Small advice

Please try to make it a habit to be more frequent in your life in reciting A’UZUBILLAHI-MINASHAITWAN-IR-RAJIM.

It acts like a protection against shaitan. 

Stay blessed.

Returning to Allah.

Regarding facebook- A must watch.

What's holding us back?

Written by Fariha Khalid

Five thousand years of philosophy and it is still abstruse as to what essentially is the ultimate purpose of the human life. However, we have been quite successful in building up our own aspirations. The grades, the career or the ‘way of life’ we want to attain primarily designs our lives and even our day to day activities. Paradoxically, where we are headed to defines what’s holding us back.

Our religion has profoundly enlightened us on the differences between the worldly and the eternal lives. It is not the fallacy in our understanding, but our penchant for the tangible which makes us work more and more for this world and condone ( most of the times unintentionally) the next. Hence Allah S.W.T says: “Know that the life of this world is but amusement and diversion and adornment and boasting to one another and competition in increase of wealth and children - like the example of a rain whose [resulting] plant growth pleases the tillers; then it dries and you see it turned yellow; then it becomes [scattered] debris. And in the Hereafter is severe punishment and forgiveness from Allah and approval. And what is the worldly life except the enjoyment of delusion.” 57:20

What we really need to work on is the reversal of our mindsets. Once we start reviving the already established belief that this life, no matter how real and proximate it seems to be, will someday perish  and that the only certain fact about it is its end; then we shall soon enough or rather instantly realize its triviality as compare to the coming life and the futility of our purely worldly engagements.

We keep on distressing over our marks, paychecks and promotions. And in this endeavor often forgo the rights of our parents, the destitution of the needy and our obligations towards society. We stay up for hours at night to study but rarely do we do so to repent for our misdeeds. It is hard for us to accept academic failures but we easily forget to remorse on our missed prayers. Last but not the least (since the list can incessantly go on) we are never late for an exam but for some reason we have excuses of not getting time to read the Holy Book and we keep delaying our prayers.

We as human beings are bestowed with a free will. Everything else has been created to supplement our existence and survival in this world. However, these very same creations may distract us and hinder our struggle to work for the hereafter; this is precisely where our true trial lies. Nothing can hold us back but our tendency to be held back. Where even the worst forms of persecution could not make the early Muslims in Arabia to falter a bit from their firm commitment, we live on a free land, in shelters of our homes and with all the luxuries life can offer and still have difficulties in accepting and following the way Islam has laid down for us.

We have all the time and the energy to fight over minor discrepancies that exist in our traditions, but not enough spirit to stand for the foremost principle of indiscrimination. As soon as we realize that Islam is not only a religion but also the source of our liberation, ease and progress we will be able to fathom its true meaning and the true picture of this life: a trans-state which is a medium to make preparations to meet The Lord.

Music is haram- is this just an interpretation or is it a clear-cut stance?

Since the time we're little kids we have been exposed to music, be it in the form of "captain planet theme song",  "Pakistani naghmay" or some other form altogether. The thing is that when you're exposed to something so much you become desensitized to it and you accept it as it is without asking yourself whether it is right or wrong. The same has been the case with most of us and music, it is literally a part of our daily norms.

So when I initially found out that music is haraam and that we shouldn't listen to it, I started thinking about it and it did make sense. Why was it so? Because I thought of all the ways in which music affects us; it can alter our moods, it can exaggerate our moods, it is extremely addictive and also because most forms of music make us lose our composure. It can even at times act as a drug and make people experience trance-like states e.g. what happens to people in concerts. Moreover music gives way to obscenity, hypocrisy and even to noise pollution (in the very literal sense, of course).

Having said all that, I still found that there was much confusion among people regarding music, some people argue that music is a form of expression and can be used to address important issues faced in one's society. But a friend once compared this to the like of selling wine and saying that the money generated will be given in charity. Here, the money being given away in charity does not change the fact that wine is haraam. Similarly using music for good or bad means doesn't change the character of music which is in itself bad to begin with.

Of course, people can still come up with a million more justifications as to why music is not haraam. You see thats the beauty of humans, they can justify doing everything and anything that they derive pleasure from. But whatever the case maybe the bottom-line is that music indeed is haraam and the sooner we accept this, the sooner we can rid our homes of such an evil. This is a very serious matter, so please take it seriously. Here is a link to a lecture which covers the topic of music in Islam beautifully, please take out time to listen to it:

http://darulislam.powweb.com/DOI/Maulana%20Suliman%20Mulla/D_Maulana%20Suliman%20Mulla%20-%20Music%20and%20its%20Evils.mp3

JazakAllah
  

Some easy sunnats to follow

• Say "Bismillah" before starting anything. (Puts barakah in everything you do)
• Say "In shaa Allah" whenever talking about something that you plan on doing etc.
• Drink water in three sips, breathing in between. The first sip being the smallest and the last sip, the longest.
• Sit on the floor and cover head while eating. 
• Eating with hands.
• Drinking water before and during meals, not after meals.
• Saying "Alhamdulilah" after meals.
• Doing miswak.
• Putting on surma.
• Being humble.
• Sleeping on one's right side.
• Helping out others whenever possible and in every way possible.
• Being polite with everyone. - Holy Prophet's (s.a.w.) servant was once asked about the character of the Prophet (s.a.w.) and he replied by saying that the Prophet (s.a.w.) had never spoken to him harshly or complained about his work. 
• Visiting the sick and taking care of them.

Try to follow at least some of these, they are very easy to follow yet they have a lot of weightage. And try to instill these habits in the people around you as well, that will not just act as sadqa-e-jaariah for you but it will also make it easier for you to follow these sunnats consistently.

Stay blessed.