Monday, January 30, 2012

Ibn Mubarak's precious advice....

'When intending to do something good, do not delay it until tomorrow.

When involved in something to do with the hereafter, keep yourself involved as long as you can.

When involved in some worldly matter, put your mind to it-
so as to get it done

And if you are praying and Satan whispers, ‘You are showing off,’ then make your prayer even longer.


The Muslim is Contented and Satisfied
Abu Hurairah (radiyallaahu 'anhu) said :-

Allaah's Messenger (salallaahu 'alaihi wa'sallam) said:-

"Richness is not having many belongings, but richness is the richness of the soul" (contentment).

Friday, January 27, 2012

Pearls of wisdom 328

1. When He gives, He shows you His kindness (birr); when He deprives, He shows you His power (qadr). And in all that , He is making Himself known to you and coming to you with His gentleness.

2. Deprivation hurts you only because of the lack of your understanding of good in it.

3. When He alienates you from His creatures, then know that He wants to open for you the door of intimacy with Him.

4. When He loosens your tongue with a request, then know that He wants to give you something.

5. When He makes you submissive to His command outwardly and provide you with resignation to His power inwardly, then He has enhanced the greatness of the favor accorded you.

6. Ritual prayer is a purification for hearts and an opening-up of the door of the invisible domains.

7. He knew the existence of weakness in you, so He made the number of ritual prayers small; and He knew of your need of His grace, so He multiplied their fruitful results.

8. When He wants to show His grace to you, He creates states in you and attributes them to you.

9. How can the laws of nature be ruptured for you so that miracles result, while you, for your part, have not yet ruptured your bad habits.

10. Cling to the attributes of His Lordship and realize the attributes of your servanthood. [Above quotes by Ibn Ata Allah Iskandari]

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

LESSON OF THE DAY 1298

Ayahs of the day:
O believers, enter wholly into Islam, and do not follow the footsteps of Satan, for he is an open enemy to you. [2: 208]

Hadith of the day:
The most blessed marriage (nikah) is the one with the least expense. [Bayhaqi]

Wise quote of the day:
To advise others is an easy matter, the difficulty is accepting advice -- since it is bitter for those who follow their own inclinations and desires. [Imam al Ghazali]

Guidance of the day:
Just as it is not allowed to backbite anyone so too it is not allowed to listen to one who backbites. If a person is present at a place where another begins to backbite someone then he should stop him from proceeding further. There are two ways to stop him -- telling him in so many words that it is a sin, if he cannot then he should introduce a new topic so that the evil is stopped. If he cannot do either then he should get up from that gathering and go elsewhere. [Spiritual Discourses by Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani]

Food for thought:
Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom. Without forgiveness life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation. 'I can forgive but I cannot forget', is only one way of saying, "I will not forgive." Forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note, torn into two, and burned up, so that it never can be shown against one. The weak can never forgive -- forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

Friday, January 20, 2012

The Dirty Laundry…

By Abu Muhammad Yusuf

In life we tend to be judgmental and very often look down upon others without exploring deeper and finding out why the person is behaving in such a way. The Beloved Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is reported to have said "It is enough of evil for a person to hold his brother Muslim in contempt. All of a Muslim is sacred to another Muslim: his blood, his wealth and his honour." (Hadith- Muslim)

A young couple moves into a new neighbourhood. The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbour hanging the laundry outside. "That laundry is not very clean", she said. "She doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap. "Her husband looked on, but remained silent. Every time her neighbour would hang her washing to dry, the young woman would make the same comments.

Some time later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean laundry on the line and said to her husband: "Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this."

"The husband said, "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows"

Lesson: If our windows are dirty so will we see others as dirty too. What we see in others is indeed a reflection of our inner-selves! So it is with life that what we see when watching others depends on the purity of the window through which we look. It is easy for us to condemn, discuss other people, their lives & things that really doesn't even concern us and we tend to forget - our windows may not be that clean after all! If we are good we will see good…

The Beloved Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is reported to have said:
"A Muslim is a mirror to another Muslim"(Hadith_Abu Dawud)

info@eislam.co.za

Monday, January 16, 2012

Pearls of wisdom 327

1. If you want to know your standing with Him, look at where He has made you abide now.

2. When He gives you obedience, making you unaware of it because of Him, then know that He has showered you liberally with His graces both inwardly and outwardly.

3. The best that you can seek from Him is that which He seeks from you.

4. Hope (raja) goes hand in had with deeds, otherwise it is a wish.

5. Sometimes He gives while depriving you, and sometimes He deprives you in giving.

6. If you want a glory that does not vanish, then do not glory in glory that vanishes.

7. The real journey is when the world's dimension is rolled away from you so that you see the Hereafter closer to you than yourself.

8. Suffice it as a recompense for the doers of good that He judged you worthy of obedience.

9. It suffices as a reward for the doers of good that He has inspired obedience to Him in their hearts and brought upon them the existence of His reciprocal intimacy.

10. He made the Hereafter an abode to reward his believing servants only because this world cannot contain what He wishes to bestow upon them and because He deemed their worth too high to reward them in a world without permanence. [Above quotes by Ibn Ata Allah Iskandari]

Friday, January 13, 2012

LESSON OF THE DAY 1297

Ayahs of the day:
And spend for the sake of God, and do not invest in ruin by your own hands. And do good; for God loves those who do good. [2: 195]

Hadith of the day:
Traders will be gathered on the Day of Judgment as transgressors, except those who feared Allah, were righteous in their oaths and spoke the truth. [Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah]

Wise quote of the day:
Before the time of prayer comes, the servant must be in a state of preparation and his attitude must be that which is essential for prayer, namely a state of meditation and recollection, free from wandering thoughts and consideration or remembrance of anything save God alone. [Abu Nasr al Sarraj]

Guidance of the day:
The Qur'an says backbiting is like eating flesh of a dead brother. It is a grave sin, a kabirah, not an ordinary one. Backbiting is a sin just as consuming wine, eating pork, stealing or robbing are sins. Rather, it is more severe. To drink wine or to consume pork is to violate rights of Allah and the sin pertains to the self of the perpetrator and has no relation with rights of fellow men. Hence, if Allah will enable the sinner at anytime and he repents to Him then He will forgive the sin.

The sin of backbiting, however, pertains to fellow human beings. The principle in such cases is that the sin is not forgiven unless the owner of the rights forgives it. The sinner may make repentance and seek forgiveness for thousands of times, offer salah and fasting, but the sin of backbiting will not be forgiven. Allah has said, "I will forgive you My rights. But, if you damage My slave physically or his property, or his honor; or you violate his rights then until he pardons you or you repay him his rights, I will not forgive you." The case of rights of fellow men is very serious but we have considered it very ordinary and minor. Backbiting is also among rights of fellow men. [Spiritual Discourses by Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani]

Food for thought:
Faith means, no worrying. Faith is passionate intuition. Every tomorrow has two handles -- we can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith. He who has faith has an inward reservoir of courage, hope, confidence, calmness, and assuring trust that all will come out well, even though to the world it may appear to come out badly.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Gentle Reminders....

'When intending to do something good, do not delay it until tomorrow.

When involved in something to do with the hereafter, keep yourself involved as long as you can.

When involved in some worldly matter, put your mind to it-
so as to get it done

And if you are praying and Satan whispers, ‘You are showing off,’ then make your prayer even longer.

Ibn Al-Mubârak in Al-Zuhd wa Al-Rqâ’iq Vol.1 p126


The Muslim is Contented and Satisfied
Abu Hurairah (radiyallaahu 'anhu) said :-

Allaah's Messenger (salallaahu 'alaihi wa'sallam) said:-

"Richness is not having many belongings, but richness is the richness of the soul" (contentment).
Muslim -2/501/ # 2287)

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Pearls of wisdom 326

1. One of the signs of relying on one's own deeds is the loss of hope when a downfall occurs.

2. Your striving for what has been guaranteed to you (i.e. dunya), and your remissness in what is demanded of you (i.e. akhirah), are sings of the blurring of your intellect.

3. If in spite of intense supplication, there is delay in the timing of the Gift, let that not be the cause for your despairing. For He has guaranteed you a response in what He chooses for you, not in what you choose for yourself, and at the time He desires not the time you desire.

4. Actions are lifeless forms, but the presence of an inner reality of sincerity within them is what endows them with life-giving spirit.

5. Nothing benefits the heart more than a spiritual retreat wherein it enters the domain of meditation.

6. How can it be conceived that something veils Him, since He is the one who manifests every thing?

7. How can it be conceived that something veils Him, since He is more manifest than anything?

8. How can it be conceived that something veils Him, since He is nearer to you than anything else?

9. How can it be conceived that something veils Him, since He is alongside of whom there is nothing?

10. How can it be conceived that something veils Him, since were it not for Him, the existence of everything would not have been manifest? [Ibn Ataillah Iskandari]