Inspiration from Past & Present
حاسبوا أنفسكم قبل أن تحاسبوا ، وزنوا أنفسكم قبل أن توزنوا، فإنه أهون عليكم فى الحساب غدا أن تحاسبوا أنفسكم اليوم، وَتَزَيَّنوا للعرض الأكبر، يومئذ تعرضون لا تخفى منكم خافية
Take account of yourself before you are taken to account, and weigh yourself before you are weighed, for it would be easier on your Accounting tomorrow if you do so today. Adorn yourself for the great exposure, the day you shall be exposed and not a secret of yours will remain hidden.
—‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb [d. 23H/644CE] in his inaugural address upon becoming Caliph
[Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah, Kanz al-‘Ummāl]
إِنَّ لِكُل عَمَلٍ شِرَّةً، وَلِكُل شِرَّةٍ فَتْرَةً ، فَمَنْ كَانَ فَتْرَتُهُ إِلَى سُنَّتِي فَقَدِ اهْتَدَىٰ، وَمَنْ كَانَتْ إِلَى غَيْرِ ذٰلِكَ فَقَدْ هَلَكَ
Every deed has its period of zeal and fervor, and every fervor has a period of cooling down. Whoevers’ cooling down period is on the sunnah, he is rightly guided, otherwise he is destroyed.
—The Prophet Muhammad (S)
[Hadith of Ibn Umar reported by Ibn Hibban and authenticated by al-Mundhiri, Ahmad Shakir, al-Albani and Shuaib al-Arnaut]
الإستقامة درجة بها كمال الأمور و تمامها وبوجودها حصول الخيرات و نظامها و من لم يكن مستقيما في حالته ضاع سعيهُ و خابَ جَهدهُ
The Islamic lesson of istiqamah is the way to perfect and complete every matter, and good results only come about through it, for whoever is not perseverant in his efforts, they shall surely be wasted.
—the Ḥanafī scholar Abu’l-Qāsim al-Qushayrī (d. 465H)
لا تُصَاحِبْ إِلاَّ مُؤْمِناً وَلاَ يَأْكُلْ طَعَامَكَ إِلاَّ تَقِيٌ
You should not accompany but believers, and none save the pious should eat your food.
—The Prophet Muhammad (S)
[Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Sunan Abi Daud, authenticated by Ibn Hibban, al-Mundhiri and al-Albani]