Our Protective Shield

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

All of us know that we need to earn a living so we can feed our families and have a comfortable life. So it is no wonder that parents will make sure that their children go to school and on to college. They spend lots of energy, time and money on this, day in and day out, for many years. They take time off work so they can take their children to far away colleges and pick them up during vacations. They borrow money to pay for the expensive tuition and books. They send them for extra help so they can pass their exams or get better grades. They want their children to get their degrees, be successful, have a good career. That's their goal. This is well and good.

But is this what life is all about? Very seldom you see parents spend even 10% of that amount of energy, time and money for their children's success (in turn theirs) in the life hereafter. If you go to the masjid bathroom/wudu' area, you will see most children, even adult children, even parents, who couldn't even make wudu' (ablution) properly. Teaching someone how to make wudu' properly does not take more than 10 minutes but why do parents neglected to fulfill this very simple but very important obligation--sending their children to qualified teachers to teach them how to make wudu' and pray properly?

We are moved to do for the one we are attached to. So if our hearts are attached to good colleges, to money, to the comfort of this life, we will do our best to get our children to good colleges, to earn that money and get that comfort. But if our hearts are attached to Allah, then we will be moved to do our best to earn the pleasure of Allah. How do we get there? Only knowledge can get us there. And Tawfiq is from Allah.

But let's begin with getting our wudu' done properly because without proper wudu', there will be no proper prayer. Prayer is an important pillar of Islam. If this pillar is shaking, our iman is also shaking. Wudu', like prayer, is an act of worship. It is not a game that we splash some water on our faces, hands and feet. Someone with his heart attached to Allah will perform his wudu' with much reverence and focus, and with every action during the wudu' he hopes for his sins falling off his limbs.

It was reported that the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said that anyone who does wudu' and does it well and then prays will be forgiven everything that he does between then and the time he does his prayer. So learn how to do wudu' well and make sure we teach our children how to do wudu' well. The way we do this is by following the way of people whose hearts are attached to Allah. And that is the way of the people who perform the wudu' according to the sunnah of the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Your life should be in constant remembrance of Allah, even during wudu', for it is a light that drives away the shaytan, our avowed enemy who is lurking to snatch our iman away and the one causing dissension among us. So be in constant wudu' because it is our protective shield against shaytan.

May Allah protect us from the trials and tribulations of this life and the next. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam