islam

"Sulát-ul-Istikhára.—Prayers for success or guidance. The person who is about to undertake any special business, performs two rakʾat prayers and then goes to sleep. During his slumbers he may expect to have "ilhám," or inspiration, as to the undertaking for which he seeks guidance!"

"Shadab’s family sent the proposal, and it all happened in few days since I had decided to marry off my daughter early according to the religious teachings. Shadab’s mother came with marriage proposal and said she won't leave my house until I say yes and that even if someone is a beggar or a king, he has to find his daughter's match and get her married; it is also Allah's will. You do Istikhara (seek guidance from Allah through prayers) and I will also do Istikhara. Besides, Shadab always offers his prayers five times a day. I had closely observed him. He used to gather all of us for namaz, It took me two days to decide and I said yes to them within two days and the rest is history. I consider myself fortunate because I solemnized my daughter’s Nikah and that too on the day when there was complete blackout in Pakistan.”"

"Good things must be asked of Allah with all diligence, bad things cannot be asked of, and in all matters that have the potential or possibility of both good and bad, one must make istikhara."

"Istikhara (prayer for guidance) led me to Arsenal."

"Sobahan's father arrived the day after his son's wedding. There was no way to recognize him. A full beard and moustache. Long Babri hair reaching to his neck. When he combed it with a comb, lice would fall out from there. The size of those lice was also huge. He became very enthusiastic about killing lice. He started keeping track of exactly how many lice he had killed. For example, one day, a total of seventy-seven lice had died. This was the biggest record. He shared this news with a smile, as if it were his. A great success. He also expressed great enthusiasm about the marriage of his eldest son. He kept saying countless times that the girl was a very auspicious sign. He is said to have come running after learning about this marriage by praying for blessings. He was seen chatting with his daughter-in-law from time to time. He stayed for almost a year, then left again and was never found again. Farid Ali passed IA. He got admitted to the BA class and failed the BA exam on time. Sobahan passed the IA. He started trying to get a job in Dhaka city. He got admitted to college and eventually passed the BA without any further studies."

"There is a way to ask the dead. This is called Istikhara. You have to go to sleep after reciting prayers and supplications. You have to sleep in the north-south direction, keeping your face pure. Your face should be turned towards the Kaaba."

"Narrated by Hazrat Jabir ibn Abd-Allah al-Salami, he said, The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) used to teach us the rules of reciting Istikharah regarding our actions with the same importance as he would teach us a Surah of the Holy Quran. He used to say, "When one of you intends to do something (and is worried about its consequences), he should first pray two rak'ahs of voluntary prayer, then supplicate thus: O Allah, I choose You with Your knowledge and I seek Your guidance with Your ability, and I ask You of Your bounty, for You are the Knower of the unseen, O Allah, if You know that this is الأَمْرَ تسم تسميه بعينه خَيْرا لِي فَاجِلِ أَمْرِي وَآجِلِهِ قال او فِي دِينِي وَمَعَاشِي وَعَاقِبَةِ أَمْرِي فَاقْدُرهُ لي وَيَسِرهُ لي ثُمْ بَارِك لي فِيهِ, ALLAH وَإِنْ كُنْتَ تَعْلَمُ أَنَّه شَرٌّ لي في ديني وَمَعَاشِي وَعَاقِبَةِ أَمْرِي أَوْ قَالَ في عَاجِلِ امري وَآجِلِهِ, فَاصْرِفْنِي عَنْهُ عَنِّى], And He has ordained for me good, as He was, and then He has pleased me with it. Pronunciation: Allah-humma ibi astakhiruka biilmika a astakdiruka bi qudratika a asaluka min fazbalikal azeem, faynaka taqdiru ala aqdiru ata'lamu ala a'lamu a anta Allah-mul-guyub. Allah-humma in kunta talamu anna ha-zal amar ( ) khairul li li deeni a maashi a aqibati amri a a-jilihi a a-jilih, faqdurhu li, a yassirhu li, summa ba-rik li fih. O Allah! I ask You for goodness with Your knowledge. I ask You for strength and Your grace with Your power. For You have the power; I have no power. You know, I have no knowledge, and You are fully aware of the unseen. O Allah! In Your knowledge, this matter of mine (will list my needs) for my present and future life, or if it is good for my religion, livelihood, and actions, then decree it for me. Make it easy for me and bless it. O Allah! And if, in Your knowledge, this act of mine is harmful to my religion, my livelihood, my actions, or to my present and future, then turn me away from it and keep it away from me. Ordain for me good in all things and make me content with it.”"

"Imran did not woo the lady with romantic words or gestures like a conventional proposal. Reham was quite taken aback when Imran asked her what her parents names were and explained that he would like them to read the Istakhara or the special prayer before their wedding."

"I didn't talk much to Dadajan. He used to listen to the news on the transistor all the time. Sometimes he would go to the residence of a Pir Saheb named Hamid Qutubi, three miles away. He became a disciple of this Pir. When he couldn't hear the transistor, he would chant the prayers given by the Pir Saheb. Dadajan was terrified. His terror increased every day. He couldn't sleep at night. He would sit on a wicker chair on the veranda all night. One night, to know the future, he made istikhara. During istikhara, he saw a huge white bird with bright red eyes, come down from the sky, bite my hair and fly up into the sky. I was screaming, save me! save me! Dadajan, save me. Dadajan took a helicopter to save me. That helicopter was again being flown by a Pakistani pilot. He was shooting the bird with a pistol, as if he was flying a helicopter. No bullet hits the bird. It hits Avanti's cheek. Dadajan's Pir Hamid Qutubi interpreted the dream. Dadajan did not tell me what the interpretation was, but he became even more restless. All sorts of terrible news started coming from all sides. The military was bringing gunboats, burning houses, killing people indiscriminately, taking away young girls, all this. At one point, the military came to our area...."

"Miru put the sari on Auntie's head. Sultana said in a choked voice, will you marry Nasser? There is no need to say yes. If you remain silent, I will understand that you do not agree. - Auntie, sleep. So you have an opinion? Alhamdulillah. Miru said, you said if you remain silent, you will understand that I have an opinion. But I did not remain silent. I spoke. I said, Auntie, sleep. Sultana said, whether you like it or not, you will marry Nasser. I got this thing by praying Istikhara. - How did you get this thing? - Praying Istikhara. A method of knowing the future in dreams by reading prayers. - What did you see in your dream? In your dream, I saw you two eating rice from one plate. A big plate made of Chinese clay. - Does eating rice from one plate mean marriage? - Dreams of praying come like symbols. Symbols have to be interpreted. This is what comes in my interpretation. What is your interpretation? - My interpretation is that you sincerely want me to marry Nasser Sahib. You saw this thing in your dream because you want it. Wishful thinking to wishful dreaming. Aunty, did you fall asleep? Sultana did not answer. She really fell asleep."

"Lord creates and chooses whatever He wills—the choice is not theirs. Glorified and Exalted is Allah above what they associate ˹with Him˺!"

"So it was, as they were burying a man, that suddenly they spied a band of raiders; and they put the man in the tomb of Elisha; and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet."

"My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!"

"Then the Lord said to him [Elijah]: “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place."

"Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up the road, some youths came from the city and mocked him, and said to him, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” So he turned around and looked at them, and pronounced a curse on them in the name of the Lord. And two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths."

"When Elijah was enveloped in the whirlwind, Elisha was filled with his spirit. He performed twice as many signs, and marvels with every utterance of his mouth. Never in his lifetime did he tremble before any ruler, nor could anyone intimidate him at all. Nothing was too hard for him, and when he was dead, his body prophesied."

"(To Elijah, who had asked him what he could do for him before he was taken up into Heaven) Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me."

"Roy Tillman: Well, you don't get it, do you? This is the path I'm on. Starts at birth and it ends here. This isn't a trip to Starbucks on the way to the office. This isn't an idea. God cuts our names into bone and that's who we become. He blows His holy trumpet and the walls fall down. You all came here to find Lot's wife, but she's already a pillar of salt and she ain't turning back. So, go and live, or stay and die. It's up to you."

"Anybody who could turn Lot's wife into a pillar of salt, incinerate Sodom and Gomorrah and make it rain for forty days and forty nights has got to be a fun guy."

"Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her.” And Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a feast. Now it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter and brought her to Jacob; and he went in to her. And Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a maid."

"Irene: Hello, Archie! Archie: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Irene: I bet that means, "Who needs her around on my day off?" Edith: Archie didn't mean that... did you, Archie? Archie: Don't ever argue with a guest, Edith."

"And they blessed Rebekah and said to her: “Our sister, may you become The mother of thousands of ten thousands; And may your descendants possess The gates of those who hate them.”"

"Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die!”"

"Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her: “Two nations are in your womb, Two peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger.”"

"Every today is at the same time both a cradle and a shroud: a shroud for yesterday, a cradle for tomorrow. Today, yesterday, and tomorrow are equally near to one another, and equally far. They are generations, they are grandfathers, fathers, and grandsons. And grandsons invariably love and hate the fathers; the fathers invariably hate and love the grandfathers. Today is doomed to die — because yesterday died, and because tomorrow will be born. Such is the wise and cruel law. Cruel, because it condemns to eternal dissatisfaction those who already today see the distant peaks of tomorrow; wise, because eternal dissatisfaction is the only pledge of eternal movement forward, eternal creation. He who has found his ideal today is, like Lot's wife, already turned to a pillar of salt, has already sunk into the earth and does not move ahead. The world is kept alive only by heretics: the heretic Christ, the heretic Copernicus, the heretic Tolstoy. Our symbol of faith is heresy: tomorrow is an inevitable heresy of today, which has turned into a pillar of salt, and to yesterday, which has scattered to dust. Today denies yesterday, but is a denial of denial tomorrow. This is the constant dialectic path which in a grandiose parabola sweeps the world into infinity. Yesterday, the thesis; today, the antithesis, and tomorrow, the synthesis."

"Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die!”"

"For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all."

"God has a sense of ironic justice. To rid Jacob of his deceitful nature, God placed Jacob under Laban, a worse deceiver. To show me how insensitive and in fact merciless at times I had been to the weak, God placed me ‘under’ upset and – from my point of view – unforgiving brothers who would not give me any mercy or the benefit of the doubt, though I felt I had done so much for them through the years. I felt humiliated through shame and exasperated to the point of considering leaving the Lord. I learned that mercy expressed through kindness, forgiveness and gentleness – was not only God’s way to encourage and strengthen the weak, but the only path to keep a movement together. In all of these trials, my dear wife exemplified how one should love the weak by staying at my side with unconditional love."

"When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.""

"When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.” And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.” [...] The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground."

"Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed."

"Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba. And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs. Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, “Let me not see the death of the boy.” So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept."

"And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing. Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.” And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son."

"And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s relative and that he was Rebekah’s son. So she ran and told her father. Then it came to pass, when Laban heard the report about Jacob his sister’s son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to his house. So he told Laban all these things."

"And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed."

"(In response to the words of an angel: "Flee to the mountains, lest you be swept away!") So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.” Then Lot said to them, “Please, no, my lords! Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die. See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.” And he said to him, “See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there.”"

"For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)."

"Blessings are on the head of the righteous, But violence covers the mouth of the wicked."

"Now Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel Leah’s eyes were delicate, but Rachel was beautiful of form and appearance."

"When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. Then Leah said, “What good fortune!” So she named him Gad."

"And Lot's wife, of course, was told not to look back where all those people and their homes had been. But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human. So she was turned into a pillar of salt. So it goes. (pp. 21-22)"

"Yet even among theologians we note here and there a skeptical spirit in natural science. Early in the same seventeenth century [Par F.] Eugène Roger published his Travels in Palestine. As regards the utterances of Scripture he is soundly orthodox: he prefaces his work with a map showing... the place where Samson slew a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass, the cavern which Adam and Eve inhabited after their expulsion from paradise, the spot where Balaam's ass spoke, the place where Jacob wrestled with the angel, the steep place down which the swine possessed of devils plunged into the sea, the position of the salt statue which was once Lot's wife, the place at sea where Jonah was swallowed by the whale, and "the exact spot where St. Peter caught one hundred and fifty three fishes." As to natural history he describes and discusses with great theological acuteness the basilisk. ...about a foot and a half long, is shaped like a crocodile, and kills people with a single glance. The one which he saw was dead fortunately for him, since in the time of Pope Leo IV—as he tells us—one appeared in Rome and killed many people by merely looking at them; but the Pope destroyed it with his prayers and the sign of the cross. ...Providence has wisely and mercifully protected man by requiring the monster to cry aloud two or three times whenever it leaves its den. ...the same divine mercy has provided that the crowing of a cock will kill the basilisk. Yet even in this good and credulous missionary we see the influence of Bacon and the dawn of experimental science; for, having been told many stories regarding the salamander, he secured one, placed it alive upon the burning coals, and reports to us that the legends concerning its power to live in the fire are untrue. He also tried experiments with the chameleon..."

"Ne l'ordine che fanno i terzi sedi, | siede Rachel di sotto da costei | con Bëatrice, sì come tu vedi. (Dante Alighieri, Divina Commedia)"

"Sappia qualunque il mio nome dimanda | ch'i' mi son Lia, e vo movendo intorno | le belle mani a farmi una ghirlanda. || Per piacermi a lo specchio, qui m'addorno; | ma mia suora Rachel mai non si smaga | dal suo miraglio, e siede tutto giorno. || Ell'è d'i suoi belli occhi veder vaga | com'io de l'addornarmi con le mani; | lei lo vedere, e me l'ovrare appaga. (Dante Alighieri, Divina Commedia)"

"Then Israel journeyed and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. And it happened, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine; and Israel heard about it."

"And Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”"

"The next major figure in the Bible is Abraham, the spiritual ancestor of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Abraham has a nephew, Lot, who settles in Sodom. Because the residents engage in anal sex and comparable sins, God immolates every man, woman, and child in a divine napalm attack. Lot’s wife, for the crime of turning around to look at the inferno, is put to death as well. Abraham undergoes a test of his moral values when God orders him to take his son Isaac to a mountaintop, tie him up, cut his throat, and burn his body as a gift to the Lord. Isaac is spared only because at the last moment an angel stays his father’s hand. For millennia readers have puzzled over why God insisted on this horrifying trial. One interpretation is that God intervened not because Abraham had passed the test but because he had failed it, but that is anachronistic: obedience to divine authority, not reverence for human life, was the cardinal virtue."

"Orpheus' mistake wasn't that he turned and looked back towards Eurydice and Hell, but that he ever thought he could escape. Same with Lot's wife. Averting our eyes does not change the fact that we are marked."

"Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. 4 So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her [b]eyes."

"Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her.” And Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a feast. [...] So it came to pass in the morning, that behold, it was Leah. And he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served you? Why then have you deceived me?” And Laban said, “It must not be done so in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. Fulfill her week, and we will give you this one also for the service which you will serve with me still another seven years.” Then Jacob did so and fulfilled her week. So he gave him his daughter Rachel as wife also. And Laban gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as a maid. Then Jacob also went in to Rachel, and he also loved Rachel more than Leah. And he served with Laban still another seven years."