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Monday, July 27, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Repayment.
This story was mailed to me by a friend. It is an interesting story:
A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art.
When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.
About a month later, just before eedil -kareem, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands.
He said, "Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your love for art." The young man held out this package. "I know this isn't much. I'm not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this."
The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. "Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It's a gift."
The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.
The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection.
On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel. "We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?"
There was silence.
Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, "We want to see the famous paintings! Skip this one."
But the auctioneer persisted. "Will somebody bid for this painting. Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?"
Another voice angrily. "We didn't come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Goghs, the Rembrandts. Get on with the real bids!"
But still the auctioneer continued. "The son! The son! Who'll take the son?"
Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. "I'll give $10 for the painting." Being a poor man, it was all he could afford.
"We have $10, who will bid $20?"
"Give it to him for $10. Let's see the masters.."
"$10 is the bid, won't someone bid $20?"
The crowd was becoming angry. They didn't want the picture of the son.
They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections.
The auctioneer pounded the gavel. "Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!"
A man sitting on the second row shouted, "Now let's get on with the collection!"
The auctioneer laid down his gavel. "I'm sorry, the auction is over."
"What about the paintings?"
"I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings.
The man who took the son gets everything!"
Allah gave His Quran hundred of years ago to guide us. Much like the auctioneer, His message today is: "The Quran, the Quran,who'll take the Quran?"
Because, you see, whoever takes the Quran gets everything
A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art.
When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.
About a month later, just before eedil -kareem, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands.
He said, "Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your love for art." The young man held out this package. "I know this isn't much. I'm not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this."
The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. "Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It's a gift."
The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.
The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection.
On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel. "We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?"
There was silence.
Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, "We want to see the famous paintings! Skip this one."
But the auctioneer persisted. "Will somebody bid for this painting. Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?"
Another voice angrily. "We didn't come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Goghs, the Rembrandts. Get on with the real bids!"
But still the auctioneer continued. "The son! The son! Who'll take the son?"
Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. "I'll give $10 for the painting." Being a poor man, it was all he could afford.
"We have $10, who will bid $20?"
"Give it to him for $10. Let's see the masters.."
"$10 is the bid, won't someone bid $20?"
The crowd was becoming angry. They didn't want the picture of the son.
They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections.
The auctioneer pounded the gavel. "Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!"
A man sitting on the second row shouted, "Now let's get on with the collection!"
The auctioneer laid down his gavel. "I'm sorry, the auction is over."
"What about the paintings?"
"I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings.
The man who took the son gets everything!"
Allah gave His Quran hundred of years ago to guide us. Much like the auctioneer, His message today is: "The Quran, the Quran,who'll take the Quran?"
Because, you see, whoever takes the Quran gets everything
Serving humanity.
One day, a few years ago, my respected Sheikh, Saeed Ali let me read a letter he wrote to a fellow murid brother. The letter touched me greatly. Although I do not have a copy of that letter, the contents of the letter made a marked impression on me and I up to this day remember the contents, and will Allah willing I will relate them;
“Take the example of a tree, a tree bears fruit, it gives shade and acts as a barrier. Mankind benefits from the fruit and the shade, but does the tree eat its own fruit? Does it benefit from its own shade? No. It just serves and provides humankind but does not benefit itself. So we should become like the tree, by caring and doing for others, selfless service to human beings.
Take the example of water, people wash and cleanse themselves with water, we drink water to quench our thirst. Ships ride on water, we benefit from using water, in fact we cannot live without water, but does water benefit from its own properties?, no. So we must become like water, serving mankind and animals, again this is selfless service to humanity.”
I once mentioned this to a Turkish friend of mine, this had made an impression on him too. After a few days he called me and had added another aspect in our discussion. He said “we should study a burning candle, a candle “burns” and destroys itself by giving light to others. So we should become like a candle, even if we cause ourselves pain by benefiting others, that too is selfless service to humanity”
How beautiful.
“Take the example of a tree, a tree bears fruit, it gives shade and acts as a barrier. Mankind benefits from the fruit and the shade, but does the tree eat its own fruit? Does it benefit from its own shade? No. It just serves and provides humankind but does not benefit itself. So we should become like the tree, by caring and doing for others, selfless service to human beings.
Take the example of water, people wash and cleanse themselves with water, we drink water to quench our thirst. Ships ride on water, we benefit from using water, in fact we cannot live without water, but does water benefit from its own properties?, no. So we must become like water, serving mankind and animals, again this is selfless service to humanity.”
I once mentioned this to a Turkish friend of mine, this had made an impression on him too. After a few days he called me and had added another aspect in our discussion. He said “we should study a burning candle, a candle “burns” and destroys itself by giving light to others. So we should become like a candle, even if we cause ourselves pain by benefiting others, that too is selfless service to humanity”
How beautiful.
Meraaj.
When it comes to the month of Rajab, we normally observe the night of Meraaj. This was the night of the journey made by our noble Prophet (SAW) from Mecca to Jerusalem, and from there to the seventh heaven. We are told by the historians that the journey was a short one, and that when the noble Prophet (SAW) returned, his bed was still warm and that the key hanging in the door was still swinging. Looking at the personality of the noble Prophet (SAW), his high status and his being created from the nur of Allah, I have concluded and this is my opinion, Allah forgive me if I am wrong. I believe that the noble Prophet (SAW) is the soul of the universe. When we die our soul leaves our body, and that is the end of this wordly life. The noble Prophet is the soul of the universe, so during the night of Meraj his personality had left the domain of the universe and traveled to the domain of the heavens. Thus this world as we know it stopped, Think of a battery operated watch. If we remove the watch battery at say 10:00am, and put the battery back after 2 hours the watch would start ticking from 10:00am. Similarly the noble Prophet (SAW) who is the soul of the universe, when he returned to this world the world ‘became alive” again, thus his bed was still warm. How long was the Meraj?. Allah knows best, but it could have been for a short period or a very long period.
What are some of the lessons we learn from the night journey as it is referred to in the holy Quran? On the journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, angel Jiraeel stopped the buraq at the birth place of prophet Isa (AS) The place of the birth of prophet Isa (AS) is so blessed, what about the place where our noble master, our Prophet (SAW) was born?, surely that place must be more blessed, and what about the day of the birth of our noble Prophet (SAW), surely to celebrate his coming into this world must be a great and blessed occasion. We will discuss more lessons from the Meraaj later.
What are some of the lessons we learn from the night journey as it is referred to in the holy Quran? On the journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, angel Jiraeel stopped the buraq at the birth place of prophet Isa (AS) The place of the birth of prophet Isa (AS) is so blessed, what about the place where our noble master, our Prophet (SAW) was born?, surely that place must be more blessed, and what about the day of the birth of our noble Prophet (SAW), surely to celebrate his coming into this world must be a great and blessed occasion. We will discuss more lessons from the Meraaj later.
Accountability:
There was a king who had a brother whom he loved very dearly. When the king’s brother died, the king was very worried and concerned with what was going to happen to his brother once he was buried. So the king advertised for a person to go down with the body of his brother to see how his brother would be once the body was buried. Nobody was prepared to do this, even though the king promised a purse of 10 gold coins. At this time a very poor man had just come into the city and he had heard about the king’s offer. This man was very poor, he had no possessions, just a small bag with some clothes inside. He thought to himself, what have I got to loose, let me take up the kings offer so I could live a decent life with the money I would earn. So he accepted the offer. He was put into the grave with the king’s brother and he was provided with food, water and air. He was given a lamp too, so he could see in the dark. After the burial, when the two angels came into the grave, upon seeing this poor man, the angels said “who is this person? We were only commanded to interrogate the deceased person, but since he is here let us start with him” After a while the poor person gave a signal to be pulled out of the grave. Once he got out the king was waiting for him, “well. Said the king, how did it go?” The poor man said to the king “The angels interrogated me so harshly for this small bag of mine, with negligible content that I became scared and full of worry. I don’t know about your brother, but you can keep your gold coins, if I was interrogated in this way, I fear how you will be dealt with all your possessions, when you die and enter your grave”.
The moral of the story is that we have to account for all that we have acquired in this temporary world, so let us try and live a simple life, may Allah help us.
The moral of the story is that we have to account for all that we have acquired in this temporary world, so let us try and live a simple life, may Allah help us.
Sincerity.
I read this story years ago in a book by Imam Ghazzali (may Allah perfume his resting place);
There was a man who decided to join a Jihad, holy war. He spent a few months with an army of people fighting against the enemies of Islam. One night while sitting in his tent, somebody came to sell a article of clothing, the man thought to himself “let me buy this clothing , I can use it during the Jihad and after the Jihad I can sell it for a profit”. He thus purchased the article. That very same night he had a dream, he saw two angels, they were inspecting the people who were taking part in the Jihad, to see who had come for the pleasure of Allah, and who had come for other purposes. When they came to his tent, the one angel said to the other,” this man has joined the Jihad for business purposes, at this the man protested and said “ I have come for Allah’s pleasure”, but, did you not purchase an item today, to resell it after the Jihad for a profit, asked one of the angels. Yes said the man, but.., the other angel said to the first, let Allah decide, we shall report that this man initially came with a sincere intention, but later changed his intention for trading”. Thus we learn from this story that we must make a sincere intention in all our good deeds. Sheikh Abdul Qadir (RA) has taught us a beautiful dua;” Allahuma akhlis adyanana” Oh Allah grant us sincerity in our religious convictions.
There was a man who decided to join a Jihad, holy war. He spent a few months with an army of people fighting against the enemies of Islam. One night while sitting in his tent, somebody came to sell a article of clothing, the man thought to himself “let me buy this clothing , I can use it during the Jihad and after the Jihad I can sell it for a profit”. He thus purchased the article. That very same night he had a dream, he saw two angels, they were inspecting the people who were taking part in the Jihad, to see who had come for the pleasure of Allah, and who had come for other purposes. When they came to his tent, the one angel said to the other,” this man has joined the Jihad for business purposes, at this the man protested and said “ I have come for Allah’s pleasure”, but, did you not purchase an item today, to resell it after the Jihad for a profit, asked one of the angels. Yes said the man, but.., the other angel said to the first, let Allah decide, we shall report that this man initially came with a sincere intention, but later changed his intention for trading”. Thus we learn from this story that we must make a sincere intention in all our good deeds. Sheikh Abdul Qadir (RA) has taught us a beautiful dua;” Allahuma akhlis adyanana” Oh Allah grant us sincerity in our religious convictions.
The poor man of the desert.
Often we are told by people “what is the use of praying salaah, when your thoughts are elsewhere, Allah does not accept salaah with an absent mind.” This may be true, and yes we are all in that position, our salaah is not perfect, in fact it is far from perfect. We are weak and unmindful of our salaah, all kinds of thoughts come into our mind. But does mean that we should abandon performing our salaah?
One of our predecessors a great Sheikh has written an interesting book on salaah and in this book he starts of with a very interesting story, which I will relate;
There was a couple in a remote village, they were very, very poor. They worked hard and struggled to make a living. One day the wife said to the husband “over in the city, there is a king who I have heard is very kind to his subjects. Why don’t you make a journey to the city and ask the king for to help us?” The husband agreed, but he couldn’t go empty handed to the king, he had to take a gift with him. So they decided to take a sack of water as a gift. In those times, living in a desert, water was a very expensive commodity. So the poor man made his journey to the city walking through the desert with a sack of water on his back After a few days of the man reached the city and made his way to the kings palace. He was told to wait his turn to see the king. He saw many people ahead of him, they carried with them nice gifts for the king. He looked at his gift and by now the sack was dirty, he himself after a few days walking in the heat of the desert was also dirty. He felt a bit embarrassed and thought about turning back. Finally his turn arrived. He placed his gift in front of the king. The king was a very kind man, he accepted the gift and thanked the poor man. He instructed his people, to feed, bathe and clothe the poor man. He asked that the man be given a few gold coins, and instructed his people to take him by boat back to his village. The poor man became very happy. After a bath and a good meal he rested the night as a guest of the king, and in the morning he was taken back to his village by boat. As he sat on the boat and watched the water, he thought to himself “ I had brought a sack of water as a gift for the king, but he has a whole river full of water. Yet the king did not frown and accepted my gift with kindness and mercy, and he has given me so much”
The message in this story is that we must not despair of the mercy of Allah, surely Allah forgives sins altogether. The fact that we go for salaah and stand before Allah and glorify his praises, despite our weakness and our wandering minds. We have made wudhu and prepared to come before Allah, I do not think that Allah would turn us away, in His infinite mercy He will forgive us and overlook our mistakes and faults.
We all suffer from this problem of wandering thoughts, especially in salaah. Allah has shown us a way of having our salaah accepted. When we inspire another person to perform his/her salaah Allah gives us the reward of an accepted salaah, even though the person we have inspired to make salaah, doesn’t perform a perfect salaah.Intro
Salaams to all,
The Sarweri Qaderi Sufi Silsila is a well know body that was started in the 1980's. The head office is located in Mayfair, Johannesburg. The Khalifa of the organization is Sheikh Saeed Ali Chopdat, who oversees the many projects that the silsila has undertaken.
In the North West privince of South Africa, in the town of Potchefstroom in particular, the silsila was introduced by late brother Hanief Hasssim. He was instrumental in starting the silsila in Potch and the surrounding towns. May Allah perfume his resting place and grant him Jannatul Firdous in the hereafter. Thanks to his efforts and dedication we have come into the light of sufism, and we pray that Allah raises us spiritually and grants us His love and the love of those who love Him.
I will be posting some blogs about the late br Hanief and about the spiritual masters of the Sarweri Qaderi Silsila as well as other posts on Islam and sufism in general.
Your comments are always welcome.
The Sarweri Qaderi Sufi Silsila is a well know body that was started in the 1980's. The head office is located in Mayfair, Johannesburg. The Khalifa of the organization is Sheikh Saeed Ali Chopdat, who oversees the many projects that the silsila has undertaken.
In the North West privince of South Africa, in the town of Potchefstroom in particular, the silsila was introduced by late brother Hanief Hasssim. He was instrumental in starting the silsila in Potch and the surrounding towns. May Allah perfume his resting place and grant him Jannatul Firdous in the hereafter. Thanks to his efforts and dedication we have come into the light of sufism, and we pray that Allah raises us spiritually and grants us His love and the love of those who love Him.
I will be posting some blogs about the late br Hanief and about the spiritual masters of the Sarweri Qaderi Silsila as well as other posts on Islam and sufism in general.
Your comments are always welcome.
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