surah 31: al luqman

31:12 the Essence said to luqman: be greatful and praise Essence, he who is greatful is only greatful for the needs of his own soul; but if anyone is ungreatful, surely ALLAH is self-sufficient and praiseworthy.

luqman conveyed this to his son by telling him to associate none with the One. there is only One...

the crux of this science of surrender (islam) is accepting in totality the math of this problem we face as a species - individualism, greed, ego, self-centeredness, sensory-movement/decision making. it's leading to wrong answers, faulty solutions, and in turn head-scratching, binge eating, alcoholism, sexaholism, cyberworldism, etc. the solution is 1ness, the problem is in us. we pose it. the answer lies not in words, nor knowledge, as information is itself a frequency of chaos, but in the Creation...

31:27 if all the trees on earth were pens, and the sea,  ink, and seven more seas added, truly the words of ALLAH would not be exhausted, for ALLAH is Almighty and Wise. 

the language of ALLAH is everywhere, omnipresent, and each, potentially omniscient in a togetherness, in community; for each holds the code, the genetic information, the 23 x and 23 y, the dna of Life, Essence...

this One-ness is so essential to understanding in this path of al Haq, Truth, that even those who are most highly regarded, most deeply pedastalicized in the path of surrender - your parents - would have to be contested on this point.

31:14 We have enjoined man to show kindness to his parents, for his mother bears him in hardship upon hardship, and it takes two years to wean him. give thanks to Me and your parents. All will return to Me. 29:15 but if they press you to associate something with me which you have no knowledge, do not obey them. yet be kind to them in this world and follow the path of those who turn to Me. 

the 1ness is central to the scientific path of spirituality. this clarity is exposed, made clear through quiet contemplation, reflection in/on nature. shhhh... this understanding comes from Guidance. our parents serve as immediate guides and in no way should ever be condescended on. instead they should be loved, respected, listened to, taken care of. the contention should eschew excuse to misbehave/mistreat those who have ushered us into being, into adulthood. 

as luqman instills in his son the lessons of this path of surrendering to 1ness, he emphasizes this lesson of kindness to guardians, parents, elders, the community, others...

31:17 o my dear son! say your prayers regularly, enjoin good and forbid evil, and endure patiently whatever may befall you.....31:18 .....and do not walk with pride on the earth, for behold, ALLAH does not love arrogant and boastful people. 

these lessons provide guidance and a value system that lies in a stark contrast to the rebel culture of do you, i do me, f everyone else who isn't me. ultimately, scientifically, this is self-destrucitve, as it causes the inability of the body to recognize self; and in the process of what the body believes to be carrying out as homeostasis, it attacks itself. this is called auto-immune disease. 

we, of the taker culture, in both west and east, north and south, are in a state of auto-immune-disease - aids. 

the importance of this value, of this truth - 31:30 because ALLAH is the Truth - is that interdependence is not an act of altruism, benevolence, charity, but a necessity to homeostasis, balance.

31:28 Creating and resurrecting all of you is like creating and resurrecting a single soul.

hence the One-ness, hence the need for us to figure it out together, to go beyond the liberal notion of to each's own. we are each others keeper and need to figure it out, and the greatest step we can take is coming together in community, through the act of Surrendering to the One-ness, by way of dedicated worship in all acts...all praise is due...

31:33 ...let not worldy life beguile you, nor the deceiver deceive you concerning ALLAH.  31:34 Truly ALLAH alone has knowledge of the hour. ALLAH sends down the rain and knows what is in the wombs. no soul knows what it will bear tomorrow and no soul knows in which land s/he will die. surely ALLAH is all knowing, all aware. 

surah 30: al rum: the romans

the romans will regain power soon, the surah, al rum, begins with. this is decreed, as a revelation from ALLAH, the One, because ALLAH, knows all. 

this resinstallation of ego-power will also cause rejoice among believers. why? why would the hold, grip, takeover of imperialism lead to rejoice among believers. we are in the age of rome. re-rome. ancient cultures, and civilizations of humility, of surrender are being decimated, just as this intitative of neo-plague began over five centuries ago, during the inquisition of spain and tne search for reources as derived from the resource deprived lands of europe. this lead to the re-emergence of the prokaryote of european colonialism, into the emergence of conquest and dis-ease into epidemic portions. the prokaryote cutltures grew both in their search and destroy (the precursor of the modern babylon frequenceis found in the angst, nihilsim, materialsim search for self-propogation of heavy metal, thrash, hip hop, pop, etc music).

the bacterial vampiric apporach is not restricted to a people, nor a continent, but can be found in lands throughout the world and throughout history. they have emerged as brown skinned like me, black as ebony, white as chalk, pink as pig. rome is a state of mind, a way of being, that is carcinogenic, and is less penetrable among cultures of Soul/Surrender, and more prevalent in ego-based individualist driven cultures. hence it is more vast in certain regions and less in others. 

rome has been resurrected...this is the sign...al rum goes into signs for people who will think. the signs, all the signs to believe, to surrender to enjoin this path of surrender are available in nature. nature provides all the signs there are to know. ture knowledge (gnosis) is in the knowing of what is provided, of reading the signs. the signs are the deserts and the plains, the cows and the ants, the spider and the webs, the grass and the dunes, the crops and the droughts. 

reincarnation, birth, death, and rebirth can be understood not as a spook mystical phenomenon to be wowed by like zeus and poseidon warring and causing thunder. the path of surrender is science, is the mathematics of mysticism, not a horoscope or the awe of talking about mercury in retrograde as a way to rationalize your woes. study mercury for real, and the signs will reveal themselves. reincarnation, in this sense, is not just a speculation, nor a topic of identity politics, but observable in nature. the apple falls from the tree, becomes part of the soil, becomes roots, trunk, branches, fruit. watch and observe. we can add a spook dimension to add excitement, if it will make you feel better. 

all there is to know, surah 30 teaches us, is observable in the Creation, and in being so, we should submit, because the surrender will align us with the energy of impermanence, will dissolve us into the Great Harmony. otherwise we stay stuck on the cycle of anitchya, duka, amatiya. 

surah 29: the spider

29:41 those who take protectors other than ALLAH, are like the spider who builds a cobweb; the frailest of all structures, if they but knew it...

what are you seeking protection from?

