The Moon Show

I'm sitting in one of my favorite places in this world, right in front of the sea, at night, with the reflection of the moonlight on the waves.

It was so quiet at first, but now the waves are getting stronger…the sound of their collision with the earth keeps getting louder.

It somehow scares me, but now I'm playing some music on my laptop to distract me from hearing them.

I'm listening to Beethoven's moonlight sonata. It's beautiful but even more beautiful with this scene.

I'm looking at the moon. It's wonderful…now I'm lying on the grass in front of the beach house, gazing at the sky…it's so cloudy and there is a refreshing breeze moving the clouds in a beautiful harmonic way that goes with the rhythm of the classical music I'm listening to. There is another layer of clouds, going in the opposite direction…they're closer and so the clouds seem bigger. Both layers are moving with the same speed and harmony towards the moon. Together with the music and the sound of the waves, it's like watching a ballet show where the clouds are the dancers, the stars are the background, and the waves are the music…all are celebrating the full moon ,the star of this show.

I'm ruining this amazing art of nature by the man made music I'm listening to but it’s the only thing linking me to reality…to this world. If I let myself to nature, I would go too deep in meditation. I would get carried away…with my body on the same grass in front of the house but my soul in another place …above the clouds, closer to the stars, embraced by the sea waves and the moonlight. It would feel so good that when I return to this reality….I would be let down…disappointed in how evil is in control, how ugliness is covering this natural beauty, and how humans waste their time on materials depriving themselves of such magical moments.

I'm watching the moon, admiring its beauty and how mysterious it is. We always see the lighted side of the moon, the side from which it appears to be cheerful, beautiful and bright. But this isn't the moon…it's just one side of it. A side that is not even lightened but only reflecting that light coming from the sun. The other side is that which we don’t know about. The dark side, the unknown…is it as happy as it seems from this side?

The show has come to its final scene. The clouds are slowly moving away from the moon. Now, it's time to have a clearer view of it, studying its beauty, trying to understand it. It's amazing how the moon is the only thing that can be seen by everybody everywhere.

All types of people, all kinds of animals, all kinds of creatures… when they look at the sky at night…they see the moon.

Thousands of years ago, the moon existed. People used to look at it and write poems about it. They saw it as a symbol of beauty just like we do now. The same moon with its same attractiveness. All those people we know from history saw the moon. The good ones as well as the bad ones. Maybe it meant something for some, nothing for others, but they still saw it.

The very first humans on earth saw the moon. Adam saw the moon, eve saw the moon. I wonder if they used to gaze at it as I'm doing right now. The pharaohs saw the moon, the Romans saw the moon. I wonder if it gave them this relaxing feeling I have right now.

Newton saw the moon, Beethoven saw the moon. I wonder if it inspired them the way it's inspiring me right now. Salah Al Deen saw the moon, Abraham Lincoln saw the moon. I wonder if it helped them strengthen their beliefs…. I wonder if it gave them hope and peace

It's astonishing how all beings since the beginning of this world saw the moon. Something that unites us all…I wonder if each gave himself the chance to examine its beauty and think about its mysterious side.

Another show has started; clouds with a different pattern are covering the moon again. I'm listening to Beethoven's moonlight sonata but being played with a guitar this time. As I was taking a deep breath, I noticed the orange hallow around the moon. It looks really nice… just like when the solo dancer on stage has a ray of light directed at her to have all the focus.

Wow… I'm feeling really good right now…I don't even know what I am typing or how I ended up typing things in the first place…. My hands are so cold now I'm starting to lose control over my fingers… I'll stop typing whatever it is I'm writing… I'll now just listen to the music and enjoy the rest of the show…good night…

November 24 007

Muslims and Boycotting

So, they did it again. And who said they stopped in the first place?

Drawing cartoons of the great Muhammad (peace be upon him).

And it's not only drawings… long articles of insults as well and it's not only magazines… It's online websites, lots of them!

It's really annoying, and it hurts us so much. We should do something about it. We should boycott their products until they say "sorry". We should curse their countries until they apologize. We should make them pay for what they caused from pain and anger in our world. Yeah!!! That's it!!! That's the right thing to do!!

But …wait a minute. Why am I having a feeling that IF this even happened, we would feel that we got "OUR" dignity back? Why does it seem like a psychological more than a religious and responsible action? I mean… how would this solve the problem?

The apology won't help in anything!! I'm NOT waiting for an apology from those people. And I don't think that Prophet Muhammad would care about a "Sorry" from them. I think he would care more about a more effective religion based action. In stead of just being angry and concentrate all our effort on showing it!

Don't forget that he said:

“Powerful is not he who knocks the other down, indeed powerful is he who controls himself in a fit of anger.”

Peace and blessings be upon him.

But should we watch them make fun of our beliefs and just do nothing?

Let me start by asking… would a couple of human beings offend the great messenger of God, Muhammad with some stupid meaningless words or drawings?

The Answer is a definite NO.

The greatness of Muhammad cannot be affected by anyone.

Who are they? Who are WE to even dare compare ourselves and our dignity with the dignity of Muhammad?

Now, Should WE feel offended?

Well, Muhammad (pbuh) means so much to me. He is the greatest man in all times. He is the best and the only example to follow. He's been through a lot just to make sure he delivered his message correctly. By their pointless words and drawings, that does not even come close to offending his greatness. But it hurts our feelings as Muslims because they're accusing him of things he did not do. They judge him according to false claims and not true facts.

They show disrespect, without even getting to know him.

So yeah it hurts our feelings and makes us angry, yet they keep doing it. I think that means that what they're doing is "offensive".

So we should do something, shouldn’t we?

First of all what is exactly the problem?

The problem is that a couple of journalists drew and/or wrote disrespectful things about the great man, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

What are the suggested solutions?

Everyone thinks that boycotting their products, is the answer; now let's analyze what happens when we boycott their products.

1) Who will be affected?

a) Business men and the owners of the companies.

b) Arab (or non Arab) employees who work at these companies.

2) How would this solve the problem?

-hmmm…. I don't know?

By doing this, we are punishing people who were not involved in this mistake. They might even be against it!! Some of them might even be Muslims or non-Muslims who respect Muhammad.

How would this make the journalists learn a lesson??

Let's say, somehow, the effect was as great as affecting the whole economy of the country. Let's say, somehow, the journalists "noticed" that we were seriously angry, and decided to apologize. Again, would that make them LEARN anything?

Would that solve the problem? I don’t think so.

Those people don't even know WHY we're angry.

Those people make fun of Jesus (pbuh), the one whom most of them consider God, or the son of God. So how would they understand how much we respect Muhammad whom we consider a prophet?

In fact, their jokes about Jesus makes a Muslim feel offended as well! Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, if we just showed them how angry we are, they would think that WE are weird. And that won't make a difference.

And I don't think that's what Muhammad would want us to do.

So what we should do is, talk to them. Explain to them WHY we feel offended. Tell them about Prophet Muhammad, his teachings and how great he is. Talk to them about his words and actions of wisdom. So that they may get to know him better and understand why we respect him and why we think it's offensive and wrong of them to do these things. (In fact, I believe most Muslims forgot why he means so much to us in the first place, we ourselves should go learn from HIM and follow HIS footsteps not ignorant people's teachings…but well… that's off topic.)

I know you may say, that wasn't their first time, but come on.

This will NEVER stop!

How would this make any sense if every time someone offends us we get angry and try to punish them until they say sorry?

And I'm telling you, it's not only them.

Our actions should be more wise, effective and of value.

Islam doesn’t need us to "punish" people for their misconceptions.

Our responsibility is to correct these misconceptions, not do things that would create more of them!

The greatness of Islam stands for itself!

I'm not boycotting any products, and I don’t hate Danish people.

I like them and I don't blame those who don’t know much about us.

Assalamu Alaikom :)