The Mayonnaise Jar ...

When  things in your life seem almost too much to handle,
When 24  hours in a day is not enough;
remember the mayonnaise jar.

A professor stood before his philosophy  class
and  had some items in front of him..
 

When the class began, wordlessly,
he  picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar
and start to fill it with  golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and  poured
it into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again
if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand
and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded
With an unanimous  'yes.'

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the  table
and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively
filling the empty space between the sand.
The students laughed.

'Now,' said the  professor, as the laughter subsided,
'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.
 
The golf balls are the important things - God,  family,
children, health, friends, and favorite passions
Things  that if everything else was lost
and  only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the things that matter like your job, house, and car.

The sand is everything else --
The small stuff.

'If you put the sand into the jar  first,' he continued,
'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf  balls.
The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy  on the small stuff,
You will never have room for the things that  are
important to you.

So...

'Take care of the golf balls first --
The things that really  matter.
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand
and inquired what the coffee represented.

The  professor smiled.

'I'm glad you asked'.

It just goes to show you that  no matter how full your life may seem,
there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.' 

Coffee or Cup

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to
visit their old university professor.
Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and
returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups -
porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive,
some exquisite -telling them to help themselves to hot
coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said:
"If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up,
leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you
to want only the best for yourselves that is the source of your problems and stress.
What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup,
but you consciously went for the best cups and
were eyeing each other's cups.

Now if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are
the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality
of Life doesn't change.

Some times, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the
coffee in it."

So, don't let the cups drive you... Enjoy the coffee instead!

A Memo from God

Source: An email from a friend

Salaat and Shaitan

A man woke up early in order to Pray the Fajr Prayer in the masjid. He got dressed, made his ablution and was on his way to the masjid. On his way to the masjid, the man fell and his clothes got dirty. He got up, brushed himself off, and headed home. At home, He changed His Clothes, made his ablution, and was, again, on his way to the masjid.

On his way to the masjid, He Fell again and at the Same Spot! He, again, got up, brushed himself off and headed home.
At home he, once again, Changed His

Clothes, made his ablution and was on his way to the masjid.

On his way to the masjid, He Met a Man Holding a Lamp. He asked the man of his identity and the man replied 'I Saw You Fall Twice on your way to the masjid, So I Brought a Lamp so I can Light Your Way.' The first man thanked him profusively and the two where on their way to the masjid.
 
Once at the masjid, the first man asked the man with the lamp to come in and pray Fajr with him. The second man refused. The first man asked him a couple more times and, again, the answer was the same.
The first man asked him why he did not wish to come in and pray. the man replied

I am Shetaan(devil/ evil)

The man was shocked at this reply. Shetan went on to explain, 'I saw you on your way to the masjid and it was I who made you fall. When you went home, cleaned yourself and went back on your way to the masjid, Allah forgave all of your sins.
I made you fall a second time, and even that did not encourage you to stay home, but rather, you went back on your way to the masjid.

Because of that, Allah forgave all the sins of the people of your household .   I was AFRAID if i made you fall one more time,
then Allah will forgive the sins of the people of your village, so I made sure that you reached the masjid safely..'
So do not let Shetan benefit from his actions. Do not put off a good that you intended to do as you never know how much reward you might receive from the hardships you encounter while trying to achieve that good.

May Allah (Subhana Ho Wataallah) grant us perfect Muslim Heart n we all do Prayers with our Heart and Soul...
Ameen 

Source: An email from a friend

Experience the Sweetness of Emaan

Rasul Allah, Muhammad (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said, “Sight is a poisonous arrow of the devil. Whosoever, whether male or female, protects himself or herself from evil glances, will be granted a sweet eeman (faith) which will please his/her heart.” [Tabrani]

The heart is like a container that you can keep filling with eeman. But each glance at a non-mahram makes a hole in this container of eeman. Like a bucket full of holes cannot hold water, so also does eeman keep pouring out of the heart of the person who does not restrain his/her glances to what Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) has permitted looking at.

The disease of checking out the opposite sex has unfortunately become quite common. Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) calls it an act of the devil that causes eeman to turn sour. Therefore, if you would like to taste the true sweetness of eeman, you need to guard your glances and not look at what Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) has prohibited.

One needs to protect himself/herself from allowing their aurah (parts of the body men and women are required to keep covered and hidden from the eyes of others) to be seen by others. As we would wear armour if physical arrows were assaulting us, so we should wear concealing clothes to protect ourselves from the poisonous arrows of the Shaytaan. These do not attack our physical body, but they attack our soul and tear holes in our faith.

Source: An email from a friend