Spirit | Minimalism | 1 minute- Reflections Ramadan 12

If you could tell your family just one thing before you die, what would it be? What would be your legacy? Of course, Professor Randy Pausch was happy about his worldly achievements as he looked back at life. Muslims too should be happy about their beneficial accomplishments that are sadaqa-e-jaria (ongoing charity). This video made me wonder, when you get to the end, how much spirit can you keep up? Most old people always talk about regrets- how they wasted their lives and now it's too late, they can't do too much about it. How much of my life am I wasting?

At the beginning of Ramadan, one of the two ceiling lights in my room fused off. Everyone at home knows what happens when a bulb goes off in my room. I start complaining how dark it is, how I can't read anything, and why aren't there any 100 watt bulbs of the right type at home??

Canadians have no idea what brightness at home means. Their houses are too dark, too yellow. Here in the Middle East, tube lights are used, and houses are brightly lit. There are lights everywhere! Most washrooms have 3-4 tube lights...

I decided I'm not going to bother my brother or father to climb onto a stool to change my bulb. For a change, I'd just try to last the month with only 1 light. This was I save more electricity as well (duh!)

I came across this post by Brad today on Achieve IT:

We simply have more stuff than we can possibly use. I’m speaking as someone who is as guilty of this myself. As I write this I look up at our fireplace mantel and see 11 candles in various candlesticks sitting there. They are not earth shattering attractive by any means — just everyday candles in candle holders.

Question: when is the last time we lit a candle in this house?

Answer: Hmmm… If I remember correctly we lit last year’s jack-o’-lantern. And even then it was on the front porch.

So there sits 11 candles and 11 candlesticks with almost no hope of ever being used. Why 11? Who knows? We probably had to candles up there at one point and someone decided we needed for. Then add on a gift or two or four and we were up to 8, 10 and then a big one in the center. Why? Because 2 candlesticks wasn’t enough. And more is better — right?

It's so true. If we look around us, we have way too many things. A friend once was given the advice, if you want to remove the clutter from your head, you have to remove the clutter around you first. Productivity gurus talk about the "100 items challenge"- where you cut his personal possessions down to 100 items. It's called Minimalist living.
Having fewer items around you helps you manage your time better. You're
Are you a minimalist? I'm a partial minimalist. I always get only what I need after a lot of thought and limit myself. But I still end up with a lot of things.

The Prophet (pbuh) was a minimalist. Aaisha (ra), his wife, said, “The mattress of the Prophet on which he slept, was made of leather stuffed with the fiber of the date-palm tree.”

Zen Habits talks about how you can do it. And speaking of productivity, I love the concept of Haiku Productivity!


Have you ever wondered what the value of your one minute is? Or, how much reward you can receive from Allah (swt) in one minute?
My mother and I started translating a small pocket book from Urdu to English. If you like figures, you'll love this.

The recitation of the Surah Ikhlas alone during the day or night in once gets you the reward of reciting 1/3rd of the Qur’an, as is established in hadith. If you recite it thrice, then you receive the reward for reciting the entire Qur’an.

• In one minute, you can recite Surah Ikhlas 12 times, which is equal to the reward of 4 Qur'ans.
• [4 x 30 = 120] If you do this consistently for a minute a day for a month, you earn the reward of 120 Qur' ans.
• [120 x 12 = 1440] - 1 year
• [1440 x 20 = 28800] - 20 years

And the reward for reading the Qur'an?

Next time think twice before wasting your precious minutes.