From my friend Muhammad (peace be upon him)

Intention:

"Actions are (judged) by motives (niyyah), so each man will have what he intended. Thus, he whose migration (hijrah) was to Allah and His Messenger, his migration is to Allah and His Messenger; but he whose migration was for some worldly thing he might gain, or for a wife he might marry, his migration is to that for which he migrated." -- [Al-Bukhari & Muslim]

Surah Fatiha in Salah:

Ubadah bin Samit (May Allah be satisfied with him) said: "We were behind the Prophet (PBUH) in the Fajr prayer, and he recited a passage from the Quran, but the recitation became difficult for him. Then when he finished he said, 'Do you recite behind your Imam?' We replied, 'Yes, Messenger of Allah.' Then the Prophet (PBUH) said: 'Do not recite anything behind the Imam except Fatihah-tul-Kitab because who does not include it in his recitation in prayer his prayer is not valid.” -- [Abu Dawud, Tirmizi]

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be satisfied with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: "If anyone observes salat in which he does not read Surah Fatihah, it is deficient, it is deficient, it is deficient, and not complete." It was said to Abu Hurairah: "What should we do when we are behind an Imam?" He (Abu Hurairah) replied. "Read it in silence." -- [Muslim]

To be continued…..

Ripple Effect

I am thankful to every thoughtful mind that has the courage to make a change in this world. We can do any thing when we put our mind into it. I am not only talking about big changes, like Bill Gates whose mission started in the dorm room; I am talking about everybody who has even made the smallest difference in this world and proud of himself. This world is beautiful because of us, people!!!! Imagine, if everything stays intact while suddenly only human species vanish completely from this Earth, what will happen? Within a month plants and weeds will grow wherever, animals will walk around everywhere, the beauty of this world will be destroyed totally – even thinking of it gives me goose bumps!!!! Everyday, we, people are making a difference in this world knowingly or unknowingly. We are the best creations, we are important and our love gives hope to us and everybody around us. As Dawud Wharnsby Ali said in a song, “I am my worst enemy and I’m my very best friend”.

We are not all evil, unless we focus and dwell in the animal side of us more. We matter, so nothing of our efforts will be wasted. Individually we are gifted with possibilities. As we are created with unlike genetic combination, we face this life distinctly and our views are also unique. That’s the beauty and the strength of mankind. We can solve any problem with our focused effort. When we face any difficulties, we tend ourselves towards easy way out, quick fixes or short cuts – we blame others and try to give up on ourselves which only spread poisons to our own souls. Thus we fall into depression, we try to forget the strength of our own ability and get involved with any kind of addictions which do keep us away from the real problems and the real solutions. But the difficulties (in the first place) brought the blessings in this world. When we passionately focus to resolve any difficulties in a hard and a proper way from reoccurring, we make the biggest inventions which not only comfort us, but also the whole world; like the cure for Malaria and Breast Cancer, the invention of aviation and electricity ---- the list will go on and on, because the examples are all around us. We are living in an era where somebody has faced a problem and resolved it and made our life easy. He has seen every problem positively and he has the strongest faith and confidence that there is a cure or a solution and it will be found. He has started the ripple effect.

Helpful Books (more will be added)

• The Qur'an (The Last Testament);

• How to Talk so Kids will Listen & Listen so Kids will Talk - by Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish;

• Siblings Without Rivalry - by Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish;

• Hooked on Phonics's complete set (for younger children, my personal favorite);

• Magnificent Mind at Any Age - by Dr. Daniel Amen;

• Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus - by Dr. John Grey.
  

.........................More is coming soon..............................

How and why I choose this title name?

In my blog, I will talk about my true feelings, my thoughts, my experiences, my concerns, my hopes and my dreams. My blog will talk about my surroundings; so I've thought about diamonds. Diamond is the most stable, unbreakable, beautiful, valuable and respectable stone. It represents the strength and untamed quality. The bigger the diamond will be, the more cuts it will have; thus it will be more valuable and beautiful. It is the strongest stone of the world and it cannot be scratched unless with another diamond. Whereas, it has the boldness to cut and give shape to other objects and it can bring the beauty out of those objects. While the cuts could be hard (painful) to the primary object – still diamond will do its job (and will say the truth). Besides its strength and usefulness, diamond’s beauty and its cuts dazzle our sights and our souls. --- “The dazzling beauty of diamond cuts”!!!!

About Charity

Yesterday I got a call from one of my elderly friend, asking me about charity. She wants to do a personal donation, but wants to know what would be the best way. I explained her about Sadaka; and in plain word Sadaka simply means charity. I said that main reason for doing charity is to bring us closer to the creation and the Creator and made us selfless and humble. I told her that giving to any humanitarian cause will do the job. I also said Islamic Sadaka (charity) has more depth and juice in it than regular charity. As Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said that any good deed counts as a charity by Allah the Almighty; such as giving smiles to the fellow human beings and picking up even the smallest hazardous items from the road are considered as charity. So whatever we do, first we have to check our intentions, if we are doing it to please Allah only or not (because we are accountable to Him in the day of judgment for our actions) and secondly we are creating the bonding with the world or not. Showing off will do the job, but it will not fulfill the Islamic charity which benefits us in the second life. Any kind of time, money and effort to do good in this world is considered as charity, that’s why it has become one of the five pillars of Islam and they are:

1. Declaration of faith;

2. Establishing Salat (five daily prayers which include bowing and prostrations);

3. Giving Zakat (the mandatory charity);

4. Fasting in the month of Ramadan and

5. Going to the pilgrimage once in a life time to Makkah, Saudi Arabia.

There are different kinds of charities in Islam. First one is the compulsory annual charity, Zakat which is 2.5% of the Nisaab (savings of particular amounts), has to be given in eight fixed categories. There is another kind of charity which is called Mannat (in Sub-Continental pronunciation). It is kind of conditional charity, when we ask specific thing from Allah and say to Allah such as if this disease goes away I will do this amount or type of charity. The donor cannot have any share from Mannat, which means if we invite people usually we can also eat with our guests. But with Mannat we have to distribute the whole thing, we cannot share any part of it. Other kind is regular charity, Sadaka. As a Muslim it has to be done left and right as long as we are alive. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) himself practiced this regular extensive charity and told us that if we even see that a sudden calamity is coming and we are going to die for sure, still in this condition if we have a young plant in our hand then we better plant that young tree before we die.

Among the people who are not acquainted with a good Muslim, they sometimes get puzzled and ask us about our motives, why we do what we do? Actually the compulsion of doing well in every situation comes from our teachings. Generally we are not allowed to judge any person personally, but his deeds only; in other words we have to love people as a whole and we cannot be judgmental. As a Muslim, we also have to be a conscious person and we have to be open minded towards our surroundings. If we see something, we have to act on it. Actions are also defined by the Prophet (peace be upon him) that if we see some thing needs to done, we have to do it physically; if the situation is not favorable then we have to speak out about it; and if that is not possible then at least we have to have a reaction in our heart about it (because we just cannot be unconcerned and unobservant); but the last one is described as the weakest faith. All the good works are considered as worshipping in Islam and these have to be done with delicacy and wisdom.

Cruella Devil

This is the month of February. While we like to enhance our personal relationships, sometimes we get it right or we get lost. We, women are beautiful and have our own ability to attract opposite sex. But these outer beauties shatter when we reveal our inner sides and become ‘Cruella Devil’. One real incident shook my life profoundly when one of my friend’s two young children were slaughtered in their father’s house by their step-mother. ‘Cruella Devil’ butchered them with a knife when they were sleeping in the weekend morning while their dad went out of the house. Does this happen often? Of course, it happens to all the children of special circumstances, but we (especially fathers whose hearts are hard like rocks) don’t see the bleeding from the hearts of these children!!!

I am not against second or third marriage or true love. In life these avenues are open for clean and pure beginning. And the feeling of lust is alluring. It is great to feel extra special. But where is the limit? Every man can have a child, but every man cannot bear a child and become ‘the father’ without strong commitments and series of sacrifices -- which eloquently is expressed as "Anyone can be a father, but it takes a man to be a dad"!!! When I look around and see that the man is acting like an addict and the woman is presenting herself as a drug, I feel sorry for both parties. Love could be a combination of silly feelings, but for sure it is not a drug. After staying under the same roof, maximum two and a half years later the lust will go away, what will happen then? These addicts will run for new doses, new tastes of women. In the mean time, what will happen with these kids? The women who do not have morality and sell themselves as drugs -- these needy, lonely, desperate, selfish human creatures will they qualify to be the mother for the children of these self-centered men? Kids are special and innocent, no kids deserve these treatments!!!

As a woman and a future mother, we all have the right to choose our life partners. We know ourselves the best and if we are not ‘Cruella Devils’ by ourselves, then we should choose our life-partners wisely to save our babies. Otherwise, we will not able to avoid inevitable miseries of our lives and our beloveds.