't be answered

One of the reasons ( a general one) I had to get out of Europe... Marie is 14 & a woman in very real way, May God Protect her & Guide to Islam..I did my best too avert my eyes & she is a real beauty in the making....I just wanted to show the enviroment I've been living in France & I love the photo to boot...that's Rafa & Julian her step-father & a professional pianst in Paris!

~~~

Just arrived in Egypt, arrived 2:30 Am night before last in Alexandria airport, by backpack was rifled through some things stolen nothing major, the security just shrugged & said "zalaan?" (are you angry? haha) & was kept & emergency herberged by br Aiman, a wonderful humble & struggling brother taxi driver (anyone heading to Alex I'll give you his number) with a young child & then took the "super jet" ( a normal greyhound bus!! haha) to Cairo at 3:30Pm next day, arrived late afternoon yesterday.. & was scooped up & away by Dr Faten, Dr Osama's extremely kind & considerate wife & Sarah their daughter...

On arrival in Muslim lands, I was welcomed at the airport, was on the phone with a concered Dr friend of Dr Osoama's who enquired after my every need & I was treated as family & you know you're in a very warm hearted place indeed, my eyes welled as Aiman hit play on the beautifully stetched & long vowelled Quranic recitation of "Ar rahman"

Fabi-ayyyiii ala-i rabbikuma tukaththibaaaan!

Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny!

It was a poignant reminder indeed

Oh Lord! I deny thee Nothing of Thine Favour that Thou Hast Showered upon me...!

amongst Muslims once again! and Praise Be to He Who Made it So!

~~~~~~~~~~~

..It's been a mad mad mad week I tell you!

From near Perpignan it was Toulouse, Montauban, Beaumont-de-Lomagne, back to Claira (the village near Perpginan), Spanish border..left for Marseille two nights there met some wonderful Algerian brothers; saw how oppressed Muslims are in France in comparison to England, train to Milano with an illegal Moraccan bro who I helped keep hidden Alhamdullilah

the sweatiest 18 hours in my life in Milan amongst some of the most beautiful people I have ever seen...fell in love about 30 times(haha I can't help it! I hope you know what I mean), slept rough in some bushes the first night (as no hotel could be found under 60-70 euros a night) caught some more zzz's in a masjid after fajr & travelled around Milan changing money, hunting flights etc & found a cheap flight that very night at 7:30PM (230 euro) which was the very reason I went to Milan in the first place, my intention was fulfilled! Alhamdullilah it was 700 euro(!?) from Barcelona: work that one out!

and that's how I find myself in a "Costa's Cafe" free wireless cafe, near my new pad, Dr Osoma's old surgery in central Cairo about a km form Medain Tahrir the big central square Alhamdullilah!

a new life beginning....work on "the 64 Squares" about to commence after I've settled in a few days, Godwilling

more photos to come

May the Peace, Grace & Blessings of God Be Upon thee all!

piggyback: Toreilles Beach, Southern France

2006-09-04T02:31:00.000+03:00

piggyback: Toreilles Beach, Southern France
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

yeah she (Miriem) could't walk...

So planning to head to Montpellier demain to check for boats across the Meditaranean otherwise I'll try for Milano & a reasonably cheap flight to Cairo this week sometime inshallah

lots to relate but photos should keep dribbling out fairly often

not a very deep Muslim time but hey almost 3 years in the KSA

needed to taste my old world for a while well the next best thing to Aus..the dawa's been difficult but trying low key

make du'a...happy to be heading back to Muslim cultured lands soon inshallah!

Samoan memories

2006-09-04T02:25:00.000+03:00

Samoan memories
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

Slaams

yeah that tatoo was done in the traditional & extremely painful manner in Western Samoa, animal teeth hammered into the skin with the ink...defaced God's Glorious Handiwork!

audhu billah for tatoos in general but still dig the photo

so late so much to let you know about...off I'm too tired.....got some great ones that sunset...been doing this a lot ie the beach..pouring concrete helping him fix his house & then the beach, &this silly wooden paddle ball game with no goal haha lots of swimming & me trying to keep my eyes averted!

split to Toulouse, Montauban & Beaumont-de-Lomagne for a few days caught up with Nanou's family a lot of love still there...been taking lots of photos more coming as I get time...

Raining in Perpignan

2006-08-28T15:03:00.000+03:00

Raining in Perpignan
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

Peace to All,

As you can see more time on my hands at the moment, other friends of Rafael are helping build his house, leaving me with an occasion to do this... and my French is returning to what it was 12 years ago!

something's happened to Blogger I can't log in,s o I'm using flickr forgive any mistakes, creating links manually....

Meeting some interesting non-Muslims while staying here one sweet lass interestingly called Ledivine, who organized the Toureg Musical Festival in Timbuktu, Mali in the middle off the Sahara!

also at the moment there's a professional pianist & his lovely family staying at chez Rafa but to this story:

Amuzingly and as I mentioned in the previous post, I inadvertently caused a full blown scare at the local cinema the other night...!

We were out for a meal & french pizza, you know the drill, anyway we finally made it to the 'cinoche' (slang for cinema) to watch Ken Loach's The Wind that Shakes the Barley

We entered the theatre where I remembered that I'd forgotten to pray maghrib, I turned & told my friends in the cinema that I was going to pray and so I exited with the beginning of the advertisements rolling & found a little corner outside the cinema in the surrounding mini-mall & started my prayer straight away: thinking nothing more of it..!

..during the prayer I could hear people in the backgound discussing words like 'Musulman" etc & then before the 3rd rakat the African security guard called out to me, insisting "c'est ne pas une mosquée messr!" (this is not a Mosque messieur!): I didn't respond, of course & decided to continue my prayer, he then approached closer repeating his phrase even louder & now placed his hand on my arm & shook me, repeating himself very loudly..... I ignored him & called out to God Almighty in my heart to restrain his arm so that I might finish the prayer ..& I admit this is the first time any such thing has happened during a prayer in all my 6+ years as a Muslim!

-anyway, he did just kind of freeze but kept his arm on me..... I managed not to break my concentration until the end of the prayer where I immediately stood up & waked away quickly reciting ayat al kursi & completely ignoring him (my mistake!) .... no doubt due to his rudness in dealing with the situation & also to avoid getting angry myself, which believe me is a horrible site indeed...I've this warrior/fighting man thing : don't ask, you don't wanna know

So as I re-entered the cinema, past the queue of customers, he kept calling out to me behind my back in French "if I ever see you praying again...etc" , I just took up my place as the film was starting & tried to give it no further thought....

However after some time I saw him enter the door & was looking around for someone, as the film was playing & I thought nothing of it but after about 2/3 the way through this harrowing & brutal film ( about the birth of IRA due to British oppression in the early '20's)..when all of a sudden these big men entered into the cinema & took up careful positions in the corners, & then the film dialogue dropped in pitch & slowly dragged to a stop; this women came out & said "we've a really small technical problem, could you please exit the cinema for a little while" of course there was a lot of commotion, as people had never had such a thing happen before & I mean an evacuation from the room & all particularly at that moment of the film also ie the police were attacking some Irish families..a curious correspondence looking back

So everyone came out & I began to suspect that this was connected to me praying somehow & I saw the security guard looking around so I commenced making zikr that God would Hide me & then he walked right in front of me but couldn't recognize me in slightest, despite staring at me in the face, it was then that I mentioned to Rafael's girlfriend that they might be looking for me after the problem I had earlier but she didn't believe me & reassured me that it wasn't the case & I guess I agreed with her then & there..... it would be kind of ridiculous....After a while, they called us back into the cinema & took up my seat & waited, the lights remained lit..then all of a sudden my friend Rafael stuck his head in looking a bit annoyed & called out "MATTHEW come HERE!"

So it was me after all! : I made my way out, took a deep breath & there they were, special forces, big guys, big guns & all & the African security guard smiling, pointing his finger at me "woah c'est lui" from atop the stairs, these gentleman questioned me a little, "tu es Musulman alors?" etc.... The manager of the cinema started shouting at me that it was completely forbidden to bring my camera into the cinema..?? dumbfounded, I said "do you want it? & you can keep it!" they said no, no please enter the cinema straight away, lets recommence the film, the police took my passport & said to pick it up afterwards & so we did...& finished the film in some state of anxiety I must say... whew

Later we learnt what happened:

It turns out other people had noticed me praying & walking away from the security guard & then entering the cinema with a strange device in hand and of course they started thinking suspiciously.. 'oh-oh Muslim' & it, hence, enchained the above events very quickly indeed...

People ended up calling the police, as such & said they saw a man dressed in white(!?) (I was in black & coloured shirt!) carrying something strange (my camera!)...they were by all accounts really quite nervous & they actually thought this imagined person was about to blow up the cinema!

In any case, my artist friend Rafa noticed upon leaving the loo, he'd been absent during the intial evacuation, a woman sweating & trembling & that she was talking about someone of my description & he said "hey that's my pote!" & apparantly the chef of these police let out a sigh & murmured "ony va alors" (oh lets go!) somehow realizing then & there the ridiculous paranoia at play but agreed it was better for me to be checked out.... and so that's when Rafa stuck his head back in the cineam called me out...

So that's the state of things vis a vis Islam in Perpignan! ... absolute extreme paranoia & ignorance as per usual.... there were riots here apparrantly in June 2005 after some Muslims revenge stabbed & killed a gypsies after they'd stabbed & killed a Muslim or something, anyway the Maghribian Muslims here are really isolated from the mainstream way more than in England but more like Australia when I think about it, May God make it easier for them to integrate

The lesson for me: Instead of reacting in annoyance & anger to the security guard I should have smiled & put him at total ease & explained I'd just arrived in the country & didn't know etc & avoided this whole situation

easier said than done though! but really, I felt it was a strong lesson I absolutely have to learn: control your anger... Progress has been made but it never stops in it's infinite degrees

wa allahu Alim!

P.S.

BTW if you're Muslim & your passing in France absolutely DO NOT PRAY IN PUBLIC! do it in your hotel room or wait until you get back or find a mosque

& God Bless to any who chance upon this!

Rafael Gray : Perpignan

2006-08-27T01:49:00.000+03:00

Rafael Gray : Perpignan
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

Here I am in Perpignan....c'est un peu bizzare! speaking French again after all the arabic, I was speaking Arabic 1/2 the time the first few days, such did Arabic take over part of the brain where French once was..

got a story to tell: managed to create a major terrorist incident by praying outside a cinema...unbelievable stuff

helping Rafa here build his house in Claira a small village about 15km from Perpignan, a strange border town with spain, made famous for the strange comment made by Salvador Dali that the Perpignan Train Station is "The Centre of the Universe"

more soon, funny this old life...seeing old non-Muslim friends they're having dinner party right know as I speak... off their faces, so glad to be straight & sober, strewth couldn't really tell anyone I was doing this back in Saudi they couldn't understand!

this blog is basically dead I guess, stay tunes though for the new roll over blog as I head to Cairo to take up residence , inshallah

go to go I'm attracting attention..haha

God Bless to All!

2006-08-04T01:23:00.000+03:00

Peace Be with thee

Catching up on mail this past hour before last train outta London to bro Jihad of Shukr Clothing's London Branch, brother of Khalid who's so kindly putting me up for a few days...

...I was brought back to earth with the crushing news of continuing horrible numbers of innocent lives being taken in Lebanon..I couldn't help bet feel ashamed in my freedom when so many Muslims are suffering.... May God Guide me & us all to the best actions to all those making du'a far, far away

sobering indeed

~

Had the remarkable experience of a good ol' bath this afternoon while catching up at a very old friend's place today!...I can't tell you how enjoyable that was to be in a genuine British experience, all of a sudden .. sounds silly I know

~

also went to the Bangla Berwick st SoHo mosque for Maghrib & Isha... had to keep my eyes on the ground all the way! misbah in hand, thikering past all the bars, gay joints, prostitutes, drunkards, junkies & finally to the mosque! a most unsettling experience..to which I have become unaccustomed althouhgh was well hardened before I left for the KSA

~

the net's blazing fast here in London.. in a cafe with 70 users & it's instant!..knocking off mail one by one..if you've mailed me be patient, I'll eventually get back to you I'm trying to cope with it step by step!

got to get a train! long commute & chance to think about what all this means...

Ya Salams

2006-08-03T00:26:00.000+03:00

SALAMS!

I'm sitting here drunk in London freedom....(metaphor! metaphor!) won't last of course.... arrived 7Am!...anyone who wants to catch up while here....

..... I'd love to see you or hear from you!

07847 349999

for the moment...

May the Peace, Grace & Blessings of God Be Upon you all

Exit Holes

2006-08-01T03:07:00.000+03:00

04-28-06-FD9T6894cizc
Originally uploaded by Zoriah.

Salams & Yours truly from a late night Jeddah net cafe..

and prayers for the terrible suffering being endured in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Darfur and Bangladesh & Afghanistan & Pakistan and to all Muslims suffering in the west

I'm finally made it out of the Asir yestrday at 4AM! the flight was delayed by 4 hours..very sad particularly to leave my two of my true friends Dr Ali & kids & Dr Osoma who truly treated me as family...Have an offer to live in central Cairo rent free! hard offer to refuse ay? while needing valuable writing time! can sti;ll learn Aravbi in the evening's, it's pulling me...inshallah

Brother Ali the Yemeni/Saudi son, of Prince Sultan's head of the palace. is looking after me until tommorrow as we still straggle to get travellers cheques from 'non-snakes' I've been to 11 banks so far still trying...inshallah...tying to get him to take me to Mecca for fajr prayer but I think he'll flake...Allah Alim

Also trying to arrange temp diggs in London for Wednesday onward in the absence of Khalid who's in Morrocco for his honeymoon God Bless him..Godwilling I'll find somewhere..he's back on the 4th before splitting back to South Africa

this then IS my last post from the Kingdom

just as the Rihla is starting, sorry I've had my fill of the place

Goodbye Saudi Arabia, I'm biting my toungue trying not to say anything critical!

but this blog will continue for the time being, see you on the otherside..

thanks for the feedback from all who did, you've been a valuable source of sustenance in keeping me sane...with little or no other contact with Westerners in my almost 3 years here!

God Bless & Salams to all who may chance upon this...

2006-07-28T17:37:00.000+03:00

May the Peace, Grace & Blessings of God Be Upon thee!

back from the sacred melée in the Haramayn last Monday now, Praise Be to God! may He Accept

one of the more special trips from which I feel I have benefitted the most.. Alhamdullilah

Particular thanks due to brother Nasser and his Aussie wife! they were the most wonderful hosts you could imagine, (I only met bro Nasser of course but was fed wonderfully by unseen hands) purely for the sake of God Alone did they open their humble abode for this seeker, May God Reward them in excess of their generosity! Nasser entered hospital the day after I left with complications from Diabetes, so make du'a for him shafa'hu Allahu shafaan kamilan

We also visited a pair of suffering Egyptian sisters who on their way to Mecca with their husbands had the most horrible car accident..I can't say anymore at present as they haven't been told of the consequences as yet but ...apparantly moments before the accident the Husband of one, was thinking of all the plans & projects they intended when back in Egypt and then ........ indeed this is the nature of the wordly life, as Dr Ali bin Tawab my dear friend & da'ee extraordinaire, always says and it was he who first related their story & inspired me to visit them

~~~~~~~~~~~~

and to the sincere ones who requested du'a, in the sacred places, I only received your messages in Madinah alas! and so made them there in the Prophet's mosque as best I could, May He Accept!

hasan min la shay (better than none at all!)

since the return: mad, mad, mad days...2 of them sitting at the bank trying to close my account, amongst other things, I won't go into the gory details of what's like actually tying to attempt such a thing here in the KSA, with Saudis & others interrupting every couple of minutes, no matter how important your business; you don't count... !

... there is more, but now, Praise Be to God, it is mostly over... the extreme patience & control of anger required ... I was thinking: it would have been beyond me over 2 years ago, such as been the benefit in living here, the chance to forcibly learn this...so the Wisdom of the Beloved slowly reveals itself..

...I didn't get outwardly angry once, Alhamdullilah, except to give an intended glimpse of my frustration with a few choice words with the correct intonation to the head manager after 4 hours of sitting in the normal manager's office, so he could understandably absorb the gravity of it all...particularly as I had first requested this over 3 weeks earlier & repeated it many times since, nothing as usual, was done...and missed a plane, partly as a result...

but in the end these problems are non-existant in comparison to the millions of brothers & sisters suffering severe injustices of everykind, as I am well beheld, to forcibly remind myself...

There remains, just, the latest attempt to obtain final exit visa tommorrow, Godwilling, now that the bank is dealt with & final financials possibly being a hurdle only, but I believe the 31st is the new date now sometime..although I still don't have confirmation..

so some quick snaps!

30 seconds before iqama, maghrib..missed my final chance to get close to the balck stone Alhamdullilah!

Next to the second Uthmani mahrib, the Prophet's mosque, Madinah moments before asr

Is this my last post from the KSA? Allahu Alim... although it will continue until I work out how to flip this (ie new blog..?) to life outside the kingdom! Godwilling!

make du'a !

and

God Bless to all who believe, that may chance upon this!

2006-07-19T14:51:00.000+03:00

Peace be with you!

woah heavy week, been getting ready like mad but not my company on my sake alas! So yesterday I learned that my final exit visa will only be ready 2 days after I leave..ahem (police checks non-withstanding) inshallah, which, of course, means I miss my flight to London and brother Khalid's wedding & reunion with all those wonderful brothers that I was so looking forward to!..... I've been counting down the days for months now...

and so, it was a crushing blow, but as I happened to read recently:

Lovers are Made Aware

You make a hundred resolutions
to journey somewhere,
He draws you somewhere else,
He turns the horse's bridle in every direction
So that the untrained horse may know there is a rider
The clever horse is well paced
because it knows a rider is mounted upon it.
He fixed your heart on a hundred passionate desires,
dissapointed you, and then broke your heart.
Since He broke the wings of your first intention,
how do you doubt the existance of the Wing-Breaker?
Since His ordainment snapped the cord
of your contrivance,
how can you remain blind to His Command?
Your resolutions and aims now and then are fulfilled
so that through hope your heart
might form another intention
which He might once again destroy.
For if He were to keep you completely from success,
you would despair:
how would the seed of expectation be sown?
If your heart did not sow that seed,
and then encounter barrenness,
how would it recognize its submission to Divine will?
by their failures lovers are made aware of their Lord.
Lack of success is the guide to Paradise:
Pay attention to the tradition,
"Paradise is encompassed with pain"

Maulana Rumi (RA), MATHWANI III, 4456-67
("the pocket Rumi reader" edited by Kabir Helminski)

and with the Reality of these words of truth deepening.. and despite my raging ego..peace by the Grace of God (Exalted be He!), overgained my heart, in the end

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So despite my best efforts, I'm just not in control! (and Praise be to He Who Maketh it so!) there was intense anger & resentment searing through immediately me as a result, a testament to my state, I couldn't talk to anybody for a while..until the above words took greater hold...

,,, the best advice I could get was delay it by a week, alas, there's no seats, so I'm on waiting lists...with no sure date of leaving, as yet...

Alhamdullilah, as I'm seeing now, the advantage is that I get to perform a last Umrah & return to Madinah & say my goodbye salams to the Prophet (May Peace be upon him) bro Nasser of Almiskeenah blog is putting me up, God Bless him, I'm sure I'll learn some valuable, sacred knowledge with him, Godwilling

~~~~~

So the rigmarole of the car is over, sold at a loss to needy Yemeni brother with 8 children but alhamdullilah, I was kept from having an accident on the most dangerous roads in the world for 2 years! & there, I could have easily lost it all!

My last evening at formal work, a small goodbye brekkie with the brothers tommorrow morning, then off through the skies to Jeddah, I've got 24 hours, zip to Mecca: Umrah, then back to Jeddah, meetings then Madinah for 3 days, May God Accept it All! & back again in Abha by the 24th to collect visa & final cheque and the final flight out of the Kingdom on or around the 27th, tickets permitting inshallah

Asr salat, outta here

and

God Bless to any who chance upon this!

2006-07-13T23:27:00.000+03:00

Ya salams

here I am, fading away from this time & place, in a race for extra space in my suitcase!

it's true!

notions of 10 dimensions: very interesting if you're like me & you wonder how the Almighty IS Transcendant

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Devolving my self of my car, alas it didn't pass the regristration test so I had to spend 4 hours today with Yemeni mechanics, in Pt1 of the major repair, suprised at the ease of my communication in Arabic so it's not all that bad after all, (they insisted on lunch with me tommorrow after Jum'aa!), pt2 continues Saturday with 5 days to go; trying to salvage it's value, a few ugly conversations with people trying to take advantage, but I have been free of anger thus far, and Praise Be to God, Who Maketh It So

Sold most of my stuff from the apartment there remains the small matter of my final cheque, passport & exit visa attatched upon it (without which I am held prisoner here until I get one), it's a little touch & go to see if I make it on the exact date of my ticket on the 20th, due to the heedlessness of others far away in Riyadh....Godwilling it will be OK

one of my last posts here...Flickr & Wikipedia have both been banned & unbanned & banned again in the last few weeks & care factor zero as I'm pretty buzy except for times like this nearing midnight

and your du'a are, as always, a blessing

Profound currents of change are stirring my soul, it is readying to leap within upon the witnessing of panoramas new

But if it's one thing I've learnt to a greater extent beside patience here, by the Grace of the Beloved, & that is outward control

steps on the way indeed

and May Peace be upon all who chance upon this!

2006-07-08T00:19:00.000+03:00

Salams!

BTW Hunkered into town last night, something I usually avoid like the plague (ie taking to the most dangerous roads in the world) & scored a compilation DVD from China (the only ones you can get here in the Asir) & caught 'Beowulf & Grendel'

I must say what a relief to be able to see some fine European cinema for a change!...something I used to do, so often, while living in the west, I took it very much for granted...it was like breathing oxygen, such is the inanity of my existance here... I guess you gotta live here to appreciate this feeling..

de toute façon

'twas a great film! such an authentically recreated 'Danemark' in 500AD, suburbly powerful myth, capturing the cross-over of the old shamanism/paganism to the birth of Christianity, something that myths curiously do... and the troll & his Mum! golly! got to see it!..it's my old genetic heritage connection drives my enthusiasm, my genes partly hail from thereabouts...

~~~~~~~~
I also signed up for google analytics absolutely fascinating and advisable to any who are running a website of any sort...

& something I learned recently....!

Do you know I have the No1 Google position for the keywords "unsolvable+theorem" without even trying?! People pay good money for that! haha

Search Engine Optimization is an arcane knowledge domain indeed...

OK it's midnight & bell gongs are still ringing & I've been surfing too long!

Wishes of Peace to All...

Sufi Dancer

2006-07-07T14:57:00.000+03:00

Sufi Dancer
Originally uploaded by wwwayazdotcom.

Allah!

thanks wwwayazdotcom

ya Salams that's me leaving the Asir and on arriving in London~! haha

the joy will be short lived as familiarity returns & long trips on tubes under the ground sniffing peoples armpits do much to snuff love for your fellow human..but I shall enjoy it while it lasts..

and so.....shortly this blog will transform in to a new or completely seperate beast as I become filmmaking obsessed, which you have to be to get such a difficult thing done.......

arranging to get paperwork done to sell the car in 1/2 an hour: usual confusing conversation with specialized vocab: seems like I can get it done without another vehicle check...whew

PS also haggled with a Yemeni for apartment artifacts, eeeww, he offered a ridiculously low price...I couldn't oblige him, oh well many more such yucky convesations in the next few weeks...hate this necessary stuff

outta here!

Peace & Blessings of God to you!~

Hababa, Yemen

2006-07-05T18:49:00.000+03:00

YEMEN
Originally uploaded by txago.

thanks txago...isn't it an amazing place?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

tying things up, have to re-register the car in order to sell it, organize shipping, close accounts, sell affairs amongst a multitude of other stuff to do in these last 15 days!

still can't quite believe that I'm being set free!

I've become slighty 'institutionalised' by this country & feeling mixed emotions about my time here..astughfirulah..yes there were great blessings in the Haramayn but so little free time to visit them under the yoke of a contract in the provinces

I know it was beneficial & it will become even clearer in the long term, Godwilling & my goals have mostly been met but I have paid a price I don't know how big yet...and God is the Supreme Decider, and my confidence is with Him (Exalted Be He!)

I feel sad about still not understanding fluent Arabic between native speakers & the TV yet, (much closer though) but then again that too was a compromise for the need to earn dosh as an English Teacher to get a budget....& I couldn't study full time & save....we all have to strike compromises in life...and my expectations were perhaps too high on that front with this job where everybody speaks English & I'm forced to most of the day.......However my study will continue whether here or away & I have made massive progress nonetheless, Praise be to God! it feels tantilizingly close hence the motivation continues...

Plans have changed now, no more holiday & then return to the KSA....I need 1-3 months writing time to finish the first 2 acts for "The 64 Squares" & need to go somewhere where the living is cheap to do it...Syria? Egypt? Jordan?Maghreb? India? & still learn Arabic in the evenings...haven't decided as yet....

and the question of marriage looms large... istikharas coming up!

and May the Peace, Grace & Blessings of God Be upon any who may fall upon this...

wa Salams!

Doorway

2006-07-02T15:24:00.000+03:00

Doorway
Originally uploaded by Bird of Prey.

Salams!

caught moment...

who said photos were haram?

as I've been told by several well meaning brother Muslims! admittedly from Egypt & Saudi Arabia only

2006-07-02T12:06:00.000+03:00

Peace to you!

Big news for me! My company has seen the wisdom of letting me go 2 months early instead of having to provide another set of tickets after I return from vacation where I was supposed to exit finally in October, which means I'm now exiting on the 20th of July, 18 days away! inshallah

Completely out of the blue, I'm being set free..! I'm a little stunned, a major life change coming

Just the minor inconveniences of having to organize shipping & to sell off the minor possessions...what a relief this test is finally drawing to a close! Hamd be to the One who Made it So!

Got a lot to do...zhuhr azan is booming across town

your prayers, as always, are deeply appreciated if you have faith...

Salams!

Mezquita Córdoba

2006-06-29T00:14:00.000+03:00

Mezquita Córdoba
Originally uploaded by Estheno.

& while i'm at it...where I hope to be sometime during the impending holiday...

..gotta love the glint

~~~~~~~~~~

yes while I'm posting, a sober thought came, make du'a for all the Palestinian brothers & sisters fleeing one more impoverishing onslaught for a single Israeli soldier!

