"He who is aware of his own faults is oblivious to the faults of others."

-Imam Ali (AS)

Si on me demandait ce que je désirerais le plus au monde, ce serait d'être plus pauvre que le plus pauvre des mendiants. Mille grâces, chère amie, pour l'ouvrage que vous m'envoyez, et qui fait si grande fureur chez vous.  Cependant, puisque vous me dites qu'au milieu de plusieurs bonnes choses il y en a d'autres que la faible conception humaine ne peut atteindre, il me paraît assez inutile de s'occuper d'une lecture inintelligible; qui par là même, ne pourrait être d'aucun fruit.  Je n'ai jamais pu comprendre la passion qu'ont certaines personnes de s'embrouiller l'entendement, en s'attachant à des livres mystiques, qui n'élèvent que des doutes dan leurs espirits, exaltent leur imagination et leur donnent un charactère d'exagération tout-à-fait contraire à la simplicité Chrétienne.  Lisons les Apôtres et l'Évangile.  Ne cherchons pas à pénétrer ce que ceux-là renferment de mystérieux, car, comment oserions-nous, misérable pécheurs que nous sommes, prétendre à nous initier dans les secrets terribles et sacrés de la Providence, tant que nous portons cette dépouille charnelle, qui élève entre nous et l'éternel un voile impénétrable?*

-Princess Marya, War and Peace

*If I were asked what I would like most in the world, it would be to be poorer than the poorest beggar.  A thousand thanks, dear friend, for the [mystical book] you have sent me, and which is causing such a furor there.  However, since you tell me that amidst several good things there are others that weak human understanding cannot grasp, it would seem rather useless to occupy myself with unintelligible reading matter; which by that very fact cannot be of any fruit.  I have never been able to understand the passion certain persons have for muddling their wits by fastening upon mystical books, which only awaken doubts in their minds, excite their imagination, and give them an exaggerated character totally contrary to Christian simplicity.  Let us read the Apostles and the Gospel.  Let us not seek to penetrate what they contain of the mysterious, for how should we dare aspire, miserable sinners that we are, to initiate ourselves into the terrible and sacred secrets of Providence, so long as we wear this fleshly husk, which raises an impenetrable veil between us and the eternal?

...response forthcoming...

La phir ek bar wohi - Iqbal, sung by Shabnam Majeed

مری آزاد روح كو پھر سے قیدِ جسم مت دینا

بڑی مشكل سے كٹی ہے صزاِ زندگی میں نے

تم نے تكلوف كو بھی اخلاص سمجھ بیٹھے ھو فراز

دوست نہین ہر كوئ ھاتھ ملانے والا

Classics

In reference to an older post. Conclusion: Good ideas and worthwhile notions stand the test of time. Corrolary: Don't discount the classics. Classical music, classical literature, ancient religions. Don't take the Prophet (SAW) and stick him in history. It's too easy to fall prey to the notion that we today are capable of a certain sophisticated consciousness that people in the past were not capable of. As if our cognitive ability has somehow evolved over the last few centuries or millennia. Islam and modernity, church and state, free will and predestination. Hardly any of our ideas seem to be novel. That's not to say the prevailing public opinion is correct. It seems to vacillate according to the prevailing political power. Studying the classics and history seems much more worthwhile than it once did. I think Robert Fisk was right in saying that most of our political leaders don't know their history, and that if they did, their decisions would be different. But who wants to follow the mold of history? Everybody wants to shape their own legacy, forge their own new path. But you could probably get a lot farther if you take help from someone else's map, somebody's who's been there before. If nothing else, it'll save you some time, and allow you to see where the path is leading (perhaps to a dead end?) Oh, and by the way, writing with a fountain pen is so much more fun than typing!
PS. This blog probably will not stand the test of time.

"Everyone's got a difference between their personal life and their public life. I mean, you kinda have to, not every part of you can be up for sale, right?"
-Dave Chappelle