The Dreamer’s Handbook (H/B)

Enjoy Your Life! Enjoy Your Life: The Art of Interpersonal Relations as Exemplified in The Prophet’s Biography is a comprehensive guide towards improving interpersonal skills and hence, enjoying life. The author, Dr. Muhammad ‘Abdur-Rahmân al-‘Areefy, writes: An enjoyable life entails learning and practicing multiple skills; the few who truly apply them savour the success that comes with it. Of course, atop the list of the successful is the chief of humanity, Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him). His entire life was an ocean of pearls that I have scattered throughout the pages of this book.

Enjoy Your Life! is not the product of an effort of a month or a year. Rather, it has resulted from the research that I devoted myself to for twenty years. I inscribed it with my tears, pouring my soul and squeezing my memories into it. I penned down various incidents involving the joy of our eyes – our first teacher, Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him). I highlighted his exceptional talents; his skills in dealing with people and enjoying his life. Enjoy Your Life! contains personal memories, real-life experiences, and incidents that I have publicised for the first time – praying that Allah, the Exalted, makes them a source of benefit for you.

Enjoy Your Life! contains words that are straight from my heart, hoping to find a place in yours. It is the dearest and most beloved of my books. I ask Allah, the Exalted, to benefit others with it, make this effort solely for His sake, and amply reward all those who have contributed to spread it.

This book examines the role of women in Islam, their education and marriage, and several controversial topics such as domestic violence, female genital mutilation and polygyny. It addresses honestly the divergence between Islamic teaching and actual culturally-influenced practices.

The subject matter of this work has preoccupied and continues to preoccupy the minds of our Nation?s members; yet in spite of this preoccupation, many people lack a correct understanding regarding it. Because the issues that fall under the subject matter of this work are so important, I decided to write this work, through which I hope to make plain the way to live and act according to what Allah has revealed.

Contrary to what some may think, this work is relevant not just to leaders, but to every individual as well. Each and every human being is a leader and chief of sorts, for just as a ruler is responsible for the welfare of his state and citizens, each one of us is responsible for his flock ? the members of his family and, more importantly, his own self?

The writer is a survivor of an accident that altered his life. He is a man who managed to overcome adversity and transform bitterness into personal success, as his literary gains outweighed his physical restrictions. Where his physical condition limited his movements, his creative writing opened up a new horizon that enabled him to freely interact with his readers.

This is a real-life account of how a human being can overcome obstacles, giving effect to the epithet: ‘What does not kill me makes me stronger.’ The autobiography defines patience in two ways: first, as a bitter experience and then second, as the ability to tolerate and turn one’s misfortune into investment. The accident that the writer suffered has paralysed his body, but at the same time it has unleashed his writing talents. (Yousef el-Sharoni, Egypt)