Sleep’ Beauty

After performing Salat Al Maghrib, she put her make-up, wore her beautiful white dress preparing herself for her wedding party, Then she heard the Adhan of ‘Ishaa and she realized that she broke her Wudu she told her mother : “mother, I have to go to make wudu and pray ‘Ishaa”

Her mother was shocked : “Are you crazy?!! Guests are waiting for you, to see you! what about your make -up? It will be all washed away by water!!” then she added:

” I am your mother and I order you not to perform salah now! wallahi if you make wudu now, I will be angry at you”
Her daughter replied :”wallahi I won’t go out from here till I perform my salah! Mother you must know that “There is no obedience to any creature in disobedience to the Creator.”!!

Her mother said:”what would our guests say about you when you’ll show up in your wedding party without make-up?! You won’t be beautiful in their eyes! and They will make fun of you!”

The daughter asked with a smile :”Are you worried because I won’t be beautiful in the eyes of creations? What about my Creator?! I am worried because, if I miss my salah, I won’t be beautiful in His eyes”

She started to make wudu, and all her make-up was washed away, but she didn’t care

Then she began her salah and at the moment she bowed down to make sujud, she didn’t realize that it will be her last one!

Yes! She died while in sujud! What a great ending for a Muslimah who insisted on obeying her Lord! Many people who heard her story were so touched!!

She put Him and His obedience first in her priorities, so He granted her the best ending that any Muslim would have!

She wanted to be closer to Him, so He took her soul in the place where Muslim are the closest to Him! Subhanallah!

She didn’t care if she would be beautiful in the eyes of creatures so she was beautiful in the eyes of Her Creator!

O Muslim sister, imagine if you are in her place! What will you do? What will you choose : pleasing creations or your Creator?

O dear sister! Do you guarantee that you will live for the next minutes? Hours? Months?!!
No one knows when their hour will come? Or when will they meet angels of death? So are you ready for that moment?

O non-hijabi sister! What do you choose : Pleasing yourself by not wearing Hijab or pleasing your Lord by wearing hijab?

Are you ready to meet Him without Hijab?

And what about you, sister who are “in relationship” or “open relationship”, are you ready to meet your Lord today? Tomorrow?! What do you choose pleasures of this Dunya or pleasures of akhirah?!

May Allah guide us all to what pleases Him and grant everyone who is reading these lines good ending, Ameen.

[A beautiful true story narrated by Shaykh Abdul Mohsen al Ahmad, it happened in Abha (the capital of Asir province in Saudi Arabia)]

I M URS !

A wife asked her man if he thought she was pretty and he said NO
She asked him if he would want to be with her forever and he said NO
She then asked him if she were to leave would he cry and once again he replied with a NO

She had heard enough. As she turned away, tears were streaming down her face…
The man grabbed her arm and said…

~♥♥ ~~♥♥~~♥♥~~♥♥~~♥♥~~♥♥~~♥♥~~♥♥~~♥♥~~♥♥~~♥♥~~♥♥~

You’re not pretty, you’re BEAUTIFUL !
I don’t want to be with you, I NEED to be with you forever !
And I wouldn’t cry if you walked away…I’d DIE !

~♥♥ ~~♥♥~~♥♥~~♥♥~~♥♥~~♥♥~~♥♥~~♥♥~~♥♥~~♥♥~~♥♥~~♥♥~

Multitask’

The year end is a busy time for almost everyone. As we use our smartphones to confirm online gift orders, we’re also trying to wrap up those work tasks we should have finished in November. We feel overwhelmed but also productive, pleased with our ability to juggle so many things. In reality, however, that sort of behavior makes us less effective in our jobs and our lives.

Based on over a half-century of cognitive science and more recent studies on multitasking, we know that multitaskers do less and miss information. It takes time (an average of 15 minutes) to re-orient to a primary task after a distraction such as an email. Efficiency can drop by as much as 40%. Long-term memory suffers and creativity — a skill associated with keeping in mind multiple, less common, associations — is reduced.

We have a brain with billions of neurons and many trillion of connections, but we seem incapable of doing multiple things at the same time. Sadly, multitasking does not exist, at least not as we think about it. We instead switch tasks. Our brain chooses which information to process. For example, if you listen to speech, your visual cortex becomes less active, so when you talk on the phone to a client and work on your computer at the same time, you literally hear less of what the client is saying.

