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Another delve into the archives sees a trip to Scunthorpe, Grimsby, Lincoln and Skegness not long after Stagecoach took over the Yorkshire Traction group. Just enough to see plenty of the old liveries and some of the first Traction vehicles to gain Stagecoach livery.
Seen in Barnsley is Wright Endeauvour bodied Scania 28762 - L268LHE.
Delving into the archives again...This is a scanned and toned Kodachrome from 25 years ago. Cheticamp on Cape Breton Island is a starting point for the Cabot Trail, one of the world's great drives..
What the heck is the American Legion? I've been going by American Legion posts for years without ever delving into that question. It's time to shed some light on the subject.
Here's who they are in their own words:
The American Legion was chartered and incorporated by Congress in 1919 as a patriotic veterans organization devoted to mutual helpfulness. It is the nation’s largest wartime veterans service organization, committed to mentoring youth and sponsorship of wholesome programs in our communities, advocating patriotism and honor, promoting strong national security, and continued devotion to our fellow servicemembers and veterans.
Hundreds of local American Legion programs and activities strengthen the nation one community at a time. American Legion Baseball is one of the nation’s most successful amateur athletic programs, educating young people about the importance of sportsmanship, citizenship and fitness. The Operation Comfort Warriors program supports recovering wounded warriors and their families, providing them with "comfort items" and the kind of support that makes a hospital feel a little bit more like home. The Legion also raises millions of dollars in donations at the local, state and national levels to help veterans and their families during times of need and to provide college scholarship opportunities.
The American Legion is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization with great political influence perpetuated by its grass-roots involvement in the legislation process from local districts to Capitol Hill. Legionnaires’ sense of obligation to community, state and nation drives an honest advocacy for veterans in Washington. The Legion stands behind the issues most important to the nation's veterans community, backed by resolutions passed by volunteer leadership.
The American Legion’s success depends entirely on active membership, participation and volunteerism. The organization belongs to the people it serves and the communities in which it thrives.
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Here's the very long story of Raymond, Washington:
The blanket of old growth forest that covered the Willapa Hills surrounding Raymond, on the Willapa River in Pacific County, fueled the town's growth from a handful of farms to a mill town bustling with trains filled with freshly cut logs, mills running 24 hours a day, and ships laden with lumber bound for the East Coast, South American, San Francisco, and Hawaii in less than a decade after its founding in 1903.
When a combination of overharvesting, environmental laws, and changes in the global market severely reduced logging and milling in the 1980s and 1990s, Raymond residents looked to new, more sustainable ways to utilize the surrounding hills, rivers, and bay to create jobs and sustain their community.
First Peoples
The Willapa River, with headwaters in the Willapa Hills, winds through the Willapa Valley until it is reaches the sea at Willapa Bay. A few miles upstream from the river's mouth, the South Fork of the Willapa joins the main river. Sloughs thread through the lowland forming what is called the Island, though it is not technically completely encircled by water.
Prior to contact with Europeans, three tribes lived around the Willapa's mouth, the Shoalwater (or Willapa) Chinook, the Lower Chehalis, and, seasonally, the Kwalhiloqua. Epidemic diseases brought by European and white American traders wreaked havoc in the Indian communities because they lacked immunities to the diseases. A malaria epidemic in the 1830s, probably brought to the area by sailors who had been in the tropics, decimated tribes in the lower Columbia River region.
After the epidemic, the Kwalhioqua all but disappeared, and the few remaining individuals joined the Willapa Chinook and Lower Chehalis. The northern part of Willapa Bay and the Willapa River formed a boundary between the Chinooks to the south and the Lower Chehalis to the north. The two groups intermarried and traded often.
These are the people who oystermen met when they came to Willapa Bay in the 1850s to harvest shellfish for the San Francisco market. The Indians worked with the oystermen in harvesting the shellfish.
Loggers, Farmers, and Indians
It was not long before the area's forests attracted loggers and sawmill operators. Brothers John (b. ca. 1830) and Valentine Riddell (b. ca. 1817) established a mill at what would become South Bend in 1869. Others followed, included John Adams' mill on the north side of the junction of the Willapa River with the South Fork.
Several farmers staked claims in the vicinity of the junction. The community, known as Riverside, had a school in 1875 and a post office.
The Indians in the area continued to work with oystermen, and in the more recently established salmon canneries and saw mills. They also continued to visit their traditional gathering places for berries and other plant materials.
The tribes had not yet formally agreed to allow the white Americans to live on their land, so, in February 1855, Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens (1818-1862) met with the Quinault, Queets, Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, Shoalwater Bay, Chinook, and Cowlitz tribes at the Chehalis River Treaty Council (at the location of Cosmopolis today). The tribes did not object to ceding their lands, but once they heard the terms of the treaty they rejected the provision that required them to move to a shared reservation away from their traditional lands with the location of the reservation to be determined later. The tribes refused to accept those conditions and Stevens left without an agreement.
The absence of a treaty did not prevent white settlers from claiming lands along the Willapa River, thereby leaving less and less room for the Indians to live. On September 22, 1866 President Andrew Johnson (1808-1875) established the Shoalwater Bay Tribes Reservation by reserving 335 acres near Tokeland for the Lower Chehalis and Willapa Chinook who lived along Willapa Bay. The reservation is and has been used by a number of the tribes' members, but many also live in the surrounding communities (and elsewhere).
Raymond is Formed
In 1889 the promise of a Northern Pacific Railway terminus in South Bend, just downstream from the river junction, led to a land boom. Lots in South Bend and along the river in both directions sold for incredible profits until 1893 when a national financial panic led to a bust in South Bend. South Bend had the county seat and retained the railroad and some operating mills, but a grant of land to the Northern Pacific on the waterfront tied up many of its choicest industrial sites.
Upriver, at the river junction, a group of residents, some with Homestead Act claims and others who had bought land at low prices following the bust in South Bend, formed the Raymond Land and Development Company in 1903.
Incorporators of the land company included Leslie (1874-1961) (often referred to as L. V.) and Stella (1875-1960) Raymond, who had a farm on the Island. Stella had inherited the land from her father, Captain George Johnson (1823-1882), who had established a Homestead Act Claim for almost 179 acres. Presumably Johnson or the Raymonds purchased part of their holdings, because they brought 310 acres to the partnership.
L. V. and Stella, who married in 1897, moved to the farm in 1899 and Raymond became the name of the town that grew up on and around their land. L. V. served as the town's first postmaster, first Northern Pacific Railway agent, and developed a water system for the town. The Raymonds donated land and their time to community projects, such as a playfield and the fire department. A bequest from the Raymonds established the Raymond Foundation in 1962 as a non-profit organization to fund scholarships and community development projects.
Building a River Town
Alexander C. Little (1860-1932) was also a partner in the land company. After a career in local and state politics that included serving as Aberdeen's mayor, helping elect Governor John R. Rogers, and serving on the State Fisheries Commission, in 1903 Little decided to shift to the private sector. According to Pacific County historian Douglas Allen, "Raymond was named for L. V. but from the beginning A.C. Little formed the character of the town" (Allen, 65).
According to Allen, Little contributed two key elements to the town's success. First, he recommended that the land company offer free riverfront lots to mills, thereby ensuring an economic foundation for the town. Second, Little brought Harry C. Heermans (1852-1943) into the partnership. Heermans's engineering background helped solve issues associated with building a town on a river. The sloughs that laced the land rose and fell with the tides, but uphill development would have taken mills too far from the riverfront. Besides, the hills surrounding the river junction rose abruptly and would have posed their own engineering challenges.
Other incorporators of the land company included J. B. Duryea, Winfield S. Cram (b.1866), and John T. Welsh (1866-1954). A second land company, the Great West Land Company, also formed in 1903, had some of the same investors and also worked to develop the town.
In 1903, the first mill, operated by Jacob Siler and Winfield Cram, began operations. Several more mills, including the West Coast Veneer & Manufacturing Company mill run by Little, followed and businesses grew up nearby.
On April 16, 1904, the Raymond Land Company filed a plat for the town of Raymond. The business district consisted of a store, a saloon, and a mess house that served mill workers. A drug store and hotel were coming soon.
Lots Sold by the Gallon
To allow people to cross the water-sodden landscape, the town constructed 2,900 feet of elevated wooden sidewalks. These sidewalks ran down either side of what would become 1st Street, which was really an open space onto which the buildings fronted. Additional wooden sidewalks crossed the void at regular intervals.
Lillian Smith (1875-1960), a teacher from Michigan who came to teach in Raymond for a year not long after the town's founding, remembered her first impressions of the town,
"At first I seemed to be crossing the river no matter what street I took. It was like losing oneself with Alice on the other side of the Looking Glass where you had to keep going in order to stand still, and vice versa. Imagine streets like long bridges built on piles driven into the slough (pronounced slu). Wooden railings on either side, and beyond these narrower wooden bridges of sidewalk width, these too with railings — a perfect maze of railings, necessary to keep careless pedestrians from falling into the slough" (Smith, 3).
Still, the town's location provided enough benefits to outweigh the difficulties of being what Smith called, "an amphibious town" (Smith, 6). It was located at the head of navigable waters, close to the bay and to the forests that fed its mills. It also had access to the Northern Pacific Railway, without having had to give up its waterfront lots the way South Bend had.
Navigation on the river depended on assistance from the Army Corps of Engineers. Early in its history Willapa Bay was known as Shoalwater Bay because of its many shallow areas. These made ideal oyster grounds, but limited ships' access to ports. The Corps, under the provisions of several different Rivers and Harbors Acts, had dredged the river up to Willapa City, just upstream from the Raymond townsite, and kept it clear of snags. The Corps also maintained a channel through the bar at the mouth of the bay.
Businesses besides lumber mills diversified the economy. In 1907 Stewart L. Dennis (1873-1952) and Perry W. Shepard (b. ca. 1871) formed a transfer company that would become an important retail business in Pacific County, now known as the Dennis Company, and John W. Dickie and his son, David, came to Raymond to establish a boatyard.
The Dickies had worked in the San Francisco Bay area and, according to local historian Ina E. Dickie, came to Raymond because the more-isolated Willapa Bay offered better access to lumber and to employees who accepted lower wages and had not yet formed unions. Dickie & Son built steamships -- the first was the Willapa -- at Raymond over the next several years. All were built for the coastwise lumber trade, which was booming following the 1906 earthquake and fires in San Francisco.
On August 6, 1907, voters approved a measure to incorporate the town of Raymond. A handful of residents resisted the town's boundaries because they included some outlying farms in anticipation of the town's growth.
Little served as the first mayor, an office he would hold for 10 of the next 11 years. When asked in 1910 to serve as president of the Southwest Washington Development Association, Little replied that he was "disqualified because of his partiality for the place where lots are sold by the gallon at high tide" ("Southwest Part of the State Unites").
A Lumber Town
The first council consisted of seven men: C. Frank Cathcart, president of Raymond Transfer and Storage and Northern Pacific agent, Winfield S. Cram, Timothy H. Donovan, superintendent of the Pacific & Eastern Railway and Sunset Timber Company, Floyd Lewis, real estate agent, Charles Myers, sawyer at the Siler Mill, L. V. Raymond, and Willard G. Shumway a clerk. P. T. Johnson served as the first treasurer and Neal Stupp as the clerk and secretary.
By 1910 the population had increased to 2,540, but that was just the start of the flood of new residents. In 1911, there were about 5,000 people in Raymond. They were needed for the kind of production boasted of by a promotional brochure from 1912. It lists the output of the towns mills for the previous year as 27,834,779 board feet of lumber, 226,712,250 shingles, 105 million berry baskets (made from veneer), and 33 million pieces of lath for plaster walls. The newcomers included business people, mill owners, mill workers, and loggers from all parts of the world.
Labor v. Capital
The 1910s, although economically prosperous, saw a series of disputes between labor unions and mill owners up and down the West Coast. Working conditions in the lumber industry were dismal and lumber workers struck for better wages and better logging camp conditions.
