Napoli striker Victor Osimhen has been named Serie A Player of the Month for January after contributing five goals and an assist, but his peers picked Atalanta’s Ademola Lookman.

Nigeria international Osimhen is currently the Capocannoniere on 16 goals and one of the main reasons why the Partenopei are 13 points clear at the top of the table.

He will receive the EA Sports Player of the Month trophy before kick-off in Sunday’s match against Cremonese.

Osimhen topped the poll ahead of Paulo Dybala of Roma, Inter’s Lautaro Martinez, Atalanta winger Lookman and Lazio midfielder Luis Alberto.

The AIC Player of the Month award, voted for and handed out by the Italian Players’ Union, went to Lookman instead, who scored five goals and provided two assists for Atalanta in January.


https://football-italia.net/osimhen-and-lookman-win-serie-a-awards/

It happened in Renfrew about an hour away from Ottawa. A student, Josh Alexander, said there were only two genders in class and then trouble started.

In the name of diversity, a Catholic school in Renfrew suspended a student and had him arrested for saying there are only two genders.

Josh Alexander was suspended last November over comments made about gender in class and told he couldn’t return to class until he recanted.

On Monday, Alexander returned to class and was promptly met by the vice-principal, arrested by two local police officers and charged with trespassing. The now seemingly former student of St. Joseph’s Catholic High School told the National Post in an interview that he made comments during a class discussion on gender.

“It was about male students using female washrooms, gender dysphoria and male breastfeeding. Everyone was sharing their opinions on it, any student who wanted to was participating, including the teacher,” Alexander said.

“I said there were only two genders, and you were born either a male or a female, and that got me into trouble. And then I said that gender doesn’t trump biology.”

Those statements, in line with Catholic teaching, were what got him suspended from school. ...

This incident shows why it might be time to finally say goodbye to Ontario’s publicly funded Catholic school system. There’s nothing Catholic about it, they adhere to the same secular gospel as all of our other public institutions, and it is beyond saving.

I say this as someone who graduated from the Catholic system, whose children all attended Catholic schools and who values the distinct education that I, and my children received. That distinct education is no longer distinct when, in the name of diversity, the person adhering to Catholic teaching is the one who is excluded.

Anyone who looks into Alexander’s social media presence will see that he is a political activist. He’s pro-life, and he favours a red ball cap that reads “Save Canada” on the front. He’s even been photographed at protests against the Trudeau government on Parliament Hill.

What does it teach Alexander that the response to him saying there are only two genders inside a Catholic school is that he is now excluded? The school administration is turning this young man into a martyr, while also showing they long ago abandoned the Catholic beliefs they say they uphold as a school.

What does it teach the trans students who don’t want Alexander in their class because they disagree with his religious beliefs? It teaches them that they have special powers, are more important than other students, and don’t need to learn to deal with those they disagree with.

No one is well served by this.

Perhaps we don’t have the full story from Alexander or from the school board, but one thing is clear. In Ontario’s school system, woke politics trumps everything else, including the right of a teenager to receive an education.

The entire system is rotten to the core.


https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/lilley-catholic-high-school-student-suspended-then-arrested-for-saying-there-are-only-two-genders

It happened in Renfrew about an hour away from Ottawa. A student, Josh Alexander, said there were only two genders in class and then trouble started.

In the name of diversity, a Catholic school in Renfrew suspended a student and had him arrested for saying there are only two genders.

Josh Alexander was suspended last November over comments made about gender in class and told he couldn’t return to class until he recanted.

On Monday, Alexander returned to class and was promptly met by the vice-principal, arrested by two local police officers and charged with trespassing. The now seemingly former student of St. Joseph’s Catholic High School told the National Post in an interview that he made comments during a class discussion on gender.

“It was about male students using female washrooms, gender dysphoria and male breastfeeding. Everyone was sharing their opinions on it, any student who wanted to was participating, including the teacher,” Alexander said.

“I said there were only two genders, and you were born either a male or a female, and that got me into trouble. And then I said that gender doesn’t trump biology.”

Those statements, in line with Catholic teaching, were what got him suspended from school. ...

This incident shows why it might be time to finally say goodbye to Ontario’s publicly funded Catholic school system. There’s nothing Catholic about it, they adhere to the same secular gospel as all of our other public institutions, and it is beyond saving.

I say this as someone who graduated from the Catholic system, whose children all attended Catholic schools and who values the distinct education that I, and my children received. That distinct education is no longer distinct when, in the name of diversity, the person adhering to Catholic teaching is the one who is excluded.

Anyone who looks into Alexander’s social media presence will see that he is a political activist. He’s pro-life, and he favours a red ball cap that reads “Save Canada” on the front. He’s even been photographed at protests against the Trudeau government on Parliament Hill.

What does it teach Alexander that the response to him saying there are only two genders inside a Catholic school is that he is now excluded? The school administration is turning this young man into a martyr, while also showing they long ago abandoned the Catholic beliefs they say they uphold as a school.

What does it teach the trans students who don’t want Alexander in their class because they disagree with his religious beliefs? It teaches them that they have special powers, are more important than other students, and don’t need to learn to deal with those they disagree with.

No one is well served by this.

Perhaps we don’t have the full story from Alexander or from the school board, but one thing is clear. In Ontario’s school system, woke politics trumps everything else, including the right of a teenager to receive an education.

The entire system is rotten to the core.


https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/lilley-catholic-high-school-student-suspended-then-arrested-for-saying-there-are-only-two-genders

A care home worker who plundered almost £20,000 from the savings of vulnerable residents has been jailed for seven months.

Abiola Akinremi, 41, abused her position as an administrator at the facility, Bostall House in Abbey Wood, southeast London, to make dozens of unauthorised withdrawals from the bank accounts of patients.


The Old Bailey heard some of the home’s residents are detained under the Mental Health Act, and those without family support hand over control of their finances to administrators and carers.

Akinremi, a mother-of-three, first started stealing from residents when she needed money for childcare, and continued the fraud to “fund her own lifestyle”, the court heard.

Judge Angela Rafferty KC sentenced Akinremi to seven months in prison, telling her: “This was a repeated and planned course of conduct, and a very serious breach of trust of vulnerable people.”

Prosecutor Robert Levack said: “People who live at the home are all vulnerable, they have various conditions and are detained under the Mental Health Act or other legislation. It is a 24-hour care facility.

“They are not allowed to leave Bostall House without a member of staff or a family member. Some have their financial affairs looked after by the home.”

Investigators were brought in when concerns about Akinremi’s activities were raised in November 2018. They found £43,000 was missing from residents’ bank accounts, including £32,000 from one victim.

“The way in which cash and money was dealt with on behalf of residents at the home was not up to scratch”, said Mr Levack.

Akinremi denied fraud until the first day of her trial, insisting that other staff at the home were trying to “pin the blame” on her.

She ultimately admitted taking £19,650 over the course of eight months from three residents, and continues to say others at the home were involved in wrongdoing.

“Ms Akinremi is only responsible for her own conduct”, said her barrister, Ranjeet Dulay, pointing to evidence of money being taken from residents at times when Akinremi was on holiday.

She said the administrator had been suffering from depression when the fraud began and needed money for childcare when the fraud began.

“It was initially an opportunistic offence, but she continued to engage in it further”, she said.

Akinremi went to work in another care home after being dismissed from Bostall House, and has been “trying to make amends and put into the type of community that she stole from”, added Ms Dulay.

Judge Rafferty rejected a plea for a suspended prison sentence, concluding only an immediate spell behind bars would be appropriate.

Akinremi, from Tilbury in Essex, pleaded guilty to three charges of fraud by abuse of position..

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/care-home-worker-fraud-abbey-wood-old-bailey-vulnerable-b1052462.html

An ex-funeral home owner and her mother have been sentenced in Colorado after selling body parts without any consent.

Megan Hess, 46, and Shirly Koch, 69, dissected some 560 corpses between 2010 and 2018, selling parts to medical training companies which did not know they had been fraudulently acquired.

Entire bodies were sold in some cases, prosecutors said. It is legal in the US to donate organs, but not sell them.

Hess was sentenced to 20 years in jail and Koch to 15.

Hess - who ran the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in the town of Montrose - charged families up to $1,000 (£834) for cremations that never took place and offered them free of charge in exchange for body part donations in some cases, prosecutors said.

Without consent and using forged donor forms, she then sold body parts including arms, legs and heads through Donor Services, her side business on the same premises.

Several relatives who had used Hess for cremations later learned they had received back ashes mixed with the remains of other people.

"These two women preyed on vulnerable victims who turned to them in a time of grief and sadness," Leonard Carollo, the FBI's special agent in charge in Denver, said in a statement.

"But instead of offering guidance, these greedy women betrayed the trust of hundreds of victims and mutilated their loved ones."

The case was triggered by a Reuters investigation, which led to an FBI raid of the home in 2018.

Emotional victim statements dominated Tuesday's sentencing hearing.

"When Megan stole my mom's heart, she broke mine," said Nancy Overhoff, according to the Denver Post. Erin Smith said: "We came today to hear the handcuffs click."

Describing it as "the most emotionally draining case I have ever experienced on the bench", Judge Christine Arguello ordered the two women be sent to prison immediately.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64159612

Ukraine conflict: What is Nato and how has it responded to Russia's invasion?

Nato leaders are expected to approve major increases in its forces in eastern Europe to counter Russia's invasion of Ukraine at a special summit.

Member states including Britain are already sending weapons to Ukraine.

Russia has put its nuclear forces on "special alert in response to what it calls Nato's aggression.
What is Nato?

Nato - the North Atlantic Treaty Organization - is a military alliance formed in 1949 by 12 countries, including the US, Canada, the UK and France.

Members agree to come to one another's aid in the event of an armed attack against any one member state.

Its aim was originally to counter the threat of post-war Russian expansion in Europe.

In 1955 Soviet Russia responded to Nato by creating its own military alliance of eastern European communist countries, called the Warsaw Pact.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, a number of former Warsaw Pact countries switched sides and became Nato members. The alliance now has 30 members.

Why isn't Ukraine a Nato member?

Nato originally offered Ukraine eventual membership back in 2008, and after Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, Ukraine made joining Nato a priority.

But this hasn't happened, mainly because of Russia's long-standing opposition to such a move.

Russia fears Nato is encroaching on its territory by taking on new members in eastern Europe, and that admitting Ukraine would bring Nato forces into its backyard.

Ukraine's President Zelensky has now accepted his country can't join Nato at present, saying: "It is clear that Ukraine is not a member of Nato. We understand this."

The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the same point, saying, "There is no way Ukraine is going to join Nato any time soon".

One of Russia's demands before the invasion was that Ukraine should never be allowed to join - something the alliance had refused to support.

Why isn't Nato sending troops to Ukraine?

Because Ukraine isn't a Nato member, the alliance isn't obliged to come to the country's defence.

Nato countries fear that if their troops confront Russian forces in Ukraine, it could lead to an all-out conflict between Russia and the west.

Secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg says Nato members are "determined to do all we can to support Ukraine," but that they also have a "responsibility" to ensure the war doesn't escalate beyond its borders.

This is why Nato rejected imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

However, Mr Stoltenberg said leaders would agree to send four new battlegroups to Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, doubling the alliance's presence in the region.

He also said that Russia must stop "nuclear sabre-rattling", describing its comments on the use of such weapons as "dangerous and irresponsible".

How is the West helping Ukraine?

Several Nato nations have been sending weapons to Ukraine to help its defend itself against Russia.

The US has been the biggest supplier of military equipment. It initially sent $200m (£152m) and then a further $350m (£267m) of weapons. This included hand-held Javelin anti-tank missiles, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and body armour.

The US has now expanded this and announced a $1bn (£760m) security aid package. This will include the deployment of more sophisticated longer-range weapons and drones to Ukraine,

It has also allowed other Nato countries to supply Ukraine with US-made weapons.

The EU has said it will spend up to 450m euros (£376m) to fund the supply of weapons to Ukraine. It is the first time in its history that the EU has helped provide arms for a warzone.

Germany, too, has dropped its long-standing restrictions on supplying weapons to a combat area.

Britain, The Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are among those Nato members which are also sending military equipment - including anti-tank weapons, anti-aircraft missiles, ammunition, fuel, helmets, body armour and rations.

How many troops does Nato have in Eastern Europe?

Nato already has troops stretching from the Baltic republics in the north to Romania in the south and now deploying more forces.

They were stationed there in 2014 after Russia's annexation of Crimea and are designed to act as a "tripwire" in case of a Russian attack.

Nato is now sending elements of its 40,000-strong Response Force to Eastern European countries bordering Russia and Ukraine.

It has 100 fighter jets on high alert and 120 ships, including three carrier groups, patrolling the seas from the far north to the eastern Mediterranean.

"We will defend every ally and every inch of Nato territory," said alliance secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg

The US has committed to sending more troops to Europe - they will join the four multinational battlegroups Nato has in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, and its multinational brigade in Romania.

Former senior advisor the Secretary of Defense Col. Doug Macgregor joins Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate for a candid, live discussion of the Russia-Ukraine war and his time in the Trump administration when an Afghan withdrawal was sabotaged and conflict with Iran and Syria continued.

"Well at this point we have to conclude that there is a universal opposition to any peace arrangement that involves a recognition of any Russian success," Macgregor said. "In fact if anything, it looks more and more, as though Ukrainians are almost incidental to the operation in the sense that they are there to impale themselves on the Russian army. And die in great numbers, because the real goal of this entire thing is the destruction of the Russian state and Vladimir Putin."

"No one is prepared to stop anything as long as there is the slightest hope that something terrible will happen to Russia and Putin," Macgregor said. "Of course, I don’t see much evidence that that is going to be the case. But it doesn’t really matter here, everyone has universally signed on to the hatred for Russia campaign. That seems to go on regardless what is reported, and frankly the absence of much truth in reporting and a lot wishful thinking in its place is hard to overestimate or exaggerate, it’s terrible."


https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2022/03/16/macgregor_washington_wants_war_to_continue_as_long_as_possible_in_hopes_to_overthrown_putin.html

UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations chief warned Monday that Russia’s war on Ukraine is holding “a sword of Damocles” over the global economy, especially poor developing countries that face skyrocketing food, fuel and fertilizer prices and are now seeing their breadbasket “being bombed.”

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters that “Russia and Ukraine represent more than half of the world’s supply of sunflower oil and about 30 percent of the world’s wheat” and that “grain prices have already exceeded those at the start of the Arab Spring and the food riots of 2007-2008.”

He told reporters that 45 African and least developed countries import at least one-third of their wheat from Ukraine and Russia, and 18 of them import at least 50%. These countries include Egypt, Congo, Burkina Faso, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, he said.

“All of this is hitting the poorest the hardest and planting the seeds for political instability and unrest around the globe,” Guterres warned.

https://news.yahoo.com/live-updates-russia-continues-strikes-060541301.html

The Ukrainian president hopes that peace talks will reap practical results

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed his readiness for negotiations with Russia. He requested that the Israeli prime minister convene peace talks in Jerusalem.

“A group of Ukrainians and Russian representatives are discussing certain issues. They began talking about something, and not just throwing out ultimatums,” Zelensky said on Saturday, during a press conference with foreign media.

Kiev is of the view that any high-profile talks with Russia should be held on neutral territory, Zelensky said, naming Israel as a potential host for such negotiations.

“We spoke with [Israeli Prime Minister Naftali] Bennett, and I said that today it is not right [to hold] meetings in Russia, in Belarus. I’m not talking about technical meetings – I’m talking about leaders’ meetings. Do I think that Israel can be such a land, and Jerusalem? Yes, I think so. And I told him that,” Zelensky stated.

However, the president said, if the outcome was to be successful, his country would need certain “security guarantees” that the ongoing conflict was settled not only from the perspective of Russia, but also from that of the West. Israel could act as a guarantor in that respect, he suggested.

So far, Russian and Ukrainian delegations have met three times in Belarus to discuss the ongoing conflict. Apart from reaching some understanding on establishing humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians from the combat zones, the two sides have failed to achieve any tangible results.

A more high-profile meeting took place in the Turkish resort city of Antalya on Thursday, when Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba. These discussions also proved inconclusive, with Kuleba describing them as “difficult”, and Lavrov claiming the Ukrainian officials “always want to substitute the real work of implementing agreements with inventing new formats.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/551767-zelensky-ready-to-negotiate/

Russia has said it may close its main gas pipeline to Germany if the West goes ahead with a ban on Russian oil.

Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said a "rejection of Russian oil would lead to catastrophic consequences for the global market", causing prices to more than double to $300 a barrel.

The US has been exploring a potential ban with allies as a way of punishing Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

But Germany and the Netherlands rejected the plan on Monday.

The EU gets about 40% of its gas and 30% of its oil from Russia, and has no easy substitutes if supplies are disrupted.

While the UK would not be directly impacted by supply disruption, as it imports less than 5% of its gas from Russia, it would be affected by prices rising in the global markets as demand in Europe increases.

In an address on Russian state television, Mr Novak said it would be "impossible to quickly find a replacement for Russian oil on the European market".

"It will take years, and it will still be much more expensive for European consumers. Ultimately, they will be hurt the worst by this outcome," he said.

Pointing to Germany's decision last month to freeze certification of Nord Stream 2, a new gas pipeline connecting the two countries, he added that an oil embargo could prompt retaliation.

"We have every right to take a matching decision and impose an embargo on gas pumping through the [existing] Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline," he said.


Russia is the world's top producer of natural gas and second top producer of crude oil, and any move to sanction its energy industry would badly damage its own economy.

It also supplies the world with about 10% of its nickel needs, mainly for use in stainless steel and electric vehicle batteries.

Early on Tuesday, nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange more than doubled to rise above the $100,000-a-tonne level for the first time, before trading in the metal was suspended.

Even before the war in Ukraine, supplies of physical aluminium and nickel were tight.


The energy markets have been supremely volatile over the past week, and understandably so. There are genuine fears that supplies of oil and gas from Russia could be cut off or disrupted.

Yet the response to Russia's suggestion it could close a major pipeline, depriving northern Europe of a large chunk of its gas supplies, has been pretty muted so far.

There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, Russia is threatening a tit-for-tat embargo - cutting off its gas exports if the West goes ahead with a ban on Russian oil.

But despite pressure from the US, such a ban is unlikely. European leaders have already poured cold water on the idea - so Russia's counter-threat carries relatively little weight.

And then there's the fact that Russia is still making huge sums from sales of oil and gas to Europe every day, helping to fund its war.

Moscow has everything to gain from exploiting traders' nerves to push up energy prices; but a great deal to lose if it were to carry out its threat.

Ukraine has implored the West to adopt an oil and gas ban, but there are concerns it would send prices soaring. Investor fears of an embargo drove Brent crude oil to $139 (£106) a barrel at one point on Monday - its highest level for almost 14 years.

Average UK petrol prices also hit fresh record of 155p a litre.

Rises in Brent crude - the global oil benchmark - were muted on Tuesday, with the price of a barrel 3% higher at $121.

UK stock markets rose slightly in early trading after a volatile Monday caused by the US's discussions over a potential Russian oil and gas ban.

Quoting unnamed sources, Reuters news agency reported that the US might be willing to move ahead with an embargo without its allies, although it only gets about 3% of its oil from Russia.

However, on Monday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz dismissed the idea of a wider ban, saying Europe had "deliberately exempted" Russian energy from sanctions because its supply could not be secured "any other way" at the moment.

European powers have, however, committed to move away from Russian hydrocarbons over time, while some Western companies have boycotted Russian shipments or pledged to divest their stakes in Russian energy companies.

Mr Novak said that Russian companies were already feeling the pressure of US and European moves to lower the dependence on Russian energy, despite fulfilling all its contractual obligations to deliver oil and gas to Europe.

'Enormous pressure'

"We are concerned by the discussion and statements we are seeing regarding a possible embargo on Russian oil and petrochemicals, on phasing them out," he said.

"We see our partners, traders, shipping companies, banks and financial institutions coming under enormous pressure."

His comments came as a third round of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia made little progress in Belarus.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60656673

The reaction to Russia’s attack on Ukraine, no matter what you think about it, has exposed the West’s double standards.

The West has taken an extreme stance against Russia over its invasion in Ukraine. This reaction exposes a high degree of hypocrisy considering that US-led wars abroad never received the punitive response they deserved.

If the current events in Ukraine have proven anything, it’s that the United States and its transatlantic partners are able to run roughshod across a shell-shocked planet – in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria, to name a few of the hotspots – with almost total impunity. Meanwhile, Russia and Vladimir Putin are being portrayed in nearly every mainstream media publication today as the second coming of Nazi Germany for their actions in Ukraine.

First, let’s be clear about something. Hypocrisy and double standards alone do not provide justification for the opening of hostilities by any country. In other words, just because NATO-bloc countries have been tearing a path of wanton destruction around the globe since 2001 without serious consequences, this does not give Russia, or any country, moral license to behave in a similar manner. There must be a convincing reason for a country to authorize the use of force, thereby committing itself to what could be considered ‘a just war’. Thus, the question: Can Russia’s actions today be considered ‘just’ or, at the very least, understandable? I will leave that answer up to the reader’s better judgment, but it would be idle not to consider some important details.

Only to the consumers of mainstream media fast food would it come as a surprise that Moscow has been warning on NATO expansion for well over a decade. In his now-famous speech to the Munich Security Conference in 2007, Vladimir Putin poignantly asked the assembled global powerbrokers point blank, “why is it necessary to put military infrastructure on our borders during this [NATO] expansion? Can someone answer this question?” Later in the speech, he said that expanding military assets smack up to the Russian border “is not connected in any way with the democratic choices of individual states.”

Not only were the Russian leader’s concerns met with the predictable amount of disregard amid the deafening sound of crickets, NATO has gone on to bestow membership on four more countries since that day (Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, and North Macedonia). As a thought experiment that even a dolt could conduct, imagine Washington’s reaction if Moscow were building a continuously expanding military bloc in South America, for example.

The real cause for Moscow’s alarm, however, came when the US and NATO began flooding neighboring Ukraine with a dazzling array of sophisticated weaponry amid calls for membership in the military bloc. What on earth could go wrong? In Moscow’s mind, Ukraine was beginning to pose an existential threat to Russia.

In December, Moscow, quickly nearing the end of its patience, delivered draft treaties to the US and NATO, demanding they halt any further military expansion eastwards, including by the accession of Ukraine or any other states. It included the explicit statement that NATO “shall not conduct any military activity on the territory of Ukraine or other states of Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia.” Once again, Russia’s proposals were met with arrogance and indifference by Western leaders.

While people will have varying opinions as to the shocking actions that Moscow took next, nobody can say they were not warned. After all, it’s not like Russia woke up on February 24 and suddenly decided it was a wonderful day to start a military operation on the territory of Ukraine. So yes, an argument could be made that Russia had concern for its own security as a justification for its actions. Unfortunately, the same thing may be more difficult to say for the United States and its NATO minions with regards to their belligerent behavior over the course of the last two decades.

Consider the most notorious example, the 2003 invasion of Iraq. This disastrous war, which the Western media hacks have chalked up as an unfortunate ‘intelligence failure’, represents one of the most egregious acts of unprovoked aggression in recent memory. Without delving too deep into the murky details, the United States, having just suffered the attacks of 9/11, accused Saddam Hussein of Iraq of harboring weapons of mass destruction. Yet, instead of working in close cooperation with the UN weapons inspectors, who were on the ground in Iraq attempting to verify the claims, the US, together with the UK, Australia, and Poland, launched a ‘shock-and-awe’ bombing campaign against Iraq on March 19, 2003. In a flash, over a million innocent Iraqis suffered death, injury, or displacement by this flagrant violation of international law.

The Center for Public Integrity reported that the Bush administration, in its effort to bolster public support for the impending carnage, made over 900 false statements between 2001 and 2003 about Iraq’s alleged threat to the US and its allies. Yet somehow the Western media, which has become the most rabid proliferator for military aggression bar none, failed to find any flaw in the argument for war – that is, until after the boots and blood were on the ground, of course.

It might be expected, in a more perfect world, that the US and its allies were subjected to some stiff sanctions in the wake of this protracted eight-year ‘mistake’ against innocents. In fact, there were sanctions, just not against the United States. Ironically, the only sanctions that resulted from this crazy military adventure were against France, a NATO member that had declined the invitation, together with Germany, to participate in the Iraqi bloodbath. The global hyper-power is not used to such rejection, especially from its purported friends.

American politicians, self-assured in their Godlike exceptionalism, demanded a boycott of French wine and bottled water due to the French government’s “ungrateful” opposition to war in Iraq. Other agitators for war betrayed their lack of seriousness by insisting that the popular menu item known as ‘French Fries’ be substituted with the name ‘Freedom Fries’ instead. So the lack of French Bordeaux, together with the tedious redrafting of restaurant menus, seems to have been the only real inconveniences the US and NATO suffered for indiscriminately destroying millions of lives.

Now compare this kid gloves approach to the US and its allies to the current situation involving Ukraine, where the scales of justice are clearly weighed down against Russia, and despite its not unreasonable warnings that it was feeling threatened by NATO advances. Whatever a person may think about the conflict now raging between Russia and Ukraine, it cannot be denied that the hypocrisy and double standards being leveled against Russia by its perennial detractors is as shocking as it is predictable. The difference today, however, is that bombs are going off.

Aside from the severe sanctioning of Russian individuals and the Russian economy, perhaps best summed up by the French economy minister, who said his country is committed to waging “a total economic and financial war on Russia,” there has been a deeply disturbing effort to silence news and information coming from those Russian sources that might give the Western public the option of seeing Moscow's motivations. On Tuesday, March 1, YouTube decided to block the channels of RT and Sputnik for all European users, thereby allowing the Western world to seize another chunk of the global narrative.

Considering the way that Russia has been vilified in the ‘empire of lies’, as Vladimir Putin dubbed the land of his politically motivated persecutors, some may believe that Russia deserves the non-stop threats it is now receiving. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. This sort of global grandstanding, which resembles some sort of mindless virtue-signaling campaign now so popular in liberal capitals, aside from unnecessarily inflaming an already volatile situation, assumes that Russia is totally wrong, period.

Such a reckless approach, which leaves no room for debate, no room for discussion, no room for seeing Russia’s side in this extremely complex situation, only guarantees further standoffs, if not full-blown global war, further down the road. Unless the West is actively seeking the outbreak of World War III, it would be advisable to stop the hideous hypocrisy and double standards against Russia and patiently listen to its opinions and version of events (even ones presented by foreign media). It’s not as unbelievable as some people may wish to believe.

https://www.rt.com/news/550990-us-nato-sanctions-wars/

Russia sanctions could backfire on EU economy – European Commission

The bloc’s economic growth and energy supplies are likely to be negatively affected.
The war in Ukraine and the ensuing sanctions against Russia could harm Europe’s energy supplies and stall its economic growth, European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni warned on Wednesday.

Speaking at a press conference in Brussels, he said Europe may encounter problems in the supply of energy resources – more precisely, the supply of Russian gas – and needs to be ready for such an outcome.

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will likely impact growth negatively, including through repercussions on financial markets, further energy price pressures, more persistent supply chain bottlenecks, and confidence effects that we should not under-evaluate,” Gentiloni added.

His statement comes after the EU’s statistical office, Eurostat, reported on Wednesday that inflation within the bloc had soared to a new high of 5.8% in February.

Earlier, the European Commission also issued a statement outlining the negative impact of anti-Russian sanctions on the economic situation of member states.

Russia is the EU’s largest supplier of energy resources, meeting some 40% of its natural gas demand and supplying nearly a third of its crude oil imports. Its oil and gas industries have not yet been added to the sanctions list, but on March 1, members of the European Parliament approved a resolution condemning its military offensive in Ukraine. They called for tougher sanctions, including limiting oil and gas imports and completely cutting the country off from the SWIFT international system of inter-bank payments.



https://www.rt.com/business/551078-russia-sanctions-backfire-eu/

(Reuters) - Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo has reclaimed top spot in the list of the world's highest-paid soccer players from Lionel Messi, according to Forbes.

Ronaldo, 36, rejoined United from Juventus in August after 12 years away, while Messi has swapped boyhood club Barcelona to join Paris St Germain.

FILE PHOTO: Premier League - West Ham United v Manchester United© Reuters/DAVID KLEIN FILE PHOTO: Premier League - West Ham United v Manchester United
Forbes said Ronaldo, among the world's most popular athletes with over 500 million followers across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, is set to make $125 million before taxes in the 2021-22 season, with $70 million coming from salary and bonuses at United.

The rest will come from endorsements and partnerships with brands including Nike, Herbalife, Clear and his CR7 brand.

Messi, who topped last year's list, will be paid a salary of $75 million with an additional $35 million from endorsements for total expected earnings of $110 million.

The Argentine's strike partner at PSG Neymar, who in May signed a new contract until 2025, is third on the list with total earnings of $95 million.

Another PSG player, Kylian Mbappe ($43 million), is fourth on the Forbes list while Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah ($41 million) is fifth.

Top 10 highest earners in soccer:

Cristiano Ronaldo - $125 million

Lionel Messi - $110 million

Neymar - $95 million

Kylian Mbappe - $43 million

Mohamed Salah - $41 million

Robert Lewandowski - $35 million

Andres Iniesta - $35 million

Paul Pogba - $34 million

Gareth Bale - $32 million

Eden Hazard - $29 million

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/sport/american-football/ronaldo-leapfrogs-messi-in-forbes-list-of-top-earning-players/ar-AAOJiNG?ocid=msedgntp

Khushoo is about being mentally present in one’s prayers. It’s about knowing what we are reciting from the Quran and engaging our hearts with Allah when saying Allah’s remembrances and Azkar in salat and our prayers.
It’s about having our hearts and minds focused towards Allah when we are in the state of salat.

Here is a short explanation by Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) who said,

*“The khushoo’ of true faith is when the heart feels aware and humble before the greatness and glory of Allaah, and is filled with awe, fear and shyness, so that the heart is utterly humbled before Allaah and broken, as it were, with fear, shyness, love and the recognition of the blessings of Allaah and its own sins. So no doubt the khushoo’ of the heart is followed by the khushoo’ of the body. .(Al-Rooh, p. 314)*

Why can’t we seem to focus during our salat? Why don’t our hearts engage with Allah in our prayers?

We all have the power to choose and to control our focus for a few minutes. Let’s think how we do it when we are talking to people or when we are talking to our managers and supervisors. So, we can do it when we want to do it or when we have told ourselves about the importance of who we are talking to in our conversations.

Who can be more important than our Creator and our Lord? Why can’t we focus for a few minutes when we are praising Him, glorifying Him, and asking Him to relieve us from our own troubles and problems?
How does it make you feel when someone you are talking to seems not present in the moment and lost elsewhere or busy doing something else? Would you take them seriously? Do you feel disrespected?

*Hudhayfah (may Allaah be pleased with him) used to say: “Beware of the khushoo’ of hypocrisy.” He was asked, “What is the khushoo’ of hypocrisy?” He said, “When the body shows khushoo’ but there is no khushoo’ in the heart.”(al-Madaarij, 1/521)*

There is nothing more pleasing to Satan than for us to have our hearts and minds distracted from Allah. Let’s not play in his evil plans and hands.
There is nothing more pleasing to Allah than you remembering Him by engaging all your faculties. Let’s try to be fully present in our Ibadat with our hearts and minds.

Our salat and prayers are a perfect opportunity for us to rise above our temptations, distractions, and preoccupations. Let’s work to enhance the quality of our moments with Allah. He’s Rahman (Gracious), Raheem (Compassionate and Merciful), Ghafoor (Ever-Forgiving), and so much more. Can you imagine how our lives could improve if we focused fully on Him for a few moments?

Remember, Allah tells us in Surah Qaaf in the Quran, verse 16 that He is closer to us than our jugular vein.

*“And indeed We have created man, and We know whatever thoughts his inner self develops, and We are closer to him than (his) jugular vein. (Quran 50:16)”*

So, Allah’s close and He’s watching us and aware of all our moves and what crosses our hearts and minds.

Let’s do our best to be fully present in our salat and prayers for a few minutes and let’s ask Him to grant us the ability to focus our hearts and minds to Him in the state of all our Ibadat. See the following verses from the Quran on the importance for Khushoo in our salat.

*Successful indeed are the believers: those who humble themselves in prayer; and those who are ˹properly observant of their prayers. Quran 23:1, 2, 9*

Khushoo is about being mentally present in one’s prayers. It’s about knowing what we are reciting from the Quran and engaging our hearts with Allah when saying Allah’s remembrances and Azkar in salat and our prayers.
It’s about having our hearts and minds focused towards Allah when we are in the state of salat.

Here is a short explanation by Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) who said,

*“The khushoo’ of true faith is when the heart feels aware and humble before the greatness and glory of Allaah, and is filled with awe, fear and shyness, so that the heart is utterly humbled before Allaah and broken, as it were, with fear, shyness, love and the recognition of the blessings of Allaah and its own sins. So no doubt the khushoo’ of the heart is followed by the khushoo’ of the body. .(Al-Rooh, p. 314)*

Why can’t we seem to focus during our salat? Why don’t our hearts engage with Allah in our prayers?

We all have the power to choose and to control our focus for a few minutes. Let’s think how we do it when we are talking to people or when we are talking to our managers and supervisors. So, we can do it when we want to do it or when we have told ourselves about the importance of who we are talking to in our conversations.

Who can be more important than our Creator and our Lord? Why can’t we focus for a few minutes when we are praising Him, glorifying Him, and asking Him to relieve us from our own troubles and problems?
How does it make you feel when someone you are talking to seems not present in the moment and lost elsewhere or busy doing something else? Would you take them seriously? Do you feel disrespected?

*Hudhayfah (may Allaah be pleased with him) used to say: “Beware of the khushoo’ of hypocrisy.” He was asked, “What is the khushoo’ of hypocrisy?” He said, “When the body shows khushoo’ but there is no khushoo’ in the heart.”(al-Madaarij, 1/521)*

There is nothing more pleasing to Satan than for us to have our hearts and minds distracted from Allah. Let’s not play in his evil plans and hands.
There is nothing more pleasing to Allah than you remembering Him by engaging all your faculties. Let’s try to be fully present in our Ibadat with our hearts and minds.

Our salat and prayers are a perfect opportunity for us to rise above our temptations, distractions, and preoccupations. Let’s work to enhance the quality of our moments with Allah. He’s Rahman (Gracious), Raheem (Compassionate and Merciful), Ghafoor (Ever-Forgiving), and so much more. Can you imagine how our lives could improve if we focused fully on Him for a few moments?

Remember, Allah tells us in Surah Qaaf in the Quran, verse 16 that He is closer to us than our jugular vein.

*“And indeed We have created man, and We know whatever thoughts his inner self develops, and We are closer to him than (his) jugular vein. (Quran 50:16)”*

So, Allah’s close and He’s watching us and aware of all our moves and what crosses our hearts and minds.

Let’s do our best to be fully present in our salat and prayers for a few minutes and let’s ask Him to grant us the ability to focus our hearts and minds to Him in the state of all our Ibadat. See the following verses from the Quran on the importance for Khushoo in our salat.

*Successful indeed are the believers: those who humble themselves in prayer; and those who are ˹properly observant of their prayers. Quran 23:1, 2, 9*

https://platformsafrica.com/2021/06/28/imam-shot-dead-12-children-others-injured-as-masquerades-attack-mosque/


Imam Shot Dead, 12 Children, Others Injured as Masquerades Attack Mosque
June 28, 2021 Precious Ibekwe

Why we struck, attacked Kamorudeen Central Mosque – Masquerade follower



Imam of Kamorudeen Central Mosque, Iwo, Moshood Salawudeen, has been reportedly killed while about 12 persons, including children sustained gunshot injuries in a clash that ensued between masquerade worshipers and members of the Mosque on Sunday in Osogbo, Southwest Nigeria.

The masquerade worshipers reportedly opened gunfire at the Muslims at the worship centre, Kamorudeen Central Mosque, located at Oluode Aranyin in Osogbo around 2:30 pm on Sunday while they were performing a special prayer for Nigeria.
Kamorudeen Central Mosque, Osogbo

Some of the children who were shot are under 17 years and are undergoing treatment at different hospitals.

A 12-year-old boy, Abduljeleel Ali who sustained gunshot injuries on the chest and leg; Adebayo Awolesin, 15, who was shot in the arm; Taofeeq Fatai, 17 and Maliq Abdukabir, 17 are all undergoing treatment in Osun State University Teaching Hospital, Osogbo.

A Camry car and mosque windows were destroyed in the clash.

