Ode To Ernie Ford

Once upon a time everything
was homemade. The tortillas
down to the chocolate eclairs
the little girls and little boys
would pick their share of as they
dangled from the arm
of the chain-smoking novena plastered
mothers in pill box hats. The bread
smelted forth out a great silent
machine, round and gray towers
with a day's worth of bread.
Traded from behind the counters
of drug stores and day-old places,
full of handwritten credits.
The salesgirl's face the same
over and over from the liquor shops
to the mercantile where all the women
felt the worth of yards of gingham
with garden tended hands stuck
in apron pockets over poodle pieces
and last year's dresses
and as they fondled bolts of laundry
hung to dry out on sagging lines
nearwhere the stockyard blood
soaked into saw dust from coin-op horses,
they sang benedictions to another day
older and deeper in debt, what you get
from eight hours in the mineral graves
the new fangled loaves to six yards of eyelet.
Before the burns and infestations,
the migrations of paisley, the formation
of smokes over the Dead Sea downwind
from Cananea pleurosis-nervosis in most of us.
The commemorations, handmade and so trusted
the dusting powders and ore cars full of snuff,
Yardley Rose of Avon, poor damn Lucky Strike.
The seas too dried to part.

On "Parables" in the Quran, the way I see them:

Generally speaking, "parables" in the Quran are complex entities although most of them contain only a few words and very little else to indicate what is meant by them.

Here are some of them:

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/k/koran/koran-idx?type=simple&q1=parable&size=First+100

For instance:

[2.26] Surely Allah is not ashamed to set forth any parable-- (that of) a gnat or any thing above that; then as for those who believe, they know that it is the truth from their Lord, and as for those who disbelieve, they say: What is it that Allah means by this parable: He causes many to err by it and many He leads aright by it! but He does not cause to err by it (any) except the transgressors...

So what is the actual meaning of these things and what has that to do with something like this:

"The like of the hidden pearls" which occurs in one of the most transcendant of all the Suras and is called "The Beneficent". In my amateurish estimation, the Sura is all about the choices involved in selecting the benefits of the material world and those of the afterlife. In that Sura, it can be incredibly difficult to distinguish between "one garden" and the next. One garden contains pure maidens and youths with eyes like pearls and another garden with exactly the same thing. Mention is made of "fruits" but the fruits are "just like" the ones we are used to handling with our "material" senses but in one case, the syntax of a sentence conceals the relationship of "what" is being touched. This is, exegesis or "tafsir"...which is a dangerous sport in Islam and not one that I am in any way knowledgable about except to say "via" my own experiences in the material world that I know were not what others experiencing them with me, in other words at the same time using the same five senses, "thought they were". For instance, when the dog I had harbored for a couple of weeks got hit by a car right in front of myself and the owner of the dog who had mysteriously appeared just moments before to claim his dog. The man was a wretched individual actually and I knew it. Perhaps, not even a man. Ah. Now if people understood what I understand, I'd be incarcerated and diagnosed as "insane". Why? Because my view of reality is not what it ought to be according to the materialist world view which is predominant in our age and times. Predominant of course and terribly terribly wrong and leading to all sorts of aggressions and tribulations. So what is it about these parables that I find and others may not be able to see or understand?

Good question and beats me if I can manage to explain to anyone this monumental idea. The Sura called the Beneficent however, in my humble opinion, does it best because it is a Parable's Parable. And that is the best form of tafsir one can practice. That form is called, "allowing the Quran to explain the Quran" via reference and inspiration.

"The Qur'ân explained by the Qur'ân: The interpretation of the Qur'ân by the Qur'ân is the highest source of tafsîr. Many of the questions which may arise out of a certain passage of the Qur'ân have their explanation in other parts of the very same book, and often there is no need to turn to any sources other than the word of Allah, which in itself contains tafsîr. To seek to explain an aya from the Qur'ân by referring to another ayâ from the Qur'ân is the first and foremost duty of the mufassir. Only if this does not suffice, he will refer to other sources of tafsîr." from: http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Tafseer/Ulum/

Following: The parable of spiders.

Ah if it isn't the Bees then it's the Spiders. Allahu'akbar al'ham'du'lillah. La ilaha'il la'la. La ila'ha ila' huwa.

