Salam To All: Long Introduction
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I. Salam
Salam to all.
This is my very first post in this forum, though I have been lurking about quietly and recommending the website for a while now.
I will go ahead and introduce myself as best as I can in this rather long post. Please bear with me.
I was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, raised there until the age of 13 and in Pakistan before that until the age of 6. At the age of 13 I moved to suburban DC, and have spent most of my life there, Paris, and Northern California ? primarily Berkeley and San Francisco. I moved back to Dhaka for good in 2002, and spent a lot of time traveling around North and Southeast Asia, and on occasion, South America, primarily the Republic of Chile. Now I am involved in a wide variety of paid consultancies, and voluntary community service activities while working on my first novel.
Now on to more relevant stuff.
II. Family Views and Intellectual Traditions
?Allah Only? and subsequently ?Quran Only? anti-sectarian, unifying view of Islam and the wide variety of practices resulting from it are as old as The Holy Quran itself. In my own family, a traditionally Shia family with roots in Old Dhaka, my great-great grandfather came across such views during his pilgrimage to Mecca in the 1870s. Since then, being ?Shia? has been a matter of nominal cultural practices for many in our family in a traditionally tolerant, largely anti-sectarian Sunni Muslim community in Old Dhaka.
Based largely on excerpts from the Holy Quran, and words from Ali Ibn Abi Talib's sermons quoted in Nahj al-Balagha, my forefathers understood the folly of all ?my way or the highway? type of exclusivist, absolutist and divisive sectarianism, whatever form it takes within Islam.
The Quran, chapter 28 (Al-Qisas), verse 15 ?And he went into the city at a time of unvigilance on the part of its people, so he found therein two men fighting, one being of his party and the other of his foes, and he who was of his party cried out to him for help against him who was of his enemies, so Musa struck him with his fist and killed him. He said This is on account of the Shaitan's doing; surely he is an enemy, openly leading astray"
The Quran, chapter 30 (Ar-Rum), verse 31 to 32 ?Turning to Him, and be careful of (your duty to) Him and keep up prayer and be not of the polytheists. Of those who divided their religion and became seas every sect rejoicing in what they had with them"
Ali Ibn Abi Talib said in his sermon -
?You should know that you have again reverted to the position of the (pagan) Bedouin Arabs after immigration to Islam, and have become different sects (Shia's) after having been once united. You do not possess anything of Islam except its name, and know nothing of belief save its show. You would throw down Islam on its face in order to defame its honor and break its pledge for brotherhood which Allah gave you as a sacred trust on His earth and a source of peace among the people. Be sure that if you incline towards anything other than Islam. the unbelievers will fight you. Then there will be neither Gabriel nor Michael, neither Muhajirun nor Ansar to help you, but only the clashing of swords, till Allah settles the matter for you?You have broken the shackles of Islam, have transgressed its limits, and have destroyed its commands!?
Intermarriages with Sunnis and ?non-Muslims? in my family have been commonplace since that memorable pilgrimage to the Holy City, and each person in my family is free to worship as they feel, think and see fit. One of my uncles, born and raised in New Zealand of all places, participated in the Islamic Revolution in Iran upon his graduation from Al Azhar, and is an ?orthodox? Shia so to speak. His Egyptian wife is a 'traditional' Sunni Muslim sympathetic to but not a member of Hizbut Tahrir. Somehow by the infinite grace of Allah, they have a genuinely happy marriage as they have managed to find a common ground in the Holy Quran, the hadith, mutual good faith and love. Their children and grandchildren are systematically exposed to the Holy Quraan, the particular Shia and Sunni ways of practicing Islam, and are free to choose their way of worship as they wish, or not to worship at all. Only Allah knows what is truly in the hearts and minds of His creations and only He can accord the inevitable judgments that await us all.
Such unions, though discouraged by the sectarian leadership - now this is a view based solely on my personal observations and extensive travels - are not uncommon within elements of the scholarly culture Al Azhar and other such Muslim Communities other than sectarian orthodoxies the Gulf, parts of rural Iran, Southern Central Asia, most South Asian except notably Bangladesh and its Sufi-influenced Islamic culture, and Southeast Asian except Thailand and parts of Indonesia.
