Du'a on the day of Arafah

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

By Shaykh Abdul Karim Yahya

What follows is a selection of du`as made by Sayyidi al-Habib `Umar bin Hafiz on the Day of Arafah.

The people of Allah teach us what to ask for and how to ask for it. Attached is the full Arabic du`a. There should be live internet coverage of Habib `Umar’s gatherings on Hajj this year via http://waazzin.com.

“O Lord of ours our lower selves, our desires and the devil may have deceived us in the past but here we are humbled in front of Your greatness, remorseful about what we have done, regretful about the good that we have missed out on. O Allah repair that which is broken. O Allah have mercy on us in our weakness and incapacity!

O Allah replace every bad deed of ours with a good deed. Let not the sun set on this day except that the sun of our sins has set, and likewise the sun of our errors and faults and the sun of our worries and concerns.

O Allah, O Allah the only thing that we and the Ummah are suffering from is sins and acts of disobedience but we seek refuge in You. O Allah untie the knot of persistent sinning. Let us leave this place protected from sins until we meet You with enlightened faces and pure hearts.

O Allah make our last words in this life la illaha ill’Allah

Let us be reminded us upon dying with la illaha ill’Allah

Let us enter our graves upon la illaha ill’Allah

Let us be resurrected with the elite of the people of la illaha ill’Allah

O Allah cleanse our hearts, purify our souls and purify our intentions. O Allah make our hearts places fit to receive Your light and Your love. Give us complete knowledge of You, O Allah. Let us not leave Arafat without Your first making Yourself known to us and without You turning completely to us. O Allah let us only spend our lives in a state of knowledge of You!

We prepare in this hour for the hour of death. It will come to every one of us whether we like it or not so what have we prepared? O Allah by Muhammad do not disgrace any of us or expose any of us to a bad ending. O Allah we ask for a good ending! We ask that the spirit of Your Beloved Muhammad is with us at that time!

O Allah make us a cause of joy for Your Prophet. Make us amongst his supporters, his servants. Make us amongst those who preserve and act according to his Sacred Law. Make us amongst those who defend it and spread it to the East and the West. O Allah bring us together with him in this life and after death and on the Day of Judgement. Let us be under his banner. Let us shake his hand, see his face and hear his voice and understand his speech. Ennoble our ears by allowing them to hear Your Prophet as he enters Paradise.

O Allah let us hear You when You call out to the people of Paradise: “Today I grant you My pleasure and I will never be discontent with you.” We take refuge in You that that time comes and any one of us is outside the Abode of Honour. O Allah grant us the vision of Your noble countenance. Prepare our eyes for that vision through crying out of fear of You and through lowering our gaze such that we do not look at that which You have prohibited and through denying ourselves sleep because we are busy in obedience to You.

O Allah forgive for what is past and protect us in what time remains and give us the best of endings with You being content with us through Your mercy, O Most Merciful and Your generosity, O Most Generous… through the secret of al-Fatihah.”

source: http://abdulkarimyahya.com/2011/11/05/dua-on-the-day-of-arafah/

Please keep us in your du'as. Barakallahu feekum.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

Want 2 Years of Sins Forgiven? Fast Tomorrow on Day of Arafah

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Tomorrow is the Day of Arafah. Don't forget to fast on this day. Fasting on this day will expiate sins of 2 years. InshaAllah.

We ask Allah to remind the hajjis to make duas for all of us, and for Allah to accept their duas. We ask Allah to forgive the hajjis and all of us on the day of Arafah and make it easy for us to be in Arafah next year. This is not difficult for Allah to do.

Ameen.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

Keeping Your Feet Firm On The Bridge

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

When we say La hawla wala quwwata illa billah (there is neither power nor ability save by God), we are expressing the repudiation of our own claim to power and ability.

It is reported that La hawla wala quwwata illa billah is a remedy for 99 ailments, the least of which is sorrow. It is a remedy for sorrow because grief mostly occurs when one misses something one loves, or when a distressful thing occurs; and whenever either of these things occurs people perceive their helplessness and inability to achieve their desired aims; hence they feel sorrow. If at such times they repeat in their heart and with their tongues words which mean that they disavow the possession of any ability or power of their own, then this gives them certitude in their knowledge that they are helpless and weak except where Allah gives them power and ability, with the result that their sorrow is banished, and their knowledge of their Lord is increased.

Allah is Al-Qawi. His strength is perfect and does not increase nor decrease. Someone who is strong, his strength can carry something but after 15 minutes or 15 hours he is weak because his strength decreases. Allah doesn't get tired carrying the heavens and the earth. It doesn't make any difference to Him carrying or not carrying. His power is still the same. If you cannot imagine this, then you are at the right spot because we cannot imagine it.

But we can think somewhat of Allah's strength by looking at His creation and in the way He destroyed the strongest people and nations on earth--Fir'aun, Qarun, people of Thamud, people of Ad, and many others we know mentioned in the Qur'an. Even in our times, we are seeing history in the making and repeating itself. So, do not fear anyone (including your own self) when you are doing good for the sake of Allah or you want to do good for the sake of Allah. Your fear for creation should not be stronger than your fear of Allah. Likewise you should fear Allah for what you are not doing which you are supposed to be doing and able to do and for following others in disobedience of Allah.

Keep helping people even when it becomes hard on you. That means when you start helping somebody, you help him until it is finished, no matter how long it would take. Some people say in order to show how much you should be helping and giving, you help until one day you start hating the person (in figurative sense) you are helping and giving. Remember nothing is difficult through Allah. If you are firm in helping people, Allah will place your feet firmly on the earth and you will not fear on the Day that your feet will tremble because you were steady in helping people in this life. The reward will be same kind as the act you performed here.

It was reported that the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,

"Going with a brother to solve his problem and stay with him until his problem is solved is more beloved to me than worshiping 100 months in my masjid.

The blessed 10 days of Zhulhijjah is about to leave us. Reap the benefits of the remaining days by helping people, and increase your worship.

May Allah make our feet firm when crossing the bridge over Hell on the Day of Judgment. Ameen. La hawla wala quwwata illa billah. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

Truly Wondrous Is The Matter Of A Believer

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Most people are not thankful and patient. When they have something, they are not thankful. Some openly attribute to what they have to themselves. They forget Allah who gives them what they have.

Indeed Allah says,

وَلَـٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ ٱلنَّاسِ لَا يَشْكُرُونَ ﴿٣٨

...but most men are not grateful. (Surat Yusuf 12:38)

Then when they don't have something or don't like something, they react emotionally. Some are quick to blame someone, even blaming Allah for it, except themselves. They forget that this might be their punishment for their sins or this might be another test of their Faith. Either way, if they return to Allah, with gratitude and patience, it will be good for them.

Being grateful is a cause of increase from Allah whereas forgetting Allah can result in a severe punishment.

Allah says,

وَإِذْ تَأَذَّنَ رَبُّكُمْ لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ ۖ وَلَئِن كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِى لَشَدِيدٌ ﴿٧

And [remember] when your Lord proclaimed, 'If you are grateful, I will surely increase you [in favor]; but if you deny, indeed, My punishment is severe.' (Surat Ibrahim 14:7)

We become impatient because we lose sight of the bigger picture. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, gives a simple formula which solves this problem and provides us with comfort and assurance.

The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

Truly wondrous is the matter of the believer, for his every matter is good, and that is not for any but the believer: if good times come to him he is grateful, so it is better for him, and if bad times come to him he is patient, so it is better for him. (Muslim)

If we realize that this life is transient, that the Hereafter is eternal, that Allah is the sole Being who provides and sustains, that He is the best of Planners and He knows what is best for us at any particular moment, and that to Him is our final return, there is nothing to be such in hurry and impatient about except rushing to our obedience of the Lord and the pursuit of His pleasure.

For 13 years the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, remained at Makkah, bearing the vilest of emotional and physical abuse. Once, it was all too much for some of the companions, and while the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, was sitting in the shade of the Ka'ba, they approached and asked him to pray to Allah to quicken their victory.

The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not oblige them, but instead told them,

From among those who have preceded you, a man would be caught and held in a pit dug for him in the earth and he would be sawn in two by a saw placed over his head, or his flesh would be combed away from his bones with iron combs, but none of this would tear him away from his faith. Allah will surely help Islam complete its mission, till a rider will proceed from San’aa’ to Hadhramaut, fearing nothing save Allah and the wolf eating his sheep. But you are in too much of a hurry. (Bukhari)

Being patient will give you peace for Allah is with the patient.

May Allah make us among His grateful slaves and give us patience. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam

Can't Defy Allah's Plan

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

There is no good luck or bad luck but there is Divine plan. Instead of asking why those people have it so easy and my life is a pit, ask Allah, "O Allah! Why do you that for me? Do I really deserve that? I am the one who is disobeying, not following the sunnah, not worshiping You the way You want me to do, and with all of that You are taking care of me (look at all the things you have--just look at the functioning of your bodily parts, you hearing, your sight, your intellect, your voice and many many more blessings that you have taken for granted)?" This will increase the love of Allah in your heart.

Prophet Yusuf alayhissalaam, his father loved him more than the other brothers. To have your father loves you is good. But this love led to his brothers' jealousy of him and they threw him in a well. This is bad. He was picked up by a caravan and the people sold him to the Prime Minister of Egypt, and he came to live in a house that has power and prestige. This is good. The wife of the Prime Minister tried to seduce him and he was put in jail for a long time. This is bad. Many years later (some said as long as 30 years later), the king freed him and made him his right hand and he became the most powerful man in Egypt. This is good. The story ended with a happy ending and we feel good. But stories are not about happy ending or bad ending but Allah had planned it that way.

So, we might not be able to see the wisdom of what is happening, nonetheless we have to respond to it the proper way. Whatever problems we have, whatever problems we see around us and around the world, don't be too excited and get all emotional. The desert man who defecated in Abraha's church responded to him emotionally and it turned into a disaster. Emotion is good to have but it is not a means to respond. The means to respond in our religion is the Shari'ah.

We must rely on Allah in everything. Always pray for help from Allah and we wait with patience. This earth belongs to Allah. He can give to whoever He wants. But the best outcome is for the righteous, without distinguishing between men and women, noble and ignoble, rich and poor. The soldiers of Allah will come to help the righteous. How, where, when, this is the Divine plan. Our job is to fit our plan in the Divine plan.

Sometimes we think if we have control of such and such thing or such and such place, we will make things good. You think? You might turn out to be just like Fir'aun. You don't know. What we know is that Allah plans everything that is in our hands.

قَالَ مُوسَىٰ لِقَوْمِهِ ٱسْتَعِينُوا۟ بِٱللَّـهِ وَٱصْبِرُوٓا۟ ۖ إِنَّ ٱلْأَرْضَ لِلَّـهِ يُورِثُهَا مَن يَشَآءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِۦ ۖ وَٱلْعَـٰقِبَةُ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ ﴿١٢٨﴾ قَالُوٓا۟ أُوذِينَا مِن قَبْلِ أَن تَأْتِيَنَا وَمِنۢ بَعْدِ مَا جِئْتَنَا ۚ قَالَ عَسَىٰ رَبُّكُمْ أَن يُهْلِكَ عَدُوَّكُمْ وَيَسْتَخْلِفَكُمْ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ فَيَنظُرَ كَيْفَ تَعْمَلُونَ ﴿١٢٩

Said Moses to his people, "Seek help through Allah and be patient. Indeed, the earth belongs to Allah. He causes to inherit it whom He wills of His servants. And the [best] outcome is for the righteous." (128) They said, "We have been harmed before you came to us and after you have come to us." He said, "Perhaps your Lord will destroy your enemy and grant you succession in the land and see how you will do." (129)
Qur'an Al-'Araf 7:128-129

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

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam