E-baad-e News: 6/27/10

Friday, July 2, 2010

"God promises a reward without measure

in the next world to those who are patient with tribulations in this one. This does not mean that we should adhere to a passive quietism, refraining from attempts to redress wrongs or oppose injustice; rather, it means we must strive for an inner world of submission and resignation even as we struggle to restore balance and restitution in the outer world. In this lies a subtle distinction lost on too many.

-from the introduction to The Prayer of the Oppressed of Imam Muhammad b. Nasir al-Dar'i. Translated & Introduction by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf. pg. 9

Khalid Latif - My Take: New York's schools should observe Muslim holidays

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/01/my-take-new-yorks-schools-should-observe-muslim-holidays/

Ibn 'Abbad - the Presence of God

The seeker faces no greater temptation, in Ibn 'Abbad's estimation, than that of harboring the suspicion - even the outright conviction - that there are times, places, and situations too trying, too small, or too miserable for God to work with. It is one of the subtlest forms of "hidden" shirk, for the individual can become so fascinated with human weakness, mortality, and alienation as to be riveted on the self's most negative characteristics and thus unable to turn toward the Lord of the Universe. Ibn 'Abbad's consistent approach to this problem can be summed up in the simple directive "Be a son of the moment."

-Ibn 'Abbad of Ronda: Letters on the Sufi Path (Classics of Western Spirituality), pg. 18

"You want us to stop marching, make justice a reality,"

King retorted in a Negro mass meeting. "I don't mind saying to Chicago - or to anybody - I'm tired of marching. I'm tired of marching for something that should've been mine at birth. If you want a moratorium on demonstrations, put a moratorium on injustice. If you want us to end our moves into communities, open these communities...I don't mind saying to you, I'm tired of living every day under the threat of death. I have no martyr complex. I want to live as long as anybody in this building. And sometimes I begin to doubt whether I;m going to make it through...So I'll tell anybody, I'm wiling to stop marching. I don't march because I like it. I march because I must, and because I'm a man, and because I'm a child of God."

-Let the Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Stephen B. Oates, pg. 399