Fire

There’s a fire inside
which has been slowly growing of late.

A charge within
which evokes thoughts of progress;
Feelings of yearning for goals of old;
Drive to start building again –
that which has remained relatively unmoved –
in my own perception.

Former crowning moments
Remind me of the capability laying dormant –
the fire which moulded thoughts, experiences, dreams,
and Faith
into awesomely-inspired outbursts of beauty:
releases of everything I needed to say,
In words so perfectly crafted
that they touched the hearts of others,
while quenching something within my own.

The fire that projected my inner self
to realms accessible by others –
both in thought and feeling.

A fire that helped me discover one of my greatest comforts,
Thereby keeping warm a soul afflicted with so prolonged a personal winter.

And now, as I stand on the threshold of life’s new stage,
I so dearly wish
that this fire remains strong,
and grows exponentially,
building to a mammoth blaze
which pushes me to the furthest reaches of my potential,
in Faith,
in fatherhood,
in writing,
in all that I am to be.

To all who connect with these words:
May your most dear of fires stay burning and bright within you;
And may you always stay true to the essence of your inner being.

~~~~

Usually, the post would end here – the poem being the sole contents of it. But along with this, I’d like to say a few things – some of which relates to the feelings that inspired the poem.

2009’s been a quiet year in terms of my blogging and writing. If you’ve been a reader for the last few years, you’ll notice that the inspirations are more fleeting these days – as opposed to the consistency of previous years. Obviously, the primary reason is that my life is so different for the last year and a half. Solitude seems to have been the fuel to much of my past inspirations; and now, those moments are few and far between.

Being married, I went from having the privacy of being alone most of the time – with all the time and space I needed to pursue my writing (or actually, it pursued me as and when it needed to come out) – to being in company most of the time, and no longer having the volume of opportunities I used to have for that solitude.

But I’ve got no regrets at all – because if you knew me back then, you’d know that marriage was my biggest dream in that period of my life – and the dream not only came true, but it remains ongoing every single day, alhamdulilah.

But the poem above is partly about writing, and I have to admit I am sad that my writing hasn’t followed me into marriage to the degree I hoped it would. I did write a lot last year (some of it published, some not), but I hoped the inspiration would come a lot more often than it did. Unfortunately, the busy-ness of life – married life, particularly – seems to have drowned out the foundation upon which my previous works were built.

And I realise that it’ll never be the same again – because life progresses (as it should). So, the question is whether that need in me – the need to write, to express – will adapt to the changing circumstances, or not. Whether it will draw its fuel from new sources, and then, whether I’ll be able to make the space and time I need to let out what’s inside.

My writing always worked on inspiration – it was never a planned thing. And I never want it to be planned – because inspiration and spontaneity are the driving forces; and you can never plan for that.

So, with big changes coming up for me in the next few months, insha-Allah, I hope that a new balance will emerge. One which will enable me to take what I’m experiencing and translate it into words that serve the same, critically-important purpose which my previous writings served.

But whether that happens or not, I do plan to continue blogging, insha-Allah. Just don’t be disappointed if the “Meanderings” category stays scarce…

And my sincere thanks to everyone who visits the blog – whether you’re an old faithful reader or someone relatively new. I appreciate your comments and your coming by, and I hope you draw something beneficial from the posts.

Y

“Free world” exports

A while back, I read a shocking article on happenings in Afghanistan, since the 2001 war. It seems the pattern repeats itself in other places too. Here’s another article about what’s going on in Iraq.

These are the consequences of exporting one group’s concept of “freedom” to others…

Alcohol, Prostitution Rife in New Iraq
By  Afif Sarhan, IOL Correspondent

BAGHDAD — After disappearing for the past six years, sin and vice are now running rife in the streets of the Iraqi capital.

“Sin is part of Baghdadis’ lives again,” Fadilla Muhammed, member of a group campaigning for family traditions and morals, told IslamOnline.net.

Bars, pubs and liquor stores, once shut down by militant groups, are back to business and proliferating.

Prostitution homes have reopened, and in many of them, prostitutes troll for clients.

In downtown Baghdad, cinemas infamous for showing sex-themed movies while spectators engage in actual sexual relations in their chairs or in the bathrooms are re-opening.

Although less common, women are found inside such movie theaters, offering themselves or their own daughters for clients.

“Today, after the invasion and many attempts to shut down such places, they came back with strength,” notes Muhammed.

According to Mustafa al-Ghadhun, a senior Health Ministry official, there is an increase in the alcohol consumption and drugs in Iraq.

“There is also a very large consumption of medicines containing codeine and valium derivatives,” he told IOL.

“We are concerned about the quantity consumed, as many cases of alcohol addiction have been reported.”

Baghdad districts such as Sadr, Alawi, Dora, Bab al-Muadhem and Gazellia have reportedly become hotbeds for drug dealing.

Drug dealers are also especially active in the areas where policing is less present and where militias hold sway.

Democracy
For those who indulge in all the once-illicit practices, this is what they have wanted the Americans to bring to Iraq.

“It is time to feel liberty and some Western traditions,” says Abu Feiraz who is sitting in a café at Karada district with his 17-year-old son playing chess.

“We are adults and responsible for our acts,” said the father while pouring more wine in his son’s glass.

He defended the return of alcohol and prostitution as part of the democratic Western lifestyle the US has vowed to bring to Iraq.

“I’m not hurting or destroying the life of anyone.”

Sitting in a tavern drinking a glass of wine, Faeq agrees.

“Each human being has the right to decide what he wants for his life.”

He argues that many Iraqis like him are tired after years of war and violence and have found in drugs and alcohol a way to run away from problems.

“We can not only be worried about what will happen. We want to have fun after all these years of suffering.

“It is time to live the western life that was one of the gifts the Americans said would bring to us.”

But not everyone is happy that sin reared its ugly face back.

Sheikh Ibraheem Ahmed Naffi, a Karada district imam, warns that the new sinful lifestyle would affect thousands of young Iraqis.

“It is a Muslim country and alcohol should be forbidden,” he stressed.

“Family values are being lost in Iraq and the government isn’t doing anything to address the problem,” he fumed.

“That’s one of the issues that make the difference between us and Westerns.”

Ponderances of an expectant father

You never really know what something is like until you go through it for yourself. People can tell you about their experiences, tell you what to expect, and you can do a lot of research on your own – all to prepare you for the point where you finally experience it for yourself. But you never really feel it – and you never really know it, until you’re in it yourself.

I remember a few years ago, a discussion with some fellow bloggers, about marriage. We all had our ideas, our dreams, our warnings (the defence mechanism for not letting the dreams go to our heads) – things we learnt from the problems of others; ideals we held for our own futures: aspirations of the lives we wanted to live when we finally stepped into that (hopefully) eternal union with another.

But we knew that, until we actually went through it ourselves, we were just hypothesizing.

Almost a year and a half into marriage, and those days seem so far away from me – in time and memory. It’s like I rarely remember what those years felt like at all, let alone the intensity of those feelings.

And today, as I stand so comfortably and established in this now not-so-new life, the coming months bring with them the promise of a further step forward, God-willing. After being so settled for what seemed like a long time, the natural progression from one state of life to another continues: from singledom to marriage, now marriage to parenthood.

And, from what I gather, the next step is all about sacrifice. For, with this new arrival, my life is no longer my own. I think now of the immensity of giving that’s involved in being a parent. I think of what a parent is: what they give to their children, what they give up for their children, what they do for their children; the natural instinct they have to want to do anything to make their children happy.

And I wonder – selfish as I consider myself to be – whether that’s something that will come naturally to me too. Will I just automatically switch to sacrifice-mode? Will it take years to learn? Will I ever be as giving, loving, or amazing as my own parents were (and still are) with me?

Relating back to the intro, I guess it’s only a matter of time until I find out (roughly four months or so, to be more specific).

And while the world seems to be running itself down at a more rapid rate now – with financial crises, environmental problems, and sometimes social anarchy (i.e. the crime situation here and elsewhere) – I wonder whether being a parent in these times will be more difficult than the past.

I recall a Hadith that says something like: ‘Raise your children better than you were raised, for they will face more difficult times than you.’

Seeing the progressive degeneration of our world, it’s easy to see why the Prophet (peace be upon him) gave us that advice. But I wonder whether we, the parents-to-be, are capable of even matching the upbringing we ourselves had.

Sure, we have ideas about how we want our raise our kids. But, just like the pre-marriage discussions mentioned above, we’re only hypothesizing. We don’t know what it’ll be like – we can’t know, until it happens.

