The Beauty of Growth

As salaam alaikum, I thank you for your thoughts and for the wonderfully written article. Personally, I disagree with your overall perspective that the globalization of Islam means the selling out of our core values. What is happening is the journey of Islam from a cultural cloak into its full and transparent being which is about the fulfillment of its principles applied in daily life. Daily life of the 21st Century, in every nation on earth. The traditions of which you speak are yes, tradition, and those traditions were formed in the time and place that Islam was revealed. But in truth, all humans, all creatures, all existants are Muslims, submitting to the will of the Creator by the very means of their existence. To fault the individuals for adapting to the time and culture of their home goes against the basic essence of Islam, and the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, knew that to seek knowledge, even unto the end of China, would necessarily require a tailoring of the external shell, or the costume of Islam. The Indonesian sisters wear bright hijabs and niqabs, the Indian muslims as well, the African muslimahs wear bright colors, and yet you speak of the commodification being only a western trait. What I fear for you, dear sister, is that you are closed to the opening of Islam for all people because of the roots of its tradition. If we are to only stay with the roots, we will never see the beautiful tree and branches and leaves and fruit it has to offer. The Quran was revealed as a guide for all time, that means it must be interpreted to fit in the time, and the separation of culture from faith can only mean one thing: the message is strong and being heard and accepted by many, and that is a blessing! However, of you do want to talk about an inappropriate commercializations of the faith, why not speak about the Kaaba and the circus the Haaj has become, all for money. There is blatant fault and divergence from the purpose there, and much to write about from many angles. 
Peace, dear sister, many blessings to you.

~~~~

In response to this article for AnotherLenz by Khadija Ahmed
COMMERCIALIZATIONS OF ISLAM

I remember when Ramadan was the time the Muslim market would be at its peak, everything from halal samosas to haribos were lined up on supermarket shelves months before Ramadan approached. At that time it didn’t seem as though the word ‘halal’ or ‘Ramadan’ was being taken for granted, it was simply making Ramadan shopping easier for Muslims living in the West. But something changed down the line, the more the media focused on the ‘Muslim terrorist’ and ‘oppressed women’ narrative, the Muslims of the west turned to commercialisation in attempt to ‘normalise’ and display the religion as fun-loving and trendy, thus Islam became a brand.
Modest fashion and Hijab

Fashion is one of the biggest means in doing this; modest clothing lines have increased over the past few years with brands introducing luxurious versions of hijab and modest clothing in different styles and colours. On top of this, mainstream brands have recognised the gap in the market and capitalised on it. Not long ago H&M released its first advert featuring a Muslim model in a hijab, House of Fraser began stocking ‘sporty hijabs’, designed for Muslim women to wear while exercising and swimming and Dolce & Gabbana released its first hijab and abaya collection.
Ever thought why a plain black hijab seems more threatening in the west than one which has floral patterns and is draped in a more articulate manner than the one which is simply worn? The media has framed the black hijab as a symbol of oppression and terror. Now with growing modest fashion industry, the commodification of the hijab and modest fashion has become a means to monetise.

Other forms of fashion include clothing with Arabic writing or Islamic wording. I remember being gifted a jumper which said “Quran and Sunnah” in the exact same style as the famous “Weed and Wasabi” brand. Arabic writing was something people used to directly associate with terrorism due to it being used by terrorist groups such as ISIS, however Islamic fashion has attempted to remove that stereotype by introducing clothing, including everything from jumpers to baseball caps with the Arabic words for “peace” or “unity”. It’s as though our adherence to religious piety can only be validated through what’s trending and replicating it.

Islamic Music

There’s a real divide within the Muslim community when comes to music. Nasheeds are deemed acceptable by most as long as there isn’t any use of background music. However a new revolution of ‘halal hip-hop’ has changed the game now. Music now also plays a big part in the commercialisation of Islam. Not so long ago, I discovered a group which identify themselves as the “Deen Squad“, a Canadian-based hip-hop duo, who are known for their Muslim covers of popular mainstream hits. Much of Muslim community disapprove with their use of music, dancing and the fact that their songs are remakes of mainstream songs usually associated with drugs, sex and money which they then convert and replace with ‘halal lyrics’. Although many in the Muslim community strongly disagree with the Deen Sqaud’s ways, they evidently have a massive following and under the label of calling it a ‘nasheed’ all manner of songs are being produced and in the name of religion, a new money making tool is born.

Muslim Social media figures

Social media is the most powerful and influential marketing tool of or age- the digital age. Everything from hijab tutorials, halal makeup to Muslims couples holding hands are displayed on our mobile screens. Social media has undoubtedly become a platform were Islam is being glamorized. In the name of religion people are now able to start businesses, launch brands, make music and show the world “hey look I’m a Muslim and I’m not a terrorist” and what better way to sell yourself than on social media right? There are many popular social media figures include Dina Tokio, Habiba Da Silva, Zukreat and many more, who have launched their own brands, TV shows, campaigns and so on. These figures have more of a following than the scholars who have dedicated majority of their life studying and teaching Islam such as Mufti Menk and Nouman Ali Khan. These social media figures endorse other Muslim brands and the cycle goes on, these people have become ambassadors of the religion and in turn religion has become a brand.

Dina Tokio, Social Media figure

Although some may perceive it a movement of empowerment and pessimistic recognition, to me, the commercialisation of Islam is clouded in contradictions, considering the rise of this phenomenon started in western countries in Europe and the US. I fear that in attempting to eradicate stereotypes, we may just be slowly eradicating our identity and creating our own new narrative where instead of self-expression, we’re self-moulding simply because it sells.

Khadija Ahmed

Founder and Editor of AnotherLenz Magazine, Khadija Ahmed is a journalist by day, poet by night, she likes to write about gender, culture and identity issues. She doesn’t like being called a ‘hijabi’.

The Truth of 2016

2016 has finally come to an end, and what an historic year it has been.  Every spectrum of our lives have been touched by great achievements, tragic losses and unscrupulous politics.  It was a year of culmination, ruminating in an overarching theme of deception.  Everything is represented one way, while in fact an ulterior is true.  We have been moved in our society to accept blatant fraud as truth. We are asked constantly to suspend our disbelief when we look at photoshopped charades galavanting as beauty, praising images that have no meaning behind them.

