The Wine of Religion...

Dear Friends

I adore the following astute statement by the Harvard Rumi scholar, Abdulkarim Soroush, regarding religion:

I told him that religion is like wine; it magnifies things. It makes brutes more brutish and humans, more human.

Dr. Soroush is one of those rare public intellectuals who dare to challenge the crazy Muslim status quo and actively use the sword of reason to challenge and demand reformation.

He is an inspiration…

Faisal

Ps - http://www.drsoroush.com/English/

Rumi on War and Conflict...

Dear Friends

Here is some much needed 800 hundred year old balm for aching if not bleeding souls everywhere...Over to Mevlana Ji... 

‘’ Move beyond any attachment to names.
Every war and every conflict
between human beings
has happened because of some disagreement
about names.
It’s such an unnecessary foolishness,
because just beyond the arguing
there’s a long table of companionship,
set and waiting for us to sit down.
What is praised is one, so the praise is
one too,
many jugs being poured into a huge
basin.
All religions, all this singing, one song.
The differences are just illusion and
vanity.
Sunlight looks slightly different on this
wall than it does on that wall.
and a lot different on this other one,
but it is still one light.
We have borrowed these clothes,
these time-and-space personalities,
from a light,
and when we praise,
we pour them back in.

FAISAL

Iraq PART DEUX!

Dear Friends

I am being absolutely honest that last night I experienced a stomach churning nightmare due to the current allied military offensive albeit UN sanctioned against Libya.

Yes it may well be to prevent a bloody massacre against the million or so inhabitants of Benghazi. However why are the fighter planes not flying over Bahrain or Saudi Arabia or Yemen whose Muslim dictators are butchering their own unarmed people?

Why cannot the Arab League independently enforce a no-fly zone across Libya after all the west has armed them with the latest military hardware and know how? Saudi Arabia successfully deployed 2000 troops last week to protect their family relative who runs Bahrain on their behalf.

This latest allied adventure has all the hallmarks of the Bush invasion of Iraq but part Deux / 2.0. This is a serious case of déjà vu.

What is so upsetting is that this action will destroy all the inter-faith bridges so carefully and painstakingly constructed since the last Iraq war. It will give ammunition to extremists on all sides and drown enlightened voices of people such as Ziauddin Sardar and Rowan Williams. And discourse will descend into the ‘them versus us’ and solutions will be ‘black and white’.

What deeply angers me is that the Cameron government can slash the budget for English higher education and raise tuition fees but fund a no fly zone that will cost in excess of £1billion to fund a year. And the irony is that the M.O.D budget is also being slashed and our troops are being sent into theatre ill-equipped and post-conflict rely upon charity for their basic survival.

Why are we mortgaging the future of our children and socio- economic well being for another costly Middle Eastern debacle? Why cannot we throw off the shackles of our Imperialist past and transform into an economic and nice superpower like Germany or South Korea?

The current war cabinet are a bunch of public school lads drunk on a heady yet deadly cocktail of honour and ego. Surely they can leave their mark on history in other ways such as making UK PLC an economic powerhouse. Granted this is not as sexy as war mongering but hey we will not have the blood of Gaddafi or innocents on our hands!

Well done Mr. Cameron et al for another right royal and expensive mess that will be funded by the tax payer !!! Mr. Cameron is proving that Blairism is alive and kicking...

Faisal

What is Sufism?

Dear Friends

What is Sufism? This question has perplexed mystics for centuries. For some it is ‘zauq’ / taste for others it is the inculcation of virtues or Ihsaan.

Personally whenever I feel that I have the answer it manages to slip away like the choicest sand grains.

I read the following by the great Hafiz who is alluding to something which is simultaneously so deep yet delicate and in my humble opinion sums up the entire Sufi (if not Muslim) enterprise and journey:

Awake my dear,

Be kind to your sleeping heart

Take it out to the vast

Field of light

And let it breathe

Let us breathe / pray / meditate / dream / taste / do good...Ameen. Suma Ameen

Faisal

'Theatre of Dreams'...

Dear Friends

The school year is slowly winding down. Students are preparing for finals or finishing coursework or begging for extensions!

It has been one heck of a rock n roll academic year peppered with many highs and lows. However even the latter have been exhilarating and superior to my previous highs during other professional incarnations.

Without a shadow of a doubt the best and worst experiences have been in the classroom which I am totally smitten by. The classroom is the ‘theatre of dreams’ and it has been an honour to facilitate the development of my students and see them transforming hopefully into better human beings.

The really cool thing is that I am realising one of my greatest ambitions namely to make history...I had no idea it was going to take place like this...

As ever there is a Bollywood song for this moment! : )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA5jMs1TzhE

Party on!

Faisal

Muslim Emotional Intelligence?

Dear Friends

One of the hallmarks of my Pakistani-Muslim heritage is emotion bordering on insanity which is simultaneously a flaw and genius. The latter flowers beautifully during the care of the sick and elderly and mysticism however it degenerates into a deadly farce when it is exploited by sick politicians or mad mullahs or 'elders'.

The only way to transform this emotion into ‘emotional intelligence’ is education especially the scientific method. This is my private struggle...slackers need not apply!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQmrmVs10X8

Power to the Heart!

Rishi Faisal 

Ps - The above bollywood song inspired the renowned composer Andrew Lloyd Webber! Dil se...From the heart...

Now we are FREE...

Dear Friends

I passionately believe that freedom (socio-economic-religious) is the birth right of every human being.

Thus I feel that it one of my functions as an educator to facilitate the student’s path to freedom which will enable them to become global citizens of the first rate.