...for me, this desire to continue, to achieve, to manifest this purpose seems to be about a future and not in the now; the Doing seems to occur on the dimension of a future time...when? 

the idea of purpose itself is just that, an idea. it is an aspiration, the happening occurs in the work, in the struggle, in the doing. 

i have been casting a web of dreams, of a community that will arise. this purpose becomes shadowed by the web of future. 

i've been placing great stakes in the future...when is it? how will it be? graduation, prom, birthdays...they all happen, happened...and passed. for some of you: you have had weddings, anniversaries, retirements. those moments came and left. 

you were planning a huge picnic, trip, cross country, Europe, india. it happened. now what? a cooking retreat, an allbum, a camera, laptop you wanted to purchase, a nutriton program in the west coast. those great moments are everything that proceeds it. mother's day, father's day, valentines,  illustrate this. 

loving your amma abba, intimate other, is in the present. the  love, the work in actualizing this love,  are in the day to day, in the present, in the constant reminder, the dikr, the worship of All of ALLAH's creation, as ALLAH is all there is. the purpose you aspire to happens in being that aspiration, so there is a non-duality, and this happens in both the gravity you place and humility you work with in the worship...

the prophet reminded us that work is worship, to die before you die, this happens, he said, through associating with those you aspire to be like. the prophet laid forth the plan, the vision. 

the prophet muhammad laid forth, built, sacred communities, centered around worship in food, in building families, in having families come together to bow down, to hold each other accountable, to seek and build on knowledge, as a process of growing in worship and the balance of health, and to be fearless in every step of the way. this seeking of knowledge will manifest as a myriad, a mosaic in a community of various spirits, in which each member's talents are deeply sought and part of a contribution to the whole: the painter, the welder, the architect, the builder, the imam, the medicine man...

29: do you think saying i believe is enough? ALLAH knows all.

there are many in the world, close to a fifth of the human population, who fall under the nomiker of muslim - surrenderer. there are many who carry this title and prostrate to capital, to profit, to greed. in that sense, they are surrenderers of hustle, of wants, of material, of complacency, of desire, of ego, of nafs. yet and still, somehow, and in some way, this path may help them. so, the name may help breed a consciousness. it may not. 

seems like the spider lays out how there is more to a path than a name, then an outfit. back in the day, for me and some of my friends, being a revolutionary meant wearing fatigues, army jackets and checkered scarves that blended with crisp jeans and timberlands. our che and fidel and malcolm and subhash chandra bose, and mukti bahini, were a walk down the cat walk of the subways and blocks and meetings and parties and outdoor concerts we attended. there's more to revolution, to real transformation, be it polticial or spiritual, then a look.

this moving past maya, this going beyond a title, this practice of surrender beyond rote and evidence of tradition, is essential to our growth, because it serves us in a much deeper way.

29: whoever strives, strives for himself - ALLAH is independent of His Creation. 

essential to the process of spirituality is struggle. the nominal, those on the surface, seek complacency. nothing is got so easily. health requires work. the work involves struggle. but neither are bad. neither are painful. they feel it because we like the remote control. 

i'll tear the house upside down before i get up and physically change a channel. need that remote. we want what's easy. what's easy doesnt serve us. health requires movement, requires work, stretch, physical exercise of the body - this may happen through farming, building, creating, or it may happen through jogging, dance, etc.

work leads us to a deeper place, and the work never ends. at first, and every day there is that at first, there may be a sense of i'll just skip it today, there may be a dread, but that subsides during the course of practice, as the work deepens and the sweat oozes out in bursts, until a downour. the baptism happens in the finish. and then all over again. the end never ends. 

ALLAH is that which cannot be created nor destoryed, no beginning no end. we are all a part of what comprises this infinite spirit...but if ALLAH is indpenedent of us, why would we need to strive? for who? for what? for the balance of life, for the next generation, for the reincarnation into and away from the karma that keeps us stuck in the whell of mundane existence. 

29;10 some profess to believe in God, but when they suffer in the cause, they confuse the persectuion of man for the persectuion of God.

we are quick to say all praise is due - alhamdulillah - when things are good, when things work in our favor. but what if they are unfavorable? this is the true test. but: what if sweatshop? crazy boss, oppresive family relations, despotic disrespectfu neighbors? then all praise is due for the opp to get deeper, to go beyond the violence. this is observable. 

the path of surrender is a science. it is a spiritual science. spirituality is a science. the truth is at once subjective and objective. it is where individual experience of a planet, is met with an elliptical orbit. destiny and volition. 

because we are often in spaces of confusion, of lacking clarity on what to do, what we should do in different situations, we go with our senses, we go with repression, we go with indvidual desire. but truth is, there is a course to the orbit, and neither repression, nor individual desire, will get us there. 

29:18 if you reject the truth, other communities before you have also rejected the truth. the messengers job is only to covey the message clearly.

the enlightened, those who've managed to completely surrender, who've given their soul body mind and heart over to the Essence, they have brought forth messages, prescriptions, of a course of action that is malleable, that exist like any scientific or mathematic rule. they are principles and these principles can be derived at after pages upon pages of problem solving, or after a couple lines....

you, my, our rejection, is nothing new. our forefathers have practiced rejection. we have examples in history. nothing new. we have examples throughout time of good and evil, of greed, lust for power, materialists, rationalizers, and conversely, also of Lovers, the humble, the diligent in building community, the caretakers...most of us exhibit tendencies of both, like colors - shades of grey. the goal is to reach, to aspire, through struggle, through not just the words of the messenger, but the dna of their actions, the example they've left behind.

29:20 tell them: roam the earth and see how ALLAH originated creation. Then ALLAH will bring into being your second life.

this is one of the secrets of the Qur'an. to me it is. the language is simple. the request is authentic. and the truth made clear: observe nature; spend time in nature. 

29: abraham said: you have taken up the worship of idols instead of God to promote friendship amongst yourselves in the present life. 

and, ALLAH reminds us, earlier in this passage: You have no friend or helper besides ALLAH

all will pass. all life comes to a pass, as part of the very definition of life as change. 

is there anything you have ever seen that is not subject to change? these past 10 years i've seen many family friends pass on - aunties, uncles, cousins...tears were shed...with time they are a memory and a part of our fabric, but we continue. somehow. 

i have seen able bodied become disabled, the strong become weak, with age, with the passing of time, with accidents, the accumulation of poor dietary choices, with the ptsd of institutional racism, xenophobia, islamophobia, third-class-citizenism. 

in times of doubt, there will be times of doubt, use the prescriptions the great medicine man, the prophet. 

29:45 recite what has been revealed to you and pray regularly. surely prayer protects one from indecency and evil, and rememberance of ALLAH is greater. 

rememberance, humility, keeps us humble, keeps us constantly in a state of worship. the mevlevi order, the followers of sheik jallaluddin rumi, practice whirling. they become dervishes. what does it mean to whirl? 

to whirl is to circumambulate the kaaba, the kaaba is the house of adam, it is is the atom, and we particiapte in becoming the parts of the atom during hajj...this process synchopates us with the divine energy...the dervishes whirl does the same. 

the dervish whirls around the centerpiece, the heart, the heart is the only part of our body that is naturally in rhythmicity, in tune with the percussion of the Universe, and as a result, other parts of our body pulse. where does this rhythm come from? this percussion is in tune with the Great Harmony. 

remember, fulfilling purpose is the act of falling into surrender, hence the prescriptions, lest we forget, lest we leave room for our egos to crawl forth like bacteria and colonize our minds...for it cannot colonize the soul...lest we grow distracted and head towards the path of attachments to that which isn't real...we are afterall running our hands through water....time and space...

to grow in the prescriptions, seek a teacher, a mentor, one who is humble, one who is a real doer, seek out the books, the sum total. read scripture. 

scripture is a pre-requsiite to the practice of medicine in the tradition. my dada, the medicine man, like most of the medicine men i've come across in India, bangladesh, are versed in scripture. 

29:46.Say: we believe in what has been revealed to you and what has been revealed to us. Our God and yours are one and the same

ALLAH requires us to go beyond even the names that we have for the One, they are unimportant. What is important is to worship. This happens through Love, humility, work.

work, be purposeful in the work. go beyond the emotion. witness the ego's repsonse to situations, to words, to acceptance, rejection, and go beyond it. go beyond by staying focused on Purpose. your purpose is why you are here. it is more than career, subsistence, babylon-status/success. work...the work happens through meditation, prayer, dikr...

surah 28: the story iii

28:78 korah was one of moses' men, but he behaved arrogantly towards him.

korah had the house the keys and the car. you couldn't divorce korah from the house the keys and the car. the gold, the luxuries. 

thing is, korah didn't know that none of it was his. that, as much as he might've clung to these materials like ashwariyah rai clutching her million dollar sari shoes and diamonds in bollywood awards, like pharoahs burying royal cats and regalia, none of it would come with him/them; like me looking murderous when the chick in the train stepped on my spanky fresh baby blue suede pumas. 

inna illahe wa innaillahe rajun.

all praise and blessings for the dead. rest in peace. become peace as you metamorphosize into quartz and jade and hematite like dinosaur teeth and bones in utah mountains. 

was at the museum of the dinosaur the other day. much of the museum is dedicated to geology, as this is the field in which the clues to past life exists. we  are of course forever, eternal, infinite, in that energy is that which cannot be created nor destroyed. our bones, teeth, becomes rock, forms platinum and diamonds and copper and silver. our  flesh becomes soil, roots, tree trunk, branches, apples, mangoes, coconut water.

status is invisible-materialism. it is the haunt of today. it is what we in the modern world adorn like chains. i am a film-maker, i am an english teacher, i am a producer, i am a musician, i am a doctor, i am a dancer, i am a barrista, i am a medicine man... of course, it's all about intention, when this i am is explicated. 

you and i are more than these labels we seek legitimacy from, from others, like cocktail conversation. cocktail convo is superficial, on the surface, meaningless tidbits. get deep. have dhal and bhat and stay the night. get drunk on poetry of authors not you. play music and jam in communion, to dissolve. close your eyes. 

ah, the human ego...we lust to be korah. he becomes our subject of worship - ah, if i were just like bikram or iyengar in this yoga thing - making money, getting flown all over the world, having big cars, big houses, big harems...

idols are more than statues. in tthis sense, many who delve this path of surrender (islam), especially by rote, are idol-worshippers. worshipping gold, and fabric, and sunglasses, degrees, titles, words, and the celbrities and models that pose in magazines, tv, songs to lure you in. 

the language of this neverending story, al qasas (the story), reminds us, is that the only true language that can absolve us of babel, is Soul. Soul is the language of the Essence, of the Lover. Love. 

28:77. But seek, with that (wealth) which Allah has bestowed on you, the home of the Hereafter, and forget not your portion of legal enjoyment in this world, and do good as Allah has been good to you, and seek not mischief in the land. Verily, Allah likes not the Mufsidun (those who commit great crimes and sins, oppressors, tyrants, mischief-makers, corrupts).

the choice of the term legal, as a means of enjoying this mundane realm is pivotal to understand clearly otherwise, the term and concept gets hijacked by the greedy, those seeking to rationalize their blood money, their hoarding, their sustaining the pillars of the babylon caste system. 

"legal enjoyment in this world" is abiding by the laws that governs the entirety of life, that which all other animals are in tune with and in turn abd'ullah's (in bondage to the One) to. in a phrase, this concept is to live by the laws of nature, to "live simply, so others could simply live", as gandhi put it. 

the law for the Lover is to Seek in every one, the One. to worship, in every one, the One, to flirt with compassion and fearlessness, with the water, with the steering wheel, with these words that are only bound by

        space

and 

....

and.....and....

                                shhhhhhhhhhh....

....mmmm...mmmm...

                                                                          outstanding...

.......you...You...are outstanding...

surah 28: the story ii

bismillah hirahma niraheem...

what does it mean to surrender (islam)?

28:7. And We inspired the mother of Musa (Moses), (saying): "Suckle him [Musa (Moses)], but when you fear for him, then cast him into the river and fear not, nor grieve. Verily! We shall bring him back to you, and shall make him one of (Our) Messengers."

story of moses, story of moses, story of moses. the layer. the hidden layers. hidden in plain sight "for those who think" - another repetition in the qur'an - "for those who think". 

plain sight was hidden from me when i read this before. read it again. heard the soul of islam podcast on moses. if you haven't checked this podcast out yet, do so. they are tapping in to surrender (islam) and speak on sattvic topics in a sattvic frequency to facilitate our tuning in. not an easy thing to do for a people (surrenderers - muslims) under every surveillance camera and spot light recording the number of times islam, ALLAH, salam, muhammad, are mentioned. enough times sets off the pre-programmed drones aiming at your sister's wedding. 

moses' mom gave up her son. but she did so with the math that the path of surrender taught her. there was a hunt for every jewish boy born that month. pharoah was tapped in to a realm as well. there are layers to this spirit thing. other dimensions exist. the realm of idols is real. everything has a spirit/energy to it. by over-emphasizing this spirit in place of the One, idolizing, idol-worshipping occurs. sun-worship, moon-worship, mountain-worship. of course. 

of course, the sun, moon, oceans, trees are worthy of worship. these elements sustain us. but they are only component parts of the One. not the One. the prophet muhammad was constantly reminded of this in his revelation of the word. hence, no pictures please. hence the forgoing of kingship, when people requested he be their ruler. there's only al Aziz, Shahanshah - King of kings. otherwise, idols. idolizing. celebrities. gossip. he said, she said. what's beyonce going to wear to the bet awards? is brad pitt really still with angelina?  

we deify and get misguided. river spirits, tree spirits, spirits of people who get passed on, become deities, become the subject of prostration. of course. i believe, they should be bowed down to (hence vegeterian/veganism, living simply) but jut as all beings and life should - sun, moon, stars, planets, oceans, bees, crosw, bears, mongolians, uzbekistani's, masai, hopi, celtics...but all are only manifestations of the One.

moses' mother, knowing the math (complete surrender to the One), had a choice. the choice was between moses potentially getting murdered shortly after birth, and risking this by devising some plot to eschew this fate, or to seek Guidance from the Guide, and listen and act. the Guide gave the message to let moses float and to trust, to do this without a trace of fear. 

when was the last time you totally surrendered? what was the message you got? how did you act on it? what was the result? 

i hardly ever totally surrender. i do practices to get me there. i am hoping to get to this place...insh'ALLAH...

this story, this repeated story, only serves to legitimate previous scriptural stories that were intended to serve as a guide. surah 28 tells us that the qur'an serves as universal truth, not for any one group of people but for all. but just as the torah and moses were rejected by the israelites, the people that the prophet muhammad (s.a.w) faced, also disbelieved, and ironically asked for a book like the torah.

28:48. But when the truth has come to them from Us, they say: "Why is he not given the like of what was given to Musa (Moses)? Did they not disbelieve in that which was given to Musa (Moses) of old? 

28:49. And who is more astray than one who follows his own lusts, without guidance from Allah? 

we need guidance. 

who is your Guide? who do you turn to for direction in your life decisions? who tells you what you may not want to hear, but whose advise will guide you on the straight path, not the path of those who go astray. isn't this what surrenderers constantly repeat in every salat? 

yesterday, i was listening to the persian national music ensemble. they performed a concert to celebrate rumi. the host artist, narrated the path of spirituality, by way of interpreting the guidance of the sheik rumi. the narrator-artist,  refers to guides, as arif-ullah. 

arif-ullah's are one's that all of us should be around, the narrator said. an arif-ullah is one who knows ALLAH.

in the absence of an arif-ullah are the scriptures. but scripture could be misinterpreted, easily misunderstood, especially for those, whom ALLAH refers to as having seals in their hearts. this arrogance of being leads to easy rejection, simplification, dismissal of the spiritual process. 

28:49. Say: "Then bring a Book from Allah, which is a better guide than these two [the Taurat (Torah) and the Qur'an], that I may follow it, if you are truthful."

28:50. But if they answer you not then know that they only follow their own lusts. And who is more astray than one who follows his own lusts, without guidance from Allah? Verily! Allah guides not the people who are Zalimun.

in the absence of a guide, a true guide in the spiritual process, one who is hidden and seeks no fame, one who knows, the sensory individual operates from his/her personal conveniences, desires, attachments...in a word senses.

the vedas, the rishis, the boddhisatvas, jesus, moses, and muhammad, all warn about placing too much attachment on the senses. in the epic scripturally-based movie, the matrix, the spy in the revolution of morpheus, of those fighting the world of illusion - the matrix - says during a dinner he is having at a fancy restaurant, in which he reveals secret info of the movement - "i know this is not real, but it tastes and feels so good". thus ramadhan, thus a requisite process of getting away from the senses, not just food...

among yogis, asana practice serves not to impress others with stunts, nor grow into a washboard 6-pack, but to grow so deep in Ishwara (the One), and through this process, the body ceases to be in pain in what may appear as otherwise painful positions. 

there is no quick-fix to yoga. no muscles in 7 days. it takes months, sometimes years to get into some asanas. 

often times, so-called self-proclaimed spiritualists/sufis in my life, make up rules as they go, on how they don't need to fast, or pray, or how they are not into dating, except they will date when someone shows interest in them that they find hot. they are, as chris rock put it during a stand-up he gave on relationships - "a man is only as good as his options." i often find both the modern man and women to be this way. so, i'd say the masculinzation of gender, has equalized the sensory driven unaccountable individualist. 

it's easy to be unaccountable. everything in our society propels us towards a hyper-individualism, while the more progressive of us toss around words like community and romanticize village cultures...but what practices are you engaging in to tame your beast - your senses - your ego? who do you listen to? and i don't mean a celebrity artist. and i don't mean during your once a month meditation workshop, or 6 month visit to the mosque/church/temple to hear a sermon, or a weekend retreat on spirituality, or....

convenience. 

how do you stay accountable? who do you really listen to? 

who is the arif-ullah in your life? 

surah 28: al-qasas: the story

the story of moses again. the story of a prophet with a warning and an oppressor. the story of the fight against injustice. the story of corruption. the story of an activist, a revolutionary, and a revolution. the story of the inevitable fall from deceit, power, corruption, ego.

the story is verified by the Ultimate. the Ultimate, ALLAH, is ALL. thus a We, appears. the We is repeated. the repitition is rhythmic, We did this and We gave pharoah that and We guided...

who is the We? the We is the One, the paradox of the non-dual entity - time and space - a lifetime and generations. the We is me and you and her and him and...the We is what is already known, what was written. the story was already written. predestiny. and it could change. scripture is living, breathing, and none of us are above what is written, even in our own rewriting, revising of it...profound...oxymoron...paradox...paradigm...

28:5 And We wished to do a favour to those who were weak (and oppressed) in the land, and to make them rulers and to make them the inheritors,

28:6. And to establish them in the land, and We let Fir'aun (Pharaoh) and Haman and their hosts receive from them that which they feared.

28:7. And We inspired the mother of Musa (Moses), (saying): "Suckle him [Musa (Moses)], but when you fear for him, then cast him into the river and fear not...

in all views, literal or figurative, the exegesis appears to be the same. there is a hand involved in our actions, whatever we do, even if it's to take a different course of action than the one you feel is laid out for you, only happens because the We allowed it to.why is the greater mystery, the greater riddle.

i chose to move upstate, but was considering bmore, or india. but ended up here. for now. the We allowed it. i wouldn't be here without breath, without a nose, eyes, limbs, etc. this priori knowledge is independent of ethics. our choices are the ethics and they have consequences. action, reaction. karma.

our actions are known, in this sense, are determined in this regard, but they are not necessarily in alignment. in fact, often they are out of alignment, and when they are, they are met accordingly - obesity, heart disease, lung cancer, etc. when they are aligned...unstoppable, invincible, because at this point, you have surrendered, and in doing so, moving with the feet of the One. 

28: 35. Allah said: "We will strengthen your arm through your brother, and give you both power, so they shall not be able to harm you, with Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.), you two as well as those who follow you will be the victors."

28: 36. Then when Musa (Moses) came to them with Our Clear Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.), they said: "This is nothing but invented magic. Never did we hear of this among our fathers of old."

our aspiration, the story makes clear, should be driven by this harmonizing into the Harmony. whatever happens at that point is okay, because you are no longer bound by the disharmony of the great maya.

surah 27: al naml: the ant ii

salih was sent to his brother thamud as a warner. how does a brother warn another? the same way malcolm little was warned by his brother, when he was incarcerated. malcolm's brother sent him a letter exposing him to Light, to a different path, one of truth, known as islam, and taught by a sheik by the name of elijah muhammad. 

often times, during conversations with friends, i find myself and others distraught with issues plaguing the world. there are fingers pointed at corporations that frack, exploit land and people, treat the earth as a dumping ground. yet, ironically, we are eating off disposable plates, and have huge piles of meat at our bbq, and blasting biggie talkign about robbing and how much head he gets, and all the gucci he wears, and we are rocking leather shoes and fresh new white-tees, and we are going out to eat at a restaurant later that week, that is supposed to have the best sweet potato fries, but none of us know the restaurant owner/s, the chefs, etc, and our father is doing such and such and our brother is buying this and that, and our sister is shopping at the big exploiter, and our mother is watching tv all day and alone most of the time...

so, talk to your Self, and talk to your family. a warning doesn't mean you know and they don't and stepping on stage and pontificating for an hour. it means building a relation, of sharing what you know, what light has been made available to you, and then trouble-shooting together of how to come out of the dark ways you and your family have been practicing. 

this may be met with arrogance and dismissal and quarrel. that's okay. keep on. 

