and then our exile

10.04pm, ever so faintly I heard the strains of /Yaa Taybaa/ from a far-away mawlid, or the memory of last night. "Ismuhu Basit," said Shaikh 'Adnan Majd, to the gathered Syrians. They grow up with the words to much lyric poetry and I can only listen.

The age is two days, that of peace and that of peril
And life is two lives, that of good and that of trouble
Whether you see above the sea a cadaver
And pearls settling at its further depth
Or in the sky countless stars
While nothing eclipsed but the sun and the moon
--imam ash-shafi’ee

"if you ignore it, if you waste it
you will only turn to dust."
--rabi’a al-basri

[Ash Wednesday]. "because I hope to turn again"

[something else]

i have fallen a long way. clouds are flowering
blue and mystical over the face of the stars. --s.plath

Maybe one day I will write a post that is both long and coherent, like I used to do. For now, only other people’s words. [muntaQa] [jinnzaman]

Aristotle had disciples, Nero raised generations, Jesus^as among the white-garbed ones. Which circles do /you/ join? My answer speaks only with a silent tongue.

Taking [Murtada]’s advice, al-Baqarah and where do you see the light. "how do you deny [the truth] when you were dead and He then gave you life--and He shall then cause you to die and then give you life [again], and you shall be returned unto Him?"

Three weeks or so till [Zacharia] arrives. Last year it was he welcoming me here. External roles are easy to change around.

And this is the brightest hope that Islam can offer a modern world darkened by materialism and nihilism: Islam as it truly is; the hope of eternal salvation through a religion of brotherhood and social and economic justice outwardly, and the direct experience of divine love and illumination inwardly. --Sh.Nuh

Except that i did not hope to turn again, the warmth of the minotaur's embrace.