Tips & Tricks for Maintaining High Imaan

We've all gone through periods in our lives where we feel we have no time for ourselves, our family, friends, and even sadly for Allah swt. Life is all about balance and no matter what we're going through, the most important factor in our life should always be our Creator. Allah swt created us to worship Him. 

[And I (Allâh) created not the jinns and humans except they should worship Me (Alone).] Quran 51:56

If our main purpose in life is to worship Allah, then every time we decide to skip a prayer or two, we are not fulfilling our purpose in life. This makes me question, where are our priorities. If Allah is not our top priority, then we have issues. Without Allah we simply would not exist, so we owe it to ourselves and to our Creator to fulfill our responsibilities towards Him. I came up with five tips that will inshAllah make it easier for us to maintain our imaan no matter if we're at school, with our families, or behind a desk at work.

1) Increase your remembrance of Allah

Whenever you are in line at the grocery store, walking to or from class, or just relaxing make dhikr (remembrance). Say Bismillah, Alhamdulilah, SubhanAllah, or AstakhfaraAllah. Remembering Allah is such an easy task. You don't need to pull out your prayer beads to make dhikr. It really is very simple and you're gonna be thankful later. On the Day of Judgement when you have all these hasanats (rewards) coming in inshAllah, you're gonna wonder where they came from and you're gonna be glad you spent your free time making remembrance . 

If you have an ipod, fill it up with Quran and Islamic lectures. Click this link for Amazing Lectures! Whenever you have free time simply press play and you will instantly remember Allah. Remembering Allah makes it easier to stay away from haram. Think about it this way. If you were to say Bismillah before everything you do, do you think you would commit as many sins. Imagine saying Bismillah then stealing. It's not likely you would do that. Remembering Allah at all times during the day keeps shaytan away and it keeps you focused on the end goal, which is jannat inshAllah. 

2) Don't miss your prayers

"Don't forget to pray today because Allah didn't forget to wake you up this morning." 

This quote is a great motivator whenever you feel lazy or negligent of your prayers. It was reported in a hadith that, "The difference between a believer and non-believer is prayer." Not only is prayer an obligation upon every Muslim, but it is also beneficial to us. It helps keep us focused and it draws us closer to Allah. When you're life is getting really hectic, prayer is the best thing to do. "The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor." Imagine if you had an exam or if you were having family problems. That duaa you made after your prayer could make all your problems go away. SubhanAllah, Allah is The Allah Hearing. He loves to answer our prayers. All we have to do is ask. Everything you want from this duniya that is halal and good for you, seek it through Allah and He inshAllah will make it happen if it's best for you. 

3) Increase your khushu (concentration) during Prayer

Life can get busy and hectic, but the last thing we should do is bring that craziness into our salat (prayers). When it's time to pray, that time is for Allah and no one else. We shouldn't rush through our prayers or think about what we're gonna do after we're done. A good way to increase your concentration is to begin focusing before you say "Allahu Akbar." When you're washing for prayer, focus on the task at hand. Afterwards, try to not talk, just focus and begin your prayer. 

-     4) Surround yourself with good company

In an authentic hadith, the Prophet Muhammad (saws) said: "A person is likely to follow the faith of his friend, so look whom you befriend." 
If your friends don't remind you of Allah, then it's going to be very difficult to increase your imaan or faith. Especially in places where temptation is everywhere, the best thing we can do for ourselves is to have good friends. We need friends that are going to encourage us to pray and to stay away from the things Allah has made forbidden to us. If we choose those that are misguided as our friends then that will just give shaytan easy access to us. 

5) Remember death often

For many people, in particular the youth, it's normal to not remember death often or at all. We're taught to think about death later on in life and to enjoy the present and live it up to the fullest. That's not the way a Muslim should think. A Muslim should remember death often because that is their ultimate destination. 
In sourat al Ankaboot (the spider) verse 57, Allah says: "Everyone shall taste death. Then unto Us you shall be returned." If it is clear that we will all die eventually, then why do we live our lives as though we're going to live forever? 

Why Make Time for Allah?