However it is also important to manage expectations and demonstrate to them that this a challenging process full of countless trials, tribulations and rewards. What I call the alchemy of the heart...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYLseVbOHjk

Now we are free

Faisal

Ps - Sometimes I view myself as a midwife facilitating the birth of butterflies...

Empathy...

Dear Friends

I successfully sat an exam yesterday as part of my teacher training that was a really rewarding experience. The last week was spent burning midnight oil and getting stressed out. I was very nervous as I was sitting an exam after 7 or 8 years and it was a computer based assessment!

I now have more empathy for my students but will continue to inspire and push them.

As Muhammad (pbuh) uttered 1400 hundred years ago:

‘’Seek knowledge even thou hast to go to China’’.

Ciao

Faisal 

'Hebrew Framing'...

Dear Friends

I adore the following Jewish / Talmudic lore:

"We do not see things as they are.
We see them as we are."

 

I agree with Flora Brown wholeheartedly when she states:

If the places and people you find yourself in are not to your liking, it's time to take a look at the part you are playing to create what you see. If you want to change your relationships, work environment and other settings, start with being the person you want to see.

Power to the HEART!


Faisal

'Muslim Constructivism'...

Dear Friends

Rumi reminds us that;

Love and imagination are magicians

Who create an image of the Beloved in your mind

With which you share your secret intimate moments.

This apparition is made of nothing at all,

But from its mouth comes the question,

“Am I not your Loved One?”

and from you the soft reply”Yes.Yes.Yes.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XKCNWNAk5E

Salaam

Faisal

Ps - Muslim Endurance sport...

A prime example of a Sufi gathering gone pear shaped big time:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN-II6_WA9c&feature=youtube_gdata_player


Surely this is not what the great Mystics of Islam  or the Prophet were teaching???????

Muslim 'Endurance Sport'...

Dear Friends

I have recently attended several traditional Muslim gatherings and been deeply distraught at the poor intellectual rigour. The Quran is reduced to an ‘endurance sport’ where the quantity of worship becomes of paramount significance rather than the essence or spiritual efficacy to transform. I am shocked when people are actually impressed with numeric measures such as this person has recited this Quranic surah a gazillion times!

It is like being with a crowd of sheep who are guided by lazy shepherds that care more for their image then their roles and responsibilities. I also find the blind obedience deeply distasteful as it is bordering on idolatry. Discussion is frowned upon and the didactic approach to teaching transforms into intellectual dictatorship.

I pine for the medieval Andalucía gatherings that were populated by Jews, Muslims and Christians engaged in deep discourse and debate, or the poetic gatherings of the great 18^th century Urdu poet Ghalib or the public lectures by the Sufi martyr Hallaj

In the mean time I will drown my sorrows in Rumi and a cup of chai...

Ciao

Faisal

Money Talks...

Dear Friends

It is very easy to trash the London School of Economics (LSE) for their links to the Libyan regime of Colonel Gaddafi. However, the government has slashed University funding consequently these bastions of knowledge will have to and are diversifying their income streams.  Every University across Great Britain loves international students and powerful foreign alumni. Who else is going to fund cutting edge research and pay the bills?

Granted the links between LSE and the Libyans predates the current funding crisis in Higher Education (H.E) however they were doing some excellent work especially training Libyan civil servants. Surely the H.E route is an excellent way to promote the rule of law and democracy across the world especially in the Muslim World which is rotten to the core?

On the other hand it can be argued that western educated elites in the Muslim World are merely extensions of neo-colonial powers and oppress the indigenous masses and culture. Take for example the Brown Sahibs of Pakistan such as the late Benazir Bhutto or Imran Khan.

The events in the middle-east have caught everyone by surprise especially London and Washington.  This is the 1989 moment for this region and hopefully South Asia is next...

Salaam

Faisal

From homeless to Harvard...

Dear Friends

Sometimes I wonder why God tests so much. After all what difference is it going to make to his greatness?

A clue can be found in the concept of 'Resilience' which is the positive capacity of people to cope with stress and adversity. This coping may result in the individual “bouncing back” to a previous state of normal functioning, or using the experience of exposure to adversity to produce a “steeling effect” and function better than expected (much like an inoculation gives one the capacity to cope well with future exposure to disease).

Below is a link to a kick ass example of resilience…Simply inspiring:

From homeless to Harvard: graduate sets sight on success:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2009364589_harvard21.html

Finally I am reminded of the following:

“I asked God for strength that I might achieve.

I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.

I asked for health that I might do greater things.

I was given infirmity that I might do better things.

I asked for riches that I might be happy.

I was given poverty that I might be wise.

I asked for power that I might have the praise of men.

I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life.

I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing that I asked for, but everything I hoped for. Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered. I am, among all men, most richly blessed.”

The only easy day was yesterday.

(Navy Seals)

Ciao

Faisal

'Bloody' Fatwa...

Dear Friends

During the current Libyan peoples struggle for freedom the 'respected' Scholar - Yusuf al-Qaradawi - has issued a fatwa or legal edict sanctioning the assassination of Colonel Muammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi.

This plays straight into the hands of the neo-cons who contend that the Muslim World is not fit or ready for democracy. Qaradawi should be calling for his arrest, public trial, and imprisonment along with his sons who should spend the remainder of their lives rotting in jail especially Saif al-Islam who can meditate on his doctorate earned from the London School of Economics discussing democracy.

Will the head of Gaddafi help to quench the anguish of those countless mothers whose sons and daughters were murdered in Libya?

When will this bloody cycle of violence end in the Muslim World?

When will Muslims realize that their birth right is not heaven but individual responsibility?

Faisal