124 - Prophet Muhammad Expands The Narrow Meaning Of Charity

Voluntary charity is different than the compulsory alms.

The compulsory alms are 2.5% of the income that are collected each year and given to the poor; it is obligatory when a certain amount of money is reached or exceeded.

Although the compulsory alms are given every year; however, voluntary charity is a part of a Muslim's daily life. Every Muslim is obliged to give charity to boost his piety and spread wealth and goodwill among the whole community.

Prophet Muhammad said that every good deed is charity - even a smile in the face of others is charity.

Prophet Muhammad in his global Hadith that defines the Charity said:

"There is no person who does not have the obligation of doing charity every day that the sun rises."

Upon which he was asked: "O Messenger of Allah, from where would we get something to give in charity so often?"

Prophet Muhammad replied: "Indeed the gates to goodness are many:

• Glorifying Allah,
• Praising Allah,
• Magnifying Allah,
• Saying 'There is no god but Allah',
• Enjoining the good and forbidding the evil,
• Removing any source of harm from the road,
• Listening to the aggrieved,
• Guiding the blind,
• Showing the seeker his need,
• Striving as far as your two legs could carry you and with deep concern to give succour to him who asks,
• Carrying with the strength of your arms (the burdens of) the weak,
• "And your smiling in the face of your brother is charity,
• Your removing of stones and thorns from people's paths is charity,
• And your guiding a man gone astray in the world is charity for you."

All these are acts of charity which are an obligation on you."

The narrow meaning of Charity

Charity, as most people believe, consists of money or various objects given by the rich to help the poor. Based on that narrow meaning, Charity divides people into the receivers and the givers. This division may motivate among the receivers feelings of weakness and among the givers feelings of pride.

Prophet Muhammad puts a unique concept of charity

But the saying of Prophet Muhammad takes charity out of its narrow meaning and opens up a vast and limitless ways of charity by emphasizing that every good deed is charity. And by prompting that voluntary charity is a part of every Muslim's daily life. This is a unique concept of charity.

This unique concept of charity which includes all good deeds however small they may be, allows every person whether rich or poor, to become givers and receivers on an equal basis. Indeed every act of giving is charity, even a smile in the face of your fellow.

The Charity even to the animals:

Prophet Muhammad was asked if acts of charity even to the animals were rewarded by Allah in the Hereafter.

Muhammad replied: 'yes, there is a reward for acts of charity to every beast alive.'

But what if you can not do anything of the above? Another Hadith:

The Prophet said: 'Charity is a necessity for every Muslim.'

He was asked: 'What if a person has nothing?'

The Prophet replied: 'He should work with his own hands for his benefit and then give something out of such earnings in charity.'

The Companions asked: 'What if he is not able to work?'

The Prophet said: 'He should help poor and needy persons.'

The Companions further asked 'What if he cannot do even that?'

The Prophet said 'He should urge others to do the good.'

The Companions said 'What if he lacks that also?'

The Prophet said 'He should hold himself from doing evil. That is also charity.'

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In the Quran,

Verse 8:63 says that Money can not reconcile their hearts, but Allah could

And as for the believers Allah reconciled, brought together, their hearts, after old feuds had divided them. Had you expended all that is in the earth, you could not have reconciled their hearts, but Allah reconciled their hearts, through His power. Truly He is Mighty in His kingdom and sovereignty, His way prevailing, He is the Wise, nothing being beyond the scope of His wisdom.

And verse 3:92 says that Allah then prompted the believers to spend in the cause of Allah, saying: you will not attain unto piety i.e. that which is with Allah of reward, honour and Paradise until you spend of that which you love of your wealth and property; and whatever thing you expend, Allah knows of it, and He will requite it accordingly. Allah is aware thereof just as He is aware of your intentions, i.e. whether you intend with it His Countenance or other people's praise.

Verse 8:63, Shakir translation

And (Allah) united their hearts; had you spent all that is in the earth, you could not have united their hearts, but Allah united them; surely he is mighty, wise.

Verse 3:92, Shakir translation

By no means shall you attain to righteousness until you spend (benevolently) out of what you love; and whatever thing you spend, Allah surely knows it.

Wash Viral Sinusitis Away, Literally!

Often starting out as common colds, viral sinusitis is a type of sinus infection that usually ends up with acute sinusitis and in about 2% of all cases, with acute bacterial sinusitis. Fortunately for most people, viral invasion dies down within a week to a maximum of ten days after contraction, often without treatment.

