Aishah (May Allah be pleased with her) reported: Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "The bond of relationship is suspending from the Throne, and says: `He who keeps good relations with me, Allah will keep connection with him, but whosoever severs relations with me, Allah will sever connection with him". [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Commentary:  The discourse on compassion to relatives mentioned in this Hadith is not impossible because Almighty Allah is Omnipotent and is thus Capable of doing what He likes. He can create perception, consciousness and power of speech in everything. An instance of it has already been mentioned in a Hadith quoted earlier.

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The Haj Committee of India (HCI) has announced some new rules for Hajj 1429. The quota for this year will be unchanged at 110,000.

Israeli soldiers have shot and killed at least one Palestinian in a random shooting incident. 20 year old Rashad Khater was playing squash in northeastern Ramallah.

Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma says the Zimbabwean situation needs to come to an end as none of the political parties involved will benefit if violence continues.

Police have forcibly removed nearly 500 ANC members from the ANC's North West Conference at Sun City near Rustenburg. The 500 were later escorted off the premises completely.

The Tripartite Alliance says urgent consideration should be given to removing VAT on a wide range of basic foods. The ANC, Cosatu and SACP say they are seriously concerned about the devastating impact of rising food prices.

COCONUT PAAK
Ingredients
550g Desiccated Coconut - 250g Sugar - 250g Klim - ½ tin Condensed milk - 1 small tin Nestle Cream (155g) - 125g Butter - ½ tsp elachi - Rose pink Colouring - ¾ cup water.

Method
Mix coconut, klim and elachi together. Add condensed milk and nestle cream. Boil sugar and water to make syrup. Allow to stand for a while before setting in a tray. Decorate with sliced coloured almonds.

MALES
Jahaafil - Great army; Powerful
Kabis - Projecting; alone; solitary
Labeed - Poet praised by Rasulullah SAW

FEMALES
Jahaabizah - Acute; intelligent
Kaadiha - Toiling; making efforts
Labbaanah - Milk (attribute)

Allah made their home, the sea
So the fish swim happily!
Colourful, big and small
Allaah made them all.

The first wise man had nothing to answer to that, so the second wise man asked his question. "How many stars are there in the sky?" he said. "As many as there are hairs on my donkey," answered Nasreddin. "What proof have you got of that?" asked the second wise man. "If you don't believe me," answered Nasreddin, "count the hairs on my donkey and you will see." "That's foolish talk," said the other. "How can one count the hairs on a donkey?" "Well," answered Nasreddin, "How can one count the stars in the sky? If one is foolish talk, so is the other." The second wise man was silent.

The third wise man was becoming annoyed with Nasreddin and his answers, so he said, "You seem to know a lot about your donkey, so can you tell me how many hairs there are in its tail?" "Yes," answered Nasreddin. "There are exactly as many hairs in its tail as there are in your beard." "How can you prove that?" said the other. "I can prove it very easily," answered Nasreddin. "You can pull one hair out of my donkey's tail for every one I pull out of your beard. If the hairs on my donkey's tail do not come to an end at exactly the same time as the hairs in your beard, I will admit that I was wrong." Of course, the third wise man was not willing to do this, so the crowd declared Nasreddin the winner of the day's arguments.

MORAL: Do not get involved in foolish talk.