Reasons why the Muslims are not successful today

By Dr Tawfique Chowdhury:

1.       Laziness and incompetency – you give them (your children) every form of luxury in the world which makes them lazy. You should teach your children archery (training focus and concentration), horse riding (to develop character to control bigger creatures and to be a leader), and swimming (to cope under pressure).

2.       Fear – because of this we do not travel, we do not try new things (try new business ideas), we are afraid to try and begin new ventures. We should always remember Allah that He will provide for us, fear only Allah, there is nothing else to fear, overcome the fear of the world. “Rich dad, poor dad” – read the book before leaving your current job.

3.       Love for this world and this life before death – beware the magic of this world, for it is worse than the magic of harut and marut who used black magic to separate the union of a husband and wife. Indeed this love for the world is a distraction. We are afraid to get out of our comfort zone. We are contented and do not wish to struggle. If you cannot sacrifice then you will not be able to achieve greatness. Strike when the iron is hot, never delay.

How to become self sufficient:

1. Ask yourself "How will I meet Allah, in what state "
   
2. To have a clear goal on how our relationship is with our family
   
3. How wealthy I need to be, know how much money you need to feel content
   
4. Prioritise your priorities – cut out things that are wasting time. 20/80 principle – find 20% things which are giving 80% productivity and increase its consistency.
   
5. Empower yourself with the skills – leadership, time management, budgeting, asset and liability
   
6. Focus on making money through something which you are passionate about – lol – every single Muslim dreams about having a pizza/kebab shop.  Do what you love, money will follow. Drugs, girls, dawah* - Dawah! – How? Never keep wealth in your heart, be generous and give it away in the cause of Allah.

Allah will not give the non-believers an upper hand over the believers.

As heard from a seminar from mercymission.tv

By Dr Tawfique Chowdhury

Tentative Eid 1432H menu - Our first together

Breakfast:

1. Sheer
2. Chapli kebabs
3. Chana cholay

Snacks:

1. Homemade cookies
2. Chai
3. Chicken meatballs
4. Iranian bread

Lunch:

1. Chicken biryani
2. Roasted chicken with stuffing
3. Fruit salad
4. Orange juice

Teatime:

1. Chana cholay
2. Chapli kebab
3. Cookies
4. Chai

Dinner:

1. Chicken biryani
2. Roasted chicken
3. Potato and mushroom rice curry

 Dessert:

1. Sheer
2. Ice cream

 Hopefully will be able to make all of them

List of Dishes:

1. Chicken biryani
2. Roasted chicken with rice stuffing
3. Chapli kebab
4. Chana cholay
5. Mushroom and potato curry rice
6. Peanut butter cookies
7. Butter cookies
8. Namak para
9. Sheer
10. Fruit salad

:)) Happy Eid!
Will post photos soon! InshaAllah

30th Ramadan (Tues) - The last Fast - Eid Mubarak 1432H

Suhoor - Rice with fish pie, fried eggs and chicken patty, water.
Iftaar - Dates, water, sweet rice, sheer!! (yummy and homemade), onion pakoray and fried chicken, chai (jaanu).
Dinner - Chicken Sindhi Biryani! :)

Feeling paricularly tired today. Did wash up of the necessary things for Eid - two rounds of the washing machine, cleaned the kitchen and doors and preparing for dinner and Eid dishes.
Good thing we cooked sheer last night, thinking that Eid would be today! We used 4 litres of whole milk, cooked it down till 2.5 litres with dried dates, almonds, vermicilli and coconut slices with kewra water and a few strands of saffron. Smells gorgeous! Made preparations for chapli kebabs - all ready to fry tonight. Marinated whole chicken for Eid Lunch - YUM! which will be - Baked chicken stuffed with potato and mushroom rice curry.Okaaayyy.... feeling very hungry already.
Tonight we will be having chicken biryani, inshaAllah it will turn out good....

Went out with jaanu today at noon time - post office matters and returned goods bought.... this all left me rather run-down.... the pregnancy and fasting is taking a toll now. Alhamdulillah all will be well, inshaAllah.

Eid Mubarak!

29th Ramadan (Mon) - Is it 1st Shawal yet??

Suhoor - Water
Iftaar - Dates, water, orange juice, keema samosa, banana dumplings, fried chicken, meatballs and left-over tamarind fruit salad.
Dinner - Bits and pieces of honey melon, fried chicken, sweet rice and grapes.

We were in a state of confusion today after Maghrib. Eid was declared by the Central Mosque of London to be on the 30th of August (Tuesday) so as in Saudi Arabia which means they kept 29 days of fast. Interestingly, there were mixed responses by a few mosques in Yorkshire area. In Chesterfield itself there were two mosques giving differing statements. In the end after much discussion with friends here and at home, we decided to keep 30 days of fast. Apparently according to the Ahli Sunnah it was not possible to see the new moon due to bad weather across europe and the middle east, therefore strict schools of thought decided to keep Eid on Wednesday the 31st of August. This statement was also confirmed by the main mosque in Sheffield - Madina Masjid Sheffield, a main masjid we are closest to and the Newbold Muslim Welfare Association Chesterfield, the venue where we participate in Ishk and terawih prayers.

Eid Mubarak to those celebrating Eid on Tuesday!

28th Ramadan (Sun) - TLC : Discipline : Friendship

Suhoor - Dates, water, milk+horlicks (me), toast with peanut butter (me), toast with fruit jam (jaanu), chai (jaanu), grapes, banana, left-over potato wedges, a keema samosa (jaanu) and sheer (vermicilli in think condensed milk with coconut and raisins).
Iftaar - Dates, water then keema samosa, banana dumplings, saag pakora, water melon and tamarind fruit chaat.
Dinner - Rice with haddock fish bake.

The al-kauthar institute did it again! They usually have the best seminars relevant to family and life. This time aired by Ramadan TV (which will be aired througout the year now at www.mercymission.tv after Ramadan 1432H). I was listening to a talk given by one Sheikh I-forgot-his-name (!!) on good family relationships and thought this one was very relevant to us at the moment when we are expecting our first born early next year, inshaAllah.
He was saying in the 1st 7 years (birth - 7 years) of your child's life make sure you give him/her all the tender loving care you can, then during the 2nd 7 years (7-14 years) make sure you introduce discipline and manners, and all the good Islamic values, traditions and practices (i.e. salat, manners, adab...etc.) then in the 3rd 7 years of their lives (14-21 years) make sure you be their friend, their very best friend.

Allahuallam

27th Ramadan (Sat) - Eid Shopping at Meadowhall Sheffield

Suhoor - Almonds, dates, water, plums, and grapes, milk (me), chai (jaanu)
Iftaar - Nandos extra hot chicken, Fanta orange juice, corn on cob, fries, mash potato, garlic bread.
Dinner - as above, grapes, water.

We decided to go out today. Just after zohr prayers we got into the car and drove about 40 min to Sheffield Meadowhall shopping centre and became about £60.00 poorer from clothes shopping and dinner.
We managed to do our Asr and maghrib solat at a nearby Islamic centre (postcode S9 3TA) about 5 min drive from Sheffield centretainment valley where we had iftaar at Nandos which is halal! It is so difficult to find a halal Nandos here but thank God there is one even if it is about 40 min away.

So we had our fill, did Maghrib, then straight for home where we did Ishk and terawih at Newbold Muslim Welfare Centre. By the time we reached home it was nearly 12 midnight and were really sleepy.
It was a good day, there were so many Muslims also doing their Eid shopping and it was simply exciting to see so many Muslim families getting out and about at one place shopping for clothes for their little ones.