There is plenty of room at the top because very few people care to travel beyond the average route. And so most of us seem satisfied to remain within the confines of mediocrity. - Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe

Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

- Excerpt from 'Sonnet 116' by William Shakespeare

There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. - Francis Bacon

Overcome with pity for this world,
My tears obscure my sight;
I wonder, can it be the moon
Whose melancholy light
Has saddened me tonight?

- Extract from 'Sanakashu' by Saigyo Hoshi

The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears. - John Vance Cheney

Á morgun segir sá lati. (Tomorrow says the lazy.)

- Icelandic Proverb

Science and Faith

Once Science said to Faith:

"My eye can see all that is in this world;
The Entire world is within my net.
I am only concerned with material things,
What have I to do with spiritual matters?
I can strike a thousand melodies,
And openly proclaim all the secrets that I learn."

Faith said:

"With your magic even the waves in the sea are set ablaze,
You can pollute the atmosphere with foul, poisonous gases.
When you associated with me, you were light,
When you broke off from me, your light became fire.
You were of Divine origin,
But you have been caught in the clutches of Shaytan.
Come, make this wasteland a garden once again.
Borrow from me a little of my ecstasy,
And in the world set up a paradise.
From the day of creation we have been associates,
We are the low and high tunes of the same melody."

- Allama Iqbal

"Satiation weighs down the body, hardens the heart, does away with sagacity, brings on sleep, and weakens one from worship." - Imam Shafi'i

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

"One day my maternal uncle said to me, do you not remember God who created you? I replied, how shall I remember Him? He told me, when you change into your bedclothes, say three times in your heart without moving your tongue: God is with me, God watches over me, God is my witness … For years I did not cease to practise this, and I experienced a sweetness in my innermost being because of it." - Sahl Al-Tustari

Sonnet 43 from 'Sonnets from the Portuguese'

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! —and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"The Sufi is like the earth: every kind of abomination is thrown upon it, but naught but every kind of goodness grows from it." - al-Junayd

Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. - Lao Tzu

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

- Max Ehrmann

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self. - Aristotle

Riches without faith are the greatest poverty. - Ali ibn Abi Talib (May Allah be pleased with him)

And it is very much lamented, Brutus,
That you have no such mirrors as will turn
Your hidden worthiness into your eye

- Cassius in Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar', Act 1 Scene 2

"The faintest waft is sometimes enough to induce feelings of hunger or anticipation, or to transport you back through time and space to a long-forgotten moment in your childhood. It can overwhelm you in an instant or simply tease you, creeping into your consciousness slowly and evaporating almost the moment it is detected." - 'Scent in Your Garden' by Stephen Lacey

Fair peace becomes men; ferocious anger belongs to beasts. - Ovid

"The science of hadith is the noblest means of attaining closeness to the Lord of the Worlds" - Imam Nawawi

Ode

On the day I die, when I’m being carried toward the grave, don’t weep.

Don’t say, “He’s gone! He’s gone!”
Death has nothing to do with going away.

The sun sets and the moon sets, but they’re not gone. Death is a coming together.

The tomb looks like a prison,but it’s really release into Union.

The human seed goes down in the ground like a bucket into the well where Joseph is.

It grows and comes up full of some unimagined beauty.

Your mouth closes here and immediately opens with a shout of joy there.

- Rumi

Beware of your ego, and trust not its mischief;
The ego is worse than seventy devils.

"You are living at a time when there are many men of understanding and few orators. There are few who ask and many who give. In it there is more action than diversion. After you there will come a time when there are few men of understanding and many orators. There will be many who ask and few who give. Guidance in it directs action. Know that right guidance at the end of time is better than some actions." - Ibn Masud (May Allah be pleased with him)

Delusions, like dreams, are dispelled by our awaking to the stern realities of life. - A. R. C. Dallas

"In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell

"Nothing is better for those in love than marriage." - Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him)

"They (the Sufis) have been the strictest adherents to the sacred law, but they have a wonderful principle: that is be hard on yourself and be gentle with other people. - Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