It was gathered that Kamorudeen Islamic Society of Nigeria organised a special prayer for Nation which was attended by members of the organisation across the state.

One of the victims, Isiaka Ajagbe, 37, said that the traditional worshippers were led by one Kayode Esuleke.

He said that the masquerade and their worshipers under the protection of the police walked past the mosque before they returned and descended on them with stones.

“They were first throwing stones and also started firing guns at us. They destroyed the mosque. We are on our own.”

Kayode Esuleke is yet to respond to several calls made to his phone numbers to get his side of the story.

A member of the Masquerade’s group confirmed the attack but he told Platforms Africa after pleading anonymity “for security reasons” that his group was first attacked by some of the worshippers at the Mosque.

“It was a reprisal. They were the ones that first attacked us during our procession through the street in front of the Mosque,” he said.

The Imam of the mosque, Kazeem Yunus confirmed that the leader (Imam) of the organisation in Iwo, Osun State, Moshood Salawudeen, was shot in the head and gave up the ghost before getting to the hospital.

“Some of our members, about 12 who sustained bullet injuries have been taken to Osun State General Hospital, Asubiaro; Osogbo central hospital and UNIOSUN central hospital while the corpse has been deposited at UNIOSUN teaching hospital mortuary,” he added.

An Italian port workers’ union has refused to load an arms shipment destined for Israel, as the country’s military continues to unleash air strikes on Gaza.

Union staff in the Tuscan city of Livorno would not load the shipment, claiming they had discovered it was destined for the Israeli port of Ashdod.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-palestine-arms-livorno-port-italy-b1848773.html?utm_content=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1621259828

I am easily distracted. This trait was a hindrance throughout my academic studies, but no doubt the area in which it is most detrimental is my worship. My daily prayers are plagued by thoughts that creep into my consciousness and silently grip my mind and heart, steering them away from Allah (exalted is He). Be it the pattern on my prayer mat or a task I have to do, there is always something diverting me from the most important moments of my day.

I write this as a reminder to myself, on attempting to rescue my salah (ritual prayers), a most exquisite and sublime gift from Allah (swt). A nourishment, rejuvenation and refocusing for our souls, and the first thing we will be asked about on the Day of Judgement. These windows of tranquillity have the potential to adorn our days and sustain, protect and fill our hearts amidst the transient whirlwind that is this world.

We hear of people finishing one salah only to look forward to the next one, so why does prayer feel so heavy, ritualised and burdensome for so many of us? With each rising sun we witness comes a new God-given opportunity to reform our existence, to attain that contentment that every soul in this world is yearning. Don’t let another golden moment slip by. I pray He allows us to rescue our salah and fall in love with it until we enter Jannah (eternal Paradise).

The first step to take is to correct our mindset. A simple realignment of perspective is all it takes. You are not in control of anything. Your job, your happiness, your health, your family, your movements—you are not even in control of the simplest of bodily functions. He is. The beating of your heart, how people behave towards you, what you achieve—everything is from Him. He knows what is in your past and what is in your future. All honour, respect and sustenance are from Him. You are deaf, dumb and blind without Him and His provision and guidance.

Everything around you is temporary, flawed and changing, but your soul is eternal, and does not belong here. One day it will all crumble and perish; only He will remain. Turn yourself away from the world and towards Him, close your eyes to the creation and open your heart to the Creator. He has ordered us to prostrate to Him as a mercy only to us; each prayer is an opportunity to be forgiven.
Abu Dharr radi Allahu `anhu (may God be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet said:
*“Allah faces the slave while he is in the salah and keeps facing him as long as he does not turn. If [the slave] turns, [Allah] turns away from him.”* – Abu Dawud [Saheeh Hadith]

Reflect on the sheer weight of this hadith. The Lord of the Worlds, who is aware of and sustaining every cell in every human, animal and bacteria, from the beginning of time to the end, is facing YOU. Listening to you, waiting for you to call, looking to forgive and to grant you more. You have His full attention until YOU lose focus.

The light in your life is proportional to the light that Allah (swt) bestows on you. You will only be content and at peace if He illuminates your existence. Your circumstances may appear perfect, but you will be restless and unhappy if He withholds His light. Once we truly comprehend this principle and realise we are nothing, while He is everything, insha’Allah (God willing) we can worship like we were made to.

Doing the following may help increase khushu` (a state of humility and reverence):

1- Remember death. Imagine the angel of death ready to take your soul. Pray like it is your last.
2- Picture yourself standing before Allah (swt), and know that He is facing you, hearing and seeing you.
3- Understand what you are saying by understand the Arabic and studying the tafseer (exegesis) of whatever you recite.
4- Speak and move at a measured pace. Try to recite melodiously.
5- Pray on time, and make the sincere intention to never miss a prayer.
6- Minimise internal distractions by building your connection with Him throughout the day and taking a few moments before each prayer to regain perspective.
7- Minimise external distractions by finding a suitable setting when possible.
8- Make du`a’ (supplication) in your own language while in sujood (prostration) and after each salah. What better time to beg Allah (swt) for what you are in need of?

Make the intention right now to rescue your salah and unlock the treasures of tranquillity, nearness and purpose. Embellish your path with prayer, and know that you will thank yourself on the Last Day, when there will be no doubt that a mere two rak`ahs (units) of prayer are worth more than the entire world and all it contains.

The Lord of the Heavens and the Earth awaits you.

“Come to prayer; come to success.” – Adhan (call to prayer)

To the soul that has transgressed,

You had high hopes this Ramadan. You wanted Ramadan to be different. You wanted to get out of this rut. You had goals.

But barely a week has gone by, and you are back to the bad habits. You are so angry at yourself. You promised you would wake up for the dawn prayer. You vowed to be patient with people. You pledged to God that you would stop that inappropriate relationship.

The fact that the devils are chained during this month has no impact on you. Maybe you are a lost cause. You probably do not deserve the blessings and mercy of Ramadan. Maybe Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He) Himself is rejecting you.

If this describes you and your feelings, you have misunderstood. Ramadan was made for you. Allah (swt) Himself calls you:

*“Say, “O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful.”* (Qur’an, 39:53)

Sometimes we are harsher on ourselves than Allah (swt) wants us to be. We punish ourselves by telling ourselves that we do not deserve Allah’s (swt) mercy. And that makes us give up both on ourselves and on God and His Mercy. But you know what?

Allah’s (swt) mercy is not deserved. It is given to all, and especially to those of us who are struggling – who are trying in spite of everything.
*Allah (swt) says “My mercy encompasses all things.”* (Qur’an, 7:156)

So just let go. Let go of the anger you feel towards yourself. Let go of those feelings of unworthiness. It is a psychological trick of the nafs – the lower self. The more you antagonize yourself, the less you will do. The more you hate yourself, the more you will give in to your base desires.
But God created you, and that makes you worthy.
*Allah (swt) says[b] “And We have certainly honored the children of Adam…”* (Qur’an, 17:70)[/b]

So what’s the solution? The Prophet said about people like me and you:
“A person committed a sin and said: ‘My Lord, I have sinned; forgive me.’
His Lord said: ‘Is My slave acknowledging that he has a Lord Who forgives sins and punishes for them? I have forgiven My slave.’
Then as much time passed as Allah willed, then he committed a sin and said, ‘My Lord, I have sinned; forgive me.’
His Lord said: ‘Is My slave acknowledging that he has a Lord Who forgives sins and punishes for them? I have forgiven My slave.’
Then as much time passed as Allah willed, then he committed a sin and said, ‘My Lord, I have sinned; forgive me.’
His Lord said: ‘Is My slave acknowledging that he has a Lord Who forgives sins and punishes for them? I have forgiven My slave,’ – three times…” (Bukhari, Muslim)
In the Qur’an, God tells us what He wants from us. He says,
*“Allah wants to accept your repentance, but those who follow [their] passions want you to digress [into] a great deviation. And Allah wants to lighten for you [your difficulties]; and mankind was created weak.”* (Qur’an, 4:27-28)

Do you know why God talks about His mercy and forgiveness so much in the Qur’an?
He is telling you that your renewal is in your hands. He has already told you that He will forgive you if you turn back. But you need to take that step and turn back to Him; keep trying to stop the bad habits, and persist in doing the good ones. That renewal is available to you at every moment of every day. The Prophet tells us:
*“Allah, the Exalted, will continue to stretch out His Hand in the night so that the sinners of the day may repent, and continue to stretch His Hand in the daytime so that the sinners of the night may repent, until the sun rises from the west.”* (Muslim)

The past does not matter as long as you are making a choice in the present to go back to Him. No matter how many times you do it – returning over and over – it is all counted in your favor. You might say, “But I am so tired of myself.” And this is Allah’s (swt) response to you:
*“O son of Adam, as long as you call on Me, I shall forgive you of what you have done, and think nothing of it. O son of Adam, even if your sins were to reach up to the clouds in the sky, and then you were to ask for My forgiveness, I would forgive you and think nothing of it. O son of Adam, even if you were to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth, and then you were to meet Me after death, not worshiping anything besides Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as the earth.’”* [Tirmidhi]
Ramadan is for you, and tomorrow is a new day. This life is a struggle, and no one gets to the top of the mountain without scratches and scars; without wanting to turn back; without thinking that they will not make it.
But when you get up there – wow, when you get up there – it will be worth it; because up there is not the top of the mountain, but something even better; what the Prophet could not describe: “what no eye has ever seen, and no ear has ever heard, and no human heart has ever perceived.” (Muslim)
It is Paradise, where there will be no worry or grief.
And I hope we all meet there.
Sincerely,
A soul that has transgressed against itself and turned back and keeps turning back.

One question I get asked a lot is “What is the best way to start Ramadān?”
I thought about this for sometime, and here is my answer: “The best way to start Ramadān is the way you ended it last year.”
Meaning: you should start Ramadān with the same passion, focus and commitment that you completed the last ten days of last year’s Ramadān.

Do These Seven and Go to Heaven, Insha’allah (God willing)!

I know it sounds easy. But give it a try! Try having the same passion you had last year in the following areas today and see where it takes you tomorrow:

1. When you stand to pray, muster the passion you had a year ago as Ramadān came to a close. The concentration and taste of it should be in your heart, your body should be calm and your soul submerged in the light of prayer. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said,
*“Whoever prays and his/her soul does not disturb him/her during prayer, his/her sins are forgiven.”*

2. When you make du`a’ (supplication), let it all out, give it to Allāh subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He) now, feeling impoverished to him like you did last year at the end of Ramadān. The Prophet said,
*“The supplications of a fasting person are accepted.”*

3. Let the tears flow now. Dry lands can’t grow much and neither can dry hearts. A teacher once told me, “Tears come from fertile hearts like springs come from fertile soil.”
Sit alone with Allah (swt) and cry to Him, seek Him, beg Him and flee to Him. “You will find him forgiving, merciful.”

4. When you remember Allah (swt), do so with the same focus you did last year. Know that “Remember Me and I will remember you” is happening every time His blessed names flow from your heart and speech, and that wherever you remember Him (work, home, mosque, school, alone or in a group), He mentions you in front of the angels, says your name and they seek blessings and forgiveness for you, as is mentioned in the Qur’an, “Forgive those who believe, follow your path and save them from Hell.”

5. Taste the sweetness of the Hereafter, knowing the bitter taste of this life. Recall how your heart felt the last 10 days; there was nothing more valuable to you then drawing nearer to Him and farther from excess here. Muster that passion now. Become a stranger in this life or a traveler because this is not your permeant abode!

In the Qur’an, Allah (swt) addresses Adam and his wife saying, “You two get out of here (Paradise).” In other places He says, “You (all) get out of here.”

My teacher said, “‘You (all)’ is all of us, Adam and his progeny. We were evicted from our real home and soon, God willing we will return to it if we lived good lives for Allah. This world is not it. Paradise awaits.”

6. Guard your time now like you did last year. Ibn al-Qayyim said, “I know people more cautious with their time than bankers are with money.”

7. Guard your tongue and your character now like you did the last ten days a year ago! Recall the statement of our Prophet regarding a person who fails to look after the outer aspects of fasting, “Allah will say, ‘I have no need that you left your food and drink.'”

Ameen.

It is well known and understood that Islam is a holistic system that impacts all areas of a person’s life. We hear this a lot but many times it is difficult to know exactly what it means and how it plays out in our lives. On this topic Imam Hasan al-Banna has a beautiful, terse, but dense statement. He mentions that the first thing that the Muslim should be concerned with is the reform of herself or himself.

Then he says,
*“A Muslim should strive to attain a strong body, good character, cultured thought. He should be able to earn a living, have pure belief, and correct worship. He should be able to control his desires, be careful about his time, organized in his affairs, and beneficial to those around him. These comprise the duties of every Muslim as an individual.”*
These ten points provide a well-rounded approach to personal development according to the teachings of Islam.

Our health is a blessing and responsibility from Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He) and the level at which we take care of it affects all areas of our lives. If we are healthy then we think more clearly, we have more energy, and we are even stronger psychologically. However, at the same time, when we neglect our health we fall victim to all kinds of things like fatigue, psychological and spiritual struggles, and even cloudy thought. For these reasons it is foundational in the development of the well-rounded Muslim personality.

Out of this comes the first outward manifestation of the real quality of a person’s relationship with their Creator, character. The word used in Arabic, matīn, does not just mean good but also firm. It’s as if it implies that if a person has a really strong character then it does not only show in good times but also when things are difficult. This is a great measuring stick for us in our daily lives. When things are easy it is not difficult to maintain good conduct and treat people in the best way possible, but in the face of hardship, fatigue, frustration, disappointment, anger, and an array of other emotions it becomes much more difficult. The person who really has firm character can withstand these tests, but the one who is only putting on a show will always be known eventually.

After these two comes the third quality in the set of types of strengths that build the strong Muslim personality. The first strength was physical strength. The second was spiritual discipline, which is the foundation of good conduct. The third strength is intellectual and educational rigor: to be cultured in thought. This particular point is actually of the utmost importance and many times neglected by people who are perceived to be “religious.” The fact of the matter is that Islam is a system of life, informed by the teachings of the Divine, and embodied in the example of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). This example lived and existed in reality. The Muslim cannot cultivate a dynamic, powerful, meaningful, and impactful understanding of Islam without understanding reality. Islam is here to provide solutions to the problems that humans and mankind face. How can we understand that and actualize it without cultured thought? We cannot.

The fourth type of strength to be directed into the service of Islam is financial strength; hence, being able to earn a living. The reality of the matter is that it is very difficult to do anything when one is reliant upon others for their income or when their financial situation is so dire that they are occupied with essential issues like food, clothing, shelter, and health care. For these reasons it is important that the Muslim seeks to be able to take care of himself or herself so that they can be independent and capable in their service to Islam. Yes, some people will be poorer and others wealthier but all should seek some sort of financial stability.

After mentioning all of these points Imam al-Banna then moves on to say that the person should also have pure belief and correct worship. This is what directs all of those previously mentioned strengths. They are used in accordance with the guidelines and inspiration provided by pure belief and aided through constant and correct worship. From these sources the Muslim truly finds his or her direction and the kind of relationship with the Divine that is required in order to face the difficulties of service to the Truth. They are the well which quenches the spiritual thirst of the heart in its search for its natural inclination.

When all of these strengths are combined and held together with belief and worship the Muslim will find direction and mission in his or her life. This mission will require much from them and herein lies the secret of the last four characteristics. The first of these last four is that the Muslim is constant in fighting their base desires. In the struggle to worship Allah (swt) and live a righteous life there are endless difficulties and tests. Those tests are sometimes very clear and open but sometimes very subtle. They can be tests of sincerity, seeking praise, wanting appreciation from people, argumentation, and many others. These tests cannot be overcome except through a never-ending process of fighting one’s base desires.

The next of these characteristics are to be strict about one’s time and organized in one’s affairs. Time is life itself and the person that kills time only kills their self. This is why Hasan al-Baṣrī said, “O Son of Adam! You are nothing but a compilation of breaths and with each breath that passes, a piece of you is gone.” The well-rounded Muslim will also find that their responsibilities will always outweigh the amount of time that they have to fulfill them. For this reason the Muslim is always strict with their time and organized in their affairs so that they can reap the most benefit from this life before meeting their Lord in the next life.

The last characteristic is to be beneficial to others. This should be read twice. Everything that came before is lost if we are harmful to those around us. The scholars of Islam have said that the core objective of Islam is to acquire benefit. Everything that we do is in the service of Allah (swt) and all that He requires from us is only of pure benefit to us and all of mankind. Therefore, we should use this as a way to check ourselves and assess our impact on those around us, while seeking to understand not only through our own vision but through the teachings of the Divine.

May Allah (swt) help us to embody these characteristics and bless us with being able to manifest Islam in all of its wonderful beauty.

I often ask myself, “Why is it so hard for people to change when they have the tools and just need to practice?” What is stopping us from being consistent? Over the years I have come to realize that there are mental blocks and natural fallbacks on the path to growth that we must be aware of in order to be empowered along the way. Here is my list to help guide us through the pulse of human growth!

(1) Know the Keys to Growth.

Time + Repetition = Change

Time + Changes = Transformation

Time + Transformations = Mastery

Whether you want to learn how to play guitar, memorize Qur’an or instill a new relationship pattern, these keys will get you there. Know the keys and remember them often. Recall them when things get tough and you feel like giving up. Remember that nothing happens over night and every master was once a novice in their craft!

(2) Know no one is perfect.

I often hear the following from couples that play the blame game, feel put down and give up easily.

“My husband tells me I am the problem and I need the counseling—not him.”

“She doesn’t want to do anything different, she thinks I can’t change.”

“He/she will never change, there is no point to this!”

Firstly, any human being that does not recognize that they can always learn and evolve as a person is ignorant and in even more need of growth! Both of you need to accept that each of you have potential for growth and sincere dedication is required to achieve anything. No one has the right to say, “I am fine and in no need to change,” or “I do not need new skills.”

This is a deadly delusion and will likely lead to many other failures in life.

(3) Get comfortable with discomfort: The Pain Value System

Sometimes we know what we want but don’t know how to get it. I know I need to lose weight or improve my marriage but “I just can’t take that first step.” This lack of motivation is killed by the fear and anxiety of the discomfort of change. We like staying the same because it does not require any exertion. This is why we get stuck and before you know it, years go by and then you tell yourself, “It’s too late.”

We need to psychologically assess and accept the reality of discomfort with any change and get ready for it. Pain and hardship is inevitable in life. Get over it and stop expecting life to be a stream of undisturbed pleasure. No one is free from tests, trials and discomfort. This is the existential journey in which we grow and refine ourselves!

Since this is a fact, all of us must assess the pain between different paths of action as well as the gain of those paths. This is the pain value system.

For example: if I don’t like being overweight and recognize it gives me pain and discomfort, I may also see that having an exercise routine, eating better and sacrificing my midnight snack binges are also painful. Well, which one am I willing to be uncomfortable with? Both are paths that will be painful but which path will have greater gain and benefit for me in the long run? Stay fat or get fit? Hopefully this reasoning will help us break through that first step and realize “Enough is enough. I am going to suffer anyways so I might as well do what is best for me!”

In relationships, we must do what is best for “us.” Couples express how hard it will be to work on themselves or practice new skills. I tell them, “You are already suffering in this relational pattern so you might as well suffer in a path towards growth instead!” Push yourselves to practice skills and support one another! It is better to try changing with hard work, than stay stubborn and not work—both paths will be painful but one will end in pleasure and success!

(4) Growth is incremental.

The keys to growth clearly show that things take time and happen in succession. We all know the saying, “Nothing happens over night.” Every step towards achievement is part of the achievement. To get to the top of the mountain where that epic view awaits, you have to take one step at a time. As we walk up the trail we may stop to rest, sit and reflect, hydrate or even fall down a few meters, but we have to keep going and move one foot at a time.

Growth has a pulse and it is not a direct line shooting up vertically or even at a smooth 45 degree angle. It usually has waves and crests much like the lifeline you see on a hospital monitor. As a Taoist proverb says, “It is better to move slowly than to stand still.” In Islam it is better to do a small good deed consistently than a huge deed once. Why? With time, those small deeds will become a mountain of goodness for you and change your character.
In relationships the daily hug or smile you give your partner will result in a deeper intimate connection overtime. Research by Shaunti Feldhahn, a best selling author on relationships, has shown that it is the little things over time that make couples happier. For example saying, “I love you” to your wife or “Thank you” to your husband when he does something will take the edge off overtime and prevent conflict eruptions in the future besides increasing the connection and gratitude in your relationship.

(5) Progress not Perfection.

One couple I worked with wanted to make the dawn prayer every day together. Before this they did not pray at dawn at all and the wife requested the husband wake them up to have this new spiritual habit. The following week she came in feeling like they failed and I asked why? She said, “We only prayed three times this past week.” I pointed out to her, “So you did make progress?” She thought for a moment and said, “Yeah, I guess we did.” I helped her see that she was too focused on praying everyday, the end goal, such that she overlooked the actual growth: praying three times that week verses zero!

The progress is more important than perfection. In fact, perfection is practically impossible. For those of you thinking, “Well what about mastery?” Mastery is still not perfection. Perfection is only for the Divine. Michael Jordan still missed some shots and Thomas Edison failed a thousand experiments before the light bulb. Yet we recognize them as masters in their trade and remember the achievements and progress they made—not the failures.

This is a major block we have in relationships. We focus on the let downs and disappointments rather than the effort and small progress that is happening. We can’t get there and be there at the same time. Patience is at the heart of progress and staying consistent requires will power. We can give up easily if we frame our actual progress as “failure” in light of it not being “perfect.”

(6) Relapses may occur.

Yes, old habits can die hard. You may have not shouted at your wife for three months then slipped up again. You may have prayed everyday for two weeks then only a few times the following week. You may have been at the gym all year then took a month off.

People are wired in certain ways and have habits and behavioral patterns. Change is not easy and from time to time a pulse or trigger goes off and we may act out or lose steam. It is not the end of the world! Get back to it and use your previous progress as proof that you can do it again and keep that change pulse vibrant!
Some people are really disciplined and can maintain a new practice no matter what; others have relapses from time to time. Don’t see it as a failure but a change in frequency. The important thing is to keep your pulse alive no matter what! Remember this the next time your partner seems to have “gone back to their old ways.”

(7) Appreciation & Reminders!

*Appreciation of kind acts leads to motivation to act kindly* As humans we feel valued and honored when we are shown gratitude. When we feel validated we naturally want to do more for others. This is why a child can do the same act over and over again if they get praised. It literally feels like a sparkling light went off in the soul! Showing gratitude is so important
Part of showing appreciation is to reward each other and ourselves through small tokens of gratitude, whether material, verbal or emotional. The human being likes incentives and our society is all about rewards; even the hereafter has a set of rewards in place for those who believed and did good! Bottom line—treat yourselves and treat each other from time to time for your achievements. This helps us feel like we can keep going and set milestones to look forward to.
Part of appreciation is to remind one another of our good traits, praise the qualities and acts we want to see more of. This validates us and makes us feel that inner light beam which will motivate us to keep going and trying!

Importance of the Question

Since you live in the 21st century, it is very probable that you have at least come across, if not been influenced by, what is known as “the problem of evil”. You might have heard it at school or work after someone was murdered: “How could God allow this to happen?!” You see it in articles and blog posts after the bombardment of an entire village: “What kind of God would allow these things to happen?!”

You will even find it in intellectual circles and philosophy books: “If there really were a perfectly good, all-knowing, all-powerful God, then there would be no evil and suffering in the world.”

This so-called problem is one of the most common arguments that skeptics use to deny the existence of God. They assume that they have found an Achilles heel in the religions that believe in God. The common picture we have in our minds is of the skeptic atheist calmly presenting a logical, intellectual, and scientific argument while the religiously-inclined defendant becomes emotionally charged and tries to beat around the bush.

However, the strength of this argument does not, in any way, have to do with logic or rationale but rather is emotionally charged to the core and attempts to hijack any sensitive event it can find. Nor is it a new question.

In fact, we find the angels asking something similar even before man was created:
*“When your Lord told the angels, ‘I am putting a deputy on earth,’ they said, ‘How can you put someone there who will cause damage and bloodshed, when we celebrate Your praise and proclaim Your holiness?’ but he said, ‘I know what you know not’”* (Qur’an, 2:30).

In other words, God was asked, “Why would you allow this human, who will do bad things, to exist? Why not create someone who won’t do anything bad, like us?” The answer was, “I understand the wisdom in what I am doing, and you don’t.”

*Exploding the Myth*

That, in a nutshell, is the answer to the so-called problem. There is no logical contradiction between God being Infinitely Good, Infinitely Powerful, and allowing bad things to happen. The idea that the evil and suffering in the world present an unanswerable challenge to believers is finally being admitted by more open-minded researchers.

Stump and Murray make the following confession in their book, Philosophy of Religion: The Big Questions: “The logical problem of evil has been severely criticized in recent years and is regarded in the contemporary literature on the subject as largely discredited. In brief, the problem with this argument is that it assumes something false. Specifically, it assumes that a good being would prevent every evil it can under any circumstances…Thus, at best, the logical problem of evil shows us that if God exists, the only evil that exists is evil for which there is some good reason.”

The rhetorical questions now change to inquisitive questions. Rather than blurting out, “How could God do that?! What kind of God does these things?!” the question now is “Why is the world this way and what wisdom lies in that?”

*Life is a Test*

The secret to understanding the issue is so simple that it often eludes us. Life is a test. Man has been given a limited free will to do good or bad.
Look at the following statement of the Prophet:

*“The life of a believer is truly amazing. Everything that happens to him is good. This is only true for a believer and none else. If something pleasant happens to him, he is thankful and that is good for him. If something bad afflicts him, he is patient and that is also good for him.”* (Muslim)

Affliction is part of the test of life. If God were to interfere and prevent every bad thing from happening to each individual, it would be like taking the test away from a student. Saying that the bad that exists in the world is necessary does not mean that it is justified or praiseworthy. Believers are always commanded to enjoin the good and forbid the evil, which is another test in itself.

*Wisdom is behind the scenes*

Skeptics tend to focus on the negative aspects of things and claim that evil and suffering are ugly facts of life while believers try to see the bigger picture and find an explanation for the existence of such things. It is like someone who observes two people fighting and judges that both of them are in the wrong without thinking that one of them may be defending himself or standing up for justice. Evil is, to an extent, relative. A juicy hamburger may be a good thing for someone who’s hungry, but it’s definitely a bad thing for the cow that was slaughtered.

Being able to see the big picture often affects how we perceive what is good and bad. Someone with little foresight may claim that the injection of a vaccine into a patient, which contains traces of disease, is a bad thing while the injection of heroin, which leads to euphoria, is a good thing. Not being able to understand that the vaccine will help develop immunity to that disease or that taking heroin will develop into a drug addiction is due to a lack of medical knowledge and experience.

However, we do have enough insight to see some of the wisdoms behind the general occurrences of bad things.

*What good reasons could there be for evil?*

*1. Suffering and affliction often help return us to the obedience of God.*

God said: *“We sent messengers before you [Prophet] to many communities and afflicted their people with suffering and hardships, so that they might learn humility. If only they had learned humility when suffering came from Us! But no, their hearts became hard…”* (Qur’an, 6:42-43).

There is a lesson in the conversion of the famous rock star, Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam. He related the story himself: “After a year of financial success and high living, I became very ill. I contracted T.B. (tuberculosis) and had to be hospitalized. It was then that I started to think; what is going to happen to me? Am I just a body? Is my goal in life merely to satisfy this body? I realized this calamity was a blessing given to me by God and a chance to open my eyes, to learn ‘Why I am here, why I am in bed.’ I started looking for some of the answers.”

*2. It differentiates between the good and bad people.*

God said: *“Do people think they will be left alone after saying, ‘We believe’ without being put to the test? We tested those who went before them: God will certainly mark out which ones are truthful and which are lying”* (Qur’an, 29:2-3).

Upon analysis, we realize that the Prophets, who are the highest in rank in the sight of God, faced the most difficult tests of all people. Clearly, merit must be earned.

*3. Affliction is necessary to experience its opposite feelings of joy and achievement.*

God said: *“With hardship comes ease. Indeed, with hardship comes ease.”* (Qur’an, 94:5-6)

The appreciation of ease and comfort could only exist and be appreciated if the feelings of hardship also existed and were known or experienced. In Chinese Philosophy, the concept of yin and yang is employed to explain this phenomenon. Each part is necessary to understand the unity of the whole. They are in equilibrium: if one disappears, the other must disappear as well, leaving emptiness.

Conclusion

It should be patently clear that the inability to see the wisdom behind something should not be a cause of criticizing that thing. Of course, the final word on all of this is that God knows best.

Importance of the Question

Since you live in the 21st century, it is very probable that you have at least come across, if not been influenced by, what is known as “the problem of evil”. You might have heard it at school or work after someone was murdered: “How could God allow this to happen?!” You see it in articles and blog posts after the bombardment of an entire village: “What kind of God would allow these things to happen?!”

You will even find it in intellectual circles and philosophy books: “If there really were a perfectly good, all-knowing, all-powerful God, then there would be no evil and suffering in the world.”

This so-called problem is one of the most common arguments that skeptics use to deny the existence of God. They assume that they have found an Achilles heel in the religions that believe in God. The common picture we have in our minds is of the skeptic atheist calmly presenting a logical, intellectual, and scientific argument while the religiously-inclined defendant becomes emotionally charged and tries to beat around the bush.

However, the strength of this argument does not, in any way, have to do with logic or rationale but rather is emotionally charged to the core and attempts to hijack any sensitive event it can find. Nor is it a new question.

In fact, we find the angels asking something similar even before man was created:
*“When your Lord told the angels, ‘I am putting a deputy on earth,’ they said, ‘How can you put someone there who will cause damage and bloodshed, when we celebrate Your praise and proclaim Your holiness?’ but he said, ‘I know what you know not’”* (Qur’an, 2:30).

In other words, God was asked, “Why would you allow this human, who will do bad things, to exist? Why not create someone who won’t do anything bad, like us?” The answer was, “I understand the wisdom in what I am doing, and you don’t.”

*Exploding the Myth*

That, in a nutshell, is the answer to the so-called problem. There is no logical contradiction between God being Infinitely Good, Infinitely Powerful, and allowing bad things to happen. The idea that the evil and suffering in the world present an unanswerable challenge to believers is finally being admitted by more open-minded researchers.

Stump and Murray make the following confession in their book, Philosophy of Religion: The Big Questions: “The logical problem of evil has been severely criticized in recent years and is regarded in the contemporary literature on the subject as largely discredited. In brief, the problem with this argument is that it assumes something false. Specifically, it assumes that a good being would prevent every evil it can under any circumstances…Thus, at best, the logical problem of evil shows us that if God exists, the only evil that exists is evil for which there is some good reason.”

The rhetorical questions now change to inquisitive questions. Rather than blurting out, “How could God do that?! What kind of God does these things?!” the question now is “Why is the world this way and what wisdom lies in that?”

*Life is a Test*

The secret to understanding the issue is so simple that it often eludes us. Life is a test. Man has been given a limited free will to do good or bad.
Look at the following statement of the Prophet:

*“The life of a believer is truly amazing. Everything that happens to him is good. This is only true for a believer and none else. If something pleasant happens to him, he is thankful and that is good for him. If something bad afflicts him, he is patient and that is also good for him.”* (Muslim)

Affliction is part of the test of life. If God were to interfere and prevent every bad thing from happening to each individual, it would be like taking the test away from a student. Saying that the bad that exists in the world is necessary does not mean that it is justified or praiseworthy. Believers are always commanded to enjoin the good and forbid the evil, which is another test in itself.

*Wisdom is behind the scenes*

Skeptics tend to focus on the negative aspects of things and claim that evil and suffering are ugly facts of life while believers try to see the bigger picture and find an explanation for the existence of such things. It is like someone who observes two people fighting and judges that both of them are in the wrong without thinking that one of them may be defending himself or standing up for justice. Evil is, to an extent, relative. A juicy hamburger may be a good thing for someone who’s hungry, but it’s definitely a bad thing for the cow that was slaughtered.

Being able to see the big picture often affects how we perceive what is good and bad. Someone with little foresight may claim that the injection of a vaccine into a patient, which contains traces of disease, is a bad thing while the injection of heroin, which leads to euphoria, is a good thing. Not being able to understand that the vaccine will help develop immunity to that disease or that taking heroin will develop into a drug addiction is due to a lack of medical knowledge and experience.

However, we do have enough insight to see some of the wisdoms behind the general occurrences of bad things.

*What good reasons could there be for evil?*

*1. Suffering and affliction often help return us to the obedience of God.*

God said: *“We sent messengers before you [Prophet] to many communities and afflicted their people with suffering and hardships, so that they might learn humility. If only they had learned humility when suffering came from Us! But no, their hearts became hard…”* (Qur’an, 6:42-43).

There is a lesson in the conversion of the famous rock star, Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam. He related the story himself: “After a year of financial success and high living, I became very ill. I contracted T.B. (tuberculosis) and had to be hospitalized. It was then that I started to think; what is going to happen to me? Am I just a body? Is my goal in life merely to satisfy this body? I realized this calamity was a blessing given to me by God and a chance to open my eyes, to learn ‘Why I am here, why I am in bed.’ I started looking for some of the answers.”

*2. It differentiates between the good and bad people.*

God said: *“Do people think they will be left alone after saying, ‘We believe’ without being put to the test? We tested those who went before them: God will certainly mark out which ones are truthful and which are lying”* (Qur’an, 29:2-3).

Upon analysis, we realize that the Prophets, who are the highest in rank in the sight of God, faced the most difficult tests of all people. Clearly, merit must be earned.

*3. Affliction is necessary to experience its opposite feelings of joy and achievement.*

God said: *“With hardship comes ease. Indeed, with hardship comes ease.”* (Qur’an, 94:5-6)

The appreciation of ease and comfort could only exist and be appreciated if the feelings of hardship also existed and were known or experienced. In Chinese Philosophy, the concept of yin and yang is employed to explain this phenomenon. Each part is necessary to understand the unity of the whole. They are in equilibrium: if one disappears, the other must disappear as well, leaving emptiness.

Conclusion

It should be patently clear that the inability to see the wisdom behind something should not be a cause of criticizing that thing. Of course, the final word on all of this is that God knows best.

Worship can be divided into two categories: the worship of the heart and worship of the limbs. The worship of the heart can be dearer to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala (glorified is He) because they give meaning to the worship of the limbs.
Ridaa (contentment with the decree of Allah) is one of the acts of worship of the heart.

Ibn Taymiyyah said about contentment:

*“Contentment is the greatest door that one enters to Allah, it is the source of tranquility for the worshiper and paradise on earth. Whoever does not enter it will not enter the Paradise in the Hereafter.”*


*Are you content with the actions of Allah?*

One way whether to know whether we have ridaa is to ask ourselves if we have bitterness in our hearts when we are tested or when things don’t go our way.

It does not mean that we shouldn’t be ambitious or have big goals. We should work hard, and when we fall, we should pick ourselves back up and try to work harder or find alternatives.

It does not mean to stop when difficulties come – but for example, if there is someone we want to marry and they marry someone else, then that is the end of the matter. Or if we are after a certain job and it goes to someone else, then it was not written for us at that time. It may mean we should apply at another time, or for another job – only Allah knows. But the point of contentment is that we do not have resentment in our hearts.

For example, if we are doing all of our acts of worship and are generally good Muslims, yet we are faced with calamity or we feel that our du`a’ (supplication) has not been responded to, we do not harbor anger in our hearts: “I did everything, but Allah did not give me what I want!”


*How to achieve contentment?*

The Prophet(may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said,
*“He has tasted the sweetness of faith: he who is content with Allah as his Lord, Islam as his religion, and Muhammad as his Prophet.” (Muslim)*

We need to know first and foremost that Allah (swt) has portioned for us our provision. As long as we work, we will get what is written for us.
Moreover, the Prophet said:

*“Know that even if the whole community were to gather together to benefit you with something, they would not benefit you with anything except that which Allah has already recorded for you, and that if they gather together to harm you with something, they would not be able to harm you with anything except that which Allah has already recorded against you.” (Tirmidhi)*


Simply possessing this knowledge should empower us, because we know that everything that happens is by the permission of Allah (swt). This should not prevent us from reflecting and trying to figure out how our actions played a role, but learning from an experience is also part of contentment because you trust that Allah (swt) is teaching you a lesson through trial.

The Prophet reminds us of something profound,

*“Whoever wakes up safely in his home and is healthy in his body and has provisions for his day, would have acquired all the worldly possessions he is in need of.” (Tirmidhi)*

Subhan’Allah (glory to God) – none of know when our last day could be. But if we wake up in the morning with those three things, then we have all that we need. We should not look at people and question why Allah (swt) has given certain people success over ourselves. We have all that we need.

