Lets Get a Little Inspired

Ironically, I also found this from one of my friends facebook notes. Hamdulillah, it is possible to find some good on facebook Although its long, it really is worth the read so take a couple of minutes and read the following:

From My Grandfather’s Diary, 1957:

When attempting to buy anything, do not, say. “Can I afford this”? But “Can do without it”?

The best way to succeed in life is to act on the advice you give to others.

Prescription for a successful life: Acquire honesty; Seek humility; Practice economy; Love fidelity.

The man who refused to adopt new ideas and methods should logically resist all progress.

Imagination is an asset, but alone it will not get you there.

Argument thrives when facts are scarce.

Confidence in yourself is the first step on the road to success.

A man is valued as he makes himself valuable.

An educated mind is said to be distinguished by the ability to doubt.

Fame is what you have taken, Character’s what you give.

A man without a smiling face must not open a shop.

You must keep your finger on the pulse of events.

The best doctors in the world are Dr. Diet and Dr. Quiet.

Be slow to promise, but quick to fulfill.

Prefer loss to unjust gains.

Always be found at your post.

Well arranged time is the mark of well arranged mind.

Some men are wise, some otherwise.

Make haste but slowly.

First plan your work then work your plan.

It is just as essential to know what not to do, as it is to know what to do.

The love of wealth steals the wealth of love.

Good handwriting is a Divine gift.

Character is fed largely through the eyes and ears.

One must lock the door of the mind against evil.

Aspirations know no bounds.

Trust in God is the best founded aspiration

The wise aim at perfection. The foolish aim at wealth.

A man is hidden beneath his own tongue.

To assist the wrong is to oppress the right.

Enmity is the occupation of fools.

The Chief aim of wisdom is to admit one’s ignorance.

Be generous but do not be extravagant.

Do not mind the speaker but mind the speech.

He who does not recognize himself perishes.

Patience overcomes misfortunes.

Square dealing and straight thinking are fundamental factors in success.

Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them.

A man’s worth does not depend upon his age—some men are useless at any age.

Sacrifice money rather than principle.

Concentration is a fundamental factor in efficiency.

There is a right moment for all things—-do not miss it.

Leisure is sweet when it follows work well done.

Honor can only be purchased by worthy actions.

No man will grow unless he has faith in himself.

A wise man always knows when to stop for breathing space.

Consider well, than decide promptly.

Constant serenity of mind can only be secured by a clear conscience.

He who knows how to speak, knows also when to be silent.

Anything is impossible if you have made up your mind that you cannot do it.

Trust your hopes and not your fears

Maintain a nice balance between logic and instinct.

Interdependence is just as true of individuals as of nations.

Take care inshaAllah and du’as.

-radf

Allahumma sali ala sayyidina muhammadin an-Nabbiyil ummiyi Wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salim.

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The Law of the Garbage Truck

I found this on one of my friend’s facebook and thought it was nice, read it if you have the time:

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.
So I asked, ‘Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!’ This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, ‘The Law of the Garbage Truck.’ He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they’ll dump it on you.
Don’t take it personally. Just smile , wave, wish them well, and move on. Don’t take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life’s too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so…
Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don’t.
Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!
Have a blessed, garbage-free day!
(Author Unknown)

Take care inshaAllah and du’as.

-radf

Allahumma sali ala sayyidina muhammadin an-Nabbiyil ummiyi Wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salim.

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Love Like This

“Those who love each other for Allah’s Sake, when they smile at each other, their sins fall from each other, just as the leaves fall from a tree before the winter.” — Mujahid (ra)

Take care inshaAllah and du’as.

-radf

Allahumma sali ala sayyidina muhammadin an-Nabbiyil ummiyi Wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salim.

Confused? Didn’t understand something? Click here!

10 Things Every Child With Autism Wish You Knew

Autism is something that is around us and growing, but I think that it is something that we all need to learn more about. I got the information below from an e-mail forward I thought it was good, read it if you get the chance:

Facts about Autism
Did you know?

a.. 1 in 150 children is diagnosed with autism
b.. 1 in 94 boys is on the autism spectrum
c.. 67 children are diagnosed per day
d.. A new case is diagnosed almost every 20 minutes
e.. More children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with AIDS, diabetes & cancer combined
f.. Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the U.S.
g.. Autism costs the nation over $35 billion per year, a figure expected to significantly increase in the next decade
h.. Autism receives less than 5% of the research funding of many less prevalent childhood diseases
i.. Boys are four times more likely than girls to have autism
j.. There is no medical detection or cure for autism
Here are 10 things every child with autism wishes you knew.

1. I am a child with autism. I am not “autistic.” My autism is one aspect of my total character. It does not define me as a person. Are you a person with thoughts, feelings and many talents, or are you just fat (overweight), myopic (wear glasses) or klutzy (uncoordinated, not good at sports)?

2. My sensory perceptions are disordered. This means the ordinary sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touches of everyday life that you may not even notice can be downright painful for me. The very environment in which I have to live often seems hostile. I may appear withdrawn or belligerent to you, but I am really just trying to defend myself. A “simple” trip to the grocery store may be hell for me. My hearing may be hyperacute. Dozens of people are talking at once. The loudspeaker booms today’s special. Muzak whines from the sound system. Cash registers beep and cough. A coffee grinder is chugging. The meat cutter screeches, babies wail, carts creak, the fluorescent lighting hums. My brain can’t filter all the input, and I’m in overload! My sense of smell may be highly sensitive. The fish at the meat counter isn’t quite fresh, the guy standing next to us hasn’t showered today, the deli is handing out sausage samples, the baby in line ahead of us has a poopy diaper, they’re mopping up pickles on Aisle 3 with ammonia. … I can’t sort it all out, I’m too nauseous.

Because I am visually oriented, this may be my first sense to become overstimulated. The fluorescent light is too bright. It makes the room pulsate and hurts my eyes. Sometimes the pulsating light bounces off everything and distorts what I am seeing. The space seems to be constantly changing. There’s glare from windows, moving fans on the ceiling, so many bodies in constant motion, too many items for me to be able to focus – and I may compensate with tunnel vision. All this affects my vestibular sense, and now I can’t even tell where my body is in space. I may stumble, bump into things, or simply lay down to try and regroup.

3. Please remember to distinguish between won’t (I choose not to) and can’t (I’m not able to). Receptive and expressive language are both difficult for me. It isn’t that I don’t listen to instructions. It’s that I can’t understand you. When you call to me from across the room, this is what I hear: “*&^%$#@, Billy. #$%^*&^%$&*” Instead, come speak directly to me in plain words: “Please put your book in your desk, Billy. It’s time to go to lunch.” This tells me what you want me to do and what is going to happen next. Now it’s much easier for me to comply.

4. I am a concrete thinker. I interpret language literally. It’s very confusing for me when you say, “Hold your horses, cowboy!” when what you really mean is “Please stop running.” Don’t tell me something is a “piece of cake” when there is no dessert in sight and what you really mean is, “This will be easy for you to do.” When you say, “It’s pouring cats and dogs,” I see pets coming out of a pitcher. Please just tell me, “It’s raining very hard.” Idioms, puns, nuances, double entendres and sarcasm are lost on me.

5. Be patient with my limited vocabulary. It’s hard for me to tell you what I need when I don’t know the words to describe my feelings. I may be hungry, frustrated, frightened or confused, but right now those words are beyond my ability to express. Be alert for body language, withdrawal, agitation, or other signs that something is wrong.

There’s a flip side to this: I may sound like a little professor or a movie star, rattling off words or whole scripts well beyond my developmental age. These are messages I have memorized from the world around me to compensate for my language deficits, because I know I am expected to respond when spoken to. They may come from books, television or the speech of other people. It’s called echolalia. I don’t necessarily understand the context or the terminology I’m using, I just know it gets me off the hook for coming up with a reply.

6. Because language is so difficult for me, I am very visually oriented. Show me how to do something rather than just telling me. And please be prepared to show me many times. Lots of patient repetition helps me learn.

A visual schedule is extremely helpful as I move through my day. Like your day planner, it relieves me of the stress of having to remember what comes next, makes for smooth transitions between activities, and helps me manage my time and meet your expectations. Here’s a great web site for learning more about visual schedules http://www.cesa7.k12.wi.us/newweb/content/rsn/autism.asp

7. Focus and build on what I can do rather than what I can’t do. Like any other human, I can’t learn in an environment where I’m constantly made to feel that I’m not good enough or that I need fixing. Trying anything new when I am almost sure to be met with criticism, however constructive, becomes something to be avoided. Look for my strengths and you’ll find them. There’s more than one right way to do most things.

8. Help me with social interactions. It may look like I don’t want to play with the other kids on the playground, but sometimes it’s just that I simply don’t know how to start a conversation or enter a play situation. If you can encourage other children to invite me to join them at kickball or shooting baskets, I may be delighted to be included.

9. Try to identify what triggers my meltdowns. This is termed “the antecedent.” Meltdowns, blowups, tantrums or whatever you want to call them are even more horrid for me than they are for you. They occur because one or more of my senses has gone into overload. If you can figure out why my meltdowns occur, they can be prevented.

10. If you are a family member, please love me unconditionally. Banish thoughts such as, “If he would just …” and “Why can’t she … ?” You didn’t fulfill every last expectation your parents had for you, and you wouldn’t like being constantly reminded of it. I didn’t choose to have autism. Remember that it’s happening to me, not you. Without your support, my chances of successful, self-reliant adulthood are slim. With your support and guidance, the possibilities are broader than you might think. I promise you I’m worth it.

For more information or to find out how you can help families affected by autism, contact www.autismspeaks.org

I think people who work with Autistic children and parents of Autistic children are such amazing people.

Take care inshaAllah and du’as.

-radf

Allahumma sali ala sayyidina muhammadin an-Nabbiyil ummiyi Wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salim.

