Stop saying over and over again that you are late because of “Muslim standard time,” or the “standard time” of your particular ethnicity. The last thing we should attribute to Islam is the notion that its teachings somehow make us late, slow, slugging, and anything but punctual. What a sad state of affairs, indeed, that we attribute our own weaknesses to our religion or ethnicity!
For the last few years, I have generally been at home wathcing TV or something like that - one might think I am boring, or a geek, but really, what is new years? isnt it just another excuse to go out and do something on a night when everything is so hyped up and everything costs double the price, getting a cab anywhere is difficult and places are packed like mad…for what? Just so that you can wish your friends and family a happy new year?
One thousand ideas go through your head the moment you stand up for prayer. Is that you? Really? What do you make of those ideas? Do you process them? What about when you are sitting in class? Do you find your mind wandering, daydreaming, and unable to focus on the lecture at hand? Are you likely to use any excuse whatsoever to leave what you are doing?
Look around your room. How many unfinished projects do you have? When you work on homework, are you likely to rush through the assignment just so you can be done with it or are you more likely to take your time, to check your work, and most importantly, to be thorough?
Perhaps the most difficult challenge while navigating adolescence is to restrain oneself from falling victim to one’s desires — especially one’s lower desires.
Who do you rely on? Of course, Allah. He is indeed the Most Trustworthy. But among humans, who do you rely on? Who can you trust to come through for you all the time? Do people rely on you? Are you considered trustworthy? Moving ahead in life, achieving ultimate success, requires that people consider you trustworthy and reliable. Being trustworthy should not be an arbitrary activity but rather a habit so that you can be relied upon in all instances, big or small, convenient or inconvenient, easy or difficult.
Being truthful is not always easy, especially when we make a mistake. We fret over whether or not to disclose exactly what happened. We sweat, we are afraid, we feel nervous and anxious. We are often afraid that if we tell the truth about what we have done or said, we will be in trouble with our parents or friends. What we forget is that whether we tell the truth or not, Allah Most High knows exactly what took place, even those things that were never manifest or visible to people around us.
You cannot escape it. The discussion about habits is all around you: Mom and Dad are constantly telling you to break your bad habits; your teachers are telling you to develop good habits; your friends are pressuring you to adopt their habits; and the television and media are influencing you to explore new and supposedly cool habits.
Imagine hypothetically, you are trying to get hold of an immediate family member for a while who happens to live in another country and its been ages since you spoke to them and you just cannot seem to get hold of them? What thoughts would cross your head?
I got hold of a soft copy of the entire Quran as a pdf file so I thought id share for anyone who is interested. I guess some of the uses include:
I have just attended a 2 day course (6 hours total) course organised by the Peterborough Tabligh Committee. The course was about Quranic Sciences and the course delivered various topics including:
I cam across an excellent comparison that I felt was worth sharing on my blog. Its a great comparison of how the Tawaf of Kaa’ba is a Cosmic Law.
Dr. Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi the founder of the M.K.Gandhi Institute for Non-violence, in his June 9 lecture at the University of Puerto Rico, shared the following story:
Loneliness is a wicked disease. It can strike at anytime. Infact, what is worst is when someone feels lonely despite the fact that there is family and friends around who love them are are there for them whenever required to speak, to visit etc. however, sometimes people find it very difficult to speak about certain aspects that actually trigger their loneliness. Sometimes speaking to Allah (SWT) is amazing making you feel rejuvenated after - however this is sometimes short lived and the feeling recurs. It is however the best cure to continuously seek the company of Allah (SWT). Check out the letter below
Its that time of the year when millions of people prepare themselves to go fo Hajj. This time around unfortunately, 2 groups that I know off were unable to secure visa’s which meant over 100 people were not able to go. They say Hajj is by Invitation from Allah (SWT) and I guess to console those that were excited to go on this spiritual journey, we can only say “It was not meant to be”.
I mentioned on a recent post on taking a Holiday with Allah (SWT) which was very enjoyable and spiritually uplifting. The 3 days I spend at the mosque were like no other. Every day I felt a different feeling within myself which I will briefly detail below.
