Friday Nasiha

Living The Quran

Initiative
Al-Imran (House of Imran) - Chapter 3: Verse 133

"Be quick in the race for forgiveness from your Lord, and for a Garden whose width is that (of the whole) of the heavens and of the earth, prepared for the righteous."

There is a big difference between production speed and productivity. Hastiness is blameworthy. We can hardly find the word used in the Quran without a negative connotation attached to it. However, being quick to act is not the same as hastiness. Allah praises those who show initiative in the above verse.

Being quick here refers to taking initiative and getting things done instead of dragging your feet and procrastinating. This is not to be confused with hastiness, which is to try and get too many things done in too little time, which is the inevitable result of poor planning and procrastination.

Compiled From:
"Appealing to 'Patience' to Deny People’s Rights" - Salman al-Oadah

Understanding The Prophet's Life

Honouring Guests

Khalid ibn Amr relates that he heard the Messenger of God, the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: He who believes in God and the Last Day should honour his guest as he deserves.

He was asked: ‘And what does he deserve, O Messenger of God?' and he answered:

"A day and a night of what he deserves, and hospitality for three days. More than this is charity." (Bukhari, Muslim).

As the above-mentioned Hadith indicates, guests are to be welcomed. But this openness and generosity should not be abused so as to be a burden on the hosts.

This factor should be taken into consideration for those of us who come from families back home who may not be well off financially. We should act wisely and judge for ourselves how long is too long for our hosts. 

Compiled From:
"Etiquette guide for being the ideal guest" - Abdul Malik Mujahid

Cool Tips!

Sense of Humour

One of the best things you can do for yourself when you fail is to learn to laugh. I love the comment made by a humourist who said he spoke for an organization where they always rated the previous meeting's speaker in their program using little bells. Speakers who received a standing ovation got four bells next to their name. Those who were above average got three. Merely average speakers got two bells, and poor speakers got one. The humourist said that when he spoke to them several months ago, they awarded him the no-bell prize.

There isn't a person alive who wouldn't benefit from a good laugh, especially when he's done something really stupid. When you take your mistakes too seriously, then everything seems to become life-and-death. When that happens, you sure die a lot. The way to solve that is to keep your sense of humour no matter how bad things get.

Compiled From:
"The Difference Maker" - John C. Maxwell, p. 156