When will it be me?

At a young age I was totally unaware of death; the meaning of death and its existence were totally oblivious to me due to the lack of understanding. When I grew up a little and began understanding the meaning and existence of death I associated death with age and illnesses; when a person reached a certain age and becomes old, or if a person is exceedingly ill, he then dies and is buried.

However, after Islamic education and further understanding, which came with age, I began to learn that death was not associated with illness or age. Death can come to anyone at any time and no one is excluded from death.

Nevertheless, the human mind always has a feeling that death will never reach him or he will die when he is old. When a person is young and strong he feels that death is far from him and will not come to him for at least another few years; whilst still having this notion in mind that he will reach his old age.

Whilst I was standing in Salaah today I felt slightly dizzy and thought that I would collapse on the spot due to my knees becoming weak. At once I remembered the football player I had read about that died on the football pitch during a match; one minute he was standing the next minute ‘thump’ and he was on the ground… Dead. It made me realise that even before starting this Salaah I was fully confident that I would complete it and return home and complete my tasks which I had set for the day.

Our life is such that we plan not each day as it comes, but we plan years ahead and have this ‘false’ confidence that we will complete these plans and maybe one day ‘retire’ after which death will come to us.

POINT

كن في الدنيا كأنك غريب او عابر سبل

“Live in this word as though you are a stranger or a passer-by”

Meaning:

Live in this world like a traveller lives in a hotel or a country he does not reside in; always keeping in mind that this is not his permanent place of residence and therefore not getting too attached or comfortable. Our home is the hereafter whilst this world is a temporary station.

الدنيا سجن المؤمن و جنة الكافر

“The world is a prison for the believer and paradise for the disbeliever”

Meaning:

The world is full of restrictions for a believer just like a prison has restrictions for a prisoner. However, once we are free from this ‘jail’ (world) we will have no restrictions, Insha Allah.

The prison is a place where a prisoner is unable to unite with his beloved; it acts as a barrier and obstacle between a person and his beloved. In the same manner, a believer is deprived from meeting his beloved, Allah, due to the barrier of this world.

تحفة المؤمن الموت

“The gift of a believer is death”

Meaning:

Death, if seen with an open mind, is a gift not only to believers but to entire mankind. However, it is the believers that realise and appreciate this. Death allows this world to have enough space for its residence; otherwise the world would be overcrowded. Furthermore, it relieves people from old age and the illnesses and weaknesses that come with it.

Death is the only obstacle between a lover (believer) and his Beloved (Allah). Therefore, a believer sees death as a gift from Allah as it is a call from the Beloved to the lover. Moreover, it is the bridge that takes a lover to his beloved, Allah.

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Our beloved Prophet صلي الله عليه و سلم has taught us that death can come at any time to anyone. In fact, he صلي الله عليه و سلم has taught us that death is so sudden that when we say one ‘Salaam’ in Salaah we should know in our hearts that it may not be possible to say the other ‘Salaam’ though the interval between the two may be of a few seconds.

In Islam, when a child is born, the call to prayer (Adhan) is given in the child’s right ear whilst the call to gather the congregation (Iqaamah) is given in the left ear and there is no Salaah that is performed thereafter.

However, the teaching of Islam is that after the Adhan and Iqaamah immediately prayer (Salaah) is commenced. Therefore, in this case, the ‘Ulamaa (scholars) have explained that the prayer that follows is the Salaatul Janaaza (prayer upon the deceased) to show that the life of a person, in reality, is extremely short, so much so, that it seems there is a short interval between the Iqaamah recited in the child’s ear and the Janaaza Salaah which takes place at the time of their death. Furthermore, they explain that this is the reason why there is no Adhan or Iqaamah for the Janaaza prayer.

O Allah, give us all the true understanding of death and give us the wisdom to accept that it could occur at any time. Give us the courage, time and importance of remembering death at all times. Keep us alive until that time which life is better for us and give us death when death is better for us. Make our lives ones that are long and filled with good deeds. O Allah, make us from those who see death as a gift and this world as a prison and make not death ‘sudden’ upon us and keep us ever ready for it.

O Allah, save us from the pangs of death and make death easy upon us. Do not attach our hearts to this world to such an extent that we feel sorrow, grief and pain at the time of our death. O Allah, we seek from you your mercy and that you send upon us the angels of mercy to remove our soul. O Allah, make us pleased with death for indeed it is death that will unite us with our Creator. O Allah, make us happy to see you and make us such that you are happy to see us. Aameen.

Ramadhan Mubarak

It is the mercy and blessing of Allah that He gave us life to be present in the month of Ramadhan and by doing so given us an opportunity to seek His forgiveness, mercy and blessings that overflow for His servants in this blessed month.

