Friday Nasiha

Living The Quran

Repel the Evil with Good
Al-Rad (Thunder) Chapter 13: Verse 22 (Partial)

"... and (those who) repel the evil with good."

This phrase has several meanings:

• Whatever evil people have done, or whatever sin they have committed, they repel (its effect) immediately by repentance.
• Whatever evil they have done, they immediately do a good deed in atonement for it.
• They repel the evil done to them by doing good to those who did evil to them.
• "When they are deprived (of anything), they give; and when they are wronged, they forgive."

Fethullah Gulen writes about this matter:

The most distinctive feature of a soul overflowing with faith is to love all types of love that are expressed in deeds, and to feel enmity for all deeds in which enmity is expressed. To hate everything is a sign of insanity or of infatuation with Satan.

Accept how God treats you. Make it the measure by which you treat others, so that you may represent the truth among them, and be free from the fear of loneliness in either world.

Compiled From:
"The Quran: Annotated Interpretation in Modern English" - Ali Unal, p. 506

Understanding The Prophet's Life

Productive Morning

Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) asked Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala) to bless us in the early morning hours, he said: “O Allah, bless my Ummah in its early hours” [Tirmidhi]

If you find yourself not doing much during Ramadan because you’re tired most of the time or feel sleepy because you’re fasting, here’s a little cool productivity tip to get lots of work done during a Ramadan day:

Get ONE of your most important tasks done first thing in the morning right after fajr prayer.

Here are 2 reasons why this technique would work:

1. You just had suhoor before fajr, therefore, your energy levels should be at its highest (note: assuming here that you have suhoor as late as possible).

3. If you get this ONE important task done after fajr, guess how you’ll feel rest of the day? Super productive! This feeling will propel you to be productive rest of your day and just hack through your workload so effortlessly!

Compiled From:
ProductiveRamadan.com, ProductiveMuslim

Blindspot!

Civilizations

The civilization of unbelievers is mostly founded upon five negative principles:

1. It is based upon power, and power is inclined toward oppression.
2. It seeks to realize individual self-interest, even though this causes people to rush about madly trying to earn possessions.
3. It considers life as a struggle, which causes internal and external conflict.
4. It unifies through national and/or racial separatism, and feeds this selfish solidarity by swallowing the resources and territories of "others," both of which engender terrible conflict.
5. It strives to satisfy novel caprices or aroused desires (whether the satisfaction is real or not), and so brutalizes people's tastes and aspirations.

Islamic civilization on the other hand is founded upon five positive principles:

1. It rests upon right (not power), which requires justice and balance.
2. It encourages virtue, which spurs mutual affection and love.
3. It considers life as consisting of mutual help, which leads to unity and solidarity.
4. It unifies people through a common religion in a common state, leading them to internal peace, and brotherhood and sisterhood, and it creates a willing self-defence against external enemies, guiding people to the truth.
5. It elevates people, through knowledge and moral perfection, to higher ranks of humanity.

Compiled From:
The Words, "The 12th Word," Said Nursi, p. 147