Better day. I managed to in fact sleep like a dead person, without maybe even moving the entire time I was asleep. Really hoping that next week brings some real ease, inshAllah.

I believe I already mentioned that when I discuss Islam, I often get very wet eyes. Because I have such love in my heart for this faith, and there is such great mourning in me for how it is manipulated and misunderstood by both those within it and those outside of it. I just want everyone to know how incredible it is and how much actual love it has within it for both those of the Ummah and those not.

This book, by the way, is one of my favourite books. Should any of you wish to understand this deen, I would recommend it, as well as The Black Pearl: Spiritual Illumination in Sufism and East Asian Philosophies (which you can either purchase online or download here for free).

Birgivi’s book is one to which I return regularly when in need of clarification on certain matters. Earlier today, I did just this and was reminded that we are to know that between Adam (the first prophet) and Muhammad (the seal of the prophets), there were either 124,000 or 224,000 unnamed prophets sent to humankind. Really, very few of them are named.

What does that say to you?

For me, it’s clear. It is identifying a need that we not discriminate against, dismiss, or belittle philosophies (since they cannot, by syntax, be called of the three ‘Abrahamic’ traditions) which have stood the test of time, and which ring within them the same values and ethics threads as through the Abrahamic traditions. Simply because, they could have come from a prophet.

Maybe Confucius, Laozi, and/or Zhuangzi, etc. (Go ahead and run the 124,000 through your mind; it’s fascinating.)

Which, really, is just another reminder that we, Muslims, must always carry respect in our hearts for all that we may not so clearly identify as the word of Allah.

Interesting, isn’t it? That all the reminders of this deen are for us to expand our heart, open our mind, set our intentions to good, and be mindful of the harm we might inflict on others, and ourselves both here and in the next world.

No wonder I cry.

Today, I am grateful for:
1. Home Depot workshops. Did you know they give workshops? I am going to attend a workshop! Call me Bob The Builder.
2. My fingernails. Not only do I like to paint you, but you help me when I have an itch, when I need to pick something up, and, Fun Fact! Nails help increase the sensitivity of our fingers because they act as a counter force when the pulp of the finger touches anything. (Source: Why do we have fingernails and toenails? Science ABC.)
3. The videos and photos of all newborns in my family. Infants are hilarious and completely unhinged physical hedonists. How can they be anything but a blessing (when in video format, and not throwing up on you, in your hair, and possibly in your mouth if angled incorrectly)?

Ottawa | May 25, 2019

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