In the Name of Allah - the Beneficent, the Merciful:
As far back as I can remember, as a young boy, I have always had a fondness and a fascination for NATURE. I have always enjoyed communing with God through His Creation. Watching Ants march along in columns, back and forth; watching spiders spin their webs, marveling over the different species of butterflies. I just LOVED NATURE!
Later in life, that Fondness would prove to be a "salvation" of sorts for me when I eventually joined the Navy, and found myself assigned to an aircraft carrier.
To me, life on an aircraft carrier seemed like living on a "floating prison." Not that I was surrounded by hardened criminals, but the confinement, the limitation of movement, the subjection to authority, the dungarees, the steel walls...floors...ceilings, the constant hum of engines, the separation from everything and everyone that was "home," ...for months at a time; it was about as close to "prison" as I ever wanted to get.
There were many occasions when I felt like I was becoming part of the "machine", just another gear in the motor...as if the Blood in my veins was being slowly drained, and replaced by gear grease. Everything began to look "gray": The walls, the floors, the doors...and sometimes, the face that stared back at me from the Mirror.
When things got to that point, I knew I had to find a way to "get my humanity back"...to reaffirm my Beingness, that I am a Living Being born to be Free to Search for, Realize, and Fulfill my Personal Destiny, before I turned "completely gray".
It was at moments like that when I would sneak away from my labor under the constant hums of machinery and the blinding artificial lighting, and go topside and just stand on the catwalk...breathe Air that was not "recycled", close my eyes and feel the Sunlight on my skin, and just listen to the sound of the Ocean cleaving under the weighty motion of this "floating prison".
Air, Sun, Water...and Me.
And when I would open my eyes, sometimes, I would see and endless blue Sky, and beneath it and endless, and even "bluer" Ocean that sometimes looked unreal...like deep blue glass...liquid blue glass...that seemed to "call" me sometimes to "come and play" with Her, get lost in Her depths and be as "Free" and "Limitless" as She appeared to be...not in a suicidal way, though! (smile)
It was literally hypnotic. And then, out of "nowhere", out of this Deep Clear Blue Liquid Glass would emerge these fish who seemed to be waiting for the opportunity to "entertain" me, and they would launch themselves out of the water...one after the other...and just glide...for incredible distances (but never far enough for me), before dipping back in to the Deep Blue. It was like watching a Ballet...Nature's Ballet..and I LOVED to watch it...over and over again, whenever I got the opportunity. And as I would watch these "water angels" dance, emerge, glide, and submerge, I could feel My Life - my Humanity - Coming back to me; my connection with God's Creation being restored, being reminded that there was so much more to my Life than the noise and the steel and the artificial lights that I was surrounded by.
And when the last of the "water angels" had taken their last bow into the deep, and I realized the Ballet was over, I would simply take a deep breath, Thank God, and go back to my labor...until the next Performance.
It was moments like those that reminded me that GOD is REAL, and that I am HIS; and that gave me the Hope and the Strength to "Hold on" for just a little while longer...and a little while longer...until I was "released" from my "prison" when the Ship returned to dry land.
Why am I sharing this? I don't know...it just came upon me to share it.
Perhaps, there is someone out there who can relate, and possibly be inspired to look for something Beautiful in the midst of their "prison"...and "hold on"...for just a little while longer...until their "ship" makes it to "dry land".
Praise be to Allah!
#RamadanMubarak
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
WHO is REALLY Guilty of "Shirk"??
In the Name of Allah - the Beneficent, the Merciful, the Best Knower:
In Islam, shirk is the sin of practicing idolatry or polytheism, i.e. the deification or worship of anyone or anything other than the singular God i.e. Allah. Literally, it means ascribing or the establishment of "partners" placed beside God.
Many in the Muslim World accuse the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam of "shirk" because We say that We Believe that Allah (God) appeared among us "in the Person of Master W. Fard Muhammad." THEY interpret this statement to mean that We regard Master Fard Muhammad as a "god besides Allah." Their interpretation is INCORRECT. We are NOT saying that Master Fard Muhammad is "a partner with God"...as that would imply a "separateness" from God. We are saying, as the Honorable Minister Louis FARRAKHAN Teaches, that The SPIRIT, the KNOWLEDGE, the WISDOM, and the POWER of the ORIGINATOR Came to Us IN A MAN! (Similar to, or rather in Fulfillment of, what is written of Mary, where the Holy Qur'an teaches that "We (Allah) sent to Her Our Spirit, and it appeared to Her in the form of a well-made MAN."). In other words, ALLAH came to MARY "in the Person" of a "Well made Man".
Also, in the Holy Qur'an, ALLAH says to the ANGELS, "I am going to create a mortal of sounding clay, of Black mud fashioned into shape. So when I have made him complete and Breathed into him of MY SPIRIT, fall down MAKING OBEISANCE to Him." Again, ALLAH presented HIMSELF to the ANGLES "in the form" of a "well made BLACK Man", and then COMMANDED the ANGELS to "make obeisance".
In this light, it CANNOT be said that Our Teaching that ALLAH Came to US "in the form of a Well Made Man" - Master Fard Muhammad - is "shirk"...unless one is willing to concede that the examples given above are ALSO instances of "shirk".
