Subhanallah! I don’t know who Moez Masoud is (apparently someone famous) but masha’Allah , by the end of this short clip I had tears in my eyes. He was speaking of truth, and truth is so beautiful, so beautiful it touches your soul and makes you remember your Lord and that we have but a few fleeting moments on this planet, walhamdulillah - the Beloved is calling to each of us, telling us He is the oft-forgiving, the most merciful, the loving, the kind. God does not look at our outward forms and He made us into nations and tribes that we might know one another!

(Hijab flutter: AskMuslims)

I’m a month late, but Sidi Abdurrahman Squires has posted up Imam al-Ghazzali’s (may Allah be pleased with him) Ten Rules of spiritual ethics.

For me, punctuality is the key to a successful spiritual life. Hmm… no, let me rephrase that.  Punctuality in praying fajr and subh is the key to a successful spiritual life. From this one discipline, everything else follows. My ideal working day goes (and I will be the first to confess I don’t always hit the mark, just in case Abu Yasmin reads this and laughs at my audacity): set the alarm clock to go off for the beginning of the subh prayer time (longer term project is to set it back even further to get up for tahajjud but I digress); get up, pray and stay up. 

Do some Sunnipath study and then get ready for the day.  Off to work early, praying zuhr and ‘asr as soon as their times come in.  This bit is important, apart from the barakah in praying in the first of the times, if you develop an urgency in praying the prayer as soon as possible after the time has come in, it means you are much less likely to miss a prayer a’udhu billah. Back home for cooking and eating dinner, and spending time with the family. Praying maghrib, putting Yasmin to bed, reading her stories, spending time with Abu Yasmin and finally praying ‘isha and going to bed myself. May Allah make us successful in our endeavours.

Subhanallah. Abu Yasmin just rang and informed me that my beautiful daughter’s kindergarten–attached to a Muslim school–has been ransacked and grafittied “get back you mo****f****s”. (Obviously they didn’t use asterix).

I am feeling rage, anger, depression, hurt, frustration, that racist red-necks could do this to the youngest tiniest members of our society. I am so angry I just want to lock them all up in jail and throw away the key. I can’t help thinking of the beautiful pictures the children have drawn, their artwork, their toys, their equipment, their ‘letter-home’ pockets, their world that has been invaded by evil.

Subhanallah, He may be the oft-forgiving, but I am not.

Yet, the kindergarten will bounce back, and there are more Muslims moving to Australia, more Australians converting to Islam and more Muslims being born in Australia than ever before.  It is the racist red-necks’ society that is being strangled, not ours.  Allah , subhanahu wa t’ala, says that Truth shall prevail!

It seems to me that of the various spiritual paths on offer, there are the following:

There is no salvation (atheism)
Salvation is in creation (Hinduism)
Salvation is in the self (Buddhism, Scientology)
Salvation is in the community (Judaism, Sikhism)
Salvation is in a man (Christianity, Baha’i)
Salvation is in God alone (Islam)

I’m still working my thoughts out on this.

I’m really excited about my first live lesson tomorrow insha’Allah , I almost feel like buying a new pair of patent leather shoes

Sunnipath offers some preparatory material, so I’ve been watching the Online Time Management lesson.  MashaAllah, their lessons are fantastic.  Since the last time I err… had a stab at Sunnipath which was a few years ago, they’ve really developed into a fantastic online learning resource.  Slide-shows, handouts, plus, now they are offering video streaming of the brothers who are teaching and it’s like sitting in a classroom! Very professional!!!

Now - anyone got any advice on what to do with making sajdah on a hardwood floor??? I’ve tried lots of different combinations but the floor is really hard and my prayer-mat slips and slides. Lately, I’ve been using a towel underneath the prayer mat, but it still slips and slides a lot. Maybe I need to buy a rug with rubber on the underside so that it sticks to the floor.  Is it just me that faces these types of issues????