Say:ThankYou & ILoveYou, Show Kindness & Mercy

" You cannot win people with your wealth, but you can conquer their

hearts with your smiling faces and good manners"-AlBazzar

Quick Hadiths On Creating Good Realtions With Others

Say: Thank You

"He who does not thank people, does not thank Allah"-Prophet

This is one of my favorite hadiths I think my mom taught me it. I feel it is an important implication in our dealings with everyone from your parents, co-workers,  friends,classmates, spouse, and anyone that comes in your way. People appreciate that simple "Thank You or  JazkaAllahkhairn".

Yesterday, as a joke my aunt was saying thank you very much sarcastically to everyone in her way, although it was funny, there is no doubt she brought smiles to these people, and light to their hearts.



Say: I Love You

"When a man loves his brother he should tell him that he loves him"-Prophet

Again, this is small but very important statement that can help you keep good relations with the people around you. Especially when you say I love you for the sake of Allah.

Show Kindness

 " It is not kindness to be kind to those who you know, but kindness means that you are

 kind to all human beings" -Prophet

Kindness can be seen through your words,actions, and body language.

Show Mercy

" Allah is merciful to those who are merciful to others, so be merciful to those on earth, Allah will have mercy on you. Preserving relations with the kin (Family) is prescribed by Allah. He who mainted the blood relations, strengthened his bond with Allah, and he who severed them, is cut off from Allah"-Prophet

So you want mercy from the Most Merciful? Start by showing mercy to others.

Show Forgiveness

 "He who does not forgive others, Allah will not forgive him." -Prophet

If Allah forgives His creations who are we to not forgive His creations?

Finally: Dont Make People Run Away

I never heard of this one I love it

"Make things easy, and do not make them difficult,

and give good tidings and do not make people run away"-Prophet

Surat ArRad

I think I found my favorite track in my Quran CD, the last track ends with my all time favorite aya which I have a picture of in my room,

Those who believe (in the Oneness of Allah - Islamic Monotheism), and whose hearts find rest in the remembrance of Allah, Verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest.

 

The other ayas in this track include this I started crying when I heard the thrid one..

13:22

 

 

And those who are patient, seeking the countenance of their Lord, and establish prayer and spend from what We have provided for them secretly and publicly and prevent evil with good - those will have the good consequence of [this] home -

13:23

 

 

Gardens of perpetual residence; they will enter them with whoever were righteous among their fathers, their spouses and their descendants. And the angels will enter upon them from every gate, [saying],

13:24

 

 

"Peace be upon you for what you patiently endured. And excellent is the final home."

Summer Come

Sometimes when I drive I find myself in the middle of a beautiful scenery. Today while driving to the Arabic Grocery store I took a new turn and I found myself on this beautiful hill where you can see lots of high trees, subhanllah amazing. I wanted to take a picture but it wouldnt be safe..

I think one of the best parts of being Muslim is the ability to contemplate on Allahs cretaions such as the trees,sunset, the ocean. I cant wait until the nice wether kicks in and I can start going to the beach again. As dirty as the Jersey shore may be its still a beauty I love to contemplate upon.....oh yea for all of those people who think "hijabis" cant swim with full hijab, thats false because I have done it all my life, from waterparks to beach if you are determined to wear it you will...

Seaside Heights NJ Janurary 2012

Highlands State Park 2011

Nothing like waking up to a big vernda viewing the ocean subhnallah amazing reminder of dunya but also akhirh
Atlantic Ocean 2011

Cape May NJ 2011

Parents.

2:83

....."Do not worship except Allah ; and to parents do good and to relatives, orphans, and the needy. And speak to people good [words] and establish prayer and give zakah." ...

Parents I cant even write from how many emotions I feel when I think of them...One thing I want to perfect: my manners with my parents..we can never makeup for what they have done for us, the best we can do is be kind to them and constnaly make this duaa for them:

Its All About Character

Its not what you say or how much you know, its how you make the person feel.

Today I attended a lecture about the love for the Prophet by the awesome sheikh Wisam Sharif .

I will never forget his amazing Quran recitation in the Ilm Fest 2010.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM0ZHW_QWh4

"Wisam Sharieff taking people on a very intimate journey to the hereafter
 with his powerful recitations of surah Taha"

So what did Wisam say?

Correcting people was not a chacterstic of the Prophet, it was about how he made the people feel.
He had a personal realtionship with everyone .The Prophet acted with good character.

Touching, cute, beautiful stories that show theProphets personal relationship
with differnt groups of people.

