Salvation 10

Salaam All & Eid Mubarak (Blessed Festival)

 

Night 30

 

When we view the practice of fasting as something which must be endured in order to earn a reward, then we have entirely missed the point. The one who strives after obedience and recoils from disobedience is right to expect from the bounty of God the completion of blessing.

 

When we view the practice of Prayers only in numbers of times bowing & prostrations without comprehension by both intellect & emotions then our prayers are blind, cold, and fatalistic, while spiritual unfoldment is a vital inspiration.

 

Fasting & Prayers are disciplines which forms and shapes us, makes us into people who are more responsive to God. Who would have found the meaning of life.

 

That’s why we will NOT know how effective our Ramadan fasts & prayers have been until a few weeks after Ramadan is over.

 

Will we act differently?

 

Will we be closer to God?

 

Will we be more loving to our families and neighbours?

 

Will we be more sensitive to people in need, to the poor and destitute?

 

If we manage to complete the 30-day fast successfully, but end up acting selfishly and hatefully on the thirty-first, or forty-first, or sixtieth day, 100/200/300 day then our Ramadan will have been a failure.

 

The whole point of Ramadan is to be changed – for good. It’s not simply a set of exercises that one must endure for thirty days so that we can earn a reward in heaven, or earn a check mark next to our name on the “Good” list. Do we take God for a joker?

 

And living “right” during Ramadan does not give one license to live “wrong” the other eleven months of the year. 

 

Ramadan is like a spiritual “boot camp,” training for the rest of the year. It’s intended to make it easier to live in submission to God’s will all the year round. Fasting is learning how to say “no” to permissible things, in order that it may be easier for us to say “no” to things which are not permissible. It also helps us to say “yes” to the eternal, spiritual blessings which God offers to us in tiny, subtle ways throughout the day.

 

As you have found out during Ramadan it is possible for your better nature to govern your passions and appetites.

 

Where the passions are most strongly implanted there, too, is always an equal strength of will if it is only brought forth and exercised.  But the one is indulged, the other neglected. In Ramadan the will was exercised and not the passions. Are we now on this day of Eid and onwards until the next Ramadan to exercise the uncontrollable passions without control and leave the will to atrophy? If we do no growth will occur...

 

All greatness, all strength, in whatever direction, is associated with strong passions...that are under the will's control..

 

That is a discipline we all need throughout the year.

 

Shamal...Eid Mubarak once more and thanks for tuning in for the last 30 days...a most gracious thanks for your replies & calls...Wassalaam

 

Salvation 9

Salaam All

 

Night 29

 

The Climax of the Fast...an emotional crescendo that should leave us seeing a riot of colours...instead of being in a state of spiritual colour-blindness.

 

So which was your Ramadan...

 

This present world is the field of the next world, and the heart is as the earth, and faith is as the seed in it, and obedience is conducive to the turning over of the earth and the cleansing of it and the digging of channels and the leading of waters to them.

 

The heart which is infatuated with this present world and submerged in it is like swampy ground in which the seed does not fructify. And the Day of Resurrection is the day of reaping, and no one reaps except what they have sown, and only the one who has sown the seed of faith grows crops.

 

Rarely is faith profitable in company with a vicious heart whose moral traits are tainted just as the seed does not fructify in swampy soil. And it is fitting that the hope of the creature for pardon should equal the hope of the owner of the crops.

 

For everyone who seeks good ground and casts into it seed of first quality which is neither mouldy nor worm-eaten, who thereafter furnishes it with what is necessary to it, that is, the conducting of water to it at appropriate times; who then clears the ground of thorns and weeds and everything that obstructs the growth of the seed or makes it rot; who then sits down and expects from the bounty of God the warding off of thunderbolts and blights, until their crop is mature and they arrive at their goal - their expectation is called hope.

 

And, if one scatters their seed in ground which is baked hard or swampy, which is so elevated that the water does not flow into it, and does not labour one whit in the preparation of the seed - if such a one then expects a harvest from it, their expectation is called stupidity and self-deceit, not hope. And, if they scatter seed in ground which is good but without water, and proceeds to wait for the waters of the rains where they neither prevail nor are cut off, their expectation is called wishful thinking and not hope.

 

So which was your Ramadan...hope or stupidity...

 

O people do not go back to groping among old sins. Waste no tears upon the blotted record of lost years but turn the leaf and smile, oh, smile, to see the fair white pages that remain for you.

 

Shamal

Salvation 8

Salaam All 

 

Night 28

 

Salvation is remembrance, recollection, and confirmation of a knowledge deeply embedded in the very substance of our being. 

As Ramadan comes to a close let us reflect on the month and consider what we have learned and how our lives will be different going forward.

 

More than anything else, let us be hungry for the rest of our lives. The physical fast ends very soon, but spiritually, we should never be satisfied again.

 

We should always be hungry for the kind of dialogue we experienced during prayer – deep, soul-enriching conversations about God, about God’s purposes for the world, about God’s purposes for our lives.

 

We should always be hungry for a world where people do not kill each other in the name of religion; where violence is entirely rejected as an acceptable way to make oneself heard in the public square. Let us commit to becoming the kind of person who will simply not tolerate hate speech against Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs,  atheists, or persons of any other kind of religious expression.

 

We should always be hungry for a world where people respect freedom of thought, speech, conscience, and religion, and where people do not fear the threat of heresy. It is important that we all remain open to listen to people who differ from us, even if those differences are significant.

 

We should always be hungry for justice to be done – especially on behalf of the world’s neglected. As we fill our plates tonight, we must remember that this is a luxury for millions of the world’s people. There is something wrong with that fact. How can we truly be satisfied deep in our hearts when we know that so many people remain painfully poor and hungry?

 

We should always be hungry for quiet moments of solitude – the periods during the days of Ramadan when we carved out a little time for prayer, or walked into an empty room at work to be alone. We simply must repeat these habits throughout our daily life.

 

We should always be hungry to know the will of God – to discern God’s ways amid the distractions and obstacles of life.

 

We should always be hungry to be more like the Prophets – to imitate their ways, to follow them into the world.

 

Until we meet God face to face, we should always be hungry...hungry to make this world peaceful & just. Pick up your pen or let your fingers be piano-like on your keyboard as you write against the unjust & the mischief makers.

 

Only then will we finally be satisfied. Only then will we find the fullness of joy, the perfection of peace, the eternal peace, which we have been pursuing all our lives.

 

But until then, we fast.

 

The best recipe to gain self-control & for character building is to Fast. The best way to conquer the animal within with the Divine is to Fast.

 

Shamal

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Salvation 7

Salaam All 

 

Night 27

 

There was a song by Steppenwolf called Magic Carpet Ride...

On a cloud of sound I drift in the night
Any place it goes is right
Goes far, flies near
To the stars away from here

 

Muslims go tonight as every night in Ramadan on a magic carpet ride thru the Heavens...roll out your prayer mat
 

The road to salvation can only be the return of the sensible finite into the intelligible infinite.

 

The role of the Messengers, according to the Quran, is perhaps best captured by Moses’ address to his people, where the significance and consequence of both faith and deeds are indicated, and the only instance in the Quran in which the word al-najah (salvation) is mentioned, although there are numerous instances in which alternative forms of the word are used, e.g. the verb nunajj [19:72]):

 

My people, follow me! I will guide you to the right path. My people, the life of this world is only a fleeting pleasure, but the Hereafter is the abode of permanence. Whoever does an evil deed will only be rewarded its like; but whoever does a righteous deed and believes, be it a man or a woman, will enter Paradise and be provided for without measure. My people, why do I call you to salvation (al-najah) when you call me to the Fire? You call me to disbelieve in God and to associate with Him things of which I have no knowledge; I call you to the Mighty, the Forgiving One. There is no doubt that what you call me to serve is not fit to be invoked either in this world or the Hereafter: our return is to God alone, and it will be the rebels who will inhabit the Fire. One Day you will remember what I am saying to you now, so I commit my case to God: God is well aware of His servants. (Q. 40:38-44)

 

A Muslim is very cautious about making any categorical statement about the ultimate fate of specific individuals, including himself....God is the ONLY ONE well aware. A person should never presume themself to be a soul already saved but should humbly lead their entire life in a state of mind that lies between hope and fear. To abandon either hope or fear is considered a sin.

Salvation is the spiritual purification of mankind to regenerate into a new way of life that enriches the human soul into a state of grace, self respect and exaltation. The attainment of such condition is gained through the perpetual process of justification of deeds, actions, and the optimization of faith. Like any other process, spiritual purification is the product of a self maintained behavioral paradigm involving the mind, body and soul of the individual. The integrated capacities of the infinite capabilities of mankind should be energized, educated, trained and programmed to justify human actions and optimize faith. This standing of distinction that is elemental to human nature is achieved through knowledge as an essential requirement of strong faith.

 

Shamal...Remember Moses' plea: One DAY you will remember what I am saying to you...He as well as all the Prophets called their people to SALVATION...let there be a return of your sensible finite into the intelligible infinite.

Salvation 6

Salaam All

 

Night 26

 

We hope for salvation whilst believing in the gospel of godlessness known as materialism. This gospel is not only "preached" in the malls but in the sacred halls of religious institutions. 

 

The idea of salvation - popular in all religions -- which begins by defining a group of people in some mechanical way -- e.g. as all those who undergo a ritual trip in the water, or agree to profess a system of dogmas or adhere to a code of law -- and then promises salvation to all members of that group while declaring the rest of humankind to be doomed is rejected by God. We have not trodden the path of salvation if we belong to those mechanical ways. 

