Children can receive a good education at home only if there is a healthy family life. Thus marriage should be undertaken to form a healthy family life and so contribute to the permanence of one’s nation in particular, and of the human population in general. Peace, happiness, and security at home is the mutual accord between the spouses in thought, morals and belief. Couples who decide to marry should know each other every well and consider purity of feelings, chastity, morality and the virtue rather than wealth and physical charm. Children’s mischief and impudence reflect the atmosphere in which they are being raised. A dysfunctional family life increasingly reflects upon the child’s spirit, and therefore upon society.
– M. Fethullah Gulen and Education (p.75) from his book Essays – Perspectives – Opinions 2002 [Amazon]
Uncategorized Books, Children, Education, Essays, Happiness, Islam, Religion, Spirituality
I woke up this morning to tremendous news!
A project submission i’ve been working on with @imran called Snapture just got accepted to Tim Oreilly’s Where 2.0 conference in San Jose in May! You’ve no idea how happy i am! I’m elated to the nth degree! i’m Happy up Here :)
Uncategorized Apps, Archive, Happiness, iPhone, Leeds, Leodis, Oreilly, Photography, Photos, SanJose, Snapture, Web/Tech, Where2.0
I wanted to share something profound that happened to me on Friday after the Friday prayers. It kinda stuck with me.
After moving my car I was headed toward the nearest cash machine after praying Jummah at Leeds Grand Mosque. I met a brother named Smail there, a handsome Algerian man in his late thirties. A regular at the mosque, most people know him. I approached him to wait in line he looked at me, his eyes lit up I gave him Salaams we did our buddy hand shake and embraced each other. I then asked how he was doing and he replied “Ah u know alhumdulilah… a bit up and down” i said to him i knew what he meant. “This reality is tough man that’s why i really enjoy praying at Leeds Grand Mosque it’s such a unique place with unique individuals… very special!” i said. He agreed with me. I then said “I’s like an escape from reality, i love going there!” He turned to me and said “No… that IS the real reality!” I paused for a moment, digesting what he had just said it felt so profound to me and i was surprised that i hadn’t thought of it like that before.
Two miniutes our conversation took and what he said had such an impact on me I’m still thinking about it days after.
Uncategorized Friends, Happiness, Islam, Leeds, Leeds Grand Mosque, Life, Religion
When the energy of our consciousness is out of our control – the mind is agitated. We are being emotional. The solution is to detach from the inner storms, stand back and observe the hurricane pass. Detached observation withdraws the energy which your emotions require to sustain themselves. When you watch your own anger, it dies. If you don’t detach from it, and observe it …it will be your master.
Uncategorized Happiness
The feeling of the sun finally hitting my skin after a long time is second to none it’s better than sex :)
Is it better than sex? Yeah i think so! No…no…no… hold on a minute! let me think about this one…HECK! How the hell should i know ;)
I’m gonna probably regret this later… Hell life’s too short for regrets!
Bada Bing Bada Boom
Oh Eddie that was awesome! You know Jeremy! I just realized something it’s like listening to the waves on a beach! Genius!
Props to you Angel Mikail we’re totally not worthy :)
I hope you and everyone else has an awesome day :)
Uncategorized Happiness
Why doth you bless us so :)
What and awesome DAY! Shorts, midday run, carwash and a shave ;)
Eddie u gonna accompany me? Wow what an honor :)
Uncategorized Happiness
I met an old man today on my run this morning. He was draggin a sign out opening his car plot i think… I didn’t meet him per say i just looked in his direction and this is what he did…
He shurgged his shoulders looked up at the sky then looked back and smiled :)
I looked up at the sky looked back at him and I smiled back… no words were exchanged, but i think we both agreed today was gonna be a beautiful day :
Have a good day :)
Uncategorized Happiness
The heavens opened and it rained in Dhahran Saudi Arabia today! I was waiting to attend magrib at the mosque, there was no car because my folks took it to Bahrain for some pta meeting at my brother’s school… So i was carless! So i thought i’d walk. A few moments before I was set to leave there was no rain in sight the ground was wet from earlier showers, but I was thinking “alright this is great!” I’m not gonna get wet yay! So I get my jacket and open the door and all of a sudden it just pours it down and I mean it’s really “chuck’in it”. After that I was a bit dismayed should i go shouldn’t i go it’s raining and i’m lazy i didn’t really wanna go! Then I was thinking man I’ve been out through much worse weather than this so I found an umbrella and off i went.
Just before I got on to the main road that went straight to the mosque, i saw a little kid riding his bicycle and an elderly man with a long grayish beard came out from a nearby house dressed in a brown thobe and a red and white ghutra loosly warpped over his head. The little boy on the bike said “Assalmu Alaikum Sheikh!” The Sheikh replied in kind! Then I walked by him and gave him Salaams just before he was getting in his car and he replied to me in kinda as well, with a really big smile on his face. I noticed his smile because i’ve seen many people smile, hundreds of times, they smile to say hello, smile to be nice or kind, smile to be polite… but this smile had something different behind it, i couldn’t figure it out but this guy had light behind his smile! I could see the noor from his face! I was a block away from getting on the main road towards the mosque when the sheikh turned around and said to me in really good english (semi arab/american) accent “would you like a ride!”. I was taken aback! I would never have dreamed of such good english coming from a man who looked liked that and I never dreamed someone offering me a ride like that either!
So I hopped in his car and asked for his name and then I introduced myself! Brother Ahmed looked familiar! I found out he teaches Quran to the kids around here, then I realized where I’d seen him. I asked him do you teach Mustafa Shekhani (my lil buddy) he said yes. So he knew me before i got into his car hehe! He’s a good man I thought, we talked about a lot of things including tennis. And i realized something from the way he spoke to the words he used the passion in his eyes the way he expressed everything it was so genuine it was as if it all came from his heart. While i sat in his car I reached for the seatbelt and realized that the seatbelt was not going to work, and then it hit me, he didn’t need it to work! We drove in his raggedy old toyota corolla all the way to the mosque. I looked at his face and i realized that this man sitting next to me didn’t need a mercedes or a bmw to define his wealth or to show people his status. I saw his wealth from the way he greeted me and from his smile and that’s all i needed to know! The man I met today I felt he had riches beyond all these degrees and monetary wealth, it was as if he’d found some kinda of peace and tranquility, he never frowned he had no stress on his face or in his voice, it was as if he’d graduated with a degree from the university of life :)
Uncategorized Happiness
What happens when you have an amazing day. I mean a really amazing day, you didn’t try hard for it you didn’t want it to happen it just happened. Let me explain… it was like i was in a place where everything came together. Maybe you could call it nirvana, or like a constant state of meditation, or when you stand in front of God and you know he’s watching you and all you can do is just bask in that divinity. It was like everything in the universe came together for me for just a few hours on Tuesday the 2nd of January in Al Rashid shopping mall of all places. It was like nothing mattered and everything did. Someone nodding to you as they pass you by, the man sitting next to you patting you on the back after prayer, the imaam looking up at you giving you a smile because he noticed you for some really strange reason outta of all the people sitting there, the music of your life playing in the background and people can see that you have something, something indescribably spiritual that it only existed in that short moment in time and space. It was like i was given the answers to every question i ever wanted to know a key to open every door i ever wanted and I didn’t need to tell anyone or act upon it because I just knew it and i understood it and it made me feel amazingly calm and collected. All my thoughts were crystal clear, i was conversing in languages that I don’t practice often. And Every person i met had a smile on their face and it was like they understood and accepted just who i was and what i’d found for the short burst of interaction I had with them. Does that make sense? Probably not. I’ll probably read this back again someday and never understand what happened, but i’ll have the pleasure of knowing something existed that day for those few hours where everything made so much sense and my soul and my body kinda became one just for that time.
Uncategorized Happiness
Well, Well, Well… What can I say… I’m 22 today and I’m really content with everything in my life. Which is weird because I never was like this last year. Gosh I feel old, may not look it though but damn I feel it. My brothers come up to me were pestering me what do you want what do you want for your birthday, and to my surprize I really had nothing to tell them. I said… I don’t need anything, it was a shock to them and to me but I really felt I didn’t need or want anything for my birthday, I didn’t see the need to like I use to. Needless to say I did get something which was an unexpected suprise, and it was nice. No matter how old you get you still like to recieve presents especially one which was wrapped as well as this… ah my brother got me a limited edition cologne I had my eye on for a while but couldn’t be asked to buy it becuase well, I’ve never bought cologne in my life and i’m cheap :)
Anyways had a good day, good meal, laughs jokes, reminising about old times… it was good, and I’m happy for once in my life. I use to fear the unknown, now I relish it…
As we grow older we grow both more foolish and wiser at the same time.
François de la Rochefoucauld, Maximes
Uncategorized Happiness
