Lesson of the day 1381

Ayahs of the day:
Say, "God is able to send torment upon you from above you, or from beneath your feet; or to confuse you with factions and make you taste each other's viciousness." See how We explain the signs so that they may understand. [6: 65]

Hadith of the day:
Know that victory accompanies perseverance, relief accompanies affliction, and ease accompanies hardship. [Tirmidhi]

Wise quote of the day:
Adherence to Sunnah, increase in one's  worship and obedience to the Sacred Law are all signs of intimacy with the Divine. [Ibrahim bin Dawud Warqi]

Guidance of the day:
Tongue is also among the greatest of God's graces upon His servant. There is in it much good and great benefits for he who preserves it and uses it only in what it was created for. But there will be much evil and immense harm in it for he who neglects to preserve it and uses it in other than what it was created for.

God the Exalted created it for the servant to invoke Him abundantly, recite His Book, counsel His servants, invite them to His obedience, teach them His immense rights upon them, and to express whatever thoughts need to be expressed for the fulfillment of his needs, both of this world and the next. If he uses it in this manner, he will have shown gratitude; but if he uses it for other than what it was created for, he will have been one of the iniquitous transgressors. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]

Food for thought:
Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening. Prayer is a confession of of one's own unworthiness and weakness. Pray as if everything depended on God, and work as if everything depended on man. No man prayed heartily without learning something.

Pearls of Wisdom 377

1. The more worldly greed in one's heart, the less certainty in God.

2. Why expect an evil person to hold a good opinion of others, when the best he can do is to think that others are like him.

3. Time wasted in youth must be made up in later years, if what you seek is a solicitous end.

4. Remain silent about favors done by you, yet proclaim the favors others do for you.

5. Self satisfaction is a sure sign of lacking intellect.

6. The one to whom small afflictions seem large, will certainly be afflicted by truly large calamities.

7. He whose thoughts are vile and low can have nothing but the worst opinion of others.

8. Thankfulness to the Creator in the form of service to His creation is the ultimate expression of gratitude.

9. The one who acts as if death will come tomorrow feels no sorrow when it finally comes.

10. The excellence of knowledge lies in its practice; and the excellence of kindness to others lies in mentioning it not. [Ali radi Allah anhu]

Preparation for Ramadan Mubarak!

Highlights of Shaykh Amin's Pre-Ramadan Talk - May 17, 2015

--Allah is capable of doing much more than we think He is capable of doing for us, but we consistently undervalue His Ability

--Personal hygiene was made Fard `Ayn so that we could draw the attention of Angels who are otherwise repelled by foulness. Angels love purity and good smells, especially when that purity comes from Muslims making dhikr of Allah

--We must rediscover not only the academic legacy of the ummah, but also its spiritual legacy: that all humans are eligible for the Fadl of Allah, provided they access it through obligatory and extra acts of worship. Islam's greatest gift is to connect human beings to the Creator, we must remember this.

--If Allah gave Maryam(A) fruits out of season, realize that this came about because of her intense personal devotion to Allah. Islam isn't in season these days, but He can give us fruits if we immerse ourselves spiritually as she did. Maryam (A) was not a Prophet, she was literally secluded in a closet making dhikr, but she was able to experience the Fadl of Allah. Muslims are given this month of Ramadan to similarly seclude themselves and make it easier to be eligible to receive similar fruits out of season. In Ramadan, Allah wants us to focus on this spiritual realm by secluding ourselves from the dunya, so that we can gain some of this Fadl

--There are many Muslims who are closet deniers of Allah's Fadl because they see nothing happening for Muslims in the dunya. They think that because Muslims aren't winning in the games of the dunya, that Islam has failed us and isn't useful anymore.

--Allah has made it easy for us to access this Fadl by giving us this month wherein all you have to do is immerse yourself in the culture of this month, which is to remove yourself from the world for a few days. Hence Prophet(S) cursed the one who missed out on Ramadan: you don't have to do much to benefit. If you miss out, its on you, not on Him

--Ramadan is not a time for you to be concerned with the Ummah's affairs. You have the other 11 months for this. Be concerned with your soul for at least 1 month!

--Ramadan is the time for each of us to renew and increase our share of Allah's Fadl for another year

--American Muslims must change how we view Ramadan: an opportunity to gain Fadl through Ibadah. This must become a civilizational value if we truly wish to benefit from this month. Every other agenda that we have for Ramadan -- da'wah, fundraising, etc.--must be removed from our mindsets.

--Historically, Muslim civilizational values were such that everyone took extra time out during their daily lives for extra dhikr/awrad. Today, if you mention this, one group of Muslims will cry bid'ah, and another group will say that this has no benefit for fixing the problems of the Ummah.

--Imam al-Ghazali (R) writes that during his time (wherein he lamented about the death of spirituality in the Ummah), people would line up at the Jami` Masjid (the main Mosque in a city where Friday Prayers were held) on Thursday night itself in order to be the first to arrive for Jumu'ah and gain that immense reward for early arrival. They would stand all night with candles in line, but even then, many people wouldn't get in. Today, we only stand at night with candles when it's time for a vigil when people die, rather than doing something for ourselves when we're alive.

--Only when we come to terms that the reality of this spiritual realm exists, and that we need to benefit from this realm, only then we will see change in our physical world as well.

--Ramadan is a time to access that spiritual realm. Today, we spend more time in Ramadan buried in the physical dunya than outside of it.

--You should reject unnecessary social gatherings in Ramadan. We have made it a communal value to attend every single iftar and social gathering during this month, thinking that being "social" in this month is being Islamic. We have committed civilizational bidah with the amount of socializing we do today under excuse of Ramadan. The Ummah historically never did this: they socialized outside of Ramadan, not inside it like we do.

--We need to benefit ourselves from Ramadan first before going around trying to benefit others. We bring people to this watering hole under the banner of da'wah but don't drink ourselves.

--If you absolutely must do social da'wah during Ramadan by attending Iftar for 3 hrs for interfaith dialogue, then that's fine if it's a rare occurrence. But what are you doing to make up for those 3 hours for your self?

--I'tikaf isn't just a physical act that we are recommended to do for the last 10 days. It's a total month-long mindset for the Muslim in Ramadan to isolate himself from everyone else and focus on his own soul.

--All the awliya that were great social reformers that we praise today, look at their personal practices in Ramadan: they focused on ibadah/dhikr/dua/recitation of the Qur'an during this month, they did not focus on fixing the Ummahs problems. Because they did this focused spiritual practice for a month, it provided them with the energy to bear the burdens of the Ummah for the other 11 months.

--When Muslims make time for themselves in Ramadan, it climaxes in Laylat al-Qadr, such that Angels come down to invite us into their world. Laylat al-Qadr allows us to plan for a 1000 months, but this is a plan based on spirituality and worship. This is how our ancestors planned for the Ummah. We cannot praise the social and reform work of our ancestors while ignoring their level of personal worship.

--You lament that there is no Abu Hanifah of our times. Realize that Abu Hanifah saw Laylat al-Qadr every year, sometimes even outside of Ramadan! How? Because of his worship regimen on a personal level. He prayed Isha and Fajr for 40 years with the same wudu. Do his regimen first, then you can start talking about opening doors of ijtihad. Otherwise, without excess ibadah, you will fall flat on your face after merely saying the word "ijtihad"

--"Flee towards Allah": that is our theme for Ramadan. This is how our dunya will be improved, when we run away from it during this 1 month.

--You have 11 months to worry about your dunya, Allah asks you to take 1 month for your akhirah, but we think even this is too much?

Notes by Kamran M Riaz
(Darul Qasim)

Lesson of the day 1380

Ayahs of the day:
Say, "Who delivers you from the darkness of land and sea, whom you call in humility and awe: 'If only God delivers us from this, we will certainly be grateful!?" Say, God delivers you from these and from all distress, yet you worship idols." [6: 63, 64]

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

Wise quote of the day:
Islam is not just a religion, it is everything. [Yusuf Islam]

Guidance of the day:
Among the most important things to every believer is to watch his heart and bodily members and senses, look after them, and strive to guard and keep them from that which is hateful to God, and use them in that which is liked by God and pleasing to Him.

The heart and the bodily members and senses are among the greatest favors of God upon His servants. He who uses them in His obedience and adorns them with what is pleasing to Him, and uses them in that for which they were created thus shows gratitude for the favor, guards what should be guarded, and excels in service. For him God shall give the reward of the thankful and the recompense  of the excellent.

He who lets loose his heart and bodily members and senses in that which God has forbidden, neglects them and leads them to perdition, and leaves them unguarded, he thus denies the favor of God upon him and deserves to be censured and punished. They shall testify against him before God and  reveal whatever acts of disobedience he has used them to commit. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]

Food for thought:
There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose. Consider the postage stamp, it secures success through its ability to stick to one thing till it gets there.

Pearls of Wisdom 376

1. The difference between life and death is nothing more than the difference between to-day and to-morrow.What will happen to us to-morrow is as uncertain and unknown to us as what may occur after the happening of the event called death, and yet there are many who look forward to the coming of to-morrow with joyful anticipation and to death with dismay.

2. It is natural for us to die, as it is for us to be born. It is only the passing of another milestone on our journey.

3. Harness your chariot with truth and honesty, and the devil will come a very bad second in the race.

4. You have no more right to use abusive or insolent words to a person than you have to smack him across the face.

5. Brave men do not hesitate to recognize bravery in others, even though they may be or may have been antagonists in the field.

