Hope you have a Happy and Productive Ramadhan
Virtues of Sahur
Ibn Umar r.a relates Rasulullah s.a.w said, “Verily Allah and His Mala’ikah send mercy upon those who eat sahur (partaking food)
~ Tabarani
Repost: Quotes on Fasting in Ramadhan
Abu Huraira related that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Whoever fasts during Ramadhan with faith and seeking his reward from Allah will have his past sins forgiven. Whoever prays during the nights in Ramadhan with faith and seeking his reward from Allah will have his past sins forgiven. And he who passes Lailatul-Qadr in prayer with faith and seeking his reward from Allah will have his past sins forgiven. (Hadith reported by Al-Bukhari)
Other sayings on Ramadhan:
Fasting is cleansing.
During the month of Ramadhan,the devils are put in chains,and the doors of mercy are opened.
Ramadhan is a month whose beginning is mercy,whose middle is forgiveness,and whose end is freedom from the fire of hell.
The breath of a fasting person is sweeter to Allah than the fragrance of musk.
For everything, there is a way of purification, and for the body it is fasting,
Ramadhan is a blessed month containing a night which is better than a thousand months.
Five things will break the fast; lying, speaking behind people’s back, creating mischief between two persons, swearing falsely, and looking with lust.
The fish in the seas seek forgiveness on their behalf until they break their fast.
Allah prepares and decorates His special Jannah every day and then says to it, “the time is near when My faithful servants shall put away the load of the world and come to you.”
On the last night of Ramadhan,the fasting Muslims are forgiven. The sahaabahs enquired, O Rasul of Allah, is that night the lailatul qadr? Rasul saw replied, no but it is only right that a servant be given his reward on having completed his duty.
Only a very unfortunate person would remain deprived for forgiveness in Ramadhan.
For everything there is a door,and the door of worship is fasting.
He who is fasting is in worship even though he is asleep in his bed, unless he backbites a Muslim.
The Almighty says, “fasting is for Me, and I reward by it. For he who fasts, there are two joys: when he breaks his fast and when he meets His Lord, the Mighty and Glorious.
Fasting will keep satan away from you as far as the east is from the west. It will blacken satan’s face.
The Almighty and all his angels are praying on behalf of those who fast.
Fasting is a trust upon you, so let everyone keep his trust.
The best days in a year are the last ten days of Ramadhan.
Some gets nothing from fasting except hunger and thirst.
Fasting is half of patience, and patience is half of faith.
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Allahu’alam
a must view
Amazing Story of a Mother
When Carolyn Isbister put her 20oz baby on her chest for a cuddle, she thought that it would be the only chance she would ever have to hold her.
Doctors had told the parents that baby Rachel only had only minutes to live because her heart was beating once every ten seconds and she was not breathing.
Isbister remembers:
I didn’t want her to die being cold. So I lifted her out of her blanket and put her against my skin to warm her up. Her feet were so cold.
It was the only cuddle I was going to have with her, so I wanted to remember the moment.” Then something remarkable happened. The warmth of her mother’s skin kick started Rachael’s heart into beating properly, which allowed her to take little breaths of her own.
We couldn’t believe it – and neither could the doctors. She let out a tiny cry.
The doctors came in and said there was still no hope – but I wasn’t letting go of her. We had her blessed by the hospital chaplain, and waited for her to slip away. But she still hung on.
And then amazingly the pink color began to return to her cheeks. She literally was turning from gray to pink before our eyes, and she began to warm up too.
The sad part is that when the baby was born, doctors took one look at her and said ‘no’.
They didn’t even try to help her with her breathing as they said it would just prolong her dying. Everyone just gave up on her,” her mom remembered.
At 24 weeks a womb infection had led to her premature labor and birth and Isbister (who also has two children Samuel, 10, and Kirsten, 8 ) said, “We were terrified we were going to lose her. I had suffered three miscarriages before, so we didn’t think there was much hope.” When Rachael was born she was grey and lifeless.
Ian Laing, a consultant neonatologist at the hospital, said: “All the signs were that the little one was not going to make it and we took the decision to let mum have a cuddle as it was all we could do.
Two hours later the wee thing was crying. This is indeed a miracle baby and I have seen nothing like it in my 27 years of practice. I have not the slightest doubt that mother’s love saved her daughter.”
Rachael was moved onto a ventilator where she continued to make steady progress and was tube and syringe fed her mother’s pumped breastmilk.
Isbister said, “The doctors said that she had proved she was a fighter and that she now deserved some intensive care as there was some hope. She had done it all on her own – without any medical intervention or drugs. She had clung on to life – and it was all because of that cuddle. It had warmed up her body and regulated her heart and breathing enough for her to start fighting.
At 5 weeks she was taken off the ventilator and began breastfeeding on her own. At four months Rachel went home with her parents, weighing 8lbs – the same as any other healthy newborn. Because Rachel had suffered from a lack of oxygen doctors said there was a high risk of damage to her brain. But a scan showed no evidence of any problems and today Rachel is on par with her peers.
