Allah Azawajal

     Every once in a while it’s healthy to step aside – take a deep breathe and go back to the basics.  In my case that means to “eat less, sleep less, speak less and socialize less” and I’ve added “write less”.  If you can’t do it on your own, then pray to Allah Almighty to do it for you and at the very best time, inshaAllah, He Will. Sometimes this Gift comes in ways we don’t like or we think of as “bad” or “untimely” or “scary” or “unfortunate” events, but with patience, inshaAllah, in time we’ll see His Wisdom and Love.

     Not that your prayer will bring anything which was not already in your destiny because the decree of Fate is not averted or brought about except by that prayer that was already decreed that it would bring about or avert such a decree.  

     In other words, there is no power except the Power of Allah and in His Hands is all Good.

     To pray for anything is putting a thing in its proper order- Allah Azawajal First and Last. 

Timeless Words

         I think this is the perfect place to interject Shaikh Rumi’s timeless words. Read them and tell me if you agree.

          “Since the beginning of your existence The Changer has not abandoned you to one permanent state of being, but has evolved you through a hundred thousand forms – each one better than the last.   All change is a Gift from The Changer. (Al Bari – The Evolver) “

Modifications In Life Style

 

        I was continuously moving from one stage to another.  As I made more modifications in my life style I found myself more concerned about humanity and became more thoughtful and considerate of others, not just my own immediate family but also the brotherhood of mankind which, after all has one common Father and Mother, Father Adam and Mother Eve, and I sincerely considered everyone I met to be my brother and sister.  The earth itself took on new meaning as I contemplated our abuse of natural resources and the endless manufacturing of goods needed to satisfy the growing personification of our throw away society.  I recycled everything I could and refused to buy anything new.  Having become so sensitive to all people and things around me I strived to lower my voice so as not to offend the feelings of so much as a plant.

        With a heightened self-awareness, shyness and modesty also came over me.  I washed the make-up off my face and stopped curling my eyelashes.  ‘For sure there were no eyelash curlers or make-up on the face of the first woman’, I thought.  I stopped curling and styling my hair and removed my nail polish.  Instead of growing and shaping long fingernails, I clipped them short.  My stylish miniskirts were traded for an ankle length skirt and a long sleeved blouse.  I donned a soft hat with a large brim which I kept lowered to hide my face.  My high-heeled shoes gave way to bare feet.  ‘If God made the earth I shouldn’t be so rude as to wear shoes when I walk on it’, I rationalized.  With all the changes, I looked so different; it made my husband ask in an incredulous voice: “Do you intend to walk around looking like that?”  He wasn’t at all pleased with my new appearance.  No longer was I the woman my husband had married but there was nothing I could do to stop myself and go back to being the person I had been.  I sincerely felt these changes were necessary to prepare me for the knowledge I was seeking.  Strange things were happening to me, things I could not explain, and these events only served to intensify the alienation my husband was feeling toward me.

 Continuation of excerpt from The Wealth of The Inheritors

Vegan Traveler

          With thinking the possibility that God is real and created us was the thought that He also created the animals and it disturbed me to think I was putting my desire for a specific taste over the life of another living creature and so I stopped eating meat.  Soon after that I removed all processed food from my diet, with the thought that things brought to me tainted by the hands of mankind would somehow adulterate my being and render me unworthy of receiving the answers I sought.  Being a vegetarian, eating only fruits and vegetables became my way of life until one day I heard a carrot cry as I pulled it from the earth.  This was so humbling I cried and vowed to eat only food that could fall from a tree or vine.

         During this time I was touring the West coast of California with my family.  They were still eating all foods as only I had adopted this strange diet.  Certain that this was what I had to do I would only buy food from a natural food store or stop to pick fruit from abandoned orchards along our journey route.  Times were difficult and there was little money so stops at natural food stores were seldom, almost as seldom as finding an abandoned orchard.  Though I rarely ate, miraculously my nursing baby always had a full supply of milk.  Now I look back and I realize all of these somewhat dramatic changes needed to take place to cleanse me and starve my ego so I would be ready for what lay ahead.

                         Ego: E = edging G = God O = out

Continuation of  excerpt from The Wealth of The Inheritors

 

Searching For God

         My search continued, but I could not find the perfection I thought existed.  Finally, I decided that I would have to figure out the answers on my own.  ‘I’ll pretend to be Eve’, I decided.  ‘She is supposed to have been the first woman’, I thought.  ‘Perhaps to know God, we must accept ourselves as He created us, unadorned by pretense.’  This transcendental period of my life had me continuously looking inside myself and analyzing and reanalyzing my beliefs and way of life.  Though I was busy with everyday responsibilities I was obsessed with my questions.  ‘Are You real?  Please show me’, ran through my mind continuously and everywhere we went I looked for someone, anyone, who knew for certain if God was Real.

  Continuation of excerpt from The Wealth of The Inheritors

 

Rabbi and Missionaries

          One day, soon after my meeting with the Rabbi, some Christian missionaries came to my door.  I welcomed them warmly and asked them to come in.  They were eager to discuss their faith, so I presented my questions to them.  Within a short period of time I realized they couldn’t answer my questions either.  In all fairness, I wondered if another sect of Christianity had the answers and decided to visit churches in the area.  With each new church I entered I would join the congregation and would do everything the other members did.  I avoided any “no-no’s” they said to avoid and obeyed whatever rules they told me to, in order to prepare myself for the “Revelation”, which they said “would surely come.”  I was patient and sincere in my endeavors, but persistently there arose a crack, or what appeared to be a mistake, in the religion.  This same crack, or mistake, surfaced in every religion I studied.

         I knew instinctively, if a religion were truly from Him, it would have to be perfect.  Assuming God is real, He would have to know everything, including the nature and needs of people in the 1960’s as well as when the Divine Scriptures were revealed.  Humans could not improve on Divine Direction, as there would be no need to improve on perfection.  I searched for that perfection in many different churches.

         I remember the people in one church telling me to pray.  “O.K., sure,” I said.  “How do I do that?”  “You know,” was their reply.  “No, I don’t.  What should I do?”  I asked.  I was not being sarcastic or rude; I honestly did not know how to pray or what they meant.

 Continuation of previous excerpt from The Wealth of The Inheritors

 

Sudden Change

“I didn’t know why a sudden change came over me, nor did I realize the special journey that lay before me.  I only recall waking one morning with a burning desire to know, Is God real?  Is He living?  What part, if any, did He play in our lives?  Is there a reason we exist?  If He is real and He created us, does He want something from us?  My parents were Jewish and taught me I was also a Jew, so I visited a Rabbi in hopes of finding guidance.  The Rabbi’s answers to my questions were short, and he treated me as though I was being very foolish to ask questions of this nature.  I was disappointed by his lack of responsiveness, which only reinforced my desire for answers.  I thought, ‘If he doesn’t know, maybe the Christians do.’

The first step is to cease isolating our self from The Creator.”

Excerpt from The Wealth of The Inheritors

Important Info

There was an extremely knowledgeable man in my life whose words have stayed with me long after he passed on, may his soul be Blessed. He told me:

                                           “When God is Kind, there comes change”.

Therefore, fear it not, embrace it, look for the Blessings in each and every change and  be Thankful.

Albert Einstein Quote

Imagine my amusement, when reading quotes from Albert Einstein, to find this:

“The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from the self.”

The Best To Guide

         One of the most often read and therefore most tattered and dog-eared books on my book shelves is the oldest Persian Treatise on Sufism, The Kashf Al-Mahjub (The Revelation of The Mystery), written by Shaikh Ali B. Uthman Hujwiri.    This gentleman, so knowledgeable in Spiritual matters, passed on around 1065, yet his books remain some of the most often used by those aspiring to knowledge of and nearness to God, Almighty, The Creator of all.  That information should, at least, make one curious how can it be that so few other author’s works have lasted that long.  Shaikh Hujwiri sums up his chapter on Knowledge with these words:

        “He who will not learn and perseveres in his ignorance is a polytheist, but to the learner, when his knowledge becomes perfect, the Reality is Revealed, and he perceives that his knowledge is no more than inability to know what his end shall be, since realities are not affected by the names bestowed upon them.”

        Thank God, The Best to Guide for sending guides like Shaikh Hujwiri and Protecting their good advice and may God Bless the Shaikh’s soul.

Calendars

        My calendar is the busiest place on my computer. I write who, what and when I speak to anyone, promise anything, make appointments, and arrange rides and even when and where my loved ones plan to go. This may appear obsessive and maybe it is but I care not what you call it. It works for me. It makes sense to me to keep details on paper and not in my mind where thoughts of God belong.

          I admire my friends who remember details, plans and appointments without writing them down – but I have to wonder if all those details fill a space that would be better served by Remembering Him.

        Within a framework of what’s right and wrong, we should all do what works best for us.