Ayahs of the day:
And the keys of the unseen are with God, who alone knows them. And God knows what is on the land and in the sea. And not a leaf falls but God knows it, and there is not a single grain in the darkness of the earth, and nothing green and nothing dry, but it is in an explanatory Book. [6: 59]
Hadith of the day:
In the evening, do not wait for the morning, and in the morning, do not wait for the evening. Take from your health for your weakness, and from your life for your death. [Bukhari]
Wise quote of the day:
God says, "I have created you, your moments, your breaths, your possessions, your lives. If they are expended on Me, if you give them to Me, the price of them is everlasting Paradise. This is your worth in My sight." [Mawlana Rumi]
Guidance of the day:
You must always be fair and generous in your commerce, choose to be indulgent and lenient, rather than rigorous and demanding. This is more likely to increase the baraka and accrue your gains.
You must refrain from lying altogether. Never swear by God when selling or buying, for the whole world is more insignificant and vile than to deserve a truthful oath, how much more so when you lie? There is no need for oaths. Beware to the extreme of cheating, deception, fraud, and hiding the faults in what you are selling, for these are severely forbidden and may render transactions altogether invalid. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]
Food for thought:
Adopt the pace of nature -- her secret is patience. He that can have patience can have what he will. Our patience will achieve more than our force. Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. Patience is power -- with time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes silk.
Monday, April 27, 2015
Friday, April 24, 2015
Pearls of Wisdom 374
1. Beware of having long-term expectations (for this world), for it makes one forget his true purpose.
2. Thankfulness for blessings is the condition for attaining more blessings; and ingratitude for blessings is the condition for losing them.
3. Death is always a silent companion.
4. The heights of felicity are reached through breaking of bad habits.
5. The wise attain honor through their humbleness, whereas the fools bear humiliation through their haughtiness.
6. Regrets over misdeeds erases them, and pride over good deeds ruins them.
7. Vain desires is a ruinous companion, and bad habits make up a formidable foe.
8. The intellect of a man lies under his tongue.
9. To panic during a calamity is itself a greater calamity.
10. Honor lies in hastening to forgive. Dishonor lies in hastening to revenge. [Ali radi Allah anhu]
2. Thankfulness for blessings is the condition for attaining more blessings; and ingratitude for blessings is the condition for losing them.
3. Death is always a silent companion.
4. The heights of felicity are reached through breaking of bad habits.
5. The wise attain honor through their humbleness, whereas the fools bear humiliation through their haughtiness.
6. Regrets over misdeeds erases them, and pride over good deeds ruins them.
7. Vain desires is a ruinous companion, and bad habits make up a formidable foe.
8. The intellect of a man lies under his tongue.
9. To panic during a calamity is itself a greater calamity.
10. Honor lies in hastening to forgive. Dishonor lies in hastening to revenge. [Ali radi Allah anhu]
Monday, April 20, 2015
A head start towards Ramadan....
Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali mentions in Lata’if al-Ma’arif: The month of Rajab is the key to the months of goodness and blessings that follow it. Abu Bakr b. al-Warraq al-Balkhi said: “Rajab is the month to sow the seeds; Sha’ban is the month to irrigate the crop; and Ramadan is the month to reap the harvest.” It has similarly been related from him: “Rajab is like the wind; Sha’ban is like the water-laden clouds; and Ramadan is like the rain.”
Someone else mentioned: “The year in its entirety is like a tree: during Rajab its buds sprout; during Sha’ban it sends forth its branches; during Ramadan its fruit ripens; and the believers are the farmhands who harvest that fruit.”
It is opportune for anyone who has darkened the scroll of their deeds with sins to cleanse it with repentance during this month. Likewise, anyone who has squandered his lifetime without taking advantage of the opportunities to benefit his soul should take advantage of what remains of his life—starting with this month.
A poet said:
So cleanse your darkened hearts within Rajab;
with deeds that spare the soul Hellfire’s wrath.
One of the sacred months has come along;
no one who calls on God will be forlorn.
Heaven is for the one’s who cleanse their hearts
with lewd indecent deeds they’ll have no part.
Taking advantage of the opportunity to do righteous
deeds during this month is a source of great gain.
While filling each moment of the month worshiping
God is a bounteous virtue. End quote from Ibn Rajab.
Let us all take advantage of the weeks that come before the blessed month of Ramadan. If we begin to fast voluntarily now, the fatigue and discomfort that sometimes accompanies the beginning of our obligatory fast will be behind us and we will enter the month with great spiritual momentum. Similarly, if we begin increasing our reading of the Qur’an now we will find it easy to read an even greater amount during the month of Ramadan, a month when we celebrate the revelation of our blessed scripture. An athlete who enters a race with a running start achieves a far faster time than one who starts the race from a stationary position. Let us take advantage of these days to get a running start into Ramadan.
Imam Zaid Shakir
Someone else mentioned: “The year in its entirety is like a tree: during Rajab its buds sprout; during Sha’ban it sends forth its branches; during Ramadan its fruit ripens; and the believers are the farmhands who harvest that fruit.”
It is opportune for anyone who has darkened the scroll of their deeds with sins to cleanse it with repentance during this month. Likewise, anyone who has squandered his lifetime without taking advantage of the opportunities to benefit his soul should take advantage of what remains of his life—starting with this month.
A poet said:
So cleanse your darkened hearts within Rajab;
with deeds that spare the soul Hellfire’s wrath.
One of the sacred months has come along;
no one who calls on God will be forlorn.
Heaven is for the one’s who cleanse their hearts
with lewd indecent deeds they’ll have no part.
Taking advantage of the opportunity to do righteous
deeds during this month is a source of great gain.
While filling each moment of the month worshiping
God is a bounteous virtue. End quote from Ibn Rajab.
Let us all take advantage of the weeks that come before the blessed month of Ramadan. If we begin to fast voluntarily now, the fatigue and discomfort that sometimes accompanies the beginning of our obligatory fast will be behind us and we will enter the month with great spiritual momentum. Similarly, if we begin increasing our reading of the Qur’an now we will find it easy to read an even greater amount during the month of Ramadan, a month when we celebrate the revelation of our blessed scripture. An athlete who enters a race with a running start achieves a far faster time than one who starts the race from a stationary position. Let us take advantage of these days to get a running start into Ramadan.
Imam Zaid Shakir
Monday, April 13, 2015
Dear Muslimah....
Modesty is a woman's best weapon!
Be like a diamond, precious and rare, not like a stone found every where.
Every precious thing is covered! A woman modestly dressed is like a pearl in its shell.
You may not be a fairy tale princess, but you are always a princess of Islam.
Your value as a women is not measured by the size of your waist or the number of men
who like you.
Your worth as a human being is measured on a higher scale of righteousness and piety.
Hijab includes the way you walk, talk, look, and think -- all of it should be done modestly.
The sun doesn't lose its beauty when its covered by the clouds, the same way your beauty
doesn't fade when you are wearing a hijab.
Your purpose in life despite what the fashion magazines say is something more sublime
than just looking good for men.
Your beauty is for your man (husband), not for the mankind.
Even though a man is responsible for his gaze, you are responsible for what you give him
to gaze at, so guard your modesty.
Hijab with a bad attitude isn't hijab. Hijab with tight clothes on isn't hijab.
Hijab with layers of makeup isn't hijab. Hijab is beautiful, so make it look beautiful.
Wear it with love, wear it with pride, and most of all wear it Right.
The nobel prize winner Tawakkul Kamran from Yemen, when asked about her hijab by
journalists and how it is not proportionate with her intellect and education, she replied:
"Man in the early times was almost naked, and as his intellect evolved he started wearing
clothes. What I am today and what I am 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 regressive back to ancient times."
Be like a diamond, precious and rare, not like a stone found every where.
Every precious thing is covered! A woman modestly dressed is like a pearl in its shell.
You may not be a fairy tale princess, but you are always a princess of Islam.
Your value as a women is not measured by the size of your waist or the number of men
who like you.
Your worth as a human being is measured on a higher scale of righteousness and piety.
Hijab includes the way you walk, talk, look, and think -- all of it should be done modestly.
The sun doesn't lose its beauty when its covered by the clouds, the same way your beauty
doesn't fade when you are wearing a hijab.
Your purpose in life despite what the fashion magazines say is something more sublime
than just looking good for men.
Your beauty is for your man (husband), not for the mankind.
Even though a man is responsible for his gaze, you are responsible for what you give him
to gaze at, so guard your modesty.
Hijab with a bad attitude isn't hijab. Hijab with tight clothes on isn't hijab.
