The Holy Quran.

It is rare to find such a book, where every verse, every word, every letter adds to its beauty. It is something lost in translation. Something no one can ever compare to obviously, because it is the word of Allah. However, sometimes I feel the more I read it, the more I listen, the I understand. My lack of knowing Arabic is the issue here, it is easily read; however, what point is there in reading what you do not understand fully. This is the point. Reading it involves dedication fully of heart. You are a child, and you are reciting your Lords very words. It is such an honor, such a privilege.
I am really not sure how to add Arabic text to this, so I cannot paste the ayats, and discuss it. I cannot emphasize the drastic amount lost in translation. It is though I allow my mind and my heart, to read the words, and understand it. And after more spiritual growth occurs, my being will Inshallah understand more. May Allah guide me.
Memorization has always been a key in life. Whether it be nohay, qasiday, surahs....However I did begin to accomplish something which I didn't think I could do before. I am almost 3/4 done memorizing Hadith-e-Kisa in Arabic. Its so beautiful. When I was younger I had memorized most of it Urdu, listening to it daily recited by Agha Sabswari.
Well yeah, beauty has been found, and thus I am still admiring it day after day.

Faith.
It puzzles me as to how some people can have such little faith, whether it be in God, their own religion whatever. Faith is learned, however i doubt it can taught. Soomeone can't just come up to you and start preaching, and in a matter of minutes you'll convert. Things are rarely so simple. However, I feel that faith is just like a ladder. In terms of Islam as in all religions that base, the ground is the most important. For without the basic knowledge, without the support of the ground how are you able to climb the ladder...
There are many steps, and though some may disagree with me on how I present this, the foundation of Islam is based on Usool-e-deen and Faro-e-deen, now I am sure you all know that. However once you have lived as a muslim, embraced Islam, and lived following Islamic rules, if you question the basics you will fall down the ladder. For example, if you start questioning whether Allah is just, or whether Prophet Mohammed had appointed Imam Ali, or the roles of the Imams, its like an earthquake has just occured, and you are now on a shaky ground, from that point on you can either grap on to the ladder, fall down, or fall into the hole created by the quake. The hole in the ground is a void, an empty world without religion, where you care more for yourself then your Lord. The only way to save yourself is to restablish your faith......
The point is whatever step of the ladder you are on, whatever level of faith you have, make sure that are fully supported and that no earthquakes occur....or even if they do, make sure you are stable and pray for closeness to God. Our lives, our actions are being judged, and it is He who will judge us only.

Remember,
"There is no compulsion in religion" 2:256
It is your choice whether to step on the ladder.

The lottery....huh...
So Tuesday was 13th Rajab, the birth of Imam Ali (A.S.) My mom decided to play the lottery and asked me to pick some numbers, wow, nothing short of a miracle occured. And thats what I believe it to be, a sign, yes I am one of those people who symbolically accompanies every life event with a greater meaning. But I truly believe that this was awesome...Here were my numbers...

7- Rajab
13- the date
30- year of birth
18- Eid-e-Ghadeer
1- Bibi Fatima and Imam Ali's Shadi
55- 5:55, Ayat from Quran giving reference to Imam Ali, as the wali.

These were the winning numbers
1, 13, 33, 5, 18, megaball 30.
Now when I looked at the ayat I figured 55, but it was meant to be 5. And 7, "Rajab" does not really have the most symbolic connection to Imam Ali. Ironically, I won 7 dollars...The only number I didn't understand was 33, I cannot identify the connection to Imam Ali...
Well whatever was meant to be was meant to be.

Wow, I haven't used this in a while...

All I can say is things change, people change, goals change. You spend your whole life working towards this goal, this end, and then your here, and don't know if you really want to continue. Sure everyone has something in them, we are all meant to do something with our lives. Suddenly it doesn't seem so important. If I die tomorrow, I have still done things with my life, made changes in others, helped others, and thats whats important. I know that if I live my life to the fullest, and achieve everything I want to, the end result is always death. Whether that be today, tomorrow, or three years from now. Priorities change once you truly realize you are never too young to die, look at Qana, were they too young to die, or was their death, did their lives spark rebellion and disorder, pain and yet some relief, were their lives wasted. No, their deaths as well as all of ours has a meaning, whether by gunshot, bomb, heart attack. Every action that happens has a purpose to shape the world.
Back to the change, marriage...what a pleasant topic. Sure many people marry young, but why not more. I had always thought I would go to college be 'something', and then settle. But come'on our time on this world is limited, the clock is ticking till that trumpet blows and all life as we know it is gone. Why not prepare ourselves for the end? Surely it is coming, why fear it? Instead, embrace the idea that you are not alive forever. You are not immortal. This is how I feel about marriage. The sooner you get married to the right person, the sooner other things fall into place, like children. Raise your kids so that they could be, Inshallah, part of Imam Mehdi's army. For what other purpose is there. Serve your master, Love your Lord, Pray to Allah. That is what life is about. Raise children to protect Islam with their lives, raise them to be the future Hezbollah. Raise your sons to be soldiers, your daughters to be teachers. Once again take example from Karbala..

We never know when we will end...