"His Voice" by Rumi

Deafened by the voice of desire

you are unaware the Beloved lives

in the core of your heart.

Stop the noise

and

you will hear His voice

in the silence.

Creativity

There are no new ideas,
only new ways to combine old ideas.

Creativity is the ability to discover those new combinations.

"The Prayer that was answered" by Rumi

A CERTAIN man one night was crying 'Allah!' till his lips were becoming sweet with the mention of his name.

'Why now, chatterbox,' said the Devil, 'where is the answer "Here am I" to all this "Allah" of yours? Not one answer is coming from the Throne: how long will your grimly go on crying "Allah"?'

The man became broken-hearted, and laid down his head to sleep. He saw in a dream mystic Khazir( One who wants complete obedience) Khazir was a mysterious guide who first appears in Koran XVIII 64 (not named, but identified by the commentators as 'one of Our servants unto whom We had given mercy from Us, and We had taught him knowledge proceeding from Us') as accompanying Moses and doing strange things. The Sufis took him as the exempler of the Shaikh who requires absolute and unquestioning obedience of the disciple. all in a green garden.
'Look now,' Khazir called, 'why have you desisted from the mention of God? How is it you repent of having called upon Him?'
'No answering "Here am I" is coming to me,' the man replied, 'and I therefore fear that I may be refused from His door.'

Khazir answered, 'Your cry of "Allah" (God says) is itself My "Here am I"; your pleading and agony and fervour is My messenger. All your twistings and turnings to come to Me were My drawing you that set free your feet. Your fear and love are the lasso to catch My grace. Under each "Allah" of yours whispers many a "Here am I".'

www.khamush.com

"Search on the Way to Him" Rumi

"Even if you are without means
continue your search;
on the way to Him,
What need is there of means?"

First Eid in America

First Eid in America ............ by Muhammad R. Khan
Monday October 23, 2006
Tucson, Arizona

First of all you must be wondering about the change in my name. The reason for this change is that American only have a space of two characters for the middle name in most of the cases. So to avoid confusion I have shortened my name to Muhammad R. Khan.

Eid in Tucson, Arizona was a good one but no where near the eid in pakistan. The eid was to be held at a park called Reid park where 1lmost 1200 muslim men and women offered their prayers. Their was a community lunch from the Islamic Tucson center over there as well. So after the prayer we had some arabic food. It was not bad but I am used to the taste of subcontinent taste so I don't like it much. But the people at Islamic Center Tucson are really good . They had the arrangement for Iftar and Seher in the mosque throughout Ramazan so we "poardesi" were also enjoying the food there.

After the eid prayer, most of my pakistani friends had some classes or quizes so we had to rush back to our rooms. And it was like 1 or 2 pm and we had nothing to do . Can you imagine it in Pakistan? Anyways my fulbrighter friend and me decided to move to the university labs. So we celeberated rest of the Eid at lab.

We had a plan to dine outside at a hilal food restaurtant but we had to complete some assignments for tomorrow as well. So,we got a bit late and when we reached the Sindbad restaurant , it was closing :(

So we went to an indian restaurant, got some "naans" from there and moved back to our rooms and had a dinner with some food from the previous day. At the previous day i.e. last day of Ramzan aftari at the mosque from a pakistani brother and he insisted us to carry some food with us. So we made use of this food on the Eid day.

I am living with a Japanese student (male) but my other friend is sharing his apartment with two chinese and a US couple. So we invited others as well to have a dinner (Chicken Qorma) with us. The Americans and chinese liked the pakistani food very much. After this we served them with a "Halwa" that we got from a muslim store. Again this halwa was way different from the halwas we have in pakistan. Anyways kuch to sahi.

.......................

Another interesting thing about the Eid prayer is that pakistanis get really well prepared for the prayer especially the bachelors. The reason for this is that the many relationships are tied by the "buzargs" at this congregation.

Anyways, i was feeling really depressed on this Eid as there was nothing to do.

Anyways I cannot complain as it is my decision.

So moral of this stroy is

In a foreign country go out for a dinner a little bit early.

You are in a problem if your apartment mate start liking pakistani food.

Pakistanion Eid ki qadar kar lo :P

This is all for now

Dreams by Woodrow Wilson

"We grow great by Dreams.
All big men are dreamers.
They see things in the soft haze of a spring day
or
in the red fire of a long winter's evening.

Some of us let these great dreams die,
but others nourish and protect them;
nurse them through bad days
till they bring them to the sunshine and light,
which comes always to those who sincerely hope that
their dreams will come true"

Do not defer dreams

A Dream Deferred
A Poem by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

A Few Good Men

Today being my last day at Center for Advanced Research in Engineering (CARE) , brings a lot of sadness to me. This is my last day in the company of wonderful friends like Suleiman, Zabbih, Zulfiqar, Ahmed, Abeer, Asim, Salman, Sir Azam , Sir Wasif, Sir Arsalan and Sir Yasir. But the course of life is like this I think. One goes other comes. So my prays are to all of you.

Special thanks to my mentor Sir Wasif and the great Dr. Shoab A. Khan.

May you all prosper in each and every thing you do

"A new company can beat an established big company only if it provides 10% more features, 10% more reliability and 10% less cost than the established company"
Safi Qureshi

by Rumi

" One went to the door of the Beloved and knocked.
A voice asked, 'Who is there?'
He answered, 'It is I.'
The voice said, 'There is no room for Me and Thee.'
The door was shut.
After a year of solitude and deprivation he returned and knocked.
A voice from within asked,
'Who is there?'
The man said, 'It is Thee.
'The door was opened for him."