SAJDA/ SUBMISSION

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The sajda is the climax of namaz/ salat. It physically demonstrates submission. 
In sajda, you put your face on the ground. Your face is your identity. It is what distinguishes you, what makes you stand out, makes you -- you. 

To go in sajda is to become faceless and defenseless. It is to give up all your identities - name, position, family, ethnicity, gender, nationality, achievements, ideologies, beliefs. It is to give up your agendas, plans and desires. 

It is to give up any illusion of being someone, of being in-charge, of having a say. 

The sajda says: i give up, i submit, i dissolve, i disappear. I know nothing. I can do nothing. I want nothing. I am nothing.

ANIMA ANIMUS

Every human being has the archetypal anima (unconscious feminine) and animus (unconscious masculine) energies buried deep in the psycho spiritual core. 

The journey of self-realization includes the witnessing of the shadow masculine and shadow feminine so as to rescue and realize the Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine within. This process of witnessing and purification also brings the inner and outer masculine and feminine into harmony and balance. 

Self realization requires a profound submission, which is manifested as a continuous acceptance of and harmony between one's inner psyche and outer form, as well as one's place and purpose in existence. The submission to the inner masculine and feminine becomes an acceptance of and harmony with the world and its feminine and masculine manifestations.

and Allah knows best

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ENDING THE WAR WITHIN

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One of the manifestations of separation (from the Divine Source) is multiplicity, division, contradiction and conflict. This is experienced inwardly as parts of the self that are in contradiction with and at war with each other. Each part is a psychic knot tied at a traumatic moment or through conditioning. Each knot has an energy, a vibration, voice, feeling and narrative. 

So, for instance, there may be a knot tied in early childhood related to the fear of abandonment or rejection. An unresolved separation from the mother/ parents – perhaps due to an emergency that was never explained to the child -- may have been experienced as abandonment by the child, never articulated and healed. The story of this part of the self could read like this: “It is not worth it to love anyone or depend on anyone. Anyone I love will disappoint me, hurt me, or leave me. I have to look after myself.”

As the child matures in perception and receives love and support from the parents, another part of it will develop an appreciation for strong, loving bonds and its story is more likely to be: “I am grateful to my parents who have cared for me and loved me. They have taught how to form strong relationships based on love and trust. It is worthwhile to love and trust people.”

The second part is more likely to be conscious and therefore heard. The former is likely to be unconscious and unheard. In the inward, the two will be at war with each other. In the outward this conflict will be manifest as contradictory relationships – those where the self experiences rejection, as well as those where the self experiences love and acceptance.

The purpose of spiritual work is to bring about unity and union within and without. Spiritual practice – which includes a foundation of wholesome (or what is often called moral) behaviour and may also include creative expression – begins to bring to the surface the voices and stories of negation from deep inside the unconscious. Practice can bring the conflict between the warring parts of the self to the surface of consciousness. 

All that is required at this point is to listen to what has been unheard. Unresolved pain only needs full acknowledgement and acceptance. And the mature self can grant itself that. It is important to witness but not indulge in any self pity or rage or fear that comes up. Shining the light of consciousness on these aspects of the shadow self is all that is required to melt the shadows and undo the knots.

May Allah grant us tawfiq.
And Allah knows best.
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HARDSHIP AND EASE

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"And, behold, with every hardship comes ease: verily, with every hardship comes ease!"  Al Quran Surah Al Inshira (94; 5-6; transl. M. Asad)

Allah tells us that with every hardship comes ease, but do we experience our lives like this?  Why does the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate send us hardship? And where is the ease that He promises us?

What is a hardship? It is a situation, condition, person or endeavour that we find difficult or painful; something we cannot understand, control or accept.  Something that causes us misery, anxiety and suffering because it does not conform to our desire, to our agenda, to how we want things to be.  In other words, the hardship refuses to submit to us.  

Why?  Because the hardship is here to teach us something very useful.  It is here to teach **us** how to submit. Which in the meaning of Islam, which is what we are here to do – surrender, submit.

The muslimah, the musalmaan is the one in submission.

The greater the hardship, the more profound is the potential for submission.  

And the greater our suffering if we refuse, if we resist, if we do not submit.

As soon as we submit, which is the purpose of the hardship, there is ease.  Acceptance brings immediate relief and calm.   And once we stop asking why and trying to change or control what does not lie in our hands, the difficulty -- the situation, condition, person, endeavour – begins to unfold.  

Once we stop resisting, we realize that we have the strength and have been provided all the help we need to get through the hardship.  

The hardship has been made easy for us to bear.  

And over time, as we continue to endure patiently in submission, we begin to see what a blessing it is.  

In fact, the greater the hardship, the greater the ease Allah provides in the form of help and strength.  And the greater the hardship, the greater the blessing at its heart.

And Allah knows best.

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GRATITUDE AND BLESSING

When you surrender to and patiently endure suffering, Allah shows you the blessing in it.  And you become grateful.  When you become grateful even for hellish suffering, Allah shows you more and bigger blessings contained in that suffering.  Each blessing makes the suffering worthwhile and each blessing is more beautiful than the one before.  And you are more grateful than before.  

You suffer once, but He blesses you again and again and again.  Indeed, "If you are grateful, I will give you more."

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IHSAN (EXCELLENCE AND BEAUTY)

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Ihsan is an act of such excellence that it is beautiful for its inner meaning and goodness and its outer form.  An act of such exquisite impeccability requires unconditional submission and unconditional intent.

and Allah knows best.

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