Experience

It can be a comment or even a gesture that can fill your heart with grief,
Remember O sad soul, this life is nothing but a moment, brief.
You'd find tranquility with the one to whom you belong & to whom you shall return,
Hurtful comments, sad moments are experiences with which you learn..

The reality of this life is nowhere close to perfect,
Nobody is completely good, you'd be a fool to expect
Perfection from the creation, for it is only His attribute,
You go to many sources for it, but when it comes to him you refute

Smile, feel happy once these times pass,
If you remain patient and steadfast..
If you make Him your first source and last
You'd be served tasneem in that special glass

Leave these moments, it's not wise to dwell in them,
Use them to get close to Allah, make them your friend
A friend who wouldn't just help in this life but even the next
Now think which life is more important in your context?

1,2 or... 3?

After getting introduced to the arab culture, the only thing that i haven't really been able to figure out is the arab's way of greeting eachother :P I mean, seriously how many times is somebody supposed to pout the kisses while greeting each other?

So, as a resolution to my problem I started shaking hands with anyone I suspected would go with the kissing greeting. Today, somebody from work went with the cheek-to-cheek greeting and after one pout, she stopped and I leaned in for the second time. LOL, such Great Embarassment :P

P.s. don't get shocked its only the same gender that greets like this ;)

To Know Him, Is To Love Him

قُلْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ

“Say (O Mohammed) “If you do love Allah, follow me, Allah will love you, and forgive your sins, as Allah is All-Forgiving, All-Merciful”. Surah Imrân (3:31)

These days it seems as though knowing and studying about our Last Prophet, Muhammad (Peace be upon him) is only the job of the scholars or rather their responsiblity. Parents hardly care if the kid knows anything about this greatest man or not, As long as the Kid knows how to recite Quran that is good enough, Of course reciting Quran (even without understanding) is important but what we forget these days is that the Quran and the Sunnah go hand-in-hand with each other. We cannot leave one thing for another and it would not create a proper balance.

And what is Sunnah? It is the way and the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). People these days are just concerned with what is fard (obligatory) as some of the acts of the sunnah are considered voluntary, they just go around asking ''Is it fard?'' if the answer is ''No'' then they make a mental note and it reads out as ''Okay, so I don't have to do it''. But, what about the above verse from the Quran that explicitly explains the importance of following the way of the Prophet (pbuh).

I am no exception to the category of the people I have mentioned above. I knew more about Enrique Iglesias' habits than Prophet Muhammad's (Pbuh) and yes you all can say ''Astaghfirullah'' in chorus :P But, see here is the thing growing up we all are influenced by the kind of surroundings and soceity we live with. Which is why, I mostly talk about the parenting part and its importance. We can nurture the next generation with the teachings and values of Islam at an early stage so that we do not end up with lost young minds full of confusion.

We have to love the Prophet (pbuh ) more than our families, our parents, our own selves. Why, you ask? Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said : "None of you [truly] believes until I am more beloved to him than his child, his parent and all people." (Al-Bukhari)

Most of us claim to love him, you ask any average muslim about Him, he would immediately reply ''Yeah of course man, I am a muslim, I definitely love him''. You ask him about 10 of his companions then no clue. I also fall under this category and hence this post is acting as a reminder to myself too. But, we know soo much about our favorite, sports star, movie star or even authors of books. The place they live in, the car they drive, their likes and dislikes, their favorite food. But what about the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)?? We ''Love'' Him ooo yeah! But, we don't know a thing about Him... This our ''Love''.... There is something definitely missing in this love. Perhaps, The way we love him itself?

So, How do we love him? Love is one of those feelings that cannot be imposed upon a person. Let's think for a moment, How do we love a person and When do we love a person? We love a person when we admire some of their charecteristics, when we have something in common and most importanly we love a person when we get to KNOW him. Which is why we need to know about this greatest man who's ever walked on the face of this Earth, the last Messenger of Allah SWT.

To get a brief insight about the mercy of the Prophet (pbuh) watch this video, it may occur in your mind ''Oh man, it is SO long, I'd watch it later'' and trust me in most probability shaitan will make you busy and forget about it. So, benefit yourself, know about him.

