Eid Mubarak - The Collective Spirit of Islam.

"The secret of  life is to die before you die, death is the stripping away of all that is not you." - Eckhart Tolle.

"What is at this moment lasking?" -Zen master Rinzai.

"The Sufi is the son of time present. Past and future veils God  from our sight, burn both of them with fire." -Rumi.

The Eid Mubarak or as the Malays calls it, Hari raya Haji came and went and with it all the sacrifices and the meat consuming diet came and went too. The question that intrigues me every time this time of the year comes by is still the question, it is the age old question of . "Who did Abraham, the father of the Judeo Christian and Islamic religion, offered as a sacrifice to his Lord, was it Ishmael or was it Isaac?" There is no answer to this question truly as it would depend on who you ask, a Jew, a Christian or a Muslim and each would defend their answers to the death if needs be. read the Torah or the Bible or the Quran they would say and these, the word of the Lord do not lie. Well till this day and age these three religions which grew from under eh same roof has become almost common enemies down through the ages and nothing in the annals of history or the archaeological search has shed any light unto this subject and we have taken it for granted that it is written and so shall it be,  

The performance of the Haj is mandatory in Islam with a stipulation that one is exempted if one cannot afford to or is too ill to fulfill this commandment. I personally believe that I am not yet invited to the Lord's abode and perhaps never will be. Either way I have accepted the matter and if i am to be punished for not having done so, so shall it be, added to the many other transgressions I have committed in my life. I highly doubt that performing the Haj would make me a better Muslim as i have been observing those that have done so revert back to their old self as before they became haji, some even turn out to become worse in character, more judgemental, arrogant or self righteous towards their fellow man. However a vast majority of those who have performed the Haj came home with a more religiously subdued and tolerant attitude toward others and in themselves. It is as though they have found themselves in who they truly are.

Every year, since the time of the Prophet or even before then man has converged at Mecca and Madina, the two Holy Cities of Islam from every corners of the Earth to perform the Haj. Today it is in the millions and the number keeps growing each year. This is human Collective Consciousness manifesting in it religious form in the worship of the One Divine Spirit. Man's visit to the home of his Maker, to fulfill a covenant that was instructed by the Lord to His Prophet Abraham who was instructed to built the Kaabah along with his son Ishmael. It is indeed a monumental task to have kept this practice alive through the ages, but it is today one of the most awesome sight that is sadi could be seen from outer space when the Muslims circumambulate the Kaaba that originally was nothing more than perhaps a pile of rocks and a small hut erected in the middle of nowhere, by father and son to mark the decree of the Lord in calling man to His presence. Farmers and fishermen, Kings and Presidents till this day approaches the Cube draped in in thick embroidered blanket wiht the same status, none higher or lower in  status, all equal in the eyes of the Lord. This is the Haj, this is where the Collective minds of the Muslims gather and manifest the awesomeness of the Lord of Creation. 
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