Mother

In the name of Allah, The Most Merciful, The Most Gracious

My mother had only one eye,

I hated her as I was ashamed of her

She was a cook in the school cafeteria where I studied.

---

One day, when I saw still in a primary class,

She came to visit me to see for herself that I was all right.

I was very upset, how dare she do this to me?

After that incident I ignored her & looked on her

Only with hateful eyes….

The next day, a fellow-student told me,

"oohhh, your mother has only one eye!"

At that moment, I wanted to crawl under the floor

And that my mother would be out of my life completely.

The next day I went to meet her & to tell here:

" because of you I am the joke at school,

Why don't you die and go away!?

But, she did not respond….

I wasn't thinking and did not know what I was saying,

I was very angry.

I could not imagine

How she would react to my remarks.

And, I left town.

---

I studied relentlessly and obtained a scholarship

to continue my studies abroad.

In fact, I completed my studies, got married, bought a house and set up my family.

I lived a happy and a peaceful life.

---

One day, my mother comes to visit me.

It has been many years since she had disappeared,

She had never met here grand-children.

She remained at the doorstep

While my children were making fun of her

I shouted at her: " How date you come all the way here and frighten my kids?!

With a calm voice she responded:

"I apologize, I am at the wrong address."

And she disappeared.

---

One day, I received an invitation from my hometown school to attend a reunion under the " close family ties " topic

I lied to my wife and made her believe that

I was traveling for business.

After the reunion I stopped by the house

where I grew up

The neighbours informed me that

my mother had passed away.

I did not shed even one drop of tear!!!

---

The neighbor handed me a letter

that my mother had left for me

"My Dear son, I always thought of you."

I regret having visited you abroad

And frightened your kids

…I was very pleased when I heard that

you would come to attend the reunion

…The only thing was that I could not get up

from my bed to come and see you….

… I am broken-hearted that I brought

shame to you on numerous occasions…

…Did you know that when you were a baby

you had an accident and lost your one eye?...

… and, as any other mother would,

I would not let you grow up with only one eye….

So. I gave you my eye……..

I was very proud and happy to know that my son would be able to see the world with my eye

… with all my love…

…Your mother….

---

The Last and final Messenger of Allah swt, Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him said.

'It is one of the greatest sins that a man should curse his parents.'

(Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 8.4 Narrated by Abdullah bin Amr)

Allah swt says: Your Lord has enjoined the following: You should not worship anyone but Him Alone! Treat your parents with great kindness; if either or both of them attain old age, do not even say 'uff' to them; nor rebuke them; but speak to them kind words. Treat them with humility and tenderness and pray, "O our Lord, be merciful to them, just as they brought me up with kindness and affection in my childhood."

Holy Quran Chapter 17 Surah Bani Israel verses 23-24

Life Quotes

Learn as if you were going to live forever. Live as if you were going to die tomorrow.

Life is not a static thing.
The only people who do not change their minds are incompetents in asylums,
and those in cemeteries.


Parents learn a lot from their children about coping with life.

There is properly no history; only biography.


Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love
the questions themselves. Live the questions now.
Perhaps you will find them gradually, without noticing it,
live along some distant day into the answer.


True, we love life, not because we are used to living,
but because we are used to loving. There is always some madness in love,
but there is also always some reason in madness


Biography is the only true history.


Every life has a story.


If you don't know [your family's] history, then you don't know anything.
You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree.


Life is just one damned thing after another.


Just as a tree without roots is dead, a people without history or culture also becomes a dead people.


You are the same today that you are going to be five years from now except for two things:
the people with whom you associate and the books you read.


Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told, 'I am with you kid Let's go!'

The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes,
flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you.
Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes,
certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.


Desire is half of life, indifference is half of death.


You should always learn, with life comes wisdom and with wisdom comes the courage
to live your life selflessly. The more you learn about yourself and the experiences
surrounding your life the more opportunities you have to make your life better and more fulfilling.


Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.


Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life.


We are the hero of our own story.

There are three ingredients to the good life; learning, earning, and yearning.

Life in abundance comes only through great love.

Life without love is like a tree without blossom and fruit.

Life is what happens to you while you're working for your future.

Life is pain, princess. . . anyone who says differently is selling something


All stories teach us something, and promise us something,
whether they're true or invented, legend or fact


History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.

Love absolutely everything that ever happens in your life


Many of life's circumstances are created by three basic choices:
the disciplines you choose to keep, the people you choose to be with;
and, the laws you choose to obey.


You only live once, but if you work it right, once is enough.


There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle
The other is as though everything is a miracle.

Ars Longa, Vita Brevis - Art (is) Long, Life (is) Short


How could there be any question of acquiring or possessing,
when the one thing needful for a man is to become --
to be at last, and to die in the fullness of his being.


The notion of looking on at life has always been hateful to me.
What am I if I am not a participant? In order to be, I must participate.


You owe it to yourself to be the best you can possibly be - in baseball and in life.
- Pete Rose -

Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death.


When people search for "Life Quotes" they are often looking for quotes about life.
Why do the major search engines only give them hundreds of pages of
commercial garbage about Life Insurance Quotes?


And did you get what you wanted in this life even so?
I did And what is it you wanted?
To call myself beloved To feel myself beloved on the earth.


Don't sacrifice your life to work and ideals.
The most important things in life are human relations.
I found that out too late.

BAHLOOL PROVES THE THREE FACTS: -

Abu Hanifa was once teaching Islamic beliefs to his students. He was arguing and challenging the validity of some of the statements which had been proclaimed by Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (a) Bahlool happened to be present as well. Abu Hanifa proclaimed that he could not agree with the three understated statements as made by the Imam.

The first one was that "Allah can never be seen." According to Abu Hanifa it was impossible for a thing to exist and yet be invisible! The second things that the Imam had stated was that "Satan (devil) will be thrown in the inferno of Hell which will scorch him bitterly." Abu Hanifa argued: "How was it possible for fire to hurt 'fire', the fact that Satan was created from fire itself!"

The third statement of the Imam was that "Man alone is responsible for his actions and Allah - the most powerful - has nothing to do with his actions." "How is it possible, when Allah alone guides the destiny of man without Whose will nothing can happen?" This was Abu Hanifa's third challenge.

As soon as the speaker, Abu Hanifa, had made these three criticisms, Bahlool got up, took a piece of brick and aiming at Hanifa, let it go and cracked Abu Hanifa head.

Bahlool was caught and taken before the Caliph for punishment. In his defence, he pleaded that he had done nothing else except reply to the three criticisms which Abu Hanifa had made against the Imam.

The Caliph asked him to explain as to how and why he chose to reply by hitting and injuring Abu Hanifa. Bahlool said, "This man claims that if God is there, then he must be seen. He is now complaining of pain in his head due to the brick having hurt him. If the pain is definitely there, can he show me where it is? Well! just as pain can be there without being seen Allah also exists without being seen."

"Secondly, he says that fire cannot burn fire. It is a fact that man is made out of clay and this brick with which I hit his head is also made out of clay, if clay can inflict pain and hurt clay, why can't fire do the same to fire?"

"The third thing he says is that man is not responsible for his own actions but Allah does all things. If this is so, then why does he want justice from you and why does he want me to be punished for hurting him? He might as well transfer the punishment to Allah Who, according to him - is responsible for all the actions of man!"
Everyone in the court was stunned at this and Abu Hanifa was dumb founded - having nothing to say. So Bahlool was released without any punishment.

Thus, while some Muslim sects believe that Allah can be seen, perhaps on the Day of Judgement, the Shia Muslims say that Allah is the creator of everything; He was not created and as such he has no body like us that can be seen. If we can still believe in unseen things like air, electricity and human soul, why can't we believe in the unseen God?

If we are responsible for our actions and are to be punished or rewarded accordingly, then it is only fair and just that Allan should not manipulate or compel us to do things but leave us alone to act the way we see it fit, and be answerable for those actions ourselves.

