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DISCOVER ISLAM

A Tale of Two Cities

1. I am only the house of your beloved, not the beloved Himself: true love is for the treasure, not for the coffer that contains it. "The real beloved is that One who is unique, who is your beginning and your end. When you find that One, you'll no longer expect anything else: that is both the manifest and the mystery.

1. I am only the house of your beloved, not the beloved Himself: true love is for the treasure, not for the coffer that contains it. “The real beloved is that One who is unique, who is your beginning and your end. When you find that One, you’ll no longer expect anything else: that is both the manifest and the mystery.

This is A Guest Post Post By Abdullah Intekhab. In the Writer`s own words: I’m an Engineer; and no I cannot fix your TVs and DVD players. But I can, however, say the most random things and then later defend them with great zeal: that requires a lot of reverse Engineering.

I’m a student of knowledge (I try); insomniac; food junkie and a wannabe fatty (well, who am I kidding  ). O and last but not the least; a “diehard” wannabe writer (I’m not necessarily any good) and photographer (although I don’t have a camera). The Writer Also Blogs HERE!.

1. I am only the house of your beloved, not the beloved Himself: true love is for the treasure, not for the coffer that contains it. “The real beloved is that One who is unique, who is your beginning and your end. When you find that One, you’ll no longer expect anything else: that is both the manifest and the mystery. “There will be no town which Ad-Dajjal will not enter except Mecca and Medina, and there will be no entrance (road) (of both Mecca and Medina) but the angels will be standing in rows guarding it against him, and then Medina will shake with its inhabitants thrice (i.e. three earthquakes will take place) and Allah will expel all the non-believers and the hypocrites from it.”1 (Al-Bukhari) ‘There’s nowhere else on earth I’d rather be; here I am, this is me.’ Brian Adams wrote these words for a VERY different reason but anyhow, we take the good with the bad and the ugly right! I want to tell you a story, nay, not a story; in fact, I’m going to share with you a feeling. (Ed`s Note: if you think we are advocating music, then think again. HARAM bro, HARAM all year round, not just Ramadan:P) Mecca and Medina are the two places that everyone in the Muslim world feels an attraction towards; after all these are the holiest pieces of land on God’s dear earth. The two words seemingly roll off of our tongues in unison as though they are two parts of whole. But for all the unanimity and shared heritage the two cities couldn’t be more different in their ambience and general aura. Before I begin, I’d like to mention a little dua’a that a GREAT, GREAT man once made, this was Prophet Abraham (alaihi salam) and the occasion was the building of the Kaa’ba: ‘…”My Lord, make this (Mecca) a secure city and provide its people with fruits – whoever of them believes in Allah and the Last Day.”…’2 2:126 When you enter Mecca you can feel this sense of security but with it comes an overbearing sense of something much, MUCH grander. You feel humbled and overawed by the might; you can feel that the Majesty and Glory of the ذَا الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ is eminent in the streets. The safety is a by-product of that presence. The air is different; an awe-inspiring, all-encompassing feeling takes over ones existence and one is no longer an individual but a part of a bigger whole. As you walk towards the Kaa’ba a crescendo builds up to a heart shaking silence. It is here that you realize the importance of using the phrase “revert to Islam” instead of “convert” because this is most definitely our origin, we all come from Islam. We answer to only One Power in all its Magnificence. Words don’t come to you like they do in normal life, and I always wonder how it is that people can describe the “magic” of this city; I can’t possibly imagine how you can do that. The “magic” is in the indescribability. Now we look at the stark contrast of the feeling above; we take a Journey approximately 350km north to Medina. Medina, o lovely Medina! “O Allah! Bestow on Medina twice the blessings You bestowed on Mecca.”3 (Al-Bukhari) You remember one of those films in which the hero sees the heroin for the first time and the time kinda stops and the wind kinda picks up and everything moves in slow-motion but is still somehow a blur? Well, no actually, think of it as the best feeling you’ve ever felt and then multiply it by a hundred. Umm, no, that’s not it either but that’s Medina… When the muhajiroon first came to Medina, it was riddled with disease and discomfort. And many of the Prophet’s (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) companions felt extremely homesick. That is when Rasool Allah (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) made the dua’a that Medina’s love be put in the heart of every Muslim till the last day; and that it be dearer to the Muslims. And isn’t that so? For my personal experience I’ll have to say: yes! The city is peace in itself, it is love and infinity; and they say that love is dead that it lives no more, I say come here and breathe in it. This is the place where the greatest man who ever lived, lived. This is where Islam found home after a tumultuous start in Mecca. The air is calm and serene and peaceful, you feel so at home that you forget whence you came from. There’s no longer the over-bearing sense of Grandeur just a wholesome feeling of love that takes over your existence. The Majesty and Might in Mecca smoothens down to serenity. It is as if the whole universe is at peace with itself.   2. In love one finds that infinity may no longer be an irrelevant concept Both cities are absolutely mind-bogglingly beautiful; both cities are places where I’d LOVE to spend the rest of my days. ( And I don’t know if I’m right in saying this) But if I’m being truly honest, and if “the home is where the heart lies” then mine surely lives in Medina. References: 1.        Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari 1881, In-book reference: Book 29, Hadith 15, USC-MSA web (English) reference: Vol. 3, Book 30, Hadith 105 2.        The holy Qur’an, Chapter 2 (Al-Baqarah), Verse 126 3.        Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari 1885, In-book reference: Book 29, Hadith 19, USC-MSA web (English) reference: Vol. 3, Book 30, Hadith 109”

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