Story One -Hassan and Husayn- The Prophets Grandkids

The kids went out when they weren't supposed so the Prophet asked where are they? And then he went outside and he found them holding each other in a corner scared of a snake that was in their way. The Prophet spoke to the snake and it moved out of the way. Then he took them both and carried them kindly home. He did not yell or mistreat them, but he treated them with kindness.

Story Two-The Necklace

The Prophet was sitting amongst his wives, and he showed them a beautiful necklace. He said I will give it to the one who is most beloved to me. He paused for a moment and then he said teasingly I will give it to my granddaughter.

Story Three-Drunk Guy Prays

There was a man who had a drinking problem and he told the Prophet he wants to go to the masjid. The man would go to the masjid and leave his alchol bottle outside the door, he would pray in state of being drunk. The Prophet allowed this and he never scolded the guy. Slowly the guy moved away from his problem, and finally the Prophet noticed he was improving in his prayer. The Prophet asked him what happen? The man said I broke all of the bottles.

Notice the Prophet never told the man dont enter the masjid, or stop, he indirectly helped him by acting kindly. It was about how he made him feel.

My comments:

The key is not in your words, but it is your actions and the way you make people feel.

If you yell at the kid who runs around the masjid during prayer the kid will never like you or even listen to you (Grandsons story)

Everyone jokes, even the Prophet ( Necklace story)

If you scare people away by telling them this is haram and that, they will never feel welcomed to your masjid. If you scold them for the way they dress they will think of how you made them feel not what you said. If you yell at the girls talking in the masjid during salat, you will only gain hate not love. (Drunk man story)

Im Busy: Really?

How many times have you used this excuse: "Im busy"...now how many times were you really busy? I know ive done this before..I was thinking about this concept of  being busy after reading this,

I've learned that "being busy" is just another way to say you'd rather not.

If someone wants you in their life, they will find time. Always.

There is no one busy in this world, it's always about priorities.

 You will always find time for the things you feel important.

I tried to connect the second quote to the life of the Prophet, and you will find the Prophet lived in this state of mind. He was never to busy to serve Allah, his followers,companions, nor his family memebers, he was always there for them. He was able to have a balance in making time for all of them. How many times do we ignore the needs of our family & friends because we think we are to busy? How many times do we find ourselves to busy to make salat?

Visiting The Sick-Hidden Blessings & Lessons

The Prophet said, "Every Muslim has five rights over another Muslim (five duties for another Muslim): to return the greetings, to visit the sick, to accompany funeral processions, to accept an invitation, to respond to the sneezer."

You dont realize how important these duties are until you practice them, and today I was able to experience the blessing of fulfilling my duty of visiting a sick Muslim.

"Visiting the sick is from the clearest signs of such mutual love, mercy and empathy. More than that, visiting the sick is a major responsibility that every single Muslim is duty-bound to fulfill"

At first I was telling my friend how visiting someone sick is going to be hard, and a reality check, but subhnallah I left this visit with lots of lessons. We went to visit our old islamic high-school teacher, a mother of two young ones and a convert of 8years who was recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis disease http://www.webmd.com/multiple-sclerosis/default.htm

Lesson 1: Being Around Good Company: Gossip Free Fun Conversations

She did not complain at all about her disease, nor did she speak of it, we talked about almost everything except her disease (until I asked her how was she feeling). Another thing that me and my friend both noticed was not once did we backbit or gossip during our two hour visit. There were three other convert sisters present with us. I realized the blessing of being around good people. Our conversation was gossip free, and the whole time we were laughing and enjoying each others company; in a hospital room.

She loved having us there, and all she wants is company, not a bunch of flowers and chocolate.This is why the Prophet put so much emphasis on visiting the sick by making it a right. This why there is so much blessings behind visiting the sick,afterall, why would you not want to visit the sick after hearing this:
Prophet Says:

"No Muslim visits the sick Muslims in the morning, except that sevety-thousand angels, sent Salat upon him until the evening, and he does not visit at night except that seventy thousand angels sent Salat upon him until the morning, and there will be a garden for him in Paradise."

Lesson 2: Accepting The Hardship With True Sabr-Patience:
The Power of Having Yaqyn-Certainty in Allah

One thing I loved was the way she was accepting this sickness. I told her about Eslam Elfahoumuis lectures which were focused on how to deal with hardships, and sabr (See earlier posts).

Her response was (not exact but what I remember),

"AlhumdAllah this sickness is a blessing, because Allah can be using it to remove my sins, preserve me a place in Jannah,

or even punish me  so that I wont have to be punished in the Hell-Fire. Allah is merciful."

All I can think is this is exactly the attuide or results of thoe who you have sabr-patience,  and certainty in Allah-yaqyn (see earlier posts). She is the example of the person Eslam Fahymoui is trying to get us to think like, a person who accepts bad situations and looks at them with an eye of gratefulness, not depression. A person who truly accepts what Allah has bestowed upon them, a person who looks at hardships as a lesson or possibly a blessing. A person who understands Allahs wisdom. A person who understands the meaning of " Surely with difficulty is ease 94:5". She mentioned this aya during our conversation and she said " after every difficulty comes ease". I told her how I learned that aya the same way, but recently I learned from various speakers such as Yasmine Moghed, that it doesnt say "After" but the Arabic word Maa which means "With" subhnallah. I still dont understand how it is "with".

Lesson 3: Looking At Everything As A Dawah Opportunity

This sister said she tries to be friendly with everyone on her floor, and all the nurses know her and she loves it because she said she looks at this as a form of dawah. My last posts was about "Silent Dawah", and as she spoke about being kind and friendly with everyone she meets, all I can think is "Silent dawah in action". Even upon checking in at the lobby, we only said her last name, and the security automatically knew her first name. While I was realying this story to her, she said alot of people were surprised at how many people had visited her already. I told her its a great dawah opportunity because they can see how much Muslims care for one another, and how diverse we are, after-all I was sitting with a Arab, African-American, and Hispanic, and yes we are all Muslims. Dawah is not all about giving out Qurans, but rather how you treat people, and your overall actions. Treat everyone you meet with kindness and who knows they may come to ask you for a Quran.


Lesson 4: We All Belong To The Beautiful Family Known as "Ummah"

We didnt visit her because we are friends or we are family but because we are all apart of this one larger family that goes by the first name: Ummah.

Upon leaving one thing we spoke about was the diversity of her visitors as I said in the sentence above there was two Arabs, two African Americans, and one Hispanic in the room. We spoke about how amazing our ummah is, and how this is only a blessing. I told her if you werent Muslim I would probably never even be here right now (actually all of us).

The thing that connects us is the fact that we are Muslims, and we understand the meaning of hadith mentioned in the very beginning of this post...

And finally, please keep her in your duaa inshallah,
afterall she is apart of your family to.

As alullah al-'azheem rabb al-'arsh al-'azheem an yashfeeka
I ask Allah the Supreme, Lord of the magnificent throne to cure you

Expect the Unexpected, Prepare Through Sabr -(Mix of E.Fahymoui Lecture)

Pink-My Ideas ;Black- Eslam Fahymoui notes

We all know that we dont know what our future beholds. We should always expect the unexpected, because only Allah knows.

Think of three words when the calimity appears: Yaqyn, Patience, Knowledge

Today's lecture was focused on Sabr: Patience



The secret to patience is knowledge (In Allah) Which will build on your yaqyn-certnaity.

What is sabr (patience)?
It is one of the most important charcterstics of Islam, and it is mentioned the most in the Quran-over 90 times.

Do you think you can enter Jannah before Allah tests you with sabr?

The purpose of life relies in the first two ayas of Surat AlMulk. "Who has created death and life, that He may test you which of you is best in deed. And He is the All-Mighty, the Oft-Forgiving"

Yolo all the way, because there is no doubt You Only Live Once, but you only live once in the dunya so you can get ready for your next life; the akhria. The equal opportunity of this life is not in wealth, or health, but its in your chance to prepare for the afterlife. Everyone has an equal chance to pass this test called, life so that they may get to the next.

Prepare your soul by remembering Allah all day everyday, thank Him when the days are good, and bad as well, because in the end only He has control.Dont forget Him in times of wellness and health, when life's going well and expect the unexpected because you never know.


Get ready for that calamity, so when it strikes you can get through it. Only patience and yaqyn (certainty in Allah) will help you out of the sorrow you wil go through. Sometimes these tests
are only meant to bring you closer to Allah. So when you feeel alone, remind yourself you are not alone. Allah is waiting for you, He put you away from the people so you can come to Him.


" Calamity is a test of your sincerity and faith. Stress and worries are found in doubt and peace of mind is found in certainty. Peace and happiness is not in the absence of trials and tribulations its the finding of faith in Allah in your trials and tribulations" -Abdulbarry Yayha.

When I read these quotes, all I can think is  this is like a summary of "Eslam Fahymouis lecture, and what he has been teaching us this a whole time.

Someone you know will die during your lifetime, Allah says be patient.
You got two choices once the calamity strikes, you can suffer and become depressed or have Patience" and hope and know that Allah feels this is what is best. There is a hidden blessing in the trials you face. If you internalize this idea that you experience some sadness for your own benefit, you will never face anxiety and depression."

Subhanallah right after this lecture, I was told about two calamities. First they made an annocment that one of the guys father had died two hours ago, all I can think is this guy is blessed. He just came out of a lecture which was totally focused on how to deal with calmities.

Prepare yourself by strengthen your yaqyn-certainty in Allah, which comes from patience
(see other posts about yaqyn to learn more).

Sabr cures both of the main diases of the heart- doubt and desire and love fo this dunya. Yaqyn and sabre can fix your dunya problems.


 How do you achieve this beautiful gift of patience? The secret of patience is knowledge

Knowledge of Allah,  will increase your patience, which will increase your yaqyn, which will increase everything else in between (khusho,tawkal, shukr). 
I would like to think of this life as some type of math problem, theres always a solution, all you need is the proper formula to pass. It may be hard sometimes, but you gota keep on practicing until you get it right.


Along with the annoucment of the guys dads death, as I am driving home my friend texts me saying that our former high school teacher (Muslim mother of two) was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, a disease which can effect your speech, vision, and muslce movement. All I can think is I want to get the message of todays lecture to her. And then I text my other classmate, and she says the other day our teacher was crying because she couldnt see. I remembered a saying I learned today:

 Allah says , " If i try my servent with blindness and you are patient I will replace it with Jannah". Subhanlllahhh

Be Kind Just Like the Best of Mankind

 

One of my favorite characteristics of the Prophet is this:

"I have not seen any man smiling more than the Prophet"

"The Prophet never spoke to anyone unless he was smiling"

It is for this reason you will always find me smiling.

You dont understand how much I adore this characteristic.

 Today during my student ambassador open house job training , the trainer said something I will never forget, he said ,

"People will not remember what you have or what you did but how you made them feel."Students who come to the open house will not remember the way the campus looks, but they will remember the way you made them feel."

Along with that he encouarged us to always smile.Subhnallah, 

 everything they were saying in todays training session about smiling, being kind, and welcoming is stuff I already learned from my Prophet Muhmmad. Smiling means good deeds  & chairty for me.

Our Prophets main purpose of his Prophethood, was summarized in one statement he made:
 

 "I have been sent to perfect the noble qualities of character"

 

These words are life lessons, they teach us how to live our life.

He left us with these words of advice which are being used basically in business,universities, nurses , and almost every career field you can think of. If you dont have noble qualities such as the simple smile, people wont listen to you.

 

I was once taught in a dawah lecture,

"Be an ambassador of Islam thourgh your manners and character"

 

"The foundation of Islam is laid on generosity and benevolence"

"We were sitting in the company of the Prophet and some people cam and asked the Prophet Who among His slaves is dearest to Allah? He replied "One who has the best moral character".

 

 

 

Aqim Salatak! Get Up To Pray

Recite that which has been revealed to you of the Book and keep up prayer; surely prayer keeps (one) away from indecency and evil, and certainly the remembrance of Allah is the greatest, and Allah knows what you do. - Surat Al-Ankabut 45

 

 

"Get up for your prayers"

 

I never realized what this aya meant until I heard this in a lecture, Eslam Elfahymoui said,

"If you are doing bad things and you feel the prayer has not stopped you from committing this sin than this is a problem. It means you are not performing the prayer properly because Allah guarantees in the aya (above) that if you pray you will stay away from what is forbidden"

 As I related the lecture to my friend, she said this is probably why we feel like we sin more when we cant pray (girls cannot pray when they have thier time of the month). I dont know if every girl gets that feeling of "low eman" when she is on the prayer vacation, but I know I feel differnt when I dont pray. I feel like sinning is easier, and more common. The prayer truly helps you stay away from that which is forbidden. Another thing he said is that"There is no doubt you will die in between two prayers". When I heard this I thought, imagine I die when I cant pray?Imagine my last prayer was like five days ago, and I didn't pray it the best I can? This is just a great way to appreciate the prayer subhnallah, humdallah for this "vacation". It made me realize how much salat has done to keep me in check..

 

Aqim Salatik, Motvitional Video, this never gets old <3

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yWfV1S93oU