Inspiration from Past & Present
To this point doth my knowledge go,
I only know I nothing know.
—Abu Shakur Balkhi (10th Century Persian poet)
(Jumuah Magazine Shawaal 1431)
There are some people who were deceived by the shelter of Allah and infatuated by the good praise of others. Therefore, do not let the ignorance of others about you overcome your own knowledge of yourself.
—Khalid bin Safwan’s advice to ‘Umar b. ‘Abd al-‘Azīz
(Read on pg 190, Al-Hafiz Jamaludeen Abi Al-Faraj and Abd Ar-Rahman bin Al-Jawzi and Al-Qurashi and Al-Baghdadi, The Biography and virtues of Omar bin Abd Al-Aziz: The Ascetic Caliph. Dar Al-Kotob Al-ilmiyah. Beirut:2001.)
Having a relationship with Allah is more than just spending a few minutes in the morning or evening in making dua, and then going out into the world and doing whatever one pleases. That would make the relationship a fraud. True religion is a person’s heeding his Lord in every situation, his keeping his activities within the bounds of what the Lord has commanded and prohibited, acknowledging his human frailties, and seeking the help of the Lord whenever he is beset with difficulties.
—Shaykh Muhammad Al-Ghazali
Remembrance and Prayer, 1996. Amana Publications.
O tongue! Say something good and gain, or abstain from evil and be safe.
—Ibn Abbas
(Read on pg 46, Aa’id Abdullah al Qarni, Thirty Lessons For Those Who Fast. Message of Islam. UK:1999.)