Aphorism of the day: See the good, focus on the good and articulate it” PS This is a good directive for people like myself who have a proclivity to see what is wrong- legitimately so- in situations and people This is not appropriate for the goody- goody types including Muslims who use Islamic teachings to deny reality. They inevitably come across as superficial and artificial which is not helpful to anyone -including themselves.
“Rule of Law”
Bureaucrats always act on principle which is regularly off-base in reality. But who cares(as Melania’s jacket said)?! They are following procedures. So when they say “a society built on the rule of law” you should be terrified rather than reassured. Anyone who has been through a serious legal process knows what I mean
Dream Interpretation(Much more to come)
Ibn Qutaybah ad-Dinawari رحمه الله says in his book about dream interpretations, “There is nothing in which people deal with from the different sciences that is more obscure, delicate, exalted, noble, difficult and problematic than dreams because they are a type of revelation and type of Prophethood.”
Free Trade?!
NONE of the governments really want free trade.Only the people want that! They all want trade manipulated to Their advantage or the advantage of a select group of their supporters.So Trump points out that this manipulation has actually favoured countries like China AND Canada.He may be right,actually.The fact that America and Canada and Europe, for that matter, may actually be exploiting the cheap labour in Third World countries doesn’t seem to be part of that calculation.The governments of those Third World countries are more than happy to oblige in that exploitation as they are working as well for the privileged sectors,whether oligarchs or government party members and their friends,of their own society.What a mess! What injustice and inhumanity in all of this!There may,in fact, be only one viable solution.Roll back the Industrial Revolution and bring back local artisanal production,a much more satisfying process on all levels including the human one.( I love my shirwal/kameez suits made by a local Pakistani tailor and they are less expensive than those other ‘suits’ out there lol) But that shift is not likely to occur.So we wait patiently for the coming Apocalypse lol
Justice??
Interesting tid-bit about our legal system.Michael Cohen’s lawyers are costing $1000-$1500/hour .Fifteen of them are working adding up to $500,000 /week.And they have the chutzpah(gall) to talk about “Due Process of the Law”.Really?! Who can afford that kind of due process anyway?!These people and here I mean the most highly -placed politicians and jurists in the land are WAY bigger liars than Trump.And they have no awareness of it either.Disgusting and scary at the same time!
The Michael Cohen case should manifest to us all the folly of our so-called justice system which should be renamed our “injustice system”. The claims of the politicians and the lawyers is that the system is fair,objective and systematic.Due process of the law,no?Instead we see that it is arbitrary(Cohen has been doing these shady deals for decades and only when he gets hooked up with Trump are there indictments pending):manipulative(designed not to get justice about Michael Cohen but to push him to stool on his boss),vindictive(designed to get back at Trump although they will never admit it but I have heard about it it numerous times in courts where the judges are petty and biased)and perhaps worst of all outrightly cruel(completely unconcerned that on top of the serious consequences of the charges ,they often push the defendant who wants to get competent counsel into bankruptcy plus the long delays that are designed to give people nervous breakdowns).The politicians and lawyers should be seriously ashamed of what the courts have become but as they say”There are none so blind as those who will not see”!
PS Oops,I forgot to mention “greedy”.$1500/hour!
Balance!
I may have said this before but it bears repeating.It has been one of the solid pillars of my spiritual path.The first page of the first teaching I received in Islamic Sufism said the following:”In this path we walk on two legs-Shariah and Haqiqat.Translated liberally that means Divine Law and rules ,duality if you wish, and Absolute Consciousness.If you have only the latter which has been the case with numerous”Enlightened” beings you can go seriously astray in behaviour.I don’t think I need to name names for people to be able to reference that.On the other hand, if you have only shariah(rules and rituals) your religion becomes dry and lifeless and may even lead to extremism in order to get some energy going.So you need both.They are complementary and synergistic.Together you get the all-important balance.
Refining the Notion of “Ghiba'(Back-biting)
(After long reflection,I decided to publish this hoping perhaps to stimulate discussion)
Refining the notion of Ghiba (Back-biting)
Bismillah Erahman Erahim. This text is produced in the spirit of improving our deen not in any way in the spirit of diluting it- rather in order to make it feasible. May Allah forgive me for any errors within and hopefully some thoughtful and well-informed Muslims friends and colleagues will help in correcting any errors and fine-tuning the text.
Most Muslims are aware of the Quranic ayat (Surat Al Hujjarat 49:12) which prohibits back biting and compares it to eating the flesh of his dead brother. They are also aware of the hadith of the Prophet sal which defines ghiba as “to mention of your brother (in his absence) that which he would dislike.” The difficulty with this last statement as an absolute prohibition is that very few people can meet such a high standard. Hamza Yusuf claims that one of his sheikhs Murabat al-Hajj in Mauritania followed this principle to the letter. I, myself, never had the honour of meeting this man but I have spent a lot of time around many credible, highly pious shuyukh and none of them were able to meet such a standard. So what about the rest of us?!
Once a standard becomes too onerous it becomes counter-productive. Either we keep breaking it and fall into excessive guilt and self-hatred or we end up ignoring it which is even worse for our faith as there is an essence to this interdiction that is important to respect. After all it is present in both the Quran and hadith so we have to take it seriously.
In all fairness, the ulema have already indicated certain exceptions. Two stand out porominently:1) in legal situations where the evidence needs to be presented to come to a proper judgment and redress grievances and2) to warn people about evil-for example in dealing with a crooked business partner or a potentially bad mate in marriage .I maintain in this article that this is not enough to make this prohibition workable.
So I would suggest expanding the areas of exceptions to the three following conditions:
- Trying to solve a problem. For example, there is a very difficult person at work and it is hard to get the job done given his behaviour. Perhaps he, or she, is paranoid or hyper-emotional and hyper-sensitive. We need to meet and decide on a way to manage this problem. This will inevitably lead to talking about him or her in a way they would dislike. This seems inevitable in trying to cope with the situation. By the way, the same thing may occur in personal or family situations. It is not limited to work.
- An attempt to understand what is going on. This is related to the first point but may not involve a specific problem. For example, every time you go to the in-laws you get into an unnecessary argument with your sister-in law. You then try to talk it over with your wife and she explains to you that her brother’s wife was abused physically by her Dad when she was a child and has a problem with assertive males. Officially that discussion is “ghiba”. But in fact it may help you better manage the situation. You then become more tolerant or you tone down the rhetoric as you try to adapt.
- Catharsis: The wife (or the husband for that matter) comes home after a very stressful day at work. Her boss has been on her back all day. The business is in a financial crisis and the boss is irritable with everyone. She comes home and “blows off steam” with her husband complaining about all the bad behaviour of her boss. If she had done this to his face, she may well have lost her job. What is she to do? Repressing the feeling will just make it worse .Expressing it against the husband, a common manoeuvre by both husbands and wives one must say, will create a new set of problems.
Admittedly this can become a slippery slope .Just like the exceptions to the prohibition against lying can be used to develop a culture of deception in couples, being too slack here can lead to too much negativity and venom being circulated. As in all else, one must be vigilant (“wara” in Islamic terms).
“So what is left that remains back-biting?” you may ask. I will mention a few categories that are important and remain part of the prohibition:.
- Talking about people as a form of entertainment, as a way to spend time socially. All too common both in Muslim circles and non-Muslim ones. This overlaps with the prohibition against idle gossip.
- Putting people down in order to raise oneself. This is a noxious activity that is harmful to everyone including the perpetrator as it doesn’t really work to improve his own self-esteem.
- “Dissing” someone because one has some lingering resentment or grievance against them. This is just another illicit form of revenge.
- Making fun of some characteristic of someone as another form of entertainment. All of these are haram.
So, how do we operationalize this expanded paradigm so as not to fall into “massiyah” (disobedience)? The key is in our intentions, as in all actions. Each time we are preparing to say something negative about someone else we need to stop and ask ourselves the question: ”Is this useful ? Is this going to help me deal with a problem situation or a person?” or “Is this just idle and unnecessary talk?” Obviously this requires sincerity and watchfulness to avoid letting our nafs run amok. But, I believe there is enough room in this model to breathe so that we are not constantly over-stepping the limits of the acceptable in our social interactions. What do you think?
Salaams, Ibrahim
Exercise During Ramadan
People, like myself, who try to get to the gym on a regular basis find themselves in a quandary during Ramadan.When do we exercise?How do we get to the gym?And when? During the day is inappropriate as we are fasting.In the evening there is iftar and salat al Tarawih.After that we are usually too exhausted and most people don’t feel good exercising that late at night. In that light I remember meeting a couple of people in Tunisia who were training for the Olympics.They did their training during Ramadan at midnight! Makes sense, but most of us are not willing to make that kind of sacrifice,
So what do we do? First of all, before we go further,let me highlight the two major risks of exercising while fasting-dehydration and hypoglycemia.For the first,we don’t want to sweat too much.If we do we will be losing not only water but also electrolytes so that is a no-no.As to the second,we don’t want to be burning calories off too quickly,since we are not taking any in.Hypoglycemia can be a serious problem.
So the program has to be light to moderate in intensity ,no more. Here are the elements of the program I am using.
1) A moderately brisk walk 15-20 minutes.Can be done anywhere,preferably not in extreme cold or directly under the sun
2) Chiqong.I use the program developed by Roger Jahnke of Nine Phases. 15 mins. approx although it can be stretched out by increasing the number of repetitions.Remember to always keep them an odd number..Usually does not cause a sweat but rather brings in energy-“chi” they call it.So, perfectly suited to Ramadan
3) sit-ups -two sets of 10-15: 5 mins. and
4) Exercising of arms,chest and shoulders with resistance bands which can be purchased in any sporting goods store and are eminently portable
So there you have it-modest,cheap and doable.Should keep you in shape until your next visit to the gym in shawwal.And you can use it whenever you travel,anywhere.Tell me how it works for you.Salaams,Ibrahim
Myths about Ramadan
Ramadan, the month of fasting in Islam, is indeed a great month- full of spiritual effort, patience, devotion and great rewards!The spiritual atmosphere can be felt in the air as we start and reaches a peak in the last ten days.None of this is in doubt in the present text..
However, due to the human need to idealize and to use what I call “black-and-white thinking” certain myths have crept into the community about what Ramadan can and can’t do-myths I would like to dispel here, in order for people to benefit properly from this holy practice.
1)Ramadan is easy:This idea is especially common in the Arab world but I have run into it in many communities.I have heard young Arab men saying”I just lead my life as I normally do without eating.I don’t notice the difference”. Really?! I would like to ask their bosses and especially their spouses lol The Pakistani Imams at our local mosques love saying, at day 15 for example,”Ramadan is now half-over and we hardly noticed it”. Are you kidding me?! I don’t know what world they are living in but I surely noticed it and more.And I noticed the many difficulties people were having with it around me -from people with high-stress jobs who couldn’t operate as efficiently as usual to those whose health problems were acting up to people who simply couldn’t do it for health reasons-physical and psychological!
Ramadan is not easy!If it were easy the Prophet saws would not have called it”The month of patience”. Patience is required for difficult things, not easy ones.When I first started doing Ramadan, after my conversion, I had trouble believing that a whole community had been ordered to do this practice .It seemed like an advanced ascetic practice designed for the most zealous of spiritual seekers.To the credit of the Muslim community,they take it on gracefully without complaints.
Despite their denial of the difficulty of the endeavour ,it shows in their behaviour, however..Visitors and non-Muslim workers in Muslim countries have told me about how the people around them became more irritable and impatient.This is actually just as common as the bad-breath, beloved of Allah, mentioned in the hadith.And there is nothing worse than denial.It just makes everything worse.Also,the benefit is hidden in the difficulty, n’est-ce pas?If it were “a piece of cake” as they say ,there would only be no benefit to it- just hypoglycemia as a consequence.
2) Ramadan is a health food fast.Wrong! The health fasts,per se,recommended by certain naturopathic professionals, invariably involve lots of fluid intake- sometimes natural juices, other times distilled water fortified with electrolyes and nutrients.The Old Testament/Islamic fasts are exercises in abstinence-good for our spiritual development and probably our long-term emotional one as well(learning self-control) but difficult on our physical bodies and our psyches..
I can always remember the first Ramadan when I attended the Tarawih prayer in Montreal and the Imam fell down in the middle of the prayer,writhing in pain.We had to accompany him to the hospital where they diagnosed him with kidney stones.There was little doubt in my mind that it was due to or worsened at least by the dehydration of the fasting process.I did not know enough of his medical history to be able to establish whether he should have been fasting at all.For some people it is a too risky endeavour.
Over the years I have had to proscribe fasting for a number patients.They were not in good enough health to do it.In a few cases ,this was due to intense depression or bipolar disorder.They were not getting better,in fact they were getting worse, and the medications were not working.In most cases ,the next year they were fine.Alhumdulillah.
A number of pious people I have met were not able to fast because of diabetes.And then there was the epileptic convert who I counselled to fast intermittently instead of every day but wouldn’t listen to sound medical advice.Because of that he had a grand-mal seizure in the mosque which triggered an intense ‘fitna'( conflict)in the mosque between those who considered it to be jinn and those who wanted to rush him to the E.R. to see a neurologist(I was obviously of the latter group).A fight ensued and the British police had to be brought in when one of the jinn believers pulled a knife!
So Ramadan is a health challenge.Consult with your own Muslim doctor to see if it is advisable for you,if you have a concern.
3)It is advisable to sleep as little as possible during Ramadan to increase the benefits.Another bit of bad advice.Some people may be able to do it but we should keep in mind that sleep-deprivation is another stressor. So if you are already “on the edge” it could put you over either into some unwanted psychological state like excessive anxiety or even psychosis or into some physical condition like a re-currence of a previous medical condition or a worsening of an already existing one( like in the case of the previously mentioned epileptic) of even something new.
4) People will behave better because they are fasting and “the shayateen are chained up”. This one the ulema have dealt with in various ways since many have noticed considerable bad behaviour even during Ramadan.The bottom line here may be that even if the devils are chained up the nafs (human ego) is enough of a trouble-maker on its own and can raise its hoary head even when fasting-even without the promptings of the demons!
5) Ramadan is a good way to lose weight.Wrong!Some people do lose weight during Ramadan but most do not.I have participated twice in a successful Weight Watchers program .Ramadan was the only month in which I didn’t lose weight! The scientific evidence indicates that if you feed guinea pigs the same amount of calories in one dose as opposed to dividing it up in three(more or less the equivalent of what most fasters do during Ramadan lol) they get obese and sick! It is ,in terms of physical health, better to eat several small meals scattered throughout the day.I believe that is the scientific consensus and at times for certain conditions like hypoglycemia doctors prescribe that very formula.
All this being said,Ramadan is a great and holy month and we thank our Lord for His gift.We just need to be a little wiser about how we manage it it.Ramadan Mubarak and Ramadan Karim. Salaams,Ibrahim As -Sufi
The Phenomenology of Ramadan
“Phenomenology” is a relatively new area of inquiry- often associated with such personalities as the German philosopher Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) and Martin Heidegger(1889-1976).We will not even attempt to go into the the intricacies of their philosophical systems as this would fly in the face of my most profound conviction about the need for simplicity. I would prefer to sort out a chaotic garage or warehouse space(obviously of my own making lol) than to even attempt such an endeavour.
Nevertheless,I think these schools of thought do represent an important development in our own way of conceiving the world and more specifically the need for us to observe and reflect on our inner experience.This need does not seem to be very present in traditional cultures including Islam where correct behaviour and correct beliefs seemed to suffice.So for most Muslims ,the fact that Allah ordained fasting in the Quran(2:183) and the Prophet saws told us of its benefits and the scholars have determined that the first ten days are for “Rahmat”(mercy) and the second ten are about” forgiveness from God” and the last ten give “freedom from the hellfires” is sufficient.
Being in the modern world, however, some of us, at least, feel the need to go deeper-into the inner experience and this is where phenomenology comes in.We need to look at the inner,experiential reality .
As I reflected on this( it may well have been an inspiration) I realized that an interesting parallel to Ramadan is the experience of pregnancy.The trigger for this thinking may well have been a difficult beginning to this year’s Ramadan and my recollections of the accounts of Kate Middleton, the duchess of Cambridge, and her difficult pregnancies being bed-ridden for months at the beginning of each of her pregnancies with overwhelming nausea.The details of her experience are not what is important here however,no more than the details of the philosophical systems of Husserl and Heidegger.What is interesting is that the three trimesters of pregnancy provide an interesting parallel to the three ten-day sections of Ramadan and I believe this can be helpful to us in understanding the process.
So, in Ramadan,the first ten days especially the early ones can be difficult for people.Just as women often experience nausea(morning-sickness) during the first trimester fasters will have a variety of symptoms as they take on the fast-headaches,dizziness,weakness,lack of concentration ,etc. Depending on the state of health of the practitioner this may last only a day or two or may continue for a longer period of time,for some intermittently throughout the month.
The second trimester of pregnancy usually is characterized by a subsidence of the ‘crisis mode’ ,less symptoms,a calmness and a waiting.I would call this phase”paddling” and “incubation”. The baby is slowing growing and developing.The same is true in Ramadan.The worst is over.Now is the time of persistence and patience.
We all know where the third trimester of pregnancy leads! If we have had any contact with a woman going through it,we know they are literally “carrying a heavy load” ,exhausted,breathless at night and anticipating and fretting about the”apocalypse ‘to come.And then it is over.At this point the model breaks down somewhat as Ramadan is not as clearly defines in its finality.So for the last ten days to be more accurate I would add in the model of the Shakespearian play which builds up to its climax(Lailat al Qadr) and its dénouement(the few days left after Lailat al Qadr. And the the Eid celebrations-in both cases.However for the woman, as opposed to the faster,the work has just begun!That is why Allah and his Prophet insist so strongly on the rights of the Mother!
I hope that helps you understand better the inner process of the month of fasting and makes it a more fulfilling and satisfying experience.I feel like it is helping me to think of it this way.And I can’t wait to see the baby at the end! Salaams,ibrahim