If we live good lives, the times are also good.
As we are, such are the times

- Saint Augustine

"When you reach the bottom of the well of your own nature,
then you will know that the wickedness is in you."

-Rumi

Goethe ...

"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be

and you will help them become

what they are capable of becoming."

R.I.P Michael Jackson ...

My childhood idol ...

The greatest performer ever ...

Thank you for being the music of my memory ...

Let sadness see what happy does...

Let happy be where sadness was...

Here's to you, both as a transformational genius of creativity and art that ever lived on earth and a tragedy of that of a humble helpless human soul. I am grateful to be a part of the generation who grew up with his inspiration ...

R.I.P Michael Jackson for your majestic contribution to art.

- Jafar Alam

Imam Al Ghazali ...

You should not neglect your time or use it haphazardly; on the contrary you should bring yourself to account, structures your litanies and other practices during each day and night, and assign to each period a fixed and specific function. This is how to bring out the spritual blessings (baraka) in each period. But if you leave yourself adrift, aimlessly wandering as cattle do, not knowing how to occupy yourself at every moment, your time will be lost. It is nothing other than your life, and your life is the capital that you make use of to reach perpetual felicity in the proximity of God the Exalted. Each of your breaths is a priceless jewel, since each of them is irreplaceable and, once gone, can never be retrieved. Do not be like the deceived fools who are joyous because each day their wealth increases while their life shortens. What good is an increase in wealth when life grows even shorter? Therefore be joyous only for an increase in knowledge or in good works, for they are your two companions who will accompany you in your grave when your family, wealth, children and friends stay behind.

The Prophet (pbuh) supplicated that God the Exalted show him things in their reality, distinguished and clear:

" Show me the truth as truth and give me the ability to follow it;
and show me falsehood and give me the ability to avoid it."

Ahmad al- Zarruq ( Moroccan scholar ) ...

"If you desire to live such that your religion is safe and your portion is full and your honor is sound, guard your tongue and never mention another's faults remembering that you yourself have faults and others have tongues."

Watch your eye. Should it ever reveal to you the faults of others, say to it, " O my eye, other people have eyes too ."

Live treating others well and avoid aggression, and should others aggress against you, leave them but in the best way.

The source of these words is in fact none other than the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) when he said,

" Be vigilant of God wherever your are, and follow a misdeed with a good deed and it will remove it; and treat others with the most excellent of character."

In another tradition the Prophet (pbuh) said, " Every child of Adam errs and the best of those who err are those who seek to redress them."

So be concious of God and make your request with dignity. In summation, repentance, awareness of God, and uprightness are the foundations of all that is beneficial. The truth is clear and its details are weighty and significant. The affair belongs only to God. Success is in His Hands.

Looking For God Everywhere ... By Jafar Alam ...

An African mothers breasts were cut off
So that her new born baby could not have her milk
She is looking for God
Everywhere

A young Haitian boy
Is eating mud pies on the street
He is looking for God
Everywhere

The alcoholic laying on the street corner
Looks inside his empty bottle
He is looking for God
Everywhere

The young Pakistani girl who was gang raped
Because of false accusations made about her brother
Was looking for God
Everywhere

Amongst the chaos in the world
The gluttons are not satisfied
They are looking for more gods
Everywhere

Two siblings sit in their room
Their hearts beating
Their parents fighting
They are looking for God
Everywhere

An adult male is discriminated against
Because he is a child of divorce
He is looking for God
Everywhere

A young kid is haunted by demons
From his past
He is looking for God
Everywhere

A 25 year old girl is searching for happiness
Without a father figure
She is looking for God
Everywhere

We were all born to die
In between the two
We are looking for God
Everywhere

There were many I would die for
The love was not returned

Betrayed

My heart died a hundred deaths

My worry
Is the pleasure
Of the Most High

A beautiful pattern
Of conduct
I am not

But I see God
Everywhere (c)

I stand here and watch the people of this world:
all against one and one against all,
angry, arguing, plotting and scheming.

Then one day, suddenly, they die.

And each gets one plot of ground:

four feet wide, six feet long.
If you can scheme your way out of that plot,
I'll set the stone that immortalizes your name.

- Zen Poetry of Han Shan (8th century)

Death is a tax the soul has to pay
for having had a name and a form

- Inayat Khan

Patience is bitter if you focus on yourself

Patience is sweet if you focus on Allah

Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are. Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.