The Fisherman

An investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The investment banker complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The fisherman replied, “Only a little while.”

The investment banker then asked, “Why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?”

The fisherman said, “With this I have more than enough to support my family’s needs.”

The investment banker then asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, stroll into the village each evening and spend time with my family, I have a full and busy life.”

The investment banker scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing; and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat: With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor; eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to a big town and eventually to the the city where you will run your ever-expanding enterprise.”

The fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”

To which the investment banker replied, “15 to 20 years.”

“But what then?” asked the fisherman.

The investment banker laughed and said that’s the best part. “When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”

“Millions?…Then what?”

The investment banker said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings and spend time with your family.”

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Possessing more in this life does not bring happiness, but being content with whatever you already possess is what causes happiness.

Castles in the Sand

Some children were playing beside a river. They made castles of sand, and each child defended his castle and said, 'This one is mine.' They kept their castles separate and would not allow any mistakes about which was whose. When the castles were all finished, one child kicked over someone else's castle and completely destroyed it. The owner of the castle flew into a rage, pulled the other child's hair, struck him with his fist and bawled out, 'He has spoiled my castle! Come along all of you and help me punish him as he deserves.' The others all came to his help. They beat the child ... Then they went on playing in their sand castles, each saying, 'This is mine; no one else may have it. Keep away! Don't touch my castle!'

But evening came, it was getting dark and they all thought they ought to be going home. No one now cared what became of his castle. One child stamped on his, another pushed his over with both hands. Then they turned away and went back, each to his home.

She's My Sister

Assalamu 'Alaykum,

Sorry I haven't been updating for some days now, but I've been really busy these last 4 days. But here is a touching story that should very well make up for a lifetime worth of updates:

She's My Sister [A true story translated by Muhammad Alshareef]

Her cheeks were worn and sunken and her skin hugged her bones. That didn’t stop her though, you could never catch her not reciting Qur’an. Always vigil in her personal prayer room Dad had set up for her. Bowing, prostrating, raising her hands in prayer. That was the way she was from dawn to sunset and back again, boredom was for others.

As for me I craved nothing more than fashion magazines and novels. I treated myself all the time to videos until those trips to the rental place became my trademark. As they say, when something becomes habit people tend to distinguish you by it. I was negligent in my responsibilities and laziness characterized my Salah.

One night, I turned the video off after a marathon three hours of watching. The adhan softly rose in that quiet night. I slipped peacefully into my blanket.

Her voice carried from her prayer room. “Yes? Would you like anything Noorah?” I said.

With a sharp needle she popped my plans. “Don’t sleep before you pray Fajr!”

Agh…there’s still an hour before Fajr, that was only the first Adhaan!

With those loving pinches of hers, she called me closer. She was always like that, even before the fierce sickness shook her spirit and shut her in bed. “Hanan can you come sit beside me.”

I could never refuse any of her requests, you could touch the purity and sincerity. “Yes, Noorah?”

“Please sit here.”

“OK, I”m sitting. What’s on your mind?”

With the sweetest mono voice she began reciting:

كُلُّ نَفۡسٍ۬ ذَآٮِٕقَةُ ٱلۡمَوۡتِ‌ۗ وَإِنَّمَا تُوَفَّوۡنَ أُجُورَڪُمۡ يَوۡمَ ٱلۡقِيَـٰمَةِ

“Every soul shall taste death and you will merely be repaid your earnings on Resurrection Day” [3:185]

She stopped thoughtfully. Then she asked, “Do you believe in death?”

“Of course I do.”

“Do you believe that you shall be responsible for whatever you do, regardless of how small or large?”

“I do, but Allah is Forgiving and Merciful and I^Òve got a long life waiting for me.”

“Stop it Hanan … aren’t you afraid of death and it’s abruptness? Look at Hind. She was younger than you but she died in a car accident. So did so and so, and so and so. Death is age-blind and your age could never be a measure of when you shall die.”

