The Emperor and the Seed

An emperor in the Far East was growing old and knew it was time to
choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or his
children, he decided something different. He called young people in
the kingdom together one day. He said, "It is time for me to step down
and choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you."
The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. "I am going to give
each one of you a seed today. One very special seed. I want you to
plant the seed, water it and come back here one year from today with
what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants
that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next emperor!"
One boy named Ling wasthere that day and he, like the others, received
a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the story. She
helped him get a pot and planting soil, and heplanted the seed and
watered it carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if
it had grown. Afterabout three weeks, some of the other youthsbegan to
talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.
Ling kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, 4
weeks, 5 weeks went by.Still nothing. By now, others were talking
about their plants but Ling didn't have a plant, and he felt like a
failure. Six months went by-still nothing in Ling's pot. He just knew
he had killed his seed.
Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling
didn't say anything to his friends, however. He justkept waiting for
his seedto grow.
A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their
plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he
wasn't going to take an empty pot. But honest about what happened,
Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He
took his empty pot to the palace. When Ling arrived, he was amazed at
the variety of plants grown by the other youths. They were
beautiful-in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor
and many of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him
and just said, "Hey nice try."
When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young
people. Ling just tried to hide in the back."My, what great plants,
trees and flowers you have grown," said the emperor. "Today, one of
you will be appointed the next emperor!" All ofa sudden, the emperor
spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered
his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor
knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"
When Ling got to the front, the Emperor askedhis name. "My name is
Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him.
The emperor asked everyoneto quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then
announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!"
Ling couldn't believe it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. Howcould
he be the new emperor? Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I
gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it,
water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled
seeds which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me
trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not
grow, you substituted another seed for the oneI gave you. Ling was the
only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed
in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!"
The Prophet taught,"Truthfulness leads to righteousness, and
righteousness leads to Paradise. And a man keeps on telling the truth
until he becomes a truthful person. Falsehood leads to Al-Fajur (i.e.
wickedness, evil-doing), and Al-Fajur (wickedness) leads to the (Hell)
Fire, and a manmay keep on telling lies till he is written before
Allah, a liar." [Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 8:116]

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What is meant by profaning the names of Allah and types of profanation

What is meant by profaning the names of Allah, may He be exalted?.
Praise be to Allaah.
The scholars have mentioned different types of profaning the names of
Allah, may He be exalted, all of which involve distorting the meaning
in a way other than the way it should be understood. There are several
types:
1.
Denying any of His names or the attribute to which a name refers. For
example: those who deny that the name ar-Rahmaan (the Most Gracious)
is one of the names of Allah, may He be exalted, as the peopleof the
Jaahiliyyah did.
Or they may affirm the name but deny the attribute to which it refers,
as some of the innovators said that Allah, may He be exalted,is
Merciful without mercy, All-Hearing without hearing.
2.
Calling Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, by a name by which He
did not call Himself.
The reason why this is profanation is that the names of Allah, may He
be glorified and exalted,are limited to what is mentioned in the texts
of the Qur'an and Sunnah, and it is not permissible for anyone to call
Allah, may He be exalted, by a name by which He did not call Himself.
This comes under the heading of speaking about Allah without
knowledge, andtransgressing against the rights of Allah, may He be
glorified and exalted. This is what some of the philosophers did, when
they called God the primary cause, and as the Christians did when they
called Allah, may He be exalted, the Father, and so on.
3.
Believing that these names refer to attributesof created beings, and
hence thinking that this points to likening Allah to His creation.
The reason why this is profanation is that the one who believes that
the names of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, point to likening
Allah to His creation has misinterpreted them anddistorted them from
the correct meaning. He has understood the words ofAllah and the words
of His Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) as
pointing tokufr (disbelief), because likening Allah to His creation is
kufr, as it is a rejection of the words (interpretation of the
meaning): "There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearer,
the All-Seer" [ash-Shoora42:11] and "Do you know of any who is similar
to Him?" [Maryam19:65]. Na'eem ibn Hammaad al-Khuzaa'i, the shaykh of
al-Bukhaari (may Allah have mercy on them both) said: The one who
likens Allah to His creation has committed an act of kufr, and the one
who denies any attribute that Allah has ascribed to Himself has
committed an act of kufr; there is nothing in the attributes that
Allah has ascribed to himself that is similar to the attributes of His
creation.
4.
Deriving names of idols from the names of Allah, may He be exalted,
such as deriving the name al-Laat from al-Ilaah (theGod), and al-'Uzza
from al-'Azeez (the Almighty) and Manaat from al-Mannaan (the
Benefactor).

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A Secret for the acceptance of Dua (Supplication)

we make a lot of dua's but it is not accepted, students many times say
that they are in difficulties, even the ulama's and scholars request
for dua's. He says: I will teach my friends a secret for the
acceptance of dua's. If you practiceupon it, InshaAllah, you will no
longer need to search of the Isme Azam. You will see it before your
eyes your dua's being accepted just as you complete it. I have
experienced this not a hundred times but a thousandtimes. The action
is small but the results are great. The secret for the acceptance of
dua's that the author has learnt from his elders and that he has
experienced thousands of times is:
Whenever a time comes in your life when youhave the opportunity to
commit a sin and you refrain due to fear of Allah, at that very
moment, make a dua to Allah and Allah will InshaAllah, accept your dua
at that very moment.
After one has refrained from a particular sin, any dua done with full
faith, full trust and full humility comming from the depths of the
heart should suffice for acceptance. InshAllah.