Rachel’s mom tells us, “She is doing so well. When we brought her home, the doctors told us that she was a remarkable little girl. And most of all, she just loves her cuddles. She will sleep for hours, just curled into my chest. It was that first cuddle which saved her life – and I’m just so glad I trusted my instinct and picked her up when I did. Otherwise she wouldn’t be here today.”
Most touching and and inspirational story ever told
Watch this
A thought provoking post
I have been Muslim for about two and a half years now. About 6 months after that, I began dressing more modestly, wearing long sleeves, looser fitting clothes, etc. I knew then that I would eventually want to/ need to wear a hijab, but wasn’t ready for that. I’ve been seriously considering wearing a hijab for the past year, but have always been able to come up with great excuses why not to.
My first excuse was that I was working as a social worker, and I was afraid that me suddenly wearing a hijab would distract from my work with my clients– that they would focus on me, and have questions, etc. In social work education, we learn the importance of not allowing ourselves to be the focus or the topic of conversation, to stay professional and hold professional boundaries, not discussing our personal life. Of course, such a…
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Voted Most Inspirational Story of 2012!
When she was in high school, Lizzie Velasquez was dubbed “The World’s Ugliest Woman” in an 8-second-long YouTube video. Born with a medical condition so rare that just two other people in the world are thought to have it, Velasquez has no adipose tissue and cannot create muscle, store energy, or gain weight. She has zero percent body fat and weighs just 60 pounds.
In the comments on YouTube, viewers called her “it” and “monster” and encouraged her to kill herself. Instead, Velasquez set four goals: To become a motivational speaker, to publish a book, to graduate college, and to build a family and a career for herself.
Now 23 years old, she’s been a motivational speaker for seven years and has given more than 200 workshops on embracing uniqueness, dealing with bullies, and overcoming obstacles. She’s a senior majoring in Communications at Texas State University in San Marcos, where she lives with her best friend. Her first book, “Lizzie Beautiful,” came out in 2010 winning the hearts of many around the world and her second, “Be Beautiful, Be You,” was published earlier September and In 2013 she’s hoping to write her third book.
“The stares are what I’m really dealing with in public right now,” she told Dr. Drew Pinsky in an interview on CNN’s Headline News. But I think I’m getting to the point where… instead of sitting by and watching people judge me, I’m starting to want to go up to these people and introduce myself or give them my card and say, ‘Hi, I’m Lizzie. Maybe you should stop staring and start learning’.”
Velasquez was born in San Antonio, Texas; she was four weeks premature and weighed just 2 pounds, 10 ounces. “They told us they had no idea how she could have survived,” her mother, Rita, 45, told the Daily Mail. “We had to buy doll’s clothes from the toy store because baby clothes were too big.” Doctors warned Rita and her husband, Lupe, that their oldest child would never be able to walk or talk, let alone live a normal life. (Her two younger siblings were not affected by the syndrome.)
Instead, she has thrived. Her internal organs, brain, and bones developed normally, though her body is tiny. Since she has no fatty tissue in which to store nutrients, she has to eat every 15 to 20 minutes to have enough energy to get through the day. One brown eye started clouding over when she was 4 years old, and now she’s blind in that eye and has only limited sight in the other.
Muhammad Ali’s advice to his daughters
An incident transpired when Muhammad Ali’s daughters arrived at his home wearing clothes that were quite revealing.
Here is the story as told by one of his daughters:
“When we finally arrived, the chauffeur escorted my younger sister, Laila, and me up to my father’s suite. As usual, he was hiding behind the door waiting to scare us. We exchanged many hugs and kisses as we could possibly give in one day.
My father took a good look at us. Then he sat me down on his lap and said something that I will never forget. He looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Hana, everything that God made valuable in the world is covered and hard to get to.
Where do you find diamonds? Deep down in the ground, covered and protected.
Where do you find pearls? Deep down at the bottom of the ocean, covered up and protected in a beautiful shell.
Where do you find gold? Way down in the mine, covered over with layers and layers of rock. You’ve got to work hard to get to them.”
He looked at me with serious eyes. “Your body is sacred. You’re far more precious than diamonds and pearls, and you should be covered too.”
Courtesy: Black Dads Rock.
Repost : 10 Positive Assumptions
This was posted earlier but I’d like to repost so that we could read it like a new year’s resolution, sort of.
1) I will make and keep my commitments.
2) I will find the right people who can help me.
3) I will look for an answer in every problem.
4) I will give up “trying” and simply do.
5) I will make it okay to be wrong and make mistakes.
6) I will create my own “good luck”.
7) I will not be afraid to lose before I win.
8 ) I will do it now!
9) I will be who I am and become what I was meant to be.
10) I will accept that all things are possible.
-Robert Anthony, in his book “Betting on Yourself
Wisdom Path 