Blog

  • Another tiring post

    The day that science creates something out of nothing is the day that I will seriously reconsider my position about atheism. As long as man is manipulating what is already in existence, and as long as we always find more questions with every mystery that we solve, I’ll always marvel at the intelligence, form, function and ‘interconnectedness’ of this universe. We’re tiny and almost entirely insignificant specks of life that exist in this massive space, and we have barely scratched the surface of the true wonders of just the human body, yet we’re arrogant enough to believe that our theories about what might have occurred billions of years ago substantiated by assumed interpretations of our current state is authority enough to declare that we’re here because of a fluke of ‘stuff’ interacting and evolving over billions of years to eventually result in intelligent life that has reason and logic, and choice and emotions, and wisdom and beauty and so much more…

    The entire subject is the biggest brain fuck you could ever get. We assumed that the speed of light was unbreakable for decades…and then, quite by accident, we break it, but yet we continue in our arrogance to assume that we understand well enough to make absolute statements about what is and what isn’t true about life, death, this universe, and everything that exists within it, and in the process proclaim that there could not possibly be intelligence behind it all…it’s simply astounding the lengths we would go to just to obtain a level of peace so that we don’t have to accept our impotence and insignificance when faced with the grand design.

  • If I had it my way

    Bipolar Disorder would be called Bipolar Personality. You could be so colourfully delightful if you just weren’t so extreme.

    Obsessive Compulsive Disorder would be renamed as Obsessively Impulsive, since chances are good that you’re mostly giving in to impulse and ignoring reason because at times we all feel like we don’t give a damn, and that perfection must be worshipped.

    Schizophrenia would be something like Spurious Mania, because we all have those inclinations to want to role play and act out our fears and hopes in unrestrained proportions, but some of us don’t because we’re shy and introverted, and others don’t because they have other ways of expressing themselves more creatively.

    People who ‘innocently’ refuse to take accountability for their actions should be punishable by law and forced to do community service.

    People who deliberately provoke others to bring out the worst in them just so that they can say ‘I told you so’ must be dragged out in public and flogged with whips made of foreskins. 

    And most of all, people that pretend to be normal must be placed in homes for the handicapped, because if you are able to maintain normality in a world like this, then you either haven’t been paying attention, or you lack the faculties with which to understand what is really happening, both of which are a threat to society. To be normal is to be complacent. There is far too many normal people in this world. 

    Personality ‘disorders’ wouldn’t exist because people will realise that we all are screwed up when in a weakened spiritual state. Don’t confuse spirituality with religiosity, too many people do that already, which would probably contribute the most to the group of those that deserve to be flogged in public with foreskins. 

  • Trials and challenges

    Trials and calamities are a test , and are a sign of Allah’s love for a person. They are like medicine; even if it is bitter, you offer it despite its bitterness to the one you love – and for Allah is the highest description.
    “The greatest Reward comes with the greatest trial.

    Saheeh Hadith, Al -Tirmidhi (via samahcookiekhan)

  • Yet another brain dump

    I should be finishing my monthly report that was due this afternoon. But it’s one of those evenings when I feel as inspired as a…blah…can’t even think of a decent comparison. It’s a feeling that comes over me at times and despite my best efforts, I can’t seem to avoid it. But more recently I’ve realised that it does pass even when it feels most intense. It eventually passes. So I keep reminding myself of this so that I don’t make any significant decisions when in this state.

    So instead, I choose to write a post and wait for the silence to provide some affirmation. It always does. Cold, meaningful silence. Reminds me why I go to bed alone at night. In fact, it reminds me why I resist going to bed at all. Recently I’ve been going through the motions of deliberately passing out on the couch. Fading in and out of consciousness for about three or four hours with the tv mumbling in the background, and then eventually fighting the midnight chill to get to bed hoping to get some recuperative rest in the remaining hours before I awaken again before dawn.

    All the while, my brain flatlines. Emotionless and empty. The word that plagues me most these days is ‘vacuous’. Seems fitting. Meaningless rants and pointless brain dumps confirm this state. It’s this affirmation that the silence gives me. Affirmation that the void is as prominent as my mind perceives it to be. Affirmation that this one chance at life is slowly slipping away. Affirmation that every resolution or promise I made to myself during my idealistic youth was thwarted by life. I missed the point each time I thought I was making profound choices. But it turns out that those profound choices were in fact desires driven by necessity rather than carefully constructed strategies.

    My boat has sailed, and I’m left with a rubber dinghy and no oars. Fortunately I’m not up any creek, or on rough seas. I’m in the middle of the desert waiting for the tide to come in. But the sunset looks so beautiful. I wonder if there’ll be stars out tonight? Insanity beckons. The dunes are hauntingly beautiful, and the view of the night sky from my dinghy is enchanting. Stars guiding the mariners to their destinations, but for me they serve as nothing but confetti against a black canvas because I need no guidance to any destination. My dinghy is all I need, just in case the tide comes in. And if not, who cares…?

  • Food for thought…if you try to fail, but you succeed, which have you done? 🙂

  • Rituals versus Principles

    When you practice the customs and rituals of Islam, you will grow closer to people. When you apply the principles of Islamic teachings in everything that you do, you will grow closer to Allah. These are just stray thoughts that occurred to me today. I noticed this in many different aspects of my life, especially in how easily I aligned with people or groups in the community by dressing a certain way, or engaging in specific activities.

    However, when I took exception to something they did as a matter of principle, and I tried to engage with them about it, I received the most terse and abrupt responses, and was not indulged in any open discussions about the issues that I had raised; this despite me having presented objective views and evidence to support my concerns, with them insisting that unless I was an Aalim, Sheikh, Maulana or some other recognised title holder of religious scholarly degree, I would not be allowed to engage with the people in authority to begin with.

    Seems like a far cry from the way in which our beloved Prophet (SAW) engaged with the poorest of the poor on the most sensitive of personal issues without showing them an ounce of scorn or denigration.

  • If we would like to know if a religion is true or false, we should not depend on our emotions, feelings, or traditions. Rather, we should depend on our reason and intellect.

    From the book “A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam (via anjodepernastortas)

    This sums up the logic that I try to apply to everything spiritual and religious. Those that claim that Islamic customs or laws are not always supposed to be logical because of its mystical inferences are missing the point. Just because we don’t understand or appreciate the logic behind something now, doesn’t mean that that logic doesn’t exist. It just means that we have more to learn before it becomes clearer to us. 

  • newsflick:

    Muslims to NYPD: ‘Respect us, we will respect you’

    Hundreds of Muslims prayed in a lower Manhattan park and marched to New York Police headquarters Friday to protest a decade of police infiltrating mosques and spying on Muslim neighborhoods.

    Bundled in winter clothes, men and women knelt as the call to prayer echoed off the cold stone of government buildings. 

    “Being Muslim does not negate our nationality,” Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid told the crowd of about 500 gathered in Foley Square, not far from City Hall and local courthouses. “We are unapologetically Muslim and uncompromisingly American.” (source)

    Alhamdulillah…this is encouraging to see that Muslims are finally snapping out of that apologetic and victim state of mind, and finally starting to stand up and prove to the world that we’re not the sum total of the propaganda in the western media, nor are we accurately reflected in the actions of those that use Islam to pursue their own political and personal interests.