(Translation of an Arabic script)
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When you get out of your bed and you make wudu and you pray the Salah of Fajr in this cold weather, then remember this beautiful hadith:
The Messenger of Allah ( s.a.w) said:
Certainly Allah smiles at a person who stands in the cold night, out of his bed and his quilt and his warm clothes⌠then performs wudu, and then stands for Salah
So Allah, most exalted, says to the Angels: ” what has motivated this slave of mine upon what he is doing?”
So the Angels reply: ” our Master, it is hope in what you have, and fear of what is with you.
So Allah says: “Then surely I have granted him what he Hope’s for, and I have secured him from whatever he fears”
[Reflection]:
What really resonates deeply in my heart from this Hadith is that just like the cold weather does not let anything grow⌠and life shivers and becomes withered and comes at a stand still⌠similarly if we dont warm our hearts with the right intentions and the remembrance of these favours of Allah then our hearts become cold and shrivelled. So even though we toil through the acts of worship, yet our hearts remain barren due to lack of warmth and the joy of Allah’s love.
Action point: Write reminders like this and place next to our dressers or side tables so that when we get out of the cosy beds we can feel the warmth of Allah’s smile. So we will be energised with the hope that just this one act of worship will give me all that I hope to receive from my Rabb⌠and will also give me safety from all that I fearâŚ
What an amazing way to rekindle our hearts every single morning⌠so much that eventually getting up to pray fajr will become the most delightful experience which will make us warm and peaceful⌠instead of being cold and miserable.
May Allah help us to remember the right thing at the right time⌠Ameen
How much do we love the Quran?
Simpy Amazing!
One Woman’s Love For The Qur’aanđ
A very real life story of a Trinidadian Muslimah who was recently deceased, written by her granddaughter.
From granddaughter of deceased Shafirran Khan (Jordan)
âMy dear grandmother was a hard working lady, who knew how to step on her nafs and get to work. She was planting rice in the rice field when she went into labour with her first child. She went home, gave birth and then tied the baby on her back the next day and went back to work. Her friends exclaimed âWe didnât know you were expecting!â. She used to tell us this story when we were little and would laugh at the memory.
She was a sweet soft spoken lady whose job later on in life was running a small parlour attached to a part of her house. Every day she would meet customers, giving them words of advice and sharing her optimism and good opinion of Allah.
She was a light to all who knew her. She worked like this until she became bed ridden two months ago, almost 83 years old.
Around the age of 60, she started losing sight in one of her eyes due to a cataract. I remember her telling me her biggest lament about it was that she feared that she would not be able to keep up reading her juz of Qura’an every single day. That year for Ramadan however, she started reading two juz a day and thereafter doubled it.
She marveled that tawfeeq was from Allah and not necessarily in the means we were given. As she aged and her strength and eyesight weakened, she found her ability to read the Quran increased until it became her joy and companion.
During her illness last Ramadan, she was reading ten ajzaa a day and doing a khatm every three days!
SubhanAllah! She buried her parents, husband, brothers and sisters and even her son. Yet still she found no grief in her heart. Instead she would say to me in her broken Trinidadian dialect, âWell, chile, what you go do? Allah is in control.â
Last year when the scans revealed secondary tumors in her brain and the doctors gave her three months left to live, she gave the same response. We kept asking her if she was in pain and she would always have the same response âNo pain, alhamdulillahâ. The doctors were baffled that she had no pain and kept saying âHow strange!â My mother would tell me, it is because the Qura’an is her companion, so she has no grief nor pain.
Two years ago when she was still healthy and going strong, I was leaving Trinidad and was about to bid her farewell when she put one hand on my shoulder and said with a smile to me âCome, I want to tell you something before you leave, a secret. For I do not know if we shall meet againâ.
She asked me if I was reading the Quran and I mumbled a⌠yes-I-need-to-read-more response. She leaned in close to me and whispered âWell I will tell you something. The Qur’aan has the answer to every problem and it is the solution to every trial. Every need I have, that comes in my heart, Allah fulfills it before I can even turn the page of my Qur’aan, even something small such as a longing to see someone or a wish to eat something. Allah just sends it! So make the Quran your companionâ
Last year, I had the opportunity to see her another time, a last time alhamdulillah, and for my children to all sit with her.
She told them this story:
âWhen I was about ten years old, I was reading Quran on my bed by the light of a kerosene lamp when the lamp fell on my bed and engulfed the whole bed in flames. I remember my father rushing into the room and picking me up and trying to put out the fire. They were amazed upon examining me that the fire had burnt a circle right around me and had not burnt any of my clothes or any pages of the mushaf I was holding. They kept saying how could it be! How could it be!â
My grandmother went on to tell my children that this was the reality of Allahâs words and the power and magnitude of it was that- it would be a shield for them in this world and in the next life. This is all amazing given that she did not understand or speak any Arabic at all!
Every step counts even if very small…
Imam AlShafiâee said, âJourney to Allah limping and broken and donât wait for wellness, because waiting for wellness is inability.â
What is the meaning of journey to Allah broken?
It means, for example, that you get up to pray but your prayer is still without focus, you recite the quran but it is a broken recitation far from perfectionâŚ
Donât worry, continue and seek out who will teach you to recite.
You begin to live your life in a way that is pleasing to Allah but at times your soul and desires overpower youâŚ
Continue journeying to Allah and donât delay. Donât wait for the right moment to turn towards Allah. The moment your heart is inclined to Allah then go to Him Immediately.
Ibn AlQayyim said, âA person will continue to struggle with obedience until it becomes beloved to them. And so Allah will send angels that will inspire them and push them.
They will awaken him from his sleep for it, and from his gatherings for it. Allah said, âAnd those who strive in our path, we will certainly guide them to our path.â
Strive. Try. Endure. Persevere. And ask Allah.
However much a person comes closer to Allah they are gifted to experience a sweetness that they taste in their wakefulness, in their sleep and in their food. Until they experience what Allah has promised, âWe will give them a beautiful life.â
Oh Allah grant us the sweetness of iman.
- Shaykh Waleed Basyouni
Ignorance leads to frustration.
Whenever I ponder upon the story of Prophet Nuh (A.S.), and read about its various details in the Quran, I feel so heartbroken to visualize that scene where the whole world is literally turned into a great big ocean, and the only refuge is the boat that he built⌠which was now being tossed upon waves that were as high as mountains⌠and this great Prophet of Allah after having spent almost a millennium in doing dawah for the sake of Allah, was now watching his own son being drowned in front of his eyes. Can there be anything more painful for a human being than this? And yet he doesnât complain⌠he doesnât ask âwhy? Is this the reward for all my years of labour?â His only expression of anguish comes in the form of a very humble dua⌠and thatâs it.
Similarly, when our beloved Prophet (s.a.w) was being tortured by the people of Taif, he never complained to Allah that after all my sacrifices for your deen, why am I being treated like this? Why didnât some angel come to save me from their stones? So what does he do⌠just a humble dua⌠and thatâs it.
The lives of Prophets, may Allahâs peace and blessings be on all of them, were full of struggle and sacrifice, and trials and tribulations⌠yet they never had any complaints⌠only patience and gratitude. Which they displayed in their long hours of worship and unconditional kindness to people.
We on the other hand⌠the so called followers, do the least worship we can get away with. Have so many luxuries and blessings⌠and yet the moment things get hard, we start complaining. We say things like âI pray so much and still my duas are not being acceptedâ or why am I being put through so many difficulties? Doesnât Allah love me? What have I done to deserve this?
My purpose of writing this, is to try and diagnose the reason, that has caused us to think and behave like this, while we claim to be the followers of our Prophet (s.a.w.); Why donât we follow His example of patience and gratitude?
So there is an ayah in Surah Al Kahf, in which Khizar (a.s.) says to Prophet Musa (a.s.):
âHow can you be expected to do sabr (over things) about which you have not been informed (of their reality)?â
This is the answer to the above question: when we donât have complete knowledge about something then we cannot be expected to understand its reality. And so when we donât know the reality then we think with a limited/distorted vision⌠which will obviously lead us to the wrong conclusions, thus making us full of frustration which comes out in all sorts of negative thoughts, words and reactions.
So here is the key to open up our hearts and to get rid of all this frustration: Become a seeker of knowledge
- Know Allah through understanding His names and attributes
- Embark upon the journey of understanding Quran and Hadith
- Have faith and trust in Allahâs unimaginable amount of love and care
- Focus on your responsibilities⌠be more worried about what you do, rather than what you get in life.
- Be more concerned about fulfilling your obligations.
- Be aware that He is the master, and you are his slave
- We are answerable to him and not vice versa.
Blessings in disguise
đ´Translation of an Arabic quoteâŚ
đIt is essential to think of difficulties as a gift
âŚď¸Sheikh Ibn Usaimain (r.a) said:
Whenever any True Believer is tested with physical or personal distress and he says: This is a gift from Allah because through this test Allah will remove my bad deeds from me;
So when he realised this fact then this realization will transform his feeling of pain into a feeling of blessing.
Because no doubt it is in the nature of a human being to constantly make mistakes
And there is no doubt about it that these painful difficulties, Alhamdulillah, are the means of erasing bad deeds
Therefore when a person is patient (during tough situations) and he seeks reward from Allah (for this pain) then this attitude becomes a cause for elevating his status with Allah
So remember that all the pains and trials, and worries and grief, are a source of removing sins in any case.
But if they are accompanied by patience and hope of getting rewarded by Allah, then going through these tests becomes a good deed for which there will be compensation and great rewards
The Daffodil Principle.
This article was shared by a friend and it just went right through my heart… breaking through all the layers of excuses and regrets… something I thought the whole world should read and think about… so here it is:
The Daffodil Principle
(author: unknown)
Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over.” I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead “I will come next Tuesday”, I promised a little reluctantly on her third call. Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren. âForget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!” My daughter smiled calmly and said, “We drive in this all the time, Mother.” “Well, you won’t get me back on the road until it clears, and then I’m heading for home!” I assured her. “But first we’re going to see the daffodils. It’s just a few blocks,” Carolyn said. “I’ll drive. I’m used to this.” “Carolyn,” I said sternly, “please turn around.” “It’s all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.” After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read, “Daffodil Garden.” We got out of the car, each took a child’s hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight. It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers. “Who did this?” I asked Carolyn. “Just one woman,” Carolyn answered. “She lives on the property. That’s her home.” Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio, we saw a poster. “Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking”, was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. “50,000 bulbs,” it read. The second answer was, “One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain.” The third answer was, “Began in 1958.” For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration. That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time–often just one baby-step at time–and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world … “It makes me sad in a way,” I admitted to Carolyn. “What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it ‘one bulb at a time’ through all those years? Just think what I might have been able to achieve!” My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. “Start today,” she said. She was right. It’s so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, “How can I put this to use today?” Use the Daffodil Principle. Stop waiting…..Until your car or home is paid off
Until you get a new car or home
Until your kids leave the house
Until you go back to school
Until you finish school
Until you clean the house
Until you organize the garage
Until you clean off your desk
Until you lose 10 lbs.
Until you gain 10 lbs
Until you get married
Until you have kids
Until the kids go to school
Until you retire
Until summer
Until spring
Until winter
Until fall
Until you die..
There is no better time than right now to be happy .
Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
What are we accountable for?
An overweight person got severe backache so he went to the doctor for a checkup. The doctor was shocked to see his weight on the scale, so he asked him why wasnât he doing anything about getting into shape?
âWellâŚâ the man replied, âMy working hours are from 9 to 5. Then I have to go home and give time to my family. So I get no time for exercise.â
âBut what about Saturday and Sunday?â the doctor asked, âwhat is your excuse for the weekend?â
âNothingâŚâ The man replied, âI just sleep and eat and watch tv and relax. What is the use of exercise for one or two days, when obviously I cannot do it the whole week?â
The doctor looked at him and said: âIf you cannot work out in the gym for seven days a week, doesnât mean that you have to waste the two days when you can do something for your health.â
When I read this story I thought to myself that this is the same attitude which most of us follow. We think that just because we cannot do something as much as we want, then we should give up altogether. Because we donât see the value of small steps. And we think it is of no use.
The reality is that life cannot be perfect in all aspects. There will be some sort of disturbance, some unpleasant thing, some kind of obstacle, all through the journey of our life. So whatever goals and objectives we want to achieve, have to be worked for, in whatever circumstances we are in. Because if we keep waiting for the perfect time, and the perfect conditions then that is not going to happen.
There are days when we do not have even a minute at our disposal. So Allah will not hold us accountable for things which were beyond our control. But then there are days when we do have time and space to work on our projects. So we must make full use of these times because we will be asked about it.
Therefore, we should not let the things which we cannot control, stop us from doing that which is within our capacity. If we cannot feed a thousand people, that doesnât mean that we cannot feed even one person.
If we cannot recite a whole juz of Quran daily, it doesnât mean that we should not even read one page⌠or even half a page.
If we cannot read volumes of Hadith, we can surely read one hadith?
Allah will not hold us accountable for things that we were not capable of⌠but He will surely ask us about that which was within our reach but we chose to remain lazy and didnât do what we could do.
So let us all open our eyes and identify the open spaces⌠the opportunities to build our homes in paradise. Letâs stop making excuses and start working. We cannot know what we are capable of, unless we work sincerely and regularly. Dreams and dedication… are really a powerful combination.
The Three “Loves”
As more and more people express their feelings of depression and anxiety, it makes me realize how much we need to find the cure for these psychological deficiencies. Because probably this is the most deadly pandemic which has gripped the whole world and yet we pretend that it does not exist. The truth is that although our lives are full of things and activities, yet our hearts are aching due to the emptiness and loneliness deep inside us. So that is why no matter how much we have, we still feel restless and dissatisfied.
Very few people will accept that they are unhappy. Or that there is a void in their heart which needs to be filled. Because admitting your anxiety is considered to be a weakness. So we pretend to be strong and present an image of self-satisfaction for the whole world to see and be envious of⌠and yet at the end of the day we have to face our reality as it is. But we donât want to face it or to examine it⌠so we resort to our beloved phones and television screens and try to drown in the sea of social media and news and entertainment. But it only adds to our problem instead of solving itâŚ
So what can we do? Is there any permanent solution? How can we find true happiness and satisfaction in this imperfect world full of imperfect people?
Well here is the good news:
We need only three things to make us truly and permanently happy and satisfied. These are the three âLovesâ!!
- Love of Allah
- Love of those who love Allah
- Love of deeds which Allah loves
And all these loves can be attained by making the following dua:
Ya Allah I ask you to give me your love
And the love of those who love you
And the love of deeds which will take me closer towards your love
Why this dua is so important?
Because the greatest need of our heart is to love, and to be loved. And when we love somone we want that love to be permanent. And we wish that our beloved is never separated from us. And we think we will die if our beloved stops loving us. And it upsets us so much if our beloved has any flaws in their personality or behavior⌠we want them to be absolutely perfect at all timesâŚ
The problem is that human beings can never be perfect. And their love can never be permanent. Their moods cannot be expected to remain constant. So we keep getting hurt over and over again. Sometimes they cannot love us the way we want because we are not coming up to their standards⌠after all we are also full of imperfections!
Therefore, the only ONE who deserves to be loved most passionately is no one else except Allah⌠Only He can be with us all the time without any break. He listens to each and every word⌠understands our needs⌠knows what we are thinking⌠looks at us all the time. Even when we go to sleep, He remains awake!! His care doesnât ever stop. And He doesnât love us for any personal interest like humans do⌠Because Allah is free of all needs. So His love is most pure and complete. So if we can understand this and feel His love and care then our hearts will find the peace and happiness which will make us truly satisfied.
Our next requirement is that we need to love and be loved by people who love Allah and whom Allah loves. Why this is important is because these people provide us the constant remembrance of Allah. And their love makes our lives beautiful because it is free from any other motive except to increase in the love of Allah.
Thirdly we need to be in love with the good deeds which lead us towards Allahâs love. We do pray and recite Quran and do zikr of Allah, but if these things are done without love, then they become lifeless actions which do not fulfill our hearts. Therefore, we should pray to Allah to give us true love and passion for these things so that with every little deed we come closer and closer to Allahâs love and devotion.
So you see how these three things combine to make us truly alive and enthusiastic. Our hearts will be at peace to realize that there is Someone so perfect, so awesome⌠so praiseworthy⌠who always loves us despite our imperfections and never leaves us even though He doesnât need us⌠He gave us hearts that can feel His presence at all times⌠He can make it possible for us to have people in our lives who are full of Allahâs love so that they will love us selflessly⌠so that their company will always be a source of happiness and support for us. Thirdly we should occupy our lives with positive activities so that all our energies are being used most productively⌠Whether in acts of worship or projects of welfare of people⌠excellence should be our goal. Not to impress people but to attain Allahâs love.
Imagine that if we make this dua a constant part of our lives and Allah gives us these loves⌠then what else do we need?!!