All we can do is try to prepare, and try to make sure our foundations are strong so that, God-willing, we can face whatever comes our way and be successful.

And, no matter what situation you’re faced with, the best foundation is faith. Faith, accompanied by patience.

The ride hasn’t yet started, and doesn’t feel real to me yet, but once it does begin – I hope we’ll be strapped in nicely and ready to endure the ups and downs, and enjoy the adventures to come.

Let’s eat…

Earlier this year, I picked up a newspaper by Port Elizabeth-based group Mujlisul Ulama (a.k.a. The Majlis), which went into some depth about the problems with the Halaal certification of certain meats in South Africa and internationally. While I grossly disagree with the manner in which this group attack those who they feel are in the wrong (i.e. calling SANHA a “despicably satanic organization”, among other extremely insulting terms) – it did bring into my mind the issue of the commercial food industry, which, I’ve since discovered, seems to be rotten to the core.

 

Recently, I found an article by Al-Jumuah writer Shireen Pishdadi, which details the dark side of our modern food industry (article link: “Unwholesome Harvest”). The contents not only shocked and disturbed me, but reminded me of the words of the angels, when Allah told them that He was to put mankind on Earth (Surah Al-Baqara, verse 30). They said: “Wilt Thou place therein one who will do harm therein and will shed blood, while we, we hymn Thy praise and sanctify Thee?”

 

Reading what’s happened to agriculture and food production over the last century, the words “harm” and “shed blood” are most appropriate – but I would add “rape” and “plunder” to the list, too. Multinational corporations have monopolised the production of food and agriculture, running farmers out of business and even taking ownership of the very natural plants and seeds that Allah has placed in the Earth. Apparently, farmers – whose income is being squeezed dry by these multinationals who have taken over agriculture – are committing suicide and selling their kidneys.

 

And the way livestock are treated just brings dismay to my heart. Allah gave us these animals, made them subservient to us, so that we may eat of them and use them for our own benefit. Yet some modern practices of commercial farming are just sickening, and display such ungratefulness for a bounty which mankind could not survive without.

 

But it’s not all doom and gloom, because we know that mankind is not all bad. Allah’s reply to the angels’ question was: “Surely I know that which ye know not.”

 

In Surah At-Tin (Surah 95), Allah says: “Surely We created man of the best stature, Then We reduced him to the lowest of the low, Save those who believe and do good works, and theirs is a reward unfailing.”

 

It’s the basic nature of man: we have the potential to be higher than the angels; yet we also have the capability to drop to below the level of animals – “lowest of the low”.

 

What we’re seeing – in those who control the food industry these days – is that the lowest of the low is winning out; plundering this planet and its treasures just out of greed and lust for material wealth.

 

But there are ways forward, and in my view, it’s a revolution that has to start from the ground – because those in power will never give up their own interests while their hearts are so consumed with greed.

 

I’d recommend everyone reads the article mentioned earlier, which goes on to suggest solutions and things we should put in place.

 

Locally, I’d love to see some of our people – post-graduate students or other – undertake a serious study of the local Halaal food industry. To bring a well-researched, academic investigation of the claims regarding commercial chickens – but expand that to other meats and foods. From there, it should be the responsibility of our local scholars to look at the results and decide on the way forward.

 

They’re already meeting to decide on a unified strategy with regard to the anti-Zionist boycotts, and while that is very important – I think issues around our food are just as important.

Visions of wonder

Captions:

Top left: Northern Lights at Bear Lake, Alaska (Source: Wikipedia)
Top right: Spacewalk (Source: Unknown)
Bottom left: St. Anton at Arlberg, Tirol, Austria (Source: Zastavki.com)
Bottom right: Greenpoint Stadium (under construction), Cape Town (taken by Shabnam)

The holiday collection

                    

Durban sunrise

 

      
   Donkeys on a schedule                  If only I could do the same…

 

The donkeys (after lunch)

To the Israeli Soldier

To the Israeli Soldier
A poem by By Mirza Yawar Baig

Listen and listen well

O! One who could have been our brother

 

For we are one people, whether you like it or not

You are a Semite, A son of Israeel (Isaac)

I am a Semite, A son of Ismaeel (Ishmael)

Our father, the father of both you and I

Is Ibrahim (Abraham)

 

Or are you one who will even deny his own father?

