July 1, 2011
Under Control and Taking Control
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Assalamu Alaikum,
Life can often play itself out in ways I cannot understand or control. In times like those, I often turn to my friends who speak to me through the precious pages of my books. This time, one friend touched my heart while giving me a little more strength.
“All wisdom can be stated in two lines: What’s done for you–allow it to be done. What you must do yourself–make sure you do it.” –Khawwas
August 25, 2010
Forgiveness
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Assalamu Alaikum,
We are in the days of Forgiveness. There are a bunch of things running through my mind, but I came across an ayah that warranted this post:
And may not those who possess superiority (in wealth) among you and possess capacity, swear not to give to the relatives and to the needy, and to those who left their homes for Allah’s cause. Do you not love that Allah should forgive you? And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
–Surah Nur, Ayah 22 [24:22]
So people, there are two sides to the days of Forgiveness. One is to seek Forgiveness from Allah. Another is to seek and forgive others. How can we be good Muslims–good human beings–if we don’t have the hearts to forgive?
August 20, 2010
Secrets?
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Assalamu Alaikum,
Yesterday a friend of mine witnessed an open heart surgery. She told me she was intrigued by seeing a live heart beating.
That got me thinking: beneath our still exteriors, our hearts are always beating. Even at our moments of supreme happiness, or deepest grief. We may never whisper a single word, we may carry a thousand secrets or several million thoughts across a silent open field, but our hearts still beat. Consciously or unconsciously, it is there keeping us alive. To me, it is a symbolic representation of God’s knowledge of everything we say or think. We may think we hide things or we may be unconscious of God’s infinite knowledge, but God always knows what is in our minds and in our hearts. Like our hearts keep beating no matter what we say, think or do, God knows everything in us, no matter what.
May not be the best logical connection, but it made me think.
“Whether you say a thing aloud or inaudibly, He has knowledge of the secret and the hidden.”
–Surah Ta Ha, Ayah 7 [20:7]
May 27, 2010
Islam at 3 AM =)
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Assalamu Alaikum,
Was thinking and reading and I discovered this hadith at 3 AM (something I also thought complimented my other post):
“If a person loves his brother, he should tell him so.”
–Narrated by Tirmidhi
April 3, 2010
General Teaching Musings: Kindness
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Assalamu Alaikum,
*I guess this is primarily inspired by couple of my professors, my math one comes to mind. Jazak Allahu Khairah*
A quality of a good teacher: Kindness.
Having the ability to convey information is one thing, but to do that with kindness is a whole different level. I think if students are treated kindly and with respect, they respond better to teachers, the material that is taught and student learning increases dramatically. I also think it can impact a student’s behavior and may want to make him/her a better human being. Read the rest of this entry »
March 28, 2010
My Epiphanies (XV)
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Assalamu Alaikum,
I am currently unhappy with three people and three other people are unhappy with me. That is approximately six Divine Invitations. That means God must really want me to call back to Him right now.
Well, one of the Divine Invitations has pushed me to write this post, so here it goes: gentleness and kindness. Read the rest of this entry »
March 3, 2010
Today’s Christian Sufi Moment
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Assalamu Alaikum,
Yes, you read the title correctly. Today’s Christian Sufi moment. Read the rest of this entry »
February 6, 2010
Beautiful Words III
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Assalamu Alaikum,
I heard a Christian say this and I knew immediately she was an awliyah–
“Which blessings of God would you ever deny?”
Reference: (فَبِأَيِّ آلاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ)
September 22, 2009
Purification of the Heart, by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Assalamu Alaikum,
EDIT: This is a super old post in my draft box and I am too lazy to finish it. I am still procrastinating my overdue history homework–
While I am still on my Shaykh Hamza note taking rampage, why don’t I include his book, Purification of the Heart?
I am just basically listing each illness and its cure, so they are not very good notes and I would recommend that everyone should read this book. Again, this is just to summarize or list the core principles. You should read the book.
—
Purification of the Heart
—
Miserliness: (stingy/hoarding money) The treatment is to realize those who achieve great wealth normally do so after wasting his/her whole life. And life goes by and soon it is over. So through contemplation can you get over this disease. Read the rest of this entry »
September 19, 2009
My Epiphanies (XIV)
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Assalamu Alaikum,
(These Roman Numerals are starting to get more complicated.)
The last two days have been nuts and today will probably be nuts as it is potentially the last day of Ramadan. But I am not sad. I am not planning to leave Allah swt’s presence after Ramadan. In fact, Ramadan is here just to give us a gentle nudge or ‘recharge’ or another way to remember to constantly turn back to Allah.
With that said, don’t be disheartened that Ramadan is ending. Allah’s love will be with you. He is the Most Loving.
Anyway, the topic(s) of today’s epiphany(s) deal with yesterday (Friday). Thursday deserves its own post, but because yesterday is still fresh in my mind, I better write it now:
I went to a different Masjid to attend the ending of the recitation of the Quran and the ‘khatm’ duaa afterwards. I don’t like to use the term ‘khatm’ as it suggests that the Imam ‘ended’ the Quran. He actually finished it in the 19th rakah, and in the 20th, he started again with surah Baqarah. The reason for this is so people don’t think you simply ‘end’ at the closing of Ramadan. Islam is this constantly cycle of renewing ourselves and going back to Allah. It kind of reminds me of the Expanding and Contracting cycle–>we keep going in and out, but we must always keep coming back.
So after the 20th rakah, we all sat and the duaa began. The first half of the duaa was in Arabic and I understood a good portion of it because some of the duaas the Imam were making were duaas I have learned. Some of them were beautifully spoken (in terms of language) and some I simply didn’t know. I obviously broke a few tears and prayed for everyone’s forgiveness, spiritual state, relationship with Allah swt, etc. etc. until the Imam started to speak in English. Read the rest of this entry »
