As the material world promotes selfishness and living for oneself, the spiritual world promotes selflessness and reaching out to others, true sharing and caring. Where do you fit in?

-Mufti Ismael Menk

Status of Mother

There’s a reason Jannah is not in her hands, but under her feet.
For if it was in her palms, her selfless love would have
handed it to you despite your deserving.
Alas, it is the ground that bears her entire weight. That is
where heaven lies, and if you wish to achieve it- carry her
weight.
Wipe her tears.
Give her hope.
Kiss her hands.
Tell her you love her,
in every tongue you speak.
Clean for her.
Cook for her.
Strive for her.
Do not simply hold her hand, for that is not where heaven lies.
Bare her burdens.
You may never come close to the unconditional manner and love in which she bared yours-
But you may earn the key to the gardens of eternal bliss locked beneath her feet.

Woman in Islam

Woman was made from the rib of a man.

She was not created from his head to top him,

Nor from his feet to be stepped on,

She was made from his side to be close to him,

From beneath his arm to be protected by him,

Near his heart to be loved by him.

Sometimes, Allah withholds from you, to give you something better...

Let go of the grudges. Let the bitterness die tonight. Make a decision tonight that it’s time to move on. And begin again. New, this time. Never forget that what has passed you by was never meant to befall you. And what has befallen you was never meant to pass you by. Know that sometimes Allah withholds from you, in order to give you something better. Keep your heart focused on Him, and He will take care of the rest. And remember: you will stumble, but that’s part of the path. Keep going. Keep rising and refuse to give up.

-Yasmin Mogahed

It is in Giving that we Receive

Act of giving something to others is an art of flowering your heart.

-Vinayak

I think there should be one such kind of plate in every family so we might be able to exercise “Giving”.

Think about people you truly respect. Think about people you truly admire. Think about people you love to be around. They may not be rich. They may not be highly accomplished. They may not be household names.

Yet you love to be around them--and you would love to be more like them. What sets them apart from everyone else?

They give: generously, selflessly, and without expectation of return. They give because their happiness--and their success--comes from someone else's happiness and someone else's success.

For it is in giving that we receive.

Source http://www.inc.com/

A sign of intelligence is to see one in many and find the many in one.

-Sri Sri

The Purest Love - Love without attachment

Try not to confuse “attachment” with “love”. Attachment is about fear and dependency, and has more to do with the love of self than love of another. Love without attachment is the purest love because it isn’t about what others can give you because you’re empty. It is about what you can give others because you’re already full.

-Yasmin Mogahed

The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically their virtues make them vulnerable: they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed.

-Ernest Hemingway

Start with Yourself!

The above words are said to be written on the tomb of an Anglican Bishop in the crypts of Westminster Abbey in London, England.

When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world. As I grew older and wiser, I discovered the world would not change, so I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country.

But, it too, seemed immovable.

As I grew into my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I settled for changing only my family, those closest to me, but alas, they would have none of it. 

And now as I lie on my deathbed, I suddenly realize: If I had only changed myself first, then by example I would have changed my family.

From their inspiration and encouragement, I would then have been able to better my country and, who knows, I may have even changed the world. 

Hasten towards Prosperity

حَيّ عَلَي الفَلاح

“Hasten towards Prosperity”

Success calls five times a day everyday, but people are too busy to answer the call because they are too busy trying to become successful.

Beauty surrounds us, but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know it. The body itself is a screen to shield and partially reveal the light that’s blazing inside your presence… All the things we do, are mediums that hide and show what’s hidden. Study them, and enjoy this being washed with a secret we sometimes know, and then not.

-Rumi

Beacon of Light for the Modern Age

         The Muslims should be a beacon of light in the lands we live in. We should be a spark of hope for others when they see; the dignity of our behavior, the modesty of our dress, the excellence of our schools, the professionalism of our healers, and people who are ethical at their core and won’t absolve themselves of their ethical responsibility. Then, we will be a beacon of light and people will say: “I want to be like those people.”

Remember everything you do for the sake of Allah, His religion, your small acts won’t go unrewarded. There is a reward for every small thing you do. Stay blessed!

The Door always opens....

I have lived on the lip of insanity, wanting to know reasons, knocking on a door. It opens. I’ve been knocking from the inside.

Dance, when you’re broken open.

Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off.

Dance in the middle of the fighting.

Dance in your blood.

Dance when you’re perfectly free.

-Rumi

Between the two seas is a Barrier

The Quran says:

مَرَجَ الْبَحْرَيْنِ يَلْتَقِيَانِ

بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخٌ لَا يَبْغِيَانِ

فَبِأَيِّ ءَالَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ

“He has made the two bodies of water flow. They will one day meet. Between them is now a barrier; they encroach not one upon the other. Which, then, of the favours of your Lord will you twain deny?”

(Surah Ar-Rahman : 19-21)

In the Arabic text the word barzakh means a barrier or a partition. This barrier is not a physical partition. The Arabic word maraja literally means ‘they both meet and mix with each other’. Early commentators of the Qur’aan were unable to explain the two opposite meanings for the two bodies of water, i.e. they meet and mix, and at the same time, there is a barrier between them. Modern Science has discovered that in the places where two different seas meet, there is a barrier between them. This barrier divides the two seas so that each sea has its own temperature, salinity and density. Oceanologists are now in a better position to explain this verse. There is a slanted unseen water barrier between the two seas through which water from one sea passes to the other. 

(Principles of Oceanography, Davis, pp. 92-93.) 

But when the water from one sea enters the other sea, it loses its distinctive characteristic and becomes homogenized with the other water. In a way this barrier serves as a transitional homogenizing area for the two waters. This scientific phenomenon mentioned in the Quran was also confirmed by Dr. William Hay who is a well-known marine scientist and Professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado, U.S.A. 

Don’t mistake Allah’s patience for His absence.

His timing is perfect and His presence is constant.

 He is always with you!

Faith is like a tree, if not watered by good deeds it will, little by little, wilt and die.

“Cherish your family, make time, have patience and laugh often with them.”

-B. B. Butler.

Love for the sake of Allah!

All love in this world will perish, one day you may love somebody the next day the love is gone, the best love is the love of Allah, that will never perish.

So when you want to love somebody truly, love that person for the sake of Allah, and Allah will bless you with the love you were looking for and that would never perish.

Abû Hurayrah relates that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Allah will ask on the Day of Judgment: ‘Where are those who loved each other for the sake of My glory? Today, - on a day when there is no shade but mine – I shall shade them with My shade.”

[Sahîh Muslim (2566)] 

We are not of same blood.

We are born and grown in different places.

We had different tastes and lifestyles, but still, our hearts are connected with a single miraculous feeling called “Love for the sake of Allah”.

....the Pillars of the temple stand apart....

Love one another, but make not a bond of love. Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your soul.

Fill each other’s cup, but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread, but eat not from the same loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone. Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. For only the hand of life can contain your hearts.

And stand together, yet not too near together. For the pillars of the temple stand apart.

And the oak tree and the cypress tree grow not in each other’s shadow.

-Khalil Gibran

Mind is a great deceiver. Heart is a great fool. No wonder why mind always win.

Never forget; when all the creation left you, He remained. He always remains.

-Yasmin Mogahed

Be a witness, not a judge. Focus on yourself, not on others. Listen to your heart, not to the crowd.

Forgiving others is not a weakness. It takes a strong person to forgive.

-Mufti Menk

The mind replays what the heart can’t delete.

-Yasmin Mogahed

Magic

And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.

-Roald Dahl