as you get older, you realize that you’re not always right and there’s so many things you could’ve handled better, so many situations where you could’ve been kinder and all you can really do is forgive yourself and let your mistakes make you a better person.
God, when my lips no longer know what to ask for in prayer, please hear my heart.
When Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud was mocked for having thin legs, what was the reply of Rasulallah (ﷺ) ? He said,
“Do you dare to mock him because of his skinny legs? By Allah in Whose Hands my soul rests, these two thin legs are heavier in Allah’s Scale than the mountain of Uhud!”
I say to you, be careful when judging the appearance of others.
“You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That’s the only thing you should be trying to control.”—
“Things and people are not what we wish them to be nor what they seem to be. They are what they are.”—
إِن يَعْلَمِ اللَّهُ فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ خَيْرًا
If Allah knows there is anything good in your hearts,
يُؤْتِكُمْ خَيْرًا مِّمَّا أُخِذَ مِنكُمْ
He will give you better than that which has been taken away from you,
وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
And He will forgive you. And Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
— Surah Al-Anfal [8:70]
جالس جميل الروح تصيبك عَدوىٰ جَماله
Sit in the company of a beautiful soul, and you will become infected with their beauty.
Ku Hsiung, tr. by John A. Turner, from “A Golden Treasury of Chinese Poetry: 121 Classical Poems,”
