The Messenger and the Message...
Some say, the messenger is not important, just hear, listen to the message.
I disagree with that statement.
The messenger determines the veracity of the message he conveys. How so ? It can't be but so. Otherwise anything one hears, reads is taken as Truth. But if you look at the messenger, who he is, where he stands, how he conducts himself in life, only then can you determine the authenticity of his message.
For me this is not open to debate. Iraq taught me so.
I always take Iraq as one of the deepest and most important lessons I have learned in Life and I have learned much from Iraq.
I learned all I need to learn about politics, people, loyalties, treachery, false piety, greed, corruption, violence, hatred, love, hypocrisy, lies, omissions, pain, suffering, exile, displacement, longings, yearnings, abandonment, neglect, arrogance, humility, pride, false pride, honor, dignity, truth, falsehood, beauty, ugliness, innocence, oppression...and I can keep on adding...
Iraq is a great messenger with an authentic message.
And since I am on the subject of Messenger and Message, my mind cannot but make the association with religion, religious people, faith, belief, acts and deeds...
Let me start with a simple Islamic saying, I can't remember where I read it, but am sure I did read it somewhere, it must have been a Hadith or some Sufi quote.
God's houses of worship are the Devil's favorite place.
The Devil prefers this place more than the market place. You know why ? Because the one who goes to the worship place is seeking inside...hence he is fragile and vulnerable...and what better condition for the Devil than this condition.
Which brings me to the subject of preachers, all kinds of preachers...you find them every where, dressed in all kinds of clothes, modern looking, traditional looking, rosaries, beards, or well shaved...does not matter...but they are there. And this is where the devil resides...in the preacher. Not all preachers but like 99% of them...
You see the Devil loves the turban, and the attire...there are also invisible turbans by the way, he loves those too...anything that gives you the impression of a learned man of religion, he adores...
Of course, to some of my "brothers and sisters" this may come across as pure blasphemy...not so in my opinion, THE MESSENGER taught me differently.
Again getting back to Iraq. After 2003, there sprung numerous beards, rosaries, turbans, the taqwa of the occupation, the submissive piety of the occupation - is what I like to call it.
Every governmental office and every public place had Ayats from the Holy book adorning the walls, pictures of the Holy Kaba'a, pictures of Imam Ali plastered in every corner, an overflowing zeal of religious fervor accompanied with the most impressive of speeches...the speeches, oh the speeches...the sermons of morality, of righteousness, of avoiding what is forbidden and endowing what is permissible...in the eyes of Allah...women flocked with their chadors, veils, listening to the preachers...sucking on their words straight from the Divine...
And the beards grew longer as well as the rosaries and the sermons increased, and so did the faithful bowing their heads in modesty in front of the TV cameras specially called in for the occasions... and so did the fatwas, the religious decrees along with the superstitions and the lies....
The Husseinyat and the customary religious observances were multiplied by a hundred...one would have thought that we reached paradise...except this paradise had no water...it just had overflowing blood in gold cups...
Those same men, and they were not only a handful, no am talking of hundreds, would spill blood, killing another Muslim, and then break for their afternoon prayers with their salawat, their praising of the Prophet and the Ahl Al Bayt,...Salawat after Salawat...
And before breaking fast, they would go and rape, torture and mutilate, and then say -- Thank you Allah for my fasting...unroll the praying mats and bow in "humility" to the Maker...
And during the religious festivities, they prey on needy women, and buy them for 10$ a question of a one night for a quick Muta'a marriage...in the name of Allah and his Messenger.
These are the killers, but there are also the merchants, who do the same, without the killing, they just kill by increasing prices and by hoarding...and there are the politicians who are corrupt to the bone, who steal non stop...they also give their "salawat" to the Messenger, and visit shrines with grand airs of piety...and there are the ordinary ones, the you and me kind of people, giving you great words to lure your soul, but it is only a lure, the lure of false piety...for the aggrandizement of their false selves, they too carry their share of lies and hypocrisy...transpiring through their daily acts...
You see now, when I tell you that whenever you hear a message, always look at the messenger and his deeds. Anything short of that are just words with no weight, you can easily throw away. Because it is only the authenticity of the messenger that will guarantee how you will receive the message. In other words, his intention will reach you well before his message does. If you only knew...
