The Effects of Sin - Ibn Al Qayyim(RH)
1 – Being deprived of knowledge for knowledge is light that Allaah causes to reach the heart, and sin extinguishes that light. When al-Shaafa’i sat before Maalik and read to him, he admired him because of the intelligence, alertness and understanding that he saw in him. He said, “I think that Allaah has caused light to enter your heart, so do not extinguish it with the darkness of sin.”
2 – Being deprived of provision. In Musnad Ahmad it is narrated that Thawbaan said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘A man is deprived of provision because of the sins that he commits.’” (Narrated by Ibn Maajah, 4022, classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh Ibn Maajah).
3 – Sense of alienation that comes between a person and his Lord, and between him and other people. One of the salaf said: “If I disobey Allaah, I see that in the attitude of my riding beast and my wife.”
4 – Things become difficult for him, so that he does not turn his attention towards any matter but he finds the way blocked or he finds it difficult. By the same token, for the one who fears Allaah, things are made easy for him.
5 – The sinner will find darkness in his heart, which he will feel just as he feels the darkness of night. So this darkness affects his heart as the physical darkness affects his vision. For obedience is light and disobedience is darkness. The stronger the darkness grows, the greater becomes his confusion, until he falls into innovation, misguidance and other things that lead to doom, without even realizing, like a blind man who goes out in the darkness of the night, walking alone This darkness grows stronger until it covers the eyes, then it grows stronger until it covers the face, which appears dark and is seen by everyone. ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Abbaas said: “Good deeds make the face light, give light to the heart, and bring about ample provision, physical strength and love in people’s hearts. Bad deeds make the face dark, give darkness to the heart, and bring about physical weakness, a lack of provision and hatred in people’s hearts.”
6 – Deprivation of worship and obedience. If sin brought no punishment other than that it prevents a person from doing an act of worship which is the opposite of sin, and cuts off access to other acts of worship, that would be bad enough. So the sin cuts off a third way and a fourth way and so on, and because of the sin he is cut off from many acts of worship, each of which would have been better for him than this world and everything in it. So he is like a man who eats food that is bound to cause a lengthy sickness, and thus he is deprived of many other foods that are better than that. And Allaah is the One Whose help we seek.
7 – Sin breeds sin until it dominates a person and he cannot escape from it.
8 – Sin weakens a person’s willpower. It gradually strengthens his will to commit sin and weakens his will to repent until there is no will in his heart to repent at all… so he seeks forgiveness and expresses repentance, but it is merely words on the lips, like the repentance of the liars, whose hearts are still determined to commit sin and persist in it. This is one of the most serious diseases that are most likely to lead to doom.
9 – He will become desensitized and will no longer find sin abhorrent, so it will become his habit, and he will not be bothered if people see him committing the sin or talk about him.
For the leaders of immorality, this is the ultimate shamelessness in which they find great pleasure, such that they feel proud of their sin and will speak of it to people who do not know that they have done it, saying, “O so and so, I did such and such.” Such people cannot be helped and the path to repentance is blocked for them in most cases. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “All of my ummah will be fine except for those who commit sin openly, and that includes cases where Allaah conceals a person’s sin, but the following morning he exposes himself and says, ‘O So and so, I did such and such last night, so he shamelessly exposes himself when all night his Lord had concealed his sin.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5949; Muslim, 2744).
10 – When there are many sins they leave a mark on the heart of the person who commits them, so he becomes one of the negligent. As one of the salaf said, concerning the aayah –
“Nay! But on their hearts is the Raan (covering of sins and evil deeds) which they used to earn”
[al-Mutaffifeen 83:14 – interpretation of the meaning] – this means sin after sin.
Showing posts with label what matters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label what matters. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
10 Principles for Peace of Mind
1. Do Not Interfere In Others' Business Unless Asked.
Most of us create our own problems by interfering too often in others' affairs. We do so because somehow we have convinced ourselves that our way is the best way, our logic is the perfect logic and those who do not conform to our thinking must be criticized and steered to the right direction, our direction. This thinking denies the existence of individuality and consequently the existence of God.. God has created each one of us in a unique way. No two human beings can think or act in exactly the same way. All men or women act the way they do because God within them prompts them that way. Mind your own business and you will keep your peace.
2. Forgive And Forget:
This is the most powerful aid to peace of mind. We often develop ill feelings inside our heart for the person who insults us or harms us. We nurture grievances. This in turn results in loss of sleep, development of stomach ulcers, and high blood pressure. This insult or injury was done once, but nourishing of grievance goes on forever by constantly remembering it. Get over this bad habit. Life is too short to waste in such trifles. Forgive,20Forget, and march on. Love flourishes in giving and forgiving.
3. Do Not Crave For Recognition:
This world is full of selfish people. They seldom praise anybody without selfish motives. They may praise you today because you are in power, but no sooner than you are powerless, they will forget your achievement and will start finding faults in you. Why do you wish to kill yours lf in striving for their recognition? Their recognition is not worth the aggravation. Do your duties ethically and sincerely.
4. Do Not Be Jealous:
We all have experienced how jealousy can disturb our peace of mind. You know that you work harder than your colleagues in the office, but sometimes they get promotions; you do not. You started a business several years ago, but you are not as successful as your neighbor whose business is only one year old. There are several examples like these in everyday life. Should you be jealous? No. Remember everybody's life is shaped by his/her destiny, which has now become his/her reality. If you are destined to be rich, nothing in the world can stop you. If you are not so destined, no one can help you either. Nothing will be gained by blaming others for your misfortune. Jealousy will not get you anywhere; it will only take away your peace of mind.
5. Change Yourself According To The Environment:
If you try to change the environment single-handedly, the chances are you will fail. Instead, change yourself to suit your environment. As you do this, even the environment, which has been unfriendly to you, will mysteriously change and seem congenial and harmonious.
6. Endure What Cannot Be Cured:
This is the best way to turn a disadvantage into an advantage. Every day we face numerous inconveniences, ailments, irritations, and accidents that are beyond our control... If we cannot control them or change them, we must learn to put up with these things. We must learn to endure them cheerfully. Believe in yourself and you will gain in terms of patience, inner strength and will power.
7. Do Not Bite Off More Than You Can Chew:
This maxim needs to be remembered constantly. We often tend to take more responsibilities than we are capable of carrying out. This is done to satisfy our ego. Know your limitations. . Why take on additional loads that may create more worries? You cannot gain peace of mind by expanding your external activities. Reduce your material engagements and spend time in prayer, introspection and meditation. This will reduce those thoughts in your mind that make you restless. Uncluttered mind will produce greater peace of mind.
8. Meditate Regularly:
Meditation calms the mind and gets rid of disturbing thoughts. This is the highest state of peace of mind. Try and experience it yourself. If you meditate earnestly for half an hour everyday, your mind will tend to become peaceful during the remaining twenty-three and half-hours. Your mind will not be easily disturbed as it was before. You would benefit by gradually increasing the period of daily meditation. You may think that this will interfere with your daily work. On the contrary, this will increase your efficiency and you will be able to produce better results in less time.
9. Never Leave The Mind Vacant:
An empty mind is the devil's workshop. All evil actions start in the vacant mind. Keep your mind occupied in something positive, something worthwhile . Actively follow a hobby. Do something that holds your interest. You must decide what you value more: money or peace of mind. Your hobby, like social work or religious work, may not always earn you more money, but you will have a sense of fulfillment and achievement. Even when you are resting physically, occupy yourself in healthy reading or mental chanting of God's name.
10. Do Not Procrastinate And Never Regret:
Do not waste time in protracted wondering " Should I or shouldn't I?" Days, weeks, months, and years may be wasted in that futile mental debating. You can never plan enough because you can never anticipate all future happenings. Value your time and do the things that need to be done. It does not matter if you fail the first time. You can learn from your mistakes and succeed the next time. Sitting back and worrying will lead to nothing. Learn from your mistakes, but do not brood over the past. DO NOT REGRET. Whatever happened was destined to happen only that way. Why cry over spilled milk?
Most of us create our own problems by interfering too often in others' affairs. We do so because somehow we have convinced ourselves that our way is the best way, our logic is the perfect logic and those who do not conform to our thinking must be criticized and steered to the right direction, our direction. This thinking denies the existence of individuality and consequently the existence of God.. God has created each one of us in a unique way. No two human beings can think or act in exactly the same way. All men or women act the way they do because God within them prompts them that way. Mind your own business and you will keep your peace.
2. Forgive And Forget:
This is the most powerful aid to peace of mind. We often develop ill feelings inside our heart for the person who insults us or harms us. We nurture grievances. This in turn results in loss of sleep, development of stomach ulcers, and high blood pressure. This insult or injury was done once, but nourishing of grievance goes on forever by constantly remembering it. Get over this bad habit. Life is too short to waste in such trifles. Forgive,20Forget, and march on. Love flourishes in giving and forgiving.
3. Do Not Crave For Recognition:
This world is full of selfish people. They seldom praise anybody without selfish motives. They may praise you today because you are in power, but no sooner than you are powerless, they will forget your achievement and will start finding faults in you. Why do you wish to kill yours lf in striving for their recognition? Their recognition is not worth the aggravation. Do your duties ethically and sincerely.
