The quality of your life

The quality of your life would be judged not by the status that you were able to achieve or the praises that you gathered during your life but by how long was the affect of your deeds after your were no more.

Reading the Quran

Muslims have to come to grips with the thought that a total literal reading of the Quran is neither possible nor desirable.

We do not make History, History makes us.

Let us not be in denial about how strong and powerful and good we are. Any wave of History can break our spine and render us helpless and impotent.

We are all a part of History for better or worse. We do not make History, History makes us. We do not choose to be born, it is written that we will be born. Our choices are to be victims or heroes of History.

It is the combined interaction of human energy that creates the currents in the river of time

in which we all float. Our choices are then to swim with the current or against it. Few men can even pretend to change the course of History only because it is History that chose them to be larger than life.



Khusro

What Is the problem ?

What is the problem?

Our problem is not that we sin but when we do not seek forgiveness;
Our problem is not when we seek forgiveness but when we do not mean it;
Our problem is not that we go astray but when we stop our search for the right path;
Our problem is not that we become too worldly but when in that process we lose our humanity;
Our problem is not when we are too arrogant to fear Hell and to be motivated by Paradise , our problem is when we are not humble enough to hold ourselves to accountability.


The line between good and evil is a moving line. It gets crossed frequently without our realizing it. Those that are good can become evil several times a day. Those that are humble can become arrogant several times a day. Those that are kind can lapse into unkindness. The problem is not that we cross this line, the problem is when we are not rendered sleepless by the thought of having done this.

The problem is not there is injustice in the world, the problem is when we do not speak up against it;
The problem is not that there is poverty, the problem is when we do not share our wealth with the poor;

We remain in contention for the tests of life as long as we are in a position to seek forgiveness and be forgiven. This will remain as long as we do not incur the permanent displeasure of God. This only happens when we lose our humility and achieve a level of arrogance that challenges God.

The problem is not that we are too arrogant, the problem is when we deny the existence of God;

Khusro

The need for a Dialogue with God

The need for a dialogue with God.

God is talking to us, all the time, the question is are we listening? God is not only talking to us, He is answering the questions that we are asking of Him. Because we all have questions, important questions which we don’t know the answer of but only when we are intense , when we are serious about those questions , then an answer will come.

Again, It is a question of faith. We are subconsciously addressing those questions to Him and it is our desire to learn that raises these questions in the first place.
We have to be in a mode of learning rather than in a mode of complaining. When we complain too much it is a symptom of not taking the responsibility to learn and not accepting Gods will.

God wants us to partner. Without the partnership without associating every thing with Him, without seeking out what God’s will is for us, how will we know where to go?

( Example of a navigation system.)

Worship

Prayer alone is not worship.

Worship is doing something for the sake of another. A greater Worship is when you do something for the sake of another and not expect a return for it in this life time. An even greater worship is when you do something for the sake of another and not expect a return or reward for it, ever. The satisfaction of doing something for another is by itself the reward.

Worship is forgiving another who has hurt you starting with your parents and ending with your children. Worship is also seeking forgiveness from others, starting with your parents and ending with your children.

Worship is, believing that being is enough. That being is better than not being. That being is its own reward. That to breathe and to see and to hear and to smell imposes an obligation of doing something especially for those who will come after us.

Khusro

Motherhood

There is no more important thing that we do in this life, than to bring forward the next generation.

There is no task more under recognised today then that of a mother.

There is no book that commands that this recognition be given than the Holy Quran.

When we speak of Women's Rights, we should first speak of giving this recognition to women both in material and even much more in non material terms.

Khusro

Going with the flow

Some plants need more water than others and some plants more shade and some plants will prosper under the harshest elements. It is not for the plant to decide which one they want to be.

So it is with humans except that those who can weather the elements better have a responsibility towards those who need a helping hand. Those who can provide shade to the thirsty and weary must provide the shade. Those with enough strength must allow the vine to take their support even to live off them.

The winds will take care of our seeds, the sun will help us to grow towards the light, the elements will conspire to take us where we need to go, if only we will let them.

Khusro

Faith and knowledge

Worldly knowledge by itself does not bring faith. It does bring arrogance. This is a huge problem for knowledgeable people. It is the humility to know that you know nothing after knowing a lot that brings about faith. It is the submission to a higher knowledge that brings faith.

Khusro

The power of Silence

When you listen to music, listen in between the notes, where there is no music; listen to the sound of silence.
When you hear the wind rustling in the leaves, listen to the rustling when there is no wind, listen to the sound of silence.
When you hear the sound of your heart in your every breath, listen to the sound of your heart when it is not beating; listen to the sound of silence.
For silence is not of this world. It is from another dimension. If you can hear the silence you can go into another dimension and view our world from there. While noise is worldly, silence is spirituality. The noise in our brains is the noise of want, of worldly desires. If we can fill our minds with silence, we can feel humility.
But silence is nothing and God is no thing and when there was nothing there was silence.
Khusro

Authority

You will not get what you want unless you ask for it. You will not get to where you want to go unless you travel. You do not know how much authority you have unless you assert it.

Khusro

Life on Earth

Pure worldliness takes us away from Spirituality and yet Spirituality demands that we be worldly. The Challenge is to convert worldliness into a spiritual experience. The challenge is to practice Humility.The challenge is to have faith and to believe in God.

Khusro

Being there

As parents we do nothing more important than Being There. Being There means being available if needed and then if the need is there to hold out our hand to steady the child.

Make no mistake, Being there is not easy. It requires Sacrifice, Patience, Generosity, Humility and a host of other qualities that we did not even know that we possessed or needed.

Children bring themselves up and we delude ourselves that we can in any way shape their future except by being role models, good or bad. Being Coach, Mentor, Business Manager, passers-on of our values and prejudices has some impact but way less than we give ourselves credit or blame for.

PS I say this after trying to be there for 34 years for my children. A few years ago my last child left the house and another chapter came to a close.

Khusro

Reality

The life that we get used to, we mistake for reality.
Khusro

Niyat

Democracy, Human Rights, Secularism are buzz words which are not from the Muslim Vocabulary. They are not the last word in systems. They may be from a good system but the system is only as good as the intentions of their practitioners. We are seeing that practitioners with bad intentions can use these buzz words to serve their bad intentions.The challenge for the Muslims is to raise themselves to a higher level of purpose. The Challenge is to have the right Intentions.“Niyat", is a word straight from the Muslim vocabulary. Roughly translated Niyat is Intention but it is not truly translatable. Niyat is what is in your heart, not what is in your mind.

Khusro

Be the best that you can be

My father did not build a nation, he did not invent anything, he never wrote anything of significance except a few letters to me, he was not even successful at his job, yet he is my hero. Way above the philosophers, the writers, the nation builders. He inspired me to become what I am today more than any of the others. Not that I am any thing to write home about but without his inspiration, I would not be even half of what I am today.

He was typical of fathers of those days, loving yet strict, perhaps overly strict. Caring but protective, perhaps overly protective. I would not be allowed to leave home without a servant accompanying me until into my late teens. Yet in all his disciplining, in all his protecting, I never once doubted that he loved me, I never once felt insecure. He wanted me to have the highest standards. If I got a grade of less than being top of my class, it would be unacceptable. He sent me to the best schools and challenged me to become the best that I could be.

He died in April, 1966.

Khusro

Punishment in this world

Punishment for giving in to temptation is not reserved for the Day of Judgment. In this world too the price we pay is to make lesser human beings of ourselves. The loss of clarity, the loss of focus, the loss of direction all add up to limit our capacities to do anything meaningful. Giving in to temptation is initially distracting but eventually addictive and the person goes the way of all addicts. They lose control of their lives as they are consumed by their addictions.

The definition of temptation is to take small steps in the wrong direction. The power of temptation is to suck you in once you take that small step and make you think that you have the power to take out your toe if you have only dipped it in the quicksand. Small steps become giant steps, before you know it and giant steps mean that you will eventually embrace temptation as a way of life.

God promises forgiveness and redemption but only if you have not reached a point of no return. After that, God promises that He will not help you. Turn around NOW, while you may still have the power and don’t look back.

If there was no heaven or hell, no life after death, what would be the meaning of life?
Life would lose its higher purpose and people would be driven out of pure self interest which would start in self preservation but end up in greed.

Greed and self indulgence are obsessions which are difficult if not impossible to give up and the first thing they do is to dull the senses and people stop listening. They become arrogant and oblivious to reality and start living in a world created by themselves and pride themselves on the fact that it (their world) is Godless.

Khusro

Religion has brought a bad name to God

Religion has brought a bad name to God. When we choose religion over God we try to become God. The need to experience God is paramount to our meaningful existence. We can lose sight of this in the routine performance of religious ritual and religion becomes the end rather than a means to being in touch with our creator.

Equally important in our religious duties is how we conduct ourselves towards our fellow human beings. Our relationships with our spouses, our children, our parents, our friends, our neighbors our adversaries and foes are equally a part of our experience of God.

At the same time people frustrated with the judgmental nature of religious practice have been advocating a separation of religion from the affairs of men. Without meaning to they are trying unsuccessfully to create a Godless society.

Khusro

Self Knowledge

Self Knowledge is a life long search. You have not only to know who you are but you need to be comfortable with who you are.

Frequently the process of self -knowledge is hampered by denial because of who you think you may want to be. As an example, the wish that you would much rather be white and born in a rich family can only lead to denial and frustration if in fact you were black and born to a poor family. As another example if you were born blind, you could spend a life feeling handicapped and resentful or you could accept your lack of sight and proceed with leading a full life using the disability as an advantage rather than a disadvantage.

It is not for us to decide to be born or not or what abilities, fortunes, capabilities we are born with. We can only decide what to do with what we have. Self- knowledge provides us with a direction towards our destiny.

Self knowledge makes us more acutely aware of the choices we do not have.

Khusro

Emotions are driven by Fear and Love.

Without being emotionally involved in a project you do not take ownership of it and you therefore do not operate to the best of your capabilities.

The capability that comes from training, education, hard work has limitations while emotional involvement gives release to those limits and enables you to operate at the best of your capacity.

Often the possibilities can then be limitless.

Emotions are driven by fear and love. The fear of losing something or the love of acquiring something.

Beyond the emotion and it’s origin is the Goal. If reaching God is the Goal the possibilities are limitless.

Khusro