Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Good People are valuable to God

   The smile of hope today is about a story that I witnessed myself. I have had a friend that I loved too much, his name is Ahmed Kandil, and he is one of the best people I have ever seen. He did not fool, did not laugh at others. He was interiorly beautiful. Such people when Allah put them to the proof in the present life, he does not fatigue them. Ahmed had cancer. He had been very tired. Four month before his death he phoned me. He became very tired and his movement was very difficult. He told me that he wanted to go to Hajj. I said to myself: "How can he perform Hajj. Hajj is difficult and even healthy people get tired in Hajj. How can Ahmed do?" I said to him: "Allah willing".i did not know what to say, as if I said it would not be. But Ahmed had a sincere firmness. Two weeks before Hajj Ahmed phoned me and said:"I have got the visa; I shall go to Hajj alone". Found him in such insistence I said to him "We will perform Hajj together". It was the easiest Hajj I have ever performed that one with Ahmed. After we finished Hajj, I said to him the Haram was crowded, let us pass after two days and perform Tawaf Ifadah. But Ahmed left me sleeping and performed the Tawaf. One I asked him why he said he could not, he wanted to finish his Hajj.
  Two weeks after we returned, Ahmed entered in coma for three months and died. The last thing he did was Hajj. He returned back as his mother born him. He had not do any bad thing to anybody, did not insult anyone. Allah blesses Ahmed soul. Ahmed Adhered to life and consulted physicians. We have a common friend. He know that Ahmed was about to die. He said to Ahmed: "It is your right to adhere to life, but you have to know that you have the opportunity that Allah grants to you, you know that death is nearer and you have to profit of this opportunity.
  Ahmed was very kind; he finished his life with Hajj and returned as his mother born him without sins. Allah blesses his soul. This is a smile of hope to his wife, his children and to him in his grave.

Monday, September 17, 2012

How to overcome being edgy, and how to be very calm

   Welcome to a new episode of smile of hope. People these days are nervous, apprehensive, stressed out, tense, and life is difficult for them. The episode smile of hope today is for the people who are extremely edgy, because of current events, life circumstances, traffic, or the heat. However, regardless to reason, the truth is people are very apprehensive. I will tell you a very beneficial story of how to overcome being edgy, and how to be very calm. When you are edgy,you being bothering others, sometimes your kids, wife, your neighbor, and sometimes be involved in road rage. You keep bothering and hurting others, and saying "what am I supposed to do, I'm very edgy?"

  I’ll tell you the story of a father, whose son was always very apprehensive, and whenever anything happened he'd show great anger and would start slamming around and starting fights. The father told him "I'll teach you something". Anytime you become edgy, I want you to take this piece of wood and hammer a nail into it. Every time you hurt someone or become edgy, I want you to hammer a nail into it. It was apparent the son wanted to overcome his problem, because apparently he kept on losing a lot of people in his life. He brought the large piece of wood in his room as well as a hammer and nails, and every time he'd hurt someone he'd hammer in a nail-bang, bang, bang- for every instance – bang, bang bang. The first night, he put in 30 nails. He felt like he should reduce this number. The second night, this hands-on experiment caused him to reduce it to 20 nails. The third night he did 10 nails. The fourth night it was only 5 nails. After a week, he didn't put in a single nail. The idea of the hammer hitting the nail and making the loud bang-bang-bang noise hurt him and made him be careful, and he took the decision to stop bothering others. After that, he returned to his father, and his father told him "See how great you've become? I have a request for you; please remove the nails from the wood." The son responded "but these are too many nails in the wood." The father said, "No, you must remove the nails from the wood." The son removed the nails from the wood, and the wood was filled with holes.

 The father told the son with great wisdom "you did this to the hearts and minds of those you aggravated with your edginess. Imagine all the holes in the hearts and minds of those you've bothered. You have left a scar in the hearts and minds of all those you've bothered. I wonder how many scars are in your wife's hearts and mind because of you? I wonder, young men and women: Are you hammering nails in your mother's hearts?

How can that be?

  No no, can you imagine the holes in people's hearts because of the nails you hammered into them with your rough words and edginess? Can you stop hammering nails in people's hearts? Can you remember this story? Can you stop yourself, and beware of being edgy? If you can't control yourself then get the wood and the nails, and do this experiment. May God protect us, guide us, protect our homes, and help us be calm in these hard days. There is no smile of hope without being able to keep cool. Keep cool, and see a wonderful smile of hope.

                                                              Thank you        

Smile of hope