SHaykh Zahir: The First Time

Shaykh Zahir mentioned in class on Thursday that his teachers used to caution being late for the first time to their classes as once one is late the first time it is easier to do so thereafter. He said it is the same with sin. Sinning the first time in some area is always the hardest and repeating the same sin becomes easier thereafter. He preceded saying all this by saying "Every habit begins with a 'first time'"

Rumi on Dunya

SHaykh Zahir mentioned this in class on Thursday while covering the Hikams:

The way water is necessary for a boat, similarly Dunya is necessary for a Mu’min, but remember as long as water is under the boat it will float, but if water comes inside of the boat, then it will sink the boat.

Dr. Umar (at Retreat)

Dr.Umar stated at the RIS Knowledge Retreat:

"Dont fall in love with the emotion of love"

Healing hearts: Excerpt by Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad about an anecdote by Sayyidina Jalaluddin Rumi‏

From the Healing Hearts Blog:

(The below anecdote is taken from the lecture entitled ‘Reliance on Allah’ which is currently available for purchase on the Apple iTunes Store and on www.meccacentric.com. I was hoping to upload the short excerpt where Shaykh AHM narrates the story, but for some reason it doesn’t allow me to upload it here, therefore I’ve transcribed (to the best of my ability) what Shaykh AHM said. It’s more or less word to word, but I refrained from using speech marks in case I’ve missed a few words out! Jazaka’llahu khayran to the very kind soul who emailed me the lecture details!)

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There is a story which Sayyidina Jalaluddin Rumi tells of an ant that’s creeping across the carpet in a mosque, and the ant complains to God saying: “what is this, these bumps,......READ ON

Habib Ali on schedules

In the live session for the highly recommended Seekers Guidance's Marvels of the Heart course, Shaykh Yahya quoted Habib Ali as saying (about making schedules, etc) that one can make schedules for oneself, however, one should not rely on them.

Shaykh Faraz: Trials and Blessings

"Trials are a blessings and blessings are a trial."

said Shaykh Faraz Rabbani in Seekers Guidance course Gardens of the Righteous: the Sunnah of the Sunnah

Malcom Gladwell on Arranged Marriage

"Not surprisingly, interview specialists have found extraordinarily difficult to persuade most employers to adopt the structured interview. It just doesn't feel right. For most of us, hiring someone is essentially a romantic process, in wich the job interviews functions as a desexualized version of a date. We are looking for someone with whom we have a certain chemistry, even if the coupling results in tears and the pursuer and the pursued turn to have nothing in common. We want the unlimited promise of a love affair. The structured interview, by contrast, seems to offer only the dry logic and practicality of an arranged marriage."

From "What the Dog Saw" Malcom Gladwell p.390-391 (October, 2009) and from the article "New-Boy Network", The New Yorker (May, 2000)

Pillars of Religon

Hafiz Abu'l-Hassan Tahir ibn Mufawwiz al-Muaffiri al-Andalusi wrote:

The pillars of the din for us are four expressions from the Best of Creation:

Beware of ambiguities

do without,

and leave what does no concern you

and act with intention

The Compedium of Knowledge and Wisdom Ibn Rajab Al-Hanbali(translated by Abdassamad Clarke)

Habib Ali: Spiritual Thirst

Habib Ali @ a gathering in Toronto last night:

"When you drink outwardly, your thirst is quenched. When you have spiritual drink, however, your (spiritual) thirst only increases."

Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad: Dua for Good Company...

"We ask Allah SWT to bring us to people who will bring us to Him"

From Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad's dua in this talk.

Rihla 2009 Quotes

Quotes from the Rihla 2009 Blog:

"It is astonishing how people can influence others, simply by keeping their company. Don’t take a companion unless their state elevates you, and that they take you closer to God. Don’t have friends that complain all the time. There’s nothing worse than to be around a complainer. Be around people that uplift you, that are positive, optimistic. Help people with their problems, but put yourself in environments that help you move forward. And don’t be of the people out there that don’t want to see others succeed.”

Taken from Shaykh Yahya Rhodus’ class onPurification of the Heart.

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“The dunya is the daughter of the akhira. If you marry it (the dunya), the akhira is forbidden to you.”

Taken from an Evening Session with Shaykh Yahya Rhodus

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“”You can’t reach everyone with your wealth nor your status, but you can reach everyone with your character.”

Taken from the Q & A session with Shaykh Yahya, Shaykh Faraz and Sidi Umar.

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“If you see people being like wolves, don’t be a lamb. And if you see people being like lambs, don’t be a wolf”

Taken from Shaykh Yahya Rhodus’ class onPurification of the Heart.

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“Be not content with stories of those who went before you. Go forth and create your own story.” – Rumi

Taken from Shaykh Yahya Rhodus’ class onPurification of the Heart.

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Imam Malik said, “I knew a people who had no faults, and they preoccupied themselves with faults of others; God gave them faults. And I knew another people and God gave them faults, and they preoccupied themselves with purifying themselves, ignoring the faults of others; God purified their faults.”

Taken from Shaykh Hamza Yusuf’s lecture on Israa Wal Mi’raaj.

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“Every single situation you are in is an opportunity to bring you closer to Allah.”

Shaykh Yahya Rhodus, during the Sister’s Q & A session.

He and He

Sahl (al Tustari) said " O poor man! He was and you were not, and He will and you will not be. While you are today, you say: 'I, I'; be now as though you have not been, for He is today as He was."

From Imam Al Ghazali's Book XXXV of The Revival of the Religious Sciences, Ihya' 'ulum al-din. Faith in Divine Unity & Trust in Divine Providence- translated by David B. Burrell, C.S.C.

Carl Sandburg quotes........

• “Love your neighbor as yourself; but don't take down the fence”
• “Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.
• “Life is like an onion: you peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep”
• Let a joy keep you. Reach out your hands and take it when it runs by.
• Let the gentle bush dig its root deep and spread upward to split the boulder.
• When a nation goes down, or a society perishes, one condition may always be found; they forgot where they came from. They lost sight of what had brought them along.

......the great aim of education

"..the great aim of education is not knowledge but action" Herbert Spencer

Quote

“I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”

Wayne Gretzkey

Food for Thoughts

Hadrat Ali ( May Allah be pleased with him) said:

" Be in Allah's estimation the best of people, and in the estimation of your nafs the worst of people, and in people's estimation just a man amongst people"

Malik ibn Dinar said:
"Remedy three things with three- pride with humiliy, greed with contentment, and envy with sincere advice."

It is said:
"The movement towards obedience is evidence of knowledge, just as movement of the body is evidence of its vitality."

From Preparing for the Day of Judgement, Imam ibn Hajar Asqalani

The dogs bark...

"Dogs bark, but the caravan moves on."

Abdul Hakim Murad on Muslim Youth in the West

We were listening to a recent interview of Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad on the the BBC. He said something about muslim youth in the west which really struck a cord with us:

Abdul Hakim Murad: "The Problem that one faces with a lot of young people is that they say 'Why should we integrate into a society that obviously hates us so much? They don’t respect anything that is distinctive about Islam, so why should we (integrate)?'  Thats a good argument."

The BBC Presenter: "So whats the answer?"

Abdul Hakim Murad: " The answer is never mind what they think about you, trust in God. Islam is a religion which wants it's members to succeed, to be positive neighbors, to be part of the national endeavor.   And whether or not people like you at the workplace, whether or not they bully you in the police or the armed forces, you just have to trust in God and your faith in God. If it's real faith in God, (it) should enable you to deal with any obstacles that might come your way."

Knowledge and understanding

"Perhaps we know more about the world then we used to and insofar as knowledge is prerequisite to understanding, that is all to the good. But knowledge is not as much a prerequisite to understanding as is commonly supposed. We do not have to know everything about something in order to understand it; too many facts are often as much of an obstacle to understanding as too few.  There is a sense in which we moderns are inundated with facts to the detriment of understanding." 

Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren in "How to Read a Book"

Chinese Proverb: To know...

" To know and not to do is not to know"

Chinese Proverb