LESSON OF THE DAY 722

Eid Mubarak

Ayahs of the Day:
It is God who produced for you hearing and seeing and feeling: you are scarcely grateful. And it is God Who scattered you over the earth, and you will be gathered to God. [23: 78,79]

Hadith of the Day:
A liar is not he who settles disagreements between people and (as such) speaks well (of them to each other) and conveys good. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
That part of your life that has gone by is irreplaceable, and that which has arrived is priceless. [Ibn Ataillah]

Guidance of the Day:
Avarice is a sign of lack of faith in God, who provides the sustenance of His creatures. A stingy person both suffers himself and causes suffering in his dependents by skimping with what he possesses because he imagines that someday he may not have his present means. Thus from a fear of imaginary hard times for which he has no forbearance, he causes immediate pain.

He lacks the faith necessary to accept that what he has in his hand is not his. He believes that his future is guaranteed only by his own efforts. He also lacks the humanity and the intelligence to realize that what has been given to him is to be delivered to his and others' needs. The reverse of avarice is to be a spendthrift------to waste away all one's substance unnecessarily, for pointless things. This behavior is unacceptable both for humanitarian reasons and according to Islam. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
Gratitude is a duty which ought to be paid, but which none have a right to expect. It is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul. It is not only the greatest virtues, but the parent of all the others. There is as much greatness in acknowledging a good turn, as in doing it. Nothing tires a man more than to be grateful all the time.

LESSON OF THE DAY 721

Ayahs of the Day:
And you do call them to a path that is straight, while those who do not believe in the hereafter are swerving from the path. [23: 73,74]

Hadith of the Day:
The (true) maintainer of kinship is not one who merely reciprocates. The (true) maintainer is the one who reconciles ties when they are severed. [Bukhari]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Death is an occurrence of which exact time is not known to anyone. Be prepared then to meet death at anytime, lest it should take you unaware and unprepared. [Luqman the wise]

Guidance of the Day:
Another affliction that keeps us from developing the good characteristic of forbearance is to believe in bad omens and bad luck. This conception can even drive people to consulting fortunetellers, soothsayers, and oracles in order to thwart imagined bad signs. This is a sin in our religion, which is based on intelligence. There are many prophetic traditions on this subject.

The opposite of believing that others can bring you bad luck is to believe that somebody or something can bring you good luck. You may feel elated by being in the presence of a saintly person and believe that the contact will bring you good fortune. You may be surprised on a sacred religious holiday by meeting someone you love whom you have missed, and consider that a good omen. A deep saying or the counsel of a wise person may touch you and seem to change your life. Positive incidents like this are to be accepted as good.

To believe in such omens enforces our positive wishes and strengthens our will to do good. There must not be any belief that such incidents have some influence over God's will or over one's destiny! They should only increase our hopes to receive good news, which can only come from God. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
Gracefulness has been defined to be the outward expression of the inward harmony of the soul. Grace is to the body, what good sense is to the mind. Beauty and grace command the world.

LESSON OF THE DAY 720

Ayah of the Day:
We do not assign a soul more than its capacity; and We have a record that tells the truth; and they will not be done injustice. [23: 62]

Hadith of the Day:
A believer is not he who maligns, curses, or is obscene or vulgar. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Beware of being delighted with acts of worship, for they are a deadly poison. [Al Wasiti]

Guidance of the Day:
Suspicion is very wrong as a basis for action. Sufyan al Thawri says there are two kinds of suspicion. One is a sin: that is when you pass judgment against someone based upon your suspicion. The other is not a sin: that is when you suspect someone of having done something wrong, but refrain from judging or condemning him.

The opposite of suspicion is to think well of everybody. Even if there are signs to make you doubt the innocence of someone, it is still best to think of that person as innocent. To think badly and continue to be suspicious of someone who has been proven innocent is a sin. Thus it is best for you to have good will toward one and all. Above all, you should think well of your Lord. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
Gossip is always a personal confession either of malice or imbecility. The only time people dislike gossip is when you gossip about them. Gossip is the art of saying nothing in a way that leaves practically nothing unsaid.

LESSON OF THE DAY 719

Ayahs of the Day:
Do they figure that because We have enriched them with property and children We are hurrying with blessings for them? No, they do not understand. [23: 55,56]

Hadith of the Day:
Richness does not come from an abundance of wealth; (true) richness is the richness of the heart. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day
The sincere lover of Allah Most High passes his entire life preparing for death; for him, death is nothing more than a bridge leading to his Beloved. [Shaykh Zulfiqar]

Guidance of the Day:
Forbearance is not a characteristic easy to assume. It becomes permanent through long efforts in enduring controversy, injustice, tyranny, and all other conditions that weigh heavily upon one's ego, and through curtailing anger and the desire to retaliate. Many a pious man has declared that he achieved forbearance by purposefully seeking the company of obnoxious men and suffering their impudence, anger, and violence, practicing patience with them.

Every aspect of good character, such as generosity, humbleness, and valor, is obtained by long practice in fighting corresponding faults, such as stinginess, arrogance, and fear. The worst handicap to acquiring forbearance is harboring doubts about the goodness in other people, especially the other faithful, and imagining bad things about them. This suspicion of one's associates leads to the terribly sinful state of doubting the goodness in God.

Forbearance does not mean permissiveness. It is permissible, in fact it is incumbent upon a Muslim to act for the sake and in the name of God against people who are flagrantly and undoubtedly sinning, revolting against God, committing indecencies, hurting others---in order to make them stop, [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
Glory built on selfish principles, is shame and guilt. Our greatest glory consists not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail. Real glory springs from the silent conquest of ourselves.

lesson of the day 718

Ayahs of the Day:
They have divided their common interest into sects, each party pleased with what they have. So leave them in their confusion for a while. [23: 53,54]

Hadith of the Day:
One who does not have mercy on our young or respect for our old and does not enjoin the good and forbid the wrong is not of us. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Who is better among Allah's worshippers than the one who sees others as better than him? [Abu Bakr Saidlani]

Guidance of the Day:
Forbearance is a kind of behavior superior to the suppression of anger. When an adverse situation seems to violate our well-being, it creates a nervous upheaval. Great effort is required for us not to manifest this upheaval in anger, and it takes time for us to calm down. Forbearance is a condition that prevents such upheaval altogether: it keeps the nervous system in balance at all times.

People who possess forbearance have patience and gentleness of character. These are signs of faith and wisdom, which enable such people to use their minds to govern their emotions. The gentle in character hope for God's love in response to their forbearance. Such response is promised by the Messenger of Allah. The gentle person realizes that this ability to control negative emotions creates a favorable condition for acquiring knowledge and wisdom. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Though:
If there be any truer measure of a man than by what he does, it must be by what he gives. Generosity during life is a very different thing from generosity in the hour of death; one proceeds from genuine liberality and benevolence, and the other from pride and fear.

LESSON OF THE DAY 717

Ayahs of the Day:
Messengers, partake of the good things, and act with integrity; for I know what you are doing. And this community of yours is a single community, and I am your Lord, so be conscious of Me. [23: 51,52]

Hadith of the Day:
The powerful one is not he who overpowers somebody, but the powerful one is he who restrains himself when angry. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
The worst sin committed by one-----is the one not deemed so when it is done. [Ali radi Allah anhu]

Guidance of the Day:
You may find it helpful to remind yourself of the seven benefits you can reap by swallowing your anger:
1. Allah Most High says that He has prepared His Paradise for those who are able to swallow their anger and forgive the ones who did them wrong.

2. If someone has the strength to deliberate his enemy but restrains himself, Allah promises he may choose his own rewards on the Day of Judgment.

3. Allah Most High abandons the punishment due to anyone who can abandon his own anger.

4. The Prophet said: There is nothing a servant of Allah may swallow that is considered as praiseworthy as the swallowing of anger.

5. Allah protects from misfortunes and afflictions whoever protects himself from the violation of anger.

6. Allah's compassion reaches whoever escapes from the battlefield of the manifestation of his anger.

7. Allah loves the one who can put out the fire of fury in his heart.

Over and above these seven benefits that we may hope to receive by suppressing our anger, there is much greater reward if we are able to forgive the cause of our anger. Impatient and weak as we are, if we can manage to forgive, how should Allah the All-Powerful and Most Merciful not forgive our sins in return? [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
The true way to gain much, is never to desire to gain too much. No gain is so certain as that which proceeds from the economical use of what you already have.

LESSON OF THE DAY 716

Ayahs of the Day:
And surely there is a lesson for you in domestic animals: We let you drink of what is in their insides, and you find many benefits in them, and you eat parts of them, and you are carried on them, and on ships as well. [23: 21, 22]

Hadith of the Day:
Take advantage of five conditions before five others: youth before old age, good health before illness, prosperity before poverty, free time before becoming occupied, and life before death. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Be fearful lest the existence of His generosity towards you and the permanence of your bad behavior towards Him not lead you step by step to ruin. [Ibn Ataillah]

Guidance of the Day:
If you attack your enemy in anger, you should expect retaliation from him, and it may perhaps be much harsher than the punishment you have inflicted yourself. Furthermore, you will never know when it may come. The anxiety will poison your days for a long time, unless reconciliation is reached.

