Pearls of wisdom....340

1. God scatters His light over all spirits.
    The fortunate hold up their skirts to receive it.
    Those who receive His light turn from all except God.
     Without the skirt of love, we cannot receive our share.

2. Give your life for the cup of divine wisdom.
    How can you succeed without endurance and patience?
    To wait for the sake of that cup is no hardship.
    Show patience, for patience is the key to joy.

3. The spiritual path ruins the body, but subsequently
     restores it to health. It ruins the house to reveal the
     treasure, and with that treasure it builds better
     than before.

4. God made the illusion look real and the real an
    illusion. He concealed the sea and made the foam
    visible, the wind invisible, and the dust manifest.
    You see the dust whirling, but how can the dust rise
    by itself? You see the foam, but not the ocean.
    Invoke Him with deeds, not words, for deeds are
    real and will save you in the afterlife.

5. In the hour of grief you turn to Him;
    when grief departs you transgress.
    In adversity you moan entreating Him;
    when ease returns you turn away.
   Those who know God remain steady,
   but those who doubt exult at times
   and become despondent at others. [Mawlana Rumi]

LESSON OF THE DAY 1309

Ayahs of the day:
Satan threatens you with poverty and compels you to indecencies, whereas God promises you divine forgiveness, and grace. And God is all-embracing, all-knowing. [2: 268]

Hadith of the day:
He whose heart contains as much as a mustard seed of arrogance will not enter Paradise. [Muslim]

Wise quote of the day:
All humans are dead except those who have knowledge, and all those who have knowledge are asleep except those who do good deeds, and all those who do good deeds are deceived except those who are sincere, and those who are sincere are always in a state of worry. [Imam al-Shafi'i]

Guidance of the day:
Strive for presence with God, reflect on the meanings of what you say, and do your best to acquire the behavior He likes and avoid that which He dislikes. Concentrate on your inward aspect. Confirm your words with your acts, your acts with your intentions and your sincerity, and your intentions and sincerity by purifying your inward and reforming your heart. For the heart is the essential thing upon which everything else depends. Therefore it is a duty to attend to it and concentrate on making it sound and upright. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]

Food for thought:
A room without books is like a body without a soul. The books that help you most are those which make you think the most. Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them all. Some books are to be tasted; others swallowed; and some to be chewed and digested. The one who does not read good books has no advantage over the one who can't read them. Books, like friends, should be few and well chosen.

Try to be the most knowledgeable of the gnostics....

Imām Ibn al-Qayyim {may Allāh have mercy upon him} said:-

The ignorant one complains about Allāh to the people!
This is the height of ignorance in complaining and in whom the complaint is about.

For if a person were to truly know his Lord, he would never complain of Him.

If he truly knew people, he would never complain to them …

The gnostic complains only to Allāh,

and the most knowledgeable of the gnostics are those who complain to Allāh about themselves, not others …

In short there are three levels:-

# 1/-The most contemptible who complains to people about Allāh;

#2/  The loftiest who complains to Allāh about oneself;

#3/ The middle level who complains to Allāh about others.


Source: al-Fawa’id
Transcribed from: Translator’s Footnote from ‘The Exquisite Peal –
 [The Journey to Allāh & The Home of the Hereafter’ | Shaykh ‘Abd 

Pearls of Wisdom....339

  1. Both Moses and Pharaoh
    dwell within your being.
    Seek these opponents within your being.
    The conception of Moses is a reawakening.
    The light is the same,
     though the lamp is different.

2. Do not regard yourself as infamous or weak.
    Reflect upon your aspirations, O noble one.
    No matter what your station be,
    keep searching.
    For this pursuit is a blessed course.
    This quest removes all impediments to God.

3. He complained of his pain a hundredfold.
    God said, "Grief and pain make you modest and noble.
    Your real enemy is your own medicine, the elixir that
    seeks to win your heart. Flee from it to solitude and seek
    help of God's grace. Your friends are really your enemies,
    for they occupy you and make you oblivious of God."

4. The wisdom of this world brings doubt. The wisdom
     of religion soars above the skies. Reflection on Truth
     opens the way to the kingdom. Treasures and armies
     do not make you a king. A true king is a king within
     himself. [Mawlana Rumi]

LESSON OF THE DAY 1308

 Ayahs of the day:
O believers, give of good things you have earned, and from what We have produced for you from the earth. And do not choose the bad thereof to give away, while you would not take it without disregard for it. And know that God is independent, most worthy of praise. [2:267]

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:
Your real possession is that which you will not lose in a ship wreck -- i.e. your imaan and good deeds with sincerity. [Imam Ghazali]

Guidance of the day:
Impose upon yourself to realize the meanings of invocations and supplications that you use and acquire them so as to make them your own attributes. For example, when you say, "Transcendent is God!" (Subha'Allah) your heart should be full with the magnification of God and awareness of His Transcendence. And when you say, "Praise belongs to God," (Al-Hamdu lil' llah) your heart should be full of praises and thanks for God. And when you say, "I ask Allah to forgive me," (Astaghfiru'llah) it should be at the same time full of hope for God's forgiveness, yet fearful of His not granting it; and so on. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]

Food for thought:
Anybody can become angry -- that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way -- that is not within everybody's power and is not easy. Whenever you are angry, be assured that it is not only a present evil, but that you have increased  a habit. The greatest remedy for anger is delay. When a person is wrong and won't admit it, he always gets angry.

A priceless quote from a confident Muslim woman....

Nobel Peace Prize winner "Tawakkul Karman," 'The mother of Yemen's revolution,' when asked about her Hijab by journalists and how it is not proportionate with her level of intellect and education, replied:

“Man in early times was almost naked, and as his intellect evolved he started wearing clothes. What I am today and what I’m wearing represents the highest level of thought and civilization that man has achieved, and is not regressive. It’s the removal of clothes again that is a regression back to the ancient times.''

What an inspiration...I know of no one who could have said it better!

Pearls of Wisdom 338

1. Seek a true friend,
    for a friend seeks the benefit of a friend,
    Do good to the people for the sake of God
    or for the peace of your own soul
    that you may always see what is pure
    and save your heart from the darkness of hate.

2. The Merciful God promised Mustafa,
     "You will die but the Qur'an will prevail.
    I shall exalt your Book and its Miracle
    and protect its face from being changed.
    This Qur'an to you is Moses' staff;
     like that dragon it will devour all deception."

3. The bottom of the river is full of jewels.
    Take heed! Do not make the water turbid.
    The spirit of man is like the air:
    when dust surrounds it the sky is veiled.
    Not withstanding such a state of darkness,
    God made visions to help you
    find the road to redemption.

4. The servile earth and the lofty sky:
     without this opposite
     the sky would not be so high.
     The low and high of the earth
     are winter and spring.
     The low and high of time
     are night and day.
     The low and high of the body
     are sickness and health.
     By means of these opposites
     the world is kept alive;
     by means of these doubles
     souls feel fear and hope. [Mawlana Rumi]