#hud-related obligations
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Why Do Extra Worship?
5 Advantages of Nawafil
The nafilah (pl. nawafil, Arabic for Supererogatory or Optional Prayers) is an exuberant Arabic term denoting manifold meanings foremost among which is the meaning of increase.
Technically speaking, nafilah means to perform an additional amount or number of the acts of worship (`ibadat) other than that which is obligatory upon the worshipper.
Remarkably, some people tend to think that nawafil are restricted to salah only. But, in Islam, each and every act of worship has its related obligatory as well as supererogatory acts.
Similarly, as salah has its supererogatory acts, zakah, sawm and Hajj have their own supererogatory acts as well.
It is a sign of the greatness of Islam that it ordains as obligatory the minimum amount or number of any of the acts of worship, leaving the door open for voluntary or supererogatory acts without limitation for the worshipper. It leaves the door open for noble competition, {…Then for this, let the competitors for Allah’s Pleasure compete!} ( Surah Al-Mutaffifun 83:26)
How inattentive the one who turns away from nawafil and only performs the fara’id (pl. of faridah; Arabic for obligatory acts of worship) is?!
In so doing, one actually deprives himself of the great goodness promised by Allah, the Almighty, to His worshippers who endeavor to get nearer to Him through performing nawafil.
By leaving nawafil, one will end up either neglectful of an obligation, or a perpetrator of a sin.
Actually, a Muslim needs nawafil to make up for one’s negligence and/or failure in doing what has to be done. Allah, the Almighty. says in the Ever-Glorious Quran what may mean,
{…Indeed, good deeds remove misdeeds. This is a reminder for those who would be mindful and reflect on this admonition}. (Hud 11:114)
However, some Muslims are heedless of the significance of nawafil and thus do underestimate them. If it happens that one asks any of these inattentive Muslims to perform two rak`ahs after Zuhr Prayer for example, he would answer him back as saying: It is only ‘supererogatory/optional’!
And, if you remind one of them as saying, you should observe fasting on the Day of `Arafah. He would then answer you back as saying: It is only ‘supererogatory/optional’!
These answers and the like suggest that the term “supererogatory” – in the eyes of that heedless Muslim – is equal to ‘not to do’. Indeed, this is nothing but great ignorance about the Prophetic Sunnah, its facts and functions and it is also ignorance about the many secrets and benefits nawafil have.
Nawafil: Secrets and Fruits
The two main sources of Islam are the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (SallAllahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam). We derive all religious knowledge from them and from them only we get to know what is lawful and what is not and from them we get to know the wisdom and secrets behind things, especially the acts of worship.
Below are some of the fascinating facts about the performance of nawafil as understood from the Holy Quran and the Sunnah:
First: Nawafil are an invincible fence designed for the protection of the fara’id and safeguarding them against weakness and/or imperfection. The one who maintains performing nawafil is believed to be much keener on performing the fara’id; and the one who neglects nawafil, his next move is expected to be neglecting the fara’id, Allah forbids!
Customarily, Satan first encourages one to leave and quit nawafil under the pretext that they are ‘not obligatory’. If Satan succeeds in this, he takes another move with the worshipper who has been misled and subjugated by his whims and whisperings.
The performance of nawafil is an indication that the fara’id are highly protected and well-maintained. It also indicates that neglecting the fara’id is very unlikely and that the worshipper who is keen on performing the nawafil is by definition much keener on performing the fara’id.
Second: Nawafil are to be used on the Day of Judgment in a way to make up for the shortage or defect in the performance of fara’id during a Muslim’s lifetime.
To clarify this, has anyone seen a man with a broken limb such as an arm or a leg for example?! After applying a splint to the broken member, it heals and gets sound as it was. Likewise, nawafil compensates for any shortcoming or blemish that may have affected the acts of worship or fara’id during one’s lifetime. This can be understood from the following hadith that reads:
On the authority of Abu Harairah (RadiyAllahu ‘anhu) from the Prophet (SallAllahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam), who said:
“The first of his actions for which a servant of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) will be held accountable on the Day of Resurrection will be his prayers. If they are in order, then he will have prospered and succeeded. And if they are corrupt, then he will have failed and lost.
If there is something defective in his obligatory prayers, the Lord (glorified and exalted be He) will say: See if My servant has any supererogatory prayers with which may be completed that which was defective in his obligatory prayers. Then the rest of his actions will be judged in like fashion.” (It was related by At-Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, An-Nasa’i, Ibn Majah and Ahmad).
Third: Since the deeds of human beings cannot be void of defects, shortcomings and/or forgetfulness, their performance of nawafil is considered to be a compensation for any of the former.
Indeed, some scholars deem nawafil as additional acts of worship only in connection to Prophet Muhammad (SallAllahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam).
Because his behavior, worship and morals have reached the maximum possible human perfection which has been destined by Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) for him and that he was the infallible Prophet (SallAllahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam) guided by Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) and preserved by Him from all evil.
They found an indication to this in the Holy Quran in Allah’s saying,
{Moreover, keep a Prayer vigil with it, reciting from its verses during a part of the night as an extra devotion for you. It may be that your Lord will raise you in the Hereafter to a lofty Station of Praise among all humankind}. (Surah Al-Isra’ 17:79)
Note the expression “for you” in the above ayah as it is – according to these scholars – an indication of restricting the basic meaning of the nafilah (which means increase or an additional thing) to what is performed (i.e., all acts of worship exceeding the fara’id) by Prophet Muhammad (SallAllahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam) alone and that any extra acts of worship done by any other Muslim is taken to be an expiation for sins and/or a compensation for any defective act of worship as is mentioned above.
In a comment on the above ayah in the Holy Quran: English Translation of the Meanings and Commentaries, the following is stated,
“This is held to be addressed specially to the holy Prophet (SallAllahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam) who usually prayed more than the five canonical prayers. The Tahajjud was a prayer after midnight, in the small watches of the morning.”
Fourth: Nawafil can be seen as a proof of true service to Almighty Allah. This is because any action should have a motive behind it. It is well-known that man naturally tends to have repose and relaxation.
However, what is it that makes one forsake his bed in the middle on the night? What is it that makes him leave his comfortable warm bed in the middle of a winter’s cold night to stand in prayer before his Lord?
It is longing and yearning for the pleasure of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala), the comfort one finds when he has confidence in Him, and the lights one enjoys when they are provided by Him.
Moreover, the constant performance of nawafil is illuminating evidence on the fact that a worshipper may taste the sweetness of the acts of worship and that he never finds them heavy or burdensome and that he realizes their deep impact in his present life as well as in the Hereafter.
Undoubtedly, one who constantly performs many supererogatory prayers, for example, proves that he has already tasted the sweetness of ‘communicating’ with the Divine. It also proves that one understands the meaning of standing before the Lord of the worlds.
Had it not been for all these, one would not have performed that great number of nawafil while he knows that these are not obligatory and that he would not be punished if he/she does not perform them.
Fifth: Nawafil can be seen as a sign of the worshipper’s desire to draw closer to Allah, the Almighty, and to seek His love. This elevates the worshipper to a lofty position with Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala); the position of the beloved! To be loved by Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) is much more important than being a lover to Him. Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) says what may mean,
{…a people He will love and who will love Him…}. (Surah Al-Ma’idah 5:54)
Allah Almighty made nawafil a way or a reason for reaching the position of the beloved as highlighted in the Qudsi hadith that is narrated on the authority of Abu Hurairah (RadiyAllahu ‘anhu) that the Messenger of Allah (SallAllahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam) said:
“Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) said: ‘Whosoever shows enmity to someone devoted to Me, I shall be at war with him.
My servant draws not near to Me with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have enjoined upon him, and My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works so that I shall love him.
When I love him I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes and his foot with which he walks.
Were he to ask [something] of Me, I would surely give it to him, and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would surely grant him it…’” (Al-Bukhari)
Sixth: One of the secrets of nawafil is that they are a wide open gate for gaining reward from Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) without any restrictions or limitations.
Amazingly, while some people never have enough of the ephemeral material gains of this present life, they intentionally turn away from the gains of the Hereafter.
Truly, a sane person is the one who strives for the Hereafter as if he is to die tomorrow and, simultaneously, equips himself with all necessary provisions for a very long journey. In this respect, Nawafil are to be considered as one of the best of all provisions and supplies.
They are a means of constant connection with Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) and a way of living under His protection. Allah says in the Ever-Glorious Quran what may mean,
{And duly establish the Prayer for My remembrance}. (Ta-Ha 20:14)
Therefore, let us increase our performance of nawafil so that Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) may shower on us of His mercy and grace for He is the Ever-Generous, the Greatest. Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) says in a Qudsi hadith what may mean,
“…And if he draws near to Me an arm’s length, I draw near to him a double arm’s length. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him at speed.” (Sahih Al-Bukhari)
_________
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I hope you enjoy the above image. I entered some text into an AI image generator to "make" it.
and now, a story:
In 2019, I began working on a solar energy array to be installed on a property in Queens NY. The site was being developed as a low-income retirement community, and the developer was interested in adding a renewable energy system to the project.
The Brooklyn-based solar install company I was working for was selected to be the installer because the developer had an existing relationship with the solar company. But the developer didn’t want to run the solar scope, instead they made us be a subcontractor to the GC for all the work at the site.
This meant that the solar work had to be performed in compliance with the GC’s rules and requirements, as well as their obligations to all other parties in the Prime agreement.
Turns out there was a tinsy bit of federal HUD money funding the project (in addition to private equity and a couple big banks) which meant the project was subject to a whole raft of federal regulations, including Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements. (D-B PW)
Now, the solar company and I had experience with PW jobs, but not like this.
The GC’s labor compliance department had someone onsite every day tracking our guys clocking in and out, watching them take their breaks, and noting the various tasks they were performing.
Our payroll people had to submit certified payroll reports to the GC’s labor compliance people every week (we actually had to go from biweekly payroll to weekly for the whole company, because of this project).
Halfway through the install, we received a notice that some of the guys were doing work that fell under the ironworker classification in the D-B PW rates schedule.
What?!
The labor people thought they were doing the best job they could do in classifying the tasks they were seeing. Our guys spent 2 weeks bolting L-feet and aluminum extruded solar racking rail to the roof decking. Because the hardware was called “rail”, the labor people decided that our guys had to be paid like ironworkers.
This “opinion” and the resulting math meant that our crew of 5, working 8 hrs days, should have been paid $78 per hr, not $52. Suddenly, we had $10,000 in exposure to the GC related to labor underpayment. The GC was going to withhold this amount from payment to us for scope completed, unless we paid our guys the proper amount.
Well, we set about to correct the perception that ironworker was the correct classification.
This took a lot of research into the minutiae of the D-B PW regs, and more that a ridiculous amount of explanation about what solar rail is and how it is installed.
While we were able to make 'ironworker' go away, we weren’t in the clear. These classification issues and the related exposures would persist throughout the project.
Following Mechanical Completion, and on our way to Substantial, we got some bad news.
We had been paying our electricians $62 per hr for the work on the DC side of the inverters:
- Opening pallets, moving modules, bolting them to the racking, connecting the MC4s, terminating homerun wires, wire management, etc.
Labor compliance sent a notice that the proper rate for electricians was $116 per hr.
This was a $53,000 problem.
Turns out that in NYC, the union (Local 3 IBEW) had an agreement with the city to define solar install work on the DC side. They had amended the collective bargaining agreement with the NYC DOL in the last couple of years. The text defined the work and determined the proper rate was to be $62 per hr. That was the rate we were using.
But the federal DOL didn’t recognize this classification. In the D-B PW classification list, they only have one bucket for “Electrician”, and the rate is $116.
We were using the wrong PW rate schedule. The one we had always used in NYC wasn’t valid here. We had bid the project with a labor cost assuming NYC PW rates.
We went back to the contract documents, and sure enough, there was an exhibit that called out the Federal PW schedule.
This was a big problem.
We told the GC about the local PW rate, and why we were “underpaying” our guys. The GC realized the pain we were in, and offered to poke around to see if there was something that could be done. The GC told some contacts they had in the housing department in NYC.
The amazing housing people on Gold Street in NYC said they would support us in a petition to the Federal DOL to look at the situation and request a formal decision on the proper rate for this work.
We prepared the proper paperwork, and a letter outlining the situation. We even supplied, as an exhibit, the Local 3 amendment to the CBA that defines the solar install work and gives the rate.
Our letter basically said, “Hey DOL, there are over 250,000 people working in solar in the USA, and you don’t have a labor classification for the work they do. This labor rate for Electrician that you have covers all kinds of complicated work where knowledge of code is critical and the workers need training in using specialty tools. Solar is kinda more like putting sheets of plywood down on rafters and then running extension cords. It seems reasonable to take the position that you should recognize this other type of work as distinct and assign it a reasonable rate. Look, even the IBEW here in NYC acknowledges this. They already picked a rate. Can we pay our guys that number? “
The DOL wrote back, “Nope.”
We appealed.
They took another look at the situation and reported back. At this point, the project was almost done, and the GC was holding onto a lot of money that was requested in our G702 payment applications.
I have read that letter the DOL sent dozens of times (it is written in English), and I still do not understand their reasoning. But they did declare that they performed a work task analysis and evaluated the market conditions for similar comparable tasks in the trades. They even interviewed reps at the relevant unions to help constrain the range for the proper rate.
They arrived to a rate that complied with the federal rules related to how DOL runs this kind of analysis. They said we had to pay our people $84 per hr.
This wasn’t $57 per hr, and so we still had an underpayment issue. But it made the $53,000 problem into a $21,000 one.
Our contacts at NYC housing said this was a huge victory and we should be really proud of ourselves.
So now, whenever we bid a PW project in NYC, we ask to see the rate schedule, and we triple check to see if it is NYC PW rates, or Federal rates.
When it is Federal rates, we price our elec labor at $84 per hour ( we like living on the edge).
Then we get the notice of underpayment halfway through the project, with the citation that D-B PW says electricians should get $116 per hr.
Then we initiate a rate classification inquiry to the DOL, and we submit the letter we got from DOL in 2022 as an exhibit. “Hey, remember when you did a study on this exact matter and arrived to $84 per hr?” So far, it has worked out in our favor a couple times.
Our crew loves working on those jobs.
Sometimes, I wonder what the difference is between open shop rates, and local PW rates, and federal rates for other geographies.
I even once suggested to SEIA that they investigate this. Maybe in Southern California or Georgia or Illinois the difference between the federal D-B PW rate for electricians isn’t so high as in NYC. But maybe it is high enough that petitioning the DOL to make a bucket for solar installation would result in a few of millions of dollars in labor cost savings across dozens of projects. Reducing project costs by that kind of money would increase the amount of solar installed every year in this county.
I guess there just aren’t that many projects elsewhere in the states that are subject to federal D-B PW rates. Oh well.
