A Polished Mirror

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

Where will we find the Divine but where it always was.  And what can we give Him when even our amal is not ours.  Even our ‘ibadah is His Gift.  We call Him the Master but it is He Who Awaits us at the sajadah when it is time for our Rendezvous. 

We should remember this the next time we come to Him, whether in du’a, or swalah, that our Presence is by Invitation, that the Invitation is by Acceptance.  He has Accepted us.  He has Invited us.  He has Cloaked us with His Love and Honoured us with His Presence.  And every word from our lips is His.  If He has Engineered our calling of Him, how can our du’a be rejected?  So we ask of Him, with humility and gratefulness.  Some day, when the Veils are lifted, we will learn that what we ask was already Granted. 

سُوۡرَةُ بنیٓ اسرآئیل / الإسرَاء

قُلِ ٱدۡعُواْ ٱللَّهَ أَوِ ٱدۡعُواْ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنَ‌ۖ أَيًّ۬ا مَّا تَدۡعُواْ فَلَهُ ٱلۡأَسۡمَآءُ ٱلۡحُسۡنَىٰ‌ۚ وَلَا تَجۡهَرۡ بِصَلَاتِكَ وَلَا تُخَافِتۡ بِہَا وَٱبۡتَغِ بَيۡنَ ذَٲلِكَ سَبِيلاً۬ (١١٠) 

Say: “Call upon Allah, or call upon Rahman: by whatever name ye call upon Him (it is well): for to Him belong the Most Beautiful Names.  Neither speak your prayer aloud, nor speak it in a low tone, but seek a middle course between.” (al-Isra’:110) 

To paraphrase Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi (q.s.), a polished mirror leaves no images lest it become a portrait.  We are images in that mirror.  An image does not see, it does not speak, it does not hear, it is not alive.  It is nothing but a Reflection of Divine Attributes.  Once it believes itself inherent, it ceases to be a Reflection and has become an image.  The polished mirror of the heart is stained with self, so we must polish that mirror and bring Him the only Gift of worth, Himself.