Mariah Carey’s New Years Eve performance in Times Square was quite the epitome of what our society has become: an effortless attempt to gain favor by staging a live photo op to sway public opinion.  But in a break of good look for the coming year, the truth was revealed in real time.  She could hardly walk, and without an earpiece and a monitor could not even feign that she remembered the words to her own song.  The image she has tried so hard to manicure during her fall from public relevance shattered in a painful blast of awkward steps and entitled muttering.  Unprofessional at best, her performance displayed the willingness of people to cheat, and when they get caught in an act of bad character, they lash out at whatever party is best suited to take the shifted blame.  This type of evasion of responsibility, this passive acceptance of dishonesty is killing our society.  It is what elected Donald Trump to the presidency, it is what is destroying the earth, it is what is turning us against one another.

Our natural sense of humanity, our cultural heritage of greatness is being purloined by the greed of a very few individuals.  The ends these few are willing to go to justify the means of their avarice is at the expense of the earth and the billions of people that live on it.  It is the blazing truth of 2016.  It is the the truth as told by Mariah Carey to wring out the old year.  So bring on 2017, and let us fight for truth through beauty and effort, compassion and grace.

Dear Trump Supporters by Peace House Videos

False Flags Remix :: The Narcicyst

  

https://m.soundcloud.com/thenarcicyst/bordersremix
Narcy remixes M.I.A’s Borders track to talk about the false flag offensives of pop culture. 
  

Peace. 

Taqwacore Jummah Service ~ Friday Prayer ~ Cultivation of the Real

For the Jummah service on Oct. 2, 2015, the topic is cultivation and what being spiritual truly entails. It is not going to a mosque or a church and giving lip service to a special set of rules, being spiritual is the constant cultivation of self. Taking every encounter as an opportunity to choose the best choice, to make the right decision as is felt in the depths of every heart. That is the path to cultivating your spirituality. That is the path of the Taqwacore.

DIARY OF A TAQWACORE ~ 18 CHAMBERS OF SHAOLIN :: 6TH CHAMBER

I adore this.
I adore all the living creatures that exist,
That make the sound of the creator’s hidden desires
That come to exist.
I adore how everywhere you look,
The clouds are always perfect,
The landscape somehow perfectly goes with the clouds.
If there’s an ocean,
The ocean fits right it.
If there happen to be houses sprinkled here and there,
They also happen to fit in.
Or if there happen to be roads nearby, crisscrossing around it,
However way that it may be,
It all fits in.
I love how it all fits in.
It doesn’t matter which way you look.
It doesn’t matter any how you look.
It seems like it is always following some plan –
Some design,
Revealing some truth –
Making it up with lies about things that are there,
And sometimes are not there,
And not counting on leaving it out.

It all comes together to show or say that one thing;
And for some reason,
That one thing is always found wherever you look.
However way that you look,
It always seems to be present
Asking you to notice it.
To discover it.
And somehow,
See how many ways you can find it
In wherever you look.
And looking is what I was doing
When I happened to see that sometimes the way that it looks
Is not the way that it is.

What it is, is that someone is selling you something
That they’re counting on you buying at all costs
While keeping you from buying what you truly want to buy,
Which is your own happiness.
Your own appointed moment
In the created play thing called now –
Called existence.

They play out as if they were there,
Pleading your case to the creator,
To be born aiding your parents
In their courtship for your appearance on this earth.
And when you have appeared,
That they took charge of your growth and well being
So that they can feel the way they feel now,
Treating you like a property.

This is how they come at you,
Selling you the new season of Fundamentalist’s Ticket to Heaven
And what I mean by fundamentalism,
I mean fundamentalism of the heart.
Fundamentalism of living.
Fundamentalism of family life.
Fundamentalism of friendship.
Fundamentalism of loyalty.
Fundamentalism of ideas.
And fundamentalism of religion.
That is what they want to sell you.
So that what you’re buying should be their goods,
And that any other choice is unacceptable.
And when you don’t accept this,
Claiming your own responsibility for being born,
Being alive,
Singing your own song with the orchestra of living,
When you only choose what Allah’s voice tells you to choose,
Which is yourself –
If you listen correctly you will find that at some point,
That you grab your jacket from your chair,
You push your chair to the table,
You grab the keys and you say,
“Fuck it.”
And walk out the door
Seeking redemption not for anything else
But at your girlfriend’s door.
She opens the door.
You said,
“Fuck it.”
She said,
“Come on in.”
He said,
“Fuck yeah, fuck it.”
You walked in,
Sat down.
She said,
“Do you want something to drink?”
He said,
“Fuck yeah, fuck it.”
The next thing you know, she’s kissing you on the forehead,
Kissing you on the eyes,
Your nose,
Practically chowin’ down on it.
Then making her way to your mouth
And shoving her tongue in your mouth
And you suckin’ on it like you’re a famine victim.
The next thing you know,
Your dick is dipped inside of her.
Fuckin’ her all over the kitchen,
Making your way across the floor
To the living room in between giggles and sighs
And heavy breathing and light slapping,
Here and there, biting, grabbing and politely choking,
Somebody’s finger is being sucked with light bitings,
Tongue describing your face to lover’s heart
Asking for permission,
O, Let me come in.
O, Let me enter there.
O, Why don’t you prepare a place for me?
O, My head needs rest.
My soul is weary from the travel to find you.
My heart is heavy with heaving recommendations of you.
My mind is raving with hallucinations of thoughtful thoughtlessness,
The foundations around your contours
That tell me that you are mine.
That you are mine.
That I am yours,
O, Allah,
Without a doubt I am yours!
I am yours from the end of time,
And from the time of ending come,
I ascend to you from that place of no ascension.
I reclaim my step to confide in you,
Making my heart reposed by you
Telling the stories of forever desiring you.
Never ceasing,
Never resting,
Always arriving,
Always going,
But nevertheless seeking.
Seeking.
Seeking you, O Glory of my life!