4. Do Not Be Jealous:
We all have experienced how jealousy can disturb our peace of mind. You know that you work harder than your colleagues in the office, but sometimes they get promotions; you do not. You started a business several years ago, but you are not as successful as your neighbor whose business is only one year old. There are several examples like these in everyday life. Should you be jealous? No. Remember everybody's life is shaped by his/her destiny, which has now become his/her reality. If you are destined to be rich, nothing in the world can stop you. If you are not so destined, no one can help you either. Nothing will be gained by blaming others for your misfortune. Jealousy will not get you anywhere; it will only take away your peace of mind.
5. Change Yourself According To The Environment:
If you try to change the environment single-handedly, the chances are you will fail. Instead, change yourself to suit your environment. As you do this, even the environment, which has been unfriendly to you, will mysteriously change and seem congenial and harmonious.
6. Endure What Cannot Be Cured:
This is the best way to turn a disadvantage into an advantage. Every day we face numerous inconveniences, ailments, irritations, and accidents that are beyond our control... If we cannot control them or change them, we must learn to put up with these things. We must learn to endure them cheerfully. Believe in yourself and you will gain in terms of patience, inner strength and will power.
7. Do Not Bite Off More Than You Can Chew:
This maxim needs to be remembered constantly. We often tend to take more responsibilities than we are capable of carrying out. This is done to satisfy our ego. Know your limitations. . Why take on additional loads that may create more worries? You cannot gain peace of mind by expanding your external activities. Reduce your material engagements and spend time in prayer, introspection and meditation. This will reduce those thoughts in your mind that make you restless. Uncluttered mind will produce greater peace of mind.
8. Meditate Regularly:
Meditation calms the mind and gets rid of disturbing thoughts. This is the highest state of peace of mind. Try and experience it yourself. If you meditate earnestly for half an hour everyday, your mind will tend to become peaceful during the remaining twenty-three and half-hours. Your mind will not be easily disturbed as it was before. You would benefit by gradually increasing the period of daily meditation. You may think that this will interfere with your daily work. On the contrary, this will increase your efficiency and you will be able to produce better results in less time.
9. Never Leave The Mind Vacant:
An empty mind is the devil's workshop. All evil actions start in the vacant mind. Keep your mind occupied in something positive, something worthwhile . Actively follow a hobby. Do something that holds your interest. You must decide what you value more: money or peace of mind. Your hobby, like social work or religious work, may not always earn you more money, but you will have a sense of fulfillment and achievement. Even when you are resting physically, occupy yourself in healthy reading or mental chanting of God's name.
10. Do Not Procrastinate And Never Regret:
Do not waste time in protracted wondering " Should I or shouldn't I?" Days, weeks, months, and years may be wasted in that futile mental debating. You can never plan enough because you can never anticipate all future happenings. Value your time and do the things that need to be done. It does not matter if you fail the first time. You can learn from your mistakes and succeed the next time. Sitting back and worrying will lead to nothing. Learn from your mistakes, but do not brood over the past. DO NOT REGRET. Whatever happened was destined to happen only that way. Why cry over spilled milk?
Thursday, October 25, 2012
External Motivation Doesn’t Work
[Taken from the Simple Dollar]
Quite often, I’ve written about how my family has been a tremendous motivation for me.
My infant son was there at the moment I decided to get my financial house in order.
My daughter was there at the moment I decided to commit full-time to my writing.
My wife and children serve as a constant reminder of the things I want to change in my life.
The thing is, my family isn’t enough by themselves to provide adequate motivation for change in my life. They certainly help, don’t get me wrong, and they can often convince me to make a better choice in a given moment.
Lasting change, though, has to come from inside. If I’m not internally committed to doing something different, then it won’t happen.
I often look at motivation for change as being a lot like having a big rock at the top of a hill. My family might be enough to push that rock over the top and get it rolling down the hill, but the momentum of that rock comes from inside of me. It’s made up of my own desire for change.
If that’s the case, how do you make change happen in your life? I can’t comment on what motivates others, but I can certainly tell you what pushes me to make changes.
First, you’ve got to really tap into the problem. It isn’t enough to say that you want to lose weight or that you want to build up financial independence. You’ve got to understand why you’re not achieving those things right now and you’ve got to understand the dangers of staying on the current path.
The way to do that, at least through me, is studying the issues. If I stay on my current path, what will happen to me in a few years? What will my life look like if I don’t commit to change? Is that a future I want? Is that devastating future really worth the small pleasures of staying on the path I’m on?
Next, you’ve got to understand what the correct solution is. There are so many recipes out there for improving your wealth or losing weight or getting in shape. What’s the right one for your situation? Often, this involves digging into the core principles to see what is actually tried and true and really works for people.
Fad diets? No. “Millionaire by thirty” investment schemes? No. Spend the time to really understand what works.
Once you understand the solution, do everything you can to minimize the resistance to that solution. Throw out the food that doesn’t match what you should be eating. Pull money out of your checking account so it’s not so easily available for spending.
Then – and this is the most important part for me – put constant reminders everywhere of the reason you’re doing this. Put copies of your overdraft statement in your wallet. Put pictures of yourself at your fattest on the fridge. Put pictures of your heart exam on your candy stash. Put your student loan statement around your credit cards.
Your willpower makes all the difference, but you can take action to make the bar as low as possible. In the end, it’s up to you.
Quite often, I’ve written about how my family has been a tremendous motivation for me.
My infant son was there at the moment I decided to get my financial house in order.
My daughter was there at the moment I decided to commit full-time to my writing.
My wife and children serve as a constant reminder of the things I want to change in my life.
The thing is, my family isn’t enough by themselves to provide adequate motivation for change in my life. They certainly help, don’t get me wrong, and they can often convince me to make a better choice in a given moment.
Lasting change, though, has to come from inside. If I’m not internally committed to doing something different, then it won’t happen.
I often look at motivation for change as being a lot like having a big rock at the top of a hill. My family might be enough to push that rock over the top and get it rolling down the hill, but the momentum of that rock comes from inside of me. It’s made up of my own desire for change.
If that’s the case, how do you make change happen in your life? I can’t comment on what motivates others, but I can certainly tell you what pushes me to make changes.
First, you’ve got to really tap into the problem. It isn’t enough to say that you want to lose weight or that you want to build up financial independence. You’ve got to understand why you’re not achieving those things right now and you’ve got to understand the dangers of staying on the current path.
The way to do that, at least through me, is studying the issues. If I stay on my current path, what will happen to me in a few years? What will my life look like if I don’t commit to change? Is that a future I want? Is that devastating future really worth the small pleasures of staying on the path I’m on?
Next, you’ve got to understand what the correct solution is. There are so many recipes out there for improving your wealth or losing weight or getting in shape. What’s the right one for your situation? Often, this involves digging into the core principles to see what is actually tried and true and really works for people.
Fad diets? No. “Millionaire by thirty” investment schemes? No. Spend the time to really understand what works.
Once you understand the solution, do everything you can to minimize the resistance to that solution. Throw out the food that doesn’t match what you should be eating. Pull money out of your checking account so it’s not so easily available for spending.
Then – and this is the most important part for me – put constant reminders everywhere of the reason you’re doing this. Put copies of your overdraft statement in your wallet. Put pictures of yourself at your fattest on the fridge. Put pictures of your heart exam on your candy stash. Put your student loan statement around your credit cards.
Your willpower makes all the difference, but you can take action to make the bar as low as possible. In the end, it’s up to you.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
What’s the Reason?
[Taken from Simple Dollar]
As I mentioned several days ago, my uncle passed away. On Friday, I attended his funeral, where one of my uncle’s old friends spoke very eloquently.
After the service, I spoke to that friend of my uncle for a few moments. I thanked him for the words he had spoken and we reflected together for a bit. He left me with a brief statement that’s been floating in my mind for a while now: “Everyone and everything comes into your life for a reason.”
Why do you do the things you do? Why do you have the things that you have? Why do you spend time with the people that you spend time with? What are these things really bringing into your life?
If you can’t truly describe how those things bring a net positive into your life – or, in some cases, how your involvement is bringing about a net positive – then why are those things in your life?
It’s a good question to ask about everything in your life.
Usually, people apply it to the big things in their lives. Why do they have the job that they have? Why do they have the close relationships that they have?
I find it equally powerful to ask such questions about the little things. Why do I make the purchases that I make? Why do I have the professional acquaintances that I have? Why am I going to this particular social event?
Is there a real reason for any of these things?
When you start to ask real questions like this, you become something like a paleontologist, brushing away the unimportant things to reveal the true state of things buried underneath.
You start to reveal your true relationships – the ones that bring value for you and for the other person – and discard the ones that do not.
You start to use your money for purchases that are actually useful for you, and put aside the money that you might waste on purchases that aren’t useful.
It’s such a simple question. What’s the reason? The better your answer, the better off you are.
Spend some time today to think about that question. Think about the big things in your life and ask yourself what the reason is that you have it in your life. Then look at some of the smaller things with the same question in mind. Realize that not having a good answer to the question is a useful thing, because it tells you that you might want to consider some different choices in your life.
As I mentioned several days ago, my uncle passed away. On Friday, I attended his funeral, where one of my uncle’s old friends spoke very eloquently.
After the service, I spoke to that friend of my uncle for a few moments. I thanked him for the words he had spoken and we reflected together for a bit. He left me with a brief statement that’s been floating in my mind for a while now: “Everyone and everything comes into your life for a reason.”
Why do you do the things you do? Why do you have the things that you have? Why do you spend time with the people that you spend time with? What are these things really bringing into your life?
If you can’t truly describe how those things bring a net positive into your life – or, in some cases, how your involvement is bringing about a net positive – then why are those things in your life?
It’s a good question to ask about everything in your life.
Usually, people apply it to the big things in their lives. Why do they have the job that they have? Why do they have the close relationships that they have?
I find it equally powerful to ask such questions about the little things. Why do I make the purchases that I make? Why do I have the professional acquaintances that I have? Why am I going to this particular social event?
Is there a real reason for any of these things?
When you start to ask real questions like this, you become something like a paleontologist, brushing away the unimportant things to reveal the true state of things buried underneath.
You start to reveal your true relationships – the ones that bring value for you and for the other person – and discard the ones that do not.
You start to use your money for purchases that are actually useful for you, and put aside the money that you might waste on purchases that aren’t useful.
It’s such a simple question. What’s the reason? The better your answer, the better off you are.
Spend some time today to think about that question. Think about the big things in your life and ask yourself what the reason is that you have it in your life. Then look at some of the smaller things with the same question in mind. Realize that not having a good answer to the question is a useful thing, because it tells you that you might want to consider some different choices in your life.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Being Under Satan's Yoke
By : Anonymous
(This article is a little abstract in nature but it illustrates the points quite well )
Satan called a worldwide convention In his opening address to his evil servants, he said,
"We can't keep the Muslims from going to Mosque. We can't keep them from reading the Quran and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship experience with Allah. If they gain that connection with Allah, our power over them is broken.
So let them go to the mosques, let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time, so they can't gain that relationship with Allah.
This is what I want you to do, servants. Distract them from gaining hold of their creator and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"
"How shall we do this?" shouted his servants.
"Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow. Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6 - 7 days a week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon, their home will offer no escape from the pressures of work!"
"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive, to keep the TV, VCR CDs and their PCs going constantly in their homes. And see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-Islamic music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Allah."
"Fill the coffee table with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogues, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and emotional offering of free products, services, and false hopes. Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines so the husbands will believe that external beauty is what's important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives. Ha! That will fragment those families quickly!"
"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted, and unprepared for the coming week. Don't let them go out in nature to reflect on God's wonders. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead.
Keep them busy, busy, busy!! And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotions."
"Go ahead, let them be involved in soul winning. But crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Allah. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause. It will work! It will work!
It was quite a convention. And the evil servants went eagerly to their assignments causing Muslims everywhere to get busy, busy, busy and to rush here and there.
I guess the question is: has the devil been successful at his scheme?
You be the judge! Friends, this message was sent to me by someone who cares and thought I could share it with you. Please take heed of the message it brings:
B - Being
U - Under
S - Satan's
Y - Yoke
Did you find this whole thing 'funny'? Then please read on the 'funnier' part...
It's Funny how simple it is for people to trash Allah(swt) and then wonder why the world's going to hell.
Funny how we believe what the zionist controlled or other media reports say, but question about the sayings of the Qur'an.
Funny how we get glued on to the TV screens to hear all the details of the Lewinsky testimony but feel drowsy while khutba's are being read in the mosques.
Funny how we strive for being in the front rows of a concert but are contended to be in the last rows during the Friday prayers.
Funny how someone can say "I believe in Allah" but still follow Satan.
Funny how you can send a thousand 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Allah(swt), people think twice about sharing.
Funny how the lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but the public discussion of Islam is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Funny how someone can be so fired up for Islam on Friday, but be an invisible Muslim the rest of the week.
Funny how when you go to forward this message, you will not sent it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it to them.
Funny how I can be more worried about what other people think of me than what Allah thinks of me.
Funny how Muslims are confident of their entry into heaven even though they don't tend to believe, think, say, or do anything the Qur'an says.
Are you still amused?
(This article is a little abstract in nature but it illustrates the points quite well )
Satan called a worldwide convention In his opening address to his evil servants, he said,
"We can't keep the Muslims from going to Mosque. We can't keep them from reading the Quran and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship experience with Allah. If they gain that connection with Allah, our power over them is broken.
So let them go to the mosques, let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time, so they can't gain that relationship with Allah.
This is what I want you to do, servants. Distract them from gaining hold of their creator and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"
"How shall we do this?" shouted his servants.
"Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow. Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6 - 7 days a week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon, their home will offer no escape from the pressures of work!"
"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive, to keep the TV, VCR CDs and their PCs going constantly in their homes. And see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-Islamic music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Allah."
"Fill the coffee table with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogues, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and emotional offering of free products, services, and false hopes. Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines so the husbands will believe that external beauty is what's important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives. Ha! That will fragment those families quickly!"
"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted, and unprepared for the coming week. Don't let them go out in nature to reflect on God's wonders. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead.
Keep them busy, busy, busy!! And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotions."
"Go ahead, let them be involved in soul winning. But crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Allah. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause. It will work! It will work!