That being said, there is ANOTHER meaning of the word "shirk" that I think is worthy of mention here.
shirk:
to evade (work, duty, responsibility, etc.).
to avoid doing something that you are supposed to do
to evade the performance of an obligation
to avoid work, duties, or responsibilities, especially if they are difficult or unpleasant:
Prophet Muhammad (PbuH) is recorded as saying that "three generations after me will NO LONGER be OF ME." What did He MEAN? To be "OF" the Prophet means to be INSPIRED and GUIDED and MOTIVATED by the SPIRIT, the EXAMPLE and the GUIDANCE of the Prophet. To "no longer be of" the Prophet means that those who CLAIM Him would "draw nigh" unto Him with their LIPS, but their HEARTS (Desires) would be "far removed" from Him. It means that they will have DEVIATED from the Path of the Prophet (PbuH).
At the ROOT of their DEVIATION would be their UNWILLINGNESS to STRUGGLE in the Cause of Islam, becoming lovers of COMFORT rather than Lovers of ALLAH and the TRUTH; and would thus COMPROMISE their DUTY to ALLAH. This manifests, today, in a Visible "Unwillingness" in many in the Muslim World to STAND UP against THE WEST...out of FEAR of the West, and/or a desire to curry FAVOR with the West.
Indeed, they have "taken a small price for the Messages of Allah." They EVADE their RESPONSIBILITY to COME TOGETHER as an UNITED UMMA to FEND OFF the machinations of the ENEMIES of Islam, and instead, prefer an "every sect for itself" ideology that has Muslim States Competing AGAINST each other for favors from the West, and often results in Wars with MUSLIMS KILLING MUSLIMS.
THIS is NOT "ISLAM".
If the Honorable Minister Louis FARRAKHAN and the Nation of Islam are being Blessed by ALLAH to be SUCCESSFUL in doing the WORK of the Prophet (Pbuh), and His DETRACTORS who accuse him of "shirk" literally REFUSE to do the Work of the Prophet, then, I ask you...
WHO is REALLY guilty of..."shirk"?
Salaam.
In Islam, shirk is the sin of practicing idolatry or polytheism, i.e. the deification or worship of anyone or anything other than the singular God i.e. Allah. Literally, it means ascribing or the establishment of "partners" placed beside God.
Many in the Muslim World accuse the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam of "shirk" because We say that We Believe that Allah (God) appeared among us "in the Person of Master W. Fard Muhammad." THEY interpret this statement to mean that We regard Master Fard Muhammad as a "god besides Allah." Their interpretation is INCORRECT. We are NOT saying that Master Fard Muhammad is "a partner with God"...as that would imply a "separateness" from God. We are saying, as the Honorable Minister Louis FARRAKHAN Teaches, that The SPIRIT, the KNOWLEDGE, the WISDOM, and the POWER of the ORIGINATOR Came to Us IN A MAN! (Similar to, or rather in Fulfillment of, what is written of Mary, where the Holy Qur'an teaches that "We (Allah) sent to Her Our Spirit, and it appeared to Her in the form of a well-made MAN."). In other words, ALLAH came to MARY "in the Person" of a "Well made Man".
Also, in the Holy Qur'an, ALLAH says to the ANGELS, "I am going to create a mortal of sounding clay, of Black mud fashioned into shape. So when I have made him complete and Breathed into him of MY SPIRIT, fall down MAKING OBEISANCE to Him." Again, ALLAH presented HIMSELF to the ANGLES "in the form" of a "well made BLACK Man", and then COMMANDED the ANGELS to "make obeisance".
In this light, it CANNOT be said that Our Teaching that ALLAH Came to US "in the form of a Well Made Man" - Master Fard Muhammad - is "shirk"...unless one is willing to concede that the examples given above are ALSO instances of "shirk".
That being said, there is ANOTHER meaning of the word "shirk" that I think is worthy of mention here.
shirk:
to evade (work, duty, responsibility, etc.).
to avoid doing something that you are supposed to do
to evade the performance of an obligation
to avoid work, duties, or responsibilities, especially if they are difficult or unpleasant:
Prophet Muhammad (PbuH) is recorded as saying that "three generations after me will NO LONGER be OF ME." What did He MEAN? To be "OF" the Prophet means to be INSPIRED and GUIDED and MOTIVATED by the SPIRIT, the EXAMPLE and the GUIDANCE of the Prophet. To "no longer be of" the Prophet means that those who CLAIM Him would "draw nigh" unto Him with their LIPS, but their HEARTS (Desires) would be "far removed" from Him. It means that they will have DEVIATED from the Path of the Prophet (PbuH).
At the ROOT of their DEVIATION would be their UNWILLINGNESS to STRUGGLE in the Cause of Islam, becoming lovers of COMFORT rather than Lovers of ALLAH and the TRUTH; and would thus COMPROMISE their DUTY to ALLAH. This manifests, today, in a Visible "Unwillingness" in many in the Muslim World to STAND UP against THE WEST...out of FEAR of the West, and/or a desire to curry FAVOR with the West.
Indeed, they have "taken a small price for the Messages of Allah." They EVADE their RESPONSIBILITY to COME TOGETHER as an UNITED UMMA to FEND OFF the machinations of the ENEMIES of Islam, and instead, prefer an "every sect for itself" ideology that has Muslim States Competing AGAINST each other for favors from the West, and often results in Wars with MUSLIMS KILLING MUSLIMS.
THIS is NOT "ISLAM".
If the Honorable Minister Louis FARRAKHAN and the Nation of Islam are being Blessed by ALLAH to be SUCCESSFUL in doing the WORK of the Prophet (Pbuh), and His DETRACTORS who accuse him of "shirk" literally REFUSE to do the Work of the Prophet, then, I ask you...
WHO is REALLY guilty of..."shirk"?
Salaam.
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