English posts

July 26 2021

A lot of times in life, we tend to blame others when something bad happens to us or when we lose an opportunity. We tend to say things like:

“If it wasn’t for him/her, that would not have happened to me.”

“I completely deserved the chance. They were being unfair.”

“If it wasn’t for them, my life would not have been so miserable.”

We can stay in this state of constant complaining because at the end of the day, we are surrounded by people who have wronged us. Even if they are away from us, those hurtful words and the looks they gave us may stay with us for life. We feel this constant need to get back at them. We feel the need to get revenge. We feel the need to see them suffer just like we did. And these feelings are not pleasant. They eat away at us and further worsen the wounds that we already have from the loss we suffered.

In the midst of your chaotic feelings, how will you feel if you realized that you actually don’t have to deal with those people? That you don’t actually have to call out on these people for the good you lost? That you actually have only One Who can remove all of your problems altogether?

With this in mind, read the ayah below:

وَإِن يَمْسَسْكَ اللَّهُ بِضُرٍّ فَلَا كَاشِفَ لَهُ إِلَّا هُوَ ۖ وَإِن يُرِدْكَ بِخَيْرٍ فَلَا رَادَّ لِفَضْلِهِ ۚ يُصِيبُ بِهِ مَن يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ ۚ وَهُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

“And if Allah should touch you with adversity, there is no remover of it except Him; and if He intends for you good, then there is no repeller of His bounty. He causes it to reach whom He wills of His servants. And He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.” Surah Yunus, 107

In this ayah, Allah is telling us that it was Him all along. That it will always be Him, Who Will be in control of the adversities that touch us and the good that happens to us. We don’t need to play the blame game with those who have hurt us to get over that pain. Rather, we need to call out to the One Who is in complete control of our destiny. No one can hurt us except by His Will and if He intends good for us, nobody can take away that good for us.

So as muslims, we don’t need to feel insecure about others stealing our happiness. Because at the end of the day, Allah allows everything to happen in our lives. He would not have allowed the bad thing to happen to us without a wisdom. Neither does He shower us with His blessings without a purpose.

Thus He causes it to reach whomever He Wills of His servants. Because at the end of the day, He is the One Who Knows His servants best. Subhaanallah!

Note: By no means am I saying that we are not allowed to seek help or justice when we are wronged. In Islam, we are asked to stop the oppressors no matter what. The situations highlighted in this post are cases where there is nothing more you can do about it but your wounds still go back to those memories. And also situations where you have done everything you can, and people are still looking down on you and talking behind your back.

July 21 2021

Imagine you are working on a project with a professional. You don’t know much about the subject this project is about but your mentor happens to know a lot. Your mentor is also someone close to you and you know that he wants you to be successful by the end of the project.

So you start working on this project with your mentor. Sometimes your mentor lets you have your way but other times, your mentor guides you to change the idea that you have. Sometimes, your mentor even suggests you change the work that you had already done. But you don’t get offended and you accept those changes. Because at the end of the day, you trust your mentor’s knowledge and the care he has for your success.

Allah swt is above any analogy. Think about this for a moment. About how Allah deals with you. Sometimes, your plans and Allah’s plans are the same. He swt lets you have your way in life. But other times, Allah has planned something else. Perhaps He Knows in His Knowledge that you deserve better. Perhaps He Knows that by changing those plans, you will grow closer to Him. Perhaps He is Protecting you from a harm that was coming your way with the plans you were hoping will come true.

Look at the words that the Prophet (SAW) taught us to say when we are afflicted with something:

قَدَرَ اللّه وَمَا شَاء فَعَل

“Allah has decreed it and did as He Willed”

[Sahih Muslim]

How comforting are these words dear brothers and sisters? To know that nothing in our lives happens by accident. To know that everything was precisely decided by Allah even before it happened to us. And to know that Allah is the One Who Loves us the most and He is the One Who Knows what’s best for us.

Rasool (SAW) did not teach us these words as a mere saying we say in a time of difficulty. Rather he (SAW) has taught us an entire attitude that we must carry. Let us be among those who have this attitude!

May Allah make us of those who always put their trust in Him. Ameen!

Hadhith reference:

https://sunnah.com/urn/2118440

July 11 2021

We all know that in Islam, we get a reward for every good we do. But did you know that there is a good deed that we do, the reward of which could be lost due to how we behave after we do it? Well, there is. And that deed is charity!

Allah says in the Quran:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تُبْطِلُوا صَدَقَاتِكُم بِالْمَنِّ وَالْأَذَىٰ كَالَّذِي يُنفِقُ مَالَهُ رِئَاءَ النَّاسِ وَلَا يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ

“O you who have believed, do not invalidate your charities with reminders or injury as does one who spends his wealth [only] to be seen by the people and does not believe in Allah and the Last Day….” Suratul Baqarah, 264

Allah tells us not to waste or invalidate our charities with مَنِّ or أَذَىٰ. Let’s explore these two words separately to understand this ayah.

The word مَنِّ in Arabic means a to do a favour. It’s also to remind someone of a favour done to them. So this part of the ayah is describing how a person reminds the person they gave charity to, about the favour he did for them. Statements like, remember how I gave you that amount of money last month? You were really in need weren’t you?

These are some explicit ways of doing it. But it can also be done indirectly. Stuff like, ‘Gosh I couldn’t save as much money as I wanted to. But Alhamdhulillah, I’m happy I gave it for the right thing”. It can also be done by the way we behave when we are around the people we gave charity to. We can really make people think less of themselves from the attitude that we carry. May Allah protect us from it. Ameen!

The next word Allah said in the ayah is, أَذَىٰ. This word means to cause pain to the other person. When we remind a person of a favour we did for them, we are hurting them. Because nobody likes to be in a position where they need to ask. And it’s not a nice thing for us to remind anyone of the time they were in need.

So these are the two things, that can completely make our charity go in vain. We may have given away the money, or some material thing, or even our time to help someone. Even the time we give for helping others can be considered charity. But if we keep reminding the people we helped about the favour we did for them, we have done no good in the sight of Allah. And we will not find the reward of it in the Hereafter.

And look how Allah describes these people as ones who don’t believe in Allah and the Last Day. Because if they truly believed in Allah, they will know that Allah has already seen the charity that they gave. So they won’t feel the need to remind anyone of it whatsoever. And if they truly believed in the Last Day, they will know that they will get the reward of it on that Day. So they won’t feel the need to put down the people they gave charity to. They won’t feel the need to get respect, excessive gratitude or other favours in return for that charity. Because they will know that Allah Will give them the reward of it without account!

May Allah accept all of our charities from us and protect us from the characteristics that invalidate them. Ameen!

July 5 2021

It’s a wonder how some ayahs can serve as a powerful reminder every single time you come across it. This one ayah in Suratul Hadid is one of those ayahs that seem like a new reminder to me whenever I come across it.
قَالُوا بَلَىٰ وَلَـٰكِنَّكُمْ فَتَنتُمْ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَتَرَبَّصْتُمْ وَارْتَبْتُمْ وَغَرَّتْكُمُ الْأَمَانِيُّ حَتَّىٰ جَاءَ أَمْرُ اللَّـهِ وَغَرَّكُم بِاللَّـهِ الْغَرُورُ

“….. They will say, “Yes, but you afflicted yourselves and awaited [misfortune for us] and doubted, and wishful thinking deluded you until there came the command of Allah. And the Deceiver deceived you concerning Allah.” Suratul Hadid
This ayah actually describes a scene on Judgement Day where the believers and some hypocrites (people who claimed to believe but actually didn’t) are walking towards Jannah on the Siraath. When suddenly a wall is dropped between the believers and the hypocrites and the hypocrites are not able to move forward. So at that point, the hypocrites will be in shock because they really thought they would get to Jannah. So they ask the believers on the other side of the wall about why they were not on that side. And the part of the ayah that I shared is the response of the believers.
In this ayah, the believers describe the step by step process through which a person gets further and further away from Allah. The first thing that they mention is that the hypocrites had put themselves in fitnah. (فَتَنتُمْ أَنفُسَكُمْ ).They put themselves in questionable circumstances. They hung around with people they knew were messed up. Then the next thing that the believers mention is that the hypocrites procrastinated (وَتَرَبَّصْتُمْ). They knew that they should fix themselves and change the company that they were in but they kept putting it off. They kept saying that they will change later, thinking that they could put the brakes on their temptations whenever they liked. But things kept getting worse. And as the believers mention, they started developing doubts (وَارْتَبْتُمْ). They started developing doubts especially about deen because they wanted to justify the sins that they were doing. Because it was only the deen that was stopping them from fulfilling their desires so having doubts about deen made them feel more comfortable with doing sins. And finally, as the believers mention, false hopes had deluded them (وَغَرَّتْكُمُ الْأَمَانِيُّ). This means that they lost all interest in having higher aspirations like gaining the pleasure of Allah and getting to Jannatul Firdaus. And as a result, their hearts became occupied with this life. They started hoping that the things of this temporary world can bring them a pleasure that they could not have in the remembrance of Allah.

