These are the moments that make life worth living (Part II)

Let's continue from where we left it last time. There have been many more instances and sweet nothings that made me smile and embed my life with a deeper meaning.
A few more defining moments of our otherwise not-very-introspective lives.
*Getting a hug from your dad. (That is so rare!)
*Watching your mom laugh at your silly cracks.
*Having a heart-to-heart with your sibling. (With whom you are always at dagger-ends:)
*Going on a drive with one of your best friends when you feel gloomy and ending up feeling so much more cheerful:)
*Feeling grateful to the Lord after a chat with an old friend.
*Two words: "School Reunion"
*Giving up something you really like for someone you love and realizing it wasn't that difficult.
(That someone can be The Lord as well:)
*Bumping into a friend after ages in the middle of nowhere!
*Having a simple meal with your family over a heart-warming chat.
*Getting a compliment from someone when you never expected it.
*Knowing that there are people who love you unconditionally and will be there (to bear with you ofcourse :D) no matter what.
There are so many more simple moments that can alter our lives and add the colours of love and gratitude to it.

It's all in the mind...

Look beyond what you see,
You'll always find a shadow.
There's nothing that light hides,
After a bright day, darkness has to follow!

It's such a negative outlook on life,
The day follows the night you'd defend.
It may all sound very pessimistically apt,
But what goes up has to descend!

Yet, there's another side of it all,
There's still elegance to it.
The night is adorned by the moon's grace,
Stars flanking, smitten by it!

You are in Love …

I read is article in a journal called Revival. I loved the article so much that I had to share it with everyone.

You are in Love …

You may be wondering how this secret love of yours is public, of whose intensity even you are unaware. You may not have realized, but in-fact you are in love with Allah(swt). Think about those moments of happiness that you shared with your Love. How happy you were when you made it to the mosque in spite of bad weather. The pleasure you felt when you left that scrumptious food just because you were not sure if it was halaal. And recall the way Allah(swt) reciprocated greater love by providing you with all the good things you desired and by bestowing you with the satisfaction that even the millionaires fail to enjoy.

Once you feel this love, then you dream about Allah(swt), about the moments you spent chatting with Him in the early hours before dawn, the small things you adopted just to please your Love, the small pains you endured for your Love. The tears that rolled down your face when you found the world and everything in it alien and missed your Love.... and to your surprise found Him at your side holding your hand and providing you with the support that the rest of the world failed to provide. You start counting the favors He bestowed on you and then try comparing your response. You feel sad by your attitude towards Him who really loved you and you showered all your attention on those things that would perish one day. While you are remembering Him, just realize that He is also remembering you, though you are just one of His creation and have no reason to be remembered by anyone. But He, the Ever Loving, remembers you more than you remember Him. If you remember Him and discuss your Love among your friends then He shall discuss you among an even better company.

On the authority of Abu Harayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Prophet (pbuh) said: Allah the Almighty said: I am as My servant thinks I am. I am with him when he makes mention of Me. If he makes mention of Me to himself, I make mention of him to Myself; and if he makes mention of Me in an assembly, I make mention of him in an assemble better than it. And if he draws near to Me an arm's length, I draw near to him a fathom's length. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him at speed. (Bukhari.)

The more your love for Allah(swt) increases, even more His love for you increases. You recite Quran and can see Him speaking to you directly. You eagerly wait for each prayer as it is your date with your Love, Allah(swt). You ask for forgiveness and He is ready to forgive anything and in any quantity. Time would come when you can't live without daily chatting with Him in the lonely night and spending hours in His worship. Discussing all the matters of the day and asking forgiveness for all the shortcomings and taking guidance for the future day. As your love increases so the desire to see Him increases, and you compete to attain the Firdous (Paradise) for whose inhabitants He shall provide His glimpse.

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: Allah (mighty and sublime be He) said: Whosoever shows enmity to someone devoted to Me, I shall be at war with him. My servant draws not near to Me with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have enjoined upon him, and My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works so that I shall love him. When I love him I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes and his foot with which he walks. Were he to ask [something] of Me, I would surely give it to him, and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would surely grant him it. I do not hesitate about anything as much as I hesitate about [seizing] the soul of My faithful servant: he hates death and I hate hurting him. (Bukhari.)

Your Love, Allah(swt), is the Most Honorable. If anyone shows enmity towards His love then He declares war against that person, group or nation. What you need to do is attain the position of being His love and you can achieve it by loving Him more than anything else. Then you can also taste the sweetness of faith. The taste that shall linger on your lips forever and force you to return to your Love, time and again.

