A Muslim by name

As I hurriedly lifted my arms; I was caught by a sudden gush of realization.

I had already completed the first part and was about to hit the second part with full force when my conscience screamed -“you my friend are a Muslim only by name”.

The words were loud and clear and my eyes remained dry- as if bearing witness to the truth in those lines-while I apprehended the situation. I recalled as I had entered my room and was worried about getting things done before my baby would start crying and in that haste I realized how I had still not prayed. So I quickly grabbed a prayer mat, wrapped a stole around my head as quickly as I could and began the race.  Only to recognize a few moments later the grave mistake I had been making.

“Oh Allah I am ashamed that I think of salat as a burden; as a “task” to do on my to-do list.”

I suddenly started remembering its importance, its beauty, its grandeur. While all other commandments had been revealed in this world, this had been presented in the skies. While all commandments had been sent down as such, this had been sent as a beautiful gift. Yet look at the way we treat it. My Lord Who is the Caretaker of all the affairs of the universe invites us-small people with small lives and small problems-yet we take it for granted. With each Allah-o-Akbar of the azaan we are reminded that our problems, our tasks, and our matters are all small and that Allah is greater than all our preoccupations and yet we pay no heed.

Our Lord invites us in the most beautiful manner and He asks us to empty our hearts and minds when we step forward to converse with Him.

So when you have finished [your duties], then stand up [for worship]. (7) And to your Lord direct [your] longing. (8)

Our prayers were supposed to be our mairaj but look at what we have done to it. If we ever have to present or talk in front of a few people then we make sure that we are well prepared for it. And yet we hardly ever prepare for our salahs. When was the last time any of us sat down wondering which surah we would recite in our next salah? When was the last time we shook in fear as to whether we will be able to pray and give the prayer its due right?

When the time for prayer came, Hazrat ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (RA) would be visibly shaken, and the color of his face would change. It was said to him, “What is the matter with you?” He said, “By Allah, there has come the time of the [Trust]:

…إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا الاٌّمَانَةَ عَلَى السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ وَالْجِبَالِ فَأبَيْنَ أَن يَحْمِلْنَهَا وَأَشْفَقْنَ مِنْهَا وَحَمَلَهَا الإِنْسَـنُ

Truly, We did offer the Amanah to the heavens and the earth, and the mountains, but they declined to bear it and were afraid of it. But man bore it…”  Al Qur’an 33:72

Hatim (RA) said; “I carry out what I am commanded; I walk with the fear of Allah in my heart; I start with the (correct) intention; I magnify and glorify Allah; I recite at a slow and measured pace, thinking about the meaning; I bow with Khushoo’; I prostrate with humility; I sit and recite the complete tashahhud; I say Salam with the (correct) intention; I finish with sincerity towards Allah; and I come back fearing that (my prayer) has not been accepted from me, so I continue to strive until I die.”

Hazrat Hudhayfah (RA) said, "The first thing you will lose of your religion will be Khushoo' and the last thing you will lose of your religion will be the prayer, and it is well possible that there is no good in a person who prays, and soon will come a time when you shall enter a large Masjid and not see a single person with Khushoo'."

A wonderful advice one of our teachers gave us was that try to never start a salah directly but instead take a few minutes-as many as you think you can easily give-to come into the mode of salah. Sit down, relax, wonder about the after-life, ponder upon the blessings of Allah Ta’ala or His aayaat or whatever you feel will enable you to have more khushoo. Leave behind all your worries and thoughts knowing that you are about to bow down to the Being Who will take care of all your affairs and then whole-heartedly enter your salah.

May Allah Ta’ala guide us all to pray in the manner which is most pleasing to Him and may He forgive us for all of our shortcomings. Ameen.

Everyone understands the language of love

The following is a story shared by a person I know, who does not want his name to be shared:

“It was close to Maghrib and I was exhausted. I don’t exactly remember the reason for it; probably the weather was hot during the day and I was dehydrated, or I didn’t have a proper sehri before Fajr. But the fact is I was tired. Sitting at a distance from the glorious Ka’aba and closer to the stairs leading to the upper part, I turned my gaze towards the clock tower to get an idea of how long it was till iftar. There was still around an hour left. The volunteers and residents of Makkah Mukarrama were busy serving the guests at this moment. I did not have anything to eat or drink with me yet apart from a couple of dates.