This is a process that each and every single one of us may go through. Perhaps right now we are at a stage where we have put ourselves in fitnah. We have habits that we know will take us away from the remembrance of Allah. And perhaps we have moved onto the next stage and have started thinking that we can quit later. And maybe some of us have reached the stage where we have started to develop doubts. And some of us have gone even further where the only things that concerns are the things of this worldly life.

May Allah save us from this no matter which stage of this process that we are in and may He make us of those who are on the right side of the wall on Judgement Day. Ameen!

*Taken from a lecture by Ustadh Nouman

July 1 2021

There you are, standing in front of someone whose voice is gradually rising. You know that you have done something to disappoint this person and you know you could have handled the situation better. But you defend yourself too. Saying to yourself that you only acted inappropriately because you too, were hurt. Or maybe you haven’t even done anything wrong from the way you see it. Your fist clenches and your face turns red as your blood boils and you feel a frown appearing on your face. The most intense responses that you can slam on the face of the person in front of you is building up in your mind.

What do you do next?

For each of us it’s going to be different. In Surah Ale Imran, Allah describes what a ‘Muhsin’ will do in such a situation. Muhsin is someone who does Ihsaan (excellence). Ihsaan is the highest level of faith we can reach. There is Islam, which means to submit, to just abide by the laws of deen. Above Islam is Iman, which means to be truly convinced of the religion. To truly believe because of how a person has thought about the ayahs of Allah and has come into contact with evidences. Above Iman is Ihsaan. Which means to be conscious of Allah at all times. And because someone who does Ihsaan (a Muhsin) is always conscious of Allah, he excels in everything he does. (refer to hadhith on Islam, Iman, Ihsaan)

Why am I telling you all of this? This is just to give you some idea of how high above the status of a Muhsin is. And Allah says that He loves the Muhsins in multiple places. Now you might think as I had, “these people must do some amazing things that I probably can never do.” But when I studied this passage in Surah Ale Imran that describes some characteristics of those people, I was surprised by the simplicity of the things Allah highlights. In this post, I will describe just one thing Allah mentions, that all of us can definitely do In Sha Allah.

وَالْكَاظِمِينَ الْغَيْظَ

“……And they swallow the anger…..” Surah Ale Imran, ayah 134

Notice the strange language. The ayah could have said that they do not get angry. But Allah gives an image so that we understand better. If someone is chewing something, we would know that he is eating. But if he SWALLOWS it, we wouldn’t know that he even ate something in the first place!

This is how a Muhsin, who is conscious of Allah at all times, handles a difficult situation where even his own emotions are getting out of hand. He is able to manage his anger such that it would barely even show on his face. How does he do it though? People like us might lose it all together when our temper takes a hold of us. But a Muhsin is able to go against even his own emotions because he is conscious of his Rabb. He knows that he is in this situation only as a test. He knows that his Master is watching him to see his reaction. And the pleasure of Allah is greater to him than anything at that moment.

Now lets ask ourselves. Is the pleasure of Allah greater to us than anything else? What could ‘winning an argument’ in this world gain you anyway? What are you trying to prove by raising your voice? Or showing a face of anger? Is that somehow going to bring you any justice? Does raising your voice add to your dignity? Is being able to show the most intense anger the achievement? Or remaining silent when the other person is losing it with the intention of becoming a Muhsin? These are some questions that you and I need to ask ourselves when we stand at the edge of losing our temper.

So the question is, what will you do next?