I disagree with that statement.
The messenger determines the veracity of the message he conveys. How so ? It can't be but so. Otherwise anything one hears, reads is taken as Truth. But if you look at the messenger, who he is, where he stands, how he conducts himself in life, only then can you determine the authenticity of his message.
For me this is not open to debate. Iraq taught me so.
I always take Iraq as one of the deepest and most important lessons I have learned in Life and I have learned much from Iraq.
I learned all I need to learn about politics, people, loyalties, treachery, false piety, greed, corruption, violence, hatred, love, hypocrisy, lies, omissions, pain, suffering, exile, displacement, longings, yearnings, abandonment, neglect, arrogance, humility, pride, false pride, honor, dignity, truth, falsehood, beauty, ugliness, innocence, oppression...and I can keep on adding...
Iraq is a great messenger with an authentic message.
And since I am on the subject of Messenger and Message, my mind cannot but make the association with religion, religious people, faith, belief, acts and deeds...
Let me start with a simple Islamic saying, I can't remember where I read it, but am sure I did read it somewhere, it must have been a Hadith or some Sufi quote.
God's houses of worship are the Devil's favorite place.
The Devil prefers this place more than the market place. You know why ? Because the one who goes to the worship place is seeking inside...hence he is fragile and vulnerable...and what better condition for the Devil than this condition.
Which brings me to the subject of preachers, all kinds of preachers...you find them every where, dressed in all kinds of clothes, modern looking, traditional looking, rosaries, beards, or well shaved...does not matter...but they are there. And this is where the devil resides...in the preacher. Not all preachers but like 99% of them...
You see the Devil loves the turban, and the attire...there are also invisible turbans by the way, he loves those too...anything that gives you the impression of a learned man of religion, he adores...
Of course, to some of my "brothers and sisters" this may come across as pure blasphemy...not so in my opinion, THE MESSENGER taught me differently.
Again getting back to Iraq. After 2003, there sprung numerous beards, rosaries, turbans, the taqwa of the occupation, the submissive piety of the occupation - is what I like to call it.
Every governmental office and every public place had Ayats from the Holy book adorning the walls, pictures of the Holy Kaba'a, pictures of Imam Ali plastered in every corner, an overflowing zeal of religious fervor accompanied with the most impressive of speeches...the speeches, oh the speeches...the sermons of morality, of righteousness, of avoiding what is forbidden and endowing what is permissible...in the eyes of Allah...women flocked with their chadors, veils, listening to the preachers...sucking on their words straight from the Divine...
And the beards grew longer as well as the rosaries and the sermons increased, and so did the faithful bowing their heads in modesty in front of the TV cameras specially called in for the occasions... and so did the fatwas, the religious decrees along with the superstitions and the lies....
The Husseinyat and the customary religious observances were multiplied by a hundred...one would have thought that we reached paradise...except this paradise had no water...it just had overflowing blood in gold cups...
Those same men, and they were not only a handful, no am talking of hundreds, would spill blood, killing another Muslim, and then break for their afternoon prayers with their salawat, their praising of the Prophet and the Ahl Al Bayt,...Salawat after Salawat...
And before breaking fast, they would go and rape, torture and mutilate, and then say -- Thank you Allah for my fasting...unroll the praying mats and bow in "humility" to the Maker...
And during the religious festivities, they prey on needy women, and buy them for 10$ a question of a one night for a quick Muta'a marriage...in the name of Allah and his Messenger.
These are the killers, but there are also the merchants, who do the same, without the killing, they just kill by increasing prices and by hoarding...and there are the politicians who are corrupt to the bone, who steal non stop...they also give their "salawat" to the Messenger, and visit shrines with grand airs of piety...and there are the ordinary ones, the you and me kind of people, giving you great words to lure your soul, but it is only a lure, the lure of false piety...for the aggrandizement of their false selves, they too carry their share of lies and hypocrisy...transpiring through their daily acts...
You see now, when I tell you that whenever you hear a message, always look at the messenger and his deeds. Anything short of that are just words with no weight, you can easily throw away. Because it is only the authenticity of the messenger that will guarantee how you will receive the message. In other words, his intention will reach you well before his message does. If you only knew...
