Greatest of All Virtues: Patience

Patience, the ability to remain hopeful, while releasing all your trust and imaan in Allah SWT. Patience, our biggest challenge; one of the attributes we lack the most. Our patience is tested at every moment of our day, causing our minds to begin racing and every minor slip of the tongue. If only we could take a moment while our patience is being tested to remember Allah. Alhamdulilah, SubhanAllah, a little duaa, anything would be better than the despicable speech we use when we're distraught. Have you ever though about the fact that the same mouth we "occasionally" use to glorify our lord in times of strong imaan is used with foul language in times of low imaan and during times where we simply have no patience.
If I could have one wish it would be to have the patience of the prophets. The patience that these messengers of Allah had to endure makes our troubles appear trivial and extremely insignificant. We complain about small minor set backs, whether it's our mother nagging on us to wash the dishes or our boss threatening to fire us because we're late to work. These "troubles" we encounter daily are nothing in comparison to the battles people constantly deal with around the world. Honestly, Would it kill us to have a little patience! I wonder sometimes why we're never stressed out when we miss a salah or when we commit a sin. Shouldn't the fear of Allah's punishment be far more of a stress in our lives than these troubles of this dunia. We forget that this life is only temporary and that the hereafter is forever. At any moment our lives could be over and whatever was making us worry isn't going to matter anymore.
Part of being a good Muslim is to ALWAYS have hope and faith in Allah, despite the difficulties we face. Being hopeful means that no matter what happens to us, in the back of our mind, we should always know that Allah has already predestined what the outcome of our situation is. Having sabr should come naturally to us than, if we really have as much trust in Allah as we "claim" to have.

Duaa for Patience

Oh OUR lord, pour patience down on us, and make our foothold firm, and help us against the disbelieving people.

RABANAAA AFRIGH A’LAYNAA S’ABRAW WA THABBIT AQDAMANAA WAN S’URNAA A’LAL QAWMIL KAAFIREEN

(Al BAQARAH: 250)

"This verse teaches us to pray for grant of patience and perseverance in the face of trials and tribulations of this world so that we remain faithful to the true religion of Allah, even if deprived of the comforts of life, as these two aspects of our character makes us fight our enemies and the enemies of Allah."

Diary of a New Hijabi

This is a letter I came across while i was going through my computer files. I wrote this four days after I made a life changing decision to wear the hijab.


November 23, 2009

Dear Allah,

My first Hijabi Photo. There is no feeling on this Earth in
comparison to the happiness and peace of mind you
receive when you subject yourself to Allah SWT and
embrace Islam.

Four nights ago I decided to make one of the ultimate forms of supplication towards you by deciding to wear the hijab. Ever since I was a child I was grasped by Islam, but as I grew older I strayed towards the path of disbelief. I knew you existed all along, but I refused to follow your rules. Something inside of me would not allow me to be the good Muslim I knew I could be all along. My lack of faith in you and in the world was something that I had no control over, but I knew that when the time would come you would lead me in the righteous path. I don’t know how I ended up wearing the hijab right now but I know that it was fate for me. It was your plan all along for me to endure hardships and to experience what it meant to have no faith in you because in the end you wanted me to come back to you as a strong Muslim. Right now my iman is stronger than ever and I am able to wear the hijab proudly and to reflect on my past with no regrets, because without my past sins I would not be in the place that I am today.
Yes there are moments where I still question why im doing this. I wonder whether the real reason I’m wearing the hijab is because of god, or maybe it’s because my friends. Other times I remind myself that yes I was influenced by my group of friends but that is a good thing. Since the first day of college I was influenced by people. In the beginning I was influenced by my friends and I was dragged into their world of partying and “fun”, but alhamdulilah, Allah drifted me in to the hands of good friends. I dropped my bad friends and became close to people that helped me become closer to God. Sometimes it takes other people to help us reach our full potential. I was never happy with the life I was leading; I was in search of something that would fill the empty void in my heart, and all along I knew it was Allah but something inside of me would not let him enter my heart. Very quickly I found myself praying more and all of a sudden I was doing more and more for Allah, to the point where I found myself wearing the hijab. Never in a million years would I have believed it if someone had told me that I would be wearing the hijab right now as an 18 year old college student. I thank Allah everyday that I did not stray forever and that I found my way back to god so quickly, while others are lost for a lifetime without iman. Sometimes al shatan gets in my mind and fills me with doubts as to why I wore the hijab but I need to remember that god had a plan for me all along. He wanted me to go through everything I went through before so I could eventually reach him. The shatan gets in my mind and tries to make me feel envious of those that don’t wear the hijab, but rather than envy, I should feel pride and I should feel sorry for them because they are the ones whom are lost. The hijab is something that makes Allah happy and there’s no better feeling in the world than pleasing allah.
When I think about all the things I’ve done in my life, it makes me grateful to Allah SWT and it makes me feel favored by Allah, that out of all the lost people in this world, he chose to guide me. I did not go through these hardships for nothing. I know what it felt like to be a weak Muslim, and a strong believer. The difference is incredible and it’s very difficult after you experience true happiness to go back to the life of regret.

I'll Meet you Half Way at the Corner of Not Judging and Acceptance

Out of all the lessons Islam teaches, one of the greatest is for one to be non-judgmental. You can read the Quran cover to cover, and believe that you know everything there is to know about Islam, but if you have not learned to not judge another human being, than in my opinion you have learned nothing. Not only Islam, but all of the major religions teach us that only god can judge a person, so the question remains; why have we given ourselves the power to judge others when we clearly don't have the right to do so? Close-mindedness and non-acceptance of others beliefs is the path towards being judgmental. Everyone has their own opinion and their own interpretation of what is right and wrong. There aren't many things in this world that are solely black and white. If all the answers to why people do what they do was clear then there wouldn't be as many wars and disputes as there are now.
Instead of judging each other and ending up in the road of endless disputes, why don't we just meet each other halfway. Could you imagine what our world would be like if we learned to swallow our pride every now and then and just let things be. I'll admit I have also been guilty of being judgmental but im sorry, i'm only human. I'm a human that has a long way to go until I feel content with my character and I like others need to learn that not everyone has the same views as me. What distinguishes between a judgmental individual and a non-judgmental individual is that one chooses to believe what they believe without forcing their opinions on others, while the other tends to force their opinions on others. Becoming less judgmental is a characteristic that we can all work towards as human beings because accepting others will allow us to accept ourselves more and to become more secure and confident in ourselves.

Working Together to Reach Jannah

"A woman's heart should be so lost in God, that a man must seek Him in order to find her"
-anonymous

This quote really got me and a friend of mine thinking about the meaning behind what was stated. At first I thought the quote was self explainable, maybe because it made so much sense to me, but at the same time I was left dazed and confused about the hidden meaning behind the quote. After five minutes of deliberation I came to the conclusion that the quote was saying that Allah should always be the focus point of any relationship between a man and a women because that makes it that much more beautiful and meaningful. God is the communication system between the two and for a man to truly get to know a women for what she's worth, he needs to also have a good relationship with Allah. From a man's perspective, I think the same idea was captured from the quote. "Being close to Allah puts in people characteristics that make them attentive to the significant other and having that common destination, that focal point makes a connection of steel; nothing can break it." (Amr Hamadi)

Hadith: Remember Allah and He will Remember You

"I am as My servant expects Me to be. I am with him when he makes mention of Me. If he makes mention of Me to himself, I make mention of him to Myself; and if he makes mention of Me in an assembly, I make mention of him in an assembly better than it. And if he draws near to Me a hand’s span, I draw near to him an arm’s length; and if he draws near to me an arm’s length, I draw near to him a fathom’s length. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him running."
(Hadith Qudsi, Al-Bukhari)

The True Meaning of Peace of Mind

Complete peace of mind or even a taste of it cannot be achieved without the knowledge of the route and true meaning of the word peace. Bliss, contentment, euphoria, happiness,and tranquility all define the term peace. Many cannot fathom the achievement of such a pleasure on Earth and our ignorance of the true definition of peace has led people to the verge of chaos and turmoil. Peace comes from “salam” and “salam” comes from Islam, submitting oneself to the one and only true god Allah Subhannah wa ta3alah. True peace is IMPOSSIBLE to achieve without completely submitting our hearts to our creator, because he knows us better than anyone in the universe, even ourselves. It's incredible to see people living their lives in complete and utter despair not realizing that the key to genuine happiness is through Allah. Without Allah we would not exist and all praise is due to him, therefore to believe that we are completely content without remembering Allah and submitting to him is nothing less than absolute insanity and disbelief (kufr). The Remembrance of Allah is the straight path towards righteousness and ultimately peace of mind. Simply remembering Allah and saying Bismillah, Alhamdulilah, or Subhanallah, will keep away the shaitan and any bad thoughts that interrupt the contentment and joy we all seek.