Keeping Oneself Focus & Concentrated

It is important to keep oneself concentrated on a particular thing. When a person starts something, he can only achieve his goal by dedicating his mind and thought to it. This statement could serve as a definition for what concentration is. This type of mentality is what Allah Ta’ala has advised the Believers to hold. He says straight away in Surah Fatihah,

“Guide us on the straight path.”

These words are a supplication and if a person makes this statement then he has consequently asked Allah Ta’ala for guidance and help in achieving the ultimate goal – Allah’s pleasure which results in Jannah. Mustaqeem (the straight path) is the road from the womb of the mother to the delightful pastures of Jannah and a Muslim constantly keeps himself motivated in prayer by these thoughts of the happiness of Allah Ta’ala and Jannah.

Thereafter, it is very important to keep oneself motivated in doing this. A person who is adamant on achieving a goal will continually spur himself on to get to the end. He will say sometimes in his mind or even out aloud, “Come on! You can do this!”... a funny incident has just come to my mind which is similar to this. Once, my respected Ustaadh had called me to help with some work. I had a feeling the work would take a long time to finish so I ate biryani, salads etc all to my stomachs fill and then came into his service. Being the compassionate and caring person he is, I came into his service only to find pizza, chips and drinks laid out on the table. Due to my intense love for him and his happiness, I could not say, “Ustaad, I have just eaten.” So I sat and began to eat on a full stomach and I kept telling myself, “One more slice! You can do it! Who’s the man? You are!” Alhamdulillah, I finished whatever was given to me and Maulana was pleased that I had eaten well too. All’s well that ends well. Had I not encouraged myself, I would have hurt Maulana’s feelings and would have shown disrespect to his kindness, generosity and courtesy. A student who hurts his teachers will always find himself neglected of attaining true knowledge.

Similarly, a Muslim motivates himself during the day but he does not realise it. We recite Surah Fatihah in every unit of every obligatory prayer and as a result of this, we recite “Guide us on the straight path” twenty times each day (excluding sunnat/nawaafil). Though we are not conscious of it, this is constant motivator for the soul and nafs (desires). When we are so punctual on our prayer, our nafs understands this ‘motivational talk’ of “Guide us on the straight path” even better. So in accordance with this statement, the nafs becomes inspired and spurred on to do greater works in helping a Muslim attain his Jannah.

For a person who is neglectful of his prayer; he is in essence neglecting himself of this impetus which is found in Surah Fatihah. As a result, his motivational talk becomes the whisperings of Shaytaan khabees and the whims of his desires. These constant inner murmurings will then spur him onto do Haram and the result of constantly doing Haram is Jahannam.

It is therefore important that we keep our mind focused on our goal. If the satisfaction we get from completing coursework and worldly hardships is such then what will be the type of satisfaction we will get from entering Jannah?

When the inhabitants of Jannah enter Jannah, Allah Ta’ala wil say to them, “Do you wish Me to give you anything more?” They will say, “Have you not made our faces bright? Have you not brought us into Jannah and saved us from the Hell?” And Allah Ta’ala will remove the Veil. The (dwellers of Jannah) will feel that they have not been awarded anything dearer to them than looking at their Lord.”

May Allah Ta'ala keep us focused on our beneficial goals and make us from the dwellers of Jannah. Ameen

Tricks Of Shaytan

1. The first thing Shaytaan does is, he takes out the importance of obedience out of us and puts the importance of the worldly issues (dunya) within us.

2. The second thing he does is to makes us delay and procrastinate the good actions for now. Like praying in congregation at the appropriate time, abandon following of Sunnah till old age,
not acquiring company of pious, and not making immediate repentance (taubah) etc.

3. The third thing he does is that he makes us rush through all good deeds. That may lead to abandoning the essential (wajibat), Prophetic practice (sunna) and desired (mustahibat) components required.

4. The fourth level of his trickery is that he puts ostentation (riyaa’) in the actions being done.

5. The fifth level trickery is that he puts vanity (‘ujb) in us. That is self admiration for the actions already accomplished.

6. The sixth level of Shaytaan’s trickery is that he injects us with the poison of doing things for fame (hubb e jah). That is for the approval and admiration of other people.

7. The seventh level of his trickery is to maximize our self admiration to a level that we start looking down on others. This is arrogance (kibr) - the mother of all spiritual maladies (umm al-amradh).

May Allah save us from these deceptions of Shaytaan. Amin!

Adapted from An-Noor and Ashrafiya

Brief Stories and Haalaat of Seeking Knowledge and the Akaabireen #2

The following I have translated from "Zafrul Muhasileen Bi Ahwaalil Musanifeen". It is an excellent book for students of knowledge to read and extremely beneficial.

Imam Raazi rahmatullahi alayh would become extremely sorrowful at the time of eating as he would no longer be engaged in attaining Islamic knowledge. So much so that he would say, “I swear by Allah! At the time of eating I feel so sorrowful from being disengaged from knowledge. Without doubt, (the utilisation of) time is magnificent.”

The madressa Sheikh Abu Ishaaq used to study in had 10 flights of stairs. On every staircase, Sheikh Abu Ishaaq would read his sabak 100 times. By the time he got to the top, he had read his sabak 1,000 times. Now, where is this effort today? The state of the common folk became such that when Sheikh Abu Ishaaq travelled to Kharaasaan, whichever big or small district he went to, people came out in their masses to meet him and every working person would place their prized possessions in the transport Sheikh was using.

Hafiz Abul Qasim Sulayman ibn Ahmad Tabraani rahmatullahi alayh passed away 360AH. He spent 33 years travelling around and sought knowledge from 1,000 scholars. Despite this, his thirst for knowledge remained till his death.

Hafiz ibn Taahir Muqqadasi rahamatullahi alayh would never ever use any form of transport when travelling for hadith. He would take the job of transport and conveyance upon himself alone. At times of difficulty, his urine would be blood (due to his situation and lack of food).

Ibn al Maqri rahmatullahi alayh relates: I travelled to 70 destinations to acquire a document (written) by ibn Fuzala. The external appearance of this document was such that even a baker would not exchange one chapatti for it. (i.e. to some it may look so poor but he still went for it.)

Qadhi Thanaullah Panipati rahmatullahi alayhwould spend his bedtime in the obedience, worship and prayer of Allah Ta’ala. He would read 100 rak’at every day and would have the habit of finishing one Qur’an per day in his tahajjud prayer.

Imam e Adab, Sebuwee rahmatullahi alayh started his search for knowledge in fiqh and hadith. At this point, he did not have much of a connection with Nahw (syntax). During this period, Sheikh Hammad ibn Salamah would narrate hadith. One day, Hammad used the words, “laysa AbAAd Darda radiallahu anhu” and Imam e Adab had written down, “laysa AbUUd Darda radiallahu anhu”. Thereafter, he (Sebuwiya) recited this hadith to other listeners. Sheikh Hammad instantly spotted his mistake and said, “Do not recite the hadith incorrectly! It is ‘laysa AbAAd Darda radiallahu anhu!'" At this, Hazrat Sebuwee felt so sad and made a firm intention in his heart that he will learn that topic (Nahw) that will prevent him from making many mistakes. As a result of that, he began to seek knowledge upon Nahw and he studied with such firmness and determination that many students came after him would refer to him as Imam e Adab Sebuwee Nahwee.

May Allah Ta'ala give us the ability to tread in the footsteps of our Akaabireen. Ameen.

Poetry: Anger

I am not sad, unhappy or depressed. I am angry.
Veins pumping, blood boiling, it’s all raging within me.
Misunderstanding is my fuel and ignorance is my lighter,
It sets alight inside of me a fire ready to cause disaster.
A mind which has drunk from the glass of distress,
Has a heart ready to hurt all those who know less.
That’s why I am no longer sad, unhappy or depressed. I am angry.
I am stuck behind a thousand locked doors and I have lost the key.
I feel so lost without You, I am wondering around the banks of misguidance,
Where do I turn when every path is proving to be a hinderance?
A body that has lost the will to be a pillow,
All softness has been removed from me, I now feel hollow.
So what should a person do when all he can see is red?
And finds it hard to forgive people before he retires to his bed.
A body that circulates hate from within,
Every shout, strike, swear results in a sin.
My tears of anger are enough to burn the bonds of relation,
To the extent that old friends have suffered identity mutilation.
So what good is sight if it remains blinded from correct judgement?
If the mind is out of place and can’t make the right arrangement?
Now what does a man do when belligerence becomes an addiction?
And his hostile heart disappears as if it was a part of mere fiction?
The answer is between the choice of standing up and sitting down.
Between smiling and giving a frown.
It is between the light of Islam and the darkness of rejection,
Between the heat of a hostility and the coolness of ablution.
It is between a foul word and a Prophetic prayer,
Between the sound of madness and the trickle of a tear.
It is between loving and hating,
But truly... it lies between forgiving and forgetting.

UNIVERSITY EXPERIENCE

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Seeing as my two friends Abdul Baasit and Abdus Subhan have written articles about university, I thought I would also write something as I too started a while back. I am writting this article to tell you about some of the fitnahs and issues that the youngsters of today are facing in universities from my personal experience.

On the Day of Qiyamah , when the sun will be above our head, there will be seven categories of people that will be under the shade of ALLAH, and one them people will be that person that spent his youth in the obedience of ALLAH.

We see nowadays that many youngsters spend most of their time chilling , enjoying 'the good life' but this is only in this world and there will be nothing for them in hereafter. The reason that people nowadays are living this type of life is because they do not know the real reason why ALLAH created us. ALLAH says in the Quran, "I created mankind and Jinns only to worship Me", of course we can have our aspirations of becoming a doctor or a businessman etc, but the true purpose is to worship ALLAH.

We also see in university how people change. They see other people doing haraam acts such as clubbing, drinking , smoking and they will go with the flow. A real Muslim is that person who stands up against something that is bad and haraam, he doesnt 'go with the flow'! Us youngsters face a lot of fitnahs in university, but we need to learn how to be strong and how to protect ourselves from these fitnahs, if we seek refuge from ALLAH and seek ALLAH'S help we will find the strength to keep away from these fitnahs. Being strong doesn't mean that you can beat up some one, being strong is when you see people going towards that haraam, but within yourself you know it is wrong and as a result of that, you stand up against it and abstain from it.

Us youngsters should realise that death can strike any second but unfortunately we have been blinded by the beauty of this world and we start doing things that are against the will of ALLAH. The rememberance of death will keep you away from any bad actions that you have the intention of doing inshallah. A good book to read is 'The Rememberance of Death' by Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Zakariyya rahmatullahi alayh. We should always think about death, who will be by our side, how our last breath will be, will we be in pain, where will we die, in what state etc. We should think about how people will give our dead body a ghusl, then tie us in the white sheets and then place us in the mud and leave us in the darkness of the grave..

By staying away from the things that are haraam ALLAH will be please with us. Being at university myself, I see how hard it is for a person to practice his deen and to stay away from fitnahs, the best things we can do to stay away from fitnahs is to be with people that remind you of almighty ALLAH. Inshallah you will then find it easy to keep away from the bad things that are going on in university. We also need to choose our friend wisely, if you are with good people then you are most likely to do good actions but if you are with people that smokes drinks and goes clubbing after a while you will be following, so that why it is very important to choose our friends wisely. Click here to read more

This is just a small summary of what has been mentioned in the two previous articles, inshallah it will be of benefit

May ALLAH give all of us guidance and help us to stay away from the fitnah of this world and may ALLAH forgives us and grant us JANNAH. ameeen