The darkness of the room filled my skin with fear. “I’m scared of the dark and now you made me scared of death, how am I supposed to go to sleep now. Noorah, I thought you promised you’d go with us on vacation during the summer break.”

Impact. Her voice broke and her heart quivered. “I might be going on a long trip this year Hanan, but somewhere else. Just maybe. All of our lives are in Allah^Òs hands and we all belong to Him.”

My eyes welled and the tears slipped down both cheeks.

I pondered my sisters grizzly sickness, how the doctors had informed my father privately that there was not much hope that Noorah was going to outlive the disease. She wasn’t told though. Who hinted to her? Or was it that she could sense the truth.

“What are you thinking about Hanan?” Her voice was sharp. “Do you think I am just saying this because I am sick? Uh - uh. In fact, I may live longer than people who are not sick. And you Hanan, how long are you going to live? Twenty years, maybe? Forty? Then what?” Through the dark she reached for my hand and squeezed gently. “There’s no difference between us; we’re all going to leave this world to live in Paradise or agonize in Hell. Listen to the words of Allah:

فَمَن زُحۡزِحَ عَنِ ٱلنَّارِ وَأُدۡخِلَ ٱلۡجَنَّةَ فَقَدۡ فَازَ

“Anyone who is pushed away from the Fire and shown into Jannah will have triumphed.” [3:185]

I left my sister’s room dazed, her words ringing in my ears: May Allah guide you Hanan - don’t forget your prayer.

Eight O’clock in the morning. Pounding on my door. I don’t usually wake up at this time. Crying. Confusion. O Allah, what happened?

Noorahs condition became critical after Fajr, they took her immediately to the hospital … Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un.

There wasn’t going to be any trips this summer. It was written that I would spend the summer at home.

After an eternity…

It was one O’clock in the afternoon. Mother phoned the hospital. “Yes. You can come and see her now.” Dad’s voice had changed, mother could sense something had gone deathly wrong. We left immediately.

Where was that avenue I used to travel and thought was so short? Why was it so long now, so very long. Where was the cherished crowd and traffic that would give me a chance to gaze left and right. Everyone, just move out of our way. Mother was shaking her head in her hands crying as she made dua’a for her Noorah.

We arrived at the hospitals main entrance.

One man was moaning, another was involved in an accident and a third^Òs eyes were iced, you couldn^Òt tell if he was alive or dead.

We skipped stairs to Noorahs floor. She was in intensive care.

The nurse approached us. “Let me take you to her.” As we walked down the aisles the nurse went on expressing how sweet a girl Noorah was. She reassured Mother somewhat that Noorah^Òs condition had gotten better than what it was in the morning.

“Sorry. No more than one visitor at a time.” This was the intensive care unit. Through the small window in the door and past the flurry of white robes I caught my sisters eyes. Mother was standing beside her. After two minutes, mother came out unable to control her crying.

“You may enter and say Salam to her on condition that you do not speak too long,” they told me. “Two minutes should be enough.”

“How are you Noorah? You were fine last night sister, what happened?”

We held hands, she squeezed harmlessly. “Even now, Alhamdulillah, I’m doing fine.”

“Alhamdulillah…but…your hands are so cold.”

I sat on her bedside and rested my fingers on her knee. She jerked it away. “Sorry … did I hurt you?”

“No, it is just that I remembered Allah’s words:

وَٱلۡتَفَّتِ ٱلسَّاقُ بِٱلسَّاقِ

One leg will be wrapped to the other leg (in the death shroud) [Surah Qiyamah (77:29)]

“Hanan pray for me. I may be meeting the first day of the hearafter very soon. It is a long journey and I haven’t prepared enough good deeds in my suitcase.”

A tear escaped my eye and ran down my cheek at her words. I cried and she joined me. The room blurred away and left us ^Ö two sisters - to cry together. Rivulets of tears splashed down on my sister^Òs palm which I held with both hands. Dad was now becoming more worried about me. I’ve never cried like that before.

