Tazkiyyah

My brothers and sisters a blessed month is fast approaching us, a month in which the opportunities are limitless and the reward is ready for taking in abundance. This blessed month, known as Ramadan is approaching us and we will soon say good-bye to it as well. Inshallah, join me on this journey as we go through some self-planning for this blessed month, and inshallah learn about the one action which is most noble in the sight of Allah…that action being du’a.

This Ramadan…be an orange! Say what? “The example of a believer, who recites the Qur’an and acts on it, is like an orange (utrujjah) which tastes nice and smells nice. And the example of the believer who does not recite the Qur’an but acts on it is like a date that tastes sweet but has no smell. And the example of the hypocrite who recites the Quran is like a sweet basil which smells good but tastes bitter.

We sometimes forget the vast importance of salaah in our lives. Successful are the believers. Who are these believers? They are those who offer their salaah with full khushoo, with full submissiveness to Allah, those who establish the salaah. Listen to the podcast for more details on how you can be among the believers!

One of the greatest gifts that Allah has blessed us with is the ability to make tawbah and istaghfar after committing sins continuously. He (سبحانه وتعالى) has taught our forefather Adam (عليه السلام) the words of repentance and He taught Rasoolullah (صلي الله عليه وسلم) a very special dua. The dua is called the sayyidul istaghfar, and it is one of the pearls from the Sunnah that we should know.

Khushoo is to be conscious of God, to have taqwa, to have fear of Allah. And so khushoo is something that comes from the heart, and if the heart is clean, then the salaah–and everything else–will be clean. There are many ways that one can go about gaining khusoo; a few of them a few are: prepare ahead of time by performing wudoo properly use miswak repeat the words of the adhaan make du’a between the adhaan and the iqaamah For more information, listen to the podcast below.

In our last post, we looked at one of the dhikars taught to us by Rasulullah (صلي الله عليه وسلم) We noted that by being smart, we can earn lots of hasanats much more quickly. The dhikhar was: Subhaan Allaah wa bi hamdih, ‘adada khalqihi, wa ridaa nafsihi, wazinata ‘arshihi, wa midaada kalimaatihi (Glory and praise be to Allaah, as much as the number of His creation, as much as pleases Him, as much as the weight of His Throne and as much as the ink of His words) [Shaheeh Muslim: Book 35, Number 6575] When I first heard this hadith, I just loved it.

Remember the story of the companion Umm Sulaym (رضي الله عنها), what an amazing thing about how a wife is with her husband. Her husband, Talha, was out working, and it so happened that day that their son, 10 years old, died. She had a decision to make: when he comes home should she tell him right away, or should she just bear it and make him happy first and then when he is comfortable and settled in, then tell him?

Safi Khan, in his “Marriage 101″ lecture CD (available from here), mentions many points; of the best, he mentions the following: For Brothers: use extreme compassion and mercy towards your wives! Almost all relationships could benefit from more mercy and compassion. For Sisters: struggle not to complain! Once complaints start, they only get worse, and in the end, they can spoil your marriage. For Both: have a common goal–to serve Allah (سبحانه وتعالى), to worship Him, and to enter Jannah together, without reckoning.

With the Facebook craze that has struck us all in the past months, we have forgotten about a very serious matter that our beloved Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسل) talked about, and that matter being exposing of ones sins. We post messages on peoples walls, we post up pictures and what not, and its all exposing our sins to the public. We should be very cautious of the environment and inshallah try our best to protect our own dignity but also the dignity and respect of our brothers and sisters.

Typ‧i‧cal: Conforming to a particular type. For someone to be “typical”, he/she would be one who conforms to his society and behaves much like his environment. Typical in the 21st century: clubbing, flirting, sex, drugs, alcohol, stealing, cheating, swearing, injustice, premarital relations, immodesty, and the list goes on and on. So who’s typical? Is it the one who refrains from all the above, or the one indulges in it? Is it the one who’s perceived weird when he speaks out against someone swearing?