That Fajr Prayer

Assalmu alaikum, May peace be with you all. In the name of Allah, the most kind, the most merciful. May His choices, blessings and salutations, salaah and salaam be upon the Beloved Nabi Muhammad  , and may we also benefit from these blessings, ameen,ya rabil alimeen.

The pursuit of happiness begins with Salaah, so let our days begin with Salaat al Fajr.

I was scrolling through Instagram the other day, and came across this account called @fajreminders. Initially I followed the account, because I am a bit of a quotes fanatic, but I soon realised, these were more than quotes and inspirations. I’ve highlighted a few inspirations below.

Follow @fajreminders on Instagram

This post is merely a reminder for us to cement our intention to rise for Salaah.

As humans, we love our sleep! But if Allah is saying “Salaah is better than sleep”, then certainly, we should abandon sleep for His pleasure? The way is see it is two – fold, because in pleasing Him, isnt He Loving you? Rewards to the maximum!

Aisha R relates that Rasulullah S said “ the two rakaats of fajr (the Sunnah) are better than the world and all it contains”

 

Is it then not understood that we should be rising before the sun to offer this prayer to the Almighty before walking our dogs and donning expensive suits and elegant dresses, coffee in hand rushing through the traffic to participate in the world? Surely, if we start with Fajr, we will have the mercy and blessing of the One who commanded us and our days may just be a lot easier. It is also said in a narration, something to the effect that, we should place our worldly requests before Allah at this time, for He will take care of them for us. So will you rise before the sun and breathe the pure dawn air? So let’s be active participants in our religious obligation as much as we are in our worldly obligation.

We live in a society where we wake our kids up for school, but not for Fajr

We call ourselves muslim, and we do as commanded, but what about inculcating these habits in to our children? We know, that we have a responsibility to look after the children entrusted to us, from the Almighty. We don’t want them to fall on the playground and scratch their precious knees and we want them to raise the trophy at the end of the year #firstprize. But what about being the shining trophy in the eyes of Allah and kneeling on the ground before Him? If our kids are habitually waking up for school, but not fajr, we have failed them and our Lord. Yes – it may not be compulsory on them now, but it will be in the near future, why not make it easy for them to habitually rise at the call to prayer to please their Creator from the earliest age of understanding?

 

What is heavier? The Gym Bench or the Blanket for Fajr?

Please don’t give up your gym routines! Those are very helpful guys, but waking up a few minutes earlier and training your soul before your body is the ultumate option. The best form of exercise is salaah for the mind and the body. Our strength is in standing two feet firm on the musallah, in kneeling and bowing with full concentration on Allah and His command, Magnificence and Praise. The blanket is less than 1kg, let’s rise and raise the bar in obedience to the Nourisher, Sustainer and Provider.

theres just one more that i want to point out and that is,

Only the best may come from pleasing Allah

 

Allah never ordains that which may be harmful to us. So for those of us that have concerns about a lack of sleep, the idea has certainly been planted by Shaytaan and cultivated by our busy lives and nafs – think jihad an Nafs!

Fajr is designed to begin the day with light and with life, with positive energy and the presence of the Angels. The early morning sets the tone and energy for the entire day, and by beginning the day in the best possible way, in prayer and meditation, in spiritual practice, you will bless your entire day with barakah and noor, blessings and light.

Early morning is a blessed time and most conducive to spiritual awakening and the cultivation of consciousness, for while the world sleeps, the spiritual beings arise and assert that “prayer is better than sleep,” that consciousness, transcendence and divine purpose are greater than heedlessness, unconsciousness and loss of purpose.

I leave you asking that today, we all make the intention to observe the Fajr Salaah and that we ask Almighty to open our eyes and allow us to rise before the sun and all the birds and animals which awaken to praise HIM, In sha Allah

 

Some tips:

1. Eat Healthy, Eat Light: Light and healthy meals cultivate consciousness and feed our positive energy, whilst heavy unhealthy meals contribute to lethargy and laziness.

2. Sleep early with intention: Give your body the love and care it needs to obtain its maximum purpose for your maximum benefit. Our souls are housed by our bodies, we need to care for both in order to please Allah. Sleep in a state of purity, in wudhu and with intention to rise for Fajr salaah.

3.  Meditate daily: Center your mind, train your spirituality to enter every crevice of the mind and fill it with concentration and love for Allah and His invitation to meeting Him. A command is less burdensome, when you Love the commander.

4. Muhasaba: Take account for your day in Dunya,and you will have ease in answering in Akhira. Keep a conscious record of your worship and your spiritual growth and goals.

 

 

 

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A few Steps to Success!

“اهدِنَــــا الصِّرَاطَ المُستَقِيمَ”

(Guide us to the Straight Path)

All praises are due to Allah, may His choices blessings and salutations be upon the beloved Messenger.

Ultimately, every time we utter the above line, we are asking for success. This word “success” literally means ” accomplishment of an aim or purpose. And Allah says, Success is on the straight path, and success is with Allah and Success is achieved by doing righteous deeds, not wishful thinking!

With most things in life we need to figure out how to achieve our goals right? Decisions, decisions – but Allah, through his mercy has told us exactly how to achieve this success. He has given us the answers to the final test, the manual to achieve the goal. All Praises are to to Allah, the Master. 

أم بعد

1.  La illlaha Illallah – There is NO God but Allah. To affirm our faith in one  Allah, the Almighty. Nabi SAW says, There is no form of remembrance of Allah which is better than “La illaha illallah”. 

2.  Muhammad SAW, – Love Allah and love his Messenger. so we need to learn and practice the sunnah of the beloved. So those who believe in him, honor him, help him. And Allah says that in  respecting and honoring Muhammad , and following the light which has been sent down with him, the Qur’an and the revelation Sunnah that the Prophet delivered to mankind, it is they who will be successful.

3. Purify yourself تزكية   – Surely those who have purified themselves are successful. and this is to purify our nafs or striving against the desires within ourselves. Nabi SAW says the greatest jihad is to battle your own soul and fight the devil within you. In doing this we need to stay steadfast and sincere in the remembrance of Allah, which leads us to the next step:

4. And have Taqwa of Allah that you may be successful. Taqwa is more than the fear of Allah azza wajal, it is the consciousness  of Allah in every moment of every thing. I have done a post previously on the literal, technical definition of Allah – to refrain for His pleasure. And when you doing for Allah, and you try for his pleasure, Allah Loves you. So remember Him and hold on to the fear of disappointing Him. Because when you love someone, is it not the fear of disappointing your loved one that leads to your best action for them? towards them?

5. Establish Salaah. The call to Salaah in itself is a “call to success”. Allah is telling you, asking you, begging you in his call –  come to Salaah, come to success.  The action of Salaah is most loved to our Master. We are closest to Him in our Sujood, by doing the most beloved actions and humbling ourselves to Him, surely Allah loves us, surely those whom He loves, He guides and as we said, His guidance equates to our success. 

6. Our Actions, and I conclude with this, Allah tells us how to act, how to be close to Him. He even tells us what to avoid. How merciful is He? So avoid (strictly all) that (abomination) in order that you may be successful.) He says further “So enter houses through their proper doors, and have Taqwa of Allah that you may be successful) Intoxicants and gambling, and Al-Ansab, and Al-Azlam are an abomination of Satan’s handiwork. 

We are told to enjoin Al-Ma` ruf (all that Islam orders) and forbidding Al-Munkar (all that Islam has forbidden). And it
those who are the successful. All of what is Haraam and what is Halaal is clearly defined for you to practice upon and for you to refrain from. 

And lastly, remember that everything is from Allah, the Creator So remember the graces (bestowed upon you) f rom Allah. ”) in reference to Allah’s favors and blessings) in this life and the Hereafter, surely there is success for a believer who follows the commands of his Lord.

 Guys, these are just basic steps we can take in our every day lives to help us attain Allah’s pleasure so that he may guide us and keep us firm on the straight path. Allah guides whom he wills. 

I am almost certain that everyone reading this is human, and no human likes to lose, right? so lets try to obtain the highest level of success in the eyes of the one who is the Majestic and Almighty. It is Allah’s standards we need to strive to achieve. The one who created this world is telling us that in comparison to the Hereafter, the world is but drop compared to an ocean. So – what we should be concerned about is that we get the blessings and comforts and luxuries of the ocean. 

And Allah knows best!

Do it gracefully

xx

 

REFRESH!

My Prophet, OUR Prophet, My Muhammad, May Peace and blessings be upon him once said ” The Greatest Jihad, is to battle your own soul, to fight the evil within yourself. ”  

We can conquer the battle, as we all have the natural disposition, to DO good, BE good, WANT to be good, it’s just that there is always that whisper telling us, “we already good enough” or “tomorrow is a better day to start” – to recognize THAT voice, is half the battle won. 

Our Imaan, my Imaan, is weak, we have lots to do in this world to gain the best of Akhira, but how do we go about attaining the best results as weak creation? and Especially because we have this constant battle that occupies our hearts and minds?

