NEGOMBO, SRI LANKAI fell in love with Islam in one morning, it was 6.00 am when instead of practicing meditation on my yoga mat I practiced on my prayer mat. It was an unusual and an unexpected behaviour. A behaviour that hasn’t visited in more than a decade. Praise be to The Source of Peace.
My questioning towards the global rise of intense “Muslim” hate found me lacking in knowledge and understanding, l found myself unable to stand for my religion with rationale. So the hating got me craving the hidden, you know haters hate that which is precious. Isn’t that called, envy ?
Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, an American Muslim Scholar reverted to Islam at the age of 17 after a near death experience. Hamza Yusuf is my teacher and source of inspiration, his intellect and presence entrances me, and many others like me. A religious noble man with a wise and liberal mind. His academics range from Buddhism to Hinduism, Zazen, Sufism, Cosmology, Philosophy, History, Literature, Poetry, Physiology. We all are grateful to have you in our lives and I pray we meet in the next, in our timeless dimension. May Allah protect you and your family.
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My love for God and Islam is rooted within, despite the lack of spiritual people in my life.
Being born and raised in Abu Dhabi meant that one is bound to cross an Islamic Sheikh on three of the TV channels, in my memory none portrayed a sound of a well-rounded, liberated and God Loving human … More so, my recollections were of men with a mouthful of angry… why all the yelling, and why all the frightening stories man!?
While it is true there are a four different types of characters in the world; some draw near with the emotion of fear while others, many, many others, draw closer through Love and a sense of Ease.
May we make it easy on ourselves and unto others.
Salam.