While over 9000 Palestinian soldiers remain incarcerated with no recourse except God....

oh I forgot world media, they don't count

I didn't do it!

2006-06-28T23:47:00.000+03:00

Originally uploaded by motocchio.

Salams!

e.o. week, wednesday night almost wasting time on flickr...love the moment & metaphorical contrasts

2006-06-25T13:58:00.000+03:00

Hiya with wishes of peace on a scorching day from the Asir,

A sister kindly forwarded this strange (and long!) article about the prison life of John Walker Lindh

the link's, of course, banned so I can't check it myself but hopefully it's there (updated to islamiblog)

basically it's suggesting that he's some kind of Muslim 'saint' or 'wali' in the making....

May God Grant him protection & ease in there...

written by a non-Muslim! interesting journo this Tom Junod

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just a snapshot of life here, just in case you're forgetting where I am,

for example, since I began running in the afternoons here several months ago, only one person (& he was Sudanese) has ever offered salams to me first! oh and a couple of really young kids

I would estimate that it's nearly a thousand times by now, that I give salams... I have been verbally abused, shouted at, beeped at, bottles hurled at me out of cars, laughed at, cars driven as if to hit me & then pull away at the last moment.....

and very occasionally a thumbs up over the steering wheel..and Praise be to God!

I'm a lucky one, a khawaja! Some of my poor Kerala friends have been beaten up by groups of young Saudis who just stop the car beat up the poor brother because they can

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and if you've been Muslim all your life then you're probably likely not to have too many non-Muslim friends...

In my case, as a 'realisator', (can't stand convert or revert) I still have & I have to deal with letters like that which follow shortly, from an old acquaintance....

But

He's a particularly bitter, intelligent & angry one, who, contacted me out of the blue recently after a particularly violent outburst last time we met, with a colostomy bag attatched, he was deathly sick but still summoned the energy to throw glasses around the room & I was seriously hoping to never have to deal with him again!

but to his credit, he helped me out & put me up, in cold, lonely London when I first arrived on New Years eve 1989, 20 years old, through a mutual friend's phone call back in Aus, with 20 pounds in my pocket and again in Sep 2003, while waiting for the Saudi visa in London, alas that ended badly as I mentioned...

....he has also recovered partially from desperately, bad times himself, alcoholism, business loss, crippling debts, depression just to mention a few, but never caught the meaning of any of them, alas, angry as ever....anyway to quote:

"...I see from your blog (what an ugly addition to the language: amerikan no doubt) a little of what you've been up to. Some nice snaps, pity the region seems to contain NO women... All interesting experience I don't doubt, however the "kingdom" of the wahabis is my idea of hell on earth. Though no doubt it includes a proportion of decent people as with everywhere else. Nonetheless it's not on my list of potential destinations.

Speaking of unpleasant locations, Londonistan is very much included. The situation there just gets worse. Most of the population of the "new EU" and all points east are desperate to live there (and a significant number actually do: 50% of the contents of the average tube carriage speaks a slavic language). The steady degradation of the transport infrastructure alone is enough to make the place intolerable to live in. And then there's the contribution of your co-religionists. If I hear another Muslim say "these people aren't muslims..." I'll start voting for the BNP. We are c**** in this country to tolerate - even support - people whose beliefs are inimical to everything we have spent centuries fighting to attain. Flawed society as it might be, show me something better."

and then

"Meanwhile the current situation prevailing amongst the religiously obsessed - amongst whom I include ALL the participants in the current mess - is a long way short of funny. I doubt that any of the people missing limbs, faculties or loved ones as a result of the various atrocities perpetrated around the world, and London springs to mind most as that's where I lived for nearly 30 years, are particularly amused either when they hear representatives of the "muslim community" failing to acknowledge that muslims, or Mohammedans as we prefer to call them here, are actually responsible for these atrocities. Even in the worst days of the IRA, whilst condemning the bombings (never heard out of the mouths of your mob in this country) the "catholic community" didn't actually claim "these people aren't catholics": because plainly that is how the IRA saw themselves, even if only in a secular sense.

Meanwhile I guess it's a good thing to have a sense of humour, particularly if one choses to live in Saudi Arabia - a country which affords the impossible choice of whether to despise the current kleptocratic, hypocrite regime or its primitive opposition more - all the while practising a set of obscurantist beliefs which belong somewhere in the middle ages. Still it's may be better than taking lithium: on the other hand maybe it isn't."

yeah he is kind of hilarious in his nauseous offensiveness, if you can see the humour between the lines,...however I've learnt over the years as so have others, that there's simply no talking to him.... a very articulate often viscious answer is always waiting...he loves to bait, as he is doing here & if you take him on verbally, he often gets violent although he's definately missing a bit of chi these days..he was a right firebrand back in '89 loaded-up with spliffs & grog...anyway

it's one sad, sad state to be in indeed...make du'a that God (Exalted Be He!) Guides him, maybe He Will! Allahu Hu Alim

So this is my last & final and public contact, made out of a certain sypathy for his miserable health & state, although he doesn't seem to see the connection between them: May God Guide him to light, amidst his blackness and the change that it will bring.....

inshallah

(also curiously the very teacher of this, my first Arabic phrase, before I left to Morrocco on my first taste of Arab Muslim culture in Dec 1990, just in time for the Gulf War!)

a message to you in peace, from a 'religiously obsessed.... Mohammedan'...

a short film

still it's over 50m but worth it

appendix:

from the page SUFI WISDOM: THE TRAVELING RIVER

As militant Islam does its level best to discredit the religion, it's important to remember that there are other voices within the faith. One such is the Sufis, the Islamic mystics who live islam (submission), iman (faith) and ishan (awareness of G-d, "to act beautifully"). Idries Shah was surely one of them. This comes from an article by Edwin Kiester, Jr. entitled "Grand Sheikh of the Sufis":

----

"Although each of these tales has a punchline, Shah explained, it also contains a teaching moral and can be examined on many levels for illumination of human behavior. Nasruddin's sermon, for example, depicts the Sufi belief that there can be no teaching to those completely ignorant, none to those who profess to know all the answers, and that the best teaching method is when one who has learned by experience teaches another.
(N.B. see the comments for Nasruddin's Sermon, lots of wise thoughts there from our readers too!)
Shah considers the tales an ideal way to communicate with the West. "One way we use them is as a sort of test," he said. "For instance, we often use the old Sufi tale of the sands:

The Tale of the Sands A Parable

by Awad Afifi the Tunisian

(or the maniacal 'Mohammedan' as R., the angry sleeper, would prefer)

"It was convinced, however, that its destiny was to cross this desert, and yet there was no way.
Now a hidden voice, coming from the desert itself, whispered:
"The Wind crosses the desert, and so can the stream."

A stream, from its source in the far off mountains, passing through every kind and description of countryside, at last reached the sands of the desert. Just as it has crossed every other barrier, the stream tried to cross this one, but it found that as fast as it ran into the sand, its waters disappeared.
It was convinced, however, that its destiny was to cross this desert, and yet there was no way. Now a hidden voice, coming from the desert itself, whispered: "The Wind crosses the desert, and so can the stream."
The stream objected that it was dashing itself against the sand, and only getting absorbed: that the wind could fly, and this was why it could cross a desert.
"By hurtling in your own accustomed way you cannot get across. You will either disappear or become a marsh. You must allow the wind to carry you over, to your destination."
But how could this happen? "By allowing yourself to be absorbed in the wind."
This idea was not acceptable to the stream. After all, it had never been absorbed before. It did not want to lose its individuality. And, once having lost it, how was one to know that it could ever be regained?
"The wind," said the sand, "performs this function. It takes up water, carries it over the desert, and then lets it fall again. Falling as rain, the water becomes a river."
"How can I know that this is true?"
"It is so, and if you do not believe it, you cannot become more than a quagmire, and even that could take many, many years; and it certainly is not the same as a stream."
"But can I not remain the same stream I am today?"
"You cannot in either case remain so," the whisper said. "Your essential part is carried away and forms a stream again. You are called what you are even today because you do not know which part of you is the essential one."
When he heard this, certain echoes began to arise in the thoughts of the stream. Dimly, he remembered a state in which he — or some part of him, was it?--had been held in the arms of a wind. He also remembered — or did he? — that this was the real thing, not necessarily the obvious thing, to do.
And the stream raised his vapour into the welcoming arms of the wind, which gently and easily bore it upwards and along, letting it fall softly as soon as they reached the roof of a mountain, many, many miles away. And because he had his doubts, the stream was able to remember and record more strongly in his mind the details of the experience. He reflected, "Yes, now I have learned my true identity."
The stream was learning. But the sands whispered: "We know, because we see it happen day after day: and because we, the sands, extend from the riverside all the way to the mountain."
And that is why it is said that the way in which the Stream of Life is to continue on its journey is written in the Sands.

CONTINUED...

"Now when you tell this tale, some people – crude, barbaric types – see it as a sort of commercial. The guru is asking his disciples to surrender themselves to him and he will carry them safely over the marsh, which is death or some other condition in which they are going to stagnate or putrefy. Other people react in a quite different way. They say, "Oh, isn't that a beautiful story!" And they talk about nature and the transposition of substances and ecology and so on.
People who don't react in either of these ways can then use the story for further training of their hemispheres, as it were. They don't have the hangup that they think you are trying to convince them of something, or that they desperately want to be convinced.
What makes it very difficult in dealing with these stories is that people want to know, "Is it a test or is it a teaching?" and "How am I supposed to react to it?" "At what point does it become perceptible to me what it really means?" Which is rather like saying, "Is a house for eating in or sleeping in or blowing up?" It's all those things. But the so-called linear mind always wants you to 'get to the point.' A great deal of Sufism involves learning not in the sequence the Western mind expects to learn it. That is not acceptable to the sequential thinker who is incapable of thinking in any other way."
The value of these tales is often misunderstood, Shah said. Like Christ's parables, they are designed to enable the listener to hold in his mind a kind of structure to which he can relate philosophical or other considerations."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and May God's Peace be upon all who chance upon this

2006-06-22T15:33:00.000+03:00

ya Slaams!

Irhibo!...'Asaq tayiib? (beduoi: welcome!...health good?)

Thursday's off & away as I have been trawling Google Earth looking at Adelaide streets & my old Uni haunts with silly tears almost welling upon looking at the cradle of my old city, so clean and beautiful she is too and at my father's houseboat! 250km away in Renmark...I miss him more than he knows...on that boat is a parrot, if you can believe it, and the remains of beautifully precise labour in restoring what is a real unusual design, God Bless him...he's a master with wood, & such an honest man, May God Guide him to the deen...aha found a photo of the front half...behind this is the other room, the sleeping quarters..he has to get there by 'dingy boat' to his car on the opposite shore

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Tariq Ramadan interviewed by Prospect magazine who are doing a series on Muslim Reformers I think Sh Hamza is coming up soon...

I find Sh Ramadan's arguments so reasonable and level headed, as a westerner, that I feel truly sad at the amount of criticism from the French establishment & old-world Muslim traditionalists that he receives, the inflexible traditionalist particularly cannot accept any re-assesment of contextual understanding of Islam in a secular world..he's between a rock & a hard place indeed

It's precisely this collision of minds that screams out to me, results of different systems of mind melding: on the one hand in the west, a quality inclusive, pluralistic, analytical-problem solving yet spiritually vacuous, secular experience

and on the other, a traditional, didactic, memory absorbative, polarized & absolutist, deeply reverent & sometimes spiritual inculcation...

How are they to co-exist, as they must? the kind of change we're talking about here is generational and many have been at it for longer than that... we all seem to be able to see what to fix, it's just the how......?!

there are no easy answers

asr azan!...time to press my forehead on the floor, numinously

yaqabalhu Allah....

du'a, du'a!

& May the Peace, Grace & Blessings of God Be Upon you all!

2006-06-21T13:19:00.000+03:00

Salams!

Wikipedia's back!!! Yay! Flickr Also Yay!!! I do wonder what is going on, possible interventions by Western educated Princes is the most logical guess...you can feel the Mut'awwa strength crumbling by the month...this is quite an important phenomenon in the unfolding....

The constant banning & reversal of those very bans, is obviously a symptom of a real battle going on in the upper echelons of this country....

In any case, wanted to post this about Madelaine Bunting's last hoorah at the Guardian before she goes to lead Demos some kind of leftish thinktank.

She made some interesting comments about the increasing inmportance of religion in modern British society and it's intersections with Science she says, to quote

"For the first time in a generation, religion is part of the national conversation; people want to talk and read about it. This is in large part due to Islam, which is prompting in a western audience a combination of fear and bewildered fascination (how can women want to wear veils, and have arranged marriages; how can Muslims still believe in angels and a divinely inspired scripture?). But there is another, albeit less pronounced, driver to this debate, which is that the collapse of communism and decline of socialism has left a vacuum of purpose, value and meaning on both the left and the right."

she's one to watch and I feel an ally to build a bridge with for British Muslims,

as Sh Abdal-Hakim so astutely pointed out in his razor sharp Benedict XVI and Islam: the first year

"Whatever the reasons for the new conservatism, Muslims must seek allies. The disliked and impoverished Muslim minorities of Europe, resembling in many ways fugitive monotheists in Roman catacombs, cannot muster the strength to campaign for a greater tolerance of non-liberal values. It is therefore crucial for Muslim communities to forge ties with other defenders of traditional humanity, and to wish them well."

and slipping on out... & God Bless to all who may chance upon this!

trapped sister in Jeddah

2006-06-20T18:58:00.000+03:00

trapped sister in Jeddah
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

click through to read this....a terrible plight of a sister held prisoner by suspicious brothers an all too common situation here

if you can make du'a for her

got to pray Maghrib!

Salams

Six month after the earthquake in Pakistan - Girl at school

2006-06-19T19:03:00.000+03:00

Six month after the earthquake in Pakistan - Girl at school
Originally uploaded by maciekda.

I can't help but post this also...she's so mournfully present

supplications to be made

Syed Nisar Alishah - Lahore

2006-06-19T18:31:00.000+03:00

Syed Nisar Alishah - Lahore
Originally uploaded by maciekda.

fantastic photo!

"At the Shrine of Data Ganj Bakhsh Hajveri in Lahore" otherwise known as Sh Ali Hujwiri

author of the incredible The Unveiling of the Veiled or the Kashful Mahjub

the first Persian treatise on Sufism, I couldn't recommend it any more strongly

(doing this during a lesson!)

Traditional Aleppo House

2006-06-19T12:39:00.000+03:00

Traditional House
Originally uploaded by mimad25.

Salams! haha!

the see-saw continues...this photo from the Muslim Cultures group means flickr's been unblocked for the 4th time!! on my count, well at least on this IP address.... fresh air-my guess it will last only a short while, as before...

mm a cascade or images come...Dreamy Syrian afternoons, sugary mint tea after naps, the Qur'an being voiced in the distance, freshly ironed djallaba....stooped backed, white bearded, old shuyukh with walking sticks shuffling their way to & from classes and the souq, kids yelping a block away on the streey with a soccer ball.....

At the end of the contract, in Oct ....quick visit to Syria, Jerusalem & Jordan is planned before leaving the region....Godwilling

update!: it's apparantly been restored & turned into a Museum! that's done it....I 'm going! inshallah

2006-06-18T13:54:00.000+03:00

Peace be with thee..

heavy of heart & voluntarily shut in the building today, have learnt that my external hard drive has been stolen from the normally locked store-room next door, which means it was probably a staff member, Allahu Alim, with all 8-9 hours of video from Yemen, Mecca etc, backups & other video collected over the last 18 months

Qadr Allah...this kind of thing just happens too regularly for my liking, I am an anti-suspicious person & I hate to be one & I constantly decide that places are safe enough....but once again a minor disaster lays waste to plans, all that work filming, logging, editing: gone

a familiar experience earlier in life,, it was too, often while travelling I lost close to 10 address books in all (!) with painstakingly collected contacts to all ends of the earth, completely lost..... until I found a system to place one in my wallet which has never been misplaced, thank God- always one more, minor tradgedy that was meant to be

and Praise Be to God.. the Revealer of reasons in time

~~~~~~~

Another important decision! I am going to turn off all email alerts except that which are absolutely necessary, as these emails each commonly spawn into 6-10 other articles & links & before I know it 3 hours have passed, I'm failing to respond to emails or even write anything or do anything productive as a result

such as more original blurbs here, as I used to do, although that may be difficult with a request to help write a Ph.d thesis that came in through the window yesterday and with only a month to go (!) before launching in to the air towards Europe weeping tears of relief, Godwilling.....

but here's a last shot over the bow of some interesting stuff that came in this morning

~ French Midfielder, Franck Ribery has embraced Islam! but is keeping it quiet not wanting to cause a media blowout away from the team, apparantly he made du'a before the last match, which let the cat out of the bag

~ Just in great NYTimes article (& video!) profiling Sh Hamza & Imam Zaid yay! to say that we need, desperately, more of that coverage from the mainstream press, is an understatement

~ Tariq Ramadan was in a debate with Hirsa Ali 2 days ago, not sure why he would give her the opportunity to get even more publicity...nevertheless after hearing his soft, considerate speech in Sydney 2 years ago & reading some his work I should like to meet him, in God's Name & give an account of it like Sh Tim Winter, Godwilling

...and speaking of which

~ He, Sh Abdal Hakim Murad, has released in addition to his review of the first year of the new Papacy,(thanks deenport! & masud.co.uk) his latest set of inimitable observations, idiomatic memes & wisdom about Islam, life & beyond: Contentions 10 several of which I'm guilty of and more reason for feeling particularly humbled today

Hope I can find out the meaning of some of the arcane vocabulary in non-English & non-Arabic shortly or if any of you know, please do share! I would indeed, be most grateful

I feel they are important enough to quote directly here & hope you've the time:

Contentions 10

© Abdal-Hakim Murad [July 2006]

1. The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways. The point, however, is not to be changed by it.

2. Without the ilm al-hal we will mistake imhal for ihmal.

3. Autres temps, autres Maures.

4. If you cannot be of the poor, then be with the poor. If you cannot be with the poor, then pray with the poor. If you cannot pray with the poor, then pray for the poor. Beyond this there remains not an atom’s weight of faith.

5. ‘Blessing’ is a large word, but do not be slow to use it.

6. The Umma has no problem that cannot be solved by paying attention to the Fatiha. (‘And when the Qur’an is recited …’)

7. To switch on a television is to acknowledge one’s own lack of refinement.

8. Only the immanent God uses the subjunctive.

9. The Liber Asian puts the Afro back into Aphrodite.

10. Use silence to suffocate falsehood, not truth.

11. Fadila is the proof of ilm.

12. Reverence is the opposite of reverie.

13. Feminism? First empower femininity.

14. God’s glory was, and there was nothing else. His glory is now as it was.

15. Choose your tie for its utility in cleaning your spectacles.

16. Dress in that which you would not see dishonoured.

17. The Qutb has been replaced by the kutub.

18. Everything is political, but politics is not everything.

19. Flight into self is a retreat from the facticity of the world; flight into heaven is its affirmation.

20. Remember: the history of Islam is the history of the Muslim ego.

21. ‘One lives so badly because one always arrives in the present unfinished, incapable, distracted’. (Rilke)

22. Error exists to compliment truth, not to complement it.

23. Blame yourself, not the age. Blame the age, not others.

24. Knowledge is to see the door. Penitence is to approach it. Prayer is to knock upon it. But to open it is not within your power.

25. Even if you have slipped beneath the waves, the adhan may still reach you.

26. The evil eye: between ‘ard and sama ‘ is the distance between ard and sama’.

27. Kemalism: the rind-i genç became the röntgenci.

28. Our condition is ignorance of our condition.

29. Only in the din al-fitra are women adequately acknowledged.

30. If you reject the Carrot, the Stick will surely come.

31. Only the saint should take women at face value.

32. Islam is the only way of being pro-Western.

33. The inward istighfar comes before the tahlil; the outward one after it.

34. You are your intentions.

35. Do not doubt another’s salvation until you are certain of your own.

36. Good adab is to jostle to be first in line for Heaven.

37. Renunciation is wisdom’s only door.

38. Fatwa: only the mad do not pray. Taqwa: only the mad do not pray.

39. The false Salafi is Pharoah in the robe of Moses.

40. The poor ghettos are the kharabat of the age; it is dangerous to seek your wine elsewhere.

41. The false Salafism: only the Arab has a salaf.

42. There is no worship without knowledge. We have been created to know Him.

43. There is no knowledge of Him without love of beauty. We have been created to love beauty.

44. Despair not of those who are drawn to ugliness, for they too are probing the mysteries.

45. Others are our fellow-travellers, even if they have lost the road.

46. He that struggles to progress, though he has not been shown the road, is better than he that stands upon the road, pridefully mocking.

47. ‘Islamic’ and ‘un-Islamic’ are not the only adjectives. (‘And the differences of your tongues and colours.’)

48. The Triumph of Pera: Islam-bol is become Fut-bol.

49. The Crucifixion and the Conquest of Mecca: which is higher: to forgive from a position of powerlessness, or of power?

50. The Crucifixion was not suicide: God knows His own powers of self-resuscitation.

51. He who does not love fiqh has no body.

52. Islam is no meteorite fallen upon Earth; it is its invisible, unregarded core.

53. ‘I never think back. Since I cannot change the past, why should I deal with it?’ (Shimon Perez.)

54. The Trinity: three alter egos.

55. The evil ‘I’ is the difference between the lahi and the ilahi.

56. Trust in God, not in your trust in God.

57. God acts in the asbab, not through them.

58. Meat resembles us; so prove the provenance of your provision.

59. Contingent being has no power. (‘No fear is upon them, neither do they grieve.’)

60. Nietszche: God has died because of those who believe that God died.

61. Leviticus, not Deuteronomy, makes the Land female, and truly welcoming. (The Eretz is polyandrous, or she is a desert.)

62. The Vicarious Atonement proves that torture can be a good thing.

63. The Christ of the Apocalypse: No More Mr Nice Guy.

64. Religion begins where empathy tends.

65. A tariqa carries fare-paying passengers. If they will not pay, it should not continue as a railway preservation society.

66. Only Islam could help the Pre-Raphaelites to paint men.

67. Utopians are un-Realistic.

68. A mosque is not built, it is written.

69. Islamism replaces religion with the idea of it.

70. The fanatic is the weak man. Strength is shown in generosity.

71. ‘Gender is not destiny.’ (Simone de Beauvoir) ‘God is destiny.’ (Hadith)

72. Cumhuriyet is possible; cumözgürlük is not.

73. Islamic democracy: sovereignty belongs to God.

74. Without the Prayer, each of us is a hole in creation.

75. It is not the giving of a karama that transforms; only the manner of its acceptance.

76. To think of the Teacher is to be offered a karama, so be utterly attentive in watching for it.

77. You may show a man a thousand miracles, but if you show him no compassion, he will not believe.

78. The god of the Enlightenment is a jealous god. By insisting on equality, he insists that only things capable of being equal should be tolerated.

79. I am my weakness; You are my strength.

80. Scientists show us only dead matter. (‘God calls you to what gives you life’.)

81. A good prayer is from Him; a bad prayer is from us.

82. When the wind is fair, set all plain sail. When it blows a gale, send hawsers aloft. In a clock-calm, look below.

83. Rushd is to recognise the Rashidun. Ghayy is ghuluww.

84. Do not accuse the Arabs of stupidity.

85. St Paul was the first Westerner.

86. Falsalafium: Islam’s unstable isotope.

87. No-one is suited to tariqa. Tariqa is suited to everyone.

88. The false Salafism: the revolt of the ego against the Caliph.

89. To be with Islam is to live in the valid diversity of signs. To be with the Monoculture is death.

90. ‘Equality is not the means to achieve equality.’ (Joan Scott)

91. Sijnistan will be Riddastan; so fight the locking of the gates.

92. The overtaken need not be taken over.

93. England chose the Sira, not the Gospel, to confront Hitler.

94. Rumi is among the dala’il al-nubuwwa.

95. A pious young cricketing fan,
Cheered Middlesex and Pakistan;
For with contemplation
On God’s revelation
He found neither team in the Koran.

96. Peace at any price? Not at any price.

97. If you are not a saint, everything is your fault.

98. Men are from Ash‘ar, women are from Maturid.

99. Which is it, of the blessings of your Lord, that you deserve?

100. ‘There is a Moses for every Pharoah.’ (Kemal Pasha-zade)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

God Bless & until next time, inshallah

matt

2006-06-16T22:14:00.000+03:00

Salams!

just to let you know wikipedia's just been blocked....how's that for utter, utter, totally moronic stupidity

also anti-Islamic I might add, given the importance of acquiring knowledge in this world & deen

I'm so disgusted I can't write anymore

that's what the infamous white page looks like, and yes I wrote & gave them a piece of my mind as usual

Praise Be to God I am able to leave shortly....

make du'a please for patience!

2006-06-15T14:44:00.000+03:00

Ya Salams!

It's Thursday & I'm off to play tennis, swim etc but before I do I found a great transcript of Sh Abdal-Hakim Murad's in-depth interview with the ABC in Aus....

that's it!

sincerest wishes of peace to all who may chance upon this

2006-06-13T13:09:00.000+03:00

Irhb! and wishes of peace from Wadi 'Itwad, deep in the heart of Shahrani (the native tribe of this area) territory

(where this building is in Khamis Mushayt)

This blog has changed somewhat over the years when I realized who was reading it, my interests are so wide & in so many fields but I only blog about life here & Islamic issues to keep it short...so please forgive any perceived narrowness of vision, it's not quite me but an editorial decision & it will open up when I leave here in 4 months & commence the odyssey of shooting & completing "The 64 Squares" which has been a liesurely 10 years in the making so far and my life will become much more filmmaking oriented by neccessity to 'get the monkey off my back'..perhaps a new blog will begin then, Godwilling

~~~~~

so what's happened?

