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tawakkull · 10 months

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ISLAM 101: Spirituality in Islam: Part 97

Haya (Modesty)

Sufis use haya, which literally means shame, bashfulness, and refraining from saying or doing anything improper or indecent, to describe one who, out of fear and awe of God, seeks to avoid displeasing Him. It urges one to be more careful, self-possessed, and self-controlled, for such restraint, if originating in feelings of modesty, result in paying God the respect He deserves. If these feelings are absent or lost due to familial or environmental influences, it will be difficult to develop them.

In the light of the explanations above, modesty can be divided into two categories: an innate or instinctive feeling of shame, which prevent people from engaging in what is considered shameful and indecent, and modesty originating in belief, which constitutes an important, deep dimension of Islam.

Combining the instinctive feeling of shame with modesty based on Islam forms the greatest safeguard against shameful or indecent acts. Alone, each one may be diminished or utterly lost. If this innate feeling of shame is not combined with awareness coming from belief and expressed in verses like: Does he not know that God sees (all things)? (96:14) and consciousness of God’s constant oversight: God is ever watching over you (4:1), it cannot last long, for its endurance depends on belief. This essential relation between modesty and belief was expressed by God’s Messenger, who told a Companion after hearing his advice on modesty to another man: Leave him, for modesty comes from belief. [1] He also said: Belief has seventy or so divisions. Modesty is a division of belief. [2]

We may conclude from these Prophetic sayings that like other seeds of innate virtues, one’s natural feeling of shame develops to the extent it is strengthened with the forces and means that produce knowledge of God. It then becomes a dimension of one’s spiritual life, an obstacle against the carnal self’s excessive desires. If this feeling is not reinforced and developed with belief and knowledge of God or strengthened with consciousness of God’s constant oversight, and left to dissipate in sensual or carnal pleasure, one will witness in an individual or a community those indecencies and perversions that make anyone truly human ashamed of being human. The glory of mankind and the perfect example of modesty, upon him be peace and blessings, said: If you have no modesty, do whatever you wish. [3]

The words haya (modesty or feeling of shame) and hayat (life) come from the same root. This signifies that modesty is a sign of a lively heart, and that a heart’s liveliness depends on its owner’s belief and knowledge of God. If a heart is not fed continuously with belief and knowledge of God, it is almost impossible for it to remain lively and give rise to modesty.

According to Junayd al-Baghdadi, haya means awareness of God’s bestowed material and immaterial bounties, and consciousness of personal defects and faults. Dhu al-Nun al-Misri holds that haya means that one constantly feels shame in his or her heart on account of personal sins and offenses, and is therefore careful about his or her actions. [4] Another spiritual master defines haya as never forgetting how God treats one and ordering one’s life according to the fact that God sees all that is done and thought.

It is recorded in al-Qushayri’s Al-Risala that God declares: O son of Adam! So long as you maintain your modesty and feeling of shame before Me, I make people forget your defects. [5] The Lord of Might and Dignity also said to Jesus, upon him be peace: O Jesus, first advise your own selfhood. If it accepts your advice, then you may advise others, or else you must feel ashamed of yourself before Me.

Some have mentioned different categories of modesty or shame. For example, the shame or modesty felt by:

– Adam, who felt guilty until he was forgiven.

– Angels for their heartfelt incapacity to give due worship to God, as expressed in their saying: Glory be to You! We are unable to worship You as Your worship requires, although they glorify Him day and night without stopping.

– Gnostics or those distinguished with knowledge of God in the face of His Majesty, despite their profound knowledge of Him, which they express as: Glory be to You! We are unable to know You as Your knowledge requires.

– The spiritually advanced when in awe of God, although they never give in to their carnal desires and ambitions.

– Those distinguished with utmost conviction of God because of their supposed distance from Him, although they always feel His infinite nearness despite the infinite distance of humanity from God Almighty.

– Lovers of God who feel disloyalty arising from their anxiety over not being able to love God as His love requires.

– Those who feel a lack of sufficient sincerity and do not know for what they must pray to God.

– Those exalted ones who are conscious of the fact that they, as human beings, have been honored with the fairest creation, because of the base acts of which they accuse themselves and which, according to them, are irreconcilable with being part of the fairest creation.

The first degree of modesty is to see oneself with the sight of God. That is, the person practices self-control or self-supervision according to God’s standards. This practice engenders a feeling of shame or modesty that produces extreme caution in thoughts and acts. Such a degree of modesty is found in people considered lively on account of their feelings and thoughts.

The second degree is proportional to one’s awareness of nearness to God, and the feeling of always being in His Presence. This can be experienced by those who are always conscious of the meaning of: He is with you wherever you may be (57:4), about which the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, said:

Be as modest before God Almighty, as the necessity of being modest before Him requires. Let him who is blessed with this degree of modesty always control his mind and its contents, as well as his stomach and its contents. Let him always remember death and decay after it. One who desires the afterlife will renounce the adornments of the world. One who is able to do that can feel as much modesty before God as the necessity of being modest before Him requires. [6]

One can reach the third degree by deeply feeling the absolute Divine disposal of all things, by living a life of profound spirituality in pursuit of the final destination: And in your Lord is the final goal (53:42). The effort to reach this final goal continues throughout a whole life dedicated to following the path to Him.

One’s degree of modesty determines one’s true humanness. If a traveler cannot order his or her life and discipline his or her acts according to the demands of the eternal life and to live in utmost humility and modesty, then his or her existence is a personal shame and a burden to others, as stated in the following couplet:

By God, there is good neither in life Nor in the world when modesty disappears.

Modesty is a Divine quality and mystery. If people knew to whom it essentially relates, they would act more carefully and sensitively. To illuminate this point, it is related that

God Almighty asks an old man on the Plain of Resurrection to account for his acts in the world: Why did you commit such and such sins? The old man denies that he had done so. So, the Most Compassionate of the Compassionate commands the angels: Take him to Paradise. The angels want to know why the Almighty has commanded so, although He knows that the old man committed those sins. The Almighty answers: I know, but I looked at his white beard as one belonging to the Community of Muhammad and felt ashamed to tell him that I knew he was lying.

As recorded in Kanz al-‘Ummal, when the Archangel Gabriel told this to God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, the Messenger’s eyes filled with tears and he said regretfully:

God Almighty feels ashamed to punish those of my Community whose beards have turned white, but those of my Community with white beards do not feel ashamed to commit sins. [7]

To sum up: Hayiy (All-Modest) is one of the Divine Names, So strive and acquire modesty.

[1] Al-Bukhari, “Iman,” 16; Muslim, “Iman,” 59; Abu Dawud, “Adab,” 6. [2] Abu Dawud, “Sunna,” 14; Nasa’i, “Iman,” 16. [3] Al-Buhkari, “Anbiya’,” 54; Abu Dawud, “Adab,” 6; Ibn Maja, “Zuhd,” 17. [4] Al-Qushayri, Al-Risala, 215. [5] Ibid., 216. [6] Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 1:387. [7] Nasa’i, “Sahw,” 60.

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sahihmuslim · 3 years

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Sahih Muslim, The Book on Government, Book 33, Hadith 163

It has been narrated on the authority of Anas b. Malik that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:

" Nobody who dies and has something good for him with Allah will (ever like to) return to this world even though he were offered the whole world and all that is in its (as an inducement), except the martyr who desires to return and be killed in the world for the (great) merit of martyrdom that he has seen.

Sahih Muslim, The Book on Government, Book 33, Hadith 163

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sunanannasai · 4 years

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Sunan an Nasa’i: 14 The Book of Jumu'ah

It was narrated that Samurah said:

"The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: 'Whoever performs wudu' on Friday, that is all well and good, but whoever performs ghusl, the ghusl is better.'"

Sunan an Nasa’i: 14 The Book of Jumu'ah 1391

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basicsofislam · 5 years

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PROPHET MUHAMMAD (PBUH)’s BIOGRAPHY : The Conquest of Makkah.4

Pulling Down the Idols!

The Qurayshi polytheists had erected 360 idols around the Kaaba. Those idols had been pinned with leads.[ Bukhari, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 62. ]

The Messenger of God, who had destroyed the idols in the minds, spirits and hearts with the belief of oneness he brought, and who had made thousands of people turn around the light he brought like moths, started to clean the Kaaba from the idols.