Narrated Anas(r.a.): The Prophet said, "Whoever possesses the following three qualities will taste the sweetness of faith:

1. The one to whom Allah and His Apostle become dearer than anything else.

2. Who loves a person and he loves him only for Allah's sake.

3. Who hates to revert to disbelief after Allah has brought (saved) him out from it, as he hates to be thrown in fire." (Bukhari)

Thus, don’t delay in expressing your love. You know you love Allah(swt), so let your actions be testimony to this love and He shall embrace you with His Mercy and love you immensely and shower such blessings upon you that you may never have imagined.

Let's explore this Love and compete in becoming the most loved one by Allah(swt). May Allah(swt), The Merciful and Ever Loving, help us all attain this position of "Muqarraboon". Ameen.

Syed Muti ur Rahman,

University of Illinois at Chicago.

Email: muti_ifit@yahoo.com

[Written for Al-Bayan newsletter]

Note: This has been posted by the permission of the writer without any change

A thought in the passing...

A heavy conscience is a cumbersome load. It bogs down your spirit, slows down your steps and brings you along. The only good it does is, strengthen your faith.

It's time...

I received a very good sms the other day. 'When you want to know how rich you are, don't count your money; just shed a tear and see how many hands reach out to hold it!' It is at times such as these that you realise what your priorities in life should be. Who should be a priority and what shouldn't get to your head. It makes me feel so blessed when I see my friends by my side in every despair and joy. I can see my pain, my joy, my exhilaration reflected in one of my dearest friend's eyes. My sorrow flows out of my best friend's eyes. Another close friend shows her concern by scolding me for my fallacy. It feels great that people actually expect me to be good and any error that I make makes them either upset, apprehensive or mad at me:) It is a bliss, having caring friends.

I feel sorry for all the time I spent wasting on things that were never worth it. Maybe in the process I might not have given the time that I should have given to the people who love me, who want the best for me, who will always be there for me, who care for me, no matter what, come what may.

We make mistakes and we learn from them and grow into a better, stronger person in the process. But, if we repeat a mistake, it becomes a sin. The self-pity, the injury to our dignity, the anguish and the wound that our pride suffers is a punishment in itself. We don't need any other reprimand or telling off.

When we get to suffer for a bad judgment that we made ages back, it becomes excruciating. When we don't even know the reason why we are made to go through stuff that we reckon we don't deserve. When we don't know what wrong we ever did. When nobody bothers to give us an explanation for a cold behaviour! When friends betray us and move on in life. When we bear the brunt of dejection for no sane reason. When this happens more that once!!! Like we are being punished for someone else's faults, though in fact, it is our own lapse that boomeranged!

Expectations hurt, a lot. But, that doesn't stop us from being optimistic, right? There are better things in life, unseen, just around the corner. The faith in the Almighty and ourselves will bring forth what we truly deserve.

Can you forget this, ever?

Kevin Carter's Pulitzer Prize winning photo taken in 1994 during the Sudane famine. the picture depicts a famine stricken child being stalked by a vulture. The child is moving towards a United nations food camp, located a kilometer away.

No one knows what happened to the child, including the photographer who left as soon as the photo was taken. He later confided in his friends that he wished he had intervened. Journalists at that time were warned never to touch famine victims for fear of disease.

Three months later, and only weeks after being bestowed with the Pulitzer prize, Kevin Carter comitted suicide.

You can learn numerous lesons from this one article.. What? I leave that to you...

Is the first opinion always the right opinion?

A few months back I met a girl, almost 4 years younger than me, studying in an Intermediate college in my college campus. She was scared of crossing the road. I was anyway crossing the road and it wasn’t a problem helping her out. When we entered our campus, I spoke to her for a while and at the end of the small talk, she thanked me and complimented me.

Well, that put me to thinking. Was the first impression so important? I hardly knew the girl, and there I am saying ‘thank you’s to her compliments! Just by a small gesture, can you tag a person to be good or bad? There are n number of people out there, just waiting to please the whole world! I read a saying sometime back that goes as “I don’t know the sure way to success, but the surest way to failure is to try to make everyone happy!” Again, this is one of my pet quotes. Indeed, you can’t make everyone happy! A few will find you arrogant, another few may be jealous and a few more may be indifferent to you. It’s part of being human!

Many people might mistake a pretty face or a sweet talking conceited person to be good or misjudge a very good person to be haughty or arrogant just because he/she didn’t speak to them! But, thankfully, illusions don’t last forever. We do wake up some day and realize that we had erred! It is very commonplace that people form an imaginary description of a person or pass a judgment just in one meeting or even a look! That’s ridiculous! How can a person be judged by just looking at him/her or for that matter in the fist meeting! Look at online friendship portals. You get impressed by someone’s profile and look no further! In actuality, more often that not, you’re shocked by their true revelation! It is a pity… Do give this a thought the next time you frame an imaginary picture of a person’s character in your mind…