Road to Jannah

52 “Proven” Stress Reducers

salam,

so it’s 5 am and i’m wide awake and in pain. my tooth is killing me… it’s been aching like this on and off for weeks. i know, i know, why don’t i go to the dentist right!! easy for you to say but i don’t have dental insurance! what if i need a root canal and it costs $1400…ugh.. why oh why didn’t i go to the dentist before when i did have insurance… well i did like once or twice but they were such evil, mean people i didn’t go again.

big mistake.

and maybe i should have started drinking diet a long time ago. and like brushing after every meal, chewing that dental gum stuff, and flossing twice a day and using the extra-powerful-itsaysitsorange-butitsreallyhorrible-listerine stuff.

yes dawn is a good time to bring out all the regrets. while we’re at it i can regret a lot of other things in my life. like not going away for college, not waiting a few years to do my masters, not staying in syria longer the first time, not trying harder to get married way back years earlier… well gee this could go on forever… and while it’s somewhat distracting me from the pain it’s not helping.

i think at this point i start praying. excuse me a min.

ok back, yeah what is it with us humans we only pray when we are in pain and need something . whatever happened to praying to be thankful for something. when is the last time i actually did that? probably at hajj.

never grateful, never grateful, isn’t that what our problem is. we never stop at what we have and are content with it. we always want more, the big screen tv, the bmw, the iphone. (well perhaps the iphone would make us happy for a lil while at least) but it wouldn’t last for long… we’d want something else. so we keep asking Allah for more and more and more and do we thank Him for what we already have.

yeah these are all rhetorical questions that i don’t really want to answer either.

allright i’ll let you guys RUMInate on all that. (get it… reference to previous poetry post..ha..ha) while i go pray fajr and pray for a miracle.

ws

Assalaamu alaikum,

Now that I’m done with the Road to Damascus series I was trying to think of what to write about next in the blog. I thought about posting some of my old articles, but I’m sure you guys, being big fans, have already read all of those! Then I thought about writing about LOVE which is such a great topic but having just been to the Al-Maghrib LoveNotes class and written a long review about it at the Madina Message board I think I’m all loved out. Then I thought about writing about friendship but since I don’t have any friends (one’s that I ever see anyway) what’s the point. I noticed that many Muslim blogs are talking about Muslim movements like Salafism and Progressive Islam or Feminism in Islam so no need to analyze those further. I could write about some Arabic learning things but since the only Arabic I study nowadays is trying to decipher Nancy Ajram’s music videos I don’t think that’d be helpful to y’all.

So what else is there to write about you ask? Well…I would like to write about Islamic poetry. Yup, poetry. Now wait, wait! Don’t leave yet!! I know a lot of people feel like they just don’t understand poetry. Especially Islamic poetry. They read something and they’re like ‘what the h… what is this guy/gal sayin’. They just can’t figure it out. (Like me and the ridiculous ‘aamiya in those videos…I mean albi = qalbi, mish=ma, inta=anta… its like!!!) Ok so let me ‘splain you….

There is a huge amount of wisdom, knowledge, shared emotion and experience in a poem. Think of them as long, expressive essays, but the trick is the poet had to express their ideas in a few words that go together in some kind of rhythm or rhyme. Poets also tend to have different themes and if you know their history you can figure out what they’re talking about. There are a lot of symbols used in poetry like the nightingale=the soul, a rose=awareness of God, wine=love of God. So you could read a whole poem like ‘the nightingale drunk on love sang a song by the rose in the garden’ or something and it has a simple lyrical vision on top but underneath there’s a whole underground layer of meaning going on. Many people also make the mistake of thinking a poem which is an allegory on Love of God is about human love because that’s what it seems like on the surface!

Then how do you know what’s really going on and how do you understand poetry? You just have to keep reading and by experience you can learn to understand poetry. And trust me after awhile you’ll love it too. So for the last couple months I’ve been posting some of my favorites so here are some you can read and start to appreciate.

Rumi – grandmaster puffdaddy of Islamic poetry. No one can match his eloquence, deep ideas or constructs. Even non-Muslims absolutely go crazy over Rumi poetry. What does he talk about? Just deep ideas about the soul, God, emotions and love. Rumi’s poetry is an ocean. You could read a poem of his one day and get one meaning and then read it on another day and get something else. There is an even deeper layer of understanding of Rumi if you study a lot of old Islamic literature like the writings of Ibn al Qayyim and Abdul Qadir al Jilani. For example, after a class on some of the discourses in Futuh al Ghayb I re-read some of the poems and it dawned on me that Rumi was talking about the same concepts! So anyways…start reading some Rumi today!! A Rumi poem a day keeps the spiritual one aware? Here are some poems you can start out with.

Iqbal – maybe the most elegant poet out there. Iqbal talked a lot about Islam and the ummah. His poems are very straightforward. Read some here.

Rabia al Adawiyya – lover of God. There’s just no one else that expressed their love of God more. Her poetry will shame and awe you. Read a few here.

Mahmoud Darwish – Palestinian poet extraordinaire. Writes about Palestine and his people. Must read.

Hafiz – way out there idea guy. I don’t know if it’s the translations or whatever, but Hafiz’s poetry is just crazy. You read it and it may be 6 words, but they totally express something. Very interesting some of his here.

Nizar Qabbani – Arab poet of emotions. He’ll just amaze you with his poems on women and love. Read some.

Some more:

Faiz – Ghalib – Agha Shahid Ali

The Burdah - classic Islamic poem on the Prophet (s)

and try reading some lovely love poems in this thread entitled ‘Of Soulful sighs and poetic words…’

Want some contemporary every day people who write nice poetry? Try Maliha or Jaihoon.

See… pretty cool right!

Ok then until next time….

walaikum assalaam warahmatullah wabarakatuhu

Description of Ummayad Mosque

Ahhh have I saved the best for last?

I could write pages and pages and have in my journal, but I’ll just give you a little history.

The Ummayad Mosque called Jamia Ummawiy is THE most famous Mosque in Damascus. In fact, it IS Damascus. It is the most important Masjid historically after Makkah, Madinah and Jerusalem. There is so much history to this Mosque and yet it retains its absolute ethereal beauty. People come to Damascus solely to see this Masjid. And here I am giving you the grand tour, aren’t you lucky

Ibn Jubayr’s wrote an account of visiting Jamia Ummiwiye from the 11th century. He described it as having beautiful golden lanterns everywhere, a spectacular clock system and with walls and pillars that were covered with golden mosaics. His description is stunning and sometimes when you are here you can see it as he saw it.

In the first pictures you can see the entrace to the Mosque is at the end of Souk Hamadiyya. You’ll see some large arch shaped pillars. These actually date back to the time this site was a roman temple for jupiter. It was then a church at one time and when the Muslims took over they made half of it a church and half of it a mosque and everyone used to worship side by side. Then the Khalifah bought out the Christian side and built them four churches in the Old City in exchange.

Once you come to the doorway you have to take off your shoes and leave them there to enter. The whole courtyard is marble with some designs. Not the originals unfortunately, as the whole of Jamia Ummiwiye has survived several fires and destruction.

The square tower you see in the center of many of the pictures is said to be the place where Ghazali wrote his Ihya-uloom-al-deen. There is also another minaret where it is said Isa (as) will descend from at the end of time.

The golden looking structure with pillars underneath at one end of the courtyard is where they used to keep the Muslim treasury. At the other end, the little dome is where there used to be clocks to tell the times of Salah. Also at that end through a door is where they say the head of Hussain was once kept and perhaps buried. Many, many Shia pilgrims come to make pilgrimage to this Mosque for that reason. Most from Iran, but one time while we were here there was a huge group of Shia Pakistani pilgrims from England!

Along the outside walls you’ll see golden designs of plants, gardens and mansions on a river. Some say these are images of Jannah, others say that they are images from Damascus’s past. Still others say that these are images from the Ummayad domain. No one really knows. Take a look at some of the images and let me know what you think BTW, these aren’t paintings or drawings. They are tiny little pieces of stone mosaics that make a whole image. Tiny little golden pieces and colored stones. Look closely and you can see thousands that make up one image. How they actually made those and got them up there must have been incredible workmanship. These golden mosaics used to cover all the walls and you can imagine how incredibly, incredibly stunning and beautiful that must have been.

Inside the Mosque there used to be four different Mihrabs where each school of thought would lead the prayers when it was ‘their time’. Today they just stick with one. The green little building inside is the tomb of Yayha (as). There’s also a little sign that says “Here stood Khidr” and that has its own little story and legend that has to do with a king and a night prayer. There are also different colored glass windows all along the back wall.

The layout is said to be like an eagle. There is a dome in the middle like a head and both sides reach out like wings. That dome is hence called the ‘Dome of the Eagle’.

The Ummayad Mosque is a living breathing entity. People come here to pray on any given day. People come here for Jumah. Special events are held here like big speeches of famous people. VIPs come here. Every tourist comes here. The special rain prayer is always held here. Taraweeh here is always packed. I once saw Sh. Yacoubi randomly walking in. I have so many good memories of sitting in the courtyard watching the sunset or in the moonlight, or in the heat of the day going in to pray on the beautiful carpets.

The one memory of Damascus that I always keep with me is standing in the courtyard of this Mosque on a warm summer evening, watching the kids play and the birds fly up as the walls turned from pale pink to gold in the sunset, and thinking ‘there can be no better peace than this’.

Link to the pictures of Ummayad Mosque

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So ends my online descriptions.

India, Hajj, Syria, Damascus. So much beauty. It’s a beauty that is deep. It comes from within. If you just look at it, you can’t see it. You see mountains, old buildings, people. But if you learn and study, you understand the history of what’s there, of what was there, of who was there, then you realize the greatness, the absolute specialness, the uniqueness of what is and what was. You realize that all these things go back to one thing: to Allah and that Allah connects only to one place: your heart.

I thank Allah for allowing me, of all people in the world, to experience what I have these last months. And I thank Allah for allowing me to share this Road to Damascus with you.

Jazakamullahu khairan for reading and looking at the pictures.

All of the credit is due to Allah and only the mistakes have been mine.

Wa alaikum assalaam warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu,
Jannah

Written in the last days of Ramadan 1427 A.H.
Completed here in the first days of Muharram 1428 A.H.