Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Once upon a Rajab in Syria | God bless all women



Bismillah.

There's no denying the fact that we all have our highs and lows. When I lamented to a friend, "life is not a bed of roses", he quickly reminded me of the sufferings the Syrians people have had to face recently. But come to think of it, a bed of roses is not that comfortable, besides who wants to stain their linen? Hotel's linen,  OK, but then you would have to pay a high price for a honeymoon suite with a bed of roses. 

Anyway, my friend was right about Syria and no I have not forgotten. In fact, I had naively called upon the help of the late Shaikh Wali Raslan, a saint from Damascus. Can you dissuade a believer of the unseen? I say no.

Of course, we (the rest of the sane people left in this world) are concerned and appalled by the massacre that took place in Houla, Syria on 25th May. None of us would have imagined this scene: people killing innocent people, who are mostly women and children in a Muslim country on a Friday, in the month of Rajab, in a "spiritual" land such as Syria?

What did Habib Umar bin Hafiz say about this month? He said: "It is a blessed month, may Allah bless us and the Ummah in it. In the times of Jahiliyyah the noise of battle would not be heard this month. This was due to the veneration that people had for the month, even though they were polytheists. Allah revealed concerning this month: 'They ask you about the sacred month - fighting therein. Say: fighting therein is a grave offense."

Sadly and evidently those men didn't have any respect towards the weak i.e. women, children and the elderly. Oh wait a minute, according to Shaykh Yusof da Costa - Naqshbandi, we must stop labeling women as weak. He said: "I have said on numerous occasions and I want to say again, if we know the standing of women in the "eyes" of our Lord, we will kiss their feet every day. We have been made to believe by male scholars that women are the "weaker" sex or "other gender" or even I suppose the "disposable" gender. If one examines the history of Islam and the role of women in different disciplines of knowledge, we would talk otherwise."

It looks like Syrians and many women everywhere are at a low point of their lives or rather at a low point in the history of civilization.

By the blessings of Rajab, may Allah forgive you and this writer for our weaknesses and everything. I quote once again the venerable Habib Umar bin Hafiz: "If you say this when you go to bed 3 times, your sins will be forgiven even if they are as numerous as the foam on top of the sea:
Astaghfirullah al Azeem 
allazi la ilaha illah huwal Hayyul Qayyum wa atu bu ilaih
"I seek forgiveness of Allah, the Most Great,
besides Who, there is no god,
the Living, the Sustainer and I repent to Him."
Let's repent to Him.

# Thanks N for your email re Shaykh Yusof da Costa.
p/s Astaghfirullah, I've just heard it again, that sickening noise - an Arab woman living downstairs is being beaten by a man with what sounds like a huge belt! According to my good neighbour who has been living here longer, it is a usual occurrence among Arab families at this condo : (


2 comments: