Different between Heaven and Hell

A holy man was having a conversation with God one day and said,
' God , I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.'

God led the holy man to two doors.

He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in.

In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water.

The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished.

They were holding spoons with very long handles, that were strapped to their arms and each found it impossible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful.

But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.

The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.

God said, 'You have seen Hell.'

They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one.

There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man's mouth water.

The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking. The holy man said, 'I don't understand..'

It is simple,' said God . 'It requires but one skill.

You see they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves..

Moral: you can conclude yourself... 

Source: Unknown

Nourishment

A Masjid goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to mosque every Friday.

“I’ve gone for 30 years now,” he wrote, “and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So, I think I’m wasting my time and the Imaams are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all.”

This started a real controversy in the ‘Letters to the Editor’ column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

“I’ve been married for 37 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals, But I do know this… They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today.

Likewise, if I had not gone to mosque for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!’ When you are DOWN to nothing…. Allah is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible! Thank Allah for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!”


@Reposted from Islamicthinking.info

Alone and Still Alone...

Yesterday has gone with the wind.
Today is kissing my mortal eyes.
Tomorrow is knocking at my door.
Day after tomorrow
May be I would be no more.

I was alone before.
I am alone today.
And I would be alone thereafter.

People come and go.
Meet and greet.
Weep and smile.
Speak and listen.
Then leave with a fake smile.
And disappear
In the mist of unreliable time.

What remains in the end
Is nothing
But
ME for Me..!
(alone)

The Silent Bayaan (Sermon)

A member of a certain mosque, who previously had started attending the mosque to perform his Salaah (prayer), suddenly stopped attending. After a few weeks, the imam decided to visit him.

It was a chilly evening. The imam found the man alone at home, sitting before a blazing fire.  Guessing the reason for his imam’s visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace…and waited.

The imam made himself at home but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the dance of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, the imam took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone, then he sat
back in his chair, still silent.

The host watched all this in quiet contemplation. As the one lone ember’s flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more.  Soon it was cold and dead.

Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting.  The imam glanced at his watch and realized it was time to leave.  He slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow, once more with the light and warmth of the
burning coals around it.

As the imam reached the door to leave, his host said with a tear running down his cheek, ‘Shukran for your visit and especially for the firey sermon. I will be attending mosque again tomorrow starting with the Fajr Salaah, InshaAllah’.
قُلْ هَٰذِهِ سَبِيلِي أَدْعُو إِلَى اللَّهِ ۚ عَلَىٰ بَصِيرَةٍ أَنَا وَمَنِ اتَّبَعَنِي ۖ وَسُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَمَا أَنَا مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ
Say, “This is my way; I invite to Allah with insight, I and those who follow me. And exalted is Allah ; and I am not of those who associate others with Him.” (Quran 12:108)
Our best Dawah (invitation to Islam) is our example. Our actions speak louder than words. We live in a world today, which tries to say too much with too little. Consequently, few listen.  Sometimes the best bayaans (sermons) are the ones “given silently”.

@Repost from http://www.islamicthinking.info

Someone you can count on...

Knowing there is another human being you can trust completely. Realizing that someone else wants the best for you too. Providing a peace full environment where the you can be relaxed and feel safe. If you feel that way then you have got what you have been looking for "A True Friend".
In my case I am blessed with not just one but two person who I can count on, who I can call my "True Friends".
You know after searching all over the world, once in a great while, we meet someone who turns out to be an especially good friend(s) and stands out above all the rest like my true friends:). My friends are like my kenzoku(Japanese word which translated literally means "family.").

Now the only question that you guys would be thinking right now that what defines a true friendship, well let me tell you about them.
Based on my opinion there are only three things that defines a "True Friend".
1) A true friend should be commitment to your happiness, someone is willing to put your happiness before your friendship. True friend should not lack the mercy to correct you when you're wrong.

2) A true friend shouldn't compromise your principles in the name of your friendship.

3) A true friend should be good influence on you.

These are the things that defines a True Friendship and I am very blessed to have friends who have these qualities.

So do you have a best friend who means the world to you? If so, then you should not let another day go by without letting them know how much you care :).


Dedicated to all my friends specially Adella and Joni :)

The hardest thing to do is letting go...

Sometimes in life we have to end relationships that we would rather not end. When we truly have loved someone with everything inside of us, letting go of that person does not even seem reasonable. Letting go may consist of getting over a bad childhood that brought us tremendous pain, being a victim of rape or another kind of abuse, or losing a close loved one. Sometimes we just have to let go of that person or situation because that pain is taking us farther away from our life's pursuit of happiness, whether you realize when you need to or not.

In order to let go we must first let go emotionally. Crying and laughing are some good ways to let go of the past, using each tear to remove the emotional pain, and each laugh to spark a feeling of happiness. We must forgive and release any ill feelings towards anyone involved into what we just let go of. Last but not least we must remember to bless whoever was involved in whatever situation we let go of, and not to hold any negative feelings towards them, as this will take you farther in life than you may ever know.

The story of the butterfly...

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly.
One day a small opening
appeared.
He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours
as it
struggled to squeeze its body through the tiny hole.
Then it stopped, as if
it couldn't go further.
So the man decided to help the butterfly.
He took a pair of scissors and
snipped off the remaining bits of
cocoon.
The butterfly emerged easily but
it had a swollen body and
shriveled wings.
The man continued to watch it,
expecting that any minute the wings would
enlarge
and expand enough to support the body,
Neither happened!
In
fact the butterfly spent the rest of its life
crawling around.
It was
never able to fly.
What the man in his kindness
and haste did not understand:
The
restricting cocoon and the struggle
required by the butterfly to get through
the opening
was a way of forcing the fluid from the body
into the wings so
that it would be
ready for flight once that was achieved.
Sometimes struggles are exactly
what we need in our lives.
Going
through life with no obstacles would cripple us.
We will not be as strong as
we could have been
and we would never fly.