LESSON OF THE DAY 1003

Ayahs of the Day:
He shows you signs of the divine, sending down provision for you from the sky; yet no one takes need except the repentant. So pray to God with sincere devotion, even though the unbelievers, may not like it. [40: 13,14]

Hadith of the Day:
Leave what makes you doubt for what does not make you doubt. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Patience is adherence to the ordinances to the Book and the sunna. [Al Khawwas]

Guidance of the Day:
It is very difficult to get the mind to be quiet. As long as we are thinking most of the time, we might as well put into our mind the kind of thoughts that will lead to joy and freedom, and avoid those which lead to confusion. The world of thoughts is similar to that of emotions--------there are thoughts that bring liberation, and thoughts that bring bondage. Whenever we read something, for example, we are making a deposit into the bank of our consciousness. We can choose which thoughts will think.

The energies of inner awakening must be channeled productively, and not dissipated through purposeless thoughts and emotional indulgence. These matters are vital to your progress, and your progress is of the greatest concern. We urge you to use common sense in your upward journey. Temper your lofty ideals with practicality and wisdom. Wisdom shall be given to you to deal with matters on which you seek guidance with earnestness and sincerity. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
The more you depend on the forces outside yourself, the more you are dominated by them. When our focus is constantly aimed at our outer world, it prevents us from spending time cultivating that which nurtures our essence. Notice how much time you spend doing things that support your essence.

Pearls of Wisdom....40

1. Silence at the right time is the proper attribute for men, just as speaking on the right occasion is among the noblest of qualities.

2. Learn silence just as you learned speech. If speech used to guide you, silence will protect you.

3. Satan is terrified by the shadow of the one who conquers the passions of the world.

4. Honor lies in submissiveness (to the commands of Allah Most High), dignity lies in piety, and freedom lies in contentment.

5. The intelligent one is the one who arranges the affairs of the world with contentment and at a low pace, the concerns of the after life with greed and haste, and the concerns of the religion with knowledge and striving.

6. The life of the heart is knowledge of the Divine, so seek it, and the death of the heart is ignorance, so shun it.

7. Writing things down is the best secret of a good memory.

8. Every time you make an ethical decision, offer your support, choose honesty, or lend a helping hand, you make a difference.

9. That is the happiest conversation where there is no competition, no vanity, but a calm, quiet interchange of sentiments.

10. Forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.

LESSON OF THE DAY 1002

Ayahs of the Day:
Those who hold the Throne and those who surround it extol praises of their Lord, believing in God and asking forgiveness for those who believe: "Our Lord, You encompass all things by mercy and knowledge; so forgive those who repent and follow Your way; and shelter them from the torment of the blaze. And admit them, Lord, to the gardens of eternity You promised them, along with those of their parents who were righteous, and their wives and their progeny; for You are the Almighty, Supremely Wise. And shelter them from evils. And anyone You shelter from evils on that day, You have granted mercy. And that is the great escape." [40: 7,8,9]

Hadith of the Day:
For whoever Allah desires good, He gives him understanding of the religion. And, verily, knowledge comes through learning. [Bukhari]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Let the Lord be your shepherd, allow Him to attend to all your cares, and do not allow temptations to entice you. [Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani]

Guidance of the Day:
It is really true that the mind is like a thought junkie. It is addicted to thinking. The rational mind, if allowed to run unbridled, will indulge itself to a ridiculous extreme. Thinking is great, but, like all other activities, it is best used in moderation.

Sleep is such a marvelous gift because, for a number of hours, we get our mind to shut up! Just think of how wonderful we feel after a good night's sleep. Our body is refreshed; healing has taken place; our emotions are smooth, and our thoughts are clear. This is only because we have escaped the tyranny of the mind! [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
On earth we have nothing to do with success or results, but only with being true to God, and for God. Defeat in doing right is nevertheless victory. The man who has done his level best, and who is conscious that he has done his best, is a success, even though the world may writ him down a failure.

Pearls of Wisdom....39

1. Taqwa is protecting one's self from God's punishment by means of obedience to Him.

2. Taqwa is wariness of shirk, then wariness of evil things and sins, then dubious things. After that he leaves off all that is of no true concern.

3. Taqwa is that Allah be obeyed and not disobeyed, remembered and not forgotten, and thanked and not be the object of ingratitude.

4. There is no provision other than taqwa, and there is no work other than perseverance in taqwa.

5. Taqwa is shunning whatever makes one distant from God. Whoever desires sound taqwa let him abandon all sin.

6. The exterior of taqwa is preservation of the boundaries, and its interior aspect is intention and striving.

7. Taqwa is restricting oneself to the indubitably permissible, and that is all.

8. He whose greatest property is taqwa gains a profit, tongues are unable to describe.

9. Taqwa is that one shun his taqwa, which is to say, avoid awareness of his own taqwa.

10. The taqwa of a person is indicated by three things------good trust with respect to what he has not been granted, good contentment with what he has been granted, and good patience in the face of what he has lost.

LESSON OF THE DAY 1001

Ayahs of the Day:
The people of Noah rejected truth before them, and did parties after them. And every people plotted against their messenger, in order to stop him; and they strove to nullify the truth with falsehood. But I stopped them; and how was My chastisement! Thus the sentence of your Lord against the ingrates has been justified, that they are to be inmates of hell. [40: 5,6]

Hadith of the Day:
Overlook the slips of the righteous and pious people, except in matters concerning which there is a prescribed penalty. [Ahmad & Abu Dawud]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Every drop of sweat and every breath we take in life, if not taken for the sake of Allah, will lead to regret and sorrow on the Day of Judgment. [Ibn al Qayyim]

Guidance of the Day:
In this world, we are bound to be subject to upset. If we do not create it ourselves, we can pick it up from others. The trick is to let it go in forgiveness the moment we become aware of it. In this way, we can keep our emotional self in healthy shape. The mental body works on the same principle as the physical and emotional bodies, and we must keep in balance, as well.

The mental body just loves to think. It does not care what it thinks, as long as it is thinking something. It is really quite indiscriminate. It is we, the master of the bodies, who must control and decide what we want to feed to our mental body. Just as we would not put poison into our physical form, we would also not want to feed our mind with garbage. Most people, however, do not realize that thoughts are things, and they will digest thoughts that result in a mental stomachache, also known as a "headache." [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light. We are here to work at creating a world where life takes on meaning because we are showing love and compassion as an act of free will. Seek the answer through the creation of meaningful works.

Pearls of Wisdom....38

1. Children will not remember you for the material things you provided but for the feeling that you cherished them.

2. Death is a challenge. It tells us not to waste time.......it tells us to tell each other right now that we love each other.

3. What really counts is not how long a person lives, but how well he uses the time allotted to him to prepare for the eternal life.

4. Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.

5. Good deed begets good results, and evil deed begets bad results. Every good deed will come back to you someday, and every bad thing you do will also come back to you, now it's your choice.

5. Once the toothpaste is out of the of the tube, it's hard to get it back in----------think before you speak.

6. Judge your worth in the Creator's sight by how much space He occupies in your heart, and your worth in people's eyes by how you treat them.

7. There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. Miracles happen to those who believe in them.

8. When good deeds become a source of pleasure for you and an evil deed becomes a source of disgust, then you are a true believer.

9. This is your world! And you are able to make changes! Hasten to do good work! Think of it!

10. Tell the truth and you don't have to remember anything.

LESSON OF THE DAY 1000

Ayahs of the Day:
The revelation of the Book is from God the Almighty, the Omniscient, Who forgives sins and accepts repentance, is severe in punishment and possessor of power. There is no other deity; that is where destiny leads. No one disputes the signs of God but those who are ungrateful; so don't be fooled by their comings and goings in town and country. [40: 2,3,4]

Hadith of the Day:
Whoever is slowed by his deeds will not be hastened forward by his lineage. [Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
The one who does not base his practice of religion on renunciation cannot hope to make any progress therein, for the love of this world leads to all sin, and the renunciation of it leads to all good deeds and to obedience to the will of God. [Abu Nasr al Sarraj]

Guidance of the Day:
We cannot overstate the importance of right thinking. It is your key to abundance and strength. Your habit of erroneous thought can be reforged into a powerful tool for the benefit of all humankind. Make your life a pillar of positive being. You have the opportunity to see the Light in all things, for, in Truth, the Light is in all things.

What we call "negative" thinking, we do not call it bad or evil, but a blockage, or obstruction to the outpressing of Truth. It is simply distorted view of reality, and it is corrected only by a clear vision of what it is. When the Truth is seen, ignorance can hold no power over your life. Your responsibility to the expression of Truth in the times to come is great. Think in harmony of God, and the secrets of creation. Align your thoughts and actions with wakefulness. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
The trouble is that too often charity not only begins but ends at home. Giving until it hurts is not the true measure of charity------some are more easily hurt than others. Charity is a virtue of the heart, and not of the hands. The poor man's charity is to wish the rich man well.

