Asma Maryam Ali

I flipped through an Islamic magazine today and came to an article entitled “Managing Stress – An Islamic Perspective.” It recommends several ways in which a person can relieve stress, such as faith (& conviction), prayer, recitation and contemplation over God’s revelation, and more. A few additional recommendations are listed in point form at the end of the article. One of them is “- DO NOT make an abrupt conclusion that Allah hates you”.

I say yes.

Here are (only) some of Allah ’s (God’s) words:

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (PBUH), from among the things he reports from his Lord (mighty and sublime be He), is that he said:

A servant [of Allah 's] committed a sin and said: O Allah , forgive me my sin. And He (glorified and exalted be He) said: My servant has committed a sin and has known that he has a Lord who forgives sins and punishes for them. Then he sinned again and said: O Lord, forgive me my sin. And He (glorified and exalted be He) said: My servant has committed a sin and has known that he has a Lord who forgives sins and punishes for them. Then he sinned again and said: O Lord, forgive me my sin. And He (glorified and exalted be He) said: My servant has committed a sin and has known that he has a Lord who forgives sins and punishes for sins. Do what you wish, for I have forgiven you.
(It was related by Muslim (also by al-Bukhari).

On the authority of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) say: Allah the Almighty said:

O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great at it.
(It was related by at-Tirmidhi (also by Ahmad ibn Hanbal). Its chain of authorities is sound. )

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said:

A man sinned greatly against himself, and when death came to him he charged his sons, saying: When I have died, burn me, then crush me and scatter [my ashes] into the sea, for, by Allah , if my Lord takes possession of me, He will punish me in a manner in which He has punished no one [else]. So they did that to him. Then He said to the earth: Produce what you have taken-and there he was! And He said to him: What induced you to do what you did? He said: Being afraid of You, O my Lord (or he said: Being frightened of You) and because of that He forgave him.
(It was related by Muslim (also by al-Bukhari, an-Nasa’i and Ibn Majah).

The ahadith qudsi are a collection of Allah ’s words related to us by His messenger, Muhammad (may God’s peace and blessings be upon him).

www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/hadithqudsi.html

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“Hwarang” is most often translated as “Flower Knights” or “Flower Youths.” Hwa is the Sino-Korean (hanja) character for flower or the act of blooming. Rang means man, sometimes used as a suffix in Silla official titles.

The Hwarang were an elite group of male youth in Silla, an ancient Korean kingdom that lasted until the 10th century. They were educational institutions as well as social clubs where members gathered for all aspects of study, originally for arts and culture steeped in Buddhism and Taoism. These groups developed into a more military organization as the Silla court centralized political power and battled to unite the Three Kingdoms.

According to the Samguk Sagi and Samguk Yusa, two bands of females called Wonhwa, “original flowers” preceded the Hwarang. Women played a much more prominent social role in pre-Confucian Korea, especially in Silla, which had three reigning queens in its history.

Both sources record that during the reign of King Jinheung, groups of beautiful girls were chosen and taught filial and fraternal piety, loyalty, and sincerity (no firm date is given for this, and some scholars express doubt this even occurred during Jinheung‘s reign). However, the leaders of the two bands of Wonhwa, Nammo and Junjeong, grew jealous of one another. When Junjeong murdered her rival the Wonhwa were disbanded.

At some point thereafter, according to the Samguk Yusa, the Silla king, “concerned about the strengthening of the country … again issued a decree and chose boys from good families who were of good morals and renamed them hwarang.” This suggests that the Hwarang were not originally military in character, as the Wonhwa were not soldiers.

Two youths, Gwisan  and Chwihang, approached the Silla monk Won Gwang seeking spiritual guidance and teaching, saying “We are ignorant and without knowledge. Please give us a maxim which will serve to instruct us for the rest of our lives.”

Won Gwang, who had gained fame for his period of study in Sui China, replied by composing the Five Commandments for Secular Life (Sae Sok O-Gye). These have since been attributed as a guiding ethos for the Hwarang:

Loyalty to one’s lord (sagun ichung)
Love and respect your parents and teachers(sachin ihyo)
Trust among friends (gyo-u isin)
Never retreat in battle (imjeon mutwae)
Never take a life without a just cause (salsaeng yutaek)

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I took a refreshing autumn walk today around the pond behind our house.

The path was laden with clover and I recalled an verse of the Qur’an that I had read only an hour before: “Who has made for you the earth, like a bed, and has made for you roads therein.”

The clover was so soft beneath me that I took light steps; nonetheless I saw tiny flies and little bugs jump up as my feet trampled their world. How amazing it is that I have the right to do this to them.

I saw butterflies jump from leaf to leaf in patterns that made no sense to me. I admired them for their flight and their journey and I envied the ease with which they flew.  

The water was still and peaceful and when the wind blew, there were tiny ripples. A crane stood in the shallow part looking out with such dignity and grace. Where did it come from and why was it there?

The stunning red, yellow and orange leaves on the trees were whispering that change is a part of life. The landscape remains and its features are transformed.

I walked slowly at times, taking the time to connect with the ground I walked on. Because I thought, there’s nothing on this earth that’s guaranteed, except that we have a little ground beneath our feet to stand on at this moment. and one day, that ground itself will crumble beneath us.

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