بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
Things don't go on our timetable. You wait and be angry or you wait and be patient. Either way you have to wait. You either make yourself miserable by being angry or you make yourself strong by being patient while you wait. The amount of work is the same.
After I was cheated by a taxi driver a few weeks ago, I shy away from taking taxis. I take buses instead especially if I am not in a hurry and actually there is nothing to hurry except to hurry to get out of the intense heat. May Allah saves us from the Fire.
The other day I was going to take a bus to go to downtown Cairo to renew our visas. So many buses passed by, unfortunately we were not fast enough to read the bus numbers in Arabic to stop the buses! Rather than risking not getting our visas the same day and getting ourselves soaked with sweat in the intense heat, I decided to take a taxi. I'd make sure that the taxi driver agreed on the fare in advance to avoid being cheated again. But every taxi would not take us for the fare I offered, which was actually the going fare, and I wouldn't pay more, not because I could not afford the extra few dollars but I did not want to support greedy people or people who take advantage of people. So I passed one taxi after another.
There was this taxi that suddenly stopped in front of us. I walked over to the taxi and asked him if he would take us to Cairo for the same fare I told all the other taxis. He said yes, inshaAllah, and so we got in the taxi. Soon I realized he was one of the earlier taxis that I had stopped a few minutes ago. I said "SubhanAllah" and couldn't help it but laugh. He noticed that I realized who he was and smiled. He had Qur'an playing during the entire trip. MashaAllah. I gathered he was quite religious. You can tell also because he didn't smoke, his taxi was clean and smell good, as my sons noticed.
We had our visas done in record speed! MashaAllah, la hawla wala quwwata illa billah.
May Allah guide us. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers Jazakallahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
Friday, July 30, 2010
Aiming For That Big Prize!
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In The Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
Of all the common discomfort in our lives is being in the heat. When you are in 113° F (45° C) + for days and nights, what do you do? Find AC, fans or go in or under a shade? What happen when you don't have any of those? Maybe you are in a desert and there are no trees. Maybe you can't afford AC or fans, or maybe you have them but there is no electricity--maybe the whole city lost power because it can't handle the high usage or someone ran into the power pole and cause the blackouts! It is a common occurrence living in the African desert. SubhanAllah. Nothing you experience in life, good or bad, is without a purpose if only you reflect.
People usually become impatient when they are faced with discomfort or problems. Likewise, people often forget to thank Allah in good times. If you are alone, who is there to remind you all these? You have to tell yourself often, "I am not going to fail this test!" And be prepared for the next test which can be harder. But if you surround yourself with righteous people, it would be easier for you. You go through good and bad times the same. You find happiness in both. You are content in both. You remind each other of the favors of Allah. You remind each other of patience. You remind each other of that big prize you are aiming for!
"(Some) faces on that day shall be bright, looking to their Lord. And (other) faces on that day shall be gloomy, knowing that there will be made to befall them some great calamity." Al-Qiyaamah 75:22-25
May Allah grant us much patience to go through this life and make us His thankful slave. Ameen. Please remember us in your night prayers. JazakAllahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
In The Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
Of all the common discomfort in our lives is being in the heat. When you are in 113° F (45° C) + for days and nights, what do you do? Find AC, fans or go in or under a shade? What happen when you don't have any of those? Maybe you are in a desert and there are no trees. Maybe you can't afford AC or fans, or maybe you have them but there is no electricity--maybe the whole city lost power because it can't handle the high usage or someone ran into the power pole and cause the blackouts! It is a common occurrence living in the African desert. SubhanAllah. Nothing you experience in life, good or bad, is without a purpose if only you reflect.
People usually become impatient when they are faced with discomfort or problems. Likewise, people often forget to thank Allah in good times. If you are alone, who is there to remind you all these? You have to tell yourself often, "I am not going to fail this test!" And be prepared for the next test which can be harder. But if you surround yourself with righteous people, it would be easier for you. You go through good and bad times the same. You find happiness in both. You are content in both. You remind each other of the favors of Allah. You remind each other of patience. You remind each other of that big prize you are aiming for!
"(Some) faces on that day shall be bright, looking to their Lord. And (other) faces on that day shall be gloomy, knowing that there will be made to befall them some great calamity." Al-Qiyaamah 75:22-25
May Allah grant us much patience to go through this life and make us His thankful slave. Ameen. Please remember us in your night prayers. JazakAllahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
Monday, July 26, 2010
Your Clock Is Ticking
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that that you are well.