The parable of those who take guardians besides Allah is as the parable of the spider that makes for itself a house; and most surely the frailest of the houses is the spider's house did they but know. -The Spider

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1794320

"The sticky spiral of araneoid spider orb webs consists of silk fibers coated with adhesive droplets" ....and alas, we do know now about this "abode" of the spider and what the spider "takes with him" to his next abode.

Allah makes abundant the means of subsistence for whom He pleases of His servants, and straitens them for whom (He pleases) surely Allah is Cognizant of all things. -The Spider

And how many a living creature that does not carry its sustenance: Allah sustains it and yourselves; and He is the Hearing, the Knowing. -The Spider

And this life of the world is nothing but a sport and a play; and as for the next abode, that most surely is the life-- did they but know! -The Spider

The Return......hmm. Why not. No one said how they'd be coming, when they'd be coming. They just said, "we're on our way". Be patient.

The Parable of the Shadows

Leapin' and hoppin' on a Moon Shadow...moon shadow moon shadow.

NASA and the shadow:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/exploration/mmb/03jan_moonshadows.html


The Cattle
[6.76] So when the night over-shadowed him, he saw a star; said he: Is this my Lord? So when it set, he said: I do not love the setting ones.

The Thunder
[13.15] And whoever is in the heavens and the earth makes obeisance to Allah only, willingly and unwillingly, and their shadows too at morn and eve.

The Bee
[16.48] Do they not consider every thing that Allah has created? Its (very) shadows return from right and left, making obeisance to Allah while they are in utter abasement.

Time
[76.14] And close down upon them (shall be) its shadows, and its fruits shall be made near (to them), being easy to reach.

A wonderful artical about: Personal Exceptionalism

The first casualty of addiction, like that of war, is the truth. At first the addict merely denies the truth to himself. But as the addiction, like a malignant tumor, slowly and progressively expands and invades more and more of the healthy tissue of his life and mind and world, the addict begins to deny the truth to others as well as to himself. He becomes a practiced and profligate liar in all matters related to the defense and preservation of his addiction, even though prior to the onset of his addictive illness, and often still in areas as yet untouched by the addiction, he may be scrupulously honest.

One of the chief ways the addiction protects and strengthens itself is by a psychology of personal exceptionalism which permits the addict to maintain a simultaneous double-entry bookkeeping of addictive and non-addictive realities and to reconcile the two when required by reference to the unique, special considerations that àat least in his own mind- happen to apply to his particular case.

In many cases the addict responds to negative feedback from others about his addiction by following the maxim of "Attack the attacker." Those who confront or complain about the addict's irrational and unhealthy behaviors are criticized, analyzed and dismissed by the addict as untrustworthy or biased observers and false messengers. Their own vulnerabilities may be ruthlessly exposed and exploited by the addict in his desperate defense of his addiction. In many cases, depending upon their own psychological makeup and the nature of their relationship to the addict, they themselves may begin to manifest significant psychological symptoms. Emotional and social withdrawal, secrecy, fear and shame can cause the mental health of those closely involved with addicts to deteriorate. Almost always there is fear, anger, confusion and depression resulting from repeated damaging exposures to the addict's unhealthy and irrational behaviors and their corresponding and supporting private reality.

Racism, Quran and the Seven Degrees of White

"Are not asses, oxen, and even stones of white and red colour? Are there not among the white nations people who are stupid, unwise and of bad character? An ass still remains an ass even though it may be white in colour, and a man being white can still be an ass."

A wonderful, wonderful article from Lahore:

http://www.muslim.org/islam/colours.htm

Heh....a rose is a ward is a watbir, not just an orange! Allahu'akbar al'ham'du'lillah. Or rather, in English, EUREKA!

Beware of This

The first thing to go
is usually the teeth
in the town and then
the roads. Notice
when the animals
start coming in closer
to look and feed
because the lights
are suddenly
a bit dimmer.
Sound diminishes
but the voices within
are clear enough
as they mumble
through their mangled
gums and dentures.
Is it that time again?
says the rock.
The trees only say:
that is how it once was
before the fences.

