Ideas to change your life

  بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ وَلَمَن صَبَرَ وَغَفَرَ إِنَّ ذَلِكَ لَمِنْ عَزْمِ الْأُمُورِ  Wa laman sabara wa ghafara inna zaalika lamin ‘azmil umoor Ash-Shura (The Consultation) - 42:43  But withal, if one is patient in adversity and forgives - this, behold, is indeed something to set one’s heart upon!   Patience in the face of insults (and even praise) The Prophet ﷺ lived like any ordinary person, devoid of privileges usually associated with leaders. He ﷺ once borrowed some money from a Jew called Zayd bin Sana’a, who narrates the story himself. "Prophet Muhammad ﷺ  was attending the funeral of a man from the Ansar.  Some other companions were with him.  After the funeral prayer he sat down close to a wall, and I came towards him, grabbed him by the edges of his cloak, looked at him in a harsh way and said, ‘O Muhammad! Will you not pay me back my loan? I have not known the family of Abdul-Mutallib to delay in repaying debts!’...

  بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ أَلَمۡ يَأۡنِ لِلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓاْ أَن تَخۡشَعَ قُلُوبُهُمۡ لِذِكۡرِ ٱللَّهِ وَمَا نَزَلَ مِنَ ٱلۡحَقِّ... Alam ya’ni lil lazeena aamanooo an takhsha’a quloobuhum lizikril laahi wa maa nazala minal haqqi... Part of Al-Hadid (Iron) - Is it not time that the hearts of all who have attained to faith should feel humble at the remem­brance of God and of all the truth that has been bestowed [on them] from on high, 57:16 The time to change is NOW Lesson 1:   Ismail Haqqi (Hakki) Bursevi , a renowned Turkish scholar and mystic, writes in his tafsir Rūḥ al-bayān , one of the most prominent mystical interpretations of the Quran, about the transformative power of this verse. He references the stories of Abdullah bin Mubarak and Malik bin Dinar, illustrating how this verse profoundly impacted their lives. Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak (may Allah have mercy on him) once said: "One day, when I was young, I was in an orchard ...

  بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ فَقُلْتُ اسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ إِنَّهُ كَانَ غَفَّارًا  يُرْسِلِ السَّمَاء عَلَيْكُم مِّدْرَارًا   وَيُمْدِدْكُمْ بِأَمْوَالٍ وَبَنِينَ وَيَجْعَل لَّكُمْ جَنَّاتٍ وَيَجْعَل لَّكُمْ أَنْهَارًا Faqultus taghfiroo Rabakum innahoo kaana Ghaffaaraa Yursilis samaaa’a ‘alaikum midraaraa  Wa yumdidkum bi am waalinw wa baneena wa yaj’al lakum Jannaatinw wa yaj’al lakum anhaaraa  Nu h 71 : 10-12 . and I said: "Ask your Sustainer to forgive you your sins - for, verily, He is all-forgiving! He will shower upon you heavenly blessings abundant,  and will aid you with worldly goods and children, and will bestow upon you gardens, and bestow upon you running waters Lesson 1: Someone complained to Al-Hasan Al-Basri about a drought, and he said to him: "Seek forgiveness from Allah. Someone else complained to him of poverty and he said to him: "Ask Allah to forgive you." Someone else had the concern of gardens going...

  بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ     يُؤتِي الْحِكْمَةَ مَن يَشَاء وَمَن يُؤْتَ الْحِكْمَةَ فَقَدْ أُوتِيَ خَيْرًا كَثِيرًا وَمَا يَذَّكَّرُ إِلاَّ أُوْلُواْ الأَلْبَابِ Yu’til Hikmata mai yashaaa’; wa mai yu’tal Hikmata faqad ootiya khairan kaseeraa; wa maa yazzakkaru illaaa ulul albaab Part of Al-Baqara (The Cow) 2:269.. granting wisdom unto whom He wills: and whoever is granted wisdom has indeed been granted wealth abundant. But none bears this in mind save those who are endowed with insight.  Lesson 1: When a great Sufi mystic, Hasan, was on his deathbed, someone asked him about his teacher. He said, "I had thousands of teachers.Just to relate their names it will take months, years and we don't have enough time. But perhaps three of them might be of particular interest to you. One was a career thief. Once I got lost and wandered into a remote village, quite late at night. Everyone was asleep and everything closed, but I saw a man trying to ma...

  بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ   ...  وَ عَسَى أَن تَكْرَهُواْ شَيْئًا وَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ وَعَسَى أَن تُحِبُّواْ شَيْئًا وَهُوَ شَرٌّ لَّكُمْ وَاللّهُ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنتُمْ لاَ تَعْلَمُونَ wa ‘asaaa an takrahoo shai’anw wa huwa khairullakum wa ‘asaaa an tuhibbo shai’anw wa huwa sharrullakum; wallaahu ya’lamu wa antum laa ta’lamoon Part of Al-Baqara (The Cow) 2:216,   It may well be that you hate a thing the while it is good for you, and it may well be that you love a thing the while it is bad for you: and Allah knows, whereas you do not know.  There are old tales from different lands that seem to point to the same truth: sometimes as humans, we only the surface of events, while the wisdom behind them often remains hidden until much later. The Chinese Farmer (from a Tao/Zen tale) One old tale tells of a farmer who lived near the borderlands of China. He was a simple man, but he possessed a quiet kind of wisdom. He had only one mare, and ...

  بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ     وَأَنذِرۡهُمۡ يَوۡمَ ٱلۡحَسۡرَةِ إِذۡ قُضِيَ ٱلۡأَمۡرُ وَهُمۡ فِي غَفۡلَةٖ وَهُمۡ لَا يُؤۡمِنُونَ Wa anzirhum Yawmal hasrati iz qudiyal amr; wa hum fee ghaflatinw wa hum laa yu’minoon Maryam (Mary) - 19:39 hence, warn them of [the coming of] the Day of Regrets, when everything will have been decided-for as yet they are heedless, and they do not believe [in it].   مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ حَرْثَ الْآخِرَةِ نَزِدْ لَهُ فِي حَرْثِهِ وَمَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ حَرْثَ الدُّنْيَا نُؤتِهِ مِنْهَا وَمَا لَهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ مِن نَّصِيبٍ    Man kaana yureedu harsal Aakhirati nazid lahoo fee harsihee wa man kaana yureedu harsad dunyaa nu’tihee minhaa wa maa lahoo fil Aakhirati min naseeb Ash-Shura (The Consultation)  42:20 To him who desires a harvest in the life to come, We shall grant an increase in his harvest; whereas to him who desires [but] a harvest in this world, We [may] give something thereof - but he will have no shar...

  بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ وَذَكِّرْ فَإِنَّ الذِّكْرَى تَنفَعُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ  Wa zakkir fa innaz zikraa tanfa’ul mu’mineen Az-Zariyat (The Scatterers) 51:55 Go on reminding [all who would listen]: for, verily, such a reminder will profit the believers.   There is a well known story about Malik Ayaz , the devoted servant of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, which beautifully brings out the meaning of this verse. It is said that Malik Ayaz had become very close to Sultan Mahmud. The Sultan trusted him deeply and kept him near, and because of this many people around the court became jealous. Their hearts could not bear the favor shown to him, and so they were always  conniving to rid the Sultan of from under his influence. One day they came with an accusation. They claimed that Ayaz had hidden stolen wealth inside a secret chamber, a room that he entered alone every day. They spoke with confidence, hoping that suspicion would do what truth could not. When the S...