Reliance on Allah (swt)

It's got quite cold in most parts of the world. I'm feeling rather bad for the birds and wondering how they survive the winter. I saw a dove today. It's tail was missing. A pigeon has been visiting me for a few weeks. It has hurt one of it's eyes. I think it can see out of it partially as it keeps looking at me as it walks across my balcony's railing. Making me feel pity for it and so I especially put some food for it.

That reminds me. There's a hadith about reliance on Allah (swt):
Narrated ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab: I heard Allah’s Messenger saying. “If you all relied on Allah with due reliance, He would certainly give you provision as He gives it to birds who issue forth hungry in the morning and return with full belly at dusk.”(At-Tirmidhi)

Alhumdulillah. :)

Well, here's a picture of warmer times. :D And yes, this one I've snapped.

(click for a larger view but please do not steal. Thanks.)

Low Imaan/Faith

It's an extremely common problem that everyone of us have faced at some point or the other in our lives. Yet, it can be very dangerous because at times this can lead people out of the fold of Islam. So it's important that we recognize when our imaan is low and work on things that will help improve it.

The Prophet Muhammad (S) said: "Faith wears out in the heart of any one of you just as clothes wear out, so ask Allah to renew the faith in your hearts” (Mustadrak al-Haakim).

How can we recognize when our faith dwindles?
- One feels irritated and moody and even depressed.
- They delay good deeds and sunnah, such as salat (prayer).
- Not remembering Allah in dua or dhikr.
- Quranic ayahs not having an effect on the person.
- Stinginess/miserliness.

What one can do to boost their imaan?
- Make dua if you feel your imaan is low.
- Reflect on ayahs of the Quran. Here are a few ayahs that one might feel at ease when reading:

93:1 By the Glorious Morning Light,
93:2 And by the Night when it is still,-
93:3 Thy Guardian-Lord hath not forsaken thee, nor is He displeased.
93:4 And verily the Hereafter will be better for thee than the present.
93:5 And soon will thy Guardian-Lord give thee (that wherewith) thou shalt be well-pleased.

4:99 For these, there is hope that Allah will forgive: For Allah doth blot out (sins) and forgive again and again.

35:29 who rehearse the Book of Allah, establish regular Prayer, and spend (in Charity) out of what We have provided for them, secretly and openly, hope for a commerce that will never fail:

- If you are feeling low, give something in charity. It has helped me feel better.
- Do dhikr and when you suffer from bad thoughts, say "audhubillah". Some forms of dhikr:
Subhan'Allah- 'Praise be to Allah'
Al-Hamdullilah- 'Thanks be to Allah'
Allahu Akbar – 'Allah is the Greatest.'
La ila ha illallah- There is no worthy of worship except allah

Things that can help prevent imaan from decreasing:
- Avoiding sin as sin hardens the heart. This means both major and minor sins. We have to keep improving ourselves and trying to be better Muslims.
- Keeping good company and avoiding the bad. Our family and friends influence us and it is important to try and stay in the company of good people who remember Allah (swt) often and hasten to do good deeds.
- Performing good deeds.
- Praying regularly and remembering Allah (swt) often.
- Remembering death.

I've tried to keep the topic short and simple. If you have had some ayahs/hadith, etc which have benefited your imaan, please feel free to share.

Just An Update

InshaAllah, everyone had a lovely Dhul-hijjah and Eid and made the best use of the days. :)

Been quite busy the last few days. Google finally sent me an invite to join googlewave! Actually, I felt it was quite fast so I would definitely recommend people to sign up for a googlewave account directly.

Just a suggestion for this week: If there's something you really need, start making dua for it whenever you remember. The more times you ask, the more likely Allah (swt) will accept it. Just make sure when you ask, you are absolutely sincere.

Do let me know if it works. :D

Make The Most Of Dhul-Hijjah

The first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah are considered the best days of the whole year, including last 10 days of Ramadan. This shows the important of utilizing this opportunity to increase our ibadat (worship) and grow closer to Allah (swt).

Ibn `Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There are no days in which righteous deeds are more beloved to Allah than these ten days." The people asked, "Not even Jihad for the sake of Allah?" He said, "Not even Jihad for the sake of Allah, except in the case of a man who went out to fight, giving himself and his wealth up for the cause, and came back with nothing." (Reported by Al-Bukhari)

Ibn `Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) also reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There is no deed more precious in the sight of Allah, nor greater in reward, than a good deed done during the ten days of Sacrifice." He was asked, "Not even Jihad for the sake of Allah?" He said, "Not even Jihad for the sake of Allah, except in the case of a man who went out to fight giving himself and his wealth up for the cause, and came back with nothing." (Reported by Ad-Darimi)



This is a really excellent video of the number of things one can do during these 10 days.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded us to recite during this time a lot of tasbih (glorification of Allah), as well as tahmid (praising Allah) and takbir (saying 'Allah is Greatest').
`Abdullah ibn `Umar (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There are no days greater in the sight of Allah and in which righteous deeds are more beloved to Him than these ten days, so during this time recite a great deal of tahlil (saying: 'there is no god but Allah'), takbir and tahmid." (Reported by Ahmad)

Make the best of it. :)

Catch The Google Wave!

Google has released a beta version of the Google wave which is supposed to be the way email should be used in today's generation/time. I didn't want to sit an watch an hour plus long official video about how the program works. So, instead I found a really short and simple one. I love how they try to explain it. Great for people who aren't really tech savvy. :)

Watch and enjoy!


Only issue is, just like how gmail was available to only a few people initially, google wave has been launched with the same idea. To test the program with a limited number of people and let them invite their friends to test it. Obviously, because you can't test the google wave if you have no one to work with. The invites are going real fast so if you can get someone to send you one, grab it. Strangely enough, people were buying invites on e-bay! Again the issue is, once you get an invite, you may not be able to invite anyone else so you have to know people who already have it to be able to use it with them. So, one can either hold off on using it and let the people who really need it try it first. Or you can grab an invite and and wait till google allows you to invite your friends & co-workers.

And if you have an invite to spare, invite me as well. :D

More Fake Forwards

I've been getting more fake Islamic forwards with fake hadith. The mentioned hadith is not even written in a proper way. I am not sure who writes these up and why people send these around without even trying to find out the truth? Why have we become so passive about false information. Yet, we don't trust what we read in newspapers because everyone is "anti-Muslim". How is a forward any more reliable?

I guess it'll take time for people to change old habits if they really care for the truth. We are trying so hard to remove misconceptions about Islam among non-Muslims yet we continue to spread false information between each other without a second thought. Please think about what you send and try to confirm it's source. And if you realize it's not the truth, please try to educate your friends and family about it so we can put an end to these forwards once and for all. :)

Busy Busy Busy

I've been having a very busy time and will probably continue to have one for a couple of months so instead of completely ignoring my blog, I'm planning to post short posts on something on my mind, Islamic messages, etc. InshaAllah.

I still plan on posting some of the pics that I took, InshaAllah, in a few days when I get a little time off. :)