Anony Sufi

With the spiritual struggle demanding patience and gratitude, I find it difficult to decipher what is constructive criticism and what is just pure whining. The city I live in has security, fairly adequate social services and facilitates the ability to acquire needed items for everyday living. Alhumdulilah wa biShukrillah, all praise and gratitude is due to God, for this blessing.

But there is a lot lacking. And what is lacking many times becomes frustrating, which sometimes I complain about either internally or externally. I remind myself, though, when I complain that I am drowning in God’s mercy and compassion and have been showered in immense blessing that I can actually enjoy unfettered and how theses blessings overwhelm any negativity, real or perceived, that I may encounter. But sometimes, there are major issues in this city, which is situated in a “developing” country, that really frustrate me and I feel obliged to point them out because they seem not only a hindrance or perhaps danger to me, but to others as well. And I think this last part concerning the effect of things on others is key in deciding between what is whining and what is constructive criticism.

A friend told me concerning drawing this line: “Legitimate critique demands improvement while useless whining demands only discontent.” I think this aphorism helps me answer my question well because if inwardly we are unsound and discontent, the sadness of the soul will be manifest outwardly because it will only see through the lens of unhappiness. However, if something legitimately needs to be fixed, then it should be pointed out, but this criticism should be coupled with constructive answers that can not only be grasped tangibly (in other words sans abstract theorizing) but also easily acted on. And this, I believe, then demands improvement, which is what in the end we are seeking.

Anony Sufi

Love is as much a bind as it is a separator. Through love we are bound to our beloved in the womb of welcoming grace and compassion. And through love, we are separated from all else by our sheer blindness to all else and our beholding of the one of ultimate concern, the one who is loved. It is this womb of blindness and beholding that we find ultimate refuge. We must remember, though, that any temporal love is limited by death.

Divine love is not, however, for the Loved is Eternally Besought, the All-Living and The Giver of Life. We as humans, the lovers, and what a beautiful and adorning title I wish to be honored with, must die unto ourselves and be revived in the Beloved’s Light. We must give up ourselves and surrender ourselves before entering the refuge of Divine Love, the womb, the repository, the abode of true Beauty. And this refuge of Love is a refuge of Mercy and Lutf (Gentle and Loving Kindness) because it is a womb that contains us, nourishes us, and molds us into the best of molds as our mother’s womb does. It is amazing how the word in the Arabic language “rahm,” or womb, is a derivative of the word “rahma,” or compassionate mercy.

It is amazing to think in this context of love’s refuge how significant the beginning of the prayer is when one says before the Fatiha, “I seek refuge in God from Satan the Accursed.” When we enter prayer, it is as if we have enterd a Divine Womb, a Divine Refuge and are blinded to all else except the All-Loving Lord. We are nourished in prayer and molded into the best of molds, the mold of ihsan, or spiritual excellence, which the Prophet, may God bless him and give him peace, described as “Worshiping God as though you see Him and if you do not see Him, know that He sees you.”

There is a hadith of the the beloved of God, Muhummad, may God’s blessings and peace be upon him, that goes as follows:

We were with the Messenger of God in one of his battles. He passed a tribe and asked, “Who is this tribe?” They replied, “We are Muslims.”

A woman was tending her oven. She had her son with her. When the flames of the oven shot up, she pulled back her son. Then she came to the Prophet. She said, “Are you the Messenger of God?” He said, “Yes.” She said, “I ask you by my father and my mother: Is God not the Most Merciful of merciful?” He replied, “Indeed He is.” She said, “Is God not more merciful to His servants than the mother is to her child?” He replied, “Indeed He is.” She said, “A mother would not throw her child into the fire.”

The Messenger of God looked down and began weeping. Then he raised his head to her and said, “Among His servants, God will only chastise the one who is defiant and rebellious, the one who rebels against God and refuses to say, “There is no god but God.”

Anony Sufi