He pointed at each idol with the stuff in his hand and read the following verse:

“Truth has (now) arrived, and Falsehood perished: for Falsehood is (by its nature) bound to perish.”[ Al-Isra, 81. ] Each idol that was pointed at by the Prophet fell down. When the Prophet pointed at the face of the idol, it fell off face down. Thus, all of the idols in the Kaaba were demolished.[ Ibn Hisham, ibid, Vol. 4, p. 59; Muslim, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 1408. ]

Adhan in the Kaaba!

It was time for the noon prayer.

Upon the order of the Messenger of God, Bilal started to call the adhan on top of the Kaaba.

There was joy and liveliness in the believing hearts; there was sorrow and downfall in the unbelieving hearts. Bilal, who was a slave and whom the polytheistshad made walk around the streets with the rope they tied around his neck and upon whom they had inflicted undreamt tortures, was declaring the oneness on the Kaaba with his sonorous voice by making the polytheists go mad from jealousy. It sounded as if the mountains and stones were uttering adhan in their own language together with Bilal.

The polytheists were very depressed by the exceptional view. Meanwhile, Abu Sufyan, Attab b. Asid and Harith Ibn Hisham, the leaders of the Quraysh were talking to one another.

Attab said, “My father Asid was lucky because he did not witness this day.”

Insulting Bilal, Harith said, “Could Muhammad not find a person other than this black crow to appoint as a muezzin?”

Abu Sufyan did not utter any negative words. He said,

“I am afraid I will not say anything. Even if there is no one else here, the sands and stones under our feet will inform him about what we say; and he will know all about it.”[ Ibn Hisham, ibid, Vol. 4, p. 56; Ibn Qayyim, Zadu’l-Maad, Vol. 2, p. 184. ]

In fact, a few minutes later, the Messenger of God saw them and told them exactly what they were talking about. Then, Attab and Harith uttered kalima ash-shahada and accepted Islam.[ Ibn Hisham, ibid, Vol. 4, p. 56. ]

Abu Sufyan said, “O Messenger of God! Fortunately, I did not say anything.”

The Messenger of God smiled at him when he said so.

The incidents that took place affected the people of Makkah profoundly. They made the people of Makkah feel good things toward Islam and eliminate the hatred and enmity they felt against the Messenger of God and the Companions.

The Prophet Enters the Kaaba

The Messenger of God sent somebody to Uthman b. Talha and asked for the key to the Kaaba. Though Uthman b. Talha’s mother urged him not to give the key to the Kaaba to the Prophet, Talha gave him the key.

The Messenger of God entered the Kaaba together with Bilal, Usama b. Zayd and Uthman b. Talha (may God be pleased with them).[ Bukhari, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 62. ] He had ordered beforehand that the pictures and idols inside be removed; however, there were still some traces of them inside. He gave an order for those traces to be cleaned up.

After staying inside the Kaaba for a while, the Prophet came out. Meanwhile, almost all of the people of Makkah had gathered and were waiting for the decree of the Prophet about them.

They wondered if the Messenger of God would throw tripe against their faces as they had done to him? Or, would he throw thorns on the road and make them walk on thorns? Or, would he torture and insult them? Would he put a rope around their necks and make them walk around the streets as they had done to some Companions? Would he torture them by making them lie down on scorching sand? Would he leave them hungry and thirsty? Or, would they be expelled?

No, Messenger of God, for whose sake the universe was created and who was sent as mercy for the realms, did not do any of them.

The Sermon of the Conquest

The Messenger of God stood by the door of the Kaaba. He was looking at the people with a smile on his face. After praising and thanking God, he recited the following sermon:

“There is no god but Allah; He has no partners.

He fulfilled His promise; He helped His slave and eliminated the enemies that gathered against him.

Know it well that all of the things that belong to the Era of Jahiliyya and that are regarded as means of pride like feuds, and conflicts regarding property have been abolished.

All people were created out of Adam; and Adam was created out of dust.

“O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other). Verily the most honored of you in the sight of God is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And God has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).” (al-Hujurat, 13) [ Ibn Hisham, ibid, Vol. 4, p. 59; Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, Vol. 3, p. 410; Tirmidhi, ibid, Vol. 5, p. 389; Abu Dawud, Sunan, Vol. 4, p. 185. ]

General amnesty

After his sermon, the Messenger of God asked the people there: “O Qurayshis! What do you think I will do to you?”

The Qurayshis said, “You are a generous and good brother. You are a generous and good nephew. We think you will do good things about us.”

Thereupon, the Messenger of God said,

“My situation and your situation are like what Joseph (Yusuf) said to his brothers.”

“I am saying to you what Yusuf said to his brothers, ‘This day let no reproach be (cast) on you: God will forgive you, and He is the Most Merciful of those who show mercy’” (Yusuf, 92).

“You can leave; you are free.”[ Ibn Hisham, ibid, Vol. 4, p. 55; Ibn Sa’d, ibid, Vol. 2, p. 142; Tabari, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 120. ]

The best pardoning is to pardon when one has power; the best favor is the favor done in return for bad deeds. The best mercy is to show mercy on those who have not shown mercy on you. That was what the Messenger of God did because he was taught the following by God Almighty:

“Hold to forgiveness; command what is right; but turn away from the ignorant.” [ al-A’raf, 199. ]

At that moment, the Qurayshis were waiting in the presence of the Messenger of God lowering their heads and opening their hands. If he had wished, he would have killed all of them in return for the oppression and tortures they had inflicted upon him or he would have enslaved them; he could have confiscated their land and exiled them.

However, the Prophet, who was sent as mercy to the realms, did not do any of them. His only aim was to conquer people’s hearts. Thanks to this exceptional attitude of his, the Prophet served his aim very well. Upon his merciful behavior, pardoning and generosity, the Qurayshi polytheists abandoned their feelings of hatred and enmity; they embraced Islam.

History witnessed such a magnificent spiritual and ideological revolution for the first time.

No Migration after the Conquest

It was on the day when Makkah was conquered.

Abdurrahman b. Safwan brought his father to the presence of the Messenger of God. He said,

“O Messenger of God! My father will pay allegiance to you and promise to migrate.”

The Messenger of God said, “There is no migration after the conquest of Makkah.”

Nevertheless, Abdurrahman wanted his father to benefit from the spiritual reward of being a muhajir. Therefore, he went to Hazrat Abbas, the Prophet’s uncle. He asked Abbas, whom the Prophet loved a lot, to intercede for him.

Abbas accepted Abdurrahman’s request and said to the Prophet, “O Messenger of God! You know my friendship with that person. His father came to you to pay allegiance by promising to migrate but you did not accept him.”

Makkah, which was the only remaining castle of the Arabian polytheists, had been conquered. Islam gained great strength through it. Therefore, the Prophet decided to end the institution of migration. That is why, he did not answer his uncle, whom he loved a lot positively. He said, “There is no allegiance for migration from now onward.”

The migration that the Messenger of God ended was migration from a Muslim land, where Muslims could practice Islam freely to another Muslim land. That is, it was migration from Makkah and places near Makkah to Madinah when the Prophet was alive.

The Second Sermon of the Prophet

On the second day of the conquest, after the noon prayer, the Messenger of God went up the ladder of the Kaaba, leaned back the Kaaba, praised God and addressed the people as follows:

“O people!

There is no doubt that God rendered Makkah haram and untouchable on the day He created the skies and the earth, the sun and the moon; it will remain haram and untouchable until the Doomsday.

It is not permissible for a person who believes in God and the hereafter to shed blood and to cut trees within the boundaries of the Haram of Makkah. To shed blood in Makkah was not permissible before me and it will not be permissible after me, either.

Those who are listening to me here should convey what I say to those who are not here.

…

From his point onward, the family of a person who is killed will have two choices. They will want either the killer to be executed or blood money to be paid to them.

There is no doubt that the most disrespectful, ferocious and fiercest person toward God Almighty among people is the one that kills a person or kills a person other than his murderer or that kills a person in order to take revenge remaining from the Era of Jahiliyya.

A person cannot attribute himself to anybody except his father or a relative of his fathers. A child that is born belongs to the owner of the bed.

It is the duty of the plaintiff to bring evidence to prove his claim and it is the duty of the denier to swear an oath.

There is no Jahiliyya treaty in Islam or migration after the conquest.

A Muslim is a brother of another Muslim; all Muslims are brothers. Muslims are like a single hand against their enemies; they act in cooperation.

...

The bloods of Muslims are equal to one another. They try to fulfill their duties; the weakest of them try to fulfill even the most difficult ones.

Know it very well that a believer, a Muslim cannot be killed for an unbeliever; nor those who have vows among them can be killed for unbelievers living in the land of unbelievers due to their vows.

There is no exchange marriage without dowers in Islam.

A man cannot marry the aunt of his wife while he is married with her.

It is not permissible for a woman to give away the goods of his husband without his permission.

A woman is not allowed to go on a three-day journey or a longer one without being accompanied by one of her mahram men.

Know it very well that a will is not necessary for inheritance. Members of different religion cannot be the inheritors of one another.

The diyah of one finger is ten camels. The diyah of a deep wound under which the bone is seen is five camels.

No prayer can be performed after the morning prayer until the sun rises. No prayer can be performed after the afternoon prayer until the sun sets.

I prohibit you from fasting on two days: One of them is the day of eid al-adha, the other is the day of eid al-fitr.

I showed you the way that you can understand.”[ Ibn Hisham, ibid, Vol. 4, p. 58; Ibn Sa’d, ibid, Vol. 2, p. 137; Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, ibid, Vol. 4, p. 32, Vol. 2, p. 207-211; Bukhari, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 63-66. ]

The Duties of Siqaya and Hijaba are left to the Same People

The Messenger of God stated during the Sermon of the Conquest that all of the transactions, tasks and cases of the Era of Jahiliyya except the services of Siqaya and Hijaba had been abolished.

Siqaya, which was the duty of giving water to hajjis, belonged to Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet.

Hijaba, which was the duty of serving the Kaaba, belonged to Uthman b. Talha.

Abbas applied to the Prophet and asked the Prophet to give both duties to him. However, the Messenger of God regarded it appropriate for him to maintain the duty of Siqaya only as he did it before the conquest.

The Messenger of God was holding the key to the Kaaba. Many Muslims were expecting to have this honorable duty. However, the Prophet summoned Uthman b. Talha and recited the following verse: “God doth command you to render back your Trusts to those to whom they are due; and when ye judge between people that ye judge with justice.” Then he said, “O Uthman! Here is your key. Take it. Today is the day of goodness and keeping promises.”[ Ibn Hisham, ibid, Vol. 4, p. 55; Ibn Sayyid, ibid, Vol. 2, p. 178. ]Then, he gave the key to the Kaaba to uthman.

When Uthman b. Talha took the key and started to walk, the Messenger of God said to him, “Did what I once told you not happen?”

Uthman b. Talha remembered the incident and conversation between him and the Messenger of God and confirmed him:

“Yes, I witness that you are definitely the Messenger of God.”[ Ibn Qayyim, ibid, Vol. 2, p. 184 ]

The incident and the conversation that the Prophet wanted to remind had taken place as follows:

It was before the Migration. Uthman b. Talha had not become a Muslim yet. Once the Prophet wanted to enter the Kaaba but Uthman b. Talha prevented him. Let alone preventing, Talha treated the Prophet rudely and unpleasantly. The Messenger of God did not get furious; as if he had seen the victory of Islam in the future, he calmly and leniently said, “O Uthman! One day will come, I hope you will find me having this key and the power of being able to give it to anybody I wish.” Uthman b. Talha said, “It means the Quraysh will have been eliminated then.” The Prophet said, “No, O Uthman! The Quraysh will attain the real power and honor then.”[ Ibn Sayyid, ibid, Vol. 2, p. 178. ]

Makkans Pay Allegiance to the Prophet

After declaring a general amnesty, the Messenger of God went up the Safa Hill and accepted the allegiance of the Qurayshis. Many years ago, he had declared his prophethood there but he was rejected then. Now, he was accepting the allegiance to Islam from the same people on the same hill.

The allegiance of men to Islam and jihad witnessing that there was no god but Allah and that Muhammad (pbuh) was His Messenger was followed by the allegiance of women.

The Allegiance of Women

The women also paid allegiance to the Prophet by promising not to associate any partners with God, not to steal, not to kill their daughters, not to fornicate and to protect their chastity.”[ Nasafi, Tafsir, Vol. 4, p. 250. ]

Among the leaders of the women who paid allegiance were famous women like Ummuhan, Hazrat Ali’s daughter, Umm Habiba, As b. Umayy’s daughter, Attab Ibn Asid’s aunts, Arwa, Abu As’ daughter Atika, Harith b. Hisham’s daughter and Abu Jahl’s son Ikrima’s wife Umm Hakim and Khalid b. Walid’s sister Fatima. Hind, Abu Sufyan’s wife, about whom the Messenger of God said, “Kill her wherever you see her”, was also among them. She disguised herself and joined the women so that she would not be recognized. She regretted what she had done against the Prophet and Muslims in the past. Despite what she had done, the Messenger of God forgave Hind, who had become a Muslim, and accepted her allegiance.

Abu Quhafa Becomes a Muslim

A person who attains happiness wants his beloved ones to share the same happiness. This feeling is inherent in man.

Hazrat Abu Bakr attained this happiness by being a Muslim. However, his father Abu Quhafa was deprived of this happiness. His son wanted his father to share the same peace and happiness with him. Therefore, he held his father’s hand and took him to the Prophet.

The respectable Prophet, who had expressed perfection of his ethics by saying “My Lord taught me good manners. That is why I have the best manners!”, became very sorry when he saw that Abu Bakr brought his old father to his presence. He showed his kindness and modesty by saying, “It would have been better if you had not brought him here; we would have visited him in his house.”

Hazrat Abu Bakr, who was educated by the Prophet, who was educated by divine manners, said, “O Messenger of God! It is more appropriate for him to visit you than your visiting him.”

After this short conversation, the Messenger of God put his blessed hands on the chest of Abu Quhafa and wiped his chest. Then, he said, “O Abu Quahafa! Become a Muslim.”

Abu Quahafa, who was addressed like that, became a Muslim at once and made his son happy.[ Ibn Hisham, ibid, Vol. 4, p. 48; Ibn Sa’d, ibid, Vol. 5, p. 451. ]

Those who had been Ordered to be Killed Become Muslims

When Utba bint Hind, the wife of Abu Sufyan, one of the fiercest enemies of Islam was forgiven, those who had been ordered to be killed wherever they were seen started to become hopeful. They also became Muslims and were forgiven by the Messenger of God. Among those people were Ikrima b. Abi Jahl, Abdullah b. Abi Sarh (he had converted from Islam), Safwan b. Umayya, Suhayl b. Amr, Wahshi, who had murdered Hazrat Hamza, Abdullah b. Zabari, the poet, Harith b. Hisham and Anas b. Zunaym.

Is it possible to see another person who treated his most ferocious enemies so kindly, who showed mercy on them, forgave them, opened his heart to them and accepted them to his rank in the world history?

The Bedouin Shakes

Makkah had been conquered.

Faces and hearts were joyful. There was an exceptional atmosphere of festival in the city.

Meanwhile, a Bedouin approached the Prophet. He was shaking and shivering because of the nervousness and fear of being in the presence of a prophet.

When the Messenger of God noticed the situation, he said, “What are you doing? Come to your senses! I am not a king; I am the son of a Qurayshi woman who lived on dried pieces of meat under the sun.”[Ibn Kathir, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 556; Halabi, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 43; Qadi Iyad, ash-Shifa, Vol. 1, p. 266.]

With those words, the Prophet set a unique example of modesty. When he was left free to choose between becoming a prophet who is a king and a prophet who is a servant, he chose to be a prophet who is a servant.

Modesty was always prevalent in his heart.

When the Bedouin heard those words from the Messenger of God, he felt relieved and stopped shaking.

An Example of Justice

Makkah had been conquered but the Messenger of God had not left this holy land yet.

A woman from Sons of Mahzum called Fatima bint Aswad committed theft. She was a respectable, noble woman and the Qurayshis respected her.

The Prophet was informed about the situation. They knew that the hand of a person who stole would be cut off. However, they were thinking about it and asking one another, “How could the hand of a woman of high rank be cut off?”

The family of Fatima was looking for a gleam of hope to save Fatima’s hand. They wanted someone to go to the Prophet and be an intercessor. However, nobody dared it.

Eventually, Usama b. Zayd undertook this duty. Usama was loved by the Prophet a lot. He probably accepted to talk to the Prophet about the issue by trusting his love.

When Usama asked the Messenger of God to forgive the woman, the color of the face of the Messenger of God changed and he said,

“Are you talking to me about forgiving a penalty that God imposed in order to stop bad deeds?”

Usama felt sorry and said, “O Messenger of God! Ask God to forgive me for this behavior of mine.”

After teaching Usama a lesson, the Messenger of God stood up in the evening, praised God and addressed the people around as follows:

“Those before you were destroyed because of the following attitudes:

When a person of high status stole, they let him go, and when a person of low status stole, they enforced the sentence on to him.

I swear by God, in whose hand is the existence of Muhammad, if Fatima, Muhammad's daughter, stole, I would cut her hand off”:

Then, he ordered the hand of the woman be cut off. The hand of the woman was cut off.

The woman repented and then got married. She often visited Hazrat Aisha after that.[ Bukhari, ibid, Vol. 3, p. 65; Muslim, ibid, Vol. 5, p. 114. ]

With this attitude, the Prophet set a unique example of justice, which is indispensable for the continuation of a nation.

The Places around Makkah are Cleaned of Idols

After cleaning the Kaaba and Makkah from the idols, the Prophet wanted to eliminate the idols around the city.

He sent Khalid b. Walid with a group of thirty people to demolish the idol Uzza, which was in Nahla. Upon this order, Khalid demolished Uzza, which was regarded as the greatest idol among the Qurayshis.[ ]Ibn Sa’d, ibid, Vol. 2, p. 145.]

The Prophet sent Sa’d b. Zayd al-Ashhal in order to demolish Manat, the idol on the mount of Mushallal. It was the idol of Aws and Khazraj tribes. Upon the order of the Prophet Sa’d b. Zayd went there with the Muslims near him, demolished Manat and returned.

Another famous idol of the polytheists was Suwa. It was in a place about three miles away from Makkah. The Messenger of God sent Amr b. As to demolish that idol, which was the idol of the Sons of Kinana, Huzays and Muzaynas. Amr fulfilled his duty and returned to Makkah.[ ]Ibn Sa’d, ibid, Vol. 2, p. 146. ]

With the conquest of Makkah, both the inside of Makkah and the places around it were cleaned of idols; the hearts of the Qurayshis were also cleaned of polytheism and became spotless with the light of oneness.

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jcmorrigan · 4 years

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Me(n)tal Fatigue

The F/O? XR from Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. The S/I? Rachel Sparks - fifth ranger of Team Lightyear with a big heart for justice (and no glasses in this ‘verse because I suppose Nebula would surgically augment my eyes to make sure Zurg couldn’t rip the glasses off and stomp on them, which is a Zurg tactic). This one goes as an epilogue to the ep “Head Case,” and watch me project neurodivergent headcanons upon a ROBOT. Listen, I have evidence as to why he has OCD, GAD, or both and I can produce receipts.

***

She crossed his path later that night, just after hours, in the hallways connecting the barracks. Not an infrequent occurrence, given the proximity of her barrack to his storage unit. As always, they greeted each other as friends.

She put up her hand; “Hey.”

He made finger guns at her and clicked his tongue, winking.

This was the part where they would just breeze by each other and keep on going, usually. But tonight –

“Hey. XR.”

They’d already passed each other by a couple paces in her case and cycles in his, and XR heard Rachel’s call to him when his back was already turned to her. He turned a quick 180 to see her regarding him with an air of concern that was, frankly, surprising. Shouldn’t she be used to this by now?

“You know, I didn’t come THAT close to dying this time,” he said, cavalier as ever, a flippant shrug punctuating it. “YOU were the one who almost exploded.”

Oh, that realization didn’t sit well with him.

“I know,” Rachel replied.

The words were so hard to dig up. She knew what she wanted – had – to ask him. But was it out of obligation as a friend, or some twisted excuse to get more attention from him? She wrestled with herself in her mind over the topic. This was why having feelings for someone was horrible. You could never trust your own intentions.

She ended up just staring at XR blankly for a minute and a half, at which point he remarked, “Ooooookay, Rachel’s finally glitched out. And here, I thought that didn’t happen to organics.” In a blink, he was up in her face, escalated to her height so he could wave a hand in her face; “HEL-LOOOOO! STAR COMMAND TO RACHEL SPARKS! IS THERE A SIGN OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THERE?”

She snorted, then broke down giggling.

“I’m not sure whether to take that as a good sign or one that you’ve just completely lost it,” XR commented.

“I’m fine,” Rachel said, calming down. “I just…wanted to ask you something. It might not be something you wanna talk about.”

“You grossly underestimate my desire to talk about anything for long periods of time, especially if that ‘anything’ is related to myself.”

“Well, you’re in luck,” Rachel replied. “But seriously, if you don’t wanna answer the question, you don’t have to.”

He reverted to his usual height. “You’re gonna kill me from curiosity, Rach. If your goal here was to finish the job XL started, you’re doing a bang-up job.”

“I was the one he almost blew up, remember?”

XR really, really didn’t like considering the actual implications there. “No, seriously, what’s the big, scary question?”

“Well…”

She had to ask. Even if it was just an excuse to get him to talk to her. Either way, she knew he needed to talk about it. If his case was anything like hers, anyway. And she knew it was.

On impulse, Rachel repositioned, dropping to the floor to sit with legs folded in a pretzel-reminiscent configuration, making her actually have to look up to meet XR’s line of sight. “So. Everybody thought you had ‘mental fatigue.’”

“We’re getting comfortable for this. That should be a red flag.”

“You don’t have to answer.”

“I at least need to know where you’re going with this.”

“It’s just…” Rachel faltered on the wording, then decided to simply be blunt: “DO you?”

XR flinched. “What, you think I’m some kind of nutcase? Granted, that would fall in line with your brand of affectionate insult – “

“Just hear me out, okay?” Rachel interrupted. “It’s all these things I’ve been noticing. How you straight-up ditched the team after having an air freshener ripped out. That was the first clue. You KNOW I’ve been there. It really looks like if you think you’re not perfect, you might as well not try. And then there’s the whole NOS-4-A2 thing. You’ve been taking him…REALLY hard. And then there was that attack that kicked this whole evaluation off, and…”

“You are reading way, WAY too much into things,” XR replied, waving a hand as though to brush off Rachel’s speculation entirely. “Everyone has problems facing down a legitimate archnemesis. The rest of that is just my lovable quirks.”

“And that’s…fine,” Rachel said unsurely. “It’s just that…I’ve…been a lot of these places. Not all of them, but…sometimes it really looks like you’re dealing with some heavy shit. Like you’re scared. Like you feel you’re losing control. Like you’re anxious.”

“Robots don’t get anxiety disorder,” XR said dismissively. “I am literally programmed not to have anything your armchair diagnosis has led you to believe I have.”

“And I’m totally ready to bring out the apology train for assuming,” Rachel went on. “I just had to ask if…” She swallowed hard. “If you were okay. That’s really all I want to know. Because if you’re not, then I figured you might wa – need to talk about it. And if you do, then…I’m here. But if I’m wrong, then just tell me straight, I’ll shut the fuck up, and I’ll go directly to bed without passing Go or collecting two hundred unibucks.”

XR regarded Rachel with mild suspicion. “And after I answer, you intend to do WHAT with that information, exactly?”

“Nothing,” Rachel told him. “This isn’t like taping me stupid dancing. I’m not gonna broadcast it or use it as blackmail. Like I know you wouldn’t do for anything ACTUALLY important.”

His immediate instinct was to make a wisecrack about that, but that was perhaps the one sacred covenant between them, and he knew better. She was right about that much.

“I’m just…” Her voice was barely able to eke out the next words due to the pounding of her heart. “Worried about you.”

The silence only lasted a few seconds, but they could both feel how heavy it was and what it carried with it.

“Well,” XR said at last. “Don’t be, because there is nothing to worry about.”

Rachel looked up to him, giving him a nod in response. Maybe she’d been wrong. It was entirely likely she’d been projecting.

His smile was broad, his body language solid. “You think it’s gonna take a few near-death experiences to break XR, Robot Ranger? Well, think again, my grammatically correct friend. I’ve been on the force longer than you have, you know.”

By a couple months, she thought, but she didn’t voice this, instead nodding.

“And I’ve seen things,” XR went on confidently. “Things that would reduce your average civilian to tears. But me? I am resilient in all conditions! Mental fatigue? Please. At the end of the day, nothing REALLY gets to me. Only the satisfaction of bad guys stopped, a job well done, and, if the day has gone according to plan, side cash earned from a moonlight venture. Granted, it’s a fifty-fifty shot that that part ever goes according to plan.”

Seventy-thirty, Rachel corrected internally, and not in your favor.

“In conclusion,” XR stated, “you don’t need to get your pretty little head worried about me, because I am completely, totally, one HUNDRED percent – NO I’M NOOOOOOOT!”

The shift had been completely unpredictable; suddenly he was shaking like a leaf, fluid welling up at the bases of his eye-lights. Rachel flinched; it was like he’d been replaced again, like an entirely different robot stood before her, but she knew it was him. And she knew it was exactly as she’d suspected.

“I DON’T WANNA KEEP DEALING WITH THIS!” XR went on, his voice cracking. “I DON’T WANNA LEAVE DUTY, EITHER! I CAN’T HAVE ANYONE THINKING I’M NUTS! BUT EVERY TIME THAT ENERGY-SUCKING VAMPIRE REARS HIS HEAD, OR XL RIPS ME TO PIECES, I DON’T EVEN KNOW IF I’M GONNA MAKE IT OUT THIS TIME! AND I REMEMBER THAT! I THINK ABOUT THAT!”

Rachel didn’t reply. She simply listened. He had to say his piece. He’d had to say it for some time now. Though she had to admit she wasn’t as prepared for this reaction as she’d thought she had been. She had asked for candor, but hadn’t expected things to get quite this candid.

Nor was she expecting it when he leaned right into her, his arms suddenly extending to wrap tightly around her in a desperate search for comfort, for understanding. She froze, her heart the only part of her in motion, and that dangerously so, throbbing so fast it might just explode. Feelings. She cursed them. If she didn’t have those feelings for him, this wouldn’t be so difficult to navigate, and she could just be there for him without pausing or stuttering. She could just –

Well, realizing what a rational Rachel without a crush would do indicated what the real Rachel had to.

She wrapped her own arms around his cylindrical body, pulling him a bit closer. Thinking about how there might not even be any benefit he’d get from that, being unable to sense tactile stimulation and all. Knowing that didn’t matter.

“And you know – YOU KNOW – I’m only the way I am because of an accident!” XR babbled. “I got smashed to smithereens, and when they put me back together, I was me! Nobody knows how that even happened! And every time since then, when I’ve been pounded to bits, I come back as me! But what if I DON’T come back as me next time? What if I actually get deleted? Erased? Eighty-sixed?”

Rachel had never even thought about that before, and she had to admit even she was horrified. No. She couldn’t tell him she was worried about that now on top of his mental state. She had to be the strong one here. It’s what she would want if it were her doing the crying.

“ – and that energy-sucker’s obedience code is STILL in my data banks, and I’ve erased it THREE times since then, but it keeps reprogramming itself, and I can’t get rid of it, I CAN’T GET RID OF IT – “

Her hand gently slid up and down his back. Now, that gesture probably was absolutely useless, but still, any way to let him know, without verbally interrupting, that she was listening, that she was understanding as best she could.

“ – and THIS time, it was almost YOU that bit the dust, and that would’ve been on me! Forever! Knowing I let you get blown up!”

A cold flush ran over Rachel. He’d really been that afraid for her?

“And what kind of ranger lets all of his friends go down like THAT? Listen, I know I’m not the galaxy’s most morally upstanding guy, but – “

Oh. He’d meant the collective “you.” That made more sense.

This went on for a while. What he poured out, she absorbed, and soon she was the one shaking, having to hold all of this knowledge, even if it was only confirmation of what she’d theorized. Then there was silence, the pair of them locked together in the middle of a public hallway, surprisingly not having attracted any outside attention or gotten in the way of passersby. The benefits of waiting until after hours to have a breakdown.

At last, very quietly, XR said, “I needed that,” and Rachel knew it was over. They let go of each other, slowly, and when XR met Rachel’s gaze again, his tears had dried, and he was putting on his best game face.

“And you KNEW I needed that,” he said in an even tone.

“I guessed,” Rachel said. The first words she’d spoken in a while.

“And you’re NEVER going to tell anyone.”

“No,” Rachel affirmed. “This stays between us. Unless you want to take it to anyone else.”

“I don’t need them kicking me out for this,” XR said firmly.

“I don’t want them kicking you out for this,” Rachel agreed. “You’re still doing GREAT. Being a little…um…”

“Insane? Loco? Bananas?” “…I don’t have a more polite word right now. The best I have is ‘messed up.’ But being a little bit that-stuff hasn’t really held you back that much. People get stress like that.”

XR fixed Rachel with a particularly corrective look; “People?”

“And robots,” Rachel said with a nod. “And you do a great job of working around it. I just know that sometimes, when it gets like that…if you don’t find a place to let it out, you’ll just collapse.”

“Well, in that case…” XR suddenly lost a bit more confidence, tapping his index finger points together sheepishly. “I probably owe you one for being the – “

“No. You don’t.” She was stern on that point. “Never. And I don’t wanna hear it brought up again.”

“Right.” A double take, as though he was only just now realizing where he was, and what time it was. “Basically, this never happened.”

“What never happened?”

“Exactly.”

Though Rachel couldn’t be completely selfless. “A thank-you WOULD be nice, though. That’s literally all I want.”

“Well, thank you,” XR said, sounding completely offhand.

Even though Rachel knew he was anything but.

She set about getting to her feet. “Anyway, we both need to get to bed. I’m gonna hate myself in the morning if I don’t go to sleep – “ She checked her watch. “ – thirty minutes ago.”

“As opposed to how you USUALLY are in the mornings?”

“It gets so much worse than you know.”

“Well, that’s not reassuring,” XR told her, completely casual now. “Meanwhile, you know the drill. Don’t need sleep; still love it.”

She nodded. Then said “Goodnight” as though that were in any way sufficient to close out the situation that had just taken place.

Rachel turned to walk away when she heard it:

“Hey. Rach.”

She turned back to see XR regarding her with a look of concern this time; a mirror image of the incident that had begun the conversation.

“It hit me that you figured all this stuff out about ME because you were reminded of YOU,” he pointed out. “How messed up are YOU? For lack of a better term, of course.”

She bristled. “Enough.”

“And who do YOU talk to about it?”

“No one,” she admitted. “But it’s fine. I’m an old pro at this.”

“Oh, reeeeaaaaally.” The skepticism dripped.

“Who am I even gonna talk to?” Rachel asked, half hoping against hope –

“Well, they do say turnabout is fair play,” XR told her. “You COULD unload all your sorrows on your local sympathetic robot.”

As absolutely wonderful as that sounded, Rachel had to call it out for the pipe dream it was. “You don’t really wanna talk about my issues. I know you’re just trying to be a good friend, and probably get me to talk you up about being such a good friend, but you don’t want to. Not really. And that’s fine. You don’t have to. You’re a good friend for other reasons. I’m the hear-you-out-on-your-vents friend. You’re the pull-elaborate-stunt-to-get-me-un-fired friend. It’s fine.”

“Oh, yeah?” XR retorted. “You think I can’t handle your problems? Try me.”

Well, now Rachel realized she’d challenged him to prove his worth, and he wasn’t going to back down. “Another time,” she told him, vowing to herself to never let him know when she was having such troubles. “It’s late o’clock right now, and I just want to go to sleep.” By which she meant push her curfew another hour and a half reading fanfictions and critical analyses.

“Just know I’m here when you need me,” XR stated, all too boastfully. He couldn’t be honest about this, Rachel worried.

“And I’m here when you need me,” she replied, meaning it deeply. “Whenever.”

I’d probably do way too much for you, she added internally. I like you so much. I need you to be okay.

“Now GOODNIGHT,” she asserted as she turned on a heel and briskly strode off to her barrack.

XR watched her practically speeding away, still not really able to move on from what had just happened. He was trusting her with a lot now, but he knew she was exactly the right person for that, regardless of venom swapped between them in the past. He was perhaps just a little more fond of her now – not romantically, not in the way she’d have wanted, but he still had no clue of that.

It was just a very, very good thing XL hadn’t blown her up.

XR now made direct tracks for his storage unit, resolving to forget about all he’d said and all she’d listened to but immediately replaying the conversation in his mind, word-for-word, ten times at least.

#selfship #electric love #xrach

2 notes · View notes

redpaperowl · 6 years

Text

D&D Tonight

Apparently, we’re still in the prologue!

H: Pretty sure that the fuck ugly minotaur *says a name I didn’t catch or care about* is embezzling.

H: DO NOT THROW OATS AROUND. ZAZZLES. Z: Why are you looking at me there are two of us. DM: Kinisik is still allowed to throw oats. K: YAY!

K: I can hear typing. Z: That might be me. DM: Or me, I’m writing notes up. Z: I CHALLENGE YOU TO A TYPING DUEL. Typing consumes the audio

K: Unless the minotaur was always the doppleganger? Z: What if I just rip his face off? Is it another mask?

Kinisk presents us with an indepth question: If you kill a shapeshifter, do they revert back or do they stay the same?

Z: Even the doctors called it a prison! DM: IT CAUGHT ON DAMN IT.

H: Either that or she was stoned off her tits.

H: I’m going to stop saying “stoned off her tits”.

K: CHICKEN PORN? H: Oh great, so we’re not just having a rat farm, we’re making chicken porn now. DM: M&S Chicken Porn. K: This isn’t just any chicken porn, this is M&S Chicken Porn. H: Could be worse. Could be S&M.

H: I mean is he even an orphan now? We adopted him. Z: Just because we adopted him doesn’t erase his dead parents. H: Yes but it does erase whether we care. *Silence* H: No one argued there, I’m concerned.

H: KINISK - OPERATION SANTA.

DM: You get to the chimney. Z: When Kinsik got stuck up the chimney, he began to shout... do do do do do do do do do

DM: Yep, your lack of a bum helps you ease in through the chimney.

K: I’m going to take one of these cool masks for Zazzles. Z: Aww. Bae.

K: Shut up mind-Henrich.

Pictured: The idiot Detective Sergeants

K: I’m going to take this chess set for Henrich. DM: It’s a very boring chess set, clearly this guy plays against himself. H: Masturbatory, he plays with himself!

DM: Avery opens the lock. Z: WELL DONE ORPHAN WE ARE PROUD OF YOU. H: YOU WERE A SOUND INVESTMENT.

DM: It’s a very clean kitchen. Z: TOO CLEAN. BECAUSE NO ONE REALLY COOKS HERE. DM: No, more sort of the kitchen of a germaphobe. Z: That’s weird when we’re looking for a worshipper of the disease man. K: YOU’RE A WORSHIPPER OF THE DISEASE MAN. Z: IT WAS A MISTAKE WE ALL COULD HAVE MADE.

DM: Are you looking for oats? H: No? DM: Oh!

H: And he was as dumb as... Z: One of us? H: Yeah. I mean I was going to say as Zazzles’ dumb twin. Z: OHHHH. K: I will stab you. IRL.

Zazzles and Henrich start fucking up the minotaurs house. We move his furniture one inch to the left, we ram food into cupboards where he won’t find it. Moved his chamberpot to the other side of the bed, mixed up his cutlery, we made his table wobbley, smeared mustard into the grout between his tiles, we swapped his salt and sugar over. Purely because fuck that guy.

DM: None of you are full human. H: Nope, we’re all mongrels.

Henrich rolls a 24 on perception. DM: The books look weird.

H: Is it a confession? “It was me, I done it, signed butt-ugly-minotaur”.

Zazzles had a family meal with Avery using the minotaurs best food because “Then he has to go shopping again, nothing more annoying than that”.

H: Also, Kinisk has probably tracked soot and sewage through this guys room. K: I’m currently touching up all his clothes.

H: I probably don’t want to steal his books, that’s a crime. DM: You’re already breaking and entering. H: It’s another crime. I work off of the weight watchers system. I’m allowed so many sins a day.

Z: I WILL TAKE IT. I WILL TAKE THE BOOK FROM HIS HOUSE.

Z: There’s a second book? DM: Yeah... the book... and the book to decipher it. Z: OH. DECIPHER. I THOUGHT YOU GUYS WERE SAYING SIPHON. LIKE AS IN TO SIPHON SOMEONE’S PETROL. YOUR CONVERSATION MAKES A LOT MORE SENSE NOW.

K: I’m going to take a dump on the bed. Everyone else: URGHHH!!! D:

Z: We should just burn the house down.

Zazzles burns all his masks. Z: ALL OF THEM. HE IS A TWO-FACED PERSON AND NOW HE HAS NO FACES. HE HAS TO LOOK BACK AT THE UGLY DISGUSTING FACE IN THE MIRROR.

H: What if his neighbours see the smoke, like the strange people who climbed through the roof? Z: Maybe they hate him too.

Henrich and Kinisk leave in a comical slap-stick manner and all of the neighbours see them. Avery sneaks out the back door. Zazzles gets out fine because all the neighbours assume she must be the minotaurs friend since he talks about her all the god damn time to complain.

DM: There are no pictures. Z: I’m just going to throw the book. Fuck this book.

Z: I just want to say, you all keep blaming me for causing this plague but when Hel asked me to start a plague, I SAID NO.

DM: Because once you get sick, you get better and you don’t get sick from that again, it’s good. Z: I mean, not always, if you get gangrene in your arm and it gets lopped off... H: You won’t get gangrene in that arm again.

Z: So you’re saying that anyone who had this plague is a superbeing? DM: No, I mean that - Z: ORPHAN YOU ARE A SUPERBEING.

DM: It’s a trade-off, the strong ones continue, the weak ones die off because they weren’t good enough. Z: I’m just imagining someone getting to the afterlife and their deity tells them “you just weren’t good enough”.

I made our orphan cry. H: Zazzles, don’t bully the dwarf.

Our legal team is coaching us through how to lie better on how we got the books from Minotaur man’s house.

Legal Team: ...taking our cut. H: As long as its not out of Avery. Legal Team: That was a poor choice of words, we are sorry.

Our legal team took down the hospital and inform us on everything once the guards investigated. DM: Zazzles was on the ball the whole time. Zazzles worked it out ages ago. Z: I am the Professor Trewlawney of the group.

WE FINISHED THE PROLOGUE

#our misadventures

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cloudvelundr · 7 years

Text

Reciprocate

Cloud receives a package.

... due to the increased risk we would recommend phasing out the E04 models in favour of reverting to series C, or testing any F- and G-series as with the rate of attacks the E series is quickly falling to an irreparable state. We would tentatively recommend the F2-2 [link: specs] F3.4-2 [link: specs] or the G5-B [link: specs] provided that the units do not emit any byproduct noise in the range of the danger frequencies – testing may be required as this is not noted on any available reports. Likewise, the towers in the Thurmir and Jarfast townships are also affected but the already in service F2-0 will be sufficient as they are in a milder climate zo

“Oh la laa! Someone’s been holding out on us!”

Cloud blinked away from his report to where Sebastian was cackling over one of the oversized reusable crates Shinra sent out most of it’s shipments in. He’d heard him in the hall chatting with the delivery team between the steady sound of boxes thumping down but it’d been easy to ignore: he was on a roll and over the summer shipments came every couple days for as long as they could. The delivery guys had cut through the common area to the kitchen – technically the mess but it really didn’t qualify – a little while ago leaving Sebastian to rummage and start whittling the pile away. The current box had a post office stamp.

“Someone sent a dildo,” he wheezed.

The couriers heads popped back in.

A “what?” filtered faintly though the ceiling followed by a thundering across the room into the kitchen and then Paige was pushing in looking delighted. Andy followed more sedately.

“Did I hear mail order sex toys?”

Snerk. “No- well, maybe. I dunno – just saw it.”

“Well let’s see! Who’s it for?”

“Gimme a sec, gimme a sec! It’s under some shit.”

He dove back in under the amused watch of the gathered. Cardboard slithered and he cursed, and started removing packages: “Henry... Mairi... oh, hey, sir got something heavy... ‘nother for Henry.. Tomeo... hmmm... aaaand here we are!”

He popped up triumphantly, whoever’s prize in hand.

At about a foot long it looked like two boxes taped together, one smallish but wide and another narrow and long like a post on a pedestal, it did look like it could be a dick in a box. Sebastian flipped it around to find the label and read it with raised eyebrows.

“Hey blondie, something you wanna tell us?”

Cloud squinted at the package as Sebastian brought it over, their entirely too happy squadmates looking on. He accepted it bemusedly and checked the sender.

Zack. Of course it was Zack. Except it shouldn’t be.

“... This is too soon for vengeance.”