On March 25, 1912, mill workers in Raymond walked off the job to prevent the lumber companies from using their Raymond mills to replace lost production at Grays Harbor mills, where workers had begun a strike two weeks earlier. The town's business community's response was swift and severe. They held a meeting the second day of the strike. A. C. Little led the discussion, railing against the strike's organizers, the Industrial Workers of the World, also known as the Wobblies. The meeting participants decided that they should protect "any man who might want to work" ("Strikes Close Raymond Mills"). To that stated end, several committees formed to support the effort. Over the next several days the sheriff swore in 460 deputies to "protect property and the working men" ("Strikes Close Raymond Mills").
To prevent the mill workers from gathering, the city closed all the saloons and brothels for the duration of the strikes. Likewise, three "Socialists speakers," were arrested upon disembarking the Raymond depot ("Strikes Close Raymond Mills").
A few days later, on March 30, 1912, the mill owners blew their whistles for the start of work. Anyone who did not heed to the call found themselves and their families rounded up by about 200 men with rifles and shotguns and loaded onto a railroad car bound for Centralia. The South Bend Journal identified those who refused to work as Finns and Greeks.
The Greek workers were taken to Centralia, where the Greek consul from Tacoma, Hans Heldner, met them and protested their treatment. The Finns had been removed by boat to Nahcotta. From there they traveled on to Astoria where there was a large Finnish American community. After the strike ended, the South Bend Journal said that the Greek mill workers asked to return, but, "American flags have been hoisted on the mills and only Americans or civilized foreigners need apply" ("Agitators Banished from Raymond"). Other strikes would come to Raymond and labor unions led fights for improved safety, better conditions, and higher pay.
Despite labor problems, the mills kept prospering in Raymond. In 1912 there were 14 mills in operation. They used an average of 50 railroad cars full of logs from logging camps in the surrounding fills. The mills produced an average of 20 railroad cars a day of lumber and other forest products. These included shingles, cascara bark, used for medications, doors, and window frames.
Growth and Development
In 1912 the town also started to fill the sloughs that ran through town so residents could have actual streets and so that houses would not flood at high tide. In 1915 the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad began passenger and freight service between Raymond and Puget Sound. The mayors of Raymond and South Bend presented the railroad's representatives with a wooden key "symbolical [sic] of the freedom of Willapa Harbor" (Krantz). The train service was a vital link between the Willapa River towns and the interior of Washington. Not until 1917 would a road through the Willapa Hills open. The precursor of State Route 6, it was not reliably useable. It featured steep switchbacks and its gravel surface routinely suffered from water damage.
The late 1910s saw Raymond operating at full bore. Six saw mills, two veneer plants, a box factory, five shingle mills, and a woodworking plant were joined by the Sanderson & Porter shipyard, which employed 1,000 workers in building ships for the United States Navy during World War I. In the postwar era, the population dropped to about 4,500.
Port of Willapa Harbor
In 1928 residents of Raymond joined with South Bend to form the Port of Willapa Harbor, a public port district. The Port built a public dock on land between Raymond and South Bend that allowed smaller sawmills access to the river. This facilitated the transport of logs, which could be floated down the river from logging camps in the Willapa Hills, and the shipping of finished lumber. Before the public dock was completed in 1930, sawmills and other forest-products factories that did not have riverfront property had to send their goods to Grays Harbor or Puget Sound via the railroad, adding significantly to transport costs and time.
The Port dedicated the dock on October 8, 1930, and the city of South Bend dedicated a reconstructed city dock and improved slip. The same day, state highway officials led a celebration of the opening of Highway 101 between Aberdeen and Raymond-South Bend. For the first time travelers could follow a road through the Willapa Hills to the north of South Bend. It also connected Aberdeen with Ilwaco and the Long Beach Peninsula. This provided drivers with a direct route to the ferries that crossed the Columbia River to Astoria.
The Port's dock housed a sawmill, owned first by Ralph Tozier (1920-2005) and then Ben Cheney (1905-1971), who owned Cheney Lumber Company. According to Med Nicholson, writing in the Sou'wester, in 1945, Cheney was faced with a problem of wasted wood that resulted from cutting logs for ties. In order to square up the logs, large slabs were cut off each of four sides. Cheney had the insight that the slabs were eight feet long (the length of railroad ties) and house ceilings were eight and one-half feet tall. At the time home builders were buying studs in 10- and 12-foot lengths and cutting them down, also resulting in a lot of wasted wood. Cheney cut the slabs into a "Cheney Stud," what are now known as eight-foot two-by-four and sold them to home builders. Eight-foot ceilings became standard in houses, "putting to use an enormous amount of formerly wasted timber and incidentally saving American homeowners uncounted millions of dollars in heating expense" ("The Ben Cheney Story," 10).
Raymond's Great Depression
Unfortunately, the advantages presented by the new port and highway were hampered by the Great Depression. The economic downturn resulted in drastically decreased demand for lumber and Raymond residents struggled to find jobs. The decline of the Great Depression would reduce the town's population to 4,000. A steady decline after the Depression brought the population to just under 3,000 by 1990, where it has stayed since.
Though circumstances improved slightly when Weyerhaeuser purchased two mills in Raymond and one in South Bend and reorganized them in 1931, larger economic forces made it nearly impossible for commerce to continue in Raymond. In 1932 the Raymond Chamber of Commerce, faced with a near stoppage of business following the failure of the First Willapa Harbor National Bank, printed its own currency called "oyster money" to carry people over until real money became available again.
The Port of Willapa Harbor continued its efforts to improve the port's facilities. The Army Corps of Engineers carried out at federally funded dredging and channel straightening project on the river in 1936. The dredge spoils created Jensen Island and the new channel allowed deeper-draft boats to reach Raymond.
Logging and Lumber
A 1954 report by Nathaniel H. Engle and Delbert C. Hastings of the University of Washington's Bureau of Business Research, draws an interesting portrait of Pacific County's average male citizen as delineated by the 1950 Federal Census:
"Mr. Average Citizen of Pacific County, at the last census, 1950, was white and 33 years of age. He had had two years of high school education. He was employed as a laborer or an operative in the lumber industry. His income for the year was about $3,042. He was married and had two children. He lived in a 4 or 5 room house in good condition, with hot and cold running water, toilet, and bath. He had mechanical refrigeration, and a radio, but no central heating. His home was worth close to $4,000 and was owned clear of debt. Thus Pacific County's average citizen rates as a substantial American wage earner, somewhat better off, on the whole, than the average American, although not quite up to the average in Washington state" (Engle and Hastings, 5).
The lumber industry supported a significant number of these "average" residents. Where Grays Harbor had nearly cleared much its surrounding forest lands in the 1920s, Pacific County still had considerable standing timber in the 1950s. In 1951 more than 66 million board feet of logs and more than 90 million board feet of lumber left Raymond on ships and railroad cars. This may have been the result of a high concentration of ownership by large companies such as Weyerhaeuser, which owned 380 square miles (nearly half of the county), Crown-Zellerbach, owner of 60 square miles, and Rayonier, owner of 50 square miles.
Engle and Hastings described the logging companies' success as resulting from the companies' willingness to use sustained yield practices, rather than cutting the forests as quickly as the mills could cut the logs. Sustained yield did lead to more selective and more reseeding, but it did not maintain forests that could support diverse ecosystems because most of the reseeding was of single, productive species such as Douglas fir. Wildlife populations were further damaged by hunting programs designed to eliminate animals such as deer or bear that browsed on seedlings and new growth on older trees.
In 1954 and 1955, Weyerhaeuser carried out a two-part renovation of the old Willapa Lumber Company mill that it had acquired in 1931. First they replaced all the mill's facilities and then they rebuilt the mill itself. This mill, known as Mill W, remains in operation in 2010, the last softwood lumber mill in operation in Raymond,
In the 1970s the region saw another lumber boom. According to Richard Buck, of The Seattle Times, a new generation of baby boomers began buying houses, which increased the demand for lumber, leading to increased competition and prices. Prices reached $337 per 1,000 board feet.
The next decade, the declines in the national economy devastated the local economy rather than driving it. Prices dropped by two-thirds to $102 per 1,000 board feet in 1985. According to Buck this was due to a decline in housing starts and the increase in the value of the dollar and interest rates, which made Canadian lumber cheaper. Also, deregulation of the transportation industry increased the disadvantage West Coast lumber mills had compared to Southern and Midwestern lumber mills' proximity to East Coast markets.
In addition to the economic forces battering the lumber industry, in the late 1980s the local environment could no longer support the intense logging of the previous century. Historical overharvest and increased environmental regulations reduced the acreage of public forestland open to logging. In 1990, the Northern Spotted Owl was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. With the owl's listing, communities in Pacific County had to adjust to reduced logging and fewer jobs at the area's sawmills. The effects of the environmental regulations were compounded by plant modernization, which also led to fewer jobs in the mills. Many smaller mills could not compete with the larger companies' more efficient mills and a number went out of business.
The closure of the federal forests combined with changes in how Weyerhaeuser managed its lands and utilized mills in Pacific County led to the closure of numerous mills. This, in turn, led to fewer jobs in the forest products industry, as well as other sectors of the county's economy.
According to a Seattle Times article, "Some residents liken the area to a Third World nation, an underdeveloped colony whose resources are removed by 'foreign' corporations. Weyerhaeuser, they note, owns more than 50 percent of the land in Pacific County" (Hatch). Additionally, they accused Weyerhaeuser of using profits gained in Pacific County to build the very mills in the American South, where wages were lower, that undermined the viability of Raymond's mills. Although there is certainly a component of anger at outside companies taking a tremendous amount of natural resources out of the surrounding hills without investing a significant portion of the resulting profits in the local community, this sentiment also reflects the frustration that resulted from one company owning so much of the county's land and making decisions driven by the global market.
Strategies for Change
Raymond residents have created multiple strategies to address the changes to the regional economy. When one mill, the Mayr Brothers sawmill, closed in 1986, the Port of Willapa Harbor bought the land and buildings and leased them to Pacific Hardwoods. When that mill closed in 2001, a group of Raymond investors banded together and reopened it as Willapa Bay Hardwoods, employing 35 people. It planned to cut 17.5 million board feet a year, a far more sustainable volume than during the boom years.
The Port of Willapa Harbor has been involved in other economic development projects. The Port developed two industrial parks and received grants to construct light manufacturing buildings at one of the industrial parks and at the Port dock. A variety of industries have leased Port buildings, including a chitosan (a natural polymer produced from shellfish shells) producer, seafood processors, and an airplane prototype design company. Additionally, some of the buildings are used by retail stores, including a saw shop and a health club.
The Raymond community, in conjunction with the city government and the Port of Willapa Harbor, has developed attractions that will draw tourists to the region as a way to build the economy. The former railroad bed across the Willapa Hills has been turned into a hiking and biking trail. The city has begun redeveloping its riverfront and a regional consortium developed the Willapa Water Trail, which small boats can follow to explore Willapa Bay.
Over the past century the environment in and around Raymond has attracted people, many of whom have sought to remove as much of it as possible for sale in markets far from Pacific County. The town's future lies in a more sustainable use of those resources, including the intangible ones that have to be experienced in person.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER: I Do Not Condone Any Acts Of Vandalism Nor Do I Participate In Such Criminal Activity. I Am Simply An Observant and Take Photos Of This Graffiti You Have Come Across i simply have a deep love and apreciation for this art. ALSO I Will Not Condone Any Usage Of My Photos To Support Any Legal Matter Involving These Acts Of Vandalism Therefore YOU ARE NOT WELCOME TO VIEW OR TAKE THIS MATERIAL For ANY Purpose...
Another delve into the archives sees a trip to Scunthorpe, Grimsby, Lincoln and Skegness not long after Stagecoach took over the Yorkshire Traction group. Just enough to see plenty of the old liveries and some of the first Traction vehicles to gain Stagecoach livery.
Seen in Grimsby is East Lancashire Spryte bodied Dennis Dart SLF 33203 - R503JFE.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER: I Do Not Condone Any Acts Of Vandalism Nor Do I Participate In Such Criminal Activity. I Am Simply An Observant and Take Photos Of This Graffiti You Have Come Across i simply have a deep love and apreciation for this art. ALSO I Will Not Condone Any Usage Of My Photos To Support Any Legal Matter Involving These Acts Of Vandalism Therefore YOU ARE NOT WELCOME TO VIEW OR TAKE THIS MATERIAL For ANY Purpose...
WMPTE 4355 turning at Delves Hotel on a 404E working.
Over-zealous service cuts of 1980 in Walsall included the withdrawal of local services between Walsall and Delves and this resulted in an overload problem on service 404. Service 404E journeys were introduced to alleviate the problem, buses having to do a U-turn at the Delves Hotel crossroads.
4355_fns_rt404E_DelvesHotelShort(01X83)3526
Delve into the dynamic world of Comics, Pop Culture and Fantasy at this year’s NerdCON! Discover exciting new outfits, decor, gachas and more all with fun funky themes inspired by the comics, films and books you love! NerdCON comes but once a year so be sure not to miss out!
Taxi; maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/BellaTECH%20Productions/38...
Delving back into the images I didn't upload from 2017.....
Spending time with a Subaru WRX
Bronica SQAi on Portra 400
Delve greedily and deep!
I've extended the deadline for the Elemental Contest on my forums, to try to drum up some more entries. Please head over to SSLF and consider entering! You can win stuff!
French postcard in the Series Nos artistes dans leur loge, no. 56. Photo: Comoedia.
Christiane Delval (?-?) acted as child actress in eight French silent films in the early 1920s, starting with the drama Face à l’océan (René Leprince, 1920). Here a cold-hearted grandfather (Ernest Maupain) sets a wheel in motion that splits his sons and indirectly causes his grandchildren to become orphans, when their fathers die at sea and one of the mothers dies too. In the end his granddaughter Germaine (Delval) accuses him. In 1920 Delval also acted in Le petit poucet by Robert Boudrioz and Fabienne by Camille de Morlhon, though the datation of Le poucet as of 1920 could be a mistake. The French magazine Cinéa of July 1922 announced that Martinelli would start to play the ogre while Christiane Delval would play Tom Thumb.
In 1921 Delval acted as young Geneviève and Palôtte in the four episodes of Gigolette, a family drama by Henry Pouctal. Zélie (Isabelle Sandry), a girl raised by a neighbor when her father (Camille Bert) is in prison for having raped a lady (Andrée Lionel). The lady gives birth to a girl, Marie/ Palôte, whom the same neighbor raised as her own, and one year after has a second child with her new husband, Geneviève. Palôte and Geneviève are lookalikes. The latter drowns, so her mother goes mad. Years pass. The neighbor's son Charles goes on the wrong track and turns Zélie (Séphora Mossé) into a prostitute, but her father, released from prison, chases the boy and saves Zélie, while Palôtte is adopted by the rich lady.
Other films Delval acted in were the Zola adaptation Le rêve (Jacques de Baroncelli, 1920) with Gabriel Signoret and Andrée Brabant, La tentation (Henry de Golen, 1921) with Georges Wague, La folie du doute (René Leprince, 1923) with Jean Dax, Jean Aymé, and Alexandre Arquillière, and Pour une nuit d'amour (Yakov Protazanov, 1923) with Edmond Van Daële. In 1931 Delval acted in the French early sound comedy Plein la vue (Edmond Carlus, 1931) starring Raymond Dandy and shot at the Tobis studios in Epinay, while her last part was in the comedy Dora Nelson (René Guissart, 1935) starring Elvire Popesco.
Delval also acted on stage, according to the site Gallica. She performed e.g. as the boy Jacques in the Henry Bataille play La tendresse in 1921, reprised in 1925, and starring Yvonne de Bray. In 1926 she acted at the Théâtre de L'Athénée in the popular play La Folle nuit and in 1927 she acted at the Palais-Royal in On ne roule pas Antoinette. In 1930 she acted in Browning at the Théâtre des Mathurins, in 1931 she performed at the Palais-Royal in Une bonne fortune, and in 1932 she acted again at the Palais-Royal in La Maison d'en face. In 1937 she acted at the Théâtre Saint-Georges in Une femme de notre age and in 1938 she acted in Septembre at the Vieux-Colombier.
Sources: IMDB, Gallica, filmographie.fondation-jeromeseydoux-pathe.com/search.php...
I have been delving into the history of this area of Clune Woods, above Loch Ness. Until about 1870 this area was pine forest. It seems that between that date and just after 1900, the pines were gradually cut down and a degree of natural birch regeneration took place. Between 1902 and 1907, nearly all the trees were removed, turning this area into heather moorland. The areas around where this photo was taken, were afforested, with plantations of Larch, Sitka Spruce and immediately adjacent, Scots Pine, but this particular part was left to it's own devices with the odd mature tree left standing; these are the Grannie Pines of ancient origin, and a few are still there dotted throughout the wood, both living and as standing deadwood. There are the remains of a farmstead and well here which is probably why this was not part of the surrounding plantations. These plantations have come and gone, the legacy being the natural reseeding of mainly Scots Pine but also the odd Sitka, Larch and Birch. There are a mixture of Caledonian type Pines - with multiple trunks and spreading branches - and more modern plantation pines with single trunks and a taller, narrower aspect. There are other natural trees amongst the planted, like Holly (there is a huge one nearby, with the biggest girth of trunk that I can recall seeing), Rowan and some impressive Juniper. There are also some massive Beech trees close to another ruinous farmstead further down the hill towards Loch Ness. It looks like the plantations of the alien species are being systematically harvested, along with random areas of the plantation pines, perhaps as a rewilding project. I note that these woods were part of the Aldourie Estate in 1866, with Aldourie Castle now in the hands of the Danish rewilder, Anders Povlsen.
View of the "Les Diablerets" village down in the valley (~4000 ft elev.) from the Glacier 3000 gondola that goes up to about 9000 ft elev., canton of Vaud, Switzerland.
Joni has always liked this photo which she believes is one of her cuter, flirtier, and I dare say, sexier photos. It was taken in March of 2018 in her former time share condominium in Orlando, Florida at a point in time when traffic was still tolerable and the "Sunshine State" was still a fun place to vacation before the darkness of trump, de santis, and their nazi minions eclipsed the sunshine. It was a time before book-banning and abortion prohibitions. It was a time before legislative attacks against the LGBTQ community, Mickey Mouse, migrants, voting rights, and educators from pre-K through college who promoted "wokeness" over a preferred curriculum of neo-nazi revisionist ignorance. When driving south into Florida on I-95, one used to be greeted by a sign that heralded one's arrival into "The Sunshine State"; at some point that sign was replaced by a newer one advising the visitor that they were entering "The Free State of Florida". What a crock of trump turd!!! If truth be told, it would be much closer to the dirty truth if they simply hung banners with confederate crossbars and nazi swastikas above the roadway. . . .
Anyway, back to Joni. . . . This photo and a companion photo were posted on Joni's Flickr page, and indeed can still be found there about 850 photos deep, if one cares to look. They both depict Joni displaying her preferred brands of gin or rum sitting atop of a wet bar in the condo unit along with several other choice liquors with her charming smile, not to mention her lovely stocking encased legs, crossed at the ankles. Her pose offers an innocent tease with a tempting upskirt view, yet reveals nothing of a scandalous nature. Her outfit was one of her favorites from those days - a simple, but sexy, ensemble consisting of a black leather skirt and a frilly lacy purple and black blouse with bell sleeves, along with a metal chain belt and black thin-heeled pumps.
Joni doesn't recall the specifics of the evening in question, but the photo was most likely taken in the early morning hours after Joni returned from a solitary night out, most likely at the famed Parliament House, an iconic gay resort in Orlando, which was a playground for all members of the LGBTQ coalition, as well as straight couples who availed themselves of its popular attached dance club. Unfortunately, the P- House, an Orlando landmark for decades, no longer exists, having been sold to real estate developers a few years later who razed the property with the intent to build condominiums. The last time Joni drove by the property, progress appeared to be slow as it was still under destruction as opposed to constructon, a lot identified only by its iconic outdoor sign at its former entrance, which was apparently left standing as part of the sale agreement, because the P-House had in fact been designated as an historical landmark in Orlando at some point in the past.
For more than a decade, spending a couple of nights at the P-House was a regular feature of Joni's week-long vacations at her Orlando timeshare. Joni enjoyed her nights at the P-House as she was often hit upon and picked up on a number of occasions by a variety of guys, and on some rarer occasions wound up making out like a teenager in heat, parked in cars out in the more remote areas of its spacious parking lot, . . . but only on rare occasions! Oh well, maybe a few other times, but really, who keeps count of these tawdry episodes anyway? Joni doesn't recall if this particular night was one of them memorable occasions, although Joni's smile suggests she had a good time that night whether it was at the P-House or somewhere else.
The only drawback to the photo is the foggy lack of focus of Joni's facial features, admittedly a major part of her overall allure, possibly caused by the overhead lighting. A more accomplished photographer might certainly have done better, however it should be noted that the photo was actually taken by her lap top computer's camera eye positioned on a table top at a time when Joni did not yet own a digital camera. Indeed, there are many of Joni's older photos which were taken by her lap top computer.
While it is to be noted that this photo generated moderate viewership and commentary at the time of its original posting, Joni believes it deserves an encore appearance as part of this series of retrospectve photos.
Enjoy!
A portrait of George Delves (c1545-a1602), a Knight in the court of Elizabeth I at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Delving into intricate details in Virxe do Porto.
This vertical capture presents a mesmerizing close-up of textured rocks and the residual tidal pool. The composition effortlessly guides the eye toward the hermitage, showcasing the interplay between land and sea.
In a moment frozen in time, the crashing waves paint the scene with a veil of droplets, adding a dynamic touch to the tranquil setting.
Part of my ongoing experimentation with the Irix 11mm Blackstone F4, this lens continues to surprise me. Despite initial concerns about the use of a polarizer, it hasn't hindered my photography. Instead, it challenged me to refine my compositions and post-processing workflow.
The result? Fresh perspectives from familiar locations, proving that even well-known spots can yield new and original photographic gems.
A set of slide scans all taken at Arbroath Harbour in 1974 when Arbroath still had a fishing fleet. JK. 121 is Kirkcaldy registered but could be from another harbour, while Stardust 11 hails from Musselburgh. Practica Nova 1. Agfa CT18.
Enough of delving into Joni's archives. Unfortunately, Joni hasn't been able to post any current photos since her cruise to the Bahamas, as she has been sidelined as a result of the surgery on her right thumb which also impacts her right hand and wrist. Fortunately, Joni is well on her way to a full recovery and hopes to be out and about in the next couple of weeks and will have truly new photos to post.
Meanwhile, this photo was taken last August in Edisto Beach in South Carolina where the wife and Joni stayed for 5 days. Edisto Beach is an isolated community along the South Carolina coast. Other than sunbathing and playing golf, there is very little else to do other than catching up on one's reading and imbibing in a beach town overrun with rednecks. Certainly, there was no place for a TG woman to go, other than travel to Charleston, which is about an hour's ride to the north, much of it along a desolate and dark side road. . . .
In any event, here we see a casually dressed Joni hanging out under the boardwalk in the late evening. Actually, it's not a boardwalk. Indeed she doesn't remember seeing any boardwalk in Edisto Beach, but rather Joni is hanging out underneath one of her resort's buildings which is built on elevated piles driven into the ground to hopefully protect the resort's condo units from being washed away by raging waters from a hurricane. Other than Hurricane Hugo which was originally a category 5 hurricane that had "calmed down" to a category 4 when it made landfall and scored a devastating direct hit on Charleston and its Antebellum charm, South Carolina has been very lucky to have escaped the wrath of most Atlantic hurricanes, suffering only occasional glancing blows from lesser storms. Hurricane Hugo was about 35 years ago, but with hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean being forecast as more frequent and more intense in future years due to obvious climate change that the moronic trump administration refuses to acknowledge, it may be only a matter of time before these pilings are put to the acid test, as a wary Joni inspects the underpinnings.
Meanwhile, there has been another storm brewing. The tempestuous Joni the Blonde has been stewing for several months now as she has not been featured in Joni's photostream in ages, or so it seems. Indeed, an investigation revealed that Joni hasn't posted a photo of her blonde alter ego in months. Specifically, the last photo of Joni the Blonde that was posted was uploaded on January 1, but even that photo was originally taken on September 1, 2024. Joni the Blonde was growing impatient and was demanding some prime time exposure or else! . . . It's not clear what the portent of JtB's ultimatum would be, but in the interests of World Peace, I am only too happy to post this and a few other photos of Joni in all her Blonde Splendor.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER: I Do Not Condone Any Acts Of Vandalism Nor Do I Participate In Such Criminal Activity. I Am Simply An Observant and Take Photos Of This Graffiti You Have Come Across i simply have a deep love and apreciation for this art. ALSO I Will Not Condone Any Usage Of My Photos To Support Any Legal Matter Involving These Acts Of Vandalism Therefore YOU ARE NOT WELCOME TO VIEW OR TAKE THIS MATERIAL For ANY Purpose...
He searched in the mountains, at the springs, in the trees and the birds, but he could not find a wife for himself.
Delving back into my past, while I was moving stuff out of my room I moved my old Art Folders from when I did My Degree and Pre-Degree courses. This work dates from 1974-1975. I had long hair and loved life back then. now I have little hair and love life. The Photographs where taken on my trusty old Film camera and developed and Printed in the collage dark room by myself. I did enjoy the feel of processing in the dark room. but I really enjoy digital now.This is a print I did, the backing was done by floating oil colours on water and carefully placing the paper on the water, then printing on top when it had dried. love this effect.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER: I Do Not Condone Any Acts Of Vandalism Nor Do I Participate In Such Criminal Activity. I Am Simply An Observant and Take Photos Of This Graffiti You Have Come Across i simply have a deep love and apreciation for this art. ALSO I Will Not Condone Any Usage Of My Photos To Support Any Legal Matter Involving These Acts Of Vandalism Therefore YOU ARE NOT WELCOME TO VIEW OR TAKE THIS MATERIAL For ANY Purpose...
LEGAL DISCLAIMER: I Do Not Condone Any Acts Of Vandalism Nor Do I Participate In Such Criminal Activity. I Am Simply An Observant and Take Photos Of This Graffiti You Have Come Across i simply have a deep love and apreciation for this art. ALSO I Will Not Condone Any Usage Of My Photos To Support Any Legal Matter Involving These Acts Of Vandalism Therefore YOU ARE NOT WELCOME TO VIEW OR TAKE THIS MATERIAL For ANY Purpose...
LEGAL DISCLAIMER: I Do Not Condone Any Acts Of Vandalism Nor Do I Participate In Such Criminal Activity. I Am Simply An Observant and Take Photos Of This Graffiti You Have Come Across i simply have a deep love and apreciation for this art. ALSO I Will Not Condone Any Usage Of My Photos To Support Any Legal Matter Involving These Acts Of Vandalism Therefore YOU ARE NOT WELCOME TO VIEW OR TAKE THIS MATERIAL For ANY Purpose...
Delving back into the images I didn't upload from 2017.....
Spending time with a Subaru WRX
Bronica SQAi on Portra 400
The Tongue persuaded by the Ego
روی نفس مطمئنه در جسد
زخم ناخنهای فکرت میکشد
Like nails, evil thoughts scratch the face of the Naf e Mutmainna, your soul.
فکرت بد ناخن پر زهر دان
میخراشد در تعمق روی جان
Know that your wicked thoughts are as if dipped in poison.
Delving into them deeper only damages the face of the soul more.
Maulana Rum (ra)
After Karachi, Lahore felt good. It was cool. There were days of rain. Those were spectacular. Then I met people and everyone seemed sad. For the first time, that mood didn’t permeate into mine. Otherwise it was pure osmosis and within days, I would be feeling tired myself. I don’t know why that didn’t happen. Maybe because I had returned from a stellar trip and my tank of energy was at “full.”
I had videos to make but Ustad was nowhere to be found so I was just taking in the mildness of the weather. On a random day I found a lecture of Uzair’s on Tasawuff; spirituality in Islam. I have never known the technical definition of spirituality so I put it on as I stretched for my daily game of table tennis. Unsurprisingly, it turned out to be fantastic.
Many Muslims and certainly non-Muslims, especially in the West, think erroneously that spirituality in Islam lies outside the faith. Maulana Rum (ra) becomes a staple for any person from any background exploring a path of self-knowing.
Celebrities like Tilda Swinton, Chris Martin, Drake and Madonna, Beyonce recently named her daughter after him, are enamored by him. But when it comes to his writing, Western translators have always excluded Islam from his identity. So much so that two academics had to start an online campaign naming it “Rumi is Muslim.” I didn’t realize people didn’t even know that much about him.
6th June 2020: “Sharghzadeh, a Detroit-based graduate of The University of Michigan and co-founder of ‘Rumi Was Muslim’ told The New Arab that "many of Rumi's most famous works have been translated from Western scholars to remove any mention of Islam, and often embedded with orientalist tropes." Context and history surrounding the poet's work, which are both linked closely with his identity as a Muslim, are often absent entirely, and add to further misinterpretation.
‘Mowlana is universal, but he didn't emerge in a vacuum, he was Muslim, and his universality should be understood within the context of the Islamic tradition. It's a form of cultural theft and Islamophobic erasure to downplay his Islamic identity,’ explains Sharghzadeh.
The New Yorker, Jan 5th, 2017; “Fatemeh Keshavarz, a professor of Persian studies at the University of Maryland, said that Rumi probably had the Koran memorized, given how often he drew from it in his poetry. Rumi himself described the “Masnavi” as “the roots of the roots of the roots of religion”—meaning Islam—“and the explainer of the Koran.” And yet little trace of the religion exists in the translations that sell so well in the United States…For those in the West, Rumi and Islam were separated.”
I had been asking myself over the last decade how the birth of any certain sentence repeated by most in the West had come about. People who explored or wished to explore mindfulness loved saying; “I am spiritual but I am not religious.” I heard the line so often I wondered if people even knew what they were saying. Were they just repeating it rote to find belonging in some community they had come to believe as admirable?
“The Foundations of Tasawuff” was the title of Uzair’s lecture and this was his preface;
“There is no such thing as non-Islamic Tasawuff, spirituality. Spirituality in Islam only comes from the Quran. The religion itself is a source of benefit only for a human being as well as society as a whole, sent by God and through His Prophet (peace be upon him).
There are two kinds of Tasawuff, reactive and proactive. Reactive Tasawuff is when that benefit decreed by Allah is obstructed by something and someone. This makes the Sufi, be they a scholar, or a Faqih, irritated. Whatever becomes a veil in the connection between God and a person, they will always react to that. In contrast to that, proactive Tasawuff is that they will want you to engage with your Lord, your Creator.”
Uzair then started with the definition of deen – faith/religion with the verse;
الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي
وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًا
فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ فِي مَخْمَصَةٍ غَيْرَ مُتَجَانِفٍ لِّإِثْمٍ
فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيم
This day I have perfected for you your religion and I have completed upon you My Favor and I have willed for you Islam, self-surrender, your religion.
As for him whoever is driven to what is forbidden by dire necessity and not the inclining to sin, then indeed, Allah (is) Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
Surah Al-Maida’, Verse 3
“So we see that the completion of the faith, Islam, obedience and surrender, is announced in the Quran. The Book provides the theory for a Muslim. What is missing then is the application. Theory on its own, by itself, is incomplete. In fact, it is useless. Hence, along with the Quran is sent a Rasool, a Messenger, so one can ask him, ‘Why have you come? To do what?’”
Uzair answered the question with a hadith.
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ
إِنَّ اللَّهَ بَعَثَنِي بِتَمَامِ مكارمِ الأَخْلاقِ وَكَمَالِ مَحَاسِنِ الأَفْعَالِ
"Indeed, Allah has sent me for the perfection of noble morals and the completion of good deeds.”
“The building of character that 124,000 Prophets contributed to, our Nabi (saw) says he has been sent, to render it complete, make it perfect.
You then start to notice that nowhere in the Quran does Allah say ‘Follow Me.’ Instead He makes it clear who it is that has to be surrendered to in order to surrender to Him and His Will.
قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّهُ
وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيم
Say (O Beloved), "If you love Allah, then follow me and Allah will love you
and He will forgive for you your sins. And Allah (is) Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
Surah Aal e Imran, Verse 31
Huzoor (peace be upon him) is the application of the theory. The one who follows him, is obedient to him, automatically becomes obedient to Allah.
مَّن يُطِعِ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدْ أَطَاعَ اللَّهَ وَمَن تَوَلَّىٰ فَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ عَلَيْهِمْ حَفِيظً
He who obeys the Messenger, then surely he obeyed Allah, and whoever turns away - then We have not sent you over them as a guardian.
Surah An-Nisa, Verse 80
Thus obedience of Allah directly is not possible for any human being. It comes only through obedience of His Prophet (peace be upon him). Allah makes it conditional. ‘If you are obedient to him, you are obedient to Me.’ This, then, is the theory and application of the deen, the religion.
What is deen, religion? It has three aspects; Imaneeyat is the first. Imaneeyat is witnessing that which is outside the realm of our five senses. It has not been witnessed by us but there is someone who has been the witness to it. We, in turn, bear witness to that witness and this becomes imaneeyat. It forms belief.
For example, we have not seen God but our Rasool (peace be upon him) has seen Him. So we are indirect witnesses. We have not seen angels and Heaven and Hell. They are unobservable for us. The details of what they are, how they look, what is inside them, only comes from him. Our beliefs then become a function of our aql, reason, ability to reflect. Be it through trust or logic or whatever.”
I recalled a hadith from Mairaj, the Night of Ascension, when Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) asked Allah, “When they ask me what you are like, what will I say to them?”
Allah Azzo Jal told him, “Say, ‘The one who has seen me has seen the Truth.’”
Uzair: “The second aspect of deen is amaal salih, righteous deeds. They are a function of my body, the jism. How I interact with people, how do I interact with God. This comes under Fiqh, Islamic Jurisprudence.
The third aspect is ahwaal o kaifiyat, the states. The Quran gives weight to all three facets. Imanyeeat is the proof of one’s beliefs (aqeeda). It lies in the deeds and is reflected by them.”
It was exactly how Maulana (ra) describes Hazrat Ali (ratu) behaviour when he forgave the man who spat on him in battle;
شیرِ حقم ، نیستم شیر ھوا
فعل من بر دین من باشد گوا
“I am the Lion of Allah, I do not cave to the desires of the self.
And my deeds will bear witness to my faith.”
When we were studying Surah Yaseen in our Quran class, one of the verses that I have never forgotten in the tafseer was;
هُمْ وَأَزْوَاجُهُمْ فِي ظِلَالٍ عَلَى الْأَرَائِكِ مُتَّكِئُون
They and their spouses lie in shades, reclining on couches.
Surah Yaseen, Verse 56
Qari Sahib was explaining the Surah over several weeks from the Tafseer e Jilani. It was one of those verses that I would have otherwise probably not paid much attention to. I am single, there are no spouses I imagine sitting with anywhere, here or there.
But then he said, “The azwaaj, always translated as ‘the spouse,’ Ghaus Pak (ra) says these are rewards of your good deeds.”
