Reflection

BITS ‘N’ PIECES

The Prophet (S.A.W) said, “Truthfulness leads to righteousness, and righteousness leads to Paradise. And a man keeps on telling the truth until he becomes a truthful person. Falsehood leads to Al-Fajur (i.e. wickedness, evil-doing), and Al-Fajur (wickedness) leads to the (Hell) Fire, and a man may keep on telling lies till he is written before Allah, a liar.”

Sahih Al-Bukhari – Book 73 Hadith 116

Abdullah (R.A) reported Allah’s Messenger (S.A.W) as saying: Truth leads one to Paradise and virtue leads one to Paradise and the person tells the truth until he is recorded as truthful, and lie leads to obscenity and obscenity leads to Hell, and the person tells a lie until he is recorded as a liar.

Sahih Muslim – Book 32 Hadith 6307

DID YOU KNOW?

Three U.S. Presidents have won Grammys!

Former President Jimmy Carter has won three Grammy Awards, all in the Best Spoken Word Album category. The first one was for Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis in 2007. Next came A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety in 2016. Finally, Faith: A Journey For All won the award in 2019.

Carter’s win in 2019 at the age of 94 years and 132 days made him the third oldest person to win a Grammy behind record holder Pinetop Perkins, who was 97 when he won a Grammy in 2011, and comedian George Burns, who was 95 when he collected his only Grammy in 1991. Carter is the oldest Grammy winner who is still alive.

In 2004, Bill Clinton won the Best Spoken Word Album trophy for My Life. Just a year prior in 2003, he won the Best Spoken Word Album for Children award as one of the narrators of Wolf Tracks and Peter and the Wolf.

Finally, Barack Obama has won a couple of golden megaphones of his own. He won Best Spoken Word Album in 2006 for the narration of his book Dreams from My Father. And in 2008, he took home another Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for the audiobook version of The Audacity of Hope.

The spoken word category includes poetry, audiobooks, and storytelling.