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If ever there was a video that I would recommend to watch, it would be this video. JazakAllahu khairan to the brother that shared this with me.

Transcript

“The Goodly Life”
Sheikh Muhammad Mukhtar Ash-Shinqiti

Life, is either for a person, or against him
It’s hours and seconds, days and years pass him by
Leading him (by his actions) to the Love and Good Pleasure of Allah
until he is amongst the people of Ultimate Success and the Gardens of Paradise
or they are against him, leading him (by his actions) to the Fires of Hell
and to the Anger of the One, the Just Ruler [Allah]

Life, either it will make you laugh & rejoice for an hour
over which you will cry for an eternity (in the Hereafter)
or it will make you cry for an hour
over which you will laugh & rejoice for an eternity (in the Hereafter)

Life, is either a great blessing for a person,
or an adverse affliction against him

This is a life which was lived by the earliest generations
by our fathers and forefathers
and by all those who preceded us
All of them, returned to Allah with what they used to do [their deeds]

“Life” refers to every single moment that is lived within it
and every hour spent within it
And within all of these, we live a life that is either for us or against us

Thus, the successful and happy person
is the one who sees life, and recognises it’s reality and true nature
For by Allah, it is a life that frequently causes some people to weep, their tears never drying
and frequently makes others laugh, their laughs and joys then never to return

My beloved, Allah has made this life as a trial, a test,
an exam, in which is made apparent the true nature of His slaves
Thus happy is the one who is made successful (in this exam) by the Mercy of Allah
while miserable & banished (from salvation) is the one upon whom the Pleasure of Allah becomes forbidden (through this exam)

(Know) for every hour that you live, either Allah is pleased with you in this hour (by your deeds)
or the opposite, we seek refuge in Allah from that
Therefore (by this hour) either you come closer to Allah
or you stray further from Him

Thus it may be, that you live a single moment of love and obedience to Allah (by your actions)
by which are forgiven the inequities of your life
and a lifetime of sins
And it may be that you live a single moment in which you deviate purposely from the Path of Allah
distancing yourself from His obedience
which then becomes a cause of misery & distress, for the rest of your life
We ask Allah for His Safety and Pardoning

In this life there exist two seperate ‘callers’
The first, is anything that calls to the Mercy, the Good Pleasure and the Love of Allah (be they thoughts or actions)
The second type of caller, is anything which invites to the opposite of that
(Such as) a desire or lust that incites one to evil
or a sudden sinful whim that may result in an evil ending (dying in bad or sinful circumstances)

Thus it may be, that a person within a moment of his life, weeps;
a weeping of regret and repentance over his negligence towards his Lord;
and by (these tears) Allah changes his evil deeds into good deeds (on his record)

But how many a people continue to commit sins?
how many a people still indulge in evil?
how many a people continue to distance themselves (from Allah),
frequently travelling away from their Lord (by their actions)?
Thus all of them are distant from the Mercy of Allah
unbeknownst to them, strangers to the Good Pleasure of Allah

Then comes upon them that hour, that exact moment (of penitence),
which is what we are referring to, by “the goodly life”,
in order that they shed tears of regret and remorse,
and that a reason for anguish in the heart may be ignited,

Such that the person realises how long his alienation from Allah has been
and how long his absence from his Lord truly has been
so that he may then say, “Indeed I am turning to my Lord repentant, remorseful,
and in hope of His Mercy and Good Pleasure!”

This time (of penitence) is a person’s key to happiness and contentment,
the time of regret.
It is as the scholars say,
“Indeed man sins a great deal,
but if he is truly sincere in his regret and repentance,
Allah will change his sins into good deeds”
Thus his life too then becomes pure and goodly,
by the purity and truthfulness of that regret and repentance
and by the sincerity in the very distress and pain felt within himself

We ask Allah the Greatest, Lord of the Honourable Throne,
to give life to this blessed caller to His Mercy, within our hearts
and to the pain we should feel when we are neglectful towards Allah and His Commands

My beloved, every single one of us needs to ask themselves a question,
we need to ask ourselves day and night,
How many nights are spent awake in activity?
and how many hours are passed (in this way)?
How many have laughed in this life?
And (most importantly) was Allah Pleased with this laughter?

