Monday, November 24, 2014

99 names: al Mumin - the Inspirer of Faith


la ill aha illala...

all praise is due to the 1ness, the inspirer of faith, the one who allows for these hands to move and type like i've lost it.

i did. lose it. lost it when fasting that first time, 12 years back, before i was a surrenderer, when i was doing surya namaskar alone in my room and drinking only water for seven days. lost it...

weak and shedding, i moonwalked through sunset park, forgetting the crisp big pun white tee i wore and the matching uptowns, walking past asphalt into the kryptonite of the crisp reggaeton cadre and their usher r&b counterparts, mutually strangled in brand-new-sterile-ness.

don't do it, i could almost see them plead. their d&g shades rolling down their noses in disbelief.

he's crossing the line, i heard them collectively say, as i stepped into dirt and hugged a tree, smashing big pun with trunk colors.

couldn't help being inspired past the maya.

thing is, the revelations that that water-fast lead to, had little to do with conjecturing and dice and tarot cards and astrological interpretations.

the path that i would become, had little to do with faith...

sant Claus requires faith, requires a belief in a sweet old jolly man who comes down from the northern crux with gifts and candy for children all over the world who believe.

belief in the beyonder, in the marvel superhero who came to earth to experience life as a human, who was saddened by his experience, demonized while here and deified when he left for his planet, by the mutants who came across him, requires belief.

belief that somehow, you and your family and the region you are from occupies a status apart, of being in the upper echelon of the hierarchy of special, requires belief. being a chosen people based on phenotype, geography, etc, is debatable - how do you categorize people into a hierarchy of more or less chosen by God? what are thes standards? whose standards are they? by whose criteria?

Al-Lah - Allah - the translation of which is the One-ness, requires no belief.

Air Land Liquid Atmosphere Heat (ALLAH) requires no belief.

ALLAH is that (neither He nor She) which you cannot live without. if you don't believe me, stop eating and drinking for the next month. if you don't believe me, grip your nose shut and duct tape your mouth sealed. if you don't believe me, put both your feet in front of the edge of the cliff. 

la illah illala...there is no god but God

the trees speak volumes, move in the language of Real yogis - Quiet. so do the sierra straights, kilimanjaro, himalaya, macchu picchu - solid as warriors, pelted by thunderous whips, as they bow down.

the river inspires through its flow, whether it be in the shadow of an e.k.g skyline of queens, brooklyn, boroughs of towers of babel, or it is the waters of sinai, in the occupied territory (a misnomer, as it suggests only the remaining slivers of the west bank and gaza are occupied and not the rest of that stolen land renamed from biblical texts), diverted for some people to have drinking water, and others to have parched throats and thirst to death.

the water knows no lines, nor nationalisms to be claimed by. 

the center of the forests of the catskills inspire a reflection so introspective, skin melds into the earth that roots oaks and pines.

the Quiet of the mountain, taller than man versus nature, stronger than westerners (white, black, brown) looking to conquer a feat, inspires strength, inspires standing for something or otherwise, yosemite reminded me, you'll fall for anything.

the dry of the mojave dessert inspires fast, of a discipline that goes beyond the thirst for water and desire for moist foods. the cacti lining bryce and zion in utah, inspire the alignment of surya and chand namaskar.

the sun coming up inspires smiles of spring trees and the laughter of ocean waves - an eclipse of ego.

my pen and words become less about being fly and  spoken and recognized and limelighted in the reminder that the sun has shone and fed my abbu and ammu and their parents and my great great great grandparents ad infinite...

ALLAH inspires a faith so clear, that it is all around us, that belief is unnecessary, if we Quiet, and listen...