Brooklyn Bedouin

Learning to Love = Freedom (Social and Spiritual)

Part of my spiritual process has been learning from where i have thought i was right but was not, and then relearning from people that have made similar discoveries. Being a muslim, the story of Adam and Huwa in the garden of bliss, taking the Apple... that resonates, why? well, that was a tale of human being deciding for themselves, being human, making mistakes...

interestingly enough we do not know how internalized the Garden of Bliss was to our psyche... we are still talking about it to this day, still pining away for Utopian realities, still focused on fun and happiness. AS americans it seems we are more interested in fun and happiness than anything else.

I am still thinking about those things. i think they are connected to what we understand as freedom. and until recently i understoof freedom from a very constricted perspective. applying one definition of freedom to my life and pursuiing it recklessley led me to devolve relationships out of fear they would constrict me, and to revolve my notions around purely external expressions of freedom.

once again, i was wrong. wrong in so many ways and let love slip away trying to externally tell someone else not to be secure in who they were and what they felt.. my lack of spiritual freedom made me demand that thier expression of freedom be the same as mine. I WAS WRONG.

It seems that learning to love and actually BE WITH another is perhaps the essence of true spiritual freedom. Allah knows best.

the following is an excerpt from a knowledgable man speaking on that very same topic

by
(Martyr) Murtadha Mutahari

Now let us see what is the meaning of freedom and liberty. Freedom is a requisite of life and evolution and one of the greatest needs of living creatures, whether they are plants, animals or human beings. The difference in their freedom lies in their differences of structure. The human being needs a freedom beyond that of plants and animals. Every living thing must grow and find perfection. It cannot remain stationary. Solids do not grow so they have no need of freedom. But living creatures need three things for their growth and evolution: nurturing, security and freedom.

Nurturing consists of a number of factors required by living creatures for their growth . For example, a plant needs soil and water as well as light and heat in order to grow. An animal needs food and other things. A human being's needs are the same as those of plants and animals plus a series of other needs which would come under the heading of nurturing, all of which are like food for it. How can one live without food? The faculty of nourishment is a necessary asset to a living being.

The next requisite of a living being is security. What does security mean? It means being able to keep the means and equipment necessary for living. It should not be withheld from them by an enemy or a foreign power. Next to this nurturing it needs security in order to keep its life and wealth and health and belongings safe against aggression.

The third need is freedom. What does freedom mean? It means the absence of obstacles in the way of growth. For example, in growing a plant, in addition to other requisites, you must provide a suitable environment for it and remove all obstacles. If you plant a tree under a roof, you are depriving it of free space above to attain its full growth. Thus every living being needs freedom for its growth and evolution. What is this freedom? It is the absence of barriers. Free persons are those who fight against all obstacles set in their way of growth and perfection. They do not submit to obstacles.

Now we must see what types of freedom there are. The human being is a peculiar being and his or her life is a social one, in addition to being a complex creature in his or her individual life. Human beings are quite different from plants and animals; they have certain other needs which may be divided into two kinds. One of them is social freedom. What does social freedom mean? It means having freedom in connection with other individuals in society, so that they do not hinder their growth, do not imprison them to check their activities, do not exploit or enslave them, do not exploit all their physical and mental powers in their own interests. This is called social freedom which may in its turn be of several types.

One of the greatest problems of human beings throughout history has been this same abuse of power by powerful elements in subjugating others and enslaving them so as to enjoy the whole fruits of their lives and labor.

Do you know what exploitation means? It means picking someone else's fruits. For each person his or her essence is a fruitful tree and his or her labor and thoughts are the product of that tree. This crop must be his or hers. But when others seize these fruits by one means or another, we say a person is exploited by another or others. Throughout history one person has been exploited by another person or a people by another people or enslaved by them. Or at least they have been deprived of the opportunity to give the exploiter a greater chance to secure maximum benefits. For example, suppose a piece of land belongs to two men but one of them who is stronger takes possession of the whole land and expels the other or employs him as a laborer; that will be a form of slavery.

Now let us see what spiritual freedom is. The human being is a complex being with various powers and instincts, with strength, appetites, anger, greed, ambition and love of excess. On the other hand, it has been granted reason, mental and moral conscience. Internally and spiritually the human being may feel the self free or enslaved. It may be a slave of its greed, lust, anger and love of excess or it may be free of all these vices. As the poet says,

I tell the truth and feel thereby happy

I am a slave to love and free in both worlds.

