I digress

C'est vrai - I do digress! I just had a look at my very first blog entry back in 2006. My intention was to represent Islam from the perspective of muslim living in Britain. I have done that from time to time but a lot of it has been about losing the spare tyre around the waist. Not that this is separate from Islam or anything as Islam takes a holistic approach and caters for every aspect of our lives.

Blogging has lost some if it's coolness as it has been around for a long time now. I guess many go for microblogging such as Twitter and Facebook. Still waiting for my invite for Google+ to come through.

What has suddenly spurred me on to write on my blog again? Well the fact that people are still visiting the blog and comments from my brother that some of his friends used to read it. So here I am blogging again.

The prophet (sallAllahu alayhi wassalaam) had an amazing way with words. He would not digress or meander but was concise and clear. His message was usually so profound for those who ponder on them. Short and sweet. Something I have not mastered obviously!

An example of one of his sayings (from Imam an-Nawawi's Forty Hadith collection):

On the authority of Abu Muhammad al-Hasan bin Ali bin Abi Taib, the grandson of the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and who is dearest to him, radiyallahu anhuma, who said: I committed to memory from the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, (the following words):

Leave that about which you are in doubt for that about which you are in no doubt.

In arabic (see in the image above) it is much simpler and has a lovely rhythm to it: Da' ma yaribuka ila ma la yaribuka
(please excuse the poor transliteration)

The message is simple and easy to remember and it is an important guiding principle for muslims. I find myself constantly referring to this and indeed many of the ahadith in Imam an-Nawawi's collection. I would suggest reading the commentary of this hadith.

Of course not all the sayings are short but are so wonderfully phrased that people were able to remember it verbatim and pass it on to us. I leave you with the Prophets last sermon.

Prophet Muhammad's (SAW) Last Sermon


This Sermon was delivered on the Ninth Day of Dhul Hijjah 10 A.H in the Uranah Valley of mount Arafat


"O People, lend me an attentive ear, for I don't know whether, after this year, I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore listen to what I am saying to you carefully and take these words to those who could not be present here today.


O People, just as you regard this month, this day, this city as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners. Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you. Remember that you will indeed meet your Lord, and that He will indeed reckon your deeds. Allah has forbidden you to take usury (Interest), therefore all interest obligation shall henceforth be waived...


Beware of Satan, for your safety of your religion. He has lost all hope that he will ever be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of following him in small things.


O People, it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women, but they also have right over you. If they abide by your right then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness. Do treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and comitted helpers. And it is your right that they do not make friends with any one of whom you do not approve, as well as never to commit adultery.


O People, listen to me in earnest, worship Allah, say your five daily prayers (Salah), fast during the month of Ramadhan, and give your wealth in Zakat. Perform Hajj if you can afford to. You know that every Muslim is the brother of another Muslim. You are all equal. Nobody has superiority over other except by piety and good action.


Remember, one day you will appear before Allah and answer for your deeds. So beware, do not astray from the path of righteousness after I am gone.


O People, no prophet or apostle will come after me and no new faith will be born. Reason well, therefore, O People, and understand my words which I convey to you. I leave behind me two things, the Qur'an and my example, the Sunnah and if you follow these you will never go astray.


All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and may the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me direcly. Be my witness oh Allah that I have conveyed your message to your people."

Ya Allah send your blessings upon Muhammad (sallAllahu alayhi wassalaam) and upon his family and companions, Ameen.

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Time for my annual post :)

It's almost a whole year since I last posted. Having read my blog entry from August 2010, I realise I can update on 3 things that I wrote about last time.

1. Weight loss (oh no not yo-yo!)

2. Hajj (Finally managed to complete the 5th Pillar of Islam, May Allah accept it from all of us that have attended and for those who have not been may He (subhana wa ta'ala) make it easy for you, Ameen)

3. My job


Weighty issues
The last blog entry stated that I had reached 10st 13lbs (153lbs/69kg). I was planning to do something about it after Ramadan. Sadly I'm a great procrastinator and it didn't quite happen :(

So after a holiday in Spain back in April 2011, I decided that I am going to tackle it properly. So I kicked it off with the Dukan Diet and then adapted a little to suit my needs. I weighed 11st 9lbs (163lbs/74kg) or possibly more.