At home and upstairs in my room, I watched the sun pass away with a sorrowful day. Silence mingled in our corridors. A cousin came in my room, another. The visitors were many and all the voices from downstairs stirred together. Only one thing was clear at that point … Noorah had died!

I stopped distinguishing who came and who went. I couldn’t remember what they said. O Allah, where was I? What was going on? I couldn’t even cry anymore.

Later that week they told me what had happened. Dad had taken my hand to say goodbye to my sister for the last time, I had kissed Noorah’s head.

I remember only one thing though, seeing her spread on that bed, the bed that she was going to die on. I remembered the verse she recited:

“One leg will be wrapped to the other leg (in the death shroud)” and I knew too well the truth of the next verse:

إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ يَوۡمَٮِٕذٍ ٱلۡمَسَاقُ

“The drive on that day we be to your Lord (Allah)!” [Surah Qiyamah (77:30)]

I tiptoed into her prayer room that night. Staring at the quiet dressers and silenced mirrors, I treasured who it was that had shared my mother’s stomach with me. Noorah was my twin sister.

I remembered who I had swapped sorrows with. Who had comforted my rainy days. I remembered who had prayed for my guidance and who had spent so many tears for so many long nights telling me about death and accountability. May Allah save us all.

Tonight is Noorah’s first night that she shall spend in her tomb. O Allah, have mercy on her and illumine her grave. This was her Qur’an, her prayer mat and this was the spring rose-colored dress that she told me she would hide until she got married, the dress she wanted to keep just for her husband.

I remembered my sister and cried over all the days that I had lost. I prayed to Allah to have mercy on me, accept me and forgive me. I prayed to Allah to keep her firm in her grave as she always liked to mention in her supplications.

At that moment, I stopped. I asked myself: what if it was I who had died? Where would I be moving on to? Fear pressed me and the tears began all over again.

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar…

The first adhan rose softly from the Masjid, how beautiful it sounded this time. I felt calm and relaxed as I repeated the Muadhdhins call. I wrapped the shawl around my shoulders and stood to pray Fajr. I prayed as if it was my last prayer, a farewell prayer, just like Noorah had done yesterday. It had been her last Fajr.

Now and insha’ Allah for the rest of my life, if I awake in the mornings I do not count on being alive by evening, and in the evening I do not count on being alive by morning.

We are all going on Noorah’s journey. What have we prepared for it?

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كُلُّ نَفۡسٍ۬ ذَآٮِٕقَةُ ٱلۡمَوۡتِ‌ۗ وَإِنَّمَا تُوَفَّوۡنَ أُجُورَڪُمۡ يَوۡمَ ٱلۡقِيَـٰمَةِ‌ۖ فَمَن زُحۡزِحَ عَنِ ٱلنَّارِ وَأُدۡخِلَ ٱلۡجَنَّةَ فَقَدۡ فَازَ‌ۗ وَمَا ٱلۡحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنۡيَآ إِلَّا مَتَـٰعُ ٱلۡغُرُورِ

Every soul shall taste death. And only on the Day of Resurrection shall you be paid your wages in full. And whoever is removed away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise, he indeed is successful. The life of this world is only the enjoyment of deception (a deceiving thing). [Surah Aal-e-Imran, 3:185]

Worshipping Allah in Every Moment

Assalamu 'Alaykum,


Jazak'Allah Khayr to those who spread this link around, as I've seen an increase in traffic due to e-mails. It doesn't really matter to me how many visitors there are, but it's nice to know that when people find something interesting and beneficial, they choose to share it. I hope that this page has been beneficial up till now, at least to some small degree, Insha'Allah, and will continue to be.

