LESSON OF THE DAY 1025

Ayahs of the Day:
Man never tires of asking for good, but if misfortune afflicts him he gives up hope, despairing. Even if We let him taste mercy from Us after the hardships that have afflicted him, he is sure to say, "This is my due, and I don't think the end of time is ever going to occur. And even if I'm returned to my Lord, there will surely be a happy ending for me there. But We will tell the scoffers what they did, and will have them taste a terrible torment. [41: 49,50]

Hadith of the Day:
Someone who strives on behalf of widows and the poor is like someone who fights in the way of Allah, and like someone who continually stands at night in prayer and like someone who continually fasts. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
He who is hungry arrives and he who is satiated is cut off. He who remembers (God) is moved to meditate, while he who forgets is himself forgotten. [Shaykh Abu Madyan]

Guidance of the Day:
The will of God is the most wonderful thing that could ever happen to anyone. It is not to be feared, but embraced. If we begin to think about the things in our lives that we were resisting, one by one if we analyze them, we will see that the plan for our evolution was one of great Love and Beauty. In fighting the Will of God, we are really fighting our own best interest.

Life is supposed to go right. Prayers are supposed to be answered and miracles are supposed to happen. The most amazing thing would be if miracles didn't happen. God is real and His love is true. There is no need for things to go wrong. If we are living in the flow of God, things go right. Mishaps occur only when we step out of flow, and healing is natural when we once again find it. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Lord make me a channel of thy peace
That where there is doubt I may bring faith,
That where there is despair I may bring hope,
That where there are shadows I may bring thy light,
That where there is sadness I may bring joy.

Pearls of Wisdom....62

1. Do not look back in anger,or forward in fear, but around in awareness.

2. The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor. The one who kneels to God can stand up to anything.

3. The wise parent realizes that everyday the building blocks are being laid for the child's future. Let's be wise builders and role models.

4. Making a "living" is not the same as making a "life." Life is about people connecting with people, and making a positive difference.

5. If you pursue happiness, it will elude you. But, if you focus on your family, your friends, the needs of others, your work and doing the very best you can, happiness will find you.

6. Life is for living, caring, hoping, and sharing with the people we love. Sometimes those lives are very short.

7. There is no such thing as a self-made man. You will reach your goals only with the help of others.

8. "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." We have committed the Golden Rule to memory, now let us commit it to life.

9. It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.

10. There is only one thing more painful than learning from experience and that is not learning from experience.

LESSON OF THE DAY 1024

Ayahs of the Day:
If anyone acts with integrity, that is for the benefit of his own soul; and if anyone does evil, that is to its own detriment. And your Lord never treats servants unjustly. Knowledge of the end time is reserved for God; and not a fruit comes forth from its calyx, and no female conceives or gives birth, but by God's knowledge. And the day they are summoned-----"Where are My supposed partners?"-----they will say, "We declare to You that none of us are witnesses." And what they used to pray to before will have forsaken them, and they will think there's no refuge for them. [41: 46,47,48]

Hadith of the Day:
Paradise is closer to one of you than his own shoe lace. And the Fire is like that. [Bukhari]

Wise Quote of the Day:
The sign that an act meets with the pleasure of the Lord is the ease of its cause and its means, and the beneficence of its effect. No action is proposed to a created being by its Lord which is not within its power. [Imam Birgivi]

Guidance of the Day:
You who would find your place and your purpose under Heaven, accept your goodness in His eyes. See the perfection of all things, and know that all in creation has a right and good purpose. There must be balance-------hold love in one hand and wisdom in the other, and so you have the tools with which to build a new age.

Your work is that of attunement. You can no longer depend on your form and imitation for your livelihood, for these would only serve to weaken you. In meekness there is mastery. This great truth was the cornerstone of the ancients, but ignorance of it is the fault of the present civilization. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Lord, make me a channel of thy peace
That where there is hatred I may bring love,
That where there is wrong I may bring the spirit of forgiveness,
That where there is discord I may bring harmony,
That where there is error I may bring truth.

Pearls of Wisdom....61

1. We do have power-------not to change or control others, but to solve the problems that are ours to solve.

2. Don't use your lot in life as a parking lot, cultivate it. Our best preparation for tomorrow is the proper use of today.

3. Invite change in your life, wonderful surprises await you. Make every day a new beginning.

4. Plan your future (for the next world) carefully; you are going to spend the rest of your life their.

5. Carve your name on the hearts and not on marble. A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots are withered.

6. A sure cure for arrogance, and heedlessness is a visit to the cemetery, everyone gets equal billing.

7. A person who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful.

8. Kindness can build on itself as much as violence can. The great acts of kindness are done by those who are habitually performing small acts of kindness.

9. One of these days is none of these days. Don't wait to do the things you know need to be done. Take the time to do what you need to do and do it now!

10. To be yourself, to use your own God given talent, and to stand up for what is right even in the midst of uncertainty, pain, fear, and persecution is the only true way to live.

LESSON OF THE DAY 1023

Ayahs of the Day:
Nothing is said to you but what was said to the messengers before you: your Lord has forgiveness and painful punishment too. Yet if We had made it a foreign recital, they surely would have said, "Why haven't it's verses been organized logically? Eh? Non-Arabic and an Arab?" Say, "It is for those who believe, for guidance, and a medicine. " As for those who don't believe, there is deafness in their ears, and it is blindness to them. They are called from a far away place. [41: 43,44]

Hadith of the Day:
If the believer knew what Allah has with Him of punishment, no one would ever hope to achieve His Paradise. And if a disbeliever knew what Allah has with Him of mercy, no one would ever despair of achieving His Paradise. [Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
A person who discourses on religion without remembering that he will be questioned by God on what he says knows the value of neither religion nor his own mind. [Imam Abu Hanifa]

Guidance of the Day:
There is no such thing as falling outside of God, for this would mean that there is somewhere that God is not. The only place we can fall is in consciousness, and as soon as we rise back into God-consciousness, we see that He was with us always; we were just not looking at Him.

There are lessons, in fact, to be learned in every place. The mark of spiritual mastery is the ability to remember God wherever we go, and through whatever we experience. We are living in a world of permanent change. Everything changes, and the more firmly we have this understanding imbedded in our consciousness, the easier it is to remember God as we go through all of the transformations that are necessary for our total evolution. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore. As soon as there is life, there is danger. He that is not in the war is not out of danger. One never finds anything perfectly pure and.....exempt from danger. Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid.

Pearls of Wisdom....60

1. A promise made is a debt unpaid.

2. In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us.

3. People who give freely to others get back more than they give.

4. What we do today, right now, will have an accumulated effect on all our tomorrows.

5. A mirror reflects a person's face, but what a person is really like is shown by the kind of friends they choose.

6. Anyone willing to be corrected is on the pathway to life. Anyone refusing has lost his chance.

7. We are each in our present circumstances for a reason. There is a lesson, a valuable lesson, that must be learned before we can move forward.

