When They See Me Dead September 26, 2008
Posted by electromagnetic in Lines.Tags: Ghazali, Martin Lings
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Say unto brethren when they see me dead,
And weep for me, lamenting me in sadness:
‘Think ye I am this corpse ye are to bury?
I swear by God, this dead one is not I.
I in the Spirit am, and this my body
My dwelling was, my garment for a time.
I am a treasure: hidden I was beneath
This talisman of dust, wherein I suffered.
I am a pearl; a shell imprisoned me,
But leaving it, all trials I have left.
I am a bird, and this was once my cage;
But I have flown, leaving it as a token.
I praise God who hath set me free, and made
For me a dwelling in the heavenly heights.
Ere now I was a dead man in your midst,
But I have come to life, and doffed my shroud.’
Ghazali (d. 1111 CE), 45 in Sufi Poems. Trans. Martin Lings. Cambridge, UK: Islamic Texts Society, 2004.
Lowering the Gaze September 25, 2008
Posted by electromagnetic in Traces.add a comment
We must not look with the eye of shahwa but rather with the eyes of rahma.
Parentheticality September 23, 2008
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In your book, I am mere parentheses.
The City by Aziz Alili September 15, 2008
Posted by electromagnetic in Qur'an, Video.add a comment
Recitation of the ninetieth chapter of the Qur’an [al-Balad] by Bosnian hafiz and munshid Aziz Alili [b. 1968] recorded in 2006. Note how Hafiz Aziz ends his Qur’an recitation with prayers recited for the Nabi, peace be upon him, and how the crowd shows its appreciation in an unusual way for most Muslims by clapping rather than remaining silent.
A Metaphor for Marriage? September 8, 2008
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Relationships must be rivers: ever changing within boundaries.
Abu Hanifah’s Schedule September 6, 2008
Posted by electromagnetic in Fragments.Tags: Abu Hanifah
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After fajr prayer, the Persian Muslim scholar from Iraq named al-Nu`man ibn Thabit al-Taymi known best as Abu Hanifah (d. 150 H/769 CE) would take his class in the masjid and then reply to requests for fatwa which came from near and far. That was followed by a workshop of fiqh compilation, in which his leading students took part. Decisions reached unanimously were recorded. After zuhr prayer the Imam would go home and, if it was summer, have a siesta. The `asr prayer was followed by a session of teaching, after which the Imam would go around the city meeting friends, visiting the sick, condoling the bereaved and helping the poor. After maghrib prayer, there was another teaching session which continued until the `isha prayer, after which he would spend the whole night performing the tahajjud prayer. On Fridays he would invite friends over to visit and on Saturdays he would observe seclusion.
His week was divided between managing his business, teaching students law and jurisprudence, serving his family and community, and private time.
His business partner Hafs ibn Abdur-Rahman reported that Abu Hanifah gave charity everyday. He habitually fasted and offered night prayers. Every three days and nights, he used to finish the Qur’an.
Abu Hanifah (rahimuhullah) used to say that peace of mind can be acquired by reducing attachment and that this is accomplished by taking what is essential and leaving what is not.
Excerpted in part from Shibli Numani’s Sirat-i Nu’man translated by M. Hadi Hussain as Imam Abu Hanifah: Life and Work. Lahore: Institute of Islamic Culture, 1988.
