Comments on Technology of the Heart: Blessings of the Month of Sha'ban and and Remembra...

Meanwhile we continue to ask His forgiveness fo...

2010-07-28T17:09:45.967+06:00
Meanwhile we continue to ask His forgiveness for our forgetfulness and may we be untired with Loving so that Hu might be Untired in covering us with Loving Forgiveness.

Sadiq, Sadiq, can you not see that in ‘asking forgiveness’ we perpetuate this forgetfulness, forgetfulness that there are not two - someone who seeks forgiveness and a Forgiver from who forgiveness is sought. There is only One - we can't ask that 'that Hu might be Untired in covering us with Loving', because the word Hu can never be used to describe a situation of duality, of an asker and an Asked.

This is the path of religion, forever caught in duality, of a worshipper and a Worshipped who, like the poles of a magnet, can never grow closer to each other. Because in every affirmation of this duality, they recreate each other as a duality.

"Verily, Almighty God has a wine for His friends, such that when they drink of it, they become intoxicated, and once they are intoxicated they become merry, and once they are merry, they become purged, and once they are purged they become melted down, and once they are melted down, they become purified, and once they become purified they arrive, and once they arrive they become united with the
Divine, and once they are united with the Divine there is no distinction between them and their Beloved."

Taste that wine, Sadiq, and forget all this nonsense about heaven and hell and nights of repeating prayers in languages that one barely understands and begging forgiveness for 'sins' that don't make any sense from a being that doesn't even exist.

‘They have drunk one sip of the pure wine and have become, at long last, real Sufis.’

Dear Sadiq, This is exactly on calling the Mother...

2010-07-28T12:55:32.425+06:00
Dear Sadiq,

This is exactly on calling the Mother that I insist, not on calling your own mind prejudices and imaginary beliefs.
Look around and see the Mother - she is all around, without and within, feel her luminous and loving presence, feel Her Divine Reality, do not look for her in the imaginary and false, but in the reality Here and Now, throbbing with life.
Look at the Mother lovingly and bow down to Her in deep respect and gratitude for all the beautiful nights and days she has blessed You with. Your awareness of Her Immediate All Pervading Reality and your gratefulness is your real calling the Mother.

Dear Sadiq, Thank you very much for this most int...

2010-07-28T07:09:44.644+06:00
Dear Sadiq,

Thank you very much for this most interesting post. I especially enjoyed how you opened up the meanings of the various invocations.

Kindest wishes,

mo'in

Walikum Salaam dear Manzoor, I am not that versati...

2010-07-28T00:04:58.523+06:00
Walikum Salaam dear Manzoor,
I am not that versatile in using Arabic on computer and also most of the audience here are western who mostly can not read Arabic. Hence its preferred to use English transliteration. Please forgive us for the inconvenience. I hope you can trace the original from the credit / reference and read from it Inshallah.

Dear James,
Good news is, this weariness, too, shall pass. Hope you can listen to "music" instead of reading these "wearing" sounding text.

Meanwhile we continue to ask His forgiveness for our forgetfulness and may we be untired with Loving so that Hu might be Untired in covering us with Loving Forgiveness.

Isn't the Reality a beautiful mirror reflecting that which we become conscious of and act upon?

Dear Helena,
Peace and Love to you too dear. I hope days are giving you enough rest and opportunity to "Remember".

Dear Aliya,
Some of us still prefer to be a little child who calls out to Mother lovingly longing for the Loving Embrace.

The cynics may say, "no need to call out Mother! Mother!, she will feed you when you need. She knows exactly your feeding routine."

The ecstatic lovers will say, That calling is the connection, that calling is the invisible thread of our love for and with the Source.

May the illumination be ours in invoking that Light.

Dear Aisha,
May your name of 'the blessed mother of the faithful' reward you with its baraka. Amen to your words. May the blessings of this night elevate your soul.

Dear Anonymous,
I read the article. I think the sources quoted and the view expressed is aligned to my personal take on the subject as well. Is it not far more better that someone would worship His Lord, contemplate and meditate in anticipation of seeking nearness of God than someone who would sleep neglecting and wasting a night?

