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.