Having said that, cure for viral sinusitis is usually prescribed to alleviate symptoms and speed up the process of healing. This is often the case if your immune system defenses are strong enough to destroy the viruses in the body on their own and if there is no sign of other diseases that could affect your body's responsiveness towards treatment.

Getting to Know Viral Sinusitis Symptoms

As a general rule, when looking for a cure for viral sinusitis, you should look for treatments that are designed to eliminate the symptoms associated with your sinusitis. Viral sinusitis manifests in many ways. Common symptoms include nose stuffiness, excessive postnasal drip, sneezing, headache, swelling and pains that radiate from sinus sites, and coughing. Other symptoms of viral sinusitis include sore throat, fatigue, irritability, temporary loss of sense of smell and taste, slight fever, halitosis or bad breathe, nausea and ear pain. The most common symptom, however, is nasal congestion or obstruction, a condition characterized by blockages in the nose that make nasal breathing nearly impossible. Against these symptoms, doctors and experts prescribe plenty of methods for dealing with congestion. Most of which are targeted at improving mucus drainage and in shrinking the inflamed nasal membranes.

Decongestants

Nasal decongestants come in many form. Some are tablets that can be taken orally while others sprayed directly into the nasal passages. Still others can be applied topically. A quick word on using medicated spray nasal decongestants. These should never be used for 5 consecutive days without a doctor's prescription as rebound congestion often occurs with prolonged use. Also, these are prone to lose their efficacy overtime. For safe use of nasal sprays, ask your physician for guidelines.

If you don't feel comfortable with these, alternative medicine offers a safer, less abuse-prone treatments. Steaming and nasal irrigation using saline-water solution are usually your best bets at getting better. These flush out mucus build-up and other debris from your nasal passages and sinusitis to promote easier breathing.

Medications

It is not a bad idea to combine decongestants with other treatment options. If your sinuses are inflamed and pain is present, you can take anti-inflammatory medications such as NSAIDs or Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs and nasal corticosteroids, and common pain relievers to reduce pain associated with viral infections.

Hydration

One of the simplest cures for viral sinusitis is to keep your body hydrated. The '8 glasses of water everyday' rule still sticks when trying to alleviate symptoms of viral sinusitis. Water dilutes mucus in your throat and possibly your nasal passages and quickly drains away clogging in these areas.

All in all, curing viral sinusitis is fairly easy. With a little help from medications, home-remedies, self-care and ample common sense, symptoms can be literally washed away.

121 - How To Set Rear-View Mirrors To Eliminate Blind Spots

It may be surprising to learn that there is a better way of setting the rearview mirrors on the car. A quick test is that if one looks in your side mirrors and the side of the car is seen, it means that the mirror's capacity is not being used. Many people notably have a huge overlap between the side and center rear view mirrors, this is important. When the side mirrors are spread, no information is lost about what is present behind. Although valuable insight must be gained regarding what is present beside. Many driving schools recommend this new method; it also includes the BMW Performance Center in South Carolina.

What are Blind Spots?

Blind spots are the areas in which a vehicle cannot be seen from either the driver's secondary vision, inside mirror or the side mirrors. Many drivers set their side mirrors in a way that they can just barely see the side of their car in the mirrors. By setting the side mirrors in a proper way and also using the rearview mirror can reduce the blind spots. However the size of these blind spots is still capable of hiding a vehicle.

How is Blind spot caused?

Perhaps one needs to change lanes or merge into traffic every time when while driving. These maneuvers of routine nature can cause dangerous situations because every vehicle has blind spots. According to a survey, there is an estimate of 630,000 lane change and merge crashes every year causing nearly 225 fatalities. Although not needed to say but the simple act of changing lanes or merging requires precautions and practice. Blind spots are also called blind zones.

How to eliminate blind spots

Following are some of the useful ways to remove blind spots;
-'? One should lean his head over in a way that it almost touches the driver's window. Then the side mirror should be positioned on the car's left side so one can just see the rear or the car or the quarter panel in the mirror. It must be noted that this will have the mirror positioned farther out than one did not possibly had it before.

-'? The center rearview mirror can be adjusted in a position that it faces the rear window's center.

-'? The head can be leaned to the right for aligning it with the center of the car. An example can be just between the two front seats at a considerable normal height. The right side mirror can be positioned from there so the rear quarter panel of the passenger side in can be seen in the mirror.

-'? It can be noted while driving that a car passing by begins in the center of the rearview mirror. As it approaches, it moves to the side of the center rear view mirror. It appears on the side mirror at the same time. Because the mirrors are overlapped, this would mean that that there is no rear blind spot.

-'? It can also be noted that the side mirrors will now capture a great extra amount of view that is in the lanes quickly next to the car. Turning the head for needed before for ensure if there was nothing in the lanes next to the car prior to changing lanes. But now, the side mirrors have much better productivity and better job of covering this blind spot on the sides.
Useful tips

Following are some useful tips;

-'? At least one week should be given the new mirrors this way. It will initially seem strange in the beginning but soon one will get adjusted.

-'? It should be noted that parallel parking becomes more difficult as one can see his car what is next to it in the side mirrors without moving the head.

-'? Scanning the mirrors constantly instead of only checking them is helpful; particularly when one wants to change the lanes or pass the other will generally prevent someone from sneaking up. This mirror setting method of pairing with continuous scanning will help the driver to be aware every time of all those around.

Warnings

Following are some warning which one needs to give attention;
-'? The mirrors must never be adjusted while driving.

-'? Extra important information can be received about the traffic's behavior through looking over one's shoulders. One can never get this view even looking at the mirrors no matter how well they are positioned.

-'? One must make a habit to always look over the shoulders before changing lanes.

-'? Although this mirror technique is very beneficial in reducing the problem of blind spots but one cannot totally depend on it for eliminating blind spots. There may be other moving objects like even bicycles, motorcycles and smaller cars that can possibly hide in unexpected areas around one's car.

120 - How To Cure Your Approach Anxiety Now Using A Secret Method Of The World's Top Athletes

During the course of my years as a dating coach, one of the most common problems I've noticed that guys face is the fear of approaching women. If you get the fear when you approach a girl, this is called approach anxiety. Almost every guy has some level of fear when they approach women. This is normal. Whats not normal is when your approach anxiety prevents you from going up to and talking to the woman you want.

The following brief article will show you the way the pro's use to cure their approach anxiety. If you find that your approach anxiety happens to be a little more intense than usual, you may need to combine this technique with a few other techniques to completely cure your approach anxiety.

In this lesson, we are going to be talking about the art of visualization and how visualizations can help you cure your approach anxiety. A visualization is basically you, picturing in your mind a sequence of events. Its kind of like seeing a movie of yourself doing something all in your head. The World's top sports stars use visualizations every day. All they do is visualize themselves scoring the game ending goal many times in a row. Since the subconscious mind can't tell the difference between reality and fantasy, when it comes time to make that game winning shot in the real world, the superstar has already made it thousands of times in his mind which makes the game winner a very easy shot to make.

Probably the biggest reason you get approach anxiety is because you are afraid of the possibility that the girl might say something negative to you, she might react to you in a bad way. Men believe that women will react to them in a bad way if they just approach women out of the blue. At the core, you're scared of being rejected. No one likes to get rejected and men especially don't like to get rejected and then have everyone around them witness them getting rejected by a pretty girl. It crushes our ego.

Since all men have this fear, a great technique for curing your approach anxiety is to visualize yourself being successful at approaching a woman and instead of her rejecting you, you have an incredible conversation with her and she is all over you. I want you to clearly visualize everything, the emotions you would feel, your feelings, the sounds, what she says to you, the colors, make your visualization as close to real life as possible. Try to make the visualization as positive as you can. Feel extremely sure of yourself, picture the girl in your head becoming really attracted to you. If you visualize this each day for about 5 minutes over the course of the next thirty days, you can cure your approach anxiety. This is EXACTLY what the World's top sports superstars do.

Don't just do this half hearted. You have to really get into it and make sure you do your visualizations every day for at least 5 minutes!

Remember, if your approach anxiety is a little more intense, you may need to combine this great technique with a few other techniques..

119 - Farmville Tips Cash - Make Fv Cash!

If you are reading this article probably you are short on Farm Cash. Fortunately there are some easy ways to get Farm Cash in Farmville. Next are presented examples of some things that you can do to win more FV Cash.

Surveys and Quizzes

When you are on your Farmville game and if you go to the upper part of your screen you will see a Tab saying "Get More Farm Coins". If you click on it you will access some quizzes and surveys to fill out to win free FV cash. This is one of the fastest ways to get some free FV cash by doing something that is relatively easy. Certify you select your quizzes carefully. Some of them require subscription and even personal information.

While some of them are worth filling out, others don't, so choose carefully.

Level Up To Make Free FV Cash

If you level up you will make additional cash! For every time you level up you will win One Free FV Cash. The faster you level up the faster you can get your Farm Cash, so it's convenient to learn the best techniques to level up in Farmville to make some serious money!

Alternative Way?

The most efficient and direct way to get Farm Cash is to use the Farmville Secrets Guide. This way you don't need to give out your personal information, to make quizzes or surveys or to spend hours trying to figure out how to make Fast Farm Cash in Farmville. The Farmville Secrets Strategy Guide is very easy to follow; it is detailed and teaches you step by step how to master Farmville. With this you will be able to jump through levels, to create large amounts of Farm Cash and build your dream farm!

It also includes the Bonus "Farmville Cash Guide" that can get you making 580FV Cash in just 3 days!

118 - Can I Bring My Blood Pressure Down Naturally?

Question:

I've just been prescribed a drug for high blood pressure but I don't really want to take it because hair loss is listed as one of the side effects. Can you suggest an alternative course of treatment?

Answer:

I explain high blood pressure to my patients like this: when you water your garden, you can increase the water pressure by putting a powerful pump on it or by squeezing the nozzle. Similarly, blood pressure increases when the heart (a powerful pump) beats faster or when the arteries are constricted.

Blood pressure varies continuously, rising with exercise or anxiety and falling as you relax. The problem comes with persistent high blood pressure (hypertension), which affects 'about one adult in six in this country and may damage the heart and other organs. Blood pressure measurements are given as two numbers: a resting healthy young adult should reach no more than 120/80 mmHg (units of millimetres of mercury). Generally, hypertension is diagnosed with a reading persistently higher than 140/90 mmHg, even at rest.

The mai factors that cause the heart to beat faster are stress; abnormal production of hormones (mainly adrenalin and thyroxin); chemicals including caffeine, prescription and recreational drugs; excess salt, and lack of oxygen to the brain or tissues, which makes the body try to compensate by increasing blood flow. Blood vessels( particularly arteries) constrict because of stress, muscle spasm (due to tension or fatigue), cholesterol, excess salt coffee, monosodium glutamate or recreational drugs.

There are various states of blood pressure. Stage one is when blood pressure rises when stress is combined with a stimulus such as drinking coffee, consuming excess salt, taking drugs, exercising or being at a high altitude. As soon as the effect of the stimulus passes and/or you relax, blood pressure returns to normal.

In stage two, the body is conditioned to stress so is continuously in a state of high alert, and blood pressure must be controlled with drugs or other means such as acupuncture and herbal remedies.

In stage three, the arteries are narrowed internally With plaque, and blood pressure is even higher, permanently. Strong drugs and diuretics are prescribed.

Stage four spells danger: permanently constricted arteries mean the organs are starved of oxygen and they begin to change in structure and function. The heart beats very fast and begins to get enlarged.

High blood pressure can't be neglected: the many complications include heart attacks, stroke and coronary artery disease, headaches, irritability, insomnia, dizziness, brain haemorrhage, retinal haemorrhage and kidney damage. Pregnant women may suffer from pre-eclampsia (raised blood pressure coupled with kidney problems).

lf your high blood pressure is recently diagnosed and is not too worrying the chances are that the following programme will help regularise it, and you may never need medication.

These are my suggestions

Diet

• Fast once weekly for l6 weeks on non-citrus fruits raw salad and water - the body will relax, so blood pressure will drop. lf you are able to take rest, do a water fast six times in 24 hours drink a 250mltumbler of water with three drops of lime juice and one teaspoon of honey in it. This has a powerful effect in lowering blood pressure and keeping it low.
• Avoid excess salt, coffee, smoking, red meat, fried food, cheese, rich curries, monosodium glutamate, bacon, sausages, contraceptive pills, HRT tablets and steroids. Drink no more than four units of alcohol weekly.

Treatments

Rasagandha (Rasashala tablets) is an ayurvedic supplement that helps to calm the mind, relax muscles, lower blood pressure and induce good sleep. Take one tablet at bedtime for two months.

Therapies

Acupuncture has a good effect in lowering blood pressure.

Relaxation

* Listen to a relaxation/meditation CD at bedtime or in the evening after work every day for two months, such as Dr Ali's Relaxation CD ( Integrated Health Group).

*Practise therapeutic iyenger yoga (particularly the corpse pose) and breathing exercises (particularly 'retention' breathing). Details are in my book Theropeutic Yoga, co-written with Jiwan Brar.

Massage

Have a full body massage as often as possible to de-stress. muscles. Massage your neck, or ask someone to do it for you, for l5 to 20 minutes twice weekly to improve oxygen supply to the brain so the heart is not beating so hard. Details on how to do the massages are on my Lifestyle DVD (Integrated Health Group).

Exercise

Walk briskly in the fresh air for at least 30 to 60 minutes daily.