Benefits of Fasting during Ramadhan

Hi there.
Found this interesting piece about fasting during Ramadhan in a book Islam Spirit and Form by Osman Nuri Topbas.

1. In moderate hunger there is clearness of mind and heart; the memory is stronger. In the state of being overly full, there is forgetfulness and foolishness.

2. In moderate hunger there is gentleness of the heart. The heart benefits and takes pleasure form worship and supplication. With a full stomach the heart is insensitive and takes no pleasure in worship.

3. In moderate hunger there is softness of the hear and humility. Satiety produces insolence, conceit, pride and bragging.

4. In moderate hunger one thinks of the poor and hungry, whereas a man with a full stomach never remembers the poor and needy.

5. In moderate hunger, the appetite, needs and wishes of the animal soul are broken. When full the animal soul is strong and the desires find strength.

6. In moderate hunger the body is in an agile and aware condition. When full it feels sleepy and careless.
7. In moderate hunger, one feels ready to worship and give service to Allah. When the stomach is full one feels lazy and lax.


8. In moderate hunger, the body is healthier. Sickness disappears. overeating makes the body feel worn out and sick.

9. In moderate hunger the body feels light and spacious making, one cheerful.

10. In moderate hunger one feels more generous and ready to prodvide support for the poor with charity. On the other hand those who do not experience hunger at all, do not understand the sufferings of the poor. Also, for this, in the heat of the fearful Day of Judgment, the servant will come into a state of coolness and shade. Fullness produces a state that goes from stinginess to wasteful spending which leads to the destruction of the servant.

Happy Eid ul-Fitr to my Muslim brothers and sisters in Mindanao.

My Hope For Peace by Jehan Sadat

I love reading books with personal insights. Like this one, it seems we are talking with each other in one room while she was explaining her concept of peace in the Middle East, founded on his husband's principles on how to attain it. This can compliment your reading on Jimmy Carter's. The husband of the then President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, she now takes her stand in continuing the struggle to achieve peace in the Holy Land. As a woman, she emphasizes the significant role of women to play in the peace process. Jehan Sadat continues to share her hope for peace in the world because she believes this is attainable.

Mindanaoreader notes:

Weapons alone are easy for all men to have, yet claws alone do no make a lion brave.-Al Mutanabi

 Peace. This word, this idea--this goal--is the defining theme of my life.-p.1

Fear is a most effective tool in killing the soul of an individual---and a people.-Anwar Sadat.p23

Without the correct intention, a religious devotion is meaningless; with intention, even the most ordinary activity is transformed into an act of worship.p33

This seems a clear indication of something most Arabs know: a state shaped according to Al Qaeda's vision of Islam is profoundly unappealing, and the means by which they promote their agenda--indiscriminate murder--are unacceptable.p.43

If you have God for a friend and establish a bond of mutual love between you, you will always have peace of mind whatever the circumstances.p55

She believed in me when all others disbelieved; she held me truthful when others called me a liar; she sheltered me when others abandoned me; she comforted me when others shunned me; and Allah granted me children by her while depriving me of children by other women.-Hadithp.133

 If we women fail to support each other, choosing instead to retreat from the battle for our own emancipation, everything we have accomplished will fall into decay, and then, as we say in Arabic, "Only our own eyes will weep for us."-p.172

I will always hope for peace. I will always pray for peace. And so I say to you, As-salaam aleikum, Peace be upon you. p.190