The Haj - Its that Time.

TGIF! Thank God it's Friday! I get to go to the mosque! The Imam talked of the Haj and about sacrifices and about not compromising when it comes to faith and belief and he was a feisty,  fiery preacher! "God said to Abraham, Kill me a son! and Abe said No! and God said then when you see me you better run...Abe said where you want this killing done?: God said Down on Highway 61!" Bob Dylan sand in one of his songs. God is the Great Tester and tests men for his faith and in the days of Abraham it must have been extra hard after living out in the wilds to have a voice telling to him to go kill his first born and him who was having great difficulties in getting a child in the first place and had to marry his servant in order that she may bear him a child and then to make matters worse God decided to give his first wife a child too although she was way past child bearing age, a miracle of God! Oh my Lord Why?! Till this day they argue who Abraham was asked to sacrifice, was it Ismael as the Muslims believe or was is Isaac as the Jews and Christians believe. Why the misconception purposely ordained such that nations war against nations and religions against each other on account of God's Test. Forgive me my Lord I am but a simpleton who is very ignorant of Your ways but I deserve to understand why! Why does Hajjar, the mother of Ismail had to suffer in the desert looking for water to quench her thirst and her child's and what was Abraham doing then?
And the young Imam was threatening with brimstone and fire from the pulpit upon those who has no inclination the ways of the Prophet of Allah when he set to clean up Mekah and Madinah from the worship of idols, like it is the biggest problem Muslim face today The biggest problem Islam faces today is sectarian divisiveness namely the Shia's and the Sunis who are willing to the extent of killing one another in the name of the religion, and to this date of my going to the mosque not a single Imam had talked about this issue.
If the Prophet of Allah were to by some miracle be alive today what would He have to say about the fate of the Muslim world, I wonder! He most probably would hide His face and cry inside the cave where he met Gibrail Alai i Salam. He most probably would have begged to be free from carrying the burden of modern day Muslims to his grave. I do not stand to understand the historical facts that had led to this tragedy among Muslims today it has never been my study but as a professed Muslim it is a great heartache for me to see the wanton and brutal murders of Muslims by fellow Muslims all over the Muslim world and all in the name of Allah! When will we ever wake up from our nightmare of living in denial and face what it is the really threatened our very existence. What are the great Muslim leaders and fiery Ulama doing about his strangle hold of Religious Sectarian conflict that is eating the religion of Allah like a cancer while millions pay with hard earned money to perform the fifth pillar of Islam; the Haj. With all that money generated from the business of performing the Haj you would think that the Islamic world should be free from and form of conflict. But where is all that money generated from millions of Muslims from all over the world? The Keepers of the two Holy Cities of mekah and Madianh is the Saud King with a kingdom already very wealthy with its oil resources and yet where is all that money that my cousin and her husband has worked their entire lives gone to? Perhaps for better infra structure, like five star hotels and escalators so that there is less walking from one site to another or perhaps one day a super dome with air conditioning covering the whole of the Kaabah area.
It is mind boggling when you look into all that goes into this preparation of going to perform the Haj today and the amount of money each and every individual has to dole out regardless as everything is being institutionalized  to make thing easier and to make sure that each and every department involved gets its cut. I was at my niece's house and listening to them talk of the Haj and how they have opened an account for all three of the children ages four, three and not even one yet at the Tabung Haji or the Haj Bank here. My brother's wife was saying and you know what they do not even have any piggy banks for the kids! Oh No! No piggy banks and this is one of the most lucrative banks in the country? Oh ya said my niece, and remember how they swindled billions out of it a few months ago? Oh yeah? Like Wow! The youngest child will be able to go to Mekah in 2075 to do his HaJ! Like Wow! if he lives that long and in the meantime you feed the bank with all the investment, I did not say this to her but i thought about it. here are true Muslims making their sacrifices in order that they can fulfill God's command, "Kill me a son!"The banks are making a killing.
Will I ever go to Mekah? maybe if the Lord decides that i am eligible to visit His home, if not oh well... it is one of life's irony, my son the Pilot lives next door to Mekah in Dubai and I could have hitchhiked to the Holy Cities had i wanted to but...And for those good Muslims who think of jumping on my case for how i see this whole thing, don't get me wrong, I love and fear my Lord just as much as you do and I would like to be able to fulfill all that he ask of me but I have walked a different path from the one you have and how far or how near I am to my Lord, only he will decide and this Bloggin itself is a testimony as to how often I think of life after death. So before you decide to judge me for my faith look deeply at who you are and who I am, are we the same? No, not even if we came out of the same womb.
Allah is in my heart, His abode is within me and wherever I be there He is. I do not need to look elsewhere whether up or down  far or near all I have to do is remember and He is there.  He is my Lord, my Creator and from Him I came and to Him I will return when all is said and done and as for you it is your choice whatever He may be to you or where ever you will find Him.To each his own as we came into this life alone so we will leave it with none to accompany us, that we sow will be what we reap, good seeds, bad seeds, it is all entirely up to each and everyone of us. As for my on my own pilgrimage or performing the Haj or not that is entirely up to Him but I will make my efforts to fulfill this desire as it is although not strictly compulsory, it is the fifth of the Pillars of Islam and I have yet to fulfill the second completely. I do not say this without fear or regret but i say it as it is, I have yet to earn the right to become a true Muslim.When the time comes for me to blow my last breath I sincerely hope and pray to my Lord that He will be there in my hear and soul for as far as submission is concern I have always been His from the day I first heard the Azan from our Surau or Masjid Makhbul one of the oldest suraus in Georgetown, where i first went to my Friday prayers sometime in 1955. The Imam that gave the sermon then had long passed on and many more like him since then, but today I am rarely impressed by the tirades I hear from the pulpit every Friday and I will always pray from the first row of the 'saf' or line of worshipers; I stand directly before Him when I pray.
From my lonely heart of hearts, AllahuAkhbar!  I am getting too deep, time to retreat from this topic.!
The truth is out there it is a matter if you want or not to discover it, the truth is within you if you so incline to take the journey within and see for yourself, the truth to who you truly are, not just words by to actually feel the Living Truth that is God. Truth has nothing to do with Shiah or Suni, this mazhab or that, Truth reveals itself to those who it chose to have the revelation. Truth only gives its glimpses of Satori to those ready.
Suffering is because of Ignorance and Desire, I shall overcome it.
"Ask, and you shall be given! Knock and it shall upon" You have to be the beggar in life before you can experience being the Sultan of Souls in Spirit. The Dharma gates are limitless but i shall enter them! The impermanence of life does allow for me to be choosy but to choose the best of all possibilities; I am Eclectic, Religions of the World are the Collective Consciousness of every nation, cultures and tribal groups on this Planet, they all profess to create The Greater Good, to create Harmony and Peace, Love and Compassion, to be united in Spirit if not in Hearts, to Heal the Planet and our  Conciousness itself. We have to start from within our own Seat of the Soul, Buddha calls it your Dharma Position, that ground of being from which you stand before your Lord when you say ALLAHUAKHBAR! and begin your Solah. When you declare your presence before Him, Lord of the Worlds, you must stand in unity of Body Mind and Spirit, you are the Whole! As you raise your two hands to your ears as though you are about to let out a loud roar, you must be in this state of mind of Emptiness; I stand before You my Lord naked,  Allahuakhbar! I and my Lord is One.