Thursday, June 18, 2009
Dowra Sharings: 8 - Caprice, Lower Self, Desire - Part 2
If the soul is rectified it is the best source of light, but if filled with defilement, there is darkness.
For how long will His creatures distract you?
When will you only be for Him?
I have a vast hope in Allah and He will ascend to a lofty station.
Someone who is true in his hopes will ascend to this lofty station.
O you who has a heart that understands, take these precious, glistening gems and seek knowledge (taqwa), learn these knowledges for those who fear Allah and have hearts that are clean and pious, this is where knowledge should be sought.
Get on the ship,
Come take these pearls and gems and all knowledge –
Emerge for the spring of Al Mustafa (the last aspiration).
The one who ascended above the seventh heaven.
Every station is below our Seyyedi, and you pick from his fruits.
His station will be manifest on the Day of Rising.
Accept these valuable gems that will be taken into the hearts of those who understand.
Wednesday 16th July 2008
Nothing is greater than nearness to God.
19th July 2008 4.20pm
I made you my wealth and source of hope at death.
And when truth comes –
On the Day of Rising be there for me O son of Amina.
O you teasure-chest overlook my ship for indeed I’m bankrupt and I’ve got nothing that I’d seek refuge other than you.
So be a source of aid and protection for me.
Whenever the doves fly or the stars move in orbit or clouds give rain.
Sunday 20th July 2008 4.30pm
I disobey my lower self and satan by strength of God, not by my own self.
21st July 2008 4.43pm
Rectify your balance.
Calibrate your scales.
You don’t have to leave things; get a balance.
22nd July 2008 4.20pm
Act out of love.
Act like someone with a vision.
Our deeds must be based on love.
23rd July 2008 4.30pm
All you have is what’s in front of you.
Thursday 24th July 2008 4.10pm
Know that your days are few,
will any of these days return to us?
If your soul is vile, you cannot get another soul.
We have few days and each of us have one soul.
You only have one heart.
You only have one soul.
God didn’t make anyone with more than one soul.
Remove the junk from your mind and replace with this – it’s the best knowledge.
If the vessel is full of filth, how can you put good into it.
Come even if you don’t deserve it.
I regretted what I did and I sought from my Lord and He accepted me.
Sunday 27th July 2008
Nothing can happen until the Master orders.
Every management is for God.
He provides for every creature.
Anything that has been portioned out for you will reach you.
..Anything even if its in the depths of the oceans.
O Allah give us a vast provision.
If a slave were to run –
where could he run?
4th August 2008 4.20pm
For how long will His creatures distract you?
When will you only be for Him?
I have a vast hope in Allah and He will ascend to a lofty station.
Someone who is true in his hopes will ascend to this lofty station.
O you who has a heart that understands, take these precious, glistening gems and seek knowledge (taqwa), learn these knowledges for those who fear Allah and have hearts that are clean and pious, this is where knowledge should be sought.
Get on the ship,
Come take these pearls and gems and all knowledge –
Emerge for the spring of Al Mustafa (the last aspiration).
The one who ascended above the seventh heaven.
Every station is below our Seyyedi, and you pick from his fruits.
His station will be manifest on the Day of Rising.
Accept these valuable gems that will be taken into the hearts of those who understand.
Wednesday 16th July 2008
Nothing is greater than nearness to God.
19th July 2008 4.20pm
I made you my wealth and source of hope at death.
And when truth comes –
On the Day of Rising be there for me O son of Amina.
O you teasure-chest overlook my ship for indeed I’m bankrupt and I’ve got nothing that I’d seek refuge other than you.
So be a source of aid and protection for me.
Whenever the doves fly or the stars move in orbit or clouds give rain.
Sunday 20th July 2008 4.30pm
I disobey my lower self and satan by strength of God, not by my own self.
21st July 2008 4.43pm
Rectify your balance.
Calibrate your scales.
You don’t have to leave things; get a balance.
22nd July 2008 4.20pm
Act out of love.
Act like someone with a vision.
Our deeds must be based on love.
23rd July 2008 4.30pm
All you have is what’s in front of you.
Thursday 24th July 2008 4.10pm
Know that your days are few,
will any of these days return to us?
