CHECK YOUR CONDUCT AGAINST THE QUR’AN

From the year 2008, I used to go for monthly Al-Jumuah magazines from Al-Muntada Organization. Those magazines were filled with timeless pieces that touched on relevant issues on Islam and life as a whole. Unfortunately, that organization was blacklisted as a terrorist organization and the receipt of magazines ceased. There is this particular issue (Vol 2/issue 09/33) that touched on Ramadan. One of the pieces in that issue is this.  Unfortunately, I lost vital parts of that magazine to the June 3^rd, 2015 devastating rains. I have been able to save this. I therefore share! Enjoy!

 

When walking, walk in humility and peace
“And turn not your face away from men with pride, nor walk in insolence through the earth. Verily, Allah likes not any arrogant boaster.” (31:18) “And turn not your face away from men with pride, nor walk in insolence through the earth. Verily, Allah likes not any arrogant boaster.” (25:63)

When looking, control your gaze and guard your chastity
“Tell the believing men to lower their gaze, and protect their private parts. That is purer for them. Verily, Allah is All-Aware of what they do.” (24:30)

When with your parents, be kind and lower wings of humility before them
“And your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him. And that you be dutiful to your parents. If one of them or both of them attain old age in your life, say not to them a word of disrespect, nor reprimand them but address them in terms of honor.) (And lower unto them the wing of submission and humility through mercy, and say: “My Lord! Bestow on them Your mercy as they did bring me up when I was young.”) (17:24)

When with your spouse, let love  and Mercy define your relationship
“ And among His signs is this that He created for you wives from among yourselves, that you may find repose in them, and He has put between you affection and mercy. Verily, in that are indeed signs for a people who reflect.” (30:21)

When judging, evaluating and making decisions, be just and give each their due
 “Verily; Allah commands that you should render back the trusts to those, to whom they are due; and that when you judge between men, you judge with justice. Verily, how excellent is the teaching which He (Allah) gives you! Truly, Allah is Ever All-Hearer, All-Seer.” (4:58)

When dealing with other Muslims, treat them like brothers and sisters
“The believers are but a brotherhood. So make reconciliation between your brothers, and have Taqwa of Allah that you may receive mercy.”  (49:10)

 

When having fun, never put down any one
“O you who believe! Let not a group scoff at another group; it may be that the latter are better than the former. Nor let (some) women scoff at other women, it may be that the latter are better than the former. Nor defame yourselves, nor insult one another by nicknames. Evil is the name of wickedness after faith. And whosoever does not repent, then such are indeed wrongdoers.” (49:10)

When disagreeing on moral and religious matters, submit to the Prophet’ judgment
“But no, by your Lord, they can have no faith, until they make you judge in all disputes between them, and find in themselves no resistance against your decisions, and accept (them) with full submission.”  (4:65)

When calling to Allah use wisdom and beautiful manners
“They will bear their own burdens in full on the Day of Resurrection, and also the burdens of those whom they misled without knowledge. Evil indeed is that which they shall bear.” (16:25)

When facing insult at the hands of the ignorant, say peace and forgive
“And the servants of the Most Gracious are those who walk on the earth with humility, and when the ignorant address them they say; “Peace” (25:63)
“Those who spend (in Allah’s cause) in prosperity and in adversity, who repress anger, and who pardon men; verily, Allah loves the Muhsinin (the good-doers)” (3:134)

 

When listening to the Qur’an, or when Allah is mentioned, check your heart.
“ The believers are only those who, when Allah is mentioned, feel a fear in their hearts and when His verses are recited unto them, they increase their faith; and they put their trust in their Lord.”  (8:2)      “Say: “Believe in it or do not believe (in it). Verily, those who were given knowledge before it, when it is recited to them, fall down on their chins (faces) in humble prostration.””  (17: 107-9)

When faced with grief and difficulty, look only to Allah’s mercy and be sure of it
“And whosoever has Taqwa of Allah, He will make a way for him to get out. And He will provide him from where he never could imagine. And whosoever puts his trust in Allah, then He will suffice him. Verily, Allah will accomplish his purpose. Indeed Allah has set a measure for all things.” (65:2-3)

When thinking and reflecting, think of Allah’s creation
“Verily, in the creation of the heavens and the Earth, and in the alternation of night and day, there are indeed signs for men of understanding. Those who remember Allah standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and think deeply about the creation of the heavens and the earth, (saying): “Our Lord! You have not created this without purpose, glory to You! Give us salvation from the torment of the Fire.”  (3:190-1)

When dealing with your enemies or those who hurt you still be just
“O ye who believe! Stand out firmly for Allah, as witnesses to justice, and let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice. Be just: that is closer to piety: and fear Allah. For Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do.” (5:8)

When facing danger and threat in a just cause, say ‘God is enough’
“Men said to them: ‘A great army is gathering against you’: And frightened them: But is (only) increased their Faith: They said: For us Allah suffices, and He is the best disposer of affairs.” (Hasbunallahu wa ‘ni’ mal wakil) (3:137)

When riding your car, let your heart and your tongue celebrate Allah’s favor
“In order that you may mount on their backs, and then may remember the favor of your Lord when you mount thereon, and say: “Glory to Him Who has subjected this to us, and we could have never had it.”(43:13)

At nights, when sleep is lovely, let your love of God exceed it
“Their sides forsake their beds, to invoke their Lord in fear and hope, and they spend out of what We have bestowed on them.” (32:16)

And in all affairs of life, fear Allah and be truthful
“O you who believe! Have Taqwa of Allah and speak (always) the truth. He will direct you to do righteous good deeds and will forgive you your sins. And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, he has indeed achieved a great victory.”   (33:70-1)

 

 

 

 

IN ARROW OF GOD, ACHEBE SPOKE WORDS!

 

I love all Chinua Achebe’s works. The man has command over words. The thing which makes him stand apart in this regard his usage of complex language. He uses proverbs. And his proverbs are Africanized. His proverbs capture “the peppery and smoked-fish nuance orally archived by our ancestral sages and word-smiths” as Kweku Sakyi Addo described African proverbs. After reading the book for the second time, I decide to capture these proverbs or better still, wise sayings for you. Enjoy!

1. “Do you blame a vulture for perching over a carcass?”
2. “It is praiseworthy to be brave and fearless, my son, but sometimes it is better to be a coward. We often stand in the compound of a coward to point at the ruins where a brave man used to live. The man who has never submitted to anything will soon submit to the burial mat.”
3. “A man does not go to his in-law with wisdom.”
4. “A new wife should not come into an unfinished homestead.”
5. “No one eats numbers. But if we are many nobody will dare molest us and our daughters will hold their heads up in their husbands’ houses.”
6. “When a handshake goes beyond the elbow we know it has turned to another thing.”
7. “Wisdom is like a goatskin bag; every man carries his own.”
8. “I am an old man, and an old man is there to talk. If the lizard of the homestead should neglect to do the things for which its kind is known, it will be mistaken for the lizard of the farmland.”
9. “When an adult is in the house, the she-goat is not left to suffer the pangs of parturition on its tether.”
10. “Have we not heard that a boy sent by his father to steal does not go stealthily, but breaks the door with his feet?”
11. “When we hear a house has fallen do we ask if the ceiling fell with it?”
12. “When a man of cunning dies, a man of cunning buries him.”
13. “A toad does not run in the daytime unless something is after it.”
14. “The fly that has no one to advice it follows the corpse into the grave.”
15. “But let the slave who sees another cast into a shallow grave know that he will be buried in the same way when his day comes.”
16. “The man who carries a deity is not a king. He is there to perform his god’s ritual and carry sacrifice to him.”
17. “For when we see a bird dancing in the middle of the pathway we must know that its drummer is in the nearby bush.”
18. “The inquisitive monkey gets a bullet in the face.”
19. “The world is changing, I do not like it. But I’m like the bird Eneke-nti-oba. When his friends asked him why he was always on the wing, he replied “Men of today have learnt to shoot without missing and so I have learnt to fly without perching.”
20. “A coward may cover the ground with his words but when the time comes to fight, he runs away.”
21. “Unless the wind blows, we do not see the fowl’s rump.”
22. “A man who brings home ant-infested faggots should not grumble when lizards begin to pay him visits.”
23. “When a man sees an unfamiliar sight, then perhaps his death is coming.”
24. “The very thing which kills mother rat prevents its little ones from opening their eyes.”
25. “An old woman is never old when it comes to the dance she knows.”
26. “A man who knows his anus is small does not swallow an udala seed.”
27. “The man who sends a child to catch a shrew will also give him water to wash his hand.”
28. “When suffering knocks at your door and you say there is no seat for him, he tells you not to worry because he has brought his own stool.”
29. “What a man does not know is greater than him.”
30. “Only a foolish man can go after a leopard with his bare hands.”
31. “The stranger will not kill his host with his visit. When he goes, may he not go with a swollen back.”
32. “A man may refuse to do what is asked of him but may not refuse to be asked.”
33. “The death that will kill a man begins as an appetite.”
34. “A man does not speak a lie to his son. Remember that always. To say ‘my father told me is to swear the greatest oath.’”
35. “He is a fool who treats a brother worse than a stranger.”
36. “May good confront the man on top and the man below. But let him who is jealous of another’s position choke with his envy.”
37. “The only medicine against palm wine is the power to say no.”
38. “The greatest liar among men still speaks the truth to his own son.”
39. “A man can swear before the most dreaded deity on what his father told him.”
40. “If a man is not sure of the boundary between his land and his neighbor, he tells his son.”
41. “Let us first chase away the wild cat afterwards we blame the cat.”
42. “A man always has more sense than his children. Those of you who think they are wiser than their father forget that it is from a man’s own stock of sense that he gives out to his sons. That is why a boy who tries to wrestle with his father gets blinded by the old man’s loin cloth.”
43. “A woman who began cooking before another must have more broken utensils.”
44. “When we old people speak, it is not because of the sweetness of words in our mouth, it is because we see something which you do not see.”
45. “When an old woman stops in her dance, to point again and again in the same direction, we can be sure that somewhere there something happened long ago which touched the roots of her life.”
46. “In all great compounds, there must be people of all minds- some good, some bad, some fearless, and some cowardly, those who bring in wealth and those who scatter it, those who give good advice and those who only speak the words of palm wine. That is why we say that whatever tune you play in the compound of a great man there is always someone to dance to it.”
47. “Old age is a disease.”
48. “We do not by-pass a man and enter his compound.”
49. “The time a man wakes up is his morning.”
50. “We do not apply an ear-pick to the eye.”
51. “A man, who visits a craftsman at work, finds a sullen host.”
52. “Do we not say that the flute player must sometimes stop to wipe his nose?”
53. “The lizard who threw confusion into his mother’s funeral rite, did he expect outsiders to carry the burden of honoring his dead?”
54. “A man should hold his compound together, not plant dissension among his children.”
55. “A ripe maize can be told by merely looking at it.”
56. “The offspring of a hawk cannot fail to devour chicks.”
57. “A man does not talk when masked spirits speak.”
58. “The fly that perches on a mound of dung may strut around as it likes, it cannot move the mound.”
59. “When two brothers fight, a stranger reaps the harvest.”
60. “A disease that has never been seen before cannot be cured with everyday herbs.”
61. “A man who has nowhere else to put his hand for support puts it on his own knee.”
62. “A snake is never as long as the stick to which we liken its length.”
63. “A toad does not run in the daytime unless something is after it.”
64. “The unexpected beats even the man of valor.”
65. “Unless the penis dies young, it will surely eat bearded meat.”
66. “As soon as we shake hands with a leper, he will want an embrace.”
67. “The language of young men is always pull down and destroy but an old man speaks of conciliation.”
68. “When a masked spirit visits you, you have to appease its footprints with presents.”
69. “A fowl does not eat into the belly of a goat.”
70. “The eye is very greedy and will steal a look at something its owner has no wish to see.”
71. “Until a man wrestles with one of those who make a path across his homestead, the others will not stop.”
72. “Who would swallow phlegm for the fear of offending others?”
73. “A woman cannot place more than the length of her leg on her husband.”
74. “A traveler to distant places should not make enemies.”
75. “The young he-goat said that but for his sojourn in his mother’s clan, he would not have learnt to stick to his upper lip.”
76. “A man of sense does not go on hunting little bush rodents when his age-mates are after big game.”
77. “If the rat could not run fast enough, it must make way for the tortoise.”
78. “Our eye sees something; we take a stone and aim at it. But the stone rarely succeeds like the eye in hitting the mark.”
79. “Every lizard lies on its belly, so we cannot tell which has a bellyache.”
80. “When mother-cow is cropping giant grass, her calves watch her mouth.”
81. “A man might pick his way with the utmost care through a crowded market but find that the hem of his cloth had upset and broken another’s wares, in such a case, the man, not his cloth was held to repair the damage.”
82. “ I am the tortoise who was trapped in a pit of excrement for two whole markets; but when helpers came to haul him out on the eighth day, he cried “Quick, Quick, I can’t stand the stench.”
83. “The man to fear in action is the one who first submits to suffer the limit.”
84. “A man who asks questions does not lose his way.”
85. “He whose name is called again and again by those trying in vain to catch a wild bull has something he alone can do to bulls.”
86. “The little bird which hops off the ground and lands on an ant-hill may not know it but is still on the ground.”
87. “No man however great was greater than his people; no one ever won judgment against his people.”