Conversation with a Peaceful Non Sect Sectarian
(a new Islamic sect that hopes to deny that the original contestants (Ahl Baht/Ahl Sunna) for Divine Right either existed or were ignorant of their own cases) . He asked a girl named Hannah why it is Shia cannot simply "tow the line" and be the new "Flower Children" of Islam:

Well...why indeed. And on the mightily important occassion of Martin Luther King Day....

Here is what she told him:

That's nice sir but you know...I'm sure the Palestinians, the Iraqis, the Shia of S. Lebanon might disagree with this narrow world view and (no offense) mock piousness. It isn't that you are aware of it obviously...or you wouldn't pronounce it so truthfully here.

But to me it is a "let them eat cake" mentality. It is quietism and it ignores the fact that Islam is still very much alive, very much in a state of change and very much the most important aspect of the world right now and for all times.

Otherwise....Allah would have made us all into daisies. And I'm one of the only posters here that can tell you first hand about the Islamic wars we are engaged in my friend. I've lost my way of life because of them. Al'ham'du'la....Allah has provided for me very well in the aftermath of that but I'm just not able to do what it is so many here do and say what you say. Sure...I love the pipe dream idea of it all and sure...I cannot change anyone. And sure...I believe that I was chosen for this. Obviously....and not chosen to be something else.

For me...it is a new kind of "Chosen" people kind of thinking. And I know exactly how that must make some of you feel.

You know...what we Shia discuss and what the Sunni know and discuss are not comparable. Here is a link describing the difference in the Pillars:

http://www.blogger.com/www.important.ca/five_pillars_of_islam.html

No where in the Quran are the five pillars described and I have to wonder....where do they come from then? What is the relationship between articles of faith and actual "Pillars" which are things upon which something is built...whole societies not just individual muslims.

When people like redacted come along and say "prove it" then I have to equate that to nonmuslims who do the same exact thing. There are no proofs for them. There are never proofs for people who hide what it is they claim and do not disclose it clearly and in no uncertain terms.

The Sunni Pillars:

-The Testimony that there is none worthy of worship except God and that Muhammad is his messenger.
-Establishing of the five daily Prayers (salah).
-The Giving of Zakaah (charity), which is generally 2.5% of the yearly savings for a rich man working in trade or industry, and 10% or 20% of the produce for agriculturists. This money or produce is distributed among the poor.
-Fasting from dawn to dusk in the month of Ramadan (sawm).
-The Pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca during the month of Dhul Hijjah, which is compulsory once in a lifetime for one who has the ability to do it.

Those things are common to all muslims and in effect...describe them as a whole in terms of Sunna and practice. Two of those "Pillars" are in fact, impossible for some muslims i.e. Zakat and Pilgrammage. How then can anyone declare that they are actual Pillars of Islamic Society? As a matter of fact, in the absence of justice, those two things become even more impossible for the impoverished ones.

The Shia Pillars are:

-The Oneness of God (tawhid).
-The Justice of God ('adl).
-Prophethood (nubuwwah).
-The Leadership of Mankind (imamah).
-The Resurrection (me'ad).

What I see is that the Shia Pillars better reflect the manner in which societies ought to be built...not just how we muslims can describe ourselves. Justice being the most important Pillar right now and like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Peace is not the absence of war (a fight) but the presence of justice." And each and every one of those Pillars is possible for all muslims to attain as in "develop" a belief in and a manner of viewing the world. Some of those things sir...are worth fighting for and especially worth fighting for when others hope to take them away from muslims generically and specifically. Like when George W. Bush declares that he doesn't want to take the nuclear potential away from the Shia in Iran but instead begins saying he wants to take the KNOWLEDGE away from them. Wow. That's not only dangerous rhetoric but it is truthful. And by all means, Allah did pick him to lead the US into this catastrophe and lead the Sunnis to a better understanding of those that they have spent millenia confronting, oppresssing and bad mouthing and doing so at the behest of their Sunni leadership.

Those Pillars also reflect how muslims must and will deal with non muslims in the future when they are made into the captains of this ship. It is clear to me that not everyone gets to be chosen for this and it is also clear to me that Allah made it perfectly known that he'd be dealing with everyone else equitably. I hardly think that the Sunni concept of leadership is suitable for most people and it is exactly that type of leadership that has caused fear to spread amongst non muslim socieities regarding "Sharia Law". Sharia Law is not the point you know. Islam and Allah will be followed whether or not a people like it, choose it or KNOW it. That is because it is a natural law that emanates from the creation itself. Don't ask a Sunni scholar though because they tend to get officious about it and declare that they know things which often times...no one knows. Not even a Shia scholar.

Having lived in a "Sunni Sharia State" i.e. Saudi Arabia...I'm here to tell you that nothing good came of that human experiment of history. The restrictions that Sunni leaders placed on people there have caused all sorts of debauched results to evolve in that society which, by my reckoning, ought to be the best Islamic society on earth seeing as how it is the "Holy Land".

And Allah said, "The Proof is in the Pudding" i.e. to paraphrase the notion that Allah will bring forth proofs for all his creatures regarding their very own natures and in essence, the societies composed of "like minded" individuals.

I do however, to give the benefit of the doubt to your "peaceloving" thinking...know that we are all moving to a more unified approach that blends our ideas instead of merely denying them which is what redacted are often engaged in here. They aren't really peace makers in that but only attempting (foolishly) to extinguish and suppress knowledge that does not support their own points of view.

Peace

H.E. Sayyed Nasrallah: Bush Visit to Region Disgraceful
Source: Al-Manar TV, 10-1-2008

Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah made a televised speech Wednesday on the occasion of the Hijri New year and the beginning of the Arab month of Muharram. The occasion coincided with US president George W. Bush's visit to occupied Palestine. "Today is a black day in the history of our Arab region and the history of our Arab and Islamic nation...It is a disgraceful and shameful day for all Arabs and Muslims when the Pharaoh (Bush) of this age sets foot on our occupied holy land," Sayyed Nasrallah added. He added that "Bush arrived here as if he is the defender of freedom and democracy. Who started the killings 60 years ago? The Palestinians didn't do it, and the Jews who lived in Arab states lived peacefully. The ones doing the killing were Zionist gangs.

His eminence also slammed US media outlets and US allies for presenting "Israel" as a symbol of democracy in the region. "Bush views "Israel" as a Jewish state, that is, racist...its existence is premised on race. "Israel" aspires for a racially pure existence." The Hizbullah chief stressed hope is in the hands of the free Arabs. He warned Muslims and Arabs as well about "Bush the faker, who fails to protect the Arabs from the real murderer and instead argues that he wishes to defend them from a fictitious enemy. He is attempting to convince our Arab and Muslim people of a bogus danger. It's a deception."

Sayyed Nasrallah attributed the reason for all wars to the "Zionist occupation of Palestine." Pointing to the "Israeli" war against Lebanon in 2006, his eminence slammed the international community that gives "Israel" the "right to embark on war for two soldiers who were taken captive...yet the Palestinians are not allowed to fire a rocket on Sderot or Ashkelon. This is the justice of the strong and of the imperialists."

In a statement, Hizbullah condemned Bush's visit and urged Arab governments to be aware of the "dangers" of U.S. policy on the future of Arab and Islamic worlds. "The U.S. sponsorship of the negotiations between the Palestinians and Zionists represents a direct cover for liquidating the Palestinian cause and displacing the remaining Palestinians under the so-called Jewish state," said the statement.

I guess the "free press" in the United States dropped the ball on this "breaking news" from the Gaza Strip this week. Where are all those sad faced and contrite journalists now? Oh yeah..they are still pouting over their last faux pas:

http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=161432

“The blood of children will not go in vain, it will turn into a fire that will burn up (Israel) sooner or later,” Zahar told Reuters at a tent erected for mourners for his son.

As Palestinians held a general strike over Israel’s killing on Tuesday of 19 people, an Israeli missile aimed at Islamic Jihad activists in Gaza hit a car and killed an entire family.

Free press my butt. And I think they've sort of covered up that part about Israel and the US being on the torture watch list as well. Oh well. At least we have the ezboards!

A Few Words About Nagi Al-Ali, Palestinian Cartoonist
They shoot horses don't they?