Still trying to eat mindfully and put into practice what I said last time about intuitive eating.

I have since the 25th of April a total of 13lbs (6kg approx) and it is still going down. Using the principles in the Dukan Diet and just generally eating healthily and consciously I have managed to lose the weight and maintain it. Actually the whole family is eating similar food to me.

Most diets work to lose the weight, but it comes back because what they don't teach is maintenance (or we don't want to follow it 'cos it seems hard to do). What we need to do is train ourselves to eat sensibly. The bad habits didn't happen overnight and getting out of them won't happen overnight.

Eat less, move more. Easy to say but not so easy to put in practice. How do you achieve a balanced diet when you are so unbalanced. A tightrope walker isn't born with the ability walk along a thin wire, they train themselves. Similarly we need to train ourselves before we can lead a balanced life. To be honest, I'm still learning how this works.

Calories in must be less then calories out. You can do this by counting calories and exercising and you will achieve your weight loss goals. Every diet makes you reduce the calories and of course all suggest some form of exercise. I've been watching the Biggest Loser series (US, UK and Australian versions). It is clear how this can work in an amazing way. They show you how to eat healthy and do all the proper exercise. There is even an attempt at mimicking real life situations on some episodes.

The time at the ranch is quite intensive and the contestants are monitored. They also have the added motivation of losing weight to win the contest and other prizes. This means that once they leave and enter into the real world it becomes far more difficult to maintain this. This is why many past winners have struggled to keep the weight down (see: 'Biggest Loser': Where are they now? The women on the list seem to have done far better then the men).



Similarly, when I reached my normal weight range with my diet that has been documented on this blog, I struggled to keep it down. As you can see in the pic here I have struggled to keep it down. I am steadily bringing it down at present and I hope it continues until I reach my target weight which is 9st 9lbs (135lbs/61kg).

I was hoping to reach the target by July 20th (my birthday) but I am off to Beijing (work related) and then on a short break with the family in the UK and then Ramadan comes along. My key aim is to lose weight steadily and if I can't, then to maintain it. This means that I need to eat healthier, make those good choices on most occasions.

I think in general if you do the following you will start losing weight

1. Eat lean protein - cut out the fat, eat fish even oily ones as they contain things like Omega-3, eat the leaner meat such as chicken and turkey (avoid the skin), eat lean cuts of meat

2. Eat vegetables - They are all good, don't be shy pile your plate high with fresh veg. The calories are low and the belly fill factor is high. Eat plenty of salad stuff too, that green stuff is good for you. Avoid fatty dressings. There are plenty of low fat options out there.

3. Fats - where possible avoid - There is a diffence between fats, some are good and some are bad. Plenty of info out there about what they are. Olive oil is good but when trying to lose weight minimise it's use. For example if you want fried egg, have it but put only a touch of oil in the pan and then using a kitchen towel (tissue) wipe away the excess. Tastes just as good. Or of course you can boil or poach them.

4. Refined sugar - where possible avoid - Refined sugar is a major problem for us. It's in everything. Many products have it as a first ingredient. Many low fat products increase the content of sugar when reducing fat to make it taste good. Replace with sweetener where needed and get your sugars from fruit and other natural products (the benefits from fruit far outweigh the negatives of sugar)

5. Drink water - Often we don't drink enough water and it is difficult to distinguish hunger from thirst sometimes. Around 1.5 litres is fine for the average person. Many say 8 glasses a day etc, I think this is dependant on the person and the activity they are doing. Remember we get water from food and other drinks as well. So no need to go crazy here. Drink before and during your meal. Helps reduce the amount you eat.

6. Exercise - I don't like going to the gym on my own. I prefer playing a sport. However we can all do more by going for a walk for 30 minutes in a day, just basically moving more. I know that fitting in an exercise regime can be difficult ('cos I'm lazy) and you just don't want to do it. But it is easy to go for a walk, get off a stop earlier on your journey. Avoid using the car for short journeys. Go take in the beautiful scenery of the country you live in with your family.

Can't remember any more steps. Hmmm, waffled on long enough. Still talking too much!

Hajj
Finally made my journey to Hajj. I went with my mum, my aunt (mum's sister) and my brother Nojmul. It was amazing to be one of 5 million or so people performing the same rites performed by Prophets Ibrahim and Ismail and Muhammad (alayhimus salaam). To be with so many muslims. There were testing times and my focus was on making sure I did everything correctly and looked after my mother, aunt and brother. My only hope is that Allah subhana wa ta'ala accepts it from us. I have discharged the obligation, acceptance is through the mercy of Allah.

My job

Recently took an MSP Practitioner course and exam and managed to pass it somehow. Alhamdulillah. Like all certifications like this, it is useful to have but not essential. I am already performing the role of a Programme Manager. Am I looking at greener pastures? Well the answer is I'm always looking at greener pastures, but the grass on this side is still good.

Finally, got burgled again at the end of April. The burglar broke in through the back kitchen window and made off with laptops, MP4 player, some mobile phones (used for work), gold and some cash. We think it was a neighbour that did it. It's not possible to get into our back without going through a neighbours house. It is the loss of the photo's, my wifes gold and the kids savings in a piggy bank (not actually a pig, my son had a Ben 10 one) that annoy me more then having to replace the window and the laptops. The sentimental things are of more importance and we have lost them forever.

This world is a temporal one and I hope that the burglar enjoys his short lived ill-gotten gains because life in the hereafter is eternal and determined by the choices we make in this world.

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Long time no post

Assalaamu alaikum,

Wow it has been a long time since I've posted anything on here. I wanted to but haven't had the time. Frankly speaking even now I don't as I should be doing something more beneficial in the month of Ramadhan then updating my blog.

Anyway much has changed since I last posted, it has been more than a year! I thought I'd give an update on my life and one of the main reasons why I haven't had time to post.

In September I got offered a new role with my current employer. I am no longer a Software Engineer but now a Programme Manager. This has many responsibilites and as I have come from a very technical background, it took a little getting used to.

Now I travel frequently to Paris on business (unfortunately keep getting stopped on a regular basis - 2 reasons being muslim and originating from Bangladesh!). The trouble is I have not been able to attend my french classes (too many meetings) and so have not really used the language. Need to get back to that soon inshaAllah.

A year on I am still enjoying the new role. Like all things there have been highs and lows. It does mean that I am busy in a different way now. As someone once said "Be careful of what you wish for, you might just get it!".

Again the role has had an impact on weight. I have been focusing on everything related to the job. I feel now I am at a point where I am comfortable with the needs of my job and I can now focus again on health issues.

Weight update: I now weigh 10st 13lbs (153lbs/69kg). At my lowest back in 2008 I weighed 9st 9lbs (135lbs/61kg). So in total I have put on 18lbs (9kg)! This is a 1.5 stones and I need to get my backside in gear to reduce the weight.

As it is Ramadhan now, no action is being taken until after. I have beeb reading up on Intuitive Eating. It is about listening to your body really. I think those of us who overeat have stopped listening to our bodies signals. I think that intuitive eating needs to start at the beginning of a weight loss program but to lose the weight there has to be some focus on what is being eaten and therefore counting calories is still a good way to lose weight but by putting the principles in place to end up in a well balanced healthy lifestyle.

Hopefully I will continue posting updates here. I wish to go to Hajj this year and so that is something I will blog about on my return inshaAllah. Something else that could be attributed to the new role, alhamdulillah it came with a nice hike in pay enabling me to finish paying off debts and actually save some money! Alhamdulillah!

Btw, I completed the Bikeathon back in 2009 quite easily this time. Unfortunately we couldn't make it this year. Perhaps next year inshaAllah!

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Doing the London Bikeathon 2009 again this year ...

In the last 4 years I've done this annual event twice. I did it initially to kick start my weight loss and fitness drive. More on this later, first some info about the event and our team link so you can sponsor me :)

The links:
About the event: London Bikeathon '09

Please sponsor us - it's for Leukaemia research: France Telecom/GSK '09 Team

My history with the Bikeathon
I joined my current employer in February 2005 and at that time I was my heaviest at 13st 7lbs (maybe more). There was a simple reason for that, eating too much and no activity to speak of. I mentioned to my team leader that I needed to lose weight and get active. So he challenged me to go on the Bikeathon with him and another friend and colleague Long. That year I bowed out, I didn't have a bike, hadn't ridden for years etc etc excuses galore ad nauseum.

