Love Before Time

Yesterday, a friend of mine told me an episode of her life story. At the end of it, she expressed her wonder, how in the world there was the kind of person and at the same time she laughed at her stupidity. Since I know her well, I then told her about a verse in Tao Te Ching to remind her that she shouldn't feel sorry for herself or hate the person. For everything was meant as a learning process in taking the wisdom of life. The verse of Tao Te Ching is this:


41. Following
When the great man learns the Way, he follows it with diligence; 
When the common man learns the Way, he follows it on occasion; 
When the mean man learns the Way, he laughs out loud; 
Those who do not laugh, do not learn at all. 


Therefore it is said: 
Who understands the Way seems foolish; 
Who progresses on the Way seems to fail; 
Who follows the Way seems to wander. 


For the finest harmony appears plain; 
The brightest truth appears coloured; 
The richest character appears incomplete; 
The bravest heart appears meek; 
The simplest nature appears inconstant. 


The square, perfected, has no corner; 
Music, perfected, has no melody; 
Love, perfected, has no climax; 
Art, perfected, has no meaning. 


The Way can be neither sensed nor known: 
It transmits sensation and transcends knowledge.


As she took the verse to heart, she then sent the translation of it in her wall while added a song of Coco Lee under title 'Love before Time'. It's a song that captured my heart because I heard it a week before when watching the ending of my favorit film 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon'. Here is the song for you :)

As I read through the lyric, I wondered myself if  'love before time' really existed. This thought kept followed me through the night till this morning as I did my prayer. Praise be to Allah, I found the answer to that question. Here's another pearl I received from the Almighty. And, thank you my dear friend for the inspiration :)


The Realm of Alastu

The realm where we don't exist physically

Long before we existed in this world physically, when we're taken from the loins of our parents. What there is just harmony and praises of Allah. And amongst all that, a promise was made as was said in the Quran 'And [mention] when your Lord took from the children of Adam - from their loins - their descendants and made them testify of themselves, [saying to them], "Am I not your Lord?" They said, "Yes, we have testified." [This] - lest you should say on the day of Resurrection, "Indeed, we were of this unaware." [QS 7:172]

Of this promise, I wasn't aware until my Self Knowledge teacher reminded me in his own way. That every human being had made a promise long time ago to themselves that they will be happy, at peace, in tranquility, in harmony, whatever state we name it. In its essence it was the same. Because when human being is in the state of witnessing and testifying the IT is truly their Lord, they will find happiness, peace, tranquility harmony and whatever state we name it.

Between our parents -
Where were we at that time?

That promise set us in such a way that by default, we then live the life in this world with a yearning for something we can't exactly point out. And all the while we thought something of this world can fulfill it. It won't. Because the yearning is the love that we have carried within before our time was created. The love that we have to our Lord and anything that attached to IT. The love that when we fail to discover it while living this life we may never understand the meaning of being a true human being.

And when people can't identify that feeling nor fulfill that yearning, they called that feeling as nothingness or emptiness. And the mind played their tricks in that situation. For the mind don't know such feeling. Because feeling isn't in the domain of the mind. The mind only know what the eyes can see, the ear can hear, the nose can smell, the palate can taste and the skin can touch. And feeling is something else. Even to comprehend the realm of Alastu mind find it as an absurd concept. Because it wasn't around when it happened. It is in the feeling that such realm is understood and felt its truth for the feeling of harmony, tranquility, peace or whatever we name it was there when that promise was made.


Tahajjud Prayer

Of all the prayers the first prayer, which isn't obligatory but highly suggested (sunnah muakkad) to do is the tahajjud prayer. It is as important as it is suggested in the Quran 'And from [part of] the night, pray with it as additional [worship] for you; it is expected that your Lord will resurrect you to a praised station.' [QS 17:79]. Another translation given to the same verse is 'And during a part of the night, pray Tahajjud beyond what is incumbent on you; maybe your Lord will raise you to a position of great glory'.

In the original arabic text it was said '... fatahajjad...' And it is translated as additional (worship) from the compulsory worship. But do you know that before the important event of Isra Mi'roj this prayer used to be obligatory prayer for him SAW as well as the previous prophets.

The importance of tahajjud prayers have been known amongst the Muslims who followed the best example of prophet Muhammad SAW. Here are some of them:

• Abu Umama al-Bahili (Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him, his family, and companions) said, "Hold fast to night prayer, for it was the way of the righteous before you, a way of drawing closer to your Lord, an expiation for wrong deeds, and a shield from sin." [Tirmidhi, and others] In some narrations, there is an addition, "And it repels sickness from the body."

• Ibn Mas`ud (Allah be pleased with him) said, "The virtues of night prayer over day prayer is like the virtue of secret charity over open charity." [Tabarani] The scholars explain that this refers to voluntary prayers.

Why do I tell you about tahajjud prayer? What does it have to do with the love before time? :)


Time Lapse

Talk about our life time, I think we all agree that we have the time before our birth, during our birth, after birth, while we are alive, during our death and after our death. Some of us may not know what actually happen to us before and during our birth as well as during and after our death though we see the physical evidence of those episodes of life through other human's experience.

We see the episode of before and during our birth through physical development that happen to those enter this world after us from nothingness up to being a baby delivered from their mother's womb. But one thing we never know for sure is what happen to the spiritual aspect. It is unknown to us. It is the same with the episode of during and after death; we see the evidence of the people who left this world ahead of us. Though we don't know for sure what happen to their spiritual aspect. It is through the news brought by the messengers of the Lord of all the Worlds that we knew and grasp that spiritual state in which we were and will be through.

And of all the life span we were, are and will be through, we have our 24-hours as our time in living this life. And that 24-hours is our forever time. It is also the miniature of our lifetime where the sun as the indicator of our existence while living in this world.

Have you not considered your Lord - how He extends the shadow, 
and if He willed, He could have made it stationary? 
Then We made the sun for it an indication.
Then We hold it in hand for a brief grasp.
[QS 25: 45-46]

So we have the midnight to dawn to morning to noon to evening and to night. In paralleling the two time lapses of our 24-hour and our lifetime, we have before our birth is the over midnight. During our birth is the dawn, our childhood is the morning, our adult life is the noon, our prime time is the afternoon, during our death is the evening and after death is the night. It is in this light that we as Muslim are having five times obligatory prayers in a day. For in each period of time lapse those who know and truly feel gratitude of this life can express their truest gratitude to their Lord.

Here I'd like to focus just on the time before our birth which is the midnight to dawn. The other periods of time, insha Allah I will explain it in other time. From the midnight to dawn is the time for tahajjud prayer. And it is the time in which our spiritual being had testified that indeed the IT which name ITself as Allah (innanii ana Allah) is truly our Lord [QS 20:14]. It is why this time is very important to anyone who wish to resurrect themselves to a praises station as His obedient servant.

Allah causes the night to enter the day
and causes the day to enter the night
[QS 22: 61]

This time is also very important for it is the source, the core, the beginning of our time that will help us to shape all the time that comes after that to its eternity. And at night is the time Allah has praised those who wake up for His remembrance, supplication, and to seek forgiveness and entreat Him, saying, "They forsake their beds to cry unto their Lord in fear and hope, and spend of what We have bestowed on them. No soul knows what is kept hid from them of joy, as a reward for what they used to do." [QS 32: 16-17] And at night is the time in which our spiritual being temporarily 'leave' our physical being in a state of sleeping. And at night is the time in which black magician work their black magic to the 'sleeping' ones. That much I can tell you the important of the night time. The rest you need to ponder upon it for it is the work of the heart to witness its truth not the mind.

And good tidings are those who understand the value of the time and fulfill it by worshiping Allah. For in their vigilance and worshipping Him, they again have expressed their testimony to their Lord while living their life. If they had done their testimony 'at night' before their birth, during their living time, won't they do the same 'at night' after their death?! For their spiritual as well as physical being have been conditioned to be in remembrance of their Lord both in days and nights. And that is a fulfilled "Love Before Time" .


True Friend

Since the film story and the song talked about the relationship of human being, I need to add this section for true friend is consider eternal.

Everyone in their life meet many people. Some they remember, some they forget, some they hate and become enemy. These people they come across in their life and the feeling that grew through the time are caused by the interest they have from their interaction. In our biology class we identify these interaction as symbiosis which differentiated in three categories.

The first is mutualism i.e. Any relationship between individuals of different species where both derive a benefit, the second is commensalism i.e. a relationship between two living organisms where one benefits and the other isn't significantly harmed or helped and the third one is parasitism i.e. A relationship where one member of association benefits while the other is harmed. Well, actually I just found the forth category called amensalism i.e. the relationship that exists where one species is inhibited or completely obliterated and one is unaffected. Though these description are describing the relationship between different species, I would also use that kind of interaction in term of interest between mankind. Afterall the end result that cause people to start loving, hating, ignoring or forgetting the other person is whether their interests are fulfilled or not.

A quote on friendship by some unknown person said "Sometimes in life, you find a special friend. Someone who changes your life just by being a part of it. Someone who makes you laugh until you can't stop. Someone who makes you believe that there really is good in the world. Someone who convinces you that there really is an unlocked door just waiting for you to open it. This is forever friendship. When you're down and the world seems dark and empty, your forever friend lifts you up in spirit and makes that dark and empty world suddenly seem bright and full. Your forever friend gets you through the hard times, the sad times and the confused times. If you turn and walk away, your forever friend follows. If you lose your way, your forever friend guides you and cheers you on. Your forever friend holds your hand and tells you that everything is going to be okay. And if you find such a friend, you feel happy and complete because you need not worry. You have a forever friend, and forever has no end."

Of all that interaction we have with people that was meant to come into our life, the best one certainly the mutual interaction where both derived benefits from that relationship. But even to these kind of benefits to make it last forever, there are certain quality need to be added to that relationship. And I say that qualification should be higher and nobler than the humanly interest. And Allah had stated in the Quran '...And cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is severe in penalty.' [QS 5:2] The quality we need to give to create peace and harmony amongst people is that we need to cooperate in righteousness and piety, and not in sin and aggression.

In true friendship it is their true nature that we reach

So the one that we can call true friend are those with whom during our interaction with them can help us to do such things. At first the one that have different ideas may feel offended or even think what I said was totally wrong, because they didn't feel the peace and harmony. This is because they have been taken so far away from their true nature as human being. So it will take sometime for that person to see the truth on that kind of relationship.

The different between the two are so obvious that to make the relationship works require a lot of patience from both of them. To the piety one they need to be patience just like their patience to continually clean up their own heart from sin. And to the mean one they need to be patience to stay in the right path. For there is a saying to be in hell is very easy; all you need to do is being ignorant and indulge your lower self as much as you can to this worldly temptation for it is available now. But to be in paradise takes hard work; we need to be in conscious. For such situation the Quran has said it beautifully 'And not equal are the good deed and the bad. Repel [evil] by that [deed] which is better; and thereupon the one whom between you and him is enmity [will become] as though he was a devoted friend.' [QS 41:34]. And that was what Li Mu Bai and Yu Shu Lien had done to Jen in the film :)