As for the "nothing special" argument, the people of tasawwuf generally take the approach of every single opportunity to remember Him, every single blessed occasion to use it for more of Allah's servants to avail an opportunity to both come together and turning inward privately, to worship and remember Him.

This is inline with the Quranic instruction to seek means (wasila) to approach Allah.

O ye who believe! Be mindful of your duty to God, and seek the way of approach unto Him, and strive in His way in order that ye may succeed.
- The Quran 5:35

So what is the greatest duty? To acknowledge, know, worship and remember God. Seeking way of approaching Him - encompasses every single way possible to seek His Nearness.

May Allah complete our wisdom and save us from fruitless arguments that benefits us not.

Interesting. Some say there is nothing special att...

2010-07-27T16:19:59.942+06:00
Interesting. Some say there is nothing special attributed to the 15th Shaban, when the Prophet pbuh used to worship the 3 white days of each month, thus Allah swt descends to the lowest heaven every and each night. I am interested to know what you views are ont the following article please:

http://www.suhaibwebb.com/personaldvlpt/shaban-one-scholarly-perspective-by-dr-ali-gooma/

Dear Sadiq, You are a blessed soul. JazzakAllah an...

2010-07-27T16:13:26.799+06:00
Dear Sadiq,
You are a blessed soul. JazzakAllah and thankyou for all your pure and loving deeds of sharing knowledge and Truth. Lots of Duas.
Aisha.

This night or other night, they are all His; this ...

2010-07-27T12:42:18.489+06:00
This night or other night, they are all His; this day or other day, they are also all His.
Prayerfulness is needed, not prayer. There is nobody to pray to; there is no possibility of any dialogue between you and God. Dialogue is possible only between two persons, and God is not a person but a presence – like beauty, like joy.

God simply means godliness.

Martin Buber says prayer is a dialogue; then between you and God there is an ”I-thou” relationship – the duality persists. Buddha is far closer to the truth: you simply drop all chattering of the mind, you slip out of the mind like a snake slipping out of the old skin. You become profoundly silent.

There is no question of any dialogue, no question of any monologue either. Words have disappeared from your consciousness. There is no desire for which favors have to be asked, no ambition to be fulfilled. One is now and here. In that tranquility, in that calmness, you become aware of a luminous quality to existence.

Then the trees and the mountains and the rivers and the people are all surrounded with a subtle aura. They are all radiating life, and it is one life in different forms. The flowering of one existence in millions of forms, in millions of flowers.

THIS experience is God. And it is everybody’s birthright, because whether you know it or not you are already part of it.

“The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tear...

2010-07-27T10:58:31.873+06:00
“The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea.” - Isak Dinesen

If we are capacitated, let us call upon our Lord on this holy night with tears of shame, with acknowledgment of the spiritual bankruptcy of our being as compared to the elect of the elects, the truly righteous servants who are called as friends, as bride soul of Elohim, the Most High.

thank you dear Sadiq, i have enjoyed reading about...

2010-07-27T04:46:32.414+06:00
thank you dear Sadiq,
i have enjoyed reading about this special night: this is informative, and helps me understand things about prayer. very useful to people who dont know much about the meaning of the words in a prayer,
some intense and powerful words there,
peace and love,
Helena

You know, Sadiq, all this earnest talk of gaining ...

2010-07-27T04:44:55.713+06:00
You know, Sadiq, all this earnest talk of gaining forgiveness, winning paradise and avoiding hell, and all these endless litanies... it's all sounds very wearying.

I say, raise up the wineglass and drain it to its' lees, remembering Khayyam's words:

Ramadan's moon, I hear, rides high again.
Soon none may give new rein to hot desire;
Yet before Shaban ends, I shall have drunk
Sweet wine enough to float me through that Fast.

Asalam o alikum! Thank you for giving us informati...

2010-07-27T03:10:36.765+06:00
Asalam o alikum! Thank you for giving us information on this night of blessings, brother i have a small request can you write arabic sentences with arabic alphabets? I will help many of our brothers and sisters to read it properly.