side by side

"Be very careful if you make a woman cry, because God counts her tears. The woman came out of a man's rib. Not from his feet to be walked on. Not from his head to be superior, but from his side to be equal. Under the arm to be protected, and next to the heart to be loved."

-Hebrew Talmud

THOU SHALT UNPLUG

There has been much talk and concern about the rise in Virtual addiction. Earlier today I was reading this article. And I agree to it that some of us (including myself) are too plugged in. Ask yourself, can you survive one day completely cut off from technology? Ok, one day is bearable but imagine one whole week disconnected from the internet; no web browsing, no polling of inbox, no blogging, no watching videos on youtube, no chatting, no facebook, no skimming through e- magazines and headlines; in short absolutely no web browsing. Yikes!

Allah helps those who help others

It was related on the authority of Abu Huraira (R.A), that the Prophet (P.B.U.H) said: "Whosoever removes a worldly grief from a believer, Allah will remove from him one of the griefs of the Day of Judgment. Whosoever alleviates [the lot of] a needy person, Allah will alleviate [his lot] in this world and the next. Whosoever shields a Muslim, Allah will shield him in this world and the next. Allah will aid a slave [of His] so long as the slave aids his brother. Whosoever follows a path to seek knowledge therein, Allah will make easy for him a path to Paradise. No people gather together in one of the houses of Allah, reciting the Book of Allah and studying it among themselves, but tranquility and peace descends upon them, mercy envelopes them, the angels surround them, Allah makes mention of them amongst those who are with Him.And whosoever is slowed down by his actions will not be hastened forward by his lineage."
[Muslim]

Click here for an over view of this hadith

More, More and More

"One very important law of nature, called the law of giving suggests that the more we want of something, the more we must give away of it, meaning the more knowledge you want for yourself, the more you should give it to others. The more love you want for yourself, the more you must give. The more money you want the more you must give away. The more respect you want, the more you must give. The more and more you give away, the more and more you will have, because it comes back manifold. Isn't it interesting? Well, laws of this world are different from laws of nature, and that is where most of us go wrong."

Faiez H.Seyal
The Road to Success

Compassion of Allah

The Holy Prophet explained the Compassion of Allah upon his slaves by saying "he who has intended a good deed and has not done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as a full good deed, but if he has intended it and has done it, Allah writes it down with Himself as from ten good deeds to seven hundred times, or many times over. But if he has intended a bad deed and has not done it, Allah writes it down with himself as a full good deed, but if he has intended it and done it, Allah writes it down as one bad deed."
Related by Al-Bukhari and Muslim

Such is the compassion of my Allah.
SubhanAllah.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

Why does furniture polish have real lemons but food has artificial lemon flavor?

Have you ever wondered why food products have artificial Lemon flavor and furniture polish has real lemons?

When people inhale the first smoke from a cigarette they get dizzy, light headed and feel nauseous but they keep puffing thinking, oh I'll get used to it. But, if they taste food that makes them dizzy, light headed and nauseous they think, oh this food is bad I'm not going to eat it.

When people witness a car accident on icy roads they think, oh the road is slippery over there so I'll use the other lane. When people are at a funeral of someone who has died of disease due to a bad diet they eat the same kind of bad food with the family after the funeral.

Nobody would let a 10-year-old smoke cigarettes because it's going to harm their health but we feed processed foods, sugar, and junk food loaded with chemicals that will harm their health.

We put our babies in car seats because we want to protect them and of course it's the law. Then we feed them foods with synthetics and chemicals.

Grocery stores do not have food, they have products to make food.

If grocery stores have isles labeled Health Food, does this mean all the other food is un-health food or death food?

Add your own "This just doesn't make sense" food or health thought here

Source: Whole Food and More

Here is one of my own : It's funny how some of my friends who are on a fitness diet and craving to lose weight consciously order a double beef cheese burger or a sizzling meaty steak or a lasagne with a DIET COKE. Nevermind all the meat, the diet drink will surely compensate for the fatty calories.

Love lights

The night has a thousand eyes, and the day but one;
Yet the light of the bright world dies, with the dying sun.
The mind has a thousand eyes, and the heart but one;
Yet the light of a whole life dies, when love is done.
~ Francis W. Bourdillon

How to become close to Allah

1. Start off each day with the waking up supplications, thanking Allah for waking up in good shape.

2. Put Allah first in your life.

3. Broaden your horizons - learn 5 new verses from the Holy Qur'aan every day, travel to pray far in the mosque to brighten your day, take up a booklet having supplications and read them.

4. Pray Salaat Al-dhuhaa after sunrise.

5. If someone says something mean to you, just shrug it off and dismiss it in a friendly, laid back manner, and pray that Allah shall forgive him.