Which brings me to “photovolfaic”
The original letter we got from DOL responding to our rate classification inquiry contained this typo in the critical section naming the Proposed Classification. The second letter from them referred to the first, so they used the same term. All subsequent letters and official correspondence from DOL have referred to the proposed classification as:
“Electrician-Solar Photovolfaic Systems”
( I guarantee that our original SF-1444 form sent to DOL contained the proper spelling in the field for “Proposed Classification Title”. )
I once called my contact at DOL to try to attempt to correct the misspelling, while being humble about “photovolfaic” being an unfamiliar term to me. She was firm that I needed to honor the classification defined by DOL and referenced in their letters.
Therefore, I have preserved the use of the term as they spelled it in every following letter.
It’s pretty silly. But my engagement with them requires me to be deferential. The power differential in this relationship has me perpetuating their error.
I fear that this matter will escalate to some senior labor official in the White House and we will end up catching a clip of Joe Biden on CNN talking about growth in “photovolfaics”.
Anyway, my co-workers and I joke that it is actually a real word, traceable back to Olde Englisċ, perhaps originating in a draft manuscript by Chaucer.
This idea became an image in my head that I couldn’t shake. So, I URL’ed over to an AI image generator and now I have this memento of the hundreds of hours I have spent dancing with the DOL about how much to pay the guys who lay the glass.
I hope you like it. Have a sunny day
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Coverage of Real Estate Law
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An attorney who specializes in real estate is qualified to draft and examine purchase agreements, mortgage documents, title documents, and transfer documents.
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Disclaimer: This is not legal advice and is simply an answer to a question and that if legal advice is sought to contact a licensed attorney in the appropriate jurisdiction.
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Seeking Outstanding Mortgage Loan Advice? Start off In this article!
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Concept for (my) Doomguy + some headcanons/extra info below the cut!
A lot of the design (mainly the haircut currently) was inspired by one of @dukesnukes‘ Doomguy designs (specifically Buddy) - I wanted to go for something similar but without just being a straight rip-off if that makes sense??
Anyway uhh here’s some headcanons I have for him + his Praetor Suit
- His Praetor Suit is a bastard mix of Night Sentinel and Maykr technology, as well as his own handiwork; it’s specifically engineered to be “alive” in a very weird way. A lot of the machinery + circuitry is “organic” in that it strongly resembles organic tissues like muscle fibers, nerves, and blood vessels.
- Speaking of the Praetor Suit; it’s an obligate carnivore. Kind of, sort of. It’s not really “alive” in the sense that it’s a straight-up animal or biological organism, but mainly because it’s built to be able to “feed” upon the essence of slain demons, by repurposing their residual energy into physical matter. Which in turn is put to use as ammo for his weapons, and as energy “armor plates” to further reinforce itself.
- Much of the functionality is controlled via brainwaves since it’s more or less directly connected to Doomguy’s nervous system via a neural port at the base of the skull. All he has to do is think it, and he can do stuff like activate parts of his HUD, or use his Flamebelcher. The suit does, of course, have manual controls, buttons, and clasps for when he needs to get out of his armor when the neural connection is severed for whatever reason.
- His eyes are brown-green, with small flecks of gold around them, as well as a glowing red ring situated around the pupil. The gold flecks + the red ring are a side effect of the Divinity Machine as well as being exposed to a fuck load of demonic + Argent energy over long periods of time.
- He has tapetum lucidum, which basically means his eyes have a membrane at the back to reflect light to help him see better. (Also be warned for eye/medical gore if you search up images of this.)
- He’s selectively mute, thanks to a combination to a lack of use/speech over a incredibly long period of time, as well as trauma induced by the Divinity Machine’s blessing. He CAN speak, but it hurts his throat rather quickly, so instead he usually speaks by either ASL or having VEGA speak for him. When he DOES speak, it’s incredibly hoarse and sounds almost monstrous.
- In his Original Universe (a version of the events of the OG Doom 1 + 2 + 64 that’s also mixed with the events of the Machinegames Wolfenstein games), Doomguy was originally just a normal human being. Although he did undergo extensive training to be some kind of unspecified Spec-Ops soldier, so he has an extensive amount of tactical knowledge that almost rivals that of a Spartan. He is also biologically related to B.J. Blazkowicz.
- Thanks to the blessing of the Divinity Machine, he’s basically a demi-god in terms of sheer physical strength and speed. TECHNICALLY, it’s really just advanced Maykr technology extensively augmenting his body, but due to the divine nature of the Maykrs, he is by extension divine himself.
- His name is Y’shua. Sometimes it’s simplified as either Yeshua or simply Joshua, whatever is easier for people to pronounce.
#musings#my art#also his name is an easter egg but I'm not telling you what it means :)#until it is done; y'shua blazkowicz
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Why Do Extra Worship?
5 Advantages of Nawafil
The nafilah (pl. nawafil, Arabic for Supererogatory or Optional Prayers) is an exuberant Arabic term denoting manifold meanings foremost among which is the meaning of increase.
Technically speaking, nafilah means to perform an additional amount or number of the acts of worship (`ibadat) other than that which is obligatory upon the worshipper.
Remarkably, some people tend to think that nawafil are restricted to salah only. But, in Islam, each and every act of worship has its related obligatory as well as supererogatory acts.
Similarly, as salah has its supererogatory acts, zakah, sawm and Hajj have their own supererogatory acts as well.
It is a sign of the greatness of Islam that it ordains as obligatory the minimum amount or number of any of the acts of worship, leaving the door open for voluntary or supererogatory acts without limitation for the worshipper. It leaves the door open for noble competition, {…Then for this, let the competitors for Allah’s Pleasure compete!} ( Surah Al-Mutaffifun 83:26)
How inattentive the one who turns away from nawafil and only performs the fara’id (pl. of faridah; Arabic for obligatory acts of worship) is?!
In so doing, one actually deprives himself of the great goodness promised by Allah, the Almighty, to His worshippers who endeavor to get nearer to Him through performing nawafil.
By leaving nawafil, one will end up either neglectful of an obligation, or a perpetrator of a sin.
Actually, a Muslim needs nawafil to make up for one’s negligence and/or failure in doing what has to be done. Allah, the Almighty. says in the Ever-Glorious Quran what may mean,
{…Indeed, good deeds remove misdeeds. This is a reminder for those who would be mindful and reflect on this admonition}. (Hud 11:114)
However, some Muslims are heedless of the significance of nawafil and thus do underestimate them. If it happens that one asks any of these inattentive Muslims to perform two rak`ahs after Zuhr Prayer for example, he would answer him back as saying: It is only ‘supererogatory/optional’!
And, if you remind one of them as saying, you should observe fasting on the Day of `Arafah. He would then answer you back as saying: It is only ‘supererogatory/optional’!
These answers and the like suggest that the term “supererogatory” – in the eyes of that heedless Muslim – is equal to ‘not to do’. Indeed, this is nothing but great ignorance about the Prophetic Sunnah, its facts and functions and it is also ignorance about the many secrets and benefits nawafil have.
Nawafil: Secrets and Fruits
The two main sources of Islam are the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (SallAllahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam). We derive all religious knowledge from them and from them only we get to know what is lawful and what is not and from them we get to know the wisdom and secrets behind things, especially the acts of worship.
Below are some of the fascinating facts about the performance of nawafil as understood from the Holy Quran and the Sunnah:
First: Nawafil are an invincible fence designed for the protection of the fara’id and safeguarding them against weakness and/or imperfection. The one who maintains performing nawafil is believed to be much keener on performing the fara’id; and the one who neglects nawafil, his next move is expected to be neglecting the fara’id, Allah forbids!
Customarily, Satan first encourages one to leave and quit nawafil under the pretext that they are ‘not obligatory’. If Satan succeeds in this, he takes another move with the worshipper who has been misled and subjugated by his whims and whisperings.
The performance of nawafil is an indication that the fara’id are highly protected and well-maintained. It also indicates that neglecting the fara’id is very unlikely and that the worshipper who is keen on performing the nawafil is by definition much keener on performing the fara’id.
Second: Nawafil are to be used on the Day of Judgment in a way to make up for the shortage or defect in the performance of fara’id during a Muslim’s lifetime.
To clarify this, has anyone seen a man with a broken limb such as an arm or a leg for example?! After applying a splint to the broken member, it heals and gets sound as it was. Likewise, nawafil compensates for any shortcoming or blemish that may have affected the acts of worship or fara’id during one’s lifetime. This can be understood from the following hadith that reads:
On the authority of Abu Harairah (RadiyAllahu ‘anhu) from the Prophet (SallAllahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam), who said:
“The first of his actions for which a servant of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) will be held accountable on the Day of Resurrection will be his prayers. If they are in order, then he will have prospered and succeeded. And if they are corrupt, then he will have failed and lost.
If there is something defective in his obligatory prayers, the Lord (glorified and exalted be He) will say: See if My servant has any supererogatory prayers with which may be completed that which was defective in his obligatory prayers. Then the rest of his actions will be judged in like fashion.” (It was related by At-Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, An-Nasa’i, Ibn Majah and Ahmad).
Third: Since the deeds of human beings cannot be void of defects, shortcomings and/or forgetfulness, their performance of nawafil is considered to be a compensation for any of the former.
Indeed, some scholars deem nawafil as additional acts of worship only in connection to Prophet Muhammad (SallAllahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam).
Because his behavior, worship and morals have reached the maximum possible human perfection which has been destined by Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) for him and that he was the infallible Prophet (SallAllahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam) guided by Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) and preserved by Him from all evil.
They found an indication to this in the Holy Quran in Allah’s saying,
{Moreover, keep a Prayer vigil with it, reciting from its verses during a part of the night as an extra devotion for you. It may be that your Lord will raise you in the Hereafter to a lofty Station of Praise among all humankind}. (Surah Al-Isra’ 17:79)
Note the expression “for you” in the above ayah as it is – according to these scholars – an indication of restricting the basic meaning of the nafilah (which means increase or an additional thing) to what is performed (i.e., all acts of worship exceeding the fara’id) by Prophet Muhammad (SallAllahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam) alone and that any extra acts of worship done by any other Muslim is taken to be an expiation for sins and/or a compensation for any defective act of worship as is mentioned above.
In a comment on the above ayah in the Holy Quran: English Translation of the Meanings and Commentaries, the following is stated,
“This is held to be addressed specially to the holy Prophet (SallAllahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam) who usually prayed more than the five canonical prayers. The Tahajjud was a prayer after midnight, in the small watches of the morning.”
Fourth: Nawafil can be seen as a proof of true service to Almighty Allah. This is because any action should have a motive behind it. It is well-known that man naturally tends to have repose and relaxation.
However, what is it that makes one forsake his bed in the middle on the night? What is it that makes him leave his comfortable warm bed in the middle of a winter’s cold night to stand in prayer before his Lord?
It is longing and yearning for the pleasure of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala), the comfort one finds when he has confidence in Him, and the lights one enjoys when they are provided by Him.
Moreover, the constant performance of nawafil is illuminating evidence on the fact that a worshipper may taste the sweetness of the acts of worship and that he never finds them heavy or burdensome and that he realizes their deep impact in his present life as well as in the Hereafter.
Undoubtedly, one who constantly performs many supererogatory prayers, for example, proves that he has already tasted the sweetness of ‘communicating’ with the Divine. It also proves that one understands the meaning of standing before the Lord of the worlds.
Had it not been for all these, one would not have performed that great number of nawafil while he knows that these are not obligatory and that he would not be punished if he/she does not perform them.
Fifth: Nawafil can be seen as a sign of the worshipper’s desire to draw closer to Allah, the Almighty, and to seek His love. This elevates the worshipper to a lofty position with Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala); the position of the beloved! To be loved by Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) is much more important than being a lover to Him. Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) says what may mean,
{…a people He will love and who will love Him…}. (Surah Al-Ma’idah 5:54)
Allah Almighty made nawafil a way or a reason for reaching the position of the beloved as highlighted in the Qudsi hadith that is narrated on the authority of Abu Hurairah (RadiyAllahu ‘anhu) that the Messenger of Allah (SallAllahu ‘alaihi wa Sallam) said:
“Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) said: ‘Whosoever shows enmity to someone devoted to Me, I shall be at war with him.
My servant draws not near to Me with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have enjoined upon him, and My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works so that I shall love him.
When I love him I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes and his foot with which he walks.
Were he to ask [something] of Me, I would surely give it to him, and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would surely grant him it…’” (Al-Bukhari)
Sixth: One of the secrets of nawafil is that they are a wide open gate for gaining reward from Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) without any restrictions or limitations.
Amazingly, while some people never have enough of the ephemeral material gains of this present life, they intentionally turn away from the gains of the Hereafter.
Truly, a sane person is the one who strives for the Hereafter as if he is to die tomorrow and, simultaneously, equips himself with all necessary provisions for a very long journey. In this respect, Nawafil are to be considered as one of the best of all provisions and supplies.
They are a means of constant connection with Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) and a way of living under His protection. Allah says in the Ever-Glorious Quran what may mean,
{And duly establish the Prayer for My remembrance}. (Ta-Ha 20:14)
Therefore, let us increase our performance of nawafil so that Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) may shower on us of His mercy and grace for He is the Ever-Generous, the Greatest. Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) says in a Qudsi hadith what may mean,
“…And if he draws near to Me an arm’s length, I draw near to him a double arm’s length. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him at speed.” (Sahih Al-Bukhari)
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ISLAM 101: 5 PILLARS OF ISLAM: ALMS AND CHARITY: VIRTUES OF ZAKAT:
DID ZAKAT EXIST IN RELIGIONS PRIOR TO ISLAM?
Past prophets have also been under obligation to take humankind by the hand and show all the roads leading to physical and spiritual ascension; thus, they too have shown the precious path of zakat as part of a primordial effort to diminish class differences in societies and to provide a judicious and blissful lifestyle remote from detrimental excessiveness. By virtue of providing examples of previous Prophetic applications, the Qur’an does much to put the accent on this mission. Following a brief reference in the Qur’an to the prophets Abraham, Isaac and Jacob comes the following declaration:
And We made them leaders to guide people in accordance with Our command: We inspired in them acts of virtue, the establishment of salat and payment of zakat. They were worshippers of Us. (Anbiya 21:73)
In reference to Prophet Ishmael, the matchless significance of salat and zakat as the primordial existence of alms as an essential component of worship is underlined from early on: “He used to enjoin his people salat and zakat, and was acceptable in the sight of his Lord” (Maryam 19:55).
