Rescuing Your Soul - The Degree of Repentance

REPENTANCE IS AN OBLIGATION!

“Verily Allah loves those who repent and those who purify themselves.” [al-Baqarah: 222]

The Prophet (pbuh) used to make istighfaar more than 70 times a day, although he was promised jannah – but he was teaching his ummah. He would cry at night until his beard would be soaked in his tears.

“Say: ‘O my slaves who have transgressed against themselves [by committing evil deeds and sins) Despair not of the Mercy of Allah, verily Allah forgives all sins. Truly, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” [az Zumar: 53]

There was once a draught in the time of Musa [as]. Allah did not send the rain as there was a sinner amongst the people and only once the sinner had left the town would Allah send the rain. Musa [as] called out for the sinner to come forward, but no one did. And suddenly it began to rain, the sinner had repented, and Allah accepted his repentance, subhanallah!!

The reality of repentance is to:

1. Magnify the sin – think of it like this – YOU SINNED AGAINST ALLAH SWT! Don’t just look at your sin, look at the greatness of the one you sinned against!
2. Question your repentance – accuse your repentance, question it, was it sincere, was it enough? Check your heart; if your heart is not moved by the recitation of the Qur’an, by the circles of knowledge, during dhikr, you really need to ponder on your relationship with Allah swt.
3. Acquire protective jealousy – Do you feel the pain of your brothers and sisters when in oppression, are you moved to do something?

  

REPENTANCE IS BELOVED TO ALLAH!

Repentance must meet 5 conditions:

1. Sincerity to Allah, the Most High
2. Remorse for the sin that was committed
3. Ceasing to commit the sin immediately
4. Determination to not go back to doing that sin again in the future
5. The repentance should not occur before the time when its accepted is terminated, either by death or by the sun rising from the west.

Repent every time we feel we have committed a sin, we are always in need of repentance

“O ye who believe! Turn to Allah in sincere repentance! It may be that your Lord will remit from you your evil deeds and bring you into Gardens underneath which rivers flow, on the day when Allah will not abase the Prophet and those who believe with him. Their light will run before them and on their right hands; they will say, ‘Our Lord! Perfect our light for us, and forgive us! Lo! Thou art Able to do all things.’” [at-Tahreem: 8]

The Clock is ticking! The importance of time...

To show the importance of time, Allah swears by time in the Qur’an for example in Surah ‘Asr [wal ‘asr...] and many others. Time is like a vehicle without reverse – you can never turn back time. Time is limited by hours, days, weeks, months and years. Ibn ‘Abbas narrates that the Prophet [pbuh] said: “There are two blessings which many people do not make the most of: good health and free time.” [al-Bukhari]

The main essentials of Time Management: 

1.  Beating procrastination

2. Activity log

3. Action plans

4. Prioritized to do lists

5. Scheduling skills

6. Personal goal setting

The KEY to time management is filtering your priorities! Ask yourself what are you priorities?

Take the following example, in a pot you have a few large pebbles, these are the “core values” – your KEY priorities, then pour sand into the pot, until it is filled to the top. The sand represents the other activities in your life that you fit around your core values ya’ni your important activities for the day. Had you filled the pot with sand BEFORE putting the pebbles in, you would not have managed to have put enough pebbles into the pot. Therefore, the importance of the core values or priorities is highlighted by this, they are non-negotiable and everything else comes in later! In other words, sometimes we worry about the sand more than the pebbles, when really it’s the pebbles that are our priorities.

The productivity pyramid

The above Productivity Pyramid begins at the base. First things first, you need to identify your values, clear and convicted values. For example, your deen, family, parents, work, friends, education etc. These are non-negotiable! Once these are in place, then you can set your goals.

The Four Quadrants of Goal Setting:

1. Personal
2. Professional
3. Financial
4. Health

Three Main types of Goals:

1. Short-term goals (0 -1year goal)
2. Mid-term goals (1 – 5 years goal)
3. Long-term goals (1 – 20 years goal)

How to set your goals?

1. You have to know what you want!
2. You need SMART Goals [Specific, measureable, achievable, realistic and time-bound goals]
3. You have to have a strong desire
4. Visualise your goal, repeat your goal inshallah
5. Write your goals down
6. Action
7. Need to be flexible if circumstances change
8. Be persistent with your goal

Use the Time-Matrix below to help Plan Weekly and Act Daily on your goals in order to manage your time well inshallah.

Use the above time-matrix to plan out and filter your priorities inshallah in order to manage your time and be on top of your goals and ensuring all time spent is spent well rather than wasted in the unimportant, non-urgent box!

Shaykh Riad’s ‘How to live a whole 13 months in the year!’ By waking up 1 hour earlier than usual time each day can earn you an extra month in the year!

It was narrated from Ibn Mas’ood that the Prophet [pbuh] said, “The son of Adam will not be dismissed from before his Lord on the Day of Resurrection until he has been questioned about five things: his life and how he spent it, his youth and how he used it, his wealth and how he earned it and how he disposed of it, and how he acted upon what he acquired of knowledge.” [at-Tirmidhi]

[This post was a write up of my notes from Shaykh Riad Ourzazi's 'A Heart Serene' course with the al-Maghrib institute in London.]

To Please or not to Please: That is the Question

Ibn al-Qayyim categorizes Worship into 3 main categories:

1.  Worship of the heart

2. Worship of the tongue

3. Worship of the physical faculties

Worshippers are divided into 4 categories:

1. Those who pursue the hardest form of worship

2. Ascetics

3. Those who pursue beneficial acts of worship

4. Those who pursue specific acts of worship at the appropriate time.

The question is asked, “Why worship Allah?” Why? Because it is his right, Allah swt has made us as we are supposed to be, with 2 eyes, ears, a nose, tongue, a heart that beats, does he not have the right to be worshipped? Think of those with kidney problems, they suffer so much because their kidneys do not function as they should - something we take for granted, should Allah not be worshipped for cleaning our kidneys 30 times a day! Surely his favours upon us are enough for us to give him his right to be worshipped! So, the right of Allah swt over us is that WE worship HIM, and our right if we do not associate partners with Allah is that we enter jannah inshallah. It is Allah’s rahma that will get us into jannah, so we must seek help from him alone.

Ibadah or worship is the sustenance of our soul, our souls are screaming for Islam, for peace. Sweden has the highest rate of suicide, why? Because people cannot find peace of heart, we forget what our soul needs, like our bodies need nourishment, so does our soul in the remembrance of Allah swt.

Ibadah or worship is a way to freedom and dignity.

When you are the slave of humans, your boss, money; you are disgraced... but when you are the slave of Allah you have a say! Worshiping Allah is our resort that rescues us in times of calamities. When locked up, literally or metaphorically, one resorts to Allah for help, therefore ibadah comes to your rescue at times of calamities. Have we asked ourselves, will Allah be pleased with us on Day of Judgement?

We are longing for jannah, because we don’t want the hellfire. So worship Allah because it is his right...which leads us to HOW do we worship Allah swt?

The worship needs to be CORRECT and PURE. [correct = in accordance with the sunnah, and pure=with good intentions]. Allah only accepts that which is pure and correct.

Ibn Taymiyya says: The Qur’an needs the sunnah more than the sunnah needs the Qur’an. The sunnah tells us HOW to pray, perform hajj etc whilst the Qur’an gives the hukm [law]. Bid’ah is more beloved to shaytaan than a sin, because the bid’ah is more difficult to let go of.

So whoever hopes for the meeting with his Lord , let him work righteousness and associate none as a partner in the worship of his Lord [al-Kahf, 110]

[This post was a write up of my notes from Shaykh Riad Ourzazi's 'A Heart Serene' course with the al-Maghrib institute in London.]

Protection from Shaytaan - Surah Naas

1. Say: " I seek refuge with (Allah) the Lord of mankind,

2. "The King of mankind,

3. "The Ilah (God) of mankind,

4. "From the evil of the whisperer (devil who whispers evil in the hearts of men) who withdraws (from his whispering in one's heart after one remembers Allah)

5. "Who whispers in the breasts of mankind,

6. "Of jinns and men."

