Real quick.

I am committed to making this one short. It's been a long and wonderful weekend of class so I want to chill a bit before going back to work tomorrow. To help truncate my usually verbose M.O., I am going to pull a fast one here. I would like to trade some of my Islam Miles® in for some Exercise Points®. I don't know if this is allowed under the Terms and Conditions of this web log, but like my mother I like to push the envelope of "legal" every once in a while just for fun. So since I did 16+ hours of Islam this weekend, I will do no exercise or health tip today. Deal? Good.

I'll give up whatever's back there as long as she never wears that suit again.

To keep things light and easy, I just put some class highlights on the next page.




ISLAM
So we wrapped up our Meaningful Prayer class from Bayyinah Institute with Abdul Nasir Jangda today. Despite the EXTREME heat of the room which they said they could do nothing about, I still managed to get so much from the excellent course. Here are some great lines from today. To save time and typing, please insert your own "Peace and blessings be upon him" after each mention of the Prophet.

Bismillah (in the Name of Allah).

"If we are going to be content, it should be in matters of this life; if we are going to be ambitious, it should be in matters of the deen (religion). 


"Never be selfish in dua' (asking Allah for something) but be sensible—it should be for yourself first, like the oxygen mask on a plane. You can't help others if you're passed out."


"In the tashahhud of Ibn Abbas, the "and" is removed to effectively combine every statement into one entity with multiple functions. Like toaster and oven = toaster oven."


"Business is business? That's the dumbest thing I ever heard. Business is DEEN."


"The majority of this ummah survives khutba-to-khutba, not paycheck-to-paycheck."


"Anti-Daw'ah: When our character and conduct doesn't reflect Islam."


"The tabayyun (companions) used to teach their children the seerah (life of the Prophet) FIRST, then hadith (sayings of the Prophet)."


And finally, to show the humility of the teacher, I wanted to relay part of an exchange he had with someone he met in an airport:

Guy: "Are you an Imam or Sheikh or something?"
Abdul Nasir Jangda: "I'm a something."

That says it all right there. May Allah reward him for all of his studies over the many years and for sacrificing his time and energy to share his knowledge with us.