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.
And the example of a hypocrite who does not recite the Qur’an is like a colocynth (bitter apple) which tastes bitter and has a bad smell.”
[Allah’s Messenger (صلي الله عليه وسلم), reported in Saheeh al-Bukhari]
Subhan Allah!
So, in sha Allah, we should all strive to be like the believer who is like an orange: the one who is emanating beauty because of his/her attachment to the Qur’an. And may Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) protect us from being like the hypocrites, ameen!
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.
On the authority of Shaddad ibn Aws (رضالله عنهم) the Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم) said, “The chief of prayers for forgiveness is:
Allahumma anta Rabbi la ilaha illa Ant
Khalaqatani wa ana ‘abduka
wa ana ‘ala ‘ahdika wa wa’dika mastata’tu
audhobika min sharri ma sana’atu
abu ooh laka bi ni’matika ‘alayya
wa abu ooh bi zanbi
faghfir lee fa innahu la yaghfiruz zunooba illa AntThe Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم) added, “If somebody recites it during the day with firm faith in it and dies on the same day before the evening, he will be from the people of Paradise and if somebody recites it at night with firm faith in it and dies before the morning he will be from the people of Paradise.”
[Sahih Al-Bukhari]
The dua in Arabic:
Wow! Subhan Allah! Is this beautiful dua part of your daily life? We should make a habit of at least saying it once or twice a day, and maybe even more…and saying it like we mean it. May Allah accept from us, ameen.
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:
For more information, listen to the podcast below.
Use the following chart as a quick reference
| Type | Description | Can I recite from memory? | Can I touch a mushaf? | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Menstruation | The periodic blood that flows as a discharge from womens body | Ok according to stronger opinion. | No |
|
| Janaba | The state of a person after sexual discharge, whether it was due to intercourse, an erotic dream or anything else | No | No | You can touch a mushaf (a copy of the Qur’an — more Arabic then anything else) if there’s something in between you and it, such as a cloth |
| Minor Impurity | The state of a person after wudoo is broken | Yes | No | There is another opinion that allows touching a mushaf in this state |
There are differences of opinion in some of these issues. I encourage everyone to study the evidences in details.
Want to know the differences between different fluid discharges and their rulings? Inshallah in the next post, we will provide a summary of these rulings. Stay tuned!
References (contain proofs for the above):
http://www.islamqa.com/index.php?ln=eng&QR=10672
http://www.islamqa.com/index.php?ref=2564&ln=eng
http://www.islamqa.com/index.php?ref=4643&ln=eng&txt=mushaf
Of Allah’s names, is Al-Haleem (الحليم). What does Al-Haleem mean?
It’s a very very deep name—like all of Allah’s names, it’s very deep. It comes from the root hilm, and hilm means a wisdom and a forebearance that allows a person to control their anger. Hilm is an intelligence that, in our terms, allows someone to control their anger, even if their anger is justified. It allows you to, when you are justifiably angry, to control it and not manifest it. It’s usually translated as “forbearing”, which murders the concept of hilm.
So Al-Haleem is the one who has characteristics:
The effects of this name—knowing Allah is Al-Haleem—we affirm that He overlooks the faults of His servants, even though He has the right to become angry at them. Still, He doesn’t call them to task, and delays accounting and punishing, wanting us to repent. We appreciate this, knowing Allah is FULLY AWARE of what we do, but doesn’t take us to task.
This name occurs 11 times in the Qur’an. 6 of those times, it’s in combination with Al-Ghafuwr. Once, it’s combined with Ash-Shakuwr. Once, it’s combined with Al-’Aliym. Thrice, with Al-Ghaniy. When combined, the meaning is:
you.
So remember Al-Haleem and call unto Him in your du’as, and ask Him to forgive you–because only He can protect you from His anger (an anger that is justified)!
