THE MOSQUE OF CORDOBA

The cycle of day and night [is] the engraver of events.
The cycle of day and night [is] the essence of life and death.
The cycle of day and night is a two-colored thread of silk
with which the being weaves its attire of traits.
The cycle of day and night [is] the lamentation of the musical-instrument of the origin
through which the being shows the vicissitudes of possibilities.
It tries you, it tries me;
the cycle of day and night is the examiner of the cosmos.
If you're impure, if I'm impure
[then] it leads to your funeral procession, it leads to my funeral procession.
What else is the truth of your days and nights;
a surge of the time sans day and night.
All the marvels of the skills are transient;
the existence of world is ephemeral! The existence of world is ephemeral!

[The fate of] the beginning and the end is death, [the fate of] the unseen and apparent is death.
Be it an antiquated imprint or the latest one, its last destination is death.
Yet there exists a hue of eternity in this imprint;
the one that has been completed by some man of God.
The actions of the man of God get accelerated with [the help of] love.
The essence of life is love; death is forbidden for it.
hough the gush of the time is intense and fast
love itself is a tempest that restrains [other] tempests.
In the calendar of love, besides the contemporary age,
|there're other ages too that don't have names.
Love is the mainstay of Gabriel, love is the heart of Mustafa.
Love is the Messenger of God, love is the message of God.
The flower looks dazzling because of the intoxication of love.
Love is the undiluted wine, love is the wine-cup of a munificent drinker.
Love is the jurist of the Shariat, love is the commander of the army.
Love is the traveler because of which it passes through thousands of stages.

The lifeline streams out of the plectrum of love.
The radiance of life is due to love; the fire of life is because of love.

O Mosque of Cordoba! Your existence [too] is because of love.
Love is infinite time that's beyond the cycle of transient time.
Be it painting, architecture, music poetry or calligraphy,
all these arts thrive on the intensity of love!
The intensity of love turns a stone into a heart
[and] it's love that bestows depth of feeling, exhilaration and melody to the voice.
Your environ is charming, my songs are poignant;
you make the hearts bow before God, I make the hearts capacious.
The bosom of man isn't inferior to the empyrean throne of God
though his body is made of earth and is mortal.
Though the angels [also] prostrate before God
but their prostration lacks poignancy.
[Though] I'm an infidel from India, behold my earnestness
[that] my heart prays benison for the Prophet, my lips do the same.

The zeal is in my tune, the zeal is in my flute;
the hymn of God is in my essence.
Your grandeur and beauty manifests the man of God;
he too is eminent and handsome, you too are eminent and handsome.
Your foundation is stable, you've countless pillars
[which look like] the rows of palm trees in the oasis of Syria.
The radiance of Sinai valley is spread over your nooks and corners;
this tall minaret of yours is the place of manifestation for Gabriel.
The pious Muslim can never be eliminated, for
his calls for prayers reveal the mysteries of Moses and Abraham.
His land is limitless, his sky is boundless;
the surge of his sea is spread over Tigris, Danube and Nile.
His reigns have been awe-inspiring, his tales have been extraordinary;
it was he who commanded the antiquated epoch to perish.
He's the cupbearer to those who have taste, he's the cavalier of the field of passion;
his wine is pure, his sword is of high trait.

He's the soldier whose armor is [the belief in] one God;
under the shadow of swords his refuge is [the belief in] one God.

Through you the mysteries of the pious Muslim,
the warmth of his days, the poignancy of his nights,
his lofty position, his exalted thoughts,
his exhilaration, his passion, his humility, his dalliance, have been revealed.
The hand of God is the hand of the pious Muslim,
which is triumphant, effectual, resourceful [and] skillful.
[He possesses] the traits of both man and angel and the attributes of the Lord;
his heart, though carefree, is richer than the two worlds.
His expectations are few, his objectives are sublime;
his style is irresistible, his sight is captivating.
[He's] soft while conversing, passionate while in action;
be it the battlefield or a social gathering [he's always] pious and orderly.
His faith is the focal point of Truth
and the rest of the cosmos is illusion, sorcery and unreal.