My late grandfather and father considered any such labels to be divisive, sectarian and ultimately blasphemous, and based their ways of worship solely on the divine authority and guidance of the Holy Quran, and the interpretations, insights and opinions of Muslim scholars throughout the ages as mere enhancements to their personal connections with our Creator. Islam for them was also an ?intellectual? Deen (Way) and they were naturally erudite in their own thoughts with regards to those the interpretations, insights and opinions, and considered such erudite free thought as the single most necessary component of that ?intellectual? Deen besides holistic Allah-consciousness. They saw such intellectual commitment as a responsibility as thinking Muslims for whom Islam is more than the comforting but divisive conformity in the cultural practices one is simply born into.
They and many others since the revelation of the Holy Quran clearly understood the role Muslim scholars and luminaries must play as Muslims without appointing themselves de facto priests and intermediaries between Allah and man?s salvation, despite semantic and other perhaps inadvertently deceptive claims to the contrary. The Holy Quran itself warns of this phenomenon that can lead people astray by creating divisions with their dogmatic approach, and assigning de facto partnerships to that salvation in a manner akin to the Catholic Church and other institutions.
So, that pretty much sums up the ?unitarian? and ?pluralist? views and traditions of my immediate family. I went along with those views and traditions without really questioning them too much, and consequently without really internalizing their value in my daily life.
III. Personal ?Awakening?
My father died under mysterious circumstances in Paris, possibly for his political views, in 1986 while I was a second semester freshman in the University of San Francisco on an academic scholarship. I was in no frame of mind to continue school after that, and dropped out, trying to bury things I was afraid to face about a number of things I did not wish to acknowledge, and trying to reinvent myself. I broke all contact with my family and survived by doing ?odd? jobs that paid me just enough to keep my head above water.
During that unforgettable journey, I came face to face with a great number of things and people that eventually lead me to an event that was to change my life for good, eventually bring peace in my heart, and perhaps made me a better person to myself and those around me.
I will talk about that most incredible event in my life, an event that defies easy classification as either ?terrifying? or ?ecstatic?. A series of moments and intensely inseparable spiritual, intellectual, physical experience somewhat ?out of the blue? that led to my real, willful submission to Allah at the age of 20 in 1987.
My friend Chris was teaching me to surf in Ocean Beach, San Francisco. I was having incredible difficulty with the ice cold water gnawing at every inch of my body right through the wet-suit, and trying to stand up on the board without any success. After wiping out and hitting my head against the board for perhaps the 20th time, suddenly I felt like an integral part of everything around me.
For those few, indescribably vivid moments I could no longer distinguish anything other than an ecstatic sort of super consciousness outside of myself as something apart from me or my body. I WAS every molecule of all the known and unknown elements that surrounded me with immense clarity. It became abundantly clear to me that everything was deliberately engineered and created by Allah, my heart was filled with compassion, and I empathized with everything and everyone. My spirit, intellect and every cell in my body acted as one and reassured me that everything is alright and worthy of the love Allah has graciously accorded me in this life.
Chris dragged me ashore. Back on the beach, I just broke down, totally overwhelmed by the beauty and love around me, and cried the purest tears of gratitude to Allah for dispensing such grace upon one of his many creations, and submitted willfully to Him as his grateful slave. The Holy Quraan made perfect sense to like never before. Since that day I have been a ?submitter?.
Much later, after dropping back into ?life? and while doing my Masters in psychology, I found out about the miracle of what is known as the ?GOD Spot? in our brains ... go figure.
Anyway, 20 years later I can still recall those moments more vividly than I can possibly describe in words. Those moments have led to a life and views guided by my submission.
IV. Personal Views
In an age where both literacy, access to information and more detailed, context and semiotics-based translations and transliterations of Quranic Arabic are becoming more and more commonplace, the roles of scholars in Islam - already limited because of Islam?s prohibition of priesthood ? must evolve accordingly in order to accommodate these Information Age realities very different from perhaps any other age in human history. On the other hand, those scholars intentionally and inadvertently benefiting from divisions, exclusions, seem ultimately interested in nothing other than the conviction of their vanity.
It is up to each individual Muslim to choose - according to all of their circumstances in this world and subsequent the intellectual and spiritual limitations they have placed upon themselves with regards to their individual abilities as ordained by Allah ? what sort of role what kind of scholar is to play in his or her life and to what end as an individual Muslim living this life as an integral part of his/her community and the world.
My younger brother and I have ended up subscribing to the aforementioned ?unitarian?, 'anti-sectarian' ways of our more recent forefathers not because we simply have had the benefit of being born into it, but also because that is where we find ourselves as individuals in this existential journey. We read, get inspired by, think about and internalize the guidance revealed Quran as a we pray, we fast, we serve our communities, we endeavor to meet our financial, ethical and moral obligations and to refrain from unkind acts to ourselves - meaning the indivisible unity of our spirit, intellect and body - and everyone and everything in the world around us, and we humbly struggle for justice as the extension of cultivating and nurturing that kindness.