This surah is dedicated to protect you from the one who is most jealous, Iblis - Shaytaan himself. The actual word Shaytaan means to be consumed with rage. It is through this rage that he inspires this jealousy amongst humans through his whispering or waswasa. The evils mentioned in the previous surah - surah al falaq were beyond our control: blowing on knots, use of magic etc but the evils mentioned in Surah Naas is one - the whispering of shaytaan. We are liable for this because it is our responsibility to control it. The whispering of shaytaan harms your deen whereas the evils mentioned in surah falaq: jealousy, blowing on knots and magic harms your dunya. Yet we call on Allah 3 times in Surah Naas and only once in Surah al falaq. Allah begins surah naas by the word Qul - Say! or Declare it! You are already obeying Allah when you recite this surah for we are asking for his protection. If one is disobedient to Allah, there is no need to seek his protection. You've slammed your ego and shown your humility in front of Allah.


Why does Allah command us to say seek protection from the Lord of mankind? Because it is the people who are the ones that need protection in this surah. We declare Allah's protection from the Lord of the people who do evil. And of all the names of Allah, Allah chose the word rabb in this first ayat of Surah Naas. It should also be mentioned that the first name Allah used to introduce himself to Musa [as] and Prophet Muhammad [pbuh] was also rabb. The following 2 ayats also elaborate further. So we begin by seeking refuge with the Lord of mankind,  King of mankind and then the God of mankind. An analogy of these terms can be seen as follows. In Arabic the term rabb can also be used to refer to as owner or one who takes care of you. Thus, this would be the first person you'd most likely turn to if you had a problem. If the problem was one of a larger scale you may be compelled to turn to the King or authorities for help. But finally if you have a problem so big, no one on earth can solve it you to turn to God.

Today we are not living in a time where people declare themselves Gods over others [like Pharoah once did] but we are living in times where people declare themselves Gods over themselves. They declare themselves their own master, the king of the house. We are living in times where we are becoming mini-pharoahs.

As soon as the human being forgets Allah, Shaytaan takes a step forward. When you remember Allah, he takes a step backwards. Shaytaan never stops either! Remember Shaytaan himself recognised the Lordship of Allah but wants the human being to forget. There is a constant shaytaan assigned to you known as qareen he whispers whenever he gets the opportunity. Allah's messenger Muhammad [pbuh] was given help against his Qareen who then became Muslim. It's people's skepticism of the sunnah that is Shaytaan's waswasa or whispering against the Prophet [pbuh].


Shaytaan is that powerful that he can create whispering and mischief among the Ansaar - those who actually saw the Prophet [pbuh] then surely he can have his power over us. The adjective khannaas used to describe Shaytaan's whispering implies he can do more evil than whispering. We are seeking refuge from the evils of the whisperer who keeps stepping back (v4). You'd think that he'd give up, but no he continues whispering constantly and does so for a living. Making wudhu or abolution is a physical cleansing and protection against Shaytaan and the reciting of the Qur'an is the spiritual cleansing and protection against Shaytaan. 

Verse 5 highlights that Shaytaan whispers in the breasts of men. It's important to mention here that Allah chose the word breasts and not the word qalb for heart. The heart is locked, we have the key to open our hearts. But Shaytaan has been granted the power and permission to wait in the chests of mankind until they forget their Lord. When Shaytaan makes way into your heart, evil deeds start looking beautiful and become more tempting. Evil deeds will look ugly when you have imaan in your heart. In short, Allah gave shaytaan access to the chest but we have  control over our hearts. The final verse highlights that Jinn take the primary role as the whisperer and that Shaytaan would go to people as well to get to you too.

[This post was a write up of my notes from Nouman Ali Khan's Tafseer of Surah Naas - click here for audio]

Oaths in the Qur'an

Oaths in General can be used as an expression of anger, for a skeptical audience and also used in court or in testimony.


Oaths in old Arabic were usually said for no reason at all, [this has still continued today when our Arab/Somali friends begin their sentences with "wallahi"] Pre-Islam Oaths are also used to get attention. For example a caller would run to the top of a mountain, stand naked and swear by the next morning. Either the people would hear the oath and realise that something bad would happen the following morning or the people would see the crier naked and realise there is some sort of emergency. This was the mass media of that time. Prophet pbuh used the mass media but took the filth [standing naked] out of it. When he was commanded to spread the message of Islam to his people, he too climbed to the peak of a mountain and began by swearing an oath which caught the people's attention to gather round.


Oaths in the Qur'an vary through the surahs where Allah swt swears by time [surah 103], the sun [surah 91], the fig and the olive [surah 95]. Scholars have contended that whatever Allah swears by is important. Additionally Allah also used the oaths as a means of capturing the listener's attention. As we know there are 2 parts to an oath, the object and the subject of an oath. For example if someone says "I swear I did not see your ice-cream." The actual oath 'I swear' is the object and the latter part of the sentence is the subject. The object is there to get you ready for the subject, it is proof of the subject and it is a witness for the subject. In surah 103, Allah says 'By time, certainly man is in loss.'

A beautiful example of the use of oaths in the Qur'an to capture the listeners attention can be seen in Surah 100 - Surah al-'Aadiyaat. As the Qur'an was revealed in the rich language of Arabic and sent to a people who cherished their language, the Qur'an uses the oaths to capture their attention -something that was familiar to that society as well. Before we begin looking at the ayaat in the surah mentioned, it is important to note that whilst in that time the Arabs did not have access TV and film, their entertainment of that kind was captured in rich Arabic language in the form of poetry. In addition to this, the Arabs really took pride in their horse [it's the equivalent of a fast sports car for us today!] Therefore Allah swt grabs their attention immediately in the following verses of Surah al-'aadiyat in the form of powerful oaths.

Allah delivers the fast action of the horses in the form of a verbal movie trailer through the rhyme of the words in the ayaat. Below is a video of the impact the verses had on the listener then.

The trailer stops here, as this was the object to grab the attention of the listener. It only then dawns upon the listener what the message behind these verses is. The example given is that of the much loved animal, the horse and its loyalty to its master. But when it comes to your master, you are not as loyal to it, as the horse is to its master. SubhanAllah the lesson learnt from this and many more examples from the Qur'an really does show how universal the Qur'an really is.

[This post was a write up of my notes from Nouman Ali Khan's Divine Speech Seminar in London Dec 2011]

Qur'anic Criticisms of Various Modes of False Reasoning

This post will deal with the deception in winning a debate. In a battle or a debate of some sort you always need proofs to crush your opponent as is clearly the case in a court of law. But when people find they are out of proofs, they can resort to cheating mechanisms to deceive their oponent into thinking they have actually lost the argument. Clearly when someone resorts to cheating it shows immediately that they could not win a fair fight. The following show the various modes of cheating mechanisms that can and have been undertaken for false reasoning in examples from the Qur'an and even society today:



1) The threat of force in debate

This is simply when anger overtakes someone and they cannot refute the argument and so they resort to the cheating mechanism of threatening their oponent. For example when Ibrahim [as] challenged his people when he broke their idols. They responded by saying "Burn him and protect your gods if you do anything at all!" [21:68] They win the argument by using the threat of force in debate, but in turn it only prooves their actual defeat as they could find no other way to respond to his argument.


2) Character Assassination
This is when one is belittled in response to an argument when you cannot think of anything better to say. It's actually not a real response to an argument, it's an insult. The example from the Qur'an is when Firawn belittles Musa [as] because of his stutter: "Am I not better than This (Moses), who is a contemptible wretch and can scarcely express Himself clearly?" [43:52] Firawn used the idea of character assassination to belittle Musa and thus deceived himself and others into thinking he actually defeated him.


3) Stirring up an emotional crowd
This tends to be ok in sport, but in debate or discourse, clapping or cheering to support the speaker is not proof of an argument. The crowd cannot validate your response. As we know this is used a lot in contemporary debate, especially in politics. Again Pharaoh tried to use this to his advantage when he invited the nation to watch his battle against Musa [as]. This can be seen in the following verses from the Qur'an: "They said 'These two are certainly (expert) magicians: their object is to drive you out from your land with their Magic, and to do away with your Most cherished institutions. Therefore concert your plan and then assemble in ranks: He wins today who gains the upper hand'." [20:63-64]


4) To make the opponent question their own modesty or loyalty
 A clear example of this can be seen in the role of family pressures during cultural weddings. People will make you feel like you are disloyal because you don't conform to family practises. After all, the way a wedding is conducted says alot about your family and  culture. But when some Muslims struggle today between culture and Islam during weddings a key question that tends to pop up [especially amongst the south Asian Muslims at least] is "What are people going to say?" or in the case of Ibrahim [as] where his father said "We found our fathers worshipping them" [21:53] in response to Ibrahim questioning his father about the images to which he was devoted. Immediately the questionner implies where the opponents loyalty stands, this would not justify or validate an argument at all.

