Ayahs of the Day:
Don't you see that all creatures in the skies and on earth glorify God, even the birds on the wing? Each one knows its prayer, and its manner of praise. And God is fully cognizant of what they are doing. For the dominion of the heavens and the earth belongs to God, and the destination is to God. [22: 42,43]
Hadith of the Day:
Among the latter people of this Umma there will be a group that will have reward similar to that of the first people. They will enjoin good, forbid evil, and fight against those who cause strife. [Bayhaqi]
Wise Quote of the Day:
The past and almost all that was in your possession during the past is not with you now. You may thus rationally come to the conclusion that the present and all that is in your possession will also leave you. [Ali radi Allah anhu]
Guidance of the Day:
If there is anything to love in this life, it is to love our Lord. What else is there to love but Him? But to believe in this, to be aware of this, we have to feel it, and we have to come to know Him. To know one has to learn, acquire the necessary knowledge. Whatever you do while remembering your Lord as you know Him will be the best deed and all will benefit from it; while if you spent your whole life achieving a thing, without knowing and remembering Him it will be vain.
Use your intelligence and seek His treasures hidden in you. But you value your appearance, your body so much, you think you are it. Many are fooled by the attractions of this world during our short life and forget God and the eternal life, while every moment should be spent in preparation for the Hereafter and in helping others to do the same. You live your lives worrying about tomorrow and regretting yesterday. What about Now? Time is a sharp sword if you do not know how to use it, it cuts the hand that holds it. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
We are here to add what we can to life, not to get what we can from it. Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways. Life is like a cash register, in that every account, every thought, every deed, like every sale is registered and recorded.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 747
Ayah of the Day:
Or (the unbelievers condition) is like the layers of darkness in a fathomless sea, covered with waves with waves over them and clouds over those; layers of darkness one over another, such that if one stretched out his hand he could hardly see it, and whoever God gives no light has no light at all. [24: 40]
Hadith of the Day:
A time will come upon the people in which it will not concern a person whether what he acquires is from a lawful or an unlawful source. [Bukhari]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Let not obedience make you joyous because it comes from you, but rather, be joyous over it because it comes from God to you. [Ibn Ataillah]
Guidance of the Day:
Do not squander the treasure of your essence, know your origin, be heedful, show patience, purify yourself with the flames of love, keep your soul pure. Beware, the body is but your animal of burden which carries your soul. If the desires of its flesh and its lust carry you away and you think you are one and the same as it, you bray instead of pray, you lose your humanity. Do not cover the light of your heart with the dark veils of unconsciousness. Otherwise your soul may forget its communion with its Lord at the beginning and take this temporal life as its end.
Watch your heart turn it toward Truth. Keep your heart clean and at peace. Thus you will not drift away from your self. And if you know yourself, you will find Him in your heart. Do not sell yourself cheap to this world for a day's worth of fun and games that your flesh demands. Use your mind, chose eternal life in Paradise. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
Leisure is a beautiful garment, but it will not do for constant wear. Employ your time, if you mean to gain leisure. We give up leisure in order that we may have leisure, just as we go to war in order that we may have peace.
Or (the unbelievers condition) is like the layers of darkness in a fathomless sea, covered with waves with waves over them and clouds over those; layers of darkness one over another, such that if one stretched out his hand he could hardly see it, and whoever God gives no light has no light at all. [24: 40]
Hadith of the Day:
A time will come upon the people in which it will not concern a person whether what he acquires is from a lawful or an unlawful source. [Bukhari]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Let not obedience make you joyous because it comes from you, but rather, be joyous over it because it comes from God to you. [Ibn Ataillah]
Guidance of the Day:
Do not squander the treasure of your essence, know your origin, be heedful, show patience, purify yourself with the flames of love, keep your soul pure. Beware, the body is but your animal of burden which carries your soul. If the desires of its flesh and its lust carry you away and you think you are one and the same as it, you bray instead of pray, you lose your humanity. Do not cover the light of your heart with the dark veils of unconsciousness. Otherwise your soul may forget its communion with its Lord at the beginning and take this temporal life as its end.
Watch your heart turn it toward Truth. Keep your heart clean and at peace. Thus you will not drift away from your self. And if you know yourself, you will find Him in your heart. Do not sell yourself cheap to this world for a day's worth of fun and games that your flesh demands. Use your mind, chose eternal life in Paradise. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
Leisure is a beautiful garment, but it will not do for constant wear. Employ your time, if you mean to gain leisure. We give up leisure in order that we may have leisure, just as we go to war in order that we may have peace.
Monday, January 29, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 746
Ayah of the Day:
Or for those who disbelieved, their works are like a mirage on a plain, which the thirsty one thinks to be water, until he reaches it and finds nothing there----though he finds God with him, who pays him his due, and God is swift in accounting. [24:39]
Hadith of the Day:
A time will come upon the people when a person among them practicing his religion with perseverance will be like one clutching onto a cinder. [Tirmidhi]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Contentment is the widest door to God, the garden of this world, and the resting place for God's servants. [Ibn Abbad]
Guidance of the Day:
On the Day of Judgment our own organs------our tongue, our eyes, our ears, our hands, and the rest of our physical being----will be witnesses against us. Above all, watch your tongue, for speech is the unique gift that God has bestowed only on the human being. The welfare of the rest of you depends on your tongue. The Messenger of God, when asked about the best thing a person can do to gain God's approval, said: "Watch your tongue."
The tongue is loose: it is hard to keep it straight. The best way to keep it from going astray is to close it inside the mouth and keep quiet. It has no control in itself: it babbles and makes noises unless it becomes a tool of the mind. To teach the tongue to speak only when necessary is a great exercise and demands a great effort.
It is best to consider the following rule: Speak only when you know that what you say is in accordance with truth mentioned in the Qur'an or the Traditions of the Prophet, or what the wise close to God or true scholars have said. Then make sure that those who listen to you understand what you say, and also that they will agree with you. Furthermore, make sure that people are able to put into action what they have heard from you. If any of these conditions is missing, it is best to stay silent. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
There is no real wealth but the labor of man. It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things. Excellence in any department can be attained only by the labor of a lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price.
Or for those who disbelieved, their works are like a mirage on a plain, which the thirsty one thinks to be water, until he reaches it and finds nothing there----though he finds God with him, who pays him his due, and God is swift in accounting. [24:39]
Hadith of the Day:
A time will come upon the people when a person among them practicing his religion with perseverance will be like one clutching onto a cinder. [Tirmidhi]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Contentment is the widest door to God, the garden of this world, and the resting place for God's servants. [Ibn Abbad]
Guidance of the Day:
On the Day of Judgment our own organs------our tongue, our eyes, our ears, our hands, and the rest of our physical being----will be witnesses against us. Above all, watch your tongue, for speech is the unique gift that God has bestowed only on the human being. The welfare of the rest of you depends on your tongue. The Messenger of God, when asked about the best thing a person can do to gain God's approval, said: "Watch your tongue."
The tongue is loose: it is hard to keep it straight. The best way to keep it from going astray is to close it inside the mouth and keep quiet. It has no control in itself: it babbles and makes noises unless it becomes a tool of the mind. To teach the tongue to speak only when necessary is a great exercise and demands a great effort.
It is best to consider the following rule: Speak only when you know that what you say is in accordance with truth mentioned in the Qur'an or the Traditions of the Prophet, or what the wise close to God or true scholars have said. Then make sure that those who listen to you understand what you say, and also that they will agree with you. Furthermore, make sure that people are able to put into action what they have heard from you. If any of these conditions is missing, it is best to stay silent. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
There is no real wealth but the labor of man. It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things. Excellence in any department can be attained only by the labor of a lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 745
Ayahs of the Day:
There are men whom neither business nor commerce can divert from remembrance of God, and persistence in prayer, and giving of alms, fearing a day when hearts and eyes will be transformed, that God may reward them for the best of what they did, and even grant them more, out of divine bounty. And God provides for whomever God will beyond accounting. [24: 37,38]
Hadith of the Day:
When you feel no shame, then do as you please. [Bukhari]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Whoever is not thankful for graces runs the risk of losing them, and whoever is thankful fetters them with their own cords. [Ibn Ataillah]
Guidance of the Day:
Carelessness of the tongue is the cause of much bitterness among human beings. Watch your tongue! It can produce the sweetest or the bitterest reaction. Have a care for the one who listens to what you say. Do not say anything unless you are sure that the one who hears it will understand it as you meant it. If one of these conditions is missing, you had best not say anything. Otherwise, even if you have the best of intentions, you may lead people astray.
Silence is better than useless speech. But speak loudly and clearly against tyranny, and against those who act against God and your faith. For no matter how humble your place in society, if you are aware of a wrong being done, to be silent is equally wrong. Although the reward goes to the courageous who speak out against what is ungodly, the Prophet permits silence for persons who may with certainty expect a disaster to fall upon them and those around them if they speak the truth. God is Ever-Forgiving. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for thought:
Kindness is a language the dumb can speak and the deaf can hear and understand. You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.
There are men whom neither business nor commerce can divert from remembrance of God, and persistence in prayer, and giving of alms, fearing a day when hearts and eyes will be transformed, that God may reward them for the best of what they did, and even grant them more, out of divine bounty. And God provides for whomever God will beyond accounting. [24: 37,38]
Hadith of the Day:
When you feel no shame, then do as you please. [Bukhari]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Whoever is not thankful for graces runs the risk of losing them, and whoever is thankful fetters them with their own cords. [Ibn Ataillah]
Guidance of the Day:
Carelessness of the tongue is the cause of much bitterness among human beings. Watch your tongue! It can produce the sweetest or the bitterest reaction. Have a care for the one who listens to what you say. Do not say anything unless you are sure that the one who hears it will understand it as you meant it. If one of these conditions is missing, you had best not say anything. Otherwise, even if you have the best of intentions, you may lead people astray.
Silence is better than useless speech. But speak loudly and clearly against tyranny, and against those who act against God and your faith. For no matter how humble your place in society, if you are aware of a wrong being done, to be silent is equally wrong. Although the reward goes to the courageous who speak out against what is ungodly, the Prophet permits silence for persons who may with certainty expect a disaster to fall upon them and those around them if they speak the truth. God is Ever-Forgiving. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for thought:
Kindness is a language the dumb can speak and the deaf can hear and understand. You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.
Friday, January 26, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 744
Ayah of the Day:
(The light of Allah shines bright) in houses that God has allowed to be raised, wherein the name of God is remembered, the glory of God is celebrated in the mornings and the evenings. [24: 36]
Hadith of the Day:
When Allah destines for a person to die at a particular place, He creates a need for him to be there. [Tirmidhi]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Trust in God! Laugh in misfortune's face; it too will laugh. As it laughs, it will diminish; it will be changed and transformed. [Badiuzzaman Said Nursi]
Guidance of the Day:
O you who love and fear God and have unshakable hope in His beneficence, do not fear poverty! To fear poverty is an insult to God because it means distrust in His generosity. If poverty comes upon you in spite of all your precautions, accept your destiny, and find consolation in having been brought to the way of the prophets, the saints, and the pious ascetics.
Above all, do not fear human beings. People who fear God will not harm other people. A believer is a person from whose tongue and hand others are safe. Keep your distance from those who rebel against God, but do not fear them, for if they attack you, God considers them to be attacking Him. He is the best and most powerful of helpers, and He is sufficient for you. The one who has lost hope in God is capable of taking advantage of other people, for he has also lost his conscience. He is deceitful, treacherous, swindling, double-dealing, lying. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
They that know no evil will suspect none. Innocence is like polished armor; it adorns and defends. To be innocent is to be not guilty; but to be virtuous is to overcome our evil inclinations.
(The light of Allah shines bright) in houses that God has allowed to be raised, wherein the name of God is remembered, the glory of God is celebrated in the mornings and the evenings. [24: 36]
Hadith of the Day:
When Allah destines for a person to die at a particular place, He creates a need for him to be there. [Tirmidhi]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Trust in God! Laugh in misfortune's face; it too will laugh. As it laughs, it will diminish; it will be changed and transformed. [Badiuzzaman Said Nursi]
Guidance of the Day:
O you who love and fear God and have unshakable hope in His beneficence, do not fear poverty! To fear poverty is an insult to God because it means distrust in His generosity. If poverty comes upon you in spite of all your precautions, accept your destiny, and find consolation in having been brought to the way of the prophets, the saints, and the pious ascetics.
Above all, do not fear human beings. People who fear God will not harm other people. A believer is a person from whose tongue and hand others are safe. Keep your distance from those who rebel against God, but do not fear them, for if they attack you, God considers them to be attacking Him. He is the best and most powerful of helpers, and He is sufficient for you. The one who has lost hope in God is capable of taking advantage of other people, for he has also lost his conscience. He is deceitful, treacherous, swindling, double-dealing, lying. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
They that know no evil will suspect none. Innocence is like polished armor; it adorns and defends. To be innocent is to be not guilty; but to be virtuous is to overcome our evil inclinations.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 743
Ayah of the Day:
God is the light of the heavens and the earth. The likeness of divine light is as of a niche with a lamp inside; the lamp is in a glass; and the glass is as if a shining star, lit from a blessed olive tree, neither of the East nor of the West, its oil nearly luminous even without fire touching it. Light upon light; God guides whomever God will to divine light; and God gives people examples. And God is cognizant of everything. [24: 35]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever sincerely asks Allah for martyrdom, Allah will elevate him to the rank of martyrs, even if he dies on his bed. [Muslim]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Keep complete control over your temper and anger, because there is nothing more beneficial at the end and more productive of good results than such control. [Ali radi Allah anhu]
Guidance of the Day:
God is ever forgiving and compassionate. Hopelessness is a madness that makes a person vulnerable to falling into the betrayal of faith. Caught in time, like any sickness, it can be cured. It suffices to remember God's compassion, manifest in all the things with which one is blessed, and how similar troubles in the past faded away and were replaced by better conditions. Remember that the solution to problems does not depend entirely on our own precautions. Often these do not work, and sometimes, miraculously, they do so unexpectedly.
Despair primarily affects those who are attached to this world. People do not know what is ultimately good for them, but God does. And nothing happens in this world, or in our lives, except with the will of God. If we have faith, whether that which comes from God seems good or bad to us, it should make no difference. Such acceptance is the sign of a true Muslim, who submits to the Lord. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
He who commits injustice is ever made more wretched than he who suffers it. Whatever the human law may be, neither an individual nor a nation can commit the least act of injustice, against the obscurest individual without having to pay the penalty for it.
God is the light of the heavens and the earth. The likeness of divine light is as of a niche with a lamp inside; the lamp is in a glass; and the glass is as if a shining star, lit from a blessed olive tree, neither of the East nor of the West, its oil nearly luminous even without fire touching it. Light upon light; God guides whomever God will to divine light; and God gives people examples. And God is cognizant of everything. [24: 35]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever sincerely asks Allah for martyrdom, Allah will elevate him to the rank of martyrs, even if he dies on his bed. [Muslim]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Keep complete control over your temper and anger, because there is nothing more beneficial at the end and more productive of good results than such control. [Ali radi Allah anhu]
Guidance of the Day:
God is ever forgiving and compassionate. Hopelessness is a madness that makes a person vulnerable to falling into the betrayal of faith. Caught in time, like any sickness, it can be cured. It suffices to remember God's compassion, manifest in all the things with which one is blessed, and how similar troubles in the past faded away and were replaced by better conditions. Remember that the solution to problems does not depend entirely on our own precautions. Often these do not work, and sometimes, miraculously, they do so unexpectedly.
Despair primarily affects those who are attached to this world. People do not know what is ultimately good for them, but God does. And nothing happens in this world, or in our lives, except with the will of God. If we have faith, whether that which comes from God seems good or bad to us, it should make no difference. Such acceptance is the sign of a true Muslim, who submits to the Lord. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
He who commits injustice is ever made more wretched than he who suffers it. Whatever the human law may be, neither an individual nor a nation can commit the least act of injustice, against the obscurest individual without having to pay the penalty for it.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 742
Ayah of the Day:
We have already revealed to you clarifying signs, and an example from those who passed away before you, and counsel for the conscientious. [24: 34]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever's actions set him back, his ancestry will not hasten him forward. [Muslim]
Wise Quote of the Day:
He who does not know the value of graces when they are present will know their value when they are absent. [Ibn Ataillah]
Guidance of the Day:
Hopelessness (Despair) is a curse: a source of much mischief that eventually may lead to loss of faith. It starts with doubting God's beneficence and ends in believing that He does not exist. When someone loses his faith in God, there are no bounds to his mindless and heedless actions and behavior. When one does not fear God, it seems that misbehavior has no consequences. One loses track of all obligations, duties, consideration of others, ethics and moral.
When a person has lost hope of God's beneficence, his only concern is himself. He has lost his faith in God, so his ego becomes his god. He does not believe in the Hereafter or the Day of Judgment, so the worldly life is his only domain and his only chance is to make the best of everything in it. As he does not believe either in divine justice or in divine punishment, he has no scruples about committing criminal acts as long as he is not apprehended by human justice-----which he tries to sway in his favor if he can. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
No one will dare maintain that it is better to do injustice than to bear it. If you suffer injustice, console yourself; the true unhappiness is in doing it. Those who commit injustice bear the greatest burden.
We have already revealed to you clarifying signs, and an example from those who passed away before you, and counsel for the conscientious. [24: 34]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever's actions set him back, his ancestry will not hasten him forward. [Muslim]
Wise Quote of the Day:
He who does not know the value of graces when they are present will know their value when they are absent. [Ibn Ataillah]
Guidance of the Day:
Hopelessness (Despair) is a curse: a source of much mischief that eventually may lead to loss of faith. It starts with doubting God's beneficence and ends in believing that He does not exist. When someone loses his faith in God, there are no bounds to his mindless and heedless actions and behavior. When one does not fear God, it seems that misbehavior has no consequences. One loses track of all obligations, duties, consideration of others, ethics and moral.
When a person has lost hope of God's beneficence, his only concern is himself. He has lost his faith in God, so his ego becomes his god. He does not believe in the Hereafter or the Day of Judgment, so the worldly life is his only domain and his only chance is to make the best of everything in it. As he does not believe either in divine justice or in divine punishment, he has no scruples about committing criminal acts as long as he is not apprehended by human justice-----which he tries to sway in his favor if he can. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
No one will dare maintain that it is better to do injustice than to bear it. If you suffer injustice, console yourself; the true unhappiness is in doing it. Those who commit injustice bear the greatest burden.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 741
Ayah of the Day:
Wed those among you who are unmarried, even the virtuous of your servants and maids. If they are poor, God will relieve them from the divine bounty. And God is All-Encompassing, All-Knowing. [24: 32]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever has faith in Allah and the Last Day should be hospitable to his guest, and whoever has faith in Allah and the Last Day should either speak what is good or remain silent. [Bukhari & Muslim]
Wise Quote of the Day:
When we live for our Lord it becomes easy to live with each other. If in our personal relations we can come to embody the spirit of mutual love, mercy, and affection, we will be able to live together in harmony. [Imam Zaid Shakir]
Guidance of the Day:
Heedfulness----seeing the truth about yourself, your world, and your life, seeing God's hand in everything------will raise you to the level of being God's servant. Divine servanthood is the highest spiritual level to which any human being can aspire, because it is the level of the Prophet of God. To be a servant of God is total freedom: it is freedom from being a slave to the world. This freedom in turn frees one's will from being a slave to customs and habits, and permits it to seek with sincerity the Truth, the universal conscience. Finding that, you will be freed from all fault and rewarded with salvation and peace in this world and with spiritual bliss in the Hereafter.
O my readers, my brothers in faith, woe to us whose shoulders are heavy with sin! The beloved ones of God, feared Him, though there was no reason for them to fear. What makes us so secure? It is because we are asleep, unaware of our reality. Wake up from the deadly sleep of heedlessness. Love the ones who loved God and whom God loved. Try to follow them. Perchance God will count us among them. [The Path of Muhammad by Imam Birgivi]
Food for Thought:
It is more noble by silence to avoid an injury than by argument to overcome it. If the other person injures you, you may forget the injury; but if you injure him you will always remember. Never does human soul appear so strong as when it forgoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury.
Wed those among you who are unmarried, even the virtuous of your servants and maids. If they are poor, God will relieve them from the divine bounty. And God is All-Encompassing, All-Knowing. [24: 32]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever has faith in Allah and the Last Day should be hospitable to his guest, and whoever has faith in Allah and the Last Day should either speak what is good or remain silent. [Bukhari & Muslim]
Wise Quote of the Day:
When we live for our Lord it becomes easy to live with each other. If in our personal relations we can come to embody the spirit of mutual love, mercy, and affection, we will be able to live together in harmony. [Imam Zaid Shakir]
Guidance of the Day:
Heedfulness----seeing the truth about yourself, your world, and your life, seeing God's hand in everything------will raise you to the level of being God's servant. Divine servanthood is the highest spiritual level to which any human being can aspire, because it is the level of the Prophet of God. To be a servant of God is total freedom: it is freedom from being a slave to the world. This freedom in turn frees one's will from being a slave to customs and habits, and permits it to seek with sincerity the Truth, the universal conscience. Finding that, you will be freed from all fault and rewarded with salvation and peace in this world and with spiritual bliss in the Hereafter.
O my readers, my brothers in faith, woe to us whose shoulders are heavy with sin! The beloved ones of God, feared Him, though there was no reason for them to fear. What makes us so secure? It is because we are asleep, unaware of our reality. Wake up from the deadly sleep of heedlessness. Love the ones who loved God and whom God loved. Try to follow them. Perchance God will count us among them. [The Path of Muhammad by Imam Birgivi]
Food for Thought:
It is more noble by silence to avoid an injury than by argument to overcome it. If the other person injures you, you may forget the injury; but if you injure him you will always remember. Never does human soul appear so strong as when it forgoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury.
Monday, January 22, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 740
Ayah of the Day:
Tell the believing men to lower their eyes and guard their modesty. That is more innocent for them; for God is fully aware of whatever they do. [24: 30]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever swears an oath by other than Allah has ascribed partners with Allah. [Tirmidhi]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Death is such a painful experience that one should always be concerned about it and engage oneself in preparation for meeting death. One should be more cautious about it, particularly because nobody knows the time when it may come to pass. [Imam al Ghazali]
Guidance of the Day:
The cure for all ills is consciousness: to wake up from the sleep of heedlessness. What is needed is fear, fear of God-----not so much the fear of His punishment, but the fear of losing His love and care.
Religion is the awe of God. It is the conviction that you, and all and everything, are His. Everything that happens to you and to the universe is in His hands. You have no power except that which comes from Him. You have no say except as He directs you and orders you. And all He is and does and gives, and everything He directs you to do, is good. Thus the fear of God is this awe of His greatness and power in contrast to human nothingness. It should lead humanity to heedfulness of what is happening to us, and what we are expected to do. And it should make us realize how we have failed and thus draw us to repentance, to working with patience, to enduring the tests, to gratitude for the rewards we receive, and to an awareness of our unworthiness in the face of all God's gifts.
All this in turn brings people closer to God. It will bring you certainty instead of dreaming and enable you to see the real reality. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
Write injuries in dust, benefit in marble. No man ever designed an injury to another, but at the same time he did a greater to himself. The injury we do and the one we suffer are not weighed in the same scale.
Tell the believing men to lower their eyes and guard their modesty. That is more innocent for them; for God is fully aware of whatever they do. [24: 30]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever swears an oath by other than Allah has ascribed partners with Allah. [Tirmidhi]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Death is such a painful experience that one should always be concerned about it and engage oneself in preparation for meeting death. One should be more cautious about it, particularly because nobody knows the time when it may come to pass. [Imam al Ghazali]
Guidance of the Day:
The cure for all ills is consciousness: to wake up from the sleep of heedlessness. What is needed is fear, fear of God-----not so much the fear of His punishment, but the fear of losing His love and care.
Religion is the awe of God. It is the conviction that you, and all and everything, are His. Everything that happens to you and to the universe is in His hands. You have no power except that which comes from Him. You have no say except as He directs you and orders you. And all He is and does and gives, and everything He directs you to do, is good. Thus the fear of God is this awe of His greatness and power in contrast to human nothingness. It should lead humanity to heedfulness of what is happening to us, and what we are expected to do. And it should make us realize how we have failed and thus draw us to repentance, to working with patience, to enduring the tests, to gratitude for the rewards we receive, and to an awareness of our unworthiness in the face of all God's gifts.
All this in turn brings people closer to God. It will bring you certainty instead of dreaming and enable you to see the real reality. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
Write injuries in dust, benefit in marble. No man ever designed an injury to another, but at the same time he did a greater to himself. The injury we do and the one we suffer are not weighed in the same scale.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 739
Ayah of the Day:
O you who believe, do not enter houses other than your own homes until you have asked permission, and bid peace upon their occupants. That is better for you, that you may be aware. [24: 27]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever claims something not belonging to him is not of us, and let him take his seat in the Hellfire. [Muslim]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Do not press claims against your Lord because your request has been delayed, instead, press claims against yourself for slackening in your behavior. [Ibn Ataillah]
Guidance of the Day:
Trust in God does not require leaving everything to Him without doing anything yourself. Conversely, working to obtain what you need or asking for other people's help does not mean that you do not trust in God. Indeed, to have a hand in filling your own needs is the best endeavor available to recommend you to God's favor. But in the hurry to accomplish something, a hasty person will not hesitate to cooperate with, befriend, even offer support to, a depraved, faithless sinner. This is most unbecoming to a believer and extremely dangerous even if these people occupy the highest positions and are very powerful.
All these failures in human behavior---hurrying through this life, which is our only chance to prove ourselves worthy of God's love; squandering His most valuable gift, our allotted time-----come about through heedlessness, being asleep. Because of heedlessness we become daring, fearless, dreaming that we are invincible knights while at best, we are powerless tools in the hands of God. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
Ingratitude is a treason to mankind. Nothing more detestable does the earth produce than an ungrateful man. A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.
O you who believe, do not enter houses other than your own homes until you have asked permission, and bid peace upon their occupants. That is better for you, that you may be aware. [24: 27]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever claims something not belonging to him is not of us, and let him take his seat in the Hellfire. [Muslim]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Do not press claims against your Lord because your request has been delayed, instead, press claims against yourself for slackening in your behavior. [Ibn Ataillah]
Guidance of the Day:
Trust in God does not require leaving everything to Him without doing anything yourself. Conversely, working to obtain what you need or asking for other people's help does not mean that you do not trust in God. Indeed, to have a hand in filling your own needs is the best endeavor available to recommend you to God's favor. But in the hurry to accomplish something, a hasty person will not hesitate to cooperate with, befriend, even offer support to, a depraved, faithless sinner. This is most unbecoming to a believer and extremely dangerous even if these people occupy the highest positions and are very powerful.
All these failures in human behavior---hurrying through this life, which is our only chance to prove ourselves worthy of God's love; squandering His most valuable gift, our allotted time-----come about through heedlessness, being asleep. Because of heedlessness we become daring, fearless, dreaming that we are invincible knights while at best, we are powerless tools in the hands of God. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
Ingratitude is a treason to mankind. Nothing more detestable does the earth produce than an ungrateful man. A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.
Friday, January 19, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 738
Ayahs of the Day:
Those who accuse chaste women who are careless but faithful are cursed in this world and the hereafter; and there is a tremendous punishment for them----on a day when their tongues and their hands and their feet will testify against them about what they had been doing. On that day God will pay them their just due in full, and they will know that God is the evident Truth. [24: 23,24,25]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever seeks refuge of you in the name of Allah, grant it to him. Whoever asks of you in the name of Allah, give to him. [Abu Dawud]
Wise Quote of the Day:
There is no minor sin when His justice confronts you; and there is no major sin when His grace confronts you. [Ibn Ataillah]
Guidance of the Day:
Anger directed against a specific person or establishment is usually caused by disappointment. Disappointment occurs when someone depends on someone else for something and the one upon whom one depended did not deliver. People forget that a dependent has no claim to raise against the one upon whom he depends: the provider is neither obliged to deliver, nor is his ability to deliver guaranteed, nor has he obliged the dependent to depend on him. On the other hand, God has obliged us all to depend on Himself; His Treasures and Power are infinite, and adequate to satisfy our needs. All of us should depend on God alone.
God is the source of all, but He uses people and things as means. Therefore, depending on God does not mean not to look for help from His creation. Neither does it mean that one should not work toward the good and take precautions against the bad. But having done what a person is capable of doing, we should entrust our efforts into the hands of God, Who will give whatever result He esteems to be right, for whatever comes from God is good and right. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
A man who gives his children habits of industry provides for them better than by giving them a fortune. It is better to wear out than to rust out. The more we do, the more we can do. Nothing is denied to well-directed labor; nothing is ever to be attained without it.
Those who accuse chaste women who are careless but faithful are cursed in this world and the hereafter; and there is a tremendous punishment for them----on a day when their tongues and their hands and their feet will testify against them about what they had been doing. On that day God will pay them their just due in full, and they will know that God is the evident Truth. [24: 23,24,25]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever seeks refuge of you in the name of Allah, grant it to him. Whoever asks of you in the name of Allah, give to him. [Abu Dawud]
Wise Quote of the Day:
There is no minor sin when His justice confronts you; and there is no major sin when His grace confronts you. [Ibn Ataillah]
Guidance of the Day:
Anger directed against a specific person or establishment is usually caused by disappointment. Disappointment occurs when someone depends on someone else for something and the one upon whom one depended did not deliver. People forget that a dependent has no claim to raise against the one upon whom he depends: the provider is neither obliged to deliver, nor is his ability to deliver guaranteed, nor has he obliged the dependent to depend on him. On the other hand, God has obliged us all to depend on Himself; His Treasures and Power are infinite, and adequate to satisfy our needs. All of us should depend on God alone.
God is the source of all, but He uses people and things as means. Therefore, depending on God does not mean not to look for help from His creation. Neither does it mean that one should not work toward the good and take precautions against the bad. But having done what a person is capable of doing, we should entrust our efforts into the hands of God, Who will give whatever result He esteems to be right, for whatever comes from God is good and right. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
A man who gives his children habits of industry provides for them better than by giving them a fortune. It is better to wear out than to rust out. The more we do, the more we can do. Nothing is denied to well-directed labor; nothing is ever to be attained without it.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 737
Ayah of the Day:
And let not those from you who are blessed with grace and abundance of means resolve by oath against helping their relatives, those in want, and poor and those who have left their homes in Allah's cause: Let them forgive and overlook, do you not wish that Allah should forgive you? And Allah is Most Forgiving, and Most Merciful. [24: 22]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever visits a fortune-teller and asks him about something, his prayer will not be accepted for forty nights. [Muslim]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Do not delude yourself into thinking that your children will attend to you without your having looked after your own parents. [Shaykh Zulfiqar Ahmad]
Guidance of the Day:
An angry person can try to change his character through moral exercise, through purposefully showing acceptance and consent toward whatever happens. And it is necessary to educate oneself by studying multiple sides of an affair in order to become convinced that one is not always right, and that things appearing to be wrong at first sight may not turn out to be so in the long run. Above all, one should remember that "everything good, and everything that appears to be bad, comes from God, " and God is Good and Merciful.
Let it not be forgotten that neither troubles, real or imaginary, nor sins committed, are destined in themselves. They are a potential in everyone's fate, which some arrogant people draw upon themselves as tall trees draw lightning. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
It is not the greatness of a man's means that makes him independent, so much as the smallness of his wants. Can anything be so elegant as to have few wants, and to serve them one's self?
And let not those from you who are blessed with grace and abundance of means resolve by oath against helping their relatives, those in want, and poor and those who have left their homes in Allah's cause: Let them forgive and overlook, do you not wish that Allah should forgive you? And Allah is Most Forgiving, and Most Merciful. [24: 22]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever visits a fortune-teller and asks him about something, his prayer will not be accepted for forty nights. [Muslim]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Do not delude yourself into thinking that your children will attend to you without your having looked after your own parents. [Shaykh Zulfiqar Ahmad]
Guidance of the Day:
An angry person can try to change his character through moral exercise, through purposefully showing acceptance and consent toward whatever happens. And it is necessary to educate oneself by studying multiple sides of an affair in order to become convinced that one is not always right, and that things appearing to be wrong at first sight may not turn out to be so in the long run. Above all, one should remember that "everything good, and everything that appears to be bad, comes from God, " and God is Good and Merciful.
Let it not be forgotten that neither troubles, real or imaginary, nor sins committed, are destined in themselves. They are a potential in everyone's fate, which some arrogant people draw upon themselves as tall trees draw lightning. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
It is not the greatness of a man's means that makes him independent, so much as the smallness of his wants. Can anything be so elegant as to have few wants, and to serve them one's self?
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 736
Ayah of the Day:
O you who believe! Do not follow the footsteps of Satan: If any will follow the footsteps of Satan, verily, he will command what is shameful and wrong. And if not for the grace of God on you, and divine mercy, not one of you would ever be innocent; but God purifies whom God will, and God is All-Hearing, All-Knowing [24: 21]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever defers the debt of a poverty-stricken person or remits his payment, Allah will grant him room in His shade. [Muslim]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Every drop of sweat and every breath we take in life, if not taken for the sake of Allah, will lead to regret and sorrow on the Day of Judgment. [Ibn al Qayyim]
Guidance of the Day:
Haste is difficult to control because our emotions take hold of us much faster than our intellect can intervene. The worst of all emotional upheavals is anger. Usually a person suffers this violent feeling when he cannot have what he wants, when what he thought was right turns out wrong, or when he feels that his rights are being violated and he calls this injustice and reacts.
Selfishness makes him blind to the fact that what he wants may belong to someone else; that what he thought of as right may be in direct opposition to law, order, and the customs of society; that what he felt as a violation of his rights may be a restraint put upon him to save him from disaster. Above all, he forgets that what happens to him is a part of his destiny, designed by God. When one reacts violently against men and God, and totally loses one's reason and mind, then a human turns into a wild animal. That is why anger is a curse, and one of the greater sins. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision. The wavering mind is but a base possession. He is no wise man who will quit a certainty for an uncertainty. A man without decision can never be said to belong to himself.
O you who believe! Do not follow the footsteps of Satan: If any will follow the footsteps of Satan, verily, he will command what is shameful and wrong. And if not for the grace of God on you, and divine mercy, not one of you would ever be innocent; but God purifies whom God will, and God is All-Hearing, All-Knowing [24: 21]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever defers the debt of a poverty-stricken person or remits his payment, Allah will grant him room in His shade. [Muslim]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Every drop of sweat and every breath we take in life, if not taken for the sake of Allah, will lead to regret and sorrow on the Day of Judgment. [Ibn al Qayyim]
Guidance of the Day:
Haste is difficult to control because our emotions take hold of us much faster than our intellect can intervene. The worst of all emotional upheavals is anger. Usually a person suffers this violent feeling when he cannot have what he wants, when what he thought was right turns out wrong, or when he feels that his rights are being violated and he calls this injustice and reacts.
Selfishness makes him blind to the fact that what he wants may belong to someone else; that what he thought of as right may be in direct opposition to law, order, and the customs of society; that what he felt as a violation of his rights may be a restraint put upon him to save him from disaster. Above all, he forgets that what happens to him is a part of his destiny, designed by God. When one reacts violently against men and God, and totally loses one's reason and mind, then a human turns into a wild animal. That is why anger is a curse, and one of the greater sins. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision. The wavering mind is but a base possession. He is no wise man who will quit a certainty for an uncertainty. A man without decision can never be said to belong to himself.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 735
Ayah of the Day:
As for those who love for scandal to spread among those who believe, there is a painful penalty for them in this world and the hereafter. God knows; and you do not know. [24: 19]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever loves for the sake of Allah and hates for the sake of Allah and gives for the sake of Allah and denies for the sake of Allah has completed his faith. [Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi]
Wise Quote of the Day:
The most important thing the believer needs to do is to keep watch over his attitude, if he is to purify his actions and succeed in his efforts. [Ibn Abbad]Guidance of the Day:
Failure through haste leads to disappointment, not only with oneself but also with others. While a person may have received a great deal of help in his endeavor, he is apt to attribute his failure to conditions such as social rules and regulations, other persons, and even God, all of which appear to the ungrateful to have opposed his attempt. With this terrible ingratitude for all the help he has received past and present; he begins to hate and fear everyone. This is a very dangerous situation. It is a clear case of unthankfulness toward man and God, for the one who is unthankful toward other people cannot be thankful toward God.
The one who is unthankful for whatever little he gets will not become thankful when he is given a lot. Thankfulness is to realize that all you receive is given; to value what you receive; to express your gratefulness to the one who gave. This creates love and unity among people, and unity is mercy. To be unthankful creates division among people and disunity causes pain. While ingratitude causes troubles and attracts God's wrath, thankfulness is a way to abundance in sustenance and God's grace. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy after. He who stops being better stops being good. Undoubtedly a man is to labor to better his condition, but first to better himself.
As for those who love for scandal to spread among those who believe, there is a painful penalty for them in this world and the hereafter. God knows; and you do not know. [24: 19]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever loves for the sake of Allah and hates for the sake of Allah and gives for the sake of Allah and denies for the sake of Allah has completed his faith. [Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi]
Wise Quote of the Day:
The most important thing the believer needs to do is to keep watch over his attitude, if he is to purify his actions and succeed in his efforts. [Ibn Abbad]Guidance of the Day:
Failure through haste leads to disappointment, not only with oneself but also with others. While a person may have received a great deal of help in his endeavor, he is apt to attribute his failure to conditions such as social rules and regulations, other persons, and even God, all of which appear to the ungrateful to have opposed his attempt. With this terrible ingratitude for all the help he has received past and present; he begins to hate and fear everyone. This is a very dangerous situation. It is a clear case of unthankfulness toward man and God, for the one who is unthankful toward other people cannot be thankful toward God.
The one who is unthankful for whatever little he gets will not become thankful when he is given a lot. Thankfulness is to realize that all you receive is given; to value what you receive; to express your gratefulness to the one who gave. This creates love and unity among people, and unity is mercy. To be unthankful creates division among people and disunity causes pain. While ingratitude causes troubles and attracts God's wrath, thankfulness is a way to abundance in sustenance and God's grace. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy after. He who stops being better stops being good. Undoubtedly a man is to labor to better his condition, but first to better himself.
Monday, January 15, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 734
Ayahs of the Day:
As for those who accuse chaste woman, but fail to produce four witnesses, whip them eighty strokes and never take testimony from them ever, for they are the ones who are immoral, except those who repent after that and make amends; for God is most forgiving, most merciful. [24: 4,6]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever guards his tongue, Allah will conceal his faults. Whoever restrains his anger, Allah will withhold His punishment from him on the Day of Judgment. [Bayhaqi]
Wise Quote of the Day:
A disobedience that bequeaths humiliation and extreme need is better than an obedience that bequeaths self-infatuation and pride. [Ibn Ataillah]
Guidance of the Day:
Haste causes people to fail. Failure causes disappointment and discontentment with our lot. Then we complain. We forget that all the good things that happen to us come from God, while all the bad things are our own doing. And when we complain about our lot, we are complaining about God: we should fear God's punishment.
Patience is the antidote to the poison of haste and the failure and despair it causes. It is a quality praised by God and man. It brings people close to God. It is a key to success, both in overcoming the problems of this world and in opening the door to Paradise. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
Impossibility: A word only to be found in the dictionary of fools.
To the timid and hesitating everything is impossible because it seems so. Nothing is impossible; there are ways that lead to everything, and if we had sufficient will we should have sufficient means. It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.
As for those who accuse chaste woman, but fail to produce four witnesses, whip them eighty strokes and never take testimony from them ever, for they are the ones who are immoral, except those who repent after that and make amends; for God is most forgiving, most merciful. [24: 4,6]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever guards his tongue, Allah will conceal his faults. Whoever restrains his anger, Allah will withhold His punishment from him on the Day of Judgment. [Bayhaqi]
Wise Quote of the Day:
A disobedience that bequeaths humiliation and extreme need is better than an obedience that bequeaths self-infatuation and pride. [Ibn Ataillah]
Guidance of the Day:
Haste causes people to fail. Failure causes disappointment and discontentment with our lot. Then we complain. We forget that all the good things that happen to us come from God, while all the bad things are our own doing. And when we complain about our lot, we are complaining about God: we should fear God's punishment.
Patience is the antidote to the poison of haste and the failure and despair it causes. It is a quality praised by God and man. It brings people close to God. It is a key to success, both in overcoming the problems of this world and in opening the door to Paradise. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
Impossibility: A word only to be found in the dictionary of fools.
To the timid and hesitating everything is impossible because it seems so. Nothing is impossible; there are ways that lead to everything, and if we had sufficient will we should have sufficient means. It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 733
Ayahs of the Day:
A chapter We have revealed, and which We have prescribed, wherein We have revealed clear signs so that you may remember. The adulterer and the adulteress are each to be whipped a hundred strokes; and don't let compassion for them overcome you where it concerns obedience to God if you believe in God and the last day. And let a group of believers witness their punishment. [24: 1,2]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever notices (another's) fault and conceals it is like one who brings back to life a female child that was buried alive. [Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud]
Wise Quote of the Day:
To stop performing good works for the sake of men is hypocrisy, and to perform them for the sake of men is polytheism. Sincerity is that God cure you of both. [Al Fudhayl]
Guidance of the Day:
The first rule of noble shame is to be ashamed before your Lord about things you do that God considers to be detestable and sinful. Then shame appears concerning lesser misbehaviors, such as lack of consideration for others' feelings, rights, and behavior; impoliteness, selfishness, aggressiveness, and so on. One should have shame in the presence of people with whom one interacts without forgetting to have shame in front of one's Lord.
Shamelessness is a sign of arrogance, weakness of spirit, and lack of religious seriousness and conscience. It is a sure sign of hypocrisy, especially if one manifests shame before other people but not before God and His Prophet. Who but a hypocrite would show himself to others as sorry for the things he has done wrong, but not repent to God who has created and sustained him, given him a mind to understand, and taught him how to live? Woe to the one who is hurrying through this life careless of God and man, and woe to the shameless hypocrite who shows regret to men for his lawlessness, seeking their pardon and approval, while forgetting the witness of God.
Shame is a clear sign of faith. Shame, which indicates having a conscience, is a great gift of God. It is a means of security against doing wrong, and a means of repentance and regret when one does wrong involuntarily. God loves the repentant. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
Only the actions of the just smell sweet and blossom in the dust. One has to pay dearly for immortality; one has to die several times while one is still alive. The reward of great men is that, long after they have died, one is not quite sure that they are dead
A chapter We have revealed, and which We have prescribed, wherein We have revealed clear signs so that you may remember. The adulterer and the adulteress are each to be whipped a hundred strokes; and don't let compassion for them overcome you where it concerns obedience to God if you believe in God and the last day. And let a group of believers witness their punishment. [24: 1,2]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever notices (another's) fault and conceals it is like one who brings back to life a female child that was buried alive. [Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud]
Wise Quote of the Day:
To stop performing good works for the sake of men is hypocrisy, and to perform them for the sake of men is polytheism. Sincerity is that God cure you of both. [Al Fudhayl]
Guidance of the Day:
The first rule of noble shame is to be ashamed before your Lord about things you do that God considers to be detestable and sinful. Then shame appears concerning lesser misbehaviors, such as lack of consideration for others' feelings, rights, and behavior; impoliteness, selfishness, aggressiveness, and so on. One should have shame in the presence of people with whom one interacts without forgetting to have shame in front of one's Lord.
Shamelessness is a sign of arrogance, weakness of spirit, and lack of religious seriousness and conscience. It is a sure sign of hypocrisy, especially if one manifests shame before other people but not before God and His Prophet. Who but a hypocrite would show himself to others as sorry for the things he has done wrong, but not repent to God who has created and sustained him, given him a mind to understand, and taught him how to live? Woe to the one who is hurrying through this life careless of God and man, and woe to the shameless hypocrite who shows regret to men for his lawlessness, seeking their pardon and approval, while forgetting the witness of God.
Shame is a clear sign of faith. Shame, which indicates having a conscience, is a great gift of God. It is a means of security against doing wrong, and a means of repentance and regret when one does wrong involuntarily. God loves the repentant. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
Only the actions of the just smell sweet and blossom in the dust. One has to pay dearly for immortality; one has to die several times while one is still alive. The reward of great men is that, long after they have died, one is not quite sure that they are dead
Friday, January 12, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 732
Ayahs of the Day:
And whoever prays to another deity beside God has no proof for it; his reckoning is with his Lord alone. The ungrateful will never be happy. So say, "My Lord, forgive and have mercy, as You are the best of the merciful. [23: 117,118]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever receives a favor and says to the doer, "JazakAllahu khair (May Allah grant you a good reward)," has excelled in his appreciation. [Tirmidhi]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Jealousy, ostentation, hypocrisy, and hatred are the most common bad manners and shameful deeds, which need to be cleansed from the heart. [Shaykh al Kabbani]
Guidance of the Day:
Make haste in seeking salvation, in obeying your Lord, and in preparing for the Hereafter. But wait and be careful and take your precautions in worldly affairs-----for your haste may lay waste your efforts to gain your eternal life in the Hereafter. Another maleficent effect of haste is that it causes harshness, coarseness, and hard-heartedness. In one's hurry, one neglects considering other people.
Hurrying one's decisions and actions makes for the negligence, not only in regard to what happens to others, but also in regard to what happens to oneself. One may lose all sense of shame about one's mode of behavior-------and shamelessness is an abominable thing, detested by God. Shamelessness is either an attitude of total unconsciousness, or else an arrogance whereby a person thinks that all he does is right, no matter what harm it causes. Even when the harm done is proven to such a person, he is likely to smile. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
Ignorance is a voluntary misfortune. It is the night of the mind, but night without moon or star. There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action. Ignorance breeds monsters to fill up the vacancies of the soul that are unoccupied by the verities of knowledge.
And whoever prays to another deity beside God has no proof for it; his reckoning is with his Lord alone. The ungrateful will never be happy. So say, "My Lord, forgive and have mercy, as You are the best of the merciful. [23: 117,118]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever receives a favor and says to the doer, "JazakAllahu khair (May Allah grant you a good reward)," has excelled in his appreciation. [Tirmidhi]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Jealousy, ostentation, hypocrisy, and hatred are the most common bad manners and shameful deeds, which need to be cleansed from the heart. [Shaykh al Kabbani]
Guidance of the Day:
Make haste in seeking salvation, in obeying your Lord, and in preparing for the Hereafter. But wait and be careful and take your precautions in worldly affairs-----for your haste may lay waste your efforts to gain your eternal life in the Hereafter. Another maleficent effect of haste is that it causes harshness, coarseness, and hard-heartedness. In one's hurry, one neglects considering other people.
Hurrying one's decisions and actions makes for the negligence, not only in regard to what happens to others, but also in regard to what happens to oneself. One may lose all sense of shame about one's mode of behavior-------and shamelessness is an abominable thing, detested by God. Shamelessness is either an attitude of total unconsciousness, or else an arrogance whereby a person thinks that all he does is right, no matter what harm it causes. Even when the harm done is proven to such a person, he is likely to smile. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
Ignorance is a voluntary misfortune. It is the night of the mind, but night without moon or star. There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action. Ignorance breeds monsters to fill up the vacancies of the soul that are unoccupied by the verities of knowledge.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 731
Ayahs of the Day:
And those whose balances are heavy will be the happy ones, while those whose balances are light are the ones who have lost their souls, to abide in hell: [23: 103,104]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever intends to perform the pilgrimage should make haste in doing so. [Abu Dawud]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Your obedience does not benefit Him, and your disobedience does not harm Him. It is only for your own good that He has commanded the one and prohibited the other. [Ibn Ataillah]
Guidance of the Day:
Haste is an urge; an emotional impulse, into which it is difficult to intervene with intellect, as emotions are quicker than reason. It pushes a person hurriedly in the direction of a thing wished for, without much reflection or examination as to whether the thing itself is really desirable or right, or whether one's hurried action is the right action. It is a bad habit, for it fools people into thinking that the work done is complete, although (since one has not given the necessary attention to its integral parts and details) it will eventually fall apart.
Haste seems harmless, even desirable to some people. Yet in addition to causing waste of valuable time, effort, and means, it is the root of many disastrous human failings. It has strange after effects. Some people even hurry their daily ritual prayers. Shortening and hurrying their recitations, and rushing through their bowing and prostration, they may miss the prayers in the proper positions or make mistakes, thus causing their observance to be unacceptable to God and failing in their religious duties. Precipitateness in one's actions, spoken declarations, and thoughts and emotional reactions often cause breaches in the good behavior and character befitting the faithful. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
An idle brain is the devil's workshop. Idleness is stupidity of the body, and stupidity is the idleness of the mind. That man is idle who can do something better. Purity of mind and idleness are incompatible.
And those whose balances are heavy will be the happy ones, while those whose balances are light are the ones who have lost their souls, to abide in hell: [23: 103,104]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever intends to perform the pilgrimage should make haste in doing so. [Abu Dawud]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Your obedience does not benefit Him, and your disobedience does not harm Him. It is only for your own good that He has commanded the one and prohibited the other. [Ibn Ataillah]
Guidance of the Day:
Haste is an urge; an emotional impulse, into which it is difficult to intervene with intellect, as emotions are quicker than reason. It pushes a person hurriedly in the direction of a thing wished for, without much reflection or examination as to whether the thing itself is really desirable or right, or whether one's hurried action is the right action. It is a bad habit, for it fools people into thinking that the work done is complete, although (since one has not given the necessary attention to its integral parts and details) it will eventually fall apart.
Haste seems harmless, even desirable to some people. Yet in addition to causing waste of valuable time, effort, and means, it is the root of many disastrous human failings. It has strange after effects. Some people even hurry their daily ritual prayers. Shortening and hurrying their recitations, and rushing through their bowing and prostration, they may miss the prayers in the proper positions or make mistakes, thus causing their observance to be unacceptable to God and failing in their religious duties. Precipitateness in one's actions, spoken declarations, and thoughts and emotional reactions often cause breaches in the good behavior and character befitting the faithful. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
An idle brain is the devil's workshop. Idleness is stupidity of the body, and stupidity is the idleness of the mind. That man is idle who can do something better. Purity of mind and idleness are incompatible.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 730
Ayah of the Day:
Then, when the trumpet is sounded, there will be no more relations among them that day, and they will not ask after each other; [23: 101]
Hadith of the Day:
For whomever Allah intends good, He grants him deep understanding of religion. [Bukhari]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Don't be so sweet that people swallow you up, nor so bitter that they split you out. [Luqman the wise]
Guidance of the Day:
To avoid waste, one must take care even of the details. We must preserve our property, including stored food and clothes, books and papers, from vermin, humidity, heat and cold, or any other potential harm. Not finishing the food on one's plate, throwing away leftovers, or leaving crumbs of bread on the table are subtle offences of prodigality.
It is wasteful to eat too much; to eat when not hungry; to keep eating to satiation; and to eat something merely because it appears. To eat more than you need is permissible if you intend to fast the next day, or in order not to embarrass a hungry guest who is overeating at you table.
It must be understood that prodigality is sinful, not just because it wastes substance, but because this bad habit signifies a deeper depravity, such as ingratitude, carelessness, self-centeredness, arrogance, even faithlessness. Someone who is free of these transgressions and has good intentions, who eats well, dresses well, resides in large houses and lives well, careful not to spend his wealth on things God has forbidden, is not doing wrong. So long as he is not living as he does in order to show off, so long as he does not presume that he is better than others, so long as he shares his good fortune and is thankful, he is doing right. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
The owner should be an ornament to the house, and not the house to the owner. Home interprets heaven. He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in the home.
Then, when the trumpet is sounded, there will be no more relations among them that day, and they will not ask after each other; [23: 101]
Hadith of the Day:
For whomever Allah intends good, He grants him deep understanding of religion. [Bukhari]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Don't be so sweet that people swallow you up, nor so bitter that they split you out. [Luqman the wise]
Guidance of the Day:
To avoid waste, one must take care even of the details. We must preserve our property, including stored food and clothes, books and papers, from vermin, humidity, heat and cold, or any other potential harm. Not finishing the food on one's plate, throwing away leftovers, or leaving crumbs of bread on the table are subtle offences of prodigality.
It is wasteful to eat too much; to eat when not hungry; to keep eating to satiation; and to eat something merely because it appears. To eat more than you need is permissible if you intend to fast the next day, or in order not to embarrass a hungry guest who is overeating at you table.
It must be understood that prodigality is sinful, not just because it wastes substance, but because this bad habit signifies a deeper depravity, such as ingratitude, carelessness, self-centeredness, arrogance, even faithlessness. Someone who is free of these transgressions and has good intentions, who eats well, dresses well, resides in large houses and lives well, careful not to spend his wealth on things God has forbidden, is not doing wrong. So long as he is not living as he does in order to show off, so long as he does not presume that he is better than others, so long as he shares his good fortune and is thankful, he is doing right. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
The owner should be an ornament to the house, and not the house to the owner. Home interprets heaven. He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in the home.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 729
Ayahs of the Day:
When death finally comes to one of them, he says, "My Lord, send me back, that I may do right by what I neglected." There is no way; for that is just talk. And before them is a gap until the day they will be resurrected. [23: 99,100]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever emulates a group is from them. [Abu Dawud]
Wise Quote of the Day:
If there is a good deed which is difficult, hold on to it, for in the end, the good deed will remain and the difficulty will perish. [Ali radi Allah anhu]
Guidance of the Day:
It is useful to understand that receiving or paying interest on borrowed money is unlawful in Islam because of the sinfulness of prodigality. Interest causes waste------certainly when it is paid, but also when it is received. For anything given and taken, when it has changed in kind and quantity or in value between the time it was given and the time it is taken, is considered depreciated and therefore wasted.
The definition of squandering is to throw money into a place from which you cannot retrieve it or receive any benefit from it. If you cast it into the sea, burn it, or tear it into pieces, if you gamble, drink, and debauch with it, or if you lend it improperly, it is all the same. Such behavior resembles permitting ripe fruit to rot on the tree, letting wheat go unharvested in the field, not repairing a roof when it leaks, leaving flocks to wander unprotected, and not taking care of yourself and your dependents. These are similarly wasteful and wrong. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
Hell is truth seen too late------duty neglected in its season. To be in hell is to drift; to be in heaven is to steer. The wicked work harder to reach hell than the righteous to reach heaven.
When death finally comes to one of them, he says, "My Lord, send me back, that I may do right by what I neglected." There is no way; for that is just talk. And before them is a gap until the day they will be resurrected. [23: 99,100]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever emulates a group is from them. [Abu Dawud]
Wise Quote of the Day:
If there is a good deed which is difficult, hold on to it, for in the end, the good deed will remain and the difficulty will perish. [Ali radi Allah anhu]
Guidance of the Day:
It is useful to understand that receiving or paying interest on borrowed money is unlawful in Islam because of the sinfulness of prodigality. Interest causes waste------certainly when it is paid, but also when it is received. For anything given and taken, when it has changed in kind and quantity or in value between the time it was given and the time it is taken, is considered depreciated and therefore wasted.
The definition of squandering is to throw money into a place from which you cannot retrieve it or receive any benefit from it. If you cast it into the sea, burn it, or tear it into pieces, if you gamble, drink, and debauch with it, or if you lend it improperly, it is all the same. Such behavior resembles permitting ripe fruit to rot on the tree, letting wheat go unharvested in the field, not repairing a roof when it leaks, leaving flocks to wander unprotected, and not taking care of yourself and your dependents. These are similarly wasteful and wrong. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
Hell is truth seen too late------duty neglected in its season. To be in hell is to drift; to be in heaven is to steer. The wicked work harder to reach hell than the righteous to reach heaven.
Monday, January 08, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 728
Ayahs of the Day:
And say, "My Lord, I take refuge in You from the urgings of the devils, and I take refuge in You, my Lord, lest they get to me." [23: 97,98]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever is deprived of gentleness is deprived of good. [Muslim]
Wise Quote of the Day:
The avoidance of nonsensical things is a condition for success and a proof of perfection. [Muhammad al Ghazali]
Guidance of the Day:
It is very difficult to realize that our possessions are not our own, but a gift of God lent to us to be spent on our needs and the needs of others. Yet to believe that our wealth is purely the result of our own efforts and belongs to us to keep, rather than treating it as trust from God, is a sin. It signifies either that one does not believe in God, or else that one belittles God's generosity as the Sustainer of His creation, and is unthankful. The ungrateful sooner or later will lose what they were given. One of the usual ways that wealth is lost is through waste.
Prodigality is as much a sin as avarice. To squander wealth, to throw away God's gifts, is an insult to God and an act of violence toward humanity. More is said and written against miserliness than against waste only because human nature is more inclined to hold on to things than to throw them away. Miserliness expresses fear, insecurity about the future, and doubt of God's generosity. It keeps the miser in want and misery. But the prodigal is as arrogant as Pharaoh, who took himself to be God and built himself pyramids as high as mountains. When such a person squanders his wealth it generally benefits no one. On the contrary, his wastefulness leads himself and others to degradation in this world and in the Hereafter. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
Heaven will be inherited by every man who has heaven in his soul. The main object of religion is not to get a man into heaven, but to get heaven into him. To get to heaven, turn right and keep straight.
And say, "My Lord, I take refuge in You from the urgings of the devils, and I take refuge in You, my Lord, lest they get to me." [23: 97,98]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever is deprived of gentleness is deprived of good. [Muslim]
Wise Quote of the Day:
The avoidance of nonsensical things is a condition for success and a proof of perfection. [Muhammad al Ghazali]
Guidance of the Day:
It is very difficult to realize that our possessions are not our own, but a gift of God lent to us to be spent on our needs and the needs of others. Yet to believe that our wealth is purely the result of our own efforts and belongs to us to keep, rather than treating it as trust from God, is a sin. It signifies either that one does not believe in God, or else that one belittles God's generosity as the Sustainer of His creation, and is unthankful. The ungrateful sooner or later will lose what they were given. One of the usual ways that wealth is lost is through waste.
Prodigality is as much a sin as avarice. To squander wealth, to throw away God's gifts, is an insult to God and an act of violence toward humanity. More is said and written against miserliness than against waste only because human nature is more inclined to hold on to things than to throw them away. Miserliness expresses fear, insecurity about the future, and doubt of God's generosity. It keeps the miser in want and misery. But the prodigal is as arrogant as Pharaoh, who took himself to be God and built himself pyramids as high as mountains. When such a person squanders his wealth it generally benefits no one. On the contrary, his wastefulness leads himself and others to degradation in this world and in the Hereafter. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
Heaven will be inherited by every man who has heaven in his soul. The main object of religion is not to get a man into heaven, but to get heaven into him. To get to heaven, turn right and keep straight.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 727
Ayahs of the Day:
Repel evil by what is better. We know best about what they prescribe. [23: 96]
Hadith of the Day:
He who keeps silent saves himself. [Tirmidhi]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Truth is the key to righteousness and patience is the key to Divine assistance and success. [Ibn al Qayyim]
Guidance of the Day:
Money is necessary both to lead our lives here and to prepare for the Hereafter. Our physical existence-----a strong healthy body, which needs to be fed, clothed, protected, educated, and cared for-----is the carriage of our souls. It is the tool of our virtues and good deeds, our worship and devotions. Only money will secure the energy, health, and security for it.
And again it must not be forgotten that a coin has two sides. Money has a good and a bad side; the good aspect of it is to be praised, while the bad aspect of it is to be condemned. The danger of material wealth is that it may render the wealthy arrogant and cause them to forget God, death, and the Hereafter. Then they rebel against Him, neglect religion and responsibility, and become world-bound, immoral, selfish, and mean. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything. Hope is the anchor of the soul, the stimulus to action, and the incentive to achievement. To become a thoroughly good man is the best prescription for keeping a sound mind and a sound body.
Repel evil by what is better. We know best about what they prescribe. [23: 96]
Hadith of the Day:
He who keeps silent saves himself. [Tirmidhi]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Truth is the key to righteousness and patience is the key to Divine assistance and success. [Ibn al Qayyim]
Guidance of the Day:
Money is necessary both to lead our lives here and to prepare for the Hereafter. Our physical existence-----a strong healthy body, which needs to be fed, clothed, protected, educated, and cared for-----is the carriage of our souls. It is the tool of our virtues and good deeds, our worship and devotions. Only money will secure the energy, health, and security for it.
And again it must not be forgotten that a coin has two sides. Money has a good and a bad side; the good aspect of it is to be praised, while the bad aspect of it is to be condemned. The danger of material wealth is that it may render the wealthy arrogant and cause them to forget God, death, and the Hereafter. Then they rebel against Him, neglect religion and responsibility, and become world-bound, immoral, selfish, and mean. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything. Hope is the anchor of the soul, the stimulus to action, and the incentive to achievement. To become a thoroughly good man is the best prescription for keeping a sound mind and a sound body.
Friday, January 05, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 726
Ayahs of the Day:
Say, "In whose hands is the power that rules all things, who protects and needs no protection, if you know? They will say, "God's." Say, "Then how are you being deluded?" [23: 88,89]
Hadith of the Day:
For him who directs toward good is the same reward as the doer of it. [Muslim]
Wise Quote of the Day:
God will beautify the inner faculties with contemplation for one who adorns his outer being with striving for God. [Abu Ali Ad Daqqaq]
Guidance of the Day:
The worst trick of this world is that it consumes the very short lifetime allotted to human beings, forcing its slaves to kill themselves by working for it, or by drowning themselves in drugs, alcohol, and gambling in the name of fun and games. Worse still, in doing so it pushes people to hurt and violate other persons and other creatures of God-----animals, plants, earth, water, and air alike. And the ambitions of this world's slaves have no end until they destroy themselves and those around them-----unless they come to see the true purpose of this world and this life.
One can pass the test of this life and save oneself from the calamities of this world by learning to oppose the false attractions it offers. To oppose this blind ambition for the world, one should learn to be satisfied with little, with nothing more than one truly needs.
All the warnings about the temptations and dangers of the goods of this world should not make us forget that money, wealth, and property are also God's gifts. A fertile field is given to us to till and plant and water. Thus we grow an orchard whose fruits we will gather, not only in this world, but also in the Hereafter. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
Hatred is the madness of the heart. It is self punishment. A man who lives by not what he loves but what he hates is a sick man. Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule. When our hatred is violent, it sinks us even beneath those we hate.
