Noble Summit

By Ruhudeen Ali
March 30th, 2009

Noble Summit,
You are the peak of this world
at your base in water caches lie collections of pearls.
Creatures' livelihood is supported on your side
in your crevices the weak seek to hide.
Every prophet through the ages
has stood on your shoulders to receive God's wages.
You have prevented countless wars
seeking refuge, many have climbed you in scores.
You are mentioned in the scriptures of the Lord
for your stunning stature, your heights that soar
and yet, despite this, you remain humble.
When God showers mercy upon you
tears of rivers stream down your face as you rumble.
And though on occasion your anger causes us to tremble
volcanic eruptions speak of the raging emotions within
showing us how closely humans you resemble.
We consider it a feat just to climb your back
feeling ourselves proud though we will never understand that.
We tear through you and bomb you to shorten your summit
thinking ourselves great, our presence must make you plummet.
So boulders you throw down, lava and avalanches
you only favor the humble species, not the haughtier branches.
Still we don't get the message, your efforts do not thwart
our presence on your side so we turn you into sport.
O noble summit, do not judge mankind for the acts of a few
you will forever remain the attraction in the beholders' view.
People still admire your awesome presence
void of vanity your insides are hollow and dense.
How we admire you, Oh noble summit
for your station and your praise.
All are left to wonder at your glory and be amazed
yet you are not proud and arrogant.
This is why the Lord chose you as the setting
in the scene of many a divine event.
I reflect on your symbol* this day and repent
You are my teacher and I am your student!

"Behold! [the mountains] Safa and Marwa are among the Symbols of Allah." [2:158]

Hero of Our Times

By Ruhudeen Ali
October 17th, 2004

Hero of our times, we search all over for you.
Where you are, we have no clue....

Hero of our times,

We seek you in earnest and with vigor,
that in you we may find an inspirational figure.

Hero of our times,

Until you arrive we can only guess
what kind of form you will appear in. What is your apparel, your dress?

Hero of our times,

Perhaps you're a man with a majestic beard,
so awe-inspiring and respected that you are feared.

Hero of our times,

Or maybe you're so unnoticed because you are shy and mellow
a rather humble fellow?

Hero of our times,

Or perchance it's everyone's attention you rob
behind your lovely and graceful hijab?

Hero of our times,

You are a radiant and struggling Muslimah
working tirelessly for the betterment of this ummah!

Hero of our times,

In whatever form you do choose to appear,
one things clear - you need to be here!

Hero of our times,

Whether man or woman, brother or sister, boy or girl -
come out of your shell, oh lovely pearl!

Hero of our times,

Whoever you are, inspire us with your wisdom.
Bring peace back to the land and restore Allah's Kingdom!

Hero of our times,

Shine with your brilliant light for all to see
teach us your ways that like you we may be!

Hero of our times,

Come and take your rightful place.
Lead our ummah out of our pathetic disgrace!

Hero of our times,

Correct the ills of our society.
Teach us simplicity and the meaning of piety.

Hero of our times,

Through your words and deeds, make known your name
but to Allah alone give all glory and fame!

Hero of our times,

Revive the sunnan of Allah's Habib (saw).
Restore the order through his Lord's decrees.

Hero of our times,

We pray for your near arrival
that, by your hands, Allah ensures this ummah's survival.

Hero of our times,

But until you come to restore this world and rid us of our decadence,
we will try to prepare the way and ourselves, set the precedent.

Hero of our times,

We have made the call, now it's your turn.
Lead us back to the glory of Islam - for this we do yearn!

Screams for CREAM!

The wise Wu-Tang Clan once said, "Cash Rules Everything Around Me - CREAM get the money, dolla dolla bill y'all." But all jokes aside, one of the sad realizations of growing up is seeing how true this statement is. And although we could all use a bit of extra cash, watching this made me sad. Just how important is money? Putting your life on the line for a few hundreds? Maybe the more important question is: just how important is your life?? But then again, I'm not trying to be "holier than thou." If I put myself in their shoes, I wonder if I would do the same if this happened to me? It's something we should all ask ourselves...why we let constructs of our own minds control us like little pigeons being fed at the park. I suppose even the dollar has become more sacred than human dignity....



Somehow, I'm reminded of Surah Kafirun:

Say : O ye that reject Faith!
I worship not that which ye worship,
Nor will ye worship that which I worship.
And I will not worship that which ye have been want to worship,
Nor will ye worship that which I worship.
To you be your Way, and to me mine.
[Quran:109]

The Prophet's Tears

By Ruhudeen Ali
December 26th, 2005

Oh Prophet of God!
For what purpose did you shed your blessed tears?
Did you weep for your cohorts? Or were your tears for your future followers?
You had referred to us as your 'brothers and sisters' and not your 'companions'.
You would shed tears for us when you said that we would have earnest faith in you without seeing you.
Then where is this faith of ours that we don't concern ourselves with your character?
Where is this faith in you, if we no longer trust your words?
Or did you cry because you knew the times we would experience?
Perhaps your Lord showed you that we would be a massive community but with no honor nor influence.
And that we would cling to wealth and yet neglect our poor brethren.
That we would become a begging people, at the mercy of our occupiers.
That the ummah you once referred to as a single body is nothing but a paralyzed carcass.
The righteous among us are too weak to change our people peacefully so the tyrants among us have seized control.
They resort to disgraceful acts that bring shame before the example you and your companions left behind.
And the irony is that even those who try to fight back to fix the ills are themselves misguided: renegade cultist evil-doers, who terrorize the masses and wreak havoc, killing their own people, and for what!?
For the sake of the teachings that your blessed body ached, cried, and bled for in order to bring peace to the world.
That you and your companions sacrificied everything for - that, my dear Prophet, is the rubbish that the world is now attributing to you!

Now I understand why you wept so much, not just for us, but for the world...
Our Lord gave us the Book and left us with your example as guidance, simple it seems..until put in the hands of our so-called 'scholars.'
Bickering among themselves, they no longer speak to us so we are left to follow nothing but our own misguided whims.
And we throw away all our past heritage and pride, and call your practices "backward" in the search to be "modern".
So we caste aside our morals and adopt the ways of the worldly successful - a life devoted to the fulfillment of appetites.
They call it "modern" but are blinded by it's primitive animalism; reverting back to square-one.
Nobody likes us anymore; distrusted and despised, we are a people on our own...where once we guided the world out of darkness, we are now its antithesis.

I see now why you cried for us...
From the pools of blood, ankle-deep, clinging to the Crusaders' knees,
to the mountains of bones piled up from the aftermath of the Mongols,
to the imperialism of the West, and the illegal occupation and degradation of your people -
to your starving and homeless brothers and sisters in Africa,
to the mass-killings of your people in Europe and India,
to the massive loss of life from the tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other calamities,
to the bitter and bloody freedom resistance of your people in Palestine, Chechnya, Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere,
to the "honor-killings" of the falsely accused and their perpetrators, who wouldn't know what real honor is even if it killed them.
to the ignorance and darkness that the misguided label as "Islam"
and alas, to our pathetic condition as a people, who for ages have been mentally and spiritually bereft of true enlightenment.
You shed tears for all of this...

Oh wise Prophet! We have gone far astray from your teachings...
Yes you, the Prophet who would always have on his noble lips, "my people, my people!"
You, the Prophet who was often found sobbing with his Lord, requesting our pardon!
The Prophet who saved his personal, God-given wish for his own people!
The Prophet who forgave his conspirators and would-be killers!
The Prophet who granted amnesty to the very city who despised and fought him; from which he was born!
The Prophet who begged his Lord to intercede for his followers!
How could you not have wept oh beloved Prophet?? For you knew that we would not ourselves weep.
Our hearts have long been hardened and dead, so it was you who wept on our behalf!
You wept so your tears would intercede for our apathy!
You wept so your tears would extinguish our Hellfire!
You wept so your tears would wake us up!
You wept so your tears would excuse us before our Lord!
You wept for our ownselves, for our own wretchedness, for our own heedlessness!
You wept, oh great Prophet, so that we might be saved!
You cried because you placed hope in us.
You cried because we betrayed that hope.
You cried because we can't.
And you cried for each and every one of us, and begged our pardon...
May our Lord forgive us, and accept your prayer, my beloved Prophet,
And grant you the Praiseworthy Station of the "Paradise on High," and the Rite of Intercession for the sinners among your nation!
And Peace and Blessings be upon you, your family, and your companions eternally!!! ameen.

Memoirs of a Female Dog [Entry #2]

March 11th, 2009

Hey canines wsup!? It's your bitch Rolfina in da hut here 'bout to make some major noise (cuz I think somebody's trying to break-in the master's house! Just kidding.) Anywoofs, guess what!? Since my last entry a while back I found me a hottttt dog and yup, you guessed it - we're going steady! His name is Mutthew, he's a sexy Greyhound. Slim but muscular, classy (he wears a bow around his neck,) dare I say "ruff-ined" even, if you will, (WOL) 5 o'clock whiskers, and battle scars too - just dreamy! So yea me and my dog where having some Kibbles 'n Bits together for lunch when all of a sudden - outta nowhere - he barks, "will you copulate with me?" I almost bit off my tongue! I didn't know what to say to him cuz we had just met at breakfast time so it didn't give me much time to think really...but then, he got real serious. He bent down on both hinds and grabbed my paw and put his over mine. I didn't know what to expect but then he said, "I'm really serious, you're the only bitch in my life, I wanna have 45 pups with you and only you." That made me cry. Then he did the sweetest thing and wiped my tear away and gave me a nose rub with his nose....The next thing I know a nose rub turned into a french nose rub and well, I guess you can figure out what happened afterwards....

Fast forward a few dog months and it turns out, I'm pregnant! (HOLY DOG! right?) So I was kinda excited to tell him, but when I told him he denied it was him! But do you know WHY he denied it? CUZ the doggone dog was neutered even before I met him! Now I'm left thinkin, "seriously, who the WOOF got me pregnant!?!? I will catch that son of a bitch and make his owner neuter the bastard!" So again, fast-forward a few gestational periods and I find out what happened. I wasn't actually pregnant because I didn't give birth to anything, I just got reeeeeeally FAT! Can you believe it!?!?!? WMAO!! Here I was thinkin the whole time Mutthew lied to me about him being neutered when in fact he was telling the truth! I feel so bad now how I dogged him out the way I did....I wasn't carrying his pups or any other son of a bitch's!

So basically now that the summer is coming up I plan on getting back into shape, try to drag my groggy master up from his bed early in the morning so we could do some laps (gotta focus on my thighs this summer!) Despite my near traumatic experience I will maybe try to find a nice dogfriend this summer, haters can sniff my ass for all I care. The way I see it, its time to settle down for real so woof what ya heard! Besides, its the season of heat anyway (no pun-intended.) Can't keep this figure lookin the way it did years ago when dogs would salivate after I galloped by. That's right bitches, I know you're the jealous type that wanna steal a bitch's canine like that but home-bitch don't play! I got some sharp paws waiting for you bitch-woofers so don't get me started! Phew..sorry I just had to get that off my chest. It's a lonely world out there....Wouldn't mind having a pup or two of my own. Too bad Mutthew can't help in that department..but he does have a cute brother ;) Woofwoofwoof! Well, thought I'd catch you up on things. 'Til next time, this is Rolfina scratching off. Woof!

P.S- My Summer message: "Make woof, not war!"

-Rolfina X

God of War 3 (*New Trailer)

With the release of Resident Evil 5 just 2 days away and the upcoming release of God of War 3 things are looking good for the PS3 and it seems the system is finally prepared for the big guns with last year's release of Metal Gear Solid 4 and Grand Theft Auto 4 and the recent release of Street Fighter 4 (a lot of 4's huh?) Anyways, I'm a big fan of the God of War series, and I was excited to see a new trailer for the upcoming PS3 exclusive GOW3 (only thing is, I noticed about a month late...oh well.) If ever there was a video game that let you take out your angst and pent up frustration in the most fun and satisfying way possible, it is God of War in the form of badass anti-hero Kratos; through his story of trust and betrayal and the rivers of blood he must traverse to slay the ghosts of his past and bring down the corrupt Olympians who ruined his life, in this (final?) epic showdown of the gods. GOW1 & 2 both surpassed all expectations of what a video game can do on the PS2 and I expect nothing less from the 3rd installment in this amazing franchise. All cheers for the Ghost of Sparta! Kick some Olympian ass!!!


Don't forget to watch it in HD :)

Jeevan Ke Lamhe (w/ English translation)

By Ruhudeen Ali
March 9th, 2009

Jawani ka ek khaas darja hai ye
ke sari zindagi ka mazaa hai issi meh
baaqi hise ko kisi se koi parwaa hai?
issi se milta hain ruhani chayn
jab pelhi baar dekhe they mehboob ke nayn
woh pal aur is din meh kya farak
jayse bahar aur sardi hote alag!
samaj gaya hoon iss jeevan ko, jisme pyaar nahin hota
yehi to hai humaari zindagi ki dastaan
na pataa kis rukh par chaleyga yeh carawaan
jispe dawat dete howe naik falsafe
magar meh jaa bhi sukta hoon in haalaton meh
jab ek paon pe pargaye chaale
aur doosre bhi aabla paa?
Shayad pyaar dikhaade ga mujhe raasta


Pyaar jawani ka ek phal hai
jeevan ke lamhon meh
maghar phal, phal nahin hota bin mithaas
baaqi umar hum naah rahein
to kyun rahoge udhaas?
Humne kuch nahin payaa iss jawani meh
Sawaye musalsal pyaas 

pyaar ko dhoond dhoondke
bus booj ti reh gayi humari aas
Kya yehi hai meri sazaa?
ke pyaar aur zindagi hamesha ke liye rehenge judaa?
O mere Khudaa, jiske ilaawah koi Rabb nahin hai Tere siwa!
Agar yehi haqiqat hai toh behtar tha
Aap mujhe mitaa de duniya se
meh nahin khel sakta hoon is mushkil khel main
shayad yehi hai wajaa ke zindagi lagti hain aik silakhon jaisi
insano ko dolat ki diwangi meh sirf yaad raha paisa
sochta tha ke main nahin aisa
is mu'ashare ne dokhon ki holi kehli
aur palat gaye hum hogaye hairan
abhi tak inh raastonse se anjaan.


Oh mere Parvardigaar, mujhe banaadein ek naik insaan
aur hamesha ke liye rahoon waisa
chalo jawani ka phal nahin mila
kumse kum baaqi dinon meh milay sawaab
zindagi keh sareh imtehaan
ehsani se charwadein Aap banaker mudje Apna khaas mehmaan
aur dil meh mere likh dein shahadatein Musalmaan
taqay duniya ko pata lagaye Islam ki Shaan
aur Khuda mazboot banadey Shaan ka imaan!
yeh hain mere khwayishein tamaam
ya Malik, ye sab hoga Tera ehsaan
baaqi Khuda par chorta hoon meh jo likhein woh mera anjaam 

***Special thanks to Editor 'Ms.N!'***

English Translation:

Moments of Life

Youth's special place is this
that all of life's fun is contained within
the rest of its chapters, does anybody care? [to read them]
from it is found spiritual inner peace
like the first time you saw your beloved's eyes
from that moment and these days now - what is the difference?
like unto Spring and Winter's opposition!
I now understand the life that is devoid of love
after-all this is my life's story
not knowing which way [turn] the caravan travels
that carries righteous men calling to a righteous way [philosophy]
but can I even go [with them] in this condition?
when one foot has blisters
and the other has the same?
Maybe love will show me the way.

Love is the fruit of youth
among the moments of life
but a fruit is not a fruit without sweetness
if I don't live out my remaining days
why remain reminiscent?
I haven't had anything in my youth
besides unending thirst.
Ever-searching for love,
my hope has extinguished.
Is this then my punishment?
That love and life will forever remain separate?
Oh my God, who beside, there is no other Sustainer but You!
If this then is the truth than it would've been better
If You had erased me from this world
I cannot play in this difficult game [of life]
maybe that's why life feels like a prison
and people chase after money like madmen
I used to think that I am not like them
Then society played its deceitful tricks
and I became lost, not knowing how.

Oh Cherisher, make me a righteous man
and keep me this way forever
Even if I didn't acquire youth's fruit
at least give me rewards in my remaining days
All of life's tests
gracefully help me climb as Your guest
And in my heart write the two *shahadatein [proclamations of faith] of the Muslims
so that the world will come to know Islam's greatness and glory
and God strengthen Shaan's faith!
These are all my wishes
Oh King, all this granted, would be of Your grace
the rest I leave to God's written fate!

