A Bright Bulb

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّ حِيْمِ

It is the custom of a lot of people that when they are decorating a home they usually put up a lot of bright bulbs.  If the bulbs of those lights aren’t bright and shinning it will not serve its purpose.

Every human being is like a bulb.  And the mission of life is to keep that bulb bright and shinning, so that it will be part of the decoration of the Garden on the Day of Resurrection.  In that Garden the perquisite of being there is to have a bright and shinning personality.  In this connection Allah tells us in the Qur’an;

O ye who believe!  Turn to Allah with sincere repentance:  In the hope that your Lord will remove from you your ills and admit you to Gardens beneath which rivers flow, - the Day that Allah will not permit to be humiliated the Prophet and those who believe with him.  Their light will run forward before them and by their right hands, while they say, "Our Lord! Perfect our light for us, and grant us forgiveness: for Thou hast power over all things".  (66:8)

There are two ways of keeping our bulbs bright and shinning.  One is to do good.  When we do good we add to the brightness of the bulb.  Another way is to wipe out the dust and smut that prevents our blub from shinning brightly.  The way of doing this is to constantly ask for forgiveness for your Lord.

A lot of people don’t keep this in mind at all.  When you reach a point in life concentrate on two things that Allah makes mention of in Surah Nashr;

Celebrate the praises of Thy Lord, and pray for His forgiveness: (110:3)

Keep your light bright and shinning by glorifying Allah, by seeking forgiveness for your shortcomings, by doing good to others and by connecting your lamp to the source of the light; i.e. Prophet Muhammad (pboh) because he is Sirajum Munirah – the lamp that gives light.

Our aspiration is to get into the Garden and the beginning of entry into the Garden is when you will rise with brightening countenances.

In this earth there are limitations.  For example Prophet Muhammad (pboh) could not have seen the true personality of Jibreal in this world.  It was only when he was outside the dimension of space and time he saw his true personality.  So we cannot understand what are the implication and the beauty of having a bright light.  It is only when we are resurrected we can understand fully.

Pray to Allah to perfect your light and try your best to avoid those things that soil your light or your soul.  The soul is the source of our light and we must never forget that our nafs is impacting upon it.

Our personality comprises of both the body and soul so we need to take care of both.  Because man cannot see the soul much attention isn’t given to it.  We must understand that the soul is the source of our light and we must polish it in order for it to shine brightly.

May Allah forgive us all and bless us with the ability and understanding to remove the spots we would have put on our light and polish it at the same time.

The Rehearsal

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّ حِيْمِ

Brother and sisters, firstly I would like to wish all our brothers and sisters, and in particular those from the Markaz al Ihsaan, who will be performing the Umrah in the next coming weeks, insha Allah.  They have been invited by Allah to His Holy House and we beg Allah to give them all a safe journey to and from and let it be rewarding, insha Allah.

Visiting the Holy House and the blessed city of Madinah is enjoined on all believers who can afford it; and the benefits and blessings that are derived from it are many.  Insha Allah I wish to highlight a few good reasons why Muslims must avail themselves of this opportunity as it will definitely help them in this life and the next.

Firstly, we all understand that we are not here forever and we all have a fixed life span.  We will have to leave everything we’ve accumulated behind.  Leaving and going to the Holy Land therefore is like a practice session in a way; because one day we will have to leave and begin the journey back to our Lord.  And it’s reflected in the Talbiyah that is recited;

“Here I come at Thy service O Lord, here I come.  Here I come at Thy service and Thou hast no partners.  Thine alone is All Praise and All Bounty, and Thine alone is The Sovereignty. Thou hast no partners”.

This is a good practice that believes inculcate to remind themselves that one day we have to leave everything and go back to our Lord and stand before Him.  And look at the humble manner in which we are commanded to observe the Hajj/Umrah.   You adorn yourself in simple humble clothing.  And at that point in time you can’t think of material things.  All you’re preoccupied with it glorifying and begging the Merciful Lord.  It is a rehearsal for what will happen on that inevitable Day.

Secondly, we all love our family, our friends and that which Allah has blessed us with.  When we go to the Holy Land we get the discipline that none of these things really matter as it cannot help you; it is only you and your Lord.  Your family and assets cannot help with being bombarded with the millions of people.  It is actually you and your Lord.  This too is a rehearsal for the Day of Accountability as Allah says in Surah Abasa;

That Day shall a man flee from his own brother, and from his mother and his father, and from his wife and his children.  Each one of them, that Day, will have enough concern (of his own) to make him indifferent to the others.  (80:34-37)

Those who visit Allah’s sacred House; they will get the experience and blessings of that kind of feeling and the good that goes along with it.  In Makkah especially it’s a question of survival.  Everything is so fast paced and everyone is always on the go.  In contrast Madinah is so different.  It reflects the verse from Surah Yaseen that we recite so often;

"Peace!" - A word (of salutation) from a Lord Most Merciful!  (36:58)

If Allah has created in paradise in peace and tranquillity and Prophet Muhammad (pboh) is reported to have said “between my house and the pulpit there is a garden of the gardens of Paradise” can you imagine the feeling you will get?  Firstly you will get the feeling of amazement; ‘look where I am’.  I am blessed to stand in the same city that my Prophet (pboh) lived in.  It’s quite different from Makkah.

Anyone who has the means and can find the time to make this sacred journey it is highly recommended to go and experience these things.  Go with the right intention.  Nothing can be compared to being able to stand in the Holy House and glorify Him and praise our Loving Lord.  And Allah is so merciful that anyone who worships there the blessings are multiplied many times over.

So today, we wish all our brothers and sisters, who are indeed blessed to go, all best and request that they especially offer salaams to the best of all creations (pboh) on our behalf and remember us in their duas.

We beg Allah to enable all believers to visit His Holy House and the mosque of His Beloved (pboh).  May He bless and enable us to successfully meet Him on that Promised Day and may the meeting be special, blessed and highly rewarding insha Allah.


The video presentation of this discourse can be accessed at
http://www.youtube.com/markazalihsaan