I have a feeling I will blog about this again. Thinking back at Paolo Coehlo’s “The Alchemist”, Tariq Ramadan associate it to Islamic Sufism. I don’t know much about Sufism myself, but I shall go about finding out more about it. My initial understanding of Sufism is a Buddhist or Hindu interpretation of Islam - the need to reduce our emotional attachment so that we can detach ourselves from this world to be closer to God or Allah the almighty. In my opinion, its a very extreme practice and belief, one which deviates from the main teachings of Islam. For example the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, used to take a bath and wear perfume before going to the mosque because he wanted to come across as someone who is hygenic and presentable. Wealth in Islam is permissible as long as its been purified by Zakat, or obligatory Charity. I’m not sure what my readers think of Islam. People usually have a very simplistic model of what Islam is all about - the five pillars (The belief in one God, 5 times daily prayers, Charity, Fasting and Pilgrimage). But little do they realised these are purification methods to purify our souls in this world so that we will be ready for the hereafter. At the end of the day we will only be judged by our hearts.
However, Sufism was not always so extreme. Some consider Sufism to be outside the fold of Islam whilst others saw it was the inner embodiment (the thoughts and the heart) of Islam. I was listening to this talk by Yusuf Hamza (Hanson), an American Islamic Scholar on the purification of the heart. It talks about the various disease we have in our hearts. Its quite universal topic really, whether you are a Christian, Buddhist, Jew or even an atheist, we all suffer from the disease of the heart - whether it be envy, hatred, miser(y). I know I suffer a lot especially in the past. So its very interesting to try and improve myself over the next few years.
Back to the Alchemist, I was watching Panorama on BBC today about the Africans who were called Economic Migrants - who try to get from countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, Niger to Europe. With the need to cross the Sahara desert and the Mediterranean sea, most of them die trying. Then I ask myself, what would it take for me to do an epic journey like this, knowing that I will have to drink my own urine, see my friends die, or drown in the sea from a sinking ship. The only thing I could think of is knowledge. Thinking back at the story of the Alchemist when he travelled thousands of miles in search for his personal legend. Perhaps in enduring the pain and hardship one would gain some sort of knowledge which was not given to them <- This is purely my own idea.
Al Ghazali - a medieval scholar (it could be someone else, but I think its him) was once crossing the desert with his books at the back of a donkey or camel,and a thief came along to steal his books. He said to the thief, “Please don’t steal my books, all my knowledge is there.” Then the thief laughed at him and said “what kind of knowledge is that that someone could steal from you?” So he knows that true knowledge is that which is committed to memory. A bit like SQL codes - you have to commit the calls into the database.
There is no central theme to this blogpost, but just a random jumble of ideas. I just find that I am once again where I was 6 years ago, hungry for knowledge and hungry for wisdom. They say that Ramadan is a month where the gates of hell are closed (and satan is locked by chains) and the doors of heaven are opened. I do have a very strong feeling I have been pulled back from the torment of hellfire. Just remembering what I felt at the dome in Hiroshima where the atomic bomb fell - the despair in finding comfort in the Godlessness in a secular society - and comparing to now, its truth staring at my face. I’m sure those of you reading my blog might have a sense of frustration or unease because it seems that I have gone from someone who blogged about very generic things in life to suddenly a tone of preaching Islam. But this is part of my life and its a big part of my life, and I wished that I could share it with people around me who I know are most, if not all, from a non-Islamic background.
I wonder when I will embark on my journey in search of knowledge?