Smokeless Fire

The jinn are spirit creations of smokeless fire

in the way that we human mud babies are sculpted from earth

Between the two worlds stretches a veil

so we sense and perceive the other mystery

and know it through those who in dreaming it seems cross over

escorted by jimissaries

The jinn world, like ours, is one of choices

There is good, there is evil – but mostly the whole of existence is gray with confusion

When a jinn speaks to a human it is by God’s will (who else guards the veil between worlds?)

These are the trances of mystics who think nothing strange in the splitting of reality

Is it crazy to believe such a thing? Certainly it is pompous not to accept the possibility that there is unseen more than seen

The spirit part of a human may rise like smoke and for a time wander with the spirits through the world, but all they encounter will seem a mystery – too unfamiliar for the senses to digest

it seems they are in battle, though over what who knows?

do they trade in the currency of souls as some believe? or do they have their own agenda?

What if we are as much mystery to them as they to us?

Brothers and sisters, do not become dazzled by the jinn world so that you forget your purpose as men and women of clay

Vessels that will someday dry and crack open

Do not seek the company of jinn-kind, or run in fear if God wills you a glimpse

Know that all is for God’s own pleasure, and our purpose is to submit and all the simple ways to rightly dwell on earth have been provided by God through the prophets

My choice to wear hijab

Why do I wear hijab?

There are really two true reasons.

1- Group identity. As a hijabi I am immediately recognized as a woman of faith. It is community and belonging.

2- It is a spiritual practice of surrender. In accepting Islam I did not have to immediately decide whether or not to cover. When I did make the decision it was a leap of faith – like an experiment in obedience. I did not and do not believe it is a requirement to be a good Muslim or to have knowledge of God. It is simply an external symbol of internal values. I live in a world where I am free to choose my style of dress. The clothing I wear is a symbol of my devotion to a life of prayer and compassion as a woman of God. It invites people to interact with me as such a person and protects me from getting involved in gossip, harmful discussions and gives me permission to speak from my heart.

At the same time a woman’s clothing is only what she wears on her body. It is the decoration of the temple. Her true worth is found in her character.

Get a new point of view:

Muslim wins right to reject the hijab

By Anthony Browne, Brussels Correspondent

ISLAMIC groups across Europe have campaigned for years for the right of Muslim women to wear the religious headscarf, or hijab. Now a Muslim woman in the Netherlands has won the right not to wear it.

Continue reading

Thoughts after reading AL-BAQARA (THE COW)

Everyone is entitled to read and interpret through prayer and intellect, the meaning contained in the words of any text. That includes the Koran.

Women may argue with the prophet – and I am certainly one who does and will continue to challenge assumptions with the intent of reaching ever more for God’s truth. (That tenacity is exactly what led me to Islam.) Maybe for some it is easier to accept hadeeths.  The Koran in itself is perfect so any questions I have will find answer. God has given me permission to bypass the opinions of others and go straight to my Creator.

As someone who has always approached life from an existential philosophical viewpoint, I have never been one to fear discovery. To the dismay of Christians, who told me I should not question or have the nerve to disagree with the scriptures I did so anyway. And God loves me for it, for it is a gift and a blessing to use free will and intellect to seek God.

So then who are the non-believers and why all the punishment? I have asked this question before and came to understand it best in my previous life as a non-believer. To live without God is literally to live in darkness. Given the illusion of control that we have in a God-less internal world (I am not speaking of society, but of our own minds) it is no wonder that we suffer! There is nothing and no purpose. Even seeming to feel happy, there is an emptiness that burns from the inside out.

“2.74″:    Then your hearts hardened after that, so that they were like rocks, rather worse in hardness; and surely there are some rocks from which streams burst forth, and surely there are some of them which split asunder so water issues out of them, and surely there are some of them which fall down for fear of Allah, and Allah is not at all heedless of what you do.

For a long time I did not know what submission to God meant. I had a wrong idea about it that no human could convince me to undo. I lived as with a veil over my eyes for many years. My anger and spite continuously fell back to me. Ah, but God is love and forgiveness! It was through the torment I received as “punishment”, which I can now only see as blessing that I eventually reached a point of desperation. It was like being spiritually beaten into submission.

The Koran speaks of those people, who despite being given every reason to submit to God, continue to pursue their way apart. And furthermore, those people who outwardly profess to believe and yet inwardly mock the very notion, living a grievous lie. The ones who hurt others in the name of God, they are the ones who will be crushed. Their souls disappear into darkness.

Why submit? To fall fully in love and unite with God – that alone is the reason. Seek a reward? What reward could I want more than to be complete in devotion? What damnation? Seperation from God is the penalty chosen by those who follow ego.

I have no business telling anyone how or where to find God. It is so ridiculous to say look there or look here. God is everywhere. Only open up your heart and call for help quietly in the night where no one else will hear you. Then swiftly comes the light of understanding.