Do It Now, Or You May Not get Another Opportunity.
So, Says Allah in the Qur'an! [Quote - 602]

Most of us just don't get it.

Most of us think we have a long life before us -- and we will have time to "catch up."

But that is not how life works. At least not for many if not most people.

Life travels at warp speed. And it does so for all.

You miss a millisecond of it, you can never catch up. You can never get back on that train again.

For, by the time you wake up and try to jump back up on it, that train has crossed galaxies and is in a different world altogether -- a very different universe.

The train may have already crossed the life-barrier and be hurtling through the unknown and unpredictable terrain of death.

Just pick up a copy of the Qur'an and read it:

Wa Anfiqoo Mimmaa Razaqnaakum Min Qabli Anyya'tiya Ahadakumul Mawutu Fayaqoola Rabbi Lawu Laa Akkhartani Ilaa Ajalin Qareeb.

Fa-Assaddaqa Wa Akum-Minas-Saaliheen.

Wa Lanyyu-akkhirallahu Nafsan Idhaa Jaa-a Ajaluhaa...

Wallahu Khabeerum Bimaa Ta'amaloon (63:10,11).

There, you now have the reference from the Qur'an: Surah Al-Munaafiqoon, Aayats 10 and 11. Go, check out the translation for yourself and see what these Aayats mean and what implications they may have for all the missed opportunities that so many of us tend to pile up one on top of the other.

END

Loving Something May often Mean Suffering for Its Sake [Quote - 601]

The world knows only too well that the price of love is life.

Or is it death?

Ask Romeo or Juliet, and they will tell you.

Those who love things they consider precious in life must be prepared to suffer for the sake of those things. And they will be called upon to make sacrifices as a price of the love they profess for those things.

That means whether it is an object, a person, an idea, a place, a nation, a country or a cause of some kind, if you love it, you must be able to cherish it, protect it, make sacrifices for it -- and invoke pain and suffering in doing so.

"No pain, no gain," is a rather well-known cliche. But there is a fair amount of truth behind that cliche.

END

Work in Islam Is Worship -- Again! [Quote - 574]

I have said this before, and I am saying it again: Work in Islam is worship.

And it is Jihad.

That means those who are engaged in doing their daily duties -- whatever work it is that they do -- it is as if they are in Salaah.

They are face to face with Allah. And Allah is watching over them. And Allah is also watching their every move, and reading their every thought, and monitoring the minutest movements of their eyes.

And if they are waiting for work to arrive, it is as if they are in a mosque waiting for Salaah to begin. 

And in Islam those who wait for Salaah to start, their position is the same, and their reward is the same, as those who are actually engaged in the performance of the Salaah.

So, if they are pure and honest in their motives and intentions, and diligent and thorough and conscientious in the work that they do, their reward is Paradise and not merely worldly success in the work that they do.

That is how amazing this system of Islam is: You do your own work and you get Paradise in return for it, in addition to your own usual reward in this world, provided your intentions are good and your effort is the very best you could, make it.

END

All Sports: Part Skill, Part Heart [Quote - 424]

Here is a general call to all varsity athletes and others in my classes.

Ladies & Gentlemen: Sport – any sport – is part skill, part heart.

And so is life, if you ask me.

Skills take you into the competition. But it is hearts that win matches and deliver games.

Some athletes are ALL skill and ALL heart – ALL at the same time. Michael Jordan of basketball was all heart and all skill, all at the same time.

Time after time, what his skill could not do – there was not much Jordan’s skills could not deal with – his heart delivered.

Andre Agassi of tennis fame was all heart and all skill and it was hard sometimes to figure out which part got the better of him as he oscillated perfectly from one to the other.

Tiger Woods of Golf is a master of stroke play and green strategy, but when Tiger hits a rough patch, it is the heart that drives him to victory.

Lance Armstrong of bicycling fame – and notoriety – is a sorry name to invoke in this context on account of how he pedaled his world bicycling championship career into a doping disgrace.

By any standard, Armstrong's conduct was reprehensible and utterly inexcusable.  

But dope or no dope, here is a sober truth that cannot be lightly dismissed: No one beats cancer and then turns around and beats the entire world, not once or twice, but seven times over, to win the impossible odds of Tour de France, without a thorough mastery of cycling skills and a will and determination that can bend steel by just looking at it.

Skills will help you to outperform the opposition. But it is your hearts that will enable you to outstare the “enemy” and seal victory.

So, go ahead and outperform and outstare everyone who is lined up against you today – and this entire season.

Class or no class, this is my lecture to you today. And, I am sure, you have heard it before.

And, by the way, do bear in mind that for my students Not-Winning is not an option.

It never was. And it never will be.

END

(Dr. Pasha)

Shari’ah - and Jihad - on American Elections

It is middle of October 2012. And it is elections in America.

God bless the land in which I live and work, and in which, if that is how God wills it, I will most probably die and be buried.

Most likely, 45-50 percent of eligible American voters will not vote this election cycle. They will come up, if they do at all, with all kinds of reasons and excuses for not doing so. [...]

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