My Heart Finds Ease

The biggest blessing about living in an Arab country has got to be being able to hear the athan… wallahi as much as i try to express my love for just hearing the athan from my window, hearing the iqama, and sometimes on a good day hearing the whole prayer being lead on loudspeaker .. i just cannot put words to my love for it. 

 أرحنا بها يا بلال

“Relax us with [the prayer] O Bilal”

A lot of people ask me where is nicer ‘Canada’ or ‘Jordan’ .. each place has its up and downs, but putting just the ease my heart gets hearing the athan on a scale to my love and patriotism to the ‘West’ its basically equal if not more. 

Till now my eyes tear when i hear the athan, because not only do i hear the athan from the mosque beside my house, but i hear the athan of the mosque a couple blocks down, and the one further and the one farther than that. 

There is something ‘magical’ i guess you can say just by hearing the athan. I mean Salah of course in general, is a break out time of our busy lives, but the athan its self, the tranquility it fills your heart with, is just .. astounding. 

Whenever the Prophet sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam felt sad he would go and pray. And he sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam would say to Bilal, “Relax us with [the prayer] O Bilal.” Its a serenity. The calling of prayer in itself is a beautiful way to approach salah. 

For me, not only is it ‘athan’ but i feel like it sums up my life, in a few minutes…

I testify in the greatness of Allah, and i testify that Mohammad is his prophet and messenger. Salah, the first thing i will be judged for on the day of Judgment, i ran to it, i leave everything to go to it, i love it. Falaah (success) is what us simple humans aim for. All i want, all i need is to be successful. All i do, all i run after is success in this life and the hereafter. 

Alhamdulilah <3

Whom do I cry too?

Life’s hard. It isn’t supposed to be a piece of cake, and thats where i find the beauty of it. The ups and downs, the smiles the frowns, that is what keeps life more worthwhile. But sometimes it can get really hard…

Sometimes you feel like you’ve lost all control on what you thought you had going on right. You think you’ve got ‘control’ on your life, you’ve got it all planned out, but things go wrong, and thats well… life.

If it was easy, if we were perfect, if disasters and bad days didn’t happen, it would not be life… Thats how we grow, how we learn, how we love. Life. Oh life.

But there are days worse than others… days where all you want to do is sit in bed and cry, you feel like everything is crumbling in front of your eyes. The years, the sweat, the tears, the joy, all gone to waste. Everything … just bam… gone.

You want to scream, you wanna cry, but you don’t know to whom. You don’t want to hurt the ones close to you, you don’t want to cry to people whom look up to you, you can’t cry to yourself because that hurts your self esteem, you don’t wanna feel like you’ve lost it.

Sometimes, we forget the bigger purpose in life. We forget that our relationship with Allah is what matters, our realtionship with our Creator is what needs mending… He’s the One we need to cry to… without shame and without any hard feelings.

Just sometimes, you gutta cry to Allah. Realize that it is all in His hands, subhanahu wa ta’ala… Its such a beautiful thing actually… cry to the One whose got it all planned out for you, the One who knows you best, the One whom you can cry and cry and not feel bad for doing.

قَالَ إِنَّمَا أَشْكُو بَثِّي وَحُزْنِي إِلَى اللّهِ وَأَعْلَمُ مِنَ اللّهِ مَا لاَ تَعْلَمُونَ

I only complain of my grief and sorrow to Allah (Yusuf: 86)

 Ayub, alayhi asalaam, didn’t cry to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala ‘angry’ or ‘mad’ at what is happening to him. Nope. On the contrary, he cried because no one can solve his problems, no one can help him, no one can ease his pain except Allah.

When you cry to Allah jala wa ‘alaa, you cry for answers, you cry for utter peace in your heart, you cry because in the end of the day no one can help you with your problems, except Allah.

So cry. Do it. Man up, and cry. But cry to Allah, not angry at what is written for you, but cry because that is the only guidance you need.

Cry, it will make you feel better

Hello

Bismilah,

I really want to get back to blogging, so inshaAllah this is the beginning.

EEK i’m excited

After my Midterm

One of the biggest things i don’t get is cheating. I just don’t understand how a person can degrade themselves to such a level and cheat. Cheating in every sort of way, cheating in relationships, cheating in money, but for the time being my biggest shock is cheating in school.

I don’t really recall many people cheating when i was in Canada, but coming here for university, i realized SO MANY PEOPLE CHEAT! And i just cant understand why! i’m in a muslim world… HELLO people! *sigh* The prophet alayhi asalaam said: “Anyone who cheats us is not one of us.” [Muslim] Okay, maybe people haven’t heard this hadith, or have but don’t completely understand it. For me, put aside that i’m studying Islam as a degree, but this hadith since i remember hearing it in grade 7 makes me feel pity for myself, and pretty much sad. Imagine the prophet saying ‘you’re not one of us’… imagine? :S subhanAllah, may Allah protect us all.

I was writing a midterm today – Seerah midterm – and the girl beside me starting whispering my name. a) i don’t cheat, period. b) comon, this is a seerah midterm, if u wanna cheat at least major in something other than deen! When we came out she was like ‘DANIA, I wanted to give u the answer!’ My reaction was basically jaw dropped down, face in utter disgust. How could she? i basically said to her that i’d rather give in a blank exam then cheat on one question.

Can you imagine cheating on your exam? Deen, medicine, geography, biology, whatever it is, you cheat on the exam – good for you. You get an A, hooray. Then what? You get a good job! Okay, mabrook. Then what, you get an income… how halal is that money do you think? Then you start a family, the money you’re getting them, from the degree that you cheated to get, just because you were either too lazy to study, or wanted the so called ‘thrill’ of cheating. Rethink your life. That’s what it comes down to … cheating on an exam to some people is so 3aady, no biggie, but thinking about the bigger picture and how you might be affecting the rest of your life. Can you cheat your way out of the judgment in front of you Lord, subhanahu wa talaa.

This is just a reminder for myself foremost, the trap of shaytan is too darn ugly to get caught in.

SAY NO TO CHEATING!

 

 

Marhaba vs. Salaam

Bismillah,

One of the biggest things i’ve noticed about people here is their greetings. No one anymore uses salaams as a greeting, rather they either say ‘Marhaba’ or ‘Hi’ or ‘Ahlan’ – and its driving me NUTS!

The definition of salaam is peace. And the definition of as alamualykum wa rahmatuallah – Peace be upon you.

Ibn al-Qayyim said in Badaa’i’ al-Fawaa’id (144):

“Allaah, the Sovereign, the Most Holy, the Peace, prescribed that the greeting among the people of Islam should be ‘al-salaamu ‘alaykum’, which is better than all the greetings of other nations which include impossible ideas or lies, such as saying, ‘May you live for a thousand years,’ or things that are not accurate, such as ‘An’im sabaahan (Good morning),’ or actions that are not right, such as prostrating in greeting. Thus the greeting of salaam is better than all of these, because it has the meaning of safety which is life, without which nothing else can be achieved. So this takes precedence over all other aims or objectives. A person has two main aims in life: to keep himself safe from evil, and to get something good. Keeping safe from evil takes precedence over getting something good…”

Imam alNanawi said that using salaam is sunnah wajibah. Obviously after saying salaam you can go on with the ‘good morning’ & ‘ahlan’ dealio. I feel like people really underestimate the power of the salam, the barakah it has to bring, and the value of it in Allah (swt)’s eyes. Salaam is bringing the peace and blessings of Allah, what better greeting between muslims do you want, and yet we tend to repalce it with hi/marhaba etc. And then when you wanna say ma’salaam or fee aman Allah etc, people say BYE. *insert loud scream + pulling of hair*

I competely refuse to say marhaba and stick to my salaam, but what is more outragging is when you say salaam and it is replied with maraha or ahlan. I wanna start a move with making little buttons/bookmarks/bags saying ‘and spread peace amongst you’. Even the angels will greet the people of jannah with salaam, what more do people want!

Sigh, maybe i’m blowing it out of proportion, but i ask Allah aslsaam to send down His mercy on our people and to allow them to fully benefit and realize the benefit of spreading the beautiful greeting of salaam amongst each other.

Has anyone else realized this in arab countires or between muslims in general?

Allah shall guide me..

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