BEING ISLAM: May 2012

The book “Raudur Riyaheen” mentions a story of a thief narrated by Sayyiduna Abu Bakr Shibli. He says;

“Once I was travelling to Syria along with a group of other travellers when on the way we were plundered by a gang of thieves. They took all our possessions and put them in front of their gang leader. Amongst the goods were a bag of sugar and almonds, the thieves began to eat them but their leader did not join them.

I asked him why the rest of his gang was eating but he was not, he replied, “I am fasting”. I asked surprisingly, “How is it that you steal from people and fast at the same time?” He replied, “A man should do something to keep the doors of reconciliation open as well”.

Sometime later I saw the same gang leader in a state of “Ihram” performing tawaaf [circulating around] of the blessed ka’ba. His face was resplendent with the light of worship and he had weakened himself through devotional practices. I asked surprisingly, “Are you the same man?” he answered,

“Yes, I am, and let me tell you, that very same fast is what caused my reconciliation with Allah".

What is something that you Do to keep the doors of reconciliation open...?

So we have learnt that no act of piety should be seen as small and be ignored, you never know, that small looking action might just be accepted by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and do the job for you in both worlds...

Rank	Name	Time Frame	Occupation	Influence
1	Muhammad	c. 570–632	Secular and religious leader	The central human figure of Islam, regarded by Muslims as a prophet of God and the last messenger. Active as a social reformer, diplomat, merchant, philosopher,orator, legislator, military leader, humanitarian, philanthropist.
2	Isaac Newton	1643–1727	Scientist	English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian. His law of universal gravitation and three laws of motion laid the groundwork for classical mechanics.
3	Jesus Christ	7–2 BC – 26–36 AD	Spiritual leader	The central figure of Christianity, revered by Christians as the Son of God and theincarnation of God. Also regarded as a major prophet in Islam.
4	Buddha	563–483 BC	Spiritual leader	Spiritual teacher and philosopher from ancient India. Founder of Buddhism and is also considered an Gautama Buddha in Hinduism.
5	Confucius	551–479 BC	Philosopher	Chinese thinker and social philosopher, founder of Confucianism, whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese and Indonesian thought and life.
6	Paul of Tarsus	5–67 AD	Christian apostle	One of the most notable of early Christian missionaries, credited with proselytizing and spreading Christianity outside of Palestine (mainly to the Romans) and author of numerous letters of the New Testament of the Bible.
7	Cài Lún	50–121 AD	Political official in imperial China	Widely regarded as the inventor of paper and the paper making process.
8	Johannes Gutenberg	1398–1468	Inventor	German printer who invented the mechanical printing press.
9	Christopher Columbus	1451–1506	Explorer	Italian navigator, colonizer and explorer whose voyages led to general European awareness of the American continents.
10	Albert Einstein	1879–1955	Scientist	German-born theoretical physicist, best known for his theory of relativity and specifically mass–energy equivalence, expressed by the equation E = mc².