And your Lord inspired the bee, saying: "Take you habitations in the mountains and in the trees and in what they erect.
"Then, eat of all fruits, and follow the ways of your Lord made easy (for you)." There comes forth from their bellies, a drink of varying colour wherein is healing for men. Verily, in this is indeed a sign for people who think.
[16:68-69]

Did you know... 

FACTS ABOUT HONEY

	Honey never spoils. No need to refrigerate it. It can be stored unopened, indefinitely, at room temperature in a dry cupboard.
	Honey is one of the oldest foods in existence. It was found in the tomb of King Tut and was still edible since honey never spoils.
	Due to the high level of fructose, honey is 25% sweeter than table sugar.
	Honey is created when bees mix plant nectar, a sweet substance secreted by flowers, with their own bee enzymes.
	To make honey, bees drop the collected nectar into the honeycomb and then evaporate it by fanning their wings.
	Honey has different flavors and colors, depending on the location and kinds of flowers the bees visit. Climatic conditions of the area also influence its flavor and color.

	To keep their hives strong, beekeepers must place them in locations that will provide abundant nectar sources as well as water.
	In the days before biology and botany were understood, people thought it was a special kind of magic that turned flower nectar into honey.
		Honeybees are one of science's great mysteries because they have remained unchanged for 20 million years, even though the world changed around them.
		Bees have been producing honey for at least 150 million years.

	The true honeybee was not known in the Americas until Spanish, Dutch, and English settlers introduced it near the end of the 17th century.
	Did you know that bees have 4 wings?
	The honeybee's wings stroke 11,400 times per minute, thus making their distinctive buzz.
	A bee flies at a rate of about 12 miles per hour.
	How many eyes does a honeybee have? Five.
	The queen bee is the busiest in the summer months, when the hive needs to be at its maximum strength. She will lay about 1,000 to 1,500 eggs per day.
	In the cold winter months, bees will leave the hive only to take a short cleansing flight. They are fastidious about the cleanliness of their hive.
	Honeybees do not die out over the winter. They feed on the honey they collected during the warmer months and patiently wait for spring. They form a tight cluster in their hive to keep the queen and themselves warm.
	It takes 35 pounds of honey to provide enough energy for a small colony of bees to survive the winter.
	Honeybee colonies have unique odors that members flash like identification cards at the hive's front door. All the individual bees in a colony smell enough alike so that the guard bees can identify them.
	The honeybee is not born knowing how to make honey; the younger bees are taught by the more experienced ones.
	Some worker bees are nurse bees. Their job is to feed the larvae.
	A honeybee visits between 50 and 100 flowers during one collection flight from the hive.
	In order to produce 1 pound of honey, 2 million flowers must be visited.
	A hive of bees must fly 55,000 miles to produce a pound of honey.

	One bee colony can produce 60 to 100 pounds of honey per year.
	An average worker bee makes only about 1/12 teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.
		At the peak of the honey-gathering season, a strong, healthy hive will have a population of approximately 50,000 bees.
		It would take approximately 1 ounce of honey to fuel a bee's flight around the world.
	A Cornell University paper released in 2000 concluded that the direct value of honeybee pollination to U.S. agriculture is $14.6 billion annually.
	We should appreciate honeybees for their honey and pollination services. 80% of the pollination of the fruits, vegetables and seed crops in the U.S. is accomplished by honeybees
	Honey is the primary food source for the bee. The reason honeybees are so busy collecting nectar from flowers and blossoms is to make sufficient food stores for their colony over the winter months. The nectar is converted to honey by the honeybee and stored in the wax honeycomb
	The United States has an estimated 211,600 beekeepers.
	Honey contains vitamins and antioxidants, but is fat free, cholesterol free and sodium free!
	Not a spinach lover? Eat honey - it has similar levels of heart-healthy antioxidants!
	One antioxidant called "pinocembrin" is only found in honey.
	For years, opera singers have used honey to boost their energy and soothe their throats before performances.
	Honey is the only food that includes all the substances necessary to sustain life, including water.
	Honey has the ability to attract and absorb moisture, which makes it remarkably soothing for minor burns and helps to prevent scarring.
	Honey speeds the healing of open wounds and also combats infection.
	As recently as the First World War, honey was being mixed with cod liver oil to dress wounds on the battlefield.

	Modern science now acknowledges honey as an anti-microbial agent, which means it deters the growth of certain types of bacteria, yeast and molds
	Honey and beeswax form the basics of many skin creams, lipsticks, and hand lotions.
	Queen Anne of England, in the early 1700's, invented a honey and olive oil preparation to keep her hair healthy and lustrous.
	According to Dr. Paul Gold, a Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia, "people remember things much better after they've consumed glucose, a form of sugar found in honey."
	Honey is nature's energy booster! It provides a concentrated energy source that helps prevent fatigue and can boost athletic performance.
	Recent studies have proven that athletes who took some honey before and after competing recovered more quickly than those who did not.
	Honey supplies 2 stages of energy. The glucose in honey is absorbed by the body quickly and gives an immediate energy boost. The fructose is absorbed more slowly providing sustained energy.

Our Death Is No Novelty: How Prepared Are We?

Our Death Is No Novelty: How Prepared Are We?

I picked up my pen with an unusual reality pain in my heart which flows through my thought to remind myself first and then you of the inevitable journey that lies ahead of us. There isn't such a soul regardless of color, creed, background and nationality but it's travelling to that one ultimate destination; the hereafter, and the connecting flight is undoubtedly death with an inevitable stop over at the grave.

Allaah (swt) in His inimitable style issues a general and an all encompassing statement in an unequivocal terms in the third chapter of the Glorious Qur'an (Surah Al-Imran verse 185) that; "Every soul shall taste death. And only on the Day of Resurrection shall you be paid your wages in full. And whoever is removed away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise, he indeed is successful. The life of this world is only the enjoyment of deception (a deceiving thing)." I can conveniently say that the above verse echoes deep into the recesses of our hearts due to its familiarity but sadly has its reality provoke any change in us?

The world we live in today has turned into a glorified graveyard for one and all. We have opened up our eyes to that era in which the Prophet (Pbuh) said; "Time will pass rapidly, good deeds will decrease, miserliness will be thrown (in the hearts of the people), afflictions will appear and there will be much Al-Harj. 'They said; 'O Allah's Apostle! What is "Al-Harj?" He said, "Killing! Killing!" (Sahihul Bukhari; volume 9, Book 88, Number 183).

We are a living  reality of this prophesy of the last Messenger of Allah (Azza wajal), a reason good enough for others to embrace Islam because the accuracy of this prophesy fits us just like hands in a glove. Where lies the solution? Where lies it not?

Death is a living reality, a silent adviser and a hero that cuts off pleasures. In Tirmidhi shareef, on the strength of Abu-Hurayrah (RA), the Messenger of Allah (Pbuh) said; "Remember frequently the thing that cuts off pleasure, 'I.e. death'". Brothers and sisters in Islam, to think that we are going to live to see the sun rising tomorrow is the highest level of delusional comfort. Death is hovering above us and it takes a fool to consciously choose to remain oblivious of this fact.

Everyday I flip through the pages of our dailies, listen to discussions in the gatherings of both the young and the old, the poor and the rich, the leaders and the led and to my greatest amazement, nay a spiritual shock, majority of people seem to be focusing  their intellect, wealth, health and free time wholeheartedly on trivial worldly things; who's winning, who's loosing, what's the latest technology available, how and when to become this and these has left a clear vacuum of talks on self encouragement towards attaining the highest pleasure of Allaah. We are not calling for the extreme view of abandoning worldly life, Allaah asks us not to forget our share of the wealth of this world but not at the detriment of our hereafter.

Does it really matter if one achieves his material objectives; wealth, affluence, academic excellence, power, authority, fame and fortune but is totally oblivious of Allaah and how to discharge his duties to Him? Does death gives a preferential treatment to people base on their worldly achievements or their spiritual achievements? Qur'an and hadith have shown us that pious people are treated specially when the angels extract their souls not people steeped in materialism.

Allaah says; "O you who believe! Fear Allaah and keep your duty to Him. And let every soul look to what he has sent forth for the morrow (hereafter) and fear Allaah. Verily, Allaah is well-acquainted with what you do." Surah 59. A-Hashr; verse 18.

Have we really ever sat ourselves down to do justice to our thought pattern by guiding it through the path of death? Ever thought of that certain Day when the angel of death will appear to us in whatever condition he finds us in, either in luxury or pain and within splits of a second a recap of our years will flash through our minds? The good, the bad and the ugly moments? The moments of obedience and the moments of disobedience; the salat we abandoned and the salat we performed with a lazy attitude, the Qur'an we abandoned; the illegitimate wealth we amassed, the zina we committed; the usury we indulged in; the nudity we displayed; the alcohol we consumed; the time we wasted and the Islam we never took serious beyond words.

That time is coming when you and I will be no more. The Prophet (Pbuh) used to say; "In the evening, do not anticipate the morning, and in the morning do not anticipate the evening. Take from your health for your illness and from your life for your death." This was reported by Ibn Umar (RA) and authenticated by Imam Al-Bukhari.

There couldn't have been a more striking reality than the above hadith. Many that died had many plans they wanted to execute, had people waiting for their calls, but as it is with death; it comes ALL OF A SUDDEN.

And Allaah says; "When their specified time arrives, they cannot delay it for a single hour nor can they bring it forth." Surah 16. An-Nahl verse 61. 
Our life expectancy now averages 12hours due to the high level of insecurity and uncertainties in our societies; hence we should now be more inclined to those things that please Allaah more than ever. It's high time we re-wired our goals and objectives in life. We are here to worship Allaah, so it's only wise for us to think, say, act and advocate for good in the light of Qur'an and Sunnah (as was authenticated by our pious predecessors) with the sole aim of Allaah's pleasure.

Let it not be that death finds us in clubs, pubs, brothels, casinos, when signing that haram deal, nay in any act of disobedience but rather let's live a life of total submission to the Will of Allaah so that we die hopefully in the state of Eeman. Strive not to be among the people who's image Allaah painted thus;

"Until death comes to one of them, he says, 'My Lord, send me back again. So that perhaps, I may act rightly regarding the things I failed to do!." Surah 23. Al-Mu'minun verses 99-100

The time to act rightly is now, nobody dies while he anticipated it. Death has an amazing feature of being 'Just Sudden'. So prepare for the sudden occurrence by engaging in righteous deeds which comes second to true Tauheed in the Oneness of Allaah.

May my Kind Allaah grant us an enviable death, make grave our resting place and privilege us with a favorable decision in Akhir which makes us inheritors of Jannatul Firdaus.

adapted froml:  penabdul

Breaking news. Oscar Pistorius found guilty of manslaughter

Breaking news. Oscar Pistorius found guilty of manslaughter

Yesterday Oscar Pistorius was found not guilty of premeditated murder and second degree murder because according to the judge, his conduct after the shooting was 'inconsistent' with someone who intended to commit murder. But he has been found guilty of manslaughter this morning. The judge said he acted negligently when he fired shots into the toilet door. The question now is, will he be jailed for manslaughter?

*He was also found not guilty of the first firearm charge - (firing a gun through the roof of his car)
*He was found not guilty of the third firearm charge (unlawfully possessing 38 rounds of ammunition at his home without having a license).
*He was found guilty of the second firearm charge. He discharged a weapon in a public place, a restaurant called Tashas and asked his friend to take the blame. The judge says Oscar was sufficiently trained in the use of firearms, so should not have asked for a firearm in a public place

The judge said no one submitted that there was an intention to pull the trigger, but that does not absolve him of the crime of negligently handling a firearm. Will Oscar walk?

A COMMON STORY HAPPENING WITH SISTERS NOWADAYS...

A brother approaches a sister:- "hey, you seem to be a very good Muslimah, just as I imagine my future wife to be! I really want to know you
better before I take any step and ask for your hand in marriage!”

Sister, is this familiar to you?!
Well this is what many Muslim men are doing unfortunately on facebook or any other social network sites!!

ACTUALLY LETS SEE HOW IT START AND THEN WHAT HAPPEN...

A brother approaches a sister and makes her feel special, and that he really wants to marry her… Then he starts with her a forbidden relationship through the net because
he wants to “know her better” before taking the first step towards engagement! And when she reminds him about marriage, he starts giving her some EXCUSES as: "well let’s know each other more, we are still young for marriage" OR "honey! I am not ready for marriage for the
moment! I haven't finish my studies yet!” OR "marriage?!! But how can I provide you if I marry you? Wait till I find a good work, then we will get married!" OR "dear, I don’t know how to tell you this but my parents want me to marry my cousin… But of course I will "try" to convince them about our marriage!"

Dear Sisters.... Wake up!!! These are all LIES and excuses because he doesn’t want you actually! Many men are like him, when they will choose to get married they would let their mothers choose for them a girl who’ve never had a boyfriend… if someone really wants you, he would go to your house with no hesitation to ask your father/wali for your hand in marriage A good Muslim man wouldn’t approach the girl but her wali but if he is not ready for marriage, then he would fear HIS Lord and never let you face Allah’s Anger by your forbidden relationship!...

Open your eyes before its too late. No one plays with your heart until you allow them to do.