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| What Do You Say When You Stub Your Toe? |
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| faith |
| 12/07/03 at 23:13:23 |
| [slm] By Ćlfwine Mischler What do you say when you stub your toe or pinch your finger or worse? Is the first word that comes out of your mouth “Damn!” or “Sh__!” or “F__!” (or their equivalent in your language if English is not your mother tongue)? Would it ever occur to you to say “Praise God!” instead? And why would you praise God when you just got hurt? To begin with, you can praise Him that you only stubbed your toe and didn’t break it. You say you did break it? Then you can praise Him that you didn’t break the whole foot! You can praise Him that you have a toe and foot to begin with. You can praise Him that He created the rock on which you just stubbed it. (OK, so it was a chair you stubbed it on. God still created the tree from which the chair was made.) You can praise Him for the laws of physics He created, for that same hardness of the rock (or wood) allows you to use it for building and other purposes. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) taught us that any trouble that comes to a Muslim — even something as small as the pricking of a thorn — is an expiation for him. So the next time you stub your toe (or worse), try saying, “Praise God!” or, as we say in Arabic, “Al-hamdulillah — all praise be to Allah (God)!” And just how are you supposed to think of saying that when you’re hopping around on the remaining foot? That’s where frequent remembrance of Allah comes in. You can do this remembrance, called dhikr, in many ways. You can count on your fingers (or on prayer beads) and say certain formulas over and over. You can just think about Allah and all the blessings He has given you while you are doing some mindless task. You can also ask forgiveness for your sins. Or you can ask Allah for help with whatever task or worry you have. You don’t have to be in any particular position or face the qiblah, or say the words in Arabic. You don’t even have to raise your hands in the usual palms up gesture of supplicating. When you remember Allah, you draw nearer to Him. Remembering Allah — making dhikr —expresses your confidence in His mercy, grace and blessings. It reminds you of your total submission to and dependence on Him. If you make it a habit to remember Him frequently, the words will come to your tongue easily. If you make it a habit to remember Him all the time, even when things are going well, it will be easier to remember Him first when things go wrong. Prophet Muhammad stated that Allah said, “I am near to the thought of My servant as he thinks about Me, and I am with him as he remembers Me. And if he remembers Me in his heart, I also remember him in My Heart, and if he remembers Me in assembly I remember him in assembly, better than his (remembrance), and if he draws near Me by the span of a palm, I draw near him by the cubit, and if he draws near Me by the cubit I draw near him by the space (covered by) two hands. And if he walks towards Me, I rush towards him.” |
| Re: What Do You Say When You Stub Your Toe? |
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| jannah |
| 12/08/03 at 14:28:17 |
| [wlm] I think it would have been better if they used a different example... cause I'm sorry... but if something hurts it hurts...and automatic natural reaction in human beings (that Allah gave us) is exclamation or trying to remove that hurt. |
| Re: What Do You Say When You Stub Your Toe? |
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| timbuktu |
| 12/08/03 at 19:10:25 |
| [slm] jannah, you are right, this is the automatic human reaction but i have seen people, who are so much in love with Allah (swt), that alHamdolillah is what they say when they are hurt. this is what we should try to achieve. I suppose the majority of us will get to jannah somehow, but to get to Firdaws-e-a3alaa, & the company of the prophet [saw], & the highest awards would take some doing. |
| 12/08/03 at 19:12:20 |
| timbuktu |
| Re: What Do You Say When You Stub Your Toe? |
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| Nomi |
| 12/09/03 at 01:16:30 |
| [slm] There go two topics that i wanted to start threads on 1] Your reflex action 2] How many good deeds are enough And sis faith and bro timbuktu beat me to it (you ppl are mean :P ). To add more, ever noticed that how many things we take for granted? Like if something "to us" seems big we'll ask it from Allah but when we need something that is there in abundance we dont even bother to ask the Almighty for it! Is there really anything that is big or small for Allah when it comes to material things? I use a pen and it runs out of ink, i know there are more in the cupboard but shouldn't i be like "Ya Allah i need a pen, please help"? rather than like i know i have it and i'll get it. Whatever we have with us is not ours and there is no guarantee that whether we'll be able to use it or not (many of us earn the rizq of our grandchildren even, coz not everything we earn is our rizq!!! how do i know? well my grandfather earned the rizq of around dozen of my cousins, myself included). So nothing in material stuff is small or big for Allah and even when our car is running out of gas even then we should ask it from Allah, no matter how close the next gas station is. Who knows we'll reach there or hit some obstacle, death is one good example. May Allah help me be more practical and talk less, ameen. [slm] |
| 12/09/03 at 02:47:37 |
| Nomi |
| Re: What Do You Say When You Stub Your Toe? |
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| faith |
| 12/09/03 at 20:49:41 |
| [slm] thanks bro timbuktu and bro nomi for giving your perspective into our immediate reaction/reflex action to pain. Personally, I have not managed to praise God when I stubbed my toe. My reaction were more along the lines of "ouch", and then "stupid table, why did you get in my way!'. Astaghfirullah, I am still so far away from Him. |
| Re: What Do You Say When You Stub Your Toe? |
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| Doha_03 |
| 12/14/03 at 04:25:50 |
| [slm] Usually, I would say: Crap! or Shoot! or OWWWWWWWWW! But lately I have been saying Al Hamdullilah and you wanna know why? Cuz I read this thread and I think about it whenever something bad happens and how it is better for me to remember Allah. Thanks Sis Faith and everyone else who posted for helping me to get closer to Allah. May Allah bless you, forgive you for your sins, help you, guide you, make things easier for us in the dunya and akhira, and bless your families. Ameen. Wasalaam Doha :-) |
| 12/14/03 at 04:50:51 |
| Doha_03 |
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