A person may be so human that that person is socially free and rejects abjectness and servitude and preserves social liberty so ethically; that person also keeps his or her conscience, spirit and intelligence free. This kind of freedom is called 'self-purification' or 'virtue' in religion.

Can human beings have social freedom without spiritual freedom? That is, can they be slaves to their own lust, anger and greed and at the same time respect the freedom of others? Today they say yes and they practically expect each person to be a slave to his or her greed, anger and lust and at the same time to respect social liberty. This is one of the many examples of contradictory ideas from which human society suffers.

Human beings in ancient times had no respect for freedom and trampled upon it. Why? Was it because they were ignorant and so they deprived others of their freedom? Can we say that when they gained wisdom, they found it necessary to respect the freedom of others? Is this similar to the question of illness? Faced with sickness, they could rarely find their accidentally-found drugs effective but now with their increase of knowledge they can afford to discard old treatments and resort to new and efficacious ones.

We wish to know whether the action of ancient people in depriving others of their freedom was solely due to ignorance? No. It had nothing to do with ignorance or knowledge. Human beings were fully aware of their actions which served their interests. Was their lack of respect for the rights of others and liberty due to the forms the law took? If so, could a change of law bring about a change of behavior? For example, did the abolition of slavery in America really put an end to slavery? Or did it only change the form of slavery without changing the context? Was this disregard of the freedom of others due to their way of thinking and their philosophy?

It was none of these; it was nothing but self-interest. As an individual, the human being sought only to secure maximum profit for himself and get benefit from every possible means. Other human beings were one such means for him and he used them in the same way that he used wood, stone, iron and domestic animals. When he planted a tree or cut it down, the last thing that he cared about was the tree itself. He thought only of the way that the tree benefitted him. When he fattened a sheep and then slaughtered it, what was his purpose but self-interest? When he enslaved other human beings and deprived them of their rights, it was to benefit himself. Thus all his actions including trampling on other people's liberty were based on self-interests. Is he the same today? Yes. He is and he has not changed at all. On the contrary, it should be said that his mouth is even opened wider to swallow more.

Neither science nor law has been able to check greed. The only thing they have done is to change the form of it. The content is the same with a new cover. Ancient man was an outspoken being and had not yet reached the state of hypocrisy. When the Pharaoh enslaved people, he frankly declared to Moses, "What is your answer, Moses? These are my servants and slaves." (23:48)

The Pharaoh did not hide his deeds of exploitation and enslavement. But today human beings deprive others of all their rights and freedom in the name of a free world and under the pretext of defending peace and liberty. Why is it so? Because human beings lack spiritual freedom and are not virtuous and free in their souls.

( many of us so-called progressive activists do the same thing as described above. Supplanting our version of social freedom divorced from spiritual freedom. we espouse freedom at all costs from a social perspective and therefore provide fertile ground for exploitative capitalism and other forms of external expressions of control. In fact, our inability to actually do the internal work that spiritual freedom requires will forever maintain the marginal position that "progressives" hold. read on!)

The greatest damage of our time is speaking of freedom and confining it to social freedom. Spiritual freedom is never spoken of and, in consequence, social freedom is not secured.

A great crime is committed in our time in the form of philosophy and philosophical schools totally ignoring the human being, its personality, spiritual honor and God's revelation, "I breathed into him of My Spirit,"is quite forgotten. They deny that the human being has two aspects an animal side and a human one. They claim that this human being is no different from animals and is subject to the survival of the fittest. This means that each individual' effort is for his or her own interests.

Can you imagine how much damage this attitude has done to humanity? They say that life is a battle and the world a battlefield. They also say that a right is what one seizes, not what one ,rants. But the truth is that a right must both be taken and given and not only something which is snatched by force.

The prophets did not come to make such a statement that a right must be seized by force. They came to persuade the oppressed to secure their rights. They also compelled the oppressor to rise against their evil deeds and grant others their rights.

In conclusion I pray God to liberate us all from our carnal desires as he has done for truly generous beings; and to grant us social freedom and blessings in this and the next world; to acquaint us with the facts of Islam; to meet our legitimate needs and to grant salvation to our deceased ones.

READ MORE HERE >> I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE IT!

Giants, Patriots, New Englanders, New Yorkers... lend ME your ears...

I have come to bury the PATS not to praise them...

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for the bonds of slavery to be discarded and the people to rise up in defense of liberty… for the oppressors within our own being to unchain and unshackle their minds and admit the surmounting of the impossible as matter of necessity.

The Patriots Must Lose.

Here under leave of the Giants and the rest come I to speak at the Brady Funeral. They were impressive, faithful fans and all, but I must push back – not this day, not this hour, ne’er would the season fall to such Olympian feats of courage and destruction of opponents until they would meet the storied franchise that is the NY way…

The Giants Must Prevail.

They have been disappointing yes, this is true, and Eli is but a babe dancing around 300 pound wolves, however, may he channel archie and peyton for his Manning redemption. The fate of the free world against the tyranny of those nor’east football ogres lies in the balance… the terrorists called Bruschi, Brady, Moss, and Co.

I have been a coy observer. Admitting through gritted teeth that perhaps the best quarterback in the history of the game is in front of us. I am not blinded by a fans delight in ones own team. Nor am I lulled into a fantasy of redemption as can only be conjured up by a true believer eyeing the promised land of victory…

I am a NY’er. Born in Manhattan, bred in Brooklyn and Upstate, and tainted by scarring years on the foreign soil of New England. If this day be nothing else, I call upon the Gaints to cull the forces of the Mid-Atlantic, the warmer waters of the Hudson, the black and impenetrable East river, to be invincible like Robert Moses, timeless like 42nd street, to stretch their time of possession like the 5 train stretches from Brooklyn to the Bronx, to keep the ball out of Brady’s hands, and on defense, to leave them waiting like there were signal failures on the N/R/W – make the Patriots go local, slow, heeded. I want the Giants to imagine victory snatched like a purse in time square, slipped out of a back pocket in Soho, so in the end they can brush off their shoulders and pop their collars and remember Harlem and Bed-Stuy where little boys and girls will recall their exploits, singing songs and their praises for the ages – this is the reason hip hop was made.

This is a battle for the soul of a Knicks-Killed town. The Grit and Amazin’ downwardly spiraled Mets, For the Pheonix rising of a Yankee’s Tough image, the day the Giants said to the world: We are New York.

Be still. My heart will lie in the coffin there with the Patriots undefeated season. I must pause now till it come back to me…

A Giant upset? Here's what it will take

Christmas in Iran (myth busting)

Some Fresh Air about Iran.

1. They have not attacked anyone in hundreds of years. they are not interested in attacking anyone.

2. They would never bomb Israel with a nuclear weapon because in Islamic tradition the return of Prophet Issa (Jesus) occurs there and the final battle takes place there as well.

3. They have a much more tolerant society than most people realize. Yes, they are predominantly Muslim population but they also have a Christian minority that is allowed to do what they do: be Christian. See the pictures.

4. Ahmedinijad does not make final decisions on matters of national security. That would be like feeling threatened if Nancy Pelosi was thought to run the US government.

5. The real reason people are pissed off about a nuclear Iran is that with that brilliant stroke it could forever alter the balance of power in the region and Israel would become a lesser player without a shot being fired. I for one, support a nuclear Iran, it may not be popular but I trust them to not use it more than I trust my own sadistic Government.

Any person that wants to attack Iran has fallen under the spell of the Israel Hawk lobby. They are no longer thinking for themselves. They have become a pragmatic soupy spineless politician chomping at the bit to get elected. That is fine in our country, because that is whom we elect. In the famous speech where Ahmedinijad was quoted as saying that he would wipe Israel off the face of the planet, well read a good blog on that here but I will summarize the main points:

1. The “quote” was a quote from the late Ayatollah Khomeni
2. He never used the word map
3. Translation scholars agree that he was talking about the Israeli regime
4. Its use in popular media is another puffed chest call for war

Iran is much more similar to the United States and has a much longer historical memory. They recall when the United States and Great Britain deposed their only popularly elected leader and installed the Shah instead. They remember when the Shah let his country be used as a oil pawn and a Cold War border country. They remember what the world’s response when they wanted to self-determine their own nations political leadership and kicked out the Shah after nearly 30 years of rule by the Western Slave.