My gaze then caught a brother distributing orange juice to the fellow Muslims. I quickly left my bag at the place where I was sitting so that no one else would take that space and got up to collect the juice from the brother. Now the brother was actually distributing the juice to the people who were a couple of rows ahead of me. Whereas otherwise I would have just stayed at my place and waited for the person, today was not that day. I was too tired to watch the juice being served to others while it finished. There was not much left so I feared that if I stayed at my place, I wouldn’t get any! And while I was heading towards the person distributing the juice, a brother from one of the rows ahead of me got irritated and angered because of this action of mine. He signaled to me with his hands and asked me to go back and wait for the person to come to my row. Now he was speaking Arabic and I hardly understand it. But I understood from his actions that he wanted me to go back to my place and wait. He, too, didn’t understand my language but the issue was he completely misread by sign language as well!

I did not have a disposable glass with me either. And thus I had to take the glass as well from the juice distributor as he had them with him. Thus when I was on my way and this other brother who stopped me, I asked him if I could get one for him as well. Since he did not understand my language I pointed to the empty glass in front of him and then towards the guy giving the juice and then returned my finger towards his place signaling I could take his glass, get it filled with juice and bring it back towards him. He angrily shook his head, took his glass and that of his neighbor, got up from his place and left. I was appalled. I couldn’t understand why he got angry and was not able to comprehend the situation for a few seconds. He soon returned with both glasses filled with Zamzam water; he gave one to his neighbor and put one in front of him, asking me to go. His neighbor had already warned me when the guy left to get zamzam that neither does he understand you nor do you understand. He was so right. Now I understood what happened. He thought I was asking for the glass for myself so that I could get juice for myself!

I was not my usual self that day strangely. I would have reacted differently in a similar situation some other day, but that day was different. I would have gotten angry some other day but that day Allah (S.W.T) blessed me with patience and tolerance. I just wanted to make sure he understood what I actually meant and wanted to make him feel better and apologize, although I never meant to hurt or offend him. So I again turned towards the person with the juice and got a glass from him. Now in my haste to get the juice for my brother I lost my footing and mistakenly stepped on another brother sitting right beside me. I turned towards him and he was furious and told me to watch my step. I apologized to him and asked him to forgive me but clearly he wasn’t pleased. He pointed towards the sky with a frown on his face probably meaning that Allah (S.W.T) will deal with me. I knew this didn’t work. But then I turned back towards the guy distributing the juice and got the glass filled from him. I then went towards the guy who had gotten angry with me the first time and gave him the juice. He was extremely surprised and delighted. He thanked me for it and apologized for not understanding what I had been trying to tell him. Clearly he was now pleased and asked me to forgive him. But I had not gotten angry with him in the first place and I told him it was perfectly fine.

I, then turned again towards the guy giving the juice. I got a glass filled from him and gave it to the guy whom I stepped on. I then sat down and started pressing his foot just as a gesture to let him know I was sorry and that I wanted him to forgive him. He, along with 2 of his friends on either side of him started laughing and enjoyed this whole scenario a lot. He said it was perfectly fine and with a huge smile on his face thanked me for the juice. He and his friends continued laughing over the incident and enjoying it even when I was leaving. I was satisfied and I thanked Allah (S.W.T) for helping me out.

Finally I got the glass of juice for myself and got back to my place, eagerly waiting for the time of iftar to come! I realized that day that everyone understands the language of love. But also sometimes because of barriers to communication one does not understand exactly what the other person is trying to say causing anger and discontent. But getting over your ego and going that extra mile (or a few steps in this case!) goes a long way to making situations better. I hope Allah (S.W.T) rewards me for this small act and helps me act in a similar manner at other places and times in my life as well.”

Islam and Radicalization?

Recently, the news regarding a student, Saad Aziz, from IBA being involved in alleged terrorist activities has set the media on fire. The news indeed is shocking because it questions the very role of education in terms of breeding logical and stable members of the society. I was amongst the many who were extremely taken aback by this news and I saw myself praying that this is a false allegation and that it gets to be known as such. However, if the allegations are true then there are very important factors that need to be considered before deriving any conclusions from such an incident.

Looking through all the articles and bulletins, it seemed that the student’s growing a religious tendency seemed to be the sole reason for his inclination towards such acts. While, in such time and age, due to the acts of a few, it surely does seem that religion may have some link with radicalization but that is in fact completely false and baseless. A related article by the Guardian gave useful insight on the matter, with one of its statements being; “The fact is that the role of religion in radicalization (and de-radicalization) is grossly overestimated. There is actually no empirical evidence to support the claim that religion (any religion) and ideology are the primary motivators of violent extremism.”

Although, such incidents may be becoming increasingly common, it goes against principle and logic to consider what is true for a part to be true for the whole. Perhaps a simple comparison may suffice as an explanation, Islam itself is like water; in its real form and use, it instigates life and without it there is no life. However, this very same water can wreak havoc and cause mind-blowing catastrophe when it comes in the form of tsunamis and other disasters. Similarly, our religion in its true essence is the source of life, a manual and guidance for entire mankind. However, damage takes place only when it falls in the hands of wrong people who very conveniently misquote its verses and use it as a means of brainwashing other people. These people do so in order to serve their own ulterior motives and while such motives and their causes are unknown because they cover them under the facade of religion, nonetheless, it needs to be clear that their acts are by no means in accordance to or supported by religion.

Allah is our Judge; and Islam by no means allows us to take the responsibility of judging others and taking their lives into our own hands. Our religion commands us to have courteous relations even with non-Muslims; let alone Muslims. So how can we go about judging even those who are Muslims whether they may be practicing or not. Without a doubt, our religion requires us to command good and forbid evil but it nowhere goes near to violence or to taking the lives of others into our own hands. In fact, at the time of the Prophet (S.A.W.W.) in a war, one of the Sahabah overcame his opponents and just as he was about to kill him, the opponent recited the kalima, yet the Sahabi killed him. When the Prophet (S.A.W.W) found out about this incident, he called over the Sahabi and asked the reason behind his doing so, so he said that I still killed him because I felt that he only accepted Islam due to fear and in order to save his life and not because he truly wanted to do so. The Prophet (S.A.W.W) reprimanded his act and said that did you tear open his heart that you knew his intent?

Religion and religious appearances have no link with any terrorist ideologies; just because religion is being misused by people doesn’t mean that it breeds such ideologies. Just like such people have no right to judge others similarly people should be careful of judging religious or religious looking people as well. It is as disturbing for us as it is for those who don’t adorn such appearances when people do such acts because they are not only causing direct damage as a result of their acts but also defaming and giving religion a bad name which it certainly does not deserve. It seems that the time is here about which the Prophet (S.A.W.W.) said, "There will come a time when holding on to your Emaan (belief) will be like holding onto hot coals." May Allah Ta’ala guide us and make us firm on His religion and may He protect us from those people who misinterpret it and use it to misguide others. I hope and pray that we are able to recognize people for who they are and distinguish clearly between right and wrong. This time and these incidents are a trial for everyone, may Allah Ta’ala protect us in this time.

A love letter long overdue

It’s exhilarating as it is tensing but I can’t believe that I am finally at it. It feels a bit surreal yet I can’t help but feel embarrassed…

All my life I have searched for love in the wrong places. From the Disney movies that I watched as a kid to the chick flicks that I adored in my teens; I just felt that the spark that we thrive for in our lives awaits us in some Mr. Right. Though no one quite claims that aloud yet somehow that seems to be exactly what most of us seem to be searching for. But that’s not it.

Many of us may not even thrive for just romantic love but some of us thrive for love for our families, friends, for ourselves or perhaps the better amongst us may even search for love for humanity. But nothing gives back the way it should and how can it? How can we expect people to love us back the way we want them to? How can we have expectations from other people when we fail our own selves so many times? How can I expect unconditional love from someone when I am incapable of giving the same myself? We are humans and we are prone to make mistakes; to disappoint. Then how can one expect such perfect love from imperfect people? I refuse to give in to heart ache each time someone I love disappoints me; be it my own self. I refuse to believe that this wonderful feeling was given to us in order to hurt us time and time again.

But all of this begs the question that who then deserves this love that we so easily throw in the hands of unworthy, undeserving people? The answer was simple now that I come to think of it; and I had found it each time someone had hurt me, each time I shed a tear in secrecy there was only One to console me. How had I not thought of this before is really beyond me. This love that we throw away so shamelessly was made for the One Who created it in the first place, it was for the One Who created us, Who taught us how to take our first steps and Who taught us how to use our tongue, Who taught us the use of pen as we grew older and taught us that which we did not know.

“Who taught by the pen (4) Taught man that which he knew not.” (5)- Surah Alaq.

So I write my long overdue love letter with a sense of excitement alongside a sense of regret.

My Dearest, Most Beloved Allah ﷻ,

I write to you today what I should have written a long time back. I am no poet, no writer, in fact I am no one other than a sinning slave. Oh my Allah ﷻ, I have come to you today empty handed; the only thing I have to offer is a broken, wounded heart that I am finally putting to its place. Oh Allah ﷻ forgive me for I have slipped time and time again. I wandered far away but I finally found the right place and had it not been for Your blessings and guidance I don’t know where I would have been today. Oh Allah ﷻ I come to you hoping that You will accept this deficient attempt of mine.

Ya Allah ﷻ, I live in a time where there are two extremes; ones who only follow Islam as if it were a list of to-dos and don’ts and ones who only seem to be concerned about its spirit and intention. Yet so few realize that it is a perfect combination of both. How can we live our lives without order yet get through with intention? And how can we only do actions without feeling anything? Ya Allah ﷻ people don’t realize that the two are inter-binding; that Your love brings about the desire to obedience and that Your obedience leads to Your Pleasure.

I live in a time where people debate about the beard and hijab. They rightfully say that Islam is not in the beard and hijab but they forget that beard and hijab are a part of Islam. How can I claim to love you yet do as I please? If I truly love you then I would want to be the way You want to see me. How can I claim to love you and then simply dress as I please? When You have commanded hijab how can I shun it?

Oh Allah ﷻ if one of our teachers had instructed us to use double spacing in an assignment we would not dare to do otherwise fearing that it would make us lose some points. Yet when it comes to Your commandments, my Lord, we all seem to do as we please.

There is no doubt that hijab is hard; while most girls my age get decked up as they step out I, instead, cover myself in a lose coat. And in a time where Islam is so misunderstood I step out and feel glances that tell me that they feel I am backward or suppressed. Little do they know that I wear it only for Your sake; for I would rather feel strange amongst people for Your sake than have the comfort and joy dressing in a way that You don’t approve of.

Oh Allah ﷻ! They feel that when I clad on my hijab I get with it the right to judge; little do they know that these eyes are so occupied with my own faults that I cannot afford to cast a glance at anyone else. I don’t, rather I can’t, judge anyone who doesn’t cover, however, it hurts me when they so easily dispense off and disregard something that is dear to You as something insignificant and unimportant. For it is one thing to not wear hijab and another entirely to justify it. Both Hazrat Adam A.S. and Satan faltered, however, Satan justified his act while Hazrat Adam A.S. repented; I just hope and wish that people could realize that.

Ya Allah ﷻ I pray to You to give me an intellect that makes me understand Your commandments; not one which questions them. Ya Allah ﷻ what use will my intellect be if it doesn’t bring me closer to you? Oh my dear Lord, I seek Your forgiveness and thank You for all the little and big things that You blessed me with; for giving me a family, a home, for making sure there is someone or another to put a smile on my face. Oh Allah ﷻ You have blessed us immensely and my deficient words of gratitude can never be enough and my praises of You can never equal Your Magnificence, so I ask you not to look at my words or my deeds but rather to accept my feeble attempt. For this sinning lover of Yours knows no more than to try, and for I heard from someone that “oh Lord I failed a thousand times but still Your Mercy remains.”

Oh Allah ﷻ I ask You for Your love and the love of those whom You love. Let me also love others for Your sake as that alone will allow me to love them unconditionally; without any expectations. Ya Allah ﷻ this heart belongs to You so kindly accept it for now and forever.  

Oh Allah ﷻ I fear the day when we would be raised up and would have to give an account for all we did in this world. I am afraid I have nothing that I could present on that day but just a few tear drops that I shed in Your remembrance at some points in my life. I am sorry I never turned up earlier. I am sorry I faltered time and again. All I can promise and commit to is not giving up. I won’t give up I promise. And even for that I beg you to help me achieve that.

I thought I didn’t believe in happily ever-afters as they seemed too clichéd but with You Allah there really is a happily ever-after if we set our lives straight. May we not get distracted by the glitz and glamour of this worldly life for it is temporary and our final abode and destination is only with You. Let us live our lives focusing on and working towards our aakhirah; as what use will a fancy guesthouse have for me if I build myself a rotten home!

Etiquette of entering home in Islam

When entering home; one should say salam even if the house is empty and recite the dua for entering home.

Furthermore, one should use miswaak for as soon as one enters home. 

Eating etiquette in Islam