Lunch Time Reading

Pause to reflect

On my lunch break at work on most days I sit at my desk eating my lunch whilst browsing the internet, I start off with a online newspapers to see what the plight of the world is and somehow end up on website looking at clothes bags etc etc , however from this week we are no longer allowed to eat hot food at our desks and as its cold I am still obsessed with eating soup (it warms me up) so we have to either go to the canteen (busy and noisy) or sit at one of the designated spots around the office, I love reading so I bought a book with me in case I didn’t have company, we all have to stagger our breaks to keep management happy.

The book I took with me is called Don’t be Sad by Dr A’id al-Qarni.  I had bought this several months ago and only had a quick flick through it. I sat down with my food and opened it to the page that said “repel boredom from your life” I mean it couldn’t have come at a better time over the last two weeks at work we have had major computer problems and only 40 % of staff have been able to enter the system at any given time, so you can imagine sitting idly for hours on end making yourself look busy when its known to all that nothing can be down without the computer system – boredom really starts to creep in and Alhamdulillah this chapter really made me think. I also enjoyed the art of happiness and the pause to reflect chapters they really are thought provoking I struggled to put the book down.

 

The next part is directly from the book…

Do not be sad. If you are poor, then someone else is immersed in debt. If you do not own your own means of transportation, then someone else has been deprived of his legs. If you have reason to complain concerning the pains of sickness, then someone else has been bedridden for years. And if you have lost a child, then someone else has lost many children, for instance, in a single car accident.

Do not be sad. You are a Muslim who believes in Allah, His Messengers, His angels, the Hereafter, and Preordainment both the good and the bad of it. While you are blessed with this faith, which is the greatest of blessings, others disbelieve in Allah, discredit the Messengers, differ among themselves concerning the Book, deny the Hereafter, and deviate in their understanding of Divine Preordainment.

The book goes on to say that an activity that brings about joy is for you to read a book and develop your mind through the acquisition of knowledge, and reading repels anxiety and grief, all I can say is that I really enjoyed spending this time reading and been lost in my own little world of peace and tranquillity rather than wasting time on the internet.

It’s a reminder to us all that we need to have time out to reflect and read and broaden our horizons. More importantly you and I all know that we need to focus and reconnect with the most honoured and noble book of all The Glorious Quran.