-
Jan 2014 Insaniah University Convocation If a man does not communicate with God, God will not communicate with him.
Communion:
- the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings. – Oxford Dictionary
Communion has absolutely nothing to do with the eating of sun-god wafers that derive from decadent anthropophagus Mystery Religions and everything to do with intimate exchange. Communication is essential for every aspect of life but the concept of communion refers to a particular intimacy that resides at the core of social unity, whether for good or for evil. Secret Societies engender and guard this rapport with vile oaths; religious groups think they express it through vain rituals; but it is faithful spouses who experience it at its zenith in undefiled marriage. Marriage is actually the best human analogy for Communion with God and is often referred to throughout Judeo-Christian Scripture by the term ‘Know’ — e.g. ‘And Adam knew his wife’. This ‘knowing’ is an integral component of man’s growing conviction and increasing faith, whereby he consciously encounters the guidance of God as discussed previously in the Law of Grace.
Religious ritual is not—I repeat—is not communion with God. It is nothing more than a coin placed in the slot of a metaphysical phone box that allows us to place a call to heaven. It is pure protocol; a discipline performed for community and self but certainly not for God—Who requires it of us for these reasons but certainly doesn’t need it. It is ‘we’ who need to both talk to and listen to His response. After placing the call it is time to talk, to inquire, to make entreaty, to request help, and to ask for forgiveness.
During intimate converse there is always an exchange and what we most seek from God in exchange for our worship is His Mercy and Guidance. But God’s answers are not as readily available as are sound waves vibrating from phones or the sweetened lauds that follow a lover’s embrace, which is why ‘prayer and patience’ are married in both Bible and ‘Al’Qur’an’, for without a period of conscious and patient ‘waiting upon the Lord’ we return to affairs of the world and miss His response. For this reason, the Prophet said that ‘the ‘remembrance of God is better than solat’ (ritual prayer) or the mumbo-jumbo of tedious recitations like good monks.
In remembering God, we practice an active ongoing communion and some people ‘talk’ to Him as if He were sitting on their shoulder. Indeed, Al’Qur’an says He is ‘closer than our jugular vein’. I, for one, accept this as reality and care not to know the mechanism. I often go about in continual conversation with Him, lost in the preoccupied expectation of His answers. Is this piety? Heavens no! It is ‘my’ own approach to the active remembrance of God that has come to be a regular and natural expression of my faith as habit. Without this intimate communication with God, I have nothing of value to share when talking or writing.
The question that remains, however, is this: ‘How does God answer? The answer is what makes life exciting and stimulating for genuine God-Seekers. Actually, it is an excellent mystery-adventure-drama in which you happen to be the star. God’s responses are immediate at times, but most often they are delayed. They come in a myriad of forms, at the strangest of times, and very often are complete surprises and may even present as answers to forgotten prayers. Often, they oppose what one expects and desires in life or are of a nature that is not readily comprehended at first, and may even be far greater than what one may have asked for.
Dreams and visions are certainly encountered along the way but it is more likely that one meets the divine response through relationships with other people. These include challenges, unexpected circumstances, disappointments, a good book, the wise counsel of an elder or spouse, the innocent response of a child, an observation from nature, the remarks or deeds of an enemy, perhaps calamity, or even the behavior of a pet. All require patience, fortitude and conscious observation with personal discipline if one is to discern God’s various modes of rejoinder. Otherwise, one is tossed to and fro on the high seas of life without a pilot’s license or compass, or perhaps reduced to reading omens like sincere animists and astrologers.
This topic of communion with the Almighty brings us to the Islamic concept of Taqua (piety), without which we cannot perceive the divine response to prayer and thereby follow God’s guidance. Picture this metaphysical reality with the imagination of walking a tightrope suspended above hell: The only aid available is the rope, your strength and the balance beam in your hand. In order to complete the walk safely and securely, one must be constantly on guard and balance each step. The expanse that is crossed represents our earthly life; the rope represents scripture and the many examples of God’s messengers; your strength represents personal discipline and faith according to what is written; and the balance beam represents God’s intervention and/or response to prayer. In order to utilize the balance beam, one must be morally strong and sensitive to any loss of balance in order to adjust the beam and maintain the equilibrium that stabilizes each step. This requires consciousness and conscience, the two guardians against the perils of evil. What man or nation can discharge such a feat without God’s help?
