The Teacup (A short MORAL story )
There was a couple who used to go to shop in the beautiful stores. They both liked antiques and pottery and especially teacups. One day in this beautiful shop they saw a beautiful teacup. They said, "May we see that? We've never seen one quite so beautiful." As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke.
"You don't understand," it said. "I haven't always been a teacup. There was a time when I was red and I was clay." My master took me and rolled me and patted me over and over and I yelled out, "let me alone", but he only smiled, "Not yet."
"Then I was placed on a spinning wheel," the teacup said, "and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. Stop it! I'm getting dizzy!" I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, 'Not yet."
Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I wondered why he wanted to burn me, and I yelled and knocked at the door. I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as He shook his head, "Not yet."
Finally the door opened, he put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. "There, that's better," I said. And he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. "Stop it, stop it!" I cried. He only nodded, "Not yet."
Then suddenly he put me back into the oven, not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. All the time I could see him through the opening nodding his head saying, "Not yet."
Then I knew there wasn't any hope. I would never make it. I was ready to give up. But the door opened and he took me out and placed me on the shelf. One hour later he handed me a mirror and said, "Look at yourself." And I did. I said, "That's not me; that couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful."
"I want you to remember," then, he said, "I know it hurts to be rolled and patted, but if I had left you alone, you'd have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled.
I knew it hurt and was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened; you would not have had any color in your life.
And if I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't survive for very long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. You are what I had in mind when I first began with you."
********ALLAH swt knows what He's doing (for all of us).He is the Potter, and we are His clay.
He will mould us and make us, So that we may be made into a flawless piece of work To fulfill His good, pleasing, and perfect will.
SuraH "At-tin" ["The Fig,"] verse 4,) ALLAH said: "We moulded man into a most noble image."
and ALLAH asks "O man! What evil has enticed you from your gracious Lord, Who created and proportioned you, and moulded your body to His will?" (surat "Al Infitar," )
Over the years, I’ve come to believe that each of us is addicted to something (or a number of things) in one way or another. This addiction can be positive or negative; it can be dangerous or completely safe, but it’s an addiction nevertheless.
I define addiction as a compulsive feeling that drives you towards a thing or activity, and which if you stopped yourself in one way or another you start feeling some type of withdrawal symptoms.
When we think of addictions, we normally think of drug addicts, alcohol . Yet there are other forms of addiction which are seemingly ‘harmless’ e.g. addiction to facebook/twitter/
Can You Flip Addiction on its Head?
My question today is: since addiction is such a powerful force that sometimes is hard to resist, can we harness this propensity to be addicted & get ourselves addicted to positive things?
Can we get addicted to Salah for example? Or to the Quran? Or to giving Charity? or performing Hajj/Umrah? Or even get addicted to doing something positive in the community or to what we passionately believe in?
Why Are You Addicted?
In order to understand how we can get addicted to such positive activities, we need to understand why we get addicted in the first place:
There are two triggers for addiction:
1) It drives us towards pleasure.
AND/OR
2) It drives away pain and makes us forget our life problems. A lot of the powerful addiction substances have both triggers in them, e.g. alcohol and drugs give pleasure to their users AND numbs their reality helping them forget their problems.
Get Addicted to Positive Habits!
So with that in mind, we can now better answer the question posed above; how can we get addicted to powerful positive habits?
1. We need to derive a great sense of pleasure from them; let’s take reading Quran for example.
If you want to get ‘addicted’ to reading Quran and by addicted, I mean it becomes the habit you love to do all the time and in fact you might even get withdrawal symptoms if you don’t read it for a few days, then you need to understand the Quran, appreciate the Quran, love the Quran and really enjoy reciting it in order to derive immense pleasure from such habit.
Uthman Bin Affan (May ALLAH be pleased with him) once said: ”If our hearts were pure, we would never be tired from reading the Quran.”
2. The positive habit needs to be able to drive away pain; let’s take another example, Salah.
If whenever you’re faced with affliction or trial or even a little bit of stress, you turn to Salah, won’t you be addicted to Salah and love Salah?
Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) used to say ”O Bilal, give us comfort with it (i.e. Salah)”.
Not only will your problems wither away with the power of a sincere salah, but you’ll gain reward from Allah and feel much better afterwards.
3. Addicton doesn’t come overnight, it builds over time
This is an important point, if you notice any ‘addiction’ you have, e.g. constantly checking Facebook or e-mails, this didn’t suddenly happen – you gradually developed an addiction to it and then can’t stop yourself (from checking facebook/e-mails, etc.).
So keep in mind that any positive addiction you want to develop needs time, you simply need to constantly build that habit into your life and soon enough it’ll become a positive addiction that you’ll enjoy, insha’Allah.
I want you today to take a good look at your life and ask yourself what are you really addicted to?
What are the things that you can’t stop doing, or feel depressed/down/frustrated if you stop yourself from doing? If these are good/positive addictions, that’s great, keep them and harness them. If these are bad/negative addictions, try to replace them with new positive ones and work your way to gradually unwind/withdraw from the negative addiction until it disappears from your life, insha’
I define addiction as a compulsive feeling that drives you towards a thing or activity, and which if you stopped yourself in one way or another you start feeling some type of withdrawal symptoms.
When we think of addictions, we normally think of drug addicts, alcohol . Yet there are other forms of addiction which are seemingly ‘harmless’ e.g. addiction to facebook/twitter/
Can You Flip Addiction on its Head?
My question today is: since addiction is such a powerful force that sometimes is hard to resist, can we harness this propensity to be addicted & get ourselves addicted to positive things?
Can we get addicted to Salah for example? Or to the Quran? Or to giving Charity? or performing Hajj/Umrah? Or even get addicted to doing something positive in the community or to what we passionately believe in?
Why Are You Addicted?
In order to understand how we can get addicted to such positive activities, we need to understand why we get addicted in the first place:
There are two triggers for addiction:
1) It drives us towards pleasure.
AND/OR
2) It drives away pain and makes us forget our life problems. A lot of the powerful addiction substances have both triggers in them, e.g. alcohol and drugs give pleasure to their users AND numbs their reality helping them forget their problems.
Get Addicted to Positive Habits!
So with that in mind, we can now better answer the question posed above; how can we get addicted to powerful positive habits?
1. We need to derive a great sense of pleasure from them; let’s take reading Quran for example.
If you want to get ‘addicted’ to reading Quran and by addicted, I mean it becomes the habit you love to do all the time and in fact you might even get withdrawal symptoms if you don’t read it for a few days, then you need to understand the Quran, appreciate the Quran, love the Quran and really enjoy reciting it in order to derive immense pleasure from such habit.
Uthman Bin Affan (May ALLAH be pleased with him) once said: ”If our hearts were pure, we would never be tired from reading the Quran.”
2. The positive habit needs to be able to drive away pain; let’s take another example, Salah.
If whenever you’re faced with affliction or trial or even a little bit of stress, you turn to Salah, won’t you be addicted to Salah and love Salah?
Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) used to say ”O Bilal, give us comfort with it (i.e. Salah)”.
Not only will your problems wither away with the power of a sincere salah, but you’ll gain reward from Allah and feel much better afterwards.
3. Addicton doesn’t come overnight, it builds over time
This is an important point, if you notice any ‘addiction’ you have, e.g. constantly checking Facebook or e-mails, this didn’t suddenly happen – you gradually developed an addiction to it and then can’t stop yourself (from checking facebook/e-mails, etc.).
So keep in mind that any positive addiction you want to develop needs time, you simply need to constantly build that habit into your life and soon enough it’ll become a positive addiction that you’ll enjoy, insha’Allah.
I want you today to take a good look at your life and ask yourself what are you really addicted to?
What are the things that you can’t stop doing, or feel depressed/down/frustrated if you stop yourself from doing? If these are good/positive addictions, that’s great, keep them and harness them. If these are bad/negative addictions, try to replace them with new positive ones and work your way to gradually unwind/withdraw from the negative addiction until it disappears from your life, insha’
ALLAH —
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