O, Becoming!
O, Tension without repetition!
O, Life of Taqwa in the here and now,
Loving truthful measure
Traveling in the open calling of treasure,
Making desirable decree the foundation of our loving beliefs.
Timing and traveling have been conceived
Without a doubt from seeking and becoming,
Making the matter all forthcoming.
That is,
Without a doubt,
It is a matter of fact.
It is,
Yes,
A matter of fact that we are there,
Looking in from everywhere.

Undercover,
Making friends with undesirables just to get in.
To learn a thing or two,
Sitting at a bar with someone you may not particularly like,
But you buy them a drink.
You start small talk.
You ask all kinds of questions to provoke without attention,
They are telling you things they don’t think they’re telling you.
On your end,
You’re stacking up a biography of conduct and attitude.

And in that attitude I saw you beating the guy in the alley
Kicking him while he’s screaming,
Bangin’ his head against the wall as he coughs up blood,
And walking away from it like there’s nothing.
Like nothing at all was there.
Like you did nothing.
Like nothing is what you yourself is like.
That is what you would rather like it to be believed,
While all the while,
You go about collecting information.
Playing the other for the other –
Being undercover,
Wearing the Taqwa on your heart
As you discover.
Yeah, yeah, man,
I remember meeting you at the back of the porn shop.
Talking talk,
Exchanging information
As fucking sounds blare out in the background,
Mixed with colored light
Describing the tone of our voice,
The whole thing being so fucking romantic.
The whole thing being Taqwacore as well.
Because we were talkin’ about how to prevent a catastrophe
From destroying Allah’s creation.
Our creation.
The birthright for all humanity.
For those who are here for those who are not here.
And for those who are to become.
It is meant for all.
And all is what what must have all.
That is what unity writes
In the book of law for the regulation of beings
In the respiratories of living.

Isn’t that what you said?
“Do you really wanna make up for it?”
That’s what she said.
The next thing, before I could even say yes,
I’m in front of a crowd explaining myself.
So that’s what it’s come to now.
Explaining myself in front of a crowd.
Explaining myself.
I said I can’t explain myself.
You said,
“You’re just like your father when you say that.”

“Paradise is at the feet of mothers,”
Said the prophet, peace and blessings be upon him,
And in the mother’s womb
Is where we lay growing the speed
‘Till I came relieved
Right on top of your mother,
Fucking her before I knew it.
But you’re my friend –
I don’t know,
I guess it’s okay.
Your mother is beautiful.
And she’s smart,
And adorable.

Do you know what it feels like to be despised by the one you love?
Yes, I do.
It came as no surprise that you enter into a taxi,
Driving away from me,
Learning for myself what you are,
Lying still underground,
Unknown to the living,
Shaking with disbelieving –
Making the people think that you’re a believer,
Locking them into idealism with double standards
To bend them towards what?
Bend them towards what you don’t know?
And how you won’t know,
Making sure that you don’t want to know.

Making sure that I don’t know what?
Making sure you don’t know that I fucked your mother.
You mother fucker.
And you, stop sticking your dick where it doesn’t belong!
Keep it in your pants.
Tell it to quiet down with the storm,
And let it be known,

Allah is He besides whom there is no God,
The Ever-Living,
The Self-Subsisting by whom all things subsist;
Slumber does not overtake Him nor sleep;
Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth is His;
Who is he that can intercede with Him but by His permission?   
He knows what is before them
And what is behind them
And they cannot comprehend anything, out of His knowledge
Except what He pleases;
His knowledge extends over the heavens and the earth,
And the preservation of them both tires  Him not
And He is the most High,
The Great.

That is what we pledge in the

Subhana Allah,

Waving their arms,

Allahu Akbar
Allahu Akbar
Allahu Akbar
Allahu Akbar
Allahu Akbar
Allahu Akbar.

DIARY OF A TAQWACORE ~ 18 CHAMBERS OF SHAOLIN :: 5TH CHAMBER

That is how it comes out –
It comes out looking sincere,
All parceled out.
Perfectly fit to the plan.
And what plan is that?
The plan to take over your life
And put you in service for their life.
That’s slavery.
However way that you look at it,
There is slavery involved.

This is what is said to me,
“When you’re undercover,
You fake your identity
To as close to what you are,
That way you don’t seem too different.”
That’s what is said as we watch each other eye to eye,
Sizing each other up.
All the while I kept thinking,
“You are smart.
You know what you’re doing.
But why are you doing it?
Why are you banked on having this whole earth all to yourself?
Can you not see that it says something about you?
That it tells that you don’t want to need to share?
That you see that it is all for your fare?
Is this glorification?
Is this part of the Allahu Akbar?”

You know,
Sometimes I just wanna be you for a minute
So I can know your reason.
So I can know how and why you do it.
Things about you are so calculated and so precise.
You must have trained somewhere,
Biding your time,
Waiting for the perfect moment,
Absorbing everything you can,
Morphing and becoming,
All for your plan.
So you see?
All this is calculated.
And when something is calculated it has a reason.
And whatever has a reason,
It has a secret emotion behind it –
And that emotion is the force that drives it.
It’s what wakes you up and makes you do what you do.
And what you do is that you are looking to annihilate a whole portion of the earth
So that you can have enough room to spread yourself,
And that makes me ask,
“Why?
When the whole earth is so big and so wide
With so much room for everyone to reside,
Just why?”

I wish I could be there to caress you.
To make it better for you.
To tell you that you are loved
And supported
And cherished
By the Reality that creates.
Yes, I wish I was there
To stop whatever came at you
That made you become what you’ve become.

And what have you become?
You have become someone who will go to every length
To achieve a dreadful end
Using religion as a means to satisfy a secret cause or aim.

O, how I wish I was there to tell you
That in the bismillah ar-rahman ir-rahim
There is in store for you,

Allahu-ma ghfir-li
Wa-rham-ni wa-hdi-ni
Wa ‘afi-ni wa-rzuq ni
Wa-rfa ni wa-jbur ni.

And as you can hear the gathering of hearts say,

Say, He, Allah is One.
Allah is He on Whom all depend.