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The 3 conditions ofa successful servant of Allah- Ibn Qayyim

Three conditions aretokens of the servant's happiness [ sa'adat al-abd
] , and the signs of his success in this world and the next. No
servant is without them, but is always shifting from one to the other.
These are: 1. When blessed, give thanks (Shukr); 2. when tried with
difficulties/trials, persevere (Sabr); and 3. when sinful, seek
forgiveness (Tawba).
1. Shukr for blessings:
The first condition is the blessings which come to the servant from
God (Most High), one after another. What secures them is gratitude [
shukr ], based on three supports: (a) inward recognition of the
blessing; (b) outward mention and thanks for it; (c) and its use in a
way that pleases the One to whom it truly belongs and who truly
bestows it. Acting thus, the servant shows his gratitude for the
blessing—however brief.
2. Sabr in trials:
The second is the trials from God (MostHigh) which test the Servant,
whose duty therein is patience [ sabr ] and forbearance: (a) to
restrain himself fromanger with what is decreed; (b) to restrain his
tongue from complaint; (c) to restrain his limbs from offences, such
as striking one's facein grief, rending one's clothes, tearing one's
hair and like acts. Patience, then, rests on these three supports ,
and if the servant maintains them as he should, affliction will become
benefaction,trial will change to bounty and what he disliked will
become what he loves . For God (Exalted and Sublime) does not try the
servant in order to destroy him. Rather, He tries him to put his
patience and devotion [ al-ubudiyya ] to the test. For the servant
owes devotion to God in affliction as in ease. He must have as much
devotion in what he hates as in what he loves. And while most people
offer devotion in what they love, it is important to do so in the
things they hate. It is by this thatservants' ranks are distinguished
and their stations determined.
Ablution with cold water in searing heat is devotion. Sexual relations
withone's beautiful and beloved spouse is devotion. Spending money for
her, for one's children and for oneself is devotion. It is devotion no
less than ablution with cold water in the bitter cold; giving upvice
to which one's soul is driven without fear of people; and giving
charity in hardship. But there is a great difference between the [two
kinds] of devotion.
He who is God's servant in both states, maintaining his duty in both
comfort and adversity , is the one to whom His words refer, 'Is not
God sufficient for His servant?' With complete devotion comes complete
sufficiency, and withless comes what is less. Let him who discerns
some good give praise to God, but let whoever finds something other
than this blame no one but himself.
These are the servants over whom God's Foe has no control. God said
[to the Devil], ' Lo! As for My servants, you have no power over
them." And when HisFoe Iblis learned thatHe would not let His devoted
servants yield to him or give him control over them, he proclaimed,
'Then byYour Might, I will surely beguile them all save for Your
sincere servants among them. And God (Most High) said,' And Iblis
found his calculation true, for they [all] followed him save a group
of true believers. And he had no warrant whatsoever over [any of] them
save that We might know the ones who believe in the hereafter from
thosewho doubt it. ' God will not yield to His Foe control over His
faithful servants. They are in His protection and His care. If the
Devil robsany of them, as the thief robs the heedless man, this cannot
be avoided, because by heedlessness, passion and anger is the servant
tried. It is by these same three doors that the Devil comes to him.
Try as he may to protect himself, the servant is bound to be heedless
and given to passion andanger.
3.Tawba after sinning:
Adam, the father of all humanity, was the most discerning of
creatures, their superior in wisdom, and the most steadfast. Yet the
Foekept after him until he made him fall into that which he fell. What
then of someone with the reason of a moth, whose intelligence compared
to that of his father [Adam] is like a spittle in the ocean? Still,
the Foe of God obtains nothing from a faithful person except by
robbing him in [a moment oninattention and carelessness. And when he
causes him to fall, the servant may think that he can never again
facehis Lord, that this fallhas carried him away and destroyed him.
Yet behind it all is God's grace, mercy, clemency andforgiveness.
For if God intends what is good for His servant, He will then open for
him the doors of repentance [ al-tawba ] and remorse, abasement and
humility, dependence and need; the doors of the request for God'shelp
and protection; the doors of perpetual humility, supplication and the
approach towards Him by means of whatever good works he can manage—so
that his wrong may become a means to God's mercy. For the Foe says,
'Alas, I left him without causing himto fall!'
This is what one of the early believers [ salaf ] meant when he said,
'A person may commit a sin by which he goes to heaven and a good deed
by which he goes to hell.' 'How?' someone asked. He replied, 'Having
committed the sin, he is ever watchful in fear, regretful, timorous,
lamenting,shamed before his Lord, his head in his hands and his heart
rent. The sin that brings him all that we have mentioned, wherein lie
his happiness and salvation, is more beneficial to him than numerous
devotional acts. Indeed, it becomes the means by which he enters
Heaven.
[On the other hand], he may perform a goodly deed and constantly laud
it before his Lord, wax proud, boast, become vain and haughty with it,
as he says, 'I did this, I did that.' His self-importance, pride and
arroganceprovide him only with the means to his own ruin. If God
intends then what is good for this miserable person, Hewill try him
through something that breaks [his pride], abases him and reduces his
self-importance. But if He intends otherwise, He will leave him to his
self-importance and pride, and this misfortune is what leads to his
ruin.'

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