Shaitan…the worst enemy

All praise and thanks to Allah who blessed us with Quran and Hadith from which we learned the truth about our life. Before Quran I used to think that all my thoughts and ideas were my own. I had not known that shaitan could penetrate my mind and inject his ideas so as to take me away from Allah. We human beings might not recognize the fact that our success lies in connecting ourselves to Allah, but shaitan knows so well that our destruction lies in being cut off from Allah… therefore he is constantly poisoning our hearts with his ideas which we so blindly follow …. Simply because we never doubt for a moment that this thought or idea might be the plot of my biggest enemy… the devil.

If we want to save ourselves from his attacks we must know how he acts so as to counter his moves, but even before that we have to first UNDERSTAND and ACCEPT and BELIEVE in his enmity, his jealousy and his life long mission to destroy us. Because how can you hope to win a war in which you don’t believe? How can you push hard against something if you don’t even believe it to be harmful or destructive?

Allah put the sentiment of hatred in us so that we might use its force against our enemy; but Shaitan’s biggest plot is that he makes our own loved ones look so bad in our eyes that all our hatred is being used against them. So he gets two victories… on one hand he gets spared from our hatred… we don’t hate him so we take no steps to push him away… and secondly we hate our near and dear ones and so the energy we might get from loving and being loved is lost to us… making us a weak target for him to further trample us beneath his feet. Have you every enjoyed praying after having a row with your children or spouse? Thus our relationship with Allah also gets weakened as the shaitan keeps whispering in your heart that if your religion was so good then why aren’t your prayers being answered? Why isn’t Allah helping you with your problems? Why aren’t your family members being a loving and kind support as they should have been? And so on and so forth… Self pity is shaitan’s favourite medicine because it blurs our vision… and thus with tears in our eyes, and a wounded heart, we further intensify our bad feelings and the war with people makes us forget our actual war which should have been against the SHAITAN…

So what is going to save us? It is our faith and knowledge… increase both!

Find the verses in the Quran in which Allah has informed us about why devil hates us and what has he planned to do? Find out all his tactics. Secondly list down all the weaknesses of your personality… the extreme behaviors… extreme desires etc and try to bring them into a level of moderation. Because fighting with the enemy is futile if the traitors run around freely to destroy you from within… Daily remind yourself that Shaitan is my enemy and my weakness is the traitor. If your weakness is a lack of knowledge then make yourself knowledgeable. If your weakness is lack of obedience to Allah then start obeying Him. Because Allah’s obedience and Allah’s constant remembrance is the most powerful weapon you have against all obstacles. Keep it shining… inshaAllahJ

Exam tips from Muhammad Alshareef

You may know someone who is studying for final exams these days. Final exams are always a nice time to focus on the true exam of life.

Here are some tips on How to get an A Grade final Exam?
By Muhammad Alshareef

1. In school, you can often redo your exam if you fail. In the hereafter, if one fails there is no going back.

2. In school, you often do not know what questions will be asked. In the hereafter, there are only 3 questions: Who is your Lord? What is your Deen? And who is this man who was sent to you? But the answers are answers you live by.

3. In school, we stay up at night to prepare for the exam the next day. So too in Allah’s exam, we should be staying up in night prayers.

4. In school, we pray and hope and work for an outstanding mark. So too should be our attitude towards Allah’s exam.

5. In school, when we get a great mark, we erupt with happiness. So too will the believers erupt in happiness when they get their books in their right hands. Work for it.

6. In school, when we get a bad mark, sadness can be seen on our faces, and we dislike to face others. So too in the hereafter. Protect yourself from that.

7. During a school exam, you cannot ask anyone for help. In the hereafter, you can prepare from now to get assistance from Allah’s Messenger, the Quran, and other ways of intercession.

8. In school, when exam time draws near, we banish distractions to focus on what is really important. In Allah’s exam, isn’t death within 1 heart beat? Banish distractions and focus.

9. In school, until exam results come out, we worry about the result. In Allah’s exam, we don’t know what our result will be, so we spend our days in hope and worry until the results come out.

take care of your home…

Sometimes there are differences between family members but if we are not careful then these minor differences can become issues which then lead to a lot of resentment and anger… even hatred. The best thing that the devil loves to do is to break your relationships so that when you are totally cut off from love and support of family and friends then he can easily take you far away from Allah and His love and obedience. It is so easy to get depressed and hopeless when your loved ones start making life difficult for you but obviously getting depressed is not a solution.  So what should you do if things have got messed up and you feel alone and helpless? This has become such a common thing nowadays that I thought of  listing down some practical steps under the title: “How to deal with difficult people”

1- Before saying anything to them first pray two rakah and “talk” to Allah.  Recall your sins and ask for forgiveness.

2- Pray to Allah that He should open your heart towards whoever is being unjust or unkind to you. Ask Allah to heal your heart and fill it with a loving and kind forgiveness for whatever they have done to you so far. Ask Allah to wash off all the grudges because unless your own heart is clear, your good words or actions will have no effect at all.

3- do all the lawful things which make them happy…. cook their favourite foods… buy them favourite things… wear their favourite clothes… keep the environment free from things they dislike. DON”T PROVIDE ANY SPARK FOR THE DEVIL TO START HIS JOB…. HIS BIGGEST SUCCESS IS IN BREAKING YOUR RELATIONSHIPS…and keep praying to Allah that He may protect you from the whispers of shaitan who will make you think of negative things like “you are never going to succeed with this person” He can never be happy… he hates you… he has never done anything for you so why are you being a slave to his desires. He does not deserve this kindness and so on and so forth. REMEMBER THAT YOUR FIGHT IS AGAINST SHAITAN AND NOT YOUR LOVED ONES. They seem to be making life hell for you and showing hatred, anger or other negative behaviour which of course is very painful to bear. But it will become easy if you continue to remind yourself that they are only following the whispers of the devil. They really love you but have become helpless because of their own weakness against the shaitan. They think that they are expressing their own emotions but the fact is that they are just acting on impulse and the real emotion is love… no matter how well hidden it might be.

4- You can never hope to succeed against the shaitan if you make angry comments. Rather just get away if possible or remain quiet. Wait out the bad periods and say A’uzubillah.

5- This life is a test. Allah has promised that He will surely test you with something or the other so STOP EXPECTING a normal happy life in this world which is simply an impossible thing. SO STOP PITYING YOURSELF that you have such a hard time…. think of others who are not in this difficulty but they have other tests which are far more horrific that you can ever imagine. SO THANK ALLAH  FOR SPARING YOU FROM ALL THOSE TESTS. Alhamdulillahi Allazi afaani mimma ibtalahu bihi….

6- If the hatred and anger of one person hurts you so much then give respite to your heart by thinking of the hundreds of people who love and respect you. Imagine the light in their faces when they see you.

7- Remember that no one was tested more than Allah’s Prophet (s.a.w) who was the most beloved to Him. So tests are not a sign of Allah’s displeasure with us as we believe. Rather it is the opposite! Prophet (s.a.w) was the most praiseworthy person on earth but remember how much his closest relatives tried to kill him with their taunts and hurtful behaviour. Yet He kept praying for them and never took revenge. If you love him and think of Him as your guide and role model then you must also be soft and kind and endlessly forgiving.

8- Crying is only in front of Allah…. begging is only in front of Allah… With people you should be kind but retain your dignity. Do not show any weakness of emotion… anger is weakness, self-pity is weakness, and bad temper is weakness… if you cannot smile and forgive just say ta’awwuz and leave the place. Make wuzu… get busy in some other work. Pray to Allah

9- Be firm and steadfast in your zikr and Ibaadah. Don’t relax your Nafs. Fight against it… train it… so that it acts for your benefit and does not become a traitor in your war against the devil.

10- INCREASE your gratefulness, charity and cheerfulness. Talk positive, be kind, helpful. STOP BEING SEL CENTRED.

After you take all these steps and still things don’t improve then remember that whatever good you have done will come back to you sooner or later. Allah has promised in the Quran that He never wastes the reward of the excellent people.  So never lose hope in the mercy of Allah.  Keep working and keep smiling with the confidence that Allah created you and He loves you.  May Allah help us to remember gratitude in happiness and patience in difficulties… Ameen.

