Journey of life - part 4 - Awaken to the journey

Dear Friends,

Recap of Majlis 3: Acquiring the neutral perspective and stepping back a little

It seems that Sheikh Arif has had a little slap on his wrist. In good humour S. Arif says he has become frightened of his audience. This makes me laugh. It was to happen at some time in these 10 days. I really like fearless style of S. Arif. He states what he believes to be the truth. We are all blessed with intellect. It is up to us to embrace his ideas, reject them or modify them to fit our ideals. Talking about intellect and ignorance, the discussion begins with a look at definitions.

Growing seems to be a cycle to constant reflection, breaking away and building new parameters based on new learning and just when you think you have got it - reflect again.


What is ignorance?
Ignorance is not lack of knowledge.

Intellect and ignorance are two poles of human existence.

A hadith says, Allah made intellect. He asked him to move back, it did. He asked it to move forward, it did. Allah made ignorance. It asked it to move back, it did. He asked it to move forward - it did not.

Based on the understanding of the above hadith, Allah has created intellect and ignorance.

Ignorance is an attitude towards knowledge. It is non compliance with Allah. It is arrogance. It is restrictive.

Intellect is submission to Allah. It is compliance. It brings growth. It bring liberation and allows for people to live life in the most unlimited way.

Conceit and arrogance brings stagnation. If you praise people, it brings about stagnation as people get pleased with themselves.

When people are born, they are limited but their struggled is to get to the unlimited.

When we are immersed on our own ideas, it is hard to grow. To be able to grow, it is important to step back and look at things for what they are worth.

Step back - Acknowledge - Gain a new perspective - Move Forward

Alcohol is haraam. We focus on that. How much focus do we give to other issues of immorality?

What of cheating? What of lying? What of inhumanity? What of ungodliness? How much importance is given to these issues? Are we pained by the plight of the people?

We need to remove the idol we have created in our minds. This idol is not God. Once we have removed the idol, we are breaking the inner cage.

Once we do this, new perspectives open in our minds.

What was the intent of God - bring Adam to earth.
What did Shaitan do? He helped the purpose of Allah to bring Adam to the earth.
What did Adam do? He challenged what Shaitain said to him about the fruit.
What do we do? We challenge ideas.

Thanks to the Shaitan, we are now enjoying the earth and going on the our beautiful journey.

When the Prophet Mohammed came, he showed people the truth. Once people awakened to the truth, they changed. The once ignorant people became the most important sahaba of the prophet. What did they do? They awoke, stepped back and saw the truth and changed their perspective.

The prophet came as an outer prophet to bring out the inner prophet in us.

We have become reactionist today. Rather than bashing ideas that come from non Muslims, they embraced it. Knowledge is the lost property of a believer. Once we find it, we pick it up and learn from it.

We need to learn from those that know - believers or non believers. It is not us against them. It is just us!

Until manana, with love...

Journey of life -Part 3 - Break Away

Dear Friends,

Now into the third and fourth majlis of Sheikh Arif, I have found many similarities between his thouht processes and the NLP training we have undergone. I have to say again that Sheikh Arif is perhaps a born life coach. He asks some powerful questions but never really answers them. Until now I was always confused as to why he does not give us the answers but the real answer only comes from us as this is our journey.

He starts his majlis with a story of three people who all tell their perception of a little place. All three had a different view -first bein wonderful, second being good with some areas of improvement and third being awful. He then explains why their perceptions are different.

Three perceptions:

1st person - good from the inside and only saw good
2nd person - had preferences
3rd person - regressed soul

Powerful Question 1:
If I had a moment remaining to live, what should I to do?
Imam responded - acquire knowldege

If you change, the terms of your reality and hereafter will change

We are in a life of great opportunity - if you dont take it - it is a wasted opportunity.

Powerful question 2:
How do I take the journey?

When we come into this world, we awaken. When we awake, the journey begins. The journey is about makin sense of the world without a roadmap.

There is no one path - there are as many paths as the breaths that we take.

How to journey
No two things in the world are the same. All blades of grass are different etc. Everyone has their beautiful path to take. We need to look at nature to learn how to journey.

1. Everything is growing through removal of restriction. This brings liberation.
Humans cant help being restricted and conditioned.

2. Liberation needs zero presumptions.
We need to acquire a state of unbiasedness / neutral perspective

We lead our lives based on a presumptions and we view that as truth. We need to step back and reflect

Before we belive in a presumption, we first need to think and see if it makes sense to us and then commit to that message.

Reject the messages that do not make sense to you. Do not lead a life in biases.

More to come...

With Love...

The journey continues - part 2

Dear friends,
Today's discussion was a little confusing for me. There was some talk of Qiyamah and the differing view points of Qiyamah. The discussion then comes to our journey. From my understanding, the journey we take in this life will be a reflection of our Qiyamah.

But in my head I think the further I go in my journey, the more chances of me being wrong and more opportunities for me to be corrected. Sheikh Arif continues his discussion on why to expand and grow.

Here are some of my understandings of the majlis 2.

HUMANITY: We have misunderstood it. We judge and condemn people but really if we look at the prophet, he is praying for the kafirs and changes their perspective through kindness.

1 principle of life

1. I am the prime subject in life.
I am the author of my life.

When a person is created as an authour but lives as a slave, how strange is his life?
When a person is created to be a creator but lives in a cage, what a confined life that is?
We are the creators of the cage and we can change the cage.

I am the author of hell. There is no fire without the fuel that I bring.

S. Arif then discusses the many times Qiyamat has been discussed in the Quran. If is a rough guide book and giver of hope, why is there so much discussion on the consequences of our actions?

Quran is there to give hope and life. It is there to give freedom but we use it is a restrictive force. The quran which was a giver of heaven is now used to be a giver to hell.

Why is there so much obsession with the hereafter in the Quran?

In the journey of life, the hereafter, heaven and hell a part of this journey.

Differing points of Views
Surah Maadia - conversation with Allah and Isa. When Allah asks Isa if he did something wrong,
Isa says, "If I have done something you know what I have done better than me"

Surah Yaasin states that parts of the body will bear witness of the deeds.
People will say "I did not do this" and that is why other parts will bear witness.

Qiyamah is going to be a mighty thing. The descriptions of Qiyamah are very frightening.
On that day, when people are so scared, who will be able to lie to Allah?

But there will be people who will do so and that is what Surah Yasin is referring to. According to Arif, the image we have constructed of Allah in this world will be the image of Allah that will question us in the hearafter.

If we fail to grow in this journey of life, we will fail to grow in th hereafter.

We need to explore the journey of life now!

Here is what we do:
We are given a path and we just walk a few steps and are happy with the destination. However the path is full and expanding. We need to go on this full and expanding journey and go further than the few steps we are comfortable with.

The world never really changes but we can change. If we change, the reality of our world can change in our eyes.

Look at Hur - when he changes, the whole world changes for him. The circumsance is exactly the same, but the reality has changed for Hur.

We as human being have two challenges
1. Break away from our thought process
2. Be aware of our emotions

These are the things that are barring us to expand. A free man will not fear Allah.

The truth is mine. It is mine to find. My truth is my truth.

There is no truth that is true for two people

We need to be bold, courageous and free to be able to journey freely.

We are confined in our thoughts or our outlooks of life.

An individual should not underestimate/undermine themselves.

The discussion continues but my wondering mind refuses to focus. I wonder what the next lecture will bring...

With love...

The Journey of Life

Dear Friends,

I was inspired by my sister Shehnaaz to listen to majlis online.

After searching for my beloved Sheikh Arif, I finally found the majlises he is reciting. This year his topic is the "Journey of Life"

Here are some of the points he made. As always he has made me think and confused me. I would love to continue this discussion with you. Please feel free to leave a comment.

S.Arif begins by discussing how worthless we are in the grand scheme of life.

"There is no handbook to the journey of life. In the cosmos, we are so worthless but we gain worth through each other.

Like the lives of a particular "rain fly" who exist for but a few hours, we too only have a moment to live. We need to fulfill our purpose then die.

Allah is the architect in this life and we are the voyagers.

Should we waste our lives only worrying about halaal and haram? Can we combine this with a higher purpose?

S.Arif then begins to discuss the image of Allah. Who is Allah?

"Allah is a construct of our own minds. While we all follow Allah, we do not worship the same God as we have constructed the idea of God on our own minds through our limited experiences.

The more we explore, journey and extend, our understanding of Allah changes.

It is your journey - your journey has to make sense to you!

