LESSON OF THE DAY 974

Ayahs of the Day:
The revelation of the Book is from God, the Mighty, the Wise: for We have revealed the Book to you in truth; so serve God sincerely in your way of life. Is it not to God that sincere obedience is due? Yet those who take protectors other than God say, "We only worship them that they may draw us nearer to God." God will judge between them as to their differences. For God does not guide any lying ingrate. [39: 1,2,3]

Hadith of the Day:
It is sufficient evil for a man to look down upon his Muslim brother. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Beware of your ego, and trust not its mischief;
The ego is worse than seventy devils. [A Poet]

Guidance of the Day:
The reality of thoughts and the power they have to create and to change the world around us brings with it a supremely important realization: We can bless and we can heal. Blessing and healing are not mystical secret powers reserved for a special few. They are the God given right----and----responsibility-----of every human being, and as soon as we admit to ourselves that we can really be instruments of God's healing love, we can begin to make the kind of changes in our lives and in the world that we always wanted to make, but did not feel that we were worthy or capable of offering.

Thoughts can make or break us. Such is the power of thoughts. We must respect the power of thoughts. We do not create our lives from nothing, but we certainly set into motion the events that create circumstances. By the time we see a circumstance, we are seeing the effect of a series of events that began with a thought long ago. Any change in circumstances is due only to a change in the way we think. If we want to change our circumstances, we must change the way we think. We cannot allow ourselves the luxury of an "idle thought", for there is no such thing. Every thought is a seed. What we plant in our mental garden will grow. This is the law of mind. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Sow a thought, reap a word;
Sow a word, reap a deed;
Sow a deed, reap a habit;
Sow a habit, reap a character;
Sow a character, reap a Destiny

Pearls of Wisdom 12

1. Your souls are precious and can only be equal to the price of Paradise, therefore sell them only for that.

2. Islam is not just a religion, Islam is everything.

3. When you mention your companion's faults, remember your own faults.

4. Learn silence as you have learned speech. Speech will guide you, and silence will protect you.

5. Whoever desires Paradise proceeds towards goodness, whoever fears Hell refrains from the impulses of passions.

6. Many things in life will catch your eye, but few will catch your heart, pursue those.

7. If you are good, try to be better.

8. Only someone who is sincere recognizes what showing off is.

9. Knowledge is not merely the narrating of texts. Rather knowledge is fear of Allah.

10. The root of good character is humility and the root of base character is arrogance.

LESSON OF THE DAY 973

Ayahs of the Day:
Say, "I do not ask you any compensation for this; and I am not a pretender. This is but a reminder for all worlds: and you will know its message after a while." [38: 86,87,88]

Hadith of the Day:
Whoever Allah wishes good for, He gives profound understanding of religion. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
A man is truly a human only if he learns and teaches, and inspires others. [Fethullah Gulen]

Guidance of the Day:
Thoughts are, more assuredly, things. They are conceived in the mind and they travel through time and space like ripples in a pond, affecting all that they touch. Thoughts are the building blocks of our experience; the world that we see is the one that we have created with out thoughts. Mind is a builder. We think a thought, attach a feeling to it, and a circumstance in our life is attracted to it. If we want to see how we got to be where we are in life, we need only to trace our experience back to our thoughts.

Everything we see, in fact, is serving------is a result of -----thoughts. Your body is your thoughts in a form you can see. This is easy to understand if we use a house as an example. Every house came only after an idea for it. Can you imagine a house being built before someone had a thought to construct it? No, houses always come from blueprints; never the reverse. In the same way, our circumstances are always a result of the mental blueprints----thoughts------that precede them. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
The word "alms" has no singular, as if to teach us that a solitary act of charity scarcely deserves the name. Water will quench a flaming fire; and alms makes an atonement for sins. If you have abundance, give alms accordingly; if you have but little, be not afraid to give according to that little.

Pearls of Wisdom 11

1. If someone wants to know what position he enjoys in the eyes of God, he has only to look at what place he gives God in his heart and life.

2. Do not sit idle, for indeed death is seeking you.

3. Meet people in such a manner that if you die, they should weep for you, and if you live they should long for you.

4. Whoever desires to purify his heart then let him prefer Allah to his desires.

5. What you love to have with you in the Hereafter you should advance today, and what you hate to have with you in the Hereafter you should abandon today.