For me personally as such a Muslim, the defining principle of being a Muslim is love of Allah, and the manifestation of that love through the diligent cultivation of kindness, and social justice as an extension of that kindness. Kindness starts with oneself by taking care of the self and discarding the ego by willfully submitting to Allah, by taking care of one?s family and community, and by understanding that Allah is the ONLY Omniscient and Omnipotent judge of all things, and nobody will escape HIS judgment in this world or the moment of our death.
Let me reiterate that in my humble opinion also, Islam as per the Holy Quran is also an ?intellectual? Deen (Way) without priesthood ? as in de facto or any other kind intermediary between Allah and man's existential and other salvation - and every individual Muslim has the responsibility to exercise his or her Allah given faculties, nurture and enhance those faculties through discipline and scholarship, and apply the guidance of the divine revelation of the Holy Quran in everyday life wholeheartedly and holistically.
On the concept of ?authorization? of books other than the Quran with regards to the Messenger, I personally find equating, for all practical purposes, the reverence for a revealed text to man made text, and empowering scholars restricted in their role according to the revelation to the point of becoming intermediaries between Allah and our salvation, nothing less than heartbreaking and tragic.
The typical madhabist ?rationale? that the only alternative to ?Islamic unity? through ?accepted standardization? is ?chaos? is also sadly interesting to look at. I am speaking of views such as those of Abdal-Hakim Murad who believes that -
?With every Muslim now a proud mujtahid, and with taqlid dismissed as a sin rather than a humble and necessary virtue, the divergent views which caused such pain in our early history will surely break surface again. Instead of four madhhabs in harmony, we will have a billion madhhabs in bitter and self-righteous conflict. No more brilliant scheme for the destruction of Islam could ever have been devised.? (from UNDERSTANDING THE FOUR MADHHABS the problem with anti-madhhabism)
As for myself, I do not subscribe to the dubious and somewhat predictably paranoid notion than individual freedom of conscience and thought and the moral slash social responsibilities that come with those freedoms as ordained by Allah as per the Holy Quran, lead to 'chaos' as he sees it or anything other than what is promised by our Creator in his revelation - namely peace, happiness and salvation in this life and the life to come.
No Orwellian ?world view or order? can mitigate that promise with sweet semantic twists and turns that may resonate inside hearts filled with fear and pain. One does not have to be a discrete mathematician to figure out that intolerant exclusions lead to sectarianisms, and those sectarianisms by definition lead to division, degeneration and eventual exploitation by the enemies of the faithful.
That said, I do have immense respect for contemporary but traditionally-rooted scholars such as Sheikh Hamza Yusuf and Imam Zaid Shakir as fellow Muslims who add value to my spiritual life - but I do not let them come as an intermediary between Allah and my desired happiness and salvation in this life and the life to come. I cannot and neither can they as my respected teachers and fellow Muslim brothers. They help me stay on the straight path, not define it as Allah already has in the Holy Quran.
On the other hand, no intentional or inadvertently semantic twists or doublespeak can mitigate the actual power relations at play when it is defined by scholars who see themselves as de facto priests.
Some of those power relations become dangerous once they seek to impose knowledge masquerading as debate with its own set of absolutist dogmas and rules of men, and exercise power without the possibility of role reversal and playing GOD in their judgments. Divisions with easy answers in a world where other men do the thinking for us, ultimately benefit those who profit from such divisions as a source of socio-political power. There is great indignity in speaking for others in a universe created by the only Omniscient and Omnipotent Creator who has created it in ways we?re just beginning to understand as modern scientific knowledge since Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg, Chaos Theory, the Human Genome Project, and incredible advances since in physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics as tools that help us understand Allah's creations better.
That said, elements of the Sunnah, particularly unifying practices resulting from the traditions, may have many conditional positives also. If those practices are inspired by and designed in the spirit of the Quran, and do not become purely ritualistic ends in themselves, they can indeed bring people closer together and create peace, unity and justice in our communities.
I personally practice all 5 pillars in a somewhat orthodox manner ? without some of the traditional ?shirk? either in my spirit, mind, heart and utterances - for the benefit of Islamic unity while keeping the ONLY the Quran and its mandates and suggestions in my spirit, heart and mind. These practices impose a sense of discipline and order in my life, and indeed compliment other expressions of my submission to Allah.