If your soul is vile, you cannot get another soul.
We have few days and each of us have one soul.
You only have one heart.
You only have one soul.
God didn’t make anyone with more than one soul.
Remove the junk from your mind and replace with this – it’s the best knowledge.
If the vessel is full of filth, how can you put good into it.
Come even if you don’t deserve it.
I regretted what I did and I sought from my Lord and He accepted me.
Sunday 27th July 2008
Nothing can happen until the Master orders.
Every management is for God.
He provides for every creature.
Anything that has been portioned out for you will reach you.
..Anything even if its in the depths of the oceans.
O Allah give us a vast provision.
If a slave were to run –
where could he run?
4th August 2008 4.20pm
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Sunday, June 07, 2009
Dowra Sharings: 7 - Caprice, Lower Self, Desire - Part 1
And the angels receive them saying: “this is the day of Grace for you…”
Let so and so, the son of so and so stand to be presented to Allah.
With all his intentions and everything his heart encompassed,
And with his eyes and all they gazed,
And with his hands and all they reached,
And with his feet and all they stood,
And with all his circumstances, the inward and the outward affairs –
Let them come to stand before Allah.
Inspect or search for the intention of your inner being out of care and concern because that’s the only soul you have, lest it be destroyed.
You only have one soul.
Tuesday 1st July 2008 4.34pm
And the angels give them glad-tidings, and the first is the angel who takes the soul, then the one in the grave.
Suspect oh my brother, yourself.
Suspect it most.
The worst veil between God and man is his lower self.
Someone drank a goblet of caprice and it made him forget his intellect:
he gave the lower self a status it didn’t deserve.
The days the hearts were attached to the Lord were good.
2nd July 2008
If you saw the tears that fell when he prostrated you’d see the effects of God.
3rd July 2008 4pm
Purify yourself.
Purify the lower self from defilement.
4th July 2008 4pm
Some of you are trials for others.
Most of the trials for a servant is from people.
In the night when everyone would be alone with his beloved, the Prophet would stand for tahajud.
Pay attention to yourself.
Allah knows the trick of the eye.
Try to ponder over your act because of the desire of prestige and people.
Good deeds can be ruined with diseases of the heart.
5th July 2008
Desire is worse than seventy devils.
Be weary of the lower self.
When one looks for excuses for himself, this is deception from the lower self, and will keep you in a hole.
Get out of the hole.
The caprice of the lower self sees the mistakes of others and magnifies them.
You take it (lower self) to account for 2 minutes and then leave it for 5 weeks – what’s this?
Avoid people who can’t benefit you and you can’t benefit them.
6th July 2008
If you persisted in directing yourself, the light would manifest in you.
He (God) would expand the horizons for you through this light.
You untied the knot of caution and became laxed.
Tighten the knot of caution – do not be negligent.
The humble sinner is closer to God than the arrogant worshipper.
The difficulty of obedience is greater than the difficulty of sin.
Rivers of harshness spring forth in your heart – you have no compassion or mercy.
And you want others to magnify mercy to you.
Why are you like this?
7th July 2008 4.15pm
In your struggle and your patience, what footsteps have you taken for your struggle.
Ego loves dignity and love of position.
The love of leadership is dangerous.
9th July 2008 4.10pm
The Prophet said:
Don’t be like so and so who used to stand in the middle of night then left it.
Following desire and caprice will destroy your life: this world and the hereafter.
In every single prayer, things have affected me in thinking of other than Him; being heedless.
How many years and not even one prayer was perfect for You?
Inspect yourself...
Inspect yourself at time of motivation and aspiration.
When people speak ill of you, do you get offended?
Do you love for your friend and enemy the same?
This is sincere good will.
If you want less for your friend and even less for the enemy – is this good will?
When you look at someone’s sin, look at your own sin and hate yourself for it.
In the interest of the soul.
It’s slaughtering of the lower self.
12th July 2008 4.10pm
It’s prohibited for you to see yourself above others.
You have no permission from the Keeper of the souls.
13th July 2008 4.14pm
The lower self deceives the individual to speak about deeds, even if you did them 10 years ago!
14th July 2008 4.10pm
Have the highest of intentions and have many of them.