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Just something for us all to think about, but how much of our lives do we spend doing 'Ibadah and remembering Allah? If we break it down statistically, projecting that a Muslim will live for about 60 years, let's see what the outcome is. Consider that the person started praying at the age of 10, and prayed consistently for the remaining 50 years of his life. Estimating that it takes him 1.5 hours to complete his 5 daily Salah (taking his time, praying with sincerity), he spends around 10 hours a week, or 45 hours a month in performing Salah. Over the course of 1 year that adds up 540 hours, or 27,000 hours total throughout his life. That amounts to just slightly over 3 years of life spent on praying Salah. So what happened to all the other years? Did they just go to waste?

They do go to waste if we don't live those years in accordance to Qur'an and Sunnah. But, we can make every single moment of our lives count as 'Ibadah. In addition to Salah, we can make it a goal to recite Qur'an for a certain duration every single day. We can convert all that time that we spend sleeping (imagine, we spend about 1/3 of our lives sleeping!) into 'Ibadah by following the Sunnah of sleeping. Thinking further, we also spend several hours a week eating. Simply saying the duas for eating and saying Alhamdulillah can covert the act of eating into 'Ibadah. And what about all those hours spent in the bathroom? There's also duas for entering and coming out of the bathroom. So all that covers a large portion of our day...sleeping, eating, bathrooming, but there's still more left to our day. All of us have school, work, and/or other responsibilities. Simply by saying 'Bismillah' before we start any action turns that action into 'Ibadah. What about driving or sitting in the car? Put on Qur'an or listen to an Islamic lecture and convert all that time in the car into time well spent. You're sitting in the car anyways, so you might as well use the time in a good way.

We should also try to learn and implement the Sunnah into our daily lives as much as possible. If we have time, we should do things such as reading Surah Yaseen every morning. Let's make an effort to learn as many Masnoon duas as we can and apply them at the right times. And whenever we can, let's spend a moment remembering Allah, because it's something that can be done in the simplest of forms. For example:

سُبْحَانَ اللّهِ وَ بِحَمْدِهِ ، سُبْحَانَ اللّهِ الْعَظِيمِ

SubhanAllahi wa biHamdihi, SubhanAllahil adheem

(Glory be to Allah, and Praise, Glory be to Allah, the Supreme)

Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said: "Two words are light on the tongue, weigh heavily in the balance, they are loved by the Most Merciful One" [Bukhari and Muslim]

We are lucky to be Muslims, as Islam is truly an amazing and complete way of life. Nobody knows when their time to die is, so as long as we wake up each morning, let's try to make the most of that day count as 'Ibadah. And always remember, every single action that we do should be done for the pleasure of Allah. May Allah make this life easy for us all, and grant us peace in Jannah forever in the Akhirah. Aameen.


(If I made any mistakes in the writing above, please correct me, and if you have any additions for the betterment of the post, please mention it in a comment, Jazak'Allah)

Pearls of Life

The cheerful little girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them, a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box. "Oh please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please?"


Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl's upturned face. "A dollar ninety-five. If you really want them, I'll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself. Your birthday's only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma."


As soon as Aisha got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 17 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to the neighbour and asked Aunty Jamshed if she could pick dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace. Aisha loved her new pearls.


They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere, Sunday Madrassa classes, Kindergarten, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath. Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green.


Aisha had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story from the Quraan. One night as he finished the story, he asked Aisha , "Do you love me?"


"Oh yes, daddy. You know that I love you." "Then give me your pearls." "Oh, daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess, the white horse from my collection, the one with the pink tail. Remember, daddy? The one you gave me. She's my very favourite." "That's okay, Aisha, daddy loves you. Allah-hafez." And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.


About a week later, after the story time, Aisha's daddy asked again, "Do you love me?" "Daddy, you know I love you." "Then give me your pearls." "Oh Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby doll. The brand new one I got for my birthday. She is beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper. "That's okay. Sleep well. May Allah bless you & protect you, Aisha. Daddy loves you." And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss.


A few nights later when her daddy came in, Aisha was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed. As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek. "What is it, Aisha? What's the matter?" Aisha didn't say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy. And when she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said, "Here, daddy, this is for you." With tears gathering in his own eyes, Aisha's daddy reached out with one hand to take the cheap necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Aisha.


