Impermenance

Surah 16 verse96-100

96. What is with you must vanish: What is with Allah will endure. And we will certainly bestow, On those who patiently persevere, their reward according to the best of their actions.

97. Whoever works righteousness, Man or Woman, and has faith, surely to him will we give a life that is good and pure, and we will bestow on such their reward according to the their actions.

98. When you do read the Quran, seek Allahs protection from Satan the rejected one.

99. No authority has he over those who believe and put their trust in their Lord.

100. His authority is over those only, who take him as patron and who join partners with God.

Buddha's "Universal Law" says that ---all things change and are impermenant. The "reality we have is now", yesterday has passed and tomorrow is yet to be--we only have the present. But, this "present" will also pass away. Allah is the only reality that is permenant and will endure. This means that both happiness and suffering are impermenant, transient. We can only live now, in this moment---and it is in this moment that we have intentions that can be translated into actions---but this moment will pass. The Japanese have turned this philosophy into an art and celebrate its essence in everyday life as Wabi Sabi.---"It nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple (human)realities--that nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.

God is "the reality that is dependent on no other reality, but upon whom all other reality depends, through whose will all other realities have come into being, and who has, himself not come into being through any other principle." Mutahari.

It is when we contemplate the transient, that we begin to have an inkling of the enduring permenance of Allah.

Do you wabi sabi?

Surrender

Surah 37 verses 100-106

100 "O my Lord! grant me a rightous (son)!"
101 So we gave him the good news of a forbearing son.
102 Then, when (the son) reached (the age of) work with him, He said: "O my son! I have seen in a dream that I offer you in sacrifice: Now see what is your view!" (the son) said: "O my father! Do as you have been commanded: You will find me, if Allah so wills, one of the steadfast."
103. So when they had both submitted (to Allah), and he had laid his forehead
104. We called out to him, O Abraham!
105. "You have already fulfilled the dream!-thus indeed Do we reward those who do right.
106. For this was a clear trial---

For a long time, this story puzzled me. Prophet Abraham was a great man (and muslim) because through the use of his intellect, he arrived at an understanding of God, the most merciful, the most compassionate, the most supreme. Therefore, How could he, who understood God so well, think that a dream that called for the sacrifice of another human being could be from God? Then I realized---he did not---I was making an assumption!! re-read verse 102!!!
This story is not about "sacrifice" ---nor is it about a faith so strong that reason and belief are suspended---No! In my opinion----this is about Trust. It is through Trust in God that we attain "surrender". Prophet Abraham understood God so well, that through this knowledge he was certain that God, the most powerful, the supreme, would not let him go astray. He completely trusted God. And this trust was fulfilled---for God did not allow the son to be sacrificed. This story is about the ideal relationship between man and God.

How strong is your trust?