Truly Lived

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

I can report. I can philosophize. I can dream. I can chastise. I can ponder. I can vent. I can ramble. I think ramble is the most suitable word to describe what I'm doing, but I'd like to taste. The same way a momentous touch lingers. An unfinished thought perturbs. A gesture replays. A glance questions and invites. A breath catches. And an eye waters.

In reality, I play. I play with words. I play with thoughts. I play with ideas. I play with sentiments. I play with hopes. But I must live.

What is it to live, if not to taste or to play? To wonder or to believe? It is to know. It is to have certainty despite the abstract. It is to have confidence despite the confusion. It is to affirm truth.

What is truth? To be. To be what was intended for you to be within what is ordained for you. To be is to submit. To submit is to recognize. To recognize is to serve. To serve is to see reality for what it is. This is life.

How many of us want for ourselves what we cannot have? To be taller or shorter, richer or stronger, darker or lighter, wiser and brighter, happier and free. It is endless. 

Is it not enough to want to just live a life worth living, whatever its shape, whatever its direction? In happiness or sadness, with ease or pain, in health or illness, with wealth or poverty? Are they not all the same when the only measures of a life truly lived are patience and gratitude, morality and uprightness, obedience to the One who deserves all loyal servitude, and sincerity?

I wonder about living a life truly lived. It is close, but still so utterly far.

Ya Sahibi

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

رَبِّ إِنِّى لِمَآ أَنزَلۡتَ إِلَىَّ مِنۡ خَيۡرٍ فَقِيرٌ
القصص: ٢٤
My Lord! I am needy of whatever good Thou sendest down for me. (Al Qasas: 24)

It is another enormous blessing that we find ourselves alive in these blessed days of Dhul Hijjah as it forces us to scrape away all the excess in our lives, essentially all that which doesn't benefit our relationship with Allah.

In recent weeks, I've been disturbed by ideas of consumerism and consumption as a norm for certain people. Many stores, endless merchandise, continuous efforts to own and indulge -- it all seems very pointless to me and lacking in the essence of our beings. I think of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and the choice that lay before him between living the simple life that he did or living as a worldly king. He chose the former and taught us what it means to be royalty among the King of all kings. But what's the point in mentioning his lessons if we are so ill prepared or ill intentioned in practicing and living by them? 

It's worth reflecting on the insights that a sister shared with me a few days ago when she reminded me that Allah does not leave our hands empty when we raise them asking Him for whatever it is that we want. Allahu karim. Weight has no measure when comparing that with which Allah fills our hands to the physical things which we hope to acquire (which is still all from Him).

One such blessing that Allah grants us is sisterhood. I've recently witnessed and experienced the truly spectacular phenomenon of it at work as strangers have so seamlessly turned into friends. I pray that Allah grants them and their families the best of both worlds, ameen. I remind myself, however, that a friend is not always a companion. A companion shares the journey while a friend only illumines it. I'm grateful for the friends I have, but I seek companionship.

There is only one companion worth pursuing, but it requires a pure heart and an intelligent mind. Perhaps one day I shall befit its company. It is something that I must struggle for if there is any sincerity in me. I pray that Allah, most generous is He, makes it beloved to me and my loved ones and makes us beloved to it.

اللهم اجعلنا من اهل القرآن باطنا و ظاهرا و علمناه  من اجلك

 اللهم ارزقنا محبة القرآن و فهم القرآن  وعلم القرآن  و حفظ القرآن  و أخلاق القرآن  و أعمال القرآن و ثبتنا في حياة قرآنية، آمين