Inception

All humans are dead except those who have knowledge; and all those who have knowledge are asleep, except those who do good deeds; and those who do good deeds are deceived, except those who are sincere; and those who are sincere are always in a state of worry.

Imam Shafi'i (May Allah have mercy on his soul)

Five before Five

The Messenger* said: “Take benefit of five before five: your youth before your old age, your health before your sickness, your wealth before your poverty, your free-time before your preoccupation, and your life before your death.” (Hakim)

*peace be upon him 

The first time I heard this hadith was a number of years ago, during several weekend seminars organised by MJD, the Muslim Youth/Student Association of Germany.

Strangely enough it resonated strongly within me then, the wisdom inherent in the messenger's (pbuh) words obvious, years on however, I feel I can appreciate its layers more clearly, beyond merely grasping their content, but realizing that the words reflect the experience of the time spent in London. Has it not, if nothing else, been time spent in 'pre-occupation'? 

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You can find a longer commentary in this blog on Tarbiyah I stumbled across when trying to recall and find the exact words of the narration.

Back to Life.

Happiness in simplicity, trust in natural mystery,
blessed by Divinity, become undone just to rise again, rise again.
stand against iniquity of equating uniformity with equality
y'all chase liberty and democracy
but deny diversity and plurality is a fact my friend
so embrace your individuality and bless it with spirituality,
such simple modality makes life.
It works if you work it. So work it. You're worth it.

Serenity is God's gift.