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10 Choices You Will Regret
“If only…” These two words paired together create one of the saddest phrases in the English language.
Here are ten choices that ultimately lead to this phrase of regret, and how to elude them:
1. Wearing a mask to impress others. – If the face you always show the world is a mask, someday there will be nothing beneath it. Because when you spend too much time concentrating on everyone else’s perception of you, or who everyone else wants you to be, you eventually forget who you really are. So don’t fear the judgments of others; you know in your heart who you are and what’s true to you. You don’t have to be perfect to impress and inspire people. Let them be impressed and inspired by how you deal with your imperfections.
2. Letting someone else create your dreams for you. – The greatest challenge in life is discovering who you are; the second greatest is being happy with what you find. A big part of this is your decision to stay true toyour own goals and dreams. Do you have people who disagree with you? Good. It means you’re standing your ground and walking your own path. Sometimes you’ll do things considered crazy by others, but when you catch yourself excitedly losing track of time, that’s when you’ll know you’re doing the right thing. Read The 4-Hour Workweek.
3. Keeping negative company. – Don’t let someone who has a bad attitude give it to you. Don’t let them get to you. They can’t pull the trigger if you don’t hand them the gun. When you remember that keeping the company of negative people is a choice, instead of an obligation, you free yourself to keep the company of compassion instead of anger, generosity instead of greed, and patience instead of anxiety.
4. Being selfish and egotistical. – A life filled with loving deeds and good character is the best tombstone. Those who you inspired and shared your love with will remember how you made them feel long after your time has expired. So carve your name on hearts, not stone. What you have done for yourself alone dies with you; what you have done for others and the world remains.
Repentance: 10 Duties of Those Who Are Truly Repentant
Source: seekersguidance.org
Imam Abu Talib al-Makki mentions ten duties of those truly repentant, in his work Qut al-Qulub:
1. It is their duty not to return to disobeying Allah
2. If one falls into sin, then not to keep repeating the sin
3. To hasten to repent to Allah from any sin one falls into
4. Remorse for one’s remissness and shortcomings
5. To make the resolve to remain upright until death
6. Fear of Divine punishment
7. Hope of Divine forgiveness
8. Recognition of one’s sin
9. Conviction that Allah decreed that for them–(f: with His Will) in accordance with His Eternal Knowledge (f: through which He knew the choice the servant would make); but He did not compel the servant nor force them (f: but, rather, the servant chose it with Divinely-grant choice)
10. Following up with righteous deeds, in order that they expiate for the sin–for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) has said, “Follow a bad deed with a good deed, and it will wipe it out.”
Ten-Point Plan For What To Do On The Night Of Power
Photo of a ray-less Sunrise, a sign of Laylat’l-Qadr the night before
Source: http://almaghrib.org/
We prepare ourselves so well for Laylat’l-Qadr in terms of what it means to us andwhen it will be, but when we get there many of us don’t know what to actually do on the night itself and achieve the success being offered!
So, we came up with a plan as gleaned from the actions of the blessed early generations:
1. Prepare a list before the evening starts listing all of the specific du‘ās you want to make. This is not necessarily a Sunnah of course – this is only because the Muslims of our generation are not so great at ritual worship and making long, detailed meaningful du‘ās by ourselves; thus we need help, direction and structure.
2. Pray ‘Ishā in Jamā‘ah – that’s half the night in prayer achieved as stated by the Prophet (ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) in Muslim, and that’s a portion of Laylat’l-Qadr achieved as stated by some of the Salaf like Ibn al-Musayyib and al-Shāfi‘ī.
3. Pray with the Imām, don’t leave him after 4 rak‘ah or 8 rak‘ah or whatever. Finish the Tarāwīḥ prayer with him and the Witr prayer as well, even if he prays it early in the night. You have now achieved the reward of praying the full night, which if it is Laylat’l-Qadr, then you’ve in sha Allah achieved the full reward of standingthe night of Laylat’l-Qadr as stated by the Prophet (ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam).
4. Avoid setting up two night prayers, calling them Tarāwīḥ and Tahajjud.Either elongate one of them to last longer in the night, or just pray one of them completely with the Imam with Witr. This is the Sunnah of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) in Ramaḍān: a single congregational prayer, not two separate ones, is the action of the Prophet (ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam).
5. Make a HUGE amount of du‘ā during ALL the rest of the time available before Fajr starts.
6. If you feel the need to take little breaks in the night, only do the following in them:
a) Give plenty of Ṣadaqah, carefully and judiciously, to the highest-returning projects as possible, across as many fields and initiatives as possible, as varied as possible, as much as possible. Take advantage of the hugely multiplied rewards on offer. You can plan this in advance online to save time browsing on the night itself.
b) Read or reflect on something beneficial about Allah or read the Qur’ān itself. Focus on His Mercy. And then call upon that Mercy later in your du‘ā.
c) Keep your tongue busy with dhikr. Don’t waste a single second talking, watching or listening to anything from the dunya if possible. It’s just not worth it. It can wait one night.
7. If you want to bank on just one du‘ā to really focus on during this night then choose the best Prophetic one of:
اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّكَ عَفُوٌّ تُحِبُّ الْعَفْوَ فَاعْفُ عَنِّي
Allāhumma innaka ‘afuwwun tuḥibbul ‘afwa, fa‘fu ‘annī
(O Allah, indeed you are the One who pardons, indeed you love to pardon. So please pardon me.)
8. Reduce the amount of food and time you will spend on eating Suḥūr so that you can spend more time making du‘ā. This night is about standing in prayer, yes, but if you’ve done the above, then that standing is sufficient. Now make the night allabout du‘ā.
9. Pray the Fajr prayer in Jamā‘ah with the Imām. You have just achieved standing the entire night in prayer as stated by the Prophet (ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) in al-Bukhāri. So that’s all of Laylat’l-Qadr in standing achieved if it was indeed that night. Doing this is like a double guarantee for the night
10. Finally, after your dhikr until Sunrise and your Shurūq prayer, get to sleep quickly so as to not to sleep too much during the day because there’s more ‘ibādah to be done on the 27th day too, to complete a successful night of al-Qadr as per the actions of the Salaf.
10 Human Rights Organizations in an Urgent Letter to Attorney General: Concerns Regarding Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law in the IDF’s Operations in Gaza
Source: http://www.btselem.org/
Ten human rights organizations urgently contacted Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein today following the release of reports on the nature of attacks within the Gaza Strip and the high rate of civilian casualties. This information raises concerns about grave violations of international humanitarian law.
The organizations demanded that the Attorney General instruct the government to refrain from violating the laws of war and re-evaluate its aggressive policy and rules of engagement. The organizations seek to clarify whether the Attorney General critically evaluated the legal advice supplied to the Military Advocate General that underpins ‘Operation Protective Edge’, and calls on him to establish an external, independent and effective investigatory mechanism to examine the decision making of the political and operational establishment as required by international law and supported by the rulings of the High Court of Justice.
The joint letter notes that more than 400 people have been killed and thousands injured since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge, the vast majority of which are Palestinians. More than 80 of the dead Palestinians are children. According to estimates provided by the United Nations, civilian casualties constitute 70% of the deaths.
10 Steps to Draw Closer to Allah
It should be the desire of every Muslim to draw nearer and closer to Almighty Allah the most compassionate and the most merciful. By drawing closer and near to Allah we gain his help in every aspect of our lives in this world and to be merciful to us so that we may gain mercy in the hereafter in order to enter Jannah in the next world.
When we call upon him he would answer our calls and when we ask of him for anything he would give it to us and when we draw nearer to him then our sincerity and intentions will enable us to become closer to him.
So we should strive to draw nearer to Allah, the Glorified the Exalted, who is the majesty of honour and generosity and the giver of peace, the most high and the most honoured.
So what can we do to draw closer to him? The following are 10 steps for us to draw closer to our Almighty Allah:
1. Fulfilling obligatory duties and abstaining from prohibited matters
The Prophet (May Allah bless him and grant him peace) has guided us. And Allah, the Glorified and the Exalted, has guided us how to draw near to Him. As He said According to Hadith Qudsi:
“Whoever draws near to Me among those drawn near by fulfilling what I have made obligatory on them….
You do not draw near to Allah except by fulfilling the obligatory duties which Allah has made obligatory on you; (that is) the obligatory duties from the obligatory duties (Faraid) such as Prayers, and Zakat (obligatory charity), and Hajj, and Fasting and being good to Parents and all these obligatory duties on you draw you near to Allah, the Glorified and the Exalted. And the faraid (obligatory duties) are the first things that draw you near to Allah. You do not reach the door of nearness nor do you reach to the presence of nearness except by fulfilling the obligatory duties. This is the first thing that draws you near to Allah, the Glorified and the Exalted, and you are in His Presence.
So the first thing we need to do is fulfil ALL of our obligatory duties and abstain from that which Allah and his messenger have forbidden us from.
10 SIGNS OF GOOD MANNERS (IMAGE)
- Little arguing
- Listening well
- Avoiding searching for shortcomings
- Covering mistakes
- Finding excuse
- Patience when annoyed
- Blaming one’s own self
- Seeing one’s own faults rather than other people’s faults
- Having a beaming face with the young and the old
- Saying kid words to those who are below and above one. (With regards to relligious knowledge, righteousness, social status, and so forth)
PASS THE KNOWLEDGE (LIGHT & LIFE) 