If you are asked: Who is a believer? Say: He who is informed about the flaws of his self; he, who cannot see flaws in others. If they ask you, who is the disgraced one? Say: He who finds flaws in others and considers himself free from fault. - Ibn 'Ata'illah

Say unto brethren when they see me dead,
And weep for me, lamenting me in sadness:
'Think ye I am this corpse ye are to bury?
I swear by God, this dead one is not I.
I in the spirit am, and this my body
My dwelling was, my garment for a time.
I am a treasure: hidden I was beneath
This talisman of dust, wherein I suffered.
I am a pearl; a shell imprisoned me,
But leaving it, all trials I have left.
I am a bird, and this was once my cage;
But I have flown, leaving it as a token.
I praise God who hath set me free, and made
For me a dwelling in the heavenly heights.
Ere now I was a dead man in your midst,
But I have come to life, and doffed my shroud.'

- Imam Al-Ghazali

Its about You, Your Lord and the Grave – nothing else matters. - Shaykh Nuh Ha Mim Keller

"The world is a bridge; so pass over it to the next world, but do not try to build on it." - Jesus (Peace be upon him)

"Allah does not open the heart of a servant if it still contains three things: loving to remain [in the world], love of wealth, and concern about tomorrow." - Sahl Al-Tustari

"You disobey God while you make apparent that you love Him,
This, by my life, in analogy is a marvel.
If your love were sincere you would have obeyed Him,
Truly, the lover towards the one he loves is obedient."

- al-Mahmud ibn al-Hassan al-Warraq

At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet. - Plato

I accompanied the Sufis and received from them but three words: their statement that time is a sword: if you do not cut it, it cuts you; their statement that if you do not keep your ego busy with truth it will keep you busy with falsehood; their statement that deprivation is immunity. - Imam Shafi'i

Your greatest liability is your lie-ability. - Shaykh Abdal Hakim-Murad

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength while loving someone deeply gives you courage. - Lao Tzu

"People are asleep. When they die, they wake up." - Ali ibn Abi Talib (May Allah be pleased with him)

One who has health has hope, and one who has hope has everything. - Arabic Proverb

"No man accomplishes an action but that God, Most High, clothes him with its mantle - if good, then with good, and if evil, with evil." - Uthman ibn Affan (May Allah be pleased with him)

"I pass by these walls, the walls of Layla
And I kiss this wall and that wall
It’s not Love of the houses that has taken my heart
But of the One who dwells in those houses"

- Qays bin al-Mullawah

All you grasp with your imagination;
Majesty, ability and exaltation,
Higher is He who originated creation,
Transcendent is He to whom belongs origination!

"Beware! Don’t allow yourself to do what you know is wrong, relying on the thought, ‘Later I will repent and ask God’s forgiveness.'" - Rumi

"No legacy is so rich as honesty." - William Shakespeare

"The Science at its peak is in the custody of four men, of whom Ahmad ibn Hanbal is the most knowledgeable." - Abu Ubayd

Over a long distance, you learn about the strength of your horse; over a long time, you learn about the character of your friend. - Chinese Proverb

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies. - Aristotle

"Al-Ghazali is a quenching sea" - Imam al-Haramayn

The daring of minds ends in shackles,
Most of mankind's undertakings are folly.
Our souls are indifferent to what our bodies do,
And the sum of our lives is affliction and harm.
We did not benefit from our lifelong search
Except in collecting what these said, and those.
Atop many a mountain men have triumphed
And gone, while the mountains remained.
How many men and states have we seen
Goaded to disappear one and all.

- Fakhr al-Din al-Razi

Tasawwuf is one of the latter-day sciences of the Law in the Islamic Community. The foundation of tasawwuf, however, is (more ancient, as seen in the fact) that these folk and their way have always been present among the Salaf and among the most senior of the Companions and the Successors, and their way is the way of truth and guidance - Ibn Khaldun

Yemeni Song

as honey blends with milk
we come together in
the quiet velvet night

you are pale silk scarves
wrapping a thousand roses,
jasmine in the warm wind

you put the sweet almond cake
on my lips, place the wet
strings of your hair in my hands

your eyes weep the rain,
your breath blows the wind,
I am the wet petals you scatter -

dew drops and butterflies
in yellow sunshine whisper
these love words - I can not.

- Gary C. Wilkens

"Two missiles from an American jet killed them all – by my estimate, more than 20 Iraqi civilians, torn to pieces before they could be 'liberated' by the nation that destroyed their lives. Who dares, I ask myself, to call this 'collateral damage'?" - Robert Fisk

This is love: to fly toward a secret sky,
to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment.
First, to let go of live.
In the end, to take a step without feet;
to regard this world as invisible,
and to disregard what appears to be the self.

Heart, I said, what a gift it has been
to enter this circle of lovers,
to see beyond seeing itself,
to reach and feel within the breast.

- Rumi

"Among the marks of Allah's wrath against a servant is that He makes him busy with that which is of no concern to him." - al-Junayd

"O Allah, there is no life but the life of the Next World." - Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessings be upon him)

"Come work for Islam. The work is hard, the hours are long and the pay is low.But the retirement benefits are out of this world."

When you find someone you want to spend the rest of your life with, you want the rest of your life to begin as soon as possible.

Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

- William Shakespeare

Awakening

t

I sail to you in the ocean of my dreams

To a far away distant place

Of great beauty and tranquility

Where pain and suffering do not exist,

Where we give praise for our joy and happiness,

Where our love intertwines with a love for all things

O beloved keeper of my heart

The companion of my soul

You have reached out and touched the essence of my being

And shown me the way to a higher plane

Your love has awakened me from my years of slumber

A beckoning call to the spiritual world

Where my body is mist in the mountains

This is where my heart belongs

This is where my soul lives...

n

- Amjid Yaseen

"One of you looks at the mote in his brother's eye while forgetting the stump in his own eye." - Abu Hurayra (May Allah be pleased with him)

Do not sell the Hereafter for the world. - Ali ibn Abi Talib (May Allah be pleased with him)

"Women will no longer be able to give birth to the likes of Khalid bin Al-Walid." - Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (May Allah be pleased with them)

Before I say ‘yes’

o

~

o

Here we stand, apart, not touching, not looking.

.

Tomorrow is our nikah.

.

But today, it is as if we are standing at the edge of the sea, the tide coming in to meet us.

..

We are almost ready to plunge into the rolling surf and swim out to the world of tomorrow, with its far-off horizon.

.

Families, words of praise and recommendation, questions and shy glances are behind us now.

.

You have seen what pleases you.

.

And I have seen what pleases me.

.

But I have not seen your heart.

.

And you have not seen mine.

.

.

And so now, before our fates are inextricably entwined, I will bare my heart to you.

.

Without reservations, I will show you the core of my being.

.

I am like a sapling, a tender sapling, whose roots reach eagerly to drink life’s goodness.

.

Take care when you hold the tender sapling between your fingers.

.

.

I was created by Allah, a delicate seed, born of my mother and father’s love.

.

My mother nurtured me in her womb

.

where an angel blew a soul into my tiny form.

.

My mother’s body cradled me and I breathed of her air.

.

She nourished me from herself and spoke love to me in the darkness.

..

.

I was born into the love of my parents and I began to grow.

.

Seed became seedling under their care and attention.

.

They showered me with praise, and my self-esteem sprouted.

.

They guided me with kindness and my character blossomed.

.

They weeded the world around me so that I could grow strong and pure.

.

And now that my first buds are about to open, they have entrusted me to you.

.

.

How will you tend me?

.

.

Will you coax my buds to unfurl with words of love and kind attention?

.

Or will you pluck them before they’re ready, crushing their new petals and delicate stems?

.

.

When I bring forth delicate blossoms of talent and inspiration,

.

Will you smile at their dreaming petals and share in the blush of hope?

.

Or will you watch as blossoms wither under your disapproving gaze,

.

Your criticism, your scorn, and your self-righteous censure?

.

.

Will you guide my wilder branches, gently, coaxing them to grow straight and true?

.

Or will you simply break off the ones that displease you, trampling them carelessly underfoot?

.

And when, insha Allah, I come to bear your children, will you continue to water me?

.

Or will you pluck those precious fruits, one by one, and turn away from the empty branches?

.

.

And when my trunk grows wide and thick with age, will you marvel at my strength?

.

Or will you recoil from touching my rough, brown bark?

.

.

When the years have become mere memories, will you admire how tall we have grown?

.

Or will your restless, selfish heart long to reach out for another sapling?

.

.

When I am as weak as the waving branches of a weeping willow – will you protect me?

.

When I am as strong as the trunk of the mighty Redwood tree – will you support me?

.

When I am as wise as the age rings of the old, old oak tree – will you respect me?

.

When I am as foolish as the fickle blossoms of early Spring – will you be patient with me?

.

When I am as fragile as the flowers of a jasmine tree – will you keep me safe?

.

When I am as bold as the roots that break through concrete – will you believe in me?

.

.

How will you tend me?

.

.

For now I have shown you my heart, its dreams, its hopes and fears.

.

Look carefully as we stand at the edge of the water.

.

Are you willing to bare your soul and show your heart to me?

.

So that I feel safe as the two of us swim on out to sea.

.

.

Remember that I am like a sapling, a creation of Allah.

.

Take care when you hold me between your fingers.

.

~

.

- Na'ima B. Robert

"Whenever a tedious person sits next to me, the side on which he is sitting feels lower down than the other side of me." - Imam Shafi'i

Useful knowledge is that which makes you grow in the fear of Allah, increases you in awareness of your defects, deepens your knowledge of the worship of your Lord Most High, decreases your desire for this world and increases your desire for the life to come, and opens your eyes to the defects of your actions so that you guard against them. - Imam Al-Ghazali

"You leave the best of worship: humility." - A'isha (May Allah be pleased with her)

"Our liberation does not come from liberating our desires (as in the west), but our liberation comes from our enslavement to Allah." - Imam Zaid Shakir

"Live the Dunya like it is temporary as the Akhira is forever"

"Good friends are like stars — you don't always see them, but you know they are always there."

"I will demonstrate to the world that the Qur'an is a spiritual sun that shall never set and shall never be extinguished." - Bediuzzaman Said Nursi

My Beloved

My peace, O my brothers and sisters, is my solitude,
And my Beloved is with me always,
For His love I can find no substitute,
And His love is the test for me among mortal beings,
Whenever His Beauty I may contemplate,
He is my "mihrab", towards Him is my "qiblah"
If I die of love, before completing satisfaction,
Alas, for my anxiety in the world, alas for my distress,
O Healer (of souls) the heart feeds upon its desire,
The striving after union with Thee has healed my soul,
O my Joy and my Life abidingly,
You were the source of my life and from Thee also came my ecstasy.
I have separated myself from all created beings,
My hope is for union with Thee, for that is the goal of my desire

- Rabi'a al-Adawiyya

Gülü seven dikenine katlanır. (Who loves a rose will endure its thorns.)

- Turkish Proverb

"Do not speak much without mentioning Allah because you will harden your hearts. A hard heart is far from Allah, but you do not know. Do not look at the wrong actions of people as if you were lords. Look to your wrong actions as if you were slaves. Some people are afflicted by wrong action and some people are protected from it. Be merciful to the people of affliction and praise Allah for His protection." - Jesus (Peace be upon him)

He who practices Tasawwuf without learning Sacred Law corrupts his faith, while he who learns Sacred Law without practicing Tasawwuf corrupts himself. Only he who combines the two proves true. - Imam Malik

"I desire Allah to give me an everlasting life in this world, in order that, while mankind are engrossed in the pleasures of the world and forget Allah, I may observe the rules of religion amidst the affliction (fitnah) of the world and remember Allah." - Ibrahim Khawwas

"Beware of extremism in religion, since those before you were only destroyed by extremism." - Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessings be upon him)

"Anyone who does not show mercy will not be shown mercy. Anyone who does not forgive will not be forgiven. Anyone who does not pardon will not be pardoned or protected." - Umar Ibn Al Khattab (May Allah be pleased with him)

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet" - Juliet in Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet', Act 2 Scene 2

"Never give one whose heart is deviant access to your two ears, for surely you never know what may find fixity in you." - Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz

The Good Morrow (Stanza 3)

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest,
Where can we find two better hemispheres
Without sharp North, without declining West?
What ever dies, was not mixed equally;
If our two loves be one, or, thou and I
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.

- John Donne

"Life is short, time is precious, death near, and the distance to travel great, while the moment of standing before God to account for everything, however insignificant, is daunting and hard," - Imam al-Haddad

"Only the sincere one (mukhlis) knows hypocrisy (riya')." - Imam Shafi'i

"Chi trova un amico, trova un tesoro." ("He who finds a friend finds a treasure")

- Italian Proverb

This poem has an Arabian theme, based on true love between a wife and her husband. In the poem, an Arab woman is talking about her husband and how she waits for him to return and how she feels when she is with him.

My Exhaustion

"You are like whispers in my ear,
A faint Arabian lute strumming in the night,

Playing softly to the forlorn stars and my heart

Under our camel hair weaved tent.

Every word that you have uttered
Hangs in the abyss of my soul,

Like the seven Hanged Poems suspended on the Ka'bah's ancient walls;

A dedication of infatuated lovers' agonies to their beloveds.

Your voice, one that I impatiently wait to hear,
Like the Arabian horses' hoofs bringing our warriors home,
Wounding me with memories of days richly seasoned with contentment.
I pray to Allah that I see you,
I hide behind my obsidian silk veil,
So that you may not see my cheeks dye themselves in blood.

Yet my kohl tainted eyes glance at you pouting, my lashes longing,
Waiting for you to come my way.
So mesmerized, my soul has ignited itself on fire.
Bringing me vigorously to life.
My eyes, overtaken by drought, have no more tears to shed.
I am parched with happiness in this desert land.
The only drink I wish to pour is the Arabic coffee that awaits you when you wake.
I have suffocated in the desert storms of your enrapturing soul,
And soared off the cliffs of your dignified heart like a saker falcon.
My scarlett henna stained hands have held a scimitar sword,
Challenging you in countless battles of intellect.
My body bruised, my feet pricked with thorns, I am exhausted.
You are my exhaustion,
An exhaustion that keeps me truly alive"

- Kholood Abdulgader Habiballa

Knowledge and practice are twins, and both go together. There is no knowledge without practice, and no practice without knowledge. - Ali ibn Abi Talib (May Allah be pleased with him)

"Do not take possession of estates or you will find yourselves seeking after this world." - Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessings be upon him)

"Abu Hanifa was in his time the most knowledgeable of all people on earth." - Ibn al-Mubarak and Sufyan al-Thawri

My Greatest Need is You

Your hope in my heart is the rarest treasure
Your Name on my tongue is the sweetest word
My choicest hours
Are the hours I spend with You -

O God, I can't live in this world
Without remembering You -
How can I endure the next world
Without seeing Your face?

I am a stranger in Your country
And lonely among Your worshippers:
This is the substance of my complaint.

- Rabi'a al-Adawiyya

"My son, exchange gifts, it will bring about love between you." - Anas talking to Thabit (May Allah be pleased with them)

Al Hijab

Let them say about my veil
That it’s killing my youth

Let them exaggerate in blaming me
I belong to Religion

No, I swear I would never care
My firm will is like the mountain

What is meant by beauty
If it is easy to get

They tried to deceive me
I shouted at them to leave me

I will remain in my decency
I will never accept impudence

They will never affect my pride
I am the symbol of purity

I walk in the light of piety
Behind the best Prophet

I have a proud soul
That rejects lowliness

In my path, brother
Summaya is the ideal

I am guided by Religion
Our source is pure, sister

Our path is a path of chastity
Follow it without fears

Our Religion is symbol of virtue
It never accepts vice

You are the respectable daughter of Religion
You are the descendant of notables

By my veil and decency
I impose my self-respect

I will go ahead
And never care about blames

- Lyrics of the nasheed 'Al Hijab' as sung by Ahmed Bukhatir

If something that is promised does not happen
even though the time for it is set,
do not doubt the promise!
If you do, that will dim your inner eye
and put out the light of your secret.

