Constant State of Worship

Thoughts on Ramadan…

When we fast it’s as if we are in a constant state of worship during the fast. Salat for example begins with the takbir and ends with the salams, usually lasts 5 to 10 mins for fard prayer.

Forgive me for…

O Allah I seek Your forgiveness for every sin that I praised with my tongue, or that I resolved upon my heart, or that my soul took pleasure in, or that my tongue endorsed, or that I effected with my actions, or that wrote with my hands, or that I committed in any way or caused one of Your servants to commit.

So send blessing and peace, O my Lord upon our master Muhammad and upon the family of our master Muhammad and his companions.

From istighfar prayers of Hasan al-Basri (may Allah be pleased with him)

Every Du’a Answered

First lesson learned this Ramadan - Have complete certainty that every du’a is answered and ask for the best.

Our prayer room at work has been closed due to emergency refurbishment work which put me in a bit of a pickle on the first day of Ramadan. Wanting to catch the jama’ as much as possible the only other option was the local community Masjid.

World of Forgiveness

If you come to Me sincerely with a world of sin, I’ll gift you with a world of forgiveness.

Hadith Qudsi

Sufi and the Body Builder

Body Builder: Hey Sufi how you doing? Why are you so skinny? Come train with me in the gym I’ll make you buff in 6 months.

Sufi: Peace be upon you my friend. I am well, praise be to Allah, you are looking healthy as well masha Allah. Thank you for your kind offer, before I take you up though I need to know how much effort I will need to put in to achieve this maqam of ‘buff’?

BB: Well if you want to be like me you need to train 3 hours everyday, 6 days a week, eat 2 raw eggs every morning, a whole grilled chicken every night, six bananas, and take £200 worth of supplements every month.

BB: … Oh yeah, forgot to add; you have to keep this up everyday otherwise you’ll lose everything you gain youknowwhatI’msaying bruv? Well you’ll lose it anyway as you get older but for now you can look like a human tank like me, yeah baby!! <Offers hand for high-five>

S: <lamely gives high-five back> So you are basically saying I must dedicate myself every day to my body, arduously working for something that will eventually deteriorate?

BB: Erm…. Yeah. But I’m telling you bruv all the girls dig a buff body even the guys stare at me I’m so hot!

S: A ‘buff’oon could not be as misguided as you my foolish companion! You are tricked by the whispers of Shaytan and lowly desires of the nafs. Your ego has inflated more than your muscles! May Allah have mercy on you and guide you!

You work so hard, spend so much time and effort on something you know is finite and will leave you in the grave; you even admit it will deteriorate in your own lifetime!

Follow my advice my dear friend, put your efforts to something that is eternal and will be your companion beyond your grave - your Soul.

Unlike your biceps, triceps and pectorals which no matter how perfectly you form will ultimately sag and rot away. Whereas every aspect of your soul you perfect will manifest into everlasting beauty in this world and the next, a beauty your mind cannot even perceive.

Give your body its rights but dear friend take care of your soul.

…his mouth will only be filled with earth

Ibn ‘Abbas reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “If the son of Adam possessed a valley full of gold he would want to have two valleys, yet his mouth will only be filled with earth. Allah turns towards those who turn in repentance.”

Taken from Riyadh us-Saliheen.

Removing Obstacles from the Path

 Abu Hurayra reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “I saw a man going about in the Garden who was there on account of cutting down a tree in the middle of the road which had been a nuisance to the Muslims.” [Muslim]

One variant has, “A man passed by a fallen branch in the middle of the road and said, ‘By Allah, I will remove this from the path of the Muslims so that it does not inconvenience them’ and he was admitted into the Garden.”

May Allah grant us all the ability to do much good in this blessed month of Ramadan and the rest of the year.  Make us of those who remove obstacles from people’s paths, physical obstacles on the road and those obstructing us on the path to reaching closeness to Allah subhana wa ta’ala, amin.

Ramadan Mabrook! Ramadan Kareem!

Another Ramadan is upon us; in about 3 hour’s time we in the UK will be going into the 1^st night of Ramadan insha Allah. It’s time to receive our guest who won’t leave without purifying each and every one of us who fasts. The extent of purification we receive depends on our sincere niyyah and our himma to do as much good for the sake of Allah as possible.

May Allah make us from amongst those with high aspirations and pure intentions, amin. A pertinent du’a for Ramadan insha Allah:

Translation: O Allah I take refuge in You from incapacity and laziness, from miserliness and cowardice, decrepitude and the torment of the grave.

O Allah bestow to my soul it’s taqwa. Purify it, for You are the best to purify it. You are it’s guardian and it’s master.

O Allah I take refuge in You from knowledge that does not have any benefit, and from a heart that is not imbued with awe of the divine, and from an ego that is never satiated, and from making a prayer that is not answered.

Blessed al-Andalus

Ome of the things we noticed during our stay at the Alquería de Rosales Madrasa in Grenada was the salah-experience there.  It’s as if khushu’ comes more easily.  Was it the awesome mountainous landscape?  The amazing Masjid architecture? Or the beautiful Maghribi Quran recitation of the Imam?  Was it the food we ate? (All the food at the Madrasa is organically farmed).  Even the air we breathed felt like it was full of barakah.   

One of the students asked Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad what is it about this place that makes us feel like this, why does it feel different praying in these Mosques than in other places?  He said: Allah has been worshipped in these lands for over 800 years; thousands of Mulims were made Shuhada around the very hills surrounding the Madrasa.  Many Awliya lived and died in al-Andalus, may Allah be pleased with them all.  These lands are indeed very blessed. 

One of the last pieces of advice I heard from our Shaykh before going on the trip was that it is sunnah to make as many Mu’min friends as possible.  The best part of our trip was meeting the wonderful people.  The staff and teachers at the Madrasa, the fellow students, the Spanish Muslims, the Moroccans, shopkeepers….  The highlight though was someone me and my wife met on our last day in Grenada – Shaykh Abdul al-Rahman al-Shanketi (may Allah protect and preserve him).  He is one of the sons of the great Mauritanian scholar Murabit al-Hajj (may Allah sanctify his soul).  His son is a great scholar in his own right.  What struck me was the humbleness of the man, he seemed completely unassuming, but is an ocean of knowledge masha Allah.  I spoke to him in my broken Arabic and he remained patient and smiled.  I asked him to make du’a for us and that has got to be the single most valuable thing we got from Grenada – the du’a from a Wali of Allah.