the power of Zikr

We have all heard and read so much about zikr… which means remembrance of Allah that there seems no need to get any new information about it but I have always remained very curious on what exactly is Zikr and why is it so important.  Specially when I read the verse that ” verily in Allah’s remembrance do hearts find peace” or the verse in which Allah says ” and verily Allah’s remembrance is the greatest thing”  So I have tried to maintain a regular routine of  duas and Tasbeeh in order to gain its benefits in duniya (peace of heart) and akhirah (reward).  But recently I found that the greatest benefit of zikr is that it makes us believe more and more in Allah’s constant presence in our lives and so in all times one feels strong because of this feeling that Allah is with me and that I am not alone.  What happened was that I came to know that one of my dearest friend was in town and so I wanted desperately to go to meet her; but due to some unavoidable reasons I just could not go… this was such a disappointment that my heart refused to accept that I could be trapped like this… and so I started blaming the unfairness of the situation; when suddenly I remembered that just yesterday I was telling someone that no matter what happens we should always praise Allah and say Alhamdulillahi ala kulli haal (all thanks to Allah in all situations) and so despite my aching heart I started saying these words again and again… in just a few moments I began to feel like some invisible hand was comforting my burning heart…. cooling the fire of anger and self pity and replacing it with composure and PEACE… I was simply stunned with this almost MAGICAL transformation of my feelings…

And so I realized that how much Allah loves us that He has given us this amazing tool which we can use in all situations. Especially if you keep remembring Him in happiness He will remind you to do zikr when you are upset:) It is just so simple and “do-able”

So next time you feel the urge to dump your anger or frustration on yourself or others… just remember that you are just a moment away from gaining a million blessings by doing Zikr… and if you miss that moment then there is nothing gained but added frustration and heartache… Therefore do yourself a favour and make a habit of zikr so that you might get the power of faith and happiness of His love and comfort of His presence… Ameen

that “one” thing…

It is Allah’s great blessing that in each and everyone of us there is a special talent, a unique quality of character which we can use to serve our responsibility i.e. to call people to Allah.  But after the initial joy of discovery and the pleasure of using this talent there comes a time when we might face an obstacle in our path or the task becomes heavy and difficult. In such times one takes a break and this is where shaitan gets hold of our hearts and he makes us lose hope. So the committment looms large like an inconquerable mountain, depressing us into further lethargy…. this is what happened with me over the last five moths when my writing dwindled into nothingness and I began to have this doubt that I will never be able to write any Quran review again.  I tried to work really hard in other forms of worship to sort of compensate for my gap in the writing but I just didn’t get that peace of mind until yesterday I really spent some time alone with Allah and begged Him to take me back in the folds of His mercy and enable me to complete my assignment which I had started three years ago.  Alhamdulillah I got my answer that if I really want to write then I will have to give up the distractions which have sprouted in my life… I will have to motivate my nafs instead of waiting for some rain of self-motivation… And so after five long months of spiritual drought finally, finally I got my review done…

Just like in some human relationship we try to please the other person but there is one need of his which we must keep satisfying otherwise whatever else you do for him doesn’t count at all… similarly there is this one special thing you do for Allah which matters the most and if you don’t keep up with your commitment then no matter what else you might do for him, there will always be an emptiness in your heart which can not be filled with any other thing… except by doing what matters the most. And for that you have to fight two wars at the same time… one is with the devil and the other is with your own desires. A wise man once said, ” Jannat is just two steps away… if you can keep one step on your desires then the next step will be in Jannat”!!

May Allah always keep us connected to Him and may we fulfill our commitments with Him in the best of manner…. ameen

A Great Reminder and eye opener

I was just browsing through my documents when I found this excellent article. I thought inshaAllah it will be a good reminder for all those who are sad at the departure of this great month of Ramadaan:

A Farewell to Ramadan

by Ibn El-Sheikh El-Misri

Here we are; yet another Ramadan has past us by, yet another Ramadan we find ourselves bidding farewell to. Farewell to the month of good manners, farewell to the month of kindness, farewell to the month of generosity, farewell to the month of mercy, farewell to the month of discipline.

Ramadan to us was nothing but a school and a teacher. We all attended this school whether we wanted to or not. Some of us achieved great marks during it, some accomplished average marks, and some, and Allah is the source of all strength and mercy, attained failing marks.

Unfortunately, I am finding myself realizing a disturbing trend amongst us Muslims that we take astonishing steps forward during Ramadan. Our manners improve without borders; our worship is both increased in amount and in sincerity and our generosity is unsurpassed. But as we takes these great steps forward during Ramadan, we seem to end up taking far more steps backwards as the year progresses. For every step forward during Ramadan, we’ll take two steps backwards during the rest of the year, and that is undoubtedly a major problem from the problems plaguing our honorable nation.

So I can’t help but take it as a personal obligation to remind my fellow Muslims, just like Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) reminded them when he said:

O People! If anyone among you worshipped Muhammad (peace be upon him), let him know that Muhammad is dead. But those who worshipped Allah let them know that He lives and will never die.

