Making The Right Choices

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Life is not idle curiosity and idle chats. When you hear or see something, it is your opportunity to do good. In your everyday life, you have many opportunities of doing great good. If you turn to that opportunity, it is an opportunity of great good for you -- you are directing yourself to the sweet breezes of Divine assistance. We should realize that we are needy creatures and we should have the sense of neediness towards Allah. Remember that without Allah we are nothing.

When you hear people in difficulty, you don't sit back. Don't take it as news and just talk and no action. A believer considers, "What can I do about it?" This is an opportunity of directing yourself to Divine assistance. If you are in the aid of another, Allah will be in the aid of you. If you can do something big to alleviate the problem, do it. But if you can't, then do something you can do--make du'a. Allah knows when you make du'a for others and they don't even know about it.

All over the world, there are so many people suffering. If you are not in their shoes, you hear about them in the news everyday or you might have a family member or a friend who are in a difficult situation. When you hear this, you want to gain an understanding and see what you can do of the good. You can sit back and blame so and so, this government or that country, but it won't change anything of the fact that these people need help. So what can I do about it?

One of the things a believer always does is to go back to the great news. Allah refers in the Qur'an of the great news.

عَمَّ يَتَسَآءَلُونَ ﴿١﴾ عَنِ ٱلنَّبَإِ ٱلْعَظِيمِ ﴿٢

About what are they asking one another? (1) About the great news - (2)

[Qur'an An-Naba' 78:1-2]

The Qur'an gives news about people before us. What is the purpose? So that we can make the right choices in life--the choices of those beloved to Allah and not the choices of those who lost out in life. How do you know this? It is by you studying it. Always refer to the tafsir of the Qur'an for the background of the story and the people.

From the get go, we should know the lives of the prophets and the men and women around our beloved Messenger, Allah bless him and grant him peace.

So renew our commitment to read the Qur'an everyday referring to the tafsir as we go along, and regularly read books about our beloved Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, the prophets, the great companions and the righteous of the past so we can gain a deeper understanding of the religion. Remember, whoever Allah wishes well for He gives him a deep understanding of His Deen.

Through understanding of the lives of the Prophets and the righteous people before us, we are nurturing ourselves the capacity to make the right choices.

Build a library of Islamic books for you and your family to seek the good. You should read them more than once or twice and encourage your family members to do same, and make it a subject matter to talk about during special occasions to remind ourselves. We spent on all kinds of things but when it comes to religious books/material, we find great difficulty to even spend 50 dollars for a book. We should be willing to spend in the way of good. Again this is our opportunity of directing ourselves to Divine assistance. A believer has a sense of priority. Forgo one ski trip this winter or some season tickets and you can have a good collection of these books.

Going forward you need to know the examples of those who have gone on the straight path before us. We want to embody their examples of right choices. So when we have difficult choices to make or faced with life tests, we have that light to guide us.

We ask Allah to illuminate our lives by the light of the examples of our beloved Messenger, sallallahu alayhi wassallam, the most virtuous of this ummah, and make us strive to be the righteous and the foremost of Allah's servants. We ask Allah to facilitate those who are in difficult situations and enable us to embody mercy in our dealings with others and embrace the gentle ways of the beloved Messenger, Allah bless him and grant him peace. Ameen.

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

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam