ADVICE FROM OUR PROPHET (SAAS)

Subject: ADVICE FROM OUR PROPHET (SAAS) Tue Sep 04, 2007 1:44 pm

ADVICE FROM OUR PROPHET (SAAS)

REGARDING FASTING, BROTHERHOOD AND PROPER MORAL VALUES DURING RAMADAN

Abandoning Worldly Appetites

The Qur'an says that the world has been adorned in such a way to separate true believers from insincere people: "We made everything on Earth adornment for it so that We could test them to see whose actions are the best" (Surat al-Kahf: 7). Another verse describes some of these adornments:

The love of worldly appetite appears fair in people's eyes, painted in glowing colors: women and children, heaped-up mounds of gold and silver, horses with fine markings, livestock, and fertile farmland. All of that is merely the enjoyment of the life of this world. The best homecoming is in Allah's presence. (Surah Al 'Imran: 14)

Each thing listed here was created as a blessing for humanity. However, it is up to individual human beings to realize that these blessings are from Allah and that they are obliged to thank Him and use them in ways designed to win His favor. Each blessing should draw people closer to Allah and lead them to give Him greater thanks and better appreciate His greatness, intelligence, artistry, infinite mercy, and generosity. Individuals should always be aware that He can remove all of these things whenever He wills and that, apart from Him, there is no power that can help them.

Those believers who are aware of this understand that, apart from Allah, they have no other friends, or helpers, and that only Allah protects and cares for them, gives them their blessings and daily bread, makes their work easier, and bolsters their heart with a sense of contentment and security. They are attached to Allah with such a deep love and unshakable trust that their greatest fear is that of failing to win His approval, pleasure, love, and friendship. Therefore, they avoid any action that might cause this by doing their best to please Him and conform to the Qur'an's moral teachings.

In accord with this sincerity, they use every blessing they have to win Allah's favor, friendship, and infinite mercy. Of course, all of the things listed above are blessings for believers; however, they are never more important than winning His approval. Believers are never greedy for such profits, for they would give up any one of them immediately in order to win His approval.

Some people measure self-sacrifice in terms of looking after their own needs, desires, and comfort before considering the well-being of others. But this view has nothing to do with the moral understanding of self-sacrifice described in the Qur'an. When these people say that they have been self-sacrificial in some things, they mean only with regard to things they do not need, things whose absence does not really trouble them. They may think they are being self-sacrificial, but the Qur'anic morality is being able to renounce all gain and give up without a second thought that which he/she loves the most:

Subject: Re: ADVICE FROM OUR PROPHET (SAAS) Tue Sep 04, 2007 4:00 pm

salam sister jan,

thank so much for the nice aticles and nice effort.

Keep it up

Thanks