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Shaykh Khalid Abdul-Sattar- A Leap of Faith Re-cap

So let me start off by saying that this was such an amazing event. The NYU and Stony Brook MSA picked an amazing speaker, and subhanAllah I think that he juss came at the right time-well for me anyway. So “A Leap of Faith” was a two day intensive with Shaykh Khalid Abdul Sattar, this was my first time hearing about him but I will definitely remember his name form now on! So here are my notes from the two days. (*Please note*If there are any mistakes in the notes below they are my own mistake and may Allah forgive me.)

Saturday: Day One, Part I:

He began to talk about MSA’s and how sometimes we experience the “clash of MSA’s,” which pretty much means the different MSA’s such as the traditionalists or the liberal etc… But yet we all have the same problem, we all want to move closer to Allah. Everyone wants this; the only problem is how can we achieve this? We go to events and we experience the iman boosters, we go from an all time high and then drop to an all time low-so how do we fix it, and why does it happen? These up and down causes us stress, and let’s face it, it can wear us out. We have our moments where we feel hopeless, as if there is nothing left and we have nothing in us anymore that can keep us going. Two things that we can do are, push forward and to remove whatever it is that hold us back.

He talked about how when Muslims go to college, or when any student goes to college, we experience a sense of freedom. He reminded us that in life, everything needs practice. Likewise our deen needs practice too. We should practice everything so that way when the Angels start to write down our deeds, our good deeds will already be there for us. But growing up in America our deen is not in the proper format. And then when we go to college, something happens to us that actually draws us closer to the deen. When this happens we begin to get involved in the MSA, which isn’t to say that it is a direct result of MSA. Being in college, MSA becomes our own little center, like a resource center. It’s amazing how our sense of getting away draws us closer to the deen. Our deen actually gives us a bunch of rules and restrictions on pretty much everything in our life, but yet during our time of freedom we are drawn to it.

Going to college lets you to start off fresh. You can leave your past behind and start all over. Islam is so many different things for so many people. It’s different from culture to culture, country to country, person to person. This is part of the reason why Islam has a sense of flexibility. And this sense of flexibility helps it grow, all around the world.

He talked about how in high school it is all about fitting in. When you get in to college it is your chance of freeing yourself from the oppressions of high school. College lets you break free your way of dress, your group of friends etc… You can basically do what you want, when you want, however you want it. You can chose whatever group you want to get involved with, go after what you think is interesting. When you discover MSA you find people who you can relate to, a place where you can feel comfortable.

He then went into the feelings of ups and downs. We go to events and reach a level of like 10 and then within days it can drop down to like a one or two. We drop down to like a one and then say astaghfurullah like it’s juss an ordinary word like car or cat. We read the Qur’an like it is an ordinary book. He compared this to like driving a stick shift car. He talked about how it’s so hard to get the car into first gear, but once we get into this first gear its not exactly smooth riding from then on but it will get easier. You can think of MSA and these events as a way to get you into first gear.

So what should we do after these events? Once we go to these events, once they’re over, the speaker leaves, and they’re gone. You need to go on and take the next step. He related it to college. When we become freshmen in college, we have orientation, older students teaching us the way around campus and how to do things like register for classes etc… Even after orientation you’re not alone. There are students that continue to help us out, and then there are mentors that help us out, and advisors… up until grad school we have people helping us making sure that we are comfortable with what we are doing. What we have to do is find something like this for our akhira; we have all these plans and things to help us on the way for this dunya, now we have to come up with a plan for our akhira.

He told us how we should feel free to go to our local ulema or imam and say “teach me.” And if it’s not an imam or a scholar, then maybe someone who is 3 or 4 steps ahead of you. Like when you’re in a class and you don’t understand a subject-you go to the professor for help, if not that then the TA, if not that then a class mate that can help you out. Try to find someone who knows where you’re coming from and to show you the way.

When you go out to seek knowledge make sure your niyyah is pure. Make your niyyah is to become closer to Allah and make it the stepping stones to gaining knowledge. You know, the famous hadith of when a servant takes a step towards Allah, Allah runs towards him. SubhanAllah, I have to look for the full version of that, I don’t want to mess it up.

He talked about three ways of acquiring knowledge:

1. 5 senses: They are beneficial, a great blessing form Allah-but they can also be fallible. Remember to always put things into proper proportion.
2. Intellect: Intellect comes above our 5 senses. He talked about how we know what is right and wrong, but yet we still do them. He talked about how we should never put Intellect over wahi-what Allah says, that’s it.
3. Apparently, I didn’t have the third one in my notes, sorry :/

He talked about how intellect tops our 5 senses, but wahi tops our intellect.

He continued with talking about how one of the problems of our generation is that we help others at our own expense. We try to help others who might eventually destroy us. He told us that we can help every single person. All we have to do is make du’a. Allah tells us that the Muslim Ummah is like one body, help all Muslim brothers, if you can’t get to them then make du’a!

Part II:

He reminded us that Allah has created us to test us, and our ultimate end goal is to enter jannah. But in order to enter jannah, we must have certain requirements. A good comparison of this is school, getting into college. In order tot get into jannah, we must have iman! Without iman, there’s no way we can get into jannah. It’s like trying to get into a university without taking SAT’s. The next thing that we need is Salah, and without Salah, you’re done for. Allah will do what he wants but there are certain guidelines that are needed. Aside from iman and Salah, there are things like saum, zakah, hajj etc… Everyone is unique; we all have something that can become our differentiator(s), ex: extra dhik, extra ibadah, dressing modestly, extra sadaqah etc… He talked about the importance of application: at the end of the day Allah will look at what you were taught and how you reacted to them.

He then started talking about Nafs, our soul. There are three types: Lower [Awwamah], Middle [Lawwamah], and the High [Mutmainah]. The Lower level is where one cares only about them self. In this state the person doesn’t care about being disobedient, they never admit to being wrong and it favorably runs against Allah. The next level, the middle, has a bit more remorse when told that they are doing something wrong, but then they continue to do it. The third state, the high one, is only happy when they are pleasing Allah. The one that forces you to do good. He told us to think of the nafs as a baby. A bay can be pretty selfish, it cries when ever it wants anything and it gets what it wants each time. The nafs is juss like this; it wants what it wants, when it wants, and how it wants it. The nafs focuses only on the immediate, not the akhirah. It wants what it wants right away, ex: a baby. The nafs is immature, think of immature kids. It makes bad decisions, like when a teenager knows he/she is making a bad decision but does it anyway. The Nafs is hypocritical; it will make excuses for you when you can’t do something, but when someone else can’t do something they will be critical of them. It will do everything possible to protect it self. The Nafs is a mix of both good and bad. We need to learn how to pull out the good and get rid of the bad. But when we get rid of the bad we must replace it with some good so we don’t feel a sense of emptiness for the bad that was extinguished. Finally, the nafs can get out of control easily. If we don’t control it from the beginning then it just gets more out of control and continues to get worse and worse.

He then talked about the nafs, the spiritual heart, and the mind. The nafs is the place of desire, the heart is the seat of ferber and the mind is the place of imagination. We need to get a goal of always thinking about Allah no matter where we are. A good example of this can be parents; no matter where they are, they are always constantly thinking of their children. If the heart shuts down, then the nafs will go directly to the brain telling it what to do, it will only be the nafs and the mind which can be pretty dangerous. We have so many sins upon us that when a new one comes in, we don’t even realize it or even see it as being a sin.

He went t on to give us advice on how to control/fight the nafs. We need to remember that the nafs and shaytaan can see what we can not see. The advice he told us are:

1. Set hard fast rules where there is no compromise. There will be a struggle against yourself, the nafs. Think of yourself as being ‘sick’, and the sicker you are the more rules and restrictions you have to follow. Think of a hospital, the more sick you are, the worse your condition is, the stricter diet they give you, ex: only jell-o or soup for ICU patients. We need to accept that we are spoiled, very spoiled. Even if we’re financially unstable we are still better off than others in third world countries. We have overindulged for so many years we need to start getting strict with ourselves.
2. 2 ways to attack the nafs, through the heart&mind. Get the heart to hold down the nafs, it will eventually give up.
3. Attack the nafs directly through the brain/mind. Everyone is different, we will all take a different strategy to get through, keep this in mind when you are struggling to overcome your nafs.
4. Ruh [soul] is hibernating. If you can wake up the ruh and control it, it can ‘eat’ the nafs. It will grab your nafs and devour it. Then you start working for the deen, help people, family, friends, community…. Do dhikr, especially wird, which is something that you do regularly. Keep in mind that whatever you do, juss keep it consistent.

We then started talking about shaytaan. He told us to learn how to decipher between nafs and shaytaan. Nafs is within us, shaytaan comes and goes and can also be scared away. He then talked about the story of shaytaan. In case you do not know it, or need a refresher here’s a really short version of it. Shytaan, also known as Iblees, is a jinn. He was created before Adam(a) and he used to worship Allah day and night. He was extremely knowledgeable, he was both Abid and Alim-had both much faith and worship as well as ilm [knowledge]. Angels were created out of light, jinn were created out of fire. Angels also worship Allah. The Angels make tawaaf up in the sky around the same Kabah that we make tawaaf around. The Angels cannot disobey Allah, that is why if we fix ourselves we have a status higher than the Angels because we have free will. The jinn are like us, they have free will. Then Allah created Adam(a) and he ordered everyone to prostrate to him. Shaytaan was there and he refused to prostrate. He became arrogant, and this was the start of his downfall. Allah asked shaytaan why, and he said that I am better than him [Adam]. Shaytaan put his aql before wahi, which is something we need to be very mindful of at all times. All of the worship Shaytaan did became worthless. Shaytaan then proceeded to ask for a favor, made du’a to Allah to let him to go around and try to lead his creations astray. Allah actually listened to him and granted him his du’a! If anyone thinks that they are useless or that they cannot have anything, then they should look at how merciful Allah is. He granted, of all people, shaytaan his du’a- never underestimate the power or will of Allah. Shaytaan’s mindset was selfish, if he can’t be in jannah then no one else can be in jannah. He goes after Adam(a), but then he actually starts to realize that Adam(a) is in fact better than him. He tehn goes after Hawaah(a). Shaytaan picks the easiest route to get to us. He knows that she wants to stay in jannah, so he tricks her with good. He tells her to eat from the tree, she refuses knowing that Allah forbid that. He then comes again saying eat from this tree, if you do you will be able to stay in jannah forever worshipping Allah. She says no again but this time he says that I swear by Allah that it is ok and that you will stay in jannah forever. They ate from the tree-even though their intentions were good, in the end they still broke a command of Allah. [We must always have the intention to please Allah in our hearts!] Allah then lowered Adan(a) and Hawaah(a) to Earth. I think he said that Adam(a) was lowered into present day Sri Lanka and Hawaah(a) was lowered somewhere in present day Africa. They realized that what they have done was wrong and they started praying for forgiveness. They continued to cry out for forgiveness for 300 years! Imagine how much we have done and how much we should call out for! Often times we say what did I do to deserve this? The real question should be what did I not do to deserve this? They were finally re-united at Jable Rahma.  Shaytaan is:

• The first one to ever put aql before wahi!
• First to perform analogy, but did it in a bad way. ex: fire is better than clay I am better than Adam(a). [again, aql over wahi] If Allah tells us something, then that is it, no questions about it. Sajdah got shaytaan in all of this, when we make sajdah it kills shaytaan, makes him suffer. Whenever you can, make sajdah, never miss an opportunity to make sajdah.
• Shaytaan did what he was supposed to do, constant ibadah, but ended in the wrong way. We must always make du’a that we end on iman!
• The first one to break away from a group of believers.

He talked about the common question of why do we have to suffer for shaytaan’s problem? This life is nothing more than a test, and Allah tests us for one reason only, to bring us closer to him! We then discussed enemies and how they can come in two different forms. One can become our friend and the other is the enemy that Allah tells us is our enemy. When Allah tells us something is our enemy, keep them as your enemy! He talked about how shaytaan can be so tricky, we need to be careful and cautious and not let our guard down. We discussed what was missing from shaytaan, he had both abid and aql. But what he was missing was ashiq-love! He did not have the true love for Allah. Shaytaan thought that he was special, that he was better and this caused him to care a lot about his position. He was the only jinn in jannah and it made him feel like he was truly special. We need to love Allah truly. Think about someone you love and how much you would do for them, do you do this much for Allah? Think of parents, they truly are ashiq for their kids, constantly thinking about them and doing anything they possibly can for their child’s happiness. The greatest way to give back to your parents is to become ashiq of Allah and then make du’a for them.

He told us how whatever we do in this dunya we should do to the best of our ability. We are in this dunya, we might as well make the best of it. Everything we do in life we need to carry it out to the best of our ability. He told us to be mindful of our weaknesses, know them and be aware of them. We need to be aware of our weaknesses and mindful of them because shaytaan is fully aware of our weaknesses, be honest with yourself! Shaytaan comes at you and works away at you slowly. If you have 10 good things, then shaytaan will take one of it away slowly, then the next one and then slowly but surely he will knock it all the way down. Shaytaan is very, very, very patient! He doesn’t care how long it will take to lead you astray, he will be waiting. Shaykh Khalid’s shaykh told him to never mention the harm that someone has done to you, and never mention the good that you have done for someone else. This will keep you away from arrogance, juss always think of Allah and see how worthless you are compared to him, always think of ways to humble yourself. He told us how shaytaan will come at us with no shame! He will attack when he wants, wherever it may be and not care. Shaytaan waits at the heart of the mu’min to attack.

At night shaytaan whispers to us sleep, the night is long and with that he ties three knots. How should we break these knots? The first one is to remember Allah. The second one is to make Wudhu, and then the third one is to quickly pray 2 rakah Sunnah. This is why we pray 2 sunnah in fajr and why it is Sunnah to read it quickly. He told us that a good du’a to make is, “Oh Allah, whatever the Prophet(peace and blessings be upon him) asked for, I’m asking for.”

Before you decide to make an action, always think of the long term results. He told us about the Native Americans, how before they used to make decisions they used to think 7 generations ahead of them! This is something that we all need to start doing again!

He gave us advice on how to fight against shaytaan:

1. The key is the Sunnah and the Shariah. He advised us over and over again not to change the Shariah!
2. You can always juss do a sajdah of shukr-go against shaytaan, sajdah bothers him a lot! Keep in mind that juss as easy as Allah cursed shaytaan, he can do the same to us.
3. Shaytaan can not stand the Adhaan or the Iqaamah, he runs away!
4. Be mindful of the people around you! Shaytaan can use people to get to you by using the people around you to get out the worse of you.

Remember that everyone has their own Shaytaan. It is said that the shaytaan of an alim will be an alim.

