بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends,
I pray that you are well.
If somebody says to you, "I love you," but there is no expression of this on the actions, then that love is not really in the heart. What then is the worth of that love? None, because the worth of everything is the heart which expressed itself through action. Our actions is the world of expression where what is truly in the heart manifest.
Likewise, the actions in Islam--like prayer, fasting, charity, hajj, teaching and studying, have a two-way connection with the heart. These actions are where the heart expresses itself. If somebody says, "my heart has the love of God," but there is no expression of this on the actions, then that meaning is not really in the heart. Actions are also the realm of transformation because the heart changes in response to these actions.
Islam is the religion of the heart and everything we do, its fruit is reflected in the heart and the heart is the worth in every human being.
"A Day when neither wealth nor sons benefit, except he who brings to Allah a sound heart." Quran Shu'araa 26:88-89
"Verily Allah does not look at your bodies nor to your forms; but rather He looks at your hearts." (Muslim)
Every prayer, every fasting, every charity, every hajj, etc. is not the same with its worth to Allah. If my 2 rak'as of prayer and other person's 2 rak'as of prayer aren't the same, I can't judge anybody. It is a very humbling realization and it changes the focus to the quality of our actions.
Works don't have any significance except through the intentions that fuel that work. All you get out of that action is what you intended.
The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Actions are only by intentions and each man shall have only that he intended."
The hijrah (emigration) of Islam is the emigration of the Muslims from Makkah to Madinah. These were the people who left behind everything--their families, wives, children, clans, homes, furniture, animals, money, wealth, business, status and good name, to be with the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, and to practice their religion without persecution. Even this action, so great and so central to the support of Islam, depends on the intention which you blow into it. It is even more so with any other action. .
The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, continued, "Thus, whoever his migration is for Allah and His Messenger, Allah bless him and grant him peace, then his migration is for Allah and His Messenger, Allah bless him and grant him peace."
It was the sincerity and purity, to please Allah, to support the Messenger, Allah bless him and grant him peace, to be with them, to live life for them, and that was the drive to leave everything behind. So the outcome is the migration is for Allah and His Messenger, Allah bless him and grant him peace.
The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, continued, "And he whose migration was to achieve some worldly benefit or to take some woman in marriage, his migration was to that for which he migrated."
The reward you get from your actions is commensurate with your intentions. The scholars tell themselves and the world to look to our hearts before we engage in any action because if our hearts are ruined, that action is ruined.
The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, find it worth making the explicit mention about the opposite sex in the hadith. Indeed, the temptation of the opposite sex can affect one's intention of doing or going to Islamic activities. In our times, we have Islamic events and activities that people go to. The temptation of the opposite sex can ruin our Islamic activities if the intention is other than for Allah. So watch your intentions when you go to the masjid, Islamic conventions and events. You have to fight the temptations.
Through intention mundane activities transform to worship. These actions can weigh down the scale of good deeds. So learn the intentions and pay attention to your intentions because it is further reaching than the action itself.
May Allah purify our intentions in all our actions. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
Monday, January 17, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Building Good Character
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
Righteousness is in good character and good character is generosity, spending and bearing. You are generous with what Allah bless you--your strength, power, money, intelligence, ability, freedom, time, and health. You use and spend everything that you have for the sake of Allah.
Good character includes, maintaining family ties, forgiving and pardoning, giving when you are being denied, having cheery disposition, good loving relationship with people, forbearance and humility and thinking well of people.
Smiling, making people happy, serving people, being a good wife or a good husband, being a good parent are among the greatest acts that people already engaging in. No souls know the pleasures Allah prepared for them in the things they are already doing.
If you want to work on good character, force yourself to act like someone with good character. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the companions, Allah be pleased with them all, are our great role models. Study the seerah and it is good to read the biographies of the companions.
Look at everything that the Prophet brought, Allah bless him and grant him peace, and be grateful that he brought them. We ask Allah tawfiq and to help us practice them. This practice happens step by step, it is not an overnight change but it starts with knowledge. It starts with taking the time and the effort to learn what is obligatory and proceed.
Keeping the company of the righteous learned people, you can learn many good character traits that books and lectures cannot teach you because you can see as well how they carry themselves and imitate them.
If you want to work on removing greed for example, keep spending on a particular good cause until it become easier.
If you want to work on getting rid of envy/jealousy, ask Allah to give the person you are envious or jealous of more of what he/she has and bless you with same.
If you want to work on patience, try to remember that Allah creates everything. There is no movement or stillness except Allah wills it. This is your chance to work on your patience and be with Allah for Allah is with the patient one. If Allah is with you, nothing can harm you.
May Allah show us good teachers among the living and among the dead, and keep us in the company of the righteous. 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.
Righteousness is in good character and good character is generosity, spending and bearing. You are generous with what Allah bless you--your strength, power, money, intelligence, ability, freedom, time, and health. You use and spend everything that you have for the sake of Allah.
Good character includes, maintaining family ties, forgiving and pardoning, giving when you are being denied, having cheery disposition, good loving relationship with people, forbearance and humility and thinking well of people.
