LESSON OF THE DAY 637

Ayahs of the Day:
I am the God; there is no deity but Me; and serve Me, and practice prayer and remember Me. For the end of time is coming, but I plan to conceal it, so that every soul be rewarded for its effort. So do not let anyone who disbelieves in it and follows his own desires alienate you from it, for you would be destroyed. [20: 12 to 16]

Hadith of the Day:
Believers are like a single person; if his eye is in pain his whole body pains, and if his head is in pain his whole body pains. [Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
The best of which that gives life to the heart is the recitation of the Quran when accompanied with deep reflection. [Shaykh Fadl]

Guidance of the Day:
When one's heart becomes pure, then the sign of Allah is written upon our being. We want the pleasure of being close to Allah. But we don't want to go through the process of getting there. We want to love Allah without loving His creation. We want Allah to accept our love when we don't love those He created. If we want to know Allah, we can know Him through His creation.

How can we light the torch of faith in our hearts? With inspiration. We can make no action without its being preceded by inspiration. If we have an inspiration, it leads to a desire, and that desire will create an action. And how are we inspired? Obviously we are not inspired by a life vicariously lived while attached to video screens. We are involved with too much television and too much useless conversation. When these take over our lives, it leaves no time to do real work.

We can be inspired by reading the holy books sent down by Allah and by reading the books of the masters. We can be inspired by those around us who remind us of Allah. How often do we find ourselves in our car, and walking down a street with a friend, and we allow the precious time to slip away. We don't remind each other of Allah enough. We should occupy ourselves with that which will bring us honor, for a man's good or bad habits are the only means whereby his contemporaries know him. The day of a prudent man begins at night. He eats little,sleeps little, and talks little. These are his protections. Associate with such a person whose sight wakes up the remembrance of God in you. And who does not instruct by words but by his example makes you perfect in your spiritual practice. [When you hear hoof beats think of a zebra]

Food for Thought:
Everything is predictable. Yet, we have no idea what will happen. That is the curious paradox of our world. We all know we are going to die. But none of us knows just how or when or where.