Pearls of Wisdom....37

1. One who controls the nafs, controls the universe, and the one who is controlled by the nafs is controlled by the universe.

2. Contentment is an inexhaustible treasure.

3. Wisdom is knowing what to do next, skill is knowing how to do it and virtue is doing it.

4. A normal person knows right from wrong, a good person admits when he is wrong.

5. There is none so blind as those who refuse to see. Just because you have the gift of sight doesn't mean that you are able to see.

6. Cheerfulness is the offshoot of goodness.

7. He who asks a question may be a fool for five minutes, he who never asks a question remains a fool for ever.

8. Hatred is the coward's revenge for being intimidated.

9. Your character is what you have left when you have lost everything you can lose.

10. Preconceived notions are the locks on the door to wisdom.

LESSON OF THE DAY 999

Ayahs of the Day:
But those who were conscious of their Lord will be conveyed in crowds to the garden: when they arrive, its gates will be opened and its keepers will say to them, "Peace upon you. You have been good, so enter herein to abide." And they will say, "Praise be to God, who has fulfilled the divine promise to us, giving us the earth as an inheritance; we can live in the garden wherever we wish." And how excellent the reward for worker! [39: 73,74]

Hadith of the Day:
Whoever conceals the faults of a Muslim, Allah will conceal his faults in this life and the Hereafter. [Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
The spiritual warrior is the one who breaks an idol, and the idol of each person is his ego. [Al-Qushayri]

Guidance of the Day:
Life is showering its gifts upon us at this very moment. There is a force of love and light that is streaming, rushing, pouring toward us from all angles at all times. All we have to do is to let it in. Blessings are being offered to all of us without condition or limit. The keys to the kingdom are our whenever we are willing to accept them. What we have to lose is fear, lack, limitation, and sorrow. What we need to gain is peace of mind, success, health, and love. We do not need to become anything that we are not already. We need only to say "Yes!" to what God would just love to give us.

Positive thinking is the acceptance of Truth. When you open your mind to the possibility of the goodness of God, it allows Him the opportunity to pour blessings of Love and Light into the chalice of your life. When you align the thinking mind with the Creative Mind, you make available to yourself a power which you do not completely understand, but are fully capable of using for the upliftment of all. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Sometimes it is the struggle and the inherent growth in the process that propel us to where we need to be. If we avoid the struggles, we may be doing ourselves more harm than good. We may never give birth to our true self. Asking for help can be appropriate at times, but some things we must do for ourselves. If the butterfly is helped out of the cocoon it will not acquire enough strength to fly. Perhaps we too need the strength in order to spread our wings and be transformed.

Pearls of Wisdom....36

1. Jihad is the struggle to remove all those things from one's life that incur Allah's displeasure, and to replace them with those things that will gain His acceptance.

2. Jihad is the struggle against one's inner self and it's bestial inclinations. It is this struggle, in fact, which the Prophet of Islam (Allah's blessings and peace upon him) dubbed "the greater jihad."

3. Jihad is the struggles against the villains in our hearts which include: arrogance, avarice, pettiness, selfishness, jealousy, greed, self-delusions, and vain passions.

4. Jihad is the struggle to replace the villains in our hearts with goodly traits, such as mercy, honor, humbleness, generosity, gentleness, dignity, love, and other qualities that are aptly described as "heavenly."

5. Jihad is the struggle to fulfill the rights and responsibilities of one's family as well as those who are close, such as neighbors and relatives, to make sure that one does not harm them either with his hand or tongue.

6. Jihad is the struggle to forgive the wrongs of others, to overlook their misgivings, and hide their faults.

7. Jihad is the struggle to help the needy, the orphan, the widow, and the homeless by sacrificing our wealth.

8. Jihad is to show love and gentleness to our young ones, and respect and dignity to our elders.

9. Jihad is to protect the honor and property of every single member of society, whether man or woman.

10. Jihad is the struggle to speak out against injustice, to help the victims of oppressions, to ensure that everyone is given just measure, regardless of gender, ethnicity, or religion.

11. Jihad is to submit our will to Our Creator, thereby achieving peace and unity with the rest of the cosmos in celebrating His Majesty and Glory.

12. Jihad is ultimately that struggle in which we are willing to give our lives in the name of Allah so that these ideals will endure and bring peace and justice to countless others, thus truly bringing the harmony of the heavens down the earth.

LESSON OF THE DAY 998

Ayahs of the Day:
Those who scoffed will be driven to hell in crowds; then when they get there, its gates will be opened, and its keepers will say to them, "Didn't messengers from among you come to you and recite to you the signs of your Lord, and warn you of the meeting of this day of yours?" They will say, "Yes, but the sentence of the punishment is justified against the unbelievers." They will be told, "Enter the gates of hell, to abide therein." And how miserable the abode of the self-important! [39: 71,72]

Hadith of the Day:
Whoever relieves a believer's stress of the distressful aspects of this world, Allah will rescue him from a difficulty of the difficulties of the Hereafter. [Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Overcome your egos that you may be saved from the snares that devoured kings and paupers alike. Liberate yourself from the fretters of the ego and surrender yourself before God. [Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani]

Guidance of the Day:
Overcoming negation with love is a matter of attunement. We must concentrate on that which is Good, Beautiful, and True. If there seem to be 999 negative attributes of a situation, and one positive aspect, we must seize on that one good thing, bless it, hold to it with determination, meditate on it, be grateful for it, exaggerate it, and glorify it. We will find that our tiny trickle of goodness has opened into a rushing stream, and then into a mighty river which pours into the ocean of God's storehouse abundant.

We can let go of any notion that we have that God wants us to suffer. Our potential for happiness is unbounded, and that we can all go beyond our limited notions of how good it can be. Every one of us has a great deal to offer, and that we too often sell ourselves short. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Our error is in making ourselves our own center and thinking more of our claims on others than of our obligations to them. That which of all things unfits man is self-complacency, fatal self-righteousness, and self-sufficiency. We are too much haunted by ourselves, projecting the shadow of self on everything around us. Redemption is this, to forget self in God.

Pearls of Wisdom....35

1. The strength of a believer is one's determination and ability in matters of the next life.

2. The good and bad are not determined by reason, but by revelation------therefore only through Shariah.

3. The mind's role is not to determine what is good and bad or right and wrong, but, rather to understand and implement the ruling of Allah Most High.

4. In an argument the best weapon to hold is the tongue.

5. Reform that which remains to you, and that which is past will be forgiven.

6. Nothing is more beneficial than that you benefit for yourself, by doing what is befitting for the time.

7. The fool in his haste says things, that which the wise man dare not think.

8. The secret of happy living is not to do what you like, but to do what you should and like what you do.

9. One who makes a mistake and doesn't correct it, is making another mistake.

10.A smile is something nice to see, it does not cost a cent.
A smile is something all you own it, it never can be spent.
A smile is welcome everywhere, it does away with frowns.
A smile is good for everyone, to ease life's ups and downs.

LESSON OF THE DAY 997

Ayahs of the Day:
And the trumpet will be sounded, and those in the heavens and those on earth will faint, excepting whoever God will; then it will be sounded again, and now they will be standing, expectant. And the earth will shine with the light of its Lord, and the Record will be set out, and the prophets and the witnesses will be brought, and judgment among them will be made, according to truth, so they will not be treated unjustly. And every soul will be recompensed for what it did; and God knows best what they do. [39: 68,69,70]

Hadith of the Day:
Pride is rejecting the truth and showing disdain for the people. [Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
No one attains true freedom as long as he remains under the influence of the slightest portion of his ego. [Shaykh Abu Madyan]

Guidance of the Day:
Learning to see God in all requires effort, creativity, courage, and love. Our old thought patterns of lack and failure will kick and scream, and they will find the subtlest and craftiest ways to retain their hold on our consciousness, for, in truth, their very life is being threatened. And that is the very best thing that could happen to us, for their life is founded on erroneous thinking and illusion.

To break out of this old way of thinking, we must at first make a determined effort to deny the ranting and raving of our old mind which tells us that something is wrong. When negative thoughts assert themselves, we must challenge them with the light of Love and dare to live the truth of goodness. Many people believe that it is courageous to live through a negative life. To live a life dedicated to happiness, freedom and forgiveness is the most courageous of all. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
The love we give is always received, on some level of consciousness, and it is only our ego that tells us that the other person needs to respond in some particular way or else the relationship cannot be healed. It only takes one, and you have the power within you to heal any relationship in your life. Healing a relationship is a singular choice, and each one of us really can choose once again.

