The Maintainer of all

A poem by Velma Cook

"Everything we have is provided by Allah, the Almighty. The suns shines on those who believe in Him and those who don't. His Mercy extends to all living things. One part of His Mercy is spread throughout all creation and the other 99 is kept for the believers on the Day of Judgement"

You are the only One Who knows me
Who sees so well what I am

You never tire sending me gifts
which I don't deserve

I do so much wrong
Am never grateful enough

I make a promise to You
which I rarely keep

Yet You forgive and let
me start afresh

You have given me all I have
All I know

I turn to You alone for help
and You're always there

You're my Creator
the Maintainer of all

The One on Whom all creation depends

The Creator and the created

A Poem By Velma Cook

The busy moments of life cover up the truth of reality as we go unaware through our lives, until death catches up.

Sometimes I just stop and think. Time freezes for a second and I seem to become attuned to a reality that exists far beyond the petty struggles of everyday life. Gazing at the outline of desert hills in the distance or a lone, brightly colored flower, whose skinny, straggly stalk grows out of a bare, dry rock, struggling in its upturned motion toward the light of the sun. At other times, I lie beside the window at night, staring at the sky and the twinkling brightness of stars that shine so many milllions of light years beyond my reach, and yet whose light filters through the heavens to reach me, in my isolation; meeting in the twisted turns of time and destiny. How long did it take the light of that star to reach my eyes? How many people walk beneath its shimmering, timeless beauty, vamping out laughter and loutish cries of vanity, oblivious to the wonders that envelope them in life. 

I ponder on the steps I've walked through the days since I was born. The people whose paths crossed mine in friendship and love and others whom I carelessly ignored. The hard lessons of life that shaped my mind and heart and steered my thinking toward the Power that rules this glorious manifestation of Creation and Life. Contorted cries of pride and self conceit seem out of place in a world that slaps down the oppressor; whose deeds follow in a trail of fire and blackness. One day the deeds sent forth will catch up with the tyrant and choke the vanity from the same lips that ordered pain, poverty and death. 

Nothing escapes the Creator. No silent word whispered in the dark of night, goes unheard. No evil intent hidden in the recesses of the heart, goes unknown. No stifling corruption or bandits hand, goes unseen. The feeling of freedom that pushes the oppressor to more and more power, is in reality an illusion. For every word and action bears a consequence that bounces like so many ripples on a pond, from a pebble carelessly tossed in sparkling waters. Long after the hand that threw the stone has gone, the ripples continue to form their circles and shapes. Like the words we utter into the wind, which carries the sound of our voices in waves of air that continue to orbit the earth until the day that all will be renewed and then we will hear those same words, see those same actions and the fruit of our toil. 

Wasted time and life. How can a day pass where we cease to feel the beauty of life? Seek to understand the truth that emanates from our very existence? How can the Creator be ignored, when all that surrounds us, teems with life and meaning? The sand in our shoes, is carelessly discarded. How many oceans and seas carried each minute grain to its destiny? The very air we breath and food we eat, stand as marks of the Mercy of the Creator, Who supplied us with all our needs. Yet we eat and drink, without gratitude and without feeling for the needy. 

All within and around us belongs to the Creator. The wealth, we say we worked for, is a gift, for who gave us the strength and ability to work? Who provided the means of effort? The air? The salts and minerals that constitute our very being? Do we dig the earth in greed, oblivious to the wonder of the hands and minds we bear? Or the wonders that the treasure-filled earth bears for our use? 

These precious moments of reflection, cast my mind upon the shore of truth; light; beauty, that stand as proof of life and death and the life that follows it. For as surely as the star casts its light on this dreary earth, all in creation will bear witness to me and my life's doings. 

Either speaking for my good or my damnation. 

One Sacred Question of Life

At some points in our life, we will be questioning of what is the purpose of our life. Why are we here in this world? Is what I am doing now right? Some are lucky enough to find this question in the early age, some in the middle age, and some in the old age. Some are lucky to find the answer earlier, some later, and some never find the answer. That is a bless from Allah if we, at one point, question ourselves, and finally find the answer. Do you remember our past prophets? They began to get the revelation after they get answers of that "sacred question". Prophet Ibrahim A.S. at some point, asked to himself, why his father worshiped statues? Those statues could not do anything. They could not even eat the sacrifice that people gave, let alone solved every problem. Then he began to search and search the answer and finally Allah led him to the right answer and he was trusted to be His messenger. The same thing happened to Prophet Muhammad SAW. Where did he receive his first revelation? It was in Cave Hira. It was at the right moment when he felt unrest and there were a lot of questions in his heart about the existence of God, then he decided to contemplate in a one quiet space in that cave. And Allah had finally led him to become the greatest man on earth and rahmatan lil'alamiin (a mercy for all universe).

So, the question about our existence is a bless from Allah for every human being. If we receive that question, be grateful, for Allah has led you to His way. What should we do when we have that questions in mind? Search for the answer. Definitely. Do not despair and do not ignore that questions. Once you ignore it, you will be hindered from Allah's bless. We can see how people revert from other religion to Islam. We can see how a very bad person changes into a very pious person. We can see someone can finally find peace of mind after hardship in life. It is because they have found the answer. What is the answer of the question?

“And I (Allah) created not the jinns and humans, except they should worship Me (Alone).” (Adh-Dhariyat: 56)

The answer is Allah, the God Almighty, The Most Merciful, The Exalted One. Someone who can find the answer of the question, has found Allah. We're not created in this world for other purpose than to worship Him. We may posses many worldly purpose of life. We want to be a successful person. We want to have a high educational degree. We want to have a wonderful family. We want to travel around the world, and so on. However, those purposes will not be completed if we do not worship Allah wholeheartedly. Everything we have, everything we do, will not result in contentment of heart and mind if we neglect this one purpose of life. We will feel empty, we will feel despair, we will never be satisfied. But if we have Allah in our heart, everything does not matter anymore. We may be poor, but if we have Allah, we will be the richest person on earth. We may be sad and depressed at one moment, but if we have Allah, that pain will easily slip away.

We're sometimes mistaken that happiness can be found in money, properties, insurance, husband, kids, and so on. We do not realize that we worship them instead of Allah hoping that it will give us happiness. Apparently, happiness can only be found inside us. If our heart is at peace and we feel happy and content, the whole world will belong to us. How do we feel peace?

Verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest (Ar Ra'd:28)

Would we want to be happy and peaceful? Would we want the whole world belong to us? It is not by chasing and catching every opportunity to be successful and neglecting Allah. It is indeed by leaving all worldly temptations and turn to Allah. Love Him sincerely, make Him our only source of happiness, embrace Him, lean on Him whenever we can. When Allah loves us back, there is nothing more beautiful than that and the whole world is surely on our hand.

”When Allah loves a slave,calls out Jibril and says:”I love so-and-so:so love him”.Then Jibril loves him.After that he (Jibril) announces to the inhabitants of heavens that Allah loves so-and-so;so love him;and the inhabitants of the heavens (the angels) also love him and then make people on earth love him.”(Al-Bukhari and Muslim)