Hit REFRESH!!

What I mean by this is, lets clean out our hearts so that when you invite Allah and Islam in to the beautiful walls of your heart, there is no reason to leave, Would you like to spend even one night in a crappy broken down hotel room? Didn’t think so ya’ll! So how can we invite this Islam in to our hearts when it may be cluttered with the filth and dust of the world which we carry with us? Ofcourse – we need to secure dunya, but our primary objective is securing the best of akhira, Inshallah. 

So when i say ” Hit Refresh” what I am saying, is turn to Allah, for Allah loves those who turn to Him. What I am saying, is that we should affirm our faith at every given opportunity, so that we become strong enough to battle the nafs and desires that distract us. 

Just as we find so much satisfaction in downing a refreshing drink on a hot summer’s day, let’s find that same satisfaction in this kalima, لآ اِلَهَ اِلّا اللّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُوُل اللّهِ.  La ilaha illa-llah, Muhammadu-rasulu-llah… There is no Allah but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. Let’s make the intention, each and every day, that Ya Rab, we want to renew our faith today. Ameen! 

By removing all that is negative – La Ilaha, illa-allah and affirming that there is ONLY Allah, we can remove this love for dunya, and invite this love for Allah in to our hearts. And yes, we are weak, but if we keep refreshing and we keep turning back to Allah, we will be successful ameen, ya rab. This is love. Allah’s love. 

So arm yourself with intention to refresh, persevere with your nafs, use this kalima and keep turning to your Allah. And, Inshallah this battle will subside and we will be the victors of our nafs. 

Remember, the more we affirm our faith, and the closer we get to our Allah, the closer we are to our natural disposition and the easier it will be to fulfill our highest good, ameen ya Rabilaalimeen ❤

JUST DOIN’ MY NAILS

Not to be making any “red”  and  bold statements – but lets just be “clear”, nail polish is not a “haraam” act, but we need to consider why its considered a “taboo” within some islamic cultures.

Ablution & Prayer, Wudu & Salaah – These are the actions that are obligatory on us and it is said that the reason why this whole nail polish business is “taboo”. So essentially, the nail varnish, polish, enamel coats the nail and no water can pass through right? so how is your wudu complete and your salaah valid. This debate has been ongoing for eons and rightly so. Tested and proven and advertised – Nail polish coats the nail and that that for purposes of this discussion – is strictly not allowed in wudu & salaah.

Okay so – INGLOT developed a range of breathable O2M nailpolish,with no knowledge of the above and it suits us all fine, We can paint our nails and take wudu and perform salaah, but, then there’s the question of “what if I die” (a friend of mine says – only muslims ask this question frequently and so we must!), if you die, well, no one can remove the nail polish, as no chemicals are allowed in ghusl and do you really want to meet your creator wearing something you aren’t really sure is allowed or not? or put simply – you arent really in the  “natural” state you were meant to be in when meeting your creator, it is a pretty scary and involved thought!

Anyway indications from the Jamiat are that your wudu is incomplete,  even with the new developments and breathable status of the nail polish. Note: This isn’t a ruling and its not haraam, it is a guidance from our leaders –  My suggestion is to stay away from the “grey” area,  but what are the options available?

The good news is that you can use henna (i see you, rolling your eyes – but this was encouraged by the Prophet, may peace and blessings be upon him) and of course there are other brands in the market which have been developed, and if you really want to be ‘doin your nails’ there’s is a brand called Tuesday in Love. This Canadian Brand is breathable and allows water to pass to the nail and is also peel off – score! Check out their website for more info – http://www.tuesdayinlove.com

Keep lookin’ pretty but whatever we do, lets do it with grace and haya, and remember Innamal a’malu binniyat, actions are dependant on their intention.  May Allah give us the understanding, Ameen,

xxxx

 

What’s your excuse?

So this morning I, like many others, considered “calling in sick” for work. For no real reason at all, except that I was a tad bit lazy to leave the comfort of my warm bed. And just then, the thought of my boss, looking at me with judging eyes and asking for that doctor’s note, was enough to get me out of bed and in to my car and – at my desk just before 8am. My point? #dunyaproblems

But it got me thinking, how many times are we going to be able to pull the “doctor’s note” out for missing our salaah and neglecting our obligations as muslims? I mean we will do anything in our power not to miss that boardroom meeting,but wheres our conviction in pleasing our Almighty Allah who loves us? (it’s the coffee – i know)

How can we even think of disappointing the one who loves us? #akhiraplanning

Just a thought…use it, don’t use it… use it though ❤

xxxx