Monday 2 June 2014

My recent time spent in Albion

Dear Lord of London,


  Finally time has been permitted to me that I might sit down to write this letter to you. This is written to thank you for the time (as short as it might have been) spent in your city of wonder named London by the masses. I wish to, if God willing I am able, to make clear the manners of which made me known to be Blessed by you, your Grace surely showered me and I am humbled, for one like me is nothing, but an unloyal servant, but Your kindness knows no bounds. 


  I came to Your city, unknown to me of what will happen, but thinking this can not be worse than the wretched experience I faced during my time in the city of Swans. I failed in more ways than one and was reminded of my place, and that was good. But I am human, a frail, weak human blind to his fault, blind to his sin, eager to see light (true or apparent), thirsting for success, however superficial, recognition however insignificant and irrelevant. For before embarking on my time in the Swan city, I was filled with self-praise, which lead to the illusion of self-confidence, that lead to the illusion of inherit worth, because I thought I was loved and I loved. It felt absolutely wonderful, the ecstatic power it brought to my being was of no measure, I could climb mountains and run marathons, but all was for not, for in the end I was reminded of some things regarding the truth of this temporary place, that it ends, that life ends, that love ends, that there is nothing concrete but One. 

    I came to Your city, unknown to me where I shall be, but thinking this can not be worse than the horrific truth of what happened in Swan town. I failed in more ways than one and was reminded of my place, and that was hard, but good. I spent the nights seeing the days born again, not able to succeed, not able to do what I was meant to do...What was I meant to do? to go through the linear passage (school, degree, job, marriage, house, children and then the child repeats the mantra) , from the desire of the one that bore me in her mercy. I wished to fulfill her command as I did all my life, but this time, I could not, no matter how hard I tried. For I was chained to my fate or a rampant sub-conscious for some years, and I lost, perhaps.

Beyond these double doors I swam in an overflowing ocean

    I came to Your city, huffing and puffing, carrying heavy bags to the area of Willesden Green in the north west corner, there I was welcomed in a Turkish Oasis, sheltered, fed and given home. There I met my old good friend Berat, kind and ambitious soul, who was vital in me finding this oasis in Your planet of a city. I met him in his home of Turkey, in a retreat to the heavenly haven of Konya, there lies the bodily resting place of the saint of poetry today, our lord Jalal Uddin Rumi Al-Balkhi, or Rumi for short.





 









  I came to Your city, in pursuit of hope, but I lied to myself. I came to Your city in escape of reality, but I also lie. I came to Your city by Your command, and that is all. I did not know, nor plan my arrival to Your borders, but it seems that it happened none the less and I am grateful. I came to complete 2 dream internships, not every one gets the opportunity to work in what they love and I love interfaith. From one side it encompasses the matters of the Divine, on the other it is the work of peacemakers.  inherently in itself it attracts people of faith, those in pursuit of knowledge and seekers of the path, those eager for what is coming, those hearts filled with contentment. Also, I learned it is not only people of faith who are keen for interfaith cooperation, but children of Adam who consider themselves non-religious also wish to be torch bearers of peace, and the more the merrier.


Thank You,

Abdullah

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Sunday 1 June 2014

Walk in the Night and do not worry, God is with us

 
It took me about 6 months, but finally did I have the honour of completing the book "Dark Night of the Soul" by St. John of the Cross. a book for those who wish to tread on the path to God, instructing and reminding of what in the words of the saint, will definitely happen to those eager for union with the Beloved. That being the night of the sense and the night of the soul, called the night, that it is a passive purgation of sin, like the child who was used to the milk of their mother's breast, being put down that they might learn to walk alone. Called nights for the light of illumination is so powerful, that it blinds, like the staring at the sun.  Called the night, for it illuminates the soul so greatly, that the darkness within the heart is shown, for the few to the very root of their sin, that it might be plucked by the contemplation and hiding in the garments of faith, hope and charity, that one would ascend the ladder to God, through God, by God, who illuminates the will (desire to love) and the understanding (knowledge).

I would like to share one passage from the book that was not consistent to how the rest of book is written, but has profound advice:

"Therefore, O spiritual soul, when thou seest thy desire obscured, thy affections arid and constrained, and thy faculties bereft of their capacity for any interior exercise, be not afflicted by this, but rather consider it a great happiness, since God is freeing thee from thyself and taking the matter from thy hands. For with those hands, howsoever well they may serve thee, thou wouldst never labour so effectively, so perfectly and so securely (because of their clumsiness and uncleanness) as now, when God takes thy hand and guides thee in the darkness, as though thou wert blind, to an end and by a way which thou knowest not. Nor couldst thou ever hope to travel with the aid of thine own eyes and feet, howsoever good thou be as a walker."



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