sincerity (ikhlas)

sirr= secret

sirr Allah= the secret of Allah

Unitarianism (tawhid)= doctrine of Oneness of God

A question from Abu Sa'id ibn Abi 'l-Khayr:

   Answering the question, "What is sincerity (ikhlas)?" he said:

   The Prophet has said tha ikhlas is a divine sirr in man's heart and soul, which sirr is the object of His pure contemplation and is replenished by God's pure contemplation thereof. Whosoever declares God to be One, his belief in the divine Unity depends on that sirr.

   Being asked to define it, he continued as follows:

   That sirr is a substance of God's grace (latifa) --- for He is gracious (latif) unto His servants (Koran, 42, 18) --- and it is produced by the bounty and mercy of God, not by the acquisition and action of man. At first, He produces a need and longing and sorrow in man's heart; then He contemplates that need and sorrow, and in His bounty and mercy deposits in that heart a spiritual substance (latifa) which is hidden from the knowledge of angel and prophet. That substance is called sirr Allah, and that is ikhlas .... That pure sirr is the Beloved of Unitarians. It is immortal and does not become naught, since it subsists in God's contemplation of it. It belongs to the Creator: the creatures have no part therein, and in the body it is a loan. Whoever posseses it is "living" (hayy), and whoever lacks it is "animal" (hayawan). There is a great difference between the "living" and the "animal". 

Source:

Studies in Islamic Mysticism,  by Reynold Alleyne Nicholson   Page 51

Thank God..

Hope

when the heart was dim

everything seemed dull to these eyes

when the hope has come back

the life raised quite fresh 

standing in the flowing current of life 

~+~

Life Back

Flowers, flowers, every where

blessing, sunshine and love

why the heart is happy so much..

a dying hope resurrected

some one rose from dead

a putting off star became a sun

the spirals of mysterious fate

and its crests and troughs

and pains and fleeting happiness,

all estopped at a moment

no queasiness, nothing now,

but peace, timelessness and relief 

who took my heart and met me to the light of hope!

this is You, O my Lord! Allah!

the heart like a sponge..

at the moment you were leaving,

the heart

seemed dry,

and no tears!

at the moment you have left,

the heart is

like a sponge,

shrinks,

giving off a lot of water!

made me clean by my own tears

this night has pain of separation, 

and sufi music sound, 

and a little sweet pain in my heart,

  ..  tears in eyes,,,

            i was a sinner, you made me clean by my own tears

i can't cry, my heart is dead

my plane is taking off..

but

i can't cry

my heart is dead

because my heart is dead now

you think, i don't love you 

it is not true

still i love you

but i have forgotten how to miss you

pains, sorrows, disgrace, hunger and poverty

i have become a bird between fear and hope

separations and unions

many deluges of uncertainties and enforced austerities of life

have taken away my tears, awareness, smile and naive freshness

forgive me..

i can't cry

my heart is dead

but I still love you!

© afterwind

Picture source: by ericakulet [external link]

that will make you forget our love one day

"fear"

i told you

i told you

i already told you

you haven't reached the meaning of love

whatever you have toward me is nothing but ego and greed

in fact you never truly loved me

the tears you shed were the tears of a babe for a toy only

you don't know to sacrify, you just need to be gratified

with pleasures, words,,, lies and world!

i told you

i told you

i already told you

tonight

the last night before separation

when the withering heart needs compassion

when i need you

to soak my tears

to lower my soabs

in the very time when you are supposed to be with me

you are indulged in the pleasures, in the partying, in the lights

you say, let me enjoy, still i am yours!

now i also want to say

i don't want to come in between you and your happiness

but what should also i do!

from me, they are stealing you

busy, busy, busy

even on the last night

you don't want to listen to my heart cry

this time, even you don't want to be mine!

and still you say, "i love you"

i told you

i told you

i already told you

The light of enjoyment, taste of delicious food and happy puns of rich friends will make you forget our love one day

i told you

i told you

i already told you

if you keep on doing this,

how can you become mine?

~+~

"Sure"

No matter wherever you move away

I know, on your cheeks tears will have a sway!

The pain of separation makes you crazy

it will change a stone heart into daisy

no matter, to wherever you face, 

but if your hand is in my hand,

 

i shall take you into my cottage!

© afterwind

image sources:

fisrt,         lights in last night's rain storm by Zombie37 [external link]

second,     Rain Tapping On My Window by Thomas Steibl Photography [external link]

third,       Rain on the Train (Not in Spain) by jessamyn.n [external link]

fourth,     Rain wave - Muddy water by Yatzi [external link]

Folly..

Once upon a time, there was a heavily fertile forest full of big trees, flowers, and a beautiful touch of sunshine. In the most center of forest was a small hut whereby a simple man lived with his animal friends - a sheep, a wolf, a chicken. He had passed with them many springs and autumns of his life. The fox gave him security, hen gave him eggs, sheep milk and they were living together a happy life. Day passed and passed, and one day a he found a half dead man's body lying on the ground, he was a hunter who had come from some city but lost way in the forest and became a prey to hunger and thirst. He took him to his house and took well care of him until he got well. During all that time, the hunter used to tell him the stories of the cities, the glitters of wealth and the luxuries of the rich. The heart of the forest dweller started getting bored of his difficult forest life, and he now had started dreaming of the colorful cities. He had become greedy! One day he gave him an idea, 'why not you kill the sheep and its skin can keep your body warm in the winters?' The forest man liked this idea and one day he asked his sheep, 'oh friend, lets go to the river bank, I want to feed you the best grass there'. The sheep accepted his offer and went with him to that place, the man killed the sheep and cut out its skin and made a warm coat of it. The hunter kept on giving him advices to make life more comfortable by killing his friends - 'you can enjoy chicken roast, you can make good shoes from the fox'. He acted on all the advices, and made his life much comfortable on the expense of his friends' life. Hence now there no sheep or hen, and there was also no more milk or eggs... So both men started starving. Hence the forest weed was too simple and rough to satisfy their heightened hunger and lust. So, one day the hunter advised him, why not you start farming.. The man started farming, and one day the hunter asked for the equal share in all luxuries as a price of his advices. The forest man's dream had shattered now, and he understood the ferocity of the man's lust. He refused to give him the share and asked him to leave his house... but the hunter refused and a quarrel started between them, hence the hunter was a strong and cunning person and also was having knowledge of using knife and other weapons... and there was also no fox to protect him. He won!! And made the forest man slave! 

Thanks to Wang Ziyue, Lanzhou

At-tawakkal - The Reliance upon God!

التوکل

A fat boy seeker of light used to go to a a Dahi Bhalla shop at roadside in central part of Alipur city of Southern Punjab, because he was fond of the taste of that shop. What was the shop, it was nothing more than an itinerary wooden cart, painted in green with four bicycle wheels, and decorated with glass on the three sides to protect from dust the open wide bowls of peeled potato, chilly paste, and yogurt, cut onion and tomatoes, and other condiments used to prepare Dahi Bhallas. The vender was a man with beard mixed in white, black and brown, with a bit tanned skin, little fat, clad in simple Pakistani dress, by face and dialect belonging to the community (perhaps the Sheikh or mewati of Haryana) who migrated from India and lips brown and red perhaps because of traditional Indian Pan leaf eating.. And the most important were the black eyes with sprinkling silence and kindness - a Sufi! like many others Sufis who live among the commoners silently, but the seekers can feel the manifestations of Sufism in them!! The boy on one day broken the silence and asked 'Sir, please give me an advice'. The vender said: "Tawakkal Al Allah!" (Rely on God). 

Time passed and passed until the boy grew up and became a man. A changed man! His life became full of tests.. He found himself alone in every field and place. The melancholy of loss, exaggerated sense of decreasing life, money, time and the feeling that everything in universe is going more and more disorderly, and the mind least converged on moment, object or thought, in short he became an example of melancholy. He had got no big belief in ever fertility, mercy and blessings of God. He had slept, the lesson had been forgotten! Really was he alone?

One day he met an accident in a lonely street of a distant city in north... Yeah, he was alone in that city, but not in that street. An old lady hurried, "Son, would you take milk?"

© afterwind

image courtesy: Dahi Bhalla, www.itslife.in