He had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the cheap stuff so he could give her the genuine treasure.



So it is with our Allah Almighty. He is waiting for us to give up the cheap things in our lives so that he can give us beautiful treasures.

Isn't Allah great? Are you holding onto things that Allah wants you to let go of?

Are you holding on to harmful or unnecessary partners, relationships, habits and activities that you have come so attached to that it seems impossible to let go? Sometimes it is so hard to see what is in the other hand but do believe this one thing ...

.....Allah will never take away something without giving you something better in its place.

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If you liked this story, please do share it with others...

And if you liked this site, please share it with others also...

And please leave feedback and comments and ideas and suggestions and whatever else you want to say, Jazak'Allah! =)


Click here for previous story posts

A Lesson from Disabled People

Once, a visitor was being shown around a leper colony in India. The colony was built to provide a shelter for those people who were poor and had various physical disabilities. At noon a gong (a metal disk that produces a sound when hit with a hammer) sounded to gather the inhabitants for the midday meal. People came from all parts of the compound to the dining hall. Suddenly, everyone started laughing at seeing two young men, one riding on the other’s back, pretending to be a horse and a rider. They were having lots of fun. As the visitor watched, he was told that the man who carried his friend was blind, and the man being carried was lame (who couldn’t walk). The one who couldn’t see used his feet; the one who couldn’t walk used his eyes. Together they helped each other and reached their destination.

Let us use each other’s strengths to make up for the weaknesses of others. Our strength is in unity, not in division.

Click here for more stories

Hadith of the Day - November 1st, 2008

Az-Zubair bin `Adi said: We went to Anas bin Malik (May Allah be pleased with him) and complained to him of suffering at the hands of Al-Hajjaj. He replied: "Show endurance, for no time will come but will be followed by one worse (than the present one) till you meet your Rubb. I heard this from your Prophet (PBUH)" [Bukhari]


This Hadith contains the prediction that with the passage of time, conditions will become from bad to worse with the result that rulers would become more and more cruel. In such circumstances, the remedy suggested here is that rather than making any effort to reform the rulers, one should try to reform oneself and worry to make one's own life in the Hereafter, and endure patiently the tyrannies perpetrated by the rulers.

Halloween

Some people regard Halloween as the start of the holiday season. It's a season of happiness, relaxation, and fun. Some holidays are cultural or traditional holidays, while others may have religious significance. We as Muslims also have our own holidays. A month ago we celebrated Eid ul-Fitr, and you may also count the whole month of Ramadan as a holiday. And Insha'Allah in a bit over a month we'll also celebrate Eid ul-Adha.

Many Muslims live in Western countries, and sometimes we assimilate the Western lifestyle with our own. One aspect of the Western lifestyle (and a pretty signigicant aspect) are the holidays. There seems to be several holidays every month. There's always something going on, and sometimes we want to have a part of it. Of course, as Muslims we don't celebrate the specific holidays of other religions, but we want to get in on the fun of the traditional holidays, like Independance Day, Halloween, and Thanksgiving.

Today is Halloween, and there's many Muslim youth who are going to be Trick-or-Treating with their friends and dressing up in weird costumes. Forget about the origins of Halloween for now....but think, if Halloween didn't exist, and I told you that I'm going to dress up in an absurd costume and go door to door asking for candy, you'd probably think I'm crazy. But when lots of people do it and have been doing it for decades, it somehow becomes acceptable and isn't crazy anymore. People don't even care where Halloween came from, they just want to do it because everybody else is doing it and has been doing it as a tradition for years. Muslim children want to take part also, but apart from it not being a Muslim holiday, or from being some crazy, is it really something that they should do?

