State of Weakness

Al-Rum (The Byzantines)
Chapter 30: Verse 54

"It is God who creates you in a state of weakness, and then after weakness He brings about strength in you, and then after strength He brings about your weakness and old age. He creates what He wills; and He alone has all knowledge and power."

In this verse we see the beginnings in our own life, and we see the end brought to them in a vivid image as though it were happening before our own eyes. We only need to have a receptive mind to gather the inspiration behind the verse.

The weakness in man's formation meant here has several aspects to it. It includes the physical weakness of the single, tiny cell that makes the foetus which goes through several stages, remaining weak throughout all of them. This weakness continues during childhood, until the person reaches adolescence and the prime of youth. Another weakness is that of the substance from which man is made, which is clay. Had it not been for the breath of God's spirit, man would have remained in the physical image of clay or in an animal image. Both of these are very weak compared to man. There is also the psychological weakness that makes man yield to desire, passion and lust. It is again the breathing of God's spirit into him that gives him the ability and resolve to resist such emotions. Without this spirit man would have been weaker than animals which behave according to their natures.

The strength mentioned here covers all those aspects discussed under weakness: strength in physical build, human potential, mental ability and psychological constitution.

Old age is a decline into childhood in all aspects. It may be accompanied with psychological decline due to weakness of will. An old person may have an urge similar to that of a child without having the willpower to resist it. The Arabic word shaybah, translated here as 'old age' also connotes 'grey hair'. It is specially selected here to give a tangible impression of old age.

No one escapes these stages. They never fail to affect anyone who survives; nor are they ever slow so as to come later than usual. These stages confirm that mankind is subject to a greater will that creates and determines as it pleases. That is the will of God who determines the age, life and stages of every creature in accordance with perfect knowledge and elaborate planning.

Compiled From:
"In The Shade of the Quran" - Sayyid Qutb, Vol. 13, pp. 397, 398

Purpose

Someone once told me that if I did things out of sincere love for them, then I would make sure they were done with sincerity. I would make sure that they got done with ihsan. "Fall in love" with the task, she said, and indeed, this can lead to great productivity.

This is proven in how a petite mother turns into a superhero to serve an ailing child or how a young man works long hours to pay for his wedding to the girl of his dreams. However, how do you fall in love with a final exam? Or a mundane work assignment?

You reflect on the purpose behind it. And then really connect with that purpose.

So, for example, you might ask yourself why this particular task is so important to you. Your answer may be different, but perhaps if you do well on it, you may finish a great education. This great education can lead to a great job that will require use of your skills for the betterment of your society. People need your skills; and maybe your parents will be pleased with you. If they are pleased with you and you are happy that you're helping others, then Allah (SWT) will be pleased with you - and if Allah (SWT) is pleased with you then you'll have the best of this life and of the next.

All these great things start with that one task, and because it can potentially lead to these things, you must fall in love with it - just as you love to win the satisfaction of your parents or your Creator.

What is the purpose of the assignment you're currently working on?

Compiled From:
"The 5 P's of Productivity: How to Get Things Done" - Heba Alshareef

Almighty's Wrath

The Noble Prophet, upon him be peace, met everyone in the same spirit. Most certainly, he had no desire to be a tyrant on earth or a king over men; nor did he ever entertain ambitions of personal grandeur. On the contrary, what he desired was for Allah to deliver him from the arrogance of the ignorant, and from the injustice of the aggressors. He frequently sought refuge in Allah from trials, envy, treachery, ignorance, all those things that detract from the dignity of a human being. Nonetheless, he was able to and did accept abuse or insults from others - for the sake of his attachment to the Lord. What concerned him above all was that he should never become the object of the Almighty's wrath. In his prayers he would often say:

"If Your wrath be not upon me, I worry not. But Your favour would be far from liberal."

Compiled From:
"Remembrance & Prayer" - Muhammad Al-Ghazali, p. 102

Capriciousness

Al-Qasas (The Story)
Chapter 28: Verse 50 (partial)

"And who is further astray than one who follows his own whim without guidance from God?"

Physical action depends on one's capacity. When the desire and repugnance of the heart are complete and perfect, and the creature acts upon them to the best of his ability, he receives the reward due to one who performs perfectly. For there are some whose love, hatred, desire and repugnance are purely personal feelings, not in accordance with the love and hatred of God and His Messenger.

