Spirituality vs. Character

Keep in mind that with your spirituality also comes your conscious and aware character you present to the people.

Ibn al-Qayyim (rh) said, “The religion itself is entirely good character, so whoever surpasses you in character has surpassed you in religion.” Ponder upon this. No, this does not belittle `ibadah. It only increases it. Like Imām al-Ghazālī (rh) put it, “Good character is a disposition deeply ingrained in the soul from which beautiful acts spring easily.” It all points to the worship of God.

The People Syndrome, a bitter truth.

The People Syndrome, a bitter truth.

Everyone’s concerned with the people. The usual, “What will the people say?” is a disease far spread into our homes and into our hearts. As though our only concern is for the people. We breathe for the people. We make sacrifices for the people. We are what the people expects us to be.

While on the contrary, we are very passive with not being concerned with Allāh. As though again it is the people who elevate and abase us. No. Re read 3:26. It is Allāh who honours whom He wills and humbles whom He wills. What power do people have when it is Allāh who is over all things competent.

Leave the people aside, and I mean this NOT in the sense to completely abandon and cast away your people and never talk to them. You just gotta make the right decision for your accountability in front of Allāh on the Day of Judgement. The day everyone will be to themselves. And the people whom you tiredly tried pleasing or to get a worldly benefit from, will be of no benefit that day. Clearly of no benefit. Did you abide by the “people” or what I have sent you forthwith? For what price was all of that necessary for?

We live for Allāh and His Divine Laws He set aside for us in this life. Please Him, and you will have an elevated status with Him. Talk about ‘Izzah, He got your back for eternity! Let’s change, “What the people will say to what Allāh will say?”

This dunya this, this dunya that.

This dunya this, this dunya that.

How many a times do you see people talking about this dunya, and how fed up they are with it! Of course, I wanna put this out there clearly, I am not here to belittle anybody’s hardship. Just to put things into perspective and kinda explain what I wanna say, there is a quote I wanna share from Pico Iyer who mentioned it at a TED conference this year.

He said, “To step away from the world isn’t to draw back; it is actually a way to tune in.”

So this relates a lot to us, as Muslims, that yes we do want to step away from the world, materialistically speaking. We don’t want to be attached to it and have other attachments other than Allah, or have anything which distracts us from His worship. So to step away from the world is fine, but it does not mean as mentioned above to draw back. Some of us unfortunately including myself, is that we sometime completely draw back and exclude ourselves from the world, from our communities, from the people that we love a lot, and also just from dealing properly with the people by not having proper manners and etiquettes. Sometimes even that is affected by it. We just don’t know how to interact, as though ironically our hardships have blinded us. Which without a doubt is not the purpose of any trial or tribulation, rather it is a mean by which you can now clearly see things better and respond well to everything around you.

“It is actually a way to tune in.” What does that mean? It means that it is actually a way to work with your means, work with what you have already, and see what you can do. Allah has given you this life and many blessings along with it, this dunya it’s there. It does come from Him, and yes we are living in it. There is good in it, everything that Allah gives to you regardless, there is good in it ultimately. So use this, and see it as good. Stop hating the dunya because you are going through something. Work your way around it rather. And simply just learn how to deal with the world. Your hardship should make it easier for you to see things much clearly. Learn how to deal with the society, learn how to deal with the community, learn how to deal with the people, and learn how to deal with your loved one. And never forget at the end, to take care of your self. Realization and inspiration comes from God, and into the self when you take care of it. So when you wanna step away from the world, don’t draw back. This is a way for you to tune in.

It’s normal to feel that way, and it’s very human, but it doesn’t necessarily mean we should act that way. Stay positive and make wonder happen around you.

May Allah make all of our hardships easy for us, and find us a way out. Ameen.

Your worried heart and mind will not rest until

Your worried heart and mind will not rest until you appoint Allāh as your Trustee; it is the best of this world you can ever have and ask for.

At times we drown ourselves in the future and how we think we will manage it all. How things will happen. Worries and thoughts pacing back and forth, the long sigh, and just this restlessness. I am going to do this and that, while forgetting that it is Allāh who you should ask of and place your trust in Him. That by no doubt will allow your heart and mind to calm down, to relax and be at ease feeling much sakīnah. And who allows that sakīnah?

No one, but Allāh Himself.

You have Allāh and your affairs are in the best of hands, He will do you good most certainly.

A mother’s love you cannot repay

God bless our mothers who serve us with a second plate every single night. “Take a bit more”, she says. And yet I never hesitate because there is always barakah in her offering, her mere kindness and love. It amazes me everyday.

Sometimes I don’t like asking my mom to get things for me, as a way of not bothering her too much. Even though I know she loves it very much whenever I do so. And you can clearly see it, as though it is like if she had you when you were young in her arms once again. You call out to her in the most gentle of ways and she replies, “Yes, my dear.” And she becomes this amazing person that lits up, really, ready to be at your service. It’s very beautiful. I explicitly ask her to bring me things I need, just to see her smile once again and be the mother I always had at my service. Which she always tells me that’s what she lives for.

Your mother loves it when you call out to her―And there is an innate trust right from birth between the child and the mother. A child knows no one but his mother, and he always takes refuge in her, and only relies upon her. When he sees her, he hangs on to her and if something were to happen the first word to come out from his lips would be, “mother”. There he finds this security, provision, and her compassion.

Thought I would share, since it replayed all back to me in that moment. Never will I be able to repay her, and never will I be able to repay Allah. May Allah give our mothers well-being in this world and in the next, and may He make all affairs easy for them, their worries and concerns. Ameen. May He make us good for them every single day.

The dua of our parents – Exam time

The Messenger of Allah, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: “Three supplications will not be rejected by Allah, the supplication of the parent for his child, the supplication of the one who is fasting, and the supplication of the traveler.”

Before heading out to school for an exam, I asked mom to make dua for me.

A while later after Maghrib came by, we headed to pray in congregation. We waited for mom to finish her prayer. I thought she was praying Maghrib but gave her the benefit of the doubt. And it turned out to be a nafl prayer and she said, “I made dua for you that Allah makes you successful in this world and the next to come”.

“Ameen”, I replied.

Iqamah was made and we prayed our  Maghrib.

Before any difficulty you are going through, ask your parents to make dua for you. Explicitly. Never underestimate it, it will do you wonders. Many of us still have exams left, work hard and tell your parents about it.

And success comes from Allah.

A heart at rest..

“A heart at rest reciprocally beautifies the recitation of Qurʼān.”

Photo Credit: Muhammed Muheisen

It’s a two way experience. When the heart is at rest, spiritually speaking, it beautifies the recitation of the Noble Qurʼān. Such that the recitation becomes very harmonious when recited. The tune, the pace, the pauses, the breath etc. Everything is working together as one. Now reciprocally speaking, if you attempt at beautifying the recitation of the Qurʼān it tends the heart of a person towards calmness, making it come to rest. A divine consequence of the Qurʼān.

Allahu A’lam.

Surah al-Isra [17:1]

Earlier this morning, I awoke to my brothers recitation of this verse:

“Exalted is He who took His servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al-Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the all-Hearing, the all-Seeing.”

― al-Qurʼān al-Karīm [17:1]

Its recitation and meaning like the journey, was very magical. Very beautiful to hear.

I wondered. It is a captivating verse to look at from many different angles. How one would imagine how it was revealed to the Prophet (sa) by Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala at that moment. How then it was heard by the companions (who had no doubt that he indeed went on this miraculous journey) but were ridiculed by those who did not believe what they have just heard. Thus denying concept of ‘Kun Fayakūn’ ultimately. And in the end how we, centuries later, those who claim to believe in Allah and the Prophet (sa) would hear it, how we would understand it.

Patience on the road

“Patience is a legendary virtue on the road.

Deluded are those who rage, the red light will always hit you.”

I was driving this morning when all of a sudden I looked behind me to see what was happening. There was a lady who was making a lane change towards ours. Obviously she was obstructing the way, but just a bit. Now there was a person behind her in the other lane honking, who then took off zoomingly like a coward! With his finger up out his window, he yelled and swore at her. In the end surmounting to nothing, no gain, because to his surprise he ran straight into the red traffic light!

That was it? That was all? Couldn’t you have waited for 5-10 sec for her to make a proper lane change?

Mother’s love in our assumed “busy” lives

[What I wrote a couple of nights ago]

It’s a bit late, but I really wanted to share this.

We sometime come home very late and tired, either from work or school. But nothing completes the day and nothing fills the heart of a man other than by the voice of the very woman who gave him birth saying, “Don’t forget to drink milk before you go to sleep”. Even at this age. It is a ni3ma over a ni3ma, you are indeed blessed. No doubt. May Allah truly give our mothers well-being and may He have mercy upon them, ameen.