As promised, I finally wrote my first legit post in a long time. I led a sister's halaqa on Friday and I thought I would share with you what we discussed. The topic was why should we make time for Allah. The sisters at the halaqa were all college students and as college students it's easy to get distracted by this world and to forget to make time for Allah S.W.T. Even if you're not a college student, try to apply this to your life and inshAllah this can be a reminder that no matter where we are, whether it's in the office, at school, or at home, we should always make time for our Creator.

Although the topic of this post is why should we make time for Allah, I would like to look at the question being posed at the opposite side of the spectrum. Why should Allah make time for us? What have we done that makes us so deserving of His blessings?  Do you wanna know why we can’t seem to answer this question? It’s because No matter what we do for Allah, we can never repay Him for all of his blessings. Everything Allah commands us to do is not for Him, it’s all for our benefit. Praying does not benefit Allah, fasting does not benefit Allah, wearing hijab does not benefit Allah. All of this is for our own well being. Allah loves and cares for all His creation. It is only by His mercy that we even exist. The fact that Allah created us should be enough of a reason for us to make time for Him. 

Allah SWT says in the Quran, “And I (Allah) have not created the jinns and humans except they should worship Me.” [51:56]

In this ayah, Allah SWT is telling us that the sole reason He created us is so that we can worship Him. That is why we we’re created! Now, this ayah does not mean that we were created to pray day and night nonstop, and to fast every single day of the week. We are not angels of course, they are perfect while we obviously are not. 

*Anything that we do, when we make our intention to please Allah SWT, can become an act of worship. It’s so amazing when you think about how Allah makes it so easy for us to worship him. Before we study, if we say “bismillah”, suddenly, those 5 hours we spent studying have been considered an act of worship, and we have just fulfilled our purpose in life- worshiping Allah SWT. And this goes for anything, before we eat, when we take out the trash, when we clean, when we greet our sisters with a smiling face- ANYTHING that we do (as long as its halal of course), as long as our intention is pure and sincere, it can be considered an act of worship and Allah SWT rewards us for it inshAllah. We should pray our salat, remember Allah in all that we do, and make duaa that He accepts our deeds. 

New Path

So...I'm thinking about changing the direction of this blog. It is indeed called Beauty of Islam, therefore my goal is to make it exactly that. I remember when I was first starting out in my journey of embracing Islam. Islamic websites and blogs helped me with my struggles and they increased my knowledge about Islam through the great posts they wrote. I hope to be able to do that once more. I feel like I lost sight of the goal of this blog and I haven't been blogging as much as I used to. SubhanAllah, there was a time when I would blog up to 5 times a day, even when I had exams to study for and papers to write. Writing about Islam on this blog isn't only inshAllah beneficial to you, but also to me. I learn so much as I search for hadiths and ayahs from the Quran for my blog posts and it really did give me an imaan boost. I miss that. God willing, I will make a change and Beauty of Islam will be back on track and even stronger then ever!

A Glimpse of a Wonderful Night

Fast-A-Thon 2011

Samara and Zohra

Laughter heals the heart

Aqsa wrapping a scarf on a hijabi challenge participant. We asked non-Muslim women to wear the hijab for the day to raise awareness about the Muslim headscarf. 

Me and Samara <3 p.s. I was super excited to wear my new abaya :).

The boys on the Islamic Student Association executive board.

Mughrib prayer in jama'a 

The ISA family

Fast-A-Thon: Can you last the Fast?

   We did it! My university Islamic Student Association (ISA) had our first big event of the semester:Fast-A-Thon! I'm not gonna lie, I was a bit nervous me and the rest of the executive board weren't gonna be pull it off as well as we wanted it to be. Last minute advertising combined with a quickly approaching event date stressed me out, but alhamdulilah as always by the will of Allah, the event was great minus a few shortcomings. 
   My favorite part of the event was not breaking my fast lol although it should have been, it was seeing all the ISA members, faculty, friends, and university students under one roof enjoying each other's company as they learned about the significance of fasting in Islam. Fast-A-Thon is a banquet the Islamic Student Association put together to raise awareness about the reasons why Muslims fast and to also give people the opportunity to try fasting for the day. 
   The most touching moment of the event was when ISA President Waleed E. conveyed to the audience that although we fasted and got a glimpse of what it felt like to be hungry, we did not fully experience the perpetual fast those less fortunate than us experience. After a long day of fasting, we had a wonderful table full of food awaiting us, unlike those in East Africa that fast for days at a time with either little food or no food at the end of the day. As a visual reminder of the extent to which other are suffering, we showed this video in the hopes of raising awareness about the Famine & Drought currently occurring in Somalia. 
      