To this day every time I read the Surah, which is quite frequently since I heard that it is one of three that Allah will himself recite to us on the Day of Judgement, the verse makes me happy. Me and my deeds hanging on a couch! Regardless of what they end up being, the fact that his explanation of the line was so inclusive was magnificent.
Imaneeyat means imaan, the faith one possesses. The thing not known or even possible to determine by one’s own self. Which lay in the heart. Only Allah knew whether it was there or not. How it changed, deepened. I already knew that. I write about it constantly and vie for it day in and day out, wondering all the while; is it there, will it ever be there, will it stay or just make a cameo appearance?
Iman is entirely different from Islam. Which was simply the utterance of the Shahada, (La Ilaha Illallah, Muhammad Ar Rasool Allah). Every time I have read the following verse of the Quran it has made me ponder the difference between those two states for my own self.
Once some Bedouins who embraced Islam came to see Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him). They said to him,
قَالَتِ الْأَعْرَابُ آمَنَّا
“We have attained to faith.”
They were trying to imply that by doing so they had done a favour upon the Prophet (peace be upon him). Allah disliked their attitude and the verse was revealed.
قُل لَّمْ تُؤْمِنُوا وَلَٰكِن قُولُوا أَسْلَمْنَا وَلَمَّا يَدْخُلِ الْإِيمَانُ فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ
Say unto them, “You have not attained to faith.
But rather you say, ‘We have embraced Islam and have thus (outwardly) surrendered.’
For true faith has not entered your hearts.”
Then after the reprimand and exposure of the state of their hearts to them, Allah once again opens the door of hope and possibility, which lies only in obedience to Rasool-hu, His Messenger (peace be upon him).
وَإِن تُطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ لَا يَلِتْكُم مِّنْ أَعْمَالِكُمْ شَيْئًا إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيم
But if you pay heed to God and His Apostle (peace be upon him),
He will not let the least of your deeds go to waste. For Allah is Much Forgiving,
Surah Al-Hujuraat, Verse 14
Subhan Allah!
Uzair; “But it is the deed which creates the state of a heart. The heart relies on the deed for its haal, its kaifiyat. When the Quran talks about tawakkul (reliance on God), shukr (gratitude), sabr (patience), inkisar (humility), tawazu’ (submission), ehsan (favour), muhabbat (love), ikhlas (sincerity), these are all kaifiyaat. They are states and the Quran gives them equal weight to imaan and amal, faith and deed.
Often what the scholar and jurisprudist avoids is ehsaan. Only the Sufis, the Fuqura, address this topic. And it is not the ehsan of Urdu. It is from the root hasana, to beautify something.
On this note, the verse where Allah summarizes the entire moral philosophy of a human being, how to personify beauty in one’s existence using the word ‘ehsaan,’ is this;
وَإِذْ أَخَذْنَا مِيثَاقَ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ لَا تَعْبُدُونَ إِلَّا اللَّهَ
وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا وَذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَالْيَتَامَىٰ وَالْمَسَاكِينِ
وَقُولُوا لِلنَّاسِ حُسْنًا وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ
ثُمَّ تَوَلَّيْتُمْ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا مِّنكُمْ وَأَنتُم مُّعْرِضُونَ
And We accepted this solemn pledge from (you), the children of Israel, "You shall worship none but God `and you shall do good unto your parents and kinsfolk and the orphans and the poor. And you shall speak with all people in a kindly way and you shall be constant in prayer and you shall spend in charity. And yet, save for a few of you, you turned away, for you are obstinate folk!”
Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 83
I smiled. The verse was a favourite of mine. I had learnt many a new dimension of behaviour from it the first time I had read it with my teacher in Fes. Then he was making a different point than Uzair. He was teaching me about the order of significance in the Quran.
Begin excerpt “The Softest Heart”
“In the longer verses of the Quran,” he had said, “Where there are many commands being given, the order of what is being revealed is also the ranking of its importance before Allah.”
He then gave me the following example:
وَإِذْ أَخَذْنَا مِيثَاقَ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ لَا تَعْبُدُونَ إِلَّا اللَّهَ
وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا وَذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَالْيَتَامَىٰ وَالْمَسَاكِينِ
وَقُولُوا لِلنَّاسِ حُسْنًا وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ
ثُمَّ تَوَلَّيْتُمْ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا مِّنكُمْ وَأَنتُم مُّعْرِضُونَ
And We accepted this solemn pledge from (you), the children of Israel, "You shall worship none but God and you shall do good unto your parents and kinsfolk and the orphans and the poor. And you shall speak with all people in a kindly way and you shall be constant in prayer and you shall spend in charity. And yet, save for a few of you, you turned away, for you are obstinate folk!
When I had studied the verse, it was all about people, other human beings, the known and the strangers; parents, relatives, orphans, the poor. Then it was about manners again, speaking kindly to them. Seventh on the list was prayer. Eighth was zaka’t. Worship dutied was trumped by behavior, by regard, by adab. This is when I realized that my quest to please God would never be fulfilled by my meager worship, distracted at best.
It was through this ayat that I had realized something else extraordinary. That Allah Al-Wajid, The Pointing One, ranks sadqa (alms given voluntarily) way above zaka’t, that which is obligatory. For most people don’t give their time to the orphans and the poor. They give them money. When I first pointed this out to Qari Sahib, he was taken aback.
“But look Sir,” I said, pointing at the sequence of the verse written out on a board. “It has to be higher because zaka’t is last on the list.”
I had spent that whole day thinking about why it was so till it came to me. Sadqa was voluntary and an act of one’s volition was an act of love. It was chosen. Unlike zaka’t it was not compulsory. One had to be mindful to consider it. Or be fortunate and just imitate the behaviour of the Friends of God who practiced it continually.
End excerpt “The Softest Heart”
Uzair; …The verse summarizes the entire moral philosophy of a human being. Then for the ‘don’ts’ Allah says when you do these things, all eight of them, don’t become prideful and don’t be arrogant.
لِّكَيْلَا تَأْسَوْا عَلَىٰ مَا فَاتَكُمْ وَلَا تَفْرَحُوا بِمَا آتَاكُمْ
وَاللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ مُخْتَالٍ فَخُور
So that you may not grieve over what has escaped you,
and do not exult at what He has given you. And Allah does not like the vain and the arrogant.
Surah Al-Hadid, Verse 23
Then in another place where He uses the word ehsaan:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالْإِحْسَانِ
وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَيَنْهَىٰ عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنكَرِ وَالْبَغْيِ يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُون
Indeed, Allah orders justice and goodness, and giving to the relatives,
and forbids all that is shameful, that runs counter to reason and oppression.
He warns you so that you may take heed.
Surah An-Nahl, Verse 90
So ehsaan becomes an amr, an Order, a Command.
What is the layering of ehsan? How does one beautify one’s relationship with others, become a source of goodness for them? This is where Tasawuff comes in for it is about what is happening inside one’s heart. Hence the Sufi becomes the one who speaks to the state of your inner being, your batin. Just like the one who speaks to the overt state is the Alim, the scholar. The one who speaks to the aqaid, beliefs, is the Mutakallam.
So when the Faqih says ‘Pray five times.’ The Sufi then says, ‘Praying is not enough. Bring yourself into the state of feeling the Presence of God, the consciousness of a living God.’
The Faqih will say, “Face the Ka’ba.’ The Sufi will then say, “Make your heart face it as well, not just your countenance.’
The Faqih will say, ‘Without ablution there is no prayer.’ The Sufi will say, ‘There is also no prayer without your heart being attentive.’
The Alim will say, ‘Fast.’ The Sufi will say, ‘Deprive your nafs of its desires, its hate and discord. Starving your stomach will do nothing.’
The Alim will say, ‘Give zakat.’ The Sufi will say, ‘Give the alms of your heart.’ What is that? Forgive someone. Stop hating someone. Be kind to someone.
The area of expertise of each person in service to the faith is entirely different. Tasawuff is amal, deed. It is not an intellectual exercise. It is an attitude that is practical. My being, my essence, in every interaction should exude khair, haq, husn, goodness, truth, beauty. It is not theory. It is being muhasib, accountable and muraqib, watchful on your inner states. The root of imaan is tasawuff. Not one terminology of it is outside the Quran or the hadith.
Then he gave an example.
“What are the main departments of Tasawuff; rija (hope), khauf (fear), taqwa (God-consciousness through restraint and not transgressing boundaries), muhabbat (love), ikhlas (sincerity). Where are the Sufis getting all of it from? Take Muraqaba for instance, what is Muraqaba?
الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللَّهَ قِيَامًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَىٰ جُنُوبِهِمْ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ
رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَٰذَا بَاطِلًا سُبْحَانَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّار
Those who remember Allah standing, and sitting and on their sides and they reflect on (the) creation (of) the heavens and the earth, "Our Lord, not You have created this (in) vain. Glory be to You, so save us (from the) punishment (of) the Fire.
Surah Aal e Imran, Verse 191
This is the beginning of a Muraqaba. That at no point is my essence outside the Presence of God.”
Muraqaba is the practice of meditation in Tasawuff. I know for a fact it is a daily practice prescribed for those disciples in the Naqshbandi silsila. And it’s not five minutes although perhaps whatever is possible is accepted. They do a silent meditation. I have sat in one them a couple of times in my life. The first effect of it for a newbie is the drowsiness that one becomes enveloped in fairly quickly. As the practice continues, the states change and become elevated but I don’t know what they are. I imagine it’s a visual experience of unveiling.
Uzair then gave the definition of Tasawuff by a number of Sufi giants.
“Let me take you through the definition of Tasawuff by those who are the reflection of its practice;
Hazrat Junaid Baghdadi was asked. “How is the path of Tasawuff traveled?” He replied, “Only the one who holds the Quran in the right hand and the Sunnat e Rasool (saw) in the left will travel this path. Without even one of these guiding lights the path will close upon you.”
Hazrat Abdullah Hirwai (ra); Not letting your nafs go against that which is the truth, that which is right, that is Tasawuff.
Hazrat Abul Hasan Noori (ra);
لیس التصوف رسوما ولا علوما ولکنه اخلاق۔
Tasawuff is not custom or tradition and it is not knowledge but it is morals and behaviour.
In Kashf ul Mahjoob, Daata Sahib (ra) gives a explanation of the verse;
" تصوف رسوم و علم نہیں ہے لیکن یہ ایک خاص خصلت ہے۔"
یعنی اگر تصوف رسمی چیز ہوتی تو مجاہدہ و ریاضت سے حاصل ہوجاتا اور اگر علم ہوتا تو محض تعلیم سے حاصل ہو جاتا، تو ثابت ہوا کہ تصوف ایک خصلتِ خاص کا نام ہے اور جب تک یہ خود اپنے اندر نہ پیدا کرے اس وقت تک وہ حاصل نہیں ہوتا۔
“If Tasawuff was a tradition, then it could have been attained through practice and struggle. If it were knowledge, then it could have been achieved through education. Hence it is proven that it is a special nature, a specific state. Until it comes from one’s own striving (as has been ordered and is required), till that time it cannot be reached.
I asked Qari Sahib what the first line meant. I thought in Islam everything could be attained through practice and struggle.
“Sometimes people isolate themselves or do things that Allah has not asked them to do. It is not part of the Islamic practice and methodology. That which is not prescribed will not yield results. In any case, there is no proof without another human being to see if anything sticks, takes effect. Abul Hasan Noori (ra) is saying that Tasawuff cannot come from that route of self-isolation. It has to come from obedience of God and being in the service of humanity.”
When I used to be in Fes for months at time, reading and learning new ideas, imbibing them with the truest of intentions, I thought everything had seeped into my nature and transformed me. I felt good all the time, light and happy. I was also by myself. I studied Arabic and delved into ahadith. I read New Yorkers and listened to music. I walked around in the undulating alleys of the Medina at all times of the day taking photos and eating delicious foods. There weren’t even any cars. It was like living in another century. I met no one except my teachers. I hardly spoke.
