My Creed

To live as gently as I can;

To be, no matter where, a man;

To take what comes of good or ill

And cling to faith and honor still;

To do my best, and let that stand

The record of my brain and hand;

And then, should failure come to me,

Still work and hope for victory.

To have no secret place wherein

I stoop unseen to shame or sin;

To be the same when I’m alone

As when my every deed is known;

To live undaunted, unafraid

Of any step that I have made;

To be without pretense or sham

Exactly what men think I am.

To leave some simple mark behind

To keep my having lived in mind;

If enmity to aught I show,

To be an honest, generous foe,

To play my little part, nor whine

That greater honors are not mine.

This, I believe, is all I need

For my philosophy and creed.

- By Edgar Albert Guest

Television

The most important thing we’ve learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set –
Or better still, just don’t install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we’ve been,
We’ve watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone’s place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they’re hypnotised by it,
Until they’re absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don’t climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink –
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK — HE ONLY SEES!
‘All right!’ you’ll cry. ‘All right!’ you’ll say,
‘But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!’
We’ll answer this by asking you,
‘What used the darling ones to do?
‘How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?’
Have you forgotten? Don’t you know?
We’ll say it very loud and slow:
THEY … USED … TO … READ! They’d READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching ’round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it’s Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and-
Just How The Camel Got His Hump,
And How the Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There’s Mr. Rate and Mr. Mole-
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They’ll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.
And once they start — oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They’ll grow so keen
They’ll wonder what they’d ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.

- By Roald Dahl (1916-1990)

Spring’s Gift

I envy the sand that met his feet

I’m jealous of honey he tasted sweet

Of birds that hovered above his head

Of spiders who spun their sacred web

To save him from his enemies

I envy clouds formed from the seas

That gave him cover from the heat

Of a sun whose light could not compete

With his, whose face did shine so bright

That all was clear in blinding night

I envy sightless trees that gazed

Upon his form completely dazed

Not knowing if the sun had risen

But felt themselves in unison

With those who prayed, and fasted too

Simply because he told them to

With truth and kindness, charity

From God who gave such clarity

His mercy comes in one He sent

To mold our hearts more heaven bent

I envy all there at his side

Who watched the turning of the tide

As truth prevailed and falsehood fled

And hope restored life to the dead

Men and Women through him found grace

To seek together God’s noble face

I envy the cup that gave him drink

His thoughts that helped us all to think

To be one thought that passed his mind

Inspiring him to act so kind

For me this world is not one jot

If I could simply be a thought

From him to God throughout the ages

As revelation came in stages

I pity all who think it odd

To hear him say there is one God

Or he was sent by God to men

To hone their spirits’ acumen

It’s pride that blinds us from the sight

That helps good men to see his light

He taught us all to be God’s slaves

And he will be the one who saves

Humanity from sinful pride

Muhammad has God on his side

So on this day be blessed and sing

For he was born to grace our Spring

With lilies, flowers, life’s rebirth

In a dome of green like his on earth

- By Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

The Fear of God

If you should rise from Nowhere up to Somewhere,
From being No one up to being Someone,
Be sure to keep repeating to yourself
You owe it to an arbitrary god
Whose mercy to you rather than to others
Won’t bear to critical examination.
Stay unassuming. If for lack of license
To wear the uniform of who you are,
You should be tempted to make up for it
In a subordinating look or toe,
Beware of coming too much to the surface
And using for apparel what was meant
To be the curtain of the inmost soul.

- Robert Frost

Matn of the Forty Hadiths of Imam Nawawi

1 Know that all actions are by intentions
2 And the deen was taught by angelic interventions
3 Islam is built on five pillars of might
4 And the angels in our mother’s wombs did write
5 The deen rejects all types of innovation
6 And the heart is the limbs temptation or salvation
7 The religion is based all on advice sincere
8 And the sanctity of a Muslims blood is severe
9 We don’t ask about that which is obscure
10 And Allah only accepts that which is pure

11 We leave things that are doubtful and suspect
12 And things that don’t concern us, we don’t inspect
13 And to love for you, what I would love for me
14 And blood to never be spilt, except for three
15 And to speak only good, if not, then refrain
16 Anger is from the heat of hell, avoid its flames
17 Everything is to be done in an excellent fashion
18 Fear Allah everywhere, treat people with compassion
19 Everything that happens is only by Allahs permission
20 Hayaa was forever written, as every prophets vision

21 Believe in Allah and be steadfast
22 Perform halal, avoid haram, pray, and fast
23 Purification is equal to one half of our Iman,
24 And oppression was forbidden to Allah and man,
25 Everyone has something they can give in charity
26 Even picking up litter, a selfless rarity
27 sin is what makes your heart feel resistance and unease
28 Upon us is the Sunnah, in times of difference and disease
29 The tongue is the most common catalyst to the fire
30 About those things kept silent, we should not inquire

