Saturday, April 30, 2011

WHEN IT RAINS

My garden As I see it

Assalamualikum
Hello

And how are you this morning ? You know my best mornings is when it just rained. Why ? Well the coolness somehow gets to me. It makes me feel calmer it somehow makes me smile and what more being surrounded by plants, trees and flowers ..they somehow make me feel ..they somehow seem to say alhamdulilah or thank god !I "look around and all I could feel is freshness, freshness in the air, the air seem more crisp, more clean ..take a good deep breath ....it just makes me feel alive ..and thank god  I am here this morning...again ... able to breathe, able to walk, able to see..smell ... all that is god given... if not god's gift!


You know before I step out into my garden every morning I would watch in amazement from my long windows as the light slowly penetrate my mousoullah. My garden outside will suddenly be transformed within minutes as the light begin to flood ....there is brightness everywhere..it seemed  as though there was no darkness before this ...how amazing I thought..how great ! Mashaalah !
Some would say it's normal it's nature but to me nature in itself is not a divine entity but a symbolic form which manifests the divine. The divine here is of course Allah .

However as Syed Muhammad Naquib puts it contemporary science has evovled and developed out of a philosophy that everything existent is a progression, a development or evolution of what lies in latency in eternal matter. The world is seen from this perspective is an independent, external universe, a self subsistent system evolving according to it's own laws. The denial of reality and the existence of GOD is already implied in it's philosophy. It's methods are chiefly philosophic rationalism, which tends to depend on reason alone and denies authority and intuition and rejects Revelation and religion as sources of true knowledge. The world in other words is described in plain naturalistic and rational terms divested of spiritual significance interpretation, reducing it's origin and reality solely to mere natural forces.

Hmm...how can that be I thought deeply!!??  I mean it's origin and reality is reduced to mere natural forces!!  I began to look at my garden again trying to rationalize. Take a simple example..when I look at my garden which is filled with roses and heleconias hybrid or otherwise a question pops to my mind. I thought to myself researchers and  scientist in this field might feel ultimately proud to have come out with a new hybrid say a rose or heleconias  which I have a few species myself in my garden but my question is without the original plant can any scientist in this world create a specie call the ROSE or the HELECONIA ?  Talking about being able to create a hybrid is normal to me but to create some thing from nothing that is special and that is what I am referring to....
Being able to create something from nothing is the work of the CREATOR ! In this event it is no other than God almighty...

So that is why I love to go out early in the morning to my garden and see the change that has taken place to every flower every new growth and thank Allah ... with his grace I could enjoy this little garden of mine with all it's profusion of colours. Alhamdulilah everytime I open the window I will give Salam to the plants and without fail will murmur mashaalah ..what  beautiful flowers YOU have given me this morning...thank you Allah. And mind you  this only the tip of the iceberg...out there I am sure there are hundreds and thousands more species that I have not seen and if this is a garden on earth what I wonder it is like in heaven ! 

Mashaalah

FB

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Food for thought

Just do not know where to begin so I thought I would like to share with u all something I wrote for my friends and colleagues a little poem just before i retired...

Dearest friends and colleagues

Be firm yet soft,like a french bread
Hard on the outside, soft on the inside
Learn how to feel what others feel
Focus on EMPATHY

Stop being rhetoric
Justice must not only seen or heard
Justice must be seen to be done
So focus on FAIRNESS




Do not just fold your hands
Or sit back tightlipped
Be PRINCIPLE CENTRED


Learn to speak up
Have COURAGE

Be consistent
Half truth is still a lie


Be honest
Because HONESTY is the best policy

Do not wait ato be told
Be different, make a difference
Have INITIATIVE
Be CREATIVE

Face criticism
Have OPTIMISM

Never give up
Have PERSERVERENCE

Have a big heart
Respect everyone including your enemy
It reflect high self esteem
Respect do not come with the chair
RESPECT got to be EARNED
As you go up do not forget to look down

Avoid threats
TEACH, not punish
Punish build up low self esteem
Teach, build up CONFIDENCE
To be a true leader
Buildup leaders, not one but many

Know the difference
Between the forest from the trees
Then you know the difference between
RESPONSIBILITY and ACCOUNTABALITY

Love yourself
Be comfortable with who you are
Look out for strength
Do not focus on weakness
Always SAFE FACE
To bring out the best in others

Be thorough, be PATIENT
Do not rush in your advise or decisions
Be WISE
Have WISDOM

Be GOD CENTRED
Check your intentions
Do not be afraid of the here
But be afraid of the hereafter
Remember there is heaven and he'll
Hold on to INTEGRITY


roses in bloom
Last but not least
Learn to APPRECIATE
Be Appreciative
A simple THANK YOU
Goes a long way

So thank you and thank you again...

FB

P.S. a peek into my garden
all flowers from my sanctuary