"But God, in His infinite mercy and love,
Who Forgives and guides individuals and nations,
And Turns to good even what it seem to us as evil.
Never forsakes the struggling soul that turn to Him."
We Muslims believe that our deeds are personified, that there are witnesses for us and against us. Many of my previous deeds were dark ones born of war and misunderstanding.
Now after my struggles, after many lands, I have ultimately come to believe that I am only three things.
I am a Muslim, a Scholar, and a Horseman.
Anything else is but dust and mirage of this fleeting image which we call life.
See you on the trail, Saddle pals.
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......An equestrian journey is not merely about covering vast amount of mileage. It is a journey that helps you see the world's pretensions, and opens you up to adventure of self conquest. It is a journey you and your horse take to reach the borders of an otherwise invisible place.
It is an antidote to the world's obsession with speed because the three- mile per hour pace of your horse forces you to slow down your body, which in turn results in opening up your spirit. It allows you to ride on the secret trail traced deep inside your soul.
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Asadullah Khan a.k.a CuChullaine O' Reilly,
Founder of Long Riders Guild.
[ Go to Link: "An Equestrian Journey". Read, A word from the Founder ]
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The road leads neither East nor West, but within.
Rumi.
12 comments:
PS:
Good read. CuChullaine O'Reilly is a remarkable man. Seen and fought wars in Afghanistan, now planning to ride around the world along the 'Equestrain Equator' ie,across middle Asia and America, the Genghiz Khan route.
He reminded me that all life journeys, whether you are in a collective effort to split the atom ,or just a lonely, lowly immigrant cobbler earning a mussel or two on a busy pavement, if you do them with total honesty, with heart and soul open to Him, will lead to Islam.
Of course many would not believe me. Try that for size.
A horseman in the shadow of the evening son, trotting along on the way to meet his lord, with head bowed in humility and shame for his bad past deeds...Che Waah Dr Nik!
I am a Muslim, a Scholar, and a Horseman.
In order to buy a good horse, Nik, you must be a good thabib first. I don't thinik you could afford to buy a horse while you were a housemen. No doubt some thabib are scholar but not all of them. To maintain a horse (a good oen, I mean) is more than marrying four wives.
It is probably safer that way,Rahmat!
But you must remember O'Reilly hails from Mid America where equestrianism is a a part of life.Interestingly his wife, Basha O'Reilly is another gutsy character. She ride alone from the Steppe of Russia to London!
More fascinating to me, the reason I put up their story , is not their riding adventure, but that in the many thousand nights there spent alone, the hardship they gone thru, the small billets and villages they passed thru, both of them on their own found Islam. After which they found each other. As for most of us, we were given on "a silver plate", that is mainly why most of us ,myself included,do not seem to appreciate such a gift and take Islam for granted.
As Rumi put it succinctly," The road leads neither West nor East,but within". If we just care to be honest with ourselves.
Dear Nik,
You're right nik. For all of us, Islam is introduced 8 weeks in-utero. Our auditory neurons are already functioning and could hear 'azan' 5x in a day.
... and thus we think we already know what we ought to know.
To make matter worse we read the Quran verbatim. Some even memorise but know not, and yet some others were astounded by the 'dengong' and the 'idrgham', missing the spirit and the soul of the Divine Letter.
When Ah Chong or Ramasamy or John are not impressed, we get impatient with them.
It is meant to be a universal message to mankind , a mercy.
Truly the resurgence of Islam will start in Europe and America where restless spirits like Cuchulaine, Basha, Muhtar Holland, Abdal Qadir as-Sufi a.k.a Doughlas and the rest in future will show the way to the heart of the matter.
"Kita cukup cari makan untuk kita saja".
I may be too harsh on ourselves but rightfully, at best, most of us are mediocre examples of what Muslims should be.
Excellence in the 'here' and the 'hereafter'.God's 'viceroy' to the world.
Hear, hear, the renaissance of a
a thinker philosopher cum horseman from the Malay archipelago, definitely the Indonesian Malays are ahead of us, depite their poverty Dr Nik..That is why they always think of us as their younger brother!
step brother kot!
Doc, horsehit aside, having lived for tweny one years of my life in the land of Shaitan and living practically as one myself one thing I never came a cross, an American bad naming islam.
The worse i heard was 'those goddamn Camel Riders' infering the A'Rabs.
Having returned to the east i heard alot of accusations being tossed towards the Americans condemming Islam, perhaps i missed these characters while on the road over there!
Most of the friends i had in college were more than curious about the religion of 'The Prophet'. Islam became the bad word in the west eversince the emergence of the Jihad Crew, bent on eliminating anyone and anything non Muslim. These Imams of Doom,and their counterparts the children of Israel, has caused more harm to the religion of Ibrahim (AS) than the real infidels and the Mongols put together.
They have taken us back to the dark ages all in the name of the AlMighty.
Did i not mention earlier that Islam will be revived from the West?
As for myself I had a dream once a vivid dream that i reentered the Islamic faith through the back door.
Happy trails.
Bush, Nethanyahu et al may have all the nuclear arsenal in the world to blast the collective "islamic" lands many times over but mark my word, the Divine Letter is going to open hearts and minds in 'The land of the Shaitans' and beyond .
It is the battle of the minds that would put all these idiotic bigots out of contention.At the end of the day we are reminded of the spirit enunciated by Surah Kulliya AlYuhaalKafirun:" You your religion, me , Mine".If you want to get lost in your nebulous Trinity, Budhha, atheism etc etc etc ,go ahead. But for God sake, leave me alone. leave Afhganistan,Iraq etc etc etc alone .Dont hide behind false pretensions.You bloody well leave us alone.Occasionally some one, rightfully or wrongfully,[ and that is a moot point depending on which persuasion you are on, and political correctness limit further discussion on this moot point ], have to give them a bloody nose
The road leads neither East nor West, but within.
Very interesting to hear what brother anonymous said about the average American not knowing but rather curious about Muslims and Islam when our brother was studying there.That is a fertile area for dakwah...bring your knowledge, humility and God's wisdom from Al Quran supplemented with hadith, ..and there you are, an Imam converting the American infidels to Islam..marry some of the new female converts to make sure your offspring remains there to continue the dakwah ..Dr Nik! salam.
......but if you look at the link ' Key to the Garden' ,Islam is much alive and well in America, Land of the Free. One cannot keep Absolute Truth under wrap for very long in this world of 'webs' and super fast communication .
Tariq Ramadan,[ if I am not mistaken he is Hassan al Bana's grand son, that founder of Ikwanul Muslimin , banned in Egypt]a young up and coming popular theologian in Europe envisage Europe and America will be 'green' in a century.
One can have all the nuclear arsenals in the world and threaten to blow the Islamic world to smithereen, and live in pretension and false beliefs but hearts and minds of millions will finally gravitate and seek for Truth in a peaceful way.
Just look at President Bush, the most dangerous and uneducated US president for centuries. He is already relegated to the dustbin of history, just a few months down the lane.
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