A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi ( q.s. ) wrote:   “A true Lover does not follow any one religion, Be sure of that. Since in the religion of Love, There is no irreverence or faith. When in Love, Body, mind, heart and soul do not even exist. Become this, Fall in Love, And you will not be separated again.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Shaykh ‘Utsman Nuri Tufbas wrote, in “Islam, Spirit & Form”, when Allah ( s.w.t. ) Commands a thing, that thing is bound to happen.   Therefore, we should not fall into the error of thinking about the Omnipotence of Allah ( s.w.t. ) with our weak mind as we have limited power.   Allah’s ( s.w.t. ) Endless Power is exempt from any of the limitation and impotence humans are subject to.   Therefore, there is no being who is not impotent before His Endless Power.   Our power is only as much as He Ordains.   History has witnessed the defeat of many who rose against this Power.   Among them were Nimrod, Croesus, Abu Jahl ‘Amr ibn Hisham al-Makhzumi, and many others.   They left the world empty-handed.   Allah ( s.w.t. ) Took their lives bringing them into derision.   In particular, the death of Nimrod, who claimed to be a divine being, is a striking one, providing a message regarding the Divine P...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Dr. Alan A. Godlas wrote, “ A friend asked about ‘ suluk ’.   ‘ Sayr ’ and ‘ suluk ’ are two complementary terms that, together, can be seen to comprise the entirety of the Sufi path.   Although both of these terms in ordinary discourse mean ‘travelling’, in Sufi discourse. they mean two different, but complementary aspects of following the Sufi path.   Hence, commonly, though not always, they are found together as ‘ sayr   as-suluk ’.   In such a context, on the one hand, ‘ sayr ’ refers to ‘inner work’, an inner, mystical journeying through the subtle planes, levels, or degrees of one’s consciousness, away from compulsive egoism and toward ever increasing Closeness with God or God’s unity.   On the other hand, in such a context, ‘ suluk ’ refer to the relatively more ‘outer work’, consisting of striving to relate harmoniously and wisely with people.   Since relating harmonious and wisely with people ...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is my answer to a Quora question: “ Was ‘Rumi’ a Muslim or was he of no religion at all? ”   “Rumi”, or more formally, Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi ( q.s. ), was a Muslim scholar of the Hanafi school of jurisprudence.   He came from a family of Muslim scholars, and his mother, his wife and his mother-in-law were renowned scholars as well.   His most famous teacher in the esoteric sciences of Islam was Shaykh Shams ad-Din Muhammad at-Tabriz ( q.s. ), who followed the Shafi’i school of jurisprudence.   He was as orthodox a Muslim scholar as one could find, and this is very much evident in all his works.

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 تَدۡعُو...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi ( q.s. ) wrote:   “Go not there, for I am your Friend. In this mirage of annihilation, I am the Fountain of life. Even though in anger you depart, A hundred thousand years from Me, In the end you will come to Me, For I am your goal. Did I not Say to you, ‘Be not content with worldly forms, For I am the Fashioner of the tabernacle of your contentment’? Did I not Say to you, ‘I am the Sea and you are a single fish; Go not to dry land, for I am your crystal Sea’? Did I not Say to you, ‘Go not like birds to the snare. Come, for I am the Power of flight and your wings and feet’? Did I not Say to you, ‘They will waylay you and make you cold, For I am the Fire, and Warmth and Heat of your desire’? Did I not Say to you, ‘They will implant in you ugly qualities, So that you will forget that I am the Source of purity to you’? Did I not Say to you, ‘Do not say from what d...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi ( q.s. ) wrote:   “Out beyond ideas of infidelity and faith, There is a field.   I will meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, The world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase ‘each other’ Do not make any sense. The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Do not go back to sleep. You must ask for what you really want. Do not go back to sleep. People are going back and forth across the doorsill Where the two worlds touch. The door is round and open. Do not go back to sleep.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi ( q.s. ) said:   “My heart is burning with love; All can see this flame. My heart is pulsing with passion, Like waves on an ocean. My friends have become strangers, And I am surrounded by enemies, But I am free as the wind, No longer hurt by those who reproach me. I am at home wherever I am, And in the room of lovers, I can see with closed eyes, The beauty that dances. Behind the veils, Intoxicated with love, I, too, dance the rhythm of this moving world. I have lost my senses in my world of lovers.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi ( q.s. ) wrote:   “I died as a mineral and became a plant; I died as plant and rose to animal; I died as animal and became Man. Why should I fear?   When was I less by dying? Yet once more I shall die as Man, to soar, With angels Blessed; but even from angelhood, I must pass on: ‘All except God doth perish.’ When I have sacrificed my angel soul, I shall become what no mind has ever conceived. O, let me not exist for non-existence, Proclaims in organ tones, ‘To Him we shall return.’”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi ( q.s. ) wrote:   “There is some kiss we want, With our whole lives, The touch of spirit on the body. Seawater begs the pearl, To break its shell. And the lily, how passionately It needs some wild darling! At night, I open the window, And ask the Moon To come and press, Its face against mine. Breathe into me. Close the language door, And open the lovers window. The Moon will not use the door, Only the window.”