It's not often that money can buy you what you truly need, so be thankful when it does.

Alhamdulillah I am so glad that I got Ustadh Ibrahim as my teacher. He truly helps me through everything that I go through. He and I can now read each other, we can sense each other's moods and know when the other is tired, sad, or preoccupied. And our relationship is not just limited to Arabic; Ustadh Ibrahim encourages me when I am sad, reprimands me when I am lazy, gives me advice on my life, and helps me in anything that I need, whether it be something important like getting my visa or a simple as buying a belt.

Mustafa and I were talking today about our lack of true empathy towards others. We think that we meet people, but really what we are doing is meeting a shadow of our own egos reflected in someone else. We hate people for no reason whatsoever, and when you think about it, it's not that you really hate them, but that you are angry at yourself because you think you are not as good as them, or as smart as them, or as physically strong as them. It's also hard to accept the fact that just as you change, others change also. We want to control people, we want them to always remain the same so that you don't have to change your perception of them. But in order to really relate to people, you have to be able to accept them as they are without asking them to be something that you want them to be. That's something I really admire about Abu. Whenever he meets someone, he simply meets the person. That's why after about five minutes Abu becomes that person's friend.

Alhamdulillah.

~Ameer