~Firstly, brother Author Irving Karchmar has launched a great new sufi oriented blog called Darvish, he's such a humble bro, he felt he didn't have anything to say but I assured him to the contrary & therein lies the proof!

~Ashamedly, I also lost my temper badly for the first time in 6+years as a Muslim the other day with a brother, all my buttons were pushed, yes I had a reason but I cracked...Later, looking up at the sky feeling unwell & to check to see if it was a full moon & indeed I had surmised correctly!...alayam abyadoon, the white days, fasting days: precisely to avoid the very thing that happened, I have always gone werewolf at this time traditionally....just one more essential reminder!

but it would conversely brake the rhythm of running to which I'm over 60+ minutes on the long ones by now an easy 11-12K...and again now after writing this...part of the price I pay for dunya aspiration

~that poor, poor little 7 year old Palistinian sister who had her whole family killed (Rahimahum Allah) by an Israeli shell in front of her while she was swimming, buried her family yesterday

to quote "The child fainted several times, only to be roused by women relatives who splashed water and perfume on her face."

Dutily carried out, albeit admittedly in blunder, by the ever vigilant Israeli Army and since they're military, that somehow doesn't make them 'terrorists'in the eyes of the world!?

See any US & EU sanctions on Israel? or the encorcement of ANY of the near 80 UN Resolutions passed against Israel to curtail this sort of thing? No they all sit on by, watching

~Oh I heard from a friend who's in contact with Sh Abdal-Hakim Murad in Turkey and who passed on my salams, apparantly the Sheikh asked where I was and when told I was still in Abha he smiled and said "must still have some sins to atone for"

haha..I guess so may God Almighty Expiate them indeed... less than 3 months work time to go, excusing the coming holiday

make du'a please!

whew it's hot today but off I go...

Salams!

2006-06-07T12:28:00.000+03:00

ya salams!

I'm seriously considering turning off google alerts with so many hate articles being published in the states by right-wing Jewish, Christian & Atheist political & (so called) intellectual groups that are shockingly appalling in several important criteria

a) the amount of them
b) the funding the writers are receiving
c) the agenda, organization & deep-seated plannning behind them all

Has it always been like that in the states? I don't think so, this is a recent phenomenon, knee-jerk stuff...

vile & abominable, just as real terrorism is

but then again there's the odd good link...that makes it worth it

-Islam a la française: a postive review with an inbed video of life at Paris's Central Mosque, I hear from reliable sources that the restaurant is fantastic & full of non-Muslims...dawa by stomach! one of the best ways indeed, let there be no doubt...

- a comprehensive & interesting 'snapshot' list & explanation of current cultural publications right now in Iraq

- If you don't know there's been somekind of mini-Islamic revolution in Mogadishu with the defeat of the warlords apparantly...and support of the understandably, fed-up local poplace...I hope it warms the heart of the lost Somalian diaspora worldwide...a considerable number are in Australia suffering in isolation, manning the taxis & slogging away in dead-end factory work with not much more than Alhamdullilah on their lips, if they've got work at all, as it's at least a land of hope, hard currency & possibility in a new land..

...I became very friendly with the small community of Somali bros in Adelaide, actually all of the 'horn of Africa' bros, in particular, they have always been so friendly & responsive which unfortunately wasn't the case with all of the Arab brothers...May God Guide & Forgive Us all in our incompetant dealing with each other

Interestingly and despite the complete chaos & lack of law & order, to quote the wiki article:

"Mogadishu, along with some other parts of the former Somalia, is cited as an example of anarcho-capitalism. Despite (or perhaps because of) the anarchy, Mogadishu leads East Africa in access to telecommunications and the Internet. A modern communications network has developed in the city, including local cellular telephone systems with international connections via satellite. The lack of taxes has led to modern communications prices that rank among the lowest in Africa. Numerous Internet cafes have produced an online population that rivals all of Ethiopia, Djibouti, or Eritrea. The city also has several radio stations, two television broadcasters, and an internet service provider."

huh? weird man

oop

they're shutting the office!

God Bless!

2006-06-05T13:36:00.000+03:00

Irhbo! and peace unto thee

minor friction in the office..bit of a yawn..anyway decamped to the net cafe after 1:30PM as they lock the door & I can't get out for the mid afty break until 4PM

Oh I saw another Westerner yesterday which was weird (yeah it's that rare), while picking up my ticket to London at the travel agency, he kind of scowled & turned away when I was speaking Arabic ...you know the typical reaction when Westerners who don't know each other find one of them is looking at the other haha..obviously from one of the fortified compounds under heavy guard

The change in welcome with Muslims is always heartwarming

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Otherwise what's new? windows on weirdness, the days are beggining to roast as I am in my runs, it's pushing 40 degrees, ...upping the time out there to 50+ minutes, nudging the very hilly 10K envelope, recovering today, calves are aching, don't want to injure myself...think I'll invest in one of those Ipod nano thingies when in London with the wireless module you put in your shoe & it measures your speed, distance etc gives you live aural feedback, I think it's a motivation to keep at it...man everyone needs to excercise

I'm utterly convinced there's a spiritual reward for it! go for it!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Inevitably World Cup madness starts to overcome me once every 4 years, I seem to get interested in football(soccer) again without fail... can't help it, sport programmed Aussie living afar from it all, with his country in the 'kass 'alamiyya' (World Cup)...hehe bear with me, learning all this Arabic soccer vocab. with the telecasts in breathless excitable Arabic

rekla(kick) zawiyya!(corner) (corner) , rekla houriyya! (free kick) etc

the office is abuzz as I imagine all of them are worldwide

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OK sucked out of the web today...

_John Pilger, Robert Fisk, Charlie Glass, and Seymour Hersh on the failure of the world’s press..sobering to know we have allies amongst secular elite

-UNESCO includes the 'Mevlevi Sema Ceremony,' a spiritual and religious tradition of Sufism, on its list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

-Islam in the Modern Century: Many liberal Muslims in South-East Asia are trying to find a non-violent, middle way for their religion(Sydney Morning Herald)

- American Muslim Businessmen launch a $50 million PR compaign for Islam, somewhat questionable use of money, I feel, with rates of illiteracy, poverty some of the worst in the Muslim world

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With all my recent focus on rabid Athiests recently (audhubillah min alshaytan arrajeem) & the attacks on Islam, religion & belief in God(Exalted be He!) in general...got me thinking about the possiblity of a documentary of the same name..

'ATHEISM'

-investigation of how leading atheists live their lives
-the selfless activities they involve themsleves in..or lack of
-the recursive loops & failings in their arguments
-the suicides, alcholism, drug abuse & disfunctional families
-the review throughout history of great atheist architectural monuments, charitable organisations & socially benefitting institutions ....or lack of
- famous world changing, historical atheists ...or lack of in comparison to Prophets, Mystics, Artists & Scientists who believed etc

kind of comedic actually

BTW if you're feeling strong & be careful here, trecherous waters....here are the common arguments against belief in God should you ever need acquainting in case of a dialectic with a closet or professional philosopher is on the cards...ie your intention must be for dawa, otherwise I think it's makrouh (anyone?)

they're all flawed with the the limit of meaning in ordinary language the general culprit...and of course the meaningless of rationality & logic when it comes to that which Exists Outside & Independantly of 4-D space-time

warning!: I'm not getting involved in email debates with anyone at present!

God Bless! wa salams...!

2006-06-03T21:06:00.000+03:00

Salams!

en vitésse...

Some Islamic art by a non-Muslim: Jacques Caux, a wonderful painter, & member of the Schématistes group sent to me by me old mate Tim Gaze back in Adelaide, who is an ascemicist & unorthodox calligrapher

2006-06-03T13:18:00.000+03:00

Ya Salaams

Striving through & sickened by some of what I've read this morning... Hirsa Ali that Somali Dutch woman, urgh I refuse to link anything to her although being circumsized as a woman might have also made me a little reactionary against Muslims also

....and what's seems a number 2 to Dawkins in scholarly kafirism: Sam Harris who wrote a book called The End of Faith, he believes in the total neurological basis of faith, another poster boy for certain atheists who hold up his book high jumping up & down in pale imitation of religious reverance, as if it's some kind of proof for them, hilarious and blind to its' own unperceived, fundamental anti-logic

...with all these unfortunates one thing seems to be in common

a total obsession upon the worldly perceptuals, alone

anything beyond that which their own consciousnesses perceive simply does enter into their own critical, deductive processes, by which they dismiss God(Exalted be He!), out of hand according to multitude of variables & tired, old arguments..and when it comes to Islam, are particularly misinformed with erroneous facts that are just basically plain, outright bald faced lies...over & over again, kind of astonishing really....another hint perhaps for those seeking signs

and the words....

In the Name of God, Most Merciful, Most Gracious

002.006
As to those who reject Faith, it is the same to them whether thou warn them or do not warn them; they will not believe.

002.007
God hath set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing, and on their eyes is a veil; great is the penalty they (incur).

ring home to the core

for the One who is veiled & cannot see the veil... nothing can help him or her

lest one waste their time...tough to perceive sometimes particularly when interest is feigned

~~~~

elsewhere

- Islam's Liberal King a piece on Morrocco's apprantly popular king

- the Vatican running scared about Islam

- An Ohian(?) Muslim sister had her children taken from her under false pretences by some right wing Christian zealots working in the department of social services, she is now rightfully suing them in an astonishing case of abuse of postion

outta here!

God Bless & salams

2006-06-02T16:32:00.000+03:00

Allah Hiya hum wa salams!

Friday afty dribbling away....will head out to run shortly, ensconced here in the weekend retreat of the Internet cafe downstairs from the apartment...God Almighty was Considerate indeed, in Arranging such a conveniently placed apartment

-Islam taking off in Namibia a country of only 1.8 million & 1980 was the year of the first black Muslim..how curious

-Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West, another documentary was just screened in Winnipeg by the mourtada(apostate) Nonie Darwish...amazing how people will be taken in, by thinking that she is actually a Muslim, and she is speaking for us & making a living while at it also, kind of parasitical actually

Although, she does raise some valid issues about the nutcases in the Ummah, they do need to be more effectively addressed by the unfortunately closeted, culturally bound Muslim leaders trying to be heard who are paradoxically blackballed by a significant proportion of the traditional media..so it's a kind of a tragic, self perpetuating catch-22...if only more of us could support Sh Hamza in what seems a one man vigil with western media broadcasters

May God Raise him & let his voice be known in all four corners of the earth! (amin!)....after watching that I feel ashamed at myself, I'm so reactive, always have been, making progress slowly though, got warrior blood in these veins...make du'a please!

- In Syria, the deen is flourishing after years of serious repression

-Saudi Arabian textbooks disgracefully full of wahhabi propoganda, although slowly being revised.... apparantly, no wonder 95% of my students seem like similar, unsmiling autonoumous automons, unable or unwilling to express a personal opinion that deviates from what the authority figures have shoved down their throats...although that other 5% does demonstrate that transformation is happening here...

....alas I can't but help but feel a generation will pass on before that figure is over 50% and only God Alone Knows best

off to pound the wadis!

God Bless! & Salams

2006-06-01T13:31:00.000+03:00

Peace & Blessings to you on this lazy, yawm alkhamis (thursday)...

the obligitory attendance 1/2 day where there is never any work but time to fulfill the contractual requirements...so here I am wading through mail & the links they bring

decent stuff through 'the wire' today:

-British doco about white Texans embracing Islam is proving a big hit...here it is on google video 'Turning Muslim in Texas'

-John Updike does Islam with a novel intitled, you guessed it :The Terrorist

- She sounds psychotically deranged by anger but even the peers of Journalist Oriana Fallaci are turning against her for her bigotry against Islam

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A prayer out to all the Indonesian brothers & sisters suffering in the earthquake, food & shelter is in desperately short supply & so if you can spare some money and it certainly all helps no matter how small- you can donate through Muslim Aid
or the World Food Programme

...rememeber also our Palestinian brothers & sisters in desperate plight that is just getting worse

I love the famous Hadith Qudsi in rememberance that God (Exalted Be He!) Is the One Who Gives & we are merely temporary trustees tested by these very disasters numerous & increasing they seem to be....

....Narrated Abu Huraira: "God's Apostle, peace be upon him, said, `God said, O the son of Adam! Spend, and I shall spend on you.'"
[Bukhari]

God Bless & Salams!

2006-05-31T13:09:00.000+03:00

Peace & blessings to you!

very shocked to just learn of an unbelievable documentary coming out on July 7 called

Islam : What the West Needs to Know

check out the blatant disinformation & outright plain lying in their outline!

I'm just pondering what's the best angle of response to these ignorant bigots...and who's funding it...it will become very clear shortly

I'm all ears to any suggestions! but certainly some action's got to be taken

~~~~~~~~~~

Otherwise I didn't mention it but I actually went out for a 'date/meeting for potential marriage/what do you call it?' (what!) here in the Kingdom if you can believe it!...this lovely sister who's a MD & I met up at a very fashionable, wooden 'zen' style restaurant in Jeddah, after the Umrah, in a get to know you kind of way & it was delightful novelty! first time I've spoken to a female in the flesh since golly oh while in UAE last November & even then that was only while buying tickets etc didn't really count, so really that would be London, Dec 2004...strewth I hadn't realized how much time that is..how my life has changed

Could have been anywhere in the west...I was deeply embarrassed that she managed to get the bill away & insisted on paying for everything, bit slow off the draw there, & she even drove me (well her driver) to the airport! God Bless her!

