This is the same author of “Don’t Be Sad”, so I’m sure this will be just as good, and the company threw in some bookmarks with duas/ayahs on them as well. :)
Posts tagged personal.
Allah only knows whether I’ve passed or failed
I’m not sure how many times I’ve explained this problem today (and to be quite honest, I’m getting a bit tired of it), but I’ll tell it anyway. This Monday, I was supposed to be registered for the semester of next year. Previous to my registration date, I spent a good two weeks running after chairperson’s of different kinds (the chairperson of the educational department, the math department, and the dean who is never available). I invested a lot of time - more so than usual - trying to come up with a schedule that would meet my requirements as a double major while finding classes I’d like. It took me a while, but I got it. So I was ready to register Monday afternoon; lo and behold, my advisor didn’t approve of my courses. I waited, and the next day, she approved of them.
This morning, I called the registrar office, asking why I had a business hold, and after running from home to school, I got that problem out of the way (this part of the story is long too). Long story short, I spent my entire day running back and forth between three buildings to be able to simply register for next year.
Alhamdulilah, it’s done now. This isn’t the problem anymore.
What my problem now is my reflection of my attitude towards this frustrating situation. I’m usually very mindful of the way I react towards certain situations, but this…. this ordeal… I wanted to kill everyone. I ranted all night at Haedar - cursing, aggravated, and annoyed - about how pathetic this whole registration problem was. He listened, and I love him for that. But I was still frustrated this morning, possessed the same attitude, and dealt with the situation in the same awful manner.
When I told my dad about the problem before I left home, he just looked at me (and this is usually why I keep all my school related issues to myself). After that scolding stare, I began to cry. I was so upset at the situation, at my frustration towards the situation, and my dad for just looking at me like that. And then I heard myself saying: this was a test, are you pleased with the way you reacted?
I’m registered now - so that problem doesn’t exist anymore - but my attitude towards the issue is problematic. There’s something wonderful Imam Ali ibn abi Talib teaches us, and he says: don’t ask Allah to not inflict you with any trials (for that would be against the very nature of our existence); rather, ask Allah that He allows you to pass these tests.I pray that Allah forgives us when we’re so inclined to pay mind to our nafs rather than focus on what truly matters (and that is, our attitude towards life). I pray that Allah accepts this small trial of mine, and forgives me for being so crude and pathetic. And I pray that we spend more time sharing our experiences (so that we may learn and grow together as an Ummah) rather than wasting our time sculpturing our differences.
“When someone beats a rug with a stick, he is not beating the rug – his aim is to get rid of the dust. Your inward is full of dust from the veil of ‘I’-ness, and that dust will not leave all at once. With every cruelty and every blow, it departs little by little from the heart’s face, sometimes in sleep and sometimes in wakefulness.” -Rumi
So often we experience things in life, and yet never see the connections between them. When we are given a hardship, or feel pain, we often fail to consider that that experience may be the direct cause or result of another action or experience. Sometimes we fail to recognize the direct connection between the pain in our lives and our relationship with Allah (swt).
That pain and adversity serves many purposes in life. Times of hardship can act as both an indication as well as a cure, for our broken relationship with our Creator.
Times of difficulty test our faith, our fortitude and our strength. During these times, the level of our iman becomes manifest. Adversity strips away our masks, revealing the truth behind mere declaration of faith. Hardships separate those whose declaration is true from those who are false. -Yasmin Mogahed
“Verily along with every hardship is relief”-Quran 94:5
(via mendmyheart)
The art of thinking
..today was the first day I have ever tutored a stranger. Because this internship is one on one tutoring between the student and the tutor, it’s not as typical as some people would believe. Even though I’m not going to disclose everything about my student, there are a few things that I’ve learned that I want to share with you. And subhanAllah, I don’t think there’s anything more miraculous than further appreciating the intellect Allah has blessed us all with.
I gave him a two hour assessment test this morning; one in English and the other in Math.
And what completely left me in awe was how hard he was trying to answer these questions. But what I began to notice after an hour or two passed by (we sat 3 in a half hours doing a 2 hour test) was that he simply thought slow. His thought process was slow and so reading took him a long time to do. Answering the short answers took him a long time to do. And working the math problems seemed quite challenging to figure out.
And having remembered all that’s been going on on tumblr lately, I was in complete shock.
SubhanAllah I thought, there are folks who would give all their time, wealth, effort, and patience to be able to write a three paragraph essay, but we as Muslims still find some sort of reasoning behind why we haven’t been able to read a chapter of the Quran or listen to a few educational lectures online.
SubhanAllah, I began saying to myself, I watch my brother and my cousin (whom I both help in school work) take for granted the ability to learn while children are being bullied and harassed in class for not being able to assess and think as quickly as everyone else does.
SubhanAllah for being frustrated with our parents for wanting to have us succeed intellectually. SubhanAllah for not acknowledging to the Creator that we have the ability to learn. SubhanAllah for not living up to our potential. SubhanAllah for being ignorant fools. But SubhanAllah for believing that we might know all - or as much - as the Creator knows. And SubhanAllah for believing that we don’t have the ability to know as much as the Creator wants us to know.
This isn’t directed at anyone but myself because I intend on teaching our children in the future. It pains me to watch Muslims being too busy angry and frustrated with the Ummah rather than saying: okay, we are screwed up, so how can I help to fix us. It pains me to watch myself spend time writing defensive text posts rather than providing a few that can help or come as some sort of inspiration for people. And it pains me to realize that throughout all of this, we forget Allah.
The art of thinking is a blessing from Allah; it would be injustice to behave otherwise.
“I want to be a better Muslim”
What is stopping you? Wanting to be something has never made anyone anything. It’s your drive, motivation, focus, and what you do that makes you what you want to be. If you want to be a better Muslim, do it.
- Write a list of what you want to change. Choose 3 things every month. Do them. It takes a person approximately 21 days to develop a habit. If you start something at the beginning of the month and stick to it for at least 21 days, it should become second nature.
- Get off the Internet and learn from hard cover books. If you don’t have them, then check your local Masjid. If they don’t, then get some e-books. Get a paper and pen and learn. Study the deen.
- Don’t overburden yourself, but don’t underestimate yourself either. If you know you are capable of something, do it. Allaah will help you along the way. ‘Allaah will not change the condition of a people until they first change it themselves.’
- Read. Read. Read. The more you read, the more likely you are to change.
- Listen to Islamic lectures/audios/videos.
- Talk less. It might sound simple, but the less you talk, the more you listen. The more you listen the more you are observing. The more you are observing, the clearer it becomes to what exactly you need to change and how to change it.
- Lower your gaze. Sound silly? Lowering the gaze prevents you from extracurricular thoughts that may fog the mind. The purer the vision, the purer the mind, the cleaner the heart.
- Don’t tell anyone about changing, just keep it to yourself. Be sincere. Don’t even tell yourself you’re changing, just change some bad habits.
- Stop complaining about how changing is hard. Nothing is hard, it’s all about how much you let it overburden you and how much you’re willing to work on it.
- Pray the night prayers. If you’re awake at 3 in the morning and on tumblr, the least you could do is offer 2 raka’t. Allaah descends in that portion of the night and asks His slaves for anything they want. If you want to change, ask for the strength necessary to change.
- Focus on you. Are YOU changing your bad habits? Don’t think about what Clarese or Amina is doing. Do YOU first.
- Take it one day at a time. Don’t think ‘oh, I’ll change forever and I’ll never do this again!’ that alone makes the shaytaan work that much harder against your weak nafs. Just think about not doing it for that day. You’re not even guaranteed a tomorrow so focus on the now. Go to bed and ask yourself: Did I accomplish my goal today? If not, intend on doing it tomorrow and accomplish it.
- Make repentance your everything. Always always always repent. Never lose faith. Never lose heart. Shaytaan wants you to feel so ashamed that you don’t repent, when Allaah loves those who turn to Him in repentance.
- Walking around? Seek forgiveness. Cooking? Seek forgiveness. Whatever you do, make it a habit to always seek forgiveness anytime and everywhere. You never know when Allaah will accept it from you.
- & never say to yourself “I wish I was a better Muslim” no. Become it. Do it. Plus, have wishes ever come true? No. Make duaa that you become so.
That is all.
Someone who takes care of himself, yes.
Now let me explain what “takes care of himself” is defined as, for me. Takes care of himself in the usual sense: his appearance, health, working out, smells good, looks good..basically good hygiene.Who doesn’t like a clean fresh guy? Really now.
But, I also look at him as a person.
- What kind of morals does he have?
- What kind of son is he to his parents?
- His body is being fed, but is his soul starving in terms of faith/spiritually?
- Does he feed his mind with topics that can generate an intellectual conversation between us? Am I able to learn from him?
- What are his short term and long term goals?
- Where does he see himself 5, 10, 15 years from now?
- What kind of husband/father can he be?
- Does he take care of himself not only for this world but the Hereafter?
No, I don’t look or expect perfection, I am no where near such and have my immense flaws, but looks can only get you so far.
Why its important to create a relationship with Quran…
..its vital that we find it important to create a relationship with Quran. Because to consider creating a relationship with Quran is considering to create a relationship with Allah.
Since most of us on Tumblr find it aggravating to see the same posts being circulated over and over, the same arguments being argued over and over, and even the same people debating the same people over and over, I thought this would be a post everyone would consider attending to (or at least considering).
Before I get into why creating a relationship with Quran is important, let me clear up a few notions:
Some misconceptions:
- I feel obliged to memorize the entire Quran if I start reading Quran: This shouldn’t be the case, really. I think its brilliant that you place such high standards on yourself, but baby steps achieve a greater outcome (always!). If you want to place memorizing the Quran on your bucket list, go for it. But remember, state your intention for your reasoning for reading Quran, and work from there. If its to memorize Quran, grab a friend (or search for a nearby Sheikh or Imam) whose willing to help you memorize. But if you just want to start somewhere, then I suggest you not worry about memorization at this point.
- I feel obliged to read the Quran from cover to cover: I’m 24 surah’s away from memorizing the entire Quran, and let me have you know that I have never read the entire Quran from cover to cover. Please don’t feel obliged to do such a thing. I know many friends who’ve done this during Ramadan, and if your reason is to simply have a general understanding of the themes described in Quran, go for it. But that’s not what your relationship with Quran is there for. Start with any surah you please (even though I would advise you start from the small surahs) and listen, read, or study it.
- I have to be Arabic speaking: No. No you do not. I’m Bosnian, my parents are Bosnian, and my ancestors are Turkish and Yugoslavian. No one in my family is Arabic speaking, and neither am I. Yes, I’ve learned Arabic (to read, write, and speak it), but I am not inherently Arabic speaking. Brush off this misconception, its just not true.
- I have to be Arab: If this was the case, the majority of Quran students wouldn’t be Asian. The most beautiful of recitations I’ve heard in my life are students of Quran from Sudan, Indonesia, and Uzbekistan. Grab your Quran, a translation which you find appropriate, your gadgets (in order to listen to a few recitations), and an empty notebook for notes. All you have to be is a lover of God to create a relationship with Quran, trust me.
Why its important:
- you need to begin to formulate a stronger relationship with the word of Allah in order to deplete your level of ignorance in terms of what’s being addressed in Quran.
- you’ll be less likely to be bicker over nonsensical issues (or so I pray that that becomes the case).
- Despite Allah being content with this worship, you become content with your level of spirituality and your struggle to understand, please, and love Allah.
- It divorces you from all that you’ve understood as true about the religion of Islam and you begin to understand Islam from the perspective of Quran rather than what you find Islam to mean (or be).
Solution it produces:
- you begin to formulate better company (friends).
- you begin to realize that you’re spending more time conversing over themes Quran presents (with friends, family, and teachers) which will have you constantly trying to find a means to study these themes even further.
- your salah completely changes because you now have a better understanding of the surahs you recite actually mean.
- you’ll find yourself considering to study Arabic; this is a brilliant step to increase your level of knowledge of Quran.
insha’Allah this post has convinced someone out there to take this step to study Quran (or at least, begin to read it).
If you don’t have a Quran, get one for free here. For a list of Quran recitations and reciters (which you can download on your ipods or mp3s for free), click here. And if you have any further questions, concerns, or comments, message me here.
patience doesn’t mean just waiting
patience means accepting Allaah’s decree with knowledge that He will only give you the best
patience is not complaining about the way something is going; rather, it’s being thankful it’s not any worse
patience is acceptance, contentment and trust in Allaah swt.
patience. patience. patience.
Salams Everyone! Half of my face wants to say hello.
I used to search for my Lord in every face I saw, every verse I read and every masjid I entered until one day I realized He’s been with me and within me the entire time. I was looking everywhere but my heart, I didn’t realize that it’s beat was Him speaking to me. Him saying, “Here’s more time for you, here’s another heart beat for you, here’s another chance for you to find Me.”
muslim women: find a means to empower yourselves. with every future generation that arises, a piece of you resides there. empower the self. empower your children. empower those whom you know. islam needs women; enough patriarchial and mysogyny ideologies. empower yourselves, seek peace, and enjoin in good.
(via hope-mongerer)
You know many big universities have a masjid or prayer rooms.. I study in a small town and small uni. So that’s my prayer-place, where I can “turn off the world around me”.
Alhamdullilah :)
All i can say is, subhan’Allah
After being bless to be muslim, and born into a practicing muslim family, i would have to say my greatest blessing is being able to read the Qur’an. All those hours spent trying to get used to the arabic letters were, although forced at that time, is now a blessing. It’s amazing, how i look at the letters and they look so strange to me, but at the same time i’m able to recite it with ease. How is that even possible? it’s truly a miracle and a blessing. Reading the Qur’an today, after weeks, just felt soo amazing. Subhan’Allah, Subhan’Allah, Subhan’Allah, Subhan’Allah, Subhan’Allah, Subhan’Allah. ^_^
Ghalib Khalil is ALIVE alhamdulillah! Please refer to the link below!
I got a message from Ghalib Khalil this morning and Alhamdulilah, he is safe and sound. I was very happy to hear from him and although what that person did was cruel, I’m just glad he’s alive.
If you’d like to read more about what happened, please refer to the recent posts on his blog: http://hopingpakistan.tumblr.com/