#Selfreminder

PS: I’m not saying that we don’t say anything in our defense in any situation. There will be cases where we need to speak up. But the main principle, as Rasool (SAW) has advised us is, we must stay silent when we ourselves are angry. For us to speak, we must be in a state that we can think clearly about the words we are going to say before we utter them. Otherwise, we are to remain silent. And Allah Knows best

June 27 2021

In Surah Ale-Imran, when describing the Prophets that came before and the people that fought alongside the prophets, Allah says that they never lost assurance because of what afflicted them nor did they weaken. And Allah says that He loves “As-Saabireen” (those who persevere). This is in ayah 146 of the surah.

In the next ayah, Allah mentions a dua that those ‘Saabireen’ said as they fought their enemy. Allah said:

وَمَا كَانَ قَوْلَهُمْ إِلَّا أَن قَالُوا رَبَّنَا اغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا وَإِسْرَافَنَا فِي أَمْرِنَا وَثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَنَا وَانصُرْنَا عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْكَافِرِينَ

“And their words were not but that they said, “Our Lord, forgive us our sins and the excess [committed] in our affairs and plant firmly our feet and give us victory over the disbelieving people.”’ Surah Ale-Imran, 147

This may seem like a very straightforward dua but let’s look at it step-by-step to see why this dua is so powerful. Because in it is a hidden formula for us to gain victory over the disbelieving people.

First of all, they are asking Allah to forgive them their sins. This means that even when they are facing the enemy, the disbelieving people, they do not forget that they have their own faults too. They realize that they have things that they need to fix about themselves too. So they engage themselves in seeking Allah’s Forgiveness and they try to stay away from their sins.

In the next part of the dua, they also ask Allah to forgive them for the excess in their affairs. The word إِسْرَاف in Arabic means to go overboard. To do more than what’s necessary when it shouldn’t be done. For example, as they are fighting against the disbelieving nation, they may have wronged those who shouldn’t be wronged knowingly or unknowingly. إِسْرَاف can also happen in other aspects of life. For example, a person can do ‘israaf’ in money, when they spend money more than they should. They could do israaf in the way they give time to people in their lives. Giving more time to some while neglecting others. Israaf can also be done with emotions by emotionally investing in one thing in life and neglecting the rest of the things.

The people described in this ayah recognize that they have done israaf in their lives. So they are asking Allah to forgive them for the israaf they did and we can only imagine the effort they have made to fix that ‘israaf’.

Next, they ask Allah to plant their feet firm. They are asking Allah to help them stay in the battlefield without running away. ‘Planting one’s feet firm’ is also an expression to describe stability in life. Once they made the effort to stay away from sins, and once they have their affairs right, it would be easy for them to be stable. But they realize that they can only do so with the help of Allah so they ask Him to keep them stable.

Finally those people ask Allah to give them victory over the disbelieving people. Guess what Allah gave them in return as a result?

فَآتَاهُمُ اللَّهُ ثَوَابَ الدُّنْيَا وَحُسْنَ ثَوَابِ الْآخِرَةِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ يُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِينَ

“So Allah gave them the reward of this world and the good reward of the Hereafter. And Allah loves the doers of good.” Surah Ale-Imran, 148

Subhaanallah! Allah gave them the reward of this world AND also the reward of the Hereafter. Why did He do so? Because of the attitude those people carried when they faced the disbelieving people.

Hence if we want such a success from Allah, we need to have the same attitude of those people. We must not fall weak when facing the disbelieving people. No matter how they try to put us down, we must never back away. While we do so, we must work on our own sins, seek Allah’s forgiveness and make tawba constantly. Also, we must strive to live a balanced life that doesn’t have ‘israaf’ in it. We must strive to give everything it’s due right in our lives. And then we are qualified to plant our feet firm and have victory over the disbelieving people and have the reward of both world and Allah promised for the doers of good!

May Allah make us from them. Ameen!

June 26 2021

When we make important decisions in life, we usually seek the opinions of the experts. For example, if we are deciding on which school to go to, we would ask those who have graduated. If we are deciding on which career path to take, we would ask those who have successful careers that they find fulfilling. If we are deciding to start a new business, we would ask those who have launched successful businesses and so on.

All of this is a necessary part of decision-making in life. But let’s pause and think about it for a second. Is it necessarily the case that the opinions we get from those experts will be the best for us? Is it possible that those experts may not have known every aspect of our lives and thus the suggestions they give might even cause us a loss? Is it possible that those suggestions might not even be suitable for us, considering that those experts may not know the hidden parts of our personalities and thereby not know which path will benefit us most in the long run?

The answer to those questions is a big yes! So now the question is, how to we make sure that the decisions we make are the absolute best? Well, we go seek the counsel of the One Who Knows us and everything around us the best! We seek the counsel of Allah. And the way we seek His counsel is through a sunnah prayer named Istikhaara.

The word Istikhaara means ‘seeking goodness’. There is this beautiful hadhith where the Prophet (SAW) teaches a companion about istikhaara prayer. The hadhith goes as follows:

Jabir bin Abdullah (RA) said: The Prophet (SAW) used to teach us to seek Allah’s Counsel in all matters, as he used to teach us a Surah from the Quran. He would say: When anyone of you has an important matter to decide, let him pray two Rak’ahs other than the obligatory prayer and then say:

اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْتَخِيرُكَ بِعِلْمِكَ وَأَسْتَقْدِرُكَ بِقُدْرَتِكَ وَأَسْأَلُكَ مِنْ فَضْلِكَ الْعَظِيمِ فَإِنَّكَ تَقْدِرُ وَلَا أَقْدِرُ وَتَعْلَمُ وَلَا أَعْلَمُ وَأَنْتَ عَلَّامُ الْغُيُوبِ اللَّهُمَّ إِنْ كُنْتَ تَعْلَمُ أَنَّ هَذَا الْأَمْرَ خَيْرٌ لِي فِي دِينِي وَمَعَاشِي وَعَاقِبَةِ أَمْرِي فَاقْدُرْهُ لِي وَيَسِّرْهُ لِي ثُمَّ بَارِكْ لِي فِيهِ وَإِنْ كُنْتَ تَعْلَمُ أَنَّ هَذَا الْأَمْرَ شَرٌّ فِي دِينِي وَمَعَاشِي وَعَاقِبَةِ أَمْرِي فَاصْرِفْهُ عَنِّي وَاصْرِفْنِي عَنْهُ وَاقْدُرْ لِيَ الْخَيْرَ حَيْثُ كَانَ ثُمَّ ارْضِنِي بِهِ

Meaning of the dua:

O Allah, I seek the counsel of Your Knowledge, and I seek the help of your Omnipotence, and I beseech You for your Magnificent Grace. Surely, You are Capable and I am not. You know and I do not know, and You are the Knower of the unseen. Oh Allah, if You know that this matter (mention the matter here) is good for me in my religion and in my life and for my welfare in the life to come in both the short term and the long term, the ordain it for me and make it easy for me, then bless me in it. And if You know that this matter is bad for me in my religion and in my life and for my welfare in the life to come in both the short term and the long term, then distance it from me, and distance me from it, and ordain for me what is good wherever it may be and help me be content with it.

(Hadhith is from Sahih al-Bukhaari 1166, Book 19, Hadhith 45)

As we know from this hadhith, it’s just a sunnah two raka’h prayer that we can pray at any time of the day (Except during the times that are prohibited to pray sunnah prayers: Between asr and maghrib and at the time of sunrise – see link in the comment for reference)

After we pray istikhaara, we can still ask the experts of this world for their opinions. From the moment we pray istikhaara, we will be guided to make the decision that’s best for us. Even from the answers we will be getting from the experts because at the end of the day, Allah is in control of even the words we hear from others. We will get exactly what we asked for in that dua. That is, if the decision is good for us, Allah Will make it easy for us in every possible way. If the decision is bad for us, He Will distance it from us and difficulties will come our way when we try to go ahead with that decision. If we are distanced from something because of istikhaara, we will find another ‘good’ and Allah Will help us be content with it as it’s described in the dua. (To read about my istikhaara experiences, go to the link in the comment below)

Something that amazes me about the hadhith of istikhaara is that Rasool (SAW) used to tell the companions about istikhaara as he would teach them a surah of a Quran. So, we could only imagine just how important this prayer is, in the life of a muslim. Wallaahi from my experience I can tell you that istikhaara prayer played a huge role in teaching me to put my trust in Allah and to be content with whatever He decrees for me. And we all know that this is a huge part of our faith.

