100 LIFE INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE QURAN:

 

1. Do not be rude in speech (3:159)

2. Restrain Anger (3:134)

3. Be good to others (4:36)

4. Do not be arrogant (7:13)

5. Forgive others for their mistakes (7:199)

6. Speak to people mildly (20:44)

7. Lower your voice (31:19)

8. Do not ridicule others (49:11)

9. Be dutiful to parents(17:23)

10. Do not say a word of disrespect to parents (17:23)

11. Do not enter parents’ private room without asking permission (24:58)

12. Write down the debt (2:282)

13. Do not follow anyone blindly (2:170)

14. Grant more time to repay if the debtor is in hard time (2:280)

15. Don’t consume interest (2:275)

16. Do not engage in bribery (2:188)

17. Do not break the promise (2:177)

18. Keep the trust (2:283)

19. Do not mix the truth with falsehood (2:42)

20. Judge with justice between people (4:58)

21. Stand out firmly for justice (4:135)

22. Wealth of the dead should be distributed among his family members (4:7)

23. Women also have the right for inheritance (4:7)

24. Do not devour the property of orphans (4:10)

25. Protect orphans (2:220)

26. Do not consume one another’s wealth unjustly (4:29)

27. Try for settlement between people (49:9)

28. Avoid suspicion (49:12)

29. Do not spy and backbite (2:283)

30. Do not spy or backbite (49:12)

31. Spend wealth in charity (57:7)

32. Encourage feeding poor (107:3)

33. Help those in need by finding them (2:273)

34. Do not spend money extravagantly (17:29)

35. Do not invalidate charity with reminders (2:264)

36. Honor guests (51:26)

37. Order righteousness to people only after practicing it yourself(2:44)

38. Do not commit abuse on the earth (2:60)

39. Do not prevent people from mosques (2:114)

40. Fight only with those who fight you (2:190)

41. Keep the etiquettes of war (2:191)

42. Do not turn back in battle (8:15)

43. No compulsion in religion (2:256)

44. Believe in all prophets (2:285)

45. Do not have sexual intercourse during menstrual period (2:222)

46. Breast feed your children for two complete years (2:233)

47. Do not even approach unlawful sexual intercourse (17:32)

48. Choose rulers by their merit (2:247)

49. Do not burden a person beyond his scope (2:286)

50. Do not become divided (3:103)

51. Think deeply about the wonders and creation of this universe (3:191)

52. Men and Women have equal rewards for their deeds (3:195)

53. Do not marry those in your blood relation (4:23)

54. Family should be led by men (4:34)

55. Do not be miserly (4:37)

56.Do not keep envy (4:54)

57. Do not kill each other (4:92)

58. Do not be an advocate for deceit (4:105)

59. Do not cooperate in sin and aggression (5:2)

60. Cooperate in righteousness (5:2)

61. ’Having majority’ is not a criterion of truth (6:116)

62. Be just (5:8)

63. Punish for crimes in an exemplary way (5:38)

64. Strive against sinful and unlawful acts (5:63)

65. Dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine are prohibited (5:3)

66. Avoid intoxicants and alcohol (5:90)

67. Do not gamble (5:90)

68. Do not insult others’ deities (6:108)

69. Don’t reduce weight or measure to cheat people (6:152)

70. Eat and Drink, But Be Not Excessive (7:31)

71. Wear good cloths during prayer times (7:31)

72. protect and help those who seek protection (9:6)

73. Keep Purity (9:108)

74. Never give up hope of Allah’s Mercy (12:87)

75. Allah will forgive those who have done wrong out of ignorance (16:119)

76. Invitation to God should be with wisdom and good instruction (16:125)

77. No one will bear others’ sins (17:15)

78. Do not kill your children for fear of poverty (17:31)

79. Do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge (17:36)

80. Keep aloof from what is vain (23:3)

81. Do not enter others’ houses without seeking permission (24:27)

82. Allah will provide security for those who believe only in Allah (24:55)

83. Walk on earth in humility (25:63)

84. Do not neglect your portion of this world (28:77)

85. Invoke not any other god along with Allah (28:88)

86. Do not engage in homosexuality (29:29)

87. Enjoin right, forbid wrong (31:17)

88. Do not walk in insolence through the earth (31:18)

89. Women should not display their finery (33:33)

90. Allah forgives all sins (39:53)

91. Do not despair of the mercy of Allah (39:53)

92. Repel evil by good (41:34)

93. Decide on affairs by consultation (42:38)

94. Most noble of you is the most righteous (49:13)

95. No Monasticism in religion (57:27)

96. Those who have knowledge will be given a higher degree by Allah (58:11)

97. Treat non-Muslims in a kind and fair manner (60:8)

98. Save yourself from covetousness (64:16)

99. Seek forgiveness of Allah. He is Forgiving and Merciful (73:20)

100. Do not repel the petitioner/beggar (93:10).

Concentration (Khushu’) in Prayers

 Why can’t we concentrate in prayers even in Ramadan?

It’s exactly like someone telling me: “Listen brother, I like body building but I went to the gym and I put, you know, a 100 kg, two plates here, two plates there, I couldn’t lift it! Why?!”; it’s the same thing, it needs training, it needs a lot of preparation and it is a way of life, you can not just switch on – switch off! You just go to the Masjid, “Allahu Akbar” and Masha’Allah! You’re flying in paradise and the heavens! NO! It’s a way of life.

If you’re coming to the Masjid with a hip-hop and a hipitaly-hipity-hop-hop or whatever they say, what are you doing?! You said: “Sheikh I love contemporary music”; and at night you’re going to watch tonight’s feature film, and in the morning you intermingle and you deal in Reba and you lie and you backbite and you may sell Haram things, intoxicants and so on, and when you come to the Masjid: “Allahu Akbar”, you think you going to have Khushu’ and contemplation?! No way! It’s a way of life.

When you find the taste of Qur’an when you recite it, then, we’re progressing. When you stop doing Haram, why?! Because Allah says it’s Haram! Okay, logical. When you do what’s mandatory, obligatory, why?! Because Allah instructs you to do it, then, you’ll find the taste and beauty of prayer.

Other than that, you have a big problem because the essence of your existence is worshiping Allah, through prayer, and if you can not achieve prayer, your worship is in vain! The Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) tells us the first thing that the servant of Allah will be questioned on the Day of Judgment is prayer, Salat, if it’s good, then, all of the other deeds will be accepted regardless if you have missing few things here and there; Allah will accept them. But if your prayer is bad Allah will reject all of your deeds even if you have good fating, good Zakat, Umrah, but your prayer is awful, there is no Khushu’.

We have a disease in Arabia, it’s called “the prayer itching”, the man is normal, the minute he says: “Allahu Akbar”, he starts itching and playing until he finishes Salah and then he’s normal. What kind of prayer is this?! He doesn’t know who he is praying to, if I give you a paper and say: write what you know about Allah, you would probably write three lines and that’s it. If I tell you write the attributes of Allah and explain them to me, you don’t know who you are worshiping! You don’t know Allah! And this is our biggest problem! We know Fiqh, we know Tafsir, we know lots of good things, we know Arabic, but we neglect, we fail to know our Creator! Because if we do, when we say: “Allahu Akbar”, you start to tremble, like one of the followers of the companions when he used to perform Wudu’ he used to have a pale face, his face would turn yellow and his companions said: “What’s wrong?! Are you feeling ill?” and he said: “Don’t you know who am I going to stand in front of in a while?!”; from that time, so to have Khushu’, it doesn’t start from saying: “Allahu Akbar”, it starts way before and I think I did a talk, in Birmingham, on this subject, so again you can get the lecture.

Sheikh Assim Al-Hakim

http://www.justaskislam.com/67/concentration-khushu-in-prayers/