I WANTED IN!!! Almaghrib Institute is hosting an awesome, but exclusive, two week retreat in August called “Ilm Summit” and I didn’t want to miss it. I was especially excited about it when I saw some of the topics that were going to be discussed. The only problem was that there was an application and admissions process.

I am not normally fond of admissions processes because you in effect subordinate yourself to another’s judgment and validation. Every time you apply for something like this you are saying “please let me in” and open yourself to a an arbitrary “hell no.”

I also had another problem. Based on the criteria for admission posted on the AlMaghrib Forums and the questions in the application, I didn’t stand a good chance of getting in.

What to do, what to do.

Well, I figured if my chances of being accepted were low anyway and I didn’t like humiliating myself via the application process, I would turn to my old friend “unorthodoxy.” Let it be known that unorthodox methods are a crap shoot. You are banking on being unique and original enough to attract attention to your application and hoping that the guy on the other side doesn’t have the tightwad reaction where his chin retracts into his neck and says “I am not impressed.”

Anyway, I decided to do what I do best. I wrote a mediocre poem about how they would miss out big if they don’t invite me. Now I will share that poem with you: Enjoy.

What is a Poem Worth?

What is a poem worth?
Can it as an application serve?
If it inspires in you mirth
a shot it surely does deserve.

Without being too uncouth
I’ll bluntly tell you the truth …

Your gathering is in poverty
without my linguistic harmony,
and so i offer quite candidly,
by declaring my interest openly
an opportunity to avoid a calamity
in excluding me and my poetry,

This is my vanity
which I admit wholeheartedly.
The choice is yours, but in all sincerity
excluding me would be a gross catastrophe.

the Man Of Few Words

I guess I wasn’t clear about this but I did get accepted with this poem in my application. Several people asked me if I got in or not. I thought the title of this post was self explanatory but apparently not.

This is a poem that I read a while back. I thought it was quite beautiful. It is also very appropriate to how I have been feeling nowadays.

We are the Flute

We are the flute, our music is all Thine;
We are the mountains echoing only Thee;
And movest to defeat or victory;
Lions emblazoned high on flags unfurled-
The wind invisible sweeps us through the world.

by: Rumi

It’s about time for some controversy. A friend of mine shot me an email and asked me to post it and so here it is. He contrasts the lyrics for two nasheed presumably to highlight the “shirkiness” of one of them. Which one, you decide.

As a note I think it is a bit inaccurate to label the non-Sufi lyrics as Sunni since generally Sufis are considered Sunni and would take great offense at the distinction. But that’s how the email came, and at the very least this should be quite stimulating. I wanted to change it to Sufi and Salafi but I couldn’t justify calling Mesut Kurtis a Salafi, nor do I think he would appreciate the title. I guess when Muslims start playing the label game confusion is inevitable. Anyway, enjoy.

A simple illustration
of Sufism Vs. Sunni Islam

Two different versions of lyrics
are presented below:

1. The original version
   that is sung in Mawlid and Dhikr gatherings by those who
   ascribe themselves to Tassawuff.
2. Modified version
   sung by non-Sufis.

Original Sufi O Leader of the Messengers, You are my support You are the Gate of Allah and my reliance So in my life and in the hereafter O Messenger of Allah, guide me [Both poems are drastically different from this point on; comparison is not possible]

Modified non-Sufi O Lord of the Universe, You are my support It is on You, O my Master, that I rely So in my life and in the hereafter O Lord of the Throne, guide me

Here are the Sufi Lyrics and here are the “Sunni” Lyrics.

(Oh snap, no he didn’t!)

I read an entry on MrEspy’s blog where he asked “How does one introduce oneself [to] or acclimate oneself with poetry? Also, how does one teach their children this lost art form?” to which one of his blogo-riffic buddies posted the response of his poetry professor. Her wisdom was thus expressed: “I think the first step to acclimating yourself to poetry is to become familiar with the poetic devices employed, which can seem boring, but when understood can make poetry much more intriguing.”

For your reading pleasure I will now proceed to (savagely) critique said opinion with my characteristic tact (or rather irreverence for institutional credentials like PhDs and those who hold them).

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