   
The Quran rather indicates, and attempts to inculcate, certain attitudes, qualities and a stage of spiritual development and promises salvation to all those who have attained those attitudes, qualities; at the same time it indicates certain other attitudes, qualities etc. and warns those who possess them of divine punishment. The following passages give a fair idea of the basic attitudes and qualities of those who are assured of salvation:

"Verily those who say our Lord and Supporter is God and thereafter stand firm in their faith in God - no fear need they have, and neither shall they grieve. They are destined for paradise, therein to abide permanently as a reward for what they did." (46:13-14)

 

The mind should be educated, trained and cultured to conceptualize the basic elements of true faith. This is attained by the proper understanding of the pure basic fundamentals of belief. The science of Fasting is the one concerned with the ultimate spiritual purification of mankind to attain eternal salvation.

 

Since death is inevitable, so what lies beyond is the exciting unknown, which is really the fruit of our conduct, behaviour, and endeavours in life. With this understanding, the journey of life is the workshop of deeds, the compilation of our actions and intentions; it is the path on which everything is engraved on our minds and concealed within our subconscious; it is the account book for which we receive the ultimate verdict on the Day of Judgement in the Hereafter.

 

To attain and accomplish success, an effort during life must be made, a struggle to survive, striving to attain a standing of spiritual distinction that is elemental to human nature, control of the human ego, an effort during the path of life to accomplish spiritual purification, self betterment, the delicacy of grace and decorum of soul.

 

The control and fruitful harness of the body machine and its physical efficiency are the material products of spiritual purification. Your soul cannot claim fitness in an unfit body. A ship cannot progress on dry land.

 

Enjoy the brochure

 

Shamal...Gain salvation in these nights where God is extremely generous and it will be worth all the gold medals ever given away in the Olympics. To gain it, all it takes is SINCERITY in your INTENTIONS, BELIEFS & ACTIONS.

 

Salvation 5

Salaam All

Night 25

Ingredient for Salvation: One reason that so few people are saved today through modern preaching is that there isn’t enough of the Word of God in the modern sermon. The preacher's personal yadayada... However in Ramadan people actually pick up and study God's Book the Quran. It's not a Book only for the preachers...but for all of humanity.

The need for spiritual purification is most justified in this age of materialistic mania in which mankind is blindly indulged. The avaricious covetousness of human desires have disorganized the rational and logical sequence of mental functions and undermined with disruption the natural human property of discrimination of values.

Human intentions, actions, and deeds are becoming more and more inadequate and blemished, perverted, malignant and detrimental to the natural inborn qualities of the human acme of goodness and decency. If humanity wants to survive the perdition in this life, and the inferno in the Hereafter; there must be a return to the path. The path of purity, salvation, self respect, human excellence, spiritual elevation, redemption. This comes about only by freedom from the slavery bondage of avaricious covetousness, carnal desires of all ego and bodily demands, and capricious fantasies. Ramadan abolishes this slavery annually.

Mankind is summoned to recognize the grave need for salvation of humanity by purification of the spirit, awakening of the conscious, knowledge of the truth and reality. This is achieved by the development of strong faith and true belief founded on knowledge and understanding of the Divine Commandments.

"Ramadan is the month in which the Quran was revealed"...billions are reading this Book to achieve the above...now if only billions ACTED on it the world would become a miniature Paradise. So let's not leave that previous thought as an airy-fairy thought. Let's give it some substance...

Immediately after Ramadan would be a good time to embark on a neighbourhood clean-up project. Or folks from different religions could march against poverty, demonstrate in front of city hall regarding their incompetence, or collaborate on some other social justice purpose. Or we could help buy books for children for the new school year...For many kids this will be a SALVATION. We must go to schools weekly to deliver a pertinent message. In other words, every day, there must be constructive, planned, and intentional activity around a particular issue or need.

This religion is of TWO parts that make up the complete whole...one part is a harking back to traditional intellectual and religious ideas, the other part is an outburst of social protest against an unjust and unstable social order.

Now who is ready to put their developed faith into action...or is it going to be more "talks" about what we should do...even though for the last year we did those same talks...yadayadayada...in essence our religion becomes a vague mist of ethical platitudes.

 
Shamal...reply to this mail if you're ready for action

Salvation 4

Salaam All

Night 24

 

The word SALVATION is closely related to the word SALVAGE.

Have you ever saved an old clunker car that was on its way to the junk yard to be destroyed. An old bicycle, old computer, old gadget. That’s exactly what God does for us in these nights of Ramadan. He saves us from being destroyed and restores us. We are no longer clunkers, but showroom beauties with that new car smell. New operating system. New apps....like that 5 times a day prayer app.

 

The truly changed life in Ramadan is a life that is grounded in three practices: deep prayer, deep hospitality, and deep justice.