He begets not nor is He begotten.
And none is like Him.

You will know that it is true
That you have been given the essence
That is the underlying core of your praising.

She’s thinking,
“Who is this?
What am I doing?
Who have I brought to my house?”
I’m thinking,
“I’d like to change things.
I’d like to maintain a certain kind of normalcy,
To have a place to go from all this craziness,
To take shelter in the arms of a lover
That could give me some solace.”
She’s thinking,
“He’s doing something behind my back.”
She’s thinking,
“I need to find out.”
I’m thinking,
“Why are you lookin’ at me?”
She’s thinking,
“I’m gonna find out what you’re hiding from me.
I’m gonna follow you.
But by following you I’ll be signing my death warrant.
I feel it.
I know it.
My gut tells me that somethin’ awful is going to come with us.
And yet I can’t stop.
I won’t stop.
And something in my gut is telling me so,
Pushing me on.
It is the same thing that is telling me,
‘He’s hiding something from me.'”
I’m thinking,
“This is getting to be real nice, you know?
Just to have a place to come to.
To lay my head on something soft
And relax for a second.
See a face that is far removed from the faces I see from day to day
In what I do.”

And this is what I do:

We’re casing this joint.
Monitoring this jack
Who’s doing something that no one knows about.
But what we want is to take what he’s got
To make it ours,
Without a doubt.
He’s one of us,
You can count on that.
But that’s not stopping us from taking what he’s got.
But that’s how our reasons go, you know?
We come up with a way to get what we want.
We say what we wanna say to get what we want,
But all the while,
What we want,
It ain’t worth wanting –
And for some people,
It is for killing.

But we’re staking you out, my friend.
We’re gonna take what is yours to use for our cause,
‘Cause as of this moment, my friend,
Indeed, we are taking you for a ride.
We are taking what is yours
And we don’t care that in doing so,
We will be destroying the bond that unity creates.

In the Taqwa,
Playing that tune,
That is the tawhid singing in praise saying,

Allahu la ilaha illa hua-al-Hayyu-l-Qayyum;
la ta ‘khu-dhu-hu sinautn  wa la naum;
La-hu ma fis-samawati wa ma fi-l-ardz;
man dha-lladi yashfa’u ‘inda-hu illa bi idhni-hi;
Ya’luma ma baina aidi-him wa makhalfa-hum wa la yuhi-tuna bi-shai’im-min ‘ilhihi illa bi-ma sha’a;
Wasi’a kur-diyya-hu-s-samawati wa-l-ardz wa la ya ‘udu-hu hifzu-huma wa huwa-l-‘Aliyyu-l-Azim,

But that’s how it is in the place, that what we have become
Has made us become takers who don’t deserve.
This is how it was goin’ on,
As I reach deep undercover
To find and stop a catastrophe in a magnitude unknown to the earth itself.
That is the belief in the Taqwa.
The behavior in the adab.
The cause of wearing the face that is the everlasting glory
That you wear in this path of,

Show me the face before you were born.

You can show it in many ways –
You can show it by listening from the other side,
What you have to do for both sides,
And you do it out of sight,
Telling tales to yourself as if you have might.

Yeah, man, it’s a bitch to track.
You can’t catch it.
That’s what they say
As it dangles itself in front of your eyes –
Beckoning you to attempt a daring,
Enticing your courage,
Despairing your fear,
Containing you in a focused gaze,
Maintaining the core discipline of your formation way
And calling out of you
The attention praise of your best delivering way, say,
Say it like it is.
The way it feels like.
Say it like it is.
With what it seems like,
Say it like it is.
With how it is.
Say it like it is.
Say more than it is.
Seeing more than it is.
Say it like it is,
Making it more than it is.
So what is it?
What is it that is making you go so far out of yourself
To risk everything that you’re all about
Just to argue about beliefs and ideas
That in the long run mean nothing but
Hidden banners of egotism
Dancing as patriotism in a parade of
I’m gonna dominate you whether you like it or not
Making you seem useless and confused
As if what you are doesn’t deserve to be,
For there is no be to be,
Because being has nothing worth being for.
And this is the script
That will pay you to purchase what they make for you
Asking you to demonstrate for your sake what is good for you –
But this is not a dress rehearsal.
It’s not a dream where you’re waking up.
Next thing you know,
Someone has taken over you
Plotting to take over your preciousness,
Dancing beneath your shadow
Hiding behind the highlights in camouflage
And manners of nice participation.
They creep to delight in your fall
For their happiness is turning your happiness into mournful stride
Upon the avenue of lonely comforters –
Making you pay attention to the minute detail of things,
Allowing you to see corners
And tops
And bottoms
And ideas confining the tiniest spaces
That no one else can see but you.
Allowing you to see the direction of things
That no one else can dictate or find.
You, becoming an invisible component in the scene,
Detecting the most minute movement
That stirs the environment
Contained by your nourishing stares,
Making you tolerate all the things that come and go
As if they never were.

But then it delivers you out of yourself,
Turning you into a freshly gazing breath.
Allowing you to tell tales of enduring luster
When with heart and determination
You told your story of how you became.
How you play the manifested quality,
How you turned the composition into a place
And added a dance that played more,
With ecstatic more,
And making chances with paragraphs
Allowing compositions to dance across your face
That tell the tales of when and where and how,
Making them appear like a believing apostle
Tying you closer to the sources
Making it abundantly clear
That where you are,
Dead fish will wake for the meeting of the two seas
And something miraculous would happen that will say to you,
“I have found what I’m looking for.”
It is you yourself that you will see.
A mirrored image.
A composition erected by your own doing,
Replicated through your looking.

So look.
Are you there?
Where are your eyes?
Don’t admire this.
Don’t admire that.
Just take it as it is without any spot.
Maintain your head,
Put on your shades,
Walk the walk that talks the say saying,
“The walk that tells the tales of,
‘I’ve been here for so long –
Everything I see.'”

Ask me the question,
“What are you doing?”
And I say for an answer,
“Hey man, I’m only trying to relieve myself.”
But the question remains,
“What are you doing here?”
Then you must answer the question.
The answer that is the Taqwa.
The consciousness that pervades the understanding.
The unity that anticipates the becomings,
Making them whole in their returnings.
The answer is that Taqwacore is a living way that is of nature’s way,
Making compositions out of natural talents and personal callings
And personal devotions,
And intentions for the resurrect.
Yes, Taqwacore is allocated in the seat of your heart.
In the place where contemplation reckons calculations
To contend the retribution of personal faith in contended choice,
Making the frequency of ultimate diligence
The price that Taqwacore trades as a lullaby for the gaze,
Making self appearance pure and simple –
Delivering all requests to the giving,
The solicitation of a master’s hand.
That is,
Your face in the mirror.
The face of richly core that contention bore
For a concrete, desolate, thoughtless lore
To bury you with disgust and gore
Making you contend with yourself
As what you adore.

DIARY OF A TAQWACORE ~ 18 CHAMBERS OF SHAOLIN :: 4TH CHAMBER

In this century,
It is the true way to walk in the center.
To distinguish yourself as a unique character in the world of the living,
That we are all ONE,
Sharing the mentioning of the name.
It takes strength, courage and determination
To pronounce that true name that is you.
That calling card that is your birthright,
From which you can never be disbarred,
For you are the representative.
You are the sign.
You are the appearance
That has taken the form at the posture of sajda saying,

Subhana Rabbiya-l-a’la

Relating the good news of your appearance in the witnessing of the glory.
Did you not hear the beat inside of you?
Did you not see that calling card that is you?
It is the voice that says,
“Sing the attaining power
That brings out the diligence
Of the calculated thought you call love.
Sing that diligence and walk that walk on the line of,

Subhana Rabbiy-l-‘Azim
Subhana Rabbiy-l-‘Azim
Subhana Rabbiy-l-‘Azim”

So we waited outside.
He goes in to get something that I don’t know about,
So I give you a call to report and tell you that I’m doing well.
He comes out and tells me,
“Drive around, I’ll be back.”
I drive around,
All the while I’m keeping in touch,
Letting you know where I am.
Making sure the signal is clear
So that what I do will never be in doubt.
And then I see you calling the bosses.
He comes with another guy
Strapped with a bag,
And there we go.
He’s taking a trip.
Not to paradise,
But to some other country
To make a drop to somethin’ I don’t know about.
He comes back in the car again.
I’m driving him, he says,
“Take me to Arrivals, I have a guest coming.”
A very special guest that comes on time saying,

Allahu Akbar

I am the angel watching over you.
I am the bismillah guiding over you.
I am the alhumdulillah that is the sounding steps of your morale.

“Yeah,” he says, “follow that car.”
So I followed the car.
He reads me.
I read him.
He asks me questions to flush me out.
I answer his questions to lock him in.
All the while I know that he’s my enemy and I will have to take him down.
Here I am, traveling
With someone I don’t know who’s going to harm everyone,
But insha’allah I aim to stop him
With all my praising.
I have marked him.
You say,
“Go here.”
I’ll go there.
You say,
“Come here.”
I come there.
All the while I’m tracking you.
All the while you’re watching me,
And I’m watching you.
In this business
The less you know the better,
The more you do the better.
In the bismillah,
We chuckled to ourselves in praise for the ar-rahman
While we twirl in the ir-rahim
And the voices are singing
Making room for all to be in the unity saying,

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.
The Beneficent, the Merciful.
Master of the Day of Requital.
Thee do we serve and Thee do we beseech for help.
Guide us on the right path.
The path of those on whom Thou hast bestowed favours.
Not those upon whom wrath is brought down, nor those who go astray.

Did you see that?
Did you see that generosity that was given to you?
This offering by the door to perception of living.
Three for the maker,
Four for the created.
It sums up the universal decree for the road map of Taqwacores unveiling –
And in that,
You can see them in the car,
Driving to the appointed hour.
Trading with haters,
Mingling with our kind,
Buying deadly weapons,
Making chemical agents,
Wanting to take out that glorification that is the essence –
Wanting all to bow down toward their worship
Making us all commit shirk
In the name of their Lord.
You can see them now
Plotting to show how they’re not gonna go.
How they want to put the fear in all who want to live,
Turning innocents into terror
Making Taqwacore flee for cover.
That is not the way to be, man.
That is not the way to the tawhid, man.
Why have you chosen to rock like that,
Smack like that,
Make a jigsaw puzzle and goddamn shit like that?
Why have you chosen to be a creeping thing,
Concocting with gleam
Making poison to kill Allah’s creation,
Turning dignity into discrepancy?
Discrediting the maker
As if they could have it so –
As if the control is theirs,
Without realizing
That in the blink of an eye
They could all be consumed by the bismillah.

O, say,
Subhana-ka-llahu-mma
Rabba-na bi-hamdi-ka
Allahu-ma-ghfir-li

So put yourself in the position ruku
And hear the sound of the adhan

As-salatu khaitum-min-an-naum
As-salatu khaitum-min-an-naum

And find out what the meaning is.
Looking there at the corner,
You can see the woman and the children that you don’t know,
Traveling with you as you go,
Carrying deadly weapons,
As you ask them questions about who they are,
What they do,
Killing time
Just to cross the border as you must do.
They tell you,
“I’m going to the land of the free.”

Don’t worry,
At the bar he’s walking,
Meeting his agent –
Telling him the stories of his whereabouts
Briefing  and debriefing the solution that will take him down.
This is the real thing.
No dress rehearsal –
Taqwacore, I tell you,
This is the real thing.
Taqwacore I tell you,
This is the real thing –
No dress rehearsal.
Put on your gear,
Stop a minute,
Take a look in the mirror
And make sure it is all there.
Then, one foot,
Two foot,
Left foot,
Right foot.
On you go, making it all flow.
Letting the Taqwa blow,
Making it all sunshine as hell
Turning all those who don’t believe.
That this is the heart of worship and praising.
Let them blaze out
To leave us dancing and twirling
Flaunting our beliefs to the core.

Allahu-mma Rabba hadhihi-d-da ‘wati-t-tammati wa-s- salati-lqa’imati ati Muhammada-ni-l wasilata wa-l-fadzilata waddarajata-ffagi’ata wa-b’athhu maqamam mahmudan-illadhi wa-adta-hu.

In the position takbir tahrima my hands reach out for the music that is your face.
The created contour that is the spelling called prayer.
My fingers are touching your soft skin
That tells me so much time has been taken for this care of your adoring,
Your stomach,
Your back,
Your hands,
Your hair,
O, how it brings me close and closer still to the essentials.
My breathing is heavy,
Desiring you.
My love is opened,
Welcoming you.
Your smell.
O, your smell.
I cannot help but noticing that fragrance that is the paradise of lover’s heart who seek the abode of the beloved’s part.
O, yes,
That is how it is.
As I look towards your face
O, qibla of my heart in the position of qiyam
I pledge the istiftah.

Subhana-ka-llahu-mma wa bi-hamdi-ka
Wa tabaraka-smu-ka
Wa ta’ala jaddu-ka
Wa la ilaha ghairu-ka.

That is the mission’s call.
The most adorable of them all.
But listen –
You will see them again,
Plotting to take out the good ones
Who do the hard fight,
Sending agents on campaign of murder
Leaving us vulnerable in our religion with dishonor –
But don’t worry,
The case is true –
Who will see it all the way through?
Don’t worry.
The case is true –
We will see it through without a doubt,
To the end.

Yeah, I see him.
Waiting,
Waiting for the property to show up.
Little did he know that he’d been outsmarted.
His weapons are gone,
Now he’s confused.
He doesn’t believe anything –
He senses a derail –
He’s searching for an excuse
To put an end to you.
He sent out another agent to end the road to recovery.
Yeah, recover.
To kill one person is to kill all mankind
To save one person is to save all mankind.
So save yourself, Taqwacore.
Save yourself from forgetfulness.
Remember that you are the loved one.
You are the one desired.
You are the one who is serenaded by the creation that passes for your enjoyment as you pass in this realm for this is displaying its attribute,
Your unique quality of the name
Telling the reality
Alhumdulillah
Alhumdulillah
Alhumdulillah
O, glory,
O, glory,
Death comes to us all.
Death overtakes us all
But Allah redeems its all
Without a doubt.
Without a doubt.
O, glory,
Without a doubt.

DIARY OF A TAQWACORE ~ 18 CHAMBERS OF SHAOLIN :: 3RD CHAMBER

I tell you, this is not a joke.
Subhana Allah,
This is not a dress rehearsal.
There are no rehearsals.
Every day the glory wakes you up and says,
“Do your part.
Do your part in the praising.
Find your instructions within yourself and listen closely:
In the heart you will find that in there,
Allah Most High
Has appointed you as a point of glorification of His names.”

So don’t worry.
Just step in and step out with yourself
And be yourself glorified in the Taqwa of your way.
‘Cause in the Taqwa,
What you have to understand is that something woke you up today;
Told you that it is time.
Something woke you up today and told you that,
That time has come of your praising,
Your walking in the name chosen out to you,
The being who is the name in
The Taqwa.

I tell you,
This is the way you see it.
This is how it is.
So make sure that you see what is meant for you to see.
That is,
See the direction you’re going.
That is,
See the place chosen for you by the Allahu Akbar that says,
“Celebration is what is marked out for you.
Calling out the glory of being is what is mapped out for you
And for you is that special place inside the throne.”

So step out and recite that name in the name of that name and say,

Bismillah ar-rahman ir-rahim.

Keep your focus.
Let nothing distract you that does not add to your praising.
For out there,
There are things that menace your calling in here.
In you, there are also things that menace your calling –
So when you hear that call within you telling you,
“Hey, Taqwacore, it is time for your dancing,
It’s time to move out.
It is time to move into the open with your praising
Telling the tales of your appointed tune,
Opening the treasures that is your open secret to the praising.”
This is what my heart kept saying to me.
Beating out of my head,
Telling me,
“Hey man, remember why you’re doing this.
After all,
You’re not really risking your life for nothing.
Even if you die in this,
You are dying for your praising.
You are dying for what has been appointed to you.”

That is what my heart kept telling me as I sit here undercover
In the car full of psychos and belligerent mother fuckers
Using religion for their own sick ass ideas
Wanting to blow up everything that is good and dear.

So here I am,
Shitting in my pants,
Hearing that voice say,
“This too, is part of the praising.
This too, is Allah’s business.
It is what you have been called to do.
So do what you  must do.”

O, bismillah ar-rahman ir-rahim
Al-hamdu li-llahi Rabbi-l-‘alamin.
Maliki yaumi-d-din.
Iyya-ka na’budu wa iyya-ka nasta’in.
Ihdi-na-s-sirata-l-mu-staqim.
Sirata-lladhina an’amta ‘alaihim.
Ghari-l-magh dzubi ‘alai-him wala-dz-dzallin.
Amin.

I can hear my breathing saying that to me,
As I sit in the car waiting.
Hearing words from these guys
That ordinarily would have been good words
From a brother or a sister who cares about you
And wanted good things for you,
But coming from these guys,
It’s just so appalling –
Cause these guys are plotting to kill thousands of people
Without any regards,
Saying that they’re doing this in the name of Allah,
But it’s clear what they are after:
Power over people’s minds.
Taking over what is truly in the name
That has been entrusted to them for their praising,
Replacing it with their own twisted ideas
Just to cause havoc with their hate
As if they are for Allah in the praising.

So I’m sitting in the car watching a guy go in and out of his door
Without knowing why,
‘Cause it’s just what I’ve been told to do.
So I’m doin’ it like I’m part of their cause.
Watching them use religion for nothin’ but destruction.
My religion.

Listen to this,
O, Taqwacore –
You are the central awareness.
The coming of age in the convergence that sings in the remembrance,
Saying la illaha illa-llah.
There is nothing before you but the before,
And the before is nothing but He.
And before the before there is the hereafter,
And there is nothing of the hereafter but He.
The before, and the hereafter collide with you now,
In the here and now,
Asking you for the awareness
Opening your cause from the core,
Reminding you that it is just this that you were made for.
