بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
Maybe you don't think about it but if you have the opportunity to meet with the King of Saudi Arabia or the Sultan of Brunei or the Queen of England or even the King of Malaysia, wouldn't you grab the opportunity to meet them? If you are invited to their palaces today, you would quickly hop on the next flight. You would not let your boss say NO to giving you a few days off work. In fact, your boss might very well offered more days than you have asked or he might offered it to you the moment he heard about the royal invitation! If you are going to school, you would work around your school work to make sure you get to meet with this king. Everybody around you are excited about this, not just you. Why? You all will have a similar answer. And it boils down to because they are kings! Who wouldn't want to meet a king!
Yes, we know about kings a lot. We can see them with our eyes or at least picture them in our minds, what they look like, the splendor of their palaces and the glamor of their royal lives. We have been exposed to these details from little. Remember all those many "happily ever after" bedtime stories and movies? Each culture has its own version of Cinderella, Snow White, Aladdin and princess Jasmine, and now we have Shrek and princess Fiona. So no wonder we are fascinated by kings, palaces, princes and princesses. And when this opportunity to meet with a king comes, you naturally run for it. You want to know more and perhaps to experience the glamor of being around a king.
I remember when Shaykh Mishari Rashid Al-Afasy, the well known Qur'an reciter came to town, may Allah preserve and protect him, some people came from far away to the masjid to get a closer look at a member of a royal family. You could hear the whispers and the fascination about this. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un.
But how about the King of kings? Many don't know Him. They didn't learn about Him or they don't want to learn about Him. Those who know something about Him, many don't care to meet with Him. When He invited them to come to Him, they don't go. They are too busy and some refused the invitation. They ignore the call to prayer, they don't pray, they don't make dhikr of Allah, they don't read Qur'an. These are opportunities that have passed them by to be with the King of kings and they cannot bring them back. Don't be among these people. If nothing else, the King of kings has far more to offer than all these kings combined have to offer. He is the Creator of everything, including those kings, their palaces, their bodyguards and all their glamorous royal lives.
Now, when you open that facebook with no intention to worship Allah, close it. Otherwise, you will miss the opportunity to be with the King of kings. If you miss this opportunity enough times, you are at risk of losing it forever. You are at risk of not getting invited ever again. Remember, Allah can seal the hearts from His Light and make evil seemingly good for the wrongdoers. May Allah protect us from this. May Allah guide us to His Light. Ameen.
Facebook has become a very serious social issue. You don't need to read much about it because that is in itself a distraction from doing dhikr of Allah but suffice with your own common sense, experience or hearing about it to turn you away from using facebook to socialize, play games and answer quizzes, in short, to entertain and to pass time.
In a recent survey conducted by an international firm TNS, Japanese users had the least number of friends, averaging 29. Chinese consumers have an average of 68 friends in their networks. Malaysians have the most number of friends on social networking websites like facebook, average 233 friends in their social network. They also spend the most hours per week on such sites, average nine hours weekly. This is quite embarrassing for me, as a Malaysian and as a Muslim, to know this and to tell you this but it need to be told.
So, if you are spending such amount of time or more on facebook and other social network sites, you need to cut down by whole lot, so you can help yourself come closer to the King of kings, and be a good example to the non-Muslims around you. We want to rank high in technology and using technology to spread and teach the message of Islam, not using technology to waste our time.
وَٱلۡعَصۡرِ (١) إِنَّ ٱلۡإِنسَـٰنَ لَفِى خُسۡرٍ (٢) إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَعَمِلُواْ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ وَتَوَاصَوۡاْ بِٱلۡحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوۡاْ بِٱلصَّبۡرِ (٣
"By Al-'Asr (the time). Verily, man is in loss, except those who believe (in Islamic Monotheism) and do righteous good deeds, and recommend one another to the truth (i.e. order one another to perform all kinds of good deeds (Al-Ma'ruf) which Allah has ordained, and abstain from all kinds of sins and evil deeds (Al-Munkar) which Allah has forbidden), and recommend one another to patience (for the sufferings, harms, and injuries which one may encounter in Allah's Cause during preaching His religion of Islamic Monotheism or Jihad)." Qur'an al-'Asr 103
Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
Showing posts with label opportunity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label opportunity. Show all posts
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
What do you weep about?