Oh, and in Iran, they let Christians say Merry Christmas:

Iran is much more similar to the United States:

FOR MORE PICTURES THAT WILL HEAL THE IMAGE YOU HAVE OF IRAN CLICK HERE

Abdul-Matin Family Circa 1997

Sufi Wisdom

A perfected man said: 'For seventy years I have worked on myself and I am now in ecstasy, contentment and felicity, and in this state I participate in the Sovereign Majesty and am united with Divinity itself. As for you , while you are occupied with looking for the faults of others, how will you be able to taste the joy of the unseen world? If you look for faults with a searching eye, how will you be able to see the things of the inner world? You would split a hair for the faults of others, but to your own faults you turn a blind eye. Acknowledge your own faults, then guilty though you be, God will have mercy on you'

From the Conference of Birds-

Other Tidbits of Sufi WIsdom:

"Eliminate what is not you. Blame wont give solutions to you"

"When you get to the third step of the ladder, there is no reason to go back to the second, or first. Practice awareness"

"when the light is on, everyone will notice, and its all clear...everyone will notice your light"

Gun Shot Shy

I think I heard a gunshot. Just now. Its crazy like that sometimes. I decided to turn out the lights. Soon after I heard a siren. Probably too soon. I did hear a YO!

Funny thing is I just walked in the door. I could feel some tension, I saw huddled cats on the street. Its cold outside so you gotta have something going on to be in the streets.

I wonder what it feels like in Palestine, where bombs and missiles go off. I thank Allah that I am not there to deal with that reality.

My boy told a story tonight of losing his wallet on a plane headed into Amsterdam. He subsequently had his luggage delayed. For a moment he flashed and saw himself waiting in line att eh US embassy but he still had his passport. He would have been at the mercy of airport security.

What strikes me is the impermanence. There is an idea that God is always present and always afar – at the same time. But the times of presence of mind and calmness and awareness of Being and also the reality of being at the mercy of circumstance.

But can we really be so uninvolved?

Perhaps my curiosity would have gotten the better of me and I walked into the street into a firefight?

Or my buddy would ignore the continuously blasting Homeland Security “orange alert” warnings and ran onto the plane he suspected of still having his passport.

Our decisions are both determined and by choice? How hard is that to fathom?

Makes one wonder what the particular lesson of any cautious moment or stillness of fate. We can never know the hour of our passing, or of our passage into high drama. It happens. Its how we manage what happens. Its how we power up and figure out our advantage. Our way of being. Our stillness. Our time when everything stops and its not determined by a gunshot or being stranded in a foreign country.

I for one am still typing in the dark but I can choose to turn on the light. Its tricky.

"Bean Pie My Brother?: A Slice of American Muslim History"

the following video can be found at this link here

This is about the Bean pie ladies and gents, and peep my pops in the video as well, here's the clip,

i'm about to get myself a bean pie at my favorite bakery

new MyFave event!

Prayer and Healing

A friend said to me:

You have to choose whether you want to be liked or respected, because you can't have both.

some wisdom:

The Messenger of God said, “Abandon desire for this world, and God will love you. Abandon desire for others’ goods, and people will love you.” Ibn Majah

from the Zaytuna Website

now, onto today's topic:

Researchers Look at Prayer and Healing.

"Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism -- every religion believes in prayer for healing," said Paul Parker, a professor of theology and religion at Elmhurst College outside Chicago.

Great! secular science tells us all we need to know!

Not to sound too bitter about this article, i just think that sometimes we believe things that "experts" tell us without having a deep conversation with our own selves. So a friend of mine was talking about the difficulty of teaching in a extremely low performing school. he sounded beleaguered, beaten, bloodied by students that have more control in the classroom than he does.

and its true, our best laid plans for control are mustered wilst we close dark doors on things we wish we'd forgotten. Meaning, there are hidden and dark places that we have been, lies we have told ourselves, stands we could have taken and did not, illusions and fantasies that we created to handle the moment, fronts we erected when the reality was too jarring. some of us have even crossed lines spiritually, physically, degraded ourselves to appease people, or degraded others, or raped people or emotionally raped people, or done things, unnatural things, that we are utterly ashamed of...

all that needs to stop.

My friend is a beaten but not down. He is willing to take on the challenge of working in this school. part of him accepting that is seeing and understanding that really the challenge and oppression that he feels are things that are within himself. His self-delusion, his unkempt soul and unorganized attachments.

