These ravaging waters are overwhelming. Good sense I know. The correct way I see. The truth is clear. The nafs is weak. There are ways to conquer this. But when imprisoned by self deception, freedom becomes pressing.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I hear. Perhaps it is. Snow, though cold and potentially a source of danger, beautifies the mountain tops from afar. I stare at them from many miles a way. Created psychological imagery really, but so profound. So moving. So intense.
Snow, dust yourself upon the weak with your powerful encouragement to be different. To explore the world outside of what is typical, yet teach us to maintain the stance of one who knows truth and moves only with humility before the One deserving of all praise and servitude.
[Picture taken from Flickr album.]
Update: 2007-02-14
Correction.
I realized last night that I had made a grave error in this post. I said, "The nafs is weak." I guess it depends on who I'm referring to, but generally, the nafs is not weak. In fact, it's very strong. The statement would have read more accurately as "The nafs weakens."
When the nafs is strong, the heart is weak. When the heart is weak, the nafs is strong. When things are too overwhelming and we are absorbed in that which isn't benefitting the soul, generally one can be inclined to believe that the heart is in a weaker state while the nafs is stronger.
The nafs is a great enemy, often leading to evil, unless or until it is tamed and taught submission to the will of One God. Wa Allahu'alim.
May God forgive me where I err, and may He teach me that which is beneficial to my soul and my relationship with Him, ameen.
9 comments:
wow, beautiful! Thanks for the anniversary wish and the beautiful dua. How are things with ya?
Assalaamu'alaykum Taubah
Welcome. No thanks necessary, it's my pleasure (but you're welcome). Thanks for your kind words. :)
AlhamduliAllah, all is wonderful with me, as always. Life spits out occasional challenges, but alhamduliAllah for all :). I hope all is well with you and your family, insha'Allah!
Assalamu'alaykum,
I love snow. Have you ever seen electron microscope images of snowflakes? SubhanAllah, they're absolutely incredible. So much beauty and intricacy in something so miniscule that only with the most recent technology can we decipher it.
Here's an enhanced snowflake picture that I just found incredible. You can find other amazing microscope images under the Wikipedia entry for snow.
The funny thing, that picture you've posted was actually taken in July. It was quite a strange feeling to get a chance to play in the snow in the middle of summer.
Wa 'alaykum assalaam Faraz
Snow is lovely. I have a soft spot for it too. I'm afraid this winter season is going pass before I get a chance to play in it... but.. apparently there is supposed to be a snow storm on its way tonight, insha'Allah. (Insha'Allah one that is not from Allah's wrath, may He protect us all, ameen).
Thank you for the lovely links. SubhanAllah.. absolutely amazing! It's really hard to believe the enhanced picture... SubhanAllah!
The picture that you took is incredible too. It looks so unreal... all the more now that I know it was taken in July. SubhanAllah.
The snowflake pictures reminded me of this study. They used to have pictures of water molecules posted on their website showing the difference between water that has been exposed to positive/negative words. Unfortunately, I can't find the pics there..but it's an interesting study nonetheless.
Assalamu'alaykum,
Interesting study. When I first came across that snowflake picture, it happened to be on a science/technology website. One commenter on the site said, "I don't know how people can see beauty and intricacy like this and not believe in God." Then a number of other people jumped on him, arguing a number of silly scientific explanations as to why water will crystallize in these ways, and how it's all just a matter of physics, and how we've "evolved" to find beauty in such things because it makes us happier and thus more likely to reproduce, etc.. it was all very silly, actually, and more stubborn than anything else. It's funny, often atheists are very critical of religion because they feel religious people close their eyes to the world, but atheists can be just as dogmatic and closed-minded as the most overzealous followers of any religion.
My personal favourite picture from my July set of pictures was this one. One thing about these pictures - it's not the camera that gives the water the strange teal colour. The water is actually like that, as a result of melting glacier sediment. The water itself was quite a site to behold; the pictures really don't do it justice.
And as an aside, I know I've completely lost sight of your actual post, focusing just on the snow analogy.. my apologies.
Wa 'alaykum assalaam wa rahmatu Allah
Go figure, the one time I don't copy my message before publishing, it goes blank.. anyway.
What you described is exactly the process of my thoughts after seeing those snowflake pictures. I wondered how people could deny the existence of God after witnessing such greatness. Then I thought about a conversation I had with some of my ex-coworkers who were attributing some greatness in creation to "science." I pointed out to them that science is merely a title used to describe the greatness in creation, of which the complete truth lies only with the Creator.
I really like that picture too. SubhanAllah, my first thought was that it is as embracing as mug of hot chocolate...mmmm. I compared the two pictures a few times. The picture that I posted tells more about the mountains. If you look at them closely, they're telling a story. SubhanAllah... one day they will be given speech, but even now they represent so much.
No worries about the focus of this post. Honestly (my little secret), I considered deleting this post because I haven't grasped it entirely. It's sort of missing something. A point maybe..lol. I decided to keep it because I liked the picture with the ayah, and I figured no one would really care if it made complete sense or not. It's still wide open to interpretations. Anyway, your discussion is most welcome. Thanks.
Nice post,
Good blog, mashaAllah
keep up the good work.
Assalaamu'alaykum brother
JazakAllah khayr. It looks like you have a pretty comprehensive blog put together..masha'Allah. Bil tawfeeq, insha'Allah.
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