Deep Prayer: Words that come out and appear on the surface of our lips must flow from a heedful Heart. Prayer coming out of our mouths must be Soul-led, the proper edification, not just a memorized recitation without understanding. Prayer is nothing to flaunt about or show off. It is a personal matter, an intimate aspect of our living, and not the public proof of our righteousness. Prayer begins in the heart, that secret place within us all.

“God of Mercy, God of Justice, God who transforms our hearts, God of Forgiveness, God of Salvation
“We give thanks for the privileges and powers that we have been given.
“God, teach us to use these blessings in the right way.
“Save us from the snares of selfishness.
“Guard us from the gravity of greed.
“Forgive us where we have gone astray,

“Grant us the wisdom & the courage to be upright. To be the best to our families. 

“And grant our leaders the wisdom and courage to make our country a beacon of success in business AND in ethics.” Sorry My God if I over-reacted in my supplication for "leaders" who are not worth it...all of them should jump over any FALLS.

Deep Hospitality: Think of a time when you have felt truly welcomed. Maybe it was coming home after a long time away. Maybe someone took you in when you were far from home. Relive those feelings for a moment. Feel that warmth again; see those smiles and feel those arms embracing you. What a gift it is to be welcomed. Hospitality, true hospitality, is emotionally powerful. It touches something very deep in us—our profound human longing to feel accepted, to belong, to be loved, to feel safe, to be valued and respected. Hospitality is not something to be proclaimed; it must be lived. Hospitality is both a spiritual discipline and an expression of spiritual health. If we feel angry, hurt, unloved, or alienated we cannot offer a warm welcome. Conversely, if we are at peace, filled with joy at being alive, aware of those around us with compassion in our hearts, then hospitality flows naturally and inevitably from the depths of our being.

What is true of an individual is also true of a community. A congregation in which people do not genuinely love each other is not likely to exude warmth. A congregation that is self-absorbed and disconnected from its community cannot offer religious hospitality. Hospitality is love in action. Let's hope that at the mosque where you break your fast that you find "love in action."

Deep Justice: The Godly Way is resisting the temptation to accept easy excuses to escape from morally complex situations, and allowing the creative tension that this produces to generate an alternative vision, an alternative system, and an alternative set of desires within our own hearts. The moral arc of the universe bends towards justice. When compassion and wisdom is embodied in social action, it becomes a powerful force to challenge injustice and to remake & salvage our world into a place of mutual reverence and care.

Shamal...Let's hope that a great percentage of Muslims achieve deep prayer, deep hospitality, and deep justice during the spiritual training of Fasting in the month like no other, Ramadan.

Salvation 3

Salaam All

Night 23

Salvation is when the Compassionate God rescues you from the weight of sin, the guilt of sin and the future of Hell, and gives you everlasting happiness, everlasting peace and eternity in Heaven. This is the great salvation.

When personal guilt in relation to a past event becomes a continuous cloud over your life, you are locked in a mental prison. You have become your own jailer. Although you should not erase your responsibility for the past, when you make the past your jailer, you destroy your future. It is such a great moment of liberation when you learn to forgive yourself, let the burden go, and walk out into a new path of promise and possibility. Many make empty New Years resolutions...Ramadan is the month to have a permanent makeover because you have God on your side. Self-compassion is a wonderful gift to give yourself...as God's compassion washes over you like the rain this morning.

The Quran challenges us to think and let go of those things that really don't make sense. 

In this short but beautifully constructed Chapter 103 you will find 4 gems:

1. By the essence of all time.

2. Verily, all humankind is in deep loss.

3. Except those who (1) believe in the God and (2)perform good works and (3) remind each other of the truth and (4) remind each other to be patient (sabr).

Make those 4 resolutions in verse 3...to God.

In this impatient world (Did you put in my credit yet? and less than a minute had passed) let's talk about Sabr:

Hurry up and WAIT

Patient waiting is a difficult virtue. We are used to getting whatever we want, whenever we want it. We are accustomed to placing an order, and getting it almost immediately. You can't get your religion from Amazon.com by next day air.

Though instant results are exciting, we lose the value of learning to wait. There is something character-building about desiring something, then taking the steps necessary to acquire it. The longer it takes to acquire something, the more we will likely value it.

This must certainly be true for our spiritual lives, as well. God rarely gives us precisely what we ask for, or what we need, at the exact moment in which we ask it. Instead, we receive it gradually, slowly, incrementally.

This is also an attitude of submission, because as we wait, we acknowledge that we do not expect God to act on our time schedule. God is free to act as God wills. God is not a waiter who takes our order, then rushes around to get it filled and served to us as quickly as possible.

True prayer is always ultimately an act of patient waiting. We acknowledge who God is, make plain our need, and then leave the rest to God.

Shamal...In this month of reflection think about the unfathomable beauty of God's love for us.

 

 

Salvation 2

Salaam All

Night 22

Salvation is the creative act of God – not us making ourselves better!