- Excerpt from 'The Hikam' 0f Ibn 'Ata'illah

What has happened to your eyes, (the more) you tell them to stop, the more they continue flowing.

What is the matter with your heart, (the more) you tell it to come to its senses, (the more it is distracted).

Does the lover think that his love can be concealed.

While his eyes are shedding tears and his heart is glowing.

- Excerpt from the 'Qasidah Burda' by Imam Busairi

"Whoever (truly) knows his Lord loves Him, and whoever (truly) knows the world does without it." - al-Hasan al-Basri (May Allah be pleased with him)

The entrenched beliefs many westerners profess about Islam often reveal more about the west than they do about Islam or Muslims. The Ottomans were history's longest-lasting major dynasty; their durability must have had some relation to their ability to rule a multi-faith empire at a time when Europe was busily hanging, drawing and quartering different varieties of Christian believer. - Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

Whoever is frequent in remembering death is content with but a little of this world. And whoever counts his speech from his actions speaks little except in that which benefits him. - Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz

"If the first inward thought is not warded off, it will generate a desire, then the desire will generate a wish, and the wish will generate an intention, and the intention will generate the action, and the action will result in ruin and divine wrath. So evil must be cut off at its root, which is when it is simply a thought that crosses the mind, from which all the other things follow on." - Imam Al-Ghazali in 'Ihyaa Uloom al-Deen', 6/17)

"O Allah, make my love for You the most beloved thing to me, and my fear for You the most fearful thing to me, and remove from me all worldly needs and wants by instilling a passion for meeting You, and when You have given the people of the world the pleasures of their world, make the coolness of my eyes (pleasure) in worshipping You."

"To know your Enemy, you must become your Enemy." - Sun Tzu in 'The Art of War'

"This world is cursed and cursed is what is in it, except for the remembrance of Allah Almighty and what brings one near to Him and the teacher and the student." - Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessings be upon him)

The advice of old men is dearer than the bravery of young men. - Ali ibn Abi Talib (May Allah be pleased with him)

The greatest poverty is the lack of intelligence. - Arabic proverb

"Cease to sin, because you will not meet Allah with anything [as valuable] as few sins." - A'isha (May Allah be pleased with her)

The lower self does not want anyone to receive anything from anybody else, and if it is aware of something receiving a special boon, it seeks to destroy it. - Rumi

"I wish I were this straw on the ground." - Umar Ibn Al Khattab (May Allah be pleased with him)

"You can’t separate peace from freedom, because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom." - Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz)

Man is a prisoner who has no right to open the door of his prison and run away...A man should wait, and not take his own life until God summons him. - Plato

"I would come to Ibn Hurmuz, whereupon he would order the servant to close the door and let down the curtain, then he would start speaking of the beginning of this Umma, and tears would stream down his beard." - Malik ibn Anas

There is justice, and there is just-us. - Shaykh Abdal Hakim-Murad

"A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" - King Richard in Shakespeare's 'King Richard', Act 5 verse 4

"You [the scholars of hadith] are the pharmacists but we [the jurists] are the physicians." - Imam Shafi'i

You see things; and you say, "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say, "Why not?" - George Bernard Shaw

Those who act receive the prizes - Aristotle

Be not afraid of going slowly, be only afraid of standing still. - Chinese Proverb

"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed." - Booker T. Washington

"O people who take pleasure in a life that will vanish, falling in love with a fading shadow is sheer stupidity." - Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya

"None of you will believe until I am more beloved to him than his children, his father and all people." - Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessings be upon him)