Salat and zakat, in actual fact, are the common denominators of all monotheistic religions, where salat and zakat, after belief in the Oneness of God, form the very core of worship. In fact, salat and zakat are, or at least were, essential characteristics of all of the great religions of the world, those guided by a long line of prophets sent by God since the dawn of humankind, despite the fact that current forms of worship in some faith communities may vary in outward appearance. In support of this, the Qur’an, adamantly states:
They were ordered no more than to worship God with sincere devotion, to honestly establish salat and give zakat. And that is the Standard Religion.” (Bayyina 98:5)
The following verse, which provides insight into how the people of Midian first received teachings of Prophet Jethro (Shuayb) teachings about obligatory zakat, bears testimony to its practice in preceding times:
In sarcasm, they said, “O Jethro! Does your salat command you that we should abandon what our forefathers worshipped or that we should cease doing what we like with our property? Conversely, you are pleasant and right- minded.” (Hud 11:87)
The Midians’ apprehension at being compelled to cease doing what they liked with their properties denotes, almost certainly, a remonstration againstzakat. The people of the Midian, who evidently had complete appreciation for the altruistic Jethro, still could not get themselves to accept or follow Jethro’s brave attempts to encourage them to perform proper salat or give zakat; branding him instead as an instigator, and a rebel. As is the usual case with similar public dissentions, the people of Midian had a ready scapegoat for giving full vent to their frustrations about the obligation of zakatwhich was, as can be seen, salat itself.
Even though the Qur’an does not explain, literally, whether or not each prophet carried the duty of imposing zakat, it is highly possible to argue for its primordial existence through the i d e a l notion of peace, the humane spirit of assistance and support represented and accentuated by each Messenger, beginning with the Prophet Adam, and the Qur’anic references discussed above.
In addition, despite having their initial contents altered, the Torah and the Bible still include many passages which support the proposition that zakatactually predates Islam. As no revelations prior to Muhammad %(upon whom be peace) have survived to this day in their original forms, a fact supported even among Jewish and Christian scholars, the sole, authoritative point of reference in this argument remains the Qur’an itself. Additionally, it is worth noting that the Qur’an stresses zakat was enjoined as a duty on Jews and Christians, as well, not just on Muslims, as the textual references to the Qur’an which are included below will clearly demonstrate. Likewise, an analysis of the Torah and the Bible provides fascinating similarities and conformities with Islam’s all-embracing concept of zakat.
CAN YOU PROVIDE INFORMATION ABOUT
ZAKAT
IN JUDAISM?
The Qur’an generally tends to speak of the Jews as somewhat “skaters on thin ice,” underlining their preponderantly neglectful attitude concerning their religious responsibilities and periodically provides us a detailed account of what exactly those responsibilities were:
And (remember) when We made a covenant with the Children of Israel, We said; “Serve none but God, show kindness to your parents and to your relatives, to the orphans and the needy; speak kindly to humankind, establish the prayer and pay the zakat. But with the exception of a few, you turned away and paid no heed. (Baqara 2:83)
Zakat along with salat is sternly recommended as a requirement for divine acquittal for their transgressions:
God made a covenant of old with the Children of Israel, and We raised among them twelve chieftains, and God said: “I am with you. If you establishsalat and pay the zakat, and believe in My Messengers and support them, and lend to God a goodly loan, surely I shall remit your sins, and surely I shall admit you into gardens beneath which rivers flow. Whosoever among you disbelieves after this has gone astray from a straight path.” (Maida 5:12)
And in spite of undergoing multiple amendments, the current text of the Torah still grants us glimpses of the spirit of zakat, grounded on the relations between the rich and the poor:
Jehovah has not despised or been disgusted with the plight of the oppressed one. He has not hidden His face from that person. Jehovah heard when that oppressed person cried out to Him for help. (Psalms 22:24)
When you help the poor (needy) (lowly) (depressed) you lend to Jehovah. He will pay you back. (Proverbs 19:17)
He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker. He who has mercy for the poor honors his Maker. (Proverbs 14:31)
This is what you must do whenever there are poor Israelites in one of your cities in the land that Jehovah your God is giving you. Be generous to these poor people. Freely lend them as much as they need. Never be hardhearted and stingy with them. When the seventh year, the year when payments on debts are canceled, is near, you might be stingy toward poor Israelites and give them nothing. Be careful not to think these worthless thoughts. The poor will complain to Jehovah about you, and you will be condemned for your sin. Give the poor what they need, because then Jehovah will make you successful in everything you do. (Deutoronomy 15:7-12)
He who gives to the poor will not lack. But he who hides his eyes will have many curses. (Proverbs 28:27)
And if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom will be like midday. (Isaiah 58:10)
He who gets ahead by oppressing the poor and giving to the rich will certainly suffer loss. (Proverbs 22:16)
It is certainly easy, by and large, to draw a connection between the above verses and many Qur’anic passages, not to mention the conspicuously striking similarities between some. It is these considerable parallels that lead us to the conclusion that the ideas and instructions all stem from the same source, God, and that the essential issues concerning humankind have, quite surprisingly, undergone very little change despite human’s apparent weakness as a transmitter over time.
One further point deserves mention. The above quotations gathered from the Torah, as well as the upcoming Biblical passages, are from current versions of the texts which have, as is widely accepted and was noted above, been partially or predominantly altered, though the exact extent and manner in which such changes have been brought to these ancient scriptures is a matter for debate. A tentative and prudent approach to the current versions is thus the correct attitude, as recommended wisely by the Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be peace) himself:
When the People of the Book utter a narration, do not agree nor disagree with them, but say, “We only believe in God and His Messengers.” This way, concurrence is avoided if they speak lies, and denial is avoided provided that they speak the truth.48
IS THERE INFORMATION ABOUT
ZAKAT
IN CHRISTIANITY?
The situation in Christianity is no different, for the Prophet Jesus, while still in the cradle, utters the duties obliged onto him by God in the following manner:
(Whereupon) he (the baby) spoke out: “I am indeed a servant of God. He has given me the Scripture and has appointed me a prophet. And He has made me blessed whereever I may be and has commanded me to pray and to give alms to the poor as long as I live. And (He) has made me dutiful to my mother and has not made me oppressive, wicked. So peace be upon me the day I was born and the day that I die and the day that I shall be raised up to life (again).” (Maryam 19:30-33)
Considering the fact that the Bible predominantly focuses on ethical issues, a jurisprudential adherence to the Torah, so to speak, was a social necessity. Nonetheless, there are copious Biblical verses which themselves allude to zakat and sadaqa. The following passages may throw light on this discussion; of course, the possible alterations to these passages must be kept in mind:
Be careful! Do not display your righteousness (good works) before men to be noticed by them. If you do, you will have no reward with your heavenly Father. Do not loudly announce it when you give to the poor. The hypocrites do this in the houses of worship and on the streets. They do this to be praised by men. Believe me, they have already been paid in full. When you give charity, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. (Matthew 6:1-3)
He looked at him and was afraid. “What is it, Lord?” he replied. The angel said: “God hears your prayers and sees your gifts of mercy. (Acts 10:4)
He said: Cornelius, your prayer is heard and your gifts of mercy are noticed in the sight of God. (Acts 10:31)
Jesus then replied: “If you wish to be complete, go sell your possessions and give the money to the poor. You will have wealth in heaven. Then follow me!” But hearing these words, the young man went away grieving, for he was very wealthy. Jesus said to his disciples: “Truly I tell you, it is hard for a man with much money to go into the kingdom of heaven. Again I say, it is eas ier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a man with much money to go into the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:21-24)
Sell your possessions and give to charity. Make yourselves purses that do not get old, a treasure in heaven where moth and rest cannot corrupt and thieves cannot steal. (Luke 12:33)
And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, I gain nothing. (Corinthians 13:3)
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy and faith. You should do both and leave nothing undone. (Matthew 23:23)
It is thus quite possible to, again, draw connections between the Qur’an and Hadith, on the one hand, and many Biblical passages. The level of conspicuous similarities between the above texts accentuates their unity of origin. Adopting this approach in scrutinizing the Torah and the Bible will, undeniably, offer us much more evidence culminating in the very same conclusion.
#islam#allah#god#muslim#quran#revert#convert#convert islam#revert islam#reverthelp#revert help#revert help team#help#islamhelp#converthelp#prayer#salah#muslimah#reminder#pray#dua#hijab#religion#mohammad#new muslim#new revert#new convert#how to convert to islam#convert to islam#welocme to islam
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⛔️ - How does your muse react to others breaking the law? If they would do it themselves, what is their reasoning? 📩 - Does your muse prefer to physically write letters or send them online? What is their reasoning?
(( For the thought-provoking headcanon meme ))
⛔️ - How does your muse react to others breaking the law? If they would do it themselves, what is their reasoning?
Nightsiren - Nightsiren has a very loose relationship with laws. They generally don’t break higher ones (like murder, aggravated robbery, major theft), but they’re pretty fond of breaking smaller ones (like loitering, public brawling, public disturbance of the peace, petty theft); they see the smaller laws as suggestions. They don’t really try to justify their action, but if they were put on the spot it would be something similar to “just having a good time” and “function is too short to be hampered by regulation”.
Nanostorm - Nanostorm is law-abiding. They stick closely to the law and follow it close to the book. If they are going to break a law, it will be with a heavy spark, but in the name of protecting their colony or doing what they think will protect their colony. That being said, they have the potential to accidentally commit a major crime if they do not keep a close eye on themselves; this is related to their [REDACTED] information in their bio.
Fireball - Fireball is performative when it comes to obeying laws. She knows the laws and regulations forward and backwards and exploits any bit of wiggle room or loopholes in them. Much like how she treats others by being sweet then threatening, she appears to be law-abiding while basically ignoring all laws. Murder? Fine. Armed robbery? Sound good. Detonating a complex? Sure. Trafficking parts? Yep. Sparkling-napping? What a lovely idea. Her reasoning for doing all this is it’s just business; it is her livelihood to do this. Not that she’d ever admit to doing anything; she’d hold that she was innocent of all accusations and ask for proof.
📩 - Does your muse prefer to physically write letters or send them online? What is their reasoning?
Nightsiren - Nightsiren isn’t a letter writing kind of bot. They prefer to tell others what they want to tell them in the metal. However, if they couldn’t gain access nor just shout it to whoever, they would be a physical writer over typing into a console/datapad or composing on their HUD as it is more personal. For example, Shamble has probably received a servo-written note telling him to do something unpleasant with his skid-plate for making racket when Nightsiren is recharging during their off-shift.
Nanostorm - For Nanostorm, it depends on the amount of time they have to spend toward it. Being Supreme Commander, they don’t normally have time for servo-written letters. They usually compose brief (and bluntly to the point) notes to others to be sent directly to their consoles or HUDs on their own console or HUD. Receiving a servo-written note (or even a typed datapad) from Nanostorm would be a sign of respect or affection as they took their “free time” to do it and most likely wrote and rewrote the letter several times before deciding it was ready.
Fireball - Fireball does not have time for servo-writing. She is a very busy femme with a “family business” to oversee, a “brother” to manage, and “family obligations” to meet. Fireball normally composes all her correspondence on an encrypted datapad through various shady means and with a set-up so messages do not linger as evidence.
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Purchasing HUD Home Foreclosures
Department of Housing and Urban Development, or, HUD home abandonments are appealing to financial specialists and home purchasers on the grounds that the cost of the house is naturally balanced if the home requires fixes or remodels. For instance, in the event that a home will cost the purchaser $15,000 to fix a property, at that point the HUD asking cost will be balanced descending to oblige the venture the purchaser needs to make to complete the work on the property.
HUD doesn't really fix the properties that it sells, rather, the purchaser is answerable for making all the fixes and redesigns required. HUD home dispossessions are essentially assessed and afterward sold at the present market cost.
At the point when a property is purchased from HUD, the home dispossession process is somewhat unique in relation to for other non-HUD home abandonments. At the point when the mortgage holder can no longer make installments on the property, at that point the Federal Housing Administration, or, FHA who governmentally guarantees the advance, pays the loan specialist the sum despite everything owed on the property. This makes HUD the new proprietor of the abandoned property. Learn more Hudhomestore
In the event that you are keen on purchasing any HUD dispossessions, at that point you can offer on them by working with a HUD endorsed realtor. The realtor will at that point show you the property. All offers must be submitted through the HUD affirmed realtor, and will be fixed and unopened until the finish of the offering time frame.
At the point when the offering time frame is finished, all the fixed offers are opened, and for the most part the most elevated offer will get the chance to buy the property. In the event that the first champ of the closeout offering doesn't finish the buy inside a predetermined time of normally 30 to 60 days, at that point the following most noteworthy bidder will at that point be offered an opportunity to purchase the property.
When offering on HUD dispossessions purchasers must provide sincere cash. HUD doesn't fund buys, so all purchasers must get their financing through a bank or other money related establishment. In the event that a purchaser causes an offer before they to orchestrate their financing, and afterward they win the closeout offering, yet gets incapable to pay for the property, they will lose their sincere cash. So a purchaser ought to consistently ensure they have their financing made sure about before making an offer on a property.
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https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/wayne-barrett-donald-trump-rudy-giuliani-peas-pod-article-1.2776357?outputType=amp&__twitter_impression=true
REMINDER: Trump has relied on Rudy Giuliani as a "fixer" ever since Trump bribed Rudy to kill a mob-related money laundering investigation into him 30 years ago.
The late Wayne Barrett wrote about their corrupt 30-year relationship in 2016:
Peas in a pod: The long and twisted relationship between Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani
By WAYNE Barrett | Published SEP 04, 2016 5:00 AM ET | NEW YORK DAILY News | Posted September 25, 2019 |
Let's start with the fact that Donald Trump's top surrogate, Rudy Giuliani, is on the payroll. In January, he joined a law firm, Greenberg Traurig, that represents Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Last year, the firm handled Trump's suit against the Florida city of Doral so his golf course could override noise regulations that barred him from bulldozing before sunrise. More recently, it handled Kushner's $340-million acquisition of the Watchtower properties in downtown Brooklyn.
When Trump paid a $250,000 fine in 2000 for secretly funding a million-dollar lobbying campaign against an Indian casino in upstate New York, he was represented by Greenberg.
Giuliani brought Marc Mukasey, the stepson of ex-U.S. Attorney General and lifelong Giuliani friend Michael Mukasey, with him to Greenberg; Mukasey is now representing legendary leg man Roger Ailes. Mukasey launched into a tirade recently against New York Magazine reporter Gabriel Sherman, calling the Ailes biographer "a virus" willing to "use any woman" to Weinerize the Trump debate adviser. His dad, who once branded Trump a "peril" to national security, delivered a Republican Convention speech the night after Rudy's screed.
This intertwine may or may not have something to do with why the Greenberg firm lets Rudy, one of its newest partners, hired early this year ostensibly to run a cybersecurity unit, travel the country with Trump, introducing him at rallies and fundraisers, challenging Hillary Clinton's health based on stuff he finds in corners of the internet, declaring her Clinton Foundation troubles worse than Watergate, wearing a "Make Mexico Great Again Also" cap, and helping draft policy speeches diagnosing African Americans for white audiences.
I even watched Rudy on TV, before one joint trip to Ohio, loading suitcases into the back of a Trump SUV in front of Trump Tower, the only baggage that slows him down.
Rudy has actually been more visible in his buddy's campaign than he was at times in his own $50 million presidential attempt in 2008, when he managed to convert the months-long top ranking in the polls into a single delegate. The imperial 2016 candidate who hates losers, especially ones who wind up in Vietnamese prisons, has instead embraced an epic dud, his solitary act of empathy in a campaign of callousness. He could've trashed Rudy like he did John McCain: "I like people who weren't caught with their command center down."