Smiling, making people happy, serving people, being a good wife or a good husband, being a good parent are among the greatest acts that people already engaging in. No souls know the pleasures Allah prepared for them in the things they are already doing.
If you want to work on good character, force yourself to act like someone with good character. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the companions, Allah be pleased with them all, are our great role models. Study the seerah and it is good to read the biographies of the companions.
Look at everything that the Prophet brought, Allah bless him and grant him peace, and be grateful that he brought them. We ask Allah tawfiq and to help us practice them. This practice happens step by step, it is not an overnight change but it starts with knowledge. It starts with taking the time and the effort to learn what is obligatory and proceed.
Keeping the company of the righteous learned people, you can learn many good character traits that books and lectures cannot teach you because you can see as well how they carry themselves and imitate them.
If you want to work on removing greed for example, keep spending on a particular good cause until it become easier.
If you want to work on getting rid of envy/jealousy, ask Allah to give the person you are envious or jealous of more of what he/she has and bless you with same.
If you want to work on patience, try to remember that Allah creates everything. There is no movement or stillness except Allah wills it. This is your chance to work on your patience and be with Allah for Allah is with the patient one. If Allah is with you, nothing can harm you.
May Allah show us good teachers among the living and among the dead, and keep us in the company of the righteous. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Fear Allah, Allah Is With You
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
Allah has a special withness with those who obey His commands. If you fear Allah in your life, Allah is with you.
"Verily Allah is with those who fear Him (keep their duty unto Him) and those who work excellence." Qur'an An-Nahl 16:127
"Whoever fears Allah, Allah is with him, and whoever has Allah with him, then with him is a group that will never be defeated, the guard that does not sleep and the guide that does not get lost." Qatada
So, guard Allah's limits, avoid what is unlawful and do what is obligatory, Allah will guard you. Do what is right, don't worry about people. People can't really do a lot to you or for you. Allah is enough for us.
May Allah give us strength and courage. 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.
Allah has a special withness with those who obey His commands. If you fear Allah in your life, Allah is with you.
"Verily Allah is with those who fear Him (keep their duty unto Him) and those who work excellence." Qur'an An-Nahl 16:127
"Whoever fears Allah, Allah is with him, and whoever has Allah with him, then with him is a group that will never be defeated, the guard that does not sleep and the guide that does not get lost." Qatada
So, guard Allah's limits, avoid what is unlawful and do what is obligatory, Allah will guard you. Do what is right, don't worry about people. People can't really do a lot to you or for you. Allah is enough for us.
May Allah give us strength and courage. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
We Don't Know What Tomorrow Will Bring
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
We respect people. We don't look down upon anyone, whoever that person might be. It could even be a disbeliever who hates Islam. He could be the one who Allah will give the ability to defend Islam and you are the one who will be humiliating Islam with your own bad examples.
We are not judgmental of others when it comes to guidance because they are as helpless as us. We don't know where they are going to be and where we are going to be. Today you are praying but you don't know what is going to happen to you tomorrow. The truth is tomorrow is more important than today because the way you die is how your fate is sealed. You don't know how you are going to die. You don't know how the one across you is going to die either. Although today you are praying and he is doing haram you don't know what life events are going to bring to you and how you will respond to them. You don't know what is going to find interesting and boring tomorrow. It might well be that he changes his habits and you change your habits and he is better than you.
We are needy of Allah for guidance. Only Allah guides. If Allah doesn't keep us firm in our iman, perfect it in our hearts and make it beloved to us, we don't know what is going to happen to us, where we will be, what actions we will be doing. No matter how great our actions might be now we always needy of Allah. That is why when we do the good we look at Allah.
We don't attribute good to ourselves. We don't pat ourselves on the back. We turn to Allah for that good always. We are not proud of our good deeds. We didn't create the things that inspired us to do good. Allah made them easy for us. So, thank Him. If you are grateful, Allah will increase you. When you slipped, blame yourself because that is the only way you keep improving. Don't feel guaranteed that if you are good today and if Allah doesn't help you tomorrow, you will be good tomorrow because you need Him in every moment. We always fear what tomorrow will bring and ask Allah for a good ending.
"...O Creator of the heavens and the earth! You are my Protector in this world and in the Hereafter. Take my soul (at death) as one submitting to your Will (as a Muslim), and unite me with the righteous." Surah Yusuf 12:101
And Allah knows best.
Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.
Wassalaam
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
We respect people. We don't look down upon anyone, whoever that person might be. It could even be a disbeliever who hates Islam. He could be the one who Allah will give the ability to defend Islam and you are the one who will be humiliating Islam with your own bad examples.
We are not judgmental of others when it comes to guidance because they are as helpless as us. We don't know where they are going to be and where we are going to be. Today you are praying but you don't know what is going to happen to you tomorrow. The truth is tomorrow is more important than today because the way you die is how your fate is sealed. You don't know how you are going to die. You don't know how the one across you is going to die either. Although today you are praying and he is doing haram you don't know what life events are going to bring to you and how you will respond to them. You don't know what is going to find interesting and boring tomorrow. It might well be that he changes his habits and you change your habits and he is better than you.
