Umm… :D

What is Success? – Part 2

What is Success? – Part 1 — Can be read here :

So if its not money then what could it be? Fame? With fame, usually money comes along. With money, not always does fame follow.

Is being famous equivalent to being successful? Madonna is famous. As is Prophet Muhammad [Peace be Upon Him]. As is Helen Keller. As is Hitler. And while all the four names that have been mentioned are famous, are all of them equally successful. In the sense that they have influenced lives in a positive manner. Is that what success is? Influencing lives in a positive manner? But this post isn’t about influence. This post is, if, fame is equivalent to success? Clearly being famous isn’t equivalent to being successful.

Are we losing our values in trying to gain fifteen minutes of fame?

What is sad is the limits that people will cross for the sake of gaining famous. Tabloid superheroes like Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian — releasing their home made sex videos and then being famous for being famous. And then we have kids today who see them as role models… and you realize what is wrong with the world? Well when you follow the wrong idol you will have the wrong ideals.

It is obvious that people, the majority of us I had say, like being famous. Or at least getting more than just our 15 minutes of fame. But do not compromise your ideals, your principles for the sake of something as fickle as fame.

The 21 Day Challenge.

They say, it takes roughly around 21 days to form new habits. 21 days from today, 2nd of May 2013 — where do you want to see yourself?

A habit is more than a hobby. It is a life long commitment to do something — consistently, always without fail, come whatever. Time and again I have started doing things, but not continued. To be honest the first couple of days there is excitement… there is hype [well yes I hype myself so what ] and there is the initial rush of adrenaline. That, unfortunately for me, doesn’t last far too long.

Why?

Well, it can be for many different reasons but the main one is that may be I don’t push myself hard enough. And may be my goals really don’t mean that much to me. May be I know that, hey if I don’t accomplish them it won’t be the end of the world. It is pretty sad how exceptional I have become at being mediocre. Where does this stop? When does this stop? Who stops it?

The answer to the last three questions is easy to say: Here, Now, I will stop it. But will I stick to it?

Here is to 21 days of challenging myself, physically and spiritually which will act as a catalyst to make me a stronger person mentally.

Spiritual Goals

1. Pray 5 times a day without delaying any prayer. 
2. Complete reciting the holy Quran cover to cover.

Physical Goals

1. Jog 50 kilometers by the end of 21 days.
2. Do 3150 push ups by 21 days.

The tasks aren’t much. 50 kilometers in 21 days son when people run marathons? I know they aren’t much but for me they are . And I haven’t ever run consistently so this could be my Everest. Let me try climbing it my way.

I will hopefully measure and evaluate myself here in this blog so that will also give me a reason to blog rather than the blog staying the way it is and gathering internet dust.

Why push myself? Lets leave that to Albert Einstein shall we?

If you do what you always did, you will get what you always got. — ALBERT EINSTEIN

The King And His Friend.

A story is told about a King in Africa who had a close friend that he grew up with. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) by remarking, “This is good, Allah Almighty knows best”

One day the King and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the King. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the King fired it and his thumb was blown off.

Examining the situation the friend remarked as usual, “This is good! Allah Almighty knows best.”

To which the King replied, “No, this is NOT good!” and ordered his soldiers to put his friend into jail.

About a year later, the King was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured the King and took him to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake.

As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the King was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone who was less than whole. So after untying the King, they chased him out of the village.

When the King reached his Palace, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend.

“You were right” the King said, “It was good that my thumb was blown off.” And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just happened. “I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this.”

“No,” his friend replied, “this is good…Allah Almighty knows best”

“What do you mean, ‘this is good’! How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?”

The King’s friend replied: “Remember that the Almighty knows best and if I had NOT been in jail, I would have been with you on that hunting trip.”

“He knows what is before them and what is behind them: And to Allah go back all questions (for decision)”
Qur’an: Surah Al Hajj 22:76

Do Not Judge Things or Events by its Immediate Outcome!

Although the decisions of Allah Ta’alah may seem harsh to us, they are full of wisdom.

Source : http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?4914-…This-is-good

What is Success? — Part 1.

How we live our life and what goals we set all depends on what we really see as success. A friend of mine,wants to earn money. A lot of money. He says, money is the solution, regardless of what is the problem. Want a better education? Money. A better healthy lifestyle? Money. Bigger house, bigger car, more frequent vacations, anything material…? Money.

It has reached to the point that, it doesn’t matter how it comes, as long as it comes. But where does that leave me? A muslim who wants to actually live Islam and not just allow it to be a tag that is filled on forms on the Religion column. Where does that leave me, who has heard the lectures from Islamic scholars and read about the lives of Prophets and their companions – of the struggles those blessed people have gone through, not bowing down to temptations and materialistic desires?

Where does it leave me? A son who has seen his father work hard – for every day of his life – to earn even more so that he can buy the best education for his children. And again the education here is once again for worldly gain. Nothing Islamic about it. Where does it leave me? To see my friends dad, who is rich but came from difficult situations and no educational background, earn millions and say to me indirectly, that “education?”, “I’ve educated people work for me”.

Where does it leave me? When I see that the one who prays five times a day and has a good character and loves and fears Allah, being treated as a nobody, while one who is rich, and he may even be scum of society but he will be respected not for anything else but for his ever increasing bank balance and the influence that mentioned bank balance brings.

Where does it leave me? To be the only person in the friend circle who says that yes money is important, but there are more important things. And to be called delusional. And to hear that I haven’t seen the world enough. And that I am naive. Losing connection with reality… and a lot of other things in the same line of thoughts.

Where does it leave me? I’m a part of that society, which regards only the rich to be successful. If you aren’t rich and famous then really you don’t matter. And if you don’t have a mansion of a house, an amazing car, a big fat bank balance and a bigger fatter wedding, and this and that and all of this and all of that — where does it leave me?

Where does it leave me? To be writing the first few words of this post and realizing that I am against the concept of earning and hoarding millions while people around me are dying for hunger. Then again if you are poor, how will you help the poor? And it leaves me with a sentence I have read some where, but don’t exactly remember where: ‘Own money. Just don’t let it own you’.

Till the next time, ciao.

Back from the not so dead.

Its been a long time coming but a new post is here. I am here.

Caught up with life? Not really. More of a case of start-stop and the yo-yo-ing from the start-stop is what has happened. As usual, time has been an excellent teacher and yet again, I haven’t been its best student. May be I need to stop being so harsh with myself. May be not.

Never the less, I haven’t really thought about what I wanted to write when I started this post….just that I wanted to write. First hurdle crossed.

Done and dusted.

Here is to the future. And to more regularly posts. In Sha Allah.

Share this: