Today, I’m grateful for water.
In Surah an-Nisa, Allah azza wa jall tells us
أَوَلَمْ يَرَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا أَنَّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ كَانَتَا رَتْقًا فَفَتَقْنَاهُمَا ۖ وَجَعَلْنَا مِنَ الْمَاءِ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ حَيٍّ ۖ أَفَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
Have those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, and We separated them and made from water every living thing? Then will they not believe?
Why am I surprised? I mean, I guess I’m not, really, but if I remember my history correctly, absolutely no Civil War activity happened in or around Dallas. Sure, there were naval blockades down south, and some skirmishes along the Mexico border and over around Louisiana, but nothing in this part of Texas. So why a monument? It’s a relatively early one too, raised by the Daughters of the Confederacy on June 25, 1896 according to a dedication carving on the base.
I don’t recall being aware of it before I looked at the WorldWide Photo Walk route on Gmaps, and I determined to photograph it before it gets torn down.
Surely the proudly multicultural City of Dallas would want to remove that thing, right? I mean, it’s right next to the Convention Center, after all.
Anyway.
I walked around it and shot at the various statues of dead people and tried to keep from shouting profanity or or spitting on anything. Each of the four corners has a statue of some traitor dead general or the “president” of those traitorous the Confederates. They’re not very well done, but maybe they’re just old and weatherbeaten. The Jefferson Davis one is particularly cartoonish.
And the whole thing is topped with a random soldier.
After wandering around the thing for a bit, wondering just what it was doing there and when it would get demolished, I paused to show it the proper respect before getting on with the photowalk.
Racist ideology has no place in the United States in the Twenty-First century. Maybe it was ok in 1896 (or 1961, when the city moved it out of the way of I35), but not now.
Back in June, some of my Twitter photo buddies threw a photowalk in London, and decided to put together a set of prints and sell them for charity. I jumped on the offer, and a few months later, here they are. Continue reading “Unboxing some London Photowalk Charity Prints”
Has it really been 2 years since I attended the WorldWide Photo Walk? I guess so… I’m not sure where I was or what I was doing last year, but I probably had something better to do, but from various blog posts around that time, I don’t see anything. Maybe I just missed it, or maybe I was feeling sick of photowalks or something.
But when the announcement came out back in August, I was quick to sign up, and even though it was my third photowalk in as many weeks (Waxahachie on 9/23; Polacon Denton Walk on 10/1), I was excited and ready… Continue reading “WorldWide Photo Walk 2017”
The Prophet, peace be upon him, said
يَقُولُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى أَنَا عِنْدَ ظَنِّ عَبْدِي بِي، وَأَنَا مَعَهُ إِذَا ذَكَرَنِي، فَإِنْ ذَكَرَنِي فِي نَفْسِهِ ذَكَرْتُهُ فِي نَفْسِي، وَإِنْ ذَكَرَنِي فِي مَلأٍ ذَكَرْتُهُ فِي مَلأٍ خَيْرٍ مِنْهُمْ، وَإِنْ تَقَرَّبَ إِلَىَّ بِشِبْرٍ تَقَرَّبْتُ إِلَيْهِ ذِرَاعًا، وَإِنْ تَقَرَّبَ إِلَىَّ ذِرَاعًا تَقَرَّبْتُ إِلَيْهِ بَاعًا، وَإِنْ أَتَانِي يَمْشِي أَتَيْتُهُ هَرْوَلَةً
Allah says: ‘I am just as My slave thinks I am, (i.e. I am able to do for him what he thinks I can do for him) and I am with him if He remembers Me. If he remembers Me in himself, I too, remember him in Myself; and if he remembers Me in a group of people, I remember him in a group that is better than they; and if he comes one span nearer to Me, I go one cubit nearer to him; and if he comes one cubit nearer to Me, I go a distance of two outstretched arms nearer to him; and if he comes to Me walking, I go to him running.’
And Allah tells us
فَاذْكُرُونِي أَذْكُرْكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوا لِي وَلَا تَكْفُرُونِ
So remember Me; I will remember you. And be grateful to Me and do not deny Me.
So advice to myself first, when you feel so far away, when you feel adrift, directionless, alone in the void, sit down somewhere quiet and just remember Allah, or look out the window or down at your hands and marvel at the wonder of His creation, think about your ability to see and feel and think and remember, and thank God for His gifts, bounty, mercy. Pray to Him for guidance and ask the Turner of Hearts to turn your heart and fix it firmly on His religion. InshaAllah, you’ll find your way again.
Until the Dallas Photo Walk group took a walk around Waxahachie, I’d never been to the groovy little downtown before. Until that Saturday, I’d only ever been to the collection of fields outside of town that convert to the Scarborough Faire for a couple of months every spring. It’s actually a quaint little downtown, and Waxahachie is the Ellis County seat, so there’s a nice old courthouse with a square and all the junk antique stores and whatnot that your heart desires, or nearly so. In short, the weather was lovely, the people friendly, and it was a really good time.
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم “ قَالَ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ يُؤْذِينِي ابْنُ آدَمَ، يَسُبُّ الدَّهْرَ وَأَنَا الدَّهْرُ، بِيَدِي الأَمْرُ، أُقَلِّبُ اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ ”.The Messenger of Allah said “Allah said, ‘The son of Adam hurts me for he abuses Time though I am Time: in My Hands are all things, and I cause the revolution of day and night.'”
قَالَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم “ نِعْمَتَانِ مَغْبُونٌ فِيهِمَا كَثِيرٌ مِنَ النَّاسِ، الصِّحَّةُ وَالْفَرَاغُ ”.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “There are two blessings which many people lose: (They are) Health and free time for doing good.”
May Allah protect me from wasting time and guide me to spend it in His service, ameen.