It was quite a convention. And the evil servants went eagerly to their assignments causing Muslims everywhere to get busy, busy, busy and to rush here and there.
I guess the question is: has the devil been successful at his scheme?
You be the judge! Friends, this message was sent to me by someone who cares and thought I could share it with you. Please take heed of the message it brings:
B - Being
U - Under
S - Satan's
Y - Yoke
Did you find this whole thing 'funny'? Then please read on the 'funnier' part...
It's Funny how simple it is for people to trash Allah(swt) and then wonder why the world's going to hell.
Funny how we believe what the zionist controlled or other media reports say, but question about the sayings of the Qur'an.
Funny how we get glued on to the TV screens to hear all the details of the Lewinsky testimony but feel drowsy while khutba's are being read in the mosques.
Funny how we strive for being in the front rows of a concert but are contended to be in the last rows during the Friday prayers.
Funny how someone can say "I believe in Allah" but still follow Satan.
Funny how you can send a thousand 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Allah(swt), people think twice about sharing.
Funny how the lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but the public discussion of Islam is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Funny how someone can be so fired up for Islam on Friday, but be an invisible Muslim the rest of the week.
Funny how when you go to forward this message, you will not sent it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it to them.
Funny how I can be more worried about what other people think of me than what Allah thinks of me.
Funny how Muslims are confident of their entry into heaven even though they don't tend to believe, think, say, or do anything the Qur'an says.
Are you still amused?
Thursday, September 13, 2012
7 Attributes that Matter
[Taken from Simple Dollar]
A while back, I sat down to make a list of the attributes of the people I consider to be great people. I could give you a long list of them, from Theodore Roosevelt and Mahatma Gandhi to my dad, but the point isn’t so much the list of people but the attributes of those people.
The people I admire are usually people who made something great from auspicious backgrounds or stepped up to the plate during challenging moments or were able to find incredible success in different areas. Some of them were rich and others were poor. Many of them paired traits I admired with traits that I didn’t (like Steve Jobs).
I was trying to figure out what made each of them great. In each case, the list was somewhat different. I would try to think of several traits that would make one person great, then find myself making a different list for another person.
When I was doing this, I found myself looking for patterns. I found no two people had all of the same traits, but I began to find lots of overlap between people. I’d see some of the same traits popping up over and over again.
Eventually, I began to realize that there were seven traits that kept showing up again and again in the people I admired the most. None of them had all of these traits, but they were shared so often among the people I considered that I began to see them as seven attributes that really matter. If you have these attributes inside of you or, even more importantly, are willing to work to improve yourself in these areas, I think you’ll find a path to whatever your dreams may hold.
Lately, these seven traits have become something of a self-improvement checklist of mine. I hope they do for you, too.
Self-Belief
Self-belief simply means that you believe you can accomplish things. When you see a difficult task before you, do you start convincing yourself that you can’t do it or do you start looking for a way to make it happen? Self-belief is, of course, the latter.
Without self-belief, it becomes very hard to take on large challenges in your life. Instead, you’ll avoid the challenges, seeking easier paths which won’t be particularly rewarding.
How can you build self-belief? The easiest way is to show yourself that you can do it. Start challenging yourself with personal projects that aren’t easy (but that are actually achievable). Can you walk 2,000 miles this year? Can you write a novel before the end of March? Set that plan down and focus all your energy on making it happen. The more you achieve, the more your self-belief will grow.
Humility
Of course, it’s easy for self-belief to turn into arrogance, which is a dangerous trait to have. You can easily begin to believe that you are the secret sauce that makes things happen and that you make the world go around.
Sorry, it’s not true.
Humility simply means that you understand that the world doesn’t begin and end with you. Virtually everything in your life is a collaboration. As I type this post, I’m relying on software from Microsoft and Apple and several open source projects. The ideas that flow through my head came through countless sources. The inspiration for this post was other people. I know that I am merely a small part of the reason for the success of this site or this article, and without those tools and things created by others, I wouldn’t be here and there would be no Simple Dollar.
A good way to practice humility is to think about how many people had to be involved to bring you the things you take for granted. Start with the device you’re reading this on. Who made it? Who wrote the software that runs on it? All of those people deserve some credit for making what you’re doing right now happen. You’re actually just a very tiny part of that exchange.
Self-Reliance
Let’s turn this rock over again and look at another facet: self-reliance. Self-reliance simply means that you’re able to come up with solutions to problems with as little direct outside help as possible. A self-reliant person is willing and able to fix their own toilet, grow their own food, and figure out what they’re supposed to do next.
Self-reliance combines well with self-belief. Self-belief means you think you can do anything. Self-reliance means you’re able to start coming up with methods to actually do it without someone guiding you.
