LESSON OF THE DAY 626

Ayah of the Day:
But a generation came after them who neglected prayer and followed cravings; and they will meet with perdition, except whoever repents and believes and acts with integrity--those will enter the garden, and will not be wronged at all. [19: 59, 60]

Hadith of the Day:
The believer is one who is sociable (with others), and there is no good in one who is not sociable (to others) nor in one who is not met sociably (by them). [Bayhaqi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Someone who draws your attention to an unpleasant habit, or a negative feature of your character, so that you can cleanse yourself of it is like one who warns you of a snake or scorpion under your robe---he has shown concern lest you perish. If you disapprove of that, how great is your folly! [Imam Ghazali]

Guidance of the Day:
Not only are we obliged to seek knowledge, we must also understand how to behave in life. We will never understand this unless we observe ourselves in our daily life. Observe ourselves, and not try immediately to change, but to say, "Ah, this lazy one again, how easily he got angry." We must first try to recognize all the faults within us, in order to change them into qualities, in order to become our own shepherd. We must pull out the arrow of useless thoughts, throw it away, and discard the toys of our mind before it is too late.

Life is a gift that consists of three days and two are gone. No matter how much money you have, regardless of how much influence you have in this world, you cannot bring those days back. We have one day left, and in that remaining day are we going to seek the pleasures of the world that are so temporary? Can we not put the love of Allah in our hearts before that heart becomes dust? For dust it will become. And for those who could never have enough of big houses and acres of land, one day they will have to be satisfied with six feet of earth.

How can we remove these veils.....before our eyes can no longer see and our ears no longer hear? There is a time limit. It is Allah's secret, and it is different for each one of us. But our intelligence tells us there is a time limit. This very same intelligence that doesn't even see we are dying at every moment. Then one day we have gray in our hair, wrinkles on our skin. If all this is happening on the outside, it must also be happening inside our bodies. We will go. All it takes is one moment, and we will never be able to see with eyes again or smell with this nose or hear with these ears or breathe with these lungs or walk with these legs. [When you hear hoof beats think of a zebra]

Food for Thought:
Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame. It's okay to be angry, but it isn't healthy to be resentful. We can learn to deal with our anger in ways that are healthy for us and for those around us.