 

Listen and listen well

O! One who could have been our brother

 

We will die on our feet

But we will not live on our knees.

 

You know how to kill, but we know how to die

 

Hitler gassed 6 million of you, but he could not kill your spirit

Those who died only made stronger, those who remained alive

 

Why then do you imagine; that if you become Hitlers

The results of your ‘gassing’

Would be any different?

 

Listen and listen well

O! One who could have been our brother

 

Just as others silently watched you going into the gas chambers

Others silently watch us burying our children, the children that you continue to kill

 

But we remind ourselves

That the blow that does not break the back, only strengthens.

 

So O! You who used to be the People of Musa (Moses),

But today you have become people of the Firawn (Pharaoh)

 

Remember we are the real people of Moses, for we believe in his message; not you

Remember that when the fight is between Moses and Pharaoh

Moses always wins.

 

We say to the silent watchers, the cowards,

We say to those who sit securely in their homes:

 

We are the frontline who are holding back the enemy

When we fall, it will be your turn.

 

Remember O! Arabs

The story of the White Bull (Al Thawr il Abyadh)

Who said to the world when the tiger finally came for him:

 

Listen O! People, I do not die today,

I died when the Black Bull died.

 

Listen and listen well

O! One who could have been our brother

 

We did not come into this world to live here forever

Neither did you

 

One day we will all go from here

Whether we like it or not

 

What is important my brother, son of Israeel

Sons of a Prophet, O! What have you become today?

 

What have you allowed them to make you?

 

Kill us, if that is what you want to do

At least we die at the hands of our own brothers

And not at the hands of strangers

 

Listen and listen well

O! One who could have been our brother

 

We laugh as we see your Apache helicopters and F-16 jets fly overhead

We laugh because we can smell your fear

Why else do you need Apaches and F-16s to fight children with rocks?

 

A battle of honor is between equals

We challenge you, you who have sold your honor

Come to us as equals; so that we can show you how to die with honor

 

We laugh at you because we know, that not in a million years

Will one of you ever have the guts to stand up to one of our children

Without hiding behind an array of weapons that the American tax payer gives you

 

We laugh at you, because that is what every warrior does

When he faces an army of cowards.

 

Listen and listen well

O! One who could have been our brother

 

It is not whether we live or die that is important

It is how we live and how we die

 

Ask yourself: How would you like to be remembered?

Without respect, despised and accursed through the centuries?

 

Or blessed, honored, your passing mourned?

 

Allah is our witness: We lived with honor; begging for no favors

And He is our witness: That today we die with honor; on our feet

Fighting until the last breath leaves our body; even if all we have in our hands are stones

 

He is the witness over us both

As you kill us and as we die

 

And to Him is our return

 

Listen and listen well

O! One who could have been our brother

 

On that Day, my little baby who you killed last night

Will ask Him for what crime she was murdered

Prepare your answer, O! One who could have been our brother

 

For you will answer to Him

I swear by His Power: You will answer to Him.

 

 

Maintaining presence

Hey everyone, hope you’re having a good new year. This is just a short note  to update you on some maintenance stuff, since this blog has undergone some  changes in the last few months.

 

1. Updated links:

I’ve updated the links section, which I’d neglected for most of the last 2  years. So you’ll find some of the links gone, as well as some new ones added.  Among those are 2 of my most loyal readers (Zahera and Prixie – thanx for  still visiting after all this time, even though the posts are coming way  slower than before), a new blog my wife and I started last year, as well as  the site of the President of Iran, who seems to be quite adept at the  blogging thing. I’m not one for politics, but the man has impressed me, and  he writes very well – so check out his blog and see if you learn anything new  about his country, other than the negative propoganda going round in the  news. (Thanks to Shafinaaz for the link – found it on her blog).

 

2. Subscribe by email:

I also added a subscription link, which you’ll find at the bottom of the  right hand column. If you’d like to be updated whenever there’s something new  on this blog, you can click on that to find out more.

