A Young Man's Fear of Allah

One day, Malik bin Dinar (rahimaullah) was passing by a place when he
noticeda young man wearing old clothes and crying by the roadside. His
name was Uthbah. Sweat was dripping down his body even though the
temperature was very cold at that time. Malik bin Dinar became very
surprised at this scene and asked Uthbah, "Oh young man, why are you
crying? And why are you sweating during this cold temperature?"
Uthbah replied, "Once, I committed a sin at this place. Today, as I
was passing by this place, I remembered that sin."
Source: Obtained from the book "Tambihul Ghafileen" by Shaikh Abul
Laith Samarkandi.
Look how pious were the early Muslims. Today, we are committing
thousands of sins, yet, we are walkingaround with happiness andjoy as
if we have nothing to worry about.

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The King and the Poor Man

There was a king who decided to take a tour of his country. As he
passed by different places, everyone rushed to see him. However, while
passing by a certain place, he noticed a poor old manwho did not pay
any attention to the king's arrival and remained engaged in his own
activities. The king went up to this poor man and asked why he did not
join the people to see him. Thepoor man replied, "Before you, there
was another king who once passed by this place. Everyone gathered to
see him as well. But, few days later he died and was buried in a place
nearby. A poor man also died during that time and was buried near the
king's grave. After some time, a strong flood passed through that area
causing those graves to overturn. As a result, the bones of the poor
man became mixed up with those of the king's. We could not
differentiate between them any longer.After seeing this, it does not
matter to me anymoreas to who is a king and who is a beggar. In the
end, our home is the same."
Narrated by brother Ayyubfrom Toronto, Canada during one of his lectures.

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Owners of the Garden

The following story is mentioned in Surah Qalam, Chapter 68 of the Holy Quran.
Once there was a wealthy and pious man. He had a big garden full of
green trees laden with fruits. After the fruits were picked, this
rightful man used to distribute some fruits among the poor who would
gather at the garden every season to take their share.
Allah liked this act of the man. By the grace of Allah the garden used
to give rich harvest every season. Truly, one who spends for the sake
of Allah gets the reward in the hereafter as well as in this life.
This man had many sons who were not so pious as him. When their father
died, they discussed a planand said to each other that their father
was not awise man. He did not know how it was difficult to earn
livelihood. They did not like the habit of distributing some of the
fruits among the poor. They felt as if all their efforts would go to
vain if the poor had some share.
One of the sons had a concern. What will they tell the poor people
when they gather to take their fruits next time? They thought over its
implications, as they were worried about losing their prestige.
However, they were not afraid of Allah's wrath. One of them suggested
removing all the fruits in the night and thus clearing the garden
before dawn so that nobody could come and ask for his share.
Everyoneagreed to this suggestion. Since they were not even afraid of
Allah, they forgot to say 'Insha-Allah', which means if Allah
Wills,"...they swore to pluck the fruits of the (garden) in the
morning, without saying Insha-Allah ('if AllahWills')" (Verses 17-18).
If a Muslim does not say Insha-Allah before doing something Allah may
not fulfill his wish. But those who have no faith in Allah fail to
remember this and get stuck up in their act.
Allah is all Powerful. He knows no bounds in His Governance. All the
brothers went to sleep with a view to getting up early in the morning
and gather the ripe fruits. In the meantime, with the Will of Allah
"...there passed by on the (garden) a visitation (fire) from your Lord
at night and burnt it while they were asleep." (Verse 19)
In the early morning, all ofthem got up and hurried up and "...called
out one toanother as soon as the morning broke, Saying: 'Goto your
tilth in the morning, if you would pluck the fruits.' So they
departed, conversing in secret low tones (saying), No Miskin (poor
man) shallenter upon you into it today." (Verses 21-24)
As they were proceeding towards the garden, they were quite unaware
that Allah had willed otherwise. Because the garden had become
"blackby the morning, like a pitch dark night (in complete ruins)"
(Verse 20). So when they reachedthe garden, they said this was not
their garden, and that they had strayed away from the right path to
the garden. But when they saw there was no other way around, they were
wonder struck! Soon they realized the situation and yelled: "Verily,
we have gone astray," "Nay! Indeed we are deprived of(the fruits)!"
The best among them said: "Did I not say to you 'Why not glorify
(Allah)'?" (Verses 26-28). He had been advising them earlier against
this act, for he hadsaid it is only Allah who would enhance their
fruitsif they continued to give away some of them in charity.
All of them felt regretful over their misdeed. They turned, to one
another, in reproach and said: "Glory to our Lord! Verily we have been
doing wrong. Alas for us! We have indeed transgressed!" All of them,
then, sought Allah's pardon and said:"We hope that our Lord will give
us in exchange a better (garden) than this. Truly, we turn to our Lord
(wishing for good that He may forgive our sins, and reward us in the
Hereafter)." (Verses 31-32)
It is very beloved to Allah that we share with the less fortunate
whatever we have. While some of usonly feel hungry during the month of
Ramadan, there are many who are hungry everyday. Let us be more
generous with our wealth and help all those who are in need. Wewill
not lose anything by giving away some of our wealth, we will only
gain.

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NEWS - US military buildup in the Gulf counteracts Iran’s possible retaliation 2012-07-04 03:33:09 GMT 2012-07-04 11:33:09(Beijing Time) SINA English

The U.S. has quietly added forces in the Persian Gulf to foil Iran's
possible moveto choke off the Strait of Hormuz, according to the New
York Times。
Another batch of fighter jets capable of striking deep into Iran has
been sent to the area, in a persistent effort to beef upthe American
military presence in the gulf region。
The most visible reinforcements are the doubled minesweepers bythe
Navy consigned to the region up to eight vessels. In line with the
move, Navy ships are also deployed to largely strengthen the US patrol
in the Strait of Hormuz and to reopen the narrow waterway once Iran
laid mines to deter oil tankers of Saudi Arabia and other oil
exporters from passing through。
"The message to Iran is: Don't even think about it,"one senior Defense
Department official said on the condition of anonymity, "Don't even
think about closing the strait. We'll clear the mines. Don't even
think about sending your fast boats out to harass our vessels or
commercial shipping. We'll put them on the bottom of the gulf。"
Those additional attack aircraft give the US military greater
capability against coastal missile batteries that could threaten
shipping, as well as its reach to strike other targets deeper inside
Iran。
In response to the tightening Western sanctions, Iran announced on
Monday that it would consider blocking the Strait of Hormuz. The
Islamic Republic has also started a three-day missiledrill delivering
a warning to Israel and the United States.

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