Each image painted on the canvas of existence
is the form of the Artist himself
Eternal Ocean spews forth-new waves.
Waves we call them; but there is only the sea.

Every time you hear in a Sufi poetry something that talks about God being every where or one seeing God in everything or being inside oneself or being hidden and visible at the same time, be afraid, be very very afraid. For you are being fed something that seems so beautiful and so pure and so innocent, yet is something that can tear the very fabric of Iman that Quran worked very hard to teach. I am hardly the person with any knowledge or position to name names but as a conscientious Muslim I must oppose this idea and anyone who spreads it. This disease has spread through majority, and when I say that I mean Majority, of the Sufi sects and followers out there. Its enchantment deceived a few and their unquestionable following preserved it for eternity. 

If there has been one crime that humanity has committed since its beginning, its Shirk, it is mixing God with the things that aren't worthy of being God and worship.

LA ILLAHA ILLALLAH (Nothing worthy of worship except God)

This is the creed that makes you a Muslim. Notice the wording, Ilah in Arabic means something that is worthy of worship, not just a god, but that which should be worshiped. God is careful to tell you that he wants undivided and exclusive rights on being worshiped. This must not be shared with anyone or anything. Full Stop. If you do that you will incur the worst wrath of God.

If anything Satan has always been mindful of this fact and has understood it well. He knows that to keep human beings in God's perpetual wrath, he must deviate them from this fundamental principle. He must make every effort to confuse and convolute this idea and cause them to deviate from the unity and exclusiveness of worship to God. He has succeeded many many times and continues to do so.

Wahdat ul Wajood means that there is 'nothing except God', not that there is nothing worthy of worship except God, but 'nothing except God'. Mushrikeen in the time of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) were not Christians or Jews, but pagans, those who worshiped nature and believed that everything was God and God was in everything. Hence everything became worthy of worship and everything gained some place in the hierarchy of worship. If the ultimate was God, that needed to be worshiped, then He was manifest in everything and part of everything and hence could be worshiped through things or idols or people for that matter. God was everywhere, not metaphorically but literally.

Unfortunately this idea suffers from the same malaise. I have read many arguments regarding how these things are not the same, but they are, when you boil them down to their essence. There will be a lot of confusing philosophizing and layers and layers of reasoning to justify that it is different but the more complex it gets, the simpler the answer becomes, they are the same.

The beauty of truth is in its simplicity. When people go to lengths to prove that something as simple as Tawheed is not that simple, beware that something is wrong. Allah said that he has made the Quran simple and He gives examples so that people may understand. But people are hell bent on making it complex and beyond understanding just so that they can push their faulty ideas and not to have to change.

If you'll bear with me, I will state the explanation given by people (mostly Sufis) on how these things are different. It is a 'causal' relationship. God being the first cause. The idea is that God has existed forever and everything else exists because God exists. Hence everything's existence is causally dependent on God. So, to the keen eye (replace Sufi who has reached Irfaan) everything becomes transparent and even non-existent because it is hardly there on its own. Hence the only thing there is God. My only objection is, why doesn't God say so in the first place? Because he does not. This is a very tricky escape from the pantheistic (pagans) unity. It takes you to the level of mental unity from physical one of the pagan's. But if you ask the simple question, Is there 'anything' beside God? (notice it is anything and not something God like or worship worthy) The answer comes No from them! Why then should I buy the imaginative causal unity?

People (Sufi followers) object that this is a misunderstanding and it arises because one has tried to understand this concept without a Murshid or teacher. Well the Truth (Haq) should sustain, like God, on its own accord without someone making it the truth! The fundamental problem with saying that someone will establish that truth is that someone will establish THEIR truth. Once you make the assumption that you need someone for it, it stops being objective. You find yourself trapped in the vicious circle, that to find the truth you must accept someone but to accept someone you must know if they are true! Hence you already sacrificed all objectivity and sealed your fate that if wrong you will stay wrong forever and that's how all bad ideas ensure their survival. If they open themselves to question and objective reasoning they don't stand a chance. God Himself did not ask you to just believe in Him, but to be reasonable and look around and decide if it this is mere Coincidence!

2:164 (Asad) Verily, in the creation of the heavens and of the earth, and the succession of night and day: and in the ships that speed through the sea with what is useful to man: and in the waters which God sends down from the sky, giving life thereby to the earth after it had, been lifeless, and causing all manner of living creatures to multiply thereon: and in the change of the winds, and the clouds that run their appointed courses between sky and earth: [in all this] there are messages indeed for people who use their reason.

52:35 (Y. Ali) Were they created of nothing, or were they themselves the creators?

Secondly, it is said that it is a matter of experiencing rather than knowing by learning. Well then my question would be, what established guarantees do you have from God regarding your experiences and their interpretation? None, zero, zilch! Experiencing God may definitely bring its own enlightenment and amplification of Iman but as far as knowing the Truth is concerned, it ends where God tells you what it is! And if you say that God told you the truth, then unfortunately I don't have the permission to take this truth from anyone except the Prophets that God chose for the purpose. Especially when I was told that today the religion has been made complete and chosen for me!

It is such a sad fact that the mesmerizing and enchanting beauty of the idea of being one with God has blinded people form He actually asked. He never said we could have the knowledge to know who God really is. If we could ever do that then we would need at least as much knowledge as He Himself, which unfortunately is not possible. Then why run after things that he has not made for us? Why burden yourself with this? He asked Iblis to do something and Iblis declined based on his own knowledge and reasoning, rather than obeying God as He ASKED. With things that God would like to burden us he has left for us to find. But with things he does not need our efforts He has explained on His own and asked us to stick to it! Angels made the same mistake of splitting hairs on what God had specified but apologized immediately:

2:30 (Asad) AND LO! Thy Sustainer said unto the angels: "Behold, I am about to establish upon earth one who shall inherit it." They said: "Wilt Thou place on it such as will spread corruption thereon and shed blood -whereas it is we who extol Thy limitless glory, and praise Thee, and hallow Thy name?" [God] answered: "Verily, I know that which you do not know."

I would like to leave you with words of God, where He clearly says that there is He the creator and others the created. It is only He that deserves worship, but as far as existence goes, there are many. So please stick to that and be as spiritual as you like.

10:3 (Asad) VERILY, your Sustainer is God, who has created the heavens and the earth in six aeons, and is established on the throne of His almightiness, ^[6] governing all that exists. There is none that could intercede with Him unless He grants leave therefor. ^[7] Thus is God, your Sustainer: worship, therefore, Him [alone]: will you not, then, keep this in mind?

For God knows best.

 

Further study:

Sufi Metaphysics

What is unity of being

Ibn e Arabi

Ibn e Taymiyya

Wahdat al-Wujud: a fundamental doctrine in Sufism

Someone recommended me the program Brass Tacks from TV One. This program has been on TV for some time but I did not get the chance to see it. Finally I saw a number of them on the Google Video and Youtube and I was not impressed as much as I was supposed to be. No doubt that the information being shared in the program is engaging and like all suspense and spy novels the stories are always exciting. But being exciting and engaging is not enough for it to be true.

Conspiracy theorists are abundant and I appreciate if they come up with a new and unique story, unfortunately on our channels there is more prevalence of sensationalist and recycled stories from what others have already produced. The problem with conspiracy stories is the simple question, what if the conspiracy story is itself a conspiracy? They are exposing the secret stories from the plan of the Zionists to UFOs to people not landing on the moon.

I would have appreciated more if the presenter Mr Zaid Hamid, apparently security expert of some sort, maintained a historical and scholarly attitude to the topics he was explaining rather than being sensationalist and evoking the sentiments of the public using religion and nationalistic feelings. That is why I prefer group discussions on public topics rather than individual ranting on secret stuff, which can ultimately be not verified because it is "secret". Interpretation is of course the game of the individual, that is why this program consists of a naive lady and self-proclaimed expert, rather than a public group of recognizable experts where anything put forward could be questioned in front of the public making sure that personal nonsense is not imposed on the public.

There are books full of all this stuff and they are the tasty fodder of the public mind. Interestingly I saw a number of documentaries recently including:

Zeitgest The Movie

Endgame: The Blueprint for Global Enslavement

America: Freedom to Facism

Now after going through these documentaries first and then looking at the Brass Tacks program, I did not have to make any effort to see how our security expert recycled the stuff. I don't say that whatever he is saying is wrong but the program is mixing right and wrong and verified and unverified information being told through the mouth of one person being televised as an entertainment program, rather than a serious public discussion. I hope we raise our level of programming a bit and if there is one advice I can give to Mr Zaid is that he should avoid feeding on the religious and nationalist emotions of the people and keep it to a factual level and mention what is verifiable and what is not. Alas, that does not create a program as engaging as it is. If TV One can make one improvement to this program that would be to bring two or three more "neutral" experts on the table so that things could be cross question at the very least.

I am currently reading a book called "The Issue of Interest" by Mufti Taqi Usmani who is a respected scholar, has expertise in matters of Islamic economics, has a law degree and was judge on the shariat bench of the Supreme Court. He is also on the board advising Meezan Bank (Islamic). The main text of this book was written by his father Mufti Muhammad Shafi which he revised and augmented to. His father wrote mostly on Interest in personal loans while he completed it with the discussion on commercial loans. I had read a little on this issue and had a basic understanding but this book has brought to my knowledge a number of things I found pretty confusing earlier. The basic reason for the prohibition of interest is that it is a means of hoarding wealth and creating ill-distribution of wealth in society. If you don't see the importance of these two problems, then consider this: Twentieth century has seen communism because of these two reasons! The whole effort behind the the marxist economic theory was to create an equal (artificial) distribution of wealth by taking it away from everyone and distributing it through the central authority. Islam has tackled this problem much earlier. To see the importance of this issue with respect to Islam, here is the Islamic perspective on this:

Hazrat Abdullah Ibn-e-Masud has reported that the prophet said, "The ill effects of interest are of 73 kinds. The least intense of these is like someone commiting adultery with his mother."

