‘a few gems’

I hope you are all well, in an excellent state of health and more importantly well being. Unfortunately I am fighting a tiredness bug that keeps escalating in to something worse so a lot I wanted to share has been put aside. This brings on thoughts of how really all our thoughts and ideas are not much when in our human form itty bitty viruses can bring us to our knees/mess up all our organs/even wipe our brains! How great then, Allah azza wajal, who never tires, never in need of (nor does He) sleep, and is always constant, there. Subhahana wa ta’ala! So then foolish is the one who looks to help anywhere else and happy is the one who puts his entire hope ONLY in Allah.
This perhaps why the scholars call this single ayah (verse), the fourth in Surah al Fatiha (opening chapter in the Quran, composed of 7 sentences), ‘the declaration of independence’. Scholars have also said half the meaning of the Quran is wrapped up in it. It is only four words!

Iyyaka nau’budud wa iyyaka nasta’een
(Only you do we worship and only your aid do we seek)
Quran 1:4

Subhahanallah! Allah forgive my faults, they are more than the snow flakes falling outside (not said to sound pretty).

Here are a few gems shared by a dear sister that I wanted to post here to share with more people inshaAllah. The source is not given for all of them.

* Imam Shaf’i – “All humans are dead except those who have knowledge. And all those who have knowledge are asleep, except those who do good deeds. And those who do good deeds are deceived, except those who are sincere. And those who are sincere are always in a state of worry.”
* Ibn Qayyim – “Truly in the heart there is a void that can not be removed except with the company of Allah. And in it there is a sadness that can not be removed except with the happiness of knowing Allah and being true to Him. And in it there is an emptiness that can not be filled except with love for Him and by turning to Him and always remembering Him. And if a person were given all of the world and what is in it, it would not fill this emptiness.”
* Rasulullah saws said, “A person is upon the religion of his close friend, so let one of you be careful about the person with whom he establishes friendship [with].” (The Book of Manners, 134)
* A friend cannot be considered a friend until he is tested in three occasions: in time of need, behind your back, and after your death.- Ali ibn Abi Talib (r.a.)