Sunday:

He defined dunya as anything that take us away from Allah. He descried the relationship that we have in dunya as a boat floating in an ocean, us being the boat and the water being the dunya. If the dunya gets in, we’ll sink. In the beginning, our heart will be able to repel some of the dunya, but as time goes on and the dunya increases, it will start to drain us down. He compared dunya with water, water has the ability to flow, always moving and it will always find a way in no matter how small the crack may be. Dunya works like this too, it will find all the little cracks and all the ways to get in. We are trained to try to be able to control the dunya. Once we understand the dunya, our relationship with it, how to understand it, we will then have control over it. We need to look at the Sahaabiyah, see how they understood the dunya. They had the dunya and the akhira. They were wealthy, but they understood how to balance both their deen and make sure to balance it out with the dunya. The sahaabah were able to do this because they learned from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and then immediately started acting on what they learned.

He talked about our existence in this world. We came into this world without a choice. We leave this dunya without a choice. But we must remember that our focus is not on the dunya but on our deen.

He then talked about how we should deal with dunya. He said that we shouldn’t go and give everything away. He reminded us that there was a time in the Muslim Ummah where not one person needed charity. We have to look at ourselves and decide how much dunya we have, how much we need and then say that’s it. Remember that everything is from Allah. He told us that the problem is not dunya, the problem is when we take the dunya too far and we become obsessed with it. Use dunya for what you need and then when you’re done, put it away. Remember, we don’t need dunya. Allah gave us the whole world to be able to worship him. He even allowed us to pray wherever we want, at this event we all actually prayed in the hallway. We can make dhikr whenever, wherever we want, we don’t need dunya. If you want to read the Qur’an you can start reciting the parts you have memorized. He told us that you do not need dunya to help create your akhira. He reminded us again that the Sunnah and the Shariah will help keep the negative parts of the dunya out. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) gave us so many hadeeths, always giving us advice, within his hadeeths he gave us backups if we couldn’t do what he told us. He (peace and blessings be upon him) gave us so many situations and circumstances for us making our lives so easy. We need to learn the Sunnah and the Shariah to make sure we don’t cross the boundaries.

He told us that we should have a list beforehand for anything in our life. For example, marriage, you should have a list about what you are looking for. Another good example he gave is a job. When we go out for job interviews or job hunting, he said that we should think of a salary that we need and then separate that into what expenses we need and how much we will be giving for sadaqah. That way when these things come to you in life, you will be ready for them and you will know if it is or isn’t for you.

He told us how dunya breathes dunya. He gave us a great example of this: Say you get a new TV. You get the TV, then you want to get new speakers for it, then you want to change the scenery of the room it is in, perhaps get new furniture, by the time you get through all of this a new TV style will come out and ten you’ll want that new version, it will turn into a vicious cycle. He reminded us that we should be careful with drastic lifestyle changes. An example of this can be marriage, if a marriage results in one of the spouses moving down in an economic status this can cause being unthankful, and being unthankful is the first step to going astray. He advised us to do automatic withdrawal, sign up for something or an organization that will benefit us the most and have automatic withdrawal, because if we get too into dunya, when the time comes to give sadaqah we may think of excuses instead of giving sadaqah. We’re very good at fulfilling the right of dunya and very bad and fulfilling the right of the deen. He told us that we all have a certain situation like this, but we shouldn’t reveal them. We should be honest with ourselves and reflect on them and have them in the back of our heads to help us to continue moving forward.

He gave us advice on how to balance the two:

1. Put everything in the proper place.
2. Wherever you are, have the remembrance of Allah all the time in the back of your head.
3. There is no ‘weekend’ for the dunya. Have a list of things that you want to accomplish. Make a list of activities, this why Allah gave us so many things to do. You can have a little bit of everything. Part of the deen is to be amongst others, a good way of this can be to go to a Halaqah. Have good friends and have halal conversations.
4. The heart is either going towards dunya or towards the deen. It can not go both ways, it goes full force in either direction. Make sure it is going in the right direction.
5. Make sure you have a regular amount of sadaqah. [ex: automatic withdrawal] He told us to try find something to donate to that will give us the most benefit. He told us to remember that giving sadaqah comes back to us, whether it is in the same form or in some other form.

Everyone, Muslim and Non-Muslim, wants to find peace and tranquility. We search for it through Allah. He told us that for everything that leaves you, there is a replacement. But when Allah leaves you, there is no replacement. Sometimes dunya comes in the way between you and Allah, be careful and avoid this!

He talked about how we really need to sort out our priorities. When the sahaabah started something, they would finish it. We’re pretty much the total opposite. This reminds me of a lot things that I do, I really procrastinate too much, it’s a terrible habit. I’ll have an assignment, and say I have a month to do it, I probably won’t do it until the night before, or maybe an hour before the class is. These notes are a good example, I typed them up slowly, and then I took forever to edit them and then even longer to actually publish them, inshaAllah my procrastination will stop. He told us how people of the dunya work for years and years to try to make a breakthrough. We need to work on purifying our souls, controlling our nafs, and ignoring shaytaan. This is a lifetime work and struggle that we have to keep going at. We need to start focusing on our deen. The path is long, but we need to start taking the steps and remember our goal: pleasing Allah. We should sit down, look at our goals and start seeing which one is the most important one and commit to it. The goal of the deen is not juss to learn one thing over and over again. [Unless if you’re trying to master it.] When you learn about something, then move on and learn something else. Set the goal you want to achieve, be focused, stay cool and inshaAllah it’ll all work out through the barakah of Allah.

He gave us a list of things to avoid and what you should try to do:

1. The Internet: He told us to use the internet only when necessary, don’t waste your time. I’m sure we’ve all been guilty of this, you click on one link then that will take you somewhere else and it continues and you completely forget why you’re even on the computer and what you’re supposed to be doing, ex: fisaadbook. He told us to set a schedule for how much time we need for whatever we go on the internet for. For example, we should have a set amount of time for checking our e-mail, maybe once in the evening and once at night and then think of a time limit. He told us how he is completely against e-mails forwarded to our cell phone. He told us to avoid this, and that we should learn that that we can actually turn our cell phones off. Yes, can you believe that there is actually a button to turn your phone off?
2. Avoid Internet Ilm: He told us to be very careful of where we pick up our fatwas from and where we decide to get our knowledge from. We should especially be careful form getting information from random forums or groups online. He said only learn enough for your daily routine, as things come around in your life then go and learn about what is needed. Don’t sit there learning about how to raise kids when you’re not even married, this will kind of waste your time when instead you could learn about something that can apply in your life.
3. Make sure you have a daily routine: A daily routine is known as a wird. He told us that every one of us needs a daily routine. We need to sit down and concentrate and focus on what we are doing and try not to get distracted. Force yourself to do it, even though you may be tired or may have so many other things that you could be or want to do instead, juss force yourself to do it everyday. [This is why it is better to sit down and try to think of a reasonably wird for yourself.]
4. He told us that another good habit is to reflect. It’s good to sit down and juss reflect about what kind of person you are, how your day, week, or month went, think about what you have done and how you feel about it, how you can improve it- remember there is always sources for improvement. The best place for this is your musallah, when you’re done with salah juss sit down and reflect. Although at first it may be hard, your mind may wander or whatnot juss give it time and try to bring your attention back.

He then asked us, how do we know if we are heading in the right direction?

1. We use the Shariah: do things that we are supposed to do and leave behind the sins.
2. Follow the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): You should see it physically in your daily activities, ex: clothing, du’a, dealing with each other… we should start seeing them in our daily life, slowly, but make sure you implement it. People can tell when you’re Muslim, not only form our physical appearance but they should know the good characteristics that we have. He gave us an interesting little side hadith of how when you shake a brother or a sisters hand, the amount of time you are holding/shaking their hand, their sins fall off. As long as you are holding the hands of your brother, it falls-see hwo easy the Sunnah is? He told us how there is a shaykh who when he sees people, the whole time they are having a conversation eh will be holding the persons hand, subhanAllah I thought that was beautiful.

He then talked about hwo people often ask him, should I be doing this if I don’t ‘feel’ it inside? He told us that everything that comes to us comes form the outside and then goes in. Ex: our soul was blown into us. If someone has a beard, they should change their niyyah for the sake of Allah, and then slowly inshaAllah they will get better. If a girl is wearing Hijaab, don’t judge her, she will inshaAllah get better and better. He related it to sports, specifically boxing. He said that a boxer cant say that I’m gunna start boxing when I become the world champion, sounds funny but think about it, it applies to us very well. He told us to do these things and slowly but surely they will slowly help you.

He told us that a problem that we all have is that we all have high expectations. We need to realize that everything takes time. People make du’a, and if they don’t immediately see changes, then they will get upset and give up. We need to keep in mind that when we make du’a we will wither get it the exact way that asked for it, or it will avert a calamity from us, or it will go and help us in our akhirah. He told us that even when events are over we should keep up with our new addition sot our deen. We should keep up with it, even if we don’t ‘feel’ it. It’s like we are going through training. You have to keep going at it and eventually it will come inshaAllah. [This actually reminded me very much of my old high school physics teacher who helped me out so much.] He informed us that it takes a LONG time for us to undo what we have done to ourselves. He told us to look at Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), his lineage was so pure and he himself was so pure but yet he spent 13 years asking for forgiveness, why should we expect our journey to be so simple? An example he gave for this was ice cream he said that when we go to a store we can try as many samples as we want, but eventually we have to buy something. He said we can think of these free samples as the lectures and the MSA events that we go to. But after testing all the samples we come up with something that we like, after going to the lectures we will realize what we like, and once you find something you like then stick with it and go in further. Most importantly, don’t worry about the price!

He talked about emotions, our emotions are faulty. He talked about this earlier, we have to put intellect over our senses, and wahi over intellect. So our emotions are pretty down there, they can be pretty faulty. Our goal is not to feel good, it is to make sure that Allah is pleased with us and then we will be at tranquility inshaAllah too. He told us to remember that emotions come and go, there will be ups and there will be downs, but we shouldn’t get depressed. Allah will test you in contractions. He told us to remember that Allah tests people he loves, we should look at all of the Prophets of Allah (peace and blessings be upon them) and look at how much they went through.

He gave us some steps to move forward:

1. Intention: He told us to continuously fix our intentions. Remember that everything you do can be benefitted. He told us to remember that outward signs of Islam are great dawah. He also told us that the deen started with strangers and it will end with strangers. Be happy that you’re strange or weird. Use small interactions as dawah, he said “Let this be the good act that penetrates the heart.”
2. Let others do the work for you: He told us to be selfish for the deen. Things you can’t do, give donations so that others can do them and you can get some blessings for that.
3. Do regular actions: He told us to start with baby steps. No matter how small they may be it will slowly increase. He said that whatever we do, make sure that they are consistent.
4. Keep good company: Allah tells us that even the righteous people need good company, so imagine how careful we should be! Fear Allah and then be with people who also fear Allah. He reminded us to not to cut ties, this is not the way of the believer. He told us, the person who helps others at the expense of himself is like an oil lantern, they will eventually burn out. Oil lanterns are extremely bright, they will stay bright for a while but then they will immediately burn out and die. He told us to make du’a for people that we want to help this way we will not be leaving them behind, getting involved with any other way will juss hurt us. He said say salaams to them and hold their hands for a long time
5. Have a teacher:  Find a local imam, someone who is a few steps ahead of you. Do this before you really need it. If you get struck with a tragic situation and try to make contacts with them, if not at that moment it will be nearly impossible to do so. We need to be a little selfish when we are trying to get closer to the deen. If you have no one, you will be lost. You need to be amongst those who will help you stay on track.
6. Be honest with yourself: Look at where you are and find someone who you are sure is ok and who you know won’t lead you astray. Find someone and know that they know more about you then follow them and trust them.
7. Everything is about Allah: One of the greatest signs of Islam is there is no priesthood. We need to increase our bond with Allah. We’re so far apart from Allah. Make your du’as, think about how you are with close friends, you fall into a comfort with them-we need to be like this with Allah! We need to personalize our relationship with Allah. Our time here is quick; it feels like forever because we have forgotten Allah. He advised of two ways of moving closer to Allah: 1- Doing good deeds. 2- Leaving sin: in the beginning, stop the sin because the sin is pulling you backwards. Then start adding good deeds.
8. Don’t limit Allah: Remember that Allah is the Merciful, the Forgiving, but he is also the Vengeful. We think we’re hopeless, when we think like this we are limiting Allah. Do not ever think that Allah can not provide for you. We’ve been sitting down and giving up on the path of the deen and yet Allah is still giving to us. Imagine what will happen if we go to Allah’s path and how much more Allah will give us. Remember if shaytaan’s du’a was accepted, then ours will be accepted too inshaAllah!

He then gave us a Food Pyramid for the Soul:

1. Qur’an: Everybody needs the Qur’an. You can take your own approach to this. The bare minimum is at least one ayah in Arabic a day.
2. Istighfarr: Seeking forgiveness from Allah. Do it properly, don’t juss say it, think about what you did. This will be like you are taking each black dot and ripping it out of your heart.
3. Send Salutations to the Prophet (peace and blessings upon him)
4. Watch over your heart
5. Stand/Stop the good, let the bad go through: When the good comes, keep it in, when the bad comes let it go through and forget it.
6. Keeping good company

He told us to do these 6 things regularly, and it will keep you going.

He asked us, what do we get now? He reminded us that in the long run we will get jannah. He told us what Shaykh Faraz has told me a year ago that “Verily with the remembrance of Allah, hearts find peace.” He reminded us that everyone in the world wants this. He told us to look at the media and see the famous people and how they tried to achieve happiness and then see where it has brought them, ex: divorce, suicide, over drinking, getting involved with drugs, jail…  He also told us that we should learn how to deal with the trials that we get. The trials won’t go away, if the Prophets (peace and blessings be upon them) were tested so much, then of course we will be tested. He reminded us that “Allah will get you out of it if you trust him.”

The brother who helped organized the event had a very nice conclusion. He told us the day before that we were brought together by Allah. Maybe we were the ones that needed this the most, and it was by Allah’s will that we were brought here. He concluded the intensive by saying that we shouldn’t beat ourselves up, because that will do nothing but put us in a depressed state. He told us that we should be thankful that we were there. Part of the gratitude is to truly implicate what we have learned into our life and to ask Allah for the reward.

May Allah help everyone who was there that weekend, and help us all to implicate what we have learned. May Allah bless Shaykh Khalid for all he has done for us, and bless all the students who put effort in trying to bring him here. May Allah forgive me for whatever wrong I may have said.

Take care inshaAllah, and please keep me in your du’as.

-radf

Allahumma sali ala sayyidina muhammadin an-Nabbiyil ummiyi Wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salim.

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Updated: Wednesday 4/8/09 2:00pm