Random

The weathers been Indian summer-like the past couple of days. Gorgeous! Unless of course you are stuck in a stuffy office, or having to rush to places....but oh so lovely for that long leisure walk thinking of nothing but the immediate present, feasting the eyes on places we never noticed before, until the bright glaring blessing of the light of the sun touched on it, giving it a golden glow and a whole new appearance; like that cherry tree ( i think its a cherry tree anyway) down by the community center, its branches of white blossom moving slightly in the almost non-existent breeze, all fluffy and reveling in the sun........

Yeah, so enough of the rambling trying to sound arty farty and romantic. The past months have just been absolutely worthless, and i'd been looking for something to give my Imaan a boost and to perk up my mood. So i tried to read more Islamic related books, and also some punchy novels by Ex-SAS author Chris Ryan, i tried to distract myself by tiring myself out on the old creaky treadmill in the spare bedroom...and OH YEAH i tried shopping of course. Which helped whilst i was window shopping and buying useless junk, but came home, upended the bags on my bed and thought: what on earth......
So going by instinct alone, i tried to concentrate on my 5 daily Salaah by taking my own sweet time in praying, no rushing, just nice and slow, concentrating on the meaning of what my tongue was well versed in uttering in Salaah before the Lord of the worlds, and every time i turned my head to the left, and said ' Assalamu Alaikum Warahmatullah' i truly felt the sweetness of praying my Salaah properly, i felt an inner peace and satisfaction and a sense of purpose. If i had nothing else to do, i had my religion. And Islam can be studied in many different ways. It isn't just becoming an aalima or aalim, its about reading and learning reliable material, digesting it and trying to bring it alive. Are you bored? frustrated? Got nothing to do but mope? Concentrate on your Salaah, and the sweetness of Salaah will enter you.

Flattery.... We as humans sometimes flatter people, or people flatter us. Excessive compliments, praising someone to their face about things other than good results in exams etc similar, its not encouraged in Islam. When someone flatters me, i feel pleased with myself and satisfied. And i imagine almost everyone else feels the same, unless they are truly God-fearing. Takabbur (self-pride) enters our hearts and Takabbur is severely disliked in Islam. Back to flattery, here is a hadith which shows how disliked flattery is in Islam:

When you face flatterers, throw dust in their faces.
(Muslim)

Say Masha'Allah and don't excessively flatter. InshAllah.
Duty calls.

Assalamu Alaikum Warahmatullah.