Why are we afraid to question? Will Allah be offended if we question? If Allah has given us the ability to question, then why would it be wrong to question?

What sort of God have you created in your mind?

Imam Hussein stated, "The only thing I have is myself and Yazid I will not give it to you." He refused to give his freedom to falsehood. Who do we give our freedom to?

The God we worship is not the same God that the prophets and Imams worshiped as we (through our limited experiences) have constructed in our minds a very mundane God.

Inshalla, if inspired tomorrow, I hope to send you a recap of what I learn tomorrow.

With love...

Muharram - gaining new perspectives

So it has been a while since I blogged. I make no excuses. Life happens.

It is now the end of 2010. I find myself trying to learn and gain nearness to Allah. What better time to do this then in the month of Muharram?

Let me set the scene:

My husband and I continue to dialogue about my lack of interest in going to mosque.

I make a choice - I sit at home, too tired to make it to mosque (which is only a 10 minutes journey away) and listen to my beloved Sheikh Arif and am filled with new perspectives. However all the while, I feel guilty for not going to mosque and neglecting my Muslim duty in this holy month.

So the next day I make another choice - I push myself out the house and make my 10 minute trek to the mosque, sit through a 35 minute lecture and all the while I am wondering, "Should I stay for urdu majlis?" "Should I stay to eat as I am hungry?" "How long will the mataam be?" 35 minutes later, I get into my car feeling guilty that I didn't stay at mosque long enough, that I didn't pay my dues, that my mind wondered through the majlis and have gained only a little knowledge from the lecture.

I am here - stuck between what I think is right and what I have been taught is right. Tomorrow is Ashura night. As my husband left for the mosque, I said to him, "I will definately come tomorrow" to which he responded, "Well you have to come. It is Ashura night."

These words echoed in my head. Do I have to go? I am learning so much at home. Will I be any lesser of a Muslim if I make the choice to not go?

I am not sure what my decision will be...

Anyway, back to the reason I am blogging today.

On the days I made the choice to stay in, I also made the choice to listen to lectures online. For some reason, I thought it to be a good idea to make some notes and send them to my loved ones (you see they were at mosque and learning something different than me).

After I sent my notes for the third lecture, my brother in law suggests, "Post these on your blog". What a splendid idea, me thinks to me-self.

The next few blogs are some of my notes and thoughts from the lecture series of Sheikh Arif.

For all the auditory learners out there, here is a link of his lectures.

http://www.islamicentre.org/viewByType.asp?type=44

I hope you find them as useful as I have.

With Love....

Almost a year and what a year!

So, it has been almost a year since my last blog. I am so shocked with how quickly time has flown and my nonchalant attitude towards my blog. I remember when I first began this blog, I was a vision of obsession - everything was a story, everything was "blogworthy".

Like my previous blogs, I am tempted to make excuses for not blogging but this time, I can't think of a single good excuse. This last year has been inspiring, eventful, and full of unexpected beautiful surprises that I wish I penned.

My experience of living Dubai has been incredible - a journey of new learning and opportunities for continued growth. One of the things I have dabbled in this year has been life coaching. One of my motivations for taking this accreditation was to get over my crazy fears - like dogs. While I am still scared of dogs, (and was almost attacked by one last week - I can still hear my scream of terror echoing in the street), I am excited to announce that I am looking to the future and unexpected with hope, courage and strength. I don't know what secrets the year ahead has hidden for me to experience, what jewels of wisdom I will learn, what new friendships I will discover, but I know I am ready and I am excited!

Looking forward to 2009!
With Love....

Read the post written on October 10 - The post that went unpublished - It supplements this entry beautifully.

Searching to learn

I promised to learn something new everyday in an effort to grow. Now if I am not going to mosque to get that information, I need to find something to learn on my own. And that is exactly what I did - only to find myself quite frustrated.

I sat in the kitchen at the island with a freshly made cup of Davidoff coffee sitting beside me. Equipped with my laptop, I sat and thought. I first went to Google and stared at the search bar. What key phrases was i to put "Daily inspiration", "Muharram"?? There were too many choices. I had to narrow it down. I had an idea - I needed to go back to where I learned best. My mom had told me that the lectures in Toronto were quite good so I searched the web for the Toronto website and found the lectures.

