THE TRUE MEASURE OF HUMAN SUCCESS

Human success is not the ability to gain knowledge, but the ability to practice that knowledge while remaining humble

Human achievement is not in gaining higher status but being able to be modest and using that status to help others

Human success is not measured by wealth but the ability to distribute wealth to others so they may share its benefits

Extraordinary is not someone who is able to defeat their enemies, but the one who is able to forgive his enemies

A person who can express his anger is not great

The person who is great is he who can control his anger

A special person is not one who can detect the mistakes of others

The one who is special is he who can detect his own flaws and inadequacies, not seeking revenge but instead looking for peace

Anyone who is able to be good to another who has done them wrong is an extraordinary and exceptional person

A lady who exposes her beauty to everyone is not special

The lady who is special is the one whose displays her beauty only for her husband.

10.6.2003 Approaching Zuhur – Asar

WHEN I LOOK AT THE OCEAN

When I look at the ocean

As far as my naked eyes could gaze

So wide as if there's no ending

Trains of giant waves smashing endlessly

Crashing and spinning

The sounds so frightening and horrifying

The darkness and closeness inside so terrifying

My heart whispers:If the Hell is similar to this

The trains of giant fire, smashing and crashing and spinning

The sounds similar to that of the wind slapping the waves

The waves that never stop roaring

If the fire of hell continuously burning those insidewithout stopping

I will not be able to withstand it

The hell fire of God

Unimaginably much more gruesome

The more I would not be able to endure it.

By Sheikh Imam Ashaari Muhammad At-Tamimi

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO TAKE CARE OF OUR SOUL?

It is a fact that people pay a great deal of attention to their physical heath. There are thousand and one ways of doing this; if one is sick no time is wasted in getting to a doctor. If the doctor is ineffective, one would quickly move to another doctor or specialist.

The strange thing is, people do not act with such urgency if their spiritual health is affected. Either they do not care about it, or they think that it’s not important. But the fact is that the consequences of spiritual diseases are more dire; they lead to evils in this world and torture in Allah SWT’s Hell in the afterlife.

Let us have a look at why it is so important to take care of our heart and soul:

1. Because the soul is permanent, unlike the temporary physical body. In the Hereafter, the soul will have a new form.

2. It is the soul that will feel the rewards or suffer the punishments in the Hereafter.

3. It is the soul that is the target of the angels and sha’itan. The angels want to fill it with iman and confidence, while the sha’itan want to fill it with evil and doubt.

4. The soul is where God’s ilham and knowledge is accepted and stored.

5. If a person’s soul is clean, Allah will bestow them with ‘firasat’ (the most accurate intuition).

6. If a person’s soul is very clean, their sense of sight will become sharper than what their physical eyes are capable of. Allah will give them ability to see things that are invisible to normal people. This is the mukasyafatul qulub1.

7. The heart, or soul, is the ruler of the body. If the heart is good, it will command its troops (the body’s limbs) to do good things. If it is evil, it will command its troops to do evil.

8. The soul is the receptacle for both the mahmudah traits that everyone desires as well as the mazmumah traits that everyone hates and has to stay away from.

9. This is where all emotions come from: happiness and sorrow, comfort and stress, calm and worry, hope and frustration, joy and disappointment, love and hate, trust and scepticism, optimism and pessimism, sympathy and yearning.

10. All of our physical actions are reflections of the goodness or badness of our heart and soul.

11. The heart contains the sight and value of God, while the body sees only the physical plane.

12. All ‘hidayah’ (spiritual inspiration) comes from the heart or soul.

13. The best of all mahmudah traits is ‘ikhlas’ (sincerity) which determines whether our good deeds will be accepted or rejected by God. It is our heart and soul that contains the true value of our ‘ikhlas’, and only God can see it.

14. If someone does something good, no one would say that it is their hands or feet that are good, but their heart.

15. Endurance comes from the strength of heart.

16. All changes that occur in one’s life are only the result of the changes that occur within their heart and soul.

17. Diseases of the soul lead to Hell; diseases of the body lead to Heaven (the suffering of the corporeal body eradicates sins).

18. No matter how bad a physical disease can be, it would only affect your body. If the soul is diseased, it would affect everything in your life and everyone all around you.

19. If the body is ill, the worst that can happen is death. If the soul is ill, its iman and Islam will be destroyed.

20. Bodily diseases are only temporary, but spiritual diseases cause eternal suffering.

21. Only humans hate physical diseases; Allah hates spiritual diseases.22. Physical ills affect the body, spiritual ills affect the iman.

23. Sometimes we receive signs from God through dreams, whether clearly or in a parable. It is the soul that sees the dream, not the eyes.

24. Rasulullah SAW commands us to be afraid of the soul’s vision. Allah’s instructions do not ask us to be afraid of the vision of normal eyes.

25. Physical diseases are not contemptible in Islam, but spiritual diseases are.

26. Physical diseases do not cause mistrust between people, but spiritual diseases do.

27. Physical diseases do not lead to the forming of rivalries, enemies and wars, but spiritual diseases do.

28. The soul can travel free from the body and see all sorts of unusual things with Allah’s permission.

29. After the death, the soul can return to visit its family, but the body cannot.

30. People feel sympathy for those with physical diseases, but not those with spiritual diseases.

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1 Mukashafa : "Unveiling." There are three kinds of "opening" (futuh)- the opening of _expression ('ibarah) in the outward dimension and the opening sweetness (halawa) in the inward dimension and the opening of the unveiling (Mukashafa) through Allah. Through His Infinite Grace Allah gives opening to whomsoever He Wills and through them His slaves yearn for more and more Knowledge of Allah. Openings are endless. He never discloses Himself in the same tajalli (self-disclosure) in any teo successive moments to any creature.

(Kitab Al Qamus Al Sufi - Amatullah Armstrong)

Qulub: Hearts

Mukasyafatul Qulub: Unveiling the Hearts

THE LOVE FOR GOD IS SUPREME

The love for God is supreme

The love for the Great Creator is pure, virtuous, eternal

The love for God is unending

It has no boundaries or limits, and is in fact eternal

The love of others besides Allah, love out of lust

This sort of love has its ending

This love has boundaries and limits

As this love is not eternal nor absolute

Loving fellow creations leads to disappointment

Love for Khaliq brings happiness

An eternal loveA supreme love

A love so great that is has no equal

The love for others beside God, is false love

Love that will end and bring disappointment

In loving God there is no dispute

Even if the whole world loves Him

Everyone will get happiness and satisfaction

No one will be disappointed

But loving the world will cause conflict

If someone gains over others, the rest will be defeated

In their disappointment, they will become jealous and envious

So supreme is the love for God

A love that has no comparison or competition

But humans are heartless

What they are fighting for is the love for the world
After Zuhur 12.10.99