Prayer for contentment

The Prophet said:
*“There is no Muslim servant who says in the morning and the evening three times: I am pleased with Allah as my Lord, with Islam as my religion and with Muhammad as my Prophet, except that it will be a right upon Allah to please him on the Day of Judgment.” (Ahmad)*

The Prophet also said
*“Whoever says when he hears the caller to prayer: ‘And I bear witness that there is no God save Allah, He is alone and has no partner and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger. I am pleased with Allah as Lord, Muhammad as Prophet and Islam as religion’ all his sins will be forgiven.” (Muslim)*

It is as though we are told to say these statements so that they may enter our hearts.

The Prophet would also make this du`a’:

*“O Allah, make me content with Your decree, so that I may not hasten what You have delayed, or to delay what You have hastened.”*

*How do you know if you have ridaa?*

You have ridaa if:
1. You pray istikhara when you have a decision to make. The du`a’ of istikhara literally asks Allah (swt) to choose what is best for us.

2. You have no resentment after something has been decreed by saying Alhamdulillah (all praise is due to Allah).

3. Your love for Allah does not decrease when you are tested


Examples of those who were content with the decree of Allah

Imagine the devastation of the Prophet when he lost his son Ibrahim. He was around 60 years old when he had him, and he was so happy that he would take Ibrahim to companions just so they could see him.

When he passed away the Prophet wept. But what did he say?
*“The eyes shed tears and the heart is saddened, but we do not say anything except that which pleases our Lord. Indeed, O Ibrahim, we are bereaved by your departure from us.”*

This teaches us that being content with Allah (swt) does not mean that we cannot feel sad or disappointed; but we carry no anger or resentment towards Allah.

Whenever ‘Umar radi Allahu anhu (may Allah be please with him) was stricken with calamity, he would thank Allah for four things:

1. That the test was not in his religion;
2. That the test was not greater than it was;
3. That if he responded to the test with patience, he would be given an immeasurable reward;
4. That he would remember the greater calamity of losing the Prophet.

Then he would say “I do not care what happens to me as long as I am Muslim.”

May Allah (swt) give us a heart filled with contentment.

Imagine for a moment that it’s raining. It is pouring, in fact. And imagine that you are inside your house, watching as it falls. But imagine that there is something very different about this rain. It is unlike any other you’ve ever seen. On this day, it is not raining water. It is raining something much more precious to you. Imagine that on this day it is raining hundred dollar bills.

What would you do? What would happen in your neighborhood on that day? What would happen in the world? Would we not run outside, falling all over ourselves, competing to gain as much of the raining money as we can? Would we not stand outside all night to gather as much as possible?

We would do this for money because money is precious. But imagine for a moment that it was raining something priceless. Not thousand dollar bills, not trillions, but the mercy of Allah subhana wa ta`ala (exalted is He), a currency that no human currency could even measure.

The Messenger of Allah, Muhammad ﷺ, (peace be upon him) said, “Ramadan has come to you. (It is) a month of blessing, in which Allah covers you with blessing, for He sends down Mercy, decreases sins and answers prayers. In it, Allah looks at your competition (in good deeds), and boasts about you to His angels. So show Allah goodness from yourselves, for the unfortunate one is he who is deprived in (this month) of the mercy of Allah, the Mighty, the Exalted.” [Narrated by Tabarani]

In this month, we are shielded from hell-fire, protected from the shayateen (satins), and cleansed from our sins. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever fasts during Ramadan out of sincere faith, hoping to attain Allah’s rewards, then all of his past sins will be forgiven.” (Bukhari). In another hadith he ﷺ said: “When the month of Ramadan starts, the gates of the heaven are opened and the gates of Hell are closed and the devils are chained.” [Bukhari]

Within this month, there is a night that is greater than a thousand months (97:1-5). “There is protection from hellfire, at least 70 times the reward for our deeds, and the chance to have all our sins erased.” (hadith) So, what greater loss can there be than to find ourselves standing in the middle of this massive downfall of blessings without collecting all we can of Allah’s mercy?

And while this mercy showers on us throughout the blessed month, the last ten days are like no other. Aisha radi Allahu `anha (may Allah be pleased with her) reported that with the start of the last ten days of Ramadan, the Prophet ﷺ used to tighten his waist belt (meaning he would work hard) and used to pray all the night, and used to keep his family awake for the prayers [Bukhari].

But how can we fully take advantage of this blessed month, especially in the last ten days? Here are a few ways:

Reserve a Private Meeting with Allah

Set a time before or after suhoor to be alone with Allah (swt). Use this time to connect to Him by praying, making du`a’, or reading Qur’an. There is no other time like it. The Prophet ﷺ said: “When the last one-third of the night remains, our Lord, the Glorious One, descends towards the lower heaven and proclaims: ‘Is there anyone supplicating to Me, so that I grant his supplication? Is there anyone begging of Me for anything so that I grant him his wish? Is there anyone who seeks My forgiveness, so that I forgive him?’” [Bukhari and Muslim].

Set a Time for Reflection

In the midst of our busy schedule, we seldom find time to stop and relax, let alone reflect on the realities of life. Make time to do this. Take time to step outside of your daily routine and introspect about where you are and where you’re going. Reflect on the creation around you and on the reality of this life, death, and our final meeting with our Creator. Choose a time, such as the last third of the night, when there are no distractions.

Take a Trip to Allah

We all need to get away sometimes. Use Ramadan as a chance to go away with Allah (swt) as your companion. Aisha (ra) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to practice I`tikaf (seclusion) in the last ten nights of Ramadan and used to say, “Look for the Night of Qadr in the last ten nights of the month of Ramadan” [Bukhari].

Don’t Miss the Night of Power

There is a night in the last ten nights of Ramadan that is greater than a lifetime (1000 months, 83.3 years). The Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever prays during the night of Qadr (power) with faith and hoping for its reward will have all of his previous sins forgiven.” [Bukhari and Muslim]

Aisha (ra) said: “I asked the Prophet ﷺ, ‘O Messenger of Allah, if I know what night is the night of Qadr, what should I say during it?’ He said: ‘Say: O Allah, You are Oft-Pardoning and You love to pardon, so pardon me.'” [Ahmad, Ibn Majah, Tirmidhi]

Discussing the objectives of our actions is an important thing because to do so is to discuss the actions in a true and deep way. It is possible that if we do not know why we are doing certain things, we could miss the entire point behind the action itself. The Prophet said about this concept, “Maybe a fasting person gains nothing from his fast except hunger and thirst. And maybe a person who prays in the night gains nothing from their prayer except staying up late.” So this is a person who does an action but gets no result from it.

This is because if someone does an action without knowing why they are doing it or what the objective behind it is, then it is possible that the action will be useless. This is because, as Imam al-Shāṭibī said, “Actions without objectives are like bodies without souls.” So in this article we will discuss some of the general objectives of fasting and Ramadan.

*1. Attaining Taqwa(Righteousness)*

This is the major objective of fasting in Ramadan as clarified by the Qur’an. God said,
*“O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous [muttaqūn].”*
Fasting also teaches a person how to have taqwā because while one is fasting they are careful about all kinds of things. They watch what comes out of their mouth, what they look at, and all that they do. As a result, the person learns how to have a certain level of restraint regarding their actions. This helps them build their taqwā by making them watchful over everything that they do.

As to the definition of taqwā, the clearest way to understand it is through the definition that was provided by Abū Hurayra (ra). Someone came to him and asked,
*“What is taqwā?” He responded by asking the man if he has ever walked through a thorny road. He said, “Yes.” He asked, “What did you do?” He replied, “Whenever I saw thorns I would avoid them or adjust my clothes to keep them safe.” Abū Hurayra told him, “That’s taqwā.”*


*2. Fasting is a Shield*

The Prophet said in an authentic hadith (narration) that “fasting is a shield.” Even the word shield in Arabic has the connotation of protection and this is one of the meanings of the word taqwā.
The Prophet also said, *“O youth! Whosoever amongst you can afford to get married, let them get married. And whoever cannot afford to do so then they should fast because it will help him control his desires.”*
This protection that fasting gives cannot be accomplished by just reducing one’s food intake because it is the material and immaterial elements of fasting that aide one in controlling themselves. For this reason Imam al-Ṣanʿānī said about this, “It is for a secret that God put in fasting, so just reducing how much food you eat will not be enough.”


*3. Fasting and Patience*

Another thing that we should learn in Ramadan is to be patient with what we face in our daily lives.
The Prophet said in a hadith,
*“Fasting the month of patience, and three days of every month is equivalent to fasting the entire year.”*
In this hadith, the Prophet refers to the month of Ramadan as the month of patience, emphasizing the importance of patience in this month.

It is also said that fasting is half of patience. This is because patience basically consists of staying away from bad deeds and persisting in good deeds. In the month of Ramadan, one of the major things that we seek to do is stay away from as many bad deeds as possible so that our fasting is half of patience.

*4. Ramadan is the Month of Qur’an*

In the month of Ramadan, we spend more time with the Qur’an than in any other part of the year. We spend time reading it by ourselves, we spend time studying it, we spend time listening to it during tarāwīḥ prayers, and so on. In this month, the revelation of the Qur’an began and a civilization of learning and knowledge was born.


*5. A Month of Generosity*

It is narrated that the Prophet was the most generous of people and his most generous time was Ramadan. In doing this, the Prophet was combining between a personal act of worship, like reading the Qur’an, and a social act of worship, charity. Thereby, he showed what it means to live a comprehensive existence as someone who worships God. In doing so, he shows that our responsibilities are not only limited to ourselves but also include those around us.


*6. The Importance of Time*

We also learn in Ramadan that time is one of the most important blessings that we have in our lives.
The Prophet said, *“Two blessings, many people are at a loss regarding them: health and free time.”*
The major acts of worship in Islam are all related to specific times. We pay our zakāt at a particular time. We pray at specific times. We start fasting at a particular time, in a particular month, and we break our fast at a particular time. We go on ḥajj at a particular time. All of these specifications are meant to teach us, among other things, the importance of time.
For this reason al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī said,
“O son of Adam! You are nothing but a compilation of breaths, so every time you inhale and exhale, a piece of you is lost.”
The believer is strict with their time and the more a person’s faith increases, the more their observance of their time increases. The responsibilities we have are more than the time we have to carry them out, so we should try to be as strict with our time as possible.

These are just some of the objectives of fasting and Ramadan that we should seek to actualize. We can use these as a measuring stick for our month and see how we add up. If we look throughout and see that we are improving in these aspects then we should thank God for His bounties upon us, and if we find that we are not, then we should seek His forgiveness and grace and work harder.

May Allah accept from us all our good deeds in this month and forgive us for our shortcomings. Ameen.

When I was growing up, the world was a perfect place. The only problem was, that it wasn’t. I used to believe that everything could always be ‘fair’. To me that meant no one should ever be wronged, and if they were, justice must be served. I fought hard for the way I believed things should be. But in my struggle, I overlooked a fundamental truth about this life.

In my childish idealism, I failed to understand that this world is inherently imperfect. We, as humans, are inherently imperfect. So we will always mess up. And in those mess-ups, we will inevitably hurt others, knowingly, and unknowingly, intentionally and unintentionally. The world would not always be fair.

Does that mean we stop struggling against injustice, or give up on Truth? Of course not. But it means we must not hold this world – and others – to an unrealistic standard. But that’s not always easy. How do we live in a world so flawed, where people let us down, and even our own family can break our heart?

And perhaps, hardest of all, how do we learn to forgive when we have been wronged? How do we become strong, without being hard, and remain soft, without being weak? When do we hold on, and when can we let go? When does caring too much, become too much? And is there such a thing as loving more than we should?

To begin to find these answers, we have to first take a step outside our own lives. We need to examine whether we are the first or the last to feel pain or be wronged. We need to look at those who came before us, to study their struggles, and their triumphs. And we need to recognize that growth never comes without pain, and success is only a product of struggle. That struggle almost always includes withstanding and overcoming the harms inflicted by others.