5) To rephrase the opponents position falsely and to refute it
Many a times we may have come across this - or heard a misquotation 'So what you're saying is...'Allah swt corrected the misquotation of Eesa being the son of God with this ayat clearly stating he is not the son of God: 'the similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of Adam; He created Him from dust, then said to him: "Be", and he was.' [3:59]



6) Asking strategically distracting questions
This is something the Quraysh would do when questioning the Prophet pbuh to distract him from his original message. Sometimes we find our selves a victim of this when in dialogue with non-Muslims. We don't finish answering the actual question before other distracting questions are posed one after the other. We end up explaining to them what Islam is not rather than what it actually is. Surely whoever asks the questions, controls the conversation!

[This post was a write up of my notes from Nouman Ali Khan's Divine Speech Seminar in London Dec 2011]

Qur'anic Examples - The varying states of hearts

The purpose of an example is that it can help you to understand what the writer or speaker is actually saying. So what makes an example a good example? A good example is something that the whole audience can understand. Thus it is an example related to their time and their culture etc. The main purpose of examples in the Qur'an is so that one is left to ponder. It is written in such a way that one can be lost in thought, thus through one example in the Qur'an many lessons are learnt.

The following ayaat from the Qur'an will show how lessons are truly learnt from the examples provided and how they are relevant to the people of their time thus refuting the arguments put forth by non-muslim academics who critique the examples portrayed in the Qur'an.

Thenceforth were your hearts hardenend: They became like a rock and Even worse in hardness, for among rocks there are some from which rivers gush forth; others there are which when split asunder send forth water; and others which sink for fear of Allah, and Allah is not unmindful of what you do.

The ayat above is in reference to the 3 kinds of hearts in which an example of the rock is given. The 3 kinds of rock are as follows:
1) The rock that bursts open and water gushes out of it
2) The rock that cracks open and a small amounts of water seeps out of the crack
3) The rock that falls from the fear of Allah

If this example of the rock is in reference to the heart, then the heart which falls from the fear of Allah (the 3rd rock) is like being in the fold of Islam. The heart which cracks open (the 2nd rock) and the little water comes out is when a person is in the state of Imaan. The heart which bursts open (the 1st rock) and water gushes out is when one is in a state of Ihsaan.

To further understand this, let's take the example of Umar ibn al Khattab's conversion to Islam. It wasn't until the 6th year after the Prophet pbuh's first revelation that Umar came to Islam. So at first his heart was hardened like the rock. It only cracked open a little when he went out with intent to kill the Prophet pbuh; he found the Prophet pbuh by the Ka'bah praying and the words of the Qur'an moved him that he changed his mind. It was later on when he found out his sister had converted to Islam that he returned home and once he heard the message of the Qur'an that his heart [the rock] cracked open and the faith poured out. Faith inside the heart is like water in the rock.

Whilst this example above portrayed an analogy of the states of our hearts, the actual example Allah chose about the rock and comparing it to the varying states of the heart was for a specific reason and a specific audience. This particular verse is taken from Surah al-Baqarah in which Allah addresses as we know Bani Israeel. This example was thus given to Bani Israeel. Why? Because they already know the example of when water gushes out of the rock! [When Musa alayhi-salaam hit his stick on the rock and the 12 springs gushed forth - Quran 26:63]. Therefore, Allah swt used the example  they [Bani Israeel] were already aware of! SubhanAllah! Who better to give an example to His creation than the Creator Himself!

[This post was a write up of my notes from Nouman Ali Khan's Divine Speech Seminar in London Dec 2011]