Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Benim olduktan sonra... Once it is mine...

***English translation below***

Gece ayi goruyorsam, ay benimdir, benim icin yaratilmistir.

Yildizlari temasa ediyorsam, onlar benim icin gokyuzune takilmis her an degisip duran bir sahnedeki sus lambalaridir.

Cicek bahcemde olmasa ne yazar, tum gordugum cicekler benimdir, Cemil'in Sonsuz Cemali'nin gozumu oksayan kucuk pariltilaridir.

Okyanusun dibinden cekilmis fotograflardaki rengarenk baliklar, iste onlarin da hepsi benimdir, benim icin yaratilmistir.

Suriye'de olen bebek, benden dogmasa ne olur. O da kalbimi kanatiyorsa, benim bebegimdir. Benim zulme bugzetmem icin, benim dua etmem icin benim icin yaratilmistir.

En guzel yemekler, benim bogazimdan gecmese ne olur. Sevdiklerimin aldigi lezzet beni de sevindiriyorsa, o yemek benimdir. Benim Rezzak'i anmam icin benim icin yaratilmistir.

En guzel pastayi ben degil arkadasim yapsa ne olur. Pastadaki guzelligi sanati lezzeti gorebiliyorsam, Rabbim o pastayi bana vermistir. Benim icin yaratmistir. Insanogluna verdigi yetenegi gorup Rabbime hayran kalmam icin.




If I can see the moonlight at night, the moon is mine, it is created for me.

If I can contemplate the stars, they are decorating lamps hung up for me in an ever-changing stage.

If the flower isn't in my garden, who cares? All the flowers I see are mine, they are tiny glitters of the Infinite Beauty of the Most Beautiful that caresses my vision.

The colourful fish in the pictures taken at the bottom of oceans where I have never been, those too are all mine, are created for me. 

What if the baby who dies in Syria isn't born of me? If he too bleeds my heart, he is my baby. He is created for me so that I may spite injustice and that I may pray for the oppressed.

What if the most delicious foods aren't passing through my throat? If the taste my loved ones get out of them delight me, those foods are mine. They have been created for me to remember the All-Provider.

Who cares if it is my friend and not me who makes the prettiest cake? If I can observe the beauty, art and taste of the cake, my Sustainer Lord has gifted this cake to me. It has created it for me. So that I may see the abilities given to humankind and be filled with loving admiration of my Sustainer Lord.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Our Metamorphosis with Death

Most people are familiar with the butterfly's life cycle. It's born a caterpillar, it then goes to sleep inside a cocoon and when it wakes up days later it now is a butterfly. When we die, our soul separates from our body. The grave is our cocoon where we will be free of our bodies or of time. This is similar to not having a good sense of the time passing when you're sleeping or unconscious. 3 years can feel like 3 minutes, remember the "seven sleepers" (ashab-i kehf)? Our ancestors who died a million years ago will not feel they're "sleeping" longer than we will after we die. Finally, on the Judgment Day, our bodies will be recreated in a completely new form. Just like by looking at the crawling caterpillar one cannot possibly imagine it will turn into a flying butterfly, or by examining a seed it is impossible to imagine it will turn into a tree let alone to know what kind of tree, had we not seen these unbelievable changes happen before; in the same way we cannot possibly imagine what our bodies might look like in the next world. Nor can we imagine what the next world would look like, if this world is a seed, the next world is an orange tree!


Answer to 1st comment: 

There is a saying "sleep is death's little brother"; meaning just like when we sleep we experience an altered world/existence/perception of time & space, when we die we will experience a different life form. Just like the Ashab-i Kahf (Seven Sleepers) slept for 3 centuries thinking it was a day or two, people who die will not perceive time in the same way we do with our Earthly bodies. Our experience of time and space is specific to our earthly bodies and earthly lives. The spirit's perception of time & space is different, so too will the perception of our Heavenly bodies be different. We can only make inferences and guesses based on such parables and what the revelation teaches us.
Also this verse from Aşık Veysel Şatiroglu: 
"The path is one minute long, I keep on going day and night"
reminded me of this Qur'anic verse: 
79:46 (Asad) On the Day when they behold it, [it will seem to them] as if they had tarried [in this world] no longer than one evening or [one night, ending with] its morn! [19] 
Note 19 (Quran Ref: 79:46 ) (note by translator Asad)
As in many other places in the Qur’an (e.g., in 2:259, 17:52, 18:19, 20:103-104, 23:112-113, 30:55 etc.), this is a subtle indication of the illusory, earthbound nature of man's concept of "time" - a concept which, we are told, will lose all its meaning in the context of the ultimate reality comprised in the term "hereafter" (al-akhirah).(Quran Ref: 79:46 )