2As

bismillahirrahmanirrahim,

assalamualaikum wrb,

alhamdulillah, all praises belong to Allah, ar Rahman ar Raheem...greetings and salutations upon Rasulullah SAW...

as promised, this is the last of the iRamadan series at least this year hehe insyaAllah. anyway so how's Ramadan been for all of you? it's been going by pretty quickly eh, may Allah guide us to accomplish mission taqwa ameen :D

as we are approaching its end, insyaAllah, we should try to evaluate our progress, and reflect upon our ups and downs thus far, and really be honest with ourselves who do we want to be as Ramadan leaves us and Syawal welcomes us. and I know for myself, it's definitely hard to keep the version of you in Ramadan, as in the other 11 months.

not long ago, i asked for some advice on how to keep firm and steadfast in this deen.. and this wise man (whom we met randomly at a park during our picnic last July! subhanAllah!) said to engage in two things.. which are astaghfirullah and alhamdulillah. 2As. (may Allah reward him with an abundance of good and have mercy on him and his family and give them all jannatul firdaus ameen, he was an amazing man subhanAllah.)

 life is not infinite, and we really don't know what is ahead of us, yet we keep ourselves occupied with things that are as if life is infinite and not be bothered about what we are going to proceed in the next life. it's really simple advice and pretty practical as well... the next time we complain about something, remember that however 'unfortunate' your situation is, gratefulness to Allah is ALWAYS due. 

 and I really speak to myself before anyone else, but we really gotta tone down the complaining and start focusing on what we have. Allah really knows best what we are capable and have we ever not wondered that the reason why we don't have the things that we oh so desire is because Allah knows we are not capable to own them? the more that we have, the more that we need to answer on the Day of Judgment.. so what is it really that we're complaining about? 

and yeah come what may, highly likely we're going to fall somewhere along the lines in this journey and that's OK. always remember to keep begging for forgiveness and be thankful at everything that Allah has given us and NOT given us... we will find and gather the strength to pick ourselves up to carry forward until.. hopefully... jannah ;) may Allah grant us with our loved ones jannatul firdaus ameen. 

may Allah forgive all our sins, purify our intentions, accept all our good deeds in this blessed month, may Allah give us more opportunities to meet Ramadan in the future, may Allah increase us in beneficial knowledge and good character, may Allah grant us taqwa from Ramadan and the time ahead to come, may Allah have mercy on our parents and families, may Allah guide us all to the straight path til the end, may Allah resurrect us with the prophets and righteous ones ameen. 

please forgive me for anything i have done to err you, in any way shape or form.. please make doa for me and my family, may Allah protect me from evil intentions and may He accept this from me ameen. 

wassalam

just give it

bismillahirrahmanirrahim,

assalamualaikum wrb,

alhamdulillah, all praises belong to Allah, Lord of all the worlds, ar Rahman ar Raheem.. may Allah forgive our sins, and greetings and salutations upon Rasulullah SAW. 

how's your Ramadan been going? may Allah make ease in all our efforts and accept them in trying this month ameen. 

this month is really about training ourselves, not only from the physical aspect of food and drinks, but rather some restraint of the nafs. we are more likely to take than give, just because maybe taking gives out more pleasure. but hang on a sec, let's ponder a bit about this give and take business. 

i'm going to narrow this discussion down and take money as an example. many of us had been tested with money before, either with an abundance or a lack of it. but you know what, either way, haven't we found ourselves complaining about having not enough, and could be having more? Yep, insatiable. Astaghfirullah. We should always be grateful at what we have, and don't compare your blessings with others, no one but Allah decides who gets how much and the other gets what, we should just look at our plate and thank Him, cause it's when we look at another plate which maybe has more, will we tend to feel ungrateful. may Allah protect us from ingratitude ameen.

but anyway somehow we all love keeping money. sure money is great... it makes life a lot easier. and at every opportunity to get some, we will take with little hesitation but when the moment requires us to give... we think twice. 

subhanAllah, don't we realize that all the money that we have is from Allah SWT, nothing is from us, really... and to be honest, we don't even really own any of it, it's all Allah's, His mercy and love to shower us with such rezeki... and we have to reciprocate with gratitude, which is to spend money for the sake of Allah, in the path of Allah. it is certainly not wrong to buy things for ourselves and stuff, no but what I want to remind ourselves is that we need to also give to the needy, and just generally practise giving. 

this helps us to detach ourselves from money, helps to keep control with our relationship with money, so that the love for money doesn't affect our heart. and also realize that money isn't to be kept, what good is there to keep so much money, not one cent is going to benefit us in the grave or the Hereafter. and also know that spending money for the sake of Allah always benefits us, maybe we see a decreasing bank balance when we spend it on others, but know that we also have an akhirat balance, that when we spend for Allah's sake, oh only Allah knows how much cash just got in! subhanAllah, may Allah reward all our good with plentiful of good in the Hereafter ameen.

and have we ever thought that the reason why Allah gave us in the first place is just so we could give back, to earn His pleasure and make it easy for us to earn jannah points?? bonus! ehehe Allah is the Kindest! 

so let's practise giving this month, and insyaAllah keep firm and steadfast for the rest of the year, and remember to give for Allah's sake has no other outcome but profit :) 

And why do you not spend in the cause of Allah while to Allah belongs the heritage of the heavens and the earth? (al-Hadid:10)

Who is it that would loan Allah a goodly loan so He will multiply it for him and he will have a noble reward? (al-Hadid:11)

a reminder for myself first and foremost, and please forgive me if I have said anything wrong, and may Allah protect me from misguided intentions, and may Allah accept this effort from me, and blesses my family with a lot of good ameen. may Allah guide our hearts to give for His sake ameen.