The month of Ramadhan is like the period in our life where we make great efforts to do some 'spring cleaning' and 'throw out the old' and 'bring in the new.' In the same way, the month of Ramadhan is where we do a 'spring clean' of our hearts and get rid of all the bad habits and give way to new and good habits. It is a month where we try and cleanse ourselves so that we are pure, clean and spiritually motivate for the months to come.

I pray to Allah that He gives us the understanding and vision to seek the rewards that are present within this month of Ramadhan and then the strength, ability and zeal to reap them all.

I pray to Allah that He accepts us and our efforts within this month then shows us His acceptance by making a change visible within us during this month and in the months that follow.

I make Du'a to Allah that He removes, through the means of this month, the pain, suffering, depression, illnesses, worries, trails, difficulties, poverty, hunger etc that people are facing in the world so that they are able to devote themselves to Him alone.

O Allah send the choicest of blessings upon our Beloved Prophet Muhammad صلي الله عليه و سلم and upon his blessed family the amount that pleases you.

O Allah send blessings upon our Beloved Prophet Muhammad صلي الله عليه و سلم and upon his blessed family equal to the amount of rain drops that have dropped and will drop.

O Allah send salutations on our Beloved Prophet Muhammad صلي الله عليه و سلم and upon his blessed family equal to the amount of people that remember him and the amount that are negligent of his remembrance.

O Allah elevate the rank of our Beloved Prophet Muhammad صلي الله عليه و سلم to the status and rank of محمرد, which you have promised him and grant him the highest of places in Paradise.

O Allah forgive our shortcomings and hold us firm upon your path. Make us pleased with your decisions and please us with your decisions. O Allah, grant us Jannatul Firdous and honour us with the intercession of our Beloved Prophet Muhammad صلي الله عليه و سلم on the Day of Judgement and of drinking the water of Kauther from his hands. Grant us the status of being with the Prophets and the pious people and with those whom You will grant shade under Your throne where there shall be no shade but Yours.

O Allah, we seek Your pleasure and the pleasure of Your Beloved صلي الله عليه و سلم. Be pleased with us and make us Pleased with you. Aameen.

َ اللهُمَّ صَلِّيْ وَسَلِّمْ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ كُلَّمَا ذَكَرَهُ الذَّاكِرُوْنَ , و صَلِّيْ اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّم كُلَّمَا غَفَلَ عَنْ ذِكْرِهِ الْغَافِلُوْنَ َ

"O Allah, send blessings and salutations upon our Beloved Prophet Muhammad صلي الله عليه و سلم the amount of every person that remembers (sends salutation upon) him; and send blessing and salutations upon him صلي الله عليه و سلم the amount of every person who is ignorant of remembering (sending blessings upon) him صلي الله عليه و سلم."

Please remember me in your Du'as.

Parents

At times we rebel, at times we show them great love... Parents.

Parents are those beings who were given to us by Allah to cater for us, care for us and fulfil our every need and valid desire on this earth. Our parents look after us when the only thing we are capable of doing is sleeping, crying and breathing. They tend to us and lose their sleepp so that we, their children, can sleep in peace; they stay hungry only so that they can feed us.

However, life is such that we can never fully appreciate our parents. We sometimes upset them, go against their desires and do things that hurt their feelings. Yet we fail to realise what a true gift these parents are despite all their 'apparent flaws.'

As usual, my posts are related to something that occurred in my life...

Alhumdulillah, by the grace of Allah, I was blessed with a baby girl this Monday. It brought me great pleasure to have been able to complete two Sunnats of our Beloved Prophet صلي الله عليه و سلم; the first Sunnah being that the first child was a girl and the second Sunnah that her name is Fatimah.

A humble request to all readers to remember me and my family in your Du'as in the month of Ramadhan.

Point

"Your Lord has decreed that you shall not worship except Him, and your parents shall be honoured. As long as one or both of them live, you shall never say to them, "Uff" (the slightest gesture of annoyance), nor shall you shout at them; you shall treat them amicably.

Even if you have to turn away from them, as you pursue the mercy of your Lord, you shall treat them in the nicest manner."

[Surah al-Israa - 17:23]

This order of Allah should always be remembered and it should be understood that Allah, after ordering His worship in the entirety, has ordered good towards the parents. Such is the rank of parents and such are their favours.

However, we tend to forget ourselves the amount of sacrifices our parents have done for us and we tend to think that this was their 'duty' yet we fail to realise our duty towards them.

It is a well known Hadith of the Prophet صلي الله عليه و سلم which states that the he صلي الله عليه و سلم supplicated for the destruction of three types of people whilst ascending the Mimbar.

The Prophet of Allah صلي الله عليه و سلم said: "Jibraeel عليه السلام appeared before me and said, destruction to him who found the blessed month of Ramadhan and let it pass by without gaining forgiveness, upon that I said, Ameen."