8. We can trust that when things don't work out the way we want, God has something planned.

9. It's okay to be angry, but it isn't healthy to be resentful. We can learn to deal with our anger in ways that are healthy for us and for those around us.

10. Faith is like a muscle. It must be exercised to grow strong. Repeated experiences of having to trust what we can't see and repeated experiences of learning to trust that things will work out, are what makes our faith muscles grow strong.

LESSON OF THE DAY 1022

Ayahs of the Day:
Those who despise Our signs are not concealed from Us: is the one cast into the fire better, or the one who arrives safely on the day of resurrection? Do what you will------God sees what you do, including those who scoff at the Reminder when it comes to them, since it is a mighty Book indeed; falsehood cannot reach it, from before it or behind it, as it is a revelation from One most wise, most praiseworthy. [41: 40,41,42]

Hadith of the Day:
Allah said: "Whoever comes close to Me by the span of a hand, I come closer to Him by a cubit. And whoever comes closer to Me by a cubit, I come closer to him by an arms length. And if he walks toward Me, I rush toward him. [Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
It is a mark of sainthood to show compassion to all God's servants, to be pitiful towards them, and to fight for them, and with them, against the forces of evil. [Imam Ghazali]

Guidance of the Day:
The greatness that you are promised is not the grandeur that you have been taught to value by the world. The guide offers you the Kingdom of Heaven, which is already yours, though you remember it only faintly. The world offers you itself, which you know well, but not well enough to know that its end is emptiness.

We show you the end of your strivings. Your attempts to find a resting place in the world has come to naught. This you can now see, and you are nearly ready to admit. Your growing inclination to turn about to your Father's House is the yearning which will surely bring you Peace. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
If you don't change you don't grow. If you don't grow, you aren't really living. You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you. Escape from the cage you have built around yourself. Look inward for the answer and make the necessary changes in your life to find your freedom.

Pearls of Wisdom....59

1. When your faith and trust in God is total, and when prayer plays an essential role in your life, peace and clarity come into your thinking.

2. To have inner peace we need to learn to see the value of forgiveness. Unforgiving thoughts do not really bring us the peace of mind that we inwardly seek.

3. Those who are helping others and are concerned about the larger issues seem happier, more content than those who are just seeking their own selfish pleasures.

4. Who we are does not depend on what others think, but on the values and thoughts we have about ourselves.

5. Things change, not because we are controlling others, but because we change. Each day is an opportunity for growth and renewal.

6. Prayer is the real action in the full sense of the word, because prayer is the only thing that changes one's character. A change in character, or a change in soul, is a real change.

7. Force gratitude until it becomes habitual. Gratitude is the alchemy that turns problems into blessings, and the unexpected into gifts.

8. Our past is a series of lessons that advance us to higher levels of living and loving.

9. One of the greatest gifts we can give is an open, loving heart. And holding on to negative feelings from past relationships is our greatest barrier to that gift.

10. We need to teach the children to make it a better world. We need to teach truth, honesty, kindness, tolerance, humility, and the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

LESSON OF THE DAY 1021

Ayah of the Day:
Among the signs of God is that you see the earth faded away, then We shower water on it, and it stirs and grows: the one who enlivens it is the One who gives life to the dead, having power over all things. [41: 39]

Hadith of the Day:
By Allah, Allah has more joy due to the repentance of His servant than one of you has when he finds his lost provisions in an open land. [Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
As you recollect all that God has granted you which you have desired for yourself, so you should endure patiently with God in that through which God desires to try you. [Ibn Ata'Allah]

Guidance of the Day:
Adapting, adjusting, and accommodating are qualities that we in western culture sometimes have a hard time understanding or putting into action. There is a great respect for working with the seasons, never against them. Life in the flow does not guarantee any recipes; there are no cut and dried, pre-packaged rules of thumb. Sometimes the answer is in one principle; sometimes it is the opposite.

Each challenge requires a unique solution. We have to feel our way through life. We must be flexible enough to know what needs to be done in the moment, even if it was not needed to be done a moment ago. If we have faith that God is guiding us, He will lead us to where we can serve in our own way-----which is His own way. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
We are rich only through what we give and poor only through what we refuse. A cheerful giver does not count the cost of what he gives. His heart is set on pleasing and cheering him to whom the gift is given.

Pearls of Wisdom....58

1. The main reason people get angry is because they are filled with themselves, their egos get in the way.

2. One can control anger by recognizing that nothing takes place without God's leave; there is no power or might except God.

3. If your actions hold you back, your lineage will not speed you up.

4. To speak about death is to speak about the urgency to live a faithful and wholesome life before death over takes.

5. The often remembrance of death gives one energy to achieve good deeds, and engenders seeking repentance right away when one slips or errs.

6. Laughter and amusement at the expense of the dignity of others is wholly inappropriate.

7. Never mock any creature of God, for it might be beloved to He who created it.

8. Those who mock people in this life shall be mocked in the Hereafter, for it is a Divine law that God recompenses people with the like of what they have done.

9. It is easy to say something that brings ruins upon its speaker. Learning how to control the tongue is an enormous discipline.

10. Time is a gift that God has given us, and what we do with it is the most important challenge. Once we realize we are accountable for our time, then every minute becomes vital.

LESSON OF THE DAY 1020

Ayahs of the Day:
If any evil suggestion from Satan should be suggested to you, then take refuge in God, for God is the all-hearing, the all-knowing. Among the signs of God are the night and the day, and the sun and the moon. Don't bow to the sun or to the moon, but bow to God, who created them, if that is who you worship and serve. Even if others are too arrogant for it, those who are in the presence of your Lord bow to God night and day, and they never weary. [41: 36,37,38]

Hadith of the Day:
Supplicate Allah while you are certain of a response, and know that Allah does not respond to a supplication from a heart that is heedless and inattentive. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Aspirations of this world are the cause of all concern. Aspire to God and obtain freedom. [Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani]

Guidance of the Day:
If we can just let go and trust in the process of our advancement, we can appreciate the miracle of the flow of life. If, during our turbulent periods, we keep ourselves dynamically balanced like a skilled surfer, the waves of our experience will guide us smoothly to the shore. We may fear that the waves will drown us, but it is actually the waves that move us.

Yielding is more powerful than the resistant is a fact known by all and practiced by none. To change one's mind or humble one's self is considered by many to be a sign of weakness, although the most humble among men are the most exalted. We are taught to subjugate, manhandle, and mold the world to conform to our expectations. But power is a word that very few people understand. The power that we gain in the world is like a bubble on the ocean of God. Sooner or later it pops and we once again find ourselves to be the ocean. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
It is not faith and works; it is not faith or works; it is faith that works. He who is small in faith will never be great in anything but failure. Faith is the heart of the mind. Faith is the wire that connects you to grace, and over which grace comes streaming from God.