If you were to see yourself in a state of fury, if you looked in a mirror, you would see that your face changes from that of a human being to that of a wild animal. And it is not only the expression on our faces, but the whole of our emotional human nature that turns into the worst animal nature. Even if we are unable totally to prevent the negative feeling, if we simply manage to stop expressing our anger, we may save ourselves from the disasters mentioned above. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
The only way to have a friend is to be one. Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity. Friendship without self-interest is one of the rare and beautiful things of life.

LESSON OF THE DAY 715

Ayahs of the Day:
And with it (water) We produce for you orchards of dates and vineyards of grapes, which yield you much fruit, and from which you eat; also a tree that comes from the Mt. Sinai, which produces an oil and a dressing for those who enjoy. [23: 19,20]

Hadith of the Day:
Guard against the Hellfire, if even with a half date, and whoever does not possess that then with a good word. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Time for love is very short in this world, where do people find time to fill it with so much hate. [Shaykh Zulfiqar Ahmad]

Guidance of the Day:
Emotions are much swifter than reasoning. But if you are intelligent and experienced enough to be firm with yourself even for a short while before the explosion of anger, you may be able to stop its occurrence. That is only possible when the reason for anger is slight and not devastating.

Intelligence demands we consider the consequences of our actions that are against our interests. The worst result of fury is a loss of all control. This in turn can make us do or say something so awful that it corrupts and subverts our faith. It can even lead a person to lose faith and become an infidel.

You should also consider that in that rabid condition you are liable to inflict great unjust pain upon your adversary-----especially if you are more powerful than your enemy. You should realize that Allah is All-Powerful, and the Day of Judgment may inflict upon you a punishment whose extent cannot be imagined. [The Path of Muhammad by Imam Birgivi]

Food for Thought:
Forgive many things in others; nothing in yourself. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. Humanity is never so beautiful as when praying for forgiveness, or else forgiving another.

LESSON OF THE DAY 714

Ayahs of the Day:
And We created seven heavens above you; and We are never neglectful of creation. And We send down water from the sky and store it in the ground; and We are able to remove it. [23: 17,18]

Hadith of the Day:
Make haste in giving voluntary charity, for calamities cannot pass by it. [Tabrani]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Imaan 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. [Omar radi Allah anhu]

Guidance of the Day:
The opposite of fury is forbearance and gentleness. This quality enables one to be patient, considerate, and calm instead of flying into passion when encountering an unpleasant and aggressive situation. As the effect of anger is violence and destruction, so the effect of forbearance is compassion and peace of mind. If we were able to remember that during the very few seconds before the flame of fury envelops us, we might be able to save ourselves.

We can use our intelligence to realize the consequences of our violence. We can take certain actions to prevent anger's flaring up. We can foresee and prevent the occasions that may create anger. And we can learn forbearance. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. Logic and cold reason are poor weapons to fight fear and distrust. Only faith and generosity can overcome them. Fear is the tax that conscience pays to guilt.

LESSON OF THE DAY 713

Ayahs of the Day:
And as for you, after that you will die: and then you will, on the Day of Resurrection, be raised up. [23: 15,16]

Hadith of the Day:
A man should not be alone with a (marriageable) woman, and a woman should not travel except with the accompaniment of an unmarriageable kinsman. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Islam wants each individual to take responsibility for his or her actions and to begin to address undesirable situations by seeing how he or she has fallen short in meeting the conditions God has established for the attainment of favorable outcomes in this life. [Imam Zaid Shakir]

Guidance of the Day:
To rid yourself of your fears, you should face what you fear and gradually force yourself to fight it. And you should remind yourself that while fear surely will lead you to defeat, in courage there is hope of victory, no matter how strong the enemy is, if you persevere.

On the other hand, an excess of anger becomes a sickness of the heart called fury. It causes great damage and injury to the one who is furious, perhaps more so than to his adversary. Worse, it is a contagious sickness, infecting in full force whoever is around. Fury renders a person totally mindless and unaware of the consequences of his ravings and violence. [The Path of Muhammad by Imam Birgivi]

Food for Thought:
If the best man's faults were written on his forehead, he would draw his hat over his eyes. We confess small faults to insinuate that we have no great ones. The greatest faults, is to be conscious of none. If we are pleased with finding faults, we are displeased at finding perfections.

LESSON OF THE DAY 712

Ayahs of the Day:
We created the human being from an extract of earth, then placed it as a drop in a secure repository; then We made the drop a clot, then We made the clot a lump of flesh, then We made the flesh bones, then We clothed the bones with flesh, and then We produced another creature from it. So blessed is God, best of creators. [23: 12,13,14]

Hadith of the Day:
Fear the pleading prayer of a wronged one, for there is no veil between it and Allah. [Bukhari]

Wise Quote of the Day:
The greatest achievement of your character is that the enmity of your brother against you dare not overcome the consideration and friendship you feel toward him, and his ill-treatment of you cannot over balance your kind treatment to him. [Ali radi Allah anhu]

Guidance of the Day:
A furious person who does not have the strength to take revenge swallows his anger. Then his inner being becomes inflamed with vengefulness, destroying him.

Wrath is a passion produced by the agitation of the blood in the heart at an encounter with danger. It is also a release of anger, which comforts a person after being unjustly hurt. In some cases it is necessary feeling, as the world and sacred things may be protected by it.

Courage is a characteristic praised by people, religion, and justice alike. Yet both its lack and its extreme are blameworthy. The lack of courage is called cowardice. That is a sickness of the heart that renders one paralyzed, unable to act to help either oneself or others. The coward becomes a rag under everyone's feet, attracting tyranny and injustice from certain people, and thereby causing them to sin. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
Fashion is the science of appearances, and it inspires one with the desire to be seen rather to be. Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months. Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.

LESSON OF THE DAY 711

Ayahs of the Day:
And those who honor their trusts and their promises, and those who observe their prayer---they are the inheritors, those who will inherit paradise, where they will abide forever. [23: 8 to 11]

Hadith of the Day:
Do not express joy at your brother's calamity lest Allah take pity on him and afflict you with calamity. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Do not disappoint a person who holds a good opinion of you, and do not make him change his opinion. [Ali radi Allah anhu]

Guidance of the Day:
The other aspect of vengeance is that there are many evils that a vengeful person both causes and suffers himself. Among them are envy, taking pleasure in other people's misfortunes, belittling, lying, gossiping, giving people's secrets away, mocking people, tyrannizing, hiding the truth, and preventing justice. All these darken the heart, hurt others, and cause a person to sin.

To rejoice at misfortunes that befall your adversary, especially to believe them a response to your prayers asking for his punishment, is certainly worthy of blame. If someone you dislike is made to suffer, you should consider that it may be a test of how you react, and fear Allah's retribution. Instead of feeling avenged, you should feel sad and pray that the misfortune be lifted from your enemy. Only when the punishment of your enemy will surely prevent him from tyrannizing others, and may be a lesson to other tyrants, does a feeling of satisfaction at his difficulties become other than condemnable. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
The family is one of nature's masterpieces. A happy family is but an earlier heaven. Family life is too intimate to be preserved by the spirit of justice. It can be sustained by a spirit of love which goes beyond justice.

LESSON OF THE DAY 710

Ayahs of the Day:
The believers are sure to succeed: those who are humble in their prayers, and those who avoid nonsense, and those who work for charity. [23: 1 to 4]

Hadith of the Day:
Preserve what you have memorized of the Qur'an, because by Him in whose hand lies my life, it escapes (from the heart) faster than a camel does from its rope. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Come to realize your own qualities and He will lead you to know His. Come to realize your weakness and He will lead you to His strength. [Ibn Ataillah]

Guidance of the Day:
If we forgive someone who has done us wrong when we are unable to obtain his just punishment, that is commendable. But if we forgive the one who has done us wrong while we could easily have him punished, it is highly praiseworthy.

In some exceptional circumstances, it is better to pursue your right than to forgive. These are the cases where forgiving the injustice would encourage the wrongdoer and cause him to tyrannize others, whereas fighting for your right might stop him. However in such cases we must be very careful not to try to obtain more than what was taken from us. The punishment must be equal to the wrong done and never in excess, because in that case, the victim would be tyrannizing the tyrant. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
The highest form of vanity is love of fame. The lust of fame is the last that a wise man shakes off. Fame is vapor, popularity is accident, riches take wings. Only one thing endures and that is character. It often happens that those of whom we speak least on earth are best known in heaven.

LESSON OF THE DAY 709

Ayah of the Day:
And strive for God's sake. God has chosen you, without imposing constriction on you in religion: It is the way of your ancestor Abraham. It is God who named you the Muslims, before and herein, that the messenger may be a witness to you, and that you may be witnesses to humanity. So pray regularly and give charity and cleave to God who is your protector; an excellent protector, and an excellent defender. [22: 78]

Hadith of the Day:
Do not revile the dead, for they have passed on to what they have sent forth. [Bukhari]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Criticize and appraise yourselves before you are criticized and appraised on the Day of judgment, and weigh out your deeds before they are weighed out for you. [Omar radi Allah anhu]

Guidance of the Day:
Envy caused by vengefulness is graver than any of the other causes, because vengeance is a disaster capable of destroying lives. There are three aspects of vengeance to be considered. The first is that we must know what vengeance really is: a destructive feeling of hatred toward some person or group of people, or even toward an idea or a concept, that urges us not only to feel justified but even obliged to destroy our adversary.

