Muslims Make a Meal

Muslims Make a Meal:
Transformation For Self, Spirit and Society



We read the news. Bad news. But Muslims, what is our response? Are you and I really content with the world as it is? The world our children must live in? Are we not hungry for something more?

Of course among ourselves our mouths taste the spice of complaint, mild or bitter. And some of us like spicier speech. But as men and women, can we not cook and serve the media and those in power with some fragrant and intelligent meal and nourish them with good Muslim conversation?

Cooking requires preparation and measure. Many of us understand the basic laws of what we do in daily life. How long to boil an egg. So why not learn similar social rules to influence our powers that be?

In Uzbekistan (supposedly a Muslim nation and a US ally!) the government actually boils its political opponents to death, like eggs, alas. But surely to prevail, we Muslims need to better understand not brutal force but psychology and humanity and the power of truth.

Every day, humanity stirs the pot but the mixture fails to satisfy. So many of us remain spiritually as well as physically hungry in this world. Have we Muslims forgotten the action of heat and light on matter and spirit? Have we, of all people, forgotten the alchemy of souls working towards transformation?

We can share our spiritual cooking to transform the world. It is with love, and trust building, that we may transcend the various difficulties. This does not mean we must stay in the warm kitchen. We must not ignore the marketplace of ideas. But like bread in the warm oven, the heart rises before it is shared; there are preparations of prayer and practicalities of measuring the material before we participate in serving humanity. Take the necessary steps; then invite your congressman (or congresswoman) to tea and cake!

It is good to share the results of such occasions and not hide and hoard relationships with “power” as so many do. And please forget the illusion and packaging of “prestige.” Humility is a crucial ingredient for long-term success– search your shelves—I am sure it is there somewhere!

Yet we may need to share recipes so we do not waste our efforts. Recall the Fool who was sent to buy flour and salt. He took a dish to carry his purchases. “Make sure”, said his master, “not to mix the two things—I want them separate.” When the shopkeeper had filled the dish with flour and was measuring the salt, the Fool said, “Do not mix it with the flour; here I will show you where to put it.” And he turned the dish upside down, to provide on its upturned bottom a surface to put the salt.

The flour, of course, fell on the floor. But the salt was safe. And when the Fool returned to his Master, he said, “Here is the Salt!” But his master asked; “And where is the flour?” “It should be here”, said the Fool, turning the dish over. And of course the salt fell, and the flour was seen to be gone.

So it is with us, doing first one thing and then another. One thought and then another, but little unity. We are hungry for what is next; we forget what we already have. And what we have, our judgments, opinions and opinions about opinions, these we chew on and chew on long after any useful nutrition is gone.

Of course, we hope to serve fresh thought to our guests. But are we really prepared to build trust with our fellow humanity beyond the post 9/11 anxieties? Recall the story of the man who strayed into the Land of Fools. He saw a number of people running in terror from a field where they had been trying to harvest wheat. “There is a monster in the field!” they told him. He looked and saw it was a watermelon.

The man offered to “kill” the “monster” for them. But after he had broken it, he started to eat the watermelon, and the people become so frightened of his power, they drove him away as a security risk! But the next year, another, more perceptive man agreed to help the people—but he was sensitive to their fear—he tiptoed away from the “monster” and spent a lot time with the people planning and educating little by little so by the end they could not only lose their fear of melons but also grow them themselves!

For, Humanity does not live by bread alone!