All Things will Die

"All that is on earth will perish: will abide (for ever) the Face of thy Lord,- full of Majesty, Bounty and Honour. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?" (Surah al-Rahman: 26-28).

All Things will Die

All Things will Die

Clearly the blue river chimes in its flowing

Under my eye;
Warmly and broadly the south winds are blowing

Over the sky.
One after another the white clouds are fleeting;
Every heart this May morning in joyance is beating

Full merrily;
Yet all things must die.
The stream will cease to flow;
The wind will cease to blow;
The clouds will cease to fleet;
The heart will cease to beat;
For all things must die.
All things must die.
Spring will come never more.
O, vanity!
Death waits at the door.
See! our friends are all forsaking
The wine and the merrymaking.
We are call’d–we must go.
Laid low, very low,
In the dark we must lie.
The merry glees are still;
The voice of the bird
Shall no more be heard,
Nor the wind on the hill.
O, misery!
Hark! death is calling
While I speak to ye,
The jaw is falling,
The red cheek paling,
The strong limbs failing;
Ice with the warm blood mixing;
The eyeballs fixing.
Nine times goes the passing bell:
Ye merry souls, farewell.
The old earth
Had a birth,
As all men know,
Long ago.
And the old earth must die.
So let the warm winds range,
And the blue wave beat the shore;
For even and morn
Ye will never see
Thro’ eternity.
All things were born.
Ye will come never more,
For all things must die.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

:sigh:

Every time that I don't clear the cooking time on the microwave after I've finished heating something and there is some time left over, I feel like I'm recycling by using it at a later time.

Found this online...

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

O, swear not by the moon...

"O, swear not by the moon, the fickle moon, the inconstant moon, that monthly changes in her circle orb, Lest that thy love prove likewise variable."

This quote is from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The context of the quote is that Romeo is offering to take a vow and swear by something to prove that his love is true. He sees the moon and decides to swear by it. Juliet counters by saying the above quote and stressing that since the moon changes throughout the month eventually disappearing, Romeo's love may also disappear or at least be less than constant.

I've read this before, but I heard it recently when my school went on a field trip to go see a production of Romeo and Juliet at Chicago's Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier. What struck me was this:

Juliet says that Romeo should not swear by the moon because it is not something constant for fear of his love eventually diminishing.

Allah the Most High also swears by many things in the Qur'an. If Allah were to swear by the moon, someone could argue the same as Juliet did. Allah in Surah al-Shams, however, swears by the sun first saying, "By the sun and its brightness." Allah the Most High then swears by the moon, but He does not swear by the moon itself but also links it with a certain action of the moon. "And by the moon when it follows it (the sun)."

The alteration of the sun and the moon is a set an consistent process by which Allah can surely swear without anyone being able to object. This just shows another aspect of the incredible depth that exists in the Qur'an. It seems that everyday the Qur'an unveils a new beauty to me and further proves that Islam is the true path. SubhanAllah.

Journals...

Journal prompt: Write about your biggest mistake.

Student journal entry: My biggest mistake was trying.

Donkey for sale

I found a note the other day that was being posted on students' backs. It read: حمار للبيع (Donkey for sale). This is what I found when I searched for it:

I really wish my students would use their creativity for something productive. It was funny nevertheless.

Back at it...

I've returned to teaching. Is that why I found my first gray hair in my beard today?

Marry a good wife

The earliest education is most important and it undoubtedly is woman's work. If the author of nature had meant to assign it to men he would have given them milk to feed the child. Address your treatises on education to the women, for not only are they able to watch over it more closely than men, not only is their influence always predominant in education, its success concerns them more nearly, for most widows are at the mercy of their children, who show them very plainly whether their education was good or bad. - Rousseau

Beauty on a Saturday Afternoon

It is truly amazing the things that man can create. Allah ta'ala gave man an intellect with which he can invent and realize whatever he can imagine. It is interesting that man may make something as practical as a building, but will still desire to put an element of beauty into it. There is an inherent desire to display beauty whenever one has the ability.

This, however, becomes a problem when that beauty that Allah ta'ala has gifted one with is a physical beauty. Men, and especially women, love to display their beauty and to have their beauty appreciated. This is obviously problematic as Allah ta'ala requires from us a certain level of modesty which is legislated within the shari'ah.

Allah ta'ala says in the Holy Qur'an, "And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands..." (24:31).

This desired level of haya (modesty) is not what I saw while downtown this past Saturday. I do not know what was going on in Chicago that necessitated women to walk around dressed in the way they did. It is difficult enough for a young Muslim as myself to live in this society while not being married, but it becomes exponentially more difficult when confronted with situations such as that. It is more difficult then the picture to the left from Cirque Shanghai at Navy Pier (which was AMAZING! Full size here.). May Allah ta'ala grant us the patient and tawfiq to survive in the times that we live and grant us wives who will be the coolness of our eyes and a protection in these difficult times.

On a separate note, I saw a guy wearing a kilt.

Freckles...

كَلِفَ يَكْلَفُ كَلْفًأ (kaaf, laam, faa')
- to be/become freckled
- to like (ب something)
- to be very fond/attached (ب with something)
- to fall in love (ب with someone)

I'm a big fan of freckles, and this verb just seemed very fitting since it means both to have freckles and also to fall in love with someone. Draw your own conclusions...

Strangeness is the indispensable condiment of all beauty. - Charles Baudelaire

Taken from here:

Very important!

The texting number has changed. You can now text anything to 630.517.2525. Also, supposedly you can call this number and leave a message which I will receive in text form. Interesting...

Travel...

http://muttscomics.com

Glow Little Glow Worm

Late at night during my recent spree of staying up far too late (until fajr), I opened my basement door and saw a slight glimmer on the floor. At first I thought it was just some random piece of metal reflecting some light, but determined that could not be the case as all of the lights were off. Upon further exploration, I discovered it to be a little caterpillar.

Now there is nothing quite remarkable about this pretty looking bug, but once I turned out the lights, the thing glowed like nothing I've ever seen. I freaked out and looked all over for someone to share this amazing moment with. Unfortunately, my parents were fast asleep and no one else lives here. I proceeded to turn on and off the light and watch the beautiful glow.

I then decided the best way to immortalize this moment and share it with someone would be to take some pictures of the beautiful creature of Allah. I took many pictures though most did not turn out that well. The ones that did were taken using a thirty second exposure in almost complete darkness. Many thanks to my parents for giving me my amazing camera with which I took these pictures (Nikon D3000).

Now the last thing we wanted was for someone to accidentally step on this incredible proof of Allah's creation during their late night excursions, so my dad was nice enough to put up this sign:

P.S. It's lilac time again!

Text messaging

Attention: je n'ai pas la messagerie texte sur mon téléphone. Si vous devez m'envoyer un message, s'il vous plaît envoyer à: 424.354.4664. Vous pouvez toujours me contacter à mon numéro de d'autres. Merci beaucoup.

Via google translate (not sure how correct it is). The gist is you can text me at that number if you need to reach me.

From The Little Prince

The Little Prince

Haiku Ambulance

A piece of green pepper
fell
off the wooden salad bowl:
so what?

- Richard Brautigan

Missing you dearly

And here