...And speak words that are correct/ appropriate...

Allah (SWT) Says, in Surat Al-Ahzaab (The Combined Forces)[33], Ayah 70-71:

{ يٰأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ ٱتَّقُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَقُولُواْ قَوْلاً سَدِيداً }

{ يُصْلِحْ لَكُمْ أَعْمَالَكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَمَن يُطِعِ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ فَازَ فَوْزاً عَظِيماً }

“O you who have believed, fear Allah and speak words that are correct/appropriate (70)
He will [then] amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great attainment.(71)”

How many of us apply this command from Allah???

How many of us watch their tongue for every word they can say???

Anyone knows the Miranda warning? I’m sure most people know it just by watching movies, it says: “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”

Why don’t we apply this in our Islamic life, and watch all the comments we can make?…Let’s not forget that one day, we shall be brought before Allah to be judged, our tongue could be the source of a lot of trouble on that day,

Hadith – Sahih Bukhari 8.481, Narrated Sahl bin Sad:
Allah’s Apostle said, “Whoever can guarantee (the chastity of) what is between his two jaw-bones and what is between his two legs (i.e. his tongue and his private parts), I guarantee Paradise for him.”

In another hadith, the Prophet (S) said that the tongue and private parts are among the reasons leading many people into hell fire…

I hope these reminders will be useful to help all of us remain calm and fair in every situation and only speak the truth and only speak what would please Allah..

Basic night navigation: finding Qiblah direction using Moon

{ وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ ٱلَّيلَ وَٱلْنَّهَارَ وَٱلشَّمْسَ وَٱلْقَمَرَ وَٱلْنُّجُومُ مُسَخَّرَاتٌ بِأَمْرِهِ إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ }

"And He has subjected for you the night and day and the sun and moon, and the stars are subjected by His command. Indeed in that are signs for a people who reason." Surat An-Naĥl (The Bee) [16:16}


The following entry would help find our Qiblah direction at night. I personally find it more precise to navigate at night than during the day.
In our previous entry, we saw how to make use of the Sun to find our directions. Well, believe it or not, even when we do not see the sun at night, we can still make use of it. How? by using its reflection on the moon..

There are many facts related to the Moon, all of them could be easily observed. We just have to pay attention to the world around us to see that Allah Made so many things to help us count and find directions...

Fact 5: Sun illuminates the Moon, the Moon acts like a mirror of the Sun, it "sees" the light coming from the Sun.
Fact 6: The Moon does not appear during all the night (except for the full Moon): new Moon starts from West, then disappears after some time. The following night, the Moon appears higher in the sky, and lasts longer. The following night, again the Moon appears higher in the sky and lasts longer and so on untill the full Moon appears.
Fact 7: the full Moon rises exactly in the East, goes to South, then sets in West. It behaves just like the Sun, but this is only valid during the 13,14 and 15 days of Moon age, which we, Muslims, call the "White Days"(ayyam al baydh). These are the days of each month where we are recommended to fast by our Prophet (S)
Fact 8: from the day 15 to 30 of the Moon phase, the Moon will start to appear later and later at night. Remember at the beginning, the Moon was appearing in the West, but now, the Moon will start to appear in the East, this is crucial information that must be retained: the Moon appears in West during the first phases, and it appears in East during the last phases.(click on the picture to see a larger view)

Basic navigation: finding Qiblah direction using Sun

{ وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ ٱلَّيلَ وَٱلْنَّهَارَ وَٱلشَّمْسَ وَٱلْقَمَرَ وَٱلْنُّجُومُ مُسَخَّرَاتٌ بِأَمْرِهِ إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ }

"And He has subjected for you the night and day and the sun and moon, and the stars are subjected by His command. Indeed in that are signs for a people who reason." Surat An-Naĥl (The Bee) [16:16}

The following page would help find our Qiblah direction using some simple and basic knowledge. Every Muslim and Muslimah should be able to tell the 4 directions (North, South, East, West) at any moment of the day, or the night without the need of any compass or GPS. There is nothing difficult in finding directions and all science Come from Allah, Who Created the Stars, Moon and Sun for us to make use of them.


The directions are referred to North, South, East and West. We must know, according to the place/ country where we live, the direction of Qiblah. Muslims in the U.S. face Eastwards for Mekkah, people in Muscat, Oman, must face West, People in Azerbaijan would face South etc. The issue is to face that direction using the Sun and this is what the following page would help us with...


Fact 1: Sun indicates East when it rises
Fact 2: Sun indicates West when it sets
Fact 3: Sun indicates South at midday (for people in Southern Hemisphere, Sun indicates North at midday)
Fact 4: Sun travels from East to West via the South. The people in Southern Hemisphere would see the Sun travel from East to West, but via the North.


If you face any of the cardinal points (N,S,E,W), then you could tell the 3 other directions easily..

Say I face the Sun when it rises, then I am facing East.
My back is towards West.
My right side = South. 
My left hand side = North

If you face any direction, then you could tell the other 3. ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW IS ONE DIRECTION ONLY, and the rest could be deducted from that one...That is exactly what a compass would do, it would always indicate one direction, North, then you would deduct the 3 other directions  based on the finding of the North position.

Fact 1: Sun position at sunrise = East (click on image for larger view)

Fact 2: Sun position at sunset = West (click on image for larger view)

Fact 3: Sun position at midday = South (click on image for larger view)

In the picture above, the 3 other directions could then be easily deducted: ahead of me is West, on my right is North and behind me is East. If I am in Malaysia, I know that Qiblah direction is towards West, I would then be praying towards the sea to be facing Qiblah.

So these are the basic navigation aids that every Muslim and Muslimah should know, we should never get lost if we know the basic movements of the Sun and Moon....Make sure you teach your children about these as soon as they can understand the concepts

My other entries will describe night navigation using the Moon, and stars. We will also look into some more advanced navigation where we have no Sun visible (cloudy days/ inside Jungle) and yet, still be able to have a rough indication on our directions...