Pearls of Wisdom....34

1. Three things are the character of the friends of Allah-----Being at peace in one's heart towards others; A generous nature; Thinking the best of Allah's slaves.

2. Be close friends with the steadfast and submissive.

3. Do not annoy back those who annoy you, nor enter into what does not concern you.

4. Be occupied with your own faults, and never disclose a secret what should remain confidential.

5. Bear with the annoyance of those who show ignorance and forgive those who wrong you.

6. Be patient with adversities, little of imposition on others, but great in help to them.

7. Let your speech be wisdom and your looking reflection.

8. Put all your pride away. Always find a gentle word to say......We shouldn't be full of ourselves when we should be full of humanity.

9. Efforts not results count in the Sight of Allah. It is the mercy of Allah that He does not demand results. He is pleased if He finds us making our best efforts.

10. Knowledge calls for practice, if practice does not follow, knowledge goes away or becomes a burden. Real knowledge must bear fruit and the fruit of knowledge is practice, otherwise it is useless, harmful knowledge.

LESSON OF THE DAY 996

Ayah of the Day:
They have not truly assessed the measure of God, in whose grip the whole earth will be on the Day of Resurrection, and in whose right hand the heavens will be folded: glorious is God, transcendent beyond any association they make. [39: 67]

Hadith of the Day:
Whoever defends the flesh of his brother in his absence has a right upon Allah to rescue him from the fire. [Ahmad]

Wise Quote of the Day:
To receive a gift of spiritual love, we have "to know, to find, and to be." You cannot find a thing when you don't know what you are looking for, and you cannot find it if you don't know the way. We cannot be that thing if we do not leave ourselves behind. [Imam Birgivi]

Guidance of the Day:
Abundance is not something that we create, but that we accept. God's infinite abundance is above us, waiting to flow down, and we have the space to hold it all. At the meeting point, at that skinny little juncture of the upper and lower vessels, in our mind. It regulates how much can come through. If our mind is small, tight, and fearful, a few meager grains will flow through. If the mind is open, free, and expansive, all of God's riches can pour through. We receive as much as we let in.

Real positive thinking means learning to look at all of life from a positive view point. It does not mean just money, gaining health, and finding the right spouse (although these are all valuable demonstrations). Real positivity means seeing in the blessedness in everything. It requires a complete revision of the way we look at life. It means tearing down our judgments and opinions of what is good and what is bad, and what is right and what is wrong. It means owning up to the truth that there is not one thing that exists, or one event that occurs that is not blessed by the Light of God. Simply, it means being willing to give up our mortal limited opinions. When we let go of these binding concepts, we are initiated into a new level of evolution: the realm of God consciousness. This simply means that we see all as from God and all as Good. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Pearls of Wisdom....33

1. Do not fall into the delusion that you will always remain strong, youthful, and wealthy.

2. Do not fall into the delusion that you will stop sinning after committing a sin a few times.

3. Do not delude yourself into thinking that your children will attend to you without your having to looked after your own parents.

4. Never form an opinion about someone just from the outward appearance.

5. Just like stagnant, standing water becomes a breeding ground for filth, an empty and carefree mind becomes a hive for useless and scorn thoughts.

6. Time for love is very short in this world, where do people find time to fill it with so much hate?

7. Hatred is like an acid. It does more harm to the container in which it is stored than to the object on which it is poured?

8. Evil can have no beginning, but from pride, nor an end but from humbleness.

9. Whoever maintains respect for what Allah honors, his own respect is upheld.

10. Whoever sees Allah's blessings as great----gives thanks for them, and whoever gives thanks, has necessitated their increase from the Bestower of blessings, by virtue of His true promise.

LESSON OF THE DAY 995

Ayahs of the Day:
And on the Day of Resurrection you will see those who lied against God; their faces will be blackened. Is there not a place in hell for the self-important? And God will deliver the conscientious, setting them free in their place of refuge, where no ill will touch them, and they will not grieve. God is the creator of everything, and God is in charge of everything. The keys of the heavens and the earth belong to God, and those who deny the signs of God are the ones who are the losers. [39: 60 to 63]

Hadith of the Day:
No man helps a Muslim at a time when his honor is being belittled or his rights are violated except that Allah will help him in a place in which he loves to have His help. [Abu Dawud]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Praising the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, should come from loving him, and loving him should entail desiring what he desired, which was nothing other than to follow and obey Allah. [Aftab Ahmad Malik]

Guidance of the Day:
How we use our mind is crucial to our finding and getting what we want out of life, and giving what we want to it. Success, love, and abundance are not given to a privileged few by the whim of a capricious God. Those who enjoy happiness do so because they earned it with their thoughts. They have the faith that God is working for their good, and that every moment of life is a precious gift. By so thinking, they open the door to goodness and success. The foundation of positive thinking is this truth.

To think is to create. If we want to make it in life, we need to start with our goals clearly in mind; we need to decide what it is that we want, and then get a sharp mental picture of it. Then we must hold steadfast to our goal until it is realized. Refuse to be distracted by the thoughts of failure. We cannot allow temporary setbacks to be a cause for disappointment. God often has a bigger plan working for us than we have for our little selves. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
"ME" is always at the bottom of all sin. One little word M-E. It may spell drink, lust, pride, covetousness, self-will; but it is some form of "me." One can be a miser a savage and be selfish but not a human. We have one foot in heaven and the other on the banana peel of self-interest.

Pearls of Wisdom....32

1. A coincidence is a small miracle where God prefers to remain anonymous. God arranges all things with precision in the lives of those dedicated to doing His will.

2. Knowing and not doing are equal to not knowing at all. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.

3. God plus one is always a majority! If God be for us, who can be against us? God knows more about how to help us than we know ourselves.

4. Most of us growl about things that really aren't important, only uncomfortable or irritating. Let's focus on what really matters to making a difference in the lives of others.

5. You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.

6. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. When we are willing to resist evil we take away an opportunity from the devil.

7. Our children are like mirrors-----they reflect our attitudes in life. What we do today is what we will see our children do tomorrow.

8. A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small package.

9. Everyone has patience------successful people learn to use it.

10. Hate and fear destroy life and keep us holding on to pain. Instead use the pain in your life to create something meaningful.

LESSON OF THE DAY 994

Ayahs of the Day:
"And follow the best of what has been revealed to you from your Lord, before there comes to you the agony, suddenly, while you are unawares. Lest a soul might say, 'Ah, me! Woe is me for my neglect of my duty to God, for I was indeed a scorner!' Or lest one say, 'If only god had guided me, I would have been conscientious!' Or lest one say, on seeing the penalty, 'Had I but another chance, I would be one of the virtuous!' [39: 55 to 58]

Hadith of the Day:
No Muslim servant (of Allah) prays for his brother behind his back except that an angel say, "And for you the same." [Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
The believer tries to find excuses for others, while the hypocrite looks out for mistakes. [Ibn al Mubarak]

Guidance of the Day:
To think positive is to thing with God, This must be true because God is positive and God can do anything. When we think with God, we can do anything. The key to success in life is to know without doubt that God is our Guardian who wants only the best for us. All failure stems from the mistaken thought that we do not deserve the best that life has to offer. We were created to be magnificent.

Positive thinking is an absolute prerequisite for all success in life. We've all got to believe in ourselves, our families, our friends, and our business. We have got to know the rightness of our hopes, our aspirations, and our dreams. God is looking for people who will trust in the dreams He gives to us. There are so few people who are willing to take the aspiration that God breathes into them and hold tenaciously to it until the possibility becomes a reality. The world is numb to imagination, to creativity, to life. The neon lights of the cities block our view of the stars. The world has settled for second best, and in so bargaining has settled for nothing. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Hope is the Divine motivator. Hope is the thing with feathers----that perches in the soul----and sings the tune without the words-----and never stops----at all. Hope restores us, it keeps us busy and prevents us from becoming lazy. If we had no hope we would have no reason to go on. What you hope for doesn't matter, but rather the essence of hope itself. Allow the bird of hope to perch on a branch of the tree of life and never stop singing.

Pearls of Wisdom....31

1. Any time you find yourself getting impatient with anyone, think about how long God has been dealing with you on some issues.

2. See that no one pays back evil with evil, but always try to do good to each other and to everyone else.

3. Be a good listener. Listening is more important than talking in virtually every profession. It is in listening that we learn to say.

4. The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none. Ask God to help you see your faults and correct the faults you see.

5. You may not be able to move mountains in your life----but God can.

6. Obedience and forgiveness are the keys to a clear conscience. Restful sleep is a direct result of a clear conscience.

7. When anger rises, think of consequences. Pause and ask God to provide His alternative-----peace.

8. He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.

9. A wise person doesn't stop learning from as many sources as possible. By learning you will teach; by teaching you will learn.