Pearls of Wisdom....57

1. Our knowledge is wasted by not acting upon it.

2. Our actions are wasted by committing them without sincerity.

3. Our wealth is wasted for being spent on that which will not bring us any reward,

4. Our hearts are wasted for being empty of the love of Allah Most High, and empty of longing to go to Him, and empty of peace and contentment.

5. Our bodies are wasted for not being used mainly for Ibadah and service of Allah Most High.

6. Our love is wasted for being directed towards something or someone and not towards Allah Most High.

7. Our dhikr (remembrance of Allah Most High) is wasted for our hearts and lives not being effected by it.

8. Our time is wasted for not being used properly--------to compensate for that which has passed, by doing what is righteous to make up for the past deeds.

9. Our intellect is wasted for being used for things that are not beneficial, instead of in contemplation or reflection.

10. Our service is wasted for being at the service of someone who will not bring us close to Allah Most High. [Ibn Qayyim al Jawziya]

LESSON OF THE DAY 1019

Ayahs of the Day:
Who is more eloquent than one who invites to God and acts with integrity, saying, "I am one of those who acquiesce to God"? For good and evil are not equal: promote what is better, and then one between you and whom there was enmity will be as a friend, a relative. But no one will be offered that but those who have been constant; and no one will be offered that but one of great good fortune. [41: 33,34,35]

Hadith of the Day:
Three things follow the deceased (to his grave), two of them return and one remains with him; His family, wealth, and deeds follow him while his family and wealth return and only his deeds remain with him. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Don't be self-satisfied with fulfilling only the acts of worship that God has made obligatory for you. Rather, give rise to love by committing yourself to interacting with God in everything you do beyond obligatory acts of worship. [Ibn Ata'Allah]

Guidance of the Day:
There is a freedom that befalls you who are willing to trust in God. You once attempted to gain security, power, and life through fearful clinging, yet to what avail? Your observances of those in your midst who are at peace with themselves has revealed that sharing is the very source of joy.

Because the values of the world are founded on distorted perception, you have taught to believe that accumulation is success. Fulfillment cannot be found in things, but only in selfless sharing. Your happiness is completely dependent on your confidence in God's ability to give you that which you cannot give yourself. Release the goals that you have made for yourself and allow them to be replaced by the Goal that God has always had for you. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought. As is our confidence, so is our capacity. The more we do, the more we can do; the more busy we are, the more leisure we have. To every disadvantage there is a corresponding advantage.

Pearls of Wisdom....56

1. Watch yourself about complaining. What you are supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it. Don't complain.

2. The true meaning of life is to plant a tree under whose shade you do not expect to sit.

3. Life is a movement, activity, striving, fighting against baser things. We have too much to do, too little time.

4. Not a day passes which does not say, "so be careful of what you do during my stay." When the day has passed, it is folded up and sealed.

5. You don't get to choose how you are going to die or when. You can only decide how you are going to live now. A person without a goal is like a ship without a rudder which runs on the mercy of wind and waves.

6. We do things which make us feel good but self-care also means not doing certain things that make us feel bad.

7. Each of us can make a difference. We can each choose to live a life in which we can say, when we die, that the world is a better place for our having been here. Our goal should be to live and not just to survive.

8. We are our own teachers and disciplinarian. Through practice we learn to surrender ourselves to good.

9. Loving and forgiving is what life is all about. It is something to do, not something to try to do.

10. People may seem to be perfectly impossible. They may seem to be mean and small and sly. But if we will take ten paces to the left and look again with the light falling at a different angle, very likely we will see that they are generally generous and warm and kind. It all depends on the point from which we are seeing them.

LESSON OF THE DAY 1018

Ayahs of the Day:
As for those who say 'Our Lord is God' and are upright, the angels will descend on them: "Do not fear, but rejoice in the garden that you have been promised. We are your helpers in the life of the world and in the hereafter, where you will have whatever your souls desire, and you will have whatever you ask for, as hospitality from One most forgiving, most merciful. [41: 30,31,32]

Hadith of the Day:
Verily, those who have the most (wealth) will be the ones with least of the Day of Resurrection, except for the one who says, "This is for that, this is for that, and this is for that, (in other words, he gives the wealth away for good causes). [Bukhari]

Wise Quote of the Day:
A reward is not a payment but a gift, a sign of Allah's generosity. Punishment is not a necessity, but a manifestation of justice. Allah is not obliged either to reward or to punish His creation,, which has no right to demand anything from Him. [Imam Birgivi]

Guidance of the Day:
When I leave this world, I do not want to be bound to anything--------not to any object, any person, any philosophy, any unfulfilled desire. I want to head straight for the Light, with no delays on the local track. My prayer is to drop all my luggage and to leave my arms free to embrace God and God alone. I don't want to have to come back for anything, unless I am to serve. I have never found any real or lasting pleasure in any physical object or person. Ironically, the more I have given up attachments to things and people, the more I am able to love and enjoy them.

As long as we see God, Peace, or Consciousness as outside of ourselves, we shall never know Him completely. The moment we find God within, our searching comes to an end, for we realize that He has been within us all along, and ever shall there remain. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Nothing more detestable does the earth produce than an ungrateful man. A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.

Pearls of Wisdom....55

1. Knowledge is the only instrument of production that is not subject to diminishing returns.

2. It's not our position but our disposition that makes us happy.

3. A discussion seeks what is right; and an argument seeks who is right.

4. Proud people end in shame, but the meek become wise------Be humble, take advice, and become wise.

5. The test of generosity is not how much you give, but how much you have left.

6. You should always look at the level of hardship you are bearing and appreciate that things could have been worse.

7. Everything happens according to a Divine decree, and in the deaths of others are morals and lessons.

8. We are successful to the degree that we are dutiful to Allah, and after that how we interact with His slaves-------We need to deal with others as we would have them deal with us.

9. Contentment enhances our spiritual life. When we feel genuinely contented with our life, we will be able to solve any problem more easily and efficiently than we ever thought possible.

10. We don't always have power over other people and events, but we do have tremendous power to feel happy and contented with our life.

LESSON OF THE DAY 1017

Ayahs of the Day:
"And you could not hide from your hearing, your seeing, and your skins testifying against you, but you supposed that God does not know much of what you do. But this supposition of yours about your Lord has brought you to the destruction, so you have become losers." So if they wait, the fire will be their abode; and if they apologize, they will not be pardoned. [41: 22,23,24]

Hadith of the Day:
Verily for every nation there is a trial. And the trial of my nation is wealth! [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
The sign of the love and attachment to Allah Most High is to follow Muhammad, the Beloved of Allah (peace and blessings upon him), in one's morals, character, behavior, state, and actions. [Dhul-Nun al-Misri]

Guidance of the Day:
When we surrender all to God, we are not failing, or being weak, or losing anything. To the contrary, we are making ourselves available to be filled with all the Love that we ever wanted. We eventually see that it is not the things that we must let go of, but our attachment to them. We can remove ourselves from things, but if we keep mental ties to them, we might as well be with them; in fact, we would probably do better to be with them, for then we could learn to let them go.

Attachment takes the form of thoughts of "mine." A mine is something that blows up when you step on it. All of our troubles are in the mind. That is where our problems start and that is where they end. There are no physical chains binding us to anything; the chains are forged in our minds and the lock is fastened with the thoughts. The key to freedom is in the thoughts, as well. If a thought can bind, a thought can free. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
A rich man without charity is a rogue; and perhaps it would be no difficult matter to prove that he is also a fool. True virtue has no limits, but goes on and on, and especially holy charity, which is the virtue of virtues, and which, being an infinite object, would become infinite if it could meet with a heart capable of infinity.

Pearls of Wisdom....54

1. Whether you have a little or a lot, learn to be thankful.

2. Deeds of charity protect one from the vicissitudes of life.

3. Your value is determined by your faith and character.

4. The happy family is replete with love, contentment, and fear of Allah.

5. To speak in a friendly tone breeds understanding with everyone.

6. Minor and trifling matters are the causes of most domestic problems.

7. An obsession for revenge and unforgivenss is poison that flows through the diseased soul.

8. The seeker of revenge will always feel more pain and misery than the object of his revenge because he has lost both peace and serenity.

9. Who is the one who has never erred? And who is the possessor of pure good?

10. When the believer is overcome by misfortune, only by repenting can he truly find a way out of his difficulties.

LESSON OF THE DAY 1016

Ayahs of the Day:
The day the opponents of God will be herded into the fire, they will be driven along until when they get there their hearing and their seeing and their skins will testify against them about what they used to do. And they will say to their skins, "Why did you testify against us?" They will say, "God has made us speak; God, who has made all things speak, who created you the first time, and to whom you will be returned.[41: 19,20, 21]

Hadith of the Day:
Take advantage of five before (another) five: your life before your death, your health before your illness, your free time before your preoccupation, your youth before your old age, and your wealth before your poverty. [Ahmad & Bayhaqi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Demand not that the shaykh grant you a special place in his thoughts. Rather, require yourselves to grant him a special place in your thoughts. For, to the degree that you revere the shaykh, he will revere you. [Shaykh Abul Abbas al Mursi]

Guidance of the Day:
We fight life only because we do not perceive our own best interests. It is rare that we can know any particular experience will fit into the whole plan of good in our lives. Often there is difference between what we think is good for us, and what God knows is good for us. God means everything for good. This is difficult to see from a limited point of view, but easy and natural to see from grandest point of view.

It is said that "Prayer is the contemplation of the facts of life from the highest point of view." When we look at our experience through Divine eyes, we can see the essence of goodness in all experiences, and letting go is no longer a trial to be feared, but to be embraced as an opportunity to be fulfilled in with something wonderful. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
It is in giving that we receive
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned
It is in surrendering that we are born a new.

Pearls of Wisdom....53

1. Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything, except what you must be doing now, and do it.

2. There are always options when you have an open mind, make your life consistent in action and word.

3. Anything less than a conscious commitment to the important is an unconscious commitment to the unimportant.

4. You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. Give what you wish to receive.

5. Get involved and make your life meaningful. You don't want to miss the chance to perform a good deed or share love with another living thing.

6. We learn much from the disagreeable things people say, for they make us think, whereas the good things only make us glad.

7. That which we are, we are, and if we are ever to be any better, now is the time to begin. Every man must live with the man he makes of himself.

8. Snowflakes are one of the nature's fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together.

9. People who act in spite of their fear are truly great. First decide what you want to do, and then have the courage to start toward the goal, no matter how impossible.

10. No one can create anger or stress within you. Only you can do that by virtue of how you process your world. Be the cure. Don't look outside for it.

LESSON OF THE DAY 1015

Ayahs of the Day:
A revelation from the Benevolent, the Merciful; a Book whose verses are logically ordered in and Arabic recitation for people who know, a herald and a warning: but most of them turn away, not listening. [41: 2,3,4]

Hadith of the Day:
There are two bounties that many people lose (by not taking full advantage of them): health and free time. [Bukhari]

Wise Quote of the Day:
The man who piles up wealth and is puffed up with this world's goods, despising those otherwise endowed, will come to an evil end, for his hopes were not built on Allah. [Abdullah Yusuf Ali]

Guidance of the Day:
When we cling to someone in resentment, we bind ourselves to him or her by our thoughts and memories. The river of life would have us flow to the ocean, but we would cling to the rock upon which we dashed our foot. We cannot change the events in the past, but we can always change the way we look at those events.

Those who seemed to bring us pain and hardship were our teachers who presented us with challenges which helped us to grow into greater personal strength. When we realize that the problem was not in them, but in the way we were looking at them, we free ourselves as well as them. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
When the fight begins within himself, a man's worth something. There is little that can withstand a man who can conquer himself. The man who masters his own soul will forever be called conqueror of conquerors.

Pearls of Wisdom....52

1. Do not fear physical illness. Sometimes it is the greatest of teachers.

2. Serenity is found when we stop judging others.

3. If you look through the window of blame, you will never find peace.

4. There is no way to peace; Peace is the way.

5. It's choice-----not chance-----that determines our destiny. We have a choice what to add to our personal universe. We need to choose wisely.

6. When we increase or alter the quantity of meaningful information, beliefs, and activities in our life, rather than the objects, we change the quality of our life for better.

7. Your birth may be an uncontrollable event, but you do have the ability to determine how you spend you life. You are the only one who can serve your sentence and determine whether your life will be spent in a prison or a playground.

8. How you relate to others determines a great deal about the quality of your life. Give yourself a long, healthy life by giving to others and developing healing relationships.

9. Life is precious and time is a key element. Let's make every moment count.

10. Living in a body means we are living in time. If we are to accomplish anything with these bodies we are gifted with, we must use our time wisely.

LESSON OF THE DAY 1014

Ayahs of the Day:
When their messengers came to them with clear proofs, they were happy with what science they already had, even as they were surrounded by what they had been ridiculing. Then when they saw Our force, they said, "We believe in God as One, and we reject what we used to associate with God." But their belief on seeing Our force did not profit them, according to the custom of God already in effect among mortals. And here the scoffers were lost. [40: 83,84,85]

Hadith of the Day:
When you stand for your prayer, perform a farewell prayer (as if there is to be no prayer after it). [Ahmad & Ibn Maja]

Wise Quote of the Day:
The heart has no more than one aspect (at a time), such that when it is occupied with (a particular aspect), it is veiled from another. So take care that you are not drawn toward anything but God, lest He deprive you of the delights of intimate converse with Him. [Shaykh Abu Madyan]

Guidance of the Day:
If we enjoyed something in such a way that we feel sorrow for its absence, we enjoyed it in the wrong way. We enjoyed the mortal, changing element of the person or the thing, and that element can never bring peace. Only when we enjoy the eternal, Godly, inner aspect of and experience can it bring us real happiness. When we look back on the experiences that we cherished, we should feel no sense of loss whatsoever, for those were the experiences that made visible to us the Light that is within us now. The Light was there then, It is here now, and It will be here tomorrow.

It is not the person or the experience that counts, it is the spirit that is precious, and spirit is present in all experiences. People and events are like teacups-----vessels-----through which God gives us love and loving lessons. Though teacups may fade, crack, or be lost, the God that gave them to us in the first place is always present, with an endless supply of new vessels in His Divine pantry. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
We learn to do something by doing it. There is no other way. We can do anything if we put our focus on how to do it rather than on why we can't.

Pearls of Wisdom....51

1. Stop criticizing, and just be the person you wish everyone else to be.

2. Right beliefs are one thing, but right actions are everything.

3. Think of life as an exercise program. The more flexible you become and the more you work things out, the stronger you will become.

4. We are disturbed not by things, but the view which we take of them.

5. Life needs to be appreciated more than it needs to be understood.

6. We are free up to the point of choice, and then the choice controls the chooser.

7. Those who keep themselves and their minds focused on what is good, positive, true, and solid will gain wisdom.

8. Be sympathetic in your words and actions, you never know when you may need some sympathy yourself.

9. Deafness is darker by far than blindness. We hear a great deal, but do we listen to what we hear.

10. When you cannot let go of bitterness, resentment, and aggravation over whatever has happened, then you allow it to continue to damage your own life.

LESSON OF THE DAY 1013

Ayah of the Day:
Haven't they traveled the earth and seen how those before them ended up? They have been more numerous than these, and more powerful in strength and in their effects on the earth, but what they had achieved did not profit them. [40: 82]

Hadith of the Day:
Remember the destroyer of pleasures-----death-----often. Verily, no one remembers it during straitened times in his life except that it makes the matter easier upon him. And no one remembers it during ease except that it makes the matter tighter upon him. [Bayhaqi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Don't just grow up, grow better with time and grow more experienced with age, keep being passionate about whatever you do, keep trying new things. Keep patient and keep trying your best. The path to God is straight through wilfull surrender to God. [Dawud Wharnsby Ali]

Guidance of the Day:
You must make yourself an empty cup in order to learn. One who thinks that he already knows, cannot be taught anything. Put in other words, it is only when we stop trying to hold onto the past that we are able to fully accept the blessings that the present can offer us. Clinging (in reminiscence or bitterness) to a thought or an experience is the same as clutching to a person or a thing. It takes us out of our here-and-now center and detracts from our experience of fullness of this moment.

Too often we hold onto memories of "The Good Old Day," when we were "really happy," and when things went just right. If they were really good, then we would not feel pain in missing them now, for what is good is liberating, and if we are bound to the experience, it certainly did not liberate us very much. The real good old days were those which showed us that we are free to live fully in any moment, including----and especially----now. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
What time is it?
Time to do well,
Time to live better,
Give up that grudge,
Answer that letter,
Speak the kind word to sweeten a sorrow,
Do that kind deed you would leave 'till tomorrow.

Pearls of Wisdom....50

1. Don't dose off in the middle of your life; keep focused on what is truly important.

2. It is easy to sit up and take notice; what is difficult is getting up and taking action. Be willing to take an action/a stand for something you believe in.

3. Do not avoid guilt feelings; they are a sign of your mental health. Listen to them and follow their guidance.

4. Never mind day light saving time; institute life-saving time now.

5. Even when you think someone is beyond communication, don't give up. There is always a way to share love.

6. Mistakes can be good teachers. The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.

7. It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little-----do what you can.

8. No one can force you to be happy if you would rather whine and complain. As you play the game of life, remember that it's your attitude and choices that determine the outcome.

9. In movement there is life, and in change there is power. Those who remain open to new ideas and experiences are sending "live messages" to their own body, spirit and to people around them.

10. May be we should take a lesson from the angels. We are told that angels can fly because they take themselves lightly-------they are not constantly involved in the opinions of others and the seriousness of every situation.

LESSON OF THE DAY 1012

Ayahs of the Day:
God is the one who made domestic animals for you, so you could ride some of them, and eat some of them-----and they have other uses for you-----that you may fulfill a need in your hearts through them; and you are carried on them, and on ships. And God shows you signs of the divine; now which signs of God do you deny? [40: 79,80,81]

Hadith of the Day:
What do I have to do with this worldly life? I and this worldly life are but like a traveler who stopped for a little while under a tree to get some shade and then he moved on. [Ahmad & Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Love of God is to see what is good and beautiful in everything. It is to learn from everything, to see the gifts of God and the generosity of God in everything. It is to be thankful for all God's bounties. [Shaykh Muzaffer Ozak]

Guidance of the Day:
If we feel pain at the loss of a relationship in our lives, it is not due to the loss of the person's presence; it is due to our clinging. When we stop clinging, the pain ceases. God may have been responsible for the loss, but we are responsible for the pain. This may sound stark, but it is true. In the long run, we are much better off for letting go. Is it not better to be free and happy than to be attached and in pain?

When a relationship ends, it is an opportunity to apply the principle of "Let go and let God." This means to accept that God is working for our highest good, and never against us. He would not stop this reason unless He had a good reason, and that this ending is really a beginning. Perhaps there is something or someone better in store. Perhaps we have given and shared and learned all that we could, for the time being, and now it's time to grow into a new and a better space. That has to be the way it is; God wouldn't make a mistake with His child's life. We must release the old to make room for the new. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
We must make the best of those ills which cannot be avoided. The best thing we can do is to make wherever we're lost look as much like home as we can. There is no quality of human nature so nearly royal as the ability to yield gracefully.

Pearls of Wisdom....49

1. A day will never be any more than what you make of it. Practice being a "doer." Take the time to practice the skills and abilities you want to attain.

2. The question is not whether we will die, but how we live, Life may have left its mark on you, but work toward polishing your inner beauty for an outer glow.

3. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of convenience and comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

4. We are all here for a limited period and time. There are many fine things which you mean to do some day, under what you think will be more favorable circumstances. But the only time that is yours is the present.

5. We are all dust and clay until we find inspiration in our lives. When we are inspired, we change the world, not by changing others, but by changing ourselves.

6. Build your relationships out of love and hold them together with a sense of humor.

7. Mix knowledge, determination, desire, intention, and energy and come up with a nourishing life force.

8. If your regrets and recriminations just cause you continual grief, then they are of no value and will destroy you. However, you can become a better person by assessing your if onlys.

9. Take your old life and break it up. Don't live waiting for a lucky break. You will come out of the darkness and break through into light.

10. If you are a father or a mother, don't ask for love on Father's day or Mother's day, but bestow it on those who gave you the gift of fatherhood or motherhood, and thank the Creator.

LESSON OF THE DAY 1011

Ayahs of the Day:
It is He who has created you from dust, then from a drop, then from a clot, then brings you forth as an infant, then provides for you to reach your maturity, then provides for you to become old----though some of you die earlier-----providing for you to reach a definite term, and for you to understand. It is He who gives life and causes death; and having decided a matter, God merely says to it "Be," and it is. [40: 67,68]

Hadith of the Day:
Verily the world is sweet and green (appealing). And verily Allah has placed you as successors in it. And He sees how you act, so beware of the world and beware of women. [Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
When God gives you a gift, it is so that you become aware of divine kindness; when God deprives you, it is so that you become aware of divine power. [Ibn Ata'Allah]

Guidance of the Day:
A relationship based on clinging, possessiveness, or attachment cannot work. There is constant worry, fear, or threat. The moments of satisfaction in such relationship are deceptive, for they lead only to pain. If "I have him/her" can bring joy, then surely, "I am losing him/her" will bring sorrow. It is only when we hold people and things lightly that we can enjoy them fully.

Life is a constant flow of coming and going. Things and people come into our lives and they leave, just as sure as they came. Sometimes they stay for a moment, sometimes for a lifetime. We never fully know how long it will be. Nor do we have any control over how long we will share the path with someone. Our key to happiness is to enjoy a relationship while it lasts, allowing the person and the relationship to complete freedom to evolve in the highest way for them, according to God's plan. Clinging never feels good. It brings hardships to the one who possess, and to the one he or she would possess. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
A diamond is just a piece of charcoal that handled stress exceptionally well. Don't fear or avoid your pain, for it might be the catalyst you need to help you release the dam and move you into healing. Under pressure charcoal becomes a diamond. Use your pain and the gifts it brings to change things and create a gem out of your life.

Pearls of Wisdom....48

1. Don't let your so-called mistakes and failures stop you from moving forward. Go ahead, take a risk, and remember that each failure brings you closer to success.

2. Spiritual strength depends on spiritual posture. Become upright in your life, relationships, and work. If you need help, find a spiritual chiropractor.

3. It's never too late to become the person you want to be. Fake it till you make it. By faking it and acting like the person you want to be, you begin the change, and will start to do the inner work. Decide how you want to be, work on those changes and act as if you are already there.

4. It's the constant and determined efforts that breaks down resistance, sweeps away all obstacles.

5. When making a choice, choose the difficult right over the easy wrong.

6. Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present. Taking care of what needs doing now leaves little time for fear and worry.

7. Don't use the excuse "the devil made me do it!" Pay close attention to how your actions are perceived by your kids.

8. People are only as great as they are kind. Perform the acts of kindness we all came here to do. A complete life is not about time, but about our actions-------------particularly our acts of kindness.

9. You have not fulfilled every duty, unless you have fulfilled that of being pleasant. For today, don't be or create a problem. Solve one instead.

10. It is no coincidence that the words human and kind have been put together to form this family. Let us live what our name implies. We are one entity, human-kind. Make a conscious effort to connect the words human and kind. Be aware of how this changers your behavior.

LESSON OF THE DAY 1010

Ayahs of the Day:
God is the one who has made the earth for you as an abode with the sky as a roof, and formed you, then refined your forms, and provided you with goods. That is God for you, your Lord; so blessed be God, Lord of the universe, the Living; there is no other deity, so pray to God, Lord of the universe. [40: 64,65]

Hadith of the Day:
By Allah, it is not poverty that I fear for you. But I fear that this world will be spread out for you (and given to you in abundance) as it was spread out for peoples before you, and then you will compete in it as they competed in it and it will destroy you as it destroyed them. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Applaud the good for their goodness, appreciate those who have believing hearts, and be kind to believers. Approach unbelievers so gently that their envy and hatred melt away. [Fetullah Gulen]

Guidance of the Day:
Give it all up and you will get it all back. This is an immensely potent formula for finding freedom and joy in living. Whenever we let go of something, God will either give it back to us, or give something better, or shows that we are better off without it. God is always giving exactly what we need for our highest good, and at no cost to anyone.

The idea that "He who humbles himself shall be exalted" is one of the most powerful and practical truths that can be encountered. It speaks of the miraculous principle that we do not need to "power-trip" our way through life; we will come out better in the long run if we allow
God to take care of us. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Among the attributes of God, although they are all equal, mercy shines with even more brilliancy than justice. Mercy among the virtues is like the moon among the stars, dispensing a calm radiance that hallows the whole. It is the light that hovers above the judgment seat. Mercy is for the merciful.

Pearls of Wisdom....47

1. The one who overcomes his desires is braver than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is self.

2. You will find rest from vain fancies if you do every act in life as though it were your last.

3. If you desire many things, many things will seem few.

4. Next to knowing when to seize an opportunity, the most important thing in life is to know when to forgo an advantage.

5. Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it is.

6. He that can have patience can have what he wills.7. He who composes himself is wiser than he the one composes a book.

8. He that is of the opinion "money will do anything" may well be suspected of doing everything for money.

9. He that won't be counseled can't be helped.

10. If passion drives you, let reason hold your reign.

LESSON OF THE DAY 1009

Ayahs of the Day:
God is the one who made the night for you, so you could rest therein; and the day, allowing sight; for God is gracious to humanity, but most people are not grateful. That is God for you, your Lord, Creator of all things; there is no deity. So how are you deceived? Thus are deceived those who dispute the signs of God. [40: 61,62,63]

Hadith of the Day:
By Allah, (the bounties and length of) this world with respect to the Hereafter are not but as if one were to put this finger into the ocean and see with what it comes out (compared to what it leaves in the ocean). [Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Realize your attributes and He will help you with His Attributes; realize your lowliness and He will help you with His Sublimity; realize your impotence and He will help you with His Power; realize your weakness and He will help you with His Might and Force! [Ibn Ata'Illah] Guidance of the Day:
A more effective approach would be to take a clear and honest look at the way we are living our life, and see how we change, from inside out. It is easier to take a pill than to change. Real growth, however, requires change, and life is, in fact, pretty much about making the changes that lead to our greatest good.

Because the mind is the source of all of our experience, we can always trace our required lessons back to a pattern of thinking. When we discover the pattern of thought that needs to be changed, the physical symptom will disappear, for its function as the communicator of a lesson is no longer needed. Our bodies, like our lives, are not haphazard, and neither are they beyond our ability to understand their teachings and to see how healing can be accomplished. We cannot be healed if we believe we deserve to be ill. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
If a small thing has the power to make you angry, does that not indicate something about your size.

Pearls of Wisdom....46

1. An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

2. As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence.

3. Be at war with your vices, at peace with your family, friends and neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.

4. Each year one vicious habit discarded, in time might make the worst of us good.

5. By failing to preparing, we are preparing to fail------for the next world.

6. Do you love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made up of.

7. Employ your time well, if you mean to gain leisure.

8. Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing, if you want to be remembered after your death.

9. Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them.

10. Anybody can get angry-----that is easy, but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way---------that is true wisdom.

LESSON OF THE DAY 1008

Ayahs of the Day:
The constitution of the heavens and the earth is certainly greater than the constitution of humanity, and yet most people do not realize. The blind and the seeing are not the same, nor are those who believe and do good works and those who do harm. Little do they heed. For the end of time is surely coming, without a doubt, and yet most people do not believe. Your Lord says, "Call on me, and I will answer you. As for those too self-important to serve Me, they will enter hell abjectly." [40: 57 to 60]

Hadith of the Day:
If this worldly life were equivalent in Allah's sight to even a wing of a mosquito, He would not have given a disbeliever even drink of water in it. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
The Qur'an guides you to the recognition of your illness and their remedies. Your illness are your sins, and your medicine is seeking Allah's forgiveness. [Qatadah radi Allah anhu]

Guidance of the Day:
All the lessons of the living are about allowing healing to take place. Health is the easiest thing in the world, and disease the hardest. We do not need to add anything to our lives to be healed. We need only to tune into our own flow------the very flow that God is always whispering in our ear. Health is our natural condition, and it will always manifest itself when we attune our thoughts, and actions to the guidance of our still, small voice, ever calling us to our own Peace.

The physical body speaks to us, if we are willing to listen to its messages, we can avoid disease. If we experience illness or its warning signs, it is God's way of showing us-----through the physical body------that we need to make a course correction in something that we were doing and a way that we are thinking. Illness is not a punishment, but a message to us from a loving God, telling us that what we need to do to stay healthy and happy, which is exactly the way He like to see us. It is only out of loving compassion that He sometimes jolts us a bit to head us away from a way of living that we will not admit is not working for us. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Accumulating belongings is not what makes life satisfying. It may make the neighbors jealous, but it won't make your life meaningful or joyful. It is not about getting acknowledgment or thanks, but the inherent joy that comes from doing for others. Find your way of serving the world and giving it your love, and watch what it does for your life. Serve those in need, and receive the gift of love.

Pearls of Wisdom....45

1. There are two ways to see things------either everything is a miracle or nothing is a miracle. Miracles happen to those who believe in them.

2.. Step up and repeat your request so it gets heard and recorded on God's answering machine. How God answers and who God uses to answer may surprise you.

3. Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.

4. Serve others, and you will find the eternal message about how to have a satisfying life. It is not about getting acknowledgment or thanks, but the inheritent joy that comes from doing for others.

5. The ability to wait patiently for something is a valuable character trait. It is our impatience that spoils everything.

6. Rather than becoming tangled up in all of the disturbances which endlessly and infinitely present themselves in the field of our worldly life, let's consider the preciousness of this life.

7. The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet. When we live with determination, we will springforth and find the light.

8. A life spent in making mistakes and learning from them is more honorable and more useful than a life spent doing nothing.

9. The perfection of character consists in passing every day as the last, live with the knowledge of mortality. You act as if you have time for everything, but actually you may find you have missed out on the most important things.

10. It is not an accident that the word compassion is 70 percent compass. When we let compassion be our guide, we will be serving ourselves as well as those who need to be served. Let compassion direct you. It will also direct others to you when you encounter a time of need.

LESSON OF THE DAY 1007

Ayahs of the Day:
We will help our messengers and those who believe, to be sure, in the life of the world and on the day the witnesses stand, the day when the excuse of tyrants will be of no avail to them, and they will be accursed and have a miserable abode. [40: 51,52]

Hadith of the Day:
If you survive till the late afternoon, do not expect (to be alive in) the morning. If you survive till the morning, do not expect (to be alive in ) the late afternoon. Take from your health for your sickness and from your life for your death. [Bukhari]

Wise Quote of the Day:
If you want to know your standing with Him, look at where He has made you abide now. [Ibn Ata'Allah]

Guidance of the Day:
It is now for you to reevaluate your emotions and come to a new understanding of the nature and the purpose of the energies that you experience. Love is your key to finding peace. As you remain calm and quiet, God instantly fills your heart. His willingness to abide with you is constant. It is only emotional turbulence that stands between you and your knowledge of His gentle Presence.

There is infallible guidance available to you through the door of purified emotion. You are most certainly able to control your emotional energies to a degree of quietude beyond your current expectation. In such serenity, you here His simple bidding. You are the master of your destiny. As you claim this identity, your effort is rewarded with the vision of Truth. Enjoy life while you are learning. All of the elements of your self are created for the expression of Divine Love. Learn to raise your emotions to this Holy end. Nothing more is required of you than the Peace that your seek. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
There is much truth in the observation that charity eases the conscience of the rich more often than it eases the condition of the poor. Charity is the spice of riches. Charity is the sterilized milk of human kindness. It is charity which makes the man.

Pearls of Wisdom....44

1. Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you react to it.

2. Attitudes are more important than facts. Your attitude determines what you see, so always look on the bright side. The choice is yours.

3. What matters is not spectacular actions, but the love you put into each action. If your actions are full of love for God, then you will do everything well.

4. 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 i.e. God, we cannot make our true journey.

5. By the time we hit fifty, we should have learned that only a few things are really important. We should have learned to take life seriously, but never ourselves.

6. You can do nothing to change the decisions you made in your past, but the future holds many opportunities.

7. 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.

8. Don't wait for a disaster to awaken you to the things that you can be grateful for today.

9. It is easier to blame the past than to create your future. Where do you want to live; in the past or in the now, creating a better future?

10. 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. Think about how you would feel on your death bed if you were wishing you had done that one special thing or taken that change that you let pass by.

LESSON OF THE DAY 1006

Ayahs of the Day:
Haven't they traveled on earth and seen how those who were before them ended up? They were more powerful than they in strength and in effect on the earth, but God punished them for their sins, and there was no one to shelter them from God. That is because their messengers had come to them with clarifications but they scoffed; so God took them to task, being powerful, severe in punishment. [40: 21,22]

Hadith of the Day:
Be in this world as if you were a stranger or a traveler along a path. [Bukhari]

Wise Quote of the Day:
If the seeker wants to work toward the next life in order to put an end to his sorrows and cares in this world, he must put his life in order here and now as a servant of his Lord, may he be exalted and glorified. [Ibn Abbad]

Guidance of the Day:
When we cultivate the higher emotions of joy, peacefulness, appreciation, devotion, and enthusiasm, we lift ourselves up on the magic carpet of the accumulated thoughts and deeds of all who have ever loved goodness and loving kindness. As we open our arms in appreciation, we are blessed by a power greater than that of our seemingly small action.

Every act of love is infinitely powerful, and so is every thought of feeling that we cultivate in Love's name. The world is in the sorry state that it is because we have underestimated the tremendous significance of what we think and feel. And the salvation of the world will come through the acceptance of every tiny deed as a way to see and express God. Because our emotions are simply gross extensions of our thoughts, the secrets of emotional transformation are the same in nature as those of thought. Destiny is consistently in our hands. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Your morning thoughts will determine you conduct for the day. Optimistic thoughts will make your day bright and productive, while pessimistic thinking will make it dull and wasteful. Face each day cheerfully, smiling and courageously, and it will naturally follow that your work will be a real pleasure and progress will be a delightful accomplishment.

Pearls of Wisdom....43

1. The important thing is this------to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.

2. You don't get to choose how you are going to die, or when. You can only decide how you are going to live now-------the way we live is how we die.

3. Too often it takes a direct confrontation with one's mortality to learn the value of the time we have on earth, sometimes it takes a disaster to wake us up and make us realize the blessings we have--------why wait for a wake-up call, why not realize it now!

4. Many of us believe that time is money. Time isn't money; time is everything. The way we spend our time is what our life is all about------in this and the next world.

5. If we spend our time paying attention to the wisdom of our heart rather than the wisdom of our head, we will benefit greatly.

6. Love is always the answer to every question and problem. We are here to love and be loved and learn a few things in the process.

7. To begin anew, we must say goodbye to who we once were. Life is a series of beginnings. The changes, losses, illnesses, and afflictions are not endings, but beginnings. We are changed and have to start a new improved life each time.

8. Have the courage to begin the new life that each day brings you. No matter what changes or losses you have experienced, step back and see where you need to begin.

9. What activities do you do over and over? When was the last time you checked to see if they are serving any good purpose? How long has it been since you asked yourself if that time could be better spent elsewhere?

10. Everything we do and say contributes to what we become. Every kindness done to others, every prejudice overcome, every difficulty subdued, every temptation trampled underfoot, every step forward in the cause of what is good is a step nearer to the goal of being the person we have the potential to be.

LESSON OF THE DAY 1005

Ayahs of the Day:
God knows deception of the eyes, and what the hearts conceal. And God judges by truth, while those others they pray to don't determine anything. It is God who is the all-hearing, the all-seeing. [40: 19,20]

Hadith of the Day:
Allah has revealed to me that you must be humble, so that no one boasts over another. [Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Know that the form of any kind of worship is a means to find the Truth. If Truth is not found through it, form has no meaning or purpose by itself. [Imam Birgivi]

Guidance of the Day:
At some point in our personal growth, we realize that the counterproductive emotions do not really serve a life of harmony and inner peace, nor do they help us to make the kind of contribution we would like to offer to the world. It becomes clear that loving and calm words and actions work, and chaotic ones do not. At that point, the old binding emotions begin to drop away by themselves because we no longer believe in their usefulness.

The best way we can serve the world is by starting from our calm center. When we make contact with the Peace within ourselves and we find our Inner Source, we are then in a perfect position to go out and make change; until then, we only contribute to confusion. Meditation without action is a cop-out, but action without meditation is fruitless. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
We are taught you must blame you father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers-----but never blame yourself. It's never your fault. But it's always your fault, because if you wanted to change, you are the one who has got to change. Hate and fear destroy life and keep us holding on to pain. Instead use the pain in your life to create something meaningful.

Pearls of Wisdom....42

1. In influencing others, example is not the main thing, it's the only thing.

2. Children have never been good at listening to their parents, but they have never failed to imitate them. A good example is the best sermon.

3. Cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.

4. When we look for the best in others, we find it in ourselves.

5. Character is how we act when we think no one is looking, or doing the right thing when no one will know the difference.

6. Gratitude is not only the greatest of all the virtues, but the parent of all the others.

7. One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.

8. There is no education like adversity. We can transcend adversity and turn trials into triumphs if we resolve to act with character in times of crises.

9. The second half of a man's life is made up of nothing but the habits he accumulated during the first half. What habits did you form in the first half of your life?

10. What matters is not whether other people are acting in the same way or whether they notice, approve, or agree with what we do; it's that we have the courage, character, and confidence to do what we're supposed to do when we're supposed to do it.

LESSON OF THE DAY 1004

Ayahs of the Day:
On That Day each soul will be recompensed for what it earned. There will be no injustice on that day; for God will quickly settle accounts. So warn them of a day that is coming, when hearts will be in throats, choking: the unjust will have no friend, and no intercessor who would be heeded. [40: 17,18]

Hadith of the Day:
Nothing repels the decree except supplications and nothing increases one's life except righteousness. [Bukhari]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Your life should become a beacon of guidance and it should become a means for Dawah. [Shaykh Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi]

Guidance of the Day:
Our emotions can take us to God or they can take us to hell. They can save us or drown us. As the popular slogan reminded us, we can make love or we can make war. It's all in how we use our energies. The "binding," or counterproductive emotions are fear, anger, guilt, worry, resentment, jealousy, pity, loneliness, lust , envy, pride, unworthiness, hatred, and all the other variations on these themes. They do not feel good, they make our life energy go haywire, and they release a huge amount of physical poisons into the body.

Beyond the physical damage these emotions do, they distort our perception and disturb our ability to enjoy loving, fulfilling relationships. In addition, uncontrolled emotions stir up a smog of confusion around us that tends to muddy the clarity of persons mere us who are susceptible. In short, they do not serve us or the world. [Cohen, The Devil Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
This only is charity, to do all, all that we can. Never to judge rashly; never to interpret the actions of others in an ill-sense, but to compassionate their infirmities, bear their burdens, excuse their weaknesses, and make up for their defects------to hate their imperfections, but love themselves, this is the true spirit of charity.

Pearls of Wisdom....41

1. There is nothing in feeling superior to another person. True nobility is in being superior to your former self.

2. Jealousy is ..... a tiger that tears not only its prey but also its own raging heart.

3. Every man in the world is better than someone else. And not as good as someone else.

4. The most powerful thing you can do to change the world is to change your own beliefs about the nature of life, people, and reality to something more positive.....and begin to act accordingly.

4. The most powerful agent of growth and transformation is something much more basic than any technique; a change of heart.

5. You don't always get what you want----but you always get what you need.

6. When champions get knocked down, they don't make excuses. They extract the lesson that will enable them to do better next time and move on.

7. Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worthwhile.

8. The purpose of life------is a life of purpose.

9. The service we render others is the rent we pay for our room on earth. When we cease to make a contribution, we begin to die.

10. What is the use of living if it not be to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone?

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.