So O Muslims! If anyone among you worshipped Ramadan, then know that Ramadan is dead. But those of you who worshipped Allah, then know that Allah lives and will never die. Indeed Allah created Ramadan and He also, in truth, created Shawaal, Dhul Qidah, Dhul Hijjah, and all the rest of the Months.

Rise in the last third of the night and pray like you prayed in Ramadan. Fast with the same strong-willed conscious effort as you did during Ramadan (eg, 6 fasts of Shawwal; fast of every Monday and Thursday; the 13th,14th and 15th of each lunar month; or that of 9th and 10th Muharram, as per the Sunnah). Fill the Masjids like you did during Ramadan. Let the Ummah boast huge numbers during Salatul Fajr as we do during Salatul Jum’ah. And always, always, remember that you may not see the next Ramadan.

Ramadan came to us as a school, one to renew and recharge our Eman. Now that it has completed its objective and given us a graceful and beautiful uplifting of Eman, it is now upon is to remain constant upon what it has given us.

{And verily, I am indeed Forgiving to him who repents, believes (in My Oneness, and associates none in worship with Me) and does righteous good deeds, and then remains constant in doing them , (till his death).} (Taha, 82)

A great motivational experience…

A couple of days back I had the wonderful experience of listening to the recording of a lecture by Sheikh Muhammad Al-Shareef. In that he talked about the problem of the “Ramadaan Dip”. As we know we start off Ramadaan with great motivation and aiming high but in the first few days the level of excitement starts to go down and the precious days of Ramadaan start passing by us like routine normal days. To overcome this problem we need to understand why it happens and then inshaAllah we can learn how to save our energy for the precious time of Ramadaan before it becomes a past which cannot be brought back at any cost whatsoever. The following is the link to the lecture

http://www.4shared.com/file/125775422/90492b61/The_Fasting__The_Furious_-_Ilminar.html

As for those who cannot listen to it, I am going to pen down some of its important points InshaAllah:

1- first of all we must recognize that being human beings our level of motivation keeps changing. At the start of any project we feel highly focused and energetic but after the initial excitement there follows a “dip” which means decreased incentive and energy. This thing happens in Ramadaan too but since it is such a precious time… a rare gift from Allah, so we must learn to preserve our energy and don’t waste this precious time in being sad and gloomy because we don’t feel any motivation for the targets that we had set in the beginning. Alhamdulillah we can learn to overcome this problem.

2- For this we must remember that our REAL goal in life is to be an obedient slave of Allah and we cannot be obedient without having Taqwa. Taqwa, as I disussed in a previous post, is the consciousness that Allah is looking at me and I cannot do anything in His presence which might displease Him. Now Taqwa is not something that you can have without any training therefore Allah sent us this precious month in which He specially created an environment in which the “Nafs” is being deprived of its desires of eating, the shaitan is closed up, and so with both these distracting things in control we learn to have the consciousness of Allah. But we only acquire it if we recognize it to be our true objerctive of all the worship and sadaqas in Ramadaan. Otherwise if we think of the “rituals” as an end in itself and congratulate ourselves day and night of all the ”activities” we are doing then the real objective will not be gained.

3- Although there are many good deeds to be done in Ramadaan but the two main things we should focus on are Qiyam and Quran. Qiyam-ul-lail (standing in prayer at night) is the most effective way to learn “Khushu”;  which means the deep humility and concentration of the heart in Prayer. It is also a great reminder of the standing in front of Allah on the day of Judgement. But the main reason why people cannot remain consistent in this Ibaadah is because they are getting so over stuffed in Aftar time that they don’t have any air left in them to breathe. According to a Hadith of the Prophet (s.a.w)… ” Fast and you shall become healthy”  But we don’t attain this objective because we think of Ramadaan as a month of feasting. The result is that the whole day the body is working hard to cleanse itself of all the toxins which we collect on it during the whole year, but at the end of the day we flood our body with so much food and drink that it has a totally adverse effect on us. On the other side the Nafs which had to become strong to control desires becomes even weaker when so many temptations are placed before it. Thus it cannot acquire the Taqwa that we had hoped to achieve.

