Friday Nasiha

Living The Quran

Search for Immortality
Al-Araf (The Heights) Sura 7: Verse 20 (partial)

"And he (satan) said, 'Your Lord has but prohibited you from this tree lest you become angels, or lest you become immortals."

In the above verse, satan tries to point out to the first couple of human beings that the nature of angels in their spirituality and immortality is superior to the human nature. If they had kept in mind that God's command to the angels to prostrate themselves to Adam simply proves the opposite, satan's temptations would have failed to bring about any effect. However, the human being has been created with such an eager search for superiority and immortality, however illusory and deceptive it may be, and such an attitude was exploited by satan.

The above verse also underlines that the human being is not created to be an angel. The attitude of developing the human spirituality while ignoring the legitimate physical and intellectual development, or of keeping oneself permanently isolated from other human beings, is against the human nature as well as the Islamic balanced model. Such an attitude would crush the human being and would never create an angel.

Compiled From:
"Concepts of the Quran" - Fathi Osman, p. 136

From Issue: 1046 [Read original issue]

Understanding The Prophet's Life

Sobering Reality

The travels of a believer may be very long before he meets his Lord. Along the way, there are many things that may distract him. There are even enemies along the path. Satan, for example, is ever ready to take the believer away from the path. Therefore, the believer who is on this journey must always be seeking Allah's guidance and His help to keep him moving in the right direction. Any straying from that path could be disastrous; his end may come suddenly and he may never have the chance to return to the straight path. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), has awakened the believers to that sobering reality by his example of constantly making the following supplication,

"O the One who Turns the Hearts, confirm my heart upon your religion." [Tirmidhi]

Compiled From:
"Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi" - Jamaal al-Din M. Zarabozo, p. 1547

From Issue: 769 [Read original issue]

Cool Tips!

Sense of Humour

One of the best things you can do for yourself when you fail is to learn to laugh. I love the comment made by a humourist who said he spoke for an organization where they always rated the previous meeting's speaker in their program using little bells. Speakers who received a standing ovation got four bells next to their name. Those who were above average got three. Merely average speakers got two bells, and poor speakers got one. The humourist said that when he spoke to them several months ago, they awarded him the no-bell prize.

There isn't a person alive who wouldn't benefit from a good laugh, especially when he's done something really stupid. When you take your mistakes too seriously, then everything seems to become life-and-death. When that happens, you sure die a lot. The way to solve that is to keep your sense of humour no matter how bad things get.

Compiled From:
"The Difference Maker" - John C. Maxwell, p. 156

From Issue: 751 [Read original issue]