Visit to Cameron Highlands

Visit to Cameron Highlands
We spent 2 days & 1 night at Cameron Highlands which is a rather cool place with temperatures dipping to 16 degC at night. Perhaps you can see some of the photos...its worth more than words.

"Many of the faults you see in others, dear reader, are your own nature reflected in them. As the Holy Prophet Muhammad SAW said, "The faithful are mirrors to one another."

The practice of reflection [tafakkur] is essential in this context. As the Prophet Muhammad said (blessing and peace be upon him): A moment of reflection is worth more than a year of worship. A moment of reflection is worth more than a seventy years of worship. A moment of reflection is worth more than a a thousand years of worship. These sayings convey the implicit meaning: If someone reflects on the details of the branches [of knowledge], a moment of reflection is worth more than a year of worship. If someone reflects for a moment on the true significance of the worship incumbent upon him, that is worth more than seventy years of worship. If someone reflects for a moment on intimate knowledge of Allah (Exalted is He), that is worth more than a thousand years of worship. Through intimate knowledge ['irfan], meaning the realization of Oneness, the 'arif [intimate knower] attains to his Ma'ruf [the One he knows intimately] and his Beloved, so he flies with spiritual wings to the realm of Nearness. The worshipful servant walks on foot to the Garden of Paradise, while the intimate knower flies on wings to the Nearness [of the Lord]. In the words of a poet: The hearts of lovers have eyes. They see what other watchers fail to see. With featherless wings they fly to the Realm of the Lord of the Worlds. This soaring flight takes place in the inner core of the intimate knower, who is the real human being, the dear friend of Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He), as sacred to Him as a bride. According to Abu Yazid al-Bistami: "Allah's people are the brides of Allah." Allah's saints [awliya'] have also been described as the brides of Allah. The point is that these "brides" are secluded by the veil of intimacy, visible to no one but Allah (Exalted is He). In the Sacred Tradition [Hadith Qudsi], He has said (Almighty and Glorious is He): My saints are underneath My gown. No one is aware of them apart from Me. All that people notice about the bride is the beauty of her outward appearance. According to Yahya ibn Mu'adh ar-Razi: "The saint [wali] is the perfume of Allah upon the earth. The champions of the Truth detect its fragrance." Its scent reaches their hearts, so it makes them yearn for their Master. Their devotion to worship increases in proportion to the annihilation of their ordinary natures, because nearness increases as extinction increases. The saint becomes extinct to his worldly condition, and survives in witnessing the Truth. He retains no personal volition, and has no residence with anyone other than Allah. He has charismatic powers at his disposal, but he stays aloof from them, because he sees what others do not see, and regards divulging the secret of Lordship as an act of infidelity [kufr]. As we read in the book called al-Mirsad: "All those endowed with charismatic powers are veiled from sight. For such men, the charismatic marvel is a form of menstruation. The saint has a thousand stages to traverse, the first of them being the gate of charismatic marvels. If he passes beyond it safely, he can reach the other stages, but if not, he can make no further progress."