What’s Your Legacy?

"Who are you? What makes you special? What isthe legacy that you've
builtand shared with others (self, family, community and the world)?
If we died today, what would our obituaries say? What have we done for
GOD and GOD'speople lately? What is our mission and vision, and arewe
living it? If we died today, what would our obituaries say?" – Hanan
K. Bilal
This is what it's all about. I heard someone say recently that only
two things can happen with thewealth you accumulate in this life:
either it leaves you, or you leave it. Wealthis not a legacy. Having
fun is not a legacy. Helping a company to sell useless products is not
a legacy.
Making a difference in the lives of human beings, relieving the
suffering of even one person, raising righteous and happy children,
leaving behind knowledge that benefits people, making the world
abetter place, those are legacies.
I have not met the sister who is quoted at the top, but I have read
some of her writings. Whenever I hear her name I think of being
responsible, taking care of my family, loving my children and bringing
them up right, making a difference in the community, following my
dreams… that is a legacy. She has already created a vital legacy.
I have another friend whose name is Ismail. He isso humble
ma-sha-Allah, and as a friend he is the most discreet and
closed-mouthed person I know, by which I mean he never speaks badly
about anyoneelse, and never reveals anyone's secrets or violatestheir
trust. When I think of him, I am inspired to emulate him. That is his
legacy, and it's an important and valuable one.
More than twenty years ago I knew a brother named Qawiy. His life was
hard, but every time I met him he'd give me a big smile and an
enthusiastic handshake. He wore a kufi and carried a folded musalla
(prayer rug) on his shoulder, so he could pray whenever salat time
arrived, no matter where he was. Kind of quirky, but also inspiring.
All these years later, just the thought of Qawiy brings a smile to my
face, and reminds me of the importance of doing salat on time. That's
a legacy! SubhanAllah.
I could name many more people who have affected me in positive and
critical ways. I will always remember them, even afterthey are gone,
Insha'Allah. They have created lasting legacies.
Of course we don't even have to speak of the Prophets (peace be upon
them), and the Messenger of Allah (sws), and the Sahabah (may Allah be
pleased with them). Their legacies shine like the moon and stars and
will illuminate human history for all time.
What's your legacy? What do people say about you, and what will they
say when you're gone?

Keep Your Head Up and Smile

Keep your head up, smile, and look to the future. You have much yet to
do in thislife. Ask Allah for guidance, then do what your heart tells
you, speak the words that you've always held back, and be yourself.
Don't let the past freeze you in place, and don't punish yourself for
things you cannot change. Everything you've experienced: the happy
times, loneliness, laughter and tears, all have meaning, and have all
gone into making you whoyou are. If you have any wisdom or insight, it
is probably a result of hardship you've experienced in the past.
"The most beautiful peoplewe have known are those who have known
defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found
their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a
sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with
compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do
not just happen." — Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Everything that you do today has meaning. The caress you give a child,
the help you give a stranger, the quiet charity, all matterand make a
difference, even when you don't see it.It's all worth it. Your love
maters, your work matters,your life matters.
Keep your head up, and forge forward fee-sabeel-illah. Accept yourself
and be at peace. Look ahead and smile. Stand up straight, and don't
bow your head except in prayer.Keep praying, learning, thinking,
following your dreams, and loving the people in your life. You are my
brothers, my sisters, myheroes.

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيم

'Any disaster that strikes you is through what your own hands have earned' (Surat Ash-Shura: 30)

There is an important characteristic of the lower self of a man. When
something good befalls onone; when he receives goodness and kindness
from the people around him; when things go the way he wants them to
go, in a way that would cheer him up and make him happy; he feels
rather complacent. He believes that the beautiful things going on
around him and the benevolence he receives are taking their sources
from him. He thinks the reason why things go well for him andwhy
course of events go the way he hoped them togo, is because he strives
a lot and because he is a good person who makes agreat effort in many
subjects and because he acts reasonable and precautious. In other
words, he is of the idea that he had earned all the good things
befalling on him to the smallest detail.
However when the sameperson faces things that he doesn't want to face;
when goodness and benevolence is not anymore offered to him by people
around him; when things do not givethe results he wants them to give;
when the blessings in his life lessen and some difficulties and
troubles arise; he would not thinkthat "all those, again to the
smallest detail, befallon him because he earned them all himself". On
the contrary, he believes that he did not deserve any of those things
happening to him, he feels hard done-by and wronged. He even thinks
that all these things befall on him because he has been too good
towards everyone and thus he livesin the psychology of a person "being
wronged".
Most of the time, a person living through these things would not stop
to think: "Could there be something wrong with me? Could itbe that I
have some wrong beliefs and a wrong point of view? Dothe things that
befall on me have something to do with such wrong beliefs I have or
with mymorality? Would the goodness and beauties in my life be any
different if I acted somehow different? Could it be that I have been
experiencing all these because I earned them due to the flaws I have
in my morality?"
Had he been thinking like this even for a very short time; and instead
of looking for the problem inother details, had he sincerely censured
himself;he would have realized the truth which in fact is very
evident.
Allah revealed in the Qur'an that: "Any disaster that strikes you is
through what your own hands have earned" (Surat Ash-Shura: 30)
This verse gives a person the true point of view with which he could
evaluate the things he is experiencing in a correct and sound manner.
In another verse Allah informs us that; "Those who do good will have
the best and more" (Surah Yunus: 26). When aperson keeps his heart
pure and sincere; when helooks at every event in his life by searching
the approval of Allah; as long as he thinks by the morality of the
Qur'an andapproach people only through this point of view stemming
from the Qur'an; Allah would definitely "increase the beauties in such
a person'slife".
If he is harboring any evil in himself, if he does not think purely by
the Qur'an and if he is adding a little bit of the moral values of
ignorance in his approach, if he evaluates the incidents taking place
not by the Qur'an but by the rules and value judgmentsof the
ignorance, it is natural for the things that befall on him and the
things he experiences to be just like that. Whateverhe manifests
spiritually would somehow reflect onhis life.
It is very important not to forget this truth, which has been very
explicitly revealed in the Qur'an. Man is very prone to think
continuously well of himself; he adopts a wrong point of view by
thinking that he earned allthe good things that befallon them but that
he neverdeserved (Allah is beyond such claims) the troubles he
experiences. To think on these verses of the Qur'an is in fact
sufficient for him to see that these suggestions of his lower self are
not true.
Allah is All-Compassionate and Most Merciful. His Mercy extends to all
things. Allah is the One Who loves His servants infinitely, Who
continuously bestows goodness and beauty on them through concealed and
overt means. Every moment of a person's life is full of thousands of
details in which he can seethe love of Allah. And Allah is the Owner
of the Infinite Justice. Allah shows His Mercy even on aperson who has
committed the worst evils on earth and shows him the ways to
salvation.