How do you improve self-reliance? Start taking on tasks that you think might be difficult. Yes, you might mess them up. Yes, that’s okay. The key is that you’re trying to do things on your own and, more often than not, you’re succeeding at them. Self-reliance becomes something of a snowball rolling down the mountain, where you start to tie achieved tasks together and before you know it, you’re planning large projects on the fly.
Love of Learning
A key part of one’s ability to succeed in any area is knowledge acquisition. Do you know what’s going on in that area? Do you know the people involved? Do you have a thorough base of knowledge upon which you can interact with other people driven to succeed?
Obviously, one can acquire knowledge without enjoying the process, but a love of learning certainly makes the process easier. If you love learning, then the thought of tackling something new in order to understand it in depth sounds exciting. You can’t wait to get started!
My perspective has been that a love of knowledge is often a snowball effect. If you start off just picking one topic you really want to understand and focus on learning more about that topic, you often tend to slowly spread into other topics. Eventually, learning itself becomes a joyful journey.
Adaptability
Situations change. Opportunities appear and disappear. One day you find yourself in a scientific research field, another you find yourself being a writer on financial topics (not that I’m speaking from experience or anything…).
Some people are able to roll with the punches. If the problems and the situations change, then they change their tactics to go along with it. Others just lock down in uncertain and changing situations.
The more adaptable you are to change, the more likely you are to succeed at whatever life throws at you.
Adaptability, of course, draws on self-reliance, but they differ in one key aspect: adaptability sometimes causes you to inherently rely on others. Self-reliance, in a way, is just a key tool for adaptability.
How do you build adaptability? The key is to watch your own behavior. When a situation changes, do you respond by retreating into your shell? If you do, make a very focused effort to come out of that shell and just deal with the new situation. The more you do it, the easier it becomes.
Passion
By passion, I mean that whatever it is that you choose to be doing, you get swept away in it. It consumes your thoughts. It brings you incredible joy when you’re doing it, particularly when you see improvement at it.
When you wake up in the morning, you’re raring to get started on that thing you’re passionate about. When you go to bed, it fills your thoughts until you go to sleep.
Some people are prone to passion. Others are more withdrawn. Yet, time and time again, when I witness someone doing something great, passion is at work.
How can you build passion? The key, really, is just letting go of a sense that you shouldn’t dive in deep. So often, I see people afraid to be passionate because of the cultural constraints around them. They don’t want to be a “nerd.” So often, though, the people who do amazing things are nerds. Their passion drives them to do something special. Let go. Be a nerd.
Detail-Oriented Focus
When you work, do you find yourself focusing hard on the project at hand? Do you often notice details that other people miss? Do you want the details to be right when you care about a project? Can you get so involved with a project that wild horses can barely drag you away?
A person who can answer “yes” to those questions has detail-oriented focus. They have the ability to take something they’re working on and make it great.
Detail-oriented focus can be built by training one’s attention span. Start by eliminating all distractions when you’re working on a project. When you find yourself daydreaming, take a break and do something else for a while, then go back into focus mode. The more you practice this, the better you’ll get at focusing. You’ll eventually be able to reach what I call “the zone,” where time just seems to slip away as I focus on a project.
These seven traits pop up in some combination in every great person that I know. They’ll lead you to success, too.
A while back, I sat down to make a list of the attributes of the people I consider to be great people. I could give you a long list of them, from Theodore Roosevelt and Mahatma Gandhi to my dad, but the point isn’t so much the list of people but the attributes of those people.
The people I admire are usually people who made something great from auspicious backgrounds or stepped up to the plate during challenging moments or were able to find incredible success in different areas. Some of them were rich and others were poor. Many of them paired traits I admired with traits that I didn’t (like Steve Jobs).
I was trying to figure out what made each of them great. In each case, the list was somewhat different. I would try to think of several traits that would make one person great, then find myself making a different list for another person.
When I was doing this, I found myself looking for patterns. I found no two people had all of the same traits, but I began to find lots of overlap between people. I’d see some of the same traits popping up over and over again.
Eventually, I began to realize that there were seven traits that kept showing up again and again in the people I admired the most. None of them had all of these traits, but they were shared so often among the people I considered that I began to see them as seven attributes that really matter. If you have these attributes inside of you or, even more importantly, are willing to work to improve yourself in these areas, I think you’ll find a path to whatever your dreams may hold.
Lately, these seven traits have become something of a self-improvement checklist of mine. I hope they do for you, too.
Self-Belief
Self-belief simply means that you believe you can accomplish things. When you see a difficult task before you, do you start convincing yourself that you can’t do it or do you start looking for a way to make it happen? Self-belief is, of course, the latter.
Without self-belief, it becomes very hard to take on large challenges in your life. Instead, you’ll avoid the challenges, seeking easier paths which won’t be particularly rewarding.
