Resolution 2 - Dua Update & Other Resolutions

Alhumdulillah, so far so good. I have been trying hard to make dua regularly and it's been going pretty well. Most days, I am making dua in sajdah after almost all prayers. I'm also trying to make dua regularly at other times like just before salaah at prayer time.

There's also a book that comes highly recommended about Dua. It's called "Dua - The weapon of the Believer" by Sh. Yasir Qasir. I haven't read much of it so far but for those who want to learn about the art of making dua, the importance of making dua and many other things, it's a really good place to start.

Here is an excerpt from the book:

12. Leaving Du'a is a Sign of Laziness
The Porphet (saw) said:
The most incapable (or lazy) person is he who does not make du'a, and the most miserly is he who does not give salam.
How true are these Prophetic words of wisdom! For what energy does it take a person to make du'a to Allah? And what greater sign of laziness and incapability is there than the one who leaves this act that does not take up any of his time or effort?

Among my resolutions was to also read Surah Kahf on Fridays and alhumdulillah I've already been doing so. For those interested in reading about the hadith on the importance of reciting Surah Kahf. Do check my previous blog post on the matter here. Since that's been going well, I'll update on it next month inshallah.

My next plan is to start praying tahajjud regularly so inshallah, from the month of March, I'll start working on it. I'll post more details and hadith on the importance of it then and why I chose this to be my next resolution to work on.

Paris Hilton did NOT convert to Islam

The (fake) news of Paris Hilton converting has now gone viral. The sad thing is so many Muslims think this is real. The only news websites that have this are satire ones. No legit newspaper has printed reports of this and the only thing people are discussing are how Christians are glad to be rid of Paris and how Muslims are terrorists. Another excuse for people to write about how terrible we are. It's a little annoying.

I think Muslims should be a little smart about it and avoid these discussions or at least arguments. They end up no where because most of the people online hating on Muslims don't really care for an explanation. At best, we can link websites which explain to non-Muslims what Islam is really about. Those who care will do their reading from proper sources.

Errors With Blog

I seem to be having trouble with adding colour to certain parts of my blog posts. Not sure if this is because of the layout malfunctioning or because of the new changes to blogger.

If it does turn out to be the layout, I might be using this moment to switch to a different/new blogger background. It might be a while before this happens but I may be making one myself, inshaAllah. :D

Resolution 2 - Dua

For the month of Feb, my plan was to make dua after every salah. The reasoning for this is, it is well known among Muslims that Dua is the weapon of a believer. And I remember once upon a time telling people to make dua whenever they can. But for some reason, it was never my habit to sit and make dua regularly. So I decided that in order to make it easier for me to build up to making dua after all prayers, I'll start by making dua in sajdah for at least 3 prayers in a day. And that worked much better than forcing myself to make dua after every prayer because sometimes I'm just too jumpy and have so much on my mind about what all I have to do, I don't sit down to make dua or simply forget. *blush*

It was a bad habit which is why it is my second resolution. It's past the mid month mark and although Feb is shorter than other months, it's already working. I decided that if I'm going to be making dua I should try to make it in the best way. So the 2 main things I've implemented are making dua in sajdah and starting by praising Allah followed by making dua for our Prophet (pbuh).

From Sahih Bukhari:

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: The nearest a servant comes to his Lord is when he is prostrating himself, so make supplication (in this state). (Book #004, Hadith #0979)

Narrated Faddalah ibn Ubayd (RA): that the Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: 'When anyone of you makes du'a, let him start by glorifying his Lord and praising Him, then let him send blessings upon the Prophet (SAW), then let him pray for whatever he wants'
[abu Dawud #1481, at-Tirmidhi #3477]

In another hadith; Baqiy ibn Mukhallid (RA) narrated that that the Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: 'Every du'a is not responded to until one sends blessings upon the Prophet (SAW)' [al-Bayhaqi]

In another hadith; Umar (RA) narrated that the Prophet (SAW) said: 'Du'a is detained between the heavens and the earth and no part of it is taken up until you send blessings upon your Prophet (SAW)' [at-Tirmidhi #486]

I've also begun making dua after the azaan. InshaAllah, I'll be updating next month on how much of a habit I've developed and how successful I've been in making duas after every salah.

Resolution 1 - Salah Update

Alhumdulillah, last month I made a resolution to improve my imaan and the way I practice deen and give myself a new challenge each month to completely concentrate on one aspect. January was all about Salah (prayer).

It is a pillar of Islam. A hadith states that the difference between a believer and a non-believer is salaah. It is thus the first thing I wanted to work on. 31 days, 5 times a day. 6 if you consider witr separate.

Alhumdulillah, I was pretty successful. I have to add that praying regularly also really helped my imaan. It's the connection you have with Allah and when you make a sincere intention to do something to be closer to Allah, He helps you succeed.

I also read a really interesting (and long) khutba on Muslim Matters on the matter and importance of salah. I feel that it might be beneficial as a reminder to everyone, perhaps act as a motivation even.

New Year Resolutions - Part 1

Hope everyone had a wonderful start to this new year, inshaAllah. I felt like the previous year just flew by me and I didn't achieve much. So I've decided a make a few new year resolutions to help myself be a better Muslim and whether I achieve much in this dunya or not, I should prepare for my akhirah.

It is believe that in order to make anything a habit, one needs to repeat it over prolonged periods of time. Once you've done it 20 times or more, it will eventually come naturally. Hence, I've decided to spread my new years resolution over the period of next 12 months. This way, it is not overwhelming and it gives me time to practice.

The other benefit is that I have time to concentrate on perfecting this ONE thing and even if my imaan dwindles at any point, I can push myself to just do that single thing instead of trying to do a bunch of things and then feeling like I can't go on.

So here are my resolutions so far:

1. Praying salah at proper times. I wanted to start with salah because it's the difference between a true Muslim and a non Muslim. It's what makes us different. It's also the way we connect with Allah. Unfortunately, I used to miss prayers at times because I used to get preoccupied with other things or find it difficult to wake up for fajr.

2. Reciting Surah Kahf every Thursday after maghrib or on Friday before maghrib.

3. Reciting Surah Mulk daily. It's the Surah that will protect us again the punishment of the grave.

4. Learning a new Surah.

5. Waking up for tahajjud. Several scholars recommend this as the best time to pray and make heartfelt dua to Allah (swt).

6. Spending at least 2 mins reciting dua after every salah. Most people might find it confusing how this can be difficult. But, unfortunately, I never had the habit of making regular dua after salah but there are also other reasons which I won't go into.

7. Reciting duas upon waking up and going to bed. I would love to include how beneficial some of these duas are. InshaAllah, I'll cover them in individual posts when I get to them.

Right now this is no set order. I figure that I should probably test it out and see how it goes before fixating on what I'm going to be doing next. One thing's for sure, salah is this month's priority.

Now these are only 7 because at the moment as they are something I want to achieve. I may make changes as and when I see fit. If anyone would like to join me, they are most welcome. And of course, it doesn't have to be the same set of things that you'd like to do. It can be anything you'd like to fix. Do let me know if you decide to join. It might be more motivating for us. :)

Change in layout?

I'm hoping to hear from my readers regarding my current layout. Do you feel it needs changing? Or should I consider sticking with it?

Lately, I've been experimenting with photoshop and trying to design my own blogger background. Of course, I'm still a beginner so I might be changing backgrounds often to try and experiment.

Please use the comments area for feedback. Would love to hear from you. :)