Say "If you do love Allah, follow me: Allah will love you and forgive you your sins; for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." Qur'an AleImran 3:31
When you love somebody, you would put them in high esteem, think about them a lot, you would sacrifice yourself for them. So love is not lip service, not something you can just claim how you feel. There is no love without giving. Love is not an abstract feeling, but a feeling and an action.
'Umar ibn Al-Khattab, Allah be pleased with him, loved the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, very much and one day he told the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, "O Messenger of Allah, I love you more than everything except myself." The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, told him, "Not until you love me more than yourself." 'Umar came back and said, "O Messenger of Allah, now I love you more than everything including myself." With that the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to him, "Now you have attained a complete faith."
If you love the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, you would consider his sunnah to be more important than your own interest and when the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, ask to do something in the hadith you would be willing to do it regardless of what people think of you. You should not just think the sunnah as the outward sunnah but also how the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant peace, lived his life. He lived his life being an example, teaching and fighting in the way of Allah.
In order to know about the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, you have to put time learning Islam. People often complain about not having the time to study the religion, not even to go to weekly Islamic study groups at the masjid or yearly Islamic conventions because they are busy (you name it what they are busy about), busy working, working hard for time is difficult. But this is not an excuse.
As Muslims, you need to work for this life and work for the next life. You cannot do for one and forget the other. You need to do for both. So you have to work harder. In order to succeed, you have to cut your sleep, you have to cut your entertainment and idle time, you have to stay away from arguing, fighting, backbiting and gossiping. A Muslim can't afford to waste time. Allah already ordained the exact amount of time you are in this world. Your clock is ticking. Every minute that passes by, you are that much closer to death--to meeting your Creator. What have you prepared for that moment?
May Allah bless our time and only take us at the highest of Iman. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that that you are well.
Say "If you do love Allah, follow me: Allah will love you and forgive you your sins; for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." Qur'an AleImran 3:31
When you love somebody, you would put them in high esteem, think about them a lot, you would sacrifice yourself for them. So love is not lip service, not something you can just claim how you feel. There is no love without giving. Love is not an abstract feeling, but a feeling and an action.
'Umar ibn Al-Khattab, Allah be pleased with him, loved the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, very much and one day he told the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, "O Messenger of Allah, I love you more than everything except myself." The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, told him, "Not until you love me more than yourself." 'Umar came back and said, "O Messenger of Allah, now I love you more than everything including myself." With that the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to him, "Now you have attained a complete faith."
If you love the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, you would consider his sunnah to be more important than your own interest and when the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, ask to do something in the hadith you would be willing to do it regardless of what people think of you. You should not just think the sunnah as the outward sunnah but also how the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant peace, lived his life. He lived his life being an example, teaching and fighting in the way of Allah.
In order to know about the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, you have to put time learning Islam. People often complain about not having the time to study the religion, not even to go to weekly Islamic study groups at the masjid or yearly Islamic conventions because they are busy (you name it what they are busy about), busy working, working hard for time is difficult. But this is not an excuse.
As Muslims, you need to work for this life and work for the next life. You cannot do for one and forget the other. You need to do for both. So you have to work harder. In order to succeed, you have to cut your sleep, you have to cut your entertainment and idle time, you have to stay away from arguing, fighting, backbiting and gossiping. A Muslim can't afford to waste time. Allah already ordained the exact amount of time you are in this world. Your clock is ticking. Every minute that passes by, you are that much closer to death--to meeting your Creator. What have you prepared for that moment?
May Allah bless our time and only take us at the highest of Iman. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
Your Attitude
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
There is good and bad in every place. If you look for good, you will find good. If you look for bad, you will find bad. It boils down to your attitude.
We always thought of having a system is good. Everybody loves USA for its system. Everything seems to run like clock work--consistent, predictable and efficient. If you go to the Department of Motor Vehicles to register your car tomorrow, you can expect there are people working behind the desk to help you, the same way they were there yesterday or the year before. You plan your day without contingencies because you have complete faith in the system.
But having a system is not necessarily good. No human system is perfect. It works sometimes. It doesn't work sometimes. It may work for some, it may not work for some other. Sometimes no system is better.
This foreign place is notorious for not having any system (they say the system here is no system) but it works for millions of people and it works for me. For example, I can wait for a bus anywhere I want and I can tell the driver to stop anywhere I want (along the bus route). I cannot imagine we can do this in the good USA. If the bus driver did this, the police will ticket the bus driver for traffic violation and he will have to pay a hefty fine and penalty! And if I wanted to take a bus, I would have to drive to the designated bus stop!
So who need the system, fancy bus stop, well paved roads, state of the art bridges--who is paying for it? The people. When the people have to pay for the people's convenience and comfort, they have to work and the more convenience and the more comfort people want, the more they have to pay, and the harder they have to work to pay. And who lose? The souls.
May Allah grant us good in this world and the next and protect us from the Hellfire. Ameen. Please keep us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
There is good and bad in every place. If you look for good, you will find good. If you look for bad, you will find bad. It boils down to your attitude.
We always thought of having a system is good. Everybody loves USA for its system. Everything seems to run like clock work--consistent, predictable and efficient. If you go to the Department of Motor Vehicles to register your car tomorrow, you can expect there are people working behind the desk to help you, the same way they were there yesterday or the year before. You plan your day without contingencies because you have complete faith in the system.
But having a system is not necessarily good. No human system is perfect. It works sometimes. It doesn't work sometimes. It may work for some, it may not work for some other. Sometimes no system is better.
This foreign place is notorious for not having any system (they say the system here is no system) but it works for millions of people and it works for me. For example, I can wait for a bus anywhere I want and I can tell the driver to stop anywhere I want (along the bus route). I cannot imagine we can do this in the good USA. If the bus driver did this, the police will ticket the bus driver for traffic violation and he will have to pay a hefty fine and penalty! And if I wanted to take a bus, I would have to drive to the designated bus stop!
So who need the system, fancy bus stop, well paved roads, state of the art bridges--who is paying for it? The people. When the people have to pay for the people's convenience and comfort, they have to work and the more convenience and the more comfort people want, the more they have to pay, and the harder they have to work to pay. And who lose? The souls.
May Allah grant us good in this world and the next and protect us from the Hellfire. Ameen. Please keep us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Surrounded With People
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
No matter which corner of the earth you live in--you are surrounded with people--all kinds of people--good people, bad people, people who make you smile, people who make you cry, people who comfort you, people who stress you out, people who make you happy, people who make you angry, people who bug you, people who make you feel safe, people who take the wits out of you, people who are generous to you, people who take advantage of you, people who don't think of you, people who take you for granted...
You can't get away from these people even if you try to or want to, you can't hide yourself. There are times you just want to be alone--away from everybody even from your loved ones--but you can't especially those who depend on you, although they sometimes pretend like they don't need you or appreciate you.
They are all there--it's a matter of degree. But know that Allah sends all these people to you and they are there for your good--it is up to you to see it, and thank your Lord whether you see it or not.
If you are alone, don't be sad or feel lonely. Be grateful that Allah gives you this time alone. This is your time to draw near to Him, not TV or world news or one round of cigarette--pick up that Qur'an, soothe yourself with a few verses. If you are awakened in the middle of the night, take wudu' and worship your Lord.
May Allah bring us closer to Him and not leave us alone even for a blink of an eye. Ameen. Please keep us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
No matter which corner of the earth you live in--you are surrounded with people--all kinds of people--good people, bad people, people who make you smile, people who make you cry, people who comfort you, people who stress you out, people who make you happy, people who make you angry, people who bug you, people who make you feel safe, people who take the wits out of you, people who are generous to you, people who take advantage of you, people who don't think of you, people who take you for granted...
You can't get away from these people even if you try to or want to, you can't hide yourself. There are times you just want to be alone--away from everybody even from your loved ones--but you can't especially those who depend on you, although they sometimes pretend like they don't need you or appreciate you.
They are all there--it's a matter of degree. But know that Allah sends all these people to you and they are there for your good--it is up to you to see it, and thank your Lord whether you see it or not.
If you are alone, don't be sad or feel lonely. Be grateful that Allah gives you this time alone. This is your time to draw near to Him, not TV or world news or one round of cigarette--pick up that Qur'an, soothe yourself with a few verses. If you are awakened in the middle of the night, take wudu' and worship your Lord.
May Allah bring us closer to Him and not leave us alone even for a blink of an eye. Ameen. Please keep us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
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