Ramadhaan Twenty Nine: From the Light of the Quran

Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem

Alhamdulillaah

Today may or may not be the last day of Ramadhaan, but since the Start of Ramadhaan
we have been discussing some Ayaahs in the Qur'an, and I hope we have all been learning from it and that it has helped to increase our interest and motivation to engage more with the Quran and build a better relationship with it.

the prophet SalAllaahu alayhi wa sallam gave us a beautiful advice, He said;

"Ya Ahlul Quran, - O the people of the Qur'an

La tatawassalul Qur'an,- don't be lazy with the Qur'an/don't turn it to a pillow

- wadhluhu haqqa tilaawatihi min aalaahillayli wannahaar,in any hour of the night and day, Read it as it deserves to be read, (follow it as it deserves to be followed)

- wafshuuhu and Spread it

when you love something you spread it until people start asking you about it, and you start giving them a share of it and they begin to love it too.

and He continues,

-wa taghannauhu- and beautify your voices (with the Qur'an)

-wa tadabbaru fiihi- and reflect upon it

-la'allakum tuflihuun- So you may become people of success

may our Ummah grow and become successful through a sustained relationship with the Quran. Aameen

Ramadhaan Twenty Eight: from the light of the Qur'an

Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem

[Suratul Asr]

So Allaah tells us not just how to give the advice but what it should be...

He says Bil Haqq - this means we have to give advice Truthfully, the advice has to be true, and not just that but our reason for giving the advice has to be true as well. we don't just give the advice so that we have the feeling of been better or anything, we give the advice sincerely and it has to be the truth.

and He says, Bissabr- To patience/steadfastness, and this also means patiently...

when we see each other slacking, doing wrong we encourage and advice each other to keep on going, "keep moving you can do it" wa Lal akhiratu khayrun wa abqa, the akhira is better and more lasting. we encourage each other to be more patient in trials, and also we encourage each other patiently, we don't give up on each other easily.
Sometimes it requires a great deal of strength of character to say the truth to some people and to persevere in calling them to the truth. but we have to do in order to be successful.

so its --> Believe+ do good deeds+ advice to the truth/truthfully+ advice to patience/patiently

Nothing short of that if we want to be a part of the exception.

And here's the catch, All of these are in past tense although we didn't mention it at first, its "except those who believed, did good, adviced....." till the end of the Ayaah.

have you figured out why yet??

it means we can only be considered an exception from those who are in loss after our death, having done these four while we were alive.
we cant consider ourselves safe from this kind of loss while we are still alive, so its a struggle we must continue till Allaah takes our lives. And then bi idhnillaah it can be said, "they believed, they did good,...etc and hence they are the exception" may Allaah make us among the exception and have mercy on us.

To be continued in sha Allaah...

Ramadhaan Twenty Seven: From the light of the Qur'an

Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem

[Suratul Asr]

we talked about the first two requirements of what would make us part of the exception, To believe, and to back it up with good deeds

but Here's the most beautiful part, the last two requirements, Allaah says "wa tawasaw bil haqq, wa tawasaw bissabr" -and encourage each other to the truth and encourage each other to patience

in essence what this means is - its not just about you.

Allaah's telling us, yes ofcourse you need to first realize you're in danger, try to help yourself out, BUT don't forget those around you. you should help them too.

Islam is so beautiful. it inherently calls on us to care about others. And in doing so we have to start with those closest to us, our family, close friends and it expands.

and the word "tawasaw" comes from "wasiya" which means Advice, and not just any advice but one that is heartfelt, one that softens hearts and touches emotions and that's the kind of Advice Allaah's telling us to give, kind heartfelt advice to each other to the truth and patience.

And this word, it also means a mutual kind of advice, so its advice we give to others and are by ourselves ready and willing to accept. we don't just give but we take the advice as well.

The lesson here is, we must never feel that we are in a position that makes us better than others, and makes us *un-advicable*. we must always be ready to take advice just as we give it, it should be a mutual thing. And we should give advice just the way we would like others to give it to us.

To be continued in sha Allaah...

Ramadhaan Twenty Six: From the Light of the Qur'an

Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem

[Suratul Asr]

So remember what we said the first requirement is?

--> to believe, and then second is what naturally comes as a proof of that belief- Action/Good deeds.

So now we understand that we could be in serious trouble, we're drowning in a loss and time is flying away, what can we do?? do we just relax and do nothing?? if so you'll wonder if we really really believe in the first place right??

Our belief means nothing if its not manifested in our deeds.

And here Allaah uses the word "Saalihaat" which actually means deeds that fix/correct

it means doing deeds that fix the situation we are in, the errors we are constantly making, the problem we are immersed in, these deeds will fix US so we are no longer the losers and become those that are saved at the end of the day.

so a mental exercise for this is "what are the things i do in my day that need fixing?"
these could be the way we speak, spend, earn, our relationship with our parents/family and other people, our Salaah, what we watch, what we eat...our relationship with Allaah in general...

for example when you ask for forgiveness you're fixing the wrong you've done, in a broader sense when we speak kindly/truthfully, earn honestly, take our Salaah seriously, etc we're fixing our Akhira...

and this word also, As-Saalihaat is in plural and it denotes that they are just a few, so its like saying "those who do the few good deeds that fix"
Allaah is not asking too much from us, just a select-few things that correct the way we live our lives and make us better people; successful in this life and the next in sha Allaah

To be continued in sha Allaah...

Ramadhaan twenty five: From the light of the Qur'an

Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem

[Suratul Asr]

So the second & third part of believing are to believe in the Message, and the afterlife.

we have to be truly convinced that this book is REALLY the truth, and if we do then we have to makes changes.

we need to develop a sense of consequence and urgency because we know the Akhira is serious business and how much effort we make directly depends on how badly we want to be on the good side over there, how badly we don't want to be punished.

And you know, its a gift from Allaah that he gave us a graphic description of the fire so we can be terrified enough to not even want to see it, so we can have the sense of urgency to want to be saved from it.

and yet again, He gave us the description of Jannah too so we can long for it and not want to miss out. Alhamdulillaah

may Allaah save us from Jahannam and admit us into Jannaah by His mercy, Aameen

To be continued in sha Allaah...