Then I would come to Lahore and within a day of being there I would realize that I hadn’t quite absorbed everything the way I had imagined. The only way to tell if there was change was in my reaction to others. When it didn’t appear the way I had read it and thought also absorbed it, the disappointment was crushing. If and when that reaction did change, it wasn’t even my doing. The desire for it was the only thing my own.
Something happened recently that helped me understand exactly what was making the difference in all my spiritual quests. The answer lay in exactly two words;
Ghaus Pak (ra).
His birthday is on the first of Ramadan. I was working on a video for it. Finding the right kalam was integral. I had asked Qari Sahib to suggest some options. Composing it would be Ustad’s department mostly. I was working on this piece, the narration and the verse of the Quran in the beginning. I had to translate Arabic and Farsi into both Urdu and English. That was work enough. I had decided to make the video different from all my other ones.
First, I was going to translate the tafseer of the verse from the Tasfeer e Jilani, not use the translation. I was also not picking a story from Ghaus Pak’s (ra) life. I had been reading passages from Al-Fath Ar-Rabbani in Karachi that had stirred, not stirred, literally shifted something inside me. I wanted to use those lines, share them with everyone.
Working on anything related to Ghaus Pak (ra) makes me nervous. I didn’t want to make any mistake. It wasn’t fear of consequence. My heart is in the right place, so to speak. It is that if I disappoint him, I feel like I will cry forever. I even did an istakhara for the kalam. I had randomly chosen it so I was worried it was not the right one. And I rarely do an istakhara (asking the Quran for the answer when making a decision).
Once you do it, you have to abide by the answer. In the past, I have chosen not to and suffered.
When Qari Sahib read the verse he looked at me seriously.
“What was your question?”
“I was asking if the kalam was the correct one for the video sir,” I said meekly. I knew what was coming. The verse had words in it like azabun shadeed, severe punishment.
He shook his head firmly from side to side. “The answer is ‘No.’ Find something else.”
That’s when I just passed the baton to him. Clearly my nafs was in a whole other state of its own madness. I focused on the first excerpt from his sermon instead, reading the darood shareef in the beginning with inordinate focus.
Al-Fath Ar-Rabbani: Hazrat Ghaus Pak (ra) says; “The sirr, which is more sublime than the soul, is the place of witnessing Allah’s Appearance, is the king.
The qalb, the seat of recognition of Allah in the heart, is its advisor.
The nafs, the self, the tongue and all the other parts (of the body), they stand in service before them.
The sirr draws from the Ocean of Godliness.
The qalb derives from the sirr.
The nafs e mutmainna, the contented self, takes its strength from the qalb.
The tongue gets its persuasion from the nafs, the ego, while the rest of the parts are subservient to the tongue.
If the tongue is respectful, the qalb becomes pious and when the tongue is misbehaving, the qalb becomes ruined.
Your tongue needs be harnessed by being conscious of Allah and repentant for meaningless speech and hypocrisy.
Thus, once it becomes steadfast on this state, the speech of the tongue will merge into the cleansing of the qalb.
When the qalb attains this level, it becomes lit
and nur, light, radiates from it towards the tongue and the rest of the body.
End of Translation!
I could easily write a short piece of each of the lines. The thought made me smile. Like Uzair does a tafseer of a word from the Quran for an hour. Except this would not be imparting knowledge; facts, history, structure, theology and everything else his lectures encompass. It would be a personal history piece. 10 of them! This is how the first one would start;
Laziness is the king.
Justification is its advisor.
The backdrop as to why the lines shifted a gear for me was that while in Karachi, a friend of mine sent me a text. In it she said something which was, at the time I thought, of extreme importance to me, very casually. Then she never mentioned it again. For a couple of hours I thought about it but I was busy, distracted. I was on a holiday.
When I returned to Lahore, as soon as we met, I started waiting for her to bring up the text she had written. Ask me how it made me feel or what I wanted her to do about it. She never did. All the while that I waited, Iblis stood next to her, (or was it me?), and paranoia and doubts entered my heart the entire time. I thought she was a whole range of evil; insensitive, selfish, indifferent, jealous, miserly. The list went on and on in my head.
But in those days I was also working on the piece, translating it for my video, and the part about the tongue was echoing in my head.
“The tongue gets its persuasion from the nafs, the ego.”
Then the line about the other parts of the body taking their cue from the tongue was taking up the remainder of my attention;
“The rest of the parts are subservient to the tongue.”
I didn’t even know what that meant then. I had to ask Qari Sahib about it. He told me a story;
‘Hazrat Luqman (as) was asked by his father to bring a piece of meat from the market.
“Bring a good piece of meat,” he directed him.
Hazrat Luqman (as) brought back tongue.
Then his father asked him to bring a bad piece of meat.
Hazrat Luqman (as) again brought tongue.
His father inquired, “What is the wisdom behind this?”
He answered, “If one’s speech is good, there is no part better than the tongue in the body. And if one’s speech is poor, there is no part worse than it.”’
“The rest of the parts are subservient to the tongue.”
For the first time in my life, I bit my tongue day after day. Iblis came at me from my left and my right and front and back, just as he himself promises to in the Quran;
ثُمَّ لَآتِيَنَّهُم مِّن بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ وَعَنْ أَيْمَانِهِمْ وَعَن شَمَائِلِهِمْ
وَلَا تَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَاكِرِين
Then surely, I (Iblis) will come to them from their front and from behind them and from their right and from their left,
and You will find most of them are ungrateful."
Surah Al-Ahraf, Verse 17
But in all honesty it wasn’t even him. It was my nafs yelling, “Are you crazy? You have to ask her!” I made the words of Ghaus Pak (ra) my shield to ward them both off. I had decided, I would not bring up the subject no matter what. For two weeks, the ordeal continued. I never stopped seeing her. I didn’t alter my behaviour with her in the least. Then I saw my striving’s effect unveil before me.
Nature, khaslat, how does it change? An example landed in my lap as a windfall. To write this piece I had decided to make a trip to my village. On the way there we had to get a lot of directions. The roads was being repaired so an alternate route had to be found. I had given my driver Pathani’s husband’s number. His name is Nasir. He was directing us. My driver was new. Otherwise my staff is old as in they’ve been with my family for decades. The house runs like clockwork. I don’t interfere in anything so I had not needed to train anyone in a while.
The driver was young. He was also from the area around my village but didn’t know it in terms of driving directions. I could overhear both sides of the conversation between him and Nasir as they spoke every 15 minutes. I sensed the frustration in Nasir’s voice as my driver gave unclear answers as to where we were and how far from where we had to meet him but it was mild.
I waited to see in which one of those calls he would lose it. When his voice would be angry or at least irritated and if none of those, just become raised. It never happened. I knew why too. Nasir is gentle. He has a thousand other faults but his speech is soft and he speaks to others kindly.
# 6 of 8: “And you shall speak with all people in a kindly way.”
It gave me a new appreciation of someone for whom the word most often people use is “loser.” Mostly I saw how much better he was than me. Which Babu ji (ra) always says to remind oneself that everybody is. I just keep forgetting.
In complete contrast to him, on the way out of the city, in asking my driver about certain tasks I had assigned to him, receiving answers that were the opposite of what I was expecting, basically nothing done, I had not only raised my voice, I was irritated and angry. On top of that I thought my manner was justified.
Living in the States, working there for the first time in my life after undergrad, I had learnt a certain work ethic, a professionalism that seems absent in Pakistan for the most part. At least in my experience. I find myself in a constant mode of transmitting that standard to others who are in a perpetual mode of repelling it. It is a lost battle but like a fool, I still wage it. Then on top of that I’m self-righteous about my unwanted effort.
In the car that day, for the first time in my life, I physically felt the consequences of my tongue. On my other parts. I felt tired even though I had left my house feeling fresh as a daisy. I was in a rotten mood which was the opposite of where I needed to be to write. The drive was a gorgeous one and I usually used it to write because I was alone. I would sit with my feet stretched on the back seat so that each time I lifted my eyes from my laptop, I would see fields of gorgeous greens. It was a high upon a high.
Thanks to my manner of berating him for his lack of efficiency and inability to execute simple instructions, I felt this unpleasantness looming upon me. I tried to make myself feel better by justifying my behaviour. Not in my head but in another speech to him. I gave him some long spiel about how I was trying to train him and unless he received feedback he would not improve, blah blah blah. He too was like Nasir, gentle, so he just kept nodding his head and saying “Yes.”
After that lame attempt to expunge my feelings, I did what Hazrat Bibi Fatima (ratu) taught me. I closed my eyes and bowed my head, holding my hands together as if about to utter a plea and asked for forgiveness of my Lord. But the calm only entered my heart when I asked Nabi Pak (peace be upon him) to pray for me. “For only when you pray for me, does Allah accept my repentance and forgives me my sins.”
وَاسْتَغْفَرَ لَهُمُ الرَّسُولُ لَوَجَدُوا اللَّهَ تَوَّابًا رَّحِيمًا
and if the Noble Messenger (peace be upon him) asked Allah for forgiveness for them,
they will certainly find Allah as the Acceptor Of Repentance, the Most Merciful.
I wonder sometimes if the line, in my experience of using it umpteen times a day sometimes, works the magic because it is a promise of Allah’s in the Quran that when he prays for one, the forgiveness is granted, literally immediately. Or is it the tears that usually accompany the address to my Prophet (peace be upon him). The frequency with which I utter it always makes me feel ashamed. My inability to change makes me sad and I always wonder if he thinks what I thought; would I ever become different?
Qari Sahib had recently taught us a prayer in our Quran class which I had just started.
“Ask of Allah that which his Rasool (saw) asked of him. And ask of Allah to be saved, seek refuge, from that which he sought refuge from. The specifics don’t matter. Invoking his ask is enough.” The other thing he had mentioned that day was to use the word “Afia” as the best ask. It encompassed all goodness.
Within days of the practice of silence with my friend, my heart changed. I felt a softness for her which was outside the realm of possibility in this scenario. I knew that to be a certainty because it wasn’t the first time I wanted something simple from her which she would not be able to deliver. Usually I would just wait, then become dejected and disappointed and finally distant.
But this time I exercised patience exactly the way Ghaus Pak (ra) says it must be exercised;
معنی الصبر انک لا تشکو الی احد،
و لا تتعلق بسبب،
و لا تکرہ وجود البلیۃ،
ولا تحب زوالھا
“The meaning of sabr, patience, is that you do not complain before anyone about it, and you do not think the trial has come from what appears to be the source of the trial (because it comes from God), and do not think of the trial as burdensome, and do not wish it to go away.”
I even stopped wanting what I thought I wanted. That was remarkable. That was part of the reward of my effort. It was a desire of my nafs so my nafs was trying to persuade my tongue. After what Ghaus Pak (ra) had said I really appreciated that the most and felt grateful. I even appreciated my friend’s forgetfulness which was all it was. She was always deeply caught up in her own life.
کہ تصوف ایک خصلتِ خاص کا نام ہے
اور جب تک یہ خود اپنے اندر نہ پیدا کرے اس وقت تک وہ حاصل نہیں ہوتا۔
“Hence it is proven that Taswuff, spirituality, is a special nature, a specific state. Until it comes from one’s own striving (as has been ordered and is required), till that time it cannot be reached.”
Hazrat Ali (ratu) says that when you make a decision, see the destination first then chose the path. The motivation to control the tongue lies in seeing the consequences of its lashing. Which in my case are always guilt and regret. These days. In early times, there was no aftermath for me. I just forgot about it. Once the effect of the action is seen in the future, then the impulse can be controlled. Not an easy task for a human being whose nature has haste woven in it.
وَكَانَ الْإِنسَانُ عَجُولً
And Man is prone to be hasty.
Surah Al-Isra’, Verse 17
The problem becomes compounded when the power dynamic favours one. Then there is little impetus to exercise that control. Case in point; it was easier for me to exercise restraint with my friend where there was little imbalance of power. It was hard as hell with my driver. Another reminder why Hazrat Sahil Tustari (ra) says that power has to be relinquished, weakness chosen. From a position of weakness comes gentleness or humility, and the jewel that accompanies them, silence, comes naturally.
Hazrat Anas Bin Malik (ratu) served Nabi Kareem (peace be upon him) for 10 years. When I asked Qari Sahib what word he used to describe that experience for this piece, he said, “Read the whole tashreeh, explanation Hazrat Anas (ratu) gives. After I read the hadith my first instinct was to say I didn’t need any more but he insisted. Thank heavens for teachers!
حَدَّثَنَا أَنَسٌ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ ، قَالَ :
خَدَمْتُ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ عَشْرَ سِنِينَ ، فَمَا قَالَ لِي أُفٍّ وَلَا لِمَ صَنَعْتَ وَلَا أَلَّا صَنَعْتَ .
“I was in the service of the Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him) for 10 years. Not once did he say to me “Ufff,” (the sound of irritation and frustration with someone), nor did he say, “Why did you do that?” nor “Why didn’t you do that?”
Basically the exact opposite of what I do! The tashreeh was even more potent.
Hazrat Anas Bin Malik (ra): “I was young and I was immature. I used to do things incorrectly and sometimes I would cause damage by breaking something etc. Never did the one who was mercy personified from head to foot use an accusing tone with me and say, “Why did you not do something or why did you do that?”
I should have felt deep shame but I felt extreme delight. Like my heart soared. The words changed my approach to reprimand forever. At least in my head. I could foresee my prayers of repentance and forgiveness multiplying a thousand fold on the horizon but I felt happy. The challenge was to teach without blame and accusation. They cause fear and need. I have written about that endlessly. I was very good at applying it with friends and family but not subordinates when they erred. The level of difficulty of the challenge was sky high. But the fruit was also nur radiating from my qalb.
I seek and occasionally gain wisdom but only through imitation. Confucius taught me that it is the easiest way to acquire it. The hadith made likelihood of change a pleasant possibility in my own behaviour, a tug between me and my ego instead of a struggle with someone else. The former was so much easier. If I won I won and if I lost, I only hurt myself. That itself would make the impetus for change accelerate to warp speed.
I spent 5 days in the village. Every day before Maghrib I went for a walk in the fields. Roaming around my mother’s ancestral home accompanied by Pathani, I realized how some daughters of feudals must have felt like princesses. I heard after she died that my mother was like one. Not in the way the term is used colloquially for the daughter of every rich person in the city every time she wears a pink dress.
The children take a heavy dose of their cues of the do’s and don’ts from the staff who work for their families for generations. That creates an intense bond of love and respect. In my 20’s when my brother and I were the only ones who lived alone, our friends would come to our house to do the crazy stuff. I was constantly hiding it from Pathani. They never understood why I needed to do that with someone who was on my payroll.
The woman who came to see me every time in the village, Ghulam Bibi, is in her late 60s although she looks older. She is deaf and has a beautiful singing voice. I have only known her a few years but she loves me so deeply, it surprised me. From a distance she croons whenever she sees me, her hand raised to the heavens as if thanking God I appeared, as if just for her; “Tenu takdi na rajaan…” “I can’t get enough of looking at you.” The intensity of her lyrics always makes me laugh and I have to immediately note them down.
My mother’s best friend growing up was a village kid, Talo. It was way before she had one in the city. “She is wise,” she would always say, the ultimate compliment amongst folk from a rural background. I guess that spoke volumes. Not rich or beautiful or powerful or even self-made, the ultimate compliment in an urban environment that I have found to arouse the most regard. It always evoked mine. It was how one gave leeway to the one who went from rags to riches and then lost their mind.
The word echoes in my readings of the Quran and in the malfuzaat of the Auliya, hikmat. In the tafseer of Surah Luqman, I had read; “Allah granted his Prophet Luqman (as) wisdom for a singular purpose: So that he could be the vessel that receives his Kindness (lutf) and Generosity (karam), His Bounty (faiz) and becomes of the Grateful, the Shakireen.”
The connection was direct. Wisdom was granted so that one could become grateful. The process between the two was an exquisite imbibing of Divine Kindness, Generosity and Bounty. And wisdom came only through interaction and the bettering of that interaction with human beings, the practice of Tasawuff. At least 90% of it, as said Maula e Kayinaat, Hazrat Ali (ratu).
In her last trip to Lahore knowing she would soon die, my mother asked Talo to come to see her and stay with her the whole while she was there. Two months. They spent the hours after Fajr together every day. I think she saw her more than I did. My mother was 53 then, three years older than I am now. I befriended death the day she died. It’s not unusual. Witnessing a death of someone significant early in life makes one unafraid of it. Of everything really. Less to lose remains. The transience of all things becomes undeniable.
Death! The word draws fascinating reactions from people mostly because of their wonderings related to what happens to them after. Some people talk about Heaven like it’s a club they want to gain admission to and they’re not hip enough. They just want to somehow sneak in past the velvet rope and melt into the crowd. Like crashing a party and never meeting the host. I have my own fantasy.
First, I meet all the Friends of God I am attached to. Then the Prophets I have come to know. I want to hear them, their sound, their voices, their words, intonation, style, tonality. I learnt that last word from a musician friend of mine. “I like the tonality of your voice,” she would say and I never knew what she meant. When I write it like this I see the familiarity for my dying wish with the Mairaj, the Night of Ascension and I smile at how unoriginal I am.
Everything can be converted to love. If I had to choose one sentence that is the essence of my learning, it would be that. I learnt recently in my Quran class from Dannoo that it is also possible in worship; a prayer could become a Namaz e Ishq, a prayer of love, if one read the Surah Ikhlas 10 times, instead of once. It was divine moment the first time I brought that into practice. I was already claiming love in my prayer of nafal for someone most special to God. Suddenly there was the opportunity to guarantee its reality.
Shab e Baraat was approaching and Qari Sahib w
as giving us instruction for our worship for the night which determines all the happenings of the next year. I discovered then that Allah likes length in qayam, the standing position in the namaz. Hence there are different kinds of nawafil, the voluntary prayers, that are entirely about creating that duration; the salat tasbeeh, then the prayer of Imam Ali (ratu) where he read the Surah Ikhlas a 100 times in each ruku’. There is even the prayer where one reads a certain darood a 1,000 times in each ruku’. That likely requires standing for hours.
Length in prayer is the sign for love for Allah. It made sense. Who ever got enough of time spent with the beloved. I claim a lot of love for God but my worship of long qayam is less frequent than it should be.
Laziness is the king.
Justification is its advisor.
I meant to ask Qari Sahib, when one’s utterance of the namaz becomes silent, is the seat of utterance still the tongue or does it change? Then I realized it doesn’t matter.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَقُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدً
O ye who attained to faith, Remain conscious of God and speak what is right.
Surah Al-Ahzab, Verse 70
I looked up the verse wanting Ghaus Pak’s (ra) meaning for sadeedan translated as “right.” But of course, he unveiled a lot more.
Tafseer e Jilani: “O ye who believe in Allah and His Rasool (peace be upon him)! Be fearful of Allah who is Al-Muntaqim, The Avenging One and do not bring any kind of pain or suffering upon His Prophet (peace be upon him), either physically or spiritually.”
That was the tafseer of taqwa, one of the most important words in the Quran. Almost always translated as either “piety” or “fear.” But what it means is being conscious/mindful of God. In the verse, Allah was saying that being conscious of Him was in fact being mindful of His Beloved (peace be upon him).
“And be careful about how you speak about his majesty and honour. Let your words be sadeeda; saheeh, accurate in the selection of your words, saalim, not lacking in regard, baeed, as far away as possible from causing him distress, blaming him or accusing him.”
Subhan Allah! The whole verse was about the Prophet (peace be upon him). I extrapolated from that for everyone else as well; Choose your words carefully, make sure they are respectful and avoid causing pain, avoid blame and accusation.
When I control my tongue, my tank of energy remains ‘full.’ I am like the sun. The state of another doesn’t affect me. They can take whatever they want from me without making me feel depleted. What wears me down is my own speech when unkind, disrespectful, harsh, judgmental. Tiring the other parts of my body including my brain.
“If the tongue is respectful, the qalb becomes conscious of God and when the tongue is misbehaving, the qalb becomes ruined.
Your tongue should be harnessed by God-consciousness and repentance from meaningless speech, negativity and hypocrisy.”
Maulana (ra) sheds light on the idea going into it deeper; the damage thoughts can create even when the tongue is silent.
روی نفس مطمئنه در جسد
زخم ناخنهای فکرت میکشد
Like nails, evil thoughts scratch the face of the Naf e Mutmainna.
فکرت بد ناخن پر زهر دان
میخراشد در تعمق روی جان
Know that your wicked thoughts are as if dipped in poison,
Delving into them deeper only damages the face of the soul more.
When I blame the ones who cause me to speak like that I’m mistaken. I cause it because I have a choice. I can be silent. Ultimately they don’t even notice me that much. They are at least steady in their haal (state) whatever it is. I could attempt to be steady on mine.
“Thus once it becomes steadfast on this, the just and true speech of the tongue will lead to the goodness of the qalb.
When the qalb attains this level, it becomes lit and nur radiates from it towards the tongue and the rest of the body.”
Ghaus Pak (ra) closes each and every one of his sermons with one prayer. It was a prayer I found on my first Umra on the ground but I did not know this about him then.
Begin excerpt “The Softest Heart”
By the time I reached the Ka’ba the rain had stopped and the sun was warm again. While I was circumambulating slowly, I saw a very small piece of paper on the ground. I picked it up and in someone’s handwriting was the following ayat:
وَمِنْهُم مَّن يَقُولُ رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً
وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ
But among them are they who say, "Our Lord! Give us in this world (that which is) good and in the Hereafter (that which is) good and protect us from the punishment of the Fire."
Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 201
I picked up the paper, kissed it, placed it lightly on my eyes, kissed it again and read it again and again as I kept walking. It is a verse I had heard many times, one that many people recite daily as a tasbeeh. Immediately my mind went to the story of Hazrat Bishr Haafi (ra).
Hazrat Bishr Haafi (ra) spent most of his life drinking alcohol and roaming the streets in a state of intoxication. One day he came upon a piece of paper which had the words Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim written on it, lying on the road. Although inebriated, he picked up the paper, kissed it, put some itar (perfume) on it and placed it on a high spot. That night he heard the voice of Allah Al-Afuww, The Supreme Pardoner, asking him if he was not tired of being so distant from Him. And just like that he became a wali (saint). His title was Haafi because he always walked barefoot. While he was alive, no animal defecated in the streets where he walked out of respect for him.
I still have that piece of paper in one of my books that I read from every day. It was quite the keepsake. One day while I was sitting with Qari Sahib going over some references for this book, I told him I had found it. His eyes widened.
“You didn’t tell me about this before,” he said.
“I forgot, Sir.”
“So do you read the prayer?” he asked.
“No,” I replied. “I keep it in a special book after I kissed it and put scent on it.”
“And what did you think?” he smiled. “You were going to get wilayat (that which forms qurb, closeness with God) overnight?”
I grinned back.
“You were given a pearl as a gift in the House of God and you put it in a book?” Qari Sahib said. “Wear it!”
And thus I started saying the prayer.
End excerpt “The Softest Heart”
The same prayer that Ghaus Pak (ra) ends each of his sermons with! Luck appears in all forms. Connections are made in all kinds of way. No one is alone. There are as many wings of hope as the seeker desires. The Friends of God are countless. It’s just that there are those who say or perhaps just think of the life here;
فَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَقُولُ رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا
For there are people who (merely) pray, "Our Lord! Grant us in the world."
But then apparently they have no share in the Hereafter. I guess because they never consider it.
وَمَا لَهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ مِنْ خَلَاق
They will have no share in the Afterlife.
Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 83
Ghaus Pak (ra) gives the tafseer of his favourite verse in a way where the focus is always singular; pleasing Allah!
