A Day-to-Day Spiritual Guide

The book is on religion, now available in the market. The author is serving in the Customs Department and is also researching on a book on management which will also come in the market shortly.

This book is unique regarding the fact that it does not read like a lecture or commentary on religion. It is based on sayings of the author on religious theme. How religion can be applied and interpreted in daily life. For example, the author posed a question, ‘Where will you apply religion if there is no one around you, or if you are living in isolation?’ The rules given by Allah Almighty can only be applied in civilisation.

The book comprises three hundred and sixty-five sayings. One for everyday and is divided so for every month ‘January to December. It is occasionally interspersed with the author’s own comments on various issues other than religion. ‘With empathy and love you are a very delicious juicy peach, a plum and without them you are a dried prune’ goes a saying.

The inspiration behind the book is Prof. Ahmad Rafique Akhtar, the religious scholar with his unique, soft and kind style of talking on religion. According to the author, Prof. Sahib is a great sufi of our time and his main rationale is that Allah has to be your top priority. If He is not your top priority then you will never find Him. If you are lost in the world, you can never reach Him. Allah is the reason behind everything that is going on in the cosmos and in your own lives. It is a dishonesty and insincerity on one’s part if one cannot and does not recognise who gave you life and sustains you throughout your life. This act of thanklessness is very hateful in His sight and as a consequence no good news comes to you. ‘With Him,’ the author says, ‘Life is full of peace and hope.’  We eat of His bounty, ‘This spectacle of eating food has in it the ability and the capacity to make apparent a basic character flaw in you. Are you grateful or not. Do you thank Him or not,’ goes a saying.

If one is not grateful to Him one cannot be grateful to any one or for anything. This, according to the author is a perfect ‘recipe for making your life a living hell.’ There is emphasis on the fact that He is Kind and Compassionate and Merciful, as He says and He is not harsh and unkind.

He says in the Quran ‘What concern does He have in punishing you if you believe in Him and are thankful to Him.’ He is thus not The One who is out to hurt or give harm to you. He is a very Compassionate God.

The sayings have been collected by the author over a period of years. They were jotted down as they came to him, lest they are forgotten. When these sayings reached a level to be given a book form, this book was born.

It is quite an effort expanding over years. It is easy reading as it doesn’t test your mental faculties perpetually. The sayings can be read at leisure and there is no discontinuity in reading as the book can be opened anywhere for reading.

The book is recommended for a reading as it carries a very different, easy style.  It poses no burden on the intellect yet is intellectually very sound.