GOD GIVES
YOU LIFE

[8:24] O you who believe, you shall respond to GOD and to the messenger when he invites you to what gives you life. You should know that GOD is closer to you than your heart, and that before Him you will be summoned.

[50:16] We created the human, and we know what he whispers to himself. We are closer to him than his jugular vein.

For this analogy, God has chosen the heart and the jugular vein. He doesn’t say He’s closer to us than our stomach, or our spine, or even our brain. The heart is the organ that pumps the blood to sustain life, and the jugular is the vein that carries that blood back to the heart from our brains. This is what defines life in worldly terms. You may appear to have lost all signs of life, but if your heart is beating, you are considered “alive.” This is God giving us life, giving us this precious chance to redeem our souls.

He’s inviting us to what gives us life, true life. True life is not in the heart or the jugular; true life is eternal happiness in God’s presence in the Hereafter. God’s invitation is more beautiful than the

most gorgeous engraved invitation, yet most people refuse to accept it. So we need to be thankful for God’s presence, closer to us than our heart or our jugular vein, but we also need to remember that true life, true happiness will only come if we worship God alone and do the things in this world that will allow our souls to grow. So we can be as close to God as possible in the Hereafter.

[56:83-85] When the time comes and it (your soul) reaches your throat―you will then look around.  We are closer to it than you are, but you do not see.

[26:89-90] Only those who come to GOD with their whole heart (will be saved). Paradise will be presented to the righteous.

[39:22] If GOD renders one's heart content with Submission, he will be following a light from his Lord. Therefore, woe to those whose hearts are hardened against GOD's message; they have gone far astray.

[10:56] He controls life and death, and to Him you will be returned.

[56:10-11] Then there is the elite of the elite. They are those who will be closest (to God).

Lydia

 

Ramadan 2015

God willing the month of Ramadan (2:183-7) is coming soon. The new moon times for determining the beginning and ending of Ramadan are given below in UTC (Universal time) or GMT.

June 16, 2015: 14:05 PM (UTC/GMT)

July 16, 2015: 01:24 AM (UTC/GMT)

The actual time for each time zone is relative to UTC. In order to calculate the Ramadan start date, compare the time of the New Moon with the Sunset in your location. If the new moon is before sunset, we fast the next day, God willing.  Similarly, to determine the last day of fasting, compare the time of the next New Moon with the sunset in your location. If the new moon is before sunset, the Ramadan month is complete on that day. Otherwise one fasts the next day.

Based on this, God willing, Ramadan dates for western parts of USA, Canada, Mexico are:  June 17 – July 15, 2015.

For the eastern parts of USA, Canada, Mexico, for Europe, Middle East, Africa, western parts of Asia, God willing the dates are: June 17 – July 16, 2015.

For the eastern parts of Asia, for Australia and New Zealand, God willing the dates are:  June 18 – July 16, 2015.

For more details on how dates are calculated, please refer to September 2009 issue of the Submitters Perspective, and  http://masjidtucson.org/Ramadan/