وَمِنْهُم مَّن يَقُولُ رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً
وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ
Amongst them are the ones who have union in his overt and inner being, (zahir and batin)
and who keep this world and the Afterlife together,
who say, “O our Lord, Grant us goodness which makes you pleased with us in this life
and grant us goodness in the Hereafter, which connects us with Your One-ness (Tauheed),
and by Your Favour and Mercy upon us,
save us from the possibilities that cause paranoia and doubt.
Tafseer e Jilani
Paranoia and doubt are always the translation of “fire” and “Hell” in the Quran by those in the know. Their utmost concern is how a life can be made peaceful here in the world. Not exist with the soul set aflame, awaiting some paradise long after death.
In my video for the Urs of Ghaus Pak (ra) a few months ago I had chosen the verse;
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَكُونُوا۟ مَعَ ٱلصَّـٰدِقِينَ
O ye who believed!
Be conscious of God and be with those who are truthful.
Surah At-Tauba, Verse 119
Uzair gave a lecture on it recently; “The verse is giving the essentials in a clear manner. The first two states are together; if you are of the right belief and possess imaan, make your deeds good, acquire taqwa by being conscious of God, practicing restraint. Then comes the third Command; be with the truthful.
So what the Quran is saying is that even if your beliefs are absolutely perfect and your deeds are absolutely perfect, you still need the truthful. Those who believe, we only need the Quran, or even those who say, we only need the hadith, Allah is countering that. You also need the truthful. You will always need the truthful. When you look for them, the blessings of God will come upon you. Not otherwise!”
In understanding a single organ of my body, the tongue, I gained a new perspective of what I have perceived as “negative and toxic,” words thrown around constantly to identify those who are really just sad. Undeniably they are all of those things as well but then so am I as I travel the arc from furiously hot to serenely warm.
Everything is a choice. These days I especially regret mine from my past when I left when I should have loved. For even the humiliation was enwrapped in love because love preceded it. Whether it was from my side or the other. It had already blunted the blow. There remains a memory connected to that feeling of joy which exists for me even today with everyone I felt it for. Perhaps for some nostalgia reigns!
But I guess things have to come in their own time. Then I was a slave to the desires of my ego which flew into a rage every five minutes. The desires have lessened. The ego is weak. I remain a slave to it but an unwillingly one. Moreover, in my regrets I have tasted the lazzat, the fruits, of the acceptance of repentance. That has been my impetus to change more.
Maulana Rum (ra): “You don’t refrain from wrongfulness because you haven’t tasted the fruits of the acceptance of repentance.”
Qari Sahib: “What are the fruits of repentance?”
I knew what they were for me; the peace and calm I felt when I did know my repentance was accepted which was only when my Rau’f and Rahim Prophet (peace be upon him) prayed for me.
Qari Sahib quoted the following verse;
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا تُوبُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ تَوْبَةً نَّصُوحًا عَسَىٰ رَبُّكُمْ أَن يُكَفِّرَ عَنكُمْ سَيِّئَاتِكُمْ
وَيُدْخِلَكُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ
O you who attained to faith! Turn to Allah in repentance sincere!
Perhaps your Lord will erase from you your wrongful deeds
and admit you into Gardens flow from underneath it the rivers, on The Day.
Surah At-Tahrim, Verse 8
Perhaps!
My haal, my kaifiyat, the state of my inner being, my batin, the serenity of my mind, really only comes from one source; “the truthful.” The ones who never turn away, abandon or forget me. Ghaus Pak (ra) is their king. As Sultan ul Hind, Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti Ajmeri (ra) writes in his honour;
در بزم نبی عالی شانی، ستار عیوب مریدانی
در ملک ولایت سلطانی اے منبع فضل و جود و سخا
Amongst the company of the Prophet (saw) you hold an exalted rank,
O one who hides, of his disciples, their flaws!
In the world of nearness to God, you are the king,
O source of favour, bounty and generosity!
In celebrating my connection to him, I don’t have much to offer. So to express my gratitude for the single greatest boon of my life simply in a few words, all of them borrowed, I have waited for the 1st of Ramadan with bated breath to smilingly say; “Happy Birthday Ya Ghaus e Muzzam!”
Ghaus Pak in Al-Fath Ar-Rabbani (ra): “O you who increased in years and aged but in your nature remain like a child, how long will you run after this wicked world because of your immaturity?
You have made it your destiny and the be-all and end-all of your existence. It is this same striving which will not let you have any peace in your life.
Do you not know that you become the servant of that which you have surrendered to?
If you have given your charge to the world then you are its servant.
And if the charge it given to the Afterlife, then you are its servant.
If you surrender yourself to Allah, then you are His Servant.
If you let your ego control you, then you are its servant.
And if you give yourself up to your desires, then you are their servant.
And if you have put yourself in the hands of any other creation, then you are its servant.
So be mindful of who you have given your charge to.
Most of you are those who desire the world and few are they who want the Afterlife.
Extremely rare are the ones who are only seekers of Allah, the One who created both the world and the Afterlife.
So be in the company of these people with the best of manners. Don’t disagree with them, don’t dispute them or you will bring harm upon yourself. And don’t disrespect them or you will become destroyed.
Being silent about that which you don’t know is knowledge and surrendering yourself to that which you don’t know is Islam.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER: I Do Not Condone Any Acts Of Vandalism Nor Do I Participate In Such Criminal Activity. I Am Simply An Observant and Take Photos Of This Graffiti You Have Come Across i simply have a deep love and apreciation for this art. ALSO I Will Not Condone Any Usage Of My Photos To Support Any Legal Matter Involving These Acts Of Vandalism Therefore YOU ARE NOT WELCOME TO VIEW OR TAKE THIS MATERIAL For ANY Purpose...
Farzi is one restaurant I have wanted to be at the most but it, ironically, has taken me the longest. The reasons for this happening were plenty but I finally made it to Farzi last week and there was a sense of excitement and relief in equal measure.
The place is funky, chic and bohemian but I would not want to delve on it any more as it takes my focus away from what makes Farzi the best new restaurant in town - food and drinks.
Many people label the food here as molecular gastronomy but I think its akin to calling all Indian food "curry"; it strips away from the complexity of what's on your plate. Farzi is multi sensory cooking (as Blumenthal says); you don't just eat with your tongue but your eyes and other senses. Yes, there are elements of molecular gastronomy involved but (as my review ahead will tell) it is more a take on taking classic combinations or flavours and twisting them around.
Anyway, gyaan aside, our evening began with a mishti doi lollipop. Molecular gastronomy, spherification to be precise, was visible here. As soon as you bite into it though, you get that fabulous sweet and tart hit of mishti doi. Even though it was presented in such a fancy way, it tasted amazing and authentic.
Next came a drink called Apple Foamtini - a take on the classic apple martini, this had a light frothy apple flavoured foam and then a tart, cold hit of the great martini. Brilliant combination and a great drink this.
Next on the menu was a mini raj kachori with okra and chutney foam. Yeah, raj kachori with crisp okra and a chutney foam!! - mind blown. The kachori was stuffed with dahi, green chutney and the works but guess what, it was completely closed. After this piece of sorcery, when I tasted the kachori it was as good as any Delhi- 6 outlet. The chutney foam gave the "saunth kick" but it was way lighter. The crisp okra was great and I was told that the idea behind okra was that it goes well with yoghurt.
This, I believe, is the spirit of Farzi. The moment you bite into the food (or sip a drink) it feels familiar and utterly delectable. Also, every element has a reason to be there, not just to be fancy.
Next came a light, refreshing orange-vanilla drink called Farzi OK. Balanced, sweet and sour with a very light flavour of kaffir lime, this is what you will want to drink all evening.
Next came a portion of chilli pork ribs. Very well cooked ribs with a slathering of luscious chilli sauce. Wonderful.
I moved onto one of the many superstars on the menu (tapas menu), sarson ke gilawat with corn and cheese tostadas. Sarson ka saag becomes a FANTASTIC sarson gilawat kebab here. The makki di roti takes the form of corn (makki) popcorn. Corn and cheese tostadas provide warmth and there are even elements of safed makhan, sirka and pyaaz in this. You will fall in love.
The gastronomic adventure took me to my favourite dish amongst the pantheon of dishes - tenderloin pathar ke kabab with walnut and wasabi chutney. I'd say if you like meat, have this dish. If you do not like meat, have this dish. Dammit, if you are vegetarian - have this dish!!!! - it is that good.
In between we had a palette cleanser- rose water and coconut payasam foam with rose petal dust before the prawn tempura with nimbu chutney foam arrived. I have never had better prawn tempura in my life, period. I have to write a bigger review on this alone but lets leave that for now.
I had the braised lamb chops next along with cheeni ka paratha with duck liver maska. Cheeni ka paratha was farzified with a foie gras butter and all I could think of was why mom never served such delicious "cheeni ka parathas" when I was younger.
I had the chilli duck samosas, pulled pork bun and the galouti burger next. I am running out of space to write about how brilliant each dish was. The samosa was halwai khasta; the duck was flavourful and the sweet plum sauce brought the entire dish together.
Similarly, the pulled pork bun was So Goan yet so Farzi. There was flavour from the pork; the buns gave it airiness and the Goan puffed rice gave it crunch. *drool*
The gilawat burger came in a box and the soft and magnificent galouti was given a bit of bite by a layer of boti kebab. You have to admire the thought process.
The Mutton Irachi pepper fry came along with a malabari paratha and was sublime but the icing on the cake was the gucchi pulao risotto. Perfectly creamy risotto with morsels of expensive gucchi topped with a salty parmesan crisp. You have to taste it to understand how brilliantly flavours work together.
The CTM or chicken tikka masala came in a London telephone booth, what a cheeky idea. I will say that the "national dish" of Britain tasted way better at Farzi.
There are three special drinks I will recommend. The flaming Farzi tower was an event on its own – flambéed shots (Baileys, Sambucca, Vodka, Kahlua and Absinthe) caramelizes and forms a drink at the bottom. The red wine spaghetti shots were great too – acidic and sweet and it was a vision as well. Finally, there was the B-52 bomber that was basically B-52 shooters, spherified, so in effect you eat the shot!
Yes I had a tiny speck left in my stomach to try desserts and the best two came. The Parle G cheesecake is the most photographed Farzi dessert on the web and it tasted as good as it looked. My question before tasting it was if the Parle G would really work with a creamy cheesecake and voila, it does. It lends the dish crunch and saltiness - splendid.
The other dessert - rasmali tres leches was even better. First of all you need to admire it as it sits on your table - it’s that pretty. Then you start eating it to try and understand how brilliant the flavours are. The sponge is three layered filled with carrot cream bathing in "rasmalai" milk. If this dish does not Farzify you, I don’t know what will.
The evening ended with a final flourish - gujiya shaped, pan flavoured cotton candy!! The pan was dehydrated and it gave a delightful punch. You know how it tasted but it also brought a tinge of nostalgia with it. Farzi is all about that - senses, flavours and a little bit of magic.
Lastly, we do not just have to applaud Zorawar, Chef Saurabh and the entire team behind Farzi but give them a very loud, "Dilliwala" wolf whistle for bringing Farzi to us.
#Farzified forever.
XOXO
Shivangi
(Shivangi Reviews)
Review Credit: Mayank
Contact: mail@shivangireviews.com
Find me on Facebook, search "Shivangi Reviews"
— with Mayank (Delhi Food Club), Zorawar Kalra
LEGAL DISCLAIMER: I Do Not Condone Any Acts Of Vandalism Nor Do I Participate In Such Criminal Activity. I Am Simply An Observant and Take Photos Of This Graffiti You Have Come Across i simply have a deep love and apreciation for this art. ALSO I Will Not Condone Any Usage Of My Photos To Support Any Legal Matter Involving These Acts Of Vandalism Therefore YOU ARE NOT WELCOME TO VIEW OR TAKE THIS MATERIAL For ANY Purpose...