Blog Archives
Change your input, determine your future
"Your input determines your outlook. Your outlook determines your output, and your output determines your future." – Zig Ziglar
So what is OUR input? Well for the average person (myself included) it is the junk we watch on TV, the music we hear in our environment, the violence on we see on TV/streets, the negativity of those around us, the lure of scantily clad models on billboards, etc. How does all this affect our outlook/output? Given that our input is not pure, can we expect our output to be pure as well? And in the end, our future, which we all crave to be Jannah (Paradise), is severely affected by this pollution in our input. So should we not be looking to reduce the fitnah and the haram in our input in order to improve our deeds (output)?
The Prophet (SAW) warned us:
“Temptations are presented to the heart, one by one. Any heart that accepts them will be left with a black stain, but any heart that rejects them will be left with a mark of purity.” (Muslim)
However, remember that at the end of the day it is the grace and mercy of Allah (SWT) that will enable us to protect ourselves, clean our input, and purify our output.
And if not for the Grace of Allah upon you and His mercy, not one of you would have been pure, ever, but Allah purifies whom He wills, and Allah is Hearing and Knowing. (24:21)
May Allah (SWT) help us cleanse our input and make our deeds those which lead us to Jannah.
Related articles
LOVE makes the world go round! | Valentines Day
Lets’ face it, we Love all there is to do with love. And why not?
LOVE makes the world go round!
It is a beautiful and pure emotion; Fresh & crisp like daisies in sunshine, deep & strong like the ocean. It is a need, a desire, a want, a fancy created by Allah
And among His signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that you may dwell in peace and tranquility with them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts): Verily in that are signs for those who reflect" (Surah Ar-Rum,30: Verse, 21)
ALAS!
Come 14th February, love is hijacked & sold, like cheap candy that leaves a bad taste in the mouth – But, wrapped in very fancy paper! And they call it VALENTINE’S DAY.
Special red roses, specially designed cards, “extra special” discounts on that oh so special dinner, supported by special TV shows, specially crooned songs to get you in that special mood – the stage is set for one special marketing genius day!
You think, like millions of others, this is all specially for me? Why have we allowed love to become a commodity?
And have we considered what “brand” of love Valentine’s day is promoting? Same as the media does … “virtual love” … images of tall, dark & handsome, petite yet voluptuous, sacrifice through rebellion, passion as reckless, and “love” as pleasurable sin. Everything is so dramatic, so momentary and yet so alluring …
Do we really know the difference between real love and virtual love?
Or have we all started living in “La La Land.”
The Canadian Red Cross says,
“Valentine’s day hype can fuel youth dating violence. Our culture starts laying the groundwork at a very early age to convince young people that romantic love is all important. However, we often neglect to teach young people what’s health and what isn’t in romance."
We have imported a phenomenon that thinking people in the west are rejecting –cigarette companies found a new “market” in us when anti-smoking campaigns took hold in the west. They need to sell, we need NOT BUY.
Stop and think. Does a card with some one else’s pre printed paid emotions spell out “romance” for us? Do we want to find ”love” by following a pagan festival that had a lottery to distribute women for entertainment?
WE HAVE AN ALTERNATIVE … Realistic, constructive and fulfilling.
The Prophet (PBUH) said: NIKAH is my sunnah … (Bukhari & Muslim)
Islam offers real love, real romance and real flirting!
Yes. Flirting …
Who says we can’t flirt with our husbands/wives or be passionate or go out on dates? It is all there and worth waiting for …
Allah protects us from the short lived glamour of “virtual love” and has blessed us with the finest and purest relationship between a boy and a girl – marriage.
The Prophet (PBUH) enjoyed an especially meaningful married life. By modern standards he was a liberal and open-minded man. He had no problem declaring in public that his wives were the dearest and fondest to him.
 |
A few decades down, we will hear “Valentine’s day is part of our cultural tradition”! Today we hear, “What is the harm in expressing love on 14th February?”
Quotable quotes
Are we still going to press the ball gowns and tuxedos? Select a partner and set the scene for Valentine’s day? Grab the tickets and tables before they are sold out? Hook up with a friend to cover up our absence at home … just in case we miss out? … miss out on what?
YOU DECIDE.
Write-Up Courtesy Perceptions
Education through Qur’an & Sunnah
www.perceptions.org.pk
Cure Rayan – Help save a child | Pakistan USA | CureRayan.org
UPDATE
Cure Rayan – A 3-yr old child suffering from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia needs a Bone Marrow transplant and they are looking for donors – all you need to do is volunteer for a cotton swab test to see if you can donate
KARACHI – Wednesday Feb 16th at 112 Khayaban-e-Bahria Phase 5 DHA, (12pm to 8pm)
HELP SAVE A LIFE!!
Received the following via Facebook from a friend. Please help in any way you can by posting this on Facebook, Twitter, email, or to organize drives at educational institutions, clubs, offices, etc. Go and visit the Cure Rayan Facebook page. Alhamdulillah they have done a great job organizing drives in the USA and we should help them in achieving the same here. Oh and above all pitch in with your duas for the little kid. May Allah give him Shifa-e-Kamil and give his family the best in this life and the hereafter.
Guys
Yaar, I need your help.
My nephew (Farhan’s son) Rayan was diagnosed with leukemia in December and we need to find a bone marrow donor for him VERY urgently. Marrow matches are very ethnicity dependent, and therefore the highest chance of finding a match is in India/Pakistan.
We’ve been running marrow donor recruitments drives in the USA (see www.curerayan.org) and the plan is now to widen the net to educational insitutuions, clubs etc in Pakistan.
Can you please tell me if you have contacts in colleges/universities/any other venue (for instance, we’ looking at holding something at Karachi Gymkhana) that we can leverage to setup donor recruitment drives at?, schools are out, as donors need to be at least 18 (this is purely for legal consent reasons, close family even 4 year old children can donate!!) There is a lot of information on what this involves on Rayan’s website at www.curerayan.org. If you have any questions, feel free to email me back, or send me your phone number and I’ll call you right back. We only have 2 weeks to find a suitable donor for Rayan, so I would beg your quickest response. Please forward this message to your anyone you know who maybe able to help. We want to reach out and get as large a volunteer base as possible so we can figure out the best venues to hold donor drives at.
Tell anyone wishing to volunteer in any capacity to email Pakistan@CureRayan.org and someone from the team will contact them, I’m also attaching an email we’ve sent out to LUMS giving more details on the initiative.
We’re in the process of getting test kits sorted out to be sent to Karachi – can you please let me know if there is anything you can do to help in this initiative?
Regards.
Rizwan
> —– Original Message —–
> From: Sohail Khan
> To: Ali
> Sent: Sun Feb 06 20:46:15 2011
> Subject: Message for Students and Alum – Please wait for my phone call before you send out
>
> Rayan, a three year old boy, was diagnosed a few weeks ago with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), a form of blood cancer. He is now in URGENT need of a bone marrow transplant. The global registry of bone marrow donors has 14 million people on it, of which less than 1% are South Asian. Unfortunately, as a result of this gross under-representation Rayan has not been able to find a suitable match. At this point we have two weeks to conduct drives to find Rayan a donor.
>
> Since learning of Rayan’s plight last Friday, we began rallying ourselves around the curerayan.org banner (see Facebook) with the objective of finding a donor. Thanks to the power of social media and the ceaseless effort of many, in a little over a week we’ve been able to host 56 donor drives across the US in mosques, schools, homes and offices and have tested 2,000+ potential donors. There has been an outpouring of love and support for Rayan that has been humbling for all of us.
>
> We now need to broaden the drive to Pakistan and need your help. You can make a difference by:
>
> – volunteering to help conduct bone marrow compatibility drives at universities, corporations, homes etc
> – spreading the word through tagging curerayan.org on Facebook, emailing the link to friends etc
> – donating at the bone marrow drives later in the week
>
> Please contact us at pakistan@curerayan.org to join in our efforts
>
> The bone marrow compatibility is conducted through a simple cheek swab test – it is free (we will cover all costs), painless and takes 30 seconds. Gender is not relevant, but South Asian ethnicity is critical. By creating a large pool of donors we will not only help Rayan, but also others that, over time, may find themselves in his unfortunate situation. There are many myths about bone marrow transplants, in most cases its as simple as a blood transfusion (see http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/Myths_%26_Facts_about_Marrow_Don/index.html).
>
> Rayan’s life depends upon the kindness of strangers. I know LUMS, its students and alum are not new to kindness. I also know as an institution we seek to instill in our community a sense of social purpose, of acting as a moral compass. I hope the student body embraces this opportunity to do something for Rayan and the countless other Pakistani’s that will fall prey to this heartless disease.
>
> I’m attaching herewith a letter from Rayan’s parent. You can make a difference.
>
>
> Best,
>
>
>
> Sohail Khan – MBA ’96