Simply using the term "salvation" brings about visions of pulpit pounding, running from satan and sin, and getting your fire insurance. Salvation however is a four-letter word.

“And God is Lord of Extreme Grace” Al-Baqara 2.105 reframes the salvation experience and allows it to be what it is - LOVE...God's love for man and man's response to that love. Grace is a primary characteristic of God. Grace means that we receive the love and mercy of God through no merit of our own, but simply because of God’s great compassion and tenderness.

And this is what we seek in the last ten days of Ramadan which are considered the most sacred; Muhammad (p) spent intense nights in prayer during this period. It is also the period during which Laylat al-Qadr, or The Night of Power, occurs. This is the night in which the Quran was revealed.

Muslims believe that this night is “better than a thousand months,” and that those who spend their time in acts of worship on this night earn special favour and reward with God. Some even go so far as to live inside the mosque for the entire ten day period, in a constant regimen of prayer and worship – this is called “i`tikaf.” In many mosques there will be sleeping bags, pillows and backpacks for those who had moved in to observe i’tikaf.

There is an overriding sense of building anticipation, of hope, during these last ten days.

Hope is a commendable thing, because it is a source of incentive, whereas despair is reprehensible and is the antithesis of hope, because it distracts from prayer/work. Know that action on account of hope is of a higher order than action on account of fear, because those who are nearest to God are those who love Him most, and love dominates hope.

The state of hope produces sustained spiritual combat through actions, and perseverance in obedience.  Among its effects are finding pleasure in unbroken acceptance with God, contentment in private prayer with Him and fondness for deferring to Him.

Shamal...Make supplications like this:  O God you are the one who pardons greatly, and loves to pardon, so pardon me. This is an antidote for our sinful sickness.

 

Salvation 1

Salaam All

 

God distributed the Gift of Mercy in the first 10 nights. Then He distributed the Gift of Forgiveness in the 2nd ten nights. And in these last ten nights The Gift of Salvation/Emancipation from Eternal Destruction is on offer. It's the 21st night in Ramadan. So need you be told how EASY it is to be granted.

 

Billions of misguided people see migration to the wealthy zones of the world as their only salvation.

Billions more know where true salvation lies.

 

In these last 10 nights there is one special night that is called the Night of Power/Glory/Destiny. It's on this Night that the Quran was revealed. No human knows the exact night so in essence what one has to do is spend time in intense devotion to God...like in a search for this special night. So instead of slacking off in the spiritual race...we have to summon extra strength from the depths of your soul in the quest to spiritualize our humanness. To become sacred. We are souls. We are spirits. We have the very image of God imprinted in us. In fact, that is what defines us, that is what gives us our identity and marks us as sacred beings.

 

So here are the verses that speak of the night of Power/Glory/Destiny...the most mystical night...a time when the Divine & the human get very close

 

Chapter 97

(1)BEHOLD, from on high have We bestowed this divine writ on a Night of Destiny.

(2) And what could make you conceive what it is, that Night of Destiny?

(3) The Night of Destiny is better than a thousand months:

(4) In hosts descend the angels & the Spirit, bearing divine inspiration by their Sustainer's leave; from all that may happen

(5) PEACE does it make secure, until the rise of the dawn

 

A conscious realization of the sanctity of this night acts as a shield against unworthy thoughts and inclinations.

 

It is reported from Aisha, that she said: “O Messenger of God! What if I knew which night Lailatul-Qadr (The Night of Power) was, then what should I say in it?” He said: "Say: O God you are the one who pardons greatly, and loves to pardon, so pardon me." These special transcendent words emanating from a reverent soul and finding expression on grateful lips, polishes our heart so that it glitters...do not leave your heart in a tarnished state.

 

Shamal...

Let's awake from the slumber of ignorance and see the dawn of knowledge.

Forgiveness 10

Salaam All

 

We are at the 20th night of Ramadan which means it's the last night of the Gift of Forgiveness...so here's a beautiful supplication during the course of tonight: Our Lord! Forgive us our sins and efface our bad deeds and take our souls in the company of the righteous. (3:193)

 

Conquering Mecca: This ONE magnanimous gesture of forgiveness by Prophet Muhammad (p) continues to shape the world 1400 years later. It echoes & reverberates enlightening the world. Pay close attention...it's by no accident that Michael Hart in his book The 100 named Muhammad (p) the No. 1 personality in the history of humanity....as a leader both on the spiritual & secular levels.

 

Read the following and you'll also understand...

 

The Prophet (peace) asked the people how they thought he was going to deal with them, now that he had conquered Mecca. They replied “as a noble brother” that they expected nothing but goodness from him and he would deal with them kindly. By both Arab and Biblical tradition he reserved the right to march into Mecca and slaughter all the men and take their women as slaves. Yet Muhammad (p) declared general amnesty for all, establishing a paradigm for forgiveness in the moment of his utmost political power. Compare that conquering via forgiveness with Western powers trying to conquer via weapons of mass destruction and losing.

