Green Stairs Leadership Academy Concepts for Understanding Our Purpose as People Prepared by KL and retrieved on 2/9/19 from
1. Branches & tree trunk – This metaphor explains the belief in God and different religions. Basically, the tree trunk is the belief in God, which all religions have in common, while the branches represent the different religions which hold that belief. Off those branches, stem smaller branches and twigs representing different types of each religion. So, one bigger branch could be Christianity, while the smaller twigs branching off of it could represent Catholic, Protestant, etc.
2 Dartboard – This concept has to do with the magnitude of the good deeds we perform in life. A dartboard typically has the most amount of points in the center of the board, with lesser points on the outer parts of the board. In the same way, there are “bigger” good deeds that you can get more rewards for and also “smaller” ones that you may not get as much reward for. You don’t want to spend your whole life trying to complete this one big good deed (hits the bullseye of the dartboard) when you could spend your whole life doing smaller good deeds and getting the same amount of reward (hitting the smaller targets that surround the bullseye
3 Onion Rings – This analogy relates the understanding of the Quran to an onion. Essentially, the first time you read the Quran, you get a mild understanding of it. But, everytime you read it after that, you peel off the layers and see meanings that you previously may not have recognized. Eventually, if you read the Quran enough, you can get to the core understanding of it, or in this case, the core of the onion.
4 Soap – When you shower, if you do so with soap, it will maximize the benefit of your shower; you will feel more clean, smell better, and have an appropriate appearance. However, if you don’t shower with soap, and just rinse off with water, you don’t get these benefits. In the same way, when you pray, you should do wu’du, and everything else regarding prayer, correctly to ensure that you get the maximum benefit of that prayer.
Socks – The purpose of socks is to keep your feet covered and warm, so one
shouldn’t get picky about which socks they get because they will all get the
job done the same way. In the same way, you shouldn’t be picky about the
magnitude of the good deed you do because they are all good deeds and you will
get rewards for doing any of them.
Cell Phone – When you call someone, you make a connection to them. In the same
way, when you “call” God through prayer (the cell phone, in this analogy),
you make a connection with him. The more bars you have, the stronger that
connection will be, and the amount of bars depends on where you are in relation
to the other person. So, where you are in your relationship with God will make
your connection with God stronger or weaker.
Gallon of Oil – When you are born, a gallon of oil is attached to your back to
fuel the fire in Hell. The more good deeds you do in your lifetime, the more
oil that will drip out as each good deed is performed, resulting in less fuel
to ignite the flames in Hell. So, the more good deeds you do, the more reward
you get, and the less likely you are to not make it to Heaven.
Karate Chop- do everything with focus like the Chi in a karate chop used to break bricks
Samsung Watch- It doesn’t matter if you buy a Samsung watch, an Apple watch, or a
Walmart watch, they all will do the same thing: tell the time, so you shouldn’t
be picky about it. In the same way, you shouldn’t be picky about what you do
when it comes to good deeds because they’re all good deeds and you’ll still get
the reward for it.
How to spell “God” – God is spelled with 4 letters– good, because everything that is
associated with God is good.
Fast & Furious- In the Fast & Furious movies, a person would be driving the
car and be neck-in-neck against the person they are racing, but to win the
race, they hit the Nitro Boost button, making them accelerate a lot faster and
reach the finish line to win the race. In a similar way,you have to pray and
ask God for the extra “Nitro” boost to do better in life (like the person did
better in the race).
Why does God want us to pray?- God
wants us to pray so that we remember God throughout the day. We also
should pray so that when we ask God for things, we are more likely to receive
them because we have been doing what God requires of us all the time, not just
when we need something.
GC/ Greencard- God doesn’t want you to pray 24/7, God just wants you to be
conscious of God all the time, so you are aware of yourself and what you say
and do.
CCA- CCA stands for Common
Sense, Context, and Accountability. This applies to any situation in life, take
jumping in an empty pool for example; if someone told you to jump into a pool
with no water in it, you need to ask yourself: does this make sense? (Common
Sense). Does it make sense with the circumstances you are given, to jump into a
pool that has no water in it? Now, apply context to what the Quran says: does
it say I should follow blindly what others tell me to do? Lastly, you are accountable
for every action you take no matter what. Whether or not you decide to jump
into the empty pool, it is your choice and you must deal with the consequences.
PAPA- Whenever you are not sure about a decision to make, you should
always apply the PAPA Test, which is asking yourself: What did the Prophet say?
What did Allah say? Then again, What did the Prophet say? What did Allah say?
You should always go with what Allah says to make your final decision, and
remember that you are still held accountable for your actions.
QHA- QHA stands for Quran, Hadith, and Accountability; the guides for
how to live our lives. The Quran tells us everything we need to know, while
Hadiths help you understand and interpret the Quran. However, it is your interpretation,
so you’re still accountable for what you do “because of” what the Quran said or
what a Hadith seemed to be saying.
LGA- love GOD always
Universal Values- Things that everyone around the world believes; stealing is wrong,
you shouldn’t kill others, etc.
Pillars- There are 5 pillars that keep up the belief in God/testament to
faith, which are: contact with God (prayer), Charity (Zakat), Fasting (to
experience what those less fortunate than you must suffer), Pilgrimage/Hajj
(universal brotherhood), and Cleanliness (cleansing your mind to think about
God and your body to be in God’s presence).
Beliefs- The 6 beliefs of Muslims are that: we believe in God (1) who
created the Angels (2) who gave the Books (3) to the Prophets (4) to warn them
of the Day of Judgement (5) and the Divine Laws (6).
Ilya/Parent’s Prayers- Ilya stands for I love you always, which you should always say to
your parents, and them to you to show that no matter what happens, you both
love each other forever. This ties in with parent’s prayers because no one will
ever pray for you like your parents do; they pray for you in a different way/a
lot deeper than anyone else will. Try to get your parents to pray for you as
often as possible because those prayers have the most value and they
won’t be there for you when your parents pass.
BS- You should always have belief and sincerity when it comes to your
belief in God.
S-bucks- Whenever you pray, you get more “spiritual bucks” or rewards,
which you use when you’re asking God for something. If you continuously pray to
God, God will be more willing to give you things you ask for because you have
always remembered God.
How to understand
Hadiths
Attahiyat-reason– One day, the Prophet woke up from sleep and told his friends that he had just been to Heaven. His friends laughed at him, but it really had happened. He had gotten on an animal, rode it to Jerusalem Masjid al-Aqsa to “charge up” to go through the levels of Heaven. He begins his ascent through the first level and picks up Prophets and meets angels as he travels through every level. On the 7th level, Jabriel says only the Prophet can go past a certain point which no one, not even the angels had been before. When the Prophet passed his point, he found himself in the presence of Allah. No one could see him, but they could all hear the following interaction, in which the Prophet said: “All prayers and worship whether through words, action, sanctity, or good deeds are for God only.” Allah then replied, “Peace be on you O Prophet, with all of God’s Mercy blessings.” The Prophet, not wanting to be selfish says, “Peace be on all of us who are God’s righteous servants.” The prophets and the angels, who can’t see any of this recite: “I bear witness that there is no deity but God. I bear witness that Muhammad is God’s slave and messenger.”
26 Durudi Ibrahim- reason– At the time the Prophet was still alive, Muslims had asked him how they wanted him to pray for him, and he told them that they should pray to Allah to exalt himself and his followers, as Allah exalted Ibrahim and his followers, and to bless himself and his followers and Allah blessed Ibrahim and his followers.
