Doesn't Matter

And you said it will stop mattering. That I could just shrug it off, and it will be gone. That it's all in my head.

UPDATE: You were right.

Quora

These are some of my most favorite Quora questions. I am posting them here to have a record of them, because Quora doesn't let you bookmark a question. It lets you follow it, but that way you get a ridiculous number of notifications. We don't want that. So here it is.

You might also like that. If you want to know which of the answers I liked best, look for my votes (is it possible to look for my votes? meh...)

They're from different themes and genres, but I am dumping them all here. Will organize them if they grow too many. Sharing on facebook is an option, but having them in one place is a better one!

Note: This posts will mutate over time.

http://www.quora.com/What-is-it-like-to-be-incredibly-funny
The first answer here, I exactly feel the same. And I am not even considered funny by many. But I feel that way.

http://www.quora.com/Programming-Languages/In-laymans-terms-what-are-the-major-programming-languages-and-what-are-they-used-for
The one with the most votes!

http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-stories-about-people-randomly-meeting-Steve-Jobs
All answers are nice. That's how I felt with Ariz Zaman all the time :)

http://www.quora.com/PhD-Careers/If-a-PhD-doesnt-go-into-research-or-industry-in-his-or-her-chosen-field-or-specialty-what-is-he-or-she-actually-more-qualified-than-college-graduates-to-do

100$ to Invest

Ben Nesvig ‏@BenNesvig: If you had $100 to invest in self-education every month, where would you allocate the money?

Answer:

You don’t really need more than $100 a month to self-educate. Here is what I would do:

- read biographies and books about any topics that interest you. Most books are fairly cheap on Kindle or you can sit in bookstore cafes and read them.

- draw and/or paint. This gets the neurons firing in areas that have been lying dormant for awhile.

- by cheap pads (waiter pads, for instance), and just free form write down ideas, observations, thoughts of things you want to try.

- go to a museum and try to find at least ten things you didn’t know before that excite you.

- go to at least one networking event. Or dance class. Or something you never would’ve thought of trying. Just one. Don’t pressure yourself into suddenly doing kickboxing ten times a week.

- study yoga. And not just the physical exercises but the reasons behind each one. The reason a move twists a certain way, breathes a certainway, the history of that move throughout thehistory of yoga, the reasons for doing the physical exercises.

Who's good, who's evil?

Humans are a mixture of good and evil. Pure good are Angels. Pure evil are Devils. But every human has a combination of both. By that understanding, one can say that no matter how wretched a person one considers, one can always find something glorious about that person. Similarly, no matter how respectable a person one considers, one can find something censurable about that person (save the Prophets, whom the God have protected from folly).

How then can any person be evil, or moral?

That is not the point. The point is, whether that person good to you. Are you better in the company of the said person than you are without it, if you are, then the person is good, good for You. And if you are worse in the company of this person than you are without it. Then this person is corroding for you.

Tauheen-e-Sunnat

If there's tauheen-e-sunnat going on, it's only because you yourself did tauheen-e-sunnat. Every single Muslim is a cartoon of the Sunnah. Every single Muslim male is a pictorial cartoon of the sunnah of the prophet sallallahwasallam.

— Shaykh Kamaluddin, On Blasphemy.

Stealing Slippers from Masajid

So while coming back from work a friend (Farrukh) started talking about another colleague, who had his 5000 bucks slippers stolen from masjid, the second time. And when he complained to the Imam sahab, the cleric simply gave him a pair of slippers from the spare ones which are there to be worn to the washroom.

So hearing this, Arshan told of a story of a guy who had come to a buzurg (a wise, pious man), and told him that he was afraid his slippers would get stolen from masjid. The buzurg told him one thing. He said that whenever you're entering the masjid and leaving your footwear outside, always make a prayer to Allah that whoever steals your stuff, doesn't earn gunah ('Jo bhi mera maal churaye ga, woh us per halal hoga, haram nahin hoga.'). When I heard this, I said yeah cool, but this seems like a very difficult thing to do. Because you can't even get the sucker in next life then! But then, Arshan explained what the priest meant...

The idea was, when people steal, the theft is always initiated by Shaytan's suggestions. And Shaytan always suggests things to a person which are most harmful, least beneficial. So for example, a student worrying whether he should study or watch a movie, will always be suggested by Shaytan to watch a movie; but a Student worrying whether to offer salat-e-tahajjud or study, will always be suggested to study. Anyway, when the next time a person who's need of money or slippers (or just wants to steal a pair of slippers) will come by,  Shaytan will try his best that he doesn't steal Your footwear, because then, he won't commit a sin! And so, Shaytan will lead him away to other slippers... This way your slippers are protected.

I think the same idea can be applied to other times as well. Just before bargaining, just say a little prayer to Allah, that if he charges me more than he should, I want that extra money to become charity from my side, not something that will come as wrong doing to him, I want that money to become halal (lawful) to him. If he does end up charging you extra (because you're gullible or inexperienced or something) then you are not robbed, instead, you've donated and earned so much more!

Simplicity

This is just plain simplicity. But people's biases and familiarity and training with complex and complicated thoughts, behaviors, actions has made it so abstruse for them.

It's not complicated, it's simple. To get it, think less. Think clear. Think.