some of you might remember my mom's friend - who was having a tough time making the ends meet - Yes, last ramadan. She called up my mother in law this morning, and she's short by Rs. 20, 000 = $500 for her son's fees. The deadline is the 31st of this month.
Subhan Allah, its amazing how her own family have left her hanging . Her own brothers and sisters - i just can't imagine how someone can be so hard-hearted. Insha Allah, Allah will open other doors for her.
She gets some 10K as rent from her basement - which is all used up in the monthly expenses. In addition, she herself, hasn't been feeling too well - so frequent visits to the doctors is another expenses. Recently, she has been diagnosed with Spondylitis.
As I traced this post from my blog history, I was reminded of the lesson that was intended. Shukr. Alhamdulillah. So often we often.
Lessons of Life - Shukr
Reflection 11 - Dua
Came across this dua in my recitation today:
رَبَّنَا هَبْ لَنَا مِنْ أَزْوَاجِنَا وَذُرِّيَّاتِنَا قُرَّةَ أَعْيُنٍ وَاجْعَلْنَا لِلْمُتَّقِينَ إِمَامًا
O my Lord! Grant unto us spouses and offspring who will be the comfort of our eyes, and give us (the grace) to lead the righteous [الفرقان :74]
Reflection 8 - Favorite duas
1.
I love the dua how it sounds - easy to recite.
اللهُ أَكْبَـرُ كَبـيرا ، وَالْحَـمْدُ للهِ كَثـيرا ، وَسُبْـحانَ اللهِ بكْـرَةً وَأَصيـلا
Allah is Most Great, much praise is for Allah, and I declare the perfection of Allah in the early morning and in the late afternoon
Akbar and Kabeera have the same root. Akbar is already the superlative noun, kabeera again means "Most". This creates a double emphasis
Alhamd already means ALL praise (Al is for encompassing) and the masdar kaseera adds to the emphasis.
Sh Hamza of SunniPath explained -
"Subhan Allah" reminds us that we are intrinsically deficient, and Allah is intrinsically Perfect. This thought should lead to neediness and Reverence, and also to humility/ kushu'
The Prophet (Peace be upon him) taught us to say morning and evening, because that's when the angels change shifts, and at both times they witness us remembering Allah
2.
2. O Allah, purify me of my sins as a white robe is purified of filth,
3. O Allah, cleanse me of my sins with snow, water, and ice.’
And this one's so deep.
1. We are asking Allah not just to forgive our past sins, but also keep us away - so we don't commit any sins in the future.
2. Our soul is a white sheet - each sin leaves a spot. We beg Allah to make it clean again.
3. Snow, water and ice - asking Allah to clean it over and over again - so it's completely clean. Imagine the fresh snow, when it first falls, there's nothing as white as that, or as pure. We ask Allah to make us that clean.
Ramadan Reflections 2
قَالَ رَبِّ هَبْ لِي مِن لَّدُنْكَ ذُرِّيَّةً طَيِّبَةً إِنَّكَ سَمِيعُ الدُّعَاء
"O my Lord! Grant unto me from Thee a progeny that is pure: for Thou art He that heareth prayer! 3:38
Yesterday I came across this verse. This is the dua made by Zachriya alayhis salam and result of it was the birth of Yahya alayhus salam. Reflecting on it, it occurred me - we underestimate the power of dua. Shaykh Hamza Karamali in the The Supplications of the Daily Prayer course reminded us of the same. He said, when we are in need, unfortunately we ask everyone around us for help. And if nothing works, we turn to Allah. Rather it should Allah, and Allah alone that we ask. We should remember that no one can benefit, unless Allah wills.
About our state in dua should be of "exhibiting our neediness and absolute slavehood to Allah, consigning one's matters to Allah, and knowing that the only one who gives or benefits is Allah Most High. With this, one should be certain that Allah Most High answers our duas, but in the way He knows is best for us." [The Prayer of Need - SunniPath Answers]
A beneficial talk on the etiquettes of dua is given by Yasir Qadhi called "Dua the Weapon of the Believer .
Dua
وَالْجُبْنِ وَالْهَرَمِ
وَأَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ فِتْنَةِ الْمَحْيَا وَالْمَمَاتِ
وَأَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ عَذَابِ الْقَبْرِ
Allahumma inni a`udhu bika min al-`ajzi wa’l kasal
Wa’l jubni wa’l haram
Wa a`udhu bika min fitnat’il mahya wa’l mamaat
Wa a`udhu bika min `adhab al-qabr.
“O Lord, I seek refuge in You from weakness and laziness,
Cowardliness and feebleness;
I seek refuge in You from the trials of life and death,
And seek refuge in You from punishment of the grave.”
Dua/ Prayer
Since kindergarten, all the way to Grade 8, we sang the song Lap pe atee hai @ the morning Assembly in school. And now I've started to understand the true meaning behind the mask of difficult Urdu words (or is it Farsi? lol).
I remember once wondering about the lines "Door duniya ka mere dam se andhera hojai".. so to me, with my limited Urdu vocab, it meant, (word by word) "far into the world, through me, let there be darkness". Obviously that didn't make sense. And it was a little later that I realized that "door" was the VERB, not the adverb! The correct meaning was "May the world's darkness disappear through the life of mine"
Here's the peom:
Lap pe aati hai dua ban ke tamanna meri
Zindgi shama ki surat ho Khudaya meri
May like the candle be the life of mine!