 

It is one thing to preach nonviolence and forgiveness when one is politically inferior, entirely another to mercifully forgive when one has the power to demolish.

 

The Prophet (pbuh) spoke telling them “I speak to you in the same words of the Prophet Yusuf (Joseph) peace be with him, who spoke to his brothers” and Muhammad (pbuh) recited a passage from a chapter of the Quran relating to the story of Yusuf (pbuh): “No blame will there be upon you today. Allah will forgive you; and He is the most merciful of the merciful”. Then he announced to them that they are free and they may go where they please.

 

His old nemesis Abu Sufyan, who had risen up against Muhammad so many times in war, feared for his safety, and yet Muhammad specifically declared Abu Sufyan’s house a sanctuary. There is a time to win people over in war, and there is a time to win people over by the charm of one’s personality. This was a time for mercy.

 

On this day, Muhammad even forgave an ex-follower who had apostatized and return to paganism. The rest of the conquest of Mecca, was also a tale of forgiveness and amnesty. And like this the Prophet (pbuh) granted his forgiveness to his former enemies, those who wanted to destroy his belief, his reputation, his life and his associates not long ago. He forgave them all men and women that came to him or his companions. So here we see his mercy for mankind, which Muslims can only describe as a gift from the Giver of all things. As we read in from the Quran “We sent you, Muhammad not, but as a Mercy for all creatures”.

 

All can learn from this act of selflessness by Muhammad (pbuh). It exposed the true aim of his mission as a messenger of God, which was to establish Islam (literally meaning ‘peace’ and ‘submission’), for mankind. A religion not based on vengefulness and war and confusion, but of freedom from strife, God awareness and submission to the One.

 

There is THAT country that uses war, drones, terror, murder, confusion, fear...but still tries to convince the world that it's the opposite. Fools and hypocrites...these are the greatest dangers to mankind...and they proliferate amongst political leaders.

 

For a society to flourish and achieve the best of its ability, forgiveness must be a main concern. Mecca under the leadership of Muhammad (p) is the world's blueprint for Mercy & Forgiveness.

 

Shamal...the politicians of this country need to take Prophet Muhammad (p) and actions such as the above as their guide...otherwise they would NOT be counted except as among the worst of humanity.

Forgiveness 9

Salaam All

 

We've become an obsessive compulsive society addicted to anything and everything. Alcohol, drugs of all types, gambling, gaming, porn, porn & more porn, violence, excess social networking, excess television, excess shopping, always wanting the latest gadgets to SHOW OFF. More, more, more is never enough. Corporate fascism run amok has rendered every society hollowed out to the core. Every TV ad with dancing young people drinking alcohol should be countered with the suffering of millions of other people.

 

Even in line for prayer people are fiddling with their phones...now how stupid and senseless is that...

 

So there is a lot of excesses that are really emptinesses that are really sins...It time to call on God and refocus our lives.

 

We view God as the ultimate Santa Claus, as we send requests north to heaven. Today’s devotional is about a simple important prayer that actually has a guarantee from God. Yes, it is guaranteed to always be answered with a “yes.” Drumroll, please!

 

That prayer is, “God, please forgive me.”

 

You see, when it comes to forgiveness for the mistakes, slip ups, sins, and bad things we have done, the hardest part is to say those powerful words with sincerity. So our role in this process is really quite simple, contrary to what our flesh, the world, or Satan influences us to think: we must humble ourselves & ask God's forgiveness.

 

The sooner we can grasp and believe that the forgiveness prayer is always answered “yes”, (especially in these nights of Ramadan), the easier it is to rid ourselves of the dysfunctional shame, guilt, remorse and accumulated emotional weight of past sins. So many of us carry that around like a huge stone. So, ask for God’s forgiveness right now and each time you misstep each day. Don’t let the many sins you commit accumulate and hinder your powerful relationship and direct communication with God.

 

We all allow our past sins to influence our present lenses and lives. What past sin eats at your view of yourself … your self-esteem … or your ability to relate well with someone close? What is the effect of that sin? Why do you still let it influence you? Confess and dig into God’s word to access different lenses so you can see the complete forgiveness God has for you! This corrective lens surgery will truly free you. Dig deep into your heart, identify distortions and struggle areas, then apply God’s healing words so you can see clearly. Having the humility to ask for and accept God’s forgiveness and grace is your decision, so choose well.

 

Shamal...sing with me "I can see clearly now my sins are gone...I can see all obstacles in my way" lalalalaaala

Forgiveness 8

Salaam All

 

The Quran gives glad tidings to ALL religions: "Those who believe and those who are Jews, and Christians, and Sabians - whoever believes in God and the Last Day and does right - surely their reward is with their Lord, and there shall no fear come upon them neither shall they grieve. (2:62)
Religions all over the world preach the act of forgiveness for attaining peace of mind.

