Happy Alive Day

If today were your birthday, would you be happy and excited?
Well, guess what? Today is your "Alive Day"!
You are alive today. You have the opportunity to earn huge rewards by
praying, being kind to people, giving charity, loving your family,
helping your neighbors, and just looking around and appreciating the
beauty of Allah's creation.
Oh, that's not good enough? Okay, get yourselfa cupcake and stick a
candle in it; then blow out the candle, and enjoy this song: "Happy
Alive Day to you, Happy Alive Day dear reader…"
After you've had that cupcake, visit one of your friends, maybe
someone you love but haven't seen in a while. Catch up on each others'
lives, go out toeat or to the park, or stay home and play a game of
cards. Make sure you spendat least a few minutes talking about Allah,
because that's what brings life and blessings to any visit.
Every day is an opportunity. Happiness is where you find it. Sometimes
all it takes is a candle in a cupcake, and a call to a friend.
Happy Alive Day.

In a season of consumerist madness, let’s be grateful, and give

At this time of year the stores are pushing their sales at us.
Advertising is everywhere. There if a frenzy to buy, buy, buy. Let's
realize that this is not a spiritual way of life. It's not an
appropriate lifestylefor someone who is dedicated to God. The
consumerist madness is a deception. There's no joy orpeace attached to
it. It's a shallow illusion.
Look at what society has done to itself in the name of consumerism. A
day of thanks (Thanksgiving) has become the prelude to "Black Friday",
the biggest shopping day of the year. Itused to be that Black Friday
did not begin until Friday morning, out of respect for Thanksgiving.
Then the starting gun was moved to midnight, and now it has crept into
Thursday evening. Nothing is sacred.
The Prophet 'Isa ibn Maryam (Jesus the son of Mary), peace be upon
him, has been turned into a marketing strategy. His purported birthday
has become a month of shopping insanity, presidedover by a mythical
sub-deity named Santa. People go into debt, they fight over sale
goods… no mention is made of faith.
We Muslims fall prey to thesame consumerist lifestyle. Sometimes the
holy monthof Ramadan becomes a month of shopping, sleeping and binge
eating, astaghfirullah.
Let us – Christians, Muslims,Jews and all people of God – not follow
this path. Let'shew to a way of sacrifice, zakat (purification),
sadaqah (charity), zuhd (giving up material luxury).We don't have to
be monks, but we must focus on the things that matter: faith and
family.
There are movements that advocate a simple living, back-to-nature,
low-impactlifestyle. In Islam this is called zuhd , which could be
translated as detachment or asceticism. Zuhd is a choice that a person
makes to give up the hunger for material possessions and transgressive
carnal experiences, and live a simple lifestyle dedicated to God.
That's what we need.
The faith in our hearts is more important than the brand name of the
clothes we wear. Where our feet carry us – to someplace good or bad –
is more important than the cost of our shoes. The sincerity in our
hearts is more important than any gift. May Allah help us to see what
is important in life.
The Enjoyment of Delusion
There's a powerful verse from the Bible, Proverbs 30:8-9:
Give me neither poverty nor riches,
grant me only my share of bread to eat,
for fear that surrounded byplenty, I should fall away
and say, "Yahweh – who is Yahweh?"
or else in destitution, take to stealing
and profane the name of my God.
(Yahweh is an ancient Hebrew name for God).
If you visit the shopping malls at Christmastime, andread the news
stories of people lining up from the night before and huddling in
sleeping bags in order tobuy the latest gadgets, then trampling each
other in the rush; if you turn on the TV to the usual Christmas
comedies and "Frosty the Snowman" cartoons, you see that God has been
forgotten, and has even become taboo. It's not politically correct
tospeak of God. Just watch what we broadcast, be hypnotized by our
Christmas elevator music, buy and forget…
Allah says about this:
"Know that the life of thisworld is but amusement and diversion and
adornment and boasting to one another and competition in increase of
wealth and children – like the example of a rainwhose [resulting]
plant growth pleases the tillers; then it dries and you see it turned
yellow; then it becomes debris. And in the Hereafter is severe
punishment and forgiveness from Allah and approval. And what is the
worldly life except the enjoyment of delusion." – Quran, Surat
Al-Hadeed, 57:20
This theme is struck repeatedly in the Quran. The amusement and
adornment of the dunya is an illusion that dries up and crumbles like
a corn stalk, and becomes dust. It is empty, the enjoyment of delusion
. Wow. That phrase, "enjoyment of delusion", makes me think of a
madman alone in a room, tied in a straight jacket, engaged in a
pleasant delusion playing only in his mind.
I know people who have a bedroom devoted to all thejunk that they have
boughtbut do not use. They never enter that room and the door is kept
locked. Isn't that a kind of mental illness?
Gratitude
How do we resist the onslaught of the season? How do we remember Allah?
The greatest tool in our toolbox is gratitude. By looking at what
we've been blessed with, our hearts become content. Socrates commented
that contentment is natural wealth, while luxury is artificial
poverty. Contentment does not mean complacency or passivity; it refers
to a stateof awareness of our blessings, and gratitude forthe smallest
to the greatestprovisions – the tiniest cellsin our bodies, to the
grand earth itself.

Here’s a true story about the power of persistence:

Once, many years ago, I arrived in San Francisco on a warm July day
with no friends, no contacts and only a little money in my pocket. I
needed work. What I did have was confidence. I had been through some
very hard times, and had learned to fight for what I wanted, and not
to accept "no" for an answer.
I met a fellow who was a courier and he suggested that I try it. He
gave me thenames of some courier companies. I visited severaland
filled out applications, but there was one company in particular that
I liked. It seemed well outfitted and professionally run. I spoke to
the human resources manager and he told me that they did not need
anyone but that I should check back in several months. "Summertime is
slow here," he said. "Try us in fall."
I came back early the next morning. I couldn't wait until autumn, and
I wasn't interested in sitting aroundand hoping for someone tolook at
my application and call me. I knew they had stacks of applications in
filing drawers. I had decided where I wanted to work, and all that
remained was for them to accept my reality.
The HR manager said, "Weren't you here yesterday and I told you we
don't need anyone?" I said yes, but I thought maybe someone might
callin sick and they could use me just for the day. The HR manager
gave me an appraising look and said, "No, nothing like that. Whydon't
you come back in a month?"
I came back the next day. This time the HR man smiled and said, "I'll
tell you what, come back in one week."
I came back the next day. Itwas a Thursday. The HR man rolled his eyes
in exasperation and said, "Listen. Come back on Monday and I'll see
what I can do."
I came back the next day, Friday. He gave me a job starting that day.
I worked for that company for five years and got promoted twice.
That's a true story.
I know it's harder nowadays with the economy in shambles. I'm not
guaranteeing that you can get a job by following these tips. But it
will certainly help your chances,Insha'Allah. And if you take that
same persistence and apply it to every endeavor in your life, I
believe you will find that even mountains will crumble before you.
And Allah knows best.
I'm really not a fan of Madison Avenue's ubiquitous ad messages, but
there was a Nike ad that I saw once that really resonated for me. In
fact I tore it out of the magazine and pasted it up on the wall, right
beside my bed. It said:
All your life you are told the things you cannot do.All your life they
will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough;
they will say you're the wrongheight or the wrong weight or the wrong
typeto play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a
thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your
life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly.
AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES.
May Allah help all of you and provide for you and your families.
(O Allah), Guide us to the straight path; The path ofthose whom you
have favored; Not those with whom you are angry; Northose who go
astray.

Expecting Great Things, and Doing My Part

"Holding on to the rope of the LORD, believing in the power of
prayers, faith andgood deeds. Expecting great things from GOD. I am
ready and willing to put in the work and do my part to make it happen…
faith without works equals nothing but false hope… wanting without
striving and struggling is like dreaming. I gotta get busy putting in
more work!"