Tuesday, 19 February 2013

Double Blessings

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّ حِيْمِ


Allah tells us in the Qur’an about the status of Prophet Muhammad (pboh) regarding his relationship with us.  He says in Surah Imran;

Allah did confer a great favour on the believers when He sent among them an apostle from among themselves.  (3:164)

Allah says that Prophet (pboh), especially for the believers, is a great favour.  You will understand that before his coming no Messenger taught their followers La Ilaha Illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah.  Only with Prophet Muhammad (pboh) coming was the declaration of faith completed.

When we look at the mission he was designated to perform it was indeed something special.  On one hand he is the one whom all the previous Messengers preached of his coming.  Besides that it was only with his coming that the direct connection between the creature and The Creator was established, on the night of the Mir’aj.  So his total personality is a favour.

Because his status is special and he is highly favoured, anyone who follows his will naturally be in a higher status than those who just believe in the oneness of Allah.  Possibly because of this Allah is Surah Hadid;

O ye that believe! Fear Allah, and believe in His Messenger, and He will bestow on you a double portion of His mercy: He will provide for you a light by which ye shall walk (straight In your Path), and He will forgive you (your past): for Allah is Oft- forgiving, Most Merciful.  (57:28)

Anyone of who tries their best to believe in Allah with full faith and conviction and adheres to the Sunnah of Prophet (pboh) Allah has given the assurance of a twofold amount of blessings and in addition to that Allah will provide us with a light for guidance.

And we can see this in our own lives at times.  In some situations we are saved from accidents etc.  How is this possible?  Your Lord has not left your affairs up to you alone.  Allah will not make your effort go in vain.

Understand and feel confident that we belong to the ummah of Prophet Muhammad (pboh).  The Companionship is a plus to us and in addition if we take path in good Allah will make it easy for us and bless us.

Always be thankful to your lord for joining us in the ummah of His Beloved (pboh), because Allah conferred a great favour on him and if we join in his companionship we too would benefit from that favour.

Continue the struggle to get closer to Allah and His Habeeb (pboh) and insha Allah we will get more blessings from our Lord and a brighter light to aid in guiding us.  May Allah bless us and take care of our affairs.

Tuesday, 5 February 2013

Success through Salaat

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّ حِيْمِ



In the adhan we say Hayyaa alal falaah.  Translated, it means come to success.  What does success this imply?  And how can observing the salaat lead to success?
 
We know salaat to be an institution and one of the pillars of Islam.  Salaat is very important to a believer because Prophet Muhammad (pboh) is reported to have said ‘the difference between us and them (the hypocrites) is prayer’.
 
Allah says in surah Ankabuut;
 
and establish regular prayer: for prayer restrains from shameful and unjust deeds; and remembrance of Allah is the greatest (thing in life) without doubt.  (29:45)
 
If you pray your salaat properly, you will get that internal guidance to become a better person.  For example when the first prohibition alcohol was revealed Allah said;
 
O ye who believe! Approach not prayers with a mind befogged, until ye can understand all that ye say.  (4:43)
 
If a person is intoxicated it will take some time for him to get sober.  Thus at the time when this ayat was revealed if the believers wanted to pray salaat they would have had to stay away from alcohol.  And this is just one impact which salaat had in moulding and culturing the lives of believers.
 
And because the institution of salaat has this impact on us Satan would always try to take the people away from salaat.  For example in once it was brought to Prophet Muhammad’s (pboh)  attention that a man had slept the night till morning (after sunrise).  Prophet (pboh) said, “He is a man in whose ears (or ear) Satan had urinated”.
 
Allah says about the successful ones;
 
By the soul, and the proportion and order given to it; and its Enlightenment As to its wrong and its right; - truly he succeeds that purifies it; (91:7-9)
 
In order to attain success we must strive for Tazkiyah nafs; purification our nafs.  Culture it to the point where our thoughts and action would not bring about any black sports on our soul.  And salaat helps in keeping away black spots and at the same time polishes the soul to keep it bright and shinning.
 
The successful ones are those who strive to keep the light of the ruh shining and bright so that it can permeate throughout the entire personality.  If you stay firm on your daily salaat you will definitely see a change on your life.
 
If you want to beautify your faith make sure you have the fundamentals down.  And everyone can perform salaat.  You don’t need to be a scholar and there are no restrictions in terms of place.  The whole earth is a musala, baring the unclean place.
 
Give importance to and be steadfast in performing it.  Allah made it convenient for us.  A lot of people can’t understand why they have problems in their lives.  Salaat is an institution where we can meet out Lord and talk to Him and beg of Him.
 
And we must understand how fortunate we truly are because we are the only ummah to uphold salaat even though all the Messengers use to pray.  Make use of it and do not treat it as a burden.  You think if you set aside time during the day and night to praise and beg you Lord He would forsake you and let you down?
 
Resolve to yourself that you won’t miss any of the fard salaat.  Some people criticize other who just concentrate and pray the fard rakaats alone.  The important thing is that at least they are praying.
 
Humble yourself and do not be like Satan who refused to submit to Allah’s command. May Allah bless us and guide us and always enable us to uphold this blessed institution of salaat, insha Allah.