08.18.09
Ounce of prevention, pound of cure
Repel the thought, for if you don’t, it becomes an idea. So repel the idea, for if you don’t it will become a desire. So fight against that (desire), for if you don’t, it will become a determination and a passion. And if you don’t repel that, it will become an action. And if you don’t replace it with its opposite, it will become a constant habit. So at that point, it will be difficult for you to change it.
- Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah [from al-Fawaa'id]
05.03.09
Call with wisdom
“Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful admonition, and argue with them with ways that are best.”
[Surah an-Nahl (16): Ayah 125]
Salaah is a light
Hadith 23
On the authority of Abu Malik al-Harith bin ‘Asim al-Ash’ari, radiyallahu ‘anhu, who said: The Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam, said:
“Purification is half of iman (faith). Saying ‘Al-Hamdulillah’ (Praise be to Allah) fills the scales. Saying ‘Subhanallah wa al-Hamdulillahi’ (Exhalted be Allah and Praise be to Allah) fills the space between the heavens and the earth. Salah (prayer) is a light. Sadaqah (charity) is a proof. Sabr (patience) is a shining glory. The Qur’an is an argument either for you or against you. Everybody goes out in the morning and sell themselves, thereby setting themselves free or destroying themselves.”
03.22.09
Lessons of the Day
03.12.09
Pearls of Wisdom
1. Let not obedience make you joyous because it comes from you, but rather, be joyous over it because it comes from Allah (SWT) to you.
2. Whoever is not thankful for graces runs the risk of losing them, and whoever is thankful fetters them with their own cords.
3. Be fearful lest the existence of His generosity towards you and the performance of your bad behavior towards Him not lead you step by step to ruin.
4. He made the Hereafter an abode to reward His believing servants only because this world cannot contain what He wishes to bestow upon them and because He deemed their worth too high to reward them in a world without permanence.
5. The real journey is when the world’s dimension is rolled away from you so that you see the Hereafter closer to you than yourself.
6. Far be it for our Lord to recompense with credit the servant who deals with Him in cash.
7. Suffice it is a recompense for you for obedience that He has judged you worthy of obedience.
8. When He gives, He shows you His kindness; when He deprives, He shows you His power. And in all that, He is making Himself known to you and coming to you with His gentleness.
9. Deprivation hurts you only because of the lack of your understanding of Allah (SWT) in it.
10. When He loosens your tongue with a request, then know that He wants to give you something.
[Above quotes by Ibn Ata'Allah]
03.07.09
Pearls of Wisdom
1. A friend cannot be considered a friend until he is tested on three occasions—- in time of need; behind your back; and after your death. [Ali radi Allah anhu]
2. One of your sins should seem weightier to you than a thousand of your virtues. [Imam Ja'far al Sadiq]
3. There can be no good in excess, just as there is no excess in good. [Imam Abu Hanifah]
4. 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]
5. To be humble is to accept the truth and submit to it even if you heard it from a child or someone who is uneducated or ignorant. [Fudhayl ibn Iyaadh]
6. Even if you studied for a hundred years and collected a thousand books, you would not be eligible for the mercy of Allah except through action. [Imam al Ghazali]
7. Live as long as you want, but you must die; love whatever you want, but you will become separated from it; and do what you want, but you will be repaid for it. [Imam al Ghazali]
8. Allah loves the voice of the one who recites the Qur’an, and the voice of the one who seeks forgiveness before dawn break. [Sufyan al Thawri]
9. Knowledge without action is madness and action without knowledge is void. [Imam al Ghazali]
10. Know that the knowledge which does not remove you from sins today and does not convert you to obedience, will not remove you tomorrow from the Hell fire. [Imam al Ghazali]
02.26.09
*Birr/True Righteousness*
“By no means shall you attain to righteousness until you spend (benevolently) out of what you love; and whatever thing you spend, Allah surely knows it.”
~ Quraan al-Kareem (Surah Aali-’Imraan, 3:92)
A Sin that Leads to Jannah
“Sin may be more beneficial for a person, if it leads him to repent, than doing a lot of acts of worship. This is what is meant by the words of one of the salaf:
‘A person may commit a sin and enter Paradise because of it, or he may do an act of worship and enter Hell because of it.’
They said: ‘How is that?’
So the sin may be the factor that leads him to do acts of worship and good deeds and to change his attitude so that he fears Allah and feels shy before Him and feels humiliated before Him, hanging his head in shame and weeping with regret, seeking he forgiveness of his Lord. Each of these effects is better for a person than an act of worship that makes him feel proud and show off and look down on people. Undoubtedly this sin is better before Allah and is more likely to bring salvation than one who admires himself and looks down on others, and who thinks that he is doing Allah a favour. Even if he says words that indicate something other than that, Allah is the Witness over what is in his heart. Such a person may feel hatred towards people if they do not hold him in high esteem and humiliate themselves before him. If he were to examine himself honestly, he would see that clearly.”