Say, "In whose hands is the power that rules all things, who protects and needs no protection, if you know? They will say, "God's." Say, "Then how are you being deluded?" [23: 88,89]
Hadith of the Day:
For him who directs toward good is the same reward as the doer of it. [Muslim]
Wise Quote of the Day:
God will beautify the inner faculties with contemplation for one who adorns his outer being with striving for God. [Abu Ali Ad Daqqaq]
Guidance of the Day:
The worst trick of this world is that it consumes the very short lifetime allotted to human beings, forcing its slaves to kill themselves by working for it, or by drowning themselves in drugs, alcohol, and gambling in the name of fun and games. Worse still, in doing so it pushes people to hurt and violate other persons and other creatures of God-----animals, plants, earth, water, and air alike. And the ambitions of this world's slaves have no end until they destroy themselves and those around them-----unless they come to see the true purpose of this world and this life.
One can pass the test of this life and save oneself from the calamities of this world by learning to oppose the false attractions it offers. To oppose this blind ambition for the world, one should learn to be satisfied with little, with nothing more than one truly needs.
All the warnings about the temptations and dangers of the goods of this world should not make us forget that money, wealth, and property are also God's gifts. A fertile field is given to us to till and plant and water. Thus we grow an orchard whose fruits we will gather, not only in this world, but also in the Hereafter. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
Hatred is the madness of the heart. It is self punishment. A man who lives by not what he loves but what he hates is a sick man. Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule. When our hatred is violent, it sinks us even beneath those we hate.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 725
Ayahs of the Day:
Say, "Who is the Lord of the seven heavens, and the Lord of the cosmic throne?" They will say, "The ownership is God's." Say, "So won't you be aware?" [23: 86,87]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever humbles himself for the sake of Allah, Allah raises him; and whoever is arrogant, Allah degrades him. [Bayhaqi]
Wise Quote of the Day:
All things pass away, and so will anguish; but so long as the heavens and the earth last, anguish is inevitable. [Hasan al Basri]
Guidance of the Day:
There are people who wish to enjoy their lives in this world to the full, without any regard to right or wrong, good or evil. They lust for fun. Fun costs money. They spend for their fun today, but need to make and keep a lot of money for tomorrow---which for them will never end.
It is obvious that the life of this world is a harsh test, full of temptations. Damned and detested by God, this world prevents us from remembering our Lord. It causes us to fail in our duties as a human being. Inviting humanity to sin, it leads us to destitution in the eternal life of the Hereafter while offering very little in return. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
It is pretty hard to tell what does bring happiness; poverty and wealth have both failed. Happiness is not a reward----it is a consequence. Suffering is not a punishment----it is a result. The grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, something to hope for.
Say, "Who is the Lord of the seven heavens, and the Lord of the cosmic throne?" They will say, "The ownership is God's." Say, "So won't you be aware?" [23: 86,87]
Hadith of the Day:
Whoever humbles himself for the sake of Allah, Allah raises him; and whoever is arrogant, Allah degrades him. [Bayhaqi]
Wise Quote of the Day:
All things pass away, and so will anguish; but so long as the heavens and the earth last, anguish is inevitable. [Hasan al Basri]
Guidance of the Day:
There are people who wish to enjoy their lives in this world to the full, without any regard to right or wrong, good or evil. They lust for fun. Fun costs money. They spend for their fun today, but need to make and keep a lot of money for tomorrow---which for them will never end.
It is obvious that the life of this world is a harsh test, full of temptations. Damned and detested by God, this world prevents us from remembering our Lord. It causes us to fail in our duties as a human being. Inviting humanity to sin, it leads us to destitution in the eternal life of the Hereafter while offering very little in return. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
It is pretty hard to tell what does bring happiness; poverty and wealth have both failed. Happiness is not a reward----it is a consequence. Suffering is not a punishment----it is a result. The grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, something to hope for.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 724
Ayahs of the Day:
Say, "To whom does the earth belong, and all creatures on it, if you know?" They will say, "To God." Say, "So won't you take warning." [23:84,85]
Hadith of the Day:
Hearing (about) a thing is not like seeing it. [Ahmad]
Wise Quote of the Day:
The plea for forgiveness made without abstaining is the repentance of liars. [Dhun nun al Misri]
Guidance of the Day:
There are those who gather the goods of this world for no other reason than to pile wealth in their safes and count it as it increases. In reality, the gold is not in their safes, but stuffed in their hearts, so that there is no space left for any other love. This is one of the worst sicknesses of the heart and very difficult to cure, especially if one is afflicted with it at an older age.
The best cure is the remembrance of death, for the one who is afflicted with avarice is sick because he has forgotten death. Perchance through remembering it, the benefits due to generosity may dawn on him, and that thought will permit him to spend money on good deeds. If he is able to continue long enough, perhaps giving will become a habit and cure him of the worst of sicknesses. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
Cultivate only the habits that you are willing should master you. Good habits result from resisting temptation. A single bad habit will mar an otherwise faultless character, as an ink-drop soils the pure white page. Each year one vicious habit rooted out, in time ought to make the worst man good.
Say, "To whom does the earth belong, and all creatures on it, if you know?" They will say, "To God." Say, "So won't you take warning." [23:84,85]
Hadith of the Day:
Hearing (about) a thing is not like seeing it. [Ahmad]
Wise Quote of the Day:
The plea for forgiveness made without abstaining is the repentance of liars. [Dhun nun al Misri]
Guidance of the Day:
There are those who gather the goods of this world for no other reason than to pile wealth in their safes and count it as it increases. In reality, the gold is not in their safes, but stuffed in their hearts, so that there is no space left for any other love. This is one of the worst sicknesses of the heart and very difficult to cure, especially if one is afflicted with it at an older age.
The best cure is the remembrance of death, for the one who is afflicted with avarice is sick because he has forgotten death. Perchance through remembering it, the benefits due to generosity may dawn on him, and that thought will permit him to spend money on good deeds. If he is able to continue long enough, perhaps giving will become a habit and cure him of the worst of sicknesses. [The Path of Muhammad]
Food for Thought:
Cultivate only the habits that you are willing should master you. Good habits result from resisting temptation. A single bad habit will mar an otherwise faultless character, as an ink-drop soils the pure white page. Each year one vicious habit rooted out, in time ought to make the worst man good.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
LESSON OF THE DAY 723
Ayah of the Day:
And it is God who gives life and causes death, and the alteration of day and night is due to God; won't you understand? [23: 80]
Hadith of the Day:
Nothing is more honored in the sight of Allah than supplication. [Tirmidhi]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Many are the slaves of bounteous blessings, but rare are the slaves of the Bestower of blessings. [Al-Jurayri]
Guidance of the Day:
Generosity is a laudable characteristic in a Muslim. It means spending from one's means for the near of kin and the orphan and the needy and the wayfarer, for God's sake, not for the glory or praise: the generous person does not look for thankfulness from the recipient of help. Large heartedness is even superior to generosity, and signifies three traits: to give away to the needy things one needs for oneself; to feel the need of others and to satisfy them even before they are aware of those needs themselves; and to hide from those whom one aids, and everyone else, one's involvement in providing help.
If you practice economy because you wish to live simply and humbly, even if your economy extends to your family and dependents, it is a good thing. But if economy becomes excessive, causing harm to your health and hygiene or to the well-being of your family, friends, and society at large, it is unlawful according to Islam. Such a person is as bad as a spendthrift. A balance has to be found between excessive expenditure and being remiss. [The Path of Muhammad by Imam Birgivi]
Food for Thought:
How small a portion of earth will hold us when we are dead, who ambitiously seek after the whole world while we are living. A grave, wherever found, preaches a short and pithy sermon to the soul.
And it is God who gives life and causes death, and the alteration of day and night is due to God; won't you understand? [23: 80]
Hadith of the Day:
Nothing is more honored in the sight of Allah than supplication. [Tirmidhi]
Wise Quote of the Day:
Many are the slaves of bounteous blessings, but rare are the slaves of the Bestower of blessings. [Al-Jurayri]
Guidance of the Day:
Generosity is a laudable characteristic in a Muslim. It means spending from one's means for the near of kin and the orphan and the needy and the wayfarer, for God's sake, not for the glory or praise: the generous person does not look for thankfulness from the recipient of help. Large heartedness is even superior to generosity, and signifies three traits: to give away to the needy things one needs for oneself; to feel the need of others and to satisfy them even before they are aware of those needs themselves; and to hide from those whom one aids, and everyone else, one's involvement in providing help.
If you practice economy because you wish to live simply and humbly, even if your economy extends to your family and dependents, it is a good thing. But if economy becomes excessive, causing harm to your health and hygiene or to the well-being of your family, friends, and society at large, it is unlawful according to Islam. Such a person is as bad as a spendthrift. A balance has to be found between excessive expenditure and being remiss. [The Path of Muhammad by Imam Birgivi]
Food for Thought:
How small a portion of earth will hold us when we are dead, who ambitiously seek after the whole world while we are living. A grave, wherever found, preaches a short and pithy sermon to the soul.
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