Aylan loves Allah, Allah loves Aylan (Part 2/2)

Aylan loves Allah and Allah loves Aylan! A true “salah”, being that the literal meaning of “salah” is connection. What a deep and true prayer indeed. 

This spontaneous, natural and beautiful prayer reminds me of a story my grandmother used to tell me when I was a child, the story of the saint lalla Mamuna, from which the popular proverb “Mamuna knows her Lord, and her Lord knows Mamuna” is derived. 

The tale narrates the life of a devout woman named “Lalla Mimouna”, or, “Lalla Mamuna” as pronounced by the Amazigh. She became renowned for her piety, righteousness, acts of kindness, and exemplary conduct. A woman steadfast in her prayers, she worshiped day and night and devoted herself to the service of God.

Since the Amazigh “Lalla Mimouna” did not know how to pray in Arabic—her tongue was Amazigh, and she had never learned Arabic—she instead prayed with a heart full of goodness and love for everyone without discrimination. During her prayers, she would humbly repeat one phrase over and over: “Mamuna knows her Lord, and her Lord knows Mamuna,” or, in her native Amazigh language: “Mamuna t’sen Rabi, Rabi y’sen Mamuna.”

Whenever a drought struck the village, “Lalla Mimouna” would turn to her Lord and pray with deep devotion, repeating her phrase: “Mamuna t’sen Rabi, Rabi y’sen Mamuna.” Immediately, clouds heavy with rain would gather, showers would descend, farmers would rejoice, and crops would flourish.

If someone in the village fell ill or encountered hardship, they would come to her seeking solace; She would retreat to pray with her familiar phrase, and by the next day, the sick would recover, and relief would come to the afflicted.

Women grieving the long absence of their husbands, who often migrated in search of work due to barren lands and economic hardship, would pour out their anguish to her. She would pray her usual prayer, and soon the husband would return, ending the separation.

One evening, a stranger arrived in the village. Welcomed by the locals, they told him about the blessings and devotion of “Lalla Mimouna.” The man, a scholar of religion and etiquette, expressed his desire to meet her. When he entered her secluded space, he found her praying with raised hands, repeating her phrase: “Mamuna t’sen Rabi, Rabi y’sen Mamuna.” Surprised by her manner of praying, he advised her that her prayers were incorrect and would not be accepted by God. He then began teaching her the proper Arabic phrases for prayer, which she memorized.

The scholar left the village, and when it was time for her next prayer, “Lalla Mimouna” tried to recite what he had taught her but forgot the words. She also couldn’t recall her original phrase, leaving her disheartened. Frustrated, she prayed: “O Lord, just as he disrupted my prayer, let his path become disrupted.”

As the scholar journeyed through the forest, he found himself lost and wandering in circles. Realizing her prayer had taken effect, he returned to the village to seek forgiveness. “Lalla Mimouna,” still upset, told him, “You disrupted my prayer, so your path was disrupted.” Eventually, with his help, she managed to recall her original phrase and joyfully resumed her prayer: “Mamuna t’sen Rabi, Rabi y’sen Mamuna.”

The story of “Lalla Mimouna” teaches us that the sincerity of the heart transcends words. This tale reminds us that the path to God is simple, and unburdened by unnecessary complexity. It also reminds us that the faith practiced by our ancestors was genuine, universal and simple; A faith of peace, love, and authenticity that grows naturally like seeds in fertile soil. The heart is a fertile ground; The seeds of faith are there, awaiting love’s nourishment, so they may germinate and grow.

Lalla Mimoona, the illiterate saint, was able to survive all the difficulties, and go through all the struggles, with one statement : “Mamuna knows her Lord, and her Lord knows Mamuna.” My grandmother used to answer my father, who would try to joke with her, telling her that her way of praying or performing such and such ritual was not “correct” according to the books. Each time my grandmother would answer: “I need no books. Mimoona knows her Lord and her Lord knows Mimoona.”

We have here the true foundation of a relationship with God, and this foundation is enough. Isn’t love the foundation in all relationships? What are relationships without love ?

Yes, Aylan loves Allah and Allah loves Aylan. What a joy that this child, and all the children, are nourished every week at the Growing in Love program, are establishing this foundation. I’m happy that the foundation of “love”  is established in them at this age; A foundation that is, tragically,completely absent the majority of the time in the hearts of practicing religious Muslims around the world. If we do come to see that this foundation of love has been established in a heart, what is observed much of the time is that it is a foundation that is suffering, weak and unsteady. 

My perspective, and if you are still reading then perhaps yours too, is this: We want to make this foundation of love firmer, and for us to succeed on this path, the way is clear: Become a child and grow in love. As Jesus said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” 

We can only grow when we embrace, connect to, and become the child within. The moment we let go of our inner child, believing that we are ‘grown ups’ now, we sabotage any possible growth. This is the problem of those in a “grown up” state, believing that they have all the answers. They stop searching, they stop looking, they stop questioning, they stop growing. Conversely, a child has many questions, and does not stop asking about this or that. They are not looking for the answers, but just engaging fully in the art of asking the question. 

At our weekly program, Growing in Love, we invite parents and adults to be there not just as an accompaniment for children, but we encourage them to bring the child within. Upon creating the program and sending the first invitations, I told all my friends: “bring your children and don’t leave the child within you behind.”  I have had the honour of seeing many adults who attend this program become more authentic, more alive, more positive, more flexible, connected deeper to their natural original nature, more generous, and more childlike. 

To demonstrate this, let us reflect: How many times has your child asked a new question while you were still in the midst of answering the previous one? To ask the question is an Art and, actually, is half of knowledge ,or the whole of knowledge, according to a Prophetic teaching. Children come together around questions. This is what games are.What brings them together is the journey, not the destination; The question, not the answer.

Our ancestors used to gather around a fire and keep the fire burning; The fire is the quest. "Grown ups" tend to believe that they have answers for everything, but most of the time they have lost the most important thing: the art of questioning, the bewilderment, the hayrah, the quest. There can be no revelation without Hira. The revelation of the Quran was made possible because of Hira, quite literally, "quest". The Torah was only possible because of the fire.

Just as lalla Mamuna knew deeply that she knew her Lord, and her Lord knew her, so too do we find children like Aylan, able to express freely when nurtured by people and places who have secured a firm foundation of love. “Allah loves Aylan, and Aylan loves Allah.” What a beautiful foundation indeed.

This teaching was given on November 11th in Ottawa