Cornerstone of Your Faith

Gratitude gives latitude when attitude allows you

                                                                 to nurture Space -

Taking this deeply to Heart, you let it impart
                                                           life-bestowing Grace.

There is a well, easy to stand in, I have been there;

its waters are deep, they carry an atmosphere
                                                          like no other.

It is the Heart-Source of the Prophet, he told me so,

that late-summer night in a field west of al-Quds:

SING! Bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim!

SING! In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Beloved!

This is the very Cornerstone of Qur'an!

This, he said, "the Balm for the Arab masses," the antidote

to every vain pride, to all bigotry, to male aggression -

ir-rahman ir-rahim, compassionate, merciful -

whose shared root means Womb:
                                     that should tell us something.

If you don't yet know "In the Name of God,
                                     the Compassionate, the Merciful" -

to which you pay cynical lip-service
                                                       and reject its Guidance -

then you are not yet ready for "Allahu-akbar,"
                                                                God is Most Great -

which you use as a bludgeon out of primitive motives

rather than a sword to cut through your ignorance.

You reject the Balm vouchsafed from the
                                                            Prophet's own breast,

embracing instead that Bomb strapped to your own chest,

as you enter the crowd in the marketplace.

BREATHE "In the Name of God,
   Most Gracious, Most Merciful," with every step you take!

WALK "Bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim,"
                                                  with every breath you draw!

Let it fill your atmosphere - give,
                                              abandon yourself to it utterly -

after all, God knows, it is your own true nature.

Let it carry you beyond hope and fear into certainty

                                             as no ideology can ever impart;

let it deliver you of your devisive judgemental loathing,
arrogant piety, with a Lovingkindness which opens
all doors and quietly overwhelms the world before you!

I see you on the street, self-isolated in your narrow-minded
     macho pride, your cherished anger worn on your sleeve -

                           "in the Name of God," you say,
               "the Compassionate, the Merciful" - as you butcher
     your own sister for wanting to determine her own life!
or you shoot her in the face, abetted by the family,
to uphold an "honor" which the Prophet
                                                       would find truly puzzling!

A twisted blasphemy this,
                       using the Cornerstone of the Faith to justify
                     political and every other self-serving agenda!

Behold:  when a wicked tribe rejected
   the Prophet's Message, scorned him and drove him out,
                                              scattering thorns in his path,

he recited only "Bism'illah ir-rahman ir-rahim"
                                                   with each prick and insult -

now it is you who scatter the thorns before the Prophet

by rejecting the Compassionate, the Merciful in favor
of cloying self-pity, of internecine blood-letting,
               and of ideological tyranny.

Whenever Religion becomes the property of bigotry,

whenever Faith is measured in fanatical scorn -

there is the Muslim Islam's own worst enemy,

there are the prophets stoned in the square.

SAY:  In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful,
           and mean it, learn to be grateful for your existence!

SING:  Bism'illah ir-rahman ir-rahim, and behold the simple
          everyday glory of God's own deft Hand
       working through you, blessing and cherishing you,
               and the ground you walk on!

You want honor?  Then always honor the One Self in all.

You want influence?  Good, then don't ever
                                    take your next breath for granted.

Remembering God for His own sake
           relieves you of poverty-mind:  always let
   the majesty and dignity of your Noble Lord and Cherisher
 overwhelm you, and join it - acknowledging, after all,

                                         that He dwells within you as you.

Go now, and make yourself a fragrant gift to the world,

a reflection of Paradise Here and Now, and in Reality.

- S. Inayat-Chisti, Berlin, Nov. 2005