Gotta have faith | Rajab reflections

Bismillah.

We would not have come this far if we have not had faith. Having faith is about trusting the Divine power and will, that everything is going to be alright. That applies, regardless of one's "faith" (religious beliefs). One just has the trust in that bigger power, that Being which is bigger than ourselves. Henceforth, anyone who is faithful has a religion.

This space borrows its name from Shaykh Ahmad Alawi's "Language of Faith" although some might translate lisan al-din as 'language of the religion'. In any case, we want to speak about what we have faith in, about what we believe in, our iman.

We don't write anything purposely to get a reaction. We simply write anything that makes a strong impression in our hearts that we just have to pour it out. But inevitably we do get reactions from people. And from our experience, there is no way predicting how a certain outpouring of emotions would or could affect other people. Anyhow, it looks as if we wear our heart on the sleeve and that our reflections of life have made us an 'open book'. Isn't life an open book? In fact, it's an open book with pages that turn by itself, almost. But we all know who the page-turner is.

So many things have unfolded in this month of Rajab. As we approach its end, we reflect on this 'month of repentance' and we realize events in our lives are by nature 'repenting'. Repenting means turning back to where it should have been in the first place, turning back to its primordial state - the faith. No, it's more than faith, it's turning back to the spot where our consciousness of God is as its nearest - the endpoint of mikraj. 

Someone has made a heartfelt du'a for me on this Israk wal mikraj occasion and thus I'm reminded of the price we have to pay before we could attain the fruits of nearness. [Thanks T.]

Reflecting on the last days of Rajab, I turned the pages of 'The Sublime Revelation', yet again. Let's say ameen to this du'a made by the honorable Shaykh Abdul Qadir Al-Jilani on the last day of Rajab, 887 years ago:

"O Allah, 

fortify our religion (adyan),

our faith (iman) 

and our bodies (abdan)

with Your nearness; 

and give us in this world good, and good in the hereafter, and guard us against the torment of the fire."

Among the parting words of the Shaykh in 'The Sublime Revelation': "The foundation of attainment (wusul) to Allah is faith (iman). The foundation of all goodness is faith."

So, we gotta have faith. And we bid farewell to Rajab!

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Credit: Allahyarham Muhtar Holland/Al Baz Publishing

Pic credit: www.sakkal.com