When I climbed the second step, Jibraeel عليه السلام said, "destruction to him before whom your name is taken and he does not salutations. I replied Ameen."

When I climbed the third step, Jibraeel عليه السلام said, "destruction unto him in whose lifetime his parents or either one of them reaches old age, and (through failure to serve them) he is not allowed to enter Jannah. I said, Ameen."

We are all aware of our responsibilities to our parents, we all are aware of right from wrong. However, we all need to realise the true sacrifices and value of our parents to be able to be obedient to them for eternity.

May Allah give us all the understanding to be pious and obedient children. May He give us the strength to serve them through their old age and grant us Jannah as a result. May He make our parents pleased with us and make us coolness for their eyes. May He reward them in this word as well as the hereafter for their sacrifices, care Ameen.

May He give us pious children who become the coolness of our eyes and who are obedient to us. May He make our children successful and grant them health and honour in His eyes. Aameen.

I pray to Allah that He gives us the ability and knowledge to be successful parents to our children and that we are capable of providing them with sound knowledge of Islam and educate them about Islam and its teachings so that through them our path towards Jannah becomes easier. Aameen.

Losing Someone

If anyone here has ever lost anyone then only they will know the true feeling and meaning of loss.

Losing someone is a pain that cannot be explained nor described, it is a pain that can only be felt and experienced by an individual.

When we lose those who are close to us it brings us much pain and grief; and if it a loss of a person we have been close to, someone we grew up with and spent most of our time with, then this pain multiplies and becomes harder to bear.

At this moment in time, a very true and close friend of mine is fighting for their life; lying in bed without any knowledge of what the future will hold.

Although no one ever wishes to lose someone, it is inevitable to think of what life would be like without someone so dear and so close. Losing such a close friend would be something that one may not get over throughout one's life.

These are the thoughts travelling through my head, whilst the heart prays and begs Allah for the recovery of such a great friend.

My request to all the readers for humble Du'as for my friend's speedy and complete recovery.

Point

It is amazing how we grieve over the loss of a person that we have built a connection and bond with maybe over a period of twenty to thirty years. This bond then becomes stronger if that person is close to us, has done us favours and we have looked after them like our own.

If an individual can understand this bond created by one human for another human, how can we overlook the bond created by Allah for His bondsmen.

Allah personally created man, took care of him from the time he was in the womb till the day he reaches the grave and even after that. It is Allah that fed that person, clothed him, loved him and appointed angels to keep him safe. It is Him who created for him the tools and means to remove every difficulty; He created for him a partner to relieve his loneliness and become his companion.

What sort of a bond would be created by Allah with someone He has done this much favours upon? What love and care would Allah have for that person? So when such a servant turns away from Allah why is it that we fail to see His disappointment, His remorse and His reason to become angry despite given us chances upon chances.

An Incident

This reminds me of an incident that took place between Allah and Hadhrat Mussa عليه السلام. On one occasion, after having made every effort possible, Mussa عليه السلام turned to Allah and requested that his entire nation be destroyed as they did not take heed of his words and guidance.

Allah asked Mussa عليه السلام to make 40 clay pots with his bare hands before any action was taken. Although Mussa عليه السلام was unaware of the link between the making of the clay pots and his request to Allah he submitted to the command of Allah and began making clay pots with his own hands. Mussa عليه السلام put his entire effort into making these pots and completed making all forty, after which, he looked with delight towards what he had achieved.

Mussa عليه السلام then turned to Allah and informed him of completing the task Allah had set him. Allah then commanded Mussa عليه السلام to take a stick and break one pot after another. Mussa عليه السلام was astonished by this command but continued to obey the order of Allah. He slowly began breaking one pot after another bearing the pain in his heart for destroying what he had so carefully made.

After Mussa عليه السلام had finished destroying all the pots, Allah informed him, O Mussa (عليه السلام), you found great difficulty in breaking pots of clay that you made with your bare hands, yet it was you that asked me to destroy an entire nation that I myself created and moulded with my own hands. At this point Mussa عليه السلام realised what he had asked from Allah.

Lesson

We feel the pain of our loss, we feel the pain of the destruction of our belongings and we feel our anger is justified towards one who is ungrateful towards us and our favours. Yet we fail to see Allah's disappointment and 'grief' when a servant that He created from His own hands turns away from Him; we fail to understand and justify His punishment for all the sins we commit and all the times we rebel against Him; we fail to see the sacrifices of His beloved Prophet صلي الله عليه و سلم. But we never fail to sacrifice our religion...

May Allah give us all the understanding to love Him in the manner He loves us. May He make us worthy of being His creation and may He make us worthy of being called His. May He give us the realisation of our acts and the harm and pain they cause and most important of all, may He accept us. Aameen.