How much of this time was spent in entertainment and enjoyment in this life?
Was this enjoyment one that Allah was Pleased with?
How many nights were spent awake (in activity)?
Was this staying awake (and what you did in those nights), pleasing to Allah?

And so on and so forth,
(These are) questions that he should be asking within himself
But a person might wonder why he should be asking these questions (i.e. what’s the point)?

Yes! You must ask yourselves these questions
as passes not the instant of a blinking of an eye,
nor a fleeting moment in your life,
except that you are living in and experiencing the Blessings of Allah!

Thus it is from great respect and humility towards Allah
that a person remains constantly aware of the greatness of the Blessings bestowed upon him

From this humility is to truly feel and acknowledge that the food we eat,
belongs to and is provided by Allah

And that we quench our thirst with a drink created by Allah
And that we are shaded and sheltered by a roof provided by Him
And that we walk forth upon a ground provided by Him
And that without doubt we are living in and experiencing His every Bounty and Mercy
So what could we possibly have to offer Him in return?

(So it’s important) a person asks himself these questions.

(For example) doctors say that there exists a substance in a person’s heart,
that if it were to increase or decrease by 1%
he would die instantly…
So (think) in which courtesy and kindness,
which mercy and compassion from Allah does mankind enjoy, experience and live in!

(Even if) a person asks himself about the Mercy of Allah alone,
When he wakes up in the morning,
possessing his hearing
possessing his sight
possessing his physical strength,
who is the one safeguarding his hearing?
Who is the One safeguarding his sight?
Who is the One safeguarding his intellect?
Who is the One safeguarding his very soul?

He must ask himself, who is the One protecting all of these things?
Who is the One who Bestowed him with good health and wellbeing?

(Think of) those who are sick, lying on white beds (in hospital)
those who are sighing and in pain (from illness),
By Allah, through these great blessings Allah conveys His Love for us,
The great blessings of good health, wellbeing, security and safety
All of these are provided purely so that we may live a goodly life

Allah, praised & exalted is He, desires two things from His slave:
The first is that he carry out his obligatory duties (e.g. prayer)
and the second, is the abandonment of all Allah has forbidden and held him back from

As for the one who claims that closeness to Allah
entails a life of suffering or limitations
Then such a person without doubt has erred greatly in how he perceives Allah

For, by Allah, if you do not purify and make good your life by closeness to your Lord,
you will never be able to do so by way of anything else

And if you do not purify and adorn your life by carrying out your obligatory duties to Him,
and abandoning all that He has forbidden,
Then by Allah, you will never be able to so by way of anything else

A person may experience every single pleasure life has to offer
but by Allah, he will never experience anything more pleasurable,
more beautiful than servitude to Allah
by carrying out his obligations to Him
and leaving all that He has forbid him from

(In life) you are subjected to two choices,
whenever you are faced with a matter,
you have the choice to either do it or not do it

If you decide to go forth and do anything in this life,
ask yourself, “Has Allah permitted you to do this thing, or not?”

Since the human being himself is owned by Allah
the hearts are all owned by Allah
and the souls are all owned by Allah

Thus a person should,
whenever he wants to do something or hold back from it,
ask himself, will Allah be pleased with you (by this action)?
If so, then let him proceed
Or, will Allah not be pleased by this action?
If not then he should hold himself back.

For, by Allah, a person does not proceed with an action nor hold back from it,
requesting Allah’s Mercy (and counsel in the decision),
except that he pleases his Lord in the process

Therefore true happiness and a goodly life are only to be found in closeness to Allah

Closeness to who?
To the King of Kings
the Controller of the Heavens & the Earth
To whom belongs the Ultimate Command, all creation
and the perfect arrangement and measure of all that exists

Thus you may find that man is always
in a state of anxiety and weariness
You may find an individual who has everything he desires
But by Allah, you will find most of those who have all they desire
suffer from mental or psychological problems,
from anxiety and depression,
most of them are extremely unhappy and dissatisfied with their lives

Go and look for the wealthiest person
and you’ll most likely find him to be from
the most miserable people in life

And has made the sweetness and savour of life to be found,
in being close to Him

And has placed the key to a pleasurable, amiable life,
in a pleasurable, amiable relationship with Him

(If we look at just) one prayer that a person performs
from the 5 obligatory daily prayers;
at the moment of completing his bowing and prostrating
and completing his servitude to his Lord,
then at leaving the place of prayer,
he feels a great sense of ease and peace within himself!

By Allah, even if he were to spend all the wealth on the earth
(in attempt to buy this feeling)
He would be unable to seek a way to it.

Thus the goodly life is found only in closeness to Allah
A pleasant, comfortable life will only be found by a closeness to Allah
If a person does not purify and make good his life
through this close relationship,
then by who (or what) will he….?

WOW. That was shocking…

Not so sure how this will play out, but in my opinion the best way to capitalize on this move is to trade down in the draft from the #1 pick to a late first late second (if possible). I’m a little hesitant though to say the skins will be in the playoffs – this isn’t the first time they sign a big name and it turn out to be a bust.

I think we’ll be 8-8 at best.

So pumped to see this movie! They’re sooooo cute masha’Allah!!! Haha gotta love the opening of the trailer

Part 1 of the Beautiful Dua’ found here.

Ahh good ol’ anxiety and sorrow.  Have you ever heard: “Man I’ve got so much to do but not enough time, what am I going to do?” or “things just keep going sooo wrong in my life, I don’t get it… why me???”. Chances are you’ve either felt like that or have heard a good friend of yours venting these lines to you. When placed in an environment where the stress keeps mounding and the “problems” keep growing it’s tough enough to take a step back and look at the bigger picture let alone face the problems head on. I hope that this post accomplishes two things: 1. How to view the problems that cause stress and worry and 2. Effective techniques for when you’re feeling down and out.

1. Anxiety (n. pl. anx·i·e·ties - A state of uneasiness and apprehension, as about future uncertainties)

You’ve got a lot of things to do, different events you have to attend, different chores that were supposed to be taken care of yesterday. We’re all scattering around for any extra minute we can find. Unfortunately at times we start to fold under the pressure. Please welcome to the conversation “Time Management”. Knowing where your responsibilities, goals, and limits will help you effectively manage your time. Of course if your time is already filled with something that’s useless or even something that’s less useful than you need to check yourself. If we were to take a look at how the scholars of the past used to live we’d realize we don’t even come close. Scholars like Imam Al-Nawaawi (rahimahullah) would study night and day even as a child. A beautiful quote that has helped me with time management was what one of our shuyookh said on how to make use of your time

“If you bless your time with Allah, Allah will bless your time for you”.

2. Sorrow (sor·row n. – Mental suffering or pain caused by injury, loss, or despair)

The second item we ask for protection from is الحزن (Al-Huzn) which can be translated to Sorrow/Despair/Sadness etc… Some of the major causes of sorrow can be envy, hopelessness, unfulfilled desires and so on. To keep this brief I’ll just take a glance at envy and hopelessness.

In his book “Diseases of the Heart and Their Cures” Shaikhul Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah defines envy (hasad) as “Hatred and disliking the good condition of the envied one”. Of the cures for this is the example of the sahabi who the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam mentioned would be in Paradise. Abdullah bin ‘Amr stayed with him for three days and when he asked the sahabi what it was that gave him this status the sahabi said “It is nothing except that I do not find in myself any disloyalty to any of the Muslims, and neither do I find any jealousy for the wealth that Allah has bestowed upon them”. At this Abdullah bin ‘Amr realized why the sahabi had reached the status of the People of Paradise (Musnad Imam Ahmad). Another cure that the scholars mention is the hadeeth of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam in which he states

“…Know that if the Ummah were to gather together to benefit you with anything, it would benefit you only with something that Allah had already prescribed for you, and that if they gather together to harm you with anything, they would only harm you only with something Allah had already prescribed for you…” (Tirmidhi)

Once we accept, and live the realization that Allah will test us and protect us how He see’s fit then, and only then will we be able to cope with some of our sorrow aka Tawwakul (trust in Allah).

Next up is hopelessness! Come on… get your hopes up How many times do we hear Allah explain to us that there is light at the end of the tunnel?

فَإِنَّ مَعَ العُسرِ يُسرًا ﴿٥

(Fa inna ma’al ‘usri yusra) Surely with difficulty is ease.

إِنَّ مَعَ العُسرِ يُسرًا ﴿٦

(Inna ma’al ‘usri yusra) With difficulty is surely ease.

And again, the scholars have included this as one of the five main maxims of jurisprudence! Commonly known as: المشقة تجلب التيسير (Al-Mashaqa Tajlib Al-Tayseer) “Hardship begets ease”. It’s tough, it really is. It’s easy for a guy behind a computer screen to tell you to keep your chin up and that everything will be fine. However we know that Allah’s promises are true, and if we keep our chins up just long enough… we might be able to make it to the end of the tunnel insha’Allah.

I’m really sorry for the long post lol, insha’Allah the rest of the series will be a little shorter – I hope

‘O Allaah, I take refuge in You from anxiety and sorrow, weakness and laziness, miserliness and cowardice, the burden of debts and from being over powered by men.’

كل نفس ذائقة الموت وإنما توفون أجوركم يوم القيامة فمن زحزح عن النار وأدخل الجنة فقد فاز وما الحياة الدنيا إلا متاع الغرور

“Every soul shall taste of death, and you shall only be paid fully your reward on the resurrection day; then whoever is removed far away from the fire and is made to enter the garden he indeed is triumphant. And the life of this world is nothing but a comforting illusion.”

So the biggest news out of the Winter Olympics has to be that Georgian Luger Norad  Kumaritashvili died on a practice run on the first day of the Olympic Games. The link is below.

CBS has opted to post the video online, while there is no blood or gore the video is graphic. Click here for the link.

قال رسول الله ‏ ‏صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ ‏لا تدخلون الجنة حتى تؤمنوا ولا تؤمنوا حتى تحابوا أولا أدلكم على شيء إذا فعلتموه تحاببتم أفشوا السلام بينكم

Bismillah Al-Rahmaan Al-Raheem:

“The Messenger of Allaah (may peace and blessing be upon him) observed: You shall not enter Paradise so long as you do not affirm belief (in all those things which are the articles of faith) and you will not believe as long as you do not love one another. Should I not direct you to a thing which, if you do, will foster love amongst you: spread peace amongst yourselves” (Saheeh Muslim, Abu Da’wood)

SubhanAllah I love this hadeeth so much It’s always a good idea to start any conversation with your fellow Muslim with asalamu alaikum regardless where you are (real life, gchat, email etc…)

Watching Hockey live however, is hands down the best sport to watch live. I have been to a Redskins game, Nationals, numerous Wizards games, heck, I’ve even been to a D.C. United game but nothing touches the lone time I went to a Caps game. I know, I know… hockey isn’t a very popular sport… and it’s “ooooh so boring!”. I agree. But being at the stadium, cheering with the fans, banging the glass, yelling at the top of your lungs and not even be the loudest person there… it’s a great feeling. And of course, you gotta love the fights – and this post would be incomplete without one of the best fights out there: