Two fish were swimming when they saw a piece of meat dangling before them. The younger fish darted toward it with an open mouth. The older fish cried out, “Stop! You can’t see it, but there is a hook inside that meat. It is connected by an invisible line to a pole outside the water. There is a man holding the pole. If you eat the meat, the hook will catch in your jaw and the man will pull you out of the water. He will cut you open with a knife, roast you on a fire and eat you. Then he will throw your remains to his cat.” The young fish stopped. The two of them swam away. But when the young fish was alone, he thought to himself, “Let me investigate for myself how accurate these claims are.” He went back to the meat, swam around it, above and below it. He swam as far as he could in widening circles around the meat. After a long search, he said to himself, “I’ve looked far and wide, and I haven’t found any sign of a man, a pole, a knife, a fire or a cat. In fact, I’ve found no trace of anything outside this water we live in. These must just be stories.” He went back to the meat and ate it. The hook caught in his jaw, he felt himself being yanked out of the water. He saw a pole, a man and a knife, but at that point his knowledge was useless.

Once upon a time there was a rich King who had four wives.

He loved the 4th wife the most and adorned her with rich robes and treated her to the finest of delicacies.

He gave her nothing but the best.

He also loved the 3rd wife very much and was always showing her off to neighbouring kingdoms.

However, he feared that one day she would leave him for another.

He also loved his 2nd wife.

She was his confidante and was always kind, considerate and patient with him.

Whenever the King faced a problem, he could confide in her, and she would help him get through the difficult times.

The King’s 1st wife was a very loyal partner and had made great contributions in maintaining his wealth and kingdom.

However, he did not love the first wife.

Although she loved him deeply, he hardly took notice of her!

One day, the King fell ill and he knew his time was short.

He thought of his luxurious life and wondered, “I now have four wives with me, but when I die, I’ll be all alone.”

Thus, he asked the 4th wife, “I have loved you the most, endowed you with the finest clothing and showered great care over you.

Now that I’m dying, will you follow me and keep me company?” “No way!” replied the 4th wife, and she walked away without another word.

Her answer cut like a sharp knife right into his heart.

The sad King then asked the 3rd wife, “I have loved you all my life. Now that I’m dying, will you follow me and keep me company?”

“No!” replied the 3rd wife. “Life is too good! When you die, I’m going to remarry!”

His heart sank and turned cold.

He then asked the 2nd wife, “I have always turned to you for help and you’ve always been there for me.

“When I die, will you follow me and keep me company?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t help you out this time!” replied the 2nd wife.

“At the very most, I can only walk with you to your grave.”

Her answer struck him like a bolt of lightning, and the King was Devastated.

Then a voice called out: “I’ll go with you. I’ll follow you no matter where you go.?”

The King looked up, and there was his first wife.

She was very skinny as she suffered from malnutrition and neglect.

Greatly grieved, the King said, “I should have taken much better care of you when I had the chance!”

In truth, we all have the 4 wives in our lives:

Our 4th wife is our body. No matter how much time and effort we lavish in making it look good, it will leave us when we die.

Our 3rd wife is our possessions, status and wealth. When we die, it will all go to others.

Our 2nd wife is our family and friends. No matter how much they have been there for us, the furthest they can stay by us is up to the grave.

And our 1st wife is our Soul. Often neglected in pursuit of wealth, power and pleasures of the world. However, our Soul is the only thing that will follow us wherever we go.

Cultivate, strengthen and cherish it now, for it is the only part of us that will follow us to the throne of God and continue with us throughout Eternity.

Thought for the day: Remember, when the world pushes you to your knees, you’re in the perfect position to pray.

Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion;

Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave;

That eats a bread it does not harvest;

Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero;

Pity the nation that despises a passion in its dreams, yet submits in its awakening;

Pity the nation that raises not its voice save when it walks in a funeral;

That boasts not except among its ruins;

Pity the nation that will rebel not save when its neck is laid between the sword and the block;

Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox, whose philosopher is a juggler,

and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking;

Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpeting,

and farewells him with hootings, only to welcome another with trumpeting again;

Pity the nation divided into fragments, each fragment deeming itself a nation.

Khalil Gibran

One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley.

A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it.

Yes, they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen.

The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.

Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said, “Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.”

The crowd and the young man looked at the old man’s heart. It was beating strongly, but full of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didn’t fit quite right and there were several jagged edges. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing.

The people stared — how can he say his heart is more beautiful, they thought?

The young man looked at the old man’s heart and saw its state and laughed. “You must be joking,” he said. “Compare your heart with mine, mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears.”

“Yes,” said the old man, “yours is perfect looking but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love – I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren’t exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared. Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the other person hasn’t returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges — giving love is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too, and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting. So now do you see what true beauty is?”

The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks.

He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out.

He offered it to the old man with trembling hands. The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man’s heart.

It fitted, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges.

The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man’s heart flowed into his.

They embraced and walked away side by side.

Words spoken from the heart never fail to have effects;
Sacred and pure their origin, on lofty heights their sights are set.
They have no wings and yet they have power to fly;
They rise from the dust and pierce through the sky.
So headstrong and insolent was my love, so much on mischief bent,
So outspoken and plaint, it tore through the firmament.

The aged vault of heaven heard. ‘There is someone somewhere’ said he,
The planets spoke ‘Here on these ancient heights someone must be’
‘Not here’ said the moon,’it must be someone from the earth below.’
Spoke the Milky Way, ‘It must be someone hidden here we do not know.’
Only the gatekeeper of eden did some of my plaint recognise
And understood that I was the man thrown out of paradise.

Even to the angels the voice came as a complete surprise;
Now was the mystery unveiled to other dwellers of the skies.
Could celestial heights have become the aim of man’s striving?
Could this pinch of dust have learnt the art of flying?
These earth dwellers, how little of manners do they know!
How cheeky and insolent are these habitants of regions down below!

He even rails against Allah, he has become so proud,
Is he the same Adam before whom the angels bowed?
He knows about things, their quantity and quality,
Yes, these he knows; but nothing of the secret of humility.
Their power of speech men always proudly flaunt,
But of the way of speaking they are quite ignorant.

Spoke the Voise: ‘your tale is indeed full of sorrow,
Your tears tremble at the brim and are ready to flow.
your cry of lament the sky has rung.
What cunning your impassioned heart has lent your tongue!
So eloquently did you word of plaint, you made it sound like praise.
To talk on equal terms with Us, man to celestial heights did raise.’

Amazing toothpick sculptures from toothpickcity

Please go to www.4lch3m1st.blogspot.com for our new blog

Of all the brave warriors, there were none but only we
Who fought Your battles on land and often on sea.
Our calls to prayers rang out from the churches of the European lands
And floated across Africa’s scorching desert sands
We ruled the world, but regal glories our eyes disdained.
Under the shades of glittering sabres Your creed we proclaimed.

All we lived for was battle; we bore the troubles that came,
And laid down our lives for the glory of Your Name
We never used our strength to conquer or extend domain,
Would we have played with our lives for nothing but wordly gain?
If our people had run after earth’s goods and gold,
Need they have smashed idols, and not idols sold?

Once in the fray, firm we stood our ground, never did we yield,
The most lion-hearted of our foes reeled back and fled the field
Those who rose against You, against them we turned our ire,
What care we for their sabres? We fought against cannon fire.
On every human heart the image of Your oneness we drew,
Beneath the dagger’s point, we proclaimed Your message true.

You tell us who were they who pulled down the gates of Khyber?
Who were they that reduced the city that was the pride of Caeser?
Fake gods that men had made, who did break and shatter?
who routed infidel armies and destroyed them with bloody slaughter?
Who put out and made cold the ‘sacred’ flame in iran?
Who retold the story of the one God, Yazdan?

Who were the people who asked only for You and no other?
And for You did fight battles and travails suffer?
Whose world-conquering swords spread the might over one and all?
Who stirred mankind with Allaho Akbar’s clarion call?
Whose dread bent stone idols into fearful submission?
They fell on their faces confessing, ‘God is One, the Only One!’

To most urdu speakers this poem needs no intro as im certain they have heard of it even if they havent ever read it. Allama Iqbal was a muslim intellect of the indian subcontinent. This poem he produced in about 1909 and it created a huge controversy, its alleged that he even recieved death threats and a fatwa was issued against him. The theme of the poem is the poets complaint to Allah (SWT) for having been unfair to the muslim community. All the complaints in this poem he answered himself in another composition Jawab-e-Shikwa, which inshallah i will also post a translation of at a later date.

Why must I forever lose, forever forgo profit that is my due,
Sunk in the gloom of evenings past, no plans for the morrow pursue.
Why must I all attentive be to the nightingale’s lament?
Friend, am I as dumb as a flower? Must I remain silent?
My theme makes me bold, makes my tongue more eloquent.
Dust be in my mouth, against Allah I make complaint.

We won renown for submitting to Your will – and it is so;
We speak out now, we are compelled to repeat out tale of woe.
We are like the silent lute whose chords are full of voice;
When grief wells up to our lips, we speak; we have no choice.
Lord God! We are Your faithful servants, for a while with us bear,
It is in our nature to always praise You, a small plaint also hear.

That Your Presence was primal from the beginning of time is true;
The rose also adorned the garden but of its fragrance no one knew.
Justice is all we ask for: You are perfect, You are benevolent.
If there were no breeze, how could the rose have spread its scent?
We Your people were dispersed, no solace could we find,
Or, would Your Beloved’s following have gone out its mind?

Before our time, a stranger sight was the world You Made:
Some worshipped stone idols others bowed to trees and prayed.
Accustomed to believing what they saw, the people’s vision wasn’t free,
How then could anyone believe in a God he couldn’t see?
Do you know of anyone, Lord, who then took Your Name? I ask.
It was the muscle in the Muslim’s arms that did Your task

Here on this earth were settled the Seljuqs and the Turanians,
The Chinese lived in China, In Iran lived the Sassanians.
The Greeks flourished in there allotted regions,
In this very world lived the Jews and the Christians.
But who did draw their swords in Your Name and fight?
When things had gone wrong, who put them right?

A long time ago, there was a huge apple tree. ..

في قديم الزمان … كان هناك شجرة تفاح ضخمة

A little boy loved to come and play around it everyday. ..

و كان هناك طفل صغير يلعب حول هذه الشجرة كل يوم

He climbed to the treetop, ate the apples, took a nap under the shadow…

.. كان يتسلق أغصان الشجرة ويأكل من ثمارها … ثم يغفو قليلا لينام في ظلها

He loved the tree and the tree loved to play with him.

.. كان يحب الشجرة وكانت الشجرة تحب أن تلعب معه

Time went by…the little boy had grown up, …

مر الزمن… وكبر الطفل

And he no longer played around the tree every day.

… وأصبح لا يلعب حول الشجرة كل يوم

One day, the boy came back to the tree and he looked sad.
!… في يوم من الأيام … رجع الصبي وكان حزينا

“Come and play with me,” the tree asked the boy.

… فقالت له الشجرة: تعال والعب معي

“I am no longer a kid, I do not play around trees any more” The boy replied.
… فأجابها الولد: لم أعد صغيرا لألعب حولك

“I want toys. I need money to buy them.”

… أنا أريد بعض اللعب وأحتاج بعض النقود لشرائها

“Sorry, but I do not have money… !!!

فأجابته الشجرة: أنا لا يوجد معي نقود

But you can pick all my apples and sell them. So, you will have money.

… ولكن يمكنك أن تأخذ كل التفاح الذي لدي لتبيعه ثم تحصل على النقود التي تريدها ”

The boy was so excited. …

الولد كان سعيدا للغاية

He grabbed all the apples on the tree and left happily.

… فتسلق الشجرة وجمع كل ثمار

التفاح التي عليها وغادر سعيدا

The boy never came back after he picked the apples.

… لم يعد الولد بعدها

The tree was sad.
… فأصبحت الشجرة حزينة

One day, the boy who now turned into a man returned !!!
… وذات يوم عاد الولد ولكنه أصبح رجلا

And the tree was excited “Come and play with me” the tree said. … كانت الشجرة في منتهى السعادة لعودته وقالت له: تعال والعب معي

“I do not have time to play. I have to work for my family. ولكنه أجابها: لا
يوجد وقت لدي للعب .. فقد أصبحت رجلا مسئولا عن عائلة

We need a house for shelter.
… ونحتاج لبيت يؤوينا

Can you help me? هل يمكنك مساعدتي ؟ ” Sorry”, !!! آسفة

I do not have any house. But you can chop off my branches To build your house.
… فأنا ليس عندي بيت ولكن يمكنك أن تأخذ جميع أغصاني لتبني بها بيتا لك ”

So the man cut all the branches of the tree and left happily.
… فأخذ الرجل كل الأغصان وغادر وهو سعيد

The tree was glad to see him happy but the man never came back since then.
.. كانت الشجرة مسرورة لرؤيته سعيدا … لكن الرجل لم يعد إليها

The tree was again lonely and sad.
… فأصبحت الشجرة وحيدة و حزينة مرة أخرى

One hot summer day,
… وفي يوم حار من ايام الصيف

The man returned and the tree was delighted.
… عاد الرجل .. وكانت الشجرة في منتهى السعادة

“Come and play with me!” the tree said.
… فقالت له الشجرة: تعال والعب معي

“I am getting old. I want to go sailing to relax myself.
… فقال لها الرجل لقد تقدمت في السن… وأريد أن أبحر لأي مكان لأرتاح

“Can you give me a boat?” “Said the man”.
… فقال لها الرجل: هل يمكنك إعطائي مركبا

“Use my trunk to build your boat. You can sail far away and be happy.
… فأجابته: خذ جذعي لبناء مركب… وبعدها يمكنك أن تبحر به بعيدا … وتكون سعيدا ”

So the man cut the tree trunk to make a boat. !!!
فقطع الرجل جذع الشجرة وصنع مركبا

He went sailing and never showed up for a long time. ………
…….. فسافر مبحرا ولم يعد لمدة طويلة

Finally, the man returned after many years. …
….. أخيرا عاد الرجل بعد غياب طويل

“Sorry, my boy. But I do not have anything for you anymore.
… ولكن الشجرة قالت له : آسفة يا بني .. لم يعد عندي أي شئ أعطيه لك

No more apples for you… ” The tree said”.
… وقالت له:لا يوجد تفاح

“No problem, I do not have any teeth to bite ” The man replied.
… قال لها: لا عليك لم يعد عندي أي أسنان لأقضمها بها

“No more trunk for you to climb on” …

لم يعد عندي جذع لتتسلقه

“I am too old for that now” the man said. !!!

فأجابها الرجل لقد أصبحت عجوزا ولا أستطيع القيام بذلك

“I really cannot give you anything… …

قالت: أنا فعلا لا يوجد لدي ما أعطيه لك

The only thing left is my dying root,” The tree said with tears.
… قالت وهي تبكي

.. كل ما تبقى لدي جذور ميتة

“I do not need much now, just a place to rest. …

فأجابها: كل ما أحتاجه الآن هو مكان لأستريح فيه

I am tired after all these years” the man replied. …

فأنا متعب بعد كل هذه السنين

“Good! Old tree roots are the best place to lean on and rest, …

فأجابته: جذور الشجرة العجوز هي أنسب مكان لك للراحة

Come, come sit down with me and rest. ..

تعال .. تعال واجلس معي لتستريح ”

The man sat down and the tree was glad and smiled with tears… …

جلس الرجل إليها … كانت الشجرة سعيدة … تبسمت والدموع تملأ عينيها

This is you and the tree is your parent. !!!!!

هل تعرف من هي هذه الشجرة؟ إنها أبويك