The basis of capriciousness is selfish love and hate. This in itself is not blameworthy, since it is beyond our control. It is blameworthy to act upon it. Love and hate lead to the acquiring of tastes when their objects are present, to passion, desire and so on. To follow these without the sanction of God and His Messenger is to follow one's whim without guidance from God. Worse, things may escalate to the point where one makes a god of one's whim. Capriciousness in religious matters is more serious than following the whims of the flesh, since the former is the condition of the unbelievers.

This is why those who depart from the requirements of the Quran and Sunnah - whether scholars or ordinary people - are classed as People of Caprice, just as they were named by the early believers. For whoever does not follow knowledge follows his own whim. Religious knowledge is possible only through God's guidance.

Compiled From:
"Public Duties in Islam" - Ibn Taymiya, pp. 83-85

Money! Money! Money!

A passage from The Holy Quran

'Nor strain your eyes in longing for the things We have given for enjoyment to parties of them, the splendour of the life of this world, through which We test them: But the provision of thy Lord is better and more enduring.'

The Holy Quran - Surah 20 Verse 131

How many times do we see something that someone else has and wish we had it? How many times do we think 'why does that person have so much wealth and not me? Why does that person have an amazing house or an amazing car?' Allah Subhaanahu wa ta'ala is telling us that its nothing but a test for them. We often may think that there are many people who may not be very nice but they get all the fancy stuff, but remember Allah Subhaanahu wa ta'ala is Al-Alim, The All-Knowing....
The person who has an amazing car might well die in it.... the person who has a mansion might use it to do many sinful acts.... the message is, its not necessary that someone who seems to have everything is blessed... but could also be that its all those things that lead the person to the hell fire. Think about it...

'For the life of this world is but goods & chattels (possessions) of deception'

The Holy Quran - Surah 3 Verse 185

Why is it that no matter how much a person has in terms of possessions and wealth, they always want more?? They have an amazing house yet they have to buy another? They don't have one car but many?? Why is that lots of celebrities end up depressed and in rehab and some commit suicide when they have so much wealth and so many wonderful things?? Its simple... Allah Subhaanahu wa ta'ala has told us in our amazing book of guidence The Holy Quran, that its not real; its fake; this life is all an illusion; everything we see and have is a deception! Its all 'Temporary happiness' 'short-lived' Its not reality....

Try to undersand this concept. Reality are the things we can't see... we can't see oxygen, but its there right? We cannot see heaven and hell but we believe in their existence do we not? And the biggest reality of all, where there is no doubt whatsoever, we cannot see Allah Subhaanahu wa ta'ala but Allah Subhaanahu wa ta'ala the creator of the universe is real; Allah Subhaana wa ta'ala the All Powerful is true; Allah Subhaanahu wa ta'ala is Al-Baqi - The Everlasting One - and there is nothing more real than that!! Subhaan-Allah - Glory be to Allah!! Allahu-Akbar - Allah is the Greatest!!


In the hadith it is narrated that the prophet Muhammed (peace & blessings be upon him) said: (to the nearest effect)


'A slave will not be able to take a step further on the Day of Requital until he is taken to account for [the following things]: his time and how he spent it, his knowledge and how he used it, his money and how he earned and spent it, and his youth and how he passed it.

(Tirmidhi)

Having goals and ambitions is important in life. We all aim to have a really nice house; a really nice car; but do we have aims to be really good muslims? To better our salahs? To spend more time in worship? Or do we forget who we are in our focus on becoming the next apprentice?! We are living in a society where money seems to be the object of our lives and we will do anything to get our hands on it. We will lie, cheat, break the law, stab someone in the back... anythng to get ahead of the game right?! Anything for a little extra 'cheddar'. And us muslims have joined in with this money mad society forgetting our morals and our ethics and our core beliefs... all this can go in an instant! Gone! Then what good will our wordly possessions be to us?

We are busy in our daily lives putting pounds away into our banks.... but how many amaal do we put away each day? How many hasanahs do we put away each day? How many good deeds do we put away each day? For this will be our currency in our next life... so hadn't we better start saving them up? And using every opportunity to gain them? If someone said to us they would give us a tenner if we read a book for 5 minutes we would think yeah of course ill do it! No doubt! Imagine how many hasanahs we can get in reading the Holy Quran for 5 minutes... surely thats more worth while than a lowsy tenner?!

It's so simple! If we do something for the love of Islam; if we do something for the love of Allah Subhaanaahu wa ta'ala it will benefit us in this world and the next world too!


'You shall not attain righteousness until you spend out of what you love (in the way of Allah). Allah knows whatever you spend.'

