Islam and Struggle: Survival Story, Changes for Survival, Eagle Story

Eagle Story is about a wounded Eaglet who was rescued by a kind
farmer. Farmer found Eaglet in one of his fields,and so took him home,
tended to his wounds, and then placed him outside in the barnyard to
recover.
Strangely enough, Eaglet soon adapted to the habits of all the
barnyardchickens. Eaglet learned to walk and cluck like chickens.
Eaglet learned to drink from a trough and peck the dirt for food, and
for many years Eaglet peacefully resigned himself to this new life on
the farm and grow up to become beautiful Eagle.
But then one day, one of the farmer's friends spotted the Eagle and
asked, "Why in the world is that Eagle acting like a Chicken?" The
farmer toldhim what had happened,yet the friend could hardly accept
the situation.
"It's just not right," said the friend. "The Almighty Creator made
that Eagle to soar in the sky, not scavenge in the barnyard!" So he
picked up the unsuspecting Eagle, climbed onto a nearby fence post,
and tossed him into the air. But the confused Eagle just fell back to
earth andscurried off in search of his feathered friends.
Undaunted, the friend then grabbed the Eagle and climbed to the top
ofthe barn. As he heaved him off the roof, the Eagle made a few
halfhearted squawks andflaps before falling into abale of hay. After
shakinghis head a few times, the Eagle then made himself comfortable
and began mindlessly pecking at pieces of straw.
The friend went home that night dejected, and could barely sleep as he
remembered the sight of those powerful talons caked with barnyard mud.
He couldn't bear the thought, so the very next day, he headed backto
the farm for another try. This time he carried the Eagle to the top of
a nearby mountain where the sky unfolded in a limitless horizon.
He looked into the Eagle'seyes and cried out, "Don'tyou understand?
You weren't made to live like a Chicken! Why would you want to stay
down here when you were born for the sky?" As the man held the
confused Eagle aloft, he made sure the Eagle was facing into the
brilliant light of the setting sun. Then he powerfully heaved the bird
into the sky, and thistime the Eagle opened his wings, looked at the
sun, caught the updraft rising from the valley, and disappeared into
theclouds of sky.
Moral: Do you know that we, too, were born for some high purpose in
this life? The Almighty Creator has called us to live in the heights,
yet too many of us have huddled together in the barnyard, not
struggling to search for our own Islamic identity and the purpose of
Islamic life?

Islam and Struggle: Eagle Story, Changes for Survival

Eagle has the longest life-span of its' species. Eagle can live up to
70 years, but to reach this age, the Eagle must makea hard decision in
it's' 40's
Its' long and flexible talons can no longer grabprey which serves as
food, its' long and sharp beak becomes bent.
Its' old-aged and heavy wings, due to their thick feathers, become
stuck toits' chest and make it difficult to fly.
Then Eagle is left with only 2 options: die or go through a painful
processof change which lasts 150days for survival.
The process requires that Eagle fly to a mountain top and sit on its'
nest. There the Eagle knocks its' beak against a rock until it plucks
it out. Afterplucking it out, Eagle will wait for a new beak to grow
back. When its' new talons grow back, the eagle starts plucking its'
old-aged feathers andafter 5 months, eagle cantake its' flight of
rebirth and lives for 30 more years.
Moral: Many times, in order to survive, we haveto start a change
process.We sometimes need to get rid of old memories, habits and other
past traditions. Only freed from past burdens, we can take advantage
of the present and future.
Even though you may want to move forward in your life, you may have
one foot on the brakes. In order to be free, we must learn to let go.
Release the hurt and fear,refuse to entertain your old pain. The
energy it takes to hang on to that part is holding you back from a new
life. If we stay imprisoned by fear and judgement of our human nature,
we will miss out on the whole reason for being here!
Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react
to what happens, not by what lifebrings to us, but by the attitude we
bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive
thoughts, events,and outcomes. It is a catalyst, a spark that creates
extraordinary results. Let's change to make a change!!!
"If you focus on results, you will never change. If you focus on
change, youwill get results."

An Analysis of Hardship inLife: Obstacle in our Path,Struggle and Emerge

A fact of human life is that from time to time we face difficulties.
Thesecan be small day to day annoyances or calamities that push our
patience and will power to their limits. Sometimes it is hard for a
person to understand the reasons behind these horrible events,
especially when he/she knows that there is a God maintaining order in
the universe andWho is merciful. In such asituation a person may even
resent God and ask why He is making life so difficult, especially when
He is supposed to love Hisdevoted servants.
It is important to remember that when making a judgment about a
situation we should think about whether or not we have enough
knowledge to doso. Something that is badin our minds may actuallybe
good, and we may only think it is bad because of our limited
perception and knowledge. For example, imagine a person who has lived
all his life in a rain forest. He has no knowledge of technologyor
civilizations and only knows what he has learned from experience and
from those around him. If we were to take him and bring him to the
city and showed him skyscrapers, cars, and computers, he would be
overwhelmed and overawed by the extravagance. Now, if he were to be
taken past a construction site where cranes and bulldozers were
demolishing a building, he would think that something bad was being
done. In his mind the construction workers would be destroying a
perfectly good building for no reason at all, and this act would be
considered senseless by him. But he is not aware that the old building
is being torn down so that a better one can be erected in its place,
and ifhe knew this, he would not think badly of the construction
workers for tearing down the old building. He would be happy that they
are bringing something better and would now consider the destruction
of the old building as something good and necessary. The hardship that
the people living around the site must bear by having to look at the
ugly torn down building for months, having their streets closed down
and traffic tied up, is only something temporary. Some people may
actually curse the construction workers for bringing this hardship
onthem but they are not keeping in mind that these hardships will be
followed by ease and improvement. Instead of viewing these things as
hardship and becoming annoyed and angry, one could see them as a sign
that soon there will be ease and progress.
An artist can relate to having people look at hiswork in its beginning
or middle stages, and without knowing what the end product will be,
they give unwarranted criticism. That is when heasks them to wait for
when it is finished. In thebeginning or in the middle the work may
notbe pleasing or have muchmeaning, but once it is completed then
everyonecan see what he was working towards. We humans can only attain
such a limited amount of knowledge in our lives. So how can we look at
a hurricane, tornado, flood, Tsunami or volcano and blame God that He
is doing something cruel and unjust? How can we know what His ultimate
purpose is for all of thesehappenings? In the same way that the man
from the rain forest would be unjustified in viewing the demolition of
old buildings as wrong, we would be unjustified to view the calamities
of nature as cruel acts of God.
There was once a king who put his subjects through a test. He went out
onto the main road of his kingdom and he had a large stone placed in
the middle, thereby making the road difficult to cross. After having
placed the large stone hehid himself nearby to watch the reaction of
thepeople. He saw the dignitaries of his court and the wealthy cross
by,and as they did so they managed it only with great difficulty.
While they did so, they cursed the rock and said to each other, why
doesn't the King move this rock? All of the wealthy aristocratswent
along in the same manner, cursing the rock and wondering in amazement
at the incompetence of the Kingto have placed such an obstacle in
their path, because it only brought them hardship. Then along came a
poor old man carrying a heavy load on his back, and the King watched
him intently. The old man stopped in his tracks and looked at how the
stone was blocking the road. He put down his load andbegan, with great
difficulty and tremendous effort, to move the stone off of theroad.
Using all his strength and ability he finally accomplished his task.
When he went back to the road and looked atthe spot where the stone
had been, he saw a bag, picked it up, opened it, and found it to be
full of jewels and a note from the King indicating that the jewels was
for the person who removed theboulder from the roadway. The old man
learned what many others never understand.He placed his load on his
back along with his new treasure and went on his way. This story
illustrates a fact of life, that there is no ease or success or
progress or elevation without some sacrifice and hardship along the
way. But once the end is reached that hardship would no longer be seen
as unbearable.
Moral: Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve one's condition.

Islam and Struggle: Struggle Stories, Parable of the Pencil

The Pencil Maker took the Pencil aside, just before putting it into the box.
"There are five things you need to know," the Pencil Maker told the
Pencil, "Before I send youout into the World. Always remember them and
never forget, and you will become the best Pencil you can be."
1. "You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow
yourself to be held in someone's hand."
2. "You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but
you will need it to become a better Pencil."
3. "You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make."
4. "The most important part of you will always bewhat's inside."
5. "On every surface you are used on, you must leave your mark. No
matter what the condition, you must continue to write."
The Pencil understood and promised to remember, and went intothe box
with purpose in its heart.
Now replacing the place of the Pencil with you. Always remember them
and never forget, and you will become the best person you can be.
1. "You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow
yourself to be held in Allah's (SWT)hand. And allow other human beings
to access you for the many gifts you possess."
2. "You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, by
going through various problems in life, but you will need it to become
a stronger person."
3. "You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make."
4. "The most important part of you will always bewhat's on the inside."
5. "On every surface you walk through, you must leave your mark. No
matter what the situation, you must continue to do your duties."
Moral: Allow this parable on the Pencil to encourage you to know that
you are a special person and only you can fulfill the purpose to which
you were born to accomplish.
Never allow yourself to get discouraged and think that your life is
insignificant and cannot make a change.

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