It is just this that all this is for;
Praising.
And praising is doing your calling in the name.
So Taqwacore,
Are you open for this game?
Are you dancing in the name?
That is your assignment.

So here I am,
Sitting in the car making deals with killers
Who will for sure kill me if they know that I am aiming to kill them
As they aim to kill innocent people
Who are going about doing their own praising
As the glory has chosen for them to do.

Mash’allah.

And now I see how amazing it is to realize
That there are so many out there
Who would rather see this world disappear –
Who would rather see every creature born with the Subhana Allah
With their station perished without a trace,
Putting themselves beside God
As if they can tell you what tomorrow brings.

We find ourselves in a world full of haters
Tracking your track,
Tripping your move,
Wanting to end the creation
For the glorification of themselves –
Forgetting that they are flesh,
And flesh will perish,
As it is only dust.
For behold the Reality,
Creating the human being with dust and water,
Breathing life into him.
That is,
The chosen name.
The special imprint.
Your attribute for loving.
Your case in point for existing.

But some have chosen to kill us all.
Wanting to end it all,
Pushing their hate upon us all
Controlling us from both sides,
One calling the other, “Terrorist”
The other calling the other, “Terrorist.”
In the meanwhile,
They implore us to be fearful,
Making us forget our praising.

Subhana Rabbiy-l-‘Azim
Subhana Rabbiy-l-‘Azim
Subhana Rabbiy-l-‘Azim

So, after making deals to find out what they’re all about
And what they’re up to,
I realized the time is coming to take them down.

Insha’allah

You know they’re out there –
They use every technique in the book.
Making you seem foolish with your ideas,
Pointing and laughing as you walk by
With your hat cocked to the side.
Maybe with your glasses on,
With polished shoes,
Not bought from yesterday.
You know,
Strolling casual.
Being casual.
And they come stepping in front of you
Telling you that how you are
Is not what it should be,
But that how they wish it was
Is how it should be.
This is not how it’s supposed to be.
This is not glorification’s name to be.
Naw,
Naw.
We are creatures born as creative beings,
Created to create
Pouring out of ourselves our name in the name
Making the Taqwa our game.
Standing strong in the core
In that fame
Making Taqwacore our name.
And this is how we walk in that kind of way when we talk.

Come with me to the ocean –
We will see the sun gleaming over the waters
Pointing directly at you,
Saying to you,
“You are the glory of the creation.”
Commanding you to stand in relations,
Asking you to sing in the glorification
In combinations of praising however way that you like it.
However way that you want it.
It is all in the name.
It is all for the praising.
That is your aim;
To bring it together to make a union.
A tawhid in this glory of creation.

Hey, Taqwacore,
You are unique to the core.

Say, He, Allah, is One.
Allah is He on Whom all depend.
He begets not nor is He begotten.
And none is like Him.

In this world of crooked ways,
It is now more than ever time to stay true to yourself without delay.
Turn away from your mind,
The soliciting theft that seeks to rob you of your time.
Hey, just put on your soulful dance shoes
And sing the song readily to your heart’s pleasing
And let tambourines and bells,
Drums and singing
And dancing girls and boys twirling around
Describing scriptures in the air,
Making prophesies to those who despair
Reminding them that there is no time to spare,
And dance.
And dance.
As it is said,

Subhana Allah
Subhana Allah
Subhana Allah

And now here I am.
Quietly within myself,
With you in the core
Opening the door leading me to the floor
And commanding me to recite:

Bismillah ar-rahman ir-rahim
Bismillah ar-rahman ir-rahim
Bismillah ar-rahman ir-rahim
Bismillah ar-rahman ir-rahim
Bismillah ar-rahman ir-rahim.

DIARY OF A TAQWACORE ~ 18 CHAMBERS OF SHAOLIN :: 2ND CHAMBER

Some of you wanna be silent about what’s goin’ on out there.
The whole world has gone rogue.
Everyone is crafting some agenda,
Making their secret wishes of their blundering defender.
The whole world has gone fundamentalist –
Restricting us,
Putting us in cells,
In boxes.
Making us commercially viable for the next purchase…
To feed what?
I asked, to feed what?
To feed the nothingness they call real life.
You know, taking bodies, turning them into bombs,
Flipping good minds into wrongs,
Shaking an entire peaceful neighborhood into a chaotic war zone,
All to hide from themselves what they are secretly craving –
From behind closed doors
Bad characters hiding their tails between their legs
Wanting to drag all of us into their bad dream.
That’s the world that the Taqwacores find themselves in.

It’s the way to go, you know,
Protesting with your whole being.
You know,
Going the other way.
Loving Allah with what you are,
How you are,
In style just like you say you are.
Threading your way through the walk,
Like the Taqwacore that you are.
Praising and adoring with whatever that your whatever wanna say however
To love Allah.
You could be a disbeliever, however you wannna love.
However you want it,
Allah will take it.
Cause that’s what my heart tells me in the Taqwacore that moves me –
In the Taqwa that will never leave me.
So my eyes are wide open.
My heart, crystal clear.
Listening to what they say to me.
How they wanna push me here and there,
Lock me in a box,
Labeling me this or that.
Turning what I prize into something for a crack.

So here I am.
Undercover.
Mixing myself with those that would do harm,
Just to catch them in the act.
To prevent them from turning love into hateful brawls,
Where now our nations have nuclear warheads pointing at each other –
Any time now turning us all into nothingness.
But alhumdulillah,
That nothingness is also Allah.

For In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful,
Say, He, Allah, is One.
Allah is He on Whom all depend.
He begets not nor is He begotten.
And none is like Him.

And this is the big picture –
But in the small picture, people are doing the same thing to each other,
Stabbing each other in the back with kind words of death.
Killing each other slowly with care and understanding,
Understanding that it’s only to get to where you are
And take over from where you are
Thereby taking what you are
As what they are.

In the Taqwa,
You have to be aware of everything.
You have to be able to sense that everything relates to everything.
In your surroundings,
You have to look at yourself and where you are
As ONE thing.