However by the following year I got tired of the way I was and decided that I really must tackle my weight problem and activity. So I started 5-a-side football with my colleagues and signed up for the Bikeathon. I began to make small changes to my diet - like not eating so much fast food every lunch time. Start to lose some weight - but this was a half hearted attempt.

As usual being the fat lazy git that I was, I purchased the bike 1 week before the event and the only riding I did was to ride it home! Not very good preparation for an event that is 26 miles. I hadn't ridden a bike in at least 10 years if not more!

The day arrived and I thought I'd ride to the station and take public transport. District Line all the way to Richmond. So that was the first mile I had ridden in years. When I got to Richmond, the event was in Richmond Park and the starting line was 3 miles from the station. So I clocked 4 miles, went up a hill and before getting to the start I was knackered already.

Now the last bike I had was a BMX. It had no fancy gears and really I didn't have to do much adjusting. This bike has 21 gears or something and has all sorts of bits to fiddle with. I had no idea what I needed to do. My friends and colleagues tried to help as we went along.

Anyway I managed to get to the halfway point, very exhausted, sweating salt crystals. This was more activity then I had done in years. My cadet days and activities were but a faint memory. My body was screaming at me. If it could use IM shortcuts it would have been saying WTF!!!!

I grabbed some food they had waiting there. I had no idea that my seat was low, I was in the wrong gear (despite Long trying his best to explain to me how they worked) and the tyres were better suited to off road riding.

After a brief rest we set off again. Soon I was trailing behind. I had plenty of company at this point though there were some late starters. About a mile down the road my legs cramped. I stopped suddenly and the woman behind me braked sharply. Initially she was annoyed but when she saw me get off the bike she helped me by holding the bike as I knelt on the ground not daring to move as my muscles twitched and cramp. Sitting in a kneeling position (in the jalsa position in salah) it helped prevent cramping. The nice lady leaned my bike against the wall for me and after asking me if I was okay she went on.

I called Long to let him know what happened. Now Long, being the nice guy that he is, rode back to see how I was. When I could get up I told him I was quitting and for him to continue on. I then hobbled with my bike to the nearest District line station and headed home, still wary the muscles were ready to cramp any time. I did try to ride again but quickly got off. In all I had ridden about 17 miles that day. Although I failed to complete it, I felt it was still an achievement. I made a promise to do it again next year and complete.

Second attempt in 2007
So rolled on 2007. I was 16 pounds lighter through the changing of my diet. I was playing 5-a-side football regularly now. My fitness levels were a lot better but I was still obese. Still the fat lazy git, I did no riding in between. Still I was a little more confident this year. I was determined to finish.

Unfortunately Long was not able to attend the Bikeathon that year as he had broken his collar bone in a rugby match for our lab (I work in R&D). So only a handful of us turned up, including my team leader Raf.

Foolishly I didn't get my bike checked and my seat height was too low, still had the wrong type of tyres and was in the wrong gear. Raf's friend helped me sort out the gears so it was okay. Later on another kind soul, a fellow rider, stopped me and told me my seating was too low. I thanked him and it took several tries to get the damn seat to stay in position. Being a software engineer, I was initially thwarted by the hardware problem :P

Anyway I was riding a lot better and made it to the halfway point feeling fine. I did consider getting my bike checked by specialists they have at these checkpoints. I couldn't find them, not that I looked hard, and decided to continue. Horror of horrors my legs cramped again after a couple of miles. I started to walk and push the bike trying to ride alternately. I was being left behind by the tail end of riders at this point.

I got a call from Raf asking me where I was. He had finished already. It had been 3 hours. I told him I was just after the halfway point and walking. He told me had no space in the car for another bike so he was going to go home and then come pick me up. I told him to call me once he got home. I was still determined to finish. A few stragglers and I soldiered on. When he called me again I told him I was going to finish even if I had to crawl.

I got to the 3rd checkpoint along the route, riding and walking alternately. I had the bike checked. At this point my gears were fine and my seat height was okay. The problem was that my tyres were deflated. I hadn't realised that. The guy told me that I had off road tyres on and that I should invest in some thinner tyres suitable for the road.

Suddenly I was able to ride and it wasn't killing my legs. I was flying now baby! There were a few fellow stragglers remaining. I could see other riders with Bikeathon t-shirts sitting outside pubs along the Thames. It was a beautiful day and they had already finished soaking up the sun.