According to religious teaching, this feeling may be unlawful even if it is not exteriorized or acted upon. If we are wronged, we should try to right the wrong. If we are incapable of exacting our rights, then instead of being vengeful we should leave matters in the hands of God and wait for justice on the Day of Judgment. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
Faith is love taking the form of aspiration. The smallest seed of faith is better than the largest fruit of happiness. It's not dying for faith that's hard, it's living up to it.

LESSON OF THE DAY 708

Ayahs of the Day:
God knows what is before them; and what is behind them; and all affairs are referred to God. Believers, bow, prostrate yourselves, serve your Lord, and do good, that you may be happy. [22: 76,77]

Hadith of the Day:
Beware of living sumptuously, for the (true) servants of Allah do not live sumptuously. [Ahmad]

Wise Quote of the Day:
When things do not go just as you would like, you are more likely to lack faith. You need to have confidence in your Lord and set your mind straight about Him, for He knows best what is for your good. [Ibn Abbad]

Guidance of the Day:
Arrogance is less an acquisition than it is an aspect of a person's character. Usually an arrogant person's pride is not justified by any quality he possesses. That is why when others truly possess the qualities the arrogant one imagines are his, he wishes loss, since he fears his rivals may ascend to a state superior to his own.

The cure for this is in trying to know oneself, as well as in recognizing admirable qualities in others and respecting them. If you are not able to admit any inferiority because of the rooted evil of your arrogance, then imitating humility may help to save you from the disastrous effects of your condition, and one day your imitation may become real. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
Failures are divided into two classes---those who thought and never did it, and those who did it and never thought. A failure is a man who blundered but is not able to cash in the experience. A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.

LESSON OF THE DAY 707

Ayahs of the Day:
They have not assessed the true capacity of God: for God is indeed Powerful, Almighty. God selects messengers from among the angels and from among humankind; for God is All-Hearing, All-Seeing. [22: 74,75]

Hadith of the Day:
Oppose the polytheists; lengthen the beard and clip the moustache. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
It is useless to have a learned tongue and an ignorant heart. [Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani]

Guidance of the Day:
Egotism is the conviction that nobody has any right to preference over oneself. An egotist cannot bear the thought that somebody might claim to be superior to him because of attaining more wealth or knowledge or higher position or esteem or any other qualities that are better than what he himself possesses. When other people also agree to the superiority of his adversary, he may well wish them dead.

If an egotist detaches himself by not comparing himself to people who are better off then he and not wishing them to be reduced to a level below him, but remains content with his state, comparing himself to others who are not as fortunate as himself so that he becomes thankful, then he has found his cure for envy. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
The rotten apple spoils his companion. Example is not the main thing in life---it is the only thing. First find the man in yourself if you will inspire manliness in others. The first great gift we can bestow on others is a good example.

LESSON OF THE DAY 706

Ayahs of the Day:
God will judge among you, on the day of resurrection, regarding what you differed on. Don't you know that God knows what is in the sky and earth? For that is in a decree. Indeed, that is easy for God. [22: 69,70]

Hadith of the Day:
Be in the world as though you were a stranger or a wayfarer. [Bukhari]

Wise Quote of the Day:
He who wants to retain his prestige and position through contentment and honesty, will find them lasting assets. [Ali radi Allah anhu]

Guidance of the Day:
Practically, we can resist the feeling of envy coming upon us by an effort to turn things around. If you have an urge to talk against the one who attracts your envy, you should praise him instead. If you feel superior to him, you should behave humbly toward him. If your envy demands that you work against the one you envy, you should force yourself to be kind and generous toward him. Instead of cursing him and hoping he will lose the thing you envy, you should pray to Allah to increase His blessings upon him.

These attempts may not be sufficient to prevent us from envy if we have this bad character well rooted in us. To uproot envy from our being for once and all, we have to analyze the causes of this bad habit and eliminate them. There are six principle origins of envy in human beings: egotism, arrogance, fear, ambition, bad intentions, and vengefulness. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
Exaggeration is a blood relation to falsehood and nearly as blameable. It is a department of lying. We always weaken whatever we exaggerate. There are people so addicted to exaggeration they can't tell the truth without lying.

LESSON OF THE DAY 705

Ayah of the Day:
It is God who gives you life and makes you die, then revives you: man is indeed an ingrate! [22: 66]

Hadith of the Day:
Exercise abstinence from the world and Allah will love you, and abstain from what people have and they will love you. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
The amount of knowledge which suffices the believer is that which keeps him in awe of the Divine. [Abu Bakr radi Allah anhu]

Guidance of the Day:
There are two encouragements to help us resist envy. One is intellectual and the other is practical. Intellectually, we have to be convinced that the evils envy causes in our daily life and our spiritual life, both in this world and the Hereafter, must be blamed on ourselves alone. The one we envy is totally innocent and our envy is not ever going to cause him any harm. On the contrary, it may do him good here, and certainly will enhance his spiritual life in the Hereafter.

On the religious level, we must realize that our envy is a sign that we neither accept nor believe in God's will and justice: it indicates that we are critical of God, even angry at Him. This is close to denial and a great sin. Meanwhile the one whom we envy will not lose Allah's blessings: perchance they may even increase, and certainly he is not sinning. In the Hereafter, as an innocent victim of tyranny, he will benefit.

Each word, each action the envier spends against his victim is a spiritual gift to him that will be deducted from the envier's good deeds and given to the envied one on the Day of judgment. And in this life, certainly, public opinion will be against the tyrant and his condemnation will be a victory for the victim. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury. All that is necessary for the triumph of the evil is that good men do nothing.

LESSON OF THE DAY 704

Ayah of the Day:
Don't you see that God has subjected what is on earth to you, even the ships that sail the sea by divine decree? And God prevents the sky from showering on the earth, except by divine leave; for God is truly kind and merciful to humanity. [22: 65]

Hadith of the Day:
Fulfill the trust of the one who entrusts you, and do not betray the one who betrays you. [Abu Dawud]

Wise Quote of the Day:
When a man's character becomes goodly, his words become lofty. [Ali radi Allah anhu]

Guidance of the Day:
The fifth maleficence of envy is its effects on the person envied. If not checked, it may cause disasters for its object. That is why Allah orders people to take refuge in Him from the attack of the envier, just as He asks us to take refuge in Him from the temptations of the accursed Devil.

The sixth pain that envy brings is the totally unnecessary trouble, hardship, and suffering that envy causes to the envier himself.

The seventh ill that envy brings is blindness of the heart, which becomes unable to see reality.

And finally, envy is a barrier that prevents us from ever reaching our wish or our goal, whatever it is. For when envy affects us, we are not able to see the real causes and effects of things when they happen, nor do we receive the sympathy and help of anybody in obtaining what we hope to achieve. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
Often times nothing profits more than self-esteem, grounded on what is just and right. The chief ingredients in the composition of those qualities that gain esteem and praise, are good nature, truth, good sense, and good breeding. Esteem captivates hearts better, and never makes ingrates.

LESSON OF THE DAY 703

Ayahs of the Day:
Don't you see that God sends down rain from the sky and the land becomes green? For God is indeed most kind, most aware---in possession of all in the heavens and all on earth; and God is the independent, the praise worthy. [22: 63,64]

Hadith of the Day:
Fear Allah wherever you may be; follow up a bad deed with a good one, and it will erase it; and treat people with good character. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Whoever spreads gossip for you, spreads gossip against you. Whoever relates tales to you will tell tales about you. Whoever when you please him says about you what is not in you, when you anger him will say about you what is not in you. [Imam Shafa'i]

Guidance of the Day:
Envy, in addition to being maleficent in itself, becomes an instrument to bring upon the envier at least eight other major evils:

The first is that envy may erase the rewards we hope to receive from our devotions, good deeds, and obedience to Allah.

The second evil that envy may cause is revolt against our Maker, because the envier gossips, lies, curses, fights against the one he envies unjustly, although his victim does not deserve it. This is tyranny, which Allah detests.

The third evil that envy may bring upon us is the anger of the Prophet and the loss of the opportunity of his intercession on the Day of Judgment.

The fourth danger of envy is that it may transport one to the gates of Hell. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
It is the law of humanity that man must know good through evil. No great principle ever triumphed but through evil. No man ever progressed to greatness and goodness but through great mistakes. Evil unchecked grows, evil tolerated poisons the whole system.

LESSON OF THE DAY 702

Ayahs of the Day:
God causes the night to enter the day, and the day to enter the night; and because God is all-hearing, all-seeing. That is because God is the reality, and whatever else they pray to is vanity; and it is God that is most exalted, most great. [22: 61,62]

Hadith of the Day:
Treat people according to their individual statuses. [Abu Dawud]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Modesty is a gift which is granted through guarding oneself from sins. [Shaykh al Junayd]

Guidance of the Day:
If envy exists in us, it very seldom stays hidden unless we have made it our life's goal to cleanse our hearts from evil influences and to beautify them with characteristics meeting with Allah's pleasure.

The cure of envy is through its opposite: the antidote is wishing people well. To wish well for people is a kind of beneficence to which our religion orders us. That is especially so when we see that the abundant blessings poured upon someone are bringing spiritual as well as material benefits to that person and to the people around him. Then we should not only wish that his good fortune lasts and increases, but try to help him see that it does. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
May we never let the things we can't have, or don't have, or shouldn't have, spoil our enjoyment of the things we do have and can have. As we value our happiness let us not forget it, for one of the greatest lessons in life is learning to be happy without the things we cannot or should not have.

LESSON OF THE DAY 701

Ayah of the Day:
Whoever retaliates to the degree he was injured, then is further unjustly oppressed, God will help him: for God does pardon and forgive. [22: 60]

Hadith of the Day:
Verily another person's belongings are unlawful (to take) except with his heart's content. [Bayhaqi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Face off your difficulties with patience, and fence in your blessings with thankfulness. [Ali radi Allah anhu]

Guidance of the Day:
To know some of the vast benefits of humbleness encourages us to fight the evil of arrogance. Humbleness is the profession of the prophets and saints, of the truly wise and pious servants of Allah. It is this character praised by Allah that brings one to the highest spiritual level.

To be humble, we have to know ourselves: where we came from, where we are going in this life. We must be aware of the facts and exclude the inventions of our ego and imagination. The ego is not only resistant to accepting religious norms but also defies reason and awareness of facts. It prefers imagination and exaggeration. It loves heights and loves itself. It likes to see itself up above everything and everybody. It is blind and deaf to reality.

To know ourselves, we have to stop doting on ourselves and become objective. We must look at ourselves with neutral eyes, the eyes of the norms of the revealed law. Surely every believer will be able to locate generosity between avarice and wastefulness; honest work between ambition and laziness; courage between brazenness and cowardice; hope between doubt and rigidity. The median is the center of perfect balance. That is what one has to discover in oneself. But because our ego is apt to push us upwards, it is best to consider ourselves as lesser than we have found ourselves to be. That is what humbleness is. The safest way of being is to consider oneself lower than everybody else. That was the way of the generation of Muslims after the Prophet. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
The world belongs to the energetic. Energy and persistence conquer all things. The real difference between men is energy. A strong will, a settled purpose, an invincible determination, can accomplish almost anything; and in this lies the distinction between great men and little men.

LESSON OF THE DAY 700

Ayahs of the Day:
As for those who have emigrated for the sake of God, and then been killed or died, God will certainly provide them an excellent provision; and God is indeed the best of providers, and will surely admit them to a place with which they will be pleased; for God is indeed omniscient, most kind. [22: 58,59]

Hadith of the Day:
Mercy is not taken away except from a wretched person. [Abu Dawud]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Your desire that the people know your particular distinction is a proof of insincerity in your servant hood. [Ibn Ataillah]

Guidance of the Day:
Love of oneself is a very maleficent character; especially when people are proud of their achievements; worse still if they are enamored of their imagined religious or spiritual state. Such may forget that the honor bestowed on them because of their achievements, as well as those achievements themselves, belong to Allah Most High alone. People forget this because they are unaware and heedless that every person is created by the Creator, and that each person's actions are his destiny decided by Allah. The realization that all is done by His will, and that everything belongs to Him, will cure us of this ill. Then we will be thankful for everything that happens to us through us, and be obedient to the will of our Lord.

To save ourselves from egotism, it should suffice to see its results in ourselves and others. The egoist thinks of his state as a blessing. He thinks that he knows everything and that he controls his life, and even the lives of others. He is heedless of the suffering he causes for himself and others. He thinks that he is Physically, socially, and spiritually on the top of the world. yet he has no thought for an occasion when he might fall from the heights to which he has climbed, nor does he recognize any other power other than the one he imagines he possesses. He takes himself as his own God----as he will be devastated when Allah acts upon what He says: " Woe to the one whose evil deed is made fair seeming to him, so that he considers it good (35: 8)." [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
In this life we get nothing save by effort. Many a man fails because he never tries. Things don't turn up in this world until somebody turns them up. A law of nature governs that honest effort cannot be lost, but that someday the proper benefits will be forthcoming.

LESSON OF THE DAY 699

Ayahs of the Day:
Dominion on that day will belong to God, who will judge among them. And those who believed and did good works will be in gardens of happiness. As for those who scoffed and repudiated Our signs, for them there is a degrading penalty. [22: 56,57]

Hadith of the Day:
It is not lawful for a Muslim to sever relationships with his brother for more than three days. Whoever does sever relationships for more than three days and then dies will enter Hellfire. [Abu Dawud]

Wise Quote of the Day:
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 will ultimately lie; lovers of fine food and drink forget not that you are to become the food of worms and maggots. [Othman radi Allah anhu]

Guidance of the Day:
There are other influences from outside ourselves that may induce arrogance. Hatred and vengeance, which are great sins in themselves, will give birth to yet another great evil: pride. When we are angry at someone above us, especially, our ego will immediately raise us to a level above the superior adversary. We imagine ourselves more righteous, more intelligent, more powerful, closer to Allah. Even if the adversary is right, he is wrong. If he is powerful, that is temporary, he is a soldier of Satan. If he is devout, his devotion is hypocritical. If our enemy wins, then vengeance sets in. The injustice has to be righted! The arrogance of the imagined victim is very long-lasting.

Then there is envy; again a great sin in itself. It forces us into denial of Allah's will, questioning His justice. Why should somebody who is inferior to us be blessed with more sustenance and a better life? Woe to the arrogant who think that they know the value of the envier and the envied, and what each deserves, better than God! The only cure for arrogance induced by hatred, envy, or hypocrisy---all greater sins----is to remember in our combat against these that further evils will attach to us if we fail to stop them. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
Loyal and efficient work is a great cause, even though it may not be immediately recognized, ultimately bares fruit. A sense of value of time----that is, of the best way to divide one's time into one's various activities----is an essential preliminary to efficient work; it is the only method of avoiding hurry.

LESSON OF THE DAY 698

Ayahs of the Day:
Say, "People, I am only a clear warner to you: For those who believe and do good works there is forgiveness, and a generous provision. " [22: 49,50]

Hadith of the Day:
None among you is a (perfect) believer until I become more beloved to him than his father, his children, and all people. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
The intelligent one is he who knows Allah, His commands and His prohibitions. [Ibn Ataillah]

Guidance of the Day:
The fourth reason that some people are arrogant is their physical beauty. Why do they not know that exterior beauty is but temporal and passes very quickly? Allah and the wise look at the beauty of the heart in human beings. The fact is that our beginning is a blood-clot in our mother's womb, and our end is a foul-smelling, decaying corpse thrown into a grave. How attractive can that body be?

The fifth reason for some to be proud is their strength. Physical power, like beauty, is short-lived. Even more temporal and fragile than good looks, strength melts away with a few days of fever or sickness. One need not wait for old age: an accident, a broken bone, takes it away for good. And when you think of it, elephants, bulls, even donkeys are more powerful than men. How can one be proud of a quality in which animals are superior to human beings?

The sixth cause of pride is wealth and fame, and the seventh is numerous followers, students, employees, and dependents. These two reasons are the most unseemly causes of arrogance because they depend on conditions entirely outside of ourselves. These conditions, though so difficult to obtain, can very easily be lost. The sickness of these causes of pride is common to all people, faithful and faithless, honest and dishonest alike. When we find ourselves in these conditions, we feel like kings. When we lose them, we feel ourselves the lowest of the low. How can someone be proud of possessing a thing that pleases a thief when he succeeds in his misdeed? [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
Education is a progressive discovery of our ignorance. Education is a social process.....Education is growth......Education is, not a preparation for life; education itself is life. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.

LESSON OF THE DAY 697

Ayah of the Day:
And how many communities have We let be even as they were doing wrong, and then We punished them! And the journey is to Us. [22: 48]

Hadith of the Day:
Angels do not enter a house in which there is a picture or a dog. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Worshipping Allah as though you are seeing Him and endeavoring to benefit the creation is the key to incurring the mercy of Allah. [Allama ibn al Qayyim]

Guidance of the Day:
The second cause of arrogance is a feeling of superiority in one's spiritual and religious state. Someone who has chosen the lifestyle of an ascetic, who has devoted his life to praying, fasting, and meditating, withdrawing from the world, runs the greatest danger of this sin. The real cause of it is very much the same as the cause of pride in one's knowledge. Just as in that case, the lack of knowledge and wisdom is responsible.

A pious person should know that our spiritual state as Muslims does not depend on prayer, fasting, meditation, or seclusion from the world. We are given numerous actions in life that bring spiritual rewards, and warn off many others that we are forbidden to pursue. And in whatever we do, we are taught that our intentions, sincerity, and love and fear of Allah are of the greatest importance for our salvation.