Hijab with layers of makeup isn't hijab. Hijab is beautiful, so make it look beautiful.
Wear it with love, wear it with pride, and most of all wear it Right.
The nobel prize winner Tawakkul Kamran from Yemen, when asked about her hijab by
journalists and how it is not proportionate with her intellect and education, she replied:
"Man in the early times was almost naked, and as his intellect evolved he started wearing
clothes. What I am today and what I am 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 regressive back to ancient times."
Friday, April 10, 2015
Lesson of the day 1377
Ayahs of the day:
When those who believe in Our signs come to you, say, "Peace be upon you." Your Lord is self-committed to mercy, so that if any of you does wrong in ignorance, then repents after that and makes mends, God is most forgiving, most merciful. Thus do we explain the signs, so the way of sinners should be evident. [6: 54,55]
Hadith of the day:
All the children of Adam err, and the best of those who err are the oft repenting. [Tirmidhi]
Wise quote of the day:
Do not ask one who flees from your requests, but instead, ask the One Who has ordered you to ask of Him. [Ibn al Samaak]
Guidance of the day:
You must make your earnings lawful, for it is incumbent upon a person to earn his living and there is merit and abundant reward in doing so when the intention is good. So let a person work with the intention of protecting his religion, saving himself from embarrassment of depending on others, sufficing himself and his dependents, and giving the surplus away as charity to the needy among the servants of God the Exalted. He would thus be working for the hereafter. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]
Food for thought:
Adopt the pace of nature -- her secret is patience. He who has patience can have what he will. Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. Our patience will achieve more than our force. Patience is power -- with time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes silk.
When those who believe in Our signs come to you, say, "Peace be upon you." Your Lord is self-committed to mercy, so that if any of you does wrong in ignorance, then repents after that and makes mends, God is most forgiving, most merciful. Thus do we explain the signs, so the way of sinners should be evident. [6: 54,55]
Hadith of the day:
All the children of Adam err, and the best of those who err are the oft repenting. [Tirmidhi]
Wise quote of the day:
Do not ask one who flees from your requests, but instead, ask the One Who has ordered you to ask of Him. [Ibn al Samaak]
Guidance of the day:
You must make your earnings lawful, for it is incumbent upon a person to earn his living and there is merit and abundant reward in doing so when the intention is good. So let a person work with the intention of protecting his religion, saving himself from embarrassment of depending on others, sufficing himself and his dependents, and giving the surplus away as charity to the needy among the servants of God the Exalted. He would thus be working for the hereafter. [Counsels of Religion by Imam al-Haddad]
Food for thought:
Adopt the pace of nature -- her secret is patience. He who has patience can have what he will. Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. Our patience will achieve more than our force. Patience is power -- with time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes silk.
Monday, April 06, 2015
Pearls of Wisdom 373
1. The surest way of achieving heaven on earth is contentment with His decree.
2. Indeed the sword may wound the body, but it is foul speech which wounds the soul.
3. Steeped in error who can find time to seek out faults in others.
4. A believer's humiliation comes from his heedlessness of his religion, not in his lack of wealth or stature.
5. When the poor and needy come to you, then know that it is a gift from your Lord.
6. Sins have a tendency of creating restlessness in one's heart in one form or the other.
7. Ingratitude -- Spending of Allah's bounties in ways which are inappropriate and unbefitting.
8. Generosity is the fruit of wealth; Practice is the fruit of knowledge; Allah's pleasure is the fruit of sincerity.
9. The one who does not observe the rights of people cannot possibly observe the rights of God.
10. Lovers of fine raiment and garb! forget not that one day you will wear the shroud of the grave;
Lovers of palaces and lofty mansions forget not that ditch where you ultimately lie in;
Lovers of fine food and drink forget not that you are to become the food of worms and maggots.
[Othman radi Allah anhu]
2. Indeed the sword may wound the body, but it is foul speech which wounds the soul.
3. Steeped in error who can find time to seek out faults in others.
4. A believer's humiliation comes from his heedlessness of his religion, not in his lack of wealth or stature.
5. When the poor and needy come to you, then know that it is a gift from your Lord.
6. Sins have a tendency of creating restlessness in one's heart in one form or the other.
7. Ingratitude -- Spending of Allah's bounties in ways which are inappropriate and unbefitting.
8. Generosity is the fruit of wealth; Practice is the fruit of knowledge; Allah's pleasure is the fruit of sincerity.
9. The one who does not observe the rights of people cannot possibly observe the rights of God.
10. Lovers of fine raiment and garb! forget not that one day you will wear the shroud of the grave;
Lovers of palaces and lofty mansions forget not that ditch where you ultimately lie in;
Lovers of fine food and drink forget not that you are to become the food of worms and maggots.