Unfortunately I missed the turning I was supposed to take. I was now amongst the last of the stragglers. Normally a steward would stand at the turning showing the way. But they had long gone. I just kept going on the path I was on.

I rode along the Thames, taking a nice scenic route. I saw another rider coming the opposite way. He told me that he thought that was the wrong way and he was going back to find the proper route. I decided to continue, not really taking his word for it, after all he was just as lost as I was! I asked people where the place I was supposed to be was. They told me to keep going and I will get there soon.

It started to rain, a light drizzle. I was riding hard and moving fast hoping to see a left turning, knowing by instinct that was the direction I was supposed to be headed. My legs were fine, my bike was fine but now I was way off course.

I came close to a bridge and I could see a road. It looked vaguely familiar. There was a set of steep stairs leading to the road. I had already ridden about 29 miles at this point. When I got to the road I saw that the town I was heading for was only a 1 mile away. It was another 2 miles from there to the finish line (which was also the start line).

It was raining a little heavier now. I was pedalling away and going at some speed constantly checking the route for anything I recognised. Eventually I saw the finish line. The last leg was supposed to be through Richmond park but I had done it on the roads and along a river side path. I think I did approximately 32 miles that day. I was knackered but pleased. It took me 5 hours and I wasn't the last one. They were still handing out some medals you get just for finishing. I grabbed a couple for the kids and headed to my car - oh yeah I decided to drive there that year, I wasn't going to repeat the mistake of the previous year.

We didn't do it last year, can't remember why. Anyway end of 2007 I started to diet properly. Overall I lost 55lbs (almost 4 stones) but gained 12lb back over the last 6 months. I am now in the process of losing that and intend to lose more by the beginning of Ramadan - hopefully hitting my target weight.

I am lighter, fitter and very eager to get out there and ride. I am hoping to do it in around 3 hours. I still haven't ridden the bike in between and I have the same old tyres. But this year I will get the bike checked.

Another amazing thing, I'm a lot less lazy now :P

So sponsor me people, its for a good cause!

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Key to losing weight? Its not what you eat but how much!

Hey, its been a long time since I wrote a blog entry. I just came across a blog entry on Calorie Count that refers to an article which states that it is the amount of calories not where those calories come from (fat, protein, carbs etc) that are the key to weight loss.

So it doesn't matter what the food is, if you reduce the amount of calories you need a day, you will lose weight.

As a friend said upon seeing my blog entry where I had lost quite a lot of weight. He asked me what diet I was on and I explained that essentially it was calorie counting. I sent him a couple of links and he responded that there should be a site called www.stopeatingyoufatb*****d.com.

Having said that, everyone should eat healthily because its not just about weight loss but leading a healthy lifestyle in general.

As the old saying goes - "Everything in moderation"

Q. So the answer to losing weight and leading a healthy lifestyle?
A. Eat healthy and exercise.

I know, not really earth shattering news is it? We've heard it so many times. But its true.

For muslims, look at the Sunnah (Way) of the Prophet Muhammad (sallAllahu alayhi wassalaam). You will find that much of what is good common sense regarding diets, he was practicing it. For a good website regarding health matters see: www.healthymuslim.com

Okay quick update for those who have been following my progress. I seem to be stuck at 145lbs at present. However I am still playing 5-a-side football (soccer) once a week, I started doing 30 mins exercise daily (since Tuesday) and I have started some weight training (although its hard to get to the gym).

The result is that my clothing is looser but the scale still shows the same. At least it did early this morning. I will have to wait and see.

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A year on: Am I still thin or have I bounced back?

First of all my apologies for the lack of updates. I have been very busy with work.

A year has passed since I embarked on my diet. I would love to say I am at my target weight, unfortunately I have put a few pounds back on. Mind you I haven't done much exercise due to heavy work load and the usual 5-a-side footie (soccer) not being organised by my colleague (whose work load is worse then mine!).

My stats at the beginning of my diet was:
On 31 Nov 2007: Weight = 173lbs (78.47kg), Waist = 102cm (40 in), BMI = 31.6
On 10 Dec 2008: Weight = 143lbs (64.86kg), Waist = (Don't know) , BMI = 26.2

At my lowest I was 135lbs (61.23kg) with a BMI of 24.7!