SHE HAD TRUE FAITH

Abu Baseer was once in the company of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (a) when a woman came and said to the Imam, "I have come to ask a question. I am ill. Physicians in Iraq have told me to take liquor. Now I want to know what to do in such circumstances?"
The Imam asked her, "Why don't you drink what the doctors have prescribed for you?"

She replied, "As I am your follower, I shall obey what you say. If you permit me, I shall drink it; if not, I shall keep away from it; so that if I am asked by the Almighty Allah on the Day of Judgement why I did so, I shall reply that I followed the instructions of the Imam of the day."

Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (a) turned to Abu Baseer and said: "O Abu Baseer. Did you listen to what this woman has to say? Are you not moved by her faith? Inspite of her illness, she is refraining from taking liquor without the Imam's permission."

The Imam then turned to the woman and said, "By Allah, I do not permit you to drink. If you do so, you shall be sorry when your soul reaches your throat (that is at the time of death)".

So saying the Imam pointed at her throat; and asked her three times if she understood what he had said. The woman nodded her head.

One of the things which Islam has strongly forbidden is the taking of any intoxicating drink, like beer, wine. They are harmful to the body and mind. Under their influence one loses one's senses and is apt to commit criminal acts. We read of fatal accidents and crimes committed because of drinks.

Even trading in liquor and sitting in bars where people are drinking are also forbidden in Islam so that there is no temptation in the way of people to taking them.

The Holy Qur'an says, "O Believers, Intoxicants and games of chance, idols and divining arrows, are abominations devised by Satan. Avoid them, so that you may prosper. Satan desires to stir up enmity and hatred among you by means of intoxicants and gambling, and to keep you from the remembrance of Allah and from your prayers. Will you not abstain from them?" (Chapter 5, Verses 90, 91)

The above verses from the Qur'an warn us of the effects of drinking. The first Imam, Ali (a), said, "Suppose a drop of liquor is put in a well and from its water a land is irrigated. Grass grows on the land and a sheep grazes there. That sheep then gets mixed in a flock of other sheep who have grazed elsewhere. If all the sheep are slaughtered making it difficult to identify the meat of the sheep who had grazed on a land which was irrigated from the water of the well, then I shall not eat any of that meat."

Thus Imam Ali (a) has emphasized the evil of alcohol.
For the sake of our own physical, mental and spiritual welfare, we should always keep away from drinks.

AHLEY BAIT AT MUBAHALA

In the south of Arabia, there is a place called Najran. There lived the Christian tribe of Najran who staunchly believed that Prophet Isa (a) i.e. Jesus was the son of God. The Prophet invited them to accept Islam. In response to that, a delegation of their priests and elders came to Madina. They wanted to discuss religion with the Holy Prophet Prophet Muhammad (s).

Their argument was that Jesus was born without a father, so he was the son of God. The Holy Prophet explained to them that just as Allah created Prophet Adam without a father or even a mother, in the same way He created Jesus without a father.

Hence Jesus was a servant of Allah as was Prophet Adam. The Christians did not agree with this simple truth. They stuck to their belief that Jesus was the son of God. The Prophet asked them to wait. Then came the following Revelation (message from Allah):

"O Messenger! If they dispute with you in this matter after the knowledge has come to you, then, say, 'Come, let us call our sons and your sons, and our women and your women, and our souls and your souls. Then let us earnestly invoke and lay the malison (curse) of Allah on those who lie". (Quran: Sura Ale lmran - verse 60)

It was then agreed that the Christians seek MUBAHALA with the Prophet. The meaning of MUBAHALA is that both of them invoke from Allah that he, who speaks the truth may survive and he, who is untrue may perish.

