Friday Nasiha

Living The Quran

Al-Insan (Humans)
Chapter 76: Verse 3

We Choose, the Power is Ours!
"We showed him the way: whether he be grateful or ungrateful (rests on his will)."

Satan tries to convince us that we are just pawns in a plan that will play itself out. Allah is the Creator of all things, including men, women and their actions. We are the 'doers' of our actions, i.e. we choose to do certain things and not to do certain things.

While Allah has the power to control our actions, He has given us guidance and left it up to us to follow it. Once we realize that we choose our actions, it only makes sense that we are accountable for what we do.

Dupe Check

With Satan constantly attacking us, we need to check our choices so we please Allah and make it to paradise. How do we know if we are on track or headed for a wreck? We should always keep ourselves in check.

But as the saying goes, 'no one can be their own best critic'. That's why it's important to receive critiques from others with an open mind. No one likes to hear they're doing something wrong, but we should take every opportunity we can to hold ourselves to account before we are held accountable by the All Seeing, All Hearing and All Knowing God.

Compiled From:
"Don't Be Duped!" - Young Muslims Publications

From Issue: 537 [Read original issue]

Understanding The Prophet's Life

Beautiful Thoughts

The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) once stated that, "a believer’s silence should be reflection (tafakkur) and his speaking should be wisdom." [Musnad]

Taking this radiant statement into consideration, we can say that thinking, imagining, and shooting for good things will be counted as worship for a believer. Even though busying ourselves with seemingly impossible thoughts normally means wasting our energy, if a person cherishes a wish to transform the color and pattern of the world into a more beautiful and vivid one, even the dreams and imaginings of that person will take on a hue of worship. Thus, what befalls on believers is to become oriented to such beautiful considerations and lead their lives accordingly.

Someone’s turning his life into a delightful melody and spending his life as if he were walking through the corridors of Paradise depends on his thinking beautifully. However, one’s thoughts also could take people to negative ways, such as hedonism and bohemianism, unless he uses it in a positive way. Also, even imaginings and conceptions that are not channeled toward goodness can make one face such negativities. For this reason, believers must continuously be preoccupied with thoughts that take root in their values, overflow with them, continuously read and think, and feed on their essential sources without leaving any voids in their life. At the same time, they must give their willpower its due to such an extent that they always remain close to the feelings and thoughts that are not granted a visa by their pure conscience.

If they are prone to negative winds in spite of all their efforts, they should — as advised by the Messenger of God — try to free themselves from that atmosphere immediately. Otherwise, a person who sets sail into dreams that might corrupt the purity of his mind sometimes may go too far and not have the opportunity to return to the shore (of safety). Therefore, if one does not control the feelings of grudge, hatred, vengeance, and lust, they might break down barriers and thereby cause them to take wrong decisions and commit evil acts. One must give their willpower its due on one hand and ask protection from God on the other. Those who can achieve this will lead their lives in a greenhouse of Divine protection. But still one should never forget that even the most upright people might topple over, and thus we must never give up our vigilance. When we stumble and lose our balance, we must turn to our Lord and ardently pray like our forefather Prophet Adam did, then straighten up, and turn toward Him again.

Compiled From:
"Chastity of Thoughts" - Fethullah Gulen

From Issue: 891 [Read original issue]

Cool Tips!

Buddies and Bullies

A lot of times, when a parent or teacher tells a kid that they are using words to hurt and/or scare another kid, they try to pass off their remarks as just jokes. "I'm only teasing her," you hear bullies say. But hurtful cracks are some of the cruelest weapons that bullies can use against a helpless kid.

Sure, I understand that everybody jokes around. And there's nothing wrong with having fun with your friends. None of us wants to be too sensitive. There's nothing wrong with being able to take a joke.

But everyone needs to know the difference between "good" teasing and "bad" teasing. There are some very clear ways you can tell the difference between jokes among buddies and harmful insults from bullies.

Buddies:

• Joke around in ways that make you both laugh.
• Don'ts joke to hurt your feelings on purpose.
• Stop joking if they think they might hurt your feelings.
• Don't get angry if you joke back with them.

Bullies:

• Always use jokes to hurt you.
• Refuse to allow you to joke in return.
• Keep insulting you even after they know they have hurt your feelings.
• Often get upset when you ignore their jokes.

Compiled From:
"Life Strategies for Dealing with Bullies" - Jay McGraw, pp. 21, 22

From Issue: 738 [Read original issue]