We speak what we are told. We hear what we choose to listen to. We are what we eat. we eat confusion and madness then we regurgitate the same. we eat truth and patience we reverberate and resonate it and it becomes infectious to others.

what matters now is the choice. In the past we have lied to and cheated our own selves. we've followed the pack instead of leading. we've chosen to try and solve other peoples problems instead of our own. I have done this, this is why i am speaking about it now. I have criticized and vilified others when in reality most of what i was saying was projecting - its what we all do if we are unaware of our own power to manifest what we want, to self-direct our lives, to stop asking for and create.

My buddy was hurt after leaving the school. it physically pained him to go to the school in the morning. he was overwhelmed by his own process.

I am on one, i know, but listen. There are things in the world that you have done, things that i have done, that literally go against all moral principles and mores. actions that we would be ashamed of even our closest friend knowing. actions we now think that God will not forgive ourselves for, the reality is that God will never forgive you for something that you have not forgiven yourself.

its time to wake up. question everything. surround yourself with challengers instead of appeasers. move in circles that hinder your ability to feel sorry for yourself, that check you, that hold you accountable...

a conversation with person 1 and person 2 again:

1. So how do we heal people so that they can stop thinking (prayer) and just be? So that things feel natural and come naturally?

2. that is a high level question

1. Because that really is the challenge, isn't it?

2. YES. that is definitely the question.

1. Yes, and finding the answer is our quest in life.

Religion is Not Utopian

Conversation with Others: person 1 and person 2

my thought of the day: religion is not utopian, not focused on what should happen but rather, how do you handle what happens because we cannot control what happens, only can control our reactions

1. right right, very tru
2. Astute observation.

funny thing is that i thought it was the other way around for a long time

2. That's the mistake most religious people make. And they end up miserable. Because they've set up religion to create a lot of frustration and disappointment.

part of the problem religious people get into is that thinking that if only everyone did this and that then everything would be perfect, things have NEVER been perfect and will not be. we are creation, not the Creator!

1. yep

The Prophet was said to have said that he did not come to bring the Arabs morality, they already had that, he came to make sure they worshipped One God

2. Yeah, but there is a point to God worship other than just doing so for the sake of it. It's a coping mechanism.

we worship Allah to cope what is thrown at us.

2. That is the sentiment behind - prayer is the opposite of worry.

worry suggests that you can control the uncontrollable

2. Worry suggests that you don't trust God.

prayer is acceptance and calm and patience

1. that it is
hmm
thanks for saying that..I really needed to hear that.

STOP: Puerto Rico Time:

So close yet Still far away...

I called the cab just as i got out of the shower and got dressed. The time was 5:25am and they gave me a 4 minute window. The cabbie was there when i expected and we were in our way. I asked him the typical question i ask any cabbie in nYc: where are you from?

Mali, he replies
MashAllah i shoot back

he had been gruff with me until that tiny exchange. the music had been silent until my reply when he popped in a tape - yes a tape - of some beautiful West African blues. I'm sitting there enjoying the blessings and we cruise all the way to conduit and atlantic - that's right - i was heading from my home to my former home: JFK Intl. Airport.

The car started sputtering, my time was short, i needed to be there at least by 6:15am. by time it sputtered the time read 5:45 on the dot. Coincidentially the same time that Fajr prayer was in. We were on the side of a road where there were no lights and nothing but cars zooming past us. I was calm. He was not, calling base and not getting a response, and the car seemed to be getting worst until it finally did not turn over at all. We were stranded.

i added into his barrage of cursing, i gotta catch this flight.
i know i know he said!

I kept thinking, maybe i should say the Call to prayer? the Athan because it was now in and he is also a muslim. i kept thinking it and not doing it until i started to mutter in the lower regions of my breathe the beginning of the Call to prayer came out... and NO LIE literally as i began saying it, as my voice got higher, he turned the key over and BAM the car started!

but that was not the end of the story. Just soon after he needed to veer to the left lane and was stupidly trying to pass a small truck on the right side. By the time he got ahead of the ruck he was almost out of range to get to the ramp and had to cut off the small truck so bad that the truck slammed into the back of the taxi.

WHAT!?

yes, that really happened this morning from Brooklyn to Washington DC. Thank God i kept my cool.

bb