6. If you want to talk to Allah, perform salah, if you want Allah to talk to you, read Qur'an.

7. Be hard on yourself, easy on others.

8. Action is the biggest measurement of knowledge.

9. Love your Lord by serving Him, for lovers are but servants of the Beloved.

10. Put down your pride, set down your arrogance and remember your grave.

LESSON OF THE DAY 972

Ayahs of the Day:
Say, " It is a message of supreme importance: You ignore it. I have no knowledge of the higher angels when they debate: It has only been revealed to me that I am a plain warner. [38: 67 to 70]

Hadith of the Day:
In the evening, do not wait for morning, and in the morning, do not wait for evening. Take from your health for your weakness, and from your life for your death. [Bukhari]

Wise Quote of the Day:
The one who constantly remembers death is ennobled with contentment, with his heart's activities directed toward obedience, and with prompt repentance (when wrongs occur). The one who is heedless of death is afflicted with the opposite of all three. [Imam al Mawlud]

Guidance of the Day:
There is a special place for those who are determined to succeed. The force of God rushes to their support with enthusiasm and encouragement. While there are few gifts that you can offer God, determination is one of them. It is the soul's way of demonstrating sincerity of aspiration. Hold fast to your dreams, for they are the stepping stones to the success for which you dream.

Know, as you strive, that there are and will be resting points-----oases-----where you may replenish your strength. Do not seek them or wait for them, but in the midst of your disciplines, know that when you have need for them, they will be shown to you. Continue with your will to grow. No effort, however small, goes unnoticed or unrewarded. Call upon the higher forces within you, and they shall most certainly give you their blessings in great measure. Your faith will carry you through travails. Your commitment to God is answered with His commitment to you. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. If you want a trait/quality act as if you already have it, fake it till you make it. Everybody should do at least two things each day that he hates to do, just for practice.

LESSON OF THE DAY 971

Ayahs of the Day:
Say, "I am only a herald; and there is no god but the God, the One, the Omnipotent, Lord of the skies and the earth and all that is between them, the Mighty, the Forgiving." [38: 65,66]

Hadith of the Day:
Whoever desires that Allah increase his provision and extend his life, let him maintain his family ties. [Bukhari]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Allah's love for us manifests itself in His giving us the ability to know what kind of actions, what kind of life, will lead us to salvation and felicity; and how to save ourselves from things that are against our birthright, our nature, and our reason for being in this world. [Imam Birgivi]

Guidance of the Day:
Determination is the very opposite of "chance." When we practice determination, we take our destiny into our hands. The determined person refuses to surrender to the random winds of circumstance. Determination is mastery, and chance slavery. If we rest our fate in the hands of fortune, sometimes we shall succeed, and sometimes we shall fail, but always shall we be weak. When we practice determination, we live up to our identity as masters of destiny. In so taking charge of our fate we shall succeed most of the time and fail some of the time, but we shall always be strong. We shall have no regrets about our life, for we know that we gave it all we had to give.

Be determined. Be tough. "When the going gets tough, the tough gets going." Seize on opportunities to practice mastery and determination. Meet your tests with enthusiasm, knowing that through conquering your challenges you are bound to become stronger. Remember that you will never be faced with a challenge that you cannot overcome, and that you and God are a majority. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it by the handle of anxiety, or by the handle of faith. As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your greater delight and benefit.

Pearls of Wisdom 10

1. Try to gladden the hearts of believers in every possible way, as long as these ways are not sinful.

2. A man of bad character punishes his own soul.

3. The straight path is the shortest distance between the two points.

4. To advice others is an easy matter, the difficulty is accepting advice, since it is bitter for those who follow their own inclinations and desires.

5. If men wish to draw near to God, they must seek Him in the hearts of the men. They should speak well of all men, whether present or absent.

6. Know that you should reflect on God's complete awareness of you, and His seeing and knowing all about you.

7. Islam will prevent us from sins, or sins will prevent us from Islam.

8. The spiritual warrior is the one who breaks an idol, and the idol of each person is his ego.

9. The lower self is greedy, teach it to be content.

10. Do not fix hopes on your health, and do not laugh away life. Remember how they walked and now their joints lie separately and the tongue with which they talked is eaten away by the worms.

LESSON OF THE DAY 970

Ayahs of the Day:
This is a reminder; for there is a beautiful resort for the conscientious: eternal gardens, whose doors are open to them; where they may recline, wherein they may call for fruit in abundance, and drink; and with them will be demure females of the same age. This is what you are promised for the day of reckoning: this is, indeed, Our bounty, without end. [38: 49 to 54]

Hadith of the Day:
The most blessed marriage is the one with the least expenses. [Bayhaqi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
By emulating every act of the Prophet, every living moment of a believer becomes significant, every action full of meaning. By following his moral and spiritual teachings, we follow the best of human examples. [Shaykh Abdul Ma'bud]

Guidance of the Day:
As we make a determination our own, there is yet a more subtle teaching that calls for our mastery. We must be determined, but not headstrong. We must have faith that God will help us reach our goal, but we must hold a greater faith that if we have chosen a goal that is not in our interest, there will be a good reason for our not accomplishing it. We must take the attitude of high school shop students: our teacher will give us all the materials and methods of improving our skills, but if he sees us heading for an accident, he will turn off the electricity at the master switch.

We must hold firmly to determination, but be ready at any moment to let go of our goal if we discover that our plan is not God's plan. Our challenge is to distinguish between inner guidance and outer thoughts of limitation. Intuition and inertia wear the same garb; it is for us to distinguish between the two. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Three things of life once gone never come back-----time, words, and opportunities.
Three things of life must not be lost-----peace, hope and honesty.
Three things of life are very valuable------Love, confidence, and friends.

Pearls of Wisdom 9

1. When the inward is good the outward is also inevitably so, for the outward follows the inward, whether for good or evil.

2. Prove the sincerity of your respect for the Qur'an by putting its teachings into practice, not by arguing about it.

3. You must fill your time with worship so that no period of time elapses whether by night or by day, without being used in some act of goodness.

4. Good character consists in three traits: avoiding that which is forbidden, seeking that which is permitted, and being generous.

5. Whoever busies himself with that which does not concern him, then he misses out on much of that which does concern him.

6. If we spend our time paying attention to the wisdom of our heart rather than the wisdom of our head, we will benefit greatly.

7. Love is always the answer to every question and problem. We are here to love and be loved and learn a few things in the process.

8. To begin anew, we must say good-bye to who we once were.

9. Have the courage to begin the new life that each day brings you. No matter what changes and losses you have experienced, step back and see where you need to begin.

10. How do we find joy in our lives? Too often it comes at a significant price. You learn that you are mortal and suddenly what used to seem important isn't. Things that used to bother you don't anymore. What then becomes significant are the people who you love and who love you.

LESSON OF THE DAY 969

Ayahs of the Day:
Glory to your Lord, Lord of Power, transcending whatever they describe. And peace upon the emissaries. And praise to God, Lord of the universe. [37: 180 to 182]

Hadith of the Day:
Abandon anything that gives you doubt for what gives you no doubt. Truthfulness is peace of mind and lying is doubt. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
When you really change your attitude your sins will be forgiven. Through obedience you can attain felicity. [Shaykh Farid uddin al Attar]

Guidance of the Day:
The secret to maintaining a disciplined practice, is to always continue to do at least a little bit, even when you don't feel like it. When pushing a car, the hardest part is to get the car rolling, for an object at rest tends to remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force.

Once the car is moving it is easier to keep it moving than it was to start it, for an object in motion tends to remain in motion until it is acted upon by another force. So if you don't feel like doing a lot of exercise one day, just do one or two, which will keep the discipline alive and, in a sense, keeps the door open for further practice. And sometimes those one or two exercises will feel so good that you would want to continue and do more. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Miracles happen to those who believe in them. When we reach for new heights, we can make a difference and create something of joy and wonder for ourselves and for those around us. When we are ready to make a difference and create peace, love, and happiness for all living things, that will indeed be a miracle.

LESSON OF THE DAY 968

Ayahs of the Day:
Our word has already gone out to Our servants sent as emissaries before, assuring them they are assisted, and that our forces would be triumphant. [37: 171 to 173]

Hadith of the Day:
Allah does not look at your bodies nor your forms but He looks at your hearts and your actions. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Allah has a water container in the earth, which is the heart. The hearts that Allah likes most are those which are the strongest, the purest, and the softest--------strongest in religion, purest in trust, and softest towards one's brother. [Ali radi Allah anhu]

Guidance of the Day:
When we make an inner commitment to realize a clear-cut goal, a great force of will wells up within us. It is a will bigger and stronger than our little will; it is like a wind from the great will of God that comes to fill the sails of the ship of determination, the mast of which have hoisted with our commitment to succeed. We do nothing by ourselves, but when we declare our firm intention to accomplish a task and we ask for support from God, we are given the strength, the wisdom, and the means to succeed.

The force that opposes determination is inertia. Inertia is not a static thing; it is a dynamic force. Like any force, it tends to magnify itself and gain momentum until or unless it is superceded by another force stronger than itself. We slip into undertow of inertia, and then forsake our commitment. It takes a strong will to buck inertia, but overcome it we must. When we refuse to be intimidated by unchosen habit, and we do just one act of our practice again, the momentum of the practice will increase, and it will be easier and easier, and not harder and harder, to continue. It's all a matter of vectors and dynamic momentum. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Reading opens the mind, guides one to correct morals and sharpens one's ability to think. Reading is a comfort for the lonely, a stimulant for the thinker, and a lamp for the traveler. To not read makes one limited in one's speech, thinking, and personality.

Pearls of Wisdom 8

1. Nothing will work until you do. Every noble work at first is impossible.

2. To find out what one is fitted to do, and to secure an opportunity to do it, is the key to happiness.

3. Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

4. Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction.

5. The one thing that over comes hard luck is hard work.

6. The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.

7. The best prize life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

8. Sometimes it takes a disaster to wake us up and make us realize the blessings we have.

9. Too often it takes a direct confrontation with one's mortality to learn the value of the limited time we have on earth.

10. Many of us believe that time is money. Time isn't money; time is everything. The way we spend our time is what our life is all about.