On the day of Mubahala, the Prophet of Islam took with him his grandsons - Imam Hasan (a) and Imam Husain (a), his daughter Fatima Zehra (a) and his cousin and son-in-law Imam Ali (a). But on seeing the radiant faces of these sinless members of the household of the Prophet, the Christians got scared. They decided not to seek Mubahala any more but accepted their defeat. They agreed to pay tribute and returned home.
The Prophet, before going for Mubahala, was commanded by Allah to take with him his sons, his women and his souls. The Holy Prophet obeyed this command as under:

In place of his sons, he took with him Imam Hasan (a) and Imam Husain (a). In place of women, he took Fatima Zahra (a). In place of his souls, he took Imam Ali (a).
This is how he showed to the world who the true and real members of his Ahlul Bait (People of the House of Prophet) were. To love them has been obligatory (wajib) command of Allah on every Muslim. The Holy Quran says:

"Say, I do not ask for return of this (messengership) from you except that you love (my) relatives." (Sura As-shura - Verse 23)
The Prophet and his Ahlul Bait sacrificed all the worldly comforts and even their lives in order to convey the true religion of Islam to us. In return of their sacrifices, we are commanded by God to love them. The aim is that through their love, we follow their footsteps. We follow the true teachings of Islam taught by them, so that we live a good and decent life in this world and earn the pleasure of God in the life hereafter.

AL-QUR'AN - THE GREAT AND HOLY BOOK

About a hundred years ago, England had a powerful Prime Minister. He was a Christian to a high section of the Anglican Church. His name was Gladstone. One day in the year 1882, he was speaking in the British Parliament on how to weaken the power of Muslims in Egypt so that the British could continue to rule over them.

At one stage he raised a copy of the Holy Qur'an in his hand and said that so long as this book remained with the Muslims in that country and they respected and followed it, the British would never be able to dominate them. He added that the only solution was to try and separate the Holy Qur'an from the Muslims of Egypt.

At the end of the speech; a committee was formed to decide upon ways and means of carrying out Gladstone's recommendation. The committee resolved to send some experts to Egypt who would launch a campaign which would weaken the faith of people and make them suspicious of the truth of the Holy Qur'an. The aim was to discourage people to refer to the Holy Book and gradually make them turn against the Islamic way of life.

In the course of this political and vicious programme, a learned man by the name of Dunlop was sent to Egypt as a teacher. He prepared many books containing lessons which were nothing but propaganda in disguise. One of the lessons on history was based on showing how Egypt was lagging behind and was not making progress because of Islam and the Qur'an. It alleged that people of Egypt were much more civilized prior to the coming of Islam.
Such ill-intentioned programme first succeeded to a small extent in influencing the youths at schools.

Then the Holy men of Al-Azhar university protested to the authorities and demanded that an end be put to it.
Now let us find out what are the qualities of this book which the enemies wished to remove from the Muslims.

The Holy Book is known as Al-Qur'an which means 'The Reading', the reading of the Prophet of Islam who never went to any school. Prophet Muhammad (s) had retired to a cave on Mount Hira not far from Mecca. One day Angel Jibrail (Gabriel) came to him and said "Read". The Holy Prophet said: "What should I recite?" Jibrail said: "Read in the name of thy Lord, who created; created man out of a mere clot of congealed blood; read; and thy Lord is most bountiful; He who taught (The use of) pen; taught man that which he did not know".

The Holy Qur'an as word of God, the Almighty, as revealed to his Prophet Muhammad (s) This book gives guidance for our daily life. It appeals to our power of reasoning, and exhorts us to follow the commands of Allah. It is a living miracle of Prophet Muhammad (s), the last of the Prophets who came from God. It is not surprising at all that this Holy Book has remained intact for the last 1400 years. And it shall remain so till the Day of Judgement, for Allah has taken it on himself to protect it.

"Surely we have sent down the reminder (The Qur'an) and we will most surely be its guardian (Sura Al-Hijr -verse 9)
The Qur'an is divided into 114 chapters (Suras). There are in it 6226 verses (Ayats) containing 99,464 words made up of 330,110 letters.

Imam Ja'far Sadiq (a) has said that one should at least recite 50 Ayats everyday. Let us, therefore, value and respect this Great Book by reading it with understanding and follow its teachings....May Allah grant us to follow the right path of ISLAM...Ameen.