Why do we try?

Our brains are wired to respond strongly to social messaging, whether it is verbal or non-verbal. Knowing and improving our status, expanding awareness of our group, is important to us, and as a result information that helps us do that is often processed automatically, no matter what else we are trying to focus on.

Remote distractions, the ones aided by technology, are often unaware of current demands on us. People who call you at work, send you emails, or fire off texts can’t see how busy you are with your current task. Nor can Twitter feeds or email alerts. As a result, every communication is an important one that interrupts you.

Also, we crave access to more information because it makes us comfortable. People tend to search for information that confirms what they already believe. Multiple sources of confirmation increase our confidence in our choices. Paradoxically, more information also leads to discomfort, because some of it might be conflicting. As a result, we then search for more confirmatory information.

What can we do about it?

Technological demands are here to stay. What can you do to avoid overload?

First, make an effort to do tasks one at a time. Stick with one item until completion if you can. If attention starts to wane (typically after about 18 minutes), you can switch to a new task, but take a moment to leave yourself a note about where you were with the first one. Then give the new task your full attention, again for as long as you can.

Second, know when to close your door. In the “old days,” people did this when they had to work hard on something. Doing the same thing to the electronic equivalent is perhaps even more important if you want to be productive and creative. Set aside time when people know you are going to focus.

Third, admit that not all information is useful. Consider which communications are worthy of interrupting you, and what new data you should seek out. When doing a Google search, ask if you are just accessing links that confirm what you already believe or those that challenge those beliefs. Similarly, know the difference between social networks, which are likely to confirm your choices and therefore make you feel good, and knowledge networks, which might challenge them, and therefore help you make a better decision.

Paul Atchley, Ph.D. is an associate professor of Cognitive Psychology at the University of Kansas.

HOPE

After all that, don’t worry – there’s still hope!

We can still pick up the tools that were left by our ancestors, the tools of hard work and sacrifice, and rebuild our Ummah bi’ithnillah. Equipped with these, we can push dunya from our hearts and into our hands. Individually and collectively we can rebuild a new beginning for the Muslim Ummah – one that fights consumerism, encourages production, and gives back to the world more than it consumes.

Some Practical Tips

I leave you with 3 tips to help you take action today:

1. Adopt a Minimalistic lifestyle: Build your life around what you ‘need’, rather than what you ‘want’. Be like the traveller as the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said in the hadeeth and live simply. Donate or throw away what you don’t need, and only keep those items that are essential to your day to day life. Believe me, you’ll feel so much ‘lighter’ as a consequence. (If you want more details about how to life a minimalist life, I highly recommend mnmlist website.

 

1. Invest more, consume less: Try your best to always invest more of your resources (time, money, strength) and consume less. Invest your time in learning, helping others, volunteering, and worshipping. Invest your money in charity, new or existing businesses, helping Muslim charities and non-profit organisations. Invest your strength in working for Allah (Subhanhu Wa Ta’ala), helping the poor and needy and supporting those around you in whatever physical means possible.

 

1. Spread the simplicity message: Encourage your family and friends to live a simple life rather than a material based one. It was said that simplicity is a part of faith and therefore try to spread the message about how we can fight our consumerism culture and what actions we can take from the Qur’an and Sunnah today to achive this. With sincere intentions and hard work, it can be done!

 

I hope this article has inspired you to take a look into your life differently, and inspired you look at dunya as a door to Akhira and not a door to limited comfortable life.

Zuhd

One of the biggest enemies of productivity in our world today is the comfortable consumerism culture that we’re living in.

Everything is within reach and we’re constantly looking for the latest, quickest, or smallest! Each of us (except whom Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala) had mercy upon) is literally ‘killing’ themselves running after acquiring more and more of today’s world and what’s sad about this is that we, as Muslims, should know better.

History seems to repeat itself, for the Muslim Ummah did indulge in such consumerism more than 1,000 years ago, during the Golden Age of the Islamic civilisation. The success of the expanding empire brought new riches unknown to the early Muslims which started corrupting the Muslims and making them forget their true purpose. True to the words of the Prophet (Peace be upon him), this consumerism destroyed us. In a hadeeth, the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said: 

”By Allah, it is not the poverty about which I fear in regard to you but I am afraid in your case that (the worldly) riches may be given to you as were given to those who had gone before you and you begin to vie with one another for them as they vied for them. And these may destroy you as these destroyed them.” (Sahih Muslim, Book #042, Hadith #7065).

An Anti-dote: Zuhd

So how do we get out of this? Al-hamdulillah, we’ve a very powerful Islamic concept that would work as an anti-dote to consumerism culture. This is known as ‘Zuhd’ (known in English as Asceticism). Unfortunately, this concept has been grossly misunderstood and misinterpreted by many Muslims to mean complete refusal of dunya, hiding in a corner, and living a miserable, harsh and sad life.

Far from this, Zuhd according to the Sunnah of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and the understanding of the Companions (May Allah be pleased with them) has a very simple but powerful meaning: it means to hold dunya in your hand, but not letting it into your heart. What this means is that you should work for dunya, but never let that take over your life that you forget the Akhira. You should build this dunya but when you’re asked to sacrifice some of it for Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala) and His Messenger (Peace be upon him), you can easily do it, because the dunya is in your hands and not your heart.

If we look at the life of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and His companions, we’d find many examples of such understanding of ‘Zuhd’. Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) once said: 

”The worldly comforts are not for me. I am like a traveller, who takes a rest under a tree in the shade and then goes on his way.” (Tirmidhi).

The companions of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) even feared the worldly pleasures. One example being that a meal was brought to ‘Abdur-Rahman bin ‘Auf once when he was fasting. He said: 

”Mustab bin ‘Umar was martyred and he was better than I and was shrouded in his Burd and when his head was covered with it, his legs became bare, and when his legs were covered his head got uncovered. Hamza was martyred and was better than I. Now the worldly wealth has been bestowed upon us (or said a similar thing). No doubt, I fear that the rewards of my deeds might have been given earlier in this world.” Then he started weeping and left his food. (Sahih Bukhari, Book #23, Hadith #365).

I want to emphasize at this point, that I’m not against people improving their livelihood in this world and enjoying the blessings of Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala). Some of the Companions (May Allab be pleased with them) of the Prophet (Peace be uponhim) had thriving businesses, ate good food, and built nice homes, but once the call to sacrifice for Islam came, they threw all that away and ran for the Akhira.

Work and Sacrifice were the building blocks of the Islamic civilisation, not the palaces, art, and consumerism lifestyle. Those who came after the first 3 generations of Islam forgot these 2 ingredients and the Muslim civilisation declined.

siwaak

Allah’s Apostle said,

“If I had not found it hard for my followers I would have ordered them to clean their teeth with Siwaak for every Salat (prayer).”

[Sahih Bukhari]

A Siwaak (also known as Miswaak) is a twig of the Arak tree (Peelu tree) although a few other trees can also be used to obtain it, such as walnut and olive. Studies have shown that Miswaak is better than toothpaste for preventing gum disease. It kills gum disease causing bacteria. It fights plaque effectively. It fights against caries. It removes bad breath and odour from the mouth. It creates a fragrance in the mouth. It cleans effectively between teeth due to its parallel bristles. It also increases salivation and hence inhibits dry mouth (Xerostomia).

There are 70 benefits of Miswaak as suggested by Ahadith. Some of these have been studied and scientifically proven. The Wrigley Company conducted a study on the Miswaak which was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. The study found that mints laced with Miswaak extract were 20 times more effective in killing bacteria than ordinary mints. A small testimony to this fact is that after half an hour, the mints laced with Miswaak extract killed about 60% of the bacteria whereas ordinary mints managed to kill only 3.6%.

The August issue of the Journal of Periodontology (2008) published a study conducted by Swedish researchers on the Miswaak. The study found that suspended Miswaak pieces in a Petri dish were able to kill bacteria that cause periodontal disease without even being in physical contact with the bacteria. In trying to explain this phenomenon the researchers suggested that the Miswaak might be giving antibiotics as gases.

