Some lovely Ramadan Reminders...

[Jannah]

Thought I'd share a few paraphrased words of the Imam over here.


Day One:

The Quran begins with Alhamdulillah reminding us of Ubudiyyah first. Alhamdulillah for who He is. Alhamdulillah that Allah gave us another Ramadan to experience. Alhamdulillah for this window of time, this opportunity for those who seek it and want it.

The Quran is the greatest gift.  Allah starts with telling us about the guidance in it for those who are conscious huda lil mutaqeen and want to pursue a happy life with Allah. This Book is for those who seek happiness, freedom and true meaning.

Surah Baqarah has limitless lessons, we find more the more we read and learn.

All the Deen of Allah is about rectifying the self, which leads to rectifying society. Everything in the Quran is about changing us inside. Other people were given the book before us, but over time they became culture oriented and forgot. Their hearts became hardened. 'For there are rocks within which rivers flow' Some also fall down in awe, but as human beings our hearts have become worse than rocks. So we have to not be like them and not forget compassion, mercy, obedience, gentleness, modesty, contentment, generosity, thankfulness, forbearance, patience and dhikr. Ras said Beware from speaking too much without dhikr because it hardens the heart.


The Quran is huda for the Qalb to reach Allah, so study the Quran and follow it and your heart will be cleared and purified. Allah will show the one who has faith in Him what is good or bad.

In Surah Baqarah, Allah reminds us of previous nations especially of Ibrahim and He wants us to be the Ummah of Ibrahim. 'Only the one who is foolish is the one who keeps away from the path of Ibrahim.' When His Lord told him Aslim he said Aslamtu. Give up your heart, mind, desires, causes to Allah. Ask yourself: Am I a Muslim? like in the way of Ibrahim. Let us say at least I want to be.  Allah wants us to surrender to the path of Islam -- the path to Allah.  Ibrahim made it his waseeyah (will) to all his children. Our life should be a life of loving surrender.

                            

[Jannah]

Day Two: Didn't take notes.

Day Three:

We completed Surah Baqarah. Allah ended that Surah with a reminder and Dua we should always invoke Allah with. Every Muslim should memorize this gift from Allah.

'Whatever is inside of you of thoughts, feelings, emotions, whether you show or keep it Allah holds you accountable.' This means that Allah holds us accountable if we hold it inside, entertain it. But if we deny it, not externalize it Allah forgives us. We need to actualize Allah's tawheed internally and externally.

Surah Aal Imran has many jewels and pearls. There are many powerful meanings in this Surah. It would take a lifetime to draw all its treasures. Allah begins by reminding us of Tawheed. Allahu la ilaaha... Allah Most Majestic, Perfect, nothing hidden from Him. We should live our lives fully aware that Allah is fully aware of our inside and outside and everything in the Universe. It would benefit us, make us happy in dunya and akhirah if only we actualized what Allah tells us.

We're attracted by beautiful things, wealth, success, love and passion. Allah tells us this is mata'aldunya chattels of dunya. you use it then disregard. We reach rida in this dunya when we're pleased with Allah and then -- from Allah. And if Allah is pleased with the person they have reached jannah in this dunya.

Those who reject Allah and His Messenger Ras and die in that state would try to compensate for it with all the resources of earth on the Day of Judgement when facing Jahannam. They would say yes we would give all the world and its resources as ransom. Each one of us when we die, how much dunya do we even get, a tiny percentage of all the resources of the world and yet they were willing to give it all up. Allah says I'll give you all the dunya will you pay it as ransom? And they answer yes.  In Hadith Allah says to them You lie. I asked you for easier than this in the Dunya-- to worship me and you didn't do that even.

Those who reject faith after they believed (usually because of shaitan, nafs, delusions) will be increased in disbelief.  Allah says He will never accept their Tawbah in this state when they are dying. It is not worth living in this dunya like we own all of dunya. It's not even the worth of a wing of a fly.

                            

[Jannah]

Day Four:

It's important and good to study the juzz that is read in Taraweeh.

We completed Surah Aal Imran, a very beautiful Surah that contains much to be learned socially, spiritually, historically etc.  It also talks about our relationship with those who don't share our faith. This relationship should be with Adl and Ihsan and all in the realm of being hospitable with kindness beyond justice.

We should hold fast to the values of our faith. We should exert ourselves in Sabr to hold fast. The last ayah ends with that.

In the face of the challenges of unbelievers- fair or unjust, we should treat them with adl and justice. We do not change this NO MATTER WHAT. Allah tells us these people are not all the same - some are good people, Allah fearing. Then there are others that aren't kind and just. So we should be steadfast and patient and be proud of being a muwahid, pray and not do anything improper.

Ihsan is beautiful magnanimity we should enhance our lives with. We compete and race for Jannah - a paradise which is beyond the Heavens and Earth and beyond anything humans can encompass.

This Surah answers the question: Who are the Muttaqoon?

- Those who stand for the needy and poor, and their families whether in prosperity or adversity. They still continue to spend in a proper way.

- Those who restrain their anger and do not externalize it because anger is the root of so much injustice from families to the national, international level. We should especially restrain ourselves when our personal rights are violated.

- Those who forgive and pardon all people who were unjust or cruel to them.  Allah loves those who forgive and are kind and excellent in behavior.

- Those who when they make a mistake or commit a wrongdoing are speedy to ask Allah for forgiveness and to rectify what they've done. They're aware of Allah and know they committed wrong while Allah is watching.  And they know no one else forgives except Allah with His Compassion and Love.

- They do not stubbornly continue to persist and insist in what is wrong. If that happens nevertheless a mu'min should go back and ask for forgiveness, rectify.

This is the heart of this Surah and how we should live.

                            

[Jannah]

Day Five:

We ask Allah to grant us deeds beloved to you, purely for your Love and rewarded by You.

This is a grace, bounty from Allah for us to fast while others don't and to pray while others watch TV etc.  This is a gift, a rahmaa from Allah especially to those consistent in praying and fasting. Consistency makes us love salah from the depth of our hearts.

We should honor Allah's gift. And once we make love of salah as part of our desire Allah will give it to us. Rasullullah said Verily knowledge is by learning, forbearance is by being and the one who wants to be good it will become part of them.

There is nothing more beloved to Allah than Salah. Aisha a said Keep knocking at the door of Allah and He will open it for you. The people asked her What does it mean this knocking? She said: Alot of Ruku and Sujood. Righteous women and men in our past used to have wirds of 500,600 rakats in a day. How do they do it? They loved it so much maybe time was dilated for them. There was plenty of barakah in their time when Ibadah was beloved to them.

We are reciting Surah Nisa tonight. 'Those who obey Allah and His Rasul will be in the company of Nabiyeen in Akhirah and in this dunya will have things in their heart related to them. (a nisbah- relationship) Those Allah graced with giving their lives will be in the company of Nabiyeen and Siddiqeen (like Abu Bakr not just truthful in words but in actions too).

In this dunya people want to be in the company of people who can help them, who have power, success. We write them in our resumes. But we should seek the company of the Righteous. This verse was revealed when a simple man came to Rasulullah . His eyes moist with tears, he said 'Ya Rasulullah I love you so very much that when I'm home with my family I remember you and I can't wait to come out and look at you. And then I thought of when Allah takes you when you die, you will be in the company of Allah in the loftiest of stations and I thought of my death and Where I would be-- away from you.' He began crying and then Allah revealed this Ayah. 'The one who obeys Allah and His Messenger will be with those Allah has graced, shuhada, anbiya, siddiqeen.' What a heart Allah gave him.

May Allah soften our hearts and give us the desire to be with Rasulullah and energy to do what Allah loves internally and externally.

                            

[Jannah]

Day Six:

In Surah Ma'idah, different types of human beings are described including the hypocrites. Nifaq is inside human beings and is a state of mind and heart. We do not and cannot judge this because it is internal but there are some physical manifestations of it:

1. Verily the munafiqeen try to deceive Allah with their ignorance and blindness. They behave as though God doesn't know what's inside of them. Nowadays alot of people think that which can't be subject to experiment doesn't exist. Psychology is a pseudo science to figure out whats going on inside. They think they are deceiving Allah, but they're only deceiving themselves.

2. They say lailahailallah... and come to prayer sometimes and stand lazy and bored. They don't come with resolve, desire or energy. Isn't this scary? For those of us who say lailahaillalah but we want to be mumineen. If I come to salah and feel pressure or burden, want to leave then I have a characteristic of a Munafiq.

2. They like to be seen by others doing right things. If inside we harbor the feeling of liking that and being angry when we don't get it.

3. Their dhikr is qaleel. This is more dangerous than the others. It's not that they aren't in dhikr AT ALL but that it's not alot. Every time if I'm in that state and realize my dhikr is rare, not often it means I'm building nifaq. "For the believers are in dhikr katheera - alot." If we are little in dhikr we could be falling into nifaq.

4. They are not firm internally on their allegiance and love. People ask where is the center of power nowadays. That's who/what they go with. They are not sincere, honest, humble or content.

Salah is the most important pillar of Islam. We must do the best we can. Think about the best you do at schoool, work, none of that is important. We should give our best to Allah. So while we are in sujood, ruku, we should empty our minds, focus, reject that which comes to mind. Free our mind. Don't be in a hurry to get up. Deny every thought or feeling that says: GET UP!  Try to find tu'mineena - rest.

While in Ramadan the mosque is filled but wish it could be like this all the time. After all Salah is fard all the time. What would help us in Salah is eating moderately. Break fast very lightly, feel like you didn't eatch much, that you feel still a little bit hungry. If you eat plenty you will come to salah lazy, bored and so have freed this quality of a munafiq in ourselves. Those who do this will notice the difference between performing Salah with a full stomach and an empty stomach. Salah is a spirit-qalb-soul, not just body. Both should be there.

May Allah make our salah qurat 'ayn until we meet Him.

                            

[Jannah]

Day Seven:

Allah ends Surah Ma'idah with a powerful scene of the Hereafter. The scene Allah talks about is in the past tense. It is about the Day of Resurrection, the Day of Judgement.  For us it's in the future. But why is it in the past tense? This should indicate to us that the Day of Judgement is very real - as real as the past is for us. It HAS happenned.  Also, Allah indicates that He's not subject to time, for Him, there is no past or future. His acts, attributes, words are not subject to time.

