Surely all Praises are due to Allah, we praise Him, seek His assistance, and ask His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of myself and the wickedness of my deeds. Verily whomever Allah guides there is none to take him astray; and whomever Allah allows to stray, there is none to guide. I bear witness that there is nothing worthy of worship but Allah, He is One and has no partners; and I bear witness that Muhammad (pbuh) is His servant and last Messenger. May Allah send His choicest blessing and Peace to Muhammad, his companions, family and all those who call to his way and establish the Sunnah till the Day of Judgement. To proceed; The reason behind existence is one of the most basic yearnings for the truth. In the Qur'an, Allah clearly says: "I did not create the Jinns and humankind except to worship Me." (5:156) Well, no actually, VERY WELL ; P today I got a certificate that i started its journey exactly three years ago,and I pray Allah, Most High, accepts my efforts....truly, all that is good comes from Him, and all shortcomings are from my own self. MAY ALLAH REWARD MY PARENTS WHO HAVE BEEN SUCH A BIG SUPPORT TO ME, SPIRITUAL, PHYSICAL ETC.... MAY ALLAH REWARD MY TRUE SISTER AND FRIEND, RUUUUBZ, THANK U FOR AAALLLLL THE LIGHT YOU BROUGHT ME WHEN I WAS IN THE DARKEST HOLES EVER.REALLY.THANK YOU I REALLY PRAY I WOULD USE THIS IN THE BEST WAY IN PLEASING MY LORD IN ALLLL PIOUS WAYS...AMEN. May Allah reward all the brothers and sisters who have helped me along the way, with their time, efforts and prayers.

Allah's way leads to endless hope, while man's way leads to a hopeless end

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said:

"Be mindful of God, and He will protect you. Be mindful of God, and you will find Him infront of you. If you ask, ask of God. And if you seek help, seek help from God. Know if the whole nation were to gather together to benefit you in any way; It will only benefit you with something that Allah had already prescribed for you. And know if the whole nation were to gather together to harm you with anything; It would only harm you with something Allah had already prescribed for you. The pens have lifted and the ink has dried."

COUNTDOWN TO R-A-M-A-D-A-N ...

7 Reasons to Read the Qur'an

PLEASE, DON’T LET US DROP!

UMMAH'S DOWNFALL
Today I have put my finger on one of the biggest causes of our UMMAH'S DOWNFALL. However, before I start talking about what happened with me today, I'd love to talk about the essence of the meaning I'm trying to talk about... Defining the words:
DOWNFALL = A cause of sudden ruin.
DOWNFALL = Sudden drop to a lower condition or status
DOWNFALL = A disastrous overwhelming defeat or ruin.
UMMAH = The word UMMAH comes from the Arabic amma which means "to go, betake, repair, go to see," Imama "to lead the way, lead by one's example (esp. in prayer)," umuma "to be or become a mother, to nationalize, etc." Also derived from this root is Umm which means "mother, source, origin, basis, foundation, original, original version (of a book), the gist, essence of?" Thus the word UMMAH means "nation, people, generation, community."
It is absolutely fruitless to talk about something that isn't clear. So I hope I made that meaning clear.


THE BIGGEST DELUSION!
Now, to start with, the devil does not know the depth of the spirit of a human, not yet spoilt with sin, but he understands the surface spiritual movements, connected with the physical nature, which can be equally directed towards the good or the evil. And he mobilizes them, as everything he has in disposal in the decisive moment of temptation, repeating his method of tempting millions of millions of times over all human creatures in the whole and very sad human history. And that isn't what I'm trying to talk about, as we have the CHOICE. Yes, the choice.