Caprice and lower self uproot the fruit of the good deed.
You do the deed, the caprice and lower self benefit because you are following them.
You think it’s the sweetness of the deed – but it’s not.
The lower self finds anything sweet – even worship.
Be weary of that at the beginning of your deeds.
Inspect your intentions.
Be mindful of finding an honest desire.
What will God say?
Forget about everyone else.
Straighten your attention to Him.
Correct our intentions our Lord.
And the Shaykh said:
Every candle I lit for other than God, blow it out.
My heart desires a meeting in the Valley of Purity with the elect people of God-fearingness.
How excellent such a meeting is?
15th July 2008 4.15pm
The inspiration for this entry came from a chat about gardening last week whilst I went to mentor the two teens at a local school. My link at the school asked how I was progressing with greenstuff and I replied I wasn’t really sure what to call a weed and mentioned how mum would pull this one weed out which I actually liked. She told me that it’s an actual weed which will strangle the plants if it isn’t pulled out…
These photographs illustrate what she meant.
I pulled it out earlier yesterday.
Indeed the gardening of the soul is not an easy affair.
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Tuesday, June 02, 2009
A Surprising Encounter With Ustaad-Ji
Square cotton scarves placed on a plastic hanger on the door caught my attention: £2.
Wow I thought – it isn’t very often that I come across decently-priced square headscarfs! I drew myself closer to the opened door; to touch and feel the fabric.. my glance fell upon the shop-keeper: a senior figure, with a grey beard. I knew that face I thought.
I knew who he was and asked him if he used to teach Quran.
Of course he did – he was my Ustaad-Ji.
He asked me if I was the daughter of so-and-so, mentioning dad’s name. I‘m glad I have some parental resemblance.
I said thank you to him for teaching me.
He had a very calm aura and asked if all my siblings had learnt from him – I confirmed bar one, the youngest.
He had no sign of pride rather a hidden sense of contentment.
Humility.
A couple of years ago as I was re-gaining my health and trying to move forward I had a sudden desire to find this man and thank him. I just felt life was far too short for putting it off. I look back at those times sometimes and see them as great days wherein I had the opportunity to make many mends, in tireless ways.
I had wandered onto the street where his house was: in the hope of knocking his door and saying thanks to him. I couldn’t remember exactly which one was his house and didn’t want to stand around staring at people’s properties for too long. I made more than one visit, in the hope of some success. I must admit I was very disappointed at not being able to have remembered. I suppose it had been a long stretch of time since the mid-80s when I used to attend?
Yesterday after this surprising incident, I thought about God Almighty. How He has allowed for the many wishes and requests of mine to be fulfilled. I really shouldn’t miss an opportunity to wish for more I thought.
Wow I thought – it isn’t very often that I come across decently-priced square headscarfs! I drew myself closer to the opened door; to touch and feel the fabric.. my glance fell upon the shop-keeper: a senior figure, with a grey beard. I knew that face I thought.
I knew who he was and asked him if he used to teach Quran.
Of course he did – he was my Ustaad-Ji.
He asked me if I was the daughter of so-and-so, mentioning dad’s name. I‘m glad I have some parental resemblance.
I said thank you to him for teaching me.
He had a very calm aura and asked if all my siblings had learnt from him – I confirmed bar one, the youngest.
He had no sign of pride rather a hidden sense of contentment.
Humility.
A couple of years ago as I was re-gaining my health and trying to move forward I had a sudden desire to find this man and thank him. I just felt life was far too short for putting it off. I look back at those times sometimes and see them as great days wherein I had the opportunity to make many mends, in tireless ways.
I had wandered onto the street where his house was: in the hope of knocking his door and saying thanks to him. I couldn’t remember exactly which one was his house and didn’t want to stand around staring at people’s properties for too long. I made more than one visit, in the hope of some success. I must admit I was very disappointed at not being able to have remembered. I suppose it had been a long stretch of time since the mid-80s when I used to attend?
Yesterday after this surprising incident, I thought about God Almighty. How He has allowed for the many wishes and requests of mine to be fulfilled. I really shouldn’t miss an opportunity to wish for more I thought.
Labels: gratitude, Quran, Reflection
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