10. Pray about everything; tell God your needs and don't forget to thank Him for His anwers. If you do this you will experience God's peace.....His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest.

LESSON OF THE DAY 993

Ayahs of the Day:
Don't they know God expands one's provision at will, and imposes limits? Surely there are signs in that for people who believe. Say, "O My devotees who have transgressed against their own souls! Do not despair of God's mercy, for God forgives all sins! Indeed God is the epitome of forgiveness and mercy! And turn to your Lord, and surrender thereunto, before the torment comes upon you, after which you will not be helped. [39: 52,53,54]

Hadith of the Day:
No man loves another for the sake of God without his Lord honoring him. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Faith is strengthened by thanksgiving for graces, endurance under trial, and contentment with the Divine decree. [Shaykh Abul Hasan al Shadhili]

Guidance of the Day:
Suffering is born of wrong thinking. The root of pain is error in perception. There can be no error in Truth, only errors in the perception of Truth. If you yearn to end human suffering, know, then, what is Real, for this Knowledge is the only source of invincible faith.

To see the world rightly, you must look from the viewpoint of immortality. This is the only perspective that can bring meaning to a meaningless life. Thoughts of mortality are the only veils that can shield the Truth from view. The Real is your only salvation. Nothing other than the Real can ever bring you the Peace that you seek. Acknowledge God, and welcome your self. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Family means sharing inadequacies, imperfections and feelings with each other and still loving each other. Human beings have the rare capacity to connect with one another, against all odds.

Pearls of Wisdom....30

1. People may doubt what you say, but they will always believe what you do. For the tree is known and recognized and judged by its fruit.

2. People who fly into a rage always make a bad landing. Anger rarely solves a problem. Usually, it just makes things worse.

3. A wise man restrains his anger and overlooks insults. This is to his credit.

4. The next time you feel like complaining, remember that your garbage disposal probably eats better than thirty percent of the people in the world.

5. Being at peace with yourself is a direct result of finding peace with God. Ask God to give you His peace in your work, there is no substitute for His grace.

6. A wise man's heart guides his mouth. Be careful of your thoughts, they may become words at any moment.

7. When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened to us.

8. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

9. Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. Conquer yourself rather than the world.

10. You need to keep on patiently doing God's will if you want Him to do for you all that He has promised.

LESSON OF THE DAY 992

Ayahs of the Day:
When trouble afflicts man, he calls on Us; then when We favor him with a blessing from Us, he says, "This has been given to me on account of science alone." But it is a trial, though most of them do not know. Those before them had said this already, but what they used to do was of no profit to them. So the ills of what they did fell upon them. And the wrongdoers among those present will be overtaken by the ills of what they have done, and they cannot prevent it. [39: 49,50,51]

Hadith of the Day:
It is not allowed for a man to boycott his brother for more than three nights. The best among them is the one who is first to offer the greetings. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Seek for sweetness in three things---------in ritual prayers, in the invocation, and in reciting the Qur'an. [Hasan bin Ali]

Guidance of the Day:
We can stay out of trouble, and in the light, by thinking with our heart. I am not speaking of the emotions, but of the wisdom of the soul. Our heart will never lead us astray, or slay our perception of the Real. The heart cannot be misled, because it does not confuse facts with wisdom. It does not doubt because it lives in God.

In you heart is etched the Truth of Existence. Thoughts that lead you away from that Truth are but delusion. We encourage you to use your faculty of discrimination. Be not afraid to challenge the illusions that you have been taught. The Truth shall never fail to be revealed to you, for ignorance cannot stand the scrutiny of inspection. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
I am not bound to win, but
I am bound to be true.
I am not bound to succeed, but
I am bound to live up to what light I have.

Pearls of Wisdom....29

1. If you stop learning, you stop growing. Keep learning----God always has more to teach.

2. A happy heart is a good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.

3. Swallowing angry words before you say them is better than having to eat them afterwards.

4. Rumors and gossip are equally impossible to retrieve.

5. What you say about a person has far-reaching, ripple effects. Make certain that what you say is not only true, but it needs saying.

6. The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.

7. Hard times, crises, and troubles come to all of us. It's not the nature of the crisis but how we choose to respond to it that matters most.

8. Those who live in faith and contentment will have the faith and inner peace required to weather any storm.

9. Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.

10. Sometimes we are so busy adding up our troubles that we forget to count our blessings.

LESSON OF THE DAY 991

Ayahs of the Day:
Say, O God, creator of the heavens and the earth, knower of the hidden and the evident, You will judge between Your servants regarding that wherein they had differed." If those who have done wrong had everything on earth, and its like besides, they would use it to redeem themselves from the ill of the agony of the day of resurrection; but there will appear to them from God what they had never expected. [39: 46,47]

Hadith of the Day:
There is no people among which an evil is committed and they have the ability to change that but they do not change it except that Allah will soon afflict them with a punishment that will afflict all of them. [Abu Dawud]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Those who are the elect of Adam's children breathe the breath of "We have wronged ourselves." Display your need for God------do not argue like the impudent and accursed Iblis. [Mawlana Rumi]

Guidance of the Day:
It is true that a little knowledge can be worse than none at all. Our mind can be our best friend, but, uncontrolled, it can work against our best interests. Our mind can confuse us to the point where actions bear no relation to reason. We do things for the wrong reasons, and we are not even aware of what we are doing or why we are doing them.

The rational mind is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. We must use the mind, instead of giving it free rein to run wild. The thinking mind helps us to organize our world and to create technology that makes our lives easier and safer. If we do not control the mind, however, it will team up with the mouth and the tongue, and together they will get us into trouble. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Some die without having really lived, while others continue to live, in spite of the fact that they have died. We are here today and gone tomorrow. When death is imminent, we open our hearts quickly and wide. How much more love there would be if we didn't wait for death to release our reserves!

Pearls of Wisdom....28

1. Do not just walk where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. You are pust here for a purpose, and you must find it.

2. Failure in people is caused more by lack of determination than lack in talent.

3. The greatest possession you have is the twenty-four hours directly in front of you. When you make God your most important priority, everything else falls into place.

4. Little is accomplished by procrastination or complaining. Purpose that your efforts will make a lasting contribution to the world of tomorrow.

5. The heart is happiest when it beats for others. Those who aren't sowing, aren't growing.

6. Real friends are those who, when you've made a fool of yourself, don't think you've done a permanent job.

7. Be quick to recognize that some mistakes are not worth mentioning and some errors are not matters of eternal importance.

8. Those who are quick to forgive others tend to be those who are forgiven quickly. And we all must admit it's nice to be on the forgiven side of a mistake.

9. Our children are like mirrors-----they reflect our attitude in life.

10. A lot of people mistake a short memory for a clear conscience. Most people know the right thing to do. Be among the ones who actually have the courage to do it.

LESSON OF THE DAY 990

Ayahs of the Day:
God takes souls at their death, or in their sleep if they aren't dead, keeping those sentence to death, and sending the rest to a definite term. Surely there are signs in that for people who reflect. Do they take to intercessors other than God? Say, "Even though they have no power over anything, and no intelligence?!" [39: 42,43]

Hadith of the Day:
A believer sees his sins as if he is at the foot of a mountain and he fears that they will fall upon him. The evil-doer views his sins like a fly that lands on his nose that he just swats at. [Bukhari]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Love of the saints is the proof of religion and religiosity. [Abdul Hakeem Murad]

Guidance of the Day:
How many things have you worried about that never came to pass? And if they did come to pass, were they as horrible as you imagined them to be? Probably not. One man actually kept track of all that he worried about. He discovered that of all his worries, 92 percent of them never came to pass, and of the 8 percent that did, he was somehow given the strength and ability to deal with them successfully. Our worries are paper tires.

We have nothing to fear but fear itself. The experience of fear is usually more debilitating than the event that we fear. A coward dies a thousand deaths, a hero only one. Fear is always the result of the absence of the awareness of Truth. When we know and feel the Truth, it is impossible to hold fear. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Is there anything more to life than just being alive---------eating, sleeping, working and having children? Sooner or later we will come face to face with the questions, what am I supposed to do with my life? How shall I live so that my life will mean something more than a brief flash of biological existence soon to disappear for ever.

Pearls of Wisdom....27

1. Don't ask God for what you think is good: ask Him for what He thinks is good for you.

2. The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.

3. Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

4. Failure isn't falling down. It's staying down. For a just man falls seventy times and rises up again. Consider failure only as an opportunity to regroup and strengthen yourself.

5. Be a giver. Joy will be the result, not only to those to whom you give, but also in your own heart.

6. What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. They are but trifles to be sure, but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.

