Alhamdulillah wa shukrulillah. I thank Allah for this space and how people's reactions to postings could be a pleasant surprise. Thank God for life's little surprises.
The rule of thumb is always the same, write from the heart. As an amateur writer I realize there's something more meaningful about writing than speaking. When I was at a corporate dinner last night, I realized even more that when speaking, only about 10% of me would surface. But when writing, I feel like I am able to dive deeper and uncover so much more to express, drawing from a bigger reservoir of the self within. It's something to be cherished. In other words, speaking, to me, is like shallow breathing, while writing is wholesome deep breathing.
The rule of thumb is always the same, write from the heart. As an amateur writer I realize there's something more meaningful about writing than speaking. When I was at a corporate dinner last night, I realized even more that when speaking, only about 10% of me would surface. But when writing, I feel like I am able to dive deeper and uncover so much more to express, drawing from a bigger reservoir of the self within. It's something to be cherished. In other words, speaking, to me, is like shallow breathing, while writing is wholesome deep breathing.
Yes that book by Dr. Jasser Auda is indeed special, so it's no surprise people responded to the previous posting pretty fast. I wish I could fly out to Dubai and then Doha to have coffee and chat with Dr Jasser. Now that's wishful thinking as we all have to observe the "duty of the time" or wajib al-waqt, so I learned from his book.
In the chapter on Second Step on this Al-Hikam aphorism where Ibn Atha'illah said: 'A human will, however strong it is, can never pierce through the veils of destiny' Dr. Jasser stated this obvious fact: "Throughout one's life, there are different stages that carry with them different duties and responsibilities."
Certainly, there is a period of time where we are subjected to a particular role in a given episode of life. As much as we want to, we cannot jump the gun but submit ourselves to the "duty of the time".
He further said: "This is an important step on the path to God: always pay attention to the duty of your time, as much as you understand it. Believe in God's wisdom in everything. He gives or takes away, and surrender to the laws of the universe and the veils of destiny."
So the past five years have been 'blogging duty' for me. Who knows what Allah has in store in the next five years for you and me? As much as we are curious about the future, we cannot as Ibn Atha'illah said it, we cannot "pierce through the veils of destiny."
When the time comes for us to move away from one 'duty of the time' to another, let's pray Allah makes it easy for us and that we would be contented with His choice. That we won't be stubborn in wanting to cling and be too attached with the old, that we are reluctant to embrace the new.
Have a pleasant weekend dear readers.
****
Biography of Dr. Jasser Auda as extracted from the quoted book:
Jasser Auda currently teaches Islamic Studies at the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies in Doha. He memorized the Quran and received traditional studies in Islamic sciences in Al-Azhar mosque in Cairo. He was a founding director of the Maqasid Research Center in London. He wrote two PhD theses on the Philosophy of Islamic Law at the University of Wales, UK and on Systems Analysis at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Dr Jasser Auda has published a number of books in Arabic and English. He is also a visiting lecturer to universities in Egypt, Canada, Qatar and India.
Credit: Awakening Publications.
 |
| Doha Pic credit: http://ds-lands.com/photo/cities/doha/04/ |
No comments:
Post a Comment