Unconditional Love -motivating story

A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after
having fought in Vietnam.He called his parents from San Francisco.
"Mom and Dad, I'm coming home, but I've a favor to ask. I have a
friend I'd like to bring home with me."
"Sure," they replied, "we'd loveto meet him."
"There's something you should know the son continued, "he was hurt
pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mind and lost an
arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go,and I want him to come live
with us." Friends are a very rare jewel, indeed. They make you smile
and encourage you to succeed They lend an ear, they share a word of
praise, and they always want to open their hearts to us.
DETERMINATON
In 1883, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an
idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long
Island.However bridge building experts throughout the world thought
that this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the idea.
It just could not be done. It was not practical. It had never beendone
before.
Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of thisbridge.
He thought about it all the time and he knew deep in his heart that it
could be done. He just had to share the dreamwith someone else. After
muchdiscussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son
Washington, an up and comingengineer, that the bridge in fact could be
built.
Working together for the first time, the father and son developed
concepts of how it could be accomplished and how the obstacles could
be overcome. With great excitement and inspiration, and the headiness
of a wild challenge before them, they hired their crew and began to
build their dream bridge.
The project started well, but when it was only a few monthsunderway a
tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington
was injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage, which
resulted in him not being able to walk or talk or even move.
"We told them so."
"Crazy men and their crazy dreams."
"It`s foolish to chase wild visions."
Everyone had a negative comment to make and felt thatthe project
should be scrapped since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew how
the bridge could be built. In spite of his handicap Washington was
never discouraged and still had a burning desire to complete the
bridge and his mind was still as sharp as ever.
He tried to inspire and pass on his enthusiasm to some of his friends,
but they were too daunted by the task. As he lay on his bed in his
hospital room,with the sunlight streaming through the windows, a
gentle breeze blew the flimsy white curtains apart and he was ableto
see the sky and the tops of the trees outside for just a moment.
It seemed that there was a message for him not to give up. Suddenly an
idea hit him. All he could do was move one finger and he decided to
make the best use of it. By moving this, he slowly developed a code of
communication with his wife.
He touched his wife's arm with that finger, indicating to her that he
wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method
of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish
but the project was under way again.
For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on
his wife's arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Today the
spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory as a tribute to
the triumph of one man's indomitable spirit and his determination not
to be defeated by circumstances. It is also a tribute to the engineers
and their team work, and to their faith in a man who was considered
mad by half the world. It stands too as a tangible monument to thelove
and devotion of his wife who for 13 long years patientlydecoded the
messages of her husband and told the engineers what to do.
Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never-say-die attitude
that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achieves an impossible
goal.
Often when we face obstacles in our day-to-day life, our hurdles seem
very small in comparison to what many others have to face. The
Brooklyn Bridge shows us that dreams that seem impossible can be
realised with determination and persistence,no matter what the odds
are.
Even the most distant dream can be realized with determination and persistence.

inspirational motivational stories- The Wooden Bowl

A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and a
four-year old grandson. The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was
blurred,and his step faltered. The family ate together nightly at the
dinner table. But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing
sight made eating rather difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the
floor. When he grasped the glass often milk spilled on the tablecloth.
The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess. "We must
do something about grandfather," said theson. I've had enough of his
spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor. So the husband and
wifeset a small table in the corner. There, grandfather ate alonewhile
the rest of the family enjoyed dinnerat the dinner table. Since
grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden
bowl. Sometimes when the family glanced in grandfather's direction, he
had a tear in his eye as he ate alone. Still, the only words the
couple had for him were sharp admonitions when hedropped a fork or
spilled food. The four-year-old watched it all in silence.
One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with
wood scraps on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, "What are you
making?" Just as sweetly, the boy responded, "Oh, I am making a little
bowl for you and mama to eat your food from when I grow up."
Thefour-year-old smiled and went back to work. The words so struck the
parents that they were speechless. Then tears started to stream down
their cheeks. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done.
That evening the husband took grandfather's hand and gently led him
back to the family table.
For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family. And
for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer
when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.
Children are remarkably perceptive. Their eyesever observe, their ears
ever listen, and their minds ever process the messagesthey absorb. If
they see us patiently provide a happy home atmosphere forfamily
members, theywill imitate that attitude for the rest of their lives.
The wise parent realizes that every day that building blocks are being
laid for the child's future.
Let us all be wise builders and role models. Take care of yourself,
... and those you love, ... today, andeveryday!

