book or miracle?

bismillahirrahmanirrahim,

assalamualaikum wrb,

alhamdulillah tsumma alhamdulillah, all praises and thanks belong to Allah, Most High Most Wise.. may He forgive all our sins and guide us to sincere repentance ameen.. greetings and salutations upon Rasulullah SAW..

i hope your Ramadan is going well, and your plan is going smoothly insyaAllah.

a lot of us tend to associate Ramadan with fasting, and of course that is a given. but I hope we don't overlook also at another reason why Ramadan is so special, is that it was in this month that the Quran was sent down.

"The month of Ramadhan [is that] in which was revealed the Qur'an, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion. So whoever sights [the new moon of] the month, let him fast it; and whoever is ill or on a journey - then an equal number of other days. Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship and [wants] for you to complete the period and to glorify Allah for that [to] which He has guided you; and perhaps you will be grateful." (al-Baqarah:185)

and what better time than now would it be to revive or increase our intimacy with the Quran? so how's our relationship with the Quran these days?

truth be told... if we really believe that the Quran is our guidance, our manual for life... we would always have it by our side. we would know what is being said and remember the content. it wouldn't have to take a religious occasion for us to touch it... or open it. it would be our daily speech because it is constantly in our hearts and minds. we would make reading it everyday as a priority. 

but sadly, this may not always be the case. maybe i used to think that reading the Quran everyday, especially when there is no 'religious' occasion is weird, and that people carrying the Quran around everywhere they go are somewhat 'religious'... but how am I going to proceed with life without knowing and understanding the proper guidance? trust me, I have gone with life doing so, and it was shallow and empty.

why did I choose that life a while ago? because i used to see the Quran as only a book... well it is a book... what separates it from other books? it is a book if we leave it on the shelf... just like any other... but come to think of it, sometimes we allow ourselves to be affected by romance novels, stories of wizards and magic, etc, how much of a travesty is that? astaghfirullahalazim.. 

but you see the Quran is a miracle... when we place it in our hearts. if you don't believe me, why don't you try moving it from the shelf to your heart? ;) 

so how? read it... not just the Arabic, since many of us don't understand Arabic, it is essential that we have the Quran with translation, so that we can read and understand with our hearts and that is how we will find the true meaning of life, and solace... spending time with Allah through the Quran. 

and don't worry, if we find ourselves struggling with reading it, Allah always values us for our efforts rather than the results... here's some more motivation... 

The Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wa salam) said: Verily the one who recites the Qur’an beautifully, smoothly, and precisely, he will be in the company of the noble and obedient angels. And as for the one who recites with difficulty, stammering or stumbling through its verses, then he will have TWICE that reward.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

all good is from Allah completely, and all that is flawed is from my own inadequacies, please do forgive me and make doa that Allah accepts this from me and rewards my family with abundance of good and may this Ramadan be our best one yet that will increase our ranks in the Hereafter and may Allah guide us to strengthen our relationship with Him through the Quran ameen.

wassalam

the blessings of here and now

bismillahirrahmanirrahim,

assalamualaikum wrb,

alhamdulillah, all praises and thanks belong to Allah, al Ghafur al Wadud.. may He bestow His mercy upon us all and forgive all our sins, ameen. peace and blessings upon Rasulullah SAW. 

ahlan wa sahlan, ya Ramadan. 

I would just like to note that I have commited myself to writing somewhat of a reminder every week for this whole month, kind of like a Ramadan series, iRamadan :D, with the intention to do what I can in terms of doing more, so please make doa that Allah makes it easy and accepts it from me. 

we must give all thanks and praise to Allah SWT for only because of His mercy, you and I are still able to experience this holy month. we should never take for granted of this opportunity because whether we realize it or not, some people didn't get to this month... Allah knows best and His plans are certainly without a doubt the most perfect, but we must embrace the gratitude towards Him, at how we are... here. Alhamdulillah. 

so now the question is where are we going to go from here? when someone gives you a piece of chicken in your dire state of hunger, what will you do? you thank him and then what? of course we're going to eat it too. it'd be silly to thank him and then not eat it. so now in our dire need for an upgrade in our iman and amal, Allah has given us Ramadan, thank Him and then what? of course we must do something to show our thanks, and reap the rewards to please Him. now isn't that showing true gratitude, and with love for our Rabb. Allah chose you, and me, to experience Ramadan again... feel His love, He has manifested so much love and mercy in ourselves and we don't even notice, astaghfirullah...

let us begin now... slowly but surely. don't burn ourselves out, we must prepare also for the last 10 days. but main point is we must really show Allah that we are prepared to make this our best Ramadan yet and continue to hope for His love and mercy to carry us through with ease despite the difficulties and struggle we may endure. let us remember that Ramadan is not merely about the restraint of food and drinks. it's about a lot more, did we forget that it was the month of Ramadan that Allah sent us the biggest miracle which we know as the Quran? subhanAllah, what better time to be close to the Quran if not now? read the Quran, ponder over it. Allah constantly calls out to those who believe, be those who believe! don't we want to be in such honor, where Allah is addressing us as 'O You who believe'?

even if we are doing little but if we are already doing more than the last Ramadan, perhaps that is a good indication. take care of our fardh, increase our sunat, revive the sunnah. 

life as a lot of us notice is going by really fast, almost like a blink of an eye... and we just cannot afford to be frozen in motion as time passes us by so quickly we don't even know when time will say goodbye. Ramadan is here, and we are here, alhamdulillah.. so please let us embrace the moment and start the race... not with each other but against our nafs. 

astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah. may Allah guide us to make this our best Ramadan yet, may Allah help us to increase our amal for the sake of His pleasure, may Allah purify our hearts and restrain us from things that would distance us from Him, may Allah guide us to seek Him constantly both in ease and hardship.. may all that we do lead us steps closer to jannatul firdaus ameen.

if we want a makeover, do it now... while we are still here. insyaAllah, hope to write again next week, please make doa that Allah blesses our effort, and be pleased with us and our families ameen. 

and please forgive me for all the mistakes i have made, may Allah forgive us all ameen. 

wassalam

what is the bigger picture?

bismillahirrahmanirrahim,

assalamualaikum wrb,

alhamdulillah thumma alhamdulillah, all praises and thanks belong to Allah, al Ghafur al Wadud, astaghfirullah.. and greetings and salutations upon Rasulullah SAW. 

you know how many times we have heard people say "you know i wanna be a good, better person... but... it's just I don't know..." better yet how many times have we heard ourselves say the same thing? i get it, you know, it's hard... mostly because we know we need to be better, knowing that what we are just not good enough, that's what is especially hard isn't it... knowing that we have to do or change something yet we find ourselves stagnant. 

something that has come to my attention whilst I was doing some reading for dissertation, which has nothing to do with you know islam or the deen at least not directly, but subhanAllah..i found the message to be quite staggering so let me share it please.

A state's first priority will define its essence... for more than 50 years the Japanese state has given its first priority to economic development. Some of the Japanese state's priorities for economic development, such as the imperialism of the Pacific War, were disastrous, but that does not alter the fact that its priorities have been consistent (Johnson 1982:305-6)

what came into mind was that... the reason why Japan grew tremendously well at that period (of course by the will of Allah first n foremost) was because that was the state's priority.. and no matter some failures they might have endured, didn't change their priorities... n it got me thinking further about life in general, and for instance... why have we passed our exams is because we have made it a priority to pass so we attend classes, revise til late hours, etc, etc... basically by making something as a priority, we have not only identified its importance but also the need or urgency for us to achieve it. so we make that effort and then the results obviously Allah gives.

so... why do we find ourselves so stagnant in bettering ourselves? simply because we haven't made it as a priority! astaghfirullah... we know we want to, we know we need to... but somehow we haven't made it as a priority... think about it... think about half the things in your life... your achievements, big and small... we have made it a priority to be in University so here we are in University.. or else, let's face it, we wouldn't be. we wouldn't make it a point to spend time with our family and friends if we do not see them as priority, as something that is worth of our time. 

i'll provide a somewhat of a parallel example. you and an old friend, whom you have sort of lost contact... but you kinda want to reconnect... because you know old memories, and just because she's an old friend... but then you find that even though both parties have always said about wanting to meet up and finally catch up... it never actually happens... because we haven't made it a priority to see her... getting the point here? 

what i want to convey is that... the road to becoming a better person, being more committed and devoted to the deen, and a better slave of Allah... may not be easy, as our surroundings are filled with temptations and various kinds of lusts. we want to change so badly but maybe the environment is so toxic. and obviously syaitan's always whispering evils... always crushing our intentions of wanting to go on the straight path... may Allah protect us from all evils ameen... but you see.. if we make it a priority.. if only we really instill the need and urgency to commit to become someone better in the eyes of Allah.. He's only going to guide you onto a path that is extremely rewarding insyaAllah.

And those who strive for Us - We will surely guide them to Our ways. And indeed, Allah is with the doers of good (al-ankabut:69)

and going back to the early extract about Japan and their priorities, and how they failed on certain agendas too.. shows that yes we may also hit some roadbumps along the way of trying to become better but doesn't mean our priorities have to change that way, right? just keep consistent and make sure we are always on the path of trying insyaAllah.

Sya'ban is here and Ramadan is approaching insyaAllah... make doa that Allah gives us the opportunities and blessings of Ramadan to become close to Him... make the intention... we must know that despite the difficulties we may face... Allah always intends ease for His slaves... tell me we are not going to stand to simply wait to become someone better, and that we are going to try harder instead. whatever it means to become someone better in Allah's eyes, everyone has different struggles, maybe it's about improving our solat, our relationship with the Quran, our conduct with people, our mannerism and the kind of language that we speak, whatever it is... Allah knows. 

as for I... I am aware of my incompetence... but i know that it shouldn't stop me from trying to call others to good. isn't that what Allah demands from His slaves? as it shouldn't you, too... stop thinking excessively about what others may think, and start thinking about how Allah sees us.

By time,

Indeed, mankind is in loss,

Except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience.

(al-asr:1-3)

so yes my dearest brothers and sisters... let us make it a priority to please Allah. make Him your first priority. once we do that... ahhh... I can't even say but definitely there will be ease and definitely life-changing, insyaAllah. trust Allah.

may Allah accept this from me, may He protect me from any evil intentions of this reminder (which is definitely first and foremost for myself), may He always guide us to things that bring us closer to Him, and away from things that distance us from Him. please make doa for me and my family.. and i pray that Allah guides us and our families to the straight path til the end ameen. 

alhamdulillah wa astaghfirullah. all good is completely from Allah SWT. all errors are due to my incompetence. please forgive me if i erred you here or elsewhere :)

wassalam.