So it seems I have gained back 8lbs in total. I can tell you I felt depressed initially. But you can't let a setback set you back. So I'm trying to tackle the fat.

What has changed to stop my weight loss?

Well I went to France in August, prior to that I stopped having the herbalife shakes and other products. For a a month or so I kept the weight down and lost a couple more pounds by myself. Then I eased up on the diet regime a little, got really busy with the project I am current technical lead on.

I wasn't going wild but the amount of calories had increased. I was basically having my maintenance level of calories and sometimes more. Of course coming off a diet regime you can expect to gain some pounds. However to compound that I ended up going to France and I had no real restrictions there. I mean come on, all those lovely desserts :)

When I returned from France, I had gained 4lbs altogether from my lowest point. August was followed by September.

This coincided with Ramadan. Now normally I lose weight in Ramadan, and this happened as expected. I dropped a couple of pounds in the first week. However at home we started to buy some desserts to eat before Isha and Taraweeh prayers. This situation was worsened by the Supermarkets doing Buy One Get One Free offers on cakes and other lovely stuff.

So I piled on the pounds again and I have since been trying to battle it. The situation was not improved by the fact that I had not done any exercise from the France trip at the end of August, through Ramadan (all of September) and then afterwards I was very busy with my project. I probably managed a couple games of badminton and one of football in that time. Others I had to cancel as the project was high priority as deadlines whooshed past.

All of November went by thus and unfortunately the guy who books the 5-a-side court couldn't as it was not available. So here we are on the 10th of December 2008. I am looking forward to my football game tomorrow.

On Monday the 8th was Eid Al-Adha (religious festival). This is a day of celebration and eating lots of fried goodies everywhere you go. But my over indulgence started a few days prior as a friend is off to Bangladesh and so we hooked up with him for some more fried food stuff. It unfortunately continued over the weekend and onto Monday (the day of Eid). Yesterday I decided to be sensible so it was all fruit and salad etc.

Unfortunately today I went with some of the brothers at work to a pizza place that is selling halal chicken. We decided to try it out. Then one of the brothers suggested some ice cream, a tub of Ben and Jerry's going for half price (why or why do Supermarkets have such attractive pricing on bad stuff like this!). Naturally I had some myself. Methinks I will avoid the evening meal or I will never get out of this mess.

Solution to my problem - more exercise! I am controlling the food most days so what I need is to get active.

The dangers are there due to the Christmas period at work. People are bringing in all sorts of tasty goodies. I must resist!

I'm even toying with going back on the herbalife diet for a little while. If anyone is interested try my friend Mohibs website. (Hmmm, got plug his stuff once in a while).

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Event: Gone in 30 Days - The aftermath of Ramadhan

The next talk that is happening in my local masjid. Hopefully the title wont cause controversy this time as the previous one did.

EVENT: Gone in 30 Days.
The Aftermath of Ramadan
SPEAKER: Shaykh Mujahid Ali (Ebrahim College, London)
DATE AND TIME: Saturday 11th October 2008 @ 6.20pm After Maghrib Salah
VENUE: Shahjalal Mosque, 722-724 Romford Road, Manor Park, London E12 6BT

Brothers Entrance: Romford Road
Sisters Entrance: Third Avenue

For More Info call: Brothers 07939 866 110 Sisters 07960 676 844


Alhamdulillah, these talks have become a regular feature and this is due to the younger brothers (I consider myself still to be a young brother - these brothers are younger then me :P) are doing the organising and frankly they are doing a very good job.

Shaykh Mujahid is a local scholar who teaches at Ebrahim College. He has done talks at our masjid before and has proven to be quite popular with the younger generation.

As for the title, well its the young brothers again. I'm sure many of you know what the title is similar to, if not the poster surely gives it away.

Come along and benefit from this inshaAllah.

'Verily the world is accursed and accursed is what it contains, except the remembrance of Allah, that which Allah loves, and someone with sacred knowledge or someone learning it.' (Tirmidhi).

'If anyone travels on a road in search of knowledge, Allah will cause him to travel on one of the roads of Paradise . The angels will lower their wings in their great pleasure with one who seeks knowledge, the inhabitants of the heavens and the Earth and the fish in the deep waters will ask forgiveness for the learned man.' Narrated sunnan Abu dawood. Book 25, Number 3634

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