As usual Roger, you one sandwich short of a picnic.

"All things work together for good" - says the Scripture. Therefore, whatever happens in the life of man, good or evil, is good in the end."

Try again. The scripture is one of my favorites and should always be read and understood in its context.

Romans 8:28

"We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

And those he predestined he also called; and those he called he also justified; and those he justified he also glorified."

God is by nature good and incompatible with evil. Therefore evil done by man does not serve the will of God, because God is not evil.

Best wishes from Reality.

Mike,

I certainly do hope the irony of your words "best wishes from reality", as told by someone quoting his own version of some ancient mythology doesn't escape you.

And now of course it's my turn, best wishes from reality, whatever that is...

Think about a typical holiday: after months of hard work, you have your two weeks' vacation and arrive at your favourite holiday resort after an exhausting eight hours' ride. The lobby is crowded with holidaymakers like you. You even notice familiar faces and greet them. The weather is warm and you do not want to miss one moment enjoying the sunshine and the calm sea, so without losing any time, you find your room, put on your swimsuit and hurry to the beach. At last, you are in the crystal-clear water, but suddenly you are startled by a voice: "Wake up, you will be late for work!"

You find these words nonsense. For a moment, you cannot grasp what is happening; there is an incomprehensible discrepancy between what you see and hear. When you open your eyes and find yourself in your bedroom, the fact that it was all a dream astonishes you greatly. You cannot ke ep yourself from expressing this astonishment: " I rode eight hours to reach there. Despite the freezing cold outside here today, I felt the sunshine there in my dream. I felt water splashing on my face."

The eight hours' drive to the resort, the time you waited in the lobby, in short everything related to your vacation was actually a dream of a few seconds. Though indistinguishable from real life, what you experienced in a genuine way was merely a dream.

This suggests that we may well be awoken from life on earth just as we are awoken from dream. Then, disbelievers will express exactly the same type of astonishment. In the course of their lives, they could not liberate themselves from the misperception that their lives would be long. Yet, at the time when they will be recreated, they will comprehend that the period of time which appears to have been a lifetime of sixty or seventy years was as if it were merely a few seconds' duration. Allah relates this fact in the Qur'an:

He will say: "What number of years did you stay on earth?" They will say: "We stayed a day or part of a day: but ask those who keep account." He will say: "You stayed not but a little, if you had only known!" (Surat al-Muminun: 112-114)

Whether it be ten years or a hundred, man will eventually realise the shortness of his life as the verse above relates. This is just like the case of a man who wakes up from dream bitterly witnessing the vanishing of all images of a nice, long holiday, suddenly realising that it had merely been a dream of a few seconds' length. Similarly, the shortness of life will most strike man when all else about his life is forgotten. Allah enjoins careful attention to this fact in the following verse of the Qur'an:

On the day that the hour (of reckoning) will be established, the transgressors will swear that they tarried not but an hour: thus were they used to being deluded! (Surat ar- Rum: 55)

No less than those who live for a few hours or a few days, those who live for seventy years also have a limited time in this world… Something limited is bound to end one day. Be life eighty or a hundred years long, each day brings man closer to that predestined day. Man, in reality, experiences this fact throughout the course of his life. No matter how long-term a plan he devises for himself, one day he attains that specific time when he will accomplish his goal. Every precious objective or thing deemed a turning point in one's life soon turns out merely to have been a passing whim.

Think of a boy, for instance, who recently entered high school. Typically, he cannot wait for the day on which he will graduate. He looks forward to it with unrestrained eagerness. Yet soon he finds himself enrolling in college. At this stage of his life, he does not even recall the long years of high school. He already has other things on his mind; he wants to take advantage of these precious years to ease his fears for the future. Hence, he makes numerous plans. Before long, he becomes busy arranging his forthcoming wedding, a very special occasion that he eagerly awaits. Yet time passes faster than he expected and he leaves many years behind him and finds himself a man supporting a family. By the time he becomes a grandfather, an old man now in declining health, he faintly recalls the events from which he derived pleasure as a young man. Grim memories do fade. The troubles that obsessed him as a young man interest him no more. Only a few images of his life unfurl before his eyes. The appointed time approaches. The time left is very limited; a few years, months or possibly even just days. The classic story of man, without exception, ends here with a funeral service, immediate family members, close friends and relatives attending. The reality is that no man is immune to this end.

Nevertheless, from the beginning of history, Allah has instructed man about the temporary nature of this world and described the Hereafter, his real and eternal residence. Many details pertaining to paradise and hell are depicted in the revelations of Allah. Despite this fact, man tends to forget this essential truth and tries to invest all his efforts in this life, even though it is short and temporary. However only those who assume a rational approach to life are summoned to clarity of mind and consciousness and realise that this life is not worth anything compared to the eternal one. That is why man's objective in life is only to attain paradise, an eternal place of Allah's benevolence and enduring abundance. Seeking the contentment of Allah with true faith is the only way to obtain it. However, those who try not to think about the unavoidable end of this world, and who lead a life in keeping with such an attitude surely deserve eternal punishment.

Allah in the Qur'an relates the awful end that will meet these people:

One day He will gather them together: (It will be) as if they had tarried but an hour of a day: they will recognise each other: assuredly those will be lost who denied the meeting with Allah and refused to receive true guidance. (Surah Yunus: 45)

Therefore patiently persevere, as did (all) Messengers of inflexible purpose; and be in no haste about the (disbelievers). On the Day that they see the (punishment) promised them, (it will be) as if they had not tarried more than an hour in a single day. (Yours is but) to proclaim the Message: but shall any be destroyed except those who transgress? (Surat al-Ahqaf: 35)

Alan Ch. 3, verse 42:

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

Alan Ch. 3, verse 78:

Always finish what you sta

Allah said: { Do they not then consider the Qur’aan carefully? Had it been from other than Allah they would surely have found therein much contradictions }[Qur’aan 4:82]

Alan Ch. 8, verse 12:

Buzzards gotta eat. Same as worms.

once I had a craving for modified food starch, mono-diglycerides, partially hydrogenated oil and high fructose corn syrup but I just couldn't decide what the artificial flavoring should be.Eventually, I went with vanilla (or is it vanillin?)
You can never go wrong with vanilla.
As soon as I had that figured out, I knew what I had to eat.I had a similar craving years ago but this time I had a car I didn't have to travel far to get it.
The next day it was arugula, or nothing.

Praise be to Allaah.

Belief in Allaah is based on respect and veneration of Him and submission to Him. Hence Allaah criticized the non muslims and stated that they associated others with Him because they did not make a just estimate of Allaah such as is due to Him, as He says (interpretation of the meaning):

“They made not a just estimate of Allaah such as is due to Him. And on the Day of Resurrection the whole of the earth will be grasped by His Hand and the heavens will be rolled up in His Right Hand. Glorified be He, and High be He above all that they associate as partners with Him!”

[al-Zumar 39:67]

Allaah, may He be glorified and exalted, is the Almighty, by Whose might the heavens might almost be rent asunder, as He says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Nearly the heavens might be rent asunder from above them (by His Majesty), and the angels glorify the praises of their Lord, and ask for forgiveness for those on the earth. Verily, Allaah is the Oft‑Forgiving, the Most Merciful”

[al-Shoora 42:5]

Anyone who studies the creation of Allaah will see some of the signs of His greatness. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, describing the Kursiy (Footstool) and Throne: “The seven heavens, in comparison to the Footstool, are like a ring lying in the wilderness, and the superiority of the Throne to the Footstool is like the superiority of that wilderness to that ring.” Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in al-Silsilah al-Saheehah (1/223).

Veneration of Allaah, may He be glorified and exalted, cannot co-exist in one heart with mockery of Him. Hence mocking Allaah, may He be exalted, or His verses or Messengers is unhuman act, no matter what form it takes, whether it is in earnest or in jest. Allaah says in Soorat al-Tawbah (interpretation of the meaning):

“The hypocrites fear lest a Soorah (chapter of the Qur’aan) should be revealed about them, showing them what is in their hearts. Say: ‘(Go ahead and) mock! But certainly Allaah will bring to light all that you fear.’

65. If you ask them (about this), they declare: ‘We were only talking idly and joking.’ Say: ‘Was it at Allaah ( عز و جل ), and His Ayaat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) and His Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) that you were mocking?’

66. Make no excuse; you disbelieved after you had believed. If We pardon some of you, We will punish others amongst you because they were Mujrimoon (disbelievers, polytheists, sinners, criminals)”

[al-Tawbah 9:64-66]

Don't Nurse Grudge

Anas b. Malik reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him and his progeny) as saying: "Neither nurse mutual hatred, nor jealousy, nor enmity, and become as fellow brothers and servants of Allah. It is not lawful for a Muslim that he should keep his relations estranged with his brother beyond three days".

Prophet Muhammad (saww) also said: "Don't nurse grudge and don't bid him out for raising the price and don't nurse aversion or enmity and don't enter into a transaction when the others have entered into that transaction and be as fellow-brothers and servants of Allah. A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim. He neither oppresses him nor humiliates him nor looks down upon him. The piety is here, (and while saying so) he pointed towards his chest thrice. It is a serious evil for a Muslim that he should look down upon his brother Muslim. All things of a Muslim are inviolable for his brother in faith: his blood, his wealth and his honour.

Allah Almighty orders Muslims to deal kindly and justly with non-Muslims:

"Allah forbids you not, With regard to those who Fight you not for (your) Faith Nor drive you out Of your homes, From dealing kindly and justly With them: For Allah loves those who are just. (The Noble Quran, 60:8)"

Narrated Jarir bin 'Abdullah: "Allah's Apostle (saww) said, 'Allah will not be merciful to those who are not merciful to mankind.'

The Muslim needs to always be polite, humble, patient, loving and well mannered when he/she deals with others, whether they were Muslims or non-Muslims. Allah Almighty certainly doesn't love those who are offensive and rude to others.

(Oh Allah, Guide me with those whom You have guided,
and strengthen me with those whom You have given strength,
and take me to Your care with those whom You have taken to Your care,
and Bless me in what You have given me.)

(Oh Allah, I hope for Your Mercy.
Do not leave me to myself even for the blinking of an eye.
Correct all of my affairs for me. There is none worthy of worship but You

O Allah, place light in my heart, light in my tongue, light in my hearing, light in my sight, light behind me, light in front of me, light on my right, light on my left, light above me and light below me; place light in my sinew, in my flesh, in my blood, in my hair and in my skin; place light in my soul and make light abundant for me; make me light and grant me light."