But the onetime comb-over twins just had too much in common. Though bombs-away hawks today, they got multiple draft deferments during the Vietnam War, with athlete Donald citing bad feet as his excuse and Rudy using an ear defect to sidestep his ROTC obligations.
Trump is now warning of a rigged election, invoking the image of Philadelphia blacks cheating at the ballot box and calling for voter suppression squads to "monitor" suspect precincts. Rudy said the 1989 mayoral election he lost was stolen and spent millions on suppression squads, dispatching off-duty white cops and firefighters to minority districts, when he won in 1993.
The two amigos also spark similar antipathy in Mexico, their latest joint destination — Donald for a mantra of insults, and Rudy for a multi-million-dollar anti-crime contract his consulting company won in Mexico City that flopped so badly the police chief declared he was "no fan" of Giuliani's. Rudy even tried to lend credence to the Trumpian fantasy that "thousands" of Muslims in Jersey City celebrated 9/11, quibbling only with the number.
Then there's the wife trifecta. No one in American public life, other than perhaps their kindred spirit Newt Gingrich, has ever mastered the art of a bad divorce like Rudy and Donald, carrying on as if spousal humiliation was the point.
Ask the kids. When Trump married mistress Marla Maples nearly four years after he walked out on Ivana, the three convention stars, Don Jr., Ivanka and Eric, didn't show up. Andrew and Caroline Giuliani made strained appearances at Rudy's 2003 wedding to Judi Nathan, but in 2007, both distanced themselves from their father's presidential pursuit, with Caroline Facebooking her preference for Obama, as close to the ex-mayor's heart as she could plunge the dagger.
Rudy's wife Donna found out he wanted a divorce when he announced it on TV, just as Marla had a couple of years before. Rudy then chose Mother's Day to alert the press that he would be having dinner with his new love and led the cameras on a 10-block walk with her after dinner, kissing her goodbye while his wife and kids simmered. His divorce lawyer declared "we're going to have to pry her off the chandeliers to get her out of" Gracie Mansion. Even Donald Trump was offended, writing an open letter to New York Magazine and urging Donna and Rudy "to sit down with each other in a room, without your lawyer, and see if you can settle this."
But Rudy was only following in the divorce-as-spectacle footsteps of Donald, who'd used the New York Post as his personal hammer a decade before, relishing in Marla's "best sex I ever had" headlines even as they horrified young Ivanka and Don. Trump told Newsweek the scandal was "great for business," and pushed Marla to seize on the opportunities it presented, including half a million to pose in "No Excuses" jeans.
He'd brought his mistress to the same Atlantic City boxing matches he brought his wife to, aboard the same helicopter, just as he'd set up Marla in a sparkling suite on the Aspen slopes while he was vacationing with his family. Young Don told his father then "you just love your money," a line he did not revive in his convention script. Ivanka, shocked by headlines on newsstands during her walk to school, just wept.
Rudy and Donald first got together in the late 1980s shortly before Donald became a co-chair of Giuliani's first fundraiser for his 1989 mayoral campaign, sitting on the Waldorf dais and steering $41,000 to the campaign. A year earlier, Tony Lombardi, the federal agent closest to then-U.S. Attorney Giuliani, opened a probe of Trump's role in the suspect sale of two Trump Tower apartments to Robert Hopkins, the mob-connected head of the city's largest gambling ring.
Trump attended the closing himself and Hopkins arrived with a briefcase loaded with up to $200,000 in cash, a deposit the soon-to-felon counted at the table. Despite Hopkins' wholesale lack of verifiable income or assets, he got a loan from a Jersey bank that did business with Trump's casino. A Trump limo delivered the cash to the bank.
The government subsequently nailed Hopkins' mortgage broker, Frank LaMagra, on an unrelated charge and he offered to give up Donald, claiming Trump "participated" in the money-laundering — and volunteering to wear a wire on him.
Instead, Lombardi, who discussed the case with Giuliani personally (and with me for a 1993 Village Voice piece called "The Case of the Missing Case"), went straight to Donald for two hour-long interviews with him. Within weeks of the interviews, Donald announced he'd raise $2 million in a half hour if Rudy ran for mayor. Lamagra got no deal and was convicted, as was his mob associate, Louis (Louie HaHa) Attanasio, who was later also nailed for seven underworld murders. Hopkins was convicted of running his gambling operation partly out of the Trump Tower apartment, where he was arrested.
Lombardi — who expected a top appointment in a Giuliani mayoralty, conducted several other probes directly tied to Giuliani political opponents, and testified later that "every day I came to work I went to Mr. Giuliani to seek out what duties I needed to perform" — closed the Trump investigation without even giving it a case number. That meant that New Jersey gaming authorities would never know it existed.
It's hard to watch Giuliani invoke his 14-year history as a federal prosecutor when he calls for Clinton's prosecution and square it with the seedy launch of his own relationship with Trump.
When Rudy was mayor, Trump hired the lobbying firm that included name partner Ray Harding, the head of the state's Liberal Party, whose ballot line had provided the margin of difference in Giuliani's 1993 election. Harding's firm quickly went from three lobbying clients to 92, and it steered the controversial, 90-story Trump World Tower, the tallest residential tower in city history, through three levels of Giuliani administration approvals despite loud opposition from community groups led by Walter Cronkite.
Both Harding and his son, a top Giuliani official, wound up felons. His other son, Robert Harding, a Giuliani deputy mayor, has long been a lobbyist at Rudy's current employer, Greenberg.
The Giuliani administration also wrote a 1995 letter of support to HUD for $365 million in mortgage insurance for Trump's Riverside South project, affirming that the Westside Yards site was in a blighted neighborhood, a contention so ludicrous that Donald had to eventually withdraw the application. A board of Giuliani appointees, pushed by Harding's firm, also approved renovations at Trump's 100 Central Park South, where Eric Trump now lives.
Rudy wound up a friend, speaking at Fred Trump's 1999 funeral, doing a grope scene with Donald in a 2000 Inner Circle skit, inviting Donald and Melania to his Gracie Mansion wedding and attending Trump's 2005 Mar-A-Lago wedding.
As aligned as Trump and Rudy appear, there are enough stark differences to make the embrace uncomfortable, at least if the blank-slate broadcast interviewers would do a search or two. When Mitt Romney ran against Giuliani, he said Rudy made New York a "sanctuary city," based on Giuliani's urging undocumented people to settle in the city. PoliFact found the assertion "true."
As mayor, Giuliani was the top Republican champion of the assault-weapons ban, sued the gun industry and called for "uniform licensing" of all guns, contending that the free flow of firearms into the city from unregulated states was killing New Yorkers.
Rudy was also one of the only elected pro-choice Republicans who even supported partial birth abortion. He's recently begun to perform same-sex marriages. He is, in all of these respects, an anti-Trump surrogate.
Yet Trump has said he might name Rudy to chair an immigration commission or to head homeland security. Trump apparently forgets that Rudy already gave us one homeland security secretary, his business partner and former correction and police commissioner Bernie Kerik, who blew up like a land mine before he could take office and wound up sentenced to four years in federal prison, partly for lying to the White House.
#trump news#ivanka trump#trumptrain#trump administration#donald trump jr#president donald trump#trumpism#trump scandals#eric trump#republican politics#politics and government#us politics#politics#rudy giuliani#impeach trump#impeachment inquiry now#impeachthemf#impeachtrump#impeachment#impeach45#u.s. presidential elections#u.s. news#u.s. government#u.s. department of justice#ukraine#trump crime family#trump crime syndicate
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Some Criteria for Warding Off Evils
QUESTION: What is the proper conduct for Muslims in the face of bad treatment and attitudes?
ANSWER: It is a known fact that grudge and hatred will only engender the same feelings in return. Responding to harshness and violence with the same will give way to vicious circles which nobody can escape; society will be struck by schisms and everybody will be lost in the turmoil. Therefore, the heart of a believer must be immense; he should be able to absorb even the most negative things, and struggle in such a way that redeems even those who commit evil.
Warding off in the best way
The Qur’an reveals what kind of an attitude Muslims are supposed to adopt in the face of bad treatment:
“These will be granted their reward twice over because they have remained steadfast (in following their religion, remaining free of falsehood, and so keeping themselves above all prejudices while believing in and following the Qur’an and Muhammad); and they repel evil with good, and out of what We have provided for them (of wealth, knowledge, power, etc.) they spend (in God’s cause and for the needy, and purely for the good pleasure of God without placing others under obligation)” (al-Qasas 28:54).
It is narrated that this verse was revealed about People of the Book, but the particularity of its cause of revelation does not eliminate the generality of the judgment. Therefore the verse addresses everybody, including believers in our time.
As it is understood from the specification, “because they have remained steadfast,” those who gain twice the rewards will be the ones who put up with mistreatment and torment, who virtually melt the troubles and misfortunes that befall them into fireworks, and thus present dizzying spectacles to people. By turning even the most negative happenings into positive ones, they respond to evil with the words, “and they repel evil with good.” They respond to evil with goodness and good things.
If the ugly and unpleasant treatment he receives causes a feeling of grudge and hatred within a believer who realizes the truth of this verse in his life, he tries to wipe away and melt this anger with a feeling of mildness and peace. He does this in accordance with the verse,
“...Surely good deeds wipe out evil deeds. This is advice and a reminder for the mindful who reflect” (Hud 11:114).
If a believer does something negative, and if this detracts from his worship and devotions, he immediately tries to eliminate the negative act with a consideration of atonement, and he also crowns this atonement by doing some good deed.
When a real believer commits some evil act, this pierces through his heart like a spear and triggers a bitter feeling inside him. If he commits something evil even with a single word, behavior, look, or allusion, he does some good deed to eliminate it right away and to erase the marks it leaves in his mind.
Such a behavior is actually a requirement of servanthood to God. In his advice to Muadh ibn Jabal, the noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, stated, “Fear God wherever you are and follow an evil deed with a good one to wipe it out, and treat people with good behavior.” As acts of goodness serve like spirals that ascend verbal deeds to God, they at the same eliminate evils. The end of the verse states that this is very important advice and a reminder for the mindful who reflect.
Actually, every positive behavior that erases evil from people’s minds is also a means for those evils to be erased in the Divine Presence. God Almighty’s mercy requires that those negatives not turn into a means of trouble, tribulation, and inner suffering in the next world. In the realm of infinite blessings, unlimited bestowals, and everlasting graces, it will be a means of inner suffering for a believer to think, “I should not have done this disrespect against my religion, Prophet, and essential values.” For this reason, as a manifestation of His mercy in a different wave of frequency, God Almighty will make them forgotten there and not let His servant experience that suffering.
However, it is not right for a person to forget the sins he commits in this world by erasing them from his mind. Even if he committed them fifty years ago, asking forgiveness from God every time he remembers them will save him from falling to the same sin again. It will also be a means for constantly increasing the record of his good deeds. Each time of you ask forgiveness virtually removes all evils. And when no evil to be removed remains, it will be a cause for the beautiful joyous things awaiting the believer in the Hereafter. Thus, a person should never forget his sin. He should always remember even the slightest mistake, and seek forgiveness from the Forgiver of sins by saying, “Forgiveness, I ask forgiveness a million times!” He should do this with the suffering he feels in his soul.
On the other hand, a believer must forget the good acts he performs—even if that good deed is a great conquest marking the beginning of a new era. He should eliminate his role in the issue, saying, “Strange, did I really do something like that? I don’t even remember.” If people are insistently saying, “It is you who did it,” then with a consideration of testifying to God's Blessings, the person should express his feelings as such: “Then God made a sinner like me do certain good things also. These are manifestations of the immensity of His mercy.”
What becomes a magnanimous person is responding to evil with goodness
Another verse related to our subject points out the following fact:
“Goodness and evil can never be equal. Repel evil with what is better (or best). Then see: The one between whom and you there was enmity has become a bosom friend” (Fussilat 41:34).
Accordingly, if someone fixed on enmity, jealousy, and envy is foaming with rancor and hatred, continually provoking those he addresses and try to elicit rage from them, then it is necessary to respond by restraining one’s rage, as stated in the following verse, which describes genuinely pious ones:
“...ever-restraining their rage (even when provoked and able to retaliate), and pardoning people (their offenses). God loves (such) people who are devoted to doing good, aware that God is seeing them” (Al Imran 3:134).
The original phrase for “ever-restraining their rage” (al-kazimin al-ghayz) refers to those who swallow their rage, anger, and violent reactions even though; this is mentioned by the blessed words of the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, as a virtue. Responding with magnanimous forgiveness when someone commits a fault and doing good to a person who commits evil so that he does not repeat the same evil... These are examples of responding to evil with goodness.
In other words, while others keep committing evil with their hands, tongues, eyes, ears, and even gestures, a believer should not let these acts become a vicious cycle. He can do this by responding with goodness to all of them. As it is stated in a Turkish proverb, “Responding to goodness with goodness is expected from everyone; responding to evil with goodness takes a magnanimous one.” Hence, what becomes a believer is being a magnanimous one. Responding to vitriol with invective is the road to sin. Such an understanding will not help solve the issues of our time, either. Therefore, everybody—particularly the volunteers devoted to a lofty ideal—need to act very tenderly on this issue.
Responding with goodness and steering securely
I disagree with the maxim “beware of the evil of the person to whom you did goodness,” and think that this is an arrogant and disrespectful remark. A kind act will make even a cobra dance, let alone a person. You must have seen this in documentaries—cobras dancing to the playing of the flute. Actually, cobras do not hear the music, but when they see that the player’s fingers are moving on a piece of wood and no harm is done to it, it causes a dance-like reaction. They probably bite if the charmer fails to act in the right way, but this should be rare. If it were a frequent incident for cobras to bite charmers, then it would not be such a common practice.
To sum it up, if God even endowed animals with a feeling of giving a good response to goodness, a person must make good use of his human potential and act with the understanding, “Do goodness to those whose evil you fear.” Surely, such an attitude should be taken for the sake of protecting peace and harmony in a society, and putting out the fires of hatred and discord. It only asks a person to sacrifice some of their personal rights. Otherwise, keeping silent against a violation of the public’s rights, and being a partner in crime, causes a person to be like a mute devil; this absolutely does not become a believer.
When necessary, however, we should respond, even to a person holding a spear or putting on bayonet, by saying, “Come brother, let me give you a hug,” and thus make him put down his lethal weapon. This is the attitude expected from a believer, and let me reiterate once more that this form of behavior is of vital importance in terms of solving the problems in our time.
#allah#god#muhammad#prophet#sunnah#hadith#quran#ayat#revert#convert#reminder#religion#dua#salah#pray#prayer#islam#muslim#muslimah#hijab#welcome to islam#how to convert to islam#new muslim#new revert#new convert#help#revert help#convert help#islam help#muslim help
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