To my dearest grandmother,

You're meeting Allah today after being with us for so long...a gift from Him to those who know you. I wish I was there with you, but Mak Ngah said that you died peacefully in your sleep. I guess to a certain extend I would rather remember you as the grandmother of my youth.

I never got to tell you how I appreciate the love you gave us, even though we weren't of your blood. I remember the times when you would help Mom look after my siblings when they were born, and I'm sure you did the same for me. You were there for us during our growing up years and when we had to go through the painful time of losing Mom. You looked on with pride when I graduated and gave sound advice whenever I visited you.

I know you missed Mom so much that it triggered the early onset of alzheimers for you. But for all that, I know somewhere in you, you still remembered her and us. So, on this day, I thank God for you and ask Him to extend his Mercy, Love, Forgiveness to you.

Your eldest grandchild.

The Ka'abah

A few years ago, I had the privilege of being called upon to visit the House of Allah in a small pilgrimage (the umrah). In that visit, once I sat in front of the Ka'abah and spoke to it, the essence of which is encapsulated by the poem of Ibn 'Arabi:

"Oh Ka'ba of God, oh Zamzam, how strongly you demand my friendship, but no, no!
If I must get involved in a friendship with you, it is through compassion and not desire towards you.
The Ka'ba is nothing other than our essence, the essence of curtains of pious fear.
The True One is not contained by sky nor earth nor any word.
He appeared to the heart and said to it: Be patient! For it is the Qibla established by Us.
From Us to you and to your heart, towards the encounter with My house; how magnificent it is.
It is a duty for Our Ka'ba to love you and to love Us is a duty for you.
Enough!"

And I wonder if I had offended It by my questioning of its importance. So when I read Ibn Arabi's dialogue with the Ka'abah through the various poems he wrote on it, it called to me. So here are some of the poems of the wise teacher based on his "Love Letters to the Ka'abah."

"My heart took refuge in the sanctuary when it was struck by the arrows of the enemy.
Oh, clemency of God towards his servants, God placed you among the minerals.
Oh, House of my Lord, light of my heart, freshness of my eye, intimate friend of my heart.
Oh, heart's secret of true existence, oh my inviolability, purity of my love.
Oh, Qibla towards which I have turned each time I have camped, in each valley,
Of permanence, then of heaven; of extinction and of the cradle.
Oh, Ka'ba of God, oh my life, path to happiness and justice,
You are God's depository of the only safeguard against the terror of the final return.
The noble Station shines brightly in you, in you resides the servants' happiness.
In you is the Right Hand which my mistake has covered with a black mark.
In the place where we attach ourselves to you, he who perseveres with his amorous passion will know happiness on the Day when we are called.
Souls have died because of their desire for it (the Ka'ba), through the pains of longing and exile.
Because of its affliction for them it donned a mourning blanket.
God makes a light shine on its summit, which shines on the heart.
Only the afflicted whose eyes have suffered the Kohl of insomnia can perceive it.
It turns, seven after seven, after the fall of night to reply to the call.
It weeps endless tears, received in token by its passion, without weakening.
I heard it call out to the Stone for help: oh heart of mine!
The night quickly passed but my amorous passion was not appeased. "

And even more beautiful:

"My Ka'ba here before us is the heart of existence And My Throne is, for this heart, a limited body. My House, the one who contains Me, is your heart which I am watching, Deposited in your body, through which I bear witness."

Here, Ibn Arabi likens the Ka'abah to the heart of existence and links it to our own hearts which are also receptacles of Allah's divine presence/love as stated in the hadith: "Neither My sky nor My earth contain me; only the heart of my believing servant contains me."

The beauty and the honour of the Ka'abah is then apparent; as the sanctuary of our hearts. Perhaps, even the one through which Allah unites the hearts of the believers...the Heart of hearts. So, a Being of stones, minerals, and motar, whose "Noble Station" shines brightly, links with us through the connection of the hearts and of love of the Creator who created both Houses.

I hope that in this I shall not make the same mistake if the Ka'abah beckons again and the invitation is issued.