Under my nose
I sometimes find myself looking at my deen through the eyes of one who has never before experienced it. Of one still wide open with wonder and impression. Of one not jaded by inner-politicking, or numbed by routine and conditioning.
When this happens, the profundity of a simple ‘salaam’ – an enduring wonder - leaves me in awe.
Peace.
What a magnanimous salutation! I wish you peace – peace of mind from incoherent racing thoughts, unsolved problems, unmade decisions, wavering doubts, unanswered questions, the never-ending humdrum and mill. Salaam. May calmness waft through the cluttered corridors of your mind, may you find a spot sheltered from the elements of a swirling head, and be at peace.
I wish you peace of heart. Oh, for peace of heart! Free from anxiety, worry, bitterness, anger, hurt, hate – new and old, mild or raging. May your heart become a spring from where flows beauty, hope, kindness and love.
I wish you peace – completely, holistically, utterly, organically, abundantly, endlessly. From the aches in your bones, your rumbling tummy, the fear of the future, the uncertainty of night time, from self-deprecation and self-pity … I wish you only peace.
In actuality, we say all of this, or some of it, or variations of it, when we - whether or not in its entirety - say to each other “Assalamu-alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu”. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you.
When seen with wide-eyed wonder, I meltingly submit, all over again. For what salutation, in all of creation, can be more beautiful than wishing for Allah’s peace on a fellow human being? Wishing that that person finds the quiet, organised, serene tranquillity of being, that lithely eludes and evades, rarely honouring us with even only the slightest moment of bliss, dissipating even before we can grasp it?
Recently, I witnessed a storm erupt over one culture’s practises of ritual animal sacrifice. I started wondering about the standards for Qurbani: A skilled hand; a single swift cut to the part of the animal’s body that immediately cuts blood flow to the brain, numbing any sense pain or suffering; Quranic recital to soothe the animal…
The guidelines - even when just cultural practices like putting a sugar cube or two in the mouth of the animal or dust on the blood to prevent the animal becoming panicked (in the event of more than one sacrifice) - are so sublime. It’s 1400-year wisdom echoes of the highest form of proficiency, humaneness, heart…
It nudges me to strive for dedicated excellence in everything I do. How could I not?
A headline states: “Circumcision reduces Aids risk” – several headlines making this assertion have cropped up of late. Another read: “Aids-ravaged Swaziland gets circumcised”.
Now there are calls for circumcision - as an Aids-prevention strategy - to be launched more widely, following trials in Kenya, Uganda and South Africa. The trials established that men who were uncircumcised were twice as likely to contract HIV compared with their circumcised counterparts. The data were reportedly so dramatic that the trials in Kenya and Uganda were halted ahead of schedule, as it would have been ethically wrong to continue them, read one story.
In my mundane everyday-ness I have found three awesome and grounding, though not the most definitive, instances of Islam’s transcendence. And I didn’t even have to look hard.
Salaam.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/06 at 09:02 PM
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