Personally, I think that if you want to dress up in a costume, do it in your room so that you don't look like a fool. If you want candy, go to the store and buy some. But some say it's just having fun, there's nothing wrong with it. But where did Halloween come from? I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't be such a popular holiday if some recent guy decided to dress up in a costume and go door to door for candy. It definitely has roots somewhere long ago, pagan (Mushrik) roots. I'm not going to copy and paste the entire story, but I would recommend you to read this article: http://islam.about.com/library/weekly/aa103098.htm

The point is, it's not a Muslim holiday, and it's not even a nuetral traditional holiday. It has origins from a Mushrik holiday, and even though that's not the intent with which it's celebrated anymore, Rasulullah (saw) warned us from imitating certain people...


It was narrated from Abu Saeed al-Khudri (ra) that the Prophet (saw) said: "You will certainly follow the ways of those who came before you hand span by hand span, cubit by cubit, to the extent that if they entered the hole of a lizard, you will enter it too." We said: "O Messenger of Allah, (do you mean) the Jews and the Christians?" He said: "Who else?" - [Bukhari and Muslim]


“Whoever imitates a people is from them.” - [Abu Dawud]

I'm not labeling anobody as a Kafir (even though this is the apparant meaning of this Hadith in relation to those who imitate the Kuffar), but at the very least this indicates that it is Haram to imitate the Kafir ways.



In the Qur'an, Allah warns us:

"When it is said unto them, 'Come to what Allah has revealed, come to the Messenger,' they say, 'Enough for us are the ways we found our fathers following.' What! Even though their fathers were void of knowledge and guidance?" - [Qur'an 5:104]



May Allah protect us from becoming victims of our own desires, from becoming victims of society and peer pressure, from becoming victims of those who we are not to follow, from losing our morals and ethics, from justifying our wrongs with oversimplified reasoning, and may Allah guide us to what pleases Him, and keep us on the path to His Mercy in this Dunya and the Akhirah.

Pearls of Wisdom - October 21st, 2008

“Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is a little like expecting a bull not to attack you because you are a vegetarian” - Dennis Wholey

True, isn't it? Life's tough and unfair, but we just have to keep doing what we have to do, regardless of whether things are fair or not.....and we need to be patient in difficult times...

True Friends

"A friend cannot be considered a friend until he is tested in three occasions: in a time of need, behind your back, and after your death." - Ali (ra)

Judging by this quote, how many true friends do we really have? How many friends would really help us in a time of genuine need? When we aren't present, do our friends speak good of us, or do they say things about us that they wouldn't want us to hear? And of course, would our friends remember us and make Dua for us after we die? Nowadays, true friends are hard to find.

But, even if we don't have many true friends, nothing should stop us from being true friends for others.

Please leave a comment, Jazak'Allah!

Life is Like Baking a Cake

A little boy is telling his Grandma how “everything” is going wrong. School, family problems, health problems, problems with friends, etc.

Meanwhile, Grandma is baking a cake. She asks her grandson if he would like a snack, which, of course, he does.

“Here, have some cooking oil.” “Yuck” says the boy.

“How about a couple raw eggs? ” “Gross, Grandma!”

“Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?”

“Grandma, those are all yucky!”

To which Grandma replies: “Yes, all those things seem bad all by themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake!

Allah works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times.

But Allah knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful!”

Allah hears all our Du’as. Whenever you want to talk, He’ll listen and hear. He is Al-Baseer, As-Sameer - The Seerer, The Hearer.

“And when My servants ask you concerning Me, then surely I am very near; I answer the prayer of the supplicant when he calls on Me, so they should answer My call and believe in Me that they may be on the right path” [Surah al-Baqarah; 2:186]

Transient

A famous spiritual teacher came to the front door of the King's palace. None of the guards tried to stop him as he entered and made his way to where the King himself was sitting on his throne.

"What do you want?" asked the King, immediately recognizing the visitor.

"I would like a place to sleep in this inn," replied the teacher.

"But this is not an inn," said the King, "It is my palace."

"May I ask who owned this palace before you?"

"My father. He is dead."

"And who owned it before him?"

"My grandfather. He too is dead."

"And this place where people live for a short time and then move on - did I
hear you say that it is NOT an inn?"