4a] Beware of rumours at times of crisis

4a]
1 – When the Sahaabah migrated from Makkah to Ethiopia, they were
safe, but then a rumour spread that the kuffaar of Quraysh in Makkah
had become Muslims, so some of the Sahaabah left Ethiopia and
travelled until they reached Makkah, where they found that the report
was not true, and they met with persecution at thehands of Quraysh.
All of that happened because of rumours.
2 – During the Battle of Uhud, when Mus'ab ibn 'Umayr was killed,
there was a rumour that itwas the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) who had been killed, so the army of
Islam withdrew because of a rumour, and some of them fled to Madeenah
and some stopped fighting.
3 – There was the rumour of theslander incident (al-ifk), when the
pure and innocent 'Aa'ishah was accused of immoral conduct, which led
to the distress felt by the Messenger ofAllaah (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) and the Muslims with him. All of that wasbecause
of rumours.
So what is the proper shar'i method of dealing with news?
There are ways of dealing with news which we will look at in brief:
1 – Deliberation
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)said:
"Deliberation is from Allaahand haste is from the
Shaytaan."Al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 1795.
The one who deliberates may meet some of his needs whilst the one who
is hasty may slip.
2 – Verifying news
Allaah says (interpretation of themeaning):
"O you who believe! If a Faasiq (liar — evil person) comes to you with
any news, verify it, lest you should harm people in ignorance, and
afterwards you become regretful for what you have done"
[al-Hujuraat 49:6]
The reason why this verse was revealed:
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)sent al-Waleed
ibn 'Uqbah ibn Abi Mu'eet to Banu al-Mustaliq, tocollect the zakaah
from them. When news of that reached them they rejoiced, and they came
out to meet the Messengerof Allaah (peace and blessings ofAllaah be
upon him). When al-Waleed heard that they had come out to meet him, he
went back to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) and said, "O Messenger of Allaah, Banu al-Mustaliq have
withheld the zakaah."
The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
became very angry at that, and whilst he was thinking of launching a
campaign against them, the delegation came to him and said, "O
Messenger of Allaah, we were told that your envoy returned after
coming only half way, and we were afraid that he came back because he
received a message from you saying that you were angry with us. We
seek refuge with Allaah from the anger of Allaah and the anger of His
Messenger."
Then Allaah excused them in His Book and revealed the words
(interpretation of the meaning):
"O you who believe! If a Faasiq (liar — evil person) comes to you with
any news, verify it, lest you should harm people in ignorance, and
afterwards you become regretful for what you have done"
[al-Hujuraat 49:6]
See: al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 3085.
What is meant by verifying is making the effort to find out thetruth
of the matter, so as to establish whether this can be proven or not.
Verifying means making certain of the truth of the report and itscircumstances.
Al-Hasan al-Basri said: "The believer reserves judgement until the
matter is proven."
Finally: we advise everyone to verify matters and not to rush to pass
on news until they are sure that it is true, even if the news is good
news, because if itbecomes apparent that the one who passed it on is
mistaken, hewill lose credibility before the people… and anyone who
bears a grudge towards him will use itagainst him. May Allaah help us
all to do that which He loves andwhich pleases Him.
And Allaah knows best.

4] Beware of rumours at times of crisis

4]
There are some writers, especially on the Internet, who spread news
without verifying it, which is confusing the Muslims and making them
despair, such as the claim that one of the Muslim cities has fallen,
or that one of their leaders has been killed, and other reports which
lead to despair and weakening of morale… All of that is without any
proof or certainty that the news is true… Some of them even write at
the end of their articles, "This is what I have heard but I am not
sure whetherthe report is true"!
What is your advice to these people?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Undoubtedly at times of tribulation there is a lot of propaganda and
excitement, hence the role of rumours.
It is well known that verifying news is required according to
sharee'ah, because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
"O you who believe! If a Faasiq (liar — evil person) comes to you with
any news, verify it, lest you should harm people in ignorance, and
afterwards you become regretful for what you have done"
[al-Hujuraat 49:6]
The Lawgiver issued a stern warning against passing on all that one
hears. It was narrated that Hafs ibn 'Aasim said: The Messenger of
Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)said: "It is enough
lying for a man to speak of everything thathe hears." Narrated by
Muslim inal-Muqaddimah, 6; Saheeh al-Jaami, 4482.
It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "It is enoughsin for a man to
speak of everything that he hears." Al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 2025.
Al-Nawawi said: Usually a person hears truth and lies, so ifhe speaks
of everything that he hears, he is lying by telling of things that did
not happen, and lying by speaking of something other than the way it
happened;and he does not have to do that deliberately (in order to be
regarded as telling lies).
It was narrated that al-Mugheerah ibn Shu'bah said: The Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him)said: "Allaah has forbidden you to
disobey your mothers, to bury your daughters alive, to not pay the
rights of others and to beg from others. And He dislikes gossip for
you, asking too many questions, and wasting money." Narrated by
al-Bukhaari, 2231.
Al-Haafiz ibn Hajar said:
With regard to the words 'and He dislikes gossip [qeela wa qaala –
lit. it was said and he said] for you' al-Muhibb al-Tabari said, there
are three points of view as to the meaning of this hadeeth:
1 – That it indicates that it is makrooh (disliked) to speak too much,
because it leads to mistakes.
2 – That it refers to wanting to pass on what people say and looking
for that in order to tell others of it, so that one can say, "So and
so said such and such, and Such and such was said…" The prohibition on
this is either a rebuke for doing too much of it or it refers to a
particular type of talk, which the person spokenof dislikes to have
mentioned.
3 – That it refers to narrating differences of opinion concerning
religious matters, such as saying, "This one said such and such and
that one saidsuch and such." The reason whythis is disliked is that
speaking of such matters may lead to mistakes. This applies especially
to those who transmit such views without verifying them, merely
imitating those whom they hear without exercising any caution. I say:
this is supported by the saheeh hadeeth, "It is enough sin for a man
to speak of everything thathe hears." (narrated by Muslim).
It was narrated that Abu Qalaabah said: Abu Mas'ood saidto Abu
'Abd-Allaah, or Abu 'Abd-Allaah said to Abu Mas'ood: What did you hear
the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)say
about saying "they say…"?
He said: I heard the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings ofAllaah
be upon him) say: "How bad it is for a man to keep saying, 'They
say…'. " al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 866.
Al-'Azeemabaadi said: This means, it is a bad way to reach one's
objective, by saying, 'they say…'. Saying 'they say…' is akin to
conjecture, i.e., the worst habit of a man is to use the phrase 'they
say' to serve his purposes, so he tells of something, merely repeating
what others have said without verifying it, and thus he transmits lies
… this was the view of al-Manaawi.
Hence our righteous forebears were keen to establish proof and were
wary of rumours.
'Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: "Beware of fitnah, for a
word at the time of fitnah could be as devastating as the sword."
History shows us the danger of rumours when they spread among the
ummah. There followsome examples of that:
1 – When the Sahaabah migrated from Makkah to Ethiopia, they were
safe, but then a rumour spread that the kuffaar of Quraysh in Makkah
had become Muslims,