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Muhammad
In the Name of Allah.
It is said in the Sirah of Ibn Kathir Ad-Damishiqi (may Allah be pleased with
him) that Allah (Glory be to the One Most High) granted Sayyidina Sulayman
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) Prophethood and Kingship. He offered
the same to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) but he
chose servitude with Prophethood. Muhammad said, "Allah would have turned the
mountains into Gold for me but I prefer to stay hungry one day and satiated the
other." He preferred to be humble and pleading when hungry and grateful when
satiated.
Thus it is recorded in the Sirah of ibn Kathir.
 In this
age of the consumer, choice is paramount – so they say. But how many
people out there are able to exercise any real choice in their lives? Sooner or
later, most of us will find ourselves stuck with our past decisions. Even if
work and wit have provided us with sufficient financial resources to up sticks
and move on, cutting the emotional ties would feel like a machete slicing into
the heart. I probably have enough a money to go if I really wanted, but I can’t.
Instead, I look back and wonder how it came to this.
I can understand how conquered nations write their histories, even though no
blame can be apportioned to their circumstances. Desperate to change things,
full of regret and righteous anger, our history tells of how the present becomes
a prison. Death in this state is a terrifying prospect, urging the more
desperate to risk humiliation and murder rather than tolerate the torpor of cold
comfort. Others choose the secret poison of anonymous, petty malice .
But I am not interested in political rhetoric or revenge. There is far more
profound response to biopower’s entrapment, open to the blameworthy as well as
the honest victim. We can go insane. The trouble is, most of us do it so badly.
I intend to embrace lunacy wholeheartedly and realise its dissonance to
perfection. I shall of course make one proviso – to harm no one. And there is
only one kind of madness that guarantees this: love of The One, The Creator.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of all the worlds.
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Al-Qushayri's Principles of Sufism (Risala)
[Trans. B R Von Schlegell]
(New York: Mizan Press, 1990)
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Hazrat
Inayat Khan's The Art of Being and Becoming
(New Hampshire: Omega Publications, 1989)
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al-Jilani's
Sufficient Provision for Seekers of the Path of Truth
[Trans M. Holland]
(Texas: Al-Baz., 1995)
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