“Come again now.”

Cloud ignored him in favour of diving for his PHS, blinking almost invisibly in the light of the room. What were the odds, he wondered around the growing bubble in his chest. The top message was in fact from Zack.

It said: why are you like this

Underneath was a picture of Cloud’s birthday gift to him, in heavy shipping paper, wrapped in loving detail with remarkable resemblance to a dildo.

Cloud snorted into his hand. Started to giggle. Slid to the floor laughing.

“You okay down there?”

He waved off the concern and offered his phone to someone’s hand while he pulled himself upright, amusement still bubbling.

Somewhere behind him Paige started snickering.

“I was gonna ask who does that, but apparently you do.”

A quick flick of keys revealed something somewhat lumpy, brightly wrapped in confetti printed birthday paper, sharing the same shape as it’s box so he pulled it out and lay them side by side.

“Alright give me my phone.”

He took a picture and sent it.

you’re one to talk

and that’s not your coffee table

i sent it to your apprtmt why are you opening it on base

The reply was almost immediate.

i may have forwarded my mail

i’m in icicle for two more weeks but mom was sending cookies

And then the phone rang.

“Zack I swear if there’s chocobo underwear in this thing it doesn’t matter where you are I will find a way to hurt you.”

“Dammit I knew I forgot something.”

There was an echoing quality to his voice. Other voices were chuckling a little too loudly in answer.

“... You’re on speaker phone aren’t you?”

“No point pretending the peanut gallery can’t hear us.”

“Point,” he agreed and switched his as well in favour of poking his gift. There was something hard and brickish wrapped in the not-underpants. “Anyone I know?”

“Don’t think so? Guys this is Cloud, sender of suspiciously wrapped objects. His birthday’s the week after mine.”

“You mean his name isn’t Spike? You lied to me Fair. I’m hurt.”

“Ivo?”

“Real deep. Right here.”

“Piss off.”

“Seriously though, is it a dildo?”

“No. No it is not.”

“Because it’s really convincing.”

“... In my defence I was bored.”

“You’re sure?”

“Zack, I’m a craftsman. Fake fake dick isn’t hard to do.” Someone laughed again. “Besides, Aer might kill me.”

“’Cause this wrap job’s a work of art.”

“Just open the damn thing.”

“Hear hear!”

“You too, Spike.”

“Please,” Andy leaned on the couch, a smirk colouring her words, “show us what wonders the sad penis holds.”

“Fine, fine – happy birthday, dork.”

“You too, nerd.” Paper ripped. “... of course you wrapped it in puppies and cupcakes. Why did I think you wouldn’t.”

“I have a giant roll of that stuff,” It was a rather lovely pastel blue too. Cloud hefted his gift and considered where to start, “I’ll using it for years.”

Cloud heard Zack sigh before another heavy rip and rustle came over the speaker, and decided to open the shaft before the heavy thing could escape on it’s own – already he could see holes where the corners were trying to work their way free. When he ripped in it tried to anyway, nearly slipping free in an explosion of obnoxious sport socks.

The audience pouted.

“Aw, no dildo.”

“Nice whetstone though.”

“Did you have to pick the most eye peeling socks you could find?”

“Duh. Did you have to use duct tape?”

“Well how else was I supposed to attach the banana to the egg thing?”

“He’s got you there, Fair.”

“Why would anyone even need a two egg travel case.”

“Lunch? Hard boiled is a thing.”

“You could put the cream egg things you like in them.”

“Point.”

Click.

“Score! Banana has candy!” A patter of little thumps.

“Of course you immediately dump them.”

“Mmm. Where did you get the fruit things?” Zack asked, clacking one against his teeth, “I can never find them.”

“Places.”

“That’s helpful.”

“I aim to serve,” he replied, plucking at the remaining wrapping.

“Pff. Liar.”

The paper gave way to another pair of socks – the thickest, fluffiest he’d ever seen, and probably the first he’d wear out come winter – which were bundled around a small, flat plastic case. The clasp was stiff but snapped open to reveal game data cards.

“Awesome,” Cloud grinned. The new Tales of Zelig was first up. “I know what I’ll be doing all winter. Thanks!”

“You’re welcome! Two of them were already yours though – I grabbed them when I put the cases with your stuff.”

“Thanks, I didn’t realize I’d forgotten them.”

“No prob.”

“Now finish yours.”

“Yeah, crack open your balls, Fair.”

“That sounds wrong,” Paige muttered. Cloud thought he might’ve flinched.

Sebastian sniggered. “Psssh. It’s hilarious and your know it.”

There was a popping noise and a pause.

“Dude.”

“Cloud, are these what I think?”

“Are they spawns of the materia you keep threatening to steal? Yeah. Yeah they are.”

“You meme loving fuck, I am going to lord this over Genesis forever.”

“Does the commander not have them?”

“No, they’re super rare. Like how you even have them I don’t know.”

Cloud sat back, pensive. “Really? ‘Cause I literally just... found them.”

“Because your luck is stupid. Man, I have only ever even heard of like three Knights, and yours is one. There was a Turk sharpshooter who had one but it went missing when he did.”

“And the last one?” asked one of the couriers.

“There’s supposed to be a green mage on one of the Goblin Islands. Don’t know who it is but even Genesis won’t touch them. But you just found it on a scree. And the water-healing thing- you said you woke up on the way to Midgar and saw it in the bushes but it doesn’t even have a name.”

“Huh.”

“So yeah, it’ll piss Gen off so much. It’s gonna be great.”

“You’re nuts.”

“He’s not like the rumours – the Firaga Incident didn’t actually happen.”

Paige and the delivery guys looked dubious.

“Yeah, I haven’t met him but his men are stupid loyal. You don’t get that by being the crazy who lights your people on fire.”

“These materia probably wouldn’t cooperate with him though. He’s more dark red and these are definitely white and light. He’ll still be jealous as Hel.”

“Now you just have to keep Treasure Princess away.”

There was a pause.

“Treasure Princess, Fair?”

“... Shit. She will won’t she.”

Cloud started laughing quietly into his hand.

“You had ulterior motives, didn’t you?”

“No- I forgot about her until just now. She only really bothers you. But you’ve got to admit it’s funny.”

“I guess.”

“Oh stop pouting.”

“I am not p-”

“He totally is.”

“Traitor.”

“Well,” Andy stood and stretched, “thank you boys for the entertainment, but some of us need to get back to preparing for patrol.”

There was a sudden cursing from the phone: “Shit, us too.”

“Come on Paige. Happy birthday Fair.”

“And Cloud, gift wrapping champion. You guys deserve each other.” The other voices echoed.

“Thanks peanut gallery.” Cloud replied to fading sounds of their movements and switched the PHS back to his ear as his squad wandered back to wherever they had been. The couriers had vanished. He could hear the sound of candy wrappers shuffling as Zack gathered the treats from wherever he’d dumped them. “You too?”

“Yeah. They’re my team – there’s marlboro breeding grounds sprung up nearby.”

“Ew.”

“No kidding.”

“Still, good birthday?”

“It was alright. Quiet. One of the guys bought a cake – it was actually fantastic. But... I’d rather been home.”

“Hmm,” Cloud agreed, arranging his own things on his computer to move. The report could wait a bit. “Same. I think Adam is threatening to bake something, but.”

“Yeah.”

“Still, not a bad place to spend it.”

“And not bad company either.”

“No – the looks I got for that package though.”

Snerk. “It’s the baby-face,” Zack said. “They forgot you’re twenty and a little shit.”

“No, they know that,” Cloud replied, sliding past Sebastian and into the hall.

Sebastian looked up and grinned, “Yeah, it’s ‘oh god our next captain is the kind of guy who sends dildo shaped presents.’”

“Yeah. That.”

“But he also warks back at chocobos, calls anything vaguely canine a puppy, was probably responsible for the glitter ATVs, and is generally a massive nerd, so I don’t know why we’re surprised.”

Zack was laughing again.

Cloud groaned and kept going. “You both suck.”

“Heh. Anyway, I really gotta go now. I’ll try to call you again soon.”

“Alright, say hi to Aerith for me?”

“Will do! And I’ll find you those chocobo boxers!”

“Zackary Fair, Don’t You Fucking Da-” Cloud cut off at the dial tone: “And he’s gone. Jerk,” he murmured fondly and with a shake of his head made his way to his room.