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 truly believe that everything comes Allah, it is very easy to handle losses, disappointments, difficulties and the like. The same way Allah take away something from you, allow disappointments to creep into your hearts, afflict you with pain, Allah can give you back what you have lost or give you something better; Allah can give you satisfaction and contentment, Allah can ease your problem. He says, "Be" and it is. That does not mean you can be a passive human being and wait for it to "be" or the unemotional one--that you don't cry, that you don't feel. Far from that. In fact, the opposite. You must act in a positive manner--take steps to relieve your burden, keeping in mind that Allah has chosen what is best for you so you should not resent it. You are allowed to cry and grieve for a time--it is the mercy that you have in your heart whether you are a man or a woman. I don't know who came up with this statement that boys don't cry. Well, all my brothers cry (sometimes worse than me) and I saw my father cry when I was a girl. MashaAllah they are among the most compassionate and helpful people I know.
Actually, we all need a big cry. 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 pretty common. This affects us all collectively. You see thousands of people going to occasional Islamic knowledge-based events but once the event is over, the knowledge disappears before it even brought into practice.You see hardly any people come to the masjids and it is always the same people who come or contribute their time and money to the masjids.
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.
But 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. But 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.
So when bad things happen to you 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 you higher. Regardless, it is the most suitable for you for your circumstance and you should be grateful that it is happening. The minimum you should do is don't complain. Be content with it and if you can't then be patient and endure for that which is unpleasant lies much good.
We should learn from Umm Ayman Barakah, Allah be pleased with her, who 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 knew him from that point until his death. 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).
What do you weep about? When you cry, you don't cry about losing something of this world--your job, your house, your money, your wife, your children--but about losing the opportunity to do good for the next world. And 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.
May Allah guide us to do good with excellence. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
When we truly believe that everything comes Allah, it is very easy to handle losses, disappointments, difficulties and the like. The same way Allah take away something from you, allow disappointments to creep into your hearts, afflict you with pain, Allah can give you back what you have lost or give you something better; Allah can give you satisfaction and contentment, Allah can ease your problem. He says, "Be" and it is. That does not mean you can be a passive human being and wait for it to "be" or the unemotional one--that you don't cry, that you don't feel. Far from that. In fact, the opposite. You must act in a positive manner--take steps to relieve your burden, keeping in mind that Allah has chosen what is best for you so you should not resent it. You are allowed to cry and grieve for a time--it is the mercy that you have in your heart whether you are a man or a woman. I don't know who came up with this statement that boys don't cry. Well, all my brothers cry (sometimes worse than me) and I saw my father cry when I was a girl. MashaAllah they are among the most compassionate and helpful people I know.
Actually, we all need a big cry. 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 pretty common. This affects us all collectively. You see thousands of people going to occasional Islamic knowledge-based events but once the event is over, the knowledge disappears before it even brought into practice.You see hardly any people come to the masjids and it is always the same people who come or contribute their time and money to the masjids.
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.
But 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. But 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.
So when bad things happen to you 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 you higher. Regardless, it is the most suitable for you for your circumstance and you should be grateful that it is happening. The minimum you should do is don't complain. Be content with it and if you can't then be patient and endure for that which is unpleasant lies much good.
We should learn from Umm Ayman Barakah, Allah be pleased with her, who 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 knew him from that point until his death. 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).
What do you weep about? When you cry, you don't cry about losing something of this world--your job, your house, your money, your wife, your children--but about losing the opportunity to do good for the next world. And 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.
May Allah guide us to do good with excellence. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
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