[Othman radi Allah anhu]
Friday, April 03, 2015
Inspiring story....
Sultan Murad IV, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1623-1640, would often anonymously go into the midst of the people and see their state. One evening, he felt an uneasiness in himself and the urge to go out. He called for his head of security and and out they went. They came to a busy vicinity, and found a man lying on the ground. The Sultan prodded him but he was dead and the people were going about their own business. Nobody seemed to care about the dead man lying on the ground.
The Sultan called upon the people. They didn't recognize him and asked him what he wanted. He said, "Why is this man lying dead on the ground and why does no one seem to care?
Where is his family?" They replied, "He is so and so, the drunkard and fornicator!"
The Sultan said, "Is he not from the Ummah of Muhammad (Peace and blessings upon him)? Now help me carry him to his house" The people carried the dead man with the Sultan to his house and once they reached, they all left. The Sultan and his assistant remained.
When the man's wife saw his dead body, she began weeping. She said to his dead body, "Allah have mercy on you! O friend of Allah! I bear witness that you are from the pious ones.
"The Sultan was bewildered. He said, "How is he from the pious ones when the people say such and such things about him. So much so that no one even cared he was dead?"
She replied, "I was expecting that. My husband would go to the tavern every night and buy as much wine as he could. He would then bring it home and pour it all down the drain. He would then say, "I saved the Muslims a little today." He would then go to a prostitute, give her some money and tell her to close her door till the morning. He would then return home for a second time and say, "Today I saved a young woman and the youth of the believers from vice."
The people would see him buy wine and they would see him go to the prostitutes and they would consequently talk about him. One day I said to him, "When you die, there will be no one to bathe you, there will be no one to pray over you and there will be no one to bury you!"
He laughed and replied, "Don't fear, the Sultan of the believers, along with the pious ones shall pray over my body."
The Sultan began crying. He said, "By Allah! He has said the truth, for I am Sultan Murad. Tomorrow we shall bathe him, pray over him and bury him." And it so happened that the Sultan, the scholars, the pious people and the masses prayed over him.
We judge people by what we see and what we hear from others. Only if we were to see what was concealed in their hearts, a secret between them and their Lord.
The Sultan called upon the people. They didn't recognize him and asked him what he wanted. He said, "Why is this man lying dead on the ground and why does no one seem to care?
Where is his family?" They replied, "He is so and so, the drunkard and fornicator!"
The Sultan said, "Is he not from the Ummah of Muhammad (Peace and blessings upon him)? Now help me carry him to his house" The people carried the dead man with the Sultan to his house and once they reached, they all left. The Sultan and his assistant remained.
When the man's wife saw his dead body, she began weeping. She said to his dead body, "Allah have mercy on you! O friend of Allah! I bear witness that you are from the pious ones.
"The Sultan was bewildered. He said, "How is he from the pious ones when the people say such and such things about him. So much so that no one even cared he was dead?"
She replied, "I was expecting that. My husband would go to the tavern every night and buy as much wine as he could. He would then bring it home and pour it all down the drain. He would then say, "I saved the Muslims a little today." He would then go to a prostitute, give her some money and tell her to close her door till the morning. He would then return home for a second time and say, "Today I saved a young woman and the youth of the believers from vice."
The people would see him buy wine and they would see him go to the prostitutes and they would consequently talk about him. One day I said to him, "When you die, there will be no one to bathe you, there will be no one to pray over you and there will be no one to bury you!"
He laughed and replied, "Don't fear, the Sultan of the believers, along with the pious ones shall pray over my body."
The Sultan began crying. He said, "By Allah! He has said the truth, for I am Sultan Murad. Tomorrow we shall bathe him, pray over him and bury him." And it so happened that the Sultan, the scholars, the pious people and the masses prayed over him.
We judge people by what we see and what we hear from others. Only if we were to see what was concealed in their hearts, a secret between them and their Lord.
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