keep engaging the way salih did with his family, by questioning, by interrogating:

27:46 He said: "O my people! why ask ye to hasten on the evil in preference to the good? If only ye ask Allah for forgiveness, ye may hope to receive mercy.

the risk that we and our family face is Life. every species, my pathology teacher tells me, has one sole biological purpose, and that is to survive, to propagate. if we can understand this, than we understand the mythology of a disease being wiped away, i.e. small pox, tuberculosis. hence the resurgence of these diseases right here in the modern/western/sanitized world. they take on new forms.

we risk extermination as a species, which would be sad, as we have so much potential for Greatness. our actions are immediately on a scale. not figuratively, but literally. our trial is based on what we do and don't do. our silence is an action. and this scale resides within us, because all of us know, understand our actions. salih reminds his brother and people of this, when they reject the omen, as one that he devised: 

27:48. He said: "Your ill omen is with Allah. yea, ye are a people under trial."

the trial may be overlooked by those whose senses have gotten the better of them, which is most of us, at varying levels. lust quenched, doesn't satiate, but leads to greater lust. there are a few that hold much of the oath, this is the cry of the wallstreet occupation movement last year. but that virus of greed resides in more than a 1%. it is epidemic. these schemes that we carry, hurt, have consequences, and are not without Witness.

the nine men of a single family who sought to loot and deceive the town of salih, were themselves faced with themselves: 

27: 50 - 53 They plotted and planned, but We too planned, even while they perceived it not.  Then see what was the end of their plot!- this, that We destroyed them and their people, all (of them).Now such were their houses, - in utter ruin, - because they practised wrong- doing. Verily in this is a Sign for people of knowledge. And We saved those who believed and practised righteousness.

literally, this more often than not, does not add up in our day to day realities. the greedy, the hoarders, whatever class they are in, usually get away with mayhem. so going beyond the literal, the concept of action reaction, of karma, of consequence, in the context of an evermore, of a no beginning, no end, can be understood on a nucleic level, on a dna level, on the level that we continue with this karma through our children and their children who suffer, who carry this hurt. and they themselves are destroyed internally, eating more, drinking more, running and running and running away from the Truth.

surah 27: al naml: the ant

the ant begins with a summation of what the purpose of the Qur'an is - a Guide: 

27:1-7 These are verses of the Qur'an -a book that makes (things) clear; A guide: and glad tidings for the believers. Those who establish regular prayers and give regular charity, and also have (full) assurance of the hereafter. As to those who believe not in the Hereafter, We have made their deeds pleasing in their eyes; and so they wander about in distraction. Such are they for whom a grievous Penalty is (waiting); and in the Hereafter theirs will be the greatest loss. As to thee, the Qur'an is bestowed upon thee from the presence of one who is wise and all-knowing."

The surah goes on to state the reminders of the prophets who have come before and who have been rejected, just as the prophet muhammad has come and is facing rejection from many at that moment of time and space...

there is a rhythmic repetition of this story from surah to surah to surah - prophets came with a message, inspired by signs and the Guidance; they were rejected...prophets came with a message, inspired by signs and the Guidance; they were rejected...prophets came with a message, inspired by signs and the Guidance; they were rejected...prophets came with a message, inspired by signs and the Guidance. they were rejected...

but each time, the stories are told a little differently...each time there is something new, a hidden message, if you pause, which at times, i find myself wont not to do, skimming instead. reminded myself to pause, and found a secret science i have to bring to an arif-ullah - one who knows ALLAH...

27:16 And Solomon was David's heir. He said: "O ye people! We have been taught the speech of birds, and on us has been bestowed (a little) of all things: this is indeed Grace manifest (from Allah.)

there is some hidden math here. what is it? so connected is solomon with ALLAH, that he has tapped potential beyond human limitations and has arrived at a place in which language is interspecies. he has become One with the One, at once with and yet more than any one particular subject - person, animal, tree, etc.

solomon's army consists of humans, birds, djinn. their march is revered by Life. the ants in their own march recognize the av pulse, the rhythm of the heart, that solomon has tapped into. their queen's order to clear a path, to her own army, is heard by solomon.

as he accounts for his army, solomon notices that one of the birds is missing, the hoopoe. the hoopoe arrives late with the news that there is a queen who resides over a people who worship the sun.

the issue here is not the worship of the sun, as the sun is our source of so much, and without it, we do not exist. but this can be said about water, and air, and earth, as well. thus, the issue is that the sole worship of the sun, diverts the worshipper from revering the Supreme from which all Life manifests. 

in fact, the five daily prayers are calculated by the Great Calculator of the music of the Universe - the One. 

fajr occurs right before dawn, to pay homage to the sun and earth and orbit, but, yet, it is not at dawn, so as not to confusing this prostration to solely the sun. the same can be said about maghrib, which is prayed just as the sun comes down and there is still some light in the sky. the times of prayer are precise, aligned with the Great Harmony, and not a clock. anyone anywhere can align with this harmony in any period of time, whether it be summer winter, fall, 2015 or 1174. 

like the Grace manifest, that solomon accomplished in his fearless, purpose driven humility, all of us are capable of this. solomon, like moses, like jesus, like muhammad, were men. enlightened men, but ordinary human beings who tapped into a humility so great, that dissolution.

in this tradition of islam - surrender - the language of the ants, birds, bengali's, tamils, cambodians, nigerians, berbers, rivers, oceans, rivers, lakes, oaks, redwoods, sycamore, mars, pluto, jupiter, etc - the language of the universe - becomes clear as Grace manifest. every single being divine, and glorious, and all a part of the Sum.

surah xxvi: al shu'ara: the poets

ashadhu allillaha illalahu...

the title of this surah is provoking to me. catapulted by words...poets like abdul wahab, nazim hikmet, kazi nazrul, suheir hamad, tony medina, pablo neruda, emily dickinson... poetry has been my movement, moved into gasp, quiet tears...

in the beginning of this surah, ALLAH addresses the prophet directly, providing empathy...words that go beyond emotional, that require thought into a scientific process...

26:2 These are the verses of the book that make things clear. It may be that you will destroy yourself with grief because they will not believe 26:3 but if We had so willed, We could have sent down to them a sign from the heavens so that there heads would be bowed down before it in utter humility."

the clarity resides in the being, in witnessing. the scripture is in the skies and the earth, and the firmament, as ALLAH, constantly makes clear. but for those who are in doubt, who are deceived by the senses into believing what their taste buds say, then the Word, the Qur'an, is available. 

the depth of 26:2/3 is more than the literal, more than ALLAH reaching down from the clouds with His omni-present hand, and shoving people into the ground. that would be un-scientific. that would require a great deal of blind faith. that would make a good story. but both the sunnah, the practice of the prophet, and the word, the Qur'an, amke clear, over and again, that this is a mathematic. this math is illustrated in the writing and the art. geometrics. 

the reminder here, is that the heavens, which is the ether, which all planets, stars, comets, orbit in surrender, as the fabric of life, and our emergence, could have been different. could've been that we, through the process of evolution were goat, or cow, or ant, or hawk...all of whom are in surrender to the One, and thus have their head bowed.  except for us. we were made human. this is the rub...why? what is our purpose as humans? why were we made such?

we survived the wilderness through our ability to think, to manipulate our environment. instead of being crushed by the much stronger beasts of wild, we managed to out-think them. yet somehow, this led to an arrogance, a greed, a lust...thus the need for order, for law, for a reminder that there is a law to nature, to the food chain. a tiger runs after the wildebeest, they all run, all of them. then the tiger attacks and catches its prey.  they all stop running. why? the tiger is not a babylon soldier wantonly killing everyone in sight. nor is the tiger the average human with some disposable income, eating meat with every meal, or every day. the tiger takes what it needs and the wildebeest understand this. 

so, we forgot to live. being human, has led us to forget, and thus messengers.

26:5 Whenever there comes to them any fresh warning from the Merciful, they always turn their backs on it.

the remainder of this surah expounds on the stories of the messengers of the past from the criterion and many of the other previous surahs: moses and aaron, noah, ad and thud, lot, and shuyab.

none of these messengers came as vigilantes, with big plots to save humanity, and become success stories that could be championed in yoga magazine and oprah. they came with great guidance from ALLAH, through deep meditation, and humility, and constant Surrender. in fact, they were met with the utmost adversity, and were only able to persevere, because they were in profound alignment with Truth. each step of the way they asked, they prayed, they feared, and placed their fear aside to do from the place of One.

the One, the Source, has been the modus operandi of the messengers. they would be obtaining the opposite of success in a babylon sense. they would be celebrated as the issue, the problem, scum...yet and still they did. fearlessly, 

26:50-54 so fear God, and obey Me. do not obey the bidding of those who are given to excesses - those who spread corruption in the land, instead of putting things right.

yet we are constantly prostrating to jay z and madonna, and bruno mars and wiz khalifa, and sharukh khan, and ashwariya rai, and french montana, and donald trump and puff daddy, and j lo...we make excuses for them and see them as heroes because they went from rags to riches. they become models of the story that you too could hit the lottery and own mansions that could be on cribs, and own your own private jets and cruise ships. 

the process of gaining success is to go from arrogance and mis-guidance to humility and surrender through purposeful work to serve the universe. instead we give energy to those who spread corruption. and these our are role models?

these celebrity figures, the ones with catchy songs that have young men grabbing their crotch, and young women revealing any cleavage they can show, that has grown men and women acting like kids... these celebrities are in this context, the poets. 

26:228 and as for the poets, it is the misled who follow them. 

each of the stories on these messengers makes clear how deeply committed they were to justice, not because they were into politics, but because justice is derived from ALLAH, justice is the natural order of things, is the Great Balance. injustice, imbalances, leads us into the state where we are rationalizing all our luxuries, things we may not even view as luxuries...injustice is making excuses for the golden calf, like you and your family are somehow exempt from the Great Balance, like you occupy an exceptionalism. 

when lot was questioned by his people of his motives, he responded: my reward is only with the Lord of the Universe (26:180). 

what were his people suspicious of? that they needed to maintain Balance, by being accountable to one another, by thinking beyond themselves and their own desires.

26:181-185 give full measure and cause no loss to others. weigh with correct scales: do not defraud people of what is rightfully theirs. 

this is the message that appears over and over, in every generation, and with the great height of arrogance, has become more deeply demonized, to the point that none of us want to bang with truth, because the house, the car, and the dog...becasue, the flatscreen, and the status, and what will the family, friends, etc, say, think...

the option to live humbly, in truth, in alliance with the path of spirit - justice - is made clear. you have choice. you can follow the aforementioned messengers, or you can keep bopping your head to the great illusion. 

surah xxv: the criterion

the criterion is the qur'an, a scripture with the sole purpose, as one sheik put it in a sermon i attended: to eclipse your ego, so you could know ALLAH.

the surah makes clear tawhid - the One-ness, that there is no one but One. hence the word of departure in interchanges in 80's, 90's, 2000's nyc went from salam (peace) to tawhid (one). the streets know, from a place of thirst for  deeper meaning than the devil's pie.

the mathematics of existence is made unmistakeable in this Surah: it is ALLAH who has created all things and measured them out precisely. the Great Mathematician.

even with the math, the criterion tells us: those whose hearts are sealed, deny. they deny so the prophet is told during this moment of divine intervention, to tell the people that this revelation was revealed by the Being "who knows every secret between heaven and earth." 

could you fathom this? there are the secrets only you know and have kept hidden about your deeds/self. there are secrets only those closest to you know. but do you know the secrets of everyone in your family? block? the trees, bees, dolphins, pigeons, wildebeest, obis', polar bears, chakma, altai, dogon, ancient egyptians and sumerians and babylonians, and brontasaurus, and t-rex, and saturn and mars....

21. those who do not expect a meeting with us...they are too proud oft hemselves and have greatly exceeded all bounds...22...and we shall take all they did and turn it into scattered dust.

can this be denied? whatever degrees you have, however many material gains you may have obtained, whether that be houses, cars, brand named shades and purses, and jeans and kicks, and hats...all the tasty storehouse of jams and nuts, and munchies you have...none of it lasts. u ultimately...u meaning this body u r in, become ash...inna illahe, wa inna illahe...from ALLAH we emerge, to ALLAH we coalesce...

33. the qur'an was revealed in a gradual manner so as to build up and strengthen the hearts of people. wouldnt this be true today as well. go slow...work up through practice....ramadhan is a practice, a deep one, in non-attachment from the senses.

the process of removal takes time. most of us dive into it, and go through a period of hunger and then eating. even still, it is a deep experience. but to go deeper, delve gradually, one thing at a time. perhaps take out intimacy for a while first, then meats, then...the training is longer lasting in this way, holds an imprint in our mitochondria...

but even with the previous warnings, the criterion reminds us, there has been denial. the denial was met with consequences, the drowning during the era of noah (25:36), the people of moses (25:35) were met with destruction as were the people of ad and thamud (25:38)...but is God's response really so immediate? is it so literal? do these things happen so quickly? a messenger comes, warns the people, some accept, some deny. those who deny may even go to great measures to debunk the messenger, and continue in their wanton materialistic ways. then God shows up with doom. is that what is meant here? literally, it appears to be the case. but science shows me otherwise. there is no proof for this just intervening God character in my lifetime. the wolves get away with bloodshed and pass off as the sheep. it's constant. yet, no big flood to take them out. no rain of comets to incinerate them. 

what's the deeper meaning here? that for those who deny, and are arrogant in their denial, the consequence is they drown in their own misery, they burn in their own hell, because they are faced with truth. that truth resides within them. so when moses came with guidance, when noah came to warn, they were just figures who represented what was at the core of the people around them  - a mirror. in denying, the people of the time gave credence to the greater whisperer -  shaitan - ego - idols. the idols were the senses, the tastebuds, genitals, waterbeds, silk shirts, and gold medallions. yet, this only hurt and furthered the denier's soul from Essence. 

the stories of previous warners serve as an example of what may happen. it serves to perhaps keep people who are resistant to humility and given to materialism, and arrogance, something to fear, to keep them in line. but why would this even conceivably work? because none of us live forever. because there is a great unknowing, and in that unknowing is the place where our brain meets our spirt. herein, questions engage a process of wrangling with what is undeniable - truth. 

these stories may be just fables. fables carry morals. aesop's and grimm's tales serve the function of bringing forth a morale. these tales exist in bangli/indian/desi culture as well. my grandmother told my brother not to waste food when we were shorties. to drive this point home, she related a story of a grain of rice that was thrown away, and how it went to the heavens to complain to God, who then made it cloudy and thunder and storm. the tale instilled a value in my brothers and i that have stuck. the literal accuracy of whether a grain of rice went to the heavens or not is unimportant.

but what are the consequences then, for those who are destructive towards others, the earth, themselves? the criterion, lays down the science of Air Land Liquid Atmosphere Heat:

"it is ALLAH who sends the winds as heralds of his mercy. and we send down pure water from the sky so may bring life to a dead land." (25:47/48)

the remainder of the surah provides other such math, of nature, of the karmic action involved in nature, and the profound science and interdependent discourse involved in the existence of all life.

this discourse of ALLAH is so unfathomable, and yet, at once scientific, that evolution, as understood by modern science, is made clear - "it is He who made man from water..." 

nature is in conversation. action reaction. land without rain = drought. rain on land without sun = flood and ice. 

"man from water...". we are a part of a process that has been always. what is the Source? the One from which all Life emanates, who has no beginning or end...

...so "put your trust in the One who is Ever-Lasting, who never dies..." (25:58) 

the science is clear, for anyone who is a skeptic, like myself, of blind faith. ALLAH is the Source, the Great Scientist who through the evidence of science, of that which can be observed, of that which is tangible, verifies the role, the Source:

"Exalted is He who put constellations in the Heavens, a radiant lamp and an illuminating moon - it is He who made night and day succeed each other, a sign for those who would take heed and be greatful." (25:61) 

why is it important to be greatful? because existence is so delicate that the sun not coming up for a few days may ruin the entire market of foods, may leave us so hungry that cannibalism.

how can we be greatful? 

"the servants of the Gracious One are those who walk through the earth with humility and when they are addressed by the ignorant ones, their response is: Peace; and those who spend the night prostrating themselves..." (25:63) "and those who are neither extravagant nor cheap, but a balance between the two; those who never invoke any deity besides God, nor take a life, which God has made sacred, except with the right to do so, nor commit adultery." (25:68) 

our greatfulness is not a mystery, not just in the internal work of rememberance, but in the inside out of it, in all our deeds and actions. worship, is practical. spirituality is lived, in how we engage with ourselves and our community. and if we make a mistake, our goal becomes to repent, make amends, and be humble in moving forward...

...all praise is due...