Recalling the shining examples of our prophets will remind us that our pain is not isolated. Remember that Prophet Nuh(Noah) was abused by his people for 950 years. The Quran tells us: “Before them the People of Noah rejected (their apostle): they rejected Our servant, and said, ‘Here is one possessed!’, and he was driven out.” (Qur’an, 54:9) Nuh was abused so much that he finally “called on his Lord: ‘I am one overcome: do Thou then help (me)!’” (Qur’an, 54:10)

Or we can call to mind how the Prophet was pelted with stones, until he bled, and how the companions were beaten and starved. All of this harm was at the hands of others. Even the angels understood this aspect of human nature – before we even came to be. When Allah told the angels that He would create humanity, their first question was about this harmful potential of humans. Allah tells us: “Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: ‘I will create a vicegerent (humanity) on earth.’ They said: ‘Wilt Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood?’” (Qur’an, 2:30)

This potential of humanity to commit horrific crimes against each other is a sad reality of this life. And yet many of us are so blessed. Most of us have not had to face the type of calamities that others have endured throughout time. Most of us will never have to watch as our families are tortured or killed. And yet, there are few of us who could say we have never been hurt, in one way or another, at the hands of someone else. So although most of us will never have to know the feeling of starving to death or standing helpless as our homes are destroyed, most of us will know what it means to cry from a wounded heart.

Is it possible to avoid this? To some degree, I think it is. We can never avoid all pain, but by adjusting our expectation, our response, and our focus, we can avoid much devastation. For example, putting our entire trust, reliance, and hope in another person is unrealistic and just plain foolish.

We have to remember that humans are fallible and therefore, our ultimate trust, reliance, and hope should only be put in Allah. A[b]llah says: “…whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy handhold that never breaks. And Allah is Hearing and Knowing of all things.” (Qur’an, 2: 256) [/b]Knowing that Allah is the only handhold that never breaks, will save us from much unneeded disappointment.

And yet this is not to say that we should not love or that we should love less. It is how we love that is important. Nothing should be our ultimate object of love, except Allah. Nothing should come before Allah in our hearts. And we should never come to a point where we love something, other than Allah, in such a way, that it would be impossible to continue life without it. This type of ‘love’ is not love, but actually worship and it causes nothing but pain.

But what happens when we’ve done all that and still we have been hurt or wronged by others – as will also inevitably happen? How can we do what is the hardest? How can we learn to forgive? How can we learn to mend our scars and continue being good to people, even when they are not good to us?

In the story of Abu Bakr radi Allahu `anhu (may Allah be pleased with him), is a beautiful example of exactly that. After his daughter, `Ayesha (r), was slandered in the worst way, Abu Bakr (r) found out that the man who began the rumor was Mistah, a cousin who Abu Bakr had been supporting financially. Naturally Abu Bakr withheld the charity he had been giving the slanderer. Soon after, Allah revealed the following ayah: “Let not those among you who are endued with grace and amplitude of means resolve by oath against helping their kinsmen, those in want and those who migrated in the path of Allah. Let them forgive and overlook. Do you not wish that Allah should forgive you? Indeed Allah is oft-Forgiving, most Merciful.” (Qur’an, 24:22) Upon hearing this ayah, Abu Bakr resolved that he did want Allah’s forgiveness, and so he not only continued to give the man money, he gave him more.

This type of forgiveness is at the very heart of being a believer. In describing these believers, Allah says: “And who shun the more heinous sins and abominations; and who, whenever they are moved to anger, readily forgive.” (Qur’an, 42:37)

The ability to readily forgive should be driven by an awareness of our own flaws and mistakes towards others. But most of all, our humility should be driven by the fact that we wrong Allah every single day of our lives, when we sin. Who are we compared to Allah? And yet, Allah, Master of the universe, forgives by day and by night. Who are we to withhold forgiveness? If we hope to be forgiven by Allah, how can we not forgive others? It is for this reason that the Prophet teaches us: “Those who show no mercy to others will have no mercy shown to them by Allah.” [Muslim]

This hope for Allah’s mercy should motivate our own desire to forgive and to one day enter the only world that really is perfect.

It is not compulsory. This only happened when the wife is present during decoration.

Whether through death, loss, or disagreement, when we lose someone or something dear to us, we become overwhelmed by the pangs of grief; the pain of loss feels overbearing as though it would never end. Having to face the consequences of detachment can be a traumatic experience. All we can think of is the pain enshrouding our hearts and consuming our minds. With tears streaming down our faces, our faces contorted with emotion and our hearts too feeling as though a heavy burden has landed—the misery takes a hold of us and, blinded by our tears, we fail to see the light.

But there is a light; a light to behold even in the darkest corner of the earth, even in the murkiest depths of the ocean. We don’t have to drown in the quicksand of trauma. Nothing and nobody by Allah’s Will subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He) has the ability to overpower the underlying depth of:

Inna lilLahi wa inna ilayhi raji`oon.

Verily, unto God do we belong and, verily, unto Him we shall return.

When we actually give some time and thought to reflect upon the words which constitute this statement, we come to realise that there is an extremely powerful and truthful message behind it—an answer to all our questions, grief and emotions.

This profound phrase captures the essence of our entire existence; it encapsulates where we came from and also where we are headed: Allah.

Understanding the statement has the ability to eradicate regrets and past events. It holds the key to finding contentment during those times when we think, ‘Why did that have to happen?’ We can become immersed in questioning, and drown in the misery of relentless searching for the answer…Or we can discover patience by asserting that regardless of whatever has occurred, we will indeed return to Allah (swt).

When we truly understand the meaning of inna lilLahi wa inna ilayhi raji`oon(Verily, unto God do we belong and, verily, unto Him we shall return), we find that no sadness will last forever, and that we shouldn’t destroy ourselves by holding even the slightest bitterness or anger within us. By understanding that Allah (swt) is the One, the only One to Whom we belong, we should be able to move on from painful moments in our life (which we should assert as not being able to occur except that Allah (swt) Willed for it to be) and strive for our goal of meeting Him.

There should be no space for bitterness or anger when one truly comprehends the deep truthfulness of this phrase, and we should be able to forgive those who have intentionally or unintentionally wronged us because we know that Allah (swt) alone holds all sovereignty and that even our emotions belong to Him. By forgiving ourselves and others, by showing sabr (patience) in the face of death or loss, and by aspiring for Allah’s Mercy and Judgement, we open ourselves to a whole new level of understanding ourselves in the context of space and time. We can understand by His Will that Allah (swt) is all that matters, and everything else in this dunya (current life, world) is a means for us to reach Him because we want to be able to See Him at the end, for without a doubt we will have to return to Him.

‘Inna’ meaning ‘verily’ tells us that with certainty we belong to Allah (swt), that is, He Created us and bestowed on us our beginning without a doubt. ‘Inna’ occurs twice in this phrase, providing an emphasis on the certainty of Allah’s Ever-Lasting existence, emphasising the certainty of our beginning AND our end. So Allah (swt) is Al-Awwal (the Beginning, the First) and Al-Akhir (the End, the Last). Al-Awwal ul Akhir (The Ever-Lasting) is the source of light in every single moment of despair, hardship, and difficulty where our tears and grief blind us. Instead of allowing or hearts and souls to become blinded by the darkness of sadness, we can train ourselves in times of positive feelings and negative feelings to find contentment in Allah’s Decree, for nothing happens without His Decreeing it.

Allah (swt) tells us in Surah Baqarah, verses 155-156:

And certainly, We shall test you with something of fear, hunger, loss of wealth, lives and fruits, but give glad tidings to As-Sabirun (the patient). Who, when afflicted with calamity, say: “Verily! To Allah we belong and verily, to Him we shall return.”

This is our Lord, the One Who Created us when we were nothing, telling us in His Divine Book—tanzil (sent down) to humans and jinn as a dhikr (reminder)—that He will definitely test us with trials, but that He has Promised reward for those who are patient.


And how do we be ‘patient’ in the face of turmoil?

Just as Allah (swt) has created tests involving struggle, risk and loss, Allah (swt) has also told us how to approach these tests; He has revealed to us that the patient are those who, when afflicted with calamity, say, “Inna lilLahi wa inna ilayhi raji`oon.” In His infinite Mercy, Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala has allowed for relief to accompany difficulty. This also shows us that the losses and difficulties won’t last forever, and that everything which we regard as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ in the dunya is of temporal nature.

No pain or grief or disagreement can last forever, but with certainty, Allah (swt) lasts forever and from Him we came to be and it is to Him we will with certainty return.

This means that the events which take place in this dunya are mere moments. We become so consumed by our grief that we fail to see that al-Qahhar (the Conqueror, the Ever-Dominating) has provided us with light and that even in the most difficult times, Allah (swt) provides ease with hardship.

Upon coming to terms with the truth and power imbued in inna lilLahi wa inna ilayhi raji`oon and proceeding to integrate this magnificent statement into each moment of your daily life, when you are faced with any minor or major losses, you will see a whole new world of contentment and serenity opened up to you, insha Allah (God willing).

The trials faced by Umm Salamah radi allahu `anha, may God be pleased with her, teach us important lessons about how to handle tests, loss and situations in which we do not get something we had hoped for. Her approach towards calamity shows us what it means to be patient in the face of adversity and to recognise that Allah (swt) will always restore what He takes away from a patient believer with something better.


All is NOT lost.

The beautiful way in which she approached her afflictions reminds us to rely on Allah (swt) and to never despair for He is Able to do anything at any moment; Allah (swt) is our Provider, and when we are struck by loss, and things don’t go the way we want them to, Allah (swt) is Ever-Watching and He is the Best of planners. Umm Salamah’s first husband was Abu Salamah radi allahu `anhu, may God be pleased with him, who returned to Allah (swt) during Jumada Al-Akhir in the fourth year after Hijra, after receiving wounds in the Battle of Uhud. His passing from this dunya resulted in grief for she had loved him sincerely; nonetheless, Umm Salamah (ra) did not fail to turn to Allah (swt). Heartbroken by his departure, she remained steadfast in her relationship with Allah (swt) and supplicated to Him for our Rabb (Lord) is Al Mughni—the Enricher, the One Who satisfies the necessities of His Creation.

In her grief-stricken state as she wondered who could possibly be better than Abu Salamah, she supplicated:

‘Verily, we belong to Allah and verily, unto Him shall we return. O Allah! Reward me for the calamity that has befallen me and grant me better than it.’

Allah (swt) then answered her du`aa (supplication) by giving her the Messenger (peace be upon him) himself! In Shawwal of the same year in which Abu Salamah (ra) returned to Allah (swt), the Messenger of Allah married her. Thus, because of her patience and acknowledgement that we belong to Allah (swt) and unto him we return, Allah (swt) compensated her with reward and recompensed her loss. Allah (swt) alleviated her and answered her question, “Who is better than Abu Salamah?” by blessing her with our beloved Messenger .

This legacy speaks volumes of the reward and relief Allah (swt) grants to those who are patient, and those who have tawwakul (reliance) on Allah (swt) to replace what is taken away from the believer who lives with patience. What we are provided with is His to give and take, and it is in acknowledging that He is the Owner of all that we are able to see through loss and hardship, and witness blessings.

If you are facing any trial in the present, know that Allah (swt) provides ease and that the cure is with you by Allah’s Will. Reflect on, and realise that none other than Allah (swt) Knows best about what adversity or struggle you are going through for Allah (swt) is the One Who tested you with such, and on no soul does He place more than that which it can bear—Allah (swt) is closer to you than your jugular vein, than your own self, and so He Knows what you are feeling. The next time you are faced with a grief or loss, or even happiness and blessing from Allah (swt), by uttering, comprehending and believing that our final destination is Allah (swt)—the end is essential for our eternal bliss—through making Allah the means to Him, glimpses of light make their way through your feeling of loss.

For each time that you submit to Allah (swt) alone by not only uttering inna lilLahi wa inna ilayhi raji`oon but by understanding it and feeling its essence in your heart and limbs through acknowledging Allah’s Power, you will not only be rewarded insha Allah but Allah (swt) will return His favours and blessings upon you for submitting to His Will with sabr (patience). Like Umm Salamah (ra), place your trust in Him to get you through any manifestation of loss, however slight or major you may consider it to be, and trust Allah (swt) to answer your supplications, for no du`aa is lost.

No distress or loss is too difficult to deal with when we know Allah (swt), and place our trust in Him to get us through everything, whether we consider the moments as good or bad. No distress or loss is too difficult to deal with when we acknowledge and apply that we certainly belong to Allah, and we certainly return to Him.