recipe for success

Today I read the following quotation which goes like this :

Know that you yourself are a miracle

and believe that you can make miracles happen

by thinking, praying, believing, working hard and by helping people

So you see it is the perfect sequence:

Whatever you want to accomplish in life it should have the right thinking behind it… like you make a good intention that inshaAllah I will raise my children as true muslims so that Allah grants me Paradise and my children as well.

Next step is Praying…

What we do wrong is that as soon as we think of something we rush to do it without first asking for Allah’s help. And we forget that the power to do anything is not with us but with Allah. So every significant job should be backed up with duas… and even if you are in a hurry we have been taught such a short and comprehensive dua ”bismillahir-rahmaanir-rahim”

The third step is believing…

Which means that we should have belief that Allah will help me and will make my job easy for me… doing something halfheartedly or without hope of success, hardly ever brings any positive results

The fourth step is working hard… you see how balanced our religion is! we are not encouraged to work without prayers and we are neither encouraged to just depend on prayers and do nothing about it. In fact Islam is all about hard work and consistent efforts… Jehad… that is what it means… utmost struggle

and then the last thing which might not seem directly relevant to our targets but is highly valued by Allah and that is helping people. You must be fully focused in your projects but from time to time you must look out of your comfortable zone towards other people who are also struggling with their goals and if you can help them then it will make Allah very pleased with you and in turn He will send His help in an even profound way.. inshaAllah

Friday and a glimpse of Al-Qiyamah

Last year I learned in a lecture that Friday is a day in which we should be extra conscious about the hereafter because Allah created Adam (a.s.) on Friday, sent him on the earth on Friday and Qiyamat (the end of the world) will also come on a Friday. So Friday should be a day in which we should pray extra hard, send lots of durood on the Prophet (s.a.w) and do lots of Istighfaar (asking Allah’s forgiveness). Since then I have been trying to give special attention to this day… but I had never dreamed that Friday 4^th dec 2009 will remain etched in my memory forever…

It began as a very good day for me as Allah gave me the opportunity to talk to him in the last part of the night. There is a window in my bedroom through which I love to look at the sky and imagine Allah to be there and listening to my prayers… and so I poured out all the feelings of my heart and all my dreams… I did not know at that time that a few hours later I would be standing in front of the same window crying for Allah’s help to bring me back my children who had gone to pray Jummah prayers in the masjid which came under a massive terrorist attack…

My younger son, Adil, is 14 yrs old and MashaAllah full of life and energy… In his usual style he ran past me and rushed out of the door… his voice echoing in the lobby “Ammi I am going for Jummah”. Usually I send him off with a hug and prayers but I remember I was busy in typing out some article so I barely glanced at him… and he was out of the door in a second. My elder son, Ali, is seventeen and a half yrs old. I went up to him and asked him why was he not ready to go yet? “I don’t feel like going” was his response, which made me think how the shaitan is getting so powerful with my child that he is putting doubts about a prayer which he has never missed… And so with a firm resolve I put a smile on my face and very lovingly got him through the process of “finding” what to wear etc and so in just a few minutes he was ready but of course it was getting late and the masjid is at a walking distance of about 5 to 7 minutes. But as he started running out the door I went after him and hugged him with my usual dua “Go in Allah’s care and come back safe in Allah’s care and protection”…

 I locked the door after him and went to my room to get ready for salat but just as I had got my things together, I heard something hitting hard against a wall, like a metal ball or something… but it didn’t stop and kept getting louder and more powerful… “What is it?”  I rushed to the lounge to asses where the sound was coming from; but it was so loud that it seemed to be coming from all directions… “It must be a bomb blast… but where?” Someone called me just then and I ran to pick the phone… It was my servant “Baji, there has been a suicide blast in the masjid”

 “But where are my children?” I asked

“I can’t see them… the firing is still going on…” and his words still echo in my mind “Baji aap dua karain” (sister, make dua!)

My heart seemed to burst with pain and anguish as I stood in my window and cried to Allah “Please Allah bring me back my children, please take care of all the children, please forgive me…please forgive me…please forgive us all” At that moment I remembered all the times I have looked at the sky from the same spot and made duas to Allah… I thought maybe Allah will accept any of those duas… maybe I will see my children again… but the sound of  gun shots was still coming non stop,  reducing my hopes bit by bit as each bullet seemed to go right in my own heart… Suddenly I remembered the dua which should be prayed in times of extreme unrest and pain:  

La ilaha illallahu Al-Azeem Al-Haleem

La ilaha illallahu Rabbul Arshil Azeem

La ilaha illallahu Rabbus-Samawaati wa Rabbul ardhi wa Rabbul Arshil Kareem

There is no God but Allah, The Great, The forbearing

There is no God but Allah, lord of the great throne

There is no God but Allah, lord of the heavens, lord of the earth and lord of the noble throne

This dua gave me enough clarity to remember that when our Prophet was afflicted with any difficulty He used to hurry towards salat… so I made wuzu and started praying. Even though I could not focus on what I was reading; yet when I prostrated, my heart felt such comfort as I can never express in words. I wished to spend my whole life in that posture but then there was the sound of door bell and my Ali walked in… How happy I was to see him but when I asked him about Adil, he had no answer. He told me that the blast occurred just as he was half a minute’s walk away from the masjid so he ran back to a safe position where he had kept waiting for Adil… but then he thought that I must be so worried for both of them so he came back.  I thought as if my heart was going to overflow with helplessness but then I thought: No, we are not helpless… we have Allah who can do everything… Thus together we got down on the prayer mat and prayed salat-e-hajat begging for Adil’s life as well as for everyone else.  I had barely finished when I got a call from my husband telling me that he was in the masjid, and looking for Adil but there had been too many casualties and bodies were lying everywhere…He had not been able to locate him so far. He even asked me what clothes he had been wearing so that he could identify him… It seemed almost unbearable but at that moment I realized that if I focus on the true reality then I can handle this pain… and the reality is that every one of us is a creation of Allah and thus we belong only to Him. He had given me Adil as a blessing and He can take him back anytime He wants. And all the people who have died today have gone in a state of worship so they must have been Allah’s special guests in Paradise. And if Adil has gone to Paradise then I should be happy for him and do Sabar and shukr… As soon as I began to think on these lines I felt like someone held my heart in a comforting way and all my restlessness and anxiety seemed to dissolve like magic. On and on my tongue repeated the words “inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji’oon” (Surely we are for Allah and surely we are going to return to Him) as the image of Adil’s smiling face seemed to fill my heart, giving me comfort that my son was safe and happy. Mostly we think that it is almost impossible to do sabr but Allah showed me that day that if we connect to Allah then He gives sabr just like He gives us all the other gifts of life.        

It was at that moment when I understood with utmost clarity how important it is to have faith in Allah and the hereafter; what a great blessing it is to have an understanding of Quran and Hadith; because if I had not learned to have conviction in the “real life” of the hereafter I could never bear the loss of this life. If I had not learned the lessons of gratitude and patience from Quran and Hadith, I could never be standing there in peace, answering phone calls with a composed voice and a calm heart. Friends and relatives from all over were calling one after the other and I was just reminding them to pray… and then I got the most unexpected call… “Ammi, I am in the hospital” I just stood there full of surprise and relief… “Adil… is it really you? How are you?” And he said “Ammi I am alright, just wounded, but no problem” And so with immense gratitude I happily announced to my elder children that Allah had given us Adil once again so let’s all pray and give thanks to Allah, the extremely merciful and compassionate Rabb…

Later in the evening my husband called to assure me that he was with Adil and that there was nothing serious… just a lot of splinter wounds which he had got due to the exploding grenades. But the amazing thing was that he did not feel any pain and was not afraid or traumatized. I also came to know that the attack had been so great that more than 40 people had died and 82 were injured. I shuddered to think what the other families must be going through. What must be the state of the grieving mothers who had lost their precious sons? The wives who had lost their husbands? My heart grieved for their pain and I prayed to Allah to give them Sabr and Yaqeen in His mercy… But then I also wanted to do something for them… something that might give them hope and ease their pain… and so I thought of writing this article and share with everyone whatever lessons Allah taught me through this heart moving experience.

InshaAllah I hope to convey to them how much Allah loves us… not only when He gives us happiness but also when He gives us pain. Because any pain that Allah gives in this world is rewarded by an immeasurable amount of blessings of the hereafter. Especially the death of a child is such a great test that Jannat is guaranteed for the parents if they do sabr and follow the right path. According to a Hadith we know that if Allah intends goodness for someone, He puts them in a trial. But it is such a pity that due to lack of knowledge and a false perception about life we become hopeless and depressed. Instead of thinking of these trials as opportunities for earning great rewards, we mistake them to be an unfair calamity inflicted upon us by people or circumstances. Therefore we need to have a strong faith in Allah that He always wants good for us and is extremely compassionate and merciful.

Secondly we all need to learn about patience. It is a fact that patience and peace of heart are achieved only when we connect to Allah but if we are following a lifestyle in which there is hardly any time for Allah except a few moments of distracted prayer, and Quran is just a recitation of unknown words then how can we connect to Allah when our hearts are jolted by some extraordinary incident? Therefore it is highly important to learn and act upon the Quran and the teachings of our beloved Prophet (s.a.w)

Last and not the least is the issue of protecting ourselves and our children from further acts of terror. No doubt we must take precautions and try to secure ourselves against any unpleasant incident. But most importantly we must protect ourselves from disobedience of Allah. We must protect our children from the terrorists but we need to protect them from an even bigger enemy which is the devil. Because the plan of the devil is even more disastrous… He wants us and our children to burn in eternity and surely that’s something which we cannot bear at all. Our guard against the devil is the remembrance of Allah. So lets all turn to Allah and ask His forgiveness for all our past ignorance and heedlessness.

We read warnings of Al-Qiyamah in the Quran and we hardly give it a thought. But we should now realize that if we cannot even bear a small glimpse of Qiyamah in this world then how can we be carefree of a day in which the whole world will be jolted with a massive destruction? So we must worry about our security and our children’s security on that terrible day which is coming nearer and nearer with every passing moment.

I often used to think how nice it would be if I could have my children re-born so that I could teach them to love and obey Allah right from the start… I never imagined that Allah will answer this “impossible” prayer. When I saw Adil in the hospital and Ali standing by his side listening to his story, I realized I had got my sons “again”. But every blessing is a test. I will not be given any reward for just having these sons, rather if I want to be rewarded then I will have to work extra hard with them so that they get connected with Allah and spread their goodness in the world. So every incident is actually a test… for some it is a test of patience and for others it is a test of gratitude.

In the end I would like to say something in which I strongly believe: that you are not unlucky or unloved by Allah if your child or husband has been taken back by Allah… similarly you should not feel proud if Allah has saved you and your family… rather the one who is really fortunate and beloved to Allah is the one who remains patient and grateful. We will not be honoured in the final judgement by the number of blessings that we had, but it will be seen what we did with these blessings? That really is the test.

May Allah keep us all steadfast in our faith and obedience… May He keep us safe in both worlds… ameen

 

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