Eid Mubarak

Asalam Alaykum Eid Mubaruk.The greeting is similar to the one we used at the beginning of Ramadan, though Eid Mubaruk heralds the feast of Eid ul-Fitr or Id-Ul-Fitr which marks the official end of the month of Ramadan.

Made it! :-))

Eid celebrates the compassion and forgiveness of Allah and is a time of great family celebration, a little like Easter and Christmas rolled into one. On a spiritual level it is also a time to receive and and extend forgiveness one to another.To mirror our relationship with Allah to brothers and sisters.

For me Ramadan has been a significant part of my own personal pilgrimage and has enriched my understanding and experience of God greatly.


But will I become a Muslim, you may ask? The answer is no.


Much as I love Allah (God/Yahweh) my God wears a suit not a salwar kameez,

He has a western world view, like mine

and He understands the subtlties and sensitivities of my pampered western nature: And I'm comfortable with that arrangement.

I can love Him by any name, but I can only worship Him in he way that is most natural for me.

I suppose we all ultimately create God in our own likeness, depending on weather our world view is eastern or western, but it's good to know the commonality we have in God, and to carry a bit of that as part of our individual God experience.


I have tried to express it this way;


If I wasn't a catholic,
I might have been . . . a pastor in a black pentecostal church,
praying for the sick and casting out demons.

. . . . . . If I wasn't a catholic.

If I wasn't a catholic,
I might have been . . . a high church Anglican,
rejoicing in sung pastoral liturgies and red robed choirs,
clouded in a sea of incense.

. . . . . . If I wasn't a catholic.

If I wasn't a catholic,
I might have been . . . a Tibetan Buddhist
contemplating my Ying and my Yang,
and the meaning of life,
or a fat Muslim cleric with more than one wife.

. . . . . . but I'm not,

I'm just a homogenized (monogamous?) blend
of all of the whole jolly lot


Eid Mubaruk. wa'salam

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Poems

It must be all the lack of food during Ramadan but I felt overcome to write a poem or two today.
They are my first so no serious critical comments, please.

The first is mildly religious. its called . . . .

Church

I went to church last Sunday,

though I'll never forget the Brukner Motet,
and Bach's Toccata in E sounded magic to me,

I can't remember a word the preacher said,

Who me, Shallow? . . . .

John Mullis October 2007


the second is my recollection of a night safari we did on Africa last year looking for Leopards. which we found . . .

The Leopard

The hot night air tore at my skin
as our jeep sped silently through the Serengeti.

The starless sky pierced only by the sweeping beam of our powerful spot light,
restlessly searching for eyes in the night.

Suddenly, they were there.

Her sleek outline silhouetted briefly in the beam,
Majestic, graceful, elegant, serene -

and way too cool to let on
she knew we were watching.

No struggle, no kill, just the chase and the thrill.

then she was gone again,

light beams flash like huge Jedi swords,
fighting to pick out her image . . . . in vain.

It reminded me of my teenage years.

Skin tight Levi's and hair Brylcreamed down,
Posing and posturing, for some girl down the town.

me pretending I hadn't seen her,

and her, way too cool to let on
she knew I was watching.

No struggle, no kill, just the chase and the thrill.

John Mullis - October 2007

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