4- Fasting of the body was meant to detoxify our bodies from toxins, and fasting of ears, eyes and toungue is for the detoxification of our soul. But there is also a third area which needs cleansing and that is our heart. How much poison we collect in it through negative feelings such as jealousy, arrogance, hatred, grudges etc. So it happens that we may be eating moderately and doing all Ibadah in the right way but our heart is not focusing on the prayer… and we feel confused why is it happening? We don’t understand that it is connected to our diseases of the heart. So please make this your top most aim to forgive your enemies and cleanse your heart from all grudges. Forget the petty little disagreements and focus on the real issue which is the upcoming test of the hereafter.

5- Another weight on the heart is the undue stress we place on it concerning with the affairs of the duniya. So many worries and anxieties… self pity, regrets etc etc. Then there is the weakness in faith and doubts in religion… that in itself is another illness which we need to cure. The good news is that all these evils can be rooted out by reading Quran with lots of focus on its meaning and applying its teachings in real life (not just in discussions). This will take care of all the detoxification needed by your heart:) InshaAllah!! 

And now for some practical tips:

1- Eat healthy and use a tea saucer as your dinner plate. That way you will consume only what you really need:)

2- Sleep and wake up on the same time daily so that your body stays in balance and your mind remains fresh.

3- Make a Ramadaan Buddy (preferably your Mom) who should motivate you towards your Ramadaan goals.

4- Record your activites and ideas in a daily journal. A good choice is to download the “heartwheel journal” specially designed for the 30 days of Ramadaan. It can be accessed at www.heartwheeljournal.com

5- Do an emaan building activity… Stand up and visualize that Allah is looking at you and will grant you two wishes… one from the duniya and one from the akhirah. Now imagine what will be those two wishes? Write them down and make this duas daily at iftaar time. (good news is that you can add to the list as many wishes as you want!!)

May Allah make this Ramadaan a means of forgiveness and Allah’s blessings in both worlds. Ameen

Allah is looking at me…

In all the time I have spent with the Quran, I have experienced this helplessness against time and situations in which I cannot accomplish what I want to do. The motivation of the Quran is so great. It urges me to go forward and do all the good deeds with excellence so that I might be one of the fortunate people who will be forgiven on the day of judgement. But then when the time comes to apply the lessons, my reactions are mostly not according to what I have learned from the Quran and Hadith.

Yesterday as I was reading Quran, I came upon a couple of verses from surah An-Naziyat, which explained to me why we fail to act on our knowledge. This is what Allah says:

And as for him who had feared to stand before his Lord and restrained himself from evil desires.

Then indeed, Paradise shall be his abode. (79:40-41)

I understood from these words that despite knowledge our actions and reactions are mostly controlled by our habits which in turn are based on our desires. Even though it seems like these habits have made us helpless and we cannot do anything to correct them but fortunately there is one thing which has even more control over us than desires and that is fear of consequences. For instance you are sitting with people whom you respect very much and want to be on your best behaviour in their presence. Now even if something happens which irritates you, you will not shout nor will you frown but will gently let it pass… why? Where is your habit gone? It is still there but you have managed to control it because you fear to displease your esteemed companions. There can be a hundred examples from daily life where you control your desires/habits because of fear (or respect) of a person. But this control is only temporary and the moment that person is out of sight you return to your “normal” self. Therefore there is no development of the character.

For that we need to be on our best behaviour all the time… feeling the eyes of Allah upon us… our motivation should not be to impress people but to please Allah. Because at the end of Chapter-74 (Al-Muddathir) I found these beautiful words of Allah:

He Alone is worthy to be feared and He Alone is worthy of forgiving those who fear Him

This realization that Allah is looking at me and I don’t want to do such and such things in his presence… can be acquired through sincere and focused zikr and specially while we are fasting for His sake. I find that duas during Sajdahs, as well as at sehri and aftaar times are most beneficial.

So make the most of this Ramadaan and use its spiritual atmosphere to develop the habit of controlling your habits. InshaAllah if we are genuine in our desire for self purification, and our efforts are consistent and sincere then Allah’s help is very near  

I need Taqwa…

Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alamin (All praise and thanks to Allah) for giving us this beautiful month of Ramadaan. To me it seems like a whole package of hope and opportunity…

An opportunity of attaining closeness to Allah,

A hope of coming out of the negative habits,

A chance of getting forgiveness from past sins

AND a great time for converting all dreams, wishes, desires into duas… having such excellent moments of special acceptance from Allah…

But what is the ultimate objective of all these activities?

Allah says in the Quran:

O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may get Taqwa.

What is Taqwa?

Taqwa means the highest level of awareness and inner strength with which we not only recognize the good from bad but also have the motivation to follow the right and abstain from the wrong ways.

