Have you ever had the opportunity to change a person’s mood with a kind gesture? It is the greatest feeling in the world. Not only because you know you made the person happy, but you know that inshallah you will be rewarded by Allah SWT for doing an act of kindness.

Ahmed and I had a tray of baklava from Masri Sweets that was given to us from a friend. We didn’t want to keep it in the house because we knew we would demolish it in a matter of days! So I started thinking of what I could do with it. And I thought it would be a great thing to give to my neighbors and at the same time do a little dawah.

I wrote each neighbor a note that said the following…

Thanks for being a great neighbor!

Here is a small sweet treat for being a great neighbor. Our religion of Islam holds the neighbor in a special status. The following is a saying of the Prophet Muhammad regarding neighbors…

“The finest in the sight of God is the person who is best to his friends. And the finest in the sight of God is the person who is best to his neighbor.”

Enjoy the baklava!

Your neighbors,

Farah, Ahmed, & Isra

Apt #206

For more information on Islam visit http://islamtomorrow.com

I made two plates with a variety of baklava and attached the note on top. It was about midnight when I had Ahmed go put the sweets by their doors. I was so happy that we took the initiative to do something like this, but at the same time I was nervous to find out how they would react to my note.

The next morning we woke up and saw that the neighbors received their gifts and when we looked on our door we had a note from one of them. It said the following…

Farah, Ahmed, & Isra,

Thank you so much for the baklava and especially the very kind and sweet thoughts. Its been a pleasure being your neighbor and I look forward to our friendship. If I could bake, I would return the kindness!! Instead…maybe coffee/tea and good conversation.

Thank you so much!!!

Joe

That evening Joe stopped by and said when he woke up that morning he was in a really bad mood, but as he stepped outside to see a little surprise and a kind note he said it totally made his day!

A few days later we received a special little package in front of our door with a note from our other neighbor. It said the following…

Dear Farah, Ahmed, and Baby Isra,

I thank you and honor the respect you show for your neighbor through you religion, Islam. I am a better person for having shared this with you. I will be moving on Saturday and will carry forth the saying of the Prophet Muhammad and show respect to my new neighbor as well.With this mind please accept my ‘Haystacks,’ a sweet chocolate treat!

Thank you again to you and your little family!

Toni

It took a total of about 15 minutes to do this small act of dawah. When Muslims to things like this, non-Muslims will see the true nature of a Muslim, that they are not what is portrayed on T.V. It is our duty as Muslims to invite others to our deen, we will be asked on the day of judgment of whether or not we invited our neighbors and informed them about Islam. So don’t wait any longer, take the next opportunity you get and do a random act of kindness with your neighbors because,

“The finest in the sight of Allah is the person who is best to his friend, and the finest in the sight of Allah is the person who is best to his neighbor.”

May Allah give our Non-Muslim neighbors the taufiq to accept Islam. Ameen!

It’s that time! The time when you realize you have a million things you want to accomplish, but don’t know where to start. Best thing to do at a time like this is to refocus. I sat down to a list of many things I have been wanting to accomplish, but noticed that some things were not moving forward and other things were moving too slow. When I get into a situation like this I start feeling like I am not getting anywhere in life.

So I took a few minutes to clear my head and reboot! I sat down inhaled and exhaled and starting writing. One thing I recently learned was that ‘To do lists’ are so yesterday. What’s in today is called RPM charts. If you wanna get things done believe me this is a great start.

What RPM stands for is Results-Purpose-Massive Action Plan. I took a piece of paper and tri-folded it so I would have three columns. I put one header for each column. Then I started to think, “what is the number one thing that I have been wanting to do but just haven’t done it?” I would have to say memorizing Quran. I have been wanting to do this for the longest time, but I’ve always put it on hold, and at times I even feel like I am not capable of doing it.

Just to give you an example of how RPM works, I’ll go through one layout.

Memorizing Quran

-Results-

• I want to memorize the whole Quran by December 31, 2009 inshallah

-Purpose-

• To become hafiza of the Quran
• To teach Isra Quran
• To receive reward from Allah SWT
• Inshallah attain Jannat ul Firdous

-Massive Action Plan-

• Stay up after Fajr and memorize new ayah for one hour on a daily basis
• Recite new ayah in salah throughout day
• Listen to audio of new ayah throughout day
• Make dua for this goal
• Find a mentor who is a hafiza, someone who will motivate me and give me tips on memorization

So there you have it. It’s simple, easy and just take a few minutes. When you do a RPM chart it helps you think things through as to how you are going to achieve your goals and what your purpose is in doing them. I feel like this is a lot better than listing things you want to do in a ‘To do list’, which come to think of it doesn’t really have any meaning.

Next time you feel an overload, reboot and start RPMing!