The third cause of sinful arrogance is to be proud of one's ancestors and their merits, nobility, and distinction. Is this reasonable, if those attributes are not also one's own? How can we hope that the virtues possessed by somebody else will benefit ourselves? A poet has written:
If you are proud of your forefathers:
You are indeed telling the truth.
Woe to them! How their souls must suffer
That they have fathered such a bad son!
What safety did Cain find in Adam's nobility?
Was Kanan saved from the Flood by being the son of Noah? [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship. Without economy none can be rich, and with it few will be poor. He who will not economize will have to agonize. There can be no economy where there is no efficiency. A man who lives by hope, will die of despair.

LESSON OF THE DAY 696

Ayahs of the Day:
Haven't they traveled the earth, that they may have hearts to understand, or ears to hear? Surely it is not their eyes that are blind; what is blind are the hearts that are in their breasts. [22: 46]

Hadith of the Day:
It is not lawful for a Muslim to frighten another Muslim. [Abu Dawud]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Anyone who makes the example of the Prophet his rule in word and deed speaks with wisdom; anyone who lets passion rule him speaks as an innovator. [Othman al Hariri]

Guidance of the Day:
One may object that Allah Most High has ordered us to oppose the faithless and the sinners, so how are we to see ourselves beneath them? Indeed, we are urged to help such people to mend their ways; and if they cannot be helped, to fight them to prevent their harming others. However, we cannot do this for our own benefit, but only for Allah's sake. We cannot undertake that struggle while thinking that we are the saved and they are the damned.

You should know that Allah is aware of the wrongdoings you are hiding from others while you are busy reprimanding them for sins that show. You must consider that in the end you may be worse than the ones you oppose, and fear for yourself, rather than fearing the effects of the acts of the people you blame.

When you are led into a situation in which you are obliged to reprimand a sinner, you should behave like a nurse charged by a great lord to educate his children. That nurse, when necessary, may reprimand and punish the children of the lord, but will never feel superior to them, for he knows that those children are dearer to their father than he is himself. Only Allah knows who is dearest to Him. The best way is to think that everyone else is better in the Lord's opinion than oneself. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
To eat is human; to digest, divine. By eating what is sufficient man is enabled to work; he is hindered from working and becomes heavy, idle, and stupid if he takes too much. When it comes to eating, you can sometimes help yourself more by helping yourself less.

LESSON OF THE DAY 695

Ayah of the Day:
And how many communities have We ruined as they were being unjust, so they tumbled down to their foundations; and how many wells lie abandoned where castles still stand! [22: 45]

Hadith of the Day:
The body nourished with unlawful means will not enter Paradise. [Bayhaqi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Death is always a silent companion. [Ali radi Allah anhu]

Guidance of the Day:
That which befits the true servant of Allah is not to have any feeling of superiority toward anyone. Such a person, when he encounters an ignorant sinner, thinks, "He sins because he does not know, yet I sin in spite of my knowledge. Therefore, he is certainly better than I." When he encounters knowledgeable people, he considers them more devout than himself, for who may judge the quality and quantity of wisdom?

When he meets an older person, he considers the elder more devout than himself, for he certainly has had more time to pray. When he sees a younger person, he reflects that he himself has had more time to sin than the youth. When he encounters someone of his own age and status, he considers that while he knows nothing of the life of the other, he knows very well how he has conducted his life, and something known is more justifiably open to criticism than something unknown.

Even when he meets someone who is without faith and openly denies God, he thinks: "How secure is my faith? How do I know that I will end my days as a believer? And how do I know that this poor man will not be honored by Islam before he leaves this world?" Let him even look upon a dog or a pig, and he will lament that these creatures have not revolted against their Maker, so that there is no judgment nor punishment for them, yet he himself, created as the best of creation, has revolted against his Lord and is deserving of punishment. These are the good servants of Allah who see themselves clearly and are making their accounting before they are obliged to make it. Engaged in repentance, they have no occasion to criticize others or show pride. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
Never mind your happiness; do your duty. Who escapes a duty, avoids gain. A duty dodged is like a debt unpaid; it is only deferred, and we must come back and settle the account at last.

LESSON OF THE DAY 694

Ayahs of the Day:
Their meat does not reach God, nor their blood; it is your piety that reaches God. We subjected them to you this way so you would acknowledge the greatness of God for having guided you. And announce good news to those who do good: God defends those who believe; God does not love any faithless ingrate. [22: 37,38]

Hadith of the Day:
A believer is not bitten from the same hole twice. [Bukhari & Muslim]
(A true believer must always act intelligently so that he is not deceived twice, especially from the same source, in matters related to this world and the Hereafter. This hadith warns against heedlessness in one's affairs and that a person should not allow himself to be deceived, either due to his forbearance or otherwise)

Wise Quote of the Day:
People praise you for what they suppose is in you; but you must blame your soul for what is in it. [Ibn Ataillah]

Guidance of the Day:
A wise man is he who sees his shortcomings and is not proud; for whom the more he knows, the more he realizes how little he knows. Of course, to stop pride, one first has to admit that arrogance in any form whatsoever is a sin, and that only Allah the Proud One is worthy of that attribute.

It is said that only the ones who know can fear Allah. By the same token, only the ones who fear Allah can know. These are free of the sin of keeping their knowledge to themselves, selling it for personal benefit, being proud of it, or becoming guilty of any of the other forms of evil that superior knowledge may induce. These rare servants of Allah are the true inheritors of the wisdom of the prophets who were without exception fearful of their Lord and humble, in spite of being the best and most knowledgeable of all human beings. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
If honor be your clothing, the suit will last a lifetime; but if clothing be your honor, it will soon be worn threadbare. The well-dressed man is he whose clothes you never notice.

LESSON OF THE DAY 693

Ayahs of the Day:
We ordained a rite for every people, that they would celebrate the name of God over the domestic animals that God provided them. But your Lord is one single deity, so submit to God. And bring good news to the humble ones. Those whose hearts are afraid when mention is made of God, and those who patiently endure what afflicts them, and those who practice prayer and give of what We have provided them. [22: 34,35]

Hadith of the Day:
A talebearer and the one who breaks ties of kinship will not enter Paradise. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Learn from those who know more than you do and teach those who know less than you do. [Ibn Mus'ud]

Guidance of the Day:
Seven qualities are said to be causes of pride: education and knowledge; religious piety; the fame and nobility of one's family and ancestors; physical attractiveness or physical strength; wealth; achievement; and the number of one's admirers and followers. In reality, none of these qualities necessarily produces arrogance. On the contrary, they are positive values for which every person strives. The real cause of arrogance is stupidity, and the inability to comprehend what is offered as knowledge. Yet there is no other medicine but knowledge for curing this stupidity.

A superior education and acquired learning are the first and most dangerous cause of pride. This case is most difficult to cure because its cause is also its medicine. To acquire knowledge is an obligation for every Muslim. Therefore to refuse to learn so as not to be proud of one's knowledge is not a solution for this problem. The solution is in educating ourselves that the superiority of knowledge depends solely on the sincerity of the intention to act upon it.

To learn how to apply our knowledge in everyday life and to teach it to others for Allah's sake alone, without any wish to receive compensation or recognition from people, is a whole spiritual and social education in itself. Anyone who has reached this stage will not feel superior to the lowest and most ignorant person in existence. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil. Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle that fits them all. One ought to have a good memory when he has told a lie.

LESSON OF THE DAY 692

Ayahs of the Day:
Whoever attributes partners to God is as if he had fallen from the sky and a bird had snatched him or the wind had blown him to a distant place. That is it. And any honor the emblems of God, that is from piety of hearts. [22: 31,32]

Hadith of the Day:
What an evil person is he who stores merchandise and, if Allah causes the prices to fall, is grieved and, if He causes them to increase, is pleased. [Bayhaqi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Whenever you interact with people, deal with them as you would wish yourself to be dealt with by them, for a worshiper's faith is incomplete until he wants for other people what he wants for himself. [Imam Ghazali]

Guidance of the Day:
Arrogance becomes more dangerous when it is manifested and directed. Some people are arrogant toward human beings. They are not any better than the accursed devil who refused to obey Allah when He asked all the angels to prostrate to Adam (a.s.). The Devil thought that he was created of fire while Adam was created of earth, and that fire was superior to earth. He did not know himself and he did not know Adam. Therefore he was punished and rejected from Allah's mercy until the end of time.

Some are arrogant toward Allah, like the Pharaoh who said, "I am your Lord, the Supreme." Or like Nimrod, who said to the Prophet Abraham (a.s.), "Your
God may be the Lord of the Heavens. I am the Lord of this world," and dared to challenge Allah to fight him. Allah drowned the Pharaoh and his armies while they were chasing the Prophet Moses (a.s.) and the children of Israel. Nimrod was killed by a mosquito that devoured his brain.

Some are arrogant toward the Prophet of Allah, like Abu Jahl, who said, "Is this who God chose as His Messenger? Couldn't He have revealed the Qur'an to a celebrated man of Mecca or Medina?" Allah seals the eyes and ears and hearts of the arrogant so that they cannot know the truth. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
Sickness and disease are in weak minds the sources of melancholy; but that which is painful to the body, may be profitable to the soul. Sickness puts us in mind of our mortality, and while we drive on heedlessly in the full career of worldly pomp and jollity, kindly pulls us by the ear, and brings us to a proper sense of our duty.

LESSON OF THE DAY 691

Ayah of the Day:
And whoever honors the sacred rites of God, that is good for him in respect to his Lord. And domestic animals are permitted to you, except those declared off limits to you. Avoid indecency involving idols, and avoid talk of what is false. [22: 30]

Hadith of the Day:
It is heinous breach of trust that you tell your brother something that makes him believe you, when you are lying to him. [Abu Dawud]

Wise Quote of the Day:
When you want to commit a sin, look for a hiding place that is not being watched by Allah Most High and His angels. [Hakeem Luqman]

Guidance of the Day:
Modesty, to appear less than we are, is commendable. Yet, the exaggeration of humbleness to the extent of appearing abject is a sin. Only knowledge is worth begging for, and worth humbling ourselves to receive.

To work hard---even far beneath our qualifications---to support our families, to help with the menial chores of our houses, shopping, cooking, cleaning are commendable signs of true humility. To be ordinary in appearance, to wear inexpensive worn clothes, to befriend the poor and disadvantaged, to eat simple food and not throw away leftovers, not to seek reputation-building, self-glorifying jobs, not to consider it beneath you to be a shepherd, a gardener, a porter, a carpenter, or a mason----these are signs of humility.

These kinds of manifestations of humility are worthy of great divine rewards, for they resemble the behavior of prophets and saints. But many people do not know it and think of a life like this as reprehensible. They are the arrogant ones who do not know themselves. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
That which makes people dissatisfied with their condition, is the fanciful idea they form of the happiness of others. The discontent man finds no easy chair. Who with a little cannot be content, endures an everlasting punishment.

LESSON OF THE DAY 690

Ayah of the Day:
We prepared a dwelling for Abraham at the site of the House, on condition: "Don't associate anything with Me; and purify My house for those who go around it, and those who stand, and those who bow down. [22: 26]

Hadith of the Day:
What an excellent person the religious scholar is----when needed he is helpful and when not needed he enriches himself. [Razin]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Sometimes darkness come over you in order that He make you aware of the value of His blessings upon you. [Ibn Ata I'llah]

Guidance of the Day:
Arrogance is a state in which we are convinced that we have the right to be above others. Justifiable self-regard, without comparing ourselves to others and feeling superior, is not the same thing. That is, at worst, vanity. Arrogance is unlawful in Islam. It is considered to be a disgraceful state.

The opposite of arrogance is to look ourselves with the intention of truly knowing ourselves. Self-examination is a virtue, and one that is expected of a Muslim. Whether our self-regard is justifiable or not, whether truly in our hearts we believe that we are superior to others or not, if our conceit is exteriorized, manifested, communicated to others by mind or deed, it is a sin. The worst version of this sin occurs when no justification exists for the feeling of superiority we cherish.

The only time when the attitude of pride is not a sin is when it is manifested against an aggressive, arrogant person or against a tyrannical enemy, when we are waging battle in defense of our religion or country. In fact, to show pride toward an arrogant person is considered to be a good deed. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
The best remedy for unhappiness is to count your blessings. Each new day is an opportunity to start all over again----to cleanse our minds and hearts anew and to clarify our vision.

LESSON OF THE DAY 689

Ayahs of the Day:
God will admit those who believed and did good works to gardens where streams flow below, where they will be adorned with bracelets of gold and pearls; and their clothing there will be silk, for they were guided to the good word, and they were guided to the path of the Praiseworthy. [22: 23,24]

Hadith of the Day:
A son of Adam becomes old but two things in him become young: greed for wealth and greed for more life. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Worship has four characteristics, the fulfillment of pledges, observing the limits of the law, contentment with one's actual condition, and patience in the midst of loses. [Ibn Abbad]

Guidance of the Day:
The decision to refuse to temptations of hypocrisy is made by the mind. The mind obeys whichever is the stronger; attraction toward, or aversion from, a stimulus. There are three sure ways to strengthen your resistance to hypocrisy. You can know its causes and effects. You can consider undesirable even the most seemingly attractive results of a hypocritical action or attitude. Best of all, you can make sincerity your purpose in life.

Aversion to hypocrisy and the ability to resist it only become possible through faith in Allah and abiding with one's religion. Whoever wills to be sincere in actions and in state can protect themselves from the effects of hidden hypocrisy only through the fear of Allah. This is not only a fear of the punishment and wrath of Allah; it is also a fear of losing the love of one's Lord and of His rejection.

This care toward and fear of one's Lord has to exist during and even after every action. Its place is not at the beginning. At the beginning we need an intention containing a firm faith in our sincerity that we hope for nothing other than Allah's approval and pleasure in our forthcoming action. The meaning of good intention is to start an action with sincerity, purpose, and resolution. Doubt, confusion, and neglect cannot be part of a well-made intention.

A sincere person begins each action with a clear certainty. The fear of Allah is felt by people who are afraid of the consequences of their egotism and hypocrisy. For the faithful who have studied and know right from wrong, and who are sincere in their attempts to do right, fear and hope of Allah are best. Allah knows best. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
There can be no such thing as necessary evil. For if a thing is really necessary, it cannot be evil and if it is an evil, it is not necessary.

LESSON OF THE DAY 688

Ayah of the Day:
Don't you see that all beings in the heavens and all beings on earth bow to God, including the sun and the moon and the stars, and the mountains and the trees, and the animals and many humans? But many are worthy of punishment too; and no one can dignify those whom God disgraces, for God enacts the divine will. [22: 18]

Hadith of the Day:
Hellfire is veiled with desires and Paradise is veiled with displeasures. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Even if you studied for a hundred years and collected a thousand books, you would not be eligible for the mercy of God the Exalted except through action. [Imam Ghazali]

Guidance of the Day:
O you who have received the great gift of intelligence from your Lord, use it! Use it to test your deeds and your praise of your Lord. Your Lord knows what you do: it is enough achievement that you know what you are doing. No one else has to know. When you evaluate your actions, do not forget to remember the benefits of sincerity and the damage done by hypocrisy in your life. The best decision is to stop exhibiting your good deeds: only this will close the gates of hypocrisy altogether. Yet there are certain circumstances when your actions should be shown in order to encourage others to follow your example.

Even when your intentions are the best, you will be obliged to defend your hearts against the evil temptations of your ego. Hypocrisy enters the heart through three gates: the hope that your deeds will be recognized by the public; the wish to be praised and given honor and high position as a reward for your actions; the acceptance and enjoyment of this popularity and the rewards it offers.

We must reject all these temptations. We should consider that in reality, to be publicly singled our---even by people's praise for a devout, pious, honest, and generous person---is sufficient to lead us into the worst troubles of this world and the Hereafter. We must believe that the one who praises us is our enemy, because he is the ally of our ego, our worst enemy. And we must know that succumbing to these temptations will eventually attract Allah's wrath and punishment upon us. If we resist in this way, our resistance will let us the ugliness behind the false facade of momentary attraction. Then we will be able to refuse. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
He that has learned to obey will know how to command. It is never wise to slip the hands of discipline. You will never be the person you can be if pressure, tension, and discipline are taken out of your life. What we do on some great occasion will probably depend on what we already are. What we are is the result of previous years of self-discipline.

LESSON OF THE DAY 687

Ayah of the Day:
God will admit those who believed and did good works to gardens with streams that flow below; for God does what God wills. [22: 14]

Hadith of the Day:
Accursed is the slave of the dinar and the dirham. [Bukhari]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Be satisfied with what you have and patient with what you lack, fulfill commitments, and do much bowing and prostrating. Give up directing and choosing with Him who directs and chooses. [Ibn Ata illah]

Guidance of the Day:
The main sources of sincerity are faith, love, and hope. Its nourishment is wisdom, intelligence, and knowledge. These causes become active when all our actions, behavior, thoughts, and feelings are dependent on our faith in God, and the love, joy, and security it brings.

Your ears are a path to your heart; your eyes are its windows. The person whose heart understands what enters it and keeps it safe has found salvation. The sincere person is safe, secure, and at peace in this world and the Hereafter. His actions find divine reward. Allah is pleased with him, and he is pleased with his Lord.

The hypocrite can be cured and find his felicity by pulling the roots of hypocrisy out of his heart. Those roots are the love of the world, the immediate desire and lust for the tastes of this life, and the preference for this life over the Hereafter. This world is turbid. Its inhabitants have no power. Helpless, they can neither harm nor save anyone. The eyes in people's heads, without the insight of faith, are blind to reality. And the life in this world is temporal. It shrivels, decays, and passes away very fast, while the life in the Hereafter is forever, clear, and eternal. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
If you expect perfection from people your whole life is a series of disappointments, grumblings and complaints. If, on the contrary, you pitch your expectations low, taking folks as the inefficient creatures which they are, you are frequently surprised by having them perform better than you had hoped.

LESSON OF THE DAY 686

Ayahs of the Day:
They pray to what can neither cause them harm nor bring them benefit, instead of God; that is outlandish error. They pray to one whose harm is closer than his benefit----surely a wretched protector and a miserable companion! [22: 12,13]

Hadith of the Day:
Every sin is forgiven for a martyr except debt. [Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Whenever one's knowledge of Allah is strengthened, one's love for Him is also strengthened and one's love for obeying Him is also strengthened. He will then experience the pleasure of worship. [Shaykh Zulfiqar Ahamad]

Guidance of the Day:
If we are reminded of the benefits of sincerity, we may be able to prevent ourselves from falling under the influence of the evil-commanding ego that leads us to hypocrisy.

The main sources of sincerity are faith, love, and hope. Its nourishment is wisdom, intelligence, and knowledge. These causes become active when all our actions, behavior, thoughts, and feelings are dependent on our faith in God, and the love, joy, and security it brings. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
Every noble work is at first impossible. Diligence is the mother of good luck. He who labors diligently need never despair; for all things are accomplished by diligence and labor. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.

LESSON OF THE DAY 685

Ayah of the Day:
Some people worship God in a fickle way: If something good happens to them, they are satisfied with it, but when a trial happens to them, they are knocked over on their faces. They lose this world and the Hereafter; that is the obvious loss. [22: 11]

Hadith of the Day:
For a person to be classified as a liar it is sufficient that he say everything he hears. [Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
A small amount of lawful earnings is superior to earnings which are in abundance, but unlawful. Respect is in contentment and comfort in abstention. [Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanwi]

Guidance of the Day:
The causes of hypocrisy are three: the wish to be known, respected, honored by people, with the intention of profiting from such situation; envy of the good fortune of others, and a desire to have the same for oneself; fear of being criticized and blamed for one's actual state.

The real meaning of hypocrisy is to distort devotion, which is given to us as a means to come close to the One Who is Sacred and Powerful, by using it for other purposes. There are other devices through which one may seek people's favor, but to pretend godliness and piety in order to gain people's attention, love, and confidence is blasphemy and an insult to God. Indeed, if people knew his intentions, the hypocrite would receive the opposite of what he seeks: distrust instead of confidence, hate instead of love. People may not see through a hypocrite, but nothing is hidden from Allah. He certainly knows. And His wrath far surpasses the worst punishment we may receive from human hands.

The least harm a hypocrite should expect is that his actions will be unlawful in the eyes of God. His willful falsification, his presenting something as real while it is not, will turn against him. Although there are degrees of hypocrisy, and divine punishment is in accordance with the gravity of the offense, the hypocrite can expect that all his fraudulent efforts will be in vain. Not only will he gain no favors, but in the eye of God he will stand condemned. [The Path of Muhammad by Imam Birgivi]

Food for Thought:
No man who is occupied in doing a very difficult thing, and doing it very well, ever loses his self-respect. Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body. Undertake something that is difficult; it will do you good. Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.

LESSON OF THE DAY 684

Ayahs of the Day:
Moving his side, so as to lead (men) astray from the path of Allah: For him there is dishonor in this life, and on the Day of Judgment We shall make him taste the penalty of burning fire. (It will be said to him): "This is because of the acts which your hands sent before, for surely, Allah is not unjust to His servants. [22: 9,10]

Hadith of the Day:
Every person will be resurrected in the condition he dies. [Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
The wise man knows that the only fitting price for his soul is a place in Paradise. [Ibn Hazm]

Guidance of the Day:
If you are sincere in your consideration for others, you should mind neither their praise nor their blame. Yet it is right and natural that we are hurt by other people's criticism. Often there is truth in it, and we should feel pain at the sight of what is wrong with ourselves. That pain may lead us to try to correct the wrong: therefore it is lawful. It is only our denial and resentment of criticism that is not good.

Shame sincerely felt because of our wrong doings, even when brought on by fear of other people, is a good deed. But if we feel ashamed of performing pious , laudable actions dictated by our religion because we are in the company of irreligious, that shame is blameworthy. Someone whose faith is strong feels a shame before Allah far more intense than what he might feel in the presence of the most powerful of men.

The perfection of sincerity is in becoming invisible in the eyes of others. At a lesser level, perfect sincerity dictates that the opinions of others should not matter, because all of us are helpless. All that matters is to follow Allah's prescriptions, and all reward and punishment are solely from Him. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
If men would consider not so much wherein they differ, as wherein they agree, there would be far less uncharitableness and angry feeling in the world. Personal differences are often great stimulus to monumental collaborations. Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress.

LESSON OF THE DAY 683

Ayahs of the Day:
And the end of time is coming; there can be no doubt about it; and God will resurrect those in graves. And yet some people will still argue about God, without knowledge, without direction and without enlightening scripture. [22: 7,8]

Hadith of the Day:
The grave is but a garden from the gardens of Paradise or a pit from the pits of Hellfire. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Dunya: Any action undertaken without Allah's pleasure as its goal. [Othman radi Allah anhu]

Guidance of the Day:
7. Then the Devil says: "If all is His doing, then you do not have to intend to do anything. If all is His will, then you do not need your will. It is decided in your mother's womb if you are doomed or you are saved; nothing you will do will change your destiny."

The wise will know that we do not know our destiny. But we do know that we are created to praise our Lord, to know our Lord, and to serve our Lord. Whatever our destiny is, our good deeds will profit us. If we are created fortunate by birth, we still need to do good deeds and to protect ourselves from evil. If we are created to do ill, we need to do even more good as repentance to compensate for our misfortune. How could the Lord punish a person for obedience? If one is destined to be thrown into Hell, it is better to enter the fire as an obedient servant. Allah promises that if a person comes to Him with faith in his heart and a life time of good deeds, the fire will be forbidden to him. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
Lots of folks confuse bad management with destiny. Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice: It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. Our destiny changes with our thought; we shall become what we wish to become, do what we wish to do, when our habitual thought corresponds with our desire.

LESSON OF THE DAY 682

Ayahs of the Day:
And you see the earth lifeless, but then We shower water on it, and it stirs and swells and produces every beautiful species. That is because God is reality itself, giving life to the dead, in command of all things. [22: 5,6]

Hadith of the Day:
Verily the world is accursed and accursed is what it contains, except the remembrance of Allah, that which Allah loves, and someone with sacred knowledge or someone learning it. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Sins have a tendency of creating restlessness in one's heart in one form or the other. [othman radi Allah anhu]

Guidance of the Day:
6. Then the devil says: "Indeed you are sincere and not a hypocrite, so you do not have to do any good deed for others to praise. Strive inwardly! Let none see you pray or how good you are. Live your spiritual life in seclusion; leave the world to the worldly. Your Lord will know." Thus the devil tries to pull the devout into hidden hypocrisy. If they follow this bad advice, in their seclusion they will feel that they are protecting themselves from the rest of the world, who are worse than they are.

The faithful who are well guided will say: "I was born into this world and am not better than any other person in it. We are all the servants of our Lord. Some He uses to benefit others, some He uses to tyrannize others. He knows what I do and He knows what is in my heart. I cannot hide anything from Him. If He wills, He exposes what I am; if He wills, He hides who I am even from myself. He is the master I am the slave. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
The block of granite which is an obstacle in the pathway of the weak becomes a stepping-stone in the pathway of the strong. You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration.

LESSON OF THE DAY 681

Ayah of the Day:
O humanity, if you are in doubt about the resurrection, remember that We created you from dust, then from a drop, then from a clot, then from a lump of flesh, formed and unformed, in order to edify you. And We keep in the womb those We wish, up to a designated term; then We bring you out as infants, and enable you to reach your maturity: but some of you will be kept here until the age of senility, such that they know nothing of what they knew before. [22:5]

Hadith of the Day:
The cure for ignorance is to question. [Abu Dawud]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Abstention from sin is of greater importance than plenteous supererogatory worship. [Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanwi]

Guidance of the Day:
3. When the Devil cannot prevent us from following Allah's ordinances in our lives, nor force us to delay our duties, he pushes us to hurry. He says: "Do it quickly, so that you will have time for other things." The wise can resist by saying: "Less done, but completely, is better than much which is incomplete."

4. Then the Devil incites us to show off our deeds. If the faithful are protected by their Lord from hypocrisy, they can say: "People can neither help me nor harm me except by the will of Allah. Neither their praise nor their curse touches me. My Lord is All-Seeing and He is sufficient for me."

5. The most dangerous of evil temptations induces us to be proud. The Devil whispers in our ear: "How wise and heedful you are, while the whole of humanity is asleep!" If we are guided by our Lord, we can respond: "All praise and thanks are due to my Lord if I am heedful. His is the guidance, His is the success. All I have is His gift. If it were not so, all the good that comes through me would not reduce the swamp of my sins by a single drop." [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
What is defeat? Nothing but education, nothing but the first step to something better. Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure. He who is accustomed to defeat, yet persists, will some day succeed. He who is accustomed to success, and becomes indifferent, will some day fail.

LESSON OF THE DAY 680

Ayahs of the Day:
Some people dispute about God without knowledge: and they follow every defiant devil, of whom it is written that he will misguide anyone who puts him in charge, leading him to the torment of the blaze. [22: 3,4]

Hadith of the Day:
The most beloved practice in the sight of Allah is love for the sake of Allah and hatred for the sake of Allah. [Abu Dawud]

Wise Quote of the Day:
If we are not living for our Lord, relying on His guidance and help, and trusting in His wisdom, we will find it very difficult to negotiate our way through this world. [Imam Zaid Shakir]

Guidance of the Day:
If we know how the accursed Devil operates, it is possible to protect ourselves against his temptations. Generally speaking, there are seven ways the Devil leads people astray.

1. The main goal of the Devil is to prevent us from obeying our Lord. He wants to steal our faith. He will attempt to prevent us from praying, fasting, paying the poor-rate, from performing the pilgrimage, from doing good deeds. He presents the ego with attractive alternatives: wealth, fame, fun, ambition, attachment to the world and the worldly. But the heedful, wise, and faithful person can respond: "I am here in this world for a moment and I will be in the Hereafter for the eternity. I can only care for this world for the short time I will spend here, but I must work for the sake of the Hereafter where I will stay forever.

2. If the evil influence cannot prevent us from doing what Allah has ordered us to do, it tries to delay the good actions we intend. It tempts us to do what is pleasurable to our egos first. What Allah asks us to do, it prefers we do later. In this case, the devout, under the protection of their Lord, can respond: "My life is not in my hands. I do not know when the end will come. If I leave what I was ordered to do today until tomorrow, tomorrow may never come. Every moment of my life is for a purpose. Now is the time to do what is to be done now. And now is the only time." [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
You can fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time. All deception in the course of life is indeed nothing else but a lie reduced to practice, and falsehood passing from words into things.

LESSON OF THE DAY 679

Ayahs of the Day:
O humanity, be conscious of your Lord, for the shock of the end of time will be a tremendous thing: the day you see it, every nursing woman will forget the child she suckles, and every pregnant female will drop its fetus, and you will see the people intoxicated though they are not drunken: but the punishment of God is severe. [22: 1,2]

Hadith of the Day:
Allah has forbidden to you denying what you owe and demanding what you have no right to, and has disliked for you idle talk and gossip, excessive questioning, and squandering wealth. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Just like stagnant, standing water becomes a breeding ground for filth, an empty and carefree mind becomes a hive for useless and scorn thoughts. [Shaykh Zulfiqar Ahmad]

Guidance of the Day:
We should also suspect the existence of hypocrisy in our relations with our friends and acquaintances. Do we prefer one person over another because he is rich, famous, known and admired by others? Or do we care more about his righteousness, his knowledge and wisdom and good character----even if he is also rich and famous? If our preference is dependent on wealth and fame and the recognition of others, our care for that person is certainly hypocritical.

There are signs of hypocrisy particular to people who are put in the positions of teachers, preachers, mystical leaders, and the wise. One is a change of attitude and an affection in speech when talking to important people. However if spiritual teachers appear to be especially polite, caring, and generous to the rich and famous with the intention of correcting their wrong doings and leading them to repentance and to straight path, thus hoping to lead others to salvation through their influence, their actions are correct and not hypocritical.

Another sign of hypocrisy among such people is the expression of envy and disapproval, and the belittling of others in their position. Yet envying someone for his piety, righteousness, and religious knowledge is perfectly acceptable. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
Never spend your money before you have it. Debt is the worst poverty. Rather go to bed supperless than rise in debt. Do not accustom yourself to consider debt only as an inconvenience; you will find it a calamity. A man in debt is so far a slave.

LESSON OF THE DAY 678

Ayahs of the Day:
It is God who knows what is said openly and what you conceal, and I don't know but it may be a trial for you, or a delight for a while. Say, "My Lord, judge by truth." And, "Our Lord, the Benevolent One, is the resort against what they assert." [21: 110,111,112]

Hadith of the Day:
Anger ruins faith just as the aloe plant ruins honey. [Bayhaqi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
A person who renounces something for his Lord will be more than compensated with strong faith and the rewards of obedience to the Lord of the universe. [Ibn Abbad]

Guidance of the Day:
It is permissible to feel a certain security and satisfaction in hiding one's piety, one's good deeds---even hiding from our left hand what our right hand gives---as a proof to ourselves that we seek only Allah's approval. However, hypocrisy may raise its ugly head and make us expect people around us to behave well toward us in consequence. We may expect people to offer us respect, to be fair when we buy something, to show us honor, kindness, thankfulness, as if we deserved those considerations for hiding our good deeds! If our efforts were untainted by hypocrisy, we would neither expect people's regard nor mind their ingratitude and disregard.

Unless you waste no thought or care on people's reactions when you behave according to the orders of Allah, unless there is no difference between your cat seeing you pray or your neighbor, the question of hypocrisy in your actions remains. When we are confident of our truthfulness with ourselves, we may purposefully accept recognition from people in order to feel the sting of hidden hypocrisy. Allah sees and knows all; nothing is hidden from Him. The sincere believer should also be able to see in himself what Allah knows. [The Path of Muhammad by Imam Birgivi]

Food for Thought:
Crisis and deadlocks when they occur have at least this advantage, that they force us to think. As we wake or sleep, we grow strong or we grow weak, and at last some crisis shows us what we have become. Crisis refine life. In them we discover what we are.
God calls Himself "Baseer" [Observant], so that the knowledge that He is watching you may

LESSON OF THE DAY 677

Ayahs of the Day:
We have sent you only as a mercy to all peoples. Say, "It has only been revealed to me that your deity is one God; so do you acquiesce?" Then if they turn away, then say, "I have exhorted you just the same, even though I do not know whether what you are promised is near or far." [21: 107,108,109]

Hadith of the Day:
Interest, however much it might accrue, leads in the end to penury. [Ibn Maja, Ahmad]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Never consider sin to be small. Regard sin as great. He who thinks slightly of sin has considered Allah to be insignificant. [Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanwi]

Guidance of the Day:
A possible cure for hypocrisy is to be wary of one's concern for the opinions of others. It is best to totally ignore people's opinions, unless your behavior is harmful to them. Indeed, your fasting or praying is between you and Allah and has nothing to do with human beings. If you seek other people's recognition of your piety, you are setting up partners to Allah---unless you want to set an example to others, you are the same as the secular hypocrite who wishes to become the commanding of the army by showing false valor in battle, and gets himself killed.

What is most pernicious is hidden hypocrisy---hidden even from the hypocrite himself. It is more difficult to detect than the sound of an ant's footsteps. That is why a sincere person must take great care to learn the signs of hidden hypocrisy.

Sometimes we find joy, satisfaction, and a little pride in people's approval and praise of things we have done with the true intention of helping others, leading them to the straight path, or serving as an example of selfless obedience to Allah. If we do these things without remembering that they are all undertaken for His sake and that He is the one who rewards us by hiding our faults and showing us only His beautiful side----then there is danger of hypocrisy. To be happy and satisfied in yourself, thankful to Allah for making you act like a human being, and hopeful of His favors in the Hereafter, is not a sign of hypocrisy. The test is in our ability to look into ourselves in sincerity. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
The small courtesies sweeten life; the greater ennoble it. We must be as courteous to a man as we are to a picture, which we are willing to give the advantage of a good light. True politeness consists in being easy one's self, and in making everyone about one as easy as one can.

LESSON OF THE DAY 676

Ayahs of the Day:
And We recorded in the Psalms, after the Reminder, that My servants, people of integrity, will inherit the earth. There is indeed in this a message for people who worship. [21: 105,106]

Hadith of the Day:
The closest to Allah of people is the one who begins the salam. [Abu Dawud]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Do not use your energy except for a cause more nobler than yourself. Anyone who uses his energy for the sake of the vanities of the world is like someone who exchanges gemstones for gravel. [Ibn Hazm]

Guidance of the Day:
Another sickness of the heart and cause of faithlessness is sanctimony. Sanctimony in the ordinary sense means attempting to succeed in this world through one's devotion, worship, and prayers, while also making public these acts of devotion. Even simply telling someone about your religious practice without being asked, or without an intention of teaching or correcting religious concepts, is sanctimonious.

Sanctimony is a form of hypocrisy, which is the attempt to appear to be what one is not. Its opposite is sincerity, the foundation of true faith. Sincerity means to undertake good deeds and behavior in harmony with our actual faith and religion, out of concern for salvation and peace in the Hereafter and a pure wish to come close to our Lord. Such actions, devotions, worship, and prayers are kept hidden, away from the sight and hearing of others. The reward for sincerity is the greatest gift of Allah in this world: the conviction that you are in the plain view of Allah while you are performing your worship. [The Path of Muhammad]

Food for Thought:
This is no time for ease and comfort. It is the time to dare and endure. True courage is like a kite; a contrary wind raises it higher. It is grace under pressure. The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart. One man with courage makes a majority.