 

According to Buddhism, forgiveness “averts harmful emotion” which can cause great harm to our mental well being and fill us with discontentment and frustration.

 

In Islam, Allah is described as “The Most Forgiving.”

 

The Hindu thought considers “forgiveness as the greatest virtue which each one of us should have.” The Bhagvad Gita says “if you want to see the brave, look at those who can forgive.” 

 

Christianity also preaches the doctrine of forgiveness. The Bible says: “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgives you.(Colossians 3:13)”

 

Isn’t it possible that the diversity of religions and faith traditions on earth are designed to complement, undergird, and support each other? Isn’t it possible that by coming together, rather than by fighting each other, we might actually discover deeper truths and possibilities?

 

Each faith tradition holds only a couple of the pieces that together make up the grand jigsaw puzzle of God’s glorious intentions for the world. We make the mistake of thinking that our pieces are the puzzle. But this is because we can’t see the finished picture. We only see a part of the puzzle. Instead, we need everyone else’s piece. Only when all the pieces are in place, fitting together neatly, can we see what God had intended in the first place. This religious diversity shouldn’t scare us; rather, it should excite and inspire us.

 

Besides, God is big. Our attempts to limit God, to shrink God within the boundaries of our own officially-recognized revelation, is a disservice to the Divine. It limits the Limitless One, and attempts to make God into an idol that we can control and sell. We must humbly acknowledge that God is infinitely bigger than our convictions, no matter how well-honed and intellectually sound. At times, we have to shut up and let the silence of God overwhelm us.

 

All our faith traditions recognize that God transcends our human limitations, and works in us despite our misunderstandings, sins, and fallibilities. And not just in our own traditions, but in all the traditions of the world, in every nation, every ethnic group, every family.

 

God is the source of this diversity. Reread that quote from the Quran.

 

Shamal...let's accept our convictions as gifts, rather than possessions that must be held with a closed fist.

 

Forgiveness 7

Salaam All

 

"And when My servants ask you concerning Me, I am indeed close to them. I respond to the prayer of every suppliant when they call on Me" Quran 2:186

 

Purification of your character is a wonderful side-effect, if you will, of Prayer. Prayer helps you forgive the “unforgivable”; love the “unlovable”; understand the “unfathomable”, have compassion for the “enemy”, and show kindness for the “unkind”.

 

Forgiveness is something many people talk about but never truly do. It’s hard! Deep wounds from being wronged can fester for lifetimes, and the negative energy of the act weighs heavy on one’s shoulders.

 

Psychological trauma can be buried deep. It can appear suddenly, viciously, without warning - and with devastating effects. The ability to truly forgive and let go is critical to psychological health. Forgiveness applies whether you need to forgive someone else, or yourself. The burden of the stress caused by psychological trauma is very heavy and can even manifest in the body as disease or illness. Prayer releases this stress from the physical body and the mind. 

 

As you go deep into prayer, you lose your sense of self. That is, you lose your identification with your struggles and pain. Thoughts of “I am upset; I am hurt; I am a victim; I am a survivor” and similar thoughts that keep the negative energy alive, dissipate.

 

You go beyond that, in prayer. You go beyond experiences and your interpretations of those experiences, to a state of ‘being’ - just being, not doing, not identified with your actions and experiences. In this state, love comes easily. Forgiveness and compassion are natural. By entering this state of unity, you purify yourself of thoughts that are ego-driven.

 

The awareness to truly see your own flaws is important for personal growth to occur. During prayer, you strip away the layers of rationalizations and excuses for why you act the way you do. This is difficult introspection, but ultimately as you see your own character flaws, you also begin to see yourself in others.

 

We all share aspects of the flaws that make us human. Understanding our flaws brings the ability to improve ourselves, and at the same time have compassion for others.

 

Intense spiritual training - specifically, the mental training of prayer, produces physical change that is permanent. The point of this is that prayer can help you reach a more enlightened state of being that is more loving, compassionate, kind, forgiving, understanding... and happy. If at the end of Ramadan you reach this state...then you can rest easy that your Ramadan was successful. If you continue to get angry quickly, still hurling insults...then....

 

Shamal...if your prayer tonight is led by someone who reads the Quran like a race car or without calmness and in a sweet tone none of the above will occur. Prayer must be meditative if we want God to respond to the prayer.

 

Forgiveness 6

Salaam All

 

Fasting is an invisible sign of a visible reality.

 

By making food and water disappear from our lives for a period of time, the poverty of others is made starkly visible.

 

How we respond to this sudden consciousness is part of our spiritual development while fasting. The typical response is to make an effort to feed some people in need. One of the pillars of Islam,  is zakat, or almsgiving, charitable giving.

 

Ramadan is a prime time during which zakat is performed.

 

But this kind of action can only be the beginning of a faithful response. We must not only feed the hungry, but starve the injustice. We must distribute food with one hand, and use the other hand to figure out why there is so little of it in the other part of town!

 

That’s what we should think about when we deprive ourselves of food and water. Think of the injustice in which the world is mired, and the interlocking, complex ways in which we participate in this injustice and are blind to its consequences.

 

And through the fast, our eyes must turn to the God of justice, the God who knows the suffering and hears the cry of the poor and asks, “Who will loose the bonds of injustice?”

 

Your Answer; Our Answer, My Answer: Here I am, Lord, send me.

 

OR. Do you just wait for time of breaking the fast...and say: "Here I am Lord...at the table...give me MORE to drink...give me MORE to eat"

 

Shamal

Forgiveness 5

Salaam All

 

But if you pardon and exonerate and forgive, God is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Quran, 64: 14)

 

Anyone familiar with Italian opera or the plays of Shakespeare knows the terrible price paid for grudges, vendetta, and revenge. Under the sway of these emotions painful incidents linger in the mind, sapping our ability to find peace and happiness. The 18th century English poet, Alexander Pope, gave us the antidote: " to err is human, to forgive divine." But finding a way to forgive without giving up our principles is often no easy task.  So what is forgiveness and how do we implement it.

Where is forgiveness most often needed? – almost everywhere...in the context of our every day personal life with family members, friends, co-workers, and business associates.

One of our challenges in understanding this process is that the word – forgiveness – is inadequate to explain a very complex concept. Forgiveness actually embodies three different things, each of which applies to different situations and provides different results.

The three types of forgiveness are:

Exoneration
Forbearance
and
Release

Let’s take each in turn.

Exoneration is the closest to what we usually think of when we say "forgiveness". Exoneration is wiping the slate entirely clean and restoring a relationship to the full state of innocence it had before the harmful actions took place. There are three common situations in which exoneration applies.

The first takes place when you realize that the harmful action was a genuine accident for which no fault can be assigned.

The second is when the offender is a child or someone else who, for whatever reason, simply didn’t understand the hurt they were inflicting, and toward whom you have loving feelings.

The third situation occurs when the person who hurt you is
• Truly sorry,
• Takes full responsibility (without excuses) for what they did,
• Asks forgiveness,
• And gives you confidence that they will not knowingly repeat their bad action in the future.

In all such situations it is essential to accept their apology and offer them the complete forgiveness of exoneration. You’ll feel better and so will the person who hurt you. In fact, not to offer forgiveness in these circumstances would be harmful to your own well-being. It might even suggest that there is something more wrong with you than with the person who caused you pain.

The second type of forgiveness is "forbearance." And here things get a little more complicated.

Forbearance applies when the offender makes a partial apology or mingles their expression of sorrow with blame that you somehow caused them to behave badly. An apology is offered but it’s not what you had hoped for and may not even be fully authentic. While you should always reflect on whether there was a provocation on your part, even when you bear no responsibility you should exercise forbearance if the relationship matters to you. Cease dwelling on the particular offense, do away with grudges and fantasies of revenge, but retain a degree of watchfulness. This is similar to "forgive but not forget" or "trust but verify." By using forbearance you are able to maintain ties to people who, while far from perfect, are still important to you.

Furthermore, in some cases after a sufficient period of good behavior, forbearance can rise to exoneration and full forgiveness.

But what do you do when the person who hurt you doesn’t even acknowledge that they’ve done anything wrong or gives an obviously insincere apology, making no reparations whatsoever? These are the cases of forgiveness that are the most challenging. Such examples are adult survivors of child abuse, business people who have been cheated by their partners, or friends or relatives who have betrayed one another. Still, even here there still is a solution. It is called "release" – the third type of forgiveness.

Release does not exonerate the offender. Nor does it require forbearance. It doesn’t even demand that you continue the relationship. But it does ask that you, instead of continuing to define much of your life in terms of the hurt done, allows you to release bad feelings and your preoccupation with the negative things that may have happened to you. Release does something that is critically important: it allows you to let go of the burden, the "silent tax" that is weighing you down and eating away at your chance for happiness. If you do not release the pain and anger and move past dwelling on old hurts and betrayals, you will be allowing the ones who hurt you to live, rent free, in your mind, reliving forever the persecution that the original incident started.

Whether you get there through your own efforts, through psychotherapy, through religion or some other method, release liberates you from the tyranny of living in the traumatic past even when the other forms of forgiveness, exoneration and forbearance, are not possible.

Exoneration
Forbearance
Release

To forgive may be divine, but when we understand its dimensions we find that it is within our ability to do it.

 

Shamal...now that you understand, it's easy to give true value to your "Astagfirullahs" especially TONIGHT...in Ramadan when God grants total forgiveness