Qiyam al-Layl

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

 

`Abdullah ibn Ghalib Al-Hadani. It is narrated in Mukhtasar Qiyam Al-Layl by Imam Al-Samarqandi that

When the enemy approached (in battle), he would say “What can sadden me in this world? By Allah, there is no happiness in it for the wise one. By Allah, were it not for my love of spending the night in prostration and placing my forehead down before You. O Master, in-between movement of limbs and joints (i.e. praying), in the depth of the nights all in hope of Your reward and Pleasure, were it not for this, I would have hoped to leave this world and its people.’ Then he would break the scabbard of his sword and go forth to fight until he was killed. When he was buried, they found the fragrance of musk at his grave and the people began to take the dust of his grave as if it were musk.

A man once saw him in a dream and said, ‘O Abu Faras, what have you done?’ He said, ‘The best of deeds.’ He asked, ‘Where have you gone?’ He said, ‘To Paradise,’ He said, ‘With what?’ He said, ‘By having conviction (yaqin) and standing for long periods in Tahajjud (night Prayer) and suffering from thirst in the midday heat (i.e. fasting).’ He said, ‘And what is this sweet fragrance at your grave?’ He said, ‘That is the fragrance of recitation and thirst.’ He said, ‘Advise me.’ He said, ‘Seize goodness for yourself; do not miss nights and days, for indeed I have seen that the righteous ones attain piety through piety.

 

 

May Allah make us people who enliven the nights with prayer and make it easy for us to persevere in it in the long-term (istiqama) and let us find peace & contentment in the tahajjud prayer. Ameen!

Wisdom

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Sayyidina Ali krwj said, “The one who longs for Paradise will rush towards good deeds; the one who dreads Hell will put an end to his vices; the one who has a firm conviction in [the imminent arrival of] death will lose all his passions; and the one who really knows the dunya will find disasters easy to bear.”

Disappearance

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

 

Wow, its been a while since I’ve even logged in to this account of mine. If it was not for a friend who asked me when I would update again, I might not have visited this familiar WordPress dashboard in a long while.

In all honesty, when I started this blog, all I wanted was to record my thoughts and share my readings or what I learned in various classes and talks. It was a safe, comfortable place for me. Over time, it has garnered more attention than I had hoped. For awhile, I rationalised my decision to continue writing because I prayed that it would bring benefit to those reading.

But when people started coming up to me at talks and asking me “Are you alfaqeer?” or asking me for certain religious rulings hahaha, that kind of freaked me out. For the most part, the girls are really sweet and there are some beautiful souls that I have met through this blog and for that, I am truly grateful. But with all things, the good comes with its evil counterpart. Maybe I never should have included pictures in here, maybe I should take them off, maybe…. Maybe I shouldn’t complete that last line.

In any case, I still pray that whatever that has been written in this blog all these time still brings benefit to others. As always, I apologize if I have offended anybody. Everything here that was not from me, I have included its source so please hold your horses the next time you want to jump on me for “giving a fatwa”. MasyaAllah, I am in no position to do such a thing. Forgive me if I ever even remotely gave that impression. May Allah forgive us and help us towards goodness always.

Some of you may have read this from a link on my facebook, but I still think its a fantastic story and those of you who have not read it, should.

 

 

The Puppy

Published by Sr. Maryam on October 11, 2009

We had just finished dinner and had 20 genay [Egyptian currency] left over from the pool of cash we had put together. While discussing what to do with the money, one of the sisters suggested, “There’s a boy who sleeps outside Awlad Ragab [the local grocery store]. You know, he’s got that puppy! And whenever he’s with that puppy, he’s like the happiest kid in the world.”

I remembered who the sister was speaking of. There was a teenage boy who slept on the grass across the street from the grocery store. There was no trace of family, no trace of money, no trace of anything – just a boy, and the stray puppy who kept him company. “Let’s give the money to him!” the sister exclaimed. Our group began to head over.

From our dinner location, taking into account the number of girls who were with us and the fact that the streets of Cairo are crazy busy at night (Allahu Akbar – God is the Greatest – Egypt, I miss you!), it took us about twenty minutes to get to the location of the boy. But subhan’Allah [God is above all things they associate with Him], he was nowhere to be seen. His puppy, however, was there…and he was thirsty. The puppy had his paws around a closed water bottle, and he was unsuccessfully attempting to open it. Imagine the torment of intense thirst – staring at water at a paw’s length – and not being able to access it despite immense struggle. Realizing his dilemma, we quickly opened the bottle of water we had and began to pour it out for the puppy. The puppy came immediately, drinking the water in huge gulps, not stopping for some time. Finally, relieved, the puppy ran off to play.

We did not find the boy that night. As we walked back to our apartments I began reflecting on what had taken place. We had walked about twenty minutes in search of a specific boy. We could not find him but instead we found a puppy in extreme thirst, making a great effort to access water. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala had written for us to have extra money, helped us remember the boy in that moment, given us the strength, ability and time to take the twenty minute walk to find the boy, and guided us to a puppy who needed our help to drink water. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala had written for us, a group of foreigners from across the world, to have been in that place, at that moment of time, to help a puppy quench its thirst.

Ya servant of Allah who is struggling to please Him, stumbling upon blocks of heedlessness and difficulties… Ya Muslim or Muslimah who is trying to keep it straight, find a job, get married, do well in school, study overseas, deal with domestic issues at home or societal pressures all around… Oh one who struggles to make your prayers, makes effort to complete your fasts, fights to lower your gaze and preserve your chastity… If that is the Mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala on a small puppy, that He subhanahu wa ta’ala would put all these things into place to help quench the thirst of a creature amongst His Creation – then what about the Mercy of Allah, The Most High, The One in control of everything, on you, His worshipper?

“So flee to Allah…”

(Qur’an, 51:50)

From suhaibwebb.com

Get your tickets now!

I am selling student tickets should anyone want to get them from me, especially those in NTU! Pass the word around please.

Its not Goodbye.

Original Spiritual Comrade

“Tamally maak
We law hata ba eed ainy,
Fe alby hawak.”

“I am always with you.
And even when you’re far away from me,
Your love is in my heart.”

/

Can you tell she’s smiling? :)

For the person closest to my heart,
who emulates the Prophet SAW in her mannerisms and akhlaq, masyaAllah how I will miss you so, and am already missing you now.

May Allah preserve you and your husband while you both travel in search of ilm for His Sake. We will meet again. InsyaAllah soon. ♥

Please keep Imran Anggulia & Fakhrunnisaa’ Firoze in your prayers. (And me too, because I am such a crybaby.)

:P

Achy-breaky heart

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

MasyaAllah, how apt is it that my last post was about a graveyard. I have just lost a man more important to me than I would ever admit it. I wish I had told him that I cherish him, that I miss him when I don’t see him in a while, that he had the best voice and the best laugh ever.

Please read al-Fatiha for Shaykh Zakaria Bagharib, who passed on on Friday morning, 6 Syawal 1430H. His absence is still yet sinking in. I know he is in a happier place. I didn’t go to the cemetery on Friday as the women stayed at his place but the men who did go said it smelt fragrant. :)

I’ve never lost anyone to death before. I know I’d find out one day soon enough, I just didn’t think it was going to be him. May Allah give us all the strength to live without him in our midst and be patient until we meet again insyaAllah.

For my spiritual father;

“If I could get another chance
Another walk, another dance with him,
I’d play a song that would never ever end
How I’d love love love, to dance with my father again”

♥

23

Am feeling undescribable peace in my heart while looking at the pictures of the tombs of saints. Like a sister once shared about her trip to a graveyard of awliya’ in Yemen, “you feel like you’re walking in a garden, not a graveyard.”

Ohh how beautiful True Life must be for them now…..