Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

The following is a question a brother asked in an email, and my answer. It is about love on the Sufi path, and is reprinted here with his permission.

Question:

Salaam Irving:

(Originally written: 2/25/07)

Let’s be blunt: I want stuff to happen, and I’ll generally do my darndest to make it happen—as long as the means are morally permissible, of course. Three examples will suffice.

Peace, one and all…

This is my first post here, so please forgive any inadvertant mistakes.  I've also posted this at my own blog (Abdur Rahman's Corner), as well as at a few other places (The Mureeds, Eteraz) as I feel it's an important topic that needs to be widely explored.  It also feels like an appropriate way to begin my time here.

May God accept this as a sincere effort on my part and may He make it of benefit. 

Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah!

I have had a few crappy days lately: illness, tough times at work, and celebrations past, present, and impending have been wearing on me. I've gotten better about indulging in self-pity, however, and tried something that I hope may help you: when I'm having a bad day, I've sought out extra opportunities for kindness: offering a seat on the subway to an older/pregnant/parcel-laden person, making sure I've extra change for my favorite homeless folk, that sort of thing. It gives a lift to the spirits like nothing else, and it's free, for whatever I loan to God through charity will be repaid. And the promise of the Lord is true. 

I usually post entries here directly, but I have not been able to do that lately, so I thought I would provide a round-up of things on my own blog for folks to be able to follow up. Here's a little list:

Giving One's Life in the Holy Land
Centered around a very small news story in an Saudi Paper and it's evoking a spiritual poem from "back home"...: http://ifaqeer.blogspot.com/2006/11/giving-ones-life-in-holy-land.html

Thanksgiving
If one is going to commemorate Thanksgiving, the following ceremony seemed to be the most appropriate I have seen in a while--and it is not even in the US...
http://ifaqeer.blogspot.com/2006/11/thanksgiving.html

Rumi. And Hafez. And Khayyam. And Of Whence They Spake.
All the positive feedback on my post in a spiritual mood has been very gratifying.
http://ifaqeer.blogspot.com/2006/11/rumi-and-hafez-and-khayyam-and-of.html

Racial Profiling...Diallo was a Muslim, Too
I wish I could write a long and beautiful article about this, so it could be read and re-read and circulated and published...but what I HAVE written is at:
http://ifaqeer.blogspot.com/2006/11/racial-profilingdiallo-was-muslim-too.html

Women's Islamic Initiative for Spirituality and Equity -- Follow-Up at:
http://ifaqeer.blogspot.com/2006/11/womens-islamic-initiative-for.html

Allow Me to Join in this Call
I'd like to call upon Muslims and organizations of Muslims to join this call from the Turkish press: "It is true that Benedict XVI made disagreeable statements about Turkey and Islam. However, the Pope is visiting as our guest..." http://ifaqeer.blogspot.com/2006/11/allow-me-to-join-in-this-call.html

Sometimes the Spirit approaches like a shy friend – a gentle tap on the shoulder, an embrace that is tentative at first, then you are enfolded in Divine Love.

Sometimes the Spirit approaches like a storm – a portentous approach, a bolt of Joy that shakes your ordinary world to its foundations, singing through your veins like wine made from sunlight.

Sometimes the Spirit approaches like the rising of the sun- pale and subtle, its ever changing hues a promise of comfort and wisdom.

Sometimes the Spirit approaches like a too-strong current- ripping you from your complacency, forcing you to fight to save your soul.

Being a student with limited income and living in an expensive coastal California city like San Diego, money does not go far when you have little disposable income available on hand.

I was on my way home from the masjid when I noticed an advertisement for this play I heard about called "Southern Baptist Sissies." I had never seen the play, but I remember that those in college who did see it loved it. So I shelled out close to $60 dollars for an aisle seat with no visual obstructions to the stage. The play was at the Birch North Park Theatre in San Diego's North Park district, a neighborhood adjacent to Hillcrest (the gay ghetto) and University Heights, where I reside, commonly called "Uptown."

I love a man like the bearded British celebrity above who was outed when he fell victim to a police entrapment scheme in a Beverly Hills park.

But when it comes to the beard, I like the beard scruffy and kept short in length.  I'm not enthusiastic about Sunnah length beards.  I frequently shave off my beard, especially now with going on interviews, having facial hair can be a liability.  Finding a job and being a man in my 20's, people prefer clean shaven men in business casual or professional attire.  This is simply the cultural expectations in America, like maintaining good eye contact and introducing yourself to your interviewer with a good firm handshake.

So what is this all about the prohibition of interest? What is credit? Does credit and interest apply to money alone? I was thinking about this while at brunch with my friends. They were laughing at me, not with me. But I insist that there is a deep point to this bit of silliness, just like all posts in the "fractured" series.

So, yesterday I was praying before starting my workday. For some reason I got thinking about the constant use of Allahu Akbar in prayer while I should have been reciting dua ABC or otherwise ritually engaged. I remember people telling me and even reading somewhere that it means that God is above my material world. I suddenly thought of placing myself in the shoes of the first Muslims and wondering maybe what Allahu Akbar meant to them. Well, lets put aside the politicized meaning ('our civilization is greater') and socialist meaning ('spirit is greater than materialism') of Allahu Akbar for a moment. Does it not makes sense that constantly repeating "God is Greater" (akbar has always meant greater, not "Great" or even "greatest") is supposed to remind the Muslim that God is greater than the idols worshipped around him or her? I think it makes perfect sense.