That! is how strictly it is forbidden to participate in any dealings involving interest. Now with the importance of this issue in mind lets see how Quran refers to interest. The Quran uses the word 'riba' to describe the interest that is forbidden in Islam. The dictionary meaning of the word riba is: "The dictionary meaning of riba is increase and the reference in the verse is to every increase against which there is no exchange or consideration" (Ibn-e-Arabi, Ahkamul Quarn) This is how the word riba used in Quran is defined but apart from a literal definition there is also a context in which a word becomes popular. The time of the Prophet(PBUH) and before that is the context where we must look for further understanding of this term. According to the prophet: "Every loan which brings a gain is a riba based loan" "exchange of gold with gold, silver with silver, wheat with wheat, barley with barley,  dates with dates and salt with salt should be of equal quantities and spot. Anyone who varies quantities or allows one side of the exchange to be deffered , indulges in riba for which both the buyer and seller are equally responsible." About the lending methods of  'Jahiliya' or before Islam: "Riba Al Jahiliya which has been prohibited by quran is that people would lend on the condition of obtaining more than the amount lent. Upon expiry of the agreed term, the tenor would be extended and the interest increased. This is the riba which the prophet declared null and void during his last pilgrimage" (Ibn-e-Rushd Maliki, Bidaya Al Mujtahid) The purpose of riba is to increase wealth but without risk. To do that you need to a) protect what you have (principal amount) and b) gain some more. This is the understanding of riba I had earlier which was validated by this book but it adds some more to the rules which define riba. They are a) any increase whether simple or compounding, b) charged against extension of time period not something of value and c) defering of payment from any side (credit). When the bank or a person lents you money and has the security that you will return as much was lent (gurantee of principal amount), additionally you would pay them some markup (for credit/extension of time period) and service charges (against the facility of time extension or failure of compliance in returning installment). All these gains fall under riba. I knew that part correctly but what I did'nt know was the fact that delaying payment from any side (credit) is also not allowed. Now that was an eye-opener for me. The priciple is to not indulge in any kind of financial activity where gain is without risking what you have. For example, in buisness there is equal chance of gain or loss from it and buisness is allowed and preferred in Islam. The extereme form of taking risk is gambling, which is also prohibited. Why? not because of riba but because of its other social ill-effects. Gambling is prohibited alongside drinking in Quran, so that puts the rationale behind it in context. Can we invest in a profit or loss account? We cannot because if the gain is earned through riba then it is prohibited. This is like doing the buisness of selling drugs where buisness is allowed but selling drugs is'nt. So, any gains from that are also prohibited. What does Allah require from us? First, no greed for money. So there goes the risk free earnings where the pricipal is safe. Reduce your needs. Don't defer payments, defer needs. Sounds difficult, even impossible. Yes it is but thats the deal, no good comes without sacrifice. "O believers fear Allah and give up that interest which is still due to you if you are true believers; but if you do not do so then you are warned of the declaration of war against you by Allah and His Messenger. If, however you repent even now (and forgo interest), you are entitled to your pricipal; do not wrong and no wrong will be done to you." (Albaqarah 278-279) Lastly charity is the way of muslim, not gathering and hoarding. Allah says: "The interest that you give in order to increase the wealth of the people, does not  increase in the sight of Allah; and the Zakat that you pay in order to win Allah's approval, its payers do indeed increase their wealth." (Surah Rome 39) I will follow this up with a post on commercial interest and some of its detail.

I have been seeing this very bad trend in GEO's presentation that they are more inclined towards creating stir and sensation then presenting content with genuineness and impartiality. Latest among them was another stunt by the very popular reverend allama Amir Liaquat Hussain (Bhai Wale). I have seen for years that programs by shias were presented on PTV but no one ever called names or abused anyone on public TV there. GEO is exploiting this sentiment and I am afraid they will cause stir with Mr Amir Liaqat Hussain abusing people through this public medium. Presenting, his hollow emotion laden rants. When he fully knows that the Sunni community does not agree with that interpretation of events.

If there is a moment to grieve over in the history of Islam then its Jang-e-Jamal (Battle of the Camel) where muslims of highest value were fighting against another such group. It was Ali (RA) against Ayesha, Talha and Zubayr (RA). That was the saddest moment. It was when thousands of the very best Sahaba were killed. No one grieves over that. Why is that? Is it not tragic enough?

Why beat yourself on the death of people who are fighting for a cause? If they are just, the its a moment of celebration and respect. So that, we acknowledge their cause and show our solidarity with it. Whats to cry over? Death? Allah says that martyrs don't die, its only you who cannot see that. Then? Suffering? When Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was preaching in Mecca, anyone who supported him went through most vicious torture and persecution. Do we cry over that? No. We take it as a lesson from our history and reinforce our faith through the examples of such great people who bear everything for their cause.

Its a tragedy that we have been led astray. Hostility and bad blood took the best of us. An issue that was only a political one, became a religious issue. From a political difference of opinion we became these two "sects", rather "religions". Hostility and competition urged us to create difference in every word and every way. We followed that urge and today stand oceans apart with no light of reconciliation in this utter darkness of hate and prejudice. Allah save us all.

The Milgram experiment (Obedience to Authority Study) was a famous scientific experiment of social psychology. The experiment was first described by Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University, in an article titled Behavioral Study of Obedience. The article was published in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology in 1963 and later discussed at book length in his 1974 Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View. It was intended to measure the willingness of a participant to obey an authority who instructs the participant to do something that may conflict with the participant's personal conscience.

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