A study which compares tooth-brushing with Miswaaking concluded that the Miswaak was more effective than tooth-brushing in reducing plaque and gingivitis, provided it was used correctly. There are in fact entire books published which list Miswaak’s oral and systemic benefits. It is a natural toothbrush cum toothpaste cum floss.

http://i-living-islam.tumblr.com/

::: Holes on the Fence :::

There was once a little boy who had a bad temper. His temper was so bad that no one would come near him – nor his brother, nor his sister. Even his friends left him alone.

“I had just bought a pair of boots. I’ll join you in the field today” said the boy to his neighbor one afternoon.

When he turned up, nobody was there. His neighbor and the rest of the boy had gone missing. He stood all alone at one corner of the field, looking very sad, wondering…

Soon, he was at his front gate. His father who was watering the plants, pretended not to see him. The boy dumped his boots to the ground. Turning back, he gave them a hard kick and the boots went flying – landing on a shrub, a few inches from where his father was standing.

The boy walked straight into the house, still showing his anger. He felt proud to see his brother and sister running away from him. He went to the kitchen, looking for his mother.

“Anything for me?” he aske rudely.

His mother walked away without a word, leaving him alone in the kitchen. He took a bite of a bun on the table and went to his room. Suddenly, he rushed out of his room and shouted at the top of his voice, “Where’s my towel?!” Nobody answered. it was all quiet! He become furious. Bang! He shut the door behind him. “Tap, tap”. He heard a soft knock on his door. He opened the door.

“Here’s your towel, sir. Would you like anything else, sir?”

“Oh, oh!” responded the boy.

He stood still. His face turned red. No words could come out of his mouth. Had he seen a ghost? Of course not. It was his father! With just a piece of ‘sarong’ around him, making himself look like a servant.

“Is that all, sir?” asked the father.

“Oh, dad. Please don’t do this to me” pleaded the boy, crying. “I know I’m bad. Please forgive me.”

The father invited the boy to sit next to him on the bed. “I don’t keep ‘bad’ people in my house, son. You aren’t bad. It’s your temper which is bad.”

“I’m scared, Dad” said the boy.

“Son, because of your temper, you have lost your friends, brothers, sisters and even your own mom. If I lose my temper, I could punish you, then you’ll run away from me too” he said.

“I’m sorry, Dad” answered the boy. “Would you please help me?”

“Of course, but you’ve to promise that you really want to change” said the father.

“I promise I’ll do anything to correct myself.”

“Go and take your bath. We’ll talk again after dinner” said his father.

For the first time, the family had a quiet dinner together. After the meal, the old man had the family gathered at the living room. The boy sat next to his mother. The old man came in last. he was holding a box of nails and a hammer in his hand.

“Son, you had promise that you want to change. It’s not going to be easy” said his father.

“A promise is a promise, Dad” affirmed the boy.

“Well, here’s a box of nails and a hammer. Everytime you lose your temper, you must hammer a nail into the wooden fence” his father explained.

“Is that all?” asked the boy.

“Yes” replied his father.

The boy was sincere. He really wanted to change for better. In the first few hours, he had driven 13 nails into the fence. Whenever he’s not around, he recorded the number of times he showed his anger. As he reached home, more nails were driven in. On the first day alone, he had driven 33 nails into the fence!

Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily become less and less. He discovered that it was easier to hold his temper that to drive those nails into the fence. Finally, the day came when the boy did’nt lose his temper at all. He felt proud and happy.

“Dad, I dont need these nails anymore. I have friends around me now.”

The old man smiled and said, “I’ll take back the nails, but you’d still need the hammer.”

“Why?” asked the boy.

“Now that you are able to hold your temper, pull out one nail each day.”

Being obedient, the boy never cheated. The days passed and the boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by hand handled him to the fence.

He said, “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never ever be the same. When you speak and act in anger, they leave scars just like holes in the fence. It wont matter how many times you say you are sorry, the wound is still there.”

The boy was full of remorse. He felt miserable.

“It’s okay, son”continued his father. “At your age, you don’t put scars on others yet,but if I don’t correct you now, you might hurt many people one day.”

“I really learned my lesson, Dad. You’re the best dad in the world!” claimed the boy.

If you can get by without being known, then do so. What does it bother you that people will not praise you, and what does it bother you that you may be blameworthy in the sight of people if in the Sight of Allah you are praiseworthy?

Fudhayl ibn ‘Iyyadh

Beauty Is Not How Skinny You Can Be!