An Advice from one Heart to Another

Al Salam Alaykom we Rahmut Allah we Barakato,

Allow me to tell you a story.

Imagine that you’re in a room with twenty other people. You are all lined up, but you’re in the last part of the line. You don’t really talk to any of the other people. You all sit in silence. But every now and then people come in to that room and only visitors can talk to you. As you sit in the back, though, all the visitors go and talk to the one’s up front and you sit there, all alone. Wouldn’t you feel sad? Wouldn’t you want somebody to talk to you?

Then out of nowhere imagine somebody came and passed all those in the lines and specifically went to YOU. Wouldn’t you feel the happiest? That finally somebody acknowledged you, talked to you, and chose you?

Do you know who this person is? That person is the Qur’an at the back of the shelf in the mosque. We all know that when we take a Quran to read, we take the closest one on shelf. That way some of the Qur’ans get left at the back and no one reads from them for days or months at a time.

Be that person that breaks their loneliness!

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You can either..

1. Grab a Qur’an from a Masjed. Go for the one’s at the back.

2. If your ever free, go to a random mosque, take the quran(s) at the back and read one page out of each.

May Allah reward you with Jannah Al-Firdows!

Al-Istighfar (Seeking forgiveness)

 Most of the time when we ask Allah for his forgiveness, it’s after we’ve committed a sin or a wrong doing, or maybe when we remember something from the past that we truly regret doing, so we ask Allah to forgive us for that. That’s all good, but what lots of us don’t know is that Istighfar has so many merits and it can be the key to a lot of the problems we face in our lives. And if we realize how important Istighfar is, we would make it a daily habit like our prophet (pbuh) used to do.

Allah says in Surat Nuh “And said, ‘Ask forgiveness of your Lord. Indeed, He is ever a Perpetual Forgiver; He will send [rain from] the sky upon you in [continuing] showers; And give you increase in wealth and children and provide for you gardens and provide for you rivers.” (1)

So ask Allah for forgiveness and you’ll have peace of mind, increase in wealth, righteous offspring and plentiful rain.

Abdullah ibn Abbas (RAA) said: the Prophet (pbu) said: “He who often seeks forgiveness, Allah grants him relief from all troubles, a way out of all distress, and sustenance beyond his expectation.” (2)  

Therefore if you often seek Allah’s forgiveness, he will provide for you a way out of every tight situation and you will have inner peace. Even a sin can be seen as a blessing if it will cause you to turn to Allah’s repentance.

Ali ibn Abu Talib (RAA) used to say, “It puzzles me that a man should perish when he possesses the means to save himself.” He has been asked: what is that? He said “Asking for Allah’s forgiveness.”

Abu Hurayrah (R.A.A.) said: I heard Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) saying, “By Allah! I ask Allah for forgiveness and repent to Him more than seventy times a day.”(3)

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So why don’t we start making Istighfar a daily habit. Start by putting a daily goal for yourself say 50 times a day and you can go up from there.

Allah says in Surat Hūd: And [saying], “Seek forgiveness of your Lord and repent to Him, [and] He will let you enjoy a good provision for a specified term and give every doer of favor his favor. But if you turn away, then indeed, I fear for you the punishment of a great Day. (4)

When you are going through a hard time, remember there’s a way out, ask Allah for forgiveness with a true belief that he will help you through it.

One of the best ways to ask Allah for forgiveness is through a hadith mentioned in Bukhari that is known as the “Chief of Istighfar”:

 “O’ Allah You are my Lord! None has the right to be worshipped but You. You created me and I am Your slave, and I am faithful to my covenant and my promise (to You) as much as I can. I seek refuge with You from all the evil I have done. I acknowledge before You all the blessings You have bestowed upon me, and I confess to You all my sins. So I entreat You to forgive my sins, for nobody can forgive sins except You.”

The Prophet added. “If somebody recites it during the day with firm faith in it, and dies on the same day before the evening, he will be from the people of Paradise; and if somebody recites it at night with firm faith in it, and dies before the morning, he will be from the people of Paradise.” (5)

 

So whether its wealth, children, peace of mind, happiness, strong faith or whatever it is that you want. Ask Allah for it through Istighfar. He is the most forgiving, the most merciful and He is over all things competent.

May Allah forgive us all for our sins.

 

(1): Holy Quran, Surat Nuh (Verses 10-12)

(2): Nisa’i, Abu Da’ood, Ibn Majah, Baihaqi and El-Hakim, said: authentic

(3): Sahih Al-Bukhari

(4): Holy Quran, Surat Hūd (Verse 3)

(5): Sahih Hadith, Volume 8, Book 75, Number 318

Allah Will Test Us - Qutaibah Abbasi - Quran Weekly

 

This is the famous story of the hairstylist for the family of Firaun (Pharaoh). Although she was punished and tortured by the most corrupt and arrogant man to ever exist, she kept her trust in Allah and received the ultimate reward.

Do you depend on Allah (SWT)?

It’s for your own good.

Life is a very sneaky companion dearest readers, and as my beard hairs get blonder and blonder (that’s how my facial hair changes when I grow older), I continue to learn more and more lessons.