So if you want to have an unwavering trust in Allah, hold onto this magical prayer of istikhaara!

June 25 2021

In Suratul Baqarah, Allah describes a group of people whose hearts became hard. And strangely, He starts describing different kinds of rocks in the very next ayah. In that ayah, Allah describes that there are some rocks from which entire rivers burst out. And there are other rocks from which only a little bit of water comes out. And then there are other rocks that fall from the fear of Allah.

Now you might assume that Allah is perhaps teaching a lesson of the science of rocks. Except, He swt is not just talking about rocks when He describes them. Through this example of rocks, Allah is actually describing different kinds of hearts. So let’s look at each of those ‘rocks’ one by one and see which kind of heart we have.

The first kind of rock that Allah describes is the type of rock from which entire rivers gush out. This kind of heart is like the heart of Abu Bakr (RA). He was an intellectual person who had realized that there has to be more to life than just the respect and glamour of this world. So when the message of Islam was presented to him, it didn’t take much for him to become muslim. Because he was already thinking about the purpose of life. And he had the decency within him to realize that this is nothing but the truth. His heart was so full of iman already that it took very little to shake the rock and to see rivers come forth.

The second kind of rock is like the heart of Umar (RA). The kind of rock that has to be split open for the water to come out. Just like Umar (RA), who only accepted Islam after he got hit with a traumatic experience. He hit his sister and he saw the blood of his sister on his own hand. His heart was rattled at that moment. And the iman came out. The water came out. When he was reminded with the words of his Master, right at that moment.

What we learn from this is that some people will come to Islam through an intellectual journey. They are deep thinkers and they are already looking for something meaningful before they hear the Truth. When their hearts do come into contact with the Truth, they immediately believe and their eyes start overflowing with tears. Just like the rivers that come out of the rocks. But then there are other people who are distracted in life. All they can think of is the temporary pleasure of this world. All they can think of is the next movie, the next episode, the next profile picture, the next trip abroad, the next vacation etc….For these people, they may not want to hear the Quran when they are engaged in one of their pleasures. But when Allah tests them with hardship, with a painful disease, loss of wealth, loss of a family member, their hearts are shaken, and iman comes out. You start seeing tears in their eyes when they pray and when they make dua. And those tears remain as they are when they realize that its only Allah brings them out from hardships.

If you could not relate to either of the rocks described above, perhaps the third one is yours. Allah says that there are some rocks that fall from the fear of Allah. You can imagine the rocks slipping down from a mountain. Now this time, there is no mention of water. This means there is no iman seen from the outside of these rocks. But still these rocks are fearing Allah. The people who have this kind of heart, do realize that Islam is the truth. And they submit to the commands of Allah as much as they can. They pray and they try their best to stay away from haram. They keep falling into sajdha in prayers just like the rocks are falling. But you may not see tears in their eyes. Because their hearts have not tasted the sweetness of faith yet. But there is hope for these people as well. Because when the rocks fall and eventually hit the ground, what will happen? They will split open and the water will come out. Subhaanallah!

So if you find yourself to be the third kind of person, where you are trying you fear Allah even if it’s a little, you fear him when you fall into sin or fall short in your worship, just keep turning to him. Keep falling into sajdha. Because you never know when your heart will split and water will come out.

May Allah make us of those whose hearts are fill with iman. Ameen!

*Taken from a lecture by Ustadh Nouman

(post related to the story ‘Noor’)

(

June 13 2021

“Do you believe what you saw yesterday was the answer to your istikhaara?”

Asked my sister a few years ago, as I was trying to get through a really bad day. I gave the question a thought, but I couldn’t bring myself to answer. Because I could not wrap my head around the fact that a sunnah prayer of 2 rakats had just turned my whole life around. I was living one of my dreams (or so I thought) until the previous day.

After I had prayed the very first istikhaara of my life, I had seen sign after sign that I should get away from it. But with my stubbornness, I held on to it tight as I believed that my life would be ruined if I were to leave it. So I lived through the consequences just so that I could live with that dream of mine. But one day, I was literally dragged out of it in the most unexpected way, and it happened so that I would not be able to go back to it even if I wanted!

So I was going through an utter low at that point in life. Perhaps I even had a resentment towards the istikhaara that I prayed, because of my love towards the thing that was taken away. I hadn’t known the nature of istikhaara then. I thought it was just about something being made available for us if it was good, and something being taken away from us if it was bad. Little had I known.

Just in a matter of time after I was taken away from that thing I loved, out of nowhere I get a blessing similar to the one that was taken away from me. And Wallaahi I see the benefits of that blessing to this day. As I look back, I realize that if I hadn’t been taken away from that which I had loved so much, my life wouldn’t have been as blessed as it is now.

After that experience, I pray istikhaara for every big and small decision in life. Sometimes, what I want is made easy for me and sometimes I’m taken away from it. Whenever I am taken away from something, I always, and I mean ALWAYS find something more blessed than what was taken away from me. And I don’t regret a SINGLE decision I have made after praying istikhaara!

What I am describing right now isn’t just my experience. Its what’s exactly in the dua of istikhaara. After asking Allah to make ease in the decision if its good for us, and to take us away from it if the decision is bad for us, look at these words in the dua.

وَقْدُر لِيَ الْخَيْر حَيْثُ كَانَ ثُمَّ أَرضِنِي بِهِ

“And decree for me what is good, no matter where it may be and help me be pleased with it.”

Wallaahi these words bring such peace to my heart with every istikhaara that I pray. These words remind me that I may not even know what ‘good’ is best for me. It helps me acknowledge that its only Allah Who Knows what’s best for me. And its only He Who Will help my heart love the new blessing that He decrees for me. And its He Who Will help me understand to the very core that THIS is no doubt what’s best for me. I tell you this has happened to me with every istikhaara I prayed. Especially the ones where I was taken away from something.

A lot of people ask me this question. Is istikhaara necessary when making a decision? I would say, definitely! If you want to live a life with no regrets! A lot of us have this fear of being taken away from something we love, like myself with my first istikhaara experience. But Wallaahi my dear brothers and sisters, the moment we taste the sweetness of how Allah takes care of our affairs, we would want to pray istikhaara for the smallest of decisions, just to see how Allah guides us.

So today my sister doesn’t even need to ask me. The moment I see a good sign after praying istikhaara, I go ahead with the decision and if I see a bad one, I leave it. And even though leaving might be challenging in some cases, my heart is at ease knowing for sure that something more blessed is coming my way. This is the level of security you reach with istikhaara. Subhaanallah!

June 9 2021

There is a scene from the Quran that I have a strong urge to share. It gave me chills to write that scene as I thought about the ayah just as it did about a year ago.

In Surah An-Nur, Allah describes a scene of a stormy dark night with a rough ocean. In the scene Allah describes a person drowning in the ocean. Even when this person tries to get back up, waves come crashing down on him one on top of the other. So this person is just going down to the very bottom of the ocean. There is no ship nearby so there is no light at all. And even the moonlight is blocked by all the clouds in the sky.

About this person, Allah swt says:

إِذَا أَخْرَجَ يَدَهُ لَمْ يَكَدْ يَرَاهَا

“..when he takes his hand out, he can almost not see it…” Surah An-Nur, 40

Think about this. If a person is in the ocean in the middle of the night with no light around whatsoever, will he see anything? If he takes his hand out, will he be able to see it? No! You can’t even see your hand when the electricity goes out from your island and you are left without your phone. So that person is definitely not going to see anything.

But strangely, Allah says that he can ALMOST not see his hand. As though he could somewhat see his hand when he took a look. What is Allah saying in this ayah?

The darkness of the ocean is the darkness of our sins. Our sins are such that it feels like we drown in them. We choke as we try to get back up and yet they keep making us fall deeper into them like those waves. But even when a person reaches that stage, where he is almost at the point of giving up, he can still see somewhat of his hand. The hand is the representation of our deeds. No matter how far down the road of sin we go, we still have some idea of the reality of our deeds. And that’s because of the light (our Ruh) that Allah put inside of us. If we gave a chance to that light, and reflected on our deeds, the light will grow and eventually brighten up even our surroundings. And thus the person will be able to find his way out by Allah’s Will. Subhaanallah!