"I am from Ayn el-Helwa." (I am from the Sweet Well, a Palestinian Refugee Camp near the ancient city of Sidon that I used to drive by on my way to South Lebanon before Israel decided to demolish another of our dreams)

http://www.palestineremembered.com/Tiberias/al-Shajara/Story188.html

Where do I begin? Perhaps from the day we left Palestine on our way to the Ain Al-Helwa camp in southern Lebanon. And from those looks in the eyes of our mothers and fathers that did not speak of facts, but expressed a sorrow which was the language in which we learned about the world, a language of anger that finds its outlet sometimes in speech, sometimes in deeds. Most of the boys and girls of the fifties generation, to which I belonged, suffered a profound dejection. We would cast our eyes beyond our small prison in Ain Al-Helwa, searching for some force of good that might come to our rescue. When the July 1952 revolution broke out, we poured out into the streets of the camp shouting, "Long live the revolution!" and writing slogans on the walls. We were unable to do more than that, although we had dedicated ourselves and our lives to the revolution.

Nescafe for Refugees

The Prayer of Gertrudes

There is a stagnant moment
when a dream is not a dream
and she is going to die.
That one, yes.
Early in the morning
reaching over her chest
to find the answer.
It isn't there
nor on the stretcher
or in the young attendant's eyes.
The clouds begin
their lament
far away in the sky
and it is time.
A dream is not a dream
and she is going to die.
If only I could tell you more
but then they'd come for me.

Israel on a Bloody Rampage but America is deaf to the sound.....30 Palestinians massacred in two days of heavy bombardment in Gaza Strip. Sadly enough, movie star panties and lack of them are more important to citizens inside the borders of this sleepy country.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/945042.html

She's In
The Book of Nogales

I'm all eyes you see
wherever wisdom goes
the parade follows
but in the wrong direction -
this ratio of angels
drives us mad.
A plain old drama
drowns the bedlam
with its fury, this
snake swallows it whole:
(Remember this?
Of course not.)
Nothing escapes
a point of view
at a checkpoint
where we wait
for indictments and polls,
that sacred ammunition
and those officious absolutions.
From the windows
cameras spot vendors
as they ply the ancient art
of bait and switch,
the carrot on a stick.
I'm sure of it.
Our trunk is only full
of statues and banks
but they don't believe it,
those types insist
on certificates and honey.
Those types don't know
much about bones
and even less about the sea.

In the shadows
hueras exchange
dirty looks for pesos,
treasure after
treasure, Catrinas
for thin-thin dimes.
It's a long way home
for that one -
her clothes tell
the thousand tales
of babies and begging,
the stories that never end
and we've heard them all before.
She's a whole
cartel in her papoos
and just another exodus
on the sole of her huarache
spelled novena, nueva, nuestros.

In Memoriam, Bhenazir Bhutto

BEIRUT ASSASSIN LEAVES MARK

The cocks were storm-crowing that morning
after a real long spell of total
environmental darkness.
Two broughams sped by.

(In the land of the prophets
angels speak while elsewhere
people pretend not to notice
it is the status quo.)

The clocks whirred with quick sighs
toward sunset's rosey end,
and lovers sealed Valentines
with moist lips and inspirations.
Bouquets sailed to and fro
that day, one lover after another.


Then, everything just stopped.
Windows fell apart and people ran
home, started looking.
Zoom in, zoom out, zoom in, zoom out.
I looked at my watch to note
schools and airports, avenues named:
for Lincoln, Lumumba, for JFK.

The shades lingered,moved
quietly on the horizon
and the same herd of goats
crossed my path twice.
No more luck, no more money,
no more beadsmen.
The predictions are keen to usurp everyone
and the last unlucky man born will tremble
near a pitcher of water and a set of lost keys.
The invocations quiet the kinfolk
and the rich sleep ever closer
but it does take some time, perhaps forever.
The poor remain indifferent.

One man was found
two weeks later in the rubble,
pointing in one direction and holding his cell.
No one called out the dogs
because it is said the canines eat
the corpses of Sabra and Shatilla.

I wonder.. to whom was he speaking,
where was he pointing?

The Waiting

A few more minutes of this midnight
might extinguish all the cold
for an ever, this tightly guarded
citadel with precise rotations
can only take so much sunshine,
so much rain and this amount
of darkness. A few more minutes
of determination might kill
another hundred thousand people.
These restless words and books
tell those types nothing,
yet our expectations
hound us to the grave
in which those that do
relax talk to those
that don't about the waiting.
It is coming on strong mister
this Armageddon of yours.
Why did you do it?
A few more minutes in this
purgatory can't stand you up,
can't resusitate your sorries
from under this blanket
of soil and surrender.

[11.48] It was said: O Nuh! descend with peace from Us and blessings on you and on the people from among those who are with you, and there shall be nations whom We will afford provisions, then a painful punishment from Us shall afflict them.

This American Shia Muslim has her Eyes Wide Open...you know, it is hard to explain the contempt I have for non muslim people at this point in time but especially the contempt I have for American non muslim people who are ignorant not only of Islam but of their own human rights, responsibilities and loyalty to THEIR OWN COUNTRY let alone to Allah. Fact of the matter is, as a muslim, I OUGHT to support a weak leader like Hilary Clinton or Obama in order to hope for a more speedy demise of the United States of America. The conclusive demise which is absolutely, on it's way if it isn't here already. But in the end, I am an American. I only hold an American passport and therefore, I must conclude that the best thing to do is to support the best man for the job regardless of the fact that he isn't necessarily "pro" Shia as some might believe or "anti" Israel as others do. He is simply a man of his word and an American to the bone.

My eyes have always been wide open to these things. If Americans had supported their own country in the dismantling of Saddam's regime, we wouldn't be there now. It would have been over. But NO...people who do not know what Islam says and is all about just couldn't be bothered with a "sectarian" conflict and the threat of one. To this day most people have literally no idea what the conflict is about. They could care less because non muslims in general do care less. They are careless individuals who demand proof but even when proof comes to them they remain aloof.

I do believe however that Ron Paul will most likely fail because most Americans can't pour piss out of a boot even with the instructions written on the heel. And when he does Americans have NO ONE BUT THEMSELVES TO BLAME as if..they weren't blameworthy enough already for their ignorance, apathy and failure to admit their own arrogance which is the type based on ignorance and which leads inevitably to the fall of great nations. It always has and always will.

May the best people win. And I am one hundred percent sure, they will do exactly that. In fact, they already have by making the United States look utterly ridiculous to themselves and in the eyes of the nations of the world.



"Our obsession with democracy-- which is clearly conditional, when one looks at our response to the recent Palestinian elections-- will allow the majority Shia to claim leadership title if Iraq’s election actually leads to an organized government. This delights the Iranians, who are close allies of the Iraqi Shia.

Talk about unintended consequences! This war has produced chaos, civil war, death and destruction, and huge financial costs. It has eliminated two of Iran’s worst enemies and placed power in Iraq with Iran’s best friends. Even this apparent failure of policy does nothing to restrain the current march toward a similar confrontation with Iran. What will it take for us to learn from our failures?" - Ron Paul, Republican candidate for the president of the United States of America.

On the Occasion of the Prophet Isa's birth:

Perform (good) acts while you are still in the vastness of life, the books are open (for recording of actions), repentance is allowed, the runner away (from Allah) is being called and the sinner is being given hope (of forgiveness) before the (light of) action is put off, time expires, life ends, the door for repentance is closed and angels ascend to the sky.

Therefore a man should derive benefit from himself for himself, from the living for the dead, from the mortal, for the lasting and from the departer for the stayer. A man should fear Allah while he is given age to live upto his death, and is allowed time to act. A man should control his self by the rein and hold it with its bridle, thus by the rein he should prevent it from disobedience towards Allah, and by the bridle he should lead it towards obedience to Allah.

-Emir Ali ibn Abi Taleb, Commander of the Faithful and brother to the last prophet, May Allah be pleased with all of them.

Happy Holidays

A vote for ANYONE other than Ron Paul, the only candidate willing to stop the arms race in the Middle East by limiting/halting US military support of Israel, is a VOTE AGAINST RACHEL CORRIE, the young American activist that was murdered in cold blood by an Israeli Defence Forces bulldozer while trying to defend the lives and homes of Palestinians.



Think about it.