Feeling your way into it, through it and about it
As if it is you, yourself
While still being yourself and observing that everyone around you, Everything around you goes together to turn what you are –
To make what you are as you.
But there are some people out there, you know,
That will take the same truth,
The same ideas,
And turn them into something else.
Making plans,
Sneaking around with nuclear materials,
Plotting to kill innocent people
As if they’d been ordained by Allah to do so –
Even though, if you were to ask them at what time or point
They were ordained, they can’t tell you.
Just the same, they go about plotting murders in the name of Allah,
Where the Allah that they talk about is not the Taqwacore Allah.
Taqwacore Allah tells jokes.
Men and women stand in the same line as they pray together,
Women leading prayers,
Congregations dressed however the Holy Ghost inspired them to!
And since it is Taqwacore Allah,
Everyone there is inspired the right way
Cause you know, they are all in tune with the Holy Ghost
That speaks what the moment has to say,
Telling us all why we have to dress this way,
And talk that way,
And dance like that,
And shake like that,
And move like that,
And turn around and slide like that,
And Oooh! This is how I like it!
And don’t worry about how you do it,
It is all praising, my friend.
All adoring, my Taqwa.
Hahaha,
Sometimes I think,
“Why does somebody always want to control everybody?
And why does everybody want to control everybody?”
In the Taqwa,
Everybody is in their own control.
Everyone drives their soul in the control of speed they can hold in the,

Adore me, O Isa,
O, bismillah ar-rahman ir-rahim.
They walk around with their hearts filled with,
“This is a house of war.
We are soldiers for Allah, committing shirk.”
Putting themselves beside Allah.
They talk to us as if Allah could not do his own work,
But needs them to do His work.

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful,
Say, He, Allah, is One.
Allah is He on Whom all depend.
He begets not nor is He begotten.
And none is like Him.

Did you hear that?
Allah is ONE.
He doesn’t depend on anyone.
He doesn’t beget anyone,
And no one begets Him.
And the best part,
There is no one like Him.
Just like there is no one like you,
So that in the Taqwa,
All that you have to be is yourself being yourself to the core of yourself,
Throwing yourself over to the temple door of yourself,
Rising yourself up in laughter,
Dancing with yourself
Calling out that name,
That glorification,

Allahu Akbar
Allahu Akbar
Allahu Akbar
Allahu Akbar

Becoming an angel in the shadow of your own being,
Celebrating yourself in the Taqwacore.

These days, you express yourself in a certain way of your praising
And somebody comes standing in your way
With their own idea telling you you have to do what they say,
Because they heard Allah tell them
The only way is the way they know
And there is no any other way but their way.

Ha.

I’d like to say this-
La ilaha illa-llah
That is the song that Allah has given to us to say back
And reply to this nonsense of their my way or no way policy.
Did you hear that?
It says,

La ilaha illa-llah

That is, there is no God but God.
Or, there is no believer but the believer.
Or, there is no liar but the liar.
Or, there is no dancer but the dancer.
Or, there is no woman but the woman.
Or, there is no man but the man.
The point is, it is all how it’s supposed to be.
We are all a manifestation of the glory.
And no matter what we do,
No matter how we do,
We can’t help but pronounce the glorification,

Allahu Akbar.
Allahu Akbar.

And the Allahu Akbar is this-

I’m now ridin’ with my chick.
I’m takin’ her to the park.
First, I’m gonna fuck her in the car before we get out.
And then, I know for sure,
I’m gonna have to fuck her outside.
And then hopefully, if I’m not tired or somethin’,
I’ll fuck her again when we get to the house.
Now you tell me,
You think she’s gonna like that?
Or is she gonna be mad at me?
Yeah, you’re laughing, huh?
I think she’s gonna like that.
I think she’s gonna love it soo much,
My Taqwacore self is gonna be bathing in paradise.
That’s what paradise is, yo.
That’s what the glorification is.
Some good lovin’ for some good folks –
Makin’ it all alright
To clearly be singin’ out loud
That glorification,

Allahu Akbar
Allahu Akbar

And living out the al-fatiha
Making the bismillah do a twirl with the ir-rahim
And the ar-rahman doin’ tango with
Al-humdu li-llahi Rabbi-l-‘alamin
And that is when the ar-rahman ir-rahim busts out in giggles
Speaking in tongues saying things like,
“You don’t have to wear a mohawk to be Taqwacore.
You don’t have to speak Arabic or wear a hijab,
Or sing in praise of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.”

And maliki yaumi-d-din says,
“The glory would like you to just show up
With all your feathers and all your bloom,
With all your creativity in gleam.”

If  you ask iyya-ka na’budu wa iyya-ka nasta’in
What you will hear is that there is nothing like unto Him.

Idhi-na-s-surata-l-mu-staqim will play a tune for you
Telling you to dance to your Allah consciousness –
That’s your chance to praise with your whole being like you were supposed to.

Sirata-lladhina an’amta ‘alaihim will tell you that the hearafter
Is the dancer In your shoes making you a sign for the life that is here and now.
And ghairi-l-magh dzubi ‘alai-him wala-dz-dzallin will open the door for you Quietly while you walk in with your Taqwa in your heart and in your eyes, Focused to the Core.
When you look up,
What you find is a sign above you that says,
“You are Taqwacore.”

But some will have you believe otherwise
Causing you to make your body into a bomb
And hurt people that are not your concern –
But that is the battle that has to be fought.

What side are you on?
The side that takes and never gives back?
Or the side that gives and never takes back?

So, when you stand in your first position,
In your alif,
Making your intention with the glorification,
Know that in the whole wide world,
You, yourself,
This singular self of yours,
There is nothing in the whole wide world
That is like you.
You are unique and in the face of Allah,
As the unique,
You are given the rightful place to adore with grace
What Allah has given you that can never be replaced
As your unique ar-rahman in the Taqwa of ir-rahim
That is all but nothing in the Taqwacore –
That is the bismillah ar-rahman ir-rahim
With La ilaha illa-llah
In the Al-humdu li-llahi
For the Allahu Akbar,
O, Taqwacore, you have a choice.