If you would like to initially read a book about the biography of the Prophet (pbuh) then I would totally recommend ''The Sealed Nectar'' in English or ''Ar Raheequl Al Maktoom'' in arabic By :Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri. Here is the link for the ebook. If, you are not the reading ''type'' then Imam Anwar Al Awlaki has done a 50+ Cd's worth of audio lectures upon the life of the Prophet (pbuh) using Ibn Katheer's Al bidaya wa nihaya as a primary source. Ibn katheer has used 2 different sources as his reference to this seerah, Ibn Ishaq's work as well as Bukhari's. You will understand the difference between both the sources once you start listening to the lectures. Where to find it? Here you go .. check out this awesome link

The following are recommended short books list that in my opinion are quite fantastic ;

1. Muhammad - As if you can see Him by A'id al Qarni

2. A Day with the Prophet by Ahmed Von Deffer

3. The Life of Prophet Muhammad: Highlights and Lessons by Dr. Mustafa As-Sibaa'ie (Here's the ebook)

About Ibn Katheer's book volumes, in plain english it means From the Beginning to the End. The compilation i think is of 10 volumes. One of which is about the seerah of the prophet (pbuh), For sure the beauty of reading it in arabic is much more fantastic than reading a translation. Which is why we need to, need to and need to learn the language in which Quran was revealed so that we may enjoy the authentic works of these fantastic scholars. However, we should not take this as an excuse for ourselves, we should try to learn arabic but at the same time use the english books for our benefit, until we reach to that stage.

Thats all for now folks! :)

An - Noor Part 1

As salamualaykum wr wb !

Firstly, I would like to apologize for the late post. The reason being that work, home, and some classes had taken way too much of my time than required. I also thought that maybe I should start the new name's (and attribute's) series once we are done with it in sister E's class. But, I am sure that by the time we are done I'd have too much to post over here, So I am going to begin the series from today and Insha'allah will try to do the promised posts on time :)

Bismillah

Introduction : The Parable of Allah's Noor is explained in the verse 35 of the Chapter An-Noor in the Quran :

Sahih International: Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp, the lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a pearly [white] star lit from [the oil of] a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. Light upon light. Allah guides to His light whom He wills. And Allah presents examples for the people, and Allah is Knowing of all things.

The Name and Attribute of Allah, An-Noor in literal translation means ''The Light''. Now, most of us know about this name and attribute but it is not very often that we ponder upon it. Now, let us take a moment and think about what is it that makes our hearts go ''WOW'', sometimes it is just the new buildings, or sometimes it is somebody looking really gorgeous and even fireworks. Now, if we just try to figure out what exactly is it about these things that make us like it? It's the Noor, the Light. What? Yes.

Come to think of it, when a tall sky scraper leaves us in awe it is the lights on it that do the magic and get that whole effect. Fireworks are also a work of light that make the sky look beautiful, Sometimes we ladies also like to have our faces done at the salon to have the whole shining effect on it, right? Well at least I do :P ... So, all these things that leave us in awe mostly are related to Noor, the light that adds the whole wow effect on them.

Wa Lillah Hil Masa Lil 'Ala (And to Allah belongs the best examples), Think Now about the Light of Allah An-Noor... and it is not just a name it is an attribute as well. So, when asked about his Noor, it is said that Nothing can resemble to his Noor from his ENTIRE creation not the Sun, nor the Moon nor the stars. Nothing of the creation is similar to Allah's Attribute.

Now, as we are starting the study of An-Noor, we must also keep in mind that His Noor is not just of one type, It is of 2 types which we shall discuss in detail in this post as well as the next few posts. Mash'allah as I've mentioned before, knowing Allah is just like an ocean which is shallow towards the dock but as we venture further we begin to realize it's depth.

II Types of Noor ;

I. Noor Al Hissi (The Sensible Light)

i) The Light that we can Feel : It is the real light that we can feel, the light that comes from the sun is also the part of His Noor. Whatever lights we can see around us in the creation are given their light from the light of Allah An Noor. This type of light is the only one that we can see right now. This also reminds me of what my teacher always tell us ''Everything in the universe should lead you to your creator'' meaning his name and attributes. Allah An Noor is the one who gives the light in the Sky and Land. Even the light in the paradise is lit by Allah's Noor. So next time, when we see some fireflies it should not just leave us in awe, it should also lead us back to that One Creator of ours who has blessed this creation with Light too. In our lives, we experience only this category of the sensible light.

ii) The Light on the Day of Judgement : The Day of Judgement will be lit by His Light, where do we get our reference from ?

Surah Zumar, Verse 69. And the earth will shine with the light of its Lord (Allah, when He will come to judge among men) and the Book will be placed (open) and the Prophets and the witnesses will be brought forward, and it will be judged between them with truth, and they will not be wronged.

iii) Hijaabuhu An-Noor (The Veil from His Light) : Prophet (saws) has said with regards to the Noor of Allah (SWT) that : ''No one from his creation can stand looking at Allah's Light while living this life''. Even though, Allah's Light is behind a veil, but the light is so strong that even His veil would shine due to the intensity of this Light. If Allah will uncover His veil, the entire creation would burn as long as Allah's sight can reach His creation. This Veil from His Noor, will be lifted when we are in Paradise. He will unveil after the people enter paradise and enjoy their time. He will and ask them

''Are you content?''

They will reply : ''How can we not be content?'' (Because they would be in so much of bliss)

''I will give you something better, I will always be pleased with you'' and then He will remove His Veil.

II) Noor Al-Ma'anawee (The Insensible Light) : Mashallah there are a number of comprehensive notes, that are there in my book regarding this type of Noor. There was just so much of knowledge that I could jot down all that I could within my attention span. There are different types of Noor that fall under this category and the parable of Allah's noor which is mentioned in the Quran will also be discussed in detail within this category. It shall be discussed in the next post Insha'allah :)

Especially For You.

Last night, As I was falling asleep I was thinking to myself *the best way to fall sleep is to have your childhood blankey beside you* ... Then for a reason unknown I started wondering what makes my blankey so special, Because in reality its like a big warm bedsheet with ducks over it (not even the cute ducks :P ).

I remember, When I was 10 I didn't have the normal usual height an average 10 year old Indian kid could have. So my dad started calling me short duck :P and once when he came to visit us on his vacation he brought me this bigg flannel bedsheet with ducks printed on it. I loved it, so much so, that I could not imagine going to sleep without it so even when it had to be washed my mum would wash it during the day time so by evening it is dry. Even when I finished school and started attending college, this was MY thing and nobody could touch it. I used to study wrapping it around me nights before my exams. Even when I was travelling back and forth between India and UAE I'd always have it in my luggage. So Last night I started wondering what made it soo special that it made me so happy and I realized that It was something that my dad had brought it 'Especially For Me' and nobody else from my siblings.

This thought led me to the 30th verse of the 89th Chapter in Quran which is ;

وَادْخُلِي جَنَّتِي
''And enter you My Paradise!"

Whats the connection? Here's the thing when we have somebody really close to us, like our close friends and we have just moved into this house and we have specifically taken care of every thing in this house from furnishings to the types of tiles in the kicthen. When your guests enter, you go like ''Welcome to My house'' .. ''This is My living room'', ''My Bedroom'' .. You say all this only if you are close to that particular guest and share a personal connection with them , because they definitely KNOW it's your house, You live in it so its quite obvious.. Yet it even leaves the guest feeling special. If it is somebody else whom you are not close to you just show them around saying ''Yeah this is the living room, the bedroom''. There's no personal connection over there.

So we as human beings, Love attention, Even if we admit it or not. And our Creator Allah SWT obviously knows us wayy better than we know ourselves. Which is why when you actually ponder on this verse, It would make you feel so special, just reading and pondering over it. Imagine, actually entering paradise and Allah SWT asking You to Enter His Paradise (which contains of things beyond our levels of imagination and understanding, a place no ill feelings of misery or jealousy would exist, eternal peaceful abode) ... How would you feel? Special Enough? Definitely.

Annoying People? I've met so many of them today

[Somebody Had to Tell me at the starts of my day, Whatever's written on the picture above]

The only day of the week I look forward to is Friday. My weekend, Time to do Jumuah prayer at the masjid, Attending the khutbah, go out with friends for lunch, hang out at the mall.

So, Mashallah today was the test of my patience. It is a blessing from Allah that I didn't smack some people. So I am gonna just like make a short list of annoying things that people do;

1. People who don't put their phones on silent : Woman, I don't care what type of mobile phone you own, I don't care if you are addicted to it all that I expect from you which is quite normal is to change your phone's profile to SILENT when you are in the Prayer Room. Now, I have once left my phone on normal mode BY MISTAKE during a prayer and I know how ringing phones annoy me so I make it a point to DOUBLE-CHECK my phone when I entera masjid or a prayer room. The reason why I am so mad is because these people who come to these malls do not move out of their homes once a month or something, they come EVERY WEEKEND atleast! and Yes I am quite sure about the fact. Now, if you are Sooo habituated of coming to a mall or a masjid every weekend then you MUST also develop the habit of keeping your phone on SILENT. Why on this beautiful earth would you want to WRECK somebody's concentration during the prayer, I mean lets be realistic many of us have problems with it, and then when somebody's phone starts ringing then then its just!! ..... Icing on the cake! Today, I wanted to break my prayer and smack the person whose phone was ringing in the prayer room , to stop myself from doing it took every ounce of patience in me.

2. People who are obsessed with filling the gap : See, I know we are suppose to stand close when we pray in congregation. I totally get that, but then some people are so obessed with standing close that they make the first row a sanwich of people and when its the time for the prostration then Be Prepared to be UNCOMFORTABLE. I mean seriously, How am I suppose to make a nice sujood while I am trying to fit my body in the narrow space? Those people seriously need to take a deep breath and not try to suffocate people.

3. People who love to talk in the prayer room : The thing about these people is quite nice, they would not use their phones when they pray, but the minute they are done they don't give a damn about others around them and start talking on their phones in the prayer room itself! I just thank Allah many times that I do not understand much of ARABIC if these people are arabs. Today, there was a wonderful woman in the prayer room who was standing at the entrance door and her phone kept ringing, but she does not answer it, thats not the irritating part, the irritating part is the fact that she was NOT PRAYING so all that she had to do was just to take the phone walk out of the room and I wouldn't care at all as to where she heads off!

4. I love it when you whisper so LOUD : I love praying in congregation but sometimes I just end up getting paired with somebody who whispers so loudly that I can barely concentrate on whatever I am reciting. Then, there are some people who like to say the first word of any ayat in a LOUD voice, example, ''ALHAMDULILLAHI, *whispers* Rabbil Aalameen'' ''ARRAHMANIR *whispers* Raheem''. Seriously?

5. People who try to kill others : These people are the angels of deaths on the road. No, seriously they do not turn on indicators while driving, (I even get to an extent its the UAE thing, I guess) but DUDE you've gotta be crazy to change the lane on a road while seeing that there's a car behind you. Not only do you pose danger for yourself but also the passengers in the car behind you. So please, do us ALL a favor and surrender your driving license because obviously you are NOT fit for it.

6. People who want to fight on the roads : They have this stupid ego thing going on. If some small car cuts in front of a Nissan Patrol or any 4 wheel drive they pretty much take it as an insult and cutting the small car's lane and then the small car gets upset so this battle goes on for a while. To those people, get yourself some glasses please because there are OTHER CARS on the road too, Thank you.

I am pretty much done ranting, If I have more I am sure I would write a part 2.

Swearing isn't Cool

Today, I went a little crazy over the fact that one of my friends was very close to swear at me (but she didn't).

Now, I know swearing here and there among friends is okay... but I have stopped entertaining the F word profanity sometime back. It was not easy and I would not be rosy about it. Few years ago, I was with a friend of mine, and I heard her using a very bad word for someone and I was shocked at my discovery that she could use such a word. Not too long after that after few months that very word was slipping off my tongue like butter on a hot toast, very smoothly, almost effortlessly without any little feeling of guilt for using my tongue to utter a really bad word.

I stopped it pretty much completely, when once my friend and I almost had an accident and the word that came from my mouth was 'Shit'! I wouldn't wanna die with that word being my last.And this video here explains alot about my situation.

So let's be clear here there's absolutely NOTHING that is cool about swearing. Now, I know some people who grew up in an environment where it was pretty much the norm and I can see where they are coming from and perhaps even they are struggling to avoid it. Then, there are some people who were raised in households which did not even know about the different types of swear words that exist.

Yet, to be considered 1 amongst them in their peer group, to show people how easy or casual they are, to think its COOL, to think there's no other form of expressing their emotions, Some people start using these words and God knows I'm not trying to be sarcastic I used to pretty much fall under all the categories mentioned above. I realize it's pretty much common on the Media, and anything on TV is bound to be ''cool''. But, Just think about this simple quote ''Would you use a toilet brush to clean your teeth? Then how can you use your tongue with which you recite Quran, to use swear words?''

The above quote made me wonder about how in reality, my tongue, my ability to speak is a gift from Allah SWT and there I was using it for swearing. So I stopped, everytime I felt an urge to say a bad word, I would just replace it ''Astaghfirullah''!

Propeht (Sal Allahu Alay hi wa sallam) said : 'The best amongst you are those who have the best manners and character.'
(Sahih Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 56, Number 759)"

So I am sure that swearing wouldn't really be a part of good manners or character.

Alhamdulillah, Once you stop swearing for a long time. You would even feel uncomfortable when others utter such words in front of you. I've had incidents when somebody said something very profane I would just go like ''Don't use bad words man!!!'' till they stop it and make fun of me for being such a baby OR I pretty much start looking somewhere else to completely ignore that person, thats the level of discomfort it would bring to you.

P.s. If it gets hard to leave swearing, try having a swear box. Everytime you use a swear word, you put some amount of money in it as a penalty and perhaps later on you can give it in charity.