We are needy of Allah for guidance. Only Allah guides. If Allah doesn't keep us firm in our iman, perfect it in our hearts and make it beloved to us, we don't know what is going to happen to us, where we will be, what actions we will be doing. No matter how great our actions might be now we always needy of Allah. That is why when we do the good we look at Allah.
We don't attribute good to ourselves. We don't pat ourselves on the back. We turn to Allah for that good always. We are not proud of our good deeds. We didn't create the things that inspired us to do good. Allah made them easy for us. So, thank Him. If you are grateful, Allah will increase you. When you slipped, blame yourself because that is the only way you keep improving. Don't feel guaranteed that if you are good today and if Allah doesn't help you tomorrow, you will be good tomorrow because you need Him in every moment. We always fear what tomorrow will bring and ask Allah for a good ending.
"...O Creator of the heavens and the earth! You are my Protector in this world and in the Hereafter. Take my soul (at death) as one submitting to your Will (as a Muslim), and unite me with the righteous." Surah Yusuf 12:101
And Allah knows best.
Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.
Wassalaam
Friday, January 14, 2011
What Has Missed You and What Has Hit You
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
If you are walking to the masjid and a dog jumped on you and you get hurt, you don't curse at the dog. You don't start throwing rocks at every dog you happen to see next time. If your best friend runs off with your wife, or if you lose a child, or if you are stricken with a serious illness, or if your spouse likes to yell at you, or someone is rude to you, you are not bitter.
Know that what has missed you was not going to hit you; and what hit you was not going to miss you. We don't have the bitterness on something that is not within our control. This is destiny. We believe in destiny. Destiny from Allah is good. We take it and bear it with strength. We are patient, grateful and content. Allah doesn't give us burden we cannot handle.
We have the best opinion of Allah. Everything good is from Allah and everything from Allah is good. We don't have a bad opinion of Allah about anything. The greatest blessing is that Allah shows our weakness and susceptibility because the one who is conscious of his/her own weakness and susceptibility he/she is the one who turns to Allah. All of Islam is based on our acknowledging that we are weak and needy of Allah.
On the authority of Abdullah ibn Abbas, Allah be pleased with father and son, who said : One day I was behind the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he said to me:
"Young man, I shall teach you some words [of advice] : Be mindful of Allah, and Allah will protect you. Be mindful of Allah, and you will find Him in front of you. If you ask, ask of Allah; if you seek help, seek help of Allah. Know that if the Nation were to gather together to benefit you with anything, it would benefit you only with something that Allah had already prescribed for you, and that if they gather together to harm you with anything, they would harm you only with something Allah had already prescribed for you. The pens have been lifted and the pages have dried."
Narrated by Tirmidhi, who said it is true and fine hadith
In a version other than that of Tirmidhi it reads:
"..Be mindful of Allah, you will find Him before you. Get to know Allah in prosperity and He will know you in adversity. Know that what has passed you by was not going to befall you; and that what has befallen you was not going to pass you by. And know that victory comes with patience, relief with affliction, and ease with hardship."
May Allah guide us and grant us patience, gratitude and tranquility. 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.
If you are walking to the masjid and a dog jumped on you and you get hurt, you don't curse at the dog. You don't start throwing rocks at every dog you happen to see next time. If your best friend runs off with your wife, or if you lose a child, or if you are stricken with a serious illness, or if your spouse likes to yell at you, or someone is rude to you, you are not bitter.
Know that what has missed you was not going to hit you; and what hit you was not going to miss you. We don't have the bitterness on something that is not within our control. This is destiny. We believe in destiny. Destiny from Allah is good. We take it and bear it with strength. We are patient, grateful and content. Allah doesn't give us burden we cannot handle.
We have the best opinion of Allah. Everything good is from Allah and everything from Allah is good. We don't have a bad opinion of Allah about anything. The greatest blessing is that Allah shows our weakness and susceptibility because the one who is conscious of his/her own weakness and susceptibility he/she is the one who turns to Allah. All of Islam is based on our acknowledging that we are weak and needy of Allah.
On the authority of Abdullah ibn Abbas, Allah be pleased with father and son, who said : One day I was behind the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he said to me:
"Young man, I shall teach you some words [of advice] : Be mindful of Allah, and Allah will protect you. Be mindful of Allah, and you will find Him in front of you. If you ask, ask of Allah; if you seek help, seek help of Allah. Know that if the Nation were to gather together to benefit you with anything, it would benefit you only with something that Allah had already prescribed for you, and that if they gather together to harm you with anything, they would harm you only with something Allah had already prescribed for you. The pens have been lifted and the pages have dried."
Narrated by Tirmidhi, who said it is true and fine hadith
In a version other than that of Tirmidhi it reads:
"..Be mindful of Allah, you will find Him before you. Get to know Allah in prosperity and He will know you in adversity. Know that what has passed you by was not going to befall you; and that what has befallen you was not going to pass you by. And know that victory comes with patience, relief with affliction, and ease with hardship."
May Allah guide us and grant us patience, gratitude and tranquility. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
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