7. What we "see" has more to do with inner vision than physical eyesight. Choose to see those things that bring happiness to your heart.

8. Time is more valuable than money because time is irreplaceable. Ask God, and He will help you to invest your time wisely.

9. Others can stop you temporarily; you are the only one who can do it permanently. Only God can transform inner weakness into strength. Ask Him to make you a better person today.

10. God never asks about our ability or our inability------just our availability. If we willingly yield our lives to God-----then we are in the best position to win life's race. People who make themselves available to God are those who are used by God.

LESSON OF THE DAY 989

Ayahs of the Day:
Say, "O my people! Work according to your ability; indeed, I am at work. And you will know who it is to whom there comes a disgracing punishment and upon whom alights an abiding agony." For We have sent you the Book for mankind, according to truth. So whoever accepts guidance does so to the benefit of his own soul, and whoever strays only strays to the detriment of his own soul. And you are not the one to dispose of their affairs. [39: 39,40,41]

Hadith of the Day:
The one who loves for the sake of Allah, hates for the sake of Allah, gives for the sake of Allah and withholds for the sake of Allah has completed his faith. [Abu Dawud]

Wise Quote of the Day:
The duration of life is but one breath. Take care that you master it and that it does not master you. [Shaykh Abu Madyan]

Guidance of the Day:
It is of the utmost importance to be an ardent worker for the force of positivity. You bless your sisters and brothers by cultivating strong and loving thoughts about them. In so doing, you serve the transformation of their lives as well as your own.

Be peaceful in your work, and Peace shall find a home in you. That which is other than Truth cannot bind you, for you have been given dominion over the world. Share not the delusion of mortality. Cease to cling to ownership of illusions, and illusions shall cease to retain the image of binding you. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
The chance of getting divorced remains so high that it makes sense for all married couples----including those who are currently satisfied with their relationship------to put extra effort into their marriage to keep them strong.

Pearls of Wisdom....26

1. Carve your name on hearts and not on Marble.

2. Each day we must ask God to provide for us the wisdom to know where and how to apply ourselves.

3. Work hard so God can say to you, "Well done." Be a good workman, one who does not need to be ashamed when God examines your work.

4. If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it. Don't wait. Jump into the challenge of the new course with enthusiasm.

5. There never was a person who did anything worth doing that did not receive more than he gave. Whatever you give always comes back in the form of a rich reward.

6. It's good to be a Muslim and know it, but it's better to be Muslim and show it!

7. The only preparation for tomorrow is the right use of today. What you decide today will become who you are tomorrow.

8. Real success is doing what we were created to do---developing and using all of the talents and abilities we have been given, not only for our own benefit but for the benefit of others.

9. Real success is the product of good decisions made each day----the decision to be God's person, decisions to live in moral excellence, and to love others and do good to them.

10. Don't be afraid of pressure. Remember pressure is what turns a lump of coal into a diamond. Trust God to use the pressure you are under today as a means of developing your endurance, building your patience, and perhaps even forcing you to reevaluate your priorities. Stress can be our teacher.

LESSON OF THE DAY 988

Ayahs of the Day:
Is not God enough for a devotee? Yet they try to intimidate you with something other than God. And whoever God leaves astray has therefore no guide. But whomever God guides, none can lead astray. Is not God a mighty avenger? [39: 36,37]

Hadith of the Day:
Nothing is weightier in the scales of a believer on the Day of Judgment than his good behavior. God treats with displeasure a person who is given to loose and vulgar talk. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
There is a mutually supportive and perfective relation between an individual's actions and his inner life. [Fethullan Gulen]

Guidance of the Day:
What you imagine to be your thoughts are merely echoes of the voice of the world, a voice which bears no relation to your true identity with light. Constantly meditate upon your true nature, and you will easily discern between that which is of Love and that which belongs to error.

This teaching is but an elementary training in separating yourself from that which you have imagined to be your own. Your growth is marked by freedom from the effects of misdirected musings of the mind. Be not dismayed at negative consequences of your past actions, for you are occasionally required to bear out the unfoldment of earlier thought patterns before the fruits of your present work make themselves visible. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Most of us never stop to consider our blessings; rather, we spend the day only thinking about our problems. Since you have to be alive to have problems, be grateful for the opportunity to have them. Appreciate life and accept the problems as part of life. Don't wait for a disaster to awaken you to the things you can be grateful for today.

Pearls of Wisdom....25

1. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior to be a surviror.

2. Anger, unforgiveness, and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.

3. Choosing to have fun and laugh heartily at life's foibles may be one of the best choices one can make for health and genuine quality of life.

4. A merry heart does good like a medicine but a broken spirit dries the bones.

5. Some people succeed because they are destined to, but most people succeed because they are determined to.

6. Wisdom is the wealth of the wise. The value of wisdom is far above rubies; nothing can be compared with it.

7. A professional is someone who can do his best work when he doesn't feel like it.

8. To win the contest you must deny yourselves many things that would keep you from doing your best.

9. It takes courage to tell the truth. Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom.

10. God, grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisedom to know the difference.

LESSON OF THE DAY 987

Ayahs of the Day:
The one who brings truth, and the one who confirms it-------they are the conscientious. They will have whatever they wish in the presence of their Lord; that is the reward of those who do good, that God may pardon the worst of their deeds, and reward them for the best of what they used to do. [39: 33,34,35]

Hadith of the Day:
A believer never has his fill of good deeds until he ends up in Paradise. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
If we measure ourselves against the commands of God and to the life of the one whom He sent as His mercy, we will perhaps be able to see our sad condition. Then perhaps our devotion, our worship, will be a little more than sincere and true. [Imam al Birgivi]

Guidance of the Day:
We are constantly creating and re-creating one another through our thoughts. This can be a vital key to improving troubled relationships. Relationships suffer when we hold negative pictures of each other. If you want to bring a difficult relationship into the light of love, make up your mind to change your image of who both of you are.

Realize that the relationship will continue in a rut and you will tend to live out each other's negative expectations until one of you sees both of you as Godly. You do not have to wait for the other person to change; you have the power to change the relationship for both of you. As soon as you let go of your ideas of limitations about the other person or yourself, you set both of you free, and the relationship is likely to improve. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
What if you gave someone a gift, and they neglected to thank you for it------would you be likely to give them another? Life is the same way. In order to attract more of the blessings that life has to offer, you must truly appreciate what you already have.

Pearls of Wisdom....24

1. Aim for perfection. Can you become the person you truly LIKE to be? It's not impossible. Shoot for the moon, even if you miss it, you land among the stars.

2. We are wise when we set our sights on what God tells us to do, and then do it with all of our might, leaving all the consequences to Him.

3. No plan is worth the paper it is printed on unless it starts you doing something. Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

4. Your children need your presence more than your presents. Your presence is the best present for them.

5. The best bridge between hope and despair is often a good night's sleep. We must trust God as the only One who truly can turn a day of disaster into a dawning of hope.

6. We truly can't tell a catastrophe from a cause for celebration. God asks us to trust Him in each circumstance as it rises, and to walk out each day with faith, believing that God can and will work all things for our eternal benefit.

7. Peace makers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness. Those who seek peace and use peaceful means to reach it----are generally the winners in the long run.

8. Be very careful how you live----not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.

9. What you see depends mainly on what you look for.

10 Today, respond to everything you experience with joy and delight. A joyful response to life is one of the greatest witnesses you can have.

LESSON OF THE DAY 986

Ayahs of the Day:
We have set forth in this Recital every ideal for human kind, that they may take heed; a Recital in Arabic, free from distortion, that they may be aware. God has set forth a parable, of a man over whom a plurality of partners are wrangling, and a man secure in service to one man: are the two equal on comparison? Praise be to God. But most of them do not know. The fact is you are going to die, and they too are going to die, Then you will, on the day of resurrection, debate in the presence of your Lord. [39: 28 to 31]

Hadith of the Day:
The believer's shade on the Day of Resurrection will be the charity he or she has given. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Be not like those who get puffed up with pride in worldly good, and scorn the Truth. Enjoy the good things of life, but render thanks to Allah and obey His Law. [Abdullah Yusuf Ali]

Guidance of the Day:
Finding peace amid chaos is more valuable for our growth-----and service------than finding quiet amid quiet. Resist not evil, but overcome evil with good. Light is always more powerful than darkness. Evil, when confronted with love and positivity, flees like a thief in the night.

Our own awareness of God is always more powerful than anything in the world. Because our thoughts and our awareness are powerful, we have a responsibility to the people, and the world around us. Just as we would not want anyone to empty a trash can of negative upon us, we must take care not to disturb others with our thoughts. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Truth is man's proper good, and the only immortal thing was given to our immortality to use. Keep one thing forever in view-----the truth; and if you do this, though it may seem to lead you away from the opinion of men, it will assuredly conduct you to the throne of God.