So Allah tells us: "When Allah shall gather the Messengers and He will ask them: How did your people respond to you? How did they receive the message?" Qaloo= They said, meaning They will say: Verily we have no knowledge, You know..."

In Hadith also it is mentioned that even Messengers will be in utter awe on that Day. They couldn't answer and are so in awe, frightened, the situation powerful and overwhelming. Even if you are familiar with the answer as they were, they were like this.

Allah then tells us of a special discourse between him and Jesus (Isa ) At the end of the discourse He says "O Isa son of Maryam, Jesus son of Mary, (emphasizing son of man not God) did you tell people to take you and your mother as gods with God? Isa said (will say): Glory be to You. I have no authority to say what is not right. If I had said it, You would have known".  This is telling us (who read the Quran now) this happens and that Isa never said that.  For Allah knows what's inside of him and man doesn't know what is in Him.

"I only asked them to worship you. If You punish them, they are your creatures, whatever You do is Just. If You forgive them, you are the Aziz, the Wise. Aziz means no one can harm Him, untouchable, imprenetable. Why does Isa say this when we expect Ghafoor Ar-Raheem? This is a beautiful way of Isa to seek forgiveness for the people. If You forgive them none of that can touch You.

Nothing in Allah's creation, in His acts is without hikmah, wisdom. Those given hikmah are given the greatest khair - knowledge of the divine. Ilm is knowing what is. Hikmah is knowing the consequences of what is. Because human beings can't see beyond sometimes we don't worship as we should. We're veiled by our desires.

The Day of Judgement in powerful terms is in the past, so we know that the Day of Judgement is HAQQ real. We should live knowing this and not let others get in the way because there are people who make fun of those who believe in God and in the Day of Judgement and in Jannah and Naar. We'll continue to be exposed to that. Reading, studying the Quran is important to empower human beings against that.

May Allah protect our faith in our Deen and the Day of Judgement. May He give us yaqeen.

                            

[Jannah]

Day Eight:

I took notes this night but the concepts were very high level and might confuse some and I think I was too distracted and the mic went out right when he was saying "and the most important thing you'll ever need to know is......"    A friend of mine was taken to the hospital please make dua for her everyone. She's having some major problems May Allah grant her shifaa.


                            

[lala marcy]

assalaamualaikum,

I hope your friend feels better! :-(

See, I read these entries...ITs a nice change because at my regular masjid I dont get these cool lectures..One has to travel a good distance to get such a treat!

until later..time for fajr..
peace and love

[Jannah]

Walaikum salaam warahmatullah wabarakatuhu,

thanx lala, i think u've met her. were u there that time we went for sushi?
its pretty scary what we all take for granted. i waste my life plenty while others struggle for moments to live.

i love these little reminders in ramadan, i wish i had kept a record from all the last years, some were really amazing.

[Jannah]

Day Nine: See "Hey Peeps" thread in Bebzi

Day Ten:

We completed recitation of Surah Anfal and have started Surah Tawbah tonight. Some reflections from these treasures:

Allah says something very powerful in the beginning of Surah Anfal: Verily, the Believers are those who when Allah is mentioned, their hearts tremble and when his Ayat are recited to them it increases them in faith and all their reliance is upon Allah... and these are the ones who are true to their Imaan.

This shows that there are levels of Imaan. This level is called Haqiqatul Iman. This is when our hearts respond, tremble, are full of emotion, love, fear, and attachment for Allah. And we feel increased in faith, steadfastness.

May Allah change the state of our quloob because it is that state that counts, not just what we do externally. Allah repeats that in the Quran in places and towards the end of Surah Anfal. Allah says that If Allah knows that in your heart there is Khair, sincercity, desire, need for Allah and to submit to him (and not to be argumentative, stubborn, etc) then He will give you better than what is taken away from you. Look at this:  Many of us miss things -- of dunya and other things, lose them or are not given them, but don't realize this.

Subhanallah so it's all about the Qalb. May Allah cleanse, rectify and orient our quloob to Him forever. For it's only a Qalb that is Saleem,  fully healthy that will be able to accompany Allah and be with the Righteous Ones.

                            

[Jannah]

Day 11-14: Didn't take notes.

Day Fifteen:

Today we recited Surah Hijr & we are reciting Surah Kahf. The first Ayah in Surah Hijr is a very powerful interesting address. Alif Lam Ra... These are the signs, miracles of the Book and this manifest Quran clear to those who seek to understand.

Allah is teaching us what we need to know. Didn't you ever wonder about those who aren't Muslim? On the Day of Judgement those who didn't believe, didn't surrender to Allah will regret it and say "O, If only we had followed the Messengers." But not only on the Day of Judgement will it be said but in the life of this world they will wish for it. In other words, it would have been better for them if they had . Then Allah says: Leave them eating, sleeping, enjoying themselves. Let them be distracted by their long-standing hopes in Dunya.

A Mu'min uses this Dunya to carry provisions to the Akhirah. The Dunya for a Mu'min is Zad. Even when a Mu'min is eating it is Zad, cultivating provision for the Akhirah. The others use sleeping, eating, etc only for enjoyment.  Allah is telling us not to be like them. Don't be fooled.

'And we made some of you as trial for the others - so be patient'. When you see them, will you be patient or will you follow them? Dunya is distracting them from Akhirah. They WILL know at a later time. 'Every town we destroyed had an appointed time'. In other words, if we see evil flourising around us or evil in us and we might not even perceive the punishment, we still know that everything has an appointed time. Allah is not hurt by evil or benefited by good. So when you see them don't be distracted by those who see this life as EVERYTHING and don't act like you're going to live forever.

We read Surah Nahl yesterday and it described people who don't have the characteristics of Iman. Allah says: Those who swear with intensity of their oaths (ie that God doesn't exist or create, that there's no Hereafter) that say God will not ressurect the dead (this is institutionalized nowadays). Allah says: "Bala... (meaning no to all that was before) A promise upon Him that is true. However, most human beings have no knowledge (ilm)." Those who deny creation nowadays use what they think is science, ilm, but Allah says their ilm is superficial about THIS Dunya, as to Akhirah they have NO knowledge, they are oblivious.

Allah will adjudicate those matters where people differed - in who's right, who's wrongs, wars, etc. Everything will be made clear. There will be ultimate judgement on everything we differ on. Those who are kuffar disbleieved will know they were liars. When they said there's no resurrection, they were lying and didn't want to admit it. Therefore anyone who doubts Akhirah will read this and be subject to it.

The Quran is a healing to what is in the heart. Like sometimes there are doubts in the heart. When arguers argue with you, don't argue. Read Quran. With more recitation, we heal doubts. We develop doubts on Akhirah when we undergo interactions, everyday things that affects us, environment, company, shaitan. So there is no momentum in our hearts for Allah because there is some doubt in us about the Akhirah. The more our hearts are in shuhood, vision of Akhirah, the more awareness we have and the more time we spend with Him.

                          

Part II:

In Surah Kahf, Kahf is about young men who grow up in Tawheed with the odds against them. Also, their families were very wealthy, but these youth grew up praying, fasting, being kind, just and good. They respected places of worship and grew up beyond the expectations of their parents. But see Allah has kept their Dhikr in immortality in the Quran for all times and generations by mentioning them in His book.

Rasulullah taught us of the seven kind of people when there is no object that makes shade. On the Day of Judgement there is no such thing as "shade" because it is Allah who has made the laws and can change them. One kind of person under the 'shade' is a young person who grew up being obedient to Allah. Growing up a pearl in the midst of stones or a rose among thorns.

If we missed to be that youth, won't we love it if our child or someone around us will be like that. We love to have children in the Mosque here. Why don't parents have a conference about the Adab of the Masjid every time they come to the Masjid, not just Isha and Taraweeh.  Which house is better, this house or your house? Which house should we take care of more? Which is most important? Which do we do our best in behavior or dress, etc?

May Allah grant us pearls of children who grow up not unlike the youth of Kahf.


BTW did you notice since we completed Kahf, half of Ramadan is gone. That beautiful guest is getting ready to leave now. If we missed what we should do in the first half, May Allah give us the energy and momentum to allow us to in the next 15 or 14 days.


                            

[owais]

Jazakullah kheyrun!

[Jannah]

Wa iyyak, can u fanagle ur way into getting the the password for the wireless at the mosque? thanx


Day Sixteen:

We completed Surah Kahf today. Allah teaches us so many lessons from the stories in Surah Kahf. For example, the story of the two friends. The one who was very powerful, rich and resourceful with gardens. And the other one who was not that powerfu,l rich or resourceful. Allah continues to draw our attention as we read and comtemplate that story.

We know that what Allah is teaching us, is about a person who has been given means, resources and capacities to DO things in this Dunya, in this world and ultimately he/she did not see that Allah gave it to him at all. He did not see all of what he had as abilities, resources from Alllah  . But he only saw his capacity and thought that his work generated that.  Allah called him a Mushrik even though he had belief in God and in the Day of Judgement. Regardless of the work he did, he did not see Allah using him. He saw himself independent from all of that and still expected reward from Allah.

In contrast to this story, where Allah calls him Mushrik - shirk in asbaab (the person becomes a mushrik pertaining to his or her own abilities and is obsessed with those and relies on those mentally, emotionally, actually physically and otherwise), there is the story of Dhul Qarnain. This story comes after the first.

Allah gave Dhul Qarnain all the resources he needed, gave him the means to achieve, architecturally, militarily. Allah gave him the asbab and Allah is the Creator of the asbab and Dhul Qarnain used it well and in a way consistent with Allah 's will, command and teachings. And at the end when he did great works he unlike the person of the two gardens who was looking at himself, his resources, and abilities as the source of that grand work of building (that incredible garden built with very sophisticated technology), what did Dhul Qarnain say at the end. He said, Hatha min rahmaturabbi. This is from the mercy of my Lord. It's not me, it's not I, not from MY hard work. This work, achievement is not ME. This is rahmaa from Allah . From MY Lord. He uses the structure of words that indicate servitude, employment, slavery. The story Allah intends to teach us here.

Then comes the story of Khadr. The story of Khadr is a story of NO asbab. The story of gardens is asbab, means and cause and someone who worshipped means and cause. The story of Dhul Qarnain is about asbab and someone who worshipped Allah. Khadr's story is Allah does what He does. There is no means no cause. You know the story of Khadr. Things happen without the normal course of understanding things and against what we know as empirical nature of cause and effect. 