6. A great lie is like a great fish on dry land: it may fret and fling and make a frightful bother, but it cannot hurt you. You have only to keep still, and it will die of itself.

7. Those who most distrust others are generally those who know that others have good reason to distrust them.

8. The quarrelsome person is always the one who professes to be the easiest individual in the world to get on with.

9. Some people preach more religion in one hour than they practice during the whole of their life.

10. Meanness is the evidence of a defect of intellect as well as of heart. Even the cleverness of greed and avarice is but the extreme cunning of imbecility.

[Shaykh Abdullah Quilliam]

Helpful tips to stop gossiping.....

How to stop yourself from gossiping?

What about if it’s you who’s responsible for the vain talk?

Hold your breath and recall these tips before saying a word.

1. Remember backbiting is a major sin in Islam and is one of the causes for entering the Hellfire.

2. Ask yourself:
“Would the person I am about to speak of like what I’m going to say? Would I say it if the person was present? Will I feel good about myself after saying it?”
You can save yourself some guilt ridden apologies later by simply asking these questions to yourself. In addition, you can try to think about how you felt the last time you found out that people were speaking badly or falsely about you.

3. Is it useful for anyone to know?
Allah Most High has said: “Successful are the believers, who are humble in their prayers, and who turn away from pointless talk” [23:1-3] And “Those who do not bear witness to what is false, but when they pass by pointless talk, pass by with dignity” [25:72], “When they hear pointless talk, they turn away from it” [28:55]

These verses describe the characteristics we should embody in speech. A top tip to help you is to cut short telephone conversations and keeping chat to essential things.

4. Is it necessary for anyone to know?
Even if it is, does it require your intervention? Often it is the trick of shaytan when we indulge in backbiting, as we seem to feel better about ourselves if we downgrade others. Instead ask yourself how we can improve our own character and lives.

5. Imagine that the person you are talking about can hear everything you are saying. However, know that Allah Ta’ala is The All-Seeing, All-Hearing, and All-Knowing. We should not forget about Day on which we will be held accountable for our deeds. Remember backbiting is a bad reflection on your own character.

6. Be mindful of the company you keep Keep away from people who usually turn to gossip. Recall the times in which you usually find yourself gossiping and keep yourself busy during that time with other tasks or even better – invite friends to learn about the grave consequences of gossiping!

7. Are you 100% sure about it?
Spreading false information is slander as it is creating discord and problems between Muslims. As we are told in the Quran:
“Why, when you heard it, did not the believing men and believing women think good of themselves [i.e. one another] and say: ‘This is an obvious falsehood’?” [24:12]
8. Rejoice at the time and reward you’ll gain by stopping this nasty habit not to mention the good deeds you will accumulate to efface the bad ones. You‘ll be surprised about the time, energy, and faith boost you will gain in this life, and the reward that awaits you in the akhirah insha’Allah.

9. Look for positive qualities in people. If you really have to talk about someone who’s not there, talk about how great, hardworking, funny, humble they are instead of deficiencies; as I often say ‘we are always quick to find imperfections in others but not ourselves’.

10. If you feel you have to say it to someone and that you can’t keep the news for yourself, write it in your diary or on a private piece of a paper. Reread it after a couple of days and evaluate if you still want to let the world know you are not trustworthy enough to keep a confidential fact to yourself! Discard of the paper, and of the thought in your mind – disciplining your thoughts to be good of others should be instilled instead.

11. Repent and make the intention to stop, you could keep the verses and ahadith about the punishment of this sin on your wallpaper or screen to remind you at work (where people politics can enter!). Lastly make dua’a to Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala) to help you and while it takes effort, don’t give up:

“Whosoever believes in Allaah and the Last Day, then let him speak good or remain silent.” [Al-Bukhari]
[Productive muslim]

Lesson of the day 1379

Ayahs of the day:
And God is the conqueror overpowering all beings; and God sends protectors over you, until when death comes to one of you Our emissaries take the soul, without fail. Then they are returned to God, their protector, the Truth. Does not the judgment belong to God, the quickest to take account. [6: 61,62]

Hadith of the day:
It is sufficient evil for a man to look down upon his Muslim brother. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise quote of the day:
Faith in Allah is an inoculation against the diseases of the world. [Shaykh Muzaffar Ozaik]

Guidance of the day:
Among the most important things to every believer is to watch his heart and bodily members and senses, look after them, and strive to guard and keep them from that which is hateful to God, and use them in that which is liked by God and pleasing to Him.

The heart and the bodily members and senses are among the greatest favors of God upon His servants. He who uses them in His obedience and adorns them with what is pleasing to Him, and uses them in that for which they were created thus shows gratitude for the favor, guards what should be guarded, and excels in service. For him God shall give the reward of the thankful and the recompense of the excellent.

He who lets loose his heart and bodily members and senses in that which God has forbidden, neglects them and leads them to perdition, and leaves them unguarded, he thus denies the favor of God upon him and deserves to be censured and punished. They shall testify against him before God and  reveal whatever acts of disobedience he has used them to commit. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]

Food for thought:
All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare. Perfection is attained by slow degrees; it requires the hand of time. The very perfection of a man -- to find out his own imperfections.

Pearls of Wisdom 375

1. Three things to admire – intellectual power, dignity, gracefulness.

2. It is better to go with truth into the wilderness than to follow falsehood into a palace.

3. The true love of God is to love beauty, truth, and goodness.

4. Whoso feeleth Islam to have filled his heart is half-way towards heaven.

5. Courage and conviction are two good warriors. When they fight shoulder to shoulder victory
oft crowns their efforts.

6. There is music in the sound of the words of the man who practices that which he teaches.

7. Alive or dead still we are in the presence of the eternal All-Wise.

8. The best preacher is the conscience, the best teachers are time and experience, the best
book is the world, the best friend is God.

9. Do your best, God will do the rest.

10. None of us is too old to learn. When a man ceases to desire to acquire knowledge his
intellectual death has commenced, and his funeral had better be arranged for.
[Sh Addullah Quiliam]

The things that help us improve....

What makes us weak? Our fears.

What makes us whole? Our religion.

What keeps us standing? Our faith.

What makes us compassionate? Our selflessness.

What makes us honest? Our integrity.

What sustains our minds? Our quest for knowledge.

What teaches us all the lessons? Our mistakes.

What lifts our heads high? Our pride, not arrogance.

What if we can't go on? Not an option.

What makes us victorious? Our courage to climb.

What makes us competent? Our confidence.

What makes us beautiful? Our patience and sincerity.

What makes us Muslims? Our heart attached to Allah.

Whenever we don't understand what's happening in our
lives, we just need to close our eyes, take a deep breath
and say, 'O Allah I know it's from Your plan, I put my trust
in Your hand.'

Lesson of the day 1378

Ayahs of the day:
And the keys of the unseen are with God, who alone knows them. And God knows what is on the land and in the sea. And not a leaf falls but God knows it, and there is not a single grain in the darkness of the earth, and nothing green and nothing dry, but it is in an explanatory Book. [6: 59]

Hadith of the day:
In the evening, do not wait for the morning, and in the morning, do not wait for the evening. Take from your health for your weakness, and from your life for your death. [Bukhari]

Wise quote of the day:
God says, "I have created you, your moments, your breaths, your possessions, your lives. If they are expended on Me, if you give them to Me, the price of them is everlasting Paradise. This is your worth in My sight." [Mawlana Rumi]

Guidance of the day:
You must always be fair and generous in your commerce, choose to be indulgent and lenient, rather than rigorous and demanding. This is more likely to increase the baraka and accrue your gains.

You must refrain from lying altogether. Never swear by God when selling or buying, for the whole world is more insignificant and vile than to deserve a truthful oath, how much more so when you lie? There is no need for oaths. Beware to the extreme of cheating, deception, fraud, and  hiding the faults in what you are selling, for these are severely forbidden and may render transactions altogether invalid. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]

Food for thought:
Adopt the pace of nature -- her secret is patience. He that can have patience can have what he will. Our patience will achieve more than our force. Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. Patience is power -- with time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes silk.

Pearls of Wisdom 374

1. Beware of having long-term expectations (for this world), for it makes one forget his true purpose.

2. Thankfulness for blessings is the condition for attaining more blessings; and ingratitude for blessings is the condition for losing them.

3. Death is always a silent companion.

4. The heights of felicity are reached through breaking of bad habits.

5. The wise attain honor through their humbleness, whereas the fools bear humiliation through their haughtiness.

6. Regrets over misdeeds erases them, and pride over good deeds ruins them.

7. Vain desires is a ruinous companion, and bad habits make up a formidable foe.

8. The intellect of a man lies under his tongue.

9. To panic during a calamity is itself a greater calamity.

10. Honor lies in hastening to forgive. Dishonor lies in hastening to revenge. [Ali radi Allah anhu]

A head start towards Ramadan....

Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali mentions in Lata’if al-Ma’arif: The month of Rajab is the key to the months of goodness and blessings that follow it. Abu Bakr b. al-Warraq al-Balkhi said: “Rajab is the month to sow the seeds; Sha’ban is the month to irrigate the crop; and Ramadan is the month to reap the harvest.” It has similarly been related from him: “Rajab is like the wind; Sha’ban is like the water-laden clouds; and Ramadan is like the rain.”

Someone else mentioned: “The year in its entirety is like a tree: during Rajab its buds sprout; during Sha’ban it sends forth its branches; during Ramadan its fruit ripens; and the believers are the farmhands who harvest that fruit.”

It is opportune for anyone who has darkened the scroll of their deeds with sins to cleanse it with repentance during this month. Likewise, anyone who has squandered his lifetime without taking advantage of the opportunities to benefit his soul should take advantage of what remains of his life—starting with this month.

A poet said:
So cleanse your darkened hearts within Rajab;
with deeds that spare the soul Hellfire’s wrath.

One of the sacred months has come along;
no one who calls on God will be forlorn.

Heaven is for the one’s who cleanse their hearts
with lewd indecent deeds they’ll have no part.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to do righteous
deeds during this month is a source of great gain.

While filling each moment of the month worshiping
God is a bounteous virtue. End quote from Ibn Rajab.

Let us all take advantage of the weeks that come before the blessed month of Ramadan. If we begin to fast voluntarily now, the fatigue and discomfort that sometimes accompanies the beginning of our obligatory fast will be behind us and we will enter the month with great spiritual momentum. Similarly, if we begin increasing our reading of the Qur’an now we will find it easy to read an even greater amount during the month of Ramadan, a month when we celebrate the revelation of our blessed scripture. An athlete who enters a race with a running start achieves a far faster time than one who starts the race from a stationary position. Let us take advantage of these days to get a running start into Ramadan.

Imam Zaid Shakir

Dear Muslimah....

Modesty is a woman's best weapon!

Be like a diamond, precious and rare, not like a stone found every where.

Every precious thing is covered! A woman modestly dressed is like a pearl in its shell.

You may not be a fairy tale princess, but you are always a princess of Islam.

Your value as a women is not measured by the size of your waist or the number of men
who like you.

Your worth as a human being is measured on a higher scale of righteousness and piety.

Hijab includes the way you walk, talk, look, and think -- all of it should be done modestly.

The sun doesn't lose its beauty when its covered by the clouds, the same way your beauty
doesn't fade when you are wearing a hijab.

Your purpose in life despite what the fashion magazines say is something more sublime
than just looking good for men.

Your beauty is for your man (husband), not for the mankind.

Even though a man is responsible for his gaze, you are responsible for what you give him
to gaze at, so guard your modesty.

Hijab with a bad attitude isn't hijab. Hijab with tight clothes on isn't hijab.
Hijab with layers of makeup isn't hijab. Hijab is beautiful, so make it look beautiful.
Wear it with love, wear it with pride, and most of all wear it Right.

The nobel prize winner Tawakkul Kamran from Yemen, when asked about her hijab by
journalists and how it is not proportionate with her intellect and education, she replied:

"Man in the early times was almost naked, and as his intellect evolved he started wearing
clothes. What I am today and what I am wearing represents the highest level of thought
and civilization that man has achieved, and is not regressive. It's the removal of clothes
again that is regressive back to ancient times."

Lesson of the day 1377

Ayahs of the day:
When those who believe in Our signs come to you, say, "Peace be upon you." Your Lord is self-committed to mercy, so that if any of you does wrong in ignorance, then repents after that and makes mends, God is most forgiving, most merciful. Thus do we explain the signs, so the way of sinners should be evident. [6: 54,55]

Hadith of the day:
All the children of Adam err, and the best of those who err are the oft repenting. [Tirmidhi]

Wise quote of the day:
Do not ask one who flees from your requests, but instead,  ask the One Who has ordered you to ask of Him. [Ibn al Samaak]

Guidance of the day:
You must make your earnings lawful, for it is incumbent upon a person to earn his living and there is merit and abundant reward in doing so when the intention is good. So let a person work with the intention of protecting his religion, saving himself from embarrassment of depending on others, sufficing himself and his dependents, and giving the surplus away as charity to the needy among the servants of God the Exalted. He would thus be working for the hereafter. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]

Food for thought:
Adopt the pace of nature -- her secret is patience. He who has patience can have what he will. Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. Our patience will achieve more than our force. Patience is power -- with time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes silk.

Pearls of Wisdom 373

1. The surest way of achieving heaven on earth is contentment with His decree.

2. Indeed the sword may wound the body, but it is foul speech which wounds the soul.

3. Steeped in error who can find time to seek out faults in others.

4. A believer's humiliation comes from his heedlessness of his religion, not in his lack of wealth or stature.

5. When the poor and needy come to you, then know that it is a gift from your Lord.

6. Sins have a tendency of creating restlessness in one's heart in one form or the other.

7. Ingratitude -- Spending of Allah's bounties in ways which are inappropriate and unbefitting.

8. Generosity is the fruit of wealth; Practice is the fruit of knowledge; Allah's pleasure is the fruit of sincerity.

9. The one who does not observe the rights of people cannot possibly observe the rights of God.

10. Lovers of fine raiment and garb! forget not that one day you will wear the shroud of the grave;
    Lovers of palaces and lofty mansions forget not that ditch where you ultimately lie in;
    Lovers of fine food and drink forget not that you are to become the food of worms and maggots.
    [Othman radi Allah anhu]

Inspiring story....

Sultan Murad IV, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1623-1640, would often anonymously go into the midst of the people and see their state. One evening, he felt an uneasiness in himself and the urge to go out. He called for his head of security and and out they went. They came to a busy vicinity, and found a man lying on the ground. The Sultan prodded him but he was dead and the people were going about their own business. Nobody seemed to care about the dead man lying on the ground.

The Sultan called upon the people. They didn't recognize him and asked him what he wanted. He said, "Why is this man lying dead on the ground and why does no one seem to care?

Where is his family?" They replied, "He is so and so, the drunkard and fornicator!"

The Sultan said, "Is he not from the Ummah of Muhammad (Peace and blessings upon him)? Now help me carry him to his house" The people carried the dead man with the Sultan to his house and once they reached, they all left. The Sultan and his assistant remained.

When the man's wife saw his dead body, she began weeping. She said to his dead body, "Allah have mercy on you! O friend of Allah! I bear witness that you are from the pious ones.

"The Sultan was bewildered. He said, "How is he from the pious ones when the people say such and such things about him. So much so that no one even cared he was dead?"

She replied, "I was expecting that. My husband would go to the tavern every night and buy as much wine as he could. He would then bring it home and pour it all down the drain. He would then say, "I saved the Muslims a little today." He would then go to a prostitute, give her some money and tell her to close her door till the morning. He would then return home for a second time and say, "Today I saved a young woman and the youth of the believers from vice."

The people would see him buy wine and they would see him go to the prostitutes and they would consequently talk about him. One day I said to him, "When you die, there will be no one to bathe you, there will be no one to pray over you and there will be no one to bury you!"

He laughed and replied, "Don't fear, the Sultan of the believers, along with the pious ones shall pray over my body."
The Sultan began crying. He said, "By Allah! He has said the truth, for I am Sultan Murad. Tomorrow we shall bathe him, pray over him and bury him." And it so happened that the Sultan, the scholars, the pious people and the masses prayed over him.

We judge people by what we see and what we hear from others. Only if we were to see what was concealed in their hearts, a secret between them and their Lord.

Lesson of the day 1376

Ayahs of the day:
And do not reject those who call on their Lord in the morning and the evening, seeking divine attention. You are not accountable for them in anything, and they are not accountable for you in anything, that you should reject them and so be among the unjust. [6: 52]

Hadith of the day:
In the evening, do not wait for the morning, and in the morning, do not wait for the evening. Take from your health for your weakness, and from your life for your death. [Bukhari]

Wise quote of the day:
The sign that one intimately knows Allah is that his heart is ever increasing in His remembrance. [Sahl bin Abdullah]

Guidance of the day:
One of the most important religious duties and best things with which a servant may seek to draw nearer to God, the Lord of the worlds, is carefully to keep away from the unlawful and the suspect, and seek the lawful and expend of it. He whose earnings are unlawful inevitably will be afflicted by outward and inward imperfections that will blemish his acts of obedience or even annul them.

Who ever reflects on this and observes it in himself and others will recognize the truth of it, unless he is being deceived and lured. One should avoid the unlawful to the utmost, guard oneself against it, and keep away from it in all its forms. [Counsels of Religion by Imam Haddad]

Food for thought:
Do not expect the world to look bright, if you habitually wear gray-brown glasses. The habit of looking on the bright side of every event is worth more than a thousand pounds a year. Of cheerfulness, or a good temper, the more it is spent, the more it remains.

Pearls of Wisdom 372

1. How strange is the one who knows the Hell Fire to be real and then sins knowingly.

2. How strange is the one who believes in Paradise yet spends his days in the world leisurely.

3. How strange is the one who considers God to be the Ultimate Reality and yet relies on others exclusively.

4. How strange is the one who knows Satan to be his enemy and yet listens to him obediently.

5. O' Son of Adam! Allah has nourishingly created you for Him alone, yet you so desire to belong to others.

6. The lover of God loves his times of solitude.

7. A slip of the tongue is far more hazardous than a slip of the foot.

8. If you are bent on committing that sin, then seek out that place which will keep God out.

9. To deem that Allah is with one every moment is the greatest expression of faith.

10. The scandal monger harms three people -- himself, his listener, and his target. [Othman radi Allah anhu]

Abdurraheem Green: The Amazing Story of My Dad's Shahadah

Lesson of the day 1375

Ayahs of the day:
Warn hereby those who fear they will be gathered to their Lord -- other than which they have no protector, and no intercessor -- that they may be conscientious. [6: 51]

Hadith of the day:
All of you are shepherds, each of you is responsible for his flock. [Bukhari]

Wise quote of the day:
The losses that you suffer on account of your silence can be easily compensated for, but the losses that arise out of excessive loose talk are difficult to requite. [Ali radi Allah anhu]

Guidance of the day:
It is incumbent upon the believer to love the people of goodness, religion, knowledge, and virtue, both the living and the dead. He should choose for companions the virtuous and righteous and avoid the evil and the corrupt.

He who is able to find no God-fearing, virtuous, benevolent believer to keep company with, then seclusion and solitude are better and nearer rectitude than to mix with evil, corrupt people. Associating with corrupt people is of immense harm and tremendous evil. It is fraught with perils and difficult trials, both immediate and future. Among these are acquiring their attributes unaware, watching them and and so coming to find comfort in their presence, inclining toward their evil states, easing the impact of sins on the heart, being led to imitating them and approving of their words and deeds.

The poet said,
Ask not about a man, but about his companions,
For one is bound to imitate one's companions. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]

Food for thought:
Deeds, not stones, are the true monuments of the great. If we have done any deed worthy of remembrance, that deed will be our monument. If not, no monument can preserve our memory.

Pearls of Wisdom 371

1. Wasted is the scholar who is not asked about what he knows.

2. Wasted is the wealth which is not used in good.

3. Wasted is the knowledge which is not acted upon.

4. Wasted is the goodly advice which is ignored.

5. Wasted is the Mus'haf (copy of the Qur'an) which is not recited from.

6. Wasted is the heart which is firmly planted in the mud of dunya.

7. Wasted is the life which has made no provision for the ultimate journey.

8. Put your hopes in no one except your Lord, have fear of nothing other than your sins.

9. The extent to which one understands the nature of dunya measures the degree of his detachment from it.

10. A slip of the tongue is far more hazardous than a slip of the foot. [Othman radi Allah anhu]

Meaningless goals....

Overtaking Cars

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings upon him) said: “He whose two days are equal, is a loser.” [Daiylami]

A farmer had a dog who used to sit by the roadside waiting for cars. As soon as one came he would run down the road, barking and trying to overtake it. One day a neighbor asked the farmer "Do you think your dog is ever going to overtake a car?" The farmer replied, "That is not what bothers me. What bothers me is what he would do if he ever did overtake one."

Many people in life behave like that dog who is pursuing meaningless goals.

Each dawn is a new beginning. Let each day dawn on a resolve to make it better in any one tiny way: Determine which useless or wrong deed you are going to give up today or which additional good deed you are going to do today to draw closer to Allah Most High.

(Daily Hadith)

Lesson of the day 1374

Ayahs of the day:
Say, "The unwholesome and the wholesome are not equal, even if the abundance of the unwholesome may delight you. So be conscious of God, those of you with understanding, so that you may thrive. [5: 100]

Hadith of the day:
Anyone who shows the way to something good has the same reward as the person who does it. [Muslim]

Wise quote of the day:
Disputes that escalate to high levels can often only be defused if one of the parties lays down its arms and  surrenders, preferring family harmony and the pleasure of God Most High over personal grudges. [Hamza Karam Ali]

Guidance of the day:
The essence of companionship is sincere love and unblemished affection. When this is in God and for God, its reward is immense:

When a person loves another, becomes his friend and companion for his love of God and obedience to Him, this is love in God the Exalted.

If he loves and befriends him because he helps him uphold his religion and obey his Lord, he loves him in God.

Love and keep company with God-fearing people, people of knowledge, and those of God's virtuous servants who are detached from this world, who are His protege among believers. For a man shall be with whom he loves in this life and the next. Keeping company with God-fearing and virtuous people draws one nearer to God. This is praiseworthy, benevolent companionship -- it is for God and in God, the rewards of which are immense, and the importance in religion and rank of which is high. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]

Food for thought:
The mind is like a stomach, it is not how much you put into it that counts, but how much it digests. The defects of the mind, like those of the face, grow worse as we grow old. Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order. Life is not a static thing. The only people who do not change their minds are incompetents in asylums, who can't, and those in cemeteries.

Pearls of Wisdom 370

1. Sometimes darknesses come over that He may make you aware of the value of His blessings upon you.

2. He who does not know the value of graces/blessings when they are present knows their value when they are absent.

3. Do not deem His giving to be slow; but rather, deem your approaching to be slow.

4. That part of your life that has gone is irreplaceable, and that which has arrived is priceless.

5. You have not loved anything without being its slave, but He does not want you to be someone else's slave.

6. Your obedience does not benefit Him, and your disobedience does not harm Him. It is only for your own good that He commanded the one and prohibited the other.

7. His sublimity is not increased when someone draws near to Him, and His sublimity is not decreased when someone draws away from Him.

8. When Divine inspirations come upon you, they demolish your habits; "Surely the kings, when they enter a town, ruin it."

9. That which hearts find in the way of worries and sadnesses is due to that which prevents their having inner vision.

10. Beneficial knowledge is the one whose ray of light expands in the mind and uncovers the veil over the heart. [Ibn Ata'Allah]

Satan is the third....

Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing upon him) said: “Whenever a non-mahram man and woman meet in seclusion, Satan definitely is the third one joining them.” [Tirmidhi]

What this hadith means is that Satan arouses their passions and incites them to commit evil. Prevention is better than cure. Fornication and adultery rip to shreds the psychological health of society. Since the family is the building block of society, for a society to be healthy, it must have healthy families that constitute it. To prevent any situation arising which might harm the family unit, Islam nips the source of problems in the bud. A person is responsible not only for himself or herself but for the spiritual, emotional, psychological and physical well being of their children as much as it is in their control. From their children will arise many more generations. Keeping this in mind we have to do our best to provide as healthy a moral environment as we can so we are not held responsible for the destruction of future generations.

“If the breakdown of the family and female security is to be averted, only two strategies are available: firstly, members of society may be conditioned to believe that sexuality is from the devil, and should inspire feelings of guilt and distaste; or secondly, sexuality may be accepted as the loving expression of a natural human need, in which case the sexes must be separated, within reason, to avoid the risk of the temptation of weak souls and hence their unchastity.”

“Historically, the first of these two choices has been that of Christianity, while Islam has opted for the second. The modern Western attitude, in which there is both an obsession with sexuality and a casual mingling of men and women, and which has resulted in massive promiscuity (and hence infidelity, divorce, abortion and disease) does not represent an ethically coherent system.” [The Seventy-Seven Branches of Faith, translator’s note, The Quilliam Press]

(Daily Hadith)

Lesson of the day 1373

Ayahs of the day:
Heed God, and heed the messenger, and be cautious; if you turn away, know that the only duty of Our messenger is clear communication. [5: 92]

Hadith of the day:
Part of the excellence of a  person's Islam is in leaving alone what does not concern him. [Tirmidhi]

Wise quote of the day:
Keeping the company of those who are intimate with the Divine is the best of affairs. [Sahl bin Abdullah]

Guidance of the day:
Marriage requires patience in treating women with kindness, fulfilling their rights, and providing for them and the children. There is great merit in this, in addition to the merit of being the cause of procreating righteous offspring that will worship God the Exalted, pray for their parents, and ask forgiveness for them during the latter's lifetimes and after their death. Some of the children may die before puberty, which attracts immense reward for the parents.

He who wishes to marry should do so intending it to be of assistance to him in both his religious and worldly affairs, while he who abstains should intend thereby to protect his religion and opt for caution so as to be safe. Thus should both marriage and abstention be according to righteous intention that will draw one nearer to God. God is the One to grant success and assistance, there is no Lord other than He. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]

Food for thought:
War destroys men, but luxury destroys mankind -- at once corrupts the body and mind. We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities. A simple and unassuming life is best for everyone, best for both the body and the mind.

Pearls of Wisdom 369

1. How strange is the one who claims to know death's reality and yet can go on enjoying himself heedlessly.

2. How strange is the one who recognizes the evanescence of the world yet longs after it tirelessly.

3. How strange is the one who believes in destiny yet cries over the loss of that which is fleeting.

4. How strange is the one who knows Reckoning to be true and yet goes on hoarding ceaselessly.

5. Silence -- the best remedy for anger.

6. Wanting more when sufficient sustenance and well-being has been given is also a form of complaint.

7. Seek not to burden anyone of God's creature with it be something large or small.

8. null -- Any action undertaken without Allah's pleasure as its goal.

9. This world is merely a way station which Allah has placed on the road of those traveling to Him.

10. Put your hopes in no one except your Lord, have fear of nothing other than your sins.
[Othman radi Allah anhu]

Limitless Praise due to the One and Only (part 2)

Oh Forgiving! Grant a turning away (from the wrong action) to which will undo
what happened in early years.

Increase us in blessing, light and unveiling, and strengthen us in guidance,
with idhn (permission) and secret.

Support us in words and deeds, and make our provision easy for us from
where we know not!

Here are we standing at the door of favor, waiting without hardship for the
Beloved to turn to us.

Swiftly, send us Your ease, oh Answerer, for You are the possessor of
generosity, liberality and goodness.

Your Bounty exists without existence, and Your Generosity pour down on
us, undenied.

Give us success in the thankfulness which is our duty and which itself
calls for increase from You without loss  to us.

Free us from the prison of our bodies and raise us up to the  presence of
the spirits as a reward for our gratitude. [Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Habib]

Lesson of the day 1372

 Ayahs of the day:
Satan only wants to sow hostility and hatred among you with wine and gambling, and to hinder you from remembrance of God, and from prayer. So will you refrain? [5: 91]

Hadith of the day:
Be in the world as a stranger or a passer by. [Bukhari]

Wise quote of the day:
The heights of a person's wisdom are commensurate with his nearness to the Divine. [Sari Suqati]

Guidance of the day:
Marriage has many merits, advantages, and benefits, both in this life and the next. There is much encouragement toward it in the Book and Sunna. There is no reason for not marrying save incapacity or debauchery.

Marriage frees the heart from the whisperings of the Devil concerning women, such as may occur to a man during ritual prayer as he stands before God. Marriage helps keep one's gaze down and protect one's private parts. The merits of such benefits have been detailed in the Book and Sunna in such a manner as not to escape the notice of any knowledgeable, insightful person. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]

Food for thought:
The best use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts life. Life is like a cash register, in that every account, every thought, every deed, like every sale, is registered and recorded. Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by day dragging, in all the thousand small uncaring ways. We are here to add what we can to life, not to get what we can from it.

Pearls of Wisdom 368

1. The strength in one's resolve is that one does not leave for tomorrow what one can do today.

2. Know that it is with ilm (knowledge) that you must speak, and that it is with hilm (forbearance) that you must remain silent.

3. Iman (faith) is that one recognizes the One True God in the depths of his heart, and that he confirms it with his tongue, and that he acts upon the Divine Prescriptions of the Shariah.

4. Covetousness itself is poverty regardless of how rich one is; detachment itself is wealth regardless of how poor one is.

5. Doing good for a good done to you is simply repayment, whereas doing good for an evil done to you is a tremendous virtue.

6. When both the lawful and the prohibited are present in a thing, it is its prohibited aspect which will always be most prominent.

7. Decrease in one's speech brings wisdom; decrease in one's food brings health; decrease in one's sleep brings worship.

8. Lofty stations are attained only through humility.

9. Worldly honor may be through wealth, but heavenly honor is certainly through works.

10. Death -- A single word which contains within it every goodly advice. [Omar radi Allah anhu]

Limitless Praise due to the One and Only....(part 1)

Praise is due to You, the possessor of serenity, forgiveness and veiling.
My praise is part of Your blessing, oh abundant Giver.

Praise is due to You, in number as great as the drops of rain, the grains of sand,
the pebbles, the plants of the earth and the fish of the sea.

Praise is due to You in number as great as the ants, jinn, men, in quantity as
great as the sky, the throne, and the stars like scattered pearls.

In quantity as great as space itself, and the tablet of forms, the footstools, the
moist earth, and the number of all created beings on the day of gathering.

Praise is due to You, oh my Lord, as You deserve it, for I cannot praise
You fittingly to the full extent of time.

Praise is due to You, oh endless Giver of gifts, the One who grants
opening and triumph to the people of Allah.

Praise is due to You with every breath with the body and the heart.
Look kindly on a slave who is perplexed by the command.

If my actions weigh me down, I still have a good opinion of You
that You will mend my broken spirit. [Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Habib]

Lesson of the day 1371

Ayahs of the day:
Believers, Wine and gambling and idolatry and divination are nothing but abomination from the works of Satan, so avoid them that you may thrive. [5: 90]

Hadith of the day:
Whoever would like to have his provision increased and his lifespan extended (and to be remembered after he dies), let him uphold his ties of kinship. [Muslim]

Wise quote of the day:
The one who is distant from the love of this world tastes the sweetness of loving the Divine, and these are not attained but through His generosity. [Ma'ruf Kharkhi]

Guidance of the day:
These days, severing kinship bonds and lack of concern for helping and treating them kindly has become rife. It may be that this is why the land has become afflicted with poverty and scarcity of provision, for it has been handed down that preserving kinship bonds lengthens lives and increases wealth, and that God has increased certain people's provisions and accrued their wealth, although He has never looked at them since He created them, and this for their preservation of their kinship bonds. Severing bonds and abandoning kindness will have the opposite effect. And Allah knows best. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]

Food for thought:
The best portion of a good man's life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love. Kindness is a language the dumb can speak and the deaf can hear and understand. You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late. Kindness is loving people more than they deserve.

Pearls of Wisdom 367

1. The heart is dead, but its living again lies in knowledge, knowledge too is dead, but its living again lies in the seeking after it.

2. Erase old sins with new virtues.

3. He who busies himself in the Lord's work, finds the Lord busy in his work.

4. That amount of knowledge which suffices the Believer is that which keeps him in awe of the Divine.

5. The sole root of man's misery is his talking in excess.

6. Man knows that he is weak, yet how strange that he continues to disobey the One Who is strongest of all.

7. Wretched is the one who dies, and his inequity lives on.

8. A people who have left the struggle in Allah's way have shackled themselves in the dark caverns of disgrace and utter loss.

9. Through his knowledge the seeker of the deen increases in action, whereas the seeker of this world increases only in information.
    [Abu Bakr radi Allah anhu]

The Friends of God....

The friends of God when they do speak,
It is the truth that flows from their mouths.

When they are silent, think them not to be mute,
For their silence is inward remembrance.

The friends of God, their glances pierce the veils of darkness,
Their ears harken to the call of the Friend for whom they are friends.

Their will surrendered to His will,
Their footsteps tracing the path to His abode.

They are immersed in the ocean of His light,
And although among us, drunk by the wine of His love,
Scintillating in the luminosity of His proximity.

O friend become a friend of God before this life ceases to flow
Enter the inner courtyard of His intimacy.

Breathe that air filled with the fragrance of His Beauty
And leave the care of the world to those whose only friend is the world.

By
Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Lesson of the day 1370

Ayahs of the day:
And whoever chooses friendship with God and God's messenger and those who believe, it is the partisans of God who are the triumphant. [5: 56]

Hadith of the day:
Read the Qur'an, for it will come on the Day of Resurrection interceding for its companions. [Muslim]

Wise quote of the day:
Of all the possessions, few are more precious than a grateful heart. It is a well-spring of belief, attaining us to the Divine presence and driving us to His worship. [Imam Magid bin Muhammad]

Guidance of the day:
Let the servant who is providentially assisted strive to nurture his ties of kinship in whatever manner he is able to -- kindness, service, gifts, donations, visits, and comforting. He should make the appropriate choice as to which of these is suitable with each of his relatives, so he will have discharged his duties toward them, nurtured his kinship bonds, and comforted them.

He should never fail to nurture his kinship bonds out of indolence or avarice, treating lightly those bonds to which God has attributed so much importance and severely threatened those who sever them. It is the servant's to do his best, according to his means, and it is God's to assist and forgive.  [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]

Food for thought:
No one will dare maintain that it is better to do injustice than to bear it. If you suffer injustice, console yourself, the true unhappiness is in doing it. The one  who commits injustice bears the greatest burden -- he is made more wretched than he who suffers it.

Pearls of Wisdom 366

1. Be mindful of God  by obeying Him, and obey God by being mindful of Him.

2. Restrain your hand that it never sheds the blood of a Muslim.

3. Restrain your stomach that it never consumes the wealth of others. [unlawfully].

4. Restrain your tongue that it is never defiled by transgressing against their honor.
[Abu Bakr radi Allah anhu]

5. Be pleased with what God has measured out for you and you will be the wealthiest of people.

6. Avoid what God has forbidden for you and you will be the most impeccable of people.

7. Perform the obligatory acts God, Most High, has imposed upon you and you will be the most devout of people.[Ibn Mas'ud radi Allah anhu]

8.There is no good in people who do not give sincere advice, and there is no good in people who do not love those who offer sincere advice. [Omar radi Allah anhu]

9. Do not talk about things that do not concern you, and leave much of what does concern you.

10. Do not argue with fools or clement people.

11. Only mention your brother in ways that you would love to be mentioned.
[Abdullah ibn Abbas radi Allah anhu]

The Most Beloved Human Being who ever lived.....

He is the human being who made us believe God exists.

He is the human being who helped us become more humans.

He is the human being who showed us what success looks like.

He is the human being who humbled us more than any other.

He is the human being who inspired us more than anyone else.

He is the human being who taught us what justice is.

He is the human being who demonstrated what it is to be truly free.

He is the human being who lived like a pauper when the world was at his feet.

He is the human being who forgave those who had been trying to kill him and
his family and friends for decades.

He is the human being who we want to be like.

He is Muhammad, may blessings and peace be upon him and his family.

Lesson of the day 1369

Ayahs of the day:
Your only friends are God, the messenger of God, and the believers, those who pray regularly, give alms, and bow down. [5: 55]

Hadith of the day:
The best of you are those who learn the Qur'an and  teach it. [Bukhari]

Wise quote of the day:
As long as you neglect to guard your limbs you have neglected to fulfill what you owe to Him. [Sahl bin Abdullah]

Guidance of the day:
A person should nurture the bonds between him and his kin, even if they do not reciprocate. He should treat them kindly even if they show no such kindness to him. One should also bear whatever harm comes to him from them with patience and not retaliate. On the contrary, he should forgive and pardon, keep speaking to them, and treat them kindly.

The nearer the relative the more rights he has and the more deserving of benevolence. The weak, destitute next of kin are more deserving of help and kind treatment than more affluent ones. This is because the poor relative has two rights, that of blood relations and that of poverty. God coupled together the commands to do good to blood relations and the poor in the verses of His Book. There is no doubt that treating kindly he who has two rights takes precedence over treating kindly he who has one right only. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]

Food for thought:
Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it foregoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury. It is more noble by silence to avoid an injury than by argument to overcome it. No man ever did a designed injury to another, but at the same time he did a greater to himself.

Pearls of Wisdom 365

1. One who rectifies his inner self with an awareness of God's surveillance and sincerity; God adorns his outer self with devotional acts and adherence to the Prophetic way.

2. Anyone divested from the world finds his divestment in proportion to his knowledge, his knowledge in proportion to his intellect, and his intellect in proportion to the strength of his faith.

3. Knowledge bequeaths fear, divestment from the world bequeaths comfort, and gnosis bequeaths self criticism.

4. The basis of obedience is impeccability. The basis of impeccability is God-consciousness. The basis of God-consciousness is [balancing between] fear and hope, and the basis of those two is the knowledge of the promise and threat.

5. Good character is bearing abuse, rarely becoming angry, a pleasant face, and sweet speech.

6. Everything has an essence. The essence of human being is his intellect, and the essence of his intellect is patience.

7. The oppressor is remorseful even if people praise him. The oppressed is safe even if people condemn him.

8. The content person is wealthy even if he is hungry. And the covetous is  impoverished even if he owns [plenty].

9. One who does not thank God for a blessing has called for its eradication.

10. The best person is one who does not allow his Hereafter to preoccupy him from his worldly affair, nor does he allow his worldly affair to preoccupy him from his Hereafter. [Imam Harith al Muhasibi]

Thoughts on the Charlie Hebdo Attack

Being a part of this world means living with things you disagree with. The way to combat bad ideas is with better ideas. These are the twin thoughts swirling in my head as I've struggled to take in the totality of the terrible news of this morning's attack in Paris, ostensibly carried out by militant Muslims "defending" Islam's Prophet Muhammad from the poison pens of political cartoonists and caricaturists.

Now, to be clear, as a Muslim I find such portrayals offensive and often unnecessary. And, to be equally clear, my sense of self isn't so fragile that it can't withstand folks taking potshots at my faith. In other words, I get over it and get on with it. Yes, the target of this attack, France's long-running satire magazine Charlie Hebdo has often been critical of religion in general, Islam in particular, and Prophet Muhammad even more particular still. So are a lot of other people.

Continue reading...

The most appropriate response to praise....

All praise is Allah's alone....

Two things one should bring to mind when one is praised:

1) "I know myself, and my own shortcomings, better than the one praising me."

2) "Allah knows my shortcomings and the darknesses within my soul better than me and the one praising me."
   
(As such I know I do not deserve any praise -- all praise belongs to the One Who has concealed my faults from others.)


Two prayers one should implore Allah with when one is praised:

1) "O Allah, please do not hold me accountable to what they think and say about me! For you know my shortcomings dearly!"

2) "O Allah, make me better than what they think and say about me! For you know how far I have yet to go!"

Lesson of the day 1368

Ayahs of the day:
Believers, if any of you turns from religion, God will bring forth a people whom God loves and who love God, humble toward believers, powerful against scoffers, struggling for the sake of God without fearing the blame of the critic. That is the blessing of God on whomever God wills. And God is all-encompassing, all-knowing. [5: 54]

Hadith of the day:
Whoever follows a path seeking knowledge thereby, Allah will make a path to Paradise easy for him. [Muslim]

Wise quote of the day:
A sign that Allah has turned away from a servant is that He makes him busy with matters that are of no concern to him. When a person reaches such a point, he must repent and ask Allah to guide him to those matters that are important and beneficial. [Hasan al-Basri]

Guidance of the day:
Among the things that God had bid them join are kinship bonds. Be careful to preserve the kinship bonds. Beware of severing them, for it is one of the greatest sins and its punishment is hastened in this life, after which there shall be severe punishment and painful torment prepared by God in the hereafter. Similarly, the reward for benevolence and nurturing kinship bonds is hastened in this life, after which there shall be immense reward in the hereafter.

Ali by al_Husayn (may God be pleased with both) counseled one of his children thus, "Beware of keeping the company with one who has severed his kinship bonds, for I have seen such a one being cursed in the Book of God the Exalted". The prophet (may blessings and peace be upon him) said: "Mercy doesn't descends on people among whom is one who has severed his kinship bonds." Now if mercy doesn't descend on people in the midst of whom is one who has severed his kinship bonds, how much more does the man himself deserve this? How immense shall God's loathing for him be and His cutting off from all goodness! [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]

Food for thought:
Bad temper is a sign of inferiority. No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. Exaggerated sensitiveness is an expression of the feeling of inferiority. The greater the feeling of inferiority that has been experienced, the more powerful is the urge to conquest and the more violent the emotional agitation. The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell.

Pearls of Wisdom 364

1. Laziness of the common folk in worshiping their Lord is a grave matter, but that same laziness from the teachers and students of Sacred Knowledge is even more so.

2. The arrogance of wealthy is something to be detested, but that shown by the poor is even more so.

3. It is Jihad which lays down the last brick of Imaan.

4. Rein in your tongue from complaining about others, and you will be granted a life of happiness.

5. Weep regarding that day which passed by without any goodly acts adorning it.

6. The reward for every virtue has its measure, yet the reward for patience has no measure.

7. The thankful Believer is closest to well-being.

8. Your fear of Allah is commensurate of how well you know Him, and your lack of fear regarding Him is commensurate with your ignorance of Him.

9. You are determined to lose yourself in the baggage of this world, while the world is equally determined to remove you from itself.

10. Taking pains to remove the pains of others is the true essence of generosity. [Abu Bakr radi Allah anhu]

Latest means to understanding "hijab"

Once, a girl bought an iPad. When her father saw it he asked,
"What was the first thing you did when you bought it?"
"I put an anti-scratch sticker on the screen and bought a cover for the iPad," she replied.
"Did someone force you to?"
"No."
"Don't you think it's an insult to the manufacturer??"
"No dad, in fact they even recommend using a cover for the iPad."
"Did you cover it because it was cheap and ugly?"
"Actually, I covered it because I didn't want it to get damaged and decrease in value."
"When you put the cover on didn't it reduce the iPad's beauty?"
"I think it looks better, and its worth it for the protection it gives my iPad."
The father looked lovingly at his daughter and said ...
"Hijab..."
Nothing else..

Lesson of the day 1367

Ayahs of the day:
But God is relenting toward anyone who repents and makes amends after having done wrong; for God is most forgiving, most merciful. [5: 39]

Hadith of the day:
May Allah make radiant the face of the one who hears something from us and conveys it as he heard it, for perhaps the one to whom it is conveyed will understand it better than the one who heard it. [Tirmidhi]

Wise quote of the day:
One who often thinks and reflects develops his foresight and vision. [Ali radi Allah anhu]

Guidance of the day:
The most important duty for parents as concerns their children is to teach them virtue and courtesy, so that they may grow up loving goodness, accepting truth, respectful of religious matters, but disdainful of worldly ones, always giving priority to things of the hereafter.

Those who fail to bring up their children in a disciplined and virtuous manner, but plant in their hearts the love of this world and its appetites, and render them careless as concerns religion, then they see them rebelling against them, let them blame only themselves. Loss is more likely to affect the neglectful. Much of the disloyalty witnessed these days is due to neglecting what has been mentioned earlier. This becomes evident to anyone who observes and reflects on how things are. Power and ability are only by God, the High and Formidable. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]

Food for thought:
If you have great talents, hard work will improve them; if moderate abilities, hard work will supply their deficiencies. Nothing is denied to well-directed labor; nothing is ever to be attained without it. Hard work is the soul of business and the keystone of prosperity in this life and the next. In ordinary business of life, industry can do anything which genius can do, and very many things it cannot.

Pearls of Wisdom 363

1. Reliance on God, contentment, and frugality are such a treasury and wealth that they can be exchanged for nothing. [Badi Uzzaman Nursi]

2. When it has been said that the angels spread out their wings in the path of the one seeking sacred knowledge, then just imagine what Allah has in store for such a person. [Abu Ali Daqqaq]

3. Wisdom takes root in the heart only when dunya and its trappings have been uprooted from it. [Abu Ali al Daqqaq]

4. The greatest I'tikaf that one can observe is that the Divine commands and prohibitions never leave his sight. [Abu Othman Sa'ad]

5. The accomplished spiritual is he who has achieved the precarious balance between hope and fear. [Abu Othman Sa'ad]

6. Those who love the beloved of Allah (Awliyas) are counted by Allah as being from them. [Abu Othman Sa'ad]

7. The greatness of a believer is in his God-Consciousness, and his pride in his obedience and his courage lies in his display of good character under all circumstances. [Omar radi Allah anhu]

8. The tranquility of both worlds lies in the understanding of these two words -- generosity towards friends, and forbearance towards enemies. [Hafiz Shiraz]

9. Know that it is not your family and friends, but rather your deen which truly looks after you. [Hasan radi Allah anhu]

10. In the Divine court lineage has no place, rather it is the righteousness of action which is the ultimate arbiter. [Owais al Qarni]

True Gratitude....

“Dare to Be

When a new day begins, dare to smile gratefully.

When there is darkness, dare to be the first to shine a light.

When there is injustice, dare to be the first to condemn it.

When something seems difficult, dare to do it anyway.

When life seems to beat you down, dare to fight back.

When there seems to be no hope, dare to find some.

When you’re feeling tired, dare to keep going.

When times are tough, dare to be tougher.

When love hurts you, dare to love again.

When someone is hurting, dare to help them heal.

When another is lost, dare to help them find the way.

When a friend falls, dare to be the first to extend a hand.

When you cross paths with another, dare to make them smile.

When you feel great, dare to help someone else feel great too.

When the day has ended, dare to feel as you’ve done your best.

Dare to be the best you can –

At all times, Dare to be!”

― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

Lesson of the day 1366

Ayahs of the day:
Believers, be conscious of God, and seek the way to God, and struggle for the sake of God, that you may thrive. [5: 35]

Hadith of the day:
When Allah wills good for a person, He grants him understanding of the religion. [Bukhari]

Wise quote of the day:
The worst of men is the one who does not mind being watched while doing an evil deed. [Luqman Hakeem]

Guidance of the day:
Children have rights over their parents. They should be provided for as long as they need to be, educated with excellence, taught praiseworthy traits of character, excellent attributes, and beautiful moral qualities, and protected from the contrary of these. They should receive good names, and prior to all this, their mothers should have been chosen from blessed, virtuous origins.

Parents should be fair in  providing for their children and not prefer one over the other simply because of his natural inclinations or other whimsical reasons. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]

Food for thought:
No one who is  thoroughly occupied with something worthwhile is ever miserable. It is better to wear out than to rust out. The more we do, the more we can do. The one who gives his children habits of hard work provides for them better than by giving them a fortune.

Pearls of Wisdom 362

1. To repent from a sin is a necessary obligation, but to prevent oneself from sin is even more so.

2. Showing patience in adversity is difficult, but safeguarding the fruits of patience is even more so.

3. The changing of the times is always strange, but being heedless throughout them is even more so.

4. The unfolding of your affairs is always imminent, but the arrival of death is even more so.

5. Shyness and modesty of men is an excellent virtue, but the shyness and modesty of women is even more so.

7. Repentance of an old man is a wonderful thing, but that of the youth is even more so.

8. The generosity of a prince is an exalted affair, but that of a peasant is even more so.

9. The sin of the youth is a grave thing indeed, but that committed by an old man is even more so.

10. The fools indulgence in petty worldliness is an evil thing, but the indulgence of the learned is even more so. [Above quotes by Abu Bakr Radi Allah anhu]

Muslims always "On duty"

When an European Airline was initially launched, a Muslim gentleman was traveling in the first class section. An air hostess approached him with a complimentary drink, this was an alcoholic drink so that man politely refused.
The air hostess returned but this time brought the drink on a platter, designed to appeal and impress, however, the Muslim man again politely refused, explaining he doesn't drink alcohol.

...The air hostess was surprised and concerned and informed the manager. The manager approached the man with another platter, now designed with flowers and he questioned, “is there something wrong with our service? Please enjoy the drink, it is a complimentary offer.” The man replied, “Thank you, but I am a Muslim and I do not drink alcohol.” The manager still insisted that the man take the drink. The Muslim man then proposed that the manager should give the drink to the pilot first. The manager stated, “how can the pilot drink alcohol, he’s on duty!? And if he drinks there are very high chances for the plane to crash.”

The passenger with tears in his eyes replied, “I am a Muslim and I am always on duty in order to protect my Imaan (Faith) and if I drink I will crash my whole life here and in the Hereafter."

Lesson of the day 1365

Ayahs of the day:
Believers, remember God's favor to you when some people intended to act against you, then withheld their devices from you. And be conscious of God; and let it be God in whom the believers trust. [5: 11]

Hadith of the day:
If the son of Adam had two valleys filled with wealth he would seek third, but nothing will fill the belly of the son of Adam but dust. [Bukhari]

Wise quote of the day:
It is harmful to avoid the thought of death. For no one can or will escape the sure and destined end that comes sooner or later to every mortal being. This meditation is therefore an essential necessity for every lover of God. [Shaykh Muzaffer Ozak]

Guidance of the day:
Let the parents beware to the extreme from praying against their disloyal child, for this can only increase him in harm, corruption, and disloyalty. Some of this damage is bound to cause more harm to the parents in this world. Since the prayers of the parents (for or against their children) are always accepted (by God), they should pray for, and not against them.

God may very well reform them through the baraka of their prayers, they may then revert to being loyal. The result will be that their parents will again benefit from their loyalty and be greatly pleased with them, while the children will obtain reward for being loyal and escape the sin of disloyalty. God it is who grants success and assistance. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]

Food for thought:
It is not the greatness of a man's means that makes him independent, so much as to smallness of his wants. Can anything be so elegant as to have few wants, and to serve them one's self?

Pearls of Wisdom 361

1. To know with certainty that you will never receive less than what was destined for you is the essence of reliance upon Allah. [Abul Hasan bu Shaikhi]

2. Spend from what Allah has given you. Do not fear poverty. Allah will give you as He has promised. No one who has been generous has ever perished in destitution. [Ibn Arabi]

3. Prayer and fasting are the greatest things a person can do, yet to remove all the evil traits from the heart such as pride, arrogance, rancor, malice, love of this world etc, rank even higher. [Shaykh al Kharqani]

4. Seek to keep the company of those who illumine one's inward and outward states with the light of their intimacy with the Divine. [Shaykh Abul Abbas]

5. There can be no good in excess, just as there is no excess in good. [Imam Abu Hanifah]

6. Who is better among Allah's worshippers than the one who sees others as better than him? [Abu Bakr Saidlani]

7. The greatest blessings is that one is freed from the shackles of ego, for what greater veil is there between us and the Creator other than the ego. [Abu Bakr Saidlani]

8. To be angered quickly is a sign that one is in the grip of his ego. [Abu Bakr Wasti]

9. The one who longs for Allah is blessed with limbs which are free from stains of sins. [Ahmad Masruq]

10. The one who has tasted the sweetness of slave hood finds no repose in leisure pursuits. [Abdullah Manazil]

Just a reminder....

 Opportunities for the Believers

Winter -- long nights and short days --  an opportunity to get closer to our Creator through our tahajjud at night and fasting during the day,inshaAllah. Let us get used to doing these (best possible things) when it is sooo easy, and afterwards inshaAllah they will still continue (during summer), because of the sweet taste we will develop for them and the result will be -- we will never want to quit.

These two things were always part of the routine  of our righteous predecessors -- whose footsteps if we follow we will inshaAllah succeed in this world and the next. May Allah Most High give us the resolve to do them and make them easy for us, and make this new year a very special experience for us, ameen.

Please read the worthwhile articles below on how to get started and the proven spiritual and health benefits of regularly fasting.

http://productivemuslim.com/ramadan-series-creating-a-habit-of-fasting-after-ramadan-2/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-weil-md/fasting-health_b_1557043.html

Lesson of the day 1364

Ayahs of the day:
God has promised those who believe and do good works that they shall have forgiveness, and a tremendous reward. [5: 9]

Hadith of the day:
The first thing for which a person will be brought to account on the Day of Resurrection is the prayer; if it is good then he has succeeded and prospered, but if it is lacking then he has lost and failed. [Tirmidhi]

Wise quote of the day:
Spend from what Allah has given you. Do not fear poverty. Allah will give you as He has promised. No one who has been generous has ever perished in destitution. [Ibn Arabi]

Guidance of the day:
Parents should help their children be loyal to them. They should be forgiving, not subject their children to too much pressure when demanding their rights, nor insist overmuch that is to be done to perfection, especially these days when benevolence and loyalty have become scarce, and rebellion and disloyalty have become rife.

When the parents are forgiving to their children, they save and deliver them from the sin of rebellion and the punishment it should attract in this world and the next, and they themselves obtain a reward from God, a generous wage that is better, more perfect, superior, and longer lasting than their children's loyalty. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]

Food for thought:
People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy after. He who stops being better stops being good. Where we cannot invent, we may at least improve. Undoubtedly a man is to labor to better his condition, but first to better himself.

Muharram Mubarak!!!

Madeenah....I love you!
by Asma bint Shameem

In the middle of the desert, across the seven seas
Lies a  lush valley most beloved to me

There are no skyscrapers, there is no fancy life
There is nothing of this dunya yet it's the most beautiful sight

Beautiful are its little houses, so charming are its dusty roads 
So gorgeous are its palm trees, bending over with their loads

Its nights are so fragrant, its days are so blessed
no one can describe it....no words to express it

In Madeenah there is peace, Madeenah is a healing
It is a sanctuary for every heart that is feeling

When I look in the streets, I see young children playing 
I wonder if they realize the enormity of this blessing

To be brought up in the blessed streets of this sacred city
To wake up every morning and to enjoy its sanctity

What I would give to be in their place, I wish it were me instead
I wish...I make dua......as I lay here in my bed

Ya Rabbi, take me to Madeenah....that's where I belong
That's my place...everywhere else seems so wrong

I just don't belong here.... I simply don't blend in
Nothing else seems right, I just don't fit in

It's Madeenah that I desire, to Madeenah is my Calling
Madeenah is the place my achy heart is longing

How my heart craves.... How it yearns to be with you
Madeenah is where I left my heart, O Madeenah, how I miss you!

Every time I visit you, with immense peace I am overcome 
My restless heart finds peace... a feeling... I'm finally home

I love you O Madeenah, I love you in so many ways
I want to spend my life there, for the rest of my days

In Madeenah I want to live and in Madeenah I want to die
To be buried with ten thousand Sahaabah, in al-Baqee' I want to lie

So maybe... when we are resurrected, with the Sahaabah I will be
I am hoping Allaah will forgive me, that's the only chance for me

And just like how Umar al-Faarooq often used to pray
I make the same dua to Allaah as he; and I also say

O Allaah, give me Shahaadah and grant me this Sacred City
For indeed it is pure.... it is blessed....it is Madeenahtun-Nabi

Pearls of Wisdom 360

1. Make it your habit to weep in the awe of the Divine, so you may laugh on the Day of Resurrection. [Yahya bin Mu'adh]

2. The best of people are those who, after being generous to people, seek generosity only from Allah. [Abu Hafs al Haddad]

3. He who remembers Allah with all his heart will find that everything other than Allah will leave his heart. [Yahya bin Mu'adh]

4. He who comes to the realization of his Lord after much contemplation and reflection will find easy increase in all of his other worships. [Yahya bin Mu'adh]

5. Wonder of wonders! How is it that the same people who leave food out of fear of sickness cannot leave sin out of fear of the Hereafter. [Yahya bin Mu'adh]

6. Everyone in the world is a guest, and his money is but a loan. The guest must go sooner of later and the loan must be returned. [Ibn Mus'ud radi Allah anhu]

7. What anxiety is there for the one who is detached from the world? And what need for excuses is there for the one who remains silent?

8. Wealth and poverty are Divine gifts -- Wealth is corrupted by forgetfulness/heedlessness, poverty by greed. [Al Qushayri]

9. It is false hope which expects forgiveness -- while knowingly persisting in sin. [Abdullah bin Khabeeq]

10. The true believer is he whose obedience to Allah and His messenger is as if he holds the Qur'an in one hand and the hadith in the other. [Shaykh al Jonayd]

Lesson of the Day 1363

Ayahs of the day:
Believers, be upstanding for God as witnesses for justice; and do not let the hatred of some people hurt you so much that you are not fair. Be fair; that is kin to  conscience. And be conscious of God, for God is aware of what you do. [5: 8]

Hadith of the day:
Whoever turns away from my Sunnah is not of me. [Bukhari]

Wise quote of the day:
It is easy to know God. But to find the way to God is painfully hard. You cannot find God without passing beyond your own being. [Shaykh Muzaffer Ozak]

Guidance of the day:
Just as a person should serve his parents graciously during their life, so should he continue to do so after they pass away. This consists in praying and asking forgiveness for them, giving charity on their behalf, settling their debts, executing their wills, preserving their kinship bonds, and treating kindly their friends and those they used to love. These are all included under loyalty to one's parents, as stated in many ahadiths.

There are great benefits in praying and asking forgiveness for the dead and in giving out charity on their behalf. Therefore, no person should neglect doing so for the two parents in particular, then relatives, those with rights upon one, and all Muslims in general. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]

Food for thought:
Impossibility -- a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools. To the timid and hesitating everything is impossible because it seems so. Nothing is impossible; there are ways that lead to everything, and if we had sufficient will we should always have sufficient means. It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.

Beautiful one liners....

1) Give Allah what's right, not what's left.

2) Man's way leads to a hopeless end - Allah's way leads to an endless hope.

3) A lot of kneeling will keep you in good standing.

4) He who kneels before Allah can stand before anyone.

5) In the sentence of life, the devil may be a comma, but never let him be the full stop.

6) Don't put a question mark where Allah has put a full stop.

7) Are you wrinkled with burden? Come to the mosque for a face lift.

8) When praying, don't give Allah instructions, just report for duty.

9) Don't wait for six strong men to take you to the mosque.

10) We don't change Allah's message -- His message changes us.

11) The mosque is prayer-conditioned.

12) When Allah ordains, He sustains.

13) Glad tiding -- Exposure to Allah will prevent burning.

14) Plan ahead - It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.

15) Most people want to serve Allah, but only in an advisory position.

16) Suffering from truth decay? Brush up on your Qur'an.

17) Exercise daily - Walk with Allah.

18) Never give the devil a ride - He will always want to drive.

19) Nothing else ruins the truth like stretching it.

20) Compassion is difficult to give away because it keeps coming back.

21) He, who angers you, controls you.

22) Worry is the darkroom in which negatives are developed.

23) Give Satan an inch and he will be a ruler.

24) Allah doesn't call the qualified - He qualifies the called.

25) Read the Qur'an - It will scare the hell out of you.

Pearls of Wisdom 359

1. The deceased wait your imminent arrival, so gather now your provisions for that journey. [Da'ud Tai]

2. He who recognizes himself has recognized his Lord, and he who has recognized his Lord has achieved everything there is to achieve---------through his submission to His commands. [Sahl bin Abdullah tustari]

3. The initial stage of intimacy with the Divine is contentment and the beginning of contentment lies in leaving your vain desires. [Sahl bin Abdullah Tustari]

4. Do not let your difficulties fill you with anxiety, after all, it is only in the darkest nights that the stars shine most brilliantly. [Ali radi Allah anhu]

5. The one who wants to expand his needs and wants should get used to the grief that comes from being deprived. [Ali radi Allah anhu]

6. Accept the truth from whoever says it, whether they are young or old and beware of being given to refusal and arrogance. [Shaykh Bayanuni]

7. Blessings tend to flee from those who have no measure of them. [Sari al Saqti]

8. Do not think that controlling your anger is somehow removed from good manners. [Sari al Saqti]

9. Without a steady dose of knowledge, wisdom, and the advice from the sages, our hearts will wither and die. [Fatah Musli]

10. Whoever is pleased with himself is veiled from his Lord. [Shah al Kirmani]

Eid Mubarak !!!

Labbaik....Allaahumma Labbaik
by Asma bint Shameem

As I pack my belongings..... and get ready for this great Journey
I cry with gratitude.....once more You've blessed me
Tears flowing.....in ecstasy my heart flies
My soul sings....my whole being cries
Labbaik....Allaahumma Labbaik

But what are these words..... what do they really mean?
Do I appreciate them?...Do I just repeat what I've seen?
Do I really understand....
Do I even comprehend....
Labbaik....Allaahumma Labbaik

Labbaik means I am here, Ya Rabbee.....I respond to Your call
With a heart full of hope....for that Mercy that envelops all
I'm here to serve You......I'm here to comply
To You I submit......until the day I die
Labbaik......Allaahumma Labbaik

Labbaik means total devotion.....submission to Allaah Almighty
Labbaik means sincere obedience and commitment completely
Labbaik means surrender
.....for now and for ever
Labbaik....Allaahumma Labbaik

Labbaik means I'm sorry.....so sorry for all my past
Sorry for my mistakes and my shortcomings of last
I beg You, ya Allaah.....please forgive me
I repent to you, O Maulaa......do accept me
Labbaik....Allaahumma Labbaik

Labbaik means to change.....so that I live my life for You
Whatever I say and do, from now on will only be to please You
I will give up my evil ways
I will fix my nights and days
Labbaik....Allaahumma Labbaik

But Labbaik also means.......I love you, Ya Rabbee
Nothing else matters....but that You're pleased with me
It.s Your Pleasure that I seek
Though I'm so sinful and weak
Labbaik....Allaahumma Labbaik

Head bowed low.... remorseful, and so full of fear
I.m ashamed of my life....repentant, as I stand here
Yearning Your forgiveness
I cry out in wretchedness.....
Labbaik....Allaahumma Labbaik

Will I change for the better....will I turn my life around?
Or will I succumb to temptation, wherever it is found?
When will I even begin to see
The faults that are so obvious in me?
Labbaik....Allaahumma Labbaik

I'll stop dealing in Ribaa..... I'll give up my Haraam earning
I'll wear the Hijaab...... no more lying , no backbiting
Never a single prayer will I neglect
My character, I'll make...upright and erect
Labbaik....Allaahumma Labbaik

Don't let me become heedless, I pray....Don't make me forget
All the promises I've made, Ya Allaah....all the goals that I've set
Keep me strong, keep me steadfast
Let this feeling in me, forever last
Labbaik....Allaahumma Labbaik

For I don't know when I'll die and I don't know where it will be
But I hope I am in Ihraam....when the Angel comes to me
'Cos if I die so, the Prophet told you and me
when raised from the dead, my first words'll be.....
Labbaik....Allaahumma Labbaik

Lesson of the Day 1362

Ayahs of the Day:
And remember God's favor to you, and the divine compact in which God joined you when you said, "We hear and obey." And be conscious of God, for God knows what is in hearts. [5: 7]

Hadith of the Day:
Whoever builds a mosque for the sake of Allah, Allah will build for him a house in Paradise. [Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
The ways to God are as many as there are created beings. But the shortest and easiest is to serve others, not to bother others, and to make others happy. [Abu Sa'id]

Guidance of the Day:
As for the parents, God commands that we treat them with loyalty and benevolence, and forbids that we treat them badly. He enjoins this with utmost severity and strongly warns against contravention in His formidable Book and by the tongue of His noble Messenger. He couples the injunction to be good to the parents to that of His Tawhid and worship, and He couples thanking them to thanking Him.

Loyalty when they grow old deserved special mention because elderly people are in need for someone to look after them, manage their affairs, and serve them. Strive arduously to serve them well, this shall be your way of struggling in the way of God. Rights of parents are the greatest following those of God and those of His Messenger.

Therefore, do serve them graciously, treat them kindly, obey them, and be humble in their presence. Never show them that you expect them to show gratitude, and never perceive their service as tedious. Count their need for you and expectations that you will serve them and be good to them among the greatest gifts to you and the best of the good works He has granted you to perform. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]

Food for Thought:
The average man does not know what to do with this life, yet wants another one which will last forever. The best argument for an immortal life is the existence of a man who deserves one. If your contribution has been vital there will always be somebody to pick up where you left off, and that will be your claim to immortality. The reward of great men is that, long after they have died, one is not quite sure that they are dead.