Sunday, February 10, 2013

What's in a smile?

"...He (sallalahu 'alayhi wa salam) was composed in gentleness. He had the best countenance. And he was always smiling. 

What percentage of your interactions are you smiling in? Truthful smiles- not business smiles! 
Some people are so stingy smiles you'd think they were paying taxes on it! The sign of a real smile is that you smile to someone you don't like, or who is hurting you. 

Every time you smile, remember that you are emulating him (sallalahu 'alayhi wa salam). You will be in the Mohammaden state, with sovereignty in your soul.

Smiling for us is an act of worship. So we smile for God. And we smile to creation, regardless of what else is going on. Our own perceptions have become polluted however, people smile at us and we doubt them. Both the smiler and the one receiving the smile are doubting each other. Both parties have implicitly polluted the smile by their inner feelings. 

People have lost compassion towards each other. Such has become the culture- the loss of mercy because people like only their own dignity. People are no longer accepting of mercy and compassion such that it has become like a methodology. How can something so beautiful and intrinsic become an ideology?..." 

-Habib Ali 
Teaching "Al Ghazzali on The Adab of Living and Virtues of Prophethood"

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Friday, February 08, 2013

Don't drown in the ocean of Dunya. Keep floating.

"You came from from God and are going back to God. And in between there is a moment of panic. But relax, you are in good Hands."
-Shaykh Hamza Yusuf