He's the destination of reason, he is the output of love;
he's is the warmth of the assemblage in the circuit of cosmos.
You're the Mecca of the designers, the apostle of the grandeur of Islam;
by virtue of you, the land of Spain has become as hallowed as that of Mecca.
If any other model, as exquisite as you, exists in this world
it is in the heart of a Muslim and nowhere else.
Alas! Those men of Truth! Those Arab cavaliers!
The possessors of 'inspiring character', the followers of truth and faith;
their rule has revealed this simple mystery
that the State ruled by the faithful is pro-poor, not monarchical;
their insights have trained the East and the West;
their reasoning was the guiding force in the darkness of Europe.
It is because of their blood that, even today, the Spanish people
are friendly, hospitable, simple and handsome.
In this country, even now, [people's eyes] look like those of gazelle
and, even today, the arrows of their sights are enchanting.
The aroma of Yemen, even today, is mixed in its winds;
the tunes of Hejaz, even now, are fused in its songs.
In the eyes of the faithful your land's estimation is equal to that of sky.
Alas! Your environ has not heard the call for prayer for centuries.
In which vale, at what destination,
the strong caravan of the zealous lovers [of God] got stuck up.
Germany has witnessed the Reformation
that has erased all the imprints of antiquated faith;
because of which the piety of the Pope has become an erroneous term
and the subtle ferry of reason sailed on its course.
France too has experienced the Revolution
that has changed the world of the Westerners.
The Roman nation that has been submerged in retrogressive culture
has, once again, become powerful because of the new ideas.
The soul of the Muslim nation too is experiencing similar unrest;
what lies ahead is a mystery of God that I can't reveal.
Wait and see what spurts out of the seabed;
the blue dome [of sky] changes to what colour.
In the vale, surrounded by the mountain range, the cloud is swallowed up by the redness;
the sun has set leaving behind the mounds of rubies from Badakhshan.
The song of the farmer's daughter is simple and poignant;
youth is like a tempest to the vessel of heart.
O stream of Kabeer! On your bank
someone is perceiving the dream of some other age.
[Though] the coming world is still covered with the curtain of destiny,
before my eyes its beginning is uncovered.
If I remove the curtains from the face of the [future] thoughts
the Western people won't face up to my songs.
The life that has no place for revolution is death
[for] the spirit of the nation lies in struggle and revolution.
The nation, which takes stock of its actions in each age,
develops into a sword in the hand of death.
All the imprints are incomplete in the absence of love and endeavor;
melody is like a crude insanity in the absence of love and endeavor

Baby, it's all good! - A modern hijab poem

Baby, it's all good! - A modern hijab poem

Author unknown

What do you see when you look at me
Do you see someone limited, or someone free
All some people can do is just look and stare
Simply because they can't see my hair
Others think I am controlled and uneducated
They think that I am limited and un-liberated
They are so thankful that they are not me
Because they would like to remain 'free'

Well free isn't exactly the word I would've used
Describing women who are cheated on and abused
They think that I do not have opinions or voice
They think that being hooded isn't my choice
They think that the hood makes me look caged
That my husband or dad are totally outraged
All they can do is look at me in fear
And in my eye there is a tear

Not because I have been stared at or made fun of
But because people are ignoring the One up above
On the day of judgment they will be the fools
Because they were too ashamed to play by their own rules
Maybe the guys won't think I am a cutie
But at least I am filled with more inner beauty
See I have declined from being a guy's toy
Because I won't let myself be controlled by a boy

Real men are able to appreciate my mind
And aren't busy looking at my behind
Hooded girls are the ones really helping the Muslim cause
The role that we play definitely deserves applause
I will be recognized because I am smart and bright
And because some people are inspired by my sight
The smart ones are attracted by my tranquility
In the back of their mind they wish they were me

We have the strength to do what we think is right
Even if it means putting up a life long fight
You see we are not controlled by a mini skirt and tight shirt
We are given only respect, and never treated like dirt
So you see, we are the ones that are free and liberated
We are not the ones that are sexually terrorized and violated
We are the ones that are free and pure
We're free of STD's that have no cure