Since our individual and collective powers of discernment constantly fall short, many pitch themselves to flammable infamy rather than call upon God in the manner of His Prophets. Without Taqua it is impossible to reach the divine ear let alone hear God and obey Him well enough to fulfill the destiny of our service to Him; which, by the way, is to our benefit, not His. Without Taqua we are doomed: many fall and do not know it till the flames engulf them. That is why service to a Rightly Guided Imam is essential because most people have lost their inclination to develop Taqua. Those who do have discovered a secret that many a mystic has perverted: the discipline of quiet meditation (taffakur) which is contemplation in remembrance of Allah.
The modern world corrupts and exploits the purpose of this time by calling it holiday instead of Holy Day. However, it is divinely commanded to be a period of withdrawal from the world and not a head strong plunge into its delusion of pleasure. It is a specified interval intentionally reserved for interfacing with God in order to discern His Will through the many signs He gives, both collectively and individually. It is a time set aside to listen to the ‘wee small voice’ within each of us, closer than our jugular and more potent than any pineal ‘third eye’ of New Age shamans, or the denser gray matter of humanists. But how can a man hear and obey this voice when he is constantly inundated by the press of earthy life in a modern world full of vain distractions?
When most pedestrians sleep, men and women of taffakur rise to pray and seek God’s counsel; patiently seeking the wisdom inferred by our collective cognomen (homo-sapiens-sapiens or ‘wise-wise man’) along with the divine guidance needed to adjust the balance beam. They do this fully expecting an answer and have no doubt it will come in due season.
I caution you, therefore, not to be swayed by lesser minds who may think that ritual, good deeds or even charity are sufficient activities for the communion of divine guidance. On another note, if you lack the will or desire to actually communicate with God as did the Israelites at the foot of Mt. Sinai, I suggest you submit your service to a person who has it. But be careful not to worship him or her as do sectarian hero mongers. Authentic imams with such character make no pretense to the office and, generally speaking, go about unnoticed. So leave them in peace but follow his/her example to the best of your ability. Obey their counsel with the assurance of God’s blessing, as did the men of Ibrahim and the Companions of Mohammad.
Without intimate communion with God, men can neither validate their faith nor experience the reality of righteous guidance as discussed previously in the Law of Obedience. For this reason, many succumb to false doctrines along with the sectarian kahunas whom Satan transforms to dimmer lights that temporarily eclipse truth for the brief respite of man’s life on earth. In the Book of Genesis, Moses (pbh) called this source of delusion the ‘lesser’, or, literally translated, the ‘insignificant’ light. It is not the moon as is commonly conceived. Most people succumb to what sociopathic elitists have termed the ‘Right Hand Path’ of Satan, referring to popular religious formats that are easily managed and policed by Ponerocrats. These jinn inspired encouragements are accepted forms of repression that make it easy to ‘gravitate to earth’ under the pretense of serving God in the safety net of collective egocentrism, which, in essence, is the praise craving tribalism of people with underlying inferiority complexes and perhaps brain damage as a result of modern and post-modern influences — in other words, flag-waving patriots who drop bombs on innocents and thank God for the crime; or knife wielding madman who take heads bearing beards just like their own. Idiots, all.
You can spot the wolves of this game by the extreme emphasis they place on ritual protocols and long wigs and robes rather than comprehension, practical education and consequent justice. Here, a corollary-caveat must be mentioned:
The greater the pageantry (ritual) the lesser the divine communion and guidance.
This is an occult principle of propaganda and is exhibited commonly under symbols (idols & icons) of nationalist hero worship. Unfortunately this includes the celebration of Mohammad’s birthday as initiated by Jew-inspired Fatimids, and the Shi’ite apotheosis of Hadrats Ali and Hussein. It is for this reason that symbols (icons), idols and hero worship are expressly forbidden in Islam and images of the Prophet (pbh) are shunned.
As it is with one’s spouse, communion with God is a private matter not to be subjected to the immodest exhibitionism of those who recite exceptionally long prayers. Remember also, that when sanctimony fails, envoys of Satan place grandiose displays of tribal power and retirement plans as ‘safety nets’ under life’s tightrope walk as a substitute for genuine taqua and authentic communion with reality. These ancient ploys are part of a pretense that never fails to enlarge hell. Hence, I suggest that sincere believers revert their holidays to Holy Days and gravely reconsider the fact that if we do not genuinely communicate with God rather than iconic substitutes and bodiless beards, there is indeed a rather unholy spirit eagerly awaiting our intimate conversation. – oz