Pearls of Wisdom....23

1. Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your work with excellence.

2. Life is a progress, and not a station. One of life's greatest lessons is that we are all "works in progress." God expects us to grow through the decisions we make, the challenges we undertake, and the effort we put in.

3. Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves; for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he reap.

4. He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that rules the spirit than the one that rules a city.

5. The cure of a crime is not in the electric chair, but in the high chair. Teach a child to choose the right path, and when he is older he will remain upon it.

5. You get the best out of others when you give the best of yourself. Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds.

6. Anger is never without a reason but seldom a good one. An angry man stirs up strife, and a furious man abounds in transgression.

7. The results of angry exprssions are more often tragic than triumphant. We are wise to turn down the temperature of our anger before expressing our opinion.

8. Anger may be justified, but lashing out in anger at someone is not justifiable.

9. Worry is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but doesn't get you anywhere. Concern for someone is a sign of love, but worry is a sign of doubt and fear. We each must learn the difference.

10. No man knows his true character until he is faced with problems and difficulties. Consider it all joy, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

LESSON OF THE DAY 985

Ayah of the Day:
God has sent down the best story as a Book of similar refrains. The skins of those who fear their Lord creep in terror of it; then their flesh and hearts soften to remembrance of God. That is the guidance of God, by which God guides whom God will. And whomever God leaves astray has no guide. [39: 23]

Hadith of the Day:
God shall say on the Day of Resurrection, "Where are those who have mutual love for My sake? Today I shall shelter them in My shadow." [Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Abstaining from the unlawful is the beginning of renunciation of the world, just as contentment with one's lot is a branch of satisfaction with the will of God. [Abul Qasim al Qushayri]

Guidance of the Day:
If you are required, as we all are, to be in the presence of people or environments that are generating negative energy------anger, fear, uncontrolled emotions or words-----you must learn to hold firm and remain confident of God's presence even-----and especially-----in the face of thoughts, words, or news of "evil." You can do this by meditating regularly, cultivation positive thinking, visualizing and feeling a brilliant aura of light or positive energy all around you, and by controlling your words and actions that would react in kind to negativity.

It is of utmost importance to not go into agreement or align yourself with the turbulent feelings that another is experiencing, or you yourself will enter a disturbed state of consciousness from which you, like them, will have to extricate yourself. If you want to help someone who is experiencing worry, fear, or depression, you must stay centered in peacefulness. This is the most effective position from which you will be able to truly serve them. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Man has a mission and a message that are more important than revenge, malice, and hate. Upon you is a sacred duty to surrender yourself to what is preordained for you. If you fulfill this duty you will be successful in the long run. Performing noble deeds is the way to happiness.

Pearls of Wisdom....22

1. It is unwise to be too sure of one's wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.

2. Nine-tenths of wisdom consists in being wise in time. The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.

3. Life affords no greater responsibility, no greater privilege, than the raising of the next generation.

4. A child will follow in the footsteps of those he or she admires most. Make sure your footsteps are worth following.

5. A parent teaches character by example, not words. A child learns character by following and imitating, not just listening.

6. Some people complain because God put thorns on roses, while others praise Him for putting roses among thorns.

7. The seed of something good lies at the heart of every tragedy. Part of your challenge is to find it and help it grow.

8. He who thinks himself the wisest is generally the least so. Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.

9. When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.

10. Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure.

LESSON OF THE DAY 984

Ayah of the Day:
Is it everyone whose chest God has opened to acquiescence, such that one is enlightened by his Lord? Woe, therefore, to those whose hearts are hardened against remembrance of God; they are in obvious error! [39: 22]

Hadith of the Day:
O people! Give salams, feed the poor and needy, pray at night while others sleep, behave kindly toward your relatives, and you shall enter Paradise in peace. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
You must thank God for all that He has favored you with, you have no good thing, whether outward or inward, religious or worldly, but it comes from Him. [Imam al Haddad]

Guidance of the Day:
All of the great spiritual teachers and religions have placed a high importance on keeping good company. We are told to spend time in good fellowship, or to seek the company of Truth: those who are dedicated to thinking and living in a Godly way. There is much to be said for keeping good company. Through it, we give and receive support to reach our highest goals, and to remain strong in the face of adversity. It is the way to keep our spiritual batteries charged. It is the true purpose of community.

If you have just one or two spiritual friends with whom you can share your highest aspirations, you should consider yourself richly blessed. Spiritual communities are like lighthouses in a dark world. If you have contact with spiritual oriented people, whether or not you live in a formal community, you are very fortunate. If you are fortunate enough to have the benefit of sitting in the presence of a real spiritual master, one who teaches in Truth and Love, you are very fortunate, indeed. Such a teacher can offer Grace that can remove obstacles, lessen suffering, and save a great deal of time for your path--------lifetimes, perhaps. Cherish any opportunity you receive to be with a real teacher, as well as any group gathered in the name of God. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable. From that perspective, examine your life today. Think about some risks you have been unwilling to take----perhaps changing careers, following a dream, opening your heart to another person or being all you can be.

Pearls of Wisdom....21

1. A tart temper never mellows with age; and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.

2. He who cannot resist temptation is not a man.

3. Associate reverently, as much as you can, with your loftiest thoughts. Great thoughts reduced to practice become great acts.

4. Don't you love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. As if you can kill time without injuring eternity. Lost time is never found again.

5. Short as life is, we make it still shorter by the careless waste of time.

6. Waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both. Without industry and frugality, nothing will do, and with them everything will.

7. Tolerance is the oil which takes the friction out of life.

8. Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community.

9. The gratification of wealth is not found in mere possession or in lavish expenditure, but in its wise application.

10. People do not lack strength; they lack will. Great souls have wills; feeble ones have only wishes. Will is character in action.

LESSON OF THE DAY 983

Ayahs of the Day:
For those who are wary of their Lord are mansions built with lofty chambers above and rivers running below, as a promise of God; Do you not see that God sends down water from the sky, causing it to enter the earth as springs, then brings forth thereby grain of different kinds; then it withers, and you see it yellowing, and God makes it crumble? Truly there is a reminder in that for those with understanding. [39: 20,21]

Hadith of the Day:
A prudent man subdues his passions and works for what comes after death, but an imprudent man follows his passions and puts his hope in God (for forgiveness). [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Observe how the life of this world deceives those around you. It lures them into the traps of vanity, wealth, and fame, and exalts them above others. This splendor blinds them, and they are lost forever in illusion. But then in one instant, life deals the blow of death, and all is gone. [Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani]

Guidance of the Day:
There are three ways in which we can capitalize on our understanding of how thoughts work:

1. Seek to be in the presence of positive people who share your ideals; place yourself in environments that support your spiritual growth.

2. Keep your clear, calm center when you are in the midst of negative thoughts and feelings; do not compromise your awareness of God's Perfect Presence.

3. Be a generator of positive and loving thoughts and feelings, so that you will enhance, and not detract from the experiences of those around you. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
You don't want to live in such a way that when your life is over you are left thinking more about what you didn't do than what you did do. Think about how you would feel on your deathbed if you were wishing you had done that one special thing or taken that chance that you let pass by.

Pearls of Wisdom....20

1. The man who lives by himself and for himself is likely to be corrupted by the company he keeps.

2. He who lives only to benefit himself confers on the world a benefit when he dies.

3. Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great. Simplicity is the glory of expression.

4. He who falls into a sin is a man; that grieves at it, is a saint; that boasts of it, is a devil.

5. Sin is not harmful because it is forbidden, but it is forbidden because it is hurtful.

6. Slander is the revenge of a coward. To murder character is as truly a crime as to murder the body: the tongue of the slanderer is brother to the dagger of the assasins.

7. Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles. What do we live for if not to make the world less difficult for each other.

8. The strength of a man consists in finding out the way God is going, and going that way.

9. Try not just to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.

10. It is a glorious thing to be indifferent to suffering, but only to one's own. Suffering is the seed from which compassion grows. The salvation of the world is in man's suffering.

LESSON OF THE DAY 982

Ayahs of the Day:
And for those who turn away from idolatry, disdaining its worship, and turn to God, there is good news; so give My servants glad tidings! Those who listen to the teaching and follow what's best in it are those whom God has guided, and they are the sensible ones. Is that one against whom the sentence of punishment is justified? Would you, then, liberate someone in the fire? [39: 17,18,19]

Hadith of the Day:
Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should say the good or remain silent. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Try to gladden the hearts of believers in every possible way, as long as these ways are not sinful. [Imam al Haddad]

Guidance of the Day:
Make your lives an offering. It is within your ability to mark your lives your own destiny. Mark it for the highest good. How profound and pervasive are your quietest thoughts! As you realize their magnitude, you relinquish any notion of idleness. Those who have been shown a moment of vision of the inner mechanics of the mind bear a great responsibility. You hold within your hands the evolution and the destiny of all. Choose wisely. The ramifications of your choices are being made known to you more rapidly, now.

You must remain true to your most cherished principles in making application of the energies that you command. This is the greatest test of all. We beckon you to offer the world Light while remaining in its midst. Those who serve mankind in this way are strong and blessed, indeed. A life transformed is more precious than a life escaped. Whatever your path, tread it well. The truth that gives you life is for you in all places. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
The noble hearted one works for people and does not allow them to serve him. The ideal person is he who takes pleasure in serving others and who is ashamed when others do things for him, since showing compassion is a sign of superiority, while receiving it is a sign of failure.

Pearls of Wisdom....19

1. Mockery is the weapon of those who have no other, it is the first and last argument of fools, it is the language of the devil.

2. Scoff not at the natural defects of any which are not in their own power to amend. It is cruel to beat a cripple with his own crutches.

3. Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

4. No man has a right to do what he pleases, except when he pleases to do right.

5. Good manners are made up of petty sacrifices. It is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich.

6. Sarcasm is the language of the devil, it is jealousy in bold disguise, it is to leave a sting within a brother's heart.

7. A graceful taunt is worth a thousand insults.

8. To keep your secret is wisdom; but to expect others to keep it is folly.

9. Prudent, cautious self-control is wisdom's root. The best time for you to hold your tongue is the time you feel you must say something or bust.

10. Improvement of our way of life is more important than the spreading of it. If we make it satisfactory enough, it will spread automatically.

LESSON OF THE DAY 981

Ayahs of the Day:
Say, "It is God I serve with sincerity in my way of life: so worship whatever else you may." Say, " The losers are those who lose their own souls and their family on the day of resurrection. Oh, no! That is indeed the obvious loss!" They will have canopies of fire over them, and canopies under them too. That is how God frightens mortals: "O my slaves! Beware of Me!" [39: 13 to 16]

Hadith of the Day:
Whoever travels a path seeking (sacred) knowledge, Allah eases for them a path to Paradise. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Do not dispute anyone in any matter as far as possible. For in argumentation lies much harm and its evil is greater than its benefit. [Imam al Ghazali]

Guidance of the Day:
We can change our lives simply by changing the way we think! We do not need to go through the cumbersome and impossible work of fighting, struggling and attempting to manipulate the conditions in our lives. We need only to begin to think in new and more productive ways, and the conditions will----must-----reflect our way of thought. The principle seems hidden or secret because most people do not believe that thoughts are real, or that what we think has an effect on the way our lives work. If people really believed in the power of thought, our world would be a picture of harmony and perfection.

Choice is in our hands, as always it has been. We may hesitate to accept power, for we have been taught to believe that there is a world out there bigger and more powerful than who we are, but the irony of this view is that the world "out there" is who we are. Align your thoughts with the Truth, and all that is True will be attracted to you. Believe in illusion, and your life will be clouded with experiences that confirm lawlessness, only because you refuse to see reality in your original thought. Life blossoms for those who see the flowers in their experiences. We are free to draw to us the life of our own choosing. Indeed, all that we see is the offspring of chosen thoughts. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.

Pearls of Wisdom....18

1. Better to lose count while naming your blessings than to lose your blessings counting your troubles.

2. Mistakes are blessed lessons of wisdom. The past cannot be changed. The furture is yet in your power.

3. A reputation once broken may possibly be repaired, but the world will always keep their eyes on the spot where the crack was.

4. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

5. Responsibility educates. Responsibility is the price of greatness. The only way to get rid of the responponsibilities is to discharge them.

6. He who wishes to secure the good of others has already secured his own.

7. No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward of what he gives.

8. Let the motive be in the deed and not in the event. Be not one whose motive for action is the hope of reward.

9. No man, who continues to add something good to the material, intellectual and moral well-being of the place in which he lives, is left without proper reward.

10. The effects of our actions may be postponed but they are never lost. There is an inevitable reward for good deeds and an inescapable punishment for bad. Meditate upon this truth, and seek always to earn good wages from God.

LESSON OF THE DAY 980

Ayahs of the Day:
Say, "O devotees, believers! Be conscious of your Lord! For those who do good in this world is good. And God's earth is wide! Truly the patient will be rewarded, their recompense beyond account. Say, "I have been commanded to serve God with sincere devotion in my way of life; and I have been commanded to be first of those who acquiesce." [39: 10,11,12]

Hadith of the Day:
Whoever protects the honor of his brother in his absence, Allah protects his face from the fire on the Day of Judgment. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
O my people, prove the sincerity of your respect for the Quran by putting its teachings into practice, not by arguing about it. [Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani]

Guidance of the Day:
If you now have negative circumstances in your life, cease to dwell on them mentally, and they will leave you. The best way to get rid of an unwelcome guest who lingers at your home is to empty your refrigerator. He'll be forced to seek refuge elsewhere. When we stop feeding our bad habits and conditions with thought and feeling energy, they will drop off like and old scab. If we pull out the plug from an electromagnet, all of the scraps of junk metal that cling to it fall off instantly. Refuse to water a weed, and die it must. Negative circumstances cannot survive when we refuse to sustain them with emotional energy.

Simply put, we are undeniably responsible for our lives. We can create Heaven or hell for ourselves through our thoughts and our actions. Do not wait for the world to stop "socking it to you." Start generating as many positive thoughts as you can, and you will bear witness to miraculous changes in your life. Think love, success, and happiness, and sooner or later these blessings are sure to be yours. Concentrate on that which you would become, not that which you now believe you are, and you will enter a new realm of consciousness-----one of chosen good. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
By the time we hit fifty, we have learned our hardest lessons. We have found out that only a few things are really important. We learn that worrying doesn't solve any problems. Life offers many opportunities to differentiate between what is really important and what is simply an attempt to control circumstances that are beyond our control.

Pearls of Wisdom....17

1. Every quarrel begins in nothing and ends in a struggle for supremacy. In quarrelling the truth is always lost.

2. A long dispute means that both parties are wrong. When we quarrel, how we wish we had been blameless!

3. Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers. A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.

4. Mere connection with what is known as a superior race will not permanently carry an individual forward unless the individual has worth.

5. Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.

6. Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them all.

7. What is a man born for but to be a reformer, a remaker of what has been made, a denouncer of lies, a restorer of truth and good?

8.Regret for time wasted can become a power for good in the time that remains, if we will only stop the waste and the idle, useless regretting.

9. Of all acts of man, repentance is the most divine. The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none.

10. True repentance is to cease from sinning. Repentance is another name for aspiration.

LESSON OF THE DAY 979

Ayah of the Day:
Is this one who practices devotion at night time, prostrating himself and standing up, heedful of the end, and placing his hope in the mercy of his Lord? Say, "Are they equal, those who know and those who do not know?" Only those with reason take heed. [39: 9]

Hadith of the Day:
You cannot reach all people with your wealth, so let your smiling face and good character reach them. [Hakim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
One way to know ourselves is by comparison. We should not compare ourselves to other people, which would be comparing an unknown with an unknown. But we should compare our state, to what we are supposed to be, as God meant us to be. [Imam Birgivi]

Guidance of the Day:
We must take care to think and attract to ourselves only that which is in harmony with our highest aspirations. If we think on or pray for something that is a passing desire, we may be forced to face the object of our desire long after the thought that spawned it has faded into obsolescence. Be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it......you pray and pray and beseech God for a certain person or experience, and then when it comes to pass, you wish God wouldn't have listened to you!

There is no need to be concerned about stray thoughts of disaster or failure. They have no power unless we feed them with fear. We are thinking many, many thoughts per second and we are also catching the thoughts of those around us. Occasional thoughts of negativity or failure may creep into our consciousness, but if we "throw them off" before we indulge in them, they cannot harm us. It is thought habits that count. Continually dwelling on the same thoughts, feelings, and mental pictures begets conditions. Keep your thought pattern positive, and little negativities shall have no power to penetrate your established force field of positivity. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Generosity gives assistance, rather than advice. Our worth is determined by the good deeds we do, rather than by the fine emotions. When a person is down in the world, an ounce of help is better than a pound of preaching. Live and let live is not enough; live and help live is not too much.

Pearls of Wisdom....16

1. We tire of those pleasures we take, but never of those we give.

2. That man is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.

3. Knowledge is power. Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.

4. Pray as if everything depended on God, and work as if everything depended upon you.

5. The test of a preacher is that his congregation goes away saying, not "What a lovely sermon" but, "I will do something!"

6. When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudice and motivated with pride and vanity.

7. Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday. Putting off an easy thing makes it hard, and putting off a hard one makes it impossible.

8. Men are born with two eyes and two ears, but with one tongure, in order that they should see and hear twice as much as they say.

9. Punishment is justice for the unjust. It is expedient that a wicked man be punished as that a sick man be cured by a physician; for all chastisement is a kind of medicine.

10. Nothing endures but personal qualities. It is the quality of our work which will please God and not the quantity.

LESSON OF THE DAY 978

Ayah of the Day:
When trouble afflicts man, he calls to his Lord, turning repentant to God. Then when god bestows favors on man, he forgets who he called to before, imputing peers to God, deflecting from the way of God. Say, "Enjoy your ingratitude a bit; for you'll be among inmates of the fire." [39: 8]

Hadith of the Day:
Glad tidings to the one busied by his own faults from the faults of others. [Bazzaz]

Wise Quote of the Day:
If you want pleasure, delight, happiness, and ease in this world, make do what is licit. That is sufficient for your enjoyment. [Said Nursi]

Guidance of the Day:
We cannot be a "victim of circumstances," for it is none other than we who have brought about the circumstances in our lives upon which we would like to blame our unhappiness. We have attracted to us, for better or for worse, the conditions that were born of our very thoughts. The lessons of attraction demonstrate that our thoughts do make a difference in how our life turns out.

Where we are now is always a result of what we have thought, and where we will be, will be a result of what we think now. If we wish to find ourselves in a state of success, it will not be by accident; it will be only by our drawing success to us by thinking successful thoughts. By the same rule, we can condemn ourselves to failure by concentrating now on what is wrong. The way of conditions is prepared by ideas. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Every noble work is at first impossible. Every man is guilty of all good that he did not do. Every where in life, the true question is not what we gain, but what we do. A well-written life is almost as rare as a well-spent one.

Pearls of Wisdom....15

1. Patience is power; with time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes silk.

2. Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. Our patience will achieve more than our force.

3. To see what is right, and not do it, is want of courage, or of principle.

4. This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own imperfections and work on them.

5. All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare. One that desires to excel should endeavor in those things that are in themselves excellent.

6. There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose.

7. Consider the postage stamp; it secures success through its ability to stick to one thing till it gets there.

8. Personality is to a man what perfume is to a flower. Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.

9. Compassion is the only one of the human emotions the Lord permitted Himself and it has carried the divine flavor ever since.

10. Pity is not natural to man, it is acquired and improved by the cultivation of reason. We may have uneasy sensations from seeing a creature in distress, without pity; but we have not pity unless we wish to relieve him.

LESSON OF THE DAY 977

Ayahs of the Day:
If you disbelieve, God is independent of you, yet He does not prefer disbelief in servants. And if you are grateful, God prefers that for you. And no one who takes responsibility can bear the burden of another. And then you will return to God, who will tell you what you were doing, for God knows what is in hearts. [39: 7]

Hadith of the Day:
Whoever withholds his anger, Allah will withhold His punishment from him. [Tabarani]

Wise Quote of the Day:
We are nothing if we believe in nothing. We are everything if we follow our true nature and place our trust in God. [John Ahmad Herlihy]

Guidance of the Day:
Circumstances are the conditions that stand around us, magnetized to us by the central core of our thought-forms. Change the thoughts at the center of the magnetic field, and you change the conditions that stand around you. This ability to draw conditions to us has tremendous practical applications. It means that we can use our thoughts to make our life. It means that we can really change for the better.It means that things no longer hold power over us, for we realize that they are just the expression of our thoughts, and nothing more.

Harmonious living tells of harmonious thinking. A turbulent life reveals some kind of inner turmoil or lack of resolution. We may believe that we are positive, settled people, but if we notice troubles or conflicts in our outer conditions, we must look within to see what inner negativity is bubbling, or bubbled at some earlier time. If you want to know what's in your subconscious, you don't have to go to a psychiatrist or a psychic. Just look at the condition of your bedroom, your car, your house, your health, and your relationships. They are photographs of your subconscious. Outer events are simply the skin and bones of inner thoughts, and to really take control of our lives, we must treat them as one. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Happiness is not a check cashed, a car bought, or oil pumped. Happiness is the solace that is derived from living upon the truth, a peace of mind that is achieved by living according to sound principles, and calmness that is brought about by living a life of goodness.

Pearls of Wisdom....14

1. Moderation is the inseparable companion of wisdom, but with it genius has not even a nodding acquaintance.

2. He will always be a slave who does not know how to live upon a little.

3. Modesty is not only an ornament, but also a guard to virtue, it is the conscience of the body.

4. Deeds, not the stones, are the true monuments of the great.

5. Man must go back to nature for information, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we only will tune in.

6. A little neglect may breed great mischief. He that thinks he can afford to be negligent is not far from being poor.

7. Every man who observes vigilantly and resolves steadfastly grows unconsciously into genius.

8. He that never changes his opinions, never corrects his mistakes, and will never be wiser on the morrow than he is today.

9. Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good; try to use ordinary situations. A wise man will make opportunities than he finds.

10. Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. Our patience will achieve more than our force.

LESSON OF THE DAY 976

Ayah of the Day:
God created you from one soul, then made its mate from it; and sent you livestock, eight in pairs. God creates you inside your mothers, in successive formations, in three darknesses. That is God for you, your Lord, to whom belongs the dominion. There is no other God; so how are you diverted? [39: 6]

Hadith of the Day:
Do not insult the dead, for they have moved onto what they sent forth. [Bukhari]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Easy it is to boast of Love,
But other is the proof thereof. [Mawlana Rumi]

Guidance of the Day:
We attract to us that which we think. If we think and see goodness and prosperity, they shall come to us. If we dwell upon negativity and suffering, that is what we will find. As you sow, so shall you reap. cast your bread upon the water and it shall return to you. Every thought is like a prayer. Each thought that we think is like an order that we place with God, Who is prepared to give us all that we ask for in the form of our thoughts.

The more we dwell on any thought, the more likely we are to see that thought manifested in our experience. We can make this principle work for us by focusing our minds on the thoughts that we would like to see turn into events and experiences. Once the laws are clear to us, we can see that "random" or "accidental" events are actually the result of a very intelligently designed system of justified relationships. What we think is what we get. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
If the battery is not connected to the motor the car will not start. It is the same for us; if we are not connected to our Source, we cannot make our true journey. Start your life. Connect with the Source and begin the journey of love. If your actions are full of love for God, then you will do everything well.

Pearls of Wisdom....13

1. War destroys men, but luxury destroys mankind; at once corrupts the body and the mind.

2. Luxury may possibly contribute to give bread to the poor; but if there were no luxury, there would be no poor.

3. We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities.

4. A simple and unassuming manner of life is best for every one, best for both the body and the mind.

5. The liar's punishment is not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone.

6. Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle that fits them all.

7. A man's own good breeding is the best security against other people's ill manners.

8. Marriage is that relationship between man and woman in which the independence is equal, the dependence mutual, and the obligation reciprocal.

9. The mind is like the stomach. It is not how much you put into it that counts, but how much it digests. Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.

10. Life is not a static thing. The only people who do not change their minds are incompetents in asylums, who can't, and those in cemeteries.

LESSON OF THE DAY 975

Ayahs of the Day:
If God wanted to have a son, God could have chosen from creation at will. Glory to God! It is God the One, the Omnipotent, who created the skies and the earth fittingly, wrapping the night over the day and wrapping the day over the night, compelling the sun and the moon, each coursing for a definite term. Is this God not the epitome of power and forgiveness? [39: 4,5]

Hadith of the Day:
Beware of suspicion, for suspicion is the most false of speech. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Islam is an Organic whole and cannot be partitioned. Giving up part of it is abandoning it all. [Fathi Yakun]

Guidance of the Day:
You have been endowed with a great and marvelous gift. Your thoughts are the key to your freedom. You who would reclaim your Divine Inheritance must do so through your thoughts, for it is only in thought that you have strayed from the path, and only through thought that you regain it. The power to change the destiny of humankind is in your hands. There is no nobler charge that is given you than that of the salvation of the world. And there is no lesser task that is worthy of your participation.

Attune your consciousness with the Good, the Beautiful, and the True. Be a light to your sisters and brothers. Your love is more powerful than any negation. Your faith can overcome all doubts. Your divinity will awaken itself in your brethren. You will certainly beautify the world, for those who know the miracle of thought know the secret of blessing. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
The heart does not feel deserted except when it disobeys its Lord. The doer of good is always at peace and the sinner is always wary and suspicious of what goes on around him. Performing virtuous deeds is the crown on the head of a happy life.