Friday Nasiha 25 May 2007

Living the Quran

Al-Imran (The Family of Imran) Chapter 3: Verse 14 (Partial) Curbing Desires "Fair in the eyes of people is the love of things they desire" As there is no limit to human desire, the pursuit of pleasure and material goods can continue. In reference to this, the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, pointed out that if a man has a valley of gold, he would most likely wish for another one (al-Bukhari). Thus, if greed is not controlled, ultimately it can lead people into a senseless chase after pleasures, material goods, wealth and power, never reaching a point of satisfaction. It is regrettable that the whole edifice of our society today and our way of life is raised on these foundations. Materialistic thought will, therefore, give rise to a culture where individuals are most likely to be indifferent to the problems of others, since each person becomes mainly concerned about their own pleasures. The social tensions, conflicts and evils emerging from such a world-view are not, therefore, difficult to comprehend. Source: "Building a New Society" - Zahid Parvez, pp. 77,78

Understanding the Prophet's Life

Excellence in Cordial Relations Ihsan adds beauty and excellence to cordial relations. No relationship can be established on measuring constantly whether one has fulfilled one's obligations. One should not be very particular about one's own rights, with a view to ensuring that one gets all that is one's due. Rather, one should be ever-ready to do favours for others. A strictly business-like relationship may work. However, this would be lacking in mutual love, gratitude, sacrifice, sincerity and warmth, which are so important in life. Doing good stands for excellent conduct, generous dealings, a sympathetic attitude, good manners, forgiveness and making allowances. One should be prepared to accept less than one's due and give others more than what they deserve. This point is eloquently made in the following hadith: "O Allah! Let me maintain ties with him who severs these. Let me grant him his due that deprives me of what is due to me. Let me forgive him who wrongs me." (Mishkat) In other words this character trait demands that one should give others over and above what is their due. More importantly, one should do good to him who wrongs one. For true believers are those who repulse evil with their good deeds. Source: "Inter Personal Relations" - Khurram Murad, pp. 14,15

Towards Better Writing

Problems Among the most common mistakes that writers make are: researching and collecting too little or too much data organizing the subject matter poorly failing to revise the first draft using words or sentences that are too long expressing a writer-centred point of view directing the writing to the wrong audience In addition to the above, there are mistakes of grammar and style that include: redundancy run-on sentences cliches and overused expressions lack of structure archaic language inadequate introduction and conclusion weak transitions Writing is a powerful and effective tool and a very important means of Dawa. As such, we should pay personal attention to developing our ability to write well. Compiled From: "Training Guide for Islamic Workers" - Hisham Altalib, pp. 166