A Prayer

OH ALLAH, I thank You for this day.

I thank You for my being able to see and hear this morning.
I am blessed because You are forgiving God and an understanding God.
You have done so much for me and You keep on blessing me.
Forgive me this day for everything, I have done, said or thought that was not pleasing You.
I ask now for Your forgiveness.
Please keep me safe from all dangers and harms.
Help me to start this day with a new attitude and plenty of gratitude.
Let me make the best of each and everybody to clear my mind so that I can hear from You.
Please broaden my mind that I can accept all things.
Let me not whine and whimper over things, I have no control over.
Let me continue to see sin through God's eye and acknowledge it as evil.
And when the world closes in on me. Let me remember You - to slip away and find a quiet place to pray.
It’s the best response when I am pushed beyond my limits. I know that when I cannot pray, You listen to my heart.
Continue to bless me that I may be a blessing to others.
Keep me strong that I may help the weak.
Keep me uplift that I may have words of encouragement for others.
I pray for those that are lost and cannot find their ways.
I pray for those that are misunderstood.
I pray for those who do not know You intimately.
I pray for those who do not believe, but I thank You that I believe, I believe that God changes people and God changes things.
I pray for all my sisters and brothers. For each and every family member in their households, I pray for peace, love and joy in their homes that they are out of debt and all their needs are met. I pray that every eye that reads this knows there is no problem, circumstance or situation greater than God.
Every battle is in Your hands for You to fight.
I pray that these words be received into the hearts of every eye that sees them and every mouth that confesses them willingly.  
I pray for those who will not accept this.

This is my prayer

Aamen

A Chinese Good Luck Tantra

You may not believe in this but the advice is great!

Read all the way down, you might learn something!!!

ONE	Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
TWO	Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.
THREE	Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.
FOUR	When you say, "I love you", mean it.
FIVE	When you say, "I'm sorry", look the person in the eye.
SIX	Be engaged at least six months before you get married.
SEVEN	Believe in love at first sight.
EIGHT	Never laugh at anyone's dreams. People who don't have dreams don't have much.
NINE	Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.
TEN	In disagreements, fight fairly. Please No name calling.
ELEVEN	Don't judge people by their relatives.
TWELVE	Talk slowly but think quickly.
THIRTEEN	When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, "Why do you want to know?"
FOURTEEN	Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
FIFTEEN	Say "bless you" when you hear someone sneeze.
SIXTEEN	When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
SEVENTEEN	Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; Responsibility for all your actions.
EIGHTEEN	Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
NINETEEN	When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
TWENTY	Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.
TWENTY ONE	Spend some time alone.

Land of Dying Values

By: Abu Shazil

Today I am in a deep valley, valley of sorrow, plunging me down and down forever. I am trying hard but unable to find a string to hold, an edge to rest my feet on. I am trying to swim in the clouds, fly in the air but all in vein. Momentum is so much that I cannot foresee but a crash, a bang, but suddenly I have entered into a world unknown to me. A strange world, a world of dying values, feeble ethics, misty culture, vague fortune and greedy populace. The story goes like this that a poor lady was brought in  a private hospital with labor pains in emergency. She was admitted in the hospital and within few hours, gave birth to a baby. Spent night in the hospital and in the morning got discharged from the hospital. The management presented her with a hospital bill of Rs. 3500, which she was unable to pay  being from a poor family. She requested the management for allowing her to go home and promised to pay the bill after arranging it. But management refused to accept her proposal and demanded immediate payment, which she could not. Management of the hospital got furious, snatched her new born from her and expelled her from the hospital telling her that her baby will be given to her only, when she clears the hospital dues.

While watching the woman telling her story with tears in her eyes and appeal on her lips to the government authorities for getting her baby back  I had a flash back. I was in a hospital of England for treatment of my wife who was leukemia patient. She had bone marrow transplant and unfortunately developed "Graft versus host disease" leading to her death. The bulk of the bill amount had already been paid but still I owed few thousand pounds to the hospital. While in the turmoil hospital authorities helped me out in completing all the formalities and never ever asked a single question about the bill or payments.

I was in an alien country where no one knew me, NO ONE. No one had a clue that I will be able to pay the arrears or not, NO ONE. What they knew was that I am a human being who has lost a dear one, and that too in a strange country so I definitely deserve their help which they extended, ALL OUT, YES, ALL OUT.

I am thinking and asking myself; could I call a creature a human being who snatched a baby from her mother because she could not arrange few thousand bucks? Am I living in a jungle? Are we the followers of Muhammad (SAW), who is blessing for all the worlds which exist in this universe.? I am unable to find the answer to my questions.

PLEASE TELL ME IF YOU HAVE

It's important for us to explain to our nation that we the followers of Muhammad (SAW) are supposed to be the best in creed, best of clan, best of clique. We have to set the examples. Human beings are the most important species and rest everything is valueless. We have to build our National Character on the foundations of Islam, on the teachings of the last prophet. Lets endeavor to correct our follies, mend our ways, make this blessed land a piece of peace, heaven on earth. Let's make a pledge that we will start from our own self.

Social Bankruptcy

By: Abu Shazil

I live in Pakistan, land of pure is its name implies. But every day rather every hour I listen, read or watch a story, entailing social bankruptcy. My society is deteriorating so rapidly, when I think of this I feel a chilling shock wave in my spinal cord. Today an old pensioner of Pakistan Railway died, awaiting pension, in front of a Bank where dozens of senior citizens spent night, waiting for bank to open so that they could draw their pension, hard earned pension. The pensioner's wait lingered beyond his life and in struggle to hand over his pension book to bank authorities in a crowed suffered suffocation leading to his death. Interestingly today my legislators have passed senior citizens bill, which will look after the interest of senior citizens of Pakistan. Does mere passing of bill will save the senior citizens from the atrocities of these folks to whom state authorities have failed to pay pension to these folks for many months.  They are so hard pressed financially that they decided to stay outside banks with the hope they will get a meager amount called pension to ease off their sufferings at  least for few days.

I would like to ask from my government, is this GOOD GOVERNANCE for which they have been spending billions of rupees? In my books its sheer mismanagement, irresponsible attitude, governmental failure, blah blah… It appears that my fellow countrymen sitting in public offices have stopped working. Simply stopped performed their duties for which they are being paid for. Don't they think this act of theirs falls into the act of professional dishonesty? What difference does it make? My public servants, who pose themselves as BOSSES have never worked honestly. Had they done that the country's development index would have shown that. My GDP growth would have elucidated this fact. My progress indicator would have show upward trends. But unfortunately that is not the case. All the indicators are showing downward trends, precariously falling numbers.

We have entered into a state of bankruptcy. Financial bankruptcy, moral bankruptcy, ethical bankruptcy and SOCIAL BANKRUPTCY.

Be aware that "The strength of a nation is derived from the integrity of its masses”. Those nations which do not enforce accountability, act in preemption, which do not plan in advance and are not ready to perform their assigned duties, tasks judiciously, vanish from the globe. They lose their right to exist.

LETS MEND OUR WAYS BEFORE ITS TOO LATE

Question?

By: Abu Shazil

Other day when I came home from office, my family members were watching TV with tense faces. After placing my laptop and goodie bags on a side I dropped myself on a cane sofa and joined them. TV was telecasting video streams of Gaddafi's death. A clip of his capture, another of his push and pull scenario of shooting him to death, yet another of people dancing around, firing in air and making victory signs in front of camera.

Suddenly my elder son busted out saying Baba are they Muslims? I stared at him with a big question mark on my face, DO YOU HAVE ANY DOUBT? Baba I understand that Gaddafi was a tyrant. He might have done many wrongs. Over a period of 42 years of rule he might have committed many follies, suppressing opponents, minting money, blah blah… but after all he was a human being. I presume that the people ie. Rebels who were fighting against him are also human beings. Tell my Baba does Islam teach us to shoot a man in captivity? Does Islam tell us to mutilate a dead body? Does Islam allow us to mishandle a dead, kicking him, abusing him, and dancing on him?

I was looking at him with a blank face and finding suitable words to answer his questions. My memory lights blinking in search of suitable answer. He was continuously looking towards me, waiting for his questions to be answered. I started, Sun! for sure they are Muslims. But it is unfortunate that while in rage we forget all the teachings and become animals, worst than animals. We forget Allah (SAW), we forget religion, we forget humanity. What we remember is that we have captured our enemy live or dead and now since he is under our thumb we are god for him, free to decide his fate. All our values, our ethics, our humanity goes down the drain. We remember only one thing, that is enmity. So we go astray, we go wild, we become wolfs, hunting hounds. We become everything less human beings.

Remember sonny!  such moments are the real test of a man, his character, his ethics, his brought up and unfortunately Libyan rebels have not up lived their humanity, their religion, their values, their ethics.

May Allah (SWT) bless us all and give us courage to live such furious moments like human beings.     

Trust Yourself

By: Abu Shazil

I believe that we are all very capable people. We just need to explore what those capabilities are and how we can use them to our advantage. A bit of courage by us allows us to overcome obstacles, creatively helps us solve the problems and be successful at home, at school, at work, in streets, amongst friends and while alone.

I'm a pragmatist. I want you to be the same as well. Start thinking, start learning, start winning. If you think things through, you can find a solution to any problem hindering your way.

The problem is not the issue, the issue is how you tackle the problem.

90% of the problems are self created, due to biased thinking, due to our gestures, due to the tone of our voice, due to our attitude, due to our actions. Thinking is not a problem but biased thinking definitely is, gestures speak of our inner state of mind so as long as we react cautiously it's OK! But when we react abruptly it may cause a problem. It is not what we say, but how we say, that creates the problem. Attitude is reflection of our brought up.  Heavy rains remind us of challenges in life. Never ask for a lighter rain. Just pray for a better umbrella. That is attitude. Actions speak louder than words. These reflect our believes. Some people always throw stones in our path. It depends upon us what we make with them Wall or Bridge? Remember we are the architect of our life. Relationship is like a flute. It may have several holes and emptiness. But the same holes and emptiness gives beautiful and melodious tunes, if we know how to play!

End is not the end.

In fact E.N.D. is "Effort Never Dies" and if you get NO in answer, remember N.O. is "Next Opportunity". So always be positive in life !!!

The caliber of a person is not how well he prepares for everything to go right, But, How he stands up and moves on after everything has gone wrong. Every problem has (n+1) solutions, where n is the number of solutions that you have tried and 1 is that you have not tried. Try it and pray for success. There is nothing in this universe which YOU and ALLAH cannot solve together. Trust in yourself! Trust in Allah.

Parents

One day I was sitting in my study room reading a book. On my table there were many things spread around. Some books, scraped pages, pencils, erasers, sharpeners, paper clips, paper pins and many more. While read I felt like sleepy and starting dozing. May be I was half sleep when I heard a dialogue between a pencil and Eraser.

Pencil:        I'm sorry.

Eraser:       For what? You didn't do anything wrong.

Pencil:        I'm sorry because you get hurt because of me. Whenever I made a mistake, you're always there to erase it. But as you make my mistakes vanish, you lose a part of yourself. You get smaller and smaller each time.

Eraser:       That's true. But I don't really mind. You see, I was made to do this. I was made to help you whenever you do something wrong. Even though one day, I know I'll be gone and you'll replace me with a new one, I'm actually happy with my assigned job. So please, stop worrying. I hate seeing you sad dear. 

Suddenly I got up from the somber of sleep and started thinking about the dialogue I had just listened. I found the dialogue between the pencil and the eraser very inspiring. Gave it a second thought and a strange analogy came to my mind.

I thought Parents are like the ERASER & Children are the PENCIL. Parents are always there for their children, cleaning up their follies and mistakes. Sometimes along the way, they get hurt but still remain determined to clean up taking it as their moral binding. In the process they become smaller, older, and eventually pass away. Though their children will eventually find someone new (spouse) but parents are still happy with what they do for their children and will always hate seeing their precious ones worrying or sad.

All my life, I've been the PENCIL. And it pains me to see the ERASER that is my parents getting smaller and smaller each day. For I know that one day, all that I'm left with would be eraser shavings and memories of what I used to have.

May THE ERASERS live longer & THE PENCILS write good things

Wonders of the World

A group of students were asked to list what they thought were the present "Seven Wonders of the World."

Though there were some disagreements, the following received the most votes:

1. Egypt's Great Pyramids
2. Taj Mahal
3. Grand Canyon
4. Panama Canal
5. Empire State Building
6. St. Peter's Basilica
7. China's Great Wall

While gathering the votes, the teacher noted that one student had not finished her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list

The girl replied, "Yes, a little. I couldn't quite make up my mind because there were so many."

The teacher said, "Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help."

The girl hesitated, then read, "I think the 'Seven Wonders of the World' are:"
1.     To See
2.     To Hear
3.     To Touch
4.     To Taste
5.     To Feel
6.     To Laugh
7.     and to Love

The room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. The things we overlook as simple and ordinary and that we take for granted are truly wondrous!  

Moral: The most precious things in life cannot be built by hand or brought by man, these have to be from Allah.

I WISH YOU ENOUGH

Recently I overheard a Father and daughter in their last moments together at the airport.  They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the Father said, 'I love you, and I wish you enough.' The daughter replied, 'Dad, our life together has been more than  enough.  Your love is all I ever needed.  I wish you enough, too, Dad.' They kissed and the daughter left.  The Father walked over to the window where I was seated.  Standing there I could see he wanted and needed to cry.  I tried not to intrude on his privacy, but he welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone ! knowing it would be forever?' 'Yes, I have,' I replied.  'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?'.. 

'I am old, and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral,' he said.

'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough.'  May I ask what that means?' 

He began to smile.  'That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations.  My parents used to say it to everyone...'  He paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and he smiled even more. 'When we said, 'I wish you enough,' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain the! m.'  Then turning toward me, he shared the following as if he were reciting it from memory.

ü I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.

ü I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.

ü I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
ü I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.

ü I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

ü I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
ü I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

He then began to cry and walked away.

It is said "it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate him, a day to love hom; but then an entire life to forget him. 

TAKE TIME TO LIVE.... 

To all my friends and loved ones,

I WISH YOU ENOUGH .

Anger

A True Story

A man purchased a new truck. While at home he felt like having another sight of his hard earned truck. He came out of his home and to his bewilderment, his youngest son was eagerly hammering dents into the truck body. The man ran to his son, pushed him away, and hammered the little boy's hand into a pulp as punishment.

When the father calmed down, and found his son in trauma he rushed  his son to the hospital. The doctor tried his level best to save the crushed bones but in vain. He finally had to amputate the fingers of both the boy's hands..

When the boy woke up from the surgery and saw his bandaged hands, he innocently asked," Daddy, I'm sorry about your truck, but when are my fingers going to grow back?" The father went home and committed suicide..!

Moral: A man is beyond the value of those things that make him angry. Trucks can be repaired. Broken bones and hurt feeling often can't... Too often we fail to recognize the difference between the person and the things.

People make mistakes...

We are allowed to make mistakes..., But the actions we take while in a anger will haunt us forever... While in anger Pause and ponder…… Think about the consequences before you act...

Pledge

We got independence from subjugation of British Raj and managed to draw the boundaries of an independent state named Pakistan, the land of pure,  in the name of Allah.

We got separated from Hindu majority on the pretext that under Hindu rule, when British quits India, we will not be able to practice Islam, our religion, freely. Allah SWT blessed us with a country. The very first part of land, land of pure, which emerged on the face of earth, on the ideology of Islam.

Our forefathers sacrificed their honour, their lands, their homes, their belongings and above all their lives for creation of this independent piece of land with a dream that their coming generations will not face hostile environments and will be able to freely practice Islam as CODE OF LIFE.

But today when I look around and measure the activities of daily life on the scale of Islam I find that we are far away from the teachings of Islam. All my fellow countrymen, belonging to different walks of life, have one thing in common and that is, they have forgotten Islamic principles of life. They have devised their own versions of social bindings, social values and social norms. they have gone money minded, they have become materialistic.

In the past 64 plus years, our leaders have contributed nothing to improve the society, to deliver what they are elected for. They remained busy in plundering the national wealth, getting nationalities of US, UK and other destinations for their families, appointing their kith and kin on lucrative posts and left the common man bewildered. Instead of doing legislation they remained busy in getting favourite bureaucrats posted in their constituencies, punishing their opponents , looting development funds, and enjoying undue privileges.

I want to ask from ruling class; did we elect these MNA's and MPA's to make them masters of our fate or were they suppose to make legislations. Being student of political science I was taught that government has three pillars, legislators who make the laws, administrators who run the government affairs and judiciary which provides justice to the people. I believe that MNA's and MPA's are the legislators. Their foremost duty is to provide the state with the laws, matching the locale, for the judiciary and develop guiding principles, to run the government, for bureaucracy.

But are they doing these duties? NO. They do not. That is the reason this country kept dwindling, rolling down the slope to meet the fate of a failed state and we the people (AWAM), remained silent observers. Instead of checking our leaders, making them accountable for their deeds, kept electing them time and again to repeat the old story.

So we cannot blame the politicians or bureaucracy for the ill fate of our beloved Pakistan. We all  are equally responsible. Had we done our job justly! Casted our vote for the right candidates. The fate of this country would have been different.

It's never too late. Let us pull our socks, mend our way, correct our attitude, follow the right path, path of Islamic teachings. Start acting for the betterment of our country and I assure you that within no time we will be on the track of development, physically and morally. We will transform into a nation. A nation which owns LAND OF PURE, a promising land. A wondrous piece of land with topography of mountains, glaciers, plains, desserts and rivers. enjoying the seasons of   winter, spring, summer and autumn, marvellous soil to grow all the cash  crops and to produce all sorts of fruits. 

I TELL YOU ITS HEAVEN ON EARTH. IT'S WE WHO HAVE MADE IT HELL

We the Pakistanis belonging to any religion, tribe, caste or creed are above all Pakistanis. Let us make a promise to ourselves today that we will not do anything against the teachings of our religion Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Hinduism, or whatever. I believe that no religion propagates or promotes wrongs. All the religions teach the basic principle of LIVE AND LET LIVE. We will not accept anything wrong against the state, Pakistan, and make the right choice to elect the right people, not the plunderers, looters, cheaters and robbers. We will elect noble people for the noble cause to make right legislations, to Implement laws in true perspectives and to do justice without any favouritism and bias.

BE ALLAH WITH US! ALWAYS

Growing Up

While surfing a quotations website I am reminded of my childhood . I come from a remote village of Punjab, Pakistan. I remember when I was studying in primary school, every evening after diner, which we use to take just after sunset, we would gather around granny (Nani)on her bed and ask her to narrate a story, a bedtime story. She would advice us to sit quite, clear her throat and narrate us a story, a story with some moral, some piece of advice.

 One day once the stage was set and we were waiting for her to start a new story she said today I have no story to narrate and instead will give you some food for thought and then she started.

There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. Growing old is mandatory. You know with every passing moment you grow old. Growing old is beyond your control. Everyone, every living creator grows older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. If you are thirteen years old and lie in bed idle for one full year and don't do anything productive, you will turn fourteen years old by the end of the year.

Growing up is optional. It's you to decide whether you want to grow up or remain childish. Growing up is an attitude. If you are lively, think positive, have tolerance, don't get fussy on small things, have dreams; it means you are growing up. The indicators of growing up are; you remain positive ie. Stay happy, react according to situation ie. Smile when it is needed and laugh when required, have a dream.

We were stun, listening to Nani holding our breathes, trying to understand what Nani was saying. She continued, when you lose your dreams, you die. There are so many people around us who are dead but they don't even know it.

Remember live a lively life. Don't be a dead person. You keep growing old but alongside strive to grow up as well. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity, if you don't find create one, have no regrets, keep rolling. We do not stop dreaming because we are old; we grow old because we stop dreaming.

Nani was silent, and a pin drop silence was visible even in the dim rays of lantern lighting up the surroundings. The rays of hope, the light of life.