*la ilaha ilAllah, Muhammad RasulAllah = "There is no god but God and Muhammad is His Messenger" [the shahadatein or proclamations of faith that attest one's faith in Islam]

The Pure Heart

By Ruhudeen Ali
August 18th, 2004

Oh pure heart,

Much do I endure,
to be like you - pure.
Much do I seek,
to be like you - meek.
Much do I suffer,
to be like you - tougher.
Much do I envy,
to be like you - friendly.
Much do I stress,
to be like you - fresh.
Much do I implore,
to be like you more.


How would I love,
to be like you - above!
How do I crave,
to be like you - brave!
How do I urge,
to be with you merged!
How do I supplicate,
to have your duplicate!
How would I beseech,
that my soul you may teach!
How do I entreat,
to serve at your feet!
How would I petition,
to have you remove my perdition!
How would I pray,
to have your company stay!
How can I request,
to have you in my chest!


Much do I try,
that like you I may cry.
Much do I desire,
to feel your love like fire.
Much do I press,
to have you as my guest.
Much do I sigh,
to wish you were nigh.
Much have I sorrow,
for I await you tomorrow....

A Prayer for My Heart

By Ruhudeen Ali
March 3rd, 2004

Oh my tainted heart - black as a crow,
purification to you I owe.
Wishing you were soft and pure as snow.
Radiating like the moonlight glow.
Cleansed for the light to flow,
that I may save you from the Day of Woe,
If I watered you with tears, would you grow?
Joy and delight may you although,
were I to abandon sin, would you even know?
I desire you to be elevated and raised high like dough.
For this only time will show.
But until the seeds of remembrance in you I sow,
you will remain just as low;
struggling against Satan's mighty blow.
Your faith escapes you like an arrow from a bow.


But for the sake of the Lord Sublime,
May you, with the Eternal Message be aligned.
By Qur'an and Sunnah defined,
that you may shine.
Steadfast against evil's bind.
Innocent from crime,
cleansed of all grime,
liberating the mind,
intoxicating as wine.
Enduring happiness for all time -
a model for all mankind.
Oh such a heart! May you be mine!!
ameen.

Justice

I get it now. The way society works.

Last week I drove up to a toll plaza without an E-Zpass tag and for the first time in a long time I felt something paying toll. It dawned on me, "wow, I'm paying toll!" This time I felt paying toll. And as I waited my turn in the long line in the Cash Only lane, I was counting a rough tally of how much money the state was making from each car. $5, $10, $15, $20, $25, $30, $50, $65, $80, $150. I quickly lost count. All I knew was that I was somewhere around $150+ and my car had barely moved an inch during that 20 or 30 seconds. My mood quickly went sour. So there I was, inching towards Big Brother, waiting to give him my $5 so that I can get on with my life, only this time it was a woman. Not wanting to say anything about the recent toll hike or make any sort of passing remark, I smile at the lady and say "Thank you," hand over my money and get the hell out. I put my thoughts off to the side until I had a chance to process it all.

Already I was getting a feeling of being cheated somehow. That I smiled and thanked the state for taking my money, seemed a new type of low for me. It's one thing to see that money being put to good use (as it supposedly is being done all the time) its another thing to throw money into an abyss and never see it again. Isn't it funny how the cash-bin at the toll fits the image so well? Sadly though, we're all too aware of the corporate and federal corruption that has run rampant even within a year's span, not counting a history course worth of material. One need not look further than the recent economic collapse and global recession as a result. Still, senators, governors, and mayors have been excused of tax exemption, money laundering, embezzlement and the like. It makes me wonder just how much "state" really is a misnomer for "politician" and how much "politician" a misnomer for "thief, crook." How deep do we, the citizens, have to dig into our pockets not-so-full of hard-earned money and freely give it to "our representatives" in government? The image of the cash-bin and abyss comes to mind again.

Over the weekend I met up with my brother and some friends. We sat down for some "CCC" (that's 'casual coffee chat' in my corny language by the way.) So I tell them about my story at the toll-booth and both my friends don't get it. "What's wrong with saying 'thank you?' It's common courtesy." Apparently I learned its a bunch of other things as well; like a service to me and the community, and how the toll-booth lady had more of a right to that 'thank you' than someone else might have. Fair enough. But what came out of that conversation, or I should say almost came out, was a sense of the essence of trade. I give something, I get something in return. The one I traded with gives something and also gets something in return. Cash signifies trade and so a simple toll-exchange at the booth is also a type of trade. I gave $5 so that I could use the state's roads and bridges and the state would use that money for upkeep on those services. Value for value, right? Well, that's the idea anyway....

But now, calculating how much more money we give during these "trades," it starts to look a little silly - the idea that I'm actually getting something in return. In today's world, we pay for miscellaneous fees and taxes, but we can't call them that so we have to label them as "relevant." Income tax, property tax, school tax, sales tax, business tax (& tariffs,) dine-in tax, food tax (as exemplified through Governor Paterson's tax on sugared soda,) insurance tax, retirement tax, inheritance tax, and even death tax. All these tax "trades" and I'm still left wondering what I got from my side of the transaction but more poverty and no real visible return. Hope none of you is planning on dying anytime soon and if you are, make sure you instruct your people to pay the state for having to deal with your rotting carcass.

Now I know what you're probably thinking. I'm just bitter. Well, I am. However, that doesn't mean that I fail to see the purpose of taxes, after-all "taxation is the price of civilization" according to Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. And he's right, but what does irk me is the state's creation of miscellaneous fees under a mask of something worth paying, like a "convenience fee" for credit card payments (Hah!) Isn't it strange how America is considered the richest country in the world, with the highest GDP of *$14.3 trillion (roughly 1/5th of the world's total GDP) and yet, we are approaching a national debt of close to $11 trillion that is steadily growing? Even if we unveil the question of whether or not we really are super rich or poor, the fact still remains that we are heavily taxed, perhaps in more ways than other wealthy nations.

Meanwhile, as we're expected to pay these exorbitant taxes, the escalating cost of living (coupled with the proportionate shrink in wages) creeps up upon us all and we're forced to deal with it. At some point, the average middle-class American family is forced to make drastic decisions and life-style changes before hitting rock bottom. But its okay, its the price we have to pay to live this way...isn't it? So now that we accept this, what do we do? To numb us from the harsh reality of debt and misery, we drown ourselves in a search for our "fix" - a "drug" or escape of any kind that helps us forget what we are faced with; a masked slavery. And I'm left to beg the question, where has the justice gone in our society?

Today I saw a man paying off one of his accounts at Sears with a smile on his face. $1000+ dollars and he still had room for a sense of humor about it, I guess that's commendable. But then again I too had a sense of humor, because when it was my turn, I was asked why I was paying, I answered "because I have to. I'm a slave." And we both had a good laugh about it. Only now I'm some dollars poorer than I was before and maybe a few calories slimmer from the chuckles. But what makes me different from this man is that I don't drink or do drugs. I don't have sex even. I don't do any of the other things my culture uses to self-medicate from the woes of a tough life. However, that doesn't mean that I don't have my own escapes. That is the key to the formula I suppose, to live under this maddening system of slave taxation, we have to have our own "drugs" to help us escape the reality of the punishment we accept at the hands of the state. So we lose ourselves in our intoxicants, sex, drugs, entertainment, fashion & fads, music, TV, and the whole litany. Instead of complaining about our legitimate trespasses and eroding civil liberties, we smile to the Big Brother who gives with one palm and snatches even more with the other fist. We are content doing that. Why revolt when we can take our aggressions out elsewhere: we beat our spouses, we kill our neighbor, we steal from the innocent on the street, we rape the young maidens, we watch people beat each other to a bloody pulp and call it "sport," and sometimes, if the pressure gets too high, we kill ourselves, so much so that we can afford a smile at the banks and toll-booths when we accept our role as drones in the system. God forbid we frown in their faces. Governments forcing debt on its people forces them to gain spiritual debts as well through sin, it seems. So in the end all I'm left with is a simple choice - either remain bitter about the injustice being done to us, the citizens of this country, and take the path less traveled to remedy that, or take the drugs of this world to numb myself into accepting this pathetic state and earn my debts and sins like a good little nothing. Because in the end, it really doesn't matter. As long as I get paid, laid, and wasted I should be happy, right?

So this time, on my way to school today, I made sure I smiled and said "thank you" to the toll lady. I don't want to appear disgruntled. I'm a good slave, I wonder what sin I should commit tonight....

FOOTNOTES
* Wikipedia