why am i here?

bismiLlah

How did I end up here? There's a time to reflect, usually at night - sometimes in front of a monitor in a busy workplace - on who we are and why we are here, be it in Arabia or here on earth...

This - our hal, our place on earth, our being here - none of this resolves how lost we are when we look at the stars, when we contemplate the horizons and (re)discover how in-sign-nificant we are 'tafakkarun fi khalqis samawati wa ardh...', 'those who reflect on the Creation of the Heavens and Earth, and say 'Subanaka Rabbana, Glory unto thee, our Lord, wa qina azabin Naar (and save us from the Fire)'

and yes, it is hot here, and i'm dislocated from doing exams and spending too much time in front of a monitor (much english literature being held somewhere in a warehouse), and my favored source for consultation and news being the 'net...

arabia does incredible things to one's mind, vistas of deserts do tend to make one nostalgic for caravans, wandering tribes, and a bedouin tent open to the morning breeze... medina has a spiritual tranquility that can't be overtaken by the heat or furrow-browed religious police

however, the highways between mecca & medina, and the rough business atmosphere along with the commercial sheen of billboards and strangely lit false palm trees make one less confident of reality, and remind one of the 'virtual arabia'

remember: you're here for Hajj, Umrah, baraka, and learning lisan-al-arabiya; or have you mixed intentions, yubalisu niyyatu, no thanks to the Upsetter and Consumer of souls, Iblis (the rejected)...

wake up, and smell the qahwa