6. When you get angry, remember Allah, and how short and worthless life is to waste in being angry.

7. Remember that you can never have too many friends, but you can have few quality friends that help you fulfill the purpose of your creation (i.e live for Allah).

8. When you're happy, try to share your happiness with others. Thank Allah for that, and pray its continuation.

9. When something bad or embarrassing happens to you, just think that it could always be worse, remember the reward of patience, and thank Allah that it's not worse than it is.

10. Do something extra of goodness once in a while, like feeding a poor person, or caressing an orphan's head.

11. Never stop believing that you can win Allah's love and thus work for it. Then you can win the love of Allah's slaves.

12. Spend some time thinking of Allah's amazing creation.

13. Always love those who love Allah unconditionally. This way you will ensure that you live for Him, love for Him, and hate for Him (those who are enemies of Him).

14. Find the righteous ways to express yourself, and if you think that what you are about to say shall cause no benefit, maintain silence (this is tough!!).

15. Every now and then, give yourself a break. Give time to your family and friends, but always remember Allah and watch that He is watching you.

16. Pray for blessing to come to those being lost, and pray to Allah to guide them to the true path.

17. Hug your parents, kiss their hands and heads and always obey them except when they order to disobey Allah.

18. Smile to everyone, for your smile makes a big difference to him or her and you are rewarded.

19. Forgive, forget and smile.

20. Tears are not for women only... tears are for all human beings with feelings remaining in them. Don't restrain your tears when remembering Allah.

21. When people criticize your actions and effort, revise your actions and see if they please Allah or not. If they do; then ignore and remember how the Holy Prophet (Sall Allaho alaihe wasallam) and the Sahabah (Radhi Allaho anhum) were criticized, made fun of and even physically harmed, so have patience.

22. Read the Holy Qur'aan daily and try to have a schedule for completing it as much as you could. As you open the Holy Qur'aan daily, read with observing not just passing your eyes through the words.

23. Don't let popularity go to your head, for it never lasts and you may lose from it more than gain.

24. Never look down on anybody, for, to Allah, they may be better than you.

25. Convey this to all Muslims with the intention of having a healthy society living for Allah and pray: "Invite all to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching, and consult with them in ways that are best and most gracious." (Qur'aan, 16:125)

Source: IQRA Islamic Magazine

How to Get Fired

About.com's Career Planning Guide: "I have the opportunity to visit many of my fellow career advice sites on the Web. Through my extensive virtual travels I have found that articles about succeeding on the job abound. But, what if you wanted to know how to get fired? Could you find an article that would tell you how to perform so poorly on the job that your employer, with a swish of his or her hand, would summarily dismiss you? I looked around and found nothing that fit the bill. So I decided to write such an article myself.

P.S. If you came here looking for advice on how to stay employed, just do the opposite of everything I tell you here. "

• Arrive late for work
  Being on time is for wimps. Drag yourself out of bed whenever you feel like it. Stop to run an errand on your way to the office.
• Don't forget the coffee
  No not for your boss -- for yourself! You're already late so why not stop for a cup of coffee on the way to work? Don't forget to get a muffin or a roll too (crumbs on your tie look really good).
• Eat at your desk
  I mean your coffee and roll, not your lunch silly. Why would you want to work through lunch anyway? And take your time — you're in no hurry to start working.
• Take a long lunch
  An hour for lunch? Are they nuts? That can't possibly be enough time to get together with an old friend and run a few more errands.
• Make personal phone calls
  If you can't make your phone calls from the office, when else will you find the time? Don't make those calls short and sweet -- chat away.
• Speaking of chatting...
  Let's not forget about the good old Net. You can go into a chat room any time of day, so why waste your precious personal time.
• Send lots of email
  Use those eight hours at work to take care of all that personal email. Oh and don't forget to use your work email address.
• Download, download, download...
  Your connection is much faster at work than on your home pc. And besides, there are some things you wouldn't want your significant other to see.
• Make the customers/clients really mad
  There are several ways to do this. If you deal with customers in person, ignore them while you talk to your co-workers. Don't have answers to their questions. If most of your contact is by phone, keep yours busy so clients can't get through. If they bother to leave a message, don't return their phone calls.
• Don't ever go beyond your job description
  Even when a project is down to the wire and your help is desperately needed, just remember: "It's not your job."
• Leave work early
  Who made that five o'clock rule anyway? If you leave 15 minutes early think of how much you can get done before dinner.
• Party hardy
  Nights are made for partying. Don't worry — you can sleep late tomorrow. After all, you do plan to get to work late, don't you?

Source: About.Com