Cry

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Actually, we all should cry. When you cry, you don't cry about losing something of this world--your job, your house, your money, your wife/husband, your children--but about losing the opportunity to do good for the next world.

The biggest cry is when you see the ummah of the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, is deteriorating, and we are deteriorating. Religion is on the wayside for many and ignorance is rampant. This affects us all collectively.

Umm Ayman Barakah, Allah be pleased with her, the only person who knew the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, from his birth until his death. She was the first person to hold the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, in her arms when he was born and the only person who was with him when his mother died. Her devotion to the religion of Islam was strong and unshakable. She tied her well-being to that of Islam. During a visit from the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, he asked: "Ya Ummi! Are you well?" and she would reply: "I am well, O Messenger of Allah so long as Islam is." After the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, had died, Umm Ayman would often be found with tears in her eyes. She was asked by Abu Bakr and Omar, Allah be pleased with them, "Why are you crying?" and she replied: "By Allah, I knew that the Messenger of Allah would die but I cry now because the revelation from on high has come to an end for us." (and Abu Bakr and Omar wept along when they heard this).

You see thousands of people going to occasional Islamic knowledge-based events but once the event is over, the knowledge disappears. You see hardly any people come to the masjids and in most cases, it is always the same people who come to the masjids and the same few who volunteer their time and contribute money to keep the masjids open.

We forget and some don't know that the first thing that the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, did when he entered an area was to build a masjid for people to congregate in worship and provide a place where knowledge can be acquired. The masjid An-Nabawi in Madinah for example, was not only a place of worship but also a center of learning and it was there many great early scholars were produced whose knowledge we benefit until today. Many of the old masjids were built with this concept. For example, the Islamic University of Al-Azhar was part of the masjid Al-Azhar until 1961 following the Egyptian revolution of 1952, although the masjid continues to provide regular Islamic classes taught by various scholars. When you enter the masjid, you can feel a sense of tranquility. It is true what we were told by the Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) who said, "When a group of people assemble for the remembrance of Allah, the angels surround them (with their wings), (Allah's) mercy envelops them, Sakinah, or tranquillity descends upon them and Allah makes a mention of them before those who are near Him." [Muslim].

Many of our mosques today are pretty quiet because not many people frequent them and so no activities take place or maybe people don't frequent them because there are no activities. For most of the time, the masjids are locked.

Allah already set some activities for us to follow everyday--the five daily prayers and the Friday prayer. Especially for a resident man, it is obligatory to perform the Jum'ah prayer (with a few exceptions) and it is important for man to pray at the masjid. The wisdom behind this is obvious. This is the best place for men, as leaders of women and children, to pray together and strengthen the bonds of brotherhood and work together to strengthen the community. Busy is not an excuse to abandon prayers at the masjid. Remember, if you walk to Allah, Allah will come running to you.

When calamity strikes or something happen that you don't like, perhaps it is a wake up call, perhaps it is begging you to do something positive, perhaps it is to strengthen your iman, perhaps it is to raise your rank with Allah. Regardless, it is the most suitable for you and you should be grateful that it is happening. Make du'a, evaluate the situation and take the means to change the situation.

We have plenty of opportunities to do good for this world and the next eternal world--all for our own well-being. Grab it while you can. For starters, find a masjid and build and support the congregation. Don't be the one who cause division among Muslims. Keep learning and improving your worship and foster good relationship with others. Rush to do more and better each day, starting now. Tomorrow may not come. Don't be satisfied with where you are. There is always a better prayer, better fasting, better charity, better recitation of the Book of Allah, better character, better leader, better parents, better spouse, better child, better neighbor, better student, better teacher and so on.

May Allah grant us tawfiq and unite the Muslims and bring back the honor to the Muslims and make us die in Islam. Ameen.

Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam