Monthly Archives: December 2011

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Ending Chapters

This article has been one of the most inspiring reads for me in the past, Alhumdulillah. Written by Paulo Coelho, I hope by sharing this article on my blog it might inspire and help someone else too, inshaAllah!

-Potential Hijabi

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CLOSING CYCLES- BY PAULO COELHO

One always has to know when a stage comes to an end. If we insist on staying longer than the necessary time, we lose the happiness and the meaning of the other stages we have to go through.

Closing cycles, shutting doors, ending chapters – whatever name we give it, what matters is to leave in the past the moments of life that have finished.

Did you lose your job? Has a loving relationship come to an end? Did you leave your parents’ house? Gone to live abroad? Has a long-lasting friendship ended all of a sudden? You can spend a long time wondering why this has happened.

You can tell yourself you won’t take another step until you find out why certain things that were so important and so solid in your life have turned into dust, just like that. But such an attitude will be awfully stressing for everyone involved: your parents, your husband or wife, your friends, your children, your sister. Everyone is finishing chapters, turning over new leaves, getting on with life, and they will all feel bad seeing you at a standstill.

Things pass, and the best we can do is to let them really go away.

That is why it is so important (however painful it may be!) to destroy souvenirs, move, give lots of things away to orphanages, sell or donate the books you have at home.

Everything in this visible world is a manifestation of the invisible world, of what is going on in our hearts – and getting rid of certain memories also means making some room for other memories to take their place.

Let things go. Release them. Detach yourself from them.

Nobody plays this life with marked cards, so sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. Do not expect anything in return, do not expect your efforts to be appreciated, your genius to be discovered, your love to be understood.

Stop turning on your emotional television to watch the same program over and over again, the one that shows how much you suffered from a certain loss: that is only poisoning you, nothing else.

Nothing is more dangerous than not accepting love relationships that are broken off, work that is promised but there is no starting date, decisions that are always put off waiting for the “ideal moment.”

Before a new chapter is begun, the old one has to be finished: tell yourself that what has passed will never come back. Remember that there was a time when you could live without that thing or that person – nothing is irreplaceable, a habit is not a need. This may sound so obvious, it may even be difficult, but it is very important.

Closing cycles. Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because that no longer fits your life.

Shut the door, change the record, clean the house, shake off the dust.

Stop being who you were, and change into who you are.

Source: Paulo Coelho’s Blog

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How much does a miracle cost?

Saima was only eight years old when she heard Mommy and Daddy talking about her little brother, Salman. He was very sick and they had done everything they could afford to save his life. Only a very expensive surgery could help him now . . . and that was out of the financial question. She heard Daddy waking up Saima’s Mom reminding her the ultimate Truth

“And your Lord says: “Call on Me; I will answer your (Prayer)!” (Quran 40:60)

“Certainly, Allah loves those who put their trust (in Him).” (Quran: 3:159)

If Allah helps you, none can overcome you; and if He forsakes you, who is there after Him that can help you? And in Allah (Alone) let believers put their trust. 
( سورة آل عمران , Aal-e-Imran, Chapter #3, Verse #160)

Sura Ar-Ra’d (الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ وَتَطْمَئِنُّ قُلُوبُهُم بِذِكْرِ اللّهِ أَلاَ بِذِكْرِ اللّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبُ)
[Those who believe, and whose hearts find satisfaction in the remembrance of Allah: for without doubt in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find satisfaction.[Quran 13:28]

Yet with a whispered desperation mommy exclaimed… “Only a miracle can save him now may ALLAH do it for us.”

Saima went to her bedroom and pulled her penny bank from its hiding place in the closet. She shook all the change out on the floor and counted it carefully. Three times. The total had to be exactly perfect. No chance here for mistakes. Tying the coins up in a cold-weather-kerchief, she slipped out of the apartment and made her way to the corner drug store. She waited patiently for the pharmacist to give her attention . . but he was too busy talking to another man to be bothered by an eight-year-old. Saima twisted her feet to make a scuffing noise. She cleared her throat. No good. Finally she took a quarter from its hiding place and banged it on the glass counter. That did it! “And what do you want?” the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. “I’m talking to my brother.”

“Well, I want to talk to you about my brother,” Saima answered back in the same annoyed tone. “He’s sick . . . and I want to buy a miracle.”

“I beg your pardon,” said the pharmacist.

“My Daddy says only a miracle can save him now . . . so how much does a miracle cost?”

“We don’t sell miracles here, little girl. I can’t help you.”

“Listen, I have the money to pay for it. Just tell me how much it costs.”

The well-dressed man stooped down and asked, “What kind of a miracle does you brother need?”

“I don’t know,” Saima answered. A tear started down her cheek. “I just know he’s really sick and Mommy says he needs an operation. But my folks can’t pay for it . . . so I have my money.

“How much do you have?” asked the well-dressed man.

“A dollar and eleven cents,” Saima answered proudly. “And it’s all the money I have in the world.”

“Well, what a coincidence,” smiled the well-dressed man. A dollar and eleven cents . . . the exact price of a miracle to save a little brother. He took her money in one hand and with

the other hand he grasped her mitten and said “Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents.”

That well-dressed man was Dr. Imran, renowned surgeon. . specializing in solving Salmn’s malady. The operation was completed without charge and it wasn’t long until Salman was home again and doing well.

The doctor firmly believed in the verses of Quran that say —

❀ Who is he that will lend ALLAH a good loan so HE may multiply it for him many times over? 

And it is Allah who withholds and grants abundance, and to Him you will be returned. (Quran 2:245)

✿ The example of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah is like a seed [of grain] which grows SEVEN spikes; in each spike is a HUNDRED grains. And Allah multiplies [His reward] for whom He wills. And ALLAH is all-Encompassing and Knowing. (Quran 2:261)

❀ Those who spend their wealth in the Cause of Allah, and do not follow up their gifts with reminders of their generosity or with injury, their reward is with their Lord. On them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.(Quran 2:262)

Mommy and Daddy were happily talking about the chain of events that had led them to this place. “That surgery,” Mommy whispered. “It’s like a miracle. I wonder how much it would have cost?

Saima smiled to herself. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost… one dollar and eleven cents… plus the faith of a little child!!

Source: Inspirational stories

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Why do women cry?

A little boy asked his mother, “Why are you crying?” “Because I need to” she said.
“I don’t understand,” he said.
His Mom just hugged him and said, “And you never will.” Later the little boy asked his father, “Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?”
“All women cry for no reason,” his dad answered carelessly
The little boy, still wondering why women cry, finally asked the old wise shaykh. “He surely knows the answer”, he thought.


“Ya Shaykh! Why do women cry so easily?”
He answered:
“When Allah made the woman she had to be made so special. He made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world, yet gentle enough to give comfort. He gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that comes from her children. He gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up, and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue without complaining. He gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances, even when her child hurts her very badly. He gave her strength to carry her husband through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart. He gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife, but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him unfalteringly. And lastly, He gave her a tear. This is hers and only hers exclusively to use whenever she needs it. She needs no reason, no explanation, it’s hers.”
“You see my son, the beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the beauty of her face, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart – the place where love resides.”
The little boy got the answer and never asked the question again.

Source: HabibiHalaqas.org

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Tell them you love them!

Abu Karima al-Miqdad ibn Ma’dikarib reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,

“If a man loves his brother,he should tell him that he loves him.”

[Abu Dawud and at-Tirmidhi] 

When was the last time you told your parents,siblings,spouse and sisters/brothers in Islam that you love them? Have you ever told them how much they mean to you?

InshaAllah, let’s tell the people who we look up to what they mean to us.. before it’s too late!

On a personal note, By the will of Allah, this blog has been a means for me to meet a lot of lovely sisters and others who have showed their support by leaving a comment or even by just pressing that like button, alhumdulillah! 🙂 So, Jazakallahu khair for the love and know that I love you all for the sake of Allah! 🙂

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Aisha found safe, alhumdulillah

Assalamualaikum wa-rahmatullahi wa-barakatahu,

In a previous post I had mentioned about this sister, Aisha Khan, who had gone missing since friday, December 16th 2011.

Alhumdulillah, she has been found safe.

There have been lost of speculations and comments on the reason she left etc etc. which is really sad.

I feel this incedent in itself was a test for all of us. Allah(SWT) wanted to see how we as an ummah would come together for this purpose. Subhanallah everyone has been doing everything they could to find her. Those of us in different parts of the world made a difference in our own small way by praying for her and her family (and alhumdulillah, her father also remembered those who prayed for her in his dua in tahajjud at the time of hardship when he prayed for his daughter’s safe return).

We didnt know her, we have never met her but for us she was a sister in faith.. and the others(non-muslims who prayed for her) did it for the sake of humanity, MashaAllah. It was indeed ecstatic to see the love we showed for each other.

Also, looking at it from another perspective, it was our chance to gain a few good deeds. Especially for her family and friends, the near and dear ones, who went through a traumatic situation, it was a way of expiating some of their sins, like the hadith says..

Narrated Aisha: (the wife of the Prophet) Allah’s Apostle (SAWS) said, “No calamity befalls a Muslim but that Allah expiates some of his sins because of it, even though it were the prick he receives from a thorn.” [ sahih bukhari ]

or may be it was a medium through which Allah helped them strengthen their relationship and trust in Him more. SubhanAllah.

I’m sure all of us were very scared for her. We prayed for her SAFE return, and alhumdulillah, our prayers were answered. Period. What happened, why, how.. all these questions are just a curiosity that our human brain processes, which I believe is not necessary should be answered! We served our role in this situation in the best manner we could, by Allah’s will. Our test has ended and Alhumdulillah, she’s safe, isn’t that what we asked for? That she returns home to her parents and family safe and unharmed, we got that, alhumdulillah. So let’s just be happy with that.

Everything else, well, I would say that’s between Aisha, her family and Allah(SWT). Who are we to judge?

-Potential Hijabi

P.S. As a matter of fact, our reaction to her return would also be a test. So, let’s make sure we react to it in a manner that is pleasing to Allah(SWT), InshaAllah.

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My Hijab

‎..:: My Hijab ::..


You look at me and call me oppressed,
Simply because of the way I’m dressed,

You know me not for what is inside,
You judge the clothing I wear with pride,

My body is not for your eyes to hold,
You must speak to my mind, not my feminine mould,

I’m an individual. I’m no man’s slave,
It’s Allah’s pleasure that I only crave,

I have a voice so I will be heard,
For in my heart I carry His word,

“O ye women, wrap close your cloak,
So you won’t be bothered by ignorant folk”.

Man doesn’t tell me to dress this way,
It’s law from God that I obey,

Oppressed is something I’m truly not,
For liberation is what I’ve got,

It was given to me many years ago,
With the right to prosper, the right to grow,

I can climb mountains or cross the seas,
Expand my mind in all degrees,

For God Himself gave us liberty,
When He sent Islam, to you and me!

(Written by: Unknown)

via iloveAllah.com

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Even small things matter

We are always reminding ourselves and others of the things that are forbidden(haraam) in Islam. “Don’t do this.. It’s Haraam!!!”..”Oh my God, that is H-A-R-A-A-M!”.  As much as important it is to know what is haram, it’s also important to not make it sound like everything in Islam is Haraam. I mean, Alhumdulillah, Allah has bestowed his mercy on so many tiny things that we could do everyday and grab the reward for it. These are the things that we can constantly keep a check of in every work we do, so that we could increase our good deeds and rewards. After all, little drops make a mighty ocean,isn’t it?

Let’s not forget Prophet Muhammad(saw) said that the deed most beloved to Allah are the regular constant deeds even though they may be few.[Bukhari]

We say a simple Salaam to anyone, we’re rewarded..

We smile at someone, we’re rewarded..

We treat someone with kindness, we’re rewarded..

We pray in Masjid with Jamu’ah, we are rewarded 27 times more than those who pray alone..

We begin anything with Bismillah, that action of us is rewarded..

We end our activities with Alhamdulillah, we’re also rewarded..

We think of doing a good deed, we’re rewarded..

We control our temper, we’re rewarded..

We eat and drink with our right hand, we’re rewarded..

We pray for forgiveness and health for our fellow Muslims, we’re rewarded..

We forgive, we’re rewarded..

We think positive towards Allah and other people, we’re rewarded..

We keep our promises, we’re rewarded..

We seek knowledge for the benefit of others, we’re rewarded..

We share knowledge to others in need, we’re rewarded..

We walk towards the Jumu’ah prayer, our each step is very greatly rewarded..

We take wudhu’, we are rewarded..

We treat our mothers and fathers with humbleness, kindness and respect, we’re greatly greatly rewarded..

We bring Allah to remembrance, we’re rewarded..

So why do we withhold our reward ?

Source: Splendor of Iman

Exactly the point, why withhold our reward? So, inshaAllah, next time don’t ignore those small things that matter! Be quick to say salaam with a smile and grab your reward!(should I say double reward? 😉 )

Assalamualaikum 🙂 (Peace be upon you!)

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The Teacup

There was a couple who used to go shopping in beautiful stores. They both liked antiques and pottery, especially teacups. One day in a shop they saw a beautiful teacup.

They said, “May we see that? We’ve never seen one quite so beautiful.” As the storekeeper handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke.

“You don’t understand,” it said. “I haven’t always been a teacup. There was a time when I was red and I was clay.” My master took me and rolled me and patted me over and over and I yelled out, “let me alone”, but he only smiled, “Not yet.”

“Then I was placed on a spinning wheel,” the teacup said, “and suddenly I was spun around and around. Stop it! I’m getting dizzy!” I screamed. But my master only nodded and said, ‘Not yet.”

 

Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I wondered why he wanted to burn me, and I yelled and knocked at the door. I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as He shook his head, “Not yet.”

Finally the door opened, he put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. “There, that’s better,” I said. And he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. ”Stop it, stop it!” I cried. He only nodded,”Not yet.”

 

Then I knew there wasn’t any hope. I would never make it. I was ready to give up. But the door opened and he took me out and placed me on the shelf.

One hour later he handed me a mirror and said, “Look at yourself.” And I did. I said,”That’s not me; that couldn’t be me. It’s beautiful. I’m beautiful.”

 

Then my Master said to me, “I know it hurts to be rolled and patted, but if I had left you alone, you’d have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled.

I knew it hurt and was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn’t put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn’t done that, you never would have hardened;you would not have had any color in your life.

You are what I had in mind when I first began with you.”

Moral:  Allah knows what He’s doing (for all of us).He is the all-Wise & all-Knowing. He is the potter, and we are His clay. He will mold us and make us, and expose us to just enough pressures of just the right kinds that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill His good, pleasing and perfect will. 

So when life seems hard, and you are being pounded and patted and pushed almost beyond endurance; when your world seems to be spinning out of control; when you feel like you are in a fiery furnace of trials; when life seems to “stink”, try this….

Brew a cup of your favorite tea in your prettiest teacup, sit down and think on this story and then, have a little talk with the Potter.

He will mold us, by passing us through difficulties in life. So that

 

via Zakia Usmani and Lifeslessonsforyou