It is not enough, in my humble opinion, just to adhere to the 5 pillars of our traditions, but one must adhere to those pillars without losing sight of their connections with the spirit of the revelation as the individual Muslim feels, sees and thinks fit. Allah-consciousness must permeate every moment of every ritual for those rituals to keep our spirits, our minds and our hearts and bodies upon the straight path as revealed in the Holy Quran.
I do not believe as some of my ?unitarian? or ?anti-sectarian? fellow travelers do that the Sunnah as expressed through the traditional 5 pillars not in the Holy Quran, and the straight path as written in the Holy Quran need to be mutually exclusive in practice. It is indeed difficult, but very much possible to practice elements of the Sunnah and NOT break our covenant with Allah, provided that those practices are neither purely ritualistic devoid of individual and deeply internalized meanings and experiences, nor undertaken in anything contrary to the letter or spirit of the Quran.
It is perhaps possible - if those practices are not imposed or coerced into the hearts of its parishioners who willfully and consciously submit to the Allah as revealed in the Holy Quran - for those traditional practices, after due modifications, to become a critical toolkit to add to and further consolidate our covenant with Allah.
V. Last Words
The Quran was revealed for the benefit of all of mankind, not as a ?rocket science? to an elite few to interpret and try to impose its meaning upon others by intentionally and inadvertently taking advantage of our needs and senses of inadequacy, submission and wonder. We are all born with natural, Allah-given abilities that may be nurtured and enhanced through scholarly and other endeavors, but those value additions in no way allow for a de facto priesthood for us to sheepishly follow by assigning such prohibitive and from my daily readings of the Holy Quran - prohibited partnerships.
Scholars, according the Quran, have a very limited role to play in our lives as weathermen out to tell everyone which way the wind blows. Sadly all too often we accord them the power to do the thinking for us, and take the easy way of the sheep. Another story, but as good-hearted, intelligent and literate Muslims in the Information Age of the 21st century, our individual application of Islam in spirit, mind and body as inseparable components of individual existence in this life is imperative as a way to be happy as a part of this world, and in the world to come.
Salam to all, and thank you very much for your time.
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Welcome to the forum Sohel. I can see why you're writing a novel, it's a very well constructed post D.
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Welcome to the forum Sohel. I can see why you're writing a novel, it's a very well constructed post .
Touch? ...
Thank you for the warm welcome. You are my third 'official contact' from the forum by the way, and the very first one inside the forum. Absolutely unforgettable stuff.
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That was very interesting. I think that there is nothing wrong with engaging in Sunni ways as well as long as the individual sets in their heart the reason why they are engaing in a certain practice. My family is Sunni as well and in order to remain united with them I will follow traditional sunni ways, but with the understanding that I am doing so in an effort to remain united in the love of Allah. I really enjoyed your post.
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peace Sohel, and welcome
You have a very very interesting family. I wouldn't be surprised if that novel has autobiographical elements?
and it's quite obvious that you love discipline and order, unfortunately you won't find either in my posts (but please do read them!).I agree with you about unity, but this is what I find, uh, problematic with the rituals (5 pillars)
If that is our means of achieving unity, then we're only united with people of our religion, and everyone else is left out. It seems that even those who reject sectarian Islam and promote unity under god end up dividing the world into the "muslim" and "non-muslim" world. -
peace Sohel, and welcome
You have a very very interesting family. I wouldn't be surprised if that novel has autobiographical elements?I bid you peace, and thank you for the welcome ...
In my humble opinion, all families can be interesting enough to be 'novelized', no matter how 'ordinary' they may seem on the outside. At the risk of sounding overly cheesy to the lactose intolerant, let me suggest that one just needs to plug into the astounding multiplicity of things in a universe filled with self similar, but nonetheless unique things in a perpetual state of flux. No two leaves are the same in any given plant, such is the endless creative bounty of all of GOD's known, yet to be known and unknown creations. Individuals are universes unto themselves, and once we endeavor to observe 'them' as closely and holistically as we observe 'ourselves', we can empathize with emotional events their lives and find something similar in ourselves. It's kind of like crying during a movie, and not because Keanu Reeves is trying to play an FBI agent in 'Point Break' (he was pretty good in one of the 'Speed' movies).
Ultimately in GOD's universe, all novels are autobiographical that way ...
and it's quite obvious that you love discipline and order, unfortunately you won't find either in my posts (but please do read them!).
Do not let outward appearances fool you this much my fellow traveler. Perhaps the appearance of order is only a diversionary ruse to prevent you from opening a closet full of disorder and dirty laundry...
I agree with you about unity, but this is what I find, uh, problematic with the rituals (5 pillars)
If that is our means of achieving unity, then we're only united with people of our religion, and everyone else is left out. It seems that even those who reject sectarian Islam and promote unity under god end up dividing the world into the "muslim" and "non-muslim" world.I see your point, but variety, cultural and otherwise, is inevitable anyway, n'est pas?
Speaking only for myself as always, by endeavoring to immerse myself in GOD-consciousness as revealed by the Holy Quran during any duly internalized and subsequently modified 'traditional' ritual, unites me with all other individuals doing something similar in their own ways, with or without those pillars. I am nobody to call anyone a 'non-Muslim' no matter how they chose to manifest their submission. According to my limited perceptions, calling a 'non-practioner' of the 5 pillars such as the honorable Dalai Lama a 'non-Muslim' while calling Osama Bin Laden, perhaps a diligent practitioner of those rituals a 'Muslim'- is extremely dodgy to say the least. Only GOD knows the unuttered truth in the hearts of HIS creations.
I doubt that we are in disagreement. I'm thinking different barcodes and/or brands of canned tomatoes not past the expiration date at this point ...
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That was very interesting. I think that there is nothing wrong with engaging in Sunni ways as well as long as the individual sets in their heart the reason why they are engaing in a certain practice. My family is Sunni as well and in order to remain united with them I will follow traditional sunni ways, but with the understanding that I am doing so in an effort to remain united in the love of Allah. I really enjoyed your post.
Thank you for the warmth. I'm glad you enjoyed the post despite its length ... )
Peace.
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III. Personal ?Awakening?
My father died under mysterious circumstances in Paris, possibly for his political views, in 1986 while I was a second semester freshman in the University of San Francisco on an academic scholarship. I was in no frame of mind to continue school after that, and dropped out, trying to bury things I was afraid to face about a number of things I did not wish to acknowledge, and trying to reinvent myself. I broke all contact with my family and survived by doing ?odd? jobs that paid me just enough to keep my head above water.
During that unforgettable journey, I came face to face with a great number of things and people that eventually lead me to an event that was to change my life for good, eventually bring peace in my heart, and perhaps made me a better person to myself and those around me.
I will talk about that most incredible event in my life, an event that defies easy classification as either ?terrifying? or ?ecstatic?. A series of moments and intensely inseparable spiritual, intellectual, physical experience somewhat ?out of the blue? that led to my real, willful submission to Allah at the age of 20 in 1987.
My friend Chris was teaching me to surf in Ocean Beach, San Francisco. I was having incredible difficulty with the ice cold water gnawing at every inch of my body right through the wet-suit, and trying to stand up on the board without any success. After wiping out and hitting my head against the board for perhaps the 20th time, suddenly I felt like an integral part of everything around me.
For those few, indescribably vivid moments I could no longer distinguish anything other than an ecstatic sort of super consciousness outside of myself as something apart from me or my body. I WAS every molecule of all the known and unknown elements that surrounded me with immense clarity. It became abundantly clear to me that everything was deliberately engineered and created by Allah, my heart was filled with compassion, and I empathized with everything and everyone. My spirit, intellect and every cell in my body acted as one and reassured me that everything is alright and worthy of the love Allah has graciously accorded me in this life.
Chris dragged me ashore. Back on the beach, I just broke down, totally overwhelmed by the beauty and love around me, and cried the purest tears of gratitude to Allah for dispensing such grace upon one of his many creations, and submitted willfully to Him as his grateful slave. The Holy Quraan made perfect sense to like never before. Since that day I have been a ?submitter?.
WOW! THats the exact same thing that led me to the Quran!!! Thats amazing that someone else has had this happen to him...
398 And when the human being is afflicted with adversity, he implores his Lord, turning in repentance to Him. But then, when He grants him a blessing from Him, he forgets his previous imploring, and sets up equals with God, in order to mislead others from His path. Say "Enjoy your rejection for a while; for you are of the dwellers of the Fire."
3949 So when the human is touched by adversity, he implores Us, then when We bestow a blessing upon him, he says "I attained this because of knowledge I had!" Indeed, it is a test, but most of them do not know.That is one of the verses that made be realise the Quran was divine because it was exactly what happened to me... I even set up equals to God and shamefully put a lie to my experience (
All praise is to God.
Al
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peace Sohel,
Re modifying posts
Please see the forum rules/guidelines
http//free-minds.org/forum/index.php?board=2.0
http//free-minds.org/forum/index.php?topic=8177.0Thank you Wakas, useful stuff before I become more familiar with this amazing place. I'm quite familiar with the website and have been using it as a resource for a while now, but the Forum is a totally new community for me.
The Forum rules are virtually identical to the other Forums I also frequent, and that's wonderful ... )
Peace, Sohel.
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WOW! THats the exact same thing that led me to the Quran!!! Thats amazing that someone else has had this happen to him...
398 And when the human being is afflicted with adversity, he implores his Lord, turning in repentance to Him. But then, when He grants him a blessing from Him, he forgets his previous imploring, and sets up equals with God, in order to mislead others from His path. Say "Enjoy your rejection for a while; for you are of the dwellers of the Fire."
3949 So when the human is touched by adversity, he implores Us, then when We bestow a blessing upon him, he says "I attained this because of knowledge I had!" Indeed, it is a test, but most of them do not know.That is one of the verses that made be realise the Quran was divine because it was exactly what happened to me... I even set up equals to God and shamefully put a lie to my experience (
All praise is to God.
Al
Dear Al,
Needless to say, I am deeply touched and my heart is filled with the sort of warmth only such kinship can call forth. Allah is indeed the Dispenser of such divine grace ... thank you for sharing.
On a lighter note, no offense intended here ...
http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/27/ET202.jpg
We are NOT alone ...
Peace, Sohel ... peace
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Peace and welcome, Sohel.
Thanks for sharing your story and expressing it so eloquently. Your future as a novelist is evidently bright.
Regarding your "Personal Awakening" during the surfing incident, was it the hit on the head that triggered your experience? If so, were you conscious or unconscious? I'm curious because I've had galvanizing experiences similar to what you've described, both conscious and unconscious.
Peace,
Tay -
Peace and welcome, Sohel.
Thanks for sharing your story and expressing it so eloquently. Your future as a novelist is evidently bright.
Regarding your "Personal Awakening" during the surfing incident, was it the hit on the head that triggered your experience? If so, were you conscious or unconscious? I'm curious because I've had galvanizing experiences similar to what you've described, both conscious and unconscious.
Peace,
TayPeace unto you Tay and thank you for the warm welcome and kind words.
I have no idea how my or what 'novel' will turn out to be by the end of the process, but personally as a reader, I am not really satisfied about the way I write 'nonfiction' or 'fiction' for that matter. The styles, rhythm and flow vary quite a bit, and I tend to end up with a piece of Swiss cheese full of technical and other holes. Luckily, the cheese has not gone stale past its expiration date yet. Anyway ... )
With regards to your question about the surfing incident, I can only describe those moments in a water as a state of 'super consciousness' before Chris dragged me back ashore. He later described me as somewhat 'unconscious' but definitely in a state of daze with my eyes half closed and kind of 'fluttering', before I was overwhelmed with those amazing sensations of pure elation that resulted in some heavy tears on the beach.
I remember a deep sense of 'contraction' initially which weirdly fused into a sense of awareness and wonder coming from everything surrounding me. The fusion followed its own unique sense of time, and later 'unified' all 5 senses and more so to speak. The Sunlight reflecting off everything surrounding me was intensely vivid and as clearly delineated and defined as an exquisitely detaled Japanese watercolor sort of painted by the divinely inspired subjects of the painting themselves. There was a strange, almost comforting calmness about it all.
Of course the accumulative effect of repeatedly banging my head against the board and wiping out amidst the freezing water played its part in triggering the event. Later I met many fellow 'cold water' surfers in Northern California from Half Moon Bay to Mendocino who had their their own unique 'unifying' experiences, leading to a variety of life choices and skills.
Hope this clarifies the matter for you a little ... )
Peace, Sohel.
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Sohel ~
Allah bless you, man. that is all i can say. your relationship to Islam sounds a lot like my own. i also lost my father as a kid, and he also kind of opened the gates for me to religious study.
i think you will love it here, S. welcome.
Peace Sohail,
welcome
Looking forward to your point of views
Peace and thanks to Ayani and D'argento for the warm welcome. Looking forward to get to know the both of you better in this gathering ... )
Also ...
... I remember a deep sense of 'contraction' initially which weirdly fused into a sense of awareness and wonder coming from everything surrounding me.
Perhaps the word 'constriction' would have been the better word ? ... hmm
