there is nothing greater than a man being so humble and regreting his reckless youht…
who r u to judge how a man is connected to god?
everyone has his/her own way of showng his appreciation to god
of which crying and begging is one..
there’s no hamr in crying and begging to ur creator
i hope u don’t have to suck people up whileu’re climbing i selam il watheeefe

there are two things i need to point out, this is meant to be a poetic post about an abstract thought. it’s based on observation. of course only God knows what exists in people’s hearts but human beings are endowed with powers of observation that let us pick up on things quite easily. this is one of those things. it’s one of those ‘you have to be there’ things that’s hard to describe it…which is why i didn’t want to try and describe it as a normally written post full with prose and a matter-of-fact attitude.

the downside of choosing to write it this way is that its open to (mis)interpretation, but its a good risk to take in my opinion.

thanks again

I kind of share mona’s viepoint here, I’m not sure why you’re equating those old men crying in the masjid as being tears of regret, some people cry out of frea of allah, some people cry when in prayer when they’re having an “iman rush” for lack of a better word, even if it was tears of regret that’s not a bad thing considering noone’s perfect and everyone makes mistakes!

Why would an old man abandon his car?

UmmZaid: that’s very true!

bambam: i’ve been a fan of rumi, hafiz and other sufi poets for several years now. my latest fixation has to do with having bought two new books to add to the collection.

heretics have pets too

Very nice. No need to bring the three “S” words into it either. What you speak of is, in many ways, about the human condition… not just Arabs or Muslims or even men.

I also wanted to comment on one of comments above but will keep my mouth shut.

salam: hope it helps!

Isam: thanks for reading buddy!

khalid: i think you misunderstood the point. this post isn’t about sufism or hafiz or poetry. you don’t have to be sufi to believe in various principles of sufism that are a common thread all across the board in Islam. spirituality, love for God, etc. that is undeniable. to take it a step further (to illustrate my point) if i had quoted a Buddhist saying as a prologue to this post it would not mean i’m a believer in the religion, but rather that i’ve found wisdom in the saying. Sunnah Islam does not have a monopoly on that.

as for crying out of regret for mistakes. this too was not my exact point as i have no problem with that. there is however something odd about being constantly regretful. it indicates something. moreover, there is also something to be said about constantly looking to the past and reviewing those mistakes over and over again. this is something even the Prophet pbuh told people not to do because it borders on questioning God’s will. In other words, what happened happened, if you regret it then do so and move on. This is exactly what you pointed out about crying over tragedies.

Now put this all together and you get elderly individuals whose ways are not completely changed but see the mosque as a sanctuary of “cleansing” their record (this keeping in mind that i see these people almost everyday now).

They are stuck in that vicious circle. And that’s not what Islam is about, nor does it represent its path towards happiness.

(this is my opinion)

p.s. wa inta bi alf 5eir inshallah! i’ll pass the offer along!

This is not Religion indeed.

Peace!

sufi-ish*

il 2eeman billah, mala2ikatih, rosoloh, kotobih, alyawm il akhir, il qa`9a2 khayrih o sharrih*

wash your heart with the water of your eyes*

but see, that is not islam as we -sonna- recognize, accepting fatih, al 2eeman bil qa`9a2 khayrih o sharrih, is one of the six bases of 2eeman in our creed: il 2eeman billah, mala2ikatih, rosoloh, kotobih, il qa`9a2 khayrih o sharrih.

you cant object to god’s will. you have to accept it. so in that term, its very un-islamic to go into past to cry tragedies.

BUTTTTT..

to cry your own mistakes. i think thats a virtue. not mistakes that you did decades ago, but mistakes that you do everyday. let go of the past, and think of your current mistakes. maybe if we all thought of our mistakes, cried our mistakes, we would make sure not to repeat them in the future.

and who said that crying one’s regrets is sadness? not at all. it genuinly cleans your heart. was your heart with the water of your eyes. nothing can clean it better.

look into present and future and be hopeful always, but look closely into your heart and cry your mistakes. that is in my eyes what it means to be religious, and i want to be too religious.

send my best regards to your old man, tell him i said kol 3am o inta bkher, tell him i go to Karak almost everyday, and if he wishes, i would bring him the biggest sidir of mansaf available there

have a beautiful day bro

salam: I’d start with the two listed in my “reading” section at the bottom of the page. Also try the illuminated rumi. enjoy the journey!

Regrets eat those people when their greedy souls got tired of their greedy requirements and earthly needs. I will always insist that God doesn’t exist only at prayer times or before eid…

and I too, do not want to be religioud like that