Stuffing the socks in a drawer and the stone with his maintenance supplies, Cloud settled into his desk and flipped his computer back open. And paused. And closed it again.

He reached for the little case, and flicked through it’s contents. It was mid August, still summer most places but there cooling soon and much work blowing in on the wind. It could well be winter before he got another truly quiet hour.

“Try’n’a spoil me,” he murmured, and slotted one into his console instead.

The report could wait.

#velundr writes #cloud strife #zack fair #ffvii #implied zerith #cloud's birthday week 2k17 #zack doesn't have a birthday so i'm lending him one of cloud's #this actually ties into something else i've written #and will probably redo because i still love the idea #but the parts i finished make me cringe now

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tawakkull · 3 months

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ISLAM 101: Spirituality in Islam: Part 191

Baqa Bi’llah (Subsistence with God)

Subsistence with God denotes that the servant of God regards all existence, including him or herself, as being non-existent in and of itself, and discovers in his or her consciousness that every being, living and non-living, is a manifestation or shadow of the light of the Divine Knowledge and Existence. Initiates who experience destruction and effacement with respect to their corporeal self and gain a new existence by God’s permanence or subsistence exist by His Existence, subsist by His Subsistence, live by His Life, know by His Knowledge, will by His Will, and hear and see by His Hearing and Seeing. They see and hear what other (normal) people cannot see or hear, and receive favors that come as a result of such hearing and seeing. Initiates who have reached this rank, which marks the near completion of the journey, and where they feel themselves to be in the most pleasurable state of being freed of their name and existence, are in relative terms qualified with any of God’s Attributes in heaven and earth. Those who have contact with the spiritual realms can feel in their consciousness a reflection of this favor. This state is also regarded as persons of heart being called according to their own perception of themselves. Only those with purified souls who see and think of nothing but the True Beloved One, and whose hearts always beat by His Existence and Subsistence, and whose spirits are continuously reanimated with a new flash of His manifestation, can experience this state. So long as they can keep their relation with the Truth at the level which has carried them to this summit, and only if the Truth continues to treat them in this way, do they perceive even the slightest falling under the influence of others in knowledge, perception, feelings, and consciousness as a spiritual eclipse, which may end in their spiritual spark being extinguished. If they feel they have suffered such a terrible falling-off, they will, in order to save themselves from it, be on the lookout for the All-Beloved One’s opening a window in their spirits.

From another perspective, subsistence is, after the total disappearance of things that are transient and visible in the sight of an initiate, either a temporary permanence dependent on its own conditions, or an uninterrupted continuity due to the extraordinary confirmation of Divine grace. That is, while a traveler continues his or her journey with the guidance of the signposts and the enlightenment of teachers, after a certain point, which is determined by the impressions and discernment of the traveler, the signposts will no longer be needed and are no longer visible. This stage, where the One Who is indicated by the signs and proofs shows Himself with the lights of His Existence, making signs and proofs no longer visible, and where His witnesses are the only instruments for His praise and exaltation, is a different point of breathing and turning to a different direction. If the initiate has the ability and resolution to continue journeying toward further goals, the breezes of annihilation will begin to blow in both the person’s inner and outer world. When the journey is almost exceeding time and space, the initiate feels in the consciousness complete annihilation ready to turn into subsistence. One cannot say anything, nor think of anything, nor attempt to perceive anything. Despite the brilliance of the witnesses that point to Him throughout the universe, they disappear when faced by the lights of His Existence, like stars sinking when the sun rises. As stated in (55:27), There subsists the Face of your Lord with Majesty and Munificence, only the Divine Being continues to exist beyond the scope of human perception, understanding and feeling.

Initiates can view His subsistence or permanence in three stages: the first is based on knowledge, the second on vision, and the third on the pleasure of experiencing His Existence. While traveling through these stages, any information that has been acquired by the known means of acquiring knowledge loses its significance and utterly disappears into what is known. All instances of seeing and feeling vanish while the meaning and content based on or reached through seeing, feeling and knowing remain intact. While all relative truths no longer exist, the absolute truth prevails and the natures of existents, each different from the other, are surrounded by the lights that emanate from their annihilation in the True Existence. In all of these stages, annihilation provides a way to subsistence and wherever an initiate attains subsistence, it can address itself to different levels of feeling and perception, producing relative effects of its own on things. For this reason, this rank has usually been called “subsistence by God together with God,” and not only “subsistence by God.”

We can view this stage from two angles:

Travelers find and feel things and events annihilated with respect to their own selves and existence. No thing exists any longer with respect to its own being. When the travelers are surrounded by the atmosphere produced by this, they no longer feel the existence of anything except Him and find everything annihilated in Him. A wakeful initiate can always distinguish between the essential, absolutely true Self-Existence and relative instances of existence. So, all things have relative existence dependent on the unique Self-Existence in the initiate’s sight. Concerning these two kinds of feeling, perception, and experience, the leading Sufi scholars comment that for a traveler who feels all things annihilated in Him everything ceases to exist, while for one who has the ability to distinguish between the Absolute Existence and the relative existence all things continue to exist. If we deal with the matter from the approach of the Companions, nothing exists by itself nor does it have any essential existence. Everything has relative, insubstantial and accidental existence as a manifestation of the Existence of the Eternal Truth, according to its receptivity. Things, as dependent on the Absolute Truth, have a constant, relative truth. In the beginning, this consideration is doctrinal belief (or dogma) based on acceptance, and in the end it is based on the certainty that comes from knowledge and vision.

In the spiritual journey, the whole of existence no longer has any value or significance in the heart of an initiate and vanishes in the infinite light of the True Existence in the same way that the light of a firefly fades when the sun rises. The initiate gives no place to anything else but God in his or her heart, and leaves him or herself in the cataracts of his or her spiritual pleasures immersed in the ownership and guidance of His Will and the lights of His Existence. The utterance always on the initiate’s lips is “He.”

Travelers who feel themselves in a state of pleasure when they find themselves annihilated in their own acts, advance toward the attainment of a new existence and permanence in the acts of the Truth. By feeling transience in their own attributes, they taste the pleasure of permanence in the Attributes of God. By forgetting their own selves-though forgetting has been interpreted in different ways-they attain a new existence by the lights of the Truth’s Existence. While they sometimes refer to the relative, existential truth of things and emphasize its difference from the absolute, True Existence, they sometimes can find everything annihilated in the absolute, True Existence. There is left only one rank to be reached by the travelers who have arrived at this point, namely God’s company. Every initiate who has attained subsistence with God can attain this rank according to the individual’s capacity. Attainment of this rank sometimes brings with it a feeling of wonder and sometimes an intoxication and sometimes astonishment. Mawlana Jami’ expresses this feeling of wonder beautifully as follows:

Love is not without the flute-player, and we are not without Him. He cannot be without us, as we cannot be without Him. The flute always beautifies its tunes, but in fact The beauty of the tune comes from the breathing of the flute-player.

The following verses, belonging to another hero of subsistence by and with God, are concerned with a feeling of wonder and astonishment:

The light of my eyes is He, and the direction for my reason is He; The recitation of my voice is He, and I sigh and groan with He. My heart goes on an excursion in He, and the love of my soul is He. My greatest secret is He, and my brightest sun is He. Those who are lovers and intoxicated are always with He. Their fasting is He, their festive day is He, and their rituals are He. My soul has sacrificed itself in the way of its Beloved, Its union is with He, its parting is with He, and its cure for afflictions is He.

Those who have attained subsistence with God always feel and think of Him alone, they are always with Him alone, and they begin with Him alone. Attracted by Him, they leave themselves in the overflowing pleasures that come from experiencing His Oneness throughout the universe, and always act according to His good pleasure and approval. In the face of the rays of His Knowledge and Existence, which totally eliminate all others save Him and His friends from their hearts and sight, they cannot help but utter “O All-Living One!” and feel as if they are talking about themselves. They utter “O True One!” and melt away in the light of His Existence.

O God, O All-Living and Self-Subsisting One! O One with Majesty and Munificence! Pour unto us knowledge of You and give us from the drink of Paradise, and enable us to be steadfast on the Prophet’s way and true guidance. And let God’s blessings be upon our master Muhammad, Who teaches the true way, and on his Companions, the noble, godly ones.

#allah #god #islam #muslim #quran #revert #convert #convert islam #revert islam #reverthelp #revert hel team #help #islamhelp #converthelp #how to convert to islam #convert to islam #welcome to islam

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