Friday, May 6, 2011

A carpet full of gifts


Bismillah.

Salam, salam, salam to all. We are in need of greetings of peace from you too.

Some people have the impression that we lead an enviable life but the truth is that we are just like everyone else, we appear to stand on a 'carpet full of gifts' not because we are special or privileged but because we are needy.

"The hour of need is a carpet full of gifts" is the title of one aphorism by the venerable Ibn Atha'illah As-Sakandari we read by chance just a while ago. At this particular moment, we are in need of silence, peace of mind, direction, good decision, good solutions...we need plenty of things. We need Divine help.

So this morning as we were feeling taxed by life's demands, we decided to drop everything and escape to this purple carpet where we could InshaAllah speak our heart. And we began to count our blessings. We are in the company of our beloved mother. We got to bite into delicious Krispy Kreme doughnuts for breakfast. We opened our mailbox and received very generous words of encouragement from a visitor named Lela. MashaAllah Lela, thank you! But  we are as ordinary as everybody else who needs love and support from Allah, from habaib, from awliyaAllah, from our family and friends. Our 'carpet' is not any greener. We all are trying to mend our relationship with Allah on a daily basis InshaAllah.

The aphorism said: "The hours of need provide a good opportunity for the initiate to mend his relationship with Allah. Though it may appear the most difficult situation in life, it is actually the most fertile period in life in terms of spiritual growth." Hence 'the hour of need is a carpet full of gifts.'

Ibn Atha'illah also said: "Only those who think that they are in need of Allah deserve His gifts. Those who pretend to be self-sufficient and think they can do without Allah do so at the risk of losing Allah's blessings. Alms are meant for the poor and not for the rich. Therefore those who want to get alms of Allah, should meet the criteria for poverty and deprivation..."

May Allah make us stand strong on our carpet, no matter what 'gifts' He chooses to put on them.

Jumaah Mubarrak!

3 comments:

  1. assala mualaikum
    Today I met with a friend who asked me what I am following or rather, doing now.We used to go to tawajjuh in the 80's at night at the zoo negara surau.But I left this group because the murshid guru failed a test - touching the female hands during salam with his bare hands which is considered haram.
    Now this friend told me that if I were to follow anyone he must be able to guarantee me paradise . I was stunned & just smile.I told him that I just do wirdul latif , ratib hadad , go to majlis ilmu by habaib & to majlis haul thats all.I hope before I die I will be near to my rab & rasulillah thats all.
    Please do give your opinion regarding this & thank you very much for answering.

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  2. Wa'alaykumsalam warahmatullah,
    I am reluctant to give my opinion because you will not and should not listen to me. I cannot possibly give an opinion to one who seems to be doing so much more amal ibadah than I.
    You will not want to hear my opinion if I tell you that I do salam with certain tariqah shuyukh.

    I have since year 2000 embarked on a path searching for the Truth and I had been involved with several groups and almost all of them didn't appear 'right'. What/who is right? Who knows?

    As one who is as ignorant as I am, all I know is to try to do as much good deed to replace all the bad deeds. I really don't like to discuss about groupings or who we should follow. At the end of the day, we should follow our heart and fear Allah so He will teach us. Those groups or teachers whom I thought were 'wrong' must have been useful for me, otherwise Allah would not have let it all happened. We have got to trust Allah as to what is the best way/path and who is our guide. And for the time being suffice that we follow the tips on how to pick a guide eg. when we are with them we are reminded of Allah and Rasulullah s.a.w.

    We think we are the one who choose a guide but in truth, we are chosen. I remembered one tariqah murshid saying 'you think you are the one going around selecting a guru but you should know that they have in the spiritual realm chosen you and given the trust to look after you until you enter the heavens.'

    But we should not dwell too much on things which are beyond our understanding. It's enough that we respect each and everyone or anyone who teaches us even the most minute/insignificant of lessons and it does not matter if he wore a long beard, jubbah or coat or whatever.

    Allah is here and near.
    Rasulullah s.a.w is here and near.
    We are in good hands InshaAllah.

    Wallahu a'lam.
    E

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  3. thanks for your sincere opinions .I am not a good muslim, just hoping to be one

    ReplyDelete