The Problem with Young People....

In my job interview today I was asked by one of the panelists what I thought was wrong with the youth of Malaysia. I responded that I thought we (i.e. the adults) were actually the problem with youth. I added that young people are merely responding to the world we have created for them. If you look at what we have built, how we conduct ourselves, the example we set (collectively), is it any wonder that youth are acting (and reacting) the way they are? Simply put, children and youth are our mirrors -- they reflect our hypocrisy and show it to us through their words and actions. So you wanna change young people? Then change yourself first.... "...Allah does not change a people's lot unless they change what is in their hearts..." (Qur'an, 13:11).

Daily Reminder to Myself

Whoever sets himself up as a leader of other people should start educating himself before educating others, and let him teach by his conduct before teaching by his tongue. And the education and refinement of one's self is more worthy of respect than the education and culture of other people.

~ Hadrat 'Ali (translated Cleary)

We Belong to God

I belong to God, as has often been shown; yet I also belong to myself. He becomes Himself through me. I live in Him, and I live in myself. I have two aspects, He and I, divine and human. But He is not I, and I am not He. My actions are the theatre in which He expresses Himself; to Him I am a vessel.

-Ibn Arabi, “Fusus al-hikam”

What Brings About Love for Allah

What Brings About the Love for Allah

By: Imaam Ibn Rajab Al-Hanbali

http://www.sunnipath.com/resources/...qa00000841.aspx
[Instinshaq Naseemul-Uns min Nafahaati Riyaadil-Qudus, pp. 22-30]

1: Recognizing the bounties Allah has bestowed upon His slaves. These bounties [are so many that they] cannot be counted or enumerated. [Allah says:] "If you count the blessings of Allah, never will you be able to count them." [Quran 14:34]Hearts naturally have love for those who do good to them. Love for a blessing is from the general aspects of thanking the one who has bestowed a bounty. It is said that thanks is with the heart, tongue and limbs.

2: Another cause is to have knowledge of Allah by His Names, Attributes and Actions. The one who knows Allah, loves Him. Whoever loves Him, obeys Him. Whoever obeys Allah is honored by Him. Whoever Allah honors, He will have him live close to Him. Whoever lives close to Him, has attained the glad tidings.

3: One of the great causes [that leads to having love of Allah] is the specific knowledge that comes about through pondering over the creation of the heavens and the earth and what Allah has created. In the Quran, there is much mention of the signs of Allah that indicate His Greatness, Power, Majesty, Perfection, Eminence, Compassion, Mercy, Strength, Subjugation and other of His beautiful Names and exalted Attributes. Whenever one's knowledge of Allah is strengthened, one's love for Him is also strengthened and one's love for obeying Him is also strengthened. He will then experience the pleasure of worship, whether it be in prayer, remembrance or other forms of worship.

4: Another cause that will bring about love for Allah is to act towards Allah with sincerity and purity while going against one's desires. This is a cause for Allah to bless a slave and when He blesses the slave, the slave loves Him.

5: One of the greatest causes that bring about one's love for Allah is increasing one's remembrance of Allah. Whenever a person loves something, he remembers it more often. And it is through the remembrance of Allah that the hearts find tranquility. In fact, one of the signs of having love for Allah is the constant remembrance of Allah by one's heart and tongue.

6: One of the causes that brings about Allah's love for His slave is reciting the Quran often and pondering over its meaning, in particular those verses that contain Allah's Names, Attributes and Actions. Having fondness for that action will lead the slave to love Allah and Allah to love Him.

7: Another of the causes of love for Allah is remembering what has been mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah concerning the believers seeing their Lord in the Hereafter and visiting them and gathering together on the Day of Abundance. That will definitely bring about in a person love for Allah.

The Divine Love

Al-Qurtubi said in his explanation of the words of the Sufi Sahl B. Abdullah on the love of Allah, "The sign of loving Allah is loving the Quran. The sign of loving the Quran is loving the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation. The sign of loving the Prophet is loving the hereafter. And the sign of loving the hereafter is loving oneself. The sign of loving oneself is leaving the outer world. And the sign of leaving the outer world is taking from it only what is needed for survival."

http://www.sufimaster.org/teachings/dlove.htm