 

3. Theme changes:

You may have noticed this blog turned green late last year. That’s not  because it got ripe (I know…corny. But I love making corny jokes   ) – but  because I’ve wanted to make a big change in the look for a long time. I tried  some of the other WordPress themes, but nothing caught my fancy (I’m very  particular – so that’s not surprising). Because I know almost nothing about  the visual side of blogs, I can’t design my own theme – nor do I want to. But  if anyone has a good 3-column theme that would work with WordPress, let me  know.

 

Anyway, hope you’re all good, and hope you’ll stick with the blog in 2009.

 

I hope to have a new post up soon.

 

 

What they said (part 2)

Whether said in haste, or well thought out, language has the amazing ability to capture concepts succinctly: just a few words can convey so great a meaning, and teach so important a lesson.

 

Following on from last year’s quotes post, I thought I’d share some new snippets picked up over the last few weeks.

 

On self-confidence:

 

·     “Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.”
- Aristotle

 

·     “The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually fear you will make one.”
- Elbert Hubbard

  

On expression:

 

·     “When you exercise your freedom to express yourself at the lowest level, you ultimately condemn yourself to live at that level.”
- Zig Ziglar

 

·     “The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them.”
- Stephen King

 

·     “A writer writes not because he is educated but because he is driven by the need to communicate. Behind the need to communicate is the need to share. Behind the need to share is the need to be understood.”
- Leo Rosten

 

·     “Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.”
- T.S. Eliot

  

On simplicity of words:

 

·     “Good communication does not mean that you have to speak in perfectly formed sentences and paragraphs. It isn’t about slickness. Simple and clear go a long way.”
- John Kotter

 

·     “Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.”
- WB Yeats

  

On communicating with others:

 

·     “The royal road to a man’s heart is to talk to him about the things he treasures most.”
- Dale Carnegie

 

·     “When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.”
- Dale Carnegie

 

·     “If there is any great secret of success in life, it lies in the ability to put yourself in the other person’s place and to see things from his point of view – as well as your own.”
- Henry Ford

 

·     “Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.”
- Mother Teresa

 

·     “Examine what is said, not who speaks”
- Arabian Proverb

 

·     “The time to stop talking is when the other person nods his head affirmatively, but says nothing.”
- Henry S. Haskins

 

·     “Two monologues do not make a dialogue.”
- Jeff Daly

 

On conflict:

 

·     “Speak when you are angry, and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.”
- Ambrose Bierce
 

·     “If you wish to make a man your enemy, tell him simply: ‘You are wrong’. This method works every time.”
- Henry Link

·     “Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.”
- Mahatma Gandhi

 

On tolerance:

 

·     “Don’t be in a hurry to condemn because he doesn’t do what you do or think as you think or as fast. There was a time when you didn’t know what you know today.”
- Malcolm X 

 

On faith:

 

·     “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
- Martin Luther King

 

·     “Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.”
- Martin Luther King

 

·     “Religion operates not only on the vertical plane but also on the horizontal. It seeks not only to integrate men with God but to integrate men with men and each man with himself.”
- Martin Luther King

  

On character:

 

·     “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.”
- Albert Einstein

 

·     “If we are strong, our strength will speak for itself. If we are weak, words will be of no help.”
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy

 

·     “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
- Martin Luther King

  

On Teamwork:

• “A boat doesn’t go forward if each one is rowing their own way.”
  - Swahili proverb
  

Learning more about Eid ul Adha

With Eid ul Adha just around the corner, I’ve been collecting some information about things like Udhiyah (the sacrifice), the benefits of the first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah, and other issues related to this time of year.

 

I’ve saved everything into a document, which you can download here. It is very rough, as I didn’t have time to properly categorise it and have links on the contents page – but hopefully it’ll be easy enough to navigate. I didn’t keep references, but most of it is from www.islamonline.net.

 

There’s an interesting piece on the concept of animal sacrifice in Islam – which refutes a misconception of the Islamic sacrifice, which some think is tantamount to the sacrifices offered by idol-worshippers.

 

I hope the information is useful to you – not only the rulings, but the articles as well.

 

Eid Mubarak to everyone

Y