Muharram and Migration
I just read this article but have no idea who wrote it… anyway it was too good so I thought of sharing it… may Allah help us to reflect and act on it… Ameen
Alhamdulillah, our new year has begun with the blessed month of Muharram. It reminds us of the migration (hijrah) of the Prophet (s.a.w) and the many sacrifices he made for the Deen. Due to increasing persecution, Allah’s (s.w.t.) commanded the Prophet (s.a.w) to migrate from Makkah to Madinah. This great event took place in the month of Muharram which changed the destiny of not just the muslims but the whole world.
So for us every year begins with this reminder that if we want to change our destiny then we have to change ourselves. Allah recommends that we should also depart from any place in which we are unable to practice our Deen, and this migration should be for the sake of Allah.
Let’s all analyze ourselves, are we facing any persecution or trials due to our practicing of the Deen? If so, then let’s migrate! However, most of us would say that alhamdulillah, we have freedom of religion, nearby mosques, large congregations for Friday and ‘Eid prayers and we are happy and comfortable in practicing our religion, so why should we migrate?
But if we have so much freedom and opportunities to act on our religion then why are we not fully committed to it? The difficulty is not external, rather it is within us. We are all slaves to our soul, so let’s migrate, because moving away from sins, is also considered a form of migration. Furthermore, changing our day-to-day habits is also considered a migration. So let’s migrate.
Let’s migrate from the slavery to our souls to the obedience of Allah (s.w.t.); let’s migrate from lies and falsehood towards speaking and acting on truth.
Let’s migrate from pride and arrogance to humility and humbleness;
let’s migrate from a complaining attitude to one of patience.
Let’s migrate from laziness to being proactive.
Let’s migrate from depression and gloom to cheerfulness and positive thinking.
Let’s migrate from backbiting to good advice.
Let’s migrate from committing sins to repenting from our sins.
Let’s migrate from deception to honesty and keeping our trust.
Let’s migrate from anger and rage to pardoning and forgiveness.
Let’s migrate from impatience to patience. Let’s migrate from the fear of people to the fear of Allah.
Every year we establish new year resolutions for ourselves, such as making the best use of our time, or taking Quran classes or teaching others what we know. However, the devil is our biggest enemy who deceives us and prevents us from being productive and makes us waste our time elsewhere.
But instead of wasting even more time in regrets and blames, let us thank Allah that we are still alive and we still have time, so we should all, right now, at this moment, make the intention to free ourselves from the chains of our desires and strengthen our souls by the remembrance and obedience of Allah.
Try your very best and also seek help through heartfelt duas. InshaAllah, Allah (s.w.t.) will appreciate our migration, and He will assist us in the same way as he assisted the Prophet (saw) and just as He opened the doors of mercy for His Beloved Messenger, similarly the doors of mercy will open for us too, inshaAllah!
We ask Allah (s.w.t.) to save us from the evil of the devil and the weakness of our souls and allow us to perform the best of deeds. Ameen.
Respecting others…
I was listening to a lecture on Muharram and the scholar was emphasizing on the fact that Muharram reminds us of respecting the honour of our fellow Muslims. Then she narrated a Hadith of our Prophet (s.a.w) which stated that the honour of a Muslim is greater than the honour of the Ka’ba.
This statement really shook me from inside and I felt really really struck… as if by lightening… my heart seemed to just stop as I thought of kaaba and felt the love that seemed to fill my heart and the awe and reverence that we all have for it and yet we are so so so ignorant of the true worth of a human being… we torment and make life miserable for our most near ones… the weak ones… and we back bite and spread bad opinions for the ones who are too strong for us to speak out in front of them… why are we like this? Because we never realize that Allah is not going to accept any good deeds except that we fulfill the rights of people…
How ignorant we are that we think that rights of family are just that I cook and clean for them? How do I talk to them when they irritate me? How do I talk about them to my friends? Do I save their honour? This is something we never ever give importance to… and it’s the same thing which has soured our relationships. When we are yelling to our kids because of some mistake they might have made we never think that his mistake doesn’t earn him an insult… on no account can we attack the self respect of any individual.
If it sounds impractical then just for a moment we can remind ourselves of any incident where someone insulted us… how did that feel? Could any amount of compensation wipe that out of our memory? Can any amount of happiness erase the wounds of the heart created by unkind words or degrading attitude?
So I just pray to Allah to never let us be off guard… May He always help us to remember that the honour of a momin is greater than the honour of the Kaaba… ameen
New Year…
To make new year resolutions take the following steps:
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Listen to talks or read articles on this topic so that we can have some idea about the most valuable things that we must bring into our lives.
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Write down the points that inspire you… because the things that you write on paper get printed deeply into your heart and mind.
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Set goals for all the important areas of your life… e.g. spiritual, mental, physical and social.
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Make plans of how you are going to achieve these goals… set daily, weekly, monthly and yearly targets.
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Make daily check lists… accountability is a very important tool for motivation.
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Keep a time log to see where exactly you are spending your time.
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Make lots of duas for sincerity of intentions… because the whole structure of your plans depends on this foundation.
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Make duas for the ability to prioritize your time… for the ability to work hard… and for the courage to make sacrifices.
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Make good friends that keep you motivated. Or if you do not find such a friend then BECOME such a friend for others… keep listening to good stuff and avoid negative and discouraging people and places. Plus never lose hope… Even if you are disappointed by your lack of commitment or lack of other abilities… be happy that Allah is perfect and He is on your side as long as you keep trying and keep praying… we all tend to slip and fall but our success lies in getting back on our feet and start walking again and again… we all love to be free from mistakes but it is more important to be free from hopelessness and even more crucial is to be free from arrogance… May Allah give us tawfeeq to make good intentions and to work hard… Ameen
