News & Views

This blog was originally published so that we could obtain a little insight of all those little things in life that allow us to reflect and remember our Lord, Allah. It highlighted our daily chores that reminded us of Him and of all his 'signs' that can be found in each of His creations.

This blog has been of great benefit for me from the moment I published it; I began to look for a deeper meaning in the little activities that we carry out day to day and started realising that if one paid attention, for even a short period of time, it wouldn't be long before we came to understood that Allah is present everywhere and that His signs are visible in all our activities.

Looking at this blog, I began to think that a look at the wider world would really help us understand the Wisdom and doings of Allah all across the globe. In this attempt, I have created another blog named as News & Views.

This blog aims to bring 'News' to the readers and will be followed by a short 'view' and then if applicable, I will present Qur'anic verses and Prophetic Narrations (Ahadeeth) that are relevant to the news. It also allows everyone to put their views forward.

I pray to Allah that He accepts the efforts of this new blog and that through it I am able to achieve the many objectives I have in mind. May He make it a source of forgiveness and also a means of salvation. Aameen.

Ajnabi - A Stranger

Once whilst getting groceries for my mum, I saw two people talking inside the shop. How it is a common habit for people to have particular times to go 'grocery shopping' and they meet up in the shops just to have a nice 'chit chat'.

So the above scene was nothing out of the ordinary; virtually every person would be part of a small group who would pick the same time to shop so they could have someone to talk to. But what took my attention was a woman who was so obviously avoiding the other women that was talking to her.

At some time or another we bump into a person that we want to ignore; a person that manages to get a 'deep sigh' because we were hoping we could avoid her. However, this woman wasn't being discrete about hiding the fact that she didn't want to talk to her; each time the woman came in front of her she would turn her face and look the other way and fidget with another kind of vegetable and would respond to her comments with little 'grunts'.

In the end, the other women finally left her and continued her shopping. Thereafter, another woman approached her and asked why she had been behaving in such a manner; the women replied that she was related to the women but she would always retaliate with her in matters and then after she had retaliated, she would always return to her to talk and accompany her and that she had done this once too many.

POINT

It is in a person's nature that he does things according to his desires, and at times these are the things that cause him to sin. We retaliate against our Lord, Allah and then it is towards him that we have to turn.

There is a great difference in the forgiving nature of Allah and that of His creation; Allah is the Oft Forgiving and is ever ready to forgive us. But His wrath is also the same, if we continue to disobey Him deliberately, out of rebellion, and then it could be that He puts a 'seal' on our hearts so that we do not have the inclination to even return to Him for forgiveness. This will be Him turning his face away from us.

Whilst I was in that grocery shop, I was reminded of a Hadeeth where a couple of people approached the Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam with a message from their 'Lord' (i.e. their king) and he, Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam, turned his face away from them because they had cut their beards and had gone against his teaching and the teaching of Allah.

The true point is, what will we do if, on the Day of Judgement, or whilst we are in the grave, he, Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam, turns his face away from us? What answer will we give and what hope will we have?

May Allah save us all from this rebellion and from it being the reason that we become an Ajnabi (a stranger) in His eyes or the eyes of His Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam. Aameen.

Cleaning Services

On Wednesday afternoon, whilst standing at my bedroom window, I saw a couple of men with brooms and pans, cleaning up the side of the streets.

It was amazing to see, that despite living on that street, I never noticed the amount of litter that was scattered on the floor. After seeing these men sweep us the litter I realised that despite me not being able to see any dirt, there was quite a fair amount on the streets.

Obviously, there were some plastic bags, the odd cans and other large items that were visible without giving them much attention, but the smaller items that were regularly dropped on the street were not noticeable until we paid attention to them.

POINT

Similarly, in our life, we continuously gather litter; litter that we cannot see unless we pay extra care and attention towards it. This litter is known as minor sins and it contaminates and corrupts our hearts.

Similarly, at times we commit major sins, and these are the sins that we should be able to point out straight away and clean as soon as we can. For these are the sins that take away the glow of Imaan, the Nur (Divine Light) away from our faces and is visible to others also.

Therefore, we have to take heed from these "Cleaning Services" and ensure that we also take out time to clean our hearts; to sweet up all the sins that we sometimes don't realise we have committed. And the best cleanser for sins is the tears of remorse and regret that comes from the eyes of a believer.

May Allah give us all the inclination to do a daily sweep-out of our sins and to leave us with a clean and pure heart that pleases Allah. Aameen