THE STORY
Well, today I went for a job interview, and it was supposed to be with a school's headmistress. Again, a school's HEADMISTRESS. So, respecting time, is supposed to be one of the most important things in one's life. And especially teachers and whosoever holds the seeds of the next generation's intellect. So, I went on time, and guess what??? The secretary tells me she's not there, and most probably won't be coming today. I thought to myself, I should give her 70 excuses like the prophet (pbuh) said. So I waited until the secretary calls her and know if she (headmistress) is coming to see me or not. So she tells me that "she won't be coming and would like to talk to you right now" (through the phone). So I went, and talked to her, on the phone. next thing i know :
1- she doesn't give any appropriate excuse for not coming
2- doesn't apologize
3- and doesn't communicate professionally
As me being a Muslim, I didn't Wallahi get upset at aaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllll, for myself 'cuz I know I did my part and that its alllllllll good, 'cuz probably its not for my own good getting that job.
All I didn't really like is that there wasn't a vivid excuse for me getting treated like that. And when I say me, I mean most of youngsters, whether in experience, or age, or anything else. The thing is that with some Arabs, and I say some, commitment isn't a thing to be mentioned, and this is our downfall. And especially, with young generation, the elders (experience wise etc) think that we need them, and that it isn't a mutual need... So, this is veryyyyyyyyy degrading.

I really don't know if I put it right, or if I explained my point, but basically, my prayer is for us to become a better nation. I just cant type anymore... I'm really hurt.

A BEAUTIFUL ASPECT OF A NAME : )

MOEZ SAID: "I actually named my son Adam just so that I could never be distracted from the goal. I feel all of us humans inhabiting this globe have WAY to much in common to spend all our time on earth differing and fighting like this! I also believe that if we all put our HEARTS-not just minds- to it, like they say, Allah will help us see again. Maybe it’s time we became one nation again, as we were always meant to be. Perhaps we CAN do something about it.As a poet once put it: There are so many different worlds, so many different suns, and we have just one world, but we live in different ones."

WHO ARE WE ?

Who are we, and what makes us different from all other things?

We are creations of God, along with the rest of the universe. We are human beings, all descendants of a common ancestry well known to most of us: Adam and Eve. Humanity, however, is distinct from the rest of the universe in a very fundamental way according to the Final Book,
"Verily, We did offer the trust to the heavens and the earth, and the mountains: but they refused to bear it because they were afraid of it. Yet man took it up - for verily he has always been prone to be most wicked, most foolish." [33:72]
Over the years, many scholars of the Book have tried to understand exactly what God meant by "the trust". The most convincing argument (based on other parts of the Book, and on certain statements of the Last Messenger) is that it refers to our ability to make decisions both freely and intelligently. In other words, our uniqueness as human beings stems from two gifts given to us by God:
* our ability to freely choose between actions (good and evil)
* our ability to intelligently weigh and make those choices
The price of these gifts is a tremendous amount of responsibility on our part; the responsibility not to abuse our gifts by rejecting God or by hurting each other unnecessarily.
The blessings of these two gifts are immeasurable, especially when God reminds us that He could have decided things otherwise by depriving us of either gift,
"Now had it been Our will [that men should not be able to discern between right and wrong], We could surely have deprived them of their sight, so that they would stray forever from the [right] way: for how could they have had insight [into what is true]? And had it been Our will [that they should not be free to choose between right and wrong], We could surely have transformed them [rooted] in their places, so that they would not be able to move forward, and could not turn back." [36:66-67]
However, God did NOT will this, and as a result we are blessed with will and reason. The Final Book clearly warns against abusing these blessings, either by neglecting ourselves when we don't think wisely, or by hurting others when we deny them the right to choose,
"Verily, the vilest of all creatures in the sight of God are those deaf, those dumb ones who do not use their reason." [8:22]
"There shall be no coercion in matters of faith. Distinct has now become the right way from error: hence he who rejects evil and believes in God has indeed taken hold of a support most unfailing, which shall never give way: for God is All-Hearing, All-Knowing." [2:256]
In spite of mankind's free will and reason, God warns us in His Book always to remember that these gifts are limited after all. The Final Word lies with Him in all matters. However, this is not to say that men's destinies are arbitrary - not at all. We are able to make decisions that affect our lives, but at the same time, God is also making decisions about us and for us,
"And had thy Sustainer so willed, all those who live on earth would surely have attained to faith, all of them: do you then think that you could compel people to believe, notwithstanding that no human being can ever attain to faith otherwise than by God's leave, and [that] it is He who lays the loathsome evil [of disbelief] upon those who will not use their reason." [10:99-100]
"...Verily, God does not change men's condition unless they change their inner selves..." [13:11]

The Dream Wedding

THE DREAM WEDDING !

HOW CAN SUCH A MATERIALISTIC THING BE RELATED TO A VERY SPIRITUAL BOND ?!

Some people think that these rings increase the love between the spouses and have an effect on their relationship. This is an ignorant belief and is an attachment to something for which there is no basis in practical life and which does not make sense. " Engagement ring" In principle there is nothing wrong with rings (i.e., they are permissible), unless they are accompanied by certain beliefs, as some people do when the man writes his name on the ring that he gives to his fianc'ee, and the woman writes her name on the ring that she gives to her fianc'ee, believing that this will guarantee the bonds between the spouses. In this case this engagement ring is banned, because it represents an attachment to something for which there is no basis in islamic laws and which does not make sense. Similarly it is not permissible for the man to put the ring on the woman's hand himself, because she is not yet his wife, so she is still a stranger (i.e., non-mahram) to him; she is not his wife until after the marriage contract is done. The engagement ring or wedding ring has a history of thousands of years old. Some people claim that the Pharaohs were the first to invent it long before the Greeks had any notion of it. Others say that it stems from an old custom still upheld by people. By this they are referring to tying the bride and the bridegroom together with chains and making him ride a horse, while dragging his bride behind him to the marital home, which might be a distance of two houses. Later, it became popular to wear a ring, instead of being tied with chains. Wearing an engagement ring on the left finger is related to an old custom of the Greeks who believed that the circulation of blood by the aorta is done through this area. It became apparent later that the British were also fond of wearing engagement rings; in fact, they regarded the habit as purely Christian. Muslims adopted the idea of wearing the engagement ring without any obvious reason, and some consider removing it as a bad omen. This has no basis in Islam.

---A person asked, "What surprises you most about mankind?" ---It was answered, "*That they get bored of being children, are in a rush to grow up, and then long to be children again. *That they lose their health to make money and then lose their money to restore their health. *That by thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present, such that they live neither for the present nor the future. *That they live as if they will never die, and they die as if they had never lived" ---Then the person asked, "As a parent, what are some of life's lessons you want your children to learn?" ---It was answered, "*To learn that they cannot make anyone love them. What they can do is to let themselves be loved. *To learn that what is most valuable is not what they have in their lives, but whom they have in their lives. *To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others. All will be judged individually on their own merits, not as a group on a comparison basis. *To learn that a rich person is not the one who has the most, but is one who needs the least. *To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in persons we love, and that it takes many years to heal them. *To learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness. To learn that there are persons that love them dearly, but simply do not know how to express or show their feelings. *To learn that money can buy everything but happiness. *To learn that two people can look at the same thing and see it totally differently. *To learn that a true friend is someone who knows everything about them... and likes them anyway. *To learn that it is not always enough that they be forgiven by others, but that they have to forgive themselves."

This reminds me of a couple of hadith:

*The Prophet sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam was reported to have said, "There are two blessings in which people are cheated: health and leisure time." [Sahih Al-Bukhari, Book 81, Chapter 1, Hadith No. 6412, p. 1232.]

*The Prophet (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam), used to call on Muslims to take the initiative to do good deeds before any obstacles arise. For instance, he said, "Lose no time to do good deeds before you are caught up by one of seven calamities awaiting you: a starvation which may impair your wisdom; a prosperity which may mislead you; an ailment which may damage your health; an old age which may harm your senses; a sudden death; the Dajjal (Antichrist); or Doomsday, which is indeed the hardest and most bitter." [at-Tirmidhi, al-Baihaqi]

*The Prophet saallahu alahi wasallam said: "Grab five things before five others: your youth before your decrepitude, your health before your illness, your wealth before your poverty, your leisure before your work, and your life before your death." [Al-Hakim, “Al-Mustadrak”, Book No. 44, 4/341]

Something to ponder on ; ]

Hasan bin `Ali (May Allah be pleased with them) said: I remember (these words) from Messenger of Allah (PBUH):

"Give up what is doubtful to you for that which is not doubtful; for truth is peace of mind and falsehood is doubt".

[At-Tirmidhi].

DOUBTS....UMMMMM ...WHAT TO SAY...

Well, the breakdown of all doubts is the sincere love of the Almighty Divine Truth...ALLAH.

The love of the Beloved

must be unconditionally returned.

If you claim love

yet oppose the Beloved,

then your love is but a pretence.

You love the enemies of your Beloved

and still seek love in return.

You fight the beloved of your Beloved.

Is this Love or the following of shaytaan?

True devotion is nothing

but total submission

of body and soul

to One Love.

We have seen humans claim to submit,

yet their loyalties are many.

They put their trust here, and their hope there,

and their love is without consequence.

"I Have Divided The Prayer Between Myself and My Servant"

Abu Hurairah (ra) said: I have heard the Prophet (sas) say: "Allah (the Mighty and Sublime) has said: I have divided prayer between Myself and My servant into two halves, and My servant shall have what he has asked for.......

Gratitude in the Face of Calamity

let us be pleased with God’s Decree no matter what it contains, for no matter what it contains, His Decree brings good for the believer. Let us also thank God for the gift of faith. Faith allows us to deal with the calamities of this world with dignity and composure. Allah Knows everything that will happen. The first thing that He created was the "pen" and He ordered the pen to write. The pen wrote until it had written everything that would happen. And then Allah began to create the universe. All of this was already known to Him before He created it. He does have absolute and total control at all times. There is nothing that happens except that He is in control of if.There is a mistake in the question: "Free Will." Allah alone, has Free Will, He Wills whatever He likes and it will always happen as He wills. We have something called, "Free choice." The difference is that what Allah "Wills" always happens and what we choose may or may not happen. We are not being judged on the outcome of things, we are being judged on our choices. This means that at the core of everything will always be our intentions. Whatever we intended, is what we will have the reward for. Each person will be judged according to what Allah gave them to work with, how they used it and what they intended to do with it. As regards the actual "Judgment Day" - Allah tells us that everything we are doing is being recorded and not a single tiny thing escapes from this record. Even an atom's weight of good will be seen on the Day of Judgment and even a single atom's weight of evil will be seen too. The one who will bring the evidences against us will be ourselves. Our ears, tongue, eyes and all of our bodies will begin to testify against us in front of Allah on the Day of Judgment. None will be oppressed on that Day, none will be falsely accused. He could have put everyone in their respective places from the very beginning, but the people would complain as to why they were thrown in Hell without being given a chance. This life is exactly that; a chance to prove to ourselves who we really are and what we would really do if we indeed had a free choice. Allah Knows everything that will happen, but we don't. That is why the test is fair.

THE LEXICAL MEANING OF "INTELLECT" .

"In the 'Dark Ages' students were taught that the faculties are arranged in hierarchy, of which the summit is Intellect, inasmuch as it is concerned with transcendent realities, whereas reason, which ranks as a subordinate second to it, is limited to this world. Since 'the Enlightenment' however the Intellect in its original sense has been withdrawn from the attention of students; but the world itself, brought down from its supernatural level, has been retained in virtue of its high-sounding effect. In particular, its much used adjective has now taken on the sense of 'mentally active' ; and since much of the activity is concerned with questioning the existence of the transcendent, many of the so called 'intellectuals' are at the opposite pole from true intellectuality. The confusion is so widespread that it would seem a great paradox-and yet it would be true-to say that religious faith, of all that is now 'officially' recognized as a human possibility, comes nearest to intelectual awareness, though it must be admitted that the two do not coincide unless we understand faith in its higher sense of certitude. Robbed of its name, the intellect still subsists, which means that there is still something in man which is incorruptable and inviolable, a supramental organ of knowledge, which unlike the mind is proof against error. It follows from this that sincerity, which today is so often profferred as an excuse for error, or as a mitigating circumstance for it, is in fact incompatible with it, for sincerity worthy of the name presupposes total adherence, and there can be no such totality if one part is dormant. By way of example, to speak of a 'sincere athiest' is to utter a contradiction in terms, for the person in question is quite literally 'not all there'. If he were, or even if there were a particle of intellect vibrant within him, he could never assent to such an absolute denail of what the Heart knows to be true, thiesm being the very substance of man's heart." --Excerpted from The Eleventh Hour by Martin Lings

The Messenger of God said, "The most virtuous behavior is to - engage those who sever relations, - to give to those who withhold from you, - and to forgive those who wrong you." - At-Tabarani

ZAYTUNA

Pleasant reminders are those that leave one with a warm feeling inside, a sly smile on the face and a sense of ease in knowing things happen for a reason and thank God for that. "Some things cannot be spoken or discovered until we have been stuck, incapacitated, or blown off course for awhile. Plain sailing is pleasant, buy you are not going to explore many unknown realms that way." ---- David Whyte

Anas (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "Allah, the Exalted, has said: `O son of adam, I forgive you as long as you pray to Me and hope for My forgiveness, whatever sins you have committed. O son of 'Adam, I do not care if your sins reach the height of the heaven, then you ask for my forgiveness, I would forgive you. O son of 'Adam, if you come to Me with an earth load of sins, and meet Me associating nothing to Me, I would match it with an earthload of forgiveness.''' [At-Tirmidhi]. Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "Allah says: `I am just as My slave thinks of Me when he remembers Me.' By Allah! Allah is more pleased with the repentance of His slave than one of you who unexpectedly finds in the desert his lost camel. `He who comes closer to Me one span, I come closer to him a cubit; and he who comes closer to Me a cubit, I come closer to him a fathom; and if he comes to Me walking, I come to him running". [Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

Medically Speaking

***We need to think carefully about our habits, especially those that are rooted in cultural attitudes that don't necessarily live up to the true essence of our faith. ********** ***We need to think carefully about our habits, especially those that are rooted in cultural attitudes that don't necessarily live up to the true essence of our faith. ******************** ***We need to think carefully about our habits, especially those that are rooted in cultural attitudes that don't necessarily live up to the true essence of our faith.

******************************

Extreme Generosity

Abdur-Rahman Ibn Awf was amongst the most generous people at the time of the Prophet (pbuh). He continued giving with both his hands, secretly and openly until he died. Some of the figures mentioned are truly astounding: forty thousand dirhams of silver, forty thousand dinars of gold, two hundred awqiyyah of gold, five hundred horses to mujahidin setting out in the path of God and one thousand five hundred camels to another group of mujahidin, four hundred dinars of gold to the survivors of Badr and a large legacy to the Ummahaat al Muminin and the catalogue goes on. On account of this fabulous generosity, 'A'ishah said... "May Allah give him to drink from the water of Salsabil (a spring in Paradise)." All this wealth did not corrupt Abdur-Rahman and did not change him. When he was among his workers and assistants, people could not distinguish him from them. One day food was brought to him with which to end a fast. He looked at the food and said: "Musa'ab ibn Umayr has been killed. He was better than me. We did not find anything of his to shroud him with except what covered his head but left his legs uncovered. Then Allah endowed us with the (bounties of) the world... I really fear that our reward has been bestowed on us early (in this world)." He began to cry and sob and could not eat.

O Allah protect our youth And guide them O Allah, on every path of goodness And grant them sanctuary in your compassionate Care and Mercy, O Lord of the worlds And distance from them all causes of sorrow and grief O Allah strengthen and empower them and instill in them a natural inclination towards everything that is beneficial And guide them to the most noble of conduct in all their affairs So they may rise up as worthy leaders For indeed in them lies our hope for the future and our aspirations for reconstruction So we beseech Thee O Allah to realize our dreams, We express our solidarity with the innocent victims of the attacks send our heartfelt prayers and condolences with their families. We pray for the defeat of extremism and terrorism. We pray for the safety and security of all inhabitants of this globe, the victims of the terrorist actions in London and the suffering masses of Iraq, Palestine, and elsewhere in the world, wherever they may be and whether they may be Muslim or non-Muslim. We pray that wisdom will guide world leadership at this time. May Allah grant us the strength as a world community to live through this tragic moment in history with dignity and compassion

However, as long as we are not as moved by the suffering of innocent civilians anywhere as we are by the suffering of those close to us, it will be a salvo that remains unfired. -Imam Zaid Shakir

Terrorism or Dialogue and Justice?

The current wanton destruction of our world, has led to many campaigners struggling for a better world, often facing an uphill battle every day. In this final paragraph, I wish to quote a poem from Hafez, the 14th century Persian philosopher of love, a seeker of wisdom who became a poet of genius, a lover of truth who has transcended the ages. I think this poem will be a source of hope and inspiration to all of us. Don't Despair Walk On Josef to his father in Canaan shall return, don't despair walk on; And Jacob's hut will brighten with flowers, don't despair walk on. Aching hearts heal in time, vanished hopes reappear, The disparate mind will be pacified, don't despair walk on. As the spring of life grows the newly green meadow, Roses will crown the sweet nightingale's song, don't despair walk on. If the world does not turn to your whims these few days, Ccosmic cycles are preparing to change, don't despair walk on. If desperation whispers you will never know God, It's the talk of hidden games in the veil, don't despair walk on. O heart, when the vast flood slashes life to its roots, Captain Noah waits to steer you ashore, don't despair walk on. If you trek as a pilgrim through sands to Kaabeh, With thorns lodged deep in your soul shouting why, don't despair walk on. Though oases hide dangers and your destiny's far, There's no pathway that goes on forever, don't despair walk on. My trials and enemies face me on their own, But mystery always backs up my stand, don't despair walk on. Hafez, weakened by poverty, alone in the dark, This night is your pathway into the light, don't despair walk on.

#### SENSE AND SENSIBILITY ####

HUMANS... OHHHH... HUMANS... " TRUE STORY " Well, in the Bittersweet Life I'm living, I assumed there would really be incompatibility. Should it not be possible to have the sensibility to tolerate each others position? Should it not be possible to have the sensibility to accept that there are different levels of consciousness? For clarity of thought, the mind must be fed by the components of the system of life. Clarity of thought is very much essential because actions are motivated by it. This is true of reasoning at all levels- individual, social, political, national, etc. All over the world we see at present the expression of reason, and the clash of reasons. *** THE CONCLUSION *** But one thing that brings about the Ultimate Common Ground between humans & that is the SENSE & SENSIBILITY... And here's the story that I wanna talk about.. My bro left the U.A.E. and went to Canada to study there in Carleton University.. And I thought that days would be hard on him and GUESS WHAT !!!!! A very small incident happened to him and touched the depths of his soul, and that lead to the conclusion that brought about that Ultimate Common Ground between humans that I was talking about. ( SENSE & SENSIBILITY ) BEAR WITH ME PLEASE ; ) *** THE STORY *** My bro. was walking in the street in an afternoon, and the street was very quiet, then alll of a sudden, a very fast bike rider passes soooooooo fast beside him...And that freaked him out. So he starts catching his breath and carries on walking... AND HERE IS THE BLAAAAAAST... 2 mins. later the same bike rider comes back riding his bike slowly and appologizes and says that he couldn't carry on riding 'cuz he felt that he scared my bro and he felt bad about that...and asked for forgivenesssssssssss........ aaaahhhhhhh What benefit would this rider gain from my brother's forgiveness? Nothing materialistic.... All he gains is sensed and not touched... Its like the Wind, felt but not seen. NO MATTER WHAT LAND, WHAT LANGUAGE, WHAT SMELL....IT JUST TAKES A LITTLE SENSE & SENSIBILITY AND YOU'RE HOOOOOOME...