Advise to a son!

This is something I read on face book and subhanallaah very beneficial Naseehah! Read on...

How a Deep Sense of Love Turned My Attention to Advising My Son

In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Mercy-Giving

All praise is for Allah
who created the first father (Adam) from dust
and brought forth his progeny
from between the backbone [of a man]
and the breast bones [of a woman]
and strengthened families through bonds of kinship
and ties of lineage
and bestowed upon me knowledge
and enabled me to discern what is correct
and let me be raised well as a child
and protected me with children
through which I hope to gain much reward

'My Lord! Make me steadfast in observing the Prayer-and also my children, our Lord. And do accept my supplication. Our Lord! Forgive me and my parents-and all the believers-on the Day the Reckoning arises.' [14:40-41]

As for what shall follow:

The truth is, when I realized how noble a thing was marriage, and how wondrous a blessing were children, I recited the Qur'an from beginning to end, and then asked Allah, Exalted is He and Most High to provide me with 10 children, and he did so: Five boys and five girls. Of the girls, two passed. And of the boys, four. So none of the boys remained, save Abu'l-Qaasim [His name was Ali]. So I asked Allah, Most High, to make for him righteous descendants, and to let him reach his aspirations and let him realize success.

Then I saw in my son a period of failing resolve and lack of striving in seeking divine knowledge. So I wrote for him this booklet [that is, the last section of Sayd al-Khatir] in order to encourage him, and to motivate him along his path to gain knowledge, and to guide him to turn to the One who will enable him to do this, Exalted be He and Most High.

Thus have I written this for him, knowing that there is none who can cause a person to fail if Allah has ordained success for him. As there is none who can guide one that Allah has let stray [on account of their rejection of faith]. Even so, Allah, Exalted is He and Most High, has said: Except for those who believe and do righteous deeds-and exhort one another to [uphold] the truth, and exhort one another to [persevere in faith with] patience. [103:3]. He said, as well: So continue to remind all people [with the Qur'an]-even if the reminding benefits [only some of them] [87:9]. Indeed, there is no strength nor any power save with Allah, the High, the Mighty.

~*~
Advice as to 'Looking at the Reality of This World'

One who thinks about the existence of the world that preceded his own existence sees a very long period of time. And should one think about the world’s existence after he shall leave it, he sees a similarly long period of time. Moreover he knows that the time he shall spend in the grave will be long, indeed. And should he further think about the Day of Judgment [in view of divine knowledge], he shall realize that it is 50,000 years. Then, if he thinks about the time to be spent in Paradise or Hellfire, he shall see that it is a period of time with no end.

Now, if he takes another look at the time he abides in this world-we’ll say 60 years, for example-he sees that he spends 30 years sleeping and about 15 in childhood. Then, if he calculates the rest of this time, he sees that most of it is spent in fulfilling desires, eating and earning wealth.

So after one separates out what of his actions were left for the Afterlife, he finds so many of them were performed with insincerity and heedlessness. With what, then, shall one buy the life everlasting, when the price offered has been nothing but these few hours?

Excerpts from Quarry of the Mind (Sayd al-Khatir) By Ibn al-Jawzi (D. 597 AH)