Don't Just Use The Toilet

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Using the toilet and relieving yourself is not a glorious topic or a feel good subject to be talking about in our social encounters or gatherings but we use the toilet everyday, many times.

This is an act which is both humbling and an absolute necessity. This is an act which is both a point of reflection and a point of gratitude--each time we feel we want to relieve ourselves, after we relieved ourselves and what comes in the middle.

People who cannot do this thing naturally lives a very difficult life. Someone whose urine or his bowel movement is held undergoes the most painful things imaginable. As such being able to relieve yourself naturally is a huge blessing from Allah to us.

So don't just use the toilet and leave the toilet.

From the sunnah of the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, leave the toilet with gratitude to Allah. We say:

غفرانك الحمد لله الذي أذهب عني الأذى وعافاني

(Ghufranak(a), (a)l-Hamdu li 'Llahi 'lladhi adhhaba 'anni 'l-adha wa 'aafaani)

"(O Allah) I seek Your forgiveness. All praises be to Allah who took out of me the harm and gave me well being." (Abu Dawood, Tirmidhi)

Likewise, the act itself puts us in our place. How can anybody be arrogant when he has to use the toilet. (Imam Ghazali).

Once Fir'aun (Pharoah) complained to his advisors/doctors that he didn't like the fact that he had to use the toilet because he was supposed to be god. "This is humiliating that I have to use the toilet!" And so the doctors had to think of stopping this and they started prescribing him bananas. So he became constipated and he became their "constipated god."

If we think we are big, if we think we are this somebody, if we think we are invincible, just remember the waste product in your body and the awkward position you will be in pretty soon in order to discard that waste--the time when you are completely at Allah's mercy. That should humble us completely.

Islam brought us everything that we need to live our lives completely and how to remember Allah completely. We are not unmindful of Allah in all states of our lives. Using the toilet and relieving ourselves is the least state of our lives that we want to talk about or for anyone to know about and yet we should be with Allah even at this moment. How about the other states of our lives? It is even so that we should be with Allah. We are with Allah with His laws, with His prohibitions, and with the Sunnah of His beloved, Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Nothing the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, brought is insignificant or without worth. Each of them is a means of drawing close to Allah. We should not belittle any of them. Instead, we should aspire to incorporate them in our lives and practicing what we know now and grab every opportunity to learn more.

Imagine you are in love with somebody--you would do everything for that person. Your heart throbs, you can't get that person off your mind and you can't bear to be apart from that somebody. What has this human being given you in comparison to Allah? All that this human being has are from Allah. If you constipated, this human being can't help you whatsoever. Our body functions alone should make us remember Allah. He is Most Kind and Most Generous. So we should love Allah more than anything and anybody. If you love Allah, you should not forget Him even a moment, even that moment when you don't want anybody to know about, as He deserves everything you have. This does not mean you ignore your children, your husband or your wife, and others but you see Allah in all of them and so you love them. And love is manifested through actions, not just feelings or talk.

May Allah bring us closer to Him and shower us with His Blessings. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. JazakAllahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam