Taha Rafiq

I would like to think I am crazy (crazy is another way of saying I am brave enough and intelligent enough to entertain heterodox ideas, but doesn't rub against other peoples egos) and so, usually, get along well with a very very small part of the society. My friends are very few in number, they all have a lot in common, and new ones rarely make it into the basket.
Anyway, so a few days ago, I was talking to this dude who was the first one in FAST Karachi to get a 4.0 since the 4 year BS program was introduced. And he has written something, and I quite liked it. I loved it. So I am sharing it here. I have been meaning to share it here for some time, but I procrastinate. Here it is:

Everything that we do from the time we gain a lucid consciousness of our actions is forever etched in our minds. We do not remember everything, in the sense that we cannot replay our memories like a recorded video, but it's still all there, tucked away is some corner of our minds. I am reminded of this from time to time when I dream of things I haven't thought of for a very long time, or when I am filled with joy or regret at an action that I did many years back. What this irreversible permanence of thoughts implies is incredibly profound. Any action that we take today will become a fundamental part of who we are tomorrow. Once we have taken any action, we can not remove it from ourself. There is no going back; there can be no selective erasure of thoughts or actions.

The prominent Muslim scholar Hasan Al-Basri is reported to have said, "Son of Adam! You are nothing but a number of days, whenever each day passes then part of you has gone." If we transform our view of ourself from our physical body as defined in space, to a view of us defined in time, then what we do at any moment is not only a part of us, but rather it defines who we are. The old adage 'you are defined by your actions' gains another meaning if we look at life in this way. We are composed of what we see, hear and do at every moment in time.

If we are defined by our actions and our actions remain with us forever, then our minds are undoubtedly the sanctuary where our actions are kept, and our eyes and ears the doors to this sanctuary. Once we let something into this sanctuary, it can never leave it. Do we treat this sanctuary with the reverence that we should? Do we try to guard the doors to this sanctuary and avoid letting in content that will pollute our minds forever? We put a lot of emphasis on keeping away from physical harm, which for the most part, heals after passage of some time. However, the scars of our minds never heal completely. For the best of us, our minds are places of contentment and tranquillity; a place where we can retreat to attain peace. For the worst of us, it's a prison where we wish we could escape from, but we cannot.

— Taha Rafiq

How to read the entire Jeeves and Wooster canon

An efficient method of reading the entire Jeeves canon is to read The World of Jeeves followed by the eleven novels in order of publication. The novels share a certain amount of sequential narrative development between them, and the later novels are essentially sequels to the earlier ones.

Exercising mindfulness might improve ADHD

Mindfulness exercise:

1. Focus on a target
2. Realize when you've become distracted
3. Bring the mind back to the target
4. Sustain!

source: Exercising the mind to treat attention Deficit

Some stuff

Some random stuff that I like reading again and again and again. Somehow it feels meaninful, obviously can't go around sharing them again and again on facebook, people already think I am crazy.

Sorrow is too great to exist in small hearts.

Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love.

Whatever you hold in your mind, you will eventually hold in your hand.

Mujahida

Mujahida

To do something, when you don't feel like doing something.
When your friends are telling you to do something.
When Shaitan is telling you to do something.
When your nafs is telling you to do something.
And you still make the effort of not doing that, that is mujahida.
Allah loves that mujahida.

Allah takes pride in people making mujahida.

Mujahida has to be made initially. And then it will translate into effortlessness.
Case in point salat. And then Fajr. This is the fruit of constant Mujahida.

If you keep doing it, keep doing it, Allah tala will give you episodes of sabr, shukr, takwa.

At first you have to make constant insistent mujahida, and it gradually starts becoming easier, and it gradually starts becoming effortless.

Eventually the whole process becomes easier. The Deen becomes second nature. The nafs becomes happy to be on deen.

For a true seeker, there's no difference between his/her spiritual state during Ramadhan and outside of Ramadhan. Except that they fast and do taraweeh.

If we're so stubborn that we go to gatherings, and we still don't make any effort. We go for hajj, umra, ehtikaaf, and still won't make effort. When a person gets so stubborn they get fixated on their idlenss, stubbornness, and they waste time on futile or even unlawful things. Then they have only themselves to blame.

In this tareeka, the only thing that Can keep a person back is the lack of effort!

May Allah accept us for this path!


Source: http://www.islamicspirituality.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Time-for-Effort.mp3

Faith - all that you need

Bits bout Typography

It's not a typo, I omitted the a on purpose. What purpose? Hahahaha...

So, one of these days, in the finals week, I decided, that instead of studying for my exams, I should read up some articles on Typography. After all, that's what one should do after one has spent the entire night typesetting one's resume that one has already submitted, before the exam day. What better way to escape from responsibilities than developing you aesthetic sense?

My exams aren't over, so I am still reading. Haha

So I googled, and came upon a number of nice looking polished articles. Finished one, the other one had links to four more, opened them up. Though 'Hey! This is cool stuff, I should bookmark it!' and discovered they were already in my bookmarks, and I hadn't read them. So I thought, might as well read them this time.

So one of them, is a very nice tutorial for beginners. I already know this stuff. But well, didn't I tell you about the important things to do before exam? Yeah...

So, this one site Interactive Guide to Blog Typography is an interactive type to blog typography. Hahaha... I mean it's really nice. As you can already see, all the rules the blogger mentions are already in place on my blog. But I will summarize them below. Why? I think by now you know better than to feel this curiosity.

Summary:

• Frame the content with whitespace
• Don't have distracting elements next to text
• Measure: 50~90 characters in a line are good for readability
• Leading should be 1.5em. For longer measures, increase; for shorter ones, decrease
• For titles, set tracking = 1.1
• Use one font. At most two
• For body copy, use fonts that are hinted (mathematically adjusted to be used on pixel grids)
• Use big enough font size for body copy. Recommended: 16px. I personally like 18px. Use even bigger for fonts with smaller x-height (like Crimson Text). Since I use such fonts, I guess that's why I like 18px
• Create Visual hierarchy with font sizes. Don't pick font sizes randomly, size2/size3 should have the same ration as size1/size2. Another designed makes the analogy of 'Font scale' with musical notes. Either they're in harmony, or discord. So choose wisely. You can use modularscale.com
• As in print, don't use the darkest black. Use like #444 or #222
• Use small caps. But in cases where they don't exist, and you use font-variant (as in my blog) the problem is clearly visible, as the text appear lighter than its neighbours

Other Good Resources for Typography

• Butterick's Practical Typography
• Thinking with Type