Allah brings miracles beyond cause and effect to teach us that everything belongs to Him. Cause belongs to Him. Effect belongs to Him.  Even the relationship between cause and effect belong to Him. So we should take that and ponder that with everything that happens to us. First we should repent first of all from worshipping the means or the cause or empirical causality. And we should learn to use the means while worshipping ALLAH and knowing those are means and that Allah has created and creates that. And if the means don't work we should not fall into despair and get frustrated because if we do that means we worshipped those means. If we worship Allah we know that He controls the means.

May we all find refuge - Kahf - with Allah in our lives and with everything that befalls us. May Allah give us the awareness and strength in doing that and to dying that way. Ameen.

And as we are performing salah, when we say Allah u Akbar remember that Allah is greater than me, my problems, hardship, anything. Try to empty your mind and heart from any thought and feeling besides Allah is greater than ...... all of that, health, disease, poverty, life, death, weakness.. Allahu akbar . May Allah indeed liberate our quloob through dhikr and salah and through his obedience.


                          

[owais]

I'll ask insha Allah.

[Jannah]

Day Seventeen:

Last night we had completed bi'idhnilllah Surah Maryam and Surah Ta Ha after having completed Surah Kahf.  Allah mentions the virtues of Maryam and Yahya and Zakariah and Ibrahim and that continues in Surah Anibya and Muminoon.

From Surat Maryam this is a khatirah, reflection that would summarize a lot of Surat Maryam and what comes ater that.

Let me tell you a story I read sometime ago on the virtues of the Salihoon. I do not recollect his name rahimullah. One time he said to his Sahib, companion or his shaykh: Ya sayyidi, I have done nothing special to many people.  I don't know them, yet they have expressed so much love to me. I don't know why. I have done nothing to them, I don't even know them. Then the Sahib recited to him this Ayah from Surat Maryam: Verily those who have Iman and act in righteousness, the Rahman – the Most Loving will make for them pure love that is in the hearts of others.

This Ayah says Allah says to us that those who are truly His ibaad salihoon and righteous awliya, Allah will create in the hearts of good people, in the hearts of other righteous ppl love for them even though they don't know them.  Wudd is another word for love, but has a nuance of pure love, untainted by anything else, pure and clean, from Allah and for Allah.

Jibreel as is instructed by Allah, as Rasulullah says that when Allah has hubb for a servant of Allah then he instructs Jibreel to love that person. And Jibreel will love that Abd that Allah loved. And then Jibreel is instructed to call in a way unperceptible to us to the dwellers of the upper dimenions and say to them: Allah has loved this Abd, so love him/her. So the inhabitants of the malikuoot, will naturally have love for that person.

Then Allah will create acceptance and love for that person amongst the inhabitants of earth and particularly those who are righteous and good people. For the hate and love of the wicked and wrongful and mushrik does not count. And therefore we should be very concerned that we don't love people who don't love Allah and are not righteous. And that's a sign for us

Rasulullah 's dua on the love that counts: O Allah Grant me your love, that you love me and that I love you. Give me that love inside of me and grant me the love of the one who's love will benefit me with You. Not just the love of anyone. Let me love someone who's love for me, and my love for them will benefit me with You. That's the love that counts. That's the Wudd that counts.

Sa in Arabic is soon, approaching future not too far. If there is true iman and righteousness soon will Allah create righteous love for those who have love for Allah.

In the end of Surah Taha that we concluded last night. Allah says: And those who turn away from my dhikr, turn their back, for those verily there will be a life of danak, means deek restriction... a person would be living but be always constricted inside wa authobillah. The meaning of their life is always in danak no matter what they have, no matter what they do not have. Allah has promised that.

And indeed the person of us human beings that does not have Allah in him/her and does not have dhikr in him/her that person usually never feels content. Never feels content no matter what they have. And therefore also will always feel restricted no matter how much he/she has. That's very natural Subhanallah in how ppl respond to what they are subjected to in their environment. And with lack of dhikr the person will never feel he/she has enough. And therefore not enough no matter what, always feel restricted, dheek, narrow and that translates in the Qalb.

And therefore we find ourselves when we are not in true dhikr of Allah , we are in danak inside of ourselves. "And on the Day of Resurrection we shall resurrect such a person blind." The person will say God, why have you resurrected me blind when I was seeing in dunya?... Seeing with physical eyes but not with the heart. That is because our Ayaat, verses, signs, dhikr had come to you and you turned away from it and you forgot it, so today you will be forgotten.

You don't have light with which to see now. Light was given to you in dunya to see now and that light will be given to you on the Day of Judgement to see with. If there is no light in Dunya there is no light on the Sirat, there is no light in Akhirah.

May Allah fill our quloob with dhikr of Him . May Allah fill our lives with love of Him. May Allah benefit us with Him.



                          

[dhikra]

may Allah (swt) bless you for every word sent on these notes.. SubhanAllagh I have trying to find a way to fly up to Albany for just a weekend during this blessed month just to hear words of wisdom for Sh. Mokhtar but it is not seeming possible    and then I saw your email   JAZAKALLAHU KHAIRAN!  I now have to figure a way of having someone call me at the time of the taraweeh and I'll be all set   Yes I do go to my local masjid but it is just like going into a marketplace... I have to block out so many sounds just to hear my own.  But I do like the shaikh's recitation..he is so very clear and pre-reading helps ALOT.

[Jannah]

Whoaa sister... wa iyyaki and ameen i should give u a howdy too since y'all are down there in texas hehe



DAY EIGHTEEN:


Just a brief khatirah on what we read tonight: Surah Noor.

Without His Light there is no external light, nor internal light or soul of the spirits. In that context, Allah speaks of Salah, of the houses of Allah and of Dhikr of Allah.

In that context of Noor He says: In homes, houses and places Allah willed that they be glorified, praised and held in excellence and inside of which His name be mentioned.

It's a Fadl from Allah that He created this concept of House of God, of Dhikr and of Salah. Inside of which are Tasbeeh of Him in mornings and late afternoons by Rijaal. Rijaal, men.. these are MEN. Subhanallah Rijaal.

Some ulema say the concept of rajul is not only the concept of male, female. It's a concept that the person has that concept rujla, be he male or female. When they described a woman of those days they would say kaanat rajulul min an nisaa in a positive way. Nevertheless, Allah says who are they: They are not distracted by trade, nor sale, nor business from Dhikr of Allah , Salah or Zakat. These are men.

In other words if any one of us on account of what he/she does in trade/profession/business is distracted from all of that and distacted from dhikr, salah, zakat, then that one is not really a rajul.

"For they are in awe and in fear of a day in which hearts and sights are turned upside down."

May Allah save us from the calamity of that day. May Allah make us truly of those rijaal that are not distracted, whatever they do from dhikr, salah and zakat and let us be in awe of Allah all the time. May Allah grant us that life to the end of our lives.

[Jannah]

DAY NINETEEN


I pray and hope that all of us at some point are at a respectable level of reading the Quran and that we read some every night. Even if we don't understand the Quranic language it's good to read and benefit from it.

If He sees us sincere He will instill the love of Quran in our heart for the rest of our lives.  And we'll love to read it and benefit from it all of our lives.

In Surah Furqan, Furqan is the Quran and the Quran is the Furqan. Furqan is criterion between right and wrong. Allah calls that which we read Furqan. And therefore the criterion is used to distinguish between darkness and light, good and evil, immoral and moral, right and wrong, and between an element to lead to peace and happiness and an element to lead to turmoil and misery. The Quran is the criterion and if we lose that we will be like lost sheep and will be eaten by wolves.

Allah says in that Surah on the Day of Judgement, the Rasul will say: "O my Lord my people have forsaken this Quran." I think by itself this suffices. We don't even have to comment. May Allah save all of us.

The Quraish are not the only ones that have forsaken and turned their backs on the Quran. Others do amongst us in different ways at different levels. We turn our backs in so many different ways. Those of us who don't memorize any of it. That's one way of turning our backs against the Quran. Those of us who don't reflect in the meanings have turned our backs at some level. Those of us who don't live and struggle to live by the principles of the Quran in their everyday, family and societal life have forsaken the Quran at some level. Those of us who do not recite the Quran at all or enough have forsaken the Quran at some level.

Imagine Rasulullah pleading and complaining in this painful way.

Something comes to my heart - the word hatha....hathal quran. As though rasulullah is pointing to it, THIS quran in other words this beautiful Quran filled with gems, filled with treasures. In other words not just something to be forsaken, HATHA al quran.

May Allah save us, help us, give us the strength and resolve of the heart to be steadfast in learning, studying the Quran and doing our best to surrender our lives to the Quran. And not be of those who Allah said (just before this ayah) who will come on the Day of Judgement as the transgressor one who did wrong and will BITE on his hands out of grief, sorrow, loss. And will say: O were it that I had taken my way with the Rasul. They will bite on their hands when they see the awesome tormenting site of the Day of Judgement and will see the truth as truth and falsehood as falsehood. No one will doubt. They will see that.

"If only I had taken the way of the Rasul". Some of us will say that, la qadderAllah. The wrongdoer will say: O woe on me, had I not taken fulaan, x, y, z as my khaleel, confidant, ally, cloesest friend to hang out with. The people we befriend will affect us. We are always influenced by who we befriend and sit with, hang out with. There are many ways we can take khaleel. We can have khaleel through a book, an author, or a beloved friend. Having done that, it's led me to error and made me stray away from THE dhikr – the Quran.

Then Allah concludes by saying Indeed, Shaytan has always been deceitful to the human being. When you are most in need of help you'll find not the one you expected.  Shaitan does not come to us in 3-dimenensional image and say do this do that. The thoughts we have every day that are not in conformity with sharh every day -- that is shaitan. Things we do out of perception and are drawn into dunya and when we need most help, particularly on the Day of Judgement, all of those attachments from shaytan do not come of any use. And we'll be left to our own selves.

My dear brothers and sisters, may Allah forgive us and create in our hearts that love for the Quran, desire to study the Quran and for the study to continue until the day we need Him.

And be like those who know Allah, like Ghazali who was at the top of academia and drew away from that. His regular daily diet until he died was the Quran.

May Allah make the Quran indeed that regular diet of our quloob.

[Jannah]

DAY TWENTY:

Tonight, we finished reciting Surah Naml and we began surat Al-Qasas and we will begin Ankabut. In Surah Naml, Allah tells us about Sulaiman and how much Allah gave him of knowledge, wealth, power and wisdom. Imagine all of that together, knowledge, wisdom AND wealth AND power. Allah gave him so much of that relative to what human begins had ever had in history.

In the Surah of Sulaiman, he sends a message to Sheeba after receiving information from the bird of HudHud about a kingdom that was mushrikeen worshipping the Sun. The Queen of Sheeba also had a momentous glorious throne. He as a messenger of Allah and a king sent a message to her. The message begain with: Bismillah ir Rahman ir Raheem. A message from Sulaiman. Come to me as Muslimeen. Come to me as Muslims.

As many as you know she consulted with her people, her court, military ppl and advisors and they told her: the word is yours and we shall execute it. Nevertheless, when finally Sulaiman was awaiting the response, he told those at his service in his entourage, court, the ppl of knowledge, jinns and humans: Who amongst you can bring their throne before they arrive?

The Queen of Sheeba was in Saba, Yemen.  And he was in Philistine. Ifreet, one mighty powerful of the jinn, said: I will bring it to you before you stand up. And I have power and might and security, it will reach you with all measures of security and power.

So imagine that, that power that Sulaiman had. People in his service, entourage had this ability. Allah does what he does. We still don't have that technology in our days. Teleportation..Teletransportation. To dematerialize and then materialize. SubhanAllah. We don't have that. Only Allah knows the future before the Dajjal comes and what will become of that.

So then someone, some say a human being that had knowledge of the Book, (only Allah knows what that ilm is, if it was science, mathematical equations, something solved that folds space time?) says: I will bring it to you before your eye blinks. Look at the beauty of the Quran. When it came to the first one: Before you stand up. Allah used another phrase. But when it came to this one Before your eye blinks. Allah says Falamma ra'ahu.  Fa means immediacy. Even when is not enough. "As he saw it in front of him." See the quickness as it was done,. The Quran conveys it in the language, the structure here.

What does Sulaiman say? Look at this power. He didn't say I've gone where no man has gone before. He didn't say: I am... I am... I am... He didn't say I am the most powerful. "Hatha min fadli rabbi.... Li yubluni." This is from the Grace of my Lord. This is sent to test me. Shall I be ungrateful? Arrogant or unjust? No matter how knowledgable and wise most ppl think they are that was his response.

Nowadays when we human beings have so little power and so little knowledge of technology or whatever you call it computers... We say this is it: There is no God. BTW what Allah gave Sulaiman no human being will have. The dua of Sulaiman was: O Allah grant me sovereignty, a kingdom that you will give no one after me. Allah does what He does to those that He loves, those who are special.

Once we were in a discussion with a beloved brother. He said: Well if the throne is in yemen, sheba and there are ppl there, wouldn't they miss it there, wouldn't they know? There are many answers and you can imagine what they could be. You can imagine this. The throne is brought, something else is left instead. Nowadays, you could leave a hologram there. We have the technology of holograms in 3-dimensional space. Something looks like its there, but it isn't there -- it's a holographic perception. What if they had that knowledge and resolution of an equation to fold space-time. The space between sheba, yemen and the throne is here and there at the same time. Space time is folded at the same point, so the throne appears at two places but it's the same.

The interesting thing here is the knowledge and power Allah gave Sulaiman, but his response was: Hatha min fadli rabbi. And WE...sometimes we have a few dollars, cars, houses and subhanAllah, we become arrogant and deluded and we forget the stores of that bounty, Allah.

Compare that to Qaroun in the time of Musa in surah Qasas. He was of the ppl of Musa, he was "bani Israel" an early Muslim. But he was so arrogant on account of the power and wealth he had. Allah says: We gave him of treasures and those treasures are carried in safes and the keys of the safes are carried by mighty strong men. How much wealth and therefore power he had. And his ppl, the early muslims of bani Israel were reminding him of being thankful to Allah , to be charitable and magnanimous and spend it fee sabeelilllah and not to use it in a way that is tyrannical and to be just. Do good as Allah did to you. His answer was the typical answer, if not with the tongue, but with our state, the typical answer of human beings: Allah, of this verily I have acquired through knowledge of MINE. 3indi I have that knowledge. Like we say sometimes: Look at that that's my hard work, I earned it. Don't we do that...I went to school I graduated, I did this I did that... Subhanallah the same jar of answer as Qaroun.

When Qaroun goes out with his escorts, people saw him. Allah called one kind of people who saw them Muslims and said of them: Those who want the dunya Yuridoon al hayat al dunya
These ppl of dunya said: Oh Qaroun if only we had what he had. Lucky, lucky he is, successful he is. Does this remind you of something? Perhaps some of us when we listen to these stories.

BTW there was a show on tv called "lifestyles of the rich and famous" and ppl watched it, muslims and said wow we want to be like that. Same story... Qaroun and those who want dunya amongst us. Same thing.

Then the second type of people Allah called them Ootul Ilm, those who had knowledge. They say: Woe on you, the reward of Allah is better for those who have iman and act in righteousness and that reward will not be given except to those who persevere in patience. Subhanallah the response of one and the response of the other.

If we're not thankful for the little, we will not be thankful for the much.

May Allah, my dear brothers and sisters, make us remember to be thankful with our minds, hearts and actions. May He forgive us for our so many weaknesses that often times drain us and keep attaching us to dunya and make us forget our true happiness with Allah .

[AbdulBasir]

 
These keep on getting better and better!...The shaykh likes going after the "where no man has gone before" trekkies quote, as he's mentioned it several times in the past

jannah, it would be great if this series of notes be somehow preserved on this website, beyond the archives...perhaps in the qur'an or ramadan section (or both) of jannah.org...

may allah reward you and may He grant all of us emancipation from the hellfire during these last ten days of ramadan...

[Jannah]

wsalaam,



InshaAllah plan to make them into one document and put it on the jannah.org/ramadan page when it's back up

and yea he's definitely a trekkie.. and how on earth did he hear about Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous?? veeeird

[dhikra]

O yes ..sis... you really have no idea of how you have made my moments of reflections so much MORE.

Please extend a TXan salaams to Shaikh for me.  SubhanAllah, it was probaly good for me to stay here since my dearest shaikh and baba like passed away.  His name is Shaikh Rashad Khalil and he was such a special person.  He loved this deen and the Islamic Da'wah so much.  May Allah (swt) give him Jannah. Ameen.

But back to you    I loveyou for the sake of Alllah (swt).

[timbuktu]

These are lovely. How I wish I had the same longing for learning and reflections  on Islam as you people.

Jannah, may I copy these notes onto my blogs, of course with due credits and links.

[Jannah]

Walaikum salaam warahmatullah wabarakatuhu,

timbuktu send them here!! we need more ppl to participate! and i'd rather you not copy them b/c i don't have the shaikh's permission, they're just summaries of notes.

[Jannah]

DAY TWENTY-ONE:

Assalaam alaikum, Bismillah...

Allahumma taqabal minna siyaaamina, ruqouana, sujuduna...

Just a few reflections. We completed Surah Ankabut tonight. Towards the end of Surah Ankabut Allah tells us about the worth of this dunya. Also towards the end of Surah Ankabut, He mentions the parable of the spider web. "Those who take other than Allah, God as their wali are like those who try to fortify themselves inside the web of a spider." Of course, that will be of no avail to them.

This dunya leads many of us to undertake other than God as our Wali. Allah says this dunya is play, games and distraction. Those who focus on this dunya are focusing on distraction and on something that is not serious. It's relative to the prupose for which you were created.

"And verily the home of the Hereafter is THE LIFE." This is Arabic is called seerat al mubalagha – hyperbole.. to emphasize life. Allah and his rasul tell us that in Akhirah almost everything comes to life: Stones, skin, hair, deeds, acts, words all become personified and have life. Everything lives. True life is the life of the hereafter. This life compared to the life of the hereafter is nothing, zero. And yet the focus of most of us human beings is on this shallow concept of life.

Allah says towards the end of this Surah: When they sail on a ship and there is bad weather, wind, danger, they call upon Allah – God naturally. Save us, help us, they say. And when Allah brings them to shore after that, they forget. Then they begin to associate others with Allah . They begin to worship themselves, and other gods and idols. BTW this is an example only, every time we human beings are in a desperate situation, when things don't go our way, we turn to God and ask God when nothing else works. Some time after that, things get better. We don't make the link between us getting better and WHO did that for us. Each one of us should think of this, it happens to most of us, if not all.

How do we forget? Maybe not to the extent of being a mushrik, but we diminish from our activities of khair, salah, dhikr, inner reflection, goodness, zakat, hajj, umrah or of mediation on Allah. We diminish in all of that once things go well for us. That is a form of Shirk of course, in the subtle sense of the word. Because we are listening to us, not to Allah and our focus is not Allah any more.

People don't like to think of God – kufr an nimah- we don't show what's necessary thankfulness and gratefulness. That's why ppl turn away. In order to enjoy themselves fully. When we think of God, responsibility and moral responsibility, we are not going to indulge in tamattu so freely. So we forget about God so we don't have to be thankful because that entails responsibility. So we enjoy to the fullest in the animalistic, Baheemi sense, the mataa of the dunya. Isn't it true? I put God aside so I feel free... completely free in a Nafsani sense. "They will soon know" say Allah "of the consequence of their choice."


Allah opens Surah Rum, a very powerful surah of tawheed and akhlaq, with with a mu'jiza. During the time of Rasulullah the two most powerful nations Persia and Rome were always fighting for supremacy. In one of those battles the Persians defeated the Romans. Allah mentioned that and said in a few years the Romans will defeat them. So it was some news indeed. So the Mushrikeen were very interested because they wanted the Persians to defeat them because they were pagan like them and the Romans were mostly Christian, at least in name. The Muslims wanted the Romans to defeat the Persians because they were people of the book. This was an affinity to ppl of the book by Muslims which is usual and natural. "But most are ungrateful and unthankful."

So anyways Allah says the Romans WILL defeat the Persians and a few years later that's exactly what happened. And that was a mu'jiza of rasulullah amongst many others.

