So have they not traveled through the earth and have hearts by which to reason and ears by which

to hear? For indeed, it is not eyes that are blinded, but blinded are the hearts which are within the breasts. [al Hajj 22:46]

:
The Prophet of Allah said: Verily, Allah does not look at your appearance or wealth, but rather He looks at your hearts and actions. [Muslim]

- Last Jumuah we began the discussion - the importance of taking care of our health. We mentioned duas that the Messenger of Allah made on different occasions. We also touched a little bit on what his health was like...Id like to take the conversation to a different direction now. However, we are not straying from our original topic of good health - Seeing that we are merely 3 months away from the month of Ramadan, I figured that wed start preparing for it biidhnillah, as was the practice of the Salaf.

:
The Prophet said: Truly in the body there is a morsel of flesh which, if it be

whole, all the body is whole and which, if it be diseased, all of it is diseased. Truly it is the heart. [Bukhari] - The Prophet (S) said in another hadith: The eemaan of Allahs servant will not be upright until his heart is upright and his heart will not be upright until his tongue is upright. [Ahmad] -Yet, again in another hadith:

.
Piety/God consciousness is here, Piety/God consciousness is here, Piety/God consciousness is here. And he pointed to his chest three times [Muslim]

- So we find over and over again the Prophet stressing the importance of having a pure heart. Not only that, the Quran tells us well:

The Day when there will not benefit [anyone] wealth or children

But only one who comes to Allah with a sound heart." [ash Shuara 26:88-89] - Now, the question we have to ask ourselves is, How do we get to the stage that the Salaf were on? OBVIOUSLY, they had to start somewhereas we see in the story of Bishar al Haafi (the barefooted one) rahimahullah. Now, who is Bishar al Haafi??? - A teacher of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal [ra] - A student of Al-Fudayl ibn Iyad who in turn was a student of Imam Abu Hanifa [ra] So, whats his story? - During the days when Bishar al Haafi [ra] had not received spiritual guidance, he was once in a gathering of friends at his home. In the midst of the noise, liquor, music and frivolity a pious man happened to pass by and knocked at the door. A slave girl answered and he asked "Is the owner of this house a freeman or a slave". She said "He is a freeman". He replied "Off course, had he been a slave he would have opted the manners of a true servant and kept away from such futile and frivolous forms of entertainment". Bishar [ra] overheard the conversation and quickly jumped to his feet, he headed to the door barefooted but the pious man had already left. He asked the slave girl what had transpired and she explained what he had said. "In which direction did he go" he asked. She directed him and he left in pursuit of the man. When he finally caught up with him he asked "my master did you come to my door and speak to the slave girl". "yes" he replied. "Please repeat the words you uttered" Bishar [ra] requested the man and he obliged.

Bishar [ra] was so taken aback by his words that he fell to the ground and began to cry. "No I am a slave, I am a slave, I am a slave". From then onwards he would walk without shoes and people began calling him Bishar al Haafi [ra] i.e. The bare footed one. When asked why he did not wear shoes, he would reply "My master Allah [swt] guided me when I was barefooted and I will remain in this condition till death" Imam Junaid alBaghdadi said:

The state of a believer changes 40 times a day, and the state of the disbeliever remains the same for 40 years. - The word hal ( )in Arabic, which means state, indicates that its changing. If I look at my personal state, and I feel that its the same and hasnt changed in a while, thats a red flag for me. - SAY A FEW WORDS ON THE BOSTON TRAGEDY. the ISBCC (Islamic Center of Boston) came through with this messageAs Bostonians, and inspired by the values of mercy and justice central to our faith, the American-Muslim community stands ready to help. We have close to 40 ISBCC volunteers on site who are committed to assist in relief efforts and also donate blood. Should the City call upon us, we are also ready to transform the ISBCC into a disaster relief center. Additionally, we extend our spiritual counseling services to any of the victims and their family members. NOT ONLY THAT: the Muslim community is serving their community by--1) Volunteer to make potential hospital visits the victims: 2) Donate to ISBCCs health relief efforts for the victims who are hospitalized and who need mental health counseling 3) If you are a licenced counselor, sign-up to counsel individuals and/or help with a community response forum 4) The ISBCC continues to offer spiritual counseling services to the victims and their family members, and is organizing a mental health forum to be hosted at the center in the coming weeks. -------------------THIS

IS WHAT ISLAM TEACHES.