I would like to share some pointers from an article that I came across.To start with, this is more to self reminder but if it is essential to the rest, yes, by all means, let's digest it together and read on. The holy month of Ramadan is a time of deep reflection for Muslims worldwide. The writer offer contemplative pieces on contemporary issues drawing from the wisdoms of the Qur’an – the sacred scripture that Muslims revere as the words of God and God’s final revelation to humanity. The Qur’an is at the heart of Muslim faith, ethics, and civilization. Here how it goes.

A wise Arab proverb says, “Every war begins with words.”

This proverb holds true not just between nations, but even between family members and friends. How many a war have we engaged in which the tongue (or in this cyber world, to be exact - the fingers) was our sharpest and most brutal weapon?

In the teachings of Islamic spirituality there is much that is written about the importance of restraining the tongue or (again - fingers). The tongue (or fingers) is called “the mirror of the heart.” In other words, what appears on our tongue (or fingers) is a chief indicator of what is in our hearts. And, this becomes even truer in those unguarded moments when anger, frustration, or stress gets the best of us and our tongues lose any sense of discipline. Especially in this situation now, however,

"Allah does not burden a soul beyond that it can bear" Holy Quran (02:286)

This is, perhaps too, why the Prophet Muhammad pbuh said that one of the ways of knowing if there is hypocrisy in our hearts is to examine what we say with our tongues (or fingers) when we become angry. If it is foul and vile words, then that is a measure of how much purification of the heart remains.

The masters of Islamic spirituality teach that the heart and the tongue (or fingers) have a two-way relationship. Even though the tongue (or fingers) is the mirror whereas the heart is the reality, if we work on polishing the mirror the reality also becomes polished with time and effort. InshaAllah.

So, what does it mean to work on the tongue (or fingers)? It means struggling within ourselves to restrain the tongue (or fingers) from all that is corrupt and ugly, like one would pull back a wild horse, and to train the tongue (or fingers) in the speech of goodness and beauty.

The sages and scholars of Islamic spirituality warn that the tongue (or fingers) should be guarded from the following 8 types of speech: lying; breaking promises or oaths; speaking ill of others or slandering; wrangling, arguing and disputing with others without any clear benefit or when you fear it will get out of hand; SELF-JUSTIFICATION or SELF-PRAISE in a way that leads to ARROGANCE; cursing or using foul language; invoking evil on creatures even if they are your worst enemies; jesting, ridiculing, and scoffing at people in a way that hurts people’s feelings or gives them a bad reputation – this is even worse when this type of speech is directed toward an entire COMMUNITY of people.

Each one of these has their specific descriptions and treatments, but in summary there are five steps that we can take to become more aware of our speech and to polish our tongues (or fingers), according to the spiritual teachers:

1) Knowledge: Just be aware of the 8 types of speech that you should avoid. Knowledge leads to introspection and introspection leads to reform. When you notice any of these ailments on your tongue (or fingers), take yourself to task and work to change you condition.

2) Silence: The Prophet Muhammad said that “ANYONE WHO BELIEVES IN GOD AND THE LAST DAY SHOULD EITHER SPEAK WELL OR REMAIN SILENT.” Silence is golden, so goes the saying. THINKING BEFORE you speak is the key. One of the great sages of Islam and Caliph after the Prophet Muhammad would place a small stone underneath his tongue and move it to speak only after considering whether what he had to say was truly beneficial. This might be too difficult of a practice for many of us, but it goes to show how seriously silence was taken among the spiritual elite.

3) Fasting: Increase your days of fasting, for fasting by its nature teaches restraint.

4) Change your surrounding: keeping good company and keeping yourself busy with good things so that your tongue (or fingers) finds very little opportunity to engage in baseless conversations.

5) Remembering the Divine: Cloaking your tongue with the beautiful names of God and the praise of those names will make your tongue to incline toward that which is beautiful and wholesome. Eventually, ugly speech will be completely antithetical and unnatural to tongue that is used to beauty.

To those who are affected with the current situation, let us all pray for each other. Eliminate hatred and accelerate peace and love despite who is right or wrong. Let Allah swt be the judge.

Everything happens by the will of Allah. Whatever He wills happens, and whatever he does not will does not happen.

“Great reward comes with great trials. When Allah loves a people, He tests them, and whoever accepts it attains His pleasure, whereas whoever shows discontent with it incurs His wrath.” (Hadith- Tirmidhi)

The remianing days of Ramadhan are perfect days to intensify our practice of cultivating a disciplined Muslim. These are not only the days of peak restraint but also increasingly remembering God, seeking forgiveness and longing for salvation.

#MuslimSGunited #staystrong #stayunited #staypositive #sgunited #peacelovingcommunity #Ramadhan2020

You can't please everyone. When you're too focused on living up to other people's standards, you aren't spending enough time raising your own. Some people may whisper, complain and judge. But for the most part, it's all in your head. People care less about your actions than you think. Why? They have their own problems!

The #Man, the #Woman , and the #Donkey!

A Man and his woman were once going with their Donkey to the market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said:

"You fools, what is a Donkey for but to ride upon?"

So the Man put her woman on the Donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said:

"See that cruel lady, she lets his old man walk while she rides."

So the Man ordered his wife to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn't gone far when they passed two men, one of whom said to the other:

"Shame on that man to let her poor little woman trudge along."

Well, the Man didn't know what to do, but at last he took her wife before him on the Donkey.

By this time they had come to the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them.

The Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said:

"Aren't you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey of yours and your clumsy woman?"

The Man and The woman got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought, till at last they both come down and walk holding a donkey.

"Finally People shouting loud Fools don't know how to utilize the donkey hahaha"!

Moral of This STORY :
"Please all, and you will please none" #qbobo #喬寶寶

My Takeaways from Proverbs 1 and 2

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(Day 26 of #ProverbsHesedWisdomChallenge to read a chapter from the Book of Proverbs each day which corresponds to the date as suggested by Pastor Joseph Prince in 7 Jan 2018’s Vision Sunday sermon -
http://www.miltongoh.net/miltons-blog/the-year-of-hesed-wisdom-vision-sunday-new-creation-church-theme-of-the-year-2018 ):

Proverbs 1
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When reading the Book of Proverbs or any book of the Bible for that matter, the first step to receiving God’s Hesed Wisdom is to worship God. If you truly worship Him, you will want to know everything about Him and your heart will be open to receiving whatever He has for you.
Are you a fan-girl or fan-boy of God?

“The [reverent] fear of the LORD [that is, worshiping Him and regarding Him as truly awesome] is the beginning and the preeminent part of knowledge [its starting point and its essence]; But arrogant fools despise [skillful and godly] wisdom and instruction and self-discipline.” (PROVERBS 1:7 AMP)

When you have God’s Hesed Wisdom, beauty and glory will be seen upon you.

“My son, hear the instruction of your father, And do not reject the teaching of your mother. For they are a garland of grace on your head, And chains and ornaments [of gold] around your neck.” (PROVERBS 1:8-9 AMP)

Never make a decision based upon greed. Greed takes doesn’t add life, it takes life away.

“So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain; Greed takes away the lives of its possessors.” (PROVERBS 1:19 AMP)

Jesus is the Wisdom of God. This section of Proverbs 20-33 is actually referring to Jesus and how He is giving an open call for men to receive salvation and the good life from Him, but the fools and self-righteous people ignore it.
God promises a safe and secure life to all those who live by His Hesed Wisdom.

“Wisdom shouts in the street, She raises her voice in the markets; She calls out at the head of the noisy streets [where large crowds gather]; At the entrance of the city gates she speaks her words: “How long, O naive ones [you who are easily misled], will you love being simple-minded and undiscerning? How long will scoffers [who ridicule and deride] delight in scoffing, How long will fools [who obstinately mock truth] hate knowledge? “If you will turn and pay attention to my rebuke, Behold, I [Wisdom] will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.
“But whoever listens to me (Wisdom) will live securely and in confident trust And will be at ease, without fear or dread of evil.”” (PROVERBS 1:20-23, 33 AMP)

Proverbs 2
--------------

God’s Hesed Wisdom is stored up in God’s word - the Bible.
It is stored up for believers because it takes the Holy Spirit for a person to understand the revelations about Jesus in the Bible.
If you are a believer, God promises that He is your Protector.

“If you seek skillful and godly wisdom as you would silver And search for her as you would hidden treasures; Then you will understand the [reverent] fear of the LORD [that is, worshiping Him and regarding Him as truly awesome] And discover the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives [skillful and godly] wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores away sound wisdom for the righteous [those who are in right standing with Him]; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity [those of honorable character and moral courage], He guards the paths of justice; And He preserves the way of His saints (believers).” ‭‭(PROVERBS‬ ‭2:4-8‬ ‭AMP‬‬)

God warns believers against two main types of evil people: The evildoing man and the adulterous woman.

“To keep you from the way of evil and the evil man, From the man who speaks perverse things; From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness; Who find joy in doing evil And delight in the perversity of evil, Whose paths are crooked, And who are devious in their ways; To keep you from the immoral woman; From the seductress with her flattering words, Who leaves the companion (husband) of her youth, And forgets the covenant of her God.” ‭‭(PROVERBS‬ ‭2:12-17‬ ‭AMP‬‬)

God promises that believers will live long on the earth whereas non-believers who are evildoers will have their lives cut short.
Longevity is a gift from God.

“For the upright [those who are in right standing with God] will live in the land And those [of integrity] who are blameless [in God’s sight] will remain in it; But the wicked will be cut off from the land And the treacherous shall be [forcibly] uprooted and removed from it.” ‭‭(PROVERBS‬ ‭2:21-22‬ ‭AMP‬‬)

What are your takeaways from Proverbs 1 and 2? Do share them with me as well! :)

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Did you miss out my takeaways from previous days of Bible study on the Book of Proverbs? Catch up here ===>
http://www.miltongoh.net/miltons-blog/bible-study-on-the-book-of-proverbs-the-hesed-wisdom-challenge

*These takeaways are from Milton Goh’s own Bible study. This page is not affiliated with Pastor Joseph Prince or Joseph Prince Ministries in any way.
Stating this to be clear so that no one misquotes me and says that Pastor Joseph Prince taught these things.

#2018theYearofHesedWisdom #YearofHesedWisdom #Wisdom #BookofProverbs #Proverbs #miltongohblog