How telling it is when men tell of the chaos and destruction, deception and demolition, contrived loyalty and corrupt allegiance of men. It comes differently from the mouth of a woman. How telling it is, from the mouth of a man.
This past Monday, February 21, 2011, I sat in on the class of Dr. Sherman Jackson, Intro to Islam and the topic of the day was Shiism.
How struck I was to find myself siding with the sentiment of my Shia brethren. How struck I was to learn the history of those who ruled the Muslims after our Master, Muhammad, prayers and peace be upon him. Never before had I heard of the cowardice of those who called themselves companions. Drunk with power, destined for debauchery, they became blind to the spirit of their spirits and the spirit of their Master.
Now, none of these feelings were expressed by Dr. Jackson, and I should make that clear here. I came to these feelings upon learning the unabridged history of Sayyidna Abu Bakr through Muawiya and those who came after him. The story of Sayyidna Ali and his progeny, his legacy so reminded me of the specialness of that day historically.
On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was shot by men he once called brothers. Without any conspiracy theory on who it was or who was behind it i only want to know…what would motivate a black man to shoot another black man in front of his babies? What would motivate one arabian man to kill another arabian man, mutilate his body, stuff him into a donkey and set it ablaze?
I am shaken by my new feelings on the realities of power, and men and men in power. With the current state of the world- despots and dictators being brought down by God given sheer strength in unity….where angels join people in the streets to make it seem more safe for more to join so more join and it becomes safer and safer until the angels ascend and there are only people left in numbers that amaze the world.
It seems that the world is imploding and exploding all at the same time. And I am doing the same in solidarity. I feel this in my spirit. I will make no blanket statements here about what these things mean to the world. I only know one thing.God is the only reality. All else is false.
I am empowered by learning what I am learning and I pray more of us come to learn these things and really ponder them. They are there for us like road maps, stop signs, go to jails, advance to go’s, and FIREWORKS directing our eyes skyward saying “Look- the rain will come, the Earth will live, relax, be easy….just breathe.”
Our history is a sign for us. Our history is a sign for us. Our history is a sign for us.
“La ilaha illa anta, Subhanak – Innaa kunnaa min adhalimeen…”
Awesome reflection Mona.
Are there any particular books they’re reading in the class?
As salaam Alaykum,
thank you for sharing such thoughts with us.
if you haven’t already, be sure to check out “Pehshawar Nights”.
ala kullu shi ma khala Allah baatil.
why you all up in heads sometimes yo? emailing you now. <3
“Never before had I heard of the cowardice of those who called themselves companions. Drunk with power, destined for debauchery, they became blind to the spirit of their spirits and the spirit of their Master.”
heavy words and claims,
can you elaborate?
and who was stuffed in the donkey?
Hmm, well for instance I was reading about the story of Abdallah ibn jahsh who was a companion of the Prophet who then ended up committing apostasy. How can it be that one who was a companion and contemporary of the Prophet, can see him, know him, hug him, smell him and still deny him and his message. It is cowardice like that that shocked me. Many stories of the tabi’iin after mu’awiya and yazeed really hit me hard and the way Muslim fought Muslim.
I don’t remember now who it was with the whole donkey story and maybe that is a great generous gift from God to me to make me forget, but if you’re very interested- I will look it up for you and see if I can find it again.