i'm a miami floridian
so how the HELL did i end up in TEXAS??
if you're curious... after a stint in community college, in 94 i had to choose where to finish my architecture degree.
choice #1 UF, gator country
familiar faces and a familiar architecture program,
a continuation of the same world i was in
with familiar east coast muslim activism.
Damn, it could've been an easy ride.
(no what ifs asad. NO WHAT IFs!)
choice #2 UT
all i knew was the hype i'd heard from the only people i knew there.
-only dude i knew #1-Mr.Texas Rehan Jalali, a childhood buddy i hadn't seen in ages.
-only dude i knew #2-Adil "Florida", a cat i'd met for a brief moment in orlando while organizing a muslim youth sports tourny, he sent me info about the acrhitorture school and hyped up the honeys..uh..i mean..AWESOME MSA. no...it was Rehan who hyped up the honeys!
just kidding, the honeys had nothing to do with it.
no...i discovered them on my own at orientation.
I choose the unfamiliar place half a continent away because UT had better architecture facilites.(a better looking building with nice bathrooms!!) LORD HELP ME...Give me strength to look beyond a beautiful appearance! UF would've degreed me in 97. right now i'd be designing mansions on miami beach.
DAMN YOU TEXAS! DAAAMN YOOOU!!
aaAkh THUUU...I SPIT on you for making my life and my worldview complicated.
I can't be a simple muslim architect with superficial views about "islamic art" because of you.
I can't be a Naive "Can't we all just get along"Activist because of you.
(no what ifs asad. NO WHAT IFs!)
Before you i knew NOT...
of complicated "DISCOURSES" or "METHODOLOGIES" or ahadi and mutawatir or usuli and ahl al-hadith. Thank you Dr. Abou el Fadl.
of an idealistic "VISION" for america's muslims and those irrelevent global islamic movements. Thank you MSA VISION CAMP 96. and all our vision meetings that followed.
of confusing Cosmic Sacred Geometry or wierd arabic words like Muqarnas and Ablaq in Islamic Design and global Islamic House architecture. Thank you Dr. Kahera, Shirazi, Carol Bertram and all of UT's classes in islamic art.
of the Fact that some of us are not Ready, and some Ahead of our Time when it comes to TRULY DYNAMIC Muslim Community Activism. Thank you JAMA'Fest 99 crew and Houston.
Before you, Texas, i KNEW NOT of true ugliness
-hatred and the absence of love in our hearts,
that much activism designed to unite WILL fail.
cuz many of us are YET UNABLE to love another.
How do i ignite the fire of love?
LOVE...that ROOT of BEAUTY/UNITY/UNION/Closeness...
Thank you UT-MSA sisters 99/2000, you shattered my simple view of reality and turned my eyes toward a world of lovers-
after an ugly week of hatred at the end of my MSA career Rumi and Hafez became my guides. so here i am trying to bring my thoughts together on a search for true beauty and with a longing to be afflicted by the disease of love... wanting freedom from the shackles of my passions. here in miami working with my father as a building inspector, architecture degree incomplete, reading and thinking more than i ever did before...
on a discussion list (muslimdisc-all thanks due to goose all mighty) where i can continue a VIRTUAL college night of sitting in a living room at 3am - discussing with my brothers and sisters: the meaning of life, the problems of the world, our ummah, or deep philosophy. (like after dinner at Adil Florida's apt.) i look back to that choice between UF and UT...
Alhamdulillah!
peace and love.
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