We have all experienced this dilemma that we know something to be bad for us but still we cannot resist it… or sometimes we might have the highest dreams and ambitions and also have the clear vision of what is the way to achieve that but we somehow don’t manage to do the things which we know to be most essential for our success… why is it so?

It is because we don’t have the desired level of Taqwa in our hearts. This lack of Taqwa makes us weak against our Nafs and so we continue to make decisions according to our desires, instead of knowledge.

So here is our golden opportunity to build up on our Taqwa in this blessed month. Every good deed that we do (including fasting) should be done with this consciousness that it is not an end in itself… rather it is to purify my heart from all bad things… I want to purify my character from all bad habits… I want to cleanse my life from all sins and I want to build up this inner awareness and strength called Taqwa…

 

Procrastination

Procrastination can be cured…

Recently I have been thinking a lot on how to discipline myself. Procrastination seems to have engulfed my heart and I feel like I am sinking in a quagmire of hopelessness with myself. My work keeps piling up and there seems to be no way out…

As always my instinct is to diagnose and then treat the problem. So I asked myself what could be the reason behind this incapability to find time for the most important tasks of my life? There is certainly no lack of awareness. I understand so well the need to use my time in a profitable way because I am so much conscious of life coming to an end sooner or later. I have this terrible feeling at the bottom of my heart that no matter how much time Allah gives me in this world I will still feel it to be not quite enough for all the things that I want to accomplish for my akhirah. So how is it possible that while I have this most powerful sense of urgency and still I feel like I can’t quite get hold of my schedule? Day in and day out I get trapped into doing things which I had never planned nor wanted, but they just need to be done and so by the time I get some breathing space, my mind is too distracted and my body too exhausted, for me to even think of working for my Quran project. This has now been going on for over two months and until today I just could not find any clue to this mystery. But this morning I met a lady who was so depressed and hopeless with herself that talking to her and trying to make her feel better, I understood my own dilemma.

 Actually what happens is that if we get strong in our work, we unconsciously assume that now we are in a safe zone where no negative influence can harm us. But the shaitan never gives up on us. Thus he is forever on the lookout for the slightest weakness of faith or the tiniest deviation from the straight path from where he can attack our hearts. The first day when we leave an important task due to some problem, we feel very guilty but he gives us a hundred excuses to make us feel less concerned. If we don’t listen to his excuses and come back to rejoin the broken link, we are saved. But if we make the mistake of believing in his logics of self justification then we go further and further away from our purpose. The mind is full of good reasons but the heart is not satisfied… this gives way to depression and further weakens our faith and optimism. Until a point comes where one begins to lose hope in Allah’s mercy…

Now this is very dangerous and we must learn to avoid it. But if due to some weakness we have become a victim of shaitan’s attack then we must learn to defeat him and come back to the mercy of Allah.

The question is how to motivate oneself and regain the lost spirit?

1- The first step is to make a sincere Taubah and make lots of duas to Allah to guide your heart… (There are many such duas for the guidance of the heart, in the book of Quranic and Masnoon duas)

2- Make yourself work even in very little steps. (For example I have been writing this article for the last three days and only have the energy or motivation to add a few lines at a time) Remember that every little step you take will add on to your energy level.

3- Another very important thing is not to believe in the whispers of the shaitan because even after you do Taubah and try to get back into your routine he will try his utmost to make it all seem futile and useless. You might begin to have this doubt that since you have not shown any consistency in the past then there is practically no hope that you will ever be consistent in the future too. Remember it is not true. So just ignore these discouraging thoughts and strengthen your belief in Allah’s help and mercy through prayers and Quran.

4- You could also share these steps with a friend and together set up targets to motivate one another. For example you can study the Quran together or agree to learn some surahs within a certain time frame. Then listen to each other’s Tajweed and do corrections. This is very encouraging as well as interesting; but even if you have no one around, just remember that Allah is forever the best friend and guide.

Remember the prayer of Prophet Yousuf (a.s)

فَاطِرَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ أَنتَ وَلِيِّي فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ ۖ تَوَفَّنِي مُسْلِمًا وَأَلْحِقْنِي بِالصَّالِحِينَ ﴿١٠١﴾

Creator of the heavens and the earth! You are my Wali (Protector, Helper, Supporter, Guardian, God, Lord.) in this world and in the Hereafter. Cause me to die as a Muslim (the one submitting to Your Will), and join me with the righteous.”