Sowing The Seeds

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

We need to sow the seeds of Islam and the first place we need to do that is in the hearts of our children. Life is short, and the wind is blowing against us. If we don't make a conscious effort to do this, we can be wiped out. Look at Muslim Spain--it is now a history. Read the many stories in the Qur'an about nations that were destroyed--they are for us to reflect on ourselves.

As a single mother, I know how hard it is to raise children to be good and strong Muslims. Never a day is without any challenge. But we must do what we must and be patient. Nothing precious comes without a big price tag. It is easy to give in, to leave them in front of a TV or computer. They are quiet, they don't argue, and they don't give us trouble--so we think. But that is not where Allah wants them to be, and anywhere that Allah doesn't want us to be is not good for us. If we persist to be where Allah doesn't want us to be, the troubles will surface sooner or later. Allah chose us to be their parents and entrusted them to us. So we must do our job, and do it well. This is being a thankful servant. We always go back to Him and ask Him to help us do our job well. He is the only One who can guide and help us.

When you find no where to turn to for the moment, remember what Lukman said to his son:

"O my son! Establish regular prayer, enjoin what is just, and forbid what is wrong: and bear with patient constancy whatever befalls you; for this is firmness (of purpose) in (the conduct of) affairs. "And swell not your cheek (for pride) at men nor walk in insolence through the earth; for Allah loves not any arrogant boaster. "And be moderate in your pace, and lower your voice; for the harshest of sounds without doubt is the braying of the ass." Qur'an Lukman 31:17-19

Apply this advice to ourselves first as the best teacher is a good example.

We just left the month of Ramadhan where we had trained our children to wake up before Fajr to eat the pre-dawn meal. Then we prayed Fajr with them. For some, you stayed up with them after Fajr and read the Qur'an, and for many others, you took them to the masjid for iftar, prayed Maghrib, 'Isha and taraweeh. Don't lose this momentum. Keep waking them up before Fajr and do a couple rak'ah of prayer, then Fajr, then read a few pages of Qur'an with them. Try to do Maghrib and 'Isha at the masjid. In between these prayers, they can do their homework and/or read/learn Qur'an. Ramadhan should not come and go without them reaping the benefits of it the whole year. It was their training ground. What is life without Allah in your hearts and you want to sow this in your precious children's hearts while you still have the say so in their lives. Each moment you let your children watch shows on TV or computer, you are taking them away from the pre-disposition which Allah created them with.

Remember, Shaytan to us is our clear enemy and so we should treat him like an enemy. He is always there lurking to snatch our Faith away and for sure TV and internet have more soldiers of Shaytan than anywhere else waiting to get your entire family into his domain. So protect your precious ones by giving them Islam.

"Allah cursed him.And he [Shaytan] said: "I will take an appointed portion of your slaves; Verily, I will mislead them, and surely, I will arouse in them false desires; and certainly, I will order them to slit the ears of cattle, and indeed I will order them to change the nature created by Allah." And whoever takes Shaytan as a Wali (protector or helper) instead of Allah, has surely suffered a manifest loss." Qur'an An-Nisa 4:118-119

May Allah help us raise our children well and guide them. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

If there is a will, there is a way

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

If there is a will, there is a way. We have heard this before.

Many of us will for many things and we find ways to get those things and we don't give up until we get those things. But the one thing that we lack the will, is to be with Allah. If we pray, we don't rush to pray--we give ourselves many excuses for not rushing to pray. If we fast, we fast when everybody fast--how about Mondays and Thursdays? Answer--it is only sunnah or I have to work. If we give charity, we only give when people ask. How about seeking sacred knowledge or going to the masjid for prayer? Answer--we have "things" to do or its too far! How about praying tahajjud? How about reading some Qur'an everyday? Same story--busy, have to work tomorrow, etc! How about hijab? Answer--I don't wear hijab but I consider myself as good--I pray, I fast. How many people who have hijabs on but they are no good? Are these excuses or ignorance or both?

But ever since you laid your eyes on that one watch, you cannot forget about it. You work, save up your money and after you have enough money, you get in your car, you stop by the gas station and put some gas because you didn't want to run out of gas to get to the other side of the city where the store is. Then you proceed to the store, park your car, walk up to the store, wait in line and buy it. You are so happy, now you are with this beautiful thing on your wrist! (There are more steps than what I mentioned but you get the point--you put all your efforts to be with that new watch.)

Why are we not desiring Allah the way we desire His creations? Because we know those things but we don't know Allah. Even though we know Allah exist, Alhamdulillah, if we don't have the desire to be with Him, we won't take the action to know Him. Without knowledge of a thing, a man does not intend to have that thing. If we don't know Allah, we don't intend to be with Him. If we don't intend to be with Him, we will be stuck with this world. Our prayers, our fast, our dhikr will be simply body movements and nothing more. We will never taste the sweetness of faith and will not see the happiness beyond this world. We will thank His creations except Him for the favors that He blessed us with and we will be angry with the world for our problems.

So knowledge of Allah is the key to success in this world and the next world. But first you must have the desire to be with Him and once you have the desire to be with Him, it will drive you to take the action to be with Him. And you can only be with Him through knowledge of Him. May Allah give you tawfiq.

"Why should Allah punish you if you are thankful and believe (have Iman)? Allah is All-Thankful, All-Knowing." Qur'an Annisa 4:147

May Allah guide us and give us tawfiq. Ameen. Please don't forget all of us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

Wassalaam

Allah is watching over you

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate

Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Never feel alone. When you are in the pits of life, where nobody care about you, know that He is always there. Your friends or your loved ones may be too busy to notice your pain but not Allah, ar-Raqib. He sees every detail. He sees the little cry in your heart. He is not tired to listen to your cries, to your complaints. He is the Living, the Everlasting. Slumber seizes Him not, neither sleep. (Qur'an Al-Baqarah 2:255) If you make yourself known to Him in times of prosperity, in times of happiness, He will be with you in times of difficulties, in times of loneliness.

When you grieve, no need to show your grief to people--they cannot remove your grief. If you show it to the wrong people, it might come back to haunt you. Follow Ya'qub alayhissalaam. He complained only to Allah. "He said, 'I make complaint of my anguish and my sorrow unto God; I know from God that you know not." Qur'an Yusuf 12:86

"And put your trust in Allah; Allah suffices for a guardian." Qur'an An-Nisa 4:81

وَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ وَكَفَىٰ بِٱللَّهِ وَكِيلًا

May Allah comfort our souls and make us not look to His creation but only to Him. Ameen. Please do not forget me in your night prayers. Ameen.

Wassalaam

You are rich!

BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Assalaamu alaykum

I pray that you are well.

You have two ears and two eyes. Do you prefer deaf or blind? Would you trade your eyes for $5M? Unequivocal NO! So you are rich, very rich. How can you say you are poor? Your eyes and ears are great blessings from Allah that often we take for granted. Be grateful--use them for what they are created for--to worship the Creator. Otherwise, if He loves you and has mercy on you, He might very well send you afflictions to remind you of Him. Don't complain when this happen.

Would you now complain about your mother for smacking your little hands when you tried to reach for the medicine because you thought they were candy and your mother was just trying to deprive you of the joy of eating candy? Maybe this will strike a good analogy. InshaAllah.

When my children were small, I took all the precautions I knew how so they didn't get into things that could harm them. I kept all medicine high in a child proof locked cabinet. But for some reason, one of my sons (he was about 2 years old at the time) was able to reach the medicine cabinet and opened a child proof bottle of children multivitamins with iron. SubhanAllah, I came home early that day from work--usually I would not have been back until 5 or 6 hours later, and found him with smears of colors on his face and his shirt and he smell medicine. I rushed him to the emergency hospital and Alhamdulillah Allah saved him. They pumped out his stomach. The doctor said if he were to arrive 5 minutes later he would have been a "dead puppy!" SubhanAllah.

So it may be tempting and seem sweet what you want to hear and what you want to see which is forbidden, but when Allah forbid something, it is because He knows it is harmful for you. He is Al-Alim, the All-Knowing.

So, protect your ears from listening to unlawful things. When you hear someone backbiting--your spouse, your children, your friends for example--help him/her leave this act and don't participate or try to listen in the backbiting.

A learned man once told me this story. A religious man was found dead on his chair by his computer. The computer was still on with a page of a bad site. You can guess what he was watching before he died! Inna lillahi wainna ilayhi raji'un. Remember this when you think you can get away with Allah.

"Whoso desires the reward of this world, with God is the reward of this world and of the world to come; God is All-hearing (as-Sami'), All-seeing (al-Baseer). Qur'an An-Nisa 4:134

May Allah cover our sins and make us die an honorable death at the highest of Iman. Ameen. Please don't forget me in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.

Wassalaam