So when people ask you how you feel about the hood
Just sum it up by saying, 'Baby its all good'

Shaheed e hijab

Egyptians angry over German court slayingStory Highlights

•Sherbini killed in courtroom as she prepared to give testimony against man

•The man was convicted of calling Sherbini a "terrorist," "bitch" and "Islamist"

•Many Egyptians shout hostile slogans against Germany during her funeralJuly 7, 2009 -- Updated 0502 GMT (1302 HKT)Next Article in World »
(CNN) -- Hundreds of Egyptians took part Monday in the funeral of Marwa Sherbini, an Egyptian woman who was stabbed to death last week in the German city of Dresden in a crime believed to be racially motivated.

Egyptians take part in the funeral of Marwa Sherbini, who was murdered in Germany last week.
Sherbini, 33, was stabbed to death Wednesday in a courtroom as she prepared to give testimony against a German man of Russian descent whom she had sued for insult and abuse.

The man, identified in German media as Alex A., 28, was convicted of calling Sherbini, who wore a headscarf, "terrorist," "bitch" and "Islamist" when she asked him him to leave a swing for her 3-year-old son Mustafa during an August 2008 visit to a children's park.

He was fined and appealed the ruling. The two were in court Wednesday for that appeal when Alex A. attacked, pulling out a knife and stabbing Sherbini 18 times. He also stabbed her husband three times and attacked another person.

According to Arab media, police officers tried to intervene to end the fight, and a number of shots were fired. One hit the husband, who fell unconscious and is currently in intensive care in the hospital of Dresden University.

Sherbini was three months pregnant at the time of her death.

Hundreds attended Sherbini's funeral in Alexandria, Egypt, her hometown, among them government officials, including Egyptian Manpower Minister Aisha Abdel Hadi and Telecommunications Minister Tariq Kamel, Egyptian media reported.

Many shouted hostile slogans against Germany and called for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to take a firm stand on the incident. Egypt's grand mufti, Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, demanded the severest punishment to be issued against Alex A.

Berlin witnessed angry protests on Saturday, when hundreds of Arabs and Muslims demonstrated after a funeral prayer that called her killing an outrageous racist murder against Muslims.

In a phone call with Al Arabiya, Marwa's brother, Tariq Sherbini, said, "Extremism has no religion. My sister was killed simply because she wore the veil. This incident clearly shows that extremism is not limited to one religion or another and it is not exclusively carried out by Muslims."

"We are only asking for a fair punishment," he said, adding that his sister was not a radical. "She was a religious woman who prayed and wore her headscarf, but she was killed because of her belief."

Anger about Sherbini's death smoldered online, as Twitterers and bloggers pushed the cause.

"She is a victim of hatred and racism," tweeted Ghada Essawy, among many other Arab twitters and bloggers. Essawy called Sherbini "the martyr of the veil."

Various videos circulated on YouTube calling on Egypt to take action and urging Germany to address what their makers saw as a new wave of hatred against Arabs and Muslims in its community.

One video showed various pictures of a young happy Marwa saying that "The woman stood up for her rights and she was killed. May God bless her." The English font in the video presentation asked "when will Egypt cares for its citizens' rights inside Egypt and abroad."

Sherbini and her husband moved to Dresden in 2003, after the husband received a grant to study genetic engineering in the renowned Max Planck Institute. He was scheduled to present his Ph.D. thesis in the coming day

Merwa Sherbibi 'headscarf martyr'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8136500.stm

Egypt mourns 'headscarf martyr'

Marwa Sherbini is being hailed as the shahida, or martyr, of the Hijab
The body of a Muslim woman, killed in a German courtroom by a man convicted of insulting her religion, has been taken back to her native Egypt for burial.

Marwa Sherbini, 31, was stabbed 18 times by Axel W, who is now under arrest in Dresden for suspected murder.

Husband Elwi Okaz is also in a critical condition in hospital, after being injured as he tried to save his wife.

Ms Sherbini had sued her killer after he called her a "terrorist" because of her headscarf.

The case has attracted much attention in Egypt and the Muslim world.