How can you build self-belief? The easiest way is to show yourself that you can do it. Start challenging yourself with personal projects that aren’t easy (but that are actually achievable). Can you walk 2,000 miles this year? Can you write a novel before the end of March? Set that plan down and focus all your energy on making it happen. The more you achieve, the more your self-belief will grow.
Humility
Of course, it’s easy for self-belief to turn into arrogance, which is a dangerous trait to have. You can easily begin to believe that you are the secret sauce that makes things happen and that you make the world go around.
Sorry, it’s not true.
Humility simply means that you understand that the world doesn’t begin and end with you. Virtually everything in your life is a collaboration. As I type this post, I’m relying on software from Microsoft and Apple and several open source projects. The ideas that flow through my head came through countless sources. The inspiration for this post was other people. I know that I am merely a small part of the reason for the success of this site or this article, and without those tools and things created by others, I wouldn’t be here and there would be no Simple Dollar.
A good way to practice humility is to think about how many people had to be involved to bring you the things you take for granted. Start with the device you’re reading this on. Who made it? Who wrote the software that runs on it? All of those people deserve some credit for making what you’re doing right now happen. You’re actually just a very tiny part of that exchange.
Self-Reliance
Let’s turn this rock over again and look at another facet: self-reliance. Self-reliance simply means that you’re able to come up with solutions to problems with as little direct outside help as possible. A self-reliant person is willing and able to fix their own toilet, grow their own food, and figure out what they’re supposed to do next.
Self-reliance combines well with self-belief. Self-belief means you think you can do anything. Self-reliance means you’re able to start coming up with methods to actually do it without someone guiding you.
How do you improve self-reliance? Start taking on tasks that you think might be difficult. Yes, you might mess them up. Yes, that’s okay. The key is that you’re trying to do things on your own and, more often than not, you’re succeeding at them. Self-reliance becomes something of a snowball rolling down the mountain, where you start to tie achieved tasks together and before you know it, you’re planning large projects on the fly.
Love of Learning
A key part of one’s ability to succeed in any area is knowledge acquisition. Do you know what’s going on in that area? Do you know the people involved? Do you have a thorough base of knowledge upon which you can interact with other people driven to succeed?
Obviously, one can acquire knowledge without enjoying the process, but a love of learning certainly makes the process easier. If you love learning, then the thought of tackling something new in order to understand it in depth sounds exciting. You can’t wait to get started!
My perspective has been that a love of knowledge is often a snowball effect. If you start off just picking one topic you really want to understand and focus on learning more about that topic, you often tend to slowly spread into other topics. Eventually, learning itself becomes a joyful journey.
Adaptability
Situations change. Opportunities appear and disappear. One day you find yourself in a scientific research field, another you find yourself being a writer on financial topics (not that I’m speaking from experience or anything…).
Some people are able to roll with the punches. If the problems and the situations change, then they change their tactics to go along with it. Others just lock down in uncertain and changing situations.
The more adaptable you are to change, the more likely you are to succeed at whatever life throws at you.
Adaptability, of course, draws on self-reliance, but they differ in one key aspect: adaptability sometimes causes you to inherently rely on others. Self-reliance, in a way, is just a key tool for adaptability.
How do you build adaptability? The key is to watch your own behavior. When a situation changes, do you respond by retreating into your shell? If you do, make a very focused effort to come out of that shell and just deal with the new situation. The more you do it, the easier it becomes.
Passion
By passion, I mean that whatever it is that you choose to be doing, you get swept away in it. It consumes your thoughts. It brings you incredible joy when you’re doing it, particularly when you see improvement at it.
When you wake up in the morning, you’re raring to get started on that thing you’re passionate about. When you go to bed, it fills your thoughts until you go to sleep.
Some people are prone to passion. Others are more withdrawn. Yet, time and time again, when I witness someone doing something great, passion is at work.
How can you build passion? The key, really, is just letting go of a sense that you shouldn’t dive in deep. So often, I see people afraid to be passionate because of the cultural constraints around them. They don’t want to be a “nerd.” So often, though, the people who do amazing things are nerds. Their passion drives them to do something special. Let go. Be a nerd.
Detail-Oriented Focus
When you work, do you find yourself focusing hard on the project at hand? Do you often notice details that other people miss? Do you want the details to be right when you care about a project? Can you get so involved with a project that wild horses can barely drag you away?
A person who can answer “yes” to those questions has detail-oriented focus. They have the ability to take something they’re working on and make it great.
Detail-oriented focus can be built by training one’s attention span. Start by eliminating all distractions when you’re working on a project. When you find yourself daydreaming, take a break and do something else for a while, then go back into focus mode. The more you practice this, the better you’ll get at focusing. You’ll eventually be able to reach what I call “the zone,” where time just seems to slip away as I focus on a project.
These seven traits pop up in some combination in every great person that I know. They’ll lead you to success, too.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)