951.    When a non-Muslims enters Islam, it is first of all their Tawbah from all their previous sins and wrong beliefs.

952.    (As mentioned) Those who say the Universe is Eternal or that material causes really have an effect are Mushriks (polytheists), even if they call themselves atheists, since they are ascribing Eternal Divine Attributes to matter.

953.    We as Muslims should teach our children that losing is fine- in that way they can learn how to come back after a loss and improve themselves. Otherwise even when they sin, they will not accept it as a sin, they would rather leave Islam than accept that they lost to Shaytan and their egos, and that they need to get back up by repenting from their sins.

954.    The true scholars of Islam don’t see it as a shame to change their opinions if some new information becomes known to them (of course, based on assessing it within a true methodology).

955.    (As mentioned) Consider that the Mushaf at Abu Bakr’s (RAA) time was not even a Mushaf in the form we know it today, but rather a backup that could be referred back to as a last resort.

956.    Look at how Baraa’ ibn Malik (RAA) used his privilege of taking an oath upon Allah to perform something. Once he complied and the Muslims caught the enemy, second time he asked victory and martyrdom (this is the example of the true love for Allah, to not even use what is totally permissible due to shyness in front of Allah).

957.    (As mentioned): People should know the difference between being a Companion and a Murabbi to one’s children. Failure to know this difference produces bad children and then weak adults, because instead of raising children one may only be thinking of being a companion to the children.

958.    Important advice: Remove clutter from your house, since it removes avenues to filth – all filth, material and spiritual, is connected to sin.

959.    (As mentioned): There is a difference in how we respond to insults of a weak or old person, and how we respond to the Abu Jahls of our age.

Comment: It may be that the weak old person doesn’t even understand what he is saying as an insult, but our modern-day Abu Jahls or Fir’wans know and understand Islam fully, but wish to reject it and make others follow their disbelieving ways. Thus, the difference in our manner of response.

960.    Be careful of the call of those who say humans descended from hominids. We as an exalted species have never been naked, dirty, filthy, etc. (we are not like gorillas or monkeys eating our own vomit or excrement, and never have been like this, this is a vituperation against the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), previous Prophets (Alayhim as-Salaam) and the righteous of past generations as well).

Just to expand on this point only: Let us say the idea is promoted that human beings are not primarily physical but rather spiritual beings (said by some who want to promote hominid descent). Fine; but do the proponents of hominid-descent say that the Prophets (Alayhim as-Salam) of the past did these dirty, filthy deeds that we see gorillas or monkeys of today do? If they say yes, they have blasphemed and left the Deen; if no, then we must say that they (Alayhim As-Salaam) were disposed not to do these things, and their spiritual states also manifested in their physical realities, they are not totally disconnected matters. But for the naturalist scientist, there is no way he will make an exception for Prophets (Alayhim as-Salaam), because he does not think this is at all relevant to the field of evolutionary biology- thus the disjunction is already set at this stage between those who believe and those who disbelieve in hominid-descent of mankind.

As if to preempt this call of hominid descent, the Quran specifically mentions that the nakedness of our father Adam (Alayhi as-Salaam) was covered in Jannah itself, and on the Earth as the Khalifah of Allah it has never been the case that he was naked, filthy, etc.

It should be noted, if someone says that Adam (Alayhi as-Salaam) could have been a hominid who was ensouled and made dignified as a human, the truth is that no naturalist scientist will take this seriously, for him the soul is either a delusional term or another name for naturalistic processes. Our response would then be to tell this person, why complicate things and forward a conjecture that no side accepts, rather accept the special creation of Adam (Alyhi as-Salaam) as is, and accept him as the father of mankind without biological predecessors. (After all, for the scientist, both the ensoulment view, and the view of Adam (Alayhi as-Salaam) having no biological ancestors, or of humans coming from a single pair, are all equally unscientific for him).

961.    People who are not totally absorbed in the mirror of extreme self-consciousness can achieve quite a lot, since the extreme doubts about the “image in the mirror” are minimized.

962.    (As mentioned) Today more than ever before we are a culture based on praise to an excessive level, so much so that Facebook or Twitter likes are what we seek, and more so when our ego has been attached to this – when we feel down we log on to our social media feed to see who has liked our posts.

963.    Islam was a civilization that brought out beauty from emptiness, rather than from clutter and an excess of things, as we see in our modern times.

964.    (As mentioned) Others praise us based on their Thann [assumption] of us, we should blame ourselves based on the Yaqeen [certainty] we have about our own faults.

965.    How do some clandestinely believe that human beings and man-made institutions are the Raaziq (providers of sustenance)? This is manifested when they take Haram money, since they fool themselves into thinking that this forbidden act is the only way for them to survive in the world, and that Allah and His Orders are not relevant, or are not relevant “anymore”. This, while Allah was the Provider in the beginning of Islam, as He is today, and will always be.

966.    (As mentioned) Liberals (as defined today) are all inclusive, yes, but about matters that really don’t touch values like skin color (qua color), ethnicity, gender, hair color, etc. But about values, they will many a times explicitly say that one is mentally deranged, should be canceled from society, etc., if their prime values are truly contested with them.

967.    (As mentioned) Why would the drowning or burning Muslim be like unto martyrs? Because in this very difficult time he remains firm and doesn’t ask: “O Where is Allah? How can a God allow this to happen to me?” If he is patient, then the reward for this Muslim is martyrdom.

968.    Arabs were vulnerable during travel, this is why they had the principle of protecting each other and each other’s tribes. This is one of the often overlooked aspects of Islamic history.

969.    (As mentioned) Allah helps the Muslims when they are put in a distressful situation and rely on Him, but leaves them on their own when they make their own choices and ignore Allah, even if they are in a similarly distressful condition.

970.    (As mentioned) All cures and solutions to our needs are in the Qur’an. Not finding them is due to our own spiritual weakness.

971.    Iman in Islam is based on differentiating the Hukm ‘Aqli and the Hukm ‘Adi (we can make a “leap of faith” with the ‘Aadat being broken for miracles, but for ‘Aqliyaat these are iron-clad realities, we base our Iman on submission of the soul to that which is necessarily known, in all its aspects).

972.    (As mentioned) When we are moving towards Allah, we are moving with Tawbah and Istighfar. If these stop, our journey stops, simple as that.

973.    We should be very wary of the modern tendency to amuse ourselves so much, to the point that serious issues are dealt with under 1 minute, whereas before people had to read and listen to things for hours, then carefully process them, and consider the matters in a nuanced way.

974.     (As mentioned) The Verse in Surah al-Anbiyaa about Allah not being asked, but the creation being asked is treating the issue first from the point of view of Absolute Haqiqah (i.e. absolute cosmological truth), then that of Shariah.

975.     Certainty may be categorized on various levels: That of transmission, of approximation, and of experiential knowledge (example of Makkah, the differences between hearing about it, travelling to it, then entering the Haram – all are forms of indubitable knowledge, but of various types).