The Holy Quran Surah 3 Verse 92


If we spend our money in the right way it will go alot further than if we spend it in the wrong way... If we live our lives by islam there will be so much more barakah (blessings) in our money its unbelievable! So we should give money to charity and spend in the way of Allah Subhaanahu wa ta'ala, who promises us He will double it:


'If you loan to Allah a beautiful loan, He will double it to Your credit and He will grant you forgiveness: For Allah is most ready to appreciate'

The Holy Quran Surah 64 Verse 17


Lets try and remove our THIRST and DESIRE for MONEY and so many WORLDLY POSSESSIONS. Most of the time we can all be very UNGRATEFUL for all that we have. We lead lives of KINGS & QUEENS compared to others around the world. It's always good to take a moment to think about those LESS FORTUNATE than ourselves, maybe it can help us to APPRECIATE what we have a little more INSHA-ALLAH. And when reflecting, to give a little of our time to ALLAH Subhaanahu wa ta'ala who provides us with all that we have in our lives. It is Allah that provides us with the SHELTER above our heads. It is Allah that provides us with the CLOTHES on our backs. It is Allah that provides us with the FOOD in our bellies. It is Allah that provides us with EVERYTHING!


'If you count the blessings of Allah, never will you be able to number them'

The Holy Quran Surah 14 Verse 34


May Allah Subhaanahu wa ta'ala help us to remove money as the objective of our lives and replace it with bettering our imaan and increasing our amaal (good deeds).


May Allah Subhaanahu wa ta'ala also help us to better ourselves in our transactions, and regain our morals, our ethics and our true nature as honest, law abiding and humble servants of Allah.

I ask Allah Subhaanahu wa ta'ala, The Al-Ghaffar - The Forgiver, for His Mercy & Compassion and forgive me for anything that i may have said that was not correct.


“Verily never will Allah change the condition of people until they change the condition themselves”

The Holy Quran - Surah 13 Verse 11


To Allah we belong & to Allah we return

The Holy Quran - Surah 2 Verse 156

Tranquil Soul and Heart

The first source of knowing proper manners and good character is the revelation from Allah. In the Quran and sunnah, many qualities are stated and shown to be praiseworthy. The blameworthy qualities are also pointed out in numerous verses and hadith. A person should go to those verses and hadith and judge himself in the light of those teachings.

What about particular deeds? What about deeds that are not specifically covered in the Quran and sunnah? How can he judge his own deeds on a day-to-day basis and discover whether they are of good character or not? Al-Teebi has brought together two hadith that offer an answer to this question. In one hadith, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Righteousness is good character." In the other hadith, he said, "Righteousness is that concerning which the soul feels tranquil and the heart feels tranquil." So, good behaviour is that behaviour concerning which the soul is at rest and pleased.

Therefore, whenever a believer performs a deed or is considering doing an act, he should study the act. If he finds that his soul is at rest with that act, he will realize that the act is an act of good and proper character. Similarly, if the believer thinks about an act and his soul feels very good about that act, he should perform it as it is part of the good character that every Muslim should try to possess.

Compiled From:
"Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi" - Jamaal al-Din M. Zarabozo, p. 1026

Lack of Self-Definition

Al-Hajj (The Pilgrimage)
Chapter 22: Verse 31

"Being true in faith to Allah, and never assigning partners to Him: if anyone assigns partners to Allah, he is as if he had fallen from heaven and been snatched up by birds, or the wind had swooped (like a bird on its prey) and thrown him into a far-distant place."

We see how this verse describes the sense of loss and lack of self-definition that afflicts the person in the absence of faith. The human being who lacks faith resembles a heavenly object that has strayed and fallen from its orbit. It is quick to burn up. It is lost and wasted, not knowing where it is headed. Such a person is overpowered by perplexing questions that make his or her mind as if it were about to explode. This person remains in emotional turmoil. The person's heart, likewise, does not come to any sound conclusion, and it takes that person's life right down to Hell.

It is part of our nature to seek out that which is to be venerated, that which is holy. This is why a person who does not acknowledge Allah as the one to be worshipped will find something else to worship.

All people, children and adults – and no matter how healthy, prosperous, or successful they might be – need a few moments away from other people, to commune with their Lord, to feel that Allah sees them, hears them, and will answer them. This is true at times of hardship and times of ease, not only when faced with failure, but even when enjoying the greatest success.

It is a grave error to assume that faith is tied in with fear of the unknown, as critics of religion claim. Rather, faith is tied in with a deep love in the heart, which in its outpouring naturally seeks that which is holy and sublime. In the absence of a willingness to recognize Allah, people might even worship idols like the Arabs used to do before the advent of Islam.

Compiled From:
"Faith is Human Nature – What Does This Really Mean?" - Salman al-Oadah