German prosecutors have said the 28-year-old attacker, identified only as Axel W, was driven by a deep hatred of foreigners and Muslims.

'Martyr'

Medics were unable to save Ms Sherbini who was three months pregnant with her second child. Her three-year-old son was with the family in court when she was killed.

Axel W and Ms Sherbini and family were in court for his appeal against a fine of 750 euros ($1,050) for insulting her in 2008, apparently because she was wearing the Muslim headscarf or Hijab.

Newspapers in Egypt have expressed outrage at the case, asking how it was allowed to happen and dubbing Ms Sherbini "the martyr of the Hijab".

Senior Egyptian officials and German diplomatic staff attended the funeral in Alexandria along with hundreds of mourners.

Media reports say Mr Okaz was injured both by the attacker and when a policeman opened fire in the courtroom.

How to Start a Revolution

by JONATHAN on May 21st, 2009


I’ve found the secret to being excited about waking up every day; and I’ll tell you what it is right now. It’s starting a Revolution. I didn’t always think in these terms though…
I used to ask: What can I gain? How can I turn this into a business that will support me?
I focused on helping others by sharing my perspective, but that was the extent of it. When I did that, working on this blog would be exciting sometimes, and at other times it would feel like just a chore.
Now, I can’t even contain my energy for the work I’m doing. I feel like there’s electricity in the air. I’ve changed my mindset and made the decision to do something epic. Now I’m focused on creating a social movement of people living on their own terms. Because of this, I’ve moved from ego-centric to collective-centric.
It’s bigger than me now.
Guess what happens when you make something bigger than you? You get plugged in. You become connected to this amazing source of energy that was never previously available to you.
Now I ask: How can I take action that will support this vision? How can I create momentum to further ignite this revolution?
Waking up excited
The biggest benefit to working on a revolution is that it gives you an insane amount of energy. Working on a revolution will make you want to wake up. You might even have a hard time falling asleep at night, because you’re so motivated to take action on your vision. This is how I feel when I’m laying in bed thinking about all of the awesome stuff I’m doing with this blog and with Project Mojave, and my plans to expand this project into something even bigger.
So if creating something worth remembering is likely to make you a thousand times more productive, why isn’t everyone working on something like this? I think more people would devote themselves to something greater, if they just knew how to do it.
I often spend a lot of time talking about perspective and cultivating an authentic state. While that’s all good, I want to switch gears here to practical and logistics of the application of these perspectives.
First, we need to define what it takes to create a Revolution…
It has to be something you care deeply about and would be willing to devote your life to.
It should be something that will help other people.
It should have a long term impact.
It has to be remarkable; it has to be worth sharing and bigger than you.
Working toward a revolution often involves the pursuit of being an ordinary radical.
Your revolution must have a distinctive quality to it that is caused by you working in it. It wouldn’t be the same if someone else did it. But it is definitely a collective movement created by similar values.
Secondly, how do you discover what Revolution you’ll start?
This is probably the most difficult question to answer and where 99% of people get stuck. It’s impossible for me to completely guide you in this pursuit, because you’ll have to do a lot of exploring.
You’ll probably start some projects and have to let them go, because they didn’t work or they weren’t a good fit for you. This can be difficult to do when you’ve invested a large amount of time in them, but ultimately it’s necessary to throw away a lot of good ideas, if you really want to find what bigger purpose you want to devote yourself to. Mediocrity must be sacrificed in the wake of greatness.
Creating a meaningful revolution demands the habit of quitting a lot of things.
I currently have 30 drafts in my blog admin area. At least 28 of those won’t see the light of day.
I’ve gotten really good at throwing away ideas, because I care about producing only things of remarkable value. I feel that if I’m not supporting something compelling, all I’m doing is contributing to the noise. I would rather not water down my content or pollute the already congested content sphere.
So the best advice I can give in this area is to fearlessly walk your path. Generate lots of ideas and be willing to throw most of them away. Practice. The more you practice the more you’ll be able to refine and shape your vision. This might sound odd, but it’s only really through the constant movement in the direction of what you might think your vision is, that you’ll find what your true vision is.
It might start out with something that you’re kind of, sort of passionate about. You like it enough to work hard at it. Then a few months later, you’ve gained enough experience working on it to have explored other possibilities. Now you decide that part of what you originally set out to do still applies, but it looks different than it did at first. Then another few months of work go by and your vision is refined even more.
It’s only this kind of walking the path that brings clarity. Don’t wait for clarity or your “one true purpose” before you start. Please, please, don’t do that. It will never happen. Epiphanies are found in the dirty, messy circuitous routes of practice.
Other than practice, there is an awesome, invaluable tool to help you figure out what your revolution will consist of. And that’s asking questions.
I think asking ourselves questions is one of the most powerful, overlooked things you can do. If you can develop the habit of initiating these kinds of conversations with yourself on a daily basis, you will achieve greater things you could have otherwise envisioned.
Here are some potent questions to get you started:
What do you teach others simply by being you?
What would you spend your time on, even if you didn’t get paid to do it?
What do you find yourself researching and can’t stop yourself from learning more about?
Is there anything you would consider yourself an expert in? If not, is there anything you’d like to be an expert in?
What gifts do you have that you’d like to make available to the world?
What do you want to change?
What lessons do you often find yourself repeating in life?
How does your purpose impact your local community? How does it impact your family? Your friends? The world?
What does your tribe (the people you most connect with) look like? What do you identify with on a collective level?
What legacy do you want to leave behind when you’re gone?
All of these questions aren’t meant to come up with the one-true-answer; they’re simply an impetus for getting your mind moving. Try combining asking these questions with mind-mapping. Have conversations with people, get their feedback. Connect with like-minded people and use them as a sounding board to explore your ideas. Just remember to stay true to yourself.
The most important thing is not holding back. Allow yourself to be ridiculous and completely authentic.
Now it’s time to start creating.
Moving from thought to action.
Once you’ve figured out what your project will look like, it’s time to start taking action. It’s time to stop thinking about it and start cultivating.
Just like discovering what to work on, a lot of people get stuck on how to start. It seems daunting when you’re staring up at a mammoth of a project from ground zero. There are so many things to do, so many approaches you could take, so many options.
But there is a reach, I promise you. And there is even that elusive grasp. But it only comes from starting. It only comes from not caring about what step you’ll take next, but just caring about the fact that you are taking a step.
The necessary ingredients to every revolution:
A revolution can be big or small. Whether you’re trying to change the education system or change the way people look at folding underwear, what matters is that you are passionate about it.
Rally your tribe. No revolution is a revolution without a group of people that share similar values. If you get really clear about your cause, you will easily be able to spot these people and make connections with them. Before long, you will likely not even need to seek them out. They will come to you.
Tap into your outrage. Most revolutions involve some kind of outrage or anger. This is a good thing. Your anger can be a gift if you use it wisely and don’t let it consume you. Use your outrage and your passion to fuel your action for change.
The cause rules. Movement and direction of your revolution should be dictated by the demands of the cause. Guru worship or leader exaltation results in the cause becoming obscured. Avoid these things so the movement is centered on the mission, and not a single individual.
Break down actionable steps. What change needs to be made and how will those changes best be accomplished? If the status quo needs to be interrupted, how will you deal with the resistance? Are you willing to stay true to your cause despite the protesters you will be faced with?
Keep the end in mind. It’s easy to get side-tracked with things that might seem to benefit your mission, but are really just distractions. In order to be effective, you must learn to cultivate an unshakable focus on your ultimate aim. Triage ruthlessly. Anything that does directly or indirectly benefit your cause, is a weed suffocating and diluting your objective, and it must be pulled.
Once in a while you’ll question whether or not you’re up to the task.
But something else is even scarier: what you left behind.
The ordinary, conventional, safe, secure, default life that you could have chosen instead. That’s what’s really scary. Remember that and you’ll be okay.
Everyone’s project will be vastly different, all I can offer are the necessary ingredients I’ve found. So instead of offering more practical advice, I’ll tell you about…
My Revolution

Since I wrote this article about work being sacred, I’ve given a lot of thought to creating something bigger than me. (Chris Guillebeau’s post Creating a Legacy Project and Charlie Gilkey’s Do Epic Shit, also spurred me to think more deeply about this.)
I’ve always aimed to be remarkable with my writing and this blog. Actually, there’s never been a time in my life where I’ve really pursued something in the hopes of being just okay.
So reaching to be uncommon and exceptional wasn’t a challenge for me, but the idea of creating some bigger than me was. Being unconventional and providing value is one thing. Creating an entire social movement, now that’s nothing to shake a stick at.
That is my reason for waking up. That is something I live for. That is something that gets me excited about being alive.
Thinking in terms of leading, or at least stimulating a collective revolution, really made me rethink what I’m doing with this blog. It made me think about something bigger than just me and my ambitions.
Thinking about this forced me to crystallize how all of the stuff I do fits into a universal picture. I still have the same plan, I still have the same style, that’s not changing. What is changing is a deepening of community and purpose.
So this is my revolution:
To create a movement based on authentic action. A social revolution of people liberating themselves through living on their own terms.”
That’s it. That’s my reason for waking up.
How this revolution will take form is something I’ve been giving a lot of thought to.
The plan
As you can probably guess, the medium for my revolution is mainly, this blog. But it’s also the ebook, the liberation manifesto, my work with Project Mojave, and the other products that I’ll later release (that are currently in development). I plan to develop a collection of products (some free and some for sale) aimed toward creating personal freedom that will outlast me when I’m gone. Some of my ideas may seem dissimilar, but they are all related to stimulating a social movement of living on your own terms.
Some of this collection of resources will come in different forms. Obviously there will be blog posts, but there will also be ebooks, physical books (later down the line, when I become famous, of course), and possibly some audio and video courses.
The best part about this is I now have a crystallization of one underlying intention behind everything I do. The way my action manifests might be different, but the purpose is unified.
All of the stuff I’m creating revolves around a similar theme: unconventional methods for improving your life and living more authentically. I want to help promote this revolution in an unconventional way. My aim is to create a wealth of resources for people that are easily bored with the same approach and crave something different. I want to appeal not just to the typical self-help typecast, but to punk rock kids, iconoclasts, recovering lawyers and cubicle-dwellers, people living off the grid, and people that aren’t satisfied with the status quo. I want to connect with those that question supposedly unquestionable belief-systems, and those that want live on their own terms.
My message is personal and collective liberation, my style or medium is an unconventional, renegade kind of approach. The message is my core passion and purpose, the medium is the style that I most resonate with.
My project isn’t about prostrating myself as a guru and saying “follow this one true way.” I simply aim to say “Hey, this seems like an interesting idea, and it’s worked well for me. Plus it’s a pretty interesting and uncommon way to live.” Not a lot of people are killing their goals, giving up caring and embracing ADD.
My project is to create an abundant wealth of information and resources for people interested in non-traditional modes of living. That’s it. That’s my legacy. And I think it absolutely kicks ass. It keeps me up at night, and makes me excited to wake up the next morning.
Others may think that this project is totally lame or downright silly. And that’s okay. It’s my legacy, not theirs.
I’ve found a meaningful pilgrimage to devote my life to, in the service of this cause and the service of others. Knowing that, I’m no longer perpetually searching. My actions are guided by a coherent mission.
Keeping perspective
Creating a revolution to me is something worth living for. But it’s also important to remember that the little things in life are what really makes a difference. You can be fighting AIDS in Somalia, but if you’re an asshole to your sister, it kind of negates the rest of it.
Remember that even if you’re thinking big, it’s the small things you do every day that make a difference.
Massive change and working toward social change is awesome, but it’s also how you live your life on a daily basis that matters most. It’s how you interact with people you meet on the sidewalk waiting for a bus, or in line at a cafe. It’s how you treat your loved ones and family that makes a difference. It’s the small things that create the possibility for huge change.
In short, it’s not just having your eyes on the future and how things will be when your aim is realized.
Because it’s right here, right now. That change is possible. It’s this moment that we must live in.
That’s where transformation culminates.
It’s in this moment that the revolution takes place.

Deen_ki_khidmat