The fact I was able to do that in a public place as western custom was a great suprise, there's certainly no way that would be possible here in the Asir

things are definately a-changing here in the jolly ol' Kingdom of 'Digraceful No-Action on Oppressed Foreign Workers Rights'

hi-ho, got to go, they're closing the building....and calling my name

Salams~!

2006-05-28T13:39:00.001+03:00

immediately after fajr

Dr Ali, reading Qur'an we were both fasting, but I was passing out after travelling all night & then the Umrah, I couldn't read without my eyes defocusing & eyelids closing..his voice reciting was the one constant...his ibada never stopped...May God(All Exalted Be He!) reward him & his beautiful family (father of five!)

just before praying a private janaza with Dr Ali for one of the passed on from Fayoum

2006-05-28T11:59:00.000+03:00

Ya Latif

"brother, I want to tell you of the utterly worthlessness of this worldly life ..." so emphatically & repeatedly said by my emir & dear delightful companion for the Umrah, Dr Ali bin Tawab in his heavy Egytpian accent, before launching into one more of his deeply sincere stories of people that have recently passed away in his town, Fayoum, 80km south of Cairo....and not just his town!, for it seems the average life expectancy is about 40 years old there...my guess is the water & irrigation canals, companies, the sewage trucks all dump their waste in them..and all drink from, come what may...la hawla wala quwatta illa billah

He's not only full of stories from Fayoum but also of the tradgedies of Abha, the workers that have just recently come & suffered strokes after sending home their pay to their wives only to be cruelly robbed, & freshly arrived, drivers who've died instantly in accidents along with teachers while going to work & ...his own brother, hafiz of Qura'n died relatively young...his parents all died young...I really should devote more posts to his stories..alas for time

In Egypt, it seems death is the ever present immediate certainty for most...and those strange mini cities thay build everywhere that are in fact mausoleums, an ancient custom & preoccupation to this day..

Indeed so is a visit to the Ka'aba with the almost guaranteed Janaza (funeral prayer) after every salat, the rush to lay a hand on the stretcher holding the body...I haven't prayed so much about death being in rememberance in my life since becoming a Muslim..

You know Mecca is of course a blessed place, and also real test of patience, and this was one of the best Umrah for I had truly accompanied a brother of Taqwa...May God (Exalted Be He) Accept

flickr's totally banned again this time I fear for good...alas, it was fun while it lasted..now I have some photos snapped with me phone..let me see....

and some links after trawling the 50 emails that awaited me on my return

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Whirling Sufi Revival With Unclear Implications in Grozny

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Islam & the question of Slavery and The Treatment of Jews in Islam by Dr Habib Siddiqui

~~~~~~~~~~

Interns? No Bloggers need apply a humourous look into how getting fired for blogging about work can make your career!

and a great article from wired The Rise of Crowdsourcing, may give you some ideas how to increase your income..

~~~~~~~~~
oh and this woman Melanie Phillips, Islamaphobe, going off on Londonistan, hub of islamic terrorism that has roots in the Rushdie affair, or so she thinks while making money off populist fearmongering with the issue of the day

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and the amuzing top ten strangest gadgets of the future

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

go to split! ya salams & God Bless any who fall upon this

Badshahi Mosque

2006-05-23T16:27:00.000+03:00

Badshahi Mosque
Originally uploaded by Awara.

in Lahore I believe...rare & numinous..thanks Awara

it's weird flickr's back on at work but banned at the internet Cafe, maybe they allowed my IP as an exception after my complaint knowing there was a westerner here..Allahu 'Alim..!

3 myths about Islam : you ought to be ashamed

another lopsided, ugly distortion without context, add to the list mountain!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and then this in Bangladesh poor banglas fighting to earn more than $22 a month and less than 7 days a week without forced overtime, one person dead...what's even more shocking is that the factory owners went out on their own, later demonstration demanding better protection for their greedy exploitation!

Yeah I'm overflowing with sympathy

I just discussed it with my favourite bangla Abdul-Alim the cleaner, he told me that to get to Saudi Arabia and the possibility to earn maybe $100 a month, they have to pay a bribe price for the visa of up to $3500!! what! if you can believe it and be in debt for years paying it off..he said "kullu ali baba fiz bangldesh!"(everyone is an Ali baba)

He longs to get back to his farm, to his hut with his 'chicken, goooat, caoow, donkey', small generator to work the pumps, to grow all his food, I do wonder,

"happy life, simple life" he knows it allright! God Bless him

I also recently learnt the shocking lack of literacy over there, a rate of 41%!

it's sickeningly deplorable, when I see Westerners, Muslims, most humans actually parading around in their 'hard earnt' new cars, driving home to their "we deserve it" million dollar houses and what have you...in Bangladesh too..yes it's an unending, exhausting cliché...

no-one goes to war for these people & no-one will..

but greed as a genuine social value is saluted & celebrated everywhere and nowhere like America

wrong wrong wrong...I feel unwell

I thank God(Exalted Be He) for the Judgement Day and what it all entails...

I pray that many rightous Banglas who suffered through this life patiently with Alhumdullilah on their lips, as I have met so many who do, will be the first to enter with nothing on their backs!

and isn't it, the great consolation of the true believers... to go to their deaths except with beaming smiles?

2006-05-22T21:46:00.000+03:00

quickie before they switch off the lights, brother Dawuud Helleman sent me the link about the first afghan gangsta rapper in Dari...cool article!

Salams!

2006-05-21T13:52:00.000+03:00

Allah Hiya Hum! and salams unto thee..

For those that have sincerely written du'a requests so far, I promise to make good on all of them with as much concentration as I can muster & thanks for getting in touch! God Bless ya!

Sister Yvonne Ridley goes off on über-enthusiasm at a London nasheed recently.....

mosaic of mosaics spins your head, very impressive actually....

and the March of Islam is unnassailed due to our reproductive habits according to Professor Niall Ferguson

and the amazing Canberra based Murali Thalluri who wrote a film in 36 hours, got funding by reading about Tax Law & got accepted into Cannes!!...inspiring..almost defies belief

20 minutes before I run...any Indian cricket fans? Indiaa goooone by one run! struth!

over & out

& Peace & Blessings of the Beloved to you all!

2006-05-20T14:05:00.000+03:00

Irhboo!

and wishes of peace to you...

another weekend fallen over, another week closer to release...it's mostly downhill from here, thank God Himself (Exalted Be He!) The Compressor of Time for Whom He Wills...
~~~~~~~~~~~
Flickr's been banned again for the 3rd of 4th time so far since my soujourn among the Asiri bedoui in concrete boxes....it comes on & off like a immensely slow lighthouse, the reasons are never explained but deducable:

-changing staff in the Mutawwa department, isolated pictures of naked women being published, enough to ban the whole domain name, despite all the rightous people there who have nothing to do with that....to the impoverishment of all here online in the softening, Wahhabi Blingdom

I lodged a particularly vehement protest here

and if you want to help, please do also and you never know it may just pop back on under pressure

So no more pictures via flickr from me again until..a certain, mysterious brain is replaced by one that is less blinkered..

...maybe I can through blogger though, at least, then again I can't see any thing as that's also banned! but at least outside of the Kingdom of Lunacy, they'll be visible

~~~~~~~~~~

great article BTW scan that book! seriously worth the longish read! on the ever, unfolding process of the digitization of all the worlds books & how it ramifies out throughout cultural time.....!

~~~~~

getting the occasional DVD through & one film that really struck home was The Chumscrubber terrible title but one of the more deliberately, damning indicements of the spiritual barrenness & self obsession in a cul-de-sac of contemporary white America families with a notable cast too people seem to love it or hate it and that's a good sign for an unusual and unique voice...I found it had me contemplating about faith considerably even though that wasn't it's intention & I thereby, thoroughly recommend it!...although if you're a conditioned to Hollywood blandness as your regular fare, you may not get it...

and if you still think cinema is Haram then definately don't see it, as you don't want to torture yourself thinking you're going to hell, do you?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Otherwise suprised to find that I'm now 70kg! so that's a 5kg loss over 4 months..all that pounding up & down the wadis is actually working! the legs are like rocks, I seem to be a regular sight now, friendly waves from anonymous bearded, drivers in Hiluxes, a suprise & occasional abuse by youths, as ever...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Umrah next weekend, I'm collating a list of people who'd like a mention in du'a..drop me a line!

go to run, literally!

Peace to you...

Wadi da'ah! Yemen, Jan 2006

2006-05-17T21:38:00.000+03:00

Wadi da'ah! Yemen, Jan 2006
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

composite of three photos in the wonderful wadi da'ah on the way to Hadramout, used Calico Panorama for OSX

in flicker select 'All sizes' to get the bigger version with more detail!...all the villages snaking down the valley...it took an hour driving over the creekbed to get here from a bitumen road!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

end of the week! yar!

God Bless!

PS booked my ticket July 21st! London here we come!

architecture as art

2006-05-16T12:26:00.000+03:00

architecture as a window
Originally uploaded by amett.

Step up & verge over the edge into another dimension...

~~~~~~~~~~~

blew $25 US on hold to Paypal Australia, I was so angry...you wouldn't believe the problems being here trying to pay for things on the web having a Saudi visa debit card...can't use Skype either or a host of other web services..I screamed internally after 2 hours of futile efforts this morning....better though now..Alhamdullilah

oh iqamama for zhuhr but this...‘Islam 100 times more likely to be associated with terrorism’

it doesn't seem to be improving one iota does it?

Travelling fast

2006-05-15T15:27:00.000+03:00

Travelling fast
Originally uploaded by Wyrd.

yar! love it, well done Wyrd

A scholarly & excellent reply Islam and Coexistence: What I Didn't Say and Missionary Myopia by Dr. Habib Siddiqui to a Jesuit attacking Islam from an American multifaith dialogue..worth bookmarking that one!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

also Meetings with Remarkable Muslims, excellent review, essential reading so it seems

been taking an email plunge recently, sweating & feeling giddy a little as a result...so 'crypticness' is of the essence, until the revealing!

(firing a pistol in the air! echoing down the wadi....Allah!)

Ya Salams!

Return to the Source...

2006-05-14T16:30:00.000+03:00

Nature's Kaleidoscope
Originally uploaded by hhsc_2000.

I've always liked to think of flowers as being like little spiritual antennas...sublime

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Otherwise there was a two-day Muslim Scholars Gathering for the Support of Palestine held at the Ritz Doha, recently, one of the leading scholars there Sh Qaradawi had a few interesting things to say, there were edicts drawn up and the usual unaminous declarations...

But what will make the Israelis stop & think? Superior conduct from the Muslims underfire is essential, IMHO, the Palistinian brothers and sisters would win more worldwide support for their noble & long suffering cause by extraordinary restraint and patience, not eye for eye, no more suicide bombs, as Ghandi, the humble, said "the whole world ends being blind", it's just not working, bide time, earn trust...

but then again I don't live there, nor have 3 members of my family been recently massacred... how do I know what I'd do? Arab traditional blood revenge is one tough nut to crack...what do I know, indeed

It's amazing how most Israelis & Jews worldwide seem oblivious to the fact that over the past few years approximately 4 Palistinians are murdered for every single Israeli victim of the conflict..and children fare even worse there the figure is a tragic 7 to One!!

yet who are the continually perceived terrorists?

this evil, juggernaut rolls on, in this ridiculous miscarriage of justice and flagrant flouting of international law and human rights

what can we do? the big ongoing question just won't go away

2006-05-13T18:34:00.000+03:00

Hiya All & wishes of peace & blessings to ya!

I've recently signed up to google alerts and accepted to be notified for several keywords including Islam & Sufism...I'm amazed about the level of vitriol coming out of America from columnists such as Arelene Peck...it's been a long while since I've read such a level of bigotry & ignorance on Islam...I urge you to write to her pointing out here misconceptions & predjudices with wisdom & beauty, as I will...Godwilling

~~~~~~~~~~~

OK holiday's been postponed by a month to end of July will be hitting London on the 21st in time for dear brother Khalid & Vanessa's wedding...if there are any England readers who'd like to meet up after this date: I'll buy you coffee!

Can't wait!...I'm flee I'm flee!

otherwise thumping streets at 7km a day, 6 days a week, it's easy now...

short one, maghrib azan's just been called!

Allah!

God Blessx

Taj Reflections

2006-05-09T18:47:00.000+03:00

Taj Reflections
Originally uploaded by Kenny Maths.

Glory be to God!! check the orientation....otherwise it could have been a cliché....

Monks' gossip

2006-05-09T18:01:00.000+03:00

Monks' gossip
Originally uploaded by nicointhebus.

chasing enlightment which is for me is the immediate experience of God Almighty

except the Buddha, in my opinion, knew you couldn't speak of it, he let people find out the unspeakable for themselves

I N T E N S E. Amritsar

2006-05-09T13:01:00.000+03:00

I N T E N S E. Amritsar
Originally uploaded by Claude Renault.

eyaaaAh! don't kill me! just making a prayer

Sikh I believe....royal blue magnificence, thanks to mssr Claude Renault

The Rose Red City

2006-05-08T21:23:00.000+03:00

The Rose Red City
Originally uploaded by Kenny Maths.

and this...!!

Nabatean coolness huh? what an amazing capture of colour

Slaams! 9:25 PM signing off for the day

Timur Mosque in Samarkand

2006-05-08T10:23:00.000+03:00

Timur Mosque in Samarkand
Originally uploaded by antelopelot.

yes! One of my favourite reads has been Tales of the Dervishes by Idries Shah, many a tale is recounted in and around this city...

Richard Dawkins be witness & guided! for in his miserable philosophy, this shouldn't & wouldn't be allowed to exist...thanks to Madeleine Bunting of the Guardian for her 'jihad' against this leader of kufr

Serene in Saffron

2006-05-07T20:00:00.000+03:00

Serene in Saffron
Originally uploaded by Kenny Maths.

Salams!

wanted to be a sadhu before Islam, here's a real one

I was impressed with the Upanishads years ago not many Muslims know them, 400-800 year old poems of tauhid, exahalting man's personal connection to the One God...strange that Monotheism lies at the core of the wider polytheistic flavour...

Posting between classes so it's got to be short, heading for Umrah on the 27th with dear brother Dr Ali bin Tawab who will be my emir...I have a tale or two to tell about him Godwilling...a remarkable brother

more soon!

Big Salams

Bubbles In Blue

2006-05-03T19:22:00.000+03:00

Bubbles In Blue
Originally uploaded by youngsterjack.

Allah Hiya!

worlds within worlds....I then I fell into the bubble only to find millions of bubbles!

and guess what? it was taken by a 10 year old

good news! the wahhabis here are continuing to transform those rocks for brains into something a little more in tune with universals..

feeling queasy today and ran 10 k's! I'm really feeling it now..my head is almost slumped over the keyboard were it not for cups of tea!

ooommmmmmmmm

Ya salams!

Zaf & I, Tarim, Hadramout, Yemen, Jan 2006

2006-04-30T20:58:00.000+03:00

Zaf & I, Tarim, Hadramout, Yemen, Jan 2006
Originally uploaded by enthogenesis.

Ya Salams!

Here I am, with the incredibly attentive English bro Zafran at the Tarim bus station, waiting for what was to be a nightmare trip back to San'aa (hoo boy that's another story)

it was the real end of the trip as the next 30 hours were pure eating bituem all the way north to the KSA border...

Another kind, English bro took this for us whose name temporarily escapes me

c'est tout!

God Bless & Salams!

2006-04-27T19:34:00.000+03:00

Salams!

Behold the Whitney Music Box!

stay with it....my favorite is var 7.!..it does strange things after a while

To me, harmonics are one of the keys to the other side.......God Be Praised for their beauty...may doors open just a tiny bit inshallah wa ta'ala

How utterly, inventive programming!

yeah I know, distractions..but hey, just for a little while...

God Bless!

Homeless girl

2006-04-27T13:30:00.000+03:00

spring vacation
Originally uploaded by stoneth.

Salams!

great portrait of a struggling SF streetkid...click the photo for details by stoneth

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday work morning 1/2 day where we come in & wait to clock out, no students, no reason to be here except for Saudi contract law which has a 48 hour week...uneccessary & impedes you from being able to leave for weekends...

my forthcoming vacation escape for 30+ days seems luminous in June sometime...have to take it before my contract's up otherwise I lose it...peels another month off, mercifully, of the 6 months remaining...

mmm.....where shall I go?

the Selimiye Mosque, Edime

2006-04-26T11:49:00.000+03:00

more details
Originally uploaded by eye of einstein.

Ya Allah luscious!

thanks to eye of eintstein..

Wednesday morning...sitting with my Bangla cleaner friend Abdul-Alim he says:

yes Bangla no problem

his salary is 300 SR (about 50 quid) a month...always smiling...God Bless him he's adorable

The home planet

2006-04-25T18:26:00.000+03:00

The home planet
Originally uploaded by SkipSteuart.

Salams!

cool photo huh? ...a multi-layered metaphor

I'm teaching right now! ( I have the net in my room!)

I asked each of them to say something, here they are..

student 1 Yassir: I am student

student 2 Saeed AlShahrani:I am listen teacher

student 3 Abdullah Shimrani: I am policeman

student 4 Ahmed alShahrani : I'm doctor

student 5 'Ala al Harby: I am a manager

fi'imanaallah!

hehe

Morocco - Casablanca

2006-04-24T17:53:00.000+03:00

Morocco - Casablanca
Originally uploaded by stausi.

Ya marhaba! & peace to you

aah al maghreb....Je'attend la retour!

Eritrea - Lafforgue

2006-04-23T21:18:00.000+03:00

Eritrea - Lafforgue
Originally uploaded by Eric Lafforgue.

Ya salams..

the day's blown past and I barely remember, my concentration faltering..soaked in the netsurf and lessons obligatory

behold! a striking portrait of an Eritrean lady..(Christian?)

..thankyou Eric Lafforgue!

Darwish from Kababish tribe

2006-04-22T21:20:00.000+03:00

Darwish from Kababish tribe
Originally uploaded by Vit Hassan.

thanks Vit, he's a photographer in Sudan, where this was shot...you gotta love flickr....subhannallah he has light this bro...Allah Guide him true

compelling

2006-04-22T14:10:00.000+03:00

compelling
Originally uploaded by Fack to Bront.

since flickr's been unbanned again for whatever reason....just had to send this portrait...thanks burden!

2006-04-21T16:42:00.000+03:00

Allah Hiya Hum...irhbooo! wa salams!

from a very rainy Khamis Mushayt this friday afternoon...cricket's off again & I'm ensconced in the net cafe in my building...

firstly a link to the transcript of Habib Ali Jifri's speech at The Radical Middle Way event that was held in London, last December

Glory be to God for the guidance & reminders that Sh Jifri, (May God Increase the effect his comunications!) brings to Muslims far & wide despite the fact that he seems to speak only the noble Arabic tongue...

many things struck me deeply, one in particular...

"In conclusion, we would like all those present to pick up their pens and write. We need our youth to take to the road of knowledge, to understand our religion as it should be understood, connected to a sound chain of transmission in knowledge and upbringing, in self purification, transmission, and understanding. We must understand our deen."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How I would!...and I know I do not, my knowledge remains superficial and intuitive as I follow a path, long sought, difficult and heavily invested in, of earning a simple living in visual communications..and so I would add that we also need to pick up out pens of light that can be captured & manipulated through time....

...... let that voice be heard! for the lack of presence of those who have submitted their souls to the Beloved amongst the western media juggernaut..cinema, radio, television is lamentable

but I believe with all my heart there is a way to do this.... !

...in addition to all the other efforts being nobly done by many, May God Make it easy for Us All!

....what a blessing it is to be guided towards Islam in general and what an even greater blessing it is to be guided young, before one's twenties..like the inimitable Sh Hamza...

to the western youth, to me is the obvious priority

and as a dear, non-Muslim friend reminded me recently

> It would be also nice if you found a way to put the teachings of the holy
> Koran into some spoken word, in a way that young people could access
> For instance what you write to me, opens my eyes;

and even

> When you write about your very personal battles with horned devils on
> mushrooms and compare that to your path now, with faith in Allah, it is
> powerful and speaks to our generation.

despite the obvious disapproval of many of the non-understanding among the well meaning ummah who feel it's not my place to discuss such things ..I am constantly challenged by such statements by non-Muslims that I truly wonder....

whether to publish that which I have previously decided not too...to God(Exalted be He!) I go to prostrate myself in istikhara

and from those who care, your du'a are as always a great blessing & help in a genuinely confusing area

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The chances to devote oneself to full time study decrease over time with the heavy yet sacred responsibilities in the west to earn a halal living and it then becomes, yes this middle way of compromise..... I am always astonished at the level of knowledge gained by young, driven brothers & sisters in a short amount of time...

the whole planet is indeed thirsty and ready for the comfort of the heart and message that is the Recognition of God and His Messenger...and then the practise of the message itself

as he finished is speech..

"To finish, do not be afraid in this country. You are a part of it. Feel that you have a responsibility towards improving it and remedying its ailments. Be open about your attendance at masjid and take an active part in the Muslim community. If you see good, follow it through, and if you see wrong, be the first to reject it. If someone wants to do harm to the country in the name of Islam, we are the first to reject him.

and in particular and of the most crucial importance indeed, for most of us...

If you find a shortcoming in yourself, then stand in the middle of the night, offering two rakaahs, weeping before Allah. Then you shall see the outpouring of His Divine Aid, empowering you to overcome yourself. By this, you will truly see wonders."

amin!

2006-04-14T17:27:00.000+03:00

Peace be with you all!

almost forgot I had a blog...gone was the desire to communicate and the moments where I would have have been consumed otherwise...my friday afty of cricket has been cancelled so here I am, my computer, Internet & I...once again

I have actually been writing a long article that I have decided not too post also, or until it feels right...

So what's happened? The days have melded into each other such that I think Almighty God has Answered my prayer that time pass more quickly...and as such I have been generally been more cheerful all the while... excercise 'n all!, Praise Be to He Who Maketh it so...

....I'm still running 6 days a week, for two months now, longer & longer distances, which are becoming faster & faster...I'm threatening to become seriously fit... yay!...takes me back to being 15 again running around Renmark only made it to half-marathons before seriously breaking my ankle on a wild beach on Boston Island, SA

Otherwise a word out to Irving Karchmar author of Master of the Jinn

although I wondered how I could get a copy in the KSA...he kindly reminded me that it was for sale as an ebook (you can purchase there)

nice to be able to so effortlessly sidestep the Mut'awwa & have it as an exact PDF, which, as such, was the first I have ever purchased and which made reading before bed a little unusual..had trouble remembering to read it since I couldn't see a book..hehe

..However, do you know what?, it was a genuinely exciting read with unforseen twists, a deep, mystical ambience throughout & most importantly I found it genuinely faith enhancing!

the formal 3rd person, was heavily old school, and takes a little while getting used to it initially but I could see that it was suitable for the gravitas of the narrative that he, IMHO, successfully imparts...

I won't go into any more details, but I love ventures into other dimensions, if you didn't know already! So if you feel any syncopation with my concioussness then you'll love it....I was very pleasantly suprised

I'd particularly love to see it on the big screen also bithnillah and he has started writing the screenplay....hope I can work with him to make it happen, Godwilling..

6:20 PM Maghrib azan has burst into life..

& God Bless to who all who chance upon this

2006-03-24T23:08:00.000+03:00

Ya Salams,

A return to my spiritual roots for a while where a lot of my Islam came from...inspired by my response to a certain commenter who may remain nameless for the time being..and an on-going attempt to reconcile the dark area of Shamanism + Islam...I have yet to hear of anyone yet doing so...

...and words from a now long deceased pshyconoaut who had a big effect upon me...and led me to undergoe a similar initial experience, except that I only ever met 'One' Entity......afterwards in a fit of unbalanced, blind enthusiastic amazement I actually phoned him up cold & spoke to him in Hawaii..wanted to naively let him know " this other dimensions stuff... you're right man! hey it's all real!" (astughfirullah how embarrasing)

I rememeber he said in his slow strange drawl " I know... I know... I've been trying to tell people this for over 20 years", I was probably the catalyst for his number being unlisted soon there after...(hehe) that was back in '97

steps on the way, steps on the way.....

Here are his words from a famous live recording...sit back & put away your preconceptions just for a moment...

" Like a chrysanthenum in Orange & Yellow that was sort of spinning ....spinning, and then it was like I was pushed from behind and I fell
through the chrysanthemum into another place that didn't seem like a state of
mind, it seemed like another place. And what was going on in this place aside
from the tastefully socketed indirect lighting, and the crawling geometric
hallucinations along the domed walls, what was happening was that there
were a lot of ahh.. beings in there, what I call self-transforming machine
elves. Sort of like jewelled basketballs all dribbling their way toward me.

And if they'd had faces they would have been grinning, but they didn't have
faces.

And they assured me that they loved me and they told me not to be
amazed; not to give way to astonishment.

And so I watched them, even though I wondered if maybe I hadn't really done it this time, and what they were doing was they were making objects come into existence by singing them into existence. Objects which looked like Faberge eggs from Mars morphing them- selves with mandiean(sp) alphabetical structures.

They looked like the concrescence of liguistic intentionality put through a kind of
hyper-dimensional transform into three-dimensional space. And these
little machines offered themselves to me. And I realized when I looked at them
that if I could bring just one of these little trinkets back, nothing would
ever be quite the same again. And I wondered, Where Am I? And What Is Going
On?

It occurred to me that these must be holographic viral projections from
an autonomous continuum that was somehow intersecting my own, and then I
thought a more elegant explaination would be to take it at face value
and realize that I had broken into an ecology of souls. And that somehow I
was getting a peek over the other side. Somehow I was finding out that
thing that you cheerfully assume you can't find out. But it felt like I was
finding out. And it felt.. ...

...and then I can't remember what it felt like
because the little self-transforming tykes interrupted me and said,
'Don't think about it. Don't think about who you are. Think about doing what
we're doing. Do it. Do it now. DO IT!!'

And what they meant was use your voice to make an object. And as I
understood, I felt a bubble kind of grow inside of me. And I watched
these little elf tykes jumping in and out of my chest; they like to do that
to reassure you. And they said, 'Do it.' And I felt language rise up in me
that was unhooked from english, and I began to speak.. like this,

or words to that effect. And I wondered then what it all meant and why
it felt so good if it didn't mean anything. And I thought about it, a few
years actually, and I decided that meaning and language are two different
things. And that what the alien voice in the psychedelic experience wants to
reveal is the syntactical nature of reality. That the real secret of magic is
that the world is made of words, and that if you know the words that the
world is made of you can make of it whatever you wish...."

Terence McKenna
1946-2000

2006-03-19T21:05:00.000+03:00

a quicky...from todays' "The Australian"

my dear country, perhaps the least pious on the planet, is still one particularly tough place in the west to live as a Muslim

I sincerely hope the mosques start inviting everyone nearby local ministers, community leaders, APEX groups, neighbours, businesses to big feed 'em ups soon, it's so simple and what they do best..that's the best dawa I can think of...no talk of religion just food & lots of it, lots of kids running about everybody starts smiling...strewth there's so much fear in Aus it's almost panic at the sight of a bearded brother in funny clothes, we're so far behind England...

Most 'ignorant of Islam'
By Amy Fallon
March 20, 2006
ONE third of Australians are completely ignorant of the Islamic faith, with women and people without tertiary training the most likely to lack knowledge, a new study shows.

The survey, conducted by Roy Morgan research, involved 1300 Australians.

UNSW geographer Dr Kevin Dunn was commissioned to analyse the results, which have been published in the Journal of Islamic Studies.

The survey revealed only one in six Australians had a decent understanding of Islam, while one third claimed to be completely ignorant of it.

More than 55 per cent of respondents - mainly women, people with no tertiary training and those aged over 50 - reported having no contact with Muslims

People who had no contact with Islam were twice as likely to be ignorant about the faith compared with those who were linked to it in some way, the study also showed.

It also found that whether people felt threatened by Islam depended on their knowledge of the religion.

A staggering 56 per cent of those surveyed, who admitted having no knowledge of the faith, reported feeling threatened by it, while 61 per cent of those with a little bit of knowledge still felt it posed a risk.

Even 46 per cent of those polled who claimed they had a reasonable understanding of the Islam faith still felt threatened.

The most common negative stereotype associated with the religion was that it was fundamentalist, with 27 per cent saying this was their belief.

2006-03-15T11:47:00.000+03:00

Ya Salams!

posts are thin due to a more productive change in daily schedule... I've chosen to go running for at least 2o minutes every day, recover & log/edit video at home (whew, my times are better up to 2 minutes already for the same circuit) after 1PM locking me out of the building for the 3-4 hours I usually stay in the mid afternoon break, where I generally waste too much time on the web, which includes questionably productive blog time...

Also fridays, I'm off playing cricket in the afty, with the Indian & Pakistani bros to have a little more social contact...terrible first showing! my days as a demon bowler have long gone..unless I get to practicing again hehe

...haven't got any more photos to show from Tarim or Yemen as I was more with people at the end & I just got caught up in 'ibada & just didn't rememeber to take any photos! I've got more video actually..photography's something I only remember to do when I'm by myself, otherwise I'm too easily distracted..

but here's one from a recent trip to a misty Mt Suda (the highest in Arabia & 25km from Abha, lots of rain) with Dr Osama & family, we got pounced on by the baboons there after the picnic food we had to eat inside the car...I noticed the big alpha male held back & let the females do the soliciting up close, I guess he'd learnt that he scares the hell out of people if he approaches, as humans run away yelping...and wild big baboons are scary! I was told in Africa they detest dogs & pounce on them from trees & can rip their limbs off quite easily!

Perhaps you'd be suprised to know there are also wild arabian hyenas strolling the wadis at night, there's a stuffed one at a local museum at Rij Alma...who'd of thought?

very tired today, sinews aching

zhuhr's on

God Bless!

2006-03-05T14:22:00.000+03:00

Ya salams!

timely retort to the fog surrounding the earnestly striving in the Tuffah Kabirah
~~
Simultaneously imagining the cricket ball in South Africa being slung to Lee, last ball, yorker!, single run whew...getting worked up here with the web coverage.. alas no telecast

can't shake the love of cricket no matter what I do...
~~~~~~

OK time for a last photo from Tarim the rest are of people I met & whose permission I haven't received as yet...

so a dishevelled & slighly blissed out yours truly and brother Zafran & waiting for the bus outta there & 2 days solid travelling back over 1600km to the Saudi Border at Alba..

also over 1/2 way through digitizing the 6 hours of video I shot, should be able to post short clips soon Godwilling

~~

just got off the phone with brother Ilyeas, previously pictured in these environs 6 months or so after Rihla...wow he just got married! Thank God Almighty! I'm so happy when I hear such news

{ yikes!

Going to do something I rarely do : have a rant, here goes

The excessive prudery of the unofficial censorship board of certain Muslim readers have somewhat & truly annoyingly, reminded me that what was here previously can be perceived as being undesirable for a Muslim, according to such & such Sheikh & ie in their opinion,

as I forgot Ilyeas is a born Muslim it is true & prudent to conceal any previous doings for HIS sake but as usual just being TOLD is not enough for me, as no evidence from the sunnah or Qur'an was presented!!...but in lieu of having a Mufti on hand..I acquiesce in caution before God for HIS account, but not for mine....

...As a convert I vehemently disagree with the comments sent my way...!!

Let's go into the world of a convert Muslim, for a moment and I mean from day one (Until this very day) being a new Muslim it's like every well meaning but culturally clueless, born Muslim shoving their interpretation of Islam down your throat...

a la 'you should..., you must..., you've gotto..., it's better to...., it's wajib to ..., it's haram to..., don't .., it's not sunnah to....., (SHOUTING.... in PANIC)..., loud TSKing..., etc ad infintum

I wonder how many new, struggling Muslims leave Islam as a result? (worthy of a study!) Yes indeed a never ending line of mainly immigrant Muslims &/or their children, constantly condescending unwittingly, to you in the mosque, their homes, your home, online whatever talking to you as if you're a child, gloriously serving God Almighty & the cause of Islam, as they perceive it, as a result

I know of a poor brother back in Adelaide smart guy, physics PhD, new Muslim who refused to come to the mosque as a result, I remember he quoted ' the cultural baggage' as a reason ....you just get jumped on & suffocate in a short amount of time...

this rant being a good example

It's precisely this kind of thing that drives me crazy : sterile, santising, unthinking, blind obedience censorship...Let me give you some perspective, I'm living in a low security prison called Saudi Arabia, I have to restrain myself from screaming on quite a regular basis in my concrete cubicle lifestyle..it's a REAL test of patience

Don't you think after having it day & night for two and a 1/2 years here & 4 years previously I'd be a little frustrated with it by now? That I could just express myself freely to my friends & family but alas....

there's never a short supply of finger waggers to come along self rightously, a tut tutting

hey maybe you're right! but do it with wisdom & beauty otherwise, don't bother

Let me spell it out:

for myself, born not in a Muslim family, any actions in my previous life were NOT HARAM per say in the Islamic sense, as I had made no agreemment with or even recognised What IS & was not bound by any such conduct that practising Muslim adheres to, & it's a journey that has yet to end, with deep meaning in all PARTS of it

-yes I slept with loads of women, would have been a lot more if I wasn't so choosy & you know what I can't remember most of it( a mercy I guess) & over 6 years since I left it at the station

-yes I took lots of interesting and dangerous, mind altering psychedelic drugs, shamanistically, seeking Truth, that brought me wide eyed to the spirit world/higher dimensions of existance/ whatever: the direct encounters therein led me to submitting my soul before the Lord of All the Worlds

(if that bothers you, then consider it a filter)

However through sincere exploration for truth about this question, through it all, the Beloved Let me find it for myself through DIRECT experience and without which Islam wouldn't reside in my heart today, without doing certain of those things which are considered Haram...ie it had meaning/purpose & direction: and is a Lesson above all

and I found all this out by TASTING

& it didn't matter who told me otherwise...unless they too have TASTED

Now as a SIGN for what has been radically transformed, I mention my previous personal doings as they were/are an integral part of the transformation & if that shocks you, well your opinion or that of your community where you live, is of little concern...

it's not your blog or your affair, so don't read it if it bothers you!

I'm not interested in your myopia, I'm interested in your open mindedness & acceptance

it's the kind of thing that gets you thinking about stopping blogging altogether

one reader wrote and said,

" ..Even if you are a saint now, dredging up the "fast, wild times" you used to have, may put off some people."

well as God Almighty Says:

"La takshour al nass wa ashkouny" "Don't fear the people but fear Me (only)"

Are you serious? So if you're someone who worries about what people think about you, you actually preach that as advice?

What makes you think the opinion of ANYONE who is put off by such a thing, is of the slightest importance?

There also was another fear based comment of attatchment to these past things no I can tell you most definately not, that may be your own problem that's being projected

I'm exactly interested in the person that can laugh it off with me & Praise God, for the teaching imparted instead of sadly projecting their own fear, shaking their finger or ignoring it

Interesting to see people's own states(including my own! yes I gotta longway to go & the first to admit it) being revealed in their efforts

If were to worry about this ridicuous 3rd party perception from others, very far removed from my world or where I've come from it would be in contradiction to my faith & personal identity and many things I hold dear to how I was brought to Islam in the first place!

It certainly wasn't though listening to well meaning brothers & sisters who clumisily feel they know me well enough to start giving fatwas

but by taking risks for truth,

and all of this is really a question of Intention & Perception! neither of which are perceived by any except God Almighty Himself...so why are bother yourself if my intention is unknown to you?

So it is rightfully God's Opinion, the one whom I concern myself with & I have no qualms referring appropriately to my previous life with my intention, unseen by any 3rd party, however rightous you may unconsciously perceive yourself to be

He Saw it All, Set it All into motion & still Guided me out of it,

To be frank, as a result of all of this, I find I generally identfy with converts or Muslims who've gone astray & then returned to this religion generally a lot better ( it's a fascinating process to me).....they're real people I can actually identify with & considerably more open minds as a result

.....more so than born Muslims who've been practicing solidly all their lives, learnt from authority figures (family, Imam, Sheik, scholar) or books and whom most have a very annoying tunnel vision/indoctrination thing happening & then go & practise what they think is dawa with you, without any direct experience of their own

..personally I find most conversations with such types, sterile, & devoid of much imagination or insipration & mostly (& sadly) a waste of time, unless they can speak to your heart which is so rare, and indeed the rariefied state of a true sheikh

but hey, it's just generally maddening my limited patience in my particular circumstances!

for I didn't knowingly write anything offensive! except to the culturalized perceptioner who believed it is, in their own shared bubbleverse...

and forgive me for going off here, it's not intended to be personal but no doubt is,

no really!

so there you go a Matt Thistle rant...hope it's the first & last

inshallah

}

yep, one of the awful realities of western one night stands, you can't wait to get rid of each other, weird huh? the fitra, it knows it's done wrong

so God Bless 'em both! he was the only guy as old as me still not married.. another one down.

heading to Egypt for their honymoon, great choice

OK outta here

salams!

2006-02-28T12:11:00.000+03:00

Sh Habib Omar bin Mohammed Bin Hafeedh

at the end of the interview granted by the Grace of God, Almighty and the answering of my intention in going to Tarim...

I'm going to devote a larger post to this meeting, must gather my thoughts...

Fortunate I was too, as he had just returned from Hajj...and made considerable time for me & dear brother Mohammed who translated inspiredly.... and despite all the demands upon the Sh, there must have been 7-8 people at all times waiting at all times...I was blessed, by God(Exalted Be He!)!!...

the feeling of hayba (the fear of God hope I've translated it well) is profound & was immediately put at ease by his incredibly powerful smile (not normal, his whole face intensely contorts in a very strange & wonderful way) his soul direct, intoxicated with the Beloved, yet remaining, turned in focus to the wordly.... I've experienced it's like before but not in this dimension, I had to readjust my centre & I almost lost my balance sitting down!...took a silent gulp...as brother Mohammed fautlessly rendered my quite complex phrases in to faultless Arabic...

I have to stop here to write an email...

more soon

2006-02-27T14:23:00.000+03:00

Inside of Imam Haddad's Mosque one of the most beautiful I have ever seen as a Muslim in my travels...that morning I was hanging with the incredibly considerate brother zafran, one of the English bros studying at Dar al Mustapha, going to scholars's house after scholars's house after scholars's house with many people in tow, listening to the families of the scholars (all 'Ulema also! & nearly all are ahl bait) reciting Qasidas praising God & His Prophet, a tradition in Tarim upon the arrival back of the pilgrims from Hajj...too bad I couldn't understand anything...(big sigh)... one day bithnillah...