Door duniya ka mere dam se andhera hojai
Har jagah mere chamakne se ujala hojai
May every place light up with the sparkling light of mine!
Ho mere dum se yohe mere watan ki zeenat
Jistara phool se hoti hai chaman ki zeenat
As the garden through flowers attains elegance
Ilm ki shama se ho mujko mohabat ya rab
May I love the lamp of knowledge, O Lord!
Ho mera kaam gharebon ki himayat karna
Dardmandon se Zaeefon se muhabbat karana
May loving the old, the suffering my way be
Mere Allah buraee se bachana mujhko
Naik jo rah ho us rah pe chalana mujhko
Show me the path leading to the good ways
Month of Rajab's here!!
When the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) sighted the moon of Rajab (two months before Ramadan) he used to pray to Allah in the following words:
اَللّهُمَّ بَارِكْ لَنَا فِى رَجَبَ وَ شَعْبَانَ وَ بَلِّغْنَا رَمَضَان
Allahumma barik lana fi Rajab wa Sha’ban wa ballighna Ramadan
O Allah! Make the months of Rajab and Sha’ban blessed for us, and let us reach the month of Ramadan (i.e. prolong our life up to Ramadan, so that we may benefit from its merits and blessings)
Abu Bakr Warraq (May Allah be pleased with him) said,
‘Rajab is a month of cultivation, Shaban is month of irrigating the fields, and the month of Ramadhan is a month of reaping and harvesting.
Jazak Allah alhidayastudent for the reminder
Qalb
يَا مُقَلَّبَ الْْقُلُوْبِ ثَبِّتْ قَلْبِىْ عَلى دِيْنِكَ
Ya Muqqalib al Qulūub, thabbit qalbi ‘ala deenak
(O Converter of hearts! Make my heart steadfast in the deen)
what's interesting here are the words - Muqqalib and Qulūub. The ism "converter" has the same letters as ism "hearts" - Qa-la-ba. One of the characteristics of the heart is that it turns. So it's essential that we make this dua to Allah again, and again!
What's more amazing is that the tajweed term of changing of the ن and تنوين has the same letters- qa lam ba - الإقلاب - From Karachi explains it further.
--------------------------------
In tajweed it is the changing of noon saakinah or the tanween into a م, when followed by a ب with a lengthened ghunnah on the letter ن.It can occur within the same word, or between two words.
It does not change the spelling of the word, rather just the pronunciation, sometimes it is indicated in the text with a little م on the top of the word.--------------------------------
listen to it.
Ye ankhay khusk hai
inhe rona nahi aata
Sulagte daag hai dil par
jinhe dhona nahi aata
A good friend sent me this link to more nasheeds: muziq.net . Jazak Allah Aisha!
Extracts from Purification of the Heart
The next disease is bughd, which is hatred. In itself, hatred is not necessarily negative. It is commendable to hate corruption, evil, disbelief, murder, lewdness, and anything else that God has exposed as despicable. The Prophet never disliked things because of their essences, but because of what they manifested.
Hatred or strong dislike of a person for no legitimate reason is the disease of bughd. The Prophet once said to his Companions, “Do you want to see a man of Paradise?” A man then passed by and the Prophet said, “That man is one of the people of Paradise.” So a Companion of the Prophet decided to learn what it was about this man that earned him such a commendation from the Messenger of God. He spent time with this man and observed him closely. He noticed that he did not perform the Night Prayer Vigil (Tahajjud) or anything extraordinary. He appeared to be an average man of Madinah. The Companion finally told the man what the Prophet had said about him and asked if he did anything special. And the man replied, “The only thing that I can think of, other than what everybody else does, is that I make sure that I never sleep with any rancor in my heart towards another.” That was his secret.
The cure for hatred is straightforward. One should pray for the person toward whom he feels hatred, make specific supplications mentioning this person by name, asking God to give this person good things in this life and the next. When one does this with sincerity, hearts mend. If one truly wants to purify his or her heart and root out disease, there must be total sincerity and conviction that these cures are effective.
Source: Extracts from Purification of the Heart
The famous supplication Prophet Jonah (peace be upon him) made inside the whale:
La illaha illa anta Subhanaka inni kuntu mina-zwalaiymin
Translation: There is no Lord except you, glory be to you, I was one of the transgressors.
More here
Lesson
Lately, on my life's journey, I've learnt an important lesson. When it comes to friends, it's quality that counts, not quantity. Those who know me know that i know alot of people. But how many are my friends? Sincerely? A handful. What counts is, these are the best people I've met. Some of them are HI, KP, TF, HJ, AB, AG, EY, ZA - You know who you are :P
My friend made this special supplication for all her friends, and in turn do the same for my friends (including her) and for my friends of friends,
May they always be a source of inspiration to all those around them. Ya Rab, grant them what's good in this world, and the Hereafter- the rivers and castles of Paradise, and keep away from them what's bad in this world, and the Hereafter- the ever hot Hellfire... ya Rab, please accept my sincere duas in tears