At the end of that Surah, Allah says this about all of these challenges and tribualations, doubts, distractions, dunya, personal and outside of us:

1. "Continue to persevere in patience, for the promise of God is true." What Allah promises will come to be true. What He promises in this dunya, the promise of akhirah, promise of jannah, the promise of qabr, the promise of naar, the promise of akhirah is true. HAQQ.

2. "Don't be dissuaded by those who have no yaqeen." This word translates as dissuade but it's like when someone considers someone as light -- easy to change, defeat, vanquish. In other words, don't let anyone treat you that way. Don't be one who will be treated lightly. Don't be like them. Don't be drawn to them. Don't leave your Deen. Don't leave your commitment to your Deen, don't leave the masjid, zakah, your iman in akhirah, qiyamah, don't leave akhirah even to do what's important in this life.

Don't let the arguments of those who don't have certainty about Akhirah defeat you. Don't listen to them. Isbur- patience, the promise of Allah is true.
If we don't show patience in the face of those challenges, we will turn upside down. We will turn our backs to Allah and become People of this Dunya and we will think there's nothing else but this dunya and work like mules and donkeys for it.

Rasulullah said in one hadith: Allah does not love certain kind of people. Parable: A donkey during the day works hard for the dunya by carrying loads, loads and loads. And then at night falls asleep like a dead corpse of an animal. In other words, forgetting akhirah, forgetting salah, dhikr and Allah. All this day hard work for dunya and at night he comes and falls like a mule, a donkey, dead corpse. He does not know Allah and does not remember Allah .

Fasbur.

Therefore my brothers and sisters be patient in the face of these distractions and challenges. We were created in this dunya to live moderately for akhirah. Moderately in every sense of the term and not excessive in any way. We were not created to give all our energies and quality time to seeking wealth and power.

[Jannah]

salam,

sorry i'm cooking and stuff so don't have time to add todays. inshaAllah will add it and tomorrows together, sorry if u were looking for it

wsalam

[Jannah]

DAY TWENTY-TWO:

Allah graced Luqman  with knowledge and wisdom, which means doing and saying that which is right, beloved, good, moral, correct and upright for Allah.

Allah tells us about a scene where Luqman is admonishing his son. What a beautiful thing to do. To have a family of parents and children who's focus is knowledge and wisdom and therefore Allah.  Imagine now if they have a conference, the parents together, a father Luqman has that majlis with his son. Of course, we can imagine that this did not occur just once, but intermittently as the father advises his son. Look at the way he does that. Certainly that son was brought up in the most beautiful and righteous way to be obedient to his parents.

"Ya bunayy..." O my dear son. Not just dear son, it has some gentleness, kindness in Arabic... "AqeemusSalah." Perform Salah.

In other words Luqman was certainly teaching him how to perform Salah and the importance of it. He advises not about dunya. SubhanAllah. Many of us parents, when the children are not doing good in dunya, they feel so bad and feel like they've lost the child. But if the child has dunya and even if he isn't happy, they are happy.

Never does Luqman teach us to advise for dunya. His advice is for akhirah. Most parents all they care about is if they eat, sleep, have houses, are healthy, have dunya. That's all they care about. Subhanallah.

"Wamurbilmaroof." The child has reached maturity and is now at the step of enjoining that which is beautiful, moral, virtuous and upright. Luqman must have been teaching him all of that. The child must have been a learning child. And Luqman must have been teaching him that munkar is evil, immoral. As Allah defines what is ugly and immoral and what is incorrect and evil. Things like stealing, killing, cheating, backbiting, lying, speaking too much, loving dunya, doing injustice, being unclean in najasah, all sorts of evil things. Not only to avoid that, but to prevent that.

Then at that level Luqman says, in the face of this, you're going to find difficulties inside of you and outside of you. You're going to encounter them so therefore be patient, practice patience. Like when someone is bitten by something he holds it and doesn't say a word or make a sound. It hurts but he/she does not show that – that's Sabr.

And so it is with other matters that we face in dunya – emotion, physical, material things, etc even spiritual matters. We should face that with Sabr. May Allah give us Sabr in the face of disease, illness, lack of wealth, poverty, some hardships, all possible ways in life. Verily, it's a resolute person that is able to do that and practice that.

After that, Luqman tells his son: As a consequence of that, don't be arrogant, don't swell your cheek because of what you are and what you have. And do not walk in the earth with excessive pride and arrogance with boastfulness. Don't. Some ppl, because of what we have, what we are, we tend to do that. Some of us sit and walk in ways that are boastful.When we sit don't put one leg on top of the other. Do you see ppl in politics and gov't sitting with their legs together, knees humbly? No, they put their legs on top in a lofty way. So don't do that. Even when you sit, sit humbly.

What do wealth and power do to ppl? It usually makes them arrogant.

A Mumin is trying to see Allah. A mumin does not see people but is trying to see Allah. Whether he walks or sits or speaks, that presence is always there. And he/she is always improving in seeking a greater awareness of Allah .

"Verily Allah does not love the arrogant and the boastful."

We should teach ourselves first, and our children and our spouses not be that way. From the beginning, not to be boastful by what you have, physically, wealth-wise or socially. A person can be strong physically and is arrogant about that and wants to show that. That's why we end up with 'bullys' in school because they haven't been taught humility and that their strength was a gift given and don't use it properly.

Luqman is teaching his child. This is a summary, but what specifics was he telling him? He's warning him by telling him Allah does not love that. It must put an impression in the heart of the child. And the child is one that cares about Allah . He/she thinks if Allah doesn't love that I must stay away from it.

And then when you walk, walk moderately. Don't walk in a way that earth is all yours. Don't walk like a soldier. Don't walk with boastfulness. Walk humbly. And when you walk humbly that means look where you walk. Many of us don't look where we walk and we end up killing so many creatures of Allah because we don't care. We walk boom, boom... and so many spiders, ants are killed unnecessarily

Alllah forbade us from killing all these creatures. If we walk without alertness that's what we'll do. Walk with moderation, moderation in everything, including in walking and speaking.

Not only moderation in speech, but lower your voice. Don't just moderate it. Let your voice be low. Humble. This leads us to those who speak too much, laugh too much, laugh loud.  Allah says all of that is not good.

Then Allah ends that hikmah through the words of Luqman by saying: Verily the most distasteful/hated/worst of sounds is the braying of the donkey. What does this have to do with that? This is a polite way by which Allah is teaching us.

First of all Allah did not say THIS IS... etc and secondly he said it through Luqman saying it. That means whenever we speak loud we are like a donkey braying. Allah does not love loud speech under normal circumstances.


In Surah Ahzab which we finished tonight, Allah emphasizes that famous Ayah that all of us know: Indeed it has been for you a beautiful model in the behavior of rasulullah (s). In modeling everything:  acts, behaviors, acts of the heart and acts of the jawarih outside. In terms of his attitudes and in terms of what he did or said. Do you know who amongst us will take that seriously? To take Muhammad as their oswa (model). Who are they?

Allah tells us: The one who inside of him/her, in his/her heart who has truly desire, hope for Allah and the Day of judgement -- the akhirah. In his/her heart there is a momentum of wanting to be with Allah in this dunya and in akhirah. The person seeks akhirah. A person who is like that WILL take Muhammad as their oswa.

Secondly someone who makes dhikr often – katheerah. The person who is often in dhikr of Allah . These are the two characteristics, signs, ishaarat that Allah mentions that would indicate to each one of us in ourselves if we truly seek Muhammad as our oswa or not.

May Allah let us be of those who truly embrace the way of Muhammad.

[Jannah]

DAY TWENTY-THREE:

Bismillah...
Allahumma rabbanaghfirulana dhunubuna....

We have read a few surahs tonight and last night. We have finished Surat Yasin, Saffat and we're going to finish Saad. In those Surahs, there are plenty of powerful, beautiful lessons and events in the lives of the anbiya of Allah .

Perhaps the most powerful of these events that are related here is that of our father Ibrahim and his son, our father Ismail . A story indeed of love for Allah , of full ubudiyyah to Allah swt, of full surrender and obedience to Allah, of reverence and obedience to the parents, of purification and cleansing of the hearts. Also, of the divine ways by which Allah does what he does.

Ibrahim after long trials, many trials with his people moved from his homeland the land of Ur to Philistine. Trials upon trials, his steadfastness was unmoved in the Tawheed and trust in Allah. After all of that,  in his old age he still had no child. So he turns to Allah in dua. Goes to Allah with the fullness of his soul, with his heart and mind.

And said: "I am going to my Lord." That going is the full going of his qalb, soul, mind, his living towards Allah. Imagine that. Please take time to think of these things. Think of you, each one of us, in our daily life, what we do, the struggles we encounter. What is our degree of focus in Allah in every aspect of life, in every second, whether it is secular or sacrosanct, mundane or religious. Look at it. What is the degree of focus? The degree of focus in prosperity or poverty? Relative to that of Ibrahim it's probably zero, insignificant.

He continued in that steadfastness in his living. At that old age he asks Allah for a child. After having gone fully to Allah . A person almost at 90 years of age, and asks Allah to give him a child at that age. Who would do that? First of all, people don't do that because there's not enough yaqeen, iman, fullness of the qalb for Allah. For Ibrahim it was normal. For zakariya it was normal, but not as normal for Ibrahim. Ibrahim is the father of tawakkul, tawheed. So at that age he asks Allah for a child.

Allah answers: I will give you a child that is haleem. (patient, persevering and forbearing). A haleem person does not respond to rudeness with rudeness or disrespect with disrespect. A Haleem person responds to rudeness not with patience, but with kindness.

Even when young, the boy was haleem. Now when Ibrahim has the child and the child reaches the age of discernment, he walks with his father as a young boy.  Allah is telling us he reached the age of Sayy, walking and working and acting in obedience of Allah performing ibadah. Like the sayy of ibrahim with his heart.

Apparently that child reached that way to Allah very early. This is a subtle indication that Ismail reached the age where he was going with his father to Allah. Allah told us that. With what was he going to Allah? With his Qalb. That's how we go to Allah. In the same surah: "He came to his Lord with a heart that is saleem."

So Ismail reaches the age where he is subhanAllah qurat, qurat al ayn. A child going to Allah with amazing spiritual maturity and moral beauty. So when he reached that level and state, Allah loved Ibrahim so much he told him with vision. The dreams of anbiya are wahy revelation,  Allah tells him sacrifice.

Imagine that kind of child, so Ibrahim goes to that child and tells him. Now if this was a regular child would he go and tell him: "Child, look I see in a dream that I am slaughtering you. "  No, because the child was a very, very special one. So Ibrahim told him about the vision. Imagine that. Imagine what that means to a child. He was not just a child. That child was very mature spiritually with his awareness of the meaning of life, Allah, akhirah and the spirit. His father knew he was at the level of being told that, so he told him.

Another expression of how much Ibrahim saw Ismail's maturity is when he said: "What do you think, what is your opinion what is your view?" And the response came of a child, he said: "O my dear father, Do as thou are commanded. You will find me InshaAllah from the Sabireen." (Those who show perseverance, constancy and patience._

The scene continues in ways that are indicating the child has a high spiritual level. When they both have surrendered themselves. How hard is it for Ibrahim to do that and how hard is it for the son to accept that. They both accept it. They ARE the fathers of Islam, the fathers of istislam. Indeed OUR fathers.

So he turned him on his forehead. Subhanallah. Imagine that scene. It is said in some traditions so Ibrahim doesn't look his son in the eyes and doesn't weaken. It is said Ismail said that: Father turn me on my forehead so you don't weaken in your resolve to execute the command of Allah. Then he goes to do the act and the fullness of his heart mind and soul is given to Allah. Ismail's fullness of heart and soul and mind, limbs are given to Allah. When that happened, in a blink of an eye Allah's intervention came. He said: O Ibrahim you have fulfilled the vision. Because indeed your qalb, soul, mind, limbs, and Ismail's truly surrendered. The act was already done in their hearts and minds and souls. That's why Allah said Qad saddaqta ruya. You have indeed fully fulfilled the command of the vision.

"So verily We will always reward the excellent ibaad, righteous ones of Allah" .

Says Allah: "This indeed has been the most manifest of trials."

Look at that. Then as you know, Allah ransomed the child with a ram. Not only that, but after that, what did Ibrahim and Ismail become. Did they remain the same human beings like they were? NO, they became even greater human beings, closer to angelic realities. Allah through that act and through their sabr gifted to them and increased their iman and yaqeen and cleansed further their hearts and had more love for them and they had more love for Him. He cleansed their quloob from all the ailments that plague us human beings by that.

That's why it's said: "Sabr in the way of Allah in the face of calamities." Sabr is the fire that heats the gold and silver and melts it so when it is melted, it is easier to cleanse from impurities. And so it was done and thus Ibrahim is called by Allah, the father/progenitor of Islam. 

My dear brothers and sisters, sometimes when Allah loves an abd very much, he takes away from him that which in the world that abd loves very much.

So that when he/she shows sabr Allah brings them even nearer to Him and closer to Him and gives them more barakat in their lives and hearts.

May Allah cleanse our quloob, purify us, bring us always nearer to him, save us from all trials, tribulations and calamities. We do not ask for that, but if He chooses to do that to us, we beseech Him to grant us, with that, patience and forebearance.

[Jannah]

DAY TWENTY-FOUR:

May Allah make the Quran, to all of us, truly the garden of our hearts.

May Allah give that to all and especially to those who have a speck of desire for Allah. May He increase us and give us the energy and resolve to read and study and live by the words of His Book.

Allah tells us in Surah Fussilat about the message that he sent to ppl before us like Ad and Thamud and as he was addressing Quraish he tells us something extremely powerful, unusual and moving.

That is: When He will gather the enemies of Allah, the enemies of iman, of faith, of truth, of God, of righteousness, of goodness, the evil-ones, the bad ones, the wrongful ones, the idolotars. When He will gather them all and one by one they are collected. When they arrive around the fire of Hell wa authobilllah, their own hearing, sight and skins will speak and testify against them.

Then they will say flabbergasted to their skins: How and why did you testify against us? The skins, sights, the cells will speak and say: It is Allah who makes everything speak and utter words and use any logic of its own. He is the one that made us speak. He's the one that Creates everything. Then the skins and cells will continue to address us. They will say: When you were in this dunya you did not pay heed, feel bashful or shy about the fact that your eyesight, your skin would testify for you. You thought God did not know much of what you do. That same view that you had, has caused you to perish this day.

Wherever I go, my brother, my sister, can I go there without my hearing, without my eyes, without my skin, my body? Can I do anything, say anything, be anywhere without me? SubhanAllah. It is recording . Everything is recording. Wherever I go.

Let us come to Allah. Let us repent to Allah .

Let us be aware of this. Let us try and struggle in our family life, at home, at work, at school, in the street, with neighbors, let us try to live in awarness of this fact: that we are being recorded whatever we do wherever we go. Our skins record, our sight records.

Let us pay heed.

Let us read this Quran with humility and humbleness, not with boastfulness and arrogance. With humility and humbleness and with a desire to know and be nearer to Allah. My dear brothers and sisters there are only a few more days left to this beautiful month. 5, probably. And that is it. Let us take as much from the days and nights left to turn to Allah as we can.

I remind you dear brothers and sisters to pray for yourselves and for me.  And pray that Allah creates an awareness of Him within us and inside of us.

[Jannah]

Day TWENTY-FIVE:

Today and over the last few days we have been reading a series of Surahs that have a common theme: the Quran.

Ha Mim.... (reads beginning verses of all Ha Mim surahs)

Therefore the emphasis is there on the Quran. It's as though if we recite Quran like we have been (1 juzz a day) on these last nights it leaves us to focus on the Quran. Every year it's left to grow and light our hearts.

Rasulullah was inspired with every divine beauty. He was the living manifestation of the Quran in every sense. Anyone who wants to look at the Quran without him "has gone indeed far astray."

Allah concludes Surah Shu'ara by saying the Quran is a spirit, a soul. The Quran is a RUH. "We've revealed to you a Ruh." A Ruh is a source of life and without it there is no life. If there's no Quran there's no life, no haqiqah of live without which a human being is not a human being. The more Quran I have, know, understand and reflect upon, the more I have of 'life'.

The second characteristic Allah gives the Quran is NUR. Nur is the catalyst of life. If there was no light one arth there would be no plants, no human beings. Without Nur we can't continue life. It's the life with which we can 'see'.

A second reflection tonight:

When Firawn (an arrogant liar who lived as though he were god) died, Allah said: "The heavens and the Earth did not shed tears for them". In other words, good riddance. But look at that beautiful description. Allah teaches us in our Deen that everything has life and worth in ways we don't understand. The Samaa sheds tears and misses the mu'min and the righteous.

When a righteous person dies the place where he/she used to make dhikr and pray misses them. This is a Hadith of Ali . Heavenly space-time through which deeds are raised to Allah also misses the person.

Wherever we walk on the ground, through mountains, it is said parcels of ground talk to each other. (Last night remember we learned about how the cells will talk.) They ask each other: Today, did someone pass you in dhikr of Allah? The one who did is thought by the others to be privileged.

Allah has wonders and divine knowledge no one can acqure about the unseen, the other parts of 'life' that share it with creation. This is what our Quran teaches us. So what should our attitude be towards it? It should be to read, memorize, understand it. It should be our daily diet for our minds, souls and intellects.

May Allah give us that Maqqam, that He gives to his very special Ibaad.

[Jannah]

Tonight we recited Surah Ahqaf, thereby finishing the Ha Mim series. Of the many other Surahs we're reciting tonight, Muhammad, Fath, Hujurat, Dhariyat, we can't pass by mention of Muhammad without speaking on it.

In Surah Hujurat, Allah tells the believers about the rights and etiquettes with Rasulullah and how our attitude should be in all matters.

Number one it says: O you who believe... and then a literal translation...Do not present between the hands of Rasulullah...and be Allah Conscious, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. This metaphorical expression means in Arabic taqaddam - to go before Rasulullah and for that matter before Allah. That is in his presence, do not speak before he speaks, stand before he stands, sit before he sits, or do anything before he does.  Lest it be rude or will lead to the good deeds of a person being invalidated. When one loses adab and respect to Rasulullah so they will lose the worth of their deeds as Allah says. Because usually the habits of people who lack adab are rude with other ppl, impolite, greedy, arrogant, 'liberal' if you will. That certainly shouldn't be our attitude towards Rasulullah .

Secondly: And do not, O you who believe, raise your voice above Rasulullahs. Even the tone. And was Rasulullah loud? No. He was very moderate, towards the soft. Once the Sahabah learned this they changed drastically. Especially the new Muslims who used to call loud 'O, yaaa MUHAMMAD!' from outside.

Umar sometimes spoke loud, even Abu Bakr once when there was a disagreement. But when this ayah was revealed, Umar, the strong, the mighty, when he spoke Rasulullah would have to ask him to repeat it because he couldn't hear it.

One time after the death of Rasulullah, at his Qabr, two men were speaking very loud. Umar was khalifah and he came and admonished them for speaking so loud and asked them where they were from. They said Taif. And he said that if they were from Madina he would have hurt them because they should know. This is respect, reverence and love.

It helps us tame our nafs because our nafs is arrogant. Because we do it in Rasulullah's presence, maybe outside of that we will learn it.

Rasulullah is with Allah, he died, so how do we not raise our voice and not come in front of him? Rasulullah speaks to us all the time. When we are told what he said, is our reaction humbleness, respect, learning, reflection? Or do we not care, don't change? If so, we are knowingly raising our voice before him.

Thabit bin Qays, after this verse was revealed didn't come to the Masjid. Rasulullah, he noticed that and asked what happenned to him? A Sahaba volunteered to go to his house to find out. He found Thabit with his head down. "I am one of the people of Hell", he said "because I raised my voice to Rasulullah. I can't face Rasulullah." The Sahabah told the prophet and then something very special happenned. Rasulullah knew Thabit and said "No, go tell him 'You are one of the people of Jannah. You are thankful and you will die shaheed'" Thabit replied, "I have accepted the tidings of Rasulullah and never again will raise my voice over yours." Anas, who reported this Hadith, adds that 'We used to see him walking and knew this was a person of Jannah.'  During Yamamah, Thabit died as Shaheed.

The point here is that it was his habit to raise his voice normally, naturally. Part of Mujahidat-an-Nafs is that we are in battle against our own habits that we've developed, cultural, personal -- as long as they don't conform with Sharh or what is beautiful in Sharh.

Look at these companions! They said I will not do it anymore even though it was natural for them.

May Allah forgive all of our rudeness and change our habits. May He beautify us in our hearts, our habits and our behavior.

[Jannah]

Day TWENTY-SEVEN:

I pray that we are here tonight for the pleasure of Allah . For verily these are words and intentions and therefore it's always essential to orient our hearts, minds and souls to Allah . That's number one. And number two that Allah always gives us the resolve, the strength, the desire to be in obedience and worship of Allah , for indeed the night of Qadr is better than 1000 months as Allah teaches us and Rasulullah teaches us when talked about lailatul qadr in Ramadan.

Anyone who misses the good, virtues, blessings, reward that are in it, hen such a person has indeed missed Allah. The person who has been deprived of lailatul qadr has been deprived by the goodness of lailatul qadr. Such is a true deprived one. This is the meaning of what Raslullah said.

'Anyone who is deprived of the good of this night is most likely a person who is forsaken by Allah during this time'

Lailatul Qadrin Khairin min Alf ishahr

It is said that rasulullah, sahabah, taiboon have said, in accordance to hadith through imam mujahid that in the early times of the early children of Israel. It was said to them, there was a Muslim among them who for one thousand nights used to be spending the night in qiyaam and ibadah non-stop until the morning. Most of the day he was in jihad fee sabeelillah. For 1000 nights he lived like that. When the companions heard that, it is said they were amazed. They thought: what can they do? Allah gave the Ummah of Muhammad one night. And if they are in full commitment in that night then that night is worth more than what that righteous man accomplished.

It is also related through Imam Malik, it was made known to Rasulullah to see the spans of life and age of many individuals and nations before him. And some of those nations and people had long spans of life. So Rasulullah compared to the span of life given to individuals of his ummah was relatively short. He felt grieved in a sense that those early people had long spells of life, during which they had the privilege and opportunity to be in ibadah of Allah, more righteous deeds, righteous ibadah than the ummah of Muhammad.

Then Allah gave this ummah through Muhammad one night during which if one is in ibadah, amal acts and works of obedience of Allah. Then that will be worth more than 1000 months, something like more than  83 years

"Allah ordains what He will" He said in the Quran, master of time, space, things physical, spiritual, moral, aphysical. He decrees what he will. What a great rahmaa : one night... one night. Especially if we become more aware of what it means to be obedient to Allah. What it means to love Allah, and be loved by Allah. The special type of love, not the type of love Allah has for everyone. His general love and rahmaa is for everyone and everything, his special hubb, special hubb is for his ibaad. Those who understand that know they can achieve in one night what some would achieve through everyday ibadah during 83 years or more.

During this night says Allah , the malaaikah descend, tanazallal malaikah. Special angels, more angels and Jibreel – ar-rooh, to the lower dimensions of creation of Allah. With them more barakah, love, compassion , mercy and rahmaa also descend with them. Salamun heya hata matla al fajr. Peace it is indeed that night, until the break of dawn. In other words that night is a night of peace. All of it. Until the break of dawn. So has Allah decreed.  It is peace in every sense. Do we have the receptors to detect, feel that? Do we have the hearts, quloob to feel that peace or not? Shaitan also has been deprived from his actions and his influence on the ibaad that night. IT IS ALL PEACE. Salamun heeya. Says Allah . Peace it is until the break of dawn.

When we know that. If we understand that, who would like to miss an instance of that. Instant after instant, put together is worth more than 83 years of ibadah... who wants to miss that. But there are some of us that miss that and WANT to miss that. Because they simply don't know out of ignorance, or don't have the information or hearts to understand and feel that info.

So like a child who knows he has something in his hands, a precious jewel but he doesn't know the worth of the jewel so he plays with it like he would play with marbles. Anyone who is deprived of the good that is within it is THE DEPRIVED.

My dear brothers and sisters,

When is it? Is it tonight. Maybe. Is it tomorrow? Maybe.

There are many texts that teach us about lailatul qadr. Each text tells us what the narrator heard perhaps in answer to some questions. When we put all that together from hadith that are very serious, it could even be first, second, night of Ramadan, odd nights, even nights. Any time during Ramadan. As a matter of a fact there is one opinion Imam hasan al basri? That it could be in the entire year, but most likely during Ramadan. All of a Ramadan. And it should be awaited for, most likely in last ten nights. And most likely odd nights of the last 10. And of those odd nights, most likely the night of the 27th.

So the question is, those of us that started sawm on sat (when it was impossible to sight the crescent, but ppl don't know and followed what their leaders told thme, it is they who will be held responsible...maybe their ijtihad was wrong...) so the question comes when is lailatul qadr? For those who started on sat, their 27th was last night. So when is it? The answer to that according to what companions, taabioon taught is that, it's all right. It could be any night. Therefore be in ibadah, ijtihad every night of Ramadan. If you truly are serious.

Rasulullah [saw ] ,you all know my dear brothers and sisters, used to be in full itikaaf in the masjid to teach us and also during his last noble year, he had itikaaf for 20 nights. That's another indication. And when he is in itikaaf the ibadah he used to perform regularly, those nights he was in special ibadah, doesn't sleep almost and in the masjid in his itikaaf he was not in conversation only when it was necessary. He had a special tent for himself where he enters alone. He goes out for salah and goes back. In full focus in ibadah to Allah . And he was who he was.

For the person who is serious about this, are we as serious about so many things? Of course, this depends on our extent of yaqeen. If someone is told, work for me for 1 day and I'll give you the wages for 83 years... how bout 60,000 dollars, the person would leave everything right: father, mother, children, anything... because in that case there is yaqeen. He sees and he hears and knows the person has and can do that.

But we who do not have yaqeen do not see with our hearts what Allah says to us. We do not see with our hearts akhirah like rasulullah. We are not interested, not AS interested.

So then perhaps as many ulema say, the hidden beauty sirr that is here as to why rasulullah did not point out specifically, equivocally to point out the exact night. As a matter of fact in one text he was made to forget it. And according to some, they say it moves during Ramadan during the last 10 nights. One year could be the 25th, the next 29th, next 21st and so on.

So in what is remaining of tonight, and this is the beginning of the night. May we re-orient our hearts and minds to this goal. Remember we have so many dhunoob, violations we have committed, in violating the rights of others. Maybe tonight is the night. Let us take it seriously and keep focusing, in ibadah. Focus in salah. Try to bring your qalb in salah. Struggle to do that. Maybe if we struggle tonight, just to be present in salah, maybe the gift of this night is that after that it will be easier to focus in salah.

We never know what gift for Allah will be to the ibad. Maybe tonight, the next day tomorrow I'll end up to be a generous person when before I was a miser. Maybe the barakah of this night, if I orient properly, maybe the gift after that will be patience and before that I was an impatient person and it was difficult for me to be patient. Or the gift could be to be quiet and before that I used to speak in vain. We never know what the warid, spiritual gift on the heart will be for each one of us.

If we take that seriously, my dear brothers and sisters, let us ask Allah to constantly help us with that. ALWAYS be in dua, always be in dua. Concentrate on your dhikr. This is not the night, actually no night is the night for superfluous thought.

This is the night. This could be THE night worth 83 years as rahmat to Allah. Keep that focus, dua, dhikr, samt. And inside you should be concentrating on Allah, and your acts. How will I face Allah? How did I do this year? Keep going try that.

If we do that well, one night even. Well after that it will be always... that could be one of the spiritual gifts that we will love to be alone khalwah in spiritual solitude and alone with Allah. But it won't come without struggle, The nafs will always want to stop and do what it does habitually. When you struggle against that, it's rewarded by Allah . It is easy for Allah make easy what we used to struggle for.

[Jannah]

Day TWENTY-SEVEN PART II

Alhamdulillah, Allah has permitted us to be still up in ibadah seeking his nearness and ridah. Wa lillahil hamd. May Allah complete his favor upon all of us. It's very special at this moment right now. Because this is Ramadan, the last 10 nights, this is an odd night, this is a night of Jumah. And it's almost 2 o clock which means this is the last half of the night. And we are entering the last third of the night. And every night during the last half, last third of the night Allah manifests Himself to the lower dimensions in a way only He knows. He manifests Himself every night at this time. And He and His divine attributes are beyond human understanding.

He calls upon His creation "Is there anyone who invokes me, seeks forgiveness from me, seeks repentance, anyone who calls upon me? That I can give them?" This is the time, this is Ramadan, a night of jumah and an odd night. This is a special night anyways. Those of you who are still here, get another breath of energy it is worth it. Wallahil atheem it is more than, worth more than a trillion dollars. If someone came to give me a trillion dollars right now wallahil atheem I wouldn't take it.

What is with Allah remains Allah remains forever.

What is with you will come to an end.

And what is so special about Lailatul Qadr. What is the most special thing to do? Dua, seeking forgiveness from Allah. Allahumma innaka afuan, tuhubbil afua, fafuanni.

Allah you are the one who often pardons, please I beg of you, pardon me.

For istighfaar, seeking forgiveness from Allah is a wonderful ibadah.

Said rasulullah , "O what an excellent abode awaits the one who on the Day of Judgement will find in his/her records plenty of istighfaar asking for forgiveness".

Rasulullah and Allah taught us so many ways to seek His forgiveness. Amongst many ways is Sayyid al-Istighfar. He taught us that beautiful dua. Know it and repeat it brothers and sisters and repeat it daily.

And Allah inspired servants of this ummah of Muhammad with such a wonderful sincerity and genuineness to ask Allah for forgiveness. And asking Allah for forgiveness we need to be sincere and truthful. We do not deny we did a particular sin or sins. We remember that and expose our hearts to Allah and in our solitude, our hearts and tongues express all of that to Allah. And we ask Allah to forgive us.

Allah wants, as a gift from us, that we acknowledge with sincerity, we don't hide. We don't try to cover what we are. We don't try to be defensive. Not like when human beings talk, argue, counter-argue. Don't do that with Allah . (don't do that with human beings either)

And strip yourself and your heart naked in front of Allah , for He already knows. And look what some ibaad used to ask of Allah. This is a wonderful collection attributed to Hasan alBasri.

(reads some duas from Forgiveness book)

[tq]

Assalamo elikuim
Jazak Allah khair Sr.Jannah for these Indeed lovely ramadan reminders. I have been reading them all daily. I hope there will be atleast two more

Wasalam
tq

PS: I dont know but it looked to me that wednesday night (i.e night of 27 if you started fasting on sat, was lilatul Qadr-  I was telling my husband this also that the next day i..e Thursday the weather was so perfect and specially in the morning it was very very peaceful(one of the sign of Lilatul Qadr) - does any body else notice anything like that?)

[Jannah]

salaam all,

28th night was in NYC experiencing taraweeh down there.. see my ramadan journal to be posted tom night inshaAllah in the 'Ramadan tent' forum (& guess what they had one down there too!)

wa iyyaki tq

[dhikra]

where are you?

I know I am being selfish at this point ...but I can;t help myself 

[Jannah]

wsalam,

i was in a lailatul qadr program, just got home right now.. just for you i'm gonna type up the notes here inshaAllah... so i expect some good duas... btw did anyone see the sky this morning!!! subhanAllah... lailatul qadr was definitely the 29th this year

[Jannah]

DAY TWENTY-NINE:

This is the 29th night of Ramadan. It is a night to invoke Allah to give us sidq and ikhlas. May Allah lead us to Him and in truthfulness to Him.

Of what Allah says to us in the Quran from what was recited to us tonight from Surat Mudathar, Allah is describing a scene from the Day of Judgement. The ppl of Jannah have sight of the people of Hell who are called Mujrimoon – criminals.

Every soul is captive by that which it believes, the values that which we do, say, or act upon.  Allah says those either free us, jail us or hold us captive.
Allah says that every Nafs is captured by that which it earns. In this particular case it's about those who's abode is the wrath of Allah and jahannam.

Freedom is the ultimate freedom of the heart and opposite to that which makes the heart narrow, anxious, locked, impatient and insecure. Freedom in akhirah is when we have true freedom. True freedom from the effect of dhunoob in our lives.

So the 'Ashabul Naeem' are in Gardens. They enquire about the people who are criminals. They ask: "What has caused you to be driven into Saqr?" Saqr is one of the names of Hell, wa authobuillah. Hell has inimaginable types of punishments that only Allah knows.

So then somehow there is communication. We can see them. Allah makes an invisible barrier that saves those in jannah from the effects of those in jahannam.

"What has driven you into Saqr?"  Look what they say. Part of what drives ppl in Hell is this: "We were not among the prayerful". Not among those who performed salah, prayed. That's number one.

Here let's pause and remind myself and my dear brothers and sisters of something. There are cases where there could be salah, but his or her salah is worth nothing. (As rasulullah teaches in some texts) We could come to salah but not be in salah, if we're in a hurry to leave or our minds are entertaining everything outside. "We are not of the prayerful." Salah means Fajr, Zuhr, Asr Maghrib, Isha. That means 5 of them on time, regularly, with proper attitude and shuroot and at least the struggle to be with Allah in our hearts.

Number two. They say: "And we used to not feed the poor."SubhanAllah. I leave that to you and me. Do we feed the poor? Do we have a share in what we have for the poor? Do we make that as part of our daily normal life? That we share, feed the poor, the homeless, the destitute, the needy, the poor?

Allah describes the people of jannah in other verses such as in Surah Ma'arij: The people of Jannah are:
1. Musaloon 
2. Those in who's wealth is an assigned share for the beggar, the destitute and the needy.

So they said, the criminals, mujramoon: "We used to not feed the poor."

Number three. "We used to argue amongst those who argued." Al khawd. For example, two scholars of advanced mathamatics are discussing something at a high level and a junior comes and doesn't understand truly but comes and starts arguing with them, that's khawd. I come and talk on an issue and I don't have secure, verifiable knowledge about it and I disagree and talk.

We argue about the way of the deen, about God, the existence of God, jannah, naar, values, haram, halal, moral, immoral. About whether we're right or wrong, about what is happiness, misery, who is happy, who is miserable, life after death is there such a thing, on this means this, this means that, logic implies this or that... etc. The result of which is to diminish the reverence to God and values, in the minds and hearts of man.

We end up Ittibaal huda, following our own inclinations, whims, dislike, likes, our own philosophies inside of us that we like, which is not consistent and doesn't agree divine values.

Number four. "And we used to deny the truth of the Day of Resurrection." They said it 'didn't exist', 'Tales of the Ancient', 'medieval talk', 'backward words'. That's khawd too. They'll say: "We used to deny the truth of the Day of Judgement UNTIL yaqeen came upon us. Yaqeen here is death. Allah calls death yaqeen, certainty, because death brings certainty. That's part of the balagha of Arabic, to give a name to something that isn't it but what it leads to.

When we die we will see that which we believed in and did not see with our eyes, we will see it then with our naked eyes. And that will be yaqeen. "We used to deny truth and all of those things until yaqeen, death with its certainty came upon us."

Then the intercession will be of no avail or benefit to them. No father, mother, ally, wealth, power will be of any use. As Allah says in Surah Haaqah. Halaqa anni sultania. "On a day when he/she will say My wealth has been no avail to me." My power, wealth all that I seeked in dunya cannot intercede.

And then in dunya look at them. The ultimate outcome of what happens to them started here: When there is dhikr of Allah about islam, about sharh, khair morality, halal, haram, good or evil. When there is this discourse on sawm or salah, "They turn away." They don't come to those majalis, those mushahid of birr and khair. They'd rather keep away and do something else.

And Allah says: "Why do they turn away from tadhkirah as though they were wild donkeys who see a hunting beast and therefore run scared like that?"


May Allah bring our hearts all together and focus them on Him .

May He teach us, show us and give us the energy and desire to do and actualize what we know. 

May He make that which we know in our heads to descend into our hearts so it becomes embedded and as natural as our blood, flesh and bones. Let it be mixed with us so that we do what Allah loves in ways that are so easy and lovable to us as they are to Him.


(ok going to pass out now... w'salaam )

[dhikra]

EID MUBARAK TO ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This topic was the best ramadan gift for me.  There were many hidden lessons and I hope that I keep these lessons with me.

May Allah (swt) bless us all with benefical knowledge and the yearning to seek the path which pleases HIM (swt) most). Ameen.

[Jannah]

Day THIRTY:

Alhamdulillah we've completed the Quran

We ask Allah to let us live by it and have a longing and love for it.

In this last juz of this Quran in its innumerable meanings that are very powerful and essential and very beautiful. I will share with you a reflection or two asking Allah to guide our hearts and tongues.

In a Surah that we recite often, every witr at least, Surah Alaa, Allah says: Qad aflaha man tazakka... wa dhakarasma rabbihi fasalla

The one who has tazakka will be the one in serenity, peace.

The one who zakkah nafsa, cleanses, polishes, purifies, purges his own nafs from dhunoob, sins, disobedience, tendencies and inclinations inside of us that harmful, extreme and evil, wrong, towards Allah and towards His creatures,  the person that cleanses their nafs from that, that's the path of success. That's falah. Note this the person who seeks and struggles in this life to attain this. This is actually the aim of his/her life. He/she wants to be successful. Do you want to be successful??

To most of us, what is success? Maal jaah... (wealth, power) Allah says qad aflaha man tazakkah. You want success let's cleanse the nafs from anger, hate, kibr, riya, conceitedness, delusion, lying, the opposite of haya, greed, the opposite of contentment, ignorance, shirk, attachment to elements. The people who work on that and have that aim and struggle for that THEY are the ones who are THE successful ones, in this world, in THIS dunya before akhirah. That is success in this dunya. That will lead the qalb to be purified, beautified. And therefore to be in peace, and security no matter what happens.

Number two: "Consequently, therefore such a person will be in dhikr of their Lord." Dhikr by tongue, heart, attitude and therefore will be in salah. Salah salah salah...

"For salah has been made to establish dhikr of Allah "

Salah and dhikr, a lot of that. In other words, the core, garden, trees of this person's life, largest space of their life is this. In the midst of that, there are dots and points of doing the other lawful, good things of this dunya. Not the opposite. But look what Allah says after that. "Bal..." Bal in Arabic means like 'however'. It means, for you,  that's not what you do, like, push for, aim for. "You prefer life of this dunya" you prefer wealth, pursuit of wealth and power. And that's where your quality time is spent. That which makes a person more resolute is that which gives the eye coolness. Bal.....it's very powerful. I'm telling you this, but you do otherwise, and continue to do otherwise. SubhanAllah.

Allah talks about matters of dunya, prosperity in one of the Surahs in this juzz, Surah Adiyat. Nowadays the human being has an intense attachment and love for things like cattle, yachts, leisure, etc. Allah says as a result of this, the human being verily when it comes to his Lord is kunood. That means during hard times, uncomfortable things, tribulations, calamities he remembers Allah, but when it comes to ease, good times, he very quickly forgets Him. He counts and remembers only what he perceives of bad.

Wa akhirah khayran wa abqa.. "The home of the hereafter is better" It is abqa.. eternal.

My dear brothers and sisters, we recite that Surah every witr at least. That sSurah is filled with beautiful things. We conclude our day and our night with it to remind ourselves of that

May Allah free our quloob. May Allah, by the baraqah of this Ramadan, siyam, qiyam accept it from us first, though it is very very defective. We ask Allah to accept that from us, for He is Generous, Magnanimous. May Allah make that a means for forgiveness and liberation of our hearts from the yokes of the greedy selves inside of us and May He forever reorient our hearts to Him until we meet Him. May our hearts always be oriented towards Him in love and desire for Him and having lived in this life, a life that is serene, happy and successful.

Allahumma salli ala Muhammad wa ala aali Muhammad wa sahbahi ajmaeen.


(May Allah forgive my mistakes in conveyance. May you all benefit from these notes, inshaAllah. Allahumma taqabal minna wa minkum.

Until next Ramadan.... Walaikum Salaam Warahmatullah Wabarakatuhu)

[Jannah]

Salam,

I've moved the thread into this forum so it can be read during the year.

[Jannah]

bumped for soemone who was looking for these...

ws

[Jannah]

Salaam,

These are finally up in a nicely formatted version on the jannah.org/ramadan page. check it out inshallah and direct your friends to catch up!!   


http://jannah.org/ramadan/lovelyramadanreminders.html