Let's purify our hearts this Ramadan al Kareem....

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Don’t Stop Being Kind: The Small Things Are Greater than You Think

Ramadan’s a great time to be kinder

We plant trees to overcome pollution, take vitamins to beat fatigue, vacuum the house to clean the dust; it makes sense to conquer the negative with a positive, and what’s more beautiful than a fresh batch of hope to revive this ummah? Investing in small acts of kindness this Ramadan should be our ultimate goal. It’s effortless, simple and free. You make someone happy, which makes you feel better and makes the world a better place. Win. Win Win. This isn’t just about the mega bonus of Ramadan’s multiplied rewards! (Actually it so is, who are we kidding?)
Here’s a list to get you started:

For your lovely parents

Thank your mom every day for the food she cooked and make yummy noises! (Cooking while you’re fasting is not easy! Trust me). Kiss her hands that have done so much for you.
Ask your dad daily: “What can I do to make your day better?” Help him out with organizing his stuff, clearing his email or even just discussing things he loves to talk about.

For your precious grandparents

Umm, hello! Call and visit them! Make them feel special before they’re gone. Make them feel wanted and relevant by asking them to tell you stories – because there’s nothing they want more!

For your spouse and children

Hide a note with a funny joke, compliment or piece of advice in your kids’ backpacks or clothes.
Text your husband or wife saying ‘I Love You’ or how much you appreciate what they do.
A minimum of three hugs a day for each member of the family (I’m serious! Sometimes all we need is a warm embrace).
Be kind to your children whenever they nag about being hungry or tired. It’s the best time to teach them patience!
Ask if your spouse needs any help in the kitchen or would like a nice warm foot massage after a tiring day at work. Keep your love alive.

For relatives, neighbors and friends:

Send flowers (or yummy dessert) to a distant relative with a card saying “Just a little something to make you smile”. Invite them for iftar or share some specially made delicacies with them.
Offer to mow your neighbor’s lawn or wash their cars.
Go out of your way to restore ties of kinship this Ramadan.
Tell your friends how much they mean to you and make dua for them.
Volunteer to offer drinks and dates at a nearby masjid during taraweeh for the people. Make a flask of tea or coffee for the late night prayers (Qiyam al Layl) for the ones who come to the mosque!

For co-workers and other workers:

Bring homemade cookies to share at work (with chocolate chips please!) Don’t worry, we will save them till after iftar!
Praise clerks, assistants and workers and thank them for their hard work. Try doing this everyday!
Leave a nice comment on articles you enjoyed (Uhmm Hint Hint).
For absolute strangers:

Greet people with a smile (it’s a sunnah too!).
Give up your seat for the elderly or a pregnant woman or just anyone who looks like they need to sit down!
Hand out balloons to kids on the street. Distribute packs of dates and water (and additionally any delicacy if you wish) along your street to those who pass by.

For God’s beautiful creations:

Leave a bowl of water outside for the birds (that’s when I had to explain to my son why animals don’t fast).
Make tasbih (glorifying Allah) outdoors. Trees, insects, even the mountains and soil will join and bloom.

For those in dire need of small kindnesses:

Leave a couple of colors and coloring books in the waiting room of a public hospital.
Do some fun story-telling at an orphanage and bring them toys or snacks.
Share a meal with a homeless person and sit with them on the ground.

Listen to someone who is sad or lonely.

The ideas are endless. Just doing one simple act of kindness a day without expecting anything in return can truly change the world, and is beyond joyful and fulfilling. It’s in fact the number one reason behind success, inner peace and sound sleep! Helping others feel better is simply the meaning of happiness because:

“Is there any reward for good other than good?” [Qur’an: Chapter 55, Verse 60]
So believe in your Lord’s promise, have compassion, pray from the heart and invest in those simple acts of kindness during this blessed Holy month. And if that makes you a pushover, well, consider yourself the luckiest person on Earth for being one!

Share with us more small kindnesses that we can engage in daily during Ramadan and after!


Click to read more: http://productivemuslim.com/dont-stop-being-kind/#ixzz3eHf87b5s

Why we Muslims pray the way we pray....

An onlooker (Muhammad Asad -- before Islam), unfamiliar with the Islamic mode of prayer, asked a simple Muslim:

"Might it not be better only to look into one's self and to pray to Him in the stillness of one's heart? Why all these movements of your body?"

This was his response....

1. 'How else should we worship God? Did He not create us both, soul and body, together? And this being so,should man not pray with his body as well with his soul? Listen, I will tell you why we Muslims pray the way we pray.

2. We turn toward the Kaaba, God's holy temple in Mecca, knowing that the faces of all Muslims, wherever they may be, are turned to it in prayer, and that we are like one body, with Him as the center of our thoughts.

3. First we stand upright and recite from the holy Qur'an, remembering that it is His word, given to man that he may be upright and steadfast in life.

4. Then we say "God is the Greatest,"  reminding ourselves that no one deserves to be worshipped but Him; and bow down deep because we honor Him above all, and praise His power and glory.

5. Thereafter we prostrate ourselves on our foreheads because we feel that we are but dust and nothingness before Him, and that He is our Creator and Sustainer on High.

6. Then we lift our faces from the ground and remain sitting, praying that He forgive us our sins and bestow His grace upon us, and guide us aright, and give us health and sustenance.

7. Then we again prostrate ourselves on the ground and touch the dust with our foreheads before the Might and the Glory of the One.

8. After that, we remain sitting and pray that He bless the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings upon him) who brought His message to us, just as He blessed the earlier Prophets; and that He bless us as well, and all those who follow the right guidance;and we ask Him to give us the good of this world and of the good of the world to come.

9. In the end we turn our heads to the right and to the left, saying,"Peace and the grace of God be upon you" -- and thus greet all who are righteous, wherever they may be.

10. It was thus that our Prophet (peace and blessings upon him) used to pray and taught his followers to pray for all times, so that they might willingly surrender themselves to God -- which is what Islam means -- and so be at peace with Him and with their own destiny.' [The Road to Mecca by Muhammad Asad]

Ramadan Mubarak!!!

My Ramadan Prayer
Imam Zaid Shakir

As we stand on the verge of beginning the great fast,
let us pray that the blessings we enjoy are decreed to last.

Let us pray for the people, who have lost their homes, fields and cattle in the flood, that they
are patient and see their sins washed away by torrents of forgiveness and divine love.

Let us pray for all of those living in lands that have been invaded and occupied, that their resolve
for deliverance is not weakened nor their hearts rendered cold, callous and dry.

Let us pray for the elders who have seen only war as successive decades pass by, that they are
not so traumatized that they cannot find tears to cry.

Let us pray for the fathers, who watch as their sons are mercilessly dragged away, that they will
live to see the justice of a better day.

Let us pray for our sisters, who with such great dignity represent all of us, that they never lose sight
of the fact that they are carrying a divine trust.

Let us pray for the teachers, who toil sometimes in unbearable situations, that they remain strong and
undaunted in their commitment to future generations.

Let us pray for the believers everywhere,
that they are the recipients of divine aid and celestial care.

Let us pray for the babies, be they little boys or girls,
that they will be blessed to inherit a saner, safer and more secure world.

Let us pray for this troubled nation we live in,
to realize that we cannot forever escape the wages of our sins.

Let us pray for the children, whose mothers or fathers have been deported, that their dreams will not be deferred nor their hearts distorted.

Let us pray for the legions, who for someone’s profits have been incarcerated, that through the message of the Prophet their minds can be liberated.

Let us pray for all of the boys and girls in the ‘hood,
to learn that virtue is its own reward, and that its recompense is always good.

Let us pray for even the malicious fools, who picket Masjids and burn the Qur’an, that they repent, are guided, and come to know the blessings of Ramadan.

Lesson of the day 1382

Ayahs of the day:
And when you see  those who take up Our signs rashly, avoid them until they take up another topic. And if Satan would make you forget, then after remembering do not sit with people who are wrong. For the conscientious have no responsibility for anything on their account, except reminder, that they may become conscientious. [6: 68,69]

Hadith of the day:
Whoever builds a masjid for Allah, Allah will build for him a palace in Jannah. [Bukhari]

Wise quote of the day:
The responsibility of maintaining a religious and modest society weighs on the shoulders of both Muslim men and women, so let us take this role seriously. [Shaykh Amjad Rasheed]

Guidance of the day:
The affairs of the tongue are most important, for it is the organ with most control over the servant and most influence in leading him to perdition should he fail to control it and prevent it from what God forbids.

The perils of the tongue are immense and frightening. Only maintaining silence and speaking only when strictly necessary may save one from them. A person should keep so occupied with reciting the Book of God and remembering Him in abundance as to prevent him from delving into falsehood or what does not concern him. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]

Food for thought:
Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. We should be as careful of the books we read, as of the company we keep. No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them all.

Pearls of Wisdom 378

1. Friendships with the ignorant and the heedless are as fickle as the changing times and as quick
to disappear as the setting sun.

2. Consider not a man worthless until you had a chance to converse with him.

3. Health and well-being on the one hand and gluttony on the other are mutually exclusive.

4. Face off your difficulties with patience; and fence in your blessings with thankfulness.

5. A man's intellect becomes apparent from his speech; as does his character from the goodness
of his action.

6. Always consider your intellect to be lacking; otherwise too much faith in it surely leads to error.

7. Seek Allah's refuge from the heedlessness which comes from prosperity; so deep it is, that it will
take one very long to climb out of it.

8. It is not in the make-up of a noble person to delay in rewarding nor is it that of a generous one to
exact revenge.

9. Even if Allah had not decreed to abstain from the foul and impure the man of intellect would still
surely do so.

10. Do not consider admitting ignorance as a necessarily bad thing, for saying, "I do not know"
is itself half of knowledge. [Ali radi Allah anhu]

Tips for a peaceful life....

1. Be like the bee, which lands on fragrant flowers and fresh branches.

2. You do not have time to seek out people's defects and mistakes.

3. If Allah is with you, them who do you have to fear?

4. If Allah is against you, what hope do you have?

5. The fire of envy consumes the body, and excessive jealousy is like a raging fire.

6. If you do not prepare today, then you will not be able to do anything tomorrow.

7. Withdraw peacefully from places where idle arguments are going on.

8. Let your morals and attitude be even more beautiful than a garden.

9. Do acts of kindness and you will be the happiest of people.

10. Leave people to their Creator, leave the envier to death and forget about any enemy.

11. The pleasure of haram actions is followed by regret, loss and punishment.

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."