My life, like many others prolly, has been one of constant struggle. There are always the good times, but they have been equally met by moments of distress and discontent. Fighting to achieve my dreams and go against the odds has forced me to do things others consider utterly stupid….but I’ve kept in there and here I am: a 19 year old with a solved rubix cube on his desk.

This post touches something I constantly forget, and so this is a reminder to myself than it is to my readers. Whatever Allah-S- decreed for you, no matter what it is, is the best for you. Humans find it impossible to swallow the fact that all the “bad” that happened in their lives is for their good - for the human brain’s complexity is nothing to take in such a fact. It’s difficult to get yourself to believe such a thing….but there’s something I heard before that has been stuck in my head since: “You trust the creation and do not trust the Creator?”

When something bad happens in your life - and bad here can mean anything from getting a cut on ur arm to smoking cigarettes - it is crucial for you to remember that Allah-S- did it for your own good. Such is not a heed to do bad, for some will take this message and start saying that “Allah-S- decreed the best for me” before putting a cigarette in his mouth. NO. Allah-S- has given you a brain to make right decisions, but He-S- knows the decision you will make, for all is in The Preserved Tablet in the skies. However, if you look back at your life right now, just taking random screenshots throughout time, you’ll find that after all the bad that happened, things turned out pretty darn cool. You learned a lesson, put in extra effort or just gained an immense amount of experience by going through it.

We all have those “bad” times in life but when I read something like “If Allah-S- reveals what he decreed for his slave, the heart of the slave would melt from the love of Allah” (I can’t remember who said it) I am forced to remember all the bad times and the positive outcomes that came out of them, and say…”Al Hamdullilah”. Even if you can’t think of a positive outcome, an incident might have been the reason you enter paradise on the Day of Judgement isA.

Be good. And think positive. Always helps.
Mischief Managed.

Realization

  • (A couple of days back I was feeling a wee bit down and so I found myself in an interesting conversation with X. Here’s a pretty good summary of what we talked about)
  • X:   Hi. You look very bad samir. Could I help you?
  • Samir:   Yeah, I just have been recently thinking of something and its been killing me. A paradox I cannot get out of…who am I?
  • X:   You’re a human. A living creature. A soul and body. A thinking being.
  • Samir:   That much I know, and so should anyone. But I cannot help but question my existence, for I have recently been suffering from an immense amount of stress from life. What am I to do to deal with such agonizing pain?
  • X:   What does a baby do when it wants something samir?
  • Samir:   It cries prolly, right?
  • X:   Correct. What is it you want samir?
  • Samir:   Happiness. Unlimited happiness. Happiness that never ends or ceases to surprise me.
  • X:   Well, I hate to burst your dream bubble, but you’ve been looking at the wrong place. This world was created to never let you feel “happy”. Moments of happiness tend to be temporary, lasting a few hours, days or months maybe if you’re lucky; after which they end and are followed by gloom and depression. I hate to say it, but you’ll never be happy.
  • Samir:   That sucks.
  • X:   Very much so. But there is a solution.
  • Samir:   Hit me X. Hit me.
  • X:   Paradise.
  • Samir:   I know that. I know the heavens are created like nothing any man has perceived or seen. It has unlimited imagine-less bounties that make your mind go dizzy thinking about them. However, why is it I cannot seem to “think” of all those unworldly matters during my daily interactions? A good time of my day is spent thinking of worldly things - academics, sports, family, responsibilities. I never seem to think of the heavens and the skies when I’m in the middle of a class. I feel like I “forget”….
  • X:   No one was created perfect Samir. We all get carried off with our daily lives, for such is what makes us thrive and succeed in this life. Many have gotten the wrong idea of what I have said, taking it to the other extreme where they isolate themselves from the world in an attempt to get closer to God…but they forget to live. They forget that the muslim who deals with the people and bears their wrongs is better than the one who doesn’t deal or suffer their flaws. Such is not a plead to live a life of pure isolation…but is a reminder. What happens in this life will be accounted for in the hereafter. Smart decisions now, no matter how hard they may seem can get you to that “infinite happiness” you talk about. Stress, worry and anxiety are all healthy traits. They mean you are being reminded that life is not, and will never be perfect. It is at those moments of feeling down that you remember that a guaranteed way out of a problem is Allah-S-. He’ll always be there for you. He -S- will always look out for your best. And no matter how dark things get, remember samir: Allah -S- never does anything bad for his slave. You trust your friends and family, but do not trust the One who makes sure you live every day?
  • Trust Him -S- Samir.
  • Samir:   Definitely. Thanks for the wakeup call X. Thanks.

Surah Al-Qiyamah (22-25)

وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ نَّاضِرَةٌ(22) Some faces, that Day, will beam (in brightness and beauty);-
إِلَىٰ رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ(23) Looking towards their Lord;
وَوُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ بَاسِرَةٌ(24) And some faces, that Day, will be sad and dismal,
تَظُنُّ أَن يُفْعَلَ بِهَا فَاقِرَةٌ (25) In the thought that some back-breaking calamity was about to be inflicted on them;

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