Asma' Allah-Sami Yusuf

                                             
Simply beautiful :). I love that the video shows the diversity of Muslims. Muslims are Arabs, Pakistanis, Malaysians, Hijabis, non-Hijabis, Black, White, Sunni, Shia, and a sea of other things. We are different, but in the end we unite under la ilaha ilalah.

The Other Side-Sh. Omar Suleiman

                
At the ICNA youth conference I attended a few weeks ago, I heard Sheikh Omar Suleiman speak. This is a recording of the lecture he gave that day that truly left people in tears. Sheikh Omar Suleiman advises the youth to treat their parents well  and to realize the importance of their parents. Our parents raised us from the moment that we were born until now. No matter how hard we try to repay them for all that they have done for us, we can't. We tend to forget that while we are growing up and moving on with our lives, are parents are too. Our parents won't be here forever, so as he explains in the lecture, don't let the doors to jannah close. Treat your parents right and tell them you love them before it's too late.

Take a Chance

When we find the things that we love, we hide out of fear of getting hurt. Take a chance on love because if you don't, you may miss out on an opportunity of a life time. 

ICNA Youth Conference

Meeting the challenges, Making the Change 

Young Muslims held their first youth conference in the Greater Washington D.C. area on Saturday where many came together underneath one roof to obtain an iman (faith) boost. Sh. Nouman Ali Khan and Sh. Omar Suleiman were among the main speakers at the conference. If you have not heard their lectures yet, I advise you to do so. MashAllah, whenever I am in need of nasiha (advise) or just something beneficial to listen to,  I listen to Nouman Ali Khan's lectures. I heard Sh. Omar Suleiman for the first time on Saturday and I was very impressed by his ability to capture the attention of the audience. SubhanAllah he talked about the importance of parents and had many in tears. If you are in need of an increase in your knowledge of Islam, he is also a great person to listen to. 

Sh. Nouman Ali Khan giving his speech

Me and a few friends

All the girls :)

I had a dream...

I normally don't share my dreams but a few nights ago I had a dream that had a great affect on me. I had a dream about Jannah (Heaven). It was incredibly beautiful and left me shaking. After having the dream, I woke up to look at my phone and saw that it was fajr time. SubhanAllah, I've never had a dream that shook me so much. In my dream, me and two of my friends were running among many people, on a road towards a stop light. As we were running, the light turned from green to yellow, and we feared it would turn red, so we ran as fast as we could. When made it to the end of the road and realized that the light never turned to red. So we stood there as nothing happened waiting and wondering. The road signified Jannah, and for a moment when we reached the end of the road and did not find the heaven Allah s.w.t promised we refused to believe that it didn't exist. I remember us yelling, "No! There has to be a Jannah. Allah would never lie!" And as soon as people started to turn back  after losing hope, all of a sudden, the world around us turned int Jannah. SubhanAllah, Allahu Akbar, La Ilaha Ila Allah, I can't even explain what I saw. Around me, I saw the angels saying "Alsamau Alaykum." I remember feeling a sense of peace.

 Although I don't  know why I had this dream and if it was just a product of my imagination, I feel like it taught me a lesson. I learned that there will come a time when I will be held accountable for my actions no matter how small they were. I learned that this world is absolutely nothing in comparison to the everlasting life that awaits us if Allah wills. InshAllah if we are blessed enough to enter Jannah, this world will feel like a day. We won't remember any of the hardships or pain we went through. Jannah is peace of  mind. Jannah is not something we will ever find in this world--not through money, fame, or anything thing this world has to offer. Let us not come to this realization when it's too late, but now, when we still have the chance to change.