31 Show indifference to the world, you shall be of the Zuhaad,
32 There’s no initiating harm, or reciprocating harm to add,
33 Evidence is to be brought forth by the accuser,
34 And who sees munkar, must be its remover
35 Be the servants of Allah, all together as brothers
36 Allah is in your service, so long as you are for each other
37 And every good deed Allah takes and multiplies
38 And He is for His awliya, their hearing, hands and eyes
39 He has forgiven us duress, mistakes and what we forget
40 We are strangers in this world, don’t settle just yet

41 Perfection occurs, when passions fall in line with the Divine
42 And Allah will forgive all sins, and He will not mind

- Ammar

Knowledge is a comforting friend in times of loneliness, it is the best companion during travels, and it is the inner friend who speaks to you in your privacy. Knowledge is the discerning proof of what is right and what is wrong, and it is the positive force that will help you surmount the trials of comfort, as well as those of hardships. Knowledge is your most powerful sword against your enemy, and finally, it is your most dignifying raiment in the company of your close companions.

– Mu`adh ibn Jabal

O People! I have been put in authority over you although I am not the best of you.  So if I do the right thing then help me and if I do wrong then put me straight.  Truthfulness is a sacred trust and lying is a betrayal.  The weak amongst you is strong in my sight.  I will surely try to remove his pain and suffering.  And the strong amongst you is weak to me, for I will – Allah willing – realise the right from him fully. When obscene things spread among any nation, calamities generally continue to descend upon them.  As long as I obey Allah and His messenger, you should obey me, and if I do not obey Allah and His messenger, then obedience to me is not incumbent upon you.  (Now prepare for prayer).

- Sayyidina Abu Bakr al-Siddiq

For instance, if a man ceases to take any concern in worldly matters, conceives a distaste for common pleaures, and appears sunk in depression, the doctor will say, “This is a case of melancholy, and requires such and such prescription. The physicist will say, “This is a dryness of the brain caused by hot weather and cannot be relieved till the air becomes moist.”  The astrologer will attribute it to some particular conjunction or opposition of planets. “Thus far their wisdom reaches,” says the Qur’an.   It does not occur to them that what has really happened is this: that the Almighty has a concern for the welfare of that man, and has therefore commanded His servants, the planets or the elements, to produce such a condition in him that he may turn away from the world to his Maker.  The knowledge of this fact is a lustrous pearl from the ocean of inspirational knowledge, to which all other forms of knowldge are as islands in the sea.

- Imam al-Ghazali from The Alchemy of Happiness

- Imam al-Shafi`i

Let the days pass as they will
Be content with Allah’s will.

Do not regret what this day’s cast,
For this world’s pains for sure won’t last.

Be a man against fears strong,
Be kind and loyal, all life long.

If in folk’s eyes your faults abound,
And you wish that they be gowned:

Then shelter seek beneath kind acts,
For kindness well all blame retracts.

From enemies hide your weakness
For gloating foes do bring distress.

From misers never seek favour:
In fire there is no water.

Patience won’t reduce income,
Nor fretfulness increase the sum.

Neither pain nor joy shall last,
Nor poverty, nor riches vast.

But if your heart is satisfied
Then you do own the whole world wide.

A man on whom his fate alights
No depths shall save, nor any heights.

Allah’s earth is wide, but know,
That destiny makes it narrow.

Face each day on even keel.
There’s no balm from death can heal.

- Translated from the original Arabic version of the Diwan of Imam al-Shafi’i

O Allah, of Grace I ask You its perfection;
and of protection its duration;
and of mercy its completion;
and of health its attainment.
Of livelihood, I ask its comfort;
and of life its happiness;
and of virtue its completion;
and of blessings its totality;
and of graciousness its sweetness;
and of benevolence the nearest.

O Allah, terminate with happiness our final end
and fulfil for us our hopes beyond expectations.
Join with well-being and good health
our early mornings and dusky evenings,
and set Your mercy as our final end and outcome.
Pour the abundance of Your Forgiveness
upon our sins, and favour us with the
removal of our faults.
Give us piety as a provision and place
our efforts in the strengthening
of Your Religion.
In You is our trust and upon You our dependence.

O Allah, strengthen us on the road of sincerity
and righteousness and protect us
in this world from that which will be cause
for regret on the Final Day.
Lighten for us the burden of our sins
and bestow upon us the blessings of those
who live a life of Righteousness,
and be sufficient for us and avert
from us the evils of those who do evil.
Free us and free our fathers and our mothers
and our teachers from the fire of hell by
the grace of Your Mercy.

O Most Mighty, Most Merciful, Most Generous;
the Veiler (of faults), the Gentle One, the Potent.
O Allah… O Allah… O Allah… O Allah…
O Merciful… O Merciful… O Merciful…
O most Merciful of the Merciful…
the First of the First and the Last of the Last.
The Possessor of unshakable Power.
The most Compassionate to the poor
and the destitute.

O most Merciful of the Merciful.
“There is no God except You.
Glory be to You. Indeed I am amongst
those who have done wrong” (surah Anbiya :87)

May the blessings of Allah be upon Muhammmad,
his family and all of his companions.

And praise belongs to Allah alone, Lord of the worlds.

- Translated by Shaykh Seraj Hendricks from Imam al-Ghazali’s Ayyuhal ‘ Walad