Excited, I picked the majlis that read, "How Sincere Simple Actions are Magnified". I loved how the topic sounded and couldn't wait to immerse myself int it. I pressed play and waited. I heard some Quran. Realizing it was Yaseeen, I looked for the forward button, but it did not operate. Finally it ended, followed by Dua e Kumail.

I am still listening to Dua e Kumail as i write this...what annoys me is my laptop battery will be over in 10 mins and my eyes are shutting. All I want is to listen to a lecture but I have to listen to the preamble before I can get to the core! This is not making lectures more accessible to people like me. All I want is the lecture. As listeners, we should have the ability to rewind and fast forward as we see fit.

Until I recharge my battery....

The Month Upon Us

Muharram is upon us. In this month, Shiite muslims mourn the death of their third Imam, Imam Hussein and his family. Muslims reflect on the character of Imam Hussein and his companions, drawing inspiration from them in an effort to gain spirituality.

As most of you know, I am not much of a mosquer - however this does not translate in not caring. It simply means I find other ways of connecting especially in this month. After giving it much thought, I decided - if I learned something new each day and tried to change one thing in my life in this month, I would have succeeded in this month. I want to share my learing with you all.

My Learning

1. Ways to make a house a home:

FOR A WIFE
- Be a good cook
- Do not be a demanding wife
- Be cautious with money

FOR A HUSBAND
- Be generous with money
- ...

hmm.. cant understand why I only remember one thing for the husband to do. I am sure there was more

Till the morrow, reflect on these points.

Coming To Dubai

Sheikh zayed road was empty. Not a car on the road, barely a soul on the streets. The usually busy city of Dubai became a "ghost town" on Monday January 14, 2008. Why I hear my non existent readers ask - b/c of U.S. President George Bush.

On Sunday, after a long weekend, I tumbled out of bed, sleep still in my eyes and faced the world. I was ready for a full week that consists of 5 days. On my calender, the next long weekend will be in March. What a long time to wait I thought to myself as I sipped the steeped tea in my "Second Cup" mug.

At the end of the day, a parent came into my class wondering if there was school on the next day.
"Why of course" I replied confidently thinking he was referring to a school closure due to the heavy downpour.
"All the roads are closed" he informed me promptly. I shrugged and shook my head. School was most definitely open the next day.

A half hour later, a text was sent to all staff and parents informing them that school would be closed as a security measure.

While I think it is quite silly for the whole economy to suffer because of one man and the whole city to find themselves under house arrest, I have to admit I LOVED it.

I am eagerly waiting for him to revisit Dubai. Thank you Bush for giving us a day off!

Ramadhan Kareem

I have been meaning to write this post for ages. I cannot blame time constraints. I can only blame my laziness.

During Ramadhan, we were invited to iftar at the Ranches. The Ranches is about half an hour from where we live in Jumeirah. Since we left late from home, we would be in the car during fast breaking time. I sat in the car. I gazed out of the window. I occupied my thoughts with anything and everything - but food found its way back into my head. As I consoled my poor stomache, I was greeted with a pleasant suprise. We had stopped at a red light and I saw men running to cars and giving them packages. Turns out, The pharmacy on Al-Wasl road was running a promotion but providing care packages to people on the road at magrib time. What a kind and thoughtful thing to do. Asif described it as a "good deed" and it surely was a good deed.

I wish I had taken a picture of the little box - blue with a picture of a silver sky and mosque. The box contained 2 dates, a glass of water and a little juice packet. I savoured the contents in my box hungrily and happily.

I want to thank the pharmacy on Al-Wasl road for providing us with food to break fast on two occasions.

May Allah bring prosperity to their store - Ameen.

The Move - Questions - A post that went unpublished

This post went unpublished. It was written about a year and a half ago. I remember sitting at Somji and Company writing it at the speed of light. Reading it today and rereading the post I have just written, I can truely say that I have grown. Reading through this post, I am aware of the grammatical errors and sentences that dont quite make senses. I am tempted to change it but I think to be true to how I was feeling at the time, I will not. The post has left unfinished. I dont know why - maybe it was awaiting a post that act as a balm to make it better. Whatever the reason - it was left uncomplete, my emotions and questions were raw. I hope you will enjoy it.

I have moved - where to, I hear you ask (well, most of you already know) - Dubai!

Before this experience, anytime I heard someone was moving - I asked those typical moving questions.

"How do you feel about the move?"

"What are you going to do there?"

"Are you excited?"

And if I was close to the person "Are you ok with the move?"

When you are the one doing the asking, you feel like you are the only one smart enogh to think of those questions , you are the only one who has taken the time to ask these questions. It is the quesioners way of showing support.

For the first time, I was the responder. I was overwhelmed with how many times I was asked - "How do you feel?".

I had the standard reply downpacked - "You know, taking it one day at a time" or "I am not feeling - just working". By the time it was time for me to leave, these questions were breaking me down. I heard my real thoughts and feelings being voiced.

Really, while I acknowldged the concern and support of these questions, most times I didnt really want to talk about the move. Denial was a good place for me.

Arriving into Dubai, I was scared. I know I always say this - but really, I was scared. I honestlty think the reason I was so frightened was because I had talked about my feelings so much. These questions make you realize all your fears and multiplies them.

Dubai brought fresh faces, but the questions were stale. I got the revamped moving questions.

"How are you settling in?"

"How do you feel about the move?"

"What are you going to do?"

Really, I dont know what I am going to do! I am scared and the more you ask me - the more frightened I get! I see my skillset I developed so eagerly over that last few years fleeting right before my eyes. I cannot remember how to drive, how to cook, and most importantly - how to teach!

How to say all this to a person whose name I can barely recall?

I dont have any solutions however. I know what made me the move easier though.

PRE-MOVE
The overwhelming amounts of "I will miss you" I heard. Even if it was fake, it was nice to feel irreplacable for a few days.

The well wishes. These came in form of words voiced, cards, facebook messages and hugs. It sounded something like - "Good luck", "I will pray for you", "Take care of yourself" and "Thank You". I loved the occasional hugs I recieved - tight but gentle - telling you everything you needed to hear without having to say a word.

The food - I loved the hanging out with people you had been meaning to hang out with for all your life, but never really got chance. I loved the hanging out with my friends and my family.

POST MOVE
The smiles :) :) :)

The words of encouragement - "You can do it"

Text messages, emails and facebook messages from friends and family from Toronto home(I have to figure out what is home - Mombasa, Toronto or Dubai - can all three be home?)

The Long Awaited Return - Yea RIGHT!!!

The last few months have been a flurry of passing moments. I cannot believe how quickly they have passed. Amongst the commotion we like to call life, I ignored things important to me such as my blog. I distinctly remember the day my blog came to a stop.

The week had been busy - dates with friends had been planned all week long. I had barely a momemt to myself. Being the loner that I am, I was suprised to find that I was actually enjoying the large amounts of socializing that I had been upto. Anyway, walking along the Main Streets, admiring the old streets and taking in the european charm, I realized that I hadnt blogged all week long! Random thoughts then came to mind - and lingered a little too long unfortunately.

Could it be that until now I watched life from the sidelines and simply wrote about it in attempt to forge a more exciting life for myself?

Could this new exciting life, full of friends, coffees and laughter take over my need to write?

Was I busy living the life I wrote about that I now had no time for recounts?

Was my blog not important to me anymore?

I could go on but I will spare you. In the last five months, I often logged on determined to write something, anything .... but nothing came to mind. Nothing motivated me!

Now sitting at Lolly's desk at Somji and Company, I have this need to write. To retell all the adventures I have had, all the dreams I have realized, all the random thoughts that pop into my head.

For those who have been asking why I havent blogged in a while, I hope I have answered your questions - well, facebook has to take some blame. For those that have asked when I would blog again - OFTEN is my reply.

With Love......

Rainboots!!

Excited does not begin to explain how I feel today. I woke up this morning to the lovely sound of pitter-patter. Usually, this sound would explicit a groan from me - rain...urg!! But today, my thoughts went to my shiny new rubber rain boots waiting in the closet. YES!!! I could wear my boots and with good reason too.

I put on my jeans, rolled up the pant legs enough to let a peak of rain boot delight flash through and smiled. I loved my new boots.

I felt like a stylish farmer girl.... How could the swirls of brown and blue flowers painted on my boots make me so happy??

Driving to work